Kresley ColeAnmeldelser
Forfatter af A Hunger Like No Other
Anmeldelser
No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark, #2) af Kresley Cole
I keep reading Kresley Cole books hoping one will finally hook me in but I seem to be the outlier in all of my reading groups lol
I think her books have all the potential but they have the tendency to make me avoid reading.
I have the next book in this series - which I plan to read - but if that's a miss for me then I'm going to move on from KC and be happy for the folks that continue to enjoy her works.
Initially when I heard about this book I was excited because I really enjoy Showalter's books. Playing With Fire is my favorite, but I enjoy her Atlantis books as well. For some reason I've never read her Alien Huntress books. Kresley Cole is one of those authors that I know I should read, since I enjoy paranormal romances so much, but haven't had any interest in. That said, I have to admit I loved Cole's Danii a lot. Valkayrie coolness aside, I liked that because of who she is she's been untouchable. Not because of a past guy who did her wrong, or father issues or anything like that. She's straddling two worlds and neither world wants much to do with her (talk about paying for the sins of the parents).
Murdoch was kind of awesome, but also rather vexing. He's a self-proclaimed manwhore and feels he has good reason to fear being bonded, but he's a little short-sighted. Or else he's hanging with the wrong crowds. Either way he ignored the good that came with the potential bad. This is a romance, so it is inevitable, but there was a merry chase involved.
Showalter's story fared a little less well for me, but I can't tell if its because I didn't enjoy it or because I have no idea about the world she was writing in. The premise is pretty cool--we can all be like Mystique from X-Men!--but I suppose since I was familiar with the world a lot of it fell flat. I did like Breean though and was mostly envious of Aleaha.
Minor pet peeve, I can't remember how to spell any of the four romantic leads names without looking it up.
This is a good book for a winter's evening however, the romance will take the chill off your skin and should be a treat for fans of either series.
**SPOILERS**
One thing I think could have changed is the time spent on describing Evie's life before the flash. The story starts off after the flash where Evie is telling Arthur her story, then it goes back to a week before the flash and Evie is talking about her life and everything that happened a week before leading up to the flash. This is a little over 100 pages of her talking about her boyfriend and school and how her mom sent her to a mental hospital. Honestly the before flash parts should have only been maybe 20 pages, AT THE MOST, and could have only gone over what happened 2 days before the flash. All that other stuff wasn't necessary. Also think there should have been more explaining and description of the world right after the flash. The book jumps from the flash happening to 246 days later. What happened those first 240 days? How did they world become what it is now with slavers and bagman and cannibals? Also the very end seemed rushed a little bit.
Another thing, why is it that all the guys in this book are ALWAYS thinking about sex (with the exception of Matthew)? Jackson is constantly trying to sleep with Evie, Finn is trying to sleep with any girl with a pulse, all the militia guys are drooling over Evie, and even Arthur talks about wanting to get her in bed. What does that say about guys? The only thing they can do is think about sex? I mean even when Evie and Matthew are with Finn in the cage and Jackson and Selena come to rescue them, this is what happens with Finn:
"As Jackson freed Matthew and me, Finneas gawked at Selena-probably from witnessing her tableau, possibly because she was so freaking gorgeous anyway. 'Another chick? Hellooo, hotness.' Though we were surrounded by a melee, Finn took his time checking her out. 'Dude. It is raining hot ass today. Screw the toothless daughter-I'm coming with you guys."
Really? In the middle of a rescue mission all he can think about is how hot Selena is and sleeping with her? Jackson's character, when not trying to sleep with Evie, is aggressive, volatile, and abusive. I really hope he leaves the story soon or he at least softens up a bit. Evie's character seemed weak in the beginning, not necessarily just physically (though she can't fight and Jackson does have to save her) but the fact that she let others tell her what she should do and lets her boyfriend pressure her into sleeping with him. However, by the end Evie doesn't let anyone push her around and she finally fights back. When we find out that Evie was pretending to be drugged and that she planned to kill Arthur and she began to reveal to him her power, it was an awesome moment. The first time I read this book I was worried about Arthur doing something terrible to Evie, then when the tables turned and she started attacking him, it was an amazing surprise twist that made the ending so great.
Arthur, though he was a crazy psychopath, was an interesting character. He played the villain really well. He was so creepy and weird, which worked. I think he's one of my favorite villains.
I loved this book! So much better than the first book. So much action happens right from the beginning, which is great. The 2nd half of the book slows down a bit (in terms of action scenes) but we learn a lot more about Death in the 2nd half and his relationship with Evie and secrets are revealed and things just get a lot more complicated. I loved learning more about the new characters (even though I don’t always like the new characters). The new characters, Death especially, evokes so many emotions. Most of the time I hated them, but at times I felt sorry for them and at times they really annoy me. I love that the characters were so complex, the good guys weren't just good and the bad guys weren't all bad. There's such an internal conflict within all of the characters and it's interesting to see how each of them deals with it. The author is really great at character development in these series. There were also some things that I didn’t like or didn’t understand but overall I really enjoyed this book. There were also a couple of unexpected surprises in the book that I liked as well. This book also introduces a love triangle to the mix, which I usually hate love triangles but it kind of works for this series (even though I don’t like either of the love interests). There’s also a cliffhanger at the end of this book that leaves you desperately wanting to find out what’s going to happen next. Overall I’d give this book a 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait for the next book to come so I can find out what happens next.
**SPOILERS!!!**
So many thoughts went through my head reading this book I don’t even know where to start. First thing I don’t get is Evie’s powers. She’s connected to plants and can control them and when everyone was talking about each Arcana’s weaknesses, Selena started talking about Evie’s weaknesses and said “when there are no plants around to feed her energy, she taps out quickly, even more so if she has to use her blood to revive or create plants. She needs the sun. Her power is collaborative—some cards are more dependent on the environment than others.” A couple of pages before that Matthew is telling her why the rain is bad, he says “sunny and green? You annihilate. Now? Powers. Stop. Start. Fits. A plant with no sun is weak. Already you feel it.” Plants need more than sunlight to grow, they need water as well. Plants are just as dependent on rain as they are on the sun, so why doesn’t her powers work when it’s raining? This doesn’t make sense. Her powers should be just as strong when it’s raining as it is when it’s sunny.
Another thing, if these kids have super powers and they have to fight each other to the death and they’re constantly talking about how to kill Death, then why are they afraid of cannibals? Yes, cannibals are ruthless and they eat people but they are human, they don’t have any super powers so why are the Arcana so afraid of them?
Though the plot was predictable at times, there were some twists thrown in now and then that I didn’t expect. I love unexpected twists. I didn’t expect Brandon, Evie’s ex-boyfriend that died in the flash, to turn out to be Jack’s half brother. No wonder Jack was so jealous of him. I also didn’t expect that Jack killed Evie’s mom. I understand why he did it, but I still can’t believe he actually killed her. I knew from the start Evie and Death/Aric had some kind of romantic history where they were a couple in a previous life but I didn’t expect them to be married. I also knew Evie had betrayed Aric but was surprised to find out she’d done it twice and both times on their “wedding night”.
Also, this is a small thing, but what is up with Lark calling Jack a “muggle”? Did we suddenly transport into the world of Harry Potter? I think non arcana should have a term more unique to this story instead of copying Harry Potter, though I love HP, I think this series could come up with it’s own terms for non arcana.
On to the characters, let’s start with Death/Aric. I initially hated Aric. He was the villain for the entire first book and most of the 2nd book as well. He was cold and very abusive to Evie, at times I kept thinking why is she falling for him? He’s so abusive. Then when I found out about their past relationship, their marriage and her betrayal, I started to feel sorry for him. I was beginning to understand why he was so abusive to her and always threatened to kill her (I probably would have done the same if I was him). But then when Evie has a dream about their wedding night, in one part of the dream her former self says “he never asked for my hand, merely informed me that I was to marry him, that we would bow out of the game.” Which means he was controlling and abusive even before they were married and she betrayed him and at the end of the book you can see his controlling and abusive side again when he tries to coerce Evie to be his wife in order to help save Jack’s life. So I still don’t like Aric as a love interest for Evie. He’s an interesting character and he’s very complex, which I like but I would not want him with Evie.
