Review 2013

Review: Omens by Kelley Armstrong

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Omens by Kelley Armstrong, UK edition cover.

Title: Omens (A Cainsville Novel, #1)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Sphere (20th August 2013)
Blurb:

A life shattered in one moment

Olivia Jones has lived a life of privilege and good fortune. But on the eve of her wedding she discovers two shocking facts. One – she was adopted. Two – her biological parents are notorious serial killers. And now the secret’s out, she’s in immediate danger.

A young woman forced on the run

Running for her life, Liv must face reality in the most brutal and terrifying way. But then she is confronted by a tantalising hope – is it possible that her parents weren’t guilty of the murders after all? And if so, who did commit them?

And the mysterious town that gave her sanctuary. At a price.

Arriving at the remote town of Cainsville, Liv believes she has found the perfect place to hide while she uncovers the truth. But Cainsville is no ordinary town – and Liv’s arrival no accident.

Kelley Armstrong’s brilliant new novel is a gripping and atmospheric thriller about a town where secrets are soaked into every stone – and omens should never be ignored . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

OMENS is the first book in Kelley Armstrong’s exciting new adult series CAINSVILLE. In it we follow the story of Olivia Jones the only child in a wealthy family who discovers that she is adopted just as the story of her origins breaks. Needing time and space to get her head together, Liv finds her way to the remote town of Cainsville through a series of coincidences (which might not be quite so coincidental after all).

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Review: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

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Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Title: Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: ATOM (8th January 2013)
Blurb:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART. DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has struggled to build a life for herself outside Reverie. It hasn’t been easy adjusting to life in the wilderness, but the struggle has been worth it with Perry by her side.

But Perry has other challenges. His people are looking to him for answers. Answers about what happened to his nephew, and what’s happening to their world. And they don’t trust the privileged Aria, one of the enemy, in their midst.

Soon Perry’ll be forced to choose between the tribe that looks to him for leadership and the girl that looks to him for love.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT is the second book in Veronica Rossi’s fantastic UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy. It continues the story of Aria and Perry, that started in UNDER THE NEVER SKY (review), as they struggle to find and fit into their place in the world. Both have obligations that threaten to tear them apart.

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Review: After Dead by Charlaine Harris

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After Dead by Charlaine Harris

Title: After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire Mysteries #13.5)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Gollancz (31st October 2013)
Blurb:

Dead Ever After marked the end of the Sookie Stackhouse novels – a series that garnered millions of fans and spawned the hit HBO television show TrueBlood. It also stoked a hunger that will never die . . . a hunger to know what happened next.

With characters arranged alphabetically – from Ancient Pythoness to Bethany Zanelli – bestselling author Charlaine Harris takes her readers into the future of their favorite residents of Bon Temps and environs. If you’d like to learn how Michele and Jason’s marriage fared, what happened to Sookie’s cousin Hunter, and whether Tara and JB’s twins grew up to be solid citizens, this is the book for you.

Charlaine Harris will even reveal the details of Sookie’s own happily-ever-after . . . !

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

In AFTER DEAD Charlaine Harris wraps up the unanswered questions in her SOOKIE STACKHOUSE/SOUTHERN VAMPIRE MYSTERIES series. Beginning with A and ending with Z, Harris relates what happens to the characters in her series once the events of DEAD EVER AFTER (review) ended.

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Review: The Pleasures of Autumn by Evie Hunter

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The Pleasures of Autumn by Evie Hunter

Title: The Pleasures of Autumn (Pleasures #3)
Author: Evie Hunter
Genre: Contemporary, Crime, Erotica, Romance
Publisher: Penguin Ireland (31st October 2013)
Source: Penguin Ireland
Format: Finished Copy
Blurb:

Passion must have its way . . .

When Sinead O’Sullivan is charged with stealing the Fire of Autumn – a dazzling ruby with a notorious history – investigator Niall Moore is hired to stop her fleeing and to find the jewel. Though Sinead needs to convince Niall of her innocence, telling him everything she knows exposes secrets she is desperate to keep hidden.

Sinead and Niall may not trust each other an inch, but they find it impossible to ignore the fierce carnal heat between them. Niall, an expert interrogator, uses every trick of the trade – and every weapon in his erotic armoury – to get the truth. Sinead, a fast learner, counters his every move with one of her own. Thief and thief-taker fight for dominance and there can be only one winner.

But what happens in their red-hot game of cat-and-mouse when criminals chasing the precious jewel come after Sinead . . . and the stakes become deadly?

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

THE PLEASURES OF AUTUMN by Evie Hunter is the third book in the PLEASURES series. It tells the story of Sinead O’Sullivan a museum curator who stands accused of stealing the Fire of Autumn, and of Niall Moore who is charged with returning the ruby to the museum it was stolen from. From the beginning things do not look good for Sinead, although she continues to plead her innocence.

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Review: This Child of Mine by Sinéad Moriarty

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This Child of Mine by Sinéad Moriarty

Title: This Child of Mine
Author: Sinéad Moriarty
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Books (26th September 2013)
Source: Penguin Ireland
Format: Finished Copy
Blurb:

Anna and Laura, Sophie and Mandy – two mothers, two daughters and a story about the bond of motherly love.

Anna is proud of the job she has done raising eighteen-year-old Sophie. It’s always been just the two of them, but that doesn’t matter because Sophie has everything she could ever need.

It’s a miracle that Laura’s daughter Mandy is as happy as she is, considering that Laura remains haunted by the loss of her first child before Mandy was born.

Both women carry painful secrets and can never forget the day their paths crossed. But a chance discovery is about to bring everything into the open, and mothers and daughters, love and lies, past and future, will spectacularly collide . . .

