Lisa Marie Pottgen's Blog, page 3

Review: Foundation by Ann Aguirre

Foundation Series: Razorland #0.5
by Ann Aguirre
Published by Macmillan on October 23rd 2012

In Ann Aguirre's award-winning novel, Enclave, humans have taken refuge in colonies below ground. Here is the story of what drove them there, told through the eyes of a teen who would later have vast influence over the fate of many, and who gave his heart to the one person who needed him most.

ISBN: 9781466832695
Pages: 32







Format: Kindle
Source: Purchased

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

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Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, General, Collections & Anthologies

I am coming into this having NOT read the series that this give a bit of backstory to. I am not sure if that helped me to stay objective or hindered my ability to understand, but it is what it is. I know virtually nothing about the series, other than what I gleaned from this particular story. But this one has been sitting on my Kindle for a while, and I figured I would give it a read.

METANOIA

: a transformative change of heart; especially : a spiritual conversion

I found the use of this word for the name of the virus, “Metanoia Virus” rather interesting. Really it is ironic when the story touches on some topics that make religious zealots cringe a bit.

I read through some reviews when I was reading this to see what others thought, because it did seem like Robin’s gender was a bit ambiguous. But there were a few things that led me to think that Robin was a boy. There was reference to “liking boys instead of girls” and similar little things that fed my conclusion.

But the use of a religious or spiritual word in the name of a virus caused by chemical warfare could almost look like a bit of social commentary, don’t you think? I mean, people afflicted with the virus are said to be “unable to hold a job; their health and mental abilities had been permanently compromised.”

The book touches on homosexuality and biracial relationships (Robin’s parents were not the same color). I am glad we are beginning to see more diversity in young adult fiction.

I found only a single editing error, with the addition of the word “my” where it did not belong.

Overall, I enjoyed this bit of backstory and look forward to reading the series that goes along with it. My only real complaint is that some of it felt a bit rushed. I could see where more information could have aided the story, but also how it could have hindered the imagination. Part of me wonders if being more clear on the characters’ genders would have made it better or worse.


About Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She likes books, emo music, and action movies. She writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Tumblr

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Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Series: Harry Potter #5
by J.K. Rowling
Published by Pottermore, Scholastic on December 8th 2015

"'You are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The Headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord.'"

Dark times have come to Hogwarts. After the Dementors' attack on his cousin Dudley, Harry Potter knows that Voldemort will stop at nothing to find him. There are many who deny the Dark Lord's return, but Harry is not alone: a secret order gathers at Grimmauld Place to fight against the Dark forces. Harry must allow Professor Snape to teach him how to protect himself from Voldemort's savage assaults on his mind. But they are growing stronger by the day and Harry is running out of time...

ISBN: 9781781100530
Pages: 896







Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Owners Lending Library

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

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Genres: Young Adult, General, Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Magic, Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary
Also in this series: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Also by this author: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

This was the turning point for the series and where it shifts, in my opinion, from “children’s” or “middle grade” to more young adult, and when the reader must mature in order to carry on with the story.

The whole scene at the Ministry gives me chills and I am amazed none of us have nightmares over it. I wanted to hit Bellatrix right in her smug face. I very strongly dislike that woman.

I can barely imagine Harry’s anger. Voldemort Killed everyone he loved. How do you recover from that?

I think my favorite part is the scene with Umbridge and the centaurs in the forest. I laugh my fool head off every time I read that bit.

At the end, though, when the whole group confronts the Dursleys, I silently cheered at least a little bit.

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Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

This book may be unsuitable for younger readers due to the subjects of a sexual nature, drug and alcohol use, language, violence and/or other controversial material. The flames indicate my subjective opinion of the degree of these subjects in the book. They may or may not all be represented and there may be others represented that are not specifically mentioned. Please research the suitability of all books for yourself and your family, especially if you are unfamiliar with the author or publisher. A rating of 0 flames does not necessarily mean the book is suitable for young children. It merely means there is no "mature" content.Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Published by Orion on February 25th 2010

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much - not because she's not pretty, she's a very cute bubbly blonde, or not interested in a social life - she really is ... but Sookie's got a bit of a disability. She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable.

