Review 2014

Review: The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

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The Assassin’s Blade

Title: The Assassin’s Blade (Throne of Glass Novellas)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury (13th March 2014)
Blurb:

THE TWIST OF A KNIFE,
THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND . . .

Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassin’s Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

Arobynn’s enemies stretch far and wide – from Adarlan’s rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate – and cut her heart in two forever . . .

THE PREQUELS TO THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER THRONE OF GLASS

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE is an amalgamation of previously released prequel novellas in the THRONE OF GLASS series. The novellas all tell stories of what Celaena Sardothien’s life was like prior to the beginning of THRONE OF GLASS (review). THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE comprises of five novellas told in chronological order.

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Review: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

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Night Broken UK cover

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Title: Night Broken (A Mercy Thompson novel, #8)
Author: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit (11th March 2014)
Blurb:

MECHANIC.

SHAPESHIFTER.

FIGHTER.

Mercy Thompson’s life is never simple.

Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam won’t turn Christy away when she’s in need, but Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right.

Soon, Mercy learns that Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and will do anything to get him, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Meanwhile, there’s an even more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man – in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies pile up, Mercy fings herself facing a creature with the power to tear her world apart.

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

NIGHT BROKEN is the eighth book in Patricia Briggs’ MERCY THOMPSON series, which follows the life of Mercy Thompson mechanic and skin walker as she tries to find her place in the world. In the eighth book Mercy has to deal with the return of Christy, Adam’s ex-wife, and the dangerous threat following in her wake…

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Review: Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

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Into the Still Blue UK cover

Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Title: Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: Atom (6th February 2014)
Blurb:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.
DESTINY BROUGHT
THEM TOGETHER.

Outside the dome of Reverie, Aria and Perry are struggling to keep their people from tearing each other apart. Their situation is desperate and, with the Aether storms worsening, time is running out for them to rescue Cinder from Hess and Sable.

Cinder is both the key to unlock the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, so Aria and Perry assemble an unlikely team to attempt a daring rescue mission. They know that in a dying world, the bond of friendship is what matters most.

In this final book in the Under the Never Sky trilogy, the stakes are raised to the absolute limit and Aria’s love story is brought to an unforgettable close.

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

INTO THE STILL BLUE brings Veronica Rossi’s UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy to its conclusion. The story of Aria and Perry continues in this stunning conclusion. Things are not looking good for Aria, Perry, and their friends. To make matters worse Cinder is being held by Hess and Sable, so Aria and Perry hatch a plan to rescue him.

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Review: Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Half-Blood (Covenant, 1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Mythology, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (14th August 2014)
Source: BookBridgr/Publisher
Blurb:

The Hematoi descended from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi, pure-bloods, have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals – well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pure.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, especially rule #1:

Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.

Unfortunately, she’s crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn’t her biggest problem – staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

And discover the very beginnings of Covenant in the prequel novella . . .

Daimon

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

HALF-BLOOD is the first book in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s COVENANT series which follows the story of Alexandria Andros, a half-blood who isn’t a big fan of rules but who is determined to do her duty. In a society where few things have changed since the gods walked among them, Alex is in a dangerous position as half-bloods have little power. This review is also going to cover the prequel novella DAIMON, as my copy of the book also including the novella.

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Review: Rising Darkness by Thea Harrison

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Rising Darkness Cover

Rising Darkness by Thea Harrison

Title: Rising Darkness (A Game of Shadows Novel, 1)
Author: Thea Harrison
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Piatkus (2nd April 2013)
Blurb:

Bestselling author Thea Harrison begins and all-new, darkly romantic paranormal saga, in which the fate of existence itself lies in the balance – and the key to victory may rest in the hands of two eternal lovers . . .

In the hospital ER where she works, Mary is used to chaos. But lately, every aspect of her existence seems adrift. She feels disconnected from herself. Voices appear in her head. And the vivid, disturbing dreams she’s had all her life are becoming more intense. Then she meets Michael. He’s handsome, enigmatic and knows more than he can say. In his company, she slowly remembers the truth about herself . . .

Thousands of years ago, eight creatures came to our world: the Deceiver to destroy it, and the other seven to stop him. Reincarnated over and over, they carry on – and Mary finds herself drawn into the battle once again. The more she learns, the more she realises that Michael will go to any lengths to destroy the Deceiver. Then she remembers who killed her during her last life, nine hundred years ago . . . Michael.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

RISING DARKNESS by Thea Harrison is the first book the GAME OF SHADOWS series. It tells the story of Mary, an ER doctor whose life is pretty ordinary apart from her dreams. Then her path crosses Michael’s, and everything changes.

