Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they’re quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it’s not like they can just go to the authorities for help.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they’re so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.

But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she’ll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can’t keep running forever.

Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong’s New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy.

Have you ever just wanted to kidnap an author and keep them with you forever? Make them write constantly for your enjoyment? That’s my relationship with Kelley Armstrong. Creepy? Hell, yes. But that’s my love for her writing. I have a select few books that I can actually call my favorites, and Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series is at the top. Ever since I read that series, it has become my mission to read every single thing that Armstrong writes. I haven’t completely finished that goal (the lady writes a lot!), but I’m getting closer!

I read the Darkest Powers series a few years ago, and I fell head over heels in love with it. Seriously, if you’re looking for a series full of a mix match of supernatural powers and an awesome story that will hook your eyes to the page, then go read the Darkest Powers series. You won’t regret it. The Darkness Rising series is a spin off of The Darkest Powers series. I’ll admit….this series is my least favorite series by Kelley Armstrong. I don’t know what it is. The writing is as great as usual, but there’s something lacking for me. It might be the fact that I’m not the biggest fan of Maya or any of the supporting characters. Regardless, I was really impressed with this third and final book. It was, by far, my favorite in the Darkness Rising series. I still didn’t fall in love with it, but I did have a really hard time putting it down, which I think says a lot.

For those of you who haven’t read the Darkness Rising series, let me give you a brief description. Bear with me, I haven’t read the first two books in over a year, so I’m more up to date with the third and final book in the series. The Darkest Powers series is about a girl named Maya who discovers that not only is she a shape shifter living in a world full of supernatural creatures, but she and her friends are also part of a supernatural experiment. The St. Clouds, one of the four supernatural Cabals, created the town that Maya and her friends live in and have supplied them with everything they have needed since they were born. The series continues with Maya and her friends going on the run and multiple Cabals chasing them. The final book in the series, The Rising, continues with Maya and her friends trying to find out more about their history and trying to get out of the mess they found themselves in. There’s a lot more information about the supernatural experiment, family ties, and Maya’s shape shifting abilities. Later on in the story, we also see appearances from the main characters of the Darkest Powers series.

When I was reading The Rising, I felt a mixture of emotions. There were parts of the book that upset me and other parts that made me happy. Let’s start out with the annoying aspects of this book and then we’ll move on to a more happy note. My first complaint, and one that has stuck with me throughout the whole Darkness Rising series, is that I think it’s too confusing for readers who have not read the Women of the Otherworld series. During the first two books that complaint was minor, but this book pushed it over the edge. I’ve read the whole Women of the Otherworld series. I know every single character and plot and twist. It’s my favorite series in the world, so I knew exactly what was going on in the Darkness Rising series. However, the book doesn’t really explain much about the cabals, which could be very confusing and distracting to readers. The Rising also brings in characters from the Women of the Otherworld series. Not only are the St. Cloud’s chasing the kids, but now the Nast’s are, too. Sean Nast, Savannah, Lucas, among other characters are mentioned in this book. And not only was that confusing, but readers only here about Savannah and Lucas once. Readers who have not read the Women of the Otherworld series are going to be very confused about who those characters are. They’re mentioned…not introduced. I don’t think that characters should be brought into a story unless their character is going to be explained. And since this is the final book, readers will have to read the Women of the Otherworld series to completely understand who those characters are and what they become in that world.

My final complaint with The Rising was that I didn’t like the characters from the Darkest Powers series being brought in. I thought that I would enjoy it, and I got really annoyed when they weren’t brought into the second book, but I HATED what was done with them in the final book. The Darkest Powers series is absolutely spectacular, and I had a vision of what happened to those kids after the final book. Everyone who has read the final book in the Darkest Powers series remembers how horribly it ended. Nothing bad happened, but the ending wasn’t finished. In my mind, I created what happened, and Kelley Armstrong went and erased all of that for me. I didn’t like what happened at the ending of this book. Not only did the ending suck, but it was confusing. The Darkest Powers and the Darkness Rising series have very similar endings in the fact that they don’t really end. It’s just a major cliffhanger for the ending of a series. There’s not another book coming out. That’s it. That’s the end. And I’m going to have to decide for myself…again…what’s going to happen. Honestly, the only thing that makes sense is if Armstrong decides to write an adult book based on these kids. That’s the ONLY THING that makes sense! And right now, I don’t think she has plans to do so.

On a more positive note, I will say that The Rising was the absolute best in the Darkness Rising series. I still didn’t fall in love with it, but I never wanted to put the book down. I had a really hard time reading the other two. They weren’t bad….they just didn’t have the spark that the rest of her books had. I really liked this one, though. I didn’t like what happened between Daniel/ Maya and Rafe/Maya, but whatever. My guy won…I just didn’t like how he won. And I didn’t like how the relationship with Maya and the loser ended. It didn’t make any sense. I was not a fan of that. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book.

I’m sitting here talking about how much I enjoyed this book, but I’m sitting here destroying it. The only reason I’m doing that is because I’m SO in love with the Women of the Otherworld series. It makes me have to dish out everything that annoyed me. But I want you all to know that Kelley Armstrong is one of the best authors out there. I can’t even begin to tell you guys how much I love her. Is my gushing not reason enough to go read her work? Screw the young adult books…go read the Women of the Otherworld series! Then come back to her YA series. You’ll appreciate it a lot more [;

If you like this series, then try out:

The Otherkin series by Nina Berry

The Cassie Palmer series by Karen Chance

The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill

Pages: 406

Publication Date: April 2nd, 2013

Publisher: HarperCollins

Rating: :

He’s arrogant, domineering, and… To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something… unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?

