Book Review: Lightlark by Alex Aster

Lightlark by Alex Aster
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I struggled to finish this book. The marketing stuff I originally read about this book compared it to The Hunger Games, but I don’t seem to find those claims now- it seems to have disappeared, or the marketing was revised.

I borrowed this book from my local online digital library three times. I kept losing interest in the book, which was auto-returned with a waitlist. I kept losing interest and putting it down. Overall, by the third loan, I wanted to finish it to see if there were some redeeming qualities at the end. It did have some, somewhat, but not in a big way, and I am not so sure the journey was worth getting to the destination (the end).

In general, character motivations, the reveal at the end, the character depth, and much of the dialog fell flat and lacked dimension. The world-building was good, and the plot, though not what I expected because of how the book was marketed, was also not bad. It was not 100% uninteresting, but it was a struggle to keep going. I don’t see myself reading the second book at this point, not with a “to read” list a mile long.

Maybe I have to let this one sit for a bit and then go back again. Maybe… and then again, maybe not.

I rate this one 2 stars because the author did, in fact, write a YA fantasy book with some romance and some magic, just not to the quality or interest level that I would have expected or desired to invest my time in reading.

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Book Review: Abducting Abby by S.E. Smith

Abducting Abby by S.E. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Plot 3/5
The basic story about alien dragon shapeshifters with symbionts crashing on Earth, mating with humans, and taking them back to their homeworld, with a species-level expansion subplot (finding mates to, well, mate with) and a faction war in progress, was intriguing.

Characters 4/5
The characters are well described and easy to imagine, including the dog, the symbionts, and Abby’s antagonist at the beginning. Character description-wise, the characters are well done. Character development-wise, some reactions, and acceptance of the situations seemed too fast, almost forced instead of coming naturally.

World-Building 5/5
The setting and the descriptions of both Earth and the alien planet, coupled with the base idea of alien dragon shapeshifters with symbionts, are well done.

Cover Design 3/5
The cover is average, in my opinion; it doesn’t give me a clue about the alien’s aspect, the Dragon-shapeshifting aspect, or the symbiotic relationship with the aliens. It appears like just another romance cover.

Spice 3/5
There are two main issues with the spice.
(1) The Abby Zoran relationship was Insta-love, rushed and instant. Even with the trope of a Dragon shapeshifter, it was rushed
(2) Abby, a virgin, goes from having sex one time with Zoran to expertly accepting anything he wants to do to her, like some sex professional.
A slower buildup and acceptance of both (1) and (2) would have made the plot and spice more believable.

Pace 3/5
The events happened quickly, including the relationship, transformation, and acceptance by Abby.

Engagement 4/5
Despite several eye-rolls with insta-love, insta-intimacy, and insta-nymphomaniac status for Abby, who accepts and performs every and any sexual act, despite being a virgin the day before, the story kept my attention.

Standouts
Alien shapeshifter Dragons with Symbionts!

Overall, the story was entertaining and kept my interest.
I give this one 3/5 stars overall.

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Book Review: Stained by Karlijn Burkey

Stained by Karlijn Burkey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Two stars, mainly for the author’s effort in writing a book. Technical aspects of the novel: Needs professional editing. i.e., expressions such as “Come on” written as “common” – other examples throughout the book are similar. Has multiple grammar issues, too. It has the feel of a self-edited book. Professional editing may have eliminated the technical issues, but the plot, story points, and something resembling a three-act structure was missing. The dialog is simplistic, the characters are one or two-dimensional, and there is a multitude of telling and little showing, i.e., not really a mix of both. The story plot, arc, and character development could be more refined. I finished the book because it was only 155 pages, but there was no hook, nothing to lead me from chapter to chapter, and more importantly, the opening to the following few pages. Typically, I stop reading a book without a hook. Honestly, I’m not sure why I continued with it. Still, I’m giving credit for the effort, as the author finished and self-published a book.