And then along comes Bill: he's tall, he's dark and he's handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting all her life for. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's fussy about his food, he doesn't like suntans and he's never around during the day ...Yep, Bill's a vampire. Worse than that, he hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind.

And then one of Sookie's colleagues at the bar is killed, and it's beginning to look like Sookie might be the next victim ...

ISBN: 9780575089372
Pages: 352







Format: Kindle
Source: Library

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, General, Thrillers, Suspense, Supernatural, Science Fiction

WARNING: There is a lot of graphic content in this novel. This is NOT for younger readers.

This was not the first time I have read this book, and likely won’t be the last. It’s the first book I have been able to read and finish in a while, though, which is saying something, I suppose.

There is something about a good vampire tale. Something that draws me into them, makes me want to keep reading and want to find out what is going to happen next, even if I have read it before and know how it is going to end.

There were several spots in this particular novel where the editor missed a few little words here and there that were omitted, but for the average reader, they are not likely to have noticed that. I am just a bit more hypersensitive to this type of thing.

This book is action packed and keeps you on the edge of your seat. For some readers, that might be too much. I have heard some people say that there is just too much going on and it is distracting. For me, it is just enough.

The adult scenes are a bit…well, sometimes I think maybe a thesaurus might have come in handy because the descriptions there are a bit ordinary and overused, but they are done well enough and the rest of the book makes up for that. The book is also not nearly as graphic as the television show that it spurred.

Overall, if you like a good vampire story with a bit of a bite, no pun intended, you should give this one a go. This book, and the series along with it has something for the fantasy fans, the paranormal romance fans, and the mystery and thriller fans


About Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She switched to novels a few years later, and achieved publication in 1981 with Sweet and Deadly.

 

After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, a Best Novel 1990 nomination for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight books in her series about a Georgia librarian. In 1996, she released the first in the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare’s Counselor, the fifth—and final—Lily Bard novel, was printed in fall 2001.

 

By then, Harris was feeling the call of new territory. Starting with the premise of a young woman with a disability who wants to try inter-species dating, she created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series before there was a genre called “urban fantasy.” Telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse works in a bar in the fictional northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each subsequent book follows Sookie through adventures involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which ended in 2013, has been released in over thirty languages.

 

Sookie Stackhouse has proven to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new HBO series based upon the  books  He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008.

 

In October 2005, the first of Harris’s new mystery series about a young woman named Harper Connelly debuted with the release of Grave Sight. Harper has the ability to determine the cause of death of any body. After four novels, this series is on hiatus.

 

Now Harris is working on a trilogy of graphic novels with Christopher Golden and artist Don Kramer, “Cemetery Girl.” On her own she is writing a new series set in the small town of Midnight, Texas.

 

Harris has also co-edited a series of very popular anthologies with her friend Toni L.P. Kelner, aka Leigh Perry. The anthologies feature stories with an element of the supernatural, and the submissions come from a rare mixture of mystery and urban fantasy writers.

 

Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the American Crime Writers League, Sisters in Crime, and the International Crime Writers Association. She is a past member of the boards of Sisters in Crime and MWA, and she has served as president of the MWA. She is also a member of Science Fiction Writers of America, Horror Writers Association, and Romance Writers of America, just to make sure she’s covered.

 

Personally, Harris has been married for many years. She mother of three wonderful children and the grandmother of two. She lives in central Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

Website | Goodreads | Amazon

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Review: Rachel’s Deception by Karen Ann Hopkins

Rachel's Deception (Temptation, #4) Series: Temptation #4
by Karen Ann Hopkins
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on May 8th 2015

"I loved joining Rose and Noah during their journey in the Temptation series by Karen Hopkins."-Katie McGarry, acclaimed YA author

Growing up Amish is difficult…but leaving it behind is even harder.

Noah was Amish...Rose wasn't. Being together should have been impossible. But somehow they found a way to make it work. They are finally a family, but their happily-ever-after is still a long off. Will Rose and her friends be able to force real change in the community?

Karen Ann Hopkins returns with a gripping new book in the YA Temptation series. The powerful family saga continues with Rachel's Deception, as events spiral out of control in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview. And Rachel Miller has her own secrets to hide. Noah’s younger sister has been living a double life. That is, until Justin Cameron, Rose's little brother, catches her in the act. Rachel is not the obedient Amish girl that her sister was, and her rebelliousness takes her to a very dangerous world. A world that only her true friends can help her escape from.

