Strange Light Afar

From the cover to the last page Strange Light Afar was captivating, magical, and enchanting.

Composed of eight traditional Japanese folk tales Strange Light Afar delivered a delightful, well written story every time. Each story was proceeded by a lovely picture that gave an interesting visual of what the story was going to contain.  Despite the tales being short the characters were well written and I fond myself feeling strong emotions towards all of them. I simply did not want Strange Light Afar to come to an end.

Friday 56: Strange Light Afar

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.

 

Strange Light Afar 56%: 

"In heaven, she had been an immortal. Now, a life on earth with a man who cared for her perhaps was the best she could hope for."

 

Alpha Unleashed

Along with previous books in the Alpha Girl series Alpha Unleashed was fast paced and full of action.

Tessa continues to struggle with being a werewolf, witch, and human as the pack gears up for a demon attack from the witches. Knowing she is not a good fighter in wolf form Tessa decides to embrace her witch side more and look for ways to stop a demon attack using magic.

Alpha Unleashed felt like a solid ending to a series which is why I was bit surprised at the end to see two more books are coming out in the series next year. I look forward to reading both of them. 

Silent Night

Since I had been super busy lately I decided to read something fluffy and simple. Silent Night was fun and fast.

Silent Night was divided among many characters and it just took place over a few hours on Christmas Eve so character building was not really the focus of the story nor building up a main character. The writing was fast paced with little filler. Despite not getting a lot of time with any one character I did feel like I got to know most of the characters in the book and I ended up caring about what happened to Brian.

Bruja

At first I was reluctant to read Bruja since Tessa was not the main character. I am thankful I gave Bruja a try.

From the previous books Claudia has been mentioned before but never really had much about who she is revealed and I figured she would be a like Tessa. I was wrong, having been sheltered in the coven all her life Claudia has a thirst for knowledge and freedom. With her twin brother on the verge of death Claudia leaves her comfort zone quickly and heads to Peru to get help for Daniel. Lacking knowledge and social skills due to a sheltered life Claudia is constantly doubting herself but continues to try as hard as she can. I adore that about her and was cheering for her throughout all of Bruja. 

I really enjoy Aileen Erin's writing style and usually read books by Aileen Erin in one sitting, Bruja was not exception. I look forward to reading Alpha Unleashed.

Dumplin'

Dumplin' was everything I had hoped it would be and more.

Willowdeen is one spunky girl full of fun. Loving life and who she is Will is comfortable in her own skin she cares what no one thinks or says about her as she lives her life. Well that is what Will would like people to think, despite portraying oodles of confidence Will struggles at times with how she looks. I loved that about Will, she had ups, downs, angry moments, ugly moments, pretty moments, and took them all in stride.

The whole time I was reading Dumplin' it felt like it could be something I actually witnessed in a high school. The writing was amazing, the characters unique and well developed. While I liked the ending I wish that it had focused a bit more on Will and her mother's relationship. I hope to read more of Julie Murphy's work one day.

Friday 56: Dumplin'

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.

Dumplin' page 56:

I can't hide my horrified expression. "Wait. What? I'm sorry but did you compare kissing me to calling your teacher Mom?"

Alpha Divided

Alpha Divided continues Tessa's story as she adjusts to being a powerful werewolf and a Bruja.

Tessa continues to grow as she learns about harnessing all three sides of who she is, human, wolf, and witch. Sadly for Tessa life can never be simple and when the local coven declares war on Tessa's pack she has no choice but to go with the coven to learn their ways. Hating being away from Dastien Tessa struggles to learn magic and control her inner wolf. Despite Tessa's struggles not everything is bad, having been confined to the coven land Tessa is finally able to get to know her cousins. Learning the ways of the coven Tessa struggles to find a way to keep everyone she loves safe and stop the coven from going to war.

Since Tessa was moving around a lot during Alpha Divided Dastien did not show up much. Claudia, Tessa's cousin, was in the story and I loved seeing how the two girls started to form a friendship. The small hint of who Claudia is was a nice introduction for the next book in the series where Claudia becomes the main character.

