Review - The King - J.R. Ward

Title: The King
Author: J.R. Ward
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Release Date: April 1st, 2014
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #12
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Long live the King…

After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, finally assumed his father’s mantle--with the help of his beloved mate. But the crown sets heavily on his head. As the war with the Lessening Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything--and everyone--at risk.

Beth Randall thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure blooded vampire on the planet: An easy ride was not it. But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response--or the distance it creates between them.

The question is, will true love win out... or tortured legacy take over?

My rating:

So this was me when The King finally came out:

Guys. This was intense. I cried four times. Four. I almost never cry while reading anything, but for some reason the feels were just exploding out of me.

Hey, J.R.?

Jeez. Okay. Time to get my shit together and write something resembling a review. *clears throat*

Beth & Wrath
Aka Queen B and Khal Drogo (Ah, come on. Don't tell me when you picture Wrath you don't imagine him looking a little like Jason Momoa). Anyway, honestly, I'd forgotten how much I loved these two. I'm glad I'd just done a re-read of the entire series because there were a few references to Dark Lover that would've baffled the hell out of me. Case in point, a lovely conversation between Beth and Tohr.

[Beth] "'Do you still root for the monster?'

There was a pause. And then the Brother laughed in his trademark baritone. 'Are you telling me there's another Godzilla marathon on?'"

Beth and Wrath go through some serious issues throughout the entire book. At first, most of it just felt like arguing and I was starting to get tired every time I saw a shift to one of their POV's because I didn't want another argument or lengthy reflection on how the current argument was ruining their relationship. But then the love and general concern and all around stress of their situation kept shining through their rants, and it was all good. J.R. did an excellent job titling this book. Each problem Beth & Wrath had, each decision they made influenced the throne somehow and it was interesting to how they'd work through the problems. Which, of course they did. They were the reason for my continuous flow of tears, mostly towards the end when it got really sappy. (But in a good way.)

Assail/Sola

Like, you don't even understand. They are the main reason I was anticipating this book. I FELL FOR THEM SO HARD in Lover At Last. Each time either one of their POVs showed up, I did a little happy dance even though they were in the shittiest circumstances. If you read LAL, you know Sola's been kidnapped. Assail turns into a raging psychopath (which, you know, is just a euphemism for badass bonded male) to get her back. Is it bad that I enjoyed all the murder he executed on Sola's behalf? Yes? Well WHO GIVES A FUCK. They were awesome. All of their moments post-kidnapping were so heartbreaking and intense. Assail was gentle and kind to both Sola and her grandmother (who was HILARIOUS, btw). Watching the way he loved her with this quiet, brooding intensity made me swoon many, many times. Observe:

"Through the windows of the kitchen, he saw her [Sola] standing by the table, rifling through a suitcase as if searching for something she was leaving behind.

Out here, my love, he thought. What you have lost is out here.

And then her grandmother made an appearance with the cousins, and it was clear that the female did not approve of the leaving.

Just one more thing to adore about her."

I wanted them to stay together and live out their HEA, but sadly that just wasn't the case. I won't say more, but DAMN. Oh, and P.S. when is J.R. going to give them more air time? They deserve it!

Trez/iAm/Selena
Trez gets a lot of air time in this one. iAm gets just about as much, too, I guess. In LAL I was really curious to see where Trez and Selena's relationship would go, but by the time I was well into The King...meh. I stopped caring at some point, and found myself wanting to skip ahead to the parts about Assail/Sola and Beth/Wrath. There wasn't anything wrong with Trez's POV or storyline, though, I just tired of it fast. Like, I get it. He sleeps with everyone, he's wanted back in the Territory to be a sex slave, etc etc. Each time his POV arrived, that's all he went on about. It got too monotonous and I got bored. Even his thing with Selena was shadowed (no pun intended) by all of his misgivings. He wasn't good enough for her, he was dirty, but he wanted her so bad. He was a walking contradiction, nearly having sex with the woman at one point and then trying to get away from her the very next.

Xcor/BoB/Layla
Another subplot that kinda faded for me. Maybe it's because none of these players have much air time, too. I don't quite know what to say about any of them. Xcor was...different. Not as hard, not as badass. Like a washed out version of himself, and not in a tortured hero kind of way. More like a "who the hell are you and what have you done with Xcor" kind of way. Layla definitely didn't have enough air time to make an impact, either. I mean, she made some big decisions regarding Xcor that are definitely going to be game changers, but I couldn't bring myself to care. And the decision that Xcor made towards the end (not gonna spoil it, but damn) just made me lose all respect for him as an antagonist (or at least an anti-hero).

