Through the Zombie Glass - Gena Showalter - 4 stars

This is book #2 in the White Rabbit Chronicles. I had wanted to get to this sooner than I did, but it never worked out. So I am glad that I finally got around to this one since I enjoyed the first one so very much. I had hoped this one would be just as good and for the most part it really was and that makes me happy. The beginning was a tad bit slow, but I think that was due to me trying to remember everything from the prior book.

In this installment Alice has a few added struggles to the ones she already deals with. Her and her posse need to take down the hoards of zombies now on a daily basis. But unforeseen events happen to Alice that gets in the way of her accomplishing this task herself but it really spices up the story a bit more. Also there are trials & tribulations where her and Cole are concerned.

The world created here is really pretty good as far as zombie apocalypse tales go. There is not a whole lot you can change or add extra, but the author does manage to keep the story exciting by not creating your basic zombies, but instead, your not so basic Zombies. These zombies like souls rather than blood, brain and guts. It is certainly a very different but fresh idea and I love that.

Our characters are also very interesting. There are a lot to love and hate in this story. We have our regular characters returning and also some new faces are introduced. I really like Alice and I like how the author has developed her in this story. Her growth as a character is amazing. I am a little on the fence with Cole, he seems to be a little wishy Washy in the love department with Alice. I just want him make a decision already!

So overall I loved the story and I recommend this to anyone. Just don't go into this story expecting some souped up fairy tale, because that is definitely not what this story is about. I so look forward to the next book in this series and I am sure I wont be disappointed! Gena Showalter is a great writer and easily one of my faves!

Opal - Jennifer L. Armentrout - 5 stars

I am really glad that I decided to take this journey through the Lux series. I had not read anything alien before I started it and it has been really enjoyable and fun so far. I find myself looking forward to every book in the series. I think this installment is my favorite so far out of the 3 that I have read to this point.

In this installment the crew plan the rescue of 2 captured friends from the clutches of the DOD, and have to risk putting their trust into people that they prefer not to just so they can get the job done. Katy and Daemon fall deeper in love while Katy hopes to rebuild a friendship with Dee and prove her worth to the others.

I am really enjoying the world building in this series. Not a terrible place to live but not completely safe either. I can totally envision myself there and being totally unaware of aliens being all around us. This world has a lot of depth and has great imagery as well, from the classic shops, to the restaurants, to the houses that they live in, and I love that. I love to be able to immerse myself in the middle of all of this. A fiction story being so realistic is amazing.

The characters too are beautifully created and I love all of them, from the antagonists to the protagonists, the author definitely gives the readers what they crave when it comes to great characters. My favorites will probably always be Daemon and Katy. Even though Daemon is egotistical and conceited the care he has for Katy is obvious. I love how the author did not use 'instalove' with these two because it makes it so much more realistic. We also get introduced to some new characters and some characters return.

The adventure and the excitement has been non stop throughout this series so far and I am loving it. A HUGE cliffhanger at the end of this one makes me anxious to start the next one, Origin I have these on my kindle and because of loving this series so much I plan on buying all on them in physical copies. I recommend this series to anyone who likes something different, aliens, or YA.

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas - 4 stars

So I picked this book up not intending on reading it at that moment but I opened the first page and then the next and then before I knew I was hooked. I am so glad I grabbed this book off of my shelf and started reading it. An emotional roller coaster for sure.

This is a love story between a man, wife, son and a bystander named Katie. Katie is in love with Matt until one day he disappears and she has no idea where he has gone. He leaves behind a diary called Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. She opens the diary takes a plunge into Matt's world that she never knew existed and she fell in love with all the characters and even deeper in love with Matt.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book because I read another contemporary by Patterson and did not really like that one. This one was very good IMO and I enjoyed it so much. First of all this was wrote in Diary form for the most part until we come to Katie's part. I was immersed into another side of this love story that made me feel so much.

I had read several of the other reviews with people saying how dumb, dry, and boring this story was, but I just can't see that at all. I see a very heart felt story that makes you grab a Kleenex, a story that you wont soon forget, and a story that made my heart fill with so many emotions. I guess emotional, heart felt books are not for everyone.

As far as the characters go, I think they are beautiful characters, maybe not the best developed that I have ever read, but I can say that reading them makes you love them. I grew so fond of all of them and wanted to know them, wanted to know more about them.

I loved watching Katie go through this diary and feeling those same things she felt at the same time. What can I say about Matt? He is a strong person? Or what about Suzanne or maybe Nicholas, they are beautiful, caring and understanding? I wont say much more about the characters, I will just recommend you read this book and decide what you think about them yourself. Don't let the bad reviews steer you away from this book, because there is truly something special to take from this story.

Isn't it lucky?

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn - 4 stars

I finally picked up this book to read since I have heard so much about it. This is my first book by Gillian Flynn and I have to say it did not disappoint. It was a tiny bit slow in the beginning but picked up quickly for me and then I could hardly put the books down.

In this book 2 young girls were murdered and had all of their teeth removed. Camille, a reporter, who is just released from a short stay at a psyche ward must return to her home town to report these murders as her first assignment. Camille is fighting many issues and tries to deal with everything once she arrives.

Wow is all I can really say about this book. So very messed up on so many levels. But the writing is so well done, so gritty, dark, engaging and even poetic. What a strange town painted in this book with some pretty strange people. The Author writes some very well developed characters, from your hateful and vindictive to your quiet and reserved. I would never in a million years want to live in a place like this with a mother like Camille's. It makes you steadily realize why Camille and her sister Amma were the way they were.

I recommend it to anyone who likes the darker side to a story because this whole story is a dark side of life that happens for real to real people on a daily basis in our world today. The author captures that so very well in this tale. I look forward to Gillian Flynn's other books!

Blue Heaven - C.J. Box - 4 stars

I read this book with a friend for a buddy read. This is a new author for me as well. I really enjoyed this book a lot especially with no idea what the book was going to be about. I have to say that I am glad that I read it and found a new author to enjoy. This is not a mystery but a thriller as there is not a "whodunit' to the story, well not to the reader anyway.

In this book we have two kids, Annie and William, bother and sister, who witnesses a murder. They were spotted by the murderers and are now running for their life until they run into Jess Rawlins. Jess helps the kids by hiding them, and then the story goes on from there.

I loved both the premise of this story and the characters. Both very well developed and wrote. I loved the action and the excitement. My favorite character, hands down, is Jess. Such a strong, well developed protagonist. He is definitely someone I would want on my side of things. For some reason as I read the book, I kept picturing Sam Elliot playing this role of Jess if it were ever a movie. There were several heroes born in this book, Jess being one of them. One of my favorite things about this story was how the relationship between Jess and kids grew. How these kids had to trust someone and how they discovered that they could trust this man simply by him being who he was.

The antagonists were also written very well. I definitely hated each one of them for many, many reasons that I can't get into since this is a spoiler free review. There were the 'bad cops' of the worse kind, a big mouth reporter, of course we have to have one of those. The kind that grate on your nerves and you want to either put them in their place or shoot them. I think the author developed all of them very well.

I have to say that I was a little surprised by the ending of this book. I feel as though the Author left it open for the reader's interpretation. So I feel like there was not any really closure to the end of the story. It can be interpreted in so many ways, one of which I hate to even explore. I recommend this book to anyone that loves a little mystery or thriller in their dose of daily reading.

The Iron King Read Along

My Hosted read along with Brittini over at Brittini's Book Find of The Iron King was awesome. I love the story as a whole, it was so different. I have a review up here on my weebly blog, and then also at my BlogSpot blog here as well. Let me know what you thought f the review, and also what you thought of the book if you read it.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor - 4 stars

I read this book as a buddy read with a couple of friends. At first I was a little put off with the terminology and I also thought it was a little boring because it moved a little slow for me and I was contemplating putting it down. After part 1 had finished the book really took off. And then I was completely immersed in the story. 

In this story we have Karou who is a part of the Chimerae race, having been raised by Brimstone. Karou uses wishes freely without considering what makes them work. Brimstone continually tells her that she is foolish. She runs 'errands' for Brimstone of transporting teeth because they are essential for their survival even though Karou does not really know the use for them. She finds that she has to hide her life from her best friend, Zuzana. Soon burned handprints are found on doors(portals) everywhere and it becomes a threat to Karou and her world as she knows it. Wars rage between the Chimerae and the Seraphim. And the story goes on...

So like I mentioned the story started off a little slow for me and I had considered putting the book down. Once I finished part 1 the book took off. The world came alive, the excitement and adventure started. I think that the imagery was in the book was amazing. It was so visual throughout the book that I could picture myself there in Karou's shoes. I really enjoyed the world building in the story. I also love how poetic the author is. Plenty of passages to enjoy in this book. I also loved how significant the title is to the story.

The book did do some switching back and forth from one time to another but more near the end of the story. This is so readers can get an idea about what had happened to cause certain events in the story. The back story is helpful, you just have to be sure to pay attention to what point you are in the story or it will get a little confusing. But once you get used to the writing style it flows much better.

