HIdden in Pages now up and Running

Hi Guys,

I have my blog migrated over to Hidden in Pages now. So if you would like to continue to follow me here is a link to the new site:

Hidden in Pages

I do have an RSS feed set up, so feel free to follow through that. I am going to set up other social media stuff over the coming week. I am going to try to separate this blog from my personal life a bit more, so it will have it's own twitter account and facebook page etc.

I will also be programming in redirects from this blog, so hopefully if you visit this blog you will be automatically redirected after tonight.

The site isn't beautiful yet...but it's getting there.  It's a bit painful learning wordpress and getting through the whole having your own domain thing.

Lastly I will be holding a number of large giveaways to promote the new site and look; so make sure to check out the new site and set up and RSS feed to it!

Hope you will all continue to follow! Thanks for your support in this rather large move for me :-)

Review - Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 448 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN:978-0374388294
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC from Amazon Vine
Rating: 3/5 stars


I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. This is a hard book to review for me. There were some parts of the book I really enjoyed and other parts that I found to be boring and confusing. This book was an inconsistent read. Some parts were rambling and boring, while other portions were very intriguing and engaging. I almost stopped reading it multiple times and am still uncertain as to whether I enjoyed it or not.

The story is set in an alternate New Zealand in the late 1950’s. It follows the story of Canny. Canny is a teenager whose mathematical genius defines her, however she has a lot of trouble getting along with others. When her brother and his fiance decide to travel to a small town for the summer, Canny is sent along to accompany them. While Canny’s brother tries to dig up historical accounts of a tragic mining accident that happened many years ago, Canny explores the Valley. Things are strange in the Valley, for example there is a house that no one but Canny can see. In the valley Canny meets the Zarene family who practice a strange sort of magic. When Canny finds that she too can perform the magic, she is drawn into a story of dark secrets and determined to unravel the mystery of this strange house.

As I said this is a tough book for me to review. Some chapters I found boring and confusing and some were incredibly engaging. At points in the book the dialogue and language between characters is very awkward. There were a number of points in the book I had to reread a passage a few times before I could figure out what the author was trying to say. Some of the dialogue is so awkward that I ended up thinking maybe Know did it that way on purpose; but it was awkward in an inconsistent way (not with just one character, but sporadically throughout the book). It was almost like parts of the book were written by different people.

Canny is an interesting character but hard to engage with. She is a genius of sorts, and has a lot of trouble interacting with others. She breaks even the most basic things (locations, colors, poems) into a mathematical way of thinking. This results in her being lonely and curious, but her lack of emotional engagement with the world makes her hard to like. When she does show emotion it comes off as distant and stiff.

The most interesting character in the book is the young man Canny meets in the strange house, Ghislain. He has a mysterious past and is an intriguing character. Throughout the book his interactions with Canny come off as a bit dreamlike, awkward, and disjointed. Still I was intrigued by his mystery and why he was trapped in that house.

Canny and Ghislain have a romance of sorts, but that also came off as a bit awkward for me. They didn’t have much chemistry together and the “romance” comes off as a bit creepy at times.

I did enjoy how this world in the Valley was both part of and removed from our world. I enjoyed the magic system of runes. I also enjoyed the somewhat peaceful and dreamline quality to the writing. The book wraps up fairly well too.

Overall this was a mixed read for me. I enjoyed the magic and Canny’s genius. I enjoyed the mystery behind Zarene Valley and behind the character of Ghislain. I also enjoyed the interesting asides into mining and the mining disasters. However the writing was awkward and alternated between engaging, confusing, and boring. It was just very inconsistent. The conversations between characters felt forced and awkward. The romance between Canny and Ghislain is sudden and a bit creepy. The pacing of the story is also a bit off; parts are incredibly engaging and parts are wandering and boring.

Honestly I can’t really recommend this as a good fantasy read. If you really have your heart set on reading this I would recommend reading the first chapter of the book...it’s one of the most awkward parts of the book...if you can get through that and enjoy it then you will probably enjoy the rest of the book. If that chapter bothers you, then the rest of the book will most likely bother you as well.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- YA/MG Fantasy Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days, Book 1) by Susan Ee (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
Size: 290 pages
Publisher: Skyscape
Release Date: August 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0761463276
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Penryn and the End of Days series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book was recommended to me by one of my Goodreads friends. It sounded interesting and ended up being a decent read. I am a bit sick of post-apocalyptic/dystopia type novels right now, so take that into consideration when reading this review. This is another YA post-apocalyptic novel but with angels!

