Review: The Soul Summoner by Elicia Hyder

Title: The Soul Summoner

Author: Elicia Hyder

Publisher: Forge Creek Press

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery

Release Date: November 9, 2015

Blurb: Blessed–or cursed–with a connection to the souls of others, Sloan Jordan can see the best in people… and the worst. For twenty-seven years, she's kept her ability a secret, but eleven young women have been murdered in the mountains of North Carolina, and Sloan may be the only hope of finding their killer. 

She has just agreed to help Detective Nathan McNamara with the case, when a stranger—who is as alluring as he is terrifying—shows up at her doorstep with a dark past and another puzzling mystery: she can't see his soul at all. 

Now Sloan is on the hunt for a deadly psychopath with two irresistible men. One of them would die for her, and the other would kill to keep her safe.

REVIEW:

The Soul Summoner opens quickly and gives you a recap on the main character's, Sloan's, powers.  While it's quick, it is necessary so that you have a bit of back story on her abilities, and the rest of the book isn't weighed down with lengthy explanation.  Showing the history between Sloan and her BFF was also useful right off the bat, although in the first few chapters the timeline moves MUCH faster.  Weeks pass, but that's usually the nature of serial killer mysteries.
However there was a lot less investigation in this book than it leads you to believe in the blurb.  I expected there to be a lot more serial killer hunting and a bit less  obsession over two guys that are fighting over her.  Warren, the irresisstable stranger that arrives has a lot more attention than Det. McNamara as the blurb leads you to believe, and they mostly just flirt and discuss her strange ability to call to people's souls.  While I don't mind romance in a novel, this was less mystery more...flirting on every page.  It got tiring after a while, and I just wanted them to get back to the murders!
That said, it made up for it with an explosive and captivating ending.  I always go easy on books when I feel the killer is obvious, since my brother tells me I have an unusual knack for figuring out who the killer is due to my "Hollywood Formula" (basically a joke between us about how there's always a similar formula for who the killer is), and while I knew who the killer was before the reveal, it was still a good twist.
Fans of the TV series Bones or Castle would really like this book I think!  I look forward to the next one.

Review: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

Title: Miss Mayhem

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Genre:YA, Fantasy

Release Date: April 7, 2015

Blurb: Life is almost back to normal for Harper Price. The Ephors have been silent after their deadly attack at Cotillion months ago, and her best friend, Bee, has returned after a mysterious disappearance. Now Harper can focus on the important things in life: school, canoodling with David (her nemesis-turned-ward-slash-boyfie), and even competing in the Miss Pine Grove pageant.

Unfortunately, supernatural chores are never done. The Ephors have decided they’d rather train David than kill him. The catch: Harper has to come along for the ride, but she can’t stay David’s Paladin unless she undergoes an ancient trial that will either kill her . . . or make her more powerful than ever. 

REVIEW:

While Miss Mayhem was not quite as fast-paced as the first book in the series, Rebel Belle, it was still an intriguing read.  From the awesome fights and action scenes to the sudden breakups and hook-ups of the characters, it kept me interested.  We come in after a large cliffhanger that reminded me how much I love to hate cliffhangers.
The one thing I found best in Miss Mayhem was Harper's relationship with her BFF Bee.  In the first book you see it a bit, but it's not until this one that you really feel their friendship.  They each express how they would rather become Paladin's than make the other do it, in a self-sacrifice kind of way.
I did find Harper was a little more whiny in this one though, and every other sentence seemed to be about how bad she felt.  I get that she's going through a tough time, but I found the fact she was feeling guilty and sad was getting shoved down my throat, especially near the end.

Overall a good follow up to Rebel Belle!

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Taking

Author: Kimberly Derting

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre:YA, Scifi

Release Date: April 29th, 2015

Blurb: A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. 

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. 

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own??

REVIEW:

When I first picked this book up I had thought it was going to be about faery's (since the cover has a bunch of little bugs on it!), but was pleasantly surprised by the back cover to learn it was more about alien abductions.  Who doesn't love a good alien abduction story?
Kimberly Derting is by far one of my favourite authors, and this book was no let down!  Derting grasps the voice of a teenage girl perfectly, blending normal issues like dating and school in with the preternatural problems the characters face.
I found the reactions of everyone in Kyra's life to be odd after her return; granted everyone must react oddly to something like that.  A person disappears for five years and returns with no memory there's bound to be some oddness.  Her mother was a little cold, as were her friends (her friends didn't even really make much of an appearance at all, actually).
There was something missing, however, I'm just not sure what it is.  Maybe it was because the book leaves off with such a major cliffhanger I'm feeling this way...which obviously means I just need the next one, right?  No matter what, I can't wait to find out what happens!

