Fantasy


Siren’s Call (A Rainshadow Novel) by Jayne Castle

Siren's Call by Jayne Castle Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle

Summary

In the mysterious world of Harmony, there are places filled with unexplored marvels. But Rainshadow Island isn’t about to give up its secrets…

In the alien catacombs of Rainshadow, there are creatures whose compelling songs lure the unwary to their death. That’s why Rafe Coppersmith, hired to clear out the catacombs for exploration, needs a music talent. He’s knows the perfect one, but she probably doesn’t want anything do with him…

Ella Morgan had once fallen hard and fast for Rafe, but then he disappeared for months…and he’s not about to tell her why. Ella, too, has secrets that only her dust bunny knows. She’s not just a music talent, she’s a Siren: a paranormal singer capable of singing men to sleep—or to their deaths.

But once on Rainshadow, Rafe and Ella will learn that surrendering to passion doesn’t come without risks—and fighting fire with fire only adds to the flame…”

-From back of book

Review

And I’ve done it again. This is the fourth book in the series I think…

I mean, you can kinda read it out of order, it does make sense, though there are questions. Of course….I LOVE to do this. Grab a good book and find out that it’s not the first book in the series. Click here to view Jayne Ann Krentz’s website and her page for her pen-name Jayne Castle and see which books are part of the Rainshadow Series.

But honestly, even though I hadn’t read the other books in the series, there weren’t that many questions which were kind of hanging there because I didn’t have previous knowledge. I mean, yes there definitely were things which didn’t add up or took me a little longer to figure out what was meant, and that was kind of annoying, but it is what you get for reading out of order.

Now, I will review this book as well as I can for reading it…out of order. >Violently smacks head against the book.<

Honestly, I did enjoy it quite a lot. It was well written and had an interesting storyline. I don’t think it was based on earth, as far as I could tell, but there were humans and other creatures as well. They kept referencing these Aliens and Alien technology so I’m thinking that they traveled to another world and had found stuff on the planet and stuff. But either way, it was a cool concept.

And while it was a fantasy book, it also did have romance in it. I don’t think this is classified as erotic literature at all though. There was definitely a little bit of sex, and it was kind of explicit, but I don’t think it was defined as erotic, so I’d just say it was a fantasy book with a smattering of…sex. Because of the sex though, I would classify it as an adult book, by far.

The writing was good, the sentences being a little more challenging than regular romance book and books like this, so it kept me interested as well. Also a lot of the characters kept you curious as well, interested to see who would kill who and who the bad people were, though you didn’t know until the end. I didn’t really like though that the main characters didn’t really develop, in my view. I like to see some type of character development, even if it is just the character letting a secret out that they don’t like to share and showing another side of themselves, but there wasn’t really any of that in this book. Now this of course doesn’t bother most people, so this complaint is something more personal, but with the summary, it made it seem like there was some big secret which was kept. And it wasn’t as big as it was made out to be which was kind of annoying. All of this suspense for nothing.

But, overall it was a decent book. I’m not sure if I’ll bother to read the first book, but maybe if I have some time.

Happy Reading!


A Lady’s Submission (The Warriors of Ar’mora Book 1) by Frank Carlyle

Book CoverSummary

“Last of a clan that once ruled over a vast trade network and determined the fate of empires, Mahlon Arn, has the task of reclaiming a place once lost and now hidden within the jungled corridors of a tributary river that feeds into the mighty Amazon River. It’s a past that almost no one remembers except for the few who dare to return and once more reclaim all that once was and begin to build what is to become.

Journey deep into the jungle and follow the story of a warrior who reclaims a kingdom, only to ache for the completion of a prophecy spoken over him by a dying father. A prophecy that comes in the form of a red haired fantasy lady, who is born up the river by chance and circumstance or perhaps by Divine will, and that must be claimed and utterly brought into submission by the man, who has been tasked to not only reclaim a past but to build a future based on righteousness.

A Lady’s Submission is the beginning of a five book journey into the exotic realms of a place that has never been spoken of and is now just beginning to be realized through the lives of the five remaining blood heirs of the House of Arn, of the kindred of people known to the ancient world as the Ar’morians. This is a tale of overcoming faith and erotic conquest. A reality of an ancient place comes alive in this tale of Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I was lucky enough to have Mr. Carlyle contact me over this book and ask me to read it and I’m so glad that he did because I really did enjoy this book. I will start off by saying that this is adult literature, as it is erotic themed. And while I don’t usually read blatant erotic literature (while Nalini Singh’s books (as well as others) do count but it’s much more than that), this one definitely needs to be reviewed.

