Laurie Forest: The Black Witch

In the first in a series, Laurie Forest takes readers on a young woman's discovery of what is truly important in life:

Elloren is the spitting image of her grandmother, the famed Black Witch who was the hero of the Realm War. Too bad Elloren does not have half the magic that her grandmother had, in fact she has no magic at all. Elloren has lived with her brother and Uncle in a small town the majority of her life after her parents were killed and although Elloren does not have any magic, she has dreams of pursuing apothecary. When she is granted the opportunity to do so at a prestigious university. What Elloren does not realize that the world is a very different place that she thought, and her connection to the Black Witch is no a good one, especially at the university. Darkness looms all around Elloren and she has to decide which side is going to be on.

This the first book that I read by Forest and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series. Forest takes on a lot in this first book, not only introducing us to the world and characters but the political strife that is occurring in this book. There are arranged marriages (wand fasting) at a young age, there is racism, sexism and homophobia all wound into this story. For any book this would be a lot but Forest tackled it in a way that it never felt like too much or overwhelming. Now are these ideas new in a fiction or even a fantasy stories, No, but I appreciate the way that Forest handles these topics and how it is wound up in the political aspects of this book as well as Elloren trying to discover who she is and what she believes in.

Elloren is an interesting character from her green skin, to her lack of power to her really just discovering the wide world around her. She id pretty naive for her age but this is due to the fact that she was sheltered her whole life. Was there sign in her small town of the racism/homophobia/sexism, yes but not to the extreme one would experience in a city. This book is written more in a YA or New Adult way and I do find that Elloren comes across younger than she is and in some of the decision that she makes, especially at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed Elloren's personal journey in this book and the decisions that she decides to make. I look forward to seeing her grow more, challenge things around her more and grow into herself.

While Elloren is the main character in this book, there are quite a few side characters that I want to know more about and I think I would like a secondary POV from a few of them. I mean not a lot of chapters but just a different perspective from Elloren's as she is learning a lot of new things first hand, it would be nice to have the perspective of one of the other races who have been living through it.

I think we can all guess who The Black Witch is going to be, I feel like it is very much implied by not only the title but what occurs at the beginning of the book, but i am interested in seeing where Forest will take the whole Black Witch aspect.

This was a great start to a series. I enjoyed the world that Forest has created (the political and corruption aspects especially), the characters, plot and magic system. I look forward to continuing on in the series.

Enjoy!!!!

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Jay Kristoff: Empire of the Damned

In the second book in the Empire of the Vampire Series, Gabriel de Leon has saved the Holy Grail, but keeping it is another story:

The last Silversaint has saved the Holy Grail from death, but keeping her by her side is another story. When they are ambushed, Gabirel does everything in his power to keep her but he fails. He does not know where she is or what has become of her, but he will do everything he can to find her and get her back even if that means forming alliances with those he never thought he would. Gabriel will face many deadly perils as though he is hunting he is also being hunted.

This book was amazing. It was dark, gritty, brutal and bloody just like a vampire book should be. Kristoff does not hold back in this book and man did he break my heart several times in the book, but the book and story and plot were better for it. I loved reading this book and turning the pages to see where Kristoff would take the series. And boy does Kristoff take it places that I did not think that he would go. This book is just as good as the first book, maybe even better as I felt even more invested in Gabriel as a Character.

I love Gabriel as a main character. Yes he is flawed character, but he doesn't pretend to be anything other than who he is. He tells it like it is and if you don't want to hear that, too bad he'll tell you anything. I feel like Gabriel is someone that you want in your corner, and mores the pity if you are not.

I was not expecting there to be a second storyteller in this book and the book is better for it. I enjoyed getting to know more about Liathe and her drive to protect the Grail, as well as what happened to her after she was turned.

The artwork again in this book was exceptional. I had to tell myself not to look ahead at the artwork as it would give some things away. I personally love the addition of the artwork and I think more books should do this. Really add to the overall reading experience.

