Frostfire by Amanda Hocking // Lower Compared to the Others

Frostfire (Kanin Chronicles #1), by Amanda Hocking
Publication: January 6, 2015, by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural
Pages: 321
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes.
Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who's determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite King’s Guard to protect the royal family. She's not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her boss Ridley Dresden.
But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin– a fallen hero she once loved – begins kidnapping changelings. Bryn is sent in to help stop him, but will she lose her heart in the process?

My Thoughts:

Frostfire is not a book readers come across with often. Amanda Hocking presents an idea that is original, says her name (literally) and has its own flair. Although I was not the biggest fan of it by the end, I must say that it is just what I expected. I probably have found supernatural stories to not be as good as it was before, though this is perfect for those who have read those in the past. This story contains revenge, friendships and dark concepts that only fall in fantasy novels. This was not Hocking's best for me, but I had seen great things about it either way. The cover is stunning, my judgmental skills were going out of control when I realized how good this might be and so on.

This was rather simple. It is a simple story about a simple girl who lives a simple life where there are trackers and guards and kings that walk around the face of the fictional Earth. It may be fictional, unless the amazing Amanda Hocking knows something that we do not about fantasy. Whoa. Things just got more crazier and interesting. *raises eyebrows* This is about trolls, actually. But do not picture hideous Furby-like creatures that walk around with wacky hair colours. The main character, Bryn, is part of a troll tribe... though she actually is not one after all. She wants to protect the Royal Family, and that basically is her main goal of the book, with of course, some outrageous situations in between.

This kind of reminds me of Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass, where the main character there, Celaena Sardothien, was becoming a guard of the Royal Family as well. For a fantasy novel that has battles and magic and that cool stuff, this makes absolute sense. From the moment the cover was released and I found out the title, I could not help but guess what this book would be about. Even though I yawned too many times, this was a beautiful story that I partially have the capability to let go of. Partially. Not yes, not no. I wish I did enjoy it more, though, since I am pretty sure that I will not read the sequel.

I found that I REALLY liked Bryn's character. Hocking always knows how to create and establish a relatable, absurd (in a good way) main character. Bryn knew her troll vocab, taught readers about the world that she lives in, and made less things seem molasses-like (a horrible comparison, I know) and more fast-paced. But something went off. I just cannot discern what it was exactly.

There was an abundant amount of just about all of the factors that could make a novel great, as Amanda Hocking always creates with her writing. I loved the characters, and the idea that stemmed from this story was fabulous. I wish more happened and I wish that I was more intrigued during the time that I read this. I cannot help but continue to shrug until my shoulders break. I just do not know how to compare this to Hocking's other works.

Have you read anything by Amanda? Do you get easily disappointed with boring books as I do?

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout Review

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1), by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publication: February 25, 2014, by Harlequin Teen
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Demons, Romance, Paranormal
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

One kiss could be the last. 
Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. 
Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever. 
Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul. 
But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne… it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

JLA's writing is my remedy to give me a good romance, I swear. As I've read three of her books so far, counting this one, I feel that I now know the kinds of good stuff that she writes... and then there's also the boring, more dull stuff like this one. White Hot Kiss could've been good, but I guess you have to be in the right mood at the right time to read something like this. Being on a vacation? Um, not so perfect as I wish it could've been.

"All I'd wanted to do was outline All Quiet on the Western Front tonight. Not almost devour a soul, nearly get killed, meet my very first Upper Level demon or watch a tattoo turn into an anaconda for chrissake. I glanced down at my empty hand. Or lose my phone. Crap."

This is like a demon joke-book. You know, it isn't so serious with all of these satanic terms where everyone is unsure of who is who and what is what. There's just a few types of demons that have different powers and that's pretty much it. As we know, JLA isn't an author who's prone to start confusing us with her magical skills of writing a novel, instead she can write a book in a genre that not-everyone enjoys as much as some others do. 

Layla, our protagonist here, is a half-demon half-gargoyle. She's an orphan, and when she was younger she was adopted by the Wardens, who are a gargoyle race who hunt demons and keep everyone in the world safe. You see, when Layla meets up with a demon named Roth, she realizes that she's more demon and evil than you'd expect her to be. And of course, she falls in love with Roth although her "foster brother" Zayne, has always been on her mind and he's beginning to show feelings for her. Um, cliché much? I felt JLA was trying to create some kind of TMI remake with a crew of demons (or Shadowhunters, if you look at Clare's demons) where they're fighting and trying to figure out who they are. And of course, the protagonist is stuck in a love-triangle situation where she doesn't know which guy to pick to be with. *smacks head because she can't make up her mind* 

"'A commercial copy?' He nodded. 'Yep, for the little Satanist wannabes out there. It's incomplete, obviously.'"

Looking at this concept again, demons are cool. Please don't get the wrong message and think that I'm some kind of hater, because I'm not. I actually wish that there would've been some more history to this and realism. The story wasn't believable, and that was a big point here especially since I wanted to feel the action scenes and imagine that a gargoyle was sitting on my roof, you know what I mean?

Looking at the characters, I had a connection to Layla. Yeah, she's a little awkward, but she was confident and would do whatever it takes to get what she wants. She's kickass and I guess that's just another reason why she had so many guys running after her. In a way, she's so much better than Lux's Katy.

The romance? Um, I didn't enjoy it so much to be honest. Roth and Layla aren't a good mix as I totally prefer ZAYNE. Roth is really bitchy in his own-little-way and definitely unlike Daemon. He's so confident (too confident) and he thinks that he can get a girl to touch his abs in the snap of his fingers. Together, they were similar in a way but I believe so because JLA made Roth know Layla's secrets which got them to spend more time together since Layla was curious to find out more about her mother and who she really is and all of that. Zayne didn't know much, but he was a total heartthrob and I fall for those softer guys.

My favourite couple was Sam and Stacey. AGHHHH! Okay, they were side characters and also Layla's two best friends, but I just love it when best friends fall in love and they were adorable as they both loved each other but didn't want to admit it until the end as Layla persuaded them both to. *squeals* Is it weird that I ended up liking them even more?

I expected JLA to make it much better. But hey, at least I gave a book with a different genre that she has written another try, and it pretty boring and not for me. There were some positives, as I liked the romance and some of the characters, but if something else was taken out, this may have been a DNF. If you don't like demon books but are willing to give one a try, you still shouldn't go for this one. Curiosity scares the cat, no? You'll be frightened and never want to give this author another try. SO DON'T DO THIS.

Black City, by Elizabeth Richards

Black City (Black City #1), by Elizabeth Richards

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Dystopian, Vampires, Paranormal/Supernatural, Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Publication: November 13, 2012, by G.P. Putnam's Son BYR

Format: Hardcover Edition (Borrowed)


Goodreads Summary: A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-old Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

Review:

  "I love you," he says. "I love the way you bite your bottom lip when you're nervous. I love the annoying way you rattle mints against your teeth when you eat them. I love how brave you are. Those are the reasons I love you, Natalie, not because you have a Darkling heart." 

    I'm certainly not a big fan of fantasy novels. And when I do catch one that sounds very interesting, I become very picky when getting them. They have to meet my requirements to be good. For a book with these genres, I need to make sure that reviewers have stated that this book has been written greatly. And this book has received a 3.78 rating on Goodreads, so I was in from the start. Plus, it's been raved about for a while now since its release in late 2012.

     This book was so amazing. After reading it, I feel like I was sprinkled with a bucket of pixie dust because it has given me everything I want in a fantasy/paranormal read. Ahh, the awesome feels that these books give you. *dreams away*

         One of the reasons that I picked up this beauty was because of that gorgeous cover. And after reading, I feel like that cover suited the book so much because of its imperfections. It doesn't just show a rose sitting there-- it's a rose breaking up into pieces, just like how Ash was slowly breaking up into someone new by the end of this book. Yes, I have made a guess here. :)

         It actually is very difficult to guess what the main concept and idea of this book was. Elizabeth Richards focused a lot on the romance and relationship between Ash and Natalie, and I am here to admit that the relationship that these two had was so alluring and prepossessing that I care to classify them as one of the best couples in YA literature. From the moment the two set eyes on each other in the end of the first chapter, I knew that Richards would take a YA paranormal romance into a whole other dimension, and she did it. The romance was such a big part of this book and it was amazing. The sacrifices taken, the choices made, the length of time that the two were without each other... It was just so amazing to see and visualize.

         Elizabeth Richards's characters were invincible comparing to others. They felt so real, and creating POVs from Ash and Natalie's minds was just an astonishing idea, coming from the way they spoke to us in their real voices. These two characters were so unconquerable and went above and beyond my expectations for a good YA couple. When reading their POVs, you feel like you're getting sucked into the world that they live in, and what's better than experiencing the whole YA novel journey the way we all wish it to be?

         

       The idea of this book was like no other. I usually loathe the concept and mention of vampires because it has taken such a craze in YA books that it's totally classified as "above-mainstream" now, but Elizabeth Richards knew that, and she took vampires in a whole other direction. (She takes everything in her books to a whole 'nother level, bro.) Instead of vampires, these were darklings, abnormal creatures living in a dystopian world where they're not treated as equals. 

        You see? Even the world-building was great. This was a dystopia novel that had a world that was for once diverse, unequal and beautiful at the same time, although Ash got in trouble a lot with the government, haha. (REBELS RULE, THOUGH.)

       When starting this book, I was addicted. I made it to page 150 with no regrets and it stayed at a 4 star rating. From page 150-250, I was a little bored because there wasn't much going on. The romance between Ash and Natalie still didn't really intensify yet (which was good because I don't want insta-love), but there weren't many events happening. It was slow-paced at the time, but I kept going because I loved everything else. Then from there, I went from eh to absolutely fangirling every second. But the plot was wonderfully established, and Richards's writing was very strong and detailed, just the way we all like it.

       The ending really had me going mad. I seriously thought that Ash... Well never mind. You'll just have to read it and see. But I was fearing for my life, but then everything ended up okay with him and then another problem occurred. War is on again, and things are about to get even crazier. We're kind of left at a major cliffhanger and I really want to see what's going happen with everyone. 

           I have Phoenix, the sequel, already, but I have so many TBR reads in my pile so that's going to have to hold off for a few weeks. But I'm aching, seriously aching for it! This book was life-changing and astronomically amazing. Pick it up to see for yourselves. :)