Coral by Sara Ella [Book Review]

** I was given a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts/review**

This book was marked as a DNF at 30% of the book completed – Okay so the whole premise of this book had me beyond intrigued and once I started reading I was really disappointed! Which is sad because I wanted to like it but no matter what I just couldn’t connect with the characters and the situation. I found that from what I had read the writing came across as vague at points, I think the approach was to be that of sparking curiosity in the mysterious (an example being the ‘Red Tide’ which is introduced in the first chapter and not explained until the end (I looked ahead)) but it fell flat.

I do appreciate the author’s approach and intent with the theme of Mental Health discussions and representation in this piece and I feel that Sara Ella did a good job focusing on that in her story but there was just an emotional disconnect with the character’s in that regard which I REALLY didn’t want to happen.

 

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COVER REVEAL: AVENGING by Holly Kelly

By Olympus! We are excited to share the official cover reveal for the highly anticipated third book in the Rising Series by Holly Kelly. The Rising Series is an exciting paranormal romance filled with Greek Mythology, Mermaids, Dagonians, and more! Let us know what you think of the cover for Avenging by Holly Kelly. Avenging will be available on April 21, 2015.

New Adult- Paranormal Romance

Clean Teen Publishing

Available: April 21, 2015

Book #3 in the Rising Series

Two thousand years ago, King Triton witnessed the slaughter and total annihilation of his merchildren. He vowed then and there to never again father a child. Powerful and eternally youthful, Triton was no stranger to seduction. But his resolve was unwavering—until he met Nicole. Unable to resist the human woman, he found himself swept up in her arms. When he finally came to his senses, he abandoned her to return to his refuge in the sea.

Twenty years later, he comes face to face with his daughter. Triton is both thrilled and frightened to learn he’s a father. Meeting the child he never knew fills a void in his life. But at the same time, he once again finds his heart at risk. Even more terrifying, he’s forced to admit he’s still in love with Nicole. Gathering his courage, he leaves the sea to seek her out. But the pain he caused is not easily forgotten. And mending broken hearts should be the least of his worries. The elements are in commotion, threatening the utter destruction of mankind. And much to the sea god’s surprise, the human woman he loves may be the key to saving them all.

RISING (Book #1)

Available Now FREE!

 

In a war between the humans and the inhabitants of the sea—humans will lose. Xanthus Dimitriou—the most lethal Dagonian to rise from the ocean—is on a mission to save mankind from annihilation. But first there’s one small thing he needs to do… kill a beautiful young woman in a wheelchair.

Killing her doesn’t start out as part of his plan. He entrenches himself deep in the human world. Aligning himself with his enemies, he prepares to send them to Triton to face their punishment. Then Sara Taylor rolls onto the scene. Xanthus knows at once she’s a criminal. And her crime? Being born. She’s a human/Dagonian half-breed, an abomination. Killing her should be an easy job. All he has to do is break into her apartment, slit her throat, and feed her body to the sharks. Simple, right? Wrong. If only she weren’t so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet…

Saving the world may have to wait. It appears Xanthus has a woman to save. But protecting her may cost him his own life.

 

DESCENDING (Book #2)

Available Now! 

When Xanthus cashes in a long-standing favor, Kyros is faced with doing two things he thought he’d never do—protect a mermaid and live on land. Dagonians loathe mermaids and Sara, Xanthus’s wife, is no exception. Also, a Dagonian standing on human legs? As if being around the vile creatures responsible for polluting his home and killing his sister wasn’t horrible enough, Kyros has to deal with Sara’s troublesome human friend, Gretchen.

Kyros can’t help but resent Gretchen. Not only is she human and unforgettably gorgeous, but she leaves him swimming in confusion and feeling things he shouldn’t be feeling—least of all for a land-walker! When Gretchen is nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet, Kyros’s mission changes. He’s forced to become her protector. Forced is a gross exaggeration, though. The more time Kyros spends with Gretchen, the more he finds himself falling for this spunky, witty human. When it becomes apparent that something dark and evil will stop at nothing to see Gretchen dead, Kyros expends his resources to find out who that being is. Unfortunately, the answer causes more problems than it solves. When a rogue mermaid wants you dead, you’re safe from no one… not even the ones you love.  

