Thank you Netgalley, Silver Dolphin Books and Baker & Taylor Publishing Group for the E-ARC.
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read! Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.
Review:
An interesting twist on the classic story of Sleeping Beauty. This book allows you at certain points in the story to choose a path for the characters - allowing you to have a say and some control over how the story goes on, and thus, the conclusion of the story.
I found the twist on her curse to be fun -- where she sleeps during the day, in her glass coffin, as an endless line of suitors pass by her, and at night, she is awake, but everyone in the castle/kingdom are asleep (flip-flopped situation for daytime and nighttime).
I enjoyed her decision to become a vampire slayer at night to protect her (father's) kingdom. And then, well, she falls for a vampire (well at least in "my story" she does). All in all, this was a quick enjoyable short read.
Thank you Netgalley and Carina Press for the eARC.
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
Sold to the highest-ranked aristocrat!
That's what Winnifred Percy, New York City heiress, considered her engagement to Sir David Knightsbridge, Earl of Wolshingham. It's 1902 and she wants to be a modern woman, free to travel the world. To do that she needs to show the Earl she is a completely unsuitable bride.
Smoking and cursing doesn't have much effect on David so Winn reads him a very naughty French book. That leads to unexpectedly passionate kisses, and David's declaration that he wants to marry her. Drat! Even when she takes him to Coney Island to mingle with ordinary people and eat exotic hot dogs he's intrigued...and intriguing.
When desire leads them into scandal, Winn realizes she's ruined his hopes for restoring his family's honor. Can she let him go to find a more suitable bride?
Review:
I initially was drawn to the book by the synopsis - I thought the main character, Winn, was going to be witty to the extreme, to try to get out of this arranged marriage. As luck would have it, David actually found her tactics and antics unveiling her to be that much more desirable. And then throughout this period, Winn becomes drawn to him, even as she is still attempting to resist and forgo this arranged marriage.
I found Winn's character to be not all that enticing - I never really clicked with her character and many a times she behaved so ignorantly, it was rather bothersome. Also, I never really found David to be the prince charming she thinks she is coming to see in him - crass language and his interactions/ commands of Winn (though he does become less of a jerk to her by the end).
All in all, this novella was a quick read, not accurate in its historical time-frame, and kind of lagged a bit in "romance" though it definitely is an erotica/18-and-over book -- so it didn't disappoint in that aspect or scenes.
Thank you Netgalley & Carina Press for the electronic ARC.
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
When Kenan, an incubus, finds a caged angel for sale in the Hellsgate marketplace, he sees her as a challenge. Certain that his skills in seduction will work as well on a heavenly creature as they do on mortal women, he buys Jahel, intent on having her soul as a novelty in his collection.
Knowing he must gain Jahel's trust if she is to come to his bed willingly, Kenan treats her more as his guest than as his slave. When she reveals what brought her to the mouth of Hell in the first place-retrieving the soul of a young girl she was guarding-he even offers to help her complete her mission.
Though he has promised Jahel freedom, Kenan soon realizes she has captured his heart instead. And as their passion for one another grows, they find themselves caught in a struggle between Heaven and Hell, one that will lead them to the very edge of the apocalypse...
Review:
Demon’s Fall is a sweet, almost novella-length paranormal erotica story where Kenan, an incubus, purchases a captured angel, Jahel, with the intent to collect her soul through his incubus powers – sex of course. Kenan collects souls, which once extracted from a person/being, become token coins. With the purchase of Jahel, he sees her angel soul as the ultimate soul that would be in his collection. These initial plans, however, do not go as planned as he becomes more and more enamored with Jahel’s physique, and also after he decides to be honest and truly trying to gain Jahel’s trust by offering to help Jahel with her mission which brought her to Hellsgate in the first place.
I found the angel-demon relationship and dynamic to be an interesting storyline – and I especially was fond of the originality of the setting and some parts of the mythology / Biblical references. The author provided very well written descriptions of the places and different characters and beings encountered in the story. The story’s time period is a bit unclear, but from Kenan’s mentions of his previous conquers and souls collected, it sounds like it could be anywhere from (what I think) the Middle Ages up to early/mid 1700’s. Though when this story takes place does not really have much, if any, significance to the story.
I really did enjoy reading this story. Though I thought it was going to have more elements of erotica in it, the scenes and elements that are found in the story are well written and fun and exhilarating to read. Though this book is put under the “erotica” genre, it pretty much only went as far as soft-core erotica, so for those that are looking for steamy sex scenes between angels and demons in every other page, this would not be a story for you. I’m a sucker for the forbidden love element, so the story delivered with Kenan and Jahel falling for each other. The ending was especially adorable, and a happy ending is always a plus.
Thank you NetGalley, HaperCollins, and Balzer + Bray for the electronic ARC.
