Review: Five Out of the Ashes

Five Out of the Ashes by Holli Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the epic finale to this trilogy of books. It introduced me to the magical worlds that exist unseen, a wonderful band of characters, and the excruciating battle between good and evil.

We start this story where we left the Quinae Praesidia licking their wounds and grieving for the lost members of their team. They didn't make headway against Brone and Halli was kidnapped by a dragon. The team is struggling to figure out how they work as 4 instead of 5 but they know that finding Halli needs to be a priority. There's magical advances made, some more enemies battled, and ultimately the five gets to reunite to fight the big bad.

Without adding to many spoilers to this review, one of the five gets hurt in ways that are unexpectedly awful. The story takes a decidedly darker turn before we get the big battle to end all other battles. The five get their moment of glory before managing the change the whole world (without them even knowing). This group of characters has grown and changed along the way, but they were still wonderful and fun to read. While I was sad to see this series come to a conclusion, it was great to watch them all get a happy ending.

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Review: Enigma

Enigma by Lora Leigh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Woops! I didn't realize this was part of a series and read it without previous knowledge of the characters or the world. I don't think it really hurt anything except my future read of the series based on possible spoilers, but I kind of assume all characters get a HEA when I read those types of books.

This short story is hot and spicy! We watch Jordan suffer (I mean *really* suffer... it's repeated *a lot*) as he watches/stalks Tehya. Apparently they have a long history of sexual tension without any payoff. Now that they are the last two people on the base and have a guarantee that they won't be working together in the future they are free to let loose. It take a little bit of prodding, but they finally deliver a super hot hookup.

Unfortunately, Jordan just cannot stop messing this relationship up and manages to leave *everything* unsaid. I get that there is setup for the next full length book, but give the poor girl something! The story itself read nicely, although there were some date inconsistencies that I think other reviewers picked up on as well (6, 10, 8 years, etc.). I ended this story just feeling bad for both the characters because they mucked stuff up so horribly. I hope the book after this rights all these wrongs.

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Review: Catherine- Witches of Tarland Series

Catherine- Witches of Tarland Series by Donna Hernandez
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This short story was a bit of a rushed introduction to the world of the Witches of Tarland. Catherine was raised as an ordinary girl but slowly discovered that she had powers. All alone in this journey of self-discovery, she tries to find her place in a world with demons, vampires, and witch hunters all out to get her. After the sudden discovery of a magical sword, she takes to the streets to destroy evil.

All of this comes into question when she is forced to team up with a half demon to avoid death by an even bigger enemy. This is clearly meant to be the beginning of a story that continues with the rest of the "witches of tarland."

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Review: Fairan: A Short Story

Fairan: A Short Story by Genevieve Scholl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This short story has a very unique take on the typical faerie story. We get to see the world of the "fairan" (aka faerie) through the eyes of a half-breed. Anabelle works for her mother, the owner of what used to be a fairan only hotel but has become just an ordinary hotel since her fairan father's death. Her life is fairly ordinary until a beautiful member of the fairan walks into the hotel. He comes with shocking news about her father's life and turns her life upside-down. There's a teeny bit of smut and some fated-like romance, but the world that is built is really the star of this story.

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Review: Loved

Loved by Alisa Woods
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the final installment of the Dark Alpha serial. Obviously, you shouldn't read this if you haven't read the other installments first. The last book ended with Arianna free and Jak dying because of a spell he agreed to have performed. It seemed like a pretty decent way to end a book if this serial didn't want to give us a HEA. Well, lucky for us, we get a solid HEA at the end of this one. Jak's new family and friends work together to find a loophole in the spell that allows for Jak to live, although seriously damaged.

Don't worry about resolution either, because we get plenty of that. There is a definitive end to the Mace storyline and a wonderful ending for this group of characters. Even the side characters appear to have a happily ever after in their future! All of the darker and more difficult installments were worth it to get to the finale.

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Review: Breaking Deluce

Breaking Deluce by Chad Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mona is a loner who is determined to keep her head in a book and ace all her tests. When two new students join her school, her whole world is shaken up. Jason ends up beating her to all the extra credit while Damon distracts her from all her classes with his bad boy good looks. It turns out that both boys have secrets that they are hiding. This story read like the beginning of a series but had some definite Supernatural and Frankenstein elements thrown in. There's also some fantasy elements thrown in for good measure.

This short story has the makings of a YA romance or a fantasy story, but is definitely not a standalone and needs a follow-up to wrap up some questions they introduce in this one.

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Review: The Christmas Star: A short story bonus from the Providence Series

The Christmas Star: A short story bonus from the Providence Series by Janus Gangi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a little bit stumped on what to write for this review. I have no experience with the series, but thought I could muddle through a Christmas short. I was wrong. While the writing is good and the characters seem interesting I had no idea what was going on. These are clearly stories that started at some other point in the series and are being given an update in this format. I do not recommend reading this unless you have experience with the Providence Series.

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