Tag: fantasy

Fantasy/Paranormal · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Deadly Harvest – Heather Graham

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3643502.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: When a young woman is found dead in a field, dressed up as a scarecrow with a slashed grin and a broken neck, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, begin to fear that the infamous Harvest Man is more than just a rumor. But out-of-town cop Jeremy Flynn doesn’t have time for ghost stories. He’s in town on another investigation, looking for a friend’s wife, who mysteriously vanished in a cemetery.

Complicating his efforts is local occult expert Rowenna Cavanaugh, who launches her own investigation, convinced that a horror from the past has crept into the present and is seducing women to their deaths. Jeremy uses logic and solid police work. Rowenna depends on intuition. But they both have the same goal: to stop the abductions and locate the missing women before Rowenna herself falls prey to the Harvest Man’s dark seduction.

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My thoughts: This is like the third book I have read by Heather Graham and still after I’m done with the book I have this feeling “thank you that it is finally over!”. That is not a good feeling to be left with. Almost all her books have a average 4+ star ratings and it is weird that non of those I have read, has appealed to me, at all. And I don’t really know why either. I think it is the writing that I can’t connect with. I feel bored and already at 20% of the book I wanted to DNF it, but didn’t since the story was a little interesting.

So, this book is about Jeremy Flynn. The second of the three brothers this series is about. He is in Salem, Massachusetts to help out a friend, who’s wife is missing. Roweena, who are from Salem is trying to help out. Jeremy met her through his brothers wife down in New Orleans and for weeks he have tried to stay clear of her but his feelings  is to strong and in Salem there relationship takes a big turn. She tries to help him but there is a lot of stuff happening and on top of that, she has terrible dreams, she doesn’t know what to do with. Jeremy is a down to earth, facts and logic kind of guy who do not believe in stuff he can’t see. Together they need to work together to find Mary, the missing wife, and later on, find a killer.

Okay story, a little predictable and boring but still well described. Missed some hot and steamy feelings and scene between Jeremy and Roweena, which I think would have made the book better. And the rest are a little flat. Still I think it all is because of the writing and that it doesn’t captures me.

I do not think I will read more by Graham for now, I just think that she maybe not is an author for me.

 

Fantasy/Paranormal · Suspense · Thriller/Horror · Young, New adult/College

Shutter – Courtney Alameda

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20757532.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat—a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She’s aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera’s technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn’t exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she’s faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week.

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My thoughts: I’m so disappointed with this book. I don’t think It’s due too high hopes, since the author was new to me and I haven’t heard or read any chatter about the book or author before. It was just something Book Depository recommended me since it was a similar to another book I bought a time back. Well it was a bad recommendation.

I have so many problems with this book that I don’t even know where to start. Here’s a list!

  • It is repetitive
  • Not enough description
  • No variety
  • Kind of cliché
  • To many questions
  • Lack of information
  • Slow and way to much teen angst.

My biggest problem is that there is not enough description of the characters itself or the history. The readers get thrown into the story with no knowledge or background history. Like for an example, all the unnatural creatures seems to be common knowledge. Does every person on the planet know that all you have seen in horror movies are true? That they really exist? Well apparently so. To a certain degree at least. But this is never 100% verified. And I missed proper information and descriptions of other things. Like characters! I should not have to read on page 220 that a main character actually has Aborigine heritages and that his skin is like a 5 shot Café au lait. That totally messes with my mental picture that I have tried to build up. And it is like this through the book. On everything! And some of the bad stuffs description is to easy that I can’t form a picture fitting with the story. And I have a pretty good imagination, to tell you the truth!

How about the story itself? Well, our heroine, Micheline Helsing, descendant from the big Abraham Van Helsing, killer of all unnatural, is around seventeen years old (I counted but it is never mentioned) and goes to school to become a hunter. She however, takes water over her head when trying to prove to her father that she is capable of taking care of herself, her team and save innocent people. She has a tough relationship with her father and to be honest, that is the only thing that kept me reading. Because I wanted to know what would happen between her and her father.

Other have described this book as fast paced and edge of your seat, kind of book. I however did not find it like that at all.   And I think Alameda tried too hard, to push that horror feeling trough out the book which gave it the opposite effect. No I’m not happy. Not at all.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The lightning thief – Rick Riordan

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28187| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

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My thoughts: Of course I have seen the movie and more or less already knew what to expect. I do not often like to read (or in this case listen) to books after I seen the movie, but I have seen reviews that the books is so, so much better than the movies and felt like I was missing out on something. However I did not find the book as great as all those reviewers raved about. But it was a good book.

I did somewhat enjoy it. It started of really good and the ending tied itself together real nicely. A little slow sometimes but it was okay. I would probably have liked it more if I read it before the movie though. There are some things changed between the movie and the book. I do not know why really because I can’t see a reason to why they could not do it as in the book. It was like the same but different. And I think some stuff in the movie had made more sense if they did it more like in the book. But that is just my opinion.

There are also a lot of stuff in the book that is not in the movie, which surprised me. This whole “half god” thing would have had a bigger impact with it. But I guess they had their reasons. The book, however is educational in a fun way. Greek mythology was a big topic when I was in school and after what I can remember, the history facts are correct in the book. I love books for younger readers that also is educational. And I think if this came out when I was a kid, I would probably have loved it. I was really interested in Greek mythology and history at a time.

I will probably listen to more of the books. They are easy and relaxing and perfect to listen to when I’m at the gym working out. But I will probably not love the series as so many others seems to do.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction

A Glimmer of hope – Steve McHuge

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36605004| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: From Steve McHugh, the bestselling author of The Hellequin Chronicles, comes a new urban fantasy series packed with mystery, action, and, above all, magic.

Layla Cassidy has always wanted a normal life, and the chance to put her father’s brutal legacy behind her. And in her final year of university she’s finally found it. Or so she thinks.

But when Layla accidentally activates an ancient scroll, she is bestowed with an incredible, inhuman power. She plunges into a dangerous new world, full of mythical creatures and menace—all while a group of fanatics will stop at nothing to turn her abilities to their cause.

To protect those she loves most, Layla must take control of her new powers…before they destroy her. All is not yet lost—there is a light shining, but Layla must survive long enough to see it.

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My thoughts: First of I want to thank Midas Public Relations, who contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing Steve McHuge’s new book A Glimmer of Hope. The first book in his new series The Avalon Chronicles, that will be released 1st April 2018.

Second of I want to say, I freaking loved this book and I’m so happy that I got the chance to read it. It is highly energetic, action filled book of pure fun and I really enjoyed it. It is a greatly written, easy but still deep story not anything like I have ever read . It is highly imaginative and it is hard to anticipate what will happen next. The book is intriguing and exciting and I liked the way it was build from page one. It was suspense to the verge where I actually could not sit still.

Imagine that every horror story you ever read actually are real. That monsters under the bed, is not a imagination of a young mind. That warewolfs, warebears, shapeshifters, demons, and other mythical creatures is walking among us. Some are good, some are bad and some are even worse. Imagine all of this put in ONE book, melted together in one incredible story.

I only have one problem with the book, and it is unfortunately big enough to lose one star because of it. And that is the middle of it. The story lost some of it’s *ompf* and actually got a little boring. But I do feel that it was necessary since there was some things that needed to be explained, but maybe the explanations could have been done with a little more finesse, depth and without the juvenile behavior from Layla. I lost some of my reading energy because of it and it was hard to get back in the story. As soon as I did tho, I never lost it again.

I will definitely read the second book when it comes out. There is still a lot of questions I want to see pan out, and the world still needs saving. I can only imagine that it will be a bumpy but incredibly fun ride to read.

One other thing I would like to mention is that I love when publishers think another step forward. I was expecting a boring cover under the dust jacket of the book. I certainly did not expected that they have though about it and made it so beautiful. That was one more exciting, unexpected thing with the book.

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Fantasy/Paranormal · Suspense

Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb

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21956219.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

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My thoughts: This is an complex book with many layers. Great read and a lot different from all those YA Fantasy books that seem to take over the shelf’s in the bookstores. It is a slow burner and I don’t have a good history with slow books, since I easily get bored. I did however not get bored with this book but I’m not used to read fantasy anymore (read a lot as an kid) and it took me awhile to get used to the writing style and language. So it was quite “heavy” for me in the beginning. Fantasy is often written in a different kind of rhythm and has words not that common in today’s literature (that I read anyway). It is more medieval, proper and sentences are usually a lot longer with more describing words. So it took some time for me to get used to it again, but eventually my reading speed went up and it got much more easier for me to enjoy the book. I do think that if I read the book in my own language, it would have been easier from the start. But I find reading on English suits me better in the long haul so that’s why I stuck with it.

The book is about Fitz. The bastard boy, son to the king in waiting. Not officially acknowledged by the royal house, he lives with the king in waiting’s first hand man. Eventually he gets mixed up and pushed in to situations beyond his own control and you get to follow him through his childhood years, becoming the Kings man and fight for more than life.

The world Hobb has built in this book is amazing. The environment is livid, the Red Ships terrifying and the story over all, insanely enthralling. This book is the first one in the Farseer Trilogy and the first book in the 16 long series about The Realm of the Elderlings.

I read this book for the first time as an kid. Not remembering much more than that it was a great book and that I had a crush on Fitz, I am now happy that I chose to read the book in an adult age. It is certainly a hidden gem  and it is sad that it took me 15 years to read it again.

Classic/Historical · Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The horse and his boy – C.S Lewis

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587315| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A wild gallop for freedom. Narnia… where horses talk… where treachery is brewing… where destiny awaits. On a desperate journey, two runaways meet and join forces. Though they are only looking to escape their harsh and narrow lives, they soon find themselves at the center of a terrible battle. It is a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself.

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My thoughts: This is so far my favorite among the three books I have read. I really like it. The story is set in the Golden age and it takes place in the south outside of Narnia’s borders. Because Narnia is actually not that big. The book has a completely different feeling. It is somewhat darker and more medieval with fairies, horses, King and Queens and of course, War! They have swords and complete knight equipment. The ladies have big, flowing dresses and they live either in castles or poorer in small houses. They are fishermen’s, farmers or have other, not so legal ways to provide for them self’s. The story is simple and just about a Boy and a horse. Who talks by the way and it makes the story just better. More magical.

They are on an adventure through danger from both people and nature. They meet a girl also with a talking horse and decides that four are better than two. The book is about staying alive, do the right thing, friendship and fight for the weaker people.

There is also a mystery that you don’t get to know the truth about until the end of the book and it made it all more real. A little darker but still with the learning that there is light in the end of the tunnel and if you fight for what’s right, yourself and your friends, you have done alright. And even though the book is a lot darker than what I associate with Narnia, you still get that Narnia feeling.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Fear University – Meg Collett

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26038790| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: I’ve always known I was a monster, and I don’t mean some teenage vampire shit either.

My mother abandoned me when I was ten years old because I have a freakish mutant disease that makes me incapable of feeling pain. I bounced from one foster family to another because too many people like to test my medical condition in a game of “Try To Make Ollie Scream.” At sixteen, I killed a man for taking that game too far.

Two years later, I’m still on the run in Kodiak, Alaska. Here, I’m the most dangerous person around, until I come face to face with a creature that should only exist in folklore. The monster is an aswang, and I, with my medical anomaly, am uniquely qualified to hunt the beast that haunts the night. At least, that’s what the two scarred, mostly crazy ‘swang hunters tell me when they kidnap me and take me to Fear University, a school where young students learn to hunt and kill aswangs.

I arrive at the university a prisoner, but I stay because I finally find my freedom.

For once in my life, I belong. I’m needed. I make a home for myself inside the university masquerading as an old Alaskan prison. Something close to happiness warms my icy heart when I’m with my scarred, still mostly crazy tutor, Luke Aultstriver. For a murdering runaway like me, Fear University is a haven where I can put my skills to good use hunting monsters in the night.

But when certain truths come to light and even more lies are exposed, I fear that I, Ollie Andrews, am the worst kind of monster of all. And, maybe, they should be hunting me.

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My thoughts: First off, before I start to talk about the book itself. I don’t know if it is the authors fault or someone else but either way. Do not, I repeat, PLEASE DO NOT end the e-book under 90%. It makes you as an reader feel cheated, and that is not a good feeling to have your reader sit with at the end. Even more important so if the book ends on a cliffhanger. It happened with this book. Ended on a cliffhanger when I thought I had at least 10% left of the book to read. Not a good feeling at all. An quite frankly, it makes me a little pissed off and not wanting to read the second book. I will of course someday read it, because I need to know how it will end, but it will probably take awhile.

So what about the book itself? It is really good. Fresh and quite imaginative. Asuwangs is from an old Filipino folklore and I have seen and heard a lot about it from the movie world. But really not read anything. So I did not know exactly what to expect. But the story is exciting and filled with lies, mystery’s, really good characters and suspense. I like the dynamic and I like what the book is starting to build up. It’s twisted and you think you know how it all is put together but in the end that is just wrong. I do not, however, like Ollie that much. Well I like her fine, but for a girl who has been through everything she has been through, she is quite naive and really childish sometimes. And it does not get any better. I do hope she grow up some in the next book because if not, I don’t know if I want to continue reading.

I do not know the history with Asuwangs but have read a little about it now after the book and if I get it right, Collett (Which is not of Filipino descent) has done a great job with mixing the history with her line of the story and make it believable.

So as soon I have forgotten the “betrayal” I will read the second book and I really hope it is as good as the first one.

How do you feel about books ending before you think it will and cliffhangers?

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Blood Harvest – Sharon J. Bolton

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8658911| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Sometimes I wish that she’d just leave me in peace . . .

Psychologist Evi is worried about one of her patients – a woman who is convinced her little girl is still alive. Two years after the fire that burnt their house down.

Meanwhile, the new vicar in town is feeling strangely unwelcome. Disturbing events seem designed to scare him away.

And a young boy keeps seeing a strange, solitary girl playing in the churchyard. Who is she and what is she trying to tell him?

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My thoughts: I’m not one of those people who scares easily buy movies, series or books. I often feel them to much and quite exaggerated and overrated. I can enjoy an good scary movie but they do not affect me to that degree that I will have nightmares after. This book however did give me nightmares. And it is such a clever written book.

We get to meet Evi, Harry and the family Fletcher. They are like the main characters. Harry is the new vicar in town and the Fletcher’s are the new family who moved there not long ago. Then mysterious things begin to happen. Things they can not explain and one of the sons in the family is not believed by other than Harry, who is still trying to find natural explanations to it all. Then other stuff happens, children are disappearing and they are trying to find the truth to it all.

I think that the reason the book is so “scary” for me is the children. I cant go to close into it without give you an spoiler. But it is seriously terrifying and gives you that one bad feeling you cant really explain and put words on. It’s just sits there in you chest, sucking you dry of every confident feeling you ever had. I even woke up several times one night with the feeling that someone was watching me. However I do not want to scare you away from this book because it is seriously good. And in the end it is not really an horror story at all. I love the small English country town with there history and people but the very best ting with the book is that you get an explanation for EVERYTHING. Not a loose thread to be wondering about and it was great. Believable and fit the story perfectly.

I do however need to point out that on the absolute last page, it did happen one thing that I did not like and the story would have been better without it. But hey, you cant get it all and knowing Bolton, she is good to throw you curveballs in her books. So I should not be surprised.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance

Voyager – Diana Gabaldon

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10987| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: From the author of the breathtaking bestsellers Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues.

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her… and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her…the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland… and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

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My thoughts: It took me a while before I started on the third book in the Outlander series by Gabaldon. That’s because the books are really mentally heavy with a lot of information and feelings and after both the first and second book I have felt emotional drained and need time to put myself together. I did start the third book in February 2017 but was not mentally ready yet and could not finished it. But now (October 2017) I´m trying again. The audio book is separated in three parts, probably because it is so large. I decided that I will be reviewing each part by them self. Mostly because i don’t know or probably will not Finnish this book in one go. There is a high chance of me take a break some times during the book. This review will not be public until I´m finished with the book. So I will try to name dates to make it a little easier.

Part One
27 September – 2 October. Started listening again, had to take a break to finish the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, but did take it up again at 2 October. If you do not know it, there is a chance to be really confuses because the book starts 20 years in the “future” and you feel like you have missed a couple of books. But no this is correct. I have checked. And it will make a lot more sense later in the book. Even though I’m not sure that I like that way it was build. I would want it more in a chronological order. The part One is mostly about what have happen the latest 20 years and it makes my heart hurt. Off course the book is as always good written with the extreme detail work on both history and scenery. The part one ends a little on a cliffhanger so I will start the second part as soon as I get a chance. Life and work needs a place in my life to.

Part Two
10 – 11 October. Part two was a little more slow than first expected. Here we get to met a lot of the characters from the earlier books and that is just wonderful. To “see” them again and read about what they have been up to the last 20 years. I do feel that Claire in this part is a little to much of a diva. She overreact on somethings and I totally understand Jamie and I feel that a lot of what is happening, he do not deserve. Off course there is some traveling (A lot of traveling in this series) and there is some fights and the some love of course. You get to meet new characters who was not even born the earlier books and you get to meet characters that was born but still just an infant. It is wonderful. But the cliffhanger on the end. OH My! Jamie is soo “dead” or he will wish he was!

Part Three
27 – 31 October. Quite happy that I’m now finished with the book. This last part was kind of slow and not as exciting as the rest of the book. There is a lot of traveling and there is some things you just need to know and that was what kept me going.
Ends pretty great and if I use my imagination, I could stop here and not read/listening further in the series. I probably will in the future but now I need a break.

Overall a great book as usual. The first book in the series is still my favorite and this one is the least favorite so far. There is several books left in the series so that can change in the future. Still would recommend this book to anyone who needs something to read.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Suspense

Wolf Trouble – Paige Tyler

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24763130| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He’s in trouble with a capital T…

There’s never been a female on the Dallas SWAT team and Senior Corporal Xander Riggs prefers it that way. The elite pack of alpha male wolfshifters is no place for a woman. But Khaki Blake is no ordinary woman.

When Khaki walks through the door attractive as hell and smelling like heaven, Xander doesn’t know what the heck to do. Worse, she’s put under his command and Xander’s protective instincts go on high alert. When things start heating up both on and off the clock, it’s almost impossible to keep their heads in the game and their hands off each other…

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My thoughts: I´m still kind of uncertain when it comes to the genre fantasy/shapeshifters. It´s a little to much make believe for my taste but I still need to say that I really enjoy this series. How weird am I? And a hypocrite! Because I can read and enjoy books about worlds that is so far fetched that make these books look like reality, and still I have problem with them. And I blame the Twilight hysteria of 2008 and forward. I read some of the books before they even was a thought about make them into movies, loved them. When the films came out the hysteria around it wanted to make me gag and ever since I have had such problems with vampires, werewolfs and what not. But i´m trying. There is so many good books out there that I want to take part of.

I did like this book more than the first one. I think it is because the story is a little bit more exciting with the stalker and forbidden attraction and what not. But I would have liked to see/feel more from Khaki since she is a new wolf. Only three months in and I feel she took way to easy on the whole situation. At least one freak out would have made it a little more believable.

I do feel a larger connection with the characters this time. Most of them I have meet before in the first book and I really start to love some of the guys in the group and I can hardly wait to read there own books.

Overall an easy read. Doesn’t make your heart beat to hard and fast and you don’t loose any sleep over it but it is still a great read that I could recommend to those who would like this kind of books.