Review of The Archangel Jarahmael:In Rebellion by John J. Higgins

This book was a very cleverly written book. It had twists and turns and everything I wanted in a book. I knew from the first book that it was going to be about Luciferael and the Angels that followed him, but I didn't really think that he would take it as far as he did.

Luciferael actually grouped together his own army and tried to take over the heavens and become the new Almighty. Really? Did he really think it was going to be that easy? Obviously, he did. But boy was he proven wrong. They had him believing he was going to prevail against all the loyal angels, but soon he found out that there were a lot more of them then there were of his own followers and they were pushed back and defeated. It was great!

Jarahmael was a strong character in this war. He really had a lot of good ideas, even when he was undercover and ultimately it it wasn't for him and his cherub friend they wouldn't have stopped Luciferael and his followers. I really loved the end, how the angels fell. I thought that it was very creative and well written and put an interesting spin on a well-known tale. How Hell was created and how the Archangels fell to begin with. Absolutely genius and very, very interesting.

What I didn't like was how fast Lillith turned from her own Archangel into the arms of another, and one that was leading an attack on the Almighty. Not cool, Lillith. Not cool at all! So, you're world is turned upside down because the man you love supposedly died...that doesn't mean that is what happened! I was so frustrated with her character I wanted to slap her. Just because someone tells you something doesn't mean it's the truth. I learned that a long time ago! Unless you see something with your own eyes, don't believe it!

In the end, I would definitely recommend this book. If I can be frustrated by the fictional characters I am reading about, it's worth it to read! Plain and Simple! Bravo to John J. Higgins who kept me immersed in another of his wonderful books!

Review of In the Beginning-The Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven

John J. Higgins did an amazing job bringing this wonderful world of creation to life. Let me start by saying I thought this book was very well thought out and was executed brilliantly. I was a bit skeptical when I started reading about the Archangel Jarahmael. I didn't think I was going to be able to get into it and it did start a bit slow for me. I also was a bit skeptical of this read just because of the whole biblical aspect of things. I didn't know if I would be able to be completely engrossed in this story, even though it was fictional and all that.

 That all being said...I found myself completely engrossed once I got past the first few chapters. I loved the character Jarahmael. I thought he was a wonderful Archangel and I enjoyed reading about him. He was so kind and considerate of those around him, as well as the Archangel Michael. These guys were completely wonderful and made me think what a wonderful world it would be if people were as kind as these characters. Not that most aren't, but you get the gist of things. The Almighty is one force to be reckoned with, also, and I like the fact that he pretty much knows everything that goes on even before it happens. He is a good leader and even though he is kind of portrayed as weak, I don't think he is anything close to it.

Luciferael...now this one, I'll tell ya...He just makes me squirm. As for bad guys, he and his followers are just wonderful at the part. It's sad to me how he starts out and just spirals down...and then down some more. At the end of this exciting book he has almost hit bottom. And I really don't think he even understand just how powerful the Almighty is. It sounds like he will soon, however, if he keeps going in the direction he is going. It's a good lesson being taught, though, about how greed and lust for power can make you do all kinds of things that you wouldn't initially do.

I was very happy when Jarahmael found Lillith before the bad angels did. I was really rooting for him and found myself flipping through the pages as fast as I could so I could find out what happened. That is a good book indicator for me, that's for sure. But even as I was happy for Jarahmael and Lillith, I was also very sad for Adam and Eve. They were set up for sure and I wish they would have just thought about what they were doing, if only for a second. But at the same time, when they had never been introduced to the spoils of evil intentions, I assume they wouldn't really understand when the serpent, who was actually Luciferael in disguise, planted all of the seeds of doubt in Eve's mind.

I look forward to reading the next book. I would definitely recommend this to one to my friends. This was creative and fun, if not a bit dark in all the right places. There are so many characters in this book it was hard not to like each and ever one of them, and want them to be happy too. I hope this review helps and I hope you dive into this one just like I did!

Eve of Samhain by Lisa Sanchez Review

Five Stars!

I absolutely loved this story, which was told brilliantly by Lisa Sanchez. I couldn't stop reading this book until the end, and I didn't really want to stop then. I wanted more!

Ryann is a college student who works at a bar as a server and has a crazy busy life. She lives in an apartment with her best friend Jessica, and soon after the book starts a new roommate moves in with them. Her name is Martha and she dresses in black and has all kinds of crazy stuff in her room. Witch books and Jessica soon gets freaked out by her. Martha's attitude doesn't help matters much, either.

>One night while Ryann is at work she meets a man she can't take her eyes off of. Of course he has a date, though. And she only liked him until he opened his mouth. He was a pigheaded jerk, conceited and just plain rude. Until she gets to know him and finds out his real story.

Quinn quickly becomes her friend, even though she longs for more from him. They become inseparable. But there's one twist, they can never touch each other because of Quinn's curse. Frustration surrounds them wherever they go because they both feel the pull toward each other, but can never act on it. I don't want to give away too much, but I just love how their story unfolds. Quinn is such a jerk when they meet, but soon becomes everything any woman would want. Protective, loyal and kind, he treats Ryann like he never has treated any other woman. What girl wouldn't love that? And as they grow together, I just love how their love develops and changes each of them because ultimately that is what true love should do.

This story was beautifully told and I would highly recommend it. The characters are definitely well developed and to me that is what makes a good story. Lisa Sanchez brought a great story to life, full of imagination and action-packed to boot.

Review for Zarconian Island by Aja Hannah

Aja Hannah really did a great job with Zarconian Island! When I read the synopsis I thought it seemed like a really interesting idea, and it was brilliantly executed. Attie was a wonderful main character.

This book started with Attie and some of her friends from her school winning a trip to Hawaii on a cruise ship. She was hesitant about going, but decided to go. She continued to get strange sensations while on the ship and even overheard two deckhands talking about how they were off course. This all led to the boat being attacked and sunk by some giant whales, whales she hadn't ever seen before except for on documentaries. Five of them made it off the boat and onto an island, an abandoned island with strange prehistoric type animals on it.

Attie and Doug became close and soon learned they were both Zarconian. Their relationship developed quickly, but I assumed that is how it worked when you were of another world. Michelle, another of their classmates, became their healer and Kate and Bryan helped out whenever they could. Another survivor, Jack, was soon found when they were being attacked by giant ostrich type birds. He joined their group and together they trekked through this strange island, changing camp sites often due to predator animals and finding food and such.

There was a lot going on in this book and I loved all the action thrown in with the romance. It really kept my interest throughout. I couldn't wait to finish this one. I don't want to give too much away, but I would definitely put this in my must read category.

I hope you all enjoy Zarconian Island as much as I did!

Review for Once Upon a Changeling by V.J. Chambers

Let me start by saying Once Upon a Changeling was a good read. I can't say that it was a great read, but it was good. It started out kind of slow for me; was kind of hard to get into but the end caught me and it was exciting so I was glad that I finished it.

Russ Knight is a teenage boy who's girlfriend, Cindi, cheated on him and got pregnant, then had a baby in the bathroom on prom night and tried to get rid of said baby by disposing of it in the garbage after trying to suffocate it. After this happened, she went on as usual and even went back to dance with her boyfriend. Sounds a little crazy, right? That was before she started rambling about how her baby was a changeling and they took the real baby and she was supposed to kill the changeling in order to get her real baby back. Interesting idea and very creative writing from V.J. Chambers, but even with all that going on I just thought Russ was kind of annoying. Here he has this beautiful, popular girlfriend who is just using him for appearance but she's sleeping with half the school behind his back. She gets pregnant by another guy and doesn't even know, goes to the bathroom during the school dance and delivers the baby, tries to kill it and Russ takes responsibility for this child even though he never even slept with his own girlfriend. My sentiments went out to him, but how could someone be so incredibly blind?

Needless to say Cindi ends up in a mental hospital and Russ loses all his friends while everyone continually ridicules him. He befriends a strange new girl, Puck. And Marcos, a guy from his shop class.

Puck turns out to be a faerie. She ends up helping Russ and Marcos in their endeavors to get the real baby back. The story picked up for me as it went along, but it never really popped.

