SHADOWSONG by S. Jae-Jones

Shadowsong (Wintersong #2)

by S. Jae-Jones

Six months after the end of Wintersong, Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother’s and her own musical careers. Although she is determined to look forward and not behind, life in the world above is not as easy as Liesl had hoped. Her younger brother Josef is cold, distant, and withdrawn, while Liesl can’t forget the austere young man she left beneath the earth, and the music he inspired in her. 

When troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King—who he was, who he is, and who he will be. What will it take to break the old laws once and for all? What is the true meaning of sacrifice when the fate of the world—or the ones Liesl loves—is in her hands?

What I thought:

This is book 2, and the conclusion to the Wintersong duology. See my review for Wintersong HERE. 

I liked this book better than the first one. Obviously I liked Book 1 well enough, or I wouldn't have jumped right into this one, but Book 1 focused on the music a lot. In depth, very detailed accounts of Liesl composing and playing. And while the language was beautiful, it's not my area. 

Overall the pacing for both books was slow. As for the overall vibe of the series, it felt more adult literary than YA. I think I would have liked the first book more if had been for the adult market. I would have liked more of the physical relationship on the page, but, shrugs, maybe that's just me.  

Book 2 focuses more on Liesl's relationship with her brother, which I was okay with. Sure, I wanted more Liesl and the Goblin King, but we got a new location and a mystery, and pieces falling into place. I loved the way the ending came together. The last third of this book was perfection. Completely perfect. Breathtaking. 

I loved the darkness of this story and the rich settings and the gorgeous language. I can't wait to see what S. Jae-Jones writes next. (I hope it's smutty) I'm definitely a fan. 

Rating: ***** (4.5 stars)

Happy reading,

Chelly

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RATING SCALE: 

 5* = OMFG loved it. Will read it again. Touch my book and I will cut you. 

 4* = Really good. Highly recommend. Miiiight reread. Maybe. Don't touch my book. 

 3* = Good. I liked it. Go ahead and touch it. 

 2* = Not for me, finished but struggled. Didn't connect. Here, have a book.

 1* = DNF. Couldn't do it.

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Click on the cover to link to Goodreads and leave your book recs in my comments. Oh, yeah, and find me on twitter: @ChellyPike

WINTERSONG by S. Jae-Jones

Wintersong (Wintersong #1)

by S. Jae-Jones

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world..

What I thought:

Wow. This story was haunting and beautifully written. I loved the characters and the mystery. I did sometimes get bogged down in the descriptions and felt the pacing could have been quicker, especially toward the middle of the book, but, wow, I fell in love with the ideas and the music, swept along by Liesl's mania to create, create, create. 

I wanted more of the underground, more details to help me keep my footing when things were happening so fast. There was an important scene where I wasn't sure what had happened afterward. Like, did that just happen? Or didn't it? What? So, yeah, that was frustrating. The language seemed to get in the way of the action, where saying it prettily was more important than laying the scene out for the reader to enjoy. But overall I thoroughly enjoyed this and I can definitely recommend it.

I'm reading the 2nd book now. :D 

Rating: **** (4 stars)

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RATING SCALE: 

 5* = OMFG loved it. Will read it again. Touch my book and I will cut you. 

 4* = Really good. Highly recommend. Miiiight reread. Maybe. Don't touch my book. 

 3* = Good. I liked it. Go ahead and touch it. 

 2* = Not for me, finished but struggled. Didn't connect. Here, have a book.

 1* = DNF. Couldn't do it.

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Click on the cover to link to Goodreads and leave your book recs in my comments. Oh, yeah, and find me on twitter: @ChellyPike

HIGH VOLTAGE by Karen Marie Moning

High Voltage (Fever #10)

by Karen Marie Moning

There is no action without consequence…

Dani O’Malley was nine years old when the delusional, sadistic Rowena transformed her into a ruthless killer. Years later, she’s tough, hardened, yet achingly vulnerable and fiercely compassionate, living alone by her own exacting code. Despite the scars on her body, driven by deeper ones carved into her soul, no one is more committed to protecting Dublin. By day, she ensures the safety of those she rescues, by night she hunts evil, dispensing justice swiftly and without mercy, determined to give those she cares for the peace she has never known.

There is no power without price…

When the Faerie Queen used the dangerously powerful Song of Making to heal the world from the damage done by the Hoar Frost King, catastrophic magic seeped deep into the earth, giving rise to horrifying, unforeseen consequences–and now deadly enemies plot in the darkness, preparing to enslave the human race and unleash an ancient reign of hell on Earth.

There is no future without sacrifice…

With the lethal, immortal Ryodan at her side, armed with the epic Sword of Light, Dani once again battles to save the world but her past comes back to haunt her with a vengeance, demanding an unspeakable price for the power she needs to save the human race and no one—not even Ryodan who’d move the very stars for her—can save her this time… 

What I thought:

This is book 10 in the series. Book 10, y'all. It's Dani's HEA, and it has been a long time coming. So long that I'd built it up in my mind soooooo much that anything that showed up on the page would suffer by comparison. I wanted to love, love, love this book with my whole heart, and I did really love parts of it. 

