Blog Tour for Pretty Sacrifices (The Legend of Glory #2) by Devin O’Branagan; Review.

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Release Date: July 1st, 2012

Finished Date: July 4th, 2012

Publishers: Self-Published

Source: For Review

Format: Kindle 

Pages: Unknown
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US 

In the post-apocalyptic world following a pandemic, dark angels arrive in Glory Templeton’s small hometown to claim the eternal souls of her loved ones. Targeted by evil because of her heroism during the great plague, Glory fights back with the help of gutsy young witch Kaia, inexperienced guardian angel Sasha, and her intrepid demon-fighting dog Hallelujah. Complicating everything, a rift in time reunites Glory with an old flame and forces her to pay a huge price for love.
A thrilling tale of courage, faith, and fighting the good fight.
Pretty Sacrifices is the sequel to the bestselling urban fantasy, Glory, which was nominated by the American Library Association for their 2011 Best Paperbacks for Young Adults List. Genesis, the third novel in The Legend of Glory trilogy, is forthcoming.

The Review: The plot thickens in the second instalment of The Legend of Glory as it’s revealed that Scorpio pharmaceuticals was only the time of the ice burg in the big plan, detailed in the Lodestones to de-populate the world and if Glory and the gang thought they had saved the world from the Pan Plague they haven’t seen nothing yet, as evil once again rears its ugly head. There will indeed be sacrifices made, both good and bad as Glory tries to thwart the growing power of a New World Order and as she plays them at their own game, she gets a few surprises along the way.
I really liked this second book, it started of where you thought everything was coming back to normal; well as normal as losing 1 billion people to a plague can be, then BAM! back into the thick of things with two of my favourite characters leading the way. Glory again, such an awesome character, good through and through and still trying to ‘save’ everyone. It was nice to see her get a hint of happiness before things went pear-shaped but she lived up to the challenge as always. She is put through equal amounts of turmoil again with more personal issues at stake this time. Kaia – what a character! I love her as much as Glory and maybe a little more in this. She was definitely a favourite in book 1 but my heart broke for her in this, this was her time to shine and boy did she. I don’t really want to say too much about that because she was the centre of a lot of the storyline and emotions. We get a bit of Dominic too (I’m team Nicky) and a lot of the previous books cast are back as Warriors of Light! I must give a special mention to Belle Starr – she is soooo adorable and how anyone could resist that is beyond me, she’s special – mark my words.
The storyline is an excellent progression, I liked the way we had two points of view that were going down different paths but connected to bring everyone together, it was great- so we had Glory & Dominic in her hometown, protecting the people from an immediate threat and we get Kaia & Evan at Moonstone trying to deal with a premonition that has far reaching consequences for at least one person. Then their paths end up crossing for both stories showdown, which I loved. The title was very apt also but some sacrifices weren’t so pretty and there were a few of them. I feel that if one of the main characters has to go through some ordeal then they all seem to have their version of it that they have to go through too. There was a part where I didn’t totally get what went on but I’m letting it fly because it will probably be explained later.  As I said earlier, it elaborates on the ‘commandments’ from the monument that played a part in the first book. We touch on ‘The New World Order’ which is really interesting and quite factual and scary because this is actually real people! And I love the way it has been weaved into this series along with the paranormal, it makes me want to run out and do research (in fact, a friend of mine is into this in a big way – so I’d probably just ask him) but that is still adding an extra element to the book because it could actually happen and I like that the threat isn’t all one sided like a paranormal threat or a human threat – it’s both! So the group can’t really side with one or the other and it makes no difference from what side they come – they fight for what is the right thing to do, for the human race, for the earth, for family and for love – and I personally love its message!
The ending sort of blew me away and I wish I had the last book now, I’m very curious to see where this is all heading and how it comes together. From the ending though, it promises to be epic!

Author Bio: Bestselling author Devin O'Branagan writes novels about uncommon heroes. Her genres include young adult urban fantasy, paranormal thrillers, and comic mysteries. She also writes a humor column for TAILS Magazine, is a member of the Dog Writers Association of America, and many of her writing projects support animal rescue. All of her books are available in both print and eBook formats. Visit her website at www.DevinWrites.com

Glory (The Legend of Glory #1) by Devin O'Branagan

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Published Date: May 22nd, 2011
Finished Date: February 2nd, 2012
Source: For Review
Format: Kindle
Pages: 220

The Blurb from Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old Glory Templeton's blood holds the cure for a deadly pandemic-plague, and she embarks on a quest to save humanity. When evil forces conspire to stop her, three supernatural beings are assigned to be her guardians. Forbidden love, ancient secret societies, mysterious astronomical monuments, witches, angels, vampires, and demons all contribute to the high adventure that tests the character of this remarkable young woman. The legend of Glory begins. . .

The Review: We join Glory on her journey as she becomes the only person able to cure the Pan-plague sweeping through the world. An immense number of people are dying through the infection and it is of vital importance that Glory finds the scientists that have gone into hiding after the death of a colleague and the kidnapping of another who happens to be Glory’s mother Kate. Her only clue is to seek out Father Michael at a local church who then informs her that there is more to the world than she thinks. Because of the severity of the situation and that she is being hunted by the corporation her mother works for, she is assigned bodyguards/protectors by the powers that be, Kaia, Zane and Dominic form the unlikely gang, along with Glory and her dog- Hallie – they set off on their mission to save humanity. Not only are they up against the corporation and evil, they all have a serious amount of baggage and issues that they need to deal with. It leads Glory to wonder if the powers that be are nuts to have put the hope of human kind in the hands of four angst ridden teens and a dog.

Hopefully I won’t give too much away about the characters here because that was part of the allure, getting to know them and finding out what makes them tick. Glory is your average 17 year old girl, living in a farming town, easy life etc. when events that are out of her control turn her life upside down, she turns out to be man-kinds only hope. She doesn’t want to do this, she’d rather dwell on her grief and pain but instead ‘pulls on her big girl panties’ and gets on with it. She is really quite admirable in her attitude to her predicament, with her determination and thinking she deals with things incredibly well considering her situation and I would like to think that if I were in her shoes that I would be the same. It’s a shame that the same can’t be said for her rationality regarding men which leads us onto the brooding men, Zane- the Cowboy and Dominic- the reluctant hero who would give any emo a run for their money. She is drawn to both in totally different ways and that leads them all to places they do & don’t want to go. Last but not least is Kaia, I really liked her too, she is a great character, best friend material and just pretty awesome. All of the characters are great, even the dog and you will empathise with them all as they go through this journey and their own personal journeys. They are well written, the dialogue and the relationships between them are good. Just, all round likeable characters that even though we have only just gotten to know them are still capable of making you feel like they have so much more to give.

So, this was a really good read. I liked the storyline and how the paranormal element was brought in and mixed with a touch of religion so that what you thought was going to be a cut and dried ‘run & chase’ book, turned into something different. I also liked how the plot wasn’t all about Glory, yes it centred on her but each of the characters had their own part and their own personal issues to deal with too, it really makes you have some deep thoughts about your own place in the world and what you would do in Glory’s position. Some real life touches were brought into the mix too, personally I had never heard of the ‘monument’ so when I finished the book, I looked it up and it is in fact real –quite bizarre & mysterious- but real and now it has me curious and I need to know more about it (yes, I know I’m being cryptic but I’m trying not to give anything away and you will understand when you read it) I loved how its message and the organisation it supposedly represents were weaved into the plot. The thing that got me thinking also is that the main scenario could very well happen and the way corporations are these days, would we put it past them to do something like this in the name of ‘humanity’? This was a really good enjoyable, thought provoking book that has still got me thinking about it as I write this, the day after reading and I will definitely be continuing to read the next books as they come out.