Staying Dead (Retrievers #1) by Laura Anne Gilman

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Date Finished: November 14, 2016

I have had this book sitting on my to-read shelf for a couple years now. I remember reading Hard Magic and really liking the first book. So, I added the second book to my to-read list and also added this book to see if I liked the other series as well. The problem is, I got distracted with reading other series and never really got around to reading this one.

Now that it's been so long I am practically starting from scratch because I really don't remember much of anything from the first series.  I don't remember any of the world building or characters and it leaves wondering whether I might have enjoyed this book more if I could remember the other series better.

One of the biggest problems that I had with this book is that I feel like we come in somewhere in the middle. The relationship between Wren and Sergei was complicated but I feel like we already missed all of the important parts of it. We don't see the beginning, how and when they meet, we only get a general recap. Now, that does happen in books and that's okay, but we really don't get to see anything else either. By the time we come in Wren has already developed more-than-friends feelings for Sergei. So we didn't really get to see that change in their relationship, at least not really. There is some development between them but it's all very subtle and there was nothing exciting about their romance at all. 

Beyond that, the job itself was okay. The ending is a bit anticlimactic and even though they are able to finish the job, they don't get the big payout and they end up having to work for the secret organization they didn't want to work for, just to have their protection. So overall, it wasn't exactly a great ending for anyone. 

To be fair, it's not that I didn't enjoy this book, I just didn't love it. Everything about it was okay but not much more than that. The action and magic was okay. The romance was okay but not very memorable. And overall I just wanted a bit more from this book.

Imprudence (The Custard Protocol #2) by Gail Carriger

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Date Finished: November 10, 2016

I have to be honest with the fact that I really have trouble rating this series. Partially it is because I really liked the original series and I almost feel bad giving this a bad review because it is a continuation of that series. Partially because this brings back many of the characters that I loved from the original series. But the problem with that is that they are seen differently through Rue's eyes, and because I like the old characters more than I like most of the new characters so that makes it even harder.

I will say that I had a bit of trouble really liking Rue in the first book of the series. I loved Alexia as a character but her daughter was really nothing like her. While Alexia was always pragmatic and consistent, Rue was overly dramatic and rather quite spoiled.

In this book Rue is set adrift, so to speak, as she no longer under guardianship of Lord Akeldama, her parents move to Egypt and without her father, she is no longer a member of the pack. So, she has to find her place in the world. 

Because of that there we essentially lose most of the characters from the original series that I was looking forward to seeing. Especially with word of Professor Lyle coming back, I really wanted to see how that all worked out and the new dynamic between Lyle and Biffy. I will say that Rue was more enjoyable in this book. Because of everything happening she has to essentially put on her big girl panties and start taking some responsibility.

There are more mentions of the past, reintroductions of past characters, some much needed explanations, and of course, lots of tea. And while there are some interesting developments, in a lot of way it still doesn't quite make up for missing the old characters.

But I will say that overall I enjoyed this book more than the last one and I enjoyed the growth of the characters. The romances seemed a bit forced, but overall, not bad.

A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Date Finished: September 22, 2016

Very few sequels live up to the first book in a series. For that same reason, I am always reluctant to start a second book in a series because there’s just no way it can live up to the first one and so many fail horribly. Now, I still found the first book more exciting but this book definitely lived up to what I was expecting of the series.

This book picks up where the other one left off. Elias and Laia are running for this lives and Helene must reluctantly hunt them down.

One of things that I really enjoyed about this book is that it was so dark and real. Too often in books like these miraculous things happen and all the main characters comes out on top and they somehow manage to save everyone they love against all days. And yet, reality is so much darker. Especially in an Empire like the one they are running from, with a cruel Empire leading them.

Helene struggles to come to terms with her love for Elias and her loyalty to the Empire. She plots and plans and yet every time she tries to come out on top she fails and in the end, she pays for it in unimaginable ways.

Elias is trying to come to terms with his imminent death. He was poisoned by his mother and knows that no matter what he does his end is drawing near. And while there were some frustrating decisions, for the most is was all consistent with his character. Despite it all, throughout it all he never gives up and never stops fighting.