Weekly Recap for October 10, 2015

I'm finally back into reading, and it feels like coming home.  It's depressing to look at someone and say "I love to read" when you aren't reading.  It feels wrong, even if the statement is true.  I do love to read, I always have, I just sort of...stopped.  Thankfully, that haunting hiatus is over and I have some catching up to do on my TBR list :)

This week I read/listened to...

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen

and

Defy by Sara B. Larson

Since I'm going to have plenty more books for review, I'm working on a schedule to have some consistency.  Not quite sure what it will be like, but it'll most likely have two reviews a week, along with a couple of memes :)  I'll add a page once I actually nail something down!

Review: Defy by Sara B. Larson

TRIGGER WARNING

*Just a warning if you're thinking of picking up this book; it has a lot of mention of sexual assault.  While the assaults are not actually depicted, there is a scene when Alexa travels through the house, and you see the aftermath, which was a little too much for me.*

Title: Defy

Author: Sara B. Larson

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Genre:YA, Fantasy

Release Date: January 7, 2014

Blurb: Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?

REVIEW:

Defy was one of those books that the cover always drew me in, but the synopsis was never enough to make me buy it.  I've never been a fan of the "girl disguised as a boy" thing, or a fan of love triangles, which the synopsis states very clearly.  But as a fantasy lover, I decided to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did!  While there were quite a few moments I had to stop my eyes from rolling, Defy was still a good book.  The story is interesting the entire way through, and Alexa was one of those heroines that always got back up, even if she didn't want to, and she always took action in the face of danger (which is the true definition of bravery if you ask me!).  As predictably as the love triangle went, and the development of romance between the characters, in the end Defy really did focus on the main issue at hand: overthrowing a kingdom.

The world that was built could have been stronger.  While many descriptions were given, they tended to focus on the same few descriptors (like the heat of the jungle, the sunshine vs. shadows).  It got a little tiring hearing about how sweaty everyone was.  However the descriptions given for characters was plentiful, and they came to life right off the page!

Fans of The Hunger Games should definitely check out this book.

Review: Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen

After being away from books for a while, I finally got back into one, although I didn't have my nose stuck in it.  No, due to work obligations I can't sit and read for as long as I like anymore...but I can listen.  Normally I avoid audio books simply because most are more expensive, but since my new job is sitting at a desk all day inputting numbers I was losing my mind listening to just music.  SO, I reactivated my audible account and started off with Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen, and I was not disappointed!

Title: Stolen Songbird

Author: Danielle L. Jensen

Publisher: Strang Chemisty

Genre:YA, Fantasy

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Blurb: For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the mountain. When Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she realises that the trolls are relying on her to break the curse.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind: escape. But the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time…

But the more time she spends with the trolls, the more she understands their plight. There is a rebellion brewing. And she just might be the one the trolls were looking for...

REVIEW:

While I found the narration started out weirdly monotone, after the first chapter it got much better. The voices  were easily distinguishable and there was never any question between what was dialogue and what the characters were thinking.  I liked that there were two narrators to separate when the POV switched between male and female, as well.

The main character, Cecile, was pretty good, too.  She was strong and didn't take everything lying down after being kidnapped, but I found she did fall in love pretty quickly (and while there were a few weeks that passed, that's not much when the guy is being a jerk!).  Still, I liked her, and I found that she was a smart, relatively level-headed lady put through much hardship.  

What I loved most about this book was the world-building.  It didn't seem like anything was forgotten, and I found I could image everything very clearly.  Nothing was left out, even from the places you didn't actually go to!  There was a rich history built within inner and outer dialogue, and before I knew it I was engulfed in Trollus and the surrounding world.

On the negative aspects, I can't really say what the major thing that bothered me was, because it's really just a matter of me not liking the main characters choices.  Some of the moves she makes I was sitting in my chair thinking, "Really?  THAT'S what you do?"...so I can't complain about it.  

Overall I enjoyed this story beginning to end, and look forward to finding out what happens next!  There was so much mystery set up in the first one!  Also, if you're in the US or Canada, there's a giveaway open on Goodreads for a copy of this book!

DNF Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA, paranormal??

Blurb: Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can. 

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. 

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. 

She's wrong.

REVIEW:

I was unbelievably disappointed in this book.  It had so much potential, such an interesting premise, and then it just went full blown YA cliche.  You've got the girl without personality moving to a new town and the bad boy/playboy takes an immediate interest.  She becomes the only person he's ever felt anything for, and she doesn't like him but she likes him.  Queue the eye roll!

I really tried to give this book a chance because of the plot.  The time gaps that Mara had were intriguing and I kept waiting for that moment that things might begin to form into an actual event or conclusion (even just a hint).  But it ended up with a string of weird events that always brought Mara back to Noah (the bad boy love interest).

