Obsidian
by Kimberly Loth
Publish date: February 17, 2016
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads summary
Aspen -- a skydiving, rock-climbing, bear-cuddling -- adrenaline junkie,
finds herself in real danger when she unwittingly ensnares the heart of
Obsidian, the dragon king.
My thoughts
As you can see, there's not much of a summary to go on for this one. Hopefully I can help fill in the blanks so you can decide for yourself.
Obsidian is a quick read at around 200 pages but it's compelling enough to make you want to read straight through.
Our MC is Aspen, which is a name a really love here. It shows her outdoorsy nature. Aspen loves taking pictures of dragon, even though most people think they eat humans. Then, we have Obsidian, the newly-minted dragon king who must spend ten years in his human form before he can take his place as ruler. Aspen meets Obsidian in dragon form and she's in absolute awe. However, the human version, Sid, isn't one she cares for.
The majority of Obsidian is spent looking at both sides of this love story. Sid spends his time trying to win Aspens affections, while she spends her time actively avoiding him. In between, we meet a lot of other dragons and we learn more about the dragon way of life.
The reason I only gave it 3 stars was the lack of character development. There's a lot of telling instead of showing going on. Aspen keeps saying how she's so awesome, she's such a daredevil and an adrenaline junkie, she does things no one else would dare to do. First, she never does any of these things, the most dangerous thing she does is talk to a dragon. Secondly, you're not as cool as you think you are if you keep having to tell everyone about it. It's like those hipster kids who go around telling everyone they're totally not mainstream and they think so differently than everyone else.
The romance also needed a lot of work. They fell in love pretty quickly but it didn't really develop. It just kind of happened between one page and the next. Actually, it was a bit nonchalant for Obsidian. All of a sudden he decided he's in love.
One last thing I want to mention is that cover. It's fantastic and I love it.
** I was provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review
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About Kimberly Loth
Kimberly Loth can’t decide where she wants to settle down. She’s lived in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Utah, California, Oregon, and South Carolina. She finally decided
to make the leap and leave the U.S. behind for a few years. Currently, she lives in
Cairo, Egypt with her husband and two kids.
She
is a high school math teacher by day (please don’t hold that against
her) and YA author by night. She loves romantic movies, chocolate,
roses, and crazy adventures. Kissed is her first novel.
Author links
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
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Henchgirl
by Rita Stradling
Publish date: January 12, 2016
Genre: Fantasy, young adult
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads summary
The children of dragons and humans, the dracons, control eighty percent
of the world’s governments. Humans worldwide are either subservient or
prey. On the small vacation island of Mabi, humans call for war.
Sixteen
year old Dakota Kekoa lives a double life. By day, she pretends to be a
human to infiltrate Mabi Academy, a 'human's only' high-school. At
night, she works as a henchman for her draconic mafia family, utilizing
her ability to steal and manipulate emotions.
When Dakota’s human
friend is kidnapped, she takes on the mission to find her. This is not
just any mission though; she is diving head first into the escalating
conflict between humans and dracons. As more girls disappear and some
are discovered dead, Dakota realizes her first honorable mission may
also be her last.
My thoughts
I'll start with what I liked about this book. The story itself was
great. I don't read a lot of books involving dragons, but the
description led me to believe that there was so much more to this book.
And I was right to think so. There's a lot going on in this book between
the mystery Dakota is trying to solve, all while trying to juggle
Wyvern and the dragon politics that go along with dating him.
Dakota
is a wonderful character and she comes off very real. She's has fears
about not being able to support her family so she's become a bit of a
hard person. But yet, she's still vulnerable and insecure, even if it
only slip out only on occasion.
Now, I'll move on to what could
be improved upon. This story, as great as it was, is in severe need of
at least a proofreader. I can overlook things like missing punctuation
or a misspelling. What really bugs me is the incorrect use of words and
phrases. One example that really got to me was at one point it said "she
watched with wrapped attention" instead of "rapt attention." You can
wrap a present, you can't wrap your attention. Unfortunately, this is
just one of the numerous examples. They are simple errors, but there's
just so many of them that it becomes distracting. However, take that
with a grain of salt. I'm a copy editor by day, so my life is dedicated
to rooting those things out.
** I was provided a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review
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