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. This isn’t one of those audiobooks that was so stellar I would recommend listening to this instead of reading it. Still the narrator did a decent job of distinguishing between character voices. I had a bit of trouble with the different male voices since they sounded awkward and occasionally similar to each other.

Penryn is trying to survive in a world where angels have recently (6 weeks ago) ravaged many major cities on Earth. As if just surviving isn’t bad enough Penryn has a psychotic mother and a handicap younger sister (who can’t walk) to take care of as well. When an angel with black wings kidnaps Penryn’s little sister, Penryn is determined to rescue her. Penryn has decided the best way to do this is to kidnap an injured angel from the scene of the crime and make him take her back to his aerie.

This book was okay. It was pretty typical YA post apocalyptic type of fiction. In this case rather than a nuclear disaster or a plague wiping out humanity it's a host of angels attacking from heaven that wipes out all the major cities. This isn’t ever explained very well and it seems like even the angels aren’t all that sure why they attacked the humans.

Penryn is an interesting character. She is small but tough. Penryn’s mother thinks that she (the mother) gets possessed by demons and is worried about hurting her daughter during one of her demonic episodes. As a result of this insanity Penryn has been trained to fight from a very young age. Penryn has this very practical attitude towards life and just kind of goes with everything. Her dedication to her family is admirable.

The other main character is the angel that Penryn rescues, Raffe. To be honest Raffe is kind of a pretencious jerk through the first part of the story...then again Penryn isn’t very nice to him. As the story continues we learn that Raffe is a complex set of secrets and has a very complicated history of his own.

There is a lot of grotesque and horrific stuff in here. Including cannibalism, genetic tampering/torture of small children, and of course angels attacking humans in brutal ways. There is actually quite a bit of talk about sex as well; the angels really love human women and Penryn is constantly in danger of being sexually assaulted. Needless to say it's an incredibly dark story with very little light or hope throughout.

The book was decently enough written, but this book just basically sets everything up. We don't ever get any resolution around anything by the end of the book. There is no explanation as to why the angels have attacked humanity, as to why humanity couldn't defend themselves, or even much explanation about the angels' society in general.

Then there is the whole star-crossed love thing going on between Penryn and the angel she saves. This kind of made me roll my eyes a bit. I get a bit sick of the tortured man forbidden to love a human girl thing that seems to be ever present in paranormal YA.

Overall I didn't really love this book, but I didn't hate it either. It was somewhat engaging and an okay read. I did like the idea of angels causing an apocalypse, that was creative and intriguing....however, why all this happens is never really addressed. Penryn is an okay heroine, but didn’t really stand out for me. The world is interesting but not all that well developed. I guess in general I am just a bit sick of post-apocalyptic YA and this book didn’t change my mind about that. So if you are a huge fan of post-apocalyptic YA I would tentatively recommend this to you. I personally will not be reading any more of this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Audio Book Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge/a>
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Showcase Sunday and Mailbox Monday - 6/24/13

Hello and welcome to Showcase Sunday. Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

You can see the books I got this week below, I bought more books than I should have this week.

You can also watch the below video below for more information on the books I got.

Hope everyone got lots of great books to read this week and has a great week of reading.

For Review:

 

Bought:

  

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News - Book Releases for Week 25 (June 23rd - June 29th)

   

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Review - As Shadows Fade (Gardella Vampire Chronicles, Book 5) by Colleen Gleason (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: March 3, 2009
ISBN: 978-0451226327
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles
Source: Swapped
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the fifth and final book in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. It did a nice job of tying things up and resolving the main story. I really enjoyed the characters, the action, and the plot involving the evil Lilith.

This time it is not vampires who threaten Victoria Gardella, but demons. In order to fight these demons the Venators must do the unthinkable and team up with Lilith. Lilith is still obsessed with Max, and the Venators are forced to use her obsession with him to aid in the fight. Victoria has become a wonderful leader to the Venators but her heart is in turmoil. Sebastian appears to be the perfect companion for her, he loves and respects her and fights fiercely by her side. Unfortunately Victoria’s heart is set on Max and since Max has given up being a Venator that means that Max is a bit of a liability. Then there is the matter of Victoria needing to provide an heir to the Gardella line..

