Hearts of Darkness by Kira Brady Review

Kayla Friday’s life dramatically changed the day she arrived in Seattle Washington to identify her sister’s body at the morgue. Within minutes, she is thrust into a world of paranormals who are looking for a necklace that was in her sister’s possession. Without a clue to what is going on, Kayla clings to a man named Hart who she meets at the morgue, to help her.  The only problem is, Hart’s job is to recover that necklace by any means possible and helping Kayla is just a ruse to get his hands on it.  Also she’s pretty sexy and he wouldn’t mind getting her into bed.

As Kayla tries to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, her attraction for Hart grows more and more every day. But little does she know another man has his eyes set on her, and he plans to make her his next prized possession.  Will Kayla find the necklace and make it home safe or will her trip to Seattle be her last?

Hearts of Darkness is the first book in the Deadglass Series by debut author Kira Brady.  At first I had trouble getting into this story right from the beginning.  Kayla’s sister’s dead body is set on fire in front of her and a couple pages later, she grabs onto a perfect stranger named Hart and starts kissing him.  My jaw actually dropped when Kayla started checking out Hart and did this. How could you think about a man, how could you be attracted to a man, after just seeing your dead sister in a morgue and watching her body burn? And you react by kissing a stranger?? Ok.

The romance between Hart and Kayla was not enjoyable for me because it never had time to develop. They kiss in Chapter 3 before they’ve even gotten to know each other at all. This ruined the chase for me. You know when one person in a romance novel is chasing after another and they don’t know if the other really likes them or not? Well we didn’t have any of that.  We knew from the very beginning that Hart wanted to screw Kayla, and we knew Kayla although supposedly a virgin, was QUICK to jump into bed with the first man she meets in Seattle.

The word ‘’Lady’’ is used over and over and over in this story instead of God.  The Lady is one of their Gods and they say her name constantly.  I had no idea who this Lady is but eventually it was sort of explained. I started counting at one point how many times Lady is used. After 15 times, I stopped counting.

The world that Kayla was in was already built for me as it is practically identical to Karen Marie Moning’s Fever Series world, so I didn’t have trouble picturing it.  At times I got confused because of the extreme similarities between the two series.  In both series the main character is traveling far to a place where their sister was studying, was found dead/possibly murdered, had a secret boyfriend, and was living in a place that was overrun by paranormal beings that the rest of the world doesn’t know about. In both series the main character clings on to the first man she meets.  In the Fever Series, Barron; In Deadglass, Hart.  There are numerous more similarities but they would create spoilers for both series so I won’t mention them.

I had extremely high hopes for Hearts of Darkness when I heard it’s comparable to KMM’s series.  I didn’t think the comparison was because of near identical plots.  I assumed it would be because of the writing or some other aspect.  After having read a lot of urban fantasy novels, (I don’t know why this is classified as paranormal romance) this story just doesn’t feel unique to me.  I feel like I’ve read it before, too many times.

Despite all of my complaints, I WILL be continuing on with this series to see if it will develop more. It did have a fast pace and the action was enjoyable.  Unfortunately, the negatives still outweigh the positives with Hearts of Darkness.  

                                          MY RATING:

One Moment by Kristina McBride Review

Summer is supposed to be when teenagers have the time of their lives. They discover themselves, have relationships, party, and make lasting memories with their best friends.  For Maggie, her summers will never be the same again.  It took one moment, one second, and forever her life was changed.

After witnessing her boyfriend’s accidental death, Maggie immediately suffers from amnesia of what happened because of the shock.  Maggie and her boyfriend Joey were about to go cliff diving together, Joey jumped, Maggie didn’t, and Joey fell to his death.  All of their friends were at the bottom of the cliff and they want to know what went wrong. After all Joey has cliff jumped a million times before. The one time he takes Maggie to jump with him, he dies?

Joey’s death becomes an investigation because of it’s suspicious nature. Maggie’s best friend Adam is by her side, holding her hand through it all. But Adam was Joey’s best friend and he is suffering as well.  When he starts to withdraw from Maggie and becomes distant, she starts to feel like she is all alone.  It doesn’t help that whenever Adam is around, she gets flashes of memories coming back to her that don’t make any sense. How will she make sense of her life and what happened without Adam by her side?

