#pararoma

[livlepretre]

Hey there 👋, I loved reading fairytale ending and am currently on my 4 read through and have followed you here on tumblr for awhile.

Ijust wanted to ask if you have played baldurs gate 3 or heard of it. I feel like you'd love the charecter astarion and was just curious?

And also on top of all that your thoughts on twilight and any other vampire centric media?

hello there :)

I have extremely peripherally heard of baldurs gate 3 but I don't actually know anything about it... unfortunately, I haven't had much time to game since my son was born, although I miss it!

and as for vampire media...

well, I'm pretty much a fool for this genre haha

I actually have very fond memories of twilight. I was the right age when the first one came out-- 15-- and I was struck by how atmospheric it was, and how there was a real sense of danger to the vampires. Also, I really enjoyed that Bella was just crazy and because of the narration being in her voice, she never thought she was. I think twilight gets a bad rap because it blew up, which exposed it to a level of scrutiny that maybe it was never prepared for-- it's always struck me as unfair because it never set out to be a great work of literary fiction. it is an interesting story, though, of a genre that I read heavily when I was about 12-16 or so, and honestly one of the best in that little funky genre of pararoma for young girls. so I am pro-Twilight.

(although, i do not think Smeyers ever understood that the vampire bite/process of being turned should be sexy. I'm still disappointed by the whole thing where Edward injected his venom via syringe into her heart. all of my teenage fantasies came crashing down in one fell swoop)

I suppose the other vampire things I like a lot are Buffy the Vampire Slayer (of course. my favorite. my OG), True Blood, and Underworld. The weirder and and more insane the vampires, the better, imo.

[readreviewblog]

Soul Seekers - Alyson Noel

Fated, Echo, Mystic and Horizon 

I was first introduced to this series about ten years ago after i finished reading one of her previous series, Immortals. You will hear me often say that i usually only read series after every book is published. I read so much that when the next book in that series is out, i have already forgotten everything that came before.

I realize this series has been completed for a few years, but i’m just now making my way back to Alyson Noel.

As this is my first official review, i’m not sure how to go about it. Bear with me while I’m learning.

I’ll start with the first in the series, Fated. (I will add the following books in the saga to this post so that they are all together. If i’m even allowed to go back and edit posts.)

Fated by Alyson Noel

My first impression was that the cover was gorgeous. I loved the Ravens, which turn about to be very important towards the middle of the story. I read this in paperback, as opposed to my normal method of ebook. Loved the sleekness and the way the book felt, which was something i surprisingly missed.

The book started off slow for me. ParaRoma is one of my favorite genres, and they normally pick up quite fast. We were introduced to Daire, our protagonist, although her name (like many of Ms. Noel’s) was hard to pronounce, did a quick google and got Dawrah. I didn’t like Daire at first. It was almost as if she had a better than you attitude. Was glad to say by the end of the book, I did start enjoying her. Her mom is a professional celeb makeup artist, so Daire was a regular jetsetter, never having a place to call home for more than a few months. She has weird visions in front of strangers and not-so-good-for-you boyfriend. Everyone, including her mother thinks she’s psychotic.

We meet her grandmother and things start looking up. She reveals Daire’s not crazy afterall. (Surprise!) She’s actually from a long line of Seekers. By the end of the book i’m still not entirely sure what a Seeker is supposed to do, apart from kick the Coyotes ass. We go on to meet her love interest, Dace, along with his evil twin brother, Cade. Both are part of the “Coyote” clan. However, Dace was raised by his mother and is supposedly like heaven-on-earth pure. His brother, raised by their father, is obviously the complete opposite. We meet Xotichl, a blind but very able friend. Her blindness helps her read energy the way others can’t. We also meet Lita, the typical mean girl. Although towards the end, she changes her ‘tude and becomes one of the good guys.

Trying not to give too much away, in the end good conquers evil. As it usually does. Honestly, i picked this book up because i needed a series book boyfriend moment, and sadly did not find it in Dace. I mean he’s a good book boyfriend, a bit one dimensional. Doesn’t pack up to Edward, Jace or Caleb for me. (I know, IVE HEARD IT BEFORE)

