Bookworm Dreams

The most beautiful (and the only) thing about this book I liked is foreword written by author and this inspiring quote:

Life is scary and dreams get broken. This book is for anyone brave enough to put the pieces back together again.

As for the novel Before We Fall, saying that Dominic and I didn’t ‘click’ would be an understatement. He was repulsive to me from the beginning of first chapter, which was narrated by him, when he declared:

I like to watch. I know that I shouldn’t, but I don’t really give a shit. I like the flash of skin, the sweaty limbs, the sex smells, the fucking…

Dominic is crude and vulgar. He presents himself as jaded individual who have “seen pretty much everything once and have done it twice” and we also get hints about wounds and scars on his heart from past relationship. So that’s why now Dominic does not want to be close to people anymore and he does not have sex. That lamest excuse ever. I checked the definition on wikipedia and he had all forms of penetrative sexual intercourse described in the second sentence.

Courtney Cole tried to present to us Jacey as strong heroine who knows her mind but I didn’t like her any more than Dominic. Let’s start from the fact that she never wears underwear. Which normal girl does that (except in porno movies)?

And when Jacey goes through Dominic’s things, finds letters and reads them? And then she never tells him! I was so mad! To me that was intruding into privacy of another person, no matter if they are in a relationship or not. I could never approve reading of correspondence of another person no matter if it’s sms, emails or letters. But in Before We Fall it turns out that it helped them in their relationship, so it’s never presented as a bad thing.

I also had problem how bdsm was presented. Like something wrong that only attracts people with psychological problems: “they do not have anything healthy or real, so they come here to get debased”. Sex on the other hand is presented as solution to every problem in a relationship.

To make this review short and rant-free: I did not like anything about this book. I do not know why I wasted my precious time and energy and read the whole thing. I guess I hoped that there will be some great twist in the end that will make it worth my time. But epilogue was pointless and totally unnecessary. I’m not sure if I will ever read anything by Courtney Cole again, her writing style definitely didn’t suit me.

In The End…

Before We Fall is contemporary romance novel that will not suit everyone’s taste. Characters use vulgar language, are judgmental and have weird logic and moral code. But if the main thing you want from book is a lot of sex and poor-little-beautiful-misunderstood-rich-boy hero, then you might enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

The Story

Rachel’s sister Kirsten is engaged to the greatest scumbag on planet Earth IRHO (in Rachel’s humble opinion). The problem is - Kirsten refuses to see it. Desperate Rachel will stop at nothing to save Kirsten from making the biggest mistake of her life, even blackmailing a vampire to help.

The Characters

Rachel should be shy computer geek. I use the word should since I never saw evidence of this fact, except that writer told us so. Rachel is sure quick to jump and use the opportunity to blackmail a vampire. What should I do if I accidentally ran across a vampire feeding on another human? Vampire, a paranormal creature, that I though existed only in fiction? Scream and run like hell in opposite direction.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“That’s exactly what a vampire about to hurt me would say.”

“Touche. But I’m really not.”

“Not a vampire?”

“Not going to hurt you,” he corrected.

Well, lucky for Rachel, Charles is a “friendly local vampire” (blame him for the lousy and inaccurate pun, I am only quoting). And Charles is here to investigate if Brent (Kirsten’s fiance) is blackmailing his brother’s girlfriend Alice (Charles’ brother not Brent’s brother). Honestly, retelling this book is similar to explaining a plot of some telenovela.

The Romance

The one thing that could redeem Don’t Blackmail the Vampire was good love story. But everything between Rachel and Charles was familiar cliche. There is instant attraction and lust between them. The sex is fantastic and we are subjected to a looooooong descriptions of it (more than 30% of this short book). And, in a couple of days, >BANG< the-one-and-only-true-love!

Contemporary Category Romance + Paranormal = ?

Covet is an imprint of Entangled publishing that specializes in new genre, a mix of category romance and paranormal. I was intrigued how this is going to turn out. It’s been raining a lot last couple of days and I was looking for warm, fluffy book, but sadly Don’t Blackmail the Vampire missed its mark with me.

