A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Monday, June 4, 2012

Alice's Review: Shadow's Edge by J.T. Geissinger

Released: 12th June 2012
Paperback: 359 pages
Price: $7.16/12.96
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Source: ARC from author
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Night Prowler
Series Order:
1. Shadow's Edge
2. TBA
Summary:
Deep within the primeval forests of southern England, a race of beautiful, savage shape-shifters lives hidden from the everyday world. Bound together by ancient bloodlines and a ruthless code of secrecy that punishes traitors with death, the Ikati send their leader Leander on a mission to capture one raised outside the tribe before she can expose their secret. When Leander tracks the unsuspecting outsider to Southern California, the hardened warrior is prepared for a fight—but not for the effect the sensual young beauty has on his heart.

Jenna spent her childhood in hiding, on the run from someone—or something—her parents refused to discuss. She trusts no one, not since her father’s mysterious disappearance, not since her mother’s sudden death, and definitely not since she began exhibiting strange, superhuman abilities. When handsome, enigmatic Leander appears, promising answers to the mysteries that shroud her past, she knows she shouldn’t trust him either. But their connection is undeniable, and as powerful as the enemy hell-bent on destroying every one of their kind…

My Rating:
My Opinion: I was excited to read this book because it sounded promising. I sped through it (I finished it in one day!) and I thought it was a bit anti-climatic. Maybe a bit too obvious in its plot and ending. The novel starts off with a few news articles written about the Ikati, the cat shape-shifters and then continues on to Jenna walking around in a supermarket and then spotting Leander watching her.

I won't get into the plot because I honestly didn't think it was fantastic; it's predictable and didn't surprise me and I continued on because I knew there would be a happy ending. This is definitely a light read, without too many tense moments. I think the blurb made it out to be a lot more dramatic than it was.

I did like Jenna. She's assertive and strong and manages to hold her own against Leander and the Ikati leaders. I liked that she had the confidence to stand up for herself and get what she wanted. What I didn't like was how she made some stupid decisions, like trying to rescue a young Ikati woman by herself before she even learnt how to control her powers! She gained nothing from this and got herself captured and hurt and that was totally avoidable in my opinion! I know some people would consider her actions noble, but I think it was impulsive and stupid.

I didn't feel any particular like for Leander. I was a bit meh - he seems like a nice enough guy and he's definitely checked all the boxers on the 'Handsome, Mysterious, Sexy Stranger' list that qualify him to be a suitable love interest. I thought that these two fell in love too quickly, despite any 'strong connection' that they may have. They didn't interact enough with each other for me to easily believe they had something other than chemistry.

One of the things I loved was the mythology. I love shape-shifter novels because of the huge variety of mythology in them - all the different lore never gets old and it's so interesting reading about authors' takes on it. This contained a lot of cat stuff, which is cool because I love cats and there aren't enough novels written about them, in my opinion.

My verdict: This is a book that sits solidly on a bench in between boring and amazing - it wasn't anything special apart from its fantastic and interesting take on feline shapeshifters.

6 comments:

  1. It does indeed sound promising and, like you, I love books inspired by mythology. Oh well, too bad it didn't work out... Predictable is never good, methinks. Thanks for the review! :)

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    1. @Charlotte: No, it isn't, and sadly the trends in books (aka the massive influx of PNRs) have caused me to become a little jaded in terms of some plots. There's never anything really NEW out there, but there are quite a few gems that I've found over the past two years that have been brilliant. :)

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  2. It's too bad about the love interest. Thank you for the honest review!

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  3. Sorry you did not like this one enough. I sometimes fear of reading so much that nothing will surprise me any more. Luckily, that is not often true.

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    1. I read so much and it's definitely creeping up on me: I very rarely run across anything really new or surprising! :( I'm not saying that ALL books in the PNR genre are lemmings, but it sometimes seems that way. :(

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  4. The summary made it sound really dramatic, too bad it wasn't. But, I'll definitely check it out if I need a light read. I just love any books related to mythology, so that'll be fun. Awesome review, by the way!

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