As far as the actual book goes, i liked it. That’s about it. I didn’t hate it, i didn’t love it. It could have been much better, but likewise, I’ve read much worse. One thing that bugged me was that when the book would part into a new section, it didn’t pick up where it left off. Sometimes the parts would pick up a few days later after the last section. Example: Part 1 ends with Diare wanting to leave her destiny and her grandmother behind her. She almost gets ran over. Next part is a few days ahead and we find out her grandmothers friend found her, and she is already on the mend. After that, we find out she no longer wants to leave her destiny. It’s not big thing, I’m just the kind of person who wants to know why she came to that conclusion. Why now does she want to embrace her new life and stay with her grandmother? I also found that in some parts (the unimportant bits) the author was very descriptive. I mean, she would describe that tree as if no one had ever seen a tree before. When we got to the actual parts that should be described, the monsters Cade was creating, there was none. I would rather understand what they looked like, as opposed to what a damn tree looks like. Another thing that bothered me, descriptive wise, it could get very repetitive. Yes, you don’t have to describe how bright Dace’s soul is, once is enough. You don’t have to keep repeating how much Cade is the opposite, we’re not going to forget they’re different people in twenty pages when you go to describe it again.

I also felt like Alyson didn’t know where she wanted this book to go. It has a bit of everything; there is Native American heritage, Latino heritage (which there is nothing wrong with multiple heritages, or multiple species) but she almost combines the two. The Native American’s can do the same exact things a Seeker can do, and vise versa. Almost as if they are part of the same Paranormal figures, which they shouldn’t be. Both seem able to enter the ether worlds, both seem to be able to astral protect, both are telekinetic etc. They should be two distinct types of magic beings. I still don’t understand if a Seeker is supposed to be a witch, or if she is another type of Para. Same with Dace/Cade, it only refers to their family as the “Coyotes” Doesn’t explain much more than that the Seekers are meant to keep the Coyotes in line and make sure they don’t commit too many evil acts.

I would give the first book, Fated, 3 stars. It started off slow, it got better. Like i said previously, it by no means was the worst book that I’ve read, but was by far not the best book either.

Echo by Alyson Noel

I honestly didn’t expect much of this book, considering I only liked the first one. I will say that the second, in my opinion was better than the first, but not by much. My first impressions of the cover…….beautiful. Same as the last. This book takes place in the winter, so the cover is fitting.

It starts off with our couple super happy and in love. Obviously, it doesn’t last. Without giving too much away, Dace and Daire romance fuels Cade’s power. Because Dace/Cade share two parts of one soul. (Cade is the bad part of the soul, Dace the good part.) Because they share, Dace’s happiness seems to make Cade stronger. It would seem then the opposite should take place, and Dace become stronger when Cade is having strong emotions. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Which makes zero sense. Whatever. So our happy couple decides they need to break up, and not make Cade any stronger. If you’re someone really rooting for them, don’t fret, they’re back together in like a chapter.

I honestly seem to like their friends more than them. Lita is a riot and every time she has something to input, it always makes me giggle. Xiotchel is fun and sweet. She seems like she would be very sensitive to others pain, and would be a very kind and gentle soul.

This one finishes what the first was unable to do, destroy Cade’s monsters. The end of the Fated we see Daire and Dace destroy a few, reuniting the souls with their hosts, including her grandmother, Paloma and our now nice Lita. Cade is up to his wicked ways and traffics an army of drunks to send into the ether world to mine a rare stone. Daire being her reckless self follows suit intent on killing Cade, for no other reason than to be back with her boytoy, Dace. (No really, she tries to kill him to also stop his evilness. So she SAYS……) She fails. (ShocKER)

In this novel we’re aslo introduced to Dace’s POV. We learn Dace basically had no training, and so we begin to read as Dace is trained. (takes a total of like three days for him to be a fucking master((eyeroll))) Dace also plans on killing Cade, even though he’s supposed to be super pure. One would thINK if he’s so innocent and sweet he would even tempt to think of an alternative. He doesn’t.

Dace decides to become one with Cade (astral projection, maybe? idk.) He also decided to steal a part of his soul, so that Cade won’t be AS strong. Really fucking stupid, like whhhhat could possibly go wrong?!?!? So now Dace’s perfect soul is tainted, causing our sweet wonderful Daire to basically reject him.

Daire goes to rescue the slaves in the ether, and murder Cade. She destroys all of his monster minions as if they are nothing. As if she’s not 120lbs soaking wet, as if she is fucking Jackie Chan in disguise. Seriously, how are we supposed to believe she can take on like 40 monsters at once, with no break. After the monsters are killed, and the slaves escape, she goes to find Cade.

She finds Cade, tries to kill him. It fails. Dace comes rushing into save her, he fails. She also notices that his soul is now tainted. Like how can she possibly love him if he’s no longer pure and perfect? Cade then tries to kill Diare, he actually succeeds. (He would have) Dace then tries to kill himself, so that he can kill Cade. (Because apparently now, whatever happens to one will also happen to the other.) Whatever. As Daire is seconds away from dying, an angel? comes in and sweeps her up. He gives her a kiss, and restores her life. Okay, again, Whatever.  