The Brothers/Lassiter/John Matthew
In my opinion, the Brothers needed to be in the spotlight a bit more. They were just...there. A few would pipe in with a burst of individuality with a witty quip, but most of the time the Brotherhood functioned as a group. i.e. "The Brotherhood did this.." Or at least that's what it felt like. Lassiter, being the fabulous angel he is, commanded that spotlight a few times. His scenes were hilarious. John Matthew was pretty involved throughout the whole thing, especially in Beth's POV and more than a few times in Wrath's.

I know it sounds like I'm kind of going in on the subplots, so a couple people are wondering why I gave it 5 stars. Mostly for the effortless and engaging writing style that J.R. has. Even if I didn't care about Trez or Layla or Xcor, I still read it and loved it because there was no way I was missing out on anything J.R. wrote. Plus, the feels. The feels definitely make the 5 star rating, on both Beth/Wrath's end as well as Assail/Sola's end. The angst, the crying, the anger, the romance, the sappiness, the humor, even the arguing. All of that and just the fact that I enjoyed this book immensely. Couldn't put it down actually, and the thing's long as hell.

Now that The King's done. Who's up next? Trez? (Please, no.) Xcor? (Meh.) Assail? (HELL. FUCKING. YES!)

Review - Shadows - By: Paula Weston

Title: Shadows
Author: Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Release Date: September 10th, 2013
Series: The Rephaim #1
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Love. Nightmares. Angels. War. A fast-paced, compelling debut novel from a fresh new voice in YA.

It’s been almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant.

It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth – and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly – who can she trust?

My rating:

This book was surprisingly good! From the synopsis, I thought it'd be fairly cliche. You know, girl is in car accident. Car accident kills family member/friend. And then she spends her every waking moment moaning and groaning about the unfairness of it all and pushing everyone away. AND SUDDENLY...a boy--who is unbelievably attractive, of course--swoops into her life and fixes everything and they live happily ever after.

Go on, tell me that that's not how nearly EVERY story goes these days.

Fortunately, this was not that story. I was impressed with how it quickly picked up from it's slow start and completely engaged me. It's one of those books that you never want to put down, and for all the right reasons. Badass characters. An intriguing mystery. Intricate, masterful worldbuilding. Smexual tension galore! (Yes, I meant smexual). And a hero to swoon over.

Gaby's one of the most amusing, engaging and interesting heroines I've read in a while. She actually had a brain, guys! Halle-freaking-lujah. She perfectly balanced her grief with her sense of self, even though she didn't fully understand who she was. And Rafa. Gorgeous, hilarious Rafa. He exceeded all of my expectations. Usually, I have to brace myself when it comes to the males in this particular YA genre. Brace myself for the inevitable douchebags that try to come off as redeemable in the end but sort of just make me want to facepalm. I didn't really have that issue with Rafa. He was a smartass, but not a dick. Badass, but not unbearably arrogant.

Really, this book seemed to be set up for hundreds of cliches, but it avoided them all and turned out fabulous. Easily a 5-star-er.

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Waiting on Wednesday #8

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

MY PICK FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: Bitter Sweet Love
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: December 1st, 2013
Series: The Dark Elements #0.5

Synopsis via Goodreads

Dez wasn't just Jasmine's crush. A gargoyle Warden like Jas, he helped her come to terms with her destiny—fending off demons and maintaining balance between good and evil. He was her everything...right until the moment he disappeared without a trace. It didn't help that Jas's father had just announced that she and Dez would one day be mated. Hard not to take that personally.

And now he's back, three years older, ten times hotter, ready to pick up exactly where they left off. But Jas isn't taking that risk again. Dez has seven days to meet all her conditions and earn back her trust. Seven days filled with terrifying danger and sweet temptation. Seven days to win her heart—or shatter it all over again...

WHY I'M WAITING: 

I know, I know. You're probably thinking Damn Taylor, another JLA book? (Oh, and if you weren't thinking that, well, take a seat, stay a while, and browse my past WOWs 'cause I think like three of 'em are JLA books.)

Anyway, it's not my fault! She just...Keeps. On. Writing. I have a conspiracy theory about that, you know. It may or may not involve cyborgs. (Did I spell that right lol?)

Back to the book. I'm waiting on Bitter Sweet Love by the lovely Jennifer L. Armentrout. Guess what? It's YA. Totally wasn't expecting that. The cover's kinda...*shivers* HAWT.

Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

MY PICK FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: Sentinel
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release Date: November 2nd, 2013
Series: Covenant #5

Synopsis via Goodreads

It's a beautiful day for a war.

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoonworthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself.

WHY I'M WAITING: 

I feel like I should re-dedicate my blog to pimping out JLA's books. Really. I swear she's a lean-mean-writing-machine. She writes more books in a year than I could even think up a concept for one. The best part? THEY'RE ALL AWESOME BOOKS. I'm certain she has magical powers. There's just no other option.

