Hidden by Marianne Curley

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 336 Pages
Release Date: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Narration: First Person: Ebony, Jordan
Genre: Paranormal/Angels
Challenge: Paranormal Challenge
Source: Netgalley

Order On Amazon: Hardcover

Order On Barnes and Noble:
Hardcover

Author's
Goodreads  Website  Twitter




Goodreads Synopsis:

For as long as Ebony can remember, she's been sheltered. Confined to her home in a secluded valley, home-schooled by her protective parents, and limited to a small circle of close friends. It's as if she's being hidden. But something is changing in Ebony. Something that can't be concealed. She's growing more beautiful by the day, she's freakishly strong, and then there's the fact that she's glowing. 

On one fateful night, Ebony meets Jordan and she's intensely drawn to him. It's as if something explodes inside of her--something that can be seen from the heavens. Ebony still doesn't know that she's a stolen angel, but now that the heavens have found her, they want her back.

My Review:

Note: Since I did not finish this book through choice of my own, my review will only reflect the portion that I did read, and will exclude the parts that I did not. 

Status: DNF, Gave up at 25%.

The summary isn't anything I haven't come across before, and if that was all I had to go by, I wouldn't have given this novel a second glance. However, the cover is absolutely stunning, and I love the fact that they strategically placed a feather over her eyes, as if she was hidden (Wink, Wink ;) from the outside world. A concept that is focused on in the story itself. If someone had described this cover to me before I ever saw it, I probably would've written it off as corny, but with it right in front of me, I can see that it actually ties the whole novel together. Give yourself a pat on the back Bloomsbury! Superb job with the cover. :D

Onto the actual story. *Cringes* As soon as I read the first sentence, I knew this couldn't end in anything but disaster. It's not that the writing is horrific per-say, it's just more accurate to say that it's a wee choppy and awkward when the words take form mentally, worse if you read it out loud. Part of the reason I was unable to get sucked into this novel might have been because the Galley version had so many glaringly obvious spelling mistakes. Hopefully, they'll fix all of those little quirks before actually releasing the novel.

Another aspect of this novel that I had trouble with was the two different narrators, Jordan and Ebony. I have to admit, although I do feel a bit stupid for saying it, that I didn't even realize the story was told from two different perspectives, until the fourth or fifth chapter. How's that for unobservant? In my defense, I was a bit distracted that day... Anyhoo, their tone of voice sounded so much alike that if they were both the same gender, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. If they had admirable characteristics and attributes, then alright, fine, I'll deal with it, but their personalities were so bland, flat, and annoyingly lifeless. To be honest, if one of them wound up getting driven over by a truck in the end, I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to care. Of course, since Ebony is some freakishly strong angel, I guess it wouldn't do much, but you get my drift.

The love triangle. Since I stopped at 25%, I hadn't reached the point where the second love interest made an entrance, but one Insta-Love moment was definitely more than enough for me. The moment Jordan and Ebony met was basically one of those wretched, "For a moment, the earth seemed to stop spinning and the room blurred until we were the only two left standing," kind of moments. Excuse me, while I repeatedly bang my head against a wall. *Insert hilariously funny gif here* Since I'm feeling lazy at the moment, you'll just have to use your imagination for that one. xD After reading some other reviews to find out if I was the only one who felt this way about Hidden, I discovered that the romance with the second love interest was, yet again, kick-started by another Insta-Love connection.

I understand that the beginning of a novel is usually a bit slow paced for the purpose of introducing all of the new characters, describing what their like, and giving some background information, but the amount of action in the first 25% was actually laughable. Nonexistent might be a better word to describe it. I actually found my attention drifting to a butterfly whilst one of the characters was dying.

Overall, Hidden was a huge disappointment, at least for the amount I read. Maybe it gets better as the story progresses, but sadly, I'm not motivated enough to finish it. There's a possibility that I might get back to it if I have nothing else to do, which is very unlikely, and hear nothing but raving reviews come in, but at the moment? Nope.

*An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

Heroine/Hero- 1.5/5 Boooring. *Yawn*
Romance- 1/5
Sick and tired of Insta-Love connections.
Action- 1/5
Writing- 2/5 
Not horrible, but a bit choppy.
Overall- 1.5/5 For first 25%.

