Alyxandra Harvey

I originally bought Haunting Violet when it first came out (way back in 2011... my gosh, it has been a long time). It ended up on my shelf and floated around for years, and I mean YEARS. I've been staring at this book for most of 2019 knowing full well I wanted to read it. Buuuuut... I know Alyxandra Harvey is one of my favourite authors, so I figured I'd have to find a time to sit down and binge read the whole darn book. And I did!

I finally picked this book up, knowing full well I'd love show more it. I have a special place in my heart for Alyxandra Harvey. Her Drake chronicles/series was one of the original series that got me into my crazy reading habit. I fell in love with Quinn and Solange and all of their wacky family and friends. So, it's only fitting that I continue to fall in love with Alyxandra's books (they are just a little harder to come across now - there's too many books to read). It's especially harder since the book store that introduced me to her (and pimped her books out BIG TIME) went out of business around 2012. So, there's that.

Anywho - Haunting Violet. This book is a lovely stand alone novel that really should be a series. Violet lives in the past (I want to say Renaissance-esque era. Back when ladies wore corsets, gloves and had to be married off) and with a Mother who fakes seances. Then, suddenly, one day Violet starts seeing ghosts! A lovely, young, ghost lady appears out of nowhere and leads Violet to become a sleuth. Someone has murdered this girl, and Violet will find out too! Along the way we meet her friend Elizabeth, her love interest Collin, her other love interest Xavier, the dead girl's living twin and many other suspicious characters. Xavier chases after Violet's hand in marriage, Collin also tries to woo her despite not being from an esteemed family and it's your typical 2011/2012 young adult novel (in my humble opinion).

Side note: Violet's mother is a complete psychopath. I've seen other reviewers relate her to Mother Gothel and OMG yes. She's absolutely evil and nuts. I absolutely hate books with mothers like that, but I'm sure women like that exist. She infuriated me! Yet there's no epic payoff for her (there kind of is, but not enough if you ask me!).

These sort of books are my FAVOURITES. There's lots of tropes - love triangle, best friend turned romance, murder mystery, and exciting descriptions of locations and outfits. The book was a little predictable, but I also read WAY to many murder mysteries and young adult novels for my own good.

The writing style is what kept me hooked. Alyxandra's writing style is fast paced, descriptive and enchanting. I felt myself getting lost and addicted to her words, and I hardly noticed the time flying by. Suddenly a 300 page book was done! It was slightly annoying since I do love a good Alyxandra Harvey book.

My biggest negative for this book is how it was presented on the web. Everywhere says this book is apart of a series, but I have never seen a sequel. I'm assuming it has something to do with the publishers, which is a real shame. I'd love to see this book turn into a series because it was enchanting! I'd like to see more crazy heists and murder mysteries set in the past. Collin and Violet are also too darn cute to not continue!

Overall, this is another lovely YA to add to your shelf. Necromancy, ghosts, paranormal, romance and drama flood the pages (pun intended... there's a drowning in the book, FYI). The book is light, easy to read, fast paced and marvelous! It's also a PG rated book, so if you're looking for a good novel to start your pre-teens or teens in, this book could be it!

Five out of five stars! Give me more Alyxandra Harvey STAT! show less

Blood Prophecy is an intense thrill-ride that you do not want to miss! This novel was the conclusion of the Drake Chronicles series, and it was non-stop action and suspense. I couldn't put it down! The characters grew into their roles within Harvey's world, the plot was intriguing, and Harvey expertly used polyvocality to tell the complete story. The switching perspectives didn't annoy me like it does in so many books. I felt that it really added to my understanding of the narrative. I'd show more recommend this book, and this series, to anyone.

Poor Solange has had a rough time over the course of this series, and I really freaking hated her in the previous installment. However, I was able to better understand her plight in this novel and I really respected how she fought back against Viola. She was a strong character and not bratty at all. That was a huge improvement over the last novel.

Lucy was my favorite character as always, and I loved reading from her perspective. She grew over the course of the novel, but I didn't feel like her relationship with Nicholas grew enough. That being said, she was still terrific as always. Nicholas wasn't around as much as I would have liked, but this was Solange's book, so I guess that's why. I felt like I got to know some of the secondary characters better, but I still didn't connect with any of the characters outside of the narrators. That's probably my only complaint.

The plot was intense and this book was, literally, non-stop action. Once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. I couldn't believe poor Solange kept having so many problems, but they just kept coming. She was really tested in this novel. They all were. In an effort not to spoil it for anyone, I'll leave my plot discussion off here. The ending tied everything up wonderfully, and the pacing was perfect.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a good vampire story. This series was a billion times better than Twilight, and while I'm sad to see it end, Blood Prophecy was the perfect ending to an excellent series. I can't wait to see what Harvey writes next. show less

Accck!

This book was so hard to read (emotionally, not actually), especially when they deprived us of Solange's interior monologue so that we'd have to be outsiders not having any idea how her transformation and seduction away from the light was happening or going. As reader, we bond with the brothers, family, Lucy, everyone on the outside not knowing what is happening, seeing it happen little by little, while still deal with the actual plot problems of the book at hand.

I want to flail my show more hands madly, especially because of the end, and I'm still counting down the days until I get the sixth and final book in this series and see where it all goes. (And what the author dives into next after this world.) show less

I have been waiting for this novel since I finished Bleeding Hearts. I've been a fan of this series since Hearts at Stake, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every book. However, Blood Moon fell flat for me. The novel was nothing like Harvey's former work, and Solange has gotten so annoying that I wanted to throw my Kindle out the window every time a chapter said it was being told from her POV (The POV alternated between Lucy, Solange, and Nicholas. Keiran narrated the epilogue). The pacing was show more slow, the plot was scattered, it ended on a cliffhanger and there was a distracting error. I'm pretty disappointed in this installment. I'll be reading the 6th (and perhaps final?) book in the series, just to see what happens. Maybe it'll be as good as the previous four were.

My biggest pet peeve in this novel was Solange. She has turned into such a brat, I can't stand to read anything from her POV anymore. All she did was whine about how no one understands her and how hard her life is, then she throws fits, makes stupid decisions, and whines some more. Seriously, I wanted to stake her. I finally found out what was going on with her, but it would have been much more effective had that been disclosed earlier in the novel. Then maybe I wouldn't have been so irritated at her. I had to put the book down and walk away during every chapter she narrated. It took me five freaking days to read this book because of that. I really did not enjoy her chapters at all.

There was so much going on in the plot that I couldn't really keep up. Apparently neither could Harvey because a lot of balls seemed to be dropped. Maybe loose ends will be tied up in the next book, but this one ended with nothing being answered. Literally nothing was resolved, and half of the plot threads started and didn't really progress at all. I mean sure, every new thing kept getting mentioned, but instead of actually, oh I don't know, wrapping something up, Harvey just kept introducing new problems. It got to be ridiculous. I don't even remember what the book was about, and I just finished it. And the cliffhanger is just ridiculous. Basically, Harvey had two characters act really out of character, then she ended it. Yea, thanks for that. There weren't enough unresolved plot threads already. I'm glad you added a couple of more.

The error also took me out of the story. One error, which really bugged the crap out of me for about four chapters after I read it, was when Lucy was checking to see if her cell phone was working. She said it had a dial tone. Cell phones don't, and as far as I know, never have had dial tones. I mean everyone has a cell phone. Harvey should have known better than to write that, and an editor should have caught that and realized the mistake as well.

Overall, I'm really disappointed in this book. It's not horrible, and I finished it, but I expected more from Harvey and this series. If you're a fan of the Drake Chronicles, then I recommend you read it, if nothing else, just to know what happens next. For now, I'll just hope that Book #6 is better. show less