Review: Storm by: Brigid Kemmerer

Storm (Elemental #1) by: Brigid Kemmerer (2012)

353 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Supernatural

Publisher: Kensington

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming . . .

My Review

I enjoyed Storm more than I ever thought I would. I feel like I haven’t read a young adult supernatural novel in while that I really truly enjoyed, until now.

What I Liked

• It’s quirky and made me laugh.

• I loved how it was written. We get to know what is going on from Becca and Chris’ perspectives. I liked both and you really get the whole story.

• The characters are likable. Storm gets a lot of points for not having the main male character be a complete jerk. Although some of his brothers were, but that’s fine. I also greatly enjoyed Becca’s snark.

• Real life teenage issues are discussed, such as bullying. I always feel like it’s hard for supernatural books to also seem real. Although Storm did stretch the imagination a little too far at times, it did a nice job at showcasing real life problems, not just supernatural ones.

• The action scenes were awesome. Fists were always flying or the weather was going crazy almost all the time.

• Supernatural powers where people control the elements... Yup. I like it.

What I Didn’t Like

• There weren't any big or small shocking reveals. Everything was pretty predictable to me.

• The bullying could have been handled a little better. There really was no resolution to the issue.

• There is a love triangle, but surprisingly I didn’t hate it, I just wasn't a big fan.

Bottom Line: Even if I’m not sure I fully understand why I liked this book as much as I did I would still tell you to give it a try. I will be reading the second book as soon as I get it from the library.

Review: Ever Near by: Melissa MacVicar

Ever Near (#1) by: Melissa MacVicar (2013)

200 Pages

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing, LLC

Genre: Young Adult/Supernatural

Source: I received a free copy of this book from the author and publisher in exchange for my honest review. Thanks!!

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Love is ever near. But trouble is never far.

Nantucket Island is haunted, but only sixteen-year-old Jade Irving knows it. Ignoring the disturbing spirits isn’t an option, because one dwells in the enormous historic home she shares with her newly blended family. Jade is finding it more and more difficult to explain away Lacey’s ghostly, anguished tantrums, especially with Charlie, her gorgeous, almost step-brother, living right across the hall.

When a power-hungry ghost hunter tracks down Jade and blackmails her, Jade’s secret teeters on the edge of exposure, and her entire future hangs in the balance. If anyone finds out Jade can talk to ghosts, her life will be forever changed.

Can she save herself, free Lacey, and hang on to her tenuous connection with Charlie? Or will everything she ever wanted slip through her fingers?

My Review

Quick Summary: I had a lot of mixed feelings when I first started reading Ever Near, but in the end it was a darn good ghost story.

The setting was great. I’ve never been to Nantucket but I got a good feel about it thanks to the descriptive writing about beaches, interesting buildings, etc. that the author did a great job at providing.

I found the main character Jade to be very much a typical teenage girl, but with the slight problem of seeing ghosts and having to keep it a secret since she was ten, because of her fear that people would think she was crazy if anyone ever found out. I also thought Charlie, her soon to be step-brother, was a very sweet boy. The only problem I had at first, was how uncomfortable it was for me to read about Jade and Charlie’s relationship. I understand that they are in no way blood related, but it was a little weird that they were a couple, even if they were super cute. I also really liked all the other minor characters and their relationships with Jade, including her mother and best friend. I actually wish there was even more bestfriendness in the book.

Now let’s talk about the ghosts. They were not friendly in this book. They were pretty much spirits in pain that were mostly down right creepy/scary. I found the author’s take on ghosts interesting, especially Jade and her discovery on how/why exactly she can see them. Jade is dealing with one major ghost in particular in Ever Near, one that just so happens to live in her new house. I liked Jade’s story and the ghost’s story, except for one thing, Jade never had to dig very deep/hard to find out about the ghost that is haunting her new house. I wanted a scene where she takes a big trip to the local library looking through microfilm strips and such for a great reveal about who the ghost was, but we didn’t get that. It was the one thing that bothered me the most in this novel. I wanted a bigger reveal on who the ghost was.

The Bottom Line: Ever Near is a solid read. I am sure I will be reading the second book.

