Review: Darkness Brutal

The Dark Cycle: Darkness Brutal | Rachel A. Marks

Published by: Skyscape, July 1st 2015

Genre: YA, Urban Fantasy, Demons

Pages: 425

Format: Ebook

Source: Skyscape, via Netgalley

Aidan O’Linn’s childhood ended the night he saw a demon kill his mother and mark his sister, Ava, with Darkness. Since then, every three years the demons have returned to try to claim her. Living in the gritty, forgotten corners of Los Angeles, Aidan has managed to protect his sister, but he knows that even his powers to fight demons and speak dead languages won’t keep her safe for much longer.

In desperation, Aidan seeks out the help of Sid, the enigmatic leader of a group of teens who run LA Paranormal, an Internet reality show that fights demons and ghosts. In their company, Aidan believes he’s finally found a haven for Ava. But when he meets Kara, a broken girl who can spin a hypnotic web of passionate energy, he awakens powers he didn’t know he had―and unleashes a new era of war between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness.

With the fate of humanity in his hands, can Aidan keep the Darkness at bay and accept his brilliant, terrifying destiny?

I really enjoyed Darkness Brutal. Here's what I thought:

- Interesting cast of characters, though I did confuse Lester and Jax a few times.

- I thought I'd like Rebecca the most, but I actually adore Kara. She's flawed and brave and has a tortured past, which is my type. Plus I really connect with her. 

- I loved the sibling relationship, and how they were both determined to protect each other.

- A really interesting, unique plot, with dream flashbacks and a time travel element I didn't see coming. It shouldn't have worked at all, but with it tied into the main character and their dad, it really did. I loved it!

- Bible-based religion-inspired fantasy that didn't put me off the book. It wasn't preachy or OTT, it didn't overwhelm the main story or the characters, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed those parts of the book. It made Darkness Brutal stand out and memorable.

- I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a fresh take on demons and YA urban fantasy.

Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/world ★★★★☆
Writing ★★★★☆

#FreeReadsWeek Day 7 - A Mini Review

It's the final day in my reading challenge! I've got through a lot of books I wanted to read so I'm very happy! Tomorrow I'll have a round up of my reading and another review. Here's my thoughts on Maggie For Hire, an urban fantasy novel.

This had everything I was looking for - and bonus elves! Fun, packed full of paranormal creatures, and with a heroine I can admire and empathise with. I loved that the story revolved around vampires, and how cunning they were (and that they had a legit motive for doing bad things, not just Evil.) The portals between the Other Side was also pretty cool. Fun, vampy urban fantasy (if you'll pardon the pub) with the perfect hint of slow burning romance and snarky teasing. This is one series I'll read the entire of!

Did you join in this week? Leave a comment with which free books you read!
~Saruuh

#FreeReadsWeek Day 4 - Queen of Someday review

It's the fourth day in my reading challenge! My latest read is a wonderful historical novel, and here's my review:

Stolen Empire: Queen of Someday | Sherry D. Ficklin

Published by: Clean Teen Publishing, October 7th 2014

Genre: YA, Historical

Pages: 262

Format: Ebook

Source: Purchased

ONE GIRL WILL BRING AN EMPIRE TO ITS KNEES...

Before she can become the greatest empress in history, fifteen-year-old Sophie will have to survive her social-climbing mother’s quest to put her on the throne of Russia—at any cost.

Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family—and herself—Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans.

Alone in a new and dangerous world, learning who to trust and who to charm may mean the difference between becoming queen and being sent home in shame to marry her lecherous uncle. With traitors and murderers lurking around every corner, her very life hangs in the balance. Betrothed to one man but falling in love with another, Sophie will need to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to become the empress she is destined to be.

In a battle for the soul of a nation, will love or destiny reign supreme?

I loved this story and its exquisite, detailed setting. 

I wanted to love Alexander, but I just didn't feel anything for him. Weirdly, I preferred Peter until he went and treated Sophie like a possession, but who I really fell for is Sergei. The ending gives me so much hope for Sergei and Sophie/Catherine and I can't wait to see where that goes. 

All the way through, Queen of Someday is so tense and there's a heavy sense of danger in every scene. It felt as if someone would suffer horribly at any moment (spoiler: they actually did!) Apart from not connecting to Alexander, I have no complaints. 

