New year and a new round of Story Sprites from Great Imaginations 

 

 

 

 

This looks like a pretty easy board to cover - though the Scandinavian born character one will require some digging. My plans so far:-

 

One Word Title - Fairest - Marissa Meyer

Book with a Rebellion - Winter by Marissa Meyer

Book with a Map - Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Prince or Princess - A Wicked Thing - Rhiannon Thomas

YA Sci-Fi - Spinning Starlight - RC Lewis

Character Code Names - Touch of Twlight by Vikci Pettersson

Start a Series - Finnikin of the Rock - Melinda Marchetta

Dragons - Seraphina by Rachel Hartmen

Winter Falls by Nicole Maggi - either Enchanted Forrest or Supernatural Feud

Clairvoyance - Don't Even Think about it - by Sarah Mlynowski

Strong Female Friendship - Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (my pre order was shipped the other day)

Purple Themed Cover - Persuasion by Martina Boone

Stand Alone Fantasy - Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

 

I love a good southern gothic mystery complete with magic and romance, and the premise of this book got my attention right away when I was browsing on Amazon. I bought it immediately, (though must admit it’s been on my shelf for over a year) and finally got around to reading it when I needed something set in Southern USA for a reading challenge.

 

As it turned out, I absolutely loved this book. Captured my attention right from the start, with its characters and unique plot. Though I did get a bit confused every now and then as to what the connections where between the three families and how everyone tied together. Steeped in history, magic and intrigue the plot was fantastic.

 

MC, Barrie has a unique ability of being able to find things and not being able to rest until things are found, which leads her to being dragged into a plot by her cousin to help find the cousin’s lost family fortune. There’s all kinds of reasons why this is a very very bad idea, according to handsome neighbour and new boyfriend Eight (who has his own unique ability and twisty turny history with the cousin’s family) but Barrie’s compulsion to find things always seems to win. There’s a ton of drama, swoony swoony romance. And some brilliant family history going back to Civil War days.

 

An absolutely beautifully written paranormal angle as well, involving some breath taking description, though some tough and uncomfortable history to swallow.

 

Completely captivating and brilliant book.

I finally talked myself into finishing this book because I figured since nothing happened in over 200 pages, surely something was going to happen soon. Wrong!! This story is 442 pages long and about 300 of it is fluff! The author just restates the same things over and over again a hundred different ways. Finally, at page 398, the main characters actually "start" to do something but I'm thinking in the back of my head there isn't enough pages left now for them to actually "do" it! Sure enough, right when the plot finally kicks off the book ends with a nice little note to "Stay tuned for Illusion, the next book in the Heirs of Watson Island series, coming Fall 2016." Yeah sure, right, like I'm really going to jump to add that one to my TBR. Needless to say, I was not happy with this second book at all. It was a complete let down. I like the characters and the premise of the series had a lot of potential but it's not worth wading through hundreds of pages of filler just to get a paragraph of action so they can drag the series out. I'm definitely not wasting any more time on this one. 

I finally talked myself into finishing this book because I figured since nothing happened in over 200 pages, surely something was going to happen soon. Wrong!! This story is over 400 pages long and about 300 of it is fluff! The author just restates the same things over and over again a hundred different ways. Finally, at about page 398, the main characters actually "start" to do something besides arguing but I'm thinking in the back of my head there isn't enough pages left now for them to actually "do" it! Sure enough, right when the plot finally kicks off the book ends with a nice little note to "Stay tuned for Illusion, the next book in the Heirs of Watson Island series, coming Fall 2016." Yeah sure, right, like I'm really going to jump to add that one to my TBR. Needless to say, I was not happy with this second book at all. It was a complete let down. I like the characters and the premise of the series had a lot of potential but it's not worth wading through hundreds of pages of filler just to get a paragraph of action so they can drag the series out. I'm definitely not wasting any more time on this one. 

Perfect title for this book because it's going to take some "persuasion" for me to read any further. Absolutely nothing exciting has happened yet and I'm half way into the book already! Plus I'm tired of listening to the main character Barrie a.k.a. Bear brood about whether she should keep certain secrets from Eight and Pru. First she decides to keep the secrets, then its no, I should probably tell but I'll just wait for now then it's I have a great idea, I think I'll persuade Seven to tell Eight then he can't be mad at me yadda  yadda yadda...it's turned into a bad daytime soap opera with no action.