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.
Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.
Review:
I was excited to read this book, since the synopsis looked good and all the hype over it. I was sadly disappointed with Bumped when I did get to read an advanced galley.
While this dystopia is an interesting concept, I felt it fell short of bringing the "so what?" to the storyline. It seems that within the last/current/to-come months, there have been many fertility-crazed dystopian YA's that have come out (XVI, Wither - to name a few). Sadly, I felt Bumped did not bring very much to the table, in terms of having engaging characters (I will say that Zen and Melody were decent characters), a decent plot and being well written.
Within the first few pages of the book, I knew I was not a fan of the writing style - especially with all the made-up-for-the-book slang. I did not think that using "bumped" instead of referring to sex, pregnancy, and all the other normal terms, was an engaging or cutting edge/ futuristic way of talking about sex, pregnancy and breeding teens based on their genes. I actually found it rather annoying by about page 50 or so.
I found the writing style to be choppy; specifically, when the author is switching back and forth and back and forth from Melody's perspective to Harmony's perspective. There were numerous times I had to go back to the beginning of a chapter to figure out who was narrating such and such part. And the narrative seemed to be quite rushed, so much that after I was done reading it, I was thinking to myself, there really wasn't very much happening in the book at all
There were also many lingering, pretty big questions that the author never addressed; ie, explaining the virus that causes humans to lose fertility by the age of 18, why the age of 18 specifically, how Goodside was developed/ the history or at least some background on its origins and separation from the rest of the world that became and is bumped obsessed, what happened to in-vitro fertilization and sperm/egg banks?
So, while the premise the author introduces in Bumped is quite interesting and has potential, it missed its mark in creating an enjoyable satirical dystopian story.
Thank you Netgalley and Red Sage Publishing for the ARC!
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
Real Estate agent Randi Brown works the rich crowd, selling high-priced homes. With her parents dead it’s up to her to financially support two teenage siblings and she wants to spread her wings by negotiating a billion dollar land deal. Only the landowner, a business mogul no one has seen in years isn’t interested in selling his mountain to a development corporation, and Randi sets out to change his mind any way possible, even if that means sleeping with the reclusive billionaire.
After two years, since his wife’s brutal murder, Nicholas "Nick" Wolfe prefers to mourn her than get involved in business. So he lives cut off from society on Wolfe Mountain. Through his attorney, he’s offered billions, but no one knows to what extent the value of the land is more than the inhabitants—the Lycans, human wolf-like animal shifters.
When Randi shows up on the mountain one rainy night, Nick tires to fight the desires of the wolf in him to take a mate. Unfortunately, nature has made it impossible to resist the animalistic urges strengthened by the influence of a full moon and the power of lust in this woman’s eyes. Can love know no bounds?
Randi has no idea of where this torrid affair can lead until she learns the gruesome details of a woman’s murder by a creature not quite human. Then she becomes the next target and she discovers how falling in love can lead to a fatal attack from a Lycan.
Review:
While I've read my fair share of paranormal romance books (and by that, I mean a lot of them), I found this one to be soo cliche and quite frankly, weird. The sad thing is that I can totally see this being a script for a really bad, beastiality porno -- that kind of shallowness and using the characters really just as props for sex, with no character development.
I did not like the main female character Randi. She was too "God I need sex, and when I need it, I am so going to get some." Seriously - does she have to be THAT horny and thinking of sex all the time -- I mean it automatically made me disconnect with the character because that is not how normal women think (majority anyway). And I did not like the constant subject of Randi ovulating, or as Nick was referring to it "a bitch in heat," and the constant urge he has to have sex with her just because of that, and oh, now that he's mated with her in almost every position and such, she is now his property as in she is his mate for life.
I thought that the sex scenes were really hot, if you didn't take into account that Nick is half-beast while taking her. It did justice to the erotica genre with its involvement of bdsm and bondage -- but definitely did NOT do it justice with the involvement of beastiality and Nick's constant referring of Randi as his dead wife. Those elements were just plain creepy. There is a similar sex scene with such beastiality in one of Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake books, but it was much more suave and not as weird/creepy as the scenes in this book were.
Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!
Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):
Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.
Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.
A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.
Review:
OMG - I seriously cannot get enough of Jenks and his adorable "Tink" swears. They make me laugh so hard.
Ok, that aside, I really enjoyed this book and would rank it as probably my favorite book in the series thus far. Not only do we catch up on how Jenks is doing with his deep loss that occurred in the last book, but also ALOT more about Trent, Al, Newt, the going-abouts in the demonic ever-after, and Rachel too. I think this book is really pivotal in the series in the sense that Rachel has come to realize and accept her status as "of demon origin" and that, hey, it might not be so bad to use black/demon magic against evil comes in the form of a crazy, lunatic day-walking demon that eats souls to live (eww to the imagery involved...).
