Review: Shadows of the Forest by Emma MIchaels

Shadows of the Forest by Emma Michaels
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book in exchanged for an honest review. This book sounded so interesting, however found myself often confused as to what was actually going on in this book. I frequently had to go back and reread significant amounts of the book to figure out what was going on. I don't appreciate that kind of confusion in the books I read. I often didn't know which character was speaking, sometimes that was cleared up a few paragraphs later sometimes it wasn't clear at all. The concept of the story had a lot of promise, thy way the story was told just didn't work for me. I think with a little more length and development it could really be something great.

On to the story itself, we follow Cole and Lily, a set of twins who have been orphaned.  They've not had the best childhood.  Their father was abusive and we don't know much about their mother other than she died in the forest with their father.  Apparently they destroyed each other, not sure what that means it is never explained.  As is much of the story it is left up to interpretation.  Cole was always Lily's protector, taking as much of the abuse and trying to stick up for Lily as much as he could.  At the beginning of the story Cole and Lily are on a road trip trying to start a new life when they get into a car accident, and Lily is fatally injured.  Cole ever her savior makes a deal with a spirit to save her and take him instead.  She awakens in a kind of spirit hospital to find Kaede and his daughter Willow the resident "healers" who kind of sort of explain what happened to them and what they did to save her.  She is naturally alarmed to find Cole missing and herself alive.  Kaede tells Lily the 3 rules:  1. Do not enter the West Wing; 2. Do not go outside after darkness falls; and 3. There is only one exit; The Gates.  I was never really clear if she broke the rules or not, but the book is supposed to be the story of what happens when she broke the rules.

Lily goes outside and eventually meets Arro, the spirit Cole made the deal with to save Lily.  Arro is or was a fox spirit, but he can take the form of a human.  He tells Lily if she wants to save Cole's life she needs to talk to Willow's mother.  This make's Willow angry because she feels abandoned by her mother and basically thinks the woman is a jerk.  Abandonment is a big theme in the book.  So Lily ever the impulse driven hot-head jumps into action in search of Usagi, Willow's mother and Kaede's true love.  Arro guides  Lily through the forest which has its own strange rules and more spirits with their own stories.  This journey is more than it seems and when she finds Usagi, Lily finds more than she could have ever expected.  This is where the book was actually developed pretty well and wasn't as confusing.  Lily's is faced with a decision that will not only save Cole, but it has the potential to save everyone else too.

The end kind of wraps up with the story being about living life the the fullest, self acceptance, self love, remembering those who have passed on, and alot of symbolism of what the afterlife might be like.  If I'm not mistaken there is alot of Asian influence which I find really interesting, but the background and definition is left out so I'm left not knowing anything about the culture without doing my own homework.

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Cover Reveal Next to Never and The Next Flame by Penelope Douglass

NEXT TO NEVER is a digital novella that releases on January 17th and THE NEXT FLAME is the print edition of Next to Never, and the previously published novella, Aflame, into one book that releases on May 2nd. 

About NEXT TO NEVER

Under the close watch of the men in her family, Quinn Caruthers has found it nearly impossible to spread her wings—or even date—without her three older brothers, Jared, Madoc, and Jaxon, jumping in to hover. And when a family friend—several years older—from her childhood still holds her heart, she knows they’re going to be a problem. Lucas Morrow is a man, and knowing her brothers, he may as well be forbidden.

But years ago, Lucas left town and shows no signs of returning. Quinn knows she shouldn’t wait for him anymore.

Until a package turns up on her doorstep with no return address and its contents reveal family secrets that threaten to turn her world upside down. She’s never asked about the path of her parents’ romantic history, but she soon learns their happy marriage had a very rocky and passionate start.

As she starts to see things around her with new eyes, Quinn will have to make tough choices about whether she’ll keep waiting…or finally go after what she really wants.

Review: Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Ried

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this is my favorite of the Knitting in the City books to date. I loved getting to know the new characters. Ashley was always present in the other books, but she was never in the spotlight like Janie, Sandra, and Elizabeth. This is such a whimsical series, but this installment is a bit sad and sobering, but with a happy ending and a sweet romance.

The book starts out with Ashley, a spitfire of a character, giving who she thinks is one of her 6 brothers a "purple nurple" because they are revving a car engine early in the morning and she's only had a few hours of sleep. Much to her embarrassment, she's twisted the nipple of the attractive Federal Game Warden Drew who looks like a Viking marauder per Ashley's description. Ashley has flown home to Tennessee from Chicago to visit her ailing mother. Turns out her mother is terminally ill with cancer and only has a few weeks to live, and Drew has been entrusted with her mother's estate and medical care for several reasons that are revealed later in the book. This does not sit well with Ashley but she deals. Being a nurse practitioner and the only daughter, Ashely is determined to make every minute count with her mother.  Ashley is willing to sacrifice her personal wants and needs to ensure her mother's last minutes on earth are as comfortable and pleasant as possible.

