Get Lost in Literature

“Shadows in the corridor loomed, only to scurry away. They seemed taller in the witching hour, dawn mere hours away.” In this sequel to One Dark Window , Nightmare has finally taken over Elspeth’s mind, leaving her imprisoned in the dark. Ravyn, who is desperate to save her and break the curse on Blunder, must find the last Providence card before time runs out. With Hauth on his deathbed, Elm finds himself becoming an unwilling heir to the throne. I loved the plot of this a little bit better than the first. I think maybe the first book was simply introducing the world… The second book is more of a quest as the future of Blunder hangs in the balance. There was no waffling about either, nothing extraneous included. RG knew where she wanted her characters to go and she sent them there. The romantasy elements were really fun. The story is passionate without being super smutty. Ravyn’s determined to save Elspeth even if it means allying himself with the monster that lives in her head, even ...

"Betrayal lodges in my heart like a hot coal trapped behind the grate of the hearth." In this final installment of the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy, Grey has been chased from the Crystal Palace in Syhl Shallow and has returned to Ironrose in Emberfall, leaving his wife Queen Lia Mara to rule her country alone. Like with the first two novels, the continuation of Grey and Lia Mara's complicated love story is a delicious side plot to compliment the story of Tycho, Jax, Callyn, and Alek. Tycho, who promised he'd only be gone for a few days, returns to Emberfall after months away from Jax. Jax had spent his alone time making friends and a not-so-secret admirer. They both feel a little guilty; Tycho per usual looking to hide his emotions behind a wall of toxic masculinity, and Jax trying to hide his emotions with fake indifference. Both agonize over the distance growing between them, neither willing to yield. Callyn is living under the weight of her anxiety; Alek upon ...

"...instead we entered battle with an enemy I'd thought were only folklore last week, and now we're... well, we're here..." Violet Sorrengail returns to Basgiath War College after surviving a war game that turned real and cost her friend his life. Her and the other survivors must pretend like everything is normal to protect themselves and the rebellion and she's miserable lying to her friends. Xaden has graduated and is at the warfront, still smuggling weapons in his spare time, while Violet tries to survive her second year of school without him. I actually thought this book was better than the first. Rebecca Yarros just assumes no character intros are needed if you made it to book two, and with introductions out of the way the adventure intensifies. Like the first book, this story included a few plot twists but these ones I didn't see coming. I enjoy it so much more when a story is unpredictable, it's easier to sink into it.  When not worried about sc...

"Earthquakes couldn’t crush us, floods couldn’t drown us, fires were too slow to catch us. Sulfur and brimstone were irrelevant. We were the gods of our own alternate universe. Inside the mortal world but over it, never slaves to its laws, only our own." Few books have incited as much Love and Hate as The Twilight Saga . All I'm going to say, is if you loathed Twilight through Breaking Dawn , you aren't going to like this book much better. It's Twilight , from Edward's POV; it isn't really any darker than Bella's POV, after all it is a vampire novel intended to be palatable for 13-year-old girls. It was never intended to be use as horror or erotica. If you loved Twilight, just the way it was, this book is for you. I feel like Stephenie Meyer has come a long way. She maintains the same level of teenage angst, self-flagellation, desperately sickeningly sweet love affair that we came to know in the first book, but her actual writing technique has improv...

  "Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs—on the probabilities." Violet Sorrengail, frail and fragile, trained her whole life to be in Scribe Quadrant, wanting nothing more than to be surrounded by books, recording history. But her mother, the general, has other ideas. She's being sent to college to train in the Riders Quadrant to follow in the footsteps of her siblings to become a dragon rider. The problem? Besides being too weak to carry her own bag, she'll be in a school where every test she takes is graded by life or death and everyone wants her dead. I can absolutely see what the fuss is about, this was a little addicting for me. I was pulled in right away by the idea of Violet, this smart young woman with physical infirmities being forced into a war college where only the strongest survive. She's the heroine of the story, so you know she's going to survive, but s...

  "He's always wanted to be a person with a legacy in this world. Henry is undoutedly, determinedly that. It's a little intoxicating." Alex Claremont-Diaz, First Son of the United States, hates Prince Henry. Henry is a cold, stuck up robot according to Alex who is passionate, flirtatious, and ambitious. After Alex and Henry get in a shoving match at Prince Philip's Royal Wedding, they are forced by their families to spend time together, to convince the paparazzi that they are actually best friends. It's a story of love at first fight. This is a first for me... I've read romantasy because I like fantasy, but I've never read a novel that was intended to be romance and romance only. I picked this book up from the library after seeing the trailer for the movie. I figured if it was a movie it had to be good, right? I was surprised to find I wasn't disappointed. This book was cute.  Told from Alex's point of view it opens with a fair amount of animus...

The story of Tycho and Jax continues with their journey to Emberfall, during which there's a vicious attack by scravers. With scravers terrorizing the countryside, Tycho worries about the consequences of his promise to Nakiis. Prince Rhen orders Tycho away to warn the King and once again he finds himself riding away from Jax. Callyn's story opens with her chasing the princess through the palace, part of her new job as Sinna's lady in waiting. Soon it becomes her responsibility to figure out why the Queen was attacked, trapping her in a game of politics that may turn deadly. I'm going to start by saying, Jax and Tycho are sooooo sweet. They're sweet together and sweet to each other. If you are looking for a lighthearted romantasy that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, this book's opening salvo fits the bill. But as wonderful as it is it can't stay that way for long. Their relationship becomes strained by the necessity of finding balance between the...

"Fate has already drawn a path beyond this moment..." Brigid Kemmerer can always be trusted when your definition of "light reading" is a page turning fairytale that keeps you up all night long. Welcome back to the lands of Syhl Shallow and Emberfall, where Cursebreakers  trilogy took place. Years after the events of the Cursebreakers, the kingdom that Grey and Lia Mara hoped would unite is falling apart under the threat and fear of the magic that has returned to the land...But this is not their story. This is the story of Callyn, a baker, brave and bold as any soldier, whose distrust of magesmiths and all forms of magic leaves her equally distrustful of strangers. It's the story of Jax, a crippled blacksmith, convinced his fate lies in the forge, under his father's abusive care. And it's the story of Tycho, the King's Courier, who stops at the small town of Briarlock when his horse throws a shoe, in desperate need of a blacksmith. The first thing tha...

  “You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.” Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. A mysterious, one-of-a-kind circus that, "Opens at nightfall, closes at dawn," and is filled with wondrously impossible exhibits. Hector Bowen and Alexander choose their prodigies, Celia and Marco, and manipulate them into participating in a game with the circus as their venue. This is no ordinary circus and it isn't just a venue; this is a battleground where magicians wage war in plain sight of people who don't believe in magic. This is about the people who play the game, those who witness it, and those swept along in the unforgiving, enchanting wake of the night circus. First things first. There is absolutely, no way to review this book without praising the attention to detail. Everyo...

  "No one has tried to kill me, but this feels like an ambush all the same."  A Vow So Bold & Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer A Curse So Dark & Lonely , covers the story of Harper, a heroine with cerebral palsy and an attitude problem, saving Rhen, a prince struggling under the weight of a cruel enchantress's curse.  A Heart So Fierce & Broken , covers the story of ex-Royal Guard Commander Grey, searching for sanctuary and finding it with Lia Mara, the extra heir of an enemy kingdom.  So we've got our characters a set up for the exciting conclusion,  A Vow So Bold and Deadly .  The Kingdom of Emberfall is split between loyalties; those who would be loyal to the True Heir, and those who remain loyal to Prince Rhen. It appears hopeless... how can they repel an invasion, if Rhen can't unify his own people.   Lia Mara, the new Queen of Syhl Shallow, is facing much the same problem. There are those who would have preferred the rule of her sister...

