Jessica
Just going to go on record right now before I continue reading: why is nearly every Jessica in the fictional world a bitch, antagonist, the bad guy, etc? The only exceptions I have found are in Meg Cabot's Mediator series and at least a neutral one in one of JM Sevilla's Marked books. Just...why?
EDIT:
Now that I've finished...I've got to say: the first book was a little better. That doesn't mean this book was bad or anything. It's just that the first book was more riveting. I ended up cheating on this book for another one. It's to be expected that the transition from Noelle and Drake constantly hating and fighting each other to “sort of dating” to “officially dating” would be...awkward, I guess. It was in no way the author's fault how Noelle's thoughts about Drake and their relationship were redundant; it's only logical.
Maybe my bigger issue is with the mystery this time around. There was so much corruption in this story than should be humanly possible. It was just...wow. I didn't even know a mayor could have so much power and money. I'm pretty sure the president makes much less than what the mayor of Holly Woods has to pay everyone off.
Either way, the outcome was more or less satisfying I would've preferred the mayor's downfall be recorded but I guess that would be unnecessary, sadly. I also wish the Jessica problem had been more resolved; it's almost guaranteed she'll show her skanky, b*tchy-*ss self in the future book(s). For whomever may have read the first book, are wondering what this book shall entail, and are reading this review to get that information, I definitely recommend you should continue the series.
So...I'm still reading the book right now...and I got to this part and just had to record. Finally got to the part where characters from the first book of the series come in. Fangirling very hard right now.
EDIT:
So...I finished it...and now I'm kind of regretting reading it so quickly. I'd rate this book a 4.5. That, in no way, means this book was inadequate in any regard. The beginning just sort of bugged me. The first time Lauren saw Tate, I was not pleased. I was finding it hard to believe he was a good man, as all the main males in Kristen Ashley's books are. Obviously, my opinion had changed about Tate. I really like how Ashley developed the story, tracing how our main characters started off-well, let's just say they didn't really mesh well together. Oh the feels I had during the beginning of this book...-le sigh-. Bliss.
In fact, there are so many things about this book I like that I'm tempted to change that 4.5 to a 5. I see what you did there Ms. Ashley, ending in a monumentally amazing way to make me forget about that beginning where I hated Tate.
The mystery was fairly good. I had high suspicions about that one character in the first half of the book, though Ashley was successful in making me doubt myself.
So yes, I highly recommend this book to whomever may read this review. There are some annoying, crazy, stupid females, but the problems they created were, I guess, resolved. And then there's Lauren's ex. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW UNBELIEVABLY MORONIC YOU ARE, BRAD. If it makes me a bad person for loving how Brad comes crawling back (albeit, in a highly conceited manner that made me want to suck him out of the fictional world and rip away his crown jewels from his possession), call me the devil. And then there's Bubba (the person, for those of you who haven't read the book yet). THANK YOU KRISTEN ASHLEY FOR MAKING THINGS GO THE WAY THEY DID. I bow down to you, ma'am. You are the master.
EDIT #2:
One thing confused me. I'm sorry if this aggravates someone out there, because of my ignorance, but why didn't Tate and Lauren have babies together? Yeah, they're more than forty, but I know people who started having kids after that age. Also, why did Tate and Lauren not worry about protection after their first alone-fun-time together? It's not like Lauren's eggs were all gone. And I'm assuming Tate didn't have an operation...?
I just saw that this book was like 600 pages x.x No wonder it felt so long. However, that does not mean it was boring. Far from it. This book was a whirlwind. The stories and adventures Nina and Max went through...GAH MY FEELS ARE EXPLODING. I don't know why I put this book off for so long. But of course, I should have known that any of Kristen Ashley's series would be mind-boggling-ly amazing. So yeah, I definitely recommend this book to whomever may be reading this to decide whether or not to do so.
