Dreamer's Pool ( Blackthorn and Grim, #1) by Juliet Marillier

This is not my first foray into Juliet Marillier's spellbinding storytelling, I am a long time fan, and as such I was expecting the usual awesomeness.
In every aspect of the story.

Well, the author nailed the story telling part... like she always does.
 I don't think Juliet Marillier knows how not to tell a good story. Most of the big tomes that I have in my shelves, have her name on it and if you know anything about me, you're probably aware that I am not a big fan of big books, so they're better be good! ( look, if you can say something in two hundred pages, why use five hundred? Am I right? o_O)
Juliet Marillier is one of the few writers that I read, who don't fill her books with countless pages full of nothing.
 Sure, some of them may have a good couple of pages describing walking and more walking (I may have become a little traumatized with "Shadowfell"), but even the author's "not so amazing works" are always five hundred per cent better than the average book.
Why?
Because allied with perfect storytelling abilities, the author creates the most amazing characters. Who can forget Sorcha and Red? Or Liadan and Bran? And what about the lonely Faolan who stole my heart in "The Bridei Chronicles"?
They're unforgettable.
That happens here as well, and truth be said, everything that involves the two main characters gets a five star rating.
Blackthorn and Grim are not our average heroes: when we first meet them they are locked away in a prison. One of them has hold on to her need of revenge. The other one to his need of being useful.
Of them both, it will be a decision made by Blackthorn that will decide their future path.
In this volume we get more background information on Blackthorn, a once respected woman who has lost everything in life. That is not to say that Grim isn't an interesting character, or that he gets thrown to the sidelines: he definitely doesn't. He is someone with a big heart, and I can't wait to know more about him on the second volume.

The reason why I am giving this book a three star rating, is because the book is not all about these two characters.
There is also a prince, called Oran. Oran is a good person. He's kind. Intelligent. Literate. Likes dogs.
And he likes poetry...and he's not too keen on assuming his royal duties.
Truth is, I found him a bore. -_-
Yes, once again, he IS a good person, but I couldn't care less about him, and every time the pov would change to him, he would bore me immediately.  -__

Luckily there is a mystery involving Oran and his future fiancée, so that made things more interesting... unfortunately I found some other things problematic.
There's slut shamming directed at rape victims ( yes, it is done by the bad guys, but even so, it took one too many pages being dealt).
There's not one, but at least two rape victims in this book: some of you may even say, "oh, but that was usual back then"...
The second victim took me by surprise, and after what we already knew had happened to another character, I felt it was overdone. Of course I should be grateful that Marillier isn't GRRM.
But the thing is, I don't read GRRM. I am picky with my fantasy and what goes with it...

So, there you have it: some parts I more than liked, others, not so much. However I will definitely be following Grim's and Blackthorn's stories in the next volume, "Tower of Thorns".

 Author's Official Site

Bookdepository.com

The Maiden Thief by Melissa Marr

"The Maiden Thief" by Melissa Marr is a dark fantasy novelette about a teenager whose town is plagued by the annual disappearances of girls and young women. Her father blames her when one of her sisters is one of the taken."

  I went into this story without actually having read a synopsis: I just fell for the title and the cover, despite this being by Melissa Marr... I may have about three books of her "Wicked Lovely" series.

 I would have to check. That's how much I liked those...

So... "Maiden Thief"?
Great name for the title. Great haunting spooky minimalistic design.

I actually liked the beginning, and I was really curious about what was going to happen.
Unfortunately, my tolerance for this story wasn't destined to last beyond this line:

"We are not petty with each other, not short of temper or ill of manner,(..)Being with my sisters fills me with peace."

Great! That's what I was thinking by then! The girls, the sisters like one another and they respect each other. What more can a reader ask?

Just that this "sentiment" wouldn't follow:

"My sister smothers her gasp by slapping her hand to her mouth. It’s such a girlish gesture that I wonder how we’re related."

I just can't deal with this crap. These little offensive remarks that are supposed to separate our illustrious heroine from the rest of all "us women", because she is different.
When words like girlish and feminine are used as offensive remarks, my interest in a story pretty much fades.
Then it doesn't help that there isn't an actually developed story. For the type of retelling that this hopes to be Blue Beard what we are told, is just too little.

