The Wicked Awakening Of Anne Merchant

The Wicked Awakening Of Anne Merchant
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Check out my review of the first book.....here.

Kicking off right where the first book ended, Teddy has brought Anne back to the island where there's a new Headmaster, one who's got plans with Mephisto to create a college, a college that's tuition is going to cost a hefty price. Ben has the joy of having his ex Garnet as a Guardian, and he doesn't want to fight at all in the Big V. Anne has to change that, even if it means changing things between them, and changing herself to make sure he wins, she has to become what she really is, and embrace her inner...well...you'll see.

Oh my God. I can't even. I got sent this by the publisher all the way from the US and I honestly can't thank them enough! The email about it brightened my day and when I received the book the other day? Day made. I even got a cool Cania Christy patch! So, I literally got the book yesterday, and I read it today, which is probably a few weeks past whenever you guys actually read this, because blog schedule and everything! But still. I finished this in a matter of hours and I have never been more tense reading a book in my life!

Much like with the first book, I was kept guessing until the end, and while I usually love that, I hate that in these books because I'm so on edge when I'm reading and I'm almost afraid to turn the page and see what happens next! The revelations in this book? Didn't see them coming, and boy are they shocking!

There is literally so much revealed, and just thrown out there that makes you go ".....oh...okay" and then you freak out. Anne's....heritage? Not what I had been expecting or assuming or anything. Anne in this book fully embraces the darkness of her soul to save Ben, because everything she does is about Ben, and we see an entirely different side to Anne what with the darkness and everything, it was kinda cool and kinda like "Noooo Anne!"

Anne in this book was so awesome, despite the darkness and everything, her plan is crazy and complicated and you're drawn right in to it with her, you can feel the weight Anne must have on her shoulders like it's a real thing because she has so many people relying on her after she makes all these promises and the book is a roller coaster. I loved Anne and I loved watching her kind of step up to try and save everyone, I feel like she's grown as a character!

Pilot was back, he's kind of awesome in this book, I felt a tad sorry for him, what with knowing the truth, but being outranked and not allowed to tell Anne but even then at the end he was trying to let her know something was wrong and she'd been played. I mean I was right there with Anne, I thought she'd been betrayed and I was like "Shit, how can I be so wrong about a character?!" and so when it was revealed who was Dorian? Not expecting it. So sad. I loved that character!

Molly is also back, and I pure loved her in the first book, as anyone who read the review knows, and then she popped back up, and she was her usual awesome self, and then she turned out to be even more awesome because of what she'd been...uuuhh...doing? I can't say much, you'll know what I mean when you read the book and find out what's reallllyy going on!

Ben and Anne's relationship I continue to enjoy, even when he supposedly hates her he's still lurking about and dreaming about her and it's kind of cute! There where a few new characters, and I loved how the entire time, you're not sure who to trust, who's on the right side, what these characters are up to. You totally make a call about a character and then you're wrong and it's a true whirlwind of emotion.

I found it so easy to slip back in to the world, like I said about the first book, the world building is fantastic, that's why it's so easy to slip  back in to the world, picturing everything as if you never left it, and the atmosphere is pretty much a real thing, you can feel the tension, the distrust, the danger and the creepiness oozing off the page. I literally picked the book up and fell straight back in to the story as if I had never been away from it!

Some things where dealt with and everything, but there's still more to be got out of this story to end it properly, so it's just as well this is a trilogy and there's another book! I love the mystery, I love how you're in the same boat as Anne trying to work other characters out, I love how the plot twists and turns keeping you guessing and I love how I totally called this as being a popular series, I mean, it's unique, it's different, and it leaves you wanting more! Roll on book three!

And again, thank you so much to the publisher for sending me this and the patch, and I would really love to hug you for that!

The Vanishing Witch

The Vanishing Witch
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

I confess, I haven't read any of Maitlands previous books, what drew me to The Vanishing Witch was the synopsis, being the history nerd that I am! And who can resist anything implying witchcraft?!

In the pages of The Vanishing Witch we dive headfirst in to the reign of Richard II, a true boy King, but unfortunately his reign is a tad bit troubled, with the poor facing some incredibly hard times when the poll tax takes the poor and makes them poorer. Not a fantastic time to live in, one could say. Hardly surprising that the poor rose up and riots broke out, with peasants fighting back, including one of our characters, Gunter.

