Marie Lu: Steelstriker

This is the second book in Marie Lu’s Skyhunter duology, so you will need to read the first books, Skyhunter, before you read this one as it sets everything up. 

Marie Lu shows what one woman will do to protect her family and friends:

Talin has become a Striker, it is now her job to protect The Premier at all costs or else her mother will suffer. Red is no stranger to the cruelty of the federation and the torture it takes to be transformed into a Skyhunter. Red is determined to free Talon, and free Mara and all the other countries that have been conquered by the Federation.Talin and Red want the same things, but the path is marred by difficult decisions and actions that need to be taken to make sure that the ones they love survive.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series and it really leave you on a cliffhanger so I have high expectations for this book by Lu and I will say that this book is quite different that the first book because of the setting. This book is much more political than the first book, it is about doing things behind the scenes in order to overthrow the Premier. That means there are less battle scenes involving both Red and Talon, so at times this does slow the book down. 

I personally love the Strikers and the training that they have gone through to be such effective killing machines and would love to have their POV in a book or novella. They really are the highlight of the book for me, when they are fighting ghosts or sneaking about. 

You cannot help but feel sorry for Talin in this book, she is doing everything in her power to protect her mother but fails multiple time as she cannot sit by while the Premier hurts her friends. However, she does do horrible things to people she does not know even though it weighs on her. I’m not sure if Lu was intending to have a philosophical question in this book, but it is very much kill one to save the rest or kill them all. Talin’s inability to see the bigger picture in this case causes more harm to herself, mother and the rest of the people under the Premier’s control. Do I fault Talon for this? No, she is a teenager who is just trying to protect her mother, her friends, but it is a question to ask oneself as you read the book.

This is the first complete series that I have read by Lu and I enjoyed the world building that she does as well as Talin as a main character. I look forward to reading other series by Lu.

Enjoy!!!!

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Kimi Cunningham Grant: These Silent Woods

Kimi Cunningham Grant show the lengths that a father will go to, to keep a family together:

In a remote cabin in the Appalachian forest, there is a remote cabin with no electricity, no running water and a simple way of life. This is where Cooper and his daughter Finch have made their home for the past eight years and Cooper would have it no other way as he has a past that he would prefer not face. But Finch is getting relentless and pushing back, wanting to explore more on her own and do her own thing. When their one connection to the outside world, who brings them supplies each year, fails to show up it sets off unforeseeable event, that will change Cooper and Finch’s lives forever.
 

This book is a slow burn that is very much character driven and beautifully written. It was not quite what I expected, I thought there was going to be some sinister twist or for it to get darker along the way and it just never really happens. Even what Cooper does in order to make sure that him and Finch stay together is not as bad as he makes it seem, I honestly was picturing something way worse that what actually happened. I think that this is where the book is lacking for me is from my own expectations of what this book should have been, especially with the title and how the premise is presented. I was thinking that this book was going to fall more into the thriller genre than the contemporary fiction genre. We are basically waiting for Cooper to tell his story of how he and Finch ended up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and why they avoid people at all costs.

 

Cunningham Grant has a great ability to make the reader really care about the characters, and not just Cooper who is the POV that we read in the book but of Finch as well. As Cooper is the POV in this book, we are able to get a past and present aspect in the book. This allows us to get to know him before, after and now time as a person but many of his strong attributes remain the same. Finch is also an interesting character, very one with the forest and her surrounds having grown up in the middle of nowhere. Even though she is still a child you can tell the independent woman she is going to become with what she is pressing Cooper about even now. You also feel sorry for Finch as she has never had friends her own age with is why she becomes obsessed (in a way) for the girl with red hair.

Now that I know the type of book that Cunningham Grant has the ability to write, I would read another novel by her. I would just go in with different expectations after reading this book. So although this was not the book I expected it to be, I still enjoyed her writing style, characters and setting of this book. I look forward to see what Cunningham Grant comes out with next.

Enjoy!!!

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Shannon Mayer: Immune

This is the second book in Mayers Rylee Adamson series and while you could probably read this before the first, I recommend reading the first one, Priceless, just to understand the relationship between the characters.

