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!

Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent

This is a novella of the Soul Screamer series by Rachel Vincent. 

I did a general blog about the first 8 books in the series here: Soul Screamers. 

I also reviewed the 5th printed book (the book before this novella) here: If I Die. 

Sophie Cavanaugh has had enough of her cousin, Kaylee's, weirdness. She wants to go through high school as a popular dancer, become the first junior dance captain, and live a normal life. 

A normal life that disappears when she lets out a bloodcurdling scream and finds herself, along with a new, hot boy at school Luca, in a world where things do go bump in the night. 

Sophie has no idea where she is. She doesn't know how she got there. 

All she knows is that she does NOT want to be there. When her and Luca get separated, Sophie has to become brave and do things she never thought she would have ever done. 

Will Sophie and Luca get out of this nightmarish place? And if they do, how can things ever go back to normal? Read Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections

I'm really glad that I read this novella. I'm a hardcore Rachel Vincent fan and love all of her novels, so it was just a matter of time that I would get to this eBook as well. 

I just had to get a Kindle app first!

And boy am I glad that I read this! I might have been confused in the next novel of the series, Before I Wake with Sophie's character!

Even though Sophie was finally introduced to the weirdness of her family, she still kinda annoyed me. I can't really say too much without giving the whole 61 pages of the novella away, but there were some statements that made me want to slap her. 

I'm hoping that she changes in the final two novels of this series, but it's Sophie, so I don't think I'll hold my breath. 

With that said, it was a great addition to add to the Soul Screamers series and I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the release of the next novel, Before I Wake, which comes out June 25, 2011. 

If you haven't read Rachel Vincent's novels, I urge you to do so at once. You won't be disappointed!

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Reckoning - #3 and Final book in the Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Armstrong. 

Click here: The Summoning for the review of the first book in the series and here: The Awakening for the review of the second book in the series. 

**NOTE** There will be SPOILERS in this review from the first two novels in this trilogy. 

Just when Chloe Saunders thought she escaped from the corporation she was running from, she's right back in the middle of it as an experimental test.

Chloe, Simon, Derek, and Tori have been saved by Andrew and taken into hiding. They don't feel safe, though, especially because Lauren, Chloe's aunt, and Rae are stuck in the facility that Chloe and Tori escaped from.

While hiding out, Andrew's co-workers come in and try to help the teenagers with their powers - each specializes in the abilities Simon, Chloe and Tori have.

When Chloe's mentor, Margaret, takes Chloe to a cemetery, Chloe is very uncertain she should be there - considering she can raise the dead without even trying. When the test trial goes wrong and Margaret sees just how powerful Chloe is, Margaret thinks that they need to get more help since she's unqualified for the job.

That's how all of the mentors think when they see the teenagers try their powers.

After getting ambushed by other werewolves, Derek and Chloe find out that Andrew was part of a mission to get all of the teenagers under one place, watched by guards.

So it seems the teenagers went from one prison to another.

The main mission the teenagers are on is to find Derek and Simon's father. He will help them out and know what to do.

Will the teenagers have to run for the rest of their lives? Can they finally break free from the prisons they are always being taken to? Read this final installment of the Darkest Powers Series to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a great finish to this series! I like how it was just as action packed as the first two, making the reader zip through the pages to find out what happens in the end.

Knowing it was the final book, I was anxious to find out the ending, and I just loved it! Everything gets resolves, and while there may be a story with Chloe and the guy that she picks (not going to say because I want to keep something non spoilery), I'm overall really happy with how things ended.

I would definitely recommend all three of these books to other readers! It's definitely different than the novels written today and we get to experience different types of supernatural (necromancer, werewolf, sorcerer, witch, demons, etc.) so it's not just one type of paranormal species.

If the author decided to make another novel continuing their story, I wouldn't mind that either, but for now, I'm very content as to how this novel finished! :)

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

The Awakening - #2 in the Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Armstrong

Click here: The Summoning for my review of the first book in the series.

**NOTE** There Might Be Spoilers in this review for the first novel in the series. 

Chloe Saunders used to be an ordinary girl. That was before she found out she was a necromancer - a person who can raise, talk, and summon the dead spirits. Now, Chloe and her friends she made at the Lyle House (Derek, Simon, Liz, Rae, and Tori) are running away from the authorities that kept them in the house.

They wanted to run tests on all of the teenagers because they are supernatural. Derek is a werewolf, Simon is a sorcerer, Liz (who was killed but her ghost lives on) is telekinetic, Rae can manipulate fire, and Tori is a witch.

