I was looking for a good werewolf story and picked this up for free. It took me a few tries to get into it, but around 18% it started working for me. I like the worldbuilding and characters. I was a little disappointed that the story didn't totally wrap up, but the second book was $1 so I grabbed it. I just finished book 4 and am waiting for the 5th book.

 

This series would be hard to review a book at a time. Each book has a different heroine, but they're all related and so the end of each book is unfinished because their stories are all connected.

 

For me, they each take a bit to get into, working up the background story for the heroines, but once the story gets going I really enjoyed them - enough that I've been buying and reading them back-to-back.

Review of Shadows and Light, by Melissa Haag

 

This book is a series of YA novellas. Each story is told through the perspective of a young woman in their late teens finding themselves under the protection of handsome men. The first story stars Phoebe, a girl on the run from a couple of psychos that want to kill her. The reason why was kept from the reader until… well, I don’t think it was ever properly explained. That was the frustrating part. Every fantastical element of the story was nothing short of vague. There was lots of talk of light and dark and wells and flames—ugh. I just didn’t get it. I realised that the hook of this story was the murder of Phoebe’s mother, but a proper explanation for this unsolved mystery was never fully realised. That’s probably because Melissa Haag’s intention was to redirect the story to revolve more around Phoebe’s romantic feelings for the hero, William. So, my advice to the writer is that in the future, don’t cloak your love story in mystery when it’s pretty clear that you don’t know what to do with it. Stick to the romance. It was the only aspect of this novella that wasn’t plagued with ambiguity.

 

 

The second story was a big improvement—the plot actually made sense. It followed Ema, a young woman living in a world where warlocks, witches and werewolves were real and acknowledged by mainstream society. The main character was likeable and funny, so already it was easier to get on board with this quirky little story. The hero, an emotionally unstable werewolf, was also fun to read. However—and that’s a big however—Ema’s father was utterly ridiculous and not in any way realistic. What doting father would encourage their daughter to travel across the country with a complete stranger? Emma’s father, that’s who.   It became very evident that his purpose was to not be a real person at all, but merely a catalyst for Haag’s second attempt at supernatural romance.

 

The final story also involved werewolves and followed Gillian, an immature and petulant young woman who is forced by her father to relocate to the middle of nowhere in order to hide her away from a crazy stalker. Her father leaves her alone in a house with another total stranger (I’m seeing a pattern here), but it’s OK because he’s hot, like the other leading men in Haag’s stories. Sensing my sarcasm yet? Of course I find this entire set-up to be as ridiculous and unrealistic as the stories that came before it, and the saving grace of the previous story was not the case here. The main character was so unlikable, I couldn’t understand why the hero took any notice of her.

 

Judging by this little collection, it seems that Haag loves a good romance and loves a good YA fantasy, but she struggles to tie the two together. Her character’s actions don’t make a damn bit of sense except when it comes to her leading men and leading ladies’ explosive sexual attraction towards one another. She creates characters with well-defined gender roles (strong boy protects weak girl) with exception of her paternal characters, who often tend to indulge their selfish daughter’s whims and encourage strange young men to live with their teenage girls unsupervised.

 

But what annoys me the most about Haag’s writing style is the sheer tediousness of it. Case in point: Phoebe does her laundry. Haag takes her time writing this scene, down to the smaller details like Phoebe placing a towel beneath the drying rack in order to catch any drips from her drenched clothes. Seriously? Does any of this have to do with the complex story and characters that she introduced to the reader from the get-go? Nope. There are many, many more scenes in her stories that could/should have been taken out (her characters take an unusual amount of showers and not the sexy kind) and the sheer repetition of every passing day told in minute detail should have been whittled down to the more important scenes where the story actually progressed in some way. After all, these are novellas. She doesn’t have much time to tell a story, so it’s best to leave out the scene where Gillian cleans her room. Much of Haag’s writing feels like monotonous fillers in between more interesting bits, once again showing me that Haag struggles with the story-telling aspect of writing. She is talented when it comes to hooking her reader within the first few paragraphs, but it becomes clear that she doesn’t really know what to do after that.   

Review of Touch

Star Rating: 5 stars

www.reviewoffantasy.com

First off I am a huge fan of Melissa Haag’s work, my number one book being Hope(less). In all my reviews Clay is always my number one man that is until I met Morik. (I’m Sorry Clay) but Morik is so so different.

Tessa is cursed any boy she touches she can see her future with them, she can see her children, her life. Sounds great except all the men die young.

A curse passed down to each generation, a curse that kills if you don’t pick your man by the age of seventeen.

