Review: The Summer Man, SD Perry

The Summer Man by S.D. Perry
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Not exactly impressed with this one. 47 North gave me my first auto approval from Netgalley and I found this one while having a look at some of the titles were offering. It sounded quite interesting, and got off to a good intriguing start.

As a pointed out by another review of the same book I read, some of the grammar was a bit off, very very long sentences and very long paragraphs as well. Whether it was the formatting on the kindle version I was reading, I don't know, but some paragraphs seemed to be entire pages long.

While the premise was interesting enough, normal small town, summer tourist season kicks off and people start acting weird and going murderously crazy. One teen develops psychic mind reading abilities and can see murders and stuff before it happens. The pacing was also extremely slow. You'd get a nice gory bit, then lots of different characters introduced and long stretches before anything else really happened. It felt...rambling and was off putting. About half way through I got very bored and started skimming through.

Towards the end things picked up in a rash of craziness, but then the actual end was extremely disappointing and I found it to be a total cop out.

So while an interesting idea, didn't work for me.

Review: Gone To Ground, Brandilyn Collins

Gone to Ground by Brandilyn Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic small town murder mystery full of twists and turns that kept me guessing right until the end. i love small town murder mysteries and this book did everything right. I found it browsing through Netgalley and my request to view was approved almost immediately, (though it took me a while to get round to reading it) when I did, I read it fairly quickly. Fast moving plot, great characters and a fascinating depiction of a small town dealing with a killer in their mists and the people who were the suspects.

The story is told from three different points of view from three townswomen who each think someone they know is responsible, and how they deal with the knowledge that that person might be a killer. They collect their own evidence and as things progress, eventually they are brought together. I loved the three view points from very different women, I enjoyed seeing how each of them coped and how they bonded together throughout the investigation.

Also, smart characters too, who didn't do things recklessly and stupidly. Who thought things through and involved the police when necessary. The plot twisted and turned and just when you think the three women have figured it all out the plot twists again. I didn't see the end result coming the way it did.

A fantastic read and I would definitely be interested in reading other books by this author. So thank you Netgalley for the approval to view the title.

Review: The Missing Juliet, A Fisher Key Mystery, Sam Cameron.

The Missing Juliet: A Fisher Key Adventure by Sam Cameron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for granting my request to view this title.

I loved it. An intriguing mystery, well written, entertaining, with excellent characters and a great plot that kept me guessing right till the end. The writing was snappy, the dialogue witty and the characters were well rounded.

The story starts with its main protagonist, Robin, and her friend Sean, trying to sneak onto a movie set in their home town of Key West to get a glimpse of their favourite stars. Robin is a die hard fangirl and in love with actress Juliet Francine, and Sean has the hots for her costar Liam. Whilst sneaking on the set they learn that Juliet appears to be missing, Juliet's sister Karen is distraught, where her jackass co star seems to not care at all.

Robin manages to get hired by Karen to help her find Juliet as she's the only one who seems to believe that Juliet is really missing. So Robin gets to work on investigating. Robin knows exactly who she is, she's a lesbian who's totally comfortable with who she is and total advocate for Mother Earth and healthy stuff and environment. She was fun and well written with her beliefs and didn't preach about them, which made her more likeable. Each to their own, but don't throw it in my (the reader's) face. Robin was an excellent lead.

As she continues to investiage, she learns more about the movie making business, and the co star Liam and nothing is as it appears. The mystery is full of twists and turns, and at certain points seems to rather predicable in where it's going with the story, then it twits and throws you off balance going in a completely different direction.

A cast of fun lively characters, though a few times I felt like I was reading information I should already know about the supporting cast, like maybe this was part of a series, but that didn't really matter because it was so well written you could follow along easily without any trouble understanding who was who.

It wrapped up sweetly, with a realistic believable ending.

I loved it from start to finish.

Review: Passion, Lauren Kate

Passion by Lauren Kate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book picks up right off where the second left off. At first it was interesting, getting to see some of Luce's past lives, but then it got mind numbingly slow and dull and while I liked seeing all the different lives Luce has lived and how her relationship with Daniel progresses then tragically ends...it got rather dull and I found myself wondering where is this going and almost gave up.

But I'm so glad I didn't cause as the book progressed and we go through the different lives...Luce finally starts to learn things and there's some really beautiful passages over describing this epic connection with Daniel and the love they feel for each other no matter what.

Bill the gargoyle was actually one of my favourite things about this book, the snarky little character who pops in to help give Luce some direction. With a diabolically good twist at the end. Part of me thinks how did I not see that actually coming? But it was still good anyway. Which leads to the set up of the final novel in the series.

This series is the first fallen angel YA paranormal romance series I read and its one of my favourites. And one I've actually read more than the first book in. Its a weird one because I'm not even sure why I like it so much. i just do.

Review: The Curse Keepers, Denise Grover Swank

The Curse Keepers by Denise Grover Swank
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Actual rating 3.5 stars.

My request to view this title was approved by Netgalley.

