The Wondrous and The Wicked by Page Morgan (Review)

Genre:	YA, Paranormal
Publication Date:	April 14, 2015
Pages:	352
Published By:	Doubleday Canada
Series:	The Dispossessed #3
Review copy:	From Random House Canada for honest review

Buy it:
Amazon ~ Chapters ~ B&N 

Since the Waverlys arrived in Paris, the streets have grown more fearsome by the day. As Ingrid learns to master her lectrux gift, she must watch Axia's power grow strong enough to extend beyond her Underneath hive. By all indications, the fallen angel's Harvest is near-and the timing couldn't be worse.

Targeted by vengeful gargoyles, Gabby has been exiled to London for her own protection. Meanwhile, the gargoyle castes are in disarray, divided between those who want Luc to lead them and those who resent him and his fondness for humans. The Alliance is crumbling from the inside as well, its members turning against one another, and possibly against the Waverlys, too.

Axia has promised that the world will burn. And now, unable to trust the Alliance, separated from Luc, Gabby, and her twin, Grayson, Ingrid is left to face the demon uprising alone.

  A swell of nausea and exhaustion, chased by more pain, brought Ingrid's head back to the dirt floor.  She couldn't move.  And if she couldn't move, she certainly couldn't fight.  It was too late anyway.  It was over.  Axia had won.

  "I'm a criminal," Grayson said, his heart gaining speed and his body growing warm from the way Chelle was looking at him.  "I took a life, just as brutally as any rogue gargoyle.  Why trust me?"

  "I love you, Gabby."
  Air.  There wasn't enough of it.  Nolan stood a moment while Gabby stared up at him, stunned speechless, just as she'd been the first time he'd said the words to her.

  It is so hard for me to finish a series.  Unless it is a stand alone, I seriously put off reading that last book.  This is a serious problem I have only recently begun to recognize and correct.  Though Morgan's series isn't the first I have decided to finish this year, it has proven to be one of the many reasons why I have problems doing so.  Finishing the Dispossessed trilogy left me both happy and torn.  

  What always sweeps me away when starting these books, is the strikingly beautiful writing.  Morgan has a perfectly flowing and intriguing way of telling a story, pulling you deeper in with each chapter, each page.  There was a lot of build up leading to this epic conclusion, and a lot that I wanted to happen and I couldn't figure out how it could all happen in 352 pages.  Needless to say I got basically everything I had hoped for and a whole lot that I hadn't seen coming.  The best part of this was quite possibly the fact that all of this was wonderfully paced from start to finish.  Yes, there are times that the action is amped and you fly through the pages a little quicker, but honestly the entire book was page turning.  Merge this with the fact that the characters basically all rose to their full potential, and you have a stunning final read.

  Ingrid has grown leaps and bounds since the starting of this trilogy.  She may still be a society woman but she is also so much more than that, and knows that she no longer fits where she once did in England.  Paris has pushed her to her limit and has made her stronger for it.  Though there were times that I wanted her to step past the romance she worried about so often with Luc, I also grew to understand the love that she had developed.  There were times that I think that love made her a little bit stronger, if not for the simple reason that it gave her a deeper understanding of the world she had by plunged into.  In her final battle there were so many times she could have given in, given up, but she pushed through.  With this there was victory but there was also loss, and my heart went to her for both.  From start to finish Ingrid proved not to be perfect, but she was the type of heroine that I thoroughly enjoy. 

  Though Ingrid is undoubtedly the star of the books, I have to point out that both Gabby and Greyson shine in their own way.  Admittedly I completely adore Gabby and love reading her.  She is the quirky and strong character that is almost always underestimated, and even that is an understatement with her.  Gabby has basically gotten the shortest end of the stick at every turn, and yet there was no point in which she backed down.  This is a character that I would adore a spin off with her at the centre of it, because I believe that she has so much more to offer.  With Gabby's secondary voice, there was also Greyson's point of view and this was something that I greatly enjoyed as he had not been as prominent in the previous novels.  I enjoyed him because I liked that he was not painted as the strong and heroic brother.  Though he did love and care for his sisters, he was not as confident in his blood and his ability to accept what he truly was.  Although this may not seem like the type of person you would be riveted by, I enjoyed it every single time he graced the pages.

  Teeming with action, romance and character growth, The Wondrous and The Wicked was a wonderfully though out conclusion to this trilogy.  I enjoyed how everything ended, even if at the same time my heart bled a little.  Morgan is an author that I will be keeping my eye on, and I hope to read more from her in the future.  I highly recommend that the previous two books be read before this one, and if you already have those two started or read this is not a book to put off.  Recommend for people that enjoy paranormal reads, or are looking for a trilogy that will keep her captivated from start to finish.

Rebellion by J.A. Souders (Review)

Genre:	YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Publication Date:	July 12, 2016
Pages:	336
Published By:	Tor Teen
Series	The Elysium Chronicles #3
Review copy:	Won (Goodreads First Reads)

Buy it:
Amazon ~ B&N ~ Chapters

In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.

Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?

Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.

  Mother always said, "Sacrifices must be made for the greater good."  But I've learned that the reward for those sacrifices is minuscule compared to the price we pay.  

  In any deal, if you play your cards right, there's always a way to win.  Even if you have to cheat a little to get it.

I am Evie, but I'm also the Daughter of the People.  I am no one and someone.  I am the people's voice.  And I will take Mother's city out from underneath her, remove her support system before she even knows there's a problem.  Then, when I'm ready, I'll yank the rug out from underneath her and watch her fall.

 I have adored this trilogy since the first book, and was highly anticipating this release.  Basically I was checking the mail daily when I found out that I had won it from Goodreads, First Reads program.  I did read my previous reviews and part of Revelations to try and bring myself back up to speed, but three years is a long time to build anticipation and a few times I just ended up feeling lost.

  The plot were basically on point for the most part.  There were a few times that I kind of scratched my head and pondered, but I banked it on the fact that it had been awhile since I actually read both books.  I found somethings didn't seem to have much of a resolution, and was having a hard time tying the threads of certain things together.  This being said I did enjoy how it was written.  There weren't many chance for the story to become stagnant and there was definitely a constant building of anticipation.  However, in the end the anticipation felt like a big fat lie.  It was like telling me there was a damn rainbow at the end of the storm only to be told, surprise it's an entirely new storm!

  Evie has always been an enjoyable character for me.  She has her strengths and her weakness but you knew you could depend on her.  I did expect her to work on some of her weaknesses with the ending of the trilogy, and everything that was expected of her. This is a character that has overcome brainwashing, a memory wipe and basically several tragic events and yet in the end I was disappointed that she was so often unsure of herself and her decisions.  To a point it made sense in the end, but at the same time that just made it all worse.  I really don't know how to explain it.  Evie didn't regress as a character but she didn't grow as much as I would have liked.

  Gavin and Asher will really given a chance to shine in this book.  More so Gavin, lets face it he's the love interest but I think we got to see more of him.  In finding more about Gavin we find more about Asher.  It's interesting the way that Sounders kind of twists their history into the present and into what Gavin really needs to know.  This is a little more complicated than I can explain without spoiling everything.  Though once again when everything ended, I'm not really sure how his parts came to be.  However, Gavin and Asher are by far my favorite to read and learn about.  There's something about these guys that just draws me.  I'm glad that things kind of worked out for them...maybe.

  Overall I can accept that this was the end, but only simply because I have to.  When I started to feel that everything was complete, I was thrown.  I really have so many conflicted feelings about this being the final book and the last big twist it took.  I did enjoy the ride...But as you can tell I'm having issues with the last bump.  For people that have been fans of this trilogy like me I think it's defiantly worth picking up.  The feeling of being left on a cliff may just be me, and I wouldn't want someone to miss out because of how I felt.