grief

Reign of the Fallen Review

Book Reviews

*** Disclaimer: Super rusty at this. It has been forever since I wrote a review. I won an ARC of Reign of the Fallen at my local B-fest and all opinions are my own.

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Reign of the Fallen Review
By: Yours truly – Rae

“The giant Shade was baiting us. Hunting us, when we thought we were hunting it.” – Sarah Glenn Marsh, Reign of the Fallen

So… the Dead are still among the living and are essentially glorified zombies, you get paid handsomely to raise said Dead and are respected for it, and change is non-existent because it is bad… hello Reign of the Fallen. Let’s get started shall we?

Right away I connected with the lead character nicknamed Sparrow. I hated her, loved her, was jealous of her, and annoyed with her frequently depending on her mood and mine throughout Marsh’s story. Of course, Sparrow goes through a ton – raising the dead that could turn into a Shade “aka something you never want to meet in a dark alley unless you don’t want your soul anymore” and handling a new job as a Master Necromancer, with favor among the elite, isn’t exactly easy. Throw in missing Dead, a tearful (still not recovered plot twist), a brewing unrest, and giant-sized shades and you about sum up Reign of the Fallen. I can’t give away too much, I feel like there is a mine field of spoilers to navigate but I’ll continue trying.
Moving away from Sparrow, just for a moment, I have to fangirl appropriately over my man Jax. I love this character so much. He was a little weird with his love of meat on the raw side, the need to wear a formal old-fashioned cloak to parties, and his not so nice (blunt – oh he was so blunt) when speaking… that who wouldn’t love this guy? I need more from him and cannot wait to see how he develops along with the other ragtag group of characters. Evander was a sweetheart. I totally felt for him and his desire to explore and see the world. Simeon and Danial yes please – so adorable together and indivdually! Princess Valoria you can totally save the world girl, don’t stop dreaming. Kasmira… how can I not love weather controlling powers? Meredy… you do you because being a beast master is kickbutt.

What I’m really getting at here is that each character was unique from Simeon’s need to crack a joke to ease the tension to Jax and his anger at the uncontrollable situations he is in. I didn’t feel like they followed the familiar stereotypes of this is how they should or shouldn’t act. They have nasty habits, but they grow and they deserve it. I feel like Reign of the Fallen was really about the characters and change because change was everything in this book.
Which means I should touch on Sparrow again because she really goes through the ringer *insert plot twist I am not over and then multiple other twists I saw coming but hated anyway.* She is actually in a dark place the majority of Marsh’s story. Most of the time it isn’t pretty. She is drunk, drugged, and borderline suicidal. She also is selfish and guilted ridden. I know I don’t make it sound like she is a winning character but I connected with her because of her dark moments and faults. She has a lot of growing left to do.
Should I mention the bad guys… no wait spoilers. Bad guys are bad but with a purpose and not just thrown in to be bad
Onto plot, scenery, and themes. I’ll keep this short and sweet. I wanted more scenery details of the time, even though the Deadlands “aka the place souls go after they die” was very cool.
I think I’ve rambled on enough. If you couldn’t tell I really did enjoy Reign of the Fallen and in truth, read it in a day much to the annoyance of my Shepherd pup.
Want to know more about the lovely Sarah Glenn Marsh? Visit her website here.
Want to preorder your own copy of Reign of the Fallen *wink/nudge* because you know you do. I’ll just leave this preorder information here.

If you have read Reign of the Fallen and want to fangirl over it – just shoot me an email and be prepared for paragraphs of feels in response. I also have bookstagram picture today featuring the beautiful character cards I received – check that out here.

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

Happy reading!

Guest Author Studio

Guest reviewer, Writing

Good morning everyone!

Today we have a writing treat! One of our guest reviewers, Lexi, has given me a short story to share with you. Comments are appreciated, as she would love to hear your thoughts about her piece.

Forever and Almost Always

By: Lexi McCurdy

I don’t remember much about the funeral. I remember crying. I never knew a person could hold so many tears until I lost him. I cried for him and I cried for myself. And then there was the rain. It was comforting, I chose to believe he was crying with me. He was missing me just like I missed him.

I gave a speech. Some speech I can’t even remember about how short our time was but how big our love was. It doesn’t matter, nothing I say will bring him back. Crying won’t bring him back, but I can’t seem to stop. It’s worse at night, when I’m all alone and forced to remember he’s gone forever. 

It was hard to sit through the funeral. I could barely breathe without him there with me. I leaned on Olivia and Jason for support, because they were as close to Hunter as I could get now. He was gone. No matter how many times I heard it, or the thought crossed my mind, I couldn’t process that fact. I didn’t want to believe it was true, I wanted this all to be a dream and I would wake up to find him there waiting to chase the nightmares away like he always did.

Will had to pull me away from his grave. I stood there for a long time staring at the casket laying there in the dirt. I didn’t believe he was inside, but he was. Will became my rock and pulled me away. I owed a lot of my sanity to my friends. They were the anchors that kept me from running from this pain.

Sometimes at night the guilt takes over. Because I know that if I had never come here, Hunter wouldn’t be gone. I never would’ve met him and he’d still be alive and well. If I had never come here I never would’ve loved someone the way I loved Hunter. I’m thankful for Hunter, but that doesn’t mean I okay with him being gone. I miss him more with every breath I take. I don’t think I’ll ever find someone else.