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Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

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Cover of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books (30th January 2014)
Blurb:

Cath and Wren are identical twins and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they’re off to university and Wren’s decided she doesn’t want to be one half of a pair any more – she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It’s not so easy for Cath. She would rather bury herself in the fanfiction she writes where there’s romance far more intense than anything she’s experienced in real life.

Now Cath has to decide whether she’s ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she’s realizing that there’s more to learn about love than she ever thought possible . . .

A tale of fanfiction, family and first love.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell tells the story of Cath a first year University student whose life has altered from how she thought it would be thanks to her identical twin sister Wren, who wants to break free and live her own life without Cath hanging around. Cath is also a BNF – big name fan – in the Simon Snow fanfiction world and she has to complete her latest fanfic before the release of the final book.  Cath might be quite willing to bury herself in the fanfiction she writes but life isn’t quite that easy, sometimes for really good reasons.

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Review: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

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The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (UK edition cover)

Title: The Silkworm (A Cormoran Strike Novel, 2)
Author: Robert Galbraith
Genre: Crime, Detective Story, Mystery
Publisher: Sphere (19th June 2014)
Blurb:

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days – as he has done before – and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel is published it will ruin lives – so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before . . .

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE SILKWORM is the second book in Robert Galbraith’s CORMORAN STRIKE series, Life has returned somewhat to normal after the events of the first book in the series THE CUCKOO’S CALLING (review), and Strike is busying himself with cases of suspected cheating when Leonora Quine, the wife of author Owen Quine, steps into his office and asks Strike to locate her husband for her. THE SILKWORM tells the story of Strike’s search for Quine, and then the hunt for Quine’s killer when the author is found murdered in peculiar circumstances.

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Review: Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop

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Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop

Title: Murder of Crows (A Novel of The Others, 2)
Author: Anne Bishop
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC (4th March 2014)
Blurb:

Return to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s “phenomenal”* world of the Others – where supernatural entities and humans struggle to coexist and one woman has begun to change the rules . . .

After winning the trust of the Others residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.

The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard – Lakeside’s shape-shifting leader – wonders whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future threat.

As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet – and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.

* Urban Fantasy Investigations

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

MURDER OF CROWS is the second book in Anne Bishop’s fantastic THE OTHERS series. It continues the story of Meg Corbyn, who we first meet in WRITTEN IN RED (review), a cassandra sangue who wants to live a ‘normal’ life. Meg has survived so far, and slowly adjusted to the world outside but prophecy still calls to her, and as events in the world build the desire to cut and see the future grows.

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Review: Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Title: Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter #1)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Mythology, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Piatkus (7th April 2011)
Blurb:

It might sound like a man’s ultimate fantasy – to live forever, destined to be the lover of thousands of women. But for Julian of Macedon, it’s a nightmare. Once a proud Spartan general, he’s now a love-slave, his essence magically held captive in a book for eternity. Then, one day, Grace Alexander summons Julian to fulfill her passionate dreams – and sees beyond the fantasy to the man himself.

Long years as a sex therapist have taken a lot of the fun out of the physical side of love for Grace. But the rules of the enchantment cannot be changed – Julian is hers for the next month. And as their time together slips by, Julian and Grace find more to share than sympathy and conversation and they begin to wonder if love might be within their grasp. That leaves only one question. Is love enough to break a 2,000-year-old curse?

In FANTASY LOVER, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon has penned a highly original novel inspired by Greek mythology that is utterly captivating and completely unputdownable.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

FANTASY LOVER is the first book in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s well-known DARK-HUNTER series. It tells the story of Grace Alexander, a sex therapist, whose friend thinks that her life should be about more than just her work. Grace’s friend convinces her to try the spell on the book containing Julian of Macedon.

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Review: Shadowlark by Meagan Spooner

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Shadowlark by Meagan Spooner

Title: Shadowlark (Skylark Trilogy, 2)
Author: Meagan Spooner
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: Corgi Books (3rd October 2013)
Blurb:

“They only come at night, when the Star fades”

Lark Ainsley escapes the Iron Wood to search for her brother, only to find herself captured and imprisoned in an underground metropolis.

Powerful magic protects the city of Lethe, providing sanctuary from the Empty Ones, monsters who hunger for human flesh.

But this magic comes at a terrible price, and the city lives in fear of their leader Prometheus and this gang of Eagles.

Danger lies in the shadows, and Lark must find the light . . .

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

SHADOWLARK is the second book in Meagan Spooner’s SKYLARK TRILOGY. The book continues the story of Lark Ainsley as she continues her journey to locate her brother Basil. Having left the Iron Wood behind she travels with Nix and Tansy to the next place her brother is rumoured to have travelled to upon his escape.

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