Quinn Loftis - Beyond the Veil/Fate and Fury

So for this time around, I decided to review two books in one post because, one, they are from the same series and two, I read them back to back so the two story lines kind of blended together and now I can't remember what happened in one book and what happened in the other (whoops!). 

So first of all, I have to say that Quinn Loftis is a goddess. I don't know how she does it, but her books are the wittiest and most exciting YA books I have ever read, and that's saying something because I've read A LOT. I honestly don't know how she comes up with the dialogue that she does, because I couldn't do that in a million years. She's such a dynamic writer; the way that she makes her characters talk is just so funny and so refreshingly different from other authors. 

I'm not actually going to give an overview of the plot of each book because that would result in a really long post (though it's probably going to be long anyways), so I'm just going to give a really short summary that spans the two books. I'm going to outline the biggest points of the story, so just a heads up that there's going to be a lot of spoilers.
Basically, Sally now knows that because she is a healer, she is compatible with the Canis lupus and is therefore Costin's mate. Desdemona is still a huge threat that has to be dealt with; the Great Luna has made the Fae and the Canis Lupus compatible and made them more fertile; Desdemona makes a deal with the Warlock King, Cypher, who turns out to be Lilly's (Jacque's mom's) mate; Jen finds out that she's pregnant but the Fates want her baby's life in exchange for letting her live when she was supposed to die; All the males (Costin, Vasile, Drake, Fane, Adam, Decebel, Gavril, and Sorin) get captured and put in the In-Between, a place where their worst fears are replayed in their minds over and over again. The girls rescue the males but their minds have been seriously damaged due to seeing their fears come to life over and over again for weeks. Because of this, the males have shut out their mates because they don't want their "darkness" to affect them. The girls get really pissed that their mates are sparing them of this "darkness" because alleviating the darkness is what their job as mates is. So the girls tell their mates that their touch is uninvited, so now if they do touch the girls they'll feel a lot of pain. Then, a spell is put on all the girls that makes them believe and feel that they're being tortured and touched against their will but the males can't touch their mates to give them comfort because of the whole "their touch is uninvited" thing. The spell eventually gets lifted off the girls but now their minds are really damaged too. Meanwhile, Cypher and Lilly are off to try and enlist the help of the Elves; the Wolves, Elves, and Fae fight against Desdemona and kill her, but then a new threat arrives and he turns out to be Reyaz, Cypher's brother.

So now for the good stuff. I'll start with Lilly and Cypher, because I was just so surprised about Lilly getting a mate but then so happy too. I was like "you go Jacque's mom!" Cypher and her were gettin' it on like teenagers in a dark corner of the library. I didn't know that Lilly had that much spunk in her, she's pretty much like Jacque with her sarcasm and smart-ass replies. I was really glad for Cypher and that Lilly was able to pull him out of the dark. They were so cute together! It didn't feel at all awkward that I was reading about Jacque's mom get her flirt on; I was really happy that she got her happy ending after all. 

Regarding Sally and Costin, I was a little apprehensive about reading about them cuz I never felt like they were very interesting characters, but I actually got really into them and was disappointed that the books didn't include them more. Jacque and Jen already got their two books so I was expecting that the 5th and 6th books would be about Sally and Costin, but Jacque and Jen stole a lot of Sally's spotlight, what with Jen being pregnant and Jacque slipping into a spell-induced coma because of Desdemona. I feel like though we did get a lot of scenes between Sally and Costin, they didn't seem extra special because all the other couples were getting the same amount of book time. I was also disappointed that we didn't see Sally's powers as a healer develop more. I really was hoping that Peri would  train her to be an awesome healer so that when the time to battle Desdemona came she would be a badass that defeated Mona, but her role was really downplayed and that bothered me a lot. Maybe we'll see her develop more in the next books, because the way that Fate and Fury ended tells me that there has to be another book coming. But aside from that, it was really nice to see how Sally and Costin developed as a couple throughout the books. It was nice to see Sally emerge out of her protective shell and become more confident in her womanly powers since she's always been the least confident one of the three. 

Now, about Jen, oooh that girl, she's a piece of work that one. First of all, how could she think that Decebel was going to hate her for something she has no power over? If she had chosen to die instead of live, then there never even would have been the possibility of a baby. And I'm sorry if this sounds really callous, but you can have more babies if you lose this one, and she might not fully recover from losing this one, but she will have other babies. Now I don't know what's going to happen because Decebel went behind Jen's back and decided to die in place of his baby in 9 months. That was a dumb-ass move. Seriously Dec? You think Jennifer is going to recover from losing you but she won't recover from losing the baby? SERIOUSLY? She  would NEVER recover from losing you, even if you severed the bond. Severing the bond might keep her from dying immediately but she would still die from grief, that can happen you know, and then the baby is going to be an orphan and all that would have been for nothing. I'm soooo frustrated with this couple because they keep doing stupid stuff!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!

And then there's the other stupid couple, Jacque and Fane. I don't know what the hell happened to Fane but he needs to snap out of it. At this moment he is soooo not worthy of Jacque. He's been treating her like shit, scaring her and emotionally hurting her. I get that his mind isn't fully mended yet because he suffered longer than anyone else in the In-Between, but that's no excuse to shut out your mate and hurt her. I don't know how he's going to fix it, but he needs to and soon, cuz Jacque doesn't deserve that. I hope that in the next book everything turns out ok, because they are the original couple and they should be happy. 

