On Demon Wings: Experiment in Terror #5
What......The.....Fuck !!!.....*falls to ground in fetal position*........DAMN YOU, KARINA HALLE, DAMN YOU!!!!!!
Pure: The Second Covenant Novel
"Ever since I've met you, I've wanted to break every rule." Aiden turned away, the muscles in his neck tensing. "You'll become the center of someone's world one day. And he'll be the luckiest son of a bitch on this earth."*Sigh* Oh, Aiden, I think I love you!
Jennifer L. Armentrout is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved Half-Blood and Pure was even better.
There are those that say the Covenant series is a blatant rip-off of the Vampire Academy series. I agree that there are similarities (Half bloods trained to protect Pures. Strong, feisty heroine, etc.) However, Armentrout's writing is so vastly superior that I really don't care. VA fans, please don't hate me ! I was just never a huge fan of the series. Mainly because if I were Rose I would have beat down that annoying idiot Lissa in the first chapter.
Pure starts shortly after where Half Blood ended. Alex is coming to terms with the death of her mother as well as the knowledge that she is the next Apollyon along with Seth.
" So...uh, you're a Team Edward kind of guy?"
Seth snorted. " No, I'm Team James or Team Tyler's Van, but apparently neither of them won by the look of it. She's still alive!"
I fricking love Seth. He holds his own along Alex's smart-ass comments and an increasing affection between the two is more than obvious. A lot of people don't care for love triangles. However, if it's done well I love the additional intrigue. Armentrout does it right. There are no secretly evil love interests. Both men have admirable qualities but are vastly different. With the strict laws governing the Covenant which forbid romantic relationships between Pures and Halfs, Alex must come to terms with her feelings for Aiden and the impossible future between them. Aiden continues his inner battle regarding his love for Alex. As always, he is noble, un-selfish and the voice of reason.
Alex continues to be cranky as hell and have no filter when she's around other people.
"If he says one more word to me I'm going to take a dagger off that wall and shove it in his eye!"
Armentrout creates wonderful dialogue between her characters. Pure ends with an exciting battle between Daemons, Pures, Halfs and Furies and, of course, a cliffhanger that made me love a certain character even more (Hi, Aiden!).
I cannot wait for the next installment, Diety, out in October.
This review and many others can be seen on my blog:
Paranormal Itch Reviews
The Hawk: A Highland Guard Novel
Much better than the first book. So glad I continued on with this series. Review to come.....
The Chief: A Highland Guard Novel (Highland Guard Novels)
Between my obsession of UF, Paranormal and Dystopian books, I LOVE me some historical romances. Highlanders, smexy times and heaving bosoms are my perfect trifecta in a good romance.The Chief is the story of Tormod MacLeod. Chief of Clan MacLeod and Scotland's "Greatest Warrior of All". The story begins shortly after the death of William Wallace, prior to the crowning of Robert the Bruce as King of Scotland. Tor has remained neutral in the rising tensions between England and Scotland. His first priority is to protect his clan from a war like the one that almost decimated them so many years before. This is his one and only focus and he does not have time for trivial matters of the heart.
Enter Christina Fraser, daughter of Lord Andrew Fraser, former Sheriff of Stirlingshire and recently released prisoner. Lord Fraser will do anything to marry off his daughters to anyone that will offer him the most advantageous or financially beneficial deal. In order to protect her meek sister, Christina reluctantly agrees to a scheme against Tor that will insure his marriage to Christina. I won't tell you what is involved as it is truly despicable. However, Father of the Year Fraser gets what he wants in the end and a marriage made in hell is born.
As previously stated, I love me some smexy highlander romance. However, I found the initial "sexual tension" of Tor a little distracting. The initial part of the book (by initial I mean the first 250 pages) is spent listening to Tor wax poetically about Christina and her ability to innocently bring “heaviness to his groin”
Warning! The following female mannerisms may induce unintentional cock stirrage:
1. Tucking a lock of hair behind your ear
2. Smiling coyly as you peek over your lashes (not sure how you
"peek over your lashes" but apparently men dig it.)
3. Smelling incredible or fresh and innocent
4. Throwing your arms around a man in a child-like embrace (eww!)
5. Cleaning the fireplace
6. Cleaning the floor
7. Eating figs
8. Walking fast
No wonder Mel Gibson was so frustrated in Braveheart. With all this wanton womanly behavior, it's a wonder he accomplished anything.
What I did like about The Chief was the back story. One of the conditions of marrying Lady Fraser was that Tor would now have to secretly train a group of elite warriors to help in Robert the Bruce's quest to free Scotland. Tor has accumulated an interesting group of men/warriors. MacRuiri, MacKay, MacSorley, MacGregor, MacKinnon........and Gordon, all make up this merry band of misfits that bring more of what I love about HR to the story than the main story line.
I do like Monica McCarty's writing. Her details in the political aspects of the time gave me a better understanding of the slippery slope that some of the clan chiefs had to manuever. It certainly had more depth than a typical book of this genre.
