Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

This was the first book I read by Maria V. Snyder and it is very impressive. Goodreads said:

"Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear..." 
This book was so good and I really liked the way the characters interacted with each other. The way that Yelena reacts to being in the castle is also very interesting and the way her backstory is introduced is very clever. 
The only thing I could have done without in this book is the descriptions of abuse that she suffered at an orphanage before she eventually killed her abuser. This information is crucial to the plot of the book, but is more graphic than it needs to be. 
Overall, I really liked this book and would like to thank Karlie once again for recommending it to me.  I encourage you to read this book and the others in the Study series. 

Review: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

I recently finished this book and once again found that Maria V. Snyder did an excellent job of making complicated plots that were very well illustrated. I have read one of her books before, and loved the different worlds she created.
Touch of Power is about a group of magicians called healers who can take illnesses and injuries from others onto themselves and can heal faster than anyone else. Avry is the last healer alive, after a plague ravaged the fifteen realms the kings needed healers, but that is the one thing the healers can not cure. They are hunted and accused of creating the plague. After healing a dying girl, she is captured and sentenced to death. She is  then broken out of prison to heal the one person she hates more than anyone else.
The dynamics between the characters is very well written and the villains are startlingly realistic to rulers in today's era. This book was awesome and I will have to read the rest of the series. Special shoutout to Karlie who recommended this series to me. The other series written by Maria V. Snyder is called, Poison Study. I recommend both of these series to anyone who enjoys magic and adventure.

Review: Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

 I was super excited when I heard about this book. Not only is the main character's mother a superhero, but a superhero who fights paranormal beings. Here's what Goodreads had to say about it:   "Audrey Whitticomb has nothing to fear. Her mother is the superhero Morning Star, the most deadly crime-fighter in the Twin Cities, so it's hard for Audrey not to feel safe. That is, until she's lured into the sweet night air by something human and not human--something with talons and teeth, and a wide, scarlet smile. 

Now Audrey knows the truth: her mom doesn't fight crime at night. She fights Harrowers--livid, merciless beings who were trapped Beneath eons ago. Yet some have managed to escape. And they want Audrey dead, just because of who she is: one of the Kin. 

To survive, Audrey will need to sharpen the powers she has always had. When she gets close to someone, dark corners of the person's memories become her own, and she sometimes even glimpses the future. If Audrey could only get close to Patrick Tigue, a powerful Harrower masquerading as human, she could use her Knowing to discover the Harrowers' next move. But Leon, her mother's bossy, infuriatingly attractive sidekick, has other ideas. Lately, he won't let Audrey out of his sight. 

When an unthinkable betrayal puts Minneapolis in terrible danger, Audrey discovers a wild, untamed power within herself. It may be the key to saving her herself, her family, and her city. Or it may be the force that destroys everything--and everyone--she loves."

That is so awesome right! I read this book and can't wait to read the next one! I confess that one of the reasons it read this book is because I wanted to be a superhero when I was younger (I still kind of do). But who doesn't want to be a superhero? I was also intrigued by the fact that they are fighting paranormal bad guys instead of the human kind. 

The only thing I don't understand is why her mom's sidekick is so strange. He is always following around Audrey and if he wasn't her mom's sidekick, it would be borderline stalker. But overall, this book exceeded my expectations and was really fun to read.

Review: Mistwood by Leah Cypess

Instead of trying to explain the plot of this book myself, I'm just gonna give you what Goodreads told me this book was about.

"The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwod.

But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew."

Sounds cool right? That's what I thought too. It was pretty cool, except that Isabel is unable to shift into anything other than her human form and the main reason I wanted to read this book was to see some awesome shapeshifting action! That didn't happen. The ending was also slightly disappointing because it was openended and when I checked on a sequel, I saw that it isn't even related to the first book! What is happening?! The whole plot was also pretty slow moving and seemed to create a circular pattern and by the end of the book, I knew what was going to happen.

This was not a book I would highly recommend, but if you want to try it, go ahead.  I won't judge. 

Some of My Favorite Series

In this post, I will showcase four of my all-time-favorite series (hence the strange title).

