Book Review: The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen

Title: The Fallen Star
Series: Fallen Star Book 1
Author: Jessica Sorensen
Publisher: CreateSpace (self)
Date of Publication: April 11, 2011
Source: bought, ebook, paperback 449 pages
Get Your Own Here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Goodreads Description:For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she's around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life. But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma's life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn't be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.

My Thoughts:

Everyone knows how I love to judge a book by its cover~and yes I know how wrong that is~so I have to give praise for the beautifully illustrated cover.  When I do my reviews, I try to pick up on one of the most important colors, whether it be vital to the storyline or just a color that stands out on the cover art, and I use a color closest to this as my headers.  
I tried to do this for The Fallen Star too.  It really is such a beautiful color too.  So of course that is the first thing that stands out for me; plus the fact that the color is pretty important as well in the story.  
I was torn with this story.  I loved Sorensen's writing style, the beautiful prose she seems to put down that has me trying to capture the essence of what she is saying in my mind, along with the plot line that is an unique idea unto itself.  She pulls creatures that we hear stories about all the time: vampires, angels, demons; and then creates other characters that seem to come out of nowhere.  Like Gemma.  Gemma is an enigma.  A girl that isn't supposed to feel anything, begins to have the prickling sensations that alert her to new emotions coming to her.  We find ourselves being drawn into Gemma's world; her loneliness that eats her up.  
And this is probably why Alex, the new boy that comes into her life, isn't on my favorites list.  I don't know I just cannot like him.  Yes he is gorgeous, but this seems to be the standard for all YA paranormal books.  I am not complaining; just stating a fact here.  He is brooding and mysterious too.  But he is just so damn rude.  And it isn't that he is a smart-ass either, that I could handle.  He is just....rude.  
For example, if he doesn't want to hear what Gemma has to say anymore, he covers her mouth with his hand.  Sorry dude, but if you did that to me, you would probably be coming back with a nub.  
The other characters aren't really that memorable for me either.  Well except one.  Laylen is pretty cool.  And there is an elf dude that I think has potential.  But sorry Alex is just not the one I can root for in any of this.  
Besides my total dislike for our main male lead, I also notice the story does seem to lag in some areas.  It wasn't totally boring but I did find myself wanting to skip ahead at certain places.  Especially when it seemed certain visions needed repeating.  
Other than all of that though, I did enjoy The Fallen Star.    Like I said before, Sorensen's writing style is lyrical.  It floats by and is easy to fall into getting lost in the translation of this different world from everyday life here.  
It is always fun to read about the underground world that lives right among us, with magic all around us.  This is what keeps me interested in reading book 2 and so on.  The magic that is captured on paper, that consists of Gemma's fate.  
It definitely isn't Alex or his influence on her.  
I gave it 3 stars because I liked The Fallen Star.

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Book Review: Ordained {The Immortal Archives # 1}

Title: Ordained
Series: The Immortal Archives
Author: Devon Ashley
Publisher: Self
Date of Publication: March 25, 2011
Format: ebook, paperback
Source: bought

Normally, the school creates the hunters - not the monsters.
Abby Sorrensten likes to play rough. Ripping the horns off the foreheads of demons, manipulating lightning and setting things on fire with the flick of your wrist can give you a serious rush. So she probably wasn’t the best choice for the Order’s experimental training program. Thirteen years of isolation, lack of affection and a bruised and broken body from horrendous training sessions creates more than just an exceptional fighter. It creates an evil within - an evil responsible for several deaths the night she left.
Two hundred years later Abby resurfaces as the very thing the Order trained her to kill: a vampire. A mythical demon has set his sights on the school and only the ordained hunter has the powers to face it. Unbeknownst to the Order, Abby’s their precious ordained one and their only chance for survival. As much as she would love to leave them hanging, she’s not willing to risk the life of Emily, a fellow friend and hunter also fed up with the organization.

But for Abby, locking herself away in a fortress with angry descendents of those she killed causes suspicions and tensions to run high. Abby must learn the demon’s weaknesses for battle before the Order learns hers.
-goodreads summary

My Thoughts:
 Ordained was one of those books that didn't give me chills all over from excitement but it didn't make me want to stop reading either.  Ever since I seen this book I have been craving to read it.  I was so hyped up for it and I guess I felt like a little let down when I did get my hands on it.  This isn't to say it was terrible book-it wasn't.  I liked this book very much; it just wasn't one of my favorites.  
I liked Abby, our main heroine, a lot.  Abby is powerfully strong, magical, very snarky, and short on temper.  Her husband, Noel, is also a pretty cool character too.  He is smart, calm, and extremely protective.  I think Noel and Abby make the perfect couple: they are like yin and yang to each other.  Noel has this way that he can anchor Abby to her saneness, instead of falling to the darkside.  
I absolutely adored the fact that Noel and Abby are already married.  Most of the time in books, you are seeing the two court each other and fall in love, but with Ordained that has already happened.  We get to see the married couple and the way they are with each other now.  Love it!  Was this a romance?  Not in the traditional sense, but we still got to see the love and devotion between Abby and Noel.  Even though Abby has these good and bad powers swirling around inside her, I felt like she was portrayed as an exceptional caretaker, especially where Emily, our second heroine, was concerned.
Emily, for me, was much more of a mystery.  I knew she was important but at times it seemed like she was just there as bridge between Abby and the Order.  The action was incredible, the fight scenes pretty spectacular, and the villains terrible (especially the ones that were supposed to be good).  
I also like the originality of the idea of a pure vampire compared to the "mutant" vampires.  But the explanations were very confusing and took a little away for me.  I still feel a little lost and hope it gets cleared up better in the second book.  The end is sorta of a cliff hanger which helped make up for the lacking I felt in other areas of the book.  It took a long time to get where we needed to be, but once we were there, the story was incredibly good.
All in all, Ordained is an enjoyable read.  I look forward to continuing the journey in Book 2 and I hope to see Abby, Noel, and Emily grow in their personal lives.
I gave it 3 hearts.  

Get Your Own Copy:  Amazon