Supernatural Slayer [Review + Promo]

Some people call me an assassin, I prefer the term bounty hunter.

In a world where magic is hidden from the general population, I’m hired to keep our secrets safe and take care of rogues by whatever means necessary.

When I accidentally targeted the wrong person, the Supernatural Bureau of Investigation offered me a deal — go to jail or work for them. Their first official request was to locate a vampire I thought I had killed over a year ago: my ex-boyfriend. Now I’m ordered to deliver him to them without harming a hair on his gorgeous head.

That was going to be a problem. By the time I find him, he’s going to wish he had stayed dead.

Supernatural Slayer is an action-packed urban fantasy romp through Barcelona with an assorted cast of witches, vampires, and shifters. It may also feature a snarky gargoyle or two.

“No human beings were harmed in the writing of this book — only supernaturals.”

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Devyn Jayse, author of the Dale Valari and Magic Runes series’, presents the first book of her newest series:

Supernatural Slayer

The book follows a half-witch bounty hunter named Aisha, who moonlights as an assassin for the magical underground in Barcelona. She uses her skills to hunt and (usually) kill any supernaturals that people have problems with, but when she gets wind of her vampire ex-boyfriend being back among the living… 

Well, let’s just say that he won’t be undead much longer.

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Supernatural Slayer: An Urban Fantasy Novel by Devyn Jayse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall, I think the book was really interesting, although I feel like there was a bit too much going on at once, especially in the beginning (the plots calmed down a bit towards the end when they all came together, but I stand by the fact that the beginning had my head spinning).
Aisha’s an awesome character! She’s snarky and paranoid and really badass (My only digression is that she would’ve made a wonderful butch lesbian, but hey)!
Noor is really interesting and I would love to hear more about her and her family.

My only issues with it were the fact that character descriptions were really vague. I relied on the cover for Aisha’s appearance, but everyone else was pretty cloudy save for stuff like “delicate features” or hair and eye color.

I also think the plot could’ve been spaced out more. It seemed pretty rushed and pushed together, although that did make a nice quick read.

I enjoyed it, and will definitely be watching out for the next one!

((Thanks Devyn for the eARC!))

View all my reviews

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And now, courtesy of the amazing Devyn Jayse, an excerpt from the book!

 

I looked down at my broken dagger then back up to the asshole who had destroyed its blade. This was the third time this week that a shifter had pissed me off.

“Did you seriously just break my dagger?” I glared at the wolf. His yellow eyes glimmered back at me. The assignment had been to retrieve the shifter alive, but right now I was very tempted to kill him.

“Just turn yourself in and no one will get hurt,” I said, trying to be calm. I ran my thumb along my damaged weapon and wondered idly if it could be salvaged. “The bounty is for you to be delivered alive. Continue to fight me and I can’t guarantee you’ll walk away from this.”

The shifter lowered his head and growled at me. He had transformed into a wolf as soon as I had exposed my dagger, shifting to his most powerful fighting body. I had to make do with the one I had. As a half-witch, I was statistically supposed to be weaker than the shifter, but my unknown father’s blood had given me speed and strength that regular witches couldn’t claim. I reached deep inside me for my magic and let go. It was reassuring to know that it was there, but I was determined to win this fight without it.

I circled the shifter. The wolf followed my motions, his hackles raised. It had been a while since I had fought a shifter in wolf-form, but I was sure I could best him. He may have strength and power on his side, but I had training and skills on mine.

“You want to play? Let’s play.” I tossed the remains of the broken dagger to his feet and his head swung toward it. With my left hand, I swiftly removed another dagger from within the sheath strapped to my back and ran toward him.

Evil Libraries Aren’t That Bad (Great Library 1 & 2 Review)

Okay please don’t jump to conclusions when you read that title I swear I don’t agree with the whole “murder people who get in your way” method, I just really like the “books are more important than people” concept. Because it’s true (pleasedon’tkillmeI’mjustintrovertedIswear).

