Hello Everybody who sees this. It’s been awhile since I wrote anything on here, but I feel like doing it again. This whole year with books for me has been weird. Usually I would of meet my goal of books for the year by now, I’m very behind. There’s books I’ve been waiting to read and I can’t bring myself to read them. The only book I went crazy over recently was Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater, and that’s because I’ve been waiting literal years for it. I know a big part of the problem is me not being in the mood for it, but another part is my favorite genre of books are really lacking. They lack in quality and are lacking in the literal sense of they don’t exist really, What’s my favorite genre you ask? Well, it’s Urban Fantasy, but it’s more than that.
Right now I’m going to list my favorite genre and tropes, and just weird things I like in books. If you know a book similar to it, tell me it and i’ll look at it. Also, I named this blog Simplistic Reader for a reason. While I love and cherish Maggie Stiefvater’s writing, I don’t care if the books I read are up to her standard of writing. I love my simple books as much as the books whose writing leaves me in a wonderful bliss. As long as the writing isn’t terrible, or the protagonist isn’t walking around talking like a horribly written teenager, I’m general open to it. Also, I prefer new adult to adult. YA is fine, but right now I am into the more older part of it. Also, I’m not into smut books. Sex is fine in books, but I want to read more of what’s going on in the story then I do them having sex. Let’s get into my list though.
Urban Fantasy- I LOVE Urban Fantasy. I’ve always had a love for it since I was a child, probably because of things like Underworld and Twilight. Yes I liked Twilight, I was like Twelve. I used to be really into vampires, but I found that now, probably because of twilight, I’m not as into them anymore. The only real vampire book I have been into over the years is The Chicagoland Vampire Series. Other then that I don’t really know any strictly vampire books I’ve been into. My favorite Urban Fantasy’s normally are about, or is a big part of the plot, Shifters. I love werewolves, always have. My favorite series in this genre are, The Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs, The Kate Daniels Series Ilona Andrews, Alpha and Omegaby Patricia Briggs, The Others Series by Anne Bishops. These are the type of books that I like.
This weird be a weird trope, but stay with me. I like books with one girl, and a group of platonic guy friends, in which there is romance with one of the guys… Like I said it might be a little weird but I love platonic friendships in books. I don’t want harems. I don’t really like them. A love triangle might be ok, but usually just one male interest. And by platonic friendships I meant friendships where the guys will hug or be close to the girl but not in a romantic way. I prefer this in Urban Fantasy/paranormal settings, but others are fine. Examples are: The Forever Evermore Series by Scarlet Dawn, The Healer Series by Maria V Synder, A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet, Supernatural Prison by Jaymin Eve, and of course, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I know it’s a weird thing to like, don’t judge me.
I don’t know why I like, I haven’t even read that many books with this, but I just like it. that would be supernatural schools. Generally where a bunch of different supernatural creatures go to school with each other. The only examples I got for this is Forever Evermore series by Scarlet Dawn and Supernatural Prison by Jaymin Eve.
I don’t know how to explain this next one, so bare with me. I like adventure books, I guess that’s the easiest way to say that. I guess an easier way to explain, and I honestly never wanted to admit that I have read this book, but Scarlet Dawn’s Trixie Tower Series. (This book is like a love letter to furries I swear, but for some reason I keep reading. I think she put a spell on me.) I like seeing characters go on a adventure together. My favorite part of Trixie Towers was the adventure and it was done very well. Other examples of verisons of adventure I like are The Healer Series by Maria V Synder, and A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet.
I, of course, have more kinds of books I like, but right now this is what I really want to be reading. I’ve actually been into what I call my garbage reads at the moment which is like my guilty pleasure reads because they aren’t usually the best books, but I can’t stop myself from devouring their contents. Anyway, if you could help me by recommending me books like the ones above I would be grateful. Just comment them and let me see what you think I would like. Like I said though, I’m not into horribly smutty things or harems.
P.S….. I know this is a almost impossible task, but if anyone ever finds a book that compares to The Foxhole Court (All For The Game) Series, I WANT to know. That book puts me on a hangover every time and I have nothing to feed it with. I would say I would be in your debt, but I read a lot of books with the fae and have learned that’s a bad thing to say.
“When you saw him, you knew no matter what happened, he would handle it. Little did they know that he solved most of his problems by throwing money at them or trying to kill them. Sometimes at the same time.”
-Ilona Andrews
Nevada hasn’t heard from Rogan since their fight with the fire prime, Adam Pierce. She has gone on living her normal life with her small jobs, until a man she met during her hunt for Adam comes to her asking for her help on a job. His wife was murdered along with a few other people and he knows it wasn’t an accident. One of the houses did it and they’re trying to hide it. This new job causes problems for Nevada, but Nevada is also about to have to face her own problems that she isn’t going to be able to hide anymore.
I enjoyed this one just as much as I did the first one. This book had the same action and the same humor to it. The reason I like Patricia Briggs work( the author of the Mercy Thompson series) and Ilona Andrews is that they can write urban fantasies that are also detective like novels without each book being an exact copy. I love Patricia Briggs books but I think that Ilona Andrews is actually better at making her book different within the same series while still having each book leave you with the same feel. Ilona Andrews is an author whose writing isn’t very complex, but she has a clear writing style, that even people who liked complex writing, would like. That’s not to say her writing is simple. I think her writing is actually very clever.
Pros
Like I said, her writing. I mentioned this with the first book, and I don’t know if she intentionally does it, but the way she writes Rogan’s fighting scenes is in a clever way. Rogan is a Prime, the highest rank of magic users, and he is probably the most feared of the primes. He was in the war for years and still thinks of everything with war logic. Death of bad people mean nothing to him. Murder mean nothing to him. When Rogan fights it’s not written in a drawn out incredibly detailed way, it’s straight to the point, like how he is. For example, this scene where someone betrayed him and he was angry, “He hit the door with the palm of his hand. His magic smashed into the wood. Every window in the house exploded outward.” There is no other description of what he did. There isn’t a description of how the magic felt around them, the way the glass would of shattered around them, the caving of the door. The book is told through Nevada’s point of view but when she describes Rogan’s magic it’s always simple like this, as if this incredible thing he did was no big deal, because it’s Rogan and to him it is no big deal. I love that it’s written this way. It makes Rogan seem more badass.
The development. Nevada and Rogan have changed from the first book and it’s not just their relationship. Nevada’s personality is changing. Her need to protect those around her is getting to her and making her into a harder person. She’s starting to use her power against people more when she used to not want to. She’s starting to be able to kill people without thinking about it. She is taking complete charge. Nevada is becoming a more dominant person who won’t let anyone take anything away from her. In the first book Nevada was scared of dying from Adam and actually started to cry when she thought she was about to die. In this one Nevada almost dies a few times and instead of thinking about the fear she does what she needs to do at that moment. Then there’s Rogan. He is losing his alien nature and becoming more human like. He’s doing things for Nevada that no one has ever seen him do. He’s doing what he can to make sure she’s safe and well protected, even if he can’t be there to do it. He even goes as far as threatening to kill someone he somewhat cares about. He starts to become genuinely happy.
What I liked about the Kate Daniels Series was how long it took Kate and Curran to become a couple. In the first book of that series they only kissed once and it was barely even a kiss. It is a slow burn kinda romance in a way, it just is full of tension to not make it feel like it’s so slow. This book series is slow but in a different way. In the start of Kate and Curran, neither of them thought anything really of each other. It was something that would never happen, so no one tried. Kate was someone who refused to listen and Curran was someone who needed control. In the Hidden Legacy series Nevada and Rogan have an instant attraction where they both want each other, but that’s just it, it’s only want. Neither of them care for each other past that, which is why Nevada refuses. You can tell they like each other but it’s nothing more than that. In this second book you can tell that those feelings are different. It has all changed and it’s no longer just want. They actually care for each other now. Their attraction wasn’t slow but their love wasn’t instant either. They had to build to get there.
This book was more action packed. The first book seemed more like an introduction into the series, while this one just went in. Nevada and Rogan were constantly getting wrapped into trouble like being in a car chase with people trying to shoot them, a party full of the town’s most dangerous people, creatures that aren’t easy to kill, and things that involve literally tanks. Also in this book we get to see more of Nevada’s family’s secrets. It’s been hinted by the mom that things in that family aren’t what they seem, and we get to see what she means. We get to see the secret she has been hiding from them all that can get them all killed or captured, and we get to see the families magic, especially Nevada’s younger sister’s magic. We also learn just how strong they all are. We also get more of Nevada’s boss in this book which I really enjoyed because we got to see a lot more of his personality and his interactions with Rogan.
