Review: The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis-Klause

4 stars for The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis-Klause.

This is a story about family, friendship and dealing with life-changing events. The main characters are Zoe, a 17-year-old girl whose mother is stricken with cancer, and Simon, a 300-year-old vampire who, turned at the age of nineteen, still looks like a young adult.

The first half of the story is slow moving, uneventful and overly filled with repetitive thoughts of loneliness and how Zoe feels about her family and facing off death that I almost wanted to stop reading for good. I am glad that I did not give up as the second half of the story is where the plot thickens and there is even an unexpected twist.

To put it simply, Silver Kiss is a story about the dying, the undead and the living. I was all ready to give it a 3-star rating until the plot twist and ending change my mind. The bittersweet end to the story is just so right.

Review: Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis-Klause

5 stars for Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis-Klause.

I have finally read this Young Adult Fantasy novel - Blood and Chocolate. Some of you may find the title kind of weird, but not for me, simply because the book has been on my reading list for more than fifteen years. I never get down to reading it for the reason that the hard copy cannot be found in the library in those early pre-ebook days. I can still feel the frustration I felt then when I could see that the book was showing as available in the library system, yet it was nowhere on the shelf where it was supposed to be. In the blink of an eye, years passed, but the book has never been forgotten.

Blood and Chocolate is a story about identity, family ties and friendship. Though written in third person point of view, the story focuses mainly on 16-year-old Vivian Gandillon who feels torn between two worlds - the wolf part and the human part of her. The sweet courtship between Vivian, the werewolf girl and Aiden, the human boy, reminds me of how it feels to be young all over again.

This standalone novel with supernatural elements and forebiddden romance is a highly addictive story. The world building is fantastic and the story well paced. Not only that, the author uses imagery to create lyrical emotions such that the pain of hiding one's true identity from a different world is as heart wrenching as is revealing it. Then there is the suspicion, mistrust and discord in the pack that keeps me on the toes. There are also more than a few heart stopping moments which I do not foresee coming from a book written in the 90s.

A human boy and a werewolf girl. Homo Sapiens against Homo Lupus. To the werewolves, the human is considered an incomplete creature who has only one form, yet the shifters have to learn to live with them - to quote "Homo Sapiens is everywhere, they outnumber us, and Homo Lupus must live beside them. As much as we might crave to, we cannot kill them." - and at the same time, fear for their lives. To quote "Homo Sapiens can be very attractive. The need to dominate is bred into us, and they are easy to dominate. It’s seductive, this power over them. And they’re so fragile, there are those you almost want to protect. But they’re dangerous. They’re desperately afraid of things they can’t understand, and there’s more of them than us. They can’t fight us fairly so they gang up on us with fire and blades, or betray us from the shadows with silver bullets."

Can there be good ending between a werewolf and a human? Is it possible? Read the book and find out for yourself.

Just so you know, this wolf-kind of story is my cup of tea.

Review: Demeter's Tablet (Nia Rivers Adventures #2) by Ines Johnson

3 stars for Demeter's Tablet (Nia Rivers Adventures book 2) by Ines Johnson.

While readers visit China and learn about ancient Chinese history in book 1 Dragon Bones, we are transported to Greece this time to acquire a knowledge of the Ottoman Empire. Greece was under Ottoman rule for over four hundred years.

In this book, the protagonist, Nia Rivers goes on an adventure to investigate the mysteries of an ancient cult that promises everlasting life. The rumors of the cult went back for hundreds of years - it invited all into its ranks, rich and poor, male and female, philosophers and slaves. The rituals that the initiates undertook to get into the cult had never been revealed. All any outsiders knew was that, once accepted, the initiates were promised everlasting life, riches, and knowledge. Basically, Nia's job is to search for the missing tablet that depicts the sacred rites of this group, if it ever is true and can be found.

As with most, if not all Greek stories, this book involves not just the Olympians, but also their Titan parents. While it is interesting and exciting to read about Greek mythology once again, I cannot help but feel that something is missing. I find it hard to pick up the book to continue reading after each and every break. The gist of it is, I do not look forward to reading where I last leave off. I think the reason is the issue with Nia's memory loss. She is constantly trying to recall her past, to regain anyone and everyone's past that has been lost to her. Though she is visited by time-lapsed visions, they are not enough to reveal the person she is or used to be. Her inability to recover her lost memories grates on my nerves after a while.

Nia is an immortal that remains forever unchanged physically but mentally ancient. But the real story behind is still much unknown as the author dangles a carrot in front of readers to entice reading. This is where I get put off - too many missing pieces to the puzzle. And based on whatever is revealed of Nia, it all points to a promiscuous lifestyle in her past which for the life of her, she cannot remember. It gets tiring reading such a story. I am going to stay away from this series, at least for some time.

Review: Dragon Bones (Nia Rivers Adventures #1) by Ines Johnson

4 stars for Dragon Bones (Nia Rivers Adventures book 1) by Ines Johnson.

This book comes recommended by an author in the newsletter that I receive every now and then. I thought to give the book a try since it has been such a long time when I last read an Urban Fantasy novel. To tell the truth, I am not much impressed by the book title and cover. So, it comes as a surprise, when I got hooked to the story right from page one.

The protagonist in the book is a certain Dr. Nia Rivers, Doctor of Antiquities, who has a love of Greek history. She makes her living in ruins all over the world as an archaeologist.

After reading chapter one, if I didn't know better, I will have pegged this book a general fiction on Archeology because nothing in the story indicates that this is an out-of-the-world tale, at least not in chapter one or two. But having known for a fact - based on the recommendation - that this is an Urban Fantasy story, I am excited to read on to discover more. True enough, in no time, there comes subtle hints to indicate that Nia Rivers is not a human. To quote "I took off after him, my powerful legs eating up the ground much faster than any human runner could manage." If not for the recommendation by the author I followed, I would not have ventured out into this book at all.

The story, about immortals and their secrets, is well balanced in terms of action and romance. Interestingly, the book covers a fair amount of Chinese history. It is quite an eye opener for me to read about the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty and the Xia Dynasty. I even googled in a bid to learn more about this part of the Chinese history - The Shang Dynasty lasted from 1600 to 1046 BCE, and the Zhou dynasty took power around 1045 BCE. It was one of the longest running dynasties. Most historians believe the Xia was a small tribe in ancient China that had thrived for a brief period before the more well-known Shang Dynasty. The Xia Dynasty was the first of many ancient Chinese ruling houses, thought to exist from around 2070 BCE until 1600 BCE. Yet the actual existence of this dynasty and culture has been debated. Given that the existence of the Xia dynasty is debated, the Shang dynasty is sometimes seen as the first of the China's dynasties.
 
Now that I have read Dragon Bones, I am keen to continue with the adventures of Nia Rivers, to see where she will bring me to next.