Review & Giveaway - Grimnirs by Ednah Walters

Title: Grimnirs
Series: Runes #2.5 (but it's a full-length book!)

Author: Ednah Walters

Release Date: December 2, 2013

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance 

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

Presented by: As You Wish Tours

Banner Made by: Jamie Turner-Norton

Pages: 348

Goodreads Rating: 4.56 Stars

My Rating: 4/5 stars

My Content Rating: Very mature YA or 18+ (Relatively explicit sex)

Summary from Goodreads: Straight out of the psych ward, Cora just wants her life to be normal. She doesn’t want to see souls or the reapers collecting them. The guy she’s loved from a distance for years moves away without saying goodbye. So yes, she’s nursing a serious heartbreak. It’s no wonder love is the last thing on her mind when Echo storms into her life. 

The chemistry between them is mind-blowing.The connection defies logic. Even better, the souls leave her alone when he is around.

Too bad Echo is the poster boy for everything she hates in a guy—hot, beautiful,and cocky. He is also a soul reaper. A Grimnir.
The very beings she wants out of her life. Maybe normal is overrated because Cora wants it all. Answers. Love. A life.

***This review may contain spoilers for the first two books in the series.  To read my reviews of Runes and Immortals click HERE.***

First off, I want to say that, even though this book is called book # 2.5, it's a full-length book and I think it's a necessary read if you're reading this series.  I think the author only called it book 2.5 because the story steps away (somewhat) from Raine and Torin, who are essentially the "stars" of the series.

I also want to point out that this book makes a pretty major jump as far as content is concerned (at least in my opinion).  The sex in this book is not as explicit as some 18+ books, but it's getting there - it's described in a fair amount of detail (and is recurring).  I was a bit surprised since the first book had nothing more than kissing and the second had talk of sex, but nothing more than that.  So, just a little note here to warn people that this series has definitely gotten more spicy as it's gone on.

The synopsis describes the book relatively well, so I'm just going to jump into my review -

The negatives:

• Didn't feel completely original.  While I really enjoyed this book, some of it felt a bit rehashed.  Just like with Raine and Torin, we have an immortal and a mortal who are in love.  The relationship didn't ever feel terribly doomed because we knew that Raine eventually ended up being immortal and I found myself pretty much assuming that the same thing would happen with Cora.  Then, Cora doesn't remember "her" life (since Maliina actually took it over for a while), which reminded me a lot of when Torin had his memories erased by the Norns - yes, the circumstances were very different, but there were some real similarities.  Even poor Eirik getting jilted for the bad boy was nothing new (one of my least favorite things about book #1 in the series!  At least this time Eirik wasn't in the book enough for me to spend the whole time feeling sorry for him).  
• Dialogue without contractions.  Okay, this is a total pet peeve of mine, but it really bugs me when I read a book and the dialogue doesn't have contractions in it.  This seems to happen often in self- or indie-published books and it drives me crazy!  It just doesn't sound natural and it really interrupts the flow of the dialogue.  There were a few other minor grammatical and editing issues as well, but this is the biggest one (and yes, I consider this an editing issue).

What I loved:

• Cora vs. Maliina.  I thought it was fun to see Cora try and figure out why everyone seems to think she was still around the whole time she was in the psych ward.  She has no idea that Maliina took over her life for almost a month.  I did wonder a bit why Raine didn't just tell her exactly what happened right away (that would have been way too easy), but it was interesting to see Cora try to put the pieces together.  She suddenly had new friends, a guy who claims she's been sleeping with him, better grades ... the list goes on and on.  Maliina changed a lot about Cora's life considering she only took it over for such a short amount of time!
• Echo.  Despite the fact that I felt sorry for Eirik, I did love Echo.  He was the perfect bad boy with a heart of gold.  His initial interactions with Cora were fun because he thought he'd been sleeping with her (though it was really Maliina) - obviously Cora's responses toward him aren't quite what he's expecting (and vice versa!).  As we get to know Echo more, it's pretty impossible not to love him - he's sweet and sexy and fiercely protective (okay, sometimes a little over-the-top protective) and he only has eyes for Cora.  The chemistry between Cora and Echo is also through the roof, so that certainly doesn't hurt!
• World-building.  I loved that we got to see more of the Immortals' world in this book and learn more about how it all works. Grimnirs, Valkyries, Norns, gods and goddesses ... these mythological characters are all incredibly interesting and I loved seeing MORE of them!