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Book Review: The Broken World by Lindsey Klingele

The Broken World by Lindsey Klingele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I was mixed on my review of the first book, later revising it on a re-read, I am not mixed at all on this book. Overall, this book was an enjoyable YA Fantasy / Romance / Urban Fantasy / Action book. This duology brought us back to the Caelum side of this universe. The continuing love triangle with Liv Cedric and Kat goes on, and for a bit there, It looks like they won’t get their Happily Ever After (HEA) ending. But of course, they get their HEA, which is awesome. I didn’t realize how much I was rooting for these two to get together – not that I didn’t like Kat, far from it. Her character is loveable for many reasons, but primarily as a strong independent female, she could be a queen. We get this impression early in the duology, but this book’s build-up is more substantial.

Two arcs were going on, one in Calem and one on Earth. In Los Angelis, the skies are a mess, and gravity no longer works as Einstein says it should! The very ground shakes as though the apocalypse has finally come. The portals opened between the two worlds have created havoc on Earth. Shannon and Merek have to find a way for the Knights of Valere to figure out how to stop whatever is happening.

Cedric chooses Kat over Liv and sends her back to Earth, where any chance they had to get together has passed. However, as the story progresses, Cedric is compelled to go to Earth after Liv. After much story progression, Liv figures out they must make a movie, spread it over the Internet via social media, and get the world to “believe in magic.” This energy will help solve the problem with the portals and the magic that has leaked into Earth.

Everyone goes through some sort of transformation. In the end, Kat will become Queen of Calem, Liv and Cedric have their HEA, and Merek and Shannon will share some quality time too. It all wraps up very nicely and cleanly. It was an enjoyable ending to this duology.

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Book Review: The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele

The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story was not bad, interesting. However, I had a problem with what appeared to be forced descriptions and analogies to paint a picture, smell, or other sense, which didn’t seem to fit in the story’s context.. i.e., descriptive logic errors—for example, a kiss where breath tasted like salt and smoke. Neither of the people involved in the kiss was smoking, nor was there a fire and no tears or salty pretzels to explain the salty taste. Some of these senses seem forced to be in the story, as if someone advised to add senses to the narrative description without of context of the scene. These descriptions are throughout the book, distracting you from the story as your mind tries to rationalize the moment. Hopefully, this will not occur in the next book in this tale.

The story itself was enjoyable. The idea of two worlds and a way to travel between them (with a speed-of-time-passing slowly aspect) is a trope that I enjoy reading, and I think the author did a fine job of setting it up. The main character, Liv, seems to fall for Cedric too soon and too far from just meeting someone from another world (which she eventually figures out). However, there is good tension with Cetric’s betrothed, which keeps the reader wanting to figure out how things will end up. It is a fun book to read, and it’s on the light side of fantasy but also has an intriguing (maybe somewhat rushed) romance triangle thing forming.

I think if you want a fun read in a fantasy world that is not too complex but at the same time will give you a sense of immersion into the story’s universe. I think this is a good one to choose. I originally gave this 2 stars, but after re-reading and thinking more about it, I’ve up it to 3 stars and mainly only 3 stars because of some technical issues noticed in the writing (or possibly not-so-good editing), but story-wise, it’s pretty solid.

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Book Review: War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First, this review contains spoilers, so stop if you have not read War Storm yet- you have been warned!

I have mixed feelings about this book and the ending of the entire series. I was expecting a huge battle as the climax, and we got a rushed battle that fizzled out with a retreat. I expected a climactic confrontation between Kal and Maven, not Mare and Maven. In retrospect, Kal is not mentally strong enough to have that confrontation (physically, yes, mentally, no). I was expecting Kal and Mare to get together in the end, somehow wanting her to choose Maven but knowing she wouldn’t. It’s left open whether Kal and Mare will get back together in the long term, not the happy ending I hoped for.

Though many people I talked to about this book and series ending liked that Mare chose to be alone (maybe for a while, or longer, it’s left open), and I am wondering if that’s due to the social influence of younger generations where people are staying single more and longer because people come from families with drama and tragedy such as divorce, economically challenged, deprived of education or opportunity, or rich kids who can’t do anything but emulate their shitty rich parents- analogies to the real world we live in.

It is disappointing that Maven’s death, the killing blow at the hand of Mare, is off-screen. In that scene, Maven’s got the advantage; he’s on top of Mare with a knife, crushing her collar bone, etc., and somehow it turns, Mare blacks out, and we don’t even know what happens until she wakes, and we hear from some else that Maven’s dead. My first thought was that if Mare killed Maven, there was no way Kal would be able to live with that long-term- how could he love the woman that killed his brother, even with the tumultuous relationship between Maven and Kal?

