Review: Dead and Beyond by Jayde Scott (Ancient Legends #4)

Title: Dead and Beyond (Ancient Legend #4)

Author: Jayde Scott

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Mystery, Fantasy

Publisher: Scotland (self-published)

Synopsis/Summary:Amber Reed is a dead girl walking.

Having just been turned by her gorgeous vampire boyfriend, eighteen-year-old Amber Reed is bestowed with the ability to see ghosts. Between trying to figure out how to control her bloodlust and solving the mysterious disappearance of a friend, Amber realizes someone wants to step into her shoes so badly, they’ll do anything to take her place.

When one secret after another pops up, the only person who believes her is her enemy, Devon. Amber can’t figure out if he’s here to help or save his own immortal race from losing the ancient war against the vampires. What she does know, however, is that she can’t resist his good looks just as much as she can’t help becoming someone else…

In a world of dark magic and ancient enemies, three powerful courts fight for supremacy, and Amber might just be the pawn in winning this war forever. But how’s a girl to survive when everyone wants her dead?

Find the book on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

     After my slight break from the series, I am reading on again. The fourth book in the Ancient Legends Series took us back to Amber, where she decided to plunge headfirst into a mystery that might threaten her life...

    I must say I am not very satisfied with the book. It's still interesting, but I felt like everything that just kept happening. There was no twist at all, and basically no climax, there were mysteries but that was about it. However, I did find that the pages seep by without my knowing, and then the book ended. It wasn't a cliffhanger, but I felt the book really lacked climax. There was a big plot there, and would be stretched to the next book, and it was actually interesting. But the problem was that the reveal came too late, most, and when I say most I meant about 90%, of the book was spent spinning the mysteries for this plot, and that was it, no answers, and the book just ended. There was a vague paragraph about our protagonist processing what really happened and connected the dots, but she didn't elaborate and I didn't really want to think about it. Basically that means the book paved way for an interesting and exciting storyline but things stretched on for too long, and the whole book actually just felt like half the book, with all questions and no answers. That said, there were a few elements that I enjoyed in this book.

    First, I liked the love triangle. I know most of you groaned just reading or seeing that word, but the love triangle in this book was actually quite good. I mean, both sides were nice and I couldn't decide which team I'm in, like what happened when I read The Nine Lives of Chloe King Trilogy (review here!). In my opinion, that was a successful love triangle. I mean, what was the point of a love triangle if everyone knew from the start who the protagonist would end up with anyway? But of course, the love triangle in this book wasn't one sided, and I liked it :)

    Second, I love how smooth the plot went. Granted, there was only one POV(Amber) this time around, so there wouldn't be situations where readers confused from the switch of POVs and decided to take a break from the book (I did that!). The plot really kept moving and I just kept reading. But like I said from the beginning, the book lacked tension, drama and climax, even if it was able to lure me in and kept me reading, I wasn't really gushing about it. So actually this part was fifty-fifty. I liked that the plot went on without bumps, but I hated that there were no climax at all.

    It seemed that there were more paranormal creatures getting thrown into the mix this time. We had a werewolf, and a new demigod. These two characters didn't appear very often or hadn't appear until the very end of the book, so I really couldn't judge their powers and whether they made sense or not...

    The story was set back to Scotland in Aidan's mansion again. And the infamous shed made an appearance too. What I didn't understand was where did all the people go. The last time I checked, Henry and the house-keeper (the former one, I can't remember her name) should still be living in the garden shed, working for Aidan and Claire were still living in the house. But this time neither of them showed up which left a really big plot hole here. And I must admit I was upset because I was really looking forward to read about Claire's story, and now she didn't have an appearance at all, just some name-drop and it was like she moved to another planet or something. No one talked about her, which definitely didn't make sense.

    So, like I said, Amber was back for this book, and so was Aidan and some other characters that took a back seat during the whole Cass-losing-her-soul-mate debacle. (They did appear in that 2 book, and played a part too, but not an important one.) There was really no way to talk about the new characters because first of all, their parts were really small in this book, like a random name-drop here and the story just went on and second, there was really no way to introduce them without spoiling. So I will just talk about Devon, the guy that seemed interested in Amber in the first book, and was a recurring character in book 2 and 3.