Anywho, back on topic. I'm waiting on Sentinel.

Okay, not really. I'm more sobbing myself to sleep every night & trying to fill the void with other books. There's not much actual waiting involved. (I'm melodramatic. Sue me.)

Stacking the Shelves #6

Stacking the Shelves is a  weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we share books we're adding to our shelves, be they physical or e-copies.

BOUGHT/BORROWED

All of You - Christina Lee

Inbetween - Tara A. Fuller

Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

Unchained - J. Lynn

Grave Mercy - Robin LaFevers

My Favorite Mistake - Chelsea M. Cameron

Sweet Evil - Wendy Higgins

Of Beast and Beauty - Stacey Jay

One Tiny Lie - K.A. Tucker

Shattered Promises - Jessica Sorensen

VIA NETGALLEY

Endless - Amanda Gray

Broken Beauty - Chloe Adams

Okay. It's official. I have no self-control. I actually should be doing my homework right this second, because I hate putting it off until Sunday--BAHAHAHA! Ah, okay, I tried! The beauty of the internet is that if you knew me in real life you'd realize: That's a total lie. I procrastinate like nobody's business. I NEVER do my homework on Saturdays. That's my bookish time. Somehow I still manage to get shit done. Not sure how, but that's how it usually goes. (Don't be like me!)

Back to bizniz: there's twelve books this week. Count 'em, TWELVE. Not the one or two I thought I'd end up buying or dragging my lazy ass to the library for. Where'd my self-control go, then? Welp, that's an easy question!

Probably the same place my hopes and dreams went. LOL. No. I kid, I kid.

The real answer is that I'm not entirely sure. All I know is, I was checking goodreads, realized a bunch of stuff I'd been waiting months for was coming out, and suddenly I was purchasing it all. I have a problem, guys. Seriously. No credit or debit card is safe with me. The only good thing to come out of this situation is the fact that I'll be comforted by my lack of money with new awesome books.

Totally worth it.

Anywho, enough about me. Did you do a Stacking the Shelves post? Leave me a link in the comments, and I'll stop on by!

Review - Origin - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Origin
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Release Date:August 27th, 2013
Series: Lux #4
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

My rating:

WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead, depending on what you count as spoilers. Also contains multiple, annoying uses of the word “badass” and “badassery”, a bunch of unnecessary totally necessary exclamations, and some angsty gifs.

Jennifer L. Armentrout has reached a whole new level of awesome epicness. I’m 100% sure epicness isn’t even a word, but that’s the only thing that describes this fast-paced, swoony, hilarious, action-freaking-packed installment of the Lux series. She’s outdone herself. No book in the series has ever compared. Origin was good. Foam at the mouth good. Fangirl like there's no tomorrow good.

Everything about it was badass. Katy was badass. In the previous book, Opal, it ended abruptly with her being captured by Daedalus. And I was all “Oh noooooooooo!” But then Origin came out and we see that Katy handled things like a pro. And by “like a pro” I mean, after the initial suckiness of her situation wore off, she was all enraged and determined and righteous. She endured ass-kickings and threats and faced the possibility that she’d never be free of Daedalus’s evil little clutches.

“The words that came out of my mouth were my own. I felt them. I believed them.
        ‘I’m going to kill you one day,’ I promised.”

See? Badassery!

Daemon was, like always, rocking his own kind of constant badassery. Like anyone could guess, he goes after Katy. He turns himself in to Daedalus (Not exactly a spoiler. If you hadn’t inferred what he’d do from the beginning, it lets on pretty quickly.) Mother of alpha males, Daemon’s unrelenting resolve to get Katy back was out of this world! (Hehe, it’s funny ‘cause he’s an alien!) He didn’t care who he had to mow down or steal from or lie to in order to get to her. And he did it all with his usual sarcastic, cocky flair that I just love so much! (Shout out to JLA for doing dual perspectives!)

“Going down on one knee, they leveled a dozen or so semiautomatic rifles on me. Stopping so many bullets would prove tricky.
      People were going to die.
     That sucked, but it wouldn’t stop me.” 

                                                                          ***

“’I’ve been waiting a long time to run tests on someone like you,’ he said to Daemon, voice high-pitched.
      Daemon arched a brow. ‘Another fanboy. I have them everywhere.’”

Swoony batches of badassery!

Also, the romance! Despite Kat & Daemon’s circumstances, their romance was the fiercest it’s ever been! Gah, their love jumped off the page and squeezed my heart to pieces! Plus something very, very big with their relationship happens towards the later half that you would not believe! So if you haven’t read this book yet, do it!

