The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Buy the book: Amazon US ; Amazon UK ; Book Depository

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

I first came across this book quite some time ago. I admit that I found myself on the fence about it because of the concept of mental disabilities being genetically passed on from generation to generation.

Information:

Title: The Glimpse

Author: Claire Merle

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Dystopia

Length: 432

Story: In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell. 

When Jasper disappears, Ana sets off on his trail, determined to solve the mystery of his abduction. In doing so she journeys into the darkest corners of society, and uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she’s ever believed. 

Thoughts and impressions: First of all, a quick disclaimer: I read this book while I was ill with something that had me throwing up on a fairly frequent basis so I had to come and go from this book a lot. I suspect that this will have tampered with my overall understanding of events. Evidence of this is that even after having finished the book I have no clear idea of just what exactly a “glimpse” is or where it comes from!

When you start the book you soon discover that this future society classifies mental disabilities and that three in particular are called “the big three”, deemed to be worse than the others: schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression. Now, while schizophrenia is undeniably a mental disorder, the other two are just part of everyday life. Who among us has never been depressed or anxious about something? I’d imagine no one. This in turn led me to believe that the whole mental health classification was just another way for the few to control the many, something that was soon backed up by revelations within the story.

This said, I find it hard to believe that just ten years or so from now, the population as a whole will swallow the information that they’re fed by those in charge about such a classification. Had it been fed to people a hundred years ago, then it would have been easier to accept, but nowadays I’d like to think that we’re too knowledgeable about such things for this to ever happen.

The story itself was a fairly good dystopian and the society presented was believable even if the way it came to power was on the far-fetched side. It was interesting to see this set in the UK as well as most of the dystopias that I read seem to be set in the US. Even though it was easy enough to unravel many of the mysteries – such as who took Jasper and why – well before the characters got that far, it was still interesting to watch them coming to the same conclusions as me.

I particularly enjoyed the stint in the loony bin. The insane were hospitalising and treating the supposedly insane in conditions that don’t even bear thinking about. Those were some powerful scenes that showed just how far society had really fallen and tested the characters the most. I personally considered them to be the highlight of the book. I would have actually been quite happy to read a whole book with such a setting!

The romance, though, did leave something to be desired. It got off to a good start but then the characters were split up and things evolved to such a point in absence that I wanted to have seen more interactions between them to support such strong feelings. I know they say that absence makes the heart grow stronger, but when I’m reading, I want to be able to observe the growing romance so that I can become invested in it myself as well. In this case, I wasn’t invested and didn’t particularly care which of the two romantic interests she ended up with.

The way that the book ends sets up the possibility of a second book, but I don’t know whether or not this will be continued. It would be interesting to see where things would go from here, though!

Style: I have nothing in particular to say about this style other than that it was nice to read it in my language! It was lovely to see things spelt as I would spell them.

Final verdict: This book was the reason why I introduced the half star system to my blog. I strongly feel that it is better than a 3 star read but not as good as a 4 star read. 3.5 stars

Extra notes: Some bad language. No sex.

Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

Buy the book: Amazon US ; Amazon UK ; Book Depository ; Barnes and Noble

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Girl gets her soul sucked out of her body via a kiss? Yes please!

Information:

Title: Dark Kiss

Author: Michelle Rowen

Series: Nightwatchers #1

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Paranormal (romance)

Length: 384 pages

Story: I don't do dangerous.  Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back. Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me.... NIGHTWATCHERS When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...

Thoughts and impressions: I admit that when I picked this book up, I did so with trepidation. When I came to read it, I’d just read another book that tackled religious views and that had succeeded in offending me. So, knowing that this book was going to tackle angels and demons, I figured that there would be some form of religious background to it that might turn my pre-existing spark of frustration into something more. Luckily, I had absolutely nothing to fear.

Michelle Rowen tackles the concept of angels, demons, Heaven and Hell admirably. I think that this is the first time I’ve ever read a book about angels where there wasn’t a specific religious ideology behind it. It was set up perfectly so that there was no clear cut line between who gets to become an angel in the afterlife and who becomes a demon. In fact, it’s presented that there’s an eternal war for soul currencies between Heaven and Hell, which is rather a unique twist on things, in my opinion, and serves to blur the line between good and bad.

It was the idea that you could have your soul sucked out of you via a kiss that caught my attention with this one. It seemed so tantalisingly good! The story completely lived up to the fabulousness behind the concept. My emotions were pulled this way and that as I lived through the torment of being soulless right along with Sam. Rowen’s style was so good that I could feel the desire to feed, to drain others of their souls as it battled with both Sam’s and my sensibilities of right and wrong. Add Sam’s best friend Carly to the mix with relationship issues of her own and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a wonderful best friend relationship to build these teens’ lives from.

The angels and the demons added to the paranormal fun set in motion with the soulless kissers. I liked the concept of angels and demons working together and Kraven, one of the demons, in particular made for a fantastic character. In fact, he often outshone the romantic interest, Bishop, but that could have been just because his personality was much better developed. The remaining angelic / demonic characters were a bit flat, though, and I found it hard to really get a grasp of a distinguishable personality from them. This is in part due to how little “on page” time they receive compared with Kraven and the angsty love-inspired scenes between Bishop and Sam.