As Rachel questions all she has been taught about love, family, and commitment, Rose discovers what it really means to be shunned. And an evil shadow looms on the horizon, threatening not only Rose, but everyone she holds dear.

ISBN: 1511911220
Pages: 305







Format: Kindle
Source: Purchased

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Young Adult, Coming of Age

Rachel’s Deception was a much anticipated story for me. I adored the rest of the series but was very sad when I thought I was having to say goodbye to Noah and Rose and the rest. Readers should be warned, however, that this particular installment takes a bit of a dark turn and is quite a bit different in some regards than the rest of this series.

How does a young girl cope with all of the loss and turmoil after a family tragedy? How do you move forward and continue on being a good Amish girl after everything God has allowed to happen?

These seem to be the questions that Rachel struggles with and has to face and move forward through in this installment. The answers to these questions will surprise even the most discerning reader. No matter what you expect, what you get in these pages will surprise everyone.

The 3 star rating is because while I thoroughly enjoyed this story, something just nagged at me. I could never put my finger on it but I just felt like there was something missing and that there was some important detail that the author didn’t give us. I will continue to read if any more books come out in this series thouugh and hope to see these holes filled in.

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ARC Review: The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

The Unbound (The Archived, #2) Series: The Archived #2
by Victoria Schwab
Published by Disney Hyperion on January 28th 2014

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she's struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy -- not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe. Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace,and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She's sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels? With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

ISBN: 9781423187912
Pages: 368







Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Horror & Ghost Stories
Also in this series: The Archived (The Archived, #1)
Also by this author: The Archived (The Archived, #1)

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I always endeavor to provide my honest opinion regardless of the source of the book and do not allow receiving a book for free to influence my opinions in any way for any reason.

I am not really 100% sure what to say about this one, as my mind is reeling with the unanswered questions that the ending left me with, and it is likely that I will have to wait a very long time (or what will seem like it, anyway) until I get those questions answered.

I can tell you this much, without giving anything away. All of the things we thought we knew from the first book are entirely turned on their head in this one. The way this book is written will make you question everything you think you know. You will find yourself wondering where the fine line is between dreams and reality. The scary part of this book is that I can picture it, imagine it as real. I suppose that is the mark of a truly gifted story teller. Or maybe it marks me as mentally unstable. Or could it be a little of both?

The characters seemed so real to me and I could picture myself among them, living the lives they lived, feeling the things they felt. I find myself wondering how it is all going to end. How can I possibly go on not knowing? But we all will have to wait. We have to wait for the author to complete the series. It may well be the longest indefinite period of time of my life, but you can rest assured that as soon as I can, I will be hitting the preorder button when the title is available.



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ARC Review: The Archived by Victoria Schwab

The Archived (The Archived, #1) Series: The Archived #1
by Victoria Schwab
Published by Disney Electronic Content on January 29th 2013

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost, Da's death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself may crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

ISBN: 9781423179108
Pages: 336







Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I always endeavor to provide my honest opinion regardless of the source of the book and do not allow receiving a book for free to influence my opinions in any way for any reason.

 

If you would have asked me yesterday, I would have told you that I had mixed emotions about this book. I had heard so many good things about this book that the first couple of chapters had me very, very nervous. I was having trouble getting into it. It starts off slow and takes a few chapters to pick up the pace and hold my attention.

But let me tell you, once it perked up, it definitely got a little intense. The story had a 0 to 60 effect I had not expected an nothing could have prepared me for. There were several parts of the story where I felt a surge of adrenaline and my heart started racing. From the first time that happened, I finished the last 50% of this book in under 4 hours. I couldn’t walk away. Chores were neglected, the husband was ignored and, migraine and all, I plowed through on my Kindle app until I could reach the very end.

The world building was interesting and the story premise was absolutely unique. Let’s face it, this book is a bibliophile’s dream come true. A story where people are shelved in a Library like books, and there are placards mimicking the indicators for the Dewey Decimal System!!!!! How could I not be sucked in.

Nothing could have prepared me for the adrenaline rush I was going to be met with in reading this book. I loved every minute of it and it was impossible to turn away. At this very moment, I am struggling with the intense need to pick up and read The Unbound, but there are so many other books that need my attention right now. It is going to be a struggle to stay the course, I can tell you that much with immense certainty.

