ARC Review: Relic by Renee Collins

Title: Relic
Author: Renee Collins
Publisher/Publication Date:  Entangled Teen, August 27, 2013
Format/Source: E-ARC, Publisher
Age Range: YA

AMAZON     BARNES & NOBLE     GOODREADS





Summary from Goodreads

After a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is on her own to protect her younger sister and survive best she can in the Colorado town of Burning Mesa. In Maggie’s world, the bones of long-extinct magical creatures such as dragons and sirens are mined and traded for their residual magical elements, and harnessing these relics’ powers allows the user to wield fire, turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries. Read More

My Thoughts

After reading the summary of Relic by Renee Collins, I was really excited to read the book. I was intrigued by the Old West setting, so I eagerly took the plunge but was disappointed to find that the story wasn’t as I’d imagined. The history pertaining to the power of  relics was interesting, but when considering that this book was categorized as a young adult novel, I just couldn’t get over some of the content. In the beginning it seemed like Maggie was evolving into a strong heroine. After she was faced with the tragedy of losing her parents, it seemed that Maggie had started to overcome adversity as she found a job as a hostess at a saloon and cared for her sister. Okay, so here’s the problem, Maggie was only 16, and she worked in a saloon that employed dancers who also worked as prostitutes. The behavior of her boss, Connelly, can be described as nothing less than repugnant. He had a crass attitude and treated the young female employees like property and a paycheck. I personally found Connelly’s behavior so distasteful that I did not finish this book.

 

I received an e-arc of Relic by Renee Collins from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, thank you.

Entangled Teen Launch Party & Giveaway!

Welcome to the Entangled Teen ember, a division of Entangled Teen August 26th launch party! Today, we're celebrating the release of DARKER DAYS  by Jus Accardo CHAOS by Christine O’Neil!

DARKER DAYS by Jus Accardo

 



 

Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...

When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

Seven deadly ones, in fact.

They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...

There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

Amazon/Barnes & Noble/ Kobo/iBooks/Goodreads

Jus Accardo: Website/Twitter/Facebook

CHAOS by Christine O’Neil

My name is Maggie Raynard. After sixteen years being just plain me, suddenly I can kill people when I lose my temper. Turns out I'm a semi-god, descended from Aphrodite. Sounds cool in theory, but when I accidentally put my ex-boyfriend in a coma, things go downhill pretty fast.

Now some new guy named Mac Finnegan has made it his mission in life to continually piss me off. I'm stuck learning how to use my new powers while also dealing with regular high school problems, and with this---annoying and super-hot---guy all up in my business, I'm about to flip out.

But it gets worse. I just learned there's this council for semis that wants me dead. They think I'm bad to the bone and when my ex suddenly dies, it's like everyone is determined to take me out. Mac might turn out to be my only salvation, but he's got secrets of his own---that may just kill us both.

Amazon/Barnes & Noble/Kobo/iBooks/Goodreads

Christine O’Neil: Website/Twitter/ Goodreads

To celebrate, Entangled is giving away a Nook Simple Touch US Only and 2 copies of each book International! Check out the Rafflecopter below to enter.

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Movie, Book, or Both: Pacific Rim

    So there's an occasional thing we like to do on Our Thoughts Precisely.  We'll go see a movie and then read the book after to see if there are any differnces, if it's more detailed, and whatnot.  All to see if we like the Movie, the Book, or Both.  This time around after reviewing Pacific Rim (the movie), and you can find the review HERE, I decided to give the novel version a try.  Read on to see what I thought about it.

Title:Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization (Click title for Synopsis)

From Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Story by: Travis Beacham
 Screenplay by Travis Beacham & Guillermo Del Toro
Novelization by Alex Irvine

Source/ Format: Purchased, Mass market paperback

Publisher/ Publication Date: Titan Books, July 16, 2013

My thoughts:

 

     So you know, some time ago I reviewed Pacific Rim, well in recent times I read the novel adaption for it.  I liked the movie and it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that I enjoyed the novelization as well.  I feel like it goes into all the details that you miss when seeing the movie—there were more explanations to certain situations, and I have to say that I liked the answers I got.  Everything from how the first neural handshake between two pilots happened, to more about the characters themselves, as well as the effects that Drifting and piloting a Jaeger had on a person.  Such as the Drift Hangover, I found the theories about it fascinating that there was more to the Drift than what they originally thought.  Not only that, but we learned more about the Kaiju, and just what Newt’s drift with the piece of the brain had really done.  This book was fantastic, and I saw Pacific Rim from a whole new angle.  Oh, and don’t even get me started on the characters.  It’s one thing to watch the movie and see the characters as they experiencing these events.  But it’s another to actually be in their head and seeing all of the stuff left unsaid.  So in this case, I have to say that I enjoyed both the movie and the book about equally.  If you saw Pacific Rim and loved it, I definitely recommend reading the official novelization.

 

 

Favorite lines

“He’s a kaiju groupie,” Gottlieb said.  “He loves them.”—pg. 65
“Unscientific aside,” he said.  “Herman, if you’re listening to this, I’m either alive and proving what I’ve just done, in which case ha! I won!”—pg. 125
“Today, we are canceling the apocalypse.”—pg. 287

ARC Review: Darker Days by Jus Accardo

 

Title: Darker Days (The Darker Agency, #1)

Author: Jus Accardo

Publisher/Publication Date:  Entangled Publishing, August 26, 2013

Format/Source:  E-ARC, Publisher 

 

Summary

     Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...
     When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.
     Seven deadly ones, in fact.
     They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...
     There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.  

My Thoughts 

     Darker Days by Jus Accardo started out as a lighthearted paranormal book. At first I thought that the storyline was amazing. I liked the bits of humor spread throughout the story as the Darkers investigated unusual paranormal events. The writing style and pacing were good. Jessie’s investigative skills were a little messy yet entertaining. And some of the characters were just priceless, especially Mr. Winkie who showed up at the most inopportune times. At times there was crude language, but that wasn’t the bad part. My major issue with Darker Days was one of the key players, Vida better known as Lust. The events surrounding this character were cringe worthy and I had a difficult time discerning the target audience. There was an instance in the book in which one of the characters didn’t want to tell when she found herself in a bad situation. So, I started to question whether this sends the wrong message to teens/young adults. Yes, I understand that the seven sins had a hold on some of the townspeople, but there are just certain behaviors/situations that deserve consequences/corrective actions, even in fiction. And I totally get that young adult books of today try to capture the harsh reality of life, but there are just some things that shouldn’t be broached in books for teens.

     I read until I reached the beginning of page 173 before I decided to call it quits. Overall, Darker Days has a promising premise that can be transformed into an amazing story with some changes.

 

I received an ARC of Darker Days from the publisher for an honest review, thank you.

Review: Shelter (A Mickey Bolitar Novel) by Harlan Coben

Title:  Shelter (A Mickey Bolitar Novel)

Author:  Harlan Coben

Publisher/Publication Date:  Speak, August 21, 2012

Format/Source:  Paperback, Purchased

Goodreads Summary

The stunning young adult debut from international bestseller Harlan Coben is now in paperback!

Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. Fortunately, he's met a great girl, Ashley, and it seems like things might finally be improving. But then Ashley vanishes. Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that Ashley isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew. Read More

My Thoughts

Okay so I got bamboozled into buying Shelter by Harlan Coben after reading the sample chapters online. Some of the content was just so inappropriate that my jaw dropped and I can’t even pick my lip up off the floor. For a YA book, the scene at the "Plan B Go-Go Lounge" in which a teen was admitted with a fake identification was just preposterous. Do I need to say anymore? I can’t believe I had to DNF two books in one weekend. My only advice is to consider the target audience…..