I received a copy from Netgalley.

Not for me. I was very disappointed with this book. The cover caught my eye immediately and the blurb sounded intriguing. Though almost immediately something about the main character's attitude grated on my nerves from the first few pages. We learn she's a slave who has gone through a hell of a lot of owners. First thing that comes to mind...why? She's got an air about her. I think its supposed to be aloof and mysterious but frankly to me came off as bitchy and arrogant.

She's from a line of Elementals who are very dangerous and not supposed to exist. She has a definite attitude about it, which is sort of understandable, its a dangerous power that has caused pain and death to people around her. I just did not like this girl one little bit.

The concept was good, the kingdom she lives in is at war with another kingdom, the woman who buys the girl knows what she is and is a powerful and influential woman. She wants to train our heroine to be a weapon to win the war.

The guy doing the training is supposed to be aloof and cold and not liking people much. Of course he's sex on legs and our heroine notices this immediately. There's a connection between them and its obvious where the romance is going to be.

There was also no world building, made up slang thrown in which was annoying without knowing the context (and use of the word Kraken as a slang term too which just struck me as weird).

While the plot was fairly interesting, a few side characters were introduced but quickly became annoying. And I just could not stand the main character. Which is why I gave up at 48%. I just had no real interest in another whiny obnoxious speshul snowflake. Sometimes in these sort of circumstances, having an attitude when you've got horrible destructive powers you can't control is understandable, so is wanting to distance yourself from people. But not this girl.

At least not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for approving my request to view this title.

Crosses off a square for my Summer Bingo Challenge - Storm Rain or Thunder in title.

I'd kind of avoided this one for a while, mainly because its description hit a little too close to home for me (I was the girl in college who was obsessed with fanfiction more than anything) but I found it in a local supermarket on sale, so figured, what the hell, I'd give it a shot.

And I did fall absolutely in love with it. I could easily identify with Cath, why its so much easier to immerse yourself in fanfiction with a world you love whose characters you know and whose world you know than to write original stuff (I have creative writing degree and I found the fanfiction helped immensely in learning to create your own stuff, I wrote LJ Smith fanfiction, using the worlds created but with my own characters which was a great starting point for progressing to my own stuff) but I can totally get where Cath is coming from. Writing original fiction can be very daunting.

There were plenty of times throughout the novel where I wanted to shake her she was so hermit like. Its like - these people the roommate and Levi - are throwing you a bone, offering you a social lift. For fuck's sake take it!!! But then I remind myself, I would probably do the same thing Cath did, say thanks but no and go back to whatever I was writing.

(I know I'm making a lot of personal comparisons with this review but this was such a personal book for me).

I did also quite like how that there were other things added into the story as well as the fanfiction element, Cath's family problems created a good drama element. And the relief came in the form of Levi. Who was a total sweetheart. And I loved the little Simon Snow snippets worked in as well.

The only reason it wasn't a five star rating was because I didn't like the ending. The book just seemed to stop. I could have done with another 50 pages or more for a conclusion. Other than that I loved the book.

Disappointing. Very disappointed. Managed 48% before giving up. I hated the main character. Obnoxious and one of these annoying speshul snowflakes of the I'm so powerful but it sucks because my power is so deadly and everyone hates me whiny pains in the ass. Full review to come.

This is one of the creepiest, most disturbing books I have read in a long time. Wonderfully descriptive, and creepy because the threat wasn't ever obvious. It was very well hidden in the story and its disturbing because you never quite know...what...the danger is. Its obvious there's something not right, but its never really explained clearly what.  Review does contain some mild plot spoilers.

It was a completely captivating book. I loved the setting, the small town and the lost city beneath the reservoir was deliciously eerie. I loved the metaphors and similes. Most of the story seemed to be a fairly ordinary one. Regular teen Chloe who has a fantastic older sister that the town she lives in seems to love. Everyone adores her sister Ruby, who isn't even the nicest person in the world. Ruby is a bitch. She's selfish and I did not like her at all. I don't get the fascination with her.

You were either awed by Ruby or terrified by her, and Chloe comes along with the picture. Everyone knows who she is whether they like Ruby or not.  Ruby seems to have the world in the palm of her hand, everyone finds themselves doing what she wants before they even realise it Chloe comes along for the ride, and I found it sort of hard to tell whether she likes it or not that much. And this seems perfectly normal. Ruby doesn't seem to give a crap about anyone.

Other than her baby sister. While I was not a Ruby fan, I did really like her relationship with her sister, they were each other's worlds. They have the same mother, different fathers, when Chloe is sent to live with her father after a situation that leads to her finding a dead body, Ruby does try to make a huge effort to get Chloe back, but winds up manipulating her to come home her own way.

As Chloe comes back, things are the same but in a weird way...different. And things start to unravel about Ruby and the towns people's fascination with her.  And there's a few big shocks in store for Chloe as well. Ruby becomes quite contradictory in her relationship with her sister in do what I say not what I do kind of way at some point in the story, and that got annoying.

Thankfully Chloe is much more likeable character than Ruby, and by that point is smart enough to have realised something is not right. I got the impression she's always sort of known but never quite really wanted to deal with it.

Despite my absolute dislike for Ruby, its just impossible to put this book down. Its a little long winded, but so gripping in its storytelling and style of writing, its easy to overlook. I kept waiting for something huge and scary to happen with the style and tone. Its a feeling of dread throughout waiting for the big reveal.

It is concluded as a stand alone, and still left me with quite an unsettling feeling and a shiver when I closed the book. I loved it.

Crosses off a square for my Summer Bingo reading challenge - strong sibling relationship.

This is a bit of a hard one for me to review. Its one of those books that is almost impossible to recap without being spoilery. Some of it I liked, some of it I didn't. The basics of the plot are 17 year old Molly has been having blackouts and can't remember where she went and what happened during these blackouts. The story is about her figuring out what's happening.

The plot and the narrative style of writing got my attention immediately, but I did find the first half of the plot kind of boring, and admittedly, thought I knew where the story was going. And was kind of like...really? That's the mystery? She meets two boys who know her and she doesn't know them, they're brothers. So I thought that was the reason for the blackouts. Something to do with how her relationship with one and the other changed and she felt guilty about it and blacked it out rather than deal with the emotional consequences.

Well...I was completely wrong. The second half of the book was much better, and packed a surprisingly emotional punch when the answer to Molly's problems are revealed. It became a lot better and was...kind of uncomfortable to read as well. This is not a happy feel good book. But I thought it was very well written, and handled exceptionally well.

So not what I thought but definitely glad I stuck with it. I didn't think it was one of the best things I've ever read, but certainly well worth reading even if it was out of my comfort zone.

Crosses off a square for my  Summer Bingo challenge - A Summer Release.