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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Intended ( A Culling of Blood and Magic 2) in Books
Apr 21, 2024
74 of 220
Kindle
The Intended ( A Culling of Blood and Magic 2)
By K.M. Rives
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emery may have survived the Culling, but now she’s on the run.
Forced to find her way in a world of magic behind the wards of New Orleans, Emery struggles to accept her newfound identity as a witch and a mother. Her coven is demanding that she choose between the magic she’s always wanted and the child she already loves. Will Emery find the strength to fight for what matters most?
Devastated by the loss of trust in his mate and seeking revenge, Augustine throws himself into the hunt for a murderer within his kingdom. Emery remains his primary suspect, even though there is a side of him that longs for the woman who has captured his heart.
War is brewing in the supernatural world, and a long forgotten prophecy is at play. Can Augustine and Emery overcome the secrets that have torn them apart, and reconcile their past before the future catches up with them?
This was a very emotional read for me in a few places and very close to my own heart without all the magic and vampires! I enjoyed it and it certainly was fast paced. There were a few bits that I could have just skipped but they didn’t take away from how I was enjoying the book.
Please check any trigger warnings as there is a death that is hard to handle for some.
Kindle
The Intended ( A Culling of Blood and Magic 2)
By K.M. Rives
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emery may have survived the Culling, but now she’s on the run.
Forced to find her way in a world of magic behind the wards of New Orleans, Emery struggles to accept her newfound identity as a witch and a mother. Her coven is demanding that she choose between the magic she’s always wanted and the child she already loves. Will Emery find the strength to fight for what matters most?
Devastated by the loss of trust in his mate and seeking revenge, Augustine throws himself into the hunt for a murderer within his kingdom. Emery remains his primary suspect, even though there is a side of him that longs for the woman who has captured his heart.
War is brewing in the supernatural world, and a long forgotten prophecy is at play. Can Augustine and Emery overcome the secrets that have torn them apart, and reconcile their past before the future catches up with them?
This was a very emotional read for me in a few places and very close to my own heart without all the magic and vampires! I enjoyed it and it certainly was fast paced. There were a few bits that I could have just skipped but they didn’t take away from how I was enjoying the book.
Please check any trigger warnings as there is a death that is hard to handle for some.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The 8th Doll (Alex Guidry, #1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(This review is also on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
I have to admit that I've never read a book about the Mayan Prophecy. However, when I saw the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. It's not something I'd normally pick up and read, but I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did because it was such an amazing book!!!
Charlie Landry, a geologist, is found beheaded during a drilling project in Mexico. To help find out why he was murdered and who did it, Alex Guidry is called in to help. A doll is found near Landry's body with the number 8 written in blood on the front. This now throws a spanner in the works. What is Landry trying to tell him? Also, who keeps murdering everyone?
The title of this book, The 8th Doll, definitely suits the story. The story revolves mainly around trying to figure out what this eighth doll means. Fantastic title chosen by the author.
I love the cover of this book! The cover gives you a big hint about what the story is going to be about with the doll with the eight written on it and the Mayan temple of the Seven Dolls in the background. I think it's a fantastic cover!
The setting takes place in Mexico which makes sense as that's where the Mayans lived. The author does a great job of portraying how Mexico is, especially when it comes to the climate!
The pacing of this book was fantastic!! It is definitely a fast paced thriller. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next in the story. Many times, I stayed up late just to finish many chapters.
The dialogue was definitely easy to understand. There are a few Spanish words in there, but they are easy enough to figure out what they mean, or they are explained. I was really happy about this.
The characters were very well developed. Alex has a good head on his shoulders and is a great detective. I loved the character of Maria. I don't know why, but I guess it's because she brought a woman's touch to the story, lol. Jenkins was my favourite character though. He was perfect with his comic timing. He reminds me of a cross between Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith. I also thought the baddie, Ah Pukuh, was written well. I also have to say that I loved the mayor. He's only a minor character, but I loved him nonetheless.
I loved the fact that this book used aspects of Mayan prophecy. I must admit that I don't know much about it, but after reading this book, it's clear that the author's done his homework on it. It's such a well written book!
