Review: Dark Craving (The Watchers, #4.5) by Veronica Wolff

WE'VE FOLLOWED ANNELISE DREW'S JOURNEY AS SHE'S FOUGHT TO SURVIVE THE ISLE OF NIGHT.

NOW IT'S TIME TO HEAR RONAN'S SIDE OF THE STORY.

Tracer Ronan has cared for only one person in his life: Charlotte, his sister. With her death, a consuming desire for revenge and destruction ignited in his heart. But when new recruit Annelise Drew arrives on the island, Ronan finds he craves more than revenge. She is a threat to his mission, his sanity, and his heart. Now Ronan will need every ounce of will and strength to avenge his sister and prove where his true allegiance lies.

Tracer Ronan shares his secrets with no one. But will he survive his darkest cravings?

Shorter reviews for shorter titles and boy do I wish this novella had been longer, because I could not get enough of what Wolff brought to the table.  Wolff did an incredible job of giving Ronan's perspective and life to his side of the story...and what a story it turns out to be.  There was so much information packed into this novella that I just can't imagine how lost readers would be if they failed to pick this one up.  It's not just a side story...it turns out to be THE story.  So if you're a fan of this series, following the series, or just wanting to check something out, you've got to make sure to add this title to your collection.

Yes, Ronan's narration provided some fun additions in the back story department, but there was so much detail throughout that predominantly took place where The Keep left off.  And if readers thought The Keep left us all with a crazy cliffhanger than this one will blow their minds...it did for me.  I thought this novella would help keep me at bay while I waited for the next full installment in the series, but I was wrong!  I want the new books even more so now...so thanks a bunch for that Veronica Wolff!

Review: The Keep (The Watchers, #4) by Veronica Wolff

JUST BECAUSE YOU WORK FOR THE DEAD DOESN’T MEAN YOU WANT TO JOIN THEM.

Drew has just started her second year on the Isle of Night, and the weather isn’t the only thing changing drastically. She has ascended to the rank of Initiate. She’s also found an intimate love in the handsome vampire, Carden. But most of all, she no longer dreams of escape. She dreams of vengeance.

Her friend, Emma, was brutally wounded by the savage vampire Alcántara, and may have been taken to the dreaded castle, from which none of the living return. But there are so many different stories from so many people with so many of their own deceits and machinations, Drew can’t be sure of anything—except that she must find a way into the castle to discover the truth and take down Alcántara once and for all.

But Drew isn’t the only one out for revenge. Someone very dangerous on the island is also out for blood…

Hers…

The action continues and mystery still abounds in Wolff's fourth installment of The Watchers series.  While Carden played center stage in the last book (and is still featured here) Wolff decided to bring Ronan back to the main events.  I most certainly wasn't complaining about that.  This love triangle has always been a bit unique but I've always thought Ronan and Drew were better suited and dare I say, destined for one another.  Let's face facts, without Ronan, Drew wouldn't have survived as long as she has despite her prowess on the island.

This time around the trainees and initiates aren't playing so nice...but it's not like they've ever been striving for Junior League or Debutante status.  Assassination 101 is on the forefront in everyone's mind and of course there are casualties.  Attack after attack after attack, Wolff kept me on the edge of my seat, desperate to know how it would all play out.  And talk about secrets being revealed!  Let's just say the front door isn't the only way into the off limits Keep and Drew never let the saying "curiosity killed the cat" deter her.

Great risks are taken, Alcantara's mind games would drive anyone crazy, the action doesn't stop and the suspense will keep the pages turning for sure.  While readers wait for Wolff's fifth installment to be scheduled for release, Dark Craving, a novella for the series with Ronan's narration should tide us over, at least temporarily.

In My Mailbox (134)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. I'm always picking up new books, because I never tire of reading, but the other thing I like about this meme is that it gives everyone an opportunity to check out what other book fanatics, bloggers, etc... got for themselves. I've gotten great recommendations from this meme and hope that keeps up in the future.

Here's what I got, what did you guys get this week?

  

For Review:

 

Taming Darkness (Artemis Lupine, #4) by Catherine Banks

 

Things aren't going like anyone planned and life keeps throwing one curve ball after another at Artemis and Ares. Can she live up to the prophecy or have they been wrong this entire time? Join them as they try to right the balance of light and dark in the final installment of Artemis Lupine's life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Darlings by Cristina Alger

 

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences. Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.

But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?

Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.

 

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

 

For fans of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It comes an irresistible novel of a woman losing herself . . . and finding herself again . . . in the middle of her life.

Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).

And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.

Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Opposition (Lux, #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Katy knows the world changed the night the Luxen came.

She can't believe Daemon welcomed his race or stood by as his kind threatened to obliterate every last human and hybrid on Earth. But the lines between good and bad have blurred, and love has become an emotion that could destroy her—could destroy them all.

Daemon will do anything to save those he loves, even if it means betrayal.

They must team with an unlikely enemy if there is any chance of surviving the invasion. But when it quickly becomes impossible to tell friend from foe, and the world is crumbling around them, they may lose everything— even what they cherish most—to ensure the survival of their friends…and mankind.

War has come to Earth. And no matter the outcome, the future will never be the same for those left standing.

The Keep (The Watchers, #4) by Veronica Wolff

JUST BECAUSE YOU WORK FOR THE DEAD DOESN’T MEAN YOU WANT TO JOIN THEM.

Drew has just started her second year on the Isle of Night, and the weather isn’t the only thing changing drastically. She has ascended to the rank of Initiate. She’s also found an intimate love in the handsome vampire Carden. But most important, she no longer dreams of escape. She dreams of vengeance.

Her friend Emma was brutally wounded by the savage vampire Alcántara and may have been taken to the dreaded castle, from which none of the living returns. With so many different stories from so many people with so many of their own deceits and machinations, Drew can’t be sure of anything—except that she must find a way into the castle to discover the truth and take down Alcántara once and for all.

But Drew isn’t the only one out for revenge. Someone very dangerous on the island is also out for blood….

Hers…