First off, it’s written by a guy. I mean how rare is that?! All the erotic literature that I know is written by women, usually older women as the younger ones don’t want to write it, and so this book automatically caught my interest when I received the email as I was intrigued as to what a male author would be able to do with such a feminine topic. I have to say, I was definitely impressed. Instead of a lot of it being from the females perspective, it was mostly from the main male protagonist of the story which was quite interesting. I thought that reading about sexy thoughts from a guy would be strange, but it didn’t change how I read the story at all. It was just as enjoyable and an interesting touch. I wouldn’t have known that it was written by a guy at all and the different perspective was awesome. So kudos to Mr. Carlyle.

Next, this book falls into a new-ish category (one I’m not terribly familiar with) called Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction. Now, this is kind of interesting. It’s erotic literature with a christian twist which is different. This means that in the story the main female protagonist spent time praying to God and there were references to Jesus. Now I don’t have an opinion for or against something like this, but I know that some people may view strongly against this, due to the fact that sex and the bible don’t necessarily go hand in hand perfectly. No I’m not trying to start a war here, so please don’t bite my head off. I’m merely stating that when the bible and sex get mixed together, sometimes things can get messy which I respect and understand, but I don’t feel, that in this book, such a problem came up, so if that is a worry for a reader, I don’t believe that they need to feel that way. The writing was respectful and the incorporation of the religion and belief was interesting and added to the story in a very unique way. I was confused when God and Jesus references appeared, but once I realized the genre, then I understood instantly. So another bonus point for the author because he broke two barriers so far: being a male author and adding religious aspects.

Now, more about the story. It was a very decent story. It fit perfectly into the traditional erotic romance category. Think of a basic Harlequin novel, with the two aspects above mixed in, with a little historical kind of feel to it. For some reason, when reading it, I kept having this image of like Conan the Barbarian mixed with Game of Thrones going on. Maybe I’m just loosing my head but that’s what I was picturing the entire time.

The story was interesting and it was nice to see a real commitment between the male and the female. A lot of times the sex scenes which happen is more superfluous sex. I guess you could call it a hook-up a lot of the time and then the love develops through the novel. This one the love was there and it was an interesting story and development.

As a reader, I would have liked more of a story line, a little more something in the story, but that’s just a personal thing as I always like lots going on. But for erotic literature, this fit the bill perfectly in my opinion.

Overall, I thought it was fantastic and I would recommend it. It was only about 135 pages or so and I was able to read it in just over an hour or so (I read fast so maybe more like 2-3 for some readers) so it wasn’t a difficult read. I would say to check it out if you have some spare time and are looking for something. It is unique in my opinion and is different from other erotic literature stories, but not so different that it’s bad. A job well done in my opinion.

Happy Reading!


Raining Embers (Order and Chaos Book 1) by Jessica Dall

Raining Embers (Order and Chaos Book 1) by Jessica Dall Cover Summary

“Palmer Tash always follows the path of least resistance. He has an unusual disability involving his hearing. But in theocratic Latysia, being different isn’t a good thing, so he conceals his problem.

Brier Chastain’s malady is even more debilitating, and she often must take to her bed for long periods. Her days are spent in meaningless pursuits as she awaits an arranged marriage.

When Palmer and Brier are kidnapped on the same night, they meet and discover that their so-called disabilities are actually budding powers. They are the incarnations of Order and Chaos. With their country on the brink of war, the two must step into their predestined roles and learn to take control of their own destinies.”

From Jessica Dall’s Website

Review

So Jessica Dall contacted me asking me to read her book for her and get a review done as her book is brand-spanking-new and I’m really glad that she did. It was a fantastic book and I am curious as to how the other books in the Order and Chaos series are going to be now. I will start off by saying that it is an e-book which can be purchased from here for $2.99 and was quite worth it in my opinion.

So the story followed two teens and how their abilities were essentially that of order and chaos. My one confusion was ages as I kept viewing the two protagonists more as like 15 year old kids but then they would mention that they were closer to 19 or 20 years old and I kept getting so confused at moments, but that was probably more of a personal thing. I always felt, during the story, that how they reacted to certain situations, was that more of a younger child than of an adult, but that’s not a complaint. More of just a personal feeling while reading.

There was nice character development as well. You got quite attached to the two protagonists, Brier and Palmer and it was nice to see how they developed as characters as well as they developed with each other. This book definitely did have a romance aspect to it, though it was definitely not the main theme. It was just a nice way to make the story interesting and engaging and adding a new dynamic to the story.

My only one complaint about the book was the aspect of Palmer’s hearing. It was stated that he had a hearing issue, only being able to hear one thing at a time if he concentrated on it, but as the story continued to progress, I got the feeling that that issue went away, and I think that was due to the expanding of his abilities which was kind of interesting, but that was my only one complaint/confusion. Where the hearing issue went and why it was significant in the first place. But, once again, that is more of a me complaint as I’m sometimes extremely picky with stories.

The ending of the book was quite good as well. It was fast paced although a lot was crammed into the last 100 pages. It was about 200 pages of set up and then the last 100 pages was a lot of stuff happening in a very short period of time. Now this is a writing style, and a lot of YA books do it, and it’s extremely common, so I’m once again not saying it is bad, but I’ve always been into books where the action scenes are a little more dragged out, or the build up to the action scene doesn’t take place in only about a chapter or so. Although I do know a lot of people who like the fast build ups because instant-gratification is a thing now a days. The quick ending was nice though because you did have quite a few questions towards the end and you got a lot of them answered really fast which is always nice because you can breathe and go ‘Ohhhhhh! I get it now!”.

I also really do love the cover. The mixture of the light blue/teal with the yellow and fire design is a really nice combination, it really caught my attention. It was the first thing that I noticed before I started to read the book and I love that quality about it.

It wasn’t a difficult read at all, only about 280 pages or so and didn’t take me that long to read. Only reason it took me a ‘while’ was because I was busy and had to keep stopping but I was easily able to get through the last 100 page or so in an hour or two, so it wasn’t difficult. It was typical YA writing so it fits perfectly into the genre.

Overall I really did enjoy the book. It was unique, giving Order and Chaos bodies and abilities and making them become part of the world. I’m certainly intrigued as to how this series is going to be taken and would definitely be interested in reading the follow up book(s).

Check out this book and let me know what you think of it as well.

Happy reading!

 


The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Curse book cover

Summary

“They were never meant to be together. As a general’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can’t help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.”

Review

So I’ll be blunt and to the point with this review. In all honestly I really didn’t like this book, and didn’t finish it. I got to page 230 or so out of 330+ because I decided to give it a nice go. I didn’t want to give up as sometimes they get better half way through but this book honestly didn’t in my opinion at all.

My main problem was I didn’t connect with the characters. That is a big thing for me in the story. I don’t need to relate to them but I need to connect to them. I want to be able to read the story and be able to get inside the head of the characters and feel like I am a part of the story and am able to be into the story. With this one, I honestly didn’t feel like I was able to. I never really got into the book because I just wasn’t interested in it.

The story idea was interesting, a master in love with a slave, although the slave wasn’t a slave as we know it. While they were owned, they weren’t treated as badly as slaves from real life, as long as they did what they were supposed to do and did it well. I was intrigued by the idea but honestly, once I started reading it, I really didn’t like it. It was just weird to read.

Finally, I realized that there was weird character development. It kept progressing and then just falling flat on it’s face. Maybe, since there are other books in the series, the series gets better, but I wasn’t willing to wait because if the book doesn’t catch me half way through for a single book, or after the first book in a series, I don’t have any motivation to carry on. I do hate not finishing books, but I don’t have time to waste on books that I don’t enjoy unfortunately, but I did give it a valiant try.

This book does have decent reviews though, a lot of readers giving it a 4+/5 stars so maybe it is their kind of book but it personally wasn’t mine.

Anyone agree or not agree? I’d love to hear opinions.

Otherwise, happy reading.


Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles) by Kresley Cole

“Watch your six, Reaper, I’m on the hunt.”
A rasping chuckle. -Your Death awaits.-

-Page 368

Poison Princess cover Summary

“22 Arcana cards. 22 Chosen Teens. Let the cards fall where they may.

Sixteen-year-old Evie Greene’s horrific hallucinations predicted the apocalypse, and the end of the world brought her all sorts of new powers. With the earth scorched and few survivors, Evie teams up with handsome and dangerous Jack Deveaux in a race to find answers. They discover that that an ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of teens have been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side… “

-From Kresley Cole’s website.

