Captive by Aimeé Carter

Captive by Aimee Carter(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

For the past two months, Kitty Doe’s life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate the Prime Minister’s niece, her frustration grows as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoats keep her in the dark more than ever.

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she’s accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape.

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she’ll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in—but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I just have one question after reading this entire book: Did Kitty lose her brain in between books one and two?!

I just have no words.  I actually liked Kitty in the first book because although she was naive and kind of innocent, at least she generally knew when to keep her mouth shut and keep up the charade of being Lila Hart.  In all honesty I can’t say I was her biggest fan ever in the first book, but she really grew on me and at least most of her actions were justified by logic.

But in Captive, that all goes out the window.  Kitty seems to have lost her brain, particularly in the first half of the novel.  She spouts off her mouth at the people who have power over her, she doesn’t know when to shut up and let Knox do his rebellion thing and even though there’s no reason for it other than to advance the plot, she reveals one of the secrets she could have used as leverage later on.  So where does she wind up?  Elsewhere, of course!  No one, not even Lila Hart’s replacement is irreplaceable.  And when she’s in Elsewhere, she promptly makes an enemy of every single person around her because she just won’t shut up.  Ever.  I spent most of the book wanting to slap her for being so incredibly stupid.

As for the plot, unlike in the first book it didn’t really feel like there was anything really all that new.  Aimeé Carter has always used some tried and true clichés but in Captive she just lets it all hang out.  There were no surprises because the whole plot of this book was like a soap opera, with mysterious lost family members and lovers betrayed—the whole nine yards.  Captive suffers from a severe case of Book Two Syndrome in that practically nothing happens until a little bit at the end of the book to make you go buy the third book.  After the plot twists and turns of Pawn, it was just supremely disappointing.

The world-building was really the only thing I didn’t actively dislike.  I like that we saw the other side of Elsewhere, not just the ‘shoot people for sport’ side.  It’s run like a prisoner of war camp (which it sort of is) and life within is pretty much just as brutal as you’d expect from a dictatorial regime.  Nothing really surprising, but nothing so stereotypical that I wanted to throw my Kindle at the wall.  The only thing that I was happy about was that we got to see another side of the rebels as well as see how ordinary people can end up in Elsewhere.  Sure, you have your criminals and political dissidents, but you also have some pretty harmless teenagers and kids whose only crime was being born—or more accurately, not being born rich.

As someone who enjoyed Pawn, Captive really was a huge disappointment.  I liked that we got to see more of Kitty’s world but I just hated that it was in such a forced way.  It seemed like Carter wanted to showcase the rest of the world so she dumbed down Kitty in an attempt to force that showcase.  Will I still read the last book, Queen?  Yes, I think I will because despite this huge disappointment, I did enjoy the first book and I’m enjoying the overall plot arc.  But really Aimeé Carter, you can do better than this.

I give this book 1.5/5 stars.

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The Messenger by Pamela DuMond

The Messenger by Pamela DuMond(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Do you remember the first time you fell in love?

Read The Messenger (Mortal Beloved, Book One) and feel that beautiful—again.

Sixteen-year-old Madeline’s meant to fall in love with Samuel in every lifetime. But she meets him for the first time when she accidentally time travels into the past—hundreds years before she’s even born!

Their relationship is forbidden—Samuel’s half Native, Madeline’s white. Every rendezvous they share must be secret. Each moment they spend together tempts the odds that they’ll be discovered and brutally punished. But their love is fated—they musk risk all.

Danger intensifies when Madeline learns she’s in the past not only to fall in love, but also to claim her birth right as a Messenger—a soul who can slip through time’s fabric at will.

Deadly Hunters, dark-souled time travelers, crave Madeline’s powers and seek to seduce or kill her. Can Madeline find her way back to the future in time to save herself and Samuel?

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

If I had to describe The Messenger in one word it would be ‘disappointing.’

The prologue started off promisingly enough, with a girl (obviously the main character) running through the woods in a panic.  Okay, that sounds cool; let’s get on with the main event!  My excitement dampened throughout the first few chapters because of the pretty stereotypical “main character who has lost her parent in a horrific accident years ago” but I soldiered on.  When I got to when Madeline time-travelled I got pretty excited because I like time travel stories, which is why I requested this book in the first place.  Then that point in the story is where the true disappointment set in.

