Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (Book 2)

If you have not read Beautiful Creatures (book 1), please ignore this post and read the review of Beautiful Creatures at: http://refreshingreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/beautiful-creatures-by-kami-garcia.html.

This book was torture! I have no faults with the writing; it was brilliantly written. It was the events that happen, although necessary, that was torture and made me cry at times. I was physically unable to continue reading at one point, knowing and hating what was to come.

If you have read my previous post about Beautiful Creatures, you will know that I loved the relationship between the two main characters, Lena and Ethan. In Beautiful Darkness, Lena struggles between Light and Dark, as the consequences of her actions in book one depresses her. Ethan loses the Lena he fell in love with… This is the point where I began to cry!

Ethan proves himself in this novel, believing in Lena even when she doesn’t believe in herself. He fights endlessly for her, no matter what she says.

New characters are introduced and old characters grow. The authors’ style of writing is incredible! Everything is brought to life so vividly. You will feel as though you are travelling this journey with the characters.

There is not much more I can say without giving away what happens. Although I didn’t enjoy reading this book as much as Beautiful Creatures, I knew that it was necessary for Lena and Ethan’s development; especially for Lena to learn about herself and the depth of their love. If you enjoyed the first book and want to continue the series, then this should not deter you as the storyline is brilliant! Despite the heartache, the story will not leave my thoughts, and I feel compelled to keep reading the series, like Ridley has cast a spell over me.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I am ashamed to say that I had not heard of the Beautiful Creatures series until a few months ago. The upside of my ignorance is that I don’t have to wait for the sequel! I would not have been able to wait for the story to continue, after being so hypnotised by this novel! You know a story is amazing when it keeps you up to the early hours of the morning, when the urge to continue reading beats the fight for sleep. I got completely drawn into this novel and the world that was created, but what captured me most was the relationship and romance between Ethan and Lena.

If, like me, you were unaware of Beautiful Creatures, I will give you a little description (without spoilers). The book is written from the perspective of Ethan Wate, a teenager who dreams of escaping his little hometown and, quite literally, dreams of a girl. So when Lena Duchaness moves to town, his life changes completely.

As I said before, what I love most about this novel is the characters, especially Ethan and Lena. You will fall in love with this couple, as they fall in love with each other. They seem so natural and real, and their moments together are enchanting. They need each other, no matter what happens. I love it! I loved Lena’s character in particular; she is someone who you could be friends with and is her own individual, despite what is going on around her.  

The fantasy element to this novel is brilliant. There are no faults with the writing or the storyline, and I can’t wait to start on the next book in the series (which I am planning to do after I have posted this)!  

If you like: romance, young adult, fiction or magic, you will love this. I think the fact that there are two writers makes the characters more three dimensional and alive than other novels, because you can get two personalities and ideas mixed together. I think the authors have done a brilliant job! This is definitely worth the read!

Update

Hi everyone,

Sorry there hasn't been any new reviews lately. I am currently revising for my A Level exams, pretty much 24/7 at the moment, so I haven't had time to read. After my exams, however, be prepared for a lot of reviews! I'm going to make up for missing so much reviewing time.

I have a long list of books that I want to read and review for you all. Because I haven't been able to read at all, my imagination has been on fire! My own novel is a fast working process, and when I'm next able to get a book in my hands I am not putting it down!

Sorry again,

Simone Rhea

My Love Lies Bleeding (The Drake Chronicles) by Alyxandra Harvey

My Love Lies Bleeding is the first in The Drake Chronicle series. It tells the story of Solange, who is the only female vampire ever born, and her best friend Lucy – a human. Solange is approaching her sixteen birthday, and with that her transformation into a vampire. As the only female vampire born, not initiated, Solange is in great danger from all the other vampires, despite the efforts of her family, the Drakes. Her family includes seven sexy brothers, her strong parents and several other relatives. One brother in particular, Nicholas, is the romantic focus of this story for Lucy.

This novel changes perspective between Solange and Lucy, as the danger creeps ever closer and lives are hung in the balance. It is the characters in this novel that make it such a good read. Lucy is just… well, normal. She is funny, slightly weird, with a refreshing personality, and her relationship with Nicholas, Solange and the whole Drake family is brilliant. Solange’s mum is another favourite character of mine, because she is so fierce and dedicated to her family. 

The novel is short and straight to the point; with only 256 pages, the action never stops, and you are thrown into the middle of it from the start. I laughed, nearly cried, wanted to join in with the Drake’s training – it is a quick read that will make you want more.

This novel is a must read for all the fantasy lovers out there. I say fantasy, instead of vampires, because it is such a unique take that it doesn’t compare to the others. The book and series is refreshing. The rest of the series (four books so far, but more on the way) follow different Drake brothers through their adventures, with each one getting more exciting. I personally prefer this first book to the rest, purely because you hear from Lucy’s perspective.