Review

Okay, this is just going to be an absolutely love fest. Because this book was absolutely fantastic! It was nothing like any of the other YA books I have read and it was just so well written. I will start off by saying that this is definitely an older YA book because of certain themes as well as some of the violent content. There are no curse words, and the few curse words that are used, Cole cleverly changes up so that she switches letters around to make the word something different. If you know the word then you’ll know what it should be, but if you don’t, it will just look like some made up curse word, which is extremely clever.

The violence in the book is a little graphic at times. Especially when it jumps to the present day. How the story is set up is that the main character, Evangeline, is telling the story to someone who welcomes her into the home and by the end of the story, the past has been told and her arriving in the home is the present and that is where the book ends to set up for the next book in the series. Parts of the themes in the book, especially the guy who she is telling the story to in the present, is extremely creepy and pulled on some nasty themes. There are a lot of implications of rape, though nothing happens. A younger reader wouldn’t completely get that but as an older reader, you know exactly what is being implied. Then the guy who she is telling the story to, think of like one of the creepier episodes of Criminal Minds (I hope most people know this show) and think of how twisted they get with dungeons and torture. That is kind what the guy is like, so it gets a little brutal.

Now the rest of the story is just lots of apocalypse stuff. Something happens, called The Flash, and everything goes to shit, essentially. You’re never clear exactly what The Flash was, but you’re told it was a solar flare, though it’s never clear exactly what caused it, and leaves questions to be answered later on in the series. Out in the world, there are some horrible people, and some nasty themes brought up again. Mentions of cannibalism as well as the enslavement of women too. It seems like during The Flash, when most people were killed, a lot of them were women, so women were scarce, so they were wanted by slavers and stuff. Younger readers would just think that women were special though older readers would know exactly what was going on.

The two main characters, Evangeline and Jackson, are traveling together and it follows them from when they met before The Flash to surviving together after it. There is some great character development between the two of them and a lot of advances as well as steps back too, though I did sometimes want to smack Jackson so damn hard. There was definitely some sexual undertones going on, sometimes a little more prevalent, so you can definitely say that there is a romance theme to the book, but it is by no means a major theme in the book at all.

I also really like the fact that this is called The Arcana Chronicles. I have never once read a book about the Arcana cards. I have once seen an anime about the Arcana cards, Arcana Famiglia and it was really good, but besides that I have not seen anything about these cards and this was totally awesome!

Overall this was a fantastic book and I definitely do recommend it. I can’t read the second and third book for a little bit as I have to wait for my next school break, so I’ll have to wait for the new year, and until then it’s going to kill me, this wait.

But until then, definitely check this series out and enjoy it!

Happy Reading!


The Young Elites (A Young Elites Novel) by Marie Lu

The Young Elites book cover Summary

“From the New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series 

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.
Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.”

-Qtd. from the Amazon.com

Review

So I’m back for Thanksgiving break and get a little bit of down time. Well…down time between writing research papers, studying and other bits and pieces, but I’ve found time to read! And it’s beautiful. I stopped by my local library, of course, and went to the recommended reading section as I just wanted something that looked good and was recommended and while I was going through the shelf, I picked this book up and my YA librarians voice carried over to me. “I just finished that one and it’s really good!” I didn’t need any more motivation to give it a book. If it’s on the recommended reading shelf and my librarian suggests it, I’m totally down to read it, and boy am I glad that I did. It’s exactly what I wanted!

So this book follows the protagonist and she essentially doesn’t fit into the society because of what she is, a malfetto. Malfettos are creatures that essentially had a sickness when they are younger and now have magical abilities and are marked. The people of the world view them more demonic because they get their abilities, in a way, from the gods. So of course they are naturally terrified of them and the governing people want them gone, but for other reasons. A small group of malfettos, known as The Young Elites want to overthrow the government due to the fact that they are surpassed. They also constantly look out for others who have abilities that are as powerful as theirs and such. That is where the protagonist comes in. She catches the eye of them and is brought in to use her abilities, though they are not exactly what they were expecting. Instead of just being abilities, they draw on emotions that are way stronger than expected, such as hate and fear with a mixture of passion, and some view that as an explosive mixture. Thus, she is unstable and it follows her journey of her time with the group and is, of course, a cliff hanger to lead into the second book, The Rose Society (which I still have to read).

