Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Review ~ White Cat by Holly Black




TITLE: White Cat
AUTHOR: Holly Black
COPYRIGHT: 2010
TYPE: YA fantasy
PAGES: 310
SERIES: Yes I just found out she has book 2 coming out next year.
1. White Cat
2. Red Glove

REASON FOR READ: I believe Lurv ala Mode mentioned at some point on her blog and I thought it sounded interesting.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.
Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories


THOUGHTS/OPINION:
WOW this book totally caught me off guard. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. I really enjoyed the twists and turns. And I hate to admitt it but it kept me on the edge of my seating and up late into the night trying to get it all read.

THINGS I LIKED:
- I loved Cassel he was an amazing character. I loved reading about his growth, struggles, and his past. He was wonderful as a character with his flaws, his family, and of course his past. He just made the book worth reading.
- I did enjoy the twists and turns this book took a lot of them actually managed to surprise me which is sometimes hard to do in a YA novel.
- I loved, loved, loved the world building that Ms. Black did. Her rules of curse working and the consequences were awesome and she was very good at sticking with the rules.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:- I didn't like Cassel's family I didn't feel they were good for him but then again he wouldn't be a character I was loyal to if it wasn't for his family.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? I would keep it but it was a library book. However, when book 2 comes out I will pick it up.

Would you recommend this book? yes I really do recommend this series on the world building alone and then when you add in Cassel its a MUST read.

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge

Reviewing Next:Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Monday, August 30, 2010

Review ~ Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs


TITLE: Hunting Ground
AUTHOR: Patricia Briggs
COPYRIGHT: 2009
TYPE: paranormal romance
PAGES: 286
SERIES:
1. Short Story
2. Cry Wolf
3. Hunting Ground


REASON FOR READ:Read book 1 and loved it saw this in TBR and thought I had to read next.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son -and enforcer -of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles's reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer -or Charles will take the fall.

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
I still heart Charles and Anna. I love their story and I love reading about their growing relationship. This had yet another plot that I could’ve lived without but b/c of it made them stronger as a couple and helped Anna come into her own.

THINGS I LIKED:- That they are both working hard to get the other to understand, feel comfortable, and love them. They both have issues and they are trying to work them out.
- Anna keeps getting stronger and stronger. She’s not so strong after her horrible ordeal that she can go out and take over the world. But she is working through her fears and refuses to let them rule her any longer.
- Charles loves her and is working as hard as he can to prove to her his love without hurting her. I also like that Charles is worried that he won’t be the person she needs.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I didn’t like the whole bring in other species part but it had a fun little plot twist connected with it.
- I didn’t like the Vampires they seemed pointless and unnecessary


Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping b/c I heart Anna and Charles

Would you recommend this book? Yes but only if you’ve read them all in order. Not a series you can skip around on.

Favorite Quotes:
I can’t recall the particular quote but I love when she is commenting on what color of shirt he “magically” wears never red.

Challenges:100+ Book Challenge
Romance Reading Challenge

Reviewing Next:
One I forgot about:
White Cat by Holly Black

Friday, August 27, 2010

Boyfriend of the Week ~ Matthew Morrison

Rowena over at Everyday Wena has a Eye Candy Friday tradition. And every Friday she puts up her latest hottie of the week.


This week's hottie was brought to us from Glee............ Matthew Morrison














Monday, August 23, 2010

Review ~ Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs



TITLE: Cry Wolf
AUTHOR: Patricia Briggs
COPYRIGHT: 2008
TYPE: paranormal romance
PAGES: 294
SERIES:
First full novel but a short story before
1. Short story
2. Cry Wolf

3. Hunting Ground

REASON FOR READ:
Loved the short story with these two so of course I had to read the next one in the series.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Anna never knew werewolves existed until the night she survived a violent attack…and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’d learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But Anna is that rarest kind of werewolf: an Omega. And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country will recognize her value as a pack member—and as his mate.

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
This book takes off right where the short story left and I couldn’t be happier for it. I am glad that we had to see Anna cope with being sent to Montana and it was nice seeing Charles cope with Anna while injured. It made things very interesting.