Three words summed up my feelings toward Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout: “Oh. My. Goodness.”  It was hot, sizzling, and full of one gorgeous, gorgeooouuus man. Obsession is an adult spin off of Armentrout’s Lux series. I had no idea that this book was coming out…let alone that it was already out. Yeah…it’s pretty much a no brainer that I devoured this book in like less than 24 hours.

The number one highlight of this book was Hunter. Oh my gosh..Hunter was absolute perfection. Yes, he was a complete and utter asshole, but he was hunky, snarky, dominant, a natural born killer who didn’t think that he was capable of any human emotions. It was amazing watching those emotions slowly leak out toward Serena. I did think that their “relationship” came on a little too fast. It was cute and hesitant toward the beginning, and then BAM! It was like they’d been together for years. A bit too fast for my liking, but I still loved the book.

Serena was a strong female lead, but I never fell head over heels in love with her. There’s something about Armentrout’s female characters that put me off a bit. Katy, in the Lux series, drives me absolutely bonkers. I can stand her, and I even like her in some situations, but I never fell in love with her. It was pretty much the same thing with Serena. Armentrout’s male and supporting characters, as well as her writing, tend to make me forget all about that. I don’t know how she does it. In normal situations, if I don’t like one of the lead characters, then I’m probably going to hate the book. Somehow that doesn’t work the same way with Armentrout’s books.

The plot of Obsession was really catchy. In Armentrout’s YA series, we learned about the Luxen. Now, we’re learning about the Arum. It was pretty interesting to see how both species view each other and to know that the Arum aren’t completely horrible like we’re led to believe in the Lux series. I didn’t know how I would respond to Hunter, since the Arum are really bad creatures in the Lux series, but I loved the danger, the suspense, and the overall hotness of the book.

Fans of the Lux series will be wayyy excited to read this book since there are appearances from a couple of characters from the Lux series. Remember Luc? The creepy teenager guy in the club? Well, he’s in it. Daemon is also in this book, but only for a brief glimpse. It was really cool getting to see more of Luc, but I’m getting a bit annoyed that I don’t know too much about him, yet. Is more of him going to be leaked out in future books? Is he going to get his own book? These are things I eventually want to know.

Obsession is a tad bit dirty….to the point that I went on Goodreads to see if it was categorized under erotica. It’s not. It’s actually subcategorized under New Adult, which makes nooo sense. I’m not kidding, once you get about halfway through the book there’s like a sex scene every five pages or so. I almost hate myself for saying it, but that took away from the book…a lot. That’s actually one of the reasons I docked it down to a 4 instead of a 5. I wanted more plot and less romance. As I said before, the romance also moved very quickly. I wanted to see Hunter and Serena’s relationship grow over time. While I still loved the book, it was a bit much at times.

Obsession was such a steamy read. I fell head over heels in love with Hunter, and you can bet yourself that I’m going to be reading the next one. This is a great book for someone who enjoys paranormal romances. It’s only available as an eBook, but I got it on Barnes and Nobles for only $2.99. Definitely give this one a shot!

Pages: 370

Publication Date: May 31st, 2013

Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Covet)

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “Are you done acting like a psychotic, cracked-out Muppet baby?” he asked, and I could tell by the way his fingers spasmed around my wrists, he really wanted to shake me.
“Or do you need a couple more moments to return to sanity? I have all day. And you actually feel kind of good under me, so take your time.”

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of Xseries, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

This is going to be a really quick review, because I did not finish this book. I will not be rating this book. I am just giving my opinion on this book for fans and potential readers of Richelle Mead:

Gameboard of the Gods had a lot of potential, but it fell flat for me. I got about 100 pages into it, and I was dying by that point. Richelle Mead created an awesome world and an amazing concept for a book, but it stayed at one level consistently. There was no action, character development, etc.

A huge part of the problem with Gameboard of the Gods were the two main characters, Justin and Mae. First of all, Justin was a very sleazy character to read about, and he never got better.  It ended up being very difficult to read about a character that I didn’t like. There was nothing really wrong with Mae, but she was pretty boring to read about. I just had a really hard time putting the two of them together in my head.

On a positive note, the world that Richelle Mead created in Gameboard of the Gods was awesome. I give her that. It takes talent to create the type of world that she created, and that alone will draw readers in. Unfortunately, the book fell flat, and the world she created was not enough to make it better.

It breaks my heart that I was unable to finish this book, because I am such a HUGE Richelle Mead fan. I’ve noticed recently, though, that her books just are not as good as they usually are. The Last Vampire Academy book was a snore, I cannot get into the Bloodlines novels, and now I had to put down Gameboard of the Gods. Will I continue to read her books? Yes, but I probably won’t be buying any more of them…

I know that there are a ton of you who are excited for Gameboards of the Gods. Some of you have waited for months for this book…maybe even a year. And while I would love to just tell you about the awesome books I read, I also think that it’s my job to tell you about the books that I didn’t like quite so much..or at all. Just because I didn’t like this book, doesn’t mean that you’re not going to like this book. Keep researching opinions! But now you have mine.

Pages: 464

Publication Date: June 4th, 2013

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Rating: N/A