Review | Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire (Love at Stake #16) by Kerrelyn Sparks

Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Published: December 30, 2014
Publisher: Avon
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 372
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Vampires
Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
Russell wakes from a coma to find he's become a vampire. Now he has a thirst for revenge. Determined to hunt down the master vampire who turned him, he's used to working alone . . . until he meets Jia. She is after the same vampire for murdering her parents and insists she can help Russell on this mission. Reluctantly, he agrees, and sets up some ground rules:

Rule #1: Their partnership is strictly business. If he holds her a little too close . . . if she looks at him with those exotic eyes . . . well, that has to stop.

Rule #2: He's in charge. Jia isn't used to taking orders and questions every move he makes. So he stops her the only way he knows how.

Rule #3: Don't fall in love. But the kiss that was supposed to quiet her awakens something else in him . . . something forbidden. Because Jia is engaged. To someone else.(from GoodReads)

Review
When I read the first book to Love at Stake, I fell in love. I quickly read every book that was out (at the time, there were only 6). I greatly anticipated the next book and couldn't wait to read it. There were a few books that when I finished I just couldn't figure out why they couldn't have been as good as the previous ones, but I loved the world she had built and the characters in it...until an angel fell from Heaven.

Review | Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell

Author: Lisa Jewell
Published: October 15, 2013 (July 19, 2012)
Publisher: Atria (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 448
Format: ARC/ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Women's Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
After her grandmother Arlette’s death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs—all the usual preoccupations of a woman her age—in order to care for Arlette in their dilapidated, albeit charming home on the English island of Guernsey. Her will included a beneficiary unknown to Betty and her family, a woman named Clara Pickle who presumably could be found at a London address. Now, having landed on a rather shabby street corner in ’90s Soho, Betty is determined to find the mysterious Clara. She’s ready for whatever life has to throw her way. Or so she thinks . . . 

Review 
I received this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

This book seemed to be in three parts. You have Betty's childhood and growing up on the island with her step-grandmother, Betty living in Soho, and Betty solving the mystery. The first part of the book was pretty good. It was enjoyable but unsurprising. During the second part, the mystery is introduced and Betty goes off to try and solve it. At first, things seem to be moving along, but then they kind of go to a standstill and you see Betty doing this and that while you get pieces of Arlette's past. During the last part of the book, the pace all of a sudden picks up again as the mystery finally starts fitting together. Unfortunately, this happens very late in the book, so I spent most of the book trying to force myself to get through everything.

Early Review | Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Author: Diane Setterfield
Published: November 5, 2013
Publisher:Simon & Schuster/Atria
Pages: 336
Format: ARC/ebook
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
(from NetGalley)
Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget . . .

Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.

Review 
I received this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

After reading The Thirteenth Tale, I had high expectations for this book, but unlike Setterfield's other novel, this was a pretty straight forward story. It had no suspense. The best novels I've read had some level of suspense. Something held back to draw the reader in. The only thing I was curious about throughout the novel was the annoying, reappearing rook. What is the significance of the rook aside from a childhood story that apparently leads to a lifetime trauma? But really, I didn't care about the rook. His perpetual reappearance, as I said, was rather annoying.

The mystery of who Mr. Black was that intrigued the town's people was carried on with the idea of having some level of suspense, but it was rather obvious who Mr. Black was to the reader. The town's people's suspense didn't carry out of the pages into the reader. I was rather bored with Mr. Black.

Review | And Then There Were None

Author: Agatha Christie
Published: May 3, 2004 (first published 1939)
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 264
Genre: Classics, Mystery
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Reading Guide from LitLovers

Synopsis
(from Goodreads)
First there were ten--a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal--and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

Review
I gave this book a try because I have a lot of friends who love Agatha Christie's books, especially this one. I've seen in many places where it has been heralded as one of the greatest mysteries ever written. I fail to see how this book lives up to such a designation.

The mystery was pretty good and well thought out. There was a lot of planning that went into it, and it was never obvious who the murderer was. But that was the only thing that really left me guessing. The thrill and suspense that engrosses me in many books just wasn't there. There weren't really any twists and turns and shocking realizations.

Never Let Me Go

Find Never Let Me Go on Goodreads
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆

(finished March 31st)

I found the beginning really hard to get through. If I had picked up this book on my own, I would have dropped it and never finished it. But since I want to read every book we pick for the book club, I forced my way through. In the end though, it was a pretty good and thought provoking book.

As for the "beauty in this book," I liked how everything unfolded, and you didn't find out everything until the very end. I love stories like that, but I didn't like the way it was written. It had too slow of a start. It also wasn't written in a way that made me very interested. Looking back now, I like the plot, but it wasn't very captivating to the reader.

From the beginning, the school the children attended was rather suspicious. The teachers are called guardians rather than teachers or professors, none of the children have parents but they’re not at an orphanage, and none of them will be able to have children of their own when they become adults. When I discovered that last piece of information, I thought, “Whoa, wait now. How do they know this? Did they do something to these children to make them sterile?”

Sunshine

Find Sunshine on Goodreads
Genres/Themes: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Thought I'd try this out since so many people seemed to have liked it. I have discovered that I am now not one of those people.

The beginning was pretty good if a bit wordy, but not even a fifth of the way through the book and the main excitement of the beginning had already finished. I was left thinking, "OK, I hope there is more exciting stuff to come." Well there was, kinda.

