Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Two for Tuesday

Author Connie L. Smith


*Book source ~ Many thanks to the author for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title ~ Essenced
Author ~ Connie L. Smith
Publisher ~ Connie L. Smith
Published ~ 29 July 2013
Genre ~ YA/Paranormal
Pages ~ 349
FREE Feb. 24th-28th

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

AJ is a typical 16-yr-old teenager stumbling through high school as best she can when one morning she reaches her hand out to slap off the alarm and smashes it and her night stand to rubble. Confused, she blames it on shoddy workmanship and adrenaline. But strange things keep happening and it’s getting harder to delude herself. When a hot mysterious stranger shows up and starts stalking her, trying to explain why she’s not the same anymore, she tells him to bug off. One night she can’t sleep and walks to the beach to clear her head. After he shows up yet again, she decides to listen to what he has to say then wishes she hadn’t. A war is brewing and she is needed to help fight it. At first she resists, but finally she agrees to join the army. Let the training begin.

I love fantasy/paranormal stories and don’t mind the same type of story told in hundreds of different ways, but this story takes an interesting new direction in telling about the fantasy/ paranormal world.  The writing is excellent and the characters are varied and interesting. Told in multiple POVs it really helps bring the world together. I had a love/hate relationship with AJ though. I loved her loyalty, her fierceness and her determination to protect, but her constant arguing got on my nerves. I honestly couldn’t see why Julius liked her so much. On the other hand, their constant bickering was, for the most part, entertaining and I made allowances for the fact that she’s a teenager even though he is not. And no, I’m not saying what he is.

The whole back story was fascinating. How magic used to be a part of the world, why it left and why it’s sort of back. My biggest problem with the story was how Nicholai picked teenagers for his soldiers. Unpredictable, inexperienced teenagers. His reasoning was sort of understandable, but not really. He didn’t want to include people who might have already started families and end up with them down one parent if they were killed in the war. Um, isn't that what our military faces every single day? With the entire world at stake and the imminent extinction of humanity fast approaching I would have chosen the best of the best for my army. Marines, Rangers, SEALs, etc., those who already have training and fighting experience. But I can see that might not be as good a story since the teenagers had to be whipped (not literally!) into shape. So I suspended my belief of what I would do and just went with the story. Trust me, it’s a great ride!


*Book source ~ Many thanks to the author for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Title ~ Emblazed
Author ~ Connie L. Smith
Publisher ~ Connie L. Smith
Published ~ 24 February 2014
Genre ~ YA/Paranormal
Pages ~ 320

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

It’s Go Time! The war for all humanity has begun and Nicholai’s army of teenage Essenced is as ready as they’ll ever be to fight the demons coming through the Division. The ultimate question of whether they have a hope in Hades of saving the world is about to be answered.

The first battle is upon them and Smith did a great job with the fighting scenes. They weren’t overly long and they weren’t too skimpy. Plus the multiple POVs gave me a good idea of what was going on all over the battlefield. The aftermath of the battle is definitely a focal point of the book. How they handled the fighting, the grief at the losses, the tracking of the escaped demons and various other missions as well as facing the hard truth about what it means to be fighting a war. They know this is only the first battle and there are more to come. Will the reality of it all break them? Or make them more determined than ever?

This book begins with a battle and ends with a battle, but the ending is also a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers are not something I like. Yes, the first book ended just as the battle was about to begin, so that wasn’t truly a cliffhanger, in my opinion. However, what happened at the end of this book leaves me hanging, so I took some points off for that. AJ & Julius are settling down and except for one massive dumbass selfish move on their part, I’m actually liking them better now. I loved learning more about the various characters and the plot is all coming together. I’m really looking forward to the next book.


There is also a prequel to The Division Chronicles which I haven't read yet, but hope to soon.
Title ~ In Your Wings
Series ~ The Division Chronicles, #0.5
Genre ~ Paranormal/Romance
Pages ~ 118


4 comments:

  1. heh lots of demons in books lately but it doesn't seem like the entire focus. I like the sound of the series, magic, character's and all and I am glad you enjoyed the world building. Book two seems to have a lot of action in it!

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    1. Yeah, demons are popular lately, but the demons in this book aren't coming from Hell. They're coming from a portal to another dimension/world where they were exiled in the first Great Battle. So a bit different which was interesting. There's a lot of action in Book 1, but it's mostly the training. Book 2 has fighting, searching and more fighting. I can't wait to see how Book 3 turns out. :)

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  2. This sounds like a great series. I'm glad to hear the world building and back story was really fascinating! I'll have to check out book one.

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    1. Definitely interesting! I look forward to hearing what you think of it. :)

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