I loved this one!

World After is the second book in the Penryn & The End of Days series and I can honestly say this is one of the books I have been looking forward to most this year. Ee dives right back into the story and the action and I loved every second of this one. We get more Penryn, more danger, and of course, more Raffe.

The story picks up right where Angelfall leaves off – Penryn has been stung by the Scorpion and for all anyone knows is dead. Thankfully Raffe is able to deliver her to her mother and she is transported, along with her sister and mother to the Resistance compound. It is while they with the Resistance that Penryn, Paige and their mother realize they will never really fit in. When Paige is vanishes, Penryn makes the decision to hunt her down and bring her back to her mother. Along the way she realizes the angels are up to more than they originally thought. At the same time, Raffe continues to hunt for his wings at has to decide what is more important to him, his wings or Penryn.

The characters in this series are some of my favorites and outside of the actual story; they are what really kept me turning the pages of this book. There are some solid secondary characters that help move the plot along and only add to the story.

Penryn is smart and strong and continues to kick ass. We get to see more of her protectiveness of Paige but because of the changes in her, she also doesn't really know how to act with her. I also love the banter and relationship she has with Raffe. Despite the fact that they both have their own end goals, they clearly care about each other…even if they won’t admit it and when Raffe finally realizes that Penryn is alive, it is clear he is not only surprised, but happy about it.

One of the things I enjoyed was through the sword that Penryn now has, we also get to see Raffe’s perspective during some moments in Angelfall. They were some nice little flashbacks that gave Penryn a view of what Raffe was experiencing.

With all of that said, there were some moments in this book that just made me happy. The first being when Penryn and Raffe wash up on the beach. The whole scene really helps convey just how important Penryn has become to Raffe and his realization that she is alive and with him puts a crack in his armor.

One of my favorite lines:
Raffe is warm and strong and he feels like home.

And some of the banter with Raffe:
I look up to say something but he puts his finger to my lips and whispers, ”Don’t talk. You’ll just spoil my fantasy of rescuing an innocent damsel in distress as soon as you open your mouth.”

AND

”If I still had any doubts that it was you, that would do it.” He gestures toward my opponent rolling on the ground with his hands cradling his package.

“He should have been polite and just let us by,” I say.

”Way to teach him some respect. I always wanted to meet a girl who fights dirty,” says Raffe.

“There’s no such thing as dirty fighting in self-defense.”

Must. Stop. Quoting.

Paige herself is also very protective of Penryn and whenever she is facing danger, she does whatever she can to protect her and it frightens Penryn a bit. I had my doubts as to how things were going to go with Paige based on what was revealed during the course of the book but I am interested in seeing how things move forward with her. I also look forward to seeing how Penryn’s and Paige’s relationship potentially changes.

I have very mixed feelings about Penryn and Paige’s mom. There is definitely more to her than some people believe but boy I really didn't like her when she and Penryn were locked in the police car. She clearly believes that Penryn didn't do everything she could do to protect Paige. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't but what made me angry (aside from what she says and does to Penryn) is the fact that she hasn't’t been around to care for Paige. I do believe that Penryn has done the best that she could and for her to hold anything against her just made me angry.

This truly was a great second book in the series and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next with this group. Ee does a great job of building out the story. This is almost continuous action and I really didn't know for sure where things were going to go. If you haven’t had a chance to start this series yet, I recommend you check it out. The world that Ee has created is interesting and the conflict between humans and angels kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next.

Review to come.

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell is a wonderful gothic story that includes magic, a mystery, a bit of romance and a creepy atmosphere that had me wondering what was going to happen.

Lucy’s parents have decided to pick up and move the family to New Orleans to live on a plantation that has a deep history. The history is exactly what has drawn her parents to the plantation and the history is what has made Lucy’s headaches and nightmares come back with a vengeance.

I liked Lucy as a lead character. She was smart and determined to figure things out. She was also protective of her family and cared about the people around her. As she digs into the mysteries surrounding her, she learns quite a bit about herself and what is really going on.