I was pleasantly surprised how well the book was written, since the last 2-3 books kind of were "Eh" and dragging. But it seems that Kim Harrison has gotten her second wind (hopefully for the next few books too!) with this well written 9th book in the series that reflect upon her early books in the series.
There is a lot of action and fighting that keep you enthralled with the story and rooting for our merry band of characters (Ivy, Jenks, Rachel, Trent)....and sometimes Al too. ;) But along with all the action, there is a lot of focus on changing/evolving relationships between characters (Ivy/Rachel, Rachel/Al, Rachel/Trent, Rachel/Newt) so be prepared for some tears, some WAhhhhhh? moments and some surprises that come out of the left field.
Can't wait for the next book to see what happens! ^^
Weekly meme from The Story Siren. The idea is to post the books you got this week, whether you bought them, got them as a gift, from the library, or received them to review.
Weekly meme from The Story Siren. The idea is to post the books you got this week,whether you bought them, got them as a gift,from the library, or received them to review.
Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the ARC!
Netgalley blurb:
ME?
A LEADER?
Okay, I did prove that there’s more to Inside than we knew. That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion—between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we’re free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again—while still touching base with Riley, of course. He’s the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there’s outside and then there is Outside.
And something from Outside wants In.
My Synopsis:
With the Force of Sheep’s success at overthrowing the Trava family dictatorship over the Uppers and Scrubs of the Inside, Trella begins to realize that there are many hurdles and feats that still need to be accomplished in order to have a happy, organized and functioning population of Inside individuals. In place of the Trava dictatorship, a council of 19 members, consisting of 9 Uppers that were major players in the first and now this revolt, 9 Scrub representatives, one for each labor of trade, and then Jacy. Trella refused to be part of the committee but has accepted the role as a consultant for the council.
Trella is aggravated with her time “being wasted” in council meetings, since they don’t take into account her advice, and the council meetings also ebb away the time she wants to be spending doing two of her favorite things: being with Riley and exploring the area of the Inside she discovered that has room and supplies to create 5 more levels.
Shortly after the success of the rebellion, the setting up of the council and commencing the construction of levels 5 and more, strange things begin to occur – attacks on Logan and Trella, disappearing computer files, bombs, and oh the Controllers are taking back control of all the systems. Trella is required once again to step-up and help determine who the perpetrators are, figure out who she can and cannot trust, and guide Insiders, Uppers and Scrubs alike, to defeat the newest threat that has arrived to the Inside, from the Outside.
Review:
**Warning: some spoilers**
Love, love, loved it! MVS has done it again with Outside In and Trella’s story. From the very beginning, I was hooked – hook, line and sinker. I literally inhaled this book in one day. I enjoying discovering more about Riley, Logan and his sister, and Lamont. I also liked the introduction to some of the new characters – I’ll just say some of them you grow to like, only to hate, but accept them again, and then there are some interesting characters that you just want to cut off their oxygen and put a punishment collar on them and perhaps castrate them (but some kind of already are, in a way, haha). The flow of the story from start to finish was good. There were literally no chapters or parts of the book where I felt I could pause at to take breaks – each chapter ending seduces you / intrigues you / puts you on the edge of your seat, so that it’s difficult to part from the book without finishing it.
I really enjoyed reading more about Trella’s character and her behavior – especially how she has to mature, step-up to responsibilities and learn to think / look at the “big picture”. Trella also must face and deal with the reality of her relationship to Dr. Lamont, her birth mother and attempt to be on better terms with Dr. Lamont.
While the introduction of the Outsiders, their arrival, covert tactics and their physical description was a bit hooky in the sense that “OMG teh aliens are coming! And they don’t come in peace!”, I think MVS created a background story for the Outsiders that sounds plausible and is also quite interesting to read about. And to be honest, they make a great plot for the book as Trella and co.’s enemies and threat to the Inside and all who inhabit it. Congrats and thank you again Ms. Snyder for another wonderful novel and I hope there is a third Trella book possibly being considered or in the works.
Thank you Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC!
Synopsis (courtesey of GoodReads):
The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights. Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene has been haunted by her grandmother's prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever. When she discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice.
Review:
I was excited to read the next novel in the Tamsin Greene series. I especially enjoyed the author’s descriptions of not only Tamsin’s surroundings, but also each character physically – like I could see the 19th century town, Knight house and its glory, and the clothing from the period.
It was interesting to find out what other types of Talents newly introduced characters have, since each person has such a unique Talent. The Knight family of the 19th century has some pretty cool Talents, though they prove to be mainly problematic, but also helpful for Tamsin.
