Review: Ignite Me

Title: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.”

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end.

[DNF] Review: The Sweetest Dark

Title: The Sweetest Dark (The Sweetest Dark #1)
Author: Shana Abé
My Rating: DNF (33%)
Purchase:  Amazon | B&N | TBD

“With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.” 

Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.

England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.

Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.

Filled with lush atmosphere, thrilling romance, and ancient magic, The Sweetest Dark brilliantly captures a rich historical era while unfolding an enchanting love story that defies time.

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1)
Author: Ransom Riggs
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather— were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Review: Gameboard of the Gods

Title: Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1)
Author: Richelle Mead
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Review: Dracian Legacy

Title: Dracian Legacy (Dracian #1)
Author: Priya Kanaparti
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon

Ren and Axel are caught between two powerful magical races: one destined to end the bloodshed, the other out for vengeance. 

Seventeen-year-old Ren Pernell is prophesied to end the war between the Dracians and the Telalians. So when a Dracian, Axel Knight, is sent to find and bring back the prophesied one before she turns eighteen and Telalians discover of her existence, unexpected sparks start to fly between the two. Once Ren finds the truth behind Axel’s arrival, she wants everything to do with him and nothing to do with his mission.

Things prove to become difficult as Ren’s life is constantly threatened by the Goarders, humans who sold their souls, a Proxy Succubi, and the leader of the Telalians, who has been searching for her as well. 

With the clock ticking and Ren’s life in jeopardy, it is no longer just a mission for Axel. It becomes a personal endeavor to save the only one he’s ever loved. In a heart racing ending, they must find a way to evade the preordained war that won’t also end Ren’s life.

Review: Parallel

Title: Parallel
Author: Lauren Miller
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Review: Afterlife Academy

Title: Afterlife Academy
Author: Jaimie Admans
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon

Even being dead isn’t enough to get you out of maths class.

Dying wasn't on sixteen-year-old Riley Richardson's to-do list. And now, not only is she dead, but she's stuck in a perpetual high school nightmare. Worse still, she's stuck there with the geekiest, most annoying boy in the history of the world, ever.

In a school where the geeks are popular and just about everything is wrong, Riley has become an outcast. She begins a desperate quest to get back home, but her once-perfect life starts to unravel into something not nearly as great as she thought it was. And maybe death isn’t really that bad after all...

Welcome to Afterlife Academy, where horns are the norm, the microwave is more intelligent than the teachers, and the pumpkins have a taste for blood.

Review: Unravel Me

Title: Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2)

Author: Tahereh Mafi

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

Review: Destroy Me

Title: Destroy Me (Shatter Me #1.5)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . .

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Review: Shatter Me

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

   

Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Blog Tour: By the Light of the Moon (Review + Author Interview + Giveaway)

Title: By the Light of the Moon (Lakeside #1)
Author: Laila Blake

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon US/UK | iTunes

Synopsis: Withdrawn and with a reputation for her strange, eccentric ways, young Lady Moira Rochmond is old to be unwed. Rumors say she has been seen barefoot in the orchard, is awake all night in moon-struck rambles, and sleeps all day. Some even claim her ghostly pallor and aloof manner are signs of illness, a curse, or insanity.

The hopes of the peaceful succession to her father’s fief lie in an advantageous marriage. Moira, however, has a hard time attracting suitors. When one does show interest, her family pushes for a decision.

Almost resigned to the fact that she has no choice but to play the part she has been given in life, Moira is faced with Owain, a member of the mysterious Blaidyn creatures and a new guard in her father’s castle, specifically tasked to keep her safe. He is different from other people she knows and when one night under the full moon she makes the acquaintance of the wolf who shares Owain’s soul, she starts to trust him and seek his presence. As he becomes one of the few individuals who doesn’t make her want to hide and retreat, she wants to learn more about him and they grow closer until they share a kiss one night under the moon.

Faced with feelings and desires that overthrow everything she thought she knew about herself, Moira knows non-the-less that they have to be kept utterly secret. However much they try, they continue to be drawn to each other until one night, Owain discovers something about Moira that shakes him to his core.

Review: School Spirits

Title: School Spirits
Author: Rachel Hawkins

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

Review: The Rules

Title: The Rules
Author: Stacey Kade

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: 1. Never trust anyone.

2. Remember they are always searching. 

3. Don’t get involved.

4. Keep your head down.

5. Don’t fall in love.

Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”

But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…

Review:

"Pretending to feel something you don't can often lead you to the real thing, in some form."