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

THIS CHILD OF MINE is the eighth novel by Sinéad Moriarty. It tells the story of two mothers and two daughters whose paths crossed once. Anna and Sophie are very close, but Sophie is eighteen and getting ready to go off to University. Laura and Mandy aren’t quite as lucky, and in different ways both are haunted by the loss of Laura’s first child. But things are about to change for both families, when a secret is revealed by chance.

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Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

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The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa, UK edition cover.

Title: The Eternity Cure (A Blood of Eden Novel, #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: MIRA INK (3rd May 2013)
Blurb:

ALLISON SEKEMOTO DIED SO THAT SHE MIGHT LIVE.

AS A VAMPIRE, SHE FACES THE RISE OF A DEADLY NEW PLAGUE TO HER KIND.

ALLISON THOUGHT THAT IMMORTALITY WAS FOREVER.

NOW ETERNITY ITSELF HANGS IN THE BALANCE . . .

THE VIRUS MUST BE STOPPED

No matter what the cost

No matter what the sacrifice

Mankinds survival depends on us

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

THE ETERNITY CURE is the second book in Julie Kagawa’s magnificent vampire series BLOOD OF EDEN. The series follows the story of Allison Sekemoto a human resident of a vampire town who through a series of events ends up being turned into a vampire. In THE ETERNITY CURE Allison finds herself pursuing the vampire who changed her, while doing so she discovers that the virus that is destroying her world has mutated with terrible consequences.

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Review: Loki’s Wolves by K. L. Armstrong and M. A. Marr

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Loki’s Wolves by K. L. Armstrong & M. A. Marr

Title: Loki’s Wolves (The Blackwell Pages, #1)
Authors: K. L. Armstrong and M. A. Marr
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mythology
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (7th May 2013)
Blurb:

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga and god as if they were family history – because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt’s classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke. But knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarök is coming and kids – led by Matt – must stand in for the gods in the final battle, Matt can hardly believe it.

Matt’s, Laurie’s and Fen’s lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

LOKI’S WOLVES is the first book in an exciting new middle grade trilogy THE BLACKWELL PAGES by K. L. Armstrong and M. A. Marr (otherwise known as New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr). THE BLACKWELL PAGES trilogy tells the story of the descendants of the dead Norse gods, who must stand in for their ancestors – some of who know they are the descendants of gods, whilst others are in the dark – and prevent the coming of Ragnarök. LOKI’S WOLVES begins the adventure, and focuses on Matt Thorsen – a descendant of Thor – and Laurie and Fen Brekke – descendants of Loki.

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Review: Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

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Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

Title: Heart of Obsidian (A Psy-Changeling Novel, #12)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Gollancz (6th June 2013)
Blurb:

STEP INTO NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NALINI SINGH’S EXPLOSIVE AND SHOCKINGLY  PASSIONATE PSY-CHANGELING WORLD . . .

A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained blood red.

A woman whose very existence has been erased.

A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself.

A deadly price that must be paid.

They day of reckoning is here.

From ‘the alpha author of paranormal romance’ (Booklist) comes the most highly anticipated novel of her career – one that blurs the line between madness and genius, between subjugation and liberation, between the living and the dead.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

HEART OF OBSIDIAN is the twelfth book in Nalini Singh’s brilliant and exciting A PSY-CHANGELING NOVEL series. It is a game changer of a book, with the Psy-Changeling world hanging on a knife-edge. If you’ve kept up with the series so far, then you’ll know how volatile the world is. All that’s needed is a single spark to launch a firestorm. We’ve been on tenterhooks for the previous eleven novels, wondering when and if that is going to happen. As the blurb says, ‘The day of reckoning is here.’

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Review: I Wished For You by Amy Huberman

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I Wished For You by Amy Huberman

Title: I Wished For You
Author: Amy Huberman
Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin (6th June 2013)
Source: Penguin Books
Format: Finished Copy
Blurb:

Grace and Robbie seem destined to be together for ever, but when he unexpectedly goes down on bended knee, Grace freaks out. Cue the mother of all meltdowns.

On top of that, Grace is not exactly fulfilled by her job – dressing well-to-do ladies with way more money than style. Cue – in her addled state – losing it at work, with disastrous consequences.

Into Grace’s train-wreck of a life comes Verity – ex-Hollywood costume lady and vintage-clothing queen. Verity has seen it all and done it all and her life makes Grace’s look about as exciting as Songs of Praise. Verity tells Grace that the secret of happiness is to discover her ‘heart wish’. If only Grace could work out what her heart’s greatest wish really is . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

I WISHED FOR YOU is the second novel by Amy Huberman. It tells the story of Grace Harte an almost thirty year-old who is in a comfortable relationship with her boyfriend Robbie, the only problem she has (apart from her job) is that well-meaning friends and family keep asking her when she and Robbie are going to get married. Grace is happy with the status quo, and when it looks like Robbie might actually propose she freaks out.

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Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

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Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (UK cover)

Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: War Novel, Young Adult
Publisher: Electric Monkey (3rd June 2013)
Blurb:

TELL THE WORLD

I can write again. Oh God! All those months of not being able to write! Of not being allowed to write. Knowing I’d be shot if I were caught. It seems like I have been a prisoner for so long.

Rose Justice is a young American ATA pilot, delivering planes and taxiing pilots for the RAF in the UK during the summer of 1944. A budding poet who feels vividly alive while flying, she is forced to confront the hidden atrocities of war – and the most fearsome.

An unforgettable journey from innocence to experience from the author of the best-selling Carnegie Award shortlisted Code Name Verity.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

ROSE UNDER FIRE is the companion novel to the fantastic CODE NAME VERITY (review). It tells the story of eighteen-year-old Rose Justice an American pilot and member of the Air Transport Auxiliary – or ATA. She has only recently arrived in Britain and is horrified by the devastation she finds and the reality of war.

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