I'm 75% in, saw this, and just had to record it: “He likes movies over books” - Gio (mind you, he's not the main guy character so it's all good-we already know Gio and our main female character are not made to be)
EDIT:
Before even finishing this book, I'd already concluded, “I'm going to give it a glowing review on Goodreads.” The reason I came to this conclusion is because, obviously, THIS BOOK IS THE CUPCAKE. The mystery was riveting (though, by around the latter half of the book, I'd already figured out who the culprit was, but it hurt to even think it was that person who'd done all those cruel things), the suspense between Noelle and Drake was sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting, and the ending...-le happy sigh-. The comedy was pure gold, especially the fights between Noelle and Drake. Props to Emma Hart for her astounding writing about how our two main characters go from hating each other to, well, you'll have to read the book to see what happened to them. This is probably my first novel where the two main characters don't have sex by the 60% mark. Rather, they had their fun time at the END of the story. As different as this was for me, I'd have to say IT WAS BRILLIANTLY DONE. Nice last shebang (till the next book, of course). And I kind of liked it ending this way since, whenever characters of other books had their happy fun times throughout the plot, it usually foreshadows something awful happening to take away their pleasure (take Vampire Academy, for example).
Anyways, I sincerely recommend this book to whoever reads this review.
EDIT #2:
I JUST FOUND OUT THE STORY CONTINUES WITH DRAKE AND NOELLE IN TANGLED BOND. (I was scared their story would just end here and Hart would switch to some other supporting characters as her main leads in the next book.) THANK YOU SO MUCH EMMA HART BLESS YOUR (I was also about to say “bless your heart” but then I remembered that little tidbit about it not being a compliment...). THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I am highly disgruntled by this ending. Lyre, Piper, and Ash separating didn't grate on me as much as IT NOT BEING CONFIRMED THAT ASH WON'T HAVE SEX WITH ANOTHER DRACONIAN WOMAN TO CONTINUE THE TAROTH LINE. That's the thing that bothered me the most.
The next big thing that made me feel bad was the period of despair where everything was just falling apart and it being mostly Piper's fault.
But other than that, this book was a nice ending to the series. The fights were epic and showed off how badass Piper could be. However, I don't think I'm going to read about Lyre's stories. As much as his mysteries deeply aggravate me, I don't really want to know about his past...dating history. I have a feeling it'd sort of be like James Bond-a different girl in every story. Though I'm intrigued about Lyre's POV from seeing Piper.
AGHHHHHHH THAT ENDING LEFT ME SO UNSATISFIED. Alright, it was written in a way that allowed Jaymin Eve to legitimate writing more about the Compasses BUT STILL. WHY JAYMIN EVE, WHYYYYYYYYY????
I'd have to say the first book was definitely the best out of the whole series. It was lighter AND HAD A BETTER ENDING. However, that doesn't mean this book was bad or anything. It's been nonstop action since the beginning but I felt like Eve was a little redundant with Jessa's thoughts. The feels also didn't hit me as hard as they probably should have. For example, when Jessa reunited with Mischa, I was more or less indifferent. And when Cardia (for a second there, I forgot her name and had to go back to the book to see what it was) died, I really didn't care. I'm stunned that it affected Max so much, considering he didn't really like her either. I guess his pain was mostly from the broken bond. HOWEVER, MY FEELS FOR WHEN MISCHA DIDN'T TELL MAX SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS BABY SORTA BLEW ME UP. That was another part I didn't like; this whole time, Mischa was the "innocent, virginal, naive" character. And now, BAM, apparently she had sex with Max...AND THEN HE BASICALLY DITCHED HER. ASDFGHJL. Regardless, I will have to obtain the novellas Eve will write about the Compasses or else the world shall be at the mercy and risk of my fangirl-fanatics.
Woe is me. This ending...ASDFGHJLK. Other than that, the story was pretty good. However, I really didn't like how some things weren't made clear, how some of the “big” characters or organizations didn't even show up, and how abrupt some things were. And, of course, I'm suffering because this is the third book...of a trilogy...it's over...there's no more...asdfghjkl GIVE ME MORE OF DEREK AND CHLOE.
