Review: Poison

Poison by Bridget Zinn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



#Poison is one of the best books I've read.

Zinn did an amazing job at keeping the story interesting, funny and down right GOOD. Kyra, Fred and Ariana are hilarious and the dialogue is perfection. There was amazing description throughout the entire novel, which makes me so happy. Normally the first few chapters are strong and then they start to fade. Not with Poison. I was drawn in from word one and I was even scolded for reading at work - I literally couldn't put it down.

I'd love to see more, and was highly depressed when I saw that the incredible author has left us. She was an amazing writer and the world is sorely missing out..



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Review: Shade

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I never thought that this book would be one of my all time favorites when I picked it up. But, this book and the entire series for that matter, are the ALL TIME favorites. They are amazingly written, have real, believable characters that are extremely relate-able to today's youth - which may or may not be a good thing.

I say this because in this book some real issues are presented such as drug use and sex. Gasp! teens thinking about having sex. For most people it's a fact of life that we wish to throw under the carpet and forget about. However Jeri Smith-Ready shows us that yes it does happen, yes teens are PEOPLE too. Just because they're young doesn't mean that they're stupid (as we can see from Aura, the main character.)

Aura and her boyfriend of the time Logan, are planning to consummate their relationship when things go bad. Like, really bad. Logan dies when he does what many teens might do - mix drugs and alcohol. He didn't know any better and he died because of it.

Fast forward a tiny bit and Aura meets Zachary the new Scottish exchange student at her school. There are instant sparks between then but Aura feels like crap because, wait for it, she can see/hear/speak to ghosts and Logan is one of them. So because Logan isn't gone, not for Aura at least, she feels super guilty for falling for Zach at the same time that her recently dead boyfriend is hanging around. And, they still have a relationship, kinda.

This book is amazing. While it is sci-fi(y) and has huge elements of paranormal romance in it, it's still got real contemporary issues that many teens will face in their lifetime. It's a real eye opener and will make you laugh, then make you cry.

Perfect book, I highly recommend it to anyone.



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Pagan Blog Prompts

So, lately I've just been posting my book reviews and that's fine and dandy, but I think that I'm also going to be doing a weekly post on Paganism.

I am Wiccan and my faith is a huge part of my life. I used to be Christian and my faith meant little to nothing for me. I went to church every Sunday and that was about it. In the summer I went to Vacation Bible School and taught a class here and there, but nothing more. When I was 13 I decided to leave the church. I didn't want to go to VBS in the summer, I didn't want to go to Sunday School. Sadly the church I went to was cliquish, if you can believe that. Everyone there had been going since they were born, and I was raised without religion until I was 7.

My mother is Protestant and my father was Catholic. When he passed away my mother had a religious turnabout, and since she wanted to make sure her children got into Heaven, she decided to have us baptized. Even from the age of 7 I couldn't understand the Christian faith. I thought that the Christian God sounded hypocritical on top of many other things. Luckily my mom is amazing and let me make the decision to stop going.

For a year or two I was content without being religious. I was trying to get through middle school, and then high school and sleeping in was more important to me than getting up and going to church. When I got to be 15/16 though I started to do some research. By the time I was 17 I identified with the "Pagan" label, and then later on I discovered Wicca.

When I was 18 I found the woman who is now my high priestess in my coven and we started that together. I've come a long way in the past few years when it comes to my faith (I'll be 21 in less than a month) but I still have a lot to learn and a lot to think about. That's where Pagan Blog Prompts comes in. Every Thursday they have a new Pagan themed prompt and one of my Coven sisters just so happens to be a co-admin now. So, in addition to my book reviews and any other random posts I decide to throw on here, I am also going to try to faithfully (hah, pun) blog about the prompts that the ladies on PBP provide.

In love and light.

Ristoria.

Review: Elemental

Elemental by Emily White

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



It was super interesting, although it was hard to wrap my head around some of the aspects of the novel. I don't usually enjoy sci-fi novels, but this one had enough romance in it to keep me satisfied.

A lot of this was hard to keep straight because of all the made up names and the fact that the races of people seemed to be human with normal English language but had some extras thrown in. Still not sure if the Kofra is like an emperor or more like a human-like god.

Still, enjoyed this enough to be waiting for the second book "Fae."



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Review: Touch of Power

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Really awesome book. Trying to find book #2. Avry and Kerrick were to die for.

I love how Avry is so bada**. Kerrick is quite annoying at the beginning. Still not sure how and when they fell for each other, but I guess opposites attract.



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Review: Taste It

Taste It by Sommer Marsden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Decent. Yes, this was erotica and it had a lot of sex, but it had a pretty good story-line as well. Most erotic romance is just sex from the first page to the last, but I was surprised and delighted with the plot. Two chefs competing on T.V.? Never heard of it before, and it was executed well.

But this is still an erotic novel and there was explicit sex scenes, and lots of them. Steamy but sometimes sweet. I'm glad it turned into something more for both characters instead of mindless sex.



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Review: A Million Suns

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I've waited a long time to read this, since it's been a long time since I could get my hands on a copy of the book. I didn't quite remember where Across the Universe left off, but I still think that this was a pretty good book.
It was depressing as hell and made me think way too much, but it was good.

Except...Amy pissed me off. So. Bad. She's stubborn, and selfish and I just do not like her. Throughout the book she tries to get Elder to run the ship the way she wants it, or thinks it needs to be run. She didn't like Phydus so the people were taken off, she doesn't like Orion, so he had to stay frozen. It's really quite annoying. I understand that Elder is devoted to her, that he loves her (only he never says that,) but it ticks me off at how everything has to be just the way she wants it. She demands so much from Elder, yet doesn't really give that much in return. She should have told him about Luthor right when it happened, not three months later after Victria is hurt. She wallows in self-pity and self-made fear and then shuts Elder out, when he's the only one that is there to help her.

So, besides for Amy I think it was a decent book, but since Amy is the FMC, the book only gets 3 stars.



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Review: Ascend

Ascend by Amanda Hocking

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



LOOOOOOOVE THIS! I was putting this off for a really long time, since I knew the ending, due to another review having spoilers. I hate spoilers and so I sort of rebelled. I would NOT read the book, I would be strong.

So a year later, and I decided to read the book. I'm so happy that I did. Now, I'm in a book hangover, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to cope. I'm very pleased with the way things were wrapped up though. There was an epilogue and so there are no questions, no cliffhangers. Things were wrapped up very nicely. I'm quite pleased with the way things turned out and I can now say that I am firmly Team Loki. I was Team Finn. I am now Team Loki. Due to spoilerage I won't say why, but if you're still Team Finn at the end of the book then I don't think we read the same books.

Since it was so long since I've read books one and two I can't remember if the book picked up where the others left off, but I'm pretty sure that they do.

Awesome read, very awesome read.



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Review: Darker Still

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Odd, but delightful. Written in a manner that makes it quick paced, but still intriguing and full of suspense. Quite a tangled mess and still, easy to follow along with.

Lord Denbury and Natalie are quite a pairing and I wished there were more details of the kissing scenes (I'm such a perv.)





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