Review: Asunder by Jodi Meadows

Author:  Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Page Count: 406 pages, Hardcover
Date Published: January 29th 2013
Find it on Goodreads: Asunder
Source: This book was a surprise gift from my mum! Thanks mum!

DARKSOULS Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.
SHADOWS Many are afraid of Ana’s presence, a constant reminder of unstoppable changes and the unknown. When sylph begin behaving differently toward her and people turn violent, Ana must learn to stand up not only for herself but for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
LOVE Ana was told that nosouls can’t love. But newsouls? More than anything, she wants to live and love as an equal among the citizens of Heart, but even when Sam professes his deepest feelings, it seems impossible to overcome a lifetime of rejection.
In this second book in the Newsoul trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy

Asunder by Jodi Meadows, ladies and gentlemen, is an awesome, nay, an incredible sequel. I've been in a terrible reading slump lately, as well as having the horrid writer's block. For a while now, this book has been the only one on my mind. It's the only book I wanted to read; everything else turned me off for some reason. I expressed this frustration to my mum and the next day she surprised me by taking me to Chapters and telling me to go find Asunder.... I won't lie, I almost cried when I found it. 

Nothing has been inspiring me lately. Absolutely nothing. But for some reason, I couldn't get this book off of my mind. It was just... constantly there. So after saying thank you multiple times, we got in the car and I started reading. It took me almost a week to finish, but it. was. amazing.

Jodi Meadows' writing style astonishes me. She has a flair for words that I love, keeping me entranced the entire way through the novel. Ana's story is absolutely one of the most original concepts I've ever read. The world Jodi created is wondrous and sad and there are so many meaningful lessons and thoughts that are embedded in her words that made me think for a long time after I closed the book.  I constantly wish that schools would take modern YA literature more seriously, because I think to read a series like New Soul in school would bring up so many interesting discussions and different opinions.

Ana's struggle with her ability to love as a new soul and her dilemmas with Sam made my heart ache so much that it hurts just thinking about it. Ana is such a complex character, so strong and kick-ass, but at the same time, she's still flawed and I appreciate that Meadows was able to create a character that wasn't perfect. I think authors sometimes forget that their characters are people we as the readers may want to relate to and then make them indestructible and perfect, however Meadows created characters that, while they lived in a separate world than ours, it was easy to understand them and even empathize with them. 

I was also very impressed with the world building, as Ana and Sam learned long-hidden secrets about the city of Heart and the rest of Range. There was a lot more about the sylph, who I must say are pretty scary creatures, and we learned a lot about why the people of Heart reincarnate. It was so neat, learning more and more about this fascinating world. 

Asunder was an absolutely incredible sequel to an already incredible first novel. I don't know if it was better than Incarnate, but I believe it to be just as good. I'd highly, highly recommend this series of fantasy books to anyone who is open to a new world and new ideas. 

Happy reading!
~Kristy

Review: Silver Knight by Caron Rider

Author: Caron Rider

Page Count: 278 pages, Paperback

Date Published:  February 24th 2012 (first published December 1st 2011)

Find it on Goodreads: Silver Knight

Source: Received for review from author in exchange for an honest review.

When seventeen-year-old Diana recognizes an elderly priest in a video on YouTube, she realizes that reincarnation is real and that she’s been alive before! Every night in her dreams, she relives her past learning that it’s kill or be killed. Now a bishop at the Vatican whom she saved in another life calls on her once more. She is needed to help defeat evil within the catacombs of Rome. But when she arrives in Rome, she meets Alexander – the man of her dreams! Through the centuries she has loved him…betrayed him...been killed by him. Will she give him another chance or this time will she strike first?        




My Thoughts: Silver Knight was fast paced and captivating.

Caron Rider's book was great. It was relatively well written and had a really great story line. Diana was a very loveable protagonist.  She was strong willed and confident and a great role model. There were so many paranormal creatures in this book and so much going on. It all happens very quickly and save for the occasional akward sentences, it was a great read. The historical aspects were all really neat as well, and they made this book even more so enjoyable to me, being a bit of a history buff.

