On My Wishlist...

  

On My Wishlist is a great event that Book Chick City runs every Saturday. It's where you list all of the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I thought that this was a fantabulous idea so I thought I would join in!
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"Infinite Days"  by Rebecca Maizel 

From Goodreads: "Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?"
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"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman 

From Goodreads: "In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... 

A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands."

"Illusions" by Aprilynne Pike Trailer

So it should come as no surprise that I am super excited for the release of the third book in Aprilynne's "Wings" series, "Illusions" (hits shelves May 3rd people!), since I practically worship Aprilynne for coming up with the character of Tamani. Therefore you can bet that I am even more excited to see the trailer for "Illusions" (I think that the trailer helps to tide me over until the release date)...

Be warned, the trailer does contain spoilers from the first two books in the series!

"Happy Birthday To Me" by Brian Rowe

From Goodreads: "Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has a huge problem: he’s aging a whole year of his life with each passing day!

High school is hard enough; imagine rapidly aging from seventeen to seventy in a matter of weeks, with no logical explanation, and with prom, graduation, and the state championship basketball game all on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a popular pretty boy who's never had to face a day looking anything but perfect.

All Cameron wants to do is go back to normal, but no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with a mysterious young woman, however, he realizes his only hope for survival might be with the one person who started his condition in the first place..."

I found the premise of this story to be a bit too similar to Alex Flinn’s “Beastly” for my liking. We have an arrogant/ overly cocky popular boy who is obsessed with his looks (however his father is even more so obsessed with his son’s looks). We have a somewhat unusual female character who places a curse upon said cocky boy when he is a complete jerk-face to her, a curse which destroys his looks. We see boy outraged at said curse, though with time we see him come to terms with the fact that he was previously a jerk-face and he eventually does a complete 180, becoming a humble and understanding person . Furthermore, we see boy fall in love with a somewhat unpopular/ wallflower girl (a girl with red curly hair). I also thought that this quote from the book, “Mr. Martin… You should look on the outside like you do on the inside. On the inside you are a stupid, selfish little man incapable of feeling or thinking anything worth a damn”, was way too similar to the lines from the “Beastly” novel and film, “You are as aggressively unattractive on the outside as you are in the inside”, and “You are ugly now, on the inside, where it matters most and if you ever lost your good looks, I bet you wouldn’t be smart enough to get them back. You are beastly.” (However, if you have yet to read "Beastly"- or see the movie I suppose- I doubt you will know of such similarities and therefore you will not be bothered by this fact at all.)

Furthermore, I felt that at times, especially towards the end of the book, that there was way too much going on (ie. instant undying love, witchcraft, etc.) and that there was way TMI expressed/ unnecessary events in the plotline (ie. projectile vomit, Cameron and his mother's bedroom scene, Cameron and his crazy school's librarian bedroom scene, and this quote, "... the water was brown and had a funny odor that smelled not of kitten piss but of fecal matter from a large dog with irritable bowel syndrome" and others like it).

However, this book was actually able to engage me in ways that "Beastly" was unable to. In "Beastly" I didn't really care what happened to the main character Kyle (let's be honest, I only read it because I wanted to watch the movie solely for the purpose of seeing Alex Pettyfer on the screen for a couple of hours), but in this book I definitely was concerned about Cameron's fate. Cameron was quite a dynamic character and while he definitely had his jerk-face moments (more so in the beginning of the book), he did have some pretty "Awwwww!" moments (more so towards the end of the book) that made you fall for him.

All in all, I do think that despite the book not being the most original story ever it is quite a light and fun read. I think that YA occupying the lower end of the spectrum (14-17 year olds) will more so enjoy this book than those occupying the upper end of the spectrum (18-24 year olds).

Rating: 6.5/10

I received this book from the author. I was not compensated in any way for my review.

"The Chimp Who Loved Me" by Annie Greer and Tim Vandehey

From Goodreads: "Twenty-six real-life stories of animal adventures from Annie Greer, farmer's wife, pet chiropractor and all-around magnet for bizarre creature tales. Sexual assault by chimpanzee, drill sergeant sheep, stoned veterinarians and much more will make you laugh and wish the book didn't have to end. 20% of proceeds go to the ASPCA."