Speaking of Chloe, I like how more...mature she has become. She actual follows through with putting her foot down. Though, I could've done without all those times she TRIPPED.
And then there's the other person who used to piss me off: Tori. Tori...THANK YOU KELLEY ARMSTRONG FOR MAKING TORI MORE LIKABLE. THANK THE LORD. THANK THE PUDDING CAKES. Tori is much more tolerable in this book. She's actually kind of useful this time around, though her temper lowers her effectiveness, though Armstrong usually uses Tori's recklessness to further the plot.
And that's all that I really wanted to get off my chest. Time to scan through the extras and novellas...
So, the thing I hated most about this book was Tori. Just Tori in general. Her very fictional EXISTENCE pisses me off. She was useful for just one very important part of the story but that's about it. After that, I just kept hoping she'd miraculously get hit by a bus. And she got mad at her mom accusing her of being spoiled and selfish. -scoff- What right do YOU have to be offended and mad at that?
But that's not why I gave this book only 4 stars. Maybe I just felt that all the events of the book were fillers. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't especially excited. The story gripped me pretty tightly but I wasn't completely enthralled with it.
However, that doesn't mean the fillers weren't captivating. Plenty of suspense and planning in them. There was no character to be mad at for being stupid (except Tori, of course. Maybe Armstrong poured the average stupidity of all characters in a book into her?). I also like the subtle coming-together of Derek and Chloe. -swoon & sign- So yeah, I would recommend this book, but it wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend.
4.5
Let's be clear that when I give this book a 4.5, it isn't because it was “bad” by any means. There was just this one part that hit me like a truck...in a bad way (for those of you going, “Is there a GOOD way to be hit by a truck?” just read the book and you'll understand): when I found out Sophie and Nate had had...intimate moments together. That was it. That's all I was uncomfortable with. However, I could see that Kelly Oram needed that one big conflict that could potentially pull Jordan and Nate apart, because a psychotic clingy ex-girlfriend simply wasn't enough.
I positively loved Nate, Jordan, and all their other friends (Sophie can, of course, go fall into a never-ending pit and rot and crumble in despair). Even Nate's brothers came to grow on me after a while.
Nate is... -le sigh- amazing. As has been mentioned and demonstrated multiple times in the book (though not overly so, so props to Oram for not going overboard with her writing style, as well), Nate is an incredibly loyal, thoughtful, lovable, basically amazing guy. He tries not to lose his temper even when the other person in the conversation (ahem Sophie AHEM) completely deserved his full hate. However, he wasn't a COMPLETE pushover, which was something I thought should qualify Oram as a mind-blowing genius. It's incredibly hard to find that middle ground and stay on that path in any situation and Oram pulled it off beautifully. For example, I simply LOVED when Nate told off on Sophie, ESPECIALLY, obviously, that last “showdown” between them. -swoon- Oh a psycho btch put in her place...I think I'm in love. Jordan. Jordan was...what's a word short of perfect? But really, I couldn't find anything wrong with Jordan's character. I'm sure there's SOMETHING about her personality someone out there could point their annoyance about but I can't seem to think of anything-which is sort of a first for me. She was understanding when Nate went through his crisis (Hurricane Sophie). She tried to be the bigger person and leave the apartment to Nate and move back to LA. Oh. I've thought of one thing that pissed me off about Jordan, albeit, only for a short time: she liked dirtbags. That was just...UGHHHHHH. Nate give her a logical explanation for why she shouldn't go out with Blaze and SHE STILL WENT. Not only that, but there was the guy before him, and the OTHER guy before him. I could see Colin's line of thinking when he said that Nate should just let her go with Blaze because she needs to learn the hard way not to date douches but, after a look at Jordan's dating history, that wasn't exactly the smartest idea. In the end though, it worked out. She ended up with a non-douche, which definitely cooled my frustration.Colin...hah. Could you ask for a better supporting character? Hands down, Colin was THE BOMB. And I think that says it all about him. Read the book and you'll see why I think he's the perfect friend (even though he's fictional).Ohhhhhhh another thing I fangirled over about the book were the references to Oram's previous books. At times, it was a little too much, but I especially loved the part about Rob from Oram's Cinder & Ella. I love how she slipped in those tidbits about the futures of some of the Cinder & Ella characters. -sigh- I hope Rob is happy... *looks into the distance.
