Beautiful Sins book 1: Leigha Lowery by Jennifer Hampton

This book was great.  I grabbed it up cause it was only a dollar and had a few books to the series, which is always nice not having to wait months or even years for another volume to answer questions you had in the first volume.  The book had a lot of editing issues and the grammar lacked in certain areas, but to the credit of the author, she acknowledged that in the very beginning before you even started reading.  A new author without the finances to hire a professional editor, she did it herself, and while a few things skipped by her, all the same the story was well written and you knew what she meant to say.  Little things like "oops" being spelled "opps"  but no biggie.  So lets get to the actual story shall we?

The beginning of this book was slightly confusing.  There is a war and the entire west coast is shrouded in darkness.  Absolutely no sunlight. The US is split in two with the western half ruled by a King and the eastern half still trying to be American with a president running the country.  Russia is said to be joining the west side (ha ha) and together the King and Russia plan on overtaking the rest of the country and the King will rule the US alone.  Enter 16 year old Leigha Lowery.

Leigha is a Detroit native, still considered America and having a president.  That all changes when Leigha's mother decided to marry her Internet boyfriend, one that is from Oregon, lost in the darkness of the west.  Upset that she has to move to "another country" during her sophomore year, Leigha is very difficult and irrational.  (As an army brat I understand her pain)  Once they get to their new house, Leigha discovers her lifestyle went from pauper to princess. With her new step dad being the personal physician of the King himself, Leigha is immediately considered a member of the court.  But of course, things aren't always what they seem and Leigha soon discovers shocking secrets about her new town and the people she calls friends.  There are lots of secrets and you can't help but read the book till the end, hoping to find answers.  The ending of this book was a little abrupt, I wish the author would have continued a little further to answer a MAJOR question, but in Book 2 (which I'm not done with yet and actually can't review for a little while or it will ruin the ending of book 1) you get your answer, though you have to push past a few chapters to get to the good stuff.

All in all, this is really good.  I scooped up the 4 books that are in this series so far (I haven't gotten through number 2 yet, so I can't tell you if 4 is the end, or if its open for another one) I really like them.  I recommend this to those who enjoy books about witches, werewolves, vampires and fairy tales.

Never to sleep: a Soul Screamers novella by Rachel Vincent

I'm not usually one to put up reviews about novella's but I have to share this with you cause I just loved it.  This novella is about 56 pages or so long on the nook.  Picking up in the middle of "If I Die" (book 5 in the soul screamers series) this novella is from Sophie's perspective.

As the cousin of super freak Kaylee Cavanaugh, Sophie tries her damned hardest to distance herself from her cousin and anyone associated with her, and as a potential candidate for Captain of her high school dance team, Sophie is going to do anything to win. After gathering the new dance uniforms from her coach's office, Sophie runs smack into a very cute boy she's never seen before.  Acting like the captain she is, Sophie takes it upon herself to escort the new boy around school. Nothing prepares her for whats about to happened after she sees Kaylee kissing a guy that is NOT her boyfriend in the hallway at school and drawing a huge crowd of onlookers.  Could she be more embarrassing?   Grabbing the new kid and turning down the other hallway she sees someone just appear out of nowhere and when he looks at her all she can do is scream.  Unknown to Sophie (and everyone else in her family) Sophie transports herself and the new guy to the Netherlands where they both have to admit the reality of the situation and work together to get back home.  During this entire thing Sophie begins to question her cousin's sanity and thinks that maybe Kaylee isn't crazy after all.

A great turn of events for Sophie, I am very excited to say that Rachel Vincent is in the process of writing a SIXTH book in the Soul Screamers series (there were only supposed to be 5).  I cannot wait to see the turn of events now that Sophie has experienced the Netherlands and I am highly anticipating the future of Kaylee and Tod (if you haven't figured it out, I think the guy Sophie saw in the hall that made her scream was Tod).  Look for "Before I Wake" book 6 in the soul screamers series by Rachel Vincent due out June 26, 2012

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

The 4th and final book in the Iron Fey series, The Iron Knight was
great way to finish a very addicting story.

