Go Luck Yourself

Go Luck Yourself

by Sara Raasch

 

A satisfactory and fun sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas.

 

Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari and the Night Brothers

by B.B. Alston

A few months ago, Amari's brother disappeared and there has been no word what happened to him. After yet another visit from the local police, Amari received an odd briefcase from her brother. In it is a very ugly suit and a pair of goggles. Those goggles show Amari that there is a world all around her that she never knew existed.

Supernatural creatures are real and they live in and amongst regular humans.

With this briefcase also comes the invitation to spend the summer training at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. While Amari is interested in the bureau and its history, she's much more interested in finding out what happened to her brother. She wants to pass the training but only to help her get her brother back.

But her particular gift is illegal and there are many who don't want her to succeed.

Final thoughts: Harry Potter knock off with a great lead character and a decent plot structure but with poor world-building and too many things inserted just to be cute.

Rating: 3/5

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

by Sarah Hawley

Big Bad

Big Bad

by Lily Anderson

In an alternate dimension Sunnydale, the skies over the town are permanently dark and the vampires and demons rule the newly named "Demondale". As the Trio work together to try and help Warren ascend, a teen girl appears and Warren ends up in pieces around the room.

The teen girl is Buffy and she's determined to destroy all demons in all dimensions.

It's up to Jonathan, Andrew, Anya, Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla to try and save their dimension and all the demons and vamps who live there. 

With all of the various characters from the Buffyverse making appearances, they must work together to stop the slayer.

Final thoughts: This is mediocre fanfic that's jammed up reference after reference, which takes away from actual storytelling. Pretty much every demon and vamp who Buffy fought over seven seasons are at least mentioned in this novel. The ending doesn't feel like it fits in with the character who we've grown to love over seven seasons. Those who don't know the Buffyverse and/or aren't fans won't get into this and those who are fans may just be distracted by the references without being able to enjoy the plot.

Rating: 2/5

Bring Me Their Hearts

Bring Me Their Hearts

by Sara Wolf

Three years before, Zera was killed by bandits who also killed her parents. A witch who was near took Zera's heart from her and then reanimated her as a Heartless. After avenging her parents' deaths, Zera stays as the servant of the witch her "saved" her, unable to go far from her heart in the witch's lair.

For the past three years, Zera and two other Heartless have served the witch and been her thralls.

When all signs point to the king preparing for a new war against the witches, a plan is hatched to give Zera the ability to leave her small home, travel to the city, and try to capture the heart of the young prince, Lucien.

Literally.

If Zera can kill him, take his heart, and help to turn him into a Heartless, her heart and the hearts of the two other current thralls will be returned to her, allowing her to be human once more.

Getting to the city is easy. Convincing everyone that she's not a monster will be much harder. Capturing the heart of the prince, could be the most dangerous thing Zera has ever tried to do.

Final thoughts: This one had a nice concept but was a slow build. I almost gave up a few times at the start because I was struggling to get into it. However, once I was in I was all in. Zera is fascinating and many of the other characters are fleshed out well. Lucien was great and I felt for him by the end. There was an obvious twist early on but it actually was revealed to all of the characters early so it didn't bring down the book much. My biggest complaint was the cliffhanger so I'm off to read the next book.

Rating: 4/5

Soul Taken

Soul Taken

by Patricia Briggs

When people start disappearing, the wolf pack of the Tri-Cities area takes it seriously. When vampires start disappearing, that wolf pack gets very serious about protecting those around them.

During a meeting to discuss one issue, the magic around them is broken and a damaged ally appears with an ultimatum for the pack, and especially for Mercy. Find the vampire, Wulfe, or be blamed for his demise.

On the hunt for the missing vampire and trying to make sense of the other disappearances, Mercy and her pack are introduced to the legend of the Soul Taker, a sickle that is possessed and possesses those who hold it. It needs souls to reach its goal of releasing an ancient god and Mercy's soul may just be the last one it needs.

With time running out and the people around them starting to blame the pack for the dangers, Mercy needs to solve yet another magical mystery before it's too late.

