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Thursday, July 30, 2015

Book Review: Charmed by Michelle Krys

I'm back with another book review today and it's a Witchy book...lol.  This is the second book on The Witch Hunter series.  Yesterday I reviewed the prequel, click here to read that review.  Let's jump to today's review?  Of course, if you haven't read the first book, this will be a spoiler to the end of the first book.  You can read the review to the first book here too.

Charmed by Michelle Krys



Indie is back and she is freaking out, literally, she has spent the last few weeks looking for her best friend Paige with no luck.  She has tried every spell that she and her boyfriend Bishop can think of, but witchcraft has done her no good.  And she is getting tired of people telling her that it's not her fault, she knows that it's her fault that Paige was kidnapped by the Priory.  And now that the Priory is destroyed?  Finding Paige it's getting to be even harder, but not impossible, that's what Indie believes and it ends up been true.

Indie ends up finding out that Paige is not in Earth, she is trapped in Los Demonios, an alternate dimension of Los Angeles, an underworld prison.  A prison filled with evil paranormals, where those evil paranormals go and don't ever come out.  Indie desperate to get her best friend out of that cruel underworld prison, tries and finds a way to get there and decides to worry later about a way to get out of there.   But that also means keeping that plan hush-hush from her boyfriend and her aunt, because they certainly wouldn't like to know about her going to face the world's most dangerous witches and warlocks on her own.  And so she keeps it a secret from them and forms alliances with some sketchy people, including a seriously sexy sorcerer.

But on the way she learns that she isn't the only one keeping secrets after all.  She learns secrets about her aunt and her mother and her father, some secrets that she wishes she never found out that's for sure.  Not going to much in depth in these secrets, because what fund would it be for YOU to read it after, right?

I really enjoyed this book, there were a lot of action and lots and lots of twists, which are my favorite things in a book.  There were times that I wish Indie wasn't keeping so much from Bishop but at the same time I understood where she was coming from.  I loved Bishop, he was amazing in the first book and still amazing in this one, perfect boyfriend.  Her aunt was pretty great in this book, I kind of hated her at the beginning of the book, but as the book progressed and the secrets came out you got to understand her and root for her at the end. 

4 out of 5 stars, the end was pretty amazing and wrap up a lot, but I still think a lot can be done with this series and I cannot wait for the next book.

Have you read these books?  What do you think of the series so far?

XOXO,

Nelia

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Book Review: Blackwood by Michelle Krys

Well, Hi...I'm behind on my book review this week and it's because I'm tired.  As you know I went away to upstate New York last weekend and we came back Monday and I'm still a little tired...or should I say: lazy.  Yes, that's more like the correct word; lazy.  I really should have done my Book Review Tuesday yesterday but I really couldn't get myself to write it, so I'm doing it instead today.  And it's a short one too, today's review it's on a really, really short novella.  Let's just get to it, right?

Blackwood by Michelle Krys



This novella is about Paige, Indigo's best friend.  And it's told in Paige's perspective so you get to know Paige really well in this short book.  And this is also a prequel, so there is nothing new to the story, you really just get to know the characters differently in this book.  Some people may don't think there is really a need for this prequel but I really like it.  Especially because the next book was all about Indigo finding Paige.

In this prequel, Paige explains how Indigo and her were best friends from crib and how because of Bianca they went separate ways and grew apart.  In this book we also get to see how Paige and Indigo reconnect and get their friendship back on.

I gave this prequel a 4 out of 5 stars, there is nothing like a good friendship book and this one was just that, seeing 2 old friends reconnect a great friendship.

And to read I've read the next book and I really think because I read this prequel it really made a difference on how I saw everything, so I really recommend you read this one and it's not going to take you that long anyway.

And that's going to do for my review today.

XOXO,

Nelia

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Book Review: Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

It's book review time and today it's a book about dragon and where our planet is pretty much destroyed, but there is a place where there is life and hope...well, let me introduce you to this book:

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

2 covers...which one is your favorite?




This book takes place in New Vegas, a city that once was covered in bling and money rolling around everywhere; now is blanketed in ice.  Much of the planet is destroyed and knows only one temperature-freezing.  But in New Vegas there is one thing that hasn't changed, the casinos, people cannot be away from them and never mind the rumors about sinister in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out.  Like many people, she's heard of mythical land, the place that people call "The Blue".  People say it's paradise, it's where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise, it's where there is life and more importantly hope.  Hope that Nat won't have to worry about been persecuted and won't have to worry about her darkest secret, if it ever comes to light.