 

 

Descending by Holly Kelly

Hello Readers!

I am FINALLY back on track here and got a book review for you…It was supposed to be a review by the Maze Runner….but this book was sitting there in my Kindle too and I wanted to read it again so yeah…that happened. Forget Harry Potter and the Maze runner haha. Sorry, but in my book ANYTHING to do with mermaids or the like I’m sold and that may or may not take higher priority so…yeah. Let’s get this review started. Though I will say that I finished this book on the 5 hours car trip this weekend to my final destination but I did start Maze Runner on the trip home…but This one is still higher priority…Juuuuuuust sayin!

 

So a while ago, I did a review of the fist book in this series called ‘Rising’ (Which you can get on Kindle for FREE) and you can check out my review of the first book HERE. So, with that said lets get started on this review. *bounces up and down in excitement*

 

Isn’t the cover so pretty?!

 

 

When Xanthus cashes in a long-standing favor, Kyros is faced with doing two things he thought he’d never do—protect a mermaid and live on land. Dagonians loathe mermaids and Sara, Xanthus’s wife, is no exception. Also, a Dagonian standing on human legs? It’s just not natural!

As if being around the vile creatures responsible for polluting his home and killing his sister wasn’t horrible enough, Kyros has to deal with Sara’s troublesome human friend, Gretchen. This spunky human tries his patience and makes him feel things he shouldn’t be feeling—least of all for a land-walker! When Gretchen’s life is threatened, he is forced to become her protector. But there are two problems. First, how can he fight his attraction to her when he must keep her close? And second, when a mermaid wants you dead, no one can be trusted. Not even the ones you love.

 

Plot: So, this is my second time reading this book. (I read it right after I read the first one but I just didn’t review it when it was fresh in my mind..) You all know the reason why I read it again over the other two I planned to read this weekend but I really didn’t care. This book is beautiful. Anyways. Plot. Loved it! With both books the plot has been very unique, engaging and absolutely amazing! Holly Kelly did I great job with it and avoiding cliches (which can easily happen in books including mermaids or more common fantasy creatures.) But this was brilliantly done and unique! Absolutely loved it!

So much action, adventure and romance *giggles like a little school girl*

 

Genre: Most definitely Fantasy and Romance…Even better the best part about it is that the romance is clean too! *resists urge to happy dance* It is so hard to find things that are clean in fiction over all but especially when it comes to romance 😛 So yeah…

 

Characters: Wooh! This is my favourite part of the review! We once again see Sara and Xanthus in this novel but on top of those two characters (who I LOVE) We have a cast of new, main characters, who are absolutely amazing…and can we talk about these amazingly awesome guys in this book….First I loved Xanthus and now Kyros? Oh my goodness… *dies* why are they so amazing? How can one fall so hard for book characters? Like what…? (I still don’t understand the fangirl life I live sometimes…) Anyways, Besides that, I was also so glad to see Gretchen playing a more main role in this novel too!

 

Gretchen: So, as I just said, I was so excited to have her in more of a main role in this novel 🙂 I loved her character in Rising so seeing her take a main role in this one. Super exciting! I love Gretchen. She’s got quite a temper, she’s sassy, sarcastic, driven and rather stubborn. Her stubborness makes things a little difficult at points but that, my friends, is the fun of it! Gretchen is definitely awesome and one of my favourites thats for sure 🙂

 

Aella: Meet the mermaid baddie of the novel. (and unlike with Rising I actually remembered the antagonists name…) She’s cruel, violent, a murderer and just all around evil…Oh! Did I mention she’s got a few thousand years of killing people under her belt.. So yeah, all around evil and a psychopath, y’all. A psychopath who is out to kill Gretchen *dramatic music*

 

Kyros: Kyros is Xanthus’s Dagonian friend who, along with 3 others, is assigned with the task of protecting Gretchen…On land. Kyros started out as very cold, standoffish and just plain old grumpy to be honest. I loved his character (and the relationship between he and Gretchen *squeals* ) and even though he started off really grumpy and a little harsh, his grouchy protectiveness kinda grows on ya. Like a lot…Don’t say I didn’t warn you that you may (its very likely) get a fictional crush on this guy!

