"You shouldn't have said miko there."

 

"You did!" he snapped.

 

I shrugged helplessly:  I didn't doubt that I had, though to be perfectly honest I didn't remember.  But it hadn't been an important thing to remember.  "It was all right when I did it," I said, "but when you did it, it was wrong.  As though--you were following a trail, but a tree had fallen down in the meantime, or some hedge grew up, and you insisted on continuing on anyway, instead of going around it--"

 

"There are no hedges!" he roared.

 

"It comes, I suppose," I said thoughtfully, speaking to the air, "of spending too much time alone indoors, and forgetting that living things don't always stay where you put them."

 

He ordered me from the room in stiff fury.

I love the shift of power in their relationship-non-relationship and how it's starting to develop.  Before, Dragon was this intimidating, all-powerful wizard who Agniezka tried so hard to avoid and tried so hard not to upset or anger.  But now that it seems like Agniezka might have some sort of power after all, even if her magic isn't as straight forward or as logical as Dragon would like it to be, she seems to have noticed that they're becoming closer to equals than he probably would like.

She's less intimidated by him and it seems like she even finds his need for straight-forward logic kind of amusing.  Agniezka is no longer being the quiet, scared and mousy girl who couldn't figure out why she was the one taken in the first place.  I love how her backbone just snapped right into place once she realized that she could perform magic and might have an affinity towards healing.  I just love how everything she does makes him tick, even when she's not doing anything wrong.

I love this new dynamic!  And I love how her descriptions of how she performs her magic kind of wanders in a strange, flighty imagery of living nature.  It's interesting.

This book has been lurking on my feeds via many reviewers and friends I follow in the reading community lately.  The general consensus seems to be very much positive with exclamations of surprising "Wow"s.

And so I felt compelled to jump on the Uprooted bandwagon (I requested a hold on the book from the library and got it pretty quickly), even though I've never read a book by Naomi Novik before, though I've heard good things about her fantasy novels.  Maybe I'll even end up jumping on the rest of her books after this because I truly am excited and interested in read the rest of this book.

For one, fairy tale retellings are some of my favorite types of books, even if Beauty and the Beast isn't my favorite fairy tale.  I've read a select few Beauty and the Beast retellings which I have loved, so I'm hoping that this one delivers just the same.

Secondly, just from the first chapter alone I'm already enchanted by the writing and that somewhat magical feel to the story telling.  

And Agniezka... I'm slightly taken aback by her rumpled and incompetent nature at this point, but it all comes across so realistic that she's not that "special" girl who was supposed to be the "chosen one" offered to the Dragon that I'm intrigued to see how her development will come about.  Although I am already loving that she's giving Dragon a surprising startle each time they encounter each other, which, in some way, already makes her that "one special girl" who is definitely destined to be the main female character of this story after all.

The Prophet -- Amanda Stevens

Book 3 of Graveyard Queen

Adult, Paranormal Mystery, Romance, Ghosts, Horror

It's been about two years since I read the first two Graveyard Queen books, so it took a little work to recall a lot of the situations and events that have lead Amelia Gray to this point in the series. And I can't help but think that, even with my two year gap, The Prophet is the stronger of the three installments. A lot happens in this book and a lot of development takes place throughout The Prophet (just as a lot of development had taken place leading up to this third Graveyard Queen book).

The Story:
Amelia's returns to Charleston after her incidents in Asher Falls only to stumble upon a new mystery and new developments in her life. The ghost of a murdered cop is pleading for her assistance in finding his killer, a mystery that may involve more people surrounding her life than she would have liked. A new sinister evil has arrived in town: a man connected to John Devlin and his deceased wife, as well as a man who has tapped into Amelia's ability to see spirits and is now watching her.

Meanwhile, Amelia's feelings for John Devlin have only grown stronger despite their time apart, but his secrets are many and his ghosts continue to haunt him--a fact that makes him a dangerous man for Amelia to be around. And the ghost of his young daughter continues to reach out to Amelia with a plea of her own that Amelia isn't sure she can help fulfill.

Time seems to be running out for Amelia since the presence of these ghosts in her life will only drain her own energy and life force unless she can figure out how to help them move on.


My Thoughts:
This book is written so beautifully! The details and descriptions make you feel like you are right there with Amelia in the gorgeous southern Charleston streets. On the flip side, the eeriness of Amelia's ghostly encounters present a creepy, dark undertone, even if not a straight out chilling effect.

The murder of Robert Fremont (nicknamed 'The Prophet') is an intriguing progression of great investigation and twists... even if it seemed a little noticeable what the main cause of his death had been. I had my guesses as to the murderer's identity, just as I had my guesses as to how Devlin was tied into the entire scenario. The mystery part of The Prophet was written very well and kept me hooked until the end.

Nevertheless, Fremont was a welcome presence, almost like a guide pointing Amelia to where she needed to go or what she needed to do to come upon the final conclusion that would tie all the loose ends she'd been stumbling upon together.

