Review: Storm Witch by D.N. Hoxa

Kindle Edition (285 pages)

Published June 21^st 2018
Free on Kindle Unlimited or buy for $0.99
Part of a new Series (Scarlet Jones #1)

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Plot

My name is Scarlet Jones, and I’m a witch…of some kind. Probably.

Those who knew me growing up, thought of me as a spoiled little brat they didn’t want to have anything to do with. I did break things on purpose, stole others, and I may or may not have set half my school on fire, but come on! They were being too hard on me.

I grew up in a family full of strong Blood witches, in which my strange magic never belonged. I thought I was the only one of my kind out there, a true freak of nature, and I liked it that way. I lived on my own, learning to hunt these creatures nobody seemed to know anything about, a bunch of mindless thingies who were in the habit of sucking my magic dry wherever they found me. I even set up a party for them, just so I could teach them some manners.

But my plan went to hell when four strangers crashed the party, people who apparently were like me. Just like that, I no longer felt like a special little flower. With four unconscious bodies at my feet and no idea what was going on, I thought that was the worst it was going to get. Boy, was I wrong…

The rest of my life is only just beginning, and by the looks of it, it is not going to be a smooth ride.

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How I Got This Book:

I got this book as an ARC through Hidden Gems.

The Postives

Once I was finally able to immerse myself into this book I was hooked. Scarlet is a badass who doesn’t quite see in herself what other people see in her. Many times throughout the novel she has people look to her to lead them and train them. Each time we read her thoughts of how she doesn’t think she is strong enough to be able to help them. This helped to make Scarlett seem relatable to the reader. Another way that I personally was able to connect with her is that she is a loner who realizes that she doesn’t want to be alone. In the beginning of the book she keeps telling herself that she doesn’t want a group to belong to, that it is safer for her if she stays on her own. By the middle she has realized that she is truly lonely and that she needs companionship.

The story unfolds at a good pace that keeps you hooked while giving you a short breather between the actions scenes.

The Negatives

Okay so literally the only thing that is negative, and that made me give this book four stars instead of five, is that it was so hard to get into at first. I picked the book up and put it down numerous times. Finally, I forced myself to read it and I am so glad that I did.

Final Thoughts

Pick this book up if you can. It is only $0.99 in the Kindle store, and free if you have kindle unlimited. You don’t have a Kindle? If you have a smart phone you can download the Kindle app for free.

Review: Lady Mechanika Vol. 4 The Clockwork Assassin

88 Pages
ISBN13: 9780996603096
Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Available on Amazon for $9.99 ($7.99 with Prime)

My Rating: 5/5

Plot

When a series of brutal murders linked to Mr. Lewis’ past leads Detective Inspector Singh to Lady Mechanika’s doorstep, the Inspector is finally forced to consider: is Lady Mechanika a crime-fighting hero or a cold blooded killer? 

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This review is going to be organized a little bit different than any of my other ones so far. The reason, there are not any true negatives about this comic. Therefore I see no reason to add a negatives section.

I have been a fan of Lady Mechanika since the first day I went to Free Comic Book day in my area and picked up her comic. Ever since I have done my best to stay up to date with all of her exploits. When I saw this ARC on Netgalley, well I jumped at my chance to continue reading her story. 

I was not disappointed.

The story was thrilling from beginning to end. I ended up falling into the trap of believing the most obvious to be the villain, before the big reveal at the end blew my mind completely. Lady Mechanika, falsely accused of being a murderer, helps Inspector Signh to solve the case of the Clockwork Assassin, both to clear her name and to protect her friend from being the next victim. 

Aside from the storyline, the artwork was once again phenomenal. Each small detail that was painstakingly drawn works with the others to give new life to this comic, and makes it feel as though it was a little more real. The outfits are true to the time period and drawn in a way that makes you wish that you were wearing them yourself.

I have to say, even though I was lucky enough to receive an ARC, I am most likely going to be purchasing a physical copy of this comic when it is released so that I can add it to my ever growing collection of Lady Mechanika comics.

