Everyone is born with a gift, some people have a gift of dance, music or color; but some people are born with the gift of nightmares, time-shifting, godliness, or heart, the ability to make everyone around you feel any emotion.  These gifts are highly coveted by those who would like more power and child trafficking has grown.  Ever-Jezabel, Fox, Demmi and Sinna were all stolen at birth and have been locked in an abandoned mall bookstore waiting for their gifts to achieve full potential.  Ever is supposed to have the gift of heart, but being blind all she believes that she can do now is see out of the eyes of others.  When the four teens try to escape into the strange streets of New York City, Ever's gift of heart may be a the key to their way out or her demise.  

This book had a really unique premise.  I liked all of the different gifts and how the presence of these gifts brought out the worst in people.  Ever's situation is very intriguing, the only life that she has known has been locked in a mall with four other kids her age, all with potentially dangerous gifts.  The teens have paired off and Fox has formed an almost unhealthy obsession for Ever. Ever is also dependent on the others for sight.  Ever and Fox's relationship added another layer of danger.  When the group does make their escape, it is into an almost an impossible version of New York, which they must now try to find their way out of.  It had a feeling of Alice in Wonderland and was ruled by a Queen with the power of heart and had buildings that shifted around every night.  Through Ever's point of view, I was able to figure out part of the twist pretty early on; however the ending still held a lot of suspense and a chance for the characters to surprise me.  I really wanted to know more about this world and the gifts, there wasn't much explanation of how the gifts came to be or how those with the potentially dangerous gifts are controlled.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

All of her life, Nyx has been trained by her father to defeat the Gentle Lord. The Gentle Lord rules the demons that separated the land of Arcadia from the rest of the world and that torment the people of the land.  Years ago, Nyx' father bargained with the Gentle Lord. Now, seventeen years later Nyx must pay the price for her father by marrying the Gentle Lord.  Her father has trained her in the Hermetic arts in order to bring down the Gentle Lord and free the people of Arcadia.  When Nyx finally meets the Gentle Lord, Ignifex and his shadow, Shade, she learns that there is much more to the Legend than she ever thought, and that there is much more to her and her destiny.

An awesome fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a dark side and a bit of mythology thrown in.  I was really interested in the Kindly Ones and the bargaining process. Nyx was an intriguing character, by feeling unwanted by her own family, she is perfect to be taken in by the Gentle Lord and Shade.  The touches of evil and the necessary evil themes made the story unique. The love triangle was expected, but turned out to be very different. I was really interested in this world and the way it works, this is explained gradually throughout the book and brought up more questions as others were answered; but, being the first book set in this universe, hopefully more questions will be answered there.  

The Pacific Island of Eriana Kwai has been in a war with the demons of the ocean, mermaids,  who have been known to eat human flesh.  Isolated and unable to even fish, the inhabitants of Eriana Kwai continuously run low on resources and send their young men on a massacre against the mermaids every year.  When the massacres start to fail, a new strategy is developed to train and send the young women of Eriana Kwai, since they can not be hypnotized under the mermaids spell.  Meela is one of the twenty girls chosen to train for the massacre.  As a child Meela thought she had befriended a mermaid, only to find out she had been tricked.  Her brother was also killed on a previous massacre. Now, Meela must decide if she wants to  fight for the freedom of her island at the sake of killing an entire species. 


An awesome mermaid story, with strong female warriors that were both human and mermaid.  I loved that the mermaids were fierce, creatures that were capable of destroying humans with their super strength and speed.  The set up of the relationship between Meela and mermaid Lysi was really interesting, not really knowing what the drive behind it is.  The added dramatics of twenty young women on a ship together was almost as intense as all of the battle scenes themselves, creating internal as well as external struggles.  I can't wait to learn more about what the mermaid king wants as well as where Meela and Lysi's relationship is going...very intriguing. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.