(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. While I can’t quite give it 5… it was much better reading than I was expecting it to be and it was really easy to form emotional connections to most of the characters.

The world described in this book is particularly difficult to read about, but is actually something I could see happening in the distant future. The idea of Death Matches is an especially difficult one to deal with, considering that a new baby can’t be born unless someone else dies in this reality. While that might seem like an acceptable answer to overpopulation at the time, the problems that are made clear with it (people waiting years; Death Matches falling through; etc.) mean that it’s easy to see why the reality is falling apart.

The use of advertisements at various points in the book were particularly eerie and it was interesting to see the kinds of comments people made to the articles. What was even more intriguing were the censored comments. I felt that was a good way of leaving things to the readers’ imagination.

I found Michael Kelly to be a particularly interesting character. While I did have some sympathy for him, especially in regards to the moral difficulties he faced in his job, I couldn’t condone his actions. Even if he didn’t pull the trigger/s himself, he was definitely in the wrong… and it was good to see that he acknowledged and accepted that.

I found Benson to be a really well-rounded character. Although there was a big contrast between him as a child and him as a teenager, I felt that he was a believable person and I had a lot of sympathy for him. I didn’t know what to make of Harrison to begin with, but as the book progressed, I thought that he was concerned with doing the right thing.

There was a lot about this book that hit hard and although there were some awful characters involved, there were others who I believed in and wanted to see succeed. I felt a lot of sympathy for Janice and I would like to see more of her and Benson and Harrison in the next book, which I plan to read in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

So… when this book arrived and I read the blurb, I didn’t think it was the kind of book that would have piqued my interest if I saw it in a book shop. Although it’s a paranormal, I have virtually no interest in poker… and I assumed that most of the book would be about the game of poker; which actually was the case, but I felt the book had a lot more to it than that.

I thought that both Telly and Clutch were interesting characters, though I did like Telly a lot more than Clutch for a lot of the book. I found it really interesting to see how Telly was trying to deal with his financial problems. I felt a lot of sympathy for Gretchen, since I was able to see how affected she was by what was happening with Telly. Even though it wasn’t his fault, I could see where Gretchen was coming from.

Although Clutch’s character had grown on me by the end of the book, I didn’t really like him very much during it. I thought that, even though he had his moments of empathy, he only cared about himself. I did have a lot of sympathy for Ginny and I thought the fact that she cared about Clutch and his daughter was obvious, even though Ruby wasn’t actually related to her. I really disliked Jenny. I was glad to see that she didn’t have things go completely right for her by the end of the book.

I got quite confused about Stan’s character. I mistook him for another character who’d shown up, but I liked seeing him interacting with Telly and although I didn’t know exactly why he was feeling so depressed at one point, it was nice to see that Telly was able to reason with him and that Stan was able to help him out. I also liked seeing Big Daddy and Cheryl. It was good to see that Telly did have friends around him and I thought the fact that he was one of the good guys came across really well. He seemed to have a really kind heart and he was someone who was really easy to relate to.

There was a lot about this book that felt really good to read. It drew me into the storyline really easily and Telly and Gretchen’s exchanges were really sweet, especially the ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ part.

I have another book by this author ready to read in the next few weeks or so. While it’s not actually connected to this book… I’m still interested in glimpsing more worlds and characters created by this author.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have to be honest… I would have given this book 4 out of 5 stars, if it wasn’t for the romance and my complete lack of belief in the connection between Rain and Jabari. While I did like Rain and Jabari separately, I felt that their relationship was rushed and all of the actual development was taken out in favour of instant!love. (I have read exactly one series of books where the soulmates thing has been handled well).

I did find myself drawn very well into the story from the beginning. The first scene did a really good job of establishing a darker atmosphere around the world of the storyline. And it was pretty awful to see how the world Rain lived in mirrored one of history’s most awful times… but in a modern age, which I thought was shown to be almost as bad.