Wonderfully written, perfect attention to detail in the historic world building, and a character I really root for in Sophie. The Russian court makes me nervous and I could not do what Sophie does and navigate it, but I can't wait to dive into the next book!

Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/world ★★★★★
Writing ★★★★☆

Cover Reveal: Lost Girls, by Merrie Destefano

Hi guys! Today I'm sharing the cover of Lost Girls, by Merrie Destafano, hosted by YAInterrobang

Lost Girls | Merrie Destefano

Release Date: January 3, 2017
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller

Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life.

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black.

Black to cover the blood.

And she can fight.

Tell no one.

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls.

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed…

The only rule is: There are no rules.

 
 

About the Author:

Born in the Midwest, former magazine editor Merrie Destefano currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two German shepherds, a Siamese cat, and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies are reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, and her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies, and listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time. 

http://www.merriedestefano.com/

Group Blog: http://supernaturalunderground.blogspot.ca/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MerrieDestefano

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merrie.destefano

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/816280.Merrie_Destefano

Newsletter: http://www.merriedestefano.com/ (Sign up under the Newsletter tab.)

Giveaway:

$25 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#FreeReadsWeek Day 2 - A Mini Review

It's the second day in my reading challenge! Today I read a novel - Descended From Dragons by Tricia Owens, which was awesome. I only got it a couple days ago so it doesn't technically cut down on any book I've owned forever but it still totally counts.

This book is fun from start to finish. I wasn't 100% in love with the romance but it's AWESOME that he's a gargoyle, and I do like the main character. Anne has a dragon familiar. DRAGON. FAMILIAR. Gone are the days of black cats (not that I don't love black cats, but DRAGON!!) Also there's a grouchy sorcerer/magician, threats of demons, the MC is Asian American, her best friend is Mexican, and it's set in Las Vegas. All good stuff.

Guest Post + Giveaway: Calista Lynne, We Awaken

We Awaken | Calista Lynne

YA Fantasy

Out July 14th from Harmony Ink Press

Victoria Dinham doesn’t have much left to look forward to. Since her father died in a car accident, she lives only to fulfill her dream of being accepted into the Manhattan Dance Conservatory. But soon she finds another reason to look forward to dreams when she encounters an otherworldly girl named Ashlinn, who bears a message from Victoria’s comatose brother. Ashlinn is tasked with conjuring pleasant dreams for humans, and through the course of their nightly meetings in Victoria’s mind, the two become close. Ashlinn also helps Victoria understand asexuality and realize that she, too, is asexual.

But then Victoria needs Ashlinn’s aid outside the realm of dreams, and Ashlinn assumes human form to help Victoria make it to her dance audition. They take the opportunity to explore New York City, their feelings for each other, and the nature of their shared asexuality. But like any dream, it’s too good to last. Ashlinn must shrug off her human guise and resume her duties creating pleasant nighttime visions—or all of humanity will pay the price.

Available for pre-order at: 

harmonyinkpress.com/books/we-awaken-by-calista-lynne-399-b

Giveaway

Calista is giving away a copy of We Awaken!

 More information can be found here: Win We Awaken

The Ace of Inspiration

by Calista Lynne

My goal was to write a post about the asexual inspirations for my novel- it features two ace protagonists- but the truth is that I can’t think of any. There is a simple explanation for this, though. I can’t name a single piece of media where a character specifically states that they are asexual. That itself is part of the inspiration for this book, because not speaking about the sexuality doesn’t make it go away. It just makes a lot of hormonal teenagers (not to mention a fair amount of adults) really confused and convinced that there’s something wrong with them. Occassionally a celebrity will come out asasexual, take Tim Gunn and Janeane Garofalo for example, but there is truly a lack of ace role models for anyone.

Hopefully asexual readers of my book will see something of themselves in the characters.

So because I can not name any distinctly asexual influences, I will instead explain what led to the formulation of my plot line. At the start of my writing career, I built my resume by getting poems published in unimpressive magazines that did not pay. Many of these had themed issues which they encouraged writers to draw inspiration from. One theme was fairytales and I had an ingenious idea: I would write a sonnet about a woman who fell in love with the sandman and became addicted to sleeping pills in order to see him. A tragedy, of course.

