February 3, 2015

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: ★★★☆☆

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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.

February 1, 2015

Review | Forsaken (Daughters of the Sea #1) by Kristen Day

Author: Kristen Day
Published: January 27, 2015 (2012)
Publisher: Mark My Words Book Publicity
Format: PDF ebook ARC
Pages: 242
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Mythology, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

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

Forsaken turned out to be fantastic. Way better than I was expecting. I am surprised more people do not know about this series especially with how popular the Percy Jackson series has become. The cover caught my attention immediately and after reading the summary, I thought it would be something I would like to give a try. I love mythology especially when incorporated in a contemporary fashion. That it is a mermaid-esque story also intrigued me. I've never really read a lot of mermaid novels, and the ones I have read really didn't thrill me, however this one definitely exceeded my expectations, and I will be reading the second book.

Plot
The idea behind the story was pretty original. It is somewhat similar to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but other than these two series, I cannot think of a series or novel that takes this kind of take on ancient Greek mythology. In both series, the main characters do not know the legacy left for them, they go to a meeting place of people similar to them, and they face difficulties because of who they are and grow because of it. However, what I like about Daughters of the Sea is that it is from a girl's point of view. Just having that makes this story entirely different from Percy Jackson. Many stories like this seem male dominated. It is great to have these two stories from different perspectives.

April 23, 2014

Review | The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaign #1) by Diango Wexler

Author: Diango Wexler
Published: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 528
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, War
Rating: ★★★★☆

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Review
I fell into this book pretty quickly. The story was structured fairly well, but seemed loose in some places. The pathetic map at the beginning didn't help my impression much. I really enjoyed Winter's portion of the story and would have enjoyed the story more if Marcus was given less of the book and was featured more as a secondary character rather than on the same level as Winter.

I just felt like his story wasn't as captivating as Winter's. If an author is going to write parallel stories, both stories need to be equally captivating and important. I found myself skimming more during Marcus's story to get to Winter's, and I feel like my skimming didn't really make me miss anything of the whole story, which tells me that there was a lot of fluff or at least unimportant things written in.

February 14, 2014

Review | Alienated (Alienated #1) by Melissa Landers

Author: Melissa Landers
Published: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

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Review
This book was better than I expected! I've been looking forward to it's release. I tried getting the galley, but was denied. :(

I don't usually read/watch too much media about aliens, but recently there have been quite a few books/shows grabbing my attention--My Love From Another Star (kdrama), Star Crossed (TV), this book. This year seems to be the year of aliens. Is everyone finally over vampires?

December 13, 2013

Review | The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks

Author: Brent Weeks
Published: October 2008
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 645
Format: Paperback
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★☆

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Review
Yes! Assassins, magic, and secret organizations. I thought all the Japanese names were kind of interesting. Kind of reminded me of a dark version of Naruto.

Durzo and Azoth were awesome characters. Durzo kind of frustrated me until I learned more about his back story. Azoth's development was kind of typical for a story. From streetrat to deadly assassin feared by all. He seemed to learn and adapt so easily that I could wait to see what he would do next.

I felt sorry for the people around Azoth though, for the most part, he gets through things unscathed, but the people around him always seem to get hurt.

The universe created for this story seemed to be well thoughtout and planned. It was very structured and easy to follow. It also made the story more interesting and exciting. I would love to read another story line placed in this universe.

December 12, 2013

Review | Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen

Author: Lynn Cullen
Published: September 10, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 338
Format: ebook ARC
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

[Show Synopsis]

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

I just couldn't get into this story. The writing style was good--very descriptive and made it easy to get into the character's heads. Even the story itself was pretty interesting when I thought back on what had happened, but I just couldn't get excited while actually reading it. Maybe it's how it was expressed?

December 11, 2013

Review | The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss

Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Published: March 2011
Publisher: DAW
Pages: 1088
Format: ebook
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★★

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Review
This book seemed to be on par with the level of adventure and excitement that was in the first book. If it wasn't for the fact that life got too busy for me to continually read, I would have read this just as fast as the first one instead of it taking the week that it did. The story line is finally starting to progress more and become more interesting. Kvothe finally starts to see more of the world rather than just the academy. At the same time, there are some things that are just becoming more and more annoying.

December 9, 2013

Review | The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Published: April 2008 (2007)
Publisher: DAW
Pages: 722
Format: Paperback
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★★

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Review
I couldn't believe how good this book was! It is the best book I've read since the beginning of the year. I couldn't put it down and ended up reading the whole thing in less than 2 days.

I really liked the opening and was hoping the story was starting from there, so I was a little disappointed when the story actually did start, but it didn't take me long to get into the new storyline. The plot kind of reminds me of Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones. The bulk of the story takes place in a magic school and has some of the intricacy of Game of Thrones along with the adventure and enemies.