The Violet Hour Book Reviews

If I could give this book a million stars I would. But I will go with a 5 out of 5 solid stars.

Warning: I was given this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. And honesty is the best policy.

Song Choice:  “Heavy In Your Arms” by Florence + the Machine, “Drunk Again” by Reel Big Fish, “Dark Paradise” by Lana Del Rey, and for funnizes, “Little Red Riding Hood” by Laura Gibson

First Thoughts: HOLY.SHIT. SERIOUSLY. Holy shit. Okay – first off, let me say that with the first book as much as I loved it, and I really, really did enjoy it. This book blew me out of the water. It was like a slap you just didn’t see coming, like think stranger is just walking towards you then BAM, slap in the face. I just…okay…words need to come out that make sense. Shocking beautiful, tormented, and heartbreakingly wonderful. I think my heart was breaking for most the book in the most beautiful way.

Thoughts on plot: Kay, kay, so this was the second book in the series, do I think you can read this a bit of order, yeah I think so. There might be a few things you will be narrowing your eyes going…um…but you will get caught up. Hannah does a really good job of making sure you still understand what is the happs. Anyways wow… this was a total 180 from the first book, while the first book I thought had a great mixture of a bit of fun, with also a lot of kickass-ing goodness, and adventure, this was wow. So Alison is the main babe here, and if you recall from the last book, she hasn’t had the easiest few weeks…and things don’t get easier so get that out of your head right now. This is was story about torment, and breaking your soul to pieces. All seems hopeless and the world literally feels like its crushing down on you, – that is how powerful Hannah’s writing was. I could feel everything. Alright sorry that is more for characters back to the plot. So there is a lot of good old fashion action adventure in this. There is a lot going on, that keeps the book moving at a wonderful pace, not going too fast you are like WAIT, book come back we didn’t finish…op! you are gone. And it definitely in no way drags. So lots going on. I thought it was pretty original things, were kept in the dark for the time that it needed to be. I thought it was original and was bringing in a lot of new things the last book didn’t. Super awesome loved it, loved it, loved it.

Characters:

Alison:

Dax:

Alison: What a wonderful character. While Tam – the MC from book one started off right off the bat as this kickass, sassy female, Alison is a bit timid, she was a born girlie-girl. She is a lover not a fighter. And when she does through hell she comes out of it yeah still a bit timid, she takes time but she grows, and boy does she grow into this new beautiful female. She is still is truly a good person, she believes in the value of life, and she was really just beautiful inside and out. I really liked her because even though she was attacked, and she went through hell she doesn’t give up. She is truly a female of honor (if you read the first book you might get the reference), anyways she doesn’t just give up because it’s hard. She is dealt pretty much the crappiest hand ever and she strives on, she does what she needs to do. She is beyond brave, but still vulnerable when needs to be, and over all a fantastic character. She is seriously one of my new favorite main female characters. (ever).

Dax: I WANT HIM. I want him I want him I want him. I want him. Seriously my brain might be stuck on that. HOLY HOT MALE. He was wow. There is so much to Dax that I don’t even know where to begin. He wasn’t one of those males you get that, get you all hot and bothered   or just excited because he is all Alpha male with a sweet side. No, absolutely not. There was so much substance to this male, not only that but he was not kind but it wasn’t a ploy to be like, oh he is the bad boy that turns good. No. He is real, he is raw, he is *sighs lovingly* fantastic. He is fiercely loyal, he is scarred, hard to get along with, but there I don’t think loving him was a hard thing to do at all. Especially getting his POVs those might have been my favorite moments ever, no that is a lie, it was really a tie. These two together were perfect, and their stories together, it was just magic. Anyways back to Dax seriously he is on my Christmas List…indefinitely.

The Writing: FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. Hannah Pole’s first book – ever, ever- was Silence of the Wolves, and she did a fantastic job then as well. This, this was mind-blowing. Seriously this was amazing, and I loved it. The POVs between the two characters worked so well, and the characters were so new, they weren’t sort of repeats from the last book, nor were they almost carbon copies, these were new characters to fall in love with. (Along with some new faces, that I am BEYOND excited to read about next)

So will I go on with this series…is that really a question? Yes. Yes I am. <3 Wonderful.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH yay! I started this at 11 pm and now just finished at 3:30 am. Good Gracious i am glad i don't need to wake up early tomorrow! Let me start off by saying again, YAY! I absolutely loved this. I have been looking for a really good Werewolf book that wasn't all sex! So YAY again! So now as i have officially had my little freak out on HOW GOOD THIS BOOK IS! i will do my review. oh before i do that though, if you are Prince of Wolves lover or if you haven't read them but read this you will love this series...going for both directions. i think that they are a good match together, and i think that people who read Prince of Wolves would really appreciate this series as well!

Bloom Michael something, her full name is in there a lot but give me some credit it's very late and i just read this within a few hours! Anywhos, Bloom is in a bad place, hell i don't blame her one bit, the only real, blood, family she had left that she knew loved her died a year ago. I can't pretend i know what it feels like to lose a parent from either abandonment which has to be the worst, or death, which Bloom had the pleasure of both! I don't hate her for being sad, i don't, but i do hate her just a tiny, itty, bit for pushing away her other family, her adoptive Uncle Billy, and her best friend - who i love and hope to see more of in the next one - Bonnie (Bon). So back to Bloom, when we are introduced to her she is very lonely, and again like i said before i don't blame her, not really, and when she meets Pike, the unnaturally large dog that is more like a miniature horse, and has absolutely no fear but instead love for it is when we start to get a change in our main character. I am glad that she grows out of this funk and we start to see who she really is and i would hope who she is growing into. But there is something that bothered me, and still is bothering me at the moment, and this is sort of a tiny little bit of a spoiler but not really either, so skip this part if you don't want to know it......did you skip or are you still debating if not here we go! ..... So she has feelings, like gut feelings about people but they don't develop til more than half way through the book.....? okay so now that is settled moving on

Pike...we are introduced to him in his wolf form, and i mean who doesn't love a huge ass black wolf of 25? Cause i know this girl does... oh and that Southern twang? YES PLEASE!!! Only i enjoy it when the twang is also influenced when the chapter is in his point of view, and in all of his thoughts, not just in his speech...if that makes sense...its a small thing really but i wanted it there...anywhos. Pike is the new Alpha of a werewolf pack because a wolf cannot live a healthy sane life without his mate...so Pike had to kill his father...don't worry its not really a spoiler he tells us about it in like his first pov chapter.... so anyways... there is that. He is fiercely protective of Bloom when he first meets her, and call me swoony but i love a werewolf who is! But more than that do i love in a man is his easy charming self which Pike had sometimes, he was very kind of airy and easy about this commands and not being all demand-y but being demanding which i loved. i think it was my favorite thing about him, but when he needed to get down to business he could...though we got very little of that. So Pike...tall, handsome, black-haired beauty (did we ever get his eye color? i don't remember....) anyways and werewolf who could want anymore?

So the smaller side characters! Bonnie: the best friend... i am assuming smaller than Bloom (Blu), but she don't get a description of what she looks like i don't think... anyways she seems very sassy which apparently is opposite of how she normally is but we never see the "normal" her according to Blu and i was waiting for the "real" Bon but i liked the sassy Bon too. She seems very against commitment which seems strange to me because she is beyond loyal to Blu...but hey she is an interesting read, and as i said before i hope there is more of her in the next book..if there is a next book... but i kinda secretly hope that Bon will get POV chapters in the next book. 
Tucker: The Beta, and who doesn't love the 7 foot, brown hair, brown eyed beauties? i know i do! from what we get from him - which isn't a whole lot because he is mostly in it at the end but he is easy going, almost laid back but seems a lot older than the age of 20, and i like that about him but his age keeps putting me off but whatever, age is a number. But i can tell he is possessive and God that is sexy....
Emily: um she is in the middle of the book, sister to Pike and seems like she is going to be Blu's new Werewolf BFF but then disappears for the last half of the book... so sad. But she is the advice giver to Pike even though she is four years younger, but us younger children are always the smartest as i like to think ;) but not the point there isn't much to say about her. 

This really is the story of Blu and Pike (once mentioned as Ike). I didn't mind being introduced to these characters that is for sure, but i do hope in the next one we get more about the other smaller characters, they have a lot of potential and i think could offer a lot more to the story then the little pieces they offer now. Anyways moving onto the plot

PLOT: So obviously it was a pretty well paced book otherwise i wouldn't be saying up until 4 o clock in the morning to be writing this review that probably next to no one will read. We learn a lot about the past of Blu's parents and their um...separation. There isn't really a good way to put this without giving stuff away but i will say this. The pacing is well done, when you think you might be getting bored, nah Michelle Turner won't disappoint something exciting is around the bend. 

Now for the pest-y ending... its a bit of a cliff-hanger... not well i don't want to say not so horrible you will be totally and utterly pissed off but i cannot confirm that for you. i am satisfied enough at the moment but there are lose ends, and i am excitedly waiting for the next one that i will say honestly. 

Wow. Okay first off, Melissa approached me and my friend who do a blog, asked us to review two of her books for her a free book in exchange for a honest review, my friend was going to do this one, while I did Melissa's other book Hope(less) (which you should check out after checking this out just saying) ANYWAYS the second book to Hope(less) came out not oh i don't know a little less than a week after i finished Hope(less) (there is point to this i swear) so i read that as soon as i could get my hands on it. Also asked by Melissa for an honest review of that book, but i already bought, but gave it an honest review as i will always do. There is the thing, i have been wondering around looking for another book to read, and i just decided, yes i am going to do this because i loved Melissa's writing style with the other two books but i kept thinking...well i love werewolves and cross species for authors can sometimes be a bit...difficult just if they are use to writing about one its hard to separate yourself from that type of paranormal. So I will admit when i went into this i was a little concerned, I did not know if this was published/written before or after Hope(less) still don't either way. I was a fool for waiting so long. 

Quite frankly I would give this book 10 stars out of 5. 

So with that all said and done. Here is the thing, this book went from the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows, so I have a couple different songs that i would choose for this book. First off being: "You're All I Have" by Snow Patrol, (going with this theme for a second) "Another Lonely Day" by Ben Harper. These two because of the relationship and also the two MCs separate and together. Other songs for the book just certain points or overall are: "My Love" by Sia, "As Much As I Could Ever" by City and Colour. And lastly a little bit of "Nicest Thing" by Kate Nash for the beginning-ish of the book. 