It’s hard to enjoy a book when you absolutely cannot stand the main character and I couldn’t stand Madeline.  I just wanted to reach in and slap her across her loud mouth.  Constantly.  Okay, she’s a little disoriented when she travels back in time, I’ll grant her that.  But once she gets on her feet and realizes “I better play along with these people or they’ll call me a witch and hang me” she then proceeds to act like a modern stereotypical American teenager.  She blurts out things at inappropriate times, uses modern slang (!) and generally acts like she wants people to start lynching her.  I get it, not all teenagers are smart and would instantly adapt to the 1600s.  Calling such a transition a culture shock would be quite an understatement.  But really?  Using the word ‘whatevs’ is definitely not going to ease people’s suspicions about you.  Ugh.

Aside from a narrator that really is Too Stupid To Live, the book’s premise isn’t all that bad.  Sure, it’s not the most original but the whole Messenger angle was sort of interesting.  Special people go back in time to right wrongs and/or meet their destiny.  Hunters try to prevent this.  Unfortunately, Pamela DuMond never really gets into fleshing the whole story of the Messengers out because Madeline’s stupidity gets her mentor accused of witchcraft.  Even the little knowledge Samuel has isn’t really enough to satisfy my curiosity.  I know this is the first book in a series but even that doesn’t really excuse the fact that we get more questions than answers.  So I give Pamela DuMond marks for potentially awesome world-building, but I can’t honestly say much about it because we didn’t learn all that much about it.

The plot is okay, but it’s also nothing to brag about.  It’s not fast, but not too slow and it was interesting enough to keep me reading even though I began to really loathe Madeline.  My only real complaint about the plot was that while some things were focused on too much, other things were neglected, like the growing attraction between Madeline and Samuel.  Yes, they spend some time together but in those interactions I really wasn’t feeling the sparks fly.  It just kind of felt contrived by the author because of course all YA novels have to have some romance.

Overall, the book would not be a bad book if not for the fact Madeline is just a really horrible main character.  Sadly for us, though, we’re pretty much stuck in her head the whole time so there is no escaping the fact that The Messenger fell flat on its face.  It had so much potential and did not live up to it.

I give this book 1/5 stars.

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Novella: The Donor by Nikki Rae

The Donor by Nikki Rae(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Casey Williams and her family are poor. Her parents work non-stop and so does she, just so they can keep the trailer roof from leaking.
They’re getting by fine enough when the headaches start. Then there’s the nosebleeds. And the inevitable doctor’s bills.
Fortunately for Casey, there’s MyTrueMatch.com: an exclusive, quick, and almost easy way to pay it all back before her parents even have to know.
All she has to do is give a man she’s never met whatever he wants from her body.
Inside or out.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I’ll admit it: I thought this book was about sex when I requested it on NetGalley.  Considering the blurb, I don’t think that was an unreasonable assumption because a lot of erotic novel blurbs are.  I was honestly looking for a little guilty pleasure.

What I got was a poignant, touching story that left me an emotional wreck for a full day afterward.

So obviously, this book is not about sex.  No, it’s the story of Casey and her journey to confront not only her medical reality but her long-ignored emotions.  It’s a story of forgiveness and dealing with your past, especially the things that hurt you before.  And although I can’t really say much without giving away the whole story but it is also a tale of love; not necessarily romantic love but the kind of platonic love you feel for your family.  The Donor is a story that can mean many things to many different people and these are just some of the things I pulled out of it; Nikki Rae’s story is so deep that you will probably take away different lessons and themes.

Casey was just an amazing character and I don’t I’ll ever be able to forget her.  She’s young, just about to start her life away from her family, but poverty and those medical bills that were mentioned in the blurb are conspiring against her.  So she turns to a sketchy and exclusive website where she meets Jonah Black, a mysterious but kind man who decides to make her his donor.  Casey’s character arc as she confronts her problems and finally, finally forgives herself is just amazing and although I’m not an emotional person I’m tearing up just writing this review.  Both Jonah and Casey were so real, so vivid, that you can’t help but become attached to them as characters.