I got about 25% through before I just gave it up.  This book wouldn't come out with anything other than a controlling and unlikable love interest that of course is irresistible and mysterious and somehow knows something "more" about Mara.  If you liked Twilight or Hush, Hush then you would probably enjoy this book, but it really wasn't for me.

Review: The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa

*I received a copy of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Title: The Vanishing Girl

Author: Laura Thalassa

Genre: YA, paranormal, fantasy

Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing

Release Date: January 27, 2015

Blurb: Every night after Ember Pierce falls asleep, she disappears. She can teleport anywhere in the world—London, Paris, her crush’s bedroom—wherever her dreams lead her. Ten minutes is all she gets, and once time’s up, she returns to her bed. It's a secret she’s successfully kept for the last five years. But now someone knows.

A week after her eighteenth birthday, when frustratingly handsome Caden Hawthorne captures her, delivers her to the government, and then disappears before her eyes, Ember realizes two things: One, she is not alone. And two, people like her—teleporters—are being used as weapons.

Dragged off to a remote facility where others like her live, Ember’s forced to pair up with her former captor, Caden, to learn how to survive inside until she can escape. Only Caden’s making escape seem less and less appealing.

But even as Ember falls for the boy who got her into this mess, she knows that she is running out of time. Because the government has plans for those like her, and those plans might just cost Ember her life.

REVIEW:

The Vanishing Girl was a good read, but the romance left a bit to be desired.  As much as I love a cocky love interest that only has eyes for the main character, his movements were a little too predictable.  Caden was sweet but there were quite a few moments that just made me go "come on, seriously?".  Of course, he was constantly trying to catch Ember naked (which happened quite a bit I might add), and there were some not-so-sublte hints that he loved her.

Romance aside, however, The Vanishing Girl had a good mystery about it.  I was constantly trying to figure out exactly what was going on when Ember kept teleporting to strange/dangerous areas with only a sentence to instruct her what to do, and it wasn't the government sending her there.  Thalassa did a good job keeping everything a secret through the novel!

Other than that I didn't feel one way or the other about the book.  It featured a good heroine that didn't take anything lying down, and had a nice "evil government" feel about it. 

Review: The Astrologer's Daughter by Rebecca Lim

*I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Title: The Astrologer's Daughter

Author: Rebecca Lim

Publisher: Text Publishing

Genre:YA, Paranormal

Release Date: June 9, 2015

Blurb: Avicenna Crowe’s mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing.

The police are called, but they’re not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid.

But Avicenna has inherited her mother’s gift. Finding an unlikely ally in the brooding Simon Thorn, she begins to piece together the mystery. And when she uncovers a link between Joanne’s disappearance and a cold-case murder, Avicenna is led deep into the city’s dark and seedy underbelly, unaware how far she is placing her own life in danger.

REVIEW:

The mystery is intriguing, and you go through Avicenna's investigation into her mother's death.   The entire novel was a large setup to an intense ending.  However, it left the main plot unresolved.  Avicenna spends the novel worried about her missing mother, the entire plot is about what could have happened to her mother, as well as a cold case murder.  In the end the murder is solved and wrapped up but her mother isn't exactly.  Without getting into too many spoilers, it leaves it open-ended, with almost a cop-out, leading to an unsatisfactory ending.  It's not happy but not sad either.  It doesn't appear that there's going to be a second book, so what you get in book one is it.

Of course, as many YA books do, there's a love triangle.  In the beginning Avicenna is focused on Simon, who disappears for a while only to come back and sort of win her heart.  However half way through Avicenna suddenly falls for a guy she just met, Hugh.  It was odd how quickly she fell for him, and it seems rather superficial; she only ever talks about how she likes how this guy looks, and how rich he is, or how nice his car is.  She never states she likes anything else, but calls him her "dream guy".  I think the story tries to justify her feelings with her pain; she's never had anything handed to her and this is her chance to be with a rich guy that seems to like her.  No matter the reasoning, I thought less of her, and they way it's resolved in the end was rather quick and unusual.

Overall, a good mystery with some paranormal aspects to it.  The details and second mystery were what saved this book for me; the way it delved into the astrological charts and kept the story moving was what kept me reading.  That said, if you read the author's review on Goodreads it sheds a little light into what she was doing with her non-ending.  I was going to give this book a 3.5/5, but once I read her review I decided to give it a full 4/5.

The First Post

Hello blogging world!  I thought my first post should be a small introduction to what this blog will be.  If you couldn't guess from the title, this is a book blog!  There will be reviews mostly, with a few other things here and there (memes, cover reveals, etc).  I'm not sure on a posting schedule yet, but I'm hoping for at least once a week for reviews.

So be sure to check back!  New stuff is coming soon :)