Book Review: A Flame Through Eternity

I don't know about you but this week is kicking my rear and I just want to get into bed and wave the white flag because I am over it. Honest to goodness. Stress is going to be what kills me. I wish I could go with the flow and just relax but no. My DNA is not capable of that so here I am, getting almost no sleep every night because I cannot stop worrying. It's horrible. Anyways. I have a book review!

A Flame Through Eternity - Anna Belfrage

Helle may believe in second-chance love, but she sure doesn’t believe in reincarnation. Okay, she didn’t believe in stuff like that until she met Jason Morris a year or so ago. By now, she has accepted that sometimes impossible things are quite, quite possible—like an ancient princess being reborn as an ambitious financial analyst.

Finding Jason was like finding the part of her that had always been missing—a perfect match. But handling Sam Woolf, the reborn version of their ancient nemesis is something of a trial. No sooner do you have him well and surely beat, but up he bounces again. Sheesh, will it take an oak stake to permanently rid their lives of him?

Sam Woolf is a powerful adversary. Too powerful, even. Jason and Helle will need help from unexpected quarters to finally bring this tangled, ancient love-and-hate triangle to some sort of conclusion. Question is, will they survive the experience?

Before we even get started I have to tell you this is book three in The Wanderer series and you absolutely HAVE to read book one (A Torch in His Heart) and book two (Smoke in Her Eyes) because these are very much not stand-alone books. The first book was amazing and I loved every weird second of it. Book two kind of wavered for me a bit but this one?

Holy moly.

First off, this author will pull every single emotion out of you and somehow you find yourself loving and hating the villain, the hero, and even the heroine sometimes all at once. The entire series was a crazy roller coaster but this book took us off the rails.

My conclusions after finishing this:

• I don't like Helle. She was kind of.... bitchy? I mean, that's the best way to describe it. I cannot for the life of me understand why Sam and Jason were fighting for her all of these years when she isn't even the nicest person. What did Justin Bieber once say? "My mama don't like you and she likes everyone?"
• Nefirie is literally the worst mother in law in the history of ever. I mean, she clearly doesn't like Helle (I mean Helle is having sex with her son pretty flagrantly and just giving zero craps about how mom would feel being in the next room.) I'm not excusing her horrific behavior through all of time, because that was really pretty bad, but her ending in this book felt fitting. 
• Jason is a total mama's boy. Sure, the ending of this book happens and some would say that refutes that but no. He loves his mom even at her absolute worst. I He reminds me of the hunky guy would can't save you from a burning building. 
• Sam is in need of significant mental health counseling. He is deranged at best and there are ties where I actually felt sorry for him and I had to stop myself and say- this guy is nuts. He's abusive and not matter how much I don't like Helle she doesn't deserve that. He reminds me of those kids who love their pet so much they squeeze them to death. Basically. 

For awhile I thought maybe I wasn't going to like the ending of this and in a way I didn't LOVE it, but it certainly felt fitting to the series. Overall, I have to give this book (and series) a solid 4 stars. A few bumps along the way but for the most part it was a really entertaining read if you like romantic suspense with a little paranormal thrown in. 

   

A huge thank you to Anna Belfrage and TLC Book Tours for having me on all three of these tours and sending me a copy for review. All thoughts are my own and this post contains affiliate links. Happy reading!

Book Review: Smoke in her Eyes

If you are a regular reader of this blog (thanks!), you'll recognize this author's name because I reviewed the first book in what will be a trio. I really enjoyed the first book so when I had the chance to read book two I jumped on it! I'm crossing my fingers for book 3!

Smoke in Her Eyes - Anna Belfrage

Six months ago, Helle Madsen would have described herself as normal. Now she no longer knows if that terms applies, not after her entire life has been turned upside down by the reappearance of not one, but two, men from her very, very distant past.

Helle Madsen never believed in mumbo-jumbo stuff like reincarnation—until she came face to face with Jason Morris, a man who purportedly had spent fifty lives looking for her. Coping with being reunited with the lover from her ancient past was one thing. Having Sam Woolf, her vindictive nemesis from that same ancient past join the party was a bit too much. Suddenly, Helle finds herself the reluctant heroine of a far-flung, time-transcending epic story, one in which pain and loss seem to play a very big part.

This time round, Jason and Helle are determined to make it to the happily ever after. Unfortunately, Sam Woolf will stop at nothing to crush them. That ride into the golden sunset seems awfully far away at times…

If you know me you know that historical fiction isn't really my jam. I'll read it but it has to really be special for me to enjoy it. While this isn't really historical fiction, it does flash back from the WAY distant past and then today, so it's kind of like... a modern historical fiction. Does that make sense? Probably not but we're going with it.

