Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan

Received for review

Paperback: 416 pages

• Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (13 Sep 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1444707027
• ISBN-13: 978-1444707021
• You can run from your past, but it will always catch up.
  
  Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason it never seems to get any easier. She’s left behind her days of debauchery to find peace and forgiveness at River’s Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There she’s uncovered her family’s epic history, reclaimed her magickal powers, and met Reyn, whom she dubs “the Viking god.” Just as she settles into her new life, Nastasya learns that her old friends might be in town....
  
  Reuniting with her gorgeous and dangerous ex-best-friend, Innocencio, Nas wonders if she’ll ever be truly free of her dark legacy. Is Incy dangerous, power-hungry, and wicked? Or is he the only one who truly understands Nas’s darkness? Either way, Nas is desperate to find out who she really is-even if the answer kills her.
• Cover: I don't hate this cover, but I prefer the style of the original cover design for this series.  I'm not a big fan of facial close ups on book covers.

After finishing book 1 and absolutely loving it, I wanted to delve into book 2 straight away.

It starts up where Immortal Beloved left off, and I loved it just as much.  There were a couple of times in the second half of the book where I wanted to reach through the pages and throttle Nastasya, thinking WHAT ON EARTH IS SHE DOING?!?!  For someone over 450 years old, she was incredibly naive.

But I was hooked, seeing her struggle with her family legacy, her choices and her feelings for Reyn.

These books are totally captivating and engrossing.  Especially as we get to see more and more of Nastasya's past, and discover more about the other Immortals at River's Edge, including River herself.

I'm looking forward to getting to book 3.  I highly recommend this series.

5/5 stars.

Summer Reading TAG

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

• Received for review
• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (20 Aug 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1408836424

It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.

Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.

Cover: A relevant cover.  Definitely makes you intrigued as to what the symbols actually mean.

I'm really torn with this book.  Everything about it screamed that it was going to be a perfect adult book for me, because as you guys know I read more YA/NA.  But I have mixed thoughts.
It started off so slow for me.  I honestly thought I'd have to abandon ship, because I couldn't seem to engage with it.
Because of the nature of the fantasy/dystopian plot, the intricacy, world building etc, we were subject to A LOT of build up, and info dumping.  It didn't seem to flow very well.  Like we were told instead of shown.  This may have been made more obvious because just before reading this I read ACID by Emma Pass, a YA dystopian, that I loved and the world in that felt very organic, and large sections of text didn't feel like a history lesson as it did with this one.
The different levels of clairvoyants, and what their actual gifts were, were so vast, I still don't know what they all mean.  It seemed overly complex.
But once I hit the halfway point, I started to fly through it.  The pace really picked up, I found Paige became much more of a likable character, and I became more intrigued about the whole set up of why she and all the other voyants were taken.
I liked the relationship between her and Warden- her 'keeper'.  I loved that it developed over time, you weren't always sure on his motives or what he was thinking.  Their relationship reminded my very much of Yelena and Valek from Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study Trilogy.
I did wish for more romance.  Distinct lack of it, and I love some romance in my books.
Over all, while The Bone Season dragged at the beginning, the second half really picked up for me and I became hooked.  The end has definitely made me want to continue the series, but I am worried that it's a seven part series, and from book one, I can't see it stretching, but we'll see.
On reflection- a week and a half after finishing this book, it's still been on my mind, and it's grown on me even more.  
3.5/5 stars.

UStarNovels Review

[This is not a sponsored post.  I was provided a novel in exchange for my honest review]

Have you ever been reading a novel and connected with a character?  Wished you were in it?

Well UStarNovels give you that chance.

They have a large range to choose from- you can star in a classic novel, Elizabeth in Pride & Prejudice, Jane in Jane Eyre or maybe Dracula and many more.  Or perhaps a contemporary romance/erotic novel.

I chose Anne of Green Gables- one of my all time favourite classic novels, and as I was reading it for the first time, I really identified with Anne Shirley and so thought it would be great to 'be' her.

