Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

**Spoilage**

**2.5 Stars**

I had a hard time getting through this book. Not because it was bad, I actually liked it. But not enough to give it three or more stars. The premise.....GIRR. Let me tell you how awesome this premise is.

Daughters and sons of Fallen Angels. They exist solely to tempt humans into sin. Their role in the grand scheme of things is to entice and lead humans into a life of sin and, ultimately, self destruction in an effort to tweak the nipples and undo of The Creator. 

HOW FRIGGIN' COOL IS THAT?!

I should've been foaming at the mouth as I read this. And for the first ten pages I was. Picture this. A dark night club, teenagers in a cramped sweaty place, all watching and rocking out to this cool band with good music. All of the band members are hot because, why wouldn't they be? But there's the drummer. Kaiden Rowe. Hot, rebellious-looking, and British. (That one turned my crank, but we'll get to that later.) Immediately, Saint Anna is drawn to him because she can't see his colors.

Oh, Saint Anna can 'see' people's emotions and whatnot. Kind of like ocular empathy, if you will.

Back to the club....She can't see his colors and immediately notices he has a weird pattern of colors on his chest. That, coupled with the fact that he's "hot" = melting panties. For several girls on several occasions. As is his reputation.  It was just too much, too soon. Why is there a British teenager in the middle of Atlanta? Why does he have to be British? Ah! I got it. He has to be British so when he says normally unsexy things such as, put some ice cream on that cookie, it sounds like "put some ice cream on that biscuit and allow me to lick it slowly with smoldery eyes."

It all makes sense now!


  

July '14 AOTM

Yeah, we're doing this again. Drum roll, if you please.

*Taps fingers ridiculously*

Wendy Higgins!

You've probably already read her books. But in the event that you are like me and have not, I'll give you a quick run down. Which means I'm going to tell you what I'm thinking so far. HERE is a link to the entire series on Goodreads.

Sweet Evil. Kick-ass premise, characters aren't too bad - Saint Anna is kind of dancing on a nerve though - the setting is cool. Albeit lacking detail. The writing is awesome. Ms. Higgins has a way with words that makes me want to keep reading even though at some points I asked myself "Why the hell am I still reading this?". It's one of those you-shouldn't-watch-but-you-can't-look-away kind of thing.

The one two things I can't really get jiggy with are: Saint Anna. She is supposed to be "good". But she's too good. She's crossed over to the realm of unrealistic/making it harder to suspend reality. There isn't a sixteen year old girl in Atlanta that hasn't at least had a kiss. And I can almost guarantee you that they lie all the time. And especially because of her nature, she should've been doing it all her life, but no. 

Next thing: The lack of conflict. Everything is moving too smoothly. It's all falling into their laps. Per example: Anna needs to go to California to....let's just say she has to go. She needs money for plane tickets. The neighborhood ice cream parlor hires her weird ass on the spot. Patti's tires blow and she has to use the money they saved - that's okay! Super Kai(den) to the rescue with is father's bank account and sudden trustworthiness. (I won't even go into that one. You have to read it.) Anna's like an open book and Kaiden can "read" her too easy: she learns how to conceal her emotions within the span of two pages and she's suddenly an expert. **SPOILER ALERT** Skip down if you don't want to see. She assumes her dad is an evil son of a bitch whom she'll hate and despise all her life: she meets him and - I shit you not - during the time they talk, he cries. Like four times. Because he lurved her mother.

I just can't with that. Aside from that, there's nothing that makes me want to put the book down so I'm going to keep reading until the trilogy is over.

Next up: Sweet Peril.

Although I fail to see how she stretched this story out into three books....We shall see, then shant we?

Writer Ramblings + Caylee Snippet!

I've been feeling a little  a lot write-ish lately and upped the word count on Caylee from somewhere around 95k to 98k...ish. This may sound like I'm a bit full of myself, but I've sort of forged this new-found love for my characters. Wait. Before you get your knickers in a wad, please try and understand where I'm coming from.

I built these people. From the ground up and with everything I have in me, I let them go and do what they needed to do. They're still doing it, as I've not finished book two, but it takes a lot to open up and share this secret part of me. Ask any writer. Your characters are part of you. And I can only hope that one day soon I get to share them with you and you grow to love them as much as I do.

Well....maybe not as much as I do. But somewhere around the vicinity of that much. That'd be cool. In the meantime....get into a bit of Caylee and Nolan in the beginnings of a fight scene below! Leave me comments!

“If you say so CJ,” he laughed and shook his head. It started snowing then, so hard that we couldn’t see through the front window. Odd, I thought to myself. It wasn’t supposed to snow until next week. At least that was what the weatherman said. Beside me, Nolan took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring and his body taking on a stiff posture. “Damn it,” he muttered as he reached over to the glove compartment with one hand and fumbled around in it blindly.
    “What?” I asked, becoming alarmed. He pulled out a weird amethyst colored stone and held it in his hand for ten seconds before handing it to me.
    “Tell me when it gets too hot to hold.” He offered cryptically and stopped the car, pulling over to the side of the road.
    “What? Why?” I questioned, trying to hand him the stone back.
    “Do you trust me?” his blue eyes were intense as he looked at me, making me afraid about why he felt he needed to ask me that.
    “I trust you.” I answered without hesitation. He nodded and reached out to touch my face once.
    “Good, come with me.” He held his hand out and I took it, allowing him to lead me out the car from his side. My feet hit the ground and I slid in the several feet of snow that had impossibly started piling up in the few minutes it had been snowing. “Careful,” Nolan whispered as he righted me. “Only step where I step and stay close.”
    I gave him a nod and let him walk away without asking him anything even though I felt like I’d explode with questions. I said nothing in the hopes it would enforce what I’d said about trusting him. Which was true; I trusted him completely.
    Hopefully not to a fault.
    Stepping only in his boot prints like I was told, I followed him. Though not as fast, as his legs were a hell of a lot longer than mine.
    “Nolan, wait it’s – ahh!” I dropped the stone into the snow, the heat from it melting the snow around it immediately. Nolan turned as I dropped my head and tore the gloves off of my hands to examine them. “It burned my hands! Through my gloves!” The palms of my hands were turning red.
    “Caylee!” I heard Nolan shout and I looked up in time to see him lunge toward me. I opened my mouth to speak and out of nowhere, I was hit in the chest and knocked back into the car. The cracking sound of my skull against the door rang in my ears as I slid to the ground, landing on my side in the snow that just kept building. Nolan was a streak of dark movement as he leapt at – A high pitched cry of fear pierced the air and it took me a few moments to realize it was mine.

Leave me comments and happy things :D

And I'll toss in some rainbow gifs next post ;)

May-June '14 Book Haul!

Over the past two months or so, I've purchased copious amounts of books. I haven't read a single one aside from the new Charley Davidson, but I've bought about ten or eleven. I know. I have a problem. But....what are you gonna do?

It's a mix of adult and YA so there's a little something to please the child in me and the sometimes naughty adult in me as well. For those that can't see the picture [above] I'll name all the books in said picture.

First up, there's Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It's number one in The Lunar Chronicles and if I'm not mistaken it was also her debut. Heard many a great things about this book and I'm pretty excited to get into it. I heard she also signed a movie deal for Cinder so....yeah. That's cool, too.

Next, we have Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor. SUPER DUPER excited to read this one. I've been trying to get my hands on the ecopy from my library but that waiting list is as long as Cara Delevingne's legs. SO, I just decided to buy it. It was quicker, more satisfying and honestly, much more exciting to hold the book in my hands. I miss the feel and smell of actual books.

Then we have Unwind by Neal Shusterman. To be completely honest, I know next to nothing about this book or this author but this DAMN COVER is just SO enticing I figured that it deserved a spot on my bookshelf. Even if I never get to it. At least it's something pretty to look at for a long time. #DontJudgeMe

There's Bad Blood by the late, L.A. Banks. I've never read anything by her so I figured this was a great place to start. Again, I don't know much about the series other than the average of 4.23 stars on goodreads so...I was sold. There are six books in the series and I'm unsure if there was another she was writing when she passed....but...I'll deal with that when I get there.

Next, there's Night Owls by Lauren M. Roy. Again, don't know much about the book, the series or the author but damn. That cover is beautiful. And the average stars for the series doesn't look too bad either so....Yeah. Seems legit.

Now. Halfway Hexed by Kimberly Frost. I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS. When I first searched the barcode on my Goodreads app, it said this was first in a series. Lo and behold, It's NUMBER THREE. This cannot be life. I started reading it already. Thankfully, I only read four pages weeks ago and don't remember much because I'd be steaming right now if I still knew what was going on.

Lastly, but certainly not least, we have Black Wings. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for this damn book! This one I did read the blurb for and I am stoked to read this! Sadly, it's not on the top of the TBR pile, as I've not even finished the seventy gillion other books I've already started reading. Like, A Shade Of Vampire. Whose 257 ebook pages are haunting me. I don't want to finish it but I feel that I have to.

SO. What books have you guys recently bought? Anything good? Leave me recommendations in the comments below!

Everneath By Brodi Ashton

**Spoilage**

*One Star*

I know. One star? Yeah....I was disappointed, too. Mostly because I really wanted to love this story. Conceptually, I was in love. I read a few shining - spoiler free - reviews and I was amped to read this because, come on. Persephone and Eurydice. Who doesn't love a good retelling of a 'classic' with a modern twist?

Well, emphasis on the word good. And sadly, this was not.

Aside from the very start of the book, we never 'see' the Everneath again. Nikki speaks of it again, but we never get to witness what the NEverneath is actually like for ourselves. Instead, we get high school drama. And....nope. All we get is high school drama. And I was so not expecting the high school drama nor did I want it. I was expecting grit and heartbreak and - things that didn't make me roll my eyes.

Like I said before, conceptually - the whole Nikki-gets-sucked-into-the-Everneath-for-what-she-feels-is-hundreds-of-years-but-is-only-six-months-on-the-surface thing and the fact that she only has six months to say goodbye to the people she left behind before the Everneath comes to collect their debt, which is her - is really fluffin' killer. BUT - yes, there's a but - BUT, it loses all the things that make it interesting something in the execution.

Just going to throw a few things out there. Excuse the randomness of it all.

Nikki's father is a mayor...or something political...in their town. His sixteen year old daughter disappears for six months, comes back looking like hammered shit and no one so much as blinks. There are no reporters following her around town, no one banging down their door looking for an exclusive with the Mayor's - or Governor's - wayward minor daughter suspected of drug abuse. There are no police-type of people looking for this child who just poofed six months ago. There was no investigation or Have-You-Seen-This-Child's going around. BUT HE WINS THE NEXT ELECTION HE WAS IN. While all this was going on.

I'm sorry, but what the actual fuck? Not in this world we live in. Hell, Olivia Pope couldn't spin that shit to work in his favor. But whatevs.

Jack Caputo. Nikki's boyfriend. He was the reason she decided leaving with Cole to the Everneath was okay in the first place. I'll paraphrase. Jack was THAT guy in their school. Dudes want to be him and girls want to do him. Blah, blah, yadda yadda. You get it. He dated THAT girl before Nikki....along with half the school, so I don't see why Nikki thought she could keep his eye from wandering, but okay. "Men can change." Or whatever. They do the gross teenage love thing, he lurves her, she lurves him - they're happy. He goes to football camp and THAT GIRL is, of course a cheerleader and you know that football players cannot go to camp and sharpen their skills without the accompaniment of their cheerleaders....who do not do anything to help hone said skills. But...like I said. High school drama. Nikki sneaks up to camp, thinks she sees him cheating, doesn't give him a chance to explain - why would she? HIGH. SCHOOL. DRAMA - and decides that the guy who's been whispering in her ear while Jack was away for a week has a good idea.

Long story not-so-short, she agrees to go with Cole to the NEverneath because she doesn't want to feel anymore. If there's a girl more emo than that, I haven't met her. 

Cole is an older guitarist in a very special band who finds Plain Jane Nikki interesting - of course he does! High School Drama! - and beautiful and all those things. 

Snooze. 

After Nikki's little stint in the Everneath, to which she should have forgotten all she was because she was a Forfeit and Cole was feeding off her soul, she - of course! - doesn't forget everything because she was holding onto Jack. The dude she thought cheated on her. Yeah. That's what I said, too. Whatver. She Returns - that is capitalized in the book, I shit you not - but doesn't even bother to try and rebuild any relationships, apologize or do anything even vaguely reminiscent of living. She goes back to school like nothing happened, ignores the everliving shit out of Jack, even though he was the only reason she'd Returned and farts around for 3/4 of her six month Return. What the fuck was it for, then? Why bother to Return - and make the going back to the Everneath all the much worse - if you're not going to comminicate with the mofos you Returned for?!

I was basically done at this point. But I really wanted to see if Ashton could try and revive this book....she didn't, if you want to stop reading here. That's fine.

Skip ahead a dozen chapters and she finally tells Jack she's leaving again. A week or so before she has to leave. And she's surprised he's mad. I'm just not even going to snark that bit. I think you guys get the jist. Skip ahead a few pages and "it's always been you...It'll only ever be you...It's all you" & equally barf-enducing sentiments are spoken about seven times in the span of two pages.

Yeah, I'm just going to end it here and just basically say I sincerely disliked this book. So hard. But I think you could deduce that without me having to say so in as many words.

Uninvited #1 by Sophie Jordan

**Spoilage**

* Five WHOLE Stars!*

Not Four. Not Three and three quarters. Five whole stars. Yes. I enjoyed the FECK out of this book.

From the time I started reading this....beautiful piece of literature, I could not wait to write this review. And as you can see, I gave it five stars. The first book I've read this year that has gotten five stars...probably not the last, because The Ward is pretty much knocking my socks off as well. BUT....first things first.

