Review: Sound of Darkness (Krewe of Hunters #36), by Heather Graham

 

Title: Sound of Darkness (Krewe of Hunters #36)

Author: Heather Graham

Format: e-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "The cries of the dead are deafening

Women are being taken in Virginia, and FBI agent Mark Gallagher is determined to put a stop to it. Certain he’s closing in on the killer known as The Embracer, Mark is less than thrilled when he’s partnered with rookie agent Colleen Law, worried she’s a liability when there’s so much at stake.

But like everyone in the Krewe of Hunters, Colleen has talents that extend beyond the usual investigative toolbox. She can hear the voices of the victims in her head, and they’re telling her she and Mark are near to uncovering the truth.

When Mark’s prime suspect takes a liking to Colleen, he’s surprisingly protective of his new partner, even as he admits her connection to the victims is key. But tense interrogations turn dangerously personal when someone close to Colleen goes missing, luring the agents deep into the shadows of wooded rural Virginia, where nobody can hear them scream."

My Opinion: Women are being taken in Virginia and the FBI puts agents Mark Gallagher and Ragnar Johansen, and their FBI dog Red, on the case. The guys, and the dog, are members of a special unit of the FBI, the Krewe of Hunters, who all have special talents that they bring to bear on their cases. Colleen Law is a rookie agent who also has a special talent in that she can "hear" the voices of victims.

Quote: "Do you read minds?" She laughed. "I should say yes to that. But no - I just hear people when they're crying out." "The living and the dead." "The living and the dead."

Because Colleen is dropped right into an already established partnership, Mark definitely lets her know that he's not happy about getting saddled with a rookie, but she soon proves her worth. And they both realize that to catch the serial killer, or killers, that they are chasing, they are going to need all the special gifts they can get.

I love the Krewe series, but I had a few minor problems with this one. I felt like the romance between Colleen and Mark was a little bit forced. It just seemed like there was no connection, no connection, and then bam! Connection. I would have liked a bit more build up to it. They were a good fit once I got over the abruptness of the relationship, so it wasn't a huge problem.

I thought the mystery and crime solving part was interesting. I loved the dog, Red, and how in tune he was to the world of the supernatural, and how much he helped the team. I loved Ragnar, the big blonde modern day Viking, and really hope that he gets his own story. I thought the ending was satisfying, as well.

In summary, I loved a lot more about this book than I didn't, and can definitely recommend it to fans of the Krewe of Hunters, and paranormal mystery/romance book lovers, as well.

4.5/5 stars.

I would like to thank the author, publisher, and folks at NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I was given a copy of it free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: School Spirits (Hex Hall, #4), by Rachel Hawkins

 

Title: School Spirits (Hex Hall, #4)

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Format: e-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures.

But when Izzy's older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break. Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it's not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate.

But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it's strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush. Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as the New York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!"

My Opinion: Izzy is only 15 and has never attended a normal school because she and her family (her mother and sister) are Brannicks, the last of the monster hunters. They go where the hunt is, and they only stay as long as they need to. But Izzy's older sister, Finley, disappeared on a job 6 months ago, and they haven't had a lead at all, so Izzy's mom decides they need to take a breather and they stop in a small town with what might be a haunting, and enroll Izzy in the local high school. Izzy doesn't know what to expect, but she meets some friends right away, one of whom may be what is called a "Prodigium."

Quote: "But things were different now. For starters, there were no more Brannicks besides me and my mom. Rather than hunt the Creatures of the Night, we worked for the Council that governed them. And they didn't call themselves monsters; they went by the much more civilized term "Prodigium." So the Brannicks were now more or less Prodigium cops. If one of their kind got out of hand, we tracked them, captured them, and did a ritual that sent them directly to the Council, who would them decide their punishment."

I confess that I didn't read the first three books in the Hex Hall series, but this book was advertised as a spin off of that series, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was very easy to follow and can definitely be read as a standalone. 

I liked the characters of Izzy, Dex, Romy, and Anderson, but my secret favorite was Torin, the man (warlock) in the mirror.

