I enjoyed Winterkill more
581534
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Darkthaw is the sequel to Winterkill, a strange little dystopian that has all the creepy atmosphere and suspense of The Village but with some religion thrown in that rivals the Puritans in The Crucible. If you haven't read Winterkill, Darkthaw will make very little sense. I'm going to be honest when I say I did read Winterkill, and Darthaw still made very little sense to me. In all honesty, I feel like the author lost her way in this book. What I enjoyed most about the first book was the mystery of what lies beyond the walls, and it is hard to finally reveal the world beyond that wall and let it live up to what readers built up in their own imaginations. I also found that this book felt a little aimless. What was meant to be an important journey was lost to subplots that didn't clearly move the story forward, and I struggled to make clear connections with the events and character growth as well. The story became convoluted when too many characters and groups showed up, giving readers little sense of who or what the protagonist was fighting against or for. I think the story would have been much stronger if a clear antagonist had stepped forward instead of four maybe friend/maybe foe groups. There was a bit of the Deus ex machina in the climax of the story as well. I don't think that has to be considered a bad thing, but it added to the feeling that the author wasn't fully sure where this story was headed. While the resolution did wrap up the journey, I was a little baffled by the last pages, and if can't see where the series is headed. What I can say is that there was a lot of action, so if that was really what the author was aiming to add to the series, it was a successful ploy. However, I felt like other, more importat elements were sacrificed, and in the end, it felt more like a trail of uncertain horror than a real journey towards a resolution to the series. Language and situations are appropriate for high school readers.
3251020
Desperate for something to read in the dead of winter, I was recommended the Midnight Breed series. I like my reads contemporary, unpredictable, unpretentious and HOT!  Did I say HOTTT?  I like the premises of these Vampire's background, these introductory characters are pretty close to what I crave, but I did have to keep fighting against the BDB comparisons  I often felt.  While I expected the Intro book to really sweep me away, I was a bit underwhelmed, and the ending was far too abrupt for me.  I was looking for several more chapters, once our Hero got to his moment.  I did notice the next book got better ratings, so I'm hopeful, and am continuing.
** The author also just posted a free Novella, " A Touch Of Midnight"  a prequel of the series, so I'm reading that now. Perfect timing for me, I must say, Thank you!
1823298
I must admit that I wasn't too thrilled with the last few books in the Crewel World series. Generally, I was happiest in the early part of the series, when Betsy was in her shop, working with Godwin, dealing with her cat, and interacting with her fellow crafters. And this novel returns to what I like best.

The story revolves around the murder of two seemingly unrelated women, both homeless, both found frozen in the snow of a Minnesota winter. Betsy is again approached by one of her customers, who is under suspicion by the local police, who asks her to find out what really happened. Betsy manages to outwit the police, find out the real story, and bring the assailant to justice.

What I like best about these books (other than the fact that needlework is always in the background) is that Betsy is an average, middle-aged woman with average middle-aged problems (arthritis, man-trouble, etc.) The characters are well drawn, there isn't too much violence, and you enjoy the craft shop and its regulars (and can pick up some needlework tips along the way).

There are a number of reasons why I don't give this a higher, 5-star rating. No police officer would allow a civilian to put herself in jeopardy as happens in this story. Too many people volunteer information to Betsy (if she asked me some of these questions, I'd tell her to mind her own business) and I often feel I'm being preached to - in this case, the plight of the homeless. However, even with these drawbacks, the book is a pleasant read - a fun way to while away the time on a winter's evening. But, frankly, I doubt I'd remember much about the story a month from now.
353854
I initially gave this book five stars but am updating it to four because Ive realized I am less interested in going back and rereading Winterfall compared to the previous books in the Demon Accords.
1885786
I liked it, but I think the first novelle of the series was better. Still, I am looking forward for the third book!
3858384
Its been so long since I last read the summary of Girls Made of Snow and Glass that I forgot what it was actually about when I began reading it. The only thing I remembered was that it was a retelling and that someone was made of snow and someone might be made of glass.