 

Okay. Pausing the Character section of the review for a moment…well kind of. Before I move on to the last couple characters, I wanna point out something I found amusing. There were multiple times Gretchen and/or Sara would go out, escorted by multiple Dagonians and the author showed how basically everyone kind of just stared at these girls beings escorted by these giant men…and while reading this, in my head I’m just going: #mylife (okay maybe take away the hashtag but you get what I mean) *cough cough* My Dad is 6’4″, My Uncle is 6’8″ and my two cousins are both really tall dudes…(about 6’4″ to 6’5″ ish..) and my other uncle is like 6’5″ ish so you get my point… Some of my friends are even scared/intimidated by my Dad and Uncle (The one who is 6’8″) and I’m totally cool with it. But yeah…reading those scenes made me giggle just a bit 😛 (I mean the author never specified how tall these guys were in the novel so they could be taller than Six foot something but yeah… anyways. Back to the review of the characters!

 

Okay so, these last two characters we don’t see much of. (one of them is just a little child) but I am hoping that in the next novel (which I am almost dying waiting for) they will make a return and maybe be mentioned more.

First is Thane: Son of Thanatos (who is Death himself)** and a very important character of significance to this story! What is said significance? Well….

I tried to resist the urge of using a GIF but I couldn’t!

If you want to find out this characters significance, go read this book 😉 All I’m saying is that I hope to see more of this character later!

 

Donovan: Now this is the character who is just a baby…I mean it literally. But I feel like SOOOOOO many things could happen here with this little character thrown into the cast here. You hardly see any of this character except in the last couple chapters but I’m guessing here that this character could be significant later! (If not, whatever.. but still! I’m just so excited and making assumptions and guesses all over the place here!)

 

Now that that is done its time for my overall thoughts and rating of this book!

*drumroll*

…….

 

…….

 

…….

 

 

And 5 stars for me! I absolutely loved this novel to itty bitty little pieces! Such a well done book and an amazing read! Absolutely love it and cannot wait for the next book! ( I also REALLY want a movie series made of this book series. Like, you have NO idea how badly I want it!)

 

And that is it for my review of this wonderful book! Have you read this novel before? or Rising? Do you plan on reading them? (if you don’t I suggest you change your mind 😉 ) Is there any other novels you find amazing that have to do with mermaids and/or other fantasy creatures? 

Talk to me below my lovely readers! I love hearing from you! (and I reply to all comment 😉 )

Until Next Time!

Adriana Gabrielle

** like mentioned above these novels are linked with Greek Gods and many others hence Thane being the son of Death so…yeah 😛

 

Book Review- Rising by Holly Kelly

Hello Fellow Readers,

Do you know what time it is?

More book review time!!!! YAY!!!!

This is so far one of my new favourite series of books. LOVE it so much…as you will see as the post goes on.

That said…ON WITH THE POST!

In a war between the humans and the inhabitants of the sea—humans will lose. Xanthus Dimitriou—the most lethal Dagonian to rise from the ocean—is on a mission to save mankind from annihilation. But first there’s one small thing he needs to do… kill a beautiful young woman in a wheelchair.

Killing her doesn’t start out as part of his plan. He entrenches himself deep in the human world. Aligning himself with his enemies, he prepares to send them to Triton to face their punishment. Then Sara Taylor rolls onto the scene. Xanthus knows at once she’s a criminal. And her crime? Being born. She’s a human/Dagonian half-breed, an abomination. Killing her should be an easy job. All he has to do is break into her apartment, slit her throat, and feed her body to the sharks. Simple, right? Wrong. If only she weren’t so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet…

Saving the world may have to wait. It appears Xanthus has a woman to save. But protecting her may cost him his own life.

Plot: Oh my gosh. Where do I start?? I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOOVED this whole novel and the plot was REALLY well written. Tons of plot twists and its own uniqueness. You’re probably thinking something like:

‘As if. It’s a mermaid story. So overdone.’

I was thinking the same thing when I looked at the synopsis on amazon but I got it for these 3 reasons.

1.) I LOVE Mermaids. End of story. So I automatically decided that even if it was the usual, cliche, mermaid story I was gonna read it.

2.) It was free on Amazon. Why not?

3.) I LOVE MERMAIDS…..Okay I already said that but seriously…and I guess the main characters aren’t ‘mermaids’ per say… They’re actually a relative of the mermaids called ‘Dagonians’ but either way.

Anyways. The plot was amazing, really unique, well written, and overall just awesome

Genre: Fantasy.

Well, as you all know by now I LOVE all things Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I really do. LOVE IT to itty-bitty pieces.

I also love the whole mythical creature aspect to Fantasy novels. My top 3 favourite fantasy creatures are:

1.) Mermaids/Sirens
2.) Centaurs
and 3.)Fauns/Saytrs

If the fantasy story has either one of these fantasy creatures I’m sold.

I would also maybe put it down as a Romance too?? Maybe…Okay, yeah. Probably XD Well….I don’t know. Lets just go with this:

It’s a Fantasy novel with Romance.

Done. Okay.

Moving on. 😛

Characters: Oh my goshness. We could be here a REALLY long time if I fangirl too much. So, I will try to keep it short.
Sara: Sara is the FMC of the story. Part of the story is told from her POV. (The other half from Xanthus’s) Sara is a tough cookie and I like her a lot. She keeps to herself most of the time and tends to stay home, doing her work from there. I mean, getting around in a wheelchair, by yourself is rather hard….and dangerous considering the area where she lives. She lives in the poor area of town where there are a lot of bad people hiding around every corner waiting to hurt you in some way. Anyways. Sara is one of my favourites. She has is a tough cookie when the situation calls for it (Hello, she used pepper spray on Xanthus XD ) but yet she’s not one of those leading female rolls that are always like: ‘I’m so awesome I don’t need anyones help’

Sara is a little like that at one point, though. She keeps claiming she doesn’t need help where, in quite a few ways, she does. No matter how much she denys it, she needs some help.

Anyways. I like her because she is a strong lead character but not one of those strong ‘I don’t need anyones help because I’m better than all of you’ characters.

Xanthus: Tee-hee-hee. Extreme fangirl time. *GRIN* I LOVE LOVE LOVED Xanthus as a character. He’s smart, caring, and very protective of Sara. (Like REALLY protective)

Xanthus is a Dragonian who was given the ability to turn human, by the sea god Triton, when on land so he could complete the mission given to him…Stop the humans, in any way possible, from polluting the water which is resulting in the death of millions of Dagonians.

Anyways….I LOVE Xanthus! One of my favourites. (I have a few new favourite charries in the second book too but yeah…)
Gretchen: Gretchen is Sara’s best friend. (who is playing a more major role in the second book of the series) She cares for her friend and tries to help her where she can. Gretchen is the kind of person you don’t want to tick off cause she can get quite angry and a little loud. I just loved her character a lot. She was one of my favourites. She is quite sassy and sarcastic and I love it!
Other Dagonian Dude Who’s Name I Currently Forget: Okay, okay. I know. Not helpful and terribly unprofessional. At all. But I can’t remember his name and he has made no appearance in the second novel (so far) so I am not reminded of it.

Anyways. this guy. (We’re just gonna call him ‘Guy’) is the antagonist of the story….and I hate him. Total stick in the mud, creepy and yeah..don’t like him.

Yucky.

Setting: Most of the story took place in Hawaii (where I have never been) and in the ocean, obviously… XD Anyways. I LOVED how well the setting was described. Everything was described so well that it felt like I was everywhere the characters were. It was awesome and really well done.

Other: This story is heavily influenced by Greek mythology (obviously) so if you don’t like the whole Greek God’s and Goddesses and stuff then I wouldn’t really suggest it.

Also, Some of the Dragonians say ‘Hades’ quite a bit. Considering that Hades is the God of the Underworld I think it is supposed to be used instead of ‘Hell’ (though there is a slight chance I’m wrong.)

Overall: Overall I LOVED this book. Both this book and ‘Decsending’ (book 2) were AMAZING and I was totally sucked into these stories. (Trust me. I was so into these novels that, multiple times, it would take my mom a couple minutes to get my attention 😛 )

Anyways. Overall I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. It was exactly what I expected and even more so. AMAZING book. LOVED it.

So thats it for this book review. I’ll post the link again HERE (in case you missed it above) where you can get the first book FREE.

Until Next Time!

Adriana Gabrielle