Friday, October 9, 2015

Book Tour: Review - Rare Form

Title - Rare Form
Author - Jen Crane
Series - Descended of Dragons #1
Genres - New adult, Paranormal, Romance
Publication date - October 6th 2015

Synopsis
A Secret Past
Fiery redhead Stella Stonewall can’t decide between a margarita and a manhattan. The rest of her life? Please. Stella has never really fit in, and her pretty world comes crashing down when she learns it was never her world at all.

Rowan Gresham is domineering, brooding, and as sexy as chocolate-dipped sin. When he transports Stella to the magical realm of her parents she recognizes her rightful place immediately. Gresham’s motivations are less clear.

A Scorching Chemistry
The enigmatic Gresham aids in Stella’s metamorphosis and their chemistry ignites, though a long-time girlfriend and a significant age difference stand in the way.

A Battle for the Rest of Her Life
Stella’s life fast-tracks to extraordinary when she enrolls at Radix Citadel for Supernatural Learning, an enchanted college whose students turn furry on the regular. As Stella learns to navigate the magical new world of Thayer she must also find her animal form, a task as elusive as her ancestry. Stella soon faces an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn to manipulate an animal form she never knew she possessed.

Review
I received Rare Form in return for an honest review as part of the tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours.  Stella’s having a bad day her classic mustang burst into flames, she was rescued by a stranger and learns that the reason she’s never really fit is she’s from an alternate reality. All her life her mother has refused to divulge any info about her father, so when the chance comes up to learn more about this alternate place she comes from she takes it. Pretending to leave on a fellowship in South Africa as her cover she joins the new class at Radix to learn how to Metamorphosis into a creature. Stella quickly makes friends finding her own little group of friends fitting in at last but she still doesn’t know what she really is or who her dad was just yet.

As her friends are successful with their transformations it’s only on a night with the school that she has her first transformation into a wolf. Only a wolf isn’t the only thing that Stella has up her sleeve as with the threat of fire breathing dragons appear threating her friends she even transforms into one of those having two forms which is super rare. After the dragons leave she heads to Gresham’s house knowing he’s the only one who can help her transform back into a human. Will Stella finally be able to get her mother to tell her the truth about her father? What about her future the dragons had been after her at the party will she be able to hide from them? Who is Gresham really?

I like Stella she accepts being different from another reality really well much better than I would. She also handles the fact that she can shapeshifter just needs to figure out how to metamorphoses into what she’s destined to become. I like her friends they are a good support system for each other who is also going through the same process. Plus Stella really fits in with her group and knowing that she never fit in with the humans I’m glad she found her place at last. Stella also has a potential love interest in Gresham even though he’s older, and holding back some secrets from her.

I totally signed up for this one based on the cover without even reading the synopsis so the whole story was a pleasant surprise. After all the cover is stunning it even makes me want to color my hair red again. I wasn’t sure what to expect other than a dragon story based on the scales on the girl on the cover but what I found was an intricate magical story. Basically all the students who can’t do it naturally go through a school program where they learn about the magical history as well as to transform. The transformation is not like your typical shifter either it’s clearly a magical ability no going through a painful shift. I really liked Stella she’s a sweet girl who’s easy to connect with and totally kick ass when it comes to being in her transformation. Rare Form is a fast paced action packed coming of age story that captured my attention and was hard to put down had to finish it in one afternoon. The author has a great writing style the story just flowed from start to finish. I can’t wait to check out the next one and see what happens to Stella this one had a little teaser of the next book.  

AUTHOR BIO:
Though she grew up on a working cattle ranch, Jen Crane has been in love with fantasy and science fiction since seeing a bootleg tape of Quantum Leap in the 90’s.


She has a master’s degree, and solid work histories in government and non-profit administration. She’s been published in reputable newspapers and magazines.

One day, though, she said, “Life’s too real for nonfiction. I’m gonna write about love and magic.”

Jen is happily living out her dream in The South with her husband and three children, striking that delicate balance between inspiration and frustration.

Sign up for sneak peeks, news, and giveaways at


Author links:

Giveaway

4 comments:

  1. really? this sounds interesting enough. Shapeshifters always interest me

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love her hair on the cover, too! Great review, Mandy! This sounds like a great read! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. *Everyone* looks good in red hair. :)
    Thanks so much for this kind review. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful cover. This sounds interesting !

    ReplyDelete