Review of Lily and the Beast and Lily and the Beast 2 by Amelia Jayne

Lily and the Beast

By Amelia Jayne

Star Rating: 

Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 134

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Aidan Pierce led a charmed life. Wealth, power, the love of a good woman - until his taste for kink triggers a devastating accident that forever changes his life. Now a mysterious recluse, Aidan doesn't let anyone see what he's become.

In order to save a loved one, Lily Gray is forced into an agreement that gives Aidan absolute power over her body for one year. Lily has sacrificed her freedom and surrendered her body, but she never imagined he'd take possession of her heart. What will happen when Aidan threatens to dominate her entire life? Steeped in darkness for so many years, Aidan never dreamed his sweet little sub would come to command him with a single smile. Can her love lead him into the light?

Will beauty tame the savage beast, or will his dark desires tear them apart?

*** This is a dark, erotic retelling of the classic fairy tale and contains elements of BDSM. Not intended for readers under 18. *** *** This book contains a cliffhanger. The conclusion, Lily and the Beast 2, is available now. ***

Lily and the Beast 2

By Amelia Jayne

Star Rating: 

Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 160

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Lily and the Beast 2 continues Lily's journey into submission and Aidan's dark desires.

Aidan Pierce led a charmed life. Wealth, power, the love of a good woman - until his taste for kink triggers a devastating accident that forever changes his life. Now a mysterious recluse, Aidan doesn't let anyone see what he's become.

In order to save a loved one, Lily Gray is forced into an agreement that gives Aidan absolute power over her body for one year. Lily has sacrificed her freedom and surrendered her body, but she never imagined he'd take possession of her heart. What will happen when Aidan threatens to dominate her entire life? Steeped in darkness for so many years, Aidan never dreamed his sweet little sub would come to command him with a single smile. Can her love lead him into the light?

Will beauty tame the savage beast, or will his dark desires tear them apart?

*** This is a dark, erotic retelling of the classic fairy tale and contains elements of BDSM. Not intended for readers under 18. *** *** This book concludes Lily and Aidan's story with a HEA. ***


Review:
Together these make one comprehensive story.  While I don't dislike books that go together in a series, these two books easily could have been published together.  The first book is listed at .99 on kindle with the second book at 2.99, altogether putting the full book around $4.  Given that the author used the same description for both, proving that these two books are essentially one story.

Firstly, I gotta say that while "Lily" is an alright name, it doesn't exactly fit what you typically see in a Beauty and the Beast rendition.  The last name "Gray" seems an obvious tribute to Fifty Shades of Grey.  Beyond that, I think that most of the casting is spot on.

The beastly aspect of Aidan is far different than what you may think of from other retellings, but it is brilliant.  Aidan may be beastly, but it's his emotions that seem to have suffered the worst.  Lily's sisters, which were lost in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, are spot on in attitude given the original tale.

I really enjoyed the way that Jayne changed Lily's father from the caring father seen in both Disney's version and the original tale.  The drama and the forced change in Lily's life shows that she's resilient and doesn't need others to take care of herself.  Lily isn't a Mary Sue, nor is she a damsel in distress: she's a perfectly capable individual who has to make a very serious decision regarding love and her future prospects.  In the end, she has to do what she knows is right for her, what she can live with, and what makes her happy.

Although this book (which is what I consider the two parts together) specifically states that there is BDSM, it is incredibly limited, stunted, and a very small portion of the entire book.  I think that having Aidan as a character interested in that makes perfect sense, especially as you get to know his backstory, but you'd think that perhaps the author could have done a bit more research into that world herself.  If that's what you're aiming for, go for some Anne Rice or M. Pierce instead.  M. Pierce is also quite light, but in a more comprehensive and complete way.

Biography: (from Amazon)
Amelia Jayne lives in a cottage by the sea with her two cats and a very understanding husband. When she's not busy writing smut or reading historical romances, she's dreaming up semi-healthy recipes to explore her love of chocolate and Italian food.

To find out more about her works, visit her website at www.ameliajayne.net






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Review of The Hidden by Jessica Verday

The Hidden

Book 3 in The Hollow Trilogy

By Jessica Verday

Star Rating: 

Genre: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 400

Time Spent Reading: Two Days

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny. Theirs is a bond that transcends even death. But as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very hard choices to make. Caspian may be the love of her life, but is that love worth dying for?

