Kay Uno's Blog

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The Wolf King's Bride is the first in a fantasy series, where each story focuses on a different sister. In this installment, the story focuses on the youngest of three sisters in the magical land of Imperium.

When the wolf king finds his mate he is elated beyond measure, but he must wait until she is of age before he can whisk her away. Once Nora becomes of age, she is finally able to be with her betrothed and start a new chapter in her life. But when it comes to Nora, not all is as it seems. Kellen has hope that his kingdom's troubles will begin to heal now that he has been reunited with his mate. Unfortunately, the real trouble has just begun...

This was an interesting take on a shifter story. The two protagonists come from different kingdoms, an idea which not everyone is fond of. Questions arise of who should be entrusted to be leader of a nation, and how much power is too much?

While this is largely a fantasy tale, these questions are ones that can be applied to modern day as well. Other themes include fate, honesty, and having a strong-willed female protagonist. Not to mention there were a few hot and sexy scenes ^_-

I very much enjoyed this story. 

Soulbound By Bethany Adams
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good, but was missing something extra specialThe story focuses on a woman named Arlyn, who apparently is a mix between human and elven bloodlines. She crosses over into the elven world after the death of her mother in hopes to find a place where she feels like she belongs. Along the way, she meets her father, her soul bonded (mate), and intrigue into the world of magic, as things are not as peaceful as they initially seem in the land of the elves.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. As a lover of fantasy stories, I am always thrilled to find myself in a world of elves. Everyone's interpretation is slightly different from everyone else's, for better or worse. The writing itself was pretty well done with minimal errors (I think I found a few missed punctuation marks), but nothing to deter my wanting to continue reading.  In this particular story, the author did a fair job in world building, though while I could picture the scenes well enough, I didn't feel the 'awe' factor. Maybe if she had added a few more touches of magic here and there, or more evidence that showed the elves love of nature, I would have been head over heels. Not to say that there wasn't any of that, but I never felt the grip of "I need to see this place for myself!" So again, good, but just missing that little something.
As for the storyline, the romance was a little slow for me. In general, I like slow burns because it makes the relationship feel real. But I also like more flirting/playful banter that really shows the chemistry, rather than just simply reading that they felt a connection. Again, there was some of that, but not enough for my taste. The love scenes were minimally detailed, which I'm not necessarily for or against, but just so you know, if you are craving writing that gets hot and heavy, this is not it. No points were taken off because of the lack of sex scenes. I merely wished there was a bit more chemistry built up.The level of intrigue and overall impending difficulties that are sure to take place in this series also felt a little bit understated, though I can't quite put my finger on what exactly I would do differently. The climax felt a bit rushed and I always hope for the female protagonist to blow people away with some unseen ability, but that didn't quite happen either. Still, there are quite a few questions left unanswered, so this definitely has the potential to develop into a much loved magically filled fantasy.
If you enjoy fantasy based reads with a modern twist, this is a good choice. It is not an epic fantasy, nor is it a steamy romance. But the building blocks of an interesting magical world have started to take shape. Being that this is the first in the series, I am hoping more and more of what I enjoyed about this book bloom in the following books into a great fantasy read!  

Firebolt by Adrienne Woods ⭐⭐⭐⭐ GoodFirebolt is the first in the Dragonian series, focusing on the main protagonist, Elena, who finds herself suddenly caught up in a land of magic and dragons. The story itself was interesting and I will confess that I want to find out what happens next! However...There were quite a number of grammatical errors, missing words, incorrect pronoun use, etc. Not enough that I stopped reading, but enough that I felt the need to reduce the number of stars to give it, especially since this was published four years ago and the errors haven't been fixed. 
There were also a few other things that mildly bothered me. For starters, there are quite a few different dragon classes as well as their various abilities that I thought could have been introduced in a clearer way. I felt like I needed a cheat sheet to keep them straight. Secondly, there were parts of this story that reminded me too much of Harry Potter... particularly in the teaser for book 2 where they attend some dragon based sport in an arena (Hello Quidditch!), and hints that a missing child may be the answer to their problems. Not deal breakers, and fairly common themes in general I guess, but it was enough that I felt the need to eye-roll a bit. Thirdly, I kept waiting for her to have this great breakthrough in her abilities, and I never felt fully satisfied in that aspect. Maybe it increases as the series progresses?

Also, and I think this may be more of a personal preference thing but...most of the characters are around 16 years in age, and I just have a doubtful attitude about teenagers behaving like adults, risking everything to save the world, and falling in soul-crushing love. Again, maybe people tend to like this kind of story line just fine, so I won't hold it against her.  
All in all, it felt like a nice start to a series if you enjoy fantasy, magic, and dragons. But a bit more editing and character development would have been nice.