Anyways, those were the main points I wanted to record that I liked from this story. Hopefully, someone isn't reading this to determine whether or not to read the book since those spoiler bombs pretty much told the whole story...
So...I finally finished it. But I thought it was, you know, FINISHED. For some odd reason, I thought this series was a trilogy. So when I got to like the last 5% of the book, I was like, “What's going on? It's highly unlikely Desni Dantone's going to leave a permanent cliff-hanger for us to assume that everything turned out fine in the end.” But that's not why I gave this book a 4-star.
I've got mixed feelings about this book. I felt like the first 10% was kind of...unexciting, I guess would be the most accurate term. Maybe that's because most of the events were set on the island where a big number of Kala stayed. Maybe it's because (I'm so sorry to all you other fans) Nathan and Kris just don't excite me anymore. NO, I'M NOT SAYING I DON'T SHIP THEM. It's just that, it's not really a ship anymore. It's just canon. It's meant to be. There's no doubt. So although Ms. Dantone tries to jerk my heart around with all these other people honing in on this couple, I'm just not getting them feels.
A few of the parts also confused me, such as whenever they talked about the demigods and their relationship with everyone. Kris's powers also confused me. It rubbed me the wrong way how, in the beginning, Kris's powers basically sucked. But by the last 10% of the book, she just wrecked everybody and came off as a bad-ass. It also bothered me how they kept going on about how Callie wasn't going to survive for very long in her condition, but she's been "sick" for the entirety of this book, and is going to continue to be so in the next book. And that ending... I'm just unsatisfied with the way Dantone transitioned things, though the plot was, of course, pretty much amazing.
It wasn't difficult to finish this book but it did leave me yearning for more.
Man, I miss the times Yelena had magic.
This book was...mind-boggling, to say the least. So many new developments occurred.
The part I liked the most (no spoilers) was Valek's...er...just Valek's parts in general. Oh, and the different points of views were amusing and pretty cool but Snyder continues frustrating us (Why? To build tension but still Ms. Snyder. WHYYYYYYYY) by switching points of views when things climax in each chapter.
I got pretty bored throughout parts of the first half of the story. There wasn't much major action, and I mostly got bored during descriptions of the environment. I'm sort of discontent with how the conflict just kept getting worse and worse and basically exploded at the end. Yeah, that's what the climax is and props to Snyder for spreading it throughout the whole book but still. I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way. Since it's been a while since I read the other books of the series, I didn't really understand much of the references (old characters and situations) to the previous books.
I just miss all the old things that made up the previous series: Yelena and Valek's kick-assed-ness, the Commander as a likable person, and a better situation in general. Hopefully, things'll turn up in the next book(s). I hope it includes more fight scenes for Yelena and Valek (where they win and their skills are shown off).
EEEEEEEEEEK JUST FOUND THIS ENTRY ABOUT THE NEXT BOOK. And the puns...THE PUNS can be described with these gifs.
EDIT:
I finished it. Now what do I do with my life? I have conflicting feelings over how the author subtly built up the final climax (no sexy joke implied). On one hand, I hated how she crammed it into the last 10% of the book. On the other hand, the situation turned out the way I wanted it to and the author left plenty of hints that bad sh-stuff was going to happen later.
Either way, if you're reading this to determine whether or not you should get this glorious piece of literature, it goes without saying that you SHOULD go and GET THIS BOOK.
