Category Archives: The Must Reads

These are the books that I think are a must read.

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Covet by Melissa Darnell

I really liked Crave. I wasn’t sure Covet could top it. I was totally, completely, 100% wrong. As much as I liked Crave, Covet was so much better.

Savannah is trying to deal with her changing body, mind, and life. She had to promise the vampire counsel she’d break up with Tristan, and she has to start learning to deal with her emerging vampire self. On top of that, she has to deal with the Clann members’ prejudices and being a teen in high school. She doesn’t have it easy in this book. And yet, she faces it all with bravery and keeps her strength through the entire book.

One little thing I absolutely loved was that after Savannah and Tristan broke up, they weren’t together again two pages later. Savannah stuck to her decision, knowing that at the time, it was what was best in the long run for every single person involved. As much as she wanted to give in and be with Tristan, she knew too many people would be at risk, Tristan especially. Even though it broke her heart, she knew not being able to be with Tristan, but keeping him alive, was better than giving him and possibly draining him. Her strength when it came to this was amazing.

Savannah’s best friend Anne really steps it up, too, which I didn’t see coming. But I am so, so happy she did. It was one of those things I didn’t realize I wanted until I read it. She doesn’t sit back and play the quiet best friend. She makes herself powerful in her own right.

The Clann series is not about vampires and witches. Those are only the backdrop for a fantastic series filled with tension, growing up and making tough decisions, looking beyond yourself to see what needs to be done, and finding the strength inside yourself to be the person you need to be versus the person you want to be.

Covet was a fantastic follow up novel to Crave. I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely a must read.

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The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen

The thing I like most about book series like The Mephisto Covenant is that one story does not entirely depend on the other. Unlike trilogies, where if you don’t read book 1, books 2 and 3 don’t make sense, it helps if you read book 1, but it is its own story. It’s part of a whole, but separate as well.

The Mephisto Covenant was a fantastic book. The Mephisto Kiss was even better. Kyron, Key gets his turn at finding redemption in the Anabo Jordan. However, as much as she can get past his being a son of Hell, there are certain other things that she doesn’t know if she can forgive and accept as a part of him. That’s the major influence of this book; finding that understanding and being able to love all of a person, including those parts that are the toughest.

I liked Jordan. She wasn’t princess like at all, even though she could have easily been taken that way. She wanted to fight for herself right away and refused to let anything hold her back. She was going to work to be what she needed to be, and she was even able to sacrifice part of herself to help people she just met.

Key is broken in a unique way. He keeps himself closed off from his brothers, being the leader instead of having a relationship with them like they have with one another. He doesn’t show emotion and keeps everything under the skin, away from where people can see it. Jordan can see right through him and makes him confront the parts of him he’d rather hide. Their relationship felt like a slow build, even though it didn’t take much time at all. It still felt completely right and wonderful.

The ending nearly broke my heart. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that, but after finishing it, there was no other way for this book to end. I can’t wait for the next book to come out and I get the chance to see who the next brother to be featured is. Faegen has created a world and a family I’m 100% invested in and I love her for it.

The Mephisto Kiss is definitely a book to read, even if The Mephisto Covenant wasn’t your favorite book. The Mephisto Kiss will grab your heart and not let go, but in the best way possible.

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The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegen

I put off reading The Mephisto Covenant because I had read some not so good reviews and I wasn’t really in the mood to read a book that might let me down. And I kept putting it off until I finally decided I was being weird and just needed to read it for myself. My only regret is that I did not read it sooner.

This isn’t a huge thought-provoking read. It’s not going to turn you on your side and twist you around before leaving you a little dazed and confused. There’s a ton of clichés, some inconsistencies, a few too many convenient coincidences, and quite a bit of info dumping in the first few chapters. And yet, I really enjoyed it. Somehow, the new twist on the mythology was able to make up for everything else in the novel that would usually annoy me.

Sasha’s life is upended in the span of just a couple days. She escapes death at the hands of some of her classmates, her mother is sent to Russia, she moves in with an uncle she didn’t know she had with an aunt that hates her, and she learns she is an Anabo, a daughter of Aurora (the daughter of Adam and Eve). Despite all of this, she doesn’t give up on her life and makes the best of what she has been dealt. Yes, she is a bit of a damsel in distress at times, but she can also take care of herself.

Jax is the son of Mephistopheles, a son of Hell. He can only find redemption in the love of an Anabo. He comes across Sasha one evening while on a raid of Eryx’s Ravens, lost souls, and he knows that there is a reason he has found her.

These two don’t fall in love immediately, like so many young adult novels have their characters do. Instead, there’s lust at first sight, but both characters try to act the way they think they should, and don’t act upon that lust (much). Only after spending time with each other, which admittedly is still not much time, do they start to fall for one another.

There was enough action to keep me turning from page to page, not wanting to take a break. There was enough romance to make me smile and swoon. The story was unique and not the typical angel story. The Mephisto Covenant is a fantastic book that despite a shaky start, and having more of the typical Young Adult pitfalls than I can usually read, managed to pull me in and make me enjoy it. This is definitely a book for anyone who likes a bit of angel mythology wrapped up in the action and romance.

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Blink Once by Cylin Busby

This book was both predictable and completely unpredictable. I knew what was coming before I even started reading, and yet I was completely shocked by how much I love this story anyway.

West wakes up, unable to talk, to move, to breathe on his own. He knows he’s in the hospital, but he doesn’t know why or how he got there. And then he meets Olivia.

Olivia understands what he’s thinking, and becomes West’s best friend. Eventually, they start to fall in love with each other. But then things get difficult between the two and where there hadn’t been a wall before, now they can’t get around it to see each other.

Blink Once follows the plot you think it will follow. But what you won’t realize when you start is how much it will pull you in and make you feel as you read it. Sure, I wasn’t flipping through pages anxiously, trying to figure out what the next plot twist was going to be, but that was okay. Not having to know what’s next left the door wide open for me to fall in love with this story, the characters, and their relationship.

If you are looking for a book that knows how to mix a complex enough plot, a love story, some mystery, and just a touch and heartache, then this is a book you need to read. It will grab you by the heart and not let go until the final word.

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The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

I was a little worried when I started this book because I had high hopes for it and I was worried it wouldn’t live up to them. The religious aspect of this book had me a little worried, too. All of my concerns were unfounded, though, and I loved this book.

Some people might be a little bothered by Elisa’s personality and I can see why. However, she was born a princess. She never really had to do things for herself; people were always there to do them for her. She didn’t know how to be brave because she never had a reason to be brave. As the novel goes along, she gains confidence in herself and finds the courage to do what must be done, even in the face of danger. She starts thinking and planning and behaving less like a princess and more like a warrior. I’m incredibly excited to see how Carson continues this in the next book.

In regards to the religious aspect of the book, I felt it was handled amazingly. Elisa was chosen by God to do some service for the world. She doesn’t know anything about what she might have to do, or why she was chosen. She considers it more a burden than a gift, simply because it puts so much pressure on her and she doesn’t have a clue what to do about it. Even as she learns more about what being chosen means, she still feels this pressure. People expect her to do something, but no one knows what or when or how, and yet she’s expected to do this miraculous thing.

Each country thinks they are doing the right thing, the thing God wants, and yet none realize that it says in their books that they do not know God’s real will. They are all doing things in the name of God, interpreting the written word in a way that benefits them. This was done in a way that was subtle and not preachy, and it really gets a lesson across. This may have been my favorite thing about how Carson wrote this novel.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns was a fantastic novel that drew me in right away. It’s fast paced, and has enough romance and action to keep everyone intrigued. It’s definitely worth a read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next part of this series.

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Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I remember watching the Peter Pan movie was a kid and being completely fascinated with Neverland, Peter, and Wendy. There was something so sweet about their story; I fell in love right then. So when I heard about a story telling the before of Peter Pan, I was intrigued. I waited anxiously for this book to be released so I could dig in and fall in love.

Not one point of this book disappointed me. I knew it wasn’t going to end perfectly for the characters, simply because I knew the rest of the story. Tiger Lily only knows how to be her, and when someone arrives to her village that starts to say a person has to be a certain way in order to be right, she starts to question herself. She’s a girl, but doesn’t act like one. She doesn’t know how to take care of a home or sew. She knows how to hunt and swim and fit the expectations of being a boy. She doesn’t know what it means to love and when love is right in front of her, life falls apart and she loses herself.

Peter needs Tiger Lily to be everything he is, but just a little less so. He loves that she’s honest and can keep up with him, but it’s not until he meets Wendy that he realizes he wants Tiger Lily to be supportive of him as well, and that’s something she doesn’t know how to do. It hurt my heart as I read because as much as these two loved each other, it just wasn’t quite right and that was going to be their downfall. Even though they loved each other, they needed something different from each other. Unfortunately, they couldn’t change who they were to fit what they needed.

Tiger Lily is heartbreaking in how perfect it is. Even though the ending can be seen before even starting the book, I still spent the entire novel wishing it could end differently. The ending gave me peace, all the while breaking my heart so much I cried a little bit. This is definitely a book people need to read. It’s so achingly wonderful; I didn’t want to put it down.

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A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I have been on the fence for over a year about reading A Discovery of Witches. It sounded interesting, but people were so divided on how much or how little they liked it. People either loved it or hated it and that made me worry a little bit. Usually, if a book is that polarizing, I tend to agree with the group that doesn’t like the book at all. But I finally decided to sit down and read and I’m now kicking myself for waiting so long.

A Discovery of Witches has a bit of everything. There’s a romance with a vampire, there’s science and history, there’s mystery and magic, there’s heroic knights; you think of something, and I’d be willing to bet it’s somewhere in this book. Somehow Harkness manages to fit all of this into one book without making it seem heavy and overdone. The beginning of the novel felt a little heavy and slow, and there was quite a bit of info dumping and description, but getting past that is so worth it.