Quote: "It was the mirror I walked to now, yanking off the heavy canvas cover. Inside the glass, a warlock stared back at me. His name was Torin, and he looked a couple years older than me, maybe eighteen or so. But since he'd gotten trapped in the mirror back in 1583, he was technically over four hundred years old."

Torin is sassy and insufferable, and I really hope we get to see more of him in the next books of this spin off series.

I found that this book was well written and the pacing was quick and easy, making this a fun, quick read. The characters were likeable and the plot was easy to follow.

4/5 stars

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the chance to read it.

Review: Lord of the Wolfyn (Royal House of Shadows #3), by Jessica Andersen

 

Title:         Lord of the Wolfyn (Royal House of Shadows #3)

Author:    Jessica Andersen

Format:    e-galley

Source:    NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Once upon a time...the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs...and time is running out....

For practical Reda Weston, nothing could explain how reading a sexy version of Little Red Riding Hood catapulted her into another realm - face-to-fang with the legendary wolf-creature who seduced women. A wolf who transformed into a dark, virile man....

Dayn cursed the Sorcerer that turned him wolfyn and damned him to a lonely fate. As a beast, he mated with women to gain strength. Strength he needed to rescue his royal parents. But as a man, he craved Reda's heated, sizzling touch. With little time left, Dayn had to either embrace his wolf to save his kingdom...or fight it to save his woman."

My Opinion: This is the third book in this series, and since each book is written by a different author, that adds another layer to this series that just works out great. I haven't read anything by Jessica Andersen before but I was impressed by her writing.

This book is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but definitely a grown up version. Reda's mother raised her on a special book, a one of a kind book, about Little Red Riding Hood, but she died while Reda was still young so she never had a chance to finish it. Reda is on leave from the police department for personal reasons when she finds that very same book in a book store. She takes it home and opens it and is transported to a magical realm, where she meets a man who is the spitting image of the sexy woodcutter from her book. She also lands square in the middle of a wolfyn village, which is the exact opposite of a safe place.

Dayn has his own problems. While he is away from the castle where he lives with his parents and his 3 siblings, an evil Blood Sorcerer attacks and casts a spell to vanquish the kingdom. The King and Queen are attacked and are dying, but they try to cast a spell of their own to protect their children before they succumb. Dayn's father sends him this message before he and his mother pass on to try to explain what's happening:

"Because of our wounds and the sorcerer's power, the spell turned warped as your mother and I cast it. The magic has sent you and your brothers and sister far away, as we intended, but it has also tied the four of you to the castle and begun a countdown. When this count enters its final four nights - and not before then -  you must all return to the island, retake the castle and kill the Blood Sorcerer. If you do not, you will die and Elden will be lost. But you must wait until the time is right."

He tells Dayn that a woman will come to guide him home, and then he is flung to another realm. He makes a home there and waits for this guide to appear. Enter Reda. They will have to work together to save Dayn's kingdom, and each other, from  unforeseen complications.

I enjoyed this installment of the series very much. Reda was a bit annoying in that she was constantly questioning herself and freezing when she and Dayn encountered any danger, but given her history and back story, it was pretty understandable and easy to get past. Dayn was just what you want in a hero - sexy and dangerous, but caring and tender as well, depending on what situation they found themselves in.

The world building was done very well, and given the different realms Reda finds herself in, this is saying something. The plot moved along at a good pace and it was easy to get invested in the characters and the story. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series to find out what happens with all of the siblings.

I can definitely recommend this book for fans of paranormal fairy tale retellings with a twist, and am giving it 4/5 stars.

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

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: Velveteen, by Daniel Marks

Title: Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. 

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her."