I think the only thing that pissed me off about this book was that the author brought back Finn. Like, no. It's just not done. YOU CAN'T JUST BRING BACK AN OLD VILLAIN AND MAKE HIM A BIG PART OF THE CONFLICT. NO. Though I am somewhat appeased that Summers at least added a new threat.
Oh, another thing that might've sort of irked me was the fact that the sex scenes were cut out. .-. NO. GIMME MY SEX SCENES.
Otherwise, it goes without saying that this book was off the scale-in a good way. Although I'm sad that Sera didn't tell Kai she was a Dragon Born, I can't exactly envision a falling out between them because of this secret since Kai KNOWS she has a secret. I also do not believe he will hold what she is against her. He'll probably even like it-considering he can turn into a dragon too and all.
The developments in this book...just wow. Mind-blowing stuff here, ladies and gentlemen. That voice in Sera's head? Yeah, it's not just her talking to herself. I am mind-boggled. Not only that, but Sera and Kai took their relationship to a whole new level. -sigh- I see good things ahead. Except for, you know, that giant looming figure that's coming closer named Alden. DANGIT JUST GO AWAY ALREADY.
4.5
Honestly, I thought this book would've been better, given the ratings, that beginning, etc. All in all, though, it was a wonderful story. Enter Claire, a woman in her mid-20s with OCD. She has a mom who deserves to fall into a ditch and stay there (actually, that should be the more benign of her punishments). She has a “dad” who's a dirtbag and a biological dad who's also a dirtbag! Basically, her family is scum. And that's not the end of Claire's troubles, which are made evident from the first few pages of the novel. However, in comes Jack who's called in some circles the Pimpernel. Jack is here to try to save Claire. Along with Jack are his team of Margot (let's just dub her the tech-smart rich chick), Ren (the bodyguard for the rich chick), and more or less Kali (the constantly composed...“free agent”?). These characters' capabilities have left me awed of the abilities and intelligence of us humans. The surprises that sprouted throughout the book also left me stunned.
I guess the reason I didn't especially like this book was because Sheralyn Pratt didn't really go into Jack's history (though maybe that was a good thing-I probably wouldn't have cared to delve into more of his earlier life when I already knew about the more important stuff). Another reason was...I don't know. I guess it just lacked the passion and all that good stuff I'm used to. The romance in this book was somewhat abrupt. Other than that, the story and the ending have left me quite satisfied. So yes, I would recommend this book to someone else, though it wouldn't be the first I would recommend at a time.
HOLY WHATTTTTTTTTT?!!!!!!! IS THIS REAL? IS THIS A DREAM COME TRUE? OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG AND HERE I THOUGHT THE LAST BOOK WAS, WELL, THE LAST ONE. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG AHHHHHHHHH I MISS SUZE AND JESSIE.
Edit:
So. I've finally gotten my hands on this highly-anticipated novel. And don't get me wrong-it wasn't BAD. It just wasn't that amazing I guess. For one thing, Paul-the-dickbag came back. And he may or may not be completely psychotic at this point. For another thing, it kind of annoyed me how Suze kept so many secrets from Jesse. It was a disaster just waiting to happen (obviously, Jesse would find out about these secrets sooner or later). The ghost mayhem...well, I guess it was pretty darn satisfying when it was closed and things got resolved. But before all that, I had to go through all the clumsy-flailing-around Suze did to finally get to where she got. I would've enjoyed the story more if it was more like the last book of the 1-800-whereru series. Yes, Meg Cabot (and her fans) probably wouldn't want to be redundant but I still think the story would've been better if more elements from that book were incorporated into this one. Nevertheless, the happy ending was highly enjoyable, though not as profound as it probably could've been.
I just have a few things to say other than that this book was AMAZEBALLS.
1) DIE CANDY DIEEEEEEEEE
2) ALL THE PROVERBIAL FEMALE DOGS IN THIS BOOK SHOULD DIEEEEEEEEE
3) Joshua and Chris are...-sigh- I just love them, what with their open-mindedness and all around other good qualities.
4) RL Matthewson, you SCARED me for a second with that epilogue. I thought...I thought it was confirmed...I threw a fit for no reason...ASDFGHJKL. Anyways, I'm just glad he's alive.
5) Ephraim is nothing short of heavenly. He's insanely intelligent and clever, what with all those moments he got the butthole/guilty party to play right into his hands, therefore digging a grave for themselves. And then there's the fact that he's adorable, of course.
READ THIS BOOK if you can deal with some annoying figurative female dog for most of this story.
One thing that really bugged me about this book was how many understandings there were that led Jared and Evie to “break up”. It was so pitiful how many times those misunderstandings gave Jared the impression that Evie was cheating on him. Really. And that 5-10% of the book where Jared left Evie for some awful reason when she needed him was...
And then there were those times where a misunderstanding was about to be blown out of proportion where Evie doesn't explain herself fast enough. Those were so darn IRRITATING. Like, Jared's just standing there and SHE'S too strung up to explain what was really going on. If she had just talked faster or whatever she wouldn't have had to put her and Jared through those days of misery without each other.
Oh, and there weren't NEARLY enough sex scenes. I feel so...cheated. .-.
But other than that, OBVIOUSLY this book was the bomb. It was a blast. There was a load of drama (though most of it just pissed me off since it led Jared and Evie to separate on numerous occasions). It was jam-packed with action. And the ending...was not nearly long enough to sate my needs for more happy moments to happen in this book. I loved how many platonic relationships Evie had with the rest of the guys. Henry was pretty darn amazing. Tim was freaking hilarious. Casey was a man I wish existed in real life. I MISS THEM ALREADY.
So. I finally got my hands on this book. Therefore, I finally finished this book less than 24 hours after I got it, which implies that this book was AMAZE-BALLS.
But gosh darn it, that ENDING. That...Elle Casey, you can't keep doing this to your fans .-. What I mean is, you can't keep ending your stories like this and forcing your obsessive readers to wait at least ONE YEAR for the next book. It's just...not done.
I didn't like this book as much as the other books because certain things didn't happen that I wish had happened after certain situations developed through the book. What I mean is, I wish the party that went with Jayne to that other realm had apologized to Jayne for believing she had hurt Felicia for no good reason. Or something like that. Or maybe Jayne's view of her friends' attitudes was tainted by the cut she got from her demon sword...Eh. But still. I never liked the succubus twins .-. I also didn't like how Jayne was separated from her group for most of the book.
My having so many questions isn't necessarily a bad thing but it IS driving me crazy.
Holy crap. WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!
Backing up. So, the things I liked: All the usual elements (the unworthy one crawling back, the main couple finally getting together, the awesome friends).
The things I didn't like: How it took so darn long for the main couple to get together. I mean, when I read the summary, and it compelled me with how Mikayla kept pushing Jake away, which led Jake to keep trying to push down her walls, I thought it'd be more like Jake doing silly, little, cute things to win her over. But instead, I got a, in my opinion, terrible reason for why they were both holding back. And then...there's MEGAN. Need I say more?
In between: THAT ENDING. WHAT?! WHY, JAY MCLEAN. I DON'T UNDERSTAND. THIS IS...ASDHFKAJSDHJKHFJZBHGAEFSJKHDVNZE. I had a feeling this would happen. BUT STILL. WHY?!
I think the only thing I didn't like about this book was how Mia didn't say anything when Lucas came with his amazing, adorable, heart-wrenching speech about how he couldn't let her go etc etc, while Trent was also there. That...that misunderstanding...killed me .-. It wasted like 10% of the book. Other that that, this was an entirely heart-warming, blood-heating experience so thank you Melanie Harlow for that.
This story also made me actually want to visit Paris, which is pretty darn impressive considering I don't like to travel and France doesn't really appeal to me, so there's also that attraction to read this book, other than the obvious thrilling romance that took place.