Book Review: Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld #8
Publisher: Spectra
Release Date: March 25th 2008
My Rating: 4 cups
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bolly-wood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half demon- a human fathered by a demon. And she's inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunter for chaos- along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she's chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance...
The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal- a family that makes the mob look like amateurs- has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrated. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele- and potential marks.

I finished reading this book a few weeks ago, but my head is still spinning. I think this book is different than the previous ones. While the other books had this kind of slow world building vibe and felt more focused on character development, Personal Demon makes a big change for the world of this series. There are some surprising things that happen in this book, things I didn't anticipate. But I'll get to that later. Let's talk characters first.

The first thing that jumped at me and surprised me is that we get two POVs in Personal Demon: Hope's POV and that of Lucas. It was very nice having a male's perspective of the world. And it gave me the chance to really see Lucas and get a feel of him, not just from what Paige is thinking about him, but to experience it for myself. He's a really cool guy. I like that he's level-headed and that he doesn't judge other people. And he's really helpful and kind with other people, even with his idiot brothers.

Hope is... different. Not because of her powers, not because of her father or anything like that. She just is different. I liked her, yes. But I didn't love her as I wanted to. There were moments when her choices and actions were a little difficult for me to understand. Maybe it's because I liked Karl so much, but I really felt like at times she wasn't fair with him at all. I also wanted to see her using her powers more and to learn about her powers because they are really unique. And, yes, I admit it, a small part of me wanted to see Hope at her worst. We've had glimpses of how the other characters can do bad things, I was waiting for Hope to have that moment. For some reason I see her like dynamite, just seconds away from explosion. I don't want her to turn bad, but I want to experience the difficult part of her power from her POV, not some other character's.

I loved Karl. I feel like he could be an alpha. Not as good as Jeremy though, but Karl would make a great leader. We get a different side of him in this book. While I can't say I liked him at first, I can see now why Hope fell for the guy. I'm just hoping that the other werewolves get to see the nice side of him. He can be annoying when he wants to, so it would be a difficult journey to get to know him. But, like I said, I loved him.

I won't give away anything about the changes in the world, because those are spoilers. But it kind of goes back to book 2, Stolen. It's kind of cool to see all the connections between books that are not consecutive in a series.

The only thing that I wanted that didn't come true is another Jaime/Jeremy book. I got used to twos: two books for Elena, two for Paige. Yes, Eve had only one, but I was hoping the pattern would continue with Jaime/Jeremy. And yes, I wanted more naked-Jeremy scenes. Nothing wrong with that *blush*

Anyway, I can't wait to see what happens next in the series, even if it means I'm getting closer and closer to the ending *sob*

 

Book Review: Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Author: Tina Connolly

Series: Ironskin #1
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: October 2nd 2012
My Rating:  3 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask. 

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin. 

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help. 

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey. 

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far  she will go to become whole again.

As you all probably know, I'm a girl that's easily impressed by a pretty cover. Don't know why, I just love a cover that catches my eye and makes me want to read the book without even checking the blurb. So it shouldn't surprise you that the moment I saw the cover for Ironskin I wanted to read that book right away.  There was someone that pointed out the fact that the cover model looks like Natalie Portman. I can see the resemblance, can you?

Anyway, back to the book. The first thing I noticed was that in Ironskin fey are bad, evil creatures. I liked that. It is certainly fresh and untouched territory. Or at least it is for me. Of course, I read fey and my mind processes fairies. Bad fairies sound interesting. Bad fey attracted to anything beautiful are even more interesting. I enjoyed reading about that, but I wanted to know more. Where do the fey come from? Why are they evil and how did they get in touch with humans? I wanted to know their history and their reasons for being bad. Yes, we get some details in the end, but I felt like it wasn't enough.

The pacing was a little bit too slow for my taste. Now, I know a lot of people said that Ironskin is sort of a retelling of Jane Eyre. I might have told you that I hate classic literature, so I didn't read Jane Eyre. Sorry to disappoint. I'm used to fast pacing books. Yes, I might enjoy some slow motion from time to time, but I kind of felt that the supernatural theme of Ironskin, the fey, needed a more faster pacing.

The characters were interesting. I can see why Jane would be attracted to Mr. Rochart, what with her being an outcast because of her curse and all that. There were moments where both pissed me off a little bit, but I can't mention them or else I'd be giving away spoilers. And I hate spoilers.

I wanted to like this book more, I really did. It wasn't that bad, you know, the kind of bad that makes you want to put this book in the DNF pile. But I can't say that I fell off my chair I liked it so much. It was a good read, but I felt it could've been better.

 

I'm alive

Hey guys! So sorry I've been missing the last 2 weeks. I've had the worst flu in my entire life. No fever, thank God, but I had it bad. Still do, actually. It doesn't help that my mom also has the flu, so we're sort of exchanging viruses *pout*. Also, the weather is wacky around here and it helps maintaining the flu and it makes beating it a lot harder. I've also started studying because I've decided to change my degree (I still have time to do that) and apparently I have to study a bunch of stuff I knew back in high school. With any luck, this time next year I'll be a freshman in medical school *fingers crossed* Anyway, I promise I'll post normally starting tomorrow.

And if you sent me any email during these past two weeks, I promise I'll get back to you. Like I said, baaad, bad flu and headaches and sore throat and coughing like hell made it impossible for me to feel sane enough to do anything but do a Supernatural marathon :P

Hope you all are feeling better. Until tomorrow, happy reading!