Review:
After having spent so much time in Abbey's world, I must say I was completely disappointed in the end of her story.  The villain was predictable yet odd, and her parents were far too oblivious.  Although in the end she finally confronted her feelings about Kristen, her chosen path to correct everything was demented, with no thought how such an "accident" would influence others she knew.  I think she could have had another future, despite the ties in to the legend of Sleepy Hollow that Verday tried to use to justify her awkward choices.  In the end, this is not something I would want to see others emulate in life.  Though I appreciate the sentiment that you shouldn't give up or have to stop doing things you love when you're in a relationship, I don't think that lesson shines through strong enough to redeem the awkward ending of this otherwise promising trilogy.





Author Information: (From Amazon)
Jessica Verday is the New York Times best-selling author of The Hollow trilogy, The Beautiful and the Damned, and Of Monsters & Madness. She believes a shoe isn't a shoe unless it has a three-inch heel, and nothing beats a great pair of boots. When not daydreaming about moving into a library of her own, she can be found working on her next story, stalking antique stores, or buying vintage furniture.

You can learn more about Jessica at http://www.jessicaverday.com










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Review of The Haunted by Jessica Verday

The Haunted

Book 2 in The Hollow Trilogy

By Jessica Verday

Star Rating: 

Genre: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 496

Time Spent Reading: Two Days

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
An impossible truth. An impossible love. 

 After a summer spent reclaiming her sanity and trying to forget the boy she fell in love with--the boy who must not exist, cannot exist, because she knows that he is dead--Abbey returns to Sleepy Hollow, ready to leave the ghosts of her past behind. She throws herself into her schoolwork, her perfume-making, and her friendship with Ben, her cute and funny lab partner, who just might be her ticket to getting over Caspian once and for all.

 But Abbey can never get over Caspian, and Caspian has no choice but to return to her side, for Caspian is a Shade, and Abbey is his destiny. They are tied not only to each other, but also to the town of Sleepy Hollow, and to the famous legend that binds their fates--a legend whose dark truths they are only beginning to guess....


Review:
What I love about this book is that it shows that sometimes, you need to ask for help.  Sometimes you need to be able to tell someone what is going on with your life, and have them really listen.  And sometimes, even though you know you should be happy and content with someone showing interest in you, you just aren't.

Unfortunately, there are also some very questionable parts in the book, both with Abbey's character and the way she still thinks about her mother.  Abbey wants a Mr. Rochester, which, we all know I'd be more of a Mr. Darcy type girl myself.  Abbey states, in chapter seven, that sometimes her mom was a very good mom, but in that same chapter she laments how her birthday sucks and her food sucks because of her mom.  At one point, while at a family reunion, Abbey states "I didn't want to sit close enough so that she could talk my ear off, but I didn't want her to think I was rude, either.  Being a teenager is a tricky balance."  It makes Abbey seem much more standoffish and impolite than the majority of the series, thus far, has indicated, not to mention most teenagers do not think in such terms about being a teenager.

I was really looking forward to this sequel after having read the first book, and I was definitely not disappointed.  I really enjoyed seeing more of Abbey, more of Caspian, and getting to hear more of the retelling of Sleepy Hollow, as seen through Verday.  Stay tuned for a review of the third book to follow.




Author Information: (From Amazon)
Jessica Verday is the New York Times best-selling author of The Hollow trilogy, The Beautiful and the Damned, and Of Monsters & Madness. She believes a shoe isn't a shoe unless it has a three-inch heel, and nothing beats a great pair of boots. When not daydreaming about moving into a library of her own, she can be found working on her next story, stalking antique stores, or buying vintage furniture.

You can learn more about Jessica at http://www.jessicaverday.com










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Slowly catching up...

This summer I have read about eighteen or so books.  You may be thinking: that's great!  You may also be wondering where the reviews are.  No matter how hectic life gets, you should never stop doing something you love.  Books have always been a refuge for me, an exciting place where anything can happen, adventures can be had, and time can be forgotten.  Sometimes people stop reading because they "don't have time."  While I didn't write reviews for a while, I still read.  Sometimes I only read at night before bed, but there was always some sort of story going on in my head at some point in the day (even during those days when it was my own, that still counts!)

