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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Still Star- Crossed- Melinda Taub




Romeo and Juliet are gone. Will love live on? Despite the glooming peace that's settled on Verona after the recent tragedy, Montagues and Capulets are brawling in the streets. Faced with more bloody battles, Prince Escalus concludes that the only way to truly marry the fortunes of these two families is to literally marry them together. Everyone is skeptical, but none more so than the pair selected, for the most eligible Montague bachelor is Benvolio, Romeo's best friend, still anguished by the loss of his companions, and the chosen Capulet maid is Juliet's older cousin Rosaline, the girl Romeo first loved and whose refusal of Romeo's affection paved the way for bloodshed. Contrary to their late cousins, there's no love lost between Benvolio and Rosaline, yet they forge a bond to end the renewed feud not only to escape their forced betrothal, but to save their lives and the city of Verona itself


Anyone who reads my reviews or blog will know I love nothing more than a Shakespeare retelling.  I have read as many of them as I could fine that actually looked like I would enjoy them. So when I stumbled upon Still Star Crosses I was excited and a little concerned.  Concerned because Romeo and Juliet is my LEAST favorite play and excited because it had to do with Rosaline and I always felt her a much under rated character.

I enjoyed this book a lot, it had great premise, excellent action scenes, the characters were well flushed out and the descriptions were beautiful. The author did something I really loved, she tied this in with others of the Bard’s plays like Much Ado About Nothing. The villain also took me a bit by surprise and I liked that a lot.

These were my issues however:
1)      They speak in that Shakespeare kind of thee thou way….but the descriptions and inner monologues were not written the same way. I feel it would have been better all written modern.

2)      Love Triangle- Rosaline loves the Prince, the Prince loves Rosaline, Rosaline loves Benvolio and Benvolio loves Rosaline….Blech… Why does this sort of this happen so much in novels right now? I HATE IT!! Ok, she’s beautiful but really? C’mon. Yuck.

3)      The Prince- can we say major douche bag. *spoiler a head* he black mails her to do what he wants, like threatens her VIRTUE. *end spoiler*  And yet she STILL loves him and considers marrying him. EEEEWWW! He is a total ass and I HATED him. Like I was angry and heart broken for poor Rosaline about the Prince and just wanted him to die a horrible and sad death,

Aside from those items I very much enjoyed this novel. It was well written and kept my attention, in fact I couldn’t put it down. 








Mini Review Enshadowed- Kelly Creagh






Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dream world -- a treacherous and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by the nightmares of Varen's creation, is the only one who can save him.Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the "Poe Toaster" will make his annual homage at the legendary poet's grave.Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But even greater dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of white, is watching, challenging her for Varen's affections. When Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent



I loved the first novel, found the characters and world building interesting and unique. I love Edgar Allan Poe, so this author automatically intrigued me with the idea of a boy sucked into a world where Poe’s creations have basically come to life.
This book solves the mystery of Poe’s death and gives a name and face to the mysterious Poe Toaster. It also brings in some Hebrew mythology which I always enjoy.
However my issue with this book was that it took so long to get started. We spend more than half the book with Isobel trying to find a way to Baltimore to get to the Poe Toaster in hopes of him leading her back to Varen. Her character just bugs me, her parents bug me…pretty much everyone BOTHERED me. All I wanted was more of Varen and he is pretty much NOT in this book.
The ending felt rushed, so much happened at once and then BAM it ended on a cliff hanger and now I will have to wait who knows how long for the next installment since this one took forever to be published to begin with.

So a meh novel for me, not great, not horrible, it kept my attention and didn’t totally bore me.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday- Authors Who Need More Recognition






Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the brilliant Broke and Bookish This week I am show casing ten authors who deserve more recognition. 

1.) Patricia C Wrede- her novels include the Dealing With Dragon series and the Frontier Magic series. The author creates brilliant characters, many of which are strong and powerful females and her world building skills are amazing. 

2.) Robin D Owens- her Celta books are full of great characters, magic, talking animals, sentient houses, science fictions and old world religion. Her world building and the creation of a unique caste system based on level of flair is really creative and inspiring. 

3.) P.N. Elrod- Not only is she a great author of the the Vampire Files, but she is truly a nice person. She writes good old fashion vampires who don't sparkle but turn crispy in the sun. Her sense of humor is dry and stories imaginative. 

4.) Simon R Green- The Nightside anf Ghost Finder novels blend the lines between creepy and fantastical. He is a word genius that can make me awed or scared at his descriptions, characters and story lines.

5.)Amanda Ashley- one of the pioneers of the paranormal romance genre. Old school vampires and dark poignant romances litter her novels.

6.) Maggie Shayne- another paranormal romance pioneer. I have been reading her series Wings in the Night since the early 90's. She is also a pagan high priestess and loves to write using mythology and witch craft. 

7.) Suzanne Weyn- If you haven't then rush out and gobble up the Once Upon a Time series, it is written by several people but Ms. Weyn has written some of the BEST stories in the collection. Her other books are not my style however. 

8.) Scott Cunningham- a great pagan non fiction author. If you are thinking of following the pagan path you can do no better than to read his books first.

9.) Lisa Klein- She has written four or five novels, I have only enjoyed Ophelia and McBeth's Daughter, but her knack for historical writing sewn together with emotions and reality is pretty awesome. 

10.) Ellen Schreiber - She writes fun, easy, simple novels. Her vampire kisses series is one of my favorites, even though it feels a bit immature. I always have a fun time reading from this author.