BOOK SERIES: SHIFTERS #shifters

This is my second post for my new monthly blog on book series and what makes them so special. Last month, Igave my views on Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, and this month’s series up for scrutiny is:
SHIFTERS by RACHEL VINCENT

***WARNING: Mild spoilers***
This one grew on me the more I read. Whilst I did kind of enjoy Stray, I did find the pace a little slow for my liking and the story to be somewhat over-told, and found myself wishing that Rachel Vincent would trust the reader to remember stuff instead of constantly feeling the need to remind them. However, I found the story revolving around shifter panthers to be a refreshing read after so many commonly done supernatural creatures, and enjoyed learning the setup of the world of the MC and the introduction to everyone important in her life.
As the only daughter of the Pride Alpha, she is somewhat coveted—not only by members of their own Pride, and certainly not for her charm but for her breeding potential. I say the last comment, because Faythe Sanders is not your regular tabby. She doesn’t want to just settle down and knock out kittens for all she’s worth. She wants independence, a right to a voice, and she also wants to be a bigger representative of her father’s Pride than as a procreational tool who is kept locked indoors for her own protection. And whilst I champion her reasoning and resolution, it also played a part in why she was a little difficult to connect with. Because she definitely had the wrong size boots on, which resulted in her making quite a lot of mistakes. In book one, she doesn’t tend to show a lot of remorse for said mistakes. She seems to prefer the route to Self Pity. Throughout the series, though, the reader follows the (albeit slow) shift in character as her attitude changes. She gets tangled up in a love triangle which leaves her confused and frustrated (it did me, too, because I was pretty much in love with both guys and totally got her predicament). She remains with her Pride after book one, where she is given more responsibility, treated with the respect she hoped for, and given a little more freedom to be who she wants to be (or thinks she wants to be). But in the background, her father is priming her into Alpha material, which is what the final book—aptly named Alpha—brings us toward. The first book would certainly work as a stand-alone—which you find a lot when it comes to series’ as publishers won’t take the risk until they know you have something that will sell—but each of the successive books leave you in no doubt that there is more to come and worth reading on for. Which is possibly why I kept going until I’d hit the very end.
The series in order:
Stray. Slowly paced, but not a bad read.
Rogue. The pace was a little better. The storyline was much better. Certain parts of this one made me mad, because I didn’t want the story to go that way—which meant this was the first spot where I began connecting with the MC because it was her all the bad stuff—that I didn’t want to happen—was happening to.
Pride. Direct quotes from my review: ‘THIS is the book where Rachel Vincent finally gets it together. There’s no back story slowing the opening pace. There’s no mamby-pambying about. We’re taken straight to the heart of the matter and one mishap follows another in a roller coaster of excitement and action … This is the book that 100% had me sold and where I failed to wonder if I should read on–I now have to read on.’
Prey. This one was an emotional roller coaster. I blarted. And it takes a lot to make me blart. Other notes: this is also the book where I fell in love with Jace. He’s just so adorably cute, and I wanted to scoop the darling up and kiss him better. And let’s not forget the humdinger of an ending that leaves you scrabbling for the next book because you sit there in a ‘holy sh*t’ kind of fashion just staring at the page.
Shift. I’ll admit, I found myself a little disappointed in the opening, simply because the clanger dropped at the end of Prey isn’t even mentioned, but with flying foe, and the s**t hitting the fan when a secret is exposed, I was pretty much entertained. Besides the reader comes to understand just how much resolution will be needed in the final book for the personal issues Faythe is dealing with—as well as Pride politics that are threatening the lives of herself and those she cares about. At this point? I worried the series couldn’t possibly end on a good note.
Alpha. You reach this one? this is where you thank the lucky stars that you persevered. This is the one where you understand just how awesome this series truly is, just how much effort Vincent has put into her character development, where Faythe truly becomes the woman she needs to be to fulfil what can only be described as her destiny. Relationships are formed, moulded, rekindled, and attitudes have no choice but to shift in order for those to be pulled off. I LOVED this book. 100%. Alpha had me by the short and curlies and I’d become so emotionally invested in the characters that I talked to my friend on our shopping trips along the lines of ‘OMG, what should she do? I don’t know what she can do for the best? If she does X, this’ll happen. If she does Y, that’ll happen. And if she does Z, I’ll be left blarting like a baby.’
So, yeah, if you’re struggling with Stray then pleeeeeease keep going, because this series really does get better and better.
If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on each individual book and seeing how my mind has been changed as I’ve worked my way through the series, each book link will take you directly to my (Goodreads) reviews.
Hopefully, I haven’t given too many spoilers—I have a personal hate for those blasted leaks—but I hope my waffling has been in some way helpful to you or will help you decide whether or not this sounds like a series you might consider reading.
My rating for this series:

