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?

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.

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.

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.

Reading Recap Of 2013: My Year In Books

Told ya I'd get this up, now didn't I? *Winks*

Anywhoozlebees, as per my Goodreads, I've finished a whopping 31 27 books this year! Yes, I know. Don't get yourself too excited. I've started TONS more but didn't finish them all and certainly wasn't moved to write a review for them. Alas, for the ones I did, I will give you their title, a link to their corresponding review if I've written one and a sentence from said review to sum up my feelings for it.

In no particular order:

The Darkest Pleasure: Lords Of The Underworld #3 - 

"Such a shame that this book didn't get interesting until about 66% in."

Review HERE.

The Darkest Passion: LOTU #5

"The last three chapters or so were one of the only redeeming qualities for this book. It draaaagged 85% of the way through!"

Review HERE.

Lover At Last: Black Dagger Brotherhood #11

"Meh."

Review HERE.

Ever After: The Hollows #11

"For me, three stars for Ever After is generous."

Review HERE.

Twice Tempted: Night Prince #2

"How many books is she trying to squeeze out of this? I don't want to read the same book three-five times. It's exhausting."

Review HERE.

Desolate City: Albertos #1

"Yeah. Still confused. And not a single page feels like it is connected to the next."

Review HERE.

Charmed : The Charmed  #1

"Isnt this awkward? Infuriated. I want to be in love with this book but the emotional leaps are wigging me out. "

Review HERE.

Under Wraps: Underworld Detection Agency #1

"Sophie is an idiot. Just when I start to like her, too. Smh."

Review HERE.

Birth Of The Nyxian: The Immortal Choice Series # 1

"Oh. Insta-love. Cool."

Review HERE.

Prayer For The Dead: Revenants In Purgatory #1

"Olivia's voice is incredibly entertaining and likable. This hardly feels like a debut! It's fantastic."

Review HERE.

In doing this, I've realized that a few of the books I enjoyed the most aren't on this list. So they get a special shoutout! 

FAVORITE books of 2013:

Prayer For The Dead

Poison Princess

Endless Knight.

Funny how Kresley Cole has two of the three fave titles, huh? Lol A very close runner up for fave is:

Under The Never Sky.

My review for Endless Knight will be up shortly-ish but for now, I'm going to enjoy my NYE. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And a HUGE thank you for tagging along on this ride with me. I am so thankful for anyone reading this, there aren't words. I appreciate you very much and expect big things from me in 2014! I feel very good about this year <3 div="">

--Amiya <3 div="">

Prayer For The Dead by Nicki Scalise Book Review

**Spoilage**

**4 Stars**

Wow. For starters, let me just say that I started this book thinking it was an Urban Fantasy and there would be action, a badass antagonist and the occasional love scene. What I got was almost the exact opposite. But I was SO okay with that. More than okay, actually.

That's not to say that this wasn't chock full of win at every turn of the page. It was. But this was a love story through and through. I won't even go into how I feel about books that are primarily about love....because we'd be here all friggin' day. What I will say is that they are not my first choice of reading material by far. I do not do well with love stories without some form of action. You can tell I didn't read the blurb all the way through....Sue Me.....That being said...I adored this story.

Prayer For The Dead is Nicki Scalise's debut novel. I've read my fair share of debut novels and lemme tell ya', this does not read like a debut. It reads like a seasoned author who know what she's doing, knows exactly who her characters are, where she is taking them, and has a kick ass editor on staff. 

Olivia, our MC, is SUPER likeable. She's funny, down to earth and as I read from her perspective, I felt I could really connect with her...ya know, if she were a real person living in the real world versus purgatory. Speaking of, let's get into that briefly....world building. In the book, purgatory exists parallel to our world in geography and aesthetics only. The people that occupy this world...are all dead. I know. Bummer, right? These are all the people that get "stuck" in limbo. Allow me to break it down.

When you die, you do not automatically get to pass on to heaven. You need the people who loved you in your living state to mourn you and/or pray for you. IE, give you a proper funeral, cry and express their want for you to go to heaven, etc. If you do not get enough prayers in a specific amount of time....you remain in purgatory like Olivia, her brother, her best friend and everyone else. Ergo, Prayer For The Dead. I think that is the coolest shit ever. I've NEVER read a book like that and it made the romance-fest that followed durable.