Around this same time a publisher rejected a short story I wrote for a contest and instead of moving along my whole brain went screw ‘em I’m gonna write a book that they’re gonna love. And I knew it was going to feature asexuality and girls loving girls.

Combining these two concepts into a romp of asexual teenage girls getting up to strange antics and dancing hadn’t entered my mind yet. The drug addiction and tragedy was dropped in favor of a happy ending, which doesn’t even need justification. My main characters, Ashlinn and Victoria, were born while I was lying down one day and imagined another girl waking up only to find someone else in her bed. A naked female who made dreams. That scene, although it is in the middle of the novel, is the first one I wrote and the story unfurled in either direction from there. The sonnet was never written. Thank God. As you can see, my writing process isn’t very straightforward.

While the sexuality of my characters isn’t based on any previous work, my greatest influences are the two people I dedicated my book to, Roald Dahl and Bruce Coville. These authors sculpted my childhood which was the foundation for everything that has happened since. Whether my fantasy world was that of The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or a bit more cheesy with Aliens Ate My Homework, the authors wrote worlds I never wanted to leave. So I haven’t. By writing fantasy I try to maintain the dreams of my youth. They also led me to my current favorite authors, Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, who are the frontrunners of fantasy. There are definite trends in my taste.

So this rambling post has hopefully explained to you where I draw a bit of my inspiration from. May you always feel represented and if not, I hope you feel inspired enough to write some representation yourself.

About Calista Lynne

Calista Lynne grew up on the American East Coast and is currently studying in London. She is having difficulty adjusting to the lack of Oxford commas across the pond and writes because it always seemed to make more sense than mathematics. Look for her near the caffeinated beverages.

calista-lynne.tumblr.com

calista-lynne.blogspot.com

@calistawrites

#FreeReadsWeek Day 1 - Two Mini Reviews

Ayyyyyyyy, its the first day in my reading challenge! I've done pretty decent (except for those couple times I hashtagged #ReadFreeWeek. Oops.) I read two novellas today, and tomorrow I'll be reading a novel!

Tense, funny, and sexy all rolled into one novella. I love Sara already and the Magician is crazy enticing. I know already the series is going to be epic and I can't wait to dive in!

I wasn't really hooked by anything. Day-to-day school life doesn't interest me, and I didn't get attached to the characters, so this short story wasn't for me!

#FreeReadsWeek reading challenge!

If you're anything like me, you've been downloading free books onto your ereader for years and acquired a pretty hefty stack of unread books. I wanted to dedicate a week to reading as many of these free books as possible in a week, and thought you guys might like to join me.

The challenge takes place 15th July - 21 July

Begin reading whenever it's 00:00 in your time zone. For me it runs from 00:00 GMT on 15th July to 11:59 GMT on 21st July.

The rules are simple:

Read as many free books as you're capable of

This includes books you got during a free promotion and permafree books

Post as many reviews as you can! If you don't have a blog, twitter reviews, Goodreads, and Instagram are all awesome!

(Reviews are massively important to indie authors and help readers find these books, even when they're as short as one line, but if you're not able to write a review please at least rate the book on the retailer you purchased from.)

Use the hashtag #FreeReadsWeek whenever possible

And feel free to save the above banner and share it

Let me know if you're joining me!

~Saruuh

Saruuh Explores NA Review: City of Fae + City of Shadows

Bear with me while I write these reviews - it's been a wild and emotional ride through City of Fae and City of Shadows, but I'm loving this series and dying for more!

London Fae: City of Fae | Pippa DaCosta

Published by: Bloomsbury Spark, May 7th 2015

Genre: NA, Urban Fantasy, Fae

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Bloomsbury Spark, via Netgalley

From the moment Alina touches London's hottest fae superstar, breaking one of the laws founded to protect all of her kind, her fate – and the fae – close in. 

Below ground, the fae High Queen plots to claim the city as her own and places her pawns, ready for the battle to come. A battle she cannot lose, but for one small problem – Alina. There are four ancient keepers powerful enough to keep the queen in her prison. Three are dead. One remains … And to fight back, Alina risks sacrificing everything she has come to love.

