(not quite a) Review: Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Warning: Mild spoilers for previous books in the series, but no spoilers for this one. Seriously, you don’t want to know what happens in the book, so avoid spoilers and reviews if possible (including this one, just in case I’m not as good at not telling things as I think I am). 

I have a weird reading history with this series. The first book I read was Night Broken (that’s the eight one, for those who don’t keep track) and as weird a choice as that sounds, I really liked it. I had no idea who any of the characters were, but I was pretty hooked regardless. And yet, I knew the previous books had rape, and I’m tired of the rape-as-rite-of-passage trope that seems so present in UF books, so it took me until last year to sit and read the whole series in order. But it only took me ten days to read them all. That’s how much I loved them. Yes, there’s rape and some unnecessary and surprising sexism, but I couldn’t put it down.

General Thoughts on Some Current Reads

Today I don’t have a proper review ready, but I do have things to say about the books I’ve been reading, so you get four mini-reviews for the price of one.

***** 

Claiming the Duchess by Sherry Thomas

Romance has the bad habit of using prequel novellas as samples, which usually backfires because novellas aren’t easy to write and they end up working as samples of bad writing. But I like Ms. Thomas’ books, so I was more than happy to read this prequel novella.

I really liked most of it, but the short length really hurt the story, because at its core there’s an act of deception and betrayal that needed more than one paragraph for the climax and ending to be satisfying and to do justice to a heroine that deserved much better. On top of that, the novella (or short story) ends around the 50% mark and the rest is promotional material, so having the book unexpectedly end when you think there’s still half of it to go, doesn’t make for the best reading experience.

That One Time I Read Half a Serial and Liked It: The Kraken King by Meljean Brook

Tentacle!

I’m guest reviewing the first four parts of The Kraken King serial over at Dear Author. This is a spoiler-free, general review of the first half of the serial, so it reads like a review of the whole thing. I’m not a fan of the format, but I really enjoyed this one, even though I’ll probably wait until I have the final four parts to read them all at once.

I also feel like I should warn you that this is a very positive review. You guys know how much I love Ms. Brook’s books, but I actually struggled with finding things to criticize, something that didn’t even happen with Guardian Demon. Part of it is that what I read was all very, very good, and part of it is that I haven’t read the whole thing yet, so I’m missing half the information. In that regard, writing the review was an interesting exercise, just as interesting --and slightly frustrating-- as reading the serial. I probably should have serialized my review instead of looking at it as a whole, but even then I think I would have had a hard time finding something to criticize, because each part has enough individual merits to stand on its own. And don’t worry, the book I will review next is one of the worse I've read this year, so I’ll will bring balance to the Force.

For those of you interested in the series, all the books stand alone ridiculously well,  but I would read them in order just to build the sense of the world in the order the novels were published. Also, The Kraken King offers a perspective of the world that’s pretty different to the one we get in The Iron Duke, so having that contrast makes the experience richer.

That’s it! Go read the review and let me know what you think. I’m also interested to hear how you feel about serials: love them, hate them, meh!, is there a serial that changed your mind about the format, etc.

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Source: A review copy was provided by the publisher trough NetGalley.

As you guys know, I loved Pushing the Limits because OVER THE TOP ANGST! *ahem* Which is why I was dying to read the sequel. Unlike its predecessor, however, Dare You To is --or at least feels-- less convoluted, probably because it only focuses on one angsty character instead of two. It is still quite dramatic, but way more contained.

I was intrigued by Beth as a secondary character in Pushing the Limits, and I liked her a lot as a heroine in Dare You To. She spends the whole book being angry, something that automatically makes her refreshing and interesting. The previous book heavily hinted at a different outcome for her, meaning that it appeared that her hero would be Isaiah, the other secondary character, yet this book completely challenged all my expectations. And although Isaiah still plays an important role here, he is not the love interest.

Review: 33 Valentines by Stephanie Monahan

What a mixed bag this book was! 

I have a thing for unrequited love stories where the heroine is in love with her best friend, but he doesn’t know it and already has a girlfriend or starts dating someone else. It’s probably because a long time ago this happened to me, but I didn’t get a happy ending, so I really enjoy the part where the heroine gets the guy, but even more the part where the guy dumps the other woman. Clearly, I have issues. So yeah, once I read the blurb, I got the book and didn't put it down until I finished it. Unfortunately, this only reflects my own reading preferences and not the actual quality of the book, which I found mostly lacking, although it’s not without some merit.

Something happened to Sophie that made her hate Valentine’s Day. So every year she gets together with her best friend, Sam, to watch crappy movies. But this year Sam cancelled because he has a date with a woman he thinks has the potential of being the one. The news are particularly bad for Sophie, because she just realized that she’s in love with him, and everything gets even worse when she falls and breaks her arm.

Review: The Best Man by Kristan Higgins

Source: a review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I don’t know what to do with this book. It’s one of Ms. Higgins’ most entertaining, fun novels in a long while, especially since she made the transition from Chick-Lit to Romance, but it’s deeply flawed, and in many ways, unforgivably so. When I was done reading it, I was left with a bad aftertaste that did nothing but get worse the more I thought about it. 

Faith, as is the case with most of Higgins’ heroines, has the worse luck with men, which is unfortunate since all she wants to do is settle down, marry and have kids. She was in love --or at least thought she was-- with her high school sweetheart, Jeremy. They were the town’s golden couple; the prince and princess of their own perfect fairytale. But during their wedding ceremony they were interrupted by Levi, the Jeremy’s best friend and best man, who couldn’t let them get married, because he knew the groom was gay.

Review: Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire is the next installment in the Graceling books, a fantasy series where some people called gracelings develop a power-like ability that depending on what it is, can be helpful, useless or very dangerous. This book is a prequel, so it takes place years before the first book and features a whole different set of characters that in no way relate to those in Graceling. You could read them out of order, but my advice is to read them all, and to do it in the order they were published. Once you read them all, you will see how three books that stand alone well, are actually quite cohesive. 

The story takes place in the Dells, a land geographically separated from the original kingdoms by a set of mountains. As a result, the people from the Dells don’t know about the kingdoms and there are no gracelings. Instead, they have monsters. These creatures resemble regular animals, but have colorful appearances and are unnaturally appealing, in fact, they use that appeal to enthrall and lure their victims. Monsters crave other monsters and become ravenous in their presence, especially if they can smell blood. Worse, animals are not the only creatures that have a monster equivalent, humans also come in that form --albeit rarely-- and Fire, our heroine, is the last one of them.

Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

This series flew under my radar and I only discovered it this year after I read Janine’s review of Bitterblue, the third book in the series. It seemed to be a favorite of many, so I decided to read the first book. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be.

Katsa lives in a world where some people have an enhanced ability, or grace. They are known as gracelings, and in Katsa’s kingdom these people are treated like tools. She’s graced with killing, so her uncle, who happens to be the king, uses her as his personal enforcer and executioner. People fear and avoid her, and she hates herself for the things she’s done. 

As a way to atone and even revel against her uncle, Katsa created the Council, a secret organization in charge of helping people. During one of their missions they rescue an old man from his kidnappers, but by doing so they uncover a mystery that will lead her directly to danger, but also freedom. That night she also meets a man named Po who’s graced with fighting. He helps her break free and see herself under a different light.

Guest Review: How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal

About Sarah: Who am I? I'm a part-time library science student, part-time librarian, and full-time mom. When I'm not wrangling my little girl or my husband, I'm reading all sorts of books to be able to recommend that "next" book for shy readers or those new to the romance genre. I can be found on Goodreads or on my blog at sarahsbookshelf.com.

I'm always on the lookout for new authors and different styles of romance to read. This book recently won a 2012 RITA for a novel with strong romantic elements. I was skeptical of the book to start out with. I'm not a huge fan of books told in the first person, nor do I typically like books with different voices throughout, but somehow this book managed to get past all my preconceived notions. It made me laugh, it definitely made me cry (a lot), but overall, I just didn't want to put it down and was quite sad when it was over. I should caution anyone that if you find reading books that talk a lot about food make you hungry, you should probably steer clear of this book--there are recipes galore and much description about breads and delicious foods throughout.

