13 by Kelley Armstrong - Book Review

This final book in the Women of the Otherworld series is all that fans could have wanted... and more! Action packed, fantastically written and some fab character development make this a 10/10!

13 by Kelley Armstrong - Final book in the Women of the Otherworld Series.
Summary courtesy of Amazon: War is coming to the Otherworld. A sinister cult known as The Supernatural Liberation Movement is hell-bent on exposing the truth about supernaturals to the rest of the world. Their violent, ruthless plan has put everyone at risk: from werewolves to vampires, from witches to half-demons.

This has easily been my most anticipated book release of all time. Over time I have done a number of posts on this series including reviews, reading challenges and even an interview with Kelley Armstrong herself (the highlight of my blogging life :D). This book as the final instalment in the Women of the Otherworld had a lot to live up to. Which it did - and more!

Released on Wednesday, my busy schedule meant I didn't get my hands on my copy (which was waiting for my at the post office) until the Sunday. I sat down with best friend and fellow Armstrong super fan, Sam Crossley, and devoured this book in pretty much one day. 

At 419 pages this is not a short book, but the hard back with a reasonable size font is easy to read. Having read everything published around the series we were also able to skip the first few chapters which were a re-publish of the opening chapter of Bitten, the first book in the series and a preview published in The Hunter and the Hunted. If you haven't read anything by Armstrong before, this wouldn't be a bad place to pick it up.

Each characters from all the previous books makes an appearance and readers are treated to some great character development.This action packed book pulls at the emotions with worry, loss and anger, but more importantly returning to the lust, romance and love amongst the characters that the latter books in the series have lacked.

The narrative moves so fast, but even so at just over the half way point I was baffled at how Armstrong was going to tie up all the loose ends.Yet the ending works fantastically. Not falling into the trap of trying to deliver too many happy endings the extra little short story From Russia with Love, in my opinion, was the perfect finish.

I am so sad that the series is over, but having been promised a new adult series, Omens & Shadows, with the first book Cainsville being released next year, there is so much to look forward too!

10/10

I would love to know your thoughts on this book if you have read it, please let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie x

Kelley Armstrong - Author Interview.

Any one who knows anything about my blog or me personally will know I am a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong. Discovering her adult fantasy series Women of the Otherworld really pushed me towards having to share good books, and thus start blogging, and I would not hesitate to recommend her books to anyone!


So you can imagine my excitement after a cheeky email to Kelley Armstrong via her assistant came back with a fantastic little interview. So without further ado, I present to you an interview with THE Kelley Armstrong about the Women of the Otherworld series, its final book '13' and what comes next....

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It is well known that Bitten was written as a stand alone novel, and then expanded into a series. But I was wondering what was you inspiration for the first book and how did you come to expand it for the rest of the series?

When I wrote Bitten, my goal was to create the kind of werewolves I wanted to read about.  The idea was sparked by seeing an X-Files episode on werewolves.  As much as I liked the show, I didn’t care for their version of werewolves, which were the typical man-killing monsters. I’d always been fascinated by the idea of combining humans and wolves, and that show gave me an excuse to write a story about that kind of werewolf.

When the question of turning Bitten into a series came up, I gave it a lot of thought. As much as I loved the stories and characters, I couldn't imagine writing a long series about just werewolves.  I decided to instead create a linked series with changing narrators/protagonists.  In the second book, Stolen, I introduced other supernatural characters, and spun off to one of them--a witch--for the next novel.

You have mentioned on your website that you and the character of Elena share the same year of birth. Would you say the character is based on yourself? Or is that where the similarity ends?

All my characters have a trait or two in common with me.  That just makes them easier to write.  With Elena, she's my age, from my geographic area, with my education level, etc, which made it easy for me to get into her head as my first narrator.  Paige and I share a common interest in computers (I was a programmer) so I could easily write that part of her life and personality.  Eve and I both have daughters around the same age, so that part of her character came naturally. Even my teen characters share something in common with me. But it’s only a trait or two. Ninety-five percent of their character is very different from me!

Are any of the other characters based on people you know?

None of them are based on anyone I know. I pull bits and pieces from everywhere--friends, family, acquaintances--and mix it together.

What can we expect from the final book in the series, Thirteen?

I’m going to answer that with a quote from the book that one of my publishers used. 

“Anything you thought you knew about our world? Forget it. Someone has tossed out the rulebook. Ghosts can cross the divide. Hell-hounds can manifest. Demi-demons can possess living children. And it’s not going to get any better until it’s over.” 

As you might guess from that, 13 is my Otherworld upheaval book, when everyone comes together to fight the biggest threat they’ve faced.

Is this really the end of the Women of the Otherworld series? I am so sad to see it end!

I do hope to write more stories—and maybe even a future novel or two—but I’m ending the book-a-year schedule and launching a new adult series.

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I think you will agree these are some fantastic answers. I did get very excited when I first saw them in my email inbox. With just over a month until the release of Thirteen (July 24th) I had to share them with you. And with the announcement she is writing a new adult series I am over the moon!

If you want to know more about Kelley Armstrong you can check out her website, Goodreads profile or read the other blog posts I have written about both her, the Women of the Otherworld series, Darkest Powers or Darkness Rising series. 