Speaking of reading experience I did the physical read and audiobook read of the book, as I did not want to have to put it down. Once again, Damian Lynch did a great job of brining Gabriel to life and the addition of Shakira Shite was amazing. I loved what she brought to the character of Liathe, danger but grace at the same time.

OMG, this is probably going to be one of my favourite trilogies out there, if the third book is even close to as the first two books in this series. I cannot wait to read the third book in this series. I just need to wait for it to be released in paperback so it matches my other two. Highly recommend if you want a darker vampire read.

Enjoy!!!!

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Raven Kennedy: Gild

In the first in a series, Raven Kennedy has her own take on a Midas with his Golden Touch.

Gold is the most important element in the world of Orea. Having the ability to turn anything to Gold, makes King Midas one of the most powerful individuals in the world. In Midas castle, everything is gold, including his favoured Auren, she is his Gold Touch. Auren has everything she could want since being chosen by Midas from the streets, she has a place to live, even if it is a cage, she feels safe. She loves Midas and enjoys being on her pedestal. But then Wart is coming to the Kingdom and a deal is struck that Auren never thought would happen. It has her questioning everything, and challenging her love.

This is the first book that I have read by Kennedy and i heard this was a darker romance side of things. I will say this did not read like a Dark Romance, it did not have those elements I would associate with Dark Romance. So i guess on that note, I thought that it would be darker. Does this mean I did not enjoy the book, No, but I did feel like i was waiting for it to get darker at times. 

For the length of the book it feels like not a lot actually happens in this book, but I was pretty invested in Auren. I will also say this book is not very spicy at all, very tame, so the books in the series may get spicier (I can't speak to that yet) but there is not much spice in this book,

At the age of 15 Auren meets Midas as she is living on the street and he saves her from that life, so there is no question of her loving him and trusting him. However, the older that she gets and the more that she sees him with other women she begins to questions many things in her life, but she never questions her love for him. The more you read about Auren and the past her and Midas has, you can really tell that he was grooming her to be his Favoured.  I love watching Auren grow in this book, she starts in a pretty low place and an alcoholic and throughout the book you can see the woman she wants to become and by the end of the book I wanted to know more.

I absolutely love the twist in this book and one I did not really see coming and how it plays out is fantastic. And made me want to pick up the next book right away.

All I can say is Mitas is an asshole, and not in a Good morally grey way, just an asshole that is it. The way that he treats Auren horribly I don’t care what their history is, he is just a horrible man.

Even though I thought that this book would be darker, I am fully invested in Auren as a character and I'm heading out to get the next book. This one should for sure be on your list if you are looking for a fantasy read that is more character driven.

Enjoy!!!!

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Natalie D. Richards: Seven Dirty Secrets

Natalie D. Richards show how far people will go to keep a secret but uncover one as well:

It is Chloe's 18th Birthday and she receives a mysterious message to take part in a scavenger hunt. Thinking that one of her friends had planned it for her, but on one confesses, Chloe stills starts on the hunt. What starts out as seemingly random locations, Chloe starts to realize that there is something that link them all, they are places that she went to with her abusive ex-boyfriend Declan. But Declan is dead, he drowned last year on her birthday and someone knows something from that night, something that Chloe has been desperate to keep hidden and the only way to ensure they do it to finish the scavenger hunt.

I realized while reading this book that the tone, subject matter and overall plot of the book was much more for a YA audience. I don't think this would have hindered me picking up the book, it just would have changed my expectations. I have read some great thriller/mystery books in the YA category but there are things that are slightly different than when reading an adult book and i mainly find the difference in the darkness levels and the overall tone/feel of the book.

Where was the thriller aspect of the book, the suspense does not happen until the last 10-15% of the book. The stake in the book for the majority of the book just weren't there. The whole scavenger hunt aspect just felt off the entire time as it really did lack the suspense that I mentioned before.

I feel bad for Chloe multiple times in this book, what she suffered and no one in her life really noticing what was going on with her. Plus everything has changed in her life from the night that Declan died, she changed and her friends and family changed around her as well.

I personally wanted more from this book, I think someone who reads YA or is of YA aged would enjoy this book more than I did.

Cheers!!!

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