Can we just take forever a few moments to admire the unbridled beauty that is this cover? It caught my eye the moment I saw it on my library's ebook lending site. The DNA woven into the strands of her hair...lovely. THEN I read the blurb. 

The whole 'Nurture Vs. Nature' theory has been a source of great debate for quite some time and I've always been a little on the fence about it. In Uninvited it shows you the population who are solidly on the nature side. People who believe that it does not matter what you are taught; that you are bound to the legacy that your DNA provides. Even if you haven't and may never do anything wrong.

In Davy's Uninvited world, there's a "killer gene" also known as 'Homicidal Tendency Syndrome'. Which kinda sucks. Everyone is tested, not a single person is exempt. Even children. And if children test positive, they are isolated from the rest of their family. Most parents even give their children up. HTS carrier logs are public record and the moment you do something violent, you get branded with a big ass black H on the side of your neck so people can openly stare, mock and shame you know you're a carrier. Before that, you have to wear a neon orange ID card with your name and picture so folks know you have HTS. Yeah. The shit is cray.

Anysnooch, Davy tests positive for HTS and her entire life changes. Her friends turn their backs, her boyfriend acts funky; even her parents walk on eggshells around her. Even though she hasn't actually done anything violent. It doesn't matter. She has HTS. She will kill someone. Eventually. During this, she gets Uninvited from her fancy dancy school. They don't expel you. You get Uninvited.

I can really go on and on about this....but I won't spoil it for you. Because you are all going to read this. Buy it on ebook, borrow it from your library, or buy it in print - ONE of the three. Because you need to reaaad this! Where was I? Right. Skipping down.

She gets Uninvited, gets a case manager for her HTS and has to go to public school. There are a handful of other students there with HTS and they all have class together. They do not change classes, they do not leave the room and - I shit you not - they sit in a cage during school hours. They do their work in there, eat in there and basically live in that cage, at their desks for the entire school day. The "teacher" sits outside the locked cage at his desk ignoring the feck out of them as best he can.

Understandable. They're all future murderers. Duh. *Rolls eyes*

There's a guy there, his name is Sean and he has his big, black H stamped on his neck. He looks like he'll snap Ms. Songbird Davy in half if she twitches her eye at him funny. S'okay. I like him. LOTS of stuff happens, and Davy eventually gets chosen for a program that I won't tell too much about because, like I said, you're going to read this. Soon. She does okay in said program, but as there are also about 20 other people there with HTS who vary in age, skills and intelligence, her piano playing and singing isn't really a talent that is very helpful. Unless they've found a way to turn a voice into a weapon of mass destruction.

   

I dunno. But in my opinion, Davy does okay.

What I didn't necessarily like: The "bad" things that happen, don't really seem all that bad because the result was too easily obtained. Am I making sense? Like, the reaction justified the action because said action got Davy and the other characters exactly where you figured they'd be. Or exactly where the author wanted them to be. So, in a way, the bad things weren't really so bad because a couple of them felt like plot devices and not so much an aw-fuck-I'm-screwed kind of thing.

All my crazies out there will get it.

The ending. Wowzers. I liked it. And I'm sort of foaming at the mouth for the next one.

So why did this get five stars instead of 4.5? Because shit got real. Because Sophie Jordan was not afraid to write about the thing no one wants to write about but everyone has an opinion on. She said the things no one wants to say and she did it so eloquently and so interestingly that anyone can read this and relate or identify with it somehow. The things that happened in this book could very well be the future of our world. One day, someone could decide to isolate an entire sect of people simply because of something they might do. Or something others like them have done in the past. The discrimination is disgusting and there were many times I wanted to throw my kindle and scream because the injustice of it all was really getting to me. On a powerful level. The fact that someone had gotten so far into people's heads with hatred and fear and caused them to hate and fear perfect strangers just struck a chord in my heart. It reminded me so very much of racism.

And I am not going to go any deeper into that aside from this: Do not judge someone on who you think they are, their exterior or what you think they might do one day. Get to know them and decide who they are to you and how they treat you. For all we know, you might kill me one day. You might not. I don't know and I cannot predict the future. And I shouldn't try.

-A.

Open Letter To All The Books I Forgot To Review

First off, I would like to send my deepest, deepest condolences for all sixteen of you on my list. I had every intention of writing shining - or snarky - reviews for each and every one of you but...things just did not pan out the way I imagined them to.

I take responsibility for your lack of reviews but I will impart some of the blame onto your darling brothers and sisters who have stolen my attention and have made it absolutely impossible for me not to pick them up and read them first. *Cough* Blame Darynda Jones and Sophie Jordan *Cough*.