Here are formulas used to write Don’t Blackmail the Vampire:

paranormal romance – world building + ALL the cliches

category romance + add word vampire when mentioning hero + references to blood and biting, especially if sexual tension is high

There is not even an attempt to explain any history behind vampires their customs etc. The important fact is they are here and they are super sexy.

In The End…

Blackmailing anyone should be risky and vampires even more so. Although headline hints of danger and intrigue, Don’t Blackmail the Vampire was mostly boring and full of cliches. This marriage of category romance and paranormal genre didn’t work out for me.

If you are turned on with a fantasy of having a vampire for a lover, you might enjoy Don’t Blackmail the Vampire or if you enjoy reading category romance and are willing to overlook paranormal elements. But fans of paranormal romance who would like to read really good love story featuring vampire should better go with Black Dagger Brotherhood series or Night Huntress series.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

Poison Dance is a novella set in the same world as a Livia Blackburne’s novel Midnight Thief. For all young adult fantasy fans eagerly waiting for Midnight Thief to be published in July 2014, Poison Dance is a perfect opportunity to get a sample of the world and characters they are going to meet.

Set in a medieval-like fantasy world, Poison Dance is a story about an assassin James and a dancer Thalia, who offers him help to escape from Assassin’s Guild if he trains her to kill a noble. While the training gets them to know each other better, slow-burning romance stats to develop, but Thalia’s inability to forget about vengeance might cost them their happiness…

For a novella, Poison Dance gives an an unexpected good back-story for James and Thalia so we can understand motives for their actions. Also, world building is very good, focused on just the facts we need to understand the story better. I rarely see novella that is this good, in fact many novels have less world building and characterisation.

One thing that adds to the medieval atmosphere in Poison Dance is use of some archaic words and sometimes strange building of sentences. Sadly, this effort was wasted on me, since I was only annoyed by it. I can not say for sure if this was the reason why I felt emotionally distanced from the characters or if it would have happened anyway.

In The End…

How many pages does it take for an author to display his talent? For Livia Blackburne it only took about 50 pages or so. I can not wait to see if her debut novel Midnight Thief will have the same good characterisation, world-building and interesting characters.

BTW Poison Dance is currently FREE ebook for Kindle on Amazon, so it’s a perfect chance to grab it and check out what am I talking about. 

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the author in exchange for a honest review.

When 2013 was at the end and various websites published the lists of most anticipated fantasy books in 2014, The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley was on every one of them. I dare you to find the one without it! :) Also, those lucky bloggers who got early review copies sang praises and showered it with 5 star rating. So when the moment came for me to read The Emperor’s Blades, I must admit I was afraid: “Will I like it? Please, God, I don’t want to be a black sheep again..”

The Emperor’s Blades follows the lives of three main characters, scattered across the empire of Annur. The one thing they have in common is that they are the children of the current emperor. The event that creates the big turmoil in their lives and starts the plot is that the emperor is murdered.

Princes Kaden and Valyn I loved from the start, although it was not clear to me in the beginning why heirs to the royal throne are educated by secluded monks or assassins. Princess Adare, who lived at the capital, had the usual problems of girl in power – men not taking her seriously. Adare was much less developed and it took a lot of time until she wormed her way into my heart (practically at the very end of the book).

While writing about universal subject like grief for lost parent and self-doubt if we are fit for the tough job that await us, Brian Staveley creates for us a thrilling tale about revenge, conspiracies, magic and even a bit of romance.  Our heroes will have to learn more about themselves and how to be a good leader, either the hard way or listening to their father’s advice .

From some forgotten corner of his mind, his father’s words came back to him, firm and uncompromising: “You and Kaden will both be leaders someday, and when you are, remember this: Leadership isn’t just about giving orders. A fool can give orders. A leader listens. He changes his mind. He acknowledges mistakes.”

I especially liked the moment when the heirs to the throne start to realize all the flaws in the current political structure of the empire. And that although you try to do what’s good for the people, if you do not give them free choice, you are still a despot. With all big revelations that happened in the end, I can not wait to read the sequel and see if they will continue down the old, known path or if they will choose the new one.

In The End…

The Emperor’s Blades maybe didn’t bring anything new to the fantasy genre, but it definitely used all the good elements and had an interesting story, easy-to-read writing style and realistic, complex characters. Fans of epic fantasy novels featuring conspiracies and fighting for the throne will enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau was definitely one of the top ten books I have read in 2013 and, without a doubt, the best ya dystopian novel. The Testing had  frighteningly possible future world with smart realistic characters, likable heroine and cute friends to lovers love story.

Independent Study, as a sequel to The Testing, introduces us to the life on college in the Commonwealth described trough the narration of Cia. Connection I felt to Cia in The Testing, was quickly restored and, again, I was admiring her and cheering for her every step of the way. Cia is smart, resourceful, fair and geek – everything a good heroine in my opinion should be. And she’s so realistic – not always perfect, sometimes doubts herself, but never boring and determined to succeed.

I don’t know if I am ready to be a leader or if I can stop the war that threatens all I love, but as I hurry up to my rooms and close the door behind me, I know I will  do everything to keep the hope out of our country and those who struggled for it alive.

Since the testing for University was so deadly, I kinda expected that now the focus will be on studying and developing talents in the best candidates that were picked. But no, strangely, weird practice of exams that can have more serious consequences than failing the subject, continues. You wonder if they are even going to stop or there can be only one student/future leader left?

Surprisingly, I (again) believed in the whole concept of killing of the weakest candidates. Government officials and Cia have some great explanations about leadership and what’s expected from leaders. Here are just a couple of my favorite quotes about this subject:

Because sometimes the best leaders are the ones who have no interest in leading. Those are often the ones who are most interested in doing what is right, not what is popular.

Those who depend fully on another person’s knowledge to decide what is possible are easily manipulated. The most effective leaders utilize experts from all fields, but rely on none when it comes to making a decision.

Leaders – reals leaders – must think of others before themselves. They need to consider the consequences of their actions and only sacrifice lives when the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few.

Although, the plot of Independent Study was not much different than The Testing, as I expected, still it was thrilling ride full of action, tough decision and surprises. I am eagerly waiting for Graduation Day!

In The End…

In The Testing series, Joelle Charbonneau offers us a glorification of hard work, compassion and good leadership. For all young adult dystopian fans who like their heroines smart, resourceful and fighting against government, this is a must read!

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for a honest review.

What makes a book unique? For me it’s unusual structure of the book or unorthodox protagonist/narrator or when author takes an usual topic or genre and blows my mind. And here are the books that fit these criteria…

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Without any doubt, I can already say that Stolen Songbird will end up on my and many other lists of best novels for young adults published in 2014. Stolen Songbird is an example is how it looks when a team of professionals works on a book: great writing, editing & design. What did I like? The list is mile long:

• Intriguing title that hints at one of the main plot elements.
• Beautiful cover with our heroine Cécile holding a glass rose and city of Trollus in the background.
• Writing style is easy to read.
• Good world building with right amount of details.
• Romance without love triangle, insta-love and all other boring cliches that are overused these days.
• A love story that slowly develops over time through thoughtful gestures.
• Strong heroine that you will find easy to cheer for and who will make all the right choices. Cécile is a great role model for young adults.

I wouldn’t lie down and die, but neither would I give up on obtaining my liberty, I would live each day and fight for what mattered most: my freedom.

• A hero that will slowly win your heart.

He looked like Prince Charming from the fairytales, except for one thing: Prince Charming was human, and the boy standing in front of me was decidedly not. His pale skin was too flawless, his motions too smooth and controlled.

The biggest flaw of this book is the summary – it reveals too much. A lot of books published by Strange Chemistry suffer from this problem and Stolen Songbird has it too. I made a mistake and read the summary before reading the book, so I blame it as a reason why I just liked it very much. If some events and twists in plot were not already known to me, Stolen Songbird would have blown my mind.