But going to the Blue isn't something easy, first of all, people don't know exactly how to get there.  There is a magical map to get there, but where is it?  Can Nat get her hands at this so called magical map?  Another problem with going to the Blue is getting a crew to take her. So, her only shot is to get a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson.

Danger and deceit is everywhere and Nat and Wes work together, not so well at first but they realize that they have more in common than they realize and fall for each other on the way.

There are a lot more things that happen on this book, magical, supernatural and there is a dragon in this story so, if you love that element in a book, you will definitely love this book.  Lots of twists thru out the book, you will never get tired of it that's for sure.

The ending was amazing, now I cannot wait to read the second book.  Yes, there is a second book, I didn't know and now that I know I cannot wait.

4 out of 5 stars for sure and totally recommend this book, if you like fantasy and distopian books this book is for you.  Thank You NetGalley for the ebook.

So...what are you waiting for?  Go and read it.

XOXO,

Nelia

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Book Review: Beloved Enemy by Lacy Yager

It's Tuesday which means another book review, today I'm bringing you the last book of the Unholy series, well at least the last one that is currently out, because I seriously think that there should be more books out for this series, right?  Who agrees with me?  If you have read this series you will agree with me.

Here is the fourth book that is out and my review:

Beloved Enemy by Lacy Yager



This book follows two different characters again, this time we get to meet a 17 year old genius college student, Genevieve and Chad a Vampire.

Genevieve already feels left out in college, she is the youngest there and people make fun of her a lot of the time.  But not in a million years she thought she would get kidnapped from her college campus by a vampire and that said vampire would want her help on a science project.  At first, she has no intention of helping the vampire and her friends, but when one of her an escape attempts turns deadly, it is a vampire that comes to her rescue.  Talk about been surprise.

Chad has been a vampire for many,many years.  He is good looking, in a dangerous king of way and he is also the perfect specimen for the science project happening.  Together, him and Genevieve team up to find a way to defeat a monster even worse than killer vampires and while doing that they also discover that not everything can be explained by science, like how a nerdy college scientist and a killer vampire end up falling in love.

At first I didn't think I would love, especially after reading the previous one about Rachel and Alex, but I loved it.  Genevieve was hard headed and with a hard heart too, and Chad?  Wow, he was so not your typical vampire.  I was on his side 100% from the beginning, there were a lot of times that I just wanted to slap Genevieve, how could she be so cruel to him?  But then, when you stop to think and put yourself in her position, he was the vampire, not the poor girl. So, I understood her and didn't hate her as much, but I still loved a little more. lol.

In this book you will not only get the romance, but you will get to see a little bit of science as they work on finding a way to defeat the dangerous monsters, and lots of action as they get to fight the same monsters they are trying to defeat.  And you do get to see a lot of other characters in this book, so of the good oldies and some new ones, which could have been potentials for other books???

4 out of 5 stars for this one, why?  Because the end left me wanting more and there isn't any more books available.  But I really, really recommend all the 4 books that I read from this series.  I got the Beloved Enemy from NetGalley as an eARC (Thank You NetGalley for the ebook, took me a while to get to it, but I'm so glad I finally read all of them).

What other vampire books do you recommend?  Have you read this series?

XOXO,

Nelia

Nail of the Week: Royalty Reinvented

Happy Monday!!!!!!! Another short week for me :) And this Friday we are actually going on a Road Trip to up state New York to a Dude Ranch, Oh Yeah.  And now I just remembered that I need to pack lol

Anyway, back to today's post...here are my nails for this week:

L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented 






What are you guys up to this week?  

XOXO,

Nelia

Friday, July 17, 2015

Weekend Reads: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

It's FRIDAY!!!  I'm loving have a day off during the week, makes work week so much lighter and go by much, much quicker.  And my concussed head is loving it too, my headaches are less, that's for sure.  So it's Friday, tomorrow it's an exciting day, I have dinner and Circle du Soleil with friends YEAH.

And then relax and enjoy the day on Sunday, probably on the boat, reading and this is what I will be reading:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare



I'm really enjoying this book so far...

What are you up to this weekend?

XOXO,

Nelia



Thursday, July 16, 2015

Book Review: Shadow Allegiance by Lacy Yager

Book Review time and today I'm bringing you the 3rd book in the Unholly Alliance series, I reviewed the First 2 books earlier this week, so check out the review HERE.

