Steadfast audiobook

Wow, what an explosive follow-up to SPELLCASTER! STEADFAST had me on my toes, anticipating the next move in this vicious cycle of good versus evil! This second installment is by far my favorite in the series so far! And the way this book ended, it's set-up for an EPIC conclusion in the next book! (I think it's going to be the last book?) THE PLOT... Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine are reveling in their victory over the dark Sorceress Elizabeth. Until the unthinkable happens! She's back, and she's more wicked then ever! She is determined to wreck havoc on Captive's Sound! Nadia struggles to understand and control her powers, and with Mateo as her Steadfast, she's stronger then she ever could of imagined. But there's a dark magic that's seeping through the barrier. And if Nadia has any chance at eliminating this evil threat, she must ward off the myriad attacks, while plotting around Elizabeth's evil plan, all while her Steadfast goes through his own struggles with coming to terms with his horrific visions that are becoming more evil and...real! I loved this book! I really did! It was so much fun to be in this dark hypnotic world! But the only thing I can say that irritated me a bit was the POV'S switch. It got to be annoying after a while, and sometimes it even went as far as having a POV with only a couple paragraphs, then the next chapter would be a full chapter of someone else's POV! I mean I understand why the author did it. So we could grasp everyone's importance to the plot. But sometimes it got too be a little too much! But besides that, I loved pretty much everything about STEADFAST! It was a quick-edge of your seat kinda read, filled with Sorcery, magic, evil, determination, betrayals, and of course, romance! Overall, STEADFAST was amazing, with twist and turns, evil that's hell bent on destroying the good, and a Protagonist that's determined not to give up and bring an end to this wickedness once and for all! If you were a fan of SPELLCASTER, then I HIGHLY recommend this book! And if your not, then you need to check it out, because your definitely missing out! In my opinion, it blew SPELLCASTER out of the water! And with that ending, I have a strong feeling that SORCERESS, the 3rd book is going to put STEADFAST to shame!!! I received an ARC copy for reviewing purposes! All opinions express are my own, and are not influenced in any way!

ZWARTKRACHT. Hoewel ik deel 1 al heel goed vond, is deel 2 nog veel beter! Het verhaal gaat direct verder op het einde van het eerste deel. Gelukkig werden er dingen herhaald, want ik had niet álle details onthouden. Ook in dit deel lees je mee met Nadia, Mateo, Verlaine en Elizabeth. Nadia is nog steeds in strijd met Elizabeth, een Tovenares die het stadje Captive's Sound al jaaaaaren in haar greep houdt.In dit deel leer je allerlei nieuwe personages kennen die allemaal een goede toevoeging zijn aan het verhaal. Ook in dit deel lijkt het door elkaar te lopen, door wie je het verhaal leest, soms wisselt dat zelfs 3x per pagina.. Toch zit alles goed in elkaar en wordt eigenlijk alles duidelijk.In het najaar komt deel 3 en ik ben heel benieuwd hoe dit avontuur zal eindigen!

*Calms my beating heart*BUT GAAAAAAH.Okay, firstly, AMAZING BOOK. SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK. This book is the continuation to the first book, Spellcaster, and I have to admit I'm starting to love this amazing series. Quite sad that the book 3 is finally out (YES, IT IS, GET IT ON AMAZON NOW), because it's gonna end soon. If you've read Spellcaster, you would have a hint of what's going on in this series. Nadia is a witch. And she's trying to save the whole town, and possibly the whole world, from the likes of Elizabeth, a sorceress who worked for the One Beneath, aka Satan from Hell. This book was honestly better than the first one. It totally brought me along on an emotional rollercoaster. I remembered feeling so excited and scared at the same time while reading this book. But you know what I honestly think? I think that Verlaine deserves more credit than she was given. I mean, I know that Nadia is the female lead and all. But guise, look at Verlaine. Just look at her. She's lived her WHOLE life never been loved by anybody, never been noticed, and she still survived, she still cared. And maybe, honestly, this time, I want Elizabeth gone, because for once, I want Verlaine to have a happy ending. People should give Verlaine more credit than it's due. But yeah HAHA. Omg, I am totally way too excited to read the last book, but for some reason, the Amazon people hasn't sent my purchase to my Kindle yet, so ugh. READ THIS PEOPLE, DON'T STOP READING THIS.