There's girls lying around in glass coffins alive... because of tubes? What is this? How? Why?

(highlight)  Give me a time period and stick to it. Parts of it feel Medieval, and then there's Doc Frankenstein?

Then there's "casual" raping, but then the guy gives her an orgasm, so our smart heroine decides to go with him. Because, she's that smart...and different from the others -_-

 (highlight)

The last line is actually good, but the whole thing was just a mess for me.
And I am used to messy retellings.

Read it here!

Between the Devil and Desire (Scoundrels of St. James #2) by Lorraine Heath

tw: child abuse, pedophilia

I just recently discovered Lorraine Heath and I LOVE her writing style and her characters!

They're all so practical, so devoid of needless drama, it's refreshing!

Let me start with what I loved about this story.

The characters were perfectly fleshed out, completely developed. They felt real, they acted like actual people, I was honestly rooting for them. 

Very straightforward communication between the characters. There was no drama as you usually see from the characters simply not talking to each other like adults. I wish all books took this route...

The relationships, not only the one between Jack and Olivia, but especially the one between Jack and Henry, were lovely. It's so nice to get to read a HR where the 'hero' takes his time to bond with others instead of just ambling about in pursuit of the lady's favour.

The writing style: perfect!

What I mostly disliked about this story was its implausibility. 

Olivia is all that is moral and proper. She wouldn't be seen without mourning attire so soon after her husband's death. Society has its eyes on her, and it's her duty to behave appropriately, not only for her sake but for the sake of her son's future. 

Yet a notorious owner of a gaming hell/brothel, who is not only single but also a commoner moves into her house (which became his, to be fair) and we only get one brief mention of how she doesn't need to worry about living with him because she's a widow? 

No. She does need to worry about it! It was simply not done!

There was also the mystery, which I deduced as soon as the will was read, even though I kind of hoped my guess wouldn't be right...

Don't let my complaints drive you away from this book. I think I'm being overly critical. I've given higher ratings to less deserving books, it's just that Heath is so skilled that when something doesn't work it draws attention next to the brilliance of the rest of her work...

Anyway, I do recommend this book, so if you fancy the summary go ahead and read it!

Lorraine Heath's official site

Buy Between the Devil and Desire

@ The Book Depository (with free worldwide delivery!)

Bella and The Beast ( Cinderella Sisterhood #4) by Olivia Drake

Arc provided by St. Martin's Press through Netgalley

Release Date: November 3rd

DNF at 41%

Confession time:
This story provoked such a reaction in me _ and no, it wasn't a good one_ that even after deciding to DNF it, I am still mad as... hell.

Yes, I am not being impartial, because back in the day when I started reading historical romances, most guys behaved as atrociously as this did does, and I would read them and like them.

Thing is, we're in 2015 and violence against women is still the main cause of women's death. More than cancer.
Being a woman our days still means that you're probably going to receive inferior wages compared with guys.
It also means that you're probably going to be subject to sexual abuse.
And to read something that tries to romanticize this type of behaviour in our time and age, really gets under my skin.

I've honestly been going over and over in my head, trying to find a way to write this review without going into a rant, but I cannot.

I can't get over the fact, that during the first interaction between Bella and _ I've come to think about him as the Pig _ Alwynn, he lifts up her skirts so than he can see if she was a specific tattoo (the one you see on the model's ankle) . Now, you're probably thinking: Oh, its just the ankle. It could be worse...
But it is, because not only did she not consent to it, soon enough he is grabbing her leg, and thinking about he would like to do with parts of her anatomy.He has all the power, and she has to submit to his whims.
Not hot. Not sexy.
_______
_____________
__________
To make matters even worse, Bella and all the other characters _ from what I read _ just felt flat to me.
I read a review in which the reviewer basically tells that if you liked the Mummy, especially Evie, you were going to love this.
I am not a fan of horror movies. I don't like to see scarabs eating people's... faces. -_-
But I've seen that movie a couple of times because I like the characters.
 I loved Evie's personality. Even Rick's. And I loved their romance.
Bella is no Evie.
No.