So, my dear ones. I am saddened to say that some of you may not get a review - Yes, Through The Ever Night, this means you - but there are a couple of you awesome ones that deserve to be chucked on the chin by G-d, himself. Yeah, Uninvited, you sweet thing, you. You're getting one. *Blows kiss* You, too over there The Ward. 

Aaaand, a couple of you are getting reviews that may or may not will be full of snark. Mhmmm, Everneath, I'm looking at you. You, too A Shade Of Vampire. You two will most definitely be getting your reviews. Come hell or high water!

So, in conclusion I just ask that you be patient with me. These past months I've had some personal problems going on with my family that took precedence over pretty much everything else in my life. I didn't want to post another 'Update' post because come on, you're tired of reading them and I'm tired of writing them. Just know that I'm here when I can be and that the few of you who do actually take the time and read my blog are very important to me and I thank you. The aforementioned four books will be getting their reviews up within the next couple of weeks and I only hope you enjoy them. 

But why wouldn't you? I'm friggin' hilarious?

  

Right?

 

The King By J.R Ward Book Review

Shall we?

**Spoilage**

**2.85 Stars!**

The King in ten lines - More or less:

Beth: BABY! BABY! BABY!

Wrath: No babies. *Leaves and almost kills Payne in a sparring session.*

John Matthew: *As he seizes every time he lays eyes on Beth* [Comes to and just has a worried expression every single moment of every day.]

Assail: *Snorts coke*

Trez: The s'Hisbe want me to marry the Princess...but I'm lusting after this surprisingly bold Chosen.

Beth: NEED. BABY. *Slaps Wrath then goes to overeat, be emotional and feel shockingly exhausted....but not pregnant at all. Not even a little bit.*

Xcor: We must needs trick the glymera into thinking they shall keep the crown...and once they have it we kill them all....but wait. Permit me to go daydream about this Chosen [Who should've been fallen since the last book] whom I can never be good enough for.

Layla: That magnificent, treasonous, strong, disloyal male plagues my every thought. *Calls him on a whim. Panics when the sound of his phone ringing is on the other side of the wall she's behind. But doesn't run in the house to alert anyone.*

Selena: Verily, this male intrigues me...but this [new] 'disease' upon me stops me from truly allowing myself to commit my emotion fully to him. For I shall die soon...

Wrath: Holy shit, Beth! We didn't even need your needing to come on. You were already pregnant and I didn't even sense the young growing inside you with my super pure-bred vampire senses or anything!


Assail snorts more coke, Sola is still boring, Beth and Wrath end up having a young - surprise! A boy. Trez worms his way out of having to go back to the "Territory" to be the sex slave to the Princess.....aaaaand not much else interesting happens.

I suppose I didn't have too many problems with this book as I did the last. You can click HERE to go see that review if you please. Man, that one was....read the review. I can say that I enjoyed this one HEAPS more than I did Lover At Last, but when you think about it....it isn't really saying much.

We've already been through Ward and the ruins that are her timelines. And the fact that it would appear that she doesn't know or remember what she's already had happen in her past book. Par example: John's seizures were supposed to be over. And here we have him seizing out when he sees Beth. Xhex remarked somewhere in their book - I believe it was at their mating - that the separation in John's emotional grid had meshed and became one...Now she has Xhex saying that it's like he's two people.

 

Whatevs, woman. How about you read your own books before writing a new one rather than having your assistant do it for you. That way there can be no mistakes.

The Assail and Sola bits....SNOOZE. Assail is a cheap reboot of Rehvenge and I'm just over him. The rule of thumb is if you sell it, you don't use it. And he uses. A lot. Him helping out her grandmother and 'rescuing' Sola...meh. I suppose it was written to induce an emotional reaction out of readers and make us feel that he is worthy of redemption...but I didn't feel it.

Trez and his issues...I rather liked those. I've always been interested in the Shadows and what it is that they do...even though Ward got a little lazy and just said that Shadows weren't 'like normal vampires'. And that's it. For real, though? Solid.



He weasels out of it...won't tell you how. But I wasn't mad at how that happened. I also wasn't mad about him and Selena. Woooooo-EEEEE. GURRR. That Chosen is one of my favorite females. She is not afraid to say and get what she wants. I admire that in a woman.

She got what she wanted...Trez flipped the fuck out because she was a virgin and sadly Ward ends the book without anymore light shed on that one. But we were, however, introduced to this new disease Selena is suffering from. Apparently she's going to stiffen until she eventually petrifies. And her statue will be put in some hall/cemetery on The Other Side.




Why? Is this the first time we're hearing about this? Have we heard about it in another book but I skimmed past that part? THAT'S SO STOOOPID. Why is she gonna petrify? Because she doesn't have the love of a male? If so, Ward you missed. Again.

