Pure Blood – Melissa Pearl

Publisher – Melissa Pearl ISBN

•  1475027605

It is only a matter of time before Gemma’s parents find out she traveled through time to bring Harrison back into existence. The fear of being found out is a heavy weight on her shoulders, but she refuses to give up on everything she’s fought for. Harrison is worth the risk.

The couple draws closer together as they battle opposing forces from all sides. They stay strong until Gemma’s parents welcome an exchange student into their home. Simeon, a gorgeous Californian, is as smooth as coffee and, supposedly, a fellow time spirit. Gemma’s parents expect her to take him everywhere and, of course, fall in love with him. After all, he is the boy they have chosen for her. 

No longer able to sneak off alone, Gemma must watch every step as she waits for the inevitable nightmare to catch up to her. Her parents ultimate goal is to get that last necklace and open the box hidden in their safe. If they do, Gemma knows her entire world will unravel.

As the danger mounts, Gemma must decide if she has the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the ones she loves and stop to her parents’ destructive plans.

I have read Golden Blood and Black Blood and this is the final in the series.

Gemma has learnt that her parents are not who she thought they were, and they aren’t nice at all.  Harrison is doing all he can to protect Gemma, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough, especially when she escapes her parents, but decides to confront them.

Gemma must go back and save herself from her “parents” so that she can live a normal life with her parents, but is it the answer?  Her parents died protecting her, can she prevent them dying a second time.

Harrison and Gemma are faced with the ultimate sacrifice, and I really don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet, but the ending made me cry.  I won’t say if it was because I was happy or sad, but I think everyone will be shocked by the realisation of the full impact of the sacrifice that Gemma has to make.

I love this series, and highly recommend it to anyone.

Purchase Golden Blood through Amazon for free for a limited time.

Dead Radiance by T. G. Ayer

Published by Evolved Publishing  ISBN: 1469998165

Bryn Halbrook had always seen the glow. But it is only when her best friend dies that she discovers the meaning of those beautiful golden auras—Death. Alone, lost in the foster system, she struggles to understand who she is and why she was cursed with the ability to see the soon-to-be-dead.

The new foster kid, Aidan, isn’t helping any. Mr. Perfect seems to fit in no matter what, making her feel even more pathetic. But when his affections turn to her, Bryn finds him hard to resist. Impossible, actually. A mystery himself, Aidan disappears, leaving behind a broken heart and a mysterious book that suggests Bryn might not be entirely human.

Bryn stands at the threshold of a journey of discovery. Will destiny help her find herself, find her purpose and her place in a world in which she’d never belonged?

Move over Twilight, there is another supernatural being in town, and this one kicks butt!  Having never heard of Valkyries before I was thoroughly taken in by the story and the way that Bryn handles the situation is truly readable.

Bryn is a teenager who is a foster kid.  Being shipped around a lot, she is used to her own company and has managed to cope quite well on her own.  When she becomes part of Odin’s family, life in heaven imitates life on earth for Bryn, and her survival strategies kick in.

The love hate relationship that she has with Aidan is true teenage angst, much better and believable than Bella and Edward (sorry, but it is true!)

I read this in eBook form, but will have to get a physical copy to donate to the local library because there is a whole new audience that is over Twilight but looking for something else fantastical to read.

Pure Blood – Melissa Pearl

It is only a matter of time before Gemma’s parents find out she traveled through time to bring Harrison back into existence. The fear of being found out is a heavy weight on her shoulders, but she refuses to give up on everything she’s fought for. Harrison is worth the risk. 

The couple draws closer together as they battle opposing forces from all sides. They stay strong until Gemma’s parents welcome an exchange student into their home. Simeon, a gorgeous Californian, is as smooth as coffee and, supposedly, a fellow time spirit. Gemma’s parents expect her to take him everywhere and, of course, fall in love with him. After all, he is the boy they have chosen for her. 

No longer able to sneak off alone, Gemma must watch every step as she waits for the inevitable nightmare to catch up to her. Her parents ultimate goal is to get that last necklace and open the box hidden in their safe. If they do, Gemma knows her entire world will unravel. 

As the danger mounts, Gemma must decide if she has the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the ones she loves and stop to her parents’ destructive plans.

Pure Blood (Time Spirit Trilogy) is the third and final (for now) book in the series, which finally answers the question that has been threaded throughout books one and two – what are Gemma’s parents up to?

I have to say that I was surprised! I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this – it’s fabulous when an author can surprise the reader, and I felt like Melissa did. The escalation of violence and erratic behaviour from her parents, and the exchange student they planted into Gemma’s life made things very difficult for her, but those were not the only challenges faced in this book, because Harrison’s mother suddenly goes cold on Gemma, and neither her, or Harrison, can figure out why. The two struggle to figure out who they really are, and what that means for themselves as individuals, as well as a couple.

There were a lot of threads to be tied up in the book, and while some of them were obvious, there were plenty of surprises – not everything is as you might suspect. I don’t really want to say too much, because I would hate to give the ending away, but this is a great finale to the series, and I was really satisfied with how it was wrapped up. Gemma is an amazing girl, and my heart broke for her several times during this book. Still, she stayed true to herself, and pushed on despite the odds. If you’ve read the first two books in this series, then you NEED to read this one. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Melissa Pearl puts out next, and you can be sure I’ll be grabbing a copy, whatever it turns out to be.

Black Blood – Melissa Pearl

This is the second book in the Time Spirit series, and it follows close on the heels of the first. Gemma’s parents are hell bent on taking away the one thing she loves – her boyfriend, Harrison – and they go to the greatest lengths to do so by erasing him from history.

Little do they know that doing so will only drive her closer to the Gabe, the mysterious man we were introduced to at the end of the first book, Golden Blood.

Once again Melissa Pearl crafts a really quick paced, easy read. This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good paranormal YA. If you have checked out the first book then you definitely need to read this one.

Gemma suffers the ultimate betrayal, and learns that large chunks of her life are based on lies. As she struggles to deal with this, and the loss of Harrison, she is forced to break away from her parents and forge her own path.

I really admire Gemma, she is one hell of a strong character and the times when she could easily have been broken, she dug deep and found a way forward. The love she has for Harrison really shines through in this novel, as does her determination to set things right.

This is a solid second book, and leads really nicely into the final book of the series. I have recently read that as well, and will be posting a review next week.

Dead Harvest

Meet Sam Thornton. He collects souls. 

Sam’s job is to collect the souls of the damned, and ensure they are dispatched to the appropriate destination. But when he’s sent to collect the soul of a young woman he believes to be innocent of the horrific crime that’s doomed her to Hell, he says something no Collector has ever said before. 

“No.”

I love a good ‘damned souls’ novel, so I couldn’t help but be intrigued by this one where Sam is a soul collector. One thing that I really enjoyed was that he has no set body – he nabs those of the recently departed (for the most part) and inhabits them in order to do his job, making him slightly abnormal on the undead scene, who typically jump into the skin of the still living.

It was really interesting to follow a character whose form changed several times throughout the novel, but I really appreciated the way Holm wrote this, so that without being over the top obvious, the reader, and other characters in the novel, could tell who was possessed at any given time.

Sam is a great character, far more moralistic than you would think a denizen of hell should be, and over the course of the novel we find out what it was he did to become a Collector, and how the decisions of his past are impacting on his current job. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, he never sways in his conviction that the girl is innocent, even though he has angels and demons alike coming after him, and everyone else is sure she is guilty.

This is an action packed book with a story line that powers along. The secondary characters are well written and unique and I really had no idea how this one was going to pan out. Well written, and well paced, this was a book it was easy to lose myself in. Dead Harvest is being released this week, and a second in the series (The Wrong Goodbye) is scheduled for later in the year – I will be picking it up!

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very much enjoyed this story. Though it was slow to start, it was engaging with just enough mystery.

The main character, Karou, is delightful and whimsical and just a little bit mad. Raised by Chimera, she has always felt something missing, as if she was living the wrong life. She struggles to keep friends and make connections, so finds solace in her art and the strange creatures who raised her.

On a errand to Morocco for the enigmatic Brimstone, she runs into Akiva, the burning, winged seraphim who tries to kill her.

The story ends with the mysteries still unsolved; who is Karou, who is Akiva, why does Brimstone collect teeth?

My only quibble is that the book is very short, and reads more like a half a book than a complete story. But it’s definitely interesting enough that I will wait excitedly for book 2.

*Edit: It turns out that my ebook was a free preview.  No wonder it felt short and nothing was resolved!  I will buy the whole thing and do another review when I’ve finished.