Talon by Julie Kagawa

Title: Talon

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Talon #1

Genre: fantasy, YA, dragons, romance

Source: Kindle

Pages: 461

Rating: 3 stars

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

My Review:

I put off reading this book for a while. I bought it when it was being promoted for $0.99, and I was excited about it, until I read some of the very mixed reviews on the book. So, I put it off!... and off… and off.. until this week when I decided enough was enough and I finally needed to read this book and make my own opinions.

First let me note that I completely understand the mixed reviews. I found that the writing itself was pretty good, standard for a YA author. There were no major incidents where I felt the writing was awkward or broke the stories flow because I had to go back and reread a sentence a few times to get what the author was trying to convey. As for the plot… where that’s where I ran into a few issues. For a book that was just over 450 pages, I felt like it was quite rushed. The beginning was great until the first POV change… then everything just kind of when down hill from there mainly where the characters and their development was involved.

My first major pet peeve of this book is the fact that Ember and Dante are supposed to be these twins… yet they do almost nothing together. They rarely hang out together, they don’t train together, and they barely exchange dialogue unless it was to display Ember’s rebellious thoughts and feelings and to contrast that to Dante’s loyalty. Not very twin like at all.

My second issue was with the romantic aspects of the novel. When Garrett is introduced to Ember, he falls for her pretty damned fast, which I can almost justify because he as been secretly spying on her for weeks and has gotten to know her from afar. However, the rate that Ember falls for Garrett was ridiculous, especially because there were other possible love interests that could have been explored (i.e. her BFF’s brother or one of the other guys in their friend group), but never were. So, it wasn’t like Garrett wasn’t the first guy to give her some attention. And the attempt to create a love triangle was feeble at best. Cobalt/ Riley should have either been more present, or his POV should have been more frequent in earlier chapters for the love triangle to develop nicely with a gradual flow. The way it was done in the book felt forced. A successful love triangle doesn’t just rip the main characters heart in two directions, it should also rip the readers heart in two directions simultaneously as well (see the Clockwork Trilogy by Cassandra Clare for an excellent example of this). Riley/ Cobalt is introduced very briefly at the beginning, then randomly in the middle before we see his point of view later on and understand he is suppose to be the rival love interest.

Both issue that I had with the book (I felt) heavily impacted the development of the relationships and the characters that were involved, which I found to be a little disappointing because I feel that with a little fine tuning, this book could have really been great. Now, while I did have some major issues with the book, I feel I should also mention that the plot line was laid out quite well despite being a little clichéd. The pace was a little fast in my opinion, but despite that I felt that certain characters (i.e. Lilith/ aka Scary Dragon Lady) were portrayed perfectly and kept the pace from feeling to rushed. I have a certain soft spot for villainous characters, because it takes a lot of creativity, imagination, and skill to make them believable and wonderfully evil.

Lilith is basically the main reason that this book is getting a half point more than I think it has earned, but the skeleton of the plot was actually pretty interesting as well. Seeing as it is the first book of the series, and a lot needed to get established before the plot can really flourish, I am going to give the book the benefit of the doubt and give it 3.5 stars. I truly hope that book two gives me more confidence in the series!

Everywhere It's You by CB Salem

Title: Everywhere It’s You

Author: CB Salem

Series: Everywhere It’s You #1?

Genre: Sci-fy, Romance, New Adult, future

Source: ARC

Pages: 145 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Available at:

Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

In a city where you can never trust anything to be as it appears, legal investigator Kristina Andersen finds the truth. So when she has a sexy encounter with enigmatic billionaire Landon Tatum while working undercover at a birthday party hosted in a seedy strip club, her first instinct is to dig deeper. 

The next morning he's missing, and the firm tells her she needs to either find him in the next forty-eight hours or lose her job. But as she begins her investigation, she quickly realizes that whoever is after Tatum has a surprise for her too: she's been drugged so that every man she sees looks like the man she's searching for.

The man who sets her heart racing, even after years of keeping that part of herself locked up.

Someone is warning her to back off. But even if her intuition says this is bigger than she can handle, she can't turn away. And as she falls deeper into a world of illusion and deceit, she realizes she’s fighting for more than just her job.

She’s fighting for her life.

My Review:

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Despite Science fiction not being my usual genre to read, especially futuristic romances, but I thought that I would give Everywhere It’s You a chance because its blurb intrigued me.

There was very little I disliked about this book. I did feel that it was a little difficult to get into only because it looked like it was going to be a little cliché and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. However, I just kept on going and actually ended up really enjoying it. There is a fantastic blend of characters. I found Kristina, our main character, quite relatable which attests to the writing. Given the situations she was put in, the emotions she gave off seemed genuine and never forced or awkward. Out love interest is still a little bit of a mystery, and I would have liked to learn more about him, but given the constraints of the length of the novel, I can understand why we didn’t get to see more of him.

Again, given the length, the plot went at a fast, but understandable pace. It did feel a little rushed, and I really wish that the author would have extended the novel’s length just a little bit more just for the plot’s sake, but I still enjoyed it regardless.

Overall, the book was pretty good. I do wish it was a bit longer (maybe 50 pages or so) because I would have loved to see more development in both the plot and characters that a short novella length book just can’t satisfy. However, what was there was fast and easy to read and was very well written. I will definitely keep an eye out for book two! 4 stars for Everywhere It’s You!

Clay's Hope By Melissa Haag

Title: Clay’s Hope [companion to Hope(less)]

Author: Melissa Haag          

Series: Judgment of Six Companion Series #1

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction, Werewolf

Source: ARC

Rating: 5 STARS

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Clay is a man of few human talents. As a wolf, he hunts well and can fight off a grizzly twice his size, but has no aspirations. The idea of a Mate isn’t something he has ever seriously entertained. Dreamed about, maybe, but he knows the chances are nearly non-existent.

Then he meets Gabby, a human girl. She hates him at first sight, yet he can’t let her go. Who he was is no longer important. Now, who he needs to become to win her over is the only thing that matters

My Review:

I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. If you know me, and you have read other reviews of mine, then you know that Melissa Haag and her books mean a lot to me. I have read everything she has written, and I have loved them all. This book had a special place in my heart because it is the companion novel of the first book I have ever read for Melissa, and the companion to my favourite book in the JoS series so far. (click here to read my reviews of Hope(less), (Mis)Fortune, (Un)Wise, and (Un)Bidden)

Let’s start off characters. Here we get to see the exact same story as Hope(less)... but in Clay’s POV. In Hope(less), Clay really came off as standoffish, shy, cold, and insecure. It is absolutely outstanding was perspective does to a character, because reading this story through Clay’s eyes you feel the exact same way about Gabby. It is shocking how many things Gabby was wrong about when she was trying to communicate with Clay. (Can we say awkward to the whole used car scene?). Reading Clay’s side of the story really gave you a good understanding on how both characters felt during the events that take place of the book, and because of that, you are able to understand them and the book so much better than before.

Plot wise the book was exactly the same. See my review of Hope(less) for my comments on that.

As for writing, what can I say other than Melissa Haag has done it again. I don’t know how she wrote this book. Did she have to have Hope(less) open the entire time? Was there a lot of copy and paste involved? I don’t know! But what I can tell you is that for writing the exact same story, just in another characters point of view, it didn’t feel repetitive. I was nervous that the book was going to be exactly the same with a few of Clay’s thoughts here and there (lets face it, he doesn’t actually talk all that much). But it really was something completely different. I didn’t get a Gabby vibe reading Clay’s Hope. Clay was a completely different character with different views on life, different feelings, and a different attitude. I loved how she challenged so many things that Gabby had assumed instead of just going with those assumptions in writing Clay’s character. Amazing. Just Amazing.

Overall, I can’t rave about this book more. If you haven’t read Hope(less), I suggest you do before you read Clay’s Hope, HOWEVER, you don’t need to at all to understand the story. This was the easiest 5 stars I have ever given. I can’t wait to read Emmitt’s perspective of (Mis)Fortune! BUT, not before I FINALLY get to read Isabel’s story… I have a feeling it will be my new favourite ;)

Broken Blood by Heather Hildenbrand

Title: Broken Blood

Author: Heather Hildenbrand

Series: Dirty Blood #5

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA, Werewolf

Source: ARC

Pages: 348

Rating: 5 stars!

Available at:

Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

I thought watching my Werewolf boyfriend get arrested for murder was the worst experience of my life. But then I was knocked out and dragged off to a cell of my own by the very people who were supposed to protect me from danger. 

I thought being held prisoner in solitary confinement for weeks on end was the worst experience of my life. But then a visitor came, and I realized I’d been wrong all along. There are worse things than torture and death. Much worse. 

He wants my blood. More than that, he wants to get into my head. To use my bond to control his army, to wipe the world clean of anything with dirty blood. I can’t let that happen, but if I don’t he’ll kill every single person I’ve ever cared about — beginning with my Werewolf pack. 

The prophecy said I would have to make an impossible choice, but I must be doing this wrong — so far every choice I’ve made has only led to more pain and danger and death. Hunters are pitted against Werewolves and I’m alone in my war against Gordon Steppe. I can’t fight him off anymore; all I can do is try to keep him out of the important places. And I’m failing at even that.

I thought the demons were out there, clearly marked and clinging to the shadows. But they’re not. The monsters are within the ranks of those sworn to protect. The enemy is among us.

My Review:

Wow, such a great series now at an end. I must say, I am in the book mourning period right now. I can’t read anything else.

Throughout this series, the author has done a fantastic job developing her characters. She has put them in impossible situations where they have to make extremely difficult decisions and live with the consequences. As a result, you get to see these wonderful character grow from innocent, naïve kids to slightly broken, much more wise adults. Of course, Broken Blood was no exception. If anything, Heather Hildenbrand broke the envelope and put the gang through even more turmoil to grow from. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so we will leave it at that.

Plot wise, I was extremely happy with how things happened and how the series ended. I mean, I might not have been to happy with the situations as I read through them, but that was due to some major sympathy for Tara and her whole Scooby Gang. However, I did understand the reasons for the horrible situations they were put through, and I can’t argue with the results at the end, now can I?

Lastly, on to the romantic aspect. I have always been team Wes. I understood Alex, I even loved him as a character, but with the “destiny” word being thrown around, no way was he going to end up with Tara. Man, did my team affiliations get tested in this book. I have never been so torn between two love interests (except maybe in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas). I was actually routing for Alex for a few chapters in there, I knew it wasn’t going to happen, and for Wes’ sake, I didn’t want it to happen… but… I KIND OF hoped it would happen. It was quite the rollercoaster and I am still feeling the aftershocks!

Overall, a fantastic book! I hear from other bloggers that have done much more research than myself that there will be a spin off series! That sounds awesome to me! I really hope we see Alex again and that he gets his happily ever after, because, lets be honest, he’s kind of a catch ;) 5 stars for Broken Blood!