Review: Spellcaster (Spellbound, #2), by Cara Lynn Shultz

 

Review: Spellcaster (Spellbound, #2)

Author: Cara Lynn Shultz

Format: e-book

From Goodreads: "After breaking a centuries-old romantic curse, Emma Connor is (almost) glad to get back to normal problems. Although…it's not easy dealing with the jealous cliques and gossip that rule her exclusive Upper East Side prep, even for a seventeen-year-old newbie witch. Having the most-wanted boy in school as her eternal soul mate sure helps ease the pain—especially since wealthy, rocker-hot Brendan Salinger is very good at staying irresistibly close….

But something dark and hungry is using Emma's and Brendan's deepest fears to reveal damaging secrets and destroy their trust in each other. And Emma's crash course in überspells may not be enough to keep them safe…or to stop an inhuman force bent on making their unsuspected power its own."

My Opinion: So, I know I'm way behind the crowd in just reading this book, but I absolutely loved it anyway! I didn't have a chance to read the first book in the series, but that wasn't a problem at all since they referred to the events from before often enough that I was able to follow along. 

Soul mates Emma and Brendan have already fought a curse to be together, but they don't really get a chance to rest on their laurels before their next crisis happens. This time they are fighting an unknown but very powerful dark witch who is literally out for Emma's blood.

I was drawn into this story very quickly, and didn't want to stop reading it once I started. The love story was written perfectly and the action just didn't stop!

I'm really glad I finally read this book and give it an enthusiastic 5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Review: You Were Made For Me, by Jenna Guillaume

 

Title: You Were Made For Me

Author: Jenna Guillaume

Format: e-book, ARC

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "YA author Jenna Guillaume is back with a modern feminist twist on the 1985 pop cult film Weird Science.

Sixteen-year-old Katie Camilleri can’t believe she’s accidentally created a teenage boy. A boy six-feet tall with floppy hair and eyes like the sky on a clear summer’s day. A boy whose lips taste like cookie dough and whose skin smells like springtime. A boy completely devoted to Katie. But silly musings and kitchen antics with her best friend, Libby, have definitely taken a whimsical twist into something bigger than Katie could have ever daydreamed. Turns out the consequences of fumbling a human being into existence are rather complicated. More importantly, does Guy, the golden Adonis Katie’s created, like her because he wants to, or because he has to? And will he be Katie’s very first kiss?"

My Opinion: Katie is 16 years old and never been kissed, so she and her friend do what any two girls in that circumstance will do - they created a boy! And not just any boy, but the perfect boy for Katie, literally. And Guy is the sweetest, sexiest, cutest boy around. But as we all know, things rarely turn out perfect.

I loved the feminist take on Weird Science. Katie and Libby are best friends who actually act like best friends, including calling each other out when one or the other is making a mistake. I also liked the other kids who hung out with them. I had a problem with the amount of bullying that happened at school, though, which not a single teacher seemed to see, even though it was happening pretty much right out in the open. That was a bit of a sticking point for me, but that's probably the mama bear in me coming out. I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet and emotional the story was otherwise. This was a very quick read for me because it was well written and the pace moved along at a nice pace.

In summary, I really liked this book and highly recommend it. I'm giving it 4/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Bleed More, Bodymore (Bodymore #1), by Ian Kirkpatrick, audiobook, narrated by Kieran Regan

 

Title: Bleed More, Bodymore (Bodymore #1)

Author: Ian Kirkpatrick

Narrated by: Kieran Regan

Format: audiobook

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "HORROR IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EVIL OVERTAKES THE HEART.

Joey’s a Baltimore mechanic. One night, she receives a call from her best friend, asking for his car to be picked up from the infamous body dumping grounds of Baltimore: Leakin Park. When she arrives, there’s little more around than a stalled-out car and a couple of ravens, so she leaves only with the car. Back at the body shop, it doesn’t take long for the smell of rot to permeate the trunk. Inside? A corpse. The cops said her friend did it. His absence is his guilt, but Joey knows better. She will find her missing friend and she will prove his innocence.

But something isn’t right in Baltimore. It’s not just the feeling that someone is always watching from the city’s abandoned buildings... Her search for her friend reveals something much worse hiding under Baltimore. A ghost town, a reaper, regret. Suddenly, the city’s rage and the stink that rising out of the dirt make much more sense."

My Opinion: Josephine (Joey) works as a mechanic in Baltimore. She jumps right into the story when she goes out on a call to pick up the car of her best friend, Wayland. Unfortunately, when she gets there, Way is nowhere to be found. Instead, she finds a dead body in the trunk. Also, she notices an inordinate amount of crows in the area, and are they actually looking at her, or is she going crazy? Thus begin Joey's adventures into the underworld of Baltimore. 

First off, as this is an audiobook, I have to say that the narrator put me off a bit. First off, it was a male narrator, and the main character was female, so that just didn't work for me. Second, while Joey is a very sarcastic person (in a totally fun way), the narrator made absolutely everything she said come out sarcastic, even when that was clearly not how the line was written. It just wasn't believable.

As for the story itself, I loved it. The world building was phenomenal and the descriptions of the settings, especially anything that happened at night or in the woods, was done exceptionally well. I loved the characters and thought they were fleshed out fully for the most part. I'm looking forward to learning even more about them in the next book, fingers crossed. The pacing was very quick so this was a rapid read.

