Magic Shifts Review

Author: Ilona Andrews

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Let’s play who can be a better killer. My sword and I love this game.

Magic Shifts is the eighth novel in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. I still cant believe she has published over eight amazing novels! Kate and Currans' story is endless and timeless and flawless. I just cant get enough! This series just gets better with every book and Magic Shifts is living proof of that. 

Pay attention to this moment. Look at the stars. Breathe in the cold air. This is your last night. These are the last breaths you will take.

What I would give to live in this world Ilona created! Atlanta is a city with a mixture of magic and technological elements that make it such an interesting place to live in. There are Vampires, the Pack, Ghouls, Witches, and other weird shit rooming within the city boarder! 

“Off your chain. So dangerous, Your Majesty.” He glanced at me. “You might be too scary to let into the house. I don’t know if I can risk falling asleep next to you, Unchained One. Who knows what would happen?”

Magic Shifts is a transition from the previous novels, especially Magic Breaks,allowing the reader to settle into the world again. It begins with a normal opening and goes downhill from there. This novel is EXPLOSIVE! Kate is once again put in the forefront of these mysterious events that begin occurring in Atlanta. However, the pressure is on as she has to juggle between saving Atlanta and yet not shinning a spotlight on herself. 

“You’re a fucking bitch, you know that?” Mac said. “I’ll have to live with myself.”

It shouldn't be a surprise that the characters are just as awesome, if not better, than they previously were! Kate and Curran grow both in their relationship and also individually. There are some characters introduced in this novel are just so enigmatic and different. Magic Shifts really does bring in a wave of uniqueness and diversity.   

“That’s what I love about you, Your Furriness. Your humility and modesty.” “Don’t forget my razor-sharp wit and boyish good looks.”

What I loved most about Magic Shifts was the fact that it didn't feel like just ONE episode out of a TV show. It was its own TV show with a mixture of twists and turns, up and downs, calm moments and pure kick ass storms. It was grittier, funnier and multilayered. The novel wasn't just trying to solve one mystery but various problems that simultaneously occurred. 

This was what happiness felt like.

I am in awe of this series as a whole. 

"Curran!” “Yes?” I could hear controlled laughter in his voice. Unbelievable. I sped up. “We’re tracking ghouls and you’re grabbing my butt.” “I always make sure to pay attention to important things.” “Sure you do.”

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Find this novel on Amazon and Goodreads.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Review

Author: Jesse Andrews

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Humour

Rating: 4.5 Stars

The sentence should be: “I was pleasantly surprised when the first day of senior year did not make me want to freak out and hide in my own locker pretending to be dead.”

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is pure awesomeness. I can't eloquently state how much i loved this soo much! It honestly reflected my personality! At times I felt as though I was reliving parts of my own life. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is undeniably real and honest. It is possibly the realest novel I have read this year. 

I mean, being ostracized by sophomore church kids would not be the worst thing in the world, but my one goal in life was to not be ostracized by anyone.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl begins at the start of senior year in Benson High School. Greg has spent years learning  to maneuver through the maze of social groups and cliques in high school. Greg's mission is to be virtually invisible, yet, not disliked by anyone in particular. I wouldn't call him a recluse nor an extrovert. He is just average. 

A person’s life is like a big weird ecosystem, and if there’s one thing science teachers enjoy blathering about, it’s that changes in one part of an ecosystem affect the entire thing.

During senior year, Greg's mother forces him to hang out a girl, Rachel,  from his grade that gets Leukemia. I guess this is where the comparison stops with The Fault in Our Stars.He isn't too pleased about this establishment. This new found friendship between Greg and Rachel isn't romanticised or idealised. It simply is. What you see is what you get. There are no long monologues on life and death which force us to feel certain emotions. 

Why the hell would we believe in her? She didn’t even believe in herself.

As Rachel "battles" cancer and Greg begins to spend more time with her. They form a weird friendship and bond with each other.Through this process, they begin to figure themselves out as people. Their simple and random conversations reveal more about life than certain full written novels. Greg and Rachel friendship isn't life changing or awe-inspiring but it is a bond nonetheless.  Because of this, Rachel is the only person who has watched the films Greg and Earl have created. As the cancer progresses, Greg and Earl set out to make Rachel a film. 

I raised a girl who’s sweet, and . . . and lovely, but not tough... Greg, I’m a good mother. But I don’t know how to get her through this. It’s like, God forbid, she doesn’t want to live anymore.

I guess what I loved about Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is I did not feel manipulated once in the story. There was no moral behind the story other than just reading through an experience. Jesse Andrews doesn't romanticise cancer or its effects. At times, he is brutally honest and some of the imagery is vividly morose. But it is reality. It is life.  This novel just felt like the personification of day to day living. Ultimately, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a coming of age novel, highlighting its tumultuous journey.

