Week 9 Review: Sisters of Salt and Iron

From Goodreads:
Lark Noble is finally happy. She's trying to move on and put the events of the past behind her: the people who avoided her because she talked to the ghost of her dead twin sister, the parents who couldn't be around her anymore and even the attempt she made on her own life. She finally has friends—people who know her secrets and still care about her—and she has Ben, the cute guy she never saw coming.

Wren Noble is lonely. Unable to interact with the living, she wants to be happy for her sister's newfound happiness, but she feels like she's losing her. It doesn't help that Kevin, the very not-dead guy she was starting to fall for, seems to be moving on. 

Then Wren meets Noah, the spirit of a young man who died a century ago. Noah is cute, he's charming and he makes Wren feel something she's never felt before. But Noah has a dark influence on Wren, and Lark's distrust of him drives the sisters apart for the first time in their lives. As Halloween approaches and the veil between the worlds thins, bringing the dead closer to the world of the living, Lark must find a way to stop whatever deadly act Noah is planning, even if it means going through her sister to do so.

My Review:
I just loved reading this book! It was so fantastic, and it was a wonderful series! I loved hanging out with these characters again, and things are explored to deeper depths, and yeah, they face a pretty conniving bad guy!

So while Lark is having a good time being alive, with her group of friends, and dating Ben, well, Wren's feeling a bit left out because things can't work between her and Keith while he's still alive, and the friends aren't really hers, and then she meets Noah. Of course we knew things were going to go wrong!

Wren started acting weird to the point where Lark noticed it, but Wren didn't. And because she had feelings for him, well, made it harder to see that he was a bad guy. She did though, but not until she had formed a connection to him that she didn't know how to break!

We learned more about ghosts in this book. We also learned more about Wren and Lark, how her grandmother had a twin, and more about their great-great grandmother and her twin, and what they are, because yeah, being the daughter of Hades and Persephone is pretty darned cool and bad ass!

Loved this book, wish that we could spend more time in this world, but yeah, fantastic book!

Author: Kady Cross
Series: The Sisters of Blood and Spirit #2
Read: February 25th, 2017
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love her  books, and it's a End of Series 2016 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2017 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Published: April 1st 2016

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 52 Reviews: Under a Spell, Under the Final Moon

From Goodreads:
Count your blessings, guard your curses—and watch your back…

Sophie Lawson was seriously hoping life at the UDA would get back to relative normal now that her boss Pete Sampson has been reinstated. Unfortunately, her new assignment is sending her undercover into a realm where even the most powerful paranormals fear to tread…her old high school. Being a human immune to magic is no defense against soulless picture-perfect mean girls—or a secret witch coven about to sacrifice a missing female student. And Sophie's Guardian, uber-proper Englishman Will, is determined to convince Sophie he's the kind of temptation she should indulge in permanently. Now, as the clock ticks down to apocalypse, he and Sophie will have to summon every trick in the book to battle devilish illusion, lethal sorcery—and betrayals they'll never see coming…

From Goodreads:
It's not the end of the world--until it is. Sophie Lawson may be a mere human with no special abilities except a strong immunity to magic. But the havoc she's wreaked on the supernaturals who come up against the Underworld Detection Agency have earned her plenty of enemies. Still, a girl can't freak out every time a horribly barbecued corpse is found with her business card in its hand. Or see a sudden glut of earthquakes, wildfires and three-headed dogs as just another day in California. But Alex Grace, her favorite fallen angel, is concerned--or saying he is to see more of her. Getting Sophie to see all the signs of the Apocalypse is an interesting way to heat things up. Or maybe what's making everyone hot under the collar is the fact that all Hell is about to break loose...

My Review:
It was both awesome and sad to finish this series! I mean, it was just so fantastic to read! And yeah, that we're not going to get any more (besides the short story in On the Hunt) it is a sucky fact! I wish that there could've been more in this series!

A lot happens in these books, seeing as they're the end! Like, having to go back to her high school, but this time, as a substitute teacher. Or that her father is coming looking for her. Yeah, some pretty big things were going on!

Sophie has grown from the lady she was in the first book. She still has her problems, but now she has more knowledge and experience under her belt, so she can face these bigger threats! And boy, are they bigger!

It takes more than the ability to shoot what you're aiming for (or at least, hitting them) to beat these bad guys! So it's good that Sophie's worked for this! I just wish that after that ending, that we would get more of a close, but nope, it's like, one wrap up chapter and done. So that was a bit sad! I would've loved just a little bit more book!

