BOOK REVIEW: SIEGE AND STORM BY LEIGH BARDUGO

Title: Siege and Storm

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Published on: June 4, 2013 by Henry Holt and Co.

Enter the Grishaverse with Book Two of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner—hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.

The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.

But as the truth of Alina’s destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice—and only she can face the oncoming storm.

After the shocking ending in Shadow and Bone, the Grisha trilogy continues with Siege and Storm. The main protagonist is Alina Starkov, who lives in the fictional kingdom of Ravka. She and her best friend, Malyen “Mal” Oretsev, are on the run. In the previous book, Alina learned that she’s a Grisha, a human with special powers. In her case, Alina can control and generate sunlight. This earned her the name of Sun Summoner. Ravka is partially divided by a dark magical barrier called the Shadow Fold. Alina is the only Grisha alive who could be capable of destroying it.

Alina spent most of the first book training with Ravka’s Second Army, the Grisha. She was also under the protection of their leader, who calls himself the Darkling. He seemed to want to help Alina develop her power enough to destroy the Fold. The two started growing close, seeming to be on the way to become a couple. To Alina’s shock, the Darkling stole control of her power (temporarily) and used it to extend the Fold. This revealed the Darkling as the series’s main antagonist. It turns out he’s also the Black Heretic, the ancient Grisha responsible for creating the Fold in the first place.

BOOK REVIEW: THE THOUGHT PUSHERS BY DIMA ZALES

Title: The Thought Pushers (Les Pousseurs de pensée)

Author: Dima Zales

Genre: Science Fiction

Published on: October 29, 2015, self-published

La suite tres attendue du livre Les Lecteurs de pensée par un auteur de bestsellers au classement du New York Times et de USA Today.

Que suis-je ?

Qui a tué ma famille ?

Pourquoi ?

Il me faut des réponses avant de me faire tuer par la mafia russe.

Si mes amis ne me règlent pas mon compte avant.

This second entry in the Mind Dimensions series picks up shortly after the ending of the previous one. Les Pousseurs de Pensée (I read the French editions of this series) continues the story of Darren Goldberg. He’s a seemingly average man in his mid-twenties who works as a hedge-fund analyst in New York. The story takes place in our contemporary time. What’s different is that there are two groups of people with special mind abilities. Darren is a Thought Reader, which is self-explanatory. And as he discovered recently, he’s also a Thought Pusher: someone who can control the minds of regular people. Darren found out by accident while trying to save his new friend Mira Tsiolkovsky’s life. It seemed like they might be attracted to each other, but Mira is now furious with Darren and won’t talk to him.

There’s a good reason why Mira is acting that way now. She and her brother, Eugene, had already told Darren that Thought Readers and Thought Pushers hate each other. They have been warring for centuries. As if that wasn’t enough, one of them murdered Mira and Eugene’s parents. Whoever this Pusher is, he or she is still around and gunning for the siblings. Now this person seems to have Darren on their sights. He only narrowly escapes a murder attempt thanks to his newfound Pusher ability.

BOOK REVIEW: THE CHASE BY ELLE KENNEDY

Title: The Chase

Author: Elle Kennedy

Genre: Romance, New Adult

Published on: August 6, 2018, self-published

Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there's no logical reason why I'm so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don't usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I'm flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn't help that he's buddy-buddy with my brother.

And that his best friend has a crush on me.
And that I just moved in with them.

Oh, did I not mention we're roommates?

I suppose it doesn't matter. Fitzy has made it clear he's not interested in me, even though the sparks between us are liable to burn our house down. I'm not the kind of girl who chases after a man, though, and I'm not about to start. I've got my hands full dealing with a new school, a sleazy professor, and an uncertain future. So if my sexy brooding roomie wises up and realizes what he's missing?

He knows where to find me.

Forbidden love stories are among my favorite in the romance genre. If it's also a New Adult novel that doesn't have a shirtless dude in the cover, I'm picking it up. The Chase is the first in a New Adult romance series. The books are named after the setting, Briar University. The protagonist/love interest in The Chase is Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis. That mouthful of a name is a hint at her status. Summer is a well-to-do student, though it's refreshing that she's not your usual trust fund kid. Summer's father is a prosecutor, which I found interesting (even though he's never physically in any of the scenes).

The book starts on New Year's Eve. Summer is at a bar, where she meets the love interest, Colin Fitzgerald. She already knew him, but this is the first time Summer tries to get him to date her. Colin finds Summer pretty much irresistible, but there's a big obstacle. Summer is his best friend David's little sister. Colin and David know each other from playing hockey for Briar. David's not on the team anymore, but Colin still feels loyal to him. In an attempt to persuade himself not to give in to Summer, Colin talks about her (imagined) flaws to one of his acquaintances. Of course Summer overhears this, and is seriously offended. She assumes that Colin sees Summer as little more than fluff.

BOOK REVIEW: LEFT FOR DEAD BY CAROLINE MITCHELL

Title: Left for Dead

Author: Caroline Mitchell

Genre: Thriller, mystery

Published on: July 8, 2020 by Thomas & Mercer

A victim on display. A detective on the rails.

Shopping with her sister, DI Amy Winter is admiring a Valentine's Day window display of a perfect bride encrusted in diamonds and resplendent in lace--until she notices blood oozing from the mannequin's mouth.

This is no stunt. A post-mortem reveals the victim was left to die on her macabre throne for all to see. When a second victim is found, it emerges that both women were 'Sugar Babes' arranging dates with older men online--and Amy finds herself hunting an accomplished psychopath.

As she tracks down the killer, Amy's instincts go into overdrive when the charismatic head of the agency behind the display makes no attempt to hide his fascination with her serial-killer parents. What exactly does he want from Amy? With her own world in freefall as her biological mother, Lillian Grimes, appeals her conviction, Amy pushes the boundaries of police procedure when a third 'Sugar Babe' disappears...Is she as much at risk as the killer's victims?

 

DI Amy Winter is back to handle another major case. It’s not specified, but it appears not a long time has passed since the previous book ended. This series takes place in modern-day England. Amy is part of the Notting Hill station, where she leads a team. There’s going to be a change in the status-quo, though. DCI Pike, Amy’s old boss, took an early retirement. Her replacement is DI Donovan, an officer Amy is already acquainted with. They worked together during the case where Amy’s mother, convicted serial killer Lillian Grimes, revealed the locations of her victims. Yeah, Amy is the daughter of serial killers. This is one of the most important plot points in these books. Amy struggles with her origins despite having been adopted by a loving family.

The case in Left for Dead begins in an unusual fashion. Amy is off duty, walking with her sister Sally-Ann, when she spots a chilling display in a store. It’s something most people (even cops) could easily miss: what is supposed to be a mannequin is in fact a real woman. Noticing she’s bleeding, Amy springs into action. It doesn’t take long before investigators descend upon the scene. Amy herself gets into the display in hopes of saving the woman. Despite her efforts, it is sadly too late.