    Devon was kind of like a two-sided guy. He could be really cold, like, no expression from his face or voice at all, or he could be quite cute, when he was flirting with Amber. I found that I have fallen in love with this character because his conversations with Amber were so funny, I didn't really have a LMHO moment, but it was good humored and I could feel that their flirting came rather natural, which spiked a hope in me despite Aidan being her bonded mate. I wouldn't tell you how that went but I think you will like Devon a lot more after you read this book ;)

    Blogger just started acting wonky when I finished the character part so I will be blunt and end this review. I have no desire to fight with blogger about the htmls in my blog.

    I would give this book 3 stars. It was a pretty good read if you were already a fan of the series and love Amber right from the start, but I am pretty sure just this book along won't be able to attract many readers to keep on reading. Because, let's face it, this book lacked the climax that I so needed in my stories. Since it failed to impress me but still managed to keep me interested throughout the whole book, I would give it an average 3 stars. I would recommend this to readers of light YA paranormal, as in the storyline won't too heavy, good for readers that didn't like reading a book that got all depressed and grim and stuff. Happy reading!

Ratings: 3 stars!

It was quite a light paranormal read I just had there, though it lacked some much needed tension to create a climax. So, tell me, what book you have read that had the most awesome climax? What do you think was needed to create a proper climax? And finally, the question that matters the most, what do you think of the book, or the series in general? Do you agree with me that this one was kind of a downer with the book 2 and 3 being so awesome? (Okay, technically, that was more than one question, but it's always good to have options ;) )

BTW: Anyone who uses blogger suffered the same formatting problem as me? You know, things shifting when you point your wicked little mouse at it? I must say, I am really annoyed. And that problem had been going on for weeks!

Books? That's My Thing!: Traits in Characters: Part I

    So, last week we talked about YA paranormal (the post here!), and after wrecking my brain for something to write about, I thought of it, character traits.

    What I do mean by that? Well, after reading YA for a few years now, I have found that there were some very common traits among the characters, so this week, I want to deduce them out and discuss! I actually have no problem with similar traits in characters, 'cause what matters is how the character develops, and not how they started out. Of course, I do get a little annoyed at the similar types of love interests, they are either mopey or sunny. And usually the mopey guy wins in the dreaded love triangle... What's up with that? Anyway, I've decided to split this discussion into 2 parts, since I found that after writing about different types of main protagonists, the post is already long. So to keep you interested, and since I have to do revisions for exams this Friday, I the first part today, which is what you are reading now, and the second part on Thursday, I feel weird talking a break on a weekday anyway, and I have so much that I want to share with about this one. So, let's dive in and discuss characters, shall we? ;)

     I think there are actually 2 types of main protagonists, first, the shy kind. You know, those female characters that think of themselves as plain, fat, too tall, too short, too thin or whatsoever while other characters surrounding her thinks she's oh-so-attractive. You may think I am a little too sarcastic here, but bottom line is, I usually find these kind of protagonist quite annoying. You know, 'cause their monologues are usually along the lines of, "I stared at myself, my face is too round and my cheeks too pale, yada, yada, yada." I really don't understand why they had to criticize themselves like that. Everyone is different, and they all have a different opinion on beauty, so why torture yourself by thinking you are not pretty/smart/charming/whatever good traits you think you don't have by placing yourself in your own biased judgment. Seriously, I think no matter how hard you try, your judgment will always be biased. Sometimes maybe more people will agree to your judgment, sometimes they don't. But the important thing is, there's no certainty in judgments. So, I think that these kind of characters need to stop hypnotizing themselves with petty comments on themselves, instead talk about something else in their monologue. Talk about the weather, I don't care, just don't tell me they think of themselves as plain, fat and stuff, 'cause I am sure the readers all think otherwise. Luckily, these types of main protagonists usually grow more confident throughout the book, and with every barrier that they managed to burst through, the more I like them.

     The other common type is the more feisty kind. They are born fighters, they don't take anything from anyone and are usually brave, yet stubborn. I think these kind of main protagonists appears more in paranormal books. I like them, they are strong and they give the story so much more... purpose, if it must be described. Since these kinds of characters always seem very determined to do something, or their inquiring minds just couldn't stand the thought of something happening that people surrounding them are hiding, these kind of characters like to get to the bottom of things, no matter the trouble they have to go through to get there, and the whole plot of the story always seems clearer with these characters. We know from the traits that he/she won't back down until things are all in the clear , so we have a clear idea of where the plot will be heading. A good example of these types of characters: Cassandra from the Secret series (I am not sure how many people have read this one, but the series is very good or should I say, very secretive ;) MG and YA readers will enjoy it!)

    However, mostly the main protagonists of YA books are actually the two types that were mentioned combine together. We throw the two together and we get a protagonist that doesn't think highly of his/her-self, but is sure capable to kick someone's ass when the need arise. There many examples this kind of characters, like Daisy Giordano from the Dead is series, Cammie from the Gallagher Girls series, Tris from the Divergent Trilogy, etc.

That's the end of part one of this topic! So, what do you think of my opinion of separating main protagonists into 3 types? Should there be more? Is it a bad classification? 'Cause I totally understand if you disagree, that's the point of discussing! We need voices with other perspectives! If you agree, which type do you like the most? Comment below and let's discuss! ;)

Oh, I have something to tell you guys concerning this meme, I've decided to create a banner for it! I think it would be up sometime on November, I want to think about the design more, and use more time to draw it. And when the banner's out, I think I might make a Linky list of this meme, of course, I still have the worry that no one would join, 'cause thinking up of a topic actually takes a lot out of me too, maybe we will do unified topics, but that is if someone really want to do the meme too ;)

Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake (Anna #2)

Title: Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

Author: Kendare Blake

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Teen

Synopsis/Summary (could be spoilery to people who haven't read the first book): It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Find the Book on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

     First of all I want to talk about my concerns going into this book. Anna Dressed In Blood was a really, really good book, but I thought the ending was pretty much a closure. We didn't get a happily-ever-after ending, but everything was kind of resolved, there were no important mysteries left. So I was worry that Girl of Nightmares would just be a forced continuation of Anna Dressed In Blood, either with no connections with the first book or the plot was entirely forced out, but I see that those were wasteful concerns. Because Kendare Blake can always write a good story. Because I love everything about this series.

     The book started about half to almost one year after the events of Anna Dressed In Blood, Cas was still moaning over Anna, refusing to let her go. Then he started seeing Anna everywhere, but not the good kind, he was seeing her being tortured, killed and could do nothing to stop it, because Anna wasn't really there. I was a little hesitant going into the book because of the aforementioned reasons, and for the first 30 pages or so it really did seem like nothing would be going on. There were only vague expressions about "things are going to happen", "I feel that something big is going to happen", something like that. Then Anna appeared, and things really started going on.

     There are several things I like about the plot. For one, I like that the plot actually relates to the previous book, instead of just making up a bunch of events and throwing Anna into it. In this book we dived into the aftermaths of clearing the curse/link/connection of the athame with the Obeahman, while further expanding the paranormal world of the series.

     Secondly, I like that the plot has a really good climax. my heart wasn't actually beating fast while reading that, but I felt the urge to read, to keep going, even though the chapter had already ended, I just went on with the next chapter without pausing.

     Thirdly, love the butter sweet ending. I guess there would never be a happy ending for Cas and Anna, but I am glad about the way it ended.

