REVIEW: How Beauty Loved the Beast by Jax Garren

How Beauty Loved the Beast by Jax Garren

Series: Tales of the Underlight, #3

Publication Date: May 13th 2013

Publisher: Carina Press

ebook, 292 pages
Useful Info: Goodreads, Author's Website

It's all been leading to this .

Jolie Benoit has become a skilled agent of the Underlight, relying on her savvy to complete assignments while Sergeant Wesley Haukon was out of commission. But an unexpected clue to the Order of Ananke's diabolical scheme rattles Jolie, and she turns to Hauk for comfort.

It's been years since Hauk took comfort from the touch of another person, though his love for Jolie is deep and powerful. Uncomfortable in his skin, scarred by a terrible fire, he is unable to give in to the pleasures that Jolie so desperately wants to grant him.

Meanwhile, the Order is lurking in the shadows—and when they strike, the blow is swift and terrible. Hauk and Jolie scramble to fight for their community, but with the future of the Underlight threatened, no one is safe. And Hauk will never be the same…

How Beauty Loved the Beast is the much awaited conclusion to the very successful sci-fi series, Tales of The Underlight written by Jax Garren and let me tell you fans of the series won't be disappointed in the least. I know I wasn't! And how could I ever be when Garren's writing style and the way she portrays her heroes and their emotions is simply irresistible!

If you read my reviews of the previous two books in the series then you know how much I loved everything about Jax Garren's writing style and her story. So, there's no need for me to repeat myself by saying what an amazing author she is once more or how much I loved her main and secondary heroes of this story. Even if all the books in the series are rather short, Jax Garren's stories are character driven. Her main focus is her characters and their emotions and that is why I probably love so much this series. Jolie is so much more than a pretty dancer and Hauk is so much more than scars and muscles.

The final book in the series, wraps up the whole plot but here I have to note that there are more things to be said. Maybe most of the basic things were covered but I'm left feeling that there's just more to everything. I don't know if the author did that on purpose and she will return on the same universe with another set of characters later or things couldn't possibly wrap up better, but I sure hope that it was intentional. In my mind there are two characters who would make a perfect couple for a future story but that remains to be seen. After all, The Order of Ananke is far from defeated...

But while I really liked pretty much everything about How Beauty Loved the Beast, somehow, I was left unsatisfied too. Maybe part of that is because of the ending of the story and how I felt that there were more things to be said. Maybe it's because the whole thing wrapped up pretty quickly. And maybe it is because this final instalment in the series was more focused on Jolie's and Hauk's relationship rather than what happened with Underlight and the Order and their final battle. But probably, it's because of all the reasons mentioned above. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed reading about Jolie and Hauk, they are one of my favorite fictional couples but when so many other crucial things kept happening or were on the verge of happening, I just felt that it was wrong for the sole focus of the story to be their relationship. Maybe I'm wrong here, but that's what I was expecting from this final book. And while I did get a closure I still don't know how I feel about that. And the ending.... Well, after reading the author's note at the end I couldn't help but agreeing with her choice of ending but still, I found myself wanting the alternative... But, despite that, the whole ending is a matter of preference. Either one of them would fit the story, so that wasn't any real problem. Any problems I had were purely with the way things wrapped up with the Order rather than anything else.

All in all, How Beauty Loved the Beast is just as amazing as the rest books in this series even if I had some minor troubles with it. Despite what I said I really enjoyed reading it and I just can't wait to read anything else Jax Garren will write in the future. And even if I truly hope that she will return on the same universe again I really want to read something completely different and new too. Whatever the case, there's no way I'm gonna miss Garren's next story!

* Review first published at Book Lovers Inc
* ARC provided via NetGalley for review purposes

EARLY REVIEW: Elemental by Emily White

Elemental by Emily White

Publication Date: May 1st 2012

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Paperback, 260 pages

Book & Purchase Info: Goodreads, Author's Website, Book Depository

Just because Ella can burn someone to the ground with her mind doesn't mean she should.

But she wants to.

For ten years—ever since she was a small child—Ella has been held prisoner on an interstellar starship. Now that she has escaped, she needs answers.

Who is she? Why was she taken? And who is the boy with the beautiful green eyes who haunts her memories?

Is Ella the prophesied Destructor… or will she be the one who's destroyed?

Elemental is a rather difficult book for me to review and rate. You see, from the premise, I had the impression that it was a paranormal novel or a fantasy one. It turned out that Elemental is a Sci-Fi novel, a really hardcore at that. And that isn't a bad thing, only I myself am not a huge fan of sci-fi novels and find them rather difficult to read.

Having said that, it's only natural that I really struggled at first to get into the story and understand the complex world Emily White created. Because the one thing I admired and enjoyed the most in this book, even if that was the very same thing that tired me the most, is the world building. Emily White has created a unique and intricate world, unlike any other. The universe in which her story is set is one of a kind and has a whole set of rules that I haven't encountered in any other novel I've read so far.

So, even if I was tired and completely at a loss at first about what was going on in the story, I have to give the author two thumbs up for her imagination and her ability to pass it on paper.

As I said, at the beginning of the book I was so confused and struggled to understand what was going on, that for the first chapters I was at a complete loss as to what I was reading. I may sound stupid right now, but sci-fi isn't my thing... I signed up to review this book under the impression it was fantasy. So add to my limited knowledge of sci-fi literature the fact that I expected something entirely else, and you can easily guess my utter confusion :P

Anyway, as soon as I figured everything out, Elemental was a fun story, one a fan of sci-fi would enjoy more than I did. I really liked the slow way Ella got to know the details of her existence and the complexity of the whole story.

But what I liked the most in Elemental is simply one character: Malik. He was a way more complex character than either Ella or her love interest, which by the way didn't care for one bit I'm afraid. The way he acted and trying to anticipate his moves or guess his motives was what intrigued me the most in Elemental. And by the end of the story, I felt rather justified at the turn of events. I'm guessing that Malik will be what I'll remember most from this novel :)

All in all, Elemental is a hardcore sci-fi novel, that I enjoyed reading for the better part of it, even if I'm not a huge fan of the genre. Fans of intergalactic fantasy will enjoy it far more than me. Of that, I'm quite certain.

* A HUGE thank you to Spencer Hills Press and Kate Kaynak for sending me this review copy.