Now, for the things that stopped this from being a five-star rating. The romance. It's just not my thing.They fell for each other a bit fast, IMO. Time passed  for the charries, but not on the pages where I could witness. We got one of those "It had been five weeks and..." so on and so forth.The big-bad was a little predictable, the love interest, Drake wasn't my idea of a heart-throb, and some of the things that happened after Drake's past was revealed just didn't really do much for me. BUT, if I still enjoyed it through all that, it's a damn good book. Haha. Usually I get really spoiler-y but I won't go too far because I want anyone gearing up to read this to enjoy it as much as I did. 

Happy Reading!

September Author Of The Month & Book Review

This is SO late, but obviously I had the intention of writing this BEFORE the first of October snuck up and bit me right in the fanny. *Shakes head* 

Anysnooch....Last month's AOTM was Hannah Jayne and for her month, I began her Underworld Detection Agency series. Under Wraps was the first of five - thus far - and I...damn it all, I enjoyed it. Despite myself.

**Spoilage**

**3 1/2 Stars**

First things first: DAT COVAAAH. Pretty awesome huh? Before you even read the blurb it kinda lets you in on what the book is about, right? You've got the Golden Gate Bridge, the full moon high in the sky; pretty indicative of wolves, IMO. Oh, and theres this redhead looking all badass with a BIG ASS sword in her hand.

Aaaand, thats where the info pretty much starts misleading you. Sophie Lawson is that redhead. She is not badass. She NEVER even holds the damn sword and the only time she even wears leather, it's a dress. 

WAIT, though! If after reading the blurb, you decide you don't want to read about a redhead in an UF setting with a Fancy Vamper as a sidekick because it's just too Rachel Morgan/Ivy Tamwood-esque for you - which by the by, is a fan-forking-tastic series. Go read that shit. - fear not! The similarities between The Hollows and the UDA series' ends there. Redheads who work/used to work in office-like settings with paranormal beings, a vampire sidekick, can be funny sometimes....and that's about it.

Where Rachel is badass, Sophie cries. Where Rachel isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, Sophie...well...she cries. Bottom line? Sophie cries. Sophie....man. What else can I say about Sophie? Well, she was not very likeable for me pretty much from the start. If she wasn't ogling a nearby man, she was crying - sometimes literally - about this or that. And for a 32 year old woman who works with denizens of the Underworld, I would expect a much higher constitution for nonsense. Alas, Sophie remained a whiner pretty much throughout all of this book. She volunteers to help the SFPD out with the case then changes her mind when she realizes that - GASP! - someone was actually murdered and she might have to get her hands dirty. She was SO obtuse, it grated on my nerves.

Nina...she was just there. I didn't really care for all her witicisms though, since her presence consisted entirely of them and them alone.But whatevs. It could've been worse.

Vlad was just a joy to read. I found his character really easy to like and the fact that he fits every single vampire sterotype out there is just giggle-worthy. In a good way, though.

Parker Hayes/Alex Grace. Meh. I didn't care for his fake Cop persona and cared even less for his big-bad-secret Fallen Angel persona. He was very cookie-cutter hero for me. He was "hot" with blue eyes, can handle a gun, has a killer smile - yadda, yadda. But there was nothing original about him. Nothing tossed in with all his hotness to make him even remotely different from the Stock-Sexy Heroes from any other book. *Shrug*

Steve the Troll - dear Gawd he had me the moment he sauntered onto a page with his gross smelling self. He. Was. DELIGHTFUL. Positively lovely.

The plot/big-bad for this book was really awesome; I've never read anything about the Sword of Bethesda. What kinda sucked was how long it took to get there. Most of the book, we're reading about Sophie drooling over Parker, Nina wearing her 1800's vintage couture, Vlad blasting his music and Parker being "Inexplicably hot" all the time. Kinda upset that this is even labeled Urban Fantasy. It should be labeled Romance with some Paranormal elements. Because that's really what it was. 

