'Til The World Ends by Julie Kagawa et al

Publication Date: 29/01/13
Publisher: Harlequin Luna
Pages: 368
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Target Audience: Young Adults

Synopsis:
Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa:

Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden—as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What’s worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she’s beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems...

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre:

After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside—in the Red Zone—is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they’ll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside... for good.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall:

Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms—in the cosmos and beyond. And she’s not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She’ll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world ends.

My Review: I usually avoid collections because there's always at least one story in them that makes me want to tear my hair out or slam my face against a wall. Sadly, this collection was no different. But I'll start with the positives.

Dawn of Eden:

I was thrilled with Dawn of Eden and I found it a unique insight into the world of The Immortal Rules before Ali's adventure begun.  Kylie made a sympathetic  caring, yet tough protagonist and I was pulled into her story and her reasons for fighting the Red Lung Virus without much trouble.  
The story even took a romantic turn and featured a cameo from a pretty important character from The Immortal Rules. 
The ending was pretty well done, which is usually difficult with a Novella and overall, with this story, I was very impressed. Not only did it give additional background on the vamps and Red Lung Virus, but also an insight into how difficult life was during the breakout. 

Thistle and Thorne
I was really surprised with this novella. I have books by Ann Aguirre on my to-read list but have yet to read any of them; needless to say this will have to change very soon because she is an exceptional writer.
Mari and Thorne made a brilliant twosome and I really hope Miss Aguirre writes a full book based on these characters because I really want to know what happens after this novella ends, especially as it ends with the suggestion that there is more to come.
There is a little tinge of romance in this, but very little and the plot and action certainly takes centre stage.  The post-apocalyptic background is well thought out, and so different from most others I've read since I've never read anything about a chemical spill before.
Overall, this is a cleverly written novella but with quite a bit of violence and gore though not without the emotional undercurrent with the characters which make them feel more human.

Sun Storm
This is unfortunately the short story that let me down and by this point I was actually pretty hopeful that all three stories would be made of win. Don't get me wrong, the idea of solar flares and the end of the world is realistic enough, but what failed to capture me was the idea of developing powers when hit by the sparks from these flares. Having said that, It's no more unbelievable than zombies I guess so I gave it a chance.
When I got to a certain part half way through though, I thought the following: 'that could never happen in a million years' even my huge imagination has a limit and it reached it. Having said that, some people may take to it though to me it seemed a bit silly.
Character wise, though I loved Sarah, Ian just didn't gel with me and I didn't really feel his relationship with Sarah. Add what felt like a much too rushed ending and when I finally finished I was ready to admit that I didn't personally enjoy it.

All in all for the first two stories this is worth reading, but honestly, I did not get on with the third. Having said that, I'm sure some people will disagree with me. Give it a go when it's released!

A Royal Marriage by Rachelle McCalla

Release Date: 27/11/12
Publisher: Harlequin (Love Inspired)
Pages: 288
Target Audience: Young Adults/Adults
Genre: Historical Romance/Religion

Synopsis: Despite her protests, Princess Gisela, headstrong daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, must enter into a diplomatic marriage. Yet en route to her wedding, her ship is attacked and she's gravely injured. Rescued by a renowned healer, King John of Lydia, Gisela recuperates at his Mediterranean castle. The handsome, widowed ruler soon has her reevaluating her beliefs on love and marriage …but only if King John could be her groom. Their love is forbidden, and duty requires him to deliver her to her betrothed. Unless they can find a way to join their hearts—and kingdoms—with love, faith and honor.

Review: When I first started reading this I was enjoying it immensely and then the Religion heavy content kicked in and it started overshadowing the Historical Romance side of the story. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against religion in novels or in general. In fact i read the Amish Romance stories but they are a lot less Religion heavy than this book (odd considering they are set in a religious community).  I also think it prudent to point out that I am NOT an Atheist just to make it clear that this is not an anti-god splurge.