Drew is determined to make every moment count with Ashley as he is instantly attracted to her, but has zero expectations of a relationship with her as he knows her life is in Chicago. He makes her shower, eat, have philosophical debates, sleep, and repair the damaged relationships with her brothers.  He has become like another son to Mrs. Winston and a brother to the rest of the boys. He's handsome, quiet, and broody, but full of deep feelings. He's one of the good ones and Ashely eventually figures that out. Their romance slowly takes shape and smoulders for quite a while. It almost took too long to develop and for them to admit that they were in love.

I loved the addition of the whimsical Winston Brothers, and now that I know there is a spinoff series with the bearded brood I can't wait to read about them and their antics. The book is filled with the comical appearances of the Chicago knitting group.

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Review: Garnet's Story

Garnet's Story by Amy Ewing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great novella and a nice addition to the series. I like novellas like this that keep me engaged in a series while I'm waiting for the next book or give me interesting information. I've always liked Garnet's character, but we don't know much about him other than he's kind of a rich, spoiled, playboy, who likes to annoy his mother the Duchess of the Lake. It turns out there is more to him and his life than partying and causing trouble. The House of the Lake is one of the original Royal Houses and his mother is cold and always scheming to be at the top of the food chain, Garney has suffered because of her wickedness. We get to know Garnet a little better in this book and learn about how he came to play the role he does in the series.

This novella takes place when the Duchess purchases Violet, a surrogate, and takes us through Garnet's side of the timeline. Garnet has done something stupid, and to clean up his mess Lucian, the Electress' (kind of like the queen) lady in waiting, offers to clean up his mess in exchange for keeping tabs on Violet. The timeline is a bit accelerated as it is a short story, but we come to understand how Garnet gets involved in the action that takes place later in the story. Ewing does a great job explaining how Garnet ties into the story without retelling the whole first book.

This was a pretty quick read and feel like it was a good addition to the series. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the series.

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Review: Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley

Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Let me first say from the description I wasn't really sure I'd like this book. I was intrigued though and took a chance, I'm glad I did. This was a very quick read and the story was very interesting.

Genesis Girl follows Blanca, a girl who has been cloistered from technology for her entire life. She lives at Tabula Rasa, an exlusive school for Vestal children. Vestals have been sheltered from social media for most if not their entire lives, no photos posted to the internet, they've never surfed the web, they are essentialy pure of technology and lead very private lives. For this reason they are sold to the highest bidder upon graduation to advertise whatever the newest product on the market at a major company because Vestals are trustworthy and free of the prejudice caused by social media. Vestals were created after cell phones, wi-fi, and bluetooth caused a brain cancer epidemic and a man named Barbelo Nemo decided to create a cult like environment with lead lined walls where the children would be free of such dangers. The rest of the world adapted to various forms of chip technology to get their tech fix.

In Blanca's case, a Virus or an internet junkie takes her picture the day before graduation ruining her internet purity. He posts her photo on his blog and instead of ruining her chances a good bid, she takes the top bid, however instead of going to work for a company to advertise its products she becomes personal companion or Geisha to Calum McNeal.  Blanca steals the show and is sold for the hightest price at her harvesting. Cal purchased Blanca to help heal the wounds between him and his son Seth, the very Virus that cause Blanca to take a less traditional route after graduation. Blasnca would normally never have anything to do with a Virus, but she must do as she is told.  Blanca begins to seduce Seth and begins to develop real feelings for him. As she gets to know Cal she discovers that he wants her to make her own decisions, which is not something she is accustomed or really permitted to do under Vestal guidlines, she is supposed to do what she is told and follow the rules. When asked to make her own decisions and do what makes her happy she has a complete mental breakdown. Cal and Seth try to break through to her but they are unsuccessful, they must give her instructions as a Vestal would expect. Enter Miss Lydia, a Vestal mentor, she cozies up to Cal and helps guide Cal and Blanca through the strangeness that is Vestal life and politics  She begins an advertising campaign for Cal's energy company and begins to "date" a Vestal boy.  She is the picture of Vestal perfection and happiness, until she begins to uncover that Lydia isn't what she seems though, then neither is Cal or Seth. Blanca soon learns that maybe making her own decisions might not be that bad and that the "outside" world might not be as bad as she's been led to believe.  In order to save her own life and the life of a friend, she must use the technology she was raised to never use and think for herself.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I liked the original story and plot. I didn't like that Blanca was a brainwashed robot, but that was kind of the point. She overcomes that as she discovers that Vestal life isn't everything she was raised to believe. I'm interested to see what the next book in the story brings. This book stands on its own and closes off nicely. This kept me interested until the very end.

