Title: Wicked

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pub. Date: December 8, 2014

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans.

Twenty-two year old Ivy Morgan isn’t your average college student. She, and others like her, know humans aren’t the only thing trolling the French Quarter for fun… and for food. Her duty to the Order is her life. After all, four years ago, she lost everything at the hands of the creatures she’d sworn to hunt, tearing her world and her heart apart.

Continue reading “Book Review: Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy #1)” →

Title: Wait for You

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pub. Date: April 2, 2013

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Continue reading “Book Review: Wait for You (Wait for You #1)” →

Title: Rage and Ruin

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pub. Date: June 9, 2020

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Half-angel Trinity and her bonded gargoyle protector, Zayne, have been working with demons to stop the apocalypse while avoiding falling in love. The Harbinger is coming…but who or what is it? All of humankind may fall if Trinity and Zayne can’t win the race against time as dark forces gather.

As tensions rise, they must stay close together and patrol the DC streets at night, seeking signs of the Harbinger, an entity that is killing Wardens and demons with no seeming rhyme or reason. Forbidden to be with each other, Zayne and Trinity fight their feelings and turn to unusual sources for help—the demon Roth and his cohorts. But as deaths pile up and they uncover a sinister plot involving the local high school and endangering someone dear to Zayne, Trin realizes she is being led…herded…played for some unknown end. As anger builds and feelings spiral out of control, it becomes clear that rage may be the ruin of them all.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the Audible Audiobook.

It’s been maybe 10 hours since I finished listening to this book while at work, and holy crap I’m still not over the ending.

Like, at all.

The last few chapters the hits just kept coming, and then there was that final scene, that final reveal that left me desperate for book 3.

I mean, what the frick?

There’s just something about books that pit Heaven and Hell against each other, in a battle for biblical end times that I love. Freaking give me those fallen angel/arch ngel confrontations and a scheme to create hell on Earth.

I. Am. Here. For. It.

I really enjoyed Storm and Fury when I read it last year – you can check out my review here – but this one had everything. Zayne and Trinity’s relationship was so enjoyable and so much fun to experience, even when things weren’t so great between them. Their chemistry is just So Good.

Jen is the Queen at writing attractive guys, and omfg Zayne doesn’t disappoint.

I want myself a Zayne.

He’s just so good, so sweet, so caring, so incredibly thoughtful. And he tends to have an infinite amount of patience.

I just freaking loved him in this book.

I also really loved Trinity. She’s so antagonistic, just to be antagonistic.

She does a lot of growing and accepting in this book, but true to teenage/young adult form the things she says, or doesn’t say get her into hot water. Navigating the world, minus angelic powers and a Harbinger bringing about the end times is hard enough, so it stands to reason that Trinity has it rough.

So much happens in this book, it never stops. I’m really liking what Jen is doing with this world she created. I loved the White Hot Kiss series and that world, but this current one…it feels so deep and rich and alive.

That could be in part due to the audiobook – which I highly recommend. It legit comes straight to life in your mind. Though, I will say that how the narrator was reading Roth, wasn’t really how I hear him in my head, but still so good. She got Zayne and Trinity’s personalities chemistry on point, and it honestly felt like a movie was playing out in my mind, with a whole cast of actors.

I love the deepening development of the world, and the forces at play. I loved how Trinity masks her hurt and insecurities and fear, until she found release. That moment when the damn broke for her…it was so satisfying.

Her relationship with Zayne was so good. I know I’ve already said that, but it just was. Yes, they both made mistakes, and said some shitty things to one another, but no relationship is perfect. I’m not excusing some of the things they said to each other, because there were a few moments I wanted to smack Zayne…hard, same with Trinity.

There was a moment that Zayne said something hurtful, and made Trinity feel like her worst nightmare had come to life and just made her feel horrible and I wanted to punch him. My breath caught and I felt so sad for her. Out of context it sounds awful, and even in context it wasn’t good, but people tend to say things they don’t truly mean when they’re intensely angry and hurt and when everything seems unfair.

But they were always able to move past, because there are things more important than past words. The fact that they learn to communicate and try to reconcile says so much. I can also understand saying things in the heat of the moment due to intense anger, and realizing that “oops, my bad” but still being angry, and now feeling guilt due to the anger, and not wanting to be the first to apologize can make situations worse. When you have no experience with some things, it can be hard to realize that you’re in the wrong, or that you misunderstood, or that maybe there was a better way to handle things.

So, when that damn breaks…it was just so satisfying, and the scene was adorable. I’d probably react in very similar way if a guy did something that sweet for me.

I really liked the role Layla and Roth played in this book. And I really loved that Jen had to remind us that Roth is a Demon. A Crown Prince, bad MoFo Demon. He’s not some bad soul, turned good by love, he’s legit not a good dude. I found myself actually kind of forgetting that Roth hadn’t “turned” good. There are just some things that are more important, but I wouldn’t want to piss him off.