Guest Review: Time After Time by Constance O’Day-Flannery

About Sarah: Who am I? I'm a part-time library science student, part-time librarian, and full-time mom. When I'm not wrangling my little girl or my husband, I'm reading all sorts of books to be able to recommend that "next" book for shy readers or those new to the romance genre. I can be found on Goodreads or on my blog at sarahsbookshelf.com.

I've been on the lookout recently for some more established historical authors to sink my teeth into and came across Constance O'Day-Flannery. She's best known for her time travel romances, so being a newbie to this type of historical, I thought I'd give her a shot. 

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying all these New Adult books? With some exceptions, I’ve loved everything I’ve read. Pushing the Limits is in part to blame for it because it was one of the first NA --or adult-ish YA’s-- I read.

Our leads are Echo and Noah. The book is told alternating between them and their stories are equally important. 

First we have Echo. Something happened to her, something involving her mother. But she can’t remember and no one wants to tell her what happened. All she knows is that there’s a restraining order and that she isn’t allowed any contact with her mother; that she has some terrible scars on her arms; and that months ago something triggered an attack that left her in the hospital for days. She’s desperate to put all the pieces together to find out what happened.

Guest Review: When Harry Met Molly by Kieran Kramer

Or friend and fellow blogger, Sarah, is back with another wonderful review. This time a fun historical romance!

About Sarah: Who am I? I'm a part-time library science student, part-time librarian, and full-time mom. When I'm not wrangling my little girl or my husband, I'm reading all sorts of books to be able to recommend that "next" book for shy readers or those new to the romance genre. I can be found on Goodreads or on my blog at sarahsbookshelf.com.

This past week I found myself in an awkward spot. I have a huge TBR pile, but nothing was holding my interest for more than a few moments. I made the decision to do something I very rarely do: reread a book I remembered liking. I am so glad I did, because the second reading was even better than the first! The book was When Harry Met Molly, which was the debut historical romance by Kieran Kramer, the first installment of the Impossible Bachelor series.

Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

I’ve been on a YA binge for the past few months and this was a book I couldn’t wait to read. It’s one of those stories that sound like the perfect mix between YA and Contemporary Romance. I loved the idea of a girl longing to belong to the messy family next door, I also wanted to know what was going on with that “impossible decision” that may break them apart. So I got it and while I didn’t think it was bad, I thought the overall story was disappointing.

Samantha Reed’s family consists of a sister and their mother. Their life is orderly and perfect, as long as you don’t look too closely. Their mother is a snob and criticizes everything but herself, because if she saw how flawed she was, she would have kept her mouth shut about everyone else. In order to please her mother, Samantha behaves and does everything she’s told. But she longs for a different life, a life that closely resembles that of her next door neighbors.

Review: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

The reason I read this book was because the main character and narrator is a guy, something I seldom see in YA. It also seemed like a different type of story and I was intrigued. So I requested it months ago and read it, which turned out to be a mistake because I’ve been dying to talk about it since March.

Something Like Normal tells the story of Travis. He’s back home for a short stay before he has to go back to Afghanistan. It’s not the ideal situation because things at home are far from perfect. His girlfriend dumped him and is now with his brother, he has a poor relationship with his dad, and even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s suffering from PTSD. He has two choices: he can either ignore all his issues, or he can confront them. To be honest, all he wants to do is get away, it was the reason he enlisted in the first place, but his issues are hard to ignore so confront them he will.

Review: Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

At this point it should be obvious that I love Ms. Kearsley’s books. Mariana was first published before The Winter Sea and The Rose Garden, and even though there are quite a few similarities, it’s obvious that this was written first. I found it a bit lacking when compared to her other books, though I’m probably to blame for it since I shouldn’t be comparing them in the first place. However, it is a beautiful book and I enjoyed it a lot.

