Book: Renegade by Cambria Hebert

Published May 2013 by Smashwords|240 pages

Where I Got It: I got the e-book from the Nook store

Series: Heven & Hell #4

Genre: YA Paranormal

I’ve been beautiful. I’ve been ugly. I’ve died. I’ve been brought back. I’ve had abilities awakened within me. My strength has been tested. My beliefs have been tested.

Yet I stand.

What’s next when you’ve pretty much experienced it all?

The end.

Sam and I are picking up the pieces. We’re trying to come to terms with all we’ve lost. And as much as I would like to hide my head, ignore the reality I live every day, there is no forgetting.

Riley is in hell—I’m still not sure of his agenda. My mother’s past haunts me. And Kimber… Kimber is being herself. Cole sneaks glances at Gemma and she returns them when she thinks I don’t see.

But I do.

When Beelzebub escapes he brings his war to places I never thought he would. Earth. Maine. Home. Now everyone and everything is at risk. This has become bigger than my circle of friends. This has become bigger than me. I have to finish this. I have to find a way to stop him, to finish this war.

I just pray we will all be left standing in the end.

I’ve really enjoyed the other books in this series, and Renegade was no exception!  I think I liked it about the same as Tirade, maybe a little more.

I definitely got pulled back into this world, which I really like.  It’s different than a lot of other paranormal books I’ve read, and it was nice to jump back into Heven’s life.

Everyone got the ending they deserved, and I’m glad things worked out for so many characters.  There were some unexpected happenings, but even then, I wasn’t too surprised they happened (even if I didn’t want things to go that way).

Still, the one person I wanted to know more about was Kimber!  She’s definitely her selfish, jealous self in this one, and her story is the one that felt the most unresolved to me.  I’m really curious about what happened to her more than anyone else because of that.  And there is something about it that leaves me hoping (at least a little) that there’s at least one book set in this world about her.  It’s the same with Riley, at least in terms of slightly unfinished story lines.

While things are (mostly) resolved, there are I few things I’m slightly curious about because there weren’t a lot of details.  Like, the girl that China killed in the first book…did the family ever get closure with what happened to her?  And did Sam ever find his peace with what happened?

Also: the real reason why Heven’s mom thought she was marked for hell.  We get more of that backstory, but not enough to make me happy!  And I wish Gran had more of a role in the series, but particularly this book, with some of the things that Gran’s been hiding.  She’s such an awesome character, and her few appearances makes me wish we saw more of her.

3 stars.  I thought it was a really good conclusion to the series, and I’m sad that it’s over (but at least there are novellas to read!) but there was something about this book that was slightly repetitive.  Still, I liked it!

Book: Conspiracy Of Blood And Smoke by Anne Blankman

Published April 2015 by Balzer + Bray|325 pages

Where I Got It: I checked out the e-book from the library

Series: Prisoner Of Night And Fog #2

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Acclaimed author Anne Blankman returns to the shadowy and dangerous world of 1930s Germany in this thrilling sequel to Prisoner of Night and Fog, perfect for fans of Code Name Verity.

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives in England, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside down. When she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped—and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time—or will Hitler discover them first?

I really liked Conspiracy Of Blood And Smoke!  It’s a really good follow-up to Prisoner Of Night And Fog, and while I didn’t like it as much as the first book, I still really liked it!

I think what I love most about this book (much like its predecessor) is that it takes places in the years leading up to World War 2.  And that it’s about a girl who used to be a part of Hitler’s inner circle.  I think why I like it so much is because it’s such a different take on World War 2, and I feel like it’s a story that isn’t told often in historical fiction.  Well, from what I’ve read, but I could be wrong on that.  Still, this really is one of my favorite aspects of the book because you do see the events that take place before World War 2.

While Prisoner Of Night had events that were seen up close, in Conspiracy, we see them viewed from a distance.  Which still made the book interesting to me, because I feel like it added something different.  Being far away, and knowing what was happening, but not how bad, and getting the feeling that everyone else doesn’t realize how bad things are.

I really am impressed with the amount of research that Blankman has done.  I really felt like she knew much more about what was going on than I ever will, and those details really came across throughout the book.  I loved the author’s note at the end, as well as the selected bibliography.

Part of me also wants another book in the series, because I really felt like there was more to Gretchen and Daniel’s story, but at the same time, it was also a good way to end this duology.  And even though we know what will happen, I still spent most of the wanting and hoping for a different outcome, even knowing it wouldn’t happen.

As for Gretchen and Daniel, I liked that they struggled with the idea that maybe things wouldn’t work out between them.  I’m still not sure how I feel about their relationship, because I found the historical stuff much more interesting.  But things weren’t easy for them, and I did like that, because they had to fight for it.  And after everything they’ve been through, I felt like their relationship had something that wasn’t there for me in the first book.

4 stars.  I really liked Conspiracy, and I’m looking forward to any historical fiction that Blankman writes, especially if they’re as well-researched as this one!  I also loved that we get see what Germany was like before World War 2 starts.