Kal can’t make decisions. He believed that Maven could change most of the story. After being influenced by everyone, Kal finally reasons that Maven- the brother he grew up with- is no longer inside, that Maven’s mind is twisted beyond redemption. Just the monster his mother made him into. But I don’t believe how Kal could make that determination, even with everyone’s influence- I feel he was swayed into that accepting that but didn’t believe it. He spent years and years trying to find a way to “cure” Maven of his mother’s taint. He was invested in this cause, much like Luke was invested in reverting Darth Vader to Anakin Skywalker (that’s the vibe their relationship had.)

While I was unhappy with the ending and the open-ended fate of Kal and Mare, I was happy with how Evangeline’s character developed over the series. I went from hating her to her being one of my favorite characters, and her arc ended more realistically. Her journey is about becoming her true self, quite the opposite of Kal’s initial journey. Evangeline and Kal’s journey starts the same as being what their parents bred and molded them to be. Evangeline’s character, but through thoughts, feelings, and strength of character and by making her own decision based on her own experience, decides to break out of that mold and go off with her happily ever after with Elane.

On the other hand, Kal doesn’t break out of the mold until the end. First, he reads his mother’s diary, which his Uncle Julain conveniently gives him to read, essentially after the Kingdom of Norta has fallen and is in shambles. The diary reveals that Kal’s mother wishes that he breaks out of the mold and follows his heart and not be a ruthless king or something along those lines. Remember, Kal can’t make decisions. It’s his character’s annoying flaw (as Maven tells Mare several times). So, the second thing that happens is as Evangeline is making a run for Maven’s escape train to flee, she runs into Kal and, after a brief exchange, takes his arm and whispers to him, “If it isn’t too late for me, it isn’t too late for you.” This comment defines the moment that Kal’s pushed to the decision we wanted him to make all along, give up the crown and live happily ever after with Mare. And he does just that. And he doesn’t get the ending we’d expected – instead; he gives it all up for Mare, the woman who eventually kills his brother and decides she needs “alone time.” In the end. Maybe they will end up tother, maybe not. At least some characters got their happy ending, Evangeline, for example.

Overall, I was disappointed in how this ended. The series started strong with the first book, The Red Queen, but as this series progressed, as the characters developed and the plots led up to the final confrontations and climaxes, it delivered a lackluster ending.

2 Stars for War Storm by Victoria Aveyard.

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Book Review: Grey by E.L. James

Grey by E.L. James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Clearly, this is an unneeded book as this story has already been told and captured the attention of millions of people. However, the same curiosity that begged me to read the first book in Anastasia Steele’s viewpoint reared its head and urged me to give this one a shot.

The erotic scenes in this story are not very intriguing or vastly different from any other erotic literature. It’s not the piece that captivated me on the original version of the story and the same goes for this adaptation.

For me, the appeal of this story is in the 1st and 2nd book and it’s all about the chase. Once Anna and Christian eventually marry later in the series, the tale becomes just another love story with its plots and twists. Very uninteresting. Very vanilla.

This specific installment of book one in the series shows us most of the chase through Christian’s eyes. What do we learn about Christian from his own thoughts, words, and actions? Not much that is new, unfortunately.

He’s 27 years old.
He somehow became a billionaire young.
He was born of a crack whore who is now dead.
He has been abused physically and mentally as a child.
He has mental issues and unresolved baggage.
He was taken in by some well-to-do loving, adoptive parents.
He’s anti-social.
He’s a control freak.
He’s into the BSDM lifestyle and a Dominant mainly due to being taken advantage of as a child Submissive.
He’s a workaholic.
He’s not in touch with his own feelings but we know he falls in love with Anna.
He’s a perv (Yes, most of his thoughts revolve around sex.)

What do we learn about Christian that is somewhat new because we hear his inner voice?

His inner voice is that of a 15-year-old adolescent boy.
He uses the word “Baby” far too much.
He is fucking mental, really fucking mental.
Nothing else useful or new.

Basically, his inner voice is not believable and makes me think that James didn’t even consult with any real-life dominant men to see how they would think or react. The persona of the 27-year-old billionaire from Anna’s version of the story is pretty much shattered by Christian’s inner 15-year-old child version of the events.