Shannon Mayer is back with Tracker Rylee Adamson who realizing that underestimating a demon is a very bad thing:

When Rylee was attacked by a demon, she was convinced that nothing was wrong from where it was able to stab her, she is immune afterall. But for some reason she is unable to get warm, and cold weather seems to follow her in force, that it cannot be a coincidence and it is about to cost her the ability to find a child alive. Rylee has to make a choice, what is more important, a friend who calls for help, a child that is missing or her own life. It is a race against time and not all are going to survive this.

I did enjoy this book but I think that it was too short and the story never really fully materialize for me as Mayer tries to pack in a lot into 235 pages. From relationship, to some sort of unrest within the supernatural community to her tracking a kid, there is a lot going on.

Rylee is a great character and one of the main reasons I like this series as she is a kick-ass heroine but she has loads of heart when it comes to tracking missing children and will put herself and life in danger in order to achieve this.

I wish the relationship between Rylee and O’Shea would have taken longer or spread out through additional books. Some big things happen in this book and even though Rylee and O’Shea have known each other for a long time they have only been on the same side for a very short period of time.

I love that Mayer has so many different paranormal creature in her books and they are just side characters. In this one these are Ogres, Shaman, Daywalker, Yeti and my personal favourite harpies. I’m a big fan Of Eve. I cannot say I know much about Harpies but I personally think she is cool character. I also like that the reason that most humans are not able to see the paranormal or supernatural is that we, as human, have made them into myths/legends that we no longer believe they are there. Our minds see what it wants to see and not the alternative.

I’m really enjoying this series so far and I hope that Mayer can keep the different creatures coming. I know the supernatural unrest has to be going somewhere too and I want to know where Mayer takes it, I just hope the next book is bit longer.

Enjoy!!!!

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Will Staples: Animals

In his debut novel, Will Staples enters the dark world of animal trafficking and harvesting:

Protecting the Rhino is a dangerous and deadly job, you never know who is on your side or not. When two of SADF veteran Corbus Vector friends are murders protecting on of the last Rhino’s he has reached his breaking point. He wants to put a stop to the use of Rhino horn his own way. Embarking on a vigilante mission he plans to take down as many people and syndicates as he can. Meanwhile, insurance investigator Randall Knight is called to a road side zoo where all the big cats have died except one. Knight is suspicious of the cub’s origins and begins his own investigation into animal trafficking. Both men are headed to the darkest parts of SE Asia where the crime syndicates will do anything to keep the money in animal trafficking flowing.

I believe this book is a first for me as it deals with animal trafficking and harvesting. I have read plenty of books about drugs, murder, human trafficking etc, but never one dealing with animals. Let me tell you it is Absolutely heartbreaking, Animals dying for no purpose at all other than to feed human greed. Animal ripped away from their homes to be featured in a road side zoo and do not even get me started on the parts harvesting, just horrible. This book is never expletive in what happens to some of the animal but it doesn’t take too much to guess.

I think my favourite part of the book was that Staples frames the story with following the "product" of Rhino horn from Africa to Asia. He seems to understand the full circle of where the rhino horn comes from, what is done to find the rhinos, how it is shipped over seas and then those who use it for its "magical" powers.

You cannot help but cheer for Vector in his crusade to take down SE Asian syndicate that is responsible for his friend’s death but at the same time his methods are questionable and he is very much at times and anti-hero.

The insurance side of things was also interesting, and not something that you hear or read about on a regular basis, of how animals in zoo are insured and what is done in order to get a new animal if something happens to an old one. There are really criminal markets for everything, but i think we have all known for a long time, that if is makes money, humans are willing to do it.

This was a really good debut novel and I like the international feel of the book. I look forward to reading another book by Staples.

Enjoy!!! 

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Adrienne Young: Namesake

As this is the second book of the Duology you will need to read the first book in the series, Fable, in order to fully understand the characters, and relationships between them.

