Cat's Literary Blog

Saturday, 10 December 2011

Lords of the Underworld 5

The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As the Keeper of Wrath, Aeron doesn’t desire any females and rarely thinks of romantic relationships, something he swears he’ll never have. In his long life he’s known only bloodlust and the need to punish people for their sins. Never has Aeron felt the need for a certain woman or the pleasure of love, until he meets Olivia. She is a fallen angel, once a warrior commanded to slay him, but ultimately could not hurt him. She was thrown out of the heavens for one reason; her desperate need to be with Aeron. But things don’t go smoothly for them both as something is made very clear; nobody wants them to be together. Not Aeron’s demon daughter, not Olivia’s angel mentor. Being as determined as she is, Olivia doesn’t give up. But how will things turn out?

A good book makes you feel a number of emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger and joy. If you don’t feel anything while reading a book, then you clearly aren’t connected to the characters. Reading this series is like looking into the lives of friends. Each one I dearly care about and I wish a happily-ever-after. Their emotions and actions affect me to endless levels. I just can’t get enough.

Olivia, the lead female, amused me so much. She made Aeron hers even before she fell from the clouds. She expressed such determination and perseverance. Aeron was her man, she continually made that very clear, even if he was resisting her. The scene where she tried to see him naked, but failed horribly, was just hilarious.

She gave everything up for a man; her immortality, her wings and her cloud. This is something that would be considered stupid, but instead of destroying herself by killing Aeron, she actually saved herself. Even though she was unsure how he felt about her, she knew they were soul mates. She stayed strong until the very end, even at the possibility of Aeron betraying her.

I absolutely loved Legion when she was introduced, but that love died in this book. No longer was she the little adorable demon, but a scheming little girl that I wanted to slap. Perhaps that is too harsh, as she loved Aeron from the start. She just couldn’t get it into her head Aeron thought of her as a daughter, not a lover.

Aeron had always been a sexy one, with his tattoos and wings, but he was always so hard and closed off. Understandable, taking into consideration his demon can take over him often and drive him to a bloodlust that would never be sated. In this book we see a different Aeron. We see, more in depth, his affection for Legion and his friends. He did a good job resisting Olivia, but of course he couldn’t have kept that up.

The love scenes were hot and didn’t have much of the babble that usually accompanies them. Aeron was just... (drool). I was disappointed he lost all his tattoo's in the end. I really loved them.

And Scarlet? Oh, I can’t wait to read the next. Another female Lord, yum!

Thursday, 8 December 2011

Cold Awakening 1

Skinned by Robin Wasserman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s a futuristic world where technology has taken over most things. Parents can choose the sex, traits and looks of their children, as well as cancel out any diseases or problems their unborn offspring may have if they have enough credit. Vehicles drive themselves, clothing has special added tech and people’s moods can be changed by specific mods. But not all is well and good in this world. Cities are left abandoned due to past attacks, incidents and are considered unsafe.

Lia Kahn has everything. She is beautiful, athletic and as popular as one can get. She has a gorgeous boyfriend and gorgeous friends. She is not just cool, but the definition of cool, or so she believes. Everyone worships her, wants to be her or wants to be with her. She’s just super important. Then, one day, she has a fatal car crash and her life changes forever as she is downloaded into a new body. But is it really her, or a copy?

The idea of downloading a human beings mind into a machine highly interests me. I couldn’t help but think, ‘what if?’ What if that technology was discovered, what if these machines started walking around like normal people? Would the promise of immortality be enough to make people want to willingly give up their flesh and blood bodies? It would be such a big topic of debate, like in this book, and would cause just another divide in humanity.

But the big question is; would it be you, or a copy of you? In this world, for the download process to work, you have to die. During Lia’s experience, she was so sure she was herself, the original, but in the end she realised that was not so.

Lia was not a likeable character and I think many would agree. What must be understood, however, is how that world works and the way she was brought up within it. She got it easy, it’s all she ever knew. And her parents picked her traits, right? She was such an imperfect character for readers and I think that was the point. Her journey to acceptance was especially difficult because of her personality and way of life. It’s just too bad she decreased the enjoyment of the book so much.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her several times throughout the book though. Such cringe-worthy things happen to her. All those things pushed her to the end, where the book ended. While there is no action, it’s just her personal thoughts, feelings and new way of life. You get to really know Lia, whether you like her or not.

