Amy Lignor - Until Next Time

So I've been busy, I lost an expensive contact which really upsets me.  I got in a car accident with my brand new car (this morning) and have been fighting on and off with my husband.  The only things going right are reading, school, and writing my book.  My best friend is supposed to be helping edit it but she's extremely busy so it's not getting done very quickly.

I'm not sure what to read next, I have Everneath by Claudia Gray which was free for Kindle.  I also have a couple of others that look okay.  I haven't made up my mind 100% yet.  I'll have something chosen by tonight though.

Anyways I just read a book called Until Next Time and to say the least, I'm most disappointed in the cover.  The book was written with grace and beauty and the cover doesn't live up to the class of the book in my opinion.  Also, I found the book to be so in depth that it was extremely confusing and I had to reread many parts to fully understand what was going on (and I'm not sure I even do)... BUT I still really want to read the sequel, now time for my review:

Until Next Time by Amy  Lignor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the hardest review I've ever had to write.  I didn't quite fully grasp the entire book so it's hard to review.  I kept going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars.  What ultimately made up my mind is that this book is written with such beauty it's just amazing.  The cover in my opinion does not match the book in any way whatsoever.  In fact the cover would lead you to believe you are reading something much different and more dark than this story.



So anyways, the story is told in a style that's very confusing at first and I had to reread several paragraphs throughout the book and even the ending to fully grasp the story.  I'm not sure if it was just the way it was written but I read other reviews that summarize the story and if you read those it will help to explain any confusion you may have. 



The writing style is amazing, the way she puts you in heaven with the saints is absolutely stunning.  I loved the saints and archangels descriptions and the card games for candy bars, etc.  The way she chose to have many common sayings of today be things the saints said such as "Stop and smell the roses" and hoping the sayings would catch on someday in earth.  The parts of the story that were written in heaven were beautiful.  The parts of the story on earth were just as good and the descriptions were full of depth.  You felt there with the characters.  Martha, Anthony, Charles, Jason, Liz, Faith, and even Charles' parents and sister all had depth to them and you really got to know them.



I really enjoyed the characters of Faith and Liz the most.  I felt I didn't get to know Matt well enough I'm not sure if there was supposed to be a love triangle or not because she always made it clear Matt was her soulmate but she loved Jason?  I am still so confused on Matt and what is supposed to be going on with him.  You never really get to know Matt and hopefully book 2 will touch up on him.  I love books based in the past, so this was a real joy to read.  I thought it confusing that Emily/Liz are the same as well as Daniel/Matt.  I'm so beyond confused by the whole situation and the ending of this book that I'm actually looking forward to the next one to help clarify things for me that were unresolved. 



Even reading this review you can tell how confused I am.  It's a good read but it's just so full of depth it takes a lot to grasp in comparison to the fluff I've read lately.  :)



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Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

It took me awhile to finish this book!  I have been very busy!  I would like to mention I did send a tweet out saying I was reading this and Kendare Blake actually saw it and responded saying she hoped I liked it... I hope my review does not disappoint!  I don't typically read ghost stories or gory stories but lately I've grown to like them, perhaps because they are so different from my typical reads...

I've started another book it is called Until Next Time by Amy Lignor here is a photo of that (it's an angels book is what I know of it so far, I'm about 2 chapters in):
 

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Yes it took me a few days longer than normal to read this because I've had a busy week!  But here goes:



So Anna Dressed in Blood isn't my typical read but lately I've been reading books about ghosts and with all the great reviews I thought why not?  I really enjoyed that the main character is a boy so the story is told through him.  It's nice having a male protagonist.  Cas is a ghost hunter who moves around with his mom (witch) and cat (sees ghosts) to different cities to kill ghosts he receives tips on.



Cas meets his match in Anna, Anna Korlov is a female ghost who has killed every person to ever enter her home.  Until Cas comes along, for some reason she doesn't kill him and that's where the story starts to get really good.  Anna is a great character, there's a little G rated romance between the two, nothing serious.  There is more PG-13 rated stuff when it comes to the gore and descriptions of some of the killings and things that happen to the other ghosts.



I really enjoyed Cas' friends and family.  I thought the story was told with creativity, imagination, and it was really descriptive.  My favorite character was Anna who I believe is the real hero of the entire story.  Thomas and Carmel were also great additions to the group, there was a lot of depth to each character and you got to know all of them and I really enjoyed all of the characters.



This is a ghost story at it's best!  I would rate it between 3.5-4.  I like that the Kendare Blake was able to fit the entire story into one book which is extremely rare these days with sagas, trilogies, etc...  She left it open-ended enough to make a series out of it as well.  All in all it's a pretty good ghost story, perhaps a little gruesome.



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Update!

I'm currently reading Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.  So far so good, I'm about 5 chapters in.  We were out of Internet the other day so I couldn't download a book to my kindle so I started on my ARC signed copy of Betrayed by Ednah Walters.  I got through a few chapters of that too...  I just find it so much more convenient reading off of my Kindle as of late.

I will say Ednah Walters is a great person to fan or friend on Facebook and Goodreads.  She does A LOT of giveaways.  I did not win a giveaway I am just a fan of her Awakened series and they are being reformatted for a grand debut soon by her new publisher and she knew how badly I wanted to read the sequel so she sent me the sweetest personalized book along with signed bookmarks and a t-shirt.

Becca Fitzpatrick also did a virtual signing recently.  I've met her in real life and also signed up for the virtual signing and got my book from her a week or two ago.

And lastly for Rachel Caine fans, go to her Facebook as she also does giveaways and sent out signed bookplates.  I received 5 and can now put them in some of my Morganville Vampire books!  :-) 

Lots of good deals out there if you look and a lot of these authors are extremely kind and generous.

Back to Anna Dressed in Blood which I like so far... very unique spin on ghosts.

Existence by Abbi Glines - READ IT NOW!!! AMAZING!

So wow...  I will reiterate something I wrote in my review, this book makes me want to lower every other book I've read by at least 1 star it is that good.  I recommend you buy it and read it now!  I have no idea what to do now...  I feel lost without Pagan and Dank :P 

Existence by Abbi Glines

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was instantly hooked to this book!  This book makes me want to take every other review I've written and drop a star from each one that's how good it was.  I was not going to read it because the characters' names were Dank, Leif, Pagan, Gee, all really strange besides Miranda.  But the reviews of the book were so good and I decided to go for the free sample, instantly I was attached to Pagan and the story and knew I'd be buying it.



Pagan is a really likeable girl, she cares about her friends and others feelings, she's someone you automatically sympathize with and befriend.  Her best friend Miranda is funny and quirky.  Pagan sees dead people but they've never talked to her before until she met Dank, but he's different.  Pagan is pretty and smart, she dates the star quarterback but her attraction to Dank the spirit that talks is unreal.



Okay I thought the plot sounded dumb, I'm older and thought who would fall in love with a ghost???  But Dank isn't your average hot dead guy.  I wont give anything away but I fell for him too.  The cover of this book is gorgeous.  I cannot wait for the next book, I did read this will be a trilogy last night when I finished it.



I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone, go read it now!!!  What are you waiting for, the reviews are amazing, don't wait like I did!!!  Did I mention I LOVE Dank???





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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I absolutely devoured the last half of this book!  I'm thinking of reading A Beautiful Dark next or possibly something else, it just depends on what sounds good at the moment while I'm looking.  I highly recommend The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin to anyone looking for something to read...  I had been in a rut for awhile looking for something amazing to read and I found it...  It had the best ending I've read in such a long time, review:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Totally creepy and definitely not my typical read but here goes:



So I was going to rate this a solid 4 stars until the last paragraph which auto upped it to a 5.  This book was creepy and gave me goosebumps!  There was foul language which is fine by me because I'm not in the YA age group.  The book constantly had you wondering what was going on, what was real, what wasn't, and there was just so many disturbing parts to it.  This is absolutely NOT my typical type of book but after reading the free sample I decided to go for it.



I'm so glad I bought this, Mara Dyer is a very unique heroine.  She believes she's psychotic and has no idea what's wrong with her really.  She sees things, loses track of time, and when she pictures someone dying they die the same way she sees it.  Noah Shaw is a hero I instantly fell in love with.  He gives Mara so much attention and tries to tend to her every whim and need.  He puts up with all of her craziness. 



