Review – Relentless by Karen Lynch

 

I read Relentless as part of the #RockMyTBR challenge. I purchased Relentless as a result of Indiemas, hosted by the lovely S. Usher Evans.

Wow. Ok. I have been binge-reading romance lately and totally needed a break from it. Considering how far behind I am on the #RockMyTBR challenge, I chose something from there.

Sara Grey’s world shattered ten years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now at seventeen, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara’s own very powerful gift. In her quest for answers about her father’s death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara’s world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it’s the last thing she wants. Sara’s life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her. (Goodreads)

 

I give Relentless 5 out of 5 stars!

Hmm, now what can I say without giving too much away?

I really liked Sara. She put a lot of effort into keeping her friends and family safe from her secrets. She was dealing with A LOT of stuff in this book, and although she felt overwhelmed, she wasn’t the whiny, helpless little girl that a lot of protagonists are (although she was very fortunate to have the help that she did in some very critical situations). She continued to go about things in her own way and try to solve her problems–she wasn’t waiting for a hero.

I liked the abundance of creatures in the book and how they blended into the modern world.

I did think there was an over-abundance of beautiful/handsome characters in the book, but hey, that’s alright with me! *wipes up drool*

Overall I found this book to be a fun, entertaining read and I look forward to continuing the series!

 

The King – Release Day!!!

The King

Games We Play: Book 1

$2.99 ebook

$12.99 paperback

Not all vampire hunters dress in head-to-toe leather and sit on rooftops overlooking a gritty vampire-ridden city. Meet Delia Roberts. At twenty-six, she’s a mid-level hunter with the Harriswood League, and, despite her best efforts, isn’t scaling the hunter hierarchy anytime soon.

Months earlier, desperate to prove herself, Delia snuck into an exclusive vampire masquerade, only to wind up with a bite on her neck courtesy of clan leader and gorgeous vampire Claude Grimm. Fearful of the League’s punishment for succumbing to a bloodsucker’s charms, Delia does what she can to hide the bite and pretends the night never happened.

These days, however, Claude is determined to win her over, insisting the spark they felt that fateful night is worth pursuing. As Delia tries to ignore her steadily growing feelings for the enemy and fend off a mounting quarter-life crisis, vampire clan tensions worsen around the quiet city of Harriswood, bringing with them a danger unlike any the League has ever seen.

One that might change the course of history for good.

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Goodreads

Inspiration Playlist

Review – Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles

I read this book as part of the #RockMyTBR challenge.

I enjoyed reading Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t have its problems, though.

Stupid Girl, to me, really showed what holding in a secret and not communicating about it can do to a person. It also shows how easily life can sway people from their plans and how easily focus can be destroyed. I really liked that Olivia came from a family that was close-knit, and the things that affected them affected her as well.

Despite the problems I highlight below, I enjoyed watching the relationship between Brax and Olivia.

I think it’s only human to hope for the best in people, but I also think it lends itself to problematic relationships, especially in literature. Here is this character with obvious anger and jealousy issues, but it never gives Olivia pause, because she just knows she’s safe with Brax, despite his constant fighting and bowing up at other males. I feel like this trope sets an unhealthy ideal for relationships. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy reading them, but as time goes by, I find myself noticing such things more often and they give me pause.

I really try not to allow basic typos/punctuation errors sway my reviews unless they are super-present. Aside from some terrible comma usage, I didn’t notice an abundance of these, but I really felt like the story could have used some more content editing/revising/something. Sometimes I felt like I was seeing a scene for a second time. Other times there were inconsistencies when moving from one scene to another. And sometimes the pace was really slow/repetitive. Also, while a majority of the story is told from Olivia’s POV, there are a few places where it is switched to Brax’s. Because these were so few and far between, they were rather jarring. I’d have preferred to not have them at all, or to have more of them more consistently.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 stars. 

Blog Tour – Sleigh Bells Ring

This Week’s Five!!!

Hey guys! Here are five things that either made me happy or I found interesting from this past week (or so):

1. I learned about Floating Wetlands from a pin on Pinterest. What!? This is so cool. I think nature is amazing, and I love finding out about things like this. If you have the attention span to read to the bottom (I actually did, which is a rarity!), how cool would it be if they found crops that could successfully grow on these!? Really though, even if they don’t find one, imagine if they could plant food for beneficial insects and birds in the area. Bees are a very important insect and disappearing rapidly. Growing flowers–perhaps near a shoreline–could possibly provide them with more places to gather nectar. The same with butterflies and hummingbirds and other nectar-lovers. If not that, then is there a crop that fish would eat? Or ducks? Other water-fowl? Something that could help bring more nature back to these wetlands where nothing could live, but that suddenly are getting a second chance!
2. I successfully made homemade black bean soup. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and I’m happy to report it was quite delicious!
3. I’ve been using my sewing machine again, and have successfully finished the scoody I started last year, made another for my mother-in-law, and made some pajamas for my son.
4. I tried a new recipe, Salted Peanut Butter Shortbread. YUM! I didn’t even dip them in chocolate, but they’re a huge hit at our house.
5. Halloween. We hadn’t planned on doing anything, but a last-minute trip to the grocery store (and some digging in the closet) resulted in a night of fun, and I absolutely love this picture, isn’t it creepy?

Blog Tour & Review – Where Two Hearts Meet

Stacking The Shelves – November 6

Hello there! Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. Usually a weekly meme, mine pop up on a monthly basis. These are the books I’ve acquired since the October edition.

Bought:

Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke [Review] — I actually forgot to include this in last month’s Stacking the Shelves, but I attended a book festival and got a specially signed and personalized copy of this book that is so very important to me.

Borrowed:

Gifted/Won/Review Copies:

For the Record by Regina Jennings

Where Two Hearts Meet by Liz Johnson

 

#RockMyTBR – August-October Recap

The #RockMyTBR Reading Challenge is hosted by Sarah K, The YA Book Traveler. Click here for more info.

[My #RockMyTBR list]

Whoops! Looks like I fell off the update train! Well, don’t worry, my train hasn’t gone much of anywhere. I kept my trend going with NO #RockMyTBR books read from August through October. I’ve really failed this challenge so far, haven’t I? But two more months is enough time to squeak in at least a couple, or so I’m hoping.

Have you been participating in the #RockMyTBR or other reading challenges? How are you doing so far?