All in all, I'd say this is another great installment in the Runes series.  While I didn't think that the story was groundbreaking, Walters still managed to draw me in and make me care about her characters.  I give it  4/5 stars.

***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***

    

DINNER WITH THE PARENTS

(This is part of a guest post - a little extra provided by Ednah Walters.  To get the whole thing, start HERE and follow along by going to the blog listed at the end of each post!  You can see the whole schedule HERE to help you find all of the posts.)

“Thank you for inviting me into your home, Mr. and Mrs. Jemison,” Echo said. “These are for you,” he added, handing Mom the lilies.

“Thank you. How thoughtful of you. And I do love lilies.” She glanced at me as though to say she knew I’d told him. The fact was he’d asked me what they liked weeks ago and I’d forgotten about them. Lilies weren’t even in season in Oregon, so he must have gotten them from somewhere. “Come in. Cora has been so closed mouth about you that we believed you were one of her imaginary friends.”

“Mom!” I protested.

“You did have one when you were little,” Mom added. 

That was news to me. No wonder she’d committed me with a quickness when I’d started seeing souls. “As you can see, Echo is very real.”

Mom smiled at him. “Yes, he is.” She took my arm. “Come, sweetheart. Help me put these lovely flowers in a vase.”

In other words, leave Dad with Echo

“This is for you, Mr. Jemison,” Echo said, handing my father the scotch. It was in a gorgeous cylindrical container. “Cora told me you still have relatives in the old country.”

“Yes, I do.” Dad studied the case. “Now this… This is art. Maybe you and I can break it open for a toast later.”

Oh no. I turned to warn Echo that it was a trap.

“That’s okay, sir,” Echo said. “I’m not of legal age to taste it.”

Score.

I grinned, joining Mom.

“Did you warn him your father would test him?” Mom asked.

“Mom! I didn’t know he’d bring a bottle of his favorite whiskey.”

The look she gave me said she didn’t buy it. Her glance shifted to where Dad and Echo sat. “So how old is he?”

“Twenty.” I didn’t know how to keep a straight face. We’d discussed what age would be acceptable to my parents and agreed on twenty. If only she knew.

“He has an interesting name,” she added.

Druid, I wanted to say, but went with, “It’s Celtic. Echo is short for Eocho which means horse rider.”

“He’s a very handsome young man.”

I grinned. “He is, isn’t he?”

“With unusual eyes.”

Couldn’t miss those eyes. Mom kept studying Echo and didn’t pay attention to the flowers she was arranging. I took over and sent her back to the living room. When I joined them, Echo and Dad were talking Celtic culture, which they both shared.

By the time we sat at the table for dinner, he’d won them over. With Mom, the flowers might have impressed her a little, but he had her at an orphan raised in the system. By the time he mentioned working full time while taking evening classes at a private college in Portland, he could do no wrong in her eyes. The lying bugged me, but there was no way around it. We tell them the truth and the Norns would punish us for revealing the existence of soul reapers.

Dad was easier. The scotch and Echo’s vast knowledge of history and current events won him over. He even followed sports. Who knew.

“How serious are you about my daughter?” Dad dropped the bomb after dinner.

To be continued ... Breathe In Books ... Feb 5th

About the Author

EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She is a stay-at-home mother of five humans and two American short-
hair cats (one of which has ADHD) and a husband. When she is not writing, she’s at the gym doing Zumba or doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans.

Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released by Pill Hill Press in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, was released April 2013. She’s currently working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN. Visit her at www.ednahwalters.com.

Ednah also writes YA paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. IMMORTALS is book 2. She is presently working on book 3, GRIMNIRS [Book 2.5] was released in December 2013. Read more about this series and the world she's created here www.runestheseries.com.

Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published five more books in this series. She's presently working on book seven. You can visit her online at or www.ebwalters.com.

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