April 06, 2015

Book Review

What did I think of...

Relentless (#1) by Karen Lynch

Refuge (#2) by Karen Lynch

 
 
 
I first read Relentless by Karen Lynch last summer and immediately fell in love.
    
Description: Sara Grey’s world shattered ten years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now at seventeen, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara’s own very powerful gift.
In her quest for answers about her father’s death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara’s world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it’s the last thing she wants.
Sara’s life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her.
 
Sara was a strong, tough and realistic girl with a bleeding heart. I enjoyed the fact she did what she had to do, what inherently modest and wasn't whining... like almost never. She was blunt, and didn't care about normal high school stuff. She is my favorite kind of female protagonist, the strong kind.
Nikolas was everything I love in my book lovers and male protag's. He was extremely possessive, mysterious, focused and one of the best warriors of all the Mohiri. He was worldly, both patient and impatient, and felt deep as far as Sara was concerned. Their "love", or flirtation with each other was fun to read and "experience", which helped the story out, like a ton.
Sara's best friends, Roland and Peter (the werewolves) were the best guy friends a girl can have. They had the perfect relationship and really cared for Sara, and were the best that they could be for Sara, and I loved every part that they were included in Sara's story.
Remy, the troll, broke my heart. I loved him so much and his love for Sara was so cute... I need a Troll friend!! A Yoda and male-best-friend cocktail!
 
I just finished Refuge by Karen Lynch last night, at like eleven thirty. The ending made me tear up in ways I'm not exactly proud of and it ended in a huge cliffhanger that was everything I needed out of it.
 
Description: To keep the people she loved safe, Sara left everything she knew behind. She soon learns this new world is nothing like her old one, and she struggles to make a place for herself among the Mohiri. But it soon becomes apparent to Sara and to everyone one around her that she is not your typical warrior.
As the weeks pass, Sara builds new relationships, copes with her new trainers, and tries to manage her ever-changing powers, while keeping her unique heritage a secret. Looming in the background is the constant shadow of the Master who will do anything to find her.
Sara finds herself on a journey of self-discovery that uncovers her true strengths and awakens a part of her she never knew existed. She experiences the delight of new friendships, the sweetness and pain of first love, and a loss so deep it could be the thing that finally breaks her. At the end of it all, she discovers that the one place she was supposed to be safe might not be the refuge she thought it was.

In this book, Sara was everything she was in the first book (and better) but much more mature. Her and Nikolas really hit it off, and we found out a huge secret he had been keeping from her. However, Nikolas has awhile to go until the two of them can make it official, but I enjoyed the scenes between them. The cuteness, the feelings and the between-the-lines was almost too much for me to handle on the hot-o-meter. Roland and Peter were present in this book, and got even more protective than before, which was super cute! Nate, Sara's guardian/uncle, had a huge "surprise" for everyone in the Mohiri community, unveiling another of Sara's powers, making more sense for what Sara is being hunted for. However, a betrayal inside the walls shakes the foundations a bit until Sara goes nuts ;). Not to mention, Sara's new (and first) female friend, Jordan, was super fun to read with and I was thrilled that Sara was getting some female influences in her life.

The second book was far and wide the best of the two... but I really need my hands on Rogue, this instant! I can tell you I will be stalking NetGalley for the next couple of months.

As far as the writing goes... it was pretty one par with some of my favorite authors. Lynch's writing was so fluid, that it seemed natural (as it should) and I felt everything that was happening in the story on an emotional level. Even those it was a YA, it actually read more like an NA, which made it infinitely more enjoyable. Lynch did such a fantastic job writing these two that I'm actually super shocked.



To buy the books, go here for Relentless, which is free on Amazon, and here for Refuge, which is $3.99.

I hope you give these books a chance, because they really were fabulous.

XOXO,
Kat

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