A bit earlier in the book we learned of the prophecy that basically says, one of them must die. Okay, Cool. I can get behind that. And then BOOOM the prophecy is erased. Isn’t that kind of like impossible? Isn’t the point of a prophecy is that it’s basically a fixed event, in which it has to play out one of a few ways? The prophecy must happen, but the ending can be changed, it can be fought against. It’s very confusing. Also, how ignorant are these characters, they talk and talk and talk about the prophecy, but neither one of them tells the other that in their version the opposite dies. You would THInk Daire would tell Dace, that in her dream of the prophecy, he’s the one who dies. You would thINK Dace would tell Daire in his version, she dies. That doesn’t happen. Though why, is a fucking mystery. I don’t know how they would be as stupid as wanting to learn everything about a subject, and then not share what they do know with the other. idk, man.

I said i liked this one better than the first, even though i made more rants on this post, I stick to that statement. I would give this one a 3.5. It was better, it was a bit more confusing, but the story was good. I probably won’t reread it, but i will read the others.

Mystic by Alyson Noel

First thoughts on the cover.. I didn’t like it as much as the previous two. I liked that it showed the Key she and Dace wear, but other than that it was a bit blah when compared alongside the previous two.

I’m going to try and save the spoilers for the end of the review. The last thing I want is to ruin someones full experience when reading this series.

In the third part of this saga were introduced to a Mystic by the name of Axel. We get a small glimpse of him towards the end of Echo, when he chooses to save Daire. He resides in the upperworld, and takes a big risk when he saves Daire. Again the descriptions of what these paras are is confusing. It doesn’t really state what a Mystic can do, other than they’re magickal. Yeah, okay, even humans are magickal? Why don’t we just pass around a magic license since it appears everyone is capable?

Daire learns the full truth of what happened to her while in the Enchanted Spring, when she takes herself and her two friends, Lita and  Xiotchel to the middleworld. Because that makes sense. Literally, we learn in the first book that we’re not supposed to tell anyone, let alone take someone into the ethers. So what are we gonna do? We’re gonna take our goddamn friends. Nothing bad seems to happen to them while they’re there, contrary,  Xiotchel can now see shapes.

We follow as Diare tries to save Dace, and succeeds. We learn of Phyre in the previous book, and let me just tell you, the girl is fucking psychotic. Like she’s seriously loony. FULL ON CRAZY BITCH. Okay, granted it’s not entirely her fault, but still..

We see a lot of protecting of Cade in this book. Since the brothers are two halves of a whole, what happens to one, also happens to the other. Unless you’re Cade and you can quickly shapeshift into your monster? Yeah, makes a lot of sense.

As we reach the end, we see Daire and Dace come face to face with death. (ShOCKer) Surprisingly, it’s not technically at the hands of Cade or the Coyotes. We learn Cade is up to his old tricks, and tries, once again, to enslave everyone.

**Bigger Spoilers ahead**

TURN BACK NOW

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Yeah? No?

Anyway, we learn in the first few chapters, Axel is what they call a “Mystic” yeah, cool. We also learn that its a human spirit guide. What was wrong with the animals. Honestly, his purpose (apart from carrying the souls to their eternal resting place) what beyond confusing. We also see Raven, an animal spirit guide, was denied entry when he tried to follow Daire and Axel. Again, ONE WOULD THINK if they’re pretty much the same thing, both would be allowed entrance. Whatever.

Axel is also apparently Dace’s spirit guide. He chose to save Daire, not Dace. It was claimed that by saving Daire, he would in turn save Dace. I honestly didn’t see it that way. In an essence the prophecy was destroyed/rewritten because of him. We learn Daire was in actuality supposed to die that night, and the twins would have been saved. That makes zero sense, but whatever. I mean, wouldn’t it have just been a lot simpler to save Dace? You know, the actual person you’re supposed to be looking out for?

Another thing, we learn in the previous book about Dace being an Echo of Cade. Okay, cool, but then wouldn’t Cade also be an Echo of Dace? You know, because, they’re supposedly connected? Whatever.

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with  Xiotchel atm. It’s not the characters fault, she’s awesome. I blame the writer. We learn shes can now see shapes as well as energy. That’s awesome, good for her, i can get behind that… But in the last few pages of the book, we learn she blew open the doors to get everyone to escape the bomb? I don’t understand the point of making humans magickal. If she is not a paranormal being, if she in only super intuitive, she should not have that fucking ability. It just genuinely makes no sense, and i don’t like it. It gets on my damn nerves. Stop giving magic abilities to people who were not born to have them!