Grishma by Kelly Blount

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 306 Pages
Release Date: March 9, 2013
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Narration: Third Person
Genre: Fantasy
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge
Source: Author
Series: Unknown

Order On Amazon: Paperback
                              Kindle

Author's
Goodreads  Website  Twitter  Facebook

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the world of Necoh, everyone fears Grishma, a hideous murderous beast responsible for ruining or ending the lives of anyone who dare cross her.

As a young boy, Ryder lived with his family, deep in the caves underneath the Kadin Forest, unaware of the horrors of the world. His simple world was turned upside down one horrible night when Grishma attacked his family, killing his father and kidnapping his mother and younger sister.

From that night on, Ryder devoted his life to killing Grishma. He tracked the monster from Necoh, to our world, and back again. Unfortunately, during his quest, he accidentally transported Brooklyn, a high school junior into his tumultuous world, where she is mistakenly identified as Princess Sophie, the missing princess of Sumner.

Days after Princess Sophie’s return, Grishma plots and manipulates the King into drugging and marrying off his only daughter to Prince Algid of Dratun. Desperate to save Brooklyn, who now believes she is the long lost princess, his mother, and his little sister, Ryder embarks on the deadliest part of his quest.

Will he save Brooklyn? Will she ever regain her memory? What will become of his mother and sister?

Through epic adventure, loss, and love, GRISHMA depicts the strength of the human spirit and the tight bonds formed by the unique creatures of Necoh.

My Review:

*Huge thank you to Kelly Blount for providing a copy of her debut novel, Grishma,

 in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

I dove head first into Grishma with no expectations. At the time, I wasn't familiar with the author's work or the concept of a magical land called Necoh. A land that was haunted by ferocious creatures, Grishma being the most infamous of them all. All I did know, was that it had an absolutely gorgeous cover. That alone, gave me enough motivation to jump at the opportunity when the author asked me to read and review her debut.

When I first started off the novel, I found Brooklyn to be a pretty likable character. Her love-hate relationship with her brother reminded me a lot of how normal, everyday siblings acted. Although they constantly teased and embarrassed each other whenever the opportunity presented itself, you could clearly see that they loved each other underneath. However, my respect for her started to dwindle when she blew up at one of her best friends for going after her crush. I don't deny that it's normal for someone to get angry when their best friend does something like that, but if you've been friends for nearly your whole life, you should at least hear out their side of the story, before jumping to conclusions and calling them sluts. 

As the novel progressed, I began to like her less and less. When she was taken to the castle after being mistaken for the runaway Princess Sophie, she handled situations poorly and failed to catch onto important details until it was too late. She was weak, and although she wasn't the worst heroine I've ever read about, she was definitely close to the bottom.

The romance between Ryder and Brooklyn wasn't realistic at all. Although there wasn't a straight out Insta-Love connection, it was close enough to be labeled one. One of those, "As soon as we made eye contact, the world stopped spinning and it seemed like we were the last two people on the planet," moments. If that wasn't bad enough, even though Ryder and Brooklyn were separated for nearly 90% of the novel, they just happened to be unconditionally and irrevocably in love with each other at the end. Attraction to a hot guy is completely normal, but you can't actually fall in love with someone until you get to know them first.

Although there was always something happening in the novel, I was never engrossed with the events that were occurring. There were a countless number of times when I just wanted to turn off my Kindle and hope to somehow be magically in love with the plot the next day. Actually, this was probably the longest time it took me to read a book, excluding classics I'm forced to read for school, of course. xD In fact, if Sophie or Ryder had died somewhere along the way, I probably wouldn't even have noticed or wouldn't have been able to bring myself to care.

The one saving grace for Grishma was the author's writing style. Surprisingly, it flowed pretty well and reminded me of that of a much more experienced author. However, although I was pretty impressed with that part of the novel, there were still a few flaws. One minor flaw that didn't bother me too much was the grammatical and spelling errors. I'm no genius when it comes to punctuation and grammar, but I do know enough to be able to tell when a word is spelled incorrectly. However, although those errors are inconvenient, I don't mind if there spaced out and only happen once in a blue moon. 