Final thoughts: I LOVE Mercy, but this one was a mess. It's choppy. It lacks direction. The characters are all just a little off from their normal state. Was this meant to be messy? Is this just a setup for the final book or two? There are issues with timing and timelines, as well as her just ignoring some issues that keep coming up like the phone calls that can't be tracked. It's possible that my re-read of the series before I read this one tainted my overall view of this story. There are so many better ones before this and this just felt like Patty was distracted as she wrote this.

Rating: 3/5

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

by A.F. Steadman

 

Ever since Skandar was born, his parents dreamed of him becoming a unicorn rider. Now that he's finally thirteen and can take the qualifying tests, his dream seems to be about to come true. While there are some issues with taking the test, Skandar makes it to the Island and realizes his dream; he's now bonded to a unicorn!

Unfortunately, it seems that he and his unicorn are part of a banned group and he shouldn't even exist. With the help of a small group of other new riders, Skandar is able to hide his true elemental nature and continue to train to master his gifts and keep his unicorn near.

As they train, there is danger outside that threatens all of the unicorns and their riders, as well as those on the mainland. While that danger is outside, the new riders continue to train inside and are kept away from the dangers as much as possible. However, Skandar soon realizes that he may be the key to stopping the danger. 

Can he and his new allies stop the enemy before all of the unicorns are taken or killed?

Final thoughts: Some great ideas and a few really good moments but this seems to pull from a number of sources. Steadman seems to be trying to achieve the magical discovery of J.K. Rowling while having the bonds between humans and the unicorns be similar to those of the dragons in McCaffrey's world and/or the Companions of Lackey's Valdemar series; it just doesn't all blend that well. I also wonder about things like sending kids who are just thirteen out to become nomads and live on their own if they don't qualify or reach certain milestones as they train. It feels like Steadman forgets the young ages of his own characters at times.

Rating: 3/5

I Speak Boy

I Speak Boy 

by Jessica Brody

After Emmy messes up a "meet cute" setup that she was making for her best friend and a boy at school, she ends up dunked in the dirty water of the "Enchanted Lagoon" at their school's first-ever carnival. Desperate to keep her phone from becoming permanently drowned, she drops it into a bag of expired rice. 

While waiting for her phone to recover, Emmy thinks over the disastrous night and wishes that she could understand the alien language of boys. 

Wish granted.

Once the phone is up an running, Emmy's translator app on her phone suddenly is no longer just "iSpeak" but "iSpeak Boy". Now everything that males of the species say, write, and draw can be translated in this handy little app, making Emmy the "Love Coordinator" of her middle school. She's helping girls figure out the boys they like and she's getting popular as she does it.

But not everyone likes what Emmy is doing and not everyone who likes what she is doing can be trusted.

Final thoughts: Modern day middle school retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. This is written for upper elementary and middle school students so that should be considered, but it really is cute and fun. 

Rating: 4/5

Before Midnight

Before Midnight

by Cameron Dokey

 

Rating: 3/5

Hush

Hush

by Dylan Farrow

Shae lives in a time of banned books. They are banned, not because of the words but because of the ink on the page. The Ink is the cause of a terrible plague known as "The Blot" so books and writing have been banned everywhere in the country of Montane.

After Shae's little brother catches and dies from The Blot, Shae and her mother are virtually exiled and ignored by most of the town. They are pariahs in their own town.

When Shae starts seeing things around her and accidentally making things happen, she fears that she has contracted The Blot and seeks help from the Bards who control the magic of the land. 

Before she can get their help, her mother is murdered and the town covers it up by saying it was a landslide. This is the final straw for Shae and she runs away to find the Bards to save her from her curse and to find her mother's murderer.

What she finds outside of her tiny town is much more than she ever could have believed.

Final thoughts: Another good premise that is poorly done. The world and characters just aren't built well. The plot is pretty predicable and the hidden villain is really pretty obvious. I feel like this was only published because of the author and not because it's actually good. Not worth the read and not worth going to the next book in the series.

Rating: 2/5

Pixieland Diaries

Pixieland Diaries

by Christina Bauer

Calla is a faeling. This means that she has human parents who abandoned her because she was born with magic. She was born with magic because her parents lived just a little too close to the realm of Pixieland.

So, being "just" a faeling means that Calla has been fostered by the fae, raised by the fae, taught by the fae, but she doesn't have the evil intentions her parents hold dear and all she really wants to do is play pranks on others.

Well... that and stare at Darius "Dare" the Winter Court's heir apparent.

Unfortunately, being 16 and looking 9 mean that he doesn't ever stare back at Calla.

And it also means that people don't believe that she's anything more than a pest.

She'll show them...

Final thoughts: Nope. Not for me. Calla is an unlikable character who behaves like she's on a triple espresso dosed with speed and a ton of sugar. It seems like the writer may have been too since there are sooo many errors in this thing. Even for an ARC, this is riddled with things like the names changing between sentences, spelling mix-ups (i.e. not to drag instead of not to brag) and, in the middle of a sentence there was an apostrophe-s just sitting there. No reason at all. Just  's.  WHY???? The plot is random with things popping out of nowhere. The characters are bare. Why is she writing in her diary the entire time? Stuck in a void and unable to do anything at all? Write in her diary. HOW? About to go into battle! Stop everything so she can write in her diary!!!

And, the thing I hate most SPOILER ALERT!!!! When she finds out she's not a tiny pixie, but a full elf with the bod to match (the glamour she didn't even know she had being stripped away), suddenly Dare is more than a little interested. Tiny, flat pixie... ignore. Boobs and curves? Go for it!!!  Same person but changed appearance and suddenly he takes an interest. Ummm. No.

Rating: 2/5 (and that's pushing it)

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Smoke Bitten

Smoke Bitten

by Patricia Briggs

Mercy has survived miniature zombie goats, vampire attacks, the fae, angry werewolves, a rapist, and her own bad luck. Now she needs to survive an unknown fae who has escaped Underhill, a rogue group of werewolves, the tension in her own marriage, and killer bunnies. (Monty Python would be so proud.)

For some reason, Adam, her husband and werewolf mate, has shut down their mating bond, while also spending late nights at work and sleeping in the guest room, effectively cutting Mercy out of his life. Mercy is trying to be patient and wait him out, but some people need a little offense instead of waiting in defense.

Tilly, the physical manifestation of Underhill, has dropped a door to her land in the Hauptman backyard in order to be closer to their semi-adopted son and former Underhill resident. Upon entering this world, she lets out an unknown fae who can take over the minds of its victims and make them do evil things to the people around them. 

There is a group of werewolves who have decided that now is the perfect time to try and take over their pack.

There's Wulfe, who has become radically changed after the events of the last book and who is now even more scary and unstable than ever before.

And there are killer bunnies...

With all the juggling that Mercy must do now, she should probably join a circus. 

Final thoughts: I love new Mercy books and this is no exception. She is such a strong character who knows her own mind and heart. She also seems to be the focus of a lot of bad juju, compliments of her father, Coyote. I hope that she gets a few days off of the crazy someday, although that will probably mean that I won't have anything to read and that would be sad. As with all of her books, Briggs has a complicated and convoluted story that makes sense at the end and makes better sense after a reread or two. I LOVE the return of some characters that we haven't seen for a while. I can't wait for the next book.

Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Elsker

Elsker

S.T. Bende

When Kristia decides to take a leap of change and take a year of university courses in Cardiff, Wales, she never thought she'd end up on a course to save all life everywhere.

It helps that there's a literal Norse God there to help her out.

Final thoughts: Ugh! This is almost a literal plot point by plot point retelling of Twilight with Norse gods instead of vampires. Why?? It's dull, repetitive, plodding, and the "insta-love" has no chemistry whatsoever. 

Rating: 2/5

Join or Die

Join or Die

by J. Adrian Ruth

Alex Ayers is a regular kid with a bit of a temper, a best friend, a single mom, and a pretty good life in Las Vegas. That all changes when his absent father's best friend shows up and tells him he has to leave to attend an exclusive magic school before he Changes into some sort of mythological/magical creature.