I loved the family bond in this book too, Mara has a strong connection with her brothers and there is a lot of family involved in this read.  There's also craziness, action, and paragraphs that you will have to read two-three times and still wont be able to comprehend.  This book is complete brilliance at it's best!



I cannot wait to read what comes next... and I hope it's soon.  That was an amazing cliffhanger/game changing ending...



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Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi...next up...?

I will start off by saying this was my FIRST dystopian novel.  I've tried reading a few others in the past but have never been able to really get into them.  I have a few samples and a couple paperbacks I'm stifling through now trying to decide what to read next...

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had been on the fence for a long time about reading this because I can never get into dystopian novels they aren't my thing.  I really enjoyed the main character Juliette and the hero of her affections Adam.  Juliette hasn't touched anyone in almost a year because her touch is lethal and she's locked in an asylum.



The book is almost written like a journal.  There are words, phrases, and even sentences crossed out.  Even on the cover, the first sentence at the top is crossed off.  The entire book goes on like this.  Some people have expressed it annoyed them but it didn't bother me.  I felt as if I were reading Juliette's journal during the majority of the book.



The action and plot was good and original as far as anything I've read lately.  This would probably be because as I said before, I don't read dystopian novels.  I would rate this a 3.5 but rounded it up because it is much better than the last book I read.  I will also add if you are a fan of paranormal books, this book wont disappoint you because there is a paranormal aspect to it.  Those are what I typically read.  Also, the book ended happy and complete with room for a sequel.  I do hope that we see a sequel in the future it would be nice to see what happens to Juliette from here.



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Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

 This was definitely not my favorite, but I try to save low ratings for books I really dislike.  This was "OK" in my opinion.  I'm going to read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.  Hopefully that will be better...  :P  This book was just so far below my expectations I feel disappointed I paid for it.  That never happens!!!

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Twilight Cullens meet Carrier of the Mark DeRis family. 



So I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it.  I felt it was extremely drawn out, I found myself reading paragraphs over and over again.  It ended abruptly with no conclusions to anything.  I'm not sure if there is meant to be a series of this or not? 



The family immediately reminded me of the Cullens from Twilight but were obviously not vampires, they also reminded me a lot of the family from Carrier of of the Mark.  All extremely beautiful with amazing talents and skills. 



The premise of the story sounded amazing, but I think it fell short.  I find that in other reviews people either loved or hated it.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, I found it mediocre at best.



I did like the main character Helen but I can immediately compare them to other people from other books, Hector was identical (to me) to Emmett Cullen, Lucas the hero and Helen's love interest reminded me of Adam DeRis from Carrier of the Mark.  The only thing different is that this book is about demigods. 



I'll give it a 2.5-3 star rating, because I read the whole book and some parts were really good.  This is a visual book, while reading it there is a lot of detail and sometimes lacks dialogue.  I hate writing reviews that aren't positive but I just didn't enjoy this book.



If you are a fan of Carrier of the Mark or Twilight, this book may be for you.





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Read or Write? Also Short Story from Shadow Falls Review...

I've had a heck of a time finding a new series or book to read.  I've been surfing goodreads, amazon, and even the bookstores.  I've read so much lately and I'm having a hard time finding something that grabs my attention!

I thought about writing more but revising and editing your novel can be so time consuming and when I start I notice errors and things that really don't please me so I've been purposefully occupying myself with other tasks.

I did complete a short story from C.C. Hunter, it's the story of Della, Kylie's vampire roommate and best friend.

Turned at Dark by C.C. Hunter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Della is one of my favorite characters from the Shadow Falls books so I was excited to see a short story about when she turned into a vampire.  You can really tell the author loves her characters to provide extras like this.



I wasn't disappointed in Della's story at all.  It was a great *short* addition to the series.  Della's story is well written and you get to learn more about her background and how she found out about Shadow Falls to begin with. 



If you are a fan, for this price *FREE* on Kindle you should definitely check it out!