Curse Keepers is a fantastic paranormal romance based on Native American mythology. Ellie Lancaster has been told by her father she is a Curse Keeper but Ellie flat out refuses to believe him. Until the day Collin Daily walks into the restaurant she works at and everything changes.

I must admit when I read the first chapter and the hot guy walked in, the connection felt by Ellie, I was thinking oh no, here we go, insta love. But it wasn't insta-love at all. Their meeting sparks an ancient curse, opening the gates of hell and the mythology tells that the two Curse Keepers now have seven days to close the Gates of Hell before chaos erupts and gods and spirits are set loose on the earth.

The story was compelling, I loved the setting, and the Native American mythology. Ellie was a pretty kick ass heroine. There was some wonderful writing and description as the plot progressed. Ellie had a hard time still believing the whole thing was real before reluctantly accepting her duty. When she finally did - it was awesome.

My main issue with the book as to why it was a three star not five star was Ellie's push and pull relationship with Collin. I hated his character. He was an asshole right from the start. Pretty pissed off that he had been training for this Curse Keeper thing his whole life and Ellie hadn't (reasons for Ellie's lack of training and belief were explained in the novel). and he talked down to her a lot. He was beyond arrogant, with a very iffy background. He and Ellie bickered like children a lot and that really got annoying.

While as much as I disliked Collin, as the novel progressed, he and Ellie became more and more attracted to each other and the romance was pretty damn sizzling. Until a twist at the end changed everything.

Even though I hated the male lead, I still did thoroughly enjoy the novel and it did have a kick ass ending so I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel.

So thank you Netgalley for approving my view request and to 47 North as well who gave me my first Netgalley auto-approval.

Review: Circle of Fire, Keri Arthur

Circle of Fire by Keri Arthur
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A little disappointed with this one. It sounded good, so I put a request in on Netgalley, (I wasn't all that impressed with the first Keri Arthur book I read, I didn't even finish it) but I thought why not try again? My netgalley request was approved.

But the book wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. I wasn't impressed with the main character, she felt flat to me and not all that engaging, if anything, whiny and annoying. The male love interest was arrogant and annoying. The villains were laughable.

It was more the world building than anything that kept me going with this. The use of magic and the mysterious Damask Circle which I was hoping to see more of.

Less than impressed with the ending, which made me roll my eyes.

Though I would be tempted to actually read the second book to see more of the world building.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I originally bought Divergent and Insurgent on a buy one get one half price deal from a local Waterstones bookshop, and if I hadn't got the two of them at once, I most likely would never have picked up Insurgent after being less than thrilled with Divergent.

As it turned out, I did actually like Insurgent a little better. I think it was because there was more world building, and you got to see more of how the other Factions functioned, and the plot was more developed than just Faction training.

I didn't actually like Triss much at all in this book, considering how bad ass she was at the end of the first one, I found her very wooden in this book. And I still don't buy the romance with her and Tobias at all. Its a little weird, even though I wasn't all that blown away with the main character, I thought it was a much better plot than the first book.

And I was never going to bother with the final book, but now I have to know how the whole thing ends.

Review: Where The Stars Still Shine, Trish Doller

Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is one of the reasons I love book bloggers and book bloggers with twitter feeds. This is not something I would have picked up for myself if I had seen it browsing in a bookstore or on Amazon. It sounds a little too afternoon movie for my tastes. Basic plot being girl kidnapped as a child by mom after a divorce, moves around the country and then reunited with the dad years and years later when mom is finally arrested and teen has to cope with new family and new life.

Though after seeing a mixture of three to five star reviews from some of my favourite bloggers, it got me thinking okay, I have to read this now.

I don't usually like teen drama without some sort of a paranormal romance theme involved. But as it turned out, I loved this book. I found Callie to be a very easy character to understand, and loved how she grew throughout the story. It can't have been easy to have been raised one way, sans normal family life and then suddenly at 17, have to cope with a family and some rules, and people who want to care. And at the same time its understandable why she still feels loyalty to her mom as well.

The story was an emotional one, sad, angsty, with some sweet moments, some happy moments, and at the same time kind of bittersweet. A mixed bag of feelings making the story engaging. It was excellently written, so clear and easy to picture. A wonderfully emotional book with full rounded characters, and even made me cry a little at the end.

So I'm glad I gave something different from my normal type of YA reading a chance, it's a really fantastic book.

Review: Revelry, Peta Crake

Revelry by Peta Crake
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I picked this up when it was available as a Read It Now from Netgalley. Sounded intriguing, and I do love shapeshifter paranormal romance, especially with a small town setting.

However, I didn't particularly like this book. It started off quite promising, a young woman on the run from a mysterious past, trying to hide and work her way from place to place, and a hot guy with some mystery of his own. Right off, I found it very repetitive, constantly telling me Revelry, the female lead, was on the run, she was hiding, she couldn't trust anyone, especially men. She could never show people her arms due to scarring inflicted on her by her tragic past. Similar thing with Connor, the male. His past and issues told over and over. Missing sister, and other stuff.