Cover Love (27)

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 pick this week:

You know, I could just stare at this cover for hours and hours and not get bored. There's just something...calming and comforting about it. Maybe the open jar, maybe the blurry women or maybe it's the fireflies. I don't know. I just love it.





Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah








What's your pick this week?

Blog Tour Blog Post: Suzy Duffy

Please welcome Suzy Duffy, author of Wellesley Wives. Suzy stopped by today at Ruby's Books to talk about book tours and Ireland.

Hi Ruby, Thanks for welcoming me onto your blog. This is my first Blog tour and it’s been an amazing experience. A lifetime ago (about ten years!) I did a book tour in Ireland when I lived there. It was altogether different as Ireland is tiny. Of course, we Irish think it’s very big and we’ve managed to convince the rest of the world that we’re massive, but in truth we’re about the size of Massachusetts. To put it into perspective, if California was a loaf of bread, Ireland would be one slice. But we’re premium loaf - multigrain! So back to my book tour, a decade ago. This was in the days before E Books when a book tour meant going to visit shops and sign actual paperbacks.

There was something so nice about going into the stores and meeting the people who worked there. We shook hands, we drank tea. I admired their book displays and window décor. They were kind to me about my books. It was a lovely part of my working year because it was real and tangible. There was almost always a lovely lunch involved in towns like Kilkenny or Cork. I still remember an amazing tomato soup in Sligo! Usually we dined with the book sellers and had a great chat – not even necessarily about books.

Not only did I get to meet the book sellers, I also got to meet readers. That was the icing on the cake. Fans who come to a book signing are so gracious. I guess the folks who don’t like your genre don’t come near so you only meet nice people – a pretty cool arrangement. Again it’s lovely to shake hands and sign their books with a personal message. These are the memories we novelists take away from a book tour and savor while we’re locked away in our studies, producing the next book. I feel a bit like a blue whale that only comes up for air every few months! It’s so nice to get up and out but I gotta go back down to write again soon or there won’t be another book.

I’m not just saying this, but book people are a particularly nice breed – those who sell them and those who read them. I don’t know why this is, but I’ve worked in a few industries at this stage; business, broadcasting and books. (Do I have a B fetish??) Anyway, the book business is without doubt the nicest. Bookish people tend to be full of humor. They’re thinkers and I know I’m generalizing here but to my experience, they tend to be generally all round nicer individuals. In broadcasting, people can be tough, sassy and highly competitive. I know, as novelists we have to compete too but somehow we pack a softer punch. Maybe it’s because it’s not quite so cut throat. As a DJ, there are only so many hours in the day. If I had the Saturday morning show (which I had) nobody else could have it. If somebody better came along, there was a good chance I could be axed. As a writer, however – if somebody likes romantic comedy, they’ll buy my book but they’ll buy Jennifer Wiener’s too. We’re not in direct competition. Readers read more than one book – thank God!! So now I’m on a virtual blog tour. Yesterday I spoke with a lovely lady based in Hong Kong and today it’s beautiful Italy. Wow, ciao, Ruby!

While I’m sentimental about my old days on the road, there are plusses to this new system too. I get the most amazing emails from people all over the world. I love that. I also love hearing about somebody in Milan or Melbourne reading my book, while I’m based in Boston. My little treasure; Wellesley Wives will probably travel further than I ever will but isn’t that every writer’s dream? Who knows if I sell enough books, maybe I’ll even get there in person someday. What kind of soups do they have where you live?? In the mean time do please stay in touch through face book or twitter. I hope you love Wellesley wives and remember … Readers make Writers happy

Lots of love, Suzy xx

http://www.facebook.com/SuzyDuffyBooks
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15700776-wellesley-wives 
http://twitter.com/suzyduffybooks
http://www.suzyduffybooks.com/

TV awesomeness: Grey's Anatomy

Attention: Spoilerish if you haven't watched the first three seasons

So I was bored out of my mind last week. Having to wait for my favorite TV shows to premiere will do that to me. Yes, I have Castle and NCIS and another 2 or 3 TV shows that are airing right now and that I've waited for the entire summer, but I wanted something new. So, just out of curiosity, I decided to watch the first Grey's Anatomy episode. I really wasn't expecting much, just something to distract me for another few days or weeks until the premieres, you know? I wasn't expecting to watch two full seasons in 5 days and now I'm halfway through Season 3. Crazy much?

Anyway, I love the show. How could I not love it? I bawled like a baby when Denny died. Like I was literally crying. That's rare for me. I also laughed my ass off a few times (ok, more than a few times. What can I say, I'm easy to amuse). I love Mark. I heard what happened with his character in the latest season *sniff*sniff* But he's so funny. And cute and sexy. Mostly sexy. I don't like Burke. At all. I was starting to like him, but then something happened. Right after Denny died, Mr. Preston Burke suffered a major personality shift. I hate how he treats Christina. It's like the idiot can't see she's not a touchy-feely, people person.

Oh. I was sad to hear we won't have any more Addison. I know there's the Private Practice show, but I wanted her on this show. I like her with Alex :D And, although she was a bitch at first, I like her.

So, it seems I'm very hooked on this show. Took me a while to decide to watch it, but I'm glad I did. Finally. Now Mom is encouraging me to see Dr. House. To give in or not to give in?