ONE MOMENT is a young adult story that explores the topic of grief in a heartbreaking and real manner.  I could relate to every emotion Maggie went through after Joey’s death.  From having the image of him dead glued in her brain and wanting to rip her eyelids out because it hurt too much, to wishing she did something different to change the course of what happened.  Going to a funeral and having that out of body experience where you can’t believe this is happening, all of it, was real and something everyone has had to deal with one time in their life.

I felt Maggie’s grief deeply and I felt for her and every emotion she experienced dealing with her tremendous loss.  ONE MOMENT has a mystery element to it because the reader is given a clue as to what happened to Joey, but not the whole story. As we read we truly don’t know if Maggie as the narrator is dependable and truthful, afterall she is suffering from amnesia.  So at one point I started to question if what she was narrating was even reality.

ONE MOMENT is the best Young Adult book that I have read in a very long time.  It is so good that I can’t manage to even read any other books right now because all I can think about is Maggie and Joey.  When an author’s characters come alive like Kristina McBride’s have done for me, that is a big deal.  That is DAMN GOOD writing at it’s finest.

Read ONE MOMENT.  You won’t regret it.

MY RATING

Winners!!

The winner of A Discovery of Witches is Terzak!

The winner of Shatter Me is Linda: Book Ninja!

The winner of Glow is Adrianne Cruz!


Winners please email me through the email address located under the Contact tab at the top of this page. I will give you 3 days to contact me since it's a holiday weekend. Please write me with your name and address. Thanks. Congrats!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi Giveaway!

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

CONTEST: Post in the comments section why you want to read Shatter Me

RULES: US Only
              One entry per person/household
              Contest ends December 27th
              Winner will have 48 hours to respond to claim prize

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan Giveaway!

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

Glow is the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games, and promises to thrill and challenge readers of all ages.

CONTEST:
I have a copy of Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan to giveaway to one lucky reader! Enter by leaving a comment on why you would like to read this book. Above is a summary from the author's website.


RULES:

US Only
One entry per person/household
Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be selected
Contest will end on December 20th  Contest is extended until Dec 27th

A Discovery of Witches Giveaway

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well.

A Discovery of Witches will be released in paperback for the first time on December 27th. I am pleased to have a copy to give away to one lucky reader. Also here is a video sponsored by Harkness’s UK publisher which features Harkness giving a walking tour of Oxford with commentary about her inspiration for the book.

 
For more information about the book and what Deborah Harkness has been up to, you can check out her website here or her facebook page here.

CONTEST:

Leave a comment telling me something you learned about Deborah Harkness or A Discovery of Witches from visiting her website.

Rules:

US Only

One entry per person/household

Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be selected

Contest will end on December 20th - Contest is extended until December 27th

Winners!

Thank you everyone for visiting and giving me your opinion on the new design. I did have my About the Author lightened per a suggestion so I appreciate the feedback. 

As for the people who said my blog looks enchanted or magical now, that is EXACTLY what I was going for and thank you so much! I am so glad everyone likes the new design! My Review Archive is now complete, so check it out if you get a chance.

Random.org picked the winners and they are:

athlios said...
I just finished The White Road by Lynn Flewelling. I really like how the different blog entries are clearly separated by the background. It makes it very easy to navigate. Found your blog through a retweet from Kelly Meding

 Na said...

    Thank you for the great giveaway. I am currently reading The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. This is the first time on your blog and the heading is beautiful. It looks magical and enchanting with the purple and sparkles. I came here via a retweet :)

Winners please email me, email is under the Contact tab on the top of this page. I will then buy the B&N giftcards and your $10 will be sent right away to your email by B&N.

Welcome Back Contest!

Hello everyone! I decided to do a contest to thank everyone for visiting my blog again despite my long absence. To be entered please answer the following three questions in the comments:

1. What book are you currently reading?
2. What do you think of my new blog design?
3. How did you find my blog?

Prizes: B&N online giftcard
$10, 2 winners

THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED. WINNERS ARE POSTED IN THE ABOVE POST.

Welcome to the New Enchanted by Books!

As you may have noticed, my blog had a huge makeover done! Please check out my About Me profile and my Review Archive! Everything is now complete! 

 But this absolutely beautiful design was made and installed by the brilliant Hafsah from Icey Designs. This girl knows her stuff! I am so thrilled with the job she did and I would HIGHLY recommend her if you are looking for a great designer to do your blog for you!


I hope to be posting again reguarly soon after the very long break that I had from blogging. I missed it all terribly and I still read a ton, just haven't reviewed in a while. I knew if I came back that I would want something beautiful to look at it and thanks to Icey Designs I now do.