Even the development of Amelia's further acceptance of her ability to see ghosts was brought about nicely. I also loved the brief tidbits inserted about her graveyard restoration project and the bits and pieces of facts about black magic, root doctors and the like. I'm intrigued enough to do some research of my own.

The only quibble I had with this book was the romance. Maybe I hadn't remembered the love story between Amelia and Devlin being that deep and that passionate, which is what's causing my biased opinion. But I feel like Amelia was spending too much time obsessing over Devlin in a very unhealthy "You're meant to be my one and only love in the world" way. At the same time, she acknowledges that she should be turning the other way or maybe NOT acting on her strange impulses to just show up at his doorstep.

But because of her strange impulses to chase after Devlin, we get to lead into secret reveals and new knowledge that ties into the murder mystery.

And so I'm slightly conflicted about how to feel about Amelia's almost one-tracked focus on John Devlin and how much in love with him she is. It's a little disconcerting... but I got through it... and it helped progress the story line. So... well... I guess, in the end, it didn't really bother me too much and in fact managed to add to the story. So I'll take it.

Also, kudos to the semi-creepy open-ended conclusion.

***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader
• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

Top Ten Tuesdays is an original and weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession

(bought, library, review copies, etc.)

No long rambling intro.  This is a straight forward topic that pretty much reflects the fact that I have either been a little lax on my acquiring of books... or not.  I can't decide.  I had left this post until the last minute to finish because I figured I'd have gotten my hands on more books by now than I did a few days ago, but I'm not sure that actually happened.

Anyway...

In the order of the most recent book that came into my possession:

Watch Me by Cynthia Eden

The Bones of Others by Vickie McKeehan

These two books were Amazon Kindle freebies that I found while perusing such delights as Bookbub and The Midlist; because who doesn't like free or discounted books? 

Well, except for Watch Me--I actually found that one because I was curious about whether Cynthia Eden had written any new Romantic Suspense novels seeing as how I liked her Deadly series.  I found two new series, and one with a free book, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

Frozen Heat by Richard Castle

I had several hardcover and paperback books I'd been reading, courtesy of the local library, but no e-book to pass the time during those strange moments when you can't just whip out a traditional book to read.  So using my trusty Random Book Draw method, I pulled out three random e-book titles, library or otherwise, and ended up with Frozen Heat of which I checked out from the library.  Which is a good thing, since this series is on my 2015 TBR list, because the sixth book, Raging Heat is a pre-chosen book for my Reading Assignment Challenge, which means that I have to get to that point at some time before the end of the year.

Moving along now...

The Harlow Hoyden: A Regency Romance by Lynn Messina

Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase

Another two Amazon freebies that sounded interesting.  When will I get around to reading them?  I don't know.  Soon, I suppose.

Secrets of the Dead by Kylie Brant

I had been looking forward to Kylie Brant's continuing Mindhunters installments since I first found out that she was returning to that series.  Upon the publication date, the book was bought almost immediately by yours truly.  I started reading it a couple hours later.  

I was not disappointed in it, but I do have my reserves.  Doesn't mean I won't continue reading Kylie Brant books.

The next Mindhunters installment has been advertised at the end of Secrets of the Dead as well as at Kylie Brant's website.  It is called What the Dead Know and will be published in December this year, unless otherwise stated.

See my short review of Secrets of the Dead.

Silent Night by C.J. Kyle

I found this book whilst perusing other similar Romantic Suspense novels like Kylie Brant's and thought the summary sounded intriguing.  Also, a book named Silent Night has all sorts of creepy possibilities.  So I put in a request with my library and not more than a week later, the request was fulfilled, which sent my reading list into chaos.

See my short review of Silent Night.

Shades of Gray by Maya Banks

Echoes at Dawn by Maya Banks

Blood Ties by Kay Hooper

I actually checked out six books from the library on the same day, but including the other three books would up my list to thirteen books and that's not what this list is about.  If I want to be precise, I picked these books up according to the book number in the series and which series I went to pick up first.

The other three books I picked up were Blood Dreams and Blood Sins from Kay Hooper's Bishop/SCU series, and Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley.

My trip to the library was specifically to pick up Magonia which pinged on my hold request, and the three Blood trilogy Kay Hooper books because they were pre-chosen for my Reading Assignment Challenge.  At the last minute, I decided to also get Echoes at Dawn before going shopping, but while I was at it, I chose to get Shades of Gray as well.

See my reviews: Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Echoes at Dawn, Shades of Gray

Yeah... I shouldn't be allowed into any bookish building (library, bookstore, etc.) unsupervised.  I'm proud that I displayed a good amount of restraint, otherwise, my number of library checkouts that day might have been a bit higher... though the most I'd ever checked out from the library recently is probably eight or nine books.

Blood Ties -- Kay Hooper

Book 12 of Bishop/SCU series

Adult, Paranormal Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Crime Thriller

Blood Ties concludes the Blood trilogy with Hollis Templeton as our front stage and center main character. Throughout the entire Blood trilogy, I don't deny that I felt Hollis's presence much more so than the other official main characters of both Blood Dreams and Blood Sins--though it's not to say that the previous two books didn't focus properly on the main story, conflict, and characters.