Loved this series, it was so fantastic, I just wish it'd lasted longer!

Author: Hannah Jayne
Series: Underworld Detection Agency #5, 6
Read: December 22nd, 22nd, 2016
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing! And they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Books! And Under the Final Moon is a End of Series 2016 Book!
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Published: August 6th 2013, August 5th 2014

Under a Spell:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Under a Final Moon:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 50 Review: Bound Together

From Goodreads:
The Sea Haven series comes to a climactic end as the mysterious man from Blythe Daniels' past re-enters her life in a dramatic way. Viktor Prakenskii had always intended to come for Blythe after his work undercover was at an end, but with a dangerous enemy heading towards Sea Haven, he knows he cannot wait any longer or he will jeopardize the woman he loves. His arrival sets off an explosive chain of events, and everyone in the small community of Sea Haven, including the Drake family, will never be the same.

My Review:
I just loved reading this book! It's the last book in the Sisters of the Heart series, but not the last book in the overall Sea Haven world-there's going to be another spin off series, the Torpedo Ink(s?) and yeah, that's so great, because we were introduced to about half of their members in this book!

We were told of Viktor and Blythe's relationship in Fire Bound, but yeah, there's nothing like getting the story first hand from these characters themselves! And yeah, things were pretty unexpected! Like, we knew there was a reason why Blythe was at the same counselling group as the others, but yeah, the reasons why, unexpected! Especially the reason, the who, behind them!

Viktor had the worst childhood of all his brothers. Well, birth brothers. His chosen family had about the same childhood because they grew up in the same school. The worst of the worst. And yeah, I guess it was fitting that they would take down pedophiles like the ones that hurt them!

This book ended on a really great note, happiness and connections, and healed hurts, and hope for the future! And that there's 17 other members of the Torpedo Ink (which does not make all of them tattoo artists as I saw somewhere, though they all do have tattoos!) and two of them are girls! And hopefully they'll all get stories! That would be so awesome, even if some of them where short stories, or there were two couples in a book like Dark Promise!

Yeah. This book was so great, and I can't wait for Shadow Reaper next from Christine Feehan!

Author: Christine Feehan
Series: Sisters of the Heart #6
Read: December 9th, 2016
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her books and writing, and this series, so much! And it's a End of Series 2016 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Jove
Expected Publication: March 21st 2017

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 49 Reviews: Shattered Glass, Dawn Study

From Goodreads:
While trying to teach her adopted daughter, Reema, how to work with molten glass, Opal receives a letter from Master Magician Zitora Cowan requesting Opal's immediate help. Zitora resigned from the Sitian Council over two years ago to search for her lost sister, and no one has heard from her since. The letter is probably a trick, but Opal refuses to pass up the opportunity to help her mentor, who may be in genuine trouble. Good thing Opal isn't that easy to fool. With her two soldier friends Nic and Eve providing backup, the three travel to a small town in the Jewelrose Clan. But can they rescue the Master Magician without being caught in the same trap? 

From Goodreads:
New York Times bestselling author Maria V. Snyder brings her Poison Study series to its exhilarating conclusion.

Despite the odds, Yelena and Valek have forged an irrevocable bond and a family that transcends borders. Now, when their two homelands stand on the brink of war, they must fight with magic and cunning to thwart an Ixian plot to invade Sitia.

Yelena seeks to break the hold of the insidious Theobroma that destroys a person's resistance to magical persuasion. But the Cartel is determined to keep influential citizens and Sitian diplomats in thrall and Yelena at bay. With every bounty hunter after her, Yelena is forced to make a dangerous deal.

With might and magic, Valek peels back the layers of betrayal surrounding the Commander. At its rotten core lies a powerful magician and his latest discovery. The fate of all rests upon two unlikely weapons. One may turn the tide. The other could spell the end of everything.

My Review:
Ah, reading these books was just so freaking great! I've loved Maria V. Snyder's books since the beginning, and Poison Study was the one that got me on her books! So yeah, reading the end of this series, well, of Yelena and Valek's story, was just great!

Shattered Glass was so great, because we finally had the mystery of Zitora's sister solved! That's something that's been left open for so many books! So yeah, glad to have that solved! And yeah, that ending! Which lead really well into Dawn Study!

Dawn Study was just a fantastic book! There was so much that had to be wrapped up, so it was a pretty lengthy book, but there was so much action and mysteries to be solved, and yeah, that was just so great to read!