When I first saw this book I knew that I had to get my hands on a copy of it because it deals with one of my most favourite things in the world, animals and it sounded like it would be a more grown up version of James Herriot‘s short stories.

When I first started reading this book I was a bit disappointed, I almost felt like I was in a lecture hall hearing a professor drone on and on about primate mating behavior ad things of that nature and it quickly became tiresome (growing up I was totally one of those kids who used to check those animal encyclopedia’s out from the library, you know those ones that are like three or four inches thick? And I found that a lot of stuff was repetitive from my primate classes), however I came to realize that the average reader probably wouldn't possess this knowledge (because they normal and didn't lug those gigantic books home from the library when they were all of 6 years old) and therefore the book was good in providing a contextual background for said readers. Furthermore, I was disappointed in the beginning because I didn't find myself experiencing uncontrollable bouts of laughter like I had expected to (I mean, come'on, the subtitle is "And Other Slightly Naughty Tales of a Life With Animals").

However all of that changed with the fifth short story in the book, “Panther Bait”, I found myself shaking controllably with laughter with this story and it only continued on with the remaining stories. I think that why this book is so successful and legitimately funny is because Annie is not afraid to tell it like it is. For instance when she was explaining a situation where a panther had escaped and her and her husband, Kent, had to catch it she writes, “At times like this, I’m afraid that my true nature comes out, and it’s not flattering. I couldn’t have cared less about Kent. As far as I was concerned it was each man for himself as I bolted for the door. I started running with no intention of stopping” (pg. 58), or when talking about how much she disliked her goats she stated, “But eventually, coyotes came in one night and killed them all, which was a convenient solution to the problem really” (pg. 105). Furthermore, because the book is composed of short stories (on average 5 pages a piece), you can read a few here and there (and even not in order!) and still comprehend everything that is occurring. 

All in all, this did turn out to be a quite funny book and I would highly recommend it to any animal lovers out there!

Rating: 9/10

I received this book from the author/ distributer. I was not compensated in any way for my review. Special thanks to Dorothy Thompson, Pump Up Your Books, Annie Greer, and Tim Vandehey.

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating...
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Title: "Reckoning"

Author: Lili St. Crow

Release Date: November 1, 2011

From Goodreads: "The electric finale in New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow’s Strange Angels series!

Nobody expected Dru Anderson to survive this long. Not Graves. Not Christophe. Not even Dru. She’s battled killer zombies, jealous djamphirs, and bloodthirsty suckers straight out of her worst nightmares. But now that Dru has bloomed into a fullfledged svetocha—rare, beautiful, and toxic to all vampires—the worst is yet to come. Because getting out alive is going to cost more than she’s ever imagined. And in the end, is survival really worth the sacrifice?

DRU ANDERSON’S NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK.

BUT SHE SHOULD BE."

"Defiance" by Lili St. Crow

From Goodreads: "The heart-stopping fourth novel in New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels series.

Now that sixteen-year-old Dru's worst fears have come true and Sergej has kidnapped her best friend Graves, she'll have to go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring him back in one piece.
That is, if she can put all of Christophe's training to good use, defeat her mother's traitor, Anna, once and for all, and manage to survive another day..."

I am pretty sure that I started my review of the last book in Lili St' Crow's "Strange Angels" series, "Jealousy", by proclaiming it as "sheer fantabulousness". Well this fourth installment of the series? I declare it to be infinite fantabulousness! I didn't think that it would be possible for me to love this series, especially its characters, anymore than I already did and I was totally wrong. This book exceeded any expectations that I had tenfold and I do believe it to be the best book I have read this year, if not as well as last year (yeah, it totally blew "City of Fallen Angels" out of the water, and I am sure that we all know by now that I pretty much worship Cassie Clare and her "Mortal Instruments" series). In fact I loved it so much that as soon as I finished it I started it all over again!