Sophie's presence in this book was so minute because everything and everyone else overshadowed her. She has no magical ability. None. She is descendant of a Seer and she has no abilities. She doesn't even develop them in any part of the book. Which was a bit depressing. How can Sophie be our MC in a world full of magical beings, where she is literally surrounded by them all day at her job and have no abilities of her own? I suppose to some, this might be a selling point so you can see exactly how she grows but I think she should be able to do something aside from being immune to all charmed items/being able to see through charms.

Its weird, because I give this three and a half stars because I really did enjoy it despite how this review reads. It was witty, the plotline was damn interesting, the characters - aside from our spotlight couple - were delightully engaging and even though Sophie drove me crazy with all her whining, I wanted to keep reading and find out what was going to happen next. And I'm going to be reading the rest of the series....So, I suppose it was a mission accomplished, huh?

AOTM Birth Of The Nyxian BR!

**Spoilage**

**2 Stars**

As some of you know - and most of you care nothing about - I decided to start an Author Of The Month thing and I started with Amanda R. Browning and her first book titled Birth Of The Nyxian.

That being said, I didn't care much for what I read and I only got about 45% done. I started it on 7/21, or so Goodreads says, and on 8/10, I was only 45% done. It never takes me that long to read a book. And still, today on 9/8, I have not finished it nor do I have any desire to do so.

Harlow and Aiden are just too perfect for each other. Harlow loves vampires and Aiden loves that she loves vampires and isn't afraid of them. Harlow has long auburn hair and Aiden loves girls with auburn hair. Aiden is Irish or Scottish and Harlow just happens to be a huge history buff who happens to have a picture of his childhood home up on her wall.





It's just too much. There was no building of their relationship, nothing to make her think twice, no courting - it was basically insta-love. There were absolutely no plot devices - when there should have been - to try and force them apart - NADA. It was too perfect.

The sex scenes weren't terrible....but they weren't great either. Par example:  "I lifted myself and aligned him with my entrance."




I'm pretty sure it was an attempt to have 'tasteful' and non-descriptive sex scenes but the effort doesn't come across in the writing. I read somewhere that this was "YA" but I highly doubt that. there ARE sex scenes, all characters are very adult and the situations are nothing a teen - even when suspending reality - would be able to relate to.

Technically, this book was all over the map. There were very few typos, if any. But the POV's all sounded the same, things that Harlow had already explained that happened were getting repeated by Aiden in his POV, the dialogue was pretty bad - I mean, nothing flowed. It was written without the reader in mind. Every situation was explained to the point where there was no guessing and no suspense. It was very predictable. Which beta readers and any editor worth his or her salt should have caught and red flagged BEFORE publishing. Mind you, I'd only read just under half of this book.

I suppose if I read more, I would understand where Nyx fit into all of this, but from what I read - which should have been more than enough to explain - Nyx felt like an afterthought thrown in to try and spice up a love story. Which is really what this was about, IMO. I'm all for love stories, but when the rest of your story is consumed and overshadowed by the believablity of your love story, you have a problem.

I didn't care much for the writing, the characters or the storyline but for people who LOVE sappy romance, I say go for it and you'll more than likely love it. Those like me who like action and a really plot-driven book with twists and turns, I would not recommend this to you.

I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid and will not recieve any kind of compensation for posting this.

Third Person POV & Mira Teaser

I tend try to stay away from third POV for the simple fact that I kinda dislike how mine reads. It's a bit pretentious and a lot impersonal. But then again, I think a lot of the 3rd POV's out there by various authors sound impersonal. Yes, I get that I am, in a way, just an observer. But most of the time, I like to feel like I'm right there beside the MC, experiencing every nuance of their adventure with them; their fear is mine and their romance is, too.

That being said...I have a teaser/snippet from one of my WIPs and I'd like feedback on whether my 3rd POV is completely terrible tolerable. Lol