The beginning has an amazing hook, and the ending is... *stares dreamily into the distance* ...so much swoon. That ending, y'all! Wow. 

Don't get me wrong, there's A LOT to love and, damn can KMM tell a story, but there was a little something missing for me. Maybe too much focus on the romance aspect. Or maybe too much effort (and words) devoted to new readers who hadn't read books 1 - 9? Maybe because we KNOW that this is Dani's HEA and are expecting it. 

I missed the tension of not knowing. I wanted to be shown less and dropped into the story world more, because there was a lot of real estate devoted to Dani's inner monologue. But, even so, the pages roared along at a nice speed, because, yeah, KMM can do amazing things with words. 

This was just a very different book than all the others in the series. I'd consider it a lot more Romance than Urban Fantasy. Not a lot of time is devoted to the big bad in the one, but things are neatly laid out for the next installment, and I can't wait to see what happens next. 

 

Rating: **** (4 stars, maybe 4.5 of those bright little fuckers.) 

I HIGHLY recommend this series, but don't start with HIGH VOLTAGE. Definitely start with DARKFEVER.

Darkfever (Fever #1)

by Karen Marie Moning

"My name is MacKayla, Mac for short. I'm a sidhe-seer, one who sees the Fae, a fact I accepted only recently and very reluctantly.

My philosophy is pretty simple - any day nobody's trying to kill me is a good day in my book. I haven't had many good days lately. Not since the walls between Man and Fae came down. But then, there's not a sidhe-seer alive who's had a good day since then."

When MacKayla's sister was murdered, she left a single clue to her death, a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone. Journeying to Ireland in search of answers, Mac is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to master a power she had no idea she possessed - a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister's death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho...while at the same time, the ruthless V'lane - an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women - closes in on her. As the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac's true mission becomes clear: to find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book - because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control both worlds in their hands. 

Happy reading, 

Chelly

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RATING SCALE: 

 5* = OMFG loved it. Will read it again. Touch my book and I will cut you. 

 4* = Really good. Highly recommend. Miiiight reread. Maybe. Don't touch my book. 

 3* = Good. I liked it. Go ahead and touch it. 

 2* = Not for me, finished but struggled. Didn't connect. Here, have a book.

 1* = DNF. Couldn't do it.

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Click on the cover to link to Goodreads and leave your book recs in my comments. Oh, yeah, and find me on twitter: @ChellyPike

THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1)

by Melissa Albert

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong. 

What I thought:

Loved this dark, twisty tale. So atmospheric and the language is stunning. Alice is, maybe, a little unlikable, but I liked her just fine. I loved the mother-daughter relationship here. Finch I was meh about, but I would follow Alice anywhere. 

The ending left me wanting more. A little more. I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on exactly how I'm feeling about it, or, more specifically, hard to put it into words without being all spoiler-y. And I don't spoil. But I'm so very much looking forward to The Tales of the Hinterland, and book 2. Highly recommend.

Rating: ***** (4.5 stars)

Happy reading,

Chelly

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RATING SCALE: 

 5* = OMFG loved it. Will read it again. Touch my book and I will cut you. 

 4* = Really good. Highly recommend. Miiiight reread. Maybe. Don't touch my book. 

 3* = Good. I liked it. Go ahead and touch it. 

 2* = Not for me, finished but struggled. Didn't connect. Here, have a book.

 1* = DNF. Couldn't do it.

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Click on the cover to link to Goodreads and leave your book recs in my comments. Oh, yeah, and find me on twitter: @ChellyPike

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book by Dan Harris

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book

by Dan Harris

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF 10% HAPPIER

Too busy to meditate? Can’t turn off your brain? Curious about meditation but more comfortable in the gym? This book is for you.

You’ll also get access to guided audio meditations on the 10% Happier app, to jumpstart your practice from day one.

ABC News anchor Dan Harris used to think that meditation was for people who collect crystals, play Ultimate Frisbee, and use the word “namaste” without irony. After he had a panic attack on live television, he went on a strange and circuitous journey that ultimately led him to become one of meditation’s most vocal public proponents.

Here’s what he’s fixated on now: Science suggests that meditation can lower blood pressure, mitigate depression and anxiety, and literally rewire key parts of the brain, among numerous other benefits. And yet there are millions of people who want to meditate but aren’t actually practicing. What’s holding them back?

In Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Harris and his friend Jeff Warren, a masterful teacher and “Meditation MacGyver,” embark on a cross-country quest to tackle the myths, misconceptions, and self-deceptions that stop people from meditating. They rent a rock-star tour bus (whose previous occupants were Parliament Funkadelic) and travel across eighteen states, talking to scores of would-be meditators—including parents, military cadets, police officers, and even a few celebrities. They create a taxonomy of the most common issues (“I suck at this,” “I don’t have the time,” etc.) and offer up science-based life hacks to help people overcome them.