Also, unless it was the editing or formatting in the version I read, view points changed suddenly without a paragraph break or warning. One minute there'd be a paragraph from Revelry's view point, and next think you knew, you would be seeing thing from Conner's view point. While it wasn't exactly difficult to work out who was speaking, being written in third person, it was still...jarring. Personally I like shifting view points to look at the story from other characters' eyes, however, I do like some sort of a break in between, rather than just shifting without warning.

I felt absolutely no chemistry between Conner and Revelry, they spent a huge part of the novel not trusting each other, even though he seemed to be falling for her in spite of everything. Didn't work for me. The introduction of the murder and stalker mystery was what kept me going but by about half way through the answer was revealed and it was like, oh, that's who it is? Then Revelry's past catches up and things go even more haywire.

And by then I was skipping really just to see how it ended. And even then it was a bit blah. While it was an interesting idea, the story just didn't work for me.

Review: Over The Rainbow, Brian Rowe

Over the Rainbow by Brian Rowe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit of a weird one to review. This book is like Jurassic Park meets The Wizard of Oz. It was...odd, to say the least. That being said though, it was rather enjoyable and very amusing in spite of being very silly and completely unbelievable in certain aspects.

I get that the main female character, Zippy (cute name, much better than Zipporah) is supposed to be very small, but I find it very hard to believe that a seventeen year old girl can be small enough to hide in a suitcase and go in a cargo hold on a plane at an international airport, even in 1999. That being said, the story is funny enough to over look things like that, and Zippy is a very likeable character. Its very easy to sympathise with her and why she hid herself in a suitcase.

Zippy has fallen in love with her chat buddy Mira and her homophobic God fearing father ships her off to anti-gay camp. Mortifying for Zippy. So she hides in a suitcase and escapes on a different plane. Then the plane crashes, and everything becomes weird. Zippy meets two survivors, three, counting Judy the dog. And there are dinosaurs. Dinosaurs. The rapture has happened, and everything's gone to pot.

Zippy has escaped to go to Seattle and find Mira. So that's what she does with the help of her friends, a boy she meets who also survived the plane crash, Frankie, and another survivor, the older kindly Mr Balm. Along the way they meet a little girl, Elle, also a survivor and continue on to Seattle to find Mira.

The characters were fun, the dialog was snappy and witty and the dinosaurs were immensely entertaining. The ending was sweet. A fast, fun read.

Thank you Netgalley for approving my request to view this title.

Review: The Awaking, Madeline Freeman

Awaking by Madeline Freeman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I won a copy through a librarything.com member give away. Contains some plot spoilers. Spoilers hidden behind + signs, click to read.

The basic plot of the novel was interesting, a regular girl, Morgan, discovers she is the Chosen One of a secret race of people with special abilities called the Veneret. While the idea was a good one....I found the story to be rather flat. Too much telling and not showing, and....it just didn't work for me.

There was a standard cast of high school characters, the funky best friend, the queen bee and her minions, the popular gorgeous jock who was much nicer than you think, a cool teacher, another bitchy girl. A mysterious sexy boy. Nothing particularly different from a load of other YA paranormal. Including a missing/possibly dead parent.

It was interesting enough that I read it in a few days, I found the idea of the Veneret and their powers quite new and original, but Morgan just seems to take it all without...doing much about it. Until the last few chapters where everything happens in a rush.

Morgan arrives at party with best friend, attracts attention of mystery guy talking to Queen Bee, Queen Bee pissed and sets her minions on Morgan and friend, words are exchanged. Guy has brief conversation with Morgan dropping hints about he knows something about her mother's disappearance. So she agrees to meet him and it goes on from there.

I wanted to see some more emotions from the main character, other than her distaste at how the Veneret become powerful. She's thrown into this new world, discovers nicer than she thought jock boy is there and another boy she knows is actually one of them, they have powers. It just plods on while they learn very little other than Venerets think they should be ruling the world and Morgan is the One who will lead them to power. While new powers are cool, I would have thought that Morgan should have been way more freaked out and have way more questions than she did.

It picked up a bit towards the end, and I was quite pleased that Morgan tried to stand up for something she thought the Venerets were doing wrong, but the twist thrown in just made me roll my eyes. Then she's rescued from the bad guys. It is concluded, but left open for a sequel. It had a lot of potential, but just...not for me.

Thank you librarything.com for the win, but I will not be continuing with this series.

Review: Die For Me, Amy Plum

Die for Me by Amy Plum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A surprisingly sweet paranormal romance. I would never have thought that you could get zombie romance, but what do you know.,?! The zombies in this book weren't scary horror movie eat your brains types, but special people called Revenants who reanimate. Two sides either save lives or join the bad guys and destroy souls.

The book features heavily on the romance between Kate and the Revenant boy Vincent she falls in low with. Yes it's insta love. But the story is quite sweet and it doesn't really matter. Kate is drawn into Vincent's world and handles it pretty well without freaking out too much. But gets very attached to Vincent and has to decide whether she can cope with his world or not. And there's some drama involving her sister and the bad guys.

My only real issue with the novel was it was very slow in pacing, there was a lot of fluff on the romance side and not a whole lot of action between the good guys and bad guys on the revenants side.

All in all there's a happy romantic fluffy conclusion and open ending to lead to the next book.