The romance wasn’t really what I go for in a relationship in my fiction. The love word is thrown around but the characters don’t know each other well enough, in my opinion, to be able to move beyond the lust stage of the relationship. A lot of the time Sam and Bishop would either be arguing or talking about the big bad behind all the soulless “grays” (as they’re termed) running around town. They didn’t really get to have any conversations that allowed them to get to know each other beyond the basics. As I mentioned, I think Sam gets to know Kraven better than she does the guy she’s supposedly in love with!

Despite this, the plot advances at a swift enough pace to not let the slightly disappointing relationship get the better of it. I was happy with it as it was and I found that I wanted to keep reading before bed to find out what would happen next – always a good sign, though bad for my concentration levels the next day if I give in to the urge!

Dark Kiss leaves things in such a place that things can only get more intense in the second book. I certainly hope that certain devastating events can be resolved somehow and look forward to meeting a particular demonic character with a vested interest in Sam.

It may have been superficial at times, but in the long run I found that I really enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to seeing where things will be taken from here in the sequel.

Style: I found the style to be captivating. Michelle Rowen has that particular sort of style that allows you to easily overlook a book’s weaknesses and enjoy it in spite of them.

Final verdict: A great read! The romance left something to be desired but hopefully that will be worked on in the next book in the series. 4 stars

Extra notes: Some bad language. No sex.

Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

This book first caught my eye a few months ago when I saw it at my local bookstore. I was immediately intrigued but the price stick said €17.50, though, and I usually refuse to go over the €13 mark. So when this book cropped up on NetGalley, I immediately grabbed a copy, eagerly anticipating the adventures that it would take me on!

Information:

Title: Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti

Author: Genevieve Valentine

Publisher: Prime Books

Target Audience: Adult?

Genre: Steampunk

Length: 284 pages

Story: Come inside and take a seat; the show is about to begin... 

Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic.

That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape.

But even a careful ringmaster can make mistakes.

Two of Tresaulti's performers are entangled in a secret standoff that threatens to tear the circus apart just as the war lands on their doorstep. Now the Circus must fight a war on two fronts: one from the outside, and a more dangerous one from within.

Thoughts and impressions: I feel that it is very important to point out that this novel is a true work of art. Of course, as with all works of art there will be those who are fascinated by it and others who are dissatisfied with what they find before them. As for me, I’m caught up somewhere in the middle.

I could appreciate the novel for the craftsmanship that went into it but at the same time the very original construction didn’t really appeal to me. The narrative jumps around both in point of view and chronologically. I assume that these jumps are marked by chapter breaks in the physical copy of the book but in my PDF-to-mobi copy only a handful of these breaks were marked. Sometimes a paragraph would start in the third person, present tense and suddenly switch to first person, past tense and be following a different plot point. This got to be very confusing at times; I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it affected my enjoyment of the story.

The opening scene is about “you” visiting the circus and admiring the marvels that are to be found there. It was so uncannily similar to the opening of The Night Circus that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. It turns out that both books are copyrighted to 2011 – in fact, Mechanique was published some 6 months before The Night Circus – so it’s just two different authors who came up with very similar ideas (albeit following completely different plot veins) at around the same time.

It took me a while to really get used to the narrator jumps. Sometimes it would be in the second person, sometimes third person omniscient and others in the first person. It took me a fair while to get used to the flow of this. It didn’t help that the plot took a long time in getting anywhere at all: it wasn’t until the 10-15% mark that the threads of a plot started to weave together beyond the confusion of seemingly random, unconnected scenes that had come before then, and it wasn’t until the 50% mark that the plot itself took precedence over anecdotes from various characters’ pasts.

That was what I didn’t really like about the book – how things seemed to yo-yo a lot between relevant scenes and what were really just scenes to flesh out the history behind the story. When things focused on the plot, though, I found it to be 100% original and absorbing. I loved the steampunk idea it all of a woman somehow endowed with the ability to sustain a person’s life indefinitely through metal contraptions. I liked the idea of a travelling circus moving through the wasteland of a country brought to its knees by constant wars, unable to pull itself back together. This was a fascinating setting, especially as we have no real idea of when it could possibly be as the chronology even within the story is very vague, or even where, though I pictured it being in North America.

I didn’t really buy the hatred behind Stenos and Bird, which was the main motivation for tension within the circus itself. I enjoyed the descriptions of their encounters but to me it always seemed that they were balanced very precariously on that fine line between love and hate, especially Stenos. They were certainly obsessed with each other either way.

They and Boss made a good foundation to build the circus up from but, with the exception of Elena, none of the other characters were quite as dazzling. Still, it presents a very interesting position to pick things up from in the second book.

All in all, I can appreciate that this author is a master weaver of the craft who has great vision but this particular structure didn’t work very well for me personally, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

Style: Different in a good way. It felt like a very original style. It worked fairly well for me but I suspect that it won't appeal to some readers.

Final verdict: Had the story concentrated more on the main plot rather than laying so many different building blocks in place, I think I would have preferred it. As it was, I loved the vision behind the story but was less entranced by the execution. 3 stars

Extra notes: Not sure whether there was any bad language present. Sex is but behind closed doors. I have seen this book shelved in the YA section but I’m not sure I’d really consider it aimed at the YA market.

Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

I received this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher.

Information:

Title: Tomorrow Land

Author: Mari Mancusi

Publisher: NLA Digital

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Dystopia (zombies)

Length: 281 pages

Story: Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

Thoughts and impressions: This book uses a sort of duel narration. There are two storylines that follow the characters: one as their society starts to break apart due to a plague that transforms some of the sufferers into zombies; and the other is four years later after society has completely broken down  with only a handful of survivors left… and the zombies, of course. Though it was certainly interesting to observe the factors that led to the downfall of the current society (the book is set about 25 years from now) – something that I often bemoan in other books because I find myself wanting to know why and how things changed to become what they are – in this particular set up I was always far more interested in the storyline set in the ‘now’. Sometimes I toyed with the idea of skipping chapters set in the ‘then’ but in the end I didn’t give in to temptation.

Why was this the case? Well, I suspect that this was because a) the events in the ‘now’ posed more of a threat than those in the ‘then’. Plus, there were enough hints in the ‘now’ narrative that I was able to draw a fairly clear picture of what was to come in the ‘then’ storyline well before events reached that point.

At the start of novel, especially in the first chapter as the scene was originally being set, there were a few things that didn’t strike me as being in the story’s best interests:

- First off, there was a fairly heavy reliance on pop culture from our time, such as references to Twilight (which I consider especially dangerous to use in a story as you audience will either lap up your reference, or be annoyed by it. I’m in the latter group. Plus, Edward’s described as a brooding hero… he gave me the creeps!), Ghostbusters, etc.

- Secondly, the teen culture there is based on the government having made sex illegal to any who haven’t received an injection making them immune to AIDS. I don’t believe for a moment that this is even remotely possible. Sex is an innate drive within almost all humans. Over the centuries there have been many attempts to control sexual encounters between humans and they have all failed.

On top of this, the romance was so angsty that it got frustrating rather than endearing. A lot of the interactions in the ‘now’ between Peyton and Chase were based on mutual misunderstandings that added layers to the wall of angst built up between them. The sort of thing where Peyton claims Chase is avoiding her and moping then Chase claims that Peyton is avoiding him by surrounding herself with the children. There was the whole reason behind Chase’s addiction to painkillers as well, which the reader discovers at the very end of the story, that I found incredibly short-sighted to say Chase had lived for four years in a world falling apart, had witnessed more death than any teen ever should… and yet his excuse for seeking relief in painkillers was incredibly flimsy. Just my opinion, of course.

What’s more, to say that they were two nineteen-year-olds travelling with a pack of children in a zombie-infested landscape, their trip from North Carolina to Florida was extremely uneventful. They only had a couple of periodic run ins with zombies – usually serving to advance the angst-ridden romance rather than furthering the plot; and none of the kids ever kicked up a big fuss or even made things difficult in smaller, more annoying ways. To say they were between the ages of about 6 and 15, all eight of the children were well-behaved cherubs rather than normal children. Only a couple of them are really featured while the others are relegated to the background fuzz of not having distinct characters. Not to mention, when they’re first introduced, Peyton observes that there are as many ethnicities as there are children… and yet three of the eight are triplets – how does that work out?

I felt quite sorry for Peyton, for what she was going through. Her father had used her to fit his own visions, leaving her entirely within his power. But at the same time, I always felt that she could have made things a lot easier on herself had she just opened her mouth and shared some of her secrets rather than yo-yoing between keeping Chase at arm’s length and plastering herself up against him.

When I was reading the book, I was fairly interested in finding out what was going on and getting to the bottom of the mystery presented and I have to take this into account. I actually liked the plot when it was being drowned out by the breakdown of communication between the two main characters. This won’t be the book for everyone, though, and if you don’t like post-apocalyptic angst-driven teenage romances then this won’t be the book for you.

Style: I did have some issues with the style but they were personal preference. When Chris was first introduced as Chase, though, there were a couple of times when the wrong name was used for no discernible reason.

Final verdict: This is one of those books where I was invested in it enough as I was reading it but afterwards its faults were magnified. I feel it’s one I’d probably rate 2.5 but as I don’t do halves I’ll round up to 3 stars.

Extra notes: There is some bad language present. Sex is not.

Gate to Kandrith by Nicole Luiken

Though I always claim fantasy to be my true love when it comes to genres, it’s been a while now since I last read a pure fantasy set in a secondary world. Because of this and the promised romance aspect of this novel, I found myself highly anticipating my foray into Kandrith!

Information:

Title: Gate to Kandrith

Author: Nicole Luiken

Series: Kandrith #1

Publisher: Carina Press

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Fantasy / romance

Length: 364 pages

Story: Sarathena Remillus, daughter of the newly elected Primus of the Republic of Temboria, has been given a mission: discover the secret of slave magic. Anxious to escape the corruption and treachery of the capital, Sara welcomes the chance to finally prove herself far away in Kandrith, the tiny nation of former slaves.

Accompanying her on the journey is Lance, a Kandrithan to whom Sara owes her life. Lance despises the nobility, and is determined to resist his desire for Sara, despite her attempts to entice him into divulging the secret of his magic.