It's amazing what ten or fifteen minutes of respite can give you.  When reading, even if just for that brief period at night before you go to sleep, you get to enter a whole new world.  And entering a whole new world is really magic, isn't it?

Review of The Hollow by Jessica Verday

The Hollow

Book 1 in The Hollow Trilogy

By Jessica Verday

Star Rating: 

Genre: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 528

Time Spent Reading: Two Days

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is too quick to accept that Kristen is dead... and rumors fly that her death was no accident.  Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone.  Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life.  Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again... but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend.  How could Kristen have kept silent about so much?  And could this secret have led to her death?  As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her--one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.


"A death could change so many things for so many people.  It was heartbreaking." -The Hollow by Jessica Verday

Review:
This book is one of the most realistic and gripping stories about grieving a sudden death.  Despite what Abbey says and does, it is obvious that her head is full of her best friend all the time.  Like many dealing with death, Abbey can't seem to come to terms with the fact that Kristen is actually gone, and she isn't coming back.  She tries to continue on like everything is normal, but in many ways she feels guilty for continuing life while her friend is gone.  Having a book show how much death can tear a person apart is amazing, and I think that this book needed to be written.  While this book isn't a guide for what to do when grieving, it shows that slowly things change, and you have to try to move on, even though it seems impossible.

Unfortunately, there are multiple times that the promise of the book is disrupted by either badly turned phrases, unimportant details, and a level of immaturity one doesn't expect from a sixteen year old.  Abbey, despite being completely capable of mixing and creating her own perfumes, does not do her own laundry, instead relying on her working mother to do it.  Sometimes one wonders how incapable a sixteen year old can be, given this excerpt from chapter 15, "All I came across were leftovers and lunch meat.  Why couldn't I find anything to eat?  We never had any food in the house."  The way Abbey acts around her mother, expecting to have her mood catered to with every turn, also seems pretty unrealistic.  Even though Abbey has gone through the loss of her best friend, that doesn't mean that she shouldn't be able to do anything on her own.


I did really enjoy this story, as it does a very good job of showing that dealing with death is really hard, and not everyone takes it the right way.  Another book that does really well with death, with a hint of supernatural (like this one), is Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss, which I would especially recommend to anyone who is experiencing a loved one pass away from illness.





Author Information: (From Amazon)
Jessica Verday is the New York Times best-selling author of The Hollow trilogy, The Beautiful and the Damned, and Of Monsters & Madness. She believes a shoe isn't a shoe unless it has a three-inch heel, and nothing beats a great pair of boots. When not daydreaming about moving into a library of her own, she can be found working on her next story, stalking antique stores, or buying vintage furniture.

You can learn more about Jessica at http://www.jessicaverday.com










If you like this review, and the writing style of this quirky reviewer, please consider visiting and liking my Facebook author page: Lizzy March.

Thank you! 

Plethora of Posts to Come Soon

I know I haven't been really reliable this summer for getting my reviews up quickly and efficiently.  I have been preoccupied with many things, not least of which being a giant pirate party.  As always, I have kept reading, and I do intend to get reviews up sooner than later.

The books I review will not necessarily be in the order of which they were read.  Some books have made a big impact and I cannot wait to share them with you, while some others were read while traveling, and a couple were not the best.  I do hope that I don't overwhelm any of you, especially any of you who may feel a sense of déjà vu from when I waited until finishing The Dresden Files book series.

I would love to hear from any and all of you!  I love book suggestions, and would gladly talk about any books I've read in the past.  As always, remember, no spoilers!  The magic and joy of discovery can be easily lost if you spill all of the secrets within the depths of a book.  If there is a book that you find absolutely horrible, and suggest that someone does not read it, you should still ask first before spilling.  No two people are alike, and what you abhor they may adore.

Changes, changes everywhere.

You may think you are seeing something different on this page, and you'd be correct!  Better organization will make it easier to get you to what you're interested in, so check out the genre tabs above.

Some fonts have changed, and the layout has been slightly altered to make this page more pleasant to read.

Although the dates and times of when books finished may have escaped, at the end of every month there will likely be a post listing all the books that have been read during that time period.  While I know that many look for reviews to see what people truly think of a book, some books may not have reviews written at all.  If contacted, I will do my best to give you my impression of what I have read.

-Lizzy