Lark, another Arcana who can control animals, is another character that I had mixed feelings about. Initially I liked her a little but I didn’t completely trust her, then when she betrayed Evie and the others, I really hated her. But as the book went on, she began to grow on me and I found myself hating her less and less, and then at the end when she helped Evie with Ogen, then I trusted her again.
Finn is also growing on me, though he’s still hitting on every girl he meets, including Lark. He makes a couple of funny comments in the book, at one point when Jack and Evie go to be alone Finn says “checking perimeters? Is that what the Louisiana kids are calling it these days? Hey, Lark, can I check your perimeter?” In another scene he tells Lark, “I’m hooked on you like phonics.” They’re lame, cheesy lines but they’re so funny and so like Finn’s character.
Evie did annoy me a little bit in the beginning of the book when she was with Jack because she was constantly thinking about him instead of trying to come up with a plan of how to defeat Death. Another thing I like about Evie’s character is the conflict you see within her. She was born to be this tough, cold killer, just like death but because she wasn’t raised knowing about Arcana and the games she has this goodness in her, an innocence that she’s fighting to keep but there’s also a darkness that rages in her that she tries to control but can’t always completely control it. It’s really interesting seeing that struggle within her and it will be interesting to see which side comes out in the next book since in this one it ends with “as Death led me to his bed, to the promise of pleasure, I felt the rising heat of desire---and of….Battle.” Will she betray Aric yet again? It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Jack was also starting to grow on me a little. I still don’t completely like him but in this book he is a lot less aggressive and violent yet he’s still constantly thinking of sleeping with Evie.
Vince Cappelleti is a mob hitman on the run from the “family.” His old childhood friend Z, now a rich and legit businessman, smuggles him out of the US and hides him on his island. Vince knows the mob will eventually catch up with him, so he keeps to himself and avoids people, but he’s bored and lonely. Then he meets Allison, a sweet woman who’s far too good for him.
Allison and Vince are in lust at first sight. I wish the novella would’ve been longer to give more detail about Vince’s past and to show the H/h falling in love, but at least there’s attraction to build their relationship on.
The head hopping annoyed me, but I managed to figure out whose POV I was reading in easily enough. I’m a big fan of Ms. Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series, but I haven’t read many of her BAD books. From what I know of the series, the BAD agency didn’t play a big role in this book, and I felt a little lost during the climax because I didn’t know who some of the people were, people who’d surely played a bigger role in the previous stories.
Still, this is a good, fast-paced action/adventure romance.
4 Stars
In “Hunter’s Oath” by Jaid Black, a civilization of Vikings flourishes beneath the surface of the earth and has done so for thousands of years. It’s custom for bride-hunters to go aboveground and find suitable wives to steal, so the men can bid on the women at the auction block.
As the leader of the Viking sector of Hannu, Lord Johen Stefsson only cares about helping his people and trying to make peace with his corrupt king. Though he’s not in want of a wife, especially an Outsider (a woman from aboveground), the naked blonde woman on the stage captures his attention.
Sofia Rowley flew to Alaska to attend her brother’s funeral, and then found herself kidnapped and hauled to a cabin in the snowy mountains. Her strange captors transported her underground, and she soon winds up married to the hottest, biggest man she’s ever seen.
Johen and Sofia are interesting characters. He’s totally smitten with her at first sight, and it’s so much fun to see a big, burly man fall head over heels for a woman. Sofia longs for freedom but can’t deny the happiness she’s found in Johen’s arms.
Though the novella ends with a HEA, there are loose ends concerning the bride-hunters’ punishment and the revolution that’s going to take place in New Sweden. If not for that (and a few typos), I would’ve rated this story with 5 stars because I really enjoyed it.
4 Stars
In “The Warlord Wants Forever” by Kresley Cole (the prequel to the Immortals After Dark series), Nikolai Wroth died as a human three hundred years earlier and awoke a vampire. As a forbearer, a turned human, he willingly serves the full-blooded vampire who turned and has pledged his loyalty to the vampire faction, which is made up of other forbearers. None of them know anything about vampire history or the history of other supposedly mythological creatures, and they’re desperate for information. He doesn’t breathe, his heart doesn’t beat, and he cannot feel sexual desire. Then he meets Myst, a strange woman who changes everything. She’s his Bride, and he has to have her.