At the beginning of the story it is the peril and romance that takes center stage, followed swiftly by the threat of war and some fighting. But then the religious side creeps in, sneaky and not so there at first, but then it hits you like a hammer and I found it hard to focus on Gisela, John and there budding romance. One part that particularly annoyed me was that John seemed more alarmed at the thought of the church splitting than losing the woman he loves and the lives that would be lost during a war that would cause said split of church.  Now I understand that this was a different time period but still, it bugged me a lot. 

If you can get past that and focus on the romance and the complicated military plots and betrayals then there is a good story underneath it all. And I was thrilled with the ending. The idea that Love will conquer all has always been a big thing for me and I love the idea. So for that reason this book still gets three out of five, because it is, underneath it all, a compelling love story. It helped that the characters were well fleshed out and with personalities that could be related to. I could understand the reasoning for John and Gisela trying to avoid there feelings even if i didn't like there stubbornness.

Maybe I'm a good old fashioned romantic but if you love someone, really love someone, then they are most definitely worth the struggle to be with.

Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller

Target Audience: Older Teens/Adults
Genre: Sci-fi/Fiction/Romance

First of all I'd like to thank Heidi for allowing me to review her book for her and for asking me to do an honest review :-)
I'll start, as usual, by giving a brief synopsis of the general story:
Sara Mendoza  lives in a world where feelings and especially love is seen as an emotional fallacy and people are encouraged to have multiple partners in order to have more children. Infertility is seen as the ultimate shame, a caste system rules everyone and those who can't bear children are often encouraged to commit 'honorable suicide'.   Having grown up with these beliefs Sara knows no different until she is captured and tortured and ends up caught up in events that she never could have imagined happening.

I was a bit torn about this novel and there are a few reasons why, so bear with me while I explain my reasoning for my rating.
First of all I will say that the world building and the sheer imagination that went into this is incredible. It's been a long time since I've read about such a vastly detailed and completely different world in a sci-fi novel and I was fascinated by it. However, I felt there were a lot of new terms and ideas used in a short space of time and I felt slightly overwhelmed and a bit lost whilst reading it.
I'm aware that other readers did not have this problem though, so I guess that this is more down to the individual reading it.

Secondly, because of the sheer amount of new terms, places and concepts, I found a little difficult to follow the plot at times, especially with some of the chapters jumping to a different place and focusing on a different character. It would make me stop and have to think about what had just happened and what was now happening. Having said this, it was different reading about so many unique places, people and ideas and I found myself torn between wonder and outrage at some of the things that happen throughout the novel.

Some of the concepts for example, having multiple partners, I found really weird and I don't think I could live in a world like that, I mean I'd get insanely jealous if my partner had another 3 wives. But that's what is done well in this book, because you can tell that to most of the characters this is perfectly normal and for a lot of people there are no emotions involved in that sense.

The characters themselves are incredibly vivid though my opinion on them is once again divided as I found that I'd meet a character and not see them for a while despite having learned quite a bit about them and this threw me off a little bit or a character would be mentioned lots then hardly seen.
On the other hand, the attention to character detail is fantastic and I feel like I know Sara and Sean like best friends because of how descriptive Miller is in this book.
I loved Sean and Sara, they were fantastic and one of the best duo's I've read about in a while, although I flinched at some of the things they both had to go through and felt myself disgusted at what happens to Sara part way through the novel.
As for the bad guys? Well I'm not going to spoil anything so I will just say that they're very evil and I was hard pressed to decide who I hated more; Faya or Simon as both gave new definition to the term 'bad guy' in so many different ways.

I will summarise by saying that although I had a few issues with a few areas this is a great example of sci-fi that will give anyone's imagination a run for their money. The writing quality is brilliant, characters are vivid and if you're looking for a bit of sci-fi escapism, yet still with a hint of realism and a healthy dose of romance, then most definitely give this book a read.

Defiance by Lilith Saintcrow

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy/Fiction

I do love this series but I was hard pressed to give this a high as rating as the other books in the series and it might take me a while to get to why.
Don't get me wrong, this book isn't bad, in-fact it's generally OK it just lacked the impact the previous books had.
Following on from Jealousy, Graves has been taken by Sergej the evil vampire. Anna, the woman who betrayed Dru's mother, is on the loose and Dru's training is progressing much slower than she needs it to be.
Desperate to find Graves and to complete her training Dru finds herself in increasingly dangerous situations but what she has planned is pretty close to suicidal.