Now let's get to this one:

Shadow Allegiance by Lacy Yager





This may be my favorite of the series so far, it's about Shane's sister Rachel.  She HATES vampires, cannot stand them as she grew up as a vampire Chaser, born to kill vampires and she loves that.  Been in her older brother's shadow her whole life, there is nothing that she wishes more that to prove to him that she can be like him.  That is until she wakes a vampire, her own mortal foe.  At first Rachel doesn't know what to do, she can't think straight, then she decides that she will just kill herself, but she is haunted by bloodlust.  And than she notices that as a vampire; she is stronger, faster than her human self and she feels lost and confused.

The worst is when she realizes that she has to rely on Alex Wellington, a former nemesis and centuries old vampire who also looks hot, very, very hot.  Once they fought each other and now she has to depend on him?  Talk about been confused...

As Rachel relies on Alex and meets other vampires, she also learns that there is more to the vampire life than killing humans.  And she discovers a side of Alex that she didn't think possible; he is more than a murderer and she is afraid, very afraid, afraid that she is falling for him.

Rachel ends up to have to make a choice: her new life with Alex who she is falling in love with or her family; the one that may want her dead now.

There are a lot more that happens in this book; you get to see older characters back, YEAH.  And Rachel finds out really important things in this book, things that makes SO much sense.

But I really enjoyed Rachel and Alex love story, it was so well written, Rachel was someone with a hard head and someone that you thought would end up alone at the end, but Lacy Yager did a fantastic job with this book.  Loved it.

4 out of 5 stars, pick it up because I'm sure you will love it too.

XOXO,

Nelia

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Book Review: Unholly Alliance & Rival by Lacy Yager

Book Review Tuesday time and today I'm bringing you 2 books, well it's the first book and the second one is a Novella, so I figure that I would include it in this review as well.  Let's get to it because I really, really enjoyed this series and can't wait to review it:

Unholly Alliance by Lacy Yager and Haley Yager



This book is about vampires, oh yes, paranormal series.  It was time to pick up another paranormal series and I had the fourth book in my NetGalley to read list for months and months so it was it I got to this one.  And I gotta say, it didn't disappointed  me at all.  So, this book starts is about Maggie a "young" girl who has been a vampire for a very, very long time.  She lives with her best friend, Hannah, who isn't a vampire, but she isn't a normal girl either, she is a witch.  Weird combination?  You can say that, what is more weird is that they have promised to help humans, no matter how hard sometimes that is for Maggie as a vampire.  But she does it and there is nothing she would change, well maybe one thing...

Then we meet Shane, a young normal guy who is responsible for 2 younger sisters.  He has come from a family that have sworn they whole lives to do one thing: hunt and kill vampires and keep the human world a better place.  Then one of his sisters' gets in trouble and ends up in the care of Maggie, a vampire, but he is not suppose to know that she is one and she tries to hide it from him too and so the game begins.

We also get to meet little Chloe, Shane's little, little sister who isn't what everybody thinks she is.  A secret within secrets.

This book was nothing what I was expecting but at the same time everything that I needed.  I really, really enjoyed it and once I was done I couldn't wait and downloaded the next book in the series right away.

4 out of 5 stars and totally recommend this book, not your typical vampire book, but once you start reading it you will be hooked, trust me.

Now let's check out the next book/novella of the series...



Rival by Lacy Yager (Novella)



So, when I found out that this novella was going to be about two different characters well I'm not going to lie, I was NOT a happy camper.  I almost didn't read and then I found out the other books are all about different characters too and I almost didn't want to continue with the series.  But then I really wanted to read about Shane's sister in book 3 and I just couldn't skip a book and I read Rival and I really enjoyed it.  I was a short book, so it was a quick read, I was done reading in one day.  Let's jump right in...

Emily is a fifth generation Vampire Chaser, but there is only one problem: her mother.  Emily wants nothing more than to join her family's tradition but her mother refuses.  Emily takes her frustrations into her martial arts training.

Brett is in the same Black Belt martial arts competition as Emily and he has promised himself that it's about time that he puts his feelings to the bottom of the pile and forget about Emily forever and this is the year to do it.  But then he gets himself caught in the middle of a fight between Emily and a gang of vampires and he is drawn to a world he never thought it exist, but more importantly he realizes that he can never give on Emily.

This quick novella was amazing, I forgot to mention on my previous review but I love the writing, it is what draws you to the stories.  4 out 5 stars, you will love this quick novella if you love strong female characters, Emily will not disappoint you at all and Brett?  You will fall in love with him right away, he is everything you want him to be, especially at the end of the book.

So, what else do I have to say about these books?  Go and pick them up and give them a try because you will really enjoy them.

