World After by Susan Ee Review

Book Nerd Review by Sarahjane

The irresistibly compelling BOOK TWO in the long awaited PENRYN AND THE END OF DAYS series. It is THE book we are all waiting with bated breath to read...

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige.

Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

The World After is a truly horrifying, dangerous and disturbing world. And Penryn is on her own, struggling to cope. She’s a reluctant member of the resistance, and they don’t particularly trust her after her supposedly dead was bought to them by a fallen angel. Her mother is still as mad as a hatter, her sister is the survivor of a barbaric experiment and is somewhat cannibalistic and to top it all off, her only ally (and coincidently her enemy) is no-where to be found. So Penryn must struggle to not only survive but also to cope with the horrors of the world in which she now lives.

Where Angelfall was predominantly about Penryn giving up some of her control and learning to cope and confide in another and the relationship that follows, Angelfall explores what happens when that is taken away. So even though, the action in Angelfall is just as thrilling, for me this was all about the emotional struggle. Penryn can’t come to terms with the changes in her sister, her mother is still as frightening and absent as before and now there’s Clara and vulnerable victims on her travels that Penryn feels bound to protect. To protect humanity.

Now I’m all for a strong feminine character, one who can stand up for herself and her family. But what I like about the World After is that it quite bravely states that you can be a strong and empowered female, but that doesn't mean you can’t ask for help and support. All through the gritty action, which was brilliantly paced and ingeniously written, it was after the battle, that was the most intriguing. If I were Penryn, I am not afraid to admit I would be a hopeless wreck. And as I result I continued reading this praying for Raffe’s return, just so he could offer a shoulder to cry on or a hug…just anything. And each time this didn't happen, and Penryn’s despair is pushed into the vault once more, the world becomes even darker and that much more frightening.

That’s not to say this is a depressing read. Not by a long shot. The action, the danger and the turmoil make it a great page-turner, like its predecessor. And there is some hope, and the promise of more. The next installment promises to be just as gripping and just as addictive… I for one can’t wait!

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Requiem by Jamie McGuire Review

Dreaming of the dead might mean a restless night for anyone, but for Nina Grey it was a warning.

Still healing from her last run-in with Hell, Nina struggles with not only her life as a Brown University student, but also as an intern at Titan Shipping, her father's company. Recurring nightmares about her father's violent death have become a nightly event, but being overwhelmed with guilt from Ryan's unexpected departure to the Armed Forces, and heart ache over Claire being across the ocean to protect him, Nina believes her sleepless nights are the least of her problems—but she's wrong.

Worried about Nina's declining health, Jared must steal back Shax's book for answers. Fighting new enemies, and with the help of new friends, Jared's worst fear comes to fruition. Desperate, he is faced with a choice: Fight Hell alone, or start a war with Heaven.

Book two...if you’ve read the first book based on the above, Well done. You’ve made an excellent choice. If you’re reading this because your still not sure, well be warned, this will contain a whole lot of spoilers.

Unlike Providence, Requiem is set over a much longer period of time, mainly due to the plot. The first book was about the foundations of setting up this relationship, and this book is about the consequences of going against fate in such a way.

Nina and Jared, are a couple against all odds and against fate, however the truth about Nina’s father’s final actions are only just beginning to come to light. With Nina working at her father’s company around her studies at College, she’s a pretty busy person. This isn’t helped by the fact that at night, she’s plagued by nightmares of the night her father died, stealing Shax’s book the first time, and the nightmares show no sign of stopping. Which means one thing, they must get the book back.

Now one of the strengths of Providence was the relationship between Jared and Nina, and in Requiem, this relationship is tested, not by Ryan or any other characters, but because of the nature of the relationship. There’s a pattern to the nightmares and a reason behind them, a warning. A warning that could mean the end of the relationship or their lives.

Now, like I said, this book takes a much larger time span, which works in its favour. The time makes the events much more dire and real, in the readers mind. Yes, McGuire could have taken the option of introducing another conflict, to save her from skipping time and writing about a few months later, but I’m glad she didn’t, because the original conflict is enough, and introducing another would make this messy and confusing. Besides, adding something else to tear this couple apart, would have taken the charm from the characters, and would have seemed like an easy, fools way out.

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Providence by Jamie McGuire Review

In the old world shadows of Providence, Rhode Island, Nina Grey finds herself the center of a war between Hell and Earth.

Struggling with her father’s recent death, Nina meets Jared Ryel by chance…or so she believes. Although his stunning good looks and mysterious talents are a welcome distraction, it soon becomes clear that Jared knows more about Nina than even her friends at Brown University. When questions outnumber answers, Jared risks everything to keep the woman he was born to save—by sharing the secret he was sworn to protect.

When her father’s former associates begin following her in the dark, Nina learns that her father is not the man she thought he was, but a thief who stole from demons. Searching for the truth behind her father’s death, Nina stumbles upon something she never expected—something Hell wants—and only she holds the key.

So the story follows Nina Grey after the death of her father in a car accident, while struggling to come to terms with his death, she meets Jared, a kind stranger who shares a cab with her, so she can get back home. After this initial chance meeting, Nina and Jared can’t help but keep bumping into one another. And its clear Jared knows more than his letting on…

Now, I will admit that there is a trend in books being released at the moment, with “over protective” and slightly “stalkerly” male protagonists, (think Twilight Edward), that I tend to be two minds about, (Good- Every girl wants a guy to whip her off her feet, declare love and protect her…I blame Disney, Bad- What happened to female empowerment?!?!) with this book, I completely forgot about my reservations with this type of romance/male character. McGuire has conjured this world; were the back-story, the elements of supernatural, just make these apprehensions vanish. Yes, at first you find it a little weird and McGuire never makes it seem normal and common place, but as the story evolves, you warm to Jared’s character, in a way I haven’t for male characters recently, and you strive for these two characters to make it as a couple, with every word that McGuire writes. What is more the relationship is so addictive; you won’t be able to put the book down.