Review: Conjured by: Sarah Beth Durst

Conjured by: Sarah Beth Durst (2013)

368 pages

Genre: YA/Supernatural

 Source: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

My Review

Magic, memory loss, witness protection, and a super cute guy is pretty much everything I could want in a book. Too bad this book was such a disaster that it didn't even matter that it had all those things in it. Conjured just wasn't my cup of tea, others may enjoy it, but in no way was it for me.

The beginning of this book was incredibly slow and painfully dull for me. But since it was a review book I powered through, and low and behold it got magical. (Don’t get your hopes up; it was only magical very briefly and for a few instances.) Some of the magic scenes described in this book were breathtaking. There were also a lot of fun scenes in the public library where Eve is working. Who doesn't love when a book semi-takes place in a library? On the other hand, these two things were literally the only good parts about this book. Everything else from the boring beginning to the very lame/unbelievable ending made this one of the most unmagical books I have ever read.

Every aspect of this book that is mentioned in the synopsis is very poorly executed. The characters were undeniably forgettable. Eve doesn’t know herself and is suffering from memory loss, I thought this would be really interesting and was eagerly waiting for her to recall her memories, but the times when she does were not fulfilling.  Also, Eve’s “aunt” is so ridiculous and rude that I can’t stand her. Not to mention the world building that didn't really exist. I didn’t get enough information about the witness protection program that I would have liked, heck I didn’t get enough information about the magical elements in this book too, (and other things that I can't mention because they would ruin the plot) really I couldn't get lost in the world because I had no idea what type of world it really was. As the story progresses the plot gets weirder and weirder, but at least it actually starts to go somewhere after the very dull beginning. Then when we get to the big reveal... it was way too strange for my taste and was a huge let down. I wanted to stop reading it immediately. The only reason I kept going was because I only had like 30 pages left.

I guess it is safe to say that I won’t be reading this book again and probably won’t read any more books by this author. I encourage you to pass on Conjured. The synopsis sounds amazing, but was just really misleading.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

Review: Dance in Shadow and Whisper by: Sarah Godfrey with Victoria DeRubeis

Dance in Shadow and Whisper by: Sarah Godfrey with Victoria DeRubeis (2013)

363 pages

Genre: Supernatural/Vampire/Demons

Source: The authors gave me a free copy of their book for my honest review. Thanks you two!

Purchase: Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Kali unexpectedly discovers on her first day of human high school that she’s forbidden to eat or partake of the toilet during class time, the assigned history and species books look best on the shelves of popular fiction, and the boy she’s watching over is definitely a reincarnated war lord.

The highest powers of Kali’s people and the highest powers of Yuuhi’s people, irreconcilable enemies, designated them to find proof that Jason is, in fact, the reincarnated Ares.

All Yuuhi sees in Jason is the typical scrawny, socially inept emo kid dressed in conflicting shades of black. But Kali sees that Jason’s shadow is bigger than he is, and if the powers of Yuuhi’s people find out, Jason won’t be human much longer.

The desire to protect him from an unexpected visitor brings out her most dangerous sides. Something’s changing in her, something she can’t control, and she’s not afraid of Jason mutating into a creature of the shadows more than she’s afraid she’s becoming something even worse.

And the highest powers will be watching her.

My Review

     

What did I just read? No seriously, I’m totally confused. Dance in Shadow and Whisper is an enjoyable read and is a novel with an interesting take on vampires and demons, but it had my head rolling at times. I enjoyed the story and there were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, but I can’t for the life of me truly figure out exactly what I just read. I was a little bit confused for pretty much the entire book. Maybe I’m just a little slow, but I’m thinking it’s because things at times aren’t explained overly well in the book. So as I sit back and continue to scratch my head I’m going to tell you what I thought of the book to the best of my ability. 

The characters all around were the strongest part of Dance in Shadow and Whisper (besides the awesome cover of course). Each one was complex, intense, crazy, unique, and out of this world. I love the importance of family and friends in this novel and how Kali and her brothers interact. If you are hoping for a romance there isn’t really one. I didn’t mind this of course, it was a nice vacation from the norm. We get a lot of different POVs in this book which at first turned me off, but then I got used to it and was actually glad because it shined some light on different happenings in the book which helped me battle my confusion problem.