Maybe you’ve read it already, have it on your TBR pile, or have heard lots about it but don’t know if it’s for you. Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

BOOK SERIES: FEVER #fever

This is my first post for my new monthly blog on successful book series’ and what makes them so special. If you care enough to understand why I decided to start this monthly post, you can find out here. If you don’t care but are still mildly interested in what I have to say, then please continue.

First series up for my scrutiny is:

FEVER by KAREN MARIE MONING

This is one of those that if you’d asked me what I thought at the beginning of the series, I’d have most likely made a sound along the lines of: Meh.

Not the worst I’ve read. Definitely not the best either.

However, this is also one of those that reading only one of the five books in the series would be totally unacceptable—because all five books are the story in its entirety … and my opinion definitely changed by the end.

This starts off in Darkfever with MacKayla Lane, a not very relatable airhead-type character from the Deep South (no, I’m not stereotyping—simply stating my thoughts on a fictional character) who ends up in Dublin, Ireland, in a bid to unravel the mystery behind her (recently) murdered sister.

During most of Darkfever, I thought Mac spent waaaaaaaay too much time thinking and over-thinking and over-over-thinking, to the point I wondered what would be lost if the thoughts were somewhat hacked away to the bare minimum and at least a third of the book lobbed off.

Now? Man, as much as I hate to admit it, those thoughts need to stay.

Mac is such a HUGE philosopher and as her thoughts veer throughout the series from shallow to deep they become such an imperative part of the storytelling that it simply would not be the same tale with them gone.

If you asked me to summarise what the series is about, and I gave you the complete rundown, it would take more than a singular blog post.

Though if asked at the drop of a hat I’d probably spurt out with: fae, seelie & unseelie, a battle for power or a battle between good & evil depending how you look at it, myth, folklore, saving the world, treachery, betrayal, self-discovery, self-acceptance, loyalty, and the most convoluted kind of love. <<That is why describing the entire series would take forever—because whilst so much of this storyline is genius simplified to its most basic core, it is also so intricately woven that the finished design is nothing short of complicated beauty.

By the end of Darkfever, I didn’t particularly want to read on (but my Goodreads Cheerleaders ensured I did).

By the end of Bloodfever, I still didn’t particularly care for the main character (and again, my Goodreads Pushers … well … pushed me).

By the end of Faefever, trust me, Karen Marie Moning most certainly had my attention and left me on such a cliff-hanger I carried on and read the ‘Note to Reader’ in refusal to accept I’d reached the end.

Dreamfever I think was the one I read the fastest and this is where every reader of the series who has so far failed to understand the appeal of Barrons suddenly ‘Gets it’.

If for NO other reason, you should read this series for HIM: Jericho Z Barrons—whose appeal and potential for awesomeness I spotted from the first moment he stepped onto my page! Trust me: This … dude (?) is so not your typical hero. He could be a bad good guy. He could be a good bad guy. Whatever you want to categorise him as, just know that he rocks!

Then there is Shadowfever. The grand finale. Where everything that has had the reader scratching their heads and speculating finally becomes so clear. This one requires a different pacing to the others. Yes, the first couple in the series aren’t exactly written at a fast pace, but this one is different in that the pacing is there … but if you fly through too fast there’s a chance you’ll miss the scenery beyond the windows of your mind.