At 14, he doesn't have any choice, so he's sent off to Fios Academy to learn about his past, his present, and his possible future as the next Scion who, with his ciorcal of friends, keeps the Creature community in line.

He's got competition for the Scion job, though, and also a few Creatures who aren't happy with any Scion being in charge. 

Alex has to learn about his own half-Creature self and history before things get out of control.

Final thoughts: I enjoyed the book while reading it, but I can't help comparing it to Harry Potter. He's about the same age. He si half-human (Muggle) and half-Creature (Wizard). He's a Chosen One. There are forces against him from the start from competition in the school to dangers from without. There's a barrier to protect the school from outside harm. There's a mysterious headmaster. He's forming a circle of friends who all specialize in different things that he'll need as time passes. The list goes on and on. But, again, I enjoyed the read. If I see the sequel pop up, I'll probably read it, too. And it does look to be at least a few books if it goes year-by-year at the school.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC.

Of Silver and Shadow

Of Silver and Shadow

by Jennifer Gruenke

In a world of magic, the magicians have been all but wiped out. 

Generations before, the king purged all the silver wielders from the land except for his own family. Since then, the only magic in Erdis has been hoarded by the the royal family and used to keep the rest of the land and the surrounding countries in line.

But things are changing.

A new silver wielder has grown and she may be what the rebellion needs to finally take the country back and keep the king from destroying everything.

Final thoughts: I wanted to like this much more. The characters had a lot of depth and it was fun to read from four different character points of view. However, that multi-view did get a little confused from time to time and story had to backtrack more than once to cover the viewpoints. I also struggled with some of plot as ideas seemed to be thrown in after the fact to cover for plot holes. Why does she have this power when no one in her family did? Let's use this idea to over that hole. How are you going to convince the people to overthrow the king? Here's something to cover that hole (and we've been planning it for years so just go with it). And there were other issues here and there that bugged me like the repeating over and over at how skilled someone was at something. She's good with a bow and arrow. We get it!

I'm not sure if there's a sequel since the ending could be considered final by some. It is nice to see a fantasy novel that doesn't necessarily automatically have to be a trilogy.

Rating: 3/5 

Thanks to NetGalley and North Star Editions for the ARC.

The Babysitters Coven

The Babysitters Coven

by Kate Williams

Esme and her friend, Janis, are the last members of their local babysitters club. They work each weekend, taking care of the local children and making a little money on the side. It's better than getting a "real" job. 

But, except for her best friend and her babysitting, Esme just doesn't have much else. Her mom was committed to an asylum when Esme was young and Esme doesn't get along well with others. She's dealing with her life, though, such as it is.

Then Cassandra and Dion come into her life. 

Cassandra is nothing like Esme, but she seems to be determined to join the babysitters club for some strange reason.

It turns out Cassandra has her own home life issues and Esme may be the key to solving the mysteries that have surrounded Cassandra and her brother since their parents died.

When strange things start happening around Esme, she and Cassandra must work together to understand what's going on.

Final thoughts: Messy book. This is a bad combination of The Baby-Sitters Club and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's awkward and poorly written with very little to recommend. There is no build-up of anything, including tension. Things just happen without warning and then go away just as fast. Not good and not worth reading the next book.

Rating: 1/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley

Sugar Spells

Sugar Spells

by Lola Dodge

Anise Wise barely survived her last dangerous encounter. She very nearly died and had to be brought back by a little dark magic. Now that dark magic is infecting everything that she does. Her recipes are deadly... literally. The death magic in her is so strong that she can't even walk near plants without killing them.

Anise must either wait for magic to fade, learn how to harness it so she can at least live her life, or both. 

Anise chooses both.

Now Anise must try to burn off the death magic and find a way to get her Shield, Wynn, out of the worst magical contract ever constructed.

Maybe she can do both at the same time.

Or maybe she'll end up worse than before.

