Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Title: The Deal
Author: Elle Kennedy
Series: Off-Campus, Book 1
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: 24 February 2015

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy...

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice…even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date.

...and it’s going to be oh so good.

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

What in the name of hell took me so long to read this?? I would say I don't know what I was thinking...but the truth of the matter is that I do. I was going to say that New Adult and me don't really get along, but the truth of the matter is that I'm incredibly gun-shy about it. First, I've read a MILLION reviews of NA books from friends, and they horrify me. Second, NA is - primarily - contemporary romance; not my favorite genre. Third, I'm not a fan of angst, and there's usually plenty of angst to go around in New Adult. So, I get them, because they sound good, but then they languish on my shelf for ages until I finally pick them up.

No matter how much I love Elle Kennedy's Out of Uniform series (and I seriously love that series - don't judge me that it's more sex than story, at least for the first half dozen books - it's fun AND sexy as fucking hell), it still took a friend's amazing updates to make me excited to pick this up. I have mentioned that I'm not a fan of NA, right? I want to be, I swear I do, and I've actually had pretty good luck - but that's probably because I'm incredibly picky, and only read the NA that my trusted friends vouch for.

And then, even when I'd decided to read it, I waited until I had some buddies to read it with. Because I'm a coward. And, if it sucked, I needed someone to bitch with and commiserate with.

First things first, because when I opened the book and read this sentence - on the first page - I wish I'd had a little warning.

***TRIGGER WARNING***:

The heroine in this novel was raped, five years before the start of the book, but it is mentioned fairly frequently. She's still dealing with it, and it comes up in discussions, thoughts, and memories in regards to some situations. And I'll talk about it a lot in my review below.

Best of 2015

2015 was a year of change for me. I became engaged in November 2014, moved across country in February 2015, worked remotely for several months, and have recently changed jobs, bought a house, and planned my wedding. I didn't get as much reading done as normal, and because of that re-reads took up a greater portion of my total reading this year, but I enjoyed - thoroughly - my year in books.

BOOKS

It bothers me, a little, that the list doesn't have even numbers, but it can't be helped. These all deserve to be on the list (no matter if it's 'best of' or 'worst of' or even the 'bonus books' list which I couldn't resist adding).

Here are the book stats: (Through 22 December 2015)
67 Read Books
28 Re-Read Books
39 New-to-Me Books

Of those 39 New-to-Me Books, there were:
7 Five-Star Reads
7 Four-Star Reads
7 Three-Star Reads
4 Two-Star Reads
14 One-Star Reads (10 of which were DNFs)

Review: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

Title: Grave Witch
Author: Kalayna Price
Series: Alex Craft, Book 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 21 September 2010

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say...

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around...

To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life... and her soul.

I've been looking forward to this book for a really long time. I bought it when it first came out, and then it languished on my ever-growing to-read shelf. It wasn't purposeful, but I had so many other things to read that I just never really got around to it. So, when some friends of mine decided to do a buddy read of the series, I jumped in!

Unfortunately, this book let me down on multiple levels. The biggest of which was Alex, herself. She's just not a heroine that reaches out and grabs me, connects with me. I like that she's got some stuff going on, that she's strong and powerful - even more so than she realizes, as is pretty normal in UF books, but she still has some weaknesses to work out. I imagine they will be worked out, to make her even more strong and powerful, but for right now there are some pretty significant drawbacks to her using her Sight. And yet...she's boring. I'm not connecting to her. I don't care.

Then there's the love triangle. On the one hand, it's a better than most love-triangle, but on the other...well, I just don't buy it. Falin is an asshole, that I kind of hate. And Death just isn't there enough for me to buy his 'I love her' moment. Though, I'm currently rooting for Death. Weird. I don't know what to do with that. But I can't get behind a guy that says 'For a woman with your reputation, you're incredibly difficult to get into bed,' like she owes him something. Ugh. Rage-inducing moment, there.

