When I stumbled upon this book I must admit that I was pretty excited to get a chance to read it early. First of all, just look at that cover. That is a work of art. The black skull with gold scroll work is simply gorgeous and whatever artist put that together needs some kind of award. I’m in love with the cover art. Secondly, doesn’t that book description just pull you in? I feel like it is promising thrills and chills and I was %100 on board for that.

Unfortunately, that isn’t what I got.

Let me start with the characters in general. None of them throughout the entirety of the book felt very well fleshed out. They are dumped into your lap like over eager puppies in want of your love and adoration. Ember, the lovely witch we are introduced to as our heroine, is the very same at the beginning of the story as she is at the end. She has no personal growth and is downright, utterly predictable. No matter what happened in the course of the book, and a lot does happen, she reacts exactly as expected in each instance and reacts exactly the same in every instance as well. I found her predictability as likable as rain on a day at the beach. That is to say, not at all.

Then, there is our hero Jack. He I found slightly more likable but that may be for personal reasons. He is presented to you as the inspiration for the old Sleepy Hollow stories. I for one have always loved the spooky tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman and to be handed Jack and told he was the Headless Horseman really had me excited. Now, outside of that, he seemed to just be a good boy out to save the damsel in distress. Jack had some interesting attributes that pulled my attention but, sadly, he really wasn’t anything to write home about either. Honestly, the most interesting character in this book was an actual pumpkin. No, I’m not kidding.

The story itself was also a pitfall of predictability. Our characters get in trouble and get out of it with conveniently presented solutions that are very little trouble at all. A conversation with romantic undertones then occurs. Then they are once again in trouble and another convenient solution presents itself. This happens over and over and over again to the point of tedium. At no point was I ever convinced that anyone was at risk and that, quite frankly, is a bit dull.

Lastly, and what bothered me the most, is that the support cast was, well, convenient. I know I have overused that word in this review but that is really this story in a nutshell. Oh no, something bad happens! Convenient solution. Oh no, there is an evil doer! Here is a convenient reason for them to no longer be evil. Oh no…you get the point. Everything was just so blasted convenient. Nothing felt spontaneous and the characters never seemed to be in actual peril.

Now, while I wasn’t a huge fan of this book I can easily see that it would appeal to a certain audience. The supposed romance was a huge plot point and, while I got quickly irritated with it, others may find it romantic. It also had very steampunk undertones which is not something that has ever been up my alley but I know it has a huge fan base. So, if you like a simple romantic plot with a smidge of adventure and an overall steampunk vibe, this book is for you. If you are like me and you want a plot that isn’t so predictable and your romance to not be sickeningly sweet, steer clear.

#NetGalley #TheLantern'sEmber
I must say The Lanter's Ember is a pleasant surprise in the world of magic and suspense. Colleen Houck has a great resume when it comes to novels, I wasn't expecting though to like this novel as much as I do. Jack, Ember, Finnley, and several other characters make this novel so likeable and wonderful. It is filled with magic, foes, monsters, creatures, and romance. The only issue I didn't really like is the changing POV in the novel. I would have like to follow one character all the way through. It was a little of a take away from the pace of the story changing POV several times. A great read!

I have always loved Colleen's books from Tiger's Curse and now this. Is this as gripping as her original series? No: but it is vey fascinating, spooky and reminiscent of a Hollow's story and Alice In Wonderland.

Ember is a witch that Jack has been keeping an eye on over the past few years. She wants to go to the Underworld but Jack refuses due to wanting her to be safe.

Soon after a gorgeous, hunky and fascinating vampire named Dev brings her over. But not out of kindness. He was paid by someone.

There are fancy dresses, talks of witchlight, her power...and I fall hard for Dev in this book. He is my main man crush Monday.

Jack however has fallen for Ember and takes her best friend Finnley to help find her.

Read this book and fall in love with the characters as I have!

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for a honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.



I've pretty much loved every single book by Colleen Houck and when I heard she was writing a standalone with a Halloween twist, I was immediately excited! The Lantern's Ember was a magical and delightful little read! It was rife with aspects of Halloween lore...it was pretty much perfect in that sense!


