Review: Jessica's Guide To Dating The Dark Side (Jessica #1)

Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side (Jessica #1) by Beth Fantaskey

Publisher: Harcourt, 2009
351 pages, Hardcover

Source: Purchased from Book Depository

Release Date: February 1st 2009

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance, Fantasy, Supernatural

Links: Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon UK

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The undead can really screw up your senior year ...

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.

My Review:

Jessica’s Guide To Dating On The Dark Side is very refreshing and a good change from what I normally read in my spare time. It is a book where our main characters are Vampires but one character just doesn’t know it yet, Jessica is a normal American teen that is until Lucius appears in her life and told her that she is his long lost fiancé and a Romanian Vampire Princess. Lucius is a vampire who has to bring and marry Jessica to save a war between Jessica’s family and Lucius’s family. The relationship between Lucius and Jessica was very intriguing to read about and I did not know where it would lead, if they were going to end up being together.

I liked the arranged marriage part because I have never read about that before, it made the book a little unique in its own way sort of. I was able to relate to Lucius and Jessica. There are a lot of twists and turns and surprises in this book, but it felt like you knew what was going to happen in the end anyway but it is still able to surprise in the end too, so it really doesn’t disappoint you any way possible.

Author Bio:

Beth Fantaskey, author of the YA novels Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Jessica Rules the Dark Side, Jekel Loves Hyde, and, most recently, my funny, romantic teen murder mystery, Buzz Kill.

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

ARC Review: Ice Kissed (Kanin Chronicles #2)

Ice Kissed (Kanin Chronicles #2) by Amanda Hocking

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2015
300 pages, kindle edition

Source: Netgalley

Release Date: May 5th 2015

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Magic

Links: Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon UK

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In the majestic halls of a crystal palace lies a secret that could destroy an entire kingdom…

Bryn Aven refuses to give up on her dream of serving the kingdom she loves. It’s a dream that brings her to a whole new realm…and the glittering palace of the Skojare.

The Skojare people need protection from the same brutal enemy that’s been threatening the Kanin, and Bryn is there to help. Being half Skojare herself, it’s also a chance for her to learn more about her lost heritage. Her boss, Ridley Dresden, is overseeing her mission, but as their undeniable attraction heats up, their relationship is about to reach a whole new level—one neither of them is prepared for.

As they delve deeper into the Skojare world, they begin to unravel a long-hidden secret. The dark truth about her own beloved Kanin kingdom is about to come to light, and it will change her place in it forever…and threaten everyone she loves.

My Review:

There have been a few books that I have been reading lately that were written in third person it was a real change to all the other books I usually read in first person. But I find that stories being told in first person have so much more emotion and personality. This story stars with Bryn recapping a failed mission along side Ridley and she is beating herself up over that failure.

I really enjoyed read this book, I grew to love the characters in the story, but I fell in love with them in the first book Frostfire. I did not understand the ending or how much depth that went into it until I properly read the synopsis of Frostfire again, it was like I light switch flicked on.

Author Bio:

Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with Batman and Jim Henson. In between watching cooking shows, taking care of her menagerie of pets, and drinking too much Red Bull Zero, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Wattpad | Email | Tumblr | Publisher Website | Instagram | Youtube

ARC Review: Rogue (Talon #2)

Rogue (Talon #2) by Julie Kagawa 

Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 2015

400 pages, kindle edition

Source: Netgalley

Release Date: May 1st 2015

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal, Mythology, Supernatural

Links: Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon UK

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can't forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he'd signed his own death warrant.

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order's headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember's own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?

My Review:

Man this book was an amazing read I thought it wasn’t going to be as good as the first book, but it blow my expectation out of the window. What really catches me off guard is every time Julie tells a story it feels so real, but her imagination is very outside the box but you can picture things happening as if they are happening in front of you, she has a way of bring her characters to life and I think that is so awesome in telling stories.

This book is packed with action, action, action and more action, and you will really like dragons in this one there is also a lot of ass kicking dragon fights. And also the love triangle in this book works for them and its strange but it is like second nature in this story, with Ember being dragon and human it becomes a point like their being 2 separate entities it just made sense. Her dragon side wants a dragon only and her human wants a human only. In the end this is not your usual love triangle.

My Rating:

Author Bio:

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time (okay, at least the illustrations did), but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a
real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, an obnoxious cat, an Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and a hyper-active Papillion.

Author Links: Website | Google+ | Twitter | Instaram | Facebook | Youtube