Iron Flame

 

Iron Flame is the second book in The Empryean series. 

I feel like Violet changed a lot from Fourth Wing to Iron Flame but to be fair she is most likely dealing with a lot of PTSD and exhausted from keeping her secrets from her friends. Instead of relying on people like she had previously Violet tries to find more and more herself. Digging deeper and deeper until she risks it all for answers she desperately needs. 

Xaden was left out of the story for a major part of it and when he reappeared I did not like his attitude much. He was even more cocky and secretive despite tying to be better with sharing stuff with Violet. 

Several side characters seemed left out as well which was sad since I like their relationship with Violet but she just tried to avoid all her friends and hide from them the majority of the time or ignore them.

My biggest gripe was another love triangle sort of thing being introduced. Violet already dealt with a love triangle in the Four Wing so need to do some odd Xaden love triangle with an ex that makes Violet feel even more insecure. Parts of the writing were too much, I felt like it repeated and did not provide enough new information but I did enjoy the story a lot overall. Like many others I am eager for Onyx Storm next year.

The time it took me to read the story has nothing to do with the story being slow, bad, or boring. Just things going on in my personal life are making it hard for me to want to pick up a book and try to read. 

Compete

 

Compete is the second  book in the The Atlantis Grail series. I actually bought the Ebook since the library did not have it. 

Having made it through the brutal qualification Gwen is now on a spaceship traveling through interstellar space towards and unknown galaxy and an unknown life on the alien planet Atlantis. As usual Gwen continues to be her difficult self and refuses to settle into the strict schedule the Atlanteans have created for the teens. Refusing to choose civilian or cadet Gwen is allowed more time to decided which she will choose. This comes with a price though and she has found herself an aide to the commanding pilot Aeson and learning more about the officers aboard the fleet. 

Despite it taking me a long time to read I really liked the book. The author was able to constantly add new information despite daily life being the same throughout the book. I like that you learned more about Aeson even though everything was told from Gwen's point of view. The writing continued to be consistent and easy to read. Despite tech not being my strong point I really liked how Nazarian broke down the more technical stuff and made it easy to understand. 

I have already purchased Win on my tablet and am eager to start it. 

Qualify

 

Qualify was a recent Free Friday by Nook book and it has been ages since I read an young adult book so I figured I would give it a try.

Gwen knows she is nothing special just an average dork trying to make it through high school with the least amount of embarrassing moments for her but that all changes when news hits that the earth is going to be destroyed by an steroid. However salvation lies in aliens who once lived on earth and offers a small hope to teens. Pass the tests and the aliens will take you to their home planet and safety. 

A double edge sword, Gwen can be saved but what if her siblings do not pass the coemption and no saving her parents. Still she must try. Soon Gwen is forcing not only her mind but her body to work hard to pass the Atlantis tests as she hopes to qualify for saving. 

It was easy to read large chunks of the story at once. I would easily get through a hundred pages or so at a time. The writing is smooth and flows well. Since Gwen is the main character you do not get a feel for most of the other characters but their dominate personality traits do show through. My biggest complaint is that Atlantis culture did not really go into much detail when she was in the class. I wanted more on how the aliens live every day not about how to bow to people above your station. Despite that I am eager to continue on with the story and I did buy the second book, Compete, I am hoping it will not suffer what I call second book syndrome. 

All the Dangerous Things

 

I saw a Facebook reel that recommended some thriller books and I happened to like one they had listed so I figured I would give All the Dangerous Things a try. 

Isabelle is a sleep deprived mother who looses it all when her son disappears from his crib in the middle of the night. Unable to trust anyone around her Isabelle begins a mission to bring her son home and find out the truth even if it is not the truth she wants to learn. 

The first major issue I had with the story was the fluff, so much filler, I skipped whole paragraphs and pages as reading and still got the whole story. Way too many twisted and confusing thoughts Isabelle was having the did not move the plot forward at all. Really it makes no sense to me that authors feel like books have to be a certain number of pages when it does not add to the story, I am fine with books 150 to 200 pages. The next issue I had was I did not really like Isabelle or even feel sorry for her she just went on and on about how horrible her life was and most of it was her fault from the horrible choices she made. Beyond that the mystery was solid with a clear conclusion. 

None of this is True

 

None of this is True is a trip all it's own and I almost quit after reading two chapters.

