Jess

I never thought I would rate one of Kenyon's books below three stars. While this wasn't horrible, it just wasn't what I expect from her.

In all, or most, of the dark hunter books there has been great character development. I really felt as if the characters could have been real living people. Not this one. There was a lack of passion, personality, and individuality that this author normally aces in every book. The humor that these characters normally have was missing too.

The world that these books are set in is extremely complex. Kenyon normally conveys it in a way where it is expanding not just dumped all at once. There is a lot of world dumping in this. Some of it is told through dialogue, and not in a good way. It felt at times like the characters were reading from textbook or something. Does that make sense?

Parts of this confused me. There were characters that I either don't remember, or maybe new to the stories.

I feel this was wrote to expand the amount of characters and create a way for this series to continue to grow. After as many books that there is, mid twenties I think, Kenyon is running out of ways for the stories to grow. I fear that the world I have grown to love is starting to become something else. Hopefully there is good to come, but it will amaze me if it does. I miss the old dark hunters that patrolled the streets of New Orleans. The ones who fought the bad vampires.

If you read this series I think this is a crucial book that must be read in order to continue what is to come. Just be prepared to be confused. If I didn't see the cover, I would probably think this was fanfic. If this is a new series to you, this is not a good book to start with. Go to the beginning.

This was a very fun read. I really like the characters, they actually acted like kids! The story was interesting, and really held my child's attention. This is a middle grade novel. I really feel the need to comment that the author stayed true to the recommended age group very well. Word difficulty, the amount of suspense, and the content were all spot on. This is a hard thing to accomplish, and I can honestly say that I have not found too many that actually do. Either the content is too old or young, the wording too simple/difficult, etc.

This is a story of fantasy that follows a group of kids who are charged with keeping the town safe from veggie stealing goblins. Pretty unique. My son went to bed with visions of himself slaying goblins with his wooden sword, he also acted some of the scenes out. The author has a way of transitioning from action scenes to calmer ones that kept these acted out sword fights to a resonance amount of excitement.

I really recommend this to children looking for a fantasy book, but not wanting to commit to a very lengthy one.

I recieved a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I will admit that I didn't read it in the bathroom, it would be a great toilet time read. It was read while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of school, and also while waiting in the doctor's office waiting room. It is a perfect book to entertain you during short periods of time. There isn't a storyline to follow so you don't have to worry about forgetting important things. You can bounce around to whatever section that you are interested at the moment. I really liked this.

 

Something I thought was neat:

 

-medical students make-up sayings (mnemonic phrases) to remember things

SCALP is used to remember the layers of the scalp.

 

Skin

Connective tissue

Aponeurosis

Loose areola tissue

Pericranium 

 

Amazon US

 

I recieved a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

My Thoughts:


This is the second installment in the Jackdaw Hammond series by Victoria Alexander. In this book there are two different stories being told at once. One is set in the present time following a Jack.


This was slightly confusing. Every other chapter is in a different time setting. There are a lot of characters to follow. The haracter development wasn't very strong so it was easy to forget who everyone was. 


Present day, you have one girl, Jack, who was saved from death by magic struggling to understand what she has become as a result. Another, Sadie, fighting for her life. Both girls have some weird abilities, which, in my opinion, is really the only thing that saved the book. 


The parts set in the past were boring and gloomy. I really think these parts of the book should have been trimmed down because they seemed to drag on forever. Actually the whole book could have been trimmed down, and would have been much more enjoyable if it had been.


To be honest, this book was all over the place, and slow moving. I am still confused about things, and not because of the way it ended in a cliffhanger. I didn't read the first book, but I don't think it would have made a big difference. I am a huge fan of books from this genre, but this one was just blah. I really wanted to like this. I was excited after reading the synopsis and had seen reviews of this book stating that it would be okay to read it as a standalone.


Also, there is a rather descriptive sexual assault scene. If those things bother you, stay away. The incident is brought up over and over.


Excerpt:


“Borrowed timers are always skinny.” Jack thought back to the moment when she had augmented her life - preserving magic with a mouth full of fresh blood. It had infused her with energy, enough to last three months. For a moment, the craving for Felix''s warm arm, the cut skin against her tongue, the slow pulsing of salt into her mouth, overwhelmed her.


About the Author: 

REBECCA ALEXANDER is the author of The Secrets of Life and Death. She has worked in psychology and education, and has an MA in Creative Writing. She lives with her husband on the coast of England.

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00R04MD7W/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1446229916&sr=8-1



I recieved a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Kerrilyn Sparks other series, Love at Stake. I was very sad to see it end, actually still sad. I saw this and was so hopeful, but sadly for me it is not as good. I do see that there is a possibility for awesomeness with the series though and hope the author nails the next installment.

This didn't have the slow building romance I expect from Sparks. Her characters usually spend a lot of time together before the big L comes into the story. Not in this one. There is a lot of looking at each other, a lot of thinking about each other, but not a lot of them actually together.

There is a large amount of world building going on, this is the first book in a new series so it was expected. I do like this world and it's characters. I hope to see Pirate's book next.

In this we have people who are “embraced.” They have have gifts like being able to see ghosts (the main female character), able to harness lightening (our male), turn into an animal (another character, etc. They are feared by others and are often hidden at birth in order to protect them.

Review copy provided through Netgalley.