Review: Fire Touched

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seven years since I started the Mercy Thompson series and it's still one of my favorites! Mercy is so genuine in a world of Fae, wolves, and others. The love she has for her family is evident, and the many laugh out loud moments make Briggs series a winner. When Mercy and the pack decide to protect Aiden, the human child stolen by the Fae, they do so with the understanding that this might mean war between their pack and the Gray Lords.


***Spoilers***
Aiden and many other human children were left in Underhill when she closed her doors to the Fae. All but a few of them died, and the others that did survive and make it out didn't make it past the Fae in our world. They wanted to know how these human children were given the gift of magic and killed them in their efforts to find out. Aiden escaped with Zee and Tad from Walla Walla, using his fire power to assist in exchange for Zee asking the pack for Aiden's temporary protection. He's an annoying little shit but most of it is his fear of being returned and his lack of social norms since he's been in Underhill so long. Mercy and eventually Adam grow fond of the boy and promise him they will not let him be returned. Eventually, the Fae make a deal with the pack to respect their territory of the Tri-Cities in exchange for an artifact that Aiden agrees to retrieve from Underhill. While there the Widow Queen, who despises humans and the deal the Fae have struck, with the assistance of Underhill ambushes Mercy, Adam, and Aiden. They are able to defeat her, but not before the walking stick sacrifices itself for Mercy, and Adam is left with a death curse. Luckily Baba Yaga, with the help of Aiden convince Underhill to allow Baba Yaga's use of magic to reverse the curse. Aiden agrees to visit underhill, whom he calls Tilly when she is in the little girl form, in exchange for her agreement. In the end, Mercy is making brownies for their pack, and it seems Aiden has become a part of the family. He plans on visiting underhill soon because she told him she could help him stop lighting fires in his sleep. Aiden and Jesse seem to be getting along great as well.

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Review: Never Never: Part Three

Never Never: Part Three by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Well, that was kind of a let down.. First, all three of these books could have easily been combined into one book. After reading the third installment, I can see why they chose to separate them. The first two books were really good because they kept you on your toes trying to figure out the missing information, and why Charlie and Silas were losing their memories. The average rating reflects that other readers felt the same. The third does end up revealing the answer to that question but it's kind of silly and anticlimactic. The ending does give us a peek into the future and because I don't know if there will be any other additions I will go ahead and leave a spoiler section.


***Spoilers***
Charlie and Silas wake up from their 11 am memory wipe repeating the same cycle, only this time Silas doesn't lose his memory. He decides to keep that information from Charlie so she isn't afraid or skeptical of him when he tries to explain. While on their search for more information Charlie visits her dad in prison. Since she is fresh from a recent memory wipe, she has no feelings for the stranger across from her, and she realizes what a dirtbag her dad is. She also learns that he actually fathered Cora Delacroix the "Shrimp" and chose not to be involved in her life. He tells her the only reason they held her against her will is because she was behaving strangely and they thought she was on drugs. After discussing it with Silas, the two of them decide to turn over the missing files that Silas took from his dad. The files ultimately show Charlie's father's guilt in the case regarding the missing money from their company. His father apologizes to Charlie for blaming her for the missing files and asks if she will be around more often. Silas realizes that the reason he didn't lose his memory this times is because he fell back in love with Charlie. He theorizes that if she also falls back in love with him she won't lose her memory again either. With this theory, he has one day to make her fall in love again. He's successful, and she doesn't lose her memory again at eleven am, in fact, both of them regain all of their memories from before the memory losses started. At the end of the book, it shows the two of them married twenty something years later with a daughter named Jessa. Jessa and Harry, her boyfriend are juniors or seniors in high school and have been together since they were freshman. Charlie can tell something is off about the two and asks Jessa if she wants to go to Miami for her birthday next month. She says "yeah... cool" and walks away. Silas starts to protest when Charlie reminds him Jessa's birthday isn't for six more months. Apparently it's starting all over again.

