Review - Horizon by Alyson Noel

Title: Horizon

Author: Alyson Noel
Series: Soul Seekers #4
Pages: 356
Release Date: 19th November 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Source: Supermarket
Format: Paperback

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Fate has bound them together--and torn them apart. Now Daire and Dace face one final fight that will seal their destiny forever.

Daire Santos is the last of the Soul Seekers, and the only thing standing between the Richters and the destruction of everyone she loves. With her grandmother gone and Cade back in Enchantment, Daire must finally step into her destiny and lead the fight against the Richters. But what if that means sacrificing the person she loves most?

Bound to the Richters by blood, Dace struggles against the darkness growing inside him that threatens to claim Daire too. Though Daire refuses to give up on him, the choice may not be hers. An epic battle is on the horizon and the end of the world looms near. With such insurmountable odds stacked against them, is their love really enough to conquer all?

My Review: Horizon is the final instalment in the Soul Seeker series and now it’s over I want more which isn’t what I was thinking when I first started to read the series.

The final instalment picks up a few months after Mystic and the tragic death of Daire’s grandmother Paloma at the hands of Cade Ritcher.

All Daire can think about is getting her revenge but Dace can only think of keeping the evil inside of him inside.

During this time all Daire seems to do is train and hone her inherited skills so that she can once and for all destroy Cade and Leandro.

During the six months the Ritchers have started to rebuild the Rabbit Hole night club.

Where Daire is dealing with her loss and her new role as the only seeker, Dace has to deal with the fact that he has evil in him who wants to come out and play but Dace wants to keep it locked inside so he doesn’t hurt the girl he loves. He wants to use this evil to take down his family before Daire gets the chance to.

Throughout the story you get the other character point of views such as Xotichl’s struggle with regaining her sight and her boyfriend Auden’s new found successful music career. We also get a look at Lita’s life living in Paloma’s house with her angel boyfriend Axel now he is no longer an angel.

Although this is the final instalment it ends on a cliff-hanger. Yes they kill all the Ritchers and manage to save Dace but then it just ends, no I won’t accept that, we need to see what happens now the upper, middle and lower worlds are safe from evil.

This final book does give the final showdown between good and evil and of course good wins.

I do believe that there should be another book just to tie up all the things at the end of Horizon. So we can see them all having the happy ever after that Daire saw but we didn’t get to experience.

Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015.

1. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
2. Unchanged - Jessica Brody
3. Until I Die - Amy Plum
4. Mystic - Alyson Noel
5. Cindi - Lisa Scott
6. The Anti-Prom - Abby McDonald
7. Lost - Ron Vitale
8. Cinderella (Book of the Film) - Elizabeth Rudnick
9. Cinderella Wore Combat Boots - D.L. Jackson
10. Horizon - Alyson Noel

Mystic by Alyson Noel

Title: Mystic
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: The Soul Seekers
Pages: 309
Release Date: 7th May 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Amazon
Format: Paperback

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Since arriving in the dusty desert town of Enchantment, everything in Daire Santos life has changed...and not always for the better. While she's come to accept and embrace her new powers as a Soul Seeker, Daire struggles with the responsibility she holds navigating between the worlds of the living and the dead--and her mission to defeat the evil Cade Richter.  But Cade's soul is inextricably entwined with that of her boyfriend Dace, putting their love to the ultimate test.  How can she can't defeat Cade if it means destroying Dace too?  And is their love strong enough to survive death—and what lies beyond?

MYSTIC is the third book in The Soul Seekers, a magnificent new series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël.

My Review: Alyson did it again, just when I was beginning to like someone she kills them off *I'm talking about Phyre here*

A lot of things happen in Mystic, Daire and Dace find out that when Dace went after the dark soul it meant that his and Cade's soul are now linked and to kill one means killing the other so Daire cannot kill her boyfriends evil twin without also killing her boyfriend.

Dace's ex girlfriend Phyre and her crazy preacher father return to Enchantment to stop 'The end of the world'. 

At the start of the book Daire is trapped in the Upper world with Dace's guide Axel who saved her until she manages to escape and Dace is lost in the lower world and the preacher finds him stranded and leaves him their to die until Daire saves him. When Daire finds him Dace believes that they are both dead.

On Daire's search she takes her best friends Lita and Xolich to the enchanted spring's so that she can see if Xolich can sense anything because she has fantastic six sense with her being blind she can sense things a lot better than anyone else and after leaving the enchanted spring's Xolich ends up being able to see.