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Review: Fall from India Place by Samantha Young

Fall from India Place by Samantha Young
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

OK so I read these a bit out of order, so I kind of already knew about the plot twist in this one. In all honestly, all the books stand on their own, but it makes a little more sense cast and character wise if you read them in order. I recommend reading them in order, I read Cole and Shannon's story first so I kind of already knew what happened in this one so I think it really impacted my enjoyment of the story.

We first meed Hanna Nichols in on Dublin Street when she is 13 or 14, just before or just as she meets Marco. As a teen she is a smart, shy, nose in a book girl who is dedicated to her family. Marco is from Chicago, he's gotten in trouble so his grandparents send him to live in Scotland with his aunt and uncle. Marco has not had it easy, and Hannah has never really known hardship. One day 14 year old Hannah stays late from school and misses the bus, some thugs try start to harass her when 17 year old Marco comes to defend and protect her. A friendship forms. I enjoyed this part of the book flipping between getting to know current time Hannah who is in her early 20s and teaching high school English and teenage Hannah. In the past we get to learn about Hannah and Marco's friendship and how she's always been in love with him but he kept her at a distance. In the present, Marco comes crashing back into her life and wants forgiveness for leaving her so abruptly when they were younger. They both have secrets, and they both are still mad for each other. Can they get over the pain of the past to make their future work?

I have to admit that the chapters and chapters of Hannah not being able to let go of her hurt and baggage got a bit repetitive after a while. You know she is going to let it go and get with Marco in the end, but it takes a bit to long to happen in my opinion. The why she is mad and hurt makes sense, but the length of time it takes to get over it seemed a bit whiny and immature. That might actually be appropriate for her age and the situation, I think she was only 22 and Marco was her first and only love. Her constant, I love Marco but I refuse to be with him and forgive him got old after 10 or so chapters. She gives some amazing advice to her class after a tragedy occurs, yet she doesn't take her own advice. Marco tells her his secrets fairly early on in their renewed relationship, yet she is determined to punish the both of them for something that neither of them could have controlled. It got old after a while. As I said earlier, I knew what the plot twist was as to why their relationship would be tested going into the book so I think that impacted my enjoyment of this one. I typically love Samantha Young's ODS series.

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Review: Dragonmark by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Dragonmark by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was so excited to get this after reading Dragonbane. I'm a long time Kenyon fan and I've read and own all of the Dark Hunter books.  I'm sorry to say I was sadly disappointed in Dragonmark, and that has never happened to me with a Kenyon book before

I will say if you haven't read Dragonbane and Son of No one this is actually a pretty decent read. The story flows well and it follows Kenyon's typical style and story construction. If you are a long time fan of the series and have read all the books, you'll likely be disappointed and somewhat irritated like myself.

After the cliffhanger in Dragonbane left us with, Illarion's story seemed so promising. I was so excited to learn more about him and see what happens after he is lured away by what appears to be the illusion of his dead wife.  After waiting for it, this book does not deliver as expected. It starts out well enough giving us the backstory of how our hero and heroine meet and their love story unfolds, but after 150 or so pages it of a 340ish page book it is almost a direct copy of chapters from either Son of No One or Dragonbane and we only find our main characters' resolution in the last 30 pages of the book. Kenyon is one of my favorite authors, and this is probably my favorite series but this one left me wanting and upset. She has never sacrificed the quality of her story before just to publish a book, it is something I've long admired about Kenyon. She's published many short stories/novellas in the series and I feel this one may have been better suited as one of those as there was only about 180 pages of new content and the rest came from the previous 2 books. This book is is almost as if she started writing Dragonmark and couldn't finish it or didn't have enough content so someone else finished it by taking content from the previous 2 books to finish it and fill it out. There were some plot holes that could have been explored, however Dragonmark was like re-reading Dragonbane and excerpts of Son of No one sometimes word for word. I hope that this one was just a dud and the next one in the series returns to the type of book I've come to expect and love from Sherrilyn Kenyon.  I'd rather read a great novella or wait longer for an even better novel, but don't give me half a book I've already read.  Long time Kenyon fans will wait patiently for Sherry to put something excellent out.

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