Heritage: S.M Boyce

Heritage is the third book in Boyce's Grimoire Saga.  It picks up with Kara in turning to learn how to control her Isen power enough to lead the other vagabonds.  Braeden is working to learn the inner workings of his kingdom to help the other Bloods plan an attack and finally defeat his father. Braeden has to learn how to gain the trust of the other bloods.  Kara has to learn how she can learn the vagabonds and how to sway the other bloods to her mission.  As part of her training, Kara visits the home of her grandfather, a notorious Isen who killed millions of people.  She had thought she'd known all about him until she took a trip through his memories and discovered the truth about him and herself.  This helps her accept her powers and learn to control them.  Now she sends her vagabonds back to their kingdoms and campaigns for the assistance of the other bloods to join her cause for peace.  Will Kara be successful?

After reading the previous two novels in the saga and loving them, I found this one to be lacking a certain..opf.  I love the idea of Kara being an Isen, it adds a deeper quality to her character and a twist in the story.  I have a feeling there is more to this surprise in the next novels.  There was a lot of re-cap from the other novels, and while having a recap can help remind readers of what happened previously, it started to take away from the story.  It started to feel like the momentum of the series started to slow down in the beginning of the novel, but once Kara revealed her powers the story picked back up. I was sucked back into the story, eager to know what will happen next. 

It almost felt like that story didn't progress much until about the last 75% of the novel.  There was a lot of build up to what will happen towards the end.  A lot was predictable, but then again Boyce tells the reader things will happen.  It does push the story along a little bit, but I think this book is intended to focus more on Kara learning her identity, who she truly is and her place within the world.    Throughout the other two books, Kara didn't feel connected to the people she was fighting to save, and now she does as well as change the viewpoint of Isens.  It is something that was needed to give Kara that connection to everyone and everything to really fight for unity.

I did enjoy this story, it was different from the previous ones in that it had a different air to it.  While it was slower and had a different feel to the story, it was one that is needed for the series.  It does deviate a little bit, but it is a necessary deviation.  I enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading the next one.  I do suggest not only thing book but also the series.  I give this novel a 3 out 5 rating.  S.M Boyce is doing a great job at developing a story and world.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Catherine Land answers an ad in the paper for a reliable wife, she sends along a picture with her letter describing herself as a simple and honest woman.  Ralph Truitt is looking for a companion a woman to help spend his days with.  He also wants his astranged son to come home, what he doesn't know is the secrets his son and new wife hold.

When I started reading this book I was sure if I would like it.  It was slow to begin and hard to get past some of the background description and things leading up to the plot twists.  Even then I found myself wanting to skip over parts that got to be boring and long winded.  The plot seemed to be one I had read before.   Woman married a man with a plot to kill him and take his money l.  Granted some aspects of the story are different and unique to Goolrick.I  didn't feel sympathy for any of the characters except for Mrs. Larsen, but she seemed to be the only genuine and hones person in the whole story.  Every one else had their own agendas and seemed to be using each other to meet those agendas.  Truitt came off as being a complete push-over when it came to Catherine even when he figured out what was happening, he didn't care.

It was a little more difficult to get to the end of this one than some of the other books I have read.  I was a little disappointed in it because I heard such great things and I didn't find it to be what others made it out to be.  I can see why a lot of people enjoyed the book, but I think I was expecting more suspense, more action, Truitt putting up more of fight.  The only suspenseful part (if you can say it's suspenseful){SPOILER} was towards the end when Andy tries to rape Catherine and she stabs him. I am not sure what I was expecting.

I would give this book a 3 out of 5 because while there are some things I didn't like about it there were some good points like the descriptions and dialog.  It was a well written book, just a well written book that didn't tickle my fancy.  I am sure other people would enjoy the book.  Even though I was  not a fan of this book, I am interested in reading some of Goolrick's other books to see if I would enjoy them as well because he does have an interesting writing style.