Overall I thought this book was fantastic! It was a fantasy book, more medieval in nature, and that is why I loved it so much. I have always enjoyed books with the supernatural/fantasy element to them and this was perfect because it brought in YA protagonists. I will say that there are some more mature themes in this, such as brothels and hints towards gay relations, so I do recommend it for older YA readers, but other than that it was fantastic.

It was nice how the main characters developed and it kept you on your toes. Not everyone was who you thought they were and you weren’t always able to figure that out, which is nice. Sometimes in books you can see certain things coming and other times not, and this was definitely a ‘you-cannot-totally-see-it-coming’ book. But that was why I loved it! It kept you guessing as to what was going to happen and who was going to try to kill who.

There was also a little bit of romance in the book but nothing that it distracted you from everything going on. It was a nice little side thing going on but it wasn’t to the point that this could be called a romance book by any means thought it was also there enough to keep you interested and wondering what may happen as well.

It wasn’t a huge book, only about 344 pages which is average for a YA book and I read it in a few hours, which is just me. But it is also quite a simple read which is nice as well. The sentence structure wasn’t difficult to follow and it fit perfectly in the modern YA genre.

And that ending! Ugh. Don’t even get me started. I need the next one like ASAP!!!

Honestly, I thought this was a fantastic book and I can’t wait to read the next one! It just came out in October so it’s definitely hot off the press. I’m also excited to read her other series, The Legend Trilogy, the first book which I already have and am ready to start-up as soon as possible!

Happy reading!


Noragami (2014-)

Summary

A minor god looks to gain recognition and uses the help of a girl while having conflicts with his Regalia.

Review

So, I totally watched this entire season in 1 day. And to say I want more is an understatement. This is not some deep show where you have to concentrate, but it is light, gives quite a few laughs, has decent animations and is just overall fun to watch! There are some interesting underlying ideas behind the issues which the main characters have such as popularity, not fitting in and similar concepts.

Most likely a lot of anime lovers wouldn’t love this show due to the fact that it’s not a huge one, like Bleach or One Piece (with so many episodes I can’t even keep track), but I like that it’s smaller. It follows a god by the name of Yato and he wants to gain attention. In the show the people of Japan would pray to the gods before big events and call upon the gods for help for various things from wishing someone was dead to just passing a test. Yato wants to be called upon more and get more money so that he could have a shrine. Having a shrine means that you truly are a god as you have a place to have people worship you. As of now he resorts to putting his phone number on walls or bathroom stalls.

Yato, along with his Regalia (which is a spirit which he can use as a weapon), and his girl companion fight these creatures called Phantoms which are essentially dark spirits and they can corrupt people. The gods job is to keep the Phantoms in check and kill them off using their Regalias.

There is quite a lot of comedy in the show and it had me laughing quite hard. The show definitely is for 16 and up because of some of the jokes but nothing was terribly inappropriate like some animes can definitely be.

I also did quite like the opening theme song.

Overall I really did enjoy it and was sad that there was only one season so far so I’m hoping that they’re going to bring it back this year. Just have to hope!

Oh, and please watch it in Japanese with English sub titles. It’s much more authentic and you lose a lot of the feelings when you watch it in English. Believe me. I’ve spent time watching the same episode in English and Japanese and it’s honestly not the same. It is sometimes hard to keep up with the subtitles, but you will learn how to do it in time. But it really does change the experience a whole lot when you watch it in English!

Happy watching!


Maleficent (2014) – Movie Review

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure here.

Starring

Angelina Jolie – Maleficent
Elle Fanning – Aurora
Sharlto Copley – Stefan

Summary

“Explore the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain in this wickedly fun twist on the classic SLEEPING BEAUTY. In an unforgiving mood after a neighboring kingdom threatens her forest, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) places an irrevocable curse on the king’s newborn daughter, the Princess Aurora. but as the child grows, Maleficent finds herself becoming fond of the girl. And as the conflict between the two realms intensifies, Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land. Journey beyond the fairy tale in this soaring adventure that is “visually arresting, brilliantly designed” (Andrew Barker, Variety).”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Honestly, I’m speechless. This movie was absolutely stunning. The visual effects were beautiful, the characters were portrayed amazingly well, and the story of such an evil villain, and showing how she wasn’t necessarily what others saw, was so creative.

