Literary Beauty
"I’m always amazed at friends who say they try to read at night in bed but always end up falling asleep. I have the opposite problem. If a book is good I can’t go to sleep, and stay up way past my bedtime, hooked on the writing. Is anything better than waking up after a late-night read and diving right back into the plot before you even get out of bed to brush your teeth?" -John Walters
I LOVE reading. Although, I didn't actually start readingreading until July of 2012 when I got my Nook, the love of my life.
Abbreviations I use in my reviews:
WTS (Wrist Twitch Syndrome) - The compulsory jerking of the wrist in an effort to pitch the nook away from the body to reduce mental anguish and self inflicted bodily harm.
ERS (Eye Roll Syndrome)- The act of rolling one’s eyes multiple times in a matter of mere minutes.
The severity of this syndrome tend to vary from benign eye rolls every now and then, depending on the situation and protagonist, to intense eye rolls, of which, cause the body to seize up for minutes at a time.
**Both symptoms tend to manifest as a result of naive, stupid, clueless, lovesick, rose-glasses wearing puddle-depth fucktard protagonists or an ag-on-izing storyline.
Phoenix (Black City, #2)
If I was asked to describe Phoenix in one thought, it would be completely and utterly fucking annoying.
It started out good then it went downhill quite fast. Ash and Natalie are doing good, they are planning the rest of their lives together; singing songs, holding hands and prancing about in fields of tall grass and all that jazz, and what I didn’t quite grasp was the fact that they thought that everything would be honky dory after the stunt that they pulled…oh you know, with Ash surviving and all? Yeah, they only lightly touch on some fear of Purian Rose's retaliation. They didn’t have that paranoid, over exaggerated sense of fear that they should have had. The type of fear that had them looking over their shoulders, twitching at very sound, wearing bullet proof vests and always walking around in groups of five or more in daylight hours only and then covering themselves up with dirt and sleeping in cardboard boxes like indigents all around the city, so their sleeping patterns were erratic and untraceable. Why you ask? Because Purian Rose is a sneaky, conniving, recreant, psychotic mother fucker that will get his way no matter the cost and that is something they should have feared at. all. times. But they didn't and then they were surprised at what happened, when it happened...and who leaves the cripples alone with no sense of protection?! Jeezus H!
Then the rebellion happens, some other shit happens and there are some new developments, of which I could not hold back the exaggerated sigh and eye rolling when these developments came to surface. Just stop it...is she really the first and only? I can’t handle it.
THEN on top of the other bullshit, these two decide it “best” to keep things from each other as to not hurt the other…What?? The world is going to end as they know it, they might fucking die the next day but they want to hold some fucking secrets? Get the hell out of here!
Overall, I didn’t hate this installment and I guess Richard’s needs a reason to write a third book…so ok whatever, I’ll read the next one but I won’t be happy about it.
Afterlife (Afterlife Saga book 1)
Too boring...can't go on...can't keep my eyes open....falling asleep...
Sacrifice of Love (The Grey Wolves, #7)
Bravo! Bravo!I feel sad and lost now that I have finished this series, like I lost a good friend and now I don’t know what to do…what do I read next after I have spent so many hours enchanted in the world of Wolves, Fae, Pixies, Elves, Witches & Trolls? How do I move on from the friendships I have discovered and the lives I have followed?
I guess the best answer would be to pick up another book.
However, these questions are ever only reserved for very well written books, the books that have the power to make you feel that your reality is what your are reading. You know, the stories that keep you up until all hours of the night because you just have to know what happened next, the stories that have you thinking about it during your daily routines and thoroughly anticipating when you can return?
I had my doubts in the first book, but this is definitely one of those series’ that reminds me that my gluttony for punishment sometimes pays off!
I loved the series as a whole, I think Loftis did an awesome job with the development of these characters and am I now finding myself at a loss as to what to read next…
Sooo, what now?
Just One Drop (The Grey Wolves, #3)
Now I'm just starting to get pissed!I'm staying up WAY past my bedtime reading this series! I'm tired and cranky and I still have another 4 books to devour and not enough time in the day!
Blood Rites (The Grey Wolves, #2)
Damn it! She’s got me. She’s got me!This series is seriously growing on me! I stayed up reading this to the end; I just couldn’t go to sleep without knowing what happened. This book was what I needed, it had action, deceit, kidnapping, anguish, blood, fur, anger…then love and romance but just enough of both that your gag reflexes weren’t kicking in and you could actually enjoy the peace.
Where the characters were forgettable for me in the first book, they have grown on me in the second. Maybe it was because they were finally able to get serious and not mask every little thing with sarcasm and jokes because there is a place and time for all of that and sometimes the situation is dire and the weight of the situation should weigh heavy on the shoulders of loved ones and not made light of every. single. second. of. the. day. It just isn’t necessary.
Jen and Sally have grown a little bit in this book and I like how much strong their friendships are with each other, yes they were this close in the first book but it was overshadowed by their juvenile personalities that didn’t know when to quit. But now I can like them.
Oh and the wolves, I just love all of them! Vasil and Alina are really great leaders, I like how they are serious when they need to be but also have a sense of humor, and allow the girls to be girls.
There are quite a few LOL moments in this read, so I will say that it is worth it to endure the physical pain of the first book to get to this little gem.
…and don’t get me started on Jen and Decebel!! OMG! I’m fan-girling!! I can’t wait to dig in to the third installment!
