Tag Archives: Cursed

Cursed by Monica Wolfson – a Review

Posted on by
11

Cursed by Monica Wolfson – a Review

CursedLinks to order Cursed: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
When 17-year-old Sasha orders her latte at a local café, she hardly expects to get robbed. Strangely, the men don’t want money from the register. Instead they are interested in the necklace she is wearing that her mother gave her years ago.
Sasha can’t understand why the men would want the worthless piece of stained glass that hangs around her neck from a leather cord. It’s not worth anything or is it? She comes to realize not all value is measured in dollars and cents.
This is the night she meets Evan, who saves her life by distracting the robbers as the couple dodge flying bullets. It takes days for Sasha to acknowledge that her burgeoning magic abilities helped keep them safe. She’s adamant in keeping that secret from Evan. She doesn’t want him to know she’s a freak.
Cursed is a thrilling romantic and exhilarating read. Monica Wolfson takes readers to a fantasy world they won’t want to leave

Review:

Cursed by Monica Wolfson is her first foray into Young Adult.  The heroine of this story is Sasha, whom we meet right away sitting in a café, and two men attack her trying to steal her necklace.  On the same night she meets our hero, Evan, as he is behind the counter at the café.  Sasha has some magical abilities, which she uses to help fight off the attackers, with help from Evan. 

Sasha finds herself attracted to Evan, but he isn’t really interested in any kind of relationship.  When Sasha discovers her life is in danger, she tries to find out why from her mother, Willow.  At the very beginning of the story, in a prologue, we are in the past when we see Sasha’s mother at the age of 17, running away from home, and her angry mother, the Queen of Tysseland, puts a curse on her.  It is later that we find out that this curse is on Sasha, and her chance of surviving is nil. 

Sasha learns her mother’s secret, and that her mother is the daughter of a Queen in a universe she has never heard of.  Her mother refuses to tell her anything, other then she is trying to help her.  Sasha decides she must find a way to break the curse and try to save herself.  Evan having come to Sasha’s rescue a few times, begins to realize that he is falling for her; and offers his help, as they both find a way to enter the universe, Tysseland.

What follows is an interesting fantasy tale into a universe run by an evil Queen, who is Sasha’s grandmother.  Sasha learns to use some of her powers, but she is no match for the very powerful Queen.  The last quarter of the book is exciting and at times fun meeting the different characters, as they all help Sasha escape the wrath of the Queen, who wants her dead. 

Evan and Sasha made a nice couple, as this was a slow build on the romance, which made it more realistic. I liked Sasha, as the heroine, who was determined to do what she had to do to save herself, despite the danger and threat on her life.  Evan proved himself to her by being with her every step of the way, even if he had no powers.  The power of love did come through at the end. 

I thought this was a good storyline, especially being in Tysseland.  I did feel it was a bit slow early on, and despite her wanting to protect her daughter, I wasn’t crazy about Sasha’s mother.  I would have liked more about Tysseland, as well as Sasha’s mother and friends helping her.  Sasha & Evan against the powerful Queen needed a little more firepower and support.  However, that being said, it does have excellent potential to continue into an excellent series

Review by Barb

Copy provided by Author

Share

Cursed by S.J. Harper – a Review

Posted on by
7

Cursed by S.J. Harper – a Review

Cursed
Links to order Cursed: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
Meet FBI Agents Emma Monroe and Zack Armstrong.
She’s cursed. He’s damned. Together, they make one hell of a team.

Emma Monroe is a Siren, cursed by the gods and bound to earth to atone for an ancient failure. She’s had many names and many lives, but only one mission: redemption. Now that she works missing persons cases for the FBI, it could be just a rescue away. Unless her new partner leads her astray.

Special Agent Zack Armstrong just transferred into the San Diego Field Office. He’s a werewolf, doing his best to beat back the demons from his dark and dangerous past. As a former Black Ops sniper, he’s taken enough lives. Now he’s doing penance by saving them.

Emma and Zack’s very first case draws them deep into the realm of the paranormal, and forces them to use their own supernatural abilities. But that leaves each of them vulnerable, and there are lines partners should not cross. As secrets are revealed and more women go missing, one thing becomes clear: as they race to save the victims, Emma and Zack risk losing themselves

 

Review:

Cursed by S.J. Harper is the first book in their Fallen Siren series.  S.J. Harper is the pen name for the writing team of Samantha Sommersby and Jeanne C. Stein.  Cursed is urban fantasy, with a Greek Goddess, a Siren, a Witch, and a Werewolf. 

Emma Monroe is our heroine, and she is an FBI agent.  But what most people do not know is that Emma is a Fallen Siren, punished by the Greek Goddess, Demeter, for allowing her daughter, Persephone to be kidnapped.  Emma has been cursed and banished to live among mortals on earth; she spends these never ending years determined to save those in trouble, mainly other woman, hoping for redemption in the eyes of Demeter.  Since thousands of years have passed, will she ever be forgiven?

Emma knows that Demeter watches her every move from afar.   She has unique powers, such as reading a person’s mind, but rarely uses them in fear of repercussions from Demeter.  Emma is an excellent FBI agent.  We meet our hero Zach, who ends up becoming Emma’s new partner, and she is not a happy camper.  Her and Zach worked together on a case awhile ago, which ended up with a one night stand.  Zach is determined to win over Emma, as he has not forgotten her. 

Zach has his own issues, as he is a werewolf, something Emma has known.  However, Zach knows something is different about Emma, but he does not know why.  

They are assigned a case of some missing women, which involves murder, vampires, and  stolen organs. They work very closely together, with Emma determined not to become involved with Zach.  She always knows that if she chooses to become romantically involved with any man, Demeter is very vindictive and would think nothing of killing him. Emma and Zach do get off to a bumpy start, but as the case gets more complicated and dangerous, their attraction to one another becomes difficult to ignore. 

Cursed is an excellent mystery, and does show vampires in a somewhat different light, as they live normal lives among the mortals.  S.J. Harper has created a great couple, and also some good secondary characters, which I am sure we will learn more about in future books.  Liz, is Emma’s friend, and a powerful witch.  Kallistos is an ancient vampire, who is extremely powerful, and takes an interest in Emma, when he helps them solve the case.

Harper does a great job with this world building; an exciting last half of the book, with many twists and surprises.  This was also a wonderful romance that is destined to fail.  Will Emma and Zach stay together?   We have had books on Fallen Angels, but this is my first book on Fallen Sirens.  There are two more Sirens that we have not met yet.   I really enjoyed the characters and the story, and look forward to the next book in this series.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author

Share

Jennifer Armentrout-Interview with the Author

Posted on by
11

Jennifer Armentrout-Interview with the Author

FROM the Website: USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russel Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

TRC: Hi Jennifer and welcome to The Reading Café. We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Jennifer: I currently live in West Virginia and like most authors, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I’m a big fan of scary movies and zombies, which is strange because zombies scared the crap out of me as a kid. I write adult and YA in pretty much every genre. I have a hard time parting with books, that’s why I have duplicate copies of some signed and way too many.

TRC: Many authors develop their interest in writing at an early age. Do you remember what was the catalyst that sparked your interest in writing? Who or what do you credit with your desire to write?

Jennifer: I’m not sure what the catalyst was, but I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I think it had to do with the fact that I read so much growing up–the old school YA and historical romance novels.

TRC: What difficulties or challenges have you faced as a writer?

Jennifer: The biggest challenge is focusing. When you have multiple books out or multiple books coming out, it can become very difficult to keep focus on writing, because there’s a lot of other stuff that needs to be done. Hours are spent catching up with emails or on the phone with editors/agent/publicists/crit partners and before you know it, you’re too tired to write. So focusing and making time can be a big challenge.

TRC: The LUX series focuses on a town of aliens trying to blend into regular life. Where did you come up with the idea of aliens posing as humans? What triggered your imagination as it pertains to alien life forms in a Young Adult storyline?

