Recent Reads: Fair Coin by E.C. Myers

Fair Coin (Coin #1), E.C. Myers

 5 of 5 Stars

Age Group / Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Expected Publication: 3/27/2012, Pyr

# of Pages: 250 (Hardcover)

Buy It:


Source:  I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review. This has in no way affected my review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Sixteen-year-old Ephraim Scott is horrified when he comes home from school and finds his mother unconscious at the kitchen table, clutching a bottle of pills. The reason for her suicide attempt is even more disturbing: she thought she’d identified Ephraim’s body at the hospital that day.

Among his dead double’s belongings, Ephraim finds a strange coin—a coin that grants wishes when he flips it. With a flick of his thumb, he can turn his alcoholic mother into a model parent and catch the eye of the girl he’s liked since second grade. But the coin doesn’t always change things for the better. And a bad flip can destroy other people’s lives as easily as it rebuilds his own.

The coin could give Ephraim everything he’s ever wanted—if he learns to control its power before his luck runs out.

My Review:  If you follow my blog there are two things you should know by now:

·         I love a story told from a male point of view

·         I'm hopelessly addicted to all things Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Put these two things together in a Young Adult novel and you get Fair Coin, a story about a teenage boy who finds a magic coin capable of granting his every wish. And, come on, who wouldn't want that?

When Ephraim makes his first wish—that his mother wasn't in the hospital from her suicide attempt—he gets more than he bargained for, returning home to find his mother not only healthy but darn-near perfect. Like a dream come true. Of course not all his wishes go as expected and as it turns out, they each have unintended consequences.

Fair Coin is one of those stories that begs to be read. You think you can stop after a few pages or chapters, but thoughts of it will always be there, tugging at your mind even as you try to sleep. There's a constant air of mystery. I spent a lot of time when I wasn't reading wondering what would happen the next time Ephraim made a wish, where the coin came from, and why it had this inexplicable power to transform his life.

I loved Ephraim, Nathan, and their relationship with one another, at least in the beginning. They're geeky, but in an adorable geeky sort of way. And they're hilarious. For me, there's something genuine and honest about a male/male friendship that I always seem to find lacking in a female/female friendship. Teenage girls can be catty, but teenage boys are usually just fun.

Jena, Ephraim's long-standing crush, is awesome. She's snarky, responsible, and intelligent. She's not the kind of girl who gets all googly-eyed over a boy and forgets she has a brain. Even Ephraim's mother is a very real and relatable character. And when each of Ephraim's wishes alters their personalities or their circumstances, I still had this sense that they were very much the same people, that they still possessed some ingrained characteristic that the new environment could not change.

Fair Coin is a stellar debut. It's witty, adventurous, and thought provoking. It takes the age-old tale of wishes gone wrong and turns it into something new and extraordinary. Bravo to E.C. Myers for not only making complex theories exciting and accessible to a young adult audience, but for refusing to dumb down the science aspect of science fiction. The characters aren't know-it-all brainiacs—they're regular teenagers—but they're intelligent enough to grasp and explain what's going on. And they're funny and interesting enough to keep the reader tearing through the pages.

Highly recommended. This one made it straight to my favorites shelf. The sequel, currently entitled Quantum Coin, should be released sometime in 2013.

Recent Reads: Drowning Instinct

Drowning Instinct, Ilsa J. Bick

 5 of 5 Stars

Age Group / Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Published: 2/1/2012, Carolrhoda Lab (Lerner Publishing)

# of Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

Buy It:


Source:  I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review. This has in no way affected my review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord's first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire.

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain...magnetism.

And there are stories where it's hard to be sure who's a prince and who's a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

My Review:  Everybody breaks sooner or later, Bob. Anyone can drown. Sometimes you see it. Most often, you don't because the body protects and the skin hides, so drowning doesn't look like drowning and some people scar so nicely. Take it from an expert.

This is just one of the many insightful passages featured in Drowning Instinct, but it is one that will stick with me forever, as will Jenna's story. I can't get it out of my head.

When we first meet Jenna, she is in the hospital, frozen and wet, having been pulled from the lake. She is questioned by a detective who provides her with a tape recorder and instructs her to tell her story. It is through her recordings that we learn the truth of what happened and how those events led to her near drowning.