Even though Hollis has kind of "lurked" in the background, I couldn't help but feel like this entire trilogy was just as much about her. And so it's no surprise that I very much looked forward to this last book in the Blood trilogy. In fact, ever since Hollis's first appearance as an official SCU agent, I've been anticipating her book.

I probably just liked watching her survive and develop and grow throughout each previous installment of the Bishop/SCU series.

While Blood Ties manages to round out the trilogy in a neat way, utilizing connections and ties (as the book's title would suggest) to bring the trilogy's story arc to a fairly finalized, yet also open-ended conclusion, I can't help but feel like these books have been missing something. And also, as much as this was supposed to be Hollis's book, it also felt like she just continued to lurk in her background position while Quentin and Diana (from Book 8, Chill of Fear) also managed to claim a bit of the limelight.

Nonetheless, Blood Ties is very enjoyable and incorporated the murder mystery, crime thriller, and the ties to previous books quite well. The ending certainly felt a little left field, but I found enjoyment and that's all that matters to me.


The Story:
Gruesome murders have lead the SCU team, with Miranda Bishop taking point, to a small town in a technological dead zone. While investigating the deaths of two individuals, Hollis is fired at by a mysterious shooter who seems to be watching the SCU agents' every move.

In the meantime, Noah Bishop is on a mission to search out a possible leak in his own unit as well as find out more information on anyone who might have targeted himself and his unit.

Diana Brisco has walked into the gray time with her abilities to find that she has come upon the now destroyed asylum where previous events had taken place--a building where Hollis had almost been killed by an insane serial rapist and killer.

All information and leads seem to lead back to the Church of the Everlasting Sin and the deceased Reverend Samuel. And underlying every present event are more secrets and twists that cut closer to home than the SCU agents would like to believe.


My Thoughts:
Again, my summary sucks. But when you've got a crime thriller and murder mystery with lots of twisty-turny events that could potentially be easily spoiled in a domino-effect way, you have no choice but to be very vague, while at the same time attempt to give some kind of summary that makes sense.

Anyway...

As I already stated, despite the fact that this book concludes the Blood trilogy, I found that it was a nice twist to sort of tie part of the investigation in with short glimpses of previous cases our agents have worked. This particular tangent didn't last long as it lead into another new twist, but I liked the idea nonetheless.

I was just a little disappointed that Hollis didn't get her chance to shine in the main light when this book's official blurb advertises her significance. I mean, sure she was still the main character next to Reese DeMarco, but we also spend quite a bit of time following Diana's own advanced development as well as her relationship with Quentin. Not that I don't appreciate a more well-rounded Happily Ever After™ for this couple, but I would have also liked to focus more on Hollis as well.

There is still a lot of the story progression leaning towards draggy, "let's sit around and talk about the case in repetition" going on, but at least it wasn't too extensive.

What I liked:

• Again, Hollis's presence is forever welcome. There's just something about her that I really like and admire. If the installments of this series will continue to bring old characters to the surface like it did for Diana and Quentin, I'd love to see more of Hollis in the long run.

• Use of multiple characters was fairly seamless; none of it felt like a forced curtain call of any kind and I enjoyed Miranda's presence as team leader a lot.

• The mystery was well-thought out with enough twists to keep me anticipating, but not too many conflicts to make me annoyed. Even the tangents weren't random.

• And we get to meet a lot of new characters as well as old ones. And we even get a nice, more official introduction of the civilian psychic team, Haven, with Maggie and John (from Book 4, Touching Evil) making their appearances.

• There was less of the beating home of the whole "Universe" thing that bugged me so much. There is more action and forward progression in spite of the few brief "sitting around and talking too much" scenes.

What I would have liked:

• The character interactions are sparse and the romance was lackluster. The romance was there and the characters are excellent, but I still felt like we were cheated of seeing a blossoming love story--two blossoming love stories, actually.

• While the romances were sweet and nice... that was really all they were. And maybe that was the point--that the love stories don't need that much emphasis and that they don't need too much action or depth because there were more important things to focus on. And yet I still wished there had been more FEELS involved.

• Despite there being more story progression and forward action, there were still the random exposition moments in those brief "sitting around and talking" scenes (sorry for being repetitive, but this was one of the things in all three books that kind of bugged me). The characters LOVE to talk a lot and they love to analyze and re-analyze each and every aspect of their case to death.

And maybe this is more realistic in an investigation. I don't know. But it certainly took away from a lot of the excitement of the action.

• Again, more insight into the characters and more instances to relate with.

Final Thoughts:
Blood Ties (as well as the rest of the Blood trilogy) was very enjoyable and kept me hooked from the beginning until the end. We might have had our differences, but I'm sure the story and I got along in lovely fashion. I am very much tempted to go ahead and get my hands on the rest of the books and screw my Reading Challenge obligations!

***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun
• The Series That Never Ends hosted by Delighted Reader