Soon their travels become fraught with peril, and Sara discovers she's fallen victim to the ultimate betrayal. To end a war between two nations, she will have to make the ultimate sacrifice...

Thoughts and impressions: I have to admit that the first few pages didn’t really capture my attention very well. Some time passed between me experimenting with getting a taste of the first pages and settling down to read the rest of the book. I’m not sure why it failed to really draw me in as it was a fairly strong opening passage. It could have been to do with all the fantasy-world name dropping. I much prefer when authors go to the lengths of inventing some form of religious system for their world that bears little-to-no resemblance to any religious system in our world. This is the case here but I found that being introduced to all the names and roles of the political system as well as all of the names and roles of the religious systems right off the bat served more as a wedge between me and the book than anything else. I liked and appreciated both of them, don’t get me wrong, but I think I was just inundated with too much societal information in one go rather than being introduced to it in easy steps.

Sara is the daughter of the political leader of her land. She is to be the Child of Peace, destined to live in the neighbouring land of Kandrith, meant to keep her father from breaking the tenuous political pact that exists between the two countries. But Sara has been sent as a spy, meant to uncover the truth behind slave magic and hand its secrets over to her father. She’s travelling with the son of the current King of Kandrith – a man she’d met previously while in the throes of a drug-induced lustful stupor… and the first man she’s found herself attracted to in a long time. Of course, the attraction is mutual despite Lance’s dislike of Sara’s basic culture: one that permits her to be the owner of others’ lives – to have slaves. They call Kandrith Slaveland for a reason and, as a former slave to a particularly vicious owner, Lance has every right to shun Sara’s culture.

This book raises a number of interesting questions about slavers and slave-keeping. Can someone own slaves and also have a good moral code? Is a slave-owner inherently evil even if they treat their slaves well? How much in our lives do we take for granted – so much so that we’re blinded to what stares us in the face?

Once I’d actually got into the swing of things, I was enthralled by the book – though there were occasionally certain events that left me pondering just how believable they really were. I was easily able to overlook them as they added whole dimensions to the story and the relationships between the characters, but they did niggle at me from time to time.

I actually really enjoyed all of the various characters in the book. Other than Sara and Lance, my particular favourite was Juren. He was conniving and not very nice but he had his good sides as well. Right as of his initial introduction, he made me think of Ashur from the Spartacus series.

They’re both fairly similar characters: driven with a barbed tongue; full of sugar-coated insults and ready to slide a knife into anyone’s back! Granted, I think Juren eventually proved himself to be the bigger man than Ashur, but once the image was there, it stuck.

A lot of the story takes place journeying from one place to the next but it’s not just a physical journey over land, it’s also an emotional journey of self-discovery. Sara has to learn a lot before she can really, truly be worthy of Lance’s love. There’s give and take in everything, especially Lance’s healing magic, and really Sara has to get to the point where she’s willing to sacrifice something important to her in order to help others around her, just as Lance did. She does eventually commit a sacrifice of such magnitude that I really can’t wait for the sequel next year to see where she and Lance will go from here.

Sara’s realistions – her happiness, her distress, the way she came to terms with certain truths in such a way that allowed her to become a better person – all endeared her to me so that she became a character I could feel close to despite the yawning chasms between us. I hope they find some way of getting back what she sacrificed in the interests of others.

Style: Good but there was a tendency to use names more often than was strictly necessary, which I found distracting.

Final verdict: A very good fantasy romance! It was missing that je ne sais quoi which would have pushed it into a top rating, but it was still one that I really enjoyed. 4 stars

Extra notes: If there was any bad language in the story, it didn’t stick out to me at all. Sex is present.

Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

I discovered this title through a fellow blogger a few weeks ago. We seem to have fairly similar tastes when it comes to urban fantasy so when she listed this book as one of the best books she’s read so far this year, I know that I absolutely had to get my hands on a copy! In this case I was very fortunate and got approved for the ARC on NetGalley.

Information:

Title: Royal Street

Author: Suzanne Johnson

Series:  Sentinels of New Orleans #1

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Urban fantasy

Length: 352 pages

Story: As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond.

Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters.

While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover.

To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and for the serial killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo.

Thoughts and impressions: I adored the opening scene of this book! DJ, our heroine, is on a mission to send Jean Lafitte – one of New Orleans’s historical undead – back to the beyond and she finds herself very disturbed that he’s adapted to the modern era by carrying around fruit-flavoured condoms on his person! I think it takes guts to open with a scene like that but Suzanne Johnson pulled it off flawlessly!

The world building was fairly strong, though with some plot holes. The biggest one of these was that it’s mentioned that the wizards from Europe and America step in to help each other in dire situations – be this the American wizards travelling to Europe to fight in a war between wizards and other preternaturals (“pretes”), or the European wizards travelling to the US to deal with the preternatural aftermath of a hurricane in Florida a few years before. And yet, after Katrina hits and devastates the New Orleans area, only one other human preternatural – European or American – steps in to help this deputy with the task of getting things back under control.

Other than this most glaring problem, the world building could easily stand on its own two feet despite the fact that we didn’t meet many of the various preternatural races that exist here. There’s no rush of course; in fact, I believe that it was much better this way with lots still left to explore in future books. The series has a lot of potential to be one that hooks UF readers across the board. It certainly succeeded in hooking me!

