Tag: how to read more

Posted in Book Introduction, Climbing Blanca Peak

Legend of the Jade Dragon by Yasmine Galenorn

Posted on by Euni

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This was tough to score but I am going to give it a solid 4 stars. Was the story perfect? Well, it was pretty good and while parts were predictable it was still a lot of fun.  Legend of the Jade Dragon is book 2 of the Chintz ‘n China series, and with that said I really recommend you read the first book in the series before jumping into this one. This book does reference the events of the first book in the series, so please do yourself a favor and read that one first.

The book starts off with her attempting to do a tarot reading for a man named Daniel but only getting an ominous reading. She decides to not to tell him what the cards say. The man decides to pay her anyway and takes his money out of his pocket and something falls out without him noticing it.  As he begins walking across the street Emerald notices that he dropped a little Jade Dragon statue and she attempts to get his attention. He turns to look at her and then gets killed by a speeding truck. Before he dies he is able to say  “please….dragon….don’t….keep” or something along those lines….needless to say the cops tell her to hold onto the dragon and that is where the fun begins.

Her store gets robbed, a drunk man attacks her, her house gets robbed, other places get robbed, her son gets a serious cut, and the list goes on and on. Yet, she doesn’t make the connection that everything started to go wrong once she got the little jade dragon. Fast forward a bit and with the help of her one friend she is able to find out that the dragon is extremely old and cursed. I don’t want to give too much away but after this point is when the story really takes off.

*Slight spoilers ahead*
Pros:

  • The magic element was wonderful. There are no wands when it comes to this series. The magic is more of a part of Emerald and not something that requires magic spells. Does she use her intuition and did she try to break a hex with magic? Yes, but there was no caldron or magic potions involved.
  • Emerald is just such a good mom. She puts her kids first and is the single mom that you really would like to get to know. She is kind but takes no crap.
  • The pieces of the story just fall together in a way that is logical and not rushed (except for the portion about her boyfriend Andrew).
  • While the person who was robbing everyone was SUPER obvious, the twist behind it was very enjoyable.

Cons:

  • As I said above it was little too obvious who was the one stealing from Emerald and others in town, but still I enjoyed the story.

Overall:

The book was very enjoyable and I will definitely read the next one in the series. Hopefully the next book wont go into as much detail able Emerald’s clothing choices. This book was not as good as the first one in the series, but was still a very good read. I also look forward to seeing what happens between her and Joe now that she is finally done with the jerk Andrew.

Posted in horror, paranormal, Reviews

The Séance in Apartment 10 by Ambrose Ibsen

Posted on by Euni

Rating: 3 out of 5.

A young woman get’s a run down apartment while she goes to school. The faucets leak, the lights flicker, but at least Tori had a place to live. Everything was going fine…well as fine as it could go until her and her friends decided to play with a Ouija board. So, you know…things start to get really shady after that, but of course they would.

Continue reading “The Séance in Apartment 10 by Ambrose Ibsen” →
Posted in Climbing Blanca Peak, Reviews

Never Never by Brianna Shrum

Posted on by Euni

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I cannot even begin to explain how disappointed I was in this book. I thought the concept was fun, the synopsis made it sound so interesting but it fell flat for me. Did the author do a good job making Peter Pan unlikeable? Yes, she did. The problem was that she didn’t make James Hook likable. The only character that was remotely interesting was Tiger Lily but she ended up being nothing more than a love interest for Hook and a plot device.

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Posted in fantasy, Reviews

Seeds in the Wind by Billy Wong

Posted on by Euni

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Seeds in the Wind was one of those books that I read a few years ago and just knocked me off my feet. You have Alfred, a Baron who was living a happy life until Emperor Nebulus comes with his army and invades his barony on behalf of his God Metheld. In one fowl swoop all of Alfred’s family and land are gone. Alfred goes to the capital to get help from the king, only to find Prince Colin in his place and unwilling to help him. So he sets off to a bar to drown himself in his sorrows. While bashing the head in of a bar patron (yes you read that right, he was bashing a guys head in because he said the wrong thing) a woman by the name Dandelion stopped him and agreed to help him take down Nebulus and the God that sent him there.

Continue reading “Seeds in the Wind by Billy Wong” →
Posted in fantasy, Reviews

The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky

Posted on by Euni

4.5 Hoots

immortals

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book and I was not disappointed. This was a fun mix of Greek mythology and a murder mystery. The Greek gods are walking among us as regular people (some fairing better than others) and others are still trying to hold onto pieces of them that made them a God. Here you find Selene DiSilva, aka Artemis, working as a private investigator who protects abused woman and children.  While out on a walk in central park she stumbled upon the body of a young woman who was dressed in ancient Greek style and who had her reproductive organs cut out. When she touched the victims head she saw a vision on the attack and vowed to avenge the woman’s murder.

This is what set the stage for the rest of the book. The person who killed this woman started killing other women as well in a type of reenactment of ancient cult practices called the Elysium Mysteries and with every death Selene begins to get some of her goddess power back. Now, I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story but it really takes some crazy twist and turns. And to make it even more fun you get to meet some other Greek Gods throughout the story and their personalities and how they are fairing with modern times really just adds another element to the story.

What I enjoyed the most was the way the Greek myths were woven in with our current world. The book was filled with real places in New York, so that made it seem more realistic instead of making it seem like a generic city. I also enjoyed seeing how the Greek Gods and how they were surviving in the modern world. For example Dionysus (god of winemaking) Survived as a Grad student who was still strong because alcohol and partying is still a huge thing in college parties. He was able to live it up. The Goddess Leto (Artemis and Apollo) on the other hand was fading away because she was no longer being worshipped. Plus, there were tons of clues to help keep you interested in this murderer, but enough misdirection to keep it interesting until the big reveal.

The only thing I did not find as enjoyable was the internal struggle of Selene, Aka Artemis, to acknowledge her feelings for Theo (a professor who was friends with the first victim).  I feel like this portion of the story was really dragged out a bit. Yes I get it that she was supposed to be the chased virgin goddess but I really didn’t need it pointed out as much as it was. At times it just seemed to overshadow everything. Overall, the story was a lot of fun. It was dark at times but not to the extent of being one of those super gritty crime dramas. The characters and locations were very realistic and engaging. And the best part was that I was still surprised by the big reveal of who the bad guy was….This is a big deal because I usually can figure out stuff like that right away. I look forward to reading the rest of the series in the future.