Bloodring (Rogue Mage #1)- Faith Hunter

In a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Seraphim, neomages like Thorn are relegated to luxurious "prisons" called Enclaves. However, when Thorn came into her powers she realized that she could hear the thoughts of all the others in her New Orleans Enclave. Between going insane and living as a fugitive in the human world, she chose the latter and has lived in fear of discovery for the past ten years. However, her life of faux-normalcy is shattered when her ex-husband Lucas is kidnapped by dark forces, Thorn knows that it is not long before they come after her. Then there is the issue of the kylen (part human, part seraph), Thaddeus, who shows up at her doorstep and starts asking questions. She is strangely attracted to him in spite of the knowledge that any misstep will result in her being killed by the humans or shipped back to her Enclave--either way her death will be inevitable.

Overall Merit: I loved the premise behind the book so I forced myself to slog through it and it did get better by the end. However, for the most part it was remarkably slow and filled with unnecessary characters. I did like Thorn's powers, stone mages are not common, most authors opt for all-around powers or elemental magic, so Hunter's innovation was a plus. I really wanted to like this book and was so disappointed that I couldn't bring myself to enjoy reading it. Usually a 350-some-odd-page book will take me about 3-4 hours to read tops, so about a night or two worth of reading. This book dragged on for a good four days and often put me to sleep early. If I'm really into a book I will push through the exhaustion and read into the wee hours of the night. I could not do that with this book, even though I desperately wanted to. I mean the characters weren't bad or anything and the romance had potential, but the story dragged and there was not enough action by a long shot. Score- 6 (for premise)

Characters: Thorn was a solid character, I really did like her, but I felt like the others were not fleshed out enough, especially Thaddeus (Thadd). He showed up at random intervals during the story and Thorn seemed way more focused on her cheating ex-husband, Lucas. The other characters like Jacey and Rupert didn't do all that much and then there was the random kid, Ciana who showed up and didn't do much but serve as a bad plot device. The same things could have happened without her. Audric might be the only one who got any fleshing out other than Thorn and that was probably only because he shared a secret with her. Score- 4

Blush Factor- What blush factor? No really, it kept going on about how Thorn was "in heat", but nothing ever happened. Yes, she suffered with her intense sexual desire, but again nothing happened. There was no romance, no chemistry between any of the characters. If Hunter hadn't told me that Audric and Rupert were a couple there was no way in Hell I could have guessed it for myself. I was promised a nice romance sequence between Thorn and Thadd and I got nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Mushy-gushy fans, don't waste your time. Score- 2

Structure: I loved the idea of the post-apocalpytic society ruled by Seraphs. It was lovely that the world nearly ended after a series of horrific plagues. And people getting branded for cursing? Beautiful. Eternal winter/mini ice age? Gorgeous. So where was the story to go along with this imaginative new world? I'm still looking for it, I'm afraid. One of the main problems is that there were a zillion things going on at the same time. There was the thread with Lucas and the one with Ciana and then there was something going on with a weird amethyst at the same time. For a moderately short book, way too much. I got lost and confused, I mean that might have had something to do with the fact that I was skimming, but I skim a lot of books and still manage to keep up with the plot. Score- 5

Plot: This was so promising. I read the back of the book and got excited. I do give Hunter credit for doing her research, as most of the factual basis, including the names of the Seraphim, were spot on. The story though was lacking at a fundamental level. She stretched it in too many directions instead of focusing on one main plot line. I wanted to follow Thorn on her adventures, and potential budding romance with Thadd, instead I was reading about things I didn't care about. It's nice that the people have a picnic on a day that the sun chooses to shine, but how the Hell does that relate to the story? If she had focused her plot and honed in on the important details, it would have been a much more solid novel. Score- 4

 Vervain says: "Neomages have a special glow about them so Thorn has to use amulets to dampen her glow and blend into the human world."





In summation: I was disappointed.

Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy #1)- Lizzy Ford

Katie is having a terrible day. First she gets pulled over for driving two miles over the speed limit, and then she gets in trouble for not taking care of a son that she knows she doesn't have. According to everyone around her, she has amnesia due to a rape, but Katie knows that this can't possibly be the case. Her suspicions are confirmed when it turns out her "son", Toby is actually an eons old angel and a mysterious man named Gabriel shows up at her house claiming to be something called a 'Death Dealer'. Apparently, Katie's blood is special and it has something in it that makes her immune to immortals and therefore an immortal's mate. However, she isn't just an immortal's mate, she's an ancient's mate (which is like a step above an immortal's mate). By all rights, she should go to the eldest Ancient, but instead she is claimed by the outcast half-breed, Rhyn who rescues her from the depths of Hell.

Overall Merit: The problem with this book was that there were way too many things going on at the same time. Since the books were short, I read the whole trilogy, but the problem was consistent throughout. There were a million things going on and it was difficult to keep a firm grasp on the storyline. The characters were strong, which is always a plus, but I felt like the story was going in like twenty different directions at the same time and I found myself confused by what was going on and where the plot was going. I think that the other book by Ford that I scored (Damian's Oracle) was a much stronger book. Score- 6

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Characters: Rhyn is interesting. He is definitely a typical bad boy stereotype, but centuries in Hell have made him bitter and at times cruel. He was my favorite character if only because Katie wasn't nearly as solid. Her character tended to waver at times and I didn't get a good sense of who she really was. I do rather detest the annoying sister. I feel like this is an oft used character who is remarkably irritating. True, she can act as a foil for the heroine, but more often than not, she overstays her welcome and starts to get in the way of an enjoyable reading experience. There is a good reason everyone hates their siblings at one point or another. I already hate my siblings, I don't need to hate someone else's too. Score- 6

Blush Factor: To be honest, there wasn't a ton of romance in this book, that didn't come until the later books in the trilogy. I mean you know who's going to end up together from the start and I was a bit disappointed that Rhyn and Katie never really resolved their feelings for each other until later on. Even the end result of their romance was disappointing (by the third book). Not my favorite part, I liked the romance much better in Damian's Oracle. It wasn't horrible, it was kind of just nonexistent. Score- 6

Structure: Nothing new here in terms of writing style. I think Ford's problem is that she tried to cram a ton of information into a small amount of pages without giving the reader a chance to let it all sink in. She could have made the book a lot longer and structured it better so that all the plot lines had a chance to naturally converge. Instead, the writing seemed hurried as if she wanted to get a crazy amount of story down without developing the world or the conflict well enough. Score- 5

Plot: As I've said several times--way too much going on at once. I was incredibly confused. Ford needed to pick one or two subplots max instead of having twenty going on all at once. Also, I kept reading and reading waiting for Katie and Rhyn to get together, but she dragged it out horribly so that by the time I got to the end of the book I basically didn't even care anymore. This book had potential, but I wasn't seeing the necessary execution. Damian's Oracle takes place under a similar premise, in a similar world so go for that instead of this one. Score- 6

Vervain says: "There are seven Ancients, but most of them are dead."

Hazy Shade of Winter (Unbound Series #1)- Jessica Bradshaw

Jude can see ghosts, which is okay by her for the most part, but it puts her guardian angel Samuel in a tizzy. Her main concern is the incessant bullying she faces at the hands of her peers in school--it it so bad that she is forced to transfer at the end of the year. Samuel is with her all the way; not that he has a choice. Usually, a guardian angel, or sentinel has access to their charge's 'book' and through that they can keep tabs. However, in Jude's case, Samuel isn't allowed to see her book, which drives him crazy and makes it so that he has to spend every waking moment watching her in person. As luck would have it, Samuel is falling in love with Jude in spite of himself, and more than ever he wants permission to fall so he can be with her, but it seems his supervisors have other plans.

Overall Merit: I didn't like the story so much as I really liked the afterlife structure. I'm a huge fan of all things afterlife (the more twisted the better), but seldom do I find anything unique. This book relied heavily on the concepts of reincarnation and made Heaven seem very bureaucratic, which again was something I hadn't seen before. Bradshaw's writing is skilled and captivating--another plus for the book. However, both Jude and Samuel were moderately annoying characters and I didn't really care about them all that much. Score-7.5

Characters: I didn't find the supporting characters realistic--they were too 'cliched high school sitcom' I felt like I was in a scene from Mean Girls while Jude was still in the U.S. Jude annoyed me also because her character wasn't consistent. She's portrayed as this geeky, socially awkward girl, but then once she gets to the U.K. she's cool all of a sudden? I think in trying to make Jude unique, Bradshaw went overboard and made her kind of obnoxious and pathetic. Samuel is consistently self-described as a 'cad', but I didn't get that impression at all from him. This is a risk that writer run too often. If a character describes him/herself as being something they should be that something unless it is obvious that they are delusional about their self-image. Not the case for Samuel. I mean she sort of tried to throw it in in his flashbacks, but I really wasn't convinced. The characters weren't awful, but neither were they people who I would love to meet in real life. Score- 7

