3.5 stars. This was a great introduction to this series and the characters. I will definitely continue reading.

Eugenie is the main character and she happens to be a shaman. She is the one that people call when they have paranormal issues. She grew up in a house where dealing with gentry (fairies), ghosts and all other things paranormal was...normal.

The underlying story is that someone (Wil) comes to Eugenie asking her to go to the Otherworld to save his sister Jasmine who he believes was kidnapped and taken by King Aeson. This triggers a series of happenings that relate to who Eugenie is and her parentage. At the same time, those things she is being called on to banish or take care of happen to keep calling her by her real name..which has her concerned.

There is a lot of action in this book - Eugenie spends a lot of time traveling from one world to the next and in between is involved in a lot of fights. Partially due to the work she does but also because she happens to be a part of a prophecy that states her child will have a critical role in the future of the Otherworld.

Now...I have to briefly mention Kiyo and Dorian. I actually really like them both but there is just something about Dorian that makes him stand out for me. He has a personality, interest in the things around him and come on, he's a king. :) Dorian is the one who spends the time with Eugenie to get her to focus on her magic and get her to the point where she would make a difference in a fight with someone else who has strong magic.

Through the course of the story a number of things are revealed.

Spoiler

From Eugenie being the daughter of The Storm King to Jasmine actually being her half sister. All of these pieces head into the showdown between Aeson and Eugenie. I won't go into the detail but ultimately Eugenie becomes The Thorn Queen and has to figure out what to do with her kingdom.

I enjoyed this one and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

4-4.5 stars

Unbreakable picks up 4 months after the end of Unraveling and a lot has changed for Janelle. She’s now out of school and working with the FBI. She absolutely misses Ben and hopes every day that he will come back. While looking into some mysterious disappearances of people, Taylor Barclay happens to show up with some interesting news for Janelle.

Here is where the action picks up and it doesn't really stop until the book is done. Janelle has made the decision to partner with Taylor to help bust this kidnapping ring and find Ben and Elijah. On top of all of that, they don’t really know who can be trusted in the IA. I’m not going to go into a lot of the detail of the story only because there is no way I can write about everything that happens but so much happens throughout the book that changes who these characters are and their relationships.

I was happy to see that the story focused on the kidnapping ring and the corruption within the IA. As a girl who appreciates a good romance, I was also happy to see the relationship stuff between Janelle and Ben threaded through the story but not be the main focus. Janelle is such a tough character and she has lost just about everyone important to her. When she finally does see Ben again, I thought her reaction fit who she is and I really liked the fact that Barclay is the one she ends up leaning on.

That is another piece of the story that I enjoyed – the progression of the friendship between Janelle and Barclay. I wouldn't say they were BFF’s but they were definitely on better footing by this point than they were at the end of book 1.

I was happy with the way the book ended. Norris is definitely not afraid to make people feel all of the feelings and it certainly made me do that. If you haven’t started this series, go out and get these when you can. They have action, romance, and a different twist on alternate universes.

3.5 stars

Overall this series was about a 3 star for me. There were things I liked and things that irritated me by the time I was on the last book. I read all four books of this series back to back and I think that was a good thing - If I would have had to wait, I probably wouldn't have picked up book 3 until I really had the urge to find out what happened. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn't bad – 3 stars is still good.

Eugenie is the main character and I had a love hate relationship with her. I love the tough, kick ass heroines and at times I thought she had it. There were also other times where I thought Mead felt like she had to have Eugenie in a relationship and I understand where she went with it but boy was there a lot of back and forth between Kiyo and Dorian that I ultimately just found annoying.

Kiyo and Dorian are great and after book 3 it was clear (at least to me) who Eugenie should be with…actually I made my decision at book 1 but apparently Mead wanted to drag this one out.. :) Regardless, some things happen in book 3 that should really make the decision pretty easy – for anyone.

Each of the books was a fairly quick read and they were all packed with action and the paranormal. Eugenie is still faced with the prophecy that her son will lead in the takeover of the human world. Because of that, a number of things happen in book 3 and 4 that impact who Eugenie is, who she trusts and who she ends up loving.

Mead did a great job of wrapping up the story here but I won’t say I was happy with it. Especially considering the choice Eugenie is faced with at the end and ultimately, her decision. Based on her actions (and reactions) throughout the series, I found her final decision to be especially troubling. Outside of that, I thought everything else came together well.

Review to come.

Review to come.

3.5 stars

Typically I'm not a huge fan of the novella but in this case I didn't mind it. I appreciated seeing The Selection and introduction to these girls through Maxon's eyes as well as gaining some insight into his relationship with his parents.

Reading this has made me much more interested in reading The Elite when it comes out.