So, let me recapitulate:
I hate the guy.
The woman is a nitwitt who is supposed to be strong and brave but instead feels like an Anastasia.
Then I can't stop thinking that this book should be called "Bella and The Pig".
The guy has just gone to a brothel.
The guy returns home after frequenting said brothel, and decides "what the hell, I should f***k Bella as well".
She tells him no.
He decides to ignore her attempts to free herself from his unwanted attentions, because surely that's just her maiden sensibilities arising.
She pulls a dagger to his throat _ YAY! _ but only because she came second to the brothel scene. -_-

No. No. And no.
Not sexy. Not hot.

I want him tramped by a horse carriage.
And he want her shaken until her brain cells get back into place!

There: this is what this book has made me feel. I cannot be more honest than this.
I can deal with brooding, ill mannered Beasts. What I can not do, is stand abusive borderline rapists.
Also to call this a retelling of Beauty and The Beast is really, really pushing it.

First book that I've read by this author, and the thing is, I have been curious about the first book in this series for a long time now.
Now, not so much.

Author's Official Site

Bookdepository.com

Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W. Petty

TW: VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN AND WOMEN, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE, ALCOHOLISM

I think many people went into this book expecting more of BBC's Sherlock or the original Arthur Conan Doyle's books, and they weren't happy with the result. 

Sherlock is indeed like Elementary and BBC's Sherlock but, thankfully, we never have to look at Bennyhill Chasemusic's face throughout the book, so I actually liked the character 100% more than I like BBC's Sherlock (which is 0%, as you can tell by doing the maths). I just pictured him as a young Jeremy Brett, by far my favourite of all Sherlock Holmes.

The one I REALLY loved in this book was Mori! She was clever, though not in an alienating way towards her peers (like Sherlock was), she cared and protected her brothers, she cared about her friend Sadie Mae. ...And she cared about little else.

We always get these mildly sociopathic male protagonists - House, Sherlock, etc. - but we seldom get the sociopathic female, though when we do... they're the best! Who doesn't like *SUPER SPOILER* from Gone Girl? Who doesn't like Alice from Luther? It's much more intriguing because these female characters are always written as being able to fake their personality and immerse themselves in society with none the wiser, while their male counterparts go out of their way to let everyone know they despise them. 

So onto the plot, this isn't a full 5 stars because I believe anyone could guess the whole "whodunnit" from the earlier chapters, but the story was still compelling. 

We have Mori, who has lost her mother and seen her life fall apart when her policeman father turns to drinking and starts beating her and her brothers. 

Mori who is looking for a way out. Mori who has lost any belief in the system after having every attempt to ask for help end up with her father's police friends quieting everything up. Mori who wants to get rid of her father but wants to find a way to do it without negatively impacting her brothers' lives. 

Then there's Sherlock. He's basically Sherlock from BBC, only younger, and less rude, and more aware of his social incompetence, so I guess more like Elementary’s Sherlock... And he's all for "the game's afoot!" and turning everything into a competition, as if people's lives are a game that needs solving the whys and hows, but he then loses interest as soon as he's figured them out. 

I liked that difference between Sherlock and Mori. I liked how, when he pulled her into the game, she saw everything he saw but also the vulnerability, how the others were human beings worthy of respect and privacy, how their pains weren't a game - even if she felt little for them. 

I've seen quite a lot of reviews complaining about insta-love, and I have to say, though rather quick, it seemed natural to me. It's difficult being an outsider, so it's easy to form an attachment to someone who's even a little like you. It's easy to cling to someone who's witnessing you at your most vulnerable. It's normal and human to form bonds while going through adrenaline filled situations. 

The romance itself wasn't the focus, with the story focusing mainly on the plot, so it was okay.  And I loved how they were so happy and proud when the other one was particularly brilliant!

I really liked the whole theme of the views of the privileged being called into question by those at a disadvantage. In fact, this is most definitively my favourite quote from the book:

"Sherlock shrugged. “I don’t understand the need for power, really. There are more important pursuits.”
“Only those who have never felt powerless can afford to think like you.” "

I've never done this, but here's how I pictured them (as mentioned above):

Jeremy Brett and Ruth Wilson

All in all, I loved it! I loved the way we were shown the violent family life - I know these experiences aren't universal, but to me, personally, it rang very true. How Mori would try to make excuses to avoid a worse situation. How Mori never surrendered. 

I liked the plot, the mystery - even easy as it was to solve, because the tension wasn't really on who did it, but on what that meant personally for the characters' lives. 