The real reason The Donor is such an amazing novella (aside from the characters) is Nikki Rae’s writing.  She just has an absolutely amazing writing style.  It’s simple but poignant, conveying emotion without being too sappy, using symbolism but not being in your face about it.  I know that it’s very hard for authors to find a balance between emotional and overly melodramatic, but Nikki Rae found such an amazing balance that if you aren’t left feeling a little something by the end of the book you clearly don’t possess a human heart.

So what can I say?  Not everyone will like the ending but it stays true to the characters and the overall tone of the novella.  It will leave you an emotional wreck but it will also make you confront your own fears and live your life just a little more richly because of it.  There really are no words for how awesome this book is.

Seriously, just go buy it.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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A Grave Inheritance by Kari Edgren

A Grave Inheritance(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Selah Kilbrid may descend from the goddess Brigid, but her heart beats—and breaks—the same as any human. Yet enduring the scorn of London’s most noble lords and ladies is a small price to pay for a chance at true happiness. Selah would endure much more for love, and her betrothed, Lord Henry Fitzalan, is prepared to challenge anyone foolish enough to stand in their way—even another goddess born.

But when a captivating young gentleman draws Selah into a world shadowed by secrets, she is forced to confront her darkest fears. What if some differences are too great to overcome and a future with Henry is doomed from the start?

With these doubts threatening her impending marriage and the very last of Brigid’s fire draining from her soul, a violent attack on an innocent child pushes Selah to the very edge of her power. She must find a way to cross into the Otherworld and regain her strength—or forfeit the streets of London to death and disease.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

After having read Goddess Born, the first book in Kari Edgren’s trilogy, I was very, very excited to get my hands on A Grave Inheritance.  The first book had been so great that it would be hard to top, but I had faith that she would be up to the challenge.  And of course she was.

Selah is a much different character now.  She’s more sure of herself and of Henry, but there are still little doubts lingering beneath the surface.  Those doubts aren’t helped when Henry seems to all but ignore her for a while and chastises her for using her gift when he knows she can’t help it.  Will they be able to overcome their differences?  Or will the pressure from pretty much everyone in King George’s court undo the love they found back in the colonies?  Especially when Julian, another descendant of Brigid starts showing an interest in Selah.

Yes, some people will probably get frustrated with Selah doubting Henry all of the time, but you have to remember that although they’re in love, they haven’t exactly known each other for a long time.  It’s natural that Selah fears Henry will leave her once he goes back to his life as the King’s favourite courtier.  And Henry doesn’t exactly alleviate those doubts early on.  Both of them grow so much as characters throughout this book that you can hardly recognize them from how they were at the beginning of Goddess Born.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I do have to say that they both change for the better.

I kind of saw some of the plot twists coming, but there were others that completely blindsided me.  Especially the revelation about Selah’s family and the fact that Brigid wasn’t the only deity to have mortal descendants with powerful gifts.  For a largely character-driven novel, the plot is fairly fast-paced so I really can’t complain about that.  The only real criticism I have is that I wish a little more had happened in the middle of the book; it wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t exactly super interesting at times.  Since that’s really my only complaint (and it’s pretty minor), I’d have to say that the plot was pretty darn good overall.

One of the things that made me fall in love with Goddess Born, aside from the characters, was Kari Edgren’s writing.  It’s just as good, if not better, in the sequel.  She has this beautiful way of describing things that makes you feel like you really are there with the characters; that’s rare enough in authors.  What makes her writing great as opposed to good, however, is the fact that she can give a very authentic historical atmosphere.  Edgren makes you really feel like you’re in England in the 1700s.  I know almost nothing about the period but she puts in these little details of everyday life that it makes the story ring true.  It’s quite amazing, really.

It’s not often that second books are just as good if not better than the first book.  Yet here we have A Grave Inheritance, a wonderful tale of love, magic, intrigue, gods and goddesses.  It’s an emotional roller coaster at times and Kari Edgren really makes you feel all of her characters’ hardships.  You can’t help but get emotionally invested in her characters and that’s part of the reason why I’m so anxious for the third book.  Selah’s story is far from over.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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