 In The End…

Stolen Songbird is one of those rare occurrences when the promo description from publisher does not lie. They recommend it “for those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling” and I can only agree that Stolen Songbird has all the best elements from these books: intricate character development and cute slow building romance from Seraphina mixing it up with action and political intrigue from Graceling. So fans of ya fantasy, be brave, don’t be scared by number of pages, it will be worth your time.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

On a first glance Oracle of Philadelphia seems like just another urban fantasy novel. We have heroine Carrie who has some extraordinary powers but is disguised as ordinary mortal. Two guys who are total opposites (angel and demon) are hanging out with her, so it looks like there will be a love triangle. And she has a mission to save a good guy who sold his soul to the demon. A lot of kick-ass action, getting hot and bothered with both love interest and one solved soul later – and we get to the end of the first book of Earthbound Angels series.

If you have imagined something like this – then you were totally, completely and utterly wrong. Because Oracle of Philadelphia is definitely not just another urban fantasy novel out there. Elizabeth Corrigan does not rush into action, she weaves her story slowly with a lot of flashbacks to clear up backgrounds and history for all the characters. To me at the end, saving a guys soul seemed like a secondary goal of this book, the primary was for us to get close and personal with Carrie and her friends:  an angel Gabriel and the demon of chaos Bedlam.

Carrie is bored with her existence and so jaded she thinks nothing moves her anymore. She lost all hope and does not even try to change things, just hopes the end will eventually come. Eternal life never seemed less attractive than when it’s described from her perspective. The only spark of life (or chaos) that make her existence bearable are irregular visits from her friends: angel and demon. As always, I immediately got attracted to Bedlam with his mischievous smile and wish to spread chaos all around. Angel Gabriel was too prim and stuffy for my taste.

And then one day everything changes when Carrie gets motivated to stand up and try to change things again…

“And I know that the world isn’t fair. More than anyone, I know that. But I think that maybe it never will be if we stand by and let things like this pass. God made us, and He won’t stand up for us when we need Him to. And I can’t fix all the problems, even all the problems that I cause. But maybe I can fix this.”

 

In The End…

Oracle of Philadelphia is not just about war for souls between angels and demons, it’s about the value of family and true friendship, about never giving up and always staying faithful to your principles. Fans of breath-taking quick action scenes and hot love affairs might be disappointed at the beginning, but if they do not give up and keep on reading, Elizabeth Corrigan’s storytelling slowly introduces you to the world of Earthbound Angels and makes you yearn for more.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

After a year long wait, the time has come for us to again explore strange places, meet unusual people and share new adventures with Emilie. And this time the sky’s the limit because we are travelling to the Sky World.

Emilie and the Hollow World was one of my favorite books in 2013. Resemblance to classic adventure novels I have read as a child won me over from the start and it was all spiced up with fantastic elements. So, Emilie and the Sky World had a big shoes to fill.

While Emilie and the Sky World has Martha Wells’ recognizable fluid writing style which is easy to read, I found it much slower and conclusively with less adventurous air than it’s predecessor. They don’t arrive to the Sky World until almost half of the book passed and I must confess that until then I was bored at times and even wondered will they ever get there. Emilie and the Sky World had a bigger intro than the first book in series!

Some readers will maybe appreciate that we get to learn more about Emilie’s family background. But Emilie and the Hollow World was a whirl of adventures from the start, so I was impatient like a junkie waiting for his next fix and could not really appreciate new depths that Martha Wells added to Emilie’s character. Emilie from this book was overconfident, quick to judge, jumped into danger without thinking and too harsh with her brother. In my memory from the first book I remembered her to have much more likable personality.

Martha Wells’ impressive imagination will again blow your mind with descriptions of Sky World and new creatures like you have never met before in any novel. But her descriptions felt shallower and tougher for me to buy it than before: new machines needed a little bit more explanation and theory that the world is a series of concentric circles was just mentioned.

Emilie and the Sky World was not a bad book but I hoped for much much more. It’s tough being a sequel to someone’s favorite book. Maybe I complained too much and gave you wrong impression, because overall I liked Emilie and the Sky World and will definitely read next book in the Emilie series.