4.5/5 stars. Similar to my review of the first book, my only complaint was the main couple, who I didn't hate, but didn't love. The thing that really makes this book is the plot twists, and of course, Verlaine and Asa. They are my favorite characters and favorite couple. Everything about their dynamic is amazing. This book brings back a lot of nostalgia for me, and it was really fun re-reading it.

This kind of suffers from middle book syndrome a bit but not quite as bad as some middle books have. I really like Asa, I think he’s a fun addition to the cast and plays off Verlaine really well. I did find the truth of why Nadia’s mother abandoned her to be a bit frustrating, because it was obviously a self fulfilling prophecy, but this was still a fun book.

This wasn’t as good as the first one, but was still really, really good. I love this woman’s writing!

If the book had continued on in the same fashion as the first half, I would have rated this book three stars, maybe two. The beginning was almost torture to get through. I wanted to skip over the parts that Nadia or Mateo narrated. Their relationship is sooo boring to me, I can't stand it. I hate that they love each other so intensely after knowing each other for only, what, three months?? It's ridiculous, and every time they narrate it's nothing but cringe worthy sappiness. It's not even good romance. Their relationship sprung out of nowhere and means nothing to me.Don't get me wrong, I love romance. I absolutely adore it, but only when it grows on me and allows me to fall in love with it as well. That is why I love the relationship between Verlaine and Asa. Now this is a relationship that grew over time, developed, and manifested into something so strong and beautiful and forbidden that I swoon whenever they happen to be together in a scene. Verlaine is my all time favorite character. Her narrations are always the best, they're probably the ones that I rely on most to keep the story going. She has shown SUCH character development that I find myself feeling proud of her. I found myself practically skimming the parts when Nadia/Mateo narrated, and then clinging to every word whenever it was Verlaine/Asa. They're the good ones, they should be the protagonists. Other than these drastically different relationships aside, the story has definitely gotten better. Like I said, the beginning was tough to get through. There was so much Nadia/Mateo going on that I felt as though we weren't progressing at all. Finally, it happened. Sure, there was weird stuff going on left and right, with Elizabeth slowly starting to build a bridge for the One Beneath, but it was moving so slowly that I was losing interest. Then, suddenly, all hell broke loose (pun intended). Elizabeth was getting desperate and her plans had to move a little quicker, which I was grateful for. It's hard to believe that I was actually just as impatient as the One Beneath to get this show on the road. Once that crap went down, I was hooked. I couldn't put the book down, and to my relief, the romance between Nadia and Mateo turned up less and less. There was a lot more Verlaine and Asa, and I'm not just talking about their relationship, but what they had to offer to the whole equation. These two characters really brought everything together and helped to completely build the suspense and action. They're the only two characters that showed any form of character development and progression. Is it obvious I adore them? Without them, this book would be an absolute bore and I probably wouldn't have finished it.I'd like to say a thing or two specifically about Asa. Claudia Gray definitely did her research on the typical demon stuff. He's exactly the way you'd expect a demon to be, except not. He's a complicated character with actual depth (unlike Nadia or Mateo). I felt a connection with him and I found myself getting excited whenever he turned up.A few things to make note of plot wise...We finally discover the true meaning of the dark magic that blocks anyone from truly seeing Verlaine, and we discover the mystery of Nadia's mother's sudden disappearance from her life. Both of these revelations are emotionally painful. And then there's Elizabeth being her typical psychopathic Sorceress self, except ten times worse. Or should I say better? I can honestly say that she is officially on my top ten list of Antagonists Of All Time. She's power hungry, ruthless, and capable of way more than you could have imagined from just reading Spellcaster or The First Midnight Spell.As I mentioned above, the first half of Steadfast is painfully slow, but once the shit hits the fan, there was no turning back. It was all rise from there. Things just kept getting more intense, suspenseful, action packed, and emotionally painful. I loved every moment of that ride. If the entire novel had been as good as the second half, I would have given this five stars. I absolutely recommend this book. As long as you fight your way through the beginning, you will not be disappointed. I for one cannot wait to get my hands on Sorceress, book three of the Spellcaster series.

Review Posted on Reading Lark 2/4/14: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2014/...I really enjoyed the first installment of this series and was lucky enough to receive an ARC. I liked being able to dive right into this one without having to wait countless months. Sadly, this one ends on a HUGE cliffhanger so now I'm waiting for the next one. That wait is bound to be painful.Like many sophomore novels in a series, this novel provides a lot of answers from the first novel and explains a lot of details. All of the information the reader receives is critical to the story, but it was a lot to take in at times. I did have to put this one down and walk away for a bit when things got tedious. In fact, the beginning was quite slow, which made me nervous, but the action picks up after the first several chapters. Once people in town started getting ill and answers I craved started to emerge, I really enjoyed this one.Once again, Nadia and her friends are battling a powerful sorceress who serves the One Beneath. I was often in awe of how brave these teens were to take on such a huge battle. I don't know that I would have had the same amount of courage in their shoes. I wasn't able to support every decision made by these characters, but I could see how youth and lack of witch training were often to blame for the poor choices. I hope that Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine will continue to mature as the series moves forward.In addition to the characters I grew to love in Spellcaster, I also found myself enjoying Asa. He is an anti-hero of sorts, but I couldn't help finding him endearing. It always surprises me when a "villain" can manage to sneak into my good graces. Asa provided some much needed comic relief when things in Captive's Sound got tense. The chemistry between Asa and Verlaine was one of my favorite aspects of Steadfast.Shockingly, I found myself annoyed with Nadia from time to time as I was reading this one. She just seemed to lack that fiery tenacity that won me over in the first novel. Granted, Nadia has a lot of stuff on her mind in this installment, but I would have liked to see her be less blasé in some situations. I felt like all the confidence Nadia gained in the first novel was forgotten as she goes around casting spells without truly thinking of the ramifications of her actions. As a result, I found myself more drawn to Verlaine this time.I won't say anything about the plot because it would be hard to avoid spoilers, but I did enjoy the spells once again. I love Gray's take on witches and highly recommend this one to those who enjoy that paranormal variety. Steadfast reads like a witchy Nancy Drew.One Last Gripe: I still want more answers about Verlaine - particularly about her parents. My Favorite Thing About This Book: I was drawn to the relationships in this novel and how they evolved. The concepts of friendship and family take a center stage this time.First Sentence: Nearly every gravestone in the cemetery of Captive's Sound made a promise about forever. Favorite Character: VerlaineLeast Favorite Character: Elizabeth

An enjoyable read and continuation on spellcaster. Looking forward to to seeing what the conclusion is in sorceress

I got this unsolicited, and I was a bit anxious going into it. I wasn't the biggest fan of Spellcaster, but I hadn't hated it, so I honestly didn't know how I'd feel about Steadfast (even if the cover was pretty!) Thankfully, I actually loved this one, though maybe not as much as I could've or wanted to.The biggest problem I had with this story was the POV issue. We saw the story through the point of view of almost every single character that had some kind of role in the story. Sometimes they'd have a whole chapter, sometimes only five paragraphs, and it got really annoying really quickly. Not only was it confusing, but it took away part of the mystery and allure Steadfast could've had and I'm pretty sure I had the same problem with Spellcaster.I'm not saying there weren't any twists--because God knows there were a ton, but there just weren't any sudden moments of doubt for our characters, any hesitation in trusting the characters. For example, Asa, a character who's quickly introduced and quickly revealed to be more than human, was always not-evil. Yeah, he worked for the "One Beneath" but it was evident that he would fall in love with a certain character, and predictable that he would sacrifice something for her. And we were told that he hated Elizabeth too, so we never doubted his motives.But the read was still pretty awesome because even though the mystery was taken away, Elizabeth's point of view bits were absolutely sinister and made it pretty clear she was psycho and completely devoted to the devil. She was crazy and a perfect antagonist who sent shivers down my spine and was so deluded but so powerful--a pretty scary combination if I do say so myself.Verlaine's situation was emphasized and it was absolutely heartbreaking to see how terrible and horrible it would be to be unloved, when, by all accounts, she should be. It made me love her and she started turning into a more major character than just the sidekick, something I definitely enjoyed seeing!Steadfast was a pretty fantastic sequel, and better than the first one in my opinion, though I definitely had a few issues with it. It was a decent read though, and if you loved Spellcaster, you're guaranteed to love this one!