The author is very wordy and likes to go on a lot of tangents. I found myself speed reading some sections to get through it. The tangents were ofter fluff, boring, or could have been better placed to evolve the story line. The main character would often have something happen to her and think a ton of stuff before reacting when it's obviously a situation where she only hesitated a second or two. I know that you think faster than you talk since most of it isn't in words, but would she really be able to think almost 5 pages of stuff in less than 2 seconds? 

There were also a lot of questions that were left unanswered or vaguely answered. Where did Constantine originally come from? How old is he? (This was kind of answered, but not really.) If Con and Bo are the same age, then why are their abilities so different? (Again, kind of answered, but the answer gave another question: What are the two different "types" of vampires? Is there more than two?)

The Elite (The Selection #2)

Find The Elite on Goodreads
Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I finished the book and thought, so what development was there that actually happened? I think it's just because I read it so fast that it seemed that way though. The more I think, the more I realized, "Oh yeah, that happened."

One of the girls was punished, the numbers dwindled a little, and the king's pissed off. Mostly it seemed like a lot of fighting and bickering and you learn a couple dirty little secrets. The most important thing we learn is the actual history of the start of Illea and some of the goals of the raids.

The twist at the end of book one didn't play out like I'd hoped. I kept yelling, "America! So stupid!" in my head every time Aspen came around. I know her feeling are all messed up, but there's no reason to chance getting killed for a guy that you're not sure you want to be with. Not like that anyways.

Echo Park (Harry Bosch #12)

Find Echo Park on GoodReads
Genres/Themes: Mystery
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Not my kind of book, but it was good for a one time read. I don't think I could read it again let alone the entire series.

It had a really slow start. Since I was reading this for a book club, I set myself a daily page goal in order to finish on time since I was having problems getting into it. It wasn't until about half way through that things really started picking up and two-thirds of the way through before it got exciting. Much of the slow beginning is groundwork for the climax to come, but I think some of it could have been cut out/down or made more exciting to help draw the reader in, but then if you're reading book 12 after the first 11, you're already drawn in. 

Return to Grace (Home Valley Amish #2)

Find Return to Grace on GoodReads
Genres/Themes: Mystery, Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆

(finished May 6th)
Hannah Esh decides to leave behind her Amish life and becomes goth to get as far from it as possible. One night, her goth friends decide to have some fun and have a Halloween graveyard party at the Amish cemetery. And that's where everything goes wrong.

The mystery was was very good. I was kept guessing as to who the murderer was and why until the very end. I didn't like that it was set in Amish country though. I live near an Amish community in Indiana, and based on my experience, there were too many things that made me think, "The Amish don't do that! Or at least I don't think they do." Either the Ohio Amish are much more lax than in Indiana, or I think the author should have done some more research.

In the book, it says they have refrigerators and freezers on a small generator. Based on conversations I've had, the Amish don't do this. They would instead have an ice box.

It also made is sound like the telephone shacks are pretty common. I've rarely seen one. When I do, it's in an area where several houses can reach it.

Overall an interesting mystery, but somewhat unrealistic culturally.

Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire #1)

Find on Goodreads
Genres: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was seeing this book a lot all over the internet and heard a lot of people talking about it, so I thought I'd pick it up and give it a try. It was ok. I rate the beginning a 4 and the end a 2. 

I loved how it starts. The main character is pure evil. It's not often that you find a book from the "villain's" perspective. And the fact that he's a prince just made it better. Then the story started to fall apart. The second half of the book didn't seem as well written as the first. Like it was rushed. The inside cover of the book equates this story to Game of Thrones. At the beginning I could see it, but the further you read, the more different they were.

I was especially upset when I found out that this is actually a futuristic story rather than an alternate, medieval, fantasy universe. The references to Robin Hood, Plato, and Shakespeare were odd. I think I would have liked it better if it hadn't been futuristic.

The more I read about the prince, the more he drove me nuts too. He never had a plan. He always just winged it. And no matter how many died, it seemed to turn out for him in the end. It reminded me of a drunk, egotistic, jerk, frat guy that always manages to get out of trouble no matter what he does or how wrong he is

Charmed Life (Chrestomanci #1/#3)

Find Charmed Life on Goodreads
Genre/Themes: Fantasy
My Rating:  ★★★☆☆

Not quite as good as The Lives of Christopher Chant and Conrad's Fate. It was really hard to connect the Christophers of those books with this older Christopher until the very end. It was like he'd lost his free spirit. Cat also frustrated me. I don't see why he couldn't have told Chrestonmanci what was going on. It seemed like the only reason he hadn't was to further the story of the book. Because of that, I found it really hard to read and put down the book a number of times. The ending was very enjoyable though. Although I wish they had stuck it to Gwen. She really deserved it

The Bite Before Christmas (Argeneau #15.5)

Find The Bite Before Christmas on Goodreads
Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Romance
My Rating: ★★★☆☆  

(dropped)
The first story was really good, though I felt sorry for Teddy that he just got a short story rather than a whole novel. I think his story could easily have been extended into a whole novel.

The second story I quit reading rather soon. I'm not entirely sure if the author was trying to follow Sands's character characteristics or if it was just a vampire story, but I read it as being the first. With that mindset, It made me mad that they didn't have a heartbeat, could fly, and could see ghosts. Maybe I'll try rereading it after I haven't read the Argeneau books for a while.

The Reluctant Vampire (Argeneau #15)

Find The Reluctant Vampire on Goodreads
Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance 
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

It was alright, but it wasn't an attention grabber. It took me longer to read this book than any of the first 14. Part of it might be that I'm starting to get tired of the series. It's the same story over and over. Same story, different details.