My Opinion: I must admit I've had a hard time with this review. On the one hand, the synopsis of this book was what drew me in and made me want to read this book, but on the other hand, the book was much more about Velveteen's time in purgatory than it was about her getting revenge on the serial killer who murdered her. The book opens with a bang, with Velvet haunting her killer, Bonesaw, and trying to set free another of his victims. Then Velvet is pulled back to purgatory, and it all gets rather muddled. I definitely admired the world building of purgatory, even if I was confused half the time Velvet was down there. She's proud of the fact that she "has no emotions", but this made it a bit hard for me to like her. She was rude and bossy with her underlings, the gang she leads, and when a new very cute guy, Nick, arrives, she is rude to him, then she's making out with him, but then she treats him like crap again, which was very confusing. What could have been a very cute romance was almost embarrassing to watch.

Then it turns out that purgatory is suffering from earthquakes that could collapse it, which I don't understand, and Veltvet herself is contributing to this problem by going back and forth between purgatory and the real world to haunt Bonesaw, which causes more and more tremors every time she does this.

I know it sounds like I didn't like the book at all, which isn't true, hence the hard time I've had writing this review. There were some really good parts, and a lot of really confusing, although not terrible parts. 

Another problem I have is that this book was targeted towards "Teens and YA, and Children's Fiction," but I thought a lot of it would be too much for those age groups and should have been targeted to "New Adult." I think a lot of people will enjoy this book because it is dark and Gothic and does that well. For some reason I was just confused and felt like the book was murky and hard to navigate more often than not. 

I'm giving this book 4 stars because I think it will appeal to a large group of people, but I have to take off 1 star for the sheer confusion of it all. Part of the 4 stars is due to the absolutely gorgeous cover of the book! I loved it and thought it set the dark and Gothic stage for the book very well.

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

Review: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3), by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Vengeance will be hers.

Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster? With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

Monster.

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions - her creator Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost - the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie. 

In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, her triumph will be short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

THE FINAL HUNT IS ON."

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

I've never tried to hide the fact that I think Julie Kagawa is a god, or goddess in this case, and she didn't disappoint me with the end of this trilogy! All of the loose ends were tied up beautifully and the characters remained true to themselves to the end. Jackal was at his snarkiest, Kanin was his usual stoic self, and Allie was as confused as she ever is, although more so after she lost her beloved Zeke. When she realized that remaining human would mean being in pain constantly, and rethinking her choices that led to his demise over and over and over again, she decides to take a page out of Jackal's book - she in essence turned off her humanity and embraced her evil side, much to Kanin's chagrin. But Kanin being Kanin, he didn't exactly call her out on her wicked behavior, he just acted "disappointed" in her, and who among us can say that when someone we look up to more than anyone else in the world, and whose values we strive to meet ourselves, gives us the "disappointed" look, we wouldn't feel the same. Although in Allie's case, acting out means killing vamps willy-nilly and not caring at all what havoc she wreaks as a result! Eventually Allie does see the error of her ways when she feels like she is becoming what Zeke hated most in vamps, so she decides to go after Sarren to get the cure for the disease that is killing both humans and vampires alike. She also vows to finally take Sarren out for killing Zeke, as she hopes that that will finally allow her some closure. But along the way she is in for some huge surprises, and yes my little opinionators, you will have to read the book to find out what those surprises are, and what they mean for Allie personally. I will tell you that they are total game changers for everyone on the canvas.

As usual, I can find no fault with Ms. Kagawa's writing. The pacing is perfect and the characters continue to grow and change from beginning to end. The amazing world they live in is written so that you feel you are there with them, which means it's very easy to escape your daily troubles and get totally immersed in the story. 

In summary, I loved this book and thought it was a fitting end to an awesome series. I highly recommend it to all lovers of YA paranormal books about vampires. I give it a very enthusiastic 5 stars :D

Review: Rogue (Talon #2), by Julie Kagawa

Title: Rogue (Talon #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can't forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he'd signed his own death warrant. 

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order's headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember's own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George. 

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?"