The Lucky One

You have probably heard of the new film release called The Lucky One. Yes, the one with Zac Efron. This is based on the book by Nicholas Sparks (same title). If you haven’t watched the film yet, start reading the book version now! If you have watched the film already, read the book! Even if you didn’t like the film, give the book a go as it is definitely worth the read.

I haven’t seen the film yet, but I am desperate to watch it as I loved the book. The film versions of Nicholas Sparks’ other novels have been successful and stuck to the books, so hopefully this will be like reading the book in two hours. I recommend reading the book first though! No film can include all the details of a book, so you will be missing out!

If you have watched the film version, please leave a comment saying what you thought of it!

I have previously posted a recommendation of Nicholas Sparks’ novels, which included The Lucky One. Here is what I said about it:

The Lucky One

This novel is about a man who, during the war, finds a photo of a beautiful girl. After the owner of the photo is not found he decides to hold on to it, and luckily too because it saves his life. The girl is his lucky charm, and he wants to say thank you. He goes on a search for this girl in the photo, and when he sees a “help wanted” sign where she works, he thinks this is the perfect way to repay her. As you can see through me recounting the story after so long, it does stick with you (as with all his novels), and is heart warming to read.

See the full post: http://refreshingreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/i-recommend-nicholas-sparks.html

The Dark Lake (The Oshkosh Trilogy) by Carson Anthea

I have mixed views about this novel, so I will start from the beginning.

This novel follows Jane, a troubled adult stuck in the past. She is in recovery, goes to therapy, anger management, AA meetings and tries to find a job. Pretty depressing stuff. The author is brilliant at describing the scenes and portraying the emotions of the character. So, unfortunately, this makes the novel very depressing. It was well written, but a very heavy read and I couldn’t handle more than an hour at a time.

I didn’t like Jane. I understand that she is mentally unstable, however without knowing what happened to her I can’t sympathise with her. There is a mystery accident that happened in her past that explains her behaviour and the author hints at it throughout the novel, which does keep you intrigued, however I think it needs to be revealed sooner.

I kept waiting for this information to be revealed and got a bit bored when it never did. Jane continued being immature and stuck in a depressing state. There are flashbacks scattered throughout the book, which I liked better than the actual storyline as they are more positive.

Towards the end of the novel I began to enjoy it more, because I felt like a climax was being reached. From my reading experience, I would have recommended that the middle of this story is shortened or removed, with the current ending being in the middle and the story continued. I was left confused and disappointed from the current ending, as nothing was resolved. Knowing that this is the first of the trilogy, I think the author tried to space it out so a sequel is needed. However, this resulted in it being too long and boring.

I did enjoy parts of the novel; however I personally felt that it was stretched out too much. It is realistic, although the ending is puzzling. I have heard positive reviews of this novel, so this is completely my opinion and for just over one pound, you can make up your own mind. I do want to know what happened to Jane in the past; however I feel that this information should have been revealed in this novel, not left for the sequel.

I really want to know what happened on the lake!

I recommend… J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter)

I know the majority of you have made a decision about Harry Potter; you may have read it and loved it, or hated it, or not even read it and decided to hate it anyway. Or you just watched the films and forgot about the books. Either way, you must have heard of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.

Now, I’m going to tell you my experience with the Harry Potter books. This isn’t to make you read them, although you are missing out if you haven’t. And this isn’t to make you like them, because that’s your opinion. So, here is mine…

I used to hate reading. Well, ‘hate’ is too strong a word, more like I was never interested in it. This was mostly due to school experiences, having to read out loud to the class some boring book. I also had to do extra reading classes, which would make any kid despise the thing more. So basically, I didn’t want to touch a book that I wasn’t required to. As you can tell, this changed…

I must have been about nine when everything changed. Before then, I had read books but wasn’t crazy about reading. I would have preferred to play football or something; I don’t really remember how I spent all my time before reading. I went to the supermarket with my family, I can even remember that it was a Tesco’s, and there was a display of Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. The phoenix is what grabbed my attention; I loved that type of thing. So I decided to read the blurb… and thought it sounded quite good. I had already watched the Harry Potter films that had been released and, although I wasn’t too fussed about reading, I was interested. I started the novel on the way home. I couldn’t put it down!

Harry Potter was the first book I enjoyed and J. K. Rowling became my idol. I fell in love with reading, with falling into another world, where anything can happen. I already loved films, yet books are so much deeper. I could go on forever about my love of books, but back to Harry Potter!

Harry Potter opened the reading world to me, because it made me interested in books! I loved the way J. K. Rowling could create a world that I could see so clearly in my mind. I read the books, with the words forming pictures in my imagination. J. K. Rowling is the reason I want to be a writer, to be able to write in a way that makes people feel the way I did when I read her books. Her writing is so powerful and inspiring; she will always be my idol.