Cade gives Lita a tourmaline crystal which ends up being given to Paloma who aling with Xolich senses that it is a bad stone but Paloma keeps it so she can do tests on it and she ends up dying because if it.

In the end Lita, Daire and Xolich save the world from ending no matter how much Cade tried he didn't manage to succeed and Cade almost's dies until his brother Dace saves him but the Rabbit Hole club burns down.

Echo by Alyson Noel

Title: Echo
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: Soul Seekers Series
Pages: 396
Release Date: 13th November 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Amazon
Format: Paperback
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis:
She inherited a magical destiny—and a mission to stop a powerful family of dark sorcerers. She never expected to fall in love with one of them.

There’s still so much Daire Santos has to learn about being the last Soul Seeker….and about herself.  As her magical training becomes more intense, so does her relationship with Dace.  But when she learns that his connection to the evil Richter family goes far deeper than she ever imagined, she begins to question if love really can conquer all.

Dace is painfully aware that he wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the Richters’ dark magic—and now his brother Cade is determined to use his love for Daire against him.  Dace is willing to sacrifice anything to protect the girl he loves —including his own life.  But will Daire allow it?  And what if defeating Cade costs not only his life, but his soul too?

Enchanting, haunting, romantic, Echo is the second book in the Soul Seekers series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël!

When reading Fated I wasn't really impressed by it because I kept comparing it to The Immortal Series so when I started reading Echo I said to myself "don't keep comparing it to The Immortal Series, because it's not The Immortal Series", once I did that I actually realised that the series was good.

The only thing about the series that I really DO NOT like is switching the character point of views with each chapter, I feel that more could be told if it was in just one persons point of view - because half of each chapter is telling you what happened in the chapter before but with a different character - or if it was just told as a story and I gave it 3 stars because of this.

The story was a bit slow to start off with but once it got going I found myself gripped and wanting to cheat and skip to the end to see what happened but I managed to stop myself and it gain the extra star to make 4 because it gripped me after 3/4 chapters.

Even though my connection to the two main characters Daire and Dace aren't as strong as it is for Ever and Damen I kept hoping that they would find a way to stop Cade from destroying the Lower, Middle and Upper worlds but I guess we won't find out if they can stop him until the final book in the series.

My favourite character has to be Xoilich because even though she is blind she know's how people are feeling and that there is something wrong, and I loved the way that she predicted that it was going to snow and everyone except her boyfriend bet against her saying it wasn't going to snow because it never snows in Enchantment.

As always the book is written beautifully, and there is a lot that happens and I felt that I was in the book and could see everything that was happening through out most of the book but especially the final fight scene.

When you found out that Dace and Cade are as one so that if you kill one the other dies, I kind of predicted during Dace's magical training.

I will definatly be reading Mystic after reading this because I want to know if they find a way to save Dace and rid Cade.

Well done Alyson for not making me give up on The Soul Seekers and finally gripping me to a new series.

Currently Reading: Until I Die by Amy Plum
Read in 2014: 12/30

My Interview with Alyson Noel

I had the honour to interview Alyson Noel in 2012 about her novels and the Immortal Series. Now two years later I am interviewing Alyson again to get more gossip on Ever and Damen, the Souls Seeker series and what she has coming up this year.

   

1.  As you know I loved Ever and Damen. Can we look forward to reading more of their adventures in the future?

When I finished writing EVERLASTING, I really felt that Ever and Damen’s journey was over, that I took them to the end of their adventure and it was up to them to find their way from there. While I still feel their story is complete, I’ve definitely toyed with the idea of a spin-off. I left an opening in EVERLASTING, and when I find time, I might just play around with that and see where it leads. I miss my trips to Summerland!

2.  When naming characters do you give much thought to the actual meaning of the names?

Character’s names are a big part of the process. I can’t fully conceive of a character until I’ve given them just the right name, which has turned me into a bit of a name collector. I’m always on the hunt for interesting or unusual names and I keep them in a file that I peruse whenever I begin a new book.

3.  Now that the Soul Seekers series is over are you planning a spin-off series like you did with the Immortal series?

While I definitely left an opening at the end of HORIZON, at the moment I’m busy working on my new, three book series, UNRIVALED, and I’m completely immersed in that world. Still, I’ve learned to never say never…

4.  Are there any recent works that you admire?

Definitely! I just got an ARC of Mary Pearson’s newest, THE KISS OF DECEPTION, I’ve wanted to read this since she first told me about it, and I was only a paragraph in when I found myself hooked. Her writing is so fluid and elegant—I’m a huge fan.