Another thing I had a problem with was the overuse of exclamation points. For some reason, the majority of self published authors and authors from smaller publishing companies are in love with the idea of using exclamation points, even when there not necessary. I mean, I don't mind a couple here and there to indicate yelling or to exaggerate a certain line, but when you insert exclamation points consecutively on almost every single page, then I get aggravated. When I read a book, I usually play the speaking parts in my head, imagining what they sound like and which parts of the sentence are stressed (Am I the only one who does this? O.o). It detracts from the story, when every single character speaks like a caveman.

Overall, Kelly had a great and unique concept, but failed to execute it in a believable manner. To this day, I still have no idea what Grishma looks like and can't even imagine the land of Necoh in my head. Although the romance wasn't exactly what you would call an Insta-Love, it was very close to one. It pains me to write a bad review for a book that had so much effort and time put into it, but I guess it's something that every reviewer is faced with sometime in their blogging career. I've been literally cringing the whole time I was writing this review. >.<  I have no doubt that many readers will find the world of Necoh to be an alluring one, but I was definitely not one of them.

Cover- 4/5
Heroine- 1.5/5
Romance- 1/5
Action- 1/5
Writing- 3/5
Overall- 1.5/5

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 447 Pages
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Narration: Third Person: Vanessa
Genre: Paranormal
Challenge: Debut & Paranormal

Dance of Shadows Series:
Book One: Dance of Shadows
Book Two: Untitled
Book Three: Untitled

Order On Amazon: Hardcover
                              Kindle
Order On Barnes and Noble:
Hardcover and Nook

Author's
( Goodreads ! Twitter )

Goodreads Synopsis:

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed . . .

My Review:

As soon as I laid eyes upon the cover for Dance of Shadows, I knew I was a goner. Everyone's heard of the old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," but to be honest, we all do. At least to some degree. I first heard of Dance of Shadows on The Story Siren about a year ago, and to this day, I still haven't seen a cover prettier than this one. Everything from the breathtaking costume made of rose petals, down to the elegantly scripted font, just screams "Read Me!". Most important of all, at least appearance wise xD, the cover actually pertains to the book. Something that doesn't happen as often as it should in YA novels. The model's pose as well as the mist so ominously surrounding her automatically makes me think she's baring her soul for some sort of possession to take place. Either that, or Ballerina Zombies. Since the synopsis said nothing about the walking dead, I went with my first instinct. xD Sadly, this book does not do this cover justice.

The first issue I had was with the characters. Bluntly put, they were all bland and had as much depth as a piece of paper. Not a very good comparison, but I couldn't think of anything better. Don't judge me. >.< I couldn't tell the difference between any of Vanessa's friends, because they all acted the same. Vanessa was likable enough in the beginning, but as the the story progressed, I liked her less and less. There were so many times when I wanted to jump in the book myself and smack her silly. She seemed to be bent on ignoring the ones who only wished to help her and desperately following the ones who acted like complete asshats. 

She claimed multiple times throughout the course of the book, that her sole reason for attending the NYBA, or New York Ballet Academy, was to search for her sister who seemed to magically disappear off the face of the earth two years ago. Meanwhile, she did anything but. Not once did she do anything productive enough to even remotely come close to her supposed one and only desire to bring her sister home. Most of the time, she just sat around daydreaming about Zep, her dance partner, wondering why he never responded to her desperate phone calls or never answered the door when she knocked. She refused to see the answers right in front of her, and it took her about three quarters of the book to finally realize that something wasn't quite right.

The synopsis mentions her gaining the attention of three guys, which makes you think that there's going to be a love....square? But in reality, it's only a love triangle. At least I hope it's a love triangle. There were a few times when Vanessa and Josef became intimate in the art of dance, but considering the fact that the book states he's in his late thirties, I really hope that wasn't what the author was trying to imply. Zep, her dance partner in the Firebird and current boyfriend, was a complete jerk. It seemed as if she fell madly in love with Zep as soon as she saw him for the first time. I get that it's completely normal to find a guy attractive, but not in the way she was thinking about him. As if they were destined to be together and that one glance from the dark and brooding Zep meant that he was hopelessly in love with her as well. He ignored and outright lied to her, and all she did was follow him around like a lost puppy, needy for attention. Justin was a little bit more interesting, but I still never connected with his character. He acted like a jerk at times, but I could still see that all he wanted to do was to keep her from following her sister's footsteps, even when the protagonist could not.

