Reena Jacobs's Blog

Novel Review: Thumped by Megan McCafferty

I hopped right into Thumped after reading Bumped. I was happy to see my local library had a digital copy, which I’m finding very convenient these days… and easy on the pocketbook. Before I get into the review, the blurb as always

Novel Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

This book had my interest years ago when it first came out in 2011. However, I had a list a thousand books deep. When I got back into reading again, I decided to look for some of the older books on my list that I’d yet to get to. Lucky for me, I happened to find the Kindle edition of this book at my local library. As usual, the blurb before the review:

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

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I just come out and say it. Overall, it was an interesting read. I started it not too long after finishing Christine Feehan’s novel. Since I wrote the review 3 days ago, I have to say I cruised through this book fairly quickly. I didn’t stop my life to finish it, as I did with my Kresley Cole reads, but I didn’t let this book linger either.

I found the premise compelling. It reminded me a lot of the Handmaiden’s Tale that’s on Hulu. Society is plagued by infertility with only a few individuals able to keep humankind going. In this case, it’s teenagers. Everything that is held as taboo when it comes to teen sex and pregnancy today is glorified in McCafferty’s book. I imagine quite a few individuals may take offense to this. In a dystopian world, I can see how values change. What would we do as a society if we knew that no other babies would be introduced into our lives if not for teens? Throughout history, select individuals have been exploited and here it’s no different. This book takes an opportunity to challenges what is right and wrong.

One critique I find common is in regards to starting a book in the place. It’s often encouraged to start it right in the middle of the action. I think McCafferty did that. However, she wasn’t as successful in doing it as she could have been. Her book started sometime after the twins met. In doing so, there was a lot of backtracking to catch us up with the story. There was also backtracking when it came to other parts of the story. For me, it was an organizational nightmare. I’ll give you an example, and this is a bit of a spoiler.

The first words in the book are “I’M SIXTEEN. PREGNANT. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON on the planet.” It takes 5 chapters to find out that she’s not pregnant. Instead, she’s just trying out padding that makes her look pregnant. To me, it’s a cheap trick to create a fake and extremely forced surprise. There were also vague references to significant events that happened in the past. I know one reference was reviewed early in the book and mentioned a few times. I didn’t get the details of whatever it was until the book was probably 75% or more finished. To be honest, the reveal wasn’t that spectacular. The author could have just come out with the details when it was first mentioned. Another reference was mentioned maybe about mid-point and near the end, but I never got the details. I imagine it’ll be revealed in the next book. I don’t expect it to be worth the wait.

One aspect of the book I found weird and a bit annoying was the lingo. I know the author tried to be fresh with the talk, but it came off as forced. I’d even say unoriginal and maybe even cliche, which seems a bit of an oxymoron when trying to develop a new way of saying something. For example, she has MiTunes in lieu of iTunes. In fact, everything technology base began with a Mi instead of an i, which isn’t exactly original at all, just a cheap ripoff.

For the most part, I’ll say the storyline was good, but the presentation could have used a bit of work.

Character-wise. Both Melody and Harmony were seriously flawed, but isn’t that what makes great characters? Each had their own sense of righteousness and naivety. Melody was wrapped up in this grand idea of becoming a pro breeder. Her whole life revolved around boosting her credentials. Yet deep down, she seemed a bit appalled by the idea. Harmony was a bible thumper set on saving the world… but mostly her sister. Even as she’s condemning and spouting righteousness, she rebels against the life chosen for her. I can’t say either character was endearing. However, they were fascinating. I’m curious to follow their stories further. Not just the twins, but also Jondoe, Zen, and Ram (who had more of a cameo appearance than anything).

I give this book a 3.5/5. My library has a digital copy of Thumped. So I’m off to read the Kindle version now.

Novel Review: Dark Peril by Christine Feehan

I remember when I stopped reading the Carpathian series. It seemed as if all the storylines were the same. New characters, same personalities… particularly for the males. Since it’d been so long since I’d read this series, I figured that I could give it a fresh look. I think it worked out well. Pretty much everything about the storyline was foggy. Not exactly brand new, but I had enough gaps in my memory that the personalities were fresh enough. Description first, then the review!

