Review 2014

Review: This Is What HAPPY Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

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This Is What HAPPY Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: This Is What HAPPY Looks Like
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Headline (4th April 2013)
Blurb:

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

It’s June – seventeen-year-old Ellie O’Neill’s least favourite time of year. Her tiny hometown is annually invaded by tourists, and this year there’s the added inconvenience of a film crew. Even the arrival of Hollywood heart-throb Graham Larkin can’t lift her mood.

But there is something making Ellie very happy. Ever since an email was accidentally sent to her a few months ago, she’s been corresponding with a mysterious stranger, the two of them sharing their hopes and fears. Their developing relationship is not without its secrets though – there’s the truth about Ellie’s past…and her pen pal’s real identity. When they finally meet in person, things are destined to get much more complicated. Can two people, worlds apart but brought together by chance, make it against all the odds?

Spanning one fateful summer, Jennifer E. Smith’s new novel proves that life – and love – are full of unexpected connections and happy mistakes.

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE is the second stand-alone novel from author Jennifer E. Smith. It tells the story of Ellie O’Neill – a seventeen-year-old who lives in a coastal town in Maine. The story takes place between June and July, whilst a film crew (and the typical holiday makers) invade the town. The narrative is split between emails between Ellie and her mysterious pen pal, and chapters following the story of Ellie and her pen pal.

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Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Indigo (3rd September 2013)
Blurb:

TANA LIVES IN A WORLD WHERE WALLED CITIES CALLED COLDTOWNS EXIST.

In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. It’s an eternal party, shown on TV twenty-four hours a day – gorgeous, glamorous, deadly.

The problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave . . .

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

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is a stand-alone novel written by the fabulous Holly Black. It tells the story of Tana a seventeen-year-old girl who wakes up the night after a party to a silent house. As she stumbles through the house, she discovers that vampires attacked whilst she slept. In THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN Holly Black takes on the vampire myth, and adds her own twist in this compelling tale.

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Review: Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder

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Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Sea Glass (Chronicles of Ixia #5/ Glass #2)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Mira Ink (2nd August 2013)
Blurb:

A Game of Magic

Student magician Opal Cowan’s newfound ability to steal other people’s powers makes her too powerful.

Trapped under house arrest, Opal dares to defy her imprisonment, searching for Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because she is sure another man – now her prisoner – has switched souls with Ulrick.

In hostile territory, without proof or allies, Opal isn’t sure whom to trust. She doesn’t know the real Ulrick’s whereabouts and can’t forget Kale, the handsome Stormdancer who doesn’t want to let her get too close.

And now everyone is after Opal’s special powers for their own deadly gain . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

SEA GLASS is the second book in Maria V. Snyder’s GLASS series and the fifth book in her CHRONICLES OF IXIA series. SEA GLASS continues the story of Opal Cowan as she deals with the consequences of events in STORM GLASS (review), like the revelation that she can use her glass magic skills to take another magician’s magic, and struggles with who to trust – even herself.

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Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

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The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic Books (18th September 2013)
Blurb:

Blue didn’t mean to fall for the Raven Boys, but she has – and the more her life entwines with theirs, the more dangerous it becomes.

Ronan is the most dangerous of all.

He’s the haunted one, the darkest, the most raven.

His dreams invade reality and confuse what is true.

With magic growing stronger around them, now is the time to be wary. Before everything unravels . . .

Friendships will be tested.

Someone will get hurt.

And a kiss will be shared.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE DREAM THIEVES is the second book in Maggie Stiefvater’s THE RAVEN CYCLE. This book focuses on the enigmatic Ronan Lynch and on the consequences of the events of THE RAVEN BOYS (review). Blue, Adam and  Gansey all play a prominent role in the book as things start to come to a head, and the hunt for Glendower takes a back burner as secrets are revealed.

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Review: Archangel’s Legion by Nalini Singh

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Archangel’s Legion by Nalini Singh

Title: Archangel’s Legion (A Guild Hunter Novel, #6)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Gollancz Fiction (31st October 2013)
Blurb:

Nalini Singh, the New York Times bestselling ‘alpha author of paranormal romance’ (Booklist), returns to the immortal world of violent passion and lethal power . . . on the brink of a deadly archangelic war.

Angels are falling from the sky in New York, struck down by a vicious, unknown force.

Vampires are dying, impossibly, of disease.

Guild Hunter Elena Deveraux and the Archangel Raphael must discover the source of the wave of death before it engulfs their city and their people, leaving New York a ruin and Raphael’s Tower under siege by enemy archangels.

Yet even as they fight desperately to save the city, an even darker force is stirring, its chill eyes trained on New York . . . and on Raphael. Rivers of crimson and nightmares given flesh, the world will never again be the same . . .

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

ARCHANGEL’S LEGION is the sixth book in Nalini Singh’s brilliantly hot GUILD HUNTER series. The story focuses on the Archangel Raphael who lives in New York, and his consort Elena Deveraux – a Guild Hunter. In ARCHANGEL’S LEGION the events of the previous five books come to a head, and The Cascade crests. Things are changing in the world of the archangels, and nothing will ever be the same.

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Review: Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

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Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

Title: Gretel and the Dark
Author: Eliza Granville
Genre: Historical Novel, Horror, Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin (6th February 2014)
Source: Penguin Ireland
Format: Finished copy
Blurb:

VIENNA, 1899.

Josef Breuer – celebrated psychoanalyst – is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings – to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.

YEARS LATER,

in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta’s Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the ‘animal people’, so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could ever have guessed . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

GRETEL AND THE DARK is a stand-alone novel by Eliza Granville. It tells the stories of two different girls, in two different counties, in two different times. Their stories unfold in interchanging chapters.

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Review: Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder

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Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Storm Glass (Chronicles of Ixia #4/ Glass #1)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Sword & Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Mira Ink (2nd August 2013)
Blurb:

Untrained. Untested. Unleashed.

With her unique magical abilities, Opal Cowan has always felt unsure of her place at Sitia’s magic academy – but now it’s time to test her powers in the real world.

Under the threat from a deadly massacre, the powerful Stormdancer clan need Opal’s unusual skills to protect their people. And their plea is impossible to resist, especially when it comes from mysterious, mercurial Kade.

Yet pulling her powers in unfamiliar directions pushes Opal to uncover a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening, with danger and deception rising around her, will Opal’s untested abilities destroy her – or save them all?

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

STORM GLASS is the first book in the GLASS trilogy, and the fourth book in the CHRONICLES OF IXIA. It tells the story of Opal Cowan, who first makes an appearance in FIRE STUDY (review). STORM GLASS takes place five years after the events of FIRE STUDY and sees Opal at Sitia’s magic academy, where she is unsure of her place and powers. Opal has a special ability with glass, and events see her travel with a Master magician to discover what is causing the Stormdancer clan’s deaths.

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Review: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

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Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Title: Antigoddess (The Goddess War: Book One)
Author: Kendare Blake
Genre: Mythology, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Orchard (10th September 2013)
Blurb:

He was Apollo, the sun, and he’d burn down anything that tried to hurt her . . .

Cassandra and Aidan are just your average high-school couple. Blissfully unaware of her own power, Cassandra doesn’t even know that gods exist.

Until now.

Because the gods are dying – and Cassandra could hold the answer to their survival. But Aidan has a secret, and he will do anything to protect the girl that he loves from the danger that’s coming to her. Even if it means war against his immortal family . . .

Stunning romance and relentless suspense – discover the first incredible book in THE GODDESS WAR trilogy.

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

ANTIGODDESS is the first book in Kendare Blake’s new young adult trilogy THE GODDESS WAR. Blake draws characters – both mortals and gods – from Greek mythology and sets the story in a small town in the state of New York. The gods are slowly dying, and not all are disappearing with a whimper. They seek a way to save themselves.

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Review: The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

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The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

Title: The Fiery Heart (A Bloodlines Novel, #4)
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin (19th November 2013)
Blurb:

WHEN PULSES QUICKEN NO SECRET IS SAFE.

SYDNEY ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT ALCHEMISTS WERE BORN TO PROTECT VAMPIRE SECRETS AND HUMAN LIVES – UNTIL SHE MET MARCUS AND TURNED HER BACK ON EVERYTHING SHE ONCE KNEW.

But she’s not free yet. When her sister Zoe arrives, Sydney can only tell her half-truths about her past. And with every word she risks exposure – and the fatal consequences.

Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney must choose her path once and for all. Even if that means harnessing her magical powers to destroy the way of life she was raised to defend . . .

THE SMOULDERING FOURTH INSTALMENT IN THE BESTSELLING BLOODLINES SERIES.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE FIERY HEART is the fourth book in Richelle Mead’s brilliant BLOODLINES series which is a spin-off from her VAMPIRE ACADEMY series. It tells the story of Sydney Sage an eighteen-year-old girl who grew up in an Alchemist family – a group of humans sworn to keep vampire secrets and to protect humans. In THE FIERY HEART Sydney is faced with a choice, one final choice, between the rhetoric she grew up with or breaking away from its familiarity.

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Review: Ever After by Kim Harrison

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Ever After by Kim Harrison (US edition cover)

Title: Ever After (The Hollows #11)
Author: Kim Harrison
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Voyager (22nd January 2013)
Blurb:

The ever-after, the demonic realm that parallels our own, is shrinking, and if it disappears, so does all magic. It’s up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to fix the ever-after before the fragile balance between magic users and humans falls apart.

Of course, there’s also the small fact that Rachel is the one who caused the ley line to rip in the first place, and her life is forfeit unless she can fix it. Not to mention the most powerful demon in the ever-after – the soul-eater Ku’Sox Sha-Ku-ru – has vowed to destroy her, and has kidnapped her friend and her goddaughter as leverage. If Rachel doesn’t give herself up, they will die.

Forced by circumstance, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack – a partnership fraught with dangers of the heart as well as betrayal of the soul – to return to the ever-after and rescue those she loves. One world teeters on the brink of interspecies war, the other on the brink of its very demise – and it’s up to Rachel to keep them both from being destroyed.

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

EVER AFTER is the eleventh installment of Kim Harrison’s fantastic THE HOLLOWS series. At this point in the series Harrison is starting to wrap things up, and answer some of the threads that have been left dangling in previous books in the series – I believe there will only be thirteen books to the series. In this book Rachel Morgan has to deal with the repercussions of her fight with Ku’Sox and trapping him in the ever-after, as he is not a demon to cross lightly – he threatens to destroy everything with his desire for revenge.

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