Sunday, December 29, 2013

Melanie's Week in Review - December 29, 2013




Wow! I can't believe this is my last Week in Review (WIR) of 2013. I also look like a reading hero as I get to tell you about ALL the books I read in the last two weeks. My last WIR was high in rhyming abilities and low in telling you what I read and I have plowed through quite a few books over the last fortnight. At least you have a lot of pretty book covers to look at this time! So what did I read?

Going back to almost two weeks ago I finished Sins of the Lost by Linda Poitevin (Intermix, October 15, 2013) which is the third in the Grigori Legacy. I got this instalment from the good people at NetGalley and it has taken me much longer than it should have to actually read it. You may know if you have read any of my other posts that I haven't been the biggest fan of angel series. I did however, warm to this series during book 2, Sins of the Son. I liked the fact that Poitevin did the unpredictable with her characters and didn't have the fated end up together. I  am not too sure about this instalment however, as I think that Sins of the Lost is a tad too dark. Odd  to say I know, especially given that this is a story about heaven vs hell but between Lucifer, Seth - who has given up his powers, The One who is dying, and the abused Alex there isn't much a reprieve. It is one major crisis after another. I had also forgotten quite a bit about what had happened in the previous books and was always going 'he/she did what?'. I like a book to be balanced, otherwise I end up wondering how it is possible for the lead character(s) to go on. Hopefully, something remotely nice can happen in the next book....fingers crossed.

I was trawling through Goodreads when I noticed that the fourth and final book of the Book of the Order series by Philippa Ballantine  - Harbinger  - had been released since July and I had never noticed. I could NOT believe that I had missed the release of the final book of a series that I have loved. This final book did not disappoint and I think it is the perfect ending to a fantastic series. Sorcha Farris is my favourite kind of heroine - strong, brave, conflicted and willing to risk everything to save those she loves. In fact, I loved all of the characters, even the baddies. You will know from my recent review of Kindred and Wings that I am a big fan of Ballantine's. So far there isn't a book of hers that I haven't really liked. That isn't an easy feat as I am quite fussy! She also has the most amazing book covers. Check out the cover of Harbinger...it is gorgeous. If you like fantasy then I urge you to start at book 1. Geist.

I then had a bit of a panic attack when I had a look at the results of the Goodreads  - 2013 Reading Challenge. Gulp! I was 4 books behind schedule and just over a week to go before the new year. How embarrassing! I almost ran to my iPad and brought up my Amazon recommendations to find something I could read quickly. I was soooo lucky as I came across Firelight by Kristen Callihan. This is the first novel in Darkest London series which is billed as PNR but is quite dark and has some quite gruesome parts. This is story of the star crossed lovers  - Miranda who is a very beautiful and talented fire elemental but is very, very poor. No one is no more surprised than Miranda when the extremely wealthy Lord Archer proposes. Archer wears a mask and it takes almost the whole book to find out what deformity is hiding behind it. This is just one of the many surprises in Firelight. Lucky for me the first four books have been released and it didn't take
long to get through Moonglow, Winterblaze and finally, Shadowdance. Apart from Shadowdance the other books of the series are the stories of Miranda's sisters, each of which have their own special, magical talents. There is a lot of suspense, intrigues and gory murders galore. Not your typical PNR. I'm not saying there aren't any heaving bosoms or throbbing  manliness but it didn't take precedence over the murder(s) mystery. Overall, I enjoyed this series but had a big problem with book 2 - Moonglow. I thought that the GIM (part clockwork, ghost fueled people) were overtly complicated and they didn't really make sense. I also thought it was illogical to have a immortal being brought low by a very mortal disease. In my mind, this plot device didn't work for me. Having said that I continued on and read books 3 and 4 and am really looking forward to the 5th book in the series, Evernight.

With only days left to go to reach my reading challenge goal I am reading not 1 but 2 books - Broken Homes (Peter Grant/ Rivers of London 4) by Ben Aaronovitch and Master of Crow by Grace Draven. Both books are excellent...very different but great in their own way. I am looking forward to finishing them and not just to make my reading challenge!

Well that is all for me for this week. The next time you hear from me it will be 2014 so until then Happy Reading.


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