(ARC Review) Branded by A. Ketner & M. Kalicicki

Title: Branded
Series: Sinners #1
Author: Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki
Pub. Date: June 28th 2013
Publisher:

Blurb:

Fifty years ago the Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society. He created the Hole where sinners are branded according to their sins and might survive a few years. At best.
Now LUST wraps around my neck like blue fingers strangling me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit and now the Hole is my new home.

Darkness. Death. Violence. Pain.

Now every day is a fight for survival. But I won’t die. I won’t let them win.

The Hole can’t keep me. The Hole can’t break me.
I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter.
My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story.

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ARC Review: Timeless by Michelle Madow

Title: Timeless
Series: Transcend Time Saga #3
Author: Michelle Madow
Pub. Date: November 20th, 2012
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing

Blurb:

IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME.

In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.

In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.

Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make things worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.

Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began...

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Review: "Ironskin" by Tina Connolly

Title: Ironskin
Author: Tina Connolly
Series: Ironskin #1
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: October 2nd, 2012

About the book:

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It's the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn't expect to fall for the girl's father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her scars and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things are true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of a new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

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My thoughts:

Review: Any Love But Mine by Debbie Davies

Title: Any Love But Mine
Author: Debbie Davies

.............I usually love everything related to mythology, especially Greek mythology, but possibly because of the writing style I wasn’t able to become fully immersed in the story, even though the plot was interesting at times and I found it had potential.

The story’s abrupt start was kind of confusing, but the reason behind that might be Acacia’s own abrupt “coming to be” and confusion. I liked the way her Erosian powers are explained and, I have to say, I liked the way the twining of auras worked.

For me, the story starts to get more interesting when Josh appears. Also, the unveiling of who he is doesn’t come as a surprise at all, since all the signs were there from the moment he appeared and Acacia seemed to be the only one who hadn’t realized anything yet.

I found that the love story didn’t really pull me. It felt a little shallow and, then, fickle when Acacia’s feelings seemed to have changed in a too small amount of time, which is when the story also gets a little bit weird, when Acacia arrives to the Underworld. It felt like too much wanted to be fit into one book and this part of the story would have worked better in a sequel. Maybe it would have even given me time to fall a little for Luca.

I found the characters were superficial, especially Acacia. She has less control over her own feelings than the mortals she pairs up.

I also found quite a bit of grammatical mistakes.

I rated this two stars, possibly two and a half, since I did enjoy a few parts of the story.

My Rating:

P.S. I love the cover of the book.

Thanks to the Shut Up and Read Group and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Mini Review

Bewitching the Werewolf by Caroline Hanson

This is a very quick, short read. And although it was entertaining, I wished there was more character development.

My Rating:

"Die For Me" Review

Die for Me by Amy Plum
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was first attracted to this book because of the cover. I'm a sucker for beautiful ones and every single time I go "Oooh, pretty!" This was one of those times. After getting over the pretty cover, I decided that the book might just enjoyable enough and worth a read because the description made it seem interesting and because of the high ratings the book has. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Although I did not hate the take on zombies Amy Plum depicts, it's actually something that once presented I was very much looking forward to see further developed, I did practically dislike almost, if not, everything else.

All of the characters seemed pretty superficial and lifeless, but there are three who annoyed me the most.

We have the typical teenage girl, Kate,  who's, apparently, beautiful, yet is bent on thinking otherwise no matter how many guys are after her and no matter how many times her "beloved" insists that she's the last drop of water on Earth. She also has no sense of self-preservation. And isn't that smart when she just blurts out (view spoiler)[her boyfriend is dormant to Charles... who was last seen, by her, consorting with the enemy. (hide spoiler)]

Then we have the other girl, this time her older sister Georgia, who's the epitome of beauty & elegance and is practically only there to fuel the insecurities of our "heroine". It does not help Georgia is a shameless flirt who doesn't seem to know where to draw the line when it comes to flirting. She even flirts with Vincent. I found myself thinking a few times: "Ok...What is wrong with you?"

The only good thing I can say about Vincent is he's described as a gorgeous male specimen and having that image while reading the book made it more bearable. But I really didn't buy the whole I'm head over heels show he was putting on.

Moving on...

The plot seems almost non existent. I say almost because we do have the lightning fast development of the romance between Kate and Vincent. But I completely missed the moment they fell in love. I couldn't "feel"  the  connection between them, even if Vincent could communicate with her while "volant" which was possibly meant to show just how deep their connection went. I also disliked the cheesy way they spoke to each other, it seemed forced. I wish they could have heard me telling them to "Just Stop!".

Another part of the book which bothered me  was Vincent being a professional stalker. That is not cute, sexy and it's definitely not the newest form of romance. I was very disturbed by his stalking tendencies when the fact he's part of the undead didn't faze me. But who knows, maybe I missed the memo where it says it is ok.

Basically, I gave the book two stars because of the cover and because of what it could have been since I did like what the author did with the zombie legend. But it was boring and I felt like nothing happened through most of it. Plus when finally did they ended it with more cheesy lines like “This is for all the innocents you betrayed to their death...” Huh...*raises eyebrow* Just kill the guy already!

And I leave you with my favorite quote: “Well, spit on my empty grave--if it ain't the attack of the Disney princesses!”

My Rating: