Friday, March 8, 2013

Reading and Random: Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton

Reading and Random: Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton: Her Sweetest Downfall (Forever Girl Journals, Ophelia) by Rebecca Hamilton Ophelia's been successful at hiding her true identity, ...

Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton


Her Sweetest Downfall (Forever Girl Journals, Ophelia)
by Rebecca Hamilton

Ophelia's been successful at hiding her true identity, until the mark of the serpent appears on her neck—a death sentence, should it be seen by anyone in her town. Hiding the mark might save her from falling victim to the witch hunts of her era, but the scorching sensation it carries can’t be ignored.

When the mysterious Ethan is sent to collect her for a life of something more, she learns concealing the mark is the least of her worries. She’s destined to don a new mask—to join a dark, supernatural world and protect the future of people she may never meet.

What she doesn’t know—what she learns too late—is that her initiation won’t be complete until she kills the man she loves.


My Review

Her Sweetest Downfall is a short story/ novella in The Forever girl series by Rebecca Hamilton. Although this story is a precursor to Ms. Hamilton’s debut novel, The Forever Girl-I feel can be read as a stand alone. This book is more of a companion novella and not necessarily a prequel.  However, being that I have read The Forever Girl, I found that a few questions that had cropped up through out that novel became much clearer after reading Her Sweetest Downfall.

I will be honest and say that normally I don’t read novella’s. I’m a lover of long and lengthy novels and series’.  But (and here’s the caveat), when an Author does come along that I absolutely adore then I won’t stop at nothing to read any and all of their work. And that’s just what happened here. I was floored when I read The Forever; and that was her debut novel!!! So you bet your bottom dollar I was all over Her Sweetest Downfall.

Ms. Hamilton is very creative when it come to world building. She doesn’t skimp on the details which richly enhances the experience of becoming invested in the characters. With that said, the main protagonists in this story, Ophelia and Ethan, are very three dimensional. So much so that I was left wanting to know more of their story; especially Ethan, which isn’t a bad thing in this circumstance.  Sometimes if I am left wanting to know more than the author has been willing to give then that has set things up nicely for the reader to come back. There will be more books added to this series and I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg in The Forever Girl world.

Also, I want to point out that a lot of information is given in this book concerning the Forever Girl world. I moves along quickly forcing one to pay close attention the the finer points the author is trying to make. I did feel some things were a bit rushed, like the relationship between Ethan and Ophelia. I think a little more time could have been spent developing their relationship and thus wouldn’t have felt as stilted. I would have loved to see a little more character development in regards to Robert and Lenore. But hey, this is a short story and well, who knows what Ms. Hamilton has in her bag of tricks when the rest of the series hits the shelves. The Forever Girl transcends space and time, so I have no doubt I will be getting answers to my burning questions in the near future.

This read will wet the appetite of anyone who is a fan of PnR/Fantasy and wants to become familiar with Ms. Hamilton’s work. A talented young Author well on her way to very successful future.

I give Her Sweetest Downfall 4.5 stars!

This review is part of the Pure Textuality Blog Tours event. Please makes stops along the tour!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Reading and Random: Blog Tour

Reading and Random: Blog Tour: Reading and Random is proud to take part in Rebecca Hamilton's Her Sweetest Downfall blog tour. Please stop by on March 8th for my re...

Blog Tour

Reading and Random is proud to take part in Rebecca Hamilton's Her Sweetest Downfall blog tour. Please stop by on March 8th for my review.
Below is a list of other stops along the tour. Check them out!

DATE BLOG NAME URL
3/4/2013 Pure Textuality http://puretextuality.com
3/4/2013Toot's Book Reviews http://tootsbookreviews.blogspot.com/
3/5/2013 Urban Fantasy Investigationshttp://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com
3/5/2013 MissFictional's World of YA Bookshttp://missfictional.blogspot.com
3/6/2013 Romancebookworm's Reviewswww.romancebookworm.com
3/6/2013 Once Upon A Timehttp://onceuponatime.jaedia.net/
3/7/2013 Stuck on Readinghttp://stuck-on-reading.blogspot.com
3/7/2013 We Fancy Bookshttp://wefancybooks.blogspot.com
3/8/2013 Scandalicious Book Reviewswww.scandaliciousbookreviews.com
3/8/2013 Reading and Randomhttp://readingandrandom.blogspot.com/
3/9/2013 Pezz Rambleshttp://pezzrambles.wordpress.com
3/9/2013 Paranormal Cravingswww.paranormalcravings.com
3/10/2013 Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romancehttp://readingandwritingurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/
3/10/2013 Tana Rae Readshttp://tana-someofmyfavoritebooks.blogspot.ca/
3/11/2013 Night Owl Reviewshttp://www.nightowlreviews.com
3/11/2013 Urban Girl Readerhttp://www.urbangirlreader.com
3/12/2013 Ethereal Book Reviewshttp://etherealbookreviews.blogspot.ca/
3/12/2013 Paranormal Goddess Book Bloghttp://paranormal-goddess.blogspot.com
3/13/2013 Paulette's Papershttp://paulettespapers.com/
3/13/2013 Digesting The Wordswww.digestingthewords.com
3/14/2013 Romancing the Readerhttp://romancingthereaders.blogspot.com
3/14/2013 Bookish Things & Morewww.bookishthingsandmore.com
3/15/2013 From the Shadowshttp://www.fromtheshadows.info/
3/15/2013 The Book Cafehttp://thebookcafeblog.blogspot.com
3/16/2013 Sizzling Hot Bookswww.sizzlinghotbook.com
3/16/2013 Beth Allen Book Reviewshttp://www.bethallen1949.com/
3/17/2013 Romancing the Dark Side http://romancingthedarkside.blogspot.com
3/17/2013The Reading Cafe http://thereadingcafe.com/
DATE BLOG NAME URL