But thats wasn't surprising, I tend to forget the summary of books by the time I get around to reading them What was surprising though, was for me to find this book in the young adult section of my library, not because of the content or the story itself, but because of how it looks. The size of Girls Made of Snow and Glass is a lot wider and taller than typical young adult books, I feel like if I were to judge it on size alone, I would assume it was an adult book. And the cover doesnt make me think of young adult books because its so simple but I think its a beautiful cover and the story itself seemed to be young adult since the main main character is a teen.

It was hard for me to get into Girls Made of Snow and Glass, it was so SO slow. I know not every book can be action and battle and betrayal but it took about 155 pages for the story to really get to the point, then it slowed down again and picked up once more. For me, this book was more of a commitment, I almost stopped reading it because of how slow it was but I pushed through because I loved the whole idea of the book and the world Lynet and Mina live in. The only part, other than the slowness, that I was disappointed in was the reveal of who was made of snow and who was made of glass and how they reacted. I feel like something should have led up to that moment, like the reveal should have felt more shocking to me but I felt nothing.

Other than the slowness, the story was great. Like I said earlier, I love the idea of magic, a person made of snow and another one made of glass. This isn't your typical Snow White story and it definitely feels like they mashed in Frozen with it in a good way. The Huntsman was also super cool and I loved the idea behind him but I don't want to spoil anything. It was just as well thought out, very creative idea. I just wish there was something more to it action wise or emotional wise.

Both Mina and Lynet are also very different characters. I feel like Mina was good at hiding what she was thinking, she was good at manipulating and planning ahead and she was great at patience. Lynet was good at being innocent and adventurous and both complimented each other very well. And yes, this also has a very subtle f/f romance. Romance wasn't a big part of Girls Made of Snow and Glass, it was more so love and acceptance but I thought it was a nice part to it.

At its core, Girls Made of Snow and Glass was, I feel like, a story about family love and the troubles it can bring. If I had to take anything away from this story it would be that anyone can be considered your family, not just those related by blood. And thats a very beautiful message to be sending.
1155600
I've been hooked on this series since it first came out, though I didn't love "Drums of Autumn" and struggled through "The Fiery Cross" for reasons other reviewers have mentioned. "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" is a definite improvement; the plot moves along and Brianna and Roger are more multi-dimensional and therefore more likable and deserving of respect. And I love how Gabaldon interplays 20th century sensibilities with 18th century realities. However, I found myself putting the book  down regularly and having to make an effort to pick it back up because it went from one distressing scenario to another with little balance provided by happier moments. Those that are included seemed sketched in rather than lushly developed as are the distressing scenes. Also, I was disappointed in the denouement of the Roger/Brianna story line; it was given such short shrift that it felt like Diana was rushing to finish or the publisher had said it absolutely, positively couldn't be any longer [grin].
3398312
I suppose that, perhaps in the middle of a nasty stretch of bleak winter in solitary confinement, I might be compelled to try reading Cold Mountain again.  The description reeks of self-consciousness.  I managed to read the first 100 pages, and could stand no more.
 I *am* from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and it is a stunningly beautiful, sometimes hazily mysterious place.  I love it, but I'm spoiled by its lush reality.  Frazier obscured the view.  I found Ruby far more interesting than either the self-absorbed, despairing Inman or the tiresome Ada.
 So far as an adventure of the wandering seeker is concerned, The Chess Garden is a much more engaging read.
4095961
First, I suppose I should point out that I'm suffering from a serious cold and that possibly clouded my enjoyment of the book. Nyquil does have strange effects on people and it's entirely possible I could have read this book at any other time and thought it was horrible.

But I did enjoy it. I have been a fan of the MacGregor novels for some time, but this is the second Kenyon (and thus, the second Dark Hunter) novel I've read. The first was Seize the Night. I realize that I'm reading them out of order, but skipping the few bridging the gap didn't seem to cause much confusion on my part as a reader.

