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Title: Messenger of Fear
Author: Michael Grant
Series: Messenger of Fear #1
Publication: September 23rd 2014 by Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal ~ Mystery
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Rating: 4/5
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
I remembered my name – Mara. But, standing in that ghostly place, faced with the solemn young man in the black coat with silver skulls for buttons, I could recall nothing else about myself.
And then the games began.
The Messenger sees the darkness in young hearts, and the damage it inflicts upon the world. If they go unpunished, he offers the wicked a game. Win, and they can go free. Lose, and they will live out their greatest fear.
But what does any of this have to do with Mara? She is about to find out . . .
To be honest, I hadn't expected to like Messenger of Fear this much due to some negative reviews I have read. I actually ended up really liking this book and having a lot of fun reading it.
So this book is unlike anything I've read before. I never ever read a book like it so it gets a lot of originality points from me. I also really enjoyed the writing. I actually loved it.
The story starts with Mara waking up, surrounded by mist, not knowing who or where she is. It's a pretty nice start. Though, I wasn't a huge fan of Mara as a character, I loved the mystery surrounding her and wanted to know what was going on.
It really gets interesting when a boy shows up and tells her he's the messenger of fear. From that moment on he's known just as Messenger. I loved him. He's also surrounded by mystery and yeah, he intrigues me. There's no romance whatsoever between him and Mara, I should add. Not yet anyway. And though, I'm a fan of romance, it was actually kind of refreshing not having a book that was filled with dramatic romance.
There was a pretty big shock at the end, where we find out who Mara really is and I hadn't expected this at all. I felt like I should've expected it, but I just didn't. That was pretty awesome.
Messenger of Fear was my first Michael Grant book and I loved it. It wasn't perfect by any rate but it was a very enjoyable and really quick read. I'm looking forward to read more by him!
Favorite Quotes:
"The world, Mara, the world you knew, that I knew, the world we saw as the only world, rests on the edge of a knife extended out over a sea of flame. Tilt to one direction, and fall into the flame. Tilt the other direction, and the same fate awaits. Lose our balance even a little, and slip onto the blade itself and be eviscerated."
"The balance between good and evil, between true and false, between pain and pleasure, between love and loss, hatred and indifference. However you name them, these balances are all that keep the world spinning."
About the Author:
Michael Grant was born in a manger.
Okay, no he wasn't. And that was a stupid thing to say. There was no manger. It was a log cabin. A log cabin in Los Angeles.
Or possibly a trailer.
And then while defending his country (technically it was his father, he was just an Army brat,) he moved all over the country and to France and became the incredibly well-educated, well-rounded, well-adjusted . . .
Yeah, okay that last part's a lie, too. The moving everywhere thing is true. But the sad reality is that Michael's a rootless, disconnected, indifferently-educated, sullen, obnoxious, disaffected misanthrope. With no hair. I mean seriously: look at the man's head. Do you see hair? No.
Where was I? I mean he.
Michael Grant is married to Katherine (K.A.) Applegate. They've been together for 30 years. Which doesn't say much for Katherine's judgment does it? And they've been writing for 20 years, sometimes as partners -- BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS, ANIMORPHS, EVERWORLD -- and sometimes on their own.
Michael and Katherine have two kids, Jake 12 and Julia 9. (Feet tall. Get it? 12 feet tall? Ah hah hah. Yeah, okay: not funny.) Anyway, the point is that Michael Grant is the author or co-author of 150 books. Yeah: 150. Most recently the critically-acclaimed GONE and HUNGER.
No, really: critically-acclaimed by VOYA, Booklist, School Library Journal, KLIATT and Publishers Weekly. And best of all by Stephen Freaking KIng himself! Oh, yeah: THE Stephen King. Of course Kirkus dumped on him, but Michael would like to make it clear that Kirkus is in no way a collection of illiterate halfwits. No! Never would Michael say such a thing.
Title: Ice Massacre
Author: Tiana Warner
Publication: September 2014 by Rogue Cannon Publishing
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 3/5
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.
The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.
Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.
For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.
I was hoping to like Ice Massacre a lot more than I did but in the end it was a little disappointing. I have to admit, though, that I'm hard to please with mermaid books so three stars is definitely not a bad thing.
I really liked Meela. I thought she was fierce yet kind. I can't really say anything negative about her. She was a great main character in my opinion. This is probably just something I think but for some odd reason she reminded me a bit of Rose from Vampire Academy. It's a good thing, though!
The thing that first put me off was how the story took place for a couple of chapters in the past when Meela was ten (I think) and... I don't know... I didn't like that. One chapter of backstory I would've accepted but although nice to know her past, it was a little boring eventually. Also, I didn't get why they didn't send out girls sooner and why the drafting is obligated...
I liked the first few chapters after that but then it all started blending together for me. It wasn't because of the writing because that was excellent. Great writing is definitely a big thing with me and the author can definitely write. So that's something.
All in all, Ice Massacre was an okay to even a likable book at some parts. I didn't hate it but didn't love it. I guess books about mermaids aren't really my cup of tea, unfortunately. But still the writing was very good so three stars for this book!
