Teaser Tuesday 27

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Want to play along?

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author

I know, I know, it's been months since I've done one of these. I always remember the day after. To make up for lost time I will post a few teasers.

The first one comes from Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, the second novel in her Outlander series. I just finished this one today, and I absolutely love me some Jamie Frasier.

“I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you - then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest."

This next one comes from On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. I've only read the first book, but I can't wait to read more of the series.

"Go brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on dry clothes, and get the guns. We're going to Wal-Mart.”

 

Review: On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

On the Edge (The Edge #1) by Ilona Andrews
Publication Date: September 29, 2009
Publisher: Ace
Number of Pages: 309
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Add to Goodreads

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either.

Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).

But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.

I'm not sure why it has taken me this long to read this series. I've been thinking about it ever since I discovered Kate Daniels. I had even brought the first book a few months ago and hadn't gotten around to it. And once again I wanted to hit myself for not reading this sooner.

Ilona Andrews is a literary genius. I'm convinced now that they can write nothing to disappoint me. However I think I do enjoy Kate Daniels more this book stands on its own. I knew only a few pages in I was hooked when I came across this line:

 “Yes, I'm too mad to punish you right now. We'll talk about it when we get home. Go brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on dry clothes, and get the guns. We're going to Wal-Mart.”

Although we learn afterwards the guns has nothing to do with actually going to Wal-Mart, but the statement makes you think that. And along with thousands of others sometimes I wished I had a gun in Wal-Mart. *sigh*

We potentially have two love interest for Rose, who I loved from the beginning. It's almost hard to hate a kick ass heroine, especially one with two younger brothers who she is responsible for. Initially I wanted Rose to give William a chance. I didn't particularly care for Declan, although I grew to love him as did Rose. I really did love the ending, and I couldn't help but smile/giggle about it for days.

From looking at the descriptions of the other books, I find it interesting that each book features different main characters like the paranormal romance series, yet there's no doubt that this is urban fantasy. At first I wasn't sure I would like that, but after reading this book and seeing that it focus more on the plot rather than romance I'm positive I'm going to love it. I can't wait till I can go buy the rest of the series and continue.

Rating: 5/5

 

Review: Taking Back Forever by Karen Amanda Hooper

Taking Back Forever (The Kindrily, #2) by Karen Amanda Hooper
Publisher: Starry Sky Publishing
Publication date: May 29th, 2013
Number of pages: 366 pgs
Format: E-format
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Forever is worth the fight.

Maryah erased all memory of her past lives, but she couldn’t erase her soul mate Nathan, or his undying love. Now, Maryah and Nathan have a second chance at a future together, but first Maryah must remember the person she used to be and embrace her supernatural gifts—more than one kindrily member’s life depends on it.

Maryah’s power is Harmony’s best hope of finding her kidnapped soul mate, Gregory. But Harmony isn’t big on asking anyone for help, and she’s tired of waiting, so she’s taking matters into her own hands. Heaven help anyone who stands in her way.

I love when an Indie book takes you by surprise and you fall head over heels with it. This is what happened to me with 'Grasping for Eternity.' The narrative, the mythology, characters and relationships pulled me in so deeply, it was one of my favourite books of 2012.

The follow up to the first book was very good. I loved being pulled back to this world with these characters. I couldn't wait to see what was going on between them all, and especially, Maryah and Nathan.
This book picks up pretty much right after the previous one ended. It was revealed that Maryah's little brother who died along with her parents may have just been reborn. I was surprised and happy for her when that little bit happened.
In this installment, we have two POVs again, but rather than Maryah and Nathan, this time we have Maryah and Harmony.  It was a little different, but a nice change to see things from Harmony's POV. We had to see how things were going with her and Maryah's POV just wouldn't do that.
Maryah has been trying to control her abilities to be able to help the others locate Gregory, but it's just not working as well as she hoped. Darn those little buggers.


Maryah and Nathan's romance keeps progressing, even though she doesn't remember everything, which she so desperately wants to. She doesn't know why she erased, but she does know that she loves Nathan. Since she is in this new body and she feels like a new soul, her relationship with Nathan feels like very much of one that is a seventeen year old, in love.  With Nathan though... he has loved her for so long, he is an old soul in a new body, so for him.. he understands things better than she does at current time.  While things do get increasingly intense between the two, Nathan is also a gentleman and wants to do what is right --- not just for Maryah, but for both of them.  He doesn't want to mess this thing up that's between the both of them.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and I look forward to see how things progress with the cliffhanger that we were left with.
This book also contained some bonus content, which I think is from the next book? Which I look forward to.
The stakes are raised, questions are up in the air and answers are wanted.  I hope the next one is just as good.

Rating: 4.5/5