Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Series: Fairy Tales #1

Publication date: January 28th, 2014

Pages: 342

Synopsis (according to Goodreads):

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom--all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandoned everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle--a shifting maze of magical rooms, enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Available at:

Review:

I received an e-copy of this book from the publishers at Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up one of my favorite stories was the story of Beauty and the Beast. I was read the book, I watched the movie, and I dreamed of a grand love that overcame evil and a library filled with every book I could ever want. I had heard some amazing things about certain fairytale retellings and when I learned of one in particular that featured Beauty and the Beast, I was so excited. That book was Cruel Beauty. I was dying to dive into the book and lose myself in a different take on a tale as old as time.

Nyx's story begins when she is preparing to marry the Gentle Lord as her father bargained. In order to fill her father's obligation she was to become the wife of the ruler of their lands. A demon some say. An ugly beast of a man with glowing red eyes who will likely kill her the moment she is brought to the disheveled castle she is to live in with him. But the Gentle Lord is not ugly, he does have glowing red eyes, but he is extremely handsome. That does not make up for his monstrous behavior. For all intents and purposes, Nyx knows that even with astounding beauty the Gentle Lord, Ignifex he calls himself, is pure evil.

Nyx spends her days searching for the four elements of the house in order to bring down the Gentle Lord's magically enchanted home and free herself and her people from their confines. As she plots the demise of Ignifex she is forced to get to know him as well. Along the way, she learns that there is more to the demonic man than meets the eye and she may just be able to entertain the idea of falling in love with him.

Eventually Nyx is faced with the ultimate decision: stay with the man she loves and leave her town to their misery or give up her love and free her town for all time.

As I stated before, I was incredibly excited to read this book. And I was surprised how different it was from the classic Beauty and the Beast story. However, it had some fine points to it that rang true in my childhood tale. I loved that it branched out so wide from the foundation of the original concept and made it completely different. No there were no singing teapots or stodgy clocks, but the relationship between Beauty and the Beast was similar to Nyx and Ignifex.

The language was very proper and sometimes a bit hard to understand until it is reread in the accurate inflections. I did listen to part of the book on audiobook which helped a lot, but audiobooks always seem too slow for me. I read faster than they do since I'm not focusing on every word and syllable. That was my only criticism and it isn't even that much of one. I loved the book, proper language and all.

Cruel Beauty is a fantastic retelling of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast that rivets its reader and drags them into a world where the bad guy has depths beyond destroying the hero.

Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

The Collector by Victoria Scott

Series: Dante Walker #1

Publication date: April 2nd, 2013

Pages: 352

Synopsis (according to Goodreads):

He makes good girls... bad.

Dante Walker is flippin' awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell's best--a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante's an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he'll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper's soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to hi, and that's a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he's come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector... and uncover emotions deeply buried.

Available at:

Review:

I recently received the third book in the series for review and figured, if I was going to read the third book in a series not made to be read independently that I needed to read the first few books as well. So, I went to the library and grabbed myself a copy of the first book.

Dante is an egotistical, smartass, with an odd job. His job is to tag souls when they are naughty until they reach their quota. Once that happens he is meant to collect the soul and take it down to Boss Man who lives wayyy down below, if you catch my drift. As a promotion becomes available for Dante to lead the collectors and find a permanent place about ground on Earth he is stoked. But there is one catch. He must collect Charlie Cooper's soul in just ten days time. It seems like it would be a piece of cake but when he meets innocent and angelic Charlie, it is apparent this would not be anything like a cake walk.

Charlie is the queen of the nerds. She is far from attractive, prefers volunteering to partying, and seems to be the butt of every joke at her school. Dante couldn't be more annoyed with this assignment and how hard it is to get innocent little Charlie to sin. Eventually, Dante is given a contract that promises Charlie's soul to him once she makes enough wishes to fill up her sin quota. Slowly, Charlie starts wishing to be all the things she never was. And Dante, who should be happy to see Charlie change, finds himself wishing for the old Charlie back.

Charlie seems to be on Dante's boss's radar for a reason. Dante must choose between following his order or aging against them and trying to free Charlie in the ultimate story of good vs. evil.

Not many books are written through a male's perspective, at least not through the entire length of the story. That was an interesting change to get a male's view on situations. The book confronts some harsh subjects like bullying, physical appearance, and also the battle between good and evil. You would think with so much talk of Satan and God that the book would seem a bit overly religious. It wasn't. It was the perfect amount. There were moments when I really disliked Dante, but of course that was the author's intention. Dante is one of those characters that you love to hate in the beginning.

I found The Collector to be a fun YA read that confronts the trials and tribulations of remaining good with a snarky, sexy antagonist turned protagonist leading one astray.

Review: Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison

Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison

Series: Shadow #1

Publication date: June 29th, 2010

Pages: 

Synopsis (according to Goodreads):

When a demon breaches the barrier between death and life, the salvation of the world depends on the passions of a beautiful banshee just coming into her power and the man willing to use her to avenge the destruction of his family.

Available at:

Review:

I received the second book for review and in order to read that one, I needed to first dive into the first book in the series. I have not read anything Fae related in a long time so it was great to get into that world again with a new and exciting author. The world created by Erin Kellison seems to be a totally unique take on Faes and the strive for immortality in lieu of the threat of death.

