Book Review: INSIGHT Beholders book 1 by Terron James

What the book says for itself.

Rumors are surging through Appernysia that a Beholder has been born, the first wielder of True Sight in over a millennium.

Seventeen-year-old Lon Marcs discovers he has been blessed—or cursed—with this gift. He cannot control the power of True Sight and feels it killing him with each passing day. He realizes that the only people who might possess the knowledge to save his life are the sworn enemies of his king. To obtain their help, Lon would have to journey into exile, leaving behind his village, family, and beloved Kaylen.

Although this is the hardest decision Lon has ever made, it is only the first of many that will test his strength and challenge his interpretation of right and wrong.

What I have to say about it.

I had already read this book in its first printing and enjoyed it then. I think it has improved a lot since the first version. Some of the extra fluff and unnecessary stuff was removed or condensed. (And I loved the prologue in this version) 

Things I liked about this book. Lon Marcs actually goes and does something about his problem. The battle and fight scenes were very engaging and kept my attention throughout. I liked the characters and how they were developed for the most part. Some characters I even hated, but I believe I was supposed to and Terron did a great job on making me feel something for many of the characters. The world and the magic system were interesting and I liked how Lon had to work hard to figure out how to survive with this magic that was taking over his body.

Some things I didn’t like. Though most of the characters were well developed and I got a pretty good feel for them, I thought they were lacking in emotion and a solid reason for them to do what they did. I didn’t see it enough. I’m not used to reading 3^rd person stories where we get to see everything everyone else sees, I prefer the kind where I get really into a characters mind and emotions so I personally didn’t feel what I had hoped to from the characters.

I also thought there were many times when things were skipped over for one character while we went to a different location and a different character. I wanted to see more of Lon’s trials and experiences in the Rayder lands instead of the stuff about his twin sister Mellai and his girlfriend/fiancé Kaylen. I’m sure they are important later on in the series, but I sort of found their little side stories kind of annoying at times since I missed out on stuff from Lon’s point of view.  

The only real fault I can find with this story is that Lon’s experience spans something like 7 months in the story and I never really felt that his rise to power in the Rayder army was truly warranted. I didn’t see him really earn it since I think a lot of the time we went to the side characters stories and missed what he did to actually earn his place. I can believe his change of loyalty and the reason for him truly joining himself to the Rayders cause. I just don’t think it really would have happened that fast with the information I saw as a reader experiencing Lon’s actions. Other than that, it was a fun read. Not quick and easy by any means, but enjoyable still.

It will be released on June 1st and you can buy it on Amazon HERE or 

Get it on Barnes and Noble HERE

Book Review: A Perfect Fit by Heather Tullis

What the book says for itself:

Cami DiCarlo doesn’t agree with her father that her life has been stuck in a rut, so she is not happy when he forces her hand into heading up guest services at his newest five-star hotel. The fact that he unveils the existence of four half-sisters at the same time, and insists that they live together while they launch the new resort, only makes things worse. When she meets Vince Talmadge, the sweet, sexy landscaper her father would never have approved of, Cami can’t say no. If only she could be sure she is on the right track—and that they will be able to stop the person who is trying to destroy everything she and her sisters are working to build.

What I had to say about the book.

I sort of struggled with this book and I couldn’t decide at first why it was I didn’t immediately like it. I could have been that the story is about one couple, but ALL the sisters are involved in this book as the set up to the series begins. The names of the girls were all about flowers but I couldn’t really remember what each girl was supposed to be in charge of in the running of the Hotel their father forced them into working in. They are all sisters, but only 2 share the same mother and the other 3 have different mothers. They struggle to come to terms with their relationships as sisters, and their feelings for their cheating father. And though I did like that part of the story where I could see the inner turmoil and how they interacted with each other and eventually learned to get along. It was still difficult to grasp the love story I wanted to read about because of all the extra family involved in the plot.

I totally guessed the “bad guys”. One right from the start and the other pretty quickly afterward so it was kind of predictable, but there were still fun twists and surprises I didn’t see at first. The whole issue the “Bad guy” had was a little cheesy and overblown, but desperate people do desperate things.

The love story should have had me riveted, but it kinda happened really fast, then they started sleeping together (though nothing is given in detail so it could still be considered basically a clean romance) and I was really annoyed. Their kissing started to get boring for me since there was no “sexual tension” because they were already a couple, just afraid to commit to the long term relationship at first.  I’m sure I’ll read the others that come out for the series (the teaser for book 2 at the end of this book 1 was interesting), but I’m not dying for them right away.