I think the reason I had a hard time getting into this book was because it just fell a little flat. Russ was supposed to be brave, and he was at certain times, but he didn't seem like a hero to me. At least until the end. All in all I give the book 3 stars. It was well written and descriptive which was nice. A good read, but not a book I would read over and over again.

Review for Real Vampires Don't Sparkle by Amy Fecteau

Amy Fecteau did a great job bringing this book to life. It is exciting, adventurous and it's action packed. Throw in some romance and it was everything I love in a book. Unfortunately, when I signed up to review this book I chose it because of its title, thinking it was going to be a quirky read and lots of fun. I really had no idea this book was about gay vampires. Nevertheless, after the initial shock in finding this out, I rather enjoyed the read.

Matheus is funny. He is definitely a Debbie-downer in a lot of ways, but he is definitely funny. I kind of fell in love with him, as well as Quin, even though I kind of didn't like him very much at the beginning when he made Matheus into a vampire without his consent. That is definitely a no-no in my book. You don't just go around turning people because you feel like it. Not cool at all.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way Quin and Matheus interacted with each other. Their witty repertoire had me completely entertained and I kept turning the pages. It wasn't long into it that I realized Matheus had a whole lot of denial going on in his life, with a whole lot of things. Add in the mess with his father and how he grew up. Yikes. Poor Matheus didn't need all the crazy in his life. But crazy is what he got.

Getting turned into a vampire was, mostly, the last thing on Matheus' mind most of the time. After it happened he has only a short amount of time to adjust until he is thrown into a hunt, which was only the start of his initiation into the undead world he was thrust into. I enjoyed the way these characters were written. Amy Fecteau brought them to life for me, and it felt as if I had known them all for years.

I don't want to spoil too much about this book, but I would definitely recommend this to my friends. I enjoyed this author's writing style. The only thing I didn't like was the ending, which I didn't even see coming when I turned to the last page holding only a couple of sentences. To me, I didn't feel like it was an ending. I didn't even feel like it was a cliffhanger, which would have made me a little less frustrated than I was. But all in all, I give Real Vampires Don't Sparkle 3 stars because the ending didn't satisfy me enough to bump it up to 4, however I would recommend this book for people to read.

Review for Buried by Gerily Marin

Cadence McKenna lives in a town called Fane's Cove. In this town, all kinds of crazy ghostly happening occur, quite frequently, and everyone who lives there knows their town is haunted. I have the give credit to the author, I just loved this story from beginning to end. It was well written, minus a few typos here and there, but I'm talking more about the quality of the writing. It was descriptive, I loved the characters and felt like they could be my friends.

So Cadence starts out rather openly glaring at a boy in school who she thinks has something to hide. And she doesn't just do it once or twice, she goes on and on just glaring and scowling at him at every opportunity. That is, until her friend gives her a brilliant idea. She should just ask him out on a date, that way she can get to know him better and find out the answers to the questions she has about him. Well, why didn't she think of that herself.

And that is where it all starts, the story unfolds after Grey Addison and Cadence go on their first, fake, date. There were so many things that I liked about this book it would be too hard to list them all, but I will list a few. The plot was very interesting and developed to where there was always something exciting happening to keep my attention fully engrossed in this book. I even took it with me to work and read on my breaks, which is something I generally don't do because I only have fifteen minutes, or a half hour. That just doesn't seem like enough time and I am not someone who likes to put a book down if it is good. But I did, even though I didn't want to. The characters were developed and very believable. And I just loved the ending, which I really didn't see coming at all.

Bravo to Gerilyn Marin, who does a fantastic job delivering us a well thought out book full of surprises. A definite must-read, if I say so myself!

I'm working on it!

You know those weeks that never seem to end? Well, I am completely stuck in one of those. It's driving me crazy, we have a big sale coming up at work this week and it's been extremely crazy trying to get everything ready for that. Plus, it's been lovely weather and that means busy circumstances at my job. It's only going to get worse. So wish me luck, I'm gonna definitely need it! Hopefully this week will end sooner, rather than later!

Iced by Karen Marie Moning *SPOILERS*

I'm going to just dive right into this review for this book. No beating around the bush. I LOVED this book soooooooo much! I can't even add enough o's to so that is how much I loved it. But I have found the fever series to be one of my absolute faves, so I am not at all surprised by how much I loved it. I was, however, just a little bit cautious about reading ICED, in fact I had in earlier in the year from the library and chose not to read it at the time. I think because I was so in love with the Mac and Barrons books that I was nervous at just how I would feel about the first book from Dani O'Malley's point of view. But I shouldn't have been worried, not one little bit.

This book is the first one as of late that I haven't wanted to put down and stayed up til 2 or 3 in the morning reading, making me wake up with red eyes. But it was so worth it. Dani is a breath of fresh air in the world that has fallen completely apart in Dublin AWC, which is after the wall crashed. If you haven't read the fever series, I would suggest doing that before you try to figure out Dani's book because the whole story just continues from the fifth fever book, only in Dani's and Christian Mackeltar's points of view.

Dani is young, fourteen and going through all the teenage hormones we all love remembering. Being emotional. Grumpy. Upset for no reason. All that and more are going through Dani's head all the time and she is really good at keeping her cool. At the beginning of the book she (literally) runs into Ryodan while she's freeze framing and Ryodan wants her to work for him. I suspect Ryodan wants more from her than that, but she is too young to see the things I as a reader saw. KMM does an amazing job at writing her character as a naive young teenager who is full of emotions she doesn't understand. She also does an amazing job at writing her other characters. I always fall in love with the characters.

Dani eventually gets corralled into working for Ryodan and trying to find out why people and places throughout Dublin are getting ICED. No warning, no nothing, things are just freezing over and randomly exploding. People are getting killed left and right and none of them have no way of knowing why. So they go to each scene and investigate.

But the whole while this is going on, Dani is being followed by Christian Mackeltar, whom wants to protect her at all costs. He was once a Highlander and now is turning into an Unseelie Prince from the outside in. His power is astonishing, but he won't hurt Dani. I think he's halfway to the moon and back about her. But she doesn't see that until he starts dropping more than subtle hints to her. All the while, you've got Ryodan fighting for her to stay by his side, (which is quite funny to see) and Dancer, her all too human friend who helps her out the most and understands her the most out of anyone.

One of my favorite things that happens throughout this book is the jealousy that occurs when Ryodan starts sleeping with Jo, Dani's sidhe-seer sister who is working at Chester's, Ryodan's club because she was weasled into it to get Dani to sign a contract to work for Ryodan. It makes Dani so angry and jealous because of her own feelings that she's developing for Ryodan, I suspect. But she doesn't even know that she's jealous and that is where KMM really nails it in her writing. I just love this author, will read anything she publishes. She's that good at her job.

Of course, Ryodan only has eyes for Dani, at least some kind of eyes even though we haven't quite figured it out yet. Right now he only wants her to work for him, but the jealousy that comes anytime she smells of Christian and the anger, it would suggest some kind of feelings. But he makes it clear he cares for her, way more than any others, when he sends the five star steak meal to her to make sure she eats.

All in all, Iced was an amazing read that will probably become one of my book that I read over and over when nothing else catches my attention. I can't wait for the next one to come out, and I know there is quite a long wait until that happens. But I bet it will be worth it!!

Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter *SPOILERS*

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this book. Angels and Demons, oh my! And in the midst of everything, a love story that really kinda touched me. This book had a little bit of everything I like, and that's saying something because I am usually a vampire girl, but of course there are only so many GOOD vampire reads and I am trying to branch off just a little bit.

Moving on, this book starts with Koldo, a Sent One for the Angels above. Sent ones are you basic warrior angels, fighting to get rid of the horrible demons who plague the humans. Koldo is wandering through a hospital trying to find the demon he has been charged to kill and slam bam! He runs right into two humans, one in the hospital bed with a demon eating her up from the inside and her twin, sitting beside her trying to talk to her sister. Laila is ate alive with fear because the demon has prayed upon her and she gave in to it, Nicola is her twin sister and also has two demons following her around. Well, what was Koldo to do? Save them, of course.

So in between a love blossoms between the mighty warrior and the human with the frail heart. But is she actually a human? Read the book. You might find out. I'm sure not telling.