Shadowland Winner!

The winner of Shadowland is Ladytink_574! Please email me through the link in my profile to claim your prize! Congrats! I hope you enjoy the book.

Shadowland Contest!

I recently received Shadowland from St. Martins for it's upcoming release in paperback on September 14th.  I already own it in hardcover and reviewed it last year, so I thought I'd give this extra copy away to a lucky reader! Shadowland is the third book in the Immortals Series and I strongly recommend reading this series in order. It just won't make sense read out of order.

This contest is open to the US Only. To be entered please tell me the last book that you read that blew you away. Also leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. This contest will end on September 10th at 6:00 pm EST. Have fun!

PS: Please no spoilers!!

Winner of My Darcy Mutates + Keychain...

The winner of an e-book of My Darcy Mutates plus a keychain is

hangnhu! Congrats! I will email you and forward your address on to Enid. Thanks everyone for participating and thanks again Enid for being a great guest!

EDITED: I emailed you and haven't heard back. You have until  September 4th at 6:00 pm EST to claim your prize or I will pick a new winner.

EDITED: The new winner is Meredith! Congrats! I will email you now through the address you provided.

Guest Author Enid Wilson + Giveaway!

Please welcome back author Enid Wilson! Her newest book was just released on August 10th and is titled My Darcy Mutates. Here is a summary:

What if old Mr. Darcy was still alive... What if Mr. Darcy had a rakish soul? What if Netherfield Park was haunted? What if action of Pride and Prejudice had played out in Egypt? This collection of 14 short stories contains sexy, over-the-top "pick-me-up" stories across the historical, fantasy and modern genres. They are not for the faint-hearted. Some may call the stories wild and say that they bear no resemble to the original, but Wilson finds Miss Austen's characters timeless and inspirational.


Dear readers,

I’m happy to be back at Enchanted by Books. First I want to thank Rachael for having me back. And I want to congratulate Enchanted by Books and her on winning an award for being one of the Top 50 Romance Book Blogs for 2010! It’s such a great honour and Rachael deserves it.

My latest book, My Darcy Mutates, has just been released. It’s a collection of 14 Pride and Prejudice-inspired steamy story stories. A blog host asked me once why I wrote different genres when my second novel Bargain with the Devil attained the top 50 best selling historical romance ranking in Amazon.

I fell in love with Pride and Prejudice when I was around 12. But reading it again and again didn’t seem to be enough. I wish Jane Austen was alive and wrote more sequels. I started to think of all kinds of “what-if” to continue my fascination of Austen’s work.


Of course, it’s not enough to put Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Regency era. In My Darcy Mutates…, I’ve put them in future and modern times. Some may call my stories wild and say that they bear no resemble to the original, but I find Austen's characters timeless and inspirational. But be warned, the book is not for the faint-hearted.

Below is an excerpt of My Darcy Mutates…

What if Netherfield Park was haunted?

“I like to listen in on the lives of the living, from time to time. Mr. Hurst likes to drink and sleep. His wife is called Lousia. They seldom spend their nights together. In fact, they have not done so once since they moved to Netherfield. But you are right, my dear. Matchmaking is my favourite. I know what I shall do.” With a quick turn, Emma Knightley disappeared, leaving nothing but a puff of white.

Luckily, George could find her anywhere. With a fast swirl of the air and another puff of white, he joined her in another bedroom, where she was perched on a chair beside a bed where a handsome young man lay sleeping.

“George, young Darcy here loves the lively lady staying in the guest chamber, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Unfortunately, he has the laughable notion that, since she has no connections or money, and has a mother and sisters who are improper, he should not show her any sign of admiration. Shall I make him confess to her?”

“How can you do that? We do not possess the magical power to make the living speak as we want!” Knightley rolled his eyes and shook his head. After so many years of marriage, he still did not understand how his wife could unerringly find all the gossip of the world.

“All things are possible. I can put him and Miss Elizabeth in the same room, and I can turn quite scary every time he does not reveal his true feelings to her. Let me wake him and take him to his heart’s desire.”

Knightley put his hand on her arm. “Wait, Emma. You might well scare them both to death.”

“Well then, if you do not like that plan, I suppose I could strike him on the head every time he does the wrong thing.”

“You will knock him witless then. Do you want to do that to a sensible young man?”