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

I am in total awe of the amazing Ms. Kagawa, as I've mentioned before, but even I wondered how she was going to take dragons and assimilate them into the everyday contemporary world as sleeper agents, even if they had learned how to look, talk and act human. The catch is, dragons can mimic humans, but they don't have the emotions to back up the feelings. Until Ember Hill, that is. She embraces life 100%, both her dragon side and her human side, and finds the constraints of the dragon hierarchy in Talon (the group of dragons all over the world who work together to prevent the extinction of their race), too much to accept. At the end of the first book, Talon, she goes rogue with the very sexy dragon Cobalt, human name Riley, and vows to break her human boyfriend, Garrett, out of the worst place a dragon can go: into the belly of the beast, which in this case is a compound crawling with soldiers from the Order of St. George, an order put in place hundreds of years ago with the sole purpose of eradicating all dragons from the face of the earth. As Garrett got to know and love Ember, he realized that the Order had been lying to him all of his life about how all dragons were evil, even hatchlings, and had to be killed, and as Ember learned more about Talon from Riley, she realized that they were doing the same thing, only with humans. Because Garrett helped Ember, Riley and two young hatchlings escape from a much older dragon, Lilith, who was a Viper, which is a dragon assassin sent out to hunt and kill rogue dragons, he was caught by his own Order, and scheduled to be put to death by firing squad because he maintained that the soldiers were wrong about all dragons, which was considered treason. And while Riley would love nothing more than to get rid of the annoying human who had feelings for his Ember, he goes with her to break Garrett out before he is executed,  Yes, people, this is exciting stuff!!!

I haven't even mentioned Ember's twin, Dante, who is team Talon through and through, and who turned Ember in when she was leaving to go rogue and asked him to join her, but in his defense, he doesn't see Talon for what it is and honestly believed that Lilith would bring Ember back alive and he would be able to make her see the light and drink the Koolaid and join Talon 100%. But you guessed it, that doesn't go down quite as planned and he ends up scrambling to save face and come up with a new plan to bring her back. He is determined to become one of the executives of Talon eventually, and maybe even run the organization one day, but will he sacrifice Ember to do it? 

Once again, Ms. Kagawa has proven that she is a master storyteller by weaving romance, both between two dragons and an unheard of human and dragon, intrigue, action, and much, much more. I already love this series and can't wait to read more. I give this book a very, very enthusiastic 5 stars!!!!!

Review: Ink (Paper Gods #1), by Amanda Sun

Title: Ink (Paper Gods #1)
Author: Amanda Sun
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive."

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

I was so intrigued by this title when it came up on NetGalley because it just seemed so different from other books in its genre, paranormal young adult books that also include mythology, something new to shake up the lovers of this genre. And shake me up it did! To begin with, it was set in Japan and dealt with Japanese mythology, something I admit I know little about, which just made me want to read it more so I could learn about it. I had no idea there were such things as kendo or Kami (the Japanese Gods), but I enjoyed learning about all of this, and much more about Japan in general. The descriptions of the sights, smells and tastes of Japanese life were amazingly well done, and when ink started dripping off of drawings and out of notebooks, I got chills!

The main female character, Katie, was very likable. She lost her mother and was sent to live with an aunt she doesn't even know very well in Japan. Instead of crawling into a shell and just trying to get through each day until she can go back to the US and live with her grandparents, Katie takes the opportunity to immerse herself in the Japanese culture. She soaks up as much as she can, and even begins to thrive, especially after she meets the "gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school's kendo team." She finds that she has a weird connection with Tomo, but unfortunately Tomo also has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being around Katie is making him lose control of his abilities, which I will not describe here because it is a long and very interesting story that you must read the book to learn.

I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the next book in the series, Rain. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to my friends, and to all lovers of paranormal young adult books that have a bent towards mythology, because unless you read YA books that deal with Japanese mythology on a regular basis, this book will definitely appeal to you. 

I happily give it 5 stars.

Review: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1), by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before."

My Opinion: This book took me totally by surprise since I wasn't expecting as much depth and layering as I got. Let me explain: In most YA books you've got your main characters that start out sort of one dimensional and as the book goes along, they change into a little bit more complex characters with some growth (if you get a good book, that is). But in this book, your main characters (the four Raven boys and Blue) start out multilayered and just get more complex as you go, which was so exciting to read! 