     I have something to say about the writing too. This book was written from Cas' POV, first person. We got the somewhat scattered thoughts of Cas all the time. Sometimes I am a little annoyed by it, it seemed like he would miss out some detail when things happened, then suddenly sprang it back at your face a few paragraphs later. But I also love his humor, he never fails to crack me up, even if he wasn't trying. The writing doesn't really omit a scary feel to it, but then again, I feel that that was never the atmosphere Blake wanted. I think she was trying to craft a tragic love story with two very stubborn and hard-ass characters, so the feel should be grim, but the slight humor was a wonderful touch too. :)

 

    I think every book I've read that involves magic or paranormal powers is somehow always linked to Voodoo and Wicca and stuff. So there was no surprise there that this book also have Voodoo and some other way of magic in it. There were rituals and other stuff, so I could see that Blake did her research.

    Oh, I can't tell you how much I love all the characters in this series! Cas, Thomas, Carmel and Anna are such charming characters!

    I have developed a very deep case of love towards Thomas in this book. His setting was actually quite the basic side-kick type, faithful to the protagonist, possess some powers that are great asset to protagonist, etc. But I could really see his growth in this book. In book one, he was just the scrawny, annoying friend of Cas, but in this book I could see him being more brave, and of course, I could really see his loyalty to his friend when he stood by him through every crazy attempts to help Anna. He has definitely snatched a place in my heart. I might actually like him even more than Cas. But Cas was funnier ;P

    Some goes for Carmel, she was more fierce this time. A little shaken-up at the first half of the book, but she really came through later on, and was there when Cas needed her. I think she and Thomas make such a cute couple. They basically come from two different worlds, Thomas as the nerd/freak and Carmel as the queen bee, but they compliment each other so well. I love them!

    There is a new character introduced in this book, and that's Jestine. Jestine is another feisty female character created by Blake's awesomeness. I have some reserves about her, despite her actually being genuine and frank with Cas and the others. Maybe it's because there might be something going on between her and Cas? I don't know, I just couldn't really like her like I adore the other characters, but maybe she will grow on me, if we get another installment *hint, hint*.

     I am giving this book 5 stars! The climax was so good that I couldn't take my eyes off the book! Kendare Blake did her magic again on this book and brought us an unforgettable and tragic love story with ghosts and kick-ass female characters! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, okay, maybe not kids under 13, but I am sure everyone 13 and up would enjoy this book! There's no steamy romance scenes, so younger YA readers could enjoy it too and even though this book has a ghost, it's not necessarily scary, a little bloody at times, but it's not the hide-under-your-bed kind of scary, so you should be able to enjoy this book! And need I remind you, it's almost Halloween! A ghost story is just what you need to get in the festive mood! So, go on, go to the nearest bookstore and buy the 2 books, you won't regret it ;)

Rating: 5 stars!

This book actually talks about the afterlife, so what do you think exists in the afterlife? Do you think there really are Heaven and Hell? If there is, how is it determined that you would enter Heaven or Hell? Judgment? Or by a lucky draw? ;) Tell me in the comments below, I <3 reading comments and chatting with you guys!

Weekly Wrap-Up (1)

The first wrap-up post! Although the blog doesn't have tons of post each day, I still want to do it, it feels weird not sitting in front of a computer and typing a blog post for me, so a wrap-up post is just what I need!

     First of all, sorry in advance that I couldn't post a review on Friday, I actually planned on writing a review on Always A Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, but after I read the book I found out that I have almost all the same opinion as the first book, Once A Witch (linked to the review). I love the time traveling element, and it was handled nicely. 'Cause if time travel was handled badly it would be a very hard book to read, MacCullough did a good job. There's still not much in terms of character developments, we did meet a few new characters, and that's all. The ending was wrapped up pretty nicely, there's lost but mostly everything was perfect by the end. It was a good ending to the series. And that's it, I just reviewed the book to you. Oh, and I gave it 4 stars (I added it on GRs). So, a super mini review here, compensation?

