Review: Bitten by Destiny by S. Young

Bitten by Destiny by S. Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book via the author, all opinions are my own.

This was a much anticipated ending to the True Immortality series.  Echo is a vampire who has discovered that her maker is not the loving father she thought he was.  He has manipulated her from a young age and she has had enough.  She won't let her younger "sister" be manipulated and turned under false pretenses like she was, but in order to protect her, she must track down and partner with the fae she is supposed to eliminate.  Elijah is living the high life as a rock star.  He has known about his warlock abilities for a while, but he hasn't dipped his toes very deeply into the paranormal world.  He knows it exists, but when Echo shows up claiming he is fae he thinks she is insane.

To save the world and the people they love, Elijah and Echo have to find the other fae, who we have met in the previous books.  While this installment does read as a standalone, it does bring elements and characters together from the previous books.  I do think it elements from the overarching storyline are important to have as background and recommend reading those before jumping into this book as a starting point.  The author does do a great job giving background information and catching the reader up on past events as the last book came out 5 years ago and many of us haven't revisited this world in quite some time.  I was quickly able to remember who everyone was and what happened in their part of the story.  Each one of the fae born has a part to play in, and Elijah finds out that he and Echo are part of the bigger picture.  The are also extremely attracted to one another, but Echo has reservations especially when she is convinced she can't have anything good in her life.  Elijah is able to show her that being a vampire does not automatically mean she is evil.  There are some spicy scenes, but overall they are able to show each other how they feel and that they have each other's backs.  Not only do Elijah and Echo work as a team, but they work well with the other couples to save the world from impending doom.  It was nice to connect with the other couples for the final battle, and I also really appreciated the epilogue that closes out the storyline for each couple.  

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Review: The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard

The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I loved all of the 90s pop culture references in this!  The X-files references made me smile, I loved that show when I was in high school.  Kids today will never understand having to use dialup or use AIM or ICQ to message their friends but that warmed my heart because that's how we communicated in the late 90s and early 2000s before everyone had cell phones.

This follows Freddie, a somewhat unknown member of her high school, who as a rule follower reports some kids disturbing the peace one evening.  Those kids happen to be from the rival high school, and she just got herself involved in an ages old prank war.  Now pulled in to the popular crowd with her best friend, she pretends that her good deed was in fact a master prank and hijinks ensues.  What she didn't account for is that the her hero and neighbor, the town sheriff, has a nephew at the rival school who happens to also be part of the pranks and he happens to be very attractive.

As Freddie and Theo bond over the prank wars, they also uncover a strange series of murders in town possibly tied to a curse.  Freddie channels her inner Dana Scully uncover the truth behind the curse and figure out what the heck is going on in her town, but she quickly finds herself in a Fox Mulder situation.  Unlike Mulder and Scully (in the original series), Freddie and Theo quickly give into their attraction despite going to rival schools.  

This was a great YA Paranormal Fantasy/Thriller.  It had great banter between the characters.  Freddie has a great best friend in Divya and the rest of the prank squad is pretty fun too.  This kind of reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where the kids are off doing stuff, with little to no parental supervision when it comes to the paranormal stuff going on.  Freddie does have parents whom she speaks with often, but not when it comes to the curse and her own investigation of the weird stuff happening in town.  I think that is part of why we loved teen dramas of that era, because we could for an hour once a week believe that we could fight the demons, break the curses, and lead a completely normal life on the side without our parents ever knowing we snuck out (and back in) to slay whatever came out of the hellmouth.  Freddie's and Theo's sells that same storyline, you can be the nerdy girl or boy, then become part of the popular crowd, investigate murders and curses on the side, and still be home for dinner with a little romance on the side.  I really enjoyed it.

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