The only fault I found with the book, and this is only a minor fault, is the insta-love between Maria and Alex. Lust I can believe in, but I'm not a believer of love at first sight. That's only a personal gripe though.
Definitely give The 8th Doll by Chris Rakunas a read even if this normally isn't your sort of book.
I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 16+. It's so good!
I have to admit that I've never read a book about the Mayan Prophecy. However, when I saw the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. It's not something I'd normally pick up and read, but I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did because it was such an amazing book!!!
Charlie Landry, a geologist, is found beheaded during a drilling project in Mexico. To help find out why he was murdered and who did it, Alex Guidry is called in to help. A doll is found near Landry's body with the number 8 written in blood on the front. This now throws a spanner in the works. What is Landry trying to tell him? Also, who keeps murdering everyone?
The title of this book, The 8th Doll, definitely suits the story. The story revolves mainly around trying to figure out what this eighth doll means. Fantastic title chosen by the author.
I love the cover of this book! The cover gives you a big hint about what the story is going to be about with the doll with the eight written on it and the Mayan temple of the Seven Dolls in the background. I think it's a fantastic cover!
The setting takes place in Mexico which makes sense as that's where the Mayans lived. The author does a great job of portraying how Mexico is, especially when it comes to the climate!
The pacing of this book was fantastic!! It is definitely a fast paced thriller. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next in the story. Many times, I stayed up late just to finish many chapters.
The dialogue was definitely easy to understand. There are a few Spanish words in there, but they are easy enough to figure out what they mean, or they are explained. I was really happy about this.
The characters were very well developed. Alex has a good head on his shoulders and is a great detective. I loved the character of Maria. I don't know why, but I guess it's because she brought a woman's touch to the story, lol. Jenkins was my favourite character though. He was perfect with his comic timing. He reminds me of a cross between Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith. I also thought the baddie, Ah Pukuh, was written well. I also have to say that I loved the mayor. He's only a minor character, but I loved him nonetheless.
I loved the fact that this book used aspects of Mayan prophecy. I must admit that I don't know much about it, but after reading this book, it's clear that the author's done his homework on it. It's such a well written book!
The only fault I found with the book, and this is only a minor fault, is the insta-love between Maria and Alex. Lust I can believe in, but I'm not a believer of love at first sight. That's only a personal gripe though.
Definitely give The 8th Doll by Chris Rakunas a read even if this normally isn't your sort of book.
I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 16+. It's so good!
Louise (64 KP) rated Stealing Snow in Books
Jul 2, 2018
*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review*
*This may contain spoilers*
This is another author where I have not read any of their work until now. Danielle Page is the author of ‘Dorothy must Die’ trilogy. I was anticipating this for all the wrong reasons, I thought this was a Snow White retelling which it is sadly not.
The main protagonist of this book is called Snow….obviously this is giving me the Snow White retelling vibes and that she names her medication after the seven dwarves. I forgot to mention Snow is currently detained in an asylum for young adults with mental health issues. The reason for her being there is pretty vague,sure she has anger issues and she bites but does that really mean she has to be incarcerated from the age of six! I was getting another vibe at this point – Alice in wonderland/through the looking-glass as she supposedly tried to walk through a mirror. At this point I was confused as to what the retelling actually was, was it Snow White? Alice in Wonderland?
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/LpX8q87YmnD20/giphy.gif"; width="400" height="200" alt="description"/>
Snow is not a very relatable character, she is young, she is naive and she falls in love with every boy that makes conversation with her…no word of a lie! She is in love with Bale who is also in the mental institution (His reason for being there is more believable) When she finds herself in the alternative world known as Algid she meets two other boys that are there to help her but obviously her hormones run away with her and starts swooning over the both of them whilst still loving Bane (That being the reason she is in Algid)
Obviously, when Snow gets to the alternative world she find out she is the chosen one and part of a prophecy. Snow being Snow who is really sarcastic and narrow-minded doesn’t care about the prophecy and only wants to find Bale. Her powers are to control Snow and she has to learn how to use these said powers….which just happen.
