Review: Spark

Spark

by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Sky Chasers, book two

 

Book Description:

After a desperate escape from the enemy ship, Waverly has finally made it back to the Empyrean. The memory of home has been keeping her alive for the past months… but home is nothing like she left it. Forced to leave their captive parents behind on the New Horizon, she’s returned only to find that Kieran has become a strict leader and turned the crew against Seth. What happened to the Kieran she thought she knew? Now Waverly’s not sure whom she can trust. And the one person she wants to believe in is darkly brilliant Seth, the ship’s supposed enemy. Waverly knows that the situation will only get worse until they can rescue their parents – but how?

Before they have time to make a plan, an explosion rocks the Empyrean, and Seth and Waverly are targeted as the prime suspects. Can they find the true culprit before Kieran locks them away… or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Now more than ever, every step could bring them closer to a new beginning – or a sudden end.

 

Review:

After my sparkling gold star review of Glow, I was beyond excited to read Spark. Unfortunately, for me, the magic was just not quite there in this sequel.

 

 

Ryan added a point of view by having chapters told from Seth's perspective. Though I absolutely saw the need for this in terms of moving the storyline forward, it was somewhat jarring to have happen at the very beginning of the book and it threw the "flow" off for me. It also vastly complicated the emotional tenor of the book and thus slowed the building of the story.

 

 

Though there was action and suspense in this book, it was much slower in the beginning... I was not immediately grabbed like I had been in the first book. By the time I was nearing the ending, it had started to get the magic back, and I will definitely be reading book three to see how things end, but I'm hoping that the author will capture the magic again! 

Review: Lenobia's Vow

Lenobia's Vow

by P.C. and Kristin Cast

A House of Night novella

Book Description:

A great journey…
A new love….

A dark secret revealed.

Evreux, France, 1788: Before she is Zoey’s favorite professor and the House of Night’s powerful horse mistress… Lenobia is just a normal 16-year-old girl – with enough problems to last a lifetime. As the illegitimate daughter of a powerful baron, she has never quite belonged, and instead has to watch her spoiled half-sister, Cecile, get anything she wants. As if that’s not enough, her remarkable beauty draws unwanted attention wherever she goes. For once, she would like to just fit in.

But when fate intervenes, Lenobia suddenly finds herself surrounded by other girls, on a ship bound for New Orleans, where they will be married off to the city’s richest Frenchmen. And they’re not alone…. An evil bishop who is skilled in Dark magic makes the same journey. His appetite for lovely young women makes him dangerous – most of all to Lenobia, who caught his eye back in France. So she remains hidden, making secret visits to the ship’s stables, where a handsome young man and his beautiful Percheron horses soon capture her attention.

Will they make it to land before the bishop discovers her true identity and a powerful evil breaks loose? And will Lenobia follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk?

Review:

I really enjoyed this novella, a lot more than the one featuring Dragon. Lenobia was an interesting character and the Bishop was skin-crawlingly creepy. There was an interesting storyline and it was really cool to see Zoey's favorite teacher as a young teen.

The love story was great and heartbreaking and tearjerking and totally fun to read. The time period was interesting and I loved that most of the story actually took place on a boat. I, of course, will also read just about anything related to New Orleans, so this book was also really exciting in that they are headed there and that Martin is Creole. 

A definite must-read for fans of the House of Night series!