Fallen – Book Review

February 27, 2016June 4, 2019 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Where all the popular books involve vampires and werewolves, it’s so refreshing to find a decent book that’s not about either one of these supernatural creatures. With books about angels, or fallen angels depending on how you look at it, they can either be really amazing or not so much. In this case, I found it to be quite enjoyable for the most part, and that’s always a good thing for me.

We meet the main character Luce when she is being dropped off to what would basically be a boarding school for juvenile delinquents. It’s so strange to me that she would be sent here because a boy she happened to be with ends up dying without anyone knowing what happened. Is this society’s way of punishing her for being there, especially since they can’t tie her to this boy’s death in such a clear cut way? Even Luce herself doesn’t know how he died, only that he died in a fire that she somehow was able to escape. That is weird enough, and it just doesn’t seem like Luce even belongs in Sword & Cross. But then again, there are a lot of things that we don’t know about this so-called school, so we are along for the ride just as much as Luce is.

At this strange school with a very colorful group of teenagers, we meet two boys that have already caught Luce’s eye. We have Cam, the nice boy that looks like he can be a total ladies man, with his beautiful eyes and warm personality. Then we have Daniel, who upon seeing Luce for the first time decides to give her a warm welcome to Sword and Cross by giving her the middle finger. Charming, right? This kind of greeting would normally turn girls off by now, but not Luce. See, for some reason, she keeps having this strange feeling like she’s seen him before, and yet she can’t place it. Was it at a party or something that she went to back when she was a normal kid? Or was it something else, something that happened way further in the past that wouldn’t make sense otherwise.

Looks like it’s the latter.

The book goes slow for a few hundred pages, where we don’t know which boy Luce is going to choose, even though it seems like the most likely option would be Cam. So far he hasn’t done anything to make her feel like she’s unwanted, and he’s been nothing but a gentleman so far. Daniel, on the other hand, has been avoiding her at the least, rude at the most. So why is she so obsessed with him? What is it about him that makes her want to basically find out about his past and have her new friend Penn do some research on him? When a girl’s crazy over a guy, she’ll do better research than the FBI, right? I doubt she thought she would find out what she does end up finding out about him, not to mention the rest of the kids at this school.

This book has been known to be similar to Twilight but honestly I didn’t see it. I thought it was better than it in many ways, although I will say that Luce was a little unbearable at some moments. The story behind this school is crazy to me, and how was it that so many angels could be in one location without anyone else realizing it? What are they doing there and is it really just because of Luce? And if she was always stuck in the same cycle of living for seventeen years and dying every single time she would be close to learning the truth, does the fact that she was never baptized in this life really change everything? Is the idea that she wasn’t raised in a religious household end up saving her from having to die again and again, or was it better to continue to live forever without knowing any better? A part of me wants to read the rest of the books and know more, and another part just wants the answers given to me. Either way, it was a pretty good book and it was nice to read about angels for once.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

Deep Blue – Book Review

February 26, 2016June 4, 2019 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

“For the first time in her life, she didn’t look like royalty. She looked fierce, edgy, and troublesome. A merl not to be messed with. And she liked it.”

The ocean has always been one of Earth’s greatest mysteries. After all these years, not even half of the oceans have been discovered, the dark depths teaming with creatures that remain nameless. Who’s to say that there aren’t kingdoms under the sea, filled with mermaids and mermen? In this case, there are, and Serafina is the future Queen of her very own Queendom named Miromara. We first meet her getting ready for her coronation where she has to pass three specific tests before she can be crowned the next Queen of Miromara. Everything seems to be mostly going well until Serafina’s life turns upside down, and her queendom was attacked. In one fell swoop, Sera lost everything, and to this point the fate of her mother is still unknown, making Sera want to give up hope completely.

The attack on Miromara wasn’t what it seemed, and while Sera and her best friend Neela was able to escape capture from their attackers, they find out that the humans are behind it all, and that their main goal is to release an ancient evil in order to destroy the world. Not only is this evil going to destroy their homes, but Sera, Neela, and four other girls are part of an ancient prophecy that has foretold that they are the only ones that can stop it from happening, as each of the six girls are direct descendants of the founding members of Atlantis. Yes, that’s right. This goes all the way back to Atlantis, and what really made the treasured city sink to the depths of the ocean. These six are the most powerful mermaids in the world thanks to their ancestors, and somehow they are going to have to come together in order to save everyone, even if it means putting aside their differences.

This book was honestly one of the best books I have read this year so far. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. I have not come across many mermaid books that have caught my attention, and I’m so glad that I found this one. It may have been the cover that made me pick it up initially, but after reading the synopsis, I had to buy it. I love mermaids, and I’ve always wanted to be one, so this one was such a wonderful addition to the mythology. Each of the six girls has their own personalities that make them one to root for, and while we still have a lot to learn about the rest of them, it’s a journey that I look forward to hearing about. Each of the girls come from a different realm within the world, and the diversity in and of itself is very interesting to me. One of the girls is even blind, and yet she is able to function as well as any of the others, something that is so important for me. They don’t show her disability as a weakness, or something that needs special attention in order for her to do her daily tasks. In fact, her blindness is an important part of the prophecy.

I can’t wait to finish the rest of the series, and I really hope that the rest of the books delve deeper into the rest of the girls.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

The Exiled Queen – Book Review

February 26, 2016 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It is the second book in this series and Raisa is forced to be alone on her journey of trying to save her queendom. Rather than being forced to marry the High Wizard’s son, who is being sorely manipulated by his own father, she runs away to live with her father’s clan. But before she could get to her clan, her family, she and her best friend (possible lover) and his guard go to Oden’s Ford. Not only do Raisa and her new companions go to Oden’s Ford in order to train to be the new royal guard, but she ends up running into Han Alister, where he and other wizards in training are learning how to hone their skills. It is from there that the real journey will take place, and while this book only touched upon their meeting towards the end of the book, the rest of their time at Oden’s Ford is not completely void of mystery.

Han may still not be completely accepting of his heritage, the one that we learned from the previous book, but he has no choice in the matter. Being the direct descendant of the Demon King means that he has a responsibility of either saving the world, or destroying it. He can learn how to hone his magic all he wants, but whether he uses it for good or evil will depend on him, and the direction that he takes. It doesn’t help that he isn’t sure of the type of man who is mentoring him during this journey, or if the man who is helping him get better at his magic has any ulterior motives. Will he be able to see the truth before it’s too late?

And what about Raisa? She’s undercover in this school, where she goes through such a physical and mental transformation that makes her so much stronger than when she started. It might have been better for her that she didn’t end up staying with her father’s clan, because now she can fend for herself if the occasion ever arose. She is growing into herself, becoming the kind of woman that she needs to be by the time she becomes Queen. With the help of Han, by the time they have to leave Oden’s Ford, they will have the opportunity to set things right in their world, and hopefully work together in order to restore balance.

This book I felt was so much better than the first one, which is always great to hear. I love it when the series just get better and better, rather than stay the same or get worse in quality. Sometimes it’s hard for sequels to keep up the momentum of the first book and so on, but this one just gets better as it goes on. I took a break from this series to read other books but I can’t wait to get back in to this one and finish the last two books.

Rated: 5/5 Stars