Books, great reads, Reviews, scifi, steampunk

The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

diabolical-2

This book has been on my TBR forever but for some reason I just never got around to it, that was my loss. I LOVED this book, let me tell you why, but first the blurb:

Magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy retelling of the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde–in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of the infamous Henry

In an electric-powered Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with inventive new technological gadgets. Now, a new killer is splattering London with blood, drugging beautiful women and slicing off their limbs. Catching “the Chopper” could make Eliza’s career—or get her burned. Because Eliza has a dark secret. A seductive second self, set free by her father’s forbidden magical elixir: wild, impulsive Lizzie Hyde.

When the Royal Society sends their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she’s a sorceress, Eliza must resist the elixir with all her power. But as the Chopper case draws her into London’s luminous, magical underworld, Eliza will need all the help she can get. Even if it means getting close to Lafayette, who harbors an evil curse of his own.

Even if it means risking everything and setting vengeful Lizzie free . . .

This book was amazing! It was a steampunk twist on Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde with even a dash of Frankenstein thrown in for good fun. You follow the main characters Eliza and Lizza as they try to solve a murder, escape the Royal enforcers and figure out who they really are. The world build is perfect, I mean spot on, I normally have a hard time with steampunk and honestly sometimes, especially when Eliza was talking it did seem a little verbose but all and all I enjoyed it immensely. The story itself broke a lot of my rules, too many plot lines, too many characters, too much going on but guess what I DIDN’T CARE! Yeah I liked it that much. She even has an adorable little robot Hippocrates who likes to keep things logical thank you. Read it! I’m still on this book high, so I don’t want to talk to much lest I reveal something I shouldn’t.

Book two The Devious Dr. Jekyll just released on October 27th Hyde-2  acquiring now, I’ll let you know what I think of that as well.

Here is its blurb: Solving the infamous Chopper case has helped crime scene physician Dr. Eliza Jekyll establish her fledgling career in the chauvinistic world of Victorian law enforcement. But the scrutiny that comes with her newfound fame is unwelcome for a woman with a diabolical secret. And there is the mercurial Royal Society agent and wolf man Remy Lafayette. Does he want to marry her, eat her, or burn her at the stake? Though Eliza is uncertain about Remy, her dark and jealous shadow self, Lizzie, wants to steal the magnetic and persistent agent, and usurp Eliza’s life.

It’s impossible to push Remy away when he tempts her with the one thing she can’t resist: a bizarre crime. The search for a bloodthirsty ritual torturer dubbed the Pentacle Killer draws them into a terrifying world of spies, art thieves, and evil alchemy, where the price of immortality is madness?or damnation—and only Lizzie’s dark ingenuity can help Eliza survive.

As Eliza and Remy race to thwart a foul conspiracy involving the sorcerous French, they must also overcome a sinister enemy who is all too close: the vengeful Lizzie, determined to dispose of Eliza for good.

Happy reading!!

Books, Reviews, scifi

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

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This one I’m torn with, I have things I liked about it and things I didn’t which will probably put me in the minority since it’s such a popular book. But let’s do this right fist the official blurb..

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart…

Pros first. The writing was amazing, first YA book I’ve read in awhile that had a solid plot and well written characters. Mare, who this story was about, at the beginning I liked her, unfortunately it didn’t stay that way but I’ll explain why. The prince brothers Cal and Maven, best characters in the book. They actually stuck to character, which was nice for a change. Loved the villains in this book, great job. The world building was spot on, I understood where they lived and the divide between the silvers and the reds. In fact I enjoyed the concept, if you have a super power and have silver blood you’re a silver (let’s call them upper class) if you have no power and have red blood your a red (servant class). I enjoyed the idea of having the power but not the right blood color, very cool.

My problems, I think I figured out the twists too early. Therefore I started to get really annoyed with Mare, who had no problem participating in killing silvers but was appalled that the silvers killed back. I’m never a fan of the everybody wants you thing, though the end helped with this a little, but I think I’m over lead female characters that do selfish stupid stuff and don’t understand why things go wrong. So done with that.

There is a fantastic part at the end where a character straight out tells her, I was your friend and you betrayed me, now I’m going to die. Your fault. I was cheering for him, she doesn’t seem to grasp that when you use people they can get hurt, even with the ending I don’t feel like she really got it.

Would I recommend this read? Yes I think it’s good enough to recommend. I will read the next one and see how it goes. Some characters are interesting enough that I want to read more about them.

Books, great reads, Reviews

Playing With Seduction by Erika Wilde

Hey everyone,

Playing With Seduction is an erotica story from Erika Wilde.  I found this author years ago under the name of Janelle Dennison.  She decided to venture into erotica fiction and so uses the name of Erika Wilde for this genre.

This is the 3rd story in The Players’ Club Series. This book tells the story of Kendall and Jace.  Kendall is 8 years older than Jace and at different places in their lives.  After a devastating divorce, Kendall wants children now and Jace wants children, just not yet.  The Players’ Club is a member-only adult club where members are able to pursue all their adult fantasies.  Jace is determined to have a relationship with Kendall after he works past her reservations.  After receiving an invitation to the Club, Kendall and Jace hook up and begin their relationship and the story proceeds through a series of events that affect the relationship.

I have been a fan of Erika/Janelle’s for a number of years and I enjoyed the story.  It is a quick read, although somewhat predictable and is light on angst but sometimes light on angst makes for a fun and enjoyable read.  Besides, I liked both characters and I felt that the descriptions of Kendall’s concerns about pursuing the relationship with Jace were well-done. Of course, there is enough erotica in the story to keep it interesting!!  This book can be read as a stand-alone book, but I think you will enjoy the series.

Happy Reading,

Debra

Out of the Box Blogs

Are You a Series Sucker?

I noticed today that a book that I absolutely despised released a second book in the series and found myself going to my library to order it so I could read the next book. Why? Cause I think I’m a series sucker. What’s that? It’s someone who continues to read a series to see what happens even if you didn’t like the story or the writing style. Once you’ve got me I feel compelled to at least read 2-3 books (the only exception to this was 50 Shade, I just couldn’t do it) regardless of how much I liked or disliked the actual book. It’s not as if I don’t have enough to read, I have a waiting list of 10 books right now that I have to finish by the end of the month, or a true interest in the characters, in fact most of the time I end up frustrated and angry. So why do I do it? Yeah….I got nothing, but that book, I’m gonna read it. And I’ll drag Les down with me 🙂

So what about you, can you stop a series if you don’t like the way it’s going, or are you like me forced into finishing reading just a little more?