Thank you for reading,

Love Rie x

Women of the Otherworld Series Challenge #2

Today I am taking part in a series challenge as hosted by Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf. Each month the challenge is to re-read a book in the Women of the Otherworld series and write a related blog post and enter the link on the site. I didn't find out about this until earlier this month, so unfortunately I missed out it taking part in last months re-read of Bitten. But this month is all about the second book in the series Stolen!


I have told the story of how I stumbled upon the Women of the Otherworld series many times now, so I will not repeat it again. But this being the second book in the series was the second book I read of Armstrong's and cemented my love for her writing style. 

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads: "When a young witch tells Elena that a group of humans are kidnapping supernaturals, Elena ignores the warning. After all, everyone knows there’s no such thing as witches. As for the thought of other ‘supernaturals’, well, she’d just rather not dwell on the possibility. Soon, however, she’s confronted with the truth about her world, when she’s kidnapped and thrown into a cell-block with witches, sorcerers, half-demons and other werewolves. As Elena soon discovers, dealing with her fellow captives is the least of her worries. In this prison, the real monsters carry the keys."

I first read Stolen a few years ago now and remember loving being introduced to a stream of new characters. Bitten was fantastic at describing the duplicity of the werewolves lives and I fell easily fell in love with each member of the pack. Stolen moves on from this effortlessly to introduce many different supernatural races. From central characters to the smallest of parts, Armstrong ensures they are well rounded without making the narrative to clunky. Elena in particular is such a strong female lead who is determined to both fight her way out but has the compassion to want to save others. She is not too proud of a little help from lover Clay and the rest of the pack making her a truly fantastic protagonist. 

Yet it wasn't until a read around the series on Kelley Armstrong's website and some of her free online fiction that I realised the place this books holds in the series. The first book in the series, Bitten, was originally written as a stand alone book. When approached to make a series Armstrong felt that writing so many books just around the werewolves would soon get repetitive and boring for readers so decided to use Stolen to introduce new characters for the rest of the series. I have read some reviews saying that this is a downfall of this book, but I couldn't disagree more. Knowing this I couldn't help but enjoy it even more when I re-read this book as I came to appreciate Armstrong's skill and style in writing in constantly new and well rounded characters and building a relationship between each one and the reader. 

Overall I love this book.But when it comes to rating it I have to take the rest of the series into consideration. This is not the best book in the series, and in that sense I don't feel I can rank it full marks. Because of this I rate it:

8/10

Have you read this book? What did you think? Also part of the Series Challenge, please post the link to your post here so I can check it out!

If you haven't read this book already - you must! You can pick it up on Amazon from as little as £4.99 for Kindle. I have also seen these kicking around in second hand books shops and charity shops now as they get a bit older so keep your eyes peeled for a bargain! 

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie x

Short Story Review: Kelley Armstrong Free Fiction!!

Regular readers will know I am a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong's writing. I discovered her adult fantasy series "Women of the Otherworld" in a Waterstones many years ago, when a short read of the back cover made me purchase it for my good friend Sam. Just weeks later he had purchased the rest of the series and we were reading it with a frenzy! The books are all a perfect length and effortless reads with a tantalising adult edge that doesn't over power a superb fantasy narrative.

But as everybody who calls them self a reader will tell you, the worst part about reading a series is having to wait for the next instalment. But Armstrong has given us something else to enjoy between her books for over a decade. On her website, she offers a total of 12 short stories, that act as companions to her adult series, as well as her YA series Darkness Rising & Darkest Powers as well as detective series Nadia Stafford.

I have been meaning for a while to do a review of these fab little bit sized fiction for super fans like myself, and newcomers a like. I will split this in to two posts, and review the first six now, and the next six another time.

Demonology
At 21 pages this short is longer than some of the other offerings on her site. But this is written superbly for newcomers to the series. The things you learn within this addition to the series about Talia and her son Adam, who is having problems with a 'heated' temper could be considered a very small spoiler. However I think the ending to this would make anyone want to read on. I have to say, having read all of them this is still my favourite of the collection, as an addition to the Women of the Otherworld series.

Kat
This short is from Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising series. Originally published in a short series collection (Eternal Kiss) it follows another patient from the Edison group. I read this a number of weeks ago now, and it hasn't made a lasting impression, but having said that I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about reading the series as an introduction of Armstrong's YA writting style.

Recruit
This is another short from the Women of the Otherworld series, which is set just before Frost Bitten. If you haven't yet read Broken I would save this short for after as it contains a pretty massive spoiler. On written for the fans of the series and a real bite sized treat at only 5 pages!

Framed
This is the longest of the shorts on the website, but also one of the best. Another great one for newcomers to the series, this novella is described as:

"Nick wakes up next to a stranger. Nothing new for Nick…except that this woman’s dead. He’s sure he’s being framed. With the rest of the Pack busy, he’s determined to handle this on his own."

Anyone who is familiar with the character of Nick will really enjoy this, one of my favourite werewolves who is not a Danver.

