Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication Date: Febuary 25th, 2014
Finished Date: March 2nd, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: eARC  
Series: The Dark Elements #1
My Rating: 4.5/5!

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Blurb from Goodreads:
One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

My Review

I'll be frank - WHITE HOT KISS reads more like a fan fiction, with a more colloquial, YA style of writing. In fact, most of JLA's works have the same tone of voice - snarky, witty, and ultimately enjoyable, but with a healthy dash of YA colloquialism thrown in. For me, sometimes it works out, other times it can really turn me off big time. I wasn't a big fan of the later part of her COVENANT series, I discontinued the LUX series after ONYX...but I loved UNCHAINED (JLA's adult PNR series). Fortunately for me though, WHK read more like UNCHAINED, and I inhaled the book in two sittings.

There is a lot to gush about WHK, and the first thing, of course, is the GARGOYLES! They're wicked cool and they're almost like dragons...but darker. Edgier. And cuter. Haha! They sleep in stone-form for defense reasons cause their stone covering is literally impenetrable. By force or by fire. Wicked cool reimagining of gargoyles.

Then there is Roth. Zayne...not that much. Other than his awesome name, he ain't got nothing on Roth. Not only does Roth possess the standard requirements for a sexy YA/NA hero - y'know, the whole sometimes-brooding-sometimes-hilarious, mischievous but protective thing they've all got going on - but the sacrifices he makes and the things he does for our protagonist, Layla, places him on a whole new level. My respect for him grew like tenfold after the end, and is making me CRAY^2 waiting for STONE COLD TOUCH to see what happens to him. (He reminds of Robin "Puck" Goodfellow from THE IRON FEY series by Julie Kagawa.) And Layla and Zayne, of course. Heh.

There was a lot of teenage angst in WHK, both in high school and in the relationship department, but there were the other complexities of the Wardens and Demons that made WHK a more engaging read. It's not all black and white with the races. The Wardens might seem like the good guys, siding with the angel and ridding the world of pesky, trouble-making demons. But as Layla hang out with Roth more often, there are certain things that the Wardens ingrain into the younger Wardens and Layla aren't true.

Being half-demon, half-Warden, Layla has always longed to fit in. To be one of the good guys. To be able to shift and take to the skies. Too bad all she got from her mixed blood is to be able to distinguish demon from human/Warden, tag them, lighting them up for patrolling Wardens to kill, and that pesky soul-sucking kiss from to hell. At least this skill allows her to feel more useful in the battle against the demons and ridding the world of evil. But Roth is determined to open her eyes to reality, that not all demons are as bad as they seem.

Are the Wardens brainwashing their young to hate the demons? What if there are demons that aren't, well, evil and she's been helping the Wardens kill them? And where does that place her in the entire scheme of things?

Another reason why I like JLA's writing style is her way of revealing things, and building her worlds bit by bit, letting the plot progress while giving us nuggets of information along the way. It's a smooth world-building process, and the pace never gets compromised. There's no huge info-dumping when it comes to the history of the Wardens and demons. But I can feel the tension between the two factions and shown just a nugget of the why and their history.

Altogether a very enjoyable, pretty steamy (and angsty), fast-paced read with a minor cliffhanger ending. I'd recommend this to fans of THE IRON FEY series, UNCHAINED by J. Lynn (JLA), and THE GUARDIAN LEGACY series by Ednah Walters.

*Review copy courtesy of Harlequin Teen via Netgalley*

My Rating

ARC Review: Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen

Publication Date: April 1st, 2014
Finished Date: February 16th, 2014
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Format: eARC
Series: The Malediction Trilogy #1
My Rating: 3.5/5

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Blurb from Goodreads:
For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy...

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

My Review

STOLEN SONGBIRD is rather like an amalgamation of Hobbit The Movie and Alice in Wonderland, telling of young Cécile's unwitting abduction to Trollus, homeland of the trolls, beneath the Lonely Forbidden Mountain, a magical tale full of intrigue, deceit and whimsical, off-with-her-head monarchs. As her debut book and start to a new fantasy series, STOLEN SONGBIRD's pretty amazing!

A (not so brief) Rundown

Under the fallen rocks of the Forbidden Mountain is rumored to be home to a whole city of a mystical species - the trolls. To enter Trollus, one must navigate the labyrinth of tunnels and evade the sluag, a slug-like creature that nullifies troll magic and strikes fear even in the hearts of the mighty trolls. It is said that Trollus contains piles of gold and riches (ahem Erebor), but many who ventured in never returned.

