Disarming by Alexia Purdy

Disarming by Alexia Purdy(Cover picture courtesy of Kristina’s Books & More.)

The world has changed. One must adapt to survive or hold on to the crumbling shards of humanity.

April continues to hold her fragile world together, but the ties that hold her family together are quickly unraveling. Rumors of a massive human underground settlement draw her to the shadows of the city once more in search of other survivors more like her, even with the hybrid vampires opposing her every move.

The darkness hides secrets along with the continued threat the Feral Vampires create, but a greater evil hides within the city. Something tells April that the humans will be less than welcoming of her, and that’s if she can find them before the Vampires do. Joining sides with the enemy might be the only choice she has left.

[Full disclosure: Alexia Purdy provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]

And April’s back, this time with more romance, more blood and more excitement than the first book!

Remember how the only thing I really had to criticize in Reign of Blood was the unrealistic dialogue?  Well, that’s mostly resolved in Disarming, thank goodness.  We get a lot more character interaction so good dialogue is essential and although it’s far from perfect, it’s so much better.  As for the plot, it’s just as fast-paced as ever.  We start out with April and the lovesick Rye trying to solve the mystery of a large colony of humans still living in the city and once we learn the truth of their colony everything spirals out of control.

I don’t think I’m spoiling too much when I say that yes, there’s a love triangle in Disarming.  Is it annoying?  No.  Is it believable and does it develop organically?  Absolutely!  I love that huge twist Alexia Purdy used the love triangle to create because heaven forbid love triangles have a purpose in the plot other than to create needless drama.  Just when you think everything will develop perfectly between April and Rye despite April’s reluctance, an old friend from the first book pops up and we have ourselves the first good love triangle in a long time.

April and Rye are still awesome characters and I have to say that April really did a lot more maturing in Disarming.  She was already mature, but she becomes even more like an adult in this book because so much happens to her and her poor little brother.  Some of the choices April has to make in the last part of the book show how much she’s changed and they definitely make me eager for the third book, Amplified.

Aside from the crazy fast plot, my favourite element of the book is the actual vampires.  You have your feral vampires, your traditional sane vampires, humans and then there are hybrids like April.  I don’t want to give too much away, but you’ll discover a terrifying new type of vampire by the end of the book.  It just goes to show that not everything is as it seems and like all species, vampires also evolve as time goes on.  Truly, even if you aren’t a big vampire fan you’ll love Disarming.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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My Interview with John Heldt (2)

John HeldtJohn Heldt is the self-published author of The Mine, The Journey, The Show and now The Fire, all books in his Northwest Passage series about time travel.  Every single one of his books has a fascinating combination of history, romance and humour.  Read on to see John and I discuss writing emotional scenes, researching and a possible continuation of his originally planned five book series.

1.  There are some very emotional scenes in The Fire.  How do you as a writer strike a balance between touching and melodramatic?

I enlist the help of others, that’s how. What is just right for one person may be too sappy or too dry for others. By getting the perspectives of beta readers representing both genders and a variety of ages, I’m usually able to determine whether an emotional scene needs to be rewritten or left as is. Continue reading →

Blogging Goals: Attend Book Expo America

Many, many people have asked me where I’m taking this blog.  What are my goals for its future?  Do I foresee a time where I’ll have to stop blogging?  (Let’s hope not!)  What direction do I want to take The Mad Reviewer?  Is my goal to monetize my blog?

To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer to any of those questions at the moment.  Right now I just want to talk about books like I always have while building up a following of awesome readers.  So far, so good.  It’s basically what every other book blogger wants.

But lately I’ve been thinking about book blogging conferences and book fairs.  Particularly Book Expo America (BEA), which has a book blogger’s conference in conjunction with the regular show.  From what I’ve seen of other blogs it seems like a great place to go: you get some free books, listen to interesting talks from industry professionals and network with other bloggers.  So yes, as a dedicated book blogger I obviously want to go.  The only question is when.

Looking at my financial situation right now, going in 2014 is out of the question, unfortunately.  2015?  Maybe then, but certainly not next year.  Right now it’s really only the financial part that’s holding me back.  Travelling alone to somewhere like New York is a little intimidating I’ll admit, but it’s not like I haven’t travelled alone before.  Just never that far.  I may splurge and buy a bunch of business cards for my blog beforehand, but that’s something to worry about in the future when I actually have a permanent logo and more followers.

So yeah, attending Book Expo America is currently my only book blogging goal.  If you’re a blogger or an author, would you want to attend something like BEA?  Have you already attended it?  What was it like?

Giveaways Galore!

Lately I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some awesome authors and their editors/publishers.  This means that yes, I will be doing lots of interviews but also more than my usual number of giveaways in the next month or so.  With the exception of tomorrow’s interview, anytime you see an interview within the next month or so you can pretty much expect a giveaway to go along with it.  Awesome, right?

I don’t want to give too much away, but these two giveaways in the next month will involve some really awesome prize packs that I’m very fortunate to be giving away.  So please, even if you aren’t personally interested in the books I’ll be giving away pass the information along to a friend that you think might enjoy the book.  The only way I’ll be able to do giveaways so regularly is if I get lots of entries.  So if you want to keep having giveaways, make sure to show your support by entering.

If you haven’t entered already, my current giveaway is in conjunction with author Terah Edun, who is more than generous with her prizes.  All prizes in the Sworn to Transfer giveaway are international!

Discussion: Reading Dealbreakers

Pretty much everyone reading this here on my blog is an avid reader.  You guys love books, I love books.  I’ll personally read most anything.  But what happens when something is just so bad in a book you can’t stand it any longer?  Why, you put it down of course.  That’s not the point here, though.  The point is: what is that one thing that will always make you put down a book?

Personally it’s racism/sexism/homophobia, etc.  I’m not talking about when authors tackle these issues in their books—that’s something mainstream authors need to do more!  I’m talking about when an author’s views leak into their narrative and ruin the entire book.  If I’m reading a book and the author seems to want to write a manifesto about why white people are superior, LGBT people are evil and/or women are inferior rather than actually telling a story, I’m probably going to throw the book at the wall.  As much as I hate book vandalism, sometimes it’s justified.

There are actually a lot of things that make me want to put down a book, but it’s blatant discrimination on the author’s part that is the one thing that will make me put down a book immediately.  Sometimes books are ‘meh’ but I’ll keep reading because I’m curious to see if it gets better, but any preaching on the author’s part will make me close a book without a second thought.

But enough about me: what are your reading dealbreakers?  Why?  Do you have lots or just one?