Laia is the one that really frustrated me in the book. She is falling in love with Elias. And then her friend from the rebellion shows up and she starts to change. She was such a strong, fierce character and she burns so brightly, and yet she lets undermine her. After Elias leaves she allows him to cause her to be weak, to doubt herself and her gifts and her power to change the world. And the whole while that he is treating her so cruelly, she allows herself to live him. Now, in hindsight, I can see how this needed to happen plot wise but it was so frustrating to see Laia waste away into someone who was barely recognizable from the first book. Despite that she fights back and in the end they are able to accomplish the impossible. I just hope that this whole process brings us a stronger, fiercer Laia for the next book.

There is lots of ups and downs in this book. Some joy and lots of heartache. There is intrigue and plotting and fighting and action. The characters were inspiring and overall the book was just outright enjoyable. For the first time in a long time I actually find myself looking forward to the third book!

Strange and Ever After (Something Strange and Deadly #3) by Susan Dennard

 

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Date Finished: August 16, 2016

I just didn’t have time to sit down and really read this as I would have liked so I ended up reading it little by little over a couple of days. There was a lot going on in this book but most of it was actually good. That being said, there a couple of things that frustrated me.

The first thing that frustrated me was Eleanor’s personality/relationships. In this book she spent a lot of time pushing everyone away. Usually they’re stupid and do that in the second book but come back better in the third book. In the last book Eleanor and Daniel were struggling to come to terms with her power and whether they would be together. And in this book they express their love and desire to be together, and yet they still spend most of the book pushing each other away.

Towards the end of the book things finally started to come together and Eleanor finally started to really pull herself together. Eleanor’s relationship with everyone started to improve, but that also created another small issue. As her relationships improved, that included her relationship with Oliver. There was so much hinting and vague comments that is started to seem like Oliver had fallen in love with Eleanor, which was a frustrating turn of events considering she was finally mending things with Daniel.

As we reach the climax there was a lot going on. There’s plenty of fighting and action but there is also a lot of important things that all happen very quickly and there were a lot that happened in that final battle that left me feeling unsatisfied.

Oddly enough it wasn't for the reason that most people were. Rather than how things ended with Daniel, I was frustrated with how things ended with Oliver. I understand why most people fixated on Daniel, but there was a lot of relationship building with Oliver, and not necessarily in a romantic sense. At the end when she released him they had a communion of sorts and came to understand one another and Eleanor felt so empty and lost without him. And yet, when he came back and gave up everything to help, I never felt like that relationship really reunited in a satisfying way. I don't mean that it has to be romantic, obviously she still loves Daniel, but not all love has to be romantic and there was clearly love between them and a tender relationship that I feel like kind of disappeared after he left which was very disappointing. He could never take Daniel's place, but he was dear to her as well and there should be some joy at having him back, rather than just sorrow for everything else.

Having said all that, overall is a was a good book, there were just a few things that left me wanting more.

The Essence (Pledge #2) by Kimberly Derting

Overall Rating: 1 star

Date finished: 8/11/16

 

So, I have put off reading this book for a while now. I’ve picked it up a few times and was always horribly bored and I felt bad so I put it away hoping that maybe it would be better the next time I picked it up. Maybe the other books that I read recently were just more exciting and it was biasing my read of this book. I kind of enjoyed the first book and I was really hoping for a good second book but I was disappointed every time I picked it up so I just kept delaying.

And now I’ve finally bit the bullet and I’m afraid I was just as disappointed this time as I was all of the other times. Charlie was really not a strong character throughout this book. She doesn’t do well at anything she does; the fighting, riding horses, even the speeches, the learning, the memorizing. She is distracted, unfocused and despite wanting to make a difference she just didn’t feel strong. She felt more like she spent all her time relying on other people to do her job for her. With all the protests she doesn’t take a strong hand as a leader to stop them. And even after the opposition starts killing innocent people, they don’t do anything. In fact, they have evidence implicating Brook’s father, he even admits to orchestrating the killings, and yet all they do is say they’re going to find the people who did this. Hello! You already know who did this. Why isn’t her father immediately arrested and punished. Yes, there are other people he’s working with but offering freedom doesn’t mean letting people get away with anything. It’s possible to be a strong, fair leader without being a tyrant. And yet, she was a weak leader with heroic ideas and no action to follow it up.

