Diamond in the rough.
If I had to sum up this entire book in once sentence, that is exactly the words I would use... a definite diamond in the rough. This is book one, a debut novel to a dark, urban fantasy series about an assassin known as Gin Blanco and she is gifted with elemental magic. Her family is murdered when she is just a child and is found and trained by another assassin, one that becomes her mentor.
This book is packed with action and explodes from the first chapter with a plot that is out of this world! (Let's just say I was on the edge of my seat and rapidly turning the pages... I missed a few meals without even realizing it!) This tale of urban fantasy contains giants, dwarves, vampires, weather witches, and elemental magic... which the author's description is fascinating. This is also a true urban fantasy in the aspect that there are dead bodies, everywhere... violence is a reality of Gin Blanco's world and it is apparent, also given her occupation as an assassin, it also seems that trouble follows in her wake.... no matter how much she attempts to avoid it.
It's important to note a couple of things, (especially if someone has only read Jennifer Estep's Bigtime paranormal romance series), Gin Blanco is the heroine in the Elemental Assassin series... she seems to separate her identities, Gin is her 'normal' identity and the 'Spider' is how she identifies with her 'assassin'. (Especially considering the 'Spider' has gotten a fair amount of media coverage.) Another primary aspect of this novel that was interesting is how Gin views killing. If it needs to be done, she's the one for the job. (I bring this up because after a friend of mine read this book, we had a two hour discussion about that subject alone, LOL!) And I pointed out that I think maybe Gin views the world & maybe even 'killing' in shades of grey instead of black and white. It's not necessarily right or wrong, maybe degrees of each to a point and who knows... everyone has their own 'boundaries', maybe she has her own too.
So I'm not going to spoil the book, outside of what I've already shared. Be prepared for a roller coaster ride as Gin receives her next 'assignment' from her 'handler' and things don't go as well as they normally do... and well, it sets off a chain of events that sets up the entire series of books that follow. And maybe have your eyes open for a stubborn detective, but kind of a jerk (in my opinion at least) and see if you recognize any vulnerability in Gin when he's around...
Most of all, I'm curious of your take of the fantasy aspect of the novel too... how did you like the Elementals? Did 'Spider's Bite' make you want to take a bite out of the next one?
And I have to say, I read this book some time ago... I remember cruising up & down the bookstore shelves searching for a change & something fresh, then finding this and saying, 'Why not?' Well, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I can't say enough about ANY of Jennifer Estep's work... she writes several different genres and I've read them all. (My son even reads her Young Adult series!) However, the Elemental Assassin series is my favorite, but I think it's because there is so much more happening here... I've never been sorry. And even better? 'By a Thread', book 6 in this series releases at the end of February this year!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Something Secret This Way Comes: Secret McQueen, Book 1 by Sierra Dean
Welcome to another debut Urban Fantasy! While I try and never judge a book by the cover, I had a difficult time moving past the cover of this book... for both good & bad reasons. Does anyone see a strong resemblance between the cover model (whom I am guessing, after reading the book is the main character, Secret) bears a strong liking to Anna Paquin from True Blood? It was a bit confusing for me at first, because as I was reading along, there were moments I had a little difficulty separating the two characters in my mind. Outside the 'physical' attributes, I loved the cover art and the strong presence and independence that the image set... plain English, the design was phenomenal!
Getting to the heart of the story, it's similar to other paranormal story lines in a way... there's a child that's a half-breed and not completely accepted by either faction of blood she carries, so she doesn't really 'belong' anywhere. Dumped by the werewolf mother that birthed her, Secret is not only part werewolf, but she's also a vampire too since her mother was attacked before she was born. Given that she seems to live in the shadows of the 'other' world, she works for the vampire council of New York as a bounty hunter, hunting down and killing any rogues that are turned without permission or that break the rules. At 22, Secret has been 'on her own' since she was 16 and although she is a 'mixed' breed, it's something only a handful of people know, a 'secret' that she doesn't advertise.
And here is where things kind of went a bit down hill for me... not so much in a bad way, more in a way that, "I've read this a few times before, just with a few different names and a different locality." Secret runs into a group of men and she can tell they are werewolves based on their smell...but she is immediately drawn to one of them and it is soon apparent that she isn't the only one to feel the connection. One of those werewolves is Lucas Rain, King of the East Coast werewolves and if Secret's life wasn't already complicated enough, it's destined to get even more complicated because he swears their connection means they are fated to be together. While Secret feels the connection, it isn't until she is alone with Desmond, Lucas's second in command, that she also realizes she feels a connection with him too... Hello love triangle!!
If all the above isn't enough to keep you occupied, throw in an enemy from Secret's past that has resurfaced that wants revenge... a vampire that almost succeeded in killing her when she was 16. Add a Vampire Tribunal that really has no liking (except for one) for Secret and would like nothing better than to see her fail, so why not assign her the impossible task of bringing in her 'enemy' alive?
I have mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I had to read it and let it sit for a few days and come back to read it again before I could decide how I really felt about it. For a debut novel, I think Sierra Dean has done amazing job... I love her creativity and her introduction to the paranormal world. I also think she is an astounding writer. As far as this novel is concerned, I'm sort of on a ledge... I feel like some of the material is fresh and has potential, while the rest is sort of recycled material I've read from a combination of assorted authors and paranormal books. (I think that's the main issue with the paranormal world, it's hard to find raw, fresh ideas that haven't been used in some form, somewhere.) That said, I'm really interested to see how Ms. Dean builds upon Secret's character and to see how she she merges into the world of 'others'...or if she does. And while I'm not really a fan of the 'love triangle', I will admit to being curious of how that relationship plays out as well. In my opinion, there's enough potential here that I'm interested in book two.
Getting to the heart of the story, it's similar to other paranormal story lines in a way... there's a child that's a half-breed and not completely accepted by either faction of blood she carries, so she doesn't really 'belong' anywhere. Dumped by the werewolf mother that birthed her, Secret is not only part werewolf, but she's also a vampire too since her mother was attacked before she was born. Given that she seems to live in the shadows of the 'other' world, she works for the vampire council of New York as a bounty hunter, hunting down and killing any rogues that are turned without permission or that break the rules. At 22, Secret has been 'on her own' since she was 16 and although she is a 'mixed' breed, it's something only a handful of people know, a 'secret' that she doesn't advertise.
And here is where things kind of went a bit down hill for me... not so much in a bad way, more in a way that, "I've read this a few times before, just with a few different names and a different locality." Secret runs into a group of men and she can tell they are werewolves based on their smell...but she is immediately drawn to one of them and it is soon apparent that she isn't the only one to feel the connection. One of those werewolves is Lucas Rain, King of the East Coast werewolves and if Secret's life wasn't already complicated enough, it's destined to get even more complicated because he swears their connection means they are fated to be together. While Secret feels the connection, it isn't until she is alone with Desmond, Lucas's second in command, that she also realizes she feels a connection with him too... Hello love triangle!!
If all the above isn't enough to keep you occupied, throw in an enemy from Secret's past that has resurfaced that wants revenge... a vampire that almost succeeded in killing her when she was 16. Add a Vampire Tribunal that really has no liking (except for one) for Secret and would like nothing better than to see her fail, so why not assign her the impossible task of bringing in her 'enemy' alive?
I have mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I had to read it and let it sit for a few days and come back to read it again before I could decide how I really felt about it. For a debut novel, I think Sierra Dean has done amazing job... I love her creativity and her introduction to the paranormal world. I also think she is an astounding writer. As far as this novel is concerned, I'm sort of on a ledge... I feel like some of the material is fresh and has potential, while the rest is sort of recycled material I've read from a combination of assorted authors and paranormal books. (I think that's the main issue with the paranormal world, it's hard to find raw, fresh ideas that haven't been used in some form, somewhere.) That said, I'm really interested to see how Ms. Dean builds upon Secret's character and to see how she she merges into the world of 'others'...or if she does. And while I'm not really a fan of the 'love triangle', I will admit to being curious of how that relationship plays out as well. In my opinion, there's enough potential here that I'm interested in book two.
Rifts- A Grace Murphy Novel by Nicole Hamlett
"Remember when life used to be nice and easy? No? Yeah, me either." - Grace Murphy, heroine
She's back!!
Grace Murphy returns with a bang in 'Rifts' and she also brings along some of the gang from the first installment, 'Huntress'. From the first chapter, poor Grace hits the ground running and is introduced in a not so pleasant way, to a sister she didn't know she had... (put it this way, her sister gives an entirely new meaning to the term, 'dysfunctional family'). Coming to terms with the fact that her sister, Hope just tried to stab her to death with a stiletto and trying to keep life as normal as possible for her son Dylan is almost overwhelming for Grace, even with Drew around to help her out and why wasn't Drew surprised to learn about Hope's existence?
As 'Rifts' progresses, Grace and her son Dylan find themselves relocating to Olympus... both for reasons of safety and training. We are introduced to a variety of new characters and also keep a few from 'Huntress'. Zachary (which is Zeus, the Greek God) plays a bigger part in Rifts, almost a surrogate father role to Grace, as she's learning more about who she is and what she can do. Dylan plays more of a central role in this novel too... but for reasons that are revealed as the storyline unfolds. Let's not forget Drew... well, life gets even more complicated for him. We're introduced to a new guy, Heph... and let's just say there's some potential there with Grace... (regardless, some of the scenes with Heph had me saying Hubba Bubba!!)
Perhaps the most telling part of 'Rifts' is the progress and changes in Grace. In 'Huntress' she was a newly divorced, single mom with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, out of shape, and trust issues. She was 'flawed', but real. In Rifts, I think her journey is more of an emotional one and to be honest, I don't think it was a particularly good one, but it was necessary. I think she may have learned that sometimes what we want from life isn't always what is best for us... and even though we love someone, they may not love us back the same way. I also think she was dealt a huge blow and is going to have to come to terms with it... I'm curious to see if she'll do that in the next book(s). Most of all, I'd like to see how she picks herself up and gets on with her life... she's Diana's daughter, there's no denying that.
Rifts is full of several 'surprises' I didn't expect!! And a few of them left me speechless, enough that I was shocked in awe of the sheer brilliance of how Nicole Hamlett managed to execute them without even a hint of foreshadowing. And no, I won't go into detail here, so I don't spoil anything for those that haven't read this series yet... however, can I applaud the mastermind, genius, and amount of time that must have went into plotting this storyline? I am rarely caught off guard or surprised when I read fiction or fantasy now, so I was absolutely thrilled to find myself saying, 'Back up the bus, I didn't expect that!!' I adored this book as much as the first one... maybe a bit more since I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with Grace. Huge kudos to Nicole Hamlett for writing yet another urban fantasy that's beyond fantastic!
She's back!!
Grace Murphy returns with a bang in 'Rifts' and she also brings along some of the gang from the first installment, 'Huntress'. From the first chapter, poor Grace hits the ground running and is introduced in a not so pleasant way, to a sister she didn't know she had... (put it this way, her sister gives an entirely new meaning to the term, 'dysfunctional family'). Coming to terms with the fact that her sister, Hope just tried to stab her to death with a stiletto and trying to keep life as normal as possible for her son Dylan is almost overwhelming for Grace, even with Drew around to help her out and why wasn't Drew surprised to learn about Hope's existence?
As 'Rifts' progresses, Grace and her son Dylan find themselves relocating to Olympus... both for reasons of safety and training. We are introduced to a variety of new characters and also keep a few from 'Huntress'. Zachary (which is Zeus, the Greek God) plays a bigger part in Rifts, almost a surrogate father role to Grace, as she's learning more about who she is and what she can do. Dylan plays more of a central role in this novel too... but for reasons that are revealed as the storyline unfolds. Let's not forget Drew... well, life gets even more complicated for him. We're introduced to a new guy, Heph... and let's just say there's some potential there with Grace... (regardless, some of the scenes with Heph had me saying Hubba Bubba!!)
Perhaps the most telling part of 'Rifts' is the progress and changes in Grace. In 'Huntress' she was a newly divorced, single mom with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, out of shape, and trust issues. She was 'flawed', but real. In Rifts, I think her journey is more of an emotional one and to be honest, I don't think it was a particularly good one, but it was necessary. I think she may have learned that sometimes what we want from life isn't always what is best for us... and even though we love someone, they may not love us back the same way. I also think she was dealt a huge blow and is going to have to come to terms with it... I'm curious to see if she'll do that in the next book(s). Most of all, I'd like to see how she picks herself up and gets on with her life... she's Diana's daughter, there's no denying that.
Rifts is full of several 'surprises' I didn't expect!! And a few of them left me speechless, enough that I was shocked in awe of the sheer brilliance of how Nicole Hamlett managed to execute them without even a hint of foreshadowing. And no, I won't go into detail here, so I don't spoil anything for those that haven't read this series yet... however, can I applaud the mastermind, genius, and amount of time that must have went into plotting this storyline? I am rarely caught off guard or surprised when I read fiction or fantasy now, so I was absolutely thrilled to find myself saying, 'Back up the bus, I didn't expect that!!' I adored this book as much as the first one... maybe a bit more since I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with Grace. Huge kudos to Nicole Hamlett for writing yet another urban fantasy that's beyond fantastic!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Huntress - A Grace Murphy Novel by Nicole Hamlett
'Being a single mom and trying to save the world was exhausting...' - Grace Murphy, heroine
Author Nicole Hamlett takes a different approach on Greek Mythology in this story. As she introduces Grace in the beginning, she's a freshly divorced single mom and she seems to be flying by the seat of her pants, taking things as they come... until she's faced with accepting that her birth mom is really the Goddess Diana and guess what, she's destined to save the world! Oh, and she's not really human either, suddenly all those 'oddball' things that happened when she was a child make sense!! But, Grace is forced to face the truth even more quickly when her son is endangered and her own life is in jeopardy... enter Adonis (cough), AKA, Drew.
Drew (is actually Adonis, but doesn't care for the name) is sent by Diana, to train Grace and get her into shape, but also to help her out with her son. It is important to note here that while the 'sparks' seemed to fly between Grace & Drew, the friendship that grew between the two throughout the book was amazing, it was easy to see the bonds growing as the time passed. Throw in a few more assorted characters to spice things up, like Zachary (which is Zeus), Grace's ex-husband, Athena, and Grace's biological father and you have the makings of an amazing urban fantasy!
Finally!! An author that introduces a 'flawed' heroine that I can understand & even say, 'Oh, I totally get ya!!' And to me, that's what Grace (the main character) is, she's flawed... whether it is how she sees herself or how she is trying to fit in the other areas of her life... as a single mom, romance writer, daughter to a Goddess, pretending to be human, etc. In 'Huntress', Grace's character kind of goes through a transformation, (similar to what some people do following a divorce)... with Drew's help & training, she loses the excess weight she was carrying around, and looks like a different person. (So much that her best friend staged an intervention!) Through the transformation, it's not just physical changes we see, it's also mental and emotional... she's stronger and appears more self-confident too. However, I think there's still a lot of trust issues there...some that may grow as the series expands maybe.
I don't have a 'rating' system. I stumbled upon this book by sheer luck and I was absolutely thrilled when I did, especially since I was searching for new authors to read. This book was a breath of fresh air for me and I'll be looking forward to more writing from Nicole Hamlett. I enjoyed it immensely!
Author Nicole Hamlett takes a different approach on Greek Mythology in this story. As she introduces Grace in the beginning, she's a freshly divorced single mom and she seems to be flying by the seat of her pants, taking things as they come... until she's faced with accepting that her birth mom is really the Goddess Diana and guess what, she's destined to save the world! Oh, and she's not really human either, suddenly all those 'oddball' things that happened when she was a child make sense!! But, Grace is forced to face the truth even more quickly when her son is endangered and her own life is in jeopardy... enter Adonis (cough), AKA, Drew.
Drew (is actually Adonis, but doesn't care for the name) is sent by Diana, to train Grace and get her into shape, but also to help her out with her son. It is important to note here that while the 'sparks' seemed to fly between Grace & Drew, the friendship that grew between the two throughout the book was amazing, it was easy to see the bonds growing as the time passed. Throw in a few more assorted characters to spice things up, like Zachary (which is Zeus), Grace's ex-husband, Athena, and Grace's biological father and you have the makings of an amazing urban fantasy!
Finally!! An author that introduces a 'flawed' heroine that I can understand & even say, 'Oh, I totally get ya!!' And to me, that's what Grace (the main character) is, she's flawed... whether it is how she sees herself or how she is trying to fit in the other areas of her life... as a single mom, romance writer, daughter to a Goddess, pretending to be human, etc. In 'Huntress', Grace's character kind of goes through a transformation, (similar to what some people do following a divorce)... with Drew's help & training, she loses the excess weight she was carrying around, and looks like a different person. (So much that her best friend staged an intervention!) Through the transformation, it's not just physical changes we see, it's also mental and emotional... she's stronger and appears more self-confident too. However, I think there's still a lot of trust issues there...some that may grow as the series expands maybe.
I don't have a 'rating' system. I stumbled upon this book by sheer luck and I was absolutely thrilled when I did, especially since I was searching for new authors to read. This book was a breath of fresh air for me and I'll be looking forward to more writing from Nicole Hamlett. I enjoyed it immensely!
You live WHERE?!?
Welcome to my corner of the Earth... or maybe I should call it the center of everywhere & nowhere, depends on a person's directions I guess. Regardless of what terms a person uses or what GPS coordinates are typed in, I live in a rural area.
So what? What's the big deal about living in a rural area? Absolutely nothing really. Thanks to wonderful things such as the internet, DSL, and whatnot, I'm not at 'tech' handicapped as I used to be. However, a few years ago, it would have been an entirely different story!!