In this first book, the pretes that are dealt with the most are what are called the historical undead. These are those people who lived and died in a certain area during their natural life and even after their deaths they remain in the collective memory of current society. So long as people remember their names, they are essentially immortal but if their names are forgotten then they will disappear. I have, of course, come across ideas like this before but I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve seen them used to this extent in a book. It was actually a very interesting idea as it allowed for use of such historical figures as Louis Armstrong, Marie Laveau and Jean Lafitte (though I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of Lafitte before – I’m not exactly “up” on New Orleans culture).

I actually really liked Lafitte’s character. He was the sort of baddy that you can really root for as the reader. For a while I even entertained the prospect of him as a potential romantic interest. He might be several centuries dead, in it for himself and a reprobate (he’s a pirate – what pirate isn’t a reprobate?) but he was quirky and fun. Hey, I’ve read books where the romantic interest was much worse than Jean Lafitte in Royal Street! He wasn’t the romantic interest, but he was still a fun character.

It was also interesting to view hurricane Katrina through the eyes of a local. I don’t think it really packed the emotional punch that the author was aiming for, but it was certainly a very different experience to the one I went through at the time. Still, I didn’t really feel complete despair at the loss of human life or the death of a beloved city. I was, however, able to build these emotions up for myself through what was not said in the narrative. The quotes from the newspapers were a good touch as well.

DJ was a good character, if slow at times. She so desperately wanted to reach that happy ending where she’d get her mentor back and no one gets hurt that she was willing to overlook some blindingly obvious evidence. This said, I have to admit that she did often allow herself to get distracted by her feelings towards her new partner, Alex, and his cousin, Jake. It meant that sometimes the plot would stagnate as she floundered in waters that she tried very hard to pretend didn’t even exist. She was frustrating at times, but in the long run I liked her and I suppose that’s what’s most important.

All in all, I found this book to be an interesting introduction to a new series that I want more of. Apparently the next book is going to be about undines (mermaids) – I can’t wait!

Style: I liked the dry sarcasm of the style that would rear its head from time to time. Just little things like when DJ mentions that luckily she got hit on the other shoulder to the one that was already bruised because she likes to have symmetrical bruises.

Final verdict: I really enjoyed this book! I had some minor issues with it but they were so minor that they didn’t affect my enjoyment of it in the least. I’d definitely recommend to fans of this style of urban fantasy. 5 stars

Extra notes: Bad language is present. Sex is not.

Love on the Range by Jessica Nelson

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley

As soon as I saw this book on NetGalley I felt inexplicably drawn to it. There was just something about it that called my name! I resisted it for a while but in the end the impulse to read it won out.

Information:

Title: Love on the Range

Author: Jessica Nelson

Series: Love Inspired Historical

Publisher: Harlequin

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Historical romance

Length: 288 pages

Story: Any other socialite would view being packed off to a remote Oregon ranch as a punishment. But Gracelyn Riley knows that this is her opportunity to become a real reporter. If she can make her name through an interview with the elusive hero known as Striker, then she’ll never have to depend on anyone ever again.

Rancher Trevor Cruz can’t believe his secret identity is being endangered by an overly chatty city girl. But if there’s one thing he knows, it’s that Gracie’s pretty little snooping nose is bound to get her in trouble. So he’ll use her determination to find “Striker” to keep an eye on her…and stick close by her side.

Thoughts and impressions: I find myself very polarised about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed the gist of the story, the characters and the narrative voice. On the other hand, I often found myself incredibly insulted by the religious messages that it was pushing. I’m going to start with these.

Gracie, the heroine, is a devout Christian who sees God’s hand in everything. That’s fine, especially considering that this is set in the early 1900’s. But as soon as she discovers that the three male characters on the ranch do not share her beliefs she is shocked and tries to sway their opinion with some God babble. This clearly shows that Gracie has no respect for their beliefs – or lack thereof as the case may be. Even more frustratingly, the story goes down the path of “atheists don’t really not believe in God – they do believe in Him, they just hate Him”. That’s Gracie’s epiphany about Trevor, the hero. This stance annoys me to no end. If you don’t believe in God then you can’t hate Him because you don’t believe He exists. I’d really like to read a story where the religious and irreligious learn to see eye to eye without either giving up on their core beliefs, but I have yet to find one where both characters don’t end up Christian.

There’s a question at the end of the book:

7. Uncle Lou doesn’t talk about God or seem interested in Him. Do you know people like that? What makes someone uninterested in God? Is there a sensitive way to share faith with a person like Lou?

Yes I do – in fact, I know more people who aren’t interested in God than who are. I’m uninterested in Him because I’ve read enough of the Bible to know that I do not believe it to be divinely inspired. There are sensitive ways to share faith with people like Lou, like me, but this author does not manage to get anywhere close. Instead, she – through Gracie - is condescending and does not even try to look at things from the atheist’s point of view. She just pities them for not having her God in their life, not being able to turn to Him in their times of need. This annoyed me so much. I find it incredibly insulting. This is such a shame because when the story actually focused on the plot – Gracie’s desire to meet her hero, Striker, and Trevor’s determination to keep his alter ego from her all while exploring their budding attraction – I really enjoyed it all. But God always came back when you least expected Him. It got to the point where I was seriously tempted to skip whole portions of the story because of this. Instead I just allowed myself to get irritated.