I am not a massive reader of fantasy novels but the world building in this was non-existent and when there was it was like it was an afterthought.I had no real idea of what Algid looked like other than it was covered in snow.
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/U6P3UehEHUoPm/giphy.gif"; width="400" height="200" alt="description"/>
I wasn’t particularly fond of the writing style and the amount of times that ‘I need to find Bale’ or some 20 other ways this could be written really got on my nerves,it was like we forgot why she was there every few pages.
So to wrap this up in a nutshell,this is a mash-up of retellings but mostly snow queen/frozen, the way that mental health was interpreted was very poor and would have loved it to have been more realistic. The characters were very unrelatable and the world building was lacking.
I will be not continuing on with this series, however don’t let this review stop you from reading it, this after all is just my opinion.
I rated this 1.5 out of 5 stars
*This may contain spoilers*
This is another author where I have not read any of their work until now. Danielle Page is the author of ‘Dorothy must Die’ trilogy. I was anticipating this for all the wrong reasons, I thought this was a Snow White retelling which it is sadly not.
The main protagonist of this book is called Snow….obviously this is giving me the Snow White retelling vibes and that she names her medication after the seven dwarves. I forgot to mention Snow is currently detained in an asylum for young adults with mental health issues. The reason for her being there is pretty vague,sure she has anger issues and she bites but does that really mean she has to be incarcerated from the age of six! I was getting another vibe at this point – Alice in wonderland/through the looking-glass as she supposedly tried to walk through a mirror. At this point I was confused as to what the retelling actually was, was it Snow White? Alice in Wonderland?
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/LpX8q87YmnD20/giphy.gif"; width="400" height="200" alt="description"/>
Snow is not a very relatable character, she is young, she is naive and she falls in love with every boy that makes conversation with her…no word of a lie! She is in love with Bale who is also in the mental institution (His reason for being there is more believable) When she finds herself in the alternative world known as Algid she meets two other boys that are there to help her but obviously her hormones run away with her and starts swooning over the both of them whilst still loving Bane (That being the reason she is in Algid)
Obviously, when Snow gets to the alternative world she find out she is the chosen one and part of a prophecy. Snow being Snow who is really sarcastic and narrow-minded doesn’t care about the prophecy and only wants to find Bale. Her powers are to control Snow and she has to learn how to use these said powers….which just happen.
I am not a massive reader of fantasy novels but the world building in this was non-existent and when there was it was like it was an afterthought.I had no real idea of what Algid looked like other than it was covered in snow.
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/U6P3UehEHUoPm/giphy.gif"; width="400" height="200" alt="description"/>
I wasn’t particularly fond of the writing style and the amount of times that ‘I need to find Bale’ or some 20 other ways this could be written really got on my nerves,it was like we forgot why she was there every few pages.
So to wrap this up in a nutshell,this is a mash-up of retellings but mostly snow queen/frozen, the way that mental health was interpreted was very poor and would have loved it to have been more realistic. The characters were very unrelatable and the world building was lacking.
I will be not continuing on with this series, however don’t let this review stop you from reading it, this after all is just my opinion.
I rated this 1.5 out of 5 stars
TacoDave (3919 KP) rated Detroit: Become Human in Video Games
Nov 2, 2018 (Updated Nov 2, 2018)
Story (3 more)
Cinematic
Intense
Thought-provoking
Slow-moving (1 more)
A bit too on-the-nose politically
A unique gaming experience, but not necessarily a video game...
I won a copy of Detroit: Become Human here on Smashbomb and I'm really glad I did. I liked David Cage's previous games - specifically The Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain - but I wasn't sure about this one. A story about androids being treated badly (an obvious metaphor for racism) didn't intrigue me at first blush, although the demo was pretty good.
But after playing the game, I came away pleasantly surprised. Cage's games are more like interactive movies than full video games, and that's fine with me. It is refreshing to play something that is more about contemplation and decision-making than twitchy reactions. And the stories in Detroit: Become Human were interesting enough to keep me playing.
But be warned: this game isn't for precious snowflakes. It involves violence, crime, death, abuse, and several other topics that might make someone with thinner skin cry out "Trigger Warning!!!" But those are exactly the kinds of topics that deserve contemplation, and this game is a perfect fit for those themes. It also has tons of swearing, if that bothers you. I played with the subtitles on and the sound turned way down when my kids were around.
One other caveat: the gameplay revolves around following on-screen prompts to use the joystick a certain way or push the correct button. If you aren't very familiar with a PS4 controller, I suggest you study the button layout and figure out where everything is so you can react with the right button press when needed.
But after playing the game, I came away pleasantly surprised. Cage's games are more like interactive movies than full video games, and that's fine with me. It is refreshing to play something that is more about contemplation and decision-making than twitchy reactions. And the stories in Detroit: Become Human were interesting enough to keep me playing.
But be warned: this game isn't for precious snowflakes. It involves violence, crime, death, abuse, and several other topics that might make someone with thinner skin cry out "Trigger Warning!!!" But those are exactly the kinds of topics that deserve contemplation, and this game is a perfect fit for those themes. It also has tons of swearing, if that bothers you. I played with the subtitles on and the sound turned way down when my kids were around.
One other caveat: the gameplay revolves around following on-screen prompts to use the joystick a certain way or push the correct button. If you aren't very familiar with a PS4 controller, I suggest you study the button layout and figure out where everything is so you can react with the right button press when needed.
Breath of Fire
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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Exile (The Society #5) in Books
Sep 11, 2021
146 of 250
Kindle
Exile ( The Society book 5)
By Mason Sabre
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
What happens when prophecy comes knocking on your door?
The next heart-pounding instalment in Mason Sabre's Paranormal and Urban Fantasy, Society Series, Stephen Davies has been sentenced to death ...
Everyone knows that being exiled is as good as a death sentence. Even worse when you are the son of the Alpha ...
Former ruler of his own domain and warrior for his father's pack, Stephen Davies is one of the fiercest tiger shifters the Other world has ever known. A legend in his own right, he has earned both the respect of his own kind, and the fear of the Humans.
In Exile, however, all is different ...
Stephen has barely arrived in this God forsaken place when the bus he is on is stopped and attacked by a creature he has never seen before. She's there to rescue him, but her actions cast Stephen into an unravelling new world. Not only does he find himself in unexpected places with the strangest people, but his tiger seems to think he has found the one true thing he has been looking for ...
A mate.
The only problem is that someone is hunting Stephen, and they don't care who they hurt to get to him.
Nice little catch up with Stephen and finally discovering his powers. Love the new characters and the children are intriguing I wonder what daddy alpha would have made him do especially half human ones! I’m really enjoying this series and this one didn’t disappoint.
Kindle
Exile ( The Society book 5)
By Mason Sabre
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
What happens when prophecy comes knocking on your door?
The next heart-pounding instalment in Mason Sabre's Paranormal and Urban Fantasy, Society Series, Stephen Davies has been sentenced to death ...
Everyone knows that being exiled is as good as a death sentence. Even worse when you are the son of the Alpha ...
Former ruler of his own domain and warrior for his father's pack, Stephen Davies is one of the fiercest tiger shifters the Other world has ever known. A legend in his own right, he has earned both the respect of his own kind, and the fear of the Humans.
In Exile, however, all is different ...
Stephen has barely arrived in this God forsaken place when the bus he is on is stopped and attacked by a creature he has never seen before. She's there to rescue him, but her actions cast Stephen into an unravelling new world. Not only does he find himself in unexpected places with the strangest people, but his tiger seems to think he has found the one true thing he has been looking for ...
A mate.
The only problem is that someone is hunting Stephen, and they don't care who they hurt to get to him.
Nice little catch up with Stephen and finally discovering his powers. Love the new characters and the children are intriguing I wonder what daddy alpha would have made him do especially half human ones! I’m really enjoying this series and this one didn’t disappoint.
Dagger's Destiny (Curse of Clansmen and Kings #2)
Book
A Celtic warrior princess accused of treason for aiding her enemy lover must win back her father’s...
Historical Fantasy