In The End…

Lovers of fantastic adventures of all ages will enjoy Emilie series by Martha Wells, especially  younger audience because it’s easy to read, has no romance and feeds imagination and thirst for adventure. Who as a child did not dream to go on an exotic expedition?

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Since I found out that Three Princes is set in an alternate reality where Egyptian empire never ceased to exist, I was looking forward to reading it. I’m crazy about Egyptian culture, history and mythology, so I was dying to learn how Ramona Wheeler imagined that the world would develop if the awesome empire who built the pyramids still existed. But when I actually started to read Three Princes my excitement soon died down and slowly became replaced by indifference. Finally at 42% (around 150 pages) I officially decided to mark this book as DNF and proceed to the next one. As some wise person said: Life is too short to waste it on books we don’t like.

As always, I will try to explain why Three Princes didn't work me me and hopefully it will help some other reader with similar taste to avoid trying to read this book, or even intrigue someone with opposite taste to give it a try.

From the start, I encountered my first problem with Three Princes . Main hero: Lord Scott Oken. At 27, he’s an Egyptian spy and reminded me most of James Bond. He’s always at the right place at the right time, somehow against all odds survives and observes all women as sexual objects.

And we’re already encountered my second issue with this book. Lack of strong female characters. If we make an exception for the Queen of Egypt, all women are just there for decoration, sex or to be exploited by our smart and handsome spy. As I already said, it’s all very reminiscent of famous 007 agent. In fact, I was surprised that Three Princes was written by a female writer since to me it seems like it’s oriented for male readers.

Maybe I would have ignored my antipathy for the hero, if the world charmed me as I expected. But, although this book is full of descriptions, the main things I was looking forward was missing. How come Egyptian empire still exists? This is the main question I wanted answered and I got nothing except mentions from time to time about some union between Caesar and Cleopatra. But there were a lot of totally unnecessary details about life in towns and tribes Lord Oken encounters on his travels. Knowing the exact pattern of painted colors on naked woman’s chest was not my top priority, so I was mostly bored with these attempts of world-building.

And I won’t even start to comment of so-called ‘steampunk’ – since there are no steam engines I would never label this novel as that genre. There are some weird flying machines but trying to understand ‘scientific’ background how they fly will only give you a headache. It would have been better if it was left a mystery…

In The End…

If you are a male fantasy fan and are looking for an alternate history novel about young spy who travels a lot, encounters a bunch of pretty women and nefarious villains – then Three Princes is the book for you. Readers looking for complex characters where everything is not black and white or more to the story than how awesome Lord Scott Oken is, will probably be disappointed.

Disclaimer:  I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Extra awesome news for all who snagged Finnikin of the Rock when it was on sale in December. Book #2 inLumatere Chronicles series is on sale in January. This is one of those series that, although I got countless recommendations from friends, I have never actually read it. Maybe actually owning first two parts will give me the push I need.

Also, check out other awesome books that are either free or on great discount today (and possibly a little while longer).

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It’s not a secret I was eagerly waiting for Defy, after all I shared my excitement with you in one of my rare WOW posts. Even when reviews with low ratings started to pile up, they could not dampen my enthusiasm. I mean: ya fantasy about kick-ass heroine who is masquerading as a boy? Bring it on!

When I started to read, it looked like my optimism will pay off. Alexa seemed like just the kind of strong and kick-ass heroine I hoped. After they were orphaned in war Alexa (disguised as a boy) and her twin brother Marcel joined the army. Thanks to their extraordinary fighting skills, after three years they are members of Prince Damian’s personal guard. The war games are becoming more brutal every day, the attacks on Damian’s life are happening more and more often and it turns out that some people suspect that Alex, the best swordsman in the guard, might not be what it seems…

This is a great premise on which a good ya fantasy novel full of intrigue and battles could have been written. Sadly, Sara B. Larson decided to take a different route and focus the story of Defy mostly on romance and love triangle between Alexa, Prince Damian and her best friend & guard member Rylan.

