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. 

Publication Date: Nov 24, 2015

Feel the Burn is book eight in the Dragonkin series. This book features Kachka and Gaius. I was lucky enough to be approved by the publisher to review an early copy of this through Netgalley. 

MY THOUGHTS:

We have seen Katcha in the previous books. She has been portrayed as... hmm... a bitch. She is one of the Daughters of the Steppes. She is known for treating others disrespectful. Her view on men is just wow. In the beginning of the book her sister and her refer to them as penis-havers. They believe men are there for sex, reproductive reasons, and to be used as servents. They simply have no use for them beyond that. In this book Katcha “grows up.”

Gaius, the one-eyed rebel dragon king of the Provinces, is still seeking revenge against his evil aunt who tortured his twin sister. He is captured himself while trying to deliver that revenge. He is rescued by the beautiful Katcha, who seems to hate him but enjoys bouncing on his penis.

I admit that in the beginning of the story I didn't much care for Kachka, but she has grown on mmend I think this pairing was great. As always with this author you get steamy sex, wicked action scenes, laugh out loud humor, mouthy women, mouth watering man beasts (DRAGON! SEXY ONES!), and the small glimpses of characters you have loved from previous books.

I do wish there would have been more focus on the budding relationship, but a major part of this book is back story building. Aiken expands this story quite a bit in this book and has written it to where there is simply no way to know what will happen because there are so many possibilities.

EXCERPT (from the aauthor's website):

She looked down and found giant dragon nostrils right by her. Leaning back a bit, she realized that the dragon's long body circled her and he was on his back, exposing his belly.“What...are you doing?”“Proving I'm not slimy.”“What?”“You said dragon scales were slimy. As a matter of honor, I have to show you that's not true. You'll need to touch me, though.”Kachka sucked her tongue against her teeth. “Men are disgusting.” “I'm not a man. And I don't mean that. Just touch my scales.”


RECOMMENDATION: 

I really don't think this should be read as a standalone novel. This world that has been created is far to complex. There is a large amount of characters and this amazing world is one that has taken many books to build. 

If you are a fan of the series, this won't disappoint you. If you love paranormal romance and haven't read this then grab book one and get ready to be amazed. G.A. Aiken (Shelly Laurenston) is one of the best of the genre and kne of my favorite authors.

 

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.