Cécile de Troyes is a farm maiden of Goshawk Hollow but with the voice of an angel. During a trip home from the city one day, she came upon an old friend but was kidnapped and brought to Trollus to marry the troll prince, Tristan de Montigny. Apparently, the trolls were cursed centuries ago by a human witch to never be able to step foot out of the mountain and a prophecy was told that a marriage between the troll prince and human girl with hair like fire, blue eyes and an "angel's voice" will break the curse.

But it didn't.

Cécile has always dreamed of the romantic wedded life her friends have gossiped wistfully about, but Tristan is far from a loving husband. He is one of the most handsome dudes she has ever laid eyes upon but he is also crude, rude, mostly cold and always confrontational. He picks fights with her at every opportuninty and sleeps on the couch. But in the darkness of the gardens where Cécile goes to sing to calm her riotous emotions, Tristan lets down his guard enough for her to see another side of him - the kind, gentle and loving side.

As Cécile comes to know, Trollus is not just about the amazing architecture and beautiful glass gardens (no sunlight). Humans and half bloods with little or no magic are seen as little more than slaves and any small misstep gives their owners the right to sentence them to be left in the tunnels to be sluag fodder or anything the owner sees fit. A rebellion is brewing and the factions are not clearly delineated. Tristan may seem like an insolent brat six out of seven days, but Cécile knows there is defeinitely more to him than he's showing. What does he do in the early hours of morning, sneaking out of their room and palace? Where does he factor in in the rebellion? And what has any of it to do with her?

My Thoughts

Kudos to the author for her effort to reimagine trolls - from 3m, club-swinging, wart-covered monstrosities (I'm thinking of the one in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) to an intelligent, magic-wielding race. Some look human (just 10000000 times more beautiful), but some are disfigured and some not even remotely human-looking. However apart from that, the concept is really just taking the characteristics of Shakespeare's faries and naming them trolls. Jensen's trolls can't lie which makes them experts at the art of manipulating words, their promises are binding, their thank-you's are favors to be repaid, they have True Names which enables full control over the troll whose name is known, and one of the side characters, Anäis  (yes, their names have lots of squiggly-wiggly or dots on top of their alphabets) mentioned that the name for their people isn't trolls, it's "Fai--" then she stopped herself. Well now, it's not that difficult to complete her statement now.

So I didn't really buy the "fresh" new idea of trolls.

But the plot is full of political intrigues, deceptions, and dangers for our protagonist that I was pretty invested in her story. It may be subjective though because like the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, STOLEN SONGBIRD is about Cécile finding out about trolls, their issues (the social discrimination and off-with-your-head variety) and her transformation from scared maiden to strong woman who found love and her determination to help in the rebellion. There is a sort of non-ending at the end, a sort of closure but we're not even close to the true ending. Just like how Bilbo and the dwarves were dropped off some god-forsaken cliff in the middle of nowhere and the Lonely Mountain was a speck in the horizon and the show ends. Yeah, something like that.

Not to say that it wasn't a good read (Goodreads, haha), Jensen had a very descriptive, simple yet witty style of writing. I loved the typical, easy countryside way of life at Goshawk's Hollow (Gordric's Hollow?!?!), the terror Cécile felt when she was in the sluag tunnels, the awe she felt at Trollus and her heartbreak when she thought that she was doomed to have a loveless marriage. There were quite a few secrets revealed along the way and plot curves dished out, and the alternating POV, which most of the time serves only to unveil secrets early and lessen suspense, worked pretty well here.

The characters!!! Apart from Tristan and Cécile, I thought that the secondary cast of characters were pretty fleshed out. We get to see glimpses of who each of them were really like and all of them had their own distinct personalities - there is mysterious but fiercely loyal Marc with a face split in half, each half having handsome features but freaky when seen as a whole; the Queen and her sister Duchesse who are joined together at the back so one of them has to walk backwards; the twins Vincent and Victoria who're constantly competing to see who should be Baron/Baroness of their house though their competitions are mostly jokes (like archery but with only one foot on the ground and with blindfolds on).

I don't want to spoiler anything more, but I'd definitely recommend this to fans of YA Fantasy. It's got the complicated political drama, the whole-new-world feel and magical boomz of a good fantasy, it's just that I felt that the plot and emotional development were dragged out too much that sometimes it felt like we were going in circles and the ending didn't give enough of a closure for me.

