Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Prequel to the Covenant series
4.5 stars
Alexandria and her mother have lived with mortals for three years. Three years away from her home and trying to forget her duty to protect demigods. After horrifying events lead Alex to Miami she finds herself on the run from daimons, the very things she’s been trained to kill. On the run from daimons and trying to find her way back to the place she escaped from- the Covenant- things are about to get crazy for Alex. The thing I love about JLA is that her writing is always fun. She’s snarky and entertaining. I always find myself loving the heroine and swooning for the hero. Being that this story is only 62 pages and I was already starting to feel this way, I’d say that Armentrout is amazing. I know that a lot of people don’t like this series because it’s a “rip-off” of Vampire Academy. I love VA and I see the similarities, but it doesn’t seem all that much the same now. Keep in mind that Obsidian was also said to be a rip-off of Twilight with aliens. If you’ve read more than one book, then you know that this because completely irrelevant as the story progresses. I’m sure the same thing will happen with this series.
For a short story, I thought Alex was great and this Seth guy sounds great. I already have Half-Blood and hope to get to it soon because JLA never disappoints.
Cover Thoughts: This cover is gorgeous. It’s not particularly different, but it is a good cover and I like it a lot.
This book can be read free online here.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
1 star
Undaunted Courage chronicles the story of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition, Thomas Jefferson’s dream of America’s expansion, and the events leading up to and after the expedition. Well, this is a nonfiction novel so I can’t pick apart characters or plots. That’s probably my biggest problem with Undaunted Courage it offers no great excitement besides that Indian battle. I read 50 full pages and then decided the easiest way to get through and enjoy this book was to skim through. I read the first sentence of every paragraph and if it pertained to my project I would read the full paragraph. I didn’t enjoy this novel in the least. It was boring, endless and it left me miserable and unsatisfied. I did learn a few things from this book surprisingly (I didn’t know Lewis killed himself and was pretty shocked by that), but I didn’t feel anything besides boredom and the feeling of impatience while reading. Nonfiction like this just isn’t my forte.
There were many maps and pictures inside this novel. They were greatly detailed and offered a lot to the expedition.
Cover Thoughts: It’s a great painting, but it doesn’t appeal to me.
Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly by P.T. Jones
DNF-1.5 stars
Mary doesn’t know what to think when she’s at a lame birthday party with her lame overly religious family when a boy floats up a tree and into the sky. She doesn’t know what to do when her brother starts to float to and other kids. The prospect of this novel is different and cute. I thought I would enjoy it. Sadly I didn’t. I DNFed 91 pages in. I have enough back story on this novel to say that this novel isn’t for me. The writing is painfully childish and uninteresting. The book is chalked full of bad pop culture references. This novel tries to be cool, but instead of me enjoying the references, I found myself annoyed with the author for trying so hard to appeal to younger readers.
Mary was a character who I couldn’t connect to. She had some funny lines, but she was telling me her life instead of showing it to me. I can’t stand characters like that. Mary was just one of the reasons why this book didn’t work for me.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2
The “love interest” I was introduced to was a flop. I’m not sure if he was meant to be a love interest or a crush, but regardless I wasn’t interested.
Swoon Worthy Scale: 1
The Villain- I’m not really sure where this story is going, but that weird man was unsettling. I’ll give the book that.
Villain Scale: 2.5
Mary’s friends and family were present in comparison to most YA and MG novels, but I didn’t feel a family bond or a close friendship bond.
Character Scale: 2
This book was just unsatisfying and I’m sure I continued to read further instead of DNFing, I would’ve just hated it more.
Cover Thoughts: Hands reaching… I’ve never seen that used before.
Thank you, Netgalley and ChiTeen for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read any of these? Let me know down below!
I've read all the books in the Covenant series, but neither of the novellas. When I read Half-Blood I was pretty blown away with the direct similarities to Vampire Academy, and I definitely understand where people are coming from when they say it is a rip-off. But after book one, the series takes a turn away from the VA storyline and stands on its own two feet. Although, by book five, I must say that I was thoroughly over it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that you didn't like Floating Boy. When I saw the cover and read the blurb, I was instantly intrigued. But I've seen a few reviews that have been less than stellar :/
That's good to hear! I'm really looking forward to it and to know that it's strays away from VA makes me even more excited.
DeleteIt does sound like it would've been excellent! I'm really disappointed by it, but some people liked it.