Reading Reflection: A Beautiful Dark

A Beautiful Dark (A Beautiful Dark #1)
by Jocelyn Davies
Published September 11th 2011
P. 390
Rating: 4/5

On the night of Skye's seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye's life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

What the crap just happened? 

Really!?
Holy hell fire.

Alright, so I was reading this book and I thought to myself: Ah, another Good Boy vs. Bad Boy love triangle... mixed with angels.  Nothing special, but not bad either. 

Skye is a teenager who loves to ski, does well in school, has close friends, and lives with Aunt Jo.  Her parents died in a car crash when she was six and her mother's best friend has been raising her since, but due to her job, Aunt Jo is absent a lot.  Enter two new students: Asher and Devin.  Yes, the bad boy and the good boy who both seem to be warring for Skye's attention.  It turns out Skye has a family history that makes her a high priority case, explaining many secrets, strange events, and why both these boys are desperate to win her over.

That sums up the plot.  Now, Skye.  I wasn't thrilled about her, but I didn't hate her either.  I was actually indifferent to her, which made the book difficult to really get into.  I didn't find the spark... that thing that makes me fall in love with the narrator.  But, again, she wasn't all that bad, just not my favorite. 

Asher... the tall, dark, and handsome bad boy.  I'm tired of the bad boy.  I'm tired of them always winning my literary girls over with their arrogant allure (angry fist in the air) so I had a personal dislike for him in the beginning.  He was charming, handsome, and intriguing -- but I wasn't falling for it this time.  I had my guard up.  Well, I tried to have my guard up, but the bad boys are just so darn captivating I couldn't help myself.  Asher held my interest throughout the novel... no matter how hard I fought against it.  It was those little moments, those little instances that showed he wasn't such a bad-ass after all.

Now, Devin -- the good guy.  Light hair, clear blue eyes, and a calm demeanor.  He was the polar opposite of Asher in every way possible. I was rooting for Devin.  He seemed so sincere, but reserved.  One of my favorite moments in the book was when he let loose a little, had a little fun. 

Alright, initially I wanted to give this book a 3-rating for predictability, love triangle, and less than amazing heroine -- though it did keep me interested throughout the novel.  I thought I was so clever while reading, even rolling my eyes at the obvious sequence of events.  But... then the ending happened.  I read those last few pages and was left with my mouth hung open and staring blankly at the words on the page.  What the heck?!  I did not expect what happened, threw me completely off guard, and I felt like a sucker -- I played right into it just like Skye.  So, it was not as predictable as I expected.  That's what bumped my rating... touche Ms. Davies... touche.  

Reading Reflection: The Space Between

The Space Between
by Brenna Yovannoff
Published November 14th 2011
P. 365
Rating: 3/5

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped—and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible.

Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way

Huh?  I need a minute to compose my thoughts... this might end up being a bulleted format review.  Okay, Daphne -- a demon whose parentage stems from Lilith and Lucifer -- is a peculiar character.  I do have to say that I really liked her, most of the time.  There is something so distant, detached, and unemotional about her, it's unnerving.  But she's a demon, so it works. 

With this sense of detachment comes this brutal, but naive honesty,  I think that was my favorite part of this whole book, something about her personality was so strange, but simple and straight to the point.  Very peculiar. 

There's also Obie and Truman.  Obie is Daphne's brother, well half-brother technically.  He's half-human and half demon.  Unlike the other demons he travels to the world and tries to help people.  In the beginning of the book he decides he wants to stay on Earth, he has fallen in love. 

Truman, is someone Obie is working with.  He himself is half human and half angel.  Daphne meets him briefly at the entrance of hell.  After some interference, Truman is sent back to Earth.  However, Truman is severely out of control.  His mother died, he tried to kill himself, and he has haunting dreams, which causes him to drink heavily, act out-- he's just bad emotional news all around. 

While on Earth Obie goes missing and Daphne tries to find him.  She needs Truman's help, if he can stay conscious long enough to offer any.  The whole story is based on their search for Obie, their growing attraction, Truman finding redemption, and Daphne realizing she doesn't have to be the seductive monster her sisters are.... all while someone is killing demons on Earth.  (Oh, forgot to mention.  Demons can visit Earth, but can't stay for good -- not good for Obie).