I love books about reincarnation, but this one was unlike any I've ever read. The author most definitely succeeded in making it unique, in both good ways and bad. Though I understand the need for the flash backs, they were disorientating and pulled me out of my rhythm plenty of times. There were a lot of times where I was unsure of which time period Diana or whichever other character it was, was in. Perhaps if there had been a different formatting with these flash backs, in that they were each their own chapters, they would have been much easier to interpret and enjoy. There was also the fact that the author sometimes randomly threw in a chapter that was from the first person perspective of a different character. Yes, it says at the beginning of the chapter if it isn't Diana, but that was really confusing at some points.

But other than some formatting and jumping around, I really did enjoy this book quite a book. It just wasn't the simplest read in the world. I loved the fact that some of the warriors had actually been in their 'past lives' great historical figures we all know, like per say, Helen of Troy. I loved the fact that Ms. Rider took so much history and put it into this book. There was plenty to learn from this book, that's for sure. The story left on such an incredible cliff hanger that I'm definitely looking forward to the next book. This was a book that kept me thinking and I enjoyed it for sure. It's a book full of mixed genres and it works well. If you're into books filled with action, this book would be a great choice for you.

Have a great day/night guys!
-Kristy

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Author: Jodi Meadows

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Page Count: 374 pages, Hardcover

Date Published: January 31st 2012

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

My Thoughts: Really enjoyed it!

Incarnate is the first in Jodi Meadows' new series, NEW SOUL. It's a fantastic utopian read with a strong message of not letting others bring you down, even if you're different. I had high expectations for this book, and although it didn't quite meet the mile high bar I had set, I really loved this book!

Incarnate was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year. I loved the cover, the description sounded fabulous, and it really seemed like a unique book that I'd enjoy.You could say that my expectations were... Unfairly high, but I waited a long time to finally find this book, (in another city I might add). Keeping that in mind, I'll try and make this fair. :P Let's start with this crazy world it's set in. There are one million souls, reincarnated over and over again. No one else is born, just these people. Every single soul has memories of their previous lives. How crazy is that? Insane, I think. To keep being reborn, over and over again. To remember how you died, and then to know that it'll happen again and once you've been reborn, you'll have multiple memories of your own death. Wow. Jodi Meadows, you are messing with my brain! I don't necessarily believe in reincarnation, but I don't not believe in it. It's always been a huge topic of interest for me, so this book was really interesting. Range seems like a place that I'd actually like to live in, maybe just for a day. I don't say that often about fictional worlds, but this one was really interesting to read about.

Now, let's move onto the characters in the book. There are the two main people we read about, Ana and Sam. Ana is our New Soul. She was born after another soul died, but that soul didn't return. Ana took her place. She has a really hard time believing that she is worthy of life and that she belongs. She is shunned by a lot of the community, and her mother was pretty abusive while growing up. When she finally leaves home, she meets Sam. HERE WE GO. Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam Sam! This gorgeous dude takes Ana in, helps her merge into the community of Heart and teaches her music. Their relationship blossoms from a strong friendship, but it takes time. We learn some pretty interesting stuff about Sam that I will not mention, as that would spoil the book for you if you haven't read it yet. Anyways, the characters in this book are really well written. Even though the book is in Ana's point of view, I was able to feel Sam's emotions as well, while 'seeing' him through Ana's eyes.  The other characters in the book were well written as well, all keeping the story together. I never felt the question of 'Why does that person exist?' come up. Everyone mentioned had a place, no matter how significant to the story. Even the person who makes honey was important, although only mentioned maybe twice.

I'm not sure if this all makes sense, but this book was really hard for me to wrap my brain around, as usual. The whole concept of the souls reincarnating is one thing, but then the New Soul comes up and it's on a whole other set of tracks in my mind. Incarnate is a terribly romantic, crazy suspenseful  book with an incredible message, portrayed in a world of mystery and immortality. I loved it so much. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I think that's a good thing. I'm extremely excited for the next book to come out and I hope that everyone who reads this book will enjoy it as much as I did!

So, how's everyone's day going so far? I'm still sick, but I'm finally able to focus on a book. I finished the entire season of the Lying Game online in two days... Does anyone else like that show? I loved it a lot, but it'll never replace Pretty Little Liars! although, have any of you read the books? Were they any better than PLL? I'd like to give them a try, since there's only three so far, instead of what... Eleven? That is a lot of books! Let me know what you thought of the books, if you've read them and the show as well.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, if you haven't already!
Happy reading!
-Kristy