When ordering you fill out a form which allows you to change the required fields- or you can leave them as they are- pick and choose what you want to change.

The book itself is beautiful and won't look out of place on your bookshelf.  I would say that I wish that it was hardback, as I feel that it would be more 'readable' because it would allow you to read your special edition without worrying about such wear and tear as cracked spines.  It's a little thing.

I love that you're able to add a dedication as these make the perfect gift for a book lover.  They're such a fantastic, unique gift.

They remind me of a present I had from my grandparents when I was a kid.  So I feel that it has a sentimental attachment as well.

Over all I think these novels are a genius idea, appealing to something that all readers feel at some point- wanting to be in novel they enjoy.

I highly recommend them.

In Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1975 KB
• Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing (3 Jun 2013)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00D6T70LO

Gracie has just finished her freshman year of college in Memphis when she takes a job at a local pizza joint in her home town of McKenzie, Tennessee. She is the epitome of innocence when she meets Noah. Noah is unabashedly handsome, intriguingly reckless and just cocky enough to be sexy. Gracie’s instincts tell her to stay far away from him and based on the stories she hears from her co-workers he leaves broken hearts in his wake. But still, she can’t explain her fascination with him.

Noah puts aside his bad boy ways when what he thought was a summer crush has him unexpectedly falling in love. But soon after Gracie transfers to UT Knoxville to be with Noah, their unexpected love becomes riddled with anger, deceit and humiliation.

Jake, Noah’s former roommate and Gracie’s best friend, can no longer be a bystander. Gracie’s world falls out from beneath her and when she breaks she turns to Jake for strength. As Jake talks her through a decision she’s not yet strong enough to make, together they uncover a truth so ugly neither of them is prepared for its fallout. Will Jake pull her to the surface or is Gracie Jordan finally In Too Deep?

Cover:  I really love this cover- the black and white with the pop of light blue is really eye catching.

I had really high expectations of this one, and really wanted to love it, but I'm conflicted as it contained A LOT of my pet peeves in a book.
So for others, this will be a fantastic read.  Hands down.  But for me it was a struggle.
For me I couldn't connect to Gracie, I understand that a destructive relationship is damaging to self belief (an important to cover the topic) and can make a person insecure, but I like to read about strong female leads.  I swear it felt like she was crying on every page.
Noah is a jackass.  There's no way around it.  There's absolutely nothing redeeming about him.  But despite him humiliating her, bullying her, cheating on her- she stills takes him back.  She can't let him go.  It was kind of painful reading her thoughts when it comes to phrases like 'I don't know who I am without him.'  Sickening.  Because I seriously couldn't see why she'd want him.
The yo-yo-ing of 'it's over- I can't let go' became really tedious to the point that I just didn't care.
I felt her weakness grating on my nerves.
Jake.  Jake I liked- he's the complete opposite of Noah, but similarly, why he'd be interested in Gracie I can't possibly imagine.
Over all I feel this book had a lot of premise.  Gracie is where this books biggest problems lie.  If she had been different, I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more than I did.
Most reviews for this have been rave reviews, so maybe it's just me.
1.5/5 stars.

Book Haul/In My Mailbox 12/7/13

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week.

My dog just had his birthday (12 years old, thanks), so … how do you feel about books about dogs or pets? Fluffy stories of fluffy family members? Solid books on training them or taking care of them? Touching reminiscences of trouble and the way a person’s dog (or pet) has helped get them through?

(Mind you, almost all the pet-related books on my shelf are about dogs, but I’m well aware that people love their cats, horses, ferrets, rabbits, fish, etc. just as much, so … any species is fine!)

Any favorite books to recommend?

Happy Birthday to your dog!!!

I can't think of many books I've read where animals are the main focus.

But for Christmas one year I was given Oogy:The Dog Only A Family Could Love.

It was a beautiful, heartwarming tale about a family and a dog that changed their lives.

I loved this book.