All of the characters we have come to know and love are here in this book. There is lots of Sebastian, Max, Lilith, and Victoria. They must hunt for the five rings of Jubei in order to obtain an orb of Lilith’s that will allow them to send the demons back home.

There is a lot of angst between Max and Victoria in this book. Max doesn’t want to be involved with Victoria because he feels that his human status will put her in danger and make it so that he can’t protect her like he should. Victoria knows that Max loves her and is unwilling to give up that love for something safer. There are lots of deliciously tense scenes between these two and they have excellent chemistry together. Really these interactions really made the book and they are what we’ve all been waiting for from book 1!

I felt very bad for Sebastian throughout. Victoria has made her choice clear, but Sebastian refuses to give up. He goes the extra mile again and again for Victoria trying to grab her attention. He truly and strongly believes that Max is unfeeling and uncaring and totally not worthy of Victoria. We learn a lot about the tension and history between Sebastian and Max in this book as well. Sebastian’s story is the only one that is really left at loose ends.

I love the quest-type feel to the story as well and how our heroes have to hunt down these strange objects. Adding to the plot is the idea of Victoria being the last Gardella and how she has a duty to continue the Gardella line. It was interesting to watch her try to cope with the idea of her having a child with her current duties as a Venator.

There are some excellent action scenes where Max, Sebastian, and Victoria all fight back to back in some wonderfully demonic battles. As with previous books this book continues to remind me of a Victorian Buffy the Vampire Slayer...with more adult sex scenes.

This book was a fun and quick read. It was engaging and entertaining and did a wonderful job wrapping up the series. The only loose end really is Sebastian’s story. Imagine my excitement when I heard that Sebastian’s story will be continued in a spin-off series starting with Roaring Midnight, which released on June 18th!

Overall a very well done and satisfying conclusion to this series. I love the interactions between Victoria and Max and enjoyed learning the history between Max and Sebastian. There are some excellent action scenes as well and I enjoyed the quest-like feel to the plot. The addition of demons added a whole new level of danger to the story too. This whole series is recommended to fans of vampire slaying stories that have a bit of romance in them. I absolutely cannot wait to read Sebastian’s story in Roaring Midnight!

This story goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Early Novella Review - Spartan Frost (Mythos Academy, Book 4.5) by Jennifer Estep (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 325 KB
Publisher: Kensington Books
Release Date: June 25, 2013
ASIN: B00BJPYGQE
Stand Alone or Series: 4.5th novella in the Mythos Academy series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is a Novella from the Mythos Academy world told from Logan’s POV, it takes place in between books 4 and 5. I got a copy of this novella to review through Netgalley(dot)com; thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for providing a copy for me to give an honest review of. This is kind of a take it or leave it novella; it adds a bit to the series but you aren’t missing much if you skip it either. This review does contain spoilers for previous book in the series, so you have been warned. You definitely do want to read the books prior to this one before reading this novella; it is not a stand alone kind of novella.

Logan almost killed Gwen while he was possessed by Loki and now he is trying to recover. He’s returned to his family home with his father and is trying to work out and refocus on what is important to him. Along the way he is drawn to some action against the Reapers with his father.

This book doesn’t really give us any insight into Logan’s thoughts about Gwen, which I was kind of hoping for. The part of Logan that this novella does fill out is Logan’s relationship with his father. So we do get to learn a bit about Logan’s past and how he interacts with his father. This was kind of nice and gave a little more depth to Logan as a character.

Gwen is mentioned a few times in passing but she is mostly absent from the story. Logan is staying away from his friends because he fears hurting them, like he did when he was possessed by Loki.

Overall this is pretty short little novella that gives us some additional background about Logan but definitely isn’t significant to the main story. If you are a huge fan of the series and want to know more about what Logan and his dad did when Logan left Mythos Academy then go ahead and give it a read. It’s a decent story just nothing all that profound. I am not sure it’s worth $1.59 to read and you definitely won’t be lost in Book 5 if you skip this little tale about Logan.