There’s only one way for Dominic—one of the most powerful of the Carpathian Dragonseekers—to learn the secrets of the enemy: ingest their parasitic vampire blood, infiltrate the camp, and relay the information to the Carpathians before he goes out fighting. There is no more honorable way to end his life.

Solange is among the last of the dying species of the jaguar people—fighting to save the remaining shapeshifters from the hands of her own father, a monster who slaughtered everyone she loved. Wounded and weary, she plans one last battle, hoping to stop the man who has aligned with the vampires, and accepting her deathly fate.

Now, two warriors from different worlds will find each other at the end of their time, and discover a new reason to battle to the death—and against all odds, make it out alive.

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From the little that I’d retained about the series, I am pretty sure these characters had a fairly fresh perspective on things. Previous Carpathians were pretty controlling if I remember correctly. They had to be tamed by their women. Dominic didn’t even try to control. He was manipulative at best. He seemed to understand what he was getting as a lifemate… a warrior with a mind of her own. In fact, he seemed to sense that if he even tried to crush Solange’s spirit, she’d be out of their faster than lightning strikes.

Solange. Despite being strong-spirited, she was extremely insecure. Feehan stressed many times in the book that Solage was secure as a warrior. Really, I’d say she was confident in her ability to fight and had no fear of death. When it came to simply being a person… not just a woman (in my opinion), Solange was very insecure. She seemed to lack complete confident. I said earlier that Dominic manipulated her. However, it was really that he made requests with the expectations that his insecure lifemate would honor them. I can’t honestly say that’s his fault. After all, she could say no. In fact, I would have liked her to say no to one of his requests. It would have kept it a wee bit more interesting. After a while, it was obvious she’d think about his request a little and then give in.

As for the storyline itself… I enjoyed the action at first. In fact, I thought to myself, whereas the last Kenyon novel I complained about the action, this one kept me pretty well fed. Now, I don’t remember where the last Carpathian novel left off. However, I do think this story progressed forward. I don’t want to give you details, because it’ll ruin things for you. However, we got some closure with the Jaguar people’s line and we’ve unraveled more of the Vampire line. This book was more than simply an introduction to new characters or to provide more in-depth knowledge of the old characters. It was progressive of the overall Carpathian story.

As for my overall thoughts on the book. I’m going to give this one a 3… maybe a 3.5. I don’t really have anything negative to say about the book. However, I had a hard time staying with the story. Something about it just didn’t grab my interest in a way that made me one to devour the book. I think it actually took me about a month of on and off reading… at least that’s the way it felt.

The post Novel Review: Dark Peril by Christine Feehan appeared first on Reena Jacobs.

Novel Review: Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I remembered that I stopped reading Dark-Hunter novels because the superpowers Asheron had took away the challenge. I picked up this book anyway. I figured I’d been out of the reading scene for so long that I’d be able to give this book a bit more of a fair chance than I would have years ago. Before I force my opinion on you, let’s start with the blurb.

Harm no human…

A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.

Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief—Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meeting the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.

A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster…

Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.

Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect.

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This book is a bit different than I expected. It still had the Dark-Hunters and all. However, the mythology was more Native American than Greek, as is the common style I’d expect from a Dark-Hunter book. The fusion definitely gave it a different flavor and a more unique quality than the older books. I’m not quite sure if I’m into the new style though. Different, but with change, it takes time.

I felt this book was more centered around the character relationships than action… apocalypse. I honestly don’t remember the style of the other books. Were they more character driven or more action driven… were they balanced? I don’t know. I just can’t remember. Being that this seemed more like character driven, the apocalypse seemed less urgent than it should have been. After all, we were facing the end of the world in this book. Shouldn’t we be a bit more panic stricken?

Children’s Review: Trapped in a Video Game By Dustin Brady

This is definitely one of the coolest books that I’ve read. If you’ve ever played a first-person shooter, you could probably relate to this game. Before I get into the details, how about we start with the blurb.

Kids who love video games will love this first installment of the new 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and his wild adventures inside different video games.

Jesse Rigsby hates video games – and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him. After getting sucked in the new game Full Blast with his friend Eric, Jesse starts to see the appeal of vaporizing man-size praying mantis while cruising around by jet pack. But pretty soon, a mysterious figure begins following Eric and Jesse, and they discover they can’t leave the game. If they don’t figure out what’s going on fast, they’ll be trapped for good!

Fun, relevant, and action-packed Trapped in a Video Game is the perfect book to get kids off screens and into books! Included in this edition is a bonus More to Explore section that teaches computer programming concepts through a fun game.

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Renee’s Review

The book gets into the video game right away, starting with the Tutorial. Like all tutorials, it’s a bit slow. After the tutorial the action really starts and Jesse gets thrown into a real video game.

The contrast between the main character and his sidekick, Eric, were awesome. You had main character, Jesse, who was a real stick in the mud. He was all work and no play, for the most part. Jesse had to be dragged into doing anything new or exciting. Then you have the sidekick Eric. He was ready for an adventure. I really liked Eric. Life is meant to be experienced, and he definitely wasn’t afraid to hop into the fun and games.

About halfway through the book, it started to remind me of Jumanji. I haven’t seen the old Jumanji, but I’d say this is similar to what Jumanij would be if it were a video game instead of a board game, like the first movie. Only this time, the game is set in cities around the United States instead of in some jungle. It had a nice feel to it and gave kids a little bit of American geography. Not a lot… just enough to identify some main landmarks around the US.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book is it had no real conclusion. I read that this book is meant to be a 5-book series, which might explain why. As for this book, it closed out the main character’s dilemma, sure. The main character also experienced growth. However, the book definitely had an unfinished feel to it. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but rather a “to be continued.”

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. It was full of laughs. I give it a 5/5. I’m off to read book two, which I hope will wrap up everything a bit more nicer.

Corban’s Review

This is my opinion. I like the book because it has adventure, action, and it’s funny. The characters are very interesting and strange. I think it was cool and interesting. The setting was so nice, and it wasn’t like others books. I don’t know books like this one, like getting sucked up in to a game.

The characters were Mark, Jesse, and Erik. Mark was mysterious and strange like how did he survive 20 years with out food. Jesse was a usual kid. He went over to kids houses and usual things. Erik was fun and mean at the same time, like the time he pushed Jesse off a cliff. They were a team, so getting pushed wasn’t so bad.

The setting was in a game. So, it made sense. Like the giant praying mantis and giant crocodile. I also kinda want to be in it to. I rate this book 3 out of 5. I suggest this book if you like action, adventure, and funny things.

*This book was provided to us through Netgalley.

The post Children’s Review: Trapped in a Video Game By Dustin Brady appeared first on Reena Jacobs.

Children’s Review: The Boy from Tomorrow by Camille DeAngelis

It took me a bit longer to get through this book. I have to admit; I haven’t developed a taste for middle school books yet. I picked up this book because I wanted to see what’s happening in the younger world. I’ve been working a lot with children lately (grade 3-5) and wanted to get an idea of what interests them. Apparently, The Boy from Tomorrow is of some interest to children. I mentioned it in a 4th or 5th grade class I was visiting last week and they seemed all sorts of excited about it. I don’t know how the kids heard about the book, but pretty cool they’re watching for it to come out. Before I get into the review, how about the blurb?

Josie and Alec both live at 444 Sparrow Street. They sleep in the same room, but they’ve never laid eyes on each other. They are twelve years old and a hundred years apart.

The children meet through a hand-painted talking board—Josie in 1915, Alec in 2015—and form a friendship across the century that separates them. But a chain of events leave Josie and her little sister Cass trapped in the house and afraid for their safety, and Alec must find out what’s going to happen to them.

Can he help them change their future when it’s already past?

The description seemed interesting enough. After all, I do have a thing for paranormal fiction. It wasn’t exactly the type of paranormal I thought it’d be. It was more like the psychic paranormal versus the shapeshifters, vampires, and occasional witches I’m used to.

