Review of Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Sophie Mercer has just been shipped off to a reform school for freaks like herself. That is witches, faeries & shapeshifters. She gets off to a rocky start getting on the wrong side of not only teachers but the popular girls too. Thankfully she befriends Jenna, the only vampire in Hex Hall and also begins a complicated friendship with Archer, a warlock, a sexy one, who just happens to be the boyfriend of It-Girl and number 1 enemy Elodie. 

Students begin to get injured, nearly dying, and the number one suspect is vampire Jenna, but Sophie knows it couldn't possibly be her friend. 

As the story unfolds we learn more about Sophie and her past and the School. As well as the truth to the attacks. It is really well written, one of those 'it-doesn't-feel-like-reading-it-feels-real' type books! Loved it. The characters are good, especially lead-girl Sophie. She is really funny and you can't help but fall in love with her. 

The storyline is great, and the ending really leads well into book 2, which I am trying to withhold from buying on account of my dwindled bank balance/massive tbr pile. But i don't think I will last too long. 

Hex Hall is a good fake world to be in. I give it 4.5/5

Review of The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

It's been ten months since Grace Divine risked her life to save her were-boyfriend Daniel. Ten months since Jude Divine succumbed to the wolf, bit Grace and disappeared. During that time Daniel and Grace had been training to try and keep a balance of the newly acquired wolf powers growing inside Grace. Things get interesting when April and Grace get some clues as to the possible whereabouts of Jude and they meet Talbot, a sexy, hero-type cowboy figure. 


Grace and Talbot begin a friendship, a secret one. Daniel decides that training Grace is too much of a risk and refuses, but Talbot believes it is a good idea. Grace goes behind Daniel's back and becomes drawn to Talbot. Daniel is keeping secrets of his own and Grace begins to question who can she really trust.


This sequel to The Dark Divine was brilliant. I was ho-hum about the first book, but this one made me a fan of the series. It was more action-packed and the introduction of Talbot, and Katie Summers (a girl who Grace thinks is interested in Daniel) ensured an interesting love-square situation.


I also enjoyed that there was more than just the werewolves in this book, and it had some 'Buffy-esque' moments which, to me, is always WIN. I learned to like Grace in this book, where in the first I found her somewhat tedious. The cliffhanger at the end of the book was great and I can't wait to see where the Daniel & Grace story heads in the next, as yet untitled, book. 


I would recommend to people who havent read either book, to still read The Dark Divine first as i think as a stand-alone The Lost Saint would be a bit confusing for a new reader.


All in all I give this book a 3.5/5

Review of Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Oh lordy... Theia Alderson has spent her entire 17 years holding back, being exactly the girl her father wants her to be. But when she meets the gorgeous Haden, the girl she once thought she was begins to fray at the edges.

Theia is instantly drawn to Haden, he is hot and mysterious and bad, he is literally the man of her dreams - She met him while she was asleep BEFORE he turned up at school.

Theia is swamped with confusion over Haden. Why is he appearing in her dreams? are they really dreams or something else? Does he remember her at school? Why does he act like he hates her one minute and loves her the next?

The truth is terrorfying.

This book rocks, to say the least. It has so many lovely horror moments, more so than most paranormal romance books which are usually very angsty. While this has a sufficient dose of teen angst too, it also has some very vivid macabre scenes which I just loved. 

Theia is a good character who is in constant battle with herself over how she should and how she wants to act and think. Haden is appealing, maybe more so as he is similar to the protagonist in my own novel-to-be. The other characters all have their purpose and none of them particularly got on my nerves!


It is well written, very easy to get lost in. I love horror movies, and although I wouldnt call it 'scary' it has skeletons and monsters and all things that go bump in the night which was really cool. Gwen Hayes has a wonderfully demented mind, in the best possible way :)


The story itself is great too, again had some similar themes to my novel-to-be! I do recommend it to all you YA-Para-Rom fans out there, plus the cover is a front runner for my cover of the year! so beautiful :)


I GIVE IT 4/5

Review of Penitence by Jennifer Laurens

When we left Heavenly, Zoe and Matthias were in Paradise, happy and in love. But now Zoe is back and hasn't seen Matthias since she died.

Zoe soon starts to see a new spirit, he reminds her of Matthias, but doesn't have the same comforting feeling she had around him. She thinks that he is her new guardian. She was wrong, so, so wrong.

Albert is an evil spirit. He thrives on pain and suffering. He is Matthias' father, hellbent on destroying his son and all that he loves. This of course, includes Zoe. 

Those around Zoe soon begin to make some horrible choices in their lives. Partly due to the horrid black spirits that ride their backs, spirits which Zoe can unfortunately see and do nothing about. 

Some of Zoe's friends begin to turn on her, the others seem to change into people unlike their true selves, the only person Zoe feels she can trust is Weston Larson (of all people). Weston is not only the boy Britt loves, but he is also part of the duo who tried to assault Zoe. 