I read really widely, so other recent reads I’ve enjoyed are: WONDER by R.J. Palacio, THE RING & THE CROWN by Melissa de la Cruz, NIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl, WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? by Maria Semple, and ME BEFORE YOU by JoJo Moyes.

5.  Is there any news on a movie or T.V series for the Immortal series?

At the moment, there’s no news on an IMMORTALS movie or TV show, but THE SOUL SEEKERS series has been optioned by Cheyenne Enterprises and I’m very hopeful they can make something happen. Also, my adult novel, FLY ME TO THE MOON, is still under option with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions with Sharon Maguire of Bridget Jones’s Diary fame set to write the screenplay and direct.

6.  What do you think people look for in your books?

Oh, I can never be sure what people are looking for, or what they’ll take away for that matter. I just try to provide a fun, romantic, adventurous, entertaining, inspiring, and ultimately optimistic read and hope I succeed in parlaying that to the reader!

7.  What type of research did you do for the Soul Seeker series?

I’m really big on research, and the more hands on the better! Even though THE SOUL SEEKERS involves themes of mysticism, alternate dimensions, magic, and more, I like to ground the story in as much realism as I can. I took a three-day ‘Introduction to Basic Shamanism’ course where I journeyed to the Lowerworld and met my spirit animal much like Daire Santos does in Fated. I travelled to New Mexico where the series takes place and interviewed local teens about their high school experiences, as well as a Native American about life on the reservation. I read loads of books on Shamanism, mysticism, Curanderas, Native American lore, and more. Everything I experienced help to enrich the world of the books.

8.  Did you enjoy doing the research and did you learn a lot of new information?

The research is my favourite part. Not only does it serve the stories, but enriches my life in ways I don’t always expect.

9.  Do you use your own experiences in your books?

Always, I steal from my own life all the time! I figure if an experience didn’t kill me, I may as well write about it.

10.      What can your fans look forward to in 2014

Well, believe it or not, this is the first year since 2005 when I’m not releasing a book! I wrote 21 novels, 3 stories for anthologies, and went on countless international tours over the course of the last 9 years, and so last year, when I finished HORIZON I took a yearlong break from writing to reacquaint myself with the other parts of my life and determine where to go next. I have a middle grade Christmas book coming out sometime in 2015, and I’m currently working on UNRIVALED, a new 3 book series that I’m very excited about. It’s set to debut in early 2016.

Thanks for the interview!

To find out more about Alyson and her novels visit her at any of the following links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Pinterest

Instagram

Wishlist Wednesday

This weeks book is no other than the final book in Alyson Noel's new series.

Horizon by Alyson Noel

Fate has bound them together—and torn them apart. Now Daire and Dace face one final fight that will seal their destiny forever.

Daire Santos is the last of the Soul Seekers, and the only thing standing between the Richters and the destruction of everyone she loves. With her grandmother gone and Cade back in Enchantment, Daire must finally step into her destiny and lead the fight against the Richters. But what if that means sacrificing the person she loves most?

Bound to the Richters by blood, Dace struggles against the darkness growing inside him that threatens to claim Daire too. Though Daire refuses to give up on him, the choice may not be hers. An epic battle is on the horizon and the end of the world looms near. With such insurmountable odds stacked against them, is their love really enough to conquer all?

Horizon the final instalment in the Soul Seeker Series is released on November 19th.

Happy Book Birthday

taken from confessionsofavi3tbabe.com

I just want to wish Alyson Noel, Amy Plum, Meg Cabot and Rachel Caine Happy Book Birthday.

Alyson Noel's Mystic (Soul Seeker #3), Amy Plum's If I Should Die (Revenants #3) Meg Cabot's Awaken (Abandon #3) and Rachel Caine's Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires #14) were all released today.

I know there are a lot of other books that have been released today and Happy Book Birthday to all of them authors but these are the three authors who's books I am more aware of because I have either read there previous books or I have them on my bookcase waiting to read.

It is also an extra special day for Alyson Noel as Mystic is her 20th book to be published so CONGRATULATIONS and I hope that there are at least another 20 more to come in the future.

Wishlist Wednesday

This weeks wishlist book is:

Mystic by Alyson Noel
Since arriving in Enchantment, New Mexico, everything in Daire Santos life has changed. And not all for the better. While she’s come to accept and embrace her new powers as a Soul Seeker, Daire struggles with the responsibility she holds navigating between the worlds of the living and the dead. And with the fate of her boyfriend Dace in the balance, Daire must put aside her personal feelings and focus on defeating Cade, whose evil plans threaten everyone she loves and the world as she knows it.