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Obsidian - A Lux Novel Jennifer Armentrout

This review is fairly short... I really enjoyed Daemon, I thought he was the "sexiest" guy I've read about in a long time.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really liked Daemon, he was sexy and delicious.  There was so much sexual tension in this book I could feel it!  Katy was a fun heroine to read about, she liked to read yet had quite a mouth on her. 



All together for this being my first Alien read, it was not what I expected.  I was wary at first but it turned out great.  The plot was well written and I'm sure I'll enjoy the next book in the series.



This review is short and to the point, if you are looking for something other than vampires and werewolves, try this out. 



I'd say this is a solid 3.5/4 stars.







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Obsidian (A Lux Novel) - And Give Some Recommendations!

I'm looking for recommendations!  I'm about out of fresh ideas of good new books.  Right now I'm reading whatever is recommended by Goodreads and Amazon.  Currently I'm almost finished with Obsidian (A Lux Novel) by Jennifer L. Armentrout which is really good so far.  I saw it talked about in Goodreads and wasn't sure how I felt about it, I haven't read any aliens before...


I'm definitely sick with a cold, thanks to my kiddos so I'll be spending the weekend working on homework and reading.  It's hard to find books when  you've read so many...

I'm looking into Shatter Me, Everneath, and a couple others.  I also have in hard copy Betrayed signed by Ednah Walters and Cryer's Cross.  But I'm averaging a book every 2 days and would really like to have a strong list ready....  


SO GIVE ME SOME BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS!!!  :D  Thanks!  Everyone has books they recommend to someone so what's yours?  

ALSO, on the plus side, I'm almost done retyping my draft of my novel and I have a few people to read and critique it, one of which is a book agent...  So that's AMAZING.

Anew: The Archers of Avalon #1 by Chelsea Fine

OMG wow I just finished this... what an ending.  I don't know what can even live up to this, especially since it only cost $2.99 on my kindle.

Anew by Chelsea Fine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow...  I just finished this book and wow.  It was great, the ending was superb.  It leaves you completely hanging.  I cannot wait until the sequel comes out.  The book is about curses, immortals, and love. 



Scarlet has amnesia and meets a boy named Gabriel who has a familiar voice.  Soon she finds out he has an identical twin except for their eye colors.  They are both in love with her so here comes the love triangle only there isn't really much of one in this book, but I have a feeling there will be in book 2.



She finds out all 3 are doomed by a curse and memories start coming back to her.  But not fast enough, because she's dying. Tristan avoids Scarlet like the plague and Gabriel is always giving her affection, love, and warmth.



I'm just amazed at this book, it was so incredibly good.  Everyone should read it.  I couldn't put it down wanting to know what was going to happen.  At first I didn't think I'd like the story but I did, I loved all the characters too.  The best friend Heather is hilarious, the twins are gorgeous, and Scarlet is one of the best heroines I've read in quite some time.



This book was an incredible find especially at this price.  Is it summer yet?  Oh and I'm way past my teens, so this would be good for any age.  :D



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Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan M. James

Wow, I bought this last night thinking I'd read this over the next few days... 416 pages according to Amazon... Yeah I'm done with it.  It was pretty good!

Forbidden by Syrie James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The authors of this book were a mother and son duo.  First of all, this book reminded me of little tidbits of several different YA books I've read.  I would compare it to Jamie McGuire's Providence series.  I did not expect to purchase this book last night and have it finished by this afternoon.  For being 416 pages it flew by.



The action was spot on, the romance was there.  There was a slight cliched love triangle but it was clear who your heroine Claire wanted after a few chapters.  There were a few surprises.  I found most of the characters really likeable, I think the only problem I had with the main character was her lack of being able to keep any secrets to herself.  But Claire was also caring and sweet and she was a really great female lead.



I liked that it was set at an upscale private school yet there weren't any of the regular "mean" kids that are in every book you read.  I found the hero of the story to be spot on and I really liked him.  Claire had great friends.



If you are a fan of angel books I would definitely recommend this one to add to your reading list.  I really hope to see a sequel from this writing team.  It ended definitely leaving you hanging and wanting more.  I would rate it a 3.5 but upped it to a 4 since I read it in less than 24 hours which is something I do only when I really enjoy a book.







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