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Ancient Powers (The Helsing Society book 5)

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

I’ve loved every other book in this series so it’s no surprise that this one is another success! But with this one, I guess you could say I had a bunch of realizations of why I love this series so much. After reading some slower-paced books I realized that my favorite part of this series is that it’s fast-paced. I never get bored and I’m constantly excited to see what happens next. Another thing I noticed while reading this one is that I quite enjoy when there are the quick little takes on modern society from the character’s viewpoints. It makes the characters seem more real, which is always a bonus. The last thing that I appreciate is surprising to me since I’m a person who has never smoked in their entire life and honestly has no desire to, but I actually really enjoy weed’s importance in this story. I think that’s because putting it in a supernatural story is a fun way to learn about a different communities culture.

Now that I’ve talked about all the sweet nice stuff that I like, let’s now talk about the shit that I love to hate!!!! FUCKING CLIFFHANGERS! Oh my gosh, I was living a nice peaceful life about to enjoy the date I’d been waiting, 6 books for, and then BAM everything was ruined! I am so damn glad that after finishing this book I learned that the next book comes out the next day. Because if I had to wait for an extended period for this to be fixed I would have rioted. And man if I don’t get my real ass date by the end of book 6… oh man will I be mad.

So this addition to The Helsing Society gets a 9 out of 10 (would have been 10 out of 10 but my long-awaited date was ruined… grrrrrrr)

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Dance of Thieves Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

Time to add another flawless addition to my collection!!! Everything in this book was to die for, and I can’t wait to read the next one. I don’t even know where to start since I loved it all, so this is going to be in a very random order. Oh, first off loved the maps every book should include maps if it’s a fantasy world(especially if it’s beautifully done and detailed like this one). But the map was a small fry compared to the amazingness of Jase and Kazi. They were amazing separate but even better together. That’s because they are the perfect example of a couple that challenges each other, which in turn makes them both better people. This book is also another remarkable example of how I prefer to consume romance books. That way is that all the other intrigue, action, and plot twist make the romance seem like a happy prize at the end and not the only focus. I just like it better when a book’s only focus isn’t just romance and Dance of Thieves excelled at the perfectly.

I even had an almost sadomasochistic relationship with the pain of not knowing if Jase and Kazi would end up together. It was soooooo fucking stressful, hoping against all hope that everything will work out but not seeing how it possibly could. At one point, it was so bad that I did something I try to never do, I skimmed the last page just to see if they were talking nicely together. I know I’m terrible, but even when I had that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to look out for it was still stressful. And I loved every painful second of it! (Although I do hope I never have to go through that again in the next book.)

There are even more minor details that I was extremely fond of, such as the riddles, the repetition of certain thoughts, and of course the tattoos. I am a humongous sucker for characters with tattoos, especially huge cool-ass tattoos. Basically, I couldn’t get enough of this book and think it 100% gets a 10 out of 10.

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One Dark Window Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

This book is going straight into the I can’t wait to read the sequel pile! There are so many parts of this book that I loved, so let us go ahead and jump right in on my favorite parts. My third favorite part of this book had the perfect combination of action and romance; as a reader who usually prefers the romance as a subplot and not the main plot, it was perfect. The second one is of course the type of magic this book has created. I’m always a sucker for a new type of magic that I haven’t come across before, it gives my imagination something new to think about. And my all-time favorite part of One Dark Window is the main characters and their relationship.

I feel like when many books try to make a strong female lead, she tends to be arrogant or the epitome of “I don’t need your help, can do it myself”. Which is fine sometimes, but I prefer when she is confident but is 100% willing to have help. Another thing I enjoyed about the couple was that in terms of power whether magically or physically they were equal in my eyes. The relationship didn’t feel unbalanced at all which I love to see. I can’t get enough of this book and am eagerly waiting for the sequel, 9 out of 10.