I love the characters in this story. Again there is quite a few characters introduced at the beginning so it gets a little confusing and it take a bit of focus to follow them all. Once you get used to them all it is easier to follow each one of them. My favorite of course is Karou even though at first she seems a bit spoiled she does grow on you and you figure out she has been kept in the dark about a lot of stuff. She does become quite a strong character. I also really enjoyed her best friend Zuzana. She helps keep Karou grounded and focused. One other character that I found quite enjoyable is Akiva who is of the Seraphim race. I like how he is written into the story and you learn more about him as the story goes on. The character growth in the story is amazing and you can't help but fall in love with them.

I find this book to be both character and plot driven which is always helpful. I look forward to the rest of this series. And I recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy. Beautifully written and very engaging. So glad I stuck with it!

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa - 4 stars

I decided to read this book for a read along with a friend. I had been contemplating reading it for quite some time. I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. I had hear a lot of mixed reviews on this book, but I am glad I decided for myself. It was such a quick. fluid read and was very engaging.

In this story we have Meghan who is a normal teenage girl struggling with issues such as home life, school, bullying and dealing with her missing father. She then discovers that she is the daughter of a Faery King in a mythical land and she is the middle of a war between two faery kingdoms.

I thought the imagery was pretty decent in this book, and I liked the worlds that readers get to be a part of. It was all good enough for me to be able to imagine myself there. It had an Alice in Wonderland feel to it. And it played out just like a fairy tale. This story had a lot to it, there was some creepiness, mystery, fantasy and to a point some science fiction as well. I did have a hard time trying to figure out if this was YA, Adult or middle grade. It seemed like it was all 3 sometimes.

I really liked the wide array of characters. I see that some readers say they did not like Meghan. In the beginning she was not completely likeable and was a little whiny, but overall I thought she was ok and she did grow throughout the story and I feel like she became stronger as the story went. I liked Robbie but I hated that they called him Puck instead, that was a bit off and annoying for me.

I do feel like this story was more plot driven than character driven. But the story did have a pretty good plot and it was definitely not anything like I thought it was going to be. I could not have guessed anything that happened in this story. I recommend this to anyone who likes fairy tales because it certainly is both a magical and fun read.

Fix by Force - Jason Warne - 5 stars

First off, I received this book in exchange for an honest review. It has been a very long time since I have read such a poignant, intense and thought provoking story. It was an emotional roller coaster of a read, very powerful and engaging. I am glad I decided to pick it up and become lost in the pages.

In this story our main character Spenser who is 17, is fighting a lot of demons. This is his story and how he strives to overcomes those demons that haunt him everyday. Things like death, bullying, and steroids. A story that makes you realize, as you read, that so many teens and young adults are battling much the same demons as Spenser. And not everyone will reach out for help.

I have never felt such harsh emotions from a book. From every page turn I felt like my emotions were pushed to their limits. Love, hate, fear, and rage to name a few. Such beautiful writing, and beautifully created characters. Such a realistic read with realistic characters that many readers can connect to in one way or another. It all felt so true and real but whether this book is a work of fiction or non-fiction doesn't matter because we all know that so many people in this world today are afflicted as Spenser is.

I recommend this book to everyone because I feel like it needs to be read and it needs to be shared with others.

The Iron King Read Along - August 11

Come Join us on the Iron King week long read along starting August 11.
Discussion thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1953316-read-along---iron-king-starting-aug-11

Brittni's Read along Vlog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3KG7pkpFR0

BookWorm's Buddy Read Along Vlog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwKHyXkAtec

Storm Siren - Mary Weber - 4.5 stars

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All I can say is WOW! The cover was what caught my attention first. It is beautiful. I was a little concerned that I would not enjoy this book since it is fantasy. I have not done well with this genre in the past, but I thought I would take a shot with this one and I have to say, I am glad I did.

The premise of this story is about a war between Faelen and Bron and 2 young adults, Nym and Collin, have to try and stop it. Nym and Collin are slaves with very special powers, only they need to better control what they have and they go through training to head this war against Bron. There are many obstacles and struggles that they must overcome.

I have to say I really liked the premise of this book. It was very intriguing to me. And when I began turning the pages and started reading it, the world slowly began to unfold before me and I was instantly in love with the writing. The world is created with such imagery that I felt I was there among the citizen of Faelen. I would love to see more back story before the wars started so maybe in the future we will see that. I did not struggle with wordiness or slow parts in this book and that is always a plus.