The story itself was fairly transparent. As soon as Mendez, Striker’s enemy, and his means of crime are mentioned, it’s obvious how things will pan out at the climax. Most of the story focuses on Gracie discovering life in the Oregon desert – very different to the busy socialite existence that she was leading in Boston.

I enjoyed her evolution from shallow, annoying Gracie to a much more rounded, better grounded Gracie. The location was also perfect and very vividly drawn. Setting it all against the backdrop of the deadly Spanish flu allowed the author to keep the small number of characters very isolated, which worked in the story's favour. Even how Gracie was trapped in an existence she didn’t want by her over-bearing but well-meaning and old-fashioned parents lent an interesting side to the story as they prevented Gracie from really finding her own two feet. She would practically become another character around them: very quiet, demure and submitting to their wishes, however unwillingly.

Trevor was my favourite character. I liked how he had to battle the horrors of his past in order to be able to get to the point where he could accept the happiness offered to him in his present.

In all, I ended up with two conflicting feelings about the book. I suspect that it will really appeal to Christian readers, but as an atheist, I ended up feeling insulted by its religious message and its treatment of the topic. I wish the author had kept religion out of it all: then it could have been a lovely romance that I would display with some pride on my shelves! It’s a shame that the religious message ruined it for me.

Style: Not as polished as it maybe could have been, but once the author really finds her feet she’ll have a good style.

Final verdict: I swayed between being engrossed by it and frustrated by it. At times I was caught up in a five star read, other times I was reading a very grating 1 star story. I’ll meet in the story with 3 stars.

Extra notes: I don’t think there was any bad language. No sex.

Can't Buy Me Love by Maggie Marr

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

Information:

Title: Can’t Buy Me Love

Author: Maggie Marr

Publisher: NLA Digital Liaison Platform

Target Audience : Adult

Length : 144 pages

Story: Everyone knows that Cole Jackson is lethal--in his charm and in his reputation as ruthless media mogul and one of the world's great CEOs. A fact his former executive assistant Meg Parson has learned firsthand. He's the one who banished her from his executive suite with no explanation. 

Determined to secure her long awaited promotion within Comnet, Meg Parson is back and can deliver the one deal Cole Jackson has always wanted and could never get. This deal is Meg's ticket to the top. Now Meg must juggle this high-stakes deal with her unfathomable attraction to her former boss--an attraction Meg has denied for three years. An attraction which raises painful memories from her past. An attraction that Meg's boss Cole seems to share. If Meg can't pull off this multi-media merger, not only is her career at stake but also her heart.

Thoughts and impressions: First things first in this review: this one is a very personal review. I suppose that they’re always personal, but in this case it goes one step further. This book worked very well for me today in my current mood. I’ve been craving a good romance for a week or so now but the ones that I’ve read have not managed to tick all my boxes. This one came so very close to having ticked them all that it really tickled my fancy!

I almost never read books like this. If I feel like romance then I tend to read either historical or paranormal romance. It is very rare that I’ll read contemporary romance and most of the time I don’t really like it. I have to admit that this particular contemporary romance is fairly ‘safe’ – it follows a set list of plot devices that make it very cliché. Had I read this on another day when I was in another, less forgiving, mood, the story probably wouldn’t have worked so well for me.

As it is, happy circumstances mean that I was able to thoroughly enjoy the story of this in-office romance between two very damaged individuals. Of course, they are both the standard damaged characters: he, Cole, was betrayed by family he trusted so now he doesn’t let anyone get close; she, Meg, was dragged around the country in her youth by a mother who couldn’t keep her legs together. Each is attracted to the other but determined to fight the attraction: he because he doesn’t want to become any more dependent on her than he already is; she because she doesn’t want people to think that she slept her way to a better position within the company.

Add to this a business owner who’s not quite ready to let go of his baby, his wife who wants him to herself for the rest of their time together, a business rival who wants what Cole has and is willing to use nefarious means to get it, and you’ve got your base pieces for this story. It really doesn’t get much more complicated than that.

It’s a good, quick read for any who fancies a light corporate romance.

Style: My copy had some formatting issues that meant there were no spaces between words. This made it hard to figure out what was being said at times, but other than that it was good.

Final verdict: In this case, I was able to really enjoy the book due to my current mood when I read it. Another mood could very well have led to a different verdict. But thankfully I enjoyed this light romance. 4 stars

Extra notes: Both bad language and sex are present.

Shayla Witherwood: A Half-Faerie Tale by Tamra Torero

I received this book courtsey of the publisher from NetGalley.

If I’m honest, I couldn’t say what exactly it is that drew me to this book. It’s not a book that I’d heard of before, but then I’m always one to try anything that comes my way! I liked the sound of the blurb and that was enough in this case. I didn’t even go and read any other reviews to see if it might be for me. Whatever it was that drew me to the book, the prospect of it appealed to me.