In the Sleeping Beauty story, and in the movie, you always disliked Maleficent, and you were supposed to because she was the bad guy, oh, sorry, bad woman. But in this movie, it showed why she was portrayed to be the bad woman and how she changed as she watched Aurora grow and looked after her.

So the story was the first amazing thing about it, how they were able to twist such a well-known story and make you feel for her. But then the other amazing thing was the visual effects. From the moment the movie started, it was magical and the creatures, from fairies to the water creatures, was just stunning.

Some of the creatures were kind of creepy looking, but they were supposed to be. It was all about judging someone by how they looked throughout this entire movie. They judged Maleficent and her friends because they were magical beings and the one Kingdom wanted to destroy them because of it.

Now Angelina Jolie, playing Maleficent was amazing. She played that part SO well. She took on that role and really was just….amazing. I don’t know how else to explain it because she had the personality down pat and was able to get all the subtle things down. Jolie was able to walk around with an air of grace but deadly grace when she went evil.

This, is probably one of my favorite scenes of her portrayal of the character in the movie with the way she looks down and acts all innocent but has this deadly air to her.

So, to me, besides the story, the visual effects were the best thing to me as I’ve always been interested in how they do it and such and it’s amazing how magical they can make a movie nowadays.

All in all, this is a really really good movie. It was PG-13, so it’s not for children, and it really wasn’t, especially with all the violence. For being based on a Disney movie, this really was Hollywoodized (not a word, but I’m making it one now) which is kind of annoying but as a near adult, it didn’t really detract from the movie for me and I still loved it, but if you want your younger kid to watch this, this really isn’t for them because of the nature of what happens. It is quite a dark movie, lighting wise (for parts of it), and dark also in the nature of what happens.

I highly recommend it, even if you don’t really like Disney movies, because I don’t love Disney movies but still absolutely loved this. It take the classical fairy tales and adds a twist to them.

So let me know what you think and enjoy!


Archangel’s Blade (Guild Hunter) by Nalini Singh

Summary

“Trying to discover the identity of a murder victim brings together the vampire Dmitri and a hunter for the Guild, Honor. And as the gruesome murders continue, a lethal sensuality explodes between them.”

– From Amazon.com

Review

This is not the type of book that I would usually read but I am glad that I read this one. Yes, it is part of a series and this is not the first book, as I wasn’t aware that it was a series when I started it, but you didn’t need to read the other ones to understand it. I am waiting for the first book to arrive at my library so you can be expecting a review of the ENTIRE series sometime soon.

This book was incredible. It was romance, but that wasn’t the entire premises of the story. Most romance novels don’t have a story except the exploding relationship between a man and a woman. This had SO much more. There was a story behind it, lots of characters,  LOTS of character development, and just so much happening overall.

This story kept me turning pages and wanting to read more because of what was happening. Dimitri was such an incredible character. He was charming, sexy, but deadly underneath. Kinda like an immortal bad-boy XD . I did sometimes want to smack him because he was hard-headed but he was also quite persistent. He was also quite arrogant. But that is kinda understandable considering he was a 1,000 year old vampire. Then there was the main girl character, Honor.

She was such a strong character and I loved that about her. Often these types of novels write the main character as wimpy and weak and submits to the man, but Honor did not do that at all. She stood up to Dimitri and wouldn’t fall to his special ‘powers’. She constantly tried to kick his ass and used words to keep him in check. She did a pretty good job at it and that intrigued him because no one had ever said no to him before.

But besides there being just vampires there were angels and they were pretty cool as well. This book didn’t focus on them even though the first book does, so I can’t comment on them too much, but I will talk about them later in the other reviews

But the vampires in this novel were quite interesting. As most of the times that vampires are portrayed (except in Twilight), they had a thirst for blood and sex. But then there was Dimitri. He had been like that until he met Honor and everything changed. She reminded him of his wife who had died when he was still a human (I believe), about 1,000 years ago or so.

So the entire story was about their relationship and them dancing around each other, testing the waters and such. And then the ending was like a brick wall to the face. I WASN’T EXPECTING IT! I was shocked to a whole new level.

But wow! It was incredible. This book is definitely mature YA, about 17/18 or older because of some of the sexual themes and some of the violence which got pretty graphic a few times.