The book is filled with game-changing and deeply practical meditation instructions. Amid it all unspools the strange and hilarious story of what happens when a congenitally sarcastic, type-A journalist and a groovy Canadian mystic embark on an epic road trip into America’s neurotic underbelly, as well as their own.

What I thought: 

Pretty sure this book was written for me. Fidgety skeptic. Yep, that's me.  

It delves into the benefits of meditation (and all the excuses not to meditate) and still manages to stay grounded, rarely meandering into the lofty gray area of woo-woo stuff. And it does it with a dry, witty, irreverent humor that perfectly fits the narrative. 

I highly recommend MEDITATION FOR FIDGETY SKEPTICS for anyone even the tiniest bit interested in gaining a little more inner peace. And also for those wishing to avoid social interactions. Because, seriously, "sorry I have to meditate" is the best excuse for pretty much anything. 

Rating: **** ( 4 1/2 stars)

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RATING SCALE: 

 5* = OMFG loved it. Will read it again. Touch my book and I will cut you. 

 4* = Really good. Highly recommend. Miiiight reread. Maybe. Don't touch my book. 

 3* = Good. I liked it. Go ahead and touch it. 

 2* = Not for me, finished but struggled. Didn't connect. Here, have a book.

 1* = DNF. Couldn't do it.

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Click on the cover to link to Goodreads and leave your book recs in my comments. Oh, yeah, and find me on twitter: @ChellyPike

A DEVIL IN SCOTLAND by Suzanne Enoch

A Devil in Scotland (No Ordinary Hero #3)

by Suzanne Enoch

From Goodreads:

1806, Scotland: Wild, reckless Callum MacCreath is in no hurry to become someone’s husband. But when his responsible, steady older brother Ian announces his engagement to their childhood friend Rebecca, Callum makes a startling discovery: he wants the lovely young lass for himself. But it’s too late, and when Ian banishes him for his duplicity, he’s only too happy to leave Scotland forever…

1816: Marrying Ian was the practical, logical thing for Becca to do. But once Callum sailed away to America, she missed his rakish charm and lust for life. Now, ten years later, Becca is a widow when a much-changed Callum returns to his Scottish homeland. Will he remember their spirited, fiery connection, or does he blame her for his brother’s unexpected death? This time neither of them can deny their scorching attraction, but will their hearts be burned in the blazing heat of scandal? 

What I thought: 

I really liked the premise and the opening hooked me. I mean there's a wolf. And Scotland. And Callum MacCreath is... (insert dreamy sigh). But then the story really seemed to slow down in the middle and I wasn't as into it. The plot was very straightforward, with things neatly lined up, and it felt like the romance was resolved way before the book ended. I wanted more tension, I guess, and maybe a few more twists and turns. Overall a decent book and I liked it, but I didn't love it. But I've been favoring darker, more complicated reads of late, so maybe it's just me. 

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Anyone got any dark, or dark and twisty romances to recommend? Pretty please tell me. 

Happy reading,

Chelly

P.S. If you want to make me smile, follow my blog. Options in the sidebar. :D

Tithe / Valiant / Ironside by Holly Black

              

Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales #1)

by Holly Black 

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms - a struggle that could very well mean her death.

Valiant (Modern Faerie Tales #2)

by Holly Black

When seventeen-year-old Valerie runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system. 

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. And when one talks Val into tracking down the lair of a mysterious creature with whom they are all involved, Val finds herself torn between her newfound affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

Ironside (Modern Faerie Tales #3)

by Holly Black

In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure of only one thing -- her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to Roiben, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can't see or speak to Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie. 

Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth -- that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen? 

Holly Black spins a seductive tale at once achingly real and chillingly enchanted, set in a dangerous world where pleasure mingles with pain and nothing is exactly as it appears.

What I thought:

I'm doing one post for all of these because I devoured CRUEL PRINCE and then immediately had to read the earlier books in Holly Black's Fairie world. 

I'm obsessed. 

CRUEL PRINCE stands alone in terms of Holly Black's earlier works, but a couple of characters, Kaye and Roiben, show up in it and I needed to read their story, which starts with TITHE and ends in IRONSIDE. 

And, while I didn't love love love their story as much as Jude's story (CRUEL PRINCE), I did really really like it. I mean, it's hard to top CRUEL PRINCE. 

The second book in the Modern Faerie Tales features a different group of characters with a tie-in to Kaye and Roiben's story and I really liked it too. Overall, gritty urban fantasy with tough female protagonists and great story-telling. 

Ratings: 

TITHE  ***** (4.5 STARS)

VALIANT **** (4 STARS)

IRONSIDE **** (4.5 STARS)



Now I need all the fairie book recommendations. All of them. If you have any favorites, please place them gently into my comments. Thank you. 



Happy Reading,

Chelly