Talia never knew her parents. Her mother died after giving birth and her father was never around. Talia had learned to live with it, but when the origin of her father starts to play a role in the dark and dangerous men tailing her every move, she starts to wonder who she is and why so many people want to get their hands on her. She vacates her life and goes into hiding for months only to be found by the handsome Adam Thorne when she seems to have needed him the most. Can Adam help Talia understand who she is and why her life is anything but ordinary?

Adam is tracking Talia not to protect her, but to find answers in how to destroy the monster his brother has become. Adam is desperate and Talia and her knowledge of the Shadowman seem to be the only leads he has. But once Adam meets Talia he finds his desire more than just answers from the mysterious beauty.

Talia and Adam are caught in the clutches of the battle between good and evil. It is up to Talia with her unusual powers and Adam with his unique knowledge of the supernatural to save the world and stop the Wraith war. All the while the two also must battle their growing feelings for each other.

As far as paranormal romance goes, I found this book to be middle of the road for me. I found the romance aspects of the story to be almost forced and unnatural. The rest of the book was fantasy gold. It was a different take on the supernatural and how it ties into death and immortality. If not for the so-so romance, I think this book could have been masterful. The love scenes seemed to be a bit painful to watch. There was no swooning for me. I think that if the author would have written the book as more of an urban fantasy, it would have been even better.

Talia was not a very powerful heroine. She was actually pretty foolish a lot of the time. It was hard to watch her forge her way along her destined path and even harder to watch her struggle with the romance between her and Adam. Where Talia was too weak, Adam seemed too strong. I wanted to see a softer side of Adam and I never really did. Even when Talia and he were whispering sweet nothings to each other, I still felt he was too abrasive. The two protagonists were just a little mismatched.

Despite the issues I had with the book, I will still read the sequel and continue the series, hoping that the next set of characters are a bit more believable in the romance department.

Review: Made in Nashville by Mandy Baggot

Made in Nashville by Mandy Baggot

Publication date: February 6th, 2014

Pages: 274

Synopsis (according to Goodreads):

An on-stage attack left Honor Blackwood with more scars than just the one on her face. It's been ten years since she left her spot at Nashville's brightest country music star. Is now the time to return? And is she brave enough to do it?

Country rebel and rock star, Jared 'Jed' Marshall is hot property on the Tennessee music scene in more ways than one. He's wild, he's sexy and everybody wants a piece of him. But when he sets his sights on Honor, is it pure attraction or just distraction on his mind?

Honor's record label signs the ex-boyfriend that dumped her and suddenly going back to her old life is harder than she thought. Can she get a new contract? Will she get to perform at the Marlon Festival? Or will Dan Steele destroy everything?

When a secret from the past becomes public knowledge it's no longer just about the music. Are all the people in her life lying to her to get what they want? An who is really behind the anonymous gifts she keeps getting sent?

Available at:

Review:

I receive an e-copy of this book from the publishers at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is no surprise that a girl, such as me, raised in the south would find a contemporary book written about country music intriguing. I have started to notice a spike in rock star books and have drank the kool-aid. I find myself loving rocker romances and all their gritty drama that comes along with them. What was unique about this book was that instead of being rock 'n roll as most of the rocker romances seem to be, this was about country music. Southern men are often seen as gentlemen in literature. I was curious to see if this held true in the world created by Mandy Baggot.

Honor has issues. She has several, in fact. A little over a decade ago she was attacked on stage by a maniac and was left with a Z-shaped scar marring her face. Since that event, Honor has been in hiding. She dropped from the music scene and started working at a music store instead. She has no desire to go back into the studio, but when her advisor approaches her with a deal she is hard-pressed to refuse, she has to consider overcoming her fears and getting back into the swing of things. What Honor didn't expect was a hunky country superstar approaching her with yet another deal. Accompany him or his tour and he will not take no for an answer. Honor has to decide what she wants to do with her career and whether she wants to get back into the music that she fell in love with so many years ago.

Jared doesn't want any sort of romantic entanglement right now. He just wants to star in his first countrywide tour and find an act to accompany him on it. When he hears Honor's voice for the first time he is transfixed and has to have her on his tour. What he didn't expect was that he would find the tormented singer so attractive. Jared struggles to fight his feelings for Honor while trying to convince her to join him on tour. He also must tango with his dark past and keep it well hidden from Honor and the world.

When Honor's ex-boyfriend becomes a part of her record label, Honor wants out of her record contract and away from the man who broke her heart. Can Jared be the savior she needs or will he be yet another man who does nothing but lie to her?

I don't know what has been going on with my reading material but I have found the last two authors to be very repetitive in their writing. Whereas the last was the repeat of 'chortle', this one was the constant reference to Vince Gill. I am not sure if that was intentional to hammer home the fact the protagonists are involved in the country music scene or whether the author just really likes Vince Gill. It was another instance where I really wanted to turn the reading into a drinking game. Mention Vince Gill, take a shot.

Other than that, the story was fairly well written. There were points where I grimaced and there were moments when I actually laughed out loud (usual for me). I found Jared's chaste ways to be very unrealistic since he was a big time country singer and I found Honor's fear being overcome so easily as to dismiss seemingly maleficent scenarios as coincidences. If one is afraid of their own shadow then they jump when something dark and mysterious starts to happen in their lives. It's just not something that is easily gotten over.

All in all, I liked some of the book, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would have been. It was a bit shaky, but I can't say I hated it.