I recommend that you read it but probably start with the first one of the series Angel’s Blood. But if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. I do recommend that you read this but it is for MATURE READERS ONLY!


Embrace by Jessica Shirvington (Embrace Series)

Summary

“It starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”

On her 17th birthday, everything will change for Violet Eden. The boy she loves will betray her. Her enemy will save her. She will have to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, EMBRACE is a compelling novel of good and evil, seductive desires and impossible choices. A centuries old war between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity chooses a new fighter. It’s a battle Violet doesn’t want, but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. If angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden.

LINCOLN: He’s been Violet’s one anchor, her running partner and kickboxing trainer. Only he never told her he’s Grigori—part human, part angel—and that he was training her for an ancient battle between Angels and Exiles.

PHOENIX: No one knows where his loyalties lie, yet he’s the only one there to pick up the pieces and protect her after Lincoln’s lies. In a world of dark and light, he is all shades of gray.

Two sides: Angel or Exile.
Two guys: Lincoln or Phoenix.
The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity…”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I have to say, I think that this is my new favorite series now. I have been reading a lot of angel and demon literature recently and absolutely love it and so I saw this sitting on the shelf in B&N the other day and just had to pick it up. The cover was what got me initially because the color of it stood out from the rest and so it sparked me to pick it up. Reading the back made it sound interesting as well. I always love a good romance and fight between the two boys for one girl (I mean what lucky girl wouldn’t?)

And I have to say, I really love this book. It had EVERYTHING that I was looking for. Action, romance, love, desire, troubles and great character development. You really saw the main character, Violet, develop through the entire story and face troubles and have to conquer her own problems.

You then had her good friend, Lincoln, who was her trusty friend and loved her but had lied to her, thus breaking the trust and hurting Violet severely. Linc was still there for her but Violet couldn’t trust him anymore. That was when Phoenix stepped in.

He was a rock to stand with and she trusted him. The only problem, he’s was an angel. Doesn’t really matter whether he was an angel of light or dark, but he had powers. He tried to manipulate her from day one and in the beginning she knew that, but as time passed it seemed like he was backing off with the powers and that it really was love. Oh, the poor naive girl.

You also had some other great characters. Griffin who was the mentor and you just loved and thought was awesome. He reminded me of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (anyone out there a fan….or even remember that TV show?).You also had a woman, Magda, who I just wanted to smack a few times. She was kind of obnoxious but you didn’t get to know much about her which I was happy about.

Then there was also the romance.

O.O

Just wow. I mean Phoenix loved her and he really did seem to, but manipulated her slightly (sometimes a lot). Lincoln absolutely loved her as well and showed it and did everything that he could to stop Phoenix from being with her and in the end, was right (but won’t say how hehe).

There was also a nice fight between Lincoln and Violet when she got to let out some pent-up anger, and then an epic fight in the end between the good and dark (won’t say who :P).

The fight scenes were put together quite well, but maybe a little more detail would have been good. I understand that it really is quite hard to write a good fight scene (believe me, I’ve tried and it takes practice), but the good thing about leaving it a little vague was that you got to use your imagination. But god forbid, the younger generation now a days can’t do that. I love using my imagination which is why I love to write so I didn’t mind it at all, but I know others won’t find it as easy.

There was some romance in it that was more than what younger readers should know about. Sex was mentioned, but it was very vague. So for that reason I recommend this book for 16 and up. And I don’t think that language was an issue, if I remember correctly. Just some using the Lord’s name in vain….but I mean it did fit the situation and events.

But I have to say, overall, I just absolutely LOVED the book and am totally in love with this author. I had never come across her works but I saw this book next to one of her newer ones and I just had to buy the first two books (just starting the second one now). I really never buy series books just because my library usually has then, but I am so glad that I did buy them. It was a good choice on my part.

So please do go and check out this book as it was amazing and I am sure that you will love it. It is fast paced, exciting, and a page turned. I finished it in a day and it is a 369 paged book. So proud of myself. 😛

I am also really happy that angel/demon books seem to be making a come back and seem to be doing well. They are always interesting to read and fun to write as well (yup……….I have no life). But they aren’t too religious so you don’t have to worry about those issues. This book talked about God but the protagonist didn’t even believe in God in the beginning and never went to church. So you can write books about angel’s, heaven, and hell and not have to make it religious. But I am sure that many people will love this book.

Read and enjoy. Happy Reading!