Dance of Shadows was also really hard to believe. Girls just happen to mysteriously disappear from one of the most renowned dance academies of the country, maybe even the world, and no one's the least bit suspicious? Yeah, I understand if the police don't want to get seriously involved over one or two runaways, because considering the harsh rules, strict diets, and high expectations, it's very possible for a dancer to get overwhelmed and wish to start over. But were talking about ten girls, maybe more, all who dance the lead role in the Firebird. Am I the only one who finds that a bit sketchy?

Despite the negative comments bloggers have made about Yelena's writing style, I have to say that I disagree. I found that it flowed pretty well and never seemed abrupt or awkward like some of the past books I've read by debut authors. I was also bracing myself for the overuse of the word "sweat", but I found that I didn't have a problem with that either. Although she used that word more often than other authors, I never found it glaringly obvious. It was pretty subtle, and if I hadn't been on the lookout for it, I probably would have never noticed it. On the other hand, the action was a bit too slow for my liking. I found myself skipping pages often and only really got interested in the story near the end when the dance was actually taking place.

Overall, Dance of Shadows had an awesome theme that could've been brought to life at the hands of a more experienced author. I should've listened to the negative reviews pouring in as soon as it was released, but I couldn't help myself because the cover was just too beautiful for me to ignore. I probably won't read the next book in this series, but I will definitely be anticipating the cover for it.

Heroine- 1/5
Romance- 1/5
Comedy- 1.5/5
Action- 2/5
Writing- 3.5/5
Overall- 1.5/5

Click to Watch Book Trailer

Games of Fire by Airicka Phoenix (M)

Reading Level: Ages 16 and up
File Size: 735 KB
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Publisher: Self Published
Narration: Third Person: Sophie
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Stand Alone

Order On Amazon: Kindle

Author's
( Goodreads ! Website ! Twitter )

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sophie has enough problems in her life without Spencer turning her blood to fire, without his eyes freezing and burning her, without his hatred of her. Since his migration into the house next to hers, Sophia Valdez isn't sure whether she wants to toss him under a bus or kiss that smirking mouth of his. But even as the temperature rises around them, leaping flames of passion, want and desire,everything either has ever known will be shattered by the lurking shadow hounding their every step, wanting revenge.

Spencer Rowth moves to the sleepy town of River Port with his mother and twelve year old sister, Suzy, to escape a deceitful father, an unfaithful girlfriend and a life crumbling much too fast for him to grapple onto only to be smacked upside the head by the last thing he wanted again. Sophie was everything he refused to want. Her temper, her wit, her laugh, her smile, the way her entire body goes up in flames under his hands are things he would rather slam a lid on and forget. Instead, he finds himself falling for the smart-mouth next door. But how long will he have before the evil chasing them catches up? How long before the very thing he never wanted becomes his only thread to sanity? And who is after them? What do they want and why do they want Spencer and Sophie dead?

My Mini Review:

I was able to finish the book, but I ended up skipping so many pages in between that it wasn't worth the dollar I paid to read it. The only reason I even took the energy to keep on skimming was to make sure that my guesses were correct. The story was so aggravatingly predictable and unrealistic, which subsequently made it boring. Protagonist gets in trouble. Protagonist runs into a "solid wall of muscle" that just happens to always be the mysterious, bad boy Spencer. Spencer saves the day and then withdraws within himself to stay away from said Protagonist. *Yawn* I never wavered from my first guess of who the murderer/psychopath really was, despite all the red herrings the author threw to try to deter the reader from guessing immediately.

And the exclamation marks!? Gah. Yeah, I understand a few here and there to emphasize a point or portray anger, but when you have consecutive pages of them, it just ends up sounding awkward and caveman like. If I had known that Games of Fire was flat out contemporary in the beginning, I would've never picked it up in the first place. I'm sure others who enjoy reading this genre will find Games of Fire much more intriguing than I, but I definitely will not be reading this again. I think I'm just going to stick with my normal paranormal/dystopian genres from now on. =/

Heroine- 1/5
Romance- 2/5
Comedy- 1/5
Action- 1/5
Overall- 1.5/5