Review: Nightshade

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Publisher: Speak
Publication Date: October 19th 2010
Pages: 454
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Source: Bought (Signed!)
Goodreads

Calla is the alpha female of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She is destined to marry Ren Laroche, the pack's alpha male. Together, they would rule their pack together, guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But then, Calla saves a beautiful human boy, who captures her heart. Calla begins to question everything - her fate, her existence, and her world and the orders the Keepers have asked her to follow. She will have to make a choice. But will she follow her heart if it means losing everything, including her own life?

Nightshade is a book that has been on my radar for a long time but I had not gotten around to reading it until now. Ever since I first heard of this book right around the time I started book blogging, all I heard about the book was great things. Nightshade is a very well written story with a very unique plot and structure that is so unlike any other werewolf books I have read in the past.  Instead of being a typical werewolf story with just shape shifters, this story also brings in other unique magical beings that are either leaders or enemy to the shifters.

Calla, the main character in the story is a very strong minded girl who has been raised in the ways of the Guardians and is soon to become an Alpha female to Ren, the boy she has been paired with since the were very young. Unlike many stories with an arranged marriage aspect, Calla was not at all opposed to being paired with Ren for much of the story, which surprised me a lot, it was an interesting twist to the average story. Ren was an on-the-line character for me. Even though he was always good to Calla and he seemed like a very good boy, he also had a history of dating a LOT of other girls at their school even though he and Calla had been paired since they were very little. Shay, the human boy the Calla saves, is a very adventurous boy that would do anything to protect Calla after she helped him. I see Shay like a little boy who is just a bit star-stuck after witnessing Calla shifting from wolf to human to save him from a bear. I really didn't see a spark between Calla and Shay, more of just a really cute friendship.

Overall I loved the plot and the writing, but the romance was a bit complicated and I really didn't really see the spark between Shay and Calla.

Review: Obsidian

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: November 29th 2011
Pages: 335
Genre: Paranormal/Science Fiction, Romance
Source: Library
Goodreads

Starting over sucks.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don't kill him first, that is.

For the longest time I was seeing and hearing so many amazing things about this book and  how much bloggers everywhere loved it. Obsidian is a very intense, emotional, and action packed story about friendship, romance, and aliens. Seriously, aliens. I am a big fan of Armentrout's other series, The Covenant series but I really didn't like this one as much as I had been hoping.

My absolute favorite thing about this story was that the main character, Katy was a book blogger! Offline it seems like no one knows what a book blogger is and what they do and I really like that Armentrout added that to the story! What really bugged me about this book was the guy, Daemon. Daemon is a complete jerk and a control freak. For pretty much the entire book I thought it was pretty obvious that he really liked Katy in a relationship building sort of way, but when they finally did kiss he was a complete jerk about it afterward and there was chapter after chapter where he did similar things that were just super inexcusable.

Other than my obvious issues with Daemon, I really enjoyed the writing and the story about the aliens and why they are here on earth. Their story reminded me a lot of I am Number Four, another story about aliens coming to earth when there world was destroyed.

Overall I liked the story but Daemon, the love interest was just a huge jerk and I really couldn't stand him.

Review: Firelight

Firelight By Sophie Jordan

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 7th 2010
Pages: 323
Source: Gifted
Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy, Romance
Goodreads

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.
Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—, a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.
Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

Firelight it a beautiful, enchanting Paranormal/Fantasy story about a Draki, a descendent of dragons. Her kind can shift between human and dragon forms and often have special talents. But the Draki are often hunted, and when Jacinda is hunted down by a group of hunters she knows it could very well be the death of her. But when a boy follows her into a cave during the search he doesn't kill her and leads his group away from her to saver her life. And then her mother takes her and her sister away from their safe Draki home and into the mortal world to keep her form the harsh Draki life that she would have had to endure there. In the mortal world she runs into lots of difficulty including keeping her dragon half alive, but then she runs into the boy that saved her life. And she falls for him. Hard.

I really, really loved this book. Right from the beginning the books starts off with a very magical feel that I absolutely adored to no end. The characters and creatures created in this book seem so beautiful and wonderful in this book I absolutely love them. Jacinda is an amazing character with a rebellious but innocent personality and I adore how courageous that she is throughout the book. Will, the boy Jacinda falls for is absolutely beyond words. Will comes from a family of Draki hunters who kill for money and skins. After Will sees Jacinda in dragon form, he refuses to lead his family to the Draki, and once he realizes that Jacinda is the one he saved, he doesn't even hesitate. I absolutly love Will and Jacinda, their romance is just so absolutely perfect!

This was a completely amazing book that I absolutely loved the whole way through. I can't wait for Vanish!

Review: Pure

Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: April 3rd 2012
Pages: 329
Source: Library
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

There is need. And then there is Fate...

Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome--especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom--so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do--and sacrifice--for her.

When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies--lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon... and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude... or killing her.

When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

This review should only be read by those who have read the first book, Half-blood.

