Scarlette - Davonna Juroe

Description
Find the Beast ~ Find the Cure

Scarlette, an 18-year-old peasant, lives under a dark threat. A nightmarish creature lurks in the surrounding forest, killing the villagers one by one. When Scarlette's grandmother survives an attack, Scarlette learns that her grandmother hasn't suffered the bite of just any normal animal.

Now desperate, Scarlette searches throughout her province to find a cure. But there are those who want to keep their pasts hidden. As she begins to uncover the dark secrets of her village, Scarlette is befriended by a local nobleman and a woodcutter who share a gruesome history with the beast. To save her grandmother, Scarlette must unravel their mystery and solve an age-old crime. But as she pieces together the clues, Scarlette finds herself torn between the two men, both of whom want to be more than friends and hold the key to the cure.

What if Little Red Riding Hood was Real?

My Opinion
When I received a request to review this book I was interested by the dark, paranormal aspects. However I was slightly worried about the historical aspect of the book. I was unsure what to expect and was mostly concerned with how Juroe would use language, especially speech. All this was for nothing though and besides being based on old folklore and using a class system (peasants and nobels) I couldn't really say anything else was historical which was great.

I read this book in a few hours and although it took me a while to get into it, it did capture my interest and hold it all the way through the book. The plot was full of action, twists and turns that leave you guessing until the end and it was only a few chapters before the reveal when I figured out what was going on/who was behind what. I love a book that keeps you in suspense of who's good/bad, behind the events, or going to get together in a romance and this book definitely fulfilled that side of things. Juroe did a great job of revealing just the right amount of information to stop confusion but still create suspense. As well as this the romances (although not always pleasant) added extra interest and were intertwined in the story well so it flowed together without becoming disjointed.

There were a few things though that annoyed me slightly. The first was that although the book hooked you, for me it moved at a slow pace and some sections I found had a bit too much description which lead me to only skim read certain sections. For me there was quite a bit of unnecessary detail that did nothing to move the story along and left the me wondering why I needed to know it. As well as this I didn't really connect with the lead character Scarlette. I'm not sure why this is but I found her attitude at times irritating and she wasn't as strong as I would have liked. It got better towards the end but for me there was a connection missing. I'm also glad I didn't see the cover before I agreed to review this book as I didn't really like it and it would have probably put me off.

The biggest issue I had with this book was the originality. I have read a few books like this before and seen the dark retelling of Red Riding Hood (movie) and it seemed that there wasn't much variation. I know it was a retelling but for me there wasn't enough to differentiate it from others like it. But hey there are hundreds of vampire novels out there that all have the same theme so it shouldn't put you off if you like the genre.

Overall this book was and interesting read and had a few twists and turns that kept me hooked. It did however move at a slow pace with some scenes needing more development and editing for unnecessary details. I didn't connect with Scarlette but that maybe just me and even though the story isn't all that original it may be worth the read if you are interested in dark paranormal books or werewolves.

Tormented (Immortal Saga) - J. Ann

Description
It's been over 200 years since Humans drove the affected into hiding. Now out of nowhere, people are dying on both sides. When one of the few female specially trained fighters; also known as an Ultorum, is added to the body count, Angelina is forced to make a decision. Now she must betray everything she knows, including her best friend Michael, and follow the one creature she doesn't trust.

Ethan watches this young Ultorum with leery eyes. He is deeply impressed with her abilities, and even more so with her determination. It's just to bad she smells so good.

Together they set out to find the one responsible for all the killings, but what they find, they are not going to like.

My Opinion

As you can probably tell from the books I read, I am a paranormal and romance lover and when I got asked if I would read this book I was instantly intrigued by the description, even if I wasn't keen on the cover. I know the vampire/werewolf genre is getting slightly over used now and maybe becoming a little predictable so I was slightly worried about whether J.Ann could bring anything different to the genre. I must say this book was a pleasant surprise though and it hooked me more than I thought it would.

Even though vampires and werewolves are included in the novel, the story focuses more on the Ultorums (stronger humans) and I loved that fact. It meant that the book strayed from the stereotypical vampire novel and separated it slightly in the overwhelmed genre. It mostly follows the life of Angelina -but did switch between different people's lives at certain points - and how her life changes when a near death causes her to meet the Vampire Ethan. I loved Angelina, she was strong, determined and knew how to fight so in a way it made the book remind me of Rachel Vincent's Blood Bound, which is one of my all time favourites. 

The story line was intriguing and gripping. The action moved at a faced pace and I had trouble putting it down, I probably would have been up all night finishing it if I hadn't had college the next day. I loved the romance triangle that started to develop and J.Ann did a brilliant job of making the reader connect with her characters. At first, before the (predictable) love triangle emerged I thought that I would stay on Micheal's side as he was strong, kind, supportive etc and when Ethan appeared I thought I would grow to hate him. However by the end of it I was torn as to which guy I preferred and would want Angelina to be with and if you think everything will be resolved you are wrong, Tormented leaves you on a terrible cliffhanger and will leave you wanting more.

There were a few downsides to this book though. At times, when the book switched perspective I found myself a little confused at first at what I was reading but this was sorted out as I began to learn the characters more. It also jumped a lot with J.Ann using "***" to move the story along. I'm not against this but maybe it needed to be less frequent so as not to disrupt the flow too much. There were also a few minor grammar and spelling issues that caused me to re-read  a few sentences (breaking up the story) to make sure it wasn't me just reading something wrong and figure out what was meant to be there instead. These were however minor and infrequent so didn't detract too much.

Over all this book was a nice surprise. It brought a slightly different twist to the vampire genre and was easy to understand. This book is a quick read (maybe too short if you enjoy it as much as I did) but packed with action, romance and suspense. It was well written and the characters were developed brilliantly. I can't wait for the next installment to find out what happens and would highly recommend this book to paranormal/romance lovers!