The plot was kind of hard for me to follow, not the overall big picture, but the little details. The world building just wasn’t that spot on and everything seemed to be made more and more complex in a not so great way as the story continued along. I did immensely enjoy several different scenes that were creative and well written, especially whenever Kali was at school trying to be normal, these sences may have made the whole book, but some of the scenes were also a little boring for me. I do however want to emphasize that when I finally got about half way through the novel I couldn’t put it down. It was intense, less confusing, and full of action. It just made me a little sad that it took me half the novel before I started loving Dance of Shadow and Whisper.

Right now this e-book is 99 cents on amazon and I’d say to give it a shot if you are a fan of supernatural books with a lot of crazy stuff going on. I’m not sure I would technically classify this as young adult due to the big amount of curse words and other small things. I can however say with certainty that I will probably read the second one because the ending is a huge cliffhanger and I'm thinking the next book will be easier to understand and faster paced. 

Review: Deadlocked by: Charlaine Harris

Deadlocked by: Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #12)

Publisher: Gollancz

327 pages

Genre: Adult/Fiction/Vampires/Supernatural

*This review may contain spoilers from the previous books in this series.

Goodreads Summary: Sookie has a murder investigation on her hands.

A young girl has died at a vampire party - and it looks as though her lover, Eric, might be responsible. Eric swears he didn't do it, the police don't believe him, and even Sookie isn't so sure. Nor is she inclined to take his word for it, not having caught him enjoying the victim's blood minutes before she was killed.

But something strange is going on. Why had Sookie been asked to come to the fateful party a few minutes early - just to catch Eric in the act? And why had the victim spiked her own blood before approaching Eric? Was it simply because she wanted to be irresistable, or was it something more sinister?

Sookie will have to find out ... but it's the worst moment to investigate, as her Fae family are having troubles of their own and Sookie is, inevitably, drawn in. And there is one last complication. The cluviel dor her grandmother left her. It will grant her one wish, which could fulfil Sookie's heart's desire. The only problem is, she still doesn't know what - or who - her heart truly desires ...

My Review

I’m going to keep this review short because I’m having a hard time avoiding spoilers.

Full disclosure: I am an Eric fan. I will always be an Eric fan. Eric and Sookie forever! This may make my review slightly biased. 

Okay, with that said, I wasn't a huge fan of this book. The series has been slightly declining as of late and it isn't really bothering me that the next book is the last one. (Okay, it still is kind of bothering maybe just not as much as I had hoped.) Don’t get me wrong, I still love this series, but not every book in the series is great. Plus, it just feels like it is time for it to be over. Let’s just hope the last book is epic. I'm waiting for it pretty impatiently.

What I DIDN'T LIKE about this book:

• Not enough Eric Northman. He is barely in it for being such an important character.
• Sookie is starting to get annoying. She just seems so unsure of her self sometimes which shouldn't be the case after 11 books.
• I feel like Harris at time was gripping at straws for plot ideas, if you know what I mean. Especially when dealing with Sam.
• One of the plot twists was just ugh. All I can say is that we all know Eric is more clever than that and should be able to find a different solution. We are talking about Eric freaking Northman here!

What I DID LIKE about this book:

• I still love the world full of supernatural creatures that Harris has created. Fairies, Shifters, Werewolves, and Vampires! Oh my!
• We get a little more time with the Fairies in  this book and it was rather enjoyable.
• I really liked one of the plot twists a lot. I didn't really see it coming and I love a good shock.
• For some reason I just did. I think it is because I'm such a Sookie Stackhouse fan both in print and on the screen.

If you read this series already just keep going. You may as well read this one since there is only one more book left. For those that have yet to start the series, give it a try. Who doesn't love romance, a lot of action, vampires and other supernatural beings all in one book? I promise the beginning of the series starts out so strong that it will be worth your time reading it. Be warned however, the television show doesn't really fallow the books all that closely, especially in this last season.

The last book, Dead Ever After, comes out May 7, 2013!

RATING 3.5/5   Buy Deadlocked