Also, the fucking psycho, Phyre. Why? You can not poision someone over and over throughout their childhood and slowly build up a tolerance… Okay, you technically probably can do that.. but their saliva would not become poisonous. Again, didn’t really make much sense. Whatever.

Paloma dies. Honestly the worst part of the book for me. I really liked her, i thought she was super cute. But seriously, the way she dies. As a reader, i saw it a mile away. I find it incrediably irritating that Daire/Dace/ Xiotchel/Lita didn’t see it coming as well. I mean, honestly, how fucking ignorant can someone be? If the bad guy gives you a fucking gift, you don’t just keep passing it around trying to make sense of it.. You toss that motherfucker in the damn ocean, you bury that shit in the desert…You give it to someone you seriously hate, because you know nothing good is coming of it. Seriously, Alyson? Paloma? Fuck you. She was literally the only good character, apart from my girl Lita, in the damn series.

I’m going to rate this book 3.5 stars. Didn’t get that much better for me. I didn’t find it amazing, found a lot of it annoying, but also wasn’t the worse thing I’ve read. I’m obviously going to continue on to book four, for no other reason than i have to know how it ends. I owe it to myself after the last four days of reading. Also kind of can’t wait to get back to my kindle, I’m remembering why I always select my kindle now.

Horizon - Alyson Noel

This was my favorite cover of the saga. I love the firey dress, gives me serious Katniss vibes. I loved that Dace was farther back on the cover, almost out of view. It played very nicely with the content of Horizon. 

Horizon follows Daire and the gang as they try to rid the world of the Coyote for good. We learn early on, Dace stealing part of his twin brothers soul wasn’t a smart move. (yoU DONT SAy) Dace is now destined to become as evil as his brother, destined to give himself over the beast that now resides in him. He decides to distant himself from the gang... who couldn’t see that one coming... The gang, apart from Daire, are grateful. Apparently they forgot all the glorious moments they’ve had together thus far. 

Daire decides to go along with Cade’s plan and trick him into thinking she’s going to join him. Once again, the Coyote is smarter than the Raven and she fails.

Our dear blind friend is now able to fully see. Except that she honestly can’t. This part was highly annoying for me. I’ll save the spoilers for later. I’m just saying for the character who supposedly has the most balanced head, it wasn’t so level in Horizon. 

Lita is as badass as always. Super in love and happy in this book alongside her new boyfriend, Axel. Axel is now fully human, we’re shown that sorely by the sheer number of bunny fuck sessions the two of them have. Seriously there are like four sex scenes in the first twenty pages.

In the end we find Dace’s beast is no match for Daire’s love. How sickly sweet . Good triumphs over evil once again..

or does it?

Does it? 

Please tell me there isn’t going to be a fucking spin off that’s set to take place seventeen years in the future. I don’t think i can handle it. 

***Spoilers up a head***

Seriously,  Xiotchel? I mean, i’m happy that you can see now and everything... but seriously? I mean how can she be stupid enough to forget the reason she was never under the Coyotes influence was because they need sight in order to have power of people? How is it in the previous books she’s so quick to brag about her never losing herself while they are around? Conveniently, as soon as she gets her sight restored she forgets. I’m just saying, she’s a damn idiot. 

Okay, i get that Axel wants to be with Lita and he chooses to become human. That’s nice, happy for them. But honestly, Axel left so many plot holes that the author conveniently forgot to fix. Firstly, how was Cade able to see Axel during their first meeting? He wasn’t supposed to be able too. Axel even said that’s a mystery he needed to solve. Yeah, it’s never solved. It’s tossed out the window. Speaking of Cade, apparently towards the end, he wasn’t as evil as he was in previous books. When Dace stole a bit of Cades soul, he ended up leaving a bit of his in it’s place. Okay, i honestly figured that would happen. I figured as a result Cade would be less evil. That happened, what i don’t understand is why Cade wasn’t saved at the end. It’s obvious that even though now some light is beginning to shine through his soul, he rejects it. All i’m saying is that he did have the potential to become something more than what he was born to be. For them to snuff him out, right when he had his only real chance.. I don’t know man, that felt wrong to me. 