Loved how everything came together! There have been a lot of characters over the course of this mother series, Chronicles of Ixia. And the really important ones had some pretty big roles, and yeah, it made for a really fantastic ending and fantastic book!

Absolutely loved reading these books, they were so great, and I can't wait to read Maria V. Snyder's next book!

Author: Maria V. Snyder
Series: Glass #3.5, Soulfinder #3, Chronicles of Ixia #8.5, 9
Read: November 30th, 30th, 2016
Source: Bought
Reason Why: Love her books so much, and this series! And they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Books! And Dawn Study is a End of Series 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Maria V. Snyder, MIRA
Published: November 16th 2016, January 31st 2017

Shattered Glass:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Dawn Study:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 49 Reviews: All That Glows, All That Burns

From Goodreads:
Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city's draining technology, until she's sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn't any normal assignment—she's sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain's notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince's careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys's magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London's magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard's life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love. 

From Goodreads:
In this thrilling sequel to All That Glows, the worlds of magic and mortal are colliding as London celebrates its new king, marking an era of unity between the Faery realm and the human one. Emrys, the Faery guard to the British royal family, sacrificed her powers to be with King Richard, choosing love over immortality. But now, as Emrys struggles to navigate her place between the Faery queen's court and London's lavish galas, danger looms beyond the Thames.When a prisoner with dark, strange magic breaks out of Queen Titania's labyrinthine prison, endangering Emrys's king and sparking an uprising, Emrys must make the hardest decision of all.

Will she reclaim her magic to save Richard's life and lose him forever? Or stay powerless as the kingdom goes down in flames? 

My Review:
Reading these books was so great! I loved this world, and yeah, the fact that it was a duology, worked really well! The story told over these two books was just incredible, and I loved reading it! And I can't wait to read more of Ryan Graudin's books!

So first off, this world of Faery, and the details, were just fantastic! I loved how the royal bloodline and that worked. Though if I remember my history correctly, how would the current royal family trace back to King Arthur? Haven't there been like, 3 different royal families in England? Or is the whole thing where they were chosen because they were close to the royal family's bloodline? I don't know the history of all that all that well!

I loved the love story between Emrys and Richard! It came on strong, and it came on quickly, and because of what it was, it saved his life. Oh, and it gave her magic, though different from her old magic. Yeah. That's some pretty powerful stuff!

Loved how things worked out! Like, who the old one was who was coming to wipe out the royal bloodline. And then who it was that escaped the prison and all that. Once they thought they had things figured out, I knew who it really was. Because of the details given, and yeah, I was glad to be right!

This books were so fantastic! Loved reading them and I hope you guys will/have, too!

Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: All That Burns #1, 2
Read: November 28th, 29th, 2016
Source: Bought, Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Books and WoW Books! And All That Glows is an RR Book! And All That Burns is a End of Series 2016 Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: February 11th 2014, February 10th 2015

All That Glows:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

All That Burns:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 48 Review: The Midnight Star

From Goodreads:
The thrilling finale to the New York Times bestselling Young Elites series from "hit factory" Marie Lu.

There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She's turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all that she's achieved.

Adelina's forced to revisit old wounds when a new danger appears, putting not only Adelina at risk, but every Elite and the very world they live in. In order to save herself and preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

Bestselling author Marie Lu concludes Adelina's story with this haunting and hypnotizing final installment to the Young Elites series. 

My Review:
Oh, wow, this was an excellent end to this series! I'm kinda glad that I read the series this way, waiting so long to read The Rose Society, because that meant that I could read this one right away, and keeping the details of the world and characters fresh! Yeah, that was really great for me!

This book picks up about a year after the ending of The Rose Society, and Adelina is about in the same place as she was in the ending, and it's not a good one! She's made the lives of others like her better, but at the cost of regular people. Yeah.

And then the idea that the Young Elite's power comes from the gods-but they are in mortal bodies, and the power is going to kill them, becomes a reality. And a harsh one at that! But it brought the Daggers and the Roses together, so that was great!

It was a bittersweet ending, what with having to give up their powers to fix the hole between the mortal realm and the immortal realm that is poisoning everything and killing them. Yeah. Oh, and the deal that Adelina made for her life for her sister's! And oh, the last two pages! Loved it!

This book was absolutely fantastic, and a wonderful ending to the series, and I can't wait to read what Marie Lu writes next!