The Rules was surprisingly awesome. It went beyond my expectation and was really enjoyable. Most sci-fi stories happened in the future or are post-apocalyptic but this one is different. It happened at present time, where aliens are still considered freaks and mean girls in high school is still a trend.

The first time you read it, you might say that this is just another high school story--unpopular girl with a very loud and insecure best friend, a mean girl who is the granddaughter of the biggest employer and a guy who's part of the mean girl's inner circle who eventually realises that he had enough of all the things this mean girl has done. Yes, it's quite cliche but here's the catch: that unpopular girl is an alien/human hybrid with awesomesauce powers that could be a weapon.

What made me feel on edge is the looming threat in every move Ariane makes. I'm freakin scared for her! But I also want her to forget the Rules and have fun. Every page made me guess what will happen next. It kept the suspense till the end. And the freakin revelation was some holy-shit moment for me. I seriously didn't see that one coming!

The characters were amazing. They had made a good impression especially Rachel. Her character wasn't made to just fill a spot to make the high school plot believable. (yes, because there's a mean girl in every high school) She was very relevant till the end. I even think she'll become a turncoat in the future.

I also loved how it ended as if really meant that the first part is done, like the next book would mean that their adventures will be another chapter in their lives. It wasn't a cliffy but it still made me want to read the next book ASAP. A really amazing start to a series. A very cool and unique sci-fi story.

--

This copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my review in any way.

Review: Warm Bodies

Title: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion

My Rating: 5 out 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams. 

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Review:

"She is Living and I'm Dead, but I'd like to believe we're both human."

I am not a fan of zombies and I actually don't understand why other people likes them, but this book did made me fall in love not just with its zombie characters but the whole story with it. Warm Bodies surprised me with it's humorous and amusing POV.

It wasn't that exciting to be honest. I didn't felt the action despite some hunting scenes. It didn't have the usual 'unfolding' as the story goes on. It actually started with the idea about what it's like being dead and the want to be alive.

R was not like the other zombies. Yes, he was hunting and feeding from the Living and acts like the other zombies. But despite he's state, he was actually alive or maybe sort of, but not entirely. He wanted to be alive though. He wanted to remember what it was like before he died.

I can't find the right words to describe what this novel is like or what I felt about it other than this made me want to live and to stay alive. It bleeds life and hope despite what the world is like. The whole story represented our lives with all the challenges in it, and the characters were how we tend to react to the different waves we encounter. Despite understanding where Perry's morbidity comes from, I also get why Julie wants to believe and keep on fighting. I understand R's desire to be alive once again. This novel speaks reality.

Here are some lines I highlighted while reading:

"I'm sorry I can't properly introduce myself, but I don't have a name any more. Hardly any of us do. We lose them like car keys, forget them like anniversaries." 

*** 

"But it does make me sad that we've forgotten our names. Out of everything, this seems to be the most tragic. I miss my own and I mourn for everyone else's, because I'd like to love them, but I don't know who they are." 

***  

"The new hunger is a strange feeling. We don't feel it in our stomachs - some of us don't even have those. We feel it everywhere equally, a sinking, sagging sensation, as if our cells are deflating."

***  

"Once you've arrived at the end of the world, it hardly matters which route you took."

***

"I chew off a man's arm, and I hate it. I hate his screams, because I don't like pain, I don't like hurting people, but this is the world now."

***  

"Breathing is optional, but I need some air." 

***  

"When the entire world is built on death and horror, when existence is a constant state of panic, it's hard to get worked up about any one thing."

***  

"Maybe you're not such a monster, Mr. Zombie. I mean, anyone who appreciates good bear is at least half way okay in my book."

***  

"Want it...to hurt. But...doesn't."

***  

"I long for exclamation marks, but I'm drowning in ellipses."

*** 

"Music is life! It's physical emotion - you can touch it! It's neon ecto-energy sucked out of spirits and switched into sound waves for your ears to swallow." 

*** 

"He gave up, basically. Quit his life. Real death was just the next logical step."

*** 

"All the shitty stuff people do to themselves...it can all be the same thing, you know? Just a way to drown out your own voice. To kill your memories without having to kill yourself."

***  

"You think death isn't meaningful?"

***  

"Can I have both? Can I survive in this doomed world and still love Julie, who dreams above it?"

