Man, I have a short list of writers whose brains I would give all the gold in China to see into and would love to see what goes into their creative imaginations and Leigh is one of them.  

At first, when I first read Dark Seraphine I had a few difficulties that were all mine.  I seldom read books from the male perspective, which as a bibliophile, it shouldn't be a big deal, but one seldom can predict as to how one's reading style changes over time.  *shrugs*  Well, that was then and this is now.  I had picked the book up again since I had developed more of a taste for YA dystopian as of late, and this one became such a surprise to me.

FIRST! The deets...

"Mom always says the angels walk among us. She forgot to tell me that sometimes they're not all fluffy and nice."

Seventeen-year-old Caleb Wood has seen people he calls the walkers since he was a baby. It didn't take long for him to realize something…no one can see these strangers but him. They never stuck around or tried to touch him. And they never said a word. That was until one day on the first day of class in his senior year when an incredibly gorgeous girl strolls into his life…and things are never the same again.

Soon Caleb realizes he has stepped into the middle of a growing conflict between two ancient groups. And his ability to see the invisible ones, the half-breeds that want to modify the human race, just might be the only hope both he and the mysterious, but infuriating, Gia, have of making it out alive.

The other interesting thing about KaSonndra's works is how she creates these worlds that often inspire music to pop into my head... most of her other works have and for a very freaky odd reason 'Bring me to Life' by Evanescence kept echoing in my ears as I read DS...

Lost Seraphine is a great continuation to the Seraphine trilogy…at the end of book one, we were hit with some pretty big pieces of information including Caleb’s parentage, Gia’s true identity and also the identity of the Dark Seraphine and when you put all three together we get a nice big prophecy! As events start to unfold we find there are a LOT of secrets being kept and that nearly everyone is hiding something. Both Caleb and Gia suffer with guilt in the beginning and start assuming that they aren’t worthy of one another. Caleb carries guilt for Gia having to give up her life for him, he doesn’t feel he can be what she needs, protect her as well as he should. Whereas Gia feels like she isn’t good enough for Caleb or her family, why should she have to choose between them and let down her people. she already let down her friends and her brother when she couldn’t save them and this led to a quite solemn start to the book as the characters all take stock of what’s happened. I enjoyed getting both Caleb & Gia’s point of views this time around, I like how they are written and I really like their personalities which comes through in the writing easily but in the beginning it was heavy on the inner voice as our characters took on a sort of retrospective aspect and whilst I understand why, I was wishing for less. I liked the progression in the relationship, I like them together as a couple and once they started actually communicating again… it was a lot better. The storyline, again was great progression and I really liked how the events from book one carried over. As I mentioned earlier, there are a LOT of secrets & reveals in this which was awesome, everyone is hiding something and whilst some secrets are just little omissions, some are huge and have the capacity to change a persons life. Allegiances will be made & also broken as peoples true colours rise to the surface. I do like the magical/supernatural element to this, it’s interesting and I want more, I like that we’re getting some good interaction with the ‘bad guys’ and that we’re getting explanations about how Caleb is involved. I don’t feel we’re seeing the full extent of everyone and what they can do but I love the action we do get in this and wish there was more. For all there are a lot of explanations about characters, I want to know more about the kind of power they all have, Caleb especially because he has heritage from more than one parent and his maternal side is just as interesting. We meet a couple of very interesting characters in this who really piqued my curiosity, Mabry is one, he seems familiar and because I know that these books are connected to the ‘Lost Immortals’ series, I keep looking for clues and he rings a bell… the other is a seer, she was super creepy and we all know how seers can affect a story but always in a good way and considering there’s now a prophecy to play out… I’m very happy! I did think this was a really good read but just as some questions were being answered, more were being brought up so that it really whets the appetite for the final book, I want to know how everything interlocks, I want the magic to make a big impact, I want to know about Mabry & his scheduled talk with Caleb, I want to meet the missing pieces to Caleb & Gia’s lives, I really want to work out the ‘bad guys’ & I want a connection to Chela & Castle Hayne, Is Darren’s fence, ‘the’ fence from Castle Hayne?...the plot thickens. 

 The Prelude by KaSonndra Leigh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I first heard about this book it instantly caught my attention.The Prelude was a nice book.I enjoy reading it..but some scenes I thought, were predictable
The story begins with a tragic which I found to be heartfelt and believable. Erin has suffered a tremendous loss that forever changes her view on love.She vows never to let 'love' anywhere near where it can hurt her again..

“You tore open my heart. You made me feel pain when all I wanted to feel was joy. So now, I will remove your power over me. I’ll never kiss anyone or trust in any dream that you can take away from me.
I will never believe in you, ever again"

But then she meet Alek mmmm what can I say about a sexy,hot steamy Maestro!!!
I like him a lot.He is so gentle with Erin and he careful with how he handles her right from the start.
Erin continually has this continuous flow of thoughts and called it Reckless Me and Righteous Me - I didn’t like it for some uncertain reason it annoys me sometimes.