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Red Rising Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

I absolutely loooooooved this book, which was surprising since sci-fi isn’t my number one genre. But I think the fact that this book flawlessly blended a futuristic society with an ancient Roman society allowed it to create a slight fantasy feel to it that I thoroughly enjoyed. And that’s not the only thing I loved about this book because I literally loved everything about this book. I was on edge the whole time wondering how Darrow was going to survive(because I knew/hoped he had to due to there being more books), let alone win. But what truly had me stressing was knowing that Darrow was going to have to change to win but at the same time wanting him to stay true to himself. Oh wait, there was one other thing that had me on the edge of my seat more, and that is wishing that out of all of Darrow’s friends that at least Sevro lives. Honestly, if all of his friends died but Sevro still lived I would have been content(sad but content). I love that crazy little guy and so so so so hope that he stays alive and more importantly loyal to Darrow in the rest of the books. (if he doesn’t my heart is going to break)

Now, if you held a gun to my head and told me to say something bad about Red Rising I guess I would say that the passage of time was vague. But then that would be a lie because even the vagueness of how much time has passed only helped show how little control Darrow had of his life after he agreed to the mission. Basically, all of this boils down to this book being an absolutely positively perfect 10 out of 10.

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The Queen’s Assassin Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

I decided to take a break from my Kindle recently and read some physical books for a change, wild I know! Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the book, I do have to say that I think I liked this book as a whole but was pretty disappointed/annoyed with certain parts. I also do think that I’ll enjoy the sequel a lot more when/if I ever read it.

So, there are 3 things, tropes, clichés, whatever you call them, that kept me from loving this book. While Cal is a bit guilty of them, most of the problems revolve around Shadow. First and foremost is how Shadow acts when she first meets Cal, specifically thinking he’s arrogant and trying to tell him what to do, and getting mad when he doesn’t listen to her. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, “bitch, he doesn’t know you, and you’re the one that wanted to be his apprentice. Why are you trying to tell him what to do?”. It’s like she has no clue what being someone’s apprentice entails, aka doing what the mentor says and; not getting mad when they say they know more than you because they do!

The second and third things that really really really annoyed me both dealt with romance cliches. First was how Shadow (and Cal to a much lesser extent) got jealous when the other flirted/kissed the marks. I’m fine with jealousy in books when it’s more playful/not serious, but I got super aggravated when Shadow got unreasonably jealous when Cal had to kiss the duchess. I was just like, “girl, what do you expect. Trying to seduce the targets is part of the job of being an assassin/spy.”. I would have loved it if instead of getting jealous, they both joked and teased each other about the flirting instead. The second cliche that got to me was how they both assumed the other didn’t like them till the end. This one wasn’t as bad, but it’s just an overdone plot device in my mind, so I would have preferred it if it didn’t happen in the first place.

Even though I am interested in reading the next book I have to only give this one a 5.5 out of 10.

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The Lance Brody Series Books 0-7 Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

It took a while but I finally finished the whole box set that I got on my Kindle. So I’m going to share my thoughts on the series as a whole. My overall feeling was that this was a good series but I keep flipping back and forth on whether or not I liked certain parts of the series. The first part I was conflicted about was Lance’s abilities, specifically that they all were basically just mental powers and no actual physical powers. Throughout the whole series, I kept switching my mind on whether I liked that it was just mental powers or if I was sad that Lance didn’t have anything like telekinesis. But I think ultimately in the end I found it refreshing, I also enjoyed the fact that he had absolutely no clue how everything worked. That just made me laugh the whole time.

I wasn’t necessarily conflicted about whether I liked it or not about the other part of the series I wanted to talk about, but I definitely have strong feelings about it. And that is the fact that Lance was the Universe’s puppet and it seemed like he had only 10% free will. I kept getting annoyed that Lance never had a huge blowout complaining about how shitty it is that it seems like nothing was truly just his decision. I know that that’s not the type of person Lance and he accepts that’s how his life is most of the time but I still would have liked a scene like that since that’s how I was feeling the whole time. I was getting aggravated on Lance’s behalf that every little decision he made seemed to have importance and that nothing was truly random. But kind of like the powers part I also found that very interesting.

All in all, I give this series a 7 out of 10, very entertaining to read.