Cons
This might just be a more personal con but I hate when books mention social media by name. I’m ok with the main ones like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, but not smaller ones like vine. When Nevada mentioned Vine I actually cringed, mainly because it dates the books. I don’t know if it’s just me but I hate when modern books date themselves with little trends like that. I get historical books and such, but in a modern book it dates it back to only a few years ago and it always feels weird to me. Like in the Morganville Vampires Series, one of the characters, Shane I believe, talks about how another character, Eve, nails are painted one color but the ring finger is painted a different color. That is a sentence or so that is so minuscule but has stuck with me, and I read this series years ago. I know this probably isn’t bad for a lot of people, but it’s something that personally bothers me. Other then that, once again I was very wrapped up in this book and didn’t have any cons. I loved this book and ate it up to fast to really pay to much attention to anything that could be considered bad. Usually I say something about the men’s attitude, like how it’s barbaric at times or commanding, but Rogan really isn’t it. He is a strong dominant person, but he isn’t controlling at all. He actually wants Nevada to go with him to do dangerous jobs(not like he WANTS her to, more like he doesn’t try to stop her.) so I can’t complain about him even if I wanted to.
Sadly I only have one more book of Nevada and Rogan. This book sets it up in its last chapter and from there you can tell it’s going to be good. Got to love those cliffhangers that get you wanting to read the next book at that very moment. This series is a must for Urban Fantasy lovers. It’s one of the best I’ve read, probably my second favorite. It might be beating Kate Daniels. I’ll figure that out with how the last book ends and once I eventually read the last two Kate Daniels books. Nevada and Rogan are two character I don’t see a lot of in other series. At first glance they might seem like a generic male and female lead but when you read more into the books you can see that they are not what you expected.
*I did read the last book of this series, but sadly I was to busy to write a review for it, and too much time has passed to write a proper review of it, so I will just write my overall opinion here. I love this series and this was a great ending to a great series. I loved the third book as much as the other two. I’m waiting for the spin off, that comes out this year, of Nevada’s sister. I can’t wait for it!
“You can’t just kill people because they annoy you.”
“You keep saying ‘can’t,'”
-Ilona Andrews
Nevada Baylor is a private investigator in a world where magic not only exist, almost everyone has it. Nevada’s family usually only takes on small cases like catching a cheating spouse. They aren’t able to take on bigger, more dangerous cases, but when Nevada is told to catch one of the most dangerous people in their city or lose everything her family has worked for she has no choice but to risk her life to catch this man who doesn’t care about anyone else’s life. She has to not kill him, but bring him back, which is harder then killing him. How do you bring back someone who has no regard for human life. Her search for him sends her right into the eye of another dangerous man, one known for his murderous past. He is a dangerous man, but with his help she might be able to catch the other dangerous man.
Later this year I read, Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and fell in love. Finding a good urban fantasy book is not an easy task. You have to wade through the mound of garbage to find that diamond hidden within. Most of urban fantasies are cliche garbage. Ilona Andrews writes diamonds. I only have one urban fantasy series that I love more then Kate Daniels. That would be Mercy Thompson, which is my all time favorite urban fantasy that I have read multiple times and I don’t think anything can beat. When I saw that Ilona Andrews had a another book series out that isn’t related to Kate’s world, at least I don’t think it is, I immediately wanted it. I really enjoy the worlds Ilona makes. Kate’s world was our world but without having electronics you could depend on. At any given moment you could have a power surge that would make cars and such useless. People usually traveled by foot or horses. In Nevada’s world, while magic has become apart of everyday life, it doesn’t effect the world like that, but it’s people. Everyone has magic pretty much and use it to do things they couldn’t normally do, sometimes making life worse. Magic is very depended on and sought after. Many people who have powerful magic are put into the army and used. Many of the characters is this world has military background. There’s also places in the book where magic has helped to destroy a town and now that town is basically a wasteland.
The magic concept in this book is not complicated. There isn’t a system that has to be used, or sacarfies that need to be made on a full moon. Magic is just a part of people. Even though the magic is basic in its structure, reading how characters used their magic was interesting to read. In this world there are ranks of how strong your magic is, the top rank being a Prime. Primes are capable of mass destruction. For example, regular magic users can do thinks like communicate with animals, summon poison flies. A prime can destroy a building without touching it, and that’s just them using magic at a basic level. If they were to go full power they could destroy a town. The two men who are introduced in Nevada’s life in this book are two primes. The villain who Nevada is trying to convince to go home and turn himself in is Adam. Adam is a prime who is pyrokinetic, meaning he can make fire. He burned down a bank with people in it and didn’t care. The other man is Conner Rogan, otherwise known as Mad Rogan, the Butcher of Merida, and Huracan(hurricane). Mad Rogan is known for murdering many people. He can slice out a chunk out of a building as if it was nothing, and to him it is. He is telekinetic, he can move things without touching them using his head. Adam and Mad Rogan are two people who are feared for their magic use and Nevada has caught both of their attention.
I know some people think that comparing books or characters are a bad thing, but I like to look at an authors previous work and seeing the differences in her worlds and characters. I liked to see if the characters are the same, or if the author knows how to write more than one kind of character. In Ilona Andrews’ case, she is able to write characters that are similar but so completely different.
Kate Daniels was a badass. She was a trained fighter that people knew. She radiated a badass aura at all times. There is no doubt that you don’t want to fuck with Kate. She doesn’t stand down, even if she knows she will die. She is stubborn and doesn’t care that your an alpha. She’ll look you in the eye and smile as you growl at her. Nevada is a badass, just in a different way. Nevada is not a fighter. Kate’s strength was her literal strength and magic abilities. Nevada is very smart and thinks out all the possibilities before engaging. Kate is the type who if a problem is prevented she would want to deal with it then and get it out of the way, while Nevada would rather take the day and think about which way to go about it. Nevada isn’t just a smart character though, she can be a fighter, just not in a physical way. There is times where Nevada gets angry and you see a glimpse of that Kate Daniels attitude that tells you to run. Nevada’s magic also isn’t useful in a fight, so she uses things like guns, tasers, and something that’s like a taser, and if she wants to shot you there’s a good chance she isn’t missing. My favorite moments of the book with Nevada was when she took charge. It was like Nevada became a new person. That second Nevada was angry and started commanding people you could feel this power from her. There’s also other differences between the two characters. Kate Daniels was a loner. She was raised being told that she was a danger to others and that no one could be with her, so she was always alone. Even by the end of the book, Kate has only a hand full of people she actually cares about. Nevada is a family person. She runs a business with her family that consist of her mother, grandmother, sisters, and cousins. She would do anything for them, including die. When one of them was messed with Nevada went into a rage mood. Nevada is a very family oriented person, while Kate is a loner. There is some things both of them have completely in common though. Both are very brave and selfless. Both have no problem dealing with alphas, murderers, people who radiate fear, and telling them no. They stand up for themselves and it doesn’t matter if you can rip them in half with your bare hands, or without even touching you.
Curran vs Mad Rogan. Curran is the definition of Alpha. His word is final, you don’t disobey him. He tries to control everything. Kate refers to him a lot as a control freak, and he is because he is an alpha who demands to be listened to, expect with Kate who he eventually sees as an equal. Curran is literally a beast at times. When you hear the stories of Mad Rogan, you would think he would be just like Curran, but he is almost nothing like Curran, which really surprised me. Mad Rogan’s personality was something I didn’t expect. Nevada refers to Mad Rogan as an alien in one part and I fully agree. It was like he was an alien trying to understand basic human emotion. He is a murder who was also a soldier for years that was used to pretty much destroy towns. He doesn’t feel the same ways or emotions that normal people do, but he wants to understand it. There is a part where he kills someone with a building, freaking out Nevada. He seriously asks Nevada if she would rather he do it in another way. He doesn’t want to freak her out so if there is a way he can kill people that is better for her then he will do it. There is also times where she tells him to stop killing someone who he thinks deserves it because their an asshole and he asks Nevada why she doesn’t want him to kill that person and why isn’t she angry. There are time where he asks these questions and they are sarcastic, but a lot of the times he is asking because he actually wants to understand. Also, Mad Rogan likes to joke and tease people. He is actually more playful in the book then he is ever angry. He is only truly angry a few times but for a lot of the book he is making jokes about him killing people, and teasing people. Based on the stories you heard from him you would of thought he was another Curran but he isn’t. If it wasn’t for the killing he would pass for normal.
Pro
I love a book where the characters make me laugh. I take notes all through books and a lot of my notes in this one were just moments I found funny. Like Nevada buying a man a shirt because he is never wearing one, her being completely blunt to people like telling her boss he is a bad person, and things like her and her family hanging up multiple times on a man known for murdering people. There’s also a lot of moments Rogan made me laugh when he would kill someone as if it was nothing, and then make a joke about it a few paragraphs later. The book wasn’t cheesy funny, but genuine funny. It didn’t come off as trying to be funny, it just was. A lot of the characters had these little funny moments. Nevada’s family is a family you want to be a part of because every moments you are with them is enjoyable.
The fighting. I’m someone who doesn’t necessarily care about combat in books since for combat I prefer visuals. I don’t usually care about reading it in depths. If there’s anything I like to read about combat it’s more like taction. There was no taction in this book, yet I loved the combat. I loved reading about Rogan picking up car parts and slicing people in half with it. I liked how simple it was written when Rogan just threw a guy in a lake and dropped building on him. It was literally written in a few sentences as if it wasn’t important because to Rogan, it wasn’t. I liked the null space where if a Prime used so much of their magic they literally became untouchable because it basically put them in a dimension where you could see them but that was it. The combat in this book was so good that I actually enjoyed reading it and didn’t feel like I just wanted to skim through it.
Even though Adam was the villian, he was charming. A lot of times villains are portrayed as awful from the start with no good qualities as if there only personality trait was them being evil, which isn’t always bad thing because sometimes evil is just evil depending on the context of the character. For Adam, since he was well known, popular, rich, if he was just an evil asshole he wouldn’t be a good character. The fact that he is rich and popular would mean that he is charming. He was probably taught to be charming because it’s good for business and its how you get people to do things for you. Adam is also a manipulator, so it makes perfect sense for him to being charming. He didn’t care for people, but he could act like he did. He could make you feel like you were worth something to him because he wanted you to do something. He is a good villain because he a charming villain which makes him tricky. I also don’t really see books where the main character and the villian sit down and have chats while the main character knows that person is the villain. They did and each time it was a game of them trying to convince each other to do something.
Like I said before Nevada is smart. She doesn’t rush into things and make stupid decisions like a lot of main characters. She needs to go into a bar to question people but she knows that it’s dark, and it will have a bunch of drunk men in there who will probably already be a little angry and won’t like a random girl in there poking around, so she goes home instead and decides to go in the morning because it’s safer. She thinks out everything before she does it. A lot of times characters rush into everything because it makes good content for the book. Nevada shows you don’t need to have a character do that. There are ways to make your character not make stupid decisions and still have the story progress and still be likeable. Even when Nevada has to put herself in a dangerous situation she makes sure to take precautions before going. She makes sure to think about what will happen if she does something and if it’s not a result she will like she will find another way to do it. She is a witty character who is actually clever.
Cons
I was honestly to interested in reading that I didn’t find anything wrong. Even as i true to think about it, there was nothing I didn’t like about the book. I think i might actually prefer it to Kate Daniels, which I didn’t think I would. Even the writing was good,It was written in a smart way. Maybe i’ll see something wrong in the second one but i’m not going to try to find fault in something when I didn’t find fault in it while reading it. It’s not fair to the author so this book doesn’t have any cons to me.
If it’s not clear enough, I love this book. If you like Urban Fantasy and haven’t read this book yet then do it. I like that this isn’t a world of supernatural creatures but just people who can use different forms of magic because of experimentation. It was fun to read about people shooting fire, talking to animals, being able to tell if something was a lie, the magic circles. Ilona’s characters are realistic and entertaining to read. Nevada was a constant enjoyment and Rogan trying to understand human emotions was a different approach for a powerful man. It doesn’t seem like it is, but the way Ilona writes it is different then the ways it’s been done before. I honestly thought Rogan was going to be a character who was emotionless except for anger, but he wasn’t. This book blew away everything I had expected it to be and I love it.
“And let’s be honest, you weren’t exactly harmed. I even took you home.”
“You dumped me on my doorstep. According to my mother, I looked half dead.”
“Your mother exaggerates. A third dead at most.” ― Ilona Andrews
Simplistic Reader 