THINGS I LIKED:
- I loved watching Anna come into her own. She was victimized beyond belief and yet still didn’t bring and has grown in character. Watching her fight for her mate and her life was refreshing. Yet being able to see her weakness and how people make her still coward was also refreshing. She was healed instantly it will still take time for her.
- Anna is a wonderful person and I loved watching her realize how much of a wonderful person she was. I also enjoyed her slow realization of Charles and his love for her.
- Charles is yet another character that I enjoyed watching grow. Anna throws off his whole world and yet he still does everything he can to protect her even injured.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I think I just didn’t like the witch. Not sure why I mean I understand why she was key in the plot but I just didn’t like her part.
- The fact that Anna still can’t understand that what is Charles is hers and vise versa.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping

Would you recommend this book? I think this series is wonderfully sweet and yet brutal

Favorite Quotes:
Things that might have made him question his earlier assessment that as long as he didn’t die he’d be fine. ~ page 258

Challenges:Romance Reading
TBR
100+ Books

Reviewing Next:Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.

Review ~ Grimspace by Ann Aguirre


TITLE: Grimspace
AUTHOR: Ann Aguirre
COPYRIGHT: 2008
TYPE: Science Fiction/Fantasy
PAGES: 312
SERIES: Yes first in the series

REASON FOR READ:.
All my friends kept raving about this series and well book 4 comes out in a few weeks so I thought I would give it a go

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun's not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order



THOUGHTS/OPINION:
I have to say I am truly disappointed in myself for not picking up this book sooner. This blew my expectations out of the water. I enjoyed Jax I liked how flawed she was, how selfish she was, and how much of a coward she was. But and here's the major kicker that sold me... she GREW as a person and a character. She FREAKING grew and matured in one book PRAISE GOD someone got it right when it comes to flawed characters.

THINGS I LIKED:
- Jax she was flawed and still is but you could see her actually growing throughout the story which was refreshing.
- I liked that March and his crew didn't like Jax they did what they did b/c they had to save people. Not because they liked her and it took her a while to really fit in a lot of her fitting in had to do with her actually maturing.
- I liked learning about the crew and not all at once. The crew was the most enjoyable part
- The worlds Ann created were amazing each one different, each one had different spieces that didn't all talk the same language, they all looked different and had different cultures.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- There honestly isn't much and that says a lot b/c let's be honest I can find something wrong with most things.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping

Would you recommend this book? Yes I highly recommend this book and I hope that I can recommend the next couple.

Favorite Quotes:I can see why that’d be a particular concern for him, seeing as he can’t fight at al. Not even monster. He’s reliant on me now for his protection. And if that’s not the shitest twist of fate ever, I don’t know what is. ~ page 66

Nodding I fall in behind March not b/c I acknowledge his authority in any fashion but b/c if by some chance we were wrong and there’s something big and ugly left in these wetlands I really prefer it eats him first. Give me a chance to run.
“Nice,” he says, spearing a glance over his shoulder. “Really nice.”
Oh sure, that he hears. ~ page 112

Challenges:
TBR
Romance Reading
100+ Book

Reviewing Next:
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

Friday, August 20, 2010

Review ~ Sins of the Night by Serrilyn Kenyon


TITLE: Sins of the Night
AUTHOR: Sherrilyn Kenyon
COPYRIGHT: 2005
TYPE: paranormal romance
PAGES: 384
SERIES: yes and no I am not writing this out.

REASON FOR READ:
I’ve read them up to this point I figured I should continue

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
In the realm of the Dark-Hunters there is a code of honor that even immortal bad boys must follow: Harm no human. Drink no blood. Never fall in love. But every now and again a Dark-Hunter thinks himself above the Code. That's when I'm summoned. Who am I?



THOUGHTS/OPINION:
I thought I would like this one more than I did but for some reason I just couldn’t get into it.

THINGS I LIKED:
- I liked learning more about Ash and his home and getting to see Simi again.
- Learning that Simi has a sister was pretty cool and I loved how she bonded with Alex so that she could be near her Simi (love the way they talk LOL)

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I can’t place my finger on it but something about this book just wasn’t doing it for me. I didn’t like Alex I didn’t care for Danger and well that in itself was the probably.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? I seriously would pass on it but I have the WHOLE series.