I don’t know what’s typical of a middle grade book. However, I found the pacing to be very steady. I’m used to the edge of your seat kind of excitement. This one concentrated a lot on the every day lives of the character. It makes me wonder if this would be classified as literary fiction, another genre I’m less familiar with.

Another thing I found fascinating about this book is the vocabulary. Often times I think vocabulary for children’s books should be simple and easy to understand. However, I found quite a few words in the book that even I had to look up. I wouldn’t save I have out-of-this-world vocabulary knowledge, but I think my vocabulary is pretty decent. I liked it, but also wonder how difficult it’ll be for children. Since I’ve been working with younger children, I often marvel over the words that are unfamiliar to them. In a day of school, I can easily find myself answering the question “What does that word mean?” when simply expressing myself in what I’d think are simple sentences. But then again, I am in Nevada. From what I hear, we have the worst schools in America.

Novel Review: A Mate to Cherish by Laylah Roberts, Eliza Lee

It’s the last day of Spring Break for me, which means my time for reading is whittling down. One thing for sure, I’m glad I managed to squeeze A Mate to Cherish into the mix. Before I get into my review, how about a blurb?

They are fallen from grace. A race once worshipped that had grown arrogant and greedy. Now they are few and spend their lives hunting the guilty and bringing them to justice.

A sexy dream. Two hot, sensual lovers. More pleasure than she’s ever felt before. What more could a girl want?

Um, maybe for it to be real. Lauren has hit rock bottom. After fleeing Earth, she ends up penniless and homeless. Before she can even begin her new job, she’s arrested for prostitution and thrown in jail.

Could things get any worse?

Well, yes, actually. They could.

Try getting horribly ill, ending up on the auction block, and being sold to two gorgeous, domineering, stubborn men who intend to return her to the very place she fled.

Malik knows the female in their dreams is their mate. He wants her, craves her, but he can’t bond with her without Tarin, and convincing Tarin she’s theirs will be an almost impossible task.

Tarin is always in control. Always in command. But when the hunt leads them to Lauren, he finds that very control tested. She intrigues and annoys him. Brings him both joy and terror.

But most importantly, she makes him feel.

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The Stars of the Show

I think today, I’m going to start with the characters. First, Laylah Roberts identified pretty much every one of the good guys from the onset of the book. It was interesting to have all the characters briefly introduced at once. I didn’t remember most of them, since only a few had any significant part in the book. However, I liked the idea of having finite characters. It gives me the impression we’ll receive at least 4 more books, where the other packmates find their bonded ones.

Lauren was a our heroine. She had a bit of a false bravado, yet she was also courageous. Truly, I think she only survived because she was the main character. If not for being the heroine and with the folks she got into trouble with, her mouth would have surely gotten her killed if she were a side character.

Malik, our second. If you’re familiar with the characters on the Orville, he kind of reminds me of Bortus’ mate Klyden. He’s more of a peacemaker/caretaker, but not at all feminine. He’s 100% male, through and through. I rather liked him. There was something about his tentativeness that I found rather charming.

Finally, there’s Tarin, the first. He’s supposed to be the protector. However, I don’t see him more protective than Malik. I’d say he’s more of a leader than anything… and a provider. At times, his boldness surprised me. I found him very demanding. I tend to dig in my feet when I feel like someone’s controlling me, so I’m not quite sure how I feel about him. He definitely wasn’t a kick to the curb type of guy, and I certainly saw his appeal. Just not sure I’d mesh well with him.

Most romances I read have one heroine and one hero. This one had two heroes, which worked well. I’d say when it comes to multiple sex partners, two guys is more than enough. The author wrote the roles so none of the characters ever seemed excluded. I always hate when there’s not enough people to go around and one of the characters gets forgotten, left out, playing the voyeur or something odd. One gal and two guys sounds just right. Pulled directly from the book, Roberts described their of this species as:

There were always three. A first who guided and protected, a second who calmed and cared for them all, and a female. An elika. The female was always the center, always the most important, the most cherished.

