Review: Countdown - By Michelle Rowen

Website

Release Date: 10/1/2013

Purchase Info: Amazon - B&N

3 seconds left to live.

Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped.

2 pawns thrown into a brutal underground reality game.

Kira Jordan survived her family's murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won savvy and a low-level psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis.

1 reason Kira will never, ever trust Rogan. Even though both their lives depend on it. Their every move is controlled and televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira's psi skill unexpectedly grows and Rogan's secrets prove evermore deadly, Kira's only chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if that means running head-on into the one trap she can't escape.

GAME OVER

Thrilling, suspenseful & completely AWESOME! 

Countdown was something that blew my expectations out of the water from the page one. I never would have thought a novel like this would get me so emotionally involved with the characters. Yes you’re scared for them, it’s intense, but somewhere I lost all those emotions and saw 2 people who needed each other much more than they needed to complete the next level.

 Kira has complete independence, but not by choice. Plucked from her every day life, she is now reliant on Rogan and their ability to work as a team. 

I loved that Rogan knew things Kira didn’t, and vice versa. With a mixture of “special talent”, loop-holes, decoys, and situations that I never would have thought imaginable, you have an atmosphere ready for something extraordinary. Having the entire book from Kira’s P.O.V. was great, considering she’s the one who’s being given the short end of the stick in this deal, her prospective was not only funny, but truly refreshing.

Review: Stone Guardian - By Danielle Monsch (Entwined Realms #1)

Author: Danielle Monsch

Website

Release Date: 7/3/2013

Purchase Info: Amazon ~B&N 

Gryphons flying past skyscrapers? Wizards battling it out in coffeehouses? Women riding motorcycles with large swords strapped to their backs? All normal sights since the Great Collision happened twenty-six years ago.

Well, not normal for everyone. Larissa Miller may have been born after the Great Collision, but as a history teacher who lives in the human-only city, she has never come into contact with any other race or species, nor has she wanted to. Her life is as ordinary as it gets - that is, until one day she walks out of her apartment and is attacked by a mob of Zombies, only to be saved by a Gargoyle.

Gargoyles trust no one outside their Clan, but due to a cryptic prophecy, Terak, Leader of the Gargoyles, has been watching over the human woman for months. While he can find no reason why the woman has been singled out, something about her stirs every protective instinct within him. When the attack confirms that the threats against her exist and are real, he convinces Larissa that though their races have never been allies, the best chance of discovering why she has been brought into his world is by working together.

In the course of their investigation Terak becomes entranced by his little human. But when he discovers why Necromancers want her and the great reward that awaits him if he betrays her, he must choose between the welfare of his Clan and not only Larissa’s life, but the fate of this New Realm as well.

Surprisingly Sexy!

 Stone Guardian was exactly what my inner bookie wanted! Lately I had been reading a lot of YA, so the blend of naughty, magic and forbidden love, fit me like a glove!

First, I have to say, can I pleeeeeeease be stalked by an overbearing Gargoyle? 
Sound like a strange request right? That was honestly my very first thought when reading Terak's thoughts about Larissa..."How is this going to work? Dude, made of a stoney substance, with a tail I might add, romantically involved with a human chick??"....then of course, like a plot genius, the author writes something in that TOTALLY blew my mind. 

Yep, never saw it coming! And just like that it sweeps you away into this whirlwind relationship.

 I can't lie, Terak & Larissa have me in awe of them. Not only do they share a burning hot romance, but their values & morals are so equal I can't help but admire them a little. At times they both teeter on the line of ,~ What's best for me ~ and ~ What's best for those around me~, genuinely struggling with it in their hearts. Having each other made them realize what's important,and trusting each other made the choices clear.

Ok, now give me a minute to gush about my favorite supporting character, Fallon. I personally have decided she is one of thee top bad-ass female warrior characters I have ever met! She's a statuesque,  giant sword wielding, ginger, who does what she wants & when she wants to. Her part in protecting Larissa is key, though killing everything in her way is what I truly like about Fallon.

Speaking of keeping Larissa safe, who wants to kidnap her anyways?? Trust me when I say you would never have remotely thought of this motive...like ever! Seriously, each possible scenario, with about a million different villains ran through my mind. That is except the one it really was!

Danielle made the plot in this book flow like the Nile, because I swear there wasn't a dull moment at all! If I didn't have 3 kids & work 40+ hours a week I would have stayed up ALL night to finish it! Each character made me want to read a book specifically about them. This world that was created is absolutely beautiful, twisted and edgy, all at once. 
I've already hounded Danielle about when book #2 will be out, plus who it will center around, and I for one can not wait to see where she takes this series!

5/5