I love that they have a decent role in this series and weren’t relegated to background side characters. I kind of like the Roth and Trinity dynamic, and I really want to see Layla and her be friends, and share stories about Zayne, purely to embarrass him. It’ll be interesting to see how they react to the ending of this book.

Things are really just starting to heat up, the battle for the end times is on the horizon, and it looks like a curve ball (or two) just landed. I’m beyond excited to see what happens next, what the reasoning is for that final scene of the book, and if the *right side* of history is going to win.

Or is hell on Earth going to reign supreme?

Rage and Ruin is out now, and if you haven’t already, I highly recommend picking up this series, as well as the White Hot Kiss books. If you’re a fan of Angels, Demons and Gargoyle protectors, then you’re definitely going to want to check this out.

Title: From Blood and Ash

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pub. Date: March 31, 2020

Rating: 🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

This will be a spoiler free review.

How do you write a review for a book when internally you’re like this –

I went into this book freaking excited and already knowing I was going to love it. So, it’s not a shocker that I did love it and having finished it, I’m now dying for book 2. With the way this book ended specifically those last couple pages and especially with that last sentence, I need to know what happens next.

A year long wait is going to be torture.

As torturous as a knife to the chest.

This book had everything I love in a high fantasy – high stakes, bad ass heroines, hot knights, traveling in a dark wood, having to sleep together to share body heat, growing to know each other, allowing yourself to live and have what you want, betrayal, sexy moments, snark, sass and some danger…in this case, in the form of vampires! It also has a few other things I really and truly love, but they’re spoilers, so read the book.

If you’re fans of SJM or Elise Kova, you’re going to absolutely love this book. I also love the freaking resurgence of Vampires in YA/Upper YA. In the last 8 months, I’ve read three new YA vamp books, each bringing something different to the table, and each very enjoyable.

From Blood and Ash does not disappoint and if you’re looking for a high fantasy vamp book, put this on your TBR right now. But, if you’re not necessarily looking for a vamp book, but a high fantasy full of sass, snark, chemistry and some badassery, then you’re going to want to put this book on your TBR.

True to JLA fashion, her characters are full of sass, innuendos, snark, chemistry and honestly chiseled by the hand of a God (seriously, the way I imagine Hawke…phew). I love Poppy so much. She goes through so much, but she doesn’t let the trauma define her. She rises above it, against it and uses her anger to good use. She uses her power to control her life – well, the aspects that she can control.

I think I’ve talked about it before on this blog, but I love it when female characters are tough, are badasses, can whoop any solider in a sword fight. I like it when they curse like sailors, and step into what might be a typical “male role”. I also like when those same female characters have moments of weakness, when they’re more the damsel in distress, when they break down and have these soft, emotional moments.

Don’t get me wrong, I love it when the male characters are the same way. Give me soft, emotional moments from the male characters. But I love it when the female character finally breaks down, and stops holding their shit together, stops being strong, and has to be rescued – whether physically rescued, or just held and comforted. I eat that up.

Anyways, I’ve digressed. Let’s talk about Hawke, because holy hell, he might be my new favorite JLA character.

If you liked Roth, if you liked Seth, if you liked Daemon then you’ll love Hawke…though, he puts all three of them to shame. Easily. He’s full of innuendos and dirty thoughts, he’s kind of a glutton for punishment, he pushes buttons unabashedly and he doesn’t let you forget he’s in the room. He’s sexy, in your face and he’s got a thing for Poppy.

I love them.

I will say that I had a little trouble picturing the world – not the specifics, those came to life in my mind – but geographically, I didn’t quite understand the world. I should mention I read an eBook version of this book, so I’m not actually sure if there is a map in this book. I kept having this feeling that it was set in an alternate, or fictitious Europe? I have no idea if that’s accurate, or if it’s a completely made up land. It kind of seemed like it pulled from Greek/Roman mythology, which I’m not complaining about in the slightest, but it made it a little difficult for me to really pinpoint the world. On a whole though, I really liked the world, and the history Jen created. Not entirely sure I’d want to live there, but hey, right now anywhere is better than being stuck at home.

I also really, and I mean really enjoyed the twists in this book. I had my suspicions about a certain character very early on in the book, and when my suspicion proved to be true, I was so damn excited. I was giddy. At no point was I dreading that I would be right. I freaking wanted to be right and I was and now I really, really need book 2 because I really need to know what happens next for Poppy.

So much was brought to light at the end of this book and it flips everything you think you understand as a reader and it was fantastic. I really think Jen outdid herself on this one. I wish I could wipe my mind and reread it for the first time, because omfg. I started this book at like 1:30 AM the other night (because I was tired of waiting to start it, late hour be damned) and I’m pretty sure I stopped reading when the birds started chirping and light was coming in through my window. Then I slept for a few hours, woke up, and went right back to reading. Don’t be like me and start reading at in the middle of the night, but be prepared to read this in one sitting, despite its size because you won’t want to put it down.

This book is already out, so I don’t know what you’re waiting for. You need to read this book; you want to read this book. JLA hits it out of the park with her first foray into High Fantasy, and if you’ve been a fan of her other books, this one isn’t going to disappoint.