Book Review

Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom #1)
By Devon Monk
Published by: Roc


Summary: (from Goodreads) Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control.


Dislikes: This book started really slow for me and I had a hard time getting into it. I can't really pinpoint what I didn't like it just seemed like a slow read. By about the halfway point it seemed to pick up and I read right through to the end. 


Likes: I loved the world that the author built for this series. Very different from any of the other books I have read involving magic.  I really liked the characters as well. Both Allie and Nola (even though she is not in it much) were very strong characters and you could relate to them well.  I also enjoyed Zayvion and cannot wait to find out more about him.


Overall: I really enjoyed the second half of this book and cannot wait to read the next in the series.  I liked how Monk resolved the main focus (problems) by the end of the book without leaving you hanging, but still managed to leave enough for you to want to continue with the series.


Rating: 3.5

In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by the Kristi over at The Story Siren. The idea of In My Mailbox is to bring books to the attention of our blog readers and to encourage interaction with other blogs.. The idea of In My Mailbox is to bring books to the attention of our blog readers and to encourage interaction with other blogs.

This was another big library week, could have gotten several more but ran out of room in my bag and still had to get books for my son.

Library: dawnbreaker By Jocelynn Drake
Ecstasy Unveiled By Larissa Ione
Inside Out By Maria V Snyder
the short second life of bree tanner By Stephanie Meyer
Clockwork Angel By Cassandra Clare
Killer Instinct By Zoe Sharp
Mistwood By Leah Cypess
Toads and Diamonds By Heather Tomlinson (had not heard of this one but loved the cover)
Nightshade By Andrea Cremer

Also for Review from netGalley:
My Soul to Steal By Rachel Vincent
Stone Kissed By Keri Stephens

That's all for this week, so what did you get?

Follow Friday and Blog Hop

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee. No question this week.



The Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This meme is hosted by Crazy for books

This weeks question: What is your favorite Book Cover?

I don't know if I have a favorite. Ones that I like right now are the Iron Fey series By Julie Kagawa. Really anything with color since there seems to be so many that are white, gray, and black of late.

Happy Friday and leave a comment letting me know you stopped by.

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to take a second and wish everyone celebrating a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

Book Review

Darklight (Woundrous Strange #2)
By Lesley Livingston
Publisher: HarperTeen


Summary:(from back cover) Soft purple light flooded the darkness, and Kelley spiraled up into the fly-tower. She felt whole. Free. Faerie. She had her wings back. And now there was only one thing she needed in all the worlds. All she had to do was find Sonny.

Dislikes: There were just a couple of things that bothered me in this book. Bob, not the character, the name. You have all these flowing faerie names in this book Auberon, Mabh, Tyff, etc and then you have Bob. Every time I saw him by this name it caused to pause and and say why. I'm sure there is a tale behind this version of his name that I'm not remembering at the moment but it still bothered me throughout the book. The other thing was, with all the complaining about and from Kelley about how she does not know how to be faerie and needs to learn, everyone still followed everything she said. I kept wanting someone to say "No" and make her learn something and follow their lead or at least try and talk some sense into her. That being said I don't dislike her character, just found this odd.

Likes: I liked the story as a whole and the flow from beginning to end. I like the introduction of the leprechauns in this book. I enjoyed the fact that they weren't the happy, carefree guys that they are in most books. I loved the sense of whodunit from the prologue all the way through to the very end of the book. It really added to the overall book.

Overall: I really enjoyed this book. You learned more about the characters that you were already familiar with and met some new ones, even if they weren't nice. I'm looking forward to reading the next book and finding out who is behind the power plays from this book and seeing what happens with Kelley and Sonny.

Rating: 4