"“Okay,” Mira whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “Tonight is about us.” She started her personal pep talk. “Tonight will be amazing.” She could hear David’s key jingling in the door when her heart started kicking up speed. “Deep breaths, Mira.”
    As soon as the lights in the house went flickered, Mira knew it wasn’t David at the door. Her pupils dilated, blood rushed through her veins, thumping too hard in her ears. A chill of familiarity skittered down her spine, squaring her shoulders and settling in her stomach. 
    It started to burn where it lay, singeing though it wasn’t fear. She’d known this day would come for the last couple decades. Besides, fear was reserved for the ill prepared and the weak. Mira was neither and fear was a luxury she never could afford. 
    The lights flickered again, casting dark shadows in the house she’d called home for the past five years; making potted plants and light fixtures much more sinister than they’d ever been. A brief twist of pain struck her in the gut right before she was thrown off her feet; as if being pulled by an invisible force. Mira soared through the air until her back hit a wall, the force of her one hundred thirty pound frame buckling it. Air whooshed from her lungs, catching on her tonsils and choking her just in time to steal the words coming from her lips.
    “No, no. Don’t get up on account of me. I’m just here to kill you.” The smile in that familiar voice was obvious. “What? You don’t look too happy to see me, doll. You had to know that I’d find you sooner or later. Whatever could be the matter?” The door flew open and that petite figure she knew stood in the doorway, her voice taunting Mira with every syllable.
    “Oh, I don’t know, Chris.” Mira ground out; refusing to be anything but her normal bitingly sarcastic self. “Maybe the dwarf pinning me to my foyer wall and mucking up my freshly polished African Teak floors with dog shit on her last season Prada knock-offs?” Mira gave the woman a taunting smirk before fire flared on her left cheek.
    “I see you still haven’t acquired any manners.” Chris said tiredly. “Doesn’t really surprise me.”
    “Who needs manners when I can piss you off easier with a few simple well placed four-letter words?” the sting of a slap came back to Mira’s face, the residual effects of the hexwork leaving an acrid scent in the air. “Resorting to using hexes for little ole me, Chris? I’m flattered.”
    “Just getting started.” The small woman smiled and pulled a palm-sized vial of something dark from her pocket and unscrewed the top; beginning to chant in Latin. 
    “What,” Mira bit out around the pain of her jaw locking up on her. “No circle?” She asked as three lone droplets of a dark, inky liquid hit the floor. Mira hoped that wasn’t what she thought it was.
    “I would, but hubby is due shortly. Wouldn’t want him to interrupt.” The chanting in Latin resumed and Mira chuckled darkly, finding a morbid sort of amusement out of the entire situation. 
    She recognized the words, of course. The curse was written by her. "

Pg 4 of Untitled WIP

Sooooo....thoughts? Opinions? Rainbow gifs?

:D

One And Two Star Book Reviews: Useless?

Evening! Fancy seeing me here again, eh?

Anyway, I was involved in a heated discussion on a bookish page from my personal fb last night - and this morning - and the question was:

"Those of you who write book reviews, will you NOT leave a review if you rate it less than a certain number of stars? Authors, do you prefer that readers/reviewers not leave a review if it's less than a specific number of stars? What's the "cut off point" for you?"

I was astonished to see quite a few reviewers - some well known among the fb AND goodreads bookish circles - saying that they don't post reviews under three stars. 

What? Well, why the hell not? 

As a reviewer, is it or is it not your duty to inform me - the reader - of the contents of a book BEFORE I read it? Isn't your purpose to tell everyone how good - OR BAD, which was where the problem arises - this book was before I go and spend X amount of dollars and numerous hours I cannot get refunded on this beast? Why be a book blogger if the only reviews you post are for "good" books? How can you consider yourself a reviewer if you never have a negative opinion about a book you read? We know all of them aren't gems. We're reading bad books, too! And as the consumer - the most important person in this whole publishing/reading scenario - we owe it to the author to tell them whether or not their books need work. If we don't, they'll never grow and continue to write crap books.

Am I the only one outraged over this?!

I must be. Because when I mentioned that I don't descriminate between good and bad books; that they alllll get a review posted, most of everyone there almost shat their pants. You do everyone involved a disservice when you only post 4 or 5 star book reviews. Because to the unsuspecting public, it looks like you LURVE all the books you read. How am I susposed to believe the word of someone who doesn't dislike anything? We don't get to see that email you send to the author giving them your thoughts and critiques. We don't know any of that is happening. To us, you just look dishonest. And to be frank, your opinion on every book you've ever read has just been called into question. You've taken the honesty out of book reviewing. And I shant read another you write.

So, readers and reviewers alike, I ask you now.....would you review a book you rated less than three stars? And if not, why? 

--A.

