Waiting on Wednesday: Fates by Lanie Bross

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that we are anxiously awaiting is FATES by Lanie Bross.  It will be released February 11, 2014 from Delacorte Books for Young Readers.
 

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What if your destiny was to kill the one you love?

One moment. One foolish desire. One mistake. And Corinthe lost everything.

She fell from her tranquil life in Pyralis Terra and found herself exiled to the human world. Her punishment? To make sure people’s fates unfold according to plan. Now, years later, Corinthe has one last assignment: kill Lucas Kaller. His death will be her ticket home.

But for the first time, Corinthe feels a tingle of doubt. It begins as a lump in her throat, then grows toward her heart, and suddenly she feels like she’s falling all over again—this time for a boy she knows she can never have. Because it is written: one of them must live, and one of them must die.

In a universe where every moment, every second, every fate has already been decided, where does love fit in?

 

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I love the ones where there is a hint of Greek myth, so when I saw a book about a girl (who I am assuming is a Fate or related to a Fate), I got very excited.  Too bad it doesn't come out until next year!!

Mini Review: Fallen In Love by Lauren Kate

Fallen In Love by Lauren Kate
Published by Delcorte BFYR
On Shelves Now
Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say:  For a novella with such great promise, it fell disappointingly flat

Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.

And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they
least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce
will spend a night together like none other.

Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.

True love never says goodbye. .

I found these short stories interesting to read--you really get some insight into some of the characters in the Fallen series. But, I found when I was finished, my overall reaction was merely, "meh."

Surprisingly, the best part was Roland's short story. If I were rating the book just on that story, it would have gotten 5 stars. I loved seeing how Roland's past choices consume his present self, and after choosing Lucifer, he can still feel love, shame, and sorrow. Hopefully we can see more of this Roland in Rapture!

What bothered me?

I got bogged down in all the details again--just like in Passion. There were entire pages that I just skimmed because it was description after description after description. There was a point I wanted to yell, "Get to it already!"

And the story I really wanted to see more of....Luce and Daniel, was the one with not enough details!  It was shorter than the rest, and the passion and depth just weren't there. 

Nonetheless, if you like the Fallen series, you should still check this out, just for the sake of seeing a little deeper into the psyche of the angels. 

Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay

Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay

ARC received from Delacorte BFYR via Edelweiss

Release Date:  10-9-2012

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Sinister and Sharp

All will be revealed for fans who have breathlessly awaited the sizzling sequel to Juliet Immortal. This time Romeo takes center stage and gets one chance, and one chance only, to redeem himself.

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

Romeo Redeemed is the sequel to Juliet Immortal, only this time, the story is told from Romeo’s point of view.  Romeo is tasked with making Ariel fall in love with him.  And what happens if he succeeds?  He gets to be an Ambassador of Light.  While there were definite flaws throughout the book, it truly did live up to its name and redeem Romeo in my eyes.

There were parts of this story that were really interesting, and I enjoyed getting to see inside Romeo’s head.  I found myself feeling sorry for him, even after his centuries of evil-doing.  Now is he a character that I will remember after a year or two?  Probably not.  While it was enjoyable to read about his struggle, I do not see myself thinking back to this book much in the future.

What did I enjoy?

The best thing about Romeo Redeemed is the game of cat and mouse that is played between Romeo and both the Mercenaries and the Ambassadors.  The game is full of suspense, and you will constantly be wondering who are the true bad guys.

Ariel was also intriguing—she’s so full of anger, yet she wants to be good.  However, at times, that anger takes full control of her and she loses herself.  I really feel for her after seeing the way she is treated at school and by her “friends,” and I don’t blame her for not trusting people.   I did find the parts of the book where we see her point of view a bit unreliable, though.  Of course, this could have been a conscious decision by Stacey so that the suspense stayed at a high level.

What are the book’s flaws?

The major flaw I saw was with the short moments where we are transported back in time to see Juliet.  There are only a hand full of times where we see her, and you don’t know what the heck is going on until the book is almost over.  We saw that she ended up happy in Juliet Immortal, but when we first see her in Romeo Redeemed, everything has changed and she is back in the tomb and the Friar won’t let her out.  It took me a while to figure out that the timeline had been messed up by Nurse.  I think Stacey should have done something to make this more clear so that when Juliet pops back into the action, you aren’t left wondering what is happening.

I also felt the ending was rushed—we got to see inside Romeo’s head in a sort of epilogue, but we don’t see anything about Juliet’s future.  I don’t know if a new one is expected (although I don’t know where a next novel would be able to lead), but I felt like Juliet’s part of the story was left unfinished.

Overall, I enjoyed the book enough to finish it, although it did take me a few days.  Most books I am able to finish in a day or two, but I had to space myself out with this mainly to keep from getting too frustrated with the characters and the holes in the story. 

Fans of Juliet Immortal should read this just so they can see Romeo’s inner workings—we see why he did the things we did, and we see a side of him that is never shown in Juliet Immortal.

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

ARC received by Delacorte Books for Young Readers via Netgalley

Release Date:  6-12-12

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Seductive, Sinister, and Spine-tingling

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

Where you ever afraid to go into the water when you were young?  I know I was terrified—even of the deep end of the swimming pool where you could see all the way to the bottom.  Was this just an irrational fear?  Forget all your Ariel notions of mermaids and dive straight into your childhood phobia!  After reading Anne Greenwood Brown’s Lies Beneath, you will never look at mermaids the same again.

I’ve seen quite a few mixed reviews about this book, comparing the plotline to Twilight but just with mermaids.  I absolutely disagree!  There was nothing in this book that screamed Edward to me.  From Chapter 1, I was mesmerized by the idea of these monstrous mermaids.  It was like stepping through the looking glass hoping to find a beautiful wonderland, but instead falling into a dark, ominous fantasy full of deadly creatures.  I really enjoyed Brown’s macabre underwater world, in fact, I was in the middle of reading this when a tornado outbreak was starting to occur (I live in Tornado Alley), and instead of hiding in a safe room below the stairs, I stayed on the couch and read, determined to fight down any tornadoes that might impede my finishing the book! (I’m not crazy, promise.)

I really enjoyed the character development—even the evil characters.  Calder White and his sisters are out for revenge on Jack Hancock, and even though Calder is one of the bad guys (or just in a Catch-22 situation), I felt myself rooting for him.  He’s gorgeous, mysterious, arrogant, and dark—a wonderful combination in a young adult guy.  And I love him even more as he starts to fall for Lily and we begin to see a different side of the monster.  I know there's plenty in store for Calder in the future, and I can't wait to see more of his chillingly sultry personality!

Calder’s three sisters are perhaps my favorite characters.  You would think that mermaids would be similar (at least in some regards) to humans, but these three are truly inhuman, capable of the most treacherous evil.  I (along with my sisters) have always been fans of the villain--I mean, who doesn't wish for all-consuming power every now and again.  Am I alone here??  There is something about the sisters that I found intriguing, and I can’t wait to see more of them in the next installment.

And then there’s the damsel in distress, Lily, who proves to be anything but “in distress.”  She’s calculating and doesn’t fall for the gorgeous guy right away.  It isn’t some “love at first sight” type of thing, which is a nice change of pace.  We get to see Lily’s strengths and flaws, which makes her a great heroine.

With the enormous amounts of paranormal romance novels out there, it is nice to see something fresh and different.  Brown takes the perfect fantasy world, the one where we all pretended we were Ariel on the side of the pool and would shoot up out of the water singing, “Part of Your World,” and she completely turns it upside down, adding hatred, revenge, murder, and deceit. 

Dive into her world, and you won’t regret it!