Book Review: Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Women of the Otherworld #5
My Rating: 4.5 cups
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: May 26, 2005
Blurb: (from Goodreads)

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY -- SUPERNATURAL -- WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD
Eve Levine -- half-demon, black witch and devoted mother -- has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can't be killed again -- which comes in handy when you've made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn't too bad -- all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she'll be happy.
But fate -- or more exactly, the Fates -- have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they've just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy -- previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that's not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel's sword. And Eve is no angel. . . .

Oh Eve! You broke my heart. I actually didn't expect that. I thought I'd see a somewhat cool demon-witch-ghost that was scary as hell, with a heart as black as night and a major bitch. Yes, I had misconceptions and yes, I'm ashamed of that.

From the second book of the series, Stolen, we know Eve was a "bad witch", one that used black magic to get whatever she wanted and she used her powers to help the wrong people, the ones that payed the highest price for her services. We also know that she's Savannah's mother. What that book and the other 2 following books don't show you is that Eve is capable of love, she knows what's right or wrong, she is capable of suffering and she would do anything for her daughter. Also, she is an honorable woman, even though she is kind of bad *grin* - once she makes a promise, she keeps it no matter what. She's also vulnerable. Now, don't think she isn't bad-ass, because she is and she can kick major ass. She's just very, very complex. And not what I expected.

I loved that we get to see her getting a second chance at love. And with the love of her life, Savannah's dad. Kris was also surprising. Though I was expecting him to be more...Cabal-ish? Mean? Different from the other sorcerer and Cabal relative, Lucas Cortez.

There's one thing that made me too sad and the reason I can't give this book the highest rating: the ending. It didn't feel like a happy ending. I know, I know, the bad guy is captured and punished, Kris and Eve get back together, nobody dies and Eve gets to redeem herself. But I felt it was bittersweet. The very last scene left me kind of raw and on the verge of tears actually. And it wasn't in a good, "oh, I so understand what this character is going through" kind of tears, it was more along the lines of "crap, this is so unfair! *sniff*sniff*". That's basically the only thing that I wished was different. Other than that, I loved it and I hope there's another Eve/Kris story in the next books/short stories.

Now I'm off to read Broken. (I wanted to wait, read one book per month, for the entire duration of the Women Of The Otherworld reading challenge BUT: 1. I can't wait a month to read the next one, I love this series so much and 2. I'm ready for a certain someone and a certain hot male to get together, which I hope will happen in Thirteen. )

Cover Love (20)

This feature is hosted by Carmel @ Rabid Reads. The rules are very simple. Choose a cover (or two, or three), preferably new-ish, and share what you like about it. Grab the graphic or don't just so long as you link back.


My picks this week:

Cartoonish cover *sigh* I love those.

This is a creepy cover. The bloodied rose gives me goose bumps. I wonder who gave it to whom and why. I do want to read this book. :D















What are your picks this week?

June In Retrospect

Sorry I'm late with this post, guys! I had some stuff going on, but I'm here now.

June was a little slow, or so I see it. Here are the books I managed to read this month:

1. Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
2. Industrial Magic - Kelley Armstrong
3. Haunted - Kelley Armstrong
4. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
5. Evermine - Hailey Edwards
6. Eversworn - Hailey Edwards
7. The Stone of Darkness - Resa Nelson
8. Of Poseidon - Anna Banks

I didn't manage to read as much as I wanted, but I'm hoping July will be more productive. I am behind with my reading and my reviewing, I know. I'll work hard this month to fix that.


Books I reviewed this month:

1. Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
2. Industrial Magic - Kelley Armstrong
3. In Love With An Angel - Federica Bosco
4. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
5. Evermine - Hailey Edwards
6. Eversworn - Hailey Edwards
7. I've Got Your Number - Sophie Kinsella
8. A Hint Of Frost - Hailey Edwards
9. Stolen - Kelley Armstrong

Follow Friday (17)

Welcome to Follow Friday hosted this week by Parajunkee and Alison!
The main idea behind FF is just to go see a bunch of new blogs you may never have seen before, and follow the ones you like (and they’ll follow you back!) It’s a total win/win, so take a peek around!


