Rave - Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them—no matter the cost.

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.

Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap…

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If I had to describe Magic Rises in just one word, this would be it: action. From start to finish this book was a rollercoaster ride of action and adventure!

 It starts off when Kate and Curran get an invite to Europe (yep, road trip time!) where they have to play bodyguard duty to a shapeshifter princess called Desandra, whose big, bad daddy controls a highly sought after mountain pass. Upside: they get paid in panacea  - the medicine they desperately need to stop the Pack children from going loup and dying. Downside: it's an obvious trap and they'll be very far from home when it hits. 

So, from the very start we're on edge with planning, politics and emotional angst (sorry guys, no spoilers!). But when they land on the island, whoa do things get interesting! There are three other packs on the island, all of whom want to incite Kate, Curran & Co. into fighting and distrust so they can pick them off, one by one.

 This makes for a very tense book. Kate, Curran and the rest of the gang are facing an onslaught of insults and challenges, but they can't get angry of retaliate. Throw in some shocking twists and turns, mysterious murderers, romance, bodyguard duties, politics and angst and you have one hell of a book. 

I get the feeling that we also moved along (in the overall story arc) quite a bit with this book. Serious stuff comes up about Roland, Hugh and the rest of Evil Inc. It feels like we're getting closer and closer to that inevitable showdown, and based on this book, I'm not entirely sure that Kate is ready for it yet.

I have to say, this is probably the best book I've read all summer. A definite five out of five.

 Five hats! This book made my day. XD

Rave - Fifth Grave Past The Light by Darynda Jones.

Charley Davidson may not look like your everyday, run-of-the-mill grim reaper, but she has vowed to reap grimness wherever she goes despite this unfortunate fact. Sadly, she gets sidetracked when the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, moves in next door. Since he is her main suspect in an arson case, she has vowed to stay away from him until she can find out the truth. But when dead women start appearing in her apartment, one after another, each lost, confused, and terrified beyond reason, Charley has no choice but to ask for his help, especially when it becomes apparent that her own sister Gemma is the serial killer’s next target. With Reyes’s ability to observe incorporeally, surely he can find out who’s responsible. Even if he can’t, arsonist or not, he is the one man alive who could protect Gemma no matter who or what came at her. But he wants something in return. Charley. All of her, body and soul. And to keep her sister safe, it is a price she is willing to pay.

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Wow. I'm going to tell you guys straight up that this book was brilliant. It was a delicate balance of action, romance, and supernatural intrigue, doused in a healthy dose of Charley's special brand of comedy! 

The book starts off great and only gets better from there. Charley has an infestation of crazy dead ladies in her apartment, all featuring the same MO. Naturally, she wants them gone, so, using her usual crazy, hilarious methods she sets out to find the killer. Of course, things are never that simple: she also has a Super Sexy Son of Satan  (and various other calamities) to deal with along the way. 

It all makes for a very easy and entertaining read, and I think that these books get better and better as they go along. The plot in this book is a lot simpler than it was in Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, but because of...certain things Charley finds out about herself, it feels like this book is building up to something BIG. And I seriously can't wait to find out more.

Reyes is a H-A-W-T as ever in this book, but he's also strangely sweet. I know, I was freaked out too. It seems he's super committed to Charley now, which is great, because he's slightly less mysterious and more willing to answer all her questions - which I was really excited about. Trouble is, she doesn't ask them, they usually end up having sex instead or something comes up. I get that Darynda wants to keep his secrets, well, secret for as long as possible, but I am thirsting for information here! XD

All in all, I love Charley's antics and this story gets:
 Four hats! Absolutely magical!

Rant - Of Triton by Anna Banks

In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

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This book let me down. Of Poseidon had it's issues, but overall it was a good YA novel. The sequel, however: ugghhh.

This book picks up immediately after Of Poseidon ends. Emma's mother has been found out and has, quite frankly, gone off the deep end. Is it possible for an author to write their own characters "out of character"? Because that's what it looked like to me. 

Emma's mother - long lost Princess Nalia - suffers a complete personality change. Gone is the somewhat oblivious, caring mother from the first book. She is now replaced with this bratty, selfish woman who puts her own needs before her daughter's, and damn the consequences. Maybe it's but me, but I thought that it's a parent's prerogative to put their child first. After all, they're the one's that had the child. Nalia made her choice when she ran away from her responsibilities and had a baby - mistake or no. 

Another things I just couldn't wrap my head around: Nalia's "mating circumstances". Nalia has been living on land for about twenty years now. She is forty years old, because on land, the mermaid people age faster. Now Grom, her One True Love, has been living in the water, so he hasn't aged much at all. Add to that the fact that he is Emma's boyfriend's brother and I get all sorts of disgusted and creeped out. Seriously, on top of everything else, we are now going to add pedophilia to the novel??? If my mother was dating my boyfriend's brother - no, wait, she wouldn't. Because it's weird and freaky!

Also, Emma. I liked her considerably less in this book. While I would be super supportive if she were to, I don't know, hold an Intervention for her mother, or excommunicate her, or even GET ANGRY - she doesn't. All we get is this inner monologue of brattiness and self-hatred. The only thing "bratty" about her is that she's not rejoicing to the heavens that Nalia and Grom have found each other, like everyone else is. And then she hates herself because she's "not being happy for her mother". Seriously. 

I guess I just felt very alone reading this book. It was very frustrating and I felt like screaming "Does nobody else find this weird!!!??"

I would give detailed synopsis, but the whole book is pretty much Nalia-related politics. There is some action and revolutionary overhauling, but the plot doesn't make much sense and the characters suck.

This book gets:

 One hat. Not even Galen's hotness could save this thing.

Am I right? Wrong? What did you think? Let me know. :)

Quick Post - TGIF

Thank God it's Friday! Also.....it's a long weekend! Wooo! No school on Monday!

Phew. Now that I've gotten the appropriate enthusiasm out of my system, it's time to get down to business.
So, question is this:

WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS WEEKEND? 

I'm finishing Sweet Peril, and I'm hoping to make some serious headway on The Fellowship of the Ring.


Anyway, I want to know what you guys are reading. Let me know!