Descendant by Lesley Livingston

Series: Starling (bk. 2)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, magic, mythology, Norse mythology, Valkyries, faeries, gods and goddesses

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 325 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “The last thing Mason Starling remembers is the train crossing a bridge. An explosion . . . a blinding light . . . then darkness. Now she is alone, stranded in Asgard—the realm of Norse legend—and the only way for her to get home is to find the Spear of Odin, a powerful relic left behind by vanished gods.

The Fennrys Wolf knows all about Asgard. He was once trapped there. And he’ll do whatever it takes to find the girl who’s stolen his heart and bring her back—even if it means a treacherous descent into the Underworld. But time is running out, and Fenn knows something Mason doesn’t: If she takes up the Spear, she’ll set in motion a terrible prophecy. And she won’t just return to her world . . . she’ll destroy it.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Starling, Lesley Livingston delivers another electrifying blend of nonstop action and undeniable romance that will leave readers breathless.”

My Review: This book had a lot of things that I really liked, and something that made is slightly boring. I really like most of the characters and the dialogue. I read the Wondrous Strange series, so I love seeing familiar faces again. I also love all the magic and mythology. What I had a hard time with is the 3^rd person narration. I think if I was listening to it as an audio book, I would have enjoyed it more. I listened to the first two Wondrous Strange book read by the author. Lesley does really good voice acting.

I don’t really care much for Mason, unless she says something funny. I love Fenn because he was a Viking supposedly and I like to picture him as a younger version of Thor. I loved that we get to see Maddox again. Him and Fenn have the funniest conversations. I also like Rafe, who’s Anubis. He’s got a great sense of humor too. Pretty much all my favorite parts in this book are humorous dialogue and banter.

I also loved when Mason met Loki. Sadly Loki doesn’t get a big role in this book. I felt disappointed because I love the Thor movies so much and really was hoping for more crazy Loki antics. Loki is kind of my favorite bad guy ever. It seem that the bad guys in this book are parents. Specifically Mason’s father, Gunner Starling. He wants Mason to become a Valkyrie and start Ragnarok. Why do the bad guys always want to cause the end of the world?

I do love all the mythology used in this book. There’s not only Norse mythology, but Egyptian and Greek and possibly some Roman and Celtic. This book has gods from all the ancient religions, pretty much.  Norse is the focus, but there was a lot of Egyptian stuff to because Anubis was in it.

The plot was okay, but I felt like it wasn’t really organized that well. Too much mind jumping. We get not only Mason and Fenn’s perspectives, by also Heather, Cal and a few other character. I don’t think I can truly call this 3^rd person limited. I’m not a fan of switching perspectives without some indication of who’s head we’re in. I was so confused at some points, that I kind of skimmed. The writing itself wasn’t bad. The descriptiveness of appearances and objects were beautifully done. I wanted to picture what was going on, but at times I felt lost.

I do recommend anything by Lesley Livingston. I suggest reading the Wondrous Strange series first because we get some of Fenn’s backstory as a Janus Guard. I recommend this book to fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton, Stork by Wendy Delsol, Need series by Carrie Jones, Wildfire by Karsten Knight, Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini, or any other mythology YA.

Cover Art Review: The photos are nice and the cover model is definitely supposed to be Mason, but doesn’t have her blue eyes. I think she looks too much like Megan Fox.

Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Series: Goodnight Family (bk. 2)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Mystery/Adventure

Subjects: ghosts, psychic ability, supernatural, magic, kidnappings, Chicago, Illinois, Egyptian mythology

Age/Grade Level: Teen and New Adult (because Daisy is a college freshman)

Length: 384 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “Daisy Goodnight can speak to the dead. It’s not the result of a head injury or some near-death experience. She was just born that way. And she’s really good at it. Good enough to help the police solve the occasional homicide.

But helping the local authorities clear cold cases is one thing. Being whisked out of chemistry class by the FBI and flown to the scene of a murder/kidnapping in Minnesota? That’s the real deal.

Before the promotion can go to Daisy’s head, she’s up to her neck in trouble. The spirits are talking, and they’re terrified. There’s a real living girl in danger. And when Daisy is kidnapped by a crime boss with no scruples about using magic—and Daisy—to get what he wants, it looks like hers is the next soul on the line.”

My Review: I didn’t think it would be possible that this book would be better than Texas Gothic, the 1^st book in the series, but this was way better. Ridiculously awesome. So many things I didn’t expect. The description barely tells you anything. This book is very different from Texas Gothic. They both have ghosts, but Texas Gothic didn’t have nearly as much action or adventure as Spirit and Dust.

Daisy Goodnight is psychic and can sense spirit energies, of remnants and connections. She can summon then with objects connected to them, talk to them and also help them move on. She’s very sarcastic and funny and wears girly-goth garb. She’s a redhead like her cousin Amy (the narrator of Texas Gothic) and has the same Goodnight determination. I think I like her more than Amy as a narrator. Daisy got a lot more spunk and feels more developed. I almost wish that there can be another book with her as the narrator, instead of a companions series with standalone-sequels. She’s the perfect strong protagonist with unique traits.

Then there’s the other characters. I though Agent Taylor would be the love interest, because he and Daisy had a thing, but that’s not the case.  Daisy meets Carson after being kidnapped by a mobster who’s the father of the kidnapped girl Alexis. Carson doesn’t seem like a hardened criminal. He’s pretty young and too nice. He and Daisy go a search for this Jackal artifact that’s the ransom for Alexis. Carson and Daisy’s romance is the total opposite of insta-love. She even starts to think that she has Stockholm syndrome because she starts to like him. The travel and she’s learns about him.