I did like this story.  I liked the characters and the initial storyline of Lilith is absolutely amazing.  However, at some points I felt utterly lost, had no idea what was happening, or why.  I'm not sure if I missed information at somewhere or if it was too much for one book, but toward the end I lost some interest.   I think it had to do with Daphne's own reaction to events.  She was so melancholy and detached during significant moments, that I found I was too. 
Then the actual ending, the last few pages, left me positively baffled.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.  I'm all about sappy our-love-will-conquer-all stories, but really?  Strange, strange series of events to show your love for one another.  Again, I feel like I missed something major. 

All in all, it really was an interesting read, though confusing at times.  Maybe I need a reread to clarify some of my major issues.

Reading Reflection:Spell Bound

Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3)
by Rachel Hawkins
Published March 13th 2012
Rating: 3/5

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?

Ah, the third book in the Hex Hall series.  Again, soooo much stuff happens that it's difficult to write about.  In the last book, Sophie's powers are stripped, or held, by the council.  Her father's are removed entirely.  And Archer is sentenced to die.  This is all right before Nick and Daisy go demon crazy and all hell breaks loose.  The house is on fire while Sophie escapes, her father and Archer are trapped inside.  This is where amazing Cal comes in.  He tells Sophie to use the Itineris to find the Brannicks, where her mother is, before running to the burning house to save the people she loves.  

Okay, and then the third book begins.  Sophie listens to Cal and travels to find the Brannicks, another group destined to kill supernaturals which screams trouble.  She finds her mother there, she also finds that her mother is a member of this group, which means Sophie has found an aunt and two cousins who may or may not wish her dead.  Her father's demon status and her mother's demon hunter gig pretty much explains why they never worked out, conflicting interests... but that seems to change in the end.  Good.  I like those two together.    

Next, everyone survives the fire.  Archer escapes somehow.  Jenna joins a "nest".  Cal and James find their way to Sophie and her mother with minimal damage.  Now they only have to decide how they're gonna stop the Casnoff sisters from creating a demon army.  Not an easy task when the whole island housing Hex Hall has disappeared. 

This task becomes easier when every student from Hex Hall is magically returned to the school: Sophie, Archer, Jenna, Cal, and everyone else from the previous semester.  Sophie and her group are the only ones who really know what the Casnoff sisters are up to, they want to turn them all into demons.  With the help of her friends, family, and Elodie's ghost Sophie has to find a way to get her powers back and save the day.

Alright, I didn't like this book as much as the other two.  First, all that witty sarcasm that I loved went overboard, there were certain times when I felt like enough was enough.  Two, though I like Archer, he didn't leave me swooning.  I liked Cal too much to agree with Sophie's choice.  There comes a point when the bad boy isn't enough -- you need more than wit and looks.  Lastly, a loss at the end leaves me absolutely heart broken.  Though everyone is offered a "happy ending", I couldn't get over this one point.  It left me soooo sad I couldn't get past it.  Maybe that's the reason I didn't love this book as much as the others.  The other ones were light, fun reads.  This one, though witty, left me depressed. 

Reading Reflection: Demonglass

Demonglass (Hex Hall #2)

by Rachel Hawkins

Published March 22nd 2011
Rating: 4/5

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

Ah, Sophie and her crazy shenanigans... I love them.  Alright, in the last novel Sophie moves to Hex Hall -- reform school for wiches, faeries, werewolves, and vampires -- after a spell goes really wrong.  She has a horrible time fitting in.  One, her BFF and roommate is the only vampire and prime suspect for a series of murders/attacks.  Two, the mean girls in school are dark witches who want Sophie to join their coven and when she doesn't their horrible.  Three, she finds out she's a demon not a dark witch.  Her father is also a demon and head of the council, the boy she has fallen for is a traitor working with The Eye (a group whose sole purpose is to kill all supernaturals), she's also being haunted by her great grandmother - who trains her in her powers and is responsible for killings and attacks in the school.

Lots and lots of stuff happened in the first book... the same goes for the second.

In this second novel Sophie is going to spend the summer with her estranged father in England.  I loved Sophie's dad.   I thought he would be some type of arrogant jerk, but he wasn't in the slightest.  He has that same sarcastic humor as his daughter, but British style.  Loved him.

Sophie also finds out that she is betrothed to the hottie groundskeeper, Cal.  She has feelings for Archer, but Cal is pretty awesome.  And he's not working with the enemy so he just seems like a better choice.  There are a couple scenes toward the end that raise Cal very high in my estimation, he is just an overall great guy. 

While in England Sophie, Cal, and Jenna are rooming with the surviving members of the council and Nick and Daisy -- demons.  Sophie and her dad were allegedly the only two demons in the world, so the appearance of these two means that someone is raising demons, not good.  Nick and Daisy seem peculiar and off balance, there's just something about them that isn't quite right.  That point is reinforced in the end of this novel.