"...his next attack is brutal and swift and brings me to the ground. I taste blood and dirt on my tongue." - A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer So this is on the list of reviews that isn't really my best work. But Cursebreakers is reading material heavy on entertainment but light on substance, and my reviews tend to mirror the book.   In the first book, we followed Harper and Rhen on their fairytale romance. In the sequel, the story swaps between the perspectives of Grey, the used to be Commander of the Royal Guard and Not Quite Princess Lia Mara who wants to bring peace to two warring countries.  I feel a little irritated by the character developments that had to occur for this story to take place. In the first book, Harper was a fighter and in this one the fight went bye-bye. Rhen became crueler and more defensive, aggresive. But ultimately A Heart so Fierce and Broken was not their story...  The fairytale is gone.  Grey is in hiding as a means to p...

“I am always surprised to discover that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light.” ― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely  So this is very young. It's also very fun. Harper, a teenager girl with cerebral palsy is about to play the Beauty to the Beast. Her family is in trouble, and in trying to save them, she lands herself in a parallel world. Prince Rhen is cursed to turn into a monster, hell bent on destroying his own kingdom, until he finds true love. I feel like there were parts of this that were really well thought out. Having the heroine have a disability, and combining it with a fighting spirit. I liked that Commander of the Royal Guard, Grey, was such a good friend to both the Prince and Princess. YA Romances sometimes get trapped on the love triangle. I feel like maybe having two guys fight over a girl sends the wrong message. Though his part in the story was small, I even liked that Harper's brother is portrayed as a gay gang...

  "I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world." The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, is a retelling of Homer's Iliad . The story is narrated by Patroclus, a young prince who is nothing that a prince should be, undersized and seemingly untalented in every way, he begins his life as his father's disappointment. After another child dies, Patroclus is sentenced to exile; sent to live out the rest of his childhood in King Peleus' household as an orphan being trained for war.  Young prince Achilles, is Patroclus' polar opposite. The son of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, he is his father's honor and the pride of his kingdom. He is beautiful, bold and brilliant, destined by Fate to be "the best of the Greeks," doted on by all who meet him. Everyone wants to be his friend, but Achilles only has eyes for one...

  “She wanted to say 'I love you like a thunderstorm, like a lion, like a helpless rage'...” This book was probably my most ambitious read of the year. A story over 900 pages, that covers decades of life. The characters were richly fleshed out: Tom Mason who dreams of building the greatest cathedral England has ever seen. Philip, youngest Prior of a defunct monestary, determined to raise it to glory. Young noble lady Aliena, betrayed, assaulted, robbed of her home, and fighting back for her rights in a time that favors patriarchs. William Hamleigh, cunning and cruel, who can't decide whether revenge or power is more rewarding. This story was a fine example of how characters should drive a plot and not be controlled by a preconceived notion of what should happen. Ken Follet crafted a world on paper where the characters didn't just live a little; they breathed and they bled into the soul of the book. I cried when they cried, I hoped when they hoped. My review does not do ...

“Four hundred billion suns spiraling through space together. Our solar system just one grain on that galactic carousel. The carousel itself a speck in the cosmos. And here I am in this small clearing, on the surface of the earth, as transient and unnoticed to the universe as the dry blades of grass that are poking into my shirt.”  This is the story of Sol. Who lives in a world where modern civilization has been divided into Night-dwellers (Smudges) and Day-dwellers (Rays). When I started this book, I admit I had something like Twilight in mind. I had a stressful week, and I wanted some light hearted, young adult nonsense, that oozed happiness from beginning to end. This did not ooze happiness, it oozed desperation. And I couldn't make myself stop reading it, because I was equally desperate to know what happened next.  Sol, a Smudge, is about to be left alone in the world. Her brother Ciel was reassigned to Day, she has no parents, and the grandfather who raised her is d...