XOXO,

Nelia




Monday, July 13, 2015

Nail of the Week: Minty Sparkly

Happy Monday!  Happy Birthday Week for Me :)  YEAH!!!  Well, yeah because it's my Birthday not so Yeah when I think about how old I'm going to be lol.  But, I'm just not going to think about that and just think about all the fun stuff that I have planned for this week, I'm taking my Birthday off and going down to Cape Cod for the day with the family and enjoy the day, then on Saturday I'm going to see Circle du Soleil with friends,exciting.

Now, back to today's post:

Nail of the week: Minty Sparkly






What are up to this week?

XOXO,

Nelia

Friday, July 10, 2015

Weekend Reads: From A Distant Star

Happy Friday!!! How nice coming from a mini vacation and it's Friday already, I wish I could have the first few days of the week off every week and Friday would come fast every time, right?  Ah, I'm not making any sense...anyway, it's the weekend and it's time to plan what to read this weekend.  I just finished reading The Mortal Heart and I loved, I loved that Trilogy way too much, I'm going to miss those girls, any books like that around?  I want to read more books like that, I need to do some research on that.

Well, back to what I'm going to be reading this weekend, I got this book from NetGalley this year and I've heard nothing but good things about it so it's about time I get to it:

From A Distant Star



What are you reading this weekend?  What are you doing this weekend?

XOXO,

Nelia

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Book Review: Alive by Scott Sigler

Well, first of all Hello!!! I've been on vacation since last Thursday and I actually have been totally on vacation mode and on lazy mode.  I meant to blog while on vacation but it didn't happen, sorry about that.  I spent my vacation days boating and on the beach and I did some reading so I did some productive stuff :)

But I'm back today and I'm bringing you a book review and a book that has become one of my favorites this year so far.  I got this book as an ARC from NetGalley and once I started reading I couldn't stop, literally and I loved, loved and loved.  It had been a while since a book had me hooked on it that much and once I was done I was craving more, ah I'm going to stop now and get to the review (NO SPOILERS) and OMG tell you what the book is:

ALIVE by Scott Sigler



A teenage girls wakes up and she realizes that she is trapped in an enclosed space, something that looks like a coffin.  What is more scary than been trapped inside that is realizing not knowing who she is or how she got there.  At first she freaks out, but then she tells herself to calm down and she breaks lose and escapes her confinement and she realizes that she is not alone.  The room is big enough to hold other coffins and inside them are other kids her age, she frees them and leads them to a corridor filled with the remains of a war long past.

At first it's on their small group, but the farther they travel they find others just like them, who have escaped the same way as them and together they travel those scary corridors, filled with horrors they never thought it was possible to exist.  They slowly come to understand the prison that the place is and that the truth is not even close to what they have ever image possible.

This book is more than you expect and every time you think you have it figure it out, well there is another twist and it's not what you were expecting.  These kids go thru well and more and there were times I felt like I wish I was there to just grab them and comfort them, because what they go through? OMG, it's not fair and at the same time, WOW it is so amazing.  Want to read about surviving?  This is a surviving story with so many twists and turns and one where people really need to depend on one another to be able to survive in the end.  Once you start reading this book, you won't be able to put in down and be prepared to be in the edge of your seat or bed (that was my case).

I loved the characters, some of them I wanted to slap their faces or kill them myself but some I just wanted to be on the side lines and cheer them on and tell them that they were doing fine and they could do it.  The writing?  Amazing, easy to read and perfectly easy to just hook you on the book.   Loved it.  I just that Scott continues with this series as I cannot wait for the next book and see what happens next.

5 out of 5 stars for this amazing book and job well done Scott Sigler.  Totally recommend this book...AH and the book comes out July 14th (a day before my Birthday) so only 1 more week until it's out.

XOXO,

Nelia




Wednesday, July 1, 2015

July 2015 TBR

Happy July!!! It's time to decide what to read in July and here is my list or at least what I have come up with so far:

1. FanGirl by Rainbow Rowel: I'm going to finish this soon, I PROMISE


2. Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers: This is the 3rd book of His Fair Assassin Trilogy and I cannot wait to see how it ends and it's about time I finish this trilogy.



3.  From a Distant Star by Karen McQuestion: I have heard great things about this book so when I saw on NetGalley I just had to grab it.



4.  City of Bones by Cassandra Clare: This was on my TBR last and I just have to start this series.


5. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin: Another book that was on my TBR last month and I really want to start reading this series because I really, really want to start start watching the series.


That's all I have on my TBR for this month.  Keeping it light, it's my Birthday month so...

What are you reading this month?  Any books that you would recommend?

XOXO,

Nelia