Hello, there! Merry Christmas to all of you that, like me, celebrate this beautiful date š ā¤ If you don’t,Ā enjoy this beautiful Friday!Ā I hope everyone is having a great time and a wonderful Holiday!
I’m sorry I’m only sayingĀ this now, but I’m at my relatives’ place and computer/blogging time is seriously compromised, oops! Haha!
I can’t complain about my Christmas Eve or party, it was awesome! The food, my Family reunited after so many months apart… I loved it! Even the secret friend thing that I was totally not okay with turned up to be tons of fun. I guess it wouldn’t hurt do it next year as well! š
I won lots of Christmas presents, but mainly clothes, not books. I was dressing like a homeless girl on my last dissertation months, so my mom gave me many new clothes to start 2016 looking good, haha! It was nice, but clothes are not books. Which brings us to my “official” Christmas present: a gift card for a local bookstore and season 7 of Supernatural, Limited Edition package!!! *—*
(cof and the older one that kindly lend me his computer for this post cof)
Also, I’d like to make a small reflection here. Several people that I know in the off-line world condemn Christmas as a solemly capitalistic Holiday nowadays, but I disagree. I with the market does what it takes to sell their stuff; if you fall for them, it’s up to you. For me, Christmas is all about being with my family, with people that I love and that love me back. It’s all about sharing and giving. If you receive back, much the better. We gathered around our dinning table yesterday and no one was busy in their celphones (myself included), no one was worried with the outside world or in a hurry to leave. It was all about us being together in such a beautiful day. And I’d like to thank my parents for raising me like this, for having taught me how delicious it is to be with family as much as you can.
As I’m Brazilian, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. So, at Christmas time, I thank for all the good things I have in my life: my family, my friends (both off and online), my personal achivements through life, for my dissertation’s success and, of course, this blog and its beautiful readers! Thank you all!
That’s it, haha! Sorry if I sounded a bit cheesy, but come on, it’s Christmas! Who cares about that as long as it was sincere, right? ā¤ Hope your day is being as lovely as mine!
Hi, yet again! Itās with the purest heartache that I announce that this will be the last post in my Cemetery Tours marathon š¦ After Death is the third and last published book in the series by oh-so-talented Jacqueline E. Smith, so it closes the review frenzy of this week and I shall never recover of this awesome books. Thanks again, Jacqueline, for providing me with the whole series in exchange of an honest review for each book ā¤
Michael and Kate are finally really dating after so many delays and are trapped with way simpler problems than before: are they ready for the next step? Is Kate over Trevor? Should Michael propose now or wait for a job to appear?
All those doubts are put on hold when Michael receives a weird invitation for the inauguration of Cirque Somniatis, in Hugo, Oklahoma. Kate jumps into the opportunity on the spot and convinces Michael that he should invite Luke Rainer as second escort for the event. Michael doesnāt really like the idea, as Luke seems to always causes him weeks of trouble and headache each time the three of them hooked up, put agrees nevertheless.
As always goes with people that handles with spirits, soon enough they realize that Cirque Somniatis is way darker than it should.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader š
Iām sorry if I sound repetitive when I talk about any book of this series, but THEY ARE FREAKING AWESOME! After Death was even better than Between Worlds and made me crave for more like a possessed girl when I finished it and there wasnāt more. Five stars because Goodreads doesnāt allow me to give more.
me after finishing After Death
The good news is that Jacqueline assured me that Cemetery Tours is not ending any time soon! YAY, THANK YOU MY LORD!
me after talking to Jacqueline
Ok, Iām under control now. Maybe. But letās (try to) get professional.
The narrative style is once again kept and it worked just fine for me for the whole series: third person with alternating point of views. The news is that we get to hear more of the story through Lukeās eyes, and it was awesome š Now I officially love Luke, even with his very weird romantic notions.
The plot was breathtaking. Really, Smith evolved a lot through her books and I had no idea who were the real villains until the very end. Everybody ā even Luke himself in some parts ā seems to be hiding something awful. How many ghosts are there in the circus? Is the Ringmaster really a human being? Can Chance be more obnoxious? ARE THEY GOING TO FREAKING SURVIVE?!
Seriously, Jacqueline broke me with this book. I read it in one day, crazily and non-stop as much as I could.
Once again, the aspect that more appraised me were the characters. Besides our bffs Michael, Kate, Luke and Brink, we are introduced to new people and spirits. They all grew up a lot, specially Michael (again), the Luke himself points out on his parts of the book. Their friendship gets stronger and itās just beautiful. I like Claire too, a new ghost in town, but she is kind of scaring and crazy, in the worse way possible: the innocent looking way, haha! Blink also has a big part in this book and it was heartwarming to see what Michael did for him in the end. I cried hard, tears of joy ā¤ But, putting all the magic aside for a moment, I have to share a theory with you guys or I may die.
Thereās this guy that shows up as well, called Chance. He also owns a TV show based in ghost hunting and all, called Ghost Crusaders or some other non-sense like that. The thing is that Chance is a very jerk individual, but he is especially mean with Luke and we can clearly see that it goes beyond TV rating rivalry. In the end, his reasons are revealed, but I kinda didnāt believe him. I mean, NO ONE is so cruel for such a stupid reason without being a psychopath (which Chance wasnāt, he had too many passion in his hate for Luke). Which brings me to my theory: is Chance hiding some sort of insane and sick passion for Luke? It would make all the sense in the world for me and I was so sure that I was right that I even gasped when I read what it was all about. Seriously. Love and hate are apart thanks to a very thin and transparent line. I donāt know if Chanceās dedication to Lukeās fall is fed by only hate. I donāt think he has this notion, but I believe with all my heart THAT I AM STILL RIGHT AND THAT CHANCE IS JUST MAKING EXCUSES FOR HIMSELF.
don’t worry, Chance. I’ll keep your secret from Luke š
Ahem, back to the book.
