(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read the first two books in this trilogy, I was happy to be contacted by the author with the opportunity to read the third book in the Stonewood trilogy.

It was good to see more of the characters that I recognised from the previous books. In particular, I liked seeing Harcourt again. He’s probably one of my favourite characters in this trilogy and I felt that he’d really grown as a character by the events of the third book.

I felt that the danger the characters were in came across really well. I especially liked how, when Krestina used her spells, they actually showed a toll on her. I thought it was interesting to see that come across.

I did still notice the over-use of the word ‘beautiful’ and I felt it was unnecessary to be used so many times and particularly with the same characters. I especially liked seeing Evonne and Vrawg again. It was pretty cool to learn a bit more about their past… though I would have liked to see more of Vrawg. I know he wasn’t very talkative… but I still would have liked to see a bit more of him.

It was good to see the fighting scenes in this book as well. I liked that, although Harcourt was the main character and was good at fighting, he wasn’t perfect and did need help. It was good to see that, although all of the characters were skilled, none of them were particularly over-powered.

It was also interesting to see Feylane again. The way she evolved through the books was pretty intriguing and I could understand why she seemed so taken with Harcourt.

It was also good to see Orval and Syrena. I found myself liking Syrena more than I’d expected to in this book and I was able to empathise with her really easily. I was disappointed not to see more of her and Orval in this book.

I did especially like the ending of this book and it was good to see all of the characters in the epilogue. I’d be interested in reading more books exploring the aftermath of the battle and the characters being able to meet up again. But I enjoyed this conclusion to the trilogy and definitely found it worth reading.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is a book that I’d ideally like to give 4.5 stars to. Despite a few eye-roll moments with Jade (I really don’t like characters who wax poetic about how attractive they are), I did find her easy to relate to.

This was a fairly interesting take on the ‘normal’ fairytale. Although I felt there were more elements of the tale of the Snow Queen, I could see how this book linked in with the fairy story of Sleeping Beauty.

It was good to see that the author took the time to develop the relationship between Jade and Asher. It didn’t come across as a love at first sight romance, even though they were both intrigued by each other from the beginning.

This book did quite a good job of exploring different genres, I felt. It was an interesting mix of dystopian, fantasy, romance… Although Jade was clearly a cold character at the start of the book, I found the reason behind it to be really interesting.

I did feel that the book really picked up when Jade was taken by Asher. Although the blurb wasn’t entirely accurate about them, I did enjoy seeing the way the rebels tried to live. There were certain parts of the book that made me quite sad and I was able to empathise with a lot of the other characters. I especially liked Maddy and the way she tried to learn more about Jade… and that Jade seemed to be developing a friendship with her. I also quite liked the attitude of the rebels.

It was interesting to learn the origin of Deirdre’s powers and I couldn’t help feeling a little bit sorry for her… even though I didn’t like her as a character. The reasoning behind the society she built was interesting, though.

I did very much enjoy reading this book and found myself drawn into Jade’s world really easily. I didn’t find her ridiculously over-powered or irritating and I believed in the relationship she formed with Asher. I wasn’t that keen on the cliffhanger-type ending… but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to read the next book in this series.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d give this book 3.5 stars, ideally. For a lot of the book, I wasn’t sure how the different characters and storylines fit together. I did find the different plots intriguing and as I got to know the characters, I did find them interesting and I found myself caring about the characters and the plot.

This book was definitely much more of a thriller than a science fiction book. I found myself drawn into the plot and it was good to see more normal people get caught up in what was going on. I thought that Jesse and Amanda were interesting characters, though I found myself getting a bit confused by their history at times. It was good to see them working together, even though there were times I didn’t like Amanda that much… at least at first.

Almost from the beginning, I found Francis to be a really intriguing character, though I did feel that I didn’t learn as much of his history as I could have done. I didn’t feel that the blurb was entirely accurate when it came to him… but I did like him as a character.

There was quite a lot of intrigue in this book and for a long time, I was completely confused about what was going on and why exactly people were so interested in the contents of the disk. I guess that was the same position as many of the other characters were in, though even by the end, I felt that I didn’t really understand everything.

I liked Mitch and Mike as characters, though there were a few times when I got confused between the two of them. I would have liked to see more of their history and how they knew each other.

There was quite a lot of action in this book that did hold my attention and kept me reading throughout. There were some very gory scenes in this book. There were also some characters I found a bit harder to follow… but it was nice to see when the ‘good guys’ had to outsmart the plans of the people trying to kill them.

I think I would read the next book in this series, since it would be good to get some answers to what was going on.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have read and enjoyed several short stories and novellas by this author before, so when I was approached about reading another short story, I immediately jumped at the chance… and I did really enjoy reading this short story.

I have to say, though, that this felt more like a teaser. Using the diary entry format to tell Gillian’s story was a good style choice, but it did mean that a lot of the relationship between her and Callum was just glossed over. I felt that this story could have been extended a bit longer and it would have been good to see some of the letters they’d exchanged.

The concept of Gillian’s kind being changed when they started to develop feelings for someone outside their race was a pretty intriguing one. I also liked her magical ability. The fact that she could use her voice to charm people was something I would have liked to see a bit more of, so I could see more of the limitations and how well-rounded her ability was.

I did think that Gillian and Callum were more open with each other than they probably should have been. I could understand that with Gillian, in a way… but it didn’t seem to work so well with Callum blurting everything to someone he didn’t know.

I would have liked to see a bit more of Gillian’s father as a more well-rounded character, as some attempt was made to do that with the man Gillian was supposed to marry.

This short story did succeed in firing my interest to read more of the books by this author. This was a really quick and easy read and I felt it was a good introduction for someone new to this author’s writing. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve read quite a few zombie books to date, but I did find this one to be a more unique book. Although there wasn’t as much background as I’d hoped to the creatures involved (I didn’t learn about their appearances in history), I did find the idea behind them and the kind of mutations they could cause to be pretty interesting.

I also found myself really liking the characters in this book, even the ones I initially wasn’t sure about. The character I wasn’t as keen on was Cryboy. I couldn’t really understand his motivations… and I didn’t find him to be a particularly likable character.

I couldn’t say who was my favourite character out of the remaining ones. I liked Curtis, Jester, Jodie and Helga in different ways. Jester was a little hard to understand and there were a couple of times I wasn’t sure he was going to come through for the others. But although he came across as a bit of a loose cannon at times, I enjoyed reading about the way he, Jodie and Curtis worked together. I felt that the sense of camaraderie between the three of them came across really well.

One of the things I found difficult to understand was the AI and the factors that went into deciding who was likely to succeed in the missions. I could understand Jester’s and Curtis’ involvement… but not so much why it had to be Jodie, when I felt Helga was just as capable. I would have liked some more information about the factors that went into that kind of scenario.

The descriptions of the creatures was quite creepy, but there was little detail about the history and exactly why they couldn’t kill the creatures, other than what looked like guesswork with no evidence to back it up.

I did find it quite distracting to suddenly get flashbacks to Curtis’ past, seemingly completely randomly, and in present tense. Although I liked Curtis as a character and found his abilities very intriguing, I didn’t think that was necessary.

I still found this book to be an entertaining read and it was quick and easy. I’m intrigued enough to want to read more about these characters… and hopefully have some of my questions answered if a sequel does exist.