One of my biggest pet peeves in YA paranormal books is when the female character is introduced to the "Real World" (the world of all of the paranormal creep crawlies) by the male character and then the male character proceeds to tell her to stay away from said world because essentially she is unknowledgeable about it and all of its dangers. However, the female character believes herself to be the expert in said world and then decides to do lots of things behind the male characters back in this world and ends up in a whole slew of trouble that she could have avoided if she had just listened to the boy. So I seriously rejoice Lili's writing and story weaving because I do not find myself experiencing this with her books (yes you could argue that Dru knew about the Real World prior to meeting Christophe, but that would be a stretch, as we have seen, she only knew a mere fraction of it, Chris introduced her to the entire svetocha world, and she didn't do what so many of these dumb heroines did, putting herself into unnecessarily dangerous situations- she put herself into necessary dangerous situations, situations where she was pretty much the only one who cared about the outcome because everyone else was too concerned with keeping their lies that they fed her in order).

Usually in my eyes there is a clear-cut winner as to what male the female character should end up with (the new mysterious boy rather than her best friend), but in this series I am so gosh darn conflicted (not that the girl has to end up with the boy, as per what Lili said in my interview with her last month last month, but that just seems to be how everything goes down in YA), I seriously do not know who I want her to end up with. Christophe or Graves? Christophe, who has made her the fighter that she is today and who truly hasn't lied to her (even though she thinks he has) or Graves, who she dragged out of the human world, shoving him into the Real World and who doesn't blame her one bit for doing so? Seriously, how is a girl to choose?

I said in my review of "Jealousy" that it gave us the most answers than any of the previous books in the series, but this book gave us even more sought after answers and for that I am grateful, no more sitting there and pondering for hours after reading the book about how things are going to turn out! The only downfall about this book is that one character who I expressed my love for in my review of "Jealousy" ended up hurting my heart a lot, but another character, who I was so intrigued by in the earlier books, really managed to put that broken heart back together with his somewhat goofy (though at the same time menacing) grin and random outbursts of "BANG!"

Rating: 11/10 (yep, you saw that right, 11/10)

Giveaway Reminder!

Hey y'all! I just wanted to remind you all of the $5 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway that ends on Wednesday! There have only been a few entries as of so far, so your probability of winning is pretty high! You can enter the giveaway HERE.

Also, I wanted to apologize for any formatting issues that you may have noticed on the blog. Both my laptop battery and charger gave out yesterday and as a result I am stuck using our very first computer (I think that the baby that I am currently on is at least 10 years old) until I can get a new laptop or fix my current one... So if you see weird double spaced reviews or anything of that sort, you know that it is not me going crazy, but my computer going crazy.

Thanks!

"Griffin Rising" by Darby Karchut

From Goodreads: "For Griffin, it’s time to angel up.

Armed with the power to control the ancient elements of Earth and Fire, sixteen year old Griffin is determined to complete his apprenticeship and rise to the rank of Terra Angeli.

But first, he must overcome a brutal past if he is to survive in this world. Will the perseverance of his mentor and the love of a mortal girl give Griffin the strength he needs to triumph?"

I have said it time and time again, I love books about angels, and this book is no exception. I really loved the "I Am Number Four"/ "The Demon Trapper's Daughter" mentor/ apprentice mentality going on this book with the main characters Basil and Griffin, I always think that it is really interesting to see how the master and apprentice start out on shaky grounds but over time evolve into an unstoppable team.

Typically I don't like when a book is written in the form of a journal mainly because I find them to be too choppy or their entries jump from one event to another with little to no explanation making it difficult for the reader to comprehend exactly what is happening, however, I completely forgot that this book was written in such a manner because everything flowed together perfectly and all of the loose ends were tied up.

Griffin and Basil were such multi-faceted and dynamic characters, on the one hand Griffin was all sweet and innocent, but on the other hand he was totally swoon-worthy and bad-ass, whereas at first glance Basil seemed all imposing and strict, but was actually a really caring and selfless guy. As for the Nicopolis? Well, he was exactly what needed for this story, a hell-bent-on-getting-his-own-way baddie (think Malone in Rachel Vincent's "Shifters" series or Harper from Jana Oliver's "The Demon Trapper's Daughter").