The world set-up suffers in weird ways here. There's both too much set-up and not enough. Then you have the fact that every single thing that happens in the book feels contrived, I could feel the author's hand in setting up and pushing the characters through to the desired storyline. Nothing felt organic. Yeah, yeah, I know that this is fiction and the author actually makes this up, but I want to lose myself in the story. And I can't do that if nothing feels real.

I'm thinking that this probably suffers from first-book-syndrome. A lot of first books in series do. And I'm slightly curious to see if it gets better in the second book, if things pick up and I start to actually care about any of the characters, but not enough to actually pick it up at this point. I'll read some friends' reviews and see what they have to say before I jump back into this world. Finishing the first book was hard enough because I only had moments where I was actually interested. I don't want to do that to myself again.

Grade: D

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Review: Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Title: Magic Stars
Author: Ilona Andrews
Series: Kate Daniels, Book 8.5
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: Christmas 2015

Novella set in Kate Daniels world...

Derek Gaunt has no family and few friends. Scarred, solitary, he is the lone wolf who separated from his pack. When those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through magic-drenched Atlanta.

Soon Julie Olsen joins him and what begins as revenge turns into the race to save the city. Their search puts them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.

I went into this novella knowing very little, except that it had potentially world-changing events within its pages. Now that I'm done - I tore through this on my (extended) lunch break today - I can definitely say that's the dead-honest truth.

I've long wanted a Derek book, and I've been 'shipping Derek and Julie, hard, for a very long time (since the metal rose). To say I was excited when I realized exactly who this would center around is a massive understatement. I could not wait to dive into the world. I thought, initially, that it would be told in Julie's point-of-view, but it's actually in Derek's, and I think I like that better. I think Julie might have begun to sound a bit too much like Kate, not that that would be unrealistic, but it would make it harder to fall into the story.

Derek has a very different voice. Different from Kate, Curran, and just about every other character I've read from Ilona Andrews. And I love that. He's himself. If you've read the rest of the series you know who Derek is (if you haven't, stop here and go start!), and exactly how Kate describes his scars - which is minimally. I like that when we get to step into other characters' heads in this series we learn a bit more about Kate and Curran as well. Kate tends to minimize things that others would see as faults or disfigurements in her friends and loved ones, and even though I suspected that, seeing how true it is in regards to Derek's scars was a bit of a revelation. I think an even bigger revelation, though, was the scars he carries on the inside. He hides them well, until we're in his head.

Julie kicks ass. I'm not usually a fan of kids in stories, because they're generally written so unrealistically. That was never a problem with Julie, she's always been exactly who she is, and it never felt forced or fake (like some kids do). She's grown so much, and seeing those changes in her is amazing. She's strong, and powerful, and smart, and absolutely, awesomely, self-assured and confident. I love her. A lot.

I won't say a lot about the plot because it is a novella and I don't want to risk spoiling anything, but I will say that a lot of new, interesting, world-building things appear. And a few WORLD-CHANGING things are revealed. I think I'd known some of the revelations from previous books, but the extent of the implications and knowledge of that was nothing compared to what I learned here. I can't wait to see how this affects everything going forward. Considering we're in the home-stretch of the main story-arc of the series, this story just amps up my excitement - and worry - for everyone I love in this series.

This book was amazing - I always enjoy the Kate Daniels' World novellas, but this one is something else altogether. I loved every moment and read it in one sitting. Now I just want more.

And I still 'ship Derek and Julie. Harder now than ever before.

Grade: A

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Review: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Title: The Great Hunt
Author: Robert Jordan
Series: The Wheel of Time, Book 2
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Release Date: 17 November 2009

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. For centuries, gleemen have told of The Great Hunt of the Horn. Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.

And it is stolen.

I think this series, so far, is presenting me with the hardest time I've ever had writing my reviews. I want to talk, and all that seems to be ready to come out is: "OMG! IT'S AMAZING!!!! READ IT NOW!!!!! I CAN'T STOP!!!!!!

I resorted to bullet points in my last review, and I'm not even sure that can help this time. So bear with me while I spew out whatever I can manage to get out. If you haven't started this series, just go to my review of The Eye of the World and GO START THIS AMAZING SERIES.

The Great Hunt picks up right where The Eye of the World left off, and very quickly ups all the antes. Even more so than the first book, I was locked in suspense for the entirety of this novel. I hated having to put it down, because I worried about everyone. Would they be hurt? How would they be changed? What was going to happen? There's too many people in danger! Gah! Help! It definitely wasn't an easy read, I was incredibly stressed while reading, but it made for one hell of an amazing roller-coaster of a ride.

The Horn of Valere is one of the most important things that needs to be found prior to the Last Battle. It recalls the heroes of legends to fight - for whomever sounds it, good or evil. Ever since the horn was first mentioned in The Eye of the World, I've been waiting to see what would happen with it. I hoped that it'd be our heroes that found it, sounded it, and couldn't wait to see the heroes of legend return. After hearing so much about them, from so many different sources, to say I was excited would be a gross understatement.

All of my favorite characters from the last book are here and we get to know them so much better. Plus, there are new characters that are given more time and more depth. Some we'd met briefly in the pages of The Eye of the World - like Bayle Domon - others, we hadn't yet met at all - Ingtar was a particular favorite of mine in this book. None of them has an easy path. Obstacles, despair, trickery, and the Pattern itself throws them all into disarray and sometimes complete confusion.

I still love Rand, even if I want to occasionally smack him and make him take three-seconds to actually listen. Two Rivers stubbornness, in truth. Mat's growing on me. Especially at the end, I think I might end up loving him. Perrin....well, I think when he truly accepts himself, that's going to be something to see. I can't wait for that moment. I absolutely LOVE Lan, and he's not in this enough - though when he is, they're awesome and impressive moments, that sometimes broke my heart. And Nynaeve. I love her. She's absolutely amazing. Strong and determined, stubborn and smart. I even grew to appreciate Egwene a bit more. She ... scared me at one point, and might have had one of my favorite lines in the book. And Min, I'd hate to have her ability, but I love her to death. I'm so glad we got more of her here.

Lanfear scares the shit out of me. She's not only one of the Forsaken, incredibly powerful, and crazy, she thinks that Lews Therin - her lover before he married - is hers. No matter the incarnation. You can imagine how this might be bad for certain other characters I love. It's not only that she lays a claim on him, it's that she so obviously doesn't even know the man she claims. I don't think she knew Lews Therin, probably why they never made it, and she definitely doesn't know his reincarnation now. If she did, she wouldn't go about her machinations in the way she does.

There's the Children, who I think I will always hate. Their superiority and self-righteousness is impossible. Not only do they punish people who have no reason to be punished, but they then decide that the 'sins of the father' be visited TEN generations down, and the 'sins of the mother' SEVEN generations down. Are you freaking kidding me? Actual children are guilty of things they know nothing about? You choose to be bigoted assholes. Maybe you should look for actual Darkfriends instead of accusing innocent people, or people that you just don't understand. Ugh. I hate you. I hope you all die.

But the real threat in this book, besides the Dark One himself, is the Seanchan. They arrive from seemingly nowhere to demand obedience and punish those who didn't wait for them - over hundreds of years - to return. This might not seem too bad, but add in the fact that they ride enormous bear-like creatures, with scales, three-eyes, and sharp, hooked beaks. Then add in that they're big fans of slavery. Not only of their servants (who'd rather kill themselves than live without their masters), but of wielders of the One Power. I think that's the thing that scared me the most. They chained and control women who should be Aes Sedai. I can't even deal with that kind of insanity. And the way they control them? I just can't.

I haven't even mentioned all the threats, there's still the Trollocs, and Myrddraal. And the various Darkfriends - which are in every aspect of this world, infiltrating some of the most unexpected places, which is scary as hell. There's the threat of the Black Ajah - an Aes Sedai that serves the Dark One. I know, WTF? The guy that I won't even name, because he might scare me a little more than the Dark One does.

All of these things, all of these worries, all of these threats...and I was nearly having a coronary while reading. Right up through the ending my eyes were wide with wonder.

I'll be starting the next one, soon. Very, very soon. I know I've got twelve books left, and there's a lot that can happen to everyone I love. I'm still worried, truth be told. There's a lot at stake, and they're right in the middle of it. Ta'veren. Pulling me in.

Grade: A

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Review: Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Faefever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever, Book 3
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 16 September 2008

Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V'lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds with devastating consequences.

I never wrote a review for this before. How the hell is that even possible? Scratch that. I know why. This book is ... world-changing, heart-breaking, intense, mind-blowing. I'm not sure that I could ever begin to do justice to the emotions that I feel throughout it.

Even now, even knowing how things turn out, what happens and how it all goes down, I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of this book, needing to see, needing to know.

Spoiler-free? This book is amazing. I quoted as much as I could without spoilering anywhere, but there's so much more that I wanted to. Even in this, dark as it sometimes is, there was a great amount of humor, and I wished I could share more of it.

If the walls come down completely, all the Unseelie will be freed, not just the lower castes that are currently managing to get through somehow. The most powerful of the Unseelie Royal Houses will escape." He paused and when he spoke again, his voice was low, urgent. "Myth equates the heads of those four houses, the dark princes, with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

I knew who they were: Death, Pestilence, War, and Famine.

Mac's Growth: I love how consistently it's increased. Mac doesn't just become stronger and better and smarter. She learns - sometimes difficultly - and grows organically. I know that some people have issues with Mac in the first few books, but I get her. Even when I want her to trust Barrons, I applaud her for not. Yes, he gives plenty of reasons to, but there are those times when his actions are more ambiguous. I love that she doesn't trust him just because. I love that she doesn't really trust anyone, except herself, and she's using all she can to make herself more self-reliant.

But left to my own devices I'd prefer to skim over the events of the next few weeks, and whisk you through those days with glossed-over details that cast me in a more flattering light.

Nobody looks good in their darkest hour. But it's those hours that make us what we are. We stand strong, or we cower. We emerge victorious, tempered by our trials, or fractured by a permanent, damning fault line.

I never used to think about thinks like darkest hours and trials and fault lines.

Barrons: That being said, god-damn, do I love this male. He's so freaking....everything. I can't even help it. The small moments of humour. The moments of approval. The moments where it's very clear he wants to help her become everything she can be. The way he ensures that she maintains her agency. And when he does answer questions? Damn. Love.

"What are you? I said irritably.

"In the Serengeti, Ms. Lane, I would be the cheetah. I'm stronger, smarter, faster, and hungrier than everything else out there. And I don't apologize to the gazelle when I take it down."

V'lane: I don't love V'lane. Never did. But in this book he ... became something different for me. He redeemed himself to a small degree, for a time...

"Your wards are laughable. They could not prevent a nightmare of me from getting in."

Sidhe-Seers: I love that there are more strong females out there. Females that have the will to make their own choices, even in the midst of crisis. This is probably my favorite thing about these books: Women are STRONG. Don't forget it.

"You are not one of us."

"I say she is, and she just got off to a bad start. She didn't have anyone to help her figure things out. How would you guys have done in the same situation? She's just trying to survive, like we all are."

The Plot: OMG. JFC. Everything's coming to a head. Things are getting real.

"Speaking of which, I've decided I see the wisdom of your advice."

"Has Hell frozen over?" he said dryly.

"Funny. I'm not going to ask you questions tonight, Barrons. I'm going to ask you for three actions."

Interest uncoiled like a dark snake in his eyes. "Go on."

This book was the hardest ending for me to read on my first read. It's dark. And final. And there was no Dreamfever in sight for more than a year. I had to wait, and speculate, and wonder. I'm glad I don't any longer.


