Of Wicked Blood (The Quatrefoil Chronicles #1), By Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adventure, France, Mystery, New Adult Fiction, Romance, Suspense, Urban Fantasy, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Twig Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 2nd, 2021

424 Pages

Synopsis: 

Slate

I didn’t mean to steal the Bloodstone from the De Morel’s crypt. Scratch that, I did mean to steal it. Until I realized it was a curse-magnet that only comes off if I, along with a jolly trio, successfully defeat four curses. If any of us fail, I’m dead. I’ve never been a glass half-empty sort of person, but my glass, but my glass looks in dire need of a refill about now. The only highlight of this wicked treasure hunt: feisty, entitled Cadence de Morel.

Cadence

I was raised on tales of magic, in a small town reputed to be the birthplace of French witchcraft. Did I believe all the stories I heard? Absolutely not. I mean, if magic existed, Maman wouldn’t have died, and Papa wouldn’t be stuck in a wheelchair, right?

Wrong.

The night Slate Ardoin waltzes into my life, wearing a ring he stole from my mother’s grave, I call him a monster. But then I meet real ones, and Slate, well…he becomes something else to me. Something frustrating to live with, but impossible to live without. Something I will fight for, no matter the cost.

Of Wicked Blood is a fantastic start to Quatrefoil Chronicles, and it’s going on my list of favorite books of 2020. I absolutely LOVED the characters, even though there’s an annoying love triangle. Thankfully though, that resolved itself in the final half of the book. While Slate and Cadence seem complete opposites, they actually wind up bringing out each other’s better qualities. The secondary characters are equally enjoyable, and my favorite is Cadence’s father, Rainier, simply because he’s such an enigma. The atmospheric setting of Brume, a small university town in France where the sun doesn’t visit often, struck me as eerie yet cozy at the same time. This will sound odd, but if it weren’t a fictitious town, I’d want to live there. The magic realism is quite inventive and gives an entirely new twist to the ubiquitous magic quest trope. And finally, try as I might, I couldn’t tell the difference between the two authors’ writing. The chapters were completely seamless, which cemented my enjoyment of the book. While the ending isn’t a cliffhanger, it leaves many questions unanswered and has me frantic to get my hands on the sequel, which is definitive proof on what a fascinating story this is. Needless to say, I HIGHLY recommend Of Wicked Blood, especially to anyone looking for an exciting urban fantasy filled with marvelous world building, intriguing mystery, and complicated yet relatable characters.

Corrupt Me (Philly Corruption #1) ~ By Jillian Quinn – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Romance, Mafia, New Adult Fiction, Philadelphia

I’d like to thank the author for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 17th, 2017

231 Pages

Synopsis: Izzie Rinaldi has everything going for her. All she has to do is make it through her senior year of college, and then she’ll be off to law school, one step closer to assuming her position at the head of her family’s empire. After a chance encounter with the campus bad boy, Izzie can’t get him out of her head. 

Luca Marchese, the smooth-talking son of the most notorious man in Philadelphia, is used to getting what he wants. He hasn’t forgotten the girl he knew as a child, and now that he has Izzie’s attention,  Luca will stop at nothing to have her.

Luca’s defiance of the law turns Izzie on more than she cares to admit. She wants Luca to corrupt her in every way possible, despite his reputation as the king of one-night stands. Their attraction is undeniable, but their desire for one another isn’t enough for Izzie to overlook visits from federal agents and the potential ruin of her family.

Linked to Luca and the criminal underworld, Izzie discovers she’s more like him than she thought. But a future with Luca could mean swapping her diamond bracelets for a pair of handcuffs.

I have to make a confession before I start this review. Corrupt Me is a book that I ordinarily would never have picked up. I don’t usually read NA contemporary romance and I’ve never been a fan of mob-related fiction. I am however a fan of Jillian and her blog http://rantandraveaboutbooks.com so when she contacted me about her new book, I immediately said yes, and I’m so glad I did. At the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Izzie or Luca. The story is told in the first person and the chapters alternate between the two of them which allows you to get a real sense of who they are as people. To say that Izzie has an explosive temper is putting it mildly. While I appreciated her feistiness and strong personality, I thought at first she came across as too stubbornly-aggressive and overconfident, but that impression didn’t last long. Because of Izzie’s family background and the high expectations and responsibilities hanging over her, she has a vulnerability which ultimately tones down the somewhat negative aspects of her personality. Her loyalty to the people she cares about also adds to her relatability. Luca, I had a more difficult time with. For the majority of the book he’s basically your stereotypical womanizing frat boy, even when he’s professing his love for Izzie. Up until the latter half of the story, I thought she was way too good for him, especially when he does something that not only threatens to land him in prison, but to drag Izzie down with him. In the end though, he does redeem himself and proves his loyalty and devotion to her. The chemistry between them is sizzling hot, and the sex scenes steamy, with Izzie being just as equal to Luca in the bedroom as she is everywhere else. There are only a couple of complaints I have regarding the plot. Both the Rinaldi’s and the Marchese’s have known and done business with each other for years, yet one of the central themes of the story is the “forbidden romance” of Izzie and Luca. I’m not sure if it was ever clearly explained why they shouldn’t be together. And if it was such an issue, then it was resolved awfully quickly and conveniently in the end. The second issue I had was with the lack of development in the secondary characters. But I think that was probably due to the shortness of the book. Jillian really brings Philadelphia and it’s Italian community to life, but with all the mouth-watering food dishes described here, it left me absolutely starving, which was unfortunate as I stayed up reading this until after midnight! Overall, I really enjoyed Corrupt Me, and I recommend it to anyone who likes their romance with lots of kick. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series as well as her other future works.