To give you an idea of how 'rural' I am, I live in a town with about 2200 population, most of that population is over the age of 50. We have one grocery store, the next closest is almost 20 miles away... (I almost wept with relief when they finally started price matching this year!) The nearest Wal-Mart is a 45 minute drive (one way), as is any 'decent' places to eat... we are lucky enough to have a McDonald's, which I have to say most of the kids in this town appreciate. And bookstores? Well, it's about 60-70 miles to the closest one and it's luck of the draw if they will have what you are looking for, so cross your fingers!! Perhaps the hardest concept for some of my more urbanized family to accepted was how far the closest hospital was... 45 miles (if you don't run into traffic in the city or farm traffic in the country -- pure looks of horror from my cousins, LOL!).
While those are the 'usual' drawbacks of living in a rural area, (and I'm sure I missed a few more & likely important ones too), there are some great things to be found here too... my favorite? This is a great place to raise a family. No question, it's quiet... And for the most part, living here is generally safe. I like that I know my neighbors and a good number of the people in town.
Like most towns, we have a public library. I'm not sure how others work, but ours is one of five branches in a library system... meaning that they can borrow any books from within the five branch system. The downfall? Well, selection choices are extremely limited (due to the area we live in being a wee bit conservative in choice) and any material that's been released in the last two years seems to have a wait list that at least a year long since it's being shared in a 5 branch system. I applaud the idea & the sharing... I just wish I had the patience to wait!! LOL!!
Hello Amazon Kindle!! My first piece of technology that I loved... outside my laptop and iPod. And I can now download my books and read them immediately!! I was in heaven!! And then I read a few bombs and realized I needed to start reading more reviews before I purchased them... I was amazed at how many great reviews & *cough* not so great reviews were available... until I came across a recently published author. The synopsis for her book looked fantastic! She had a few reviews up, but I wanted to read a few more... so this is where I am.... Rural Reviews.
I'm hoping to read & review a wide variety of genres... new authors and also well established ones too. (We'll see how that goes..) Anyhow, if you have questions/comments, etc. feel free to drop me a line!! I'm open to ideas or suggestions! And my format for this may change as time goes..again, we'll see! Until then, happy reading!!
Kym
So what? What's the big deal about living in a rural area? Absolutely nothing really. Thanks to wonderful things such as the internet, DSL, and whatnot, I'm not at 'tech' handicapped as I used to be. However, a few years ago, it would have been an entirely different story!!
To give you an idea of how 'rural' I am, I live in a town with about 2200 population, most of that population is over the age of 50. We have one grocery store, the next closest is almost 20 miles away... (I almost wept with relief when they finally started price matching this year!) The nearest Wal-Mart is a 45 minute drive (one way), as is any 'decent' places to eat... we are lucky enough to have a McDonald's, which I have to say most of the kids in this town appreciate. And bookstores? Well, it's about 60-70 miles to the closest one and it's luck of the draw if they will have what you are looking for, so cross your fingers!! Perhaps the hardest concept for some of my more urbanized family to accepted was how far the closest hospital was... 45 miles (if you don't run into traffic in the city or farm traffic in the country -- pure looks of horror from my cousins, LOL!).
While those are the 'usual' drawbacks of living in a rural area, (and I'm sure I missed a few more & likely important ones too), there are some great things to be found here too... my favorite? This is a great place to raise a family. No question, it's quiet... And for the most part, living here is generally safe. I like that I know my neighbors and a good number of the people in town.
Like most towns, we have a public library. I'm not sure how others work, but ours is one of five branches in a library system... meaning that they can borrow any books from within the five branch system. The downfall? Well, selection choices are extremely limited (due to the area we live in being a wee bit conservative in choice) and any material that's been released in the last two years seems to have a wait list that at least a year long since it's being shared in a 5 branch system. I applaud the idea & the sharing... I just wish I had the patience to wait!! LOL!!
Hello Amazon Kindle!! My first piece of technology that I loved... outside my laptop and iPod. And I can now download my books and read them immediately!! I was in heaven!! And then I read a few bombs and realized I needed to start reading more reviews before I purchased them... I was amazed at how many great reviews & *cough* not so great reviews were available... until I came across a recently published author. The synopsis for her book looked fantastic! She had a few reviews up, but I wanted to read a few more... so this is where I am.... Rural Reviews.
I'm hoping to read & review a wide variety of genres... new authors and also well established ones too. (We'll see how that goes..) Anyhow, if you have questions/comments, etc. feel free to drop me a line!! I'm open to ideas or suggestions! And my format for this may change as time goes..again, we'll see! Until then, happy reading!!
Kym
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