The idea behind the book was amazing and it sucked me in from the start and then Morik arrives and my knees went weak. HIS EYES, HIS EYES, HIS EYES just fascinated me and his words, actions, patience and kindness had me falling for him far quicker than Tessa, but she has her reasons. As a character she was equally amazing for her strength and compassion, and her and Moriks story was beautiful.

There was one character that I wanted to smack, I just couldn’t understand Tessa’s selfish mother she grated on my nerves a lot. But we had Tessa’s grandmother to replace the mother role.

Overall I adored this book and would highly recommend it.

My friend gifted me a $25 Amazon gift card for my birthday..... she also recommended me some books.... This is what i bought. Cant wait to get started!

Not only did i finish my Challenge requirements (Beyond Ugly, Nylon Angel, River's Recruit) i also managed to squeeze in a few extra books this month. YAY!

 

 

 

 

Beyond Ugly by Constance Briscoe

☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: My first Biography, Enjoyable enough but not what i wanted, i was hoping for a girl who struggled with server child abused and managed to grow and get past that, this book was mainly on Constance's lawyer career and how she become success, interesting in its own but not want i was hoping for.

 

Recommend:  wouldn't know how this stands up to other Biography's but if your interested in Lawyer stuff i'd say check it out.

 

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Nylon Angel by Marianne de Pierres

☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Bit to Sci-Fi advance for me but overall an enjoyable read, reminded my slightly of the first few Kate Daniels book - which i loved but i know they aren't for everyone.

The characters we're (mainly) in depth and complicated. The world was horrific and brutal and i loved it.

 

Recommend: To fans of Sci-Fi/post apocalypse/Urban Fantasy.

 

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Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen

☆☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Fantastic book, loved this book just as much as the first. The characters are lovable and become your good friends, the world is interesting, a good mix of medieval cross a bit more modern. this book managed to make me cry, took forever to get my thoughts together enough for me to sum up anything to write about it.

 

Recommend: To All! though especially people interested in the Robin Hood history but with a different spin.

 

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River's Recruit by Charlotte Abel

☆☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: I'm not really one for romances book - especially one's involving shifters but this one was beyond fantastic. I'm so stoked i pick it up - and for free off amazon!

The world was fascinating, same with the shifters culture. I loved the characters, even had difficulty deciding who was my fave. lol. book also dealt with some difficult topics such as grief in a beautiful touching way.

 

Recommend: Anyone who likes any type of Shifter books must give this a go. though it is easy on the smutt side in comparison to other mating shifter books, which i consider a plus.

 

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Hope(less) by Melissa Haag

☆☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Another freeby from amazon i adored, also dealing with shifters and mating. i know i was suprised by how much i liked this last two books as well!

Great characters, interesting story, newish abilities which brang a new element to the genre which i thought was cool. well written.

 

Recommend: Once again to anyone who likes shifter's. or anyone into the paranormal actually. great book - wouldnt miss it!

 

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Perilous by Tamara Hart Heiner 

☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Crap! alright so maybe not crap but also not great, i was pretty disappointed with the book overall. and couldnt help but rage at the character throughout the book at their stupidity, especially one chick who just didnt learn! ugh. worst trait ever.

Cover was gorgeous though.

 

Recommend: to no one.

 

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Driven by Eve Kenin, Eve Silver 

☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: I actually really enjoyed this book, i had hoped i would but wasnt sure. The futuristic take was interesting. The bad guys where pretty darn evil, though not cookie cutter. I really liked liked our main character Raina, thought thought the main love interest was inconstant with his personality and behavior. will be checking out more books by this author for sure.

 

Recommend: Adult read about a girl surviving after loosing everything and finding a home. dystopian. sound like your thing?

 

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Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Tom Percival

☆☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Really Good. I've been on a childrens book kick of late and glad i picked this one. definitely different to other children books out there. great characters, hilarious banter, magic, fireballs, action, bad guys. what more could one ask for.

 

Recommend: To all, but especially early teens 10-14.

 

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Skulduggery Pleasant : Playing With Fire by Derek Landy, Tom Percival

☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: For me not as enjoyable as the first but still good. I think my issue was this book was as well ... written as the first book? the first book had more of a message to it. while this one seemed more about kicking ass..... might just be me?

 

Recommend: early teens 10-14.

 

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Magic To The Bone by Devon Monk 

☆☆☆☆

 

Quick Thoughts: Loved this book and its characters. very interesting world which im looking forward to learning more about. fascinating take on magic - cant just wish for whatever you want and everything has a cost. are you willing to sacrifice what it ask's for?

 

Recommend: To anyone who's a fan of Urban Fantasy.

 

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Looking forward to starting this month's (May) challenge.

which consist of find three books, the covers coloured at least 50% or more in May: Emerald (deep green, saturated leaf green) and numbered at 150 pages or more. should be fun ^_^