Kay so first thoughts: What a wonderfully beautiful love story. I have never felt so lonely with two MCs then i have ever with them. It was heartbreaking at times to read because i just knew that they would just create magic together, but i could also see and understand the hesitation of Tessa. I could submerge into this story. My sister came into my room while I was curled up around my laptop reading, me and my Kindle, Kale, are arguing at the moment about putting this book on there in other words he is being a bitch and a half. Anyways she looked at me like i was crazy, but i explained, she still thought i was crazy. Eh you win some you lose some, either way as a reader that totally loses themselves into a book I found that i couldn't be pulled out of my feelings for anything. That is not to say that i read this nonstop because i didn't because i am pretty sure i would have died from my emotions. I needed seconds to pace, or you know i am only human, so food is usually needed, and we all know what follows food. Anyways moving on. Read this book. Seriously. Do it. Right now. Go on. 

My thoughts on plot: Someone else's review that i read mentioned how this was a love story, and there wasn't a whole lot of action, and its true. This is a story about a girl that needs to find love before her 17th birthday, its sort of like a harsher, backwards, Beauty and the Beast Tale which only made me love it more as i love that fairytale, its my favorite. Belle is the shit...but that is not the point of this review. While i ususally like paranormal stuff because in the midst of falling in llllooovveee there is action going on, i read this really quickly without ever getting bored. I loved almost every moment of it, and if you are a paranormal fan that likes the action there is a bit in here, do i think that should stop you from trying this book out? hell no. I think its worth your time, and you love...what? no you should love it. Anyways here is the thing Tessa needs to find a male to love before she turns 17, and while the curse is sort of glossed over at first there is reason for it, so keep going all is revealed. Secrets are kept from her, and two beings are after her. I say "beings" because the book calls them demons, well Tessa does, but here is the thing its never confirmed by Morik, and I don't know if i want to consider them "demons" per-say. 

Characters:

**First off, I know i have said this about Melissa in my other reviews but if you haven't seen them, here is what i need to say. She has such a beautiful way of writing, I love everyone of her characters from them to being completely different from the last, to the point that the men are amazing, in all ways. At times in all her books the books become slightly character driven which i don't mind at all you can have a kickass plot all you want but if your characters are non-dynamic, and have no real personality then its not worth the read. Melissa makes it worth the read every damn time. So with that said, let me tell you about the characters. 

Tessa: Its told through her as first person, I loved her as a MC as i love all Melissa's MCs and thankfully she doesn't fall into the well there are slight differences from this character to a different MC that Melissa wrote about. Tessa is a little bitter, but she does try her best to make everyone happy at the same time. I love that she did try to put everyone before herself, mostly because no i am not gloating, i am like that most of times, but in the end she does try to find solutions to her problems. She is smart, she is compassionate, and when needs be stands up for herself. Her courage might be lacking when it comes to asking those hard questions, its real, its one of those things where no one wants to do it, but in the end when you need answers you do it, which she did. I really liked her, but she was stubbornly silly at times and i just wanted to yell at her, but i did see where she would think one way verses another. For a girl who can see her future with every guy she touches, she is suddenly throw into a situation where she is in the same boat as the rest of us, and playing the guessing game, this book artfully shows that sometimes its worth taking the risk even if you fail. 

Morik: Okay i need to complain just for a moment: Melissa, what the hell are you trying to do to me Woman? Everyone MC boy she writes about becomes my new love, and i realize that i might never find my love and my heart breaks, then i hope i will find someone slightly as amazing as these guys are. So Morik, I never thought that he was evil, i couldn't see it. And that one of the things that i really like about Melissa's gents, they all share that same trait of well, you have to watch them, and you can see how much they care. They even say the most loveliest things too. Like some of my all time favorite things Morik says are: 

“I protect what is mine. What I like comes second to your safety.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I whispered. He bent close, his lips a breath away from my own. “A kiss.”

One more because i can't resist!

this is from Tessa to Morik

“I’m so glad you found me. I didn’t know it then, but I know it know. That was one of the best moments of my life. It always will be.”

Swoon!

Anyways so more about Morik: Now he is your average, horned, elven earred, tall, dark, being with the an odd personality. He is sort of quiet, but since he is not native-ly human he watches, and asks about normal things for us. But he blends well, he is that silent, awesome types. He is really hard to explain, he is just... well almost perfect. Protective, possessive, but not in an overbearing way. He is charming, and sexy. And and and and yes i am in love. 

Lately I have been only talking about the MCs of the books, like the girl and guy, but i wanna talk about Beatriz for a second because she was amazing. Sure she is a little quiet at the beginning but she gets a bigger part at the end and i totally love her, funny, strong, sarcastic, the perfect best friend, right? ;) 

Oh that ending! Talk about heart-wrenchingly beautiful. I wanted to die, and i wanted to cry, and i wanted to sing, and i wanted to jump up and down. I loved it from cover, to end. And as i love it, i hope that it stays as a stand-alone because its perfect. 

*oh again one last thing and i have said this about Melissa's work before, but if you are looking at this and see its "Young Adult" I don't think that should make you turn away either because the writing in this, and the characters don't really scream normal stereo-typical YA, granted no sex, but the characters are all very mature, and its totally awesome

Okay so first and foremost I would like to Thank Melissa Haag, a ton a ton, not only for directing me to her book but also because she asked for an honest review. Which i will give. As I always do, and just because i got this book for free does NOT make me sway in any direction, if you don't believe me check out the link at the bottom of this review and you can see other books i have done this for. So with that said, one more time Thank you Melissa that was very kind of you. Lets start this review shall we?


that is how i am feeling right about now. But that is the only gif that i am going to do, sorry that isn't really my style for reviews, i use them in status updates but I like to explain why either a) i love a book - which i loved this book and i will tell you why in a moment b) i want to know what happens, what characters are like, if it is worth my time. And YES, yes this book is worth you time. I will get the gushing in just a few moments let me go pick a song

Song choice: "Heavy In Your Arms" by Florence + the Machine, and i am going to pick another or two i just don't know what to pick... "Always" by Panic! At The Disco and finally "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. 

So while annoying my twin with how much i loved this book, i forgot to mention how even thought i think that this book might say it is YA i didn't get that vibe at all, that is not to say that this book has sex scenes, sorry kids but it does, but it doesn't have that High School vibe where the characters feel juvenile, they are mature, understanding (and actually Gabby our MC is going to college so there is that).... 

Alright so be warned for this first little bit i am going to gush. OMGOSH PLEASE READ THIS BOOK because one you will not regret it, both combined with its beautiful sculpted voice, and unbelievably beautiful love story you will have a hard time pulling yourself away from the book to oh i don't know, sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, or you know breath.... well actually you will breathe i can almost guarantee at least one loving sigh. Going into this book i was expecting this really action packed, prophecy book just because of the idea of being judged or what nots but that isn't the story really. And this is coming from a girl who usually gets pretty bored when bad guys aren't popping up at least every chapter, i mean there are a lot of books i love that don't do that but still. Anyways moving on from that thought. Words can't describe how easily i fell in love with everything about this book. I will try to keep the rest of my review not as gushy but be warned.

Okay thoughts on plot: I love all things werewolves, lets put that out there right now. I love them can't help it i just do. The strange thing about this book is that even if you are more of a vampire lover i think that you could handle this book, its not pushing the pack mentality too much, and it doesn't really force you into the soulmate rule, which i think is one of the greatest things about this novel. I know that Soulmate rule is used in most of all types of paranormal now, even if that isn't what is its called that is what i call it, always. Anyways the problem with Soulmate rule is that it happens fast and the characters never really get to do that whole building up to what could be a beautiful, meaningful relationship. While this book has soulmate rule, it doesn't act like it, the two are meant to be together yes, but what you have a character who actually resist it, not that fact resisting where they do it for two chapters than say screw it! No, there is a real build in their relationship, Clay our main man, slowly wiggles his way into our hearts and into Gabby's. I loved LOVED LOVED their relationship, i would have read this book entire for that. But there was more and ANOTHER AWESOME thing about this book (yeah i know i said i would try not to be to gushy but i can't help it, this quickly became a favorite) anyways the other awesome thing is that it does have action in it, there is more to the plot then two people falling in love. There is more to everything than it originally seemed which was amazing. I don't want to talk in depth about the other thing because it is a mystery that you have to figure out ;) but it is worth reading just for that as well. 

Characters:

Gabby: She is a foster kid, always been moved around, and on top of being a foster kid she has this problem, she sort of has that siren attraction towards men, they have talk to her, they want to get her go on date, so when she was younger and foster dads, brothers, uncles started to become to unbearable she would have to change houses again, she therefore also her trust in men sort of wavered. When she has a chance meeting with a werewolf named Sam an Elder of a pack she finds a sort of home, she always keeps herself at a distance, i think that the way Melissa handle that was just well for lack of better words either beautiful or awesome. Gabby didn't let i am going to say 10+ years of drifting from home to home change within a two year span of living with Sam though she does get sort of close to Sam you can tell that she still keeps her distance. 

And that is one of the main reasons i fell in love this book so much isn't because it had charming romance, or interesting plot line but the writing. there is a line in the book “You don’t need to talk to get to know someone, you just need to listen," and I LOVED IT. i want to marry it really. Anyways it is all about showing its about action, its not about pretty words and pretty promises its real, active, moments and movements. sorry got distracted for a moment back to Gabby

Gabby continued: She is distant yes but its understandable and its not one those cold distances where the reader feels like they can't connect with Gabby. I loved her because yes she was strong and she stuck with what she believed she wanted, she was compassionate, and an amazing MC. I loved her there i don't think was a moment that i hated her. She thought things through, she was smart and considerate. 

Clay: New book boyfriend is found. I do want to warn you though he isn't much of a talker. Though I usually like those out going, funny MC guys i found myself loving Clay almost instantly and there is no Soulmate rule needed. Though he is silent he speaks very loudly, that like i put in here from the book is talking about him. Through his actions you realize how smart, funny, and loving he really is. Not to mention possessive without being overbearing, and protective without being annoying about it. He was like the greatest combination of a man and when he does speak he makes it count. I was swooning after him even without words, again it was all about what he didn't say and what he did for her. He is a sneaky little bastard as well because i know i have said this before but he really does crawl into your heart without realizing it. He was silent but not brooding which thank God for that, he did have a sense of humor it took awhile for him to open up completely but i could always see hints of it. As a MC guy he was different from the norm, but loving and amazing all the same. 