Twice Tempted by Jeaniene Frost

**Spoilage**

3.78 Stars. A very high 3.78 stars.

As much as I wanted to give this 2 stars, I just can't. No matter how little I like a plot she does, which characters she decided to fuck over or tweak their personality, or which one she ultimately decides to kill give a spin-off series to, this woman is a PHENOMENAL writer. She obviously cares about what she sells or else we'd be getting a new Night Huntress book every six-nine months. And that, above book sales, book signings, appearances, movie deals and all that shit lots of other "authors" are doing is what I respect and love the most.

It is no secret that the Night Huntress series isn't my favorite of all time. Sometimes the plot....eh. I just don't always get it but her characters - I always love.

That being said, I will repeat an earlier opinion of mine and say I wish she would have just left Vlad in Night Huntress. Sometimes. Yes, even Dracula needs love but he just felt better as a supporting role in NH. He was SO badass - still is, but I just don't like him in this role of savior and protector as much as he is in both the Night Prince books. And Leila and her family are always needing protecting. I just...more abduction, Frost? Really? I thought we were done with that. I want us to be done with that. I NEED us to be done with that.

Anysnooch, Leila has never been my favorite female. But then again, neither was Kira at first and I really grew to love her. But no, Leila still hasn't grown on me completely and I think that's partly because of her waffle-like personality. One minute she's balls to the wall bossing around the scariest motherfucker in the world, and the next she's crying because he won't tell her he loved her. I mean, part of it is understandable but c'mon dude. You're having sex with Dracula. You had to know it wasn't gonna be all lollipops and rainbows and he wasn't going to fawn all over you, telling you he loves you every second of every day.

For that, you might want to go see Spade. He's in the spin-off series right before yours. Book one. Now, don't dawdle visiting hours are almost up.

A few things really ground my gears for this book. Like, how Leila actually believed Vlad would try and kill her after she refused his offer to turn her in front of his line. Please. Just please, human you are inconsequential. Even with your business hand flowing full of electricity.

And how obvious it was that the vamper from the circus bombing was the bad guy/bitch/culprit behind the attack and Leila conveniently forgets to mention she saw her at the scene of the crime. Throughout the entire book, we read about this "thick brown/chestnut hair" on this vampire whose face she can't see and when it really counts, she never connects the two.

WHAT THE FUCKETY FUCK?!?!

It was just too obvious to the readers. I feel that if Frost was going to give us hints about the big bad, they should have been more subtle and more infrequent. Because she made her MC look dumb as a box of rocks. And since she hangs around vampers for the better part of her life, one would expect her to be a wee bit smarter.

I expected her to somehow become a vampire, so I wont bother putting spoiler brackets around this. We all knew she'd be Vlad's HEA and being human, she has an expiration date so...yeah. She had two options : Ghoul or vamper. Not that hard to figure out.

One Two Three more things I didn't like:

One: The fact that Vlad is supposed to be this big imposing vampire and he has all these traitors among his own people. Nope. I don't accept it.

Two: Vlad really jumped up the overprotective/borderline abusive vampire ass for this book. Waaay too much. Don't threaten to lock me up for using my own abilities because you don't like it. So what I hemorrhage from my facial orifices like I've contracted Ebola and have actually died once from it. Don't get your fangs in a snit.




Three: This Sziglayi or whatevaaa is name is, is still a factor. No! I'm over it and him. This is basically, book one with some stranger bitch using magic, an explosion, a wedding and a hell of a lot less sex between Vlad and Leila.  We're still being kidnapped and used for our seeing abilities, we're still crying cause Vlad won't tell us he loves us, We're still impaling folks - nothing has changed! How many books is she trying to squeeze out of this? I don't want to read the same book three-five times. It's exhausting.

Aye dios.

Self-Publishing? Yay or Nay?

I see an abundance of self-published/Indie authors all over my timeline when I'm on facebook. Yes, on my personal facebook I literally go around "Liking" several dozen Indie Authors' pages, looking their published pieces up on google, Goodreads, Amazon - anywhere people talk about them - to see what they write about, how many people read them, how popular they are, what people say in their reviews of their books; ya know, shit like that. I think that, as an aspiring author and avid reader, one can never be too informed about what's hot on the market and what people are flocking to in their reading tastes. If an Indie author's book has hit the NYT's or USA Today's Bestseller lists, I damn well need to know who they are, what they write and how much they charge for an e-book so I can read that shit asap.

