Book Review: Love Chosen by Marne Ann Kirk

Paperback
277 pages
Release date: March 20, 2012
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Series: The Fae Dragon Chronicle #1
Author: Marne Ann Kirk
Thank you to the author for providing this book for review!

For millennia, dragon and fae have peacefully co-existed, but the fae themselves have lived segregated and very different lives. Now a malevolence threatens to separate them all permanently. Can a Queen's guard and a rebellious outlaw join forces to defeat this common enemy? Tyler's touch sparks fierce desire, drawing Issie to him, but she despises his way of life and all that palace society represents. If he learns she wields majic to help the less fortunate escape the kingdom, he'll charge her with treason. Her punishment - death. Issie is a sassy rebel who is constantly looking for ways to circumvent the conventions of their society. Tyler's head warns that she's a non-majical lower, beneath him. His heart sees by her inner strength and outer beauty. Only a binding love will lend them strength to save her life - their world. Can either of them bend enough to trust that love?

I LOVED the first half of Love Chosen. Sadly, the second half had big shoes to fill...and while it was okay, it fell kind of flat.

Issie is a great character. She's strong and smart and kicks serious ass.
Tyler, on the other hand, felt forced to me. I didn't feel the chemistry that was supposed to be between he and Issie.
And the sex scenes--which are VERY graphic--were also VERY cheesy, rushed and unrealistic.

Okay, now that THAT'S out of the way, I'll get to the good bits!

Ms. Kirk's Fae Dragon world is amazing. It's amazingly real and definitely a place I'd want to visit!
Her characters are vivid and alive, and you come to care for them very much.
Her dragons are wonderful and so very easy to love (and fear), and the magic, the trials, the royalty and the mystery were all so well written and a real pleasure to read.

I breezed through the first hundred pages or so...and then just kind of plodded through the rest.

Luckily the end DOES make the last half worth reading, and because of that ending, I will be picking up book 2.
Must....know...what happens...next!

If you like romantic fantasy, I think you'll LOVE this book.
It went wrong for me because I prefer a bit of romance in my fantasy, and this is pretty much the other way 'round. ;)

Let me know if you read it!

Book Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

eBook
Release Date: July 10, 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Series: Seraphina #1
Author: Rachel Hartmen

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Fantasy will always be my first love. Sometimes, when I stray for too long, I forget just how much it really does mean to me.
So thank you, Seraphina, for reminding me and for bringing me home again. :)

This is a REALLY good book. It's got dragons and battles and romance and mystery. Teens who already love fantasy will love Seraphina.
However, this is NOT a good introduction-to-fantasy book.
It does lag a bit in the middle and I found my eyes glazing over for a chapter or two before it picked back up.

Seraphina is a wonderful character. The 'garden in her head' is an amazingly brilliant idea. Wow.
She's very likable and by the end of the book, I didn't want to leave Goredd. I wanted to follow her new adventures right away!

The dragons are written in a new and unique way. Genius, really. Dragons that can take human form and walk among us!

My favourite characters are minor, but oh, so important. Fruit Bat and Loud Lad. I know you'll fall for them just as hard as I did. ;)

There are a few parts that will make you emotional and one or two that will make you laugh out loud.

I'm really, really looking forward to book 2.

I definitely recommend Seraphina to fantasy lovers of all ages!