Getting back to the chase. The ending of this book was the most enjoyable for me as I was most interested in the chase. My enjoyment comes from reading about all the flirtatious events and banter that lead to these two getting together. The emails back and forth are also amusing but nothing really changed with that part of the story except a bit here and there hearing Christian’s anticipation of Anna’s responses.

When Christian comes to realize why Anna leaves and it clicks in his head what he needs to do, well that’s enough for me. I’m good to end off right here knowing the rest of the story from Anna’s viewpoint.

Overall, I gave the book three stars. Two stars for the enjoyment of the chase from Christian’s perspective and one star for boldly bringing a BSDM lifestyle story mainstream as with the original books. I sincerely wonder how many people have given the Dominate/Submissive relationship a try because of these works. That would be an interesting statistic to know. And maybe how many billionaires changed the name of their helicopters to Charlie Tango.

Laters, Baby.

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Book Review: Bone Dressing

Bone Dressing by Michelle I. Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Michelle Brooks has created an interesting, fantastical and mysterious world in Bone Dressing, centered on a young lady named Syd Roberdeau. Syd, just shy of 18, has already received some pretty hard knocks out of life for someone so young. It’s turned her into a troubled teen, trying to discover who and what she is to become in this world. The book starts off inside Syd’s head and we begin to understand her character—she’s quite a firecracker! Syd is amazingly smart, witty, loud spoken and free with the mouth. Syd tells it like it is, she has strong character and isn’t afraid to show it.

Syd, lives at home with her step-parents—or at least until her 18th birthday. She has plans to be on her own. Although, those plans come a bit sooner than later, as the troubled teen flees from her house after getting grounded, and not liking that one damn bit! Setting her school on fire also has a bit to do with it too! Syd finds herself in the place where she feels most at home, where she actually spends most of her time—the cemetery.

In the cemetery she meets a mysterious trio, Sarah, a “young-old” little girl, who speaks like a “curly sue”, but has the wisdom of ages! Syd also encounters TJ, a black panther with special powers to help Syd’s soul occupy the past lives of the dead who inhabit the cemetery. Then there is Remy, a.k.a. Beau—a handsome young man who is also a stabilizing force for Syd.

After the troubles at school, Syd begins to understand a little more about the trio she met in the cemetery. Syd slowly discovers her new friends can help her correct the wrongs of her past lives. TJ’s purpose is to temporarily transfer Syd’s soul to those corpses in the cemetery, where Syd can re-animate these bodies, “dressing in their bones” and right the wrongs of these past lives. As if Syd did not have enough to worry about! Beau plays a role similar to a guardian angel for Syd and he is able to calm her, protect her, and bring her to her senses when she’s over the edge. And little Sarah is on a diplomatic mission to keep the peace between all of them.

Syd’s first “bone dressing” experience transforms this book from a story about strange paranormal forces into a wonderful love story about two soul mates. The story inside the first corpse Syd re-animates is incredible, highly visual and inspiring. It’s a tale about childhood love growing into a soul mate connection with opposing forces trying to thwart this young couple’s happiness. Mix that in with passion, love, lust, devotion and…shape-shifting and what you have is one captivating, young adult, paranormal, and romantic story!

Once Syd met the trio of Beau, Sarah and TJ, I was unable to put this book down until I finished. Ms. Brooks is hard at work on the second installment in the series, The Dreaming, and I for one am counting the days down until her release date! If you are a fan of young adult, romance and paranormal genre’s I highly recommend this series. I honestly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the rest of the series. I rate this one a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

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Michelle I Brooks

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Michelle I. Brooks  – her web site is located here:
Bone Dressing is available on Amazon.com or Smashwords
Michelle is also listed as a goodreads author!

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Teaser about the next book in the Bone Dressing Series– The Dreaming…

“As Syd faces the dangerous mysteries waiting for her in the mistakes of her past, she must leave the comforts of her world behind her in book two, Bone Dressing: The Dreaming. The time for best friends and midnight escapes to her hiding place, the cemetery she calls home, is over. Now she must find a way to embrace her destiny, her future … and her past.”

Read more about The Dreaming on Michelle’s website…also take a peek at an excerpt from the book as well!