I also loved the setting. You’d think based off the description that this book would be set in Minnesota. Minnesota was really only the beginning of the book. I’d say 15% set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 10% set in St Louis, Missouri, and 75% set in Illinois, and mainly Chicago and it’s museums. As a resident Chicagolander, this made me very excited. Another great book set in my home state? Awesome. And the final third or fourth or the book takes place in the Field Museum. My absolute favorite museum to go to. I’ve been there at least 5 times. Probably more. And yes, Sue the T. Rex is awesome. And I did see the Egypt exhibit in 4^th grade, or 5^th. There were a lot of animal mummies down there. I’m never been to the Oriental Institute Museum, but my mom’s been there.

I love the paranormal parts, especially the Egyptian Mythology. I didn’t know that there would be any Egyptian stuff going into this. It really started to remind me of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series. Looking for artifacts and some brotherhood and everything. I don’t want to spoil the book, but I think that more people would read this if they knew more about it. So it’s not just another ghost-story/murder mystery. This book turned out to be an unexpected surprise, and I really hope that Rosemary write a 3^rd Goodnight book that’s even better. Maybe from Phin’s perspective? I still would like Daisy’s best.

Cover Art Review: Boring cover. It’s just an eye. Daisy’s eye, and a silhouette. There’s nothing that suggests the content.

Ravage by Jeff Sampson

Series: Deviants (bk. 3)

Genera: Sci-fi/Paranormal

Subjects: werewolves, genetic engineering, parallel universes

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 392 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “The war against BioZenith is on.
Since she first came into her mysterious new superpowers, Emily has watched one of her packmates disappear through an interdimensional portal; she’s been hunted by creepy, body-snatching Shadowmen; she’s managed to form an alliance with the same telekinetic cheerleaders who once tried to take her down; and she’s discovered that her believed-to-be-dead mother is one of the BioZenith scientists responsible for her strange abilities.
Now it’s up to the Deviants to put together the last pieces of the puzzle, which includes tracking down the final, mystery member of their kind and forcing their parents to reveal why they mutated their own children. Emily fears the answer is far more sinister than anyone ever thought: after all, why would a parent risk a child’s life unless the stakes were high…scary, world-ending high?
Tired of being at the mercy of adult conspiracies, Emily forms a plan with the other Deviants: Destroy BioZenith before anyone can use the knowledge within the facility to aid the Shadowmen. But that’s only if BioZenith—or something worse—doesn’t capture them first.”

My Rating: êêêêê

My Review: This series is amazing and has been kind of under the radar. Not many people know it’s out there. I was happy when I read Vesper. And now with this third and final book, I am sad to let it go, but happy that it ended well and epically. If you are a fan of series like Maximum Ride  by James Patterson or Darkest Power and Darkness Rising series by Kelly Armstrong. This series is sci-fi with a paranormal edge, or vice versa. And it even has a kick-butt girl main character that’s a bit of a pop culture geek

This book had laughs and fun dialogue. It also had some sad and freaky moments. And then some very mind blowing revelations that reminded me of Angel Burn, Fringe, The Host and Ancient Aliens. We already found out about the whole parallel world that the shadowmen come from in the last book, but what are they?

I love the characters of course. They’re funny and interesting. Emily is kind of like me. Spencer seems very lovable and cute, in a techie geek kind of way. Tracie is preppie and a type-A personality. And there’s the cheerleaders, Nikki and Delgado triplets. And a new character named Evan, who’s kind of funny.

The plot was interesting to say the least. It was engaging and exciting, thrilling and so on. It was so good that I don’t even know what I just read. It’s over and a loved it and now I want a spin-off series like Kelly Armstrong did for Darkest Power. A character whose a Deviant with different, psychic, abilities!!! I know, I keep on asking for spin-offs and novellas when reviewing conclusions…..

Cover Art Review: I love the silhouettes on the covers, and the title with the smoke behind it. I just wish it wasn’t just glossy. And this cover is mostly monochromatic. I liked the first book’s cover the best.

 

~Haley G

Undeadly by Michele Vail

Series: The Reaper Diaries (bk. 1)

Genera: Paranormal Romance (set in a semi-dystopian/alternate hist. world)

Subjects: Supernatural, necromancer, reapers, mythology, Egyptian mythology, Anubis, gods, magic, boarding schools, zombies, ghosts

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 267 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Summary/ product description: “The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.
Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....”

My Rating: êêê

My Review: This book was different than I expected. There was not much Romance as I wanted. I really liked Rath. Rick reminded me too much of Heath from House of Night. A lot of other people agree that this book is similar the House of Night series. I feel like this book dragged out the beginning too much. I would have rather had more boarding school stuff. There were a lot of clichés, but out of all the clichés left out, why no love triangle? There was no depth to the story.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it for the most part. I think the world building is interesting. An alternate history of Necromancer and Zombies being known to everyone. All the different hekas and parts of the soul. It was very interesting. It reminded me of the Shade series and House of Night series put together, except with Egyptian stuff. I liked Molly’s voice, even with the outdated slang. The book could just use some tweets. I could have been better if it was about 100 pages longer, with a steamy romance. Seriously, more Rath. My favorite Reaper is Todd from the Soul Screamers series. The hot reaper really needs to be played up more. I just felt like some stuff was rushed/forced. It needs more build up. This is the first book in a series, so I’m sure book 2 will be better. There is a cliff hanger at the end.

Cover Art Review: The cover is kind of generic for paranormal romance. I do like the lace, though. I’m pretty sure I could have made a better cover than this one.

 

~Haley G