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Birth of the Phoenix
As Ember celebrates her 18th birthday, she struggles to find her true purpose in life. In a world where men rule and women are viewed as objects to obtain, love is often placed last on the list. But everything changes when Elijah, the son of a Native Shaman enters her life. Knowing true love for the first time, Ember's heart is broken when her father forbids her from seeing him again. Manipulated into marrying a man she doesn't love, Ember finds herself trapped in a sadistic game, fighting to find a way back to her soul mate, Elijah. Will a reincarnation spell that binds their souls together be enough to save their love in this lifetime? Ceaseless takes you on a magical journey of love and betrayal that will leave you asking; what happens next?!
274 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2015
About the author
Mindy Marin
1 book102 followersMindy Marin is an up and coming author with a background in the entertainment industry. She pursued writing as an expression of her creativity.
Ceaseless: Birth of the Phoenix is the first book in the Ceaseless series.
Mindy was inspired to tell this story of unwavering love after a near death experience where she spent two weeks in a hospital. Having the same dream repeatedly she felt drawn to the idea of past lives and reincarnation, it was then that she began to write down snippets of her dreams and her character's stories began to come to life.
Mindy is a mother of three and currently lives in Central Florida with her husband and two younger children. -
Ceaseless: Birth of the Phoenix is the first book in the Ceaseless series.
Mindy was inspired to tell this story of unwavering love after a near death experience where she spent two weeks in a hospital. Having the same dream repeatedly she felt drawn to the idea of past lives and reincarnation, it was then that she began to write down snippets of her dreams and her character's stories began to come to life.
Mindy is a mother of three and currently lives in Central Florida with her husband and two younger children. -
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 16, 2015
I loved this book. From start to finish I was enthralled with Ember's journey to find herself and follow her heart. She is such a cool female character, with flaws and strengths, intelligence and wit. Elijah was so easy to fall in love with. His kind heart and soul and immense bravery was something we all want in a mate, not to mention that he was handsome as well. And Gabriel, man, there were many times throughout this book that I wanted to reach into the pages and harm him. I mean seriously harm him. He's just so easy to despise. The love story piece was beautifully written and the characters were well thought out. The overall story has an intriguing plot line with the idea of reincarnation, magic, and love to last a lifetime. I have always been interested in the idea of past lives and although that wasn't the primary focus of this particular book I'm excited to see how it will play out in the next one. Overall recommendation, read this book, you won't be disappointed.
May 2, 2015
This book was a FirstReads giveaway that I won. This review reflects my own opinion.
I have to say that I rolled my eyes at the beginning of this book. I'm over the love at first sight thing with no substance. The story was slow to begin, but once it did it had me. The writing could use some work, but the story!! I love how this strong female character, Ember, doesn't wait to be rescued. I love it. Gabriel just needs to fall off a cliff or something. Though, he did give me pause when he cried and got on one knee to beg. That definitely made me analyze him a little closer. Thats the thing with this book. The writing makes you cringe just a bit, but it gets you invested in the characters. I also have to say that I can't wait for the next book. I am completely intrigued by the idea of reincarnation, and how these two characters will be reunited. Overall, this book needs some work, but he story is very entertaining.
I have to say that I rolled my eyes at the beginning of this book. I'm over the love at first sight thing with no substance. The story was slow to begin, but once it did it had me. The writing could use some work, but the story!! I love how this strong female character, Ember, doesn't wait to be rescued. I love it. Gabriel just needs to fall off a cliff or something. Though, he did give me pause when he cried and got on one knee to beg. That definitely made me analyze him a little closer. Thats the thing with this book. The writing makes you cringe just a bit, but it gets you invested in the characters. I also have to say that I can't wait for the next book. I am completely intrigued by the idea of reincarnation, and how these two characters will be reunited. Overall, this book needs some work, but he story is very entertaining.
April 3, 2017
-Disclaimer: I won this book for free through goodreads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.-
From the beautifully written world to the well-paced plot I just had to know what happened next.
Note: Spoilers are spread throughout my review.
I did put warnings and tried to keep them minimal.
PROS~
The writing is very original and uses great words
to describe things.
I liked the pace of the book.
It stayed interesting regardless of the situation.
The cover is lovely.
The phoenix theme is interesting.
The world is very neatly set-up.
CONS~
Out of character occurrences in order to move the story along.
Not a lot of characters.
Needs more identifiable traits in characters.
Needs some likable characters.
Strange, random scenes every once in awhile.
Rushed feelings.
Bad ending! (It just finishes, I felt there was
more to be said)
My initial reaction to this book was I thought it would be more "Indian based" in a sense. Just by looking at the detailed cover and reading the back of the books description. I got more romance book vibes rather than young-adult (magic, action) vibes than I thought the book would include. I pictured battle scenes but was happy there weren't any. From the beautifully written world to the well-paced plot I couldn't put it down.
As soon as I got halfway thorough the book it almost seemed like a whole other book.
It was a 5 star book for me until the whole romance/predictable scenes completely took
over.
Our main character, Ember, is an eighteen year-old who has no idea what she is feeling
the entire time and goes back and forth trying to make up her mind about things.
The characters in this book are not likable at all. Sometimes that is good for books
but most everyone seemed fake which actually fits the royal scene we are introduced to.
The humor in this book is...well...cringey? Dry? How do you describe it?
SPOILER
Example from page 218,
"Are you hungry?"
"I'm starved!" I say with a laugh.
And then Elijah proceeds to kiss her
on the nose.