The plot flows naturally, there’s a lot of action at the end, and where I would argue with some books, that this would make the ending seem rushed and haphazard, it doesn’t here. The focus of the book is the relationship, and the relationship is crucial to the plot, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of conflict to keep the story going, but if there had been conflict, like that at the end all the way through, the book would not have had the same intoxicating effect, and the relationship between the characters, of both Nina and Jared, and the relationship they create with you, would not have been same. It would have led to a lot of story, but no connection, which makes the difference between a good book, and a great book.

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Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness Review

It began with A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.

Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.

Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...

Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew once more in this stunning, richly imagined, epic tale.

Shadow of Night starts at exactly the same point the A Discovery of Witches ended. With Diana Bishop and Matthew De Clarimont successfully time walking to Elizabethan England. Where things haven’t gone exactly to plan. Time-walking with Matthew has meant that his former self has disappeared, and so Matthew and Diana, must reenact his former life, as Elizabethan spy, member of the Shadow of Night and his commitments to his vampire family, otherwise who knows what world they would return too. As the reader already learns how their trip is affecting the lives of their family and important historical documents.

And lets not forget the original reason for such a journey, Diana needs to learn how to use her powers, and use them well, which will take her on a journey of self discovery, and then there is the need to find Ashmole 782.

There is a lot happening in this novel, and yet the story and plot is not overwhelming. It’s a long read, don’t get me wrong, but Harkness consistently presents the reader with a new development, a new twist, which just like A Discovery of Witches makes it very difficult to put down. Honestly, until you try to explain what is going on in the novel, you don’t actually realize how much is going on. Which may sound like a negative, but to me that’s one of the greatest things about this book, because that just proves that this world, is unquestionable, and the characters superb because you follow their journey through loyalty and genuine concern.

The characters too, will draw you in. Including such prolific historical characters, and giving them supernatural characters, was a brave step. But its flawless, you do actually believe that Christopher Marlow is a daemon, and you don’t question otherwise.

The only issue, which genuinely annoys me is the end…it leaves you begging for more, and while Deborah Harkness completes the story herself, I wait, impatiently…increasingly impatiently. To find out how the journey ends. But I guess that’s just another sign that this is a truly wonderful book.

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Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire Review

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

I have read this book twice. Twice.

Because it is just that good, and strangely addictive. I saw strangely because I don't normally read this genre of book. I like YA. I like the supernatural. I like that..."jazz" that a good book has. That certain something that gradually pulls you in, nurtures you, gets you to start reading, going with the flow and then before you know it BOOM! Your in hook, line and sinker and you don't even know exactly when or where it happened. It just did. It's that "Jazz" that McGuire pulls of flawlessly here.

So this story follows the story of Abby Abernathy, who at first glance appears to be a a good girl, prim and proper, a modern day Downton Abbey Lady. Told from Abby's perspective, we see Abby meet Bad boy, fighter Travis Maddox, notorious ladies man (and his not afraid to show it! ) and how there subsequent relationship grows and changes. Now, The bio does say "Suffering from Fifty Shades withdrawal symptoms? " and this is me telling you to ignore that tag line....completely! Because this is a million times better. Period.

Don't get me wrong, there are similarities. There's sex in it for one. And yes, Travis Maddox is a passionate, but his not Christian Grey obsessive. But the major difference is the fact that McGuire's style of writing is superior just like her characterisation. As a reader i genuinely cared for these characters. Both Abby and Travis have their flaws, they know and understand these flaws and they try to overcome them. And for me thats at the crux of this novel. Yes, it's a romance, but the central element of this story is the characters themselves, and how they grow and develop, so that they're both in the right place to finally and hopefully get the romance on! I say this, because i have read reviews that want to slate this book because of the seemingly "possessive and obsessive love," And yes, I don't like how women are being portrayed an image of the ideal man being a bossy and domineering biggot, but this isn't that sort of story.

Both Travis and Abby have trust issues. Abby can't trust Travis because of her past experiences. Travis can't trust himself. He constantly says he doesnt deserve Abby, which just highlights his self loathing, but that doesn't make him the next Christian Grey. Both Abby and Travis grow in this novel, and although you see and understand the changes more significantly with Abby, (thats ok, because the sequel is told from Travis' point of view) both characters learn something about themselves, each other and the nature of love and relationships. And as the characters develop, if your like me, you'll be shouting at the book egging it on, willing the characters to get together already. But the point is, they can't, not until their both of the same page, and its McGuire's ability to depict this, that makes so compelling. I literally couldn't put this book down, because i knew how i wanted it to end, McGuire knew how her readers wanted it to end, but despite this, and the pressure to please an audience, McGuire still kept the narrative natural and realistic and frustratingly good.

Even the best friends are just amazing, as Shepley and America are in a way, the reader included in the story. They see what we see, they want what we went, and yet, they're in the same awkward position we're in, where they can butt in and knock their heads together.

This book, is just a must read! Don't be put off by the 50 Shades tag, this book is so much better than that. Likewise, if you've read 50 shades, that doesn't mean you won't like this book. This book is amazing, and I'm sure you'll enjoy this so much more. So go, get this book and read it now! Stop reading this, and just buy it! Buy it!!!!!!!!!

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