Once again the writing was smooth and fun. I feel like I just sat down with the story and next thing I know I am turning the last page. I look forward to continuing to learn more about Tessa and the other fun characters in the Alpha Girl series.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

I checked out In the Shadow of Blackbirds on an impulse at the library. Even though I had a feeling parts would scare me I wanted to give it a try.

Mary Shelley was a wonderfully refreshing character, I loved her quirks and unique way of looking at the world. With her whole world turned upside down upon the arrest of her father Mary Shelly head to live with her Aunt where she is soon haunted by the death of her first love. Determined to help Stephen Marry Shelley embarks upon a mission to see his spirit put to rest.

The writing was lovely, stunning, well done, and haunting in parts. I loved it and wanted more. My biggest complaint is that it felt unfinished at the end, I wanted to know more about Mary Shelly's father badly but that was left open ended. The same goes for Mary Shelley herself, I would have liked to know a bit more of how she finally settled her life.

Library of Souls

I totally wanted to love Library of Souls but at times I had to force myself to keep reading. I think that was due to not having done a refresher read of the first two books before starting Library of Souls.

Jacob continues to learn about the world of Peculiar people and the darkness that resides in it. Struggling to deal with the chaos around him while learning to control and embrace his peculiar powers Jacob does his best to work at saving his friends. A few times I had a hard time believing that Jacob was just a sixteen year old boy who learned he was Peculiar a short time ago, he took everything in stride and nothing seemed to cause Jacob to take a moment to process things. While matters did seem to hit Jacob harder towards the end of Library of Souls I still did not find it overly believable.

While none of Library of Souls is told from Emma's point of view I still felt like I got to know her as a strong main character. Emma's relationship with Jacob seemed a bit out of place though and almost an afterthought. The romance was not a focal point by far and I was not overly fond of the romantic relationship.

My favorite character by far was Sharon the mysterious boatman. I wanted to know about Sharon, his kind, and the abilities they possessed.

I did not notice grammar mistakes and the writing was smooth yet at times the story seemed to drag. While Library of Souls is a hefty book I felt like it contained a lot of pointless filler and the actual story was only a small portion.

Friday 56: Library of Souls

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

 

1. Grab a book, any book.

 

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Library of Souls page 55 (page 56 is a picture):

"Let's see now. Families enjoy the Famine 'n' Flame package... in the morning we go upriver to watch viking siege engines catapult diseased sheep over the city walls, then have a nice boxed lunch and return in the evening via the Great Fire of 1666, which is a real treat after dark, with the flames reflecting on the water, very nice."

My schedule remains full so please leave a link to your Friday 56 in the comments and I will get to it as soon as I am able to. Happy Friday.

Leviathan

I have been wanting to read more books in the steampunk genre so upon a recommendation I gave Leviathan a try. I had a super hard time getting into it and it was not until around the seventy percent mark that I started to enjoy the story.

Alek was an interesting character with plenty of flaws and I liked that about him. Scared and confused as to what is going on in his life Alek has to trust his fate to a handful of loyal men doing all they can to keep him safe. While a prince Alek was also shoved aside due to his mother being common and supposedly lost all rights to a title until the war broke out. A key pawn in the game of politics Alek just wants to keep his head down and out of trouble. Unfortunately for Alek this is not an easy task.

Deryn bothered me a lot and I did not care for her lazy attitude about just fitting in the boys. Hiding her identity as a girl came off funky at times and I had a hard time believing that no one noticed a girl was among them. Plus I did not care for how Deryn treated other people around her, she came off as a bit snobbish at times in my opinion.

The writing was alright but it was not page turning for me until near the end. I am not sure I liked Leviathan enough to continue on with the series. I would however like to try something else from the steampunk genre in the future.

A New Darkness

I was so frustrated with The Last Apprentice series I had no intentions of reading the sequel series but when it showed up my libraries home page I figured I would give A New Darkness a try. Since I am beyond furious by the ending I suppose that means I enjoyed the story.

With the death of John Gregory Tomas Ward has taken it upon himself to become the Chippendale Spook even though he only received five years of training instead of the customary seven. The folks in the country are not so sure about Tom though and many claim he is too young. Struggling with the grief of having lost his Master and friend Tom goes about his work doing his best to keep the Country safe from the dark until his daily routine is interrupted by a young girl named Jenny who insists he train her to be a Spook.

While it is nice to see a female get a chance to be a Spook Jenny is not what I like in a character and comes off as annoying. While she is stubborn she does not put that stubbornness into helping her become a Spook. Instead she whines about the practical work, argues about what Tom is trying to teach her, and is disrespectful of Tom most of the time.

The writing was smooth, descriptive, and elegant. I rarely notice mistakes in Mr. Delaney's work and I highly appreciate that. My biggest issue is the ending, I hated it so I guess that means I was also highly connected with the characters and loved it. Since I am eager to know what actually happened the release of The Dark Army cannot come soon enough.

Crystal Kindgom

I had hoped Crystal Kingdom would have had a stronger ending. 

Bryn was a bit of a let down as a character. While Bryn had a lot of potential to grow she just suddenly realized everything about herself in one paragraph or so and grew. It came off as totally unbelievable and sloppy which ruined Bryn as a character for me. 

I think some sort of love triangle was suppose to be occurring but it was weak and neither of the guys were particularly strong characters or really helped the story along. I was seriously disappointed in how the romance part turned out. 

All the major questions were answered in the end at least but overall Crystal Kingdom does not feel like it even belonged in the Kanin Chronicles since it was so different from the first two books. I am still debating if I want to try something else by Amanda Hocking or not.

Friday 56: Crystal Kingdom

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Crystal Kingdom page 56:

"No, we're doing this," I told him firmly. "It's our only chance of making things right. We have to get the Queen on our side."

I have been super busy lately and I am still super busy but if you leave a link to your Friday 56 I will get to it as soon as I am able to. 

Avoiding Alpha

Avoiding Alpha was a fun, fast, read. While shorter then Becoming Alpha it did not feel like the story was lacking anywhere.

Tessa is slowly adjusting to being a werewolf and still reluctant to embrace the wolf within her. I love this about it her, it makes Tessa feel far more believable in my opinion. Things still bother Tess and it is taking her time to learn to embrace the changes within her. Yet when her best friend Meredith becomes ill from a curse that was placed on her a few years earlier Tessa will do anything to save her including embracing the wolf within. 

I ended up reading Avoiding Alpha in one sitting, I kept meaning to put it down at the end of the chapter but the chapters ended on such a high note I had to keep reading to find out what happened. I look forward to learning more about Tessa's journey.

Fury of the Seventh Son

I have held off on my review of the Fury of the Seventh Son because I have been super busy and I was hoping my anger would calm so I could find something decent about the ending to what I once considered a great series. Unfortunately it did not work.

With The Spook's health rapidly failing Tom knows he has to step up and lead the fight against the dark. While having no problem with the task Tom knows that he is close to becoming a full fledged Spook and will have to take his Master's place soon but before that can happen the Fiend must be dealt with. Still doing their best to keep the head of the Fiend from the body Tom knows that time is running out and also knows that he cannot sacrifice the love of his life Alice. With few choices Tom works on rallying his allies to help in the final battle between himself and the Fiend.

Alice was barely in Fury of the Seventh Son and I HATED that she went totally malevolent. Even worse Alice left Tom for someone else and she was clearly in love with him. The story felt all wrong and like it was barely thought through on that aspect. It was not natural and had a lame explanation.

The writing was well done but the story itself had a horrible ending. I left too many questions, had weak reasoning for things, and horrible character development with Tom. All along Tom had walked the line between good and evil then suddenly at the end he gives that all up and just throws himself into the light. It just did not fit well at all. My expectations were seriously crushed and I hated the ending so much it ended up ruining the whole series for me. I am considering the companion series by Joseph Delaney but when I read that it can be read standalone from The Seventh Son series that turned me off. Something great was started with The Seventh Son series but it crashed hard in the end and it is frustrating I invested so much time in the series.