Review: Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Synopsis: There can only be one alpha.

Bryn is finally settling into her position as alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack—or at least, her own version of what it means to be alpha when you’re a human leading a band of werewolves. Then she finds a teenage boy bleeding on her front porch. Before collapsing, he tells her his name is Lucas, he’s a Were, and Bryn’s protection is his only hope.

But Lucas isn’t part of Bryn’s pack, and she has no right to claim another alpha’s Were.  With threats—old and new—looming, and danger closing in from all sides, Bryn will have to accept what her guardian Callum knew all along. To be alpha, she will have to give in to her own animal instincts and become less human. And, she’s going to have to do it alone.

Bryn faces both the costs, and the rewards, of love and loyalty, in this thrilling sequel to Raised by Wolves.

SPOILERS FOR RAISED BY WOLVES AHEAD. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RUIN IT FOR YOUSELF STOP READING NOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I would like to start by mentioning that I almost never like a sequel more than the first book but this is an exception. I loved Raised by Wolves and found the world that Barnes built was believable and spectacular. In Trial by Fire I found myself second guessing the world I knew because things that had never happened in this world were happening. Bryn was not only a female alpha, but human as well. In her world this is unheard of and there are a lot of people who are working against her.

Trial by Fire is a book with so many twists it will leave you reeling. I found myself caught up in the decisions that Bryn was making because I felt for her and her position in the pack's protection. When Lucas shows up on Bryn's territory you instantly feel like he needs to be protected just the way anyone in the position would feel. Although it isn't Bryn's place to take care of another pack's wolf, she still wants to take on the obligation, even if it means starting a war in the world of the alphas.

This story teaches morals and about making the right decision, even if it means pushing boundaries and crossing lines. Bryn's struggle may be the product of another world but it still makes you consider the things you would do in tough situations that have boundaries clearly set but could use some breaking to do what's right for others. Bryn's choices in this book are extremely troublesome but deeply admirable. Some decisions are wise while other include issues you would never expect, this story will keep you reading until you've made it to the final pages.

Review: Intrisical by Lani Woodland

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Yara Silva has always known that ghosts walk alongside the living. Her grandma, like the other females in her family, is a Waker, someone who can see and communicate with ghosts. Yara grew up watching her grandmother taunted and scorned for this unusual ability and doesn't want that to be her future. She has been dreading the day when she too would see ghosts, and is relieved that the usually dominant Waker gene seems to have skipped her, letting her live a normal teenage life. However, all that changes for Yara on her first day at her elite boarding school when she discovers the gene was only lying dormant. She witnesses a dark mist attack Brent, a handsome fellow student, and rushes to his rescue. Her act of heroism draws the mist's attention, and the dark spirit begins stalking her. Yara finds herself entrenched in a sixty-year-old curse that haunts the school, threatening not only her life, but the lives of her closest friends as well. Yara soon realizes that the past she was trying to put behind her isn't going to go quietly.

I'd have to say that I was intrigued by this book from first glance at its cover. Immediately after I decided from the synopsis that I needed to get it. I must say that Woodland wastes no time jumping into the action. Right from page one the book is thrust into a scene where we meet Yara, who has tried to supress her Waker ability to see ghosts, until she arrives at Pendrell, a boarding school that is known for being haunted and cursed. In the opening pages she rescues a boy named Brent from a black mist that is choking him. From then on the mist is after her and she is sent into a constant battle against the mist and the curse of Pendrell.

Yara takes a lot of time in this book to discover herself, or at least the side of herself that she has been trying to bury. She doesn't want to be called crazy or a freak like her grandmother used to be when she told people about being a Waker. Yara has struggled with trying to be normal and never wanted to inherit the gene to see ghosts. Once she arrives at Pendrell, she starts to develop this power, although she wants to fight against it because she feels that it is a burden rather than a gift.

Yara and Brent have the sort of relationship that is flirtatious but they keep their distance from each other. I felt that it was dragged out to a point where I was shaking my fist in the air screaming, "Kiss her already!" But they were very dedicated to helping each other. They pulled each other through the mystery of understanding what is behind the curse at Pendrell to overcome the danger that faces them in this story. The only downside I saw to this novel was that I found many mistakes in the text that slowed my reading. This is a story that will keep you on your toes until the final pages and make you hope Woodland will write really fast (Yes, I know that's not how it works).