Pomegranate Girl's Library

Daughter of the Blood (Black Jewels Series #1)

by Anne Bishop

• Pub. Date: March 1, 1998

• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

• Format: NOOK Book

• Series: Black Jewels Series

• ISBN-13: 9781101212400

• ISBN: 1101212403

 

Read this for the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book club.

Daughter of the Blood, wow, what to say about this book.  Well, let's just say that this book should come with some trigger warnings.

I did not care about the characters, and I even more so didn't care for the character the story was about, Janelle. She just read so young and she was supposed to be 12 or 13, and maybe her immaturity has something to do with what happened to her but some of her actions just annoyed me. And the other characters allowed her to make decisions for them, and I get it, she's the Chosen One, but eh.

And being the Chosen One means she can do things no one else can do! Cue all the shocked characters to gasp and hang their jaws open in disbelief. Seriously, it happens constantly.

The magic and the world confused me. There wasn't much information given on how the magic worked or why things were happening. It just was. And I'm sorry, but I need to know WHY when I'm reading about some WTF moments.  There was no world building, which is weird since this is the first book in a series and there should be an explanation of what the heck is going on.

 

I was just confused constantly, and I don't know if it's because I started to skim read or what.

The end of the book is when it started getting a bit interesting. Even so I'm not going to actively look for the next book. If I see it on discount or something I might buy the next book.

FYI, there are some talks and actions of child (sexual) abuse, and a bunch of torture, rape, etc.

Read this for the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book club.

Daughter of the Blood was just a little over okay, but not enough to make it a 3 star for me.

I did not care about the characters, and I even more so didn't care for the character the story was about, Janelle. She just read so young and she was supposed to be 12 or 13, and maybe her immaturity has something to do with what happened to her but some of her actions just annoyed me. And the other characters allowed her to make decisions for them, and I get it, she's the Chosen One, but eh.

And being the Chosen One means she can do things no one else can do! Cue all the shocked characters to gasp and hang their jaws open in disbelief. Seriously, it happens constantly.

The magic and the world confused me. There wasn't much information given on how the magic worked or why things were happening. It just was. And I'm sorry, but I need to know WHY when I'm reading about some WTF moments.

But even after all the stuff that annoyed me about the book, the end was when I did start to care a bit about what was going on and what was going to happen afterwards. Even so I'm not going to actively look for the next book. If I see it on discount or something I might buy it but other than that Daughter of the Blood was just okay.

FYI there are some talks and actions of child (sexual) abuse.

Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel's Legacy Series #1)

by Jacqueline Carey

• Pub. Date: March 15, 2002

• Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC

• Format: NOOK Book

• Series: Kushiel's Legacy Series

• ISBN-13: 9781429910903

• ISBN: 1429910909

 

Read this for Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book club

The beginning was a bit of a chore to get through with all the world-building and the information dump. Though I was still very much intrigued by the world Carey created and knew the tedious beginning was needed to understand where and how Phèdre grew up.

After chapter 37 is when the story really began, in my opinion, and when I really started to enjoy the story and cared what happened to the characters.

 

The last half of the book had all of my favorite things: adventure, fantasy, a bit of romance, action, suspense, etc.

I actually started reading Kushiel's Dart thinking it was a romance, and even though there is some slight romance I wouldn't classify it as romance.  The fact that Phèdre was trained from a very young age to service people in the bedchamber and that she gets pleasure from pain, I thought the sex scenes (which were not that many surprisingly) were written tastefully.

 

Also, Joscelin!  He is by far my favorite male character ever! ♥♥♥

I will definitely read the rest of the series.

Read this for Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book club

3.5 that I bumped up to a 4 star because the last half of the book had all of my favorite things: adventure, fantasy, a bit of romance, action, suspense, etc.

The beginning was a bit of a chore to get through with all the world-building and the information dump. Though I was still very much intrigued by the world Carey created and knew the tedious beginning was needed to understand where and how Phèdre grew up.

After chapter 37 is when the story really began, in my opinion, and when I really started to enjoy the story and cared what happened to the characters.

I actually started reading Kushiel's Dart thinking it was a romance, and even though there is some slight romance I wouldn't classify it as romance.

I will definitely read the rest of the series.

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

by Rick Riordan

• Pub. Date: May 5, 2009

• Publisher: Disney Book Group

• Format: NOOK Book

• Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

• ISBN-13: 9781423131960

• ISBN: 1423131967

 

Wow!  The second book in the series is even better than the first book!  I think it's because we were already introduced to the characters and world so there was no need to explain and so the story just jumped right in.

 

A very good sequel. I loved Percy and Tyson's relationship (not going to lie, I cried during a part in this book). :) The Percy Jackson series is fun. I'll be reading the next book.

A Little Magic

by Nora Roberts

• Pub. Date: August 3, 2004

• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Format: NOOK Book
• ISBN-13: 9781101146859
• ISBN: 1101146850

 

A Little Magic is a book made up of three short stories, and the stories are nothing but fluff. The storyline for each three are very much boy-meets-girl/girl-meets-boy, intsta-love and of nothing else. While this is a romance book I was expecting a bit more.

 

Three simple romance stories that was just okay, but nothing magical.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1)

by Rick Riordan

• Pub. Date: May 5, 2009

• Publisher: Disney Book Group
• Format:NOOK Book
• Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series
• ISBN-13: 9781423131892
• ISBN: 1423131894

 

I love mythology, especially Greek mythology, so I was intrigued by this book and even more so when I heard there was going to be a movie adaptation, which meant the book had to be good, right?

Well, I gave the book a chance and it was quite enjoyable. The story is very fast paced so it was easy and fun to read. There was a couple of times I laughed out loud.

 

Given that this is a book for juveniles I think Riordan did a good job keeping the story entertaining for all ages of readers.  The main character, Percy Jackson, is 12 years-old so there were some moments where the characters were acting like children, but there was not a moment where Riordan dumbed down the characters or the writing.

Favorite quote in which Chiron is explaining how the gods are very much alive today:

"And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not— and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either— America is now the heart of the flame."

 

The Lightning Thief was a fun adventure to read.

Gods Behaving Badly

by Marie Phillips

• Pub. Date: December 10, 2007

• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

• Format: NOOK Book

• ISBN-13: 9780316024129

• ISBN: 0316024120

 

Gods Behaving Badly is a fun, little story about the Greek gods trying to live a mortal life as they begin to lose their godly powers.

 

I didn't much care for the main character, Alice, and sometimes the story was a bit flat, but I still enjoyed the book and found it quite entertaining. It's a very quick read.