Sam: I am still debating on how i feel about him. He turns into a sort of Grandfather figure for Gabby and when i first met him and for the first quarter/almost half of the book i loved him as a Grandfather figure as well but i could see that pack came before a lot of other things, and that is not to say he didn't pay attention to Gabby, quite the opposite really, he was forcing her into the pack and forcing her into finding a mate that even i felt like i was being restricted and wanted to be free. I think that in the end yes he wants to the best for Gabby, he cannot turn his back on the pack either, it was his family much longer than she. 

Now there were two werewolf boys she met when she first goes to meet the "pack" named Paul and Henry and i liked them and i held out hope that they would make a reappearance, and they were just friends we knew that right off the bat but i still wanted to see them again, that was one of very very few disappointments i had in this book, the second disappointment i had was that it ended to soon, i wanted more, next disappointment is that the next book is not out. 

so if you really need me to tell you then yes i will be reading the next one but i think that is a very silly thing to ask because i will be stalking Melissa after i go spread the word about this to find out when the next one comes out. 

So Melissa Haag asked me to give her an honest review in exchange for a free copy of her book, problem was I already bought the book, but honest reviews is what we should all do anyways, so I would like to Thank her again for thinking of asking me, and after reading the first one there was no way i wasn't going to read this one. With that said this is a second book in a series so if you have stumbled across this title and it looks interesting, its a second one go check out the first oneHope(less) its also super good. And with that said if you haven't read that one...well i suppose there might be some spoilers about the first one but most likely not, because these characters are pretty separate but are in the same "world" and involved in the same stuff so yup. Now that is all said and done lets get on to the review. 

Song choice first: and if you aren't aware I try to pick a song that either tells the tone of the overall book - which is vague because that is pretty impossible, or things about characters, etc, etc. So first song choice is.... "You Are Not Alone" by Saosin which is a song for Michelle, "Stars" by The Xx which is "describing", sort of, the relationship between Michelle and Emmitt. (i might also pick for their relationship "I Belong to You" by Muse, the original version not the twilight short version...mostly only because i like the original better). 

OKAY! so time to gush, what i mean time to talk about first thoughts... :)... sure...first thoughts. I think that the phrase "i want to have this book's babies" is appropriate at the moment. I am not sure if that is a good enough way to describe how much i love well this series to be honest, i have yet to read Melissa's other book Touch, but i will soon! I am getting away from the point though. I feel in love with her writing style last book and now all i can think is HOW AMAZING Clay would have been if he actually talked for the whole book because Emmitt won me over the first time his mouth opened, i mean holy hell boy had some lines that i am pretty sure i literally swooned at. LITERALLY SWOONED. I think it is a tie right now on what book i liked better in this series so far because they just so amazing. This book didn't do the squeal flop, it did like a running hand-sprung back flip shit i don't know i never did gymnastics when i was young so i am pulling that from my "possibly quotes from movies" bag (and that belonged to Bring it On, the original cause all the others sucked...not the point moving on). so READ THIS SERIES. SERIOUSLY read it. 

Thoughts on Plot:
In the first book of this series it really felt like a love story, and it mean there was a bit of action, not to much until the end which is fine, and the characters were amazing, and you just wanted to read on. This book had more on the whole "Judgement of the Six" going on, we start to learn more about it and its becoming clearer and clearer to us. In my status updates you can see that my head explodes at one point, well the point that is that i didn't realize up until that point that this was BEFORE the first book, in time wise, which i thought was really interesting and such possibilities! I do admit i was hoping for Gabby and Clay to stop by in this book while they didn't Henry and Paul who i adore! did, so yay! Alright moving on from that, there was a bit more action i think in this book, some more suspense, it started off running and the pace was fantastic as always. A book that you can read and not even realize you have read like 100 pages is just good always. In the first quarter to the last quarter of the book there was a lot going on with the characters and not so much the outside world which again fine by me i loved reading about these characters. I am not sure how describe how Melissa does this so well but she does, its like a nice mixture of calm but also a bit suspenseful for the characters. There is a lot of times i notice in even series that i love that the books that are about different characters the plot line tends to be almost the same, and things vary, blah blah blah blah but the concept is the same, boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they "falll inn loooovvveee", girl gets attacked/kidnapped. And that is how the entire series goes with different characters, and as much as i love said series i am thinking of it kinda bothers me at the same time. Which is another reason to LOVE THIS SERIES! Because the first and second book are not the same stories being told with different characters. YAYYYYYY soo excited. :) so if you go into this thinking oh it will probably be the same as the last one well shame on you because its not!
so plot = amazing again. 

** I know in the last book and my review i mentioned how this book could work even for non-werewolf fans i think the same could be said about this one, while the wolves in this book are actually part of a pack and not Forlorn like Clay, the pack rules don't feel as "enforced" or being too pushy if that makes sense. But i do want to warn that they are actually part of a pack so there is a bit more of pack life in this one, not overwhelming really its not even that much. 


Characters! 

(I would just like to mention right now that I think i might be a little bit in love with you Melissa, its true. not only are you plot-lines awesome, but your characters, oh my god, how can i even describe how amazing they truly are? A-MAZING). 

Michelle: Now I was pretty adamant that I would not like her as much as i liked Gabby, and in some aspects i suppose that might be true, but at the same time not. Here is the thing with Michelle, she is realistic, and for the life of me as much as i screamed at her knowing that Emmitt was a great guy that she should trust him she just didn't listen to me. Well as much as i want to be mad about this i don't know that i can be. Here's why: She is actually has absolutely no reason to trust anyone other than her two very much younger brothers. I get that Emmitt did help her a million times over and that she should trust him but i could understand where she was coming from so i don't think i am mad at her for that reason but i am slightly because i wanted to steal Emmitt from this book and keep him forever! (and for some reason all i can imagine when i say that is that he like this stuffed animal that i am crushing in hug...strange because that is not...umm...awkward lets leave that alone). But there were too many reason to love her to make me want to forget her hesitance towards Emmitt. I know this is probably going to shock you all, but Michelle was actually responsible, smart, unbelievably mature for her age, and i respected the shit out of her. Her brothers are five and four years old if i remember correctly. And she adopted role of mom almost immediately as their mother died shortly after having Aden the younger one. Her love and need to protect her brothers was outstanding and i had to remind myself that she was actually 19 alot of times that, also missed out on like four years of her life being held captive so logically she could be set in the age 15, but she didn't she matured quickly and became a loving mother. What she wouldn't do for those kids... like i said i respected the hell out of her. I think she had to be another one of my new favorites heroines/MCs she was truly amazing, and i do think this book is worth a read for just her. 

Emmitt: (I have to speed this up because i have to leave for a work in a bit so i might come back to this and revise later but for now here we go)...I loved him, probably a i don't know i don't want to say more than Clay because i loved how innovative his character was, and i loved that for once it really wasn't about the words, but the actions. Anyways though Emmitt does speak i think it only enhances his character because i don't think he ever said anything wrong he just said Swoon worthy stuff that made my heart melt and me again planning on ripping him from the pages of this book and keeping him forever. He was amazing, again while we don't see much of his actions Jim tells us everything that he does and while i was in love with him the first moment he protects Michelle i fell in love with him over and over again in this book. i think i fell in love with him at least a 100 times if not more. probably more. he was protective, generous, so patient and sweet. I really loved him. And it was patient in a different way from Clay which i adored! 

Jim: Who i mentioned is Emmitt's brother. I loved him he was a nice comic relief and he was unbelievably sweet too, so much mischief in this boy that i think he would have been fun to play with. He takes on the role of baby-sitter a lot which is fine by me because at least it was thought out that the boys would need someone else to look after them as well. 

villains: awesome a hundred thumbs up, but i am not going to get into them because of a)time, b)spoilers. 

Damn i hate being rushed but i do want to finish this review. 

Ending: AMAZING. Do i want the next one, are you shitting me? of course i do, i seriously would be willing to read this over Melissa's shoulder as she was writing if a) that wasn't creepy as hell, b) well that would just be creepy for some many reasons and i don't like it when people read over my shoulder so i there assume everyone is the same as me so therefore no one else likes it. 

Oh last thoughts: read this book, read this series, good? good. 

...............*speechless*................(in a good way)...................

Warnings: This is the LAST in a 4-part saga? Series? eh either way you have been warned. There will be no spoilers from this book, but there maybe - probably be spoilers from the first three books. 

So that was Warning number one: I received an ARC of this book for an honest review AND I truly believe in that honesty is the best policy here. So lets do this! 

Song Choice: "You Are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne - that is kinda just for the series in general and how i feel about in the first place. "Swelling" by Sarah Jaffe, "Welcome Home" by Radical Face, and "Oh Shit" by Rai because i wanted to be funny and i felt there were a lot of OH SHIT moments. well at least for me. 

First thoughts: Goddammit Janelle. Okay there are some books you just read the series and think to yourself: "Damn I kind hope this ends soon because I just don't see where it is going." THEN there are books like this where makes you think: "Damn I never want this to end. I love the characters, I love the plot, I love the writing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE EVERYTHING. mostly...I hate that it has to end." So I don't know why but it seems the last few series "final book" just doesn't live up to my expectations, I am not going to name names, and quite honestly I have loved everything that has come from Janelle, I think she has not only an amazing way of making the reader feel conflicted on the characters - caring for those you don't want to care for, and for making it really hard to tell "well who is right here" Kay? so on top of that, she is just fantastic at character building, and plot building. So with my pre-set fears in place, I was happily, and really not that surprised, that Janelle wrote a fantastic ending to a fantastic series. 

Thoughts on Plot: Wooo wow. There was a lot going on this book, I mean there is a lot to wrap up. And it was I think really well done I don't think that the ended dragged on and on and on forever...though part of me wanted it to. And then it wasn't all smashed together so that you felt you were rushed through the entire thing and too much was happening at once. Well paced and well split between the characters. Oh I was terrified at parts, I thought for sure my heart was going to break in half. Other parts I was laughing so hard I thought i might start to cry a little! this was such a amazing ending to a series i really truly believe that. And there was an exciting piece of news at the end!!! <3 like after the book finished. right before i the acknowledgments i think... anyways I don't want to spend to much time here because I don't want to give anything away. But the book was split that we got everyone's stories without feeling rushed, or overwhelmed. At times yeah i thought how is she going to do this so quickly? BUT SHE DID IT, SHE DID! Always surprising me dammit. 

Characters:

Dammit. Okay so many. 