I don’t want time to take away the pain. Because once the pain is gone, so is Hunter. I can’t lose him, I can’t forget him. Because I found myself here in this place, and it’s all because of him. I owe him so much more than I ever gave him. I didn’t think our time together would be so short.

I wonder if he was okay with his choices, because I was more than okay with mine.

I came to see Hunter every morning, but I didn’t feel him here with me at his grave. No in the evenings when I went to the tree, that’s where I knew he was watching over me.

Sometimes I think he’s just gone and he’s on his way back to me. I can hear him in the song on the radio, or feel him in the seat beside me. I remember his laughter, his smile. It’s hard to forget him because he made me a better person. He helped me find myself and now I will never get to repay him for that.

Some days are harder than others, I know it’s going to be like that for a while. But I hold onto the things Hunter taught me, the smiles and laughter he brought into my life. If it hadn’t been for him I would still be running, I would still be afraid. I have so much to live for, even if that means living without him. 

But I will always love him. 

He gave me my roots and no matter how hard they try, they can never take him away from me. Whenever I visit our tree, I know he’s there with me. I’ll carry him along with all the lessons he taught me. Hunter James was and always with be the love of my life. He is the roots I planted. Nothing will change that, no matter how far I fly.  I finally have my roots and he’ll always be my home. 

Because of him I can see now what it means to really live and love. I would lose him a thousand times over, if that was the only way I got to know him. Because he really is my angel, my saving grace, and now I hope he’s watching over me. 

I remember every single moment with Hunter, the ones that mattered and the ones that didn’t seem important until they were gone. I can still feel the moment I fell in love with him. I can also feel the moment when he took my hand in his and I knew it would hurt when he let mine go. I still feel the kiss we shared when he was begging me to stay, his hands holding me tightly. And I will always remember the crooked smile he used whenever I was upset with him, his green eyes flashing as I gave into his charm. 

The memories play out behind my closed eyes like a movie scene. They make me smile as much as they make me cry. Because our love was deep and rich. It was a love that was fleeting and we cherished very second we got together. We never thought it would end as quickly as it began, but it did. He was torn away from me, and I would do it all over again if that meant I got to fall in love with him for a second time in this life.

Our story is not a tragedy. Losing Hunter might hurt like hell, but I refuse to let our love story be defined as just another tragedy. No our story is more than that, because falling in love changed me. I experienced a love story that brought me through the wreckage that was once my life and into the home I had been searching for. I finally understood what it meant to open up to someone completely, and let them in, instead of running away.

Sometimes home isn’t a place, it’s the feeling of knowing you’ve found the person you want to spend you life with. It’s the memories you carry with you when they’re gone. 

Our story was everything but a tragedy. Because Hunter will always be with me, I can feel him in my heart. 

I wrap my arms around myself the way he used to and look down at my hands. As I press them against my stomach, I smile. I carry a piece of him with me. He showed me how to love, and I know because of him I’ll love again.

Thanks for sharing Lexi. 🙂

The Glass Mermaid Review

Book Reviews

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The Glass Mermaid Review

By: Rae

 

“I was the last of us. And my time was nearly done.”

– Poppy Lawless, The Glass Mermaid

 

Poppy Lawless presents a timeless novella that asks, “What would you sacrifice to save the one you love?” Ultimately I cannot answer that in this review for fear of giving away any spoilers. I can say the book and the characters are inspiring when it comes to both whimsical and earthy emotions. The blend of fairy tale, legend, family, and individualism spoke to me and caused a lot of nostalgic musings.

The Glass Mermaid starts off a month into the plot, backtracking here and there to give a background on the main characters Kate and Cooper and how they have interacted previously. Kate is the last of her kind, literally. As a mermaid without a home and little magic left, she treads carefully in life, only taking real pleasure when she walks the beach at sunset looking for gifts from Lake Eric – pieces of glass she makes jewelry with. There was something heartbreaking about her timelessness. It was as if she was going to disappear before the page would end. I wanted her to live, to be happy. I wanted to know why she was the last. But before any of my questions were answered (and luckily for me they are!) Cooper is introduced.

 

If I thought Kate and her old age quality was heart wrenching, Cooper pulled a few strings I didn’t know existed. How can you really accept death? Accept that everything you wanted to do was gone in the blink of an eye? I worried Cooper would be too one dimensional but he surprised me with his fierceness, his desire for life, that lived through his paintings. If Kate is the lore and hope of this novella than Cooper was created to show that it is useless to have regrets.

Together Kate and Cooper prove that there is always a chance for a second beginning. The only problem I had with this tale was its abrupt ending. I knew it was coming but the last page had me blinking in a stupor. While the epilogue cleared some things up, there is an absence of time that bothered me and everything felt so rushed to reach the conclusion. Because it was a short piece there is bound to be time holes. I was also a tiny bit disappointed we couldn’t see more of Cooper and Kate’s respective backgrounds. As a fan of fairy tales I was chomping at the bit to know more mermaid lore. Upon further reflection I feel like while there were holes I was able to daydream along with the story and reach my own conclusions. I felt anticipation on every page, a hunger to know more, and that to me says a lot about this tale.

In the end, I was satisfied and would suggest The Glass Mermaid to anyone looking for a short, magical, and romantic read on life.

 

 

To find out more about Poppy and her fairy tales, click here!

Check out an interview with Poppy here!