5 STARS!! Holy cow! If you're a fan of YA contemporary romance and you haven't started the Pushing the Limits series, come on. It's so good. Book 4 does not disappoint. In this dual POV (first person, present tense) story, we meet Haley, a former fighter trapped in a succession of not catching a break, and West, a total jerk (from book 3) who rightly beats himself up. After book 3, West was the last person I wanted to get his own book, and a few pages into his POV, I wanted to give him a hug and smack on the back of the head. In a chance encounter, West saves Haley (sort of) and then Haley has to save him back (not sort of). One night and their lives will never be the same. We get to catch up with Rachel and Abby from book 3. Rachel and West's parents are possibly even more upsetting and disappointing in this installment. They need a talking to. I think Mrs. Collins should go over there and have a smiley conversation about how much they suck. Oh, we get a few pages with Mrs. Collins too, the best school counselor/social worker ever. It's a wonderful story filled with angst, mistakes, love, family, and fighting. I already want to read it again.
5 STARS!! The 8th book in the Mercy Thompson series pushes all of my buttons with Adam's ex-wife suddenly showing up needing the protection of the pack. Grrh. Mercy plays the role of the bigger person, while Christy plays the role of Mistress of Getting What She Wants. Like always, there's a mystery to solve, interpersonal relationships to navigate, and pain to endure. Briggs always puts poor Mercy through the ringer! Last installment brought us Adam's POV and I missed his thoughts so much! I hope we get more in the future. If you're a fan of urban fantasy, werewolf stories, alpha males, strong-willed female leads, jump into Mercy's world. It's too good!
Book 4 in the Night Huntress Series starts off with the worst trip to Paris ever. Bones and Cat just want some time away from hunting the monsters of the world, but these two can't catch a break. Cat starts having dreams about a vampire who you just know has to be a bad guy. If Bones hates him, then he's either a bad guy or someone who wants to keep Cat for himself, or both. There wasn't as much humor in this one, in fact there are a couple gut wrenching moments. The action is nonstop so is the fleeing. I felt like there was never a chance to catch my breath and just hang out with some of my favorite characters. Also, I missed Cat working with her uncle and his team. There's some mystery hinted to in this installment in regards to her uncle, which remains a loose thread. As always, there were steamy scenes, laugh out loud moments, and villains worthy of a bloody death. I totally enjoyed it! 4.5 STARS!!
Book 2 in The Edge series by Ilona Andrews is gritty, fantastical, and action packed. Cerise was raised to value family above all else. If she didn't have any power, she'd be a scrapper in a fight, but the girl is a force of magic and swordsmanship. Even the outlaws cast away to the swamplands of The Edge know to fear her. I love that! When her parents go missing, it's up to her to find them, defend land claimed by their enemies, and protect her family. Enter William, a changeling trained to kill since he was a small child. If there's anyone Cerise could use on her side to fight nearly unstoppable forces, it's William. But it's never easy because he has his own agenda. And worse, the two are kindred spirits, they have hate at first sight, but you know how that goes. It goes so good. I loved Bayou Moon. The world building is flawless. The romance is such a slow build, I could not wait for every stolen glance. The battles were gory, just as they should be when swords, magic, and evil are involved. 5 STARS for sure.
So the i may or may not have added the last 3 series to my TBR list. (i did)
ReplyDeleteMatt @ JC's Book Haven.
Ha! I'm glad to be responsible for fattening up someone else's TBR list. You cannot go wrong with any of these series. They are all top shelf! Take your pic, gritty YA contemporary romance with McGarry, urban fantasy with a female mechanic who is also a coyote in her other form as the lead with Briggs, paranormal romance at it's best (steamy and funny) with Frost, and straight up fantasy with Ilona Andrews.
DeleteYES! Mercy and Cat :D Two of my favorite leading ladies. I loved Night Broken a lot. Did you enjoy the weird tension between Mercy and Christy? She really was the bigger woman there. I felt it help fill in all the gaps of action and kept the story moving at a great pace.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are Cat and Mercy girls. Oh my gosh the tension that Christy brought with her. I was out of my skin. I never thought about it, but that did add to the movement of the story even though it stressed me out so much. I just love Mercy. She takes the immature or drastic route at just the right moment. I never pick my moments as well as she does.
DeleteI haven't had a chance to read the last Mercy book yet - even if I love both her and Adam.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, Cat and Bones are always making me totally swoon :)
It's a great idea to do several mini reviews like this :) That way you can tell us about different awesome books at the same time.
Have a fantastic week, Robyn :)
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
Cat and Bones is totally swoon worthy! And so funny. I love when Cat gets jealous. I think Mercy and Adam may be my favorite couple. I love the way they fight for each other. Have you read the Alpha and Omega series by Briggs? Another one comes out next spring, so you have time for Mercy. I hope you're having a great break!
DeleteOh! I have some of these on my pile! Great books right! Good job Robyn!
ReplyDeleteThey were all great reads, Ki! I did notice you jumped into supernatural waters recently. Frost might be your girl if you want to dive in again, steamy, funny, steamy.
DeleteYay for you! You got a lot of reading in and ALL the books are spectacular! I need to catch up on Pushing the Limits and Mercy Thompson. You have me itching to get to them. I remember thinking the same thing about a lack of laugh out loud moments in Destined for an Early Grave. And Bayou Moon rocked. William... *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI just realized this morning that I haven't been here for awhile. I told Sky it must be because we talk daily. So sorry about that. Bad me. I'll be better. ;)
Oh my gosh, you do need to catch up with Pushing the Limits and Mercy Thompson. I do try to push out the Briggs reads because she only puts out one novel a year. And then what? The Alpha & Omega series gets another installment next year, so we have to wait even longer for more Mercy. I guess that's my long winded way of telling you, you have time. hehe.
DeleteOh yeah, William, sigh. I loved how much he grumbled about the swamp.
Hey, no bad you! Silly girl. But did you see the post about the mimic octopus? That octopus is amazing!
I'm so hooked on Ilona Andrews, Robyn! I remember you talking about book number one, which is on my TBR list and now, I want to read this one too! You're ruining me!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these great reads! Have a beautiful day!
I just read your Dexter fan fest! And now even though that show will give me so many nightmares just like TWD I feel an intense marathon coming on!
DeleteI think you will love Kate Daniels. The Edge series is different because each book is more contained. William had a few pivotal moments in the first book. Check out Kate first. The vamps crawl up the walls, Athina. They are the creepiest freaking things.
I haven't read any of the mentioned books, but seeing your ratings I'm adding the ones with 5 and 4 ratings to my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteGreat post :)