Author: Marie Lu
Series: The Young Elites #3
Read: November 24th, 2016
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love her books, and it's a End of Series 2016 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Published: October 11th 2016

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 47 Review: Freedom's Slave

From Goodreads:
Freedom's Slave is the exhilarating end to Heather Demetrios's Dark Caravan Cycle—a modern jinni fantasy-adventure trilogy, which Publishers Weekly called "an intricate and smartly written story," perfect for fans of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone series and Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

After three long years in exile, Nalia is ready to return to her homeland and sit on the throne that is rightfully hers. But the gods might have other plans. Forced to endure untold horrors on the journey to Arjinna, Nalia learns that it will take more than cutting down the tyrant Calar to get her crown.

Meanwhile, Raif's return to Arjinna as the commander of the revolution against Calar and her army isn't as smooth as he'd hoped. Though he has more soldiers than ever before, his love for Nalia is losing him the trust of his comrades . . . and the war. But little does the resistance know that insurrection is brewing among Calar's own ranks—and from the one person she trusts the most.

Is Nalia and Raif's enduring love enough to transform and rescue their homeland? Will they be willing to save the realm, no matter the cost?

My Review:
This series has always been really fantastic! And being the last volume, it was pretty gigantic! And I just loved reading it! The pages just went by so fast, and I had to read the next one so much! Yeah, this book was pretty addicting!

When the synopsis says "forced to endure untold horrors" it means it. It also doesn't mean that she's with the group that she started out with. Because that would be too easy! So yeah, there was a good section where Nalia and Raif were separated and things were uncertain!

In this book, we get another POV, one of a person who is very close to Calar, and that added so much! And that he had so many secrets! And we got to see what she was doing, which was really, really creepy!

There was a lot of hardship throughout this book. What Calar did was horrible for the land, and vicious to the people. And then there was the coming of a prophecy which took so many lives! But then there were Nalia and Raif, and that was just a fantastic ending!

This book was freaking epic and enjoyable, and I need to read more of Heather Demetrios' books!

Author: Heather Demetrios
Series: Dark Caravan Cycle #3
Read: November 18th, 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a End of Series 2016 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Expected Publication: February 28th 2017

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 47 Review: The Fate of Tearling

From Goodreads:
The thrilling conclusion to the Tearling trilogy.

In less than a year, Kelsea Glynn has transformed from a gawky teenager into a powerful monarch. As she has come into her own as the Queen of the Tearling, the headstrong, visionary leader has also transformed her realm. In her quest to end corruption and restore justice, she has made many enemies—including the evil Red Queen, her fiercest rival, who has set her armies against the Tear.

To protect her people from a devastating invasion, Kelsea did the unthinkable—she gave herself and her magical sapphires to her enemy—and named the Mace, the trusted head of her personal guards, regent in her place. But the Mace will not rest until he and his men rescue their sovereign, imprisoned in Mortmesne.

Now, as the suspenseful endgame begins, the fate of Queen Kelsea—and the Tearling itself—will finally be revealed.

My Review:
Oh, wow, this book was utterly fantastic! I don't know how I managed to put off reading this book for so long! It was just so freaking fabulous! I devoured the first two books, and I did the same with this one, it was a perfect and satisfying ending to the trilogy!

I have to start off with, I read the ending before I was even a page in. I think I read it first, and then I didn't make time to read the whole book until the 17th. So I knew, the whole time, how things were going to end. And yeah, it was just so freaking great to watch things come together!

Mace held several secrets in this book that were revealed in this book! One, her father, we knew that he held the knowledge, but he wouldn't get it to Kelsea. But the other, which was pretty big, and resonated well with the ending, that was kinda a shocker! I wasn't expecting it!

We learn more about the Fetch and Row Finn. And yeah, there's guilt and betrayal in there. But it was great to see them when they were young, when things were just going wrong. I really enjoyed being in Katie's head because it gave us a look at the beginnings of the Tearling when it was just a town! Loved it! And another thing that worked well with the ending, because her experiences built her towards what happened! So wonderful to read!

In the end, the threat isn't what it seemed in the first book. But of many things, of Row Finn and his children, and the attitudes of people-of some people being better than others, of not helping your fellow man. Yeah.

I love and almost kinda hate the ending! Everything came together so well, and that was really great! But then it almost seems like everything was pointless-but it wasn't because if those things hadn't happened, this ending couldn't have been reached. If that makes any sense!

Loved this book so much, and I can't wait for the movie of the first book, and more books by Erika Johansen!