***  

"I want to scrub the moss off the Space Shuttle and fly Julie to the moon and colonise it, or float a capsized cruise ship to some distant island where no one will protest us, or just harness the magic that brings me into the brains of the Living and use it to bring Julie into mine, because it's warm in here, it's quiet and lovely, and in here we aren't an absurd juxtaposition, we are perfect."

***  

"There's no benchmark for how life's 'supposed' to happen, Perry. There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you how to respond to it."

***  

"How do we fix everything? It's so broken. Everyone is dying, over and over again, in deeper and darker ways."

***  

"I don't have the answers she's asking for, but I can feel their existence. Faint point of light in the distant dark."

***  

"What's the point of trying to fix a world we're in so briefly? What's the meaning in all that work if it's just going to disappear? Without warning?"

 *** 

"Are we trying to stay alive because we think the world will get better someday?"

***  

"I know I didn't deserve her. She offered me everything and I pissed on it. So now it's your turn, R. Go keep her safe. She's a lot softer than she seems."

***  

"What I'm trying to say is, it's a shitty world and shit happens, but we don't have to bathe in shit."

 *** 

"I think we crushed ourselves down over the centuries. Buried ourselves under greed and hate and whatever other sins we could find until our souls finally hit rock bottom of the universe. And then they scraped a hole through it, into some...dark place."

***  

"We released it. We poked through the seabed and the oil erupted, painted us black, pulled our inner sickness out for everyone to see. Now here we are in this dry corpse of a world, rotting on our feet till there's nothing left but bones and the buzz of flies."

Warm Bodies is a poignant story about life. One that would make you question which side are you standing now and which side do you want to stay.


--


This copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my review in any way.

Review: The Witches' Sleep

Title: The Witches' Sleep
Author: Kaitlyn Deann

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: At only seventeen, Ella Barnes is shot and killed for an unknown reason. She is shocked when she wakes up in a different world, a world of witches. Ella has to learn to adapt to a new body, new life and new world, surrounded by new people. As Ella gets to know Raena, the world of the witches, and its people, she realizes that they aren’t the perfect creatures they believe themselves to be, and she’s not the type of person to stand around and twiddle her thumbs. Will Ella succeed in changing the mindset of the people? Or will she be doomed to die another cold and tragic death because of her rebellion?

Review:

"Our human experiences are what makes us who we are."

When I first heard about this book, I was impressed that the author was just 17. Now that I've finished reading this, I'm impressed with what she's written. When I read the synopsis, I expected the normal thing with books about witches—having powers, being feared and being condemned. But this one is different from all that. Here, we're given a whole new world to explore where every person's a witch and "they were the most lovely and prosperous of all creatures in the whole universe."

At first, I was wary about this world separate from the Earth or Quan, as what the people from Raena call it. I thought it would be weird. 'Other' world are usually meant for aliens and others but not for witches. But the author did a great job in establishing Raena. It was not to different but not too common. Some things would always be there to remind the readers that this is a different world.

I really found Ella's reaction to this change believable. Her naivety paired with her I-really-don't-care-what-you-think attitude seems perfect for her. Although, I was in the middle of agreeing and disagreeing with the soul mate thing at first when Ella was sulking and was depressed over her boy friend. I really thought it was stupid to say that she finds him more important than her human parents, but after few things were explained and reveal I started to accept it. They can never love anyone like how they love their soul mate.

Among all characters, I loved and admired Thunder Clap the most. He was very loving and understand father but not the smothering type. Just someone who's willing to give up everything in a blink of an eye for his family. I know it's not uncommon to have such character but the way Deann wrote him was moving. If I'm not mistaken, she might have his father as an inspiration to this based on some of her random tweets about him.

The Witches' Sleep has a very good pacing and story flow with consistency, interesting characters that were well-developed. Deann is a very promising author and I am looking forward to the second book and to her future books as well.

Review: Born Wicked

    

Author: Jessica Spotswood

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

Review: A Shimmer of Angels

 

Author: Lisa M. Basso

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it’s more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?

Review:

"The thing about beliefs? Even the strongest can be shattered by the simplest of things."

People usually freak out when they see unusual things. Well, seeing guys with shiny wings are counted as unusual. Too bad it was too much, it landed Rayna into a mental health clinic.

This was the first book I've read about pretty boys with wings and it was a good start. I loved the book! The plot was definitely new to me but it wasn't confusing at all. I love the mix of making it like one of those 'feel' books despite the original PNR vibe. It wasn't just pure action, or excitement. It made me feel something by letting the Rayna's emotions bleed out from the page. And it wasn't overly done either. It still kept its suspense despite the drama.

