Holly Black: The Cruel Prince

In the first in a new series Holly Black shows just how far one will go to shape a Kingdom.

Jude and Taryn are forced from their home when they are seven, their mother and Step father murdered and they are forced to live with the murderer in the High Court of Faerie. it has been ten years and although they try to keep their heads down, they are always reminded that they are humans in this Fey world. Jude wants nothing more that to belong in this world despite her mortality but there are many fey who despise humans and only see them as slaves. A new ruler is about to be chosen and Jude must see that things go in her favour. The faerie court is one of deception, trickery and bloodshed, Jude needs to learn quickly if she going to survive the change change in rule.

This is the first book that I have read by Black and I really enjoyed the majority of elements, characters that she presented and developed in this book. The world building is extremely well done and beautifully written. I know where this world/reality sit in regards to our own world, as well I did not find the different children of the King confusing and who were all vying for the crown, well except Prince Cardan. You really feel the differences between the two worlds and the struggle that Jude and her twin sister Taryn feel to try to fit in but also keep their heads down as well (Taryn succeeds at this much better than Jude does). The identical twin aspect is also interesting, how two people who are the same on the outside have such different personalities and Black highlights this every chance that she gets, especially in regards to the bullying that the girls suffer.

I personally would classify this book as a fantasy political intrigue, as Jude is doing everything that she can to support a cause that she believes in as well as trying to find her spot and purpose in this Fae world. She begins to learn the art of a spy and the trading of secrets. She is realizing just how valuable her human nature makes her. As with any good spy book this one was much darker than I expected it to be and often there were moments of brutality that once again I did not expect and some of them even come from Jude herself.

Okay I normally post spoiler free reviews but with this book, I feel like i have to say something about the relationship that occurs in this one. So if you are looking to read this book, don't read any further, as what I'm about to write does occur later in the book.

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I feel like this has a really poor relationship between Cardan and Jude. Their relationship at the beginning is one of bullying verging on torment because of what is done to her. And there is an almost rape that occurs that takes things to a whole different level. Yet Cardan supposedly is obsessively in love with her and does all of these bad/rude/embarrassing/dangerous things because of it and Jude accepts this. I mean WHAT? How can this even be a thing. Black is a well known author even though this is the first book I have read by her, these books are rated YA (which I also have issue with but that is probably not the authors doing). Why do books like this and I believe the Twilight series (I've never the series, just basing it on what others have said) promote such unhealthy relationships and make it seem normal and alright? Alright spoilers and rant over.

So will I read the next book in this series? Yes. The ending was really well done and I liked how every other aspect in the book was shaped by Black. I am interested in seeing where relationships are taken what this new world under a new King will look like.

Enjoy!!!

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Karen Hamilton: The Perfect Girlfriend

In her debut novel Karen Hamilton shows what it takes to be the Perfect Girlfriend:

Juliette loves Nate and follows him where ever he goes, she knows that they are destine to be together, but Nate just doesn't know it yet. The fact that Nate broke up with her six months ago has only strengthened her resolve that they are meant to be together. She is giving him the space he wants, makes herself into more of the girl that Nate wants and make him fall back in love with her. What could go wrong, she is the perfect girlfriend and love can hurts and all is fair in love and war.

I had high hopes for this book, it sounded interesting and was something a bit different than what I normally read. This book is full of manipulation and what the main character thinks love is. You follow Juliette/Lily as she proves to the man that she loves Nate, that she is the perfect one for him and lets just say that she takes way too far constantly. She finds out everything there is to know about Nate and is family, from spying to pretending to being someone else. Juliette really is a master manipulator.

You will not like the main character in this book. Yes, there are times where you will feel sorry for the main character she does have some horrible events in her past but she lets them define her entire adult life and she never grows out of this. The thing is that she is smart and probably could have a great life if she was not so obsessed with the past. By 80% I was sick of the main character and all her complaining and as we do not get any other point of view that hers it was a struggle to finish this book. She just could not see what she was doing was wrong and that she could have so much more if she could move on from him.

 I thought this book would have more of a deadly twists to it, but it really was more of stalking and manipulation which Juliette takes to the extreme. I will also give this book high marks for not having a cookie cutter ending, but I could just not get past the main character, her lack of growth and constant complaining really turned me off this book.

Cheers!!!

