Book

Island of Glass (The Guardians Trilogy #3) By: Nora Roberts

island-of-glass

Island of Glass (The Guardians Trilogy #3) By: Nora Roberts

Plot:

As the hunt for the Star of Ice leads the six guardians to Ireland, Doyle, the immortal, must face his tragic past. Three centuries ago, he closed off his heart, yet his warrior spirit is still drawn to the wild. And there’s no one more familiar with the wild than Riley—and the wolf within her…

An archaeologist, Riley is no stranger to the coast of Clare, but now she finds herself on unsure footing, targeted by the dark goddess who wants more than the stars, more than the blood of the guardians. While searching through Irish history for clues that will lead them to the final star and the mysterious Island of Glass, Riley must fight her practical nature and admit her sudden attraction to Doyle is more than just a fling. For it is his strength that will sustain her and give her the power to run towards love—and save them all…

Review:

Very excited to finally read this book, I waited until after my son was born because I didn’t want to have a library book out and then be in the hospital unable to return it.

Anyway, this was a great ending to the series and I would honestly love more in this world and with these characters. Since it’s Nora Roberts I don’t see that happening since she tends to do trilogies and move on, but maybe.

Riley was cool and logical, Doyle was brooding and tragic, and together they made a good couple. Their romance wasn’t very romantic, but it worked for them, plus there was so much going on in the rest of the story that it fit better. They weren’t overlooked at all, but this was the climactic conclusion of the series.

That being said, the end battle was pretty short, but again this isn’t really a fantasy book, it’s a romantic fantasy. Whatever, I loved the series and I’m going to buy it when I can cause I foresee wanting to re-read it.

5/5

Better Homes and Corpses (Hamptons Home & Garden Mysteries #1) By: Kathleen Bridge

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Better Homes and Corpses (Hamptons Home & Garden Mysteries #1) By: Kathleen Bridge

Plot:

After Meg Barrett found her fiancé still had designs on his ex-wife, she decided it was time to refurbish her life. Leaving her glamorous job at a top home and garden magazine, she fled Manhattan for Montauk, only to find decorating can sometimes lead to detecting…

In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg visits the swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. But instead of seeing how the other half lives—she learns how the other half dies. Jillian’s mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. Someone has staged a coup.

When she helps a friend inventory the Spensers’ estate for the insurance company, Meg finds herself right in the thick of things. Cataloging valuable antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets, which may have furnished a murderer with a motive. As Meg gets closer to the truth, the killer will do anything to paint her out of the picture…
Review:

I didn’t read the whole of Better Homes and Corpses, I got to sixty percent and then skipped to the last few chapters. It just was not my preferred cozy mystery. It had everything there, for the most part, I could have done with more character development of the male characters and less antiquing stuff, but it had everything else. I think that’s honestly why I didn’t like it as much, Meg’s career was just not something I have more than a passing interest in so all the little info dumps about antiques and refurbishing stuff was just boring.

Meg was an alright protagonist, she wasn’t too perfect, and she was interesting enough. There were editing issues, though. Too often I had no idea who was talking in the large cast of characters. The men all sounded the same and the other women in the story were all a bit off. One minute Meg was internally complaining about how sheltered and “introverted”(the author used introverted as basically a synonym for shy which bugs me a lot)  Jillian was and the next she was ordering for her like she was a child. Meg would also just randomly show up places with absolutely no indication to the reader except vague suggestions that you were just supposed to understand.

I’m not going to rate this book, even though I read about 75%, maybe someone else with different hobbies would enjoy this more. For me, I’m going to pass on the series.

No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers #3) By: Rachel Aaron

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No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers #3) By: Rachel Aaron

Plot:

When Julius overthrew his mother and took control of his clan, he thought he was doing right by everyone. But sharing power isn’t part of any proper dragon’s vocabulary, and with one seat still open on the new ruling Council, all of Heartstriker is ready to do whatever it takes to get their claws on it, including killing the Nice Dragon who got them into this mess in the first place.

To keep his clan together and his skin intact, Julius is going to have to find a way to make his bloodthirsty siblings play fair. But there’s more going on in Heartstriker Mountain than politics. Every family has its secrets, but the skeletons in Bethesda’s closet are dragon sized, and with Algonquin’s war looming over them all, breaking his clan wide open might just be the only hope Julius has of saving it.

Review:

Damnit why is the next book not out already? There is so much still left up in the air that I want answers too. Things that I want characters to realize so that I can see what the big deal is about it.

What the hell Bob? Did he just do what I think he did cause Chelsie is going to kick his ass and rightfully so if he did.

The ending was great, clearly, the rest of the book was good but it took a while to pick up steam. There was a lot of, not build up, but kind of boring stuff. You learned a lot about the Heartstrikers, and it was necessary, I guess, but it made the beginning slow. I wouldn’t quiet say it dragged, but only because at this point I’m emotionally invested in the world and characters so I wanted to know more.

Really excited for the next book.

4/5

One Good Dragon Deserves Another (Heartstrikers #2) By: Rachel Aaron

one-good-dragon-deserves-another

One Good Dragon Deserves Another (Heartstrikers #2) By: Rachel Aaron

Plot:

After barely escaping the machinations of his terrifying mother, two all knowing seers, and countless bloodthirsty siblings, the last thing Julius wants to see is another dragon. Unfortunately for him, the only thing more dangerous than being a useless Heartstriker is being a useful one, and now that he’s got an in with the Three Sisters, Julius has become a key pawn in Bethesda the Heartstriker’s gamble to put her clan on top.

Refusal to play along with his mother’s plans means death, but there’s more going on than even Bethesda knows, and with Estella back in the game with a vengeance, Heartstriker futures disappearing, and Algonquin’s dragon hunter closing in, the stakes are higher than even a seer can calculate. But when his most powerful family members start dropping like flies, it falls to Julius to defend the clan that never respected him and prove that, sometimes, the world’s worst dragon is the best one to have on your side.

Review:

There was a ton going on in this book, lot of immenent death, and seers manipulating the future, and dimensional travel. There was a new dragon introduced that was fun, she wasn’t as evil as the other dragons seem to be. I like the dragons that aren’t as one dimensional, but so far it seems like most of them are, though Justin isn’t bad. He’s just young and stupid so you kind of expect him to act the way he does. I really hate Bethesda, she’s just so stupid. I don’t think I’m supposed to think she is, but that’s all I can think.

Julius was still great and while Marci isn’t growing on me I don’t hate her. She had some small development this book but still not too interested in her.

Bob is awesome.

Didn’t really see the end coming so that was nice. I’m curious to see how things are going to turn out with what happened at the end. I doubt it’s going to be pretty.

4/5

Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers #1) By: Rachel Aaron

nice-dragons-finish-last

Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers #1) By: Rachel Aaron

Plot:

As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ–a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit–Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons…

Review:

I’ve been going through books I’ve downloaded but not read and I discovered this one. I remember reading the sample for this and liking it but for whatever reason I didn’t read it as soon as I downloaded it.

I love when I find a good book I’d forgotten about. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the world created. It was fun and interesting and I loved that Julius was nice, basically a goodie two shoes, but life was so hard for him. I hate when people say it’s easy for the people that always choose good to be good. You can see how much Julius suffers because of it but it doesn’t make his character boring, you feel for him and it’s fun to see him start to stand up for himself.

The side characters were hit or miss for me. I liked the dragons, but I thought that Marci was just eh. She wasn’t annoying or stupid she just didn’t really do anything for me. She’s got potential so we’ll see what happens.

Really liked the book and I’ve already started to next.

4/5