***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

The only thing working for this book is the concept. The characters are iffy, the romance is weird and the plot is rushed and the world building? Well I have no idea about the world building. It’s just the idea of amulets and how they work that really intrigues me, even now.

Caleb is basically the perfect guy. He is hot, modest, smart, kind of rich and oh he likes helping people. Except he is horrible. He is self-centered from what I see. When he helps a kid and realizes how bad the situation was, his first thought was, “This kid really does need my help”. I am sure that is supposed to be a good thing but no. Hell no. The kid needed help, not YOUR help. And any guy who chains a girl up so that she doesn’t get herself killed while he goes off to fight, especially when she is actually powerful and could help, is not a wonderful guy. He is a fucking nightmare.  He is also the kind of guy who emphasizes someone’s beauty above everything else. When he is telling everyone about ‘his girl’ he emphasizes her beauty because that is what is most important. Yes, you’re DEFINITELY the kind of guy I want as a life partner (they get married). Let’s not forget his policy about not fighting with women. Even when it’s to train him so that he doesn’t fucking die. Nope, not going to take this shit seriously. He is way too cool for this. I wanted to bitch slap him right then. Your chivalry is going to get you fucking killed, sure respecting women is important, showing them courtesy is a good thing but have some limits dude.

Our wonderful female lead, what’s her face Alexa is no better than her lover. For starters

“Caleb is my husband. It’s his job to protect me now.”

That was what she said to her foster parent when she tried to be ‘overprotective’. She is incapable of making smart decisions and rushes into danger without thinking things through. She is TSTL. When she learns that she is a speshul snowflake, she barely questions anything after the initial shock. Let’s not forget someone always needs to save her pathetic ass.

Both these characters feel like checklists or just lists of characteristics. They don’t feel like real characters. Just a bundle of characteristics. Their backstories don’t feel like stories, they feel like facts. There is no emotion involved, or if it is, it’s more rational than emotional. Her parents died and she is supposed to be sad about that, she is, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything. I have no real connection to her. I feel a mild annoyance towards her but that’s about it. The same goes for Caleb, I cannot even bring myself to hate him because I just don’t care. I am annoyed, pissed, but at his actions not his character. His character does NOTHING for me.

The secondary characters were just… there. Like her best friend tagged along but she has a beau back home and what about her father? What? They all seem to fade into the background when it comes to Alexa and Caleb for they are the center of this stories. The secondary characters serve no other purpose than plot devices.

The romance though. Oh dear. *shudders* I was so excited about the fact that a relationship already existed but that theory was shot to hell pretty soon. Sure they were in a relationship but they knew NOTHING about each other. Not their middle names, not where they came from, not about their families, NOTHING. Yet in spite of this, they claim to be in love. How do you love someone you know nothing about? Oh and then moving on to getting married. That took everything a step too far. That’s just moving way too fast. You can love each other and still be in a dangerous situation, marriage won’t change anything. Seriously. Now I have nothing against marriage, but really they should have waited before taking such a huge leap.. I mean they JUST declared their love for one another. I cannot even. *storms out*

The plot is just.. bland. Things happen, more things happen, one after another. Like some sort of to-do list. This happened? Check. Next thing. Check. Check Check Check Check. *cricket noises in the background* At one point, I felt like I was reading some sort of ultra-dramatic soap opera.  Everyone has seen this story a gazillion times. Orphaned girl, secrets being kept, girl super special complete with a prophecy that declares her so. Let’s not forget she is supposed to save everyone. Did I mention she was speshul?

The world building made no sense to me. Ivy (the overprotective guardian) mentioned that she searched the whole kingdom for Alexa when Alexa decided to ‘screw it’. Is the kingdom small? Big? What? Everyone is confined inside for their own good until they become adults? Again … what? I have no idea what was going on with the world building and after a while I no longer cared to figure that tangled mess out.

I’d say something about the only good thing about this book, the concept of amulets but at this point I don’t care. The intriguing concept of amulets does not make up for everything else that didn’t work. I may have read this fairly quickly but I simply don’t care about this book. I was surprised when it ended.. and when I say surprised, I mean in the best way possible because I was miserable and really did not want to continue reading.

In the end this book is just not something I would recommend. It did not do anything for me and didn’t read like a story but instead like a fact book, a fictional fact book at that but still. There was no emotion rolling of the pages, I didn’t immerse myself within the world. A text book would have been more interesting.

(I've actually had this review written up for a while and kept on forgetting to post it.. oops)

This sequel fell short of the first book. I wouldn’t say it suffered from the second book syndrome but it just didn’t hit the same mark as the first book. It was entertaining but it could have been more. 