You need to slow yourself down to absorb it all.

You need take your time to appreciate the unveiling of everything that has (if you’re anything like me) eluded the reader until the big reveal smacks you upside the head with it.

And that’s the beauty of this final book: You want to take it all in like a Grow-your-own-SpongeBob does water.

If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on each individual book and seeing how my mind has been changed as I’ve worked my way through the series, each book link will take you directly to my (Goodreads) reviews.

I’ve purposefully declined to outright describe the occurrences of the novels because I have a personal hate for spoilers, but I hope my waffling has been in some way helpful to you or will help you decide whether or not this sounds like a series you might consider reading.

My rating for this series:

Maybe you’ve read it already, have it on your TBR pile, or have heard lots about it but don’t know if it’s for you. Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

BOOK SERIES: WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT YOU, THEN?

Goodreads. I love it!

That isn’t what this post is about, but it is the major source of the information for it. I joined as a reader, got upgraded to an author, though I have to admit the time I spend on there is definitely reader orientated even if my reading habits reflect otherwise.

What am I talking about?

Research, my friends.

As a paranormal romance/urban fantasy author with a debut novel, which just happens to be a first in a whole set of stories I hope to share with the world, I am IMMENSLEY intrigued by what keeps a reader returning to the same author and characters, book after book, year after year.

I’d only been on Goodreads a matter of weeks when invitations started rolling in to join various Groups. I thought I was being strategic by joining all the PNR and UF Groups. I had a shock when I got there. Conversation after conversation rolled on and on … about books and authors I’d barely heard of, let alone read. I kept creeping on in, reading what people had to say, found myself awed by the passion with which these readers spoke of the stories (that I’d never heard of) … and man, my curiosity nearly burned a hole in my brain.

Yes, the reader in me so wanted to be able to be a part of these conversations. But the writer in me was totally overtaken by a desperate need to know why these certain series’ are so popular with the mass readers of the genre(s).

So what did I do?

Well, I went on a whacko book ordering frenzy.

But not before I’d asked for a couple recommendations.

The moment I did, I was accepted into the fold. People of Goodreads: you are amazing!

They nudged me in the right directions. Told me where to start. Told me what they loved about the books and why and convinced me I’d fall in love with them, too.

I was dubious. I always am when someone I don’t know tries to convince me I’ll love something. My dubiousness was short lived.

Yes, I needed to know what was so special about these books. Yes, I had to understand why readers keep coming back for more. Yes, I wanted to ‘feel’ the passion that provokes so much discussion of one series.

And I may actually be getting to the bottom of the mystery. Because I have found some great reads.

Sure, there have been some series where I’ve bought the first book and wondered what all the fuss is about.

So I head into my groups, type out words along the lines of: I don’t get it.

Like vultures, the groupies (ha! Sorry, GR friends) jump up and yell, no, the first isn’t the best story, you need to keep on, please keep reading, please don’t give up, listen to us we know what we’re talking about.

So I listen to them. I am an author. These people are readers. I have to trust they know what they like or I’m doomed … right?

And every time they have made me read on ‘because it only gets better’, they have been so totally right!

Thanks to listening to readers, I have stumbled across some amazing series’. Series that have left me hungry for more (or not—but the encouragement of others has swept me along). Series that I have been unable to put down. Series that I have fallen in love with.

And I shall be sharing my thoughts on these series with you. I’d love for it to be every week, but alas, I just can’t read an entire series that fast AND write new stuff to send to my editor for publication. So I shall aim for once a month. The second week of every month (starting 12th September), I shall be chatting about series I have been introduced to by readers and what I think brings folks back for more.

What about you? Are there any book series’ you’ve fallen in love with that you’ve just had to read because you’re not ready to say adios to the characters? Any you’d care to recommend?

Darkness & Light is available at the following outlets:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

WHSmith & Waterstones