The story is set up with the discovery of a manuscript important to so many different groups, but that only sets up the fight that is the rest of the novel. The manuscript opens Pandora’s Box, in a way, and the rest of the novel is Diana and Matthew fighting forces that are bigger than themselves. They must overcome everything set in front of them and work together to try and find the secrets the world has hidden away with time. Harkness has told this story beautifully. I actually slowed my reading pace down so I could drink in every word on the page, not wanting to miss a thing.

A Discovery of Witches is a fantastic, beautiful novel that drew me in and hasn’t let go. The world of witches, vampires and daemons has me enchanted and I’ll definitely be reading what’s to come in Diana’s story.

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Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Once again, I judged a book by its cover. Only this time, the simplicity of the cover coupled with the title had me anxious to read Confessions of an Angry Girl. I also felt something for Rose, just based on the book summary. I hadn’t gone through the same things she did before entering high school, but I did have something that set me apart from everyone else.

Rose just lost her father, her brother has taken off for college, and her mom has basically shut down when it comes to doing the mom things. If all that isn’t tough enough, she’s starting high school, her friendships are strained, and a boy has her confused. It’s like the typical high school story, but with more layers to dissect.

I feel so much for Rose. She’s just confused on how she’s supposed to live now that her father is gone and life seems to take advantage of that. She grew up fast over the span of one summer, and unfortunately, her friends didn’t. She’s seen a side of life most of her friends haven’t yet, and that makes her the odd one out. I know exactly how that feels and it made me want to hug her through the entire novel.

This isn’t so much a romance novel as it is a story of Rose becoming comfortable and accepting her new normal. That said, there is a bit of a high school romance going on between Rose and Jaime. As frustrating as I found Jaime, he still makes Rose happy and because of that, I couldn’t be annoyed with him. He’s not the ideal guy for her, but he’s what she needs and that’s wonderfully set up for the next book.

Confessions of an Angry Girl is a fantastic novel that draws you right in and pulls at your heart with each turn of the page. It twists your heart just a little bit and makes you smile all at the same time. I can’t wait to read what happens next for Rose.

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Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Beautiful Lies sounded like a book that was right up my alley. Plus, Warman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. There’s something about the way she writes a real story, one that doesn’t always have a happy ending, that draws me in, even though I always have a feeling my heart is going to be crushed several times as I read.

As a narrator, the main character is completely unreliable. And yet I believed every single word she said. I knew as I was reading that something wasn’t quite right with how she was viewing the world, and I still went along completely with her. She’s so unreliable as a narrator, that she becomes reliable. My heart was aching through the entire book, wanting to make things better for her, to tell her what was going on, to help her.

The plot of this novel had me guessing with every turn of the page. I never knew what was going to happen. I’d think I knew and suddenly there was another plot twist thrown in that had my head spinning is such a wonderful way. I wanted to figure the book out, I needed to, and that only propelled me to read faster and faster.

Beautiful Lies is a completely enthralling, entrancing novel that I couldn’t put down. If you like anything with a good mystery and suspense, read this book.

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Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

It’s rare for me to find an author that I love so much I will read anything they write, be it comedy, drama, or a grocery list. Jennifer Echols is one of those authors and Such a Rush only further cemented her place on my bookshelf.

Leah does not have the best circumstances in life. She lives in a trailer park with a sometimes around mother who brings less than decent men around. She’s been moved around often because of her mother’s lifestyle (no job, creating enemies) and the one good thing that has come out of her several living locations is a love of airplanes and the dream to fly. When she settles in Heaven Beach, she gets a job as the receptionist/gofer of the airport before building up the courage to ask for a flying lesson. That one lesson turns into more and her love of flying only grows.

Cut to the death of the man who taught her to fly and the only father figure in her life. Then the twin brothers she’s watched from a distance take over and she’s blackmailed into working for them flying the banner planes and in trying to get one twin to date her. It’s this that creates the tension that had me anxiously turning pages to find out what was going to happen next.

I don’t know much about planes or how to fly them; in fact I’m pretty terrified of flying. But Echols made the whole process seem beautiful and flowing while keeping the danger involved. There’s enough technical speak to make it feel real, and yet it doesn’t get too overbearing and it’s still pretty easy to follow.

I loved the relationship dynamic between Leah, Alec and Grayson. Leah never really had the best example growing up, and so she has two personalities. The flirt and the serious aviator and she switches between them without noticing depending on what she needs at the moment, including when she’s with the boys. It’s easy to see Alec is the nice, sweet, do anything to help out kinda guy while Grayson is tougher and takes things a little too seriously at times. When Leah is with Alec, she turns the flirty side of her on, but when she’s with Grayson, the more serious side comes out and she’s more vulnerable.

The tension throughout this book was amazing. My heart was beating fast and I was getting so frustrated with the characters for seeing the obvious and then going the other way. But it did make for a great story.

Such a Rush was a fantastic book that had my heart pounding and put a smile on my face. I dreaded nearing the end because once I turned that last page, there would be no more. Echols once again has written a story I’ve fallen completely in love with and I can’t wait to read anything she writes (including a grocery list…I was serious about that).