Josie is a middle aged woman enjoying her birthday at the local pub with her husband when she spies the glamorous Alix having a birthday celebration as well. Instead of being with just her husband several people are also at the table and Josie is curious how old Alix is turning and who all the people at her gathering are. Little did the two women know soon their destines would be intertwined as Josie makes it her personal mission to share her life story with Alix and learn Alix's life story at the same time.

The story was so ordinary and just mundane then suddenly wham it took off and I could not put it down. I read two thirds of it in one sitting. I just had to know more and more. The pace at which information was provided was perfect, small tidbits but enough to keep you wanting to read more. Some of the revelations I figured out and some I did not. The ending was perfect and I have my own conclusions, which are no doubt different from other readers, however I am not left wondering. To be able to write open ended and not leave the reader wondering is insanely talented. I look forward to more novels from Lisa Jewell. 

One Step Too Far

 

I could not sleep last night so I looked for a book on my table and happened to find One Step Too Far which is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Instead of sleeping I read the whole book. 

Once again Frankie is on a mission to find the missing but this time she is diverting from her planned target to help find a man who went missing in the woods five years ago. Though she doubts he is alive she hopes she an bring comfort to his terminally ill mother with finding remains. Soon though Frankie is in over her head as she realizes something is terribly wrong with the woods and searching for the truth can be dangerous. 

The writing was the same but I found the plot line far more engaging. Most likely because I am horrified by the idea of a person just disappearing in the woods. Cities have answers and in the woods animals leave traces but for a person to just vanish while out in nature with no trace horrifies me. 

With that said I have several issues with the overall story. This next part will contain spoilers. The killer is a woodsman and his helper runs a diner, how on earth were they smart enough to encode their emails and make them impossible to trace? How did they get to the father of the missing campers house and sabotage his car and steal his gear? Also what was up with the screams in the woods that seemed to scare the experienced hunters in the group? What did Scott see? A hallucination due to guilt or the killer dressed up in the gear he stole from the victim? What happened to the night Scott left camp and was found near the river? Was he sleepwalking? Drunk? Taken and not aware? Who attacked Scott in the middle of the night was it the hunter or was it himself causing trauma to his chest? Why did the hunter leave the lean to intact and not destroy it? Was he playing a cruel joke on the missing campers father? What was up with the green Frankie saw at the top of the cliff? So many unanswered questions for side plot things but nothing that was a major question was left unanswered. 

Before She Disappeared

 

I had no clue Before She Disappeared was part of a series or I would not have started it. I tend to try to read series when they are complete or not read them at all. I cannot stand when a mystery ends on a cliffhanger and then you wait ages for the next book to either tie up the mystery or continue it.

Frankie is a woman on a mission, a mission to find the forgotten minorities who disappear, the ones who cases go cold, the ones who are only remembered by their family, and no matter she wont stop until the missing are found. 

Frankie is clearly a well rounded character, she has flaws, she has feelings, she shows fear, and she has things that make me like her a lot. The whole story wrapped up as well, so well in fact I had to see if the book preview at the end of the story was the next in the series. It is and I am trying to decide it I want to continue the series or not. I do like the writing style, the main character, the process, and the overall plot line just not into reading mystery that is a series. 

Five Fortunes - Audio Book

I was provided a copy of Five Fortunes from Mrs. Venkatraman.* It is a young adult story that is stand alone.

Despite having five main characters and side characters each girl is presented with a clear personality that makes it easy to tell them apart. One of the best parts is that each chapter has a title, it has become so rare for author's to include that but really adds a lot to the story for the reader in my opinion. One hundred percent the story was driven by teenage antics and not by romance which I strongly approve of. More stories need to show that it is okay to enjoy being a teen and hanging out with friends. At times the girls did feel a bit stereotypical but that is alright since it makes it easier for girls this age in ways, I know at that age I had a category I considered myself to be in.

The only moment where I struggled a little bit was the very start, is felt a bit like the first couple pages were a sample of the writing of what was going to happen. It was not until I finished a couple chapters I realized the story went from the girls about to get their fortunes to skipping over that part and the girls having their fortunes.

Consistent writing with a lovely flow and words that are appropriate for a young teen. At parts I laughed out loud at the story and other parts wondered how all the fortunes would play out for each girl. Another major bonus is the chapters were consistent in length so it does not mess with the pace of reading.

All in all a delightful read that I see young teens enjoying and not being overly intimated by since it is shorter in length but in no way lacking in a nicely well rounded story.