Case of the Half Demon Spy
This short surrounds Paige and Adam as children, trying to listen into a council meeting. Another one for the fans I think, as it really adds to the series and changed my opinion of some characters for the better.


Truth & Consequences
This was where Armstrong first created the character of Elena. In terms of chronology it is set before Bitten, the first book in the Women of the Otherworld series, and a real gem. Must read of the collection for fans and new comers to the series alike.

I hope anyone looking to read these shorts will find this intresting. I will repeat these are all free on Kelley Armstrongs website to download as PDF's so what are you waiting for?

Fancy checking out the books in the series, here are some of my favs :)

Have you read any of these shorts, let me know what is your favourite in the comments! Know a book or series I might like, please let me know as well, I am always on the hunt for new reads :)

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie x

Hidden by Kelley Armstrong Review

I will repeat the sentiment which is given on Kelley Armstrong's website with every book description, that it is difficult if not impossible to talk about a book series without giving plot lines away for the previous books.

I like each book to be a surprise when I read it, and aim never to give anything away in my reviews which would change how people approach a book. So because of this I will keep this short and sweet.

Released on 31st December 2011 this book instantly became my favourite book of 2011. Read in just three hours this novella is perfectly formed and easy to read. Focussing on Clay and Elena's Christmas break it is a perfect edition to the Women of the Otherworld series.

No quibbles - 5/5

You can get your hands on this as a limited edition signed leather bound copy (1000 printed) or a cloth bound hard cover (5000 printed) yet these are currently being sold upwards of £70 second hand! Or you could simply download on your Kindle which is currently only £3.96 on Amazon!

Thank for reading,

Love Rie x

Why I Will Always Love Books.

With all things literary moving digital it seems the future will move away from books. But I can't help but love the printed page and the little messages left behind by previous readers. It seems to tell a history that will never be gained by a eBook.

Library books in particular are some of my favourite reads with post-stick notes, pencil scribbles and full on highlighting of pages really enhancing my reading experience.

Here is a book I got out of my university library this week that I really loved.

Black book on bottom right - Mythologies by Roland Barthes (2000)

Little pencil notes of a library book reference, a meeting & a website URL.

Post stick notes found inside the front cover including a shopping list!

There are some book that I will always purchase where I can namely the Charlaine Harris 'True Blood' series and Kelley Armstrong's 'Women of the Otherworld' series - and undoubtedly new. I still hold dear to my heart the printed book.

And I will always be a library dweller reading the notes left by others before anything else.

Despite the above I will not miss carting heavy text books, or running out of reading material whilst on holiday. I may be slow in embracing the digital trend, and will never fully abandon my books I still look forward to the future of reading!

Rie xx

Spellbound by Kelley Armstrong - Book Review

I was really looking forward to the release of this book, as regular readers will know. To say I was disappointed would be a lie, I love Kelley Armstrong’s writing style, but I wanted more.

This book follows seamlessly from Waking the Witch. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two books were written very shortly after each other, or split in to two by an editor. Unlike the previous books which can jump between character sets (such as: Clay & Elena / Paige, Lucas & Savannah / Hope & Carl / Jamie Vegas) this one includes all of them in fantastic style. I have always liked how Armstrong crafts well rounded characters. With so many protagonists in one series of books it must be challenging to make each one individual, but they are all so well portrayed.

Savannah on cover of Waking the Witch

 The main protagonist of Spellbound, Savannah, is now pretty much the same age as me. I am sure this attributes to why I love reading about her so much. She is an awkward in between stage of her life, no longer a teenager but not quite an adult which I can emphasise with. Yet at times I just wanted to shake her and tell her to ‘woman up!’

The underlying sexual tension that is present in all the books was as frustrating as Waking the Witch and Personal Demon. There is a reason Women of the Otherworld is an adult fantasy fiction series and that is really getting down to the crux of the issue and running with it. The werewolf books are particularly satisfying on this level (with Frost Bitten being almost soft core erotic literature!) Yet I am confident that Savannah’s narrative will progress and we will soon see her healthy and happy.

I can’t help but think that the narrative is getting very same-y. The threat of exposure of a secret community of supernaturals has been tackled in Harry Potter! But I cannot deny it is conquered very differently in Spellbound, and avoids the trap of True Blood of creating a utopian world where everyone is learning to co-exist in harmony. I am really interested to see how this progresses and read how Armstrong can keep her series fresh.

It is quite clear (much to my pleasure) that the end is nowhere in sight for my favourite supernatural series. I like the way the series is going despite the lack of passion in the latter books.

My next hunt is for the limited edition copies of  the fan stories/novellas: Becoming, Counterfeit Magic and Angelic at my price range. If all else fails I will download them to get my fix! I have also just learnt that there is to be a new novella, Hidden, to be released 31/10/11 which gives insight into the lives of Clay and Elena’s twins age 4. I can’t wait to get hold of this!

In summary although this is not my favourite book in the series, I am loving how the narrative is progressing!

4/5

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie xx

Pre-ordered :D

I have officially pre-ordered Kelley Armstrong's new book: Spellbound!!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to read this new book, Waking the Witch was good but this one promises to be soooo much better.

It will be with me early August so look out for the review!

Thanks for reading,
Love Rie xx