A Fractured Light (A Beautiful Dark #2) by Jocelyn Davies Review

A Fractured Light takes off immediately after the events of the A Beautiful Darkness when Skye was almost killed by Devin. Asher takes her to a remote cottage so that she can recuperate. Once she’s comes back home, she realizes that the Guardians are everywhere (Devin is back too) and her life as she knew it did not exist anymore, but she still tries to hang on it for as long as she can. She also starts trying to get her new powers under control. As far as her love life is concerned, she is happy to be with Asher but as the story progresses, she finds that she still has feelings for Devin. Also, while she does choose a side pretty early in the book, she finds herself questioning that decision.

 

I thought this book was way better than the first one. But I still found myself getting very frustrated with the narrative but also unable to stop reading because I wanted to know what happened next. I think the frustration was partly due to the pace of the narrative; it was kinda slow and then there was Asher. I have to be honest, I didn’t like him much in the first book also and let’s just say that he hasn’t really grown on me. He and Skye are together and while most of the times, he says the right things, he just seems to be plugging the Rebellion every chance he gets. Which really makes you wonder, does he really love her or what she’s capable of doing for the Rebellion? Skye spends a lot of time trying to figure where she fits, definitely not the Order, they did try to kill her after all, or the Rebellion? It was so good to see her thinking for herself and not letting other peoples’ expectations dictate her choices.

 

What I like about Fractured Light is that Davies gives us some very good secondary characters. Cassie, Dan and Ian are all back as are Aunt Jo, Devin and Raven. The new characters are Ardith and Gideon, friends of Asher from the Rebellion and Ardith is really easy to like. And I still like Devin, I preferred him to Asher in the first book also. Yes, I think it was a bad idea to stab the girl you claimed to love but I think he’s definitely more conflicted. He knows that loving Skye will land him with the Order and yet, he still tries to protect her in his own way.

 

A Fractured Light is a good and interesting read, if a little frustrating at times, still worthwhile though.

A Fractured Light by Jocelyn Davies Review

A Fractured Light takes off immediately after the events of the A Beautiful Darkness when Skye was almost killed by Devin. Asher takes her to a remote cottage so that she can recuperate. Once she’s comes back home, she realizes that the Guardians are everywhere (Devin is back too) and her life as she knew it did not exist anymore, but she still tries to hang on it for as long as she can. She also starts trying to get her new powers under control. As far as her love life is concerned, she is happy to be with Asher but as the story progresses, she finds that she still has feelings for Devin. Also, while she does choose a side pretty early in the book, she finds herself questioning that decision.

I thought this book was way better than the first one. But I still found myself getting very frustrated with the narrative but also unable to stop reading because I wanted to know what happened next. I think the frustration was partly due to the pace of the narrative; it was kinda slow and then there was Asher. I have to be honest, I didn’t like him much in the first book also and let’s just say that he hasn’t really grown on me. He and Skye are together and while most of the times, he says the right things, he just seems to be plugging the Rebellion every chance he gets. Which really makes you wonder, does he really love her or what she’s capable of doing for the Rebellion? Skye spends a lot of time trying to figure where she fits, definitely not the Order, they did try to kill her after all, or the Rebellion? It was so good to see her thinking for herself and not letting other peoples’ expectations dictate her choices.

What I like about Fractured Light is that Davies gives us some very good secondary characters. Cassie, Dan and Ian are all back as are Aunt Jo, Devin and Raven. The new characters are Ardith and Gideon, friends of Asher from the Rebellion and Ardith is really easy to like. And I still like Devin, I preferred him to Asher in the first book also. Yes, I think it was a bad idea to stab the girl you claimed to love but I think he’s definitely more conflicted. He knows that loving Skye will land him with the Order and yet, he still tries to protect her in his own way.

A Fractured Light is a good and interesting read, if a little frustrating at times, still worthwhile though.

MOONRISE KINGDOM, Directed by: Wes Anderson

I saw Moonrise Kingdom yesterday and loved it. It was a wonderfully delightful film and has Wes Anderson’s stamp all over it. His direction is so apparent; every frame is so carefully constructed, down to the position and the poses of the actors, everything is so deliberate. In most films, when the direction is so obvious, it pulls you out of the film because it feels too contrived, but not when Wes Anderson does it. He does with such flair that you can’t help but be drawn in. His eccentricities are reflected in his characters, their performances, and costumes (sometimes even names, one of the character’s name is Social Services.) In Moonrise Kingdom all these elements come together and make for a very quirky film that never veers into being ridiculous.

It features great performances by including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, who play the young couple.  The story is relatively straightforward: Sam and Suzie (12 year olds) fall in love and hatch a plan to elope. When they do manage to run away, the event throws everything on the small island off-kilter. In Wes Anderson’s hands this somewhat ordinary love story becomes a very funny, engaging and a thoroughly enjoyable film. It also features an eclectic mix of music that complements the film very well. I loved the record that played in the first scene of the film, playing the piece as it was played by an entire orchestra and then deconstructing it to show what the music piece would sound like when played by a certain “family” of instruments. And I loved the piece that played during the end-credits. It was beautifully done.

Moonrise Kingdom is a must-watch for any Wes Anderson fan and anyone who wants to watch something different. It is a very refreshing change from the usual mindless blockbusters we are bombarded with these days. Beautiful film!

Wuthering Heights (2011)

The latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights is directed by Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) and stars relative new comers; James Howson and Kaya Scoledario as Heathcliff and Cathy respectively.

It featured in a lot of festivals last year and is getting a limited US release later this year. I loved Arnold’s Fish Tank so when I heard that she’s directing the new adapataion of Wuthering Heights, I was thrilled. I had high expectations from this film and i was quite disappointed.

A large part of the film only features young Heathcliff and Cathy and while their performance isn’t really bad, somehow, it doesn’t quite bring forth the bond Heathcliff and Cathy share in the book. That bond is made apparent in the book by the amount of time they spend together, in the film, Heathcliff spends a lot of the time alone, lying in the fields and generally brooding. Solomon Glave as Heathcliff is dull, i know that even under normal circumstances Heathcliff is not the most expressive person, but to have NO expression at all is taking things a little too far.

Arnold spends 70% of the film focusing only on the two main characters when they were younger and deals with their grown -up characters almost as an after thought. That part seems disjointed and moves too fast, compared to the rest of the film’s narrative pace. It feels rushed. There is very sparse dialogue in the first half of the film and its almost strange how chatty both Cathy and Heathcliff are when he returns, though they don’t say anything of consequence. Although, Arnold makes sure she uses lines like “you and Edgar broke my heart,” and “you killed me” but these just seem like empty words. I actually liked what little I saw of Kaya Scoledario but unfortunately, there isn’t a lot too see. She hardly features in the film. James Howson is slightly better than Glave but again doesn’t have nearly enough screen time to do anything worth noticing.

I have one major problem with this film and that was with the way it is shot. I get that hand-held is all the rage these days and I can also see why Arnold would want to use it here: to make the audience feel like they were a part of the story instead of mere observers. But it doesn’t work. The camera work is, at times, so jerky that it immediately pulls you out of the story (counter-productive, no??) Then there are extreme close-ups where you can’t make head or tail of what it is you’re supposed to be looking at.

If i ignore the fact that this film is an adaptation, maybe I would have enjoyed it a little bit more but there is little chance of that because it suffers from way too many drawbacks
which is sad because it had a lot of potential.

Fate Succumbs (Timber Wolves Trilogy #3) by Tammy Blackwell Review

OH MY GOD!!! Its finally over and I am absolutely miserable. I was hooked to Scout’s story from the 1st page of the 1st book and Ms. Blackwell doesn’t disappoint in the finale. I tried to put off reading this book for as long as I could but then I finally caved. Even then I tried to make it last by reading it as slowly as was possible but then that was never going to work, not with the way the narrative progresses. You can’t help but get sucked in; I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. This series started and ended far too soon. If ever I wanted a series to go on, it was this..

In Fate Succumbs, Scout is on the run from the Alpha Pack with Liam and trying to survive. She’s alone and she doesn’t have anyone else she can turn to or trust. She’s trying to come to terms with the events that took place at the end of Time Mends. This book moves slowly (more slowly than most finale books), through most of the beginning; she spends her time travelling from one place to another, meeting some new people and making new friends. When she and Liam finally decide to settle down for a little while, they spend the time training and catching her up on the world of shifters and seers. While the narrative is slow, it is in no way dull. Ms. Blackwell keeps things moving at steady pace and keeps us hooked with really sharp writing (and some funny pop culture references)

I love Scout. After the end of the last book, she could’ve easily turned into a blubbering, self-pitying mess but she didn’t. Her sarcasm, wit and irreverence were so refreshing amongst all that gloom and doom. She was awesome, a real Bad Ass!! Then there’s Liam, he features way more prominently in this book than he did in the previous ones. He and Alex are very different people. Alex was more easy-going, relaxed and had a more sunny disposition, Liam is anything but that: he’s used to caring for his little brother and is more the silent, brooding and stern type. And being stuck with each other (Scout and Liam) doesn’t always bring out the best in either of them. But, this time, we got a look at a very different Liam and I really liked him.. Now I have a confession to make, I sort of preferred him from the very beginning. Yes, Alex was very likable but somehow Liam always held my interest so I was very happy to see more of him. Alex and Nicole still appear in Scout’s and we find out what the ‘dream-but-not-a-dream’ thing is really about. Jase, Talley and the rest also feature but appear pretty late in story.

I will probably read Destiny Binds again in the near future, this book just blew me away and I can’t wait to revisit this world again!! This is one my favourite werewolf series (the other being Raised By Wolves trilogy, another great series) it was a great end to a great series, Thank you Ms. Blackwell!!!

Fate Succumbs by Tammy Blackwell Review

OH MY GOD!!! Its finally over and I am absolutely miserable. I was hooked to Scout’s story from the 1^st page of the 1^st book and Ms. Blackwell doesn’t disappoint in the finale. I tried to put off reading this book for as long as I could but then I finally caved. Even then I tried to make it last by reading it as slowly as was possible but then that was never going to work, not with the way the narrative progresses. You can’t help but get sucked in; I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. This series started and ended far too soon. If ever I wanted a series to go on, it was this..

 

In Fate Succumbs, Scout is on the run from the Alpha Pack with Liam and trying to survive. She’s alone and she doesn’t have anyone else she can turn to or trust. She’s trying to come to terms with the events that took place at the end of Time Mends. This book moves slowly (more slowly than most finale books), through most of the beginning; she spends her time travelling from one place to another, meeting some new people and making new friends. When she and Liam finally decide to settle down for a little while, they spend the time training and catching her up on the world of shifters and seers. While the narrative is slow, it is in no way dull. Ms. Blackwell keeps things moving at steady pace and keeps us hooked with really sharp writing (and some funny pop culture references)

 

I love Scout. After the end of the last book, she could’ve easily turned into a blubbering, self-pitying mess but she didn’t. Her sarcasm, wit and irreverence were so refreshing amongst all that gloom and doom. She was awesome, a real Bad Ass!! Then there’s Liam, he features way more prominently in this book than he did in the previous ones. He and Alex are very different people. Alex was more easy-going, relaxed and had a more sunny disposition, Liam is anything but that: he’s used to caring for his little brother and is more the silent, brooding and stern type. And being stuck with each other (Scout and Liam) doesn’t always bring out the best in either of them. But, this time, we got a look at a very different Liam and I really liked him.. Now I have a confession to make, I sort of preferred him from the very beginning. Yes, Alex was very likable but somehow Liam always held my interest so I was very happy to see more of him. Alex and Nicole still appear in Scout’s and we find out what the ‘dream-but-not-a-dream’ thing is really about. Jase, Talley and the rest also feature but appear pretty late in story.

 

I will probably read Destiny Binds again in the near future, this book just blew me away and I can’t wait to revisit this world again!! This is one my favourite werewolf series (the other being Raised By Wolves trilogy, another great series) it was a great end to a great series, Thank you Ms. Blackwell!!!