Daire surprisingly didn’t end up annoying me so much in this installment. Thankfully, she was pretty fucking whiny. 

and the ending was probably the only really great moment in the entire series. After they defeated the last Coyote, i though to myself, “Marliz gon be preggo” Guess what? Marliz was preggo. I liked that it happened that way. The Coyote isn’t completely gone, and in seventeen years, they will be back. Kind of gives the series a bit of actual excitement. Wiping out the Coyote Clan backfired. If only we could have seen Cade’s reaction. Ahaha.

I seriously hope she doesn’t plan a spinoff of Marliz kid. God bless, I’m really not looking forward to reading it. 

I would give this book a 3.9. It would be a 3.5 without the hilarious ending. A rating of 4 would be much too high. The series didn’t get much better for me after the first one. However, it really wasn’t a bad series, and would make for a good read if you’re looking for something light. It’s not the kind of series that draws you in, makes you gasp for air, makes you stay up all night reading. It’s a story to read when you’re dying of boredom, and where their is nothing else on the shelf to pick up. Doesn’t make for a bad one time read. 

[readreviewblog]

Ordinary Angels - India Drummond

After reading Ms. Drummond's previous series, I thought to give this one a try.

First Impressions: The cover was cute. I loved the color palette that was chosen. It gave me that Sookie Stackhouse vibe.(After a google search, I found there was a few different covers.) I wasn't expecting a lot as far as the novel went. I figured it would be just okay, and nothing too amazing.

Book Bit: It was told from the main character, Zoe's perspective. Zoe is what some might call a medium, someone who can communicate with the dead who refuse to pass to the other side. While at work she meets a mailman, Alexander, who isn't a mailman at all. He's secretly an Angel, which is no secret for Zoe because apparently she can sense that he's different. An Angel named Thomas calls Zoe while shes at work asking her to testify at his hearing. She agrees with no problems. With Alexander's Court date looming, tragedy strikes. A coworker of Zoe's ends up dead in the basement of her work, and her good friend a ghost is missing. Zoe must piece together what happened to him with help from Thomas and Alexander.

Rating: I'd give this book a 2.5. I found Zoe to be a bit irksome. I can't really pinpoint what it was about her that annoyed me so much. Maybe it's the fact that she fell "in love" with Alexander after four meetings. Let me start by saying this, okay, I'm all for romance books with speedy love stories, but that's only in certain situations. If the characters are paranormal and it's in their nature to mate, I can understand, I like that even. If it's not in their nature to Mate, or to meet a "soul mate" I don’t like it. I'm all for the pararoma insta love, but for me, it has to be some type of bond. I don't like when two normal people (or pararoma couples) fall obsessively in love in a matter of days. Alexander also kind of got on my nerves a bit. The only character I truly liked was her ghost pal, Henry. The actual story was kind of cute, albeit a bit confusing. It's a light read, only taking me around four hours, so I'm not super disappointed.

*****SPOILERS******

I'm really confused about this. It seems all of Ms. Drummond's work confused me. That being said, I do believe she shows great potential as a writer. She has tons of talent, and her story lines are enjoyable. I just wish she could find a way to explain things better.

There were a few plot holes in this narrative, although, that may have been on purpose. It states at the end of the book that there was a book two planned. I didn't see any mention of it on her Goodreads, I also couldn't find anything related to it on google. Maybe the plot holes were supposed to be made clear in the follow up.

Zoe is called many things in this book: a medium, a seer, and lastly a stalker. I believe it's confirmed she is a stalker by the final page. While she's fighting the halfangel, and the demon, she has this ability to know and see their attacks play out before they happen, giving her the second to move out of the way or counter attack. That's cool. It's not explained why this happens at all. The only theory I could come up with was when she first touched the knife, it started to unlock her Stalker powers. The longer she holds it, the more her powers grow. That would be something I could understand, it's just not explained in the book.

It's also not clear what the doorways are for. Some ghosts are entrusted a key, something they feel strongly drawn too, even if they don't know why. These keys unlock the doorways, but it's not entirely clear on what lies beyond the doorways. It's also how Henry died, which again, i found confusing. I almost swore it said Human's couldn't open the doorways, but living Henry was able to with zero problem. It also said that before Henry died, he was just roaming though one of the passages. It never states what actually caused his death.

One thing i found super annoying about the Insta Love was Zoe's reaction to dating an angel. I'm sorry, but the first rule in dating someone who lives forever, is talking about what's going to happen once they start aging. It never happened here. Does Zoe just expect him to love her when she's old and wrinkled? Never find another love once she's dead? Nope, never explained. Also, do Stalker's live forever? I'm curious how this relationship is supposed to last if the answer is no. Again, maybe that was supposed to be explained in book two.

Oh well.

Don't judge, but I still don't know how to end a review.

Bye. :)