Time and Blood: Evening Bower, Book 1
by Sherry Rentschler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Rhea is the last of her kind, a phoenix from Atlantis and before, she has lived over and over through the ages, but lately she is suffering from nightmares and a call for her to come somewhere unknown, but why and where. Who or what is calling her, and is it good or evil that awaits her?Viseral, the angel of Death, has watched over Rhea from a distant this whole time, but now he finds himself needing to stay away, to allow the prophecy to finish. Along with a cast of characters that readers meet in the prequel, The Gypsy Thorn, the fulfillment of the ages old prophecy begins in Time and Blood. Author Sherry Rentschler tells the happenings from the view of the main players in the story. Rhea, Jean-Louis and Franklin each have their own chapters to tell the events from their view, also side players such as Nathan, Rasand, Echo, and even Drayohmira have parts t o tell. This is the coming of a prophecy, but what does that prophecy really mean? Good or evil? Can anything be that straight-forward and cut and dried, or is there good in everything depending on your view?
Time and Blood is labeled as the first book in the Evening Bower series, although The Gypsy Thorn is the prequel to this book. For myself as a reader, I have to read books in order, so I went out of my way to find and read the prequel before reading this story, but I have to say that you don't need to read it first. As the reader, you meet most of the characters from the prequel, but you just aren't sure why they are on the sides that they have chosen in Time and Blood. The prequel gives you some of the answers as to why certain characters choose the sides they did, but at the same time, not knowing is almost more fun. The reader meets all the characters in The Gypsy Thorn but you don't need to really know them going into this story. Time and Blood is really about Rhea, her long dead mate, and the prophecy. It is her story of the prophecy, and it is her life that you are reading, not her whole history, but this one brief period in time when she has the chance to succeed, where the meaning of the prophecy is actually understood and everything changes. The prequel gave you information about each character, and maybe reading it after reading the first book in the series would serve the reader better, as knowing the characters doesn't effect this story, but after this point it might help. At the same time,this book is only the first, and so the story stops, but doesn't end, there are still so many questions that the reader is left begging for the next book.
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Bait (Order of the Spirit Realm, Book 1)
by K.C. Blake (Kasi Blake)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
When you have grown up all your life, moving from place to place all the time because there are real monsters hunting you, you sleep with a dagger under your pillow. Bay-Lee Bishop does, but on the night that she is visited by dead rocker Tyler Beck, she doesn't have a chance to reach for it. Good thing because they become the main characters of the story, Bait (Order of the Spirit Realm Book 1). After Tyler's visit, Bay-Lee is visited by a Reaper, and finally it is time for her to follow her father to his famous school for monster hunters, Van Helsing's Academy. Being the head guys daughter is not easy, and Bay-Lee enters school with a target on her back. She must learn to find and make friends, cope with a prophecy and deal with dead rocker Tyler Beck's alter-ego, Nick who turns out to be her mentor. Kasi Blake creates the story of two realms, the world and the spirit, and between them monsters, in the forms of werewolves, vampires and more cross over to destroy humans. Hunters are here to prevent that from happening.
Bait is a terrific blend of action and adventure, mystery and intrigue, and a little teenage romance tempered with parental conflict. Paranormal or fantasy, it is a compelling story that will keep readers of all ages turning the pages wanting to see what happens next. Kasi Blake gives the young adult-teen reader set a new world order to follow and find something to look forward to in the next book. Even though there is a bit of a teenage romance, there is no sex, perfect for this age range!
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The Belgrave Daughter
The Belgrave Legacy, Book One
by Zara Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Fawn and her twin brother Alec are turning sixteen. They come from a long line of witches but only Fawn will become a witch. She is the seventh generation, and there is a prophecy that she will save the world. Of course you know this means that Lucifer wants her, so he approaches God with a bargain, if I can turn her bad she's mine. God see a way to save someone else's soul in the process and agrees. Enter Caleb, an angel of Lucifer that is assigned to seduce Fawn, but nothing goes according to plan. The Belgrave Daughter is the story of family and love, of trust and redemption, of sacrifice and faith. Lucifer may be the great trickster, but he is up against more than he bargained for in the Belgrave family, because when you attack the daughter, you get the whole family. Zara Hoffman does an amazing job of conveying the emotions and feelings of the characters in a true sense, making them feel like something you or a friend might have actually experienced.
The Belgrave Daughter is set to be the first is a series called the Belgrave Legacy, so there is the promise of seeing these characters again in future books. The characters easily and quickly become part of you and you want to help them, to hold their hands and tell them what to do. I know that I cried right along with Fawn throughout the book. Zara Hoffman writes like she has been there and that these are her own experiences, so they feel real. You can relate to the characters. This is a young adult novel, and I felt it was perfectly suited for teens and young adults. I feel adults would even enjoy the novel as I did. I have no problem passing this book on to my own teenage daughter to read.
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