While I enjoyed the story, I thought it could have been more flourished, since the storyline didn’t have me on the edge of my seat for most of the book. I also thought that the story was a little on the short side – why not have 2 or more big events/dilemmas the protagonist must deal with, or perhaps go into subplots. Always A Witch, and the Witch series in general, I categorize as a young-YA type of book, since it does not have the edginess other paranormal YA books tend to have (i.e., more physical type romances, more dire situations/dilemmas the protagonist must face). I think this would be a good book to give a pre-teen, early teen as an introduction into the paranormal and fantasy genres. BUT – I look forward to reading more of Ms. MacCullough’s novels and see more of Tamsin Greene. :)
Thank you Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC!
In 2060, the world 17-year-old Maddie (Madeline) lives in is lived through computers and networks. No one has to leave their homes to go to school or work, to “chat” and hang out with contacts/friends, see a movie, get coffee – everything has become a virtual reality existence. This is a result not really due to technological advancements pressing for this to happen, but rather because of the escalating school violence – shootings and bombings at schools of all levels – and an attempt to keep children in a safe, peaceful environment. And for Maddie, being permanently grounded and is always being monitored by her father, her world is very controlled and restricted – a world that has become to her a prison sentence and is suffocating her.
Her rigid and regimented life, however, becomes interesting upon meeting Justin on an online tutoring site, who then entices her to actually physically meet up with him at the tutoring center in town. Though apprehensive at first, Maddie agrees to meet Justin. After their face-to-face meeting and other meetings, Maddie begins to question the digitalized world, what is so dangerous about actually physically meeting and hanging out with people, to express her true feelings and opinions, instead of hiding them away and being secretive and anonymous, and discovering her unknowing role in the resistance against digitalized life.
I really enjoyed this novel, which is Katie Kacvinsky’s debut book, and I think it was extremely well written (I couldn’t put it down and finished it in less than a day). It reminded me of a mixture of Matched/ Hunger Games series/ the Uglies series, which turns out to be a great and fascinating combination. I also loved learning about the dynamics and ins-and-outs of the resistance groups. This dystopian novel – which I suspect will become a series – takes a more “what if computers ruled the world/ dictated humans’ lives” storyline. Not in the sense like Terminator computers taking over, but that our/humans’ entire lives are spent on and through computers and everyone else that is “plugged in.” This digitalization of the world occurred when Maddie was 6 – but what bothers me is how the adults, who accomplished in digitalizing the world and everyone (and almost everything) in it, suppose the human race is supposed to continue / procreate if people are not meeting each other physically. Sure, you would be able to do online dating, but you can’t really do online marriages, or have/make kids via online. I would be interested to find out, perhaps in the second novel if there is a series to this story, how the adults who run the digitalization of life in 2060 think they will be able to continue the human populace, if people aren’t willing to leave their houses for anything.
Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the arc!
I was very excited when I received a copy of the Iron Queen, since I have recently finished reading the Iron Fey book #2, Iron Daughter, and read Iron Queen in a day’s time. When we left Meghan Chase at the end of Iron Daughter, Meghan and Ash had both been revoked of their ties with their respective royal fey courts and also banished as exiles from Faerie forever.
Meghan and Ash together have accepted their fates and accepted their future in the human world. The Iron Fey, however, prove to still be a threat for Meghan, her dealings with fey, and keeping her from having a happy relationship with Ash. The false king and his Iron fey minions still after Meghan, and the destruction of the Iron fey in Faerie is becoming more destructive – so much that the courts reconsider their rulings for Meghan and Ash, and also to wage a united front against the Iron fey forces. Meghan, Ash, Puck and her ally friends (including the ever elusive Grim) are once again in a mission, to defeat the false king and his forces, and ultimately the fate of all of Faerie’s occupants.
I was thrilled that Iron Queen not only met my expectations set by the other two books, but exceeded my expectations – it is a wonderful story of self-acceptance and acceptance of responsibility (on Meghan’s part), discovery, and of course, the romance between Ash and Meghan and the new trials their relationship faces. If you are thinking “Puck,” then you are right – he is still part of the strain on the Meghan/Ash relationship, but other events and decisions also test their loyalty and trust of one another.
Many previously encountered characters come into play once again in the Iron Queen, as well as a whole pack of new characters (my favorite has to be Razor). I also love the return of Grimlakin – every time, I picture him as the Cheshire cat from Alice and Wonderland J, especially hearing Grim speaking with Stephen Fry’s voice (he voiced the Chesire Cat in the 2010 Disney Alice and Wonderland movie).
There are parts that keep you on the edge of your seat/ biting your nails as you read, and others that are so emotionally driven that I was brought to tears at some points. The book does not fail to deliver an amazing tale. Thank you Julia Kagawa for yet another masterful novel, and the beautifully written continuation of Meghan Chase and her dealings with Faerie and fey. I eagerly await the release of Iron Knight.