That said, though, there was a tiny part near the end that hinted at a parallel world that lives alongside Trollus and the outside world. This series is heading in a very promising direction with lots of action, suspense and romance, so yes, I will be picking up book 2 to see where Jensen takes Cécile and the rest of the crew.

~eARC courtesy of Netgalley and Strange Chemistry. Thank you!~

My Rating

      

 

ARC Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Publication Date: May 22nd, 2012
Finished Date: March 10th, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Format: eARC via Netgalley 
My Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Author's Website

Blurb from Goodreads:
Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

My Review

I've always loved tales of the sea, and have yet to find the perfect mermaid novel. The first time I laid eyes on OF POSEIDON was at Rachel's blog, My Reading Pile, and naturally, I went a little crazy after seeing that it will only be released a few months later. But then I chanced upon it on Netgalley, and needless to say, I requested it immediately. I started this book with very high expectations, as is the case with all mermaid novels (I have no idea why), and....I was quite disappointed actually. Not that it wasn't good, it's just not as good as what I was anticipating it to be, what with that stellar cover, intriguing title and storyline.

My Brief Summary

Emma is truly a klutz when on land - all two left feet and all - and when on a vacation with her best friend, Chloe, she tripped on her own foot and sprawled on top of one Galen Forza. One of the most handsome and sexy guys she's ever seen and she practically fell on him. But what Galen sees isn't a clumsy girl, he sees her impossibly purple eyes - a trait that can only mean she's one of them. A part of Syrena. But why doesn't she transform when she went into the water? How is it that she's living on land when one of the laws that govern their people is that all Syrenas are forbidden to go on land, much less stay there? And the fact that she doesn't recognise him as royalty? He's determined to find out as his mission on land is to be the ambassador of Syrena in the human world and to solve any Syrena-related issues on land. Emma's in for a shock as she finds herself face-to-face again with that handsome stranger in front of her locker back at school, and practically in every of her classes.

He finds out that she has absolutely no knowledge of the world beneath the sea, and she finds out that the one person she's falling for is the Prince of Syrena. But then, if his mission is to teach her of her ancestry and such, then doesn't that mean what he feels for her isn't what she's always thought it to be? That she's just another person he has to get close to to complete his mission? Apart from emotional problems, she still has to worry about the underwater stalker behind her house. Is it friend or foe? Is Emma in danger underwater?

My Thoughts

Let me start with what I did like about OF POSEIDON:

THE COVER!! It's absolutely stunning! The girl in a white dress underwater? The mysterious, dark blue sea around her? The title, the font...Everything's so surreal!

Then comes the plot. Though the pace was relatively slow throughout the book, the plot did thicken and the pace did this crazy crescendo at the end, finally ending with a...cliffhanger!! One thing I dislike the most is cliffhangers, but the final revelation at the end was enough to shock me for awhile that I overlooked it quite entirely. Galen was trying to figure out who was stalking Emma the past couple of days whenever they enter the water, Syrenas being able to sense another of their kind when both are within range of each other under the shoreline. He was finally putting together the pieces and, BOOM - he revealed the person in his own cool style! You won't even be able to see it coming!

I loved any stories related to the ocean, and incorporating powers and adventures underwater was enough to make me more than a little engrossed. For a surprise gift, Galen even brought Emma to see the infamous Titanic, docked at the bottom of the Atlantis.

Emma was a kindred, compassionate heroine who cried for those who lost their lives aboard the Titanic when Galen brought her to see the ship. She's loyal to her friends even in the face of danger. However, one thing that I did not like about her was that she kept fainting. She came across as weak initially. Every time Galen tells her something big, she goes all woozy and...faints. It's supposed to be because of some biological change in her that's making her unstable for awhile, but still, it was rather annoying as it was only explained at a later time.

Banks' writing style was cool, especially when she incorporated mindblowing facts about things which I know already, but haven't thought about it in depth. For example, she said that everyone had a finite number of heartbeats, that if your heart beat faster, you'd have a shorter life. Thus turtles, whose heartbeats per minute are incredibly low, live to about a century or more. I haven't confirmed the fact yet, but it does coincide with the evidence. Fallacy or not, it is some fodder for the mind, is it not? :P However, there is this one phrase that caught my attention: "whisper yell". That's a contradiction all by itself. I've seen this a couple of times already, is this a proper phrase? As in, approved by Cambridge? Or just some common authors' mistake?