This week’s question is:



Q: Birthday Wishes -- Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake...who is it and what book are they from?


Just one? *frown* Oh, there are so many great, hot male characters out there. Even some female characters too that I'd like in my cake. *taps chin* Let's see, I would LOVE to get Acheron and Savitar from Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. Ummm... Oh, and then there's Cherise Sinclair's Doms. Don't ask which, 'cause I can't decide *sheepish* And Lestat :D

What about you?

Book Review: Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld #4
My Rating: 5 cups
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Publication Date: January 26, 2010
Blurb: (from Goodreads)

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld. This is not your mother’s coven...

Kelley Armstrong returns with the eagerly awaited follow-up to Dime Store Magic. Paige Winterbourne, a headstrong young woman haunted by a dark legacy, is now put to the ultimate test as she fights to save innocents from the most insidious evil of all.. . .

In the aftermath of her mother’s murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty-something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention.

Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld’s most influential Cabals — a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn’t blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural-born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it’s a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance.

This second book about Paige and Lucas was so great! I loved reading it. Besides the paranormal elements, I felt like I was reading a very good mystery novel. There where a lot of other great things that stood out, but the mystery killer part was the most important one for me.

I liked seeing Lucas and his family play a bigger part in this novel. While he was present in Dime Store Magic, I felt like Lucas was still a huge mystery to me. Not that it bothered me, but I wanted to know more about him. So learning about him, his family and, ultimately, about how the Cabals and their world works, was one of the reasons I loved this novel.

I loved the suspense, the element of danger that this story had. Also, I loved the fact that I couldn't figure out who was the killer, until the very end, when the killer was revealed. I had lots of weird theories about his identity, but I never felt like I had a good idea about him. So that's what made it a good mystery for me *shrug*

One of the things I liked is that we get to see some old friends, like Adam (*swoon*), Cassandra, Jeremy and his Pack. We also meet Savannah's mom, Eve. I didn't know what to think about her when she was in a scene. I was convinced she was just as bad as the other characters thought she was, that she surprised me.

I loved the book and I can only hope we get to be in Paige's POV again soon. And yes, I'm still waiting for Savannah to grow up so that she can hook up with a certain hot male (*wink*).

Can't wait to read Haunted and be in Eve's POV and learn more about her, how she was before her death and how she is now. And also, I'm getting sadder with each and every book I read that the series is coming to an end *sniffle*.

News and some changes

Hey everyone! I hope you had a very lovely weekend.

Sorry I've been missing the last few days, life's a little #%@$% and apparently "she can't be ignored" *rolls eyes* The heat in my neck of the woods is killing me!! And the humidity sucks. So that makes reading a little difficult. That and studying, but I manage to ignore that last part :P

I thought long and hard and I realized I needed to do some changes in my reviews, specifically with my rating method. During the Wicked Wildfire Read-A-Thon I read a book that... confused me. While the writing style, the character development, the psychology of each character were asking for the highest rating I could give, it was also a book that made me so uncomfortable I simply couldn't give it more than 2 cups. That doesn't mean the book was bad. But it was so out of my league and certain scenes made me squirm (and not in a good way). So that is why I'll have a secondary rating system that will be only for showing my comfort level while reading the books I'll be reviewing. I'm going to use Jolly Rogers for that. (I'm a geek, ok? :P) I'm going to have that explained better in my Review Policy & Rating System page.

The second change is that I'm going to use icons for various genres. I though they looked cool and fun and also helps the reader know the genres/main idea behind the book/age restrictions and what not. So I put my non-existent drawing skills to use and so far so good. I hope that I'll start using these icons by second week of July. The designs are mine, inspired either by real objects or crazy stuff from my imagination. I can't wait to start using them. They'll probably look as bad and ugly as you're imagining them, but I'm actually very proud of them *shrugs*

That's it for now. No major changes, just small things I felt were needed ;)