Review: On the Hunt (Paranormal Romance Anthology)

Title: On the Hunt
Authors: Gena Showalter, Shannon K. Butcher, Jessica Anderson, Deidre Knight
Source: won from contest; ARC 432pages

A steamy collection of all-new novellas featuring sexy paranormal hunters. With shadowy creatures, intoxicating magic, vividly imagined worlds, and sizzling passion, this is an anthology no fan of paranormal romance will want to miss.

My Thoughts:

• Ever Night by Gena Showalter - 5 stars

Synopsis: "Rose Pascal is swept into a dark, haunting world every year on her birthday - a world ruled by a warrior king who hunts her kind. Neither of them can deny the passion that soon consumes them both..."

One word: STEAMY! The romance was pretty intense; definitely not an on-your-break-at-work type of read. I loved the concept of Dimension Walkers, and the "dark" world. I would totally read a full novel based on these characters / concepts! Also, Vasili sounds super hot! I would consider getting the book even if just to read this story. 

• Red Angel by Shannon K. Butcher - 2.5 stars

Synopsis: "Jamie Angel, leader of the deadly Nightshades, has tracked every kind of monster and demon that roams the darkness, but none of his experiences can prepare him for falling in love with one of the creatures he's trained to destroy."

     Now, this synopsis (from the back cover) is misleading. There is a sort of "forbidden love" in the story, but it's not with a "creature he's trained to destroy"  (perhaps the finished copy has a different blurb though). I wasn't a huge fan of this story for two main reasons:

The first was because there were many mentions of God and what's "proper" [by religious standards] . I didn't enjoy the ample references to religion; it's just not something I feel comfortable reading about, and I also didn't think that it fit well in the story. 

The second thing I didn't like was the slang / colloquial language. It seemed to be a contrived mix of a Southern accent and "hip" words. Examples: "Plus, he's hotter than Sunday pancakes!" "bro" "ya'll" "fixin'", etc.  Once again - just not my thing, but you may enjoy those aspects of the story if that's your reading preference.

General Thoughts: The book also contains short excerpts from Bloodhunt by Shannon K. Butcher and Storm Kissed by Jessica Anderson. I LOVE the cover of this book - it's smokin' hot!! I might have to go out and buy a finished copy just to have that sexy shirtless man on my shelf :p

Warnings: 18+ (this is an not in the YA genre); sex

(Note: I only finished 2 out of the 4 stories so far but this post has been sitting as a draft for wayyyy too long. Will update with brief reviews of the other stories when I get around to finishing them)

Stacking the Shelves!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

(Normally Shacking the Shelves is a Saturday meme but I'm still adjusting my blogging schedule with my recent return to The Babbling Bookworm!)

Books Mentioned:

• From the Library:
• Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
• Crossed by Ally Condie
• From PaperBackSwap:
• What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali
• Kisses From Hell by Kristin Cast, Richelle Mead, Kelley Armstrong & Alyson Noel ** (As I was typing this post I noticed this is a bargain book on Amazon, only $4.00 and free two day shipping with Amazon Prime.. quite a deal!) **
• Purchased on Amazon:
• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

This week I also posed a question for my fellow readers:

Do you read multiple books simultaneously? 

Or do you prefer to read/finish one book at a time?

Let me know in the comments, I'm really curious :) Happy Reading! 

As They Slip Away by Beth Revis

Title: As They Slip Away (Across the Universe #0.5)
Author: Beth Revis
Source: Free HERE; 48 pages

This novella is the story of the girl Amy meets in the rabbits fields in Across the Universe, and who is murdered in A Million Suns. The novella explores the backgrounds of this character, a singer named Selene, and several other background characters of the novels, including Harley, Kayleigh, Bartie, Victria, and Orion…and, of course, Luthe.

My Rating: 5 stars  ★★★★★
My Thoughts: woooooooo boy. This is some heavy stuff. Yet, that being said, it is also an extremely well written novella... captivating in a tragically beautiful way. In terms of plot, I think the description Beth Revis provides on her website (quoted above) tells more than enough. If I were to add any more details I think it'd spoil the story for other potential readers.

Although this is technically considered "book zero" or "book #0.5" in the series, I would definitely recommend reading this after having read one of the full novels. I read it after finishing Book #2: A Million Suns, and I think that timing is perfect since readers have then already been introduced to the protagonist of this novella (as well as other characters highlighted in the short story), so As They Slip Away reads like a retrospective look on the girl's life through her first-person point of view.

I personally always love novellas that give new insight to background characters, and this was no exception. In my mind, it helps expand the fictional world the author has created for me, showing me how this world isn't only real for the protagonists I encounter in the full novels, but also real for the seemingly insignificant characters too. It's also always interesting to see the same events pan out through different perspectives and viewpoints. I wholeheartedly recommend this to fans of the Across the Universe Trilogy, though it is quite a sad story, so approach with caution.

Warnings: abuse, murder, rape

Related Reviews: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Source: Purchased; Hardcover 398 pages

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SURVIVE ABOARD A SPACESHIP FUELED BY LIES?

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends--and planet--behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously unplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2,312 passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

My Rating: 5 stars (favorite!) ★★★★★ & ♥
My Thoughts: THIS BOOK WAS SO FREXING GOOD!
I'm just sitting here all asdgkhjlldfjkj. I can't believe I waited so long to read this! There were just so many aspects of the book that I enjoyed.

I didn't realize that this was a dystopian novel (I thought it purely Sci-Fi), but I was very pleasantly surprised. The dystopian features are so perfectly woven into the futuristic world aboard the Godspeed. It was very reminiscent of Matched by Allyson Condie, but with a Star Trek twist.

The author also does a wonderful job of contrasting the characters born into this new era with Amy, a girl from our contemporary time. Amy's accent, physical appearance and way of thinking are so starkly different from those currently living on the Godspeed, which I found to be very interesting. The use of a two person narrative (Elder and Amy) really helped elucidate these differences even more for the reader. I'm not always a fan of books with multiple narrators, but I think it worked really well here.

Revis also makes a lot of historical references, such as the Civil War, which I loved. Not only did these references help highlight the differences in characters' perception, as I mentioned before, but they also made the book more relatable to me as a reader. My knowledge of these events made me feel like I was a character, like I could be Amy or some other Sol-Earth human in this new world.

I also enjoyed the many unique characters in the book, all of which were developed fairly well. I found myself getting attached to certain characters, rooting for the success of some and the demise of others. Especially with the murder mystery type plotline, you get sucked in trying to figure out "whodunnit?". 

This is that type of book that gives you a twinge of sadness when you get to the last page because you don't want the story to be over so soon. I can't wait to read the next book in the series! I would definitely recommend this to lovers of science fiction and/or dystopia.

Warnings: sex, murder

Cover Musings: I quite enjoy the cover. Having the stars in the background fits really well with the recurring image of the stars in the story. It's also reversible, which is really cool! The flipside shows a map of the Godspeed ship.

Next in Series: A Million Suns
If you like this you might also like: Matched by Ally Condie

In My Mailbox - Hurricane Sandy Edition

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren for us bloggers to show off what new books we received this week :)

This week I got two books:

• Rift by Andrea Cremer (from the library) - I've already finished this! 'Twas very good; I'm hoping to get a review up soon. 

• I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Legacies by Pittacus Lore (purchased) - After finishing The Rise of Nine, I needed this ASAP! It's all the smaller e-book novellas together in paperback.

I'd also just like to take a second to talk about Hurricane Sandy, a terrible storm that shook up the Tri-State Area this past week. I live in Staten Island, New York and luckily my family and house weathered the storm unscathed, but there were so many other families who were not so lucky. Several Staten Island neighborhoods, mainly those by the water, were completely destroyed. Several of my friends are now essentially homeless; many more families still do not have electricity or heat restored to their homes. It is sad to say, but we've barely seen help from FEMA and Red Cross. Thankfully our community has come together in amazing ways, with countless families such as my own volunteering our time and donating essential items (blankets, clothing, food, bottled water, toiletries) to those who lost everything.

(PS: clinking on any of the links in the above paragraph leads to relevant news articles with photos)

That being said, we still need more help. If you live in one of the areas affected by the hurricane, you can check your local news for areas accepting donations. If you live far away, but would still like to help, I am providing links to relief funds being raised by people I know to be used here on Staten Island. I am also providing a link to Red Cross and AmeriCares if you prefer to donate there, although I honestly believe it would be more fruitful to donate to one of the local funds. Every dollar helps! Thank you so much :)

Hurricane Sandy Relief: Giving Back From Far Away - this fund was started by New Yorkers who are currently away at college and cannot come home to personally help with the recovery efforts

Help Staten Island - Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund - this fund was established by one of my former high school classmates; there is more information on exactly where this money will be donated on the link page

AmeriCares Disaster Relief Fund /// American Red Cross - Disaster Relief

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Title: Rampant
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Source: Library; Hardcover 416 pages

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . .
Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.
Or not.
Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.

My Rating: 4.5 stars ★★★★1/2
My Thoughts (mini-review):
After reading Peterfreund's short story, "Errant", in the Kiss Me Deadly anthology, I knew I wanted to read more about these "killer unicorns". One often thinks of unicorns as majestic, good-natured animals, but that is certainly not the case in Peterfreund's series. Contrarily, the unicorns in her world are blood-thirsty, violent beasts. It was really refreshing to see a new approach on a topic (unicorns) that isn't played out; this was actually the first book I've read that deals with unicorns as a major plot point. In addition to Peterfreund's avant-garde definition of unicorns, she employs lots vivid descriptions to bring these creatures to life in the reader's mind with astonishing clarity.

As far as the actual plot line goes, I found the story to be enjoyable. The story takes medieval aspects, such as the idea of unicorns and woman unicorn-hunters, and places them in a contemporary setting. With Astrid and her comrades we also get to see plenty of kick-butt heroines and fighting action scenes, which I always like. Overall, I would recommend the book; it's an interesting read.



Warnings: mild profanity, rape



Cover Musings: This cover has quite a lot of details, such as the unicorn in the reflection of the sword. I kept noticing new things with each glance. Really cool!

Next in Series: Ascendant

Black Dagger Brotherhood Books 1&2

I've recently started reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J.R. Ward. Instead of doing a separate review for each book, I decided I'd do a group post with mini reviews for the both of them.

"In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race"

Each book in the series highlights one main character, a member of the Brotherhood...

Title: Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1)
Source: Purchased; paperback 416 pages
Challenges: Vampires; 2011 Blogger Recommendation

The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams. 

My Rating: 4 stars ★★★★
My Thoughts: Let me start off my saying these vampires are nothing like those of the Twilight Saga. Ward creates a interesting world that stands out from its competition thanks to details such as the Brotherhood, the Lessening Society, and The Scribe Virgin.

I liked this book, but I just didn't love it. As far as paranormal romance goes, I thought it was definitely worth the read. The plot line is intense, and super interesting, and the Brothers are just drool-worthy. The one thing that tended to bother me was the spelling of the Brothers' names: Phury, Rhage, Tohrment, Vishous, etc...

Title: Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood #2)
Source: Purchased; paperback 464 pages
Challenges: Vampires

Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetite. He's the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover-for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. 

Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him. When Mary Luce is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world, she must rely on Rhage's protection. Knowing that Mary feels the same intense animal attraction, Rhage must make her his alone...

My Rating: 4 stars ★★★★
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this second book exponentially more than the first book. I absolutely loved Mary and Rhage's character development and quickly found myself rooting for them to end up happily together! It was extremely interesting to learn all the details of Rhage's "inner dragon" that we only get a glimpse of in Dark Lover. I would definitely recommend this serious to lovers of PR, and I definitely see what all the hype is about now!

Warnings: adult books; mature content: sex & violence

Cover Musings: I don't think the covers are ah-mazing, but I like the monochromatic color scheme on each cover and the fact that they all go together well as a series

Next in Series: Lover Awakened