As 2016 opens, it's time for the best books I've read and
reviewed in 2015. Most of these I got from their authors requesting reviews or
through blog tours.
It's been a good reading year, even though I was behind on
several books and I didn't reach my target of 36 books.
Note: These books aren't arranged in any order whatsoever.
Revelations by Jennifer
Carole Lewis
"Wherever there is prey, there are
hunters. Jungle, ocean, city – the location doesn't matter. Predators will
always find the vulnerable." – This is the opening line in Revelations (Book
I of The Lalassu) by Jennifer Carole Lewis and one that rings true on
several characters and lines in the story.
Revelations is a quick-paced
action-packed adventure about Dani, a burlesque dancer with super human
abilities, who for years has been fighting her family's urge to become the
Lalassu people's High Priestess and serve as their guide and connection with the
goddess.
Soon after we meet Dani, we encounter Michael Brooks,
a developmental therapist for children, who can read emotions and minds when he
gets in contact with others. The two eventually must work together to save the
lalassu from one of their own.
The novel is rich in characters, imagery and beautiful
lines.
"For everyone else, touch was
something casual. It could at times become sensual or intimate, but no one else
had to fear it. Every time Michael's skin touched someone or something else, he
became privy to their inner thoughts, their darkest secrets, fears and
hopes."
The Witches of BlackBrook by Tish Thawer
The
Witches of BlackBrook by Tish Thawer is
the first instalment in a series of the same name; however, it is does not have
an open-ending.
Quick-paced and easy to navigate, the story is about
three witches: Karina, Kara and Kenna, who lived in the late 1600's, when magic
was practiced freely. Accused of murder and being the devil's daughter, Karina is
sentenced to burn at the stake, where she performs a spell to protect her and
her sisters.
The spell takes the sisters across time, to be reborn
in different bodies every time and always separated, or at least two of them
are always together in search of the third.
"Trin acknowledged the Magician
card as her past, no surprises there. But the present and future card had her
undivided attention.
The Seven of Swords indicated deceit and
deception surrounding her present, while the reversed Tower forewarned her of
major changes, where she could no longer count on those close to her."
Shadow, Shadow by V. B.
Marlowe
Shadow,
Shadow by V. B. Marlowe is the first
instalment in The Shadow Pines trilogy and an amazing becoming-of-age
novel about four school students given four Shadow Boxes on their sixteenth
birthday. The students: Harley, Teaghan, Gianna and Brock, are told that they
have the power to remove one person from their lives by giving them to the
shadows. However, they must use the Shadow Boxes or someone close to them will
be taken by the shadows.
“The
four of you have been blessed with a great gift. Well, it’s a gift for you, but
a curse for someone else.”
Family Secrets by Kat
Nichols
is The first instalment in The Secret Societies
Collection, Family Secrets by Kat Nichols is about Sophia, who has
been living with her best friend Abby after both her parents died, but is soon sent
to live with family she never knew existed.
Sophia discovers that she comes from a long line of
witches. To top all that, she has to learn everything people have learnt in
years in five months for her initiation on her eighteenth birthday. She is also
to be named the next matriarch of the Blackthorne Coven, which is loaded with
secrets of its own of rivalry, jealousy, and dark magic.
The novel has the interesting theme of who is the
enemy amongst the characters. It is something Sophia has to discover for
herself.
"The way she said 'dear' grated on my nerves. It turned an
endearment into a dirty word."
Seasons of Time by Miriam
Khan
Beginning with an eerie prologue of a jealous unnamed
mystery woman and possible spell-casting, Seasons of Time by Miriam Khan
sees Lara Voight sent to spend the summer with her step-mother's grandmother
Gracen, a rude combination of grudge and age.
She soon begins to experience burning pains and
emotions as well as a familiar fragrance that often results in a vision of the
past. Lara also discovers that she is the "spitting image" of a
Penelope Le Rose 'Pen', who was murdered in the mansion and later comes across
her diary.
Just Pru by Anne
Pfeffer
Just Pru is
a beautiful contemporary and mind-opening novel about Prudence, who suffers several
psychological problems particularly when it comes to interacting and dealing
with people.
The novel begins two weeks after Pru's therapist has died,
leaving her unable to go out into the world since. After a fire in her building
and the loss of her apartment, Pru is terrified of having to go back to her overprotective
parents.
Pru's experience with humans comes from the hundreds
of shows and series, she's watched; however, these play an important role in
her later interactions and transformation.
