Review: Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan

Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan

• Pub. Date: February 12, 2013
• Publisher: Ceder Fort
• Pages:336
• Series: Fractured Light #2
• Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Llona will do whatever it takes to protect her new found friends and home, but the dark plot that is threatening Lucent Academy, a school that’s supposed to be a safe place for Auras, may be too powerful for even Llona to defeat. This fast-paced tale of love, loyalty, and overcoming the darkness will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!

First Line: People told me life would return to normal, but how could it after you'd killed someone? or something.

Review: I am really loving this series so far and can definitely say I loved the second book way more then the first. Fractured Soul pretty much starts up where Fractured Light left off. Llona and May are at Lucent Academy and even though May is fitting in perfectly being a rare Fury and all, Llona is not. And I don't blame her for not fitting in, her fellow auras are pretty brainwashed and in need of some reality check.

The plot was actually more gripping then in the previous book, we still have the Vykens trying to kill the auras and feed off their blood but there are so many new twists in Fractured Soul I couldn't stop turning the pages.

 Llona is also changing physically thanks to that bite she got from the Vyken in the previous book, she is a whole lot stronger and bad ass. We also meet these new creatures called Lizens who are practically the auras slaves in my opinion since they work for free for them and aren't treated all that great by the stuck up auras at the academy, one of them named Tessa ends up being a really great friend to Llona. We also meet a new character name Liam who is from what I can sum up about over a hundred years old or so anyways he has a pretty tortured soul  which was interesting to get to know and I can see myself liking him to where I wouldn't mind if he ends up with Llona. Although don't worry there was no love triangle Llona's heart is all for Christian in this book.

I really give it to McClellan for having Llona grow so much as a character. I saw such a change in her from the first book all the way to the end of this second book. She has become such a strong person, even with all the death around her. Speaking of death I love McClellan for not being afraid to take such huge risks in her books like killing off a key character in the first book and in THIS one also except this time it was someone who I was not expecting at all, I mean from all the characters I just ...wow yea couldn't believe it..still having a hard time really. The ending is just downright heartbreaking, brutal, vicious you name it. All I know is I have to get my hands on the next book asap.

There was a lot of bloodshed and kick ass fighting  in Fractured Soul, Llona is not a weak character by far  along with her best friend May. I would love it if McCllelan did a novella of May or heck even a spin off after this series cause she is just as interesting of a character as Llona. Anyways this book was amazing and I highly recommend it if you haven't figured it out by now :)

Review: Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem by Melissa Lemon

Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem by Melissa Lemon

• Pub. Date: December 11, 2012
• Publisher:Cedar Fort, Inc.
• Pages:288
• Amazon/Goodreads/Book Depository

Stuck in her family's apple orchards, Kat's got plenty of work to do and only pesky Jeremy to help. But when Jeremy convinces her to run away, Kat will discover that nothing---and no one---in her life is quite what it seems. Wonderfully re-imagined  this is the magical tale of Snow White as you've never read it before!

First Line: This is a story about a princess, and, unfortunately  it is also about a queen.


Review: I love reading fairytale retellings so of course I jumped at the chance to review Lemon's take on Snow White. 

In this spin the evil queen is actually Kat's (Snow White) mother, not the step mother and she still of course wants her dead but in this retelling she tries to kill her while she is still just a baby. The king runs off with her and takes her to the safety of Uncle Barney  who lives in an apple orchard in the next kingdom over. The queen thought her to be dead since she did send an executioner after them and the executioner came upon the kings ripped up dead body which happened due to thieves murdering him and then animals finishing the rest of him off, and the executioner just assumed the princess was killed as well and reported back to the queen.

Anyways the story really started up when Kat became older and her uncle who was for so long such a wonderful man taking care of her all of a sudden lost his sight and turned to alcohol and then started mistreating Kat. It was a little hard to adjust to his personality changing up like that since I got so used to him being a caring uncle who really took Kat under his wings and then next thing you know he is putting his hands on her and emotionally abusing her as well. 

What I didn't expect going in but it was a nice surprise that really worked was that the Magic Mirror was the narrator. At first I was skeptical but as I kept reading I really grew to like the man who was trapped in the mirror by the queen. And what I liked more was how in this one the man in the mirror had a huge role in the overall plot, and he was able to tell the queen partial truths and get away with it with the queen never finding out until it was too late.

I really liked the characters, Kat even though at times she felt to be a little clueless ( I mean who can blame her, she had no idea who she really was and was told to never leave the apple orchard ) was a character who when times called for it was very strong and determined. I loved Jeremy Simkins  and the dwarf's especially Pokole, the friendship that grew between him and Kat was very sweet.

I did like some of the twists and shocking revealings of certain characters, it put a nice spin on things. The one thing that I didn't really like was how rushed the ending felt. I was just sitting there like "Wow that was it." The fall of the queen fell flat in my opinion. Overall this was a creative spin on Snow White and I enjoyed it for the most part.