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chllybrd's review against another edition
3.0
Full review posted at http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com/
Jenni is racked with grief and guilt over the death of all her family besides her brother who disowns her after the tragedy. She moved to the human world 15 years ago and has stopped using her magic until her brother lands himself in trouble and her ex lover shows up asking her for help.
I felt that the author did a good job on conveying Jenni's emotions and feelings. She is so bitter about helping in the beginning and slowly has to let go of all her anger and grief. I enjoyed all the Magical stuff, the way it is explained and the uses of it all. I enjoyed the storyline and the way it progressed but I also found it a bit slow at times. There is some nice romance, and bonding threw out the book and I didn't feel it went over board on descriptions of Aric(the ex boyfriend) as I read another review state. I found it to be a solid book with a good ending.
Jenni is racked with grief and guilt over the death of all her family besides her brother who disowns her after the tragedy. She moved to the human world 15 years ago and has stopped using her magic until her brother lands himself in trouble and her ex lover shows up asking her for help.
I felt that the author did a good job on conveying Jenni's emotions and feelings. She is so bitter about helping in the beginning and slowly has to let go of all her anger and grief. I enjoyed all the Magical stuff, the way it is explained and the uses of it all. I enjoyed the storyline and the way it progressed but I also found it a bit slow at times. There is some nice romance, and bonding threw out the book and I didn't feel it went over board on descriptions of Aric(the ex boyfriend) as I read another review state. I found it to be a solid book with a good ending.
bookarian's review against another edition
3.0
So the relationship in this one develops really quickly, which is explained by the couple having been together years ago, but I kind of missed the whole get to know you theme. The mixture of urban and fantasy was a bit more on the urban side, (the fairy court owns a hotel in yellowstone). The bedroom scenes are kept mostly behind closed doors.
gloriousbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I found this to be one of those reads that I can finish but one that the story doesn’t stick with me after, if that makes sense. I didn’t have the hype after reading a really good book that I normally get but just – this might sound a bit mean – an acceptance that the book is finished so that I can put it aside and start another straight after.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think it was a bad read per se but it just didn’t intrigue me as I wanted it to and was just interesting enough to be able to finish it.
I liked the different characters in the story even if I thought some could have been developed more into the story. I liked the story behind the characters and the fact that they had a past a long time before the story had even started. It gave them depth that maybe couldn’t have been achieved otherwise.
The plot was definitely new and original but it just lacked a little something in my opinion. It wasn’t thrilling where it should be which could be because I anticipated what was going to happen or I just couldn’t get into the story as much as I could have on the whole.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think it was a bad read per se but it just didn’t intrigue me as I wanted it to and was just interesting enough to be able to finish it.
I liked the different characters in the story even if I thought some could have been developed more into the story. I liked the story behind the characters and the fact that they had a past a long time before the story had even started. It gave them depth that maybe couldn’t have been achieved otherwise.
The plot was definitely new and original but it just lacked a little something in my opinion. It wasn’t thrilling where it should be which could be because I anticipated what was going to happen or I just couldn’t get into the story as much as I could have on the whole.
avid_reader_53's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. Jenni Weaver has spent the last 15 years living as a human, angry and hurt with the Lightfolk that she felt had let her family die - gotten them killed and done nothing to save them. Suddenly Jindesfarne Mist-Weaver is called on again by the Lightfolk, the Eight specifically - the four Elemental Kings and four Elental Queens - to do the one thing that only her family could do, balance all four elements for a perfectly balance living space or ritual circle.
When she turned away the Lightfolk they sent to ask her, they sent Aric Para on. Her former lover and love - also the one she blamed for her families death because he rushed to the Eight that fateful day, not to her families defense. He tells her that brother, the one remain blood relitive is caught in the mist they use to balance magic. He accepted the assignment from the Eight, now he is lost - or stuck - unable to get out.
Jenni accepts because her brother had already given the Mist-Weaver bond, but her first plan of action was to save her brother. Once that is achieved, with a bubble magic event happening right on them, she is adopted into the Emberdrake family, Queen and King of Fire.
Through the book Aric is the to protect her, and yes, love her. He to feels lost and guilt because they were running late - on time - that fateful morning, just being two hundred to her seventy five, he dealt with it differently. Jen I learn to release that anger, guilt, and sorrow in the course of working her magic again and learning her new strengths. But she going to be strong enough, can she trust the Eight and the Dwarf and Elf guardians, and especially Aric enough to get them through the next large bubble event?
A wonderfully magical tale of lost love found, and lost family and guilt finding a place that is not poisonous in your soul. Can't wait for the next installment.
When she turned away the Lightfolk they sent to ask her, they sent Aric Para on. Her former lover and love - also the one she blamed for her families death because he rushed to the Eight that fateful day, not to her families defense. He tells her that brother, the one remain blood relitive is caught in the mist they use to balance magic. He accepted the assignment from the Eight, now he is lost - or stuck - unable to get out.
Jenni accepts because her brother had already given the Mist-Weaver bond, but her first plan of action was to save her brother. Once that is achieved, with a bubble magic event happening right on them, she is adopted into the Emberdrake family, Queen and King of Fire.
Through the book Aric is the to protect her, and yes, love her. He to feels lost and guilt because they were running late - on time - that fateful morning, just being two hundred to her seventy five, he dealt with it differently. Jen I learn to release that anger, guilt, and sorrow in the course of working her magic again and learning her new strengths. But she going to be strong enough, can she trust the Eight and the Dwarf and Elf guardians, and especially Aric enough to get them through the next large bubble event?
A wonderfully magical tale of lost love found, and lost family and guilt finding a place that is not poisonous in your soul. Can't wait for the next installment.
dainybernstein's review against another edition
4.0
Full review on Reader's Dialogue: http://readersdialogue.blogspot.com
Jenni has made a normal life for herself. After the disaster that killed her parents and most of her siblings, on a mission from the Eight Kings and Queens of the four elements, a mission to which Jenni was late and continues to blame herself for, Jenni wants nothing to do with the magical community. But when magical creatures show up on her doorstep asking for her help in a mission, and when Aric, her former lover, comes to tell her that her brother is in need of her help, Jenni agrees to help the Eight complete the mission. Besides for facing dangers of increased power in Dark ones, Jenni has to face herself and her grief and guilt, and her blame for Aric, to come to terms with what happened then in order to move on now.
I am a little conflicted as to what I think of this book. For the most part, I really really like it. But I can't not mention the things that bother me about it, because they did affect my reading of the book. So I'm going to write what I didn't like, get it out of the way, and then tell you what I did like.
The main thing that bothered me throughout the book is actually not related to the story - it's grammar. There were lots and lots of comma splices - two separate sentences joined together only by a comma. After I came across more than a few of them, I realized that the author was trying to create a feeling of immediacy, of one event happening right on the heels of another. But for me, it just jarred.
A more major point that bothered me is the guilt that Jenni feels. I felt that her guilt and blame for herself and others was not very well described. I kept hearing about them, but I never really saw them in action. The way they disappear is also not shown very well. I felt like if these were such major points, they should have been developed and shown more clearly.
That said - the style of the writing is really amazing. There's a perfect blend of magical and real elements, and the tone of the tale fits into this, to meld the two and make magic of the four elements sound natural. I was drawn into the world as soon as I was introduced to it, and the way the world is introduced is also great - with bits and pieces of how everything works revealed over time. Jenni herself knows some of it, but as she learns about the changes that happened since she cut off contact with the magical world, we get to see both how it was and how it is now. Everything just sounds so magical.
And the characters. Every single character, no matter how little page space they take up, has a very distinctive personality. Aric and Jenni, the two main characters, really jump off the page. But even the minor characters, the brownies and naiads who appear only to serve and help Jenni, are so individual and unique in their personalities. I love how all the actions fit seamlessly together because each character does only what makes sense for him or her to do. Especially in the last battle - the way the Eight behave, the way Synicess does, it all makes perfect sense. And the way Aric behaves. That is so perfectly developed over their renewed relationship throughout the book, that by the time he does what he does, I think the only one who is surprised is Jenni - definitely I wasn't!
On the whole, this book is a great book to sink into. The magicality, the characters, the mystic style of writing - it all creates a believable world, with emotion and heart, that stays with you a while after you finish the book.
Jenni has made a normal life for herself. After the disaster that killed her parents and most of her siblings, on a mission from the Eight Kings and Queens of the four elements, a mission to which Jenni was late and continues to blame herself for, Jenni wants nothing to do with the magical community. But when magical creatures show up on her doorstep asking for her help in a mission, and when Aric, her former lover, comes to tell her that her brother is in need of her help, Jenni agrees to help the Eight complete the mission. Besides for facing dangers of increased power in Dark ones, Jenni has to face herself and her grief and guilt, and her blame for Aric, to come to terms with what happened then in order to move on now.
I am a little conflicted as to what I think of this book. For the most part, I really really like it. But I can't not mention the things that bother me about it, because they did affect my reading of the book. So I'm going to write what I didn't like, get it out of the way, and then tell you what I did like.
The main thing that bothered me throughout the book is actually not related to the story - it's grammar. There were lots and lots of comma splices - two separate sentences joined together only by a comma. After I came across more than a few of them, I realized that the author was trying to create a feeling of immediacy, of one event happening right on the heels of another. But for me, it just jarred.
A more major point that bothered me is the guilt that Jenni feels. I felt that her guilt and blame for herself and others was not very well described. I kept hearing about them, but I never really saw them in action. The way they disappear is also not shown very well. I felt like if these were such major points, they should have been developed and shown more clearly.
That said - the style of the writing is really amazing. There's a perfect blend of magical and real elements, and the tone of the tale fits into this, to meld the two and make magic of the four elements sound natural. I was drawn into the world as soon as I was introduced to it, and the way the world is introduced is also great - with bits and pieces of how everything works revealed over time. Jenni herself knows some of it, but as she learns about the changes that happened since she cut off contact with the magical world, we get to see both how it was and how it is now. Everything just sounds so magical.
And the characters. Every single character, no matter how little page space they take up, has a very distinctive personality. Aric and Jenni, the two main characters, really jump off the page. But even the minor characters, the brownies and naiads who appear only to serve and help Jenni, are so individual and unique in their personalities. I love how all the actions fit seamlessly together because each character does only what makes sense for him or her to do. Especially in the last battle - the way the Eight behave, the way Synicess does, it all makes perfect sense. And the way Aric behaves. That is so perfectly developed over their renewed relationship throughout the book, that by the time he does what he does, I think the only one who is surprised is Jenni - definitely I wasn't!
On the whole, this book is a great book to sink into. The magicality, the characters, the mystic style of writing - it all creates a believable world, with emotion and heart, that stays with you a while after you finish the book.
eating_or_reading's review against another edition
3.0
I came away from this book feeling rather positive and remember it as being a fair read but in response to the acid test of "Who would I recommend it to?" that often helps me gauge my reaction, I drew a blank. So a mixed one really...
One thing I really liked about this book was the use of elements; the idea that everything is made up of a certain balance of fire, water, earth and air and certain beings are more in tune with certain elements. There was a touch of New Age philosophy about it but it was integrated into the story well and was a nice slant on magic. The imagery is bold and fills the story with colour that matches the nature theme perfectly.
The idea for the plot is quite good but, for me, it ended up feeling a bit repetitive. I'm inclined to think that's largely as a result of the characters - I never thought I'd be annoyed by somebody whose entire family has been killed but Jenni and Rothly both manage to be somewhat...irritating. Jenni has mourning guilt while Rothly has vengeful anger. I sympathised, sure, but was also wishing they'd at least try to move forward. It does get better but in a 'chick flick' fashion rather than in a gritty, emotional way.
And a couple of last thoughts: the tone of this book is hard to pinpoint - at times, I felt like I was reading a YA/children's book (brownie housekeepers and travelling through trees etc...) but then at others, there were some characters getting their raunch on. Makes it a difficult one to recommend to any specific point on the age spectrum, all in all.
Finally, there are, you will be pleased to know, some 'bad guys' to provide mild peril and thwarting opportunities (although for some reason they smell like "old bubble gum" - whoever would have guessed?). Again linking to the above-mentioned tone, these bad guys do have a taste for some pretty grim violence involving some spillage of blood - if you're of a very queasy disposition or are thinking of passing this to young kids, probably something that you'll want to bear in mind!
Overall: This was a sweet story with some cutesy magic going for it - I wouldn't necessarily be rushing out to grab other books by this author but I enjoyed this one and didn't have a problem finishing it. It's bright and colourful and made me wish for summer (possibly the beach scenes...) so it's a nice one to cheer up a dim day.
One thing I really liked about this book was the use of elements; the idea that everything is made up of a certain balance of fire, water, earth and air and certain beings are more in tune with certain elements. There was a touch of New Age philosophy about it but it was integrated into the story well and was a nice slant on magic. The imagery is bold and fills the story with colour that matches the nature theme perfectly.
The idea for the plot is quite good but, for me, it ended up feeling a bit repetitive. I'm inclined to think that's largely as a result of the characters - I never thought I'd be annoyed by somebody whose entire family has been killed but Jenni and Rothly both manage to be somewhat...irritating. Jenni has mourning guilt while Rothly has vengeful anger. I sympathised, sure, but was also wishing they'd at least try to move forward. It does get better but in a 'chick flick' fashion rather than in a gritty, emotional way.
And a couple of last thoughts: the tone of this book is hard to pinpoint - at times, I felt like I was reading a YA/children's book (brownie housekeepers and travelling through trees etc...) but then at others, there were some characters getting their raunch on. Makes it a difficult one to recommend to any specific point on the age spectrum, all in all.
Finally, there are, you will be pleased to know, some 'bad guys' to provide mild peril and thwarting opportunities (although for some reason they smell like "old bubble gum" - whoever would have guessed?). Again linking to the above-mentioned tone, these bad guys do have a taste for some pretty grim violence involving some spillage of blood - if you're of a very queasy disposition or are thinking of passing this to young kids, probably something that you'll want to bear in mind!
Overall: This was a sweet story with some cutesy magic going for it - I wouldn't necessarily be rushing out to grab other books by this author but I enjoyed this one and didn't have a problem finishing it. It's bright and colourful and made me wish for summer (possibly the beach scenes...) so it's a nice one to cheer up a dim day.
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