First of all I'll start with the positives. There are some pretty exciting moments in this book including a pretty creepy attack in the showers part of the way though which I thought was awesome. The ending was pretty incredible too and I loved the rescue mission to find Graves and the other twists that came with it,
The characters were pretty strong too, especially Dru and oddly enough I saw a pretty different side to Anna :-)

On to the bits I didn't like so much....I felt that this book dragged a little in the sense that although the book was a decent length, not a lot happened. I hate to write bad reviews and that's why I'm trying to be as balanced as possible, but to me three exciting things stand out in my mind one is a particular scene in the shower room, another involves a long standing character and the other is near the end, which I won't spoil.
The middle part of the book just felt like it lagged a bit and I really just wanted to find out if Graves was rescued and if Dru would bloom because lets face it that's been ongoing for the whole series.
I'll stop there now though because I'm in danger of breaking my no-spoilers policy and I really don't want too.

Don't let my review put you off. This isn't a bad book in any sense of the word. I just got the impression it was a bit of build up to the final book in the series and lets face it, it's all about to kick off. I will definitely be reading to see how the series ends :-D

How to Avoid Huge Ships: And Other Implausibly Titled Books by Joel Rickett

Target Audience: Anyone with a sense of humour
Genre: Humour

I can't really do a long review of this because there's not an awful lot to right about.  I picked this up in Waterstones because I love a random humour book, and this one is pretty random.  To sum it up, this is basically a collection of books with really silly titles.
From tractor obsessed authors to horse related lesbian short stories (don't ask!) and to other truly bizarre and wonderful book titles that I won't mention in fear of spoiling your reading amusement.

So thats all I'm saying!

Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy/Romance

This isn't the worst novel i have read, in fact it's not the worst werewolf novel i have read either, but something fell flat for me and i'm going to find it difficult to explain without sounding a bit stupid.  In essence, Never Cry Werewolf has all the elements of a good story; it's funny, a little scary and romantic but it just didn't capture my attention as other books have done.

To sum the story up into a short paragraph, Never Cry Werewolf is about Shelby, a teen who often ends up in trouble by falling for and/or helping the guys she likes (i have to admit this part of the story is funny, that girl is so gullible at times, it's unreal).
One day she goes a step to far and her Step-Mother Priscilla (yes i know, horrible name) send her to brat camp, her father doesn't argue the point and so Shelby finds herself at camp crescent with a bunch of other rich and famous teens, all of which have problems of their own.  But none have as many problems as Austin, the gorgeous son of a rock star, who is hiding a secret that even Shelby didn't see coming.

The plot itself was a good idea, but in my opinion, there could have been so much more done and i felt that some of the main issues Shelby faced remained unresolved, and it would have been nice to have some closure regarding the issues she has at home, especially as I think her step-mother is a pain who has it coming to her.
The werewolf story and Shelby's time at camp was pretty good, although the whole misunderstood teen story line grew a bit tired by the end (I mean really, would it have killed her to talk about what was bothering her?).
Hearing a different spin on the werewolf story was pretty cool, although, once again it would have been nice for a bit more detail about it, as well as what it involves.  Having said that, the idea of the Werewolf curse being controlled by drugs was quite cool, as opposed to some out of control loony howling at the moon.

With regards to the ending i felt that although most of the story was resolved and that Shelby had a pretty good ending, there could have been a bit more resolved regarding her issues at home. Maybe because i'm really really fussy, but i'd also have liked to see Priscilla get her just deserts because lets face it that woman is a big moo cow :-)

But overall this is an entertaining, funny and romantic read that will appeal mainly to teenagers and those who just want something lighthearted to cheer them up.

Wake by Lisa McMann

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy

I'm not entirely sure how to start this review as this left me somewhat torn. I find my reviews on waterstones easier to write because i don't go into as much detail. Mainly because im trying to get as much info over as succinctly as possible for people trying to make a decision on whether to read a book or not. On here i can go into more depth and i'm aware that a lot of people loved this novel so i feel the need to justify the loss of 2 stars.