I didn’t really care for any of the characters, not even Auden. The end was his fault. He was stupid to me, even though his friendship with Lia was interesting as it grew. Of course he had to fall in love with her. I saw it coming from miles away, I’m sure everyone did. There was something about Jude that I kind of liked. He seemed to have sex appeal; at least I thought he did. Zoe and the rest were just... blah.

For being a young adult book, I think there are some aspects that are inappropriate for younger readers, such as language.

I purchased this on audio and hopefully will be getting the next two in the trilogy as well. I am curious to see what happens to Lia and those around her.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Lords of the Underworld 0.5 & 3.5 & 4.5

Dark Beginnings by Gena Showalter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought I would absolutely love this book, which includes three short stories, three chapters of Maddox’s original story, interviews with the Lords and ladies and of course, an interview with Gena Showalter herself. I was a tad disappointed, but it was my own fault for having overly high expectations.

The Darkest Fire takes us back to before Pandora’s Box was created. We are introduced to Kadence, Goddess of Oppression and Geryon, the Guardian of hell. Together they embark on a dangerous task, to find and destroy the demons responsible for damaging the wall that separates the realm of hell from the world of humanity. After watching each other for centuries, they find their attraction for each other runs a lot deeper. And now that they are working together, they can only succumb to one another’s love and try to survive.

The Darkest Prison lets us delve into the heavens and see Nike, Greek Goddess of Strength, at the mercy of Atlas, Titan God of Strength. Their hate for each other is strong, but something slithers underneath. Love. They say there is a fine line between love and hate, which sometimes merge together. This was the case for the God and Goddess, but love finally overruled. However, with Nike imprisoned for eternity with the rest of her people, Atlas struggles and refuses to accept it.

The Darkest Angel moves our attention to Bianka, Harpy sister of Gwen. Unknown to her knowledge, she is the object of temptation for an angel named Lysander. Lysander has never felt desire before, but he feels that and more for Bianka when he watches her. But he dislikes the woman’s sinful ways and wishes to change her, to make her good. He captures her and hopes to ‘train’ her to become sinless. But everybody knows not to mess with a Harpy. Lysander finds himself falling even further into temptation.

The first two stories were so short; I couldn’t get attached to the characters. The last one was my favourite, but somehow I can’t get into the whole I-will-die-for-you-in-the-matter-of-a-few-pages thing. Love at first sight is fine, but really a romance needs to be fleshed out more.

A few things I liked in these stories; Geryon’s appearance (is it odd I found it hot?), Sienna with Cronus and the wedding in the last.

The interviews in total were okay. William did make me giggle at times, but it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. It was nice to hear some things from Gena Showalter, like for example; she is planning on writing a book about William. Also, it was nice to know she does no planning, but everything she just comes up with in the moment.

Awakening Pandora is three chapters of the first Lords book Gena started writing before scraping the idea. I found it hard to read and definitely preferred the new path she went with. It is about a thief stealing the box, only to have it opened and Maddox appearing.

A fun read, even though it wasn’t the best, but nevertheless, a must have for fans of the Lords.

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

1/11/11 Halloween is Over

Well, it's time for the vampire's to go back to sleep and hellspawn to return to their fiery abyss. But don't worry, they will be back next year!

Lately my mind has been on other things and my reading and writing has been suffering because of it. Basically I've had to think a whole lot about my future and career options, which has made my concentration go out the window. I will return to reading today, but as far as writing goes, the break will be a tad longer.

My three stories will have more parts added to them in the future. However, I would like to know what story people like the most so I know which to publish first when the time comes. I have set up a poll to help with that, which should be on the right somewhere.

Even though I won't be publishing something more until next year, I will have short story included in an anthology which will be published in December. I co-wrote 'The Gateway Incident' with my fiance and it includes a ruggedly handsome ranger and a pish posh mage. The book named 'Christmas Lites' was made possible by lovely Goodreads folk, namely Amy Eyre and all profit will go to charity.

One last thing before I end this post. Later today I will be trying out my first video book review, starting with 'The Darkest Night' by the beautiful Gena Showalter. It might work, it might not. If it does work, I will then set up a Youtube channel and video reviews as well as write them. Finger crossed!

Anyway, that's it. Have a nice day!

Cat xx

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Blood Ties 4

All Souls' Night by Jennifer Armintrout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Carrie and Co are back with this last instalment of the Blood Ties Series. When Carries beloved Nathan is kidnapped by his supposedly dead son and took to Jacob the Soul Eater, Carries life dramatically changes for the worst when she rescues him. With the dreaded ritual coming up to make Jacob a god, Dahila locked in Carries head and Carrie receiving her magic power, things are pretty crazy. Will they stop Jacob in time? Or will they be too late?

