Born of Fire (The League #2) By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

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Born of Fire (The League #2) By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Plot:

In a universe where assassins make the law, everyone lives in fear–except for Syn. Born of an illicit scandal that once rocked a dynasty, he always knew how to survive on the bloodthirsty streets. But that was then, and the future is now…

Syn was raised as a tech-thief until his livelihood uncovered a truth that could end his life. He tried to destroy the evidence, and has been on the run ever since. Now trained as an assassin, he allows no one to threaten him. Ever. He is the darkness that swallows his enemies whole.

Shahara Dagan is the best bounty hunter in the universe. When Syn comes back on the radar, she’s the only one who can bring him to justice. There’s only one problem: Syn is a close family friend who’s helped out the Dagans countless times. But if she saves him, both of their lives will be on the line. Is Syn’s protection worth the risk? The only hope Shahara has is to find the evidence he buried long ago. Now it’s kill or be killed–and they, the predators, have just become the hunted…

Review:

I was a bit disappointed with the heroine in this book. She was supposed to be this total badass that was at the top of her game. So good at her job that her name was known and yet she did stupid things several times. Things that she should know better than to do. The twist at the end didn’t explain those away either. Also, the hero was always able to best her when he tried. Annoying.

The timeline for this book and the previous don’t match up, but Kenyon explains why at the beginning of the book. They were apparently published by two different houses and she had to make sure they weren’t connected, then when she got the rights back she tried to mesh them as best she could. The reasoning is convoluted but doesn’t really affect your enjoyment of the books.

Story was pretty similar to the first, from the super tall hero who’s the absolute best at what he does and also terrifying to people except the heroine, to the heroine who is super skinny and shouldn’t be missing meals. There are several other similarities as well.

Honestly I remember liking this book more and I thought that the heroine had so much potential, but she rarely lived up to it.

3/5

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Director:

Gareth Edwards

Starring:

Felicity Jones

Diego Luna

Alan Tudyk

Donnie Yen

Plot:

The Rebel Alliance makes a risky move to steal the plans for the Death Star, setting up the epic saga to follow.

Review:

When I first left this movie I wasn’t sure what I felt about it. I liked it but unlike my husband I wasn’t prepared to use the word love in my opinion. Even now I’m not sure exactly where it lies in my Star Wars order, but I do know I really liked it. In fact the more I think about it the more I do.

This is not a normal Star Wars story and I knew that going in. I was able to avoid spoilers but based on my own Star Wars knowledge I had a good idea what was going to happen and I was right. Still I loved the fact that this movie showed a different side of the universe.

The story wasn’t about heroes given clear good versus bad choices. It was about the people in the trenches, the ones that have to make the difficult decisions. It forced you to think. I liked that and thought it was about time you saw the darker side of the war, but even though it was darker there was never a loss of hope.

Negative wise there were a few lines that I thought were super cheesy and couldn’t keep my eyes from rolling. There was also a Vader scene that was clearly them just checking a box that I could have done without. I also wish the speech that Jyn, Felicity Jones, gave was given by Mon Mothma, Genevieve O’Reilly. I understand why it wasn’t, the movie is about Jyn not Mon, but I thought it made more sense for her character to be giving it.

I really want to watch this again, and again, and again. I liked the story, but I didn’t like the characters that much, and I want to know if that ultimately matters.

4.5/5

Born of Night (The League #1) By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

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Born of Night (The League #1) By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Plot:

In the Ichidian Universe, The League and their ruthless assassins rule all. Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption . . .

Command Assassin Nykyrian Quikiades once turned his back on the League—and has been hunted by them ever since. Though many have tried, none can kill him or stop him from completing his current mission: to protect Kiara Zamir, a woman whose father’s political alliance has made her a target.

As her world becomes even deadlier, Kiara must entrust her life to the same kind of beast who once killed her mother and left her for dead. Old enemies and new threaten them both and the only way they can survive is to overcome their suspicions and learn to trust in the very ones who threaten them the most: each other.

Review:

This was the first Sci-Fi Romance I ever read. That was years ago and I’ve read a few since then so I decided to go back to it and see if I still liked it.

Unlike a lot of the Sci-Fi Romance I’ve been reading there’s a lot more world building and character development. It’s not just fall into lust, bang, fall into love, overcome some meaningless obstacle. There’s a lot going on in this book and series.

I did notice this time around several plot holes and things that just didn’t make sense. She starts the book with an introduction saying that at one point the book was something different and that she went back and added stuff when she got the rights back so maybe that caused the issues. Not sure.

Overall I still really enjoyed the book, it’s fairly violent and crude for a romance but sometimes that’s what you need.

4/5

Pete’s Christmas (2013)

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Pete’s Christmas (2013)

Director:

Nisha Ganatra

Starring:

Zachary Gordon

Molly Parker

Rick Roberts

Plot:

A put-upon teen finds himself reliving the same miserable Christmas day over and over again.

Review:

I’m really not looking forward to the teenage years if this and YA books are any indication. Maybe I can get rid of my kids when they reach that age.

Anyway, this was a classic repeating day movie, only this time it’s a stupid teenage boy re-living the worst Christmas of his life. It takes him a lot self-pity boring days before he finally starts to try and make the day better. It takes him a while to figure out that he can even change things. It’s ridiculous.

The new neighbor kid is of course a cute girl and he eventually ends up telling her everything and she accepts it. Days will pass and it will cut to them talking and she always knows what’s happening. It didn’t really make sense because at that point he’d be spending a lot of time telling her what was going on, but whatever.

Movie was eh, Christmas was a big part of it, but definitely not getting put into my rotation.

This Christmas movie was brought to you by Wal-Mart

3/5

Dark Currents (The Emperor’s Edge #2) By: Lindsay Buroker

dark-currents

Dark Currents (The Emperor’s Edge #2) By: Lindsay Buroker

Plot:

It’s been three months since former enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon and the notorious assassin Sicarius thwarted kidnappers and saved the emperor’s life. The problem? Nobody knows they were responsible for this good deed. Worse, they’re being blamed for the entire scheme. With enforcers and bounty hunters stalking them, and the emperor nursing a personal hatred for Sicarius, it’s going to be hard to earn exoneration.

When Amaranthe’s team discovers mutilated bodies in the city aqueducts and a mysterious illness incapacitates thousands of citizens, she and Sicarius see an opportunity to solve the mystery and prove their loyalty. But they’ll have to defeat vengeful shamans, man-eating predators, and deadly mechanical constructs, all while dodging imperial soldiers who would rather kill them than accept their help.

Nobody said exoneration would be easy.

Review:

I love the fact that romance is in these books but it’s very much on the back burner for most of it. Buroker doesn’t make the hero or heroine do anything truly stupid because they’re in love it’s all for their cause. Mainly. I like that.

The world didn’t really grow much in this book, though you did learn more about outside kingdoms, just not a lot.

The other characters didn’t really grow either, though we got to be in Books’s head. Feel kind of bad for him.

The kingdom still thinks they’re bad guys and I’m not sure if that will ever change. If it does it’s not going to be any time soon. I’m also not sure why Amaranthe likes Sicarius. Every few chapters you find out something horrible he’s done. I get that he was brain washed basically and doing it because his emperor told him too, but it just seems like an excuse with how easy he kills people. Not sure how I feel about the relationship.

Anyway, enjoying the series but I might take a break before reading the next.

4/5