Fallen Flame (Fallen Flame 1) by J.M. Miller

Nineteen years ago, on the island kingdom of Garlin, a girl was born. With charred skin as rough as rock, Vala was instantly feared. For how could one be scorched by magic when it had perished ages before?
Recognizing an asset, the royal family welcomed her on their Guard. Her detail: the prince.
To watch. To protect. She has grown with him, lives her life for him. 
When the high kingdom’s princess comes to assess the prince, assassins of rival courtiers come to claim his life. One nearly succeeds in his mission. But with shadowy movements and charred skin like her own, Vala knows he is not like the rest.
As threats to the prince continue and questions about Vala’s life begin to rise, she faces a fear worse than fire or water, worse even than losing him. 

She fears finding out who she truly is.

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My Review:     (Thanks to NetGalley) 

A very slow, very basic story, almost came across as childish. The first half of the book was a constant repeat of the same things and the same details without actually telling us anything. I didn't really know anything about the world, it's rules, etc even by the end. I'm really surprised this didn't end up on the DNF pile, it was so boring and repetitive I found myself constantly losing interest. In hindsight I wish I had of quit. 

The characters were not fleshed out, the Prince was a prick, and the rest of the characters weren't much better. The end was rushed, and even though Vala's true nature was revealed, because we had no in-depth background info on the world or it's magic, it was meaningless. I hate authors who create worlds that are that 2-dimensional.

Probably my biggest gripe was personal. I'm a big fan of mythology so to have this book present a 3 goddess rule made up of two different cultures drive me nuts! Herja the guardian of the fae, is a Valkyrie from Norse mythology, Verdandi the guardian of witches, is the Norn of present, one of the fates who guards the world tree, also from Norse mythology; however Alesrah, the guardian of humans is a phoenix?! Why couldn't the author find another Norse inspiration? Also I think they are majorly stretching themselves going for a fae/witch/human balance. I just feel like they haven't got the skill to incorporate that many elements successfully.

Bring the Heat (Dragon Kin 9) by G.A. Aiken

HE SAYS . . .
I, Aidan the Divine, am . . . well, divine. My name was given to me by the Dragon Queen herself! I’m a delight! Cheerful. Charming. And a mighty warrior who is extremely handsome, with a very large and well-hidden hoard of gold. I am also royal-born, despite the fact that most in my family are horrendous beings who don’t deserve to live. And yet, Branwen the Awful—a low-born, no less—either tells me to shut up or, worse, ignores me completely.

SHE SAYS . . .

I’ll admit, I ignore Aidan the Divine because it annoys him. A lot. But we have so much to do right now, I can’t worry about why he keeps staring at me, or why he always sits so close, or why he keeps looking at me like he’s thinking about kissing me. We have our nations to save and no time for such bloody foolishness . . . no matter how good Aidan looks or how long his spiked tail is. Because if we’re going to win this war before it destroys everything we love, we’ll have to face our enemies together, side by side and without distractions. But if we make it out alive, who knows what the future will hold . . .

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My Review:     (Thanks to NetGalley) 

I started this book wondering how I could read this without remembering all the other relationships, but found that this wasn't a problem because relevant relationships were reminded/explained and the rest weren't relevant to the story (only wanted to know thanks to my nitpicking). 

This was a great book, one that finished up the arc of the Zealots and their eyeless god Chramnesind. While on one hand this was good (and welcome), it meant that the main characters Aidan and Branwen quite often took a backseat to the action happening with previous main characters. As such the romance element was really lacking, smothered by cameo's and a side event featuring Annwyl (who BTW I LOVE).

We end the book with an introduction to the new 'bad guy' which really didn't impress me. Why? Because it was so damn obvious! They've been a background threat for books now and I can't believe no one has killed them when they had the chance. 

So while I can't say I'm looking forward to the new villain, I would love the chance for another book or two featuring the old characters such as Annwyl and Dagmar. These guys don't deserve to fade away as secondary characters to minor primary characters, i.e the queen's, daughter's, sister's, brother-in-law's, dog (you know what I mean, lol, stop stretching!). 

The Druid Next Door (Fae out of Water 2) by E.J. Russell

Professor Bryce MacLeod has devoted his entire life to environmentalism. But how effective can he be in saving the planet when he can’t even get his surly neighbor to separate his recycling?

Former Queen’s Enforcer Mal Kendrick doesn’t think his life could get any worse: he’s been exiled from Faerie with a cursed and useless right hand. When he’s not dodging random fae assassins in the Outer World, he’s going toe-to-toe with his tree-hugging neighbor. And when he discovers that the tree-hugger is really a druid, he’s certain the gods have it in for him—after all, there’s always a catch with druids. Then he’s magically shackled to the man and expected to instruct him in Supernatural 101.

All right, now things couldn’t possibly get worse.

Until a mysterious stranger offers a drunken Mal the chance to gain back all he’s lost—for a price. After Mal accepts, he discovers the real catch: an ancient secret that will change his and Bryce’s life forever.

Ah, what the hells. Odds are they won’t survive the week anyway.

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My Review:     (Thanks to NetGalley) 

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, however I felt like this one was a bit of a miss in the romance department. Not much trust between MC's and if there was better communication, i.e. if Mal had of told Bryce the wording of the curse, then he may have done what I did, and figured it out almost straight away. 

As for the general plot, it was so obvious it was cringe-worthy. None of the secondary characters were likable and I felt like they should just be left to suffer due to their stupidity, I'm looking at you Fae Queen. >_<

I haven't really like any of E.J. Russell's other books except for book one (Cutie and The Beast) and I'm afraid that the next book in the series, Bad Boy's Bard will go further downhill to the point where I don't even bother requesting her books anymore. Fingers crossed.

Brave & Beautiful (Sassy Boyz 3) by Elizabeth Varlet

There’s only one relationship that matters to Tameron "Tam" Kis—his love affair with dance. Life’s been pretty shitty, but dance got him through it and now he’s ready to focus on what he loves. He doesn’t have the bandwidth for any distractions—especially not his sexy, not-quite-straight new neighbor.

Driver Ellis doesn’t need anything but his bike and the open road. He wouldn’t trade his drifter lifestyle for anything…until his friend calls in a favor and Driver suddenly finds himself pet-sitting. Driver isn’t thrilled being stuck in one place, though things start to look up when he sets eyes on the gorgeous girl next door. 

There’s just one problem… She isn’t a girl at all.

All it takes is one spontaneous dance to turn both Driver's and Tam’s worlds upside down. They might not have been looking for love, but as things heat up between them, it’s clear life has very different plans.

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My Review:     (Thanks to NetGalley) 

Lots of self-hating in this book. Probably too much. Yes the relationship between Tam and Driver was sweet, but it took way too long for the story to reach that point. I don't want a book where 99% of it is miscommunication and self-loathing and then 1% of it demonstrates a solid relationship.

As to the overall story line, the Sassy Boyz, this book didn't really add much. All-in-all I felt like this was really a miss with both the personal plot line and the overall series plot. I didn't find myself emotional attached to either main character, in fact as the book went on I found myself becoming frustrated with them.

I'll continue to read the series if I can get future books from netgalley but I can't say I'm invested enough to purchase them.