NEW Fan Art Added

So in honor of Julie Kagawa's new novella, Summer's Crossing being released a few days ago, as well as The Iron Knight cover being released, I decided to make this for my favorite series. You can get it at the Fan Art page of this blog!

So what is your favorite series?

Face Value & Eye Candy Review

Face Value & Eye Candy 

By: Taryn Bell
{DOUBLE Review!}

Overall Ratings: Both 3.5/5

In Face Value, four girls that couldn't be more different enter the Top Model house. We meet Chloe; the daughter of a supermodel that has looks to match her mother's, Lindsay; a child star whose fame has dimmed,    Alexis; the girl-next-door who may seem like no competition, and lastly, Shiva-Rose; the exotic girl. They all encounter their own problems throughout their time in the Top Model house. Chloe is having problems with her seemingly perfect boyfriend Liam thanks to one of her roommates, Lindsay will do anything to get her stardom back, Alexis almost gets in trouble with the law, and Shiva-Rose develops a forbidden crush. They may be roommates, but only one can win the grand prize. Who will it be?

In Eye Candy, the four girls make it through the first challenge, however, the second challenge is coming up soon and the competition gets more fierce. Chloe develops a crush on someone else even though she has a boyfriend. Lindsay is having a hard time deciding between being fair or doing what she wants. Alexis may have survived one of the scariest nights of her life, but that doesn't mean she has learned her lesson. Lastly, Shiva-Rose is having more boy problems. Are they only "other contestants" to each other, or are friendships possible in one of the fiercest competitions of their lives?

The reason why I did a double review is because they are back-to-back books (Eye Candy picks up right after Face Value) and they are pretty short, more like novellas. I love the TV show, so I thought I would give this series a try. The reason why they are only a 3.5 is because I found most of it to be too unoriginal. Although one can expect it to be similar to the show it is based on, more creativity could be expressed. I liked the differences in all the characters and their background information, it helps the reader understand them better. On the other hand, the plot could have been much better developed with details. However, the endings are very suspenseful, especially in Face Value. Right after I finished Face Value, I ordered Eye Candy. If the entire story was as good as the ending, it would be a solid 5. I have also learned a thing or two about the modeling and fashion industry from this, but it is not the source you should use if you are purely reading it to learn about the industry. Overall, I'll be reading the last two books of the series, but I hope it'll be better developed.

Wings Review

Wings

By: Aprilynne Pike

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Laurel and her adoptive parents have just recently moved to Crescent City, California from their old small town, where Laurel goes to public school for the first time in her life. After being home school all her life, she has trouble adjusting to school because of her odd preferences. She is a vegetarian and cannot physically digest most foods, and she hates being confined indoors. School gets better for her when she meets her very first friend - David. Laurel begins to tell David everything going on in her life, like the odd bump that has been growing daily on her back. One day, while visiting her old cabin, she meets a strange, enchanting man that claims to be a faerie, and even worse, claims that Laurel is part of the faeries. After this meet, things start going down hill for her as her father gets ill, and David and Laurel are in for an adventure of their lives.

Wow! I thought this book was pretty good, it is a perfect mix of suspense, romance, fantasy, and drama. You never know what to expect next and at a few places, it almost seems like a mystery with the reader constantly wondering about what will happen. The characters were also well developed, unique, and interesting. The heroine, Laurel had to make some very hard choices, and I agree with almost every one of them. Usually, in a novel, the heroine makes some choices that are very controversial, but I think at the end of this, both "teams" (yes, there is a love triangle!) should be at least moderately satisfied. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

House of Dark Shadows Review

House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings #1)

By: Robert Liparulo

Overall Rating: 4/5

The King family is moving from a city to a small town called Pinedale, and Xander, the oldest child, isn't to thrilled. Xander takes an interest in photography but there is nothing to shoot in Pinedale, even worse, he has to leave behind all his friends and girlfriend. The Kings search for a house, and they stumble across a big, old, deserted house and Xander's parents take an interest in it. Xander and his brother David, however have mixed feels ever since Xander noticed the house plays tricks on everyone. For instance, their sounds are disoriented and sound like they are coming from somewhere else. Despite this, they enjoy exploring their new, mysterious home. Little would they know moving in would be their biggest mistake of their life...

I bought this book, read a few pages, and dropped it again. I did this about two more times and was never fully engaged into the book. Finally I got very bored and I had no new books to read, so I once again for a fourth time picked it up and started reading it. I cannot believe why I didn't find this interesting the first few times. All I have to say is Robert Liparulo is an amazing horror story author. I'm not too fond of horror novels, but this one was perfect for me: It was a little scary, but not too scary to give nightmares. This novel will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat almost every page. The only negative comment I have to add is at some points there were too much details, this is odd because I usually prefer it to be detailed and developed. For example, the Roman scene, although very interesting, got a little boring fast because I felt everything was being described more than once. House of Dark Shadows ends with one of the biggest cliffhanger, so be ready for the next book.

