Ann Gimpel

Urban fantasy at its finest.

Earth as we know it has been completely destroyed. It has been ravaged by dark creatures and every human on earth not possessing magic has been killed. Aislinn has lost everyone she has ever known, and has been coerced into fighting against the dark creatures she knows so little about. She has become hard as steel, not seeking friendship with anyone or anything. Aislinn suddenly becomes a target for the dark gods, her unique gifts make her a prime target to carry show more their children. As she fights to survive she meets Fionn MacCumhaill. They have an instant connection, but how can the two possibly have a relationship when the fate of Earth is at stake?

Welcome to my stop of the Earth Reclaimed series by Ann Gimpel! This is such an exciting series. It dumps you down right in the middle of the action, and doesn’t hold anything back. It’s so jam packed with action you’ll need a lie down after reading it. The plot is well paced with a few interesting twists and turns. It is classed as urban fantasy, but I feel it doesn’t fall completely in that category, having a little bit of dystopia, romance, and science fiction thrown in too.

I really liked Aislinn, she’s kick ass and doesn’t back down from a challenge. She’s an immensely complex character, she’s lost so much but she still continues to fight. I really liked the way she’s portrayed. She keeps her emotions locked up, but slowly you can see than unravel. The characters are really interesting, and each comes with it’s own emotional baggage. I enjoyed that exploration into what they were like before – even Rune the wolf (my favourite!) has a past and grieves for lost loved ones.

The book is well written and engaging. The dialogue follows well, and while I said there is plenty of action, it’s not completely crammed in that there’s no room for character growth. I really liked the world building in this series because it brings in so many different things, magic and aliens and gods and animals that bond with humans and tons of other unique and interesting things in between. Earth’s Requiem is a really fascinating enjoyable book that I found myself thinking about even when I wasn’t reading it.

Before I round off I want to mention how much I liked the dark gods in this book. Who doesn’t love a good baddie? Well these ones certainly fit the bill. They’re dark and charismatic and completely ruthless. The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but don’t work, book two and three are out now, so you don’t have to wait to find out the conclusion to this fantastic fantasy series!

This tour was run by the lovely Bewitching Book Tours, and stay tuned for my reviews of Earth’s Blood and Earth’s Hope! show less

Thirty-year-old Alice Carey becomes stranded while mountain climbing. Jed Starnes scents his mate and rescues her. He decides to claim her prior to divulging, not only will she be mating him but two others. This historical PNR takes place in the Sierra Navada Mountains in the year 1936.

Ann Gimpel does a great job of making the characters speak like they are in the correct time period. The story was credible of its era. She also set a good foundation for the series explaining the relevance of show more the hunters and the lack of mates.

I like that Alice is a modern woman. I appreciated that she does not conform. She is a civil engineer and loves the outdoors, typically something men would do. I like that the men who formed their pack: Jed, Bron, and Terin, got along so well. Brent made an interesting adversary. I thought it was clever how he tied into the story with Alice. I like how the story ended.

Complimentary copy provided in exchange for an honest review. show less

Ariana Hawke is a vampire with secrets and has been foreseen to help save the world, with her friend Conan a Guardian.

Nick Giovanni is a vampire who has been in stasis for over a hundred years. He's learning about this new world and falling in love with Ariana as they fight off dark sorcerers and humans bent on destroying them.

Vampires are looked down on by most of the paranormal world but Ariana has created a safe haven with her club Ascent and proven various paranormals can work show more together.

'Warped Line' is their continued story as paranormals must decide if they are going to work together to help save themselves and what they can do about the human and dark sorcerer threats.
I loved falling back into the 'Cataclysm' world filled with magical creatures and Ariana leading the way by bringing them together rather than fighting amongst themselves.

Ariana and Nick's story is a wonderful slow burn, but they have obstacles and challenges to face and their story is only beginning.

Great urban fantasy, with the right blend of story and action, I can't wait to read the next book, 'Cracked Line.'

I received a free copy of this book and I'm voluntarily leaving a review. If you like my reviews I hope you will follow my blog. https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/ show less

*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.

Aislinn has come to the attention of the Dark Ones for her unique blend of Mage and Seeker blood. They want her to produce their offspring. The Lemurians, who use the people with magic remaining on Earth to their needs, offer to help Aislinn. They open their doors to their city to Aislinn, which they don't do to humans, to help show more prepare her against the Dark Ones. Through the journey to Taltos, Aislinn starts to evolve into more. The Lemurian leave her on the land to allow her more time to discover her talents, as she's starting to show evidence of all five magics present in her.

This is my first time listening to Caroline's narration. At first I thought she was speaking a bit fast, but I think it's the information we get at diving into a new world. I have to pick up what the world is like and the "rules" at which people live by here. Caroline does slight tone differences to easily differentiate those that are speaking. Caroline's voice became Aislinn and Finn for me. She did a few different tone differences for males and females, and also to sound different for Rune the wolf and Bella the Raven. There is personality and attitude when they start to heighten.

We have two prologues. I thought it was a bit strange, but with telling the story of two character's histories it leads to two prologues. One of Aislinn and what happened to her father and then mother. The other is of Rune's previous bond mate, which we learn later what we don't know at this time.

I feel like a lot of information in the beginning, but we got some pieces of the information yet again in the first chapter. Like Aislinn's alive because she can do magic. I figured so with what we were told of the human race then again in the first prologue of Aislinn and her mom.

The story is a blend of Celtic fantasy with dystopian feel to the world as alien beings, Gods, took over. Aislinn is one that finds herself more than she ever imagined and with Celtic gods that help pull the humans remaining together to fight for their world. All this, and blend in sex as the undercurrent to everything.

This story has more of a sexual content than I was expecting. Ugh. The whole book is all about sex. And not necessarily good sex to boot. The gods sleep with woman and did experiments on them when first emerged. The dark gods presence are strong in the sexual sensations to all around them when they are near. Aislinn fights with her bodies wants when they are around. Even when come cross the ghost of skeletons of the dead humans, one gropes Aislinn. I didn't think this was needed. Even a line when she sleeps with one man, it's cheesy. A dragon and minotaur? In the midst of finished battle. Yes. Granted the Dark God was stopped for now, but he could return at any time. And all the friends are missing. But the desire of not being laid in hundreds of years had to be sated at this moment.

This isn't a bad thing, but definitely not what I was expecting when going into the book. I feel like the sensual moments the characters spend together are just that. Moments of sex. I didn't feel the build up and connection between them. Just wham bam thank you ma'am. The first few sex scenes felt clunky and not to have a smooth lead in. They feel as though they were put in because sex was needed. Fine, the gods use sex to entice and take peoples lives and there's a lingering need after the spells touch that Aislinn needs to sate. Aislinn and Finn, the connection grows to be more. But with the Dark Ones, there are other ways to convince people to do as they want, other than magic to spike their sexual drive. Well, I guess the Old Ones (the Lemurians) are known to use those other methods. It didn't work for me. Others it may work well for as many people loved the book and story. Check out Goodreads as there are many.

The second half of the book is when things took off for me, for the good. The story deepens as we learn of connections and potential plans of the Lemurians and their connection to the Dark Ones. There is sex but it feels as it fits now.

As the storyline and potential has a great grasp, this isn't my kind of read. The fact that everything is about sex just puts me off because there could be so much more here in this world. show less