There are a couple assassination attempts and yet she keeps naively trusting everyone around her and only wanting to see the best in them.

And on top of that, most of the book was pretty much boring. First she’s in the palace studying or obsessing over losing her sanity. Then she’s traveling by train; then by horse. And nothing really happens. Just talking and planning and traveling.

And then they get to summit where she is going to do so much to help her people and she freezes up. And not just once. She pretty much spends the entire summit without saying anything significant to anyone, complaining about how weird the other queens are, and not building a single diplomatic relationship.  And then all of the sudden the summit was over and it all ended up being a complete waste of time because she accomplished absolutely nothing.

And there are so many unexplained things. For example, Max comes rushing down, riding day and night, but says that it wasn’t because of the previous attacks and he’ll explain after his super-secret meeting with the guards. And then he never explains. He just says hey, so we haven’t found the bad guys so we’re going to take you to be with your family. Why does that warrant riding at break neck speed to get there. What was the urgency? He could have sent a message. Or just waited until they got back to the palace, because hey they went back to the palace before enacting their super-secret plan anyways.

The whole thing was just a bit ridiculous. And then after spending the entire book being weak and useless, in a moment of strength she draws on Sabara’s powers to save her sister and all of the sudden all of her friends are accusing her of being a monster. She finally stood up for herself. I could understand their horror at finding out Sabara is still inside, or that she killed the other queen, but being horrified because she used that same power to protect herself and her sister is just ridiculous.

Overall, unfortunately I just did not like this book much at all. Despite my frustration at least I finally made it all the way through to the end. I was just really hoping that it would redeem itself at some point and it never did. A disappointing second book to what was a promising series.

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Date finished: August 10, 2016

 

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this book! I will admit that going in I was expecting to be disappointed. The way the summary was written I was expecting a lot of the same things that I’ve already read. I expected Delilah to be one of many of the overused supernatural creatures, and I expected juvenile romance, but the reality was so much better than that.

Delilah was a well written character. I enjoyed the fact that she was a very original form of supernatural and that she had a dark streak in her that craved blood and revenge. I was kind of expecting her to be cowering most of the time, and while she did have her moments of fear for the most part she was strong and fought every chance she got. And her powers and how they work is very unique and I look forward to seeing her use them more.

I will also say that I was very glad that there no romance involved at this point. The tone of the book stayed fairly dark to highlight the suffering of those in the menagerie and I feel like a romance would have ruined some of that. I was worried at first that that’s where things were going with Gallagher but I feel like their relationship is much better just the way it is. I would be fine if a romance was introduced at some further point but I was glad to see a strong female character without any need for her to be tied up in a romantic relationship.

I also like the unique way that the other supernatural creatures were portrayed. While most of the characters are common supernatural creatures, they were often portrayed in unique ways. The one thing that I would have liked a little bit more history on the reaping. There were the headlines before each chapter that gave a little history into that but I would have liked a little bit more. Now, it does seem that not even the main characters of the novel know very much about what really happened, but there are hints at how supernatural creatures (cryptids) were a part of normal life before the reaping, but no clear picture of exactly what happened or how the surrogates fit into all of this.

Either way, overall I felt that this was an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series!

And I Darken by Kiersten White

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Date Finished: August 7, 2016

 

I admit that upon reading the book summary, I wasn’t overly excited for this book. And then I read a review that said this was basically a female Vlad the Impaler! And suddenly I couldn’t wait to pick it up. One of my biggest complaints with most YA is the weak female leads and this promised a dark, cruel, and strong female lead.