The only complaint I had about the book was the girlfriend of the story, Katie. I felt somewhat similar to how I did with Four's (from "I Am Number Four's") girlfriend Sarah, I thought that the female characters were somewhat unnecessary and in both stories I would have preferred to see how the male leads developed on their own, coming to terms with their powers and all of that jazz, before a girl was introduced to the storyline,. I hate to say it, but I found Katie to be a bit too superficial for my taste (she was always going on about how Griffin was or she was concerned about her popularity), though fortunately that superficiality did start to lessen as time went on in the book.

All in all, I think that Darby is an author that we will all have to keep an eye on because I am sure that whatever she writes will please a plethora of readers!

Rating: 8/10

I received this book from the author to review. I was not compensated in any way for my review.

In My Mailbox!

 

In My Mailbox is a weekly post hosted by Kirsti at The Story Siren as a chance to share the books we've bought or received over the past week.
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So I haven't done an In My Mailbox in a few weeks so I have a bit to catch up on (as you will see some of what I have received in my mailbox over the past couple of weeks I have already read and reviewed)

 Bought
"The Gathering" by Kelley Armstrong (read and reviewed it HERE)
"City of Fallen Angels" by Cassie Clare (read and reviewed it HERE)
"Defiance" by Lili St. Crow (read it, will post the review in a few days)

Won "XVI" by Julie Karr (thanks so much Rachel @ Fiktshun)
"Afterlife" by Claudia Gray (thanks so much Carmel @ Rabid Reads)

Won 
Autographed copy of "Through Her Eyes" by Jennifer Archer (thanks so much Jennifer!)

Won 

"Moon Spell" by Samantha Young (thanks so much Rachel @ Fiktshun)

For Review 

"Happy Birthday To Me" by Brian Rowe (thanks Brian!)

"Predators of Darkness" by Leonard Hilley

"Beyond the Darkness" by Leonard Hilley 

"The Game of Pawns" by Leonard Hilley (thanks Leonard!)

"Griffin Rising" by Darby Karchut (thanks Darby!)

"Spellbound" by Cara Lynn Shultz (thanks NetGalley!)

"Invasion" by Jon S. Lewis (thanks NetGalley!)

What did you get in your mailbox?

On My Wishlist...

  

On My Wishlist is a great event that Book Chick City runs every Saturday. It's where you list all of the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I thought that this was a fantabulous idea so I thought I would join in!
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"Quantum" by Imogen Rose 

From Goodreads: "A whole year has passed. It’s October again… or is it? 

As California teen, Arizona Darley, contemplates traveling back through the portal to seek out her dad, her life is plunged into a whirlwind ride through the unknown. 

But this time, she doesn't disappear through the portal. 

Has Arizona been kidnapped–again? Is Raj Sen to blame? Could Dillard have taken her? 

As Kellan, David and her parents launch a frantic search with the help of the Wanderers, it becomes apparent that things are much more complex than they seem – for all of them. While investigating her daughter's lastest disappearance, Olivia faces shocking revelations about the Wanderers and her life with Rupert. 

In the meantime, what's happening in New Jersey? Are both of Arizona's worlds about to collide? 

Quantum is the third book in the Portal Chronicles. Catch the start of Arizona’s adventures in Portal and Equilibrium."
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"Bitterroot Crossing" by Tess Oliver

From Amazon: "A love triangle that crosses centuries...

For Nick Crush, the only thing cool about his town, Bitterroot Crossing, is the gang of outlaw ghosts that rise occasionally from the town’s swamp. But when he finds himself competing with the most notorious spirit and his own ancestor, Zedekiah Crush, for the affections of Jessie Sterling, suddenly the whole ghost thing isn’t so cool.

Jessie Sterling inherited her great-great-grandma’s shorter left leg and incredible beauty, a beauty that a century and a half earlier sparked a love triangle that ended in tragedy. Now Jessie leaves the safety of her grandma’s farm to attend high school in town . . . and Bitterroot Crossing will never be the same."

