Review- The Iron Daughter

Title: The Iron Daughter
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Iron Fey #2
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere.  Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner t the Winter faery queen.  As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey--ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen.  But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off.  She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help.  Trusting anyone would be foolish.  Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly.  But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

My thoughts: 

I have never been particularly drawn to the fey or stories about fairies.  My first thought when I first started reading The Iron King was that the fey were actually the size of Tinkerbell  but they just grew themselves the size of humans like Julia Roberts does in Hook.  Then when they take a human, like Meghan, back to the faery land, they are again the size of Tinkerbell but they just don't realize it.  Another automatic thought it how can a fairy the size of Tinkerbell really do that much damage when you can just squash them like an insect.

But I don't have any of those thoughts now that I'm knee deep in Julia Kagawa's Iron Fey land.  I love this series and to date, it's the only fey series that I have continued with. The Wings series by Aprilynne Pike? A little bit boring and couldn't hold my attention.  Need by Carrie Jones? Other than the phobias I honestly don't remember the story line.  Tithe by Holly Black? Way too dark and demonic for me. Maybe it's because none of those series have Ash! I love Ash. Totally team Ash. 100%.

There was so much going on in The Iron Daughter that kept me flipping the pages.  There were points where I was convinced that Ash hated Meghan and I didn't know what to think! I was also getting so upset because none of the other fey would believe them that the Iron Fey truly existed. Then there's the amazing electric chemistry between Meghan and Ash that made me all tingly! The Iron Daughter just made me run a roller coaster of emotions.  I love the whole "star-crossed lover, we're not supposed to be together but we are going to be anyway" thing.  It's my favorite thing in books!

One of my absolute favorite characters (besides Ash, duh!) is Grimalkin.  We really haven't seen his true nature yet but he always surprises me.  Even though he always alludes to him being mean and not really wanting to help out, he always shows up in the nick of time and has been loyal throughout the series so far.

I love this series and I need to hurry up and get to The Iron Queen so I can read The Iron Knight!!!!

Review- Past Midnight

Title: Past Midnight
Author: Mara Purnhagen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: R.A.K. (Random Acts of Kindness)

Let me set the record straight.  My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV...no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show.  And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed.  Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston-and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings.  Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends-and potential boyfriends-is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear.

All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive...

My thoughts:

I really like books that have to do with ghosts and hauntings.  Sometimes they're fun, light and good-natured and others are super scary and gruesome.  I would classify Past Midnight as the former because the main character is really comical about her paranormal-obsessed family and their ghost-hunting reality show.

Since I also really enjoy a good mystery, this book was right up my alley! Ghost hunters trying to figure out the mystery of why some ghosts have decided to haunt their daughter.  It was so fun to read because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next and if they had discovered more information when they were digging into the past.

Charlotte, the main character who is being haunted by ghosts, is very embarrassed about what her parents do and had been teased about it at other schools that she attended.  She prefers to keep that part of her life a secret until Halloween rolls around.  But she soon finds out that her friends are more upset with her for not telling them the whole truth than the fact that her family is a little different.

My favorite character in the book is the nerdy yet hot guy that is her partner in her AV class.  I'm a really sucker for nerdy guys.  He's a real gentleman who knows who she is, about her family and knew that she would tell him when she was ready.  And his mom being a big fan of the Silver family is really funny!

The story was set up very nicely and there was just enough character development for it to be a series! I'm super excited about the next one, which I already have waiting for me.  It's a really fun ghost story that has made me very interested to see how it continues.

Review- The Iron King

Title: The Iron King

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Rating: 4/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Blurb:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny-one she could never have imagined...

Something has always felt off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quiet fit in at school...or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth-that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face....and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

My thoughts:

This is the first faery book that I've read and when I start reading a genre that I'm unfamiliar with that deals with fantastical themes such as supernatural creatures, I have a hard time sleeping at night and I even have weird dreams about them. But once I get into the book, my weird dreams soon fade and I really get into the story.

I'm glad I chose the Iron Fey series at my first dive into the land of faery creatures because this book was so good! I'm a little bit sad that I waited so long to get started on this series. After Meghan saw Ash for the second time, I was absolutely hooked! I had to keep reading to find out what happened to him in the past and if anything was going to happen between Meghan and Ash. And boy did Julie Kagawa do an amazing job of writing the character Ash because I imagined him to be so dark, handsome and tortured. Which was probably what she was going for.

The concept of the Iron King reminded me a lot of the really old Peter Pan movie. Kagawa wrote the existence of faeries to come from the imaginations of people and that they exist as long as people continue to believe. It reminded me of Peter Pan because there is a scene where Tinkerbell is dying and Peter Pan says that she will only live if the audience shows that they believe in her by clapping their hands. I used to clap my hands so hard just so that Tinkerbell would live. I also thought her creation of the Iron Fey was very unique and the fact that they only exist because of modern advances in technology.

I really liked this book and I'm glad that I finally picked it up. Everyone says it's a great series and I'm looking forward to reading the rest.