I love the unique world that Chase created in Double Down, it was so interesting and such a fun original take on the supernatural world.
The characters were intriguing and the story line was engaging. I'm really looking forward to reading more. kindle-books14 s Al *the semi serial series skipper*1,659 772

I really wanted to this one but it couldn't deliver.

The heroine witnesses the murder of her father. As he lays dying he tells her to take her medicine and not trust anyone.

The heroine vows to avenge her father, she finds a clue that leads her to a casino. The owner of the casino offers her a job and then gives her to a different set of people . They are agents in the war against demons and they offer to help her find her father if she helps them with a mission.

Immediately she meets this people, she reveal all her secrets. She tells them all her life story, yet in her inner monologue she is reticent about revealing her secrets. This drove me crazy, why tell the secrets and then be upset that you told the secret , then wishing you didn't reveal so much, it was a rollercoaster of back and forths.

The heroine is also very jokey. For someone that wants to avenge her dad she seems to forget he was murdered. I know people can use humor as a defense against certain emotion but it didn't feel she had time to grieve. She was immediately thrust into this group and her father's death went on the backburner only brought forward when the heroine needs to have some emotions.

There wasn't any romance in this book but there is an implication that Saxon might be the hero. I don't know how that would work considering Saxon doesn't seem to look at her with any kind of lust. So I can already imagine the chemistry being manufactured to drive the plot.

This is where the series and I part ways. abandoned-series angels-demons clean-no-sex ...more14 s Johanna681 51

Main character lost her father but her reaction and how she acted after that didn't feel 100 % believable. Secondary characters were pretty flat and it wasn't easy to feel for them.

I d the setting but had thought there would be more scenes at the casino. This was light and fun.

There was a lot of action but I hoped several times to be able to feel more. Characters lacked some depthness. 6 s Denisa1,295 312

Sometimes, you find the best books in the most unexpected places


And other times...

You find dud after dud after dud.

After dud.

I think it's my 3rd book in a row that leaves me completely feeling-less and bored to the brim. So, I decided to DNF this one at about 30%.


It's not the worst thing I've read, but it's far from the best as well.

The MC felt a little kid running around in the woods, doing all sorts of stupid things for no reason. I mean, even a 3-year-old knows it's not ok to talk to strangers. Yes, maybe they're good, but really? Your dad tells you, with his dying breath, don't trust anyone , and what do you do? You go and do exactly that.

I mean, yes, go, get your revenge, bloody your enemies, whatever, but use your brain! Don't be the reason they think humans are weird and stupid (even though you're not human).

Grr.

I really don't idiots.

Besides this, though, the idea was ok and there's potential for a dystopian world if you have the patience to deal with annoying characters.

annoying-chars boring-or-too-long cliche ...more4 s Lily261 30

There were some choppy moments in the beginning, but once it was set up the story flowed very smoothly.

I d the heroine and the rest of the cast. Their live in gang of supernatural police was cute. But the direction this story is headed just doesn't interest me; it's another "save the whole world" type of trilogy. The romance is flat and the mystery of the heroine's past is too slow moving.angels-and-demons dystopian-post-apocalyptic urban-fantasy ...more2 s Diane Lynn622 5

42% in and had to stop. I wanted to this book, but I really struggled with it. The author rushed the murder of her father, which should have set up the entire book for her motivation and her backstory. I thought the vampire who runs the hotel was stupid, and the Pandora Pride is juvenile. She blunders through each interview, by turns showing everyone her necklace and talking about her father, even though that was supposed to be a secret. Dumb. Not finding anything to about this one. dnf2 s Rachel64 1 follower

2.5? Started out decent ... MC father is murdered. MC goes to AC seeking revenge. MC meets a few cool people and then the book stops being decent a turns stupid. Of course nothing is really resolved in book one. I doubt I will read book two.2 s Andie Alessandra Alessandra Kavanagh511 2

Stunning, slow burn Urban Fantasy! It’s got some bad ass characters but the main one is your girl! She’s got spunk, can take care of herself and some really interesting secrets to come out yet . Chase has you covered in every way possible and all I can really say is “give me more of Pandora’s Pride please?”1 Una 498 1 follower

New series with lots of potential. 1 Dax1,938 44

This is eating a dessert you didn't know you were craving. activism alternative-history book-tok-tube-gram ...more1 Jeanny1,946 163

2 The author made a valiant effort Stars

An abundance of characters with little depth & a boring plot. I’m going to cut my loses. ku-kindle-unlimited1 Lakshmi40 17

I wanted this book to be so much more and it wasn’t.
Summary: A 25-year old girl witnesses the brutal murder of her father. Having lived her life in mountains, in post-magical apocalypse world, with limited interactions with most of society apart from a few small towns, she goes to Atlantic(a) City, and fits in seamlessly. She gets a room at a big hotel and they ask zero questions or even for a credit card. One day into living in new city after spending her entire life camping in the mountains, she’s met all the biggest crime lords in the city and has been recruited into a super secret demon fighting organizations that seems to only have 10 people in this part of the world to fight every demon; and 5 of them just act dumbledores (unnecessarily mysterious, don’t do anything to help fight the demons, just tell the kids to solve everything , were apparently bad asses in the past, and they only powerful orphans)

The problem was that this book was teen academy book, disguised in the form of pseudo-adult characters. What do I mean by this? The people who run this organization are actually the grandparents, uncles, legal guardians of the the “children”. The “children” are all in their mid-late 20s but can’t take a day trip without getting scolded. They hide their plans from the “adults” and sneak around. The “adults” withhold vital information “for their own good” They all live together live by the schedules the adults set. All their outings are as a group, and they seem to have no real personal lives and the romance is mostly sneaking around so the adults don’t find out.

If you are looking for a book with characters who make their own decisions without a panel of parental figures criticizing their every decision (and I mean every), this is not a book for you.

The plot was meh. The main character’s primary quest to find her father’s murderer is basically sidelined for a demon hunt. Every time she tries to solve it she’s told she should focus on more important things. She saw father brutally murdered in front of her face literally a week ago. Even corporate America has better bereavement policies. I cared nothing about the demon plot. And along the way the FL got every condescending remark female fantasy protagonists gets: you have powers but no idea how to use them; how can you have emotions about things a person, don’t you know mass child trafficking is not as important as an angry demon?; and my favorite, most other people are better than you but you are the rare precious soul who has courage/a good heart.

This book had so much potential. I was hoping it would catapult me into a new urban fantasy wave, but I guess I’ll just go back to rereading JD Robb books for the millionth time.
Christi368 2

I was between 2 and 3 stars, I am not sure this is the book for me or not. I settled on 3 stars because there is enough left unsaid in the book that it MIGHT be enough to get me to continue, just to get some answers. I'm not yet sure but we'll see. Honestly if there was an option to read a summary of all the books just to get my answers I'd do that instead.

16% - I'm a little confused...She went the whole time talking about how everything needed to be kept secret other than the chip cause she hoped someone would recognize it and save her the hassle of asking questions. Then she uses her real name to get into the casino, they give her a room without any kind of card or cash, and after she lies to everyone else about where she got the chip she dives straight in with Ingemar and tells him all about the chip and how she got it...

31% - Her dad's last words were "trust no one" and she goes with a random vampire to a supernatural military team headquarters and joins them so long as they agree to find her dad's killer. While her decision makes sense, all the pages of buildup to not trust anyone and do this on her own don't jive well with it. She also just changed into a hospital gown for a blood draw allowing the healer to see her back she CLEARLY specified needed to stay secret...And it's such a rare mark that the healer didn't even know what it was but I'm sure documented it so it can be a problem later.

How easily she gets over the "stress test" illusion of her father's death is insane to me. Personally I'd have more words for the whole council.

The meeting with Kingsley felt abrupt and strange.

Handing over the rest of the potion to Harmony seems a questionable decision. I'd want answers too, but not from the healer at a suspicious organization I don't trust at all.

They throw a fit about Callie and Saxon going on a day trip but NO ONE said you aren't allowed to go anywhere.

I'm hoping Harmony is a good person and actually helps Callie, but Callie sure gives away a lot of information after spending half the book intent on keeping everything secret. Veevee598 81 Read

DNF

The premise sounded very exciting but the execution was lacking. The writing is mediocre but the world building was pretty interesting. There is a strong case of character soup and we are introduced to way too many side characters all at once, none of which stood out to me.
Considering that the book starts with the MC's father dying, the book has a very light tone with jokes in every conversation. I don't mind funny books (in fact I prefer them) but jokes at a funeral pyre are in poor taste. If someone has made a vow to find their father's killer I expect something a bit more dark and gritty. My biggest issue was the main character. Besides he jokes and relaxed attitude about her father's death she is also super naive. She believes everything her father said, but then completely ignores his "don't trust anyone" advice and immediately falls in with the first group of people she meets and starts revealing her secrets left and right. Blake613 35

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I completely change my mind on a series, so want to change my scoring.)

3.25*

First time read the author's work?: No

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disd

Note: adding these basic '' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)0b-3-and-1-qtr-star Shelly Roke468 2

Callie learns she's odd.

Callandra Wendell and her father Quinn are mountain guides. She doesn't remember her mother or living any other way. Her dad 's a mage and so is she and he's taught her. Then a demon attacks their camp, killing three customers and her dad. Using a poker chip in a chain the demon has, she goes to Atlantica City. Vampires run it now, and she headed straight for the Salt, the casino in the chip. While headed to see the other, she restrains a large demon destroying slot machines, protecting an older lady. That got the attention of both the head vampire and a supernatural protection group called Pandora's Pride. When they promise to help her find who wanted he father dad, after the current mission, she agrees. Then things get a little on the magic and crazy magic against demons and demons stealing children side. Linda (ellsky) Jackson177 5

This was a good start into another urban fantasy quartet by Annabel Chase. We were thrown right into the action in Chapter 1, and the pace didn't slow down. Callandra "Callie" lives in a somewhat dystopian world, where 30 years ago supernaturals became known to the human world. Now they are in charge, and while some are able to become responsible members of society, others are feral and dangerous. Callie meets a very interesting and diverse group of characters when she heads to Atlantica City (renamed from Atlantic City). She learns more about her own increasing magical powers, and she solves a case of missing children. This story was very edge-of-my-seat, un-put-downable, and I will be continuing to book 2 right away.

I read this on Kindle Unlimited and used T2S text-to-speech app for audio.0004-quartets 2024 audiobook ...more Mike Lewis1,651 2

A freaking extraordinarily awesome new urban fantasy series. An extraordinarily outstanding cast of characters and an awesome storyline. A great plague hit the earth three decades ago bringing demons and the Apocalypse to earth. The only thing that stopped humanity from being wiped out completely with the existence of supernatural’s who lived among us and hid their gifts at the time.
They battled the demons and to this day are keeping them at bay from destroying what is left of humanity in the world. Follow the adventures of a young mage named Kelly as she searches for answers and discovers more about herself then she knew. And entertaining and action pack story that will thrill you from beginning to end. Check it out Maelstrom_xo321 2

Calandra is a really pretty name, first off. And I relate heavily to the oversalting of her food, lol; seeing as it's one of my favorite bad habits.

Book was off to a good start and I was anticipating digging into & getting invested in the series as a whole but midway through, it ended up falling flat for me. I didn't connect to the characters and Liam drove me absolutely bonkers by being an overgrown man-child. So damn juvenile, yuck. Wasn't feeling any chemistry between Fmc & Saxton whatsoever, either. They read as sort of mechanical to me.

Almost DNF'd this story but thought I'd skim the rest for curiosity's sake. I absolutely loved the Wild Knight book and curious to see what that world holds but I don't think I'll be seeing this one through, unfortunately. Amy180

I got 60% through before I dnf. The plot was promising and the first 30% of the book was decent. Then came Atlantica and the fake training and the poor dialogue and unbelievable character arcs so, done.

It would have made more sense for Callie to be assessed through real-time altercations (it's a war, right?) and we're to be believe that it's "so serious" but that facsimile of danger felt very contrived. Too forced, just the humor in the "banter" was forced.

I think Callie's background and how she behaved in the backwoods was more believable, it just didn't fit as the story continued.
dnf MichelleG406 103

A coming of age magical...

Callie as a half human/ half mage, has been raised as a mage and trained to fight and survive by a paranoid over protective mage father. They live in the mountains escorting tourists and all is well until one day her father is killed under mysterious circumstances. Callie begins a journey to find her fathers killer and along the way she uncovers more about herself then she could have imagined.

This is a nice coming of age story, and the subsequent books in the series will no doubt chronicle her journey and the battles she must have to uncover the truth about her father’s death and ultimately about herself and her powers.2021-books-read kindle-unlimited-read Spinneretta2,477 13

Good

When Callie’s Dad is murdered in front of her, she sets off for Atlantica City to find out why.
There she meets a special paranormal group, whose job it is to fight against evil paranormal beings.

This is a fast paced book, with a mysterious heroine who doesn’t even know her own background. The world building was well done, and enthralling, hopefully we learn more as the series progresses!
The abrupt finish was rather startling, which is a positive sign for an author... it means I was engrossed in the story
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