Spellcaster was my surprise favourite last year, and I've been waiting to see what would happen in Captive's Sound ever since. I ended my review by saying that it ended as all first books do, with the hero thinking she's won and the villain knowing she had. In Steadfast, Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine learn the full extent of Elizabeth's plan. Several things you might have thought were irrelevant in Spellcaster become extremely important. Verlaine, the friend cursed so nobody can see her, finally meets someone who does... but he isn't exactly the type of guy she can take home to meet her dads. Second books in trilogies are hard. First books have a real beginning and a false end; last books have a false beginning and a real end. Middle books are nothing but middle--which, when you consider how much authors hate writing middles, makes the popularity of trilogies ironic. Middle books have to do a few things to hold the series together. They have to stay true to the world building in book one, and yet develop it. They have to provide surprises that still make sense. And they have to set up the conclusion. Steadfast did all of that with flare. Claudia Gray found a place to begin the book, always the hardest thing with middle books, and she ended it on the cliff hanger that perfectly sets up the final story. In between we learned several things about the magic, the town, and Nadia that reframed the whole story... And reframing the story is what the middle book should do. I'm searching for something more I can say about this book without spoiling one of the surprises or the cliffhanger, and I'm really at a lost. Suffice to say, I really loved it and I'm now on tenterhooks for the last book to be released. FTC disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

Mit Schrecken müssen Nadia, Mateo und Verlaine feststellen, dass Elisabeth doch nicht in dem Feuer zu Halloween umgekommen ist. Nicht nur dass, sie hat sich einen Dämonen beschworen, der ihr bei ihren Plänen helfen soll. Nadia ist zwar eine mächtige Hexe, nur völlig untrainiert. Um so schockierte ist sie, als Elisabeth ihr anbietet, sie zu unterrichtet. Das kommt für Nadia auf keinen Fall in Frage.Der 2. Teil schließt nahtlos an den 1. Teil an. Direkt zu Anfang erfahren die 3 Freunde, dass Elisabeth noch lebt und ihr das Leben auch weiterhin schwer macht. Dieser Teil ist noch ein bisschen düsterer als der erste. Elisabeth ist jetzt einfach nur noch böse und will ihre Pläne verwirklichen. Die Ereignisse Captive's Sound spitzen sich dramatisch zu und Nadia hat einiges zutun. Die Autorin verrät uns dieses Mal einiges über Nadias Mutter, was mich doch sehr überrascht hat. Die Romanze zwischen Nadia und Mateo spielt wieder eine zentrale Rolle, wobei die beiden anfangs so glücklich waren, dass ich die ganze Zeit nur darauf gewartet habe, dass etwas Schlimmes passiert.Neben Nadia und Mateo spielt Verlaine dieses Mal eine wichtige Rolle, was man am Cover schon vermuten kann. Denn die junge Frau auf dem Cover passt sehr zur Beschreibung von Verlaine. Die Handlung wird immer abwechselnd aus der Sicht der verschiedenen Charaktere erzählt, was ich persönlich sehr mag. Ebenso wie Mateo ist auch Verlaine von Elisabeth verflucht worden und wir erfahren in diesem Teil mehr über sie. Auch scheint sich eine kleine Romanze für Verlaine zu entwickeln, die aber zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt nur zum Scheitern verurteilt ist.Das Ende ist wirklich richtig fies. Ich hoffe sehr, dass der 3. Teil ganz schnell übersetzt wird, damit ich weiter lesen kann. Wer den 1. Teil mochte, wird den 2. Teil gut finden. Von mir bekommt dieser weider die volle Punktzahl.