I found with this novel that her writing style has matured, and she is no longer choppily laying down sentences as though they were recalcitrant legos she's trying to fit together.

And unlike other reviewers, I found Susan to be a very believable character, with her sarcastic wit doing exactly what it was explained to be doing in the novel - covering for a riot of other emotions. People have coping mechanisms and I found hers believable and far from annoying.

Ravyn's story emerges in bits and pieces and I did think there were times when Kenyon didn't have a firm grasp on who he was. The overall character is there, but nuances change and that can be disconcerting.

As for Ash and Nick - well, that storyline is an interesting one and as it develops I'm sure a lot of long time Dark Hunter readers will feel anger and disappointment. But that to me means that they are really well-written, compelling characters that people have come to care about.

For me, a short time Dark Hunter novel, it makes me eager to see how the whole thing will play out.

I can't speak to the repititious nature of the heros and heroines as I've only read two novels, but I did find those two to be distinctive enough to not warrant complaint.
4417089
I only read a third of this book,  I found that it was not as interesting as other books, so I moved on to read Snow Bound, which is more exciting.
534123
I really liked this book. I felt that a few of the Holly Winter books got a little off-message, but this one reminded me of why I enjoyed the early books so much.
1962369
I loved FABLES from just about the first page of the series, but nonetheless I had some problems with the first book in the series.  While I loved the pretext of characters from traditional fairy and folk tales living in a part of New York City known (though only to themselves) as Fabletown, I was completely put off by the drawing room mystery structure of that volume, as Bigby assembled all the suspects at a ball in order to announce the culprit in a murder mystery.  I loved the characters, but somewhat disliked the story.  But I loved just about everything about this second entry in the series.

We learned in the first book two very important things.  First, all the fables had been kicked out of their homelands by the Adversary, who now rules over all their old kingdoms.  These kingdoms appear to be something of a parallel universe that exists alongside our own world but in a different dimension.  Obviously, this meant that in future volumes both the Adversary and the Homelands would play a role in the series.  Second, we learned that not all of the fables lived in NYC, but that the nonhuman fables lived on a farm in upstate NY.  Both of these things figure hugely in the second book, as the farm fables, tired of the restricted life that they are forced to live to avoid being seen by mundys (i.e., mundanes, or ordinary human beings), hope to stage an invasion of their former homelands where they can live a more normal life.  So desperate are they to get back to where they can live unhidden that they are willing to treat other fables as their enemies.

There is just a world of wonderful details in this volume.  There is a wonderful encounter between Snow White and Shere Khan.  The unanticipated heroism of Reynard the fox.  Goldilocks as ruthless revolutionary leader and would be assassin of Snow White.  And finding out precisely who killed Cock Robin, at least in this version of things.

There are a host of great graphic series currently in existence, but I probably get more pure enjoyment out of FABLES than any other.
4615776
I had enjoyed reading Ms. Costa's first book in this series, which had many lighthearted moments.  I thought that this book would be in the same vein.  Turns out that it is much more serious with lots of dark overtones.

I enjoyed it equally as well but hope that some spark of humor returns to the series with the next book.  Val can be such a fun sleuth that it would be a shame not to highlight that in the future.

In this book, there is a secret group that is busy finding and stealing religious relics.  When someone close to Val is murdered, she becomes involved in finding out whodunnit.  She also draws close to her best friend's brother, Bale, a monk who has come to New York to assist her.

There are lots of twists and turns and, for me, a surprise ending.  Even beyond the end, there are more twists and turns.  All in all, it was a good mystery read.  So little relied on the first book, I don't think anyone would have problems in reading this book stand-alone.  However, if you want a lighter read by the same author, I highly recommend the first in the series, A Killer's Guide to Cold Climates.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.
4701767
This was not my favorite so far. Overall, the series has a lot of characters for the reader to keep track of. Winter was a not as engaging as the first books. Still, IU am hooked and will continue through the series- I am hoping for better reads in the future.
1544429
I enjoyed this book more than the last one. I liked the characters a bit better, and their 'romance' felt a little less forced to me.

