Review: Out For Blood, Mike Walker

Out for Blood by Mike Walker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Not for me. DNF at about 44%. Started off quite good, entertaining, but it was the same joke over and over and got boring, and I found the characters getting on my nerves, even when the plot picked up and had a few interesting twists, I just didn't feel like finishing it.

So thank you Netgalley for approving my request to view this title, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Review: Night World Vol 2 - Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate - LJ Smith

Night World, No. 2 by L.J. Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of my favourite series to re-read over and over and over.

Dark Angel - this is actually my least favourite Night World book because the plot is rather superficial. All Gillian wants is to be popular and it takes her dressing sexy for the hot guy who's her soulmate to notice her. Which was annoying, but in a way Gillian is a very easy character to sympathise with and understand where she's coming from. This book also introduces the concept of lost witches into the Night World mythology, which was a plus, and at least throughout the book Gillian does grow up a lot. It had a sweet, if a little bittersweet ending.

The Chosen - its Buffy and Angel Night World style!! Rashel the vampire hunter finds herself entangled with a dangerous vampire Quinn and a plot to steal human girls for a sinister purpose. Rashel was one of the first strong female vampire hunter characters I came across (I remember reading this the first time while Buffy was still airing and liking Rashel more because didn't have anywhere near the distractions Buffy did). While Quinn was much darker in a way than Angel was, I liked the character (but shameless Angel fan girl, with the similarities its hard not to make comparisons). But when Rashel and Quinn finally come together they both grow as people and realise they have some hard facts to deal with but now they have each other to get them through.

Soulmate - this book introduces the concept of Old Souls. Hannah has had many life times, torn from her soulmate by the first vampire. One of the other reasons I loved this one is because we get to see a lot of Night World backstory, how the first vampire came to be, how the first made vampire came about. And the epic love over life time after life time when said made vampire comes to find again his human soulmate - only to have her die before they can really be together. They need to find a way to finally break the cycle and stay together. Plus, a few little cameos from some of the soulmate couples from the earlier books.

Review: The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was a fall for the hype one that failed for me. I got it in hard back the day it came out. I just couldn't finish it.

Technically the world building and imagination put into book is in away brilliant. Original and complex. My problem was it was so complex I couldn't keep up with it and remember what the hell was going on.

There was a lot of info dumping early on and the plot was very very slow. 100+ pages in I'm just not enjoying it and haven't picked it up in a while and am not looking forward to anymore of it when there are other books in my currently reading shelf I'm enjoying more.

Just not for me.

Review: Almost Demon, AJ Salem

Almost Demon by A.J. Salem
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I snagged this one when it was available as a read it now on Netgalley. Turned out to be quite good.

Ordinary teen Gemma is trying to get her life back together after a terrible accident she seems to be taking the blame for. A hot new teacher and a new boy show up, Gemma learns she had the ability to summon demons & angels.

World building was quite good and Gemma was a likeable lead character. My main issues with her were that she seemed to accept things a little too easily. New teacher guy trains her in demon summoning and hot new guy has some mystical secrets of his own. All if which she seems to accept without much questions.

Though there were some good twists towards the end that changed the plot pretty well. Some more mystery and hints of a possible sequel as well.

All in all a good read and I would definitely read more from this author.

Review: Cobweb Bride, Vera Nazarian

Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another Read It Now snagged from Netgalley. A beautifully written fairytale.

Though I must admit, at a few points, I nearly gave up with it. While on the one hand the language the story was written in was beautiful, vivid and poetic, the pace of the plot was very very slow. Meandering and dream like and almost nightmare like at some stages.

There was some incredible imagery. Particularly when the Death's curse started happening with the armies fighting a war and the townspeople trying to slaughter their pigs for food was rather alarming and disturbing.

A good mix of characters both good guys, some irritating ones and detestable villains. And a very likeable heroine.

I enjoyed the story, and there were times where I thought I knew exactly where the plot was going, but a good twist at the end changed the direction. So I'm glad I stuck with it. Even though it became kind of very long winded. It ended at a point where you sort of have to know what happens next.

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Review: The Disappearance of Lizzy Ross, Jessica Schein

The Disappearance of Lizzy Ross by Jessica Schein
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Mild plot spoilers, click on the + to read. I received a copy via Netgalley. It sounded interesting enough. And the mystery of the missing girl was actually quite intriguing. The writing wasn't bad, it was properly edited, no spelling errors or anything.

My problem with this book was I absolutely detested the main character, Mimi. A stuck up, spoiled, snotty rich coked up bitch who thought the sun rose and set on her. I'm guessing she was supposed to be super cool, but I found her obnoxious, rude and insensitive.

Her best friend is missing and while this drives her nuts, she seems more interested in scoring more coke than anything else. She's bitchy to everyone, including the police. And don't even get me started on how stupid the police in this thing are.

By half way through I was really skimming through to see if anything actually happened. But nothing really did. A few cryptic clues as to the missing girl's disappearance. By the end I had no interest in finding out what happened as I hated Mimi so much.

Thank you Netgalley for approving my view request, but I will not be continuing with this series.

Review: Dance of Shadows, Yelena Black

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well this turned out to be nothing like I thought. I was sort of expecting a YA version of 'Black Swan' with this one, but it was nothing at all like Black Swan.

I liked it a lot, all the same. Started off interestingly enough, though was a little on the slow side, but I liked reading about Vanessa adjusting to life at NYBA, getting to know her friends, and the real reason she was there - the search for her missing older sister who had disappeared at the school shortly before.

Wasn't too impressed with the insta-love with the male dancer Zep. He was more annoying than mysterious. I found Justin to be the more interesting male character as there was a lot more to him that some hot guy. Sort of a little predictable at first with the plot, but as the story goes on and more missing girls pop up the mystery increases. And the last bits of the book threw the plot in a completely different direction.

Something I would never have guessed in a YA ballet novel which made it more compelling and surprising to see how it turned out. So definitely looking forward to the next one.

Review: The Immortal Rules, Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was one awesome book. Dystopia. With vampires. And zombies. And no unnecessary soppy love story. Allison is easily one of my top favourite female characters from this year. She was a total bad ass, and smart too. I liked her immediately right from the start when the very dark tone of the novel is set. It's a kill or be killed world ruled by vampires. Serve them and things are marginally better, otherwise, fight for survival.

The world building was violent and damn right creepy, and excellently written. Even when Allison connects with humans, there's a sense of hope, yet foreboding at the same time, because I kind of knew it was going to go hideously wrong at some point, but you don't know when. And kudos to Allison, she didn't turn into a soppy love stuck girl when she finally met Zeke, a boy she could connect with. She knew getting involved was risky, and didn't ignore the internal warnings.

The attraction between Allison and Zeke was there, but was well done for a dystopian, and the lack of romance worked for me. The wanting, but knowing it couldn't happen kind of made it more appealing. Especially with the dark over tones.

And the other thing I thought was well done, was while the book certainly had some Christianized themes to the plot - finding Eden in the darkness of the world for one - it wasn't preachy. And one thing I hate is being preached at. It drove the plot forward and gave hope that there was something to work towards.

The action was kick ass, and page turning. The plot and characters were engaging. I loved it.

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