There's all kind of other stuff going on, Koldo's father is after him after he thought he had killed him, a nasty Nefas Demon who wants his son to marry his daughter and provide him offspring. Yup. I said it. He wants his son to marry his daughter. Incest, anyone?

Also, Koldo's mother has been imprisoned by, you guessed it, him. Koldo can't fight the hatred of what his mother did to him as a child. The reason he cannot soar through the skies is due to the woman who he looked up to. The woman he wanted only to look at him with love in her eyes, not hate shining from their depths.

We also see a budding friendship between Axel and Koldo, which is kinda fun. I can't wait to read Axel's book. Hopefully, it will be next. His charm is off the charts.

So basically, I loved this book from the first page and flipped through in about a 24 hour period. It was fun, sexy, and a little bit dark, but the dark parts explained the back story of why Koldo is so filled with rage. Nicola, of course, teaches him to work through that and together they  make a great team, especially in the end!

Now, on to other thoughts. Do you ever just feel utterly unappreciated by everyone around you. I am going through this whole, "I wish I could run away from life" phase and it's not getting an easier to deal with. I pick up a book to escape reality so I don't have to deal with anything. Well, at least late at night.

Work is demanding. I am in customer service and people treat me as scum they need to scrape off their shoe. Home is demanding, my kids especially. But I just feel like when I talk nobody listens. When I have concerns to share, they just aren't important. And when I share how I feel about something going on around here it's an attack against someone else. I swear, sometimes I don't know how much I can take. Anybody else dealing with these issues right now have anything to share to help me? Counting to ten just isn't doing it anymore!

Thanks for reading! And don't mind my rant, I'm sure I'll be just fine tomorrow:)

Two More

Since my last post, I have read the last two Psy-Changeling books that I had at the time, Play of Passion by Nalini Singh which featured Drew and Indigo.  Kiss of Snow was about Hawke and Sienna and boy, I didn't want to put it down. But I'll get to that in a second.

Okay, so first things first, Play of Passion was just that. Drew and Indigo's mating seemed to take forever, both of their wolves playing for dominance. Indigo being the highest ranking female wolf in the Snowdancer Pack made it a very difficult challenge, but in the end Drew's playful passion won her over. But I have to say I immensely enjoyed reading this story, it was funny when it needed to be and serious when it needed to be. A good read.

But, that being said, Kiss of Snow took all the cookies for me. It was exciting, it was frustrating and it was passionately crazy. Sienna, an 18 year old Psy who had defected from the Psy Net with her family after some of the events from the past occurred, fell right into the Snowdancer Pack and Hawke, the alpha. She was young, too young for Hawke to feel right with his feelings, and believing that he would never have a mate because the wolf he had been destined to mate had died long ago. But they had never actually mated, so he was wrong. Of course it took the stubborn alpha forever and a day to actually realize that. Sienna is also a ticking time bomb, being an X-Psy who were only ever destined to become a weapon of destruction. She doesn't want to face the truth, that an X will eventually become too powerful and that power will have to find an outlet, most of the time being blowing themselves and everything them around them up. She eventually faces the truth of herself.

Also, Walker and Lara's mating occurred in this story as well, and I have to say I was very happy to see that happen. Walker was so stony cold that I never thought he would open up for anybody, but he ended up doing just that with the healer of the Snowdancer Pack. Walker is also Sienna's family and it was nice to see both of them get their HEA!

Kiss of Snow was a pageturner, a book I didn't want to put down and I'm so glad I decided to read this series. But this was by far my favorite book of the series, even though I did enjoy them all.

Finally done!

I finally finished. It has been a hectic week and I have only been able to read about a chapter or two a night, but Bonds of Justice was a great read. Nalini Singh really came through for me at the end of this book, even making me feel the emotion behind the words written there. I fell in love with the characters as I did in every one of the books in Psy-Changeling books I've read so far.

Max and Sophia overcame so much in this inspiring story. Pulled together by forces unknown, these two became partners for one of the council of the Psy, Nikita Duncan, when someone started targeting and murdering people from her close, personal staff. They had to work together and it was very difficult for them to do, especially since Sophia herself is a member of the Psy race, who is supposed to be in the throes of silence. She is supposed to be cold, impersonal. But she meets Max and is instantly attracted to him in a way that she has never been attracted to anyone before. Now she finds herself in a bit of a pickle because since she is a Justice Psy-who can take memories from a person's mind and provide the information in legal courts-and all she wants is Max's strong hands on her body. The problem is if she has any physical contact with another person her walls will collapse and it will kill her.

With all the problems they already had to overcome, they find themselves in real trouble when a certain serial killer targets Sophia and escapes from prison in order to find her, kidnap her and kill her.

I have to say this story kept me engrossed in it's wonderful words from beginning to end and I didn't want to put it down(even though I had to because I had to go to work). Real life really sucks sometimes.

In the meantime, I started the next installment of the Psy-Changeling books. And I got my flower beds completely reconstructed. Of course, my husband did a lot of the work. He is very talented with landscaping and I wish he would pursue work along those lines. He does an amazing job. I planted my roses and can't wait to see if they take off. I just love roses! Thanks for reading and I hope to have more soon!

What a day!

Have you ever had just a terribly trying day? I'm sure anyone reading this has, and I'm sure you all got past it just like I am going to. It just seems as each page turns into a new day things just get even more crazy. Which, if you are reading a book is a great thing. Who doesn't like a little bit of crazy in a story? However, in real life, when it rains; it pours. And it sure does flood a lot where I'm sitting.

I am nothing if not positive, and I'm sure my crazy every day life will turn into a bouquet of roses before I know it. Until that day I will just keep on trucking.

My day at work was frustrating, as it always is. Working in a grocery store is definitely not all it's cracked up to be. Today was no exception. We had no help and the help we had was sick, so of course they couldn't stay and work. We've all been through it, at least anyone who needed to pay their bills. We go to work sick and just can't make it to the end of the day. What really sucks is when that person isn't replaced and you have about four times the workload that you had. But when you are sick, you shouldn't be working. Sometimes, that is. And I hope my co-worker feels better soon. Then, of course I come home and all my children do is fight which aggravates my husband. Then the stress levels rise and boom. The bomb explodes, or in our household people get angry and the kids get put in their rooms.

I hate being a mother when I have to discipline my children. Although I know they need the discipline or else they will run wild, it's still taxing on myself to have to do it. I'm one of those people who just wants to be friends. I'm working on it. I understand fully that you can't iron out every situation and that sometimes people just aren't going to get along. Case and point: my two children. Why is it that brother and sister are always at each others throats? I hope and pray that one day they will get along. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I bid you adieu and am off to escape into the realm of fiction. No work tomorrow, so I will have a late night fantasizing about people who just don't really exist, except for in my head and on a page:)

What am I reading?

Right now, I am reading Nalini Singh's book, Bonds of Justice which is Book 8 in the Psy-Changeling series. So Far, I have enjoyed these books. They are pretty interesting reads and are very different from what I normally read. Honestly, I don't really get into anything with a futuristic kind of flare, but so far, so good. I wouldn't say these would make my all time favorite books list, but they are passing the time for me.

There has been some steamy romance build-up between Sophia and Max so far. Of course, in each book I have read there was some kind of obstacle that each person had to overcome in order to be together, this one proving no different. Sophia is a J-psy and their mentality can only take so much torture from taking killers' thoughts from them. She is fast on the road to losing her grip on reality, and stuck in the bonds of silence while also having feelings pop up for a certain detective she is working closely with on her final assignment. What will come of them? I can't wait to find out!

Not real sure

Hi! My name is Cassie and I am an avid reader of pretty much anything paranormal. I am also a mother, a wife and am hoping one day to be an author myself. Until my dream comes true I go to work when I am scheduled and come home. I go to bed late and get up early. I take care of my two wonderful children and I read. A lot! I am hoping by starting this page I can share my love for reading with others like me, who go to bed every night with a book in their hand.

Please bare with me while I figure this out. I have never posted a blog before until today, in fact never even thought about it. But I did keep a journal all through high school. Of course, it was the old-fashioned kind of journal that you actually wrote in with a pen and paper. But how different could this be, right?