When it comes to books, I'm a pretty good judge of what I will and will not like. So, when I requested a copy of Drowning Instinct for review I was fairly certain that I would enjoy the book. I expected it to challenge me, to test the gray areas of my morals. I'd never considered the possibility that I would find a love story as hopeful and as tragic as it was wrong.

Drowning Instinct is an exceptional novel. So perfectly formed. And so filled with pain and heartbreak and love, that I was left breathlessly sobbing and shaking at the end. This novel tore me to shreds and broke my heart. It skewed my perspective to the point that I was hoping for something that I shouldn't have been. Or should I have? I don't know any more. I don't even know what else to say except that I absolutely LOVED it.

I could go on and tell you how much this book has affected me, right down to my bones, but honestly, this is something the reader needs to experience for themselves, in precisely the way Jenna has laid it out for them to understand.

I will tell you that this is a tough book. It's not pretty or optimistic. It's dark and real. But it's also intelligent, intense, and provocative. It will break your heart and no doubt leave you questioning much of what you believe about right and wrong.


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To Be Read Thursday {24}

TBR Thursday is a weekly post where I draw attention to books by sharing with you the books I've either purchased, received, borrowed, or received for review, plus 10 books currently on my TBR list.

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Books for Review:

The Summer My Life Began, Shannon Greenland

Source: ARC From JKS Communications (Big thank you to Sami Jo!)

Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

Publication Date: 5/12/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is that it’s not what she wants. When she gets the opportunity to get away from it all and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance.

 

While there, Em pursues her secret dream of being a chef, and she also learns that her family has kept some significant secrets from her, too. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn't. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels she is living on her own terms for the first time.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

Above, Leah Bobet

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic)

Publication Date: 4/1/2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee's wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above—like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers.

But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe's history and the shadows' attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before.

Goodreads / Amazon

Firelight (Darkest London #1), Kristen Callihan

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: 1/31/2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:  London, 1881

Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . . Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

Goodreads / Amazon

Books I Won:

From Eric from Eric Smith Rocks I got:

The Eleventh Plague, Jeff Hirsh

Goodreads / Amazon

And from Eli at Eli to the nth: A giant box of awesome books and lots of swag. I had to fight my niece for the Cinder mirror.

Vixen (Flappers #1), Jillian Larkin

Goodreads / Amazon

Every You, Every Me, David Levithan

Goodreads / Amazon

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1), Maureen Johnson

Goodreads / Amazon

Stick, Andrew Smith

Goodreads / Amazon

Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly

Goodreads / Amazon

This Thing Called the Future, J.L. Powers

Goodreads / Amazon

To Be Read Books:

*Click on book cover to go to Goodreads


 1. Cinder & Ella, Melissa Lemon

 2. Dearly Departed, Lia Habel

 3. The Things We Cherished, Pam Jenoff

 4. Torn, Cat Clarke

 5. Take a Bow, Elizabeth Eulberg

  6. You Are Here, Jennifer E. Smith

 7. The Nightmarys, Dan Poblocki

 8. The American Heiress, Daisy Goodwin

 9. Raziel, Kristina Douglas

 10. The Mumbo Jumbo Circus, Jane George

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Recent Reads: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Going Too Far, Jennifer Echols

 4 of 5 Stars

Age Group / Genre: Young Adult, Romance

Publication: 3/17/2009, MTV Books

Buy It:


Why I Chose It: I received a signed copy from the author with no obligation to read and/or review. This has in no way affected my review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over....

My Review:  I'm feeling pretty foolish as I type this. The entire time I was reading Going Too Far one thought kept repeating in my head: how have I never read a Jennifer Echols novel before? That and 'damn, I wish I could make out with Officer After'.  The cover of the book doesn't help. Look at his mouth. Totally kissable. Oh, there I go, thinking about it AGAIN.

Moving on, Meg is troubled. She drinks, she engages in casual sex, she decides to engage in said casual sex on a bridge where two kids were hit & killed by an oncoming train. John (Officer After) is the by-the-book police officer that arrests her. Match made in heaven, no?

In her mind, Meg thinks she's living, experiencing all life has to offer by being reckless. And in John's mind he's making the world a safer place by enforcing the rules. In a way, they are, but in a way, they're each going too far. Neither one is really living. They're merely ghosts of the people they would have been but for a tragedy they each suffered in their past. And when their lives converge they find an attraction they can't deny. So they bicker, push, and love in a way that brings out the worst and ultimately the best in each other.