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Keri Arthur: Unlit

In the first in a new series Keri Arthur takes the readers on journey of discovery and treachery:

Neve March is one of the members of the Nightwatch, she is Unlit (has no magic) but is also stained as well a deformity that is looked down upon by the witches in power. Neve may not love her life all the time but she is happy being a solider serving in the Nightwatch. But Neve has a secret she can hear the whispers of the wind, something she should be able to do and her secret power is about to be put to the test. When Neve is sent out to investigate a strange light she did not expect to discover a woman who has been missing for 12 years but also evidence of an ancient enemy that was believed to be dead.

The Word of this book is DESIRE. He desires me, I desire him, he makes me feel desire, I'll make him feel desire and so on and so on, you get the picture. It would be the perfect drinking game book. Everyone drinks when the author uses the word desire. You'd be quite tipsy in a chapter or two. I was about to put this book down thinking that it was going to be more of a sci-fi romance book similar to some of the other series that Arthur writes. However, this aspect does change in the second half of the book, there is more action and the mystery surrounding the returning woman takes the forefront. Although desire is the word for this book, Arthur does not go into too much detail with her sex scenes most of the events happen behind closed doors, which I was surprised about.

I really liked Neve as a character, she is always a soldier first and has unwavering loyalty to those that she loves. Even when she is told not to help or protect her brother/sister in arms she takes it into her own hands to do so. I also liked that she showed an appreciation for the old ways, in terms of weapons, and wanting to know more about them. Neve is Unlit and Stained but has heard the whispering of the wind, which she shouldn't be able to do but she keeps this secret to herself. It was interesting to watch Neve really find out her powers and there limits as often times this was in the middle of a battle.

I found that world building was a bit lacking for this, yes I understand he witches part and different houses, but where I got a bit confused is how the world ended up this way and really why the Unlit or Stained are seen as second class citizens (maybe I just got mixed up in everything but I think it has something to do with having power and not having power). So I guess I would like more of a back story for this world and how it became to be this way.

By the end of this book I was hooked and wanted to know more not only about Neve but also the world (which I want to know more about) so I'm looking forward to picking up the second book in this series.

Enjoy!!

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Victoria Jenkins: The Girls in the Water

In her debut novel Victoria Jenkins introduces Detective King and Constable Lane and a deadly killer:

Detective Alex King and Constable Chloe Lane are assigned to horrific murder of a woman found in the water, bound hands, fingernails missing, clear signs of torture. The victims is a woman with a troubled past but King and Lane can not find any enemies or reason for her to be targeted. Then another body is found in the water and King and Lane find a disturbing connection between the two. But Lane is distracted, she is pursuing a historical case that is personal to her and is she is not careful she could not only lose her job but her life too.

This was a good debut novel and I really appreciated Jenkins writing style. I also enjoyed that she decided to take on a lot by have two cases interwoven in the narrative. However, overall I did not have that edge of my seat feeling or thrills that I was expecting while reading this book. The mystery was well thought out and executed but just not that interesting at times, in that it seemed like it had all been done before.

I liked that it was two female officers that were partners as this is against the norm for some reason. A lot of the books that have a female detective lead are normally portrayed as not easy to work with, going against authority but don't worry they have a male counterpart to smooth things over as this is normally a male dominated profession (honestly, some of my favourite authors in this genre have this and it took this book for me to realize that). So I appreciated the fact that Jenkins had two female police officers that at one point or another are looking out for the other one and don't have the judgement against them for being female. It was also interesting to see some of the sexism that came out with regards to Lane's past.

I felt that there was a previous book to this that explained more of King and Lane's history together. You can tell throughout their conversions in this book that this is not the first case that they have worked together and while Lane may be the rookie/new recruit on the team she did not have that rookie feel to her character. Additionally, King made statements about how Lane was not up to usual professionalism which also made it appear that they had worked sometime together.

I'm going to continue on with this series as I really did enjoy King and Lane's relationship and I think that Jenkins has a great ability to tell a good mystery story I just hope there is something a bit less farther from the norm next time around.

Enjoy!!!

