Review: Archenemy

Archenemy by Christina Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The angel Xavier has a plan to capture Set, the Egyptian chaos god, and lock him away.  Everything is going well until a mysterious woman appears and tells him she is from his future.  If that wasn’t weird enough, Camilla tells Xavier that they must work together to defeat Set.  That goes completely against Xavier’s plan and he does everything he can to avoid her help.  Of course, it doesn’t help that he is unexpectantly attracted to her.  Is Camilla’s appearance part of Set’s chaos magic?  Will Xavier be able to save humanity and himself?

Archenemy is the first book in the Angelbound Xavier series.  This is a new spinoff series of Angelbound and takes place many years before the original books.  Bauer has made another short book that had the action and adventure almost turning the pages themselves.  I believe this book could have been even better if it was longer and some additional details were given throughout, but I also enjoyed a book I could finish in one sitting.  I’m looking forward to the next book being released.

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Review: Stars and Smoke

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Winter had made it big with sold-out shows in major cities.  He is now on the radar of The Panacea Group, a covert ops organization that has been around since the Revolutionary War.  Why are they interested in him?  Penelope is the daughter of a criminal billionaire and she wants Winter to give her a private concert for her birthday.  The Panacea Group wants him to say yes … and spy for them.  They have never had a chance to get this close and they want him to join their team.  The mission goes sideways and Winter and his Panacea partner must decide what they will do next.

Stars and Smoke is the first book in the series by the same name.  I can’t put this in one genre, but if I need to … I believe the best place is an adventure book.  There is a little bit of a mystery, but that is not the overarching theme.  There is romantic tension, but this isn’t a romance.  This is the first book in the series, but the major plot points are wrapped up and there is no cliffhanger.  This was a wild ride of a book and I look forward to the sequel.

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Review: Three Drops of Blood

Three Drops of Blood by Gretchen McNeil
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kate has finished her first season as an actress on a TV show and is looking forward to filming the next season.  Drama on the set causes the show to get canceled, but she doesn’t want that to slow her down.  She still plans to pursue acting full-time, even though that will require her to skip her senior year of high school.  Her parents don’t want her to stop her education and require her to pay rent if she isn’t in school.  Since she hasn’t been able to get an acting gig, she takes a boring office job to pay the bills.  The only bright spot is the window that lets her see a romance between a woman and her assistant … that is until the romance turns into a double murder.  What will she do, since no one believes her?

Three Drops of Blood is a stand-alone mystery that was lauded as a blend of A Good Girls Guide to Murder and Hitchcock, but I don’t agree.  The murder didn’t take place until I was 59% through the Kindle version, so over half of the book was character development.  Please, no one needs that much for a stand-alone story.  The last 40% (which is the actual mystery) would make a wonderful novella, but as a novel … it was a disappointment.

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Review: Teen Titans: Robin

Teen Titans: Robin by Kami Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Slade is on the prowl and Raven, Garfield, Maxine, and Damian are on the run. H.I.V.E. wants to do experiments on them and they are not volunteers. Now, Dick wants to know what is going on with Damian since his tracking device stopped working. Where can they go and who can they trust?

Teen Titans: Robin is the fourth book in the Teen Titans graphic novel series. This story picks up shortly after the ending of the third book and this ending leaves readers wanting more (not quite a cliffhanger). This is a very short graphic novel (I read it in 2 sessions of about 30 minutes each) and the graphics give more depth to the story than if it was text only. I wish the next book was already out!


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Review: The Sinister Booksellers of Bath

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Susan is still learning about her magical heritage when a new killer appears.  Merlin gets in over his head and his sister, Vivien, comes to his aide with the help of Susan.  This is a centuries-old battle cycle that must be won, or it will repeat.  They must travel to magical worlds, battle living statues, and discover the secrets of this newest villain.  What will this unlikely trio need to overcome?

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath is the second book in the Left-Handed Booksellers of London series.  Readers’ memories will be nudged throughout the opening chapters and will quickly fall into this new story.  I found the action scenes pulled the storyline along and the book almost read itself.  Nix has taken a few classic characters and has introduced them with some new twists.  A fun read and it will be interesting to see if another will be on its way.

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Review: Kill Joy

Kill Joy by Holly Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pippa is not looking forward to a murder mystery party with her friends.  She especially doesn’t like the 1920s costumes everyone must wear.  Once the game begins, though, she finds that trying to solve the murder is just the distraction she needs.  As the clues are slowly revealed, Pip finds her mind wondering about the murder-suicide that was in her town a few years earlier.  Readers of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and its sequels will find this prequel novella a nice diversion.  We also learn why Pip chose her specific topic as her capstone project.  And … there are no spoilers if someone wants to start with this novella first.

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Review: Royal Blood

Royal Blood by Aimee Carter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Evan has just been kicked out of ANOTHER boarding school … this time for arson.  In sweeps Jenkins to the rescue and Evan finds herself on a transatlantic flight to London.  Jenkins feels it is time for Evan to get to know her father, the King of England.  Yes, you read that right, Evan is the illegitimate daughter of the king and has been keeping it a secret her entire life.  Evan quickly learns that the monarchy is full of secrets and after a fun night ends with the death of the host, Evan is the prime suspect.  What really happened that night?  Will Evan ever be accepted into the family?

Royal Blood is the first book in a new realistic fiction series.  Real-life monarchies are full of drama and secrets, but most people don’t know what is really going on, we only see what is released in the news.  This book imagines what the people are saying, thinking, and doing to give readers some new insights to dream about.  I was hoping for a certain twist that did not happen, but maybe that twist will happen in the next book (still unnamed).  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the rest of the series to be completed.

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