Would you recommend this book? No the only good thing was learning about Ash

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Romance Reading Challenge
TBR challenge

Reviewing Next:
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon

Monday, August 16, 2010

Review ~ The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting


TITLE: The Body Finder
AUTHOR: Kimberly Derting
COPYRIGHT: 2010
TYPE: YA
PAGES: 327
SERIES: Yes first in the series

REASON FOR READ: The story sounded interesting.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself




THOUGHTS/OPINION:
I really enjoyed this book. Usually I can’t stand YA books but this one was not only rich in story the “love” story was awesome. I love the BFF love story line and this one had a totally sweet and honest love story. The mystery was different and I have to say her “Gift” was weird but I still liked the way she handled it and dealt with life.

THINGS I LIKED:
- Violet she was surprisingly a good strong YA character. She is one character that I could relate to if I were younger and one that used good sense. When she didn’t use good sense she admitted it and learned from her mistakes. Considering what she has to deal with (sensing dead people/animals and what not) she is very well rounded.
- Jay he was SUPER sweet as a love interest and even though he had “blossomed” over the summer he still really liked Violet and didn’t change into an ego chasing manic. Not only that be he really, really loved/liked Violet and was sweet about it plus he knew her secret and looked out for added bonus
- I liked the special “gift” she had it was unique and wore her out it was as if she could find a body and poof she was fine but she actually had to do something about them in order to stop the noise.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I didn’t like the twist at the end but I will let you figure it out. I thought one was enough
- I have to admit I skipped the killers thoughts just b/c I didn’t feel they were needed. That being said I don’t normally read these types of books so that may be typical and just a personal preference.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? It was a library book so I am passing. If the second is as good I might pick up the whole series

Would you recommend this book? Yes I highly recommend this YA book

Challenges:100+ Book Challenge
Romance Reading challenge

Reviewing Next:
Sins of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Friday, August 13, 2010

Boyfriend of the Week ~ Djimon Hounsou

Rowena over at Everyday Wena has a Eye Candy Friday tradition. And every Friday she puts up her latest hottie of the week.

This week's hottie was brought to us from Push: Djimon Hounsou














YUM!!!!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Review ~ Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon




TITLE: Size the Night
AUTHOR: Sherrilyn Kenyon
COPYRIGHT: 2004
TYPE: paranormal romance
PAGES: 325
SERIES: Uh yes and please don’t make me write them out

REASON FOR READ: Read up to this book last year and a co-worker convinced me I needed to catch up

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Hail Glorious Reader:

I was born the noble son of a legendary Roman senator. I walked through the ancient world as a general, admired and supreme until a brutal betrayal caused me to bargain my soul. Now I'm an immortal Dark-Hunter, bound to protect mankind from the evil scourge that haunts it. Over the centuries, I've seen many frightening things: plagues, pestilence, disco music...

And now Tabitha Devereaux. A human, she has trained herself to fight vampires every bit as capably as any Dark-Hunter. Idiosyncratic and off-beat, she is my personal bane-and yet she beguiles me. There are only two small problems. She happens to be the twin of my mortal enemy's wife. More than that, Tabitha and her sister are being stalked by a power that will not rest until everyone she holds dear is dead.

Unlike my Dark-Hunter brethren, I rely on no one but myself. They spurned me and I turned my back on them. But the only way to save Tabitha and her family is to find some way to bridge a two thousand-year-old feud.

They say opposites attract, but can they stay together when even the Fates conspire to keep them apart? Then again, the Fates have never dealt with the likes of Tabitha Devereaux before. They're going to be in for quite a fight...

--Valerius Magnus

THOUGHTS/OPINION:.
Everyone warned me that after the last book they only get worse. That being said however, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it. There were of course parts that annoyed me but I liked Valerius and realized a lot more about him then you do in Dance with the Devil. This one happened to be my favorite book so far of the series.