And that is definitely what it delivered. Lada was strong and cruel and dark and she came to despise her role of a woman in a man’s world. She fights tooth and nail for any bit of power and freedom she can get. And in doing so, she ends up pushing away the people that she cares about most. Some people may complain about that aspect of her, the cruelty toward others and how she ends up basically alienating herself. But I felt that that was part of what made her feel so real as a character. She is trying to understand her place in the world and fight her way to the top, and of course in doing so she is going to push people away. It is logical that someone who closes her heart in order to protect herself will then struggle to have meaningful relationships with other people.

The one issue that I had with Lada was her relationship with Mehmed. I understand the draw and the attraction and I understand that similarities that draw them together but I have trouble have a real romance with a man who already has a harem of wives. I get that Lada means more to him than any of the other women but that doesn’t change the fact that he goes to them, that he has children with them, and that she will never be the only one for him.

The other women try to teach her how to gain power through a husband and using her body and Lada comes to the point where she has to make a decision. She has feelings for Mehmed but can she really be herself while she’s at his side. She becomes torn because he makes her feel female for the first time and she enjoys that, and yet she is unwilling to give up her own dreams.

In the end, I don’t feel the like romance could ever work out in a way that would allow Lada to truly be who she is and I feel like she set aside her own dreams because she was afraid of being alone. Because she knew that no one else could ever love her for who she is the way Mehmed does. And I agree with the decision she makes in the end.

Radu was another conundrum. I liked him as a character but at the same time I became so frustrated with how needy he was all the time. I understand that he is just as much a product of how he was raised as Lada is and that his lack of affection growing up makes him crave it, but in the end his desperation makes him harder to like. He’s smart and intelligent and he’s found a place for himself in this new kingdom, so why can’t he ever find peace. Why must he always pine after what he can’t have when there is so much more within his reach? I think I just wanted more from his as a character.

Overall, the book was a very good read. There were some interesting dynamics in the characters and their ever evolving relationships and more than anything is was dark and gritty and holds nothing back, and in the end that made it all that more real.

Warrior Witch (The Malediciton Trilogy #3) by Danielle L. Jensen

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Date Finished: July 31, 2016

I have enjoyed this whole series and I was really looking forward to this third installment. I knew that there was a lot to wrap up and that is always so hard to do, so I was interested to see how this would all play out.

To start with, there is a lot going on in this book. The main characters have to face off against the Fey, the evil king, the crazy brother, the ambitious half-sister, and the narcissistic duke who is pulling all the strings (just to name a few). And it was of course a lot to put into one book because in one way or another they have to wrap up all of these strings somewhere a long the way.


Despite the difficulty of everything that had to be wrapped up, I felt that most of it was handled very well. I was happy things ended with the king and Roland. The overall threat of the trolls and eliminated, the half-bloods got their freedom. Bad guys that needed to die died, and while some good people died along the way as well, the overall plot was very well done.


That being said, there are a couple reasons why this book was a 3 for me, and not a 4.


One of those reasons is that Cecile and Tristan were basically separated during the entire book. Their building romance and their interaction was often the best part of the books and most of that was eliminated in this book. They have very little interaction besides planning and having sex every once in a while. But even then, there's no real romance. Their relationship seemed to really cool off in this book and I was frustrated by that.


The second, and the biggest reason, was the ending. I don't want to give too much away but I was very frustrated by the ending for Cecile and Tristan. Despite the losses, everything seemed to work out for everyone else in one way or another, but Cecile and Tristan did not have a happy ending at all. And I feel like that author was trying to make up for that with the ending but that last chapter was soo frustrating!


In that last chapter Cecile is dying. Tristan shows up and sees his son for the first time. And what does he say? You should try to lose at cards more often. And while I get that he was trying to hint at the fact that he was watching them, You are seeing your son for the first time!!! You don't have to break down in tears, but a hug, an I love you, something!!!!!


And while Tristan and Cecile end up together in the end, I just feel like that doesn't make up for a lifetime lived apart. That doesn't make up for the family they never got to have, for not being there to watch your son grow up. It just wasn't enough for me.


