Waiting on Wednesday-Jana Oliver's Briar Rose

No post yesterday, because I spent all night adding a year's worth of reviews to the giant list. And it made me realise how many I'd written. Four hours in which my love of Cabin Pressure messed with my knowledge of the alphabet. 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we show off books that we want to read but have not been published yet. 

Title:  Briar Rose
Author:  Jana Oliver
Release Date: 13 September 2013 by Macmillan
Link to / Summary from Goodreads: 
For Briar Rose, life is anything but a fairy tale. She's stuck in a small town in deepest Georgia with parents who won't let her out of their sight, a bunch of small-minded, gossiping neighbours and an evil ex who's spreading nasty rumours about what she may or may not have done in the back of his car. She's tired of it all, so when, on her sixteenth birthday, her parents tell her that she is cursed and will go to sleep for a hundred years when the clock strikes midnight, she's actually kind of glad to leave it all behind. She says her goodbyes, lies down, and closes her eyes . . . And then she wakes up. Cold, alone and in the middle of the darkest, most twisted fairy tale she could ever have dreamed of. Now Briar must fight her way out of the story that has been created for her, but she can't do it alone. She never believed in handsome princes, but now she's met one her only chance is to put her life in his hands, or there will be no happy ever after and no waking up.
Why I want it: I love fairy tale retellings. I love Jana Oliver. Put them together...I won't be missing this!

What are YOU waiting on this week?

Book Review- Foretold by Jana Oliver

So the world didn't end... yay!

Title: Foretold

 Author:  Jana Oliver

Series:   The Demon Trappers

Published:  2 August 2012 by Macmillan

Length: 416 pages

Warnings:  non-graphic sex, violence

Source: Publishers

Other info: The other books in this series are Forsaken, Forbidden, Forgiven. Foretold is the last in the series. Clicking on names leads to my reviews.

Summary :  Riley faces the final battle for humanity and Beck's heart—and Hell is the least of her problems
Now that Riley’s managed to (just barely) fend off Armageddon, everything’s changed. Well . . . most things. After their passionate kiss before the big battle in the cemetery, Beck is back to treating her like a little girl, as if nothing ever happened. While she’d love to just tell him off and move on, Riley vowed to take care of Beck the way he’s taken care of her since her father’s death—but she’s about to get a whole lot more than she bargained for. When she’s commissioned to go with Beck to his hometown and help him care for his dying mother, they stumble too close to a dark and murderous secret, one that Beck fears will drive Riley away from him forever. As chaos breaks loose, Riley may be Beck's only hope for redemption . . . and survival.

Meanwhile, up in Atlanta, it’s quickly becoming clear that Heaven may have won a battle, but the war is far from over. Riley and Beck face a stormy future, as Lucifer's ex-right-hand-man, Sartael, proves himself to be more resilient than anyone thought. He has Atlanta in his grip and is about to begin a brutal war with the prince of Hell. As the seconds tick down toward a final confrontation, it's up to Riley and the man she loves to finally defeat their old enemy, or lose everything they've fought for.

Review: I’ve been with this series from the start, so it’s really odd going into this book knowing that it’s the last one. So...yeah. Riley’s come back and the demons are planning their big uprising  and that’s all going to happen.  More important is Beck and Riley, and their relationship. They both realise how much they love each other, but that means that they also can’t hide from their pasts. 

Of the four, this is most definitely the most character driven book. And when I say that, I mean, by one person. Beck really gets the spotlight here, which is nice seeing as he goes through a lot of stuff in the earlier books and we now finally learn all the ins and outs of his backstory-his relationship with his mother, how he was generally brought up. I liked this, but I must say, it felt a bit different in the series. Compared to all the action, it’s both nice and a little bit “oh” to go back to relatively mundane events.

The second half is where it all really kicks off. There was so much happening! We got a lot of demons, both regular pyrofiends and geofiends and such, and a some other things. There’s a huge amount of action- fighting demons, Riley and Ori, and Beck learning to go his own way. There’s some rather intriguing things about the workings of the trappers and the Grand Masters and whatnot, which is good. And Jana’s depiction of Hell is really interesting-a little more on the emotional side of things.

Riley whines a lot in this one. I understand why, with people going missing and nearly dying and the fact that she’s now being expected to fight with Ori randomly and such. But it was a bit annoying. She has matured over the course of the series though. Beck, you just really feel like you have to give him a hug. His characterisation is the best-lots of attention to detail for his personality and thoughts, mainly his pronunciation but also his action tics in general. Ori also has really good scenes. I didn’t like him to start with because he was a bit stalkery and in the first book, useless, but Jana assured me that we’d see more of him further on-and we did. He was handled really well in Foretold and I loved his last scene, even though it was a little sad. But it fit so well with him . All the characters really have developed.

Riley and Beck are perfect for each other! *shipping them hard* They go through lots of things,  but get so much closer and happier.

The ending!!! It works and is so sweet and is also circular format with the start of the series. I’m glad Beck gets his happy ending and is doing well in terms of being a Trapper. The best thing about the ending of this book (and the series) was that it ended in the right place. Jana hasn’t been irritating and dragged out the series longer than it needed  to be. It ended at the right time-when the main story is over we’re satisfied, but still have space for headcanons.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a great ending to a great series. Though we won’t get any more of Riley, I’d definitely like to see more from Jana.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review-Forgiven by Jana Oliver

Title: Forgiven

 Author: Jana Oliver

Series:  The Demon Trappers #3

Published:  1 March 2012

Length: 407 pages

Warnings: Violence

Source: Publisher for review

Other info: the other two books in the series, Forsaken and Forbidden have been reviewed here. Book four, Fortold, should be out later this year.  The US title is the same for once. 

Summary : Riley has made a bargain with Heaven, and now they've come to collect.
Lucifer's finest are ruling the streets and it seems that Armageddon might be even closer than Riley imagined. But with her soul and her heart in play it's all she can do to keep herself alive, let alone save the world. Riley's not afraid of kicking some major demon butt, but when it comes to a battle between Heaven and Hell, she might need a little help...

Review: MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOKS ONE AND TWO. REVIEWS HERE

Since I put down Forbidden, I've been looking forwards to reading this one. To find out what happened to Riley, what happened about her and her relationship with Ori, and what happened with Heaven and Hell and Earth generally. Put very simply, it didn't disappoint, but it didn't blow me away either.

We get right into Riley's life from the start, most likely because, being book 3, you should have read books 1 and 2 and gotten used to her. She's not completely off the hook, but she's doing fairly well. In comparison to how her life could be. In comparison to how her life will be.

It definitely draws you back in to the world of the trappers. And keeps you there. There's a lot of events that keep building up and building up until a really amazing climax.

The old characters are built up even more, especially Beck. I quite like the fact each boy/man in Riley's life gets their own book to shine (or not, in Ori's case). Ori's situation through the majority of the book...was...hard to get used to and imagine. But also quite funny. New characters, I seriously hated Justine, even though we don't see that much of her. She's a very hatable character. Despite this, I'd like to see more of her. Just because she's getting somewhere, and it'll be interesting to see where it all ends up. And Ayden is still my favourite.

The big climax was a little annoying in that I couldn't remember Sartael cropping up in the other books, even in the smallest mention, so when he was brought in as someone quite major, I wasn't sure why I should case about him. Aside  from that, it was really really good. The six pages in which  Lucifer and Michael verbally fight made this book infinitely better.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a great continuation to a fun and clever series. Definitely want to read book four, Fortold.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review-Soul Thief/Forbidden by Jana Oliver

Title: Forbidden aka Soul Thief

 Author: Jana Oliver

Series:  The Demon Trappers #2

Published:  August 5th 2011 by Macmillan 

Length: 416 pages

Warnings: sex implied but fully skipped, romance, demons, violence

Source:Library

Other info: The first book is called Forsaken, aka The Demon Trapper’s Daughter. Book 3 has just had the cover released. Jana Oliver has also written the Time Rovers series.

Summary : Riley's beginning to think being a demon trapper isn't all it's cracked up to be. Her dad's been stolen by a necromancer, her boyfriend's gone all weird and she's getting warm and fuzzy feelings for someone who's seriously bad news. It's tempting to give it all up and try to be normal, but that's not an option. Because the demons have plans for Riley. And they're not the only ones.

Review: **Contains spoilers for book one, which I reviewed here**

As you may or may not remember, I reviewed Book 1, Forsaken or The Demon Trappers Daughter, some time ago(see here). I was excited to read the sequel, which is being reviewed today. So, I was hoping for good things from this.Which I got a lot of.

Riley Blackthorne is back. Her father has been taken and is still missing, boyfriend Simon has changed for the worse since he was almost carved up by a demon, dark mysterious guy Ori shows up more and more,  the Trapper's Guild is trying to blame Riley for the recent slaughter and the Hunters are trying to find proof that Riley made a deal with Hell. Riley could back out of it, but she can't really do that. So on with life she goes, with saving the world rather high on her to do list.

I enjoyed this. More than the first for some reason. Not sure why, but anyway.

True to Jana's word, we see more of Ori. A LOT more of Ori. Which is nice knowing that he does have a purpose than to flatter Riley. To start with, he seems a bit too stalkery. He's always there. But then he starts seeming a bit more important, and one of the things we HAVE to know in book 3 is his story.

The character development was good, as was the undevelopment of Riley and Simon's relationship. Simon's actions were completely unpredictable, and I really felt for Riley. And then she started having a relationship with Ori, which I know was the next logical step but I didn't really enjoy. I'll still ship Riley and Simon together. As long as Simon doesn't suddenly change his mind bed decide he does like Riley and Riley ends up the middle point of a full blown love triangle, I will be fine.

As always, love the tagline. It doesn't fit quite as well for Forbidden, probably because Riley has priorities other than trapping demons. However, it still makes me laugh.

Again, the third person POV was interesting, yet still managed to get Riley's attitude to life and everything going on in it across. It also means we get some scenes which aren't focused on Riley to break it all up now and again.

And as I said before, this ends on a  major cliffhanger on two facets of Riley's story.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to book two in a series that seems to be getting better and better. Can't wait for the third.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Cover to Cover- Reveal of Forgiven!!

Just noticed the cover of Book 3 in the Demon Trappers series....

LOOK!!!!


 I like the return of the model (I think it's the same girl....it looks like it...) and that tagline....I love. It's changed from the first two, which is good. It still looks like it's part of the series. And is still different. It's my favourite cover this series.




And I've just spent a post fangirling over just one cover....actually more the tagline. Still. Love this.
Normal service shall resume some other day.

Book Review: The Demon Trappers Daughter/Forsaken by Jana Oliver

Title:  The Demon Trapper’s Daughter aka Forsaken (US/UK titles respectively)

Author: Jana Oliver

Series: The Demon Trappers #1

Published: February 7th 2011 by MacMillan Children's Books

Length: 448 pages

Warnings:  demons, witches, magic, a bit of romance

Other info: The website is http://www.demontrappers.co.uk , and you can find Jana Oliver here. Book 2, Soul Thief/Forbidden, should be out in August.

Summary: Riley has always wanted to be a Demon Trapper like her father, and she's already following in his footsteps as one of the best. But it's tough being the only girl in an all-guy world, especially when three of those guys start making her life more complicated: Simon, the angelic apprentice who has heaven on his side; Beck, the tough trapper who thinks he's God's gift, and Ori, the strikingly sexy stranger who keeps turning up to save her ass. One thing's for sure - if she doesn't keep her wits about her there'll be hell to pay...