 Jillian Quinn was born and raised in Philadelphia and currently lives in Cape Coral, Florida where she still pretends it’s okay to drink hot chocolate and curl up on the couch with a good book, even when it’s ninety degrees outside. From an early age, writing and storytelling have been her passion. In her spare time she loves creating fictional worlds and living inside the minds of her characters, as well as reading, blogging, and watching basketball and hockey. 

Jillian is also a successful book blogger, dubbed by her followers as the Queen of Rants, after making her blog Rant and Rave About Books, a popular destination in the bookish community because of her honesty and passion for books.

Corrupt Me is her first novel, with other new adult and young adult romance titles to follow.

 

The Last Girl (The Dominion Trilogy #1) ~ By Joe Hart -2.5 Stars

Tags

Dystopian Fiction, New Adult Fiction

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 1st, 2016

Synopsis: A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.

Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away–told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population. 

Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has never returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning–but Zoey is ready for war.

Argh! I am so conflicted about this book. There was a lot I liked about it but there were many problems that kept popping up that kept me from enjoying it fully. I love dystopian fiction, especially when it focuses on the breakdown of society. When I first read the synopsis I thought it was reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and the movie The Children of Men. Almost from the very beginning my confusion started. Things are “explained” but there are so many gaping holes in these explanations that things just don’t add up. There are so many instances of this which left me shaking my head, but I don’t want to include any spoilers in this review. There are a couple of examples I feel safe in sharing though. First, “The Dearth” is supposed to be a worldwide epidemic, yet almost everything in the story only detailed what the American response was. I guess the assumption was that all the world’s leaders agreed that this was the best course of action. Riight. Uh huh.

 I was also perplexed as to the method behind the entire grand scheme itself. Zoey and the other women were all kidnapped as children and raised in this concrete bunker. They’re raised in this prison-like environment watched over by guards and sinister scientists whose sole purpose it seems is to indoctrinate their captives and torture them if they rebel. They’re kept in locked cells except for when their assigned clerics escort them to classes, the exercise area or the cafeteria. There are no real pleasures allowed. No books except for those approved, and even gum is considered contraband. I never understood why though, or what the purpose was behind treating them this way. Then, when each woman turns twenty-one, there’s a big ceremony at the end of which they walk through a door to “The Safe Zone”where they’re supposedly reunited with their families but it’s obvious that there’s something nefarious going on, and when the big reveal came it wasn’t a big surprise. My other issue was with Zoey who in many ways I liked. She’s tough, fearless, and loyal to a fault. There’s also a softer, more vulnerable side as is evidenced in her relationship with the son of her assigned cleric. But once she discovers what is really happening behind the scenes, she instantly transforms from a girl who’s had no exposure to technology let alone sophisticated weaponry into this:

It just wasn’t believable. Fortunately once Zoey escaped and was rescued by a group of rebels, the story got more interesting and I did wind up enjoying the rest of the book. 

I know this review is kind of all over the place regarding my feelings towards the book, so I apologize for the confusion. In addition, I’m not even sure what age group this is intended for. Zoey is twenty-one, but she and most of her fellow captives seem more like teenagers in regards to their dialogue and decision making. If I was going to select a target audience I’d probably go with New Adult because of this, the subject matter, and the graphically violent scenes. Overall, The Last Girl isn’t a terrible read. I finished it in less than two days, and in the end I didn’t find myself wishing I had that time back. It starts with a great premise, throws in some fabulous action sequences, but in the end doesn’t really bring anything in that fans of this genre haven’t read before. 

Amber Smoke ~ Kristin Cast – 3.5 Stars

Tags

Greek Mythology, New Adult Fiction, Paranormal Romance

 I received this ebook from NetGalley and Diversion Books in exchange for an honest review.

~ Tartarus is the realm which cages evil spirits and is guarded by the Furies. Somehow they’re beginning to escape into the mortal world to wreck havoc. Years ago, Alek was born to one of the Furies, and has been trained as a warrior. Now he’s told that unless he finds Eva, the modern-day descendant of Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, both the realms may fall.

I almost gave this a pass when I saw it offered on NetGalley. I loved the first few books in The House of Night series which Kristin Cast co-wrote with her mother PC Cast, but then the series just fizzled for me. However, the new take on Greek mythology beckoned to me so I thought I’d give it a try, and for the most part I’m glad I did. 

As the story begins, Tartarus is weakening because of a curse and the Furies find themselves unable to prevent the evil spirits within from escaping. Alek, who has been trained by his three mothers as a warrior, is now ordered to track down the descendant of the Oracle of Delphi. There’s a twist though. Eva has to die, before her powers are awakened. The majority of the book is spent on Alek tracking down Eva, and the events in her life leading up to her becoming the Oracle. The chapters alternate between the two which I liked. The world-building is interesting, especially the history behind Tartarus, the Furies, and Alek’s conception. The character development however, needs a lot more work. Alek, for all his training is way too innocent. He gets involved in some pretty funny situations because of his naivete, but some of his actions just aren’t believable. Eva is likable, but she’s too trusting and gullible for her age of twenty-three. For example: one scene features Eva parking her car in a dark alley, with the door unlocked, and then she gets back into it without first checking the back seat. Really? Who does that? Once Alek finds Eva, it’s not love at first sight, which I actually appreciated. It’s clear though where their relationship is going.  The pacing is a bit slow, but picks up in the latter half of the book culminating in a huge cliffhanger. 

So, I think Amber Smoke has a lot of potential. It has a unique spin on Greek mythology, which kept me reading, and the story and it’s characters are compelling enough to make me want to read the next book. While Eva and Alek definitely need more development, I like the two of them, especially once they teamed up. There’s also a nicely written mystery regarding who the villain is that’s after Eva, which helps keep the story moving even when there’s not a lot of action going on. I think anyone who enjoys Greek mythology and the paranormal might want to try this.