The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Reckoning (Darkest Powers Trilogy #3)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: April 6th 2010

Rating: 5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of The Summoning - here and The Awakening - here.

My name is Chloe Saunders. I'm fifteen, and I would love to be normal.

But normal is one thing I'm not.

For one thing, I'm having these feelings for a certain antisocial werewolf and his sweet-tempered brother--who just happens to be a sorcerer--but, between you and me, I'm leaning toward the werewolf.

Not normal.

My friends and I are also on the run from an evil corporation that wants to get rid of us--permanently.
Definitely not normal.

And finally, I'm a genetically altered necromancer who can raise the dead, rotting corpses and all, without even trying.

As far away from normal as it gets.

This is the second time I read The Reckoning and it's my favorite book in the Darkest Powers trilogy, mainly because at last there is romance and there is a love triangle, which does not last long because Chloe realizes where her heart really is and although I would tell her go him!!! there he is!, but it takes her a while to recognize her feelings and decide between Derek and Simon.

I also liked to see how much they have change or grow, mainly because of the situation in which they find themselves, which is to run for their lives and in the process they try to find the Derek and Simon´s father,  also they´re trying to save Chloe´s aunt and Rae, which were left behind when they fled in the previous book ... so no pressure for them. But due to the change in their lives Chloe becomes more self-confident, Derek tries to be a little more tolerant and listen to others, Tori tries to be less hostile and the only one who is still as cheerful is Simon.

The end of the book was a little open and it left several things unresolved that when I first read the book, I had many questions, but some were answered later when I read the short stories that the author publish later - Darkest Powers Bonus Pack 2, but I still have several questions that I hope will be solved in the spin-off - Darkness Rising.

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The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Awakening (Darkest Powers Trilogy #2)
Author: Kelley Armstrong 
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: April 28th 2009

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of The Summoning - here

You don't have to be alive to be awakened.

Chloe Saunders is a living science experiment--not only can she see ghosts, but she was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. She's a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control, which means she can raise the dead without even trying. Now Chloe's running for her life with three of her supernatural friends--a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch--and they have to find someone who can help them before the Edison Group catches them.

Or die trying.

This is the second time I read this book and there were several things that I did not remember about it. It was good to return to the world where this story takes place, I simply love it.

Chloe Saunders finally discovered that she isn´t schizophrenic as she was diagnosed initially, but she´s a necromancer that can see ghosts and talk to them, but besides this she discovers that she isn´t a "regular" necromancer because she and her friends were part of an experiment and are genetically modified. And now they´re running from the Edison Group, a team of scientists that created them and now want them back. It was during this running for their life situation that we see a bit more of development of the characters and as Derek and Chloe are able to spend more time together and she begins to see him with different eyes.

This book is one of my favorite of the trilogy because Chloe and Derek have some time away from the others and I see them interact a little more. And as I said before Derek is my favorite character in this trilogy, and he's a different type of hero of the ones I'm used to in YA novels (I usually see more of such heroes in adults books), and he has a big temper, is used to be right, is stubborn, is a very intelligent person (nerd / loves math and science), he needs to be in control of the situation, is very honest/blunt, he speaks his mind without sugarcoating anything, in regard to his physical appearance, he´s not very attractive; he's having problems with puberty so he have severe acne and he wears baggy clothes to look less threatening but besides all this he is extremely protective of his loved ones and put their safety first before himself.

This is a trilogy that I LOVE and is among my favorites. The Awakening has more action and intrigue than the previous book, but still has no romance, it only let you see a possible romance and a possible love triangle.

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The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Title: The Summoning (Darkest Powers Trilogy #1)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: July 1st 2008

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? it's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House...before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

This is the second time I read The Summoning by author Kelley Armstrong and this trilogy is set in the same world as her adult series Women of the Otherworld. I did read several books of her adult series before I read this book and I do not know if that has anything to do with it, but I LOVED this book! I declare myself a fan of Kelley Armstrong, I love both series.

The Summoning is narrated by Chloe Saunder a fifteen year-old girl, she´s studying at an art school and her dream is to become a screenwriter and direct a Hollywood film, but that dream is ruined when she sees her first ghost and nobody believes her and and her family think that she have a nervous breakdown, so she is sent to a home for "troubled" teens. There she meets other patients that are there for some unknown problem, since this house has a policy that their patients do not discuss their diagnosis with others. But Lyle House, is some sort of boarding school/house where the patients receive psychological help, a tutor (to help them to catch up or not fall behind in classes), and they also have to do chores around the house.

Among the patients at Lyle House, Derek is 16 years-old, he has attitude problems and  his foster brother Simon is 15 years-old, is a popular guy, Tori is 15 years-old she´s, the typical popular girl who mistreats everyone, Rae likes to play with fire (literally) and Chloe´s roommate Liz is a good girl and she´s Tori´s best friend.

My favorite character is Derek Souza, he has bad temper, he isn´t interested in interacting with anyone other than his brother, but underneath all that there is a guy very protective, strong, extremely intelligent. Team Derek!!

Overall, The Summoning is a very good first book, with action, adventure, mystery, paranormal elements, with unexpected twists (as this was the second time I read it the twists were not so unexpected), excellent and lovable characters. And with a cliffhanger ending. I highly recommended it.