Blackout (Darkness Trilogy, #1) by Madeleine Henry

Blackout almost reminded me of the hunger games a little bit, except the point of the competition was to find true love, and in turn give your family electricity.

In 2015, Earth was hit with a solar flare that knocked out all of the electricity on the planet. The United States was able to bring enough scientists together to get some electricity back, but they could not power the whole country, only a part of it. This created the Dark Zone.

Families were left here to fend for themselves in the darkness with no power.

When Star and Phoenix’s families hear about a trade-off of sending a child to America in exchange for power, they both agree to go. They don’t know what they are in for on the other side, but they want the best for their families.

Little do they know, they are in the fight for their lives. Are they only battling for power? Or is there much more at stake?

The characters were generally likable and the writing was done really well. It was a very intriguing story, which made it hard to put down. It seemed as though the reader is always learning something new.

Phoenix was a bit too whiney for me. Every time something happened involving star, I imagined him throwing a hissy fit like a little child. It seemed like he was too caught up in his emotions and it was crippling his chances of survival.

Even though Star was a big part of the story, she didn’t make as many appearances and didn’t really seem relevant in them. She mostly lived in the story through Phoenix’s thoughts.

Overall, I enjoy the idea of the story. I liked the supporting characters more than I liked Phoenix. I can’t wait to see what happens next. It left off on such a cliffhanger!

This looks to be a really promising book series.

4/5 Stars

Click To Purchase!

9 Incarnate by Gary Starta

9 Incarnate is the sequel to Demon Inhibitions.

Agent Caitlin Diggs is back and still adjusting to her new life in the parallel universe. She is posing as her alternate self because this universe’s Caitlin Diggs died trying to protect her. It is a weird concept for her to grasp at first, but she is learning.

When the President of the United States is mysteriously murdered, Caitlin and Briana must go to work to figure out if it was a demon who committed the crime. Armed with paranormal powers and Briana’s ability to cast spells, they handle the paranormal side of FBI investigations.

They feel like they may be getting clues, when suddenly, the whole demon population on the planet suddenly disappears.

Now, this is the alternate universe that Caitlin is in, so demons are as common as humans.

When strange orbs enter Earth and begin trying to communicate with the population, Caitlin and her crew at the FBI begin to theorize that they may be dealing with ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses.

This intrigues Caitlin more than usual because she is so constantly referred to as the goddess Isis.

When the Ennead actually make it to Earth, their motives come into question. Are they here to help humanity, or are they here to take over. Battling the investigation into the President’s death as well as trying to figure out why gods and goddesses are reappearing on Earth, Agent Diggs has no lack of action in her life.

With a character as well written and likeable as Caitlin Diggs, I feel fans of any genre would be able to get into this book.

The rest of the characters are also great supporting characters. They are all pretty likable in their own ways and have strong character arcs. They are well-written, and I don’t feel like any character was paid less attention to

The writing makes for a nice reading pace. It flows together nicely and has a nice balance of dialogue.

The first half was really fast-paced and was easy to read. There was so much happening that it was just too hard to put down.

As the novel progressed, it did start to slow down a bit. It was full of action, but I felt that it could have been compressed to get to the point a little quicker.

There may have been too many references to gods and goddesses for me to really fully enjoy it. But, that is the plot of the story, so I had to accept it and push through it. Being a genre I normally don’t dive into very often could have been part of the reason why I felt it was slow in some areas.

3.5/5 Stars

Click To Purchase!

Artificial Gods by Thomm Quackenbush

This is Book 3 in the Night’s Dream series.

When Jasmine sees a mysterious UFO hovering over her back yard, things start getting very weird for her.

Men in all black suits show up at her door demanding photographs of the UFO that she did not take.

She discovers they may not be after her alone. Her sister Chrys and Chrys’s friend Dylan may also be in trouble. They receive weird visits from people they do not know and they experience lost time.

When they come face to face with a reptilian that calls himself Gideon, everything starts to fall into place.

They visit a doctor who conducts hypnotism on the three to try to figure out what has happened to them during their lost time.

After this, Jasmine discovers that her sister may not be who everyone thinks she is. There may be a dark secret deep within her.

Gideon enlists the help of Jasmine to destroy the “Grays” [aliens] because he can’t do it himself.

This book seemed to go on a lot longer than it really needed to. There were a lot of chapters that I felt could have been shorter and a lot of information was given that was not helpful to the story. The ending especially seemed to drag on.

If anything, the book should have ended right after the fair. It would have left some things up to the imagination.

The three main characters from the first two books were reintroduced at the end of this one, but I felt their appearance was really unnecessary. It didn’t add anything to the story for me and made the ending more confusing.

The first half of the book flowed a lot nicer than the previous two books, but as it reached the end, the writing felt forced.

The one plot point that I found really interesting was the suggestion that people see things because they really believe in them, and people can be forced to see anything if belief is pushed onto them. 

I never really got attached to any of the characters in this one either. I kept reading more to just find out what happened and to finish the series rather than because I cared about the characters.

3/5 stars. The plot was more interesting than the first two, but it fell short in the end.

Click To Purchase!

Danse Macabre by Thomm Quackenbush

Danse Macabre is the second book in the Night’s Dream Series.

The four main characters are back – Roselyn, Shane, Eliot and Dryden.

Dryden likes to role-play as a vampire. He has a whole clan that is in on it with him. They believe they are vampires, but they also believe that real, bloodsucking vampires are a myth.

That is, until Dryden is converted into one. He isn’t like the rest though. He doesn’t feel the need to kill people in order to get blood. He would rather drink from an animal than from a human, but that is not how it works in the world of the undead.

When he escapes captivity from his makers, they set out to hunt him down and will collect everyone he loves in the process.

Shane gets mistaken for Roselyn and is captured. Roselyn, Dryden, Eliot and Noah must all work together to try to save her before the vampires end up killing her.

As Dryden feels himself becoming more bloodthirsty and violent, he must find a way to halt his urges before anyone close to him is hurt.

I feel like there was better character development in this one compared to book one. They all had their own arcs and personalities. Whereas, in the first book, everyone meshed together for me; it was hard to get connected to them.

Seth was an extremely likable unlikable character. The reader isn’t supposed to like him at first, and he is written well to make you appreciate him.

The plot and flow of the story made a lot more sense to me in this one than the first one did. I was able to follow along pretty well. It also helped that I knew who the characters were from the first novel.

Even for a book about vampires, I was a little surprised by the amount of blood that was in it. I am not used to the genre though, so I don’t know whether it is more or less than the norm.

3/5 stars

Click To Purchase!