Myst is a Valkyrie and is always used as bait by her sisters to catch and kill their enemies. Valkyries and vampires are mortal enemies, and she finds it hilarious Wroth doesn’t know that. Instead of giving him the information he and the faction needs to survive, she teases him and bloods him (she makes his dead-like body respond to her), and then leaves him in a state of sexual torment for five long years. When he finally catches up with her, the furious vampire will finally claim her as his own.
I liked Wroth for the most part, but I didn’t like Myst. She was selfish, cruel, and so hardened that she kept her gentleness far from the surface. She didn’t care how much she hurt Worth and wouldn’t apologize even when she felt a little guilty. Her Valkyrie sisters were just as slutty and heartless, but I hope a lot of if was just act.
I’ve heard great things about this series, and this is the first IAD book I’ve read. Unfortunately, I found it confusing. The history of the Lore was scattered throughout the story and wasn’t straightforward. I didn’t understand the animosity between the warring species and why they warred within themselves.
I plan on reading the other books, and hopefully, I’ll understand them better than I did this one.
3 Stars
Book Overall – 4 Stars
This is the third book in the series and can be read as a stand-alone book. Both Ethan and Maddie are multi-layered characters with lots of charisma and strength. Kresley Cole is more known for her paranormal books, but she's equally good when writing her Scottish historical romance.
Things happen to the mc which I would describe as coercion, extortion, abduction, and sexual assault which stretches uncomfortably far into outright rape. All of this is later explained away and excused as water under the bridge and remembered fondly yadda yadda.
After this initial shockingly inappropriate section, this is pretty much just a well-executed run-of-the-mill paranormal romance brimming over with the MINEs and the MATEs.
The plot is decent but the main focus is always on the romance.
I am aware that there is an audience for the "says no but wants yes" and I am not judging. I understand how this might be problematic in reality especially if the dominant partner makes inappropriate assumptions but I am not a "full verbal consent to everything is the only way" kind of person. In books, I am fine with a lot of things that go quite far if, as a reader, it becomes clear that from the inside there is more consent going on than is obvious from the outside. I am babbling, you know what I mean...
No feminist leanings or anything over here.
Regardless, the first part of this book is quite fucked up not because of what happens but because of how it is portrayed.
I came to know quite a few rape victims because of the environment I lived in and have become intimately familiar with emotional scaring that still hurts just to think about even after more than a decade despite not being the one with the scars myself.
The first part of this book describes things with the potential to scar a person for life to the point of never being able to freely enjoy sexual intercourse again. It is all shrugged off just like that after the "mate" thing and true love become involved later on.
It comes close to some kind of rape scenes facilitated by some kind of lust potion just that in this case there is no potion and it is not a bad thing but somehow romantic instead.
Even tho I might have enjoyed the rest as a solid 3-star book I will not give them because that first part was a nogo for me. It just broke all suspension of disbelief for me.
As judgemental as this review might sound, as long as it stays in fiction, you do you. If you enjoy fantasies like this go along, I don't judge.
In the end, it's just a book and some people get enjoyment out of much worse fantasies I guess.
This is the introduction to the series, so there are a lot of supernatural characters whose stories will be told in later books and it can be a bit confusing to keep them all straight. But it's a fun read that delivers on the paranormal romance.
Seeing the story of Evie move forward with Jack and Aric (Death) together made for a very interesting story. A lot of the plot line I did see coming, but it was still very excellent! Her view into the different characters's minds and worlds make for an excellent novel. The description of events was also written wonderfully!
I don't have many bad things to say about this novel, other than I wish the next one would be out soon. Having to wait at least a year for this amazing series is almost painful! The Arcana Chronicles seems so well planned and beautifully written, I don't know why everyone isn't reading it!
If you like Divergent, The Hunger Games, Alice in Zombieland, Soul Screamers or any fantasy/supernatural YA novel along those lines, this series is perfect. It isn't your normal, everyday teenagers and it follows a unique story that I haven't read in any other novel before.
Excellent novel! No complaints here!
Five out of five stars!
I actually found this book (originally) via Gena Showalter. She was always talking about her author friend Kresley Cole on Twitter, so I decided to pick this book up. They seemed to get along so well, so why not pick up her book? I doubt author friends who hated each other's works would talk so great about each other. And to no one's surprise, Gena's suggestion was on point. (Keep in mind I love Gena Showalter. I'm quite sad I haven't been able to read any of her books recently, due to my busy schedule).
This is a dystopian, apocalypse novel is for sure a YA novel - but that doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it. It's not R rated, if anything it's more of a PG/PG-13-esque novel. It's an easy read, and it's totally addicting. There are some cringy YA moments (silly romances, ironic comments, and all the joys that come with being a teenager) but it's still an enjoyable book. If you keep in mind it's a YA novel made for a YA audience, it's not to heart breaking when silly teenage plot lines go on. It's like a soap opera - if you understand that some extraordinary things happen that are out of the line of reality, then you can thoroughly enjoy it.
Keeping in mind that I have read the next novel - the character development in this book works. You begin to fall in love with these sassy characters and they do grow! Their story is continually built on into the next book, and to me it's a worthy read worth a recommendation. It's probably one of the better YA novels I've read - and one that I've been able to come back to and enjoy.
Overall, Kresley Cole is an amazing story teller. She's great at her adult series and her YA series, and it's a worthy read for those looking for some YA or dystopian drama in their lives.
Five out of five stars.
Sebastian - il lui in questione - non è nemmeno il solo maschione in cerca della vagina - pardon, compagnia - adatta a lui, ma non avrebbe mai voluto essere un vampiro e piange ancora la sua famiglia defunta secoli prima. Piuttosto insicuro e impacciato, soprattutto con le donne, la sua conquista di Kaderin Cuordighiaccio sarà piena di dubbi, gentilezza e cavalleria.
Tuttavia, Kaderin non mi ha entusiasmato. Per buona parte del romanzo usa Sebastian per raggiungere i suoi scopi e poi si lamenta perché le ronza intorno. Più che Cuordighiaccio sembra semplicemente str****.
Per il resto, è stata una lettura piacevole e scorrevole come tante altre. Niente di più, niente di meno.
L'inizio mi ha fortemente urtata, tanto che ho quasi pensato di abbandonare la lettura. Abbiamo il maschio alfa di turno - Lachlain, re dei lykae - che, non appena conosciuta la sua Sposa (cioè la donna che è destinata a stare al suo fianco per sempre), la minaccia, quasi la violenta, la molesta, la rapisce, la insulta, mira a dilapidarle il conto in banca... e chi più ne ha più ne metta.
E non mi ha soddisfatto sapere che il comportamento di Lachlain è dovuto a una lunghissima prigionia e un'altrettanto lunghissima tortura. E nemmeno che i lykae sono un tantino "irruenti" quando si tratta delle loro Spose.
Dubito che una donna così maltrattata possa anche solo lontanamente pensare di avere una relazione con un uomo così. La violenza sulle donne non può MAI essere giustificata, scusata, minimizzata o essere avvicinata all'amore. Punto.
Detto questo, dopo che Lachlain torna ad essere "civile", il libro migliora, con le interazioni con la famiglia di lei e la battaglia per difenderla. Questo è l'unico motivo per cui non ho ritenuto il libro una delusione totale (sebbene l'amaro delle prime pagine non si sia mai del tutto dissolto nella lettura).
Abbiamo la valchiria Myst, seduttrice e adescatrice numero uno, e Wroth, vampiro guerriero molto prestante. Direbbe quasi da dire: "Ovvio che questi due si metteranno insieme!". E in effetti... Myst è molto divertente, comunque, ed è stata una fortuna altrimenti mi sarei annoiata a morte. Wroth cerca di starle dietro come può, finché lei non si innamora, eccetera, eccetera.
La descrizione del contesto nel quale si svolgono gli eventi è stato rapido e insoddisfacente, ma tuttavia promette bene per il futuro... quindi continuerò a leggere questa serie e vediamo un po' come procede...
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