“The world needs more guys like you. Not less.” Now I was getting alarmed. Was there a campaign to get rid of guys like me? Because that campaign would probably start with me.

In the novel, I never felt any personal connection to any of the characters. They were all just average and maybe borderline boring. But that is what made me like them more. The heroine isn't given superhero characteristics or saintly morality. At times Greg felt like his whole antagonist. Greg's counterpart, Earl,  wasn't any better! 

The Greg S. Gaines Three-Step Method of Seduction 1. Lurch into girl’s bedroom pretending to be a zombie. 2. Go for a fist pound. 3. Suggest that you habitually masturbate all over pillows.

To reiterate one more time, this novel is the bomb! 

Because I don’t really have a moral compass and I need to rely on him for guidance, or else I might accidentally become like a hermit or a terrorist or something. How fucked up is that? Am I even a human? Who the hell knows.

Find this novel on Amazon and Goodreads.

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Complicate Me Review

Author: M. Robinson

Genre: Romance, Mature, Coming of Age

Rating: 5 Stars

Our first kiss was our beginning and in some ways our end.

I just know that after M. Robinson finished this novel, she smirked at her manuscript, smoked a cigar and thought, "let me give my readers hell". And hell she brought. The most wonderful kind of hell. Complicate Me was simply a stunning literary work. It was authentic, captivating and heartwarming while still being brutally tragic and raw. Complicate Me encapsulates the beauty, pain and happiness of life. 

She would tell me later in life that nothing calmed her more than my arms around her, and if I had known that then, I would have held her every time she looked at me with sadness or disappointment. And maybe it could have helped heal the wounds that I cut along the way.

In this little town of Oak Island, the story of Alex and Lucas begins. Now I know what you are all thinking; another romance story, sigh, what is new? And I am here to say that Complicate Me is refreshingly new, original and kick ass. Alex and Lucas have been best friends, soulmates, and each others salvation since birth. Complicate Me begins at the end and goes through the chain of the events that lead to a heartbrokenly powerful moment. Most importantly, Complicate Me felt like an out of body experience as I vividly lived through someone else's story. It taught me to live. 

“You’re a good girl, Alexandra. That’s what makes you my Half-Pint. You’re the calm to my storm. It’s always been that way,” he paused to let his words sink in. “You’re my refuge.”

Being best friends, one would assume things would come easy for Alex and Lucas. It becomes blatantly clear that this is not the case. Alex is born a few years after Lucas and her three other best friends, Jacob, Austin and Dylan, and because of that she has always been seen as "the baby". As they all begin to grow up, Alex struggles to break out of their image of her. Mostly, she struggles to show Lucas that she is conscious and mature enough to see the impenetrable bond between themselves. Lucas struggles with accepting that Alex will not always be his brown-eyed girl. 

I was slapped in the face with my own hurricane. The winds turned against me and I didn’t even fight it. I let it take hold. I deserved it all.

There are so many turns and obstacles that both Alex and Lucas have to face. What sets this novel apart from others is its theme. Not only are we in the search for love but also comfort with being ourselves. Ultimately, it is a coming of age story, trying to find your place in the world and accepting everything that you are. Every character in this novel is constantly evolving and growing through their life experiences. M. Robinson shows both the happy and the dark moments, creating a constant rollercoaster ride of emotions. I was on the edge of my seat through out this reading experience (I still am from the ending...on to book 2). 

I loved picking on her as much as the other boys did. I believed it was in my blood to do it. My dad picked on my mom relentlessly, and my grandfather did the same with my grandmother. It was a Ryder trait. If we didn’t pick on our girls, then we didn’t love them enough. My dad constantly reminded my mom that the day he stopped picking on her would be the day he stopped loving her.

M. Robinson creates a great romance novel and ultimately a great life novel. The characters were all so dynamic, witty, intuitive and just plain fun. There were moments where I wanted to become part of their family; they are literally SQUAD GOALS! The plot is simple yet complex at the same time, having a lot of substance and depth to it. Ultimately, I just loved, LOVED, Complicate ME. I would honestly not change one thing. 

“One day I’m going to fall in love and he’s going to love me fearlessly. He’s going to protect me and fight for me. He won’t care about what anyone thinks, because he’s not a dummy like you are. We’re going to be happy because all you need is love."

There is something about love stories that bloom from childhood that always tugs at my heart. I think it is the truest form of love; it is a time where we are too young to be dishonest with ourselves, where society's expectations haven't hammered down on us, and we are unabashedly free. Complicate Me, at its core, is liberating. I loved and hated reading it. 

I love every single thing about you. I love you because I need you. I love you because there is no me without you. I love you because I can’t stop loving you, and I would be lying if I said I had tried.

Find this novel on Amazon and Goodreads.

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