Mini Reviews: Before, Between, and The Coven

Title: Before

Author: Cambria Hebert

Series: Heven and Hell #0.5

Synopsis: 
What if your life was charmed and everything in it was perfect…Before.This is the story of my past. Of what things were like for me when everything was normal. Of what every teenager’s life is like. Clothes. Parties. Boys and summer vacation. What’s so wrong with that? I liked it. I was happy. Until things changed. I changed.I didn’t know that lies and secrets were about to take over my existence. I didn’t know there was someone out there, someone meant just for me. I didn’t know that I was about to go on a journey, a journey that would lead me to the girl I am today.This is the beginning of the worst year of my life. Would I go back and change things? Erase everything that has happened to go back into these moments? Not a chance.This is a story of before.
My Review:
I got this book free from Amazon, so I really shouldn't complain...but it was just so effing short! I kid you not, it is about 10-15 pages and is more of a teaser than anything of substance.  I guess it is definitely something that will inspire a reader to go out and get the first book because they are intrigued by this little clip. I have read Masquerade, book one in the series, so I actually appreciated it because it gives depth and more of the story that you never get in the book, but I was still disappointed because of how seriously short it is. You only get a quick glimpse into the main character Heven's mind as she was before the accident that scarred her forever. I like seeing a different side of Heven than the morose one who appears in Masquerade, but I only get a quick flash of that girl and if I hadn't read Masquerade before it I probably wouldn't appreciate all the little nuances of Heven's old personality. To be honest, I'd only read this if you are wondering whether or not to read Masquerade...It is a nice teaser, but doesn't really give you anything to go on other than...What Happens Next?!?!?

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Title: Between

Author: Cambria Hebert

Series: Heaven and Hell # 1.5

Synopsis:

I grew up in a comfortable house with two parents and a white-picket fence. My brother, Sam, and I used to play with sticks in the backyard and pretend they were swords. There were always cookies on the table and milk in the fridge. Then, one day, things changed.Sam changed. Life was never the same again. Sam left. My parents abandoned him when he needed them most, and I was left to survive in a house that was merely a shell of what it used to be. Mom cried all the time and Dad expected me to fill the void my brother left behind. But mostly, all we did was pretend. We pretended that things weren’t messed up. We pretended that Sam never existed.Until I changed, too. Now, everything’s a mess and I’m so confused. It’s like there are two different people trapped inside one body—my body—and one of them wants out. I do things. Bad things and I don’t know how to stop. I’m not sure I want to. The only way I can be normal again is if I find Sam. He’ll know what to do. He has to.

My Review:

To be perfectly honest, the description of Between is almost as long as the novella is. It was so short that I finished it in less than 10 minutes, I kid you not. Like Before, it seems like it is just a teaser, something to get you to buy the larger novels. Yet...it works. If I hadn't already been given a copy of Charade by Cambria Hebert, I would probably have immediately run out and bought it because of how intriguing of a character Sam's brother Logan is. He's been hurt so many times, first when his brother was forced to leave, then when the same thing happened to him. You can tell he loves his brother, but there's this kind of insidious darkness to him that gives you pause. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there are problems with him in the the next book and how he deals with Hevan. I would hate to see what Sam does to Logan if he tries to hurt Hevan, but it looks like that's where this is going. I'm kind of hopefull for him...he doesn't SEEM evil..but you can tell that something might be twisted. Between is a stab in the gut for those who don't have their copy of Charade yet. It makes you want to drop everything and jump on the Heaven and Hell bandwagon, and who would blame you? With characters like Sam, Logan, China, and Hevan, Cambria writes a really compelling and fascinating series that has a lot of originality to it. Check out Between if you need that little nudge to get yourself to buy the series!

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Title: The Coven

Author: Cate Tiernan

Series: Sweep #2

Synopsis:

Cal, now Morgan's boyfriend, helps her accept the truth: Wicca is in Morgan's blood. As Morgan learns more about Wicca, she realizes that she needs to find out more about her parentage. The answers are there, but she doesn't know how to find them.

My Review:
I think I'm going to include the majority of the Sweep series in my "mini-reviews" section. They are all about 180 pages, and though that is slightly more than the typical novella or short story, I don't feel like giving the time for a full review of each book. The review would practically be as long as the books are! Anyways, The Coven starts right where Book of Shadows leaves off (literally...there is no re-cap, no details about what happened before). It's a good thing that I'm planning on reading the series straight through or I would probably forget everything that happened in the last book. Morgan seems to be well on her way to becoming a witch. During circles at the newly formed Cirrus Coven, she is able to harness the magic better than any of the other novitiates, and spreads healing magic and joy through her friends. Unfortunately this power leads to two HUGE complications in Morgan's life. For one thing, her best friend is so overcome by jealousy that she literally turns into the villain of the story, and Morgan also starts to wonder why her parents never told her that she was a witch. Obviously if she is a blood witch, then they have to be....but why are they so secretive about it? And what happened to make the family so anti-witchcraft? All I can tell you guys is that there are some major shockers in this book. If you aren't on the lookout you will be completely blindsided and as shocked as Morgan is about some of the big reveals. Another huge plot point in the book was Cal and Morgan's relationship. I am tempted to say it moves too fast, but it really doesn't. The whole series moves as quick as lightning, and this is already book two, so I was happy when Morgan and Cal finally dealt with some of the electricity that's been bouncing off them since day one. They really are cute and sweet, but I have a few misgivings about Cal. He just seems a little...sneaky? I don't know what it is really. I should love him, but his mom makes me hesitate, and it bugs me how much he seems to know but doesn't share with the rest of the coven. Oh well...we shall see won't we? I'm probably making stuff up in my mind because I'm crazy and love to do that...lol... I give The Coven 4 Keys. It was short but sweet, and if the first three books were pressed together to make one book, I would gladly give it a five-er...

Hope you guys enjoyed these little flashes into some excellent novellas and short stories! I plan to do this a lot, especially with anthologies of short stories, because I feel like sometimes those kinds of little nuggets of awesomeness are lost in the shuffle and bustle of reviewing bigger, more popular books. Thanks for checking me out and have an amazing Tuesday!

Review: Masquerade by Cambria Hebert

Title: Masquerade
Author: Cambria Hebert
Series: Heaven & Hell #1
Pages: 360
Publisher: Otherworld Publications
Date Published: December 16, 2011
Format: eBook
Genre: Paranormal (YA)
Source: Bought from Amazon!

Synopsis:
Everything was so much better Before. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares, my place at school was secure and my face was flawless. Now, I’m a freak and everything has changed. The worst part is that I can’t remember the night I was sentenced to the shadows. The memory has been stolen from me and I just can’t shake the feeling that someone, something is out there -watching. Just when I think I have my life handled, Sam, with his intimidating golden stare and shiver inducing voice, makes me realize that I don’t know anything. He makes me see that my scars don’t matter. That they never mattered. I can’t help but fall for him, completely unknowing that he knows exactly how I got this way. Not knowing he was involved.

My Review:
I originally started this book to be part of the Read-Along hosted by a bunch of fab book bloggers that I know and love :) Read-Alongs are some of my favorite things to do with the blog. Not only do you get to read a book much more in depth than sometimes you normally would (especially me...I read basically a book a day on good weeks so it's nice to sometimes stop and smell the roses so to speak ) but I love getting to know fellow bloggers on a much more personal level, and the authors sometimes participate too...which makes them seem like actual people...who'da thunk it? But yeah...Unfortunately, I tend to cheat on read-alongs because I get so wrapped up in the story that I can't bear to leave it for another week and that is exactly what happened with this book. There is a ton of creativity and originality here and I couldn't stop myself from reading right until the end.

I don't want to give away a HUGE chunk of the plot, but Sam is definitely not human....and he's not a paranormal beastie that I've ever encountered before. *GASP* How is this possible? You are all probably thinking to yourselves...Am I not on Unabridged Andra's....the place where every other book is a Paranormal book of some sort? What kind of creature has Andra not possibly read before??....Well...you'll have to read Masquerade to find out :) I will say that I was really caught off guard by what Sam was and I thought it was so freaking awesome after the shock wore off.

I have to say that I was kind of upset by how long it took to figure out what kind of beastie Sam was, let alone The Hate and The Hope which took another 25% of the book to finally reveal what they were. One thing I absolutely can't STAND is when the author leaves you in the dark about something for too long. I mean, I was more than halfway through the book and I still didn't know what kind of paranormal creature I was dealing with. Was it Angels? Demons? Werewolves? Some freaky combination of the three? It seriously bugs me when you are left struggling to understand what's going on, and you kind of feel almost betrayed by the narrator once they finally decide to let you in and tell you what the heck you've been reading about the whole time. You wonder if you can trust the narrator if they've "lied" to you for the last 100 pages...I felt this kind of betrayal from Sam and I questioned his motives for a long time before I could trust him again.

O.EM.GEE...Heaven's Mom was terrible! She doesn't have much depth to her other than being a devout Christian because her husband was shot and killed, yet she plays a huge part in antagonizing Heven. She certainly doesn't act very Christianly...especially to her own daughter. I was appalled when Heven's mom blamed Heven's scars on her "being marked by evil." What the hell kind of crap is that? No mother, let alone a CHRISTIAN mother, (unless we're in the deep DEEP South) would claim that an innocent teenager who got attacked when walking home from the library was evil BECAUSE THEY WERE ATTACKED...I say again WHAT the EFF?  Poor Heven having to deal with a mom like that is a trial enough...forget the murderous hell hounds on her trail...she should get an award for dealing with mommy dearest for 17 years. It's a good thing she has such a great grandmother to watch out for her...I would hate to think of being forced to live with a mom who thinks I'm evil...how much therapy will Heven NEED when she's older...sheesh...lol

I give Masquerade 3.5 out of 5 Keys! It was definitely a good read, but it wasn't as good as some others in the genre. I loved that Cambria stepped outside the norms for paranormal creatures, delving into Gryffins, Changelings, Hellhounds, Angels, Demons, spirits, etc. There was a cool interplay between characters and monsters that I found really cool. However, I felt that the characterization of both Heven and Sam was a little weak. Dialogue was a tad too cliche and choppy for my tastes. You know...the " You can't LEAVE *moody pout* I LURVE you!" No! *gasp* You've never loved me! Why would you have lied about what you are??? *runs away*"....I kind of ended up rolling my eyes and being like...Seriously??...way too much to rate the book higher. I also frequently found myself feeling like I was in a cheesy soap opera with clipped and insincere dialogue that left a lot to be desired. I would say that you should definitely give this book a chance, but don't dump the top books in your TBR pile just to get to it. It's one of those books that you are justified in waiting until it's on sale or you can get it from a friend or the library.