I also loved Blue's extended family, the psychics who all live and work together. What fun they were! I found myself wishing that my family was like them! 

I'd say of the four Raven boys, Adam was my favorite, but Ronan was the one I was the most drawn to and the most curious about. He was so angry but also so willing to stick up for his friends when they needed it because of how angry he was, so it was a double edged sword in a way. Gansey was great, but I just didn't feel as drawn to him as I did to Adam and Ronan. And Noah was a big surprise, which I won't give away here :)

This was a long book but well worth the time it took to read it. This isn't a book you want to fly through - you want to pay attention and savor the whole thing. I've read in previous reviews that the best thing about this book was the characterization, and I have to agree with that, but I also loved the magic in it. It was a different take on it but one that I totally enjoyed, and I can't wait to read the second book in the series when I can get my hands on it!

I give this book a very enthusiastic 5 stars and recommend it to fans of fantasy/paranormal YA with a sprinkling of magic in it :D

Review: Dearly, Beloved (Gone With the Respiration #2), by Lia Habel

Title: Dearly, Beloved (Gone With the Respiration #2)
Author: Lia Habel
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Can the living coexist with the living dead? 

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling."

My Opinion: Dearly, Departed was one of my favorite books from last year so I was really psyched to get approved by NetGalley for Dearly, Beloved, and I wasn't disappointed. D,B picks up a few months after where we left off at the end of D,D, with the zombies now out in the open and everyone trying to find a way to live together. Well, not quite everyone - there's still a lot of anti-zombie prejudice going on, even though the zombies who are trying to find a way to live in the real world are for the most part high functioning and have retained most of their intelligence from before they were turned. In other words, they're not the ones who will chase you down and eat your brains for fun! Unfortunately, these same high functioning zombies are being kidnapped off the streets by a mysterious group of bird mask wearing humans for God only knows what reason. There is also a new strain of the Laz that the vaccine doesn't protect against, so all told, there's a lot going on in New Victoria! 

This book, like the last, is told through multiple POVs, with some new ones mixed in with the old. There are six POVs altogether, belonging to Nora, Bram, Pamela, Michael, Vespertine, and Laura - perhaps my favorite new character! Laura is a zombie who tries to deal with the fact that her body is dead and decaying by planting flowers directly into her skin, so that they grow and blossom all over her body! The way that she manages to find something beautiful in the midst of all of the violence and death that surrounds her is very endearing.

Although I enjoyed this installment in the Gone with the Respiration series, I didn't feel that it was as good as Dearly, Departed was, and I think that's because there was just too much going on, which is strange because I also felt that the book started off rather slow and took a while to gain momentum. That being said, I thought the story flowed rather well once it took off. I really enjoyed the continuation of the love story between Nora and Bram, and I thought having Pam deal with PTSD following everything that happened to her in the first book was a great addition to the story. It showed a strength in her that I hope will continue to grow in the next book. 

All told, I'm giving Dearly, Beloved 4 stars and I'm really looking forward to reading book 3 when it comes out to see what fresh hell the amazing Ms. Habel has in store for one of my favorite couples :D

Review: Broken (Broken #1), by A.E. Rought

Title: Broken (Broken #1)
Author: A.E. Rought
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows."

My Opinion: Emma Gentry is living in a hazy world of pain since losing her boyfriend Daniel in an accidental fall when she meets the new boy at school, Alex Franks, and feels an undeniable pull and connection that she can't fight, and doesn't understand. Unfortunately, since we already know this is a very loosely based retelling of Frankenstein, it's way too easy to figure out why Alex and Emma are drawn to each other. Let me preface this by saying that I love retellings, which is why I was looking forward to reading Broken, but I wish there had been more surprises and twists than there were. 

