Series Review - Cainsville

Cainsville

Kelley Armstrong

Easy Reads
Paranormal / Supernatural / Mystery / Teen or Adult / Thriller /

*I won't adding a summaries to these novels the way I normally do. Because there would just be too many spoilers. I feel like even the goodreads synopisis gives too much away.
You just have to read this series it is AMAZING and totally addicting!

So here are my Spoiler Free Reviews :

Omens

8 Stars
483 Pages

I just finished The Darkest Powers Series and decided I should check out some more of Kelley Armstrong's novels. I went into this novel blind, I did quickly skim the synopsis before opening the book but I really did not have any expectations. I was in love by the second chapter, I don't even know where to begin explaining how excited I am about Cainsville! The setting is perfect, the pace is spot on, amazing characters - especially Gabriel who is just swoon worthy - the buildup is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, more importantly the questions posed are answered in a timely and satisfying manner. Action packed and fast paced, I just couldn't put it down!

Visions

8 Stars
476 Pages

It is Armstrong's style to have the next novel pick up exactly where the previous novel left off; I often find that really irritating as there is excessive repetition and the first few chapters of the book always seem unnecessary. While this novel is no exception to her start up rule, but in this case it just enhances the story. With so much action and the primary (Larsen Mystery) and secondary storylines (Cainsville) both leaving cliffhangers, the characters are still developing. We the readers know more than the characters within the story and that dynamic more than anything is what has my anticipation levels so high. I have to know when the characters are going to find out what I know! As a result I have been marathoning my way through this book, picking it up whenever I have a free moment. I am a little worried that I will forget things because I am reading so fast, but these are also something I think I could read over and over. I might end up buying this series so I can have my own hardcover copies. I haven't read anything this captivating since The Daughter of Smoke and Bone last year!
We are given enough answers to be satisfied and interested but there is enough held back to keep you wondering.

Deceptions

7.5 Stars
458 Pages

I read the first 2/3 of this novel a lot slower than I wanted to, a couple chapters at a time instead of in big chunks like the first two. This was all due to life being in the way of reading, I think it would have been way better if I had read it with the same pattern I did the first couple books.  I am writing this review after I read the fourth novel and I am really regretting not taking the time between the two books to write this up as now my feelings for both books are kind of combined.
About half way through this book, I realized how many answers and how much information Armstrong has given me as a reader; without an overwhelming info dump. Yes she does give lots of info at once here and there, but overall its just little bits and pieces that come together seamlessly to form the big picture. There is a little bit of welcome repetition as we move around between characters and its "hidden" in such a way that until I looked back I never even noticed it. Getting the facts straight without that irritating tone that YA novels sometimes get. The conclusion of this novel was perfect, a wrap up of the first three novels that was satisfying and gave me a complete feeling. But still knowing there is more with the world and the characters driving you on to continue. *Armstrong has found the balance between the good and bad of so many characteristics... I can't even explain its just such good writting.

Betrayals 

8.5 Stars
416 Pages

I commented this on goodreads about 1/4 of the way through the novel and it sums up the beginning very nicely.
"Armstrong knows exactly when and how to change it up a little. First goal completed after three books, change the time line a little, switch up how all the characters interact, add another perspective and voila same old love but fresh" 
There is about three months between the end of the third novel and the beginning of this one - where as the first three novels were back to back timelines, and also Gabriel's perspective is added. I had so many mixed feelings going into this book. I wanted to love it,  but I was worried ; our main question had been answered. Would the new driving force behind the novel live up to my skyhigh standards for this series? Knowing so much now about the whole world what was left to really explore? Would it just be info dumping to fill in all the blanks with a half baked plot line to string out those facts?
I am beyond happy to report that this novel was just as amazing, although waiting a year for the 5th novel is going to be awful. I can't recommend this series enough.
*it is getting so hard to do reviews without spoiling anything!


Similar Reads

Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Book Review - The Masked Truth

The Masked Truth 

Kelley Armstrong

340 Pages
6.5 stars
YA/ Fiction / Drama / Mystery / Crime / Mental Illness - PTSD Schizophrenia - / Thriller
Easy Read

So you may have noticed I have been on a bit (maybe more than a bit) of a Kelley Armstrong binge, in the past two weeks I have gotten through The Darkest Powers Trilogy, the first 3 novels in the Cainsville series (expecting to be done the fourth in the next day or so) and now The Masked Truth.
I have separated this book into three sections for review, the first section is probably closer to half the novel with the second and third each being a quarter.

The first bit was captivating and I just couldn't put the book down, the topics raised are very difficult to discus -mental illness, PTSD, surviviors guilt, - pairing that struggle with the characters late teen years - when your not quite an adult but you a person in your own right, past the angsty childish phase* -  the presentation is both factual and sensitive. Not over dramatized giving it a more realistic sense. So as we get to know and love these characters, the novel speeds ahead full of action, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

The second part was good but it lacked direction. There started to be a lot of repetition, it got to be a touch predictable and again just the purposeless way it flowed was just off-putting. In my opinion Armstrong gave us too much or too little in the information department, we needed to know nothing or everything, we got a strange grey zone between the two.

Third and last : I am really happy with the way that this novel ended for the characters but the way the plot ended and what it was driven by makes no sense. There are so many plot holes and huge jumps in logic. For a book that was set up to be very realistic in the beginning; having this kind of insert, asking you to suspend your disbelief extensively, punched holes not only in the finale of the novel but got me to go back and Really examine the first section again were I found flaws I had totally overlooked, because it was such good reading.

Overall its a good read, I am really glad I picked it up and I would recommend it because of the topics and the characters, regardless of a questionable storyline/plot layout. More good than bad but I do have to mention the downside unfortunately it can't be overlooked.