Nefertiti's Heart

Nefertiti's Heart

by A.W. Exley

Cara Devon has always suffered curiosity and impetuousness, but tangling with a serial killer might cure that. Permanently.

London, 1861. Impoverished noble Cara has a simple mission after the strange death of her father - sell off his damned collection of priceless artifacts. Her plan goes awry when aristocratic beauties start dying of broken hearts, an eight inch long brass key hammered through their chests. A killer hunts amongst the nobility, searching for a regal beauty and an ancient Egyptian relic rumored to hold the key to immortality.

Her Majesty's Enforcers are in pursuit of the murderer and they see a connection between the gruesome deaths and Cara. So does she, somewhere in London her father hid Nefertiti's Heart, a
fist sized diamond with strange mechanical workings. Adding further complication to her life, notorious crime lord, Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is relentless in his desire to lay his hands on Cara and the priceless artifact. If only she could figure out his motive. 

Self-preservation fuels Cara's search for the gem. In a society where everyone wears a mask to hide their true intent, she needs to figure out who to trust, before she makes a fatal mistake.

*****

5 Stars

This book blew me away. Suspense, mystery, romance, and the added element of steampunk injected with some mythology. It was exactly what I was looking for when I carelessly typed steampunk into Amazons search bar praying and hoping something decent would pop up for once.

Cara was an amazing character, right from the get go I was dying to know what her story was, and with any great book it was giving to me in increments. Keeping me biting at the bit for more and surprising me with different information given once I thought I knew it all. She was a strong women and didn't rely on anyone but herself for protection, and I loved that. Especially since she didn't make stupid decisions and put herself into needless danger like you see a lot with lead female heroines. She took the bull by the horn and laughed while she kicked it into submission.

Nate. . .now I don't know where to even start with him. Let me just give me a big ole WOW. He kept me guess probably more then Cara did. I wanted to know what his motives were and what angle he was coming from. But I would have liked to have gotten a little more of his background story.

The mystery. . .amazing. I was constantly thinking I had it figured out only to start waffling back and forth again. I liked the added touch of the murders thoughts tossed in there. At first I thought it would make it to easy to guess who it was, but it didn't not at all. Though I did actually think it was the person a few times, I never actually settled on it until just before they made themselves known to everyone else. Ah I know I'm just teasing you here. . .but to give it away would completely ruin the entire read for everyone but I need to express the greatness of how it was handled.

I liked how the point of view switched a few times. . .not enough to distract from the story but enough to keep you on your toes about everything that was going on. Its handled very well and is a great way to give you insight on certain things without giving to much away to fast.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, it was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary genre. . .one of the very few books that make me what to start searching for more steampunk books out there.

Nolander

Nolander

by Becca Mills

Nice girls don't believe in monsters. They're wrong.

Amateur photographer Beth Ryder is in trouble. She's taking pictures of things she can't see, things that aren't human. Beth has her own dreams, but people like her don't get to go free. She's seized by a group dedicated to keeping Earth's shadow world--and its frightening inhabitants--a secret. Forced into otherworldly politics and uncertain whom to trust, Beth must come to terms with a radically altered future--one in which her own humanity seems to be slipping away.

Nolander is the first novel in the fantasy series Emanations.

*****

5 Stars

When I finished this book I sat down and thought to myself "Wow, that wasn't what I expected". Right away I wanted to write a review on it, but I couldn't quite figure out where to start. So I ended up reading a short story that was okay, and a zombie book that was great before I came back to Nolanders for the review.

Beth lives in the small town of Dorf, where everyone knows everyone else's business. All her life she has suffered from panic attacks, they have ruled everything about her. She found that by taking photos it helps some, when weird things state showing up on film her life will change.

I have never once read a book that had anything like this in it, it was a completely original idea (at least to me is was and that is saying a lot, because I read a new book about every two days). And with most fantasy books being about vampires, werewolves, angels, or ghosts (which I can't stand, you don't want to get me started on the ghost fad that is going on)it made for a very interesting read. I couldn't even beginning to explain everything about these supernatural creatures, though from the books perspective they really aren't so supernatural as to original. Everything about it was fresh and exciting to me.

I also could never have guess at half of the things that went down, at one point I checked to see how far I was in the book cause I could have swore that it was at the 98% point with the way everything was going down, and I was not ready for it to be over. Thank goodness it wasn't even at the half way mark, I'm pretty sure I fist pumped before getting pulled back in to be taken for an amazing ride.

It is clear this book is going to be part of a series, I checked right away to see if the next one was out, which sadly it wasn't. But it doesn't leave you with a major cliff hanger at the end. It leaves you wanting to know more about Beth, and wondering what is going to happen next.

Would I recommend this book? Yup, this book was so refreshing to me.

Demons at Deadnight

I'm going to be posting one of my older reviews today. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons, and because I have the time I'll list a few of them for you.

I really liked the book, and the second one will be coming out soon so I want to promote it. Since I have already read and reviewed the book this seemed like the best thing to do.

The review I'm about to post is actually one of the first few reviews I have ever written so its fun for me to see the difference in my review from then and my reviews from now. . .though they are still lot the same, I noticed I have changed the way I review.

I might be posting some of my older reviews to promote books that I love more in the future as well. On Amazon I just recently hit 70 reviews written, and have plans to work a give away when I hit 100 (this is something I'll be taking advice on how to do because I have never done one before).

There are a few more reasons, but I'm feeling on the lazy side this morning so I'm going to hurry up and get everything up here and then make myself more coffee and laugh about the conversation my four year old daughter had with me a couple of hours ago. . . .and the fact that right now she is singing at the top of her lungs in the bathroom.

Demons at Deadnight

by A&E Kirk

For seventeen-year-old Aurora Lahey, survival is a lifestyle.

DEMONIC DESTINY
Aurora has the crappiest superpower on the planet. And it's just unleashed a hit squad from hell. Demons are on the hunt, salivating to carve her carcass into confetti.

CHARISMATIC KILLERS
The Hex Boys--mysterious, hunky, and notorious for their trails of destruction--have the answers Aurora needs to survive. But their overload of deadly secrets and suspicious motives makes trusting them a potentially fatal move.

LETHAL ALLIES
The battle to save her family, herself, and stop demonic domination may cost Aurora everything worth living for, and force her to reveal her own dark secrets. But no worries. She needs the Hex Boys to pull this off, and, chances are, teaming up with these guys will get her killed anyway.

*****

5 Stars

I absolutely adored this book. More then once I found myself actually laughing out loud, and for a book to make me giggle and laugh like a fool so people give me strange stares is something hard to come by.

So you have Aurora, shes pretty much your average teen, well except for the fact that she can see demons. She moves back to the town she grew up in with her family, which she loves fiercely. Things a pretty normal until the demons she could only ever see start to attack her. In moves The Hex boys, and wow I loved them all, they have their own secrets and are not willing to share them. Add some action and humor and mix together to get a delightfully amazing story. I don't want to give to much away so I'll move onto the gushing part.

Everything about this book was great, there was no "insta-love" to be found, but enough teen angst to be nice. All The Hex boys were great, even though they started out as jerks. Jayden was definitely my favorite, the whole kill you with information thing made me laugh. Aurora wasn't a damsel in distress, she had her own kick butt personality and didn't let anyone push her around, especially when it came to her family. Even though her family didn't play a huge role in this book, it wouldn't have been half as good without them showing up and taking charge at times.

The fact that there is recipes at the end awesome, I honestly will be cooking some of them.

So would I recommend this book? Yes! I would walk up to a stranger in a book store and force it on them, thats how much I enjoyed it.

So there it is people, this book is really a good read and I enjoyed it a lot. To the point that I'm pretty sure I have mentioned it more then once on this blog before. The released date for book number 2 isn't out yet, but I'm told I'll get a heads up when its ready so I'll let ya'll know as soon as I do. It just gives you more time to read this book and fall in love with the series like I did.

Cursed (Cursed Magic Series Book 1)

Cursed (Cursed Magic Series Book 1)

by Casey Odell

The night Claire Tanith’s small village is attacked, her mother sends her alone into the cursed forest, the one she’d been forbidden to enter all her life with these mysterious words: ‘They will protect you.’

On the run from her attackers, she soon finds the forest is not as abandoned as she’d once thought. 

Beautiful and elegant, the elves seem to be everything the legends said they would be. But legends sometimes forget the true history of things and Claire’s eyes are soon opened to a world she never knew. One that has been kept from her for most of her life. All Claire wants to do is return home and start looking for her mother, the only family she ever had. But the elves have different plans. The mysterious mark that appeared on her arm isn’t a curse, at least not to them anyway, and before she knows it, she is whisked away on a mission she never agreed to, unless they help her in return. 

Now she is stuck on an adventure with the perverted elf, Aeron, and one with an attitude, Farron. But there is more to this adventure than she’d ever hoped for.

**

2 Stars

This book started out really promising. . .we meet Claire as she is running for her life and you really can't get anymore exciting then that. But after I while things just had that "haven't I read this somewhere before" feel to it. A girl with strange powers escorted to somewhere she doesn't know by two men, or elves in this case, one that is happy go lucky, but has a serious side when its needed and one that is cold and distant, but really is very caring. Its not the first time I read a story with this plot set up, but I was okay with that for a while. I actually like books like that.

But unfortunately I have read much better with this set up. I still don't know how old Claire is suppose to be and didn't find out until half way through the book what color her eyes were and not until the end the color of her hair. It was hard to read a book and know nothing about the character I was following the entire time. It didn't help that Claire isn't exactly the smartest person around either, more then once I had to stop reading, just put my kindle down lean my head back and sigh before picking up my kindle again to fight my way through reading about her doing something stupid. I wanted to jump in the book and shake her. . .hard at times. But I also didn't hate her either, I may not have had any idea of what she looked like the entire read but she had her moments when she would say or do something that would make me smile.

The description of Farron was pretty lacking as well, since this wasn't my first time reading a book like this I knew he would be considered a love interest at some point, but I could never really get an image of what he looked like. He is at first described as having platinum blonde hair, then he has silvery hair. . .I let this slid and just when with the silvery hair one because I liked it better, but I would have liked to have a better idea of what he looked like.

There is somewhat of a minor love triangle going on as well. I really hate love triangles, but for once it was actually done pretty well. I wasn't reading pages and pages of angst about what guy Claire should pick or about how hot every one was. So it didn't really bother me at all, mainly because she stuck with one guy and was pretty clueless to the other, while we all know that he has feelings for her.

The story itself is pretty lacking, we never really find out anything. What is the reason behind the attack on Claire home town? Why did the magic tattoo show up suddenly on Claire arm? What does the magic tattoo do? What ever happened to her mother? Just what do the elves want with her? Where are they traveling to? Who are the people that want to get their hands on her? None of these questions are answered, considering they are pretty major plot points it was aggravating to end the book and still know nothing.

As much as I really wanted to like this book I just can't work myself up to being excited about anything and I feel disappointed.

Would I recommend this book? Sadly no, there are much better books out there with this set up.

Cruxim

Cruxim

by Karin Cox

What is Cruxim?

Amedeo is Cruxim, a mysterious, immortal fallen angel. Destined to seek redemption as a vampire hunter, he nourishes his insatiable hunger on vampire blood. But when the object of his passion, the novice nun Joslyn, is turned into a vampire and enters a vampire coven, Amedeo's worlds collide. Shattered by the loss of his beloved, he vows to rid the world of vampires once and for all, even if it means destroying Josyln in the process.

A Paranormal Game of Cat and Mouse

Joining Amedeo on his quest to rid the world of the undead is Sabine. Half-woman, half-lioness, she is a Sphinx, a Guardian who has protected humans from vampires since the dawn of time. Yet Sabine comes to this fight pursued by her own enemies. Dr. Claus Gandler knows the secret of Sabine's mythological past and has vowed to torment her for eternity or destroy her forever.

Immortal Ever After?

Captured by the evil doctor, Amedeo and Sabine are paraded as sideshow freaks in Gandler's Circus of Curiosities. Only vampire Joslyn has the power to intercede. Will she prove Amedeo's redemption, or his destruction?

***

3 Stars

This is a very interesting take on a vampires. Instead of them being all lovey and sparkly they are what you would expect, blood thristy. To make it even more interesting there is a creature that hunts the hunters, the cruxim. This is something I haven't really come across very often so I was pretty excited about starting this book. The beginning is interesting, we have Amedeo trapped as a prisoner and have some flashbacks to get the gist of what happened to him and the back story to characters that are going to be showing up later in the book. I liked the way this was done, it kept me interested in Amedeo's story and wondering if he was going to be able to escape his prison.

What I didn't like was the time shifts, it was hard to keep track of what was going on and when or where. It was hard to keep on track with the story when Amedeo would be in one spot then suddenly another and you really wouldn't know how he got there or how long it took for him to get to that point. 

I also didn't really like how he comes across as an almighty vampire hunter but is to emotionally involved that he just keeps getting his butt handed to him when ever he comes across one. After a while Amedeo just came across as a wuss to me that couldn't even really do what he is made to do in the end. This was frustrating for me, and a lot of what he was going through mentally is told to us over and over again. 

The love triangle that is in the book doesn't really feel like it should be one, mainly because we hear more about his time with Joslyn and how much he cares for her more then Sabine. But at the same time he does seem to care about Sabine quite a lot too. Personally this took away from the book for me because I don't really like love triangles at all. They always just make me mad in the end, and this one didn't really disappoint me in that aspect.

I really enjoyed Sabine. . .her character was pretty amazing. A sphinx is something I have never come across before in a book at all and I liked how she was protrayed.

Would I recommend this book? Though this book frustrated me a little I would recommend it mainly because of the different creatures in it.

This is something I'll only be putting up here on my handy dandy little blog. I got the feel that this book is a little, tiny bit of fan fiction, if anyone has ever watch the anime (yes I am a fan of anime) Trinity Blood you will know where I am coming from. It just has a little bit of the same feel to me with the vampire eating vampire thing going on, the wings, and the nun. Its not the exact same because this book is much more serious then the anime, but like I said felt the same to me.

The Impaler's Revenge

The Impaler's Revenge

by Ioana Visan

In a world crawling with vampires, Romania is the safest place left on earth. Thanks to the Little Council, there hasn't been a vampire on Romanian ground in over five centuries. But one day, Liana Cantacuzino, also a member of the Little Council and a descendant of one of the old noble families, is ordered to bring one in, covertly. Enter Maximilien Hess, a thousand years old vampire determined to ruin the existing order of things.

Suddenly, Liana finds herself forced to protect Hess, instead of having the pandurs kill him. With the help from her trustful friends, Rodica Ghica and Ştefan Sturdza, and that of an innocent bystander, Dr. Jesse Carver, Liana has to find out what is going on and what the President is hiding from her. When all is revealed, Hess's secret changes everything.

The first novella in The Impaler Legacy series, a vampire saga like no other.

**

2 Stars

This isn't like any vampire book I have read in a long time. Its kinda nice to see someone write a book that doesn't have everyone swooning over a vampire. But I do have to say I didn't exactly like the book to much either. There just seemed to be a lot of things going on that seemed a little on the pointless side, where I would have liked to learn more about Liana and the Little Council you got more about little tasks she was doing while keeping taps on Max. It just felt a little impersonal to me and by the time I did learn a little more about her I just didn't care, mainly because the book was almost over and I felt that I went through the entire book looking from the outside in. 

I didn't feel any real connection to anyone in the book. The friendships Liana has didn't feel real to me, this could be because she didn't really interact with them other then when she was doing work or calling in favors and Jesse just seemed to be added into the mix to have a little romance going on the side lines. The only "person" I found I liked in the book was Max, and that is because I liked the way he just didn't seem to care about everything that was going on and had his own things that he was doing, and I liked the way he pushed Liana's buttons and made lighthearted banter most of the time.

The ending of the book seemed really rushed to me, I honestly didn't really understand how she was managing to pull things off the way she was. We found out a lot of information about what was really going on but at the same time where loaded down with her own personal feelings. I just wish I could have learned all of that stuff before everything started to go down, and I really would have liked to know what was so special about her blood.

Would I recommend this book? Not really, it was a quick read and I like the different view on vampires but I'm not interested in learning anything more about anyone and whats exactly was going on.

The Celix of Cthulhu

The Celix of Cthulhu

by Roman K. Banjo

It was a dark and stormy night. A lone hitman goes on what he thinks is his final job. Unfortunately the storm is never-ending. What was supposed to be a simple payday spirals into the absurd. Now the hitman and an odd cast of characters must unravel the mysteries of the mystical MacGuffin, The Celix of Cthulhu! 

****

4 Stars

This is one of those books where you have a few people all starting out at different points before they all end up meeting up with each other to take on some great evil. I have to say it was a pretty amusing read and you will probably never find another story like this ever again. With the way everything seems to be a carbon copy of a book you read a million times before its refreshing to read something new. I mean you have an assassin, clown, fat ninja and a luchador that all end up meeting up and try to take down some Nazi's and laser shooting robot nuns. Right there you should know this is a one of a kind type of book.

The plot of the story was pretty off the wall, but at the same time it worked really well with everything that was going on. There is some seriously weird stuff going on, and I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a squid or octopus without thinking of this book again. 

The point of view shifts a lot between all the characters but it is done really well. It gives you a chance to get to know a little background information about everyone that is involved in everything. I have said it before and I'll say it again here, I really love reading from many different point of views. . .I feel like I get to know everything about the book from all angles.

Over all I really enjoyed this book. . .though I think the ending could have been a little more hands one with everything that happened. I also felt there could have been a little more closure on all the characters. . .maybe an epilogue that lets us know what happened to everyone when it was all said and done. I just felt that I was left hanging a little.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you are looking for a quick and easy read this book is for you.