Follow Friday

Follow Friday is now hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of course and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Q. Christmas in July! Someone gives you a gift card for two books (whatever that costs). What two books will you buy?

A. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness and Alliance Forged by Kylie Griffin

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine. It's a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

Alliance Forged (The Light Blade #2)
by Kylie Griffin
published by Berkley Sensation
expected release date: July 3, 2012

Summary (Goodreads): There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not purebred is virtually powerless. Until a blind priestess lays claim to a half-breed warrior, body and soul…

Hunted and marked for death by Na’Reish demons for their half-blood heritage, the Na’Chi are searching for a new home—something an alliance offered by the human leader could provide. With both races divided by prejudice, when Light Blade rebels brutally attack the Na’Chi, the alliance seems doomed to fail.

Varian, leader of the Na’Chi, a hybrid race of gifted warriors, is cursed with the darker impulses of his demon heritage. Controlling the part of himself that craves the high of the battle is a struggle he’s afraid he’ll lose—until he meets Kymora Tayn, a priestess driven to serve her deity. While he’s unwilling to trust anyone outside his people, he finds himself drawn to Kymora’s strength and passionate nature, and discovers she has the power to calm the darkness inside him.

When the Na’Reish raid human territory for blood-slaves and kickstart a war, the key to the survival of both races—Na’Chi and human— is an alliance. However, when Kymora is kidnapped, pitting human against human, Varian realizes he must embrace his darker half, not only to save the alliance…but also the woman he loves.

**I just finished book 1 and really enjoyed the characters and world this author created. The short wait is nice also :)

Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1)
by Kylie Griffin
published by Berkley Trade
genre: Adult, Debut

Summary (full available @Goodreads): There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born...

Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na'Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father's people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she's gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy...

My Thoughts:  I really enjoyed the world that the author created. The demons (Na' Reish) and the humans are only separated by a river but there is so much more between the two. The hatred and animosity jumps off the page and it was easy to get drawn into the turmoil.
Annika and Kalan are the main focus of this HEA. While I liked Kalan, Annika was the reason I kept reading. There was something about her story that made your heart break for her while at the same time you wanted her to finally catch a break. From the hatred and ridicule she received from her father and the rest of the Na'Reish just for being a half blood (Na'Chi) to the hatred from the humans it would have been easy for her to be bitter. Instead she took the time to learn and become a healer for the humans that were slaves in her father's lands.
My favorite character was Rissa. She is a young human who has the common sense of childhood. She becomes friends with Annika  and doesn't see why she should hate Annika when she has done nothing to her. The scenes with these two were some of my favorite. I also like both Varian and Kymora. It was obvious as soon as they were on the page that they would be an HEA in this series. I found myself more interested in them than the main couple.
Overall, I enjoyed both the world and characters the author created. It was a nice beginning to a new adult series. With all the changes and surprises that were found towards the end of the book it will be interesting where things go. We didn't really get much about the Na'Reish except what we learned from Annika and Varian and I'm interested to see if the author delves more into this side of the war.

Rating: 4

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share your weekly book haul. It can be what you bought, received, borrowed, or were gifted. For more info you can go here.

Not much this week, just some library books. **All links go to Goodreads

Library
Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1) by Kylie Griffin
Cast in CourtLight (Chronicles of Elantra #2) by Michelle Sagara
Infamous (Chronicles of Nick #3) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Unclean Spirits (The Black Sun's Daughter #1) by M.L.N. Hanover

Currently Reading
Black Heart (Curse Workers #3) by Holly Black

Have a Great Week and Happy Reading! I'm taking part in Armchair BEA this year. Should be lots of fun!