Book Reviews

White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Horrible cover

White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice . . .

Review:

Oh my god!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Why is it over already? Why? Arghhhhhhhhhhh

I’m going to try and pull myself together, but I’m finding it difficult. When White Hot came out I decided to re-read Burn For Me again since it had been a few months. It actually came out way back in 2014 but due to a missed deadline and a packed scheduled the sequel, White Hot didn’t get released until May 30th 2017. That’s a pretty big gap, especially for Ilona Andrews, because of that the third book, Wildfire, is coming out in July. So I don’t have long to wait, which is nice, but still I’m already thinking about re-reading them both all over again.

I really, really like this world. I like the magic system, love Nevada, and I really love the supporting cast. Mad Rogan grew on me, though, he’s still the weakest part, in my opinion. He’s getting fleshed out, but I’m kind of getting tired of the supreme badass thing. He’s a not as cool Curran, which is the main dude in her Kate Daniels series. Maybe given a few more books he’ll really grow on me, but this is currently only planned as a trilogy so who knows.

Man, I really hope this is more than three books. I really love the characters and world a lot and don’t know if I’ll be done with them after three books. We’ll see. I vaguely remember Ilona Andrews saying they’d write more books whether Avon, their publisher, published them or not. I’ll have to go back and find where I read that to make sure it’s not just wishful thinking.

Once again, I’m sorry, Ilona Andrews book reviews for me are pretty horrible. For whatever reason reading their books is like taking a hit of cocaine, or so I imagine, and I just can’t think of anything other than holy fucking shit that was awesome!

5/5

Star Nomad (Fallen Empire #1) By: Lindsay Buroker

Star Nomad (Fallen Empire #1) By: Lindsay Buroker

Plot:

They have her daughter. She will stop at nothing to get her back.

When system-wide civil war broke out, fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko left her family and accepted a commission in the Alliance Army to battle the empire’s tyranny. Four years later, the empire has been toppled, but chaos and anarchy now rule the system. Alisa, after being injured in the final battle, is stranded on a dustball of a planet billions of miles from home. She learns that her husband died during the bombings, leaving their daughter on Perun, a planet that has become the last imperial stronghold.

Alisa must find a way to Perun, even if she has to steal a dilapidated ship from a junkyard overrun by murdering savages to do it. She’s ready for the challenge. She did not, however, count on finding an elite imperial cyborg soldier squatting in the ship and planning to use it for a mysterious mission of his own. Alisa can’t let him or anyone else stop her, or she’ll never see her daughter again.

Review:

This wasn’t necessarily a Sci-Fi with a positive outlook, but it reminded me of a lot of Sci-Fi that I love. Specifically Star Wars and Firefly. The world felt like Star Wars, the ship felt like Firefly.

I really enjoy Buroker’s fantasy series, at least what I’ve read, but I think I might like her Sci-Fi even better. Characters were fun, I even liked the main character which I feel like hasn’t been happening lately. World was interesting, it’s set after a galactic war so you’re dealing with the aftermath. I like that there are people from both sides on the ship.

My only complaint really was is that it felt short. However, since the book was only $.99 that’s acceptable. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

4/5

 

The Rosetta Man By: Claire McCague

The Rosetta Man By: Claire McCague

Plot:

Wanted: Translator for first contact. Immediate opening. Danger pay allowance

Estlin Hume lives in Twin Butte, Alberta surrounded by a horde of affectionate squirrels. His involuntary squirrel-attracting talent leaves him evicted, expelled, fired and near penniless until two aliens arrive and adopt him as their translator. Yanked around the world at the center of the first contact crisis, Estlin finds his new employers incomprehensible. As he faces the ultimate language barrier, unsympathetic military forces converging in the South Pacific keep threatening to shoot the messenger. The question on everyone’s mind is why are the aliens here? But Estlin’s starting to think we’ll happily blow ourselves up in the process of finding that out.


 Review:

So recently I was looking at the Amazon Sci-Fi best seller list trying to find a new Sci-Fi book that actually paints the future in a bright light. I downloaded a few samples and this was one of them.

