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 😛

 

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Book Review || The Follower

Hello Readers!

Adriana here with a Share The Love post for you lovely people 🙂 but first, I want to apologize for neglecting my blogging duties this Friday! This week has not gone as well as I had hoped and things went downhill…and to be honest, I forgot a post. But here I am again, hoping you will all forgive me and ready to redeem myself with today’s post!

So, remember how I discussed why I loved the book called ‘The Follower’ by C.F Barrows a couple weeks ago? Well today I’m gonna expand on that!

Today, I am going to be reviewing one of my 100% absolutely all time favorite book! (you guys…I’ve read this book 5 times…in just over a year.) This book is published by a good friend, and this book is called The Follower (by C.F Barrows)

I am so excited to share it with you so I will get right into it 🙂

Three hundred years ago, the Rhenor nation split into two, the Reshan and the Khanor. One dwells in the Outerlands, the other in the mountains – and although the nations have made peace, their people have not. One fateful day, two small patrols meet in an outer cave in Khanor territory. The youths, spurred by mutual distrust, brawl, and the ensuing cave-in cuts off their main routes back to both the Reshan and the Khanor civilizations. Their only choice is to join forces and follow the one remaining tunnel – one that runs through an area known simply as the Forbidden Regions – to find their way back to their homes. Along the way, the beliefs of every traveler are put to the test, and the secrets of a few may threaten the safety of all. For as they go, Lusefar, lord of the Saethen, sends his agents against them, licking his lips as a ravenous dragon.

Plot: The plot of this novel was A-Freaking-Mazing! Loved it so so much! *fangirl squeal* (Yeah I’m already squealing…and I haven’t even gotten to the characters yet 😉 ) It was so unique and engaging and filled with plot twists! (You guys know how much I love those!)

Genre: Fantasy!! :3 Oh gosh…I love fantasy. (though y’all know that by now I am sure)

Characters: Yes! The BEST.PART.EVER! *rubs hands together* Okay! Lets do this thing! Or in other words…Let the Fangirling commence! 😀

Sohrem: Love Sohrem. I don’t know what it is exactly that makes me like him so much. ( Quite a lot of reasons…) His attitude and personality was so great. And, I will admit sometimes the things he said or did made me laugh…Sohrem is such a great character overall and his story is so interesting. (Won’t say much cause I want you all to read it and discover for yourselves.)

Sheth: Is is appropriate to just put heart emoji’s or no?…

…I’m gonna go with maybe not but I will put this to good use….

….okay and maybe ONE heart emoji. (Don’t judge me!) Okay, but seriously I mean it! *WARNING:FICTIONAL CRUSH ALERT*

Okay. So, Fictional Crush aside… <3…Sheth is a great character. I just-I-Ugh. Yeah….He’s awesome *Adriana has lost all ability to function properly and know how to continue with this review* 😛 I love his personality and character and- yeah…he’s just my favourite.

Okay… I really haven’t said why I like him so much, so I shall say why now. (Fangirling aside…for now) So! Sheth, I really liked his character. I especially liked how strong his faith was throughout the novel and I also liked how he kept a level head even when it came to patience when tension was rising between himself and the other characters. I loved his character on a hole but just his strength and such through tension and just…yeah. So great…okay, I’m done now.

Kyra: Three words to describe her:

1. Grumpy (kinda)

2. Sassy

3. …..Awesome!

I loved Kyra! She was such a great character with a very interesting (yet sad) story. She has her grumpy/sassy/snippy/angry moments but I also found her to be totally awesome and not to mention smart. (Not that the other characters weren’t but..you get my point) I really really really enjoyed Kyra’s character.

Ender: *cue dramatic music* Well…First of all, Ender is also kinda grumpy at points and always seems to pick fights with his sister, Kyra…True sibling rivalry at it’s finest!…that and Kyra isn’t completely innocent with the whole picking fights thing either) There are quite a lot of ways he and Kyra are alike though….and I think thats why they both butt heads so much.

Lehn: Lehn is such a great character. He’s smart, has almost no cooking skill according to his sister and is really caring and protective of his sister Shaetha. (We will talk about her in a minute) Lehn is rather quiet but really kind. I LOVE (like big fat puffy heart love) how he cares so much for his sister and watches over her. It’s just…Gosh its great.

Shaetha: I love Shaetha. She so sweet and so gentle. Throughout most of the story she was kind of the odd one out and definitely a bit of a misfit of the group (consisting of Sheth, Sohrem, Lehn, Yannah, Kyra, Ender and Jorthen), but she was also a great addition to this very interesting group. I really loved her character. SHe was just so sweet…Is it bad that I picture her to be like a sweet, innocent baby deer? (I don’t mean that in a bad way at all but it’s just kind of how I see it.)

Yannah: Yannah! I love Yannah! Shes amazing and just plain old awesome. She’s tough yet still quite girly which I liked 🙂 I also loved her slight sassy-ness she had going on sometimes. She is also really friendly and kind. Though she did have her moments where certain people would really annoy her. (but isn’t everyone annoyed by someone at one point?) Yeah…just…Yeah no words except that I really loved her 🙂

Okay! Last but not least, we have Jorthen: Overall, he’s just really cool and uhh…I’m running out of words….just so many AMAZING characters! Anyways, Jorthen is cool. He’s got a level head on his shoulders (and sometimes acts like hes some sort of political leader 😛 Not that that’s a bad thing…I’m just saying!) but yeah, I can definitely see why he is one of higher authority when it comes to the entire group.

So, as you can see, lots of characteers and lots of love to go around. The characters are absolutely lovely and totally awesome! I love them all so much! 😀 😀

Setting: The novel takes place in the fantasy world known as Sehret. While reading this book, I really found the setting to be quite believable and the setting just felt so real to me! Like I was right there in the world with the characters. Absolutely loved it and such well done work setting wise 🙂

Overall Thoughts: Ummm…You guys, I’ve read this book 5 times in just over a year…I think that expresses my overall thoughts on the book quite well, don’tcha think? But, either way, Overall I absolutely LOVED this book to itty bitty little pieces. (Okay I don’t necessarily know what that means but it sounds cool and you get my point) It was really good with a fantastic plot/storyline. It was beautiful 😀

Rating: My rating for this book is 5 stars! 5 REALLY BIG,BRIGHT AND SHINY STARS!!

So, now that I’ve reviewed this book and told you about all it’s amazingness, it’s time you go buy it (and maybe even the second book) and read it!….Like right now…..Why are you still here? Click the link below and go buy this amazingly beautiful book 😀

http://www.amazon.com/Follower-Sehret-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B00AHJTAI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414025161&sr=8-1&keywords=follower+cf+barrows

So, Until Next Time!

Adriana Gabrielle