Book Review: Legend Of Love by Lisa Kessler

Author: Lisa Kessler
Series: The Muse Chronicles #2
Audience: +18
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: December 5th 2016
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

The Prophecy - “Every generation the nine daughters of Zeus are reborn, and with their rebirth are also nine Guardians. They will be marked by the gods, and given gifts to protect his treasure. Their abilities will only be unlocked when they find their muse.”

Callie O'Connor's life has never been the same since the Muse of Epic Poetry came alive inside of her. Now she's on the other side of the country, working as civilian psychologist for the Navy, and leading her Muse sisters in their quest to reopen the Theater of the Muses.

But nothing could have prepared her for Hunter Armstrong. He's a Navy Seal, driven, confident, and dangerous. And he plans to do more than just protect her.

The gods couldn't have picked a better Guardian. But as Hunter soon discovers, Callie has some skeletons of her own in the closet, and loving her could lead to his destruction.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Lisa Kessler in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

I'm completely in love with this series, and I'm waiting anxiously for each and every book in this series. The second book in this series takes the story further, by introducing a new Guardian, Hunter, but also by making the villains more evil and scarier, maybe even a little bit deranged.

Hunter is an interesting choice for a Guardian. I like how his military career was portrayed and how it played into his role as a Guardian. I also liked the fact that he didn't have the same gift as Nate, so I'm assuming each Guardian will have different gifts. I'm also assuming that their gifts are somehow tied to what the Muse they're protecting.

Callie was a great heroine. I like how she dedicates herself to working with military men and women, to help them heal from traumas from being in war zones. The thing I liked most about her is that she's not perfect, she has a little bit of a wildness in her, due to her Muse, that she tries a lot to keep under control.

I liked Callie and Hunter together, they make a great team, and I liked the little glimpse into Mel and Nate's future. The pacing was great, and there were a few developments in the overall story, that of some really deranged people trying to keep the Muses from opening up the Theater of the Muses, that I'm very curious to see how it will play out in the future books.

All in all, a great book and one that any urban fantasy lover should add to their TBR piles.

Comic Book Tuesday #23: Nightwing, Volume 1: Better Than Batman by Tim Seeley

Author: Tim Seeley
Series: Nightwing, Volume IV #1
Audience: +16
Genre: Comic Book
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: January 25th 2017
My Rating: 3 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

A part of DC Universe: Rebirth!

Nightwing is back...in blue!

He's been Robin, he's been a super spy, a ghost. Now, Dick Grayson finds himself back in Gotham City fighting to reclaim the life that was taken from him. But when a new evil threatens those closest to Dick, as Nightwing he must once again choose whether or not to tear himself away from his home in order to combat this dark force.

Everything Dick thought he knew about being Nightwing will be brought to bear, and his relationship to his former mentor Batman will be put to the test in Nightwing: Volume 1, Better Than Batman! written by Tim Seeley (Grayson) with art by Yanick Paquette (Swamp Thing, Batman/Superman) and rising star Javier Fernández (Red Hood/Arsenal).

Collecting: Nightwing 1-4, 7-8, Rebirth

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

Since I'm fairly new to the DC universe, I went into reading this book not knowing anything about Nightwing, who he is, who he was before he became Nightwing and why he is so important in the Batman universe.

The artwork was pretty, but I felt like the artist at times wasn't really sure how to draw the characters, as the drawing style changed a bit between issues. The artwork was also a bit darker, fitting the storyline, but I felt the need for some lighter panels here and there.

As for the storyline, it wasn't all that clear. There are funny parts, with him and Babs trying to go out, and with the new Robin and Nightwing himself. But I wasn't really sure what was happening at times. I felt like the plot for this book was driven mostly by the inner struggle of Nightwing rather than an actual bad guy. Yes, there is a bad guy involved, but call it ignorance or whatever, but I didn't feel that connected to the story. Now, keep in mind that this volume has 2 missing issues, 5 and 6, and maybe some of the story makes more sense with those two issues inside, but that's how I read this book.

I would like to read more about Nightwing, probably some of the older stories about him, because it is interesting to see how the old Robin transforms into Nightwing. All in all, the book, while not one of my favorite DC stories so far, it served its purpose and made me curious about the character a lot more than I was in the beginning.

Obsessed With Covers #40: Everless, Heart of Iron, Ultraxenopia

Y'all know how much I love a pretty cover. I think about...40% of the books that end up on my shelves (be they physical or digital) do so because of the covers. Call me shallow but you have to admit that a pretty, shiny cover will catch your eye faster than a dull, boring one. Two, simple rules that I'll follow:

• 1, 2 or 3 (no more than 3, though) covers per week;
• books should be new-ish; no more than 2 years old.

Oh, before I share the covers that made me drool or want to stare at them for hours and hours, I have to say something. This is a semi-original idea. Why semi? Because almost every book blogger has something similar. The only thing I came up with was the title. If by any chance there's another blogger with a similar feature with the same title, I assure you I'm not stealing your idea. I'm just THAT bad with titles. Believe me, I'd love to be smarter and have a witty name for this feature, but I don't. So, no copyright infringement/theft/steal or anything of the sort was desired. All I can say is sorry :P

It's been a while since I last did one of these posts, and during this time I managed to find some pretty awesome covers that I just wish I had enough money to buy each and every one of these books if only just for how pretty they are.

Here are some of the most gorgeous covers I've seen lately:

There's a scene in Aladdin at the beginning, where Jafar looks into an hourglass and the sand transforms to show Aladdin doing...whatever he was doing. That's what I saw when I first saw this cover, that the hourglass is much like a crystal ball for someone with very nefarious purposes. I don't know if that's the case, but whomever the cover artist is, they did a damn fine job with this cover. From the sand itself, to the metal/silver embellishments on the hourglass, to the title, to the background, this cover is meant to draw your eye, and it does that perfectly. The only thing that would make it even better is if some of the details were embossed in some way. Or if there was a double cover, like the old romance books, were you get to see the rest of the image hiding behind the hourglass frame


Everless by Sara Holland

I can't help but imagine a giant space water lily when I look at this cover. A water lily made of reinforced glass and metal, with satellites and oxygen tanks. I imagine that the "heart" in question is this flower-shaped spaceship, so I'm curious what is so special about it. I honestly love this cover and I'm super curious to see exactly how the cover relates to the story.

The galaxy in the background is also gorgeous, and I like that it somehow makes the spaceship even prettier. I wonder if those are really satellites or if they're enemy spacecrafts, trying to destroy the "heart". 

Heart Of Iron by Ashley Poston

This is where my mad scientist self is doing a happy dance, because that cover makes me think "mad scientist decides to play god, make up a world and then destroy it just for fun". I love the contrast between the fire in the Erlenmeyer flask and the white bird (dove??) that is created by the smoke. Kind of like "there's still hope, even when everything goes to hell" kind of thing. I'm really, really intrigued just by looking at the cover, and I am planning on checking out the book, to see if in any way my inner mad scientist was right about the cover or if she needs to be leashed a little bit more *mad laughter* Ehem....*clears throat*





Ultraxenopia by M.A. Phipps



What about you, my lovelies? Any great, gorgeous covers that drew your eye and tickled your imagination lately?