Book: The Eternity Cure, Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood of Eden series #2

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: May 1st, 2012

Rating: 5 stars

The Eternity Cure is just as dark, gripping and mesmerising as the first book. Allison Sekemoto has left her group of humans in the one place where they will be safe from monsters like her – in Eden. This also includes her beloved Zeke, the one human who burrowed his way into Allie’s heart and refuses to budge.

Eden is no place for a vampire, especially one with unfinished business, and Allie has a task to do. She’s been having nightmares of her sire, Kanin, who is in utter agony at the hands of a psycho vampire who wants Kanin to suffer, and suffer horribly. So Allie sets out to find her mentor, the one who saved her life and made her what she is. What she didn’t expect was to find Jackal, her blood brother, instead. If you don’t remember, Jackal was the Raider King who kidnapped the humans Allie befriended in his search for the cure to the deadly Red Lung virus. Instead of a brutal fight between two siblings, they set out on a journey together to help rescue Kanin.

Jackal totally surprised me by completely endearing me to him. He quickly became my favourite character who made me laugh aloud more than once.

“I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the jeep is still where we left it, and I got the damned thing working again."

"What's the bad news?"

"Something took my fuzzy dice.”

In a life or death situation, I screamed when it looked like we could lose Jackal and cried with joy when he emerged victorious. He reminded me so much of Sebastian Morgenstern from The Mortal Instruments series – completely screwed up and cruel, yet strangely likable. He sees humans only as bloodbags and doesn’t see Allie’s attraction to them, but he will still protect the ones that Allie cares for, as well as Allie herself. I can’t wait to see more of him in the final book.

Allie, just like in the first book, struggles to hold onto her humanity in the face of her monstrosity. She’s becoming an incredibly strong warrior and doesn’t feel immense guilt for killing when she knows it’s either them or her. She’ll do whatever it takes to save the ones she cares about, but is also not averse to being cruel when she needs to be, which I loved about her. I've seen many heroines who will be kind even to their enemies, but I can’t see Allie ever doing that. She will kill anyone who has hurt her or her friends, and her inner demon will smile viciously on.

I loved her relationship with Zeke; just like in the first book, he was Allie’s light of humanity when she was drowning in darkness, and I think they both helped each other grow. Zeke’s not as naïve as he was in the first book, and he’s become a strong leader and fighter and I will always cheer for him. However, I think I'm Team Vampire for this series. Why? Kanin.

Oh, Kanin. He broke my heart in this book. He was in so much pain and agony, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. He was a wise and sage as ever, but he will continue to fight against those who are trying to kill him.

Nobody is safe until Sarren, the psycho vampire, is dead, and with the way this book ended, I can’t wait to see the final standoff between our trio of vampires and one super strong, completely insane vampire. It will be epic.

Book: The Dead List, Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: N/A

Publisher: wattpad.com

Release Date: April 15^th, 2015

Rating: 5 stars

I am so grateful and happy that Jen decided to release this book as a freebie on Wattpad for fans to read as she released a few chapters every couple of days. It meant it took a while to read but it was so worth it and waiting for those updates gave me purpose. I loved seeing a new chapter released. The characters, the story, the setting, everything, was wonderful and I really enjoyed it.

Our main character is Ella. She used to have three best friends when she was still a kid: Gavin, Jensen and Penn. She grew apart from the three boys as they grew older, and she still feels guilty from when Penn decided life was just too hard and killed himself. However, Ella’s life takes a scary turn when she’s almost kidnapped one night coming home from a party, and is rescued by none other than Jensen, whom she hasn’t spoken to in years.

The rest of the story focuses on Ella and Jensen’s growing friendship and them working together to try and discover who this madman really is. It was such a great book to read! I fell in love with the characters, felt spooked by the setting, and was constantly coming up with theories as to who the killer could be. I was kept on my toes and gasped aloud more than once as Jen took me on a trip I was not expecting but thoroughly enjoyed.

I loved Ella’s character, she was so strong and despite all this crazy things happening to her, she didn’t let it change her but instead grabbed life by the wheel and drove herself. She started self-defence lessons to protect herself against the evil running rampant in her town, and she inevitably grows closer to Jensen.

Jensen was fabulous. He was so strong, both physically and he was there for Ella whenever she needed him. They were friends for years before they grew apart after a terrible tragedy, but they still cared deeply for each other and I loved seeing their relationship blossom throughout the book.

Many other characters are introduced and all of them are suspects for who the killer is, yet you’re still left guessing until the very end. I would definitely recommend this for any fans of JLA and mystery and romance novel enthusiasts. 

Book: The Immortal Rules, Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood of Eden series #1

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: April 24^th, 2012

Rating: 5 stars

Anyone who knows me knows I love vampires. It started off with Twilight, and then eventually spread to Vampire Academy and Bloodlines. And with the reviews from this series, I had high hopes for this book. And it was just beautiful. Julie Kagawa recreates her own version of the vampire world with a unique twist that was great to read and learn more about.