I'll admit though, I had a rough start, but that's also likely due to the timing of reading as well. I was very busy and the first two days of trying to read this I only read a chapter or two. Diving in was rough, but once I got to read more than a chapter at a time I was really getting into the story! We have Jack who is known as a lantern. He basically guides the doorways to the Otherworld which, as you can imagine is a world filled with supernatural beings. There's some history to it involved as well as Jack's situation and how he became to be a lantern that is revealed from the start which I really enjoyed instead of having to wait several chapters in order to get all this necessary background.


Ember is a witch that Jack has been keeping an eye on over the past few years. There aren't any witches in the Otherworld for reasons we will soon learn, but Ember is fascinated with the idea of the Otherworld and beseeches Jack to take her, but he refuses to do so for her own safety. It's not long before a vampire named Dev brings her over, as he was tasked to do so by a particular someone. When Jack finds out she's missing, he recruits her best friend, Finney, to help him track her down and bring her back to her world.


This was quite an adventurous read! In some ways, it was like an Alice in Wonderland story as Ember enters this new world that is so strange and different, and quite dangerous. Witches are a hot commodity in this world and Ember's life is pretty much in danger from the moment she enters, but Dev, her vampire/sort of kidnapper, but not, is determined to keep her safe. In fact, his plans to bring Ember to his employer has changed, because yes, he finds he's falling in love with her. Though naturally, we already sense that Ember and Jack have a growing connection, but let's also add in the fact that Finney, her longtime best friend, also loves her. It makes for quite the array of suitors.


The romance wasn't a huge role in the story as well, I mean it was there throughout, as we had at least two of the characters trying to actively pursue Ember. I felt a little bad for Finney as he never really seemed to have a chance with Ember despite being the best friend and all. I felt like Ember's choice was obvious from the getgo however.


When the Lord of the Otherworld gets wind that a new and powerful witch has entered his domain, he's determined to have her. The Otherworld is powered by witchlight and with a ned budding witch, he will continue to remain an all powerful deity.


I think my favorite thing about this book was truly all the Halloween lore that was incorporated. Jack is sort of the new Jack that gave the name to the jack-o-lantern, he was also involved with scaring a man named Ichabod away from one of the Otherworld gates. We get to see how other traditions of Halloween were born as well as the story moves along. It was really fascinating the ways Colleen brought these traditions to life! It was probably my favorite part of the story!


There was a great deal of tension in this one too! Everyone had their own plan for Ember, and she had her own plans for her life as well! Some rather interesting twists came about in the grand finale that I thought was pretty shocking! Though I do like how Colleen was able to wrap everything up! I am so used to her highly detailed stories that stretch for several books--and that I enjoy as well--so this standalone was pretty amazing for her to write as well! I almost think that standalones can be harder to write than a series, but that's just me!


The Lantern's Ember was a marvelous read indeed! It's the perfect read for lovers of Halloween lore! It's not a scary read by any means, though there's a great deal of tension and suspense to it. Lots of twists and turns and a healthy sprinkling of romance as well. This is easily making my list of best reads of the year as I've always enjoyed the different myths and lore that surround Halloween! Colleen Houck has done it again and written yet another superb book rich with mythology!



Overall Rating 5/5 stars




The Lantern's Ember releases September 11, 2018

Have you ever wanted to love a book so much that you make excuses and push yourself to keep reading even though it’s doing absolutely nothing to keep your attention?

“The Lantern’s Ember” manages to intertwine urban legends, movie monsters and the Otherworld giving us the story of Jack, a once mortal man now bound to a pumpkin whose deal with the devil makes him the keeper of all things that go bump in the night and when his path crosses with the new witch in town he is determined to keep her out of harms way by those creatures who would kill for a taste of what her magic could offer.

I wanted to love this so much the cover is stunning and the premise checks all the boxes for things I enjoy but what it mastered as an idea it failed in the execution. I loved seeing the play on urban legends from Sleepy Hollow to Roanoke as well as the monsters in the Otherworld, however when you’re sold on the dark underbelly of a Halloweentown it’s very disappointing to find that it’s more like Mickey’s not so scary Halloween party. The characters lean heavily into a trope or stereotype depending on their species and it’s disappointing to see so many one note or otherwise flat versions of these monsters that could make this story so great.

There’s a bit of steampunk in this which also has a lot of promise as an idea but I spent so much of this book waiting for it to actual go there and instead we stayed rather still despite fight scenes and high stakes situations and I’ve never been so sad! Give this book the Penny Dreadful type atmosphere that it deserves and it would easily be a 5 star.