Layla...won't go to far into her but let me just tell you how fucking simple, idiotic and out of character she was. The Layla that made sure she got some lovin' from Qhuinn during her needing is not this bitch. This Layla is the simple female who took her ass out of the house on several cold nights - when she'd just missed a miscarriage scare by the skin of her fangs - to meet Xcor. The mofo hellbent on taking the crown of your beloved King. The mofo who shot your King and almost killed him.

But that's not even the best part! She was on one of her little 3am walks in the garden, gets a hankering to call the traitor and as she does, she hears his phone ringing On the other side of the fucking wall. Yeah. Like right outside the Brotherhood compound. Outside the King's home. Where all the Brothers and their Shellans - and Nalla - sleeps. And she doesn't go in the house to tell anyone. Instead she goes outside the gate to him.

At this point I was done with Layla completely...or so I thought I was. But no, Ward thought she'd kill her thoroughly in my mind. After talking with Xcor in the cold...she decides to offer him a trade. Her in exchange for him to abandon his pursuit or the throne.



WHAT DOES THAT ACCOMPLISH?! Not a damn thing.

Qhuinn, Blay, Rhage, Butch and the females were non-factors in this book. Not even mentioning most of them.

Ward seems to have missed the part in Tohr's book where she said Xhex fights with the Brotherhood - just not with John - because apparently now Payne is the only female who fights with them.

Whatevs.


What did we learn today, kids?

That it's okay to offer your pregnant body to a male whose given you every reason to fear him and none at all to trust him if you're doing it so your King can keep the throne. Even though you pretty much sulk about not being with him all night and day and in the end you would've ended up with him anyway. But it's for your King this time. So it's okay.

That it's okay to plot to dethrone the King because - haa! We outmaneuvered you and still got to keep it anyway! And you get to stay alive, too.

That's it's okay to be inconsistent in your own books because you make buckets of money and people will buy it anyway.

I swear, that's all it boils down to.


I can check another series off my TBR list.

Second Grave On The Left By Darynda Jones AOTM BR

**Spoilage**

**Four Stars!**

I'm not quite exactly sure why now, but at the time of reading this, I gave it four stars. I don't particularly remember anything too speshul about Second Grave but.... Yeah. What I do remember is that it was melodramatic. And I really did not get the whole "Hot enough to bake cookies on his abs" thing about Reyes. He was not hot to me. He was not sexy. He was...the anti-sexy.

Kinda like this 

   

He was abrasive, mean, and just....the anti-sexy. *Sigh* I won't make you look at the gif again, but you catch my drift. He was a mountain of dicks throughout the entire damn thing. I wasn't really a big fan of Charley throughout a lot of this either. She swore she knew what was best for Reyes and that he needed his corporeal body and that she'd be able to help him through it....even though he'd expressed how much he'd like the exact opposite.

In the first book, it was announced who Reyes really was and sadly, we didn't get much development on that side of things. Instead we got to search for a missing friend of Cookie's who wasn't actually really missing while a few of said 'missing' woman's friends wake up dead. I forget the plot because it just wasn't that interesting but in the end, someone comes out, a few more someone's die, a couple interesting ghosts move on, actual demons terrorize Reyes's corporeal body and Charley drinks coffee. All. The. Time.

Cookie was a delight, as always. Garret....LAHV him. He's delicious, wrapped in just the right amount of funny, dipped in awesomeness and garnished with badassery. Yes. That's a word.....now. Ubie...as always was just greatness is a bad suit.

The action wasn't lacking but I'm not surprised about that. The forced wit and sarcasm was toned down quite a bit, thankfully and I actually found a person underneath the too-witty jabs and quips. I realized that I quite like who I found - aside from the extremely selfish act she commits at the end of the book - and I've obviously enjoyed this book enough to give it four stars and keep reading. But trust me....book three is where it really starts getting interesting.

Charley Davidson No.1 : First Grave On The Right

**Spoilage**

***Three 1/2 Stars***

Charley is the Grim Reaper. Not one of. THE Grim Reaper. As in, the only. She sees the departed who hang around on Earth with unfinished business and is the portal to the other side in which they pass when they are ready. And she's also a Private Investigator who helps Ubie, aka Uncle Bob solve his cases. 

Charley...what can we say about Charley? Well, Charley has enough personality for six of us and a lot of the time, I wasn't really too fond of it. She was...how do I say this? She was wordy...In a too sarcastic, annoying-piss-me-off kinda way. Like, there was always a wise crack coming out of her mouth. And truth be told, it was not always funny. Alas, I still found her personality likeable.