Aiden: Oh my sweet Aiden. We have watched him from struggling to pick up an axe, to falling in love with all the wrong girls, to now where is becomes the warrior they need to save all of Eden. I don't think his golden heart ever faltered, he isn't perfect that is for sure, but damn is he good. Our poor sweet Aiden goes through the ringer in this one, but he never changes who he is, which I love that about Aiden because he is so brave, so courageous, and such a good person. <3 

Elise: Awww thank god her and Wolf finally made things work! She is so happy in this book and I can really tell how much her friendship to Aiden means to her as well. I thought that she was kickass as she was in the rest of the books and I adore her. i really do. 

Wolf: TALK ABOUT SWOON WORTHY GENTS, me and Wolf got off on the wrong hand in book one, why you ask? because i knew right off the bat that he liked Elise, and i wanted Aiden and her to be together but i was pleasantly surprised how quickly he grew on me. I was a puddle of goo when he talked i really was. Good, loyal friend right here. 

Logan....logan, logan, logan. Have i mentioned how much I loved this kid? He was the comic relief in this book, and he did it so well, I really do love him he has a very special place in my heart, he always did in this book though he comes off more as the clown then ever but i couldn't help but love him more for it. 

Rain: i am still debating on whether i hate her or not. I want to, i really do. but dammit i can't help but feel for her sometimes...its just so hard! *sigh* 

Elex: loved him. he was a very interesting character and i really liked him. (sorry these are getting shorter as we go i will explain why)

Lily: AWWW LILY!!! <3 loved her. 

Okay so why i started getting shorter and shorter. I felt that in this book the characters stopped growing not because I don't think Janelle wrote them badly or anything, I would never think that they were written as who they are, with there awesome personalities that had grown in the last three books but they were done growing in this book. It also worked amazingly well for finishing the series. There is no leftover feeling of, well I don't think I am done with this character, i think they still have a lot of growing to do. No I truly believe these characters were done growing and as much as it kills me to admit, yeah there story was done. *oops did make me die a little* 

The ending: the end. - i was a mess. I truly was. But it was the right ending i think. In conclusion I would like to Thank Janelle for the ARC it was a truly amazing gift. I encourage you all if you even thought the other books were so-so (which i don't know how that is possible) to read this. 

I have one thing to say to you Janelle: 
Okay so this was given to me in request for an honest review...sort of...either way its just a warning, but also you should know that i am not going to change my opinion because of that, in fact i am truly honestly in love with this series. 

Okay with that said, and also this is a series, this is the third in a series and while I can promise you I will not do spoilers for this book, I will probably have spoilers from the first and second book please don't read this review if you haven't read the first two or you just don't really care if you know what will happen in those books. Thanks and yeah. 

Song Choice: "The Science" by Coldplay, "The Way That I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson, "Time Is Running Out" by Muse, and "Hum Hallelujah" by Fall Out Boy 


First thoughts: AMAZING, while i know most people worry with series that they start to digress but I think this series has remained very strong, and while yes somethings feel too easy I was okay with it because we have had a lot of time for the characters to change. I loved how more involved this was with the other characters, it wasn't Aiden's story anymore, it was evolving in the second one as well but I felt this was really went places i was not expecting. We were starting to follow new characters from the last book, and Janelle does this to me a lot and makes me feel for these characters i don't want to feel for! But she is a master at it, and its really fantastic writing on her part. 

Thoughts on Plot: While in the last book there didn't seem like whole lot of fighting, just building the bridge as it was for this book and the very first one, i thought that - i did love the second one don't get me wrong and i thought it moved really well - this one was more action, more relationship building and for certain characters- building them some more. I think that is one of the great things about this series is that while Aiden started the journey isn't only him we get to see grow in each book, its all these amazing characters that i have personally fallen in love with. Anyhoops this part isn't about characters.... the action, so much action, so many secrest being unveiled and new mysteries were emerging. As always this book moved perfectly, i could have been reading for 20% (e-book edition sorry i don't have page numbers) and i wouldn't even realize it. And i would only surface because i love doing GIF status updates. anyways oh and that ending...goddammit! sneaked up on me! more about that later. 

Thoughts on Characters:

Well in my second review i did pictures for most of the characters but there were two other characters added in a more major role that i might do some for... 

(ALSO if you have seen my review for the second one Moose and Wolf have changed ;) )

Aiden: Well i still love him, he is still growing even in this book, honestly in this book he felt a little bit pushed into the background but i knew that other stories needed to be told and i was okay with that, but wow he has come such a long way! <3 Aiden so much! 

Elisa: now this book felt more like her story than anyone else's well besides maybe Rain's. But i will get to that soon. Elisa does a lot of growing in this book as well. She learns what is to lose love, to gain it, to be broken by it, and to be utterly lost, and confused. which as i imagine love to be. While there were times i was like come on sweetie get with the program I understood. I really did things were not easy for her, and i could see her side to the story even when the story was blurred with Wolf's side as well. But she was amazing, loved her. 

Wolf: Oh Wolf. This boy, let me tell you when I started the first book i was a little iffy about him. I was like i like you as a character, I think you are well written, sweet, and a good friend but you are getting in my way of Aiden and Elisa being together, so i automatically wanted to put him in the "evil" pile as i like to call it. Not that he was an "evil" character like a villain just a problem that needed to be solved. God how wrong was I. Not only was i falling for him by the end of the first book but i had completely, head over heels fallen for him in the last book, now i am so far gone with him worlds can't even describe. WOW. just holy WOW. loved him! LOVED HIM LOVED HIM LOVED HIM. and he understands that he made a mistake and he is trying to make up for it. UGH LOVED THIS MAN!

Awkward moment for like a split second i thought Moose and Logan were going to be well love interests ;) hehe IT was for SECOND and i can see a major bro-mance developing between them and that is why i am going to do to write about them together. They are the comic relief, with Logan still being as insightful and observant as always and Moose being the wise one that keeps it a secret. loved them both :D

So say hi to the "newer"/more emerging characters!

Rain:




Elex: 


Rain: While in the last book i decided to write her off and say goodbye i didn't want anything to do with her, and imagine my shock when we get her POV as like one of the first chapters as well! GASP! Janelle, Janelle, Janelle....stop making me feel for characters i don't want to feel things for! GRRR! (BUT on all serious levels right now, this is one thing i have found that seems very unique to Janelle's writing - from what i have come across and i love it, i absolutely love it, its masterful, deceitful - in a good way - type of writing that sneaks up on you). Anyways so yes i do feel for Rain but a lot of times i am on the fence with her. I still cannot give you a definite on how i really feel about her. 

Elex: Interesting character. Very interesting, i can't and won't say much about him. But INTERESTING. 

The ending: :| JANELLE. JANELLE. Janelle. aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i am freaking out. freaking out seriously. seriously? SERIOUSLY? WOMAN! GGGGGRRRRRRRRRR AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*JAW IS ON THE FLOOR!*....oh dear God! people my jaw is on the floor i do not think this is medical safe!!! aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh OKAY NOW lets put on our serious pants. 

Janelle Stalder who is just a peach in general gave me this in exchange for an honest review, and I am going to be honestly honest with you right now. I am not skewing my review in any way because of that, this is entirely how i felt about all by myself! so lets do this!

OH okay also this is the second in a series, pleased be warned while I will not do spoilers for this book, there might be spoilers for the FIRST book, FIRST ONE. Kay? so if you want to go ahead and power through then go for it, but if you don't want to know what happens in the first book please then go check out another review :D thanks 

Song Choice: "The One that Got Away" by the Civil Wars (uhh i found them and i love them!) Anyhoops moving on, "Sleeping Sickness" by City and Colour featuring Gordon Downie, "Blindsided" by Bon Iver, and lastly "Undisclosed Desires" by Muse. 

First thoughts: UGH I LOVED IT. I think honestly I liked this one better than the first book, which isn't to say the first book was bad or that I didn't love it because I did. I think my biggest reason for loving this one more was the book expanded farther, diving more deeply into certain characters vs it being just a bit with this character but mostly with this character. With that said I love Aiden please don't think that i don't because i do. i loves him so much <3 so much love from this kid. But was really happy that Logan started to emerge more in the beginning of the book, and Wolf, Elisa, and new characters were coming out more as well. So this book had quite a few surprises in store for us! And WOW seriously i was so engrossed in the story i didn't even try to figure them out, i just breezed right through this, amazing, absolutely. And I've done it again, okay stop before i get to carried away. If you liked the first book, if you loved it, you will LOVE THIS one. 

Thoughts on Plot: *GASP* where to start, where to start? Well in the first book we left Aiden back in "our" world, and his friends completely clueless on his well-being and Aiden completely clueless on what was happening in Eden! This book takes a few (like two i think, maybe even less) before we are back in Eden but somewhere totally new. Now I loved where this book was going, there was some mystery that made you suspicious, there were new characters to fall in love with, and whole new adventures to be had...and that isn't even just Aiden! how exciting is that! While Aiden is on his own adventures, which wow! Let me just talk about that for a moment. I loved his parts in the other book I fell head over heels for Rose and Callum and i was eagerly awaiting to read their parts in this book I found myself doing that for Aiden! I had to know what was going on with him, while i loved everyone else's stories, I was like MUST FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED. Anyways very well paced, like i mentioned before i just flew through this book. 

So what were Elisa, Logan and Wolf up too? No good that's what! XD Logan and Wolf are in the south partying it up and Elisa has to go get their sorry butts! So they have a bit their own adventures in the south, relationships grow, some are tested, and Logan remains to be totally awesome and funny as hell. I loved their plot line as much as Callum's and Rose's. They may not have seen as much "action" as Aiden but trust me a lot happens and it will keep you wanting more. 

So what are Callum and Rose up to? :) *sly smile* you will have to read to find out, won't you. ;)

Characters: 

So i know for the first book I did not do any character pictures but i felt the urge to do it for this one, and boy there are a lot of characters so work with me here. (and understand these are the closest as i saw them, but its not entirely perfect)

Aiden


Elisa


Wolf


Logan


Rose (minus the glasses)


Callum


Brutus


And the new to this book characters

Moose 


Lily (minus the lip ring ;) )

[image error]
Kay now for thoughts!

Aiden: I love him! I really do. In the last book he was just his small, uncoordinated sweetheart that was transported to another world/realm? to save it, and by god he did! And he did it without letting the fear that was rightfully placed in his heart stop him or make him become this over complaining baby. No he was brave, courageous, and very mature. I loved him again in this book while he is missing Eden something fierce he tries to make the best of his life as he thinks it will be now. He really drops all pretense of being an annoying, complaining teenager. He is very mature, bulked up a bit and becoming so much more. In this book he is wise, and really he is just awesome. There isn't a whole lot to say about him because his character was pretty much the same, he was an amazing character in the first and i am glad to say he is still amazing. 