THINGS I LIKED:
- I like that Amanda was very strong and loved life. The fact that she liked who she was and didn’t doubt it was refreshing. She is definitely the take me or leave me kind of girl who really means it.
- I love that Amanda could hold her own but knew when she should ask for help and when she was in over her head.
- I loved watching Valerius fall in love with Amanda and realized that she wasn’t going to leave him no matter how horrible his past.
- I liked that even though they didn’t respect him Valerius still took his job serious and fought as good as he could. I also appreciate that while he was being picked on by the others and hated he didn’t whine about it.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
- Man hatred last forever in these novels. I mean it took Ash to show Zarek the truth for him to understand and even then he still gave the cold shoulder.
-The men in these books can hold a grudge FOREVER.
- The ending was nicely wrapped up and at first I didn’t like how easy it was but I have grown to appreciate it since.
- The bad guy not so bad and I ended up skipping over half of his story line.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping b/c I have the whole series

Would you recommend this book? Yeah it was a good story

Challenges:
100+ Book Challenge
Romance Reading Challenge
TBR Challenge
Name Challenge

Reviewing Next: Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Good, the Bad and the Undead


TITLE: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
AUTHOR: Kim Harrison
COPYRIGHT: 2005
TYPE: Urban Fantasy
PAGES: 453
SERIES: yes book 2

1. Dead Witch Walking
2. The Good, The Bad, and the Undead3. Every Which Way but Dead
4. A Fist Full of Charms
5. For a Few Demons More (DIK Challenge)
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails
7. White Witch Black Curse
8. Black Magic Sanction

REASON FOR READ:
read book 1 and really enjoyed it thought it was time for book 2

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
Rachel Morgan s back, and in more trouble than ever! Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and other vampire novels won t want to miss the second novel in Kim Harrison s addicting--and already bestselling--supernatural series.
Former-bounty-hunter Rachel Morgan has it pretty good. She s left the corrupt Inderland Runner Service and started her own independent service. She s survived werewolves, shape-changing demons, bad-hair days, and sharing a church with her vampire roommate Ivy. She even has a cute (if human) boyfriend-what more could a witch want?
But living with a reformed vampire isn t all it s cracked up to be, particularly when your roommate s very bad ex-boyfriend wants her back, and wouldn t mind you in the process. And especially when he s six feet of sheer supernatural seduction, and you ve got a demon mark that makes vampires literally hotter than hell....
To save herself and Ivy, Rachel must confront the vampire master-and the dark secrets she s hidden even from herself



THOUGHTS/OPINION:.
Overall I think this is a really good series so far. However, I do think that Rachel has A LOT of opportunity to grow up. There is a lot of her behavior in this series that made me roll my eyes. It felt as if things don't go her way she doesn't care b/c she is going to make them go her way or everyone can go to hell... oh whoops maybe I should've listened to (Insert BF, Ivy or Jinx) b/c it turns out they might have been right.

THINGS I LIKED:
- I do like that Rachel is forced to deal with Ivy a little bit more in this book. In this book we actually see the pain and struggle that Ivy has to deal with living with Rachel. I think it was good to see that maybe if Rachel knew it she could've of dealt with it before now.
- I like the demon, not a good thing I think but I like that he is amusing and well finds Rachel to be amusing... ex: "You're like watching a five year old."
- I did like that I was right about Trent and what he was. I also liked that finally at the end Rachel realized her OBESSION with it being Trent was wrong and she was going to have to except it.
-Once Rachel got off her Trent OBESSION she finally became the person I enjoyed in the first book which was nice.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
-This constant OBESSION with it having to be Trent. Yes we all hate Trent, yes he is a bad guy but FOLLOW procedure if you EVER hope to bring him down. And yet you get mad when everyone tells you this b/c its not what you want. GROW UP! yes strangely that was my only complaint which means I will be reading the next.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping

Would you recommend this book? yeah I think its a good 2nd book

Challenges:
100+ book challenge
TBR book Challenge

Friday, August 6, 2010

Boyfriend of the Week ~ Rain

Rowena over at Everyday Wena has a Eye Candy Friday tradition. And every Friday she puts up her latest hottie of the week.

This week in honor of Ninja Assassin we have:... RAIN











Next week will more than likely be My Chris again but maybe not.... I might surprise you *insert evil laugh*