Captivate Review

Captivate
By: Carrie Jones

Overall Rating: 4/5

Zara, Devyn, Issie, and Nick may have solved one problem - pixies feeding on young boys by trapping them in a house, but they are now faced with another. Other pixie kings sense that Zara's father is weak because Zara and her friends have trapped him in the house along with the other pixies, so they come to Maine to gain territory from Zara's father. One of which believes Zara should be his queen, much to her displeasure. However, when the worst of the worst happens, Zara and her friends are faced with the biggest challenge yet, a choice that will change them all forever.

Captivate started off weak, and at first I felt like it was all empty sentences without detail. However, as I read on, it got better and much more suspenseful as the story went on. All the main characters were very well developed and you can read this without reading the first book, Need (although it would be a good idea to) because Jones gives a detailed back-story. I wasn't to stunned with the romance between Zara and Nick because it was a bit dull, but the developing love triangle between Zara, Nick, and Astley is making the romance department much more captivating...no pun intended. The choices Zara made as a heroine weren't too promising or believable either. It had a few flaws, but it was a good read for fantasy lovers nonetheless.

I Haven't Disappeared!

Hi all!
I haven't posted in a while and I am very sorry, I haven't forgotten about this blog, it is just that I've been super busy this entire month and haven't had time to free-read. However, here are some books I recently bought, and they will be read and reviewed sometime soon.

Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith

Reclusive, wary, and known locally as Odd Alice, orphaned Alice Riley has always known she was different; but it isn't until she saves a child from drowning by using her phenomenal underwater abilities and links minds with drowning salvage diver Griffin Randolf and saves him, too, that her half-sisters learn of her existence, and she discovers how special she and Griffin really are. Old secrets, revenge, and passion fuel this compelling, intricately plotted story of love, trust, and acceptance, which successfully straddles the line between romance and fantasy and should appeal to fans of both genres.

Captivate by Carrie Jones

Zara and her friends have been capturing pixies and locking them up to save their Maine town. Like vampires, but apparently messier and more violent, out of control pixies need to feed on blood. Zara's father, the pixie king, was imprisoned in the first book, and he begins to lose power over his people. But, as Zara and her friends learn, there are rival kings. 

Ink Exchange Review

Ink Exchange
By: Melissa Marr

Overall Rating: 3/5

Ink Exchange focuses on the minor characters previously mentioned in the first book, Wicked Lovely, such as Kennan's advisor; Niall, the king of the Dark Court; Irial, and Aislinn's mortal friend; Leslie. Leslie is living in a nightmare ever since her drug addict brother allowed his dealer to rape her as payment. She feels like her body belongs to someone else, not her own. In addition, Leslie has no one to talk to because her friendship with the Summer Queen, Aislinn is filled with half-truths and Leslie feels like she can't tell her anything. To reclaim her body, she decides to get a tattoo to reclaim her body, but the tattoo she has chosen may change her life forever. Meanwhile, the Dark Court is starving as a result of the peace between the Summer and Winter courts because they feed on emotions of pain, hatred, anger, and every other dark emotion. Leslie choses the symbol of the Dark King for her tattoo, which binds her to Irial, causing him to be able to feed himself and his court on human feelings. Niall and Irial both develops forbidden feelings for Leslie, and both make sacrifices because of this. 

I was stuck between giving Ink Exchange a three or a four. The concept of this novel was interesting in the beginning and makes the reader eager to continue on, however I was a little disappointed. The idea of switching characters and making minor ones major characters, and major characters minor is a good idea, but unfortunately this caused a lot of switches between point of views which made it confusing at some points. There was also a lot going on with such little detailed, if it was developed more, Ink Exchange would've been much better. Also, there are so many love triangles and squares going on in the series and I hope Marr doesn't mix Leslie's story and Aislinn's story together in the other books. However, a bit on the positive side, we learn that the Dark Court isn't as dark as the first book made it sound. Despite their craving for blood and wars, Irial is a person that truly cares for his fey and knows the difference between friend and foe. Although he eats up emotions and feelings of others, he surprisingly has feelings himself. He has never forgotten or forgiven Niall for refusing the throne long ago and even welcomed Niall back after the current circumstances. I like these slightly new characters even better than the old ones and I hope Marr expands on them even more in the next book. Overall, it started out intense and amazing, but it downgraded and became draggy as the story went on.