In book one we left off on a cliffhanger, Jason & Helle weren't in the best shape but they were together, and Sam was in even worse shape and really pretty pissed off. He's determined to take Helle for his own, like he's done every other time around, but Jason is stopping at nothing to get his chance of happily ever after with Helle. Helle, by the way, isn't a useless damsel in distress, she's coming into her own and she's not going down without a fight. She has an idea of which guy she wants to be with but she wants them both to understand it's 2019 and she's not a possession.

The great thing is that even in book one these characters were developed really well and had a back story, characteristics, and personalities but this book enhances them. Everything feels more and bigger, and I was here for it.

Jason and Helle's relationship is tested by jealously (which we saw a tinge of in book one, but it's definitely a strong theme in this book), but also Helle is really insecure in this book which I felt was.. I'm not sure. I didn't love it, but I could understand why she felt that way. Someone from Jason's past comes back making trouble, people are hurt left and right, we have erotic scenes (which were great), and Sam is absolutely bonkers. He's the villain that you know is the worst but you also want to see how completely over the edge he's going to go and he's really pushing it in this one. Jason.. I didn't really love him in this one and felt like he was pushing Helle away and the whole thing with his aunt felt  little odd.

Overall? A solid 4 stars from me. Anna Belfrage is a particularly exceptional writer and she's able to give us realistic historical passages and flawlessly switch to today and it almost feels like two stories in one. We have a lot of build up in the bulk of the book and the sexual tension is great, and the last big thing in the book is PERFECT and sets us up for book 3, which I am anxiously awaiting.

   

   

A huge thank you to Anna Belfrage and TLC Book Tours for my ARC- I'm excited to get the chance for part two! This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but I get a couple of cents and it helps keep the blog going! 

Book Review: A Torch In His Heart (Wanderer #1)

I had a huge ready surge this weekend so I'm coming at you with all kinds of reviews this week! Also, I'll have a ton of photos to share of the girls' recital this weekend, so that might be Wednesday.

A Torch In His Heart - Anna Belfrage

In the long lost ancient past, two men fought over the girl with eyes like the Bosporus under a summer sky. It ended badly. She died. They died. 

Since then, they have all tumbled through time, reborn over and over again. Now they are all here, in the same place, the same time and what began so long ago must finally come to an end. 

Ask Helle Madsen what she thinks about reincarnation and she’ll laugh in your face. Besides, Helle has other stuff to handle, what with her new, exciting job in London and her drop-dead but seriously sinister boss, Sam Woolf. And then one day Jason Morris walks into her life and despite never having clapped eyes on him before, she recognises him immediately. Very weird. Even more weird is the fact that Sam and Jason clearly hate each other’s guts. Helle’s life is about to become extremely complicated and far too exciting. 

If you've read my blog or followed my reviews for awhile, you'll know that I am a sucker for a series. It could be the worst series on the planet but if I've read one... I have to read them all. At this point it has to classify as some kind of illness or maybe an offshoot of my diagnosed OCD, but it's really annoying at times, but this time? I'm all in and I cannot wait.

To be honest with you, when I first started this book it felt daunting. There are a lot of pages, the font is slightly smaller than what I normally read, margins are smaller, and it just felt like a really long book. Also, the story didn't hook me immediately and I was really worried if I was going to be able to finish this let alone enjoy it. All I can say is THANK GOD I did because this book sucked me in as soon as Helle and Jason "meet" for the first time (in this life) and I couldn't put it down.

It's clear from the start that Sam Woolf is a bad guy but we have no idea why...until Jason Morris shows up. Helle's strong reaction to Jason is kind of perfect and I love how we don't get their entire backstory jumbled into one chapter, but instead it's spread out. It comes layer by layer and you start realizing the reactions characters have in earlier chapters make sense now so you almost feel like Helle because she is learning the story and the history at the same pace we are- does that make sense?

I can't tell you really what happens but I CAN tell you that this ends on a MAJOR cliff hanger and I need book two RIGHT NOW. The book is perfect for fans who love time travel, romance, paranormal (kind of?), thriller/suspense (kind of), and a story that is unlike anything else out there on the market. I'm not even a fan of historical stories so much, and I took a chance on this one because it only talks about what happened 3000 years ago so I felt like I could get into this. Though a bit of a slow start, this book definitely picks up, has some very steamy scenes, and overall a pretty dang good read.

A solid 4 star read for me!

   

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and author Anna Belfrage for my ARC in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own. Happy reading!