Grade: A

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Review: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Title: The Eye of the World
Author: Robert Jordan
Series: The Wheel of Time, Book 1
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Release Date: 16 January 1990

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, and Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

For a very, very long time this series has intimidated the hell out of me. I first started hearing about it sometime in the late 1990s. At that time there were seven or eight books out (less than the fourteen that finalized the series), but I was scared as hell because they are DOORSTOPPERS, and there was NO END in sight. I worried that the series would never end. I worried that it'd suck and I'd be stuck reading thousands of pages of books that I hated (this was back in my MUST FINISH EVERYTHING stage of life). But most of all, I worried that I'd love it and be stuck waiting forever for the end (also back in my no-bigger-than-a-trilogy stage with a few exceptions). So I put it off, waiting for the right moment. I've had this book on my to-read shelf for nearly 2 decades.

Honestly, I'm glad I waited. I'm not sure 15-year-old me would have appreciated this in quite the same way that adult-me does. Even though I thought I knew it all and read far beyond my age at the time, I know there are ideas and concepts that just wouldn't have held the gravitas that they do now. I wouldn't have missed them because they'd have flown right over my young head, but it wouldn't have been the same experience.

I still should have read them long before now, but by that time the length of the series started to intimidate me for a whole other reason. It is SO LONG. Good gods, we're talking over ELEVEN THOUSAND pages in total. Eleven thousand. That's an epic story if ever there was one.

Thankfully, I have some friends that praise the hell out of this series and finally convinced me to pick up the first book and start my journey.

This last month while reading this book has been one of the best book experiences of my life. I'm not sure I can do a review justice, which is probably why I've spent so much time talking about my journey to this book. What I can, definitively, say is that it is very worth it. Maybe a bullet-review will help...

• The World: I've read a lot of books. I've read my fair share of fantasy, even. I've never, never entered a world that is so intricate, well-built, and detailed as this one. One book and we've already seen and learned so much of it, but I feel like we've barely touched the surface. Not only is there a vast amount of geography to cover, there's a ton of cultures, races, species, and magic. The history here is so intricate that I have a hard time imagining Robert Jordan being able to keep it all straight, but he does, beautifully in this first installment. I never floundered over what or who something was, never felt like I was reading info-dumps of information, and was always glued to the pages to learn more, more, MORE.
• The Characters: I tried, the other day, to say my favorite character and ended up with a list of about fifteen. There's such diversity and complexity to the characters that I can't help but be interested in almost everyone that I meet. I'm rooting for them, worried for them, and hoping that I get to see a lot more of each of them (with 11,000 pages, I should certainly see a bunch of some of them).
• The Prose: This writing. Holy shit. It's lyrical and beautiful, sparse and pointed. It's everything it needs to be in every place it needs to be it. There are some passages that are so arresting I had to stop and re-read them several times before I could even move on. Not only is the prose gorgeous, but the writing itself is tight. You'd be forgiven for thinking that such a long book has some (large) amount of fluff, but you wouldn't be right. There's nothing extra here, just what's needed, and it makes the book fly by.
• The Plot/Pacing: All I can say here is that I never wanted to put it down. I always resented work, sleep and my commute for getting in the way of my continuing this story. The pacing is spot-on, the plot is amazingly suspenseful, and in the end it's everything I could have hoped for.

That's all I've got. The rest is fangirl squeeing, and incoherent muttering about how fucking amazing this book is.

Now excuse me, I have to go start The Great Hunt.

Grade: A+

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Review: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Title: Sweep in Peace
Author: Ilona Andrews
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles, Book 2
Genre: Science-Fiction/Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 13 November 2015

Dina DeMille doesn’t run your typical Bed and Breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina's door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, keeping the peace between Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. On top of keeping her guests from murdering each other, she must find a chef, remodel the inn... and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it's all in the day's work for an Innkeeper...

I think it's a fairly well-known fact that I'm a HUGE Ilona Andrews fan-girl. I try not to let this influence my reviews of their books, and in fact I think it makes me judge them a little more harshly in some lights, but the fact of the matter is that I just flat-out enjoy their stories. It's hard for me to find serious faults with them. And when I'm having fun, when I'm invested, and when an author can bring out the sort of emotions that Ilona Andrews manages - well, that results in an excellent review from me.

Dina's stuck in the middle of some serious peace negotiations - where neither side is really sure if they can even begin to compromise on their terms to reach peace. Each faction wants peace, I think that much is clear, but I think I've never had a fiction novel show me so clearly how hard it is to get to that when you've got years of war and devastation behind you. This novel struck at my heart for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that war is devastating. I think that's clear from our current events, and peace is something we need now, more than ever. I find myself wishing that we could protect all of Earth's inhabitants with a peace summit - even one as difficult as the one here.

I wish I'd written this review yesterday, before I heard about the devastation that's happened in Paris, before I was reminded about how much we hurt each other on this planet. I'm finding it hard to think of anything else, now.

This is an excellent book. A great addition into the series, and I really, honestly, can't wait to see where they take us next. The world keeps getting bigger - when you have a full universe to work with, it should - and I find there are more and more characters that I care about and want to see a LOT more of.

The stakes are high in this novel, not just for the races seeking peace, but for Dina herself. If you've read The Edge series, you're familiar with George and Jack - we get quite a bit more of them here. And all I can say is that it's not enough. I need so much more with them, because it's more than obvious that none of their stories are finished yet either.

Ilona Andrews is my favorite author. With good reason.

Grade: A

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Review: Girl From Above: Escape by Pippa DaCosta

Title: Girl From Above: Escape
Author: Pippa DaCosta
Series: The 1000 Revolution, Book 2 (Serial)
Genre: Sci-Fi Erotica Romance
Release Date: 19 June 2015

"There’s no quicker way to get yourself killed than trusting someone in the black." ~ Caleb.

Caleb Shepperd knows Fran has her own motives for helping him escape prison, but he’s not about to let a little thing like past betrayal stand in the way of his next paycheck. Until he’s forced to meet with the sexy and psychotic pirate, Adelina Cande. They’ve met before. When he seduced her, cleared out her credit account, and left her for dead in-the-black.

Caleb figures Adelina holds a grudge when she plants a bomb on his ship and demands he steal a fleet freighter for her, that is, if he ever wants to fly again. Get him drunk enough and he’ll try anything once, but this time, he has to balance his own greed, with the needs of a vengeful pirate and the scheming of his dubious second-in-command, Fran. What could possibly go wrong?

In the heart of Chitec headquarters, #1001 enlists an eager young technician to aid in her escape. But it’s not freedom she wants. It’s revenge. The memories of a life that don’t belong to her demand she finishes what she started. She believes she killed Caleb, now she's targeting Chitec CEO Chen Hung, and not even the hopeful technician can dissuade her.

Synthetics don't make mistakes.

She thought she knew the truth.

She was wrong.

It's not often that a second book in a series (or serial) will get a higher grade than the first from me. This one does. And earns it. Partly because it blew through all my expectations and gave me something that I wasn't expecting - more than once.

Everything I said in the first one still holds. Our protagonists are not heroes - they're not good people, and yet....I still root for them. I think that probably says more about me than it does about them.

There's a HUGE twist at one point in the book. Something I did NOT see coming, and still really shocks me with its simplicity and I-should-have-known moment. Then there's the moment when I start to complain about something, thinking that one thing is going on, thinking that it should go a different way, and something even better than I imagined happening, happened. Hell yes. Loved it.

There's a lot of sex, or near sex, in these books. It's usually angry sex, without a lot of "good" emotions behind it. But it's freaking hot as hell. And, to quote my friend Navessa:

Also, I figure in a near-lawless space setting, sex would be as common as violence, which seems to be the case in these books. Now that I think about it, I tend to feel that way about any setting in which humanity breaks down.

It's a good point, and I definitely agree. Violence and Sex are BIG in this series. So is self-recrimination, questionable actions, double-crossing, and lawlessness. For a society that's supposed to be "perfect" with Fleet and Chitec...it's pretty fucking grim.

And the ending? I saw it coming, I knew it would happen from the moment the scene started, and still - I read that last sentence and groaned that I have to wait (at least) a month-and-a-half for the next book. I needs it, precious. I needs it, NOW.

Grade: A

Review: Girl From Above: Betrayal by Pippa DaCosta

Title: Girl From Above: Betrayal
Author: Pippa DaCosta
Series: The 1000 Revolution, Book 1 (Serial)
Genre: Sci-Fi Erotica Romance
Release Date: 21 April 2015

WARNING: 18+ only. Adult content. Including sex, drug use, violence, & swearing.

"My name is #1001, and I am not ready to die." I’d only just begun to live.

When Captain Caleb Shepperd is released from prison, all he wants to do is keep his head down and earn a living smuggling illegal cargo through the nine systems. So when a synth stows away on his ship, and brings with her a crap-ton of problems, including guilt-ridden secrets he thought he’d escaped, he’d prefer to toss her out the airlock. The problem is, she’s priceless tech, and he’s fresh out of credit.

#1001 is not meant to exist. Created for a single purpose, she has one simple order: to kill. But not everything is as it seems. Buried deep inside, she remembers... Remembers when she was human. And she remembers what Shepperd did to her. She’s not ready to die, but she is ready to kill.

Novel length: Approximately 43,000 words. 155 Kindle pages. 177 paperback pages. (Not including sample chapter)
Genre: Space opera.

I feel awkward reviewing this because it's not an entire story. It's the beginning of the story. It does have a nice arc - for which I'm thankful - but it's so clearly just the start that I almost want to wait until I've read the next 2 books (which should finish it out, I hope) before I review and grade it. The ending can make a huge difference in how I feel about the earlier sections. However, this part of the story still made a really big impression on me and I have to talk about it.

One of my best friends recommended this book to me - in all CAPS - and we usually are on the same exact page when it comes to awesome books. So I immediately bought this one, and the second one from Amazon. (Sidenote: $2.99 for under 200 pages? Not cool. I'm going to end up paying around $9 for a full-length novel. Ugh. Do not like. Anyway.)

I flew through it. Read most of it on my lunch, and then did some sneak-reading because I just couldn't stop.

The world is interesting, but a fairly light background to the story and characters. It's a prop for them to play in front of. And I'm okay with that here. I would like to see it further explored, and see the implications of the characters' actions dig deep into that world, but that's for the second and third parts to live up to, I think.

What really shines here are the characters - which is kind of ironic, because none of the characters are what you would consider "good" people. Caleb (I love this name, I hate when it's shortened to Cale) is our "hero." And I use that term incredibly loosely. He's a womanizer, smuggler, asshole. He thinks with his dick, and has little regard for consequences. He also has a TON of guilt and self-recrimination (justly and rightly so).

Fran, Caleb's second-in-command (and only crewmate, so the title confused me a bit) fascinated me. She's Caleb in a female body. Everything I hate about him, I hate about her. They have little regard for anyone, including themselves. They're destructive and assholes. But...I love them. They're the kind of characters that I want to see - not redeemed exactly, but whole. I want to see them have the contentment they deserve, whatever that may entail. I want to see them stop hating themselves.

#1001 was a mystery for most of the book, though I began to guess about a third of the way in, so I don't want to spoil too much. Suffice it to say that I'm most interested in her. She has a hell of a story, and I'm really, really, really looking forward to seeing how Pippa DaCosta brings it all together.

The plot doesn't seem like much of anything until you get near the end - which is why I say that this is a starter story. It doesn't finish much of anything. What it does do is pull you in, sit you down, tie you up and demand that you finish. It builds beautifully, and upon finishing I immediately grabbed part two. I'm already lamenting the fact that the third (and final) part isn't available until December 2015.

Grade: B+ (I reserve the right to change this)