Author: Erika Johansen
Series: The Queen of Tearling #3
Read: November 17th, 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love this series and her writing! And it's a End of Series 2016 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Harper
Expected Publication: November 29th 2016

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Week 47 Reviews: So Close the Hand of Death, Blood Sugar Baby, Where All the Dead Lie, Whiteout

From Goodreads:
Talent borrows. Genius steals. Evil delegates.

It's a hideous echo of a violent past. Across America, murders are being committed with all the twisted hallmarks of the Boston Strangler, the Zodiac Killer and Son of Sam. The media frenzy explodes and Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson knows instantly that The Pretender is back…and he's got helpers.

As The Pretender's disciples perpetrate their sick homages—stretching police and FBI dangerously thin—Taylor tries desperately to prepare for their inevitable showdown. And she must do it alone. To be close to her is to be in mortal danger, and she won't risk losing anyone she loves. But the isolation, the self-doubt and the rising body count are taking their toll—she's tripwire tense and ready to snap.

The brilliant psychopath who both adores and despises her is drawing close. Close enough to touch ...

From Goodreads:
There's a new killer in town. And it's up to Taylor Jackson to stop him before he murders more of Nashville's elite.

Metro Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is none too happy when the body of a high-profile Nashvillian turns up after a protest. But when her detectives find another body with the same, mysterious wounds, it's clear she has a psychopath on her hands—and records show he's been on the move, leaving chaos in his wake. Will this killer slip through Taylor's grasp, as he has slipped through grasps of so many, for so long?

From Goodreads:
In her showdown with the murderous Pretender, a bullet taken at close range severed the connection between Taylor's thoughts and speech. Effectively mute, there's no telling if her voice will ever come back. Trapped in silence, she is surrounded by ghosts — of the past, of friendships and trusts lost — of the specter of a lost faith in herself and her motives that night.

When Memphis Highsmythe offers Taylor his home in the Scottish highlands to recuperate, her fiancé John Baldwin can't refuse her excitement, no matter his distrust of the man. At first, Memphis's drafty and singularly romantic castle seems the perfect place for healing. But shortly the house itself surrounds her like a menacing presence. As Taylor's sense of isolation and vulnerability grows, so, too, does her grip on reality.

PTSD. Pills. Ghosts. Grudges.

Someone or something is coming after Taylor. But is she being haunted by the dead...or hunted by the living?

From Goodreads:
Join Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson as she races to find a deadly assassin who's seemingly blended in with the blizzard.

Metro Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson has reluctantly agreed to take the place of her fiancé, FBI profiler John Baldwin, as a presenter at the annual Freedom Conference, a foreign intelligence initiative attended by the best in the business of "clandestine services." Then a blizzard effectively isolates their hotel on Chesapeake Bay: no power, no generators, and no possibility of outside help. When two guests go missing, and one of them is found dead in his room, Taylor discovers an assassin amongst the spies—one with a deadly score to settle.

My first review of So Close the Hand of Death, Where All the Dead Lie
My Review:
I loved reading these books! I've read the full length novels before, but the novella's they were new. And plus with my memory, it was hard to remember what happened, besides Memphis's wife being alive! Yeah.

First off, I want to say, that Blood Sugar Baby should be read after Where All the Dead Lie, because it mentions that Sam is in D.C. which hadn't happened yet in Where All the Dead Lie. Oh, well! Still great reading them!

A lot happened in these books. Taylor faced off with The Pretender, and took him down, but at a cost. And she healed in Scotland-after some pretty harrowing mental and physiological events! I loved reading as she was on this journey!

I loved the short stories (I'm doing a separate review for Slices of Night) because they gave us more of a look into this world, and seeing Taylor after the events of Where All the Dead Lie, that she was healed, and yeah, I really enjoyed reading it!

Yeah, this series is fantastic, and yeah, I can't wait to read the Sam Owens series again!

Author: J.T. Ellison
Series: Taylor Jackson #6, 6.5, 7, 7.5
First Read: May 30th, June 1st, 2011, September 7th-13th, 2011
Read: November 13th,
Source: Own, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Rereading! And they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2016 Books! And Where All the Dead Lie is a End of Series 2016 Book!
Publisher: Mira, Two Tales Press
Published: February 15th 2011, October 25th 2015, September 20th 2011, October 29th 2015

So Close the Hand of Death:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Blood Sugar Baby:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Where All the Dead Lie:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Whiteout:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars