The Veil

The Veil

Chloe Neill

When the Veil lifted seven years ago, it removed the one thing separating the humans of earth from the supernatural creatures of the universe.

Claire Connolly was a child when the Veil was torn. She watched her father fight back against the supernatural and she watched him die by their hands. 

She has done her best to take over her father's business, becoming a respected businesswoman who knows almost everyone and can get people what they need, when they need it.

She has also done her best to hide her secret; she's a Sensitive.

If people find out what she is and what she can do, she'll be sent to live in Devil's Isle with the rest of the supernatural beings who were left behind when the Veil was finally closed.

But she may have to reveal who she is when someone is trying to tear the Veil open again and rain terror on the land once more.

Final thoughts: This is a solid supernatural novel, but it's not a stand-out. I would much rather have Neill finish her Chicagoland Vampires series instead of starting a new one. Maybe she needed a break from Merit and Ethan. Hopefully she's been diverted enough and can back to their story.

Rating: 3/5

The Demon's Deadline

The Demon's Deadline

by Tori Centanni

When Nicki was little, she was in a car accident that killed her mother. In order to live, she was given the option to take a job by a demon. Years later, she's now doing that job.

She's the demon's messenger. 

It's her job to deliver sealed envelopes to whomever the demon wishes.

It starts as a rare assignment, maybe once a month. Then it started to be once a week. When it starts becoming a regular thing, Nicki starts to get curious about what she's delivering.

And the people she's delivering envelopes to are starting to get little desperate and angry.

Her job has started to put her into serious danger. And now the demon is no longer around to protect her from the trouble he has gotten her into.

Final thoughts: This one throws you into the story a few chapters past what would normally be the exposition. It then pretty much skips the middle and goes straight to the end. It feels unfinished from beginning to end. Decent, but I don't think I'll continue reading the series.

Rating: 2/5

The Stand-In

The Stand-In

by Steve Bloom

All Brooks wants it to get out of town. To do that, he needs a HUGE boost to his SAT scores and a lot of luck, so that he can get into Columbia University and away from his flake of a father.

Unfortunately, getting that boost requires a tutor and tutors cost money. And even if he gets into Columbia, he still needs to pay for it, so that means that he needs even more money.

A one-time accidental acceptance of a job to escort a girl to Homecoming, leads to a new, albeit temporary, career as a professional escort (without all the illegal things that go with it).

Every weekend is booked for Brooks. He takes girls to Homecoming, Winter Formal, Spring Fling, and Prom, all for a tidy sum each Friday and Saturday night along with great meals and often the use of cool cars.

But being an escort is taking a toll on the rest of his life and deadlines for SATs and college apps are coming.

Now Brooks has to start making real choices and real decisions that have nothing to do with being a fake date.

Final thoughts: OK. Cotton candy with a few truly unbelievable moments, as well as a few far-too-easy-to-believe moments. Gets the job done. Easily forgettable afterwards.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

by Martina McAtee

 

After years of watching her father be a barely functioning drunk, Ember must now attend his funeral and try to put the broken pieces of her life together. She's pretty much felt like she was on her own for most of her life, so this really isn't much of a change.

 

What is a change is the strange boy who seems to be everywhere watching her. Also strange is the appearance of twins who show up and take her to a tiny town in Florida, telling her that she is their cousin who was thought to be dead for the last 12 years. Now she's living with them, a pack of werewolves, and a fae.

 

Another change is the fact that she can now raise the dead, speak with the souls of the departed, and her cousins are a reaper and a banshee.

 

People want her power. People definitely don't want her to have her power. Ember and her cousins are at the center of a dangerous plan hatched generations before and now coming to fruition.

 

If she can survive it, she may become the most powerful person ever to have walked the earth.

 

Final thoughts: This thing just kept going and going and going and dragging and dragging and dragging. It was so frustrating because I kept having to put it down and pick it back up again. Only near the end did I finally look up the number of pages (having been reading the Kindle edition with only percentages listed), and I found that this thing is 508 pages. While the author is pretty good at showing and not just telling, this showed way too much and kept meandering around. Additionally, and this is a personal thing of mine, ::SPOILER ALERT:: the three death cousins are reincarnations of The Morrigan, a trio of goddesses. But one of the cousins is male. How does the author work that? She makes him gay. As if being gay makes him automatically more feminine/effeminate. That's really rude and definitely not accurate. More accurately, it's stereotyping and judgmental. 

 

Not reading the next one. Not caring one bit.

 

Rating: 2/5