And I love how Sherlock was basically the love interest, even if a brilliant one, and everything we saw was through Mori's eyes. 

I can't wait for the next one, and I truly hope that Mori fully becomes the character Moriarti as we know it from the books. 

I recommend this with caution because I LOVED IT, but many didn't, so it's really a question of who's reading it. 

Heather W. Petty's official site

Buy Lock & Mori

@ The Book Depository (with free worldwide delivery!)

And please, please be a dear and if you have a Book Depository account ask to be warned when this edition is available, because that's the one I want, so they might hurry to get it if they see there's interest!

Venomous (Alien Warrior #1) by Penelope Fletcher

 

Trigger warnings: 

graphic descriptions of rape, rape apologism, sexual coercion, rape culture, sexual violence, sexual slavery, violence against women

I was really excited about this book because many who liked The Last Hour of Gann loved this one too.
This isn't a bad book when it comes to writing, plot, and worldbuilding, but it was way too much:

• too much drama, and not feasible things, every time they sat down someone was abducting and about to rape Lumen
• too much of Lumen doing stupid things and never rescuing herself, always needing her lizard lovers to come to her rescue
• too many rants by everyone, Lumen especially
• TOO MUCH RAPE, like seriously! It's understandable in some instances as part of worldbuilding, but it lingers, and liiiiiingers, and it's graphic, and overly descriptive
• too much of making excuses for rape commited by the actual MAIN LOVE INTEREST
• too many villains: whenever one would go down another would pop up it all became repetitive and trivialised violence against women

I don't know, it was just too much of everything. 

Admittedly the worldbuilding is amazing. Fletcher really has a gift for it! 
And I did like the basic plot, Fletcher knows how to write. It's just that it plods on and on, always repeating the same dangers, merely changing the villain. I was on page 200 of 652 and I was ready for the book to end.

Listen, I don't mind ménage. Sometimes I even like it, if it's well written which, many times, it actually is!
But quite honestly Lumen falls in "love" with Venomous, then she's forced to accept Fiercely, and then Cobra. Bear in mind that Lumen wanted none of them, but ended up falling in "love" with all. 
Why is love in quotation marks, you ask?
Because Lumen's relationship with Venomous begins with him raping her. She begs and pleads, she cries. But he rapes her. It takes a while, by the way. With descriptions of how horribly it hurts her. Of how she'll never, ever forgive him. 
But then, bam! she loves him. 
Later on, closer to the end of the book, she even tells him he never apologised for raping her and he tells her he has no regrets because that made her his. 
Like... 

And Fiercely? And Cobra? 
She was coerced into accepting them as mates. She was forced to be raped in public to be "married" to them. Even though she spent more than just a few chapters begging everyone not to do it, that it was destroying her emotionally. 

I tried to like this book - it has a lot to like - but I don't understand how anyone can excuse all those trigger warnings above, especially when it's all unapologetic and written off as romantic in the end. 

I was horrified and sickened throughout the entire book. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't kill them or refuse to be with them. I understood why she wouldn't run away, since it was always made perfectly clear that without their "protection" everyone else would rape her. 
How romantic.


Penelope Fletcher's official site

Buy Venomous (Alien Warrior #1) 
@ Kobo

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It's Amy and Nick Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary

As always, Amy has a treasure hunt prepared for Nick: scattered clues leading him to places where they shared special moments in their relationship, ending in a lovely present. 

Nick has nothing prepared, not reservations at a restaurant, not even a gift, not even flowers. 

While Nick is at the bar shittalking his wife with his twin sister and then spending some time where no one knows where he's been, his wife goes missing. 

There are signs of a struggle in the living room and clumsily mopped blood in the kitchen, blood which turns out to be Amy's. 

Nick swears he didn't do it, but the clock is ticking for Amy, the longer she's missing the harder it'll be to get her back alive.

Sorry, the whole review after this is a huge SPOILER, so click at your own risk!

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

                     Arc provided by Chronicle Books through Netgalley

                                  Release Date: August 18 th

Trigger Warnings

Two very strange, painful and boring stars, because despite my wish to dnf this e-galley at the very beginning, there was just something about this story, something strangely compelling that kept me from doing it!

Turns out it was not that much to begin with, :/ because this ended up being a new adult story with lots of feelings and people sleeping around with each other.
In a supposed fantasy setting.

