New Release Review: (Dis)content by Melissa Haag

BookCrushin is so excited that today is release day for (Dis)content by Melissa Haag, it is the 5th book in the Judgement of the Six series! Remember me telling you all about one of my favorite YA shifter series? This is that series, so when a new book is released, I am the happiest! All of the book and series information is below as well as Sara’s & my reviews! We were both given eARCs of (Dis)content from Melissa Haag for our honest opinions. My honest opinion is that everyone needs to read this series, even if you are not as obsessed as I am, I think you will still very much enjoy it! The first book in the series, Hope(less) is permafree on all ebook retailers-details below!

 

(Dis)content by Melissa Haag

Series: Judgement of the Six #5
Category: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Publication: November 24th, 2015
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords

I hate. I thought I hated before the letter, before the werewolves, but now I understand that was nothing more than a chip on my shoulder. The urbat took what was mine. They will pay.

Isabelle leads a very normal life…for an emotional syphon. If not for Ethan and his bar, she would have lost her sanity long ago. But everything changes with the crash of her fighting cage and a man who transforms into a wolf. There’s something about Carlos—when he’s not growling at her—that makes her do things she wouldn’t normally do, like sigh and daydream.

Attraction aside, she is faced with the very real evidence that werewolves and urbat exist, and the urbat are after her. And the only way she can keep Ethan safe is to join with the werewolves and Carlos. It’s a race against time to stop a war, fight for love, and find the last Judgement.

Series:

If you are new to the Judgement of the Six series, you can find Hope(less) book 1, for free from all major ebook retailers! Trust me on this…get hooked now!

Series on Amazon

Series on Barnes & Noble

Series on Goodreads

Also – Don’t miss the Judgement of the Six Companion Novel –
Clay’s Hope 

Amazon

Goodreads

Reviews:

Kelly’s Review:
[book rating=5/5]

“I felt what the people around me felt. Like sampling ice cream,
their emotions had different flavors, letting me know their moods.”

Let me start by saying that this review will be spoiler-free, but (Dis)content is the 5th book in the Judgement of the Six series and I may reveal things that may have already happened in previous books – I try to never say anything really major but fair warning that it could happen.

My initial thoughts when I finished (Dis)content were along the lines of, this can’t be over, this CAN. NOT. BE. OVER! Don’t get me wrong, it is a decent sized book, it’s not short; I just wanted so much more! So I may have felt a tad jaded once I finished, it’s not the final book in the series, but in my defense I feel obsessed with this story. This isn’t the first time in this series that I was mad that one of the books was over, but nothing to this extent. I guess when you can’t get over a book that’s a good thing. I had such a serious book hangover that it took me a while to process my emotions.

Speaking of emotions, this entire book is an emotional roller-coaster, which makes perfect sense since Isabelle, our main character, is sort of an empath and can use peoples emotions in many ways. Isabelle is one of the final Judgements, known as Peace, which is funny because she’s always so angry, callous and irritated. Which can be expected since her power, or curse (with great power comes great responsibility), allows her to siphon other peoples emotions. She goes from snark to shark in t-minus one second. So *my* emotions were all over the place too and that is a mark of a well crafted story. I was so absorbed in the book and characters that I was personally hurt whenever the characters were also hurt. While I was reading, I had to pause at times to determine if are these Isabelle’s feelings or mine? Which I thought was a fantastic way to feel…complete immersion in the book.

Let’s talk about the barely verbal Carlos. Carlos is the tall, dark and brooding wolf and Isabelle’s potential mate; the one who is making her second guess everything she has ever known in her life when it comes to getting close to anyone. Also, he is why she knows she must take this whole werewolf versus urbat craziness seriously, because she feels her connection to Carlos immediately, she doesn’t understand it, but it is a force to reckon with and it clearly nudges her to help the rest of the Judgements who are with Carlos’ group. He may not say much, but he is clearly a man of action, and you can’t help but root for him to break down Isabelle’s snarky walls. Plus he’s clearly knock-out gorgeous!

Some of the best parts of this series, as the story builds, each previous Judgement continues to play a more pivotal role, so we get a lot of our favorites back for more and more. In (Dis)content, you get the most interaction between all of the usual characters as they must work together to save the remaining Judgement. Bethi has great jabs, Gabby is working tirelessly, Michelle and Charlene play to their strengths, and their men are by their sides fighting. Plus we have Jim to cause just enough mischief to make me smile from ear to ear!  The girls are especially needed to help Isabelle transition very quickly into understanding the crazy and real danger that is upon them, a luxury of time is not something they have anymore.

My only issue, other than wanting more, was I think, due to the fact that I am so invested in this series. I re-read the previous 4 books these last few months to prepare for the release and this isn’t my first time re-reading them. I fell like there is still too much of the overarching mystery left to be uncovered in this series & felt that Melissa barely scratched the service in (Dis)content. So as a reader I just think that means in (Sur)real, the next and most likely final installment, is going to either be jammed pack or long. I vote for very, very long. So what? I am selfish, I want it all!

(Dis)content is quite the book; we have so much action, devastation, humor and of course romance. This is a hell of a ride! Be prepared to be engrossed and have a ton of feelings along the way. I will continue to have this series on my ‘tell everyone to read’ list. Thank you Melissa for crafting this world that I cannot get enough of and am willing to sell off my first born for insights on the next installment. Alas, let the waiting game begin again.

 

Sara’s Review:
[book rating=4.5/5.0]

I have been waiting rather impatiently for (Dis)content for what feels like forever, and I was happy to get my hands on an ARC copy as a member of Melissa Haag’s launch team. Read on for my honest review!

(Dis)content is the fifth book in one of my very favorite series, the Judgement of the Six. This book centers on Isabelle, a rather reluctant participant in the Judgement group. Isabelle is an empath who inadvertently affects the emotions of others around her and, after accidentally hurting loved ones and friends, has shut herself off from everyone around her as much as possible. Her only companion is her best friend, Ethan.

I had a very hard time connecting with Isabelle at first; she is brunt and unapologetic, and she often verbally hurts everyone in her path. It took me a long time to warm up to her but, despite this, the story was so engaging that I couldn’t put the book down, and I am glad that I finished it because by the end I really liked Isabelle.

I also really liked Carlos, though I wish we could have gotten to know him a bit more. He is another strong, silent type, much like Clay from Hope(less). Maybe Melissa will give us a story from Carlos’ point of view, too.

Melissa has a way with sucking readers into her stories, and this was no exception. I love all the characters in her stories, and loved that all of them were together in (Dis)content (although I can always do with more Jim. I can’t wait until he gets his own story!). I sometimes had trouble understanding Isabelle’s capabilities and the way her power worked, and there were a few things that didn’t always add up, but Melissa’s writing is so wonderful that in the end, I was happy with the story and its place in the series.

(Dis)content: 4.5/5 stars.

 

Author Bio: Melissa Haag