{Review} Girl From Above: Betrayal (The 1000 Revolution #1) by Pippa DaCosta

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: April, 2015
Finished Date: July 24th, 2015

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Adult, Sci-Fi
Source: For Review
Format: ARC

Pages: 175
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

 

"My name is #1001, and I am not ready to die." I’d only just begun to live.

When Captain Caleb Shepperd is released from prison, all he wants to do is keep his head down and earn a living smuggling illegal cargo through the nine systems. So when a synth stows away on his ship, and brings with her a crap-ton of problems, including guilt-ridden secrets he thought he’d escaped, he’d prefer to toss her out the airlock. The problem is, she’s priceless tech, and he’s fresh out of credit.

#1001 is not meant to exist. Created for a single purpose, she has one simple order: to kill. But not everything is as it seems. Buried deep inside, she remembers... Remembers when she was human. And she remembers what Shepperd did to her. She’s not ready to die, but she is ready to kill.

From the bestselling author of the Veil Series comes an action packed story of love, redemption, and revenge.

Pippa DaCosta captures the grit and realism of her urban fantasy stories and injects it, along with some down-and-dirty passion, into the sci-fi genre.

WARNING: 18+ only. Contains graphic adult content, including sex, drug use, violence, and a plethora of curse words. Not for the easily offended.

The Review: Girl From Above: Betrayal is the first instalment of ‘The 1000 Revolution’ series and was very intriguing.
This is one of those books where a lot of it is revealed as the story is told so there isn’t a great deal I can say without it spoiling the plot so I’ll have to tread carefully. Set in a different galaxy and time, this is a sci fi story that brings mystery from the start as we meet #1001, we don’t know much about her other than she is a synth/clone type being that are usually used as assassins or jobs with covert missions. She seems to be having some trouble with her functions, sometimes she hears orders to kill, sometimes she hears malfunction commands and sometimes she has memories of a time that she has vague memories of. Her memories feature the betrayal of a smuggler –Captain Caleb Shepperd- and it’s no surprise that she finds her way to him.
Caleb just takes each day as it comes, after his release from prison he is scraping a living by smuggling illegal cargo on his ship. After one particular close shave, he finds that they have a stowaway aboard and this one will bring nothing but trouble – especially if her number is any indication because she shouldn’t exist. What he should do – is head straight back and hand her back over – but what he needs to do is sell her to the highest bidder ASAP…… but things never go to plan, do they? Caleb will be lucky to get out of this mission alive but then again, it would give him an end to his miserable existence.
So, I really rather enjoyed this book; I like a good sci fi adventure now and again so this scratched that itch. Most of the story is set aboard Caleb’s ship as they travel through space in an effort to unload their cargo. We end up with four characters at the start but the main characters are Caleb, his captain Fran and #1001; they all have secrets but the ones we are interested in the most are Caleb’s and #1001s and we are well aware of them from the start which adds to their appeal and gives them an air of mystery.
As they travel we learn about the galaxy, the political climate, which planets are tied to one place or govern themselves. We learn about the natives, what type of people frequent certain places and how one deals with public relations. Action comes by way of warships that chase them, where they must hide, outmanoeuvre and flee from them…. It made me think of the Millennium Falcon when attaching itself to the debris so that it could get away from the bad guy. It isn’t totally set in space though as we visit a couple of planets and their inhabitants, this gives us a glimpse into the unsavoury side of life and how the smugglers conduct themselves – loyalty is not a word they understand. Caleb finds himself in more than one bad situation where his life is on the line or the authority are on his tail which then leads to some fighting, planning and rescue; mostly from #1001 who can’t decide whether she wants to save him or kill him. #1001 gets flashes of a memory throughout and malfunction type messages but there can be no denying that she is tied to Caleb in some way and that is a major part of the story that ties everything together.
This is a very much getting to know you and your world book but it sets up a really interesting scenario by the end, one that this only just touches and I’m really intrigued and curious to see where it goes next. This was a great introduction to the series and really grabs you, so yes I will be looking out for the sequel.

Thank you to Pippa DaCosta for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

{Review} Beyond The Veil (The Veil #1) by Pippa DaCosta

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: February 7th, 2015
Finished Date: June 4th, 2015

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Source: For Review
Format: eBook

Pages: Unknown
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

“They say I’m half a demon, but I like to think of myself as half human, especially as the demons want me dead.”

Charlie Henderson is living a lie. Her real name is Muse and her attempt at a normal life is about to go up in smoke. 

When a half-demon assassin walks into her life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Muse must return to the one man she hoped never to see again and ask for help. The Prince of Greed isn’t known for his charity. The price is high and the cost could tear her apart.

Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell, an assassin with ulterior motives and her bloodthirsty demon-kin, Muse must embrace the lure of chaos at her core; the demon inside her, in order to survive.

If your ex is the Prince of Greed, you’d better be ready to raise hell.