Elisa: oh sweet, kickass Elisa. If she would just ugh nevermind. She was still kickass, totally awesome and a good friend to Logan and Wolf - well as good of as friend as she can be to Wolf - i will get to him in a moment. But in this book we get to see a whole new side of Elisa, we really get to see her feminine side, and she really grows up and becomes very mature/wise in this book. In the end she realizes though she wants to prove her worth as a warrior she does realize that there is more to life than getting ready for the next battle, and I think that this was a really cool change, we get to see a whole new hidden side of Elisa that yeah she is this totally warrior chick but underneath it all she still is a woman. She still wants to be treated like one once in a while i mean don't we all? 

Wolf: Will you PLEASE get your head out of your ass! Goddammit man! Okay that is all i can say about that subject. In the first book i wasn't sure how i felt about Wolf i really liked him to be honest but I also was annoyed that he was betrothed to Elisa when i sort of wanted Elisa and Aiden to "be friendly" *suggestive eyebrows* if you know what i mean. Anyways so i always felt a little hesitate towards him and i wasn't clear on his feelings for Elisa, I am now. I am very certain i know. And he needs to stop being so damn stubborn. 

Logan: OMGOSH who knew this kid was so damn funny, it really hasn't been that long since i read the first one but damn! I loved Logan in this, while at the end of the book again he got a little pushed to the side but I still love him. He is funny, but he is also very observant and honestly i feel like he is pulling all the strings in the background, he is that friend that if they ever lost i think the blow would be a lot heaver than anyone realized. He is the glue that holds them together i really like him and i hope for more of him! 

I am going to bulk these three together because I can't talk that much about them without doing spoilers so Callum, Brutus, and Rose: such conflicting characters for me which i love. I love that i want to love them even those Callum and Brutus are supposed to be the bad guys, honestly Rose was well honestly i don't know i cannot hate her but i would understand if someone decided not to like her but i just can't. She makes some very hard decisions but love is blind and love does not care who you fall for it, it just happens. 

Moose: Moose! Loved him! Okay okay he was Aiden's partner in crime in this book oh and what a funny boy. He is really wise and really shocks me sometimes while he seems totally care-free, fun loving guy i know that really he is serious and he knows when its time to get down to business. Now again i can't talk too much about him without spoilers. 

Lily: OOhhhh she is going to be an interesting character. I love her all ready, all the woman in these books are totally amazing, both warriors but delicate and feminine, she is a feisty one, and so completely loyal. I love her. I cannot wait for more Lily. 

So the ending OMGOSH seriously i am beating myself over the head right now because I just want to stop writing this review and read it! soooo laters! 

:O - okay also this is a warning, sort of...thing...I was given this LOVELY, FANTASTIC book by the author in sort of exchange for an honest review...long story short, i am going to be honest because that is how it works. And that is how i do. so yeah

Song Choice: Oh this one is a toughie, "I Will Never Forget You" cover by Birdy, "Into the Ocean" by Blue October for Aiden, "Your Hand In Mine" by Explosions in the Sky. (look i will probably come back to the song choice as it is 2 oclock in the morning and i am just trying not to wake everyone in my house

First thoughts: Sometimes it’s hard for us as readers to remember something very key. That the villains we so hate, are in fact human. (for the most part unless you are reading paranormal, or whatever okay I get it there are cases when they aren’t PHYSCIALLY HUMAN) anyways we forget that they are people, that there is more to them than the evil we see. This is not my first Janelle Stalder book, and it will not be my last, for the simple fact that she makes the world shades ….oh god… of grey. DON’T EVEN. Don’t go there. Seriously don’t. nothing is as black and white as we want them to be and nothing is as simple as we want them to be. Sometimes the bad guy is someone who truly believes they are doing good, and they are good person with a good soul, making bad decisions. Because even villains can love, unconditionally, and fully. So for this simple fact, you should read this. 

Thoughts on Plot: When I went into this book originally I hadn't known too much about it, but after the first chapter I went back and read the summary. I have this new found love for books have seem to have been doing this a lot more lately, its been done before yeah sure but i haven't come across it often. its when our world, meets fantasy world. Now this book started off with a different type of hero, with a different idea in mind, in my opinion. I will get to that in a moment, this is a fantasy and everything is happening, wars a-brewing, teenagers who don't act like teenagers and i just took it as they were mid-20s as it was falling in love, different people's stories being told, and all this-ness. I LOVED IT. in no way was it chaotic or confusing, it was magnificent! About half way we get a totally new POV AND OMGOSH I CANNOT WAIT TO TALK ABOUT ROSE I LOVED HER! (i will also explain why i probably had such a draw to her) anyways! this book wasn't about only who will win the war, who should win the war, but in the end it was about believing in yourself against all odds, the strength that we find within ourselves. :D!!! I am in love IN LOVE with Janelle's style of writing. There was a lot that happened in this book and i don't want to go into details because of spoilers but i will say this, it moved expectantly fast, and it was like i said no way confusing or overwhelming. Addicting yes, interesting, yup! 

Characters! 

(OH I AM SO SO SO SO SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. not only does Janelle have exceptional plot, and writing style - which she does - but her characters, OH HER CHARACTERS!)

Aiden: Poor Aiden when we first meet him i couldn't but help thinking how can your day get worse?! He is very endearing and I loved him. He wasn't the typical male lead, he wasn't the over-confident, stubborn, moody, mysterious man. And i don't know about you but sometimes going into a book knowing that the first MC you encounter or the story is told entirely in his pov scares you off but i tend to go with them with caution, why? because the plain, ugly truth boils down to: am i going to be able to relate enough to this character, and want to be in their position, i live vicariously through the characters yup i said it. so anyways! I was pleasantly surprised with Aiden i related to him very well, i enjoyed his mannerism and i loved him. While most guys - and yeah i am going to stereotype right now and be a bit sexist get over it - would probably find how freaked out they were, and try to be all super badass about and be like yeah whatever (says in gruff voice) this is a 15 year old boy thrown into a whole new world to be the "savior" of sorts, of course he is scared shitless, but he doesn't became a baby, he takes it in stride but he remains realistic. He god i loved him, i really did. He tries so hard, and he becomes friends with these people he wants to protect them, and I truly do think that he is an amazing character. :D 

Elise: She is badass of her own accord. She is the unlikely girl in a fantasy book (well not really unlikely in the sense we have this one girl in each fantast book ;) not that it is a bad thing because its not) She is a master archer, and she works hard for everything that she gets. She is so strong but still sensitive. With her its hard to tell sometimes with her emotions on how she feels which seems odd to me because of Aiden being so open, but i really like the shake up here with the gender-roles being messed with, all those lovely shades of grey. 

Wolf: He is a sweet guy, but he is also the normal male MC we expect and i cannot wait to see more from his shirtless, horseman! (also i would love to compliment Janelle's either well experienced or researched experiences with horses - i own four and i can say that everything Janelle mentions about horses - truth...only i have yet to meet a horse as eager as Ty to ride... but i do know Grumpy, only he is not as bitey just likes to run away from me...ANYWAYS GETTING DISTRACTED AGAIN)

ROSE: i loved Rose! i loved her i loved her i loved her! i loved her story line, i loved her character! and you stupid girl i think i might hit you! I understand the position she was in made things difficult for her. But i loved how she handled herself and how she remained sassy and brave, and so very courageous :D oh Rose!!! there is so much i loved about her that i cannot say too much about her unfortunately. 

The "villains": as i mentioned before in first thoughts they are not what you will expect and you will be wondering how you should react. oh Janelle i love you for this simple fact right here!

The ending....well strange. i am SUPER DUPER excited to start the next one that is for sure! 

I think I am in love. No. I am in love. No. I love. No. LOVE. That’s all really. Just plain, old, good, old, fashion, old (cause it felt like it needed another old) LOVE with this book. So with that said, I received an ARC from Janelle, and I felt honored she would ask me, but with that said I need you to understand I am not going to be lying or alternating my feelings for this book just because Janelle gave me an ARC, I wouldn’t do that, it’s not right, and it’s not what I believe in. Got it? Good. Now let’s start this awesome sauce review!

Song Choice: “Taking Control” by Eisley, “Hoodoo” by Muse (oh I have been waiting to use this bad boy for a while now – does happy dance), “What’s Left Of the Flag” by Flogging Molly, and “Rebels of the Sacred Heart” also by Flogging Molly, “The Scientist” by Coldplay (now usually I don’t pick songs that are in the book but I am expectation) and last but not least “Murder in the City” by the Avett Brothers. Okays so this song choice this is where I pick songs that I felt help describe the overall tone, certain pieces of the book and what nots, now these are books that I picked myself for the most part, and if you choose to listen to them, cool, if not, cool. 

Review time?! Sweet! 
First Thoughts: Okay so about 25% into this book I was about to rip out my hair. I was so unsure about everything, in this strange crazy good way. This I have to say, the writing…wow…fan-freaking-tastic! Amazing. It makes you question everything, it makes you wonder what is right and what is wrong, it may also having you wondering what right and what left is. The overall story that is being told is god I can’t believe I am about to say this, and no this has NO reference to the book, but this book is filled with gray shades, gray areas. Nothing is quite what is seems, and when you think you figured someone out, I don’t think you really have. Anyways before I get carried away last first thoughts: I think that this was a utterly fascinating, thrilling, epic read. 

Thoughts on Plot: Now the plot is interesting because usually I don’t like the forbidden love stuff because there are a good chance we all know how those will end up. But I sort of was unbelievably excited about it before I even read the book. The romance wasn’t the only focus on this book though, when it comes straight down to it for me, this book was about humans, and the fact we are not perfect. We aren’t all good, we aren’t all bad, and in the very end it’s about human nature. When all is said and done it’s who we feel we are at the end. Now this was a thriller for me, I was at the beginning taking my time with this read because I was having conflicting feelings about certain things, but I will talk about that later. But once I got over myself and stopped worrying so much (pfft, yeah right) anyways, I couldn’t do this down, I didn’t want to ever stop reading it. It was thrilling, it was exciting, it was steamy, it was terrifying, it was I am sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and screaming like a little girl good. So there was a lot going on here but it didn’t feel rushed, it didn’t feel overwhelming and it was pretty centered, nothing too like seriously, or nothing too boring where you are going…when is something going to happen!!!