If you enjoy unique story lines and heart-stopping plot twists, then you have to pick up this book. Go and do it. Like right now. And after you do, come back here and tell me what you think. I am dying to hear from every one of you about this book, because it was just intense.



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Book Blogger Hop (4): Why I Started Blogging

About the Book Blogger Hop
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended December 31, 2012.
 
I didn’t want the hop to come to end, and with Jennifer’s permission, I’ll relaunch the Book Blogger Hop on Friday, February 15th, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt just like before. The hop’s purpose will remain the same as it will give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

 This week’s question:  Why did you start your blog?

I had had blogs before, mostly just rambling, ranting, ranging personal ones.  They were never purposeful and never had much focus.  But this one.  Oh, this one had a purpose and a goal in mind!  I started blogging about books for a very simple reason:  I loved books.  And my friends didn’t.

I know, I know.  How could I possibly be friends with people who weren’t as obsessed about books as I was?  It just seemed wrong.  But alas, everyone around me was completely sick of hearing about what I was reading.  So Just Another Rabid Reader was born.

But I had no idea when I dove in head first into this book blogging thing that there were whole communities surrounding it!  And that there were all of these people that were just as neurotically obsessed with books as I was, that would obsessively leaf through pages day in and day out with reckless abandon the same way I do.  I had finally found my clan, my people.

Is your story similar?  Did you feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, a traveller without a home, until you found book blogging?  Let me know in the comments below!

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Review: The Dusk Gate Chronicles Boxed Set, Books 1-4 by Breeana Puttroff

The Dusk Gate Chronicles Boxed Set, Books 1-4 Series: ,
by Breeana Puttroff
Published by Smashwords Edition on March 9th 2013

What would you sacrifice to find true love and save a kingdom?

For the first time ever, the beloved Dusk Gate Chronicles are together in one special boxed-set edition!

Quinn Robbins is about to go on an adventure that will change her life, and alter the future of two worlds.

This specially priced boxed set includes the first four books, which together tell the complete story of Quinn's discovery of Eirentheos, and finding her place in her own destiny.

Described by readers as "The Chronicles of Narnia meets Cinderella" the characters in the Dusk Gate Chronicles will win your heart forever.

ISBN: 9781940481067
Pages: 1285







Format: Kindle
Source: Purchased

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Also by this author: Seeds of Discovery (Dusk Gate Chronicles, #1), Roots of Insight (Dusk Gate Chronicles, #2), Blooms of Consequence: Book Four of The Dusk Gate Chronicles

This edition combines the first 4 books in this series into a single volume. I had been doing a re-read of the series in anticipation of the upcoming new book, Crossed Roses. I love these characters and this series and I find myself coming back to it at least once a year because I have not been ready to let go of them, so I am glad to hear that there is more coming!


About Breeana Puttroff

Breeana Puttroff has loved making up stories since she could talk. For many years, her biggest audience for those stories was the fantastic students she had the privilege of teaching.

One summer afternoon, while she was picnicking in the beautiful mountains of her Colorado home with her little girl, she saw an old, broken stone bridge, and she just knew there was a story inside. Six months later, the Dusk Gate Chronicles was born.

These days, she runs a small business and writes from home while planning math lessons, digging caterpillars out of garbage disposals (oops!), discovering how to make new colors out of crayons melted in the dryer, and drinking lots of coffee (and occasionally tea).

She loves it when readers connect with her on Facebook or Twitter, especially if they have new recipes for disastrously good times with kids.

Breeana holds a B.A. in English from the University of Northern Colorado, and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and Literacy from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

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DNF Review: Middle Grade: Mission Titanic by Jude Watson

The 39 Clues: Doublecross Book 1: Mission Titanic Series: The 39 Clues: Doublecross #1
by Jude Watson
Published by Scholastic Inc. on February 24th 2015

Follow the Leader At only seventeen years old, Ian Kabra is head of the Cahills, the most powerful family in the world. He has presidents on speed dial, generals at his beck and call. Ian knows he’s an ideal leader and the only man enough for the job. There’s just one small problem: He’s already messed up big-time. A Cahill from the past calling himself the Outcast has risen to challenge Ian with an impossible test. The Outcast has re-created four of history’s greatest disasters and dared Ian to stop him. If Ian and his allies can’t decipher the Outcast’s hints in time, innocent people will die. Ian’s only chance to beat the Outcast is to track down his former allies, Amy and Dan. But finding Amy and Dan will demand from Ian an impossible sacrifice . . .

