The Crown by Kiera Cass (The Selection #5)

This is a review of The Crown by Kiera Cass. I reviewed the book The Heir by Kiera Cass several months ago and it does need to be read before this one so you can understand what is going on. The Crown is the conclusion to the Heir. Since it has been so long since I read The Heir I decided to re-read it first to refresh my memory.

We pick up in this book right where the previous book left off. Eadlyn’s mother has just had a heart attack and Eadlyn steps in as regent to rule for her father so he can stay with her mother. Eadlyn decides to do a mass elimination of the men in her Selection and she sends them all home except for 6 of them. She has some feelings for all of the ones that stay and she is torn because she doesn’t know who to choose. She spends more time with each of the men and slowly starts realizing who she is really in love with.  

 One of the men comes to her and tells her he and another candidate want to leave the Selection because they are in love with each other. Eadlyn just wants them to be happy so she agrees to let both of them leave.

Eadlyn talks with her father and they decide that she should take over as queen so her mother and father can rest, be less stressed, and enjoy their life as a married couple. Preparations begin for her coronation as queen. Hale, one of the men from the Selection is a tailor and he saves the day when Eadlyn’s coronation gown busts a seam.  Her coronation goes smoothly and it is at the coronation where she truly realizes exactly who she is in love with.  She is in love with Erik, who is not involved in her Selection except to be Henri’s translator. She feels that she can’t have the man that she is really in love with so she must make a choice between Henri and Kile. I felt absolutely certain that she was going to select Kile for her husband but she selects Henri instead. Henri is delighted to be engaged to Eadlyn.

Before the official announcement of her engagement Eadlyn talks with her father and he tells her to follow her heart and to marry who she wants despite the rules of the Selection. Eadlyn is still prepared to marry Henri but Henri realizes that she loves Erik more than she loves him so he encourages her to marry Erik instead because he wants both of them to be happy.  Eadlyn publically announces the engagement to Erik and she also makes another announcement that stuns everyone. (You will have to read it for this announcement).

My recommendation: Read this one. You must read The Heir first because you will not be able to follow the story if you don’t.

The Darkest Torment by Gena Showalter (A Lords of the Underworld Novel)

This is a review of The Darkest Torment by Gena Showalter. This is a Lords of the Underworld novel. We finally have Baden’s long awaited story. Baden has been returned from Purgatory and is once again back among the lords. He no longer has the demon of Distrust inside him but something much more dangerous.

There is a war waging between Hades and his son Lucifer.  Baden gets stuck working on the side of Hades because Hades is the one that has restored him to his former self through a pair of serpentine wreaths that he wears on his arms. As long as he wears these wreaths on his arms, he will be in flesh form. There is a secret though to the wreaths that shocks Baden to his core when he finds out the truth about them. (You have to read the book to find out the secret about them because I won’t tell). 

Baden is on a mission that Hades has given him and he (along with Torin and William) interrupt a wedding where they find Katarina. Katarina has just married a very powerful and dangerous drug dealer naked Aleksander because he was threatening to harm the one thing that meant the most to her (her dogs).  The reason the wedding was interrupted was because Aleksander has a coin that is very important to Hades that he wants back. Aleksander refuses to give up the coin so after a mass slaughter of Aleksander’s people, Baden takes Katarina.  Katarina soon finds out that Aleksander has killed her dogs and she shuts down and sinks into a depression. Baden gets her through it and finally she starts trusting him some. She gets two new dogs very reluctantly. Her new dogs have a secret too that she is shocked when she finds out.

Cameo, the keeper of the Demon of Misery steals the 3 artifacts that the Lords have collected so far because she is desperate to find Lazarus once again because she knows Lazarus is her one chance at happiness. She uses the artifacts to start her search for Lazarus so I’m sure we will be getting her story soon.

Gillian becomes very ill and William takes her to a realm where the Lords can’t find her. Gillian and William both learn she is dying. William finds out that the only way he can save her is to bond to her but he refuses to do it. He wants his father Hades to save her but he refuses. Gillian meets a satyr named Pukkin that comes to her rescue. He bonds with her with her permission in order to save her life. William goes ballistic when this happens and it takes multiple Lords to restrain him.  Will William go after Gillian since he is hopelessly in love with her or will he admit defeat and let Pukkin have her?   I look forward to the rest of this story in a future book.

After the fortress is attacked by Lucifer’s minions, Baden takes Katarina and her dogs someplace safer. Baden has started to fall for Katarina and she for him. Baden is soon trying to find a missing Aleksander since they were holding him hostage at the fortress when it was attacked and left in rubble. Baden is engaged in a battle with Pandora to earn Hades’ favor and soon learns that she has Aleksander because she is looking for the coin too. Pandora manages to lose Aleksander though and he eventually attacks Katarina and her dogs however, Katarina has a nasty surprise for Aleksander when she kills him and takes the coin.  Katarina wants to meet with Hades and she does once she finds the coin. She physically fights Hades while Baden has to stand by and watch because Hades has immobilized him. Baden absorbs the serpentine wreaths he is wearing into his skin thereby making him become Hades’ son. Katarina manages to best Hades and he grants her immortality. Pandora is allowed to stay in the underworld to have her own realm to rule.

My recommendation: These are only some of the highlights of this book but there is so much more going on.  This is a must read but you need to read the previous books in the series before reading this one or you will be totally lost and not have a clue what is going on or who the characters are.

See Me by Nicholas Sparks

This is a review of See Me by Nicholas Sparks. Nicholas Sparks is one of my absolute favorite authors. I read this whole book in one sitting.  It's a little slow going at the beginning but the pace definitely picks up and you will be glad you stuck with it.

Maria is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the first one in her family to have graduated college. Maria works as a lawyer at a very prestigious law firm. She has a chance encounter with a man named Colin one night. She suffers a flat tire on her way home one night. Colin sees her pulled over on the side of the road and struggling to change her tire. He stops to help. Maria is terrified of him because he has some pretty nasty cuts and bruises on his face. Colin is an amateur MMA fighter and has just come from a match. Maria instantly thinks he is trouble. He helps her change her tire and goes on his way.

Maria tells her sister Serena of the encounter and her sister realizes that Colin a classmate of hers in a couple of her college classes. Serena manages to engineer a meeting between Maria and Colin by having her sister meet her for a meal at the bar where Colin works.  After the meal Serena leaves to meet up with some friends and Maria runs into Colin on the pier where he is fishing after getting off of work. Maria and Colin begin talking and he tells her of his troubled past and how he has turned his life around. He is just one step away from going to prison but if he can stay out of trouble for 5 years his criminal record will be completely expunged. He is currently going to college because he wants to become a third grade teacher and he knows he can’t do it if he has a criminal record. Colin and Maria decide to see each other again.

As they spend more and more time together they begin to fall in love with each other. Maria’s life and safety are threatened by a stalker from her past and she leans on Colin for support and strength. Colin almost loses it a few times and almost gets arrested because he is trying to save Maria. Colin and Maria go through an absolute nightmare with her stalker. She knows who he is but has trouble getting the police to believe her at first. Once the officer in charge starts investigating the case he realizes there is more to the case than it seems. The officer is the same officer that is always hassling Colin and trying to arrest him because he doesn’t like him and thinks Colin should be locked up. As the officer continues to investigate the case, he gets shot and Colin and his friend Evan save his life.  Another officer takes over the case and they think that they have the case solved once the suspect is apprehended but they soon realize that there is a partner involved as well. Colin knows there is something about the case that isn’t right but he can’t figure it out. He eventually makes the connection and arrives on the scene just in time to save Maria’s sister Serena. Colin gets injured badly but he lives and the cop that he saved has quit hassling him as well.  Colin and Maria get their happy ending as do their friends.

My recommendation: This is a must read.

Finding Center by Katherine Locke (The District Ballet Company Book #2)

I am going to give this review another try. I normally type my reviews in Microsoft Word before posting but my laptop decided it was going to eat my post before I could save it. Unfortunately, Word did not auto save the document so I must take make another attempt at this review

This is my review of Finding Center by Katherine Locke. This is book 2 of The District Ballet Company. This is the conclusion to Aly's and Zed's story. The events in this story take place approximately two years after the events of Second Position.

Aly is now dancing full time with the District Ballet Company. Zed is still teaching his high school classes. Aly is in a good place with her mental health but events happen that almost send her spiraling out of control. She becomes ill but manages to recover only to find out that the reason for the illness is because she is pregnant. She is apprehensive about telling Zed about the pregnancy at first but her therapist manages to convince her he needs to know. She tells him and he is overjoyed at the news that Aly is pregnant. They are both happy that she is pregnant but both scared that something will happen to this baby like the first baby Aly was pregnant with. They have a scare early on in the pregnancy where Aly thinks she is miscarrying but it turns out to be a false alarm. Aly has not told her parents about the pregnancy yet but she tells her mom and her partner about the pregnancy after the scare. She is told to rest for a few days so she does that. She decides to hide her pregnancy for as long as possible so she can continue to dance. Aly is devastated when her boss finds out she is pregnant before she tells him. He informs her that he must give her roles to another ballerina because he says he cannot let her dance any role that might be a risk to her or the baby for liability reasons but still lets her dance one role. He modifies that role some so it won’t have any lifts or other acrobatics in it. Aly feels like her career is slipping away from her due to her pregnancy. Zed is keeping a huge secret from Aly and she knows he is keeping something from her. Zed even proposes but Aly turns him down.

Aly is very nervous about telling her father about the pregnancy but once she does he is ecstatic that he will have a grandchild. Zed is nervous about telling his parents as well but once he tells them, it is the beginning of a reconciliation with his parents as well.

Meanwhile, Zed feels like he is spiraling out of control as well. He realizes that he should be happy because he has Aly back in his life, a job he loves, and a baby on his life. He feels lost and empty though until it finally hits him that the reason he is so unhappy is because he misses being able to dance. Zed goes to see his doctor and gets his new prosthetic leg fitted with a new ankle joint that will allow him to attempt to dance again. He starts taking ballet lessons to learn how to dance again. He feels exhilarated that he is able to do what he loves again but he keeps it from Aly that he is dancing again. He knows that he will never be a dancer of his previous caliber again but he is happy just to be dancing again. He feels complete having ballet back in his life. He feels like it will send Aly spiraling out of control if she knows that he is dancing again when she is struggling to hold onto her dancing because of the pregnancy. Aly eventually learns that Zed is dancing again and she is happy for him. She also comes up with the idea that he join her in her upcoming performance that she will be dancing in. Her ballet director approves this change and the two work hard to get their routine perfect. Opening night of the ballet arrives. Aly and Zed dance and wow the audience. At the end of the performance Zed once again proposes to Aly and she says yes this time. Aly and Zed have a beautiful healthy baby girl. Aly returns to the stage after her maternity leave is up while Zed continues to teach and dance as well.

My recommendation: Definitely read this one but be sure to reading Turning Pointe first and then Second Position before starting this one.