I've also read a blog post very recently by Suzie Townsend, a literary agent at New Leaf, and it reminded me of several things:

1. The conversation I had with my friend about self-publishing.
2. I have too many indie books on my kindle that I have not read and need to get to like, ASAP. And
3. Why I don't self publish.

Yes, I have a finished MS and yes, I've thought about self-publishing it several times.

The problem is that I don't want to.

So, the convo with my friend. She's SUPA talented; writes thee most AMAZEBALLS Spoken Word/Slam Poetry that I've ever had the honor of hearing. She's unpublished but prefers it that way; her work really is best heard and not read. The emotion isn't really conveyed on paper so much as when you hear it. Anyway...

She says that there is no integrity in self-publishing. I disagreed and I still disagree. I don't see anything wrong with publishing your own work yourself. You get all the royalties, you get full and final say on what gets chopped and what gets left, you have free reign on what you want your cover to look like - the works. But you also get the negative backlash if that book doesn't sell.

Of course,  that could and does happen to those who choose to query agents and all that jazz but when you self-publish, there is nothing to fall back on. Let's say you write a full 80k+ word novel. You get your ideal cover and self-publish. You couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. But it doesn't sell like you think it will.

Okay, we've cried and moved past that. Now, we want to take it and shop it to agents and publishing houses to try something different OR you take a completely different MS and shop it. In your query you should mention your self-published book. Said agent will look it up if he/she is interested and will ask you how it sold. If it didn't sell well, it does not inspire confidence in your agent that this next MS will sell. 

OR, if you're shopping the self-pubbed one around and they take you as a client, they now have a MS that they cannot sell to a publishing house. Because if it didn't sell when you self-pubbed it, chances are a new cover, jazzed up blurb and a famous name behind it won't help it sell either. It is the SAME words, SAME story. Just in different packaging. 

Now there are some cases where self-published authors make it to the NYT's best selling list. Like Jamie McGuire, Shanora Williams and Tracey Garvis-Graves. But not everyone can or will do that when they've self-published.

Personally, I'd like to have a few manuscripts under my belt first.Get a hold on my own writing style, let it develop a bit more and just generally KNOW and recognize my work when I see it. I hope someone understands what I mean when I say that. I also want my books published by a well-known publishing house. No, not because I think my work is better than anyone else's or that I deserve it more but because I believe in my writing. I believe it can stand on it's own next to the St. Martin's Press publishings. I believe in my own ability to write great books and I will not rest until I have made someone smile with words I have written down on a piece of paper.

Like I've already said, self-publishing can turn into something amazing for some authors. It's just not something I want to do at this early stage in my writing. 

Happy Writing!  --A.

Lover At Last by J.R Ward

Whaaaaat?! TWO simultaneous posts? HOW FRIGGIN COOL AM I?!

Answer: SHE'S B-AWESOME!

Anywhoo, here ya go. Make of it what you will and bother me not with foolish questions. For I do it all for thou.

**Spoilage**

**2 GENEROUS stars**

Lover At Last in ten lines - More or less:

The Omega: "Make more impotent, pigment challenged men so we can sell drugs."

Qhuinn: (While crying) "Blaylock is having sex with my man-whore cousin and I seemed to have lost my ability to function because of it."

Layla: (after declaring herself a Fallen Chosen) "I can do naught but think of him...and berate myself for thinking of such a traitorous male."

Assail: "I am a cheap Rehvenge reboot with two "twins" I call Trez 2 and iAin't." [Instead of iAm. Get it?]

Qhuinn: (As he begs Blay to have sex with him.) "I'll take you any way I can have you."

Blaylock: "Too bad. I really love you, too but our author placed all these unnecessary plot devices in my way so I can't tell you."

Xcor: "I long for my dearest Chosen who is too good for me but continue to plot against her King who shelters, feeds and protects her."

Qhuinn: "FUCKIN' RIGHT, I'm inducted to the Brotherhood! But Blay still hates me so I'll go drink myself into oblivion."

Blaylock: "You're in love with me Qhuinn? Really?"

Ward: "And they lived happily ever after."

Meh.

