Category: Books

Early Review: Pale Demon By Kim Harrison

Pale Demon (The Hollows, Book 9)

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: February 2011
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Format: Hardcover , 448pp
  • Sales Rank: 357

Synopsis

Witches always look forward to their annual convention, but none of them are more eager to attend this year’s annual San Francisco shindig than Rachel Morgan. Condemned to death for black magic, this likeable spellbinder knows that she has only three days to get to Frisco to clear her very bad name. Banned by airport security, she is forced to improvise, which in this case means tagging along with a disturbingly live vampire and an elven tycoon on a secret mission. High-spirited fright nights await readers; bound to be a bestseller.

My Ideas:

This is by far one of my favorite series so I could not believe it when I got an early review copy from NetGalley!!  As all of these books have, it hooked me in.  I was kind of disappointed that I started this book in the middle of a week and then had a crazy weekend because all I really wanted to do was sit down and read it all at once.  Now if you have not read any of the books prior to this one do not start here, you will be so confused that you will not enjoy the read.  This is really one that you need to read in order and grow with Rachel Morgan, Ivy and Jenks, plus all that come along the way.

I was pleased that this book picked up right where Black Magic Sanction left off.  Rachel Morgan knows that she is running out of time before she is executed for her black magic practices, even if she only uses them when someone is trying to kill her.  She is due on the West Coast in just three days for her brother’s wedding just before the annual witches’ convention in San Francisco when she is approached by Trent Kalamack, the elf who is kind of an enemy, to help him get to the West Coast for an “elf adventure” that he will not discuss with her.  They end up travelling together as Rachel is not allowed to fly and Trent must travel by land.  So off they go Trent, the elf, Ivy, living vampire, Jenks, pixie and Rachel.  The adventures along the way are not to be missed.

There are a tons of surprises in this books, things I just did not see coming.  As always, Kim Harrison writing is great!  We get to know each person even more.  While I thought that I knew them, I was proven wrong.  I love the wit and banter in the books.  Great sense of humor and also great handling of difficult situations and tasks.

I was thrilled with this book.  If you have not read this series, I highly recommend you start it right away.  My rating is 5/5 stars a must read!

–This books was provided to me in e-book format from NetGalley for review.  All opinions and thoughts are my own and no further compensation was provided.

Review: Impossible By Nancy Werlin

Impossible

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: August 2009
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Format: Paperback , 384pp
  • Sales Rank: 29,246
  • Age Range: Young Adult

Synopsis

Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.
Inspired by the ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.
Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their child’s birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

My Ideas:

I did not do anything but look at this cover before I starting reading the book.  Normally, I read the book jacket but I just didn’t with this book so I had no idea what to expect.  Right from the get go, I was drawn to Lucy Scarborough, who is going through the difficult teen years.  To add to this already difficult time, she has been raised by an adoptive family as her mother has mental illness and she pops in and out of Lucy’s life causing much stress.

Much to Lucy’s distress, her mother Miranda, shows up just as she is getting ready to leave for prom singing the dreaded “Scarborough Fair” and talking of curses.  Lucy ends up getting it all together and still goes to Prom but the unimaginable happens and she is raped by her date, who dies in a car accident that very same night.  I was please that this book was kept at a very G-rating and any sexual reference were very light.  Soon Lucy realizes that even though she took the morning after drug to prevent pregnancy, she is indeed pregnant and that maybe her mothers talk of this curse is not all crazy.

The remainder of the book goes through all of the challenges she is faced with to try to stop this seemly impossible curse to break.  Lucy does not want to go crazy like her mother but how can she stop the curse?

I really enjoyed this book.  At times, it was very hard for me to put down because I just had to know what was going to happen next.  That being said there were times that there was just too much going on in the book, too many directions.  Overall, I think that this book had a lot of interesting lore in it and was well written.  The players in the game were likable and easy to get to know.  The style of writing was clear and written at a level that almost any reader can enjoy.

My rating 4/5 stars.

It’s Follow Friday!

It’s Follow Friday! Follow My Blog Friday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee’s View!
This weeks question is:
What makes up your non-human family?

I have a cat name Chevy.

A horse named Lee.

And a turtle named Briann.

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It’s Friday! Which means that it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop! Yay! Just in case you didn’t know, the Hop is an awesome weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books!
This weeks question is:
Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?

I read a little of everything.  I don’t read just one genre.  I think that I like to move around.  It keeps me interested and I just have a diverse background and don’t want to miss anything!