“I caught the tear with a kiss. ‘And I’m not going to let you do this by yourself. You’re my—you’re my everything, Kat.’ At the sound of her soft inhale, I smiled again. ‘Come on, Kitten, did you really expect anything less from me? I love you.” 

And Kat was all like:

  

 Oh, yeah, and there’s a bunch of sexytimes, too!

“Daemon squared his shoulders and cracked the door open. I couldn’t see anything beyond his bare back, which, if I had to be stuck staring at something, at least it was that.”

Like I’ve been coming to expect from any JLA book nowadays, the ending was…was…badass! OMG was it all kinds of badass! There was a huuuuuuuuge awesome, catastrophic, unbelievable, devastating battle of epic proportions that fully displayed the amounts of badassery that Luxen can bring to the table! And not only was it was filled with the Luxen but also the hybrids and some other types of things that I can’t really give away, but the title “Origin” had something to do with it! There’s a ton of new players entering the game now! There are also a few plot twists at the end, some I did see coming and some I didn’t. And holy freaking cow, the one at the end with the conversation between Dawson and Daemon about Beth!! And also the betrayal by someone important!!!! (For once, it isn’t Blake, but there’s a reason for that.)

I can’t! I just can’t anymore! I’m about to explode with the feels that this book has brought. Plus, I feel like if I use the word badass one more time, I’ll have irritated the hell out of everyone, including myself. So just suffice it to say that this book was a big game-changer. The best book in the series yet. And it didn’t end with a gigantic cliffhanger, so I’m good with that.

Anywho, let’s end things with a quote from the book that actually had me laughing out loud at the imagery:

“Man, it was so quiet you could hear a grasshopper karate chop a fly.”

Read this book! The karate-chopping grasshopper demands it!

Review - The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 24th, 2012
Series: Blood of Eden #1
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Synopsis via Goodreads

To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness….

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for… again.

My rating:

If someone asked me what I thought of this book, this would probably be my reaction:

Typically, when I see a book that I might want to read, I head straight over to Goodreads. I size up the synopsis and then read a few reviews from the people with similar tastes to mine. And maybe a few who don't have the same tastes, because it's always good to get multiple perspectives.

Anyway, that's what I did with The Immortal Rules. And everyone swore up and down that it was the best dystopian/vampire novel out there. (Or maybe the only dystopian/vampire novel out there, therefore making it the best. I don't know. I've yet to come across any others.) So, I gave it a chance and went in with high expectations.

That was my first mistake.

I expected way too much. I thought it'd have all of the aspects I generally love in a book--an intricate plot, relatable characters, a healthy dose of romance. But that wasn't what this book was about. In my haste to dive into it and make it a new favorite, I compared it to my other favorites.

That was my second mistake.

I enjoyed The Immortal Rules. I didn't love it. Maybe it just wasn't for me. After all, I tend to crave more wit and romance as opposed to the adventure and coming-into-oneself stuff. Still, I liked it enough.

The main character, Allison Sekemoto, was interesting to read about. I found myself wanting to know more about her life and why she lived the way she did and where she came from. She was tough and jaded. While the jaded part did get annoying a few times, her other characteristics made up for her flaws. I liked that she was strong-minded & opinionated & had her own morals, but still possessed that rebellious-with-a-cause flair. Except, something was missing. I could never pinpoint it, but something kept me from relating to her fully. I understood her motivations, but that was about as deep as it went.

I felt the same about the secondary characters, which consisted of a small group of wanderers. Well, I don't think they counted as wanderers since they had a destination in mind. That aside, I don't know if it was the sheer size of the group (11 people, not including Allison) that kept me from caring or what, but I found myself only giving a crap about whether they reached their destination out of curiosity. Zeke, the love interest and member of the group stood out a little bit more. He was heroic and determined and loyal and handsome--but boring. The same thing that happened with Allison happened with him. Something was missing. I didn't care enough about him.

The plot itself was basic. Easy to follow & predict. It balanced between Allison surviving and wandering around, and that was it. Nothing quite new, but the writing was decent enough to keep me reading. The beginning intrigued me but it got old quickly, so I was glad when things picked up during the later half. A few times, the setting was obscure, so I couldn't grasp what the characters were doing as the story progressed, especially when they went to the city that was partly underwater.

Despite being both paranormal and dystopian, the realism was astounding. Once I overlooked the lack of incessant humor or heart-wrenching drama and recognized the story for what it was (the struggle of a new vampire's acclimation to an unfamiliar lifestyle), I realized that I liked the jadedness. I liked that people died and it sucked. I liked that Allison struggled with both being a human and then a vampire. I liked that everything wasn't easy and required sacrifices.

The Immortal Rules is a book that I'm glad I read, but it will probably be a while before I read the next one--even with that slightly cliffhanger-y ending.