A very drab _ where is my world-building? _ fantasy setting, with no rules and explanations for anything.
Things are the way they are, and that's the end of it:
 
A cannibalistic race? Who cares?

People being sexually assaulted because they're prostitutes? Normal.

A race _represented by four people _ prostituting themselves...because who cares about alternatives?
Normal.

Another race that spills ropes out of their mouths and who live up in the air... and I don't know why, apparently come to the fairies help?! wth...

Soap opera for teens (old ones because of all the sex work talks), with some gorgeous prose thrown around once in awhile to grab idiots such as myself.

There's this big mystery around the narrator which was actually well done... some sort of journal inside a story, and I am going to leave it as it is, so I don't spoil anything...

Positives: the occasional beautiful phrasing and the whole "bang" surrounding the narrator's identity.
Look, maybe some people will read this book and will appreciate it as the work of a genius: It definitely has some twisted qualities to it.
As for me, I like my stories with a little more of mental health...*cough*... in them.

Myself after reading the whole thing:
That was it? o_O
Can someone please give me back the hours I wasted with this?
Because I am not getting younger :/

                                
 Author's Official Site

Bookdepository.com

Untaken by J. E. Anckorn

Arc provided by Curiosity Quills Press through Netgalley

Book status: Already Released ( March 23rd )

For me the main problem with this story, is that it feels as if it suffers from multiple personality book disorder.
 
This was supposed to be a YA sci-fi story, but with a fourteen, a fifteen and even a younger kid, there's times in which this is clearly a middle grade story.
 However there are other moments in which this crosses to "the adult road" _ a lot of swearing for instance and misogynistic bullshit. I normally couldn't care less about this situation_ the first one_, but in this story it just felt strange and out of place.

But then there's a lot of "dorks", "nerds", "losers", "chicks" comments running around, so I guess that that makes this YA.

The synopsis sounded really amazing: I read it, and my mind immediately conjured images of something along the lines of "Angelfall". Something intense and focused on the characters survival.
My bad.

The thing is that for more than thirty percent we get treated to the characters backstory, and it says a lot about the story execution that despite being privy to that, I couldn't care less about them.

The characters:
For starters, Gracie sounds way younger than her fourteen years old.

"Mom and Dad always told me never to play with—or even touch—lighters or matches, and even though getting a booboo was a seriously pre-Space Man thing for a person to worry about,(..)

Brandon sounds way older than his fifteen years of life, something more than comprehensible due to the way he was raised, but for almost three quarters of the story, the guy is such a prick to the girl that I practically couldn't stand him. If an alien would come and took him away, I would just say:
THANK YOU.
 I am not sure anymore if it's on their first or second interaction that he calls Gracie a bitch...

"There was something kind of romantic about a gun."

Then there's comments like this "lying around" waiting to trip you. "A pearl of wisdom" that a friend of Brandon apparently decided to share with the guy.
Yup! Buy a gun you teens, blow your brains out!-_-

Also, the story has some severe lacunas in important parts of the story:
For instance, when Gracie and Brandon first meet they are both in a safe-house with a large number of other refugees . But then something out of a nightmare happens, and the military forces end up appearing and everything is told fast forward in a blink of an eye... and that's it. Move on.
We never have a clear image of what has happened. Where is the government? Where are his allies?
WHERE IS NATO?
Where are the other survivors?

With the exception of a few moments, the pace of a story never manages to pick up.
Strangely _ in a story like this _ this was a most boring read. I lost count to the vast number of pages wasted on boring, couldn't care less details.

Yes it has some horror moments, some alien abduction scenes, some disgusting octopus attacks, but when I didn't get to watch  a real partnership establish itself between the kids, and instead I had to watch the fifteen old jerk boss the girl around I was mostly done with this story.

Unfortunately, I found myself interested in the younger kid story (Jake), so I had to keep on reading. -_-

With Brandon's increasing stupidity as the story moves along... although it does give the fifteen old character more credibility as to his age, it was hard to force myself to keep turning the pages.
In the end, Brandon manages to grow up, because a year has gone by, but I didn't get to see that.

Bottom line: Just as I suspected, a post apocalyptic scenario isn't all that fun to live in, or to read about, not when there isn't a sense of dread of what is looming ahead.
And although the characters and their interactions change with time, this is not a story that I see myself re-reading.
What can I say?
I am not a big fan of ET.

