Review for "Tab Bennett and the Inbetween"

"Tab Bennett and the Inbetween" is the first novel in the "Princess of Twilight and Dawn" trilogy by Jes Young.

☺☺☺☺☻ as a Paranormal Romance                  ☺☺☺☻☻as an Urban Fantasy

Dressed in subdued colors the cover of "Tab Bennett and the Inbetween" gives little hint to the roaring passions laying in wait. A young woman dressed as if she's about to go for a ride stands on a grassy field. In the distance the dark shadows of a massive forest block the horizon. Hundreds of dark winged birds rise up from the darkness, riding and dancing on the blue waves of wind. The woman's dark hair, a mix between true brown and auburn, lashes out behind her in the same wind. She pauses in her walk towards the woods, looking back over her shoulder, one foot terminally raised. Is she asking you to follow her or is she debating going at all? While I liked the cover I don't think it was appropriate for the book. It feels innocent and even has a young adult type feel to it but this book is by no means for anyone but the most mature of audiences. The story within would have been much better suited by flashes of flesh or a passionate embrace. As it stands I feel a little suckered in to have read this book when this style isn't normally on my shelf.
We are introduced to the story by Tabitha Bennett  herself, this is the first book I've read on the Kindle to use the first person. The very first sentence draws you in to a world of gothic terror and beautiful simplicity, a juxtaposition that sets the tone for the entire novel. "While my sister Rivers was dying, I was planting crocus bulbs in my front yard." Just in that one sentence you can already feel Tab's guilt over the death of Rivers. But its not that simple, Tab knows exactly what she was doing while her sister was dying because Tab has a front row seat to the horror show through visions that will haunt her for years. Because the visions never come in time to save anyone and she knows because this has happened before to her two other sisters. Now there's just Tab...which means she's next. Her humungous family is devoted to saving her where they couldn't save the others, from he grandfather to her fiance Robbin. But its not just because they love Tabitha, no, its because Tabitha was the target all along. This is where Tab's simple life begins to unravel. She learns of her heritage and the destiny placed before her, she learns that her family is in fact not her family at all, and that the beautiful stranger standing on the porch is her true fiance not the boy she fell in love with during her childhood. Because Tabitha Bennett is really Princess Aurora, the heir to the throne of the Light Elves and the Inbetween.

What I liked about the book:

• Jes sets every scene every character up to the hilt. You can see the manor grounds, feel the passion, the intensity, the terror. It's honestly just good writing
• I like the hidden princess storyline and how Tab begins to accept and move forward with her life.
• None of the characters are one dimensional, everybody has feelings, everyone has the propensity to change, everyone has a depth to them even Nicolas. 
• Tab fights back! She's not always the weeping trembling princess, she'll haul off and hit somebody too. 

What I disliked:

• The actual plotline feels like it takes a backseat to the incredibly graphic love triangle between Alex and Robbin. I could have used a lot less sex and a lot more actual storytelling. 
• Tab is fickle. She can't seem to choose between the two men for almost the entirety of the book. If it wasn't for the enchantment pushing her and making her do things I could have hated her for this. As it is I don't like she didn't fight back enough, just letting her passions take over and feeling people up willy nilly. There's a brief second where she even considers one of the other characters as a viable option someone up until that point she had thought was a cousin. I mean really how Sex starved does Tab have to be!? 
• Alot of the surprises weren't very surprising... Even the most heart-wrenching declaration of how Tab was conceived wasn't as punchy because I'd figured it out pretty early on along with the other threat. I kinda felt like I should hold Tab's hand til she figured it all out. I will say that the real hidden threat of Nina was a complete surprise.
• The Starlings! Ok now whats up with them...why are they there, why are they helping her, etc. Don't introduce a wonderful character and then skip over them. Oh they're harbringers well....what does that mean?
• The ending....it just cuts off! I know its a trilogy but a good place to end if would have been directly after the battle. Don't leave me hanging.

This was all and all a great book that would have been made better for me the reader had it been classified properly. As an urban fantasy "Tab Bennett and the Inbetween" just isn't very good, but as a paranormal romance it really shines. In my personal opinon Jes Young would do much better marketing this book to romance readers instead of to urban fantasy readers. "Tab Bennett and the Underneath" is slated to come out in December. And I will probably look for it on the digital shelf. I'm intrigued to say the least and I'm really hoping that now that Tab has made her decision between Alex and Robbin we can move past the senseless sex. At the time of this review "Tab Bennett and the Inbetween" is available for the kindle for $2.99. You can find out more about the author Jes Young and her series "Princess of Twilight and Dawn" at www.jesyoung.com

☺☺☺☺☻                                              ☺☺☺☻☻

4 out of 5 smilies                                                                         3 out of 5 smilies

as a paranormal romance                                                              as an urban fantasy

It's a romping good time. Recommended only for mature adult audiences and those that don't mind sex centered stories. In short die-hard romance readers would love it.

Synopsis:

"Yesterday Tab Bennett was a bank teller. Today she’s at the center of a centuries old war between Light and Dark. Tomorrow – well let’s just say she’ll be lucky if she lives to see it.

Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, employed at the local bank, and finally living on her own for the first time at twenty-four years-old, Tab Bennett has no interest in a fairy tale life. She’s perfectly happy with the normal one she already has. But when her sister is murdered on a moon-dark night, revealing a world of power and magic she never dreamed existed, a fairy tale is exactly what her life becomes. Figures it would have to be the Grimm kind."

Review for "The Soulkeepers"

"The Soulkeepers" is the first book in G.P. Ching's trilogy by the same name.
☺☺☺☻☻
The cover is a wash of blue fabric. A young man stares out of the depths of the hooded cowl. His eyes are piercing and intense. The set of his lips is wide and brooding. A spherical medallion hangs from around his neck, a delicious pop of vibrant red. Shadows crisscross the cover, playing on the hood, the man's skin, and everything in between. It is not until I sat down to write this review that I realize that the hooded cowl is not a cloak as I had first thought but a hoodie, a type of jacket worn by sports players and urban youth's alike. Again it was the cover that pulled me in. It would seem I am sucker for a cover that gets me dreaming.
Our story starts with death, the young man on the cover's to be exact. We are introduced to Jacob Lau in the hospital. The fifteen year old still weakened by his near-death experience and the visions of the car accident that put him there has to contend with the knowledge that his mother is missing and that the man keeping watch over him is his uncle. An uncle that he has never met nor heard of in his entire fifteen years. Before Jacob knows it he is swept away from his home in Hawaii and plopped down into the middle of the rural pedestrian town of Paris, Illinois. Haunted by visions he can't understand and people that don't care to understand him Jacob wallows in anger and self-pity. His one friend in the entire community is also an outcast, the exotic Malini Gupta. Malini is quiet, reserved, and a citizen of the world. It's easy to like Malini. As the story progresses Jacob is dogged by secrets and his own ancestry at every turn. When the gorgeous and otherworldly Dr. Silva steps in things start to get interesting.
Anything more and we're entering Spoiler territory.

What I liked about the book:

• G.P. Ching does a reasonable good job with character development. You begin to like Malini at once, for instance. 
• The environments feel fleshed out. You can almost feel the spine-tingling heat of Oswald's garden, and the scene in the jungle village is as equally animated.
• Jacob's dedication to his mother is admirable

• I did love Jacob's gift. Everything about it. From the hum he feels in his veins to the way he unleashes it in times of distress. 

What I didn't like:

• There's a huge stink about race throughout the entire book. People hate our characters with a deep and abiding hate just because they look different or claim a different heritage. The hate is a little over done and comes out over-the-top. Even in a small community like Paris I cannot imagine that every single person would respond in such a way. 
• Jacob stays angry and unevolved for the majority of the book. Just lashing out at anything and everything, distrustful of everyone, doing things because its what he wants instead of thinking of others first. He consistently uses his newfound powers in selfish ways. It's hard to really really like Jacob and I think that's bad considering he's our hero.
• There were several times during the story when a time frame was referenced wrong or just felt off. For instance we see the mysterious figure in the woods early on who gives Dane a one month time frame to bring Jacob and Malini to her, but Dane doesn't even really attempt til much later on. It was disconcerting.
• Now this part is really personal opinion. It's is rife with judgemental religious undertones. Spoiler Alert!!! When I realized it was about angels and the like I almost deleted it right then and there. But I wanted to give it a chance. It dips into the matter of sin and judgmentally accuses us all of inviting it in, not to mention blaming the snake's very presence in the garden on Eve. Come on, give me break.
•  No surprises at least not for me. Way before we're supposed to know Dr. Silva is a fallen angel, and Gideon is an angel, and that the family was broken apart by the race divide I knew. I figured out that Malini was more than a normal girl early on too.
• Last but not least...there were some good scenes laying hidden just beyond the page but they never came into the light. Like the first time Jacob enters the garden and hears the male voice. I would think its Gideon but that's never addressed in the book, not so much as a sentence dedicated to it. And then there's Dr. Silva flying outside his window. Why? It's a wonderful scene so wonderful in fact it seems out of place and never fully fits in.

At the end I considered reading the other two books in the series just to see where the characters went. I obviously hate abandoning any story in its middle. But whereas "The Soulkeepers" is free currently on the Kindle, the two successive books are not. "Weaving Destiny" comes in at $2.99 and "Return to Eden" at $3.99. Granted its not much but seeing as how I was unimpressed with the first one the only way I would continue reading was if they were free or close to free at .99 cents. But that's me and my opinion. You can find more info on the books and the author at www.gpching.com

☺☺☺☻☻

3 out of 5 smilies

It's an ok read. Recommended for parents in search of a religious storyline. Not recommended for kids under the age of 13 due to the heavy dose of racial mistrust and the relationship between Malini and Jacob, which doesn't ever cross the line but feels like it could any moment.

Synopsis: "When fifteen-year-old Jacob Lau is pulled from the crumpled remains of his mother's car, no one can explain why he was driving or why the police can't find his mother's body. A beautiful and mysterious neighbor offers to use her unique abilities to help him find his mom. But in exchange she requires Jacob to train as a Soulkeeper, a protector of human souls. He agrees to her demands, desperate for any clue to the mystery of his mother's disappearance. But soon Jacob finds himself trapped in a web of half-truths, and questions her motives for helping him."

Review for "Song of the Summer King"

Since my writer's block is still drifting in and out allowing a meager few pages here and there, I've decided to do reviews for the books I've been reading in the meantime. Most of the ones I'll be doing are free (or free at the time) ebooks for the Kindle. I'm finally using my Kindle Fire for its intended purchase instead of a fancy mp3/solitaire player. Yay me. Maybe one day one of these writers will return the favor, maybe not, who knows. And P.s. if you want to send me a free copy of your latest FINISHED published or self-published novel for a review you're welcome to it. I can't promise I'll like or that it'll get a good review but I can promise that I will read it and I will be honest and helpful with my criticism, just as I would hope from any of my readers.

Alright here we go!             ☺☺☺☺☻

"Song of the Summer King" is the debut novel of Jess E. Owen and her publishing company Five Elements Press.
The cover features beautiful golden artwork. A feathered black griffin or gryfon as Ms. Owen calls them stands at the forefront, one paw lifted to go forward, his head turned looking back. In the background a very large tawny wolf is emerging from the deeper shadows of the forest. It looks expectantly out onto the path, at the gryfon, and in turn the reader. I have to say that when browsing through the free kindle books it was the cover, more than the reviews and brief synopsis, that finally called me to read it. I'm very glad I did.
We learn rather quickly that the black gryfon on the cover is our main character, Rashard or as he is affectionately called Shard. Shard lives in the world of the Silver Isles, a small collection of islands in the middle of the ocean. He is young, on the verge of adulthood, impetuous, and clearly haunted by his need to fit in and the stigma associated with his birth. His fear of being exiled from the only family he has ever known is poignant and driving throughout the story. We met the second character from the cover during the initiation hunt that will earn Shard his place within his tribe. Catori, is a wolf, and the sworn enemy of the gryfons. But when Shard does the unthinkable and not only talks to Catori but takes her advice he opens up a whole chapter of his life that was previously unknown and will further complicate his story.
Ok... So that's the gist of it without revealing anything that shouldn't know.

Now I'll try to leave out spoilers but no guarantee's beyond this point.

Things I loved about this book: 

• The characters feel very real and you are happy to traipse alongside Shard as he grows and learns more about his place in the world. 
• The nature connection. The pompous way the larger gryphons assume that everything belongs to them and every creature that is not a gryphon is somehow lesser and unworthy of attention reminds me of the way many humans feel about the other creatures we share the earth with. It makes it easier to dislike the big gryphons. And Shard only begins to grow into his true powers when he accepts the relationship his ancestors had with the earth. 
• It surprised me! While I figured out a couple of the twists ahead of time there was actual a pretty big one that caught me by surprise. I love being surprised and it happens so rarely. After years and years of reading and watching every thing I came across I can usually sniff a plot turn a mile away. Hint- It has to do with the Widow Queen
• The coming of age storyline mixed in with the doing what you know is right regardless of what is easy and staying true to your self  is a keeper. 
• I loved the mixture of Norse mythology sprinkled throughout the novel

Things I didn't like

• At the very beginning Ms. Owens writing style is a little verbose. I found myself floundering in the early details. Thankfully either I adjusted very well to the style later on or she improved midway because the further in I got the less I noticed this.
• Probably related to the verbose problem there were a few phrases that I had to reread a couple of times to understand in the way it was meant to be read as with a few editing/grammer mistakes.
• Shard doesn't grow into his position as hero as quickly as I would have liked. He clearly has a strong moral fiber but at the same time is wishy-washy in his actions.
• The bad guys are for most part blatantly bad.

Given the option I would read this book again and I fully intend to read the next book in the series to see how Shard grows into his role as a leader, what exactly it was that pushed the Red gryphons from their homeland as well as seeing if Shard's best friend turns out to be the gryphon I desperately hope he is; but doubt.

☺☺☺☺ ☻
 4 out of 5 smilies
 Recommended to anyone who loves a good fantasy and suitable for teens and mature children.
At the time of this review "Song of the Summer King" is available for $5.99 on the Kindle. You can find more information about the book and the author at www.jessowen.com

The synopsis:   "Shard is a gryfon in danger. He and other young males of the Silver Isles are old enough to fly, hunt, and fight--old enough to be threats to their ruler, the red gryfon king.
In the midst of the dangerous initiation hunt, Shard takes the unexpected advice of a strange she-wolf who seeks him out, and hints that Shard's past isn’t all that it seems. To learn his past, Shard must abandon the future he wants and make allies of those the gryfons call enemies.
When the gryfon king declares open war on the wolves, it throws Shard’s past and uncertain future into the turmoil between.
Now with battle lines drawn, Shard must decide whether to fight beside his king . . .or against him."