Information:

Title: Shayla Witherwood: A Half-Faerie Tale

Author: Tamra Torero

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Target Audience: YA

Pages: 312

Chapters: 29

PoV: 1^st person

Tense: Past tense

Story: A brief moment of disappointment washed over me as I approached Jace’s lifeless body. Here I was, about to kiss a boy on the lips for the very first time, and he was completely comatose—possibly paralyzed—and would never even know or remember the experience. This was not how I’d envisioned my first kiss—me invisible, him unconscious. 

Shayla Witherwood is not exactly normal. First of all, she’s spent her entire life being homeschooled, traveling in an RV around the country with her grandparents. And second, there’s the kind of inescapable fact that her mom was a genuine faerie. 

But now that she’s starting a real life in a regular high school, Shayla desperately needs to stay out of trouble in both worlds because even her faerie powers might not be enough to protect her from what’s coming. 

In her latest novel, Tamra Torero spins a magical tale filled with laugh-out-loud sarcasm, surprising twists, and spell-binding romance. Perfect for fairytale fans of all ages, this is one story you won’t want to miss!

(from Goodreads)

Thoughts and impressions: First of all, because I feel this is important, I’m going to point out that this story isn’t in any way bad. It’s very reminiscent of the stories I would read on FictionPress back in the day (the good ones, that is as anyone who’s been on FictionPress will know that it has a very wide range of quality). It’s enjoyable from start to finish. It’s a high school tale with a paranormal (half-)faerie twist. The only problem is that there is very little by way of danger.

It stays in the fairly safe zone of the cliché high school story: new girl (albeit with a half-faerie twist); geeky guy best friend; unpopular girl best friend; popular cheerleader who’s nasty to everyone and looks down on her ‘followers’; good looking jock who takes an interest in the new girl; posse who surrounds evil cheerleader and romantic interest jock.

For a long time, the focus is on Shayla fitting in at public school after having spent her whole life moving around the country with her grandparents in their mobile home. Obviously, public school is very different to the home-schooling that she’s used to. Not to mention that the faerie half of her can make things difficult – such as turning invisible or having to find a way to deal with her pointed ears when she’s required to tie her hair back in science class.

I really didn’t understand where the romantic interest came from. For Shayla, sure, he was good looking and she felt some form of attraction. For Jace, I am completely clueless. As of the very first day he shows interest in her and there’s no explanation as to why he would. What was with him inviting her to be part of the student council or committee or whatever it was? It gets mentioned when he invites her to be a part of it and then it gets dropped. They never have a meeting or anything like that. In that way, the romance didn’t really work for me. It was sweet, but it didn’t have a foundation. I might have overlooked this a few years ago but as it is, I found I wasn’t particularly interested in whether or not Shayla and Jace had a future together.

The other thing is that only one lesson is ever shown: first period science class. There are also plenty of scenes in the cafeteria, but we never see Shayla in any other class. Why not? Well, possibly to keep from boring the reader with passages where little happens, but it got to the point where it felt like science class was the only one that existed.

Eventually some sort of threat is introduced, but it doesn’t actually becoming very threatening until the very end of the book. I think I just wanted more of a sense of danger from the book. As it was, it was mostly about day to day life in high school. I’ve done that once and it’s not something I’m in a rush to get back to (though of course my lycée experience was very different to the typical American high school experience).

As for the ending itself, there were a lot of new, different ideas introduced very quickly that were never expanded on. Had they been introduced earlier on in the story, I might have cared about them, but as it was they only garnered some form of mild interest from me. The author had stuck me in a situation where (I think) she expected me to get caught up in the action but because all of this had had no lead up, I didn’t really manage to get beyond a mild interest.

Mister Digby was an interesting character – possibly the most interesting. He was one of the few where the author managed to leave me unsure of where I stood with him. I went through phases with him. At first I thought he was another faerie, then I thought he was some form of troll, and then I just couldn’t figure him out at all. The descriptions of him were good, though. I kept imagining something similar to Professor Flitwick form the Harry Potter books.

As I said at the start of the review, the book isn’t bad. It’s just slow and it should be taken as such. This is not the sort of story where the action keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s one to be enjoyed in a moment of calm. I think it’d appeal to younger female readers (maybe 12 or 13+) more than it will to older readers. There are loose ends and things that could have been improved but overall I enjoyed the story.

Style: I received an ARC of this book so some of the things I noticed that stuck out will likely have been fixed prior to publication. Two of the big ones, though, were that the term ‘faerie’ was sometimes spelt ‘fairie’ and their mobile home was sometimes called Brutus and other times Brutis. Other than these things, the style was actually polished so it surprised me that I found such mistakes.

Final verdict: I wish I’d read this book as a young teen. I think that had I read it then, I would have really loved it. As an adult, I felt it kept me at a distance and I missed having some form of threat hanging heavily over the characters. I enjoyed it but it didn’t really grab my attention – I didn’t feel compelled to go back to the book, I chose to do so. In other words, I was interested but I wasn’t addicted. 3 stars

Extra notes: I didn’t notice any bad language. No sex.

The Prophet by Amanda Stevens

I received this book courtesy of the publisher from NetGalley.

