Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures series: Book Two

Summary:

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together Ethan and Lena can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been oped to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

My Thoughts:

I used to think that the second book in a series is always the worst one, but that changed when I read this book--I thought it was way better than the first one.

Lena's uncle died and she can barely stand being with anyone in Gatlin, so she goes away with other Castors and tries to tell Ethan not to follow her.

**spoilers**it seemed that Lena used the Book of Moons to save Ethan's life, but at the cost of her uncle's life. However, somehow Ethan's dead mother captured him with an Arclight, a thing that can imprison Castors, but this saved her uncle's life**end spoiler**

I really enjoyed this book a lot.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

From this Moment by Elizabeth Camden REVIEW

Summary:

Stella West's artistic talent made her the toast of London, but when her beloved sister dies under mysterious circumstances she abandons everything and heads for Boston. With single-minded determination she fights to pierce the ring of secrecy surrounding her sister's death. Upon meeting Romulus White, a publisher with connections into every important power circle in the city, she quickly realizes he could be a valuable ally in navigating Boston society.

Romulus has been pursuing Stella for years to create art for his magazine. Her luminous illustrations are the missing piece he needs to propel his magazine to the forefront of the industry, and he will stop at nothing to get her on board.

Sparks fly the instant they join forces, but Romulus is unsettled by the unwelcome attraction he feels toward Stella, fearing she might be the one woman who could disrupt his hard-won independence. He may have finally met his match in Stella, but is helping her solve the mystery of her sister's death worth the risk to his publishing empire?

My Thoughts:

First: I love the cover!!! It's so pretty, and it makes me want to make a dress like that.

When I first started to read this book, it was slow progress because the first half of the book wasn't very interesting. But as I kept reading, not only did it get interesting, but it got to the point where I didn't want to stop reading to do other things. Which is really the best and worst thing a book can do to you. Around halfway through, the mystery of Stella's sister's death got super intense and interesting. 

For the most part, I enjoyed this book.

My Rating: 3 stars

**I received this book from Bethany House Publishers for my honest review. Thank you!**

Ever Shade by Alexia Purdy REVIEW

My Thoughts:

I found this book for free on Amazon for kindle, saw the description was sort of interesting, and got it. While it was well written with somewhat developed characters, the plot was very predictable and at times confusing. She starts to like the guy with the obnoxious girlfriend who pretends to like her. I could guess that coming even before the girlfriend was introduced in the story.

The main character seems to think about her family a lot, but we never get much of a glimpse into Shade's human life. Not only that, but the cover says "A Dark Faerie Tale" but the story wasn't really dark at all.

This book was okay, but it definitely needed more depth and more developed characters. Not only that, but also less predictability. The romance was way too easy to predict.

My Rating: 3 stars

Teardrop by Lauren Kate REVIEW

Summary:

Never, ever cry . . .

Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes in New Iberia, Louisiana, he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than ever before. But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, jus her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance from her mother--a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one can understand. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea--and something about the story is uncannily familiar.

Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than just a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . .and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts:

When I first read this book a couple years ago, I didn't like it at all. But when I reread it, I discovered how much I enjoyed this book.

Eureka is a young teen who lost her mother and has tried to kill herself several times after her mother's death. No one really understands her at all except for Brooks, her best friend.

The fantasy elements are nice, about her tears bringing back Atlantis, and very interesting.

This was a captivating novel.

My Rating: 4 stars

Waking Storms by Sarah Porter REVIEW

Lost Voices Trilogy: Book Two

Summary:

After parting ways with her troubled mermaid tribe, Luce just wants to live peacefully on her own. But her tranquility doesn't last long: she receives news that the tribe is on the verge of collapse and desperately needs her leadership. Anais, the tribe's cruel queen, wants Luce dead. Dorian, the boy Luce broke mermaid law to save, is determined to make her pay for her part in the murder of his family. And while the mermaids cling to the idea that humans never suspect their existence, there are suddenly ominous signs to the contrary.

But when Luce and Dorian meet, they start to wonder if love can overpower the hatred they know they should feel for each other. Luce's new friendship with an ancient renegade mermaid gives her hope that her kind might someday change its murderous ways. But how can Luce fulfill her rightful role as queen of the mermaids without sacrificing her forbidden romance with Dorian?

My Thoughts:

This is a nice sequel to Lost Voices and I enjoyed it a lot. Here's why:

1. you get to see from the perspective of a boy whose family was killed by mermaids sinking their ship

2. you get to see a bit more of Luce's human side come out from the shadows where she hid it

3. and you get to see tragedy, love, loss, and hope

Luce finds out that her father didn't die on a ship, he actually survived and was stranded on an island. But Dorian turns out to be a jerk to Luce and sort of cheats on her with a human, then accuses her of abandoning him when she saved her father. That made me want to throw the book out the window.

My Rating: 3.5 stars