With the characters, I love how Rayna wasn't flawless. Some characters might just have some flaws to make them more human but Rayna felt real. She was scarred with her experiences and she was struggling to be okay. I felt that. I felt what she was trying to make people understand.

"Cam would probably Fall to protect me. That was an option I couldn't live with. And Kade? He was either hot or cold, starting trouble or being sweet. I didn't even know who he really was. Except damn annoying."

I know this is just the first book so I'm still holding off my questions. But it was a good start; a really good start for this trilogy. I will definitely look forward for the next books. And without a doubt, I will still cheer and keep my bets on Cam.

"Cam was the vacuum that took the bad away, one person whose embrace felt right."

--

This copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my review in any way.

Review: Incarnation

  

Author: Emma Cornwall

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: In the steampunk world of Victorian London, Lucy Weston, a character in Dracula, seeks out Bram Stoker to discover why he deliberately lied about her in his popular novel. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she tracks the creature who transformed her from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.

Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy battles her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she makes a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—the true nature of what it means to be human.

Review:

"A heart that no longer beats cannot be stilled."

Enter the world where vampires and humans live harmoniously, though some of the latter isn't aware of it. But then, insert the expected villain/s who wants to ruin the peace between the two species.

Incarnation takes us back centuries back to the Victorian era. The poetic description of events and places makes it more believable and compelling to read, especially those who loves to read historical novels set in this era.

Here we meet Lucy, a newly transformed vampire, or shall we say halfling. And among other vampires, she's been the odd one, not having her incarnator with her and not being affected with the sunlight. But aside from those, there's also a bit of history hidden deep in within her very family tree.

At the beginning of the book, I find the poetic/medieval kind of writing interesting but held me back longer than necessary. There were some parts that were overly described thus making it a bit dragging. The action didn't start until the half part of the book which is different from other books I've read. Though the way everything was described, events and places, were thoroughly done and gave a very good mental image.

This is very different from the mainstream trend of vampire books recently. The setting of the book itself gives it a dark and mysterious edge. It gives us an experience of walking at the streets of London and Cornwall did a very good job at it. It didn't feel like it was just written for the sake of the story line. It was like it was really written for the readers experience.

The epilogue gave an impression of a sequel, or maybe the author left it for us to figure out what will happen next. But I really want to know more about Marco and what will happen next. Though I appreciate Nicolas to be there in a conversation with Lucy rather than a narration of what happened after the fight and what's next. It was, all in all, a really good story but it left me wanting more.

Review: Exiled

    

Author: RaShelle Workman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

Synopsis: Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become immortal, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family. 

Now she wants revenge. 

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate. 

Only she doesn't know the first thing about love. 

Rather quickly, her inexperience with human emotion is obscured by other matters--alien-controlled psychotic teens that are out to kill her, and a government group that is set on capturing and dissecting her. 

Worst of all, Venus will suffer a painful death-by-poisoning, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, if she remains on the planet longer than one week. 

Still, Venus is a Princess and she's got a plan. Surely, with her help, Michael will fall in love with a human. 

But time is running out and Michael is falling for the wrong girl--her.

Review:

I expected a lot from this book. It has an interesting plot and it's actually the first one I've read that concerns a different planet.

The way it was written was kinda off for me though. I was trying hard to feel the excitement whilst reading it but failed. There are terms used in the first few chapters that were obviously unfamiliar. I wish the author explained them. I had a hard time imagining scenes and things, or maybe that's just me. Good thing, the narration got better at the later chapters.

As far as the characters are concerned, I don't like Venus as much as I like other protagonists. She's— okay but not really likeable. I can't see the character development I expected for her after she came to Earth except that she now feels what humans feel.

Michael on the other hand confused me at first. He was first shown as a loving and thoughtful boyfriend, then an abused child, a teen with suicidal thoughts and a football player. His traits don't seem to go hand in hand. I pegged him as an angsty, loner teen after his scene at the lake but that thought was squashed when he played football and attended the party.

Vinny on the other hand was my most appreciated character because of how he played his role as a villain whilst pretending to be their friend all along.

As far as shipping is concerned, I root for Venus/Zaren though I know she's suppose to end up with Michael. I just don't feel her connection to the latter and their interactions weren't enough. But then again, maybe it's just me.

Sadly, I don't feel the anticipation for the next book but I still hope it would be better since the setting is now back at Kelari.