The God of the Sun (and part of the rest of the series)  
⭐⭐⭐ GoodI will preface this with the fact that I read the first two and a half books in the series and have not finished it. This review is based on that experience.
There were some parts of this story I really loved, such as the whole daylight versus nighttime worlds juxtaposed to one another, a prophecy about two young adults from the opposite sides coming together, and the idea of hearing a 'voice' in your head. The beginnings of the author's world building here were very interesting to me in that sense. Unfortunately, I had a hard time digesting the differences between the two sides, one being more of your traditional fantasy world without modern conveniences, and the other being swarmed in them in a futuristic sci-fi world with phone like contraptions and where the people were obsessed with being in public spotlight, like the Kardashians. I found myself loving the Sun side (Sol) better than the Moon side (Stella), and SPOILER ALERT! they spent way too much time on the Stella side for my liking. It may just be a personal preference, though. 
I got that she was giving some commentary on society (hello! Unhealthy obsession with social media! Social Hierarchy and slavery are bad too!), but it got a bit too depressing for me. While I'm all for the character having some angst, dealing with a troubled past, and working through hardship, this just seemed to drag out the current suffering of the main character, and without enough of a justifiable reason. I also felt like the main character grew increasingly annoying the more a read, but that could have been my frustration with the overall storyline. She was more interesting to me when she was in Sol.
If you like the combo of a traditional fantasy story and a sci-fi world coming together, this may be for you. I'm not as drawn to the sci-fi arena, though, and the mix just didn't settle with me. But it wasn't a bad story. Just maybe not to my liking. 
Bottom line? It's worth it to give it a shot if like both fantasy and sci-fi mixed together in a star-crossed romance.

Wolf LandBook one: Bluebells
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pretty GoodThis story was pretty well written. I didn't find much in the ways of grammar or spelling errors, though I did find it annoying that the quotations used were ' and ' instead of the more standard " and ". Having said that, I got used to it pretty quickly and it didn't take away from the story. The story developed slowly, but in a good way, like there was a natural progression (I don't particularly care for when the story gets slapped together. I find it less believable). The overall story line was interesting, but not life gripping. Like I wanted to know what happened, but if I put the book down, it didn't consume my every thought. All in all, a good start with promise of more to come.
The 4-1-1:This is a shifter book (if you couldn't tell from the book cover ;) ) and has other magical elements as well (witch and else wise). There is some drama and death, but nothing too depressing. The story focuses on Sorcha and Rory, who live in Ireland in a community that has a rather large wolf infestation. Lord Tolbert is a sort of overlord of the land, who apparently likes taking on beautiful women to be his mistresses and likely abuses them and terrifies the people enough to be ruled with an iron fist. When Sorcha's sister is selected to be the next mistress to Lord Tolbert, Sorcha's world starts to fall apart. Rory, a blacksmith with eyes for only Sorcha, heads into the woods to help Sorcha's sister and other community members escape capture and prosecution by Lord Tolbert for exercising religious freedom (which is forbidden), his life is changed forever. 
While parts of this story are predictable, the flow felt pretty natural, which is a must for me. I can't say that I'm dying to read the next installment, but I wouldn't mind it either. If you like shifter stories, I suggest giving this one a try.

Chase the Dark

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fantastic!!!

This has to be one of my all time favorite paranormal stories. Annette Marie does a fantastic job of world creation and character development. I loved having a strong heroine and her hero counterparts were a delight to get to know as the story developed. I've read the whole series. Multiply times. Still love it as much as the first time a gave it a read. I HIGHLY recommend this one if you love strong heroines, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and getting lost in a fantasy world. 

Here's the 4-1-1:
Piper lives in a futuristic world that has been decimated after a traumatic world war. The only reason anyone survived it was because of daemons, human like beings that have magic, stepped in and essentially killed off all of the world leaders, thus halting the war. They are travelers from either the Overworld or the Underworld. 

Piper is an apprentice Consul, a 'keeper of the peace between humans and daemons.' She herself is considered to be a haemon, or a human with magical abilities. Haemons are typically born from a human parent and a daemon parent, but Piper is special as both her parents are haemon. In her case, Piper has NO magic, but that doesn't stop her from wanting to be a successful Consul. Things go haywire when a mysterious stone goes missing, and Piper and two deamons staying at her consulate are being blamed for the theft. The only way to clear their names is to work together. 

Enter Ash and Lyre, two hot daemons with mysterious pasts. Ash is strong and powerful, not to mention frightening. His presence alone is enough to make even some of the strongest daemons cower in fear. Lyre, on the other hand, is a flirtatious incubus, who loves making sexual innuendos whenever possible. But Piper is not the type to just hang on for the ride. She is a butt-kicking fighter with vast experience and knowledge of the magical worlds, and she has the guts to hold her own. Will they clear their names? Or will they meet their doom? 

READ IT!

Welcome!!
I will be posting book reviews as I read along. Some will be books that I pick out on my own, but I'm hoping many will be books by you! Anyone who is new to the game of story telling can tell you that one of the hardest parts about publishing a book, is getting people to read it. 
That's where I come in. I love to write, and I love to read. Want me to review your book? Send me a message and I'll do my best to help you out. I prefer paranormal, romance, urban, fantasy, and mystery, but I'm willing to give most anything a try. I do draw a line at horror. While dark stories can hold an appeal, too much gives me anxiety. For real. So if you have some dark elements in your book, that's cool. If it's laden with them, you might want to skip me.
I'll also be posting updates on my own writing adventures! So please check out where I am with my latest book and upcoming books as well :)