I did like Rain’s relationship with her little brother. Daktari was really sweet at the beginning and even though I was confused by exactly how much time had passed after the first scene, I thought the author did a good job of showing how bad the life in their ‘zone’ was. While I only got to see what Rain’s day was like, I thought it was shown really well how much strain was being put on them all. By the end of the book, her mother went right down in my estimation, even though I could understand why she’d fallen so deep into depression. I did like Rain and Daktari’s father, even though I didn’t get to see all that much of him. I thought that his care for his children came across really well.

The different abilities that the characters had came across really well, but I did feel Rain was going too close to the line of a character classed as a Mary Sue with how many abilties she had compared to the others around her. While the fact that Cole and his cousin hit on any female they found attractive made for humorous moments, there were too many references to how attractive Rain was for my liking.

Although there were some scenes of tension, it felt like there was very little actual danger that the characters were in. While I thought it was good that their experiences made them more careful and less likely to take chances, everything seemed to go quite smoothly for them… and their powers meant that even the brief moments of danger were handled quickly. With the exception of Zi, none of the others seemed to suffer from any detrimental effects from using their powers so many times within succession of each other.

I am going to be reading the next books in this series… but I hope the storyline will be more of a focus than the romance. The dream Rain has later on sounds really intriguing… but after she decides to tell the others about it, the book skips ahead with no explanation given as to what they actually talk about. And I think this glossing over is a big problem in this book.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I was originally contacted and asked to read this book, the fact that it was heavily based on different kinds of mythology really made me want to read it. However, now that I’ve reached the end, I think I’d give it 3.5 stars out of 5. While I did find it quick and easy to read, it hit a lot of the elements that I’m not especially keen on.

The concept of some of the gods being trapped/reincarnated/losing their powers… somehow becoming teenagers… was a really intriguing one; one that I would have liked to see explored further. While it was made clear how Set had wound up in the prison (though another scene later on raised a lot of questions about that), I didn’t know how Eris had apparently kept her abilities… or any idea of how Anubis had become Andrew. And was Tomas meant to be Loki? I found myself incredibly confused by the whole plotline with him involving Sif and Asgard.

I did think that the relationship between Kitty and Tomas was incredibly cliched. Most of the conflicts between them didn’t strike me as very realistic. I felt that the character who was the most well-rounded, at least in a way that I could understand, was Natalie. I was confused about her exact relationship to Anna, though. I’d thought that they were enemies, but by the end of the book, it seemed like they were in a relationship and… yeah. There were a whole lot of other questions.

I think this book was a bit too short. There was a lot going on, but I wasn’t given the opportunity to understand everything. And the villains did fall into the trap of the cliiched villains who only work together up until they betray each other. I did feel the previous friendship between Set and Gin was interesting and I would have liked the opportunity to see more of their past interactions… and what the whole thing with Eris was all about.

I was also disappointed to see that there was very little opportunity for the characters to grow in their relationships. Passages of time were skipped over… but there was one of those ‘instant connections’ between Kitty and Tomas that I have a strong dislike for. And I found Andrew very difficult to understand by the end of the book.

I’m not sure I’d read the next book in this series as it stands. Although there were some nice elements, there was too much that made it difficult to form an emotional connection to many of the characters… and there were virtually no surprises or twists, since everything was revealed almost at once.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although it did take me a little while to get into this book, I did eventually find myself get drawn into Lex’s world. I felt a lot of sympathy for her mother even from the beginning of the book, knowing that it had been through trying to do the right thing that caused all of the problems to start.

I didn’t really like the romance between Quin and Lex. I wasn’t really sure what had drawn Quin to Lex in the first place and although there were some really sweet moments between them later on, those were coloured negatively by the fact that I found it really difficult to believe in their apparent feelings for each other.

One thing I felt was shown really well in the book was Lex’s feelings after she’d had to kill to defend herself. I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for the Guardians, especially towards the end of the book. I did really like Elana and Max as characters… though Lex’s snap judgment about Elana didn’t really endear her to me, even though they did become friends later on. I did notice that everyone seemed to be spilling all of theirr deepest, darkest secrets to Lex… without her really doing anything to prove that she was trustworthy.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the society outside of the Resistance. I was confused about exactly what was going on generally… how the Guardians fit into the reality and what people not involved with them or with the Resistance would be doing.

