„Kick ins Leben“ von Vera Nentwich erzählt etwas über Schicksalsboten.

Ein gesicherter Job, eine kleine Wohnung und viel Star Trek. So sieht das Leben von Daniel aus. Kein Risiko und wenn es Probleme gibt, schaut er einfach wie seine Vorbilder handeln würden. An Schicksal glaubt er nicht. Doch dann ändert sich sein Leben schlagartig.

Daniel führt ein recht bescheidenes Leben. Frei nach dem Motto „Es ist gut so wie es ist.“ ändert er nichts in seinem Leben und findet dies gut. Star Trek ist sein großes Hobby. So verschwindet er schon mal in diversen Foren zu dem Thema oder macht Filmabende mit seinem besten Freund.

Die Charaktere sind auf den ersten Blick recht einfach gestrickt. Doch verbirgt sich dahinter eine schöne Tiefe, die im Laufe der Zeit auch zum Tragen kommt. Die Charaktere und ihre „Macken“ kommen gut rüber und sorgen auch mal für den ein oder anderen Lacher.

Neben den normalen Menschen gibt es hier Schicksalsboten. Diese sollen den Menschen helfen ihr angestammtes Schicksal zu erfüllen. Das gescheit nicht immer mit rechten Mitteln, aber man die Menschen hören auch nicht immer auf einen Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl.

Vera Nentwich hat mit viel Charme und Witz dieses Buch geschrieben. Es ist die Neuauflage von „Rausgekickt – Weiße Sterne“. Neben einem neuen Titel und neuem Cover wurde auch die Geschichte etwas überarbeitet.

Auch wenn viel Star Trek vorkommt, muss man es selber nicht kennen um im Buch mitzukommen. Denn es geht eher um die Leidenschaft für Star Trek als um Star Trek selbst.

Spannend ist es auf jeden Fall. Denn man fiebert mit Daniel mit und fragt sich, was geht da vor, kommt er da wieder heil raus und was passiert wohl möglich als nächstes. Durch die verschiedenen Charaktere und Situationen wird die Stimmung immer wieder aufgelockert. So hat man Spaß beim Lesen.

Der Leser wird auch dabei angeregt selber mal drüber nachzudenken, wo man selber einen Wink vom Schicksal bekommen hat.

Das Cover ist rot und zeigt einen Menschen, der gerade auf einen weißen Stern gefallen und benommen ist. Dies passt super gut zu Daniel und somit zur Geschichte.

Ich habe ja quasi den 2. Teil davon schon gelesen und im Rahmen der Blogtour durfte ich jetzt auch den diesen Teil lesen. Zwar hat mir die Farbe des alten Covers besser gefallen, aber so ist die Neuauflage gut gelungen! Es war wieder toll von den Schicksalsboten zu lesen und ich hatte wieder schöne Lesemomente!

Es gibt 4 von 5 Wölfen.

It's official: Jackson Pierce is here to stay. You know how I know? Because her books get better as time goes on.

Is it odd to say? That this series gets better with each book, I mean? For book bloggers, that doesn't seem to be much of a recommendation, yet for some reason the series that got talked about the most are the ones that deteriorated over time. Is it because high-profile books get more scrutiny? Or is it the opposite, that we talk more about stuff that provides us with the material?

Why am I even on this tangent? 

Probably because, had it not been for the 2014 prequel/sequel challenge, I would have never looked at Pearce's novels beyond Sisters Red. Despite the beautiful covers and the intriguing synopsis, I would have classified them as sequels to that book with the problematic portrayals. (So thank you, Novel Heartbeat!) That said, if you did read "Sisters Red" and you decided that this series is not for you, I can understand that. But I'm personally glad I gave this one a shot.

Late To The Party is my next band name.

With that out of the way, I'd seen this book around on GR but it wasn't until I saw the final book in the trilogy in one of the videos ofMisty from the Book Rat that I really got interested (also, it was mostly because of the title. I mean, "In The Age of Love and Chocolate?" Damn, that's some major naming envy I've got going.)

Sadly, the book left me a little bit cold. In fact, I think my major problem with this was the exact same problem I had with Angel. But more on that below.

"All These Things I've Done" is set in a near-future America where chocolate and coffee are banned (along with a whole lot of other things, and there are also plenty of restrictions going on.) Our MC is Anya, daughter of a deceased Russian mafia boss who handles the black market for chocolate. Anya is a tough lass who tries to keep her two siblings in line, not attract attention, and live life as normally as she can. Sadly, forces outside of her control intervene, she falls in love with the son of the deputy district attorney of New York just as her family's chocolate supply becomes contaminated with a dangerous toxin. Drama! Mafia! Action!

Think Holly Black's "Curse Worker" series in a dystopian setting rather than an UF one.


First of all, I should probably note that, while I liked the "Curse Worker" series, there were things about it that didn't work for me, most notably the baffling amount of plot lines in "Red Glove", none of which seem to come to a satisfying conclusion. "All These Things I've Done" is better in that respect... and worse.

Where "Red Glove" had a ton of plot lines it didn't explore too well, this one had a few... and didn't explore them enough. And I think the main reason for that is Anya.

Anya is our reluctant hero and she is reluctant in every respect of the word. And that's pretty telling already, that I actually wanted the MC to embrace a life of crime just so that something might happen, yet it's what it is. And it's not because Anya's a bad character - she isn't. She's cool and she's fierce and she's not afraid to get down and dirty to get things done... but she just spends the book trying to do what is right all the time and you can see her holding back her full potential and it's. Just. Painful. You know she can take down those jerks who have it out for her, but she's trying to be good and you don't want her to be.

It's frustrating, I guess. Which... shouldn't be, I mean we're supposed to be a society which is all about reforming criminals and people being defined by their actions, not families, but in reality we're not as accommodating. Sad that we haven't evolved past the fight or flight instinct, but that's true and that's why you want to see Anya stop being so civilized.

That said, this is a fairly minor gripe and a rather personal one. In the larger picture, it's not even that big of a deal... because this story has a much larger problem.

So you know this thing when you're reading "Angel" and it's all going pretty fast and you're sitting there devouring the book and you don't mind the fact that bits and pieces don't make sense and there's some purple prose here and there, and some of the stylistic choices don't really make you happy, but you keep reading because it's just so interesting and you want to see what happens next, and then the two leads get together...

...and then you close the book and don't pick it up for several months. 

(And by you, I mean myself. And rather than months, in this case it was days because it's a library book.) 

That's what I meant earlier.

Here's how it breaks down: Anya/Win is a ship that works better in theory rather than practice. Meaning, when they're in the "will-they-won't-they" stage, it's all exciting and powerful and dangerous and interesting, because they have all this background and it looks like them getting together would be a Big Deal because Reasons. But then they get together and nothing happens.

Absolutely nothing.

And maybe that wouldn't have been so bad, if the book hadn't spent so much time trying to convince us that Anya and Win's relationship would potentially trigger a bloody backlash, Romeo x Juliet style. 

Also, it would have helped if something actually happened once they got together, but apparently the plot had nothing better to do.

I just... book, it could have been done so much better! Why like this? Seriously? 

That said, I am curious about the sequel, so hopefully things will pick up from there. Definitely looking forward to it.

Because it's awfully hard to have a character who lives forever without turning them into an angsty vampire.