Don’t miss book three in Alyson Noel’s Soul Seekers series! Out May 7th

Top 10 Tuesday

This weeks topic is Top 10 book romances I think would make it in the real world:

1. Ever Bloom and Damen Auguste - Immortal Series
2. Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook - Nikki Heat Series
3. Gemma and Alex - The Fallen Star Series
4. Sera and Zen - Unremembered
5. Bianca and Lucas - Evernight
6. Ron and Hermione - Harry Potter
7. Laylen and Asilin - The Fallen Star Series
8. Amy and Alexander - The Vampire Stalker
9. Daire and Dace - Soul Seeker Series
10. Katness and Peeta - Hunger Games (not read the books but seen the film)

Cover Art (french cover) - Fated by Alyson Noel

Yesterday Alyson Noel relieved the French cover art for Fated the first Novel in the Soul Seeker Series. I think the cover art is great and whomever designed it did a fantastic job.

Fated - Alyson Noel

4/5 Stars

Release Date: May 22nd 2012
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortals, Alyson Noël, comes Fated - a breathtaking new saga brimming with magic, mystery, and an intoxicating love story that will steal your heart away. Meet The Soul Seekers.

Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker - one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.

There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

Another fantastic book by Alyson Noel. 

After an incident in Morocco where Daire saw visions of her dead father as well as other and crows she is sent to live with her Grandmother Paloma - who she has never met - in a small barren town called Enchantment in New Mexico because her mother believes that there is something really wrong with her and the medication from the hospital are not working.

While she is in Enchantment she discovers a whole new world with magick and doesn't adapt to the place right away and runs away but she misses the bus out of town and has to wait two hours for the next one, while she is waiting she goes into The Rabbit Hole which is a club run by the Ritchers also known as 'El Coyote', Daire runs into Cade.

When running from Cade Daire gets into an accident and after the accident she learns that the Santos family bloodline ends with her and that she is destined to be a Soul Seeker and most of the book is about Daire learning about her skills and how to control them from Paloma. Daire soon discovers that Paloma is the only one who understands her.

Daire is sent on a spirit journey where she discovers that The Raven is her spirit animal and that she is the daughter of the wind and it isn't until her vision quest Daire realises that she is now a Santos and not a Lyons. After the spirit journey Daire came face to face with the two boys.

There is a lot of the Mexican culture in the book such as the 'Day of the Dead' celebration, shamans, witch doctors etc which I found really interesting and learned a lot. Daire learns how to see things threw the eyes of  animals and learns all about her spirit animal the Raven.

At the beginning of the book Daire is more concerned with herself than others but towards the end she becomes more sympathetic to others and concerned in her duty as a seeker than of herself. Dace and Cade are two totally different people and you have to read the book to find out why but Dace is nice, good and kind where Cade is Evil, bad and manipulative. They are both attracted to Daire but both have different reason as to why Dace loves Daire where Cade just wants to use her for evil.

Daire has spent most of her life dreaming of a guy named Dace who is Cade's twin brother. Dace is the one she is meant to spend the rest of her life with and Cade is her enemy. Cade tries to get Daire to join himby telling her that they can make the worlds (Lowerworld, Middleworld and Upperworld) a better place.

Fated was a great read and had a lot of interesting moments which I enjoyed. Alyson's detail throughout Fated was just as good as it was in her previous novels so I wasn't even a little bit disappointed, Fated is just as unique as the Immortals series because it doesn't have vampires or werewolves like most novels out in the world today.

I am looking forward to getting started on Echo 

If your an Alyson Noel fan you will enjoy the first installment of the Soul Seekers.

To Be Read December

This month I plan to read the following books:

1. Fated - Alyson Noel
2. Echo - Alyson Noel
3. Unsaid Things - Mcfly
4. Camelot's Cousin - David. R. Stokes (review book)

As the last few months I have planned to read books but I never ended up getting round to reading them because of uni this month is different I have half of December off uni so I will have more time to read and won't have to go uni or do work and stuff instead.

Reading, Uni, writing and more reading

This post isn't really all that book related but I have read a little. This week has been a pretty good week for me and my creative mind as I have done a lot of writing on my latest work in progress (I say latest because I have so many incomplete pieces of work) haha.

Over the weekend I finally got round to start reading Fated by Alyson Noel I read the first 100ish pages and I also managed to get a lot of writing done for the first time in months (which I really need to type up onto my laptop instead of handwriting)

Monday my lecture was cancelled because the tutor was ill so after I got back from shopping I sat and read some more of Fated and did some uni homework.