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In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…

Cleverly introducing a world where the legendary Library of Alexandria never burnt down, the story starts off with introducing Jess, the son of a book smuggler who prefers reading books over selling them.
After his father convinces him to join the next class of Library trainees, Jess finds himself and his new friends caught in the middle of the fight over the rights of knowledge and who gets to own it.
Everyone has their own secrets here, even Jess… But some of these secrets may cost them their lives.
Jess will have to choose… His family, that’s treated him more like a worker than a son or brother, or his new friends, with whom he’s survived so much already.

The book introduces a world where there’s all the world’s knowledge available to every one, but at the same time reveals a corrupt power that limits the people to keep its hold.
Jess, Thomas, Khalila, Morgan and all the other students are powerful characters with strong personalities and opinions that really bring them off the page.
The combination of the story and the messages marking the beginning of each chapter reveals a lot about the world and its history without distracting from Jess’ tale and provides a nice insight into how the world works in this alternate universe.

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*Warning*

Potential Spoilers for “Paper and Fire”

*Final Warning*

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Let the world burn.

With an iron fist, the Great Library controls the knowledge of the world, ruthlessly stamping out all rebellion and, in the name of the greater good, forbidding the personal ownership of books.

Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but serving in its army is nothing like he envisioned. His life and the lives of those he cares for have been altered forever. His best friend is lost, and Morgan, the girl he loves, is locked away in the Iron Tower, doomed to a life apart from everything she knows.

After embarking on a mission to save one of their own, Jess and his band of allies make one wrong move and suddenly find themselves hunted by the Library’s deadly automata and forced to flee Alexandria, all the way to London.

But Jess’s home isn’t safe anymore. The Welsh army is coming, London is burning, and soon, Jess must choose between his friends, his family, and the Library, which is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the search for ultimate control…

Picking up after the students have been given their roles in the ever-growing Library, all of them must grapple with the decision to remain loyal to the source of the world’s knowledge or risk their lives to reveal a secret to the world that could change everything.
Again told from Jess’ perspective, he has to cope with both the loss of several close friends and the shadow that his fathers’ business casts upon him as his twin brother is trusted with more and more jobs that could’ve been his.
Choices are made and loyalties are broken as the Library’s grip on the students tightens and begins to threaten the people they’re close to.

This book really slowed down compared to the first one and focused heavily on the military aspect of things, which bored me a bit in the beginning there. Thankfully, it jumped right back into the usual high-stakes chases that I loved in Ink and Bone.

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Though it’s not one of my favorites, I did thoroughly enjoy this series and the world painted on its pages. I’m not sure if I’m going to read the third book, but it will definitely be under consideration as I read throughout the year.

The Renegade Who Had It Made (“Renegades” Review)

Haha, so I really couldn’t help myself from choosing Styx lyrics as the title because… c’mon, have you even read the book title? I WAS HUMMING RENEGADES THE ENTIRE DURATION OF READING THIS which was only, like, two days, BUT STILL

Frankly, I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about Renegades, and as both a writer working on a superhero story and a fan of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles (THAT I STILL HAVE TO FINISH ARGH I’LL DO IT SOON I SWEAR), I was really anxious to dive in.

I’d read the official excerpt about the time it came out and was instantly hooked by Nova’s origin story. Starting out as a little girl who loved the heroes and going darkside because they were too late to save her family? AWESOME (i mean unless you’re her family, in which, it sucks that they had to die because i got attached to little evie on, like, page one). The superhuman ability to put people asleep? HEY WHERE’S MINE SLEEP SOUNDS GOOD. Being the neice of the infamous supervillain Ace Anarchy? Girl, I am 100% on board with this entire premise give it to me now.

Of course, after reading said premise, I was stuck waiting FOREVER for the book itself to come out and I am not one of the lucky ones to get an ARC, which left me itching to get my hands on one.

Thankfully I got this book for Christmas (a signed copy too!) and after finishing Good Omens (which you can read my review of here!) I immediately grabbed this off my stack and dug in!

Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone…except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

This book immediately sucked me in, pulling me into Nova’s harsh reality of supervillains, gangs and violence… all when she was six years old. Her backstory was heart-wrenching right off the bat and when the story actually began, telling the history of Gatlon City and the Renegades in a new way that made it really fun to read? I WAS SOLD. Meeting the adorably awkward Adrian, whose ability to make his drawings come to life is downright endearing and still a useful superpower? I AM ON BOARD.