Bonus point: the circus aspect was a huge one. Smith manages to immerse her reader on that feeling of darkness, magic, joy, mystery and decadency all the same time. Iām fascinated about circus in horror/ghost/suspense books and for its history in general, so I felt butterflies in my stomach all the time while āI wasā on the circus with Michael, Kate and Luke.
Overall, this was one of the best full series that I read this year. Iām just not going to say that it was the absolute best because Iāve read all Percy Jacksonās books earlier this year for the first time and I also liked them very much, haha! But seriously, itās the best ghost series ever. CEMETERY TOURS BEATED THE MEDIATOR SERIES IN MY HEART =O
Thatās it! Thanks for reading and for bearing with me and my Cemetery Tours marathon ā¤ And, of course, thanks once again to Jacqueline, this awesome author that manage to find her own place in my heart š
Good night! I know, the blog is on fire, haha! And it is about to burn all the way up because the reviewed book of the evening is HOT HOT HOT!
Ahem, do you remember when I did this mega post talking about the release of Convincing the Secretary, third book in the London Legal series, from Ava March? So, Ava sent me a copy two days ago as an early Christmas gift and allowed me to open and read it on the spot! š ā¤ Thanks so so so much, again!
I finished the book on the same day, but Ava plays so hard with my emotions that I needed to breathe before posting this review, haha!
Ok, Iām in control again. Without any more giber jabber, letās do this and THANKS AGAIN, I LOVE YOU, AVA! ā¤
The Story
Edward Fenton has always fantasized about a lasting relationship with someone that he truly loved and that felt the same way towards him. At first, his boss Arthur Barrington sounded like the perfect choice for his dream to come true. Except that the man is already way taken by his lover, Leopold Thornton. One canāt win them all.
With the arrival of a new solicitor in Barringtonās office, Edward is relocated as his secretary. Lord Grayson is the perfect definition of tall, black and handsome and sends Edwardās imagination to depths that he never knew himself capable of. But can a relationship with such a powerful man work out the way Edward dreams of?
Gray, in the other hand, knows he found the perfect match in the moment he understands Edwardās interests on him, but how to convince the young man that he is Mr. Perfect?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader š
Ava always catches my heart unguarded. I was completely okay with life, minding my own business, when I opened my e-mail and saw her gift. As the book isnāt going to be published until March of 2016, I was trying to lead a mental healthy life without being too much of a goner and counting the minutes for the pre-ordering to start on Amazon. But the heart attack was so worthy! This book was awesome! It is a short book (my copy had 100 pages), but the romance is so intense that you are breathless for the whole time! (Or maybe I was, because it was a gift from my favorite author and a book that I already knew about for quite a while.)
Iāll try to be professional now, but I wonāt promise that Iāll be impartial, because thatās impossible when working with perfect books. #justsaying
I really love Marchās narrative style. Third person, alternating points of views between the couple present in the book ā¤ Both Edward and Gray had their own minds and you could see who was doing the thinking very clearly. Once again, March showed how important is communication in a relationship, as words unspoken do the damage in both menās feelings.
The plot was simple, but not obvious, not for me. I mean, okay, boy meets boy in the 19th century, boy is not sure if other boy likes boys as well, both give the relationship a try and things go wrong. To explain why I wasnāt very sure of the outcome of this particular work of March, Iāll have to talk about the characters, so hold that thought. Back to the plot, we get to see Arthur and Leopold again, which was awesomely cool (I always like to see my boys again; those two are the heroes of the first books in the series, Convincing Arthur and Convincing Leopold, respectively). There were no loose ends; it would have been nice to know a little more about Edwardās and Grayās past, but no information was lacking inside of the proposition of the book.
The characters are the best part. You see, in a regular March novel, youād have two individuals that really need to find true love, that feel incomplete and donāt know what they need until they meet their soul mates, for say. On this book, it was different. Both Edward and Gray are pinning for a happily ever after, but not necessarily with each other. Gray realizes faster that he needs Edward, that Edward is the one, but Edward was more down on the earth. He felt the need of having Gray around, but could (cof and did cof) survive a break up with him without dying the emotional death of break-ups, you know? Honestly, Edward impressed me. He made a cameo appearance previously in the series and I never paid much attention to him, he was soā¦ Bleak? Haha! But being inside of his head, it all made sense and oh boy, he grows up SO MUCH! He is officially one of my favorite males from March now ā¤
I always like her males, for God’s sake…
And, dealing with a book written by March, I canāt treat sex scenes as a bonus point, because they are always there and she never EVER disappoint her readers. Did I mention that NEVER happens? Okay, haha! Since the beggining, the bed roles between Edward and Gray are pretty clear and I was waiting for them to have a kind of Oliver and Vincent relationship behind closed doors. Once again, I was wrong! =O I mean, none of them gets to really submit and I thought that AWESOME. Neither was the āfragileā part, always so equal even inside of the bedchamber. AVA, YOU ROCKED HARD!
Bonus point: oh, this cover. Do I need to say more?
also from my Instagram! š
Overall, I knew I would love this book since Ava told me she was beginning to write it and I did, a lot. Ava, Thanks again for sending me this, it was the best Christmas present EVER! š
Thatās it! Thanks for reading and humoring me as I once again talked about Ava Marchās work š I bet you all canāt wait until next year, when Iāll do a big re-reading and reviewing of ALL OF HER BOOKS, MWAHAHA MWAHAHA.
Ps: donāt worry, there will be Harry Potter and The Vampire Diaries reviews too, haha!
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 