I do think there were several missed opportunities to allow for some twists or surprises. While a lot of the characters were shown to be intelligent and able to think fast on their feet, in particular Lex, I felt the bad guys were obvious from the start. And while the major characters were clear and well-defined, I felt many of the minor characters were just there as filler.

I think this book could have done with being expanded upon and less focus put on the romance straight away. I personally believe that real, true love grows slowly but naturally… and I would have liked to see that happen with this book. I would like to read the next book in this series, if only to see what lies in store for the characters next.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is another book I had some trouble deciding how many stars to give it. The plot sounded really intriguing and I really liked the concept behind it… in particular how Qui kept reincarnating. The very first scene of the book instantly piqued my interest and made me want to see what would happen next.

I would say that the weakest part of this book was the romance. There was a lot of potential, but the ‘love at first sight’ trope is over-used… and for someone like Qui, who has lived for so long, I expected there would be more conflict. Especially since she’d vowed never to grow close to anyone after her previous life.

I did find it really interesting to see bits and pieces of Qui’s past lives and the fact that the people she’d had relationships with in those past lives seemed to mean just as much to her. I also thought it was interesting to see that she reincarnated into different genders, rather than being only female. That’s not something I see very often and it was a more unique twist.

I would have liked more details about the society. It seemed to take quite a while for it to be explained exactly why the Breed and the Purists were so bad. It was interesting to have the opportunity to see Qui’s interactions with others of her kind and I felt she was clearly a strong character and even though the romance did move far too quickly, it was good to see that she didn’t allow herself to be forced into becoming lesser than what she actually was. I also liked the fact that she wasn’t trusted immediately by the Resistance and had to prove herself.

I did think that a lot of the start of the book was glossed over. I was left very confused about how it all worked, at least until Qui explained things to David. The idea of the sharing was a particularly interesting one and I thought the after-effects on them came across really well.

Qui did go down in my estimation quite a bit after she did something I really didn’t agree with, but by that point, I was too emotionally invested in the book to stop reading it… even if I didn’t like Qui very much at that point.

I did think that the book was a bit slow-moving, with the action only really starting towards the end. I didn’t especially like the ending of the book, but I would be interested in reading more books set in this ‘verse and seeing more of Qui’s adventures and relationships with members of other species.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was a bit unsure about how many stars to give this book. Although I thought the concept was a really intriguing one and that Fledgling’s character was a really interesting one, I did find her a bit irritating at times. While I could understand she was questioning everything, I thought it was unfair that she was dragging her friends down with her… to the point of them getting into trouble along with her.

I thought it was an interesting concept for all of the fledglings to be different colours and for those colours to be what enabled the other members of their group to refer to them. However, I was disappointed that the main character seemed to stand out so much, to the point that she was different even when it came to her colouring.

I did find the idea of insterting a conscience into the people about to do bad things a really interesting one. While I didn’t understand what that would do for a while at first, it did make more sense as the book went on.

I did like seeing Fledgling’s friendship with Blue and Yellow. It was interesting to see that the three of them all had different ways of dealing with things and carrying out their missions. I also thought it was interesting how the fledglings were created. The first scene in the book did a really good job of establishing Fledgling’s motivations and the fact that she cared about the Innocents. I would have liked a bit more detail about how certain people were chosen to be saved while others weren’t, however.

The interpretations of the arch angels were interesting. I thought that Gabriel was the most unique, while Michael seemed to be similar to how I’ve seen him portrayed in fiction most of the time. At the same time, it was good to see that he really believed in and cared about the fledglings under his care.

While most of the book was well-written, it was kind of jarring that the tense kept being changed to past. I was intrigued by the different abilities that the three of them were developing, or about to develop, and it was good to see that Fledgling wasn’t the only one gaining extra abilities.

I would be interested in reading the sequel to this book at some point in the future. It would be good to see what will happen next with Fledgling and her friends… and I’d especially like to see more of Gabriel and Michael.