We start off in a world where humans are prey to a vampire kingdom – with a vampire Prince and everything. They have made it impossible for anyone who isn’t a vampire to live normally and comfortably. Every day is a struggle for food and staying alive in a world that seems to want you dead. Allie (or Allison, I'm not sure which is the preferred as both is used often) is our protagonist, a human living in a vampire city and fights every day to have enough food for herself and other humans she resides with. When most humans have lost that spark to stay alive and hopeful, she hasn’t. I liked her immediately and felt I connected with her.  She was tough and practical and did what she needed to survive.  She was tough to those who needed to see the light but would also do whatever she could to save those she cared about. She knows the dangers of where she lives, and yet she will battle every day to survive, even braving the wall between the Fringe (her home) and the Inner City (where the vampires live.) The main rule of living in the Fringe? Never get caught. Allie knows this rule better than anybody, but then the unspeakable happens. What comes next is a blur of pain, evil rabids (kind of like zombie vampires) and a pair of dark, dark eyes, asking Allie if she wants to live or die.

Then Allie’s life changes forever. Even in the face of the evil monster she fears the most; Allie chose to live, so she became a vampire. I completely admire Allie for loving her life so damn much that she would become something she hated just so she wouldn’t die.

What follows next is a battle against light and dark, dark and darker, human and vampire. It’s full of witty remarks, near-death experiences, love, betrayal, death. Despite living a non-human life, Allie struggles to hold onto her humanity even when she’s drinking the blood of some unsuspecting victim. She meets the vampire who created her, who teaches her the way of the vampire life, as well as a human who still believes there is something better out there if you just keep believing.

I loved every character in this book and everything was described wonderfully. This book was dark, creepy, addicting and just plain awesome. I would totally recommend any vampire, dystopian or Julie Kagawa fans to pick this up because you will not be disappointed.

Nowhere But Here book trailer!

Katie McGarry, the author of one of my favourite series (Pushing The Limits) is at it again! The first book in her brand new series, Nowhere But Here, is being released MAY 26 2015! 

If this trailer doesn't get you excited for the book release, I don't know what will.

Nowhere But Here, released May 26th, 2015, will be available from all bookstores such as:

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Waterstones

• Easons

Don't forget to preorder your copy today!

 Book: The Last Battle by C.S Lewis

Series: The Chronicles of Narnia, #7

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: 1950

Rating: 3 stars

I hate that feeling when you finish a book, particularly one like Narnia, when you have to leave a world that is the complete opposite of your own and come back to reality, which is really boring in comparison. I felt like this during the last few chapters of Narnia when I knew my time was up and I'd have to get sent back to my boring world of school and work and non-talking animals.

I really enjoyed this book. There was action from the very first chapter and no waiting around like in some other books. The story was good too; the whole concept of the fake Aslan and being run by an Ape (wasn't expecting that). I didn't like Jill in The Silver Chair as she reminded me too much of Lucy who was way better than her, but she really became her own here. She stopped being afraid and knew she would fight for Narnia until the very end. 

SPOILERS SPOILER SPOILERS!!!
But - problems. Susan. Susan! Christ, when I read that she grew out of Narnia, I nearly banged my head on a wall. What the fuck? She's one of the 4 prophesied children from the first book to save Narnia! Why cut her out of the final book, the epic finale? It was moronic, stupid, idiotic... how many more adjectives should I add? (Groan)

I liked the concept of Narnia being reborn as a heaven, but the way they had the children enter this heaven? By dying in a railroad accident. But there's the one maybe not-so-obvious exception of Susan. Because Susan doesn't believe in Narnia, she wasn't on the train, and so... Yes! She lost her ENTIRE FAMILY. How cruel is that? Lewis is basically saying that if you stop believing in God, your punishment is you lose your family. Is that a good moral to be teaching your children?

OKAY DONE SPOILERS :)
But if I'm reviewing the entire series in a whole, it’s really good. The story is imaginative, the world is extremely unique, and you just fall in love with the characters, especially the minor characters like Trumpkin the Dwarf and Tumnus. I would definitely add it to a read-before-you-die list. This book will remain a classic for many years, perhaps another fifty more years.

Definitely a book that will make you think, at very random moments, what life would be like if you went to Narnia.

Book: My Love Lies Bleeding by Alexandra Harvey

Series: Drake Chronicles, #1

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release Date: January 1^st 2010

Rating: 3 stars

While I liked this book, there was one thing that kept niggling at me - which was that the romances between Lucy and Nicholas and Solange and Kieran were kinda forced. The romance between Lucy and Nick was more believable anyway - I didn't get the Kieran-Solange matching at all. I mean, first he's the enemy, then he saves her life, then somehow he's totally in love with her at the end and is the reason she survived the bloodchange. Nuh-uh. Not believable. 

I liked the rest of the book. This idea of vampires being born instead of made and how having a human as a best friend instead of falling in love with one (cliché!) is very creative which I really enjoyed. Not the best vampire series I've read, but not the worst either. 3 stars. Completely average.