But seriously, though. This is basically it. That last line, the happily ever after one, is REALLY in the book. Like Ward couldn't figure out another way to end it. I was all




I didn't really have high expectations of this book because come on, were her last two really that good? But, somehow I still found myself disappointed.

Not a single line in this book did Qhuinn any justice. Every page in this book made him sound inept, stupid, incapable and whiny. Although I was less than pleased with most of this book, it did help me see that I don't really like him and Blaylock together like I thought I would. Three books ago, I was all for "Qhuay" and I was up in arms when two other books came, went and SUCKED and there was nothing even remotely indicative of Qhuinn and Blaylock even being friends much less starting a relationship. But now, I'm all




It just doesn't work for me. Or at least, it doesn't now. How it was written just made Qhuinn so codependent and blah if he wasn't with him. Which, for me just didn't do much. What happened to the strong males who lived up to their Vampire names? Protected the King of the race with their own lives? Ripped lessers to itty bitty pieces for their mates and plow through anything and anyone to get them?

And just generally kick ass?! Where have they gone? Has me feeling like this



If you don't know that song...go to google and search Rihanna. Cause she's fuckin' awesome.

Anysnooch, Blay was a mountain of dicks throughout the entire book. Treated Qhuinn like a common whore and not his former best friend....And that's really all I have to say about that. Oh, and he came out to his parents. That part was awesome. His parents rock.

Saxton...meh. He never was a favorite of mine so I wasn't particularly broken up about his hurt feelings.



Layla's pregnancy bits are one of the few aspects of this book that I did like. I kept skimming through most of everything else to know what happened and I must admit, I'm happy with how it turned out. I also really liked her little bit with Xcor. I don't know what it is, but I really like those two together. Xcor would just be so appreciative of her love and Layla would be absolutely doted on. Aside from the issue with him being a Bastard and her being a Chosen living in the King's house and all that, I think he'll somehow end up her HEA. Ward is very hush hush on the matter but if enough fans express their liking for that particular pairing, she'll make it happen. Wanna know how I know? Because we have Qhuay. Even though Ward said she already knew who Qhuinn's female would be like, five books ago. *Shrug*

Wrath, Payne, some Trez and Selena and the Layla/Xcor bits are probably the only redeeming qualities for this book. Most of it really dragged for me.

It wasn't all bad, though. This book really put into stark relief how much I dislike her writing style. All the "Umm...Yeah"ing, the "What do you know"s and basically the little bits that just make you think her characters are just so cool get on my nerves. It was okay in the beginning but ten books later and I'm over it. One of my main issues with Ward is her timelines. She waffles on them and confuses her readers. It's also very obvious that no one bothers to edit this woman anymore. So many pages and too much of it did nothing to push the plot along. We got almost nothing about the lessers and what they're doing besides working with a vampire to sell more drugs. It's old, dude. Can we do something else?

I won't even bother to get into the bad missteps concerning her M/M love scenes. I'm sure you'll read many a ranting review about the absence of lube or finger prep all on your onesie sabby. [Sorry, Watched some Jack Sparrow lately.]

She has so many characters and side storylines that I'm confused about why she even bothers with the lessers anyway. Trez and his issue with his people, Sola and her grandmother, Assail and his Shadow dopplegangers, The Bastards and their quest for the throne that Ward seems to be hellbent on giving to Xcor. It's just so much that I find myself not caring about more than half of it.

All in all, I give this book a shrug. I'm so dangerously close to dropping the series that I kind of don't care whose book is next. Undoubtedly, it'll be full of more romance than action. Which sucks. She's lost so much of the war with lessers to the romance, that I don't know if she can make this next book magic enough to save this series.

**Images Copyright to their Respective Owners

The Misunderstood "Alpha Male"

Essentially, this post is just a branch off my last post about a particular subset of romance novels that have taken the reading world by storm in the last year or so.

The post in question can be found HERE. Peruse it, get familiar with it if you like. If you do not care to read it, then I'll paraphrase as best as I can. 

Abusive books, blahblahblah, Young women being misled in the ways of romance, blahblah. I'm appalled that people read these kinds of books and praise them as much as they do when they live unhealthy relationships and know how uncool it is, blahbleeeblooo. Authors using BDSM as a smokescreen for abusive 'heroes' - and I use that term loosely. My hero doesn't need to know my bank account number or need me to sign a contract before we engage in physical activities. - blah. You get the picture.