 

Adrienne Young is back on the high seas with Fable, where she is continuing looking for her place in the world:

 

After being captured and betrayed by someone who she thought she could trust Fable finds herself part of a rival's scheme and a prisoner on his ship. Forced to dredge for a rival ship with an impossible task, Fable learns that secrets that her mother took to her grave are now putting Fable in danger and descending deeper and deeper into a world filled of betrayal and deception. Fable doesn't know who to trust or what her future holds.

This book was good and I really liked the beginning of the book where Fable was away from West, but this book was really predictable. Like how would people not guess where the midnight was located? Or things about Fable’s bloodline. I felt like everything was staring you in the face which made the book lose any form or suspense or mystery. I mean I think it is obvious where Midnight is going to be located, as well as the plan that Fable enacts, even the Name of the book gives too much away.

I’m still not a fan of the West and Fable relationship, it was too much too fast and they barely know each other, some of which is rectified in this book, but still they are willing to risk way too much for a person they barely know. I thought that West was holding Fable back and at the same time West went against what he said he was about with his crew. I think West is supposed to grow on you with what he is willing to sacrifice for Fable, but for some reason I just never became a fan of his.

There are also some unanswered questions in this book, Like why was Isode really driven away from her home, this is never fully explained? I feel like Fable would like to know that information. The father daughter relationship between Fable and Saint is where this book shines and that Saint and Fable  are willing to do anything for each other, even though that they had been apart for years.

This was a good book and a good follow up to the first book and heck who doesn’t like pirates searching for treasure. But I will say that the duology left me underwhelmed for the most part, especially with all the hype surrounding it.

Enjoy!!!!

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Elle Cosimano: Finlay Donovan is Killing it

Elle Cosimano show what happens when eavesdropping on a conversation goes wrong:

 

Finlay Donovan is a single mom, a struggling writer with a looming deadline and her ex-husband has just canceled her Nanny on the day with an important meeting with her editor, because she just works from home and her 4 year old decided to take scissors to her hair this morning. But she does make the meeting with her editor, albeit a bit late. While she is pitching a new romantic suspense novel, she is inadvertently mistaken for a contract killer and is offered a generous about of money to take care of a husband, who is not a nice person. What starts as some research for her book, quickly takes a turn for the worst and that crime in real life is much harder its fictional counterpart.

 

Wow this book is one of my favourite reads this past year, it is a fun mystery read with some aspects that I think any parent can relate too. This book was hard to put down and I was sneaking any chance I got to read. Honestly if I would have been able to read it in one sitting I would have. This book had it all. It was quirk, witty, fun, fast paced and will have you laughing out loud at times. Does the plot takes some weird twists and turns along the way, sure, but that is what made it even more entertaining and unexpected.

I normally do not enjoy books that feature writers as the main character, don’t ask me why, but typically those books don’t work for me. This book is totally the exception, I think that Finlay felt so down to Earth, is not a pretentious character and just wants to get over her writers block. So she becomes a little more adventurous in order to come across the inspiration, and when someone is eavesdropping on a conversation and things she is a hit woman, why not run with it, at least for a little bit. I mean she never gets a break from her kids or her ex-husband, I think she deserves a little fun and I think you can understand why she doesn't have any inspiration. So yeah basically Finlay feels very real as a character and someone that you care about throughout the whole book.

Vero is a great supporting character, and someone you want in your corner if you some how end up having a body you need to deal with. I mean she doesn't even bat an eye at the prospect of it. This makes me want to know more about Vera as character, her past and what she has done before being a Nanny for Finlay, something tells me it would be an interesting one.

I think my fellow readers (and reviews) were not a fan of how often Finlay's work as a writer (a romance writer nonetheless) is put down by everyone around her, even those people who are important in her life. There is always some stupid person out there that states reading romance books is not reading.....as I said Stupid people.

I think it is easy to tell that i absolutely loved this book. It was a great break from what I normally read and had me entertained throughout. Easily one of my favourite books from last year. If you're looking for an easy/cozy mystery book, pick this one up. I'm super excited to read the next one in this series.

Enjoy!!!

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