I have a whole bunch of adjectives for this book. Engrossing, captivating, chilling, unsettling, romantic. Basically it's all these things and something I can't put into words, something fun and dark and exciting. City of Fae is an inventive urban fantasy story with a hella complex main character (seriously, you will not guess her secrets) and a super, super sexy love interest. Plus, Reign is sweet in moments and the maybe-romance-maybe-not between them made my heart full of love.

As well as swoony romance, there's great action and a story unlike anything I've read before. I HATE spiders but this book is so good that I stuck it out - that should tell you how much I love Alina and Reign.

This book stole my heart. One of my favourite NA books ever. I devoured it in two sittings.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

London Fae: City of Shadows | Pippa DaCosta

Published by: Bloomsbury Spark, July 7th 2016

Genre: NA, Urban Fantasy, Fae

Pages: 326

Format: Ebook

Source: Bloomsbury Spark, via Netgalley

Alina knows she is not real – the fae queen spun an evil web to create her – but she wants more than to spend her days feeding off humans’ energy to survive. She isn’t content to lose herself in the dangerously attractive Reign. She wants a life of her own making.

Desperate to help the man who saved her life, Alina vows to find his missing sister. Alina is convinced that the general of the Fae Authority plays a part in her disappearance. She infiltrates the organisation and gets close to their strongest fighter. But while Samuel’s tormented soul and masterful touch stirs in Alina a feeling of being human again, her loyalty to Reign makes her Samuel’s enemy. Who should she trust?

This New Adult urban fantasy is packed with action and suspense and will have you yearning for more forbidden fae romance.

Okay, first off, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as City of Fae, but that was mostly because I hated the tension and upset between Alina and Reign and I suspected the HECK out of Samuel. Good call, past!me.

I turns out I quite like Kael, the general? I'm not sure when that happened, but this series is so wild and throws so many twists at me that I'm not surprised. 

The Reign/Alina hurt me so much in this book - and the ending made it a thousand times worse. I just want them to be happy and besties for life - that's not too much to ask, right? In other news, there's a new character called Nyx and I want to be her best friend.

Aside from hurt and characters, the story from City of Fae builds epically in this book. You can really tell the series is heading towards something catastrophic. The Hunt actually scare me. But my favourite thing was how the world expanded and we got to see more of the fae in London. The world building is EXCEPTIONAL - part of me wants to live in it, which is saying something when it used to have a giant spider lady in the tube tunnels!

I'm dying to get my hands on the next book!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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#ReadWomenMonth Round-Up!

Ayyyy, RWM is over and I read TONNES of lady authors. SEVEN were new to me!!

Here's what I read:

1 - The Dream Thieves | Maggie Stiefvater REREAD

2 - Stormsinger | Stephanie A. Cain

3 - Blue Lily, Lily Blue | Maggie Stiefvater REREAD

4 - King Slayer | Virginia Boecker

5 - The Raven King | Maggie Stiefvater

5.5 - The Healer | Virginia Boecker (S/N)

6 - The Raven King | Maggie Stiefvater REREAD

7 - Bright Blaze of Magic | Jennifer Estep

8 - Rowena's Key | A. J. Nuest

9 - Heat of The Moment | Lori Handeland

10 - Smoke on The Water | Lori Handeland

Amber Smoke | Kristin Cast (D)

10.5 - Red At Night | Katie McGarry (S/N)

Thief of Lies | Brenda Drake (D)

11 - City of Fae | Pippa DaCosta

12 - Stone-Cold Fox | Hailey Edwards

13 - Dog With A Bone | Hailey Edwards

14 - Heir of The Dog | Hailey Edwards

Kind of a ridiculous amount of books, right? That's even taking out the one dude I read (because it was a limited free read on RivetedLit!) 

I'm also in the middle of reading The Mark of Noba, by G L Tomas, HP + The Half Blood Prince, and Paper Hearts vol. 1 by Beth Revis, so four more lady authors there! I'm so happy with my reading this month :)

My favourite author of this month is a VERY close toss up between Maggie and Hailey Edwards, my newfound urban fantasy bae.

Did you take part in Read Women Month?? If not, who was your fave lady author in June?

~Saruuh