Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is another book I have some mixed feelings about. The blurb on the back of the book was really intriguing and I particularly liked the front cover.

This book definitely fell into the category of dark fantasy. Out of all of the characters, I think Rook was the only one that I really liked. There were a couple of other characters I was interested in, especially the wolf, but I didn’t see enough of them to really get drawn into their plot. I did really like the brother relationship shown, though, especially when there was the flashback to Branrir and Dagrir’s past. I’ve always liked reading about brother relationships and I felt this one was shown really well… even if I did originally think that their relationship wasn’t a good one.

Both Nuriel and Celacia were intriguing characters, though in quite different ways. By the end of the book, Nuriel had fallen a lot in my estimation… though I did feel that the author did quite a good job of showing how what she’d experienced caused her to fall so far. In a way, it was good that she had ideals… but I really felt that she was clinging to the wrong kind of ideals. It would be interesting to see more of her doing the right thing, instead of just accepting and reveling in it like the other Saints did.

I liked learning about the mythology of the world, but I felt there were a few too many flashbacks that weren’t really separated from the story well enough. The world itself was really quite intriguing and it was clear a lot of work and effort had gone into building everything.

The concepts of the demons and angels were quite interesting and by the end of the book, I have a lot of theories. I didn’t get very many questions answered throughout the course of the book, though, and I still have a lot of confusion by the end. I felt that Rook proved himself to be a very resourceful character throughout and I would read the next book following on from this one… if only to see more of him.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I didn’t think I’d be able to watch all of this film before having to leave for work… but it turned out I had just enough time.

This is yet another film I originally watched quite a while ago, but only recently rewatched. With the more recent superhero craze, I personally feel that this film slipped through the cracks. Yes, it was cheesy in places… but I felt it was really well-acted and made for entertaining viewing.

The different kinds of powers that were shown in this film were quite interesting, but one of the main themes I felt was quite intriguing was the fact that, although it was a school for superheroes, there were still the normal cliques in any high school film – in this case, the popular kids were the heroes… the unpopular ones the sidekicks.

I did find Warren and Layla to be the most interesting characters, though Zach amused me quite a lot. I wasn’t all that keen on Will for a while, but I did feel sorry for him with having to deal with needing to tell his parents he didn’t have any powers.

I liked seeing the different classes heroes and hero support had to take and how they differed, even though there was a lot about it that was cliched. I also found the science teacher quite amusing. I did find Penny quite annoying.

There wasn’t much that was a surprise about this film… apart from the fairly obvious thing it took Will a while to notice. I recognised a lot of the actors in this film and thought they portrayed the characters really well. And the ending was a really feel-good one… the sort you expect from Disney.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is another book I have some mixed feelings about. I really loved the front cover and the blurb of the book sounded really intriguing. And the first part of the book really drew me in. I liked reading about the life in the village and the two main female characters at the beginning of the book really caught my interest. Even Shalima was interesting at first… despite the fact that the book kept switching between third and first person, which I do find quite difficult to get into.

I did find Shalima an interesting character… but I didn’t especially like her. When she first appeared, I felt like the character had a lot of potential to grow and mature. The problem was that that growth wasn’t actually shown. Soon after the marriage between Shamina and the Golden Dragon, I found myself disconnected from her as a character.

The whole concept of the different types of dragon was a really interesting one, but one I would have liked to see explored in the course of the story, rather than just have an info-dump about the different types. (When I got to meet some of the different types of dragon, I found them really interesting and I would have liked to see more of the individual dragons from he different species).

The other big issue I had with this book was the romance. The thing is… I love romance. I’m a true romantic at heart. But only if that romance is realistic.

When I say realistic, I don’t mean without any paranormal/fantasy elements. I mean a relationship that is shown growing and developing through the course of the book (or film, etc.) That didn’t actually happen here. The romance between Shalima and Dragan seemed really shallow and I felt that a lot of potential development in the romance was neglected to move the basic plot forward.

The action in this book was fairly interesting, but I did struggle somewhat to believe in the romance. The ending didn’t really tug on my heartstrings in the way it should have done.

I’m not sure if I’d read the next book. I’d have to judge that depending on how intriguing I found the plot.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t actually read the book that these two main characters are from, but I did find this book to be quite easy to follow. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Tracy and Jeff and it was disappointing that it soured so quickly.

I found it quite interesting to see how the cons were performed throughout the book and the characters’ different ways of handling the situation. I found myself empathising with Tracy, though I was a little irritated by just how many guys seemed to be romantically interested/attracted to her.

I did find Tracy and Jeff’s method of going after the ‘bad people’ quite an intriguing one, especially in stark contrast to one of the other con artists they ran into. There were certain uses of description that really had me shuddering due to being able to picture the very disturbing scenes.

To a certain extent, I did like Jean, but I did lose a lot of my empathy for him due to the way he was treating his children. Tracy’s relationship with Nicholas was much more sweet and more like a family, while Jean seemed to just have children for the sake of having conflict introduced into the plot. I actually couldn’t say much about them at all, compared to his ex-wife.