I had uni on Tuesday so I didn't get to read that much even thought I could have read it on the train but it was raining so I left the book at home and when I got home I was to tired to read.

Wednesday was my day off but I wasn't feeling to well so I slept most of the day but I managed to read a few more pages of Fated and got a page or two of writing done.

Today I didn't go into uni as I still felt ill so I managed to read more of Fated and get a few more pages of my little work in progress done. My work in progress is going a bit slow now because I don't know what I want to happen next.

There is no uni tomorrow because it has rained that much today that the main roads are flooded and closed and the trains have been cancelled which means I can now finish Fated and maybe look through my writing and see if I can change it and make it work a bit.

I was thinking of when I have sorted my work in progress out and know that it is working of posting a chapter or just a few pages of it on my blog so people can read it and maybe tell me what they think and what they would like to see happen next but I probably won't only one person ever reads my stuff and that is the person who runs the blog called Loaded Shelves

Hopefully by Monday I will have finished Fated and have written another chapter or two of my work in progress.

Cover Art - Mystic by Alyson Noel

I am happy to share the cover art for the next book in the Soul Seeker series Mystic. So far this cover is by far the best of the three. 

Synopsis
Since arriving in Enchantment, New Mexico, everything in Daire Santos life has changed. And not all for the better. While she’s come to accept and embrace her new powers as a Soul Seeker, Daire struggles with the responsibility she holds navigating between the worlds of the living and the dead. And with the fate of her boyfriend Dace in the balance, Daire must put aside her personal feelings and focus on defeating Cade, whose evil plans threaten everyone she loves and the world as she knows it.

Don’t miss book three in Alyson Noël’s pulse-pounding Soul Seekers series!

The release date set right now is 7th May 2013 but it may change at anytime between now and then

Top 10 Tuesday

This weeks top 10 Tuesday is top 10 books I want for my birthday

1. Echo - Alyson Noel
2. My Naughty Little Sister - Dorothy Edwards (Love this books)
3. Ascend - Amanda Hocking
4. The Fire Chronicle - John Stephens
5. Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires #13) - Rachel Caine
6. Heat Rises - Richard Castle
7. Frozen Heat - Richard Castle
8. The Anti-Prom - Abby McDonald
9. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
10. My Soul to Take - Rachel Vincent

What books do or did you want for your birthday?

Musing Mondays

What is the most recent book you purchased, or brought home from the local library? What made you pick it? Have you started reading it, right away, or will you wait for a bit?

The most recent book I bought was Echo by Alyson Noel. I bought it because it is the second on the Soul Seeker series. I haven't started reading it yet because 1) its still in the post and 2) I am reading the first book in the series right now.

November TBR

Well I only read one of the three books from last month so this month I am only going to have two books from last month plus a new one on my TBR list for this month and here they are:

1. Fated - Alyson Noel
2. Until I Die - Amy Plum
3. Unsaid things... Our Story - Mcfly

Hopefully I can read them all as I really need to reduce my pile of books.

Wishlist Wednesday's

I have decided to start Wishlist Wednesday. This is where I share a book that is on my wishlist and tell you a bit about them.


Echo by Alyson Noel
The second book in the Soul Seekers series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead by #1 New York Timesbestselling author Alyson Noël!

Daire Santos just saved her grandmother's life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world.

As Daire and Dace's relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all.

Top 10 Tuesday

This is my first top 10 Tuesday and today's topic is going to be:

Top 10 series I want to read before I'm 30.

1. Twilight Saga - Stephanie Meyer
2. The Morganville Vampires - Rachel Caine
3. Unremembered - Jessica Brody
4. The Vampire Diaries - L. J. Smith
5. Soul Seekers - Alyson Noel
6. The Last Vampire - Christopher Pike
7. The Hunger Games - Susanne Collins
8. Evernight - Claudia Gray
9. Winter Trilogy - Ruth Warburton
10. Trylle Trilogy - Amanda Hocking

I do have more that I want to read but these are the main ones. There not in a certain order but these are the series I'm looking forward to reading in the next 5 years. Leave a message and let me know your top 10 series.

October TBR

Because I have so many books on my to be read pile I have decided that this month I am going to read the following books to help get this pile of books down.

1. Everlasting - Alyson Noel
2. Karma Club - Jessica Brody
3. Fated - Alyson Noel

Although October is the start of Uni for me I will have plenty of time on the train everyday to read so I am hoping that I can read these books and possibly more. It will help me achieve my goodreads challenge if I can read these this month :)