And that is why this was  3 for me. I really liked the series overall and I really liked this book, up until the last 3 or 4 chapters.



Never, Never: Part Three by Coleen Hoover

Finished: July 8, 2016
Overall Rating: 2 stars

For those who haven't read this series yet, this actually a series of short stories. Each story covers approximately 48 hours of time. The main characters keep losing their memory, over and over again, so each book starts with them having lost their memory and not remembering who they are. The main premise is their race to solve the mystery of why they're losing they're memory before the 48 hours is up and they lose their memories again.

Now, the first two books were a race against time to solve the mystery and to find each other again. In the first book we find out that they were having major relationship issues and had just broken up. After losing they're memories they are trying to remember why they broke up in the first place as they find themselves falling in love all over again. The premise was fairly romantic, despite all the bad blood in their history. The second book was a little different as they spend most of the time separated. And in this book, they lose their memories again, but this time it's a little different.

To start with, they are together for the first time when they lose their memories. They have notes explaining everything to themselves and they have a plan set in motion. But the biggest difference is that Silas doesn't lose his memories this time. So, this amps up the mystery. What happened to Silas that didn't happen to Charlie and can they replicate it?

And then, it all goes downhill from there. After a visit to dear old dad they return to Silas' house where they turn over missing evidence to Silas' dad with heals the rift between his dad and Charlie and basically paves the way for them to stay together if they ever manage to recover their memories.

All that was okay, my main problem was the explanation that they give for them losing their memory. Forget all the running around, all the evidence, all the mystery. They decide that the universe randomly wiped their memories because they're soulmates, and they can only regain their memories by falling back in love with each other. Now, I have a number of issues with this.

First, this is a mystery that has been building up for three books. You can't build up a mystery like that, a mystery that is the center of everything that happens, and then just essentially ignore it all. While they give an explanation (a lame one at that), this isn't really a resolution of the mystery. All the evidence built up, all the odd things happening and the characters just say, Hey, we should stop trying to blame other people and just recognize that this means we are supposed to be together.

Second, as far as I'm concerned, soul mates or no, there's never a good reason to stay in an emotionally destructive relationship. I don't care how much you love each other or how much past you have, if your relationship is destructive physically, emotionally, or otherwise, GET OUT. Them losing their memories may have erased their memories of the issues they had in their relationship, but it won't completely get rid of it. They are still the same people, they will still face the same pressures, and they may still end up in the exact same downward spiral over and over again. And while the authors end it with them happily married and still getting butterflies every time they see each other (and if you really think that happens than you've never been married), I think that ending completely erases the reality of life and stress and everything that love should be. Overcoming trials and obstacles, not continually erasing them until you love each other again.

Third, what right does the "universe" have to force them to be together. I can understand their memories being erased once, which would give them a chance to start over. But setting it up so that their memories are erased over and over again until they fall in love again? You're basically saying that you have to love each other and stay together for the rest of your lives, otherwise your condemned to a life of never knowing who you are! I'm sorry but that is wrong in so many ways. I'm sorry if I'm not romantic enough for some of you out there, but lets be honest, love doesn't just happen, and love doesn't just last, love is a choice. It's a choice you have to make every single day. And this "universe" erased any choice they had in the matter and forced them to be together whether they want to or not. And may I remind people that we are talking about High Schoolers. Think of your high school sweetheart and imagine being forced to be with him for the rest of your life. Maybe some of you married our high school sweetheart and you like that idea, but I think that most people look back on high school and realize what idiots we were. You think that every little thing is the end of the world. You grow and experience life and you find someone that can love the new you, and probably end up wondering what you ever saw in the guys you dated in high school.

 And if that wasn't bad enough,then they have the same thing happen to their daughter. What kind of universe forces your teenager daughter to stay with her high school sweetheart forever because supposedly their soul mates. And how are you okay with that as parents! My daughter will be lucky if I have a steady boyfriend at that age at all, yet alone deciding who she's going to marry. It was all just completely ridiculous to me and a very unsatisfying ending to the series.