I was really glad that Sorin and Crina also found their mates because the Great Luna made them compatible with the Fae, but at the same time it was a little weird how fast they came together and how they were all like "Oh, you're my mate, so now I'll love you forever, no questions asked". It would have been better if in the other books there had been some sort of attraction between the couples so that this wasn't so sudden. It just really made it seem like they fell in love because of the bond and not because of who they are as individuals. Take for example Elle and Sorin. Elle said that she'd never thought of Sorin that way, but now, because of the bond, she says that he is "beautiful" and feels a really strong attraction to him. 

Overall, I feel like the books were just too tragic and too filled with anguish compared to the past books. It was tragedy after tragedy without any respite.  Don't get me wrong, I still loved the books and would give them 5 stars, but it seriously was tragic; I was crying way more than I was laughing. What made it so tragic is that EVERYONE was going through something. There was no couple that was truly happy or that could give us a break from all the sadness and hopelessness, which I feel the author should have included. Maybe at least have Fane and Jacque be happy because they're the "oldest" couple in terms of book sequence and thus should have all their problems resolved. So now I have to wait until the next book gets released which could be as long as 2 years!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Quinn, you can't do this to meeeee!! I really hope this is not the case and she has a book out in about 6 months because way too many things were left unresolved. Alas, that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this review! Until next time

Book Love
Lena

Thea Harrison - Lord's Fall

Sooooo...I have really mixed feelings about this book. It's not like it was bad or anything, but its not like it was great either. It was missing something that would have made it better, but I just can't put my finger on it. It might be that it was too subdued for my liking. I think it was too big of a change from the passion and fast-paced action of the first book, Dragon Bound, which first introduced Pia and Dragos and how their romance developed. So here's what I didn't like about it:

For one thing, for the first 140 pages or so of the book, Pia and Dragos weren't together because Pia had convinced Dragos to let her go on a diplomatic mission down to the Elven Demesne in Charleston to repair their broken alliance (which Dragos had caused because in the first book, he had crossed the Elven border to chase after Pia when it was forbidden). So they weren't broken up or anything, but they were physically separated and it kinda sucked. 

I also found it really wrong that Pia, who is pregnant and starting to show, has no qualms about going into battle and putting her baby at risk. I understand that she's a tough bitch and won't cower behind Dragos, but dude, you're PREGNANT. You're going to have a BABY. A baby which you could possibly lose if you get injured. So I thought that was a little callous of her and thoughtless. 

The ending of the book also bothered me a bit because even though I was super happy that she finally had the baby, who has a conscience even as a fetus and who's been talking to Pia in her dreams for a long time, We don't even get to see mother and child together. The book ends with Pia sleeping with her head on Dragos lap because she's so tired after giving birth, so Dragos is holding the baby looking out the window into the lake all content and whatnot. Call me a sappy fool, but I kind of wanted Pia to be awake so she and Dragos could be like "Aww, look at him, isn't he the most perfect thing you've ever seen?" or something like that. 

So I felt that, overall, the baby got ignored a bit too much. I'd have liked it more if the book was a bit more about the baby and maybe her having some complication with the pregnancy. Instead it was about how she had to repair the alliance between the Wyr and the Elves, which all of a sudden turned into some battle to save the world from an elf who was being controlled by a powerful object made by a god. I guess the book was lacking in cohesion and seemed a bit fragmented. There just wasn't enough build up of tension or back story about the God Machines. It felt like I was reading two separate stories, one about Pia going to the Elven Demesne to try to repair the alliance and another about the battle against this crazy elf. It would have been better if the book was about, like I said, complications with her pregnancy or her secret of being a unicorn getting out or something like that, and her getting kidnapped by people who want to use her powers to their advantage. That would have been a really good read.

So I guess there wasn't much to like about this book, even the sex scenes were crappy compared to the first book, where they were crazy for each other and the scenes were really steamy. To be honest, I didn't feel their connection as strongly as I did in the first book, but maybe that's just me. 

But anyways, I FINALLY GOT TO POST AN ACTUAL REVIEW!!!! Yay for Spring Break!!! I'm hoping I'll be able to get 7 or 8 books in this week, and it might actually happen cuz I'm book starved and I read through this book like I was eating candy. Until next time!

Book Love,

Lena           

Finals, Finals, Finals!!!

Hi guys, I know it's been really long since I lasted posted a new entry, but school has kept me really busy. It's terrible!! I haven't done anything but study for weeks, and it still won't stop! Now I have to start studying for finals which are next week and which I am sure I am going to do really bad in. Honestly, professors need to stop assigning so much work! It's just not doable! I have three finals next week, two on Tuesday and one on Friday, and the one on Friday I have to prepare 19 essays because the teacher is going to pick 4 out of the 19 and we have to write on them. It's crazy right?! Who the hell makes your write 19 essays just to pick 4? Maybe 10 is okay, 8 is even better, but 19?! NO! Just kill me now, I don't think I'll survive finals week anyways.

But then after finals comes Spring Break, and you know what that means? I can read all I want!!!! Yaaaaaay!! I guess some people would be like "lame!" but to me its the best possible way I could spend my Spring Break, relaxing and not doing anything but reading. So hang in with me, there'll be a post up in about a week or so, and hopefully several more after that!