The biggest disappointment in Defy was definitely Alexa. I can blame my expectations and traits I imagined she will have for this. If we ignore Alexa’s exceptional skill with the sword, Alexa mostly reminded me of Bella Swan from Twilight and Anastasia Steele from Fifty Shades of Grey (two of the most annoying characters in literature I have ever encountered). When Alexa is confronted with a guy she likes, she transforms from experienced soldier into this blushing, clumsy mess. She keeps talking about their beautiful eyes… Shimmers slide down her spine…. Their words send jolts through her body… She can’t stop staring at their lean muscular bodies and somehow they keep getting half naked, for Alexa’s ogling pleasure.

Stare at my abs of awesomeness!!!! [image source]

 

Someone would argue that they are walking without their shirts because it’s tropical setting and a lot of action happens in a jungle. But if that is the case, shouldn’t have Alexa after three years gotten immune by now?

And don’t even get me started on:

• Breeding houses where orphaned girls are taken and repeatedly raped to make new soldiers for king’s army. Those soldiers will be ready for battle in 15 years. Honestly, I think hiring mercenaries would have been cheaper and given immediate results.
• Alexa, Rylan and Damien are captured and dragged across the country for weeks. Experienced soldiers would have found opportunity to escape since a lot of times they were not even tied. But kissing is all they think about.
• Everything is so f**king obvious. And then you need to wait until Alexa figures it out (a lot of chapters later). She confesses that she’s not the quickest bunny in the forest, but still… This made the plot drag on too much and I was more and more bored as the book progressed.

Defy left me feeling deeply disappointed and irritated by: Alexa, lack of world building and a lot of holes in the plot. If I want a novel with so much focus on love story, I will read something from contemporary romance genre. As for a novel from fantasy genre I do not mind if romance is present, but I also require good development of world and characters to enjoy it.

Spotlighted Quote

A little bit too sugary but still carries a nice message:

True beauty is what lies inside of us, not what the world sees. A beautiful shell that houses a vile soul becomes sullied over time. But an outer shell, imperfect as it may be, that houses a beautiful soul shines with that beauty, radiating it for all who have eyes to see.

 

In The End…

Defy is debut novel by Sara B. Larson light on fantasy and heavily focused on love triangle romance. While I think that younger female readers might enjoy it, more demanding fantasy fans will probably find it lacking in world building and character development.

If contemporary romance is not a new genre for you, then you have probably already read a novel similar toBroken at Love: playboy sleeps with a new girl at every party until he meets The One, changes his womanizing ways and falls deeply in love. Sounds familiar?

The one thing that stands out of usual cliches is our heroine Emilie Swanson. She’s afraid that when people look at her they only see:

The “Mexican” girl with the gold-digging mother who somehow snagged one of the foremost cardiothoracic surgeons in the world. The sad girl who’d lost her baby sister three years ago. The rich girl playing artist to piss of her daddy.

But there is much more to Emilie. She’s strong, original and fights for her independence. I could say Emilie’s biggest flaw is that she falls too easily for Quinn and says ‘I love you’ too fast.

Quinn Rowland is typical romance novel hero. So rich that his house “probably had it’s own zip code” and so handsome that (as Emilie describes it):

God could not be serious with that face, on that body, with those eyes.

Quinn’s favorite pastime at parties is seducing girls and then leaving them. Lyla Payne somehow manages to make Quinn not seem like a complete sleazeball, because he never lies to his ‘victims’ but still he comes pretty close to being obnoxious at times.

The plot of  Broken at Love was too unbelievable for me to buy it. Emilie was too rational to ever fall for just a handsome jerk who used the same tactic on other girls before her. And, of course, Quinn turned out to be just another misunderstood poor rich boy who got his heart broken too many times…

But if you are not looking for much originality in plot, Broken at Love is a quick read, Lyla Payne has easy-to-read writing style and there are no spelling mistakes (which is small wonder for self-published novel these days). Although you won’t see me eagerly waiting in line for a sequel to Whitman University series, I might read another novel by Lyla Payne in the future when I need to relax with some light romance.

In The End…

New adult contemporary romance fans who like to read about college setting where focus is more on parties then on classes and where characters are rich kids with first world problems, can stop looking and read Broken at Love. As a bonus you will get strong, independent, artistic heroine and bad boy, playboy hero.