Together, Derek, Simon, Chloe, Tori and Liz are working as a group to get away from the "scientists" who want to run experiments on them to figure out their powers.

When the group reaches a close friend of Derek and Simon's father, they find out that Andrew used to be a part of the "scientist" group for supernaturals but now is trying to destroy that company.

In order to do that, though, they need Chloe and her friend's help to make sure it will be fully destroyed.

My Thoughts/Reflections
I think I liked this book even more! There really wasn't much going on, just everyone trying to find a safe place to meet up and figure out what to do next.

During the journey, though, we see Chloe's supernatural power some more - sometimes out of order and others when Chloe tries to use it. We also see Derek fighting his metamorphosis into a wolf.

There is some subtle romantic feelings in this book, just like the first, between Chloe and both Derek and Simon. I know most might pick Simon because he is the cuter, more outgoing out of the two brothers, but I think I would like to see Chloe and Derek together. Derek is the not so good looking one since he's in his puberty stage still, but every time Chloe and Derek were together he was always protecting her and got emotional when Chloe was "causing trouble". I think they'd make a cute couple!

Even though this was mostly them running from place to place, we learned more about the organization hunting them and we learn more about all of the characters.

I'm excited to see what happens in the final book of this series and where Kelley Armstrong goes with it.

I would definitely recommend these books to teens who like paranormal stories, and want to read another novel about necromancers since there aren't too many out there yet.

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Summoning - #1 in the Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Armstrong

Going to an art school for classes about film directing was a normal day for Chloe Saunders. Until the day her monthly cycle came and she saw a janitor with burn scars chasing after her in the hallways.

That janitor, though? He wasn't alive. He was actually a ghost trying to talk to Chloe, as she was the only one who would see him.

After that episode, where the teachers had to sedate Chloe as she was trying to run away from the ghost, Chloe was sent to a "house for troubled teens". Now she has to prove to everyone that she can't see ghosts - that it was just a mistake.

Which is kind of hard to do when ghosts keep popping out of nowhere scaring her each time. The more time Chloe spends in the Lyle House with the other teenagers, the more she realizes that things are not as they seemed when she first got there.

With the other teenagers: Derek, a 6 foot, acne face 16 year old; Simon (Derek's older brother); Rae, a girl who likes looking at fire; Liz, the perky, happy one of the bunch; and Tori, the snarky, queen of the House, Chloe learns more about each teenager and how they are not so normal as she first thought...

After teenagers have left the house, Chloe forgets the idea of trying to be a "normal, non-ghost seeing girl" and starts to contact the spirits. What she finds would make anyone in that situation get goose bumps...

My Thoughts/Reflections
I was sure what I would think of this book. I've read great reviews and I read Armstrong's newest book series The Gathering, so I wanted to see how this book would pan out.

After figuring out some mysteries, I'm now hooked. There aren't too many books being written about talking to the dead/ghosts, so the storyline was new and refreshing. Also, there wasn't a heavy romantic appeal - at least in this first book of the series - which kept me hooked on the story rather than who the main girl would choose to fall in love.

This was a very easy and fast paced book to read. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal but is getting tired of the fallen angel/vampire/werewolf stories that are being over written lately.

This is also the first book of a triology, which all books are finished and available for purchase/checking out so there is not waiting for the start/ending of the story!! Yay!

Reviews will be up for the second and third book very soon (As soon as I read them :))

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Sam is a college drop out working at a fast food joint, living day by day. The worst things he has to decide is whether he wants to work on the fryer or at the cash register (which, by the way, the fryer is his choice but usually gets stuck at the register putting on a happy face for rude customers).

During one of his shifts, though, a man comes in and changes Sam's life completely. It turns out that Sam is a necromancer, one who can see spirits, control the dead and spirits, and pretty much do anything with the dead. The man in question that changed Sam's life is none other than Douglas Montgomery, the leader of the Council and the most powerful necromancer in Seattle.

After that shocking news, Sam confronts his mother, who turns out to be a witch, gets trapped in a cage with a were-hybrid (werewolf and fey), is presented with his coworkers decapitated head as a "message", and found out he has 2 half sisters who are also necromancers. Now Sam wishes he was back at the cash register...

This was definitely a different novel than most YA books. This is for an older YA, since all of the characters are around 19 years old and they aren't going to school. Also, the topic is something I've never read about. I wasn't even sure what a necromancer was at the beginning; thankfully it was explained throughout the novel.

Overall, I think Lish McBride did an amazing job creating a new, fresh genre for YA and adults at the same time. So far I don't think there is a sequel to this book, but it ended in a way that it wouldn't need another book, so I hope it will be a stand alone.