Which, as evidence of my experience with the Chicagoland Vampire Series, is extremely important. If you can't relate to your MC or you don't like their voice, then reading those books is going to feel like torture. Most of the characters, with the exception of Reyes, were such a delight, I could hardly stand all their awesome. Cookie is just....she's amazeBALLS. Uncle Bob is comedy wrapped in a bad suit. Angel... man, oh, man he's a character. Mr. Wong....he's a little creepy. But not more so than Reyes. The entire role he played in this first book was just....very creepy. I love him now... LOVE. HIM. But I was not loving him at first. Well...the nightly sex dreams weren't terrible, per say...but mostly everything else was. I won't give it away completely...but he was creeptacular.

 
Charley first meets Reyes when she was younger. 15, I think. She and her sister were doing some sort of project for their class; one involving Charley and Gemma to take their asses to the rough part of town and film the goings on of those less fortunate than them. I won't even go into how many ways that was stupid, but we'll press on. In a building nearby their designated hang-out spot, Charley spots a 17 year old Reyes getting his clock cleaned and rewired and she decided to "save" him. Long story short, she throws a brick in the window, he ends up downstairs telling her to leave before she got hurt and he called her Dutch.

Years pass, a trio of lawyers get murdered and the APD are called in to save the day. Charley talks to a few of our dearly departed, helps them pass and learns that she is so much more awesome than she initially thought. And I mean it. She's totally fetch. So...Go read it. Like, now.

February 2014 Author Of The Month

Okay...I have a confession. I totally started reading these books back in January.

 

I know, I know. But I just couldn't help myself!! If you've read them, you know what I'm saying. THEY'RE JUST SO FRIGGIN AMAZING. But you will see why when you find out who this author is.....annnnnnddddd she is....

Don't recognize awesomesauce when you see it? That's okay. I didn't at first either. But I've mended my ways and started reading her books about my favorite grim reaper. Still no clue? Okay....how about this one?

If you don't know now then feel free to stand in Reyes' way...or change your name to Hedeshi and try to steal from him. Whichever floats your goat.

Darynda Jones.

And I'll leave you with that until you can ease your mind with the review I'll post shortly. Because when I said I started reading them last month...I meant I finished all five in as many days. I know. I'm sorry....but I'm not.

Chicagoland Vamps #2: Friday Night Bites By Chloe Neill

**Spoilage**

***3 Stars***

I want so very badly to say I loved the second installment of the Chicagoland Vampires series...but I can't. And I'm more than a bit bummed because of that.

I thought that book two would bring about some ground-breaking character growth and story progression...I thought that Mallory would become more interesting and realize she hadn't fallen in love with Catcher after only a few days of knowing him...I wanted Ethan to rip off his shirt Merit's clothes and have his beastly way with her. I wanted Merit to stop being such an indecisive twit. But I didn't get any of that. And it makes me sad. Mostly because Ethan didn't tear anyone's clothes off. What? I'm entitled to some nudity every few fifty pages.

Merit was doing A LOT of recapping throughout a nice chunk of the book, which prompted me to skim a few pages. I mean, recapping is okay for those people that will pick up a book and read it even though they know it's part of a series and is not book one. But whatevs. I will not let an idiot ruin a book for me.

Ethan and Merit continued their dance of  "I like him but I don't want to like him because he only likes me because he doesn't really want to". Which is as crazy as it sounds. What's worse? That's basically their relationship. With the exception of Merit fawning over him one second, calling him leige and pulling her Sentinel rank and just generally kissing his ass, she's almost always bringing up him changing her without her permission.

Merit is amazing at the Katas - something pertaining to the three foot knives they carry belted at their waists. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Merit is sexy, everyone wants to bone her - Even the Mayor of Chicago which, I got the impression, that dislikes supernatural creatures but hit on her when he got the chance. Merit is strong, Merit is impressive....blah, blah, blah. Merit. Merit. Merit. 

I'm so bored with Merit. Everything is handed to her. There's no conflict, no growing into her abilities, no trials - well, not any interesting ones, at least. And she's just so hurt because her childhood friend and ex boyfriend doesn't like that she'd become a vampire. Duh. 

Your family is all rich and hoity-toity. So are their friends. You've become a mistress of the night - literally. 

There wasn't really much of anything interesting going on...Merit went to a few parties with Ethan as per his orders, schmoozed a few of the local rich folks...they "solved a case" which wasn't really a case at all. Found yet another traitor in Ethan's house and a foe from the first book which isn't really such a great foe in the first place comes back. With a vengeance. As if they don't always do that anyway....Merit pushes everyone who actually admits to caring about her away. And I'm like

Which really made me sad. I really did like Morgan. Waaaay more than Ethan's generic laid-back, blonde, cliche'd arrogant and entitled self. 

And there's this ridiculous wedge that get's thrown in between Mallory and Merit just for the sake of breaking up their friendship. Methinks Mrs. Neill wants to give the little sorceress and Catcher their own little magical spin-off. I hope not. I doubt I'd read it.