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Kiersten White: Slayer

In the first in a new series Kiersten White takes readers back to the world of The Slayers but from a whole new perspective:

Nina and her twin sister Artemis have lived a far from normal life and though they may look alike they are very different people. They are growing up in The Watcher Academy, or whats left of it since Buffy ended magic. Nina has carved out a place for herself as a Medic but everything changes in one instant when she places herself in danger to save others. Nina becomes a Slayer, the last slayer every to be, and now Nina has to wrestle with not only being a Slayer but questioning everything she knows not only about herself but the Watchers place in this new world. Things are never easy for a Slayer and as the bodies start to pile up Nina has to make some hard decision that could affect the world.

So this book is basically calling all Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans which I totally am but of the TV series, I was not into reading at the time of the end of the show so I never kept up with the graphic novels that followed. This is where White makes a few assumptions. First you’re here because you loved and enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, as stated that is why I picked up this book so you have the general understanding of the slayer and watchers, vampires demons etc, so if you never watched this series you may be a bit lost as to the world that was built and everything that really came before. Second it assumes that you continued on with the graphic novels/comic books after the tv series ended which I did not so there are plenty of events that happened in these media forms that I was not aware of. So there were times, especially at the beginning of the book, where I felt a bit lost.

This book was quite a bit darker than I thought that it would be; From the type of demons that are introduced, death of some of the characters and illegal demon fighting, this book does cover quite a bit of dark ground. These are all traits that were embraced by the TV show so I am glad that White kept to these traits. White also does a good job of integrating the mystery and teen genres in this books as well (though at times there was a little bit too much teen aspects for me).

There is a lot of Buffy bashing. To say the main character does not like Buffy and blames her for many of the wrongs in the world and her life is an understatement (She even makes this statement more than once throughout the book). However, Nina who is the main character of this book, does grow and develop as a character and begins to see a different side to the slayer aspect. I really appreciated that White had Nina grow as a character, this was one of the high points of this book.

I was able to figure out one of the big twists but did not see the second one coming which was a great surprise, so I appreciate that White was able to do this. Nonetheless, I am unsure if I will continue on in this series, there were aspects that I liked but there was a bit too much teen drama for me, which probably a teenager would enjoy but reading as an adult it was a bit much.

Enjoy!!!

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Walter Mosley: Down the River Unto the Sea

Walter Mosley takes readers on a journey where a former police officer turned PI is not only investigating a case to save a man's life but also looking to redeem the life he lost:

When Joe King Oliver is sent to arrest a car thief he never thought that it would land him in prison and then solitary confinement on Rikers Island. He knew he had been set up but he could never prove it. Over a decade later King is now a private investigator running his own agency with the help of his teenage daughter who acts as his assistant. When he receives a letter in the mail from the woman that admits she framed him and was paid to do so by a cop, King has no choice now that to take on his own case to try to stop the corruption that is running within the NYPD. The thing about corruption is it tends to run deep and King's case is not the only one out there.

This is the first book that I have read by Mosley and honestly I had never heard of him before this book, which I now think is crazy as he has written over 43 books and quite a few of them are mystery based. I guess I should now just count myself lucky to have discovered him and have 42 more books to look forward to.

There are many aspects that I enjoyed about this book. Mosley has a way of writing that just draws you into King's life and story. Mosley does not sugar coat anything and there are times where King goes down a dark path pursuing information or protecting himself or those he loves.. This book also has a police procedural feel to it as King used to be a police officer so he knows how to work a case and try to uncover evidence/clues to lead him to the next step. One thing you can say about King is that he is fairly methodical in his work process and he tries to see things from many angles. 

King is a great character to who a main flaw, his love of women and that is what lead him to be incarcerated at Rikers Island. He seems to have put all women behind him but he does comment more than once about a lovely lady that he encounters or sees. King is now also suffering from PTSD so there are times when this interrupts his thought process but this just makes him feel more like a real person. King still bleeds blue even though he knows he was betrayed by them, but the still has friends inside the force that will help him. One thing is true King is a force to be reckoned with.

Another character I really liked was Mel. I would like to see more from him if this book were to become a series or really just a book about Mel as he was such an interesting character; criminal, sociopath but also lives by a certain code, I mean I feel like that book could just write itself, lol.

I guess my one negative in this book was that I was able to figure one of the big twists pretty early on, I personally felt it was a bit obvious but maybe that was just me.

This book was nominated by the MWA for the best book award 2019, so if you're into reading books from those type of shortlists make sure to pick this up. And if you're not into reading from awards lists, still pick this book up it is a great mystery crime read. I know I'm going to be on the hunt for more of Mosley's novels.

Enjoy!!!

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