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Book Review: Moon Chosen by P.C. Cast – Blog Tour

Nov 14, 2016

Moon Chosen by P.C. Cast

Pages: 600
Publish date: October 25th
Publisher: Pan Australia
ISBN: 9781925483727
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan; but she has cast her duties aside, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating clan strays across her path, that Mari experiences something she has never felt before…

Now, darkness is coming, and with it, a force, more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By forming a tumultuous alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik Ready to embrace her true destiny…and obliterate the forces that threaten to destroy them all.

Moon Chosen:

I received a copy of Moon Chosen by P.C. Cast from Pan Macmillan Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

Before Moon Chosen, I hadn’t read a P.C. Cast book, which actually shocked me. There was a lot I liked and there were parts I didn’t. It’s one of those books that I will continue reading the series, hoping that it will get better. Because I can see the potential.

Moon Chosen follows protagonist Mari an Earth Walker, inheritor of the healing powers of her clan. Mari is forced to hide from her powers and duties until she forms a unique bond with an animal ally. But, when her world is torn apart, Mari’s true powers are revealed and she must find the courage to save not only herself but, her people as well. Then she meets Nik, son of the leader of a dominating tribe and everything is not what it seems.

The world of Moon Chosen took me by surprised. The world of magic, love and betrayal was immersive. I was intrigued by the world that I had not read before. The powers that each clan possess are fascinating. The world of Moon Chosen was one of the reasons why I continued reading.

I quite enjoyed Mari as a protagonist. She had this essence and strength about her. It made me want to find out more. But she frustrated me at times. Mari’s emotions came through Moon Chosen They were raw and real, there were times that I felt like I was getting punched in the gut. I feel that Mari wear her heart on her sleeve. She cares deeply for her mother and even her clan at times – it was beautiful.

The romance wasn’t my favourite thing about Moon Chosen. I can see where it can go, but I also felt that it lacked something. Spark, maybe. But, I wanted more. I wanted more of a connection, a bond. Towards the end I was able to see it, it just wasn’t quite there.

However, Moon Chosen was far too long – I can’t even begin to explain. There were parts that dragged on and on with chapters where nothing really even happened. There is a whopping 100 pages that Mari was not in. We got chapters from people that I didn’t even care about. This might not have mattered if we weren’t so close to both Mari and Nik in perspective.

Also, there wasn’t much of a plot until the last 100 pages or so. I like character driven novels such as And I Darken. But, I felt there was nothing going on for chapters and I could have skipped them and I wouldn’t have missed much. In saying that, the last 100 pages were intense and I was eager to see what was going to happen next. Mari’s character arc was well thought-out and left room for more.

Nevertheless, I loved the family and friendship aspects of Moon Chosen. The relationship between Mari and her mother was so nice to see. Both caring and respecting each other in different ways. And even though Mari’s mother is the leader of their clan, she would stop at nothing to protect her daughter. Mari doesn’t have any stable friendships in Moon Chosen – which I hope will be fix in the next novel. Mari has had to lie to many people including her clan, but now with most out in the open, I hope that things change.

I also really enjoyed Nik’s bonds with people. To me, his clan had a big sense of family. All coming together, all knowing each other, all caring for one another – well nearly everyone. I loved the scenes we got from Nik, where he interacted with his people, his friends and family.

Overall, Moon Chosen was a fascinating read. The world swept me up and left me begging for even more. The characters were intriguing and left hanging, wanting to dig deeper. However, it was far too long. I do want to continue reading this series and want to see where it can take us.

Have you read Moon Chosen? What did you think of it? Are you going to read it? Have you read anything else from P.C Cast? Let’s Chat!

Mini Reviews: Assassins and a ‘Bad’ Boy

Nov 10, 2016

I haven’t done mini reviews in quite a while now, and I thought that it was the right time to do some. Sometimes I feel that I don’t have that much to say for a book, so instead of not writing something, I wrote quick little reviews for you.

Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Pages: 242
Publish date: August 22nd, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 9781489210944
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

Assassin’s Heart:

I received a copy of Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers from Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

There isn’t much for me to say about Assassin’s Heart other than I didn’t like it very much. The world at first captivated me and I wondered what the possibilities were. But that soon turned to disappointment and confusing.

Assassin’s Heart follows protagonist Lea Saldana, who is a highly-skilled assassin from one of the nine families. But she holds a secret – she is totally in love with her enemy. Val De Vias has swept Lea off her feet. He is charming, beautiful and knows the right things to say. When she wakes to find her family home burning to the ground she questions her love for him.

For the first 50 pages, I was swept up into the world where assassin’s and forbidden love reside. Turning page after page, I was excited and wanted to know more and then something happened. Assassin’s Heart took a 360 and turned into something completely different. I felt like I was reading two books, two worlds together and they were both fighting each other to be on top.

Lea was a very difficult protagonist to ‘get along’ with. She was childish at times and always changing her mind. Grief and self-blame I would handle – that would totally be accountable, but then other things started to fall in and I was totally confused. There wasn’t really much of a character arc for Lea either. There was some progress yes! Yet, I was left waiting for more.

The romance – do we even need to talk about it. I was looking forward to forbidden love, secret kisses round the corner – instead, I got something that I didn’t expect at all. I understand Lea’s hatred and disliked – but that made sense, and then other things happened. However, I did somewhat like the other romance in the book. But, I am not sure if I liked it because of the other half of the relationship.

The writing wasn’t horrible. It was easy to read and easy to understand. It was pulling me in for more when I really wanted to stop reading.

Assassin’s Heart was also far too long. It was like event one after the other, but none of them made sense. I felt like there was something there and I continued reading hoping that it will get better.

Overall. Assassin’s Heart was not for me. Firstly I was intrigued by the end, I felt like a fish out of water. I felt there was no arc in both the protagonist and the plot. There was so much potential to make such a good read, but it didn’t reach that for me.

The Bad Boy Bargain by Kendra C. Highley

Pages: –
Publish date: November 14th
Publisher: Entangled Crush
ASIN: B01M7TPAAZ
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Baseball player Kyle Sawyer has many labels: bad boy, delinquent, ladies’ man, fearless outfielder… Only one of them is actually true. But then sweet ballet dancer Faith Gladwell asks him to help wreck her reputation, and everything goes sideways.

Faith knows a thing or two about love, and what she had with her cheating jerk of an ex wasn’t it. When he starts spreading rumours about her being an Ice Queen, Faith decides it’s time to let a little bad into her life.

Lucky for her, Kyle Sawyer—dark, dangerous, totally swoon worthy Kyle Sawyer—is landscaping her backyard over Spring Break. Shirtless. And if she can convince him to play along, “dating” Kyle will silence the rumours.

But Faith’s plan threatens to expose Sawyer’s biggest secret of all…and that’s a risk he’s not willing to take.

The Bad Boy Bargain:

I received a copy of The Bad Boy Bargain by Kendra C. Highley from Entangled Crush via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I love books with bad boys, they are fun to read and always entail an adventure or shit going down. That is why I was disappointed with The Bad Boy Bargain.

The Bad Boy Bargain follows protagonists Faith as she deals with the fall out of her ex-boyfriend cheating on her and Kylie Sawyer who has been defined by labels. When Faiths’ ex, starts a rumour that she is an ‘Ice Queen.’ And what better way to get revenge and prove them wrong, then date the bad boy.

Faith was a pretty easy protagonist to get along with. I enjoyed being inside her head, finding out how she felt and going on this journey with her. Faith is one of those people that I might just be friends with. I loved her family and friends dynamic. It’s not often that you see a protagonist get along with their family.

I found Faith very sweet and not ‘innocent,’ which is a rare thing in YA. It’s not often, especially in contemporary, that you have a sweet protagonist that isn’t innocent about everything in the world. And that stood nicely for me.

