The Sixth Wife by Laura Lond

**I won this eBook novella from the author through the LibraryThing Member Giveaway free in exchange for my honest review.**

Adelia knew when the faerie knight, Sir Ametar, asked for her hand in marriage, it would not be the same as a human marriage.

Ametar is hundreds of years old. He has been through tens of battles and has had 5 other marriages.

Adelia is an 18 year old human girl who fell in love with Ametar the moment her eyes saw him. So knowing they were completely different didn't matter, as long as she could spend her life with him.

And that's exactly what she did.

Now, however, she's 75 and she is starting to show her age. Adelia doesn't want Ametar to see her get any older than she is - she already looks like his grandmother. So Adelia decided she's going to live the rest of her life in a cottage alone to keep Ametar from her decaying and death.

But Ametar doesn't want her to leave. He has fallen completely in love with Adelia - as much in love as he was with his first human wife. However, he understands why she wants to leave, but it is heartbreaking for him.

If only there was a way to keep her with him forever, without the thought of dying hanging over their heads. Could there ever be a way for them to be together? Read The Sixth Wife by Laura Lond to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a great short read! Even though it was just 16 pages long, I felt like I got enough content and story that a normal length book would have, except none of the extensive description.

I was able to see the setting of the story, and get the feeling that while Adelia and Ametar were glad to be married, the tension around anyone else (fey or human) was unnerving for both characters.

Adelia was really brave throughout this novella. How many human girls would jump into a marriage after meeting a handsome faerie knight who they know nothing about, and know that they will be in this marriage until death? Well... apparently 5 others, but that's still really brave and unknown!

Also, because I've edited a few eBooks or self-published books, I always look for grammatical or punctuation errors, and was really pleased to see that there weren't any noticeable through my first reading!

I thought this was a great read and a different storyline played with faeries - instead of focusing on wars or who gets to rule the kingdom, this was about trying to keep their loved one with them for all time. Refreshing and unique compared to other fey stories.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants another twist on faeries, anyone who wants a short read with enough storyline to keep them content, and a story that could be ventured off into another book if the author wishes to do so (I have no idea if she will or not, she just left it open at the end to continue if that's in the future).

Overall, great story and now I'm interested to read more from this author!

If I Should Die Before I Wake: Anthology by Nadège Richards

If I Should Die Before I Wake by Jana Boskey: All her life, Evie's mother made sure that Evie and Callie never went outside after dark. Evie didn't believe the fairytale about the dark elf until he showed up for his "posession". Then Evie had to do anything to protect her little sister...

(Suspenseful story that kept the reader on the seat of their chair, and an ending that was unexpected.)

A Brush With Something Otherworldly by Jennivie Wirries: Jessie thought the item she took out of the time capsule at school was boring - an old Japanese hair comb. But when the comb showed magical abilities, Jessie realized she got a one of a kind object.

(It was alright - not my favorite and a little odd. Although it was unique and something I've never read about!)

The Winter Storms Have Come and Gone by Nadège Richards: Bethany says goodbye to Maxwell. Breakups happen all of the time, but not too many have a permanent ending like theirs...

(What many ex-girlfriends probably want to do, even if they never do so. Very short, but well written and it compels the reader to find out more!)

The Little Sister Who Cried Vampire by Brittany Hiester: Having to babysit her younger sister on Halloween was not part of Rosa's plans. So when Leah kept saying she saw a man in her window, Rosa chalked it up to Leah being annoying. Too bad she didn't believe Leah right away...

(Rosa complained too much for my liking, but that made her realistic as she's 14. A lot of punctuation errors, but the story was very action based, which I liked.)

3:00 AM 'Fun' by Ashley O'Donnell: After leaving her house and small town for 5 years, Abigail comes home when her mother passes away. The thought of staying for awhile crossed her mind, but that was before 3:00 AM came around...

(Was very shocked to read that a 16 year-old wrote this! Very well written and very disturbing. It will keep the reader asking questions after reading this story!)

The Tornadoes are Beautiful by Rhian Parry: Natural disasters are happening all over the world, destroying any sense of civilization. Xavier has been hearing voices all of his life, voices that tell him to do things. When it says to kill his sister, Xavier takes the ultimate risk to save her life.