I love that! I could see this in the way the males acted toward their female. And it wasn’t weird. I’ve read a lot of novels where the female is never let out of the male’s sight once they’ve been claimed. This wasn’t at all the case. They had a bond, but it was reasonable… kind of the way one would expect a normal male to act. Plus, they had great chemistry.

The Storyline

This novel started hot and heavy. From page one… no… the first line, the heroine was getting hot and heavy. It gave me a pretty good feeling that tis book was made for me. I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The stakes were high and believable. At first, I couldn’t understand why her bounty was worth so much labor. As the story progressed, it all became clear and added believability to the story. I liked that the main characters had something significant to lose (their life, each other, their livelihood).

The style of writing was different than I’m used to. It had a bit of a cheese factor. In fact, it was so cheesy at times, I had my doubts. Slowly, I got a feel for it. It was kind of cheesy in the way Guardians of the Galaxy is or The Orville… quirky in an enjoyable way.

I would say there was only one time toward the end, when Tarin cooked up a hair-brained scheme that was the stupidest and most suicidal idea ever, that I had an are you kidding me? moment.

Other than that one hiccup when the pack let Tarin think for them, I thought the book was well laid out. I got the impression Laylah Roberts knew exactly where she was planning to take the story because everything wrapped up extremely neatly in the end. I was highly satisfied with the conclusion. I’d definitely read another of her paranormal romance stories. I give this one a 4.5/5.

Favorite Lines

“Asswipe?” the same voice asked. “I do not wish to wipe your ass.”
“That would’ve been a bad investment if we had,” Alam told her. “So far you have taken a lot of care and attention.”
So this is her pleasure spot? It was on the outside. Unusual.
“Sanitary? Honey, you have been having sex incorrectly if you think it is supposed to be sanitary.”

*I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley.

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Novel Review: Consort of Secrets by Eva Chase

Yesterday, I finished all my homework for the week (a day ahead of schedule). As a reward, I decided to take on a book. I had my first request to Netgalley in over 5 years approved and got granted Consort of Secrets by Eva Chase. The cover was nice and sparkly, as you can see below. What attracted me was the potential for hot, steamy sex. Oh… and it was also paranormal. You know how I love the combination. Before I get on with the review, let’s get a little blurb action:

A steamy new gothic-flavored reverse harem paranormal romance from bestselling author Eva Chase.

Every witch knows the rules: Stick to your own kind. Never reveal your powers to outsiders. Take a consort from the witching families or kiss your magic good-bye forever.

For years I’ve been quiet, obedient Rose Hallowell. I accepted the man my stepmother chose for me. But I never stopped missing my long-ago friends.

Now we’re back on my childhood estate to arrange my marriage. The boys I grew up with? They’re still in town—and they haven’t forgotten me either. And damn if they haven’t grown up well.

They’ve got no magic, no place in my life. But they’re charming and sweet and infuriatingly hot, and I can’t seem to stay away. The more I try to resist, the more secrets I uncover about my family, my betrothal, and everything I thought was true about the witching world.

I’ve been lied to. I’ve been betrayed. So to claim my magic and my happiness, I’ll break every rule there is—and then some.

Don’t mess with this witch. Every rose has thorns.

The Story Line

As I mentioned, I was looking for a steamy romance… hopefully something that leaned toward erotica. To be honest, I thought I’d picked out the wrong book when I started reading Consort of Secrets. The book had a definite young adult feel to it. You see, Rose Hallowell seemed to be completely controlled by her father and step-mother. In fact, the opening scene had her riding in the car with them, heading into the driveway of her old family home… and not because they picked her up from the airport either. Rather, she seemed to be living with them, family style.

Rose’s “boys,” a she called them also had a young feel to them. They climbed trees, talked about getting into trouble with her parents, snuck around, things I’d expect from high schoolers and younger. I found early in the story that Rose and the “boys” were actually 24/25 years old adults.