Yes. I can "blah" myself. I wrote it. :P

Anywho, I've been cruising Goodreads aimlessly. Ya know, because the idea of sleeping is a joke. And I've come to realize that people have been shelving these books as "Alpha Male". 

I don't understand. There's being an Alpha Male and then there's abusing folks. BIG difference to the women who've been on the business end of a fist or verbal rant. But we won't go there. That's a topic of a different sort.

Wait. I'll break it down.

**Alpha male

An alpha male is the top-ranking animal in a social group.

OR

**Human examples

Alpha male can also refer to an aggressive, highly-ranked man in a human group – usually in a business setting.

Alright. I got that. Here's what I'm getting an ear and eye-full of.

**Abuse

Abuse is a term used for the use or treatment of something which causes hurt. Abuse is generally done by another life form. For example, animal abuse is normally done on animals, by humans. Drug or alcohol abuse is the misuse (especially overuse) of drugs or alcohol. Abuse can also occur when somebody of a higher class thinks they are better than another and hurts them to make their status clear.Abuse can be raping, or sexism.

Yep. Sounds about right. Abuse covered by a smokescreen deemed "alpha male".

What I want to know is, in what world do these two terms meet in the middle? 

And will we ever call bullshit on what seems to be the new fad in books? --A.

**Source: Wikipedia.com

I'm Gonna Say What You're Not Supposed To Say...

Okay guys. Come, have a seat and we'll chat for a second. Girl Talk, if you will. Or...just talk if you happen to be of the penile persuasion.

I've stumbled upon something that has apparently been in the making for quite a while now, only topping off with the release of a very popular, NYT's Best Selling Trilogy of books dubbed "mommy porn". And quite frankly, it scares me. I'm sure right off the top of your head, you can just guess what books I'm talking about.

Yes, the Fifty Shades trilogy.

There are a number of books like FS, too many in my opinion, but that isn't what bothers me so much as the women and young women reading these books and idolizing them and aspiring to have love like they do. That bothers me more than anything.

A book called Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire that is also a NYT's, USA - and numerous others- best seller that is also in the same vein as FS.

TIME OUT.

Let us get something clear right here and now. I am in no way bashing these authors, their books or their readers who enjoy them. I am simply stating my opinion. Which, thanks to a fancy dancy sheet of quickly decaying parchment, I can do that freely without fear of persecution. 

Now that we have that out of the way, I will say how disturbed I am by the rash of abusive books on the market today. It just blows my mind that somewhere in the world, there is a young girl reading books like these and thinking that the relationship depicted in the book is something she should want and think is okay. Let's be honest with each other, okay? I'm going to say the thing you're not supposed to say and the thing that no one wants to hear.

Those books are everything that is wrong with the self esteem of young women today. The codependency, low self esteem and abuse they promote is astounding. And the fact that THESE are selling out of stores over THIS, boggles my mind. Yes, they are just books and no, no one should read books for an example of life. And everyone has different taste in books, etc. I mean c'mon. I'm not completely deluded. But it happens. Every day. And I feel like these books are just glorifying and promoting abusive relationships.

HERE is a list on goodreads of the most popular/most read books this week tagged ABUSE. These are some of the highest rated books on goodreads. Most of them have over 30,000 ratings and almost all of them are also in the romance category. Most of which are being read by women ranging between the ages of 15 and 40.

Does no one else see the conflict I have with this? Am I just being a bitch? Have I taken it too far?

I don't know. Which is why I debated for almost two hours with myself on whether or not I wanted to publish this blog post. I know an unhealthy relationship when I see one. I grew up with it in my house, watched my sister live it and was almost in one myself. I know, I know. Sometimes it takes a really bad relationship for people to really see that they don't have to accept it. But I think about all the ways it could go wrong. All the ways the people involved will be scarred and for the rest of their lives. I just...It makes me sad. Because I know it can be avoided.

BUT in this publishing business most don't give a shit. "It's only a book!" is what I hear all too often. And really, at the end of the day, it's what sells and gets on those best seller lists that count, right?

--A.