I was immediately drawn into this story due to the way that Maxwell develops not only the characters but the world around Lucy. From day one she is drawn into the Voodoo religion due to her quick friendship with Chloe. Chloe is the outgoing daughter of the woman who invited Lucy’s family to the plantation and as Chloe introduces Lucy to New Orleans, we get to see it through her eyes. As Chloe also introduces Lucy to Mama Legba, a real Voodoo Queen, Lucy is drawn into the magic as she sees it as a way to figure out what the nightmares mean.

Lucy is also drawn toward Alex from her very first day and we slowly find out why. As she finds out more and more about him, she begins to dream about him more often and this leads to her finding out exactly what her nightmares are about. I can’t say much about Alex as I don’t want to give anything away about him and how his story intertwines with Lucy’s.

Maxwell does a great job of developing the secondary characters in this book as well. From Mama Legba to Piers to Thisbe – they all play a critical role in this story and I loved how their stories were tied together.

If you are looking for a story that pulls you in and slowly unravels itself definitely check this one out. I enjoyed the way this one flowed and how the story developed into something I wasn’t expecting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Flux for the review copy.

Remake by Ilima Todd was an interesting dystopian story. It started out a bit slow for me but picked up as the story unfolded.

In Freedom One, children are born in batches to control the population. At the age of seventeen, the children are sent to the Remake facility where they can choose to be anything they want. The main character, Nine, struggles with this choice and as she compares herself to those around her, continues to wonder how she will make the right choice.

To begin, Nine is different from all of the others in her batch. She has red hair and freckles and this has always made her stand out in the group. Because of this, she quickly forged a friendship with Theron and they have always been close.

On the way to the facility, the shuttle they are traveling in crashes into the ocean and from there things change drastically for Nine. She is no longer in a world where she is protected by her best friend and can buy anything she wants or needs. Now she is living on an island where people have real families and work together to survive. As she learns more about herself, she also begins to see what she has been missing. While her relationship with Kai starts off very rocky, they eventually forge a friendship and then more.

Unfortunately, the tracker in Nine’s head begins to act up and she believes she has put the family she now loves just like her own, in danger. To protect them, she decides she needs to go back to Freedom One to get the tracker removed and Kai is determined to go with her. Of course, things don’t go as smoothly as they planned and they both end up captured. As Nine is taken to the Prime Maker, she finds out more about herself than she expected. She also finds out more than she expected about the Prime Maker.

I can’t say a lot about the plot and everything that happens as I don’t want to give anything away. I don’t know that everyone will enjoy this story as it poses some questions that not everyone will be comfortable with. Although the ending was fairly abrupt I found the story interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the review copy.

The Fall by Bethany Griffin was one of those stories that hooked me with the description. I loved her previous books and when I read that this was a reimagining of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, I was excited to dive in.

I will admit, the timeline of this story was a bit confusing as it begins when Madeline is eighteen and buried alive and from there jumps back and forth through her timeline from the age of nine up to the age of nineteen. As I started to get into the rhythm of the story from Madeline’s point of view it began to come together.

Madeline carries the curse of the Usher family and is basically trapped in her house. When her twin brother leaves for school things get worse for Madeline. She no longer has Roderick to lean on and add to this the fact that her mother hates her and suffers from episodes that require her to have her doctors live in the house and her life is definitely odd. Her father also suffers from episodes and as the story unfolds, we find that the Usher history is tied directly to this evil house that appears to have control over everyone who enters.

Madeline is definitely an unreliable narrator and it is through her eyes that we see how tortured she is by the house and those around her. She is looking for a way out and every time she thinks she has found one, she is pulled back into the curse of the house.

Beyond the Usher family, Griffin introduces some interesting secondary characters. Dr. Winston, Emily, and Noah all add to the story and while not completely developed, they helped move things forward. I think that the addition of the pages from Lisbeth Usher’s journal provided a bit of clarity to Madeline’s roots but didn’t really explain everything about the actual curse.

