Everyday Monsters - Ellie Robbins

I was very lucky to receive an e-book copy of Everyday Monsters direct from the author Ellie Robbins.

Everyday Monsters follows Taylor, a homeless girl who earns money by participating in a fight club, when one night everything changes.

This book had me hooked right from the beginning, Taylor is such an interesting character and the story really got going right from page one. I loved the opening which consisted of a flash back to when Taylor was a little girl and she first started seeing things that couldn't be real...or could they? It was very intense.

Taylor meets Evan on a night where everything seems to be going wrong and people actually seem to want to kill her. He offers to take her away from living on the streets and all the bad stuff happening to go and live at a special school which takes on and looks after teenagers with talents.

The first part of the story reminded me a bit of X-Men and Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, in the fact there is a school for children with talents (or powers) and other parallels but wrapped up in an awesome YA package.

The writing is well done and the characters are all well fleshed out. I really liked Yumiko and Gabriel, but Evan I couldn't make my mind up on. One of my favourite characters is 100% Chester, but I don't want to say anything too much about him as he's a very nice surprise.

Everyday Monsters is a very well put together origin story with just enough action to show off the start of Taylor's powers and as a good set up for a good series of books following this first one. I for one will definitely be waiting eagerly for the next book to see what happens next and to see how Taylor's powers fully come to light, especially regarding one aspect of them which I won't spoil.

I gave this book 5 stars and would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA.

Everyday Monsters is currently available to vote for on Kindle Scout, so if you like the sound of it from this review, or enjoy the sample on the Kindle Scout page, give it a nomination! There's currently (at time of publishing this post) 5 days left to vote. The link to check it out is HERE.

Everyday Monsters synopsis

Living shadows are only the beginning.

15 year old Taylor Brock is homeless, and she likes it that way. So when Evan, a boy who controls fire, tells her that she has super powers too, she's skeptical. Evan takes her to The Flagship, a haunted hotel turned boarding school with classes covering everything from math, magic and self-defense (super-powered, of course). When Taylor's friend goes missing and the school's administration turns a blind eye, she has to decide - will she help find her friend or go back to the streets?

Crossbones - Stefan M. Nardi

I received an e-book copy of Crossbones direct from the author Stefan M. Nardi in exchange for an honest review.  

Honestly all I was going to write for this review was PIRATES and MAGIC! I mean, what else can you want from a fantasy book? 

In all seriousness though, I wasn't 100% sure that pirates and magic would work well together but boy, was I wrong! (Not a fan of Peter Pan, Jake and The Neverland Pirates however is good). I really think it works incredibly well and it is really well balanced. 

The story follows the brothers Dean and Eldric, both pirates who have their own magical powers. The book jumps straight into the action and immediately showcases the characters of both Dean and Eldric. Dean is the older brother, confidence verging on cocky, but with just enough charm that you can't help but smiling. Eldric is the younger brother, he has a bit more of a serious head on his shoulders. Their relationship is wonderful and you can tell they really love each other. I definitely like portrayals of strong sibling bonds. 

The book goes from one bit of action to the next, barely pausing to let the characters catch a moment to relax. This is where my only complaint about the book comes in, it's too short. I like a huge world and lots of good description in my fantasy novels, but Crossbones is very short for a fantasy. The story, world and character building however does not suffer for the book being shorter, it is just my selfishness of wanting more and wanting to know more about the whole world because I enjoyed it so much, 

Overall an exceptionally enjoyable read and a well constructed story. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series as I definitely want to learn more about Dean and Eldric and I also want to know what will happen after the climax of the first book, lives have been changed irreparably. 

I started reading this book on the 9th of July 2016 and I finished it on the 18th of July 2016.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. 

My Review of The Assassin Princess

I originally had a different book chosen for the Book Riot topic of "a book published by an indie press", but then I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of The Assassin Princess by Blake Rivers on Facebook directly from the author and thought that it would be a perfect choice for me.

I'd read the blurb and I'd read the Goodreads description as I'd been coveting the book for a while and it sounded really interesting so I was really excited to read it. It was everything I expected and more!

The world building is brilliant and I absolutely adore Legacy, the Planrus Lands etc. They are described just enough for you to picture them yourself but with enough detail so you have a complete picture, The lore and the history that you learn as you travel through the book is incredibly interesting and going forward I would love to read more about it, it's just so well thought out and credible. The magic is also very cleverly done with where it comes from and how it is used, I don't want to go into it too much as I don't want to ruin the wonder of anyone coming to read this book.

The main three characters are Ami, Adam and Hero. Ami is exactly the right kind of badass female main protagonist that you want in a story, Adam is exactly the right kind of twisted evil you want in a story and Hero is the perfect damaged hero you want in a story. I genuinely think the characterisation has been done so well and not only for the main characters, I love the story about Ami's parents and I love the unicorns (yes there are unicorns in this book!)

I'd say the only criticism I have about this is that I don't have the next book in the series so I cannot just jump straight back into the world.

Just a mention about the front cover too, it's stunning and eye catching. So simple and yet striking.

Overall a fantastic book that throws you straight into the action and keeps you going right until the very end. People need to read this book.

I started this book on the 16th of July 2015 and finished it on the 25th of July 2015
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads