Photo credits: Goran Horvat Edited by Vaishali Title: ‘Wicked' Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout Series: (Wicked Trilogy #1) Genre: Urban Fantasy, New Adult, Fae, Paranormal romance Publisher: Jennifer L. Armentrout Year of Publication: 2014 Version: Paperback ISBN: 9780988982956 R E V I E W... Set in New Orleans, 21-year-old hearty Ivy Morgan is a member of a secret organisation that hunts and kills the intruding fae who once breached centuries-closed-gateways, escaping from their homeland of the Otherworld. Depending on humans for sustenance, the fae enslave and feed off of their bodies until they are reduced to doltish entropy. An iron stake through the heart is all it takes to send them to whence they came, but its not enough to remove the scarcest and deadliest breed of the fae - the ancients - from plaguing the city, ancients who not even among the Order are believed to exist in this realm. Secret: they do. Another secret? they have their sights set on claiming the mortal realm. ‘I’d made major mistakes in my life and people paid the price in blood.’ Having a special kind of hatred for the creatures who reduced her life to a self-inflicted remoteness, a lonesomeness and a stubborn propensity to bar all from ever entering her personal world, Ivy safeguards the unwitting nation from these manipulative, ethereal beings who are well-planted in every nook and cranny of the earth, hidden from most and blending into the very society who knows nothing of their existence here or just how much danger they are in. Shot by a rare ancient one night, Ivy starts to unravel the realities of what is lurking through the shadows on this earth and just how much jeopardy all are in. ‘We lived with death and we knew it waited for each and every one of us. We were taught not to fear the inevitable, but again, what we were never taught was how to live on when those around us left.’ Gutsy, and a lively spirit though she is, Ivy is a young woman, a young girl who has known demoralising loss, walking through her life with a cargo of secrets on her shoulders and blood on her hands that she can’t quite wash away, despite the approaching storm heading her way…and the secrets just keep on building. Though her duty is to the order she was born into, Ivy is sorrowed that her secrets keep her from having a normal life, that her life was always meant to be dedicated to this organisation that does so much good for its citizens, but Ivy covets diversity. She wants more than what was already chosen for her. The storm has a name, Ren, the storm also has eyes the colour of lightest emerald that see Ivy with a strange, unsettling clarity and Ren wants nothing more than to embrace Ivy through thunder and lightning. “I’m a lot of things, but today I’m your fucking saving grace.” ‘Hair plastered from the rain and rivulets running down his face, he looked like a god of the sea.’ The right amount a cocky and charming, Ren is a transfer to the Order, paired with Ivy – much to her dismay – to patrol and hunt the fae through the nights. As light-hearted as he seems, as teasingly flirtatious as he is with Ivy, Ren has surprises of his own and a purpose he can’t forgo, secrets that change not only Ivy’s guarded life, but the state of the current world. Loaded with concealment, most are suspect, trust is a friable thing not to be given out freely, and Ivy is warring with inborn want and what her duty symbolises. Ivy doesn’t like that this attractive, inviting man is sparking long-buried emotions in her, not wanting to recognise what he is bringing out in her, not when her past won’t let her, and tomorrow is unconfirmed. “You are bizarre.” “I think you kind of like my bizarreness.” “I don’t know you well enough to like anything about you.” “Now you know that’s not true. You know I’m from Colorado. I use a lot of sugar in my coffee. I steal bacon.” He dropped his voice. “And you know I hand out cheek kisses to those in need of them.” Not sure whether her heart has more room to store further loss, and if her mind has the endurance to want to go on if loss were to show its hollow face again, Ivy wills her own seclusion, fanning out her thorny branches, but her complex, growing feelings for Ren stalk her like a floating shadow, and the man himself never lets her forget it. Ren and Ivy’s relationship starts out facetious, lust-addled, reeling In desirability, but as they become drenched in the truth, and when the storm finally cracks and lightning assaults, it brings out the best in them, the depth in them and the love in them. “If you tell me to leave, I’ll turn and walk away. I swear that, Ivy, but I had to try one more time. I’m not going to possibly go to my grave without trying. Please. Don’t let me go.” Reintroduced to the affections and interaction of being with and wanting another person after depriving - but craving - herself of ‘normalcy’ for three years, Ivy is learning how to acquaint herself and her life with the novelty of excitement, walking the awkward line of romance and making space for Ren in her wispy, compressed heart. This is about a protagonist opening herself to living and wanting, to give herself the chance for her hidden courage to stem through and say ‘I’m terrified but my fraught past is now gone and the anxiety-inducing future isn’t yet here so I’m going to take the ephemeral life that I have and try to live for what a moment can gift me’ with the help of a man who encourages her and shakes her fears to sleep. As expert as she is in all things responsibility, it was endearing to study Ivy’s more defenceless, untried side, her naivety where romance was concerned and her indecision in the social norms and acceptances of what is required in a relationship, and Ren is nothing less than caring and thoughtful in holding Ivy’s hand through it all, especially when Ivy’s remorse needs unleashing. “Maybe neither of