Five Fortunes is the first audiobook I have ever listened to so I have nothing else to compare it to in any way. I enjoyed hearing the story aloud, Emily M Wilson did a concise job of narrating. Wilson was easy to understand, added her own personal flair, and was consistent. 

*being gifted the story in no way affects my review

Five Survive

 

I have been trying to get back into some young adult and all the books I wanted to check out had a massive waiting list so I went back to mystery/thriller except young adult genre added in. 

The characters were not to my liking at all, they all seemed one dimensional even Red whose point of view the story was told from. None of them had my sympathy and none of them acted like real people except Oliver at times. Red seemed so detached from all that was going on it made me wonder if she was on the spectrum in some way. 

My other huge issue with the story was the ending, it felt rushed and incomplete. It was also odd to go from Red's point of view to other people's point of view and written letters. It seemed out of place and not a smooth transition at all. I did like the overall story though it had an interesting premise and I liked that part immensely. 

The Fourth Wing

 

Thanks to a friend lending me their copy of The Fourth Wing I could bypass the hundreds of people on the library waiting list. 

I will admit the warning almost made me not read any farther, I can handle some of the things listed but intense gore is not my style. Thankfully the story did not go deep into describing the injuries. 

With Violet having trained to be a scribe for her entire life I expected more reluctance to physical activity from her, she did complain about it but did not seem to shy away from it. I also expected her to excel at book learning which she did. It would have been nice if her illness was explained a bit more, it seemed to randomly disappear then suddenly reappear. My other thought was Violet's name, it does not fit in the world with the other names. I get that Xander wanted to nickname her Violence so it fits that but beyond that the rest of the names sound more magical and Violet's is just too ordinary. 

Dain was another character that was complicated but also annoying. Despite him being Violet's best friend I felt like they would never have been friends outside the academy. The two constantly butted heads and it is hard to see Dain having any fun in life even as a child since he is such a stickler for the rules. 

Xander is a confusing character, he is old enough to make his own decisions but also the age of hot headed young men. I found him unbelieve a lot of time and yet moments of being a hot headed young man showed up. 

The rest of the cast sort of felt like an after thought at times. I only learned a few thing about each of them and it was hard to get a good grasp on their personality. 

Even though the story was long I wanted more world building. More information on the things around them, more information on how the different species of dragons look, and even more on how the side character's dragons looked. 

Other then those few complains I thoroughly enjoyed The Fourth Wing. Several steamy scenes, bad language, and blood but it seemed to all fit into the story. The opening really drew me in and from the first couple of paragraphs I was hooked on the writing style. I hope that more of Violet's father is mentioned further in the series and why she trained as a scribe when her mother was dead set on her being a rider. 

 

The Nothing Man

 

The Nothing Man is the first book I have had taken from a booktok recommendation and I seriously was not impressed. 

Despite this being written as a book within a book I never had issues with understanding what was going on, every transition was clear and concise. The characters were not even bad, I did not like serial killer, I felt sympathy for his surviving victims, and I cheered for all the good detectives. Yet beyond that I felt no connection to the story, I did not care if anyone lived or died. All the characters were flat in their own odd ways and even the main character Jim did not seem anything but ordinary. The sub-stories seemed to be snuck in and did not fit well with the flow of the story. 

Slow writing, no tension, limited moments of excitement, and a predictable plot made The Nothing Man a story not worth remembering. 

The Final Gambit

The Final Gambit is the third book in The Inheritance Series. I thought this was a trilogy when I started it but I was wrong.

Avery seems to have learned a lot about how to deal with puzzles left in the Hawthorne house, will, and her life overall. The biggest puzzle left for her seems to be her heart as she struggles to figure out her feelings for Grey while being with Jamerson. I personally do not like love triangles and this one was one of the worst ones I have ever read. I also wish that more of Avery's social blunders were included in the story it just seemed like she went from being awkward about things to suddenly perfect in acting in society. The last thing I had an issue with was the way Eve was thrown into the story, it did not really fit nor did it seem important to the story. 

Overall I do not know how I feel about the series as a whole, I enjoyed most of the puzzles but others seemed out of place and forced. The love triangle felt forced and awkward in most parts. The writing did stay consistent throughout the whole series and the characters did not have any major personality changes which I liked. 

While I own the first three books I do not see myself buying the fourth book, it does not seem to be strictly from Avery's point of view so it is a 50/50 chance I will like it or not.