I would have liked more focus on the Wolf Hunter part of these stories over the romance, I find that more interesting than the romances. While I still like the romance portion, the mystery and suspense are what I really enjoy about these books. This book took a while to get to that part of the story, in the next book I want him to be the main focus of the story rather than just something in the background.

I don't understand why nobody has mentioned to the police or made it public that The Wolf Hunter is a wolf as well, I'd assume that it would dampen the fire of people if they knew that the one they were following was a hypocrite.

I really liked seeing Grace again, even if it was only for a very short amount of time.
2314867
Dustjacket:  Of course, I say Winterland instead of Winteland, the way it appears in the title on the dustjacket of the first American edition.  I especially like the picture on this edition of the novel, the high cranes looming over the garden wall, the garden in the near-ground bearing the implications of mythical Eden.

The dustjacket gives credit for the photo to Maria Buckley (credit for the design goes to David Rutstein and Keith Hayes), and apparently Buckley's Flicker page is at this link.  I've had this novel for some time, marked as a winter read for January due to its title, but the winterland in here is the name of a corporate entity, the name meant to resonate with its cold, calculated materialism and  with the generally dismal atmosphere that corporate globalism has fostered.

The opening line of the prologue is:  "How has it come to this?"  On down the first page the desolate "this" is described as "the eerie and soulless feel of a virtual environment."

The opening line of the first chapter is:  "He is sitting in what they now call the beer garden."

The nice choice of a dustjacket here resonates with the garden part of beer garden.  The beer resonates with human addictions--to alcohol, yes, but also to money, power, drugs, guns, and lots of other things.  Addictions "" us.

On the surface level, the book works wonderfully both as a thriller and as an indictment of the way corporate power works to manipulate government and law enforcement.  The pacing is very deliberate, but in this novel, that's a good thing.  It unfolds piece by piece, cause then effect.

The first chapter:  The first Noel, bystanders did say, was a mean, fat, rotten piece of slime.  Still, he was a child of God in the Cormac McCarthy sense.  We see this Noel bullying an old man by the name of Christy.  A hit man in a ski mask appears suddenly and guns Noel down, then quickly escapes over the beer garden wall.  It turns out that, beyond this one scene, Christy is not a character in the novel at all; so we might wonder, what is his purpose in the novel?

Seems to me, Christy appears as an everyman christ--certainly not as Christ, but only in the everyman small letter sense.  In this novel, to the right eyes, everyman's a christ, everyman's a Noel.  Though I doubt that many see it that way.

The main protagonist is Gina, related to both murdered Noels, a good modern woman with plenty of true grit and a desire to solve the mysteries in here.  But will she let the cycle of revenge consume her, or will she wise up and step out of the destructive pattern she is in?

That's the question suggested by the prologue, though I prefer the way it is presented in a small paragrah later in the novel:

"It is only now that Gina is beginning to see how she herself is one of these others, how Norton is like a virus she has contracted, or a toxic substance in her system she may never be able to eliminate.  With each step, it becomes a little clearer. . .how he has influenced her behavior, twisted her emotions, choked her sense of who she is. . .how he has turned her into this crazy lady, the mad bitch who can't be stopped."

By this time, we know that the "R" standing out on the dustjacket must stand for revenge--to which she has become addicted--and we're hoping Gina can turn it around.

I'm giving this novel five stars.  Highly recommended.
4056371
I enjoyed Dr Vigilante 1 but liked number 2 better. The writing was more intense, the pace faster, and there wasn't so much violence committed by Dr Vigilante for the sake of revenge. He was actually trying to stop evil before it happened. Kind of a super hero, I can't imagine a real physician acting this way even if he were capable, but it's certainly a way for the author to let loose his frustrations at the way things are.
Looking forward to number 3.