(This has a mix of "Day After Tomorrow" but with a depressing atmosphere of no hope. There wasn't too much dialogue, which made the story slow for me, but it was a good story.)

I AM by Cody Jonathan Godown: A narrator who reflects on the past, looks at the future, and wishes for changes during the present. About a narrator who states, "I am cautious and curious".

(This is a one page verse story, written in the format of a poem. I'm horrible at reading poems and can't understand them, so I didn't enjoy this story as much as I should have. For readers who like verse, they might like it better than I did.)

They Speak To Me by Melissa Somoza: When she was nine, Rose was forced to leave her parents because The Society was trying to kill Rose. She's half clairvoyance and half necromancer, one of the darkest supernatural being in the world. At the age of 18, she's now on a mission to kill the members of The Society for revenge of her parents death. She is the ultimate assassin. The ultimate weapon.

(My second favorite story in this anthology! It reminded me of Kelley Armstrong's series "The Darkest Power" and I found myself loving Rose. She's sassy, tough, and smart. The ending was disappointing, but different and unexpected.)


A Faery Tale Nightmare by Christina Worrell: All her life, Ebony Frost felt unwanted and in the way. When he mother abandoned her, Ebony was sent to a foster home. Little did she know that was the best thing that could have happened to her. Now she has a new, caring foster mother and new foster brothers - 7 to be exact. And she's also found herself in a relationship! But when things get out of control with her new boyfriend and his cousin, she takes a step back and focuses on her new family. When she gets caught up in another romance, along with a battle for the most magic, Ebony needs to fight for what she wants, hoping that it's not too late.

(A spin-off tale of "Snow White" and a little twist with magic and werewolves, Christina Worrell did an amazing job! I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't stop reading until I finished the story. I loved the conflict Ebony had with her feelings, and her struggle with the magic building inside of her. A great read, my favorite in this bunch, and I would definitely recommend it to any reader in love of fairy tales and happy endings!)

My Thoughts/Reflections
I received a PDF of this novel for free to review by Nadège Richards and the staff of "My Home Away from Home". To find out more about this group, you can visit their facebook page, My Home Away From Home, where I have liked to keep up with their updates, or their blogsite: MHAFH.

I have not read any works by the numerous authors of this anthology, so the content and writing styles were very new and refreshing to me.

I really enjoyed this anthology! There were a lot of unique styles in the Paranormal/Supernatural genre that were refreshing and different than what has been written lately, making the stories fast paced and usually leaving me wanting more.

There were some punctuation and grammatical errors in each story, which is common for a self-published novel. Since I've had editing experience, my fingers were twitching to edit and fix the mistakes. However, even with the common errors, the stories were very well written and engaging to the reader.

I put my immediate reaction for each story after a small summary of the stories, saying what I liked or disliked about the individual short stories.

The last two stories were, by far, my favorite. They were also the longest in this anthology, which could be a factor as to why I like them.

There is a variety of writing styles in here. One is verse/poem format, while others are very short stories or longer stories. There's also various narration point of views to keep any reader happy.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good, short story to read, where they can stop after each story if they have a busy, hectic life.

I would also suggest this to anyone who likes supernatural topics (though you don't have to be a hardcore supernatural reader to enjoy this story). I tried to tag the different story subjects (vampires, faeries, etc.) that is located in this anthology to make it accurate for interested readers.

Overall, a great read that will entertain many readers, whether you are a lover of supernatural or just if you want to try something new to read!

Right now this anthology is available as an eBook on Amazon for only $0.99! If you are interested in purchasing it, click here to buy your own copy!

And thank you for letting me review this collection of works! I wish all of the authors luck in their future stories/novels!

Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey

The year is AD 1192 and Tess lives in a small town with her mother and father, the blacksmith in town. In this world, the contact between humans, dragons and faeries is very thin. They are enemies and don't enjoy each others company, which is why the Dragonswood is off limits to humans.

Tess loves going into the woods, though. She can't explain the urge to her friends, which is why she keeps it a secret.

However, when Tess is accused of being a witch and escapes the witch test, she has to go into the woods to escape the hunters looking for her to kill her.