Now on to the things that I did not like. As I've mentioned earlier, the pace could be maddeningly slow at times. I took some time to finish reading this book, and I attribute it to the fact that I got bored a number of times. I'm not a fan of Contemporary Romance, and OF POSEIDON did tend towards that genre as Galen went to school with Emma, and them hanging out together at Galen's. I do like paranormal high school romances - as in, the supernatural hero and heroine goes to a regular, human high school kind of thing (cliched, yes I know) - but not when it becomes the typical teen romance where everything's so....adolescent and monotone. But I must concede the point that it did get very romantic at times. :X Haha. Swoon~ Not only with Galen and Emma, but with some other side characters who were just as...sexy as Galen. If not more.

Galen's a cool hero, as far as I'm concerned, but not what I expected. He's brooding, he's a prince, he's a protective, possessive guy, he's handsome, everything's good. It's just...he's too perfect and typical a love interest in this genre. I've seen male protagonists of his ilk one too many times in the Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, YA Lit section, don't you think? I wanted something more, something that will make a deep enough impression to let me remember him long after I've reached the The End. Someone like Christian Grey...hubba hubba... Haha, but that aside, my expectations were higher too because mermaids have always been one of my favourite mythical creatures, and for him to fall short... Hmm..

There was this loophole that I've spotted.
*Please do not read it if you haven't read the book. MAJOR spoilers!*

If Emma's mom is Nalia, then Galen has surely met her before because she was Grom's intended, and therefore recognise her both in terms of appearance and when he sense her in water. Then how is it that he didn't when he saw her at Emma's house? Or when he sensed that underwater stalker, how did he not recognise that pulse he sensed?

Other than that, I thought that OF POSEIDON was a pretty average, light, mermaid read. If you're in need of some YA Romance, part Contemporary, part Urban Fantasy, then maybe you'd like to try this out.

P.S. Though there isn't a sequel announced for OF POSEIDON yet, the odds look good for one. That cliffhanger needs a resolution!! And there is still much that can happen, so yes, I'm hopeful.:)

*eARC courtesy of Feiwel & Friends via Netgalley.

My Rating

ARC Review: White Witch by Trish Milburn

Published Date: March 1st, 2012
Finished Date: March 4th, 2012
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Format: eARC via Netgalley
My Rating: 4/5
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Author's Website

Blurb from Goodreads:
Witchcraft Is Her Family’s Business. No One Quits The Family And Lives To Tell About It.

“Jax” Pherson has power, enough power to know her future will end in service to the dark coven her father controls. Unless she can stay hidden in a small community in the mountains of North Carolina. She must find a way to live without magic and deny the darkness she feels welling up inside her—the same dark power that fuels the covens around the world. All she wants is a normal life. A boyfriend. Friends. Some place to belong, but all too soon Jax’s barely begun new life hangs in the balance when she discovers that the boy she’s attracted to is sworn to kill her kind. He’s a hunter with good reason to kill everything that goes bump in the night. Even the most fleeting use of her power is tantamount to signing her death warrant and will bring both hunter and coven down on her. But can she walk away when her friends are threatened by an old evil? Something created by the magic of witches? Jax’s only hope of survival is to convince the boy she loves to forget everything he’s ever been taught and help her find a way to fight the covens. To believe there is some good in her.

My Review

White Witch is a good mix of YA Romance with lots of action and high school drama. The only regrettable thing was...That cliffhanger!!!

My Summary

Jax Pherson is a witch from the Miami Coven. Witch covens around the world gained power a long time ago by absorbing the powers from the earth at specific locations, but this in turn filled them with darkness. Jax feels that darkness inside her, her power spiking whenever her temper flares. These covens want absolute control, so whenever a witch tries to leave the coven, they will hunt her/him down and drain them of their powers and subsequently, their lives. Painfully.

Jax watched her mother's powers and life get Siphoned away by her father when she was but a youngin', and she has had a terrible fear of escaping ever since. But as she reaches her seventeenth birthday, she will be expected to kill for her coven. And that's when she plucked up her courage and sneaked away.

All she wants is to have a normal teenage life - go to school, make some friends, go for prom, and such. She's tried enrolling in a few schools, but has never gotten a successful application because apparently, a parent or guardian was required to be present. So when she comes to her next destination, North Carolina, she tweaks her plans and manages to enrol in Baker Gap High School. And there, she meets a new friend and her cousin, Toni and sexy Keller, and also a new enemy in the form of cheerleader Stacy and said cheerleader's mindless cronies.

Keller and Toni's families happened to be witch hunters, and all is fair and well for Jax for a time, normal high school drama and romance, until her secrets start to become harder to hide, and her family will hunt her down to the ends of the earth to silence her and take back the absolute control that they demand...

My Thoughts

WHITE WITCH had the epic final battle that BREAKING DAWN didn't have, and the sane romance that Twilight didn't have, but still retaining that little unrealistic instant connection between the heroine and male protagonist. Some cases, like the one in FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan, that insta-love relationship was one of the best and most believable insta-loves I have ever read. I could feel the sizzle of attraction between them, the tension when they were alone in some dark place, and the sacrifices that they are willing to make for each other. But I couldn't for WHITE WITCH. Pity, really, cause other than that, I thought that this WW was a pretty entertaining YA Urban Fantasy!

Witches, both female and male, are all beautiful and either really kind-hearted or nasty as hell. Jax falls under the GORGEOUS blonde with a humble heart category. Er, ok. I'm not that big into gorgeous, blonde babe heroines who catches the attention of the entire school - stares and drools from the males, and envy and jealousy from the females. I mean, really? And just so that it is not generic enough, she makes an enemy of the mean head cheerleader and her mindless cronies on her first day of school. But that's not all there is to Jax - thankfully - she's also a mean machine when it comes to using her powers! She's badass and way powerful. More so than anyone could've ever anticipated - even her! Something happened when she fought the people who were after her, who are her power-hungry father and coven, that made them afraid of her. Something big. Something "bright" and magnificent. Ok, bright was a pun. Read it and you'll know it. :) But yes, Jax was not the fragile pretty-face that I thought her to be when I first read about her.

The reason why I said that the romance here was a little unbelievable was because firstly, Jax shouldn't have approached Keller in the first place since she already knew he was a witch hunter. (Abnormal and illogical behavior on her part!) Secondly, she hung out with him. (No sense of self-preservation on her part!) Thirdly, she saw him, "omg big hottie", and suddenly there's a current of electricity flowing between the two of them. Like suddenly. Ok so she went against all forms of normal behavior, hung out with Keller, and she deigned to start going out with him when he wields a gun EVERY NIGHT hunting paranormals like her. And on top of that, she spilled the beans about her identity to Keller after this particular incident. I mean, you don't tell a witch hunter you're a witch just because he's your friend and he suspects you're a witch. If he knows already, shouldn't the first instinct of a person who has been living life on the run to, well, run? Far away from danger zone? But well, Jax didn't and just dumped the cat out of the bag and looked at Keller with goo-goo eyes, hoping he will look at her the same way, heart breaking into a million pieces when he didn't. Well, what did she expect, his uncle died because of witches and his mom left because of that too. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but someone's got to stand for logic.

Keller was cool. Handsome, good with a gun, tough guy, protective and all. The whole package. The reason why I didn't swoon all over him is because I've seen his type plenty nowadays in YA novels. The genre is practically saturated with this type of guys, including adult fictions PNRs, UFs, Fantasy, Historicals, and all, so for me to swoon over another male protagonist, he's gotta have something extra on top of all the others. But Keller was cool. That I'll give credit.

As for the side characters, Toni is the best friend Jax has always dreamed of having, and she also happens to be, so coincidentally, Keller's close cousin. Toni's a cool chick, one who stands up for her friends, plays the drums for her rock band, and wears shirts with funny quotes. As for Jax's evil, heartless bastard of a father, he was rather....fake. That typical You-Have-Failed-Me-By-Running-Away-Thus-You-Are-No-Longer-My-Daughter-And-I-Will-Kill-You-And-Your-New-Friends-Now-Slow-And-Painfully evil villain. It got a little corny at times, but oh well, he is the evil villain, so I'll just get on with things.

Let me tell you that I LOVED that ending battle! It was epic, fast-paced, and...that suspense! They were all in some seriously deep shit, one of them was dying, and I just couldn't see a way out of their predicament. But Milburn did it. She opened a door for Jax and others and everything went out with a BOOM! Epic.