Oh, and I also could have done without the budding romance between the main characters in the last pages.

About the Author

Daughter of Glass by Vicki Keire

Thank you so much to Curiosity Quills for providing us with this book in exchange for an honest review!

TW: CUTTING, SELF-HARM

I was so, so excited about this book! 

Just read the summary! Doesn't it sound amazing?

Sadly, it didn't work for me...

The book is quite short, at about 199 pages, but it still doesn't feel like there is enough plot for it.

For starters it's overly-descriptive. Every little thing, as irrelevant to the plot as it may be, is told to us: car rides, extensive physical descriptions, every little thing that goes through Sasha's (the main character) thoughts is told to us in detail. 

And on the subject of being told... this book is all "tell", no "show". 

Readers can infer things, they don't need to be told, often through repetition (and repetition, and repetition...) what is going on. As a reader, I felt like I was being talked down to...

And when the author wasn't telling the reader every minutiae, we got awkward, stilted dialogue instead. 

Then there is Sasha (who is a very hard to relate to main character), and Noah's... "relationship". 

"For about the millionth time, I tried to name this feeling between us and failed."

It's insta-love, girl. 

To summarise, this book is basically a good plot idea failed in the execution, ending up as a collection of YA tropes, from the insta-love, to the absent parents, complete with tragically dead mother, too much drama... I could go on.

It just wasn't for me, but maybe others will like it. 

Buy Daughter of Glass
@ amazon

Vicki Keire's official site

Forever Grace ( Ever After #2) by Linda Poitevin

                                Arc provided by Michem Publishing through Netagalley
                                            
                                            Status: Already released ( April 24 th)

Trigger warnings: Domestic Violence

Having read and loved the first book in this series ( Read my review Here!) I was more than happy to sunk my metaphorical teeth in this one.
This is basically a four star book. As usual it is extremely well written. The characters pretty much have a life of their own, and the author was able to interwove a harsh reality with the promises of a new day. Hopefully a better one.

However _ for me _ since the story happens against the background of domestic abuse, I spend a third of the book wishing that the plot had been told during a longer time frame.

Grace and her nephews are living in the aftermath of a nightmare _that hasn't yet ended_ and I couldn't help feeling that the week they spend around Sean was just too little for the guy to have such an impact in their lives. Not that you don't feel a strong connection between those two, you do.

Also, I had some difficulty believing into Sean's change of heart. Here is someone who didn't want to have kids. And Grace has to take care of four... and the cuteness has an expiration date. lol
Once again, I found everything too sudden.Yes, the situation has its nuances, and maybe his protective instincts have been activated, but...

I was happy to take a peek into Gwynn's and Connor's married life.
I liked how strong (mentally and psychically) Grace turned out to be. I especially loved the fact that she didn't need anyone to save her in the end.
And the fact that she landed Sean on his... posterior (both psychical as literal speaking) was an added bonus.

Bottom line, a good story, although I still prefer the first book in the series "Gwynneth Ever After" something not difficult to understand given the theme of this book.


Author's Official Site

Buy it:
Bookdepository.com

All The Rage by Courtney Summers

                                  Arc provided by St. Martin's Griffin through Netgalley

                                                         Release Date: April 14 th

                                                             TW's: Rape / Bullying

It would be impossible for me, to stay indifferent to what happens in this story: There's the spectre of rape touching almost everything that happens, and that is so gut wrenching, that I mostly read this while standing up.
My feet wouldn't stay quiet, and I was a nervous wreck.

There's also bullying in this story. Strong girl on girl hate, and as if all that wasn't already enough, there's something even worse..

By the middle of it, I was promising myself, that in the future I will read all the zombie books that this author may write, but I will never read anything like this again, because I simply don't have the stomach for it.
There was a point in which I started questioning and getting angry with Romy's decisions.

Things were already bad, and she would go and act in a completely irresponsible way, which would only add more fuel to an already impossible drama...
I don't know how someone who has been raped will behave. I don't know if she'll have a strong preservation instinct...but I would like to think so, and Romy here, has two unbelievably stupid moments _ especially for someone who first comes out as incredible adult and responsible _ and those situations, combined with other aspects _ some undeveloped moments _ made it impossible for me, to give it more than three stars.