"Camille" by Tess Oliver

From Goodreads: "At a time when society conforms to the strictest rules and most proper etiquette, sixteen-year-old Camille Kennecott and her guardian, Dr. Bennett, live a most unconventional life. They hunt werewolves.When unwitting victim, Nathaniel Strider, wanders into one of their full moon pursuits, Camille and Dr. Bennett believe they have found a specimen for their study. Finding a scientific key to unlocking the mystery of lycanthropy would end their late night excursions. Yet beneath the irresistible exterior, Nathaniel is transforming into a flesh-tearing monster, and as each experiment fails, Camille loses another inch of her soul to him. In a month’s time, she must face the prospect of destroying the boy who has stolen her heart."

Victorian Era reads aren't my typical go-to-books, in fact I can't even count on one hand the number of Victorian Era books I have read in my lifetime, but when I saw that this book had some really great reviews on Amazon and was only ninety nine cents, coupled alongside the fact that it had a sort of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Becoming Jane" feel to it (my two favourite movies of all time), I didn't think I could really go wrong in reading it. I am happy to say that this book was amazing and by far the best ninety nine cent E-book I have bought to date. Heck, I would even spend a good twenty dollars on a hard-copy of this book because I enjoyed it so much.

Though I have read mostly reviews in favor of this book, I have read some reviews where people have rated it quite badly. These reviewers cite the behavior of the characters of this book as to why they rated it so low (they say that the people during the Victorian Era would have never behaved in this matter, that they were all concerned about propriety and whatnot, while the characters in this book weren't all that concerned about such matters- and therefore that this book is highly unrealistic).  I personally don't feel like the authenticity of the behavior makes all that much of an impact on the story overall and I feel like we have to take into consideration the fact that none of us currently living lived during the Victorian time period and so while we have an approximation of how the people of this time lived, based upon books and historical recollections, these are just approximations and not concrete fact, furthermore, this book doesn't claim to be realistic, it is about werewolves for crying out-loud (as much as it pains me to admit that they aren't real... ;) ). 

Camille is such a strong female character both physically and mentally and is quite selfless. As for Nathaniel? Swoon-worthy obviously! But even better, he is such a multi-faceted character, a character who you are entirely intrigued/ enticed by and who you cannot help but want to know more about.

All in all, I loved this book and I highly recommend it! It isn't your typical YA werewolf book by any means! The lore behind the werewolves is quite unlike any other werewolf story I have ever read before. And this book can truly make those who were iffy on Victorian Era reads a lover of them!

Rating: 10/10

"The Gathering" by Kelley Armstrong

From Goodreads: "Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations. 

It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark."

I must preface by saying that I love Kelley Armstrong, she is one of my most favourite authors of all time. There isn't anything of hers that I have read before that I haven't enjoyed, from her "Darkest Powers" trilogy to her "Women of the Otherworld" series. But while I did enjoy this book I don't know if I enjoyed it quite as much as her others books, especially her "Darkest Powers" trilogy.

I think that Derek and Simon (from the "Darkest Powers" trilogy) made more of an impact on me than this book's Daniel and Rafe did, however Maya totally made a bigger impact upon me than Chloe did (I found Chloe to be really dependent upon the boys in the first two books of the trilogy and somewhat of a quiet character). But Maya? Yeah, the girl had balls. She wasn't afraid to tell it like it was and she had so many great one liners throughout the book, there were so many times I found myself bursting out laughing at what came out of her mouth, for instance this little conversation: 

Maya: "Have you met the tattoo artist? Is he hot?"
Mom: "He's a she."
Maya: "Is she hot? Cause I'm still young, you know. My sexual identity isn't fully formed." (pg. 37)

I think that what really frustrated me about this book was that because it is the first book in the trilogy I assumed that we would learn lots about Project Phoenix, like we did about Project Genesis in the first book of the "Darkest Powers" trilogy, "The Summoning", but we really don't. Whatsoever. I only have some sort of knowledge about what Project Phoenix entails (Spoiler alert: The resurrection of extinct magical races) from my own personal researching (reading lots of blog posts, tweets and whatnot) and I don't feel like it is my duty to do outside research to comprehend a book, the writer should provide us with everything we need to know to understand their story.