1. Virals by Kathy Reichs and Brendon Reichs
I saw the first book in the Virals series and knew I was meant to read it.  The first book is about a secret lab where a new strain of parvovirus is invented and unbeknownst to the scientists can be transmitted to humans. Four teenagers, who happen to be children of scientists on the island, sneak in and free the dog that they were testing the parvovirus on. They then contract the disease and their genetic code is rewritten. They all have heightened abilities thanks to their "super-dog" DNA. They spend the first book learning how to control
their new abilities and hiding them from the son of the man funding the secret lab. There is more to the plot, but if you want to know you have to read it yourself. The main character (Victoria Brennan) is the niece of Temperance Brennan, a main character in one of Kathy Reichs other series.
The other books in the series involve the teenagers using their new abilities to solve crimes and even find pirate treasure! If that doesn't sound awesome, I don't know what does.

2. Mythos Academy by Jennifer Estep
I was a little hesitant to begin yet another mythology related series, but was pleasantly surprised when I read the Mythos Academy books. In the books, there are Spartans, Valkyries, Gypsies, and lots of other awesome magical people with different powers. There are also the reapers of chaos who are under the command of Loki (not Tom Hiddleston). There is a school called Mythos Academy where the mythological kids go to train and defeat the reapers of chaos who want to bring Loki back into power after he lost the first Chaos war. Gwen Frost, a gypsy, uses touch magic to find lost things for people and through a series of events is thrust into a crazy battle for an artifact that can change the fate of the world. It doesn't help that she meets a Spartan (Logan Quinn) and develops a huge crush on him. As you can guess, mayhem in-sues. The series has five books in it so far, and I recommend all of them.

3. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
I was very excited when i read about this series. It is about a girl (Violet Ambrose) who can hear "echoes" of things that have died, more specifically, things that have been murdered. She can also feel the imprint left by the killer. As she discovers human remains, she stumbles upon the murderer and mayhem in-sues. One of the most interesting parts of this series are the imprints left on the bodies, they can be a smell a specific color, a sound, or even a feeling. Her friends and family are very supportive and she slowly falls in love with her long time best friend, Jay, (whose last name I
cant remember). This series is great for someone who enjoys paranormal mysteries.

4. Secrets of the Eternal Rose by Fiona Paul
I read the first book in this series, Venom, thinking it would be like any other book set in Venice, but I was soo wrong. This series is about Cassandra Caravello, one of the young nobility in Venice. She discovers that one of her friends has died and goes to visit the tomb only to discover that the body is not her friend's and has an "X" slashed over her heart. when she flees the cemetery, She runs into a young artist (Falco) who agrees to help her look for the killer and the body of her friend. The two end up being caught in the middle of a secret society called, The Order of the Eternal Rose who are trying to find the key to immortality. Falco and Cass soon fall in love but there is only one problem, Cass is engaged to a boy she grew up with (Luca). Just like the other three series, mayhem in-sues.
In the other books in the series, Casss, Falco, and Luca try to uncover the secrets of the Order and unravel the mysterious deaths of Cassandra's parents while grappling with their growing love interests! This series is awesome and each book ends with an unexpected twist, dun, dun, dun. There are three books in this series.

Review: The Night Circus

I recently finished this book for the second time and I have to say that this book gets better the more you read it. It is written by Erin Morgenstern and is quite impressive considering it is the first book she has written.
It is set in the late 1800s and continues into the early 1900s. To avoid any spoilers, I will just give you the jist of the book. Two magicians challenge each other to a duel by proxy (kind of). Prospero the Enchanter uses his recently discovered daughter who has an affinity for magic, and the other magician, Mr. A H-, finds a boy at an orphanage that he trains.
 The "game" as it is referred to takes place in a magical circus that travels the world and only appears at night and vanishes in a few days only to pop back up halfway across the world.
Enough about the circus though, soon the two "duelers" meet and fall in love even though they know that only one of them will win the game. What they don't know is that the game is only won when your opponent can no longer continue! AHHH!
 The Night Circus appeals to many different age groups and genre preferences and paints an amazing picture of a world seen in black, white, and red.