I thought that the characters were so very well created. I felt so connected to them as if I knew them in the flesh. Even though this is a fantasy novel the characters still felt very realistic to me. My favorite characters were probably Nym and Collin. I think they worked so well together. There are a few great antagonists as well. The author did very well making me love to hate them.

I can actually recommend this to anyone! It is such an easy, fluid read that I think everyone can enjoy it. A lot of great plot twists and adventure and then we can't forget to mention that phenomenal cliff hanger at the end. I look forward to whatever comes next with this trilogy, I just hope I can wait. This gets 4.5 stars from me.

Chosen to Die - Lisa Jackson - 5 stars

After I read the first book to this series, Left to Die I knew going into this next book that it would be great. I have to first say that Lisa Jackson is one of my favorite authors. I feel like she has a gift for great imagery and also great characters. Her writing has a way of connecting with her readers and holding them there.

In this installment we have Regan Pescoli fighting for her own survival against the maniac known as the 'Star Crossed killer'. The rest of the force are desperate to stop the madman from taking more innocent victims while at the same time, searching for Pescoli.

This book was jammed packed with so much action and excitement. Mystery upon mystery to solve. I found myself second guessing everything just trying to figure things out. The imagery, once again, was phenomenal. I love the way our author demands her readers to immerse themselves deep into the plot of this story becoming the victims, because everything is so realistic it is hard to not imagine yourself in their place. What I love the most about this author, is her style of writing, it just feels so real. The stories are always so engaging from the beginning to the end.

In Chosen to Diereaders get to rejoin all the best characters from the first book. Among them are my favorites, Regan Pescoli and Nate Santana. I just love the realism of these characters, actually all of the characters. It was easy for me to connect with them. They were flawed, gritty, and relentless in their quests. I also like the bits of backstory that goes along with them. The authors allows us inside of their heads and experience what makes them all tick, antagonists and protagonists alike.

I really can't recommend this book enough. If you love mystery and have not yet experienced Lisa Jackson's writing, then I urge you to start with this series, you wont be sorry.

I hunt Killers - Barry Lyga - 4 stars

I had received this book for review from Net Galley. This is a first time read for me with this Author and I have to say I really enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is so very different from your normal 'serial killer' tales and I loved that.

In this book we have Jasper (Jazz) Dent who is the son of a pretty infamous serial killer. Jazz has been a witness to so many brutal crimes and he fights daily with his own thoughts on how he himself will turn out. Will he become a killer like his father? So he tried to figure himself out as he tries to helps out the police with the knowledge he gathered from his father's teachings.

The plot of this story I think was very well constructed. Set in a relatively small town which is always a great place for a mystery. It was nothing like I have ever read before, which made the story quite refreshing. It had great imagery built into it with a lot of great elements as well. I also think the story was very engaging, fluid and easy to read. Before I knew it I was finished.

I loved the characters in this book, they are so well developed. I really liked Jazz, Connie, and Howie a lot. I found I could connect with them rather easily. I also love how the Author lets us inside the heads of the serial killers. To see how they operate and to know what they are thinking and why they do what they do. I think it would be awesome to get some backstory to the life of Jazz before his father was put away behind bars, I find that aspect of the story to be quite intriguing.

I look forward to whatever other books come after this one since there was a rather large cliff hanger in this tale. I know that I enjoyed the writing style of this author very much. I can recommend this book to anyone who loves a great mystery with some pretty maniacal serial killers.

Poisoned Waters - Ermisenda Alvarez - 3.5 stars

I received this in e-book form from the author in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. I had recently come across someone comparing this to the voyage of the Titanic with elements of the game Clue. And it really is exactly like that. It has an old Agatha Christie feel to the story. However it is not your normal mystery at all, it is quite different, so that was somewhat refreshing. A couple things were a bit predictable but also there were some surprising elements as well.

I liked the writing style of this author and her ability to make me feel like I was there. She had the imagery down perfect for the setting of 1955 from the description of the clothing worn to the way the characters spoke. All very authentic and real. And to top things off, a big beautiful ship that housed criminals galore. A first there seemed to be a lot going on, so in the very beginning it got a little confusing trying to keep all the characters straight. Once they were all introduced it got much easier to follow.

There was a lot of mystery to this tale and I really liked that. I like to be able to sleuth myself and try to figure things out, and I feel like this book really offers that. We also meet some great characters with lots of flaws both antagonist and protagonists alike. I loved the little tidbits of backstory that went with each of the characters too. It allows the readers to become a little more familiar with the characters and understand why they were the way they were.

I would definitely read more from this Author and I look forward to that opportunity. I can recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries with that old timey feel to it. I am giving this book a 3.5 rating.