In summary, I recommend this book to fans of horror stories with just the right amount of snark thrown in for good measure. You might want to read the book itself instead of listening to the audiobook if narration is important to you.

3/5 stars.

I received a copy of this audiobook free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Disney Manga: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Zero's Journey, by D.J. Milky

 

Title: Disney Manga: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Zero's Journey

Author: D.J. Milky

Format: e-book

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "When Jack Skellington's faithful pet Zero gets lost, the ghost pup must get the help of the residents of Christmas Town to find his way back. With Halloween plans on hold while Jack mounts a search, will they be reunited in time to save both holidays?"

My Opinion:  This being my first foray into manga, I think I did pretty well! This was such a cute little story! I love everything having to do with The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I enjoyed reading this very much. Zero is one of my favorite characters, too, so that made it all the more enjoyable.

Highly recommend - 5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Aloha Alibi (Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1), by Jasmine Webb

 

Title: Aloha Alibi (Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1)

Author: Jasmine Webb

Format: audiobook

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Most people flee to Hawaii for gorgeous weather, white-sand beaches, and cocktails at sunset. Charlotte Gibson, however, is fleeing for her life after a vengeful mobster leaves a severed finger on her doorstep as a warning. Message very much received.

That’s how Charlotte—Charlie to everyone except her mom— finds herself on Maui with six dollars to her name, living with a mother who can’t stop giving her advice on how to land herself a husband. But when a businessman is murdered and his company offers a reward to whoever finds the killer, Charlie sees an opportunity: with that kind of cash, she could afford her own place and start a new life here away from the people who want her dead. After all, how hard can hunting down a murderer be?

Teaming up with a couple of old ladies with more spunk than Betty White, Charlie is sure she’s on the right track to snag the reward money. However, the infuriating-but-smoldering-hot cop trying to keep her away from his case has other ideas. Throw in a day job at an ice cream shop, corrupt local politicians, and a best friend trying to act as the voice of reason, and Charlie has her work cut out for her.

Will she be able to find the killer, or is Charlie’s time in paradise going to go straight to hell in a handbasket?"

My Opinion: Charlie Gibson kills a man in self defense who ends up being the brother of a very vengeful mobster, and when she finds a severed finger on her doorstep, she decides it's time to get out of Dodge, fast! The only place she can go, seeing as how she has no money, is Hawaii, where she spent her childhood and where her mother still lives. I mean, there are definitely worse places to go!

I thought this was a very fun book. The premise is far fetched, to say the least, but if you could look past that, it was a good read. I loved that the main characters were all strong, independent women, other than Charlie's mother, who just couldn't seem to talk about anything other than her daughter's lack of a sex life and her single-minded need for her daughter to find a man and get married. That was really annoying. 

There was a semi-romance set up between Charlie and the "infuriating-but-smoldering-hot cop" but it felt forced. I would love to see that delved into further in a more organic way.

Since this was an audiobook, I have to say that I thought the narrator, Khristine Hyam, did a fine job with the different characters, and she injected a lot of feeling into her reading, which was great.

All in all, I enjoyed this cozy mystery, and look forward to reading any further books in this series as I can see the promise in this book.

4/5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an audiobook arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Review: Prelude (Songs of the Lost Islands #0), by C.A. Oliver

 

Title: Prelude (Songs of the Islands #0)   

Author: C.A. Oliver

Format: ebook

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "PRELUDE acts as a prequel to the Songs of the Lost Islands series. This story precedes that of An Act of Faith by focusing on events which occurred in the Valley, 1,700 years before.

The Valley hosts the shrine of all the Lost Islands’ faiths and the cities of four Elvin peoples. It is the prize of kingdoms and the battlefield of many clashes of civilizations. From the war of Giants and Deities to the making of the fabled swords of the Bladesmiths; from the fall of a meteorite to the coming of Lon the Wise, the Valley is the epic history of millennia of creeds and coexistence, curses and slaughter, the cause of an all-pervading obsession which haunts the minds.
How did this remote vale become the symbolic centre of the Lost Islands? How did the events of Year 1,000 LC irremediably influence the essence of Elvin mysticism?
PRELUDE is the story of the three days when the Valley became the Nargrond Valley and the unique place that exists twice in the minds of all Elves, in the material and ethereal worlds."

My Opinion: Full disclosure, I haven't read the Songs of the Islands series, but the description of the book sounded very interesting and I love high fantasy, so I figured I'd go with it. The story centers around Eneos, an elf who is a direct descendent of four bladesmiths. Being the only one in existence, he features prominently in a great war that is going down between the four cities of elves who live in the valley (different groups of elves who pull together to fight the good fight) and the dark elves, who want to take over the valley and enslave everybody.

I liked the premise, but the execution was a bit weighed down by information dumping. I felt like the first half of the book was just facts with no real story. There was just so much information to take in that it was hard not to get confused. Thankfully, the story picked up in the second half of the book, and I really started enjoying it. I think if the whole book had balanced facts and world building with action and plot, it would have been a much more interesting read. I think you might need to read the series before this prequel to understand it better.

I'm giving this book 3.5/5 stars because I think it has promise.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.