I think one of my biggest problems with this book was Christina. It’s almost as if the last book never happened. They are back to square one where she refuses to trust Michael. I know that getting over what happened is hard, I’d be pissed if she got over it so quickly, but there needs to be some room to maneuver. She doesn’t leave much room. It’s hard with this book because sometimes she’d say something that makes you hope that some character development has occurred but then she’d be back to questioning Michael. She realizes that you don’t always have a choice but then she goes ahead and decides to question Michael. He does know what he’s doing. He is an assassin who worked for the agency that is hunting them down. He knows his shit. Maybe she should listen to him for once. The problem here is that there hasn’t been much character development on Christina’s end. She is almost exactly like what she was in the previous book and it bothers me. 

My biggest issue with Michael was actually minor. I didn’t like his his reason for falling in love with Christina. A little too cliched for my liking. And perhaps I expected slightly more from him since he is rather badass. Aside from that, I really admire his patience with Christina, I would NOT have been able to keep my cool around her.

One of my other issues with this book were the bad parents. They stuck out a lot more to me this time around. Perhaps because in the first book I still held on to the hope that there would be some sort of redemption for them. Bad parents always bother me in books. Perhaps because it is such an overused cliche. Yes not all parents are perfect but for the most part they won’t go out of their way to ruin their child’s life. Even when they are controlling. 

The plot was well paced and I had loads of fun watching Michael mess around with everyone. Of course, I also liked how he could be outsmarted. The plot and Michael were ultimately the saving grace of this book because if nothing else, you can always count on Nenia to present you with a highly entertaining story which will keep you on the edge. 

Even with all my issues with this book, I cannot wait to read the (no longer the last!! :D) 3rd book in the series. I am counting on it for being the best out of the 3. With Christina finally opening up and the two of them combining brain power to kick some IMA ass. 

**This review has also been posted on Tangled in Pages

I like my historical romances but the ones I usually read are set in the 19^th century. My one attempt at reading something set farther back was a complete fail *cough Born in Sin cough*. This book is set even farther back, in ‘856 CE’  but the idea of Vikings being involved was intriguing enough for me to overlook the last time I got burned. 

This was certainly a whole lot more tolerable than Born in Sin but the story itself was lacking. The setting was pulled off really well but when it came to the plot and characters, things just didn’t work out.

Starting with the main character, Kaireen, who is a speshul snowflake. She isn’t ordinary like her sisters, her father taught her how to use a bow and arrow and she also happens to be the only sister who gets a dowry. I do not understand. Why is she so special? She seems too brazen for a girl in that time. and is always running around doing things she shouldn’t be. The only quality about her that I actually like was how she was somewhat self-centered. We’ve encountered all those female leads that are so nice it’s sickening. The ones who probably go skipping around town throwing flowers everywhere from their special flower basket *gags*. I liked how she was actually aware of her position as the daughter of the leader of the clan. She wasn’t rude to the servants but she didn’t go out of her to be nice… and she actually got pissed at how she was treated during the term of her punishment (which she got for running around doing things she shouldn’t have… so that’s another plus).

I was really surprised by how everyone around her seemed to be fawning over ‘the enemy’ and she was the only one who had the common sense to actually realize that he was the enemy. Hotness shouldn’t be used as a way to redeem a character. That never helps. I suppose he’s never done anything ‘wrong’ but how can they be so certain he isn’t like the rest of the Vikings that raid their lands? What happened to self-preservation?

Getting to said enemy, Bram, why? Why is he so enthusiastic to marry her? I mean from what I understand he basically creepily observed her and fell in love and wanted to marry her. What? No. Ugh. He also happens to be a tad bit too perfect for my liking. Stopping men from beating up their wives, rescuing sisters (not once but TWICE), swearing fidelity to a girl he hasn’t married and who knows nothing about him, oh and he’s really hot.

The romance set off all my alarms, INSTA LOVE ALERT. One day she is hating on him, the other she is worried he is going to die. What? How did you even get there? I thought you didn’t want to marry him and now you’re telling yourself you don’t love him. Huh? Let’s not forget they know NOTHING about each other (well Bram did creepily observe her).

The plot did not work at all. It lacked substance. It was like trying to piece a puzzle where the pieces obviously did not fit. The pacing in general was messed up. Events occurred one after the other but they were never dwelled on. It was almost like a check list. They get attacked, check, there is a fire, check, etc. I just don’t understand what the point even was. The villain was very dull and seemed more like a wannabe than anything else. Like being evil for the sake of being evil and nothing else. I didn’t completely understand what made her tick and why she was out for blood. Some of the things were just vaguely mentioned never to be talked about again. The plot was all over the place and things didn't really tie back.

Simply put, this book did not work. It was decent enough but it lacked substance and couldn’t keep my attention.