Hexed

Hexed by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I borrowed this book from the library to read on the kindle, because since Sookie ended, I'm looking for a new vampire/witchy type of series to read. As much as I love the genre of paranormal, I don't really read a ton of it. Unfortunately I didn't realize this book jumps in the middle of a bunch of series - anyone who reads my reviews regularly knows that's a personal pet peeve of mine, both with books, and tv/movies. So that dimensions my feelings of the book.

That being said, I did enjoy all of the books, or really shorter shorties within the book. Enough that I will mostly likely read more by the authors, though none of them overwhelmed me so much that I had to get another book by any one of them right now. You can certainly read any of the these stories as a stand alone book, but I felt like I was missing something in each one of these stories.

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Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I saw a review of this book on another blog - sorry, original blogger, I didn't save the post - and since I'm an obsessive knitter & obsessed with vampires, witches, fairies, and the like, I immediately requested the book from interlibrary loan.

You'll saw my huge library pile I got last week, this book was in it. Well, it was the first one to be picked up from the stack (even though I was reading 3 other books at one time), and I absolutely laughed out loud - literally made my cat cross eyed with me - from the very first page. Obviously Bretton was sincere in her desire to make a GOOD knitting fiction book; it's been done before, but usually the knitting references are done in passing, and it's obvious the writer has no real connection to knitting (an exception is The Shop on Blossom Street, by Debbie Macomber). The addition of paranormal elements made me just giddy. There's a bit of romance, which I'm not a huge fan of, but the book is so well written, I felt myself rooting for the relationship between Chloe & Luke all the same.

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The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely LOVED this book!

I was first introduced to this book as part of a book tour & was asked to review. I almost passed, because I don't really read Zombie books. I've gotten into Walking Dead, however, and LOVED the cover of this book so much I couldn't resist getting a copy to read.

And I was immediately hooked, from the very first page.

I haven't loved a book this much in a long time.

Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her entire life within an area called the Bastion. She's a soldier and has battled the zombies that surround their area before. The story revolves around Maria, her friend Lindsey who also is a veteran of zombie battles, and her boyfriend and an officer in the Constabulary, Dwayne Reichardt. Their relationship is kept a secret because of his marriage and family, but in the end, Maria's relationship with Lindsey & Dwayne is what keeps her alive.

Frater does a wonderful job of creating a whole world with rich, multi-faceted characters, and kept twisting the plot so you had to keep reading. The last half of the book I couldn't even read at night because it would keep me up at night wondering what was going to happen next! She wrote this as a stand-alone book, but I'd really love to see where Maria and Dwayne are in ten years.


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Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice by Roxanna Matthews

Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice by Roxanna Matthews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Sanna!

Sanna has all of my favorite things - knitting, magic, witches, young adult, fantasy, & in a vaguely historical setting. Author Roxie is a knitter, and you can tell this in the book, from how Sanna fixes injuries by "knitting" the bones (love the pun), to knitting magical self-heating socks & mittens to keep a friend warm. Sanna & her classmates are a bunch of girls, just out to have a good time, who are just happening to attend a magical school.

There's a bit of a mystery, there's a bit of romance, but all in all it's just a good fast read.

I only have one negative about the book, which isn't really a negative at all. I felt a couple of parts - especially the ending - were written a little abrumptly for my tastes, but I think it's more written for young adults, which of course, this book is. As an adult reader, I would love liked to have seen those parts a little more fleshed out, but I completely understand why Roxie wrote those parts the way she did.

I was thrilled to pieces to find out that there is another book in the series, too!

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