I also wasn't crazy about the way the story is presented: I found the time frames confusing as hell, and I would go back and forth to see if I could make some sense of that.

Romy doesn't have a single friend, she hates her body. She hates being a girl.
Her only coping, and defence mechanism, is her makeup...which is only believable for a small part.
Basically, too much happens for this girl to keep her act together!

Then there was also the love interest _ yes, there's one in this story _ which for me had no place in this story.
Don't get me wrong! The guy is great, and he sure gives his support to Romy _even when she doesn't deserve it _ but keeping in mind all that happens, I think it was too unbelievably rushed.

Bottom Line: This is an story with a strong message, that every teen should read, at least the parts that focus on what it entails being a girl our days, being subject to rape culture, and what they go through... especially in high school.

Keep in mind however, that the story needs another blurb: there's some references to a character _ Kellan _ that actually never makes an appearance, and reading it, makes it sound as if we're in for a thriller...which mostly doesn't happen.

Author's Official Site

Buy " All The Rage"
@Bookdepository.com

The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith

 

TW: graphic descriptions of rape, sexual slavery, torture, murder, violence towards women, violence towards children, xenophilia, and I'm probably forgetting a thousand other things...

Don't let the trigger warnings discourage you (or really, really DO if they are trigger warnings to you), like many epic fantasy/sci-fi works most of these things are present. They didn't keep A Song of Ice and Fire from becoming a best-seller, and they don't keep The Last Hour of Gann from being an amazing book.

Amber, our female protagonist, crashed along her sister and a bunch of other humans (this seems so weird to write, but bear with me, I'm still on that human vs aliens mindset after 1277 pages of it) into an unknown planet.

What follows is a pretty good illustration of human character when faced by survival: horrid.

That's not to say that the power dynamics which arise aren't absolutely enthralling! 
Scott (he can't really be thought of as the main antagonist because so many villains pop up in this book and they are absolutely despicable, but he's certainly the one who lasts the longest) who by virtue of embodying insufferable and unflagging male entitlement, no matter how repeatedly he is proven wrong, becomes so hateful that I ended up longing for his appearance just so that I could hate some more.

They end up finding one of the indigenous species of the planet: a lizardman (for lack of a better descriptor). Meoraq is part of the elite of an oligarchic society, a warrior priest, who defines himself by his strict religion.

I was expecting the romance, since I read the book's Goodreads' page, but I was still a bit... iffy about it?

I mean, when you think of a dreamy hero your mind doesn't automatically go to a lizard. ...Hopefully. 

But here's the thing, their relationship is so sloooooooow moving, and so well developed that when they get together (way, way into the book) it just seems natural. 

One thing I absolutely loved! 

Amber doesn't find Meoraq attractive, and Meoraq doesn't find Amber attractive. They fall for each others' mind, spirit, character, strength, morals. 

I find that great! Too often books gloss over these things, but think about it: why would an alien find a human woman attractive? This is the Mars Needs Women trope at work, and I'm glad R. Lee Smith avoided it. 

The action never lags, I never found myself bored - in fact I wish I did! There never seemed to be a moment of peace! 

The plot is coherent and addictive, the pacing is phenomenal, the characters feel real... I have nothing but praises about this book!

Then why the 4 star rating instead of 5 stars?

It was too much for me. Bear in mind that this is a purely personal complaint, and does not reflect upon the quality of the book!

But, as I said, for me, it was too much. Too much violence, too much rape (it's never rape for the sake of rape, it's always there for a reason and adds to the realism of the story, considering the society in which the characters find themselves), but too much... too much!

Still, it was an amazing read, and I highly recommend it to fantasy/sci-fi/romance fans.

R. Lee Smith's blog 

Buy The Last Hour of Gann

@ amazon ($8)

@ Barnes and Noble ($6.50)

Night Shift by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, and Milla Vane

This was an uneven anthology of novellas, which is a pity, because one of them was very, very good.

Three of my favourite authors were included, so I needed to get my hands on this asap.

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Nalini Singh's Secrets at Midnight

Though I love Nalini Singh, her Psy-Changeling series is very hit-or-miss for me. I can love a book with all my heart and then hate the next with just as much passion. 

This usually depends on the agency a woman is given in the novel. 

