Let the Wind Rise by Shannon Messenger REVIEW

Let the Sky Fall series: Book Three

Summary:

Vane Weston is ready for battle. Against Raiden's army. Against the slowly corrupting Gale Force. Even against his own peaceful nature as a Westerly. He'll do whatever it takes, including storming Raiden's fortress with the three people he trusts the least. Anything to bring Audra home safely.

But Audra won't wait for someone to rescue her. She has Gus--the guardian she was captured with. And she has a strange "guide" left behind by the one person who managed to escape Raiden. The wind is also rising to her side, rallying against their common enemy. When the forces align, Audra makes her play--but Raiden is ready.

Freedom has never held such an impossible price, and both groups know the sacrifices will be great. But Vane and Audra started this fight together. They'll end it the same way.

My Thoughts:

Okay, I know I have admitted how much I hate the change of covers, but it's not so bad, I guess.

I really disliked the second book in this series, but this one was as awesome as the first one.

Audra and Gus were captured by Raiden, who wants to learn Westerly. Gus survives more than they expect from the deadly torture methods, but he ends up dying around the time they escape. Audra is confused about whether she still loves Vane because their bond broke. But they end up together at the end (yay). Vane is forced to trust Audra's traitorous and murderous mother, as well as Solana, the girl the leaders of the Gale Force want him to marry. A new character is introduced to help them, and he is the only one who's ever escaped Raiden's capture--ever.

My Rating: 4 stars

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl REVIEW

Beautiful Creatures series: Book Four

Summary:

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his drams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes--even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

My Thoughts:

Sorry for the posting of these last three books all in a row:). But the last book had a huge cliffhanger, so I had to read this one next.

Ethan died to protect everyone he loves (and all the humans) but apparently that wasn't actually his fate. Someone wrote that in his page of the Book, and to erase that fate, he must travel to and infiltrate the Far Keep and tear out the page. He gets reunited with his dead relatives, including his mother, and he sees how he can never have both his mother and Lena: either stay dead with his mother or go back to Gatlin. Anyway, this series was SO amazing and the ending was...well..kind of sad and perfect at the same time.

My Rating: 5 stars

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl REVIEW

Beautiful Creatures series: Book Three

Summary:

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strang and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected--and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What--or who--will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

My Thoughts:

Sorry that this series is all I've been reading lately, but it's so good!!! And there's one last book to read . . .

I thought for about halfway through this book that the series would be repetitive, that there would always be a new moon song, that the reasons would all be the same. But I was wrong. Because the One Who is Two isn't Lena. But it's not John either. It's Ethan, the Wayward. And **spoilers**Ethan had to sacrifice himself at the end to save Gatlin, and the people he cares about**end spoiler**

This book turned out to be even better than the previous two, which were all about Lena and her Claiming. This one was about Ethan.

My Rating: 5 stars

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