I am curious, how many of you read the Lady Mechanika comics? Which is your favorite? Let me know.

Review: Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet

400 pages

ISBN13 9781947808041

Find on the Kindle Store for $16.17

Rating: 4.0/5

Plot

Romeo and Juliet is the classic tragedy of western literature. Created by William Shakespeare, it is tale of two very young lovers from Verona, Italy who defy the wishes of their feuding families, get married then, and tragically, end their own lives in the name of love. It is their deaths that ultimately help the rival families of the Capulet’s and Montague’s find reconciliation. Manga Classics brings an incredible new reading experience with this adaptation of Shakespeare’s most popular and frequently performed plays: Romeo and Juliet.

How I got this Book

I got to read this book through Netgalley.

The Positives

v  This is a great way to revisit a story that most people read multiple times in school. The beautiful artwork gives it a new feeling that allows you to enjoy the story multiple times.

v  Reading this story as a manga gives new meaning to Old English. Words that didn’t quite make sense the first time you read it? Well now you have gorgeous works of art to help you see and feel what you should have the first time around.

v  The characters are portrayed to perfection how I feel Shakespeare meant for them to be seen. You feel the innocence of some of the characters, you feel the tension caused by the feud, and you feel the infatuation between Romeo and Juliet. If you are anything like me you also have a renewed revulsion for the disgustingly slimy Count Paris.

The Negatives

So I am not really sure that I can count this as a negative of the book, or if I should just count it as a negative based on my personal feelings. I knew when I picked this manga up that it was going to be a classic, and therefore would be written in the original way. This became an issue for me as I kept wanting to stop and lost track of what was going on at times. This isn’t really a flaw with the book, but it did give me a slightly negative view of it, which is what caused me to give it a solid 4 out of 5.

Overall

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who loves the classics, loves Shakespeare, and loves manga. I personally found it harder to enjoy because of the flowery language Shakespeare was so known for, but it truly is a masterpiece that combines the past with the present.

Happy reading!

Review: All Rights Reserved (Word$, #1) by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

400 pages

ISBN13 9780373212446

Find on the Kindle Store for $7.99!

Rating: 4.9/5

Plot

In a world where every word and gesture is copyrighted, patented or trademarked, one girl elects to remain silent

Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks, for every nod, for every scream and even every gesture of affection. She’s been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can’t begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she’s unable to afford.

But when Speth’s friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family’s crippling debt, she can’t express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Rather than read her speech—rather than say anything at all—she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again, sparking a movement that threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.

How I got this Book

I got this book from signing up for the Harlequin Teen newsletter. There was an ad on Facebook for it and I love getting up to date news from publishers, so I couldn’t resist. Plus, a new book to read just made it a no brainer.

The Positives

Where to begin with this book?? I was hooked from the moment that I first opened the file on my Kindle app.

v  Starting with the main character. Speth is a character who is impulsive, and you love to yell at while you are reading. She got the short end of the stick in her life, having to have a cheap name, a public domain haircut, and not having her parents in her life because of, well I will let you find out why yourself. The book in in her point of view, so you get a very in depth look at the type of person she is, and how she in just as confused as everyone else in her life. She makes a decision without thinking of the consequences, and this throws everything out of wack for her family.

v  The supporting characters are just as good as Speth, some of them even better. Kel, Henri, and Margot are three of my favorite characters in this novel. They are known as Product Placers, people who you just knew would be important from the beginning with how obsessed Speth and her brother, Sam, were with finding one. The dynamics between this already established team, and how each of them reacted to Speth joining them and everything that happened between them, it all felt real.

v  The plot was well paced and kept you wondering what was going on. I liked that the author didn’t give too much information away as he was writing this novel. The story is from Speth’s point of view, and therefore it makes sense that we only know as much as she does. This does of course leave you with some questions on what other people in the novel are doing, especially the other Silent’s, but it makes the novel feel as though it could be playing out in real time.