Also, I found the plot-line to be quite slow in some parts (I am used to the fast-paced-on-the-run-adventure of the "Darkest Power" trilogy I suppose) and I found that there was the whole teenagers-fall-for-one-another-as-soon-as-they-meet-one-another thing going on which was a bit of a bummer (I really liked how relationships didn't form in the "Darkest Powers" until the very last book, the characters really got to know one another before they formed any sort of relationship).

But like I said, Maya is a really great character and the epitome of snark and she really does make this story. While I do seem to have many complaints of this story I do think that it is a good story, not as great as the "Darkest Power" series, but better than many YA books that are currently out there.

Rating: 4/5

"Equilibrium" by Imogen Rose

From Goodreads: "It's not every day you see a naked body slumped by the side of the road.

This ominous sight is just the beginning of a mystery that will span two dimensions.

When California teen Arizona Darley and her siblings go missing, their mother, Dr. Olivia Darley, discovers that the time-travel portal she invented has been hijacked.

Is the hijacker responsible for the disappearance of her children? Have the children been transported to another dimension? If so, the police and FBI will never be able to find them, and Olivia Darley must find a way to rescue her children on her own.

How will she do this without access to the portal?

EQUILIBRIUM is book two of the Portal Chronicles."

Once again Miss Imogen Rose has written herself a fantabulous story! Seriously, I thought that "Portal" was good, but "Equilibrium"? It blew "Portal" out of the water! This has hands-down been one of the most suspenseful books I have read in quite some time- I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat while reading it.

In my review of "Portal" I complained about some of the dialogue, I found portions of it to be really choppy and robot-like, but I didn't find that at all with this book, everything flowed together nicely and it is evident that Imogen is really developing as an author. What I was also pleasantly surprised with with this book was the character development, I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on Arizona, Kellan, and Henry (heck, even David) in "Portal" and that I couldn't really learn all that much more about them, but I was totally wrong. I don't think I have ever come across such selfless and caring characters in a book before.

If I had to complain about one thing in this book I it would be the adults. Hearing about Ollie and Rup being all lovey dovey together just really doesn't do anything for me, I would much prefer to hear about the love lives of the teens.  

All in all, I highly recommend this book, as I said in my review of "Portal", this series is one of the most original that I have ever read before! I think that readers of all ages will really enjoy these books! 

Rating: 10/10

"The Goddess Test" by Aimee Carter

From Goodreads: "It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess."

So I feel kinda like a booger in saying this, but I feel like how I recently felt when reading Julie Kagawa's "The Iron King". There had been so much hype in the blogosphere world surrounding both of these books and the vast majority of people seemed to have really enjoyed them, but I personally don't feel as if they have lived up to my expectations at all, I  feel like they both had really great potential, but they didn't entirely live up to said potential.

I found, like with "The Iron King"'s Ash, the male lead, Henry, was very flat for the majority of the novel. We only see a glimmer of his personality at the end of the book but unfortunately it came too late to do any good.

The premise of this story is quite interesting, I personally haven't read all that much in the way of Greek mythology. When Diana stated at the end of the novel that it would be quite obvious to tell which character was which Greek god all I could think was "Huh"? I didn't think it was all that obvious (in fact I tried to guess and I was wrong on every count).

My favourite character would have to be James but James in the beginning of the book (kinda like how I loved Puck in the beginning of "The Iron King"). He was just a goofy yet utterly sweet kind of guy. Though I also did like Ava quite a bit which I find kinda surprising since she is pretty much a complete 180 from what I like in characters.

All in all, while the book didn't live up to my expectations it wasn't the worst book I have ever read before, in fact, I feel like with the "Iron Fey" series each book with get progressively better, therefore I am really excited to see what the next book in this series has for us).

Rating: 2/5

I received this book from the publisher/ NetGalley to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.