us can truly forgive ourselves. Sometimes we do things or we enable things to happen that we can never go back and change. Maybe our shit choices aren’t truly forgivable, and the only thing we can do is learn from them and not make them again.” Reporting to a brutish and aggressive leader who is as hard as iron, Ivy is surrounded by members who see her as a crazy, weak woman, and I have a special energy and bias for female leads who always prove their underestimating companions and counterparts wrong, which is something Ivy never shies away from. I love reading about strong females, stand-up-for-themselves females who do not see other females as a threat, and badass, kickass females who change worlds without intending to, make worlds and break worlds without realising it, and Ivy seems to be following those footfalls. We have a bisexual best friend uncluttered in her sexual freedom, a delightfully dramatic, sugar-crazed, harry potter loving brownie companion who pulled many laughs from me and is my favourite brownie thus far in fiction, and a swoon-worthy male lead who I’m not reprehensible to admit has made it onto the shamelessly growing list of book boyfriends! “Oh, sweetness, you did wrong in all the right ways." A darkening disquiet is settling over New Orleans, and in Ivy’s line of work where death can happen at a moment’s notice and lives are not sworn, she is about to embark on something that requires more bravery than her obligation as an enforcer. Paranormal action following a paranormal romance, ‘Wicked’ is wickedly sinful, wickedly witty and wickedly menacing. This story is a page turner with great pacing, building impetus, namely at the halfway point when things get serious, emotions become deeper, fears become stronger, and Ivy is drowning in a rippling sea of secrets and dishonesty, and Ren is her only anchor, but an anchor that could also pull her deeper into the nadirs of endless and free-flowing waters. Strong and diffident, bright and naïve, frank and a forthright fireball, Ivy is everything that her wrongs made her, the opposite of all that is good about her and the defiance of all that is flawed about her. Though one can predict certain deductions in this story it didn’t contain my astonishment when the truth unfolded. Quirky, adorably funny and admirably fiery, Ivy is a relatable character. Great banter, cheeky flirting, this is a great and easy read that builds into something perfidious, ending in one hell of a concluding cliff-hanger. ‘When it came to everything with Ren, I was most definitely still floating underwater, but I wasn’t alone.’ ‘I repeated his words from earlier. “Don’t let me go.” His eyes flared as he stared at me intently. “Never.” I gave this book 4 stars - --------------------------------------- M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- __________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● 'Torn' by Jennifer L. Armentrout ● 'Brave' by Jennifer L. Armentrout __________________________________ THIS SECTION MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Favourite Parts/Things I liked: 1) Ivy kneeing Trent in the groin. 2) Everything Tink says and does! 3) Tink’s unconditional sugar addiction and dramatisation. 4) Dimples… 5) When Ren gives Ivy the blue flower. 6) Ren is amazing! 7) When Ren tells Ivy about his friend Noah. 8) When Ivy explains to Ren what really happened to her foster parents and Shaun. 9) Though the sex scenes and that of intimacy are steamy, the sex is consensual and safe what with talk of protection. The male lead is considerate and careful knowing the female is somewhat inexperienced in that area, and there is always positive thoughtful dialogue, Ren always asking how Ivy is feeling, whether she is okay. 10) Ren’s first meeting with Tink. 11) Ren taking care of Ivy after the incident. F A V O U R I T E Q U O T E S: “But you got one hell of a bite- a kick to that sweetness. It’ll be rough getting in there, and you’re going to fight it every step of the way, but it’ll be smooth once I’m there.” My eyes grew to the size of saucers. There were no words. None whatsoever. “You like me.” Letting go, he smiled up at me, that angelic face a picture of innocence. “You just aren’t ready to admit it.” All I could think as I gawked at him was, what an observant son of a bitch.’ “You are absolutely beautiful, Ivy.” “What I know is that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. There is no promise there will be another day or week for us. When you want something, you go for it. I don’t need to know your life story to want you.” “Do you really ever lose anyone, Ivy? They may be gone, but they still exist.” My lips trembled as I struggled to keep myself under control. He brought my hands to his chest, above his heart. “They still live here. They always will.” “Sweetness, you can’t hold your life back on a bunch of what ifs. Who the hell knows what could happen? Either one of us could walk out of this house and get struck by lightning, or both of us could live until we’re ninety. Tomorrow we could die or we could come back here. We don’t know. Sliding his hands up to my cheeks, he lowered his forehead to mine. “But we’re both here right now and that’s all that matters. The right now.” “The right now?” “Yeah. Right now. We’re both here. That’s all that matters, and I can’t promise that I’m not going anywhere, but I’m going to try damn hard not to. That is one thing I’m going to tell you to trust.” “Did you think you’d get rid of me that easily?” Ren smiled, showing off his dimples. “Honey, that’s the last thing I ever want.” I love interacting with fellow readers, reviewers, bloggers and writers. Hearing about reader opinion is the fuel to my reader appetite, so get in touch and comment below! SHARE ON FACEBOOK L E A V E A C O M M E N T A N D L E T' S T A L K A B O U T |
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