Prince of Wolves (The Grey Wolves, #1)
Insta-love at its finest but I have to say, I liked the plot. But let’s touch on the not so great parts of this read:
Jacque and her two besties, Sally and Jen have the depth of a puddle. There were times that I had to go back to look up their ages because they act like prepubescent grade school girls. The banter was sometimes witty but it became boring and repetitive towards the end of the book. I actually had to start skipping ahead when they spoke because I just couldn’t bear to hear anymore! Then the “bad-ass girls” persona Sally and Jen were trying to portray with stomping up to the wolves and giving them a piece of their minds…the incredibly empty threats…the “sass”…Was it all supposed to be cute? Cause I didn’t think so.
No let’s talk about the “love” of Jacque and wolf boy, oh gosh I mean, Fane (jeez that’s embarrassing…letting my AD-OR-A-BLE pet names slip like that!). Gah, so annoying! Stop it with the LOVE! I can’t handle all of the LOVE! By the end of this installment, keep in mind that it has only been 5 days! 5. effing. days., they loved each other SO much that whenever they thought about parting they would tear up?! Shut. Up. Just shut up, towards the end there my ERS kicked in full time and I had trouble walking because I couldn’t see straight. Not to mention, I was actually becoming physically ill with all of the love and I am a sucker for romance.
Were there moments of high adrenaline action? Yes. Were those times always sprinkled with unabashed love and desperation? Yes and I have to say that it made the story less entertaining (for lack of better words, I liked the love story but give the reader a break every now and then, it was overwhelming. I want action! Pure unadulterated action! Where two wolves can fight to the death without Jacque intervening even when she gave her word that she wouldn’t and god forbid don’t let the girl throw herself at the other potentially dangerous wolf who was ready to make the final kill…just stop.
But alas even with all of the sugar coated adoration in this read, I couldn’t put the book down. I wanted to see what happened next, the plot is like crack but the characters are forgettable.
I don’t know if I like this protagonist, Evangeline, there is just something about her and I can’t place my finger on it. The only reason I entertained the thought of reading this series is because K.A. Tucker has impressed me with her other works. But Evie is naïve; she believes everything she hears without second thought, even when it burned her the last time. She claims that she is super perceptive, but she isn’t, she gets blind sighted so many times, I’m surprised she hasn’t made an appointment with an optometrist…cause she should really get that checked out.However, there are a few things I did enjoy about this version of vampires; I like how there are two parallel worlds, one without humans and the other with humans but the vamps are unable to turn humans into vamps because they no longer have venom. I like that there is a witch-vamp, it adds dimension.
I think it’s worth continuing even though this one isn’t a strong start; I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past.
You’re allowed to be ignorant and naive the first book...I'll give you a pass the second installment...but now, it's getting bothersome, annoying and tiresome and when my ERS starts to kick in so bad my eye sockets start to hurt, I just have to put the book down and walk away...
Moon of the Terrible (Seasons of the Moon: Cain Chronicles, #3)
Oh Jeez **eyeroll**, there must not be any other woman on the face of the Earth, except his brothers...I'm so tired of reading about love triangles between brothers.Good thing the storyline is a good one, or I would have deleted these series two books ago...and don’t get me started with the pregnant idiot, you don’t know what Cain meant? Really Rylie? Stop. It.
The Faerie Guardian, Part III: Traitor
Ok, now we're getting in to treachery…Woot! Although I am a little disappointed in our little faerie fighter...it's hard to believe these last few consecutive times she has been completely blind sighted have been the only times. I call bullshit, I just think she never was in a position to test her guard and now she's getting her ass handed to her every time she turns around!
The Faerie Guardian, Part II: Labyrinth
Hmmm Griffins, serpents, half-magic/half-humans, centaurs? A maniacal halfling that killed his human father? A maniacal halfling that wants to take over the world? A halfling that when he was killed, separated pieces of his magic into different objects? ...If my count is correct, we seem to be missing Ronald Weasley...
I have mixed feelings about this one. I can’t get over Nisha's ignorance but the end to this read wasn’t all that bad…it was almost enough to have me thinking that I wanted to read the next installment. Almost. But alas, Nisha was an idiot, even given ample opportunity to leave the city, she didn’t, she wanted to wait and see and hope and pray that good would happen to her all the while wallowing in self-pity.She then believes that she has a purpose in finding out who the murderers were, but, she can’t even do that well, she isn’t smart about her sleuthing…I mean really, she didn’t even approach the rogue girl until the very end and the girl ends up dead! It just didn’t make any sense to me, there was mention time and time again that the girl was acting out of character but when the murders began, she wasn’t the least bit curious about the other girl or why she was acting weird (sorry, the characters were so forgettable that I forgot the girls name). The mystery? Well, that fell short too; I wasn’t at all surprised when the culprit was revealed. And those bouts of courage in the midst of all that self-pity only made me dislike Nisha more, I am still questioning why her staff abilities were mentioned so many times, when not once were they showcased and the only reason she was able to stop the culprit, is because she trained with her before and knew what she was capable of.
I did love the setting though, I think the plot had a lot of potential but in the end it fell flat for me. I will only allow one series to get my blood boiling with a weak protagonist who is revered as a WARRIOR AMONG THE GODS…and even then the last installment of that series almost did me in.
I'm actually a little upset with the ending of this one. Champion better end better or I'm going to start a fire...