I am going to start with the positives first though, of which there were quite a few. Firstly, the actual concept was fascinating. As an ex psychology student who studied this sort of thing, dreams are somewhat of a fascination of mine and i've always been intrigued as to what they mean, can we change them? and why do we dream anyway?
There's so much debate around that area i found this book brilliantly inventive in the way it looked at them. In some cases it would appear dreams are memories long buried, and in other hopes and fears, some of which are clearly not meant to be viewed by a third party.

This book isn't meant to give any definitite answers, more to make you wonder and think about the possibilities of dreams, which is one of the aspects i liked about it. With regards to that, i was also fascinated by how much damage the content of people's dreams can do.

Reading about Janie dealing with people's subconcious really made me feel for her situation. As someone who's had their share of nightmares, i wouldn't wish her ability on anyone.

However, i did like the idea that she was able to learn to control dreams and help people who were suffering. The ultimate impression i got, in my opinion, was that we are in control of our dreams. We can help ourselves and we do have the strength to overcome terrifying things. And that to me was a very powerful idea.

Now to get to the reason why this lost two stars, and there are a few reasons:

1. The writing style and POV just really wasn't my cup of tea. It's not something i'm familar with and i felt it translated badly. This seems like such a personal novel that i think first person POV would have suited it better, but then i'm not the author and there's probably a very good reason for it.

2. The way the book itself was set out was also another thing i found a bit odd. Theres a lot of jumping about near the beginning of the book and i found it a bit confusing. And some events seem to pass by so quickly i didn't realise they happened so i had to jump back a bit.

Something in relation to this that annoyed was the dates, i didn't honestly get what they had to do with anything at all. There probably was a reason but i found them hard to keep track of, or maybe it was just to give some sort of timeline? I'm not sure.

3. The characters are my next point. Don't get me wrong, i loved them all, but i felt as a reader i didn't learn enough about them to get properly involved with how they were feeling fully. Although i have to admit i found Cabel and Janies relationship wonderfully different as they both attempt to overcome there dream/nightmare issues.

Okay, so overall i found this to be an interestingly different read, with some wonderfully original events and a different kind of story, but i felt that the writing could have been better. I will read Fade though when i get the chance, because i am intrigued as to what happens next.

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy/Horror

I finished reading this then went to read other people's reviews about this to see if my thoughts were similar, and I've noticed that the very thing that i found off-putting has troubled other readers, so i'm glad i'm not the only one. This main off-putting thing being lack of depth in characters and also the explanation of the world it's set in, although the character problem was definately the biggest issue.

Don't get me wrong, there were some major positives to this story, or it would'nt have gotten the three stars it did, all of which are for plot and originality. The plot itself was really well thought out and there were some amazing twists, not to mention some rather amusing jokes throughout. The ending was fantastic, and i wouldn't have seen it coming even if it had been coming at me like a car with blazing headlights, it was cleverly done.
With regards to originality, the author takes old ideas of vampirism and werewolves and gives them a sharp twist, i don't think i've laughed so much as i did at some of the were's in this story!

The problem, as i've mentioned, depth. I didn't feel that there was enough character building and as a result by the end i felt detached from the characters and the ending, though being fantastic idea wise, simply didn't move me as much as it should. Also, Quincie's relationship with Kieren also suffered this problem, as by the time anything happened between them i just didn't feel anything towards them.

Having said that, i still think i'll read Eternal as i'm curious to see what will happen in the rest of the Tantalize series, although i'm well aware that Quincie and Kieren aren't in it. However, if you love vampire/werewolf romances you should give this a go.

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Faerie/Fantasy

I like to start with the positives wherever possible so that's what i do. Firstly, i'd like to say i want to give this a very good/ok rating rather than just an okay because it was slightly more than average but not into the awesome rating. When i have a split opinion like this i do find it easier to bullet point, so please do excuse my use of incorrect paragraphs:

1. The concept was wonderful and so unqiue that i was captured by it from start to finish. At times the devastation left from the war was so bad that i forgot it was set in a future/present time (i never found out which). It was only when Liza started having visions with roads and cars etc that i got reminded what century the book was set in.