Opal Cover Reveal

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well… There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different… And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger… and they know it.

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USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

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Seraphina (Seraphina #1) by Rachel Hartman Review

I was quite looking forward to this book and finished it recently. I really enjoyed it although it was a little slow to start but once it got going, it was almost impossible to put down. I was torn between dying to find out what happened next and trying to slow down so that I could make the book last longer. Alas, the former won.

The narrative moves at a nice pace, not too slow that you start daydreaming even as you’re reading and not too fast that you feel rushed through the story. Seraphina is very likeable heroine, strong and full of spunk. One of the things I liked most about this book was how well developed the characters were and their growth as we progress through the story. I thought Glisselda develops especially well, initially I thought she would be the quintessential spoilt brat but I was glad to be wrong. Although I think through the course of the book Orma is the one character who perhaps grows the most (with the exception of Seraphina of course) I was very happy with that and I hope we see him again in the upcoming sequels.

Now, about the way it ended, I thought it was an appropriate end and thank you Miss Hartman for not ending on a cliffhanger. It was welcome relief. And thank you also for letting us have some hope for Phina and Lucian’s relationship without compromising either character.

Which brings me to the matter of the sequels, can I please start pleading already for the sequels and hope and pray that you finish them real soon!!! Pretty please!! 😀

Dreamless (Starcrossed #2) by Josephine Angelini Review

Ok, so I just finished Dreamless and this was even better than the 1st book. The book progresses really well and it’s so fast paced, there’s something happening all the time. Loved the action.

There are some new characters this time around (Gods and other Scions) and can I just say Orion is so amazing!!! Seriously, he’s way better than Lucas. I liked Lucas in the 1st book but he kinda got a little annoying in this book. But since we all know that Helen and Lucas aren’t really cousins at all, I have a feeling that they’re gonna end up getting together in the final installment. So I already feel bad for Orion  I am hoping (and praying) that Helen ends with Orion!! He’s so much more fun than Lucas. Please please please let that happen. I have to say that Hector is definitely my favourite character. With Orion coming in at a close second. I’m not sure I like this almost obsessive ‘love’ between Helen and Lucas, is it even love or just plain obsession? I’m just glad that Angelini didn’t go the Stephanie Meyer way, thank you very much. That would’ve just been unhealthy not to mention boring, ‘oh-woe-is-me nonsense.

So all in all, this book was a lot of fun and a great read. Loved it!

Borrowed Ember (Fire Spirits #3) by Samantha Young Review

I finally finished reading Borrowed Ember and I am so glad it is over. This book was a mix of good and bad. It had me hooked in the beginning and then at the end. The middle was a whole different deal, it was so damn slow, I seriously thought about just dumping it. But I’m kinda glad I didn’t because of the last bit.

While reading the whole Roe family bit, I got the feeling that the whole thing was very similar to the Guild and the Douglas family from her Shades of Blood series. I couldn’t help but think of that. Fallon and Tobe were also very similar.

Now about the Ari and Jai thing, I am very happy she and Jai got together. I get it, they’re madly in love but I think it was over done here. Seriously, there were more serious things happening in the story arc than just their sexual frustration. But then the argument can be made that that is precisely why they were so hot and heavy. Blah!

SPOILER AHEAD

[ And what’s the deal with killing Sala and Fallon!!?? Fallon was a great character, she was fun and irreverent in a way Ari could never be and we only just met Sala (ok, so she was always around as Ms. Maggie but still!!) it sucked that not one but two great characters were axed!! Not cool!! I’m having a tough time letting go of that. SPOILER OVER

But it was also nice to see a more openly emotional side of Red. Of all the Jinn Kings, he’s definitely the only one Ari can really count on. White remains an ASS! Asmodeus is developing really well. I think he’s not really as cold and indifferent as he pretends to be..

Book 4 comes out in November and I can only hope that it better than this. I really like Samantha’s books and her writing so I am holding on to hope for the next one.