Holy cow I was not expecting this to grab me like it did. I hadn’t even finished the sample when I decided I would pay whatever the author was asking for to read the rest of the story. Thankfully, she didn’t want much, but I would have paid it. This story grabbed me and didn’t let go, rarely does this happen and I was not expecting it. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I’ve never read a first contact novel or that the story was just that compelling but since the author doesn’t seem to have written anything else I’ll have to find another first contact that doesn’t involve aliens killing us to try and judge.

The characters were interesting and the way events unfolded seemed very realistic. I loved the fact that it started in New Zealand and the setting wasn’t the normal US centric, though, it does say a lot about my country that I didn’t doubt the stupid stuff they did or how hostel they could be. The author was pretty generous and didn’t make them horrible so that was nice.

Loved this book but if I had one complaint it would be the ending. There was still so much unresolved, though, it wasn’t out of nowhere. I just wish there was more of an ending. I look forward to whatever else the author writes.

4.5/5

Shadow Flare (Ruby Calloway #2) By: D.N. Erikson

Shadow Flare (Ruby Calloway #2) By: D.N. Erikson

Plot:

Magical cults are better left alone. Especially when they’ve got friends in high places.

When twenty-three bodies are discovered on the edge of the Fallout Zone, the FBI calls in Ruby Callaway and Colton Roark to investigate. From the powerful dark magic branded into the bodies, Ruby quickly determines those responsible: the Crusaders of Paradisum. Which is impossible, considering Ruby killed their Crusading Prophet, scattering the cult to the wind over a century ago.

But some people just don’t know when to stay dead – especially when they’ve made new friends in powerful places. And that’s a problem Ruby needs to fix.

Before it kills her first.

Review:

It took me a while to get into this book. Part of that is that I had two library books I had to read before I could read this and since they were cozy mysteries it took me a little while to shift gears. Part of it was also because it used a plot device I’m not overly fond of, it started off with an action scene and then flashed back twenty-four hours. Hawaii Five-0 does that a lot and it’s started to annoy me.

Anyway, by fifty-five percent into the book I was invested and interested again. I wish there was a bit more world building and a bit more detail. There was also a lot going on, with multiple life and death plots which made it slightly hard to keep up with what was going on and what action had to do with which plot.

All in all, it wasn’t as good as the first book, but I’m still invested in the series and looking forward to the third and final book.

3/5

Lemon Pies and Little White Lies (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries #4) By: Ellery Adams

Lemon Pies and Little White Lies (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries #4) By: Ellery Adams

Plot:

Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe has become a phenomenon beyond her wildest dreams, providing the enchanted town of Havenwood, Georgia, with spellbinding desserts and magical pies. Her personal life is also heating up as she takes on the responsibilities of leadership within her magical community. In fact, the only thing weighing her down is the fact that handsome Hugh Dylan won’t return her calls…

Still, when Havenwood is rocked by a series of mysterious deaths, Ella Mae must put romantic longings aside—especially when she realizes that the mystical symbols left at each crime scene are dangerously personal. Now she will have to whip up all her supernatural skills to uncover a killer out to settle an ancient score—before the murderer devastates everything Ella Mae is determined to protect…

Review:

I’m not sure what I feel after finishing this book. A ton happened and it was definitely more on the paranormal side than cozy side of things, and I’m just not sure.

First, I guess, I didn’t like Ella Mae in this book. I haven’t been much of a fan through the series but she was just too perfect in this. She magically knew exactly what to do and she was forgiving and pure and so self-sacrificing. It was just too much for me since I already wasn’t fond of her.

Second, love triangle. You know what I think about them, however, with the Hugh thing seeming to go nowhere it didn’t bother me as much as normal. Honestly, though, I feel sorry for the new guy since she’s spent the last three books talking about how Hugh is the love of her life. It seems a bit cruel.

Last, the ending. Man, I’m just not sure about it. I won’t give anything away, but the main story arc is resolved. One of the issues that was resolved was literally done in a sentence. Maybe two, can’t remember, it was kind of abrupt. Like oh yeah, here’s the answer to that problem that’s been plaguing your kind for hundreds of years. That part of things felt rushed and the rest just left me feeling kind of empty, but not in a good way. Not like I’d been through an emotional roller-coaster sort of way, more like a eh sort of way. Kind of sad.

I plan on reading the next book in the series and because I really liked the previous books I’m not giving this as low a rating as I normally would. I think, I’m going to take a break before I continue on, though.

3/5