Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Dark, gritty and fabulous

Title: These Shallow Graves
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher: Hot Key Books
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars
Released: 5th, May 2016

I had been eyeing this book for a while as it has been making the rounds on social media.  Set in Victorian New York it tells the story of Josephine Montford, whose gilded world comes crashing down when her father is found dead. Belonging to an old family, she is expected to marry the most eligible bachelor in New York. But she simply can’t let go of the suspicious circumstances of her father’s death.  With the help of a young, handsome reporter, she starts investigating her father’s death.

For some reason, I was expecting some paranormal elements in it and this book has none of it. However it ticks all the boxes. I really enjoyed the setting of the dark, gritty underbelly of Victorian New York and the contrast it set against the rich and influential world of Jo. The author expertly, was able to show the suffering of the poor but also life of the rich who had their own suffering but just hidden under the carpet of their beautiful mansions.

The romance was a slow burn and I was pleased how it did not take over the plot itself. My favourite part of the story was the main character, Jo. She is one who sees the most changes around her. Her father is dead, possibly murdered and she is determined to uncover the truth behind it. But the more she ventures in the world of the other half the harder she finds to shake it off her person. I simply loved how this experience changed her, evolved her into someone with a backbone of steel.

The only criticism I have for this book was that it slowed down in parts and being a nearly 500 page long book, it left longer. Oh and also, I had figured out the killer from the beginning of the story. Oops!

I would recommend this book to all fans of YA who like a thriller but this one is with a difference and a completely new flavour.

Review copy provided by Hot Key Books, UK

Review: The Beautiful and the Cursed (The Dispossessed #1) by Page Morgan

Beautiful, charming and dark

Title: The Beautiful and the Cursed
Series: The Dispossessed
Author: Paige Morgan
Publisher:Hot Key Books, UK
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars
Released: 3rd May, 2013
Gothic YA fantasy are rare and far in between, so when I found Page Morgan's the Beautiful and the Cursed, I wanted to give it a go. I enjoy fantasy novels and this book was no different. Ingrid, her sister and her mother move to Paris to an abandoned Abbey, to spend some time with their brother. But soon it is clear that he is missing. Determined to find him, Ingrid and Gabriella are soon embroiled into a centuries old curse. Being residents of the Abbey, they fall underneath the protection of Luc the resident young lad who works in the stables but is more than he appears to be. He is a Gargoyle, tasked with protecting the Abbey and fighting an intense attraction to Ingrid..

I really enjoyed this book and especially it's setting. While the plot was not spectacularly gripping nor the writing unique, it still kept me interested. The flow and the setting was beautiful and I found myself immersed in nineteenth century Paris, in it's dark gothic glory. The tall church spires and the e;elegant and ugly statues of gargoyles guarding building with their stern expressions and steely eyes.

For romance lovers, there is plenty to to relish as there are not one but so love stories sprouting in the midst of the confusion and mystery. While I was rooting for Ingrid and Luc's forbidden romance, Nolan's and Gabriella's romance made me slightly uncomfortable with Gabriella being 15 years old and Nolan nearly twenty. But looking at the fact that this was set 100 years ago, this was acceptable..

The Beautiful and the Cursed was a unique take in the crowded YA fantasy market. It may not have tried to achieve something new, it nevertheless kept me entertained. I could feel the cold and dark seeping into my very skin while imagining my characters walking through the beautiful streets of Paris in their charming dresses and carriages. The setting was dark, chilling and thoroughly chilling which begs I grab the second book and the third book which released last month.

Review copy provided by Hot Key Books, UK

Review: Shadowdance (Darkest London #4) by Kristen Callihan

Dark, thrilling and exciting

Title: Shadowdance
Author: Kristen Callihan
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, US
My ratings: 5 out of 5 stars
Releases: 17th December, 2013
  Darkest London books are always a treat for me. Whenever I am bored with the usual Historical romances or even the odd urban fantasy, I pick up Kristen Callihan’s books and chase all my blues away.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last three book in the Darkest London series so when Shadowdance came out, I was confident that it would entertain me again. Well, it did not disappoint at all. Shadowdance tells the story of Mary and Jack who have an odd relationship. They always argue and bicker but beneath it all there is a flame of attraction that would not go away. So when a murderer is on the loose and Mary suspects that Jack is involved, she decides to step in and hence begins the adventure.

Shadowdance was immensely enjoyable with a good dose of intrigue and mystery. There was action and new characters were introduced. I love how Kristen is slowly expanding the Darkest London World with more and more supernaturals being introduced and the plot keeps getting thicker.

 Of course this is Kristen Callihan’s writing so it was full of thick sexual tension and charged arguments and confrontations. I enjoyed how much Jack and Mary fought throughout this book but when they come together, man it was hot! It was intense and totally worth the wait.

 Shadowdance tells the story of Jack and Mary so we have brief appearance from Daisy, Ian, Poppy and Win. But I really missed Archer and Miranda. No matter how good the subsequent books are in this series and my favourite book will be Firelight. The chemistry between Archer and Miranda was something to behold and the mystery behind Archer’s mask kept me engaged.

 Shadowdance was dark, romantic, thrilling, and mysterious with a dash of steam punk. Jack was your quintessential tortured hero while Mary was anything but your regular girl next door. The world was well built, the plot tight and the premise engaging. I’d recommend it to all historical romance readers and fans of fantasy alike as this series is an excellent blend of these two and forces you to keep turning the pages into the wee hours in the morning.

Released 17th December, 2013  

ARC provided by Grand Central Publishing

ARC Review: Incarnation by Emma Cornwall

What really happened to Lucy Westonra

Title: Incarnation
Author: Emma Cornwall
Publisher: Gallery Books
My ratings: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Releases: 18th September, 2012

Lucy Weston is just your regular rich girl in the Victorian Era who attends parties, balls and opera and plans to get married and have a normal life. One night she wakes up, in a grave with a stake in her heart. She digs her way out and is suddenly hit by the uncontrolled hunger for blood. She is in the wilderness, alone and desperate. When she tries to look for her family, she realises she has been abandoned and she is not the old Lucy any more, she has been turned into monster. Lucy is confused and angry as to why she was made and discarded and want to find her maker. So, she goes to London in search of more vampires like her and find her maker. When she reaches London, not only does she find answers to her question but also finds herself in the midst of an inevitable bitter political power struggle which was going to get bloody soon, starting with her maker.

"Information can be hoarded, traded, used as a wapon, and - if only very rarely - offered as a gift. Properly deployed, nothing else is as powerful, not for a human or a vampire.”

Cornwall has given a brilliant twist to the old story of Lucy Westonra with added creatures that go bump in the night. There was a fantastic world of werewolves and vampires all embroiled into a mixture of the paranormal realm which the government is tiring it's best to keep hidden. The world is set in a steam punk work with clockwork, masks and machinery.

"On impulse,I put my hand over his. At his touch, such longing flowed through me....I cannot give words to it - not for the lack of them, poetry sings in my spirit as it does in all my kind even those who wish to be deaf to it - but because even now, after all that had transpired, some things are too fragile, so perfect, so necessary to the fabric of existence, that to speak of them risks that they will shatter like crystal struck by a single, souring note whose beauty is destruction.”

The new Lucy has been given justice as the confused girl who wakes up a vampire. Lucy is smart and resourceful if slightly boring. She is not kick ass or a smart mouth, which adds to a sense of realism as to what she used to be and what is is now. She had been brought up as a lady and she will forever remain one even in death. We meet many new characters like Mar co and Nicolas who play a crucial role in the story. The love interest is Mar co who was your stoic, brooding gentleman who had secrets of his own. There was a few secrets which were revealed later but unfortunately I saw them coming miles away. The romance is light, as with everything with Cornwall's writing. She lets the reader use their own imagination to fill in the gaps.

"Rising, I went to him and took both of his hands in mine. The warmth of his skin threatened to melt the coldness that encased me. I felt his strength and will honed from childhood to stand between humanity and the evolutionary rival whose natural superiority could condemn all humans to being little more than cattle kept to be fed on.”

The plot was interesting but the twists didn't surprise me very much and the villain was predictable. The story started off really well with Lucy in the wild fending for self, trying to piece her memory together. As the story moves on we see many more revelations as to why Lucy is so different than the rest of the vampires.I also enjoyed the fable and history of the behind the existence of vampires and how it was all intertwined with King Arthur.

Overall, an entertaining read for fans Bram Stoker's Dracula, Meljean Brook and Parasol Protectorate's Gail Carriger.

Realeases 18th September, 2012

ARC provided by Gallery