Final thoughts: I still love Anise. It took me a bit to get back into the swing of things because it's been a while since I read the first book. But once in, I was hooked. The ending felt a bit rushed but that may be because I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't want it to end. Now that it's done, I'm curious to see what happens next and eagerly await the next story.

Rating: 4/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley

How to Hang a Witch

How to Hang a Witch

by Adriana Mather

Samantha Mather is forced to move to Salem, Mass. after her father is suddenly in a coma and the bills start stacking up. She and her stepmother move into the home of Samantha's grandmother who also died recently. It's par for the course for Samantha, though. Everyone she knows seems to get hurt somehow. It's like she's cursed.

Upon moving into her dad's childhood home, Samantha immediately begins to discover strange things like a hidden stash of letters in her armoire's secret hiding spot and an entire stairway and room located behind a fireplace. That room is filled with her grandmother's journals, tons of books, and a few other secrets that still can't explain why people have started dying all over Salem. 

Samantha must also contend with the house ghost and his secrets as well as the mean girls of her new high school who, like her, are descendants of people involved in the Salem Witch Trials. But they won't accept her into their group because they are the descendants of accused witches and Samantha is the descendant of one of the men who started the whole thing.

It's up to Samantha to end the curse that has plagued her family since 1692, save her dad, free the ghost, and stop the cycle of vengeance. No pressure.

Final thoughts: Cotton candy read. I love reading about the Salem Witch Trials and I think the history of it is fascinating. The fact that the author really is a descendant of Cotton Mather is pretty cool. The story itself is a little messy at times and the antagonist was pretty obvious very early on, but I still enjoyed the read. What I think is more powerful is the overall message that bad things only happen when good people stand by and let them happen. That's a true today as it was in 1692 and might even be more true now than when the book was published in 2016.

Rating: 4/5

Deadly Sweet

Deadly Sweet

by Lola Dodge

Anise was born a witch. Her mother is a witch, too. Together, Anise and her mother have tried to keep their financial heads above water while keeping their figurative heads down. There are few places a witch can safely practice and New York isn't one of them so they need to keep their secrets close.

When Anise accidentally defends herself with fire, it's time for her to leave. Unfortunately, her mother can't follow and Anise must face life as a bakery witch on her own. Or, sort of on her own. She moves to Taos, New Mexico, where she meets her great aunt and one of the most powerful witches alive. She also meets Wynn, her bodyguard whether she wants him around or not.

And it turns out she needs him more than she would like. The last apprentice disappeared mysteriously and Anise seems to be the target of a warlock who'd like nothing more than to steal her life and her powers. 

Can Anise survive someone so powerful and evil who thwarts even the might of the thirteen strongest witches around?

Final thoughts: It's kind of like a female Harry Potter. She's a little older and already has some basic magic knowledge but the characters around her are familiar. There are a few too many similarities with the first HP book and it doesn't help that some of it is just obvious. However, all that being said, I still enjoyed it and look forward to the next book.

Rating: 4/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Ink Monster LLC

Blood Rose Rebellion

Blood Rose Rebellion

by Rosalyn Eves

Access to magic equals access to power. 

Anna can't access magic so she can't access power. 

But even without access to magic, Anna seems to be able to mess up everyone else's magic. 

After ruining her older sister's coming out party and accidentally destroying all of the magic in the room, Anna leaves for Hungary to try and save her family's name and to get away from the danger her lack of magic presents for them.

But running away to Hungary does more to put Anna at the front of the magic rebellion than to hide her from it. She's being watched. She's being hunted. And she's being courted by people who want free access to all magic.

Her talent, or apparent lack of it, may be the one thing that opens up the binding that regulates magic and frees the people to be able to access it no matter what their family names may be.

Final thoughts: Messy. This one was just messy from start to finish. There were a couple of ideas that had promise, but the extended metaphor was forced and shoved down the throats of the readers. I feel no need to read the next two in the planned trilogy and I feel bad for those who read the back cover and think this will be any good.

Rating: 2/5

ARC provided by NetGalley