Grave Mercy **Robin Lafevers**

Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Genre: YA Romance/YA Historical/YA Paranormal/Suspense/Adventure/Mystery
Series: His Fair Assassin
List Price: $9.99
Sensuality Rating: G
Stars: 3.5

Synopsis:

 

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
     Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

 

 

 

Feathermore **Lucy Swing**

Publication Date: (??)
Genre: YA Romance/YA Paranormal
Series: N/A
List Price: $0.99
Sensuality Rating: G
Stars: 4/5

Synopsis:

When the one thing you live for is denied to you, do you let it go or do you fall?

Jade, like any other student at Brushwood High, awaits the start of the school year with a certain measure of dread. Worse, she is being threatened by a voice that only she can hear—a voice that lurks at the edges of her awareness, haunting her and warning her of something unknown. She has always been able to count on her two best friends, Claire and Nate, but can she confide in them now? About this? Would they even believe her?

Life takes a turn for the better when she meets Avan, a darkly handsome new student who, somehow, seems to drown out the voice and make her feel at ease.

But Jade soon comes to realize that good things don’t last forever. When everything spirals out of control, she is shattered by something she never saw coming. Dazed and despairing, she must now overcome tragedy and embrace her true existence and a new but dangerous love. Will she be able to save herself and those she loves, before it’s too late? Or will she let the surrounding darkness consume her?

Twyla Shift: Blood and Magic **S.M**

Publication Date: January 4, 2012 Genre: YA Paranormal/ YA Romance List Price: Sensuality Rating: PG-13 Stars: 4.5/5 Synopsis: Nineteen year old Anne has spent her entire life coping with the fallout from her clairvoyant dreams. After narrowly escaping a fire in her chemistry lab which claims the lives of two of her classmates she is kidnapped by a man she has a unusual reaction to, shifted into a strange shadow world from which she can’t escape, held hostage by witches and vampires, and forced to choose between her own life and her sister’s. With everything she thought she knew about her life a lie, and unable to rely on anyone but herself, she struggles to accept the new reality that she is thrust into, having to use her dreams to guide her. But with her life turned upside down and the stakes massively raised, it’s up to Anne to save both herself and the man she loves from certain death, and when the cards are dealt, can her dreams really help her?

Veiled Virtues **Jan Fischer Wade**

Publication Date: February 12, 2012

Genre: YA Paranormal, Ya Romance

Series: N/A

List Price: $5.95

Sensuality Rating: G

Stars: 3.5/5

Synopsis:

When Paige Stewart left America to house-sit in England, her only thoughts were to get away from her controlling mother and to have fun. Little did she know that her working holiday would turn into a battle between good and evil, or that she would be the epicenter of that battle. She certainly didn’t expect to be swept off her feet by a modern-day English knight. But when blood appeared on her keyboard and she discovered her childhood scars bleeding, her holiday took a turn for the eerie and dangerous, and when she ventured into the metaphysical shop run by Nathaniel Brightmore, she found much more than tarot cards and crystals.

Beyond (The Academy)--T.P. Boje

Publishing Date: September 9, 2011

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Series: The Afterlife # 1

List Price: $0.99

Sensuality Rating: G

Star Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: 

Have you ever wondered where you go when you die?
Meghan is 16 when it happens to her.
She wakes up on a flying steamboat on her way to a school run by Angels in a white marble castle.
It is a school everybody has to go to before they are let into Heaven.
On the boat she meets Mick who has been dead for more than a hundred years but still looks like a teenager. He helps her past the difficult beginning at the new school in a new world filled with heavenly magic.
One day some of Meghan's roommates find a mirror in the cellar of the school and they persuade her to go through it with them - well knowing it is strictly against the rules of the school. Meghan ends up back on earth where she meets Jason. But Jason is in danger and Meghan knows something important. Something that is a matter of life and death. Soon she is forced to choose between the two worlds. The one she belongs to now and the one she left.

Five *Christie Rich*

Publishing Date: August 10, 2011

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Series: Elemental Enmity

List Price (Digital): $0.99
Sensuality Rating: G

Summary:

          "Rayla Tate was just a child when her mother disappeared from her life forever. Raised by her aunt Grace in a small town, she has lived a relatively uneventful but extremely sheltered life. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is special. She has been hidden from the Fae who have lived secretly among us since the beginning of time. Descended from an ancient blood-line of Elementals, only she has the power to crown the first Fae high-king.

          Sick of provincial living and the dictates of her aunt, Rayla flees the safety of her home and runs away to college with her best friend. However, excitement over her new found freedom is short-lived when she finds herself being chased by a mysterious stranger on her way to school. She is drawn to him immediately but resists the compulsion she feels. He disappears into the night, but she is certain he is following her.

          Rayla struggles to deal with the encounter while she adapts to her new environment. To make matters worse, Aunt Grace reveals that Rayla will soon be hunted by a pack of fae lords, each hoping to claim her power for his own. She soon finds herself surrounded by stunning men. Are they Fae, or is this just normal college life? More importantly, who can she trust when she can’t trust herself to be near them?" -Amazon

My Opinnion:

           While I LOVE a good a paranormal romance, this one just didn't do it for me. Dark, deadly, mysterious men are always attractive. Unfortunately, I think in this book, there are too many macho male characters. Rich didn't give each individual character enough development, so it was extremely hard for me to get involved in the story. I couldn't become Rayla or fall in love with Zach (or any of the Fae lords), so what's the point in finishing the book?

          Five was too fast-paced. It's great for a story to start out action packed, but when the characters are going and going and going and the novel doesn't seem to have a stopping point, it gets annoying. Rayla learns about the Fae lords were after her in a SINGLE call. That hardly appears believable. 

          Another thing, the way Rayla is attracted all the Fae lords like bees on honey was irritating. Even if she can't help the irresistible draw of all those brawny men due to the magical draw of Elementals to Fae lords, it still feels a bit slutty to me. 

          All in all, while I liked the originality and paranormal feel, Five disappointed me more than it caught my attention.