If you’re looking for creatures of the night that are no different from what you’ve seen hundreds of times in both tv and film this is for you but if you want something with more of a bite you’ll be just as disappointed as I am, but at least we have this cover.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

5 stars are not enough for this book. The fantasy world that the author creates is flawless. There is a loch ness monster, Frankenstein, werewolves, witches, vampires, and several other creatures. Then add in a steampunk Otherworld! The dialogue actually made me laugh out loud. Ember is one of my favorite literary characters ever.!

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos. -Goodreads

Amazing Cover? ✓

Vampires? Witches? Devil? ✓

Romance? ✓

Save the World from complete doom? ✓

This book has some promising points and it starts off really well; especially around chapter 3. But what started going down hill for me was when Ember started talking. Not only was her voice extremely annoying but she asked the wrong questions all the time.

She was a newbie witch that was pretty much self-taught but you won't think that when she meets Jack, she would try to learn. But nope. It also bugged me out how, Jack protected her and watched her for years but she still felt that he shouldn't have been completely trusted. I was a bit weary of that and that is mostly because he never gave her the impression that he was lying. Granted he had a kind of mysterious vibe but she trusted people that she has known less than 5 minutes. So I was bugged out about that.

But beyond Ember, I felt that the book wasn't as creepy as thought it would be. I mean given the cover, the nightmare references as well as the setting in the Otherworld, I wanted to be shook to some degree, especially when there are Sleepy Hollow and Hades and Persephone references. I don't feel that the book delivered in this aspect.

However, the overall plot was strong. There is a lot of detail in the setting and the pace. You fall in love with the surround characters and even though Ember becomes less annoying I personally still did not like her and fell more for everyone else. 

Ember's and Jack's romance wasn't too bad if you get past the fact that Jack has been watching her since she was 12 (I believe) and he is old. I thought it was cute and fitting as it was Jack's first time actually wanting someone and something more than just his job. He became something better and more honest going through the emotions for Ember. 

I thought this was a good standalone (yes it is not a series). It has some strong foundations but I wanted more from horror aspect of it and the mythology could have been upped more as well. 

Overall, 

3 Pickles

This one was way different than I expected ot to be... I did like the multiple POV’s but it took a long time for Jack and Ember to meet back up once vampire dude entered the picture. The atmosphere and writing were great, just wanted more from the story.

This was a fun, adventurous Halloween-y type of book. At first I didn’t like the main character, Ember because she was so naive and would not listen to reason whatsoever. Her guardian, Jack told her not to go to the Otherworld because it is dangerous. Do you think she listened? NOPE! To make matters worse, she followed a complete stranger, (and a vampire at that), to go with him to the Otherworld. Did she not see any danger there?! Ugh she was infuriating in the beginning. Slowly, she grew on me and while I didn’t totally love her, she was at least brave enough to make things right. It had a steampunk feel to it and I really enjoyed that. I liked Ember’s best friend, Finney the most. He was a cute, nerdy scientist that had Ember’s best interests at heart. Overall, it was fun and lighthearted. I think I would have liked it more if I read it near Halloween time.

I've read Houck's past two series, and I can say that her writing is the same. I honestly don't know if that's a good thing because in the positive side, it's easy to read and a page-turner. However, it also reads not as gripping as before.
In terms of story and characters, I'm glad to say that her characters finally changed (the trope of cursed man interested in a girl) remains to be there. I'm not Irish to discuss the liberation and possible harmful presentation of Jack-o'-Lantern myths, which are obviously the origin of the story. Moreover, I can say that Houck's imagination is really boundless, a magical world way way wayyyy more advanced that the real world? This is the first one I've read of such! Such a turn from the classic, old-world other places.
There are also vampires and werewolves and pirates and flying ships and even sinking ships (and I mean this literally).
I also love Jack and Ember's chemistry. The slow-burn love story I want to read these days. Not spoiling anything but the adventures of the two of them (and the adventures of this) are so awesome! I also love Dev and anyone can fight me on this.
Overall, I liked this book but as I've said, the writing becomes less sharp and less refreshing after reading other of Houck's books. Nonetheless, if you're somewhat new to YA fantasy books, and you're okay reading more of Houck, definitely pick this up. I can also understand picking this because of the cover, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!