Book Review: Cinder-X By Jessica Sorensen (Death Collectors, #2)

Cinder-X

By Jessica Sorensen

Series: Death Collectors, Book 2

My Rating: 3 Stars

Cinder-X is the second book in the Death Collectors series by New York Times Bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen. This series, unlike other series Ms. Sorensen has written, is a paranormal romance/fantasy series. Most readers will be familiar with the realistic new adult fiction that is typical for Jessica Sorensen. Overall, this is an entertaining read. While it’s vastly different from anything I’ve ever read by her, I’m truly enjoying this series.

Synopsis

When Asher Morgan walked into Ember’s life she discovered she was able to feel something other than death when she touched someone. Asher’s peaceful calm changed Ember’s life.  For the first time, Ember felt truly alive. But events have taken Asher from her and Ember is once again living in seclusion left to deal with her Grim Angel curse alone.

While desperately missing Asher, Ember must find a way to face what is happening now.  Her best friend, Raven and her brother are acting strange and they have become  absent from her life. Not understanding their extreme behavior, Ember tries to find answers on her own.  When she discovers that their strange behavior is connected to an impending battle between Angels and Reapers, Ember seeks answers to save them before it’s too late.   When Asher’s enemy, Cameron suddenly returns Ember doesn’t want to trust him but he’s all she has.  Cameron starts to wind his way into her life but Ember is reluctant to fully trust him.    Then people in her town suddenly begin dying Ember realizes that those closest to her are caught in the cross hairs and she  must find the answers before it’s too late and everything she holds dear is taken from her forever.

My Thoughts

Another entertaining read from Jessica Sorensen. I’ve read plenty of her books to know I’m going to enjoy just about anything she writes. I’m most familiar with her realistic fiction but saw she had this series and quickly added it to my to-read list. I wasn’t sure what to think about her writing this type of book but I was pleasantly surprised when I read the first book in the series.  Like Ember-X this book unfortunately has some major editing issues. There are a huge number of grammar and general sentence structure issues that should have been corrected in the editing process.  At times it reads more like a first or second draft rather than a final product. This is something I’ve been seeing more often with Ms. Sorensen’s books. It saddens me to see this because she is a truly gifted and talented writer. I’m not sure why it’s started happening but it’s very disappointing. I hope that future products will be cleaner when heading to print. If you can get past the editing issues and you enjoy paranormal romance then you will likely enjoy this book and series. I’m anxious to see how this series ends. The final book, titled Spark-X, is out now.

Book Review: Ember X by Jessica Sorensen (Death Collectors, #1)

Ember-X

By Jessica Sorensen

Series: Death Collectors, Book 1

My Rating: 3 Stars

This is unlike any Jessica Sorensen book I’ve ever read before.  She has a tendency to write realistic fiction and this series is fully into the fantasy and paranormal romance genres.  I’m an avid Jessica Sorensen books, but it took me some time to get used to the idea of this type of series from her.  A note about this series: there are two versions of the each book.  There is a YA version of the books and an adult version of the books.  I read the adult versions.  The adult versions are supposed to be more graphic in the intimacy department than the YA versions.   The YA version of this book is titled Ember instead of Ember X.

Synopsis

Nineteen year old Ember has an intimate relationship with death.  She has always been able to touch a person and see their death.  A simple touch, throws her into each person’s death, but she doesn’t just see their death, she feels it.  Each and every emotion and pain they suffer is Ember’s to share.  This curse causes Ember to seclude herself from others.  Human contact is out of the question and because of her seclusion, she’s become known as a freak to the people in her small town.  Only her best friend, Raven, knows about Ember’s ability.

But when a mysterious boy suddenly appears in town who, oddly enough, Ember sees and feels nothing when they touch, everything changes.  Not being able to sense Asher’s death, Ember is drawn to the silence that Asher Morgan brings.  He brings her a calm she has never experienced before.  As Ember allows Asher into her heart and into her life she realizes Asher is keeping secrets.  When unexplained disappearances and deaths start plaguing the town, Ember can’t help but wonder if Asher knows more than he is letting on and her inability to see his death indicates Asher may not be what he appears to be.  She must find out what he is hiding before it’s too late and before someone she cares about dies.

My Thoughts

So, not your typical Jessica Sorensen book but still a fairly good read.  I enjoyed the overall story, though there were some gaps in the plot and there were a huge number of grammatical and spelling errors.  This saddens me because I truly to love Jessica Sorensen and her writing.  Unfortunately, I’ve been encountering this very thing in her more recent publications.  She’s a truly gifted writer, I just wish some additional time was taken before releasing new books to fine tune the work.  While the story may be good, the errors detract from the enjoyment of the book.  It takes the reader out of the story and distracts them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of this book.  It’s unique and original from other books about the same subject that I’ve encountered.  Ember is well developed and I truly felt like I understood her.  Asher Morgan and Cameron are intriguing, sexy and mysterious and the plot is well thought out, planned and implemented.  Aside from the lack of editing, I thought it was an excellent first book in a new series for Sorensen.

If you are a fan of Sorensen, I highly recommend checking out this book and series.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how well Sorsensen transitions from realistic fiction to fantasy/paranormal romance.  Prepare yourself for the editing issues of the book though.  And if you are the type of reader who gets incredibly annoyed with poor editing, I’d recommend you stay away from it all together.  (This saddens me to say it because it is a very good read).

I didn’t read the YA versions, but if you are trying to decide if you are going to read the adult or the YA version, I can tell you that the adult version isn’t that graphic.  I didn’ t think it was so risque that a mature YA wouldn’t be able to handle it over the YA version.  I’ll let you decide that for yourself though.  Cheers!