This book was surprisingly better than the last two, but still wasn’t great. Due to my dislike of the series and main character, nothing could make me give it a higher rating.

Carrie did improve as a heroine however, though the amount of power she gained was ridiculous. She became more powerful than the Soul Eater himself. The whole thing could have been over with pretty early on when she rescued Nathan, but it was dragged on, and when the end battle finally came, it was definitely anticlimactic. What happened after that I should have seen coming. I guess it worked, though bringing people back from the dead seemed a little too easy.

Cyrus returning once again was silly. Human, vampire, dead, human, vampire, dead, human, vampire. Leave the man alone and let the character live or die in peace! Seriously, doing that to a character is just cruel.

I liked the new man Bill, but his whole relationship with Ziggy was a bit off. Being a thirty-something man and perving after someone as young as Ziggy was just a bit creepy to me. It also didn’t make sense. Bill disliked vampires and the first thing Ziggy did to him was bite him. Did he find that hot and ignored his dislike? God knows.

And yes, Ziggy is obviously back, surprise surprise! But he is a likeable character.

Max and Bella also turned up and were so deeply in love (/yawn), even though Bella didn't play a big part. In this, we get to see Max turning into his wolf form, which was a treat! Actually, having a whole werewolf army attacking the vampires was a treat. There is nothing more epic than a vampire / werewolf war. I tend to always side with the wolves.

As always, I favoured Nathan. I have liked him since the start, even when he couldn't admit his love for Carrie. Some characters you just instantly get attached to and this happened to me. Bad things always happened to him, but he always pulled through.

All in all, an annoying, yet mildly entertaining series with a happily-ever-after.

Series Summary

Favourite Book (4) – Book 1 and 4

Favourite Character Throughout – Nathan

Least Favourite Character Throughout – Carrie

View all my reviews

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Lords of the Underworld 4

The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everyone doubts. We doubt ourselves and others all the time, without even realising it. It is a part of life and can ruin. Sabin is the Keeper of Doubt and has to cage his demon constantly. Not only is it annoying to some, but it can break humans to the point of suicide. Sabin has experienced the demon destroying one lover in the past, so he distances himself from all females. But then he meets Gwendolyn the Timid and rescues her from a cell. He can’t seem to stay away from her or think of anything else. His demon claws at his mind, wanting to plague little Gwen with doubts she will not be able to handle. Will Doubt finally get to break her in the end? Or will Gwen break Sabin instead, being what she is; a Harpy.

Introducing Harpies into the series was fabulous! I loved everything about them, from their tiny wings to their great speed. Really a good addition of more strong females like Anya, the Goddess.

Sabin didn’t grab my attention in the past books, but getting to know more about him made me enjoy reading his story. He desperately tried to not feel for Gwen, but use her as a soldier. We see he is selfish at the start; would do anything to gain victory over his enemy, then gradually gives in to his love for her and can’t bear the thought of betraying her. After Darla, his past lover, he swore never to get close to a female again. Understandable, since she killed herself because of his demon.

Gwen is more powerful than what I imagined. In the beginning she seemed... well, timid. Her self esteem was so low. She believed she was but a shadow to her three sisters. How wrong she was. It took Sabin to show her otherwise. I liked her; she progressed nicely through the book. Her Harpy side was blood thirsty and possessive; she was just like another Lord, housing a darker side, but at first she had no control over it.

The romance brought back the little irritations I had with this series. The talking during the love scenes is the same with every couple. I wouldn't mind dirty talk, actually I'd prefer it to the questions and things they do say.

With each book my heart aches more for Paris. It’s so sad. I hope he gets a happy ending. He’s just helpless and heartbroken. (cries) But we see that something is watching Aaron, an angel, which is obviously his soon-to-be-woman. And Torin caught a glimpse of a woman he desired. I found Torin's relationship with Cameo quite sad; disease and misery, both of them unlike the others, actually affecting people near them, so a normal relationship is almost impossible.

I was disappointed with the ending. I understand it went in the direction it did and it therefore continues the war, but something seemed off. Would they have let Galen go? Really? It’s just hard to believe they would just stand there and let him flutter off.

I love this series now. I feel at home with all of the Lords and ladies. Gena Showalter has really made this series fantastic. The war between Lords and Hunters is especially getting more gritty and exciting; I can’t wait to see what happens there. There are still surprises popping up and I’m sure there will be plenty more.