Review: Focus

 Title: Focus

Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

The Blurb:
Freshman year of college is hard even when you're not tied to the future king of a supernatural society.

Allie dives into college head first with Hailey as her roommate and the city of New Orleans as her backyard. As things within The Society heat up, Allie realizes that whether she’s with Levi or not, she's in far too deep to turn back.

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Backstory:
This is the second book in Alyssa Rose Ivy's The Crescent Chronicles. The first book in the series is called Flight and it's about a recent high school graduate who is working for her father in New Orleans for the summer before she goes off to Princeton. While in New Orleans Allie meets a handsome mysterious guy, Levi (short for Leviathan), shows Allie around New Orleans and introduces her to his just as mysterious friends; Hailey, Owen, and Jared. Eventually Levi tells Allie his secret, that he is part of a secret supernatural society. It turns out that Levi and his friends are Pterons, shape shifters who grow wings. Not only that but it turns out Levi's father is the leader of the supernatural society. Allie is amazed by this and she craves to learn more about them. The more she learns the closer she and Levi get. Then one night not too long before Allie has to leave New Orleans Levi gives her a beautiful ring and they consummate their relationship. Hailey reluctantly informs Allie that this means that Allie is now engaged to Levi and that she can't leave New Orleans. Allie Angrily flees New Orleans and on her way to Princeton she is taken by Shifters who are against Levi and his father. After Allie is rescued she realizes that she is going to have to stay in New Orleans if she wants to stay alive despite her anger toward Levi.

The Review:
This book picks up a couple of weeks after the events of the first book. Allie is attending college in New Orleans and she and Hailey get to be roommates. I really like the friendship that forms between these two it feels like a very realistic friendship. The state of Allie and Levis relationship is still up in the air. Allie still hasn't forgiven him for tricking her into becoming his mate. I was really glad that Allie didn't give in so easily to him because it really is a horrible thing to do to someone no matter how handsome they are. 

This book was well written and it really pulled me in. It has a nice aspect of college life with a supernatural twist. It has growing friendships and relationships. I particularly loved the growing friendship between Allie and Jared. In the first book those two didn't get off to a great start, but in Focus there is a mutual respect that increases between them. 

This book is also filled with romance and adventure. Of course Levi is going to do everything in his power to win Allie back but Allie is able to hold out even if she does secretly want to go running into his arms. There is also a lot more supernatural politics in this book which I found to be really interesting. My only complaint about this book is when Allie, Hailey, and their friends go out to a bar and Allie gets drunk. Levi shows up and tries to take advantage of that when she claimed to want to go off with him and have sex. Before they went out that night Allie tells her friends to make sure she doesn't go with him no matter what she says in her drunken state. Luckily one of Allies friends stopped her from going with him. I didn't like how Levi tried to take advantage in that situation. He knew she wasn't ready to forgive him but he still didn't respect her enough to wait until she was sober. Other than that one complaint I really loved this book, it was a lot of fun to read and there is a great plot and character growth.

There is a huge shocking cliffhanger at the end of this book that genuinely surprised me. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.


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Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

The Blurb:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The Review:

This book was a really good read. The minute I started it I was hooked and didn't put it down until I was finished. Once I was finished with it I realized I should have slowed down so it would've lasted longer.

All of the characters in this book are amazingly well written. They have depth and liveliness that I found really appealing. The main character in this story is Karou; she is a seemingly normal art student living in Prague. However she has a lot of secrets that she has to hide from her best friend Zuzana (who is awesome by the way.). She is working for a "monster" named Brimstone. I put the word monster in quotes because although frightening in appearance I actually really loved Brimstone, he is a chimera who raised Karou from a baby and has grown to care for her. Nonetheless he does have Karou work for him, it's her duty to go and collect teeth from traders. The traders turn in all kinds of teeth; human and animal. They trade these teeth in for wishes, the better the teeth, the bigger the wish. Karou doesn't know why Brimstone collect these teeth or what he does with them, she just knows he's starting to run low. Karou isn't allowed to have any big wishes of her own, but Brimstone does give her unlimited small wishes.

Karou herself is also a secret, she doesn't know how she came to be under Brimstones care, she doesn't know who her family is. All she knows is that Brimstone is the family she has now. It isn't until the angel Akiva sees her as she is collecting teeth that Karou seriously begins to question who and what she is. Akiva is a gorgeous angel hell-bent on revenge. The angels and the chimera have been at war for thousands of years and both sides have lost people that they loved. Karou gets caught in the middle when her and Akiva come face to face and there is a strong attraction between the two of them.

I really love this book, it had great world building, character development, and an amazing plot that keeps you guessing until the very end. I'm really looking forward to start the next book in this great series.

Rating: 5 stars

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