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Vision Quest (The Demon’s Apprentice 3) Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

Slowly making my way through this series and so far it hasn’t disappointed. As always I’m loving the characters and the magic but I noticed something that I really like about this series after reading this one. What I realized is that to me this series toes the line perfectly between being considered an adult fantasy book and a YA fantasy. It has that feeling that it could be a great book for all ages, which I love. Another thing that I’m a big fan of is Chance being the type of character that both does it on his own but also uses any help he can get. It always leads to the bad guy being fucked because they don’t expect the MC to bring help which is always entertaining.

While I’m loving this series so far there was one thing that annoyed me in this book. That, of course, is my disappointment that Winthrop didn’t stay a massive douche the whole time! I was looking forward to having that one character who’s a douche but not an asshole(there’s a difference). You know, the type of character that everyone loves to hate but still doesn’t want to see die? That’s what I was hoping Winthrop was going to be, but sadly he had to go and be a semi-decent person. But in all seriousness, I give this book an 8 out of 10 and I can’t wait to see what else happens, especially when Chance goes to magic school.

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Fate of the West (The Helsing Society book 4)

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

I absolutely loved the first 3 books so it’s no surprise that I adore the 4th just as much. So, instead of talking about how much I love the whole book vaguely, so as to not spoil anything, this time I’m just going to share my thoughts on specific parts of this one. I’m going to get this one out of the way first… if Dylan and Megan don’t finally have an actual real date in the next book I’m rioting! But really, I love how they both are acting like they’re not already a couple when they clearly are. Forget “enemies to lovers”, I love “we both madly love each other and just need an hour by ourselves to confess our undying love” and Dylan and Megan fit that perfectly.

I am also all for the fact that it’s looking like Krista is being saved to be the big bad endgame instead of some super-powerful monster we don’t know yet. There’s just something I like about when the cockroach character keeps getting away until they inevitably get what’s coming to them. It makes that moment when karma finally gets them that much sweeter.

The last thing I have to say about this amazing book and series is that I know when I truly love a series when I start creating my own head-cannon scenes about the characters, and surprise surprise have now reached that point in this series! So obviously, I give this book a 10 out of 10.

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Echo Volume 4: The Last Edge of Darkness

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

Last but certainly not least, time for the final review of the Echo series. Right off the bat, I have to say thank fucking god this book had a good ending! By a good ending, I don’t mean satisfying(cliffhangers can be satisfying so that’s different), I mean an ending where everyone(mostly) is happy and healthy. I’ve said this in other reviews but I will forever be a massive sucker for a happy ending, especially after the mc has been through hell and back. And this book definitely gave that to me. On another note, the descriptions of the fights and anything in the mindscape were excellently confusing. By that I mean I could practically imagine how trippy it would be in movie form.

The one thing that I was conflicted about was the amount of existentialism in this volume. One on hand it was a little too much for me while on the other hand, it was pretty entertaining thinking about something I’ve never thought about before. But what I think I settled on was that even if it was confusing at times it was a nice change from the usual books I read. Altogether this book was a great finale for this series and I give it a 9 out of 10.

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Echo Volume 3: The Dialectic of Agony Review

Posted on by kimberlyheskett

At this point, I’ll settle for Atriya just being healthy. I’ll forget about the whole being happy and healthy as long as he can be healthy! Not only was I stressing about Atriya’s physical and mental health I was also on a(pretty fun) roller-coaster ride of intense fights followed by calming lulls the whole time. Normally I’m not a huge fan of when books switch perspectives(I’m usually trying to hurry up reading so I can get back to the person’s perspective I like better) but for some reason, I quite liked it switching between Atriya and Verus. I think that might be because I found it really funny when Atriya was super confused about the psychic things happening to him but as the reader, we of course know what’s going on since we get both perspectives. I’m pretty sure I caught myself whispering “I know something you don’t know”, which is always amusing.

Atriya is also quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. He’s got that whole badass with a heart of gold thing going for him and I of course can’t forget the newly white hair. I will fully admit that I am a huge sucker for white hair, especially when it wasn’t white before! You give a character who was already great with normal hair, white hair and they become amazing to me. That’s just one of my little superficial moments when I’m reading a book. But on my last and non-superficial note the epilogue for this book hit me so hard in the feels. All of a sudden I found myself crying and in turn that makes me very excited about how this series is going to end. So, I think this book definitely deserves a 9 out of 10.