Book Review: Arrow of the Mist by Christina Mercer

So I joined a reading challenge on goodreads and decided to read this as part of it. I had never seen nor heard of this book before the challenge. But fell in love with the cover and decided to go ahead and buy myself a copy of the book to read for the challenge.

Arrow of the Mist tells the tale of the kingdom of Nemetona. Young Lia's father is poisoned by barbed roots that have begun to invade the kingdom. Lia has a knack for herbs and follows the old ways. She goes on a journey with her grandfather, cousin, and one other in search for a cure for her father. They enter a forbidden land and start a deadly journey in their quest to save Lia's father.

Maybe it was because I was listening to this with the text to speech option on my reader but I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped. I loved that Lia was a strong character and had such a close relationship with her father. The journey itself was exciting with many twists and turns.

But something about this just fell a little flat for me. I was hoping for a just a bit more. But that doesn't mean I wont read the second book. In fact I actually kind of want to read the next book. I think one of my problems was the romance (very light). I just didn't believe it or at least it just didn't add to the book. I think it would have done just as well with out that thread. This coming from someone who ADORES romance.

In the end this was a 3 out of 5 star read.

Book Review: Defiance Rising By Amy Miles

I saw this on *Netgalley a while back and loved the cover. Little did I know that I already owned this book. So I figured it was time to knock this off of my TBR pile since it had been sitting there a while.

Taking place in a post apocalyptic world Illyria has never known anything but a world full of destruction. One day after venturing into enemy territory she meets Bastien. A man who irritates her to no end and is totally the opposite of her best friend Eamon. Soon she is faced with deciding between love and destiny to her people.

Ok it has been a few weeks since I read this. The book started off great and really drew me in. I was interested in the world Illyria lived in. I loved that she was a kick ass female. But soon she began to grate on my nerves. I'm a fan of love triangles but this was just an annoying one. I seriously wanted to rip my hair out after a while. It was less a love triangle and more lets force you to be with one person when you want to be with the other and just hurt both guys all around. UGH!!

Rating this book is hard for me. It started off at 4 stars but slowly the rating started to drop for me. By the end of the book I was just glad to be done with it...but then I realized there are two more books. I just don't have it in me for another two. I wish there had been no love triangle to this because truly that is what killed the book for me.

2 out of 5 stars.



*I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book Review: Moon Spell by Samantha Young

Ok so I had really enjoyed On Dublin Road so I decided to give one of Samantha Young's YA books a shot. Since I haven't read a shapeshifter book in a long time I went with Moon Spell.

Moon Spell tells the tale of 17 year old Caia Ribiero.  She has been kept seperate from her Lykan pack for ten years. She was told that The Hunter killed her parents and wants to kill her. The alpha pack leader Lucien killed The Hunter and wants Caia to rejoin the pack. But secrets are kept from Caia that impact a centuries old war.

I'm always leery of books where the heroine is much younger than her romantic interest. Which I suppose is hypocritical of me considering there is a 9 year difference between hubby and I. I just am never a fan of teen girls with older men. But in this world the lykan are of age at 17 so she technically is of age. Fortunately, this didn't completely kill the book for me and I was mostly able to get over their age gap.

It was obvious that this was one of her early books as it wasn't as refined as On Dublin Road. But I still really enjoyed it. I was able to finish it in about 3 days so for me that is a fast read. I liked the world and the secret war that humans don't know about.

I found Caia to be a bit immature but at 17 what can you expect? There were also a number of cliche things that one finds in YA books. But again for the most part I could move past them. I would say that this borders between YA and NA. It is not a clean read so it is not really for younger teens. But older teens and adults who read YA should have no problem.

Over all I really liked the book and play on reading the next book in the series. I would say that over all this is a 4 out of 5 star read.

Cover Reveal- Library Jumpers by Brenda Drake

Library Jumpers

by Brenda Drake

Release Date: January 2016

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed.

Pre-Order Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

About the Author
Brenda Drake, the youngest of three children, grew up an Air Force brat and the continual new kid at schooluntil her family settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Brenda’s fondest memories growing up is of hereccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was onlyfitting that she would choose to write young adult and middle grade novels with a bend toward thefantastical. When Brenda’s not writing or doing the social media thing, she’s haunting libraries, bookstores,and coffee shops or reading someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Author Links:

   

Get your own countdown widget here!

Cover Reveal Organized by:

Book Review: Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs

This book is a reread for me. Since it has been nearly 3 years since I last read it I wanted a refresher before I started the second book in the series. I wasn't sure if it would still hold the same magic for me that it did back then when it was a solid 5 star read for me.

This second time around I was re-enchanted with the world of Mylena. Greta is a kickass female bounty hunter. But she has one major secret. She is human in world where humans are despised and blamed for the world's eternal winter. She arrived in Mylena as a young teenager sent through a magical fire while attempting to save her brother from a witch. But soon her secret is out and all of Mylena is out for her blood. She has no one she can trust not even the Goblin King Isaac, who makes her blood rush.

I'm happy to say that I was still totally in love with this book and my book crush on Isaac still beats strong. I'm a sucker for an alpha male.  I'm all for a kickass main character who is vulnerable at the same time. Oh and the cover....oh how gorgeous is it? Oh how it plays to my inner cover whore.

I'm happy to say that this is still a 5 out of 5 star read for me.