And then we have.. THAT CLIFFHANGER ENDING!!!! Noooooooo! Milburn can't end the book like that...this is just....torture!! And it's not a good cliffhanger ending. Dammit.
WHITE WITCH had action, had romance, had friendship, had suspense, and had the high school drama that most YAs seem to have. It was very generic and stereotypical, but amusing all the same. It made for a quick, light and fun read. Until you reach the three-quarters mark. That's where the thrill comes into play. It was so much more than what I expected actually, and I really liked it!

*eARC courtesy of Bell Bridge Books via Netgalley*

P.S. I was planning on writing a short review, but look how it turned out! Well, please excuse me my verbosity. Seems like I had more to say about WW then I thought I had! XP

My Rating

     

ARC Review: Halflings by Heather Burch

Published Date: January 17th, 2012
Finished Date: January 26th, 2012
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing/Zonderkidz 
Format: eARC via Netgalley
Series: Halflings #1
My Rating: 1/5

Blurb from Goodreads:
After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

My Review

I didn't enjoy HALFLINGS. There, I said it. I'll try to keep this review short and as objective as I can.

My Brief Summary

Nicole "Nikki" Youngblood is an artist who has a black belt in karate. She's a T-shirt and jeans kind of girl, and one who doesn't like to dress up much. She was in the woods one day when she was attacked by hellhounds. Therein enters our three heroes: Mace, Raven, and Vine - Halflings with a mission to protect our young damsel in distress.

Halflings and humans can never have a relationship, or the halfling in the equation will have to risk eternal damnation. But the moment Mace and Raven looks at Nikki, there's something about her that attracts them, and with the devils in hell targeting her, Nikki's in for a lot of trouble, drama, and heartache.

My Thoughts

Nikki didn't really make an impression on me; She's a very typical YA heroine who's apparently so beautiful that she looks like an angel, but obviously is too oblivious to know it herself. She is also very stubborn, so much so that she demands to know some answers when it's not her place to know, and when the truth gets too much, she says stop. Let me say this out front that I don't like impossibly gorgeous heroines who are overly-obstinate.

She and Mace were the first ones to confess their feelings for each other, but when Raven turns on his charm and brings her to a forest in Arkansas to teach her how to fend for herself, she ends up flirting with him. Another reason why I didn't like her.

Now comes our two love interests, Mace and Raven. Mace is the serious, stick-to-the-rules kind of person who started going against said rules to be with and protect Nikki. Nothing very special, actually, apart from his stunning looks, that is.

Raven. He is the brooding type of males, who is the most experienced of the three halflings sent to protect Nikki, and the one with the most inner-demons to contend with. I was actually rooting for him for the most part of the first half of the book which I read, and after some time when there was evidently going to be minimal action scenes, he was my motivation to forge on reading. I wanted to see him fight Mace for Nikki - not literally, of course - and I want to see him in action in all his lean, graceful glory. (Ok, I'm the fairytale type of girl, what are you gonna do about it?) But the part where I stopped, at the 70% mark, Raven did something that turned me off big time. When Nikki and her pet dog were again attacked by hellhounds and a demon, Mace, Raven and Vine swooped in to save her in the nick of time, but after the imminent danger was over, Raven carried Megan over to a hill and since this is the first time Megan's seeing them with their wings, he asks her what she thinks of it. I mean, seriously? Her dog lay dying in the forest and she's probably in some kind of post-traumatic stress and all he can think about is impressing her with his wings? This is really the epitome of self-centeredness. One thing I cannot stand is arroant, selfish men, and so when I reached this part, there was obviously not much action to keep the adrenaline-junky in me satisfied, and since I couldn't stomach Raven any further, the book was immediately sent flying into the DNF pile.

Burch's writing style is a little confusing. There was a lot of bandwagon jumping, and most of the time, her jumps were big leaps and then there will be a random revelation somewhere without showing the process of how the subject person got to his/her conclusion. For example, one minute Nikki still thinks the three halflings were human, and suddenly she bursts into their house and goes all, "I know what you are. Don't deny it! You're angels." Yep, perfectly sane and normal. And there was this other part where a student was quarrelling with a teacher and when the discussion got heated, the student pulls out a knife and almost killed said teacher. Raven moves with inhuman speed and grace toward the scene and knocks the knife out of the student's hand and voilà! The day is saved, and only Nikki was there to witness the unnatural phenomenon that was Raven. There is so much wrong in that one scene that I rolled my eyes like probably more than a dozen times.