ISBN: 9780545769181
Pages: 240







Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Young Adult, Action & Adventure, General, Family, Siblings, Historical
Reading Challenges: 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I always endeavor to provide my honest opinion regardless of the source of the book and do not allow receiving a book for free to influence my opinions in any way for any reason.

NOTE: This is a DNF review.

I just couldn’t finish this book. I gave it an honest try. I read through 25% but I just could not connect with the characters. I hadn’t read anything else in this series, so I don’t know if that would have made any difference or not, but honestly the main character, Ian, just irritated me to know end. He came across as an irritating, spoiled and entitled brat who was used to getting everything handed to him.

And the Cahills are supposed to be this super-powerful family, and yet it is run by a bunch of kids? And before the current kids, it was run by another pair of kids? One of whom is currently 13 years old?

And Ian’s role model is Napolean. What is that exactly? What teenager idolizes a tyrant, anyway?

Even for a middle grade book, one expects historical facts to be checked and accurate, and it references all of these people that Ian is related to, and yet there is no way that in reality these people would really be related. That just bothered me.

I wanted to really like this book but I couldn’t find anything to connect to, anything to like about it. Even for an ARC it was written and edited well, and the idea was unique and well thought out, but I just couldn’t get into it. My 12 year old loves this series, but for me, it just fell flat.



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ARC Review: Shadow Chaser by Jerel Law

Shadow Chaser by Jerel Law
Published by Thomas Nelson Inc on 2013

Join part angel Jonah Stone as he faces his biggest challenge yet!

Many months have passed since part angel siblings Jonah, Eliza, and Jeremiah Stone began their angelic training. As part angels, orquarterlings, the siblings joined other children of nephilim to begin honing their special powers.

In this third installment in the Son of Angels series, Jonah's story comes to resemble a modern-day Job as he's faced with trials that affect his health, strength, relationships, and most-prized possessions. As he and the other quarterlings prepare for mid-term exams, their powers are tested once again in the most fierce battle against Abaddon's forces yet. Will Jonah's faith in Elohim continue to persevere as he fights Abaddon in his hardest battle yet?

Parents today are looking for fiction that makes Christianity and the Bible exciting for their kids. This series is the first Christian answer to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Kane Chronicles, the Secret Series, and other middle-grade series packed with action, adventure, and supernatural fights. But the message is solidly based in Scripture, conveying God is always in control.

Meets national education standards.

ISBN: 9781400321995
Pages: 221







Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

This post may contain affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Using these links is not required or necessary, but is always appreciated.

Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Genres: Young Adult, Religious, Christian, Fantasy
Also in this series: Spirit Fighter, Fire Prophet
Also by this author: Spirit Fighter, Fire Prophet
Reading Challenges: 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I always endeavor to provide my honest opinion regardless of the source of the book and do not allow receiving a book for free to influence my opinions in any way for any reason.

WARNING: May contain spoilers for first two books.

As if Jonah has not been tested enough already, in Shadow Chaser, he is really pushed to the limits of what any one person can be expected to endure, much less a teenage boy, even if that teenage boy is part angel.

It’s about time for midterms at Angel School. But of course, seeing as the students are part angel, these exams aren’t simply just the pen and paper kind. And you thought your high school and college tests were hard!

In Shadow Chaser, we really get to see what Jonah is made of. He is really put through the ringer, both mind and body, but also in spirit and his faith is challenged in more ways than one. He faces challenges in every aspect and has to find ways to rise to those challenges. Can he do it? You will have to read the book to find out.

I enjoyed this book, maybe a little more than the other two. While some of the religious aspects were still a bit obscure to me, having not grown up in the church, it was a little easier for me to follow than the other two. I still feel like this is a cross between Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments, but I find that to be less of a bad thing now than I thought it was going to be. The series is unique and something different from anything else that is out there for kids to read right now. It’s definitely worth giving a try.

 



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