Book Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  Dying sucks-- and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out.

However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't? But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

My Thoughts:  It's no secret that Jennifer Armentrout is one of my absolute favorite authors.  I have been hooked on her books since Half-Blood and was thrilled to be able to read Cursed early.  Due to an unexpected move I had to put off reading it for a month but once I started, I couldn't stop.  Cursed was just as amazing as all of Armentrout's books!

Ember takes care of her little sister, Olivia and their mother.  Ember's father was killed two years ago in the very same car accident that killed Ember herself.  Yep, Ember died two years ago.  Her little sister has a "magic" touch however and brought Ember back to life.  Now Ember is known as a "freak" at her school and her mother has fallen into a deep depression, leaving Ember to take care of everything.  This is difficult on Ember not only because she is only a teen but because anything Ember touches dies.  

When someone touches Ember and dies one day, her own world gets turned upside down.  She comes home to find her little sister and her mom gone and a stranger in her house.  The only thing Ember remembers is the stranger apologizing and then waking up in someone else's house.  She meets Jonathan Cromwell who has adopted many "gifted" children.  She gets cozy with Jonathan's son, Hayden, and has to try to convince Jonathan and his other children that she is not a threat to them.  This proves difficult as everyone but Hayden makes it clear that they do not want Ember around.  To top it off, someone is trying to hurt Ember and she has to figure out if it is Cromwell or one of his kids or someone else.  

I loved Ember and Hayden!  Ember is strong for all that she has to go through but there are moments when she just irritated me.  She is a very easy to relate too and likable. Sometimes she pushes Cromwell's buttons just to be a pain. Hayden is sweet and a little mysterious.  I just really liked him and the tension between him and Ember.

I do have to say that I suspected the "bad guy" from the get go.  I didn't know why or how this person was even involved or knew about Ember so it kept up the mystery and kept me reading to find out why.  It was a great mystery throughout the whole book.

I am not sure if this book is going to be a start of a series but I sure hope so.  There are several questions left unanswered about Ember, Hayden, the Facility, etc. so I am really hoping this isn't a stand alone.  Plus, I just love Armentrout's books so another series by her would make me very happy!

Now I must go and find a book that captures my attention like this one did....

 

Book Review: Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout

**I received this book from the publisher for an honest review**

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  "History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "

Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

My Thoughts:  Oh, I do not know why I want to read these books early....(this post won't go live until October but I'm writing it in July) because now I have that much longer to wait until the next book!  I am not sure how I am going to be able to wait that long for the next book!

**Spoiler alert if you have not read Half-Blood or Pure**

Alex has been rushed back from New York after the daemon attack.  If you remember, she was forced to kill a pure guard in self defense and Aiden used compulsion on the pures that saw Alex kill the guard.  Alex is worried someone is going to find out what really happen.  Aiden tries to reassure her that no one could possibly know but Seth tells her otherwise.  When Minister Telly's guards pull Alex out of class, they soon find out otherwise. 

From there, things spiral downward for Alex and Seth.  Seth is trying to get Alex to awaken early.  Alex is afraid to awaken at all because she doesn't want to lose herself.  As the situation heats up, Alex has to try to decide if she can even trust Seth.  Okay, I can't say much more about the plot itself or I will give away a lot of amazing scenes!

Alex is still stubborn and still madly in love with Aiden.  She is confused though because she has feelings for Seth too.  The only thing that seriously irritated me about Alex was the way she was willing to be a martyr for everyone and the stubborness she had when her uncle wanted her to go into hiding.  I mean, maybe I am just a very selfish person here but if I was in danger like that, you better believe I would be going into hiding!  But, if Alex had gone into hiding then the book wouldn't have been as good so while I was irritated with her, it was understandable. 

Aiden is still hot!  If only he was real....okay but he's not so, he is so protective of Alex and loyal.  He tries not to let his feelings for her show but that ends up being impossible.

**spoiler alert**

I am not sure I like the fact that Alex and Aiden actually got together.  I loved the tension between the two and I was totally cheering for them but it's kind of like with Bones and Booth got together on the t.v. show Bones....once they got together, there is none of that tension that leaves you breathless.  That said, I liked the way it all came together when they got together. 

**spoiler alert over**

Seth...well, Seth is the same as always.  He is power hungry but you find out a little more behind that this time.  Not at all what I was expecting.  Seth isn't around a ton in this book as he gets sent to New York to "deal" with the half-blood servants who aren't taking the elixer.  He is scary in this book and I found myself really not liking him at all.

Marcus, however, redeems himself in this book (at least, in my eyes).  You get to see a whole other side to Marcus and he's not quite so uncaring and harsh and he has been in the first two books.  By the end of this book, I actually really liked and appreciated Marcus.  So, there is hope for him!

The ending was totally amazing!  Again, the only problem is how in the world am I going to wait for the next book to come out to find out what the heck happens?!  The cliffhanger was seriously perfect and leaves you yearning for much more! 

It's no secret that Jennifer L. Armentrout is one of my very favorite authors but seriously, if you haven't picked up this series yet, go out and get it!  You will be caught up in the story and you will not regret it! 

Moving is really no fun!

Oh, how I hate moving!  The packing, the throwing away, the unpacking...yep, I hate it all!  So, guess what I had to do last week?  You got it...move!  Here is the kicker...it's only temporary but we had to move everything out of our house. 

You see, last January we had a serious ice and snow storm.  A few months later our roof started to leak.  That started the trouble.  We had a contractor come up and he told us we would need to put on a new roof.  No problem...our insurance cut a check.  We had to wait until the weather got better so at the end of August we tore off half the roof.  And then we came to a complete stop! Our trusses were broken and/or rotten.  So, we ended up calling the insurance again and they are working on the money issues.  In the meantime, we had to move out.  Luckily my uncle has a beautiful house in town that he was willing to rent to us.  The catch?  We had to pack up all my grandparent's stuff (my grandfather passed away last April and my grandmother's in assisted living) and clear it out.  What a job!  I don't think those two people threw anything away in the 70 years they were married! 

Then I have this crazy, psycho neighbor (for real, she's a psycho, scary woman) who is telling anyone who will listen (which isn't many except those that want to report back to me) that we have committed insurance fraud.  Not sure how we did that (maybe I can twitch my nose and make it snow) since we have had our contractor's AND our insurance has sent out contractor's of their own and they have all said the same thing...snow and ice damage.  This woman is 10 years older than me but I swear, she acts worse than my four year old.  As we all say in the neighborhood though..."can't reason with crazy".  It's just added frustration!

Anyways, now that I am finally moved I will have some time to actually read and post reviews again!  Please don't give up on me...it's just been one heck of a crazy month! Stay tuned for a review of Jennifer L. Armentrout's Cursed at the end of this week or the first part of next week!