I also had a problem with the length of the book, since it seems like it could have been pared down by at least half without losing any of the important parts. The writing was very descriptive, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but when it seems like the same descriptions are used over and over and over, it becomes very monotonous and I, for one, found myself skimming the paragraphs while reading because I was losing patience, which rarely happens to me. I didn't want to give up on the book, but I felt like if I had to read one more time about Emma standing in line for coffee, or arguing with her mother, I was going to scream! Descriptive writing isn't a bad thing, but only when the descriptions vary throughout the course of the book. In this case it seemed like the same phrases were used repeatedly and that got tiring very fast. 

I don't want to sound like I didn't like the writing because I did - at first - I just think a lot of it could have been cut out without affecting the story, and maybe even improving the story by making it easier to read.  

The ending didn't come as a surprise (again, this is a retelling so we kind of know where it's heading from the get go) but my problem is that this was basically the only action packed part of the story since the first 85% of the book was about the romance developing between Emma and Alex and Emma's confusion regarding this.

I have to give this book 3 stars because I think it could have done with major editing and slashing of repetitive descriptions, but the basic story was good and I think if it had been shorter I would have flown through it and really enjoyed it. 

Review: Everbound (Everneath #2), by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everbound (Everneath #2)
Author: Brodi Ashton
Source: Won in a giveaway
Format: Hard cover

From Goodreads: "Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love."

My Opinion: This was an awesome follow up to Everneath! Since we already know the characters from the first book, most of Everbound was action packed, which kept the story moving along nicely and made it a quick and easy read. Everbound focuses on the search for and rescue of Jack, which works nicely with the search for a loop hole for Nikki in Everneath. Cole is much more fleshed out in this book, which makes you really identify with and feel compassion for what he is going through. I'm really looking forward to reading the novella Neverfall, which I hear is told from Cole's POV and gives you a lot more insight into what makes him tick. 

I give this book a very enthusiastic 5 stars and would recommend it to all lovers of mythology, fantasy and/or supernatural YA books :D

Review: Everneath (Everneath #1), by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath (Everneath #1)
Author: Brodi Ashton
Format: Hard cover
Source: I own it

From Goodreads: "Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen."

My Opinion: When Nikki Bennetth wakes up after a hundred years "in the tunnels" with immortal Cole, who has been feeding off of her emotions during those hundred years, she is given a reprieve of six months to say her good byes before she returns to the tunnels forever. She left home after seeing her boyfriend in a compromising situation and feels a great deal of guilt at the way she left things with her family and friends and she really wants to make things right before she disappears again. When she returns she finds out that she has been missing for only six months, but even so, she has a lot of work ahead of her to fix the damage that she has done, starting with her father and brother. When her mother was killed by a drunk driver she had a really hard time dealing with that, and her relationship with her father never quite recovered. She also has to try to distance herself from her boyfriend, Jack, when she realizes that he was actually the person most affected by her disappearance since she knows that she is going to have to go away again and she wants to make it as easy on him as possible. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done when all of her old feelings for him resurface and she just can't imagine never seeing him again. The biggest problem she has, though, is Cole, who wants her to return to the Everneath with him as the queen of the underworld, and she is definitely not on board with that! 

Jack and Cole are very well defined as the bad boy and the knight in shining armor respectively, but as you read further into the book, the lines between good and evil are not so clear. Ms. Ashton does an awesome job of pulling Cole back from the brink of being purely evil whenever he gets so close that you think he can't be redeemed, which I loved! Nikki finds herself drawn to him against her will due to the 100 years he spent siphoning off of her emotions, as well as the physical closeness between the two of them in the tunnels - they were literally wrapped around each other as close as two people could be, and her body betrays her time and time again by yearning for that closeness again. While Cole may be insufferable, arrogant and selfish, his Achilles' heel is his very real love for Nikki, which plays out well here. Jack also has a very deep connection to Nikki since it was his love and constant thoughts and dreams of Nikki while she was gone that allowed her to return six months later with her memories intact, which is  a rare thing for someone who has been fed on for 100 years. This is what makes Cole realize that there is something special about her, and this in turn makes him realize that she could be that one in a million person who could actually become queen of the underworld, and he in turn could be the king. Unfortunately, Nikki doesn't share this dream with him, and when she decides that she would rather go back to the tunnels than be his queen, he becomes desperate to change her mind.

