Series: N/A
Author: Ryan Graudin
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.
When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.
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My Thoughts
A copy was provided through Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review
I think this book has been bashed over the head with a blunt object enough times by now, so I'll be brief. I DNF'd it at 37%, but I don't even know how I managed to get that far since from 7% in I knew it was going to be bad. What happened at the 7% mark? She, Emrys, is a bad ass bodyguard with centuries of experience, so when she starts getting all tingly about Richard, she of course flees from him and the feelings he inspires and doesn't even have the decency to call for a replacement body guard, because why should she? *rolls eyes*. Oh and did I mention this happened less than 24h after she started the job...I was mind blown.
There was also that issue with the romance. It was insta-lust, insta-love and all kinds of wrong. Not two seconds after meeting the party animal Richard she is already talking about deep soulful connections and heat and tingles, and all kinds of crap. She needed to seriously slow down. Not to mention that pretty much as soon as Richard meets Emrys he is suddenly no longer a party animal. It was unnatural how fast he made the switch. While I wouldn't have minded too much the cliche girl-tames-boy's-party-animal-ways it was just too fast.
Quite a few reviewers have mentioned the writing and the heavy use of really strange metaphors. It got so bad at one point when Graudin was talking about birds having paws instead of claws that I honestly thought I had missed something. Maybe the bird was some weird hybrid Fae creature or maybe it shape shifted? But then I realized she was just trying to make a point with that metaphor. When you start confusing metaphors with actual descriptions it's time to stop reading.
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Series: N/A
Author: Kristopher Reisz
Publication Date: February 8, 2014
Losing Holly is the hardest thing Jane has ever had to endure ... until Holly comes back.
Best friends Jane and Holly have jumped off the bluff over their Alabama reservoir hundreds of times. But one day, Holly’s jump goes wrong. Her body never comes up, yet something else does—a sad creature of mud, full of confusion and sorrow. It’s Holly, somehow, trapped and mixed up with the river. And if Jane can’t do something to help, Holly will take everybody down with her—even the people they love the most.
Blending Looking for Alaska’s theme of lost friendship with Stephen King’s sense of small-town horror, The Drowned Forest is a Southern gothic tale of grief, redemption, and the mournful yearning of an anguished soul.
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My Thoughts
A copy was provided through NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review
If you bothered reading the blurb you would have noticed that there was absolutely no mention, nor hint about religion in anyway. There is no way to talk about this book without religion. readers should have been warned to what they were getting into. I wouldn't have bothered requesting this if I had known. It was that bad. I think I only managed to get up to like chapters 3 or 4? I could not stand the religious and preachy tone. It was utterly off putting. It got so bad that at one point I really thought they were actually in a cult, but it turns out they weren't and it was just very uncomfortable to read, so I stopped.
The writing style was also very unique. It's in Jane's point of view and it's in a way that Jane is always talking to Holly. Which was very jarring at times and just weird. I guess it was going for that whole creepy tone, but it didn't work for me at all. It just made it that much harder to read. In other words, if you don't mind very heavy
I had the same problem with The Drowned Forest. It drove me nuts. I didn't like how she was always talking to Holly. I was maybe 15% in when I called it quits. :/ I had such high hopes for that one.
ReplyDeleteThe talking to Holly was so weird! It pretty much reinforced my idea of it being a cult lol. I had high hopes for this one as well but it was a complete fail.
ReplyDelete