Enter Garth, Tess's knight and shining armor who takes in Tess and her friends while on the run. The more they stay in Dragonswood, the more each girl doesn't want to go back to the "human side" of the woods. After making sure Tess's friends are content and happy with their stay, Tess decides she needs to figure out what is calling to her in the woods.

Tess got closer to the royal grounds, the fey grounds, on her search, which ironically answered her question as to what was drawing her to the fey world: Tess is half fey, half human. Now she is being prepared to meet the dragon princes's - to see if an old prophecy will come true: where all three species will comes as one, Fey, Human, Dragon.

My Thoughts/Reflections
Dragons! I haven't read a story with dragons in it for awhile, so I loved the change in topic and scenery. Being in the Fey world and reading about different gifts that some characters have was walking into a new world!

I also loved the character Tess. She was abused at her home with her mother and stepfather, so she was leery about trusting anyone at all. She could also take care of herself and was very brave when she needed to be.

Even though there was a lot of information in this story, I was able to follow all of it and was grateful how detailed the author got to explain the setting and location. I could see the scenery and I especially loved the details when the author described the dragons!

I think this could be a great book for teens and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes dragons or faeries as both are a major theme in this novel. From what I can tell, I think it's a stand alone novel and there wasn't a cliffhanger, so it can be a nice easy read for teens!

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Even though this book, The Iron Knight, is about Ash with Ash's point of view, I have to say: I LOVE Puck and Grim. Just love them. Without them, I wouldn't have laughed the 100 times I did throughout this novel. (Okay it might not have been 100 times, but it was a lot!)

(By the way, Puck is a trickster faerie and Grim is a cat, a cait sith, in the novel - so now I hope the following quote will make sense to those who haven't read this series yet)

I'm going to give one excerpt to try to make you understand why I love them so much. It describes Puck's and Grim's personality throughout the 300+ pages in this novel:

...then [I] stepped onto the platform near the back, grabbing the long wooden pole. As Puck entered, looking pensive, I nodded at Grimalkin, still sitting on the barrel. 'You coming or not, cait sith?'

He gave the raft a dubious glance, curling his whiskers. 'I suppose I must if I wish to see you to the End of the World.' Standing, he tensed his muscles to leap off the barrel, but hesitated, narrowing his eyes. 'Although, I will issue this one warning. If I end up in the river because some idiot decides to rock the boat-- he flattened his ears at Puck, who gave him a wide-eyed look of innocence '-I know severel witches who would be happy to bring down a particularly potent curse on said idiot's head.'

 LOVE IT!!! Okay, I'm over my obsession of Puck and Grim! On to the review!

Kagawa did an amazing job with this novel. I loved the ending of The Iron Queen accepting the fate that lead each character to her ending. However, I much prefer this ending to the series because everyone gets a final ending to their story. This story helped tie up loose ends that fans wanted answers to, wrapping up the story very well.

I did miss Meghan, as I'm used to her narrating the story in the last 3 novels, but Ash was a great character to choose for this novel. Ash was always a mystery to me, which was why I loved him. He always kept his emotions under wraps, never letting anyone know what he was really feeling, so this was a great narration that I finally understood where Ash was coming from.

The only thing I think could make this series even better is if we had a book written in Puck's view point - to have each of the characters really tell the reader what they feel and how they go through life with the memories they have like Ash did throughout The Iron Knight. However, it's not necessary because I had Puck's everlasting impression throughout this novel, showing me things that I was able to uncover through Ash's eyes.

Overall, great, GREAT book. I believe (but don't quote me on this) that the series is completed! So now you can start and finish this series in one sitting ;-) starting with The Iron King, Winter's Passage, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen, Summer's Crossing, and The Iron Knight.

...So what are you waiting for?! Go into the fairy world Kagawa created! Go on, you'll thank me later ;-)

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

The ending of the Wicked Lovely series... So sad, endings are always gut wrenching as I never want a good storyline to end. However, Melissa Marr did an amazing job wrapping up each storyline throughout this series, which I think is AMAZING because there were so many characters that needed to be followed, mentioned, and find their ending to the Faerie world.

I'm not going to give too much away from Darkest Mercy, because... well it's the final book! Go read the first 4 and then you can enjoy this amazing ending!

So, at a glance, I'm going to mention the main - er, submain and even lower main - characters of this series to explain just how happy I was for their ending.

Aislinn - Seth - Keenan - Donia: These four have had it rough. Between the different courts they were associated with to who they loved to who they desired, it's enough to make 1 person go crazy - let alone FOUR! But Marr found the perfect (in this crazy messed up quatro) ending for all of the characters, making each one happy with the decisions made.

Niall - Irial - Leslie: While Leslie was barely in here, she was a main part of the ending for this particular trio. With this particular group, Marr lead the reader on a very gut wrenching journey, scaring many by the choices the character makes and maybe even making the readers very, very angry. In the end, though, each character was in a good place, able to keep their connections and find a ... balance ... between the three.

Ani - Devlin - Sorcha - Bananach: While Ani, Devlin, and Sorcha were not talked about throughout this novel, they are very key characters in this series. We got the happy ending for Ani and Devlin in Radiant Shadows (click here for my post on that book) and Sorcha was content at the beginning of this book for things happening in Faerie land. Bananach... well she wasn't very nice, being WAR and all, so she got the ending that she deserved.

Seeing all of the courts complete and whole, with a few additional surprises thrown in for good measure, made me appreciate Melissa Marr's writing abilities. She did a great job for the ending of an addicting series, so while I'm not thrilled that my Keenan, Seth, Devlin, Niall and Irial fix is finite/done/gone, I'm very pleased with the ending.

Oh, and also... If this review didn't convince you to go read the books... then I give up! I think everyone should give 'em a go, though :)

Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr

The fourth book of this series, Radiant Shadows, delved deeper into the Faerie Courts, this time into the High Court and Dark Court following the two characters Devlin and Ani.

We met both of these characters throughout the first 3 novels, but now the reader finds out that Devlin knew about Ani before she was even born! This makes their history together very linked, so it was bound for them to become a part of one's lives throughout this story.

Ani is different. She's a Hound, part of the Dark Court where she feeds off of touching others. But she's also mortal, and a mortal/faerie in the Dark Court feeds off of emotions.

With the two types of feeds, she's a dangerous person to be around, especially when someone is touching her and allowing Ani to feel her emotions. She could drain their essence.

Devlin is the High Court Assassin. He does the High Queen's dirty work, showing no emotion and killing without a thought. He just follows Sorcha's orders - until Devlin was ordered to kill Ani many years ago, and didn't.

Now, Ani and Devlin are drawn together for many different reasons. Ani is different than any fey and Devlin was created in a way that made him different than other fey. When they travel together, trying to find a way to save the fey, secrets are let out and attractions are unvieled that neither character knew they wanted/needed before they met one another.

Melissa Marr did it again. She took two characters and made the fey land very real, explaining the process of each court to the reader to make the understand not just the Summer Court where she first started the Wicked Lovely series, but each Court associated with the fey. I can't wait to read the final installment of this series - which I'm going to start right ... now!

Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

After finishing this novel, my initial thought is "poor Ash!" That girl has gone through too much during her 17 years and this book made her life incredibly hard. I would not have wanted to have been her at all.

*Note* If you have not read any of the previous books in this series and do not want to read spoilers, I'm kindly letting you know that now would be the time to stop reading. I'm not going to give away anything in this book, but I will be talking about the previous books.

In Fragile Eternity, I was pleasently surprised that many of the initial characters from the first two novels were discussed in more detail: Seth, Ash, Donia, etc. and we were introduced to new characters throughout the Faerie Courts: Sorcha, Bananach.

Ash has a lot to deal with: being the new Summer Queen, fighting off Keenan's affections, and staying true to Seth and her love for him, all while trying to live the "mortal" life with her school, school friends, and see her grandmother (Like I said: Poor Ash!). Seth, on the other hand, is getting frustrated with just being a "mere mortal". He's tired of Ash going off with Keenan to do Court stuff and he's getting a tad jealous. So, to fix this, he decides he wants to become a faery himself!

This novel travels with Seth (mostly: it veers off to Ash, Keenan, Donia, and Niall a little bit, keeping the reader on their toes and learning new tidbits of the other Faerie Courts) and his journey to try and find a way to be with Aislinn forever - so she would never have to pick between her mortal boyfriend and her faery king.

In the end, though, Seth was not able to see the ... problems that would arise with his decision that has left ALL of the courts in a bit of a tussle...

I can't wait to read the next book to see what Ash and Seth decide, and to see if Bananach gets her way, since she is War and wants all of the courts to start fighting one another. This series just gets better and better; Marr has a great writing style and she is entrapping me into her stories, making me anticipate what will happen next. (Thank goodness I have all 5 books and won't have to wait!)

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

The second novel in Marr's series, Wicked Lovely, we get to follow Leslie's story about the Dark Court in Ink Exchange. While we visited Aislinn, Seth, Keenan, and the Summer Court throughout this novel, Leslie was our main focus and the reader was able to finally see Leslie's personal life and how she transitioned into the faerie world as Aislinn did throughout the first novel.

Again, Marr created a love triangle in this novel, tying Niall, Leslie, and Irial into a web that was so tight, it was hard not to fall in love with each characters. Niall and Irial are so similar that it seemed Leslie was almost falling for the same person sometimes.

However, for me Niall won because of his heart - he tried to do the right thing for Leslie whereas Irial, being the Dark Court king, had to do things for his court instead of what was right for Leslie.

Don't get me wrong, Irial had some great moments throughout this novel, especially the end where the king of the Dark Court started thinking of someone else's feelings and got trapped by Leslie's viewpoint. He also did the right thing with his court at the end of the novel. I just think overall Niall was able to fight the temptation throughout the novel better than Irial did.

Leslie is definitely a different character than Aislinn was in the first novel, which is why I like her so much. If she was another Ash, I would have gotten bored with the story, but Leslie was a victim in the beginning of the novel. She was scared, timid, frightened and she just wanted to get out of the situation that her family put her in.

Throughout the novel, Leslie was able to grow farther and start to make her own decisions - due to mainly Irial's bad intentions, but at the end of the novel, Leslie was able to finally make her own choice, whereas in the beginning of the novel she wouldn't have have the courage to do so.

While I didn't get to see the storyline grow between Keenan, Seth and Aislinn, I'm very glad that I was able to see one of Aislinn's friends background and how she conquered her fears in this novel. I also liked how Marr was able to change the viewpoint in the series because we obtained more information about another Court in this storyline, tying some more key points together from the first novel and leaving more holes to be answered in future novels.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

I've finally got my own copy of Wicked Lovely book series and am rereading them! This first book of the series is amazing - I love Aislinn. She's a strong character who seems timid at first when she cowers away from the fey that she has been able to see all of her life. However, I think that is very smart rather than cowardly because she was able to throw the faeries for a loop when they discovered that she has been able to see them her entire life.

Keenan's a character - a Summer King who is used to getting whatever and whoever he wants, but he meets resistance when he wants Aislinn. Throughout the novel the kind pouts a lot because he's not able to figure Ash out, but by the end of the book he realizes that this is a different century where females don't have to look dotting at him and he can start his reign of the Summer Court in a different style than the court has seen.

And Seth. I adore Seth - he's got that older, mysterious aura around him that makes anyone associated with him want to find answers to his secrets. I love that he waited for Ash to come to her senses about the two of them and I want to read more about Seth in the upcoming novels.

If you like faeries, a love triangle, or the paranormal, these books are definitely for you! And the best part? All of the books in the series are complete and ready for you to checkout/buy! So no waiting for the next installment - you can fly through all 5 novels as fast as you can read! Now... what are you waiting for? Go check out Wicked Lovely!

Summer's Crossing (novella eBook)

I just downloaded and read Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa, #3.5 of her Iron Fey series. I have been a fan of this series since the first book came out and I stumbled upon it at the bookstore - it was a great pick to just randomly choose one day! 

This ebook novella is a great addition to this series. It is only 57 pages long as right now it's free at eHarlequin online store for a limited time! Puck, (also known as Robin Goodfellow from a Midsummer Nights Dream?) is up to his tricks in the Fey Court, causing mischief and stealing from the Queen of the Summer Fey. Julie Kagawa yet again brought humor, entertainment, rivalry (between Puck and Ash, the Winter Prince - Puck's sworn enemy), and adventure - all in 57 pages! I'm definitely excited to read the next enstallment: The Iron Knight coming on October 25 of this year!