The first time Julia Becket saw Greyweathers, a beautiful farmhouse located in Exbury, she was five and immediately knew that it was her home. Ever since then, when she visits the place, the same feeling of belonging invades her. And after an impulsive decision she finds herself its new owner. While she settles in, she develops a series of relationships with her neighbors including Geoffrey de Mornay, the wealthy and handsome lord of the manor, farmer Ian Summer and the local pub’s owner, Vivien.

Review: Back in the Soldier’s Arm by Soraya Lane

This is one of the books I mentioned on my post about cheating heroes. The reason I read it was because I was curious. Hero infidelity is one of the most hated themes in romance and I thought it was interesting that there was a Harlequin Romance that directly dealt with the subject.

Danny and Penny have the perfect marriage, or at least that’s how it seems. They have been together for years, have a five-year-old daughter, and truly and deeply love each other. They both were in the military, but when it was time to retire Danny was the only one able to do it because Penny’s deployment was extended by the Stop-Loss policy. So she went back to war leaving her family behind. Danny was left alone with their daughter dealing with the life and responsibilities of a single dad, learning to adjust to civilian life and worrying about his wife. He didn't cope well and ended up having a drunken one-night stand, which he immediately confessed to Penny.

Review: Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

Somebody to Love is the story of Parker Welles. She’s rich, talented and a little bit cranky. Her life is at a crossroads, for the past few years she’s been writing a successful book series for children, books that have brought her fame and recognition, books that she hates with a passion. She wrote them as a joke after the story she really wanted to tell was rejected and ever since then, she’s been cursed with having to write them. But now the series is about to end and she doesn’t really know what to do because she can’t seem to muster enough imagination to write something different. Why does she keep writing books that make her miserable? I have no idea, but It’s not about money because she has a trust fund and all the money she makes goes to charity.

Review: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

I honestly think that Sophie Kinsella is the queen of Chick Lit. She creates these amazing characters and the funniest stories, so when I've Got Your Number came out the first thing I did after finishing my happy-dance was buy it. It was worth every penny.

Poppy -I love this name- is freaking out. She lost her engagement ring when she was at a party and she gives her number to everyone at the hotel so they can get in touch once they find it. But then she gets mugged, so she finds herself phoneless and desperate. That’s when she finds a phone in a trash can and decides to keep it for herself. But with the phone comes Sam Roxton (it used to belong to his assistant), a business man that after some convincing, agrees to let her keep it with the condition that she forwards every message and email to him.

Review: Geek Girl by Cindy C Bennett

A couple of weeks ago I read and loved Heart on a Chain by Cindy C Bennett. The book was seriously flawed but was very entertaining and addictive, so I wanted to read more and that’s why I got Geek Girl.

Jen is the school’s bad girl. She dresses in black, uses heavy makeup and has a bit of a reputation. One day she sees the school’s nerd, Trevor, and decides that her next project will be to seduce him into the dark side, to turn him bad like her. So she bets with her friend that she will be able to do it sooner or later. At first he can’t understand why someone like her will want to be friends with someone like him, but because he’s such a good boy he invites her to join his group of friends. Slowly they get to know each other, Jen realizes that he is a great person and fun to be with, and Trevor gets to see past the bad girl to the real Jen inside. So they become friends and then fall in love. Slowly her clothes change and her makeup is less strong, she stops being a Goth girl to become a geek girl.

Review: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Last year I read my first Susanna Kearsley book and it ended up being one of my favorites of the year. So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her backlist. The Winter Sea had a similar plot to The Rose Garden in that they both had historical plots taking place parallel to their present counterparts, but that’s where the similarities end.

On one of my latest reviews I was complaining about unrealistic endings where the characters got everything they wanted, and how I felt that we should get more bittersweet endings where the characters had to make sacrifices. This book is a perfect example of that. I think not everyone would be happy with how things end but to me it was fitting to the circumstances. The ending was both happy and sad, and I was very glad (and weepy!).