While Gunter and his son become embroiled in the riots and we see the harsher side of life in 1380, we also see how the other half life. Gunter's boss, a wealthy wool merchant, happens to meet Widow Catlin, and it's not long before he's thoroughly enchanted, and his poor wife suddenly takes ill. Then promptly dies. With his son Jan crying murder, and Robert deaf to anything negative about Catlin, things aren't gonna be good! With a strange man following him, and seeing treachery everywhere, not to mention strange deaths everywhere, Robert comes to believe the only people he can trust are Catlin and her odd daughter. But all is not as it seems, some people aren't who they appear to be, and some aren't quite as innocent as they want you to believe.

Yes I know, I could have worded that clearer or made it clearer, but it's so hard to do so without some major spoilers going down! Anyways, we see a year of their lives, and the action is mostly centered around Lincoln with a brief jaunt to London.

I really enjoyed how we had the main story of Robert and Catlin and all that entailed, and seeing what life was like for the wealthy merchant, as well as how certain events effected him, and then having the side story of his employee, sort of, woven in to it showing how things where for the poorer half and how circumstances effected them.Both stories where perfectly woven together, with the characters each being crucial to the other at one point, but mostly having not much interaction despite being in the same world.

I just loved how you got two vastly different perspectives of what life was like at the time, and it was a huge insight. Although it was sometimes a slightly brutal insight, the book doesn't romanticize the time like so many do, we're treated to all the gritty details, some of which involving the revolt, are quite grim to say the least. Not to mention how you see how easily neighbours with grudges can go very badly when events such as in the book are going on.

Right from the opening pages, you're drawn straight in by the atmospheric writing and the world being woven, not to mention the curious little legend/myth right at the beginning which sets the tone of the book quite nicely. If that doesn't hook you, then the sufficiently creepy prologue will! As soon as you read you just have to know what happens next? Who is that man? and so on.

One of the things I loved about the book was how all the chapters had little tips/lore/whatever you wanna call it at the top, some of which where really  interesting, this one, for example:

"If a storm is raging, it may be stilled if a woman strips herself naked and presents her body to the storm. For this reason figure-heads of bare-breasted women are often set on the prow of a ship to still the waves and abate the tempest." 

I mean that one in particular I found fascinating, as I guess I'd never really questioned what the deal was with the ships having those figure-heads. Then there are others such as:

"If you fear that you are in the presence of a witch, clench both your hands into fists with the thumbs tucked under your fingers. Then she cannot enchant your mind"

Ones such as that really helped to plunge you in to the time, and the way of thinking of the characters and generally of people at the time. And again it was a fascinating look in to a world long lost to us. The chapter  headers further help to draw you in to the world and times, as well as introduce you to the superstitions!

The story was fast paced, the flow smooth and the narrative engaging, with the chapters all being relatively small, so it's quite easy to zoom through it. The world was suitably crafted to give you a sense of what it was like, and as I said, the writing was very atmospheric throughout.

The characters are all fleshed out, and interesting, and at points you think you know a character, and then you discover something about them or that they did and you're like "oookay maybe not", they all have different faces shall we say?

I loved the sense of mystery the entire time you're reading, personally, I thought the book was going in one direction and then it abruptly went in another, the plot twists where truly OMG worthy. I mean, one of them, I'd kind of guessed, but I was like no it can't be, and I was trying to work out who else it could be, and then I was like "no way I was right whaaaatt". Each twists is a surprise and a shock.

From the very beginning you just read about Catlin and you can hear Snape in the back of your mind going "people might think you're.....up...to something". Seriously. As you read, Catlin's facade gradually melts away and you see her true colours, and find out more about her she goes from mildly suspicious to straight up biatch. Edward isn't even sly with his murderous intentions! I didn't suspect what he was up to at all, I just thought...well that he was lazy, I suppose?

One of the biggest mysteries, and one I couldn't work out, was who our mysterious narrator was who'd pop in at the beginning of some chapters before we rejoined our characters. That was a huge point of intrigue because he was obviously a  ghost, and ya know, he had a ghost ferret, which was pretty awesome! It also added that extra dose of creepy! You don't find out who he is until right at the end and again, screeching "no waaayy" occurred, because for some reason, I'd never considered he could be who he was.

As I said, we are told the tale partially from this nameless ghost, and then from other main characters perspectives, which I thought was done fantastically, considering we see some characters perspective, never suspect who they are, and then the next thing you know they turn out to be someone different, but you never ever suspect. There's nothing in those characters narrative that would have you think they're anything other than who they say they are. Maitland gives nothing away!

The Vanishing Witch is dark, fast paced book, that will plunge you in to a world and a time you'll leave at the end of the book feeling glad you didn't live in. Laced with mystery, ghosts, witchcraft, murder and supersitions, you'll not fail to be intrigued the entire time and unable to stop reading!

Undertow

Undertow
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: ARC Courtesy of NetGalley

Lindsay Sterling's niece has gone missing in the New York underground. The cops will do nothing about it, except pass along a name. Jack Cole. Back in High School they where best friends, but the death of Lindsay's entire family, and her subsequent guardianship of her Niece, not to mention the two years Jack spent held captive in New York's underbelly by sub-humans, more animal than human, has changed them both. Jack's experience was soul destroying and life changing, he's been left a shell of a man.

Jack refuses to descend in to that hell again, especially for a girl who's most likely dead already after being down there a week so far. But Lindsay will go down there with, or without him. When she attempts the latter, she's nearly killed, luckily Jack's friend Reggie showed up to help her out. Jack feels compelled by years of feelings to help her, and so he agrees to go down there and find her Niece. Jack navigates Lindsay through the strange territory, an entire underground civilization. It's populated by the eccentric, the insane and the desperate. Each encounter gets them closer to Lindsay's niece, but it also gets them closer to the insane creatures, determined to have their pet back, but Jack's found a reason to live again.

This book was insane! And I mean that in the good way, it was incredible! Right from the first page you're hooked by the plot and the prose. Then, when we first go into the UnderCity, Stelmack starts to weave an incredible world.

The world building is so incredible, that you can practically smell the rank air, hear the Moles scuttling about. The atmosphere created with words, glides off the page and surrounds you, your vision is fixed on the book, unable to put it down, and you're instantly transported straight in to the world, tagging along behind our characters, observing. I was oblivious to anything else, and that's a hard feat to accomplish with me these days.

The prose is incredible, it creates this incredible story, that's so unique, so different from anything else, it's a breath of fresh air and makes you sit up and pay attention, reluctant to put the book down. The flow is smooth, the past as fast as someone running from the Moles. There's never a dull moment, each word is carefully chosen to create the world, and keep you engaged, there's no pointless filler scenes at all.

Stelmack manages to create an entire world, believable, and incredibly detailed, with the different communities, and the names of the areas and passageways, not to mention the creatures living there, the myths and legends of the UnderCity and the intrigue surrounding the Gallery. I will never, in my life, be able to go on the tube again without wondering....what's really under London? What's down those "disused" passageways? What's through those secret doors? The story and the world sticks with you when you're finished reading, truly unforgettable.

Lindsay is an amazing character. I'm going to admit right off the bat that I would never have the lady balls to go down in to the UnderCity with Jack, let alone by myself. I'd be too terrified. Lindsay has so much drive, determination, and she is fearless. Yeah she has a fear of heights, but she overcomes it in the tunnels, doing what she has to do to get Seline back. What can I say about Jack? He's resilient. He's brave. He goes back to the place he barely escaped, the place that broke him, to help Lindsay. He's an incredible character.

All of the characters where so full of life, from our main characters, right down to the Moles themselves. Each unique. Each community in the UnderCity had their own beliefs, their own story. Each character had varying personalities, varying issues to deal with. They all jumped off the page and grabbed your heart, and your imagination. Even the tiny baby Mole who played with Jack.

The plot was fantastical. The idea of an underground City beneath New York, populated by different people, is unique. As I've said, I've never read anything like it, and I doubt I ever will. The plot was quite complex, we had different parts to it. Some of it was laid out straight away, providing the original engaging factor. Other parts where hinted at, Jack's past, what's down in the underground, and so on. You where kept intrigued the entire way through, and honestly, I don't even know how anyone would be able to guess the plot twists. Every twist totally blind sided me, and it's so so rare for me to find a book that can genuinely surprise me the whole way through!

Undertow is probably the most unique book you will ever read. Fast paced, intriguing plot, incredible world building, intense mythology and legends. I'm half convinced there's a portal in the book that sucked me in to the book, that's how great the world building is. The atmosphere, this sense of a dark, dank place overwhelms you. The romance was perfect. Absolutely perfect. We have an old relationship, that both wanted to be more at the time, and blossoms back. A damaged character needing that love to heal him.

Undertow is a smooth blend of romance, intrigue, pulse racing action and imagination. I honestly cannot recommend this book enough. It was truly mind blowing for me.