I adored Tor. I love a complete jerk with a soft side. Christina grated on me. I need my heroines with some backbone and the neediness was very excessive. I found myself shaking the book at times because she was so pathetic.
In any case, I will continue on with the series. I'm happy MacSorely is the protagonist in the next book (poor Gordon!) as he was a favorite of mine.
My Life as A White Trash Zombie
DNF! DNF!DNF!....This DNF in no way reflects on the quality of this book, I just couldn't stomach it. Literally. Between drinking the "tapioca-like chunks" of brain to putting brain in a blender to drink like a smoothie to her on-going personal stench, I'm out!!!! I sometimes can't drink milk if I think about what it is ( don't get me started on eggs)! This book is well written and interesting, just not for me. :(
Insurgent (Divergent)
You know that book you read that you are so excited about that when you finish you run into your co-worker's office, book in hand, (Yes, I read on company time) and jump up and down until she gets off the phone and proceed to squeal with joy as she looks at you like she can't believe it's only 10:00 a.m. and you've already started drinking?....THIS IS THAT BOOK!!!!!
The story starts shortly after the ending of Divergent and Tris and "the gang" have fled from Abnegation and are on the run. After meeting up with the Factionless (who are surprisingly well organized), they decide to pay visit to the various other factions to see if they can drum up some kind of support to help in the war instigated by Erudite. While Tris is dealing with her feelings of guilt, loyalty, new love and a muriad of other conflicting feelings, their first stop is Amity ( AKA a Republican's worst nightmare). There they run into Marcus who lets them know that Erudite attacked Abnegation for a reason. A long time ago, Abnegation was entrusted with some extremely important information and Erudite wanted it. We do not find out this tidbit of info until the end of the book, but it's a doozy!!!!
Next stop, Candor... ( Side note: there is no way I could live here...If I had to be completely honest with my feelings about people I'd have zero friends and no job). There they run into Lynn, who has become one of my favorite characters in this book. While Tris is dealing with hostility from Christina and others over the death of Will, Lynn says the following line to Tris which cemented my respect for her:
" 'You are brave', she says.'You don't need me to say it, because you already know it.But I want you to know that I know.'
She is complimenting me, but I still feel like she has slapped me with something.
Then she adds, 'Don't mess it up!' "
I don't want to go into much more as there are many surprises along the way. However, I would be remiss in not mentioning Four/Tobias! God, I love this guy! Some of the sweetest moments occur between him and Tris. With the overwhelming gloom surrounding them, it makes it all the more precious. One of my favorite scenes between the two was this one:
" 'I love you', I say...........I am his and he is mine, and it has been that way all along.
He stares at me. I wait with my hands clutching his arms for stability as he considers his response.
He frowns at me. 'Say it again.'
'Tobias, I love you.' I say.
His skin is slippery with water and he smells like sweat and my shirt sticks to his arms when he slides them around me. He presses his face to my neck and kisses me right above the collarbone, kisses my cheek, kisses my lips.
'I love you, too,' he says.
I'm completely smitten with these two.
Insurgent ends in typical Veronica Roth fashion, with a cliffhanger. But a really, really good one, so it's impossible to be mad at her. I can't believe I have to wait another year for the final book, but if it's as good as this one then who cares.
Please come visit www.paranormalitch.blogspot.com for more reviews!
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A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd
Actual rating: 4 1/2 starsThis review contains spoilers. Although I have kept the more major parts of this story out, I have still included some prominent scenes that are best read along with the whole book.
" Stories don't always have happy endings....."
I wasn't sure what kind of story A Monster Calls would be when I picked it up. All I knew was that several of my GoodReads friends raved about it and that was good enough for me. Assuming that it was probably some kind of horror/YA hybrid, I jumped right in.
Fast forward to the last 3 pages of the book and here I was:
About half way through the book I started to peruse some of the GR reviews and realized this definitely wasn't going to be the type of book I thought it would be. It's obvious that this story brings about very intense emotions to it's readers depending on their individual life experience. I've been fortunate enough in my life that I have not lost a close family member at a young age. However, this book definitely invoked feelings in me that were uncomfortable, sad, angry, distraught and more.
This is the story of a 13-year old boy named Conor whose mother has cancer. He is an only child who rarely sees his father who lives in the States. While his mother is undergoing chemo, Conor starts to have a nightmare. A very, very bad nightmare. The gist of the nightmare is not revealed until the end of the story.
One night, Conor receives a visit from The Monster.
" The monster stood in his yard, looking right at him......'OPEN UP', the monster said, it's voice as clear as if the window wasn't between them. ' I WANT TO TALK TO YOU' "
Side Note #1: The illustrations in the book are amazing. I've been told that the paperback has more pictures than the ebook but this pic from my Nook shows the brilliance of Jim McKay.
Side Note#2: The time 12:07 plays a prominent role throughout the book. I finished this book on Saturday afternoon at .............yep, 12:07. At which point I freaked the fuck out and had to be sedated.(Well, technically I finished around 12:04 but I scanned through the pics in the book when I was done and when I looked at the time it was 12:07....Still some freaky shit!)