SPOILER IS FINISHED
Why is that funny? I don't know if it
was meant to be a joke but that is just
one moment from the book I can't quite
figure out.
Many times throughout the book there
What the fluff moments that left me
kinda weirded out and I felt left out
because the whole time I didn't know
why people started randomly laughing.
The random exclamation points &
random laughing just seems odd to me.
One thing I found really rude was when
Ember couldn't hardly control herself
because a priest had a lisp. People can't
help that they have a lisp and you can
get a lot from her character just from
that scene.
I might mention that EVERYTHING somehow works out for the main character in one form or the other. I didn't mind it up until the point where Ember began to be stupid and would not
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
get away from Gabriel. She had a few chances to pack up and ride off into the sunset with Elijah but no, the book went on and on. Then when they got their cabin Elijah & Ember failed to realize that cabins don't blend into the trees completely and Gabriel has spies. I wasn't even a little surprised when Gabriel found her AGAIN.
And to top it off Elijah is just dead. The readers don't get to see it. And I don't believe anyone really
cared that he "died" because an emotional attachment wasn't formed, at least not with me, so it didn't matter if he died or not. Just another thing for Ember to cry about.
SPOILER ENDS
Most of the book you are stuck inside of Ember's head listening to her every thought which can be...something to say the least. Depends on where in the story you are at. I personally would have liked have seen an epic battle/kill scene to actually show Ember was a warrior instead of her trying to convince herself she was one. But maybe that is all apart of the act.
I could very well see this series going somewhere with some work.
Overall I don't regret reading this book.
From the beautifully written world to the well-paced plot I just had to know what happened next.
Note: Spoilers are spread throughout my review.
I did put warnings and tried to keep them minimal.
PROS~
The writing is very original and uses great words
to describe things.
I liked the pace of the book.
It stayed interesting regardless of the situation.
The cover is lovely.
The phoenix theme is interesting.
The world is very neatly set-up.
CONS~
Out of character occurrences in order to move the story along.
Not a lot of characters.
Needs more identifiable traits in characters.
Needs some likable characters.
Strange, random scenes every once in awhile.
Rushed feelings.
Bad ending! (It just finishes, I felt there was
more to be said)
My initial reaction to this book was I thought it would be more "Indian based" in a sense. Just by looking at the detailed cover and reading the back of the books description. I got more romance book vibes rather than young-adult (magic, action) vibes than I thought the book would include. I pictured battle scenes but was happy there weren't any. From the beautifully written world to the well-paced plot I couldn't put it down.
As soon as I got halfway thorough the book it almost seemed like a whole other book.
It was a 5 star book for me until the whole romance/predictable scenes completely took
over.
Our main character, Ember, is an eighteen year-old who has no idea what she is feeling
the entire time and goes back and forth trying to make up her mind about things.
The characters in this book are not likable at all. Sometimes that is good for books
but most everyone seemed fake which actually fits the royal scene we are introduced to.
The humor in this book is...well...cringey? Dry? How do you describe it?
SPOILER
Example from page 218,
"Are you hungry?"
"I'm starved!" I say with a laugh.
And then Elijah proceeds to kiss her
on the nose.
SPOILER IS FINISHED
Why is that funny? I don't know if it
was meant to be a joke but that is just
one moment from the book I can't quite
figure out.
Many times throughout the book there
What the fluff moments that left me
kinda weirded out and I felt left out
because the whole time I didn't know
why people started randomly laughing.
The random exclamation points &
random laughing just seems odd to me.
One thing I found really rude was when
Ember couldn't hardly control herself
because a priest had a lisp. People can't
help that they have a lisp and you can
get a lot from her character just from
that scene.
I might mention that EVERYTHING somehow works out for the main character in one form or the other. I didn't mind it up until the point where Ember began to be stupid and would not
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
get away from Gabriel. She had a few chances to pack up and ride off into the sunset with Elijah but no, the book went on and on. Then when they got their cabin Elijah & Ember failed to realize that cabins don't blend into the trees completely and Gabriel has spies. I wasn't even a little surprised when Gabriel found her AGAIN.
And to top it off Elijah is just dead. The readers don't get to see it. And I don't believe anyone really
cared that he "died" because an emotional attachment wasn't formed, at least not with me, so it didn't matter if he died or not. Just another thing for Ember to cry about.
SPOILER ENDS
Most of the book you are stuck inside of Ember's head listening to her every thought which can be...something to say the least. Depends on where in the story you are at. I personally would have liked have seen an epic battle/kill scene to actually show Ember was a warrior instead of her trying to convince herself she was one. But maybe that is all apart of the act.
I could very well see this series going somewhere with some work.
Overall I don't regret reading this book.
September 27, 2016
I had mixed feelings about this book. The combination of people living in a castle and having a king and queen with the western flare of American Indians was kind of strange. Ember seemed so flighty and naive and she fell in love at the drop of a hat with two men. She didn't really understand her own heart and waffled back and forth many times. The mystery of Elijah was intriguing but was never really explained. Where did the magical powers come from? How was he over powered so quickly in the end? I read to the end because I needed to know what happened, but there were many things I wasn't happy about that are spoilers so I will refrain. Not the happy ending I like is all I will say. Don't think I will read the next book.
August 14, 2015
The first book in the Ceaseless Trilogy embarks readers on a journey of self discovery as Ember, forced to marry a man she does not love, finds that in order to achieve happiness she must fight for it. She is strong and intelligent and doesn't let her circumstances tear her apart. Her love for Elijah, the son of a shaman, is what keeps her grounded in the face of fear and uncertainty. A perfect summer read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews