reviews July 29, 2013

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

When Nina Revskaya puts her remarkable jewelry collection up for auction, the former Bolshoi Ballet star finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland, and of the events, both glorious and heartbreaking, that changed her life half a century earlier. It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of dance and fell in love, and where, faced with Stalinist aggression, a terrible discovery incited a deadly act of betrayal—and an ingenious escape to the West.

Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime. But now Drew Brooks, an inquisitive associate at a Boston auction house, and Grigori Solodin, a professor who believes Nina’s jewels hold the key to unlocking his past, begin to unravel her story—setting in motion a series of revelations that will have life-altering consequences for them all. (Goodreads)

Former ballerina Nina Revskaya has decided to auction off her jewelry collection. Once a prima ballerina for the Bolshoi Ballet now she is confined to a wheelchair.Growing up in Soviet Russia under Stalin, she has learned to keep her secret and thought to herself and doesn’t like to speak of her past.

Then an anonymous donor gives the auction an Amber necklace, a piece that seems to match Nina’s jewelry. The donor is Grigori Solodin who got the necklace from his adoptive parents. He thinks Nina is the key for solving who his parents is, but Nina isn’t cooperating and refuses speaking to him. Drew Brooks is the representative from the auction house and she’s trying to learn more of Russia because her grandfather came from there. Drew and Grigori tries to find out where the necklace came from and getting to know each other.

I had so much trouble writing this review and I’m still not quite sure what to think of the book.

I liked it when I first started it, then I didn’t like it, then it was better again and then not so good. It just kept changing. There was few times I thought of giving up and the only reason I didn’t was because this was for review. And I can’t really point what the problem was. Maybe because besides Nina I just didn’t connect with the characters.

I liked Nina and the best parts was the scenes in the past with her. It would have been pretty scary living in Stalin’s Russia! But I didn’t find Grigori and Drew interesting enough and present day Nina was just mean. And the switches of povs got on my nerves pretty soon. It changed multiple times in one chapter – between characters and between times. Just made my head hurt and annoyed.

Didn’t like the ending either; it just ended suddenly and I felt like “Is this it?” And so many things were left unanswering.

Can’t help but feel disappointed and I really wanted to like this. It had very interesting topic but it just couldn’t carry it through. I was going between giving this 2 or 3 but since I thought of giving up I’m going with 2. But because I liked the past times I’ll give extra half points.

2,5/5
Published: Harper Perennial (2011)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496
Source: publisher

reviews July 28, 2013

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Bitten (Women of the Otherworld 1) by Kelley Armstrong

Elena Michaels seems like the typically strong and sexy modern woman, She lives with her architect boyfriend, writes for a popular newspaper, and works out at the gym. She’s also a werewolf.

Elena has done all she can to assimilate to the human world, but the man whose bite changed her existence forever, and his legacy, continue to haunt her. Thrown into a desperate war for survival that tests her allegiance to a secret clan of werewolves, Elena must recon with who, and what, she is in this passionate, page-turning novel. (Goodreads)

When the book starts, Elena is trying to live anormal life in Toronto after leaving her pack. She has a boyfriend and a job but she doesn’t feel comfortable. Then she gets a call from Jeremy, the Alpha, and she hasto go back with pack. There she meets her ex-lover Clay, who turned her into a werewolf, and they clearly have some unfinished business. And then dead human bodies starts to pile on the pack’s area and it looks like Elena has to stay longer than she wants.

I loved Armstrong’s young adult serie before and I was really curious how her adult books would be. And I wasn’t disappointed! I enjoyed this from the start.

I liked Elena and I think she made great narrator. She was strong, kick ass-woman and no damsel in distress. And I was pleasantly surprised that while she is the only female werewolf in the world, not every single man was drooling after her and trying to get her to bed. Elena has been a werewolf for 10 years but she’s still trying to come to terms with it and hasn’t forgiven Clay for what he did. But during the book she’s finally starting to accept it little by little and noticing that the pack is her true family.

I loved Clay! He could be really rude at times but he clearly loved Elena. It was fun to read about their love/hate relationship and it felt realistic. Clay has some problems to accept the fact that Elena was living with a human man but finally tries to save his life because Elena would want it. Poor Clay, he tries so hard to win her back and she’s not making things easy.

What a great book and I love the writing style. I need to get the next book soon!

4,5/5
Published: Orbit (2008)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Source: my own

reviews July 27, 2013

Die for Me by Amy Plum

Die for Me (Revenants 1) by Amy Plum

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were moving to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my life would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, he put me in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen . . . until I realized that Vincent Delacroix is no normal human–that he has a terrifying destiny and enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

Can I risk everything for love? (Goodreads)

Sisters Kate and Georgia has lost their parents in a car accident and they move to Paris to live with their grandparents. Kate has hard time moving on and spends her days mostly alone reading books. Her sister tries to drown her sorrow with parties and dancing.
Kate starts to spend at at a cafe reading and that’s where she meets Vincent, who isn’t what he seems. Their feelings starts to grow but when Kate starts to learn more about Vincent, she starts to have second thoughts and to think if it’s safe to be together.