Honestly, compared to Nova’s “survival of the fittest” attitude, Adrian’s optimistic and cheerful outlook really made her lighten up and JESUS CHRIST THEY’RE SO ADORABLE EVEN THOUGH THEY SECRETLY WANT TO MURDER EACH OTHERS’ ALTER EGOS.

See, Nova’s an Anarchist, following in the footsteps of her villainous Uncle Ace in an attempt to bring down the Renegades that let her parents and baby sister die at the hands of a street gang years ago. With her ability to send people to sleep with one touch, her role as Nightmare is by no means a small one, especially when you add in her homemade inventions and skills on the battlefield.

But then there’s Adrian. Adopted son to two of the most famous Renegades in the city (and birth son to another one!), his ability to make his drawings come to life is something you’d think is weak and useless turns out to present Adrian with opportunities to become a serious hero.

Of course when one of Nova’s allies suggests she infiltrate the Renegades, she finds herself spending more time with Adrian and more time asking herself “Is being a Renegade really that bad?”

Not only was the story interesting to read (I mean, come on, a supervillain who doesn’t want power, just equality? SIGN ME UP), but I found myself shipping Nova and Adrian all the way through (Adrianova? Novadrian?) because of their adorable behavior.

Now, I haven’t read a lot of other superhero books before, but I think that Marissa Meyer did a great job of setting up her story, just like she did with the Lunar Chronicles, and I can promise you, I’ll be keeping an eye out for Book #2 this November!

The Apocalypse Arrives… In A Bentley (“Good Omens” Review)

You know, there’s a lot of theories about how the world will end. Zombies, meteors, fiery explosions, the works.
But Good Omens definitely opens a new (and very British) perspective.

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

Us lucky readers get an up closer and personal view of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s impending apocalypse, riding shotgun with the demon Crowley (whose name you may recognize from the hit CW show, Supernatural. The two are similar, but not entirely the same, trust me.) and angel Aziraphale as they realize that Earth isn’t quite as horrible as they’d thought in the Beginning. Out of curiosity, the oddball pair decide to pay a visit to the lovely little Antichrist… Only, it turns out that somebody lost him (I’m looking at you, Satanic chattering nuns).

Bouncing between the perspectives of several characters that (knowingly or not) have some influence on The Fate of The World As We Know It, we get to meet a quirky and eccentric with named Anathema Device, an adorable eleven-year-old named Adam Young, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and many more curious characters!

If you enjoy comedy with a bit of a serious side, Good Omens is a great choice! It combined the age-old Good vs. Evil fight a lighthearted carefree tone. Aziraphale and Crowley and #squadgoals and work together despite being enemies by nature. The Apocalypse was really built up throughout the whole book, and I have to say (small spoiler), my only complaint is the way that the ending fell flat.

It’s a fun and easy read with footnotes that add to the story in ways that made me smile with almost every line.

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As an added bonus for any preexisting fans of the book, BBC has currently started turning this into a TV show starring David Tennant as Crowley and Michael Sheen as Aziraphale. The show is slotted to release in 2019, so if you haven’t read the book yet, you’ve got plenty of time to!

The Writer’s Book Tag

Hello again! Honestly, I wasn’t planning on posting again this soon, but I just found out that I’ve been tagged by the amazing Katie at The Act Diary for her book tag! (You should really check out her blog, it’s got a lot of good stuff about books, movies and actors and actresses!)

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First Draft

A book or series you’ve never read before.

Hmm, I think for this one I’d have to choose Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

As a life-long Potterhead (because isn’t everyone?), I was reasonably hyped for the release of a new chapter of the timeless story. Now, I’m normally not a fan of screenplays (because I need that description to help me see the play, uh duh), but Harry Potter can always be an exception. Sadly, I’ve heard a lot of bad reviews and people online saying “LET’S JUST PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED!” so I’m very conflicted.

Second Draft

A book or series you didn’t like as much the second time you read it.

Now, this is an exceptionally hard question because I don’t tend to reread books unless I absolutely positively adored them and at that point I can’t see any flaws so…. probably The Ruining by Anna Collomore.

I think one of the reasons I didn’t like this the second time around was because I really wasn’t interested the first time. See, I got this book as a Christmas present when I was, like, ten.

