In Five Years - Rebecca Serle

Where do you see yourself in five years? What is your long term plan? Do you have a long term plan, or do you not think that far ahead?

"In Five Years" by Rebecca Serle makes her readers think about these questions, and whether or not there is room for deviation. Are you the kind of person who just knows what you're meant to do? Dannie is. She is in line for the perfect job, and dating the perfect guy who she knows will propose to her exactly at the right time for them, and they'll live in the perfect apartment on Central Park, and the world will be theirs. However, the night after the interview for the perfect job to launch her lawyer career, Dannie falls asleep and wakes up five years in the future with a different man, a different apartment, and completely disoriented. How is this possible? Dannie falls asleep once more and wakes back up in her 'normal' life, but with the memories of a completely different future.

I started reading this novel thinking that I was going to find a woman whose future changes dramatically, and to watch as certain events changed her life. I thought this was going to be a magical love story. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I was totally wrong. This is a love story, 100%, but not the kind you're thinking about. No spoilers here.

I loved this story so much. I started reading it on the beach at 9:00 am, and finished it by 3:00 pm. A lady on the beach asked me how I felt about it, and I completely gushed over it. She told me it'd come up on her social media and she couldn't wait to read it, so when I was finished I walked over to her and gave her the book with the hope that she'll pass it on to someone else once she's finished.

TL;dr - read this unconventional love story, come back and tell me your thoughts about it, and where you see yourself In Five Years. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Kingdom of Ice & Bone - Jill Criswell

Sequel to Beasts of the Frozen Sun, I couldn’t wait to read this next segment of Lira and Reyker’s journey. I wondered how they’d find their way back to each other and how they’d be able to defeat Draki, the Dragon war lord set to conquer the world.  

This being the second book in a trilogy, I knew that at the end of this novel I would be left with more questions than answers. I also knew that there wouldn’t be a resolution or happy ending to this story, because our hero and heroine would need to be at the bottom of the barrel emotionally to be able to rise up and overcome  adversity, but I wasn’t expecting the actual way this book ended. I wasn’t anticipating how sad I would be to read how things played out. How will we come back from this!?!

The beginning of Kingdom starts with Lira and Reyker separated and both assuming the other is dead. They both believe theyve watched each other’s demise. They make promises to the other in their mind to live for them and to protect and help their people. On their separate paths they start to learn that maybe the other is alive, which sets them on a journey to find each other. Reyker works with the Dragon’s enemies to attempt to overthrow him, while Lira is with the Dragon and resisting his advances and trying to figure out a way to escape his control. 

Jill Criswell does a really nice job creating new worlds and helping readers visualize her scenery through words. I wish I had Wraith and Vengence of my very own, and to be able to visit Stony Harbor or the glacier in Iseneld. 

Kingdom did start a little slow for me, and took me about 20% to actually get hooked into the story. There wasn’t much of a recap from Beasts, so if you’re reading this with a gap you may want to reread the last few chapters of book 1 to ensure you’re caught up on the small details.  I also, selfishly, wish there was more romance in this book because I love love. This book focused a lot more on getting to know Lira, Draki, the Gods and their gifts, and how they work on different lands. 

Also, format wise, this ebook was hard to read. The first half of the book didn’t seem to have good formatting which made my eyes work harder and made me tired and not want to keep reading. Hopefully this is a pre-publishing issue and will be fixed prior to release. 

Can’t wait for news of book 3 and to hopefully see a happy ending for Reyker & Lira, and the demise of the Dragon.