Sure, when I was a 15 years old, alpha males were dreamy, now I honestly don't mind them as long as the leading lady is an equal in the relationship. This is just the evolution of my tastes, it doesn't signify, in Nalini Singh's case, a deterioration of the writing quality of her books.

I've always liked - and couldn't wait to read about! - Mercy's brothers!

So reading about Bastien finding ~true love~ had me super excited for this novella.

I don't want to give anything away, but Bastien went too alpha. Kirby, his future mate, made weak attempts at being independent, which I applaud, but there was a pervasive theme of Bastien ignoring her ~for her own good~ and then being proven right.

Personally, I find this lack of body autonomy frightening and emotionally unhealthy. Kirby would tell him she did not wish for medical attention and Bastien would just ignore her and carry her to the nearest medical post. 

It could be argued that she may have actually needed a Dr. but that's ignoring the ethical implications of the matter. Imagine a stranger came out of nowhere, started sleeping in your house and took away your medical autonomy from you. Your choices no longer matter regarding medical treatment, it's what this stranger wants.

Of course this stranger is her ~mate~ so obviously she is silly to be upset over this and in fact she's wrong because he knows better and blah blah blah.

Listen, this is not a badly written novella, and I'm 100% sure that fans of the series will like it. I'm just saying this type of thing isn't my cup of tea, so...

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Ilona Andrews' Magic Steals

I have to be honest here and admit I kind of gave up on the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran's relationship is devolving from an adult, sensible and mature relationship to YA drama with a sprinkling of New Adult angst on top.

I still leaf through them so I can keep up with what's happening with the secondary characters. Whatever their faults the Andrews team know how to write AMAZING secondary characters, I basically love all of them, so whenever a novella about them comes out I know I'll get the old urban fantasy non paranormal romance Kate Daniels ~feel~.

I adore Dali! So this second novella we get about her relationship with Jim, and her family's relationship with both of them was a heaven send.

Dali is adorable as ever, Jim is honestly an amazing love interest - see? this is how you write alpha males! - who has a very, very healthy dose of respect for Dali's abilities and decisions, standing by her side, supporting her, and considering her his equal. 

Why can't all relationships be like this???

The plot was super mysterious and amazing, add to that all the well researched cultural background (there was real work put into this novella!), the family dynamics, the issues involved in a developing relationship... It was great!!!

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Lisa Shearin's Lucky Charms

This was a mess. 

I don't mean to discourage others from reading since I didn't find anything incredibly objectionable about it, so read on and make up your own mind.

I found the writing to be subpar, the characters undeveloped - there was simultaneously too much info dump and very little usable information - the main character is insipid, tstl, and is used to bring the element of humour into the story. Too bad she isn't funny in any kind of way.

The plot is just an unending cascade of clichés, the heroine just stumbles upon the answers instead of working effectively or, God forbid, using her brain, and did I mention that she is tstl? I did, didn't I. It bears repeating, though...

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Milla Vane's The Beast of Blackmoor

Milla Vane is, of course, the lovely and talented Meljean Brook. I'd be lying if I said that Meljean wasn't the reason I picked up this anthology; she honestly cannot write a bad book.

That being said, this is probably the lowest rating I've ever given a book of hers. 

Though, at 3,5 stars is still high ;)

The thing is, I loved the plot, I loved the characters, I loved their relationship and UST (the lady knows how to write stuff to bring on a blush!) and I loved their quest and their rectitude facing the world and rules they were bound to follow. 

It's just... This novella should come with a trigger warning. There was soooo much rape and sexual slavery! 

I know, I know, it's a barbarian world and it stays true to the epic fantasies where the evil warlord/sorcerer creates a realm of pure evil who Conan our heroes will eventually defeat and restore whatever passed for peace in those times.

And honestly, the story is so good that I still think about it. I couldn't stop reading it - Brook's stories are always like that. 

...But I couldn't fully immerse myself in the story because of the issues above.

Which is what I felt, as an individual reader! And shouldn't stop anyone from reading this novella because Meljean Brook deserves to be read :)

Buy Night Shift

@ The Book Depository (with free worldwide delivery!)

Nalini Singh's official site

Ilona Andrew's official site

Lisa Shearin's official site

Milla Vane's official site (and Meljean Brook's official site)