Once I’d finished The Kingdom, the second book in the Graveyard Queen series, I was already antsy waiting for the third book. I practically trolled NetGalley waiting for this title to be made available! Again, the acceptance email was met with a flutter of excitement this intensity of which is really something that maybe I shouldn’t be admitting to! Oh the joys of favourite authors / series!

I was in the middle of another book when I was able to download this one. I briefly toyed with the idea of finishing that one first but that was quickly discarded. The lure of Amelia Gray and the promise of more John Devlin proved to be more than enough to tempt me away from previous reads and leave me ensconced in my chair all evening, oblivious to anything going on around me!

Information:

Title: The Prophet

Series: The Graveyard Queen #3

Author: Amanda Stevens

Publisher: Mira

Target Audience: Adult

Pages: 400

Chapters: 41 + epilogue

PoV: 1^st person

Tense : Past tense

Story : My name is Amelia Gray. 

I am the Graveyard Queen, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. My father passed down four rules to keep me safe and I’ve broken every last one. A door has opened and evil wants me back. 

In order to protect myself, I’ve vowed to return to those rules. But the ghost of a murdered cop needs my help to find his killer. The clues lead me to the dark side of Charleston—where witchcraft, root doctors and black magic still flourish—and back to John Devlin, a haunted police detective I should only love from afar. 

Now I’m faced with a terrible choice: follow the rules or follow my heart.

(from Goodreads)

Thoughts and impressions: This third book brings Amelia back to the setting of the first one. A lot of familiar names and faces crop up with a good number of the (surviving) characters from The Restorer making a reappearance, however brief. Reading it, it almost felt as though the events second book was merely an interlude as although the events are alluded to, they didn’t play a part in this plot.

The notion of the malevolent entity that Amelia calls Evil was introduced as being the consequence she has to face for ignoring her father’s rules. There was, however, no mention of it in this book. The ghosts made a comeback – though with things revolving around John Devlin again that was to be expected. That said, there is an unexpected surprise involving Shani’s ghost. It’s a shame that Evil wasn’t expanded on – I would have liked to have learnt more about it.

Traditional African spiritual beliefs are also introduced in this book in the form of Mariama Goodwine’s cousin. An awful lot of research must have gone into putting all of this together and I was utterly fascinated by all the lore. It was really interesting and a good look into the beliefs surrounding death in another – very different – culture.

The Prophet chronicles Amelia’s investigation into who killed the cop we met as a ghost in The Restorer. He wants release and he’s willing to go so far as to haunt Amelia to get her to do this for him. What’s more, it would seem that whatever message Shani is desperately trying to communicate to her father is also of great importance and the plot soon becomes a mix of unravelling the both mysteries.

This is another way that this third book is very different from the other two. In those, Amelia spends a lot of her time working in graveyards but comparatively little time was spent in one in this book. This meant in turn that there were fewer spine-tingling moments. I’m not sure that my adrenaline really got pumping while reading this one as it did when I was caught up in the other two. Rather, I was pushing on in the mad desire to see where the relationship between Amelia and Devlin would lead. I wouldn’t say that this is a bad thing, just different. As such, it may not work for everyone, especially readers who were more caught up in the graveyard aspect of the books than the romance subplot.

John Devlin is of course back. The scenes between him and Amelia were everything I could have hoped for and more. I was right when I said that Thane Asher was just a diversion to allow Amelia to grow and that it would all be about Devlin in the long run. Even Amelia admits this to herself, and later Devlin, this time around. Of course, his dead wife’s spectre looming over them does tend to put a stopper on things.

The truth about who Mariama really was comes out bit by bit here. Unfortunately, what we know of her (that she’s a malevolent spirit unwilling to pass on, using the ghost of her child as a tether to the realm of the living and intent on making Devlin’s life a misery) clashes with what various people tell us of her from before her death (that everybody loved her). I just couldn’t quite bring myself to buy this. It would have been made more believable if there had been even just one character who hadn’t thought the world of Mariama at some point.

As for the mystery itself, I found that I’d unravelled this one as of early on in the book (which wasn’t the case in either of the first two books) and there weren’t ever really any big, unexpected shocks. A number of things did go unanswered, though, such as why Darius Goodwine chose to return now. In fact, a lot about Darius Goodwine remains unclear. Some of it is understandable, such as the mystery surrounding his traditional practises and the sway he holds over people, but it would have been nice if some things were made clear, such as whether or not he was actually a bad guy.

The ending was the only thing that I didn’t like about the book. It felt uncomfortably rushed. There had been a good few slower moments leading up to this finale, but when it finally took place, a huge number of things seemed to all happen at once – too many for me to fully take everything in and I was left feeling dissatisfied, much as I hate to say it.

I had thought that The Graveyard Queen was a trilogy for some reason, but having finished this book it is blatantly obvious to me now that there are still any number of questions left to be explored. I’m definitely looking forward to where things will take Amelia and Devlin next.

Style: Amanda Stevens has a great, strong voice in Amelia. As soon as she starts, I get hopelessly sucked in.

Final verdict: The Prophet turned out to be a very different ride to that of the first two books but it holds its own against them, even surpassing them in some respects. I was caught up from the first until the very end. Again, I’m left longing for more. 5 stars

Extra notes: Some bad language. Sex is present.