2. The setting was another positive, for the whole book all you see is the damage left from Faerie attacks but then i felt an awful twist inside when i got a glimpse of the damage done to the Faerie world, it left me feeling stunned.

3. I have to admire an author who writes a faerie story that has hardly any faeries in it, and those that do are not the focal characters, in fact the impression i got was the fae were supposed to me merged more with our world than before.

4. The ending surprised me and i was left feeling very sad with the death of the poor cat. (poor tallow) It might sound silly but that cat was one of my favourite characters. And when Rebecca disappeared for the final time, i had to choke back a sob.

BUT...there some things that niggled me which brought the mark to a 3.5 (however much it hurt to, because the ending really moved me)

1. The characters weren't given enough depth, and i felt that i never got to know them very well at all and as a result i didn't particularly get attached to any of them. (Although i really loved Rebecca the shadow child and Tallow the cat!)

2. The plot itself also lacked depth. I would have loved the book to be more detailed and descriptive. Not too over done, but it would have been nice to know why the war happened for example, or what happened during the war. I appriciate that it was probably meant to be written this way, but i felt i needed to know more, or maybe that's just me.

In summery this was a good book. Loved the concept and plot but could have done with more description and character depth. But otherwise good. I'll probably still try some of her other books when i get the chance!

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy/Romance


***Contains Some Spoilers***

Ok, so at the risk of annoying other fans of stephenie meyer (bare in mind i am one myself please) i have to admit i didn't like this as much as books one to four, and there are probably several good reasons for this.

The first of which is probably because when all is said and done the ending was inevitable. Bree was going to die. For those who have read Eclipse (and even those who haven't just by looking at the ittle) we all know she dies at the end.

This probably wasn't a problem with a lot of people, but for me i find it hard to grow attached to characters that i know are going to meet an untimely end, not to mention it takes away the surprise element of the story.

I've read a lot of books where a main character dies and i didn't dislike the book, simply because it was a shock and so made me feel for them, as opposed to Bree where i saw it coming and just felt kind of sad, like there was no point.


The second was probably my frustration at the lack of use of the character Diego. I think so much more could have been done with him and his relationship with Bree, and so i felt the story fell a little flat with regards to his character. It was hard to gauge the bond between him and Bree when it was started and over so quickly, which brings me to my third point...


It was short. Now i get it was supposed to be, but if more had been done about Bree and Diego it would have been a little bit longer, and i'd probably have found their relationship a lot more believable and relatable. On the other hand, there were several redeeming things that i loved:


- Hearing confirmation about the volturi and what they were up to was a brilliant idea. Although most fans will have realised that they hate the Cullens, i personally had no idea that they wanted Victoria to succeed. Wow, they really are a nasty bunch of vampires!

- I loved Freaky Fred, he was awesome, and i really would love a novel about what happens to him. At the same time, i do really feel sad that Bree will never meet up with him.

- The idea itself was pure genius. I found it interesting seeing things from a newborns perspective and i was amazed at the lies they were told to keep them in order, it was fascinating.
As a result i now feel sorry for the whole bunch of 'murderous' vampies from Eclipse. It really wasn't their fault. Anyways, there were some good ideas in this book and some interesting things were revealed, but overall it was not one of the my favourite reads.

Signspotting: The World's Most absurd Signs by Doug Lansky

Target Audience: Everyone
Genre: Humour

As much as i love humour books, i have to admit this wasn't my favourite. That's not to say it's a terrible read by far. Some of the signs shown were so funny i was in stitches, but others weren't to my taste, or i simply didn't get the funny side.
As they say, each to their own, and i'm sure there are a lot of people out there who will find this more entertaining than me. Admittedly though, i giggled like a little girl at some of them. Some are innocent jokes, some are bad translations and others are just plain meant for the dirty minded. Either way, give this a go, it's a very subjective book, and an easy read for those who prefer to see the actual signs for themselves, it even tells you where they were taken!