Book Review

Slammed By Colleen Hoover

Title: Slammedslammed

Author: Colleen Hoover

Pages: 317

Synopsis: Following the
unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she’s losing hope.

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart. (Goodreads)

Review:

Plot: 18 year old Lake, just loses her dad when her mom decides that she wants to suddenly  move. Angry, and frustrated with the move Lake finds peace in befriending the neighbor across the street, Will. As a fresh new romance unveils, circumstances are determined to keep them apart.

Characters: All the character were very well written. I enjoyed reading about Lake, as a strong female protagonist who has been helping her mom take care of her brother after her dad’s passing. Will, was definitely boyfriend material. He was only 21 years old in this novel and he had a world of responsibilities.  I enjoyed seeing his self-expression through slam poetry. He was very passionate and it made me curious on how to write slam peoms.

Feelings:

Pro: I fell in love with this book from the first line. The voice of the book was so captivating that I literally could not stop reading. The voice and the plot of the story made this book fast paced. And when I say fast paced, it only took me a day in a half to read. That’s record speed. I really enjoyed how fluently the plot flowed. The events all seemed to be in the right place, and nothing seemed forced in this novel.

Con: I did however, have one small con with this book. This was the first Collen However book that I felt had an instant love. I always, expect my love stories from Colleen to be a  little dragged out. This wasn’t a huge issue for me, it just caught me by surprise.

Rating: I gave this book astarsstarsstarsstars stars/5 stars . I literally couldn’t put this book down. When I did stop reading for the very, very short time that I did, my thoughts were on the story. Have you ever had that feeling where you were part of the story while you were reading it? That was the feeling I had even when I was not reading the book, I felt that I was still living in Will’s and Lake’s world. At times I felt like something was missing, while I was going about my regular day, and then when I started reading the book again I realized I was unconsciously looking for the voice the the book was written in. It had an element of surprise and this book turned out to be nothing like I expected it to be. I enjoyed the aspect of slam poetry and how it encouraged,  a healthy way of dealing with your emotions. Thanks Colleen Hoover, for  getting me out of a book slump. I very highly recommend everyone to check this book out, although I think females will find it more appealing then the male population.

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Book Review

Darkness Series By Stacey Marie Brown Review

I received this series for an honest review. I firstly, want to apologize that it has taken me so long to post this review.

On to the review:

Book 1: Darkness Of Light

Synopsis: (From GoDarkness of lightodreads)

Freak. Witch. Crazy. Schizo.
Ember Brycin has been called them all. She’s always known she’s different. No one has ever called her normal, even under the best circumstances. Bizarre and inexplicable things continually happen to her, and having two different colored eyes, strange hair, and an unusual tattoo only contributes to the gossip about her.

When the latest school explosion lands her in a facility for troubled teens, she meets Eli Dragen, who’s hot as hell and darkly mysterious. Their connection is full of passion, danger, and secrets. Secrets that will not only change her life, but what and who she is—leading her down a path she never imagined possible.

Between Light and Dark, Ember finds a world where truth and knowledge are power and no one can be trusted. But her survival depends on finding out the truth about herself. In her pursuit, she is forced between love and destiny and good and evil, even when the differences between them aren’t always clear. At worst, she will incite a war that could destroy both worlds. At best, she will not only lose her heart but her life and everyone she loves. Once the truth is out, however, there will be no going back. And she’ll definitely wish she could.
DARKNESS OF LIGHT is a Mature YA(16+)/New Adult Paranormal Romance.

**Warning: The Darkness Series is not YA, but a NA Series.

 Fire In The Darkness, Book #2

Synopsis: From Goodreads

***This is NOT a YA Series but a New Adult(17+). Sexual Content and Language.***
It’s been four weeFire in the darknessks since Ember Brycin witnessed what her powers are capable of. The Electrical Current Storm has turned Seattle, Washington into a natural disaster zone. The death toll is in the thousands with countless others homeless and hungry.
And Ember is the one who caused it. Something she will have to live with every day.
Those people who were unable to escape either turned quickly into gangs or live in shelters. Ember, on the other hand, can’t do either. With a price on her head and a Dark Dweller on her ass, she is constantly on the move. Both Light and Dark are hunting her for their own purpose to use her as a weapon or a pawn in the war between the Unseelie King of the Dark and the Seelie Queen of the Light.
Em needs help but doesn’t know who to trust: Lars, the mystery man Torin told her to find? Torin, the Seelie Queen’s personal knight, who has sworn to keep Em safe? Or Eli, who wants to turn her over to the Unseelie King, but whom she has an undeniable, intense connection with?
No matter what she chooses she will probably lose—her life or everything and everyone she loves.

Dwellers Darkness 

Synopsis:  From  Goodreads

Some days feel like years, but in Ember Brycin’s case just the opposite is true. Em would be 22 now—if she were human. She’s not. She is a Dae—part DDwellers of Darknessemon and part Fay—with a little Dark Dweller thrown in to make her more of a freak.

Life has become further complicated for Ember since returning from the Otherworld. Besides being continuously hunted by the Seelie Queen, Ember is at the top of the Unseelie King’s list, after breaking her oath with him. No one breaks a vow with the Unseelie King without extreme consequences.

Adding to Ember’s problems is a certain Dark Dweller whose mood has become violent and cruel. As much as she’d like to deny it, there is an undeniable connection between them. Eli is sexy, gorgeous, and frustrating as hell. She also knows he is holding something back, something that could change their relationship forever.

But her problems go way past him. As the tension for war mounts between the Seelie and Unseelie (Light and Dark), the tension at the Dark Dweller’s compound escalates even more as they prepare to obtain the Sword of Light—the only weapon able to kill the Queen.

But is Ember the answer to the location of the sword? Is she the one to fulfill the prophecy? As usual nothing is ever what it seems.

Blood Beyond Darkness

Blood BeyondSynopsis: From Good reads

After months of searching, Ember and her friends have finally located the Sword of Light, the only weapon capable of destroying Queen Aneira and ending her rule. This is Ember’s destiny. Or so she thought. Now a pact to save the man she loves changes everything.

In this final installment in the Darkness Series, when the truth comes to light, Ember will learn some things are better left in the dark as her world is ripped even further apart. It is no longer a rabbit hole, but a never-ending black void full of endless lies, betrayals, and secrets.

The fight for Earth has begun, and Ember will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save millions of innocent lives and those she loves.

But this price may be too high—even for her.

Review:

I really enjoyed this series. It was quite fast paced and it kept me very intrigued. The relationship building was unique but at points I thought my heart was going to get ripped out. I also noticed that this is not a series that you will go into thinking you know what is going to happen. You are going to be flipped upside down and your emotions are going to be tested.

The character development gets better as the book progresses but be aware of instalove. That was one thing that really bothered me was how fast Ember was to trust Eli. Another thing that really bothered me was how all the male characters where considered sexy. It just became too repetitive for me. There is definitely a lot of action in this book as Ember is exploring her powers and trying to protect herself from the Queen who wants to use her for destruction.

There is also a lot at stake from all the characters, and I really enjoyed how they were all somehow interconnected. There are a lot of characters in this book. We have Ember and her immediate friends and family her stepfather, her best friend Kennedy and Ryan. It is a constant struggle for Ember to have to protect them and do what is best in order to keep them safe. Then we have the Dark Dwellers which are demons that can turn their bodies to look like giant panthers. They are very dangerous and are considered to be extremly deadly. Ember is forced to befriend them in order to survive. We also have the power hungry Queen, who wants to use Ember for destruction against the Unseelie King. Among, her party is a servant named Torain, who promises to protect Ember but, soon Ember realizes that its just too good to be true.  And the Unseelie King, who would be more then happy to have the Queen out of his hair, no matter what the price may be.

This series is worth reading I give it a 4/5 rating. I think that it is full of growth, from the characters to the writing style. The books will keep you on you toes and make you second guess every thing that you know. I highly recommend you to give it a go if you like paranormal, new adult and fantasy all in one.