Blush Factor: Eh. That's all I can really say. Eh. I mean I guess it was sort of romantic with Samuel running around whining that he wanted to be with Jude. And I mean it was a decent attempt when Jude temporarily dated one of her friends, but to be honest the romance was weak--especially since you knew what was coming due to a poorly placed prologue. (I am not a fan of prologues at the best of times, but especially not when they're Twilight-esque and give away the ending before the damned story even starts.) I'm not going to lie I was bored and read the second book...Bradshaw needs to work on her romance. It's as if the characters go through the motions, but I DON'T FEEL THEIR BURNING, FIERY PASSION!!!! Score- 5

Structure: As stated earlier, I had gripes with the prologue, but then again also the ending. I felt like Bradshaw wrote the ending first and then manipulated the story so that it would culminate where she wanted it to. I don't like this approach for several reasons, the main one being that it locks the story in and doesn't allow nearly as much wiggle room as if it were left to flow to a more natural close. The technical writing was very good however, so I have to give some kudos for that. Score-7

Plot: Like I said, it was kind of like a bad high school rom-com with angels. The plot wasn't anything so innovative, and I know Bradshaw was hinting at some demonic activity, but I didn't see nearly enough of it to really consider it part of the plot. I felt like she made too much of an understatement with it and either she should have brought it to the forefront more or excluded it completely, rather than weakly hinting at it every now and then. Score-7

Vervain says: "Sentinels can petition to fall--meaning they gain a human body and get to spend that lifetime in mortal form."

Angel Burn- L.A. Weatherly

Willow is gifted with the power to look into the future and decipher the hopes and dreams of others by touching them. She doesn't know where her power comes from as no one else in her family is gifted. It isn't until the assassin, Alex, shows up with instructions to kill her that she finds out what she truly is and why her powers exist. However, Alex isn't the only one who wants Willow, she is also being chased by legions of evil angels and their followers. She must team up with and learn to trust Alex to escape from the angels because she might be the last hope for the human race's survival and freedom.

Overall Merit: When I picked up this book from the YA section of the library, I was thinking one thing: this is going to be exactly like every single angel book out there. Weatherly tries very hard to break out of that mold and in some ways she does, so bravo on that front. Her angels are dark, soul-sucking creatures who lure humans in and feed off them. See this would be original if it didn't sound exactly like another type of supernatural being. Let's think, where have I heard that exact description before...? No way, it's a vampire!  Please, for the love of all things fantasy, come up with some new ideas! To be nice, I did like that people who interacted with the angels slowly withered away from disease. Willow's character disappoints because she is set up to be such a kick ass heroine and then she just isn't. My main issue with this story is the missing plot line. The story plods along for a good 350 some odd pages, but nothing actually happens until like the last 20 pages! Score- 7

Characters: The biggest issue I had with this category was that the antagonists didn't seem to be trying very hard to do anything. It seemed like they were like "oh, well we want Willow, but before we exert any effort getting her let's have some afternoon tea." Willow had the potential to be a badass. I mean come on! She fixes cars for fun and is a psychic, I wanted someone more quirky, someone unique. What I got was a gushing, lovesick girl, "oh Alex, I wanna snuggle!" Where are my villains!? Sure there was Raziel, but he seemed to spend a lot of time bossing people around and gloating about his wickedness as opposed to doing anything proactive. Score- 4

Blush Factor- The entire novel was consumed by a cheesy romantic "subplot" to the point that it would have been more productive to write this as an erotica novel. Weatherly went out of her way to put the characters in situations in which they would have "no choice" but to embrace each other or get all touchy feely. I'm just as much of a sucker as the next girl for a good romance thread in a novel, but this wasn't even well done. It was cheesy and to be perfectly honest a seventeen year old guy is not going to behave like Alex does. (Like I said, it would have made a better erotica, provided the characters were older.) Score- 4

Structure: This might have been the undoing of the entire novel. There were far too many POVs going on at the same time and therefore things were revealed to the reader before the protagonists were aware. If done WELL this can be effective and make a story better, but when I learn what the "villains" are going to do there is no element of surprise and in a story with an already weak plot line this just bangs the final nail in the coffin. As a reader, I want to experience the action along with the protagonists, I should be traveling on a journey with them. If I already know what's going to happen then the impact is minimal. Score- 2

Plot: Hmm...still searching for this...give me a second...ah there we go! 350 pages in, whew thought I'd never get there. I mean there was sort of a premise...? There was a definite deus ex machina employed at the end to try and salvage some sort of action from the extended period of nothingness. There was a lot that could have been done with this concept, Weatherly just didn't take advantage.

Vervain says: "Alex's full name is Alex Kylar, his job title: Angel Killer. If that doesn't make you cringe, shame on you."