     Anyway, let's look at the post posted this week:

Monday: Review on Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan (The Paranormals #1)

Tuesday: Books? That's My Thing!, where I talked about different kinds of paranormal

Wednesday: Review on Once A Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (Witch #1)

Thursday: Break. (Which I used the time to do some revision for my test that starts next Friday, on 26th October)

Friday: Feature & Follow, where we talked about the books that we read outside of out usual genre

Saturday: Review on Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake (Anna #1) (Kendare Blake tweeted me! Oh, I am gonna die... of happiness~~)

Giveaways from fellow bloggers:

Carina's Books' One Year Blogoversary Giveaway (INT)

Young Adlut Book Haven's Awesome-Sauce Followers Giveaway (INT)

Lost in Literature's October New Releases Givaway (INT)

Booknerd's October New Releases Giveaway (INT)

Notice a pattern here? Yup, they are all international giveaway, since I am an international blogger :P

That's all for this week! So, did you have a good week? Or is it not your week? What was the happiest moment of your week? For me it would be celebrating a friend's b-day on Friday, we had cake! Tell me in the comments below! ;)

Review: Anna Dressed In Blood By Kendare Blake (Anna #1)

Title: Anna Dressed In Blood (Anna #1)

Author: Kendare Blake

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Teen

Synopsis/Summary: Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Find the Book on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

     Anna Dressed In Blood is probably a perfect story to get into the Halloween mood. It had scary ghosts and a hero to save the day.

    The plot is well-planned. With some foreshadowing in the front, which sprang into a full-on climax in later part of the story. I love that kind of layout, that way I don't feel like I am being thrust into events after events just so the author can fill his/her book. The foreshadowing might not help me to prepare what was coming, but the show of planning that counts ;)

    This book is also pretty fast-paced. The story progressed way further than I expected, I actually thought some plots will be dragged to the next book in the series, but it hadn't. I like that, Blake didn't leave me hanging after reading this book, she gave me a sad and tragic closure, and I am very satisfied.

    Also, this is one of the recent books that the plot twists are surprising enough. Okay, technically, only one plot twist in this book managed to knock my socks off and have me shivering from the creepiness of it. But at least I know where the plot twist is! Some other books, if you have read some of my reviews, you will find that I often complain that a book lacked a shocking plot twist, but Anna Dressed In Blood delivered even that to me. How can I not love this book?

    The whole ghost-hunter concept might not be the most original one, but I like it. I like the alterations the Blake did too, like you have to kill the ghost again to banish it forever, it makes much more sense than sucking it into a vacuum :P I also like the setting in Thunder Bay. It sounded like a beautiful town with yellow and orange leaves piling up on the floor by Autumn, which was not at all what we had in Hong Kong, I would love to go there someday (And, I want to know if Anna's house does exist) :)

    Oh, I love the characters of this book, well, all except for a few d-bag that died along the story.

    Cas was so much fun to read. His no-nonsense tone with the occasional jokes are what I liked about the story. He was a good guy, a little too isolated maybe, but I am glad he changed throughout the story. He is also pretty protective of his loved ones, but I guess that's what happens when you lose your dad, you don't really want to lose anyone again, and I like him for it.

   Ah, Anna, I love her so much! So is strong yet fragile, and she can kick Cas' butt if she want ;) Anna had a tragic past, it was horrible what happened to her and I really felt for her. I do think she talked a bit too modern for her time of death. She didn't exactly say any slang or show any signs of knowing any pop culture references, but it's something about her tone that made me feel like she;s modern. Maybe she start up conversations before twisting people's head off :P Anyway, except for this minor complain, I love Anna!

    I would give this book 4.5 stars (round up to 5 stars). It's a very intriguing ghost story and is perfect for anyone looking for a ghost story. It's not very scary, there are some gruesome deaths, but other than that, it's actually more of a paranormal book than a horror book. I would recommend this to all YA readers or fans of paranormal stories, it's a light read with a very lovable ghost and ghost hunter, with the tragic ending, it will be sure to keep you interested for the less-than-enough 316 pages (I mean that I would want more Cas and Anna, not that the story didn't end well;) ).

I've been gushing about Anna Dressed In Blood for a few weeks now and the review's finally out! So, now's the perfect chance to tell me your opinion on the book. I know some of you don't think it was a good fit for you, and I wanna know why. So, tell me, what do you think about the book? Love it? Or hate it? What other good ghost story books are out there that you think I must read? Recommend some! Look forward to seeing you on the comments! ;)