Romance: NOW normally I don’t take time to talk about this I just do a little ditty in the plot, unless it a loooooovvveeee triangle, this was not. Thank you, so very much! But I just wanted to say I loved it, I love love love love love love love it. It was beautiful, while yes I can see where people are going to be like: HEY HEY THAT happened to fast!, well take a look around kids, in your mind not literally, where are you in this book? Times have changed you take what good things you have and you hold on tightly cause who knows how long you are going to get to keep them. 

Characters: OMGOSH YES, I CANNOT WAIT TO TALK ABOUT THEM!
But first I would like to introduce you to who I “casted in my mind”/thought they were as close as could try to get what my amazingly awesome mind conjured up (and I don’t do a whole lot of these casting things so yeah – warning) 

Meet the kickass Charlotte/Dinah:





Meet the dashing Pete McKay: 



Say Hi to Bridgette: 


And Roman: 



Now stop ogling :p !!!

Okay I want to make some general statements about the characters so that I am not repeating myself constantly. These characters all of them, yes ALL OF THEM, have multiple sides, they became more than a stereotyped character, they are not the bad guy or the good guy, they are just human. I don’t think that I can describe how much I love, seriously loved these characters, they were all amazingly done even the “bad” guys I loved how they were written. For me they came right off the page, they formed and became 3D, multiple dimensional characters. What do I mean by that? I mean they were just the quiet, silent ones, they were everything. They I don’t know how other to say this than they were more than characters, they were people, they were living breathing entities with more than meets the eye about them. They were flawed, they were cruel, they were unbelievably sweet, they were oddly comforting. They were awe-worthy. I don’t care if you hate the idea of this plot (I don’t know why you would but to each their own) but these characters make the read worth it (but so does the plot…just saying) 

Charlotte/Dinah: Now she was an interesting character…she was one of the few characters that made me feel like I needed to take my time reading this book. At first I didn’t understand her, not at all. (see I am being completely honest) but besides that: I didn’t understand her and I thought I wasn’t going to like her, but then I took a step back and I had a talk with myself. And I decided I would give her more of a chance, I shouldn’t judge, and you shouldn’t either. Because while there were things about Dinah I was like really confused about they are explained, and they are explained well that makes you understand. She is totally badass in that I am still feminine though way. Not feminine as like oh look at these cute books while I kick your ass with them! But she is vulnerable, she is scared, not that she will let anyone know that! She is doing her best in the situation she was given. While it took me some time she definitely became a favorite character of mine (like of all time). I forgot to mention she is super sassy, this girl ugh just loved her! 

Pete McKay: *Sigh* WOW. Now usually I don’t go for blondes, but damn he had me at, “It was way too easy to break into your apartment.” This is one intense cat, and I loved him, I loved him to bits! He is passionate without being shove-y down your throat, he is protective but understands that Dinah can take care of herself and allows her the space that she needs to do so. He is complex, while he starts out a womanizer he doesn’t stay that way for long. He is loyal, but in the end this man is a good person. Even good people have blood on their hands sometimes (figuratively or literally I will never tell, but I will tell you this, I am a good person and I literally had blood on my hands tonight, I killed a mosquito in the name of my friend who it sucked her blood…you don’t care do you? Well alright I will go on). I loved – which is strange I usually hate third person because it seems that so few people can do it so flawlessly – yes what I am saying is that Janelle did it flawlessly in my opinion. I loved being in his head, I loved feeling what he was feeling, I love him. Oh…um…well this is awkward….anyways back to Pete not my undying love for him – I didn’t say undying before did I?...even more awkward. Long story short, Pete was written as well, and awesomely :D!

Bridgette: I really liked her, like instantly but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that she was the type of MC girl that I gravitate towards. The sweet girls that have their quiet strengths. She is loyal, smart, sassy, and fun. I really did love her the moment I met her. I loved that while she believed what that was going on wasn’t right but in the end more violence wouldn’t save anything. I love that she was so loyal to her own beliefs and she wouldn’t have anyone shake her morals. I can’t wait for more Bridge!!!

Roman: Now he was another character that put me off for a bit. I think I know what was putting me off is that some characters did things I just didn’t want them doing because I wanted them to be the bad guy, I didn’t want to think of them as humans which I am about to go on a rant about that so I am going to stop while I am ahead. So Roman he slightly confused me as well, I feel like he had…has? Feelings for Dinah as well, but I am not 100% sure if it is a friend/sister feelings or like “how you doin’” (sorry Friends in on in the background…not to mention I have seen every episode at least 5 times). He was an interesting character while seemingly uncaring, he does care, there are things I know this man is hiding and I cannot wait for more Roman. 

The mysterious “bad” guys I kept mentioning: well I don’t want to name names and give anything away but again these characters did things that I just couldn’t see them doing, they confused me to no end, and I loved it. I really do! It’s so refreshing and new, and exciting you don’t know what one character might do next, they really aren’t predictable. But yup. That is all. 

The ending: : | UM that is my I might hurt someone face. Not to be confused with my serious face which is this : | ……grr. 

Yes I am going to go on with this series. Yes I am totes going to check out other stuff by this author (this was my first Janelle book – and I was unbelievably pleased, and I cannot wait to get my hands on more of her books). 

So this book was truly fantastic! 4.5

Kay song choice timeeeee: "Ten Cent Pistol" by the Black Keys (mostly because the girl in the song is kickass and Tam is pretty much kickass). "I Miss You" by Blink 182...yeah i am not going to explain that choice... "Blindsided" by Bon Iver

Kay First thoughts: While I really did like this there were some aspects that annoyed me. This was an interesting take on the paranormal world, while this was the first in the series and we were in the POV starting of someone entering we learned only I would hope the surface of the story, because i think this series has a ton of potential, not that it was bad or anything it wasn't but i am super eager to keep reading this series! Alright before i get carried away with that, the things that annoyed me a bit was the sort of repetitive comments the characters make, and their stupid choices...yes i am narrowing my eyes at them giving them the "i'm watching you" fingers. But I really did love all the new-erish ideas taht was brought into this book, and OMGOSH Minotuars! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Hannah, WILL YOU PLEASE write one of them a story! PLEASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE! I love Minotuars but god all you can find is horror, or like greek mythology :(!! anyways MOVING ON FROM THAT! I thought this was an amazing, action-packed, romance-filled, beginning to what i am feeling will be an fantastic series!

Thoughts on PLOT: I loved how action-packed this was, lately while i have read action-y stuff, and a lot of it does get their hands dirty, for some reason this one came off as more. I mean I did like that Hannah was willing to get her hands dirty, tell us the gory details, because it makes the story more real, more "3D" i guess is a good way to put it. or surround sound if you will ;). So while this was action packed and moved really well there were a few moments, and i really do think it was just me, that i felt like suddenly we were here when we were there....and yeah...but i think it might have been me. Anyways!!! The plot wasn't just one problem to be solved, there was a lot going on, and it got more complex and while it felt the ending felt a little too easy at first DO NOT BE FOOLED!! Anyways! The romance of the book, while i like when characters resist at first because it makes everything more interesting these two started to piss me off with their lack of communication! If you two told each other how you... you know what, nope not going to go into this. Also though oh i just had a point and then i looked up at the TV and got distracted...god i have ADD bad... anyways! i will think about that point for a bit....OH I REMEMBER! While we don't do the step by step of their relationship growth with convos happening about past and blah blah blah it was summarized and there so its not really just the "insta-love" stuff! YAY!!! happy dance, i know you are doing one, don't try to deny it! 

Characters!

Tamriel (Tam): Kay while Leyth calls her the bravest, most kickass female that he knows, like ever, i was getting annoyed with him. While i totally agree with him, it makes me feel bad for all the other girls in the book! XD. While I don't think Tam sees herself as this totally kickass girl, i think she sees herself as someone that has to do what is right no matter how hard it is. And for that i love her! For me she was so real, she really came off the page and become more than ink and words, she was totally awesome. Like i said she does what she thinks is right even when its hard. She doesn't relish in the idea of killing and she tries to be as helpful as possible. She is no push over waiting for someone to tell her what to do, but she also is vulnerable when she is with Leyth which i also really liked, even though she tries to keep her pride and dignity around others she does allow Leyth in all the way....*suggestive eyebrows* anyways! ya naughty nancys! She was a really amazing MC and i loved her!
Now normally i don't do these casting things but i makes exception for this book because i know a lot of people like these so here we go for Tam:


Leyth: AAAAAannnd i can't remember his nickname...sorry i am not an asshole i just am horrible with names! Anyways! He was, wow. Kay he was a little hard to like at times, when he called a certain someone a certain something, and that certain someone forgave him too easily. oh sorry! so letting that go. I liked him, while i think at some points he could have been as well rounded as Tam he wasn't a bad character. I liked how protective of Tam he was, and I liked that he was actually open about his fears with the readers in his POV verses just being like oh i had problems but never really explaining it. The fact that he was so utterly brave too, awesome! his trying to sacrifice himself for Tam though was getting on my nerves, i understood that he was scared but i wanted him to fight for them harder, don't worry its all alright! He was an interesting character. He seemed short with others verses when he was with Tam and i loved that!
My Leyth:

Kay usually I don't do many of the "other" characters but i want to talk a bit about the others for a second

Sapphire: I loved her, And I do hope we get her story as well...maybe she falls for a Minotaur, eh, eh ;) ;) anyways i really liked her and i hope she continues to be a sort of bigger part in the other books!

Dax: ohh he will be interesting to read about! hehehe i am excited! 

Alison: ohh poor Alison! i hope things get better for her she has been through so much. 

Oh you know what i forgot something! 
The "good" guys vs the "bad" guys: now this is really something i never do, but i really liked this aspect of this book, while we want to make the good guys cookie cutter good, that they are no faults in them in this we find ourselves wondering, how good are the good guys, and really the baddies must just be a 100 times worse. i like the idea that this presents it was really awesome and well done too :)


So the ending: Really it was the perfect ending for Tam and Leyth in my book, I was happy with it. But that epilogue, WOMAN! not nice! I am very VERY excited for the next book! superly soooo. So my very last thoughts on this is that i think that if you like action-packed and romance-y paranormal this will be a perfect read for you! lots of new interesting things happening here! :)!!!

