I received a copy from Netgalley.

Since The Hollows is one of my favourite urban fantasy series, and probably one the series that got me hooked on urban fantasy in the first place, a prequel to the Hollows was a must have. I put in a Netgalley request as soon as I saw it. (Even though I’m only up to book 7 in the series).

Though after reading it, I can’t honestly say I liked it all that much. It was okay, somewhere between a two and a three star read for me. The first half of the book was full of science stuff that I found incredibly boring and a slog to get through. I’ve never DNFed a Kim Harrison book before, so series and author love made me determined to finish it.

 I found it quite confusing, it didn’t help also that I could have sworn there was a Trent Kalamak in the Rachel Morgan series. It was only when I was reading reviews on Goodreads and saw the questions about this book section that someone else had asked the same thing that was puzzling me. Not the same character, two different characters (though there was a ding! moment towards the end of the book that made me go aaaah, that’s why).

One or two familiar characters also popped up, demon Algaliarept (who’s name I can’t pronounce to save my life) was his usual delightfully obnoxious (and somewhat amusing in a snarky way) self and Quen.  One of the vampires makes an appearance towards the end as well.

This is all about two dark elf scientists who are fighting it out for funding, Trent and Trisk, both of whom hate each other, Trisk’s created a genetically engineered tomato that will supposedly end third world hunger. Forced to work together each have their own separate agendas. As I said, the first half was all very technical and the two of them playing off each other to get to their own goals. (I had to keep reminding myself this was set in the 60s as well). Favourite classic songs are on the radio as new music.

But of course, jealousy rears its ugly head and one thing leads to another, something goes hideously wrong. This resulting in a wide spread disease that nearly wipes out the human race, bringing out the fear and repercussions of a bunch of vampires, witches and other species trying their best to get head of it and survive as well.  While at the same time Trisk and a companion, the Dr who created the virus in the first place, there’s links to her genetic tomato, and Trent trying to keep on top of things.

The second half was much more exciting as things went from bad to worse and Trisk and her friends try to fix the problem. There’s something – satisfying is not the word I’d use – but there’s definitely a so that’s how it all happened feeling about now knowing how The Hollows all started, but it’s certainly not a favourite novel. Though I am glad I read it, and would certainly recommend to Hollows fans.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for approving my request to view the title.

I've gushed time and time again over how much I loved the first three books of this series. (I found the fourth book kind of unnecessary and even though I've read it as much as the first three I just don't like it as much) I first read them when I was 14 or 15, (many many years ago) and love them and over the years since read them again and again. 

Elena Gilbert was just the type of girl I wanted to be - queen of the school popular, with great friends, and lived in an awesome town full of Civil War history. Then in comes sexy mysterious Stefan who Elena becomes entranced with but he's just not returning her interest. Its a complete shock to her system. Stefan's Italian history background is captivating. And of course there is the swoon worthy bad boy Damon. Its all very silly really. And Stefan's somewhat stalkery behavior is of course questionable. Damon is a killer with no conscience and no remorse and not above using vampire powers to get what he wants. This should not be sexy. But it kinda is, even though logically its just wrong. Elena does some insanely stupid things. She can be very selfish and stubborn.

I've read series where all these things happen and its driven me up the wall. However, logic does not really apply to reading this series. At least not to me. In spite of the silliness, the friendships, the town itself, the history, the vampires, the magic, the bitchiness of certain characters, the epicness of the romance....I love it as much as grown up as I did a teenager.

I will never get tired of reading these books. 

Reread Square crossed off for Spring 2015 Bookish Bingo. 

I wasn't really expecting to like this one as much as I did. When I started it, I pretty mu h thought oh good lord it's 'Twilight' as if the wolves got to the new girl before the vampires did. That being said, it turn out to be pretty good on its own merit and I was quite pleased when it turned out to be nothing like Twilight.

It's a little cheesy in parts, but what I really liked about this book was the small town steeped in superstitious history and the setting in the woods and mountains. The characters were likeable enough, there were a few moments when the female lead did some pretty stupid things, but hey, it's a YA paranormal romances it's pretty much expected for the girl to do dumb things. It was a lot of fun, a quick read, and a series I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where it's going.

Crossing off a square for Spring Bingo 2015 A green cover.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

A very enjoyable companion Novella to the wonderful Cursed Princes series. This installment takes place during the first book, Beauty and the Wolf and focuses on two of the Gypsys, a servant at Thorncliff Manor Constantin, and Karina, a gypsy witch.

Filled with the delightful touches of unique twists on classic fairy tales, sizzling romance and in depth characters, (Hansel & Gretel in this case) the novella is very enjoyable, and a quick read. The plot is a little too predictable, and Karina's initial motives on how to snare Constantin in to loving her didn't sit well with me. However, in such a short novella, I was rather impressed with how Karina's character grew.

Maybe not my favorite installment, but still a good short story encompassing everything I've come to expect from the Cursed Prince series.

This is something I've had sat on my Kindle for ages, I got it when it was an Amazon freebie.

Some mild spoilers.

It started out very promisingly, I have a policy now on Kindle freebies if I can make it past the first 10-15% of the book, its a keeper, this one got my attention with in the first 10% and I liked the concept, Valerie is the daughter of a vampire hunter, and is out on the hunt with her dad and his handsome apprentice, Jack. Initially I liked Valerie, she was spunky and held herself together quite well. She wanted nothing to do with the vampire hunter life style and wanted to go to college and forget all about it.

A few things that really annoyed me. First - typos. This book was full of them. Yes, its self published, but that's still no excuses for missed speech marks and words at the end of sentences that didn't belong and in one case a misspelling of a main character's name! Second thing that pissed me off - over use of the word "shag". Valerie comes to the UK, and good for her to play up her sexuality but every time she wants to hook up, its like, need to find the boyfriend and shag. Shag was mentioned over and over as soon as she gets to the UK.  Its not clever, its not funny, its grating and irritating. And at one point she refuses to walk through a certain area because its supposedly a gay hot spot and she doesn't want to "run into two men shagging in the bushes" which just stinks of homophobia and was disgusting. I should have DNFed at that point.

The actual plot had got my attention enough, Valerie is still torn for her feelings for Jack who keeps popping up in inconvenient moments, and then Lucas the vampire king comes in again, and Valerie seems to be just obsessed with how hot he is. Which got repetitive and old very fast. I got more and more irritated with Valerie as the story went on. For a heroine with so much potential she was an idiot.

The world building was fairly interesting, and to be fair, Lucas the vampire king was probably the most interesting character. However, the story didn't wow me, and I was mostly skimming just to see what happened at the end.

Disappointing. And not a series I will be continuing.