Other than that, there were the multiple cheesy romance scenes in here, more so than the number of fight scenes, as can be seen from my summary that romance takes precedence over action in HALFLINGS. Another weird thing is that Nikki's parents somehow disappeared after the quarter mark, and Nikki somehow could do whatever she liked like storming into someone else's house and proclaiming that they're angels.

However, the two things that I liked about HALFLINGS was firstly, how Burch described Mace's and Raven's relationship with Nikki. Mace "embraced her destiny, saw her as a future warrior, and swore to see her through"; Raven was "the one who embraced the person she was right now. Odds were, he’d likely stand beside her and die to protect her as well, if she gave him the chance." There's a subtle difference, and one that makes their feelings for her unique from each other.

The other thing was Vine. He is one of the main characters, but more a younger brother persona. He's a little immature, but when it somes to morals, this guy's the one that has the most. And when it comes to fighting and looks, he doesn't lose out to Mace or Raven either. He's fun, and he keeps the tension out whenever Raven quarrels with Mace or Will, their caretaker.

All in all, HALFLINGS isn't the book for me. It has been quite a while since I've chucked a book into my DNF pile. The feeling's not great, but things just has to be done. I am a fan of love triangles, but in this case, it just didn't work for me.

*eARC courtesy of Zondervan Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Random Musings - which you will not get if you haven't read the book:

Y'know that part where Nikki and Mace went to that burning building? The one where Nikki was sketching out the building using this artist's technique by drawing in the negative spaces to see a picture? That one was just plain confusing to me. You don't have to draw out a building to see that it's ON FIRE. And you certainly don't need a sketch to see that THERE IS A PERSON DYING ON THE FLOOR in the burning building. The idea was cool, but not properly utilized.

My Rating

ARC Review: Katana by Cole Gibsen

Published Date: March 8th, 2012
Finished Date: January 15th, 2012
Publisher: Flux
Format: eARC via Netgalley 
Series: #1 in series
My Rating: 4.5/5!!

Blurb from Goodreads:
Kill Bill meets Buffy in this supernatural samurai tale.

Rileigh Martin would love to believe that adrenaline gave her the uncanny courage and strength to fend off three muggers. But it doesn’t explain her dreams of fifteenth century Japan, the incredible fighting skills she suddenly possesses, or the strange voice giving her battle tips and danger warnings. While worrying that she’s going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she’s harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.

Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana--a deadly Japanese sword that’s also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she’s always been and embracing the warrior inside her.

My Review

It was amazing! I think I have finally found the perfect novel with a Japanese martial arts theme. This book is phenomenal! I loved the flashbacks to 15th century Japan, I loved the undying love of the two samurais from the past, and I loved how that loved stayed true and un-cliche even till modern age. Wow.

My Summary

Rileigh Martin is a skater chick with a gay best friend, Quentin. They were shopping for a gift for the party they were about to attend when they were assaulted by three thugs. They thought they were dead for sure, until Rileigh hears this voice in her head, and her body seems to know how to defend itself - martial arts style. After fending those thugs off, she faints and is carted off to the hospital. Upon waking up, she meets a strange - and very handsome - Asian martial arts teacher who seems to know about the voice in her head. And if her life's not weird enough, she's having flashbacks of a female samurai back in 15th century Japan.

She finds out that those flashbacks are actually memories of her past life, and it's high time Rileigh embrace her identity and accept the help of Kim - said handsome Asian martial arts teacher, and who has a soul-deep connection to her past samurai life - and 3 other familiar faces from the past, or be killed by an old enemy who was reincarnated to the present.

My Thoughts

Again, WOWOW! You have no idea how long I've been searching for for a perfect samurai-martial arts novel. KATANA, though not perfect (that's where the 0.5 stars went), is amazing. I love the plot, I love the cast, I love, LOVE the heroine and hero, I love the romance between them, and all the fast-paced action and suspense!

Let me get the imperfect 0.5 stars out of the way first before I start gushing about the other 4.5. There were many stereotypes in KATANA. For one, there was the gay best friend with lots of hugs and pedis and manis even when "Ri Ri" was in mortal danger. And what's up with the incessant "Ri Ri" calling? The first time I saw Q call Rileigh "Ri Ri", I literally cringed! A little over-the-top. Why not Ri or something less....gay? Haha. Anyway, for stereotype number two, there was the fact that our lead guy is Asian. Not that I have something against that (Heck, I'm an Asian myself), but must the male protagonist in a samurai novel be Asian when all his other samurai friends were reincarnated as Whites? Gibsen already said that soul-mates will never be reborn far from each other, so why the big cultural difference? Another stereotype I read from a Goodreads review which said that biker chicks aren't all badass wannabes. We don't have biker chicks here in Singapore, so I'm not sure what they're like, but the ones in KATANA were mean-ass bitches who tried to beat the shit out of Rileigh.

Now on to the 4.5! I have always found the soul-mates reincarnating together and finding their love for each other again very cliche, but in KATANA, it is just so damn sweet. And romantic. Kim Gimhae (this is a Korean name, by the way, not Japanese) didn't force Rileigh to accept him when she went out on a date with some other guy from school, just watch over her as a silent protector. They felt the connection, but Rileigh's afraid of embracing her past cause she thinks that she will lose her modern self, so she constantly pushes Kim away.

I was a little turned off when I realise that the lead male in KATANA was named Kim (even if it's only his first name/surname/family name) - not to mention shocked out of my wits. But I started overlooking the fact as I got to know him. He's a tough warrior, through and through, he's a natural born leader, he's playful and witty when he wants to be, he's kind, and he's very sincere and tender towards Rileigh. But he resumes the tough warrior-natural leader persona during their warrior's training, even towards Rileigh. Rileigh feels pain in her chest one time but Kim signals everyone to continue combating and Rileigh shoots him a dirty look. All in a day's work. Haha. But yes, Kim is an enigmatic warrior who I am very much in *ahem* love *ahem* with. Not only is he hot and a warrior, he's the brooding type of male. Rileigh even made a hilarious comment about it:

"After studying him for a moment, I realized it was a good thing Debbie wasn’t here. She would have signed him to be a model in a second. The brooding types always sold the most underwear."

Rileigh's awesome. She's strong, she's brave, she's funny and sarcastic, but she can be feminine when she wants to be. She's so sarcastic that no-nonsense Kim picked up on it and cracked a few sarcastic jokes himself! When she first met Kim and the other warriors, she was very rude to them. That part was a little extreme, but I can understand cause they lied to her and tried to kill her. But still, it doesn't mean she has to be so rude.. But she's still awesome with all her cool moves.

I really liked that Kim and Rileigh had a deep connection in the past, and their story back then was heartwrenchingly sweet. And heartbreaking. They didn't die natural deaths (being samurai and all), but they died together with honor.

Another thing that I really liked about KATANA was Gibsen's phrasings. There were a lot of descriptions and metaphors that were unique and well, vivid. An example:

"It was too much. I was on sensory overload. My body felt like it held a Ferris wheel with anger, confusion, and fear spinning round and round, each taking their turn at the top. I couldn’t focus enough to organize my thoughts, so I did the first thing that came to mind.

I ran."

It did get a little immature at times, and there were a few errors, but overall I thought that Gibsen has a special way of writing, and one that I really appreciate. I will only list one of the errors I've spotted cause I know that since this is an ARC, the final copy will be edited. But this one error is a common misconception that people have:

"At the rate of speed I fell, everything should have been a blur. Instead, I saw it all with crystal clarity."

Spot the error? Rate of speed? Speed is a rate. You can't say the rate of rate of motion. But apart from this, the rest are more inconsequential. But there were some that were cheesy (which I think is inevitable for a novel which has romance):

I gave an exaggerated sigh. “It’s not that easy. Whitley is so nice and drama-free. But Kim, the way I feel around him … it scares me. It’s like gravity ceases to exist and he’s the only thing I can hold on to.”

Gravity ceases? Uh huh, ok.

But anyway, I really, really loved KATANA, and I'd recommend this to any fan of action and romance. The action, well the title is self-explanatory, and there's a beautiful romance in here. Even though there were errors and things like stereotyping that I am quite averse to, I think that the awesomeness of it all trumps the bad, so yes, I still like it. Very much. I look forward to its sequel, and there's no doubt that I will grab onto it the moment it - or its ARC :D - is out, and that I'll reread this several more times before that. I urge and beseech you to read KATANA when it releases in March. You will not regret the money, time, and brain space. :)

*eARC courtesy of Flux via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

PS. This is a looong review.:P

My Rating