Book Reviews

Posted in YA Book Reviews

Soulmated

Posted on by Little Bee

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Soulmated by Shaila Patel

Goodreads rating: 5 Stars

 

I received a copy of Soulmated from the author in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for this review. These opinions are my own.

 

Soulmated is the story about an Empath (someone who is often sensitive and affected by the energy or emotions of others around them) prince, Liam, who is on a quest to find The One in which he will become Soulmated with. The two would then become very powerful in the Empath community, of which there are MANY in the Council and even Elders who are leary of Liam finding a Soulmate because of the power the couple will have. Liam is searching for a female who his dad has visions about, someone on the cusp of becoming an Empath herself. Which leads him to a small town in North Carolina, where he meets Laxshmi, or,  “Lucky.” The two go on one hell of an adventure which takes the reader on a wild and emotional ride.

This book will literally steal your heart and capture your soul. This book left me so hungover, I felt like a junkie desperately searching for my next fix. This book left me so shattered, I couldn’t breathe, see, or think after I finished. The last time I felt this raw after a book was when I read I’m Still Here in 2014.

The story is very beautifully written, making the reader feel every raw emotion. It was such an easy read, but didn’t feel “simple” at all. I like to do most of my ratings on how I feel or connect with a book, and this book just sucked me in. I was a goner from the very beginning. It is one of those stories I want everyone to read because it is so great, but also want to keep it all to myself like a jealous lover (I will rip off a ladybug’s wings, I swear it, I will) afraid to let anyone else close.

This book can be enjoyed by high school and older. It is a young adult, but does not feel “kiddish” like some young adult books can come off like. I didn’t find myself frustrated with Lucky and her constantly wallowing in her head. I think Patel really wrote the story in such a way that it didn’t put the story down because the character couldn’t stop questioning every little action….because of what Lucky was experiencing, it made the constant self-doubt very understandable and acceptable. I loved reading the changes in Liam as he grew towards Lucky. I equally loved reading how Lucky really came into herself.

I LOVED Lucky’s mom…I know Lucky and her mom are constantly at war with each other, but I really enjoyed her. My one real qualm with the book is the Indian terminology used, not because there were Indian terms in it, but because for majority of the terms used, I had no idea what it was and my Kindle would not translate it, or would give a translation to some other word that I knew was not correct because it wouldn’t fit with the sentence. There also was not a dictionary of those terms that I could find in the book, which may have been helpful, especially because they appeared to be slang terms. I didn’t knock down the rating for this primarily because I didn’t feel like not knowing the terms took away from the story. Some of the words were types of endearment, and some were directed towards people, but I didn’t understand why, and that was mainly it.

So, as a recap….find the book Here on Amazon and give it a go!!!! Seriously!!

Posted in YA Book Reviews

The Seafarer’s Kiss

Posted on by Little Bee

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The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember

Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

 

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I would like to think the author for this opportunity.

 

The Seafarer’s Kiss is a retelling of the Little Mermaid, and though this story is largely about mermaids, I feel it is more accurate that this tale is a retelling of Ursula. I say this largely on my knowledge of Disney’s version. Similarities between The Seafarer’s Kiss and The Little Mermaid include: The Little Mermaid and Ersel (The Seafarer’s Kiss) both saving a human from a shipwreck, they both desperately want to leave their underwater kingdom for the land, their love of all things human, and both stories have a Sea Witch (in The Seafarer’s Kiss, the Sea Witch is Loki).

Ersel (sounds like Ursula, doesn’t it??) is not a princess. She is anxiously waiting The Grading, where someone from Aegir’s court comes and determines the mermaids who come of age’s fertility and how many children “eggs” they can hatch to keep the population up. Once the number is released, this number follows them forever. If the number is high, then the males began fighting for them as mates. Ersel is desperately afraid and her dream is to leave the icy glacier their kingdom is situated and experience the rest of the world. Prior to The Grading, she meets and protects and young woman named Ragna, which she falls in love with. Eventually, she is found by her former friend, who betrayed her becoming a guard for the evil king, and is informed that she no longer had a choice but to become her mate. After The Grading, she makes a deal with Loki, knowing she should not. This deal went awry and she was turned into a “monster,” her fins turned into legs similar to Ursula’s. In order to prevent any potential spoilers, she is banished and takes up residence in a boat that has been shipwrecked since Ersel was a child. Loki visits her again to strike up a new deal in order to get her fins back, or something else she desires. Ersel then moves forward in the story with this new deal in mind.

I will not give away the end, but the second part of this story was much better than the first part. I felt that the story was a bit boring prior to Ersel’s banishment. I felt the relationship with Ragna came off kind of forced (from a writer perspective, not that Ersel was forced into a relationship by Ragna), specifically the intimate interactions the two encountered together. I also had a hard time connecting with any particular character and I felt disappointed with the end of the story.

Even though I feel this story is 3.5 overall, I still gave it a 4 star rating because I felt the retelling was a very unique aspect. I felt the imagery of the story was great, and for the  most part, I could visualize along with the story’s narrator. I especially liked the Norse aspect of included in the story. By the end of the story, I still thought this would be a great segue into Ursula/Sea Witch territory for a retelling!

This story is a pretty quick read and flows easily. It is just over 200 pages and can be easily knocked out in a day, depending on the kind of time a reader has to give it. I do wish it was a bit longer, in order to add more into the story to help connect, but if there is a sequel, I will definitely read it. At the end of the day, I would recommend this to others. Just because I did not connect, does not mean others will not. A lot of people really enjoy the book, I just wish there was more and felt parts a bit boring and hard to get through. I enjoyed the author’s writing style, which is important as well.

Posted in YA Book Reviews

Troy High

Posted on by Little Bee

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Troy High by Shana Norris, Narrated by Khristine Hvam

Rating: 4 stars

Narrator Rating: 5 stars

 

I selected to listen to Troy High over reading the physical book due to the narration style of Khristine Hvam. Hvam brought this Homer’s Iliad retelling to life narrating the intense feud between the Troy High Trojans and the Laseed High Spartans. When the school rezoning happened and one of the popular, beautiful Spartan cheerleaders, Elena, becomes a Trojan teenager, it is only the beginning of a series of increasingly unfortunate events. Putting forward into motion these events, Elena begins dating the protagonist’s, Cassie, brother. Elena decided the perfect time to tell her Spartan on-again-off-again boyfriend, was during one of the first Spartan football games of the season. For the Spartans, this meant war.

Cassie is a sophmore in high school. She goes unnoticed until Elena comes to the school. Elena and Cassie become fast friends, even though Elena’s Spartan boyfriend is the older brother of Cassie’s BFF (whom she secretly wants more with), Greg. Once Elena befriends Cassie, Cassie grows a new found popularity, that she is not wanting to let go of. Once Elena break’s up with her Spartan boyfriend, the Spartans launch a series of pranks against the Trojans. Not to be outdone, Cassie’s 2 older brothers Perry and Hunter lead the charge in retaliation against the Spartans. Caught in between is Cassie and Greg, each on opposing sides, trying desperately to remain friends.

There were very intense moments within the story, especially the culmination of the gifted Trojan Horse from Spartan’s 10th Grade Council at the Homecoming game. I felt that the story was easy to follow along with. I felt that, even though there were times Cassie came off whiney, many of the students dealt with very real issues that we have all experienced in some capacity in high school.  I felt Cassie’s inner struggles about whether or not Greg reciprocates her feelings were very easy to relate to as I am sure at some point we have all been there.

I really enjoyed the narrator. Hvam has narrated many high rated series such as Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Vampire Academy, and Shade of Vampire. She was able to adequately portray and narrate emotions for the characters and the gut wrenching, intense pranks/experiences.

I am glad the end happened the way it did, but I was starting to question it at some point. I really didn’t know for a while if it would end how I desperately needed it to. This may not be the best written book you will ever read, but it was quick, enjoyable, and brought a new way to retell a classic like Homer’s Iliad.

Posted in YA Book Reviews

Heartless

Posted on by Little Bee

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Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 2 stars

Narrator Rating: 5 stars

I received Heartless in my OwlCrate box for the Alice in Wonderland theme. I was super excited to read this story, however, it really missed the mark for me.

Heartless is the story of the young woman (Catherine) who turns into the Queen of Hearts in the beloved childhood classic, Alice in Wonderland. Even though the reader knows what the end result of the story is ultimately going to be, the path should have been an interesting one. I will admit, the last few chapters were my favorite and I felt they were the strongest. The events leading up to the end battle, were boring and it felt like too many words describing nothing in particular.

Catherine is the daughter of the Marquess of Rockturtle Cove. She has the dream of opening her own bakery and being the best baker in Hearts. Her mother forces her into a courtship with the King of Hearts, though she falls in love with another member of the Court. The story centers around her budding relationship with this person other than the King, who disgusts her.

I do not like writing negative reviews, at all, but I wanted to be honest with other readers. I was a bit disappointed, especially with how much I love Cinder. Meyer is a fantastic writer, and this story does show case her amazing writer skills, however, the story line was so boring.

The narrator was great! It was the same narrator of the Lunar Chronicles Rebecca Soler. My favorite part of the entire narration occurred towards the end, when Soler really broke out the Queen of Hearts evil voice. It is sad that the most enjoyment I got out of this story, was Catherine’s pain.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Left My Heart in Sin City

Posted on by Little Bee

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Left My Heart in Sin City by Trinity Blacio

Rating: 4 stars

 

I am pretty sure I received a copy of this book from Netgalley…but when I search for it, I cannot find it anywhere…..

I really enjoyed the start of this series. It was interesting and original. I did get a little confused at the beginning as there were a lot of names that seemed to change later, but this wasn’t the case. It appeared that when a new friend came into the picture at this conference, that is when you met that particular person, however, it would jump back and forth so it was sometimes hard to follow.

This story is very fast paced, as usual. Other than the many friends issue, it is fairly easy to keep up. Also as usual, an editor is needed, but the story was still great and fun to read. I found it interesting that Jess felt kind of like the author a little bit.

I really fell in love with Maverick. I pictured him as this distinguished older gentleman. Like the man pictured below:

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I really liked the turn of events the story had. There were so many things going on all at once, you felt bad for everyone because it was like they could not get a break!! When I finished this book, I immediately wanted book 2 in the series. I want to know what happens, and who is this mysterious Derek? I would have liked some more info on him and I am not sure why did Jess never question that?! As much as she questioned EVERYTHING in the story, she didn’t question who this mysterious man out to get her, who POISONED her and just accepted it?? Oh well…it was still enjoyable. I wish there were more sex scenes, because Trinity Blacio writes some pretty amazing scenes, and this book did not have many.

Posted in Book Reviews

One Good Knight

Posted on by Little Bee

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One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey, Narrated by Gabra Zackman

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

Actual Rating: 4.5 

Narrator Rating: 5

 

One Good Knight is a retelling loosely following the Greek myth of Andromeda. Where Greek Lore indicates Andromeda to be beautiful, One Good Knight indicates she is “lesser” than most females and more homely than beautiful. One Good Knight is also loosely based from St. George and the Dragon, however, it is really in name only as this does not end in an entire town going through religious conversion.

In One Good Knight, Andromeda (Andi) is very book smart and she starts to notice some magical irregularities in her research for the Queen. During this time, the Queen had her consort conjure a dragon to wreck havoc on the villages. Andi is tasked to find out how to “rid” the kingdom of the dragon and discovers meaningful sacrifice would do so. A lottery is set up for virginal women, and each week a new name is drawn. After a while, the reader discovers prior to the cast, that this lottery is not by chance, but whenever a family displeases the Queen or speaks out against the Queen, their daughter is “selected” in the lottery and sent to die. During one such lottery, Princess Andi’s name is drawn and she is sent to be sacrificed, and so the adventure begins.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns this particular story had. As a reader, it is often times easy to get bored when books do as you expect. One Good Knight keeps readers entranced. Without giving away spoilers, the ending has been one of the best I have enjoyed. Much like in The Fairy Godmother, the Tradition had a mind of it’s own, only in One Good Knight I really enjoyed the way the Tradition worked for the characters.  I feel Andi was well written. She is portrayed as a confused, homely, child not to be taken seriously for most of time leading up to her being sacrificed. Queen Cassiopia is one to be despised. She is heartless and offers up her daughter happily to be killed.

The reason the actual rating is 4.5 stars is mainly because it was soooo slow to start out. Once the excitement of Princess Andi being sacrificed to the dragon occurs, things really start to speed up.

I really can’t say there is a particular character I didn’t like, aside from the villains of course, but I even enjoyed them. I thought each character in the book gave the book it’s personality it took on. Oh but the twists!!! It would be too many spoilers to explain the twists, and I want any potential reader to be as shocked as I was when I first came to the twists.

I am really glad I started this series, and I look forward to more Virgin chasing unicorns, fairy godmothers, and all of the other Traditional tales yet to be discovered.

Posted in Book Reviews

Adam Exitus

Posted on by Little Bee

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 Adam Exitus by Nicholas Abdilla

Goodreads rating: 5 stars

Actual rating 4.5 stars

I was given a copy of this book from Old Mate Media in exchange for my honest review. 


I want to start with my negative first…the beginning was too slow and too confusing for me. I almost didn’t keep going. Give it a few chapters and things pick up. 