I really enjoyed this book because the characters were very well written and grew so much from start to finish that you felt drawn to them and really wanted everything to work out in the end, which was of course not to be since this is the first book of a trilogy and ended with one whopper of a cliff hanger!!  I can't wait to read the next book in the series, Everbound, and already have my copy ready to go! 

I also have to mention the absolutely beautiful cover art on this book, as well as Everbound! I know we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I totally did that with this book! Lucky for me, the inside of the book lived up to the awesomeness of the cover :)

I give this book an enthusiastic 5 stars and recommend it to lovers of YA, paranormal romance, and Greek mythology :D

Review: My Wolf's Bane, by Veronica Blade

Title: My Wolf's Bane
Author: Veronica Blade
Format: ebook
Source: Author

From Goodreads: "Different species. Mortal enemies. It'll never work, but they'll die trying.

Autumn Rossi thought she was a normal teenager. Suddenly, she can outrun every critter in the forest, making her wonder if she’s even human.

When the new guy at school, Zack de Luca, witnesses a questionable scene, he unfairly pins her as stuck-up. He acts like he hates her, yet he keeps bailing her out of trouble. Not only is Zack both insufferable and irresistible, he seems to sniff her anytime he gets close.

As passion flares between them, Autumn isn’t sure which is more dangerous: her psycho ex-boyfriend, or falling for Zack — who’s risking his life just by being near her."

My Opinion: Whenever Veronica Blade comes out with a new book, I'm one of the first ones to start bugging her to let me read it, and since she's such an angel, she usually does! The reason I do this is because I have honestly loved everything she's written so far, but I will go so far as to say this is her best book yet! 

Autumn is almost 18 years old, and has been to more schools than she can count. For some strange reason, whenever someone starts asking her parents seemingly innocent questions about the family, they pick up and move to a new town, although her parents always tell her it's because her dad got a new job as a consultant and they have to move. Autumn is really liking her latest school since she was befriended by the popular kids and is even dating Daniel, the most popular guy at the school. Unfortunately, all is not as great as it seems since Daniel is starting to treat her more like a possession than a girlfriend, and her first friend at the school, Gina, is becoming unbearably snobby, especially towards Autumn's other good friends, Maya and John. Enter Zack, the new guy at school, who is extremely hot, and who seems to take an instant dislike to Autumn, accusing her of being stuck up, snobby and judgmental, just like Daniel! She doesn't know how to tell him that she's been trying to get Daniel alone to break up with him without the whole school watching it happen. Even though he supposedly can't stand her, he's always showing up especially when she needs him, e.g. when her car won't start or her tire is starting to go flat, he's always staring at her, usually with contempt, like she's doing something to piss him off, and strangely enough, he keeps sniffing her, although he totally denies it when she catches him doing it!

It seems like the fact that Zack keeps misjudging Autumn would be annoying, but honestly I was enjoying the fact that there wasn't an ounce of instalove between them so much that I loved it - and I just knew that when they eventually got out of their own way and got together it would be SO much better because they are two really strong people, both physically and mentally, neither one willing to back down from what they feel is right. And was it ever! 

Just before her 18th birthday Autumn begins noticing changes in herself - she's becoming stronger and faster, has the ability to heal at an alarming rate, and her senses of smell and hearing are acutely heightened. She spends time trying to find out where she's getting her "superpowers" from, checking the internet for anything like them. She can't talk to her over-protective parents about it, and she doesn't want to talk to anyone else who would basically call her crazy for even thinking that way, so she investigates by going into the woods near her house and running and jumping way faster and way farther than humanly possible, and basically having a great time, which was really fun to read about.

I just can't say enough how much I loved this book! Autumn and Zack had amazing chemistry that took its time building, which made you really root for them as a couple. And yes, Zack is definitely a hottie! I can't wait for the next book in this series, and yes, I'm already bugging Veronica, poor girl, for reading rights! :D