I have to say, there wasn’t much mystery in this book, in my opinion. There was quite a lot of action, but no twists and turns. Some of the characters did come across as stupid, or lacking in intelligence, or both.

I was… less keen on the ending of the book. I felt that it fell quite flat. Again, I haven’t read the other book with these characters in, but I felt that the ending was quite disappointing. I did feel that a lot of research had gone into this book, though, and while I can’t speak for any historical accuracy, I did quite enjoy reading this. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up any other books by this new author, though. I might give some of Sidney Sheldon’s other books a try, though.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Ideally, I’d give this book 4.5 stars. I found myself really enjoying this and I was reading eagerly to find out what was going to happen next.

I liked Gwendolyn as a character, though I wasn’t completely sure I would at first. The plot of this book was a really intriguing one and I especially liked the relationships she formed with the other two main characters… in particular with Rafe, but I did like Alistair as well.

I did get quite confused about things at first, but by the end, I had a much better understanding of the plot and what was going on. It was quite an interesting take on the time travel plot and I really liked learning about the whole theory and the different kinds of parallel worlds… even if I was still a bit confused by one certain thing in particular by the end.

I really empathised with Gwen and Rafe in particular during this book. They were both really easy to like… and I particularly liked learning about both of their pasts, even though a lot of it was sad. I also really enjoyed Rafe’s banter with Alistair.

The dreams Gwen was experiencing were really disturbing, but I found myself really intrigued by the relationship the boy had with her. That’s something I’d really like to learn more about.

I REALLY liked the hints of the romance forming between Gwen and Rafe. It was nice to read a book where the two characters didn’t fall in love at first sight. There was one extremely scary moment with Gwen that really made me concerned about her.

I would definitely like to read the next book/s. This was a really good introduction to the world and the characters. Some of the so-called ‘good’ characters were ones that I really didn’t like… but I definitely liked the main ones and I was also intrigued by Max and his past. I think that, if this turns into a series, it would probably become one of my favourites. As it stands, I’d like to see more of both the world and the characters.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the first book in this series, but I did find this book to be quite a quick, easy read. I was able to follow the storyline really well and I thought that the plotline was quite an interesting one. Although being frozen for a period of time isn’t a completely unique plot, I did like the way it was handled here.

I wasn’t that sure about Katerina, though. By the end of the book, she had grown on me a bit and I felt that her character did evolve a bit through the course of the book.

It was interesting to see that the nationality of humans had changed over time. I actually read a theory somewhere that stated that, in the future, more people would be mixed-race rather than Caucasian.

So… I found Celeste to be a really intriguing character and I would have liked to see more of her. I did, however, get put off a bit by the first description of Katerina. (I looked up grey eyes on Google images to see what they looked like. You can’t see storms in them. Or nearly see storm clouds. And… bee-stung lips? That doesn’t give me an attractive mental image…)

I was quite intrigued by the other two crew members of the ship, too, but they seemed to be a bit too… attached to Katerina. The only one who actually acted (and rightly so) suspicious of her was Celeste. And the constant putting down of her quite annoyed me, because it seemed like she was being set up as a foil.

Chase was somewhat suspicious of Katerina, but I had trouble seeing that in the face of his obvious attraction to her. I did like Ricky as a character and I would have really liked to see more of him in the book.

From what I’ve read, Kris seems to be a fairly interesting character as well. Katerina was a bit too… perfect and skilled; though there were some instances when her learning was a bit more realistic. By the end of this book, I have mixed feelings on whether I want to read the first or third one. The world was intriguing and something I’d like to see more of… but I felt that Katerina was right on the line of becoming a Mary Sue.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found myself pulled into the storyline in this book really quickly. I really liked Jasmine’s relationship with her son and it was really awesome to see how accepting she was of his gift, even though his health wasn’t great and healing took a lot of energy.

What was also interesting was the contrast with the other families. There was one extreme to the other that was shown, with Jasmine completely accepting of her son’s abilities, but Mara’s father so hateful of it that was abusive. And then there was Kaylee’s family in between. So I thought it was really interesting to see the different contrasts between the way the parents handled their children’s gifts.

I did have some confusion about the ages of the characters. Mara, for instance, seemed much younger in her first appearance… but her interactions with Cody made it clear she was quite a bit older than I’d originally thought.

I felt there was a nice variety in the different gifts that the children had, but I would have liked a bit more background, as well as seeing some of the gifts of the others. I was also confused about Amanda’s gift for quite a long time, since it seemed to be one thing but was then revealed to be something else.

I really liked Cody as a character and I also liked Kino. It was good to see the way they bantered with each other. I would have liked to see some parts of the book from Cody’s perspective, though, because two out of the three romances seemed really rushed and I would have liked to see that more developed.

I also really loved Dante. I like animals being in books and he was no exception. There were a couple of things I didn’t see coming, but the foreshadowing did work to have it actually make sense.

I would probably read a sequel to this book at some point in the future. Although it would have been nice to see the romance developed more, I did enjoy this and there was some attempt to ‘humanise’ the bad guys.