On the whole, I enjoyed Kylie. But he wasn’t the bad boy, plain and simple. The Bad Boy Bargain is one of those books where the bad boy is only pretending to be bad. People assumed he was this bad boy, so he wore it like a mask.

There were some adorable moments and my smile was from one side of my face to the other. And Faith and Kylie were totally sweet together. But, it was far too cheesy for my liking. I like romance and some cheese, but this was overboard. All these ‘romantic’ scenes had been pulled together. One of my most hated scenes had to the end sequence. I just can’t. That does not happen. And I know that some of you will say, it’s fiction – but no.

I felt that at times we skipped time without being told and there was nothing going on. I felt lost in the timeline.

Overall, I loved the positive family and friend vibes that The Bad Boy Bargain portrayed. I enjoyed the protagonists that they wanted me to keep on reading. However, it was too cheesy and not enough bad boy for me.

So there are my two mini reviews! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them Are you planning too? Have you read similar books that you think I might like? Let’s Chat!

Book Review: The Last Beginning by Lauren James

Nov 3, 2016

The Last Beginning by Lauren James

Pages: 352
Publish date: October 6th, 2016
Publisher: Walker Books
ISBN: 1406358061
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives. But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove’s investigation?

For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future.

The Last Beginning:

I received a review copy of The Last Beginning by Lauren James from Walker Books in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

There will be spoilers from The Next Together

I was intrigued when I read The Next Together and the start of the year. The world was fascinating, and I was allured by the characters, how everything came to be. I loved all the characters from The Next Together so I was excited to meet some new ones in The Last Beginning. With the ending of the first book, I was begging for me and I had no idea what to expect from this one.

The Last Beginning follows Clove Sutcliffe as she learns the life isn’t as simple as she thinks, and when it turns on its head Clove needs to learn to stand on her own two feet. She needs to learn that things you do sometimes have consequences and one little thing can change your own entire life.

Clove was a hard character to ‘get along’ with. She is demanding and a brat at times. I really wanted to like her as much as Katherine and Matthew, but that wasn’t going to happen. I did love how much Clove cared about her family. There were times when she herself though she ‘hated’ them, but the reader is able to tell how much she cares. The relationship between her and her father especially was sweet. Family dynamics are something that I always look for in YA novels and I think I found it here.

One of the main reasons that I loved about The Last Beginning was that Clove was gay. It’s quite rare that you see a gay female protagonist in a young adult book, but it was so enjoyable. I loved seeing Clove’s ups and downs relationship wise and the fact that she rarely second-guessed who she was. What worked well and didn’t take over was the small ‘coming-out’ story. It was nice to see a novel that did include coming out, but that not be what the novel is about.

Ella was mysterious and overall enjoyable. There may be some ethical issues into how things went down, but otherwise, I liked her inclusion into the story. I enjoyed Ella more than I did Clove simply because of how childlike Clove came across at times. If Ella was a protagonist, I am not sure if I would have liked her the same.

I do wish there was more relationship wise from Ella and Clove. I wanted to see more connection. It lacked a bit, one minute they were friends and then the next, they were a couple. There was something missing.

Katherine and Matthew disappeared sixteen years ago and the world is not the same. They have been made heroes, and there are movies about them, books. And Clove is trying to figure out where she fits into all of this.

I enjoyed the plot of The Last Beginning, however, at times I felt that there was a little too much going on and it made me feel scatterbrain. Clove is an integral part of the plot, but so is everyone else. I loved how all the questions we had at the end of The Next Together, were answered. Everything seemed to fit.

The Last Beginning is set out much like the first book. It’s not just one continuous story. There are different forwards interview and extracts from books. There were times where I felt that I needed a ‘normal’ storyline, nevertheless, I loved that it’s different from other books out there.

Overall, I loved reading The Last Beginning. It’s different, intriguing and enjoyable. The protagonist isn’t enjoyable at times, but I saw things as a learning curve for her. The Last Beginning tells a story of family, love and overcoming. It takes you on a journey through time.

Have you read The Last Beginning? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Have you read The Next Together? What did you think of it? Let’s Chat!