News Flash: This book was not written for a ten-year-old.

It’s got a lot of heavy stuff in there. Murder, marital issues, insane asylums, crazy second wives. Me as a ten year old was not prepared for all the crap that book dumped on me and I’m 75% sure it’s one of the reasons I’m a little nutso today (it’s definitely not because of my weirdo friends who are actually really great, oh definitely not).

I read it for a second time a couple years ago and while I did understand it a whole lot more, it didn’t improve my disposition of the book at all. Sure, I understood the whole story this time. But I still had that bitter taste in my mouth from the first time.

Not a reflection of the book itself, just a reflection of the fact that I read it too young.

Final Draft

A book or series that you’ve liked for a really long time.

Oh, this is so easy! The Princess and the Unicorn by Carol Hughes! I read this book with my mom when I was very young. I was about six or seven years old, my mom read it to me every night for a whole summer. It took us forever, but it’s always been a favorite of mine.

Killing Off Your Characters

A book or series that made you cry

Now, again, an easy one. Champion by Marie Lu.

The first time I read this, I was in a non-stop, read-till-you-drop mindset. I had to finish this series. My life depended on whether or not my OTP, Day and June, ended up together in the end.

But one night, I was probably about one or two chapters until the end and I just could. not. keep. going. I was exhausted so I took a deep breath and set it down so that I could get some sleep.

The next morning was a Saturday. I woke up around 10am and grabbed it on the way out of my room, reading as I walked.

As much as I’d like to, I’m not going to spoil how it ends, but let’s just say that 10 in the morning is too early to be dealing with those kind of feels, you get me?

Plot Holes

A series or book that disappointed you.

If you read my previous post, you’ll already know this answer, but that book would have to be The Belgrave Legacy by Zara Hoffman

The low down and dirty? I expected something with more magic and less cliche romance. If you want more, check out my full review here.

Writer’s Block

A book or series you never finished.

Now, don’t jump to conclusions about this, but my answer is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.

 

 

These aren’t all the books. There are two more after The Time Paradox.

When I was younger, I absolutely loved the Artemis Fowl books. What else do you need besides a snarky twelve-year-old genius and his kick-butt fairy captive saving the world from said twelve-year-old genius? NOTHING!

Sadly, as I grew up, I never… really… got to finish. I got through The Opal Deception (which I actually read before the first book haha I goofed) and then COULDN’T FIND THE REST OF THE BOOKS!

Still can’t.

I am frantically SEARCHING for The Time Paradox but life is very distracting, you should know.

Bonus: The first book in the series is going to be made into a movie, by Disney, soon AND I’M SO HYPED!

Feedback

A book or series you’d recommend to anyone and everyone.

There’s a lot of books that fit this bill for me, but for right now, I’d have to say Everlost by Neal Shusterman.

I found this book a few years ago and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT TO DEATH (haha, I made a joke)! I BELIEVE EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT IT’S SO AMAZING!

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I tag…

• Aria @ Aria E. Maher
• Leo @ The Nerdy Lion
• Shay @ Shay Writes

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Didn’t get tagged? Answer the questions down below!

Angels and Soulmates and Sirens, Oh My! (“The Belgrave Legacy” Review)

So, during PaperFury’s first Beautiful Books link-up for this year (more on that here and here if you’re interested!), I perused some of the authors linking up for NaNoWriMo. Among them was Zara Hoffman, writing the ever-intriguing Unmoored, spin-off to her first novel The Belgrave Legacy. After going in and reading about her book, I was quite interested in it!

A Reluctant Heroine. A Snarky Angel. A Big Mess.

Fawn doesn’t believe in magic. But it is very real, and has made her a vulnerable target.

Caleb is sick of Hell. When the Devil offers him a way out, he immediately says yes.

Can this young witch trust the dark angel assigned to romance and seduce her? Or will his betrayal tear them apart forever?

The Belgrave Legacy is an upper-young adult paranormal romance. Filled with magic, witches, angels, and demons, this story will keep you turning the pages until the very end. Buy the book now, and discover a world hiding in our own.

The whole premise is interesting, very magical and all-around sounds like a great idea. With my recent addiction interest in Supernatural added into my life-long love of magical mythology, the whole concept of the witches, angels, demons and soulmates really appealed to me.

Sadly, the book itself was fairly disappointing. And I only got about halfway through the book.

The prologue was good. It introduced the conflict well. Sadly, the way it was introduced was just flat. It was too much tell, not enough show. There are some cases where you have to tell, but frankly, this prologue was just a bit too cut-and-dry for me. When you write a prologue, you have to leave some mystery. You cannot tell the audience the entire conflict in about six paragraphs. Conflict isn’t introduced into the story until the rising action. I’m all for foreshadowing, but this just didn’t fit the bill.

And then there was the first chapter. At first, I loved it. Prologue aside, the beginning kicked up fairly well. While I know that dream sequences aren’t always the best thing to kick-off a novel’s storyline, I have to say, this one was done well. Again, there was a slight issue with telling-not-showing, but of course, that was a consistent feature in the story, so I won’t even mention it from this point forward. I really did enjoy the magic and the bit in the beginning, but there was one issue that I really had with this first bit. In it, Fawn, the main character, is sixteen. For the rest of the book she’s twenty-one.

Do you see my issue?

There’s a five-year gap between the first chapter and the second.

I’m all for time-skips while writing, but only in moderation. If you really wanted to get the contrast that badly, make the first chapter a memory, not a legitimate chapter with established perspective. It kind of trips the readers up, yanno?

So, anyway, after I got over the huge time-jump and got into the actual story (that actually barely touched on Fawn learning magic, as she did in the first chapter), I found it very…. bland, cliche… boring.

At first, Fawn seems like quite the empowered female character, with all her faults and flaws proudly shown. She starts out so strong and independent and ready to face the world on her own without the help of some stuck-up guy… but then Caleb gets in the picture.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was signing up for when I decided to read this. I knew it’d be romance. I knew it’d be about the “bond” between Fawn and Caleb.

But a “bond” does not mean ditching everything you’ve founded your life on for a guy who claims to be there to help you when your gut feeling said he was bad news.

And then the whole “Bad guy gets redemption because he fell in love with MC and that changes EVERYTHING” cliche happened around part two and I just kind of…. couldn’t.

Overall (as much as I hate to say it because this book had so much promise), I’d give this book 2 stars.

If you’re still interested in Zara Hoffman’s The Belgrave Legacy, check it out on her website here!

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So, my lovely little Book Nook-ers (idk is that a good name idk names halp i suck at names), have you ever had that one book that sounded so fabulous and then you actually read it and just went “meh”? Am I the only who wrote and entire other version of this book in my head because THIS COULD’VE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER? Do you have any genres that you absolutely love to read? Tell me in the comments below!

Beautiful Books 2017: Part II

Hello again! I know I haven’t posted in a while but that’s because I have no life NANOWRIMO STARTED! (If you want to learn more about my NaNo project, visit my original Beautiful Books post or Writing page!) In case you don’t know (which, I mean, I don’t understand how you can’t know at this point), NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month where thousands of writers attempt to write an entire 50,000 word novel in a month.

In honor of NaNoWriMo, Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ further up and further in host the amazing Beautiful Books, where writers and NaNo participants can share information about their works-in-progress. (Visit the link-up for this month’s here!)

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Now, for the actual questions!

-Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going?

Haha, my mental state’s been long gone, but my novel is actually going pretty slowly. See, Day 1 I was about a hundred words ahead, but by Day 2 I was already behind so YAY! I’m gonna fail.

-What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?

People always say that if you die in your dreams, you die in real life. Right now, the way my dream was going for me, I’d better hope that’s not true.

Yeah, that’s my first line. I open on a premonitory dream sequence where Molly thinks she dies. Fun.

-Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?

I think my favorite character would have to be a toss-up between Brian and Charlie. Brian is the dork who makes bad jokes and fun side-comments while Charlie’s the one who waggles her eyebrows and makes inappropriate jokes about everything said. They’re both really fun to write even though I haven’t actually gotten to writing Charlie yet.

-What do you love about your novel so far?

So far, nothing really. I’m not even through the first chapter and it’s a lot of character intros and world-building AND I JUST WANNA GET TO THE SUPERHEROES AND DRAMA!

-Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?