The Negatives

So this is going to be a fairly short section for this novel. I can say that Gregory Scott Katsoulis did an amazing job with his writing. The biggest negative of this book was an event that was absolutely HEARTBREAKING towards the end. This was an event that almost seemed unnecessary to the plot, more like it was thrown in just to make the reader angry. Not only that, but for a few moments I grew to truly hate Speth because of what happened. I want to tell you all more, but I definitely am not going to spoil this. I would love to hear from you guys who read this what you think though after you read it.

Overall

Overall, I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys YA fiction, which I almost feel like is everyone. There are certain parts of the novel where you want to yell and scream, but I feel that it is important for a novel to evoke every type of emotion when you are reading it. I was lucky enough to receive this novel for free, but honesty this is one that I wouldn’t hesitate to pay for.

Information about the Sequel: The sequel to this novel (Access Restricted) is currently available for preorder on the Kindle Store for $9.99. It releases on August 28, 2018. That gives you all plenty of time to go and pick up this first novel and read it before the sequel comes out!

Happy reading!

Review: Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo

401 pages

ISBN13 9781927925614

Plot

On the very day of his wedding to the beautiful Mercedes, a young merchant sailor named Edmond Dantas is falsely imprisoned for life, laying to waste his plans of marriage and hard-earned fortune. Following several long years in prison he has managed to escape and reinvent himself as the mysterious Count of Monte Christo. It is the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Count has been plotting his revenge on the three men who had him falsely imprisoned. With a new identity, an incredible education abroad and a vast fortune, has returned completely unrecognizable to those who had committed their crimes against him.

The Positives

I received this manga from Netgalley, and I am so glad that I did. From start to finish I was intrigued. I had never taken the time to read this classic novel, as I am not much for being able to stay interested when it comes to the classics. Having images provided for me helped tremendously in keeping me riveted.

The story itself is a tale of revenge, but it is also more than that. At times it seems like a tale of self-discovery and heartache. As I have never read the original novel I can’t make any comparisons on how well it stays true to the original. What I can say is that if the classic novel is anywhere near as good as this manga was then I may give that a shot.

Since this was an early review title the images weren’t high quality as they are in the printed format, but even still they were beautiful. The characters were easy to look at, and the art kept to the emotional feel of the book.

One of my favorite parts of this manga was at the end of the book. It includes notes from Crstal S. Chan on what was condensed, what was removed, and what was clarified to make the manga easier to read, but still keep it true to the original story. They also include a chart that shows how the characters relationships with each other. This would have been very helpful during the time I spent reading this manga.

Overall this manga took me a day to read, and that was with quite a few breaks as real life took over for hours at a time.

The Negatives

Many of the issues that I had when reading this manga were simple and didn’t deal as much with the content itself. The first issue was getting used to scrolling to the end of the eBook and moving backwards. I have been an avid reader of traditional manga, so it wasn’t weird for me to read backwards, but it was the first time reading a manga on an eReader.

The next issue was pacing of the manga. I understand the need to condense a novel into a format that is much shorter, and again I have not read the original novel for comparison at this time. The pacing however seemed to struggle at times, abruptly changing between sub-plots and skipping time. This made it difficult to keep track of who was who, even with an image to help keep them in my mind.

Overall

Overall, I would highly recommend this manga to anyone who was interested in the insanely revenge driven character of the Count of Monte Cristo but never thought they would pick up the classic novel version. It was a fun way to delve into a classic story without spending a copious amount of time reading a novel. You gather majority of the original story from reading, and you are able to do it within a few hours.

One recommendation I have is to buy this book not as an eBook but as a physical copy. It would be much easier to read the manga and flip back and forth to the character relationship guide in a physical copy.

Rating: 4.5/5

Reasons for not getting a perfect score: Reading it as an eBook caused me to not be able to know about the wonderful character relationship guide at the end of the manga. 

Happy reading!

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