This is one of those books that was a quick read for me, meaning I was unable to put it down until I finished. This may have been because I developed an undying affection for Officer After. More likely it's because I developed an undying affection for Jennifer Echols writing style.

She's like my author soulmate, writing in a way that is perfectly suited to my tastes. I tore through the pages and when I closed the back cover, I had a huge smile on my face. There's really nothing negative to say about it at all. I mean it may have been a tad predictable but that's only a problem for me when the characters lack depth and honestly that's not an issue here. Meg and John are fully formed, compelling characters. Their story is one full of tension, and heartbreak, and romance. If you're like me and you haven't read Going Too Far yet, pick it up. You'll fall in love with these characters.

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To Be Read Thursday {23}

TBR Thursday is a weekly post where I draw attention to books by sharing with you the books I've either purchased, received, borrowed, or received for review, plus 10 books currently on my TBR list.

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Books for Review

 

A Hero Rising (A New Dawn #3), Aubrie Dionne

Source: eBook from Publisher

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Publication Date: 2/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  After watching his love leave on a colony ship, James Wilfred must save those left behind from a planetary apocalypse. Their salvation lies in an unfinished ship tucked away in a secret government base, and only James can break in and pilot him and his people to freedom on a nearby space station.

Skye O’Connor’s boyfriend never returns after his gang attempts an assassination of the Governor, and the State Building is destroyed. Worse, crazed moonshiners addicted to the chemical Morpheus have stormed the city, and she must find a safe place for her and her boyfriend’s daughter. When a heroic man saves her, Skye asks to accompany him on his quest to find the last colony ship left on Earth.

As the city falls around them, James and Skye must work together to build a new future, all the while rediscovering their ability to love, before the apocalypse claims them both

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

A Land More Kind Than Home, Wiley Cash

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: William Morrow

Publication Date: 4/17/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  A Land More Kind than Home is a stunning debut reminiscent of the beloved novels of John Hart and Tom Franklin, and a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small western North Carolina town.

For a curious boy like Jess Hall, growing up in Marshall means trouble when your mother catches you spying on grownups. Adventurous and precocious, Jess is enormously protective of his older brother, Christopher, a mute whom everyone calls Stump. Though their mother has warned them not to snoop, Stump can’t help sneaking a look at something he isn’t supposed to—an act that will have catastrophic repercussions, shattering both his world and Jess’s. It is a wrenching event that thrusts Jess into an adulthood for which he’s not prepared. While there is much about the world that still confuses him, he now knows that a new understanding can bring not only a growing danger and evil—but also the possibility of freedom and deliverance as well.

Told in three resonant and evocative voices—Jess; Adelaide Lyle, the town midwife and its moral conscience; and Clem Barefield, a sheriff with his own painful past—A Land More Kind Than Home—is a haunting tale of courage in the face of cruelty and the power of love to overcome the darkness that lives in us all. These are masterful portrayals, written with remarkable assurance and truth, and they show us what an extraordinary promise Wiley Cash has made with this first novel.

Goodreads / Amazon

 

The Chose Ones (The Lost Souls #1), Tiffany Truitt

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: 4/10/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  What if you were mankind’s last chance at survival?

Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.

Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.

But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1), Leigh Bardugo

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. BYR

Publication Date: 6/5/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near-impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one unlikely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life– a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Monstrous Beauty, Elizabeth Fama

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux BYR

Publication Date: 9/4/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

 

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history.

 

The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Struck, Jennifer Bosworth

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR

Publication Date: 5/8/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Of Poseidon, Anna Banks

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: 5/22/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish.

What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

All These Lives, Sarah Wylie

Source: ARC from Publisher

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Publication Date:  6/5/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky. She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal. And Jena is wasting away.

To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives. Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one. Someone like Jena. But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization. Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all. Maybe she really only ever had one.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Monument 14, Emmy Laybourne

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: 6/5/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

A huge store isn’t the worst place to be stranded. There’s food and water, bedding and books. But what if it’s not safe to leave? Emmy Laybourne had us from the get-go with her utterly fresh and fast-paced debut.

Six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids are trapped together in a chain superstore. Together they build a refuge for themselves inside, while outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapon spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

Before You Go, James Preller

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: 7/17/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark; no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool when Jude was supposed to be watching her.

He was watching her. He looked away for just a moment. He was only nine years old. And he’s never truly grieved for her, or for the emotional deaths of his parents, who refuse to talk about what happened. Seven years later, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then life spins out of control. Again.

Acclaimed author James Preller explores life, death, love, faith, and resilience in a story that will grip readers from the book’s dramatic first few pages to its emotional end.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

The Raft, S.A. Bodeen

Source: ARC from publisher

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: 8/21/2012

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Robie, 15, lives with her family on the Midway atoll, a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific. Her parents are scientists; it’s an isolated life. Robie enjoys visiting her aunt in Hawaii – she gets back and forth on a cargo plane that brings supplies to Midway.

During a visit, her aunt is called to the mainland for a work emergency, leaving Robie to get home on her own. On her flight back to Midway the cargo plane hits nasty weather, and goes down. It’s just Robie, the pilot, and Max, a co-pilot she’s never met till this flight, on board. Robie is pulled aboard a raft by Max, who is injured and slipping in and out of consciousness. They have a bag of candy and very little water between them. When they finally reach an island that seems abandoned, Robie hopes they’ll be found quickly. But she’s not sure she was even on the flight manifest. Her parents must be looking for her…aren’t they?

In THE RAFT, S.A. Bodeen creates a hair-raising suspense story that will have readers agonizing over the same question as Robie -- how long can they survive?

 

Goodreads / Amazon

 

 

To Be Read Books

 

*Click on book cover to go to Goodreads

 

 1. Lydia, Wanda Luce

 

 2. A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge

 

 3. Blood of the Demon, Rosalie Lario

 

 4. Dry as Rain, Gina Holmes

 

 5. Bedbugs, Ben H. Winters

 

 6. Crossover, Mireille Chester

 

 7. The Royal Dragoneers, M.R. Mathias

 

 8. Corvus, Paul Kearney

 

 9. Undead, Isabella Kruger

 

 10. Ember (Ember #1), Carol Oates

 

 

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Recent Reads: Vengeance Born by Kylie Griffin

Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1), Kylie Griffin

 4 of 5 Stars

Age Group/Genre: Adult, Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: 02/07/2012

Pages: 336

Buy It:


Why I Chose It: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born...

Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na'Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father's people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she's gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy...

With the Na'Reish vastly outnumbering them, Kalan, a Light Blade warrior, knows the future of humankind depends on him alone. Incursions into human territory and raids for blood-slaves by the Na'Reish Horde have increased. As Chosen-leader, he faces the task of stopping the demons-and convincing the Council of aging Light Blade warriors that change is necessary for survival.

When Annika learns Kalan is a prisoner in her father's dungeon, her dream of escape seems within reach. She agrees to free him in exchange for his protection once they reach human territory. Now, marked for death for helping him, Annika must learn to trust Kalan as they face not only the perilous journey to the border but enemies within the Council-and discover a shocking truth that could throw the human race into civil war...

My Review:  Annika is Na'Chi, a half-demon/half-human, and the daughter of the king of the demon world. She has been horribly abused and raised to believe that she is worthless. When Kalen, a Light Blade warrior, is captured and injured by her father's warriors she sees her only opportunity to escape. So, after healing Kalen, she offers to free him in exchange for his promise to lead her to the human world.

Most of the book takes place during their journey to the human world and it is here that Annika and Kalen learn to trust one another and begin to fall in love. I clicked with Annika immediately. Her plight touched my heart and I wanted desperately for her to escape her father and make it to the human world AND for Kalen to fall deeply in love with her. I loved Kalen instantly as well. He is my favorite type of hero: strong, noble, kind, funny. And their relationship developed slowly enough for me to enjoy the transition from tentative trust to love.

If I had a complaint at all, it would be regarding the point of view transition. The story is told from three different perspectives: Annika, Kalen, and another Na'Chi named Varian. Varian's narrative was usually condensed into his own chapter or section but the POV changes between Annika and Kalen would take place mid-scene. It was a little hard to get used to at first, but once I realized the pattern it was easier to follow along. This is of course just my personal preference.

Other than that, I really liked Vengeance Born. Kylie Griffin has created compelling characters and put them in a world that is protected by ultra-powerful Light Blade warriors and is on the brink of war with blood-sucking demons. It's a truly unique blend of paranormal romance and pure fantasy with enough elements of each to delight fans of either genre. I'm definitely hooked and can't wait for the next installment, Alliance Forged, which is due out in July.

Recommended to fans of fantasy and paranormal romance.

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