Chicagoland Vampires No.1 : Some Girls Bite By Chloe Neill

**Spoilage**

***Three Stars***

So. I finally got around to starting the Chicagoland Vamps series and honestly....I'm left with the impression of Meh. I just wasn't wowed by what I read. By no means was it a bad book...it wasn't great...I didn't love it...I didn't hate it...It was just...I enjoyed it...? I dunno. I definitely didn't hate it.



As you can see, I'm feeling a bit conflicted about it all.

Merit, our MC wasn't really very likeable for me. I mean, I get the sense that tons of people out there would and do love her because, admittedly, she was pretty funny sometimes and I admire that in a woman. But there just always felt like there was something a lot lacking in her personality for me. I mean, sure she was supposed to be smart - multiple fancy college degrees kinda smart - but she just kept DOING. STUPID. SHIT. Whyyy walk across a college campus in the middle of the night alone in any world? I mean, even if Vampires hadn't just had their coming out party a few months prior, there are still rapists and murderers afoot. And you live in Chicago. One of the most dangerous cities in the country. You should know better. And throughout the entire story, she would do stupid shit then berate herself later for doing it instead of using that Big Ole' noggin of hers the first time around. I mean, I guess it makes for good conflict in a story but I just didn't care for the simple-mindedness that Merit exhibited - and continues to do so throughout the series.

I really like the basics behind the Chicagoland Vamps series. The deal is that most Vampires are changed and then belong to a House. Which is basically Fraternities and Sororities all mixed in. Some college-based behavior still remains. IE: the immaturity some of the vamps exhibit. But that's a different thing all together! And we shall get to that soon enough.

Houses. Each House has a Master which is basically what it sounds like. Some old asked vamp who is strong, powerful, can put the fear of God in your vampire hearts, and so on and so forth. You call this Master 'Leige' and are basically his/her one-named servant.

No. Seriously. You no longer are important or individual enough to have a last name. You now belong to the House you are changed into and only your Liege is good enough for his or her last name.

But whatevaa. The premise behind the Houses was very interesting to me and I liked that I haven't read something like this in an adult...ish book. So. Everything would be going great and I'd be really liking where it was going, then Merit would do something funky and take me to a place like this

   

Par example: this baby vampire performing back-flips days after being changed after which she challenges her Master and they spar. During which he doesn't hand her her ass all chopped up into several unidentifiable pieces in a matchbox. All her fantastical acrobatics and agility got credited to her being a former ballerina.



Last I checked, back-hand springs and round-offs aren't standard training for ballerinas. but whatevs. I could get past that. Because at that point, I was kinda liking Ethan. Forewarning: That like for Ethan - 397 year old Master of Cadogan House, that is - is very, very short-lived.

Then, other times, I'd be in a spot in which eye rolling was the popular thing to do. And out of nowhere - BAM! I'd get sideswiped by something so friggin' awesome I'd be like

 

Alas, those were short lived, too.  I feel like a lot happens in this book, and somehow it was all cohesive and moved the story along but at the same time, I feel like we could've gotten to the same endpoint without Merit having to be so stupid. LOL. I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry. I want to like Merit. Really, I do. But she...I....ay dios. I did enjoy the book though so I guess Mrs. Neill can get a big fat Mission Accomplished.

January 2014 AOTM + A Few Fun Things

Just a couple fun things. 'Few' implies more than two and I don't even think there are three fun things going on in my life.... *Crickets* Yeah. Probably not.

So. I trust you all have been having a stellar new year and brought it in SAFELY.  *Gives best mom-stare...watches everyone cower behind their monitors until they nod obediently* Now that my mother complex has been eased...I come to you today with your January Author Of The Month. And she is..... *Drumroll*

CHLOE NEILL!!!!

Isn't she perty? I'd never saw her face before tonight and I thought she'd be a blonde....dunno why. Just did.

Anysnooch, I do plan on reading her other series as well but for now, I'm starting with Chicagoland Vampires. Have you heard of it? I bet ya have. I admit, I'm behind in my reading but I went through this funk thing...where I only finished 27 books last year. Yeah. Sad. BUT, you can check my last post of 2013 for a recap on those books HERE.

I'm on book three now, at the present moment but I'm moving through them rather quickly. Much faster than I imagined I would....ya know. Since that whole funk thing I mentioned. *Shivers* Reading ruts are no fun and I feel for my bookish peeps who've been there. I KNOW YOUR STRUGGLE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!

Yeah...come to think of it...I don't even have a couple fun things. But enjoy this gif! =D

Isn't it DARLING?! I like to think of it as an improvement on the original. What do you think?