Review - The Catalain Book of Secrets

As many of the other reviewers of this book on Netgalley, I loved this book too. It did take me a chapter or two to get into it as I expected a different start from the synopsis but once I did get into it, I couldn't put it down!! The witchy fantasy genre is one of my favorites, especially as each author can do so many different things with it. I loved the way the Catalain Book of Secrets would open to just the spell Ursula needed, reminded me of the early seasons of the TV show Charmed in that way. I also liked how the author mentioned how she liked and somewhat based the book on a much older classic, The Seven Daughters of Eve, and named her main characters after the seven daughters in that book. This book grabs your emotions and makes it easy to feel exactly how Ursula felt when her mother, Velda, forced her to make a potion to kill her father at the age of 12 and how that affected her life from that point on and especially how it even affected her relationship with her own daughters as it changed how Ursula could connect to anyone emotionally. Jasmine and Katrine's lives really reached out and touched my heart. How both women had their lives changed by the earlier actions of their mother and grandmother and how it connected to the arrival of the snakes every 25 years, which was a very original part of the storyline, not something you read in the usual witchy books. It was so sad how Jasmine felt the overwhelming need to bury her magic, to protect her sister by pushing her away from Faith Falls and how she home schooled and over protected her daughter to do her best to keep them both safe because of what happened to her when she was only 10. Katrine's story is equally sad being away from her family and having no idea that Jasmine had used her cooking magic to push her away but it was also wonderful seeing her come back to herself thru out the book even tho she also suffered the same horrific event that caused Jasmine to push her away to begin with. But my favorite part of the book was the ending, many times I am sad to see a book end and wanted more, which I do hope there are more books about the Catalains, but the way all the family came together as well as many of Faith Falls women that Ursula has helped over the years to break the original curse that Ursula's father cast as he was dying. All in all, a wonderful book that I would easily recommend to anyone who is a fan of this genre, well written and well edited.
This book was provided to me from netgalley.com and author Jessica Lourey in exchange for an honest review.

Moonlands by Steven Savile

I really loved this book and that it ended in a way that could turn into a Moonlands series and I hope it does!! I would love to read the story of Ashley growing up and coming into readiness to take her place as queen of the moonlands. But --- there are a great many typos, way too many too make a list of them as the requested at the back of the book. It needs read thru carefully by a professional editor to find and fix them all. They are not as such that makes the book unreadable, but it does get irritating after awhile. While I know the book has been released now, it would still benefit from a professional editor, it would make it worth more than 99¢ in the kindle store.
Other than the typos, the writing is fantastic, telling a story that brings Grimm's fairytales into both our world and the world of the Moonlands but in a totally unique way. Even tho this book is listed as YA, any adult who enjoys a good fantasy story will love this book. In my opinion, a definite must read!

This book was provided to me by netgalley.com and the author in return for an honest review.

Review - Sea of Stars by Amy Bartol

The Kricket Series, which consists so far of book 1 Under Different Stars (review coming soon) and book 2 Sea of Stars is an amazing combination of science fiction, fantasy, intense romance (which does include some sexual scenes, just a note for parents of younger children), and a planet on the verge of full out war.
At the beginning of Sea of Stars, the prologue discusses the prophecy that the Alameeda believe is about Kricket and a war that will destroy one of the five houses of Ethar (Rafe) and leave one house in complete control of the planet (Alameeda). It seems to me that this prophecy is the basis for this series.
Kricket finds herself back with Trey, the man she loves, at the start of the book. It seems that she is finally in a position to be happy but that is not in the stars for Kricket. We are led thru Kricket, Trey and the other cavars (military) in Trey's unit being arrested for the murder of Rafe's military leader. Finding out that when Alameeda priestesses give birth to a boy, they are to be killed but some of these babies are snuck out of Alameeda and like Kricket and the other priestesses, have special gifts. Kyon, one of the Alameeda Brotherhood, who believes that Kricket belongs to him, will stop at nothing to get her with him. This book is full of action, Trey is a totally alpha male who will stop at nothing to have Kricket at his side, even if it means the total destruction of his house (Rafe) and Kyon is more than willing to destroy Rafe if it means getting Kricket to himself.
Kricket fights to get and keep what she wants and she goes thru hell getting there but just when Kricket and Trey get to a place where they think they should be safe enough and with at least enough time to take a deep breath, things snafu again. Trey and his cavar unit and his family are attacked again by a group that lives in a restricted area of Ethar as the Alameeda have kidnapped one of thier's, a woman and priestess who turns out to be Kricket's younger sister (who she didn't really remember but had been having nightmares about someone named Astrid for as long as she can remember) we also learn that Kricket's father is alive and willing to turn her over to the Alameeda in order to get Astrid back. This book ends with Kricket finally in Kyon's hands.
I'm now on pins and needles waiting for the third book in this series as I know Kricket will never stay voluntarily with Kyon and will do whatever it takes to get back to Trey.

Note - this book was given to me by netgalley.com and author Amy Bartol prior to public release for an honest review.

Note 2 - link for purchase will be added when this book is released at the end of March.

Welcome to My New Book Reviews Blog!!

Hello and welcome to my new blog devoted to book reviews. I am a very voracious reader and greatly enjoy books from a wide variety of genres but I have to admit that fantasy and science fiction rate right up at the top. But, I especially love books that are written in a series by authors who have the gift of making their worlds and the characters in them so real and believable that it makes us, the reader, feel like we could step right into that world and that the characters are already friends, family, people we love, and yes, sometimes people we don't (after all, a good book has to have both the protagonist and the antagonist) and that world is a place that is already home.

Disclaimer - I want to let you know right off the bat that there will be some reviews published here for books that I was given to read especially for the review. I will always let you know when a post is for one of those books. After all, it is the law here in the USA that I do so.

As this is my first post and a brand new blog, please excuse the construction in progress.

I'll be back later today with my first review.