"I thought longingly of my pills.
They were the colours of summer – a pale baby blue one, same as the sky, and a
lozenge in cheerful green and white, like striped lawn chairs."
I don't think anyone has ever thought so lovingly of
medication, especially for depression.
Bound Series by Stormy
Smith
The
Bound Series spans three books. It begins with Bound by Duty,
which focuses on and is narrated by Amelia, who holds unimaginable power, of
which she has no idea how important it is or how to control it.
Throughout
her whole life Amelia has been lied to by everyone. Her mother was murdered by
Queen Julia, a Hilter-like power-seeking character. Not only that, as a baby
Amelia was betrothed to Julia's son, and must wed him when she's 21.
"I felt my power build; pinpricks of electricity racing
through my veins, filling my blood inch by inch."
One
of the images, of many, that I loved in the novel was: "I was a war-torn battlefield of emotion."
The
second instalment in the series is Bound by Spells, which picks up where
the first book left off, throwing the reader directly into the action, which is
both fun and different from most books, which start out slow.
Also
narrated from the first person, Bound by Spells shifts between Amelia
and Aidan, with each of them being in a different place. One
of the things I liked about the book is that it contains reminders of scenes
mentioned in the first book, so the reader does not feel lost or confused, but is
capable of connecting events.
"Our power was a faucet constantly turned on. As long as it
ran, we lived. But if it turned off, we were done".
The Corpse with the Diamond Hand by Cathy Ace
The
Corpse with the Diamond Hand by Cathy Ace is a fun, mind-provoking cozy mystery in the Cait Morgan
mystery series.
Two days before Cait's and Bud's honeymoon ends, the
ship's card instructor drops dead. To everyone on board, Tommy Trussler seems
to have died of natural causes, but to Cait, the man appears to have been
poisoned.
"As human beings, we're not capable
of experiencing the world as it is – we always experience it as we are, with
all our faults, flaws, preconceptions and prejudices filtering and infusing
everything we perceive."
Since the novel is narrated from Cait's perspective,
we get her first impressions on everything.
"But the captain's
micro-expressions told me he was still feeling the weight of the suspicious death
on his shoulders."
Read the full review here.
The Enchanted Rose by Nadia
Nader
The
first instalment in a gripping series, The Enchanted Rose by Nadia Nader, focuses on Vivian, whose mother
recently passed away and who has been shipped off to quirky aunts she's never
heard of in a town called Misty Hills.
There she learns about her lineage, her family and their
curse. Worst of all, Vivian discovers she has a twin sister and a hoard of
secrets kept hidden by her mother.
The Huntress by Nadja
Losbohm
The
Huntress: The Beginnings by Nadja
Losbohm is the first instalment in The Huntress
series. The story is about Ada Pearce, an
overweight ordinary sport-hating woman, who meets the immortal Father Michael
and whose life is turned upside down when she is told that she is destined to
become a Huntress.
Ada is pregnant and is going to meet with a reporter to
tell her story and open people's eyes to the monsters on the streets and the need
to be careful. Her trainer and only companion, Father Michael, opposes this
idea at first but understands Ada's need to keep people safe.
"So, when I can't make my rounds,
who else is there to protect all those people from what's lurking in the
dark?"
The novella sets the background for the following four
parts and has significant character development for Ada, Father Michael and to
an extent the reporter.
The Memory Chair by Susan
White
A short emotional novel with lots of deep characters
and a little magic, The Memory Chair by Susan White is narrated from
thirteen-year-old Betony's perspective. It opens with Betony telling us how
going to her great-grandmother's is a sort of punishment she has to endure.
This changes when Betony sits on her great-grandmother's
large brown chair, where she gets a vivid dream of a family that resembles her
own but decades before she is born. She soon realises that these aren't dreams
but memories of her great-grandmother when she was very young. They show a young
boy called Warren, whom Betony has never seen or heard of. When she starts to
ask about the boy, no one seems to remember him and her great-grandmother
starts acting strangely.
"Each memory I had seen had brought
me closer to Gram, and now I cared about her in a way I had never imagined
possible."
Read the full review here.
UPDATE:
Here are more lists of Nadaness In Motion's Top Books
Nadaness In Motion's Top Books of 2019
UPDATE:
Here are more lists of Nadaness In Motion's Top Books
Nadaness In Motion's Top Books of 2019
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