When I first heared about this book the first thing I noticed was that it’s set in Paris. It really doesn’t take much to get me interested and I’m happy to say I enjoyed it! I liked the idea of Revenants. Their basically people who die intead of others and they come back to life. They spend the rest of their life trying to safe people and after they die they always come back to life. They do age but after dying they come back at the age they died the first time.

Vincent was so adorable and nicely romantic. I’m not usually big fan of that type of men but I liked him. And he really knows how to handle a sword! Loved those scenes.
Sure there were moments where Kate just can’t take eyes from him because he’s just so gorgeous but gladly she has brains too. And she doesn’t run head over heels in love but thinks is it safe and how it will affect her family.

I also loved the relationship between the sisters. They’re always been close but after their parents death their been even closer and are really friends. There was great cast of supporting characters and I loved Jules. I wish there would have been more of him!

Great debut from Plum and I’m waiting for the next book!

3,5/5
Published: Atom (2011)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 344
Source: publisher

reviews July 27, 2013

Letters from Home by Kristina McMorris

Letters from Home by Kristina McMorris

Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn’t need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she’s set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief exchange–cut short by the soldier’s evident interest in Betty–but Liz can’t forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees.

Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from “Betty” are a comfort, their soul-baring correspondence a revelation to them both. While Liz is torn by her feelings for a man who doesn’t know her true identity, Betty and Julia each become immersed in their own romantic entanglements. And as the war draws to a close, all three will face heart-wrenching choices, painful losses, and the bittersweet joy of new beginnings. (Goodreads)

Betty has a singing gig at a USO dance and her roommates Liz and Julia has promised to come there. During the night Liz ends up dancing with Morgan, who leaves to war the next day. They instantly feels connection but when Liz sees him dancing with Betty later on, she thinks she must have been wrong and leaves home. Betty promised to write to Morgan overseas but she isn’t a writer and needs Liz to help her but Liz ends up writing the whole letter herself. When Morgan answers, Liz starts to writing letters to him without telling Betty about it.

I haven’t read much World War II related books so I was interested to read this and I was happy that I did.

The book is told from Liz, Julia, Betty and Morgan’s point of view. It was intresting to read about them all and they were in different points in life. Liz is engaged to a childhood friend, Julia’s fiancée is at war and she is falling in love with his brother and Betty enlisted as a WAC and gets shipped off to field hospital.

I’m not usually fan of books that has lot of letter writing but it worked here. And it was great to see how they got to know each other so well and falling in love through letters. And how much comfort letters gave to men at war and far away from families.We see all the characters to change during the book, and not only for the wartime experiance.

I really liked this and was curious when I read that the author’s grandparent’s love story inspired the book.

3,5/5
Published: Avon (2011)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Source: publisher

reviews July 27, 2013

Shadow Chaser by Alexey Pehov

Shadow Chaser (Chronicles of Siala 2) by Alexey Pehov

Saddened because they have left one of their number in a grave in the wilderness, Harold and his companions continue their journey to the dreaded underground palace of Hrad Spein. There, knowing that armies of warriors and wizards before them have failed, they must fight legions of untold, mysterious powers before they can complete their quest for the magic horn that will save their beloved land from The Nameless One. But before they can even reach their goal, they must overcome all manner of obstacles, fight many battles…and evade the frightful enemies on their trail. (Goodreads)

The first book started little slow but I felt this has more action. There doesn’t actually happen all that much but there was still many battles. I should have re-read the last book because I had forgotten who was whoand what happened but it didn’t take long to remember everyone.

Harold isn’t too happy to be the supposed hero and thinks his life was much more simple as a regular thief. But he’s also started to wonder if he has changed. He didn’t have any friends or family, which he thought was a liability, and now he has whole bunch of outcasts who he can call friends. Has this made him softer?

Harold doesn’t have as much spotlight as in the last book but I didn’t feel like anyone had real spotlight over others.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Kli-Kli the goblin jester . But it seems like there is much more to him than just being a fool. Can’t wait to find out what he really is about. But my favourites were the elves. I wish there was more about them in the next book! I love it that elves resemble orcs with fangs and all.

I had some problems with one battle, mainly with the outcome at least but it’s better not to speak more about it here. I really liked this and you gotta love good fantasy book! Can’t wait to read the next book!

4/5
Published: Simon & Schuster UK (2011)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 357
Source: publisher