So Sophie, and her wit, develops a relationship with her father, practices controlling her magic, discovers some secrets explaining the demons, and jumps into a love triangle with Cal and Archer.  She is a busy girl again and the cliff hanger means she's gonna continue to be busy.  

I love this book.  Again it has alot to do with Sophie and her sarcasm, it is too funny.  It's a great light read, the characters are great, story line alright, and the writing is perfectly simple and easy to follow.       

WWW Wednesday 4/3/2012

WWW Wednesdays
April 3, 2012

Meme hosted by Should Be Reading

To play just answer these three questions:

1. What are you currently reading?

2. What did you recently finish reading?

3. What do you think you'll read next? 

1. What are you currently reading?

My reading group at Goodreads just decided that the month of April will be tailored around Angels and Demons, so most of my books for this month will be about this genre.  The first book I decided to read was our book of the month: Hex Hall.  Since this is the first in a series I just grabbed them all off the library shelf.  So far I finished the first one, and I'm halfway through the second one... very light, funny, and entertaining books. 

2. What did you recently finish reading?

I had True Love (and Other Lies) on my book shelf for so such a long time and kept skipping it over.  Finally I just grabbed it and dived in.  It was a funny book, amusing, but it wasn't one of my favorites.  I'm still glad I read it though.

What do you think you'll read next?

I'm keeping right along with the Angels and Demons theme, so my next book is our second book of the month: A Beautiful Dark.  I haven't read anything about this book, not even the cover, so let's see how it goes.  

Teaser Tuesday

April 3, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Here is my Teaser Tuesday:

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1)
By Rachel Hawkins

 

"I heard the man and woman cry out a warning as I frantically racked my brain for some sort of throat-repairing spell, which I was clearly about to need.  Of course the only words I actually managed to yell at the werewolf as he ran at me were, "BAD DOG!" ~ pg. 19







Full Review Here

Reading Reflection: Hex Hall

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1)
by Rachel Hawkins
Published March 2nd 2010
P. 336
Rating: 5/5

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

What a fantastic and fun book.  I have to admit, after looking at the cover I thought maybe this is a little too YA for me.   But it wasn't.  It was funny, witty, interesting, and very well written.  A great quick read.

Sophie is a witch -- not a good one.  As in lots of "oops" moments.  After a malfunctioned love spell performed to help a fellow student at prom, she is sent to reform school.  There her classmates include white and dark witches, fairies, werewolves, and her roommate the only vampire.  From the moment she walks onto campus everything seems to go wrong: an almost werewolf attack, rooming with the most hated person on campus, a gorgeous but snarky warlock, the mean girls targeting her, and a typically aggressive and miserable PE teacher.  In other words, typical teenage drama with a magical twist.

Sophie gets into lots of trouble, heaps, but most is inadvertently.  First of all, her mother and father withheld alot of information about herself, witchcraft in general, and where her power originates.  It doesn't help that her father, the one who passed over the magic gene, has been absent for her entire life.  She honestly was unaware of so much, I felt bad for her naivety while the other students knew so much more.  It definitely didn't help her fit into the new school.

However, another major problem is her mouth.  I loved her witty, sarcastic, and funny remarks at every situation.  Fantastic, but looking for trouble.  I related to her inappropriate jokes, at the most inappropriate times.

Now their are a lot of other characters that should be mentioned, but Sophie is by far the best.  Elodie, Anna, and Chasten are the beautiful mean girls.  They want Sophie to join their coven, but she refuses and they react accordingly -- by being mean girls.  Jenna is the only vampire, Sophie's new roommate, possible BFF, and hated by everyone at the school.  Vandy, the sadistic PE instructor who hates Sophie from the beginning.  Mrs Casnoff is the headmistress of the school who kinda grows on me by the end, but there's still something about her.  There's also Cal, the sexy young grounds keeper with the special ability to heal.  There isn't a large mention of him in this novel, but I have a feeling something more is going on with him.

Then there's Asher -- the resident hottie.  He is dating Elodie, but even I wished he didn't.  There are definite sparks between him and Sophie, he comes to her rescue on more than one occasion.  Not only that, I absolutely love their witty banter and general ease with one another.  Their building relationship was fantastic.

Overall this was a great book.  It was a very easy read.  The author did an amazing job with the overall writing of the book, the dialogue being one of my favorite aspects.  Not many people can pull off that amount of sarcasm in one novel.  Loved it.