Rose, I could attribute her immaturity to culture. After all, I didn’t know what the typical witching life was like. The “boys,” not so much. I got the impression they were in the United States or possibly even Canada. Rose talked a lot about Portland, which I assumed was Oregon. That being the case, at least one of them would have behaved like North American boys, right?

If Eva Chase took out the sex completely and just left some light kissing and a bit of high school sexual tension, I think this would have made a decent young adult book. It really had that feel to it, even the story line ran in the direction of young adult. The characters seemed more investigative in a kid detective mischievous kind of way than the way I’d expect adults to uncover oddities.

Overall, I think the story line was okay. It didn’t really fit into to the adult genre (style-wise), in my opinion. On the other hand, the sex excludes it from the young adult genre. I think if the stakes were steeper and it’d been a young adult book, I would have been more receptive of the book and liked it a lot more. My expectations were hot and steamy adult romance and I feel like I got a young adult story line with some sex thrown into the mix.

The Major Players

Let’s talk characters.

Novel Review: Wicked Abyss by Kresley Cole

After reading 3 books in the last 4 day, I’m trying to convince myself to pace myself… to slow down. Then again, I won’t have as much time next week as I do this week, since I’m in a spring break session.

Novel Review: Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

Right after Dark Skye, I couldn’t stop myself from downloading Kresley Cole’s next book and begin reading. Again, I devoured it within 24 hours. I feel like my old, pre-2013, book-obsessed self again. Before I get to my review, which I hadn’t planned on doing before today, how about a blurb:

A foundling raised in a world of humans

Growing up, Josephine didn’t know who or what she was—just that she was an outcast with strange powers. Protecting her baby brother became her entire life. The day he was taken away began Jo’s transition from would-be superhero…to enchanting villain.

A lethally sensual enforcer on a mission

Archer Rune the Baneblood never fails to eliminate his target. In his sights: the oldest living Valkyrie. Yet before he strikes, a vampiric creature pierces him with aching pleasure, stealing his forbidden blood—and jeopardizing his brethren’s secrets.

A boundless passion that will lead to sweet ruin…

Could this exquisite female be a spy sent by the very Valkyrie he hunts? When Jo betrays the identity of the one man she will die to protect, she and Rune become locked in a treacherous battle of wills that pits ultimate loyalty against unbridled lust.

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Reading this book made me feel like I could write again. I started to understand why I hated my Advanced Creative Writing course so much. The book I was writing was boring… dull… there was nothing at stake. Now Sweet Ruin, it had things at stake. It made me want to rewrite my entire novel and start over for my writing class. Enough about me, let’s talk about Sweet Ruin.

Josephine, my gal was new to the Lore. Didn’t even know what she was, in fact. However, she was magnificent when it came to powers. I loved that she knew herself and was unapologetic about it. If you’re looking for a strong female lead, she’s it. She was so rough around the edges, she could cut you with a light brush.

My hero Rune was equally captivated. I’m starting to see a pattern with Kresley Cole male characters. The females seem to be stronger (mentally) than the males. I rather like it. It makes the males quite charming and vulnerable. They’re still incredibly masculine and macho, but vulnerably charming in a way that they need their egos stoked.

Sex between our stars was pretty hot, or rather the foreplay (you know how Kresley Cole is with making her characters wait). Josephine and Rune had major chemistry… explosively orgasmic. I really liked those two together.

The Storyline… I’m beginning to think Ms. Cole will never move the series forward. Though the characters and story were interesting, it did little to progress the Ascension forward. However, it did introduce some key players. Rather than the fight being between the Vertes and the other guys (the Horde? maybe), I see now it’s a much bigger fight. I’m beginning to think it’s between Nix and her Gaia (Earth folks) and The Morior (lead by Orion).

What I like about Nix and Orion is that they seem like worthy adversaries. A while back, I was big into the Blackdagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. However, the villains were all idiots and had no chance. Likewise, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters series puttered out for me also, once Ascheron became all powerful. Even though Kresley Cole seems to be in a rut in terms of moving the series toward the big finale, she’s managed to keep it entertaining by keeping her characters pitted against worthy adversaries.

My rating for this book is more on the 4/5 side.

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