About the Author:
My grandma tells me I sold her the first story I wrote – The Sachmoe – for $2.
I'm not sure if this makes me a born entrepreneur or just plain saucy, but my point is that I've been a writer for longer than I can remember. I wrote poems and short stories throughout elementary school, and started my first full-length novel, The Infinite Knowledge of J. T. Badgley, in high school.
You can find my author profiles on Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Smashwords.
I graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, and work as a content marketing specialist for a computer software company.
I love psychology, astronomy, music, food, the great outdoors, and am an avid supporter of animal welfare. I have a quarter horse named Bailey, a pony sidekick named Strawberry, and an extremely naughty cat named Paisley.
Title: High Moon
Author: Jennifer Harlow:
Series: A F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad Investigation #4
Publication: September 16th 2014
Genre: Adult ~ Urban Fantasy ~ Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Rating: 4/5
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
CLASSIFIED: A F.R.E.A.K.S. LOVE STORY
Telekinetic Special Agent Beatrice Alexander has fought hordes of zombies, psychotic vampires, and even a troll. But now she faces her greatest challenge: love.
Fully recovered from her holiday from hell, Bea has returned to the F.R.E.A.K.S. with a mission, to gain the love of her werewolf teammate, Will Price. Of course nothing is ever easy when it comes to love and war. And when the killing fields of a pack of murderous werewolves is discovered in the wilds of North Carolina, the situation goes from complicated to deadly. Because though Bea always seems to get her man or beast in the end, this time she isn’t sure she will survive with her love intact. Or with her life…
As much as I liked High Moon, it wrecked me. It really, really wrecked me. My heart is still hurting from it. But it was awesome, though. Only really great books can make me feel so much.
I loved the previous books but starting this one I really didn't know what to expect. So yeah, I'm really glad I liked it so much - even with that awful ending. *sniffles*
Bea is an awesome main character. I love her spirit and how she never gave up on Will, no matter how much he pushed her away. And I must say she's grown a lot since that first book. She can fight, she has awesome powers and she can even pick locks now! And yet she has some human flaws, on the inside as well as the outside. I think it's so great how the author created her like that, not a super skinny model-like woman with perfect sizes but someone who like every woman has flaws in her looks and is sometimes insecure about her body. I want more characters like that.
I really love the set of secondary characters in this series, especially Oliver. I love Oliver. I love love love him to bits and pieces, even when he wasn't on his best behavior in this book. I was never much of a fan of Will but I do wanted him and Bea to be together because they went through so much and it's about time! Did it happen? I won't tell, you'll just have to find out. ;)
This book was, to me, a bit different in some way. It's hard to explain. It wasn't a bad different because I really liked this book. I guess it was more focused on Bea and Will than the other books. But aside from the romance, there was also as always a lot of action, drama (so much drama!) and witty dialogue. These books just crack me up.
As always there's a case the FREAKS are working on, which adds some mystery to the story, which I love. I always catch myself trying to solve it along with them, but of course I never can. Still, I like a good mystery and it's fun to try! The only minor point to me was that the first 20% of this book was all about Bea and Will and the romance, which eventually started to get a little boring, but that's probably just a person issue. Aside from that I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I mentioned the ending before and I feel like I have to get into that more. It was shocking. And when I say shocking I mean really shocking. I hadn't expected that to happen at all. Also, I teared up so badly (which I almost never do!), that I had to get tissues. I just want to say, why? Why would this happen. It was so awful and yeah just wow... I do hope there will be a fifth book soon because this killed me. Damn authors!
All in all, High Moon was another great F.R.E.A.K.S. book in an equally amazing series. Jennifer Harlow really surprised me with this one. That ending, my god! I would recommend this book as well as the series (if you haven't read the other three books yet). Get to reading them now!
Favorite Quotes:
"Some things are worth fighting for. They make no rhyme or reason to anyone but you, but you just know. It's outside logic, it's outside reason, it's just something you sense in your very core. And if you don't listen to it, if you allow it to slip through your fingers, then you spend the rest of your life regretting it. You spend the rest of your life an empty shell. If that's not worth a whole damn war, let alone a fight or two, I don't know what is."
"I'm sorry to be rude, but why is the FBI interested in an animal attack?" Tobin asks.
Ugh. Every darn time we show up people ask us this question. I just want to shout, "Because we're the mother f-ing FBI and we do what we want, that's why!" It hasn't happened yet. Getting close, though.
I glance back at Will, whose nose twitches like a rabbit on cocaine.
About the Author:
Jennifer Harlow spent her restless childhood fighting with her three brothers and scaring the heck out of herself with horror movies and books. She grew up to earn a degree at the University of Virginia which she put to use as a radio DJ, crisis hotline volunteer, bookseller, lab assistant, wedding coordinator, and government investigator. Currently she calls Atlanta home but that restless itch is ever present. In her free time she continues to scare the beejepers out of herself watching scary movies and opening her credit card bills.