This story is about a man named Adam who wakes up face first in the mud one day in a cave far away from home. There is a beautiful woman in the cave with him but she doesn’t talk. He makes a promise to get them both free one day. After a few failed trips to find a way out, Adam almost resigns himself to stop trying. That’s when everything changes. 

I fear giving more detail about the synopsis will give away the whole book. It has twists and turns and I never knew how to feel. One minute I felt one way and then one action would change EVERYTHING. I can’t wait for people to read this book. It is such a breath of fresh air in the science fiction world!!! 

I look forward to reading more by this author! 

Get your copy:

www.oldmatemedia.com/shop 

Amazon: http://geni.us/AdamExitusK

iBooks: http://geni.us/AdamExitus

Posted in Spicy Romance

Escaped

Posted on by Little Bee

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Escaped by Trinity Blacio

Goodreads: 4 stars

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

 

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. 

Escaped is the first book in the Running in Fear series by Trinity Blacio. I have really turned into a fan of Blacio and my expectations were high.

I want to start with what I did not like about this story. My biggest issue with the overall story is that the leading lady, Jaycee, had been brutally raped as a child, and was in an abusive relationship and entered into a relationship that she didn’t fully understand AND the  men in that relationship did not take into consideration what she has gone through. I believe that many instances of “control” are abusive in themselves. My fear has always been when BDSM relationships begin to boarder controlling, abusive, relationships. Blacio does clearly identify both of these in the story, however, I believe Jaycee’s mates are blurring the lines. I often find that the males in Blacio’s stories are bullheaded and need knocked down a peg or two.

I did like everything else in the story. I thought there was excitement, great sex, action, and romance. The story was fairly quickly and I was ready to move on to the second book immediately. As usual, I really enjoyed the sexy scenes and thought they were done nicely.

If you haven’t read one of Blacio’s stories, I do encourage it. My biggest remark to the publisher is that a better editor is needed. Sometimes the wrong names are used, as was the case in this story, and in another story I am reading, the setting is wrong. I think this can really turn off some new, potential, readers.

Posted in Book Reviews

The Fairy Godmother

Posted on by Little Bee

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The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey, narrated by Gabra Zackman

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

Narrator Rating: 5 stars

 

A member of my book club talked about this series in a recent book club meeting. I decided to give the series a try. I really enjoyed the narrator. She made the story entertaining to listen to.

The Five Hundred Kingdoms series follows various individuals who discover what fairy tale the “Tradition” wants them to follow. In The Fairy Godmother, Elena was supposed to become Cinderella, however, after some unfortunate turns, she becomes the apprentice of the Fairy Godmother and eventually becomes the Fairy Godmother herself. During one of her Godmother tasks, she turns a prince into a donkey. This prince is supposed to learn about how he treated the Godmother, who had been disguised as an old beggar on the side of the road, is typical of how he treats all of those individuals of similar status. The Prince eventually learns that he was not living the life of a future good king, and begins to change.

I will not go into further detail, as the book is worth the read. I found that there were never really any slow parts to the story. The narrator kept me enamored the whole time. By the end of the story, I was ready to buy the rest of the series to keep going. This start to the Five Hundred Kingdoms series is well worth the read. I do not have anything really negative about the story. I disliked all the characters that you want to dislike. I look forward to learning about the other characters the Tradition has its sights on. My favorite part of the book are the unicorns who get their sights on virgins and follow them around becoming obsessed, protecting them, and doing the virgin’s bidding. The Fairy Godmother is very unique and well worth the read.

Posted in Spicy Romance

The Princess and The Clown

Posted on by Little Bee

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The Princess and The Clown by Ian Thomas Malone

Goodreads Rating: 2 stars

I was given a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

This book is an erotic satire, of which, I have never read before. I found it difficult to get through. I thought the relationship between Ralph and Jules was…toxic and interesting.

The sex scenes were a bit much, even I could hardly tolerate them. (and I can tolerate just about anything). The satire stems around the fact that both Ralph and Jules are “trailer trash.” Both are deadbeats with no future.

I learned that you can use hot sauce for anal lube. Which is weird, and I am not certain how that is okay for anyone to use. I actually had to stop when I read that to see if that was really a thing. It was definitely new to me. I still cringe thinking about it.

I wasn’t quite prepared for this story. I am sure there are people out there who will find it entertaining. I really enjoy erotica, so I feel this book was kind of a kick to the face and it didn’t make me feel happy. I didn’t connect with the grotesqueness of the characters.