“My darkness is squatting like a demon, right around the next corner, lurking in every shadow, just waiting for me to slip. And when I do it’s gonna grab me, Vince, and I don’t know if I can fight my way free the next time it does.” Maggie’s Shayne’s   The Gingerbread Man , opens with Vince O’Mally, a smart detective who has trouble separating himself from his victims. He’s haunted by Sara Prague, a mother who is determined not to let the cop forget her missing kids, and makes him promise her that he won’t rest until they’re found. Vince O’Mally does the unthinkable; he promises her that everything will be alright. When it turns out to be a promise he can’t keep, he gets forced into a 30 day leave and finds himself following leads on his own time. Holly Newman is a cleric at the Dilmun Police Department; Dilmun is a small town in New York where the community is tight and nothing bad ever happens. She suffers from OCD and panic attacks brought on by PTSD, brought on by the ...

“Peter Lake had no illusions about mortality. He knew that it made everyone perfectly equal, and that the treasures of the earth were movement, courage, laughter, and love. The wealthy could not buy these things. On the contrary, they were for the taking.” Winter’s Tale starts with as a poetic an image any fairy-tale could manage: a white horse traveling through scenic New York City on perfectly snow covered dawn. This is a story of winter romance, magic and miracles, good vs. evil, spanning the industrial age to modern times, as the characters search for reason and justice in the world. My initial reaction to the book? If you liked Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus , or any of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work, you’ll probably love this story. The painstaking attention to surreal descriptions and the weaving of the fantastic into a canvas as bleak as a city filled with violence and sickness…Well, it dragged me right down to a time where a person could believe anything was pos...

This Monday morning, I am delighted to present the cover for upcoming paranormal romance, Cursed be the Wicked. Details:           Title: Cursed be the Wicked           Author: J.R.Richardson           Genre: Paranormal Mystery Romance           Release Date: March 5, 2014 Synopsis: Cooper Shaw lives his life under a pen name and enjoys the anonymity it provides during his journeys across the globe as a seasoned writer for a travel magazine. When his job lands him in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts to cover the famous Festival of the Dead, he soon realizes that he can’t stay invisible forever as he faces ghosts from a past he’s been trying to forget ever since he left. The city holds nothing but bad memories for Coop until he meets a quirky young woman with an old soul and curious insights by the name of Finnley Pierce. While she acts as his tour guide throug...

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves . A mysterious, one of a kind circus that, " Opens at nightfall, closes at dawn, " and is filled with wondrously impossible exhibits. Hector Bowen and Alexander choose their prodigies, Celia and Marco, and manipulate them into participating in a game, with the circus as their venue. This is no ordinary circus and it isn't just a venue; this is a battleground where magicians wage war in plain sight of people who don't believe in magic. This is about the people who play the game, those who witness it, and those swept along in unforgiving, enchanting wake of the night circus. First things first. There is absolutely, no way to review this book without praising the attention to detail. Everyone's heard the phase, "Show, don't tell," and Erin Morgenstern took great pains to make sure the reader was transported into the events happening inside her book. Everything was vividly described, from flavors of food to the scents ...

Smart Mouth Waitress (Life in Saltwater City #2) by Dalya Moon Peridot is an 18 year old smart mouthed waitress. Her mom took off to LA to record an album leaving Perry in charge of her moody dad and her stoner brother. Despite being in charge of her household, Perry's given herself a mission: find a boyfriend. This is great light reading, the story flows with wit that borders somewhere between sarcastic and socially awkward... Grammatically, the comma placement needs a little work, but the sentence structure was hardly the most distracting thing. The characters: eh. They had their high points and low points.  Perry, the main character, comes off as a strong leading lady in some scenes, an image helped by her smart mouth... But her desire to change who she is, simply to impress men and get laid is a bit ridiculous. I know she's 18, but c'mon; she's taking care of her family, working, driving-- one would think she's responsible enough to know better...