How does Airicka always manage to leave you wanting more ... her? So yeah... moving on


Song choice: "Taking Control" by Eisley, "Disloyal Order of Water Buffalo" by Fall Out Boy, "We Looked Like Giants" by Death Cab for Cutie 


First thoughts: Okay seriously why haven't you started reading this book? Really I can't think of a good reason - well besides, being attacked, kidnapped, maybe I don't know your dog...died? If so i am so very sorry. Now i am just a horrible person.... But seriously you need to be reading this book. Like right now, why even read this review! WAIT WAIT WAIT come back! Its as wonderful - if not better than the first and really truly needs to be read. I love this ...duel, pairing, couplet, book 1 and 2? whatever the hell you want to call it. Seriously even if this is based in high school the problems are relate-able to all people of all ages. If you have ever felt less than amazing - which i already know you are - then you should read this. We are all here for you and we love you. <3 

Thoughts on Plot: Fantastic. Hehehe, the thing with these books are a they are a bit more character driven which is fine by me, but this did have a steady, way amazing - Airicka - like pace to it. We get a lot more interaction between Kia and Addddaaammmm *swwooooonnns* couldn't control the swoon it happens everytime i mention him. So all those ladies going for Adam - watch out, I am coming for him! Just think this 


So yeah... anyways there are new problems that arise in this book, and while we have a clone Claudia I was SUPER DUPER happy that she made only a few appearances and she really wasn't the problem. I think we all know who the problem in this book was, and really cannot wait to talk to about her, but yes you guessed right it's Adddddaaaammmm's *swwwwoooonss* - could you i couldn't control it - sister, and Kia's BBFF (best bitchy friend forever - that was slightly mean....but i am sticking with it for a bit) anyways back to announcing her name: Nessie... no not the Scottish Lake monster - she was Scottish wasn't she...? - anyways Van or Vanessa, which ever you prefer. 
But this is different this isn't about Kia finding herself anymore, its about her standing up and taking a charge which shows really well, and she is not the only one growing in this story so does Nessie. 
Overall serious issues are brought to light in this book, just like in the first book, they are handled beautifully and done very well. It's something I think everyone can relate to even if they hate to admit it, but I think it is also nice to find strength from Kia. 

Oh before I forget! I loved the mix of humor and serious problems <3 awesome, awesome, awesome

Characters: 

So usually I would talk about the Kia or Addddddddddddddaaaaaammmmmm *sssswwwoooonnnnsss* first but I need NEED NEED, NEED, to talk about Nessie before I explode. 

So Nessie: I have had a friend like her before. One that is so selfish that they cannot see past their own selfish needs, and I have been Kia - in a sense. I have been that friend one that is loyal to fault. I think that is why in the end it was really hard for me to accept Nessie, she does grow she does become more, so don't write her off. Anyways she is going through some serious shit, and I get that, but like i said having personal experience with a friend sort of like Nessie and finally it just exploded to the point there could be no more repairs, she made her decisions, I made mine, I was glad to see how this book ended. I think that Nessie was a very complex character that was very well written. This wasn't just some teenager angst that we all love to joke about - and come on seriously I LOVE TEENAGER ANGST its fun to laugh at, AT TIMES, but sometimes there are bigger issues here. And I think that Airicka did take her character very seriously when writing her as she did. I think that Nessie became a very powerful character and could easily become someone's favorite if they have ever experienced what Nessie did, but for me I have to admit it was hard for me to care for her sometimes speaking of her as a person (written well done, well done airicka) but as a person she is not someone i could ever imagine being around, not after what I had been through. But I was so glad Kia was stronger than me. Better than me. 

Kia: She is my hero. For reals. I didn't think Kia could get better. Ohh but she does. She totally does. She is such an amazing person. Okay yeah in this book at first she was a bit more like her old self but she does grow, she starts to stand up for exactly what she wants, and honestly she does the right thing. A friend - a true friend - wouldn't abandon you for any reason that was brought up in this book, in a lot of reasons short of murdering their whole family, or something else horrible like that. But Kia she sticks around for anything, and even when she doesn't have to, or shouldn't even consider doing more for her friend she does. She seriously the greatest character ever. I am not kidding when I said she was my hero. I am jealous of her totally awesomeness...oh and she does live up to her awesomely clumsy ways, explosive laughter people. 

Kenny: Yes KENNY! I loved his off-kilter humor and his odd ways. I want me a Kenny as well, yes I am greedy. Thats really all. 

Adddddddaaaaaaammmmmmmmmm *ssssssswwwwwwwwoooooooonnnnnnnnnnns and drools*: How holy MAN. My heart still starts to pound when I think of certain things this man said.... okay all the things this man said. OH MY GOD, I NEED a hose..... holy god. Okay *gives self pep talk, you can BE PROFESSIONAL ABOUT THIS, YOU CAN YOU CAN YOU TOTALLY CAN'T* HAHAHA lets get one thing straight this man needs to have his birthday very spoon so my fantasies and stop being creepy as helll. all fudge it, i am not that much older than him, or over it being legal.......He was so damn swoony worthy. I cant even... yummy, if you thought he was smexy in the first book oh just wait, not only that but you get his POV oh yes! oh damn that tie.... sorry... daydreaming. Excellent, excellent character. I need to stop before i start a lake of drool and people are starting to stare. 

So the ending. Is it wrong that I am not done with these characters? Hahaa, I really love them I am not ready to say goodbye to them but overall it was a good ending for them, <3 a HEA if I ever saw one. 

Hot damn she did it again. 

First Warnings: This was given to me in exchange for an honest review and, honesty is what I do. Cool? Cool. Let's get started then. 

Song Choice: "Haunt You Everyday" by Weezer - I just couldn't resist, "All This and Heaven Too" Florence and the Machine, "Crystalised" by The xx

First thoughts: I thought this was a spectacular book. There was a bit of chills, thrills, and all around a good time ;). There were also to list a few things: gender-confused cats, a schmexy male lead, a fun, easy to love MC, and a revenged crazed ghost. 

Thoughts on plot: While this book looking at the page number might freak you out - its more than 400 pages this will be a week long read - or a weekend long read, WRONG! This book moves like it was a 100 pages and I am still demanding more! So the pace was moving fast, and kept you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, and digging out that nightlight you definitely don't keep in your closet *don't worry your secret is safe with me* Seriously though if you live in a old house that creaks you might want to consider getting adult diapers if you are prone to peeing your pants....I am not speaking from experience or anything.....aaawwwkkward...... Anyways so this was interesting, it had a great mix of humor, mystery, suspense, the eww-omg-i-can't-believe-that-just-fucking-happened, and romance. And I can't wait to talk about certain aspects of the characters but that will have to wait for a bit. The plot i thought was pretty original - considering the idea of a ghost is used a lot in TV and movies, but then again I don't read a whole lot of horror/mystery paranormal stuff. I thought that it was the idea surrounding the ghost though. It was a very conflicting feelings. but again i will get to that spoon. This was more than a story about a ghost which i LOVED, there was just so much more than meets the eye to this - with the other characters, and all that fun stuff <3 

Characters:

Ana: I loved her. She was sassy, and while yeah she was scared i would have been in the same position but she kept her wits about her. She never quite backed down from a fight even though the smarter, easier thing to do would have been to step back. She was another classic Airicka character, individual in her own ways, and totally kickass. I really did like Ana and even though she had moments she broke down they were all warrant and if she didn't i might have to ask the question - what are you a robot? I think also Ana does her own certain amount of growing up in this book, at the beginning she wasn't annoying teenager or anything - never that O.O - but she did go through a shit load and she really just took charge. I loved it. 

Rafe: *loving sigh* What a man, what a man. This is one of the characters i really couldn't wait to talk about. He was SO DAMN INTERESTING - one of the great things about Airicka is not only does she write - really crazily swoony men, but they are more than one lines, and protective nature - I mean they are that as well but there is always more to them than meets the eye. They aren't just there to swoon over, they are there to learn about, to become part of their lives. So Rafe - *loving sigh - yes again* Oh Rafe he is the pinnacle of a boy bad, who is actually not so bad. There is something about how one must live up to expectations right? So when a whole town slaps on a label for you what else are you supposed to do but live up to it? Rafe is the boy who gets around and he doesn't pretend to be anything but when he first meets Ana but GOD THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO HIM. I really can't wait for you all to read this book - which you should - and meet Rafe. 

so another character that had that awesome mix of, are you the good guy, bad guy, are you in the right or the wrong - the place I come to think of as the Grey Area. Johnny, I am not sure whether i totally agree with him, in the end of the book I don't think we are supposed to know whether we should be totally with him or totally against him. I think the way Airicka set it up made it that you could be the finally deciding factor. 

So I do have a question - the model like group of people - crazy theory now you don't have to believe me but I think Rafe and Ana might have an encounter with the third kind if you know what i mean ;) hahahaha alright but seriously I think this was a great ending and I really did love this book :D. 

I was asked by Airicka Phoenix to do an ARC in exchange for being awesome… I mean writing a review, but mostly because I like to think I am awesome but not really. So anways! Honesty is the best policy, especially for books, maybe not so much to your mom when she makes some bizarre new recipe that she is all gun-hoe about, but in reality taste like dirt, and might possibly have some dirt in it, that is the time to lie your ass off for so many reasons but not right meow. And no way was my opinion altered because of this totally awesome honor, and it is a totally awesome honor to be asked to do this, and if you think otherwise then you might be a butthead, so take that! 

Moving on!

Song Choice: “Within You” by David Bowie, “Titanium” Sung by Sia, Song by David Guetta, “Giving Up the Gun” by Vampire Weekend, and “Honestly” by Cartel now all these songs go along with a certain part of the plot, and I am going to take a look see in my not so extensive itunes collection for another song that I feel exist somewhere because there is another huge part that I want to exploit in this book (cause I loved it). God I kinda hate myself for this but yeah I am going to do it, “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars cover by Boyce Avenue

First thoughts: Well I guess I should warn you Airicka and I have this unofficial battle going on, I try to figure out –if or if not she is using paranormals in her books, and if she is what they are, welp kids I tried my best not to do that with this book, good thing I did) This isn’t paranormal, but HEY HEY YOU paranormal fan that is walking away, well clicking away you get your ass right back here! I am a pararnorm junkie, like it’s a problem, but this book was fantastic and it should be read by all  I am still watching you paranorm fan that thinks I looked away and is trying to run away! This book was HI-larious, like it was a problem, I have explosive laughter, what does that mean? It means when I laugh people on the other side of the country could probably hear me, I laugh and I laugh LOUD. This book had so much humor, but it was mixed with a combination of serious issues as well, and some super awesome romance that literally made me swoon. LITERALLY. 

Thoughts on Plot: This book moved incredibly fast and I didn’t even realize that I was getting near of the end of it until I looked down at my progression and I was like WAIT, WAIT WHAT?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN, I was here now there, and and and and there has to be more. Truth be told there is a good chance I am still looking around my computer seeing if there is more hidden somewhere. While the first half of this book had me coming apart at the seams I was laughing so damn hard, there were serious issues that were presented in this book that I thought were handle very well. (But I will go more into this later in characters) The idea was like Cinderella, meets, Jane Eyre, meets Goddammit I thought of another one but now I can’t remember…. Hmm it will come back to me so if I randomly shout something (it will be in all caps that is me shouting at you) but it had twist of its own, and it was a fun read like I mentioned already eight times with serious themes as well. In Moby Dick (yeah I just went there) Captain Ahab states we all wear pasteboard mask (how do I remember this because it was a shining – aka horribly embarrassing moment for me in my American English 300 level class – shining moment in my college experience). That is how I saw this book for the most part, we hide behind mask to protect ourselves, and this book was adeptly named Finding Kia, when this book was really about finding Kia. I loved every moment in this book because it wasn’t just about high school drama (not that super-duper annoying kind where you want to kill the characters – trust I will get to them soon but a kind you can handle, relate to, and respect), it was about not knowing who you are now, but finding that person, to become something more, to become the person you always wanted to be. To Find Courage, To Find out what really matters, And to Find yourself. 

(did you just feel the power in that moment? I know I did….hehehe)

Characters: Now I don’t know this very often but I find myself doing it more and more, but I don’t know how much I will do it, so don’t get too excited. BUT I casted this book…


Meet Kia: 

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Say A “How Ya Doin’” to Adam:

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Now about these Characters:

Kia: *STUNNED SILENCE………..hang on, I am almost good……okay.* I LOVED HER. Not often do you get (or least in my reading experience) do you get 6 foot tall, incredibly witty, funny, hahahaha I am just laughing thinking about some her scenes, and remarks, anyways, and clumsy MC girls. Even less do you run into ones that wear glasses, no I am not talking about the MC girls that have glasses but only wear them at night and in the morning, no I am talking about all the time, THEN ON top of that awesome-ness she is a geek. That’s my kind of woman! I about died when there was a LOTRs reference. Totally awesome. Anyways HOLY HELL I loved this girl, now she wasn’t one those MCs that are like, oh I am not pretty I am quite plain but really every guy in the world actually thinks she is the hotness thing since the Sun. No she goes through her list of flaws, and she does have flaws, hell we all do, I dare even say that I do. (which I am not actually that conceded I do have a lot of flaws, I know this I am just trying to be funny so roll with it). She doesn’t act like they aren’t a problem either, here is what I loved about this book, it did deal with problems that I don’t care what you say all girls and probably guys have gone through (for guys I am not 100% sure, I was blessed as being born a woman well besides one week every month – gross I know whatever but everything girl is thinking the same damn thing right now!) And not once does Kia falter from the extraordinarily amazing person that she is. Things are dealt with in a very well done manner, I can’t say wait because of spoilers but I can say thumbs up Airicka. Now Kia’s personality like I mentioned she is sooo soo funny! But more than that she is really relatable, and easy to like. She is also a 3D kind of character (which means there is more to her than meets the eye, there is more than one side to her.) Wow. Seriously wow. I loved her, and she is completely selfless…oh Kia. 

Adam: SWOON. That is all. Seriously holy hot guys that have more depth to them than the “me man, you woman, you pretty woman even better grunt grunt” and I know a lot of book boyfriends, I mean book boys aren’t entirely like that but it’s not often do we get the MC being a sort of not perfect character, and while Adam is totally swoon worthy on the outside, it was the inside I liked. Though he was a bit daft (I like to pretend I am British sometimes), I still loved him, and oh the things he says! He is one smooth talker, and while there were times I was questioning his personality only because of other characters I truly believe that he is a good guy, and turns total Alpha male at the end. LOVE IT! But I don’t have too much on him as this book was mostly about Kia (shocking I know, what with the title and all ;)) 
Nessie (Van- as Adam calls her) – She was an interesting best friend, while these two are total opposites, there aren’t many times that I question her friendship with Kia I feel like she does genuinely cares about Kia, and does enjoy being her friend, it’s not some weird pity thing. But her morals? Ethics? Are a bit strange…whatever to each their own. 

Claudia: narrows eyes…. I don’t like you. Well I don’t think I was supposed to anyways buy yeah. That is all about her. 

The ending: Grr. I want the next one now thank you Airicka. 

Have you ever read a book and known the ending to it?
Have you ever wished that you were wrong?
I wish that I was wrong. 
I wish that I could change the past and rewrite the future. 
I also wish that I could escape with the Doctor and travel through Space and Time but that probably won't happen in the next week, I am still crossing my fingers for next week though ;)

Alright so (this is the THIRD time i started this review, i might kill my computer... anyways) So Touching Eternity is this sort of prequel but not quite sort of in the middle of the Touch Series by Airicka which is amazing and you should go read that by the way. Would I read this before the first book in the Touch Series? Touching Smoke?.... UM, maybe. I am having a debate with myself. On one hand it would be really interesting to seen it be read in that order, but when i started this series this book had yet to come out, so there is that. But for someone else, i think it could be really interesting, also A TAD, maybe A LITTLE confusing... so with that said I will try my DARNEST and a HALF to keep this spoiler free of the first book Touching Smoke, kay? kay. 

Song Choice: I have a few, so BWHAHAHAHA "Sleep" by My Chemical Romance, 
"Speechless" by Lady Gaga, "Sleeping Sickness" by City and Colour featuring Gordon Downie, and (also no this book doesn't have to do with sleep i realize that two of the songs have sleep in them but no...its not about sleeping, it might deprive you of sleep because you MUST FINISH IT. ) and finally nope this one doesn't have sleep in the title, sad i know either way: "We Looked Like Giants" by Death Cab For Cutie

Kay for the review....damn i was hoping i would have more time for this. Alright first thoughts: It was simply put beautiful. I had never hoped for something so hard. I wished for the ending to change from page one to page well 100% because i read this via ebook. My advice is to breathe. I will not promise you anything. I can't. Sorry. What I can promise you though is a very, amazingly written without being to brutal to the readers mind story about struggle, and a whole new meaning of courage. 

Thoughts on plot....

Plot: Now this is a much different tone than Touching Smoke. If you don't know Touching Smoke this is a very serious, very heart-wrenching story. While we don't have car chases and um explosions i am trying to think of other normal action like moments in action movies. It does not mean this is not um how do i put this...drama filled. I am bad at this because this seemed literally it was pretty much a contemporary fiction for those you have never read the Touch Series that is what it seemed like. so almost contemporary fiction with a centimeter of "other". There is a lot of psychological abuse in this, don't know what i mean by that? well don't worry i am still trying to figure out how to put it without spoiling anything. Amalie's told she is crazy but i think anyone in her position would become crazy, only she isn't. But there is a lot that happens to her, this isn't a story about rainbows and butterflies, this is a story where you are going to need to pull up your big girl panties (or big boy pants), admit to yourself you aren't going to cry, but most likely you will, and hold onto that small piece of yourself that wants all to be well in the world. Sometimes stories aren't pretty, sometimes stories hurt so much that you can only hope for a little glimmer of light in the darkness. 

Thoughts on characters:

When I started this book I thought this was going to be Amalie's story. Her story only. I was a fool. This story belongs to three people. So let me go on. 

Amalie: She has a new type of courage, the courage to live when she has nothing to live for. If being broken-hearted wasn't enough this girl is put through the wringer times a thousand. I literally wanted her to escape the only way she could. I do NOT, EVER, ever, ever, condone taking one's life, not in books, not in real life. So if you ever thought about it, well guess what there is someone's life whose is probably worse than yours, Amalie's for example. I hated myself, but if she could find peace there, God dammit. I wanted so much for her. In the end (not the end of this book, no spoilers here :| ) in the end she showed a different type of strength. Maybe she might seem weak to a certain reader but to me she was one of the strongest MC's that i have come across in a very long time. 

Isisah: GRRR. that is all. nah just kidding! i will give you more than that. GRRRRRRRRR. there. fine i will tell you more than GRRRRR. sheesh calm down i was just messing with you. but still GRRR. this is hard. At first I honest to God wanted to hate him. I'm being honest here. I wanted to hate him, no actually I did hate him. He just UGH. But he does redeem himself, and boy does he redeem himself. We all have faults don't we? we are allowed to make mistakes... and he does. he really does make some really bad mistakes. but ohh poor Isisah. I found that i couldn't hate him once we got more of his story, and more of his POV. 

you want some of there moments together? Sure ya do, you do because i demand it!

“Amalie…” Her name was a single whispered prayer pouring from his lips. It gasped out as if it had been lodged in his chest for centuries, expanding and tightening until he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. 

This was theirs. Whatever happened between the times he came home no longer existed, they were no longer important. He was home. He was with her again. She wasn’t alone anymore. She wasn’t scared. 

And they can be as pretty as they want. They can never make my heart stop the way you do.” Hope, bright and sparkly, leapt into her chest, pushed its way up to burst from her lips in a squeal of delirious joy. She stopped it. 
“But—” His finger ghosted her lips. 
“No buts. Ever. There is no one that can make me look into their eyes and see the rest of my life. Only you.” 

Garrison: *my eye is twitching right now* kay have you ever seen Game of Thrones? No go watch that, yes? you know how much you hate Joffrey well you will hate Garrison more. If you haven't seen GOT than have you ever seen Beauty and the Beast, you know how much you hated Gaston yeah well Garrison is like a million and times worse. I don't think there are enough words to describe how much i hated this man. He literally was probably the perfect villain. For me the most dangerous villain is a villain that himself believes in his own lies. The worse part, is I am pretty sure he doesn't even realize that he is doing harm, i honest to God believe that he thinks what he doing is okay, that it is right. seriously he is just f-ed up. So another thing about Garrison was that i did NOT want to read in his POV i didn't want to be swayed in any direction that might be his. I didn't want to understand his crazy, and all that jazz but i loved the book more for having it. I really do. In order to write in his POV and his parts, wow seriously wow. 

Kay so this next little bit is for people have read the Touching Smoke series, it has spoilers, like legit spoilers so please don't read if you don't want to know. 
(view spoiler)

The ending. Nope. I won't. Thank you though.