After my extreme love of Half-blood (The fist book in this series) had been discovered I scrambled to get a copy of Pure, it's sequel as fast as I possibly could. Pure, in comparison to Half-Blood was just as addicting and loveable but with a slower, not as intense pace as the first book.

Like in the first book the characters were amazing and extremely well written. Alex still has a very rebellious and  hilarious personality and is over the top brave about everything she does. Aidan. Oh Aidan. I told myself going into this book if Alex and Aidan didn't kiss at lest once... I have no idea what would happen. I really really like the forbidden romance in this series. It seems so much different than it does in other forbidden romance books; this romance seems like a very real relationship. In Pure there is a lot more of Seth than there was in Half-Blood. I like that we got to learn a lot more about Seth in this book and people who are Team Seth I have a feeling will like this one a little more. There is much less action in this book then there was in the first. In the first there was a strong focus on training Alex, and now that she is more caught up this book focuses a bit more on the emotional side right before the very action packed end.

I really enjoy this series and I am very excited to get my hands on the 3rd in the series later this year!

Review: Half-Blood

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: September 18th 2011
Pages: 281
Source: Bought Ebook
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

Half-blood is by far one of my favorite books of all time. Half-blood combines action, paranormal aspects, and a fiery forbidden love into an amazing story that I could not put down. Half-Blood is about a half-blood girl named Alex, who begins the book trying to kill daemons who have been trailing her since her mother had been killed by one daemon. After been away from the covenant for about three years Alex is taken back by the daemon hunters that rescued her, back to the covenant to face the world she left behind as she has only a summer to cover three years worth of what she missed- with a super super hot, untouchable Pure-blood daemon hunter of course.

Alex is absolutely one of the funniest, craziest, bravest, and absolutely the most awesome character I have ever read about. Alex begins the story with so much going on in her life that she has to deal with but somehow, though out the story she is able to remain strong and remain an absolutely amazing character with such a fun personality that I can't help but adore. Another major character in the story is the completely smoking hot Aidan, the daemon hunter who volunteers to help Alex catch up over the summer. I can't really say much with out ruining the book, but in so many ways how has some of the very same strength that Alex does and with that they are able to help each other figure out everything that is going on in their lives.

The story was overall written very, very well with a very interesting plot and characters I loved to pieces. The end was leaving me wanting more and I rushed to get the second book so I could eat it up as well!

Review: Demon Glass

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Sequel to Hex Hall
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication Date: March 22 2011
Pages: 368
Source: Library
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

My review will have spoilers for the first book in the series.

 Demonglass is the fabulous sequel to Hex Hall as it continues Sophie's story as she finds out more about her self after finding out that she was indeed not a witch like she once though, but a quarter demon. Just as the last book does, Demonglass has a very fun, interesting and funny writing style that is lots of fun to read. It was a great book that continued to develope many of the characters from the last book as well as bringing back a few characters that were left with unfinished stories in the first book.

Just like in the first book I loved Sophie, she is  very funny and sarcastic. Sophie has a lot of struggles and challenges that are placed in front of her that she has to overcome. The only thing I really don't like about Sophie is that there really isn't anything else that I can use to describe her other than funny. She could be so much more to Sophie if she had some sort of hobby or other describing feature to her. There were a lot of surprising twists and turns in this book that I think were really well written because they were so unexpected. One of my favorite parts about this books is the return of Archer [insert dramatic sigh]. There wasn't much of Archer in Hex Hall, and I really love that he was brought back in the story. Sophie and Archer have this pretty generic Romeo and Juliet forbidden romance (Don't worry- no insta-love in this book!) thing going on- but for some reason I really like them together. Unlike Hex Hall, Demonglass takes place not at the school, but at the council's headquarters where Sophie is getting to know her dad. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the scene change of the book but I really came to love it and I think it was the perfect setting for this second book!

Demonglass was the perfect sequel to Hex Hall and I really can't imagine it being any better! I am eagerly waiting to get my hands on the third book to find out what all happens after such a cliffhanger ending! Highly recommended!

Review: Hex Hall

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Hyperion Books CH
Publication Date: March 2nd 2010
Pages: 336
Source: Library
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.
By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

Hex Hall is a cute, interesting book about a witch named Sophie who is sent to a school witch is pretty much Juvie for Paranormals. Throughout the story Sophie runs into a lot of trouble including the wrath of a teacher, a hot guy who might possibly seem more perfect than he really is and the near deaths of some classmates.

The characters in this book were all very well distinguished from one another with very fun (or not so fun) personalities and, of course, lots of magic. Though Sophie doesn't have the most extravagant of personalities she has a very fun voice as she comes into this magic school as a girl who has been raised by a human mother. My favorite character in the book was probably be Jenna, Sophie's pink obsessed, funny, cute, vampire, roommate.  The story centers around Sophie's crazy time at Hex Hall as she faces mean witch classmates and a ghost that can see her... even though that's not supposed to happen. Though amazingly packed with some awesome stuff the story seemed a little lacking to me. I feel like with all that the story delivered there could have been more content in the book to make it even better.

Hex Hall was such a fun read with great characters and lots of good content that could have been a little longer to make it even better. I liked it a lot!