Penitence is a great second book to Heavenly. It expands more on the notion of choices, good and bad and I really like the development of characters like Chase and Krissy. Weston was a real turn-around character in this book. He is one of the only people who seemed to learn from his mistakes made in the first book, thus why he and Zoe bond and he and Britt fall apart.

the runaway quote from the book for me was: "I've come to realize that our actions bring us peace or fear.” which I feel really gets the theme of the book. 


The book ends with almost everybodies lives in disarray due to the presence of Albert and the evil spirits. I feel something big coming with either Krissy or Chase and can't wait to get Absolution. 


Again, I can't fault Jennifer Laurens's writing style. It's great and obviously I enjoy the characters and plot, so again I give this book a 4/5


I apologise if this review is all over the shop, I am currently very ill and my head is spinning in a very un-user-friendly kinda way :)

Review of Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw

 Eva and Gabe, Evangeline and Gabriel. Two young lovers existing in different times. Torn apart and determined to find a way back together.

This is a clever and beautiful book based on the epic Longellow poem ' Evangeline'. Shaw has done a brilliant job of writing from the POV of both Eva and Gabriel, skipping back and forth between time. 

It is very beautifully written and well portrays the angst both sets of young lovers feel. It is also a very easy read and I recommend reading the poem as well to really get the setting and emotions before reading the book.

 It's a story about love, about determination and about not giving up.

Here is the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem that inspired the story

I give it a 3.5/5

Review of Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Jacinda is not your normal 16 year old (but are any of the protags these days?). Not only is she part of a special race called the draki, which are descendents from dragons with the ability to shift into human form, she is also a fire-breather. This is exceptionally rare with the draki and thus making Jacinda a pretty hot commodity as far as mates go.

Although, after a bout of rule-breaking and nearly being caught by a group of hunters, including a mysterious (ahem and sexy) young man who finds Jacinda but lets her go, Jace's mother decides they need to leave the pride for the safety of her daughter who will certainly suffer the wrath of the Alpha.

In the human world Jacinda is none too pleased. Her twin sister Tamra on the other hand is over-the-moon. 

Jacinda must learn to adapt and accept the human world, something which she most definitely does not want to do as this means giving up her draki self - for good.


Things change however when, during her first day at new high school, she spots the sexy hunter who let her free - Will...


I kinda knew I would enjoy this book when I first heard about it. I am sucker for anything YA fantasy, but after a while the faerie/wolf/vamp thing can get repetitive. I think this is an original concept, I have always liked dragons as well so that aspect was pretty neat.


From the first page I was hooked. Sophie Jordan manages to instantly create another world that I longed to be a part of. Jacinda, as a lead, was not as annoying as some mains can be. The other characters were enjoyable as well. 


The writing style is simple, but not in a bad way, it was easy to read and entertaining which is generally how I like my books to be. 


I give this a 5/5 


(for future reference I rate things by a) general story b) main characters c) writing style)

Generation Dead - Daniel Waters

Zombies or ' Living Impaired' kids are country-wide. This is a strange phenomenon that is now an every day part of life for United States residents. However, most are not too pleased about this. 

For reasons unknown teenagers aren't staying dead. They awaken not long after death and attempt to return to normality. They attend school, and attempt to continue learning. When one particular Living Impaired decides to join the school football team it unleashes a rage inside a few 'normal' teen kids. 

Phoebe Kendall is a goth, the irony of dressing like the dead is not lost on her and best friend Margi in todays times. Phoebe is one of the few people who believe the dead kids should have the same rights as those living and when a friendship develops between her and new football team member, Tommy Williams, she begins to realise just how cruel society has become.

This book was hard to get into at first, but about a 1/3 of the way through I decided it was better than expected. It isn't a normal YA-Paranormal romance. It has strong undertones of prejudice and discrimination and is worth reading. 

The characters, however, were incredibley irritating. Especially lead girl Phoebe and sidekick Margi. Karen was hands down the best character in the book as was zombie-girl Colette who was by far the most interesting.

The writing style was good, but I felt detached from the characters and as I mentioned it was hard to get into.

2.5/5

Here is my storycasting fantasy cast

Review of Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

I had high hopes for Heavenly as I had been eyeing it off for quite some time. So when I finally was able to buy it and get stuck into it I wasn't disappointed.

These days there seem to be more and more 'angel' books, they are definitely the new vampires that's for sure. But Heavenly is more than just a cut-and-paste angel-mortal romance book. 

Zoe Dodd is a great character. When we meet her she is popular and an avid partier. She picks up guys to make herself feel better and abuses alcohol. I love this about her as a lot of the characters in books these days are goody-two-shoeses from the get-go and it gets a bit sickly after awhile. 

Everything for Zoe starts to change however when she meets Matthias,he is her autistic sister Abria's guardian angel. Matthias makes her realise the important things in life. I love the growth of Zoe herself and her love for Matthias throughout the book. 


Her family are really strong characters and I love the way the story builds up to lead onto the next book. 


It's more than a story about love, it's a story about family and making the right choices in life. I strongly recommend it (I am just over a 1/3 way through the sequel Penitence at the moment and can assure you it gets even better!)


I love the way Jennifer writes too. Her characters are very believable and the BFF character of Britt reminds me all too much of some of my own friends!


I give it a 4/5