The Review: Beyond the Veil is the first book in ‘The Veil’ series and what an introduction it was!
We are introduced to a world where Demons exist and live on Earth is various guises/skins. Demons don’t really value humans but something they deem even worse than that are half-demons which are classed as lower than the low and most are killed at birth. Charlie Henderson just so happens to be a half demon who was once named Muse but for the last five years has successfully lived the ‘human’ life she so craved, leaving everything and everyone she knew in the past including her ex boyfriend Akil who also happens to be one of the Princes of Hell.
It’s only after an assassin pays her a visit and then her place of business explodes that she is forced to ask for help from the one person she said she never wanted to see again – Akil. He welcomes her with open arms but at what cost? Why has he always been there for her? Protecting her, Loving her? He is more than willing to provide her with information on the assassin so she can work out why and who wants her dead…..but should she start looking a little closer to home? With more than one suspect and multiple attempts at her life….just who can she trust?
I really enjoyed this book, I thought it was original, engaging and action packed. I liked Muse’s character, she had a vulnerability to her that appeals and makes you take up her plight. She does go through a change throughout the book and comes into her own quite a bit that sheds the victim image she has for the most part. I really liked the connection she had to Akil, I thought they shared a good chemistry and it was easy to get caught up in their need for each other. Akil seemed like the doting, patient suitor who was happy to wait in the wings for Muse to do her thing and happily brought her back into the fold when she needed him, giving her a home. She gets other male attention from the assassin – but you’ll have to guess at how that plays out.
The storyline was fab! There is a lot of action in the story especially when multiple attempts are made on Muse’s life, when there are things exploding around you, other things chasing you, people trying to rob you of the air you breathe and extinguish your fire…. There are going to be fights aplenty, car chases and decimation. There’s also the fact that Muse has to embrace her demon and learn control throughout the story and through this we find out a lot more about demons, half demons and the veil. The story is also filled with lots of misdirection, twists and turns which truly keep you on your toes whilst never quite working the whole story out but keeping you engrossed throughout. The world building and the characters are really well done, it opens up a really interesting premise with Princes of Hell ruling the sins, the limitations of demons, the Veil and what it’s for, why half demons are hated and how they live in our world but I really wanted to go through the Veil and see the other side. I am satisfied with the ending, it is left open for much more growth but showing great potential and I will look out for the sequel. 

{Review} City of Fae by Pippa DaCosta

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: May 7th, 2015
Finished Date: April 25th, 2015

Publishers: Bloomsbury Spark
Genre: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Source: For Review
Format: eARC

Pages: 336
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

From the moment Alina touches London's hottest fae superstar, breaking one of the laws founded to protect all of her kind, her fate – and the fae – close in. 

Below ground, the fae High Queen plots to claim the city as her own and places her pawns, ready for the battle to come. A battle she cannot lose, but for one small problem – Alina. There are four ancient keepers powerful enough to keep the queen in her prison. Three are dead. One remains … And to fight back, Alina risks sacrificing everything she has come to love. 

This New Adult urban fantasy is packed with action and suspense and will have you yearning for more forbidden fae romance.

The Review: City of Fae was a unique read to me, set in a different version of London that has been populated by Fae.
In this London, Fae have been revealed to the world and are treat like stars. One such Fae is Sovereign or Reign to his ‘friends’, he is the hottest rock star around and people flock to him so when Alina finds him slumped over on a train platform – her reporting persona sees a story and her way back into her job that she was recently fired from. There are laws to be followed when dealing with Fae - Look, but don't touch. Touch, but don't feel. Feel, but never ever love. – and humans are meant to stick to these or risk ending up like drug addicts to the fae.
Little does Alina know but she is about to break those rules, sending everything she thought she knew into disarray. She comes to find that there is an uprising about to happen, the Fae she had rescued is a wanted man, she becomes a wanted woman from both the human & Fae laws and that’s not to mention the hidden underground Fae, the murders of important Fae….and the spiders….never forget the spiders. When it all comes down to Sovereign & Alina against an insane High Queen….who will win?
I really enjoyed this book and found that it was unique and quite refreshing for a book about Fae. I liked the setting and especially liked the idea of hidden tunnels underneath London that inhabit fae. It’s unusual to read a book where the Fae aren’t the ones in power and for all they are revered here, they hold no power and live like homeless people. The only real threat to humans they possess is the ability to bespell them and use them to feed on, making them addicted to the fae that is using them. There is a story behind how the Fae find themselves in their predicament but that doesn’t come until later.
I really liked the characters of Alina & Sovereign, we don’t know much about Alina to start with but we know that she is attracted to Reign. We also don’t know much about Reign to start with and it takes a while for his story to be revealed, I don’t know that I found it easy to trust him, he always seemed so aloof where Alina seemed quite genuine. Their identities are a major plot piece which definitely brought on some ‘huh?’ moments. I did enjoy the relationship they carved out for themselves, there was something about how they were drawn to each other that keeps the reader enthralled, waiting for them to get close and have a moment. Those moments really get your heart racing too as Reign layers on the charm and Alina thinks she is bespelled, what they share is hot! And I could just imagine Reign seducing her.
The storyline was full of action as our two MCs are hunted down by various people. Alina saves Reign, Reign save Alina & so on. There are some fabulous fight scenes throughout bringing loads of action to the plot that has Alina & Reign on the run for most of the story. There are some huge secrets that have to be revealed and some change the way you view the story (in a good way) as all of the threads are intricately wound together so that it creates an all action finale. The world created by the author and its characters were great, the pacing was fast, loads of action, plenty of romance and a nice dash of forbidden love – what more could you want? 

Thank you to Bloomsbury Spark for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.