READING ORDER:  Obsidian/Shadows/Onyx

Jennifer: My adult editor at Entangled had asked me if I’d be interested in writing about aliens in high school. Initially, I laughed and was like no. Who wants to read about aliens? But the more I thought about it, the story started to take place in my head. Having the aliens try to blend in adds conflict and coming up with the type of alien was the most difficult part. For half the book, I kept picturing giant insects eating brains. Seriously.  Finally, the idea of them being made of light just popped into my head. The rest was history. =)

TRC: Occasionally you take the LUX series cover models with you on your promotional tours. Who are the models and why the decision to tour with the actors and models?

Jennifer: The models are Pepe Toth and Sztella Tziotziosz. The decision kind of came from the publisher’s wanting to get new pictures of them for the book covers, and we thought we might as well do some book trailers while they were over here…. and that spun into going on tour with them. Both of the were great and we hope to have them back for another tour.

TRC: ONYX is your August release in the LUX series. Would you please tell us about the premise of the storyline?

LINKS TO ORDER:
Amazon Paper Books
Amazon Kindle
The Book Depository
B&N Nook and Paper Books

Jennifer: Onyx is the sequel to Obsidian, so I don’t want to say too much for those who haven’t read Obsidian, but it deals with the consequences of what happened at the end of Obsidian, delves more deeply into the world of the Luxens and their interactions with the DOD. There’s romance, action, a bit of heart break, and a lot of secrets revealed.

Click HERE for our review of OBSIDIAN.

TRC: With the popularity of the characters, have you considered continuing the series? Any spin-offs?

Jennifer: There has been some talk about a companion novel. It’s almost completely written, but there isn’t much I can really share about that right now.

TRC: DEITY is the next instalment in the Covenant series. Would you please tell us about the premise?

LINKS TO PREORDER:
Amazon Paper books
The Book Depository
B&N Paper Books

Jennifer: Like Onyx and Opal, the premise is really spoilery. But It picks up where Pure left off. Seth and Alex return to Deity Island. A lot of things happen in Deity and Alex faces a lot, but you do find out who Alex wants to be with in Deity and a lot of the gods start popping up.

TRC: The covers for the Covenant Series are beautiful. Who designed the covers? Where you involved in the cover selection for this particular series?

READING ORDER:  Daimon/Half Blood/Pure/Deity/Elixir

Click HERE for our review of DAIMON- the prequel novella in the Covenant series.

Jennifer: The publisher had the covers designed and I did have a say in them, but they get all the credit for those beauties.

TRC: CURSED is your September new release. Would you please tell us something about the series?

LINKS TO ORDER:
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Paper Books
The Book Depository

Jennifer: Cursed is currently a standalone and deals with a girl who was brought back to life by her little sister. I kind of think that if someone  dies and comes back to life, they aren’t going to be right, you know? And Ember isn’t. Everything she touches dies. The book has a big mystery element to it, and instead of really focusing on the different gifts, it’s about Ember finding out who was responsible for the accident that took her life and that of her father’s.

TRC: The premise is similar yet different to the X-men comics. How many books do you have planned for the series? Will Hayden and Ember be the primary characters for each novel?

Jennifer: Right now there is only one book. I think whenever you have a group of kids that have abilities, you cannot escape the comparison to X-Men. If you have a bunch of adults with super powers, you’ll hear the same comparison. It just comes down to if the premise goes it a different direction, which Cursed isn’t about saving the world or doing heroic acts. It’s about a girl who’s trying to accept the life she’s been dealt with.

TRC: DON’T LOOK BACK is your new series schedule for release in the fall of 2013. Would you please tell us something about the new series?

Jennifer: Don’t Look Back is scheduled for March 2014, and there isn’t much I’m allowed to really share about that book yet. What I can say it’s a mystery/thriller that deals with less of memory and murder. And the book has successfully creeped out my crit partners if that tells you anything =)

TRC: What have been some of the challenges you have faced with regards to research, logistics and publication?

Jennifer: The biggest challenge is waiting for a book to come out when it has a far out release date. You kind of forget about the book until it gets closer to that date.

TRC: You have a very prolific series of storylines and books. Writer’s Block is a very real phenomenon that many authors face from time to time. How do you handle the stress of Writer’s Block?

Jennifer: I try to work through writer’s block when I get it. Luckily that hasn’t really happen. What I get is the case of inability to focus. And once again, I try to power through it. That doesn’t always work and when it’s really bad, I take a day off from writing.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas between other authors, or family and friends. With whom do you bounce ideas?

Jennifer: With my friends. I’d be lost without them.

TRC: What is happening in the next six months?

Jennifer: Well, the next six months are going to be super busy for me. I have a book coming out every month:

August- Onyx

September- Cursed

October- Unchained (adult/ under pen name J. Lynn)

November- Deity and Elixir

December- Opal

January- Tempting the Player (adult/ under pen name J. Lynn)

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food
Anything red meat

Favorite Dessert
Chocolate!

Favorite TV Show
Supernatural

Favorite Movie
Don’t really have one

Last Move you Saw
The Darkest Hour

Dark or Milk Chocolate
Milk

Last Vacation Destination
Florida I guess

Do you have any pets?
I have a Jack Russell named Loki!

TRC: Thank you Jennifer for taking the time to answer our questions. We are looking forward to all of your new releases in the coming months. Congratulations on all of your success.

Jennifer: Thank you for having me!

Share

CURSED by Jennifer Armentrout -a review

Posted on by
11

CURSED by Jennifer Armentrout-a review

CURSED by Jennifer L Armentrout

LINK TO Jennifer’s WEBSITE

CURSED is the new Young Adult release (September 2012) by Jennifer Armentrout.  Focusing on 17year old Ember McWilliams, CURSED follows the young woman as she makes her way through a world where everything she touches will die.  After the accident, 2 years prior, that claimed her father’s life, Ember awakens to the knowledge that she has been ‘gifted’ with a curse.

 

Ember’s mother remained catatonic.  With her mother “refusing” to acknowledge her children, Ember became the parent to her younger sister Olivia.  But within a short period of time, Ember realized that her touch could kill.  The kids at school called her a freak. But when a beautiful stranger was able to ‘touch’ Ember, she knew her world was about to change once again.

Hayden Cromwell had been watching Ember since the accident. Something about Ember drew him to her. It was only when he realized that everything was falling apart, that he knew he and the others would have to intervene. Taking her back to his father was his only option.  But the others did not agree.

Like something from X-Men and Professor Xavier, Ember and Olivia will find themselves in a home for gifted teens, only Ember is not nearly so well received-Olivia becomes the child prodigy but Ember is feared by the others.  And school is not much better.  But Ember will find support with the assistance of one of her teachers who appears to sympathize with Ember about the daily attacks.

The relationship between Hayden and Ember grows as Hayden tries to help Ember with her gift.  After experiencing a horrific childhood himself Hayden knows only too well the repercussions of a powerful gift left out of control. And he fears The Facility as much as Ember.  Ember is continuously threatened with The Facility if she is unable to control her temper.

There are several household members that both fear and loathe Ember’s ‘curse’.  With their eclectic family of gifts, each will find their way into Ember’s life, whether she wants them to or not.  But following a series of threats and near-fatal accidents, Ember is sure that one of the household members is willing to take the next step to ensure that she stays dead this time. Only it is not just one of the family members hoping to end her life-there are others who are willing to see her die as well.

CURSED is a fantastic new storyline from the mind of Jennifer Armentrout.  The similarities between X-men cannot be denied, but Jennifer does address the issue in the novel when Ember researchers the household specialties and Googles the likes of the comic book heroes. A group of gifted children, whose parents were unable to handle their situations or refused, and their father-figure who took them in and raised the children as his own.  Along the way, Ember must earn the trust of the others, but it is difficult when she believes she is betrayed every day by the people with whom she now lives.  A wonderful start to a new series, I congratulate Jennifer on another wonderful novel.

LINKS TO ORDER:
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Paper Books
The Book Depository

Copy supplied by publisher

Reviewed by Sandy

Share