Oh yeah! See, I’ll scribble down snippits in a notebook and when I was copying one down I was talking about pizza and instead of saying “dark black hair” I put “dark black pizza” and ended up sending the snippit to a friend by copy-and-paste and SHE JUST LAUGHED AT ME FOR THAT.

-What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

I really love the middle and end because it’s where everything picks up and the drama gets big and then everything gets tied up into a nice little bow except not really because SEQUELS!

-What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

My writing habits are basically “OH I GOT AN IDEA LEMME WRITE IT DOWN AND BABBLE ABOUT IT AS I DO” and occasionally listen to my writing soundtracks or stay up until 4am because WHO NEEDS SLEEP. My writing pace is wherever I get an idea.

-How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?

I’ll usually write in silence, but ramble a lot afterwards about random topics related to it or text my friends as I work and annoy them to death.

-What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?

Haha, nothing but my own physical pain and the screaming of my characters. Oh, and the whole “I want people to relate to my writing.” thing.

-What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?

1. Write whenever you get ideas, don’t force it.
2. Don’t be afraid to share it with people, because feedback is always important.
3. KEEP WRITING EVEN IF YOU THINK IT SUCKS!

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So that’s my answers for this month’s Beautiful Books! I’ll probably be updating (relatively) soon with a book review, so keep an eye out for that and I’ll catch you all next time!

“Stars” Aesthetics

So, after doing Beautiful Books and watching my friend be super artsy with all them aesthetics, I decided to make an effort to make some fabulous Stars aesthetics.

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Cee

Kyle

Dani

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So, those are my Stars aesthetics, for my protagonists and antagonist.

If you liked ’em, lemme know! And if you want me to do some for my Duct-Tape Heroes characters as well, drop a comment or like!

10 Tips for Keeping A Successful Journal

This is an amazing post with fabulous advice for any journal-writers out there who might be struggling to keep a good pace!

Virtual Reality HACKS! (“Warcross” Review)

Okay, huge disclaimer, this post includes absolutely no virtual reality hacks. I do not have virtual reality. I am vastly deprived of modern technology (Thanks Mom.)

Here’s a secret.

This is actually a book review.

WOAH! I know, right? I haven’t done one these ever. BUT THAT’S HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BOOK!*

*Also known as Warcross by the ever-fabulous Marie Lu

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Check it out on Goodreads!

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

I. Need. More. Of. This. In. My. Life.

Super-advanced virtual reality goggles? Video games becoming the next Olympics? THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF THIS BOOK AND ITS FABULOUS SCI-FI UNIVERSE THAT MARIE LU CREATED BECAUSE GOSH DARNIT I WANNA LIVE THERE?

Shut up, I’m 90% sure I’m still mentally sane after reading this.

Warcross is not only the latest book from one of my favorite author on the face of the Earth (along with all the other authors I’ve read, shut up, I’m normal), but it’s got so much adventure, suspense and romance that I’m totally fangirling over EVERYTHING.

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Emika Chen is your totally not-normal eighteen-year-old hacker/bounty hunter who makes her living off of hunting down folks who illegally bet on the ever-famous Warcross matches. Stuck in a broken-down apartment with an overdue rent, she risks everything during the opening night of the Warcross Championships by trying to slip in and steal a power-up to sell on the Dark World. What she doesn’t plan for is accidentally glitching into the game and becoming an overnight sensation and getting an offer from the creator of the game and technology, Hideo Tanaka.

Jetted off to the futuristic Tokoyo, Emike finds herself immersed in a game that slowly turns into something much more dangerous. As the game goes on, the stakes get higher, putting lives at risk and dark secrets get revealed.

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HAHA! Look at that! I wrote a thing! THAT MAKES SENSE! i’m so proud

This book pulled me in and got me totally invested in not only the stakes of Emika’s hunt for Zero, but the game of Warcross itself! Not only that, but I found some Legend Easter eggs after catching a glance of a question on Goodreads.

If you at all enjoyed the Legend and Young Elites series’s, you’ll absolutely LOVE Warcross, I can promise it!

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Have any of you read Warcross? What were your thoughts? Am I the only person not allowed to have any sort of modern technology that I don’t buy myself? Yeah, I probably am.