Overall I thought the story was interesting and while done in a unique way, I would have rather learned about Madeline’s childhood in the early chapters and then spent the majority of the book in her later years as it felt choppy and I mostly wanted to know what was going on with her from age seventeen on as the earlier years didn’t help in providing much clarity around the actual curse.

Thank you to Harper for the review copy.

3.5 stars

Witchrise by Victoria Lamb is the final book in the Tudor Witch trilogy and I thought Lamb wrapped this one up well.

The book opens with Meg living at her father’s house with Alejandro and Richard. She is also working with Richard to reach Meg’s mother in the afterlife as they are hoping to get some answers from her directly. As they come face to face with Catherine, she shows them (kind of) where she hid her spell book, athame, and some other magical items. Once Meg finds them, she comes to realize exactly how powerful these magical tools are and what that means for her.

Meg is still the same character. She is tough and independent. She definitely doesn’t want her reputation to affect Alejandro which is why she continues to put off telling him whether she will marry him or not. On top of that, she knows that since she is a commoner and English and he is a noble and Spanish, they could never really marry…despite what he really thinks. Add to that the fact that he wants her to give up her magic and she knows they could never really be together. Even though she knows this, she is very reluctant to give Alejandro up as she truly does love him. Eventually she does push him back into Princess Elizabeth’s household as her father doesn’t want him to be under his roof.

As Meg continues to dig into her mother’s past as well as the magical items she found, she finds out Marcus Dent is still a threat to her and those she loves. He continues to attack her and as he does so, he finds out about the athame and the ring she carries. When he has the opportunity, he does whatever is in his power to get these items from Meg and tries to get his revenge against her.

The secondary characters Lamb writes definitely add to the story. Richard is Meg’s support in magic, Alejandro is the man she loves and will do whatever he can to protect her (whether she wants him to or not), and Elizabeth is the princess who commands Meg and even provides her a bit of protection every now and then. I have to admit, there were times that I was annoyed with Elizabeth…mostly because of the things she would ask Meg to do for her and then turn around and get angry or break the rules when she didn’t hear what she wanted.

I don’t want to say too much about the story as I don’t want to give anything away. I think if you enjoyed the first two books of this series, you will find that this one is a solid conclusion. There were times that the story moved a bit slowly but overall I felt there was enough action, swoony bits, and story to keep it moving along. I did enjoy how Lamb wrapped this one up for Meg and I look forward to reading more from Lamb in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the review copy.

Wow...just wow. I loved this book. Review to come.

I did like this one but for whatever reason, it seemed to go a bit too slow for me....at least at first. I would probably bump this to a 3.5 just because of Cas' overall snarkiness.

I still love the characters in this story - Cas and Thomas...sometimes Carmel. I get why Carmel decided what she did but she did it in a crappy way. Thomas and Cas have a great friendship and when Cas chose Thomas as his anchor, it said a lot about just how much he trusts him. I don't always get to read about great male friendships and it is clear they have one.

Overall, a nice end to a good story.

True Fire by Gary Meehan was an interesting read and although there were times that the story dragged a bit for me, I found myself enjoying the dialogue and turning the pages to see what would happen next for them.

Megan’s life is turned completely upside down when she finds out she is pregnant. On the night she goes to tell the boy who is the father, her entire village is destroyed and the people she loves the most are murdered. The only exception is her twin sister as it appears she was taken from the village before it was burned to the ground.

As Megan attempts to find her sister, she meets two others who will play critical roles in the rest of the novel. When I say I enjoyed the dialogue, it is mostly the conversations and interactions between Megan, Eleanor, and Damon that fall into this. Their banter and the tension between Eleanor and Damon was one of the pieces of the book I enjoyed.

As the story progresses, we find out things happened due to more than just a random attack on their village. Everything that happened is connected to a prophecy and there is a larger implication to the things that happened to Megan since before her village was attacked. I can’t say anything about it because it would completely ruin the story for everyone….sorry, not sorry.

Overall I thought this was a solid story and I am interested to see where Meehan goes with it if this is a series as it could definitely head that route. Check this one out if you are looking for a book with lots of action and some interesting characters.

Thank you to the author for the review copy.