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Review: Horde

Horde by Ann Aguirre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So far Ann Aguirre is 3 for 3 with the Razorland trilogy. If you like Hunger Games or Divergent, you will like this series as well, IMO.
Fade is still dealing with the trauma of being kidnapped by the Freaks, and rescued by Deuce. I don't know what they did to him, but it was bad whatever it was. At the end of book two, the Freaks are attacking their new town Salvation, and Deuce, Fade, Tegan, and Stalker are sent to find help. No longer are they fighting a mindless group of animals, the Freaks are evolving, and gaining skills humans never imagined. Deuce knows that in order for all of humanity to remain safe, she must gather an army and destroy them. The problem is finding soldiers to rally behind a teenage girl.

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Review: Between Us and the Moon

Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't decide how I feel about this book. I enjoyed reading it, hoping until the very last page for a happily ever after. As I sit here having finished it there are so many things that make me wish it were written a little bit differently. I wish Sarah hadn't lied but that's the premise of the book, so maybe not such a big lie..

Sarah is all about science and the stars. She's been tracking the Comet Jolie for 11 months and she's using this research to apply for a scholarship that will free her parents from the burden of accepting her tuition money from her aunt. After her first heartbreak, she decides she is tired of being the girl who spends every moment looking at the stars, or watching the world around her. She is reinventing herself and no longer has to be one or the other, she can be both good at science and have a social life. She starts the Scarlett Experiment, using her sister's clothes and mannerisms she wants to learn if changing who she is can also change her place on the outside to one on the inside. Sarah meets Andrew and though he was initially attracted to the girl in Scarlett's clothes, he likes Sarah for who she is. What she expects to be a casual conversation, a social experiment turns into a real relationship that has been built on a lie.

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Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When the old soldier's story was finished, Dad asked, "You know how Veterans Day started?" 
"The armistice, the end of World War One, " Fin answered. "At eleven o'clock in the morning of November 11, 1918, all the troops on both sides stopped fighting. That's the day we honor vets."
"Here's what you don't know, " Dad said. "By five o'clock that morning, the officers had all gotten the message that the war would end that day. But lots of them ordered their men to keep fighting. The end of the war meant that career officers would have fewer chances to move up in rank. The goddamn war was officially ending in hours and they sent their boys in to be sacrificed. Almost eleven thousand soldiers died on November 11, 1918. That's more men than died on the beaches of Normandy on D-day in World War Two, twenty-six years later." He cracked his knuckles. "Politics beats out freedom, honor, and service every time. Don't ever forget that."

That quote stuck with me for days after finishing The Impossible Knife of Memory. Hayley Kincain and her father have spent most of her life crisscrossing the nation trying to outrun his demons. Andy Kincain, a war veteran who suffers from PTSD never stays in one place too long. Hayley spends her time taking care of her father, careful not to set him off but unsuccessful more often than not. The Impossible Knife of Memory is a poignant look at the life of veterans and their loved ones. We ask a lot from our veterans, up to and sometimes including death. The fact that there are veterans and their families suffering without the help they deserve is disgusting. How our country could even consider recruiting new soldiers before our veterans are receiving what they were promised is mind boggling.

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Review: The Bird and the Sword

The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am in awe of Amy Harmon's skills as a writer. Her ability to captivate her audience is not limited by genre as she so brilliantly proves in The Bird and the Sword. Although I'm not typically fond of fantasy, unless it's urban fantasy I was intrigued from the beginning. Harmon has created a world of intriguing people, magical places, and I hope she has plans to bring us back.


Lark's mother was killed in front of her and that day before she died, she told the King he'd trade his soul and lose his son to the sky. She told her husband that he must protect their daughter as his life was now tied to hers. Then she gave these words to Lark forever trapping her voice.

Swallow, Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them ‘til they’ve time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, ‘til the hour. You won’t speak and you won’t tell, you won’t call on heav’n or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, Daughter. Stay alive.


In a world of hidden gifts, the Tellers and Spinners, Changers and Healers all hide who they are for fear of losing their lives. In a world among others without gifts, they're threatened and everyone must be equal. King Zoltov has killed every one of the gifted for fear of losing his throne. Lark longs to be free, free of her father and her curse.

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