My Book Stash #9

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Publisher's Summary: Eden didn't expect Az.

Not his saunter down the beach toward her. Not his unbelievable pick-up line. Not the instant, undeniable connection. And not his wings.

Yeah.

So long, happily-ever-after.

Now trapped between life and death, cursed to spread chaos with her every touch, Eden could be the key in the eternal struggle between heaven and hell. All because she gave her heart to one of the Fallen, an angel cast out of heaven.

She may lose everything she ever had. She may be betrayed by those she loves most. But Eden will not be a pawn in anyone else's game. Her heart is her own.

And that's only the beginning of the end.

My Take: Doesn’t even that summary rock? That summary, in itself, should entice you into reading A Touch Mortal! I can honestly say that Leah Clifford is brilliant! But I think you have to have a twisted imagination to come up with a story this morbid! The whole concept that some humans who commit suicide end up becoming a Sider is, in itself, BIZARRE…no wait…it’s not just bizarre, it’s HORRIFIC! And I would really HATE to live eternally as a Sider! But I’m not going to go into detail about what a Sider is, so if you want to know, you will just have to read A Touch Mortal!

And I now know why several of my blogger friends have become obsessed with this series. While the end to A Touch Mortal has a slight cliff-hanger, it’s not so bad that I felt like I was left hanging. But at the same time I was immediately hungry for more of this bizarre…no wait…HORRIFIC story!

I fell in love with multiple characters in this book. I would have to say that Eden has to be (by far) my favorite character. I admire Eden for handling all the unbearable situations in the way that she does. She is very strong, extremely stubborn, has a smart mouth and she cusses like a sailor. But even though Eden may be very strong, she also has her flaws. Not all of her decisions are completely rational (from the point of view of someone seeing her decisions from the outskirts), but these flaws only make her character all the more real for me.

There’s another character who I really like as well, but one that might seem strange to others who’ve already read A Touch Mortal. YES, I actually really like Kristen! She is a very strange, unique character, and I was always entertained while reading the parts she was in, even though I was VERY unsure if I should trust her. I know, I know! It’s weird and it probably doesn’t make sense to you but it totally does to me.

When I was about a third of the way through the book, I chatted with a couple of my Twitter friends about how much I was loving this book, and my friend Jaime said she had the hots for Luke. I was shocked! Well…I do NOW have to admit that even though he is very, very bad and he IS the perfect villain, he is also pretty HOT! But don’t tell anyone I said that or I’ll deny it! LoL!

Near the end of A Touch Mortal there are several HUGE betrayals! There is one betrayal that I predicted early on, but the others TOTALLY caught me off guard. I was outright PISSED OFF!!! And there is something that happens that is completely and utterly heartbreaking. So I’m MORE than a little excited that I have access to the ARC of A Touch Morbid, and I will be starting it VERY soon!

Purchased with my own money.

Severed by Megg Jensen

Author Summary: Reychel knows her gift of prophecy will lead to madness and now she is at her most vulnerable. The enemy army will attempt to sever her from everything she's ever known: her homeland, her friends, Mark, and her gift. Even at her weakest, she refuses to give up on her desire to end the war between the Malborn and the Serenians. Reychel would do anything, even come back from the dead, to conquer the enemy and reunite with Mark.

My Take: OMG! Severed is insanely, amazingly good! I can hardly express how fabulous this book is! I got less than 4 hours of sleep last night because of this book! Yep, as soon as I started reading Severed, I ignored all obligations and was sucked back into the world of the Cloud Prophet Trilogy. And from the moment I finished Oubliette, I’ve been impatiently waiting for my review copy of Severed, wondering what additional craziness Megg had up her sleeve, and she didn’t disappoint ONE BIT!

Megg Jensen’s books are more unique than any other books I’ve ever read. She’s created a very magical (but twisted!) world, and she always throws in these crazy plots and character twists. From start to finish there is ALWAYS something intense happening. Megg’s an amazing writer, and I’m still in awe that she’s able to write such great stories in books way smaller than I normally read . . . short books where I get as much out of, if not WAY more out of, than I do with any other books that I read. The best part of her books, particularly this one, is that I literally have to brace myself while reading because I feel if I haven’t correctly anticipated that something crazy is about to happen (and then it does!) that I will not be able to handle it. And I was STILL completely caught off guard in several parts throughout Severed.

As I was coming close to the end of this book, I started to get really worried because a NEW bunch of craziness had arisen, and I was worried that it wouldn’t all be resolved by the end of the book! Because who could pull that off? Well Megg totally pulled it off, and she created the BEST ending imaginable to her Cloud Prophet Trilogy! The ending was soooo good that I was sobbing and, to calm myself down, I actually read all of her acknowledgments!! I almost never do that, and I’m pretty sure I read her acknowledgments in Oubliette as well!

This is a series I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone!

Received review copy from author for my honest review.