“What would you have me do, then? It is only on this night that I can play at matchmaking for the living,” Emma said, pouting again. But then her face brightened. “I know! I shall simply put him in her bed. I know how much he loves to gaze upon the form of the fair maiden. He will not be able to resist her, when he lies so close beside her. He will simply have to marry her, after tonight!” She clapped her hands, congratulating herself on the brilliant idea.

***
CONTEST:

Well, what kind of what-if story do you want to see for Pride and Prejudice or Emma? Please leave a comment here and you will be entered to win a lovely key ring with Aboriginal design and a copy of my ebook in pdf format. Earn 10 extra entries for posting about My Darcy Mutates on Twitter or Facebook and leaving a link in your post with it. Contest will end on September 2nd, 6:00 pm EST with the winner announced shortly after. Please leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Have fun!

Visit Enid Wilson's blog at
http://steamyfantasy.blogspot.com/

Dark Flame Review

After almost losing her best friend Haven in the previous installment, Ever is transitioning her friend into the life of an Immortal. The only problem is Haven is acting crazy with her new found power and can not be trusted to keep their secret. She’s turned into a completely different person and Ever is scared of what will happen to her and Damen if their secret gets out.

In the mean time, Ever has screwed up once again with dark magic. She is now bound to Roman and finds herself drawn to him constantly. Like a zombie, she floats over to his house wanting to be with him despite Roman being an evil Immortal who tried to kill her boyfriend Damen. Because of the spell Ever finds herself physically unable to communicate what is going on to Damen or to anyone else for help. The only place she can find solace is in Summerland.

Without any other options, Ever decides to trust in her boss Jude and takes him to Summerland with her. Jude has no knowledge of the Immortals and trusting in him could result in exposing herself to the world. Can Jude be trusted and will he find a way to help Ever break the spell that is binding her to Roman?

Will Roman figure out that Ever is under a spell and use this to his advantage? Will he ever give Ever the cure so she can be with Damen? How will Haven adjust to her new life?

Dark Flame is the fourth installment in The Immortals which is a YA paranormal series featuring an immortal teenager named Ever Bloom. As always there are plenty of exciting moments but this time I was able to almost predict what would happen in the end. It wasn’t as much a surprise to me as previous books but that may just be because I have figured out how Alyson Noel writes.

It’s definitely an interesting premise and I am intrigued to find out what happens next for Ever and Damen. The writing was solid and as always there wasn’t a dull moment. Haven was transformed into a rather bitchy and ignorant girl whom I didn’t particularly like, but becoming Immortal changes people I guess. It would have been interesting for Ever and Haven’s friend to be around a little more, so maybe he could catch Haven acting weird now and drinking the Immortal drink also, but I guess he had to go to Italy for a reason.

I enjoyed reading about the magic spells and all the little rituals Ever did when performing them. My only main annoyance is the same one I had before about the ‘’no touching or we die’’ thing. I hate how they found this easy solution around the problem. I just think it would have been a great idea for magic NOT to be the solution this time and to leave them in love but unable to even touch each other’s hand without the fear of dying.

I know a lot of people hate that Ever continues to make mistake after mistake in this series. But if everything went right, then there would be no tension and suspense to see what happens in the next book right? In all fairness the blame in this installment isn’t necessarily on Ever at the end, it’s on someone else. But Ever caused the problem once again so I guess she doesn’t learn; again though she’s a teenager and teenagers make mistakes over and over! I guess the predictability of Ever messing everything up can get tiresome but I believe in the end she will save the day and turn out the hero in all of this. I have faith that will happen and hope I am not let down.

I did find a lot more to my liking in Dark Flame and I think this book made up for the previous one, Shadowland. The next book, Night Star, (due out November 16, 2010) is actually the final book in the series so I am interested to see how Alyson Noel will wrap everything up. Alot like the Twilight series, people either love it or hate it, and I for one love it. More please?

Read my reviews of the previous books in this series at the following links:
Evermore - Book 1 Review
Blue Moon- Book 2 Review
Shadowland- Book 3 Review

Winner of Crave!

Thank you so much Melinda and Laura for being the most awesome guest authors this past week! You guys were so active with answering questions and it was so much fun reading about your new book Crave. It sounds like a fabulous book and I am really excited for it to be released!

Now for the winner of their own copy of Crave!

The winner is....

Sandy6265
Congrats! I will email you through the address you provided and forward it on to the authors for your prize. Thanks again to everyone who posted!