Back to the book....Conor has an ongoing problem at school with bullying. He also has figured out that everyone now knows about his mother because of an error in judgement from his friend, Lily. She told a friend about Conor and it spread to everyone after that, resulting in Conor being treated differently, almost invisible. What transpires at school is heartbreaking and infuriating. He lashes out at Lily and ends up completely alone. Towards the end of the book, Conor receives a note in class from Lily that says:
"I'm sorry for telling everyone about your mum
I miss being your friend
Are you okay?
I see you!"
That scene destroyed me.I was a complete wreck and at the same time couldn't have loved Lily more.
The Monster continues to visit Conor to tell him three different stories. Each one which will eventually help Conor process the circumstances of his life.
" 'There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between., the Monster said'."
As this was a short book it is hard to relay some of the most profound moments of the book without giving things away. At times, I hated the grandma, the dad and even the mom. But in the end, I loved all of them for what they were.
Not flawless but flawed. Like all of us.
In the end, I realized that this wasn't just a story about loss. It was a story about a sad, lonely and confused boy who had to deal with too much, too soon. In the end, it was also about a boy who let go of all of these things and forgave himself and the people who love him with the help of a big, scary monster.
This is an incredibly beautiful story and one of the best written novels I have ever read. The last ten pages alone border on perfection. It is sad, funny, disgusting and sometimes, just plain lovely.
This is a dual review with Samina at Escapism from Reality (http://escapismfromreality.blogspot.com/) as part of a new series of buddy reviews from the girls at:
Please check out Samina's blog for a different perspective of
A Monster Calls.
My reviews can also be seen at www.paranormalitch.blogspot.com
Chasing Magic
I’m writing this review at the end of April but will not post on GR until the beginning of June, a little closer to the official release date. I do this mainly so I can purvey the appropriate amount of ass-kissery to Stacia Kane that she so richly deserves. I would hate to think that any delay in putting thoughts to paper would dilute my complete and utter adulation for her. Okay, now that I’ve successfully reached uber-fan/creepy fangurl status, let’s talk Chasing Magic….. If it isn’t obvious yet, Stacia Kane has done it again. It’s rare that a series continues on an upward swing at book five. CM definitely does it and I don’t see it ending anytime soon.
Downside has found itself in a bit of a pickle (above and beyond its usual misery and tragedy). Someone is tainting its drug supply, resulting in pseudo zombie-like murderers running amuck in the streets. Of course, Chess can’t just sit back and let someone else handle it. This is what she does. This is what she is good at. So, her and Terrible take to the streets to find out who is doing this. My favorite thing about this book is that we get A LOT more of Terrible. They work side by side throughout the whole book and IT IS HEAVEN (Well, mostly!).
Ms. Kane has the incredible ability to create characters that are completely jacked up, but I would love to spend any amount of time with. Either she has a helluva imagination or she’s been hanging out in some questionable neighborhoods. First, there’s Bump, for obvious reasons. But then she creates this piece of genius:
“ In the doorway stood a woman with blue braids erupting from her head in an odd patchy pattern as if she’d grabbed clumps of hair and braided them, then tied them off with scraps of red t-shirt. A hole-filled jersey dress about five sizes too big covered her from neck to mid-calf. Well, covered most of her; one of her breast poked out of a hole. She didn’t seem to notice it or care”
I would maim a distant relative to just spend one afternoon with this woman. We could spend the afternoon eating generic mac and cheese and watch The Bad Girls Club. Fantastic!
Terrible continues on his inadvertent quest to be the perfect man. Here are some of my favorite scenes:
As they are about to attend a wedding ( Chess is dressed in a cherry-patterned dress and cherry peep-toe platforms….YAYYYYY, so cute.)………
“He came around to her side and opened her door for her, eyeing her up and down as she got out of the car. His hand squeezed hers; a slight twist of his arm turned her to face him, standing not quite a foot away with his face in shadow, ‘Shit. You so fuckin pretty, Chessie. True thing. So…..ain’t even can breathe sometimes.’ “
AND…..
As they are going into a scene where both could possibly die and Chess has told him how afraid she is to die, how afraid she is to be alone in The City……
“ ‘I ain’t….Don’t know how to say it up right. Never—Fuck, Chess. Thought you was dead once before, you recall? Never felt so bad in my life, not ever. Then on the other day, thought you was gone an just….I ain’t can do it, bein without you’…..He rubbed his neck, pressed his palm into his furrowed brow and took a swipe at his eyes. Cleared his throat, twice. ‘Don’t want to. An even if I did, ain’t can leave you down there on your alones. How can I do that one, aye? Leave my Chessiebomb there without me. Specially knowin you scared on it’ “
HOLLLYYYYY CHRIST!!!!!!
Chess shows growth in this book that gives me hope that she won’t completely fuck up everything. She’s a master at two steps forward and one step back. But its progress, slowly but surely.
There isn’t word on when the next book comes out, which gives me a mild case of the shakes. However, whenever Ms. Kane decides to release the next chapter I’m sure it will be more than worth the wait.