The beginning of the book was a little slow. It was a lot of seeing what was going on with each character emotionally. Many of the characters were plotting or trying to make hard decisions so it was not a lot of action for a while.

However after the event that made me cry (not going to say what but if you read it you will know what part I’m talking about), the action speed up. Once it got going, this book was impossible to put down. I think I read the second half in one night. The biggest part that drew me in was wondering what the heck was up with Kalona. Is he good? Is he bad? We saw hints of it before but now there is even more conflicting actions.

Story wise, I think the book seemed a little bit like it was setting up for something more intense to happen in the next book. Sometimes I’m bothered when books feel that way but this still held my attention and made me want more.

The one thing that bugged me while I was reading was the shift from first to third person perspective. I understood why the Casts wrote that way but it always took me a second to adjust so made the reading a bit bumpy.

Overall rating 4/5

Favorite Quote

“If it has tires or testicles, it’s gonna give you problems.”

I’ve gotten tons of reading in lately.  Already at 29 books read this year which is pretty good. My current addiction is the Partholon books by PC Cast.  Having read the House of Night series, I was excited to see what else she had written.  Divine by Mistake completely sucked me in.  It was hard to put down.  Same goes for Choice and I just started on Blood.  Sometime soon(ish) I’ll do a write up about Rhiannon.  I’m going to have to give myself a Welsh mythology refresher.  I took a class on Welsh and Norse Myths in college, and even wrote a paper on Rhiannon, but I can’t quite remember the story.

Anyways, here are a few quotes that I liked from the books…

Divine by Mistake

As my favorite college prof once sagely said, “Don’t fuck with an English major. They keep lots of useless crap trapped in their heads.  Once in a white they let some of it out and it bites you square on the ass.”

Haha, true story.  Don’t mess with me!

 Until then it hadn’t occurred to me that everyone couldn’t control his or her dreams.

Okay this stood out for me because I can control me.  I can like think and make them change.  I honestly until reading this thought that everyone could.  Can they not?  Now I’m so confused. 

He blinked again.  Why do I always assume tall guys are smarter? (Note to self: tall guys are not smarter, they’re just more attractive.)

This sounds exactly like something I would say.  This series probably draws me in so much because I think I’m a lot like Shannon.  They things she says and does are very similar to what I would.  Such a great character.

Divine by Choice

I’m not really very musically inclined, although I’d like to be, so I keep trying.

This is totally my new motto.  So fitting for all the singing I do in the car, club, wherever.

          “Yeah, ’cause we think you’re like Rachel on Glee,” Shaunee said.  “Super annoying, but she has to be in the show ’cause sometimes she comes up with good stuff and kinda saves the day.”

Alright, this quote jumped out at me for two reasons.  The first, most obvious one is that I love Glee and love Rachel. 

The second is that it was a pop culture reference.  I always wonder if I should put them in my own writing or not.  I’m an admited pop culture junky so tend to want to lay them on heavy.  It is a risk because if your readers don’t know what you are talking about the majority of the time, you might lose them.  It is also kind of like putting a time stamp on your book.  When I read The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith, I know no idea that the first part of the series was written nineteens years ago.  It seems so modern. 

Lately, I’ve been going by what genre I am writing to figure out how much to throw in.  For example, my crime book has very few.  Off  the top of my head, I can only think of a few clothing ones to show that my main characters is a designer kind of girl.  It aids to the overall story.  For another book, I am having the character work in a club.  It is much more light feeling and I think the pop culture stuff is fitting. 

I wish I had marked the page in Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris that had the best pop reference ever.  It was something about Sookie hearing Jace Everett’s Bad Things.  For anyone that watches True Blood, it is the theme song.  I thought it was so clever of her to put it in there.   An extra treat to all of us that are big fans of both you might say.