After The Iron Queen ended with Prince Ash being cast out of the Iron realm for his own good, he recruits the mischief making Robin Goodfellow (Puck) to join him in a quest for mortality so that he may once again be with his heart, Meghan Chase, the Iron Queen.  Through this journey, you are re-acquainted with characters from previous books as well as the Iron Fey novella "Winters passage".

A cryptic talking cat (Grim) a blast from the past and an unlikely ally, Prince Ash and Puck set out on their quest through treacherous valleys and deadly foes.  This final book ended in a wonderful fashion and though I was sad to see it come to an end, I was very happy with the ending.  I highly recommend this entire series, you won't be sorry.

Drake of Tanith by Heather Killough Walden

Egad, Gasp and Woo Hoo all at the same time.


Following in my favorite and traditional HKW fashion, this book BLEW ME AWAY.  I know, I know, I might be biased cause I just really enjoy this author and nothing I've read with her name on it has ever been anything but amazing, but what can I say, if its amazing, then well, its amazing.

Drake of Tanith picks up a month after The Chosen Soul ended (in book time of course).  Raven is a "guest" in the kingdom of the elf prince.  Drake of Tanith is still trapped in another dimension and Loki is going crazy trying to reach his sister.  Everything in this book is fast paced and detailed.  A long time ago Drake left his birthright behind in order to escape the life he was born to lead.  Son of the most powerful Devil, Drake has his work cut out for him when his father, the King of Nisse rescues him from his dimension of hell and sent back into the realm he left.  With an ultimatum at his feet, Drake rushes to find Raven and determine how much of his destiny he wants to follow.  Torn between his loyalty to Raven and his heart, Drake must make a decision, let her go, or doom her forever.

Keegan's chronicles by Julia Crane

So its been awhile since I've added a recommendation.  I've got plenty to recommend, don't get me wrong, just haven't done it so here I go, giving you some eye candy :)

Keegan's chronicles is a really fun twist in the world of elves.  Usually I read about faeries, witches, vampires, and pretty much anything that is sci-fi/fantasy related.  This series was really no different.

First off Keegan is an elf.  And in this elf world, elf's are "chosen" for each other at birth.  Keegan is Rourk's chosen.  Your not supposed to meet your chosen or even know their name till your 18th birthday, but Keegan has a special little brother with the gift of being a seer. (you'll have to read about Thaddeus in his own little Novella not included in this trilogy) Thad has a vision of Keegan's death in an ongoing war between the light and dark elves and fears for her, so he tells her the name of her Chosen (he's psychic so of course he knows the guys name) in hopes that if she is ever in danger she can call out to Rourk and he will hear her call and save her.  This ends up working out in both ways good and bad.  She is constantly thinking of Rourk, wondering what he looks like, what he smells like, what his smile is like, everything.  The more she thinks of him, the more he hears her which in turn drives him to meet her prematurely.  Once Keegan's parents are aware of Thaddeus's intention and why, they allow Keegan and Rourk to meet early (she is 16) and they spend the weekend hiking with her parents and getting to know each other.  Then the war comes and both Keegan and Rourk are whisked away to Ireland (home of the elf apparently) where Rourk begins battle and Keegan provides medical help to the wounded.  Without giving to much away, Thad's vision comes to pass and the bond is broken between Rourk and Keegan and you have to read book 2 to see what happens next :)

In Book 2 the bond is still broken, Keegan has started dating Donald, her schoolmate/tiger shifting childhood friend and Rourk has joined the human army to give Keegan space to recover and hopefully get the bond back, now this book is full of info so I can't go into it to deep or you'll have spoilers out the nose.  Let's just say that Thaddeus and Keegan's witch friend Anna are working hard on getting the bond back between Keegan and Rourk.  We learn alot about Anna and her family history and Rourk makes a human friend and concentrates on keeping him alive to keep the pain of losing Keegan at bay.

This is where I leave you as far as the review for this trilogy.  I know I only left you with 2 books, but I can't give you a detail about book 3 without ruining the whole series, so all I can say is its a great series, I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the ending.  Let me know what you think