This book has a great theme in it. It had awesome characters that had me swooning for more information about each of them. I also loved the way the main character was portrayed. I personally had a hard time somewhat with the plot. Some of the chapters seem to be too long. I believe this book is more of middle grade instead of Young Adult. Which is why I think I had trouble with finishing it.

I got this book for my unbiased review from netgalley

First things first, I LOVE the cover. It’s what drew me in.

This one ended up being a very enjoyable read! It’s not scary, but the Halloween atmosphere makes up for it. It’s a little predictable, but it’s ok for me, as I enjoyed this book. I will definitely be buying the hardcover when this comes out, and plan to read this on Halloween!

I recommend this one! Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review!

The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck is a delightfully creepy read with its cauldron mix of Halloween folklore and the supernatural.

I have been a fan of Colleen Houck since reading her Egyptian themed Reawakened series. When I heard she was writing a standalone taking inspiration from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and twisting it with Halloween lore, I could not have been more excited!

What makes this story stand out and such a fun read for the Fall time are all the references made to Gothic horror stories and supernatural creatures we're all familiar with.
Houck takes bits and pieces from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (just to name a few) and mixes them with a unique new take on the origin story of the Jack-o'-lantern and the Will-o'-the-wisps. There is also a surprisingly Halloween Town/Wonderland vibe sprinkled with a steampunk-inspired backdrop for the Otherworld in which Amber and Jack are whisked off to.

The story follows Jack, once a mortal, who is now a Lantern assigned (cursed) to act as a watchman guarding the crossroads leading into the Otherworld—keeping stray mortals and not-so-mortals from entering into each other's realms. He is completely adorable and reminded me a bit of Jack from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Filled with curiosity and adventure, seventeen-year-old witch Ember O’Dare longs to cross into the Otherworld. When she accidentally discovers Jack there is an instant spark between the two. Jack, who has been acting as a secret guardian to her ever since she's been a little girl, finds his feelings changing from protector to something more.

When roguish vampire Deverell “Dev” Blackbourne, with secret nefarious designs of his own, crosses into the mortal realm and entices Ember into returning home with him, Jack follows—what ensues is a madcap adventure filled with the strange, steampunk-ish, and the monstrous...literally.

I really enjoyed all the spooky references, atmosphere, and Jack's character especially. I do feel like the story reads with a younger teens voice though, rather than what the gorgeous cover suggests, and could make for a possible cross-over read from mature middle-grade to YA.
Although I enjoyed her sense of daring and sweet charm, Ember does come across rather naive and immature at times. She often lets others make her decisions for her and when she makes one of her own they're rash—landing her in deep trouble.

The story includes two other love interests that make for a bit of a love triangle and adds tension to an already busy plot. The end raps ups rather nicely, if somewhat quick, and left me excited for all things Fall and Halloween.

In the End

The Lantern's Ember is an entertaining read perfect for those wanting an atmospheric story that will have you excited for all things spooky. Readers are sure to enjoy discovering all the creative twists given to monster myths and horror stories by Colleen Houck.

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

Thank Netgalley and the Random House Children’s Books!!

I really enjoyed the first half of this novel, but the rest just really fell flat for me. I thought it would be the perfect Halloween book for this year, but it took a slight wrong turn for me. I did not love the love triangle, the steampunk flair, and I did not enjoy the main character. She was so flighty and needed help the whole way through with the men surrounding her. If it was not a SteamPunk type fantasy, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. The characters were really diverse and I enjoyed Jack's character a lot. The chapter names were great, but had nothing to do with the chapters, at least that is how I felt towards it. Overall, it just was not what I wanted it to be, definitely could have done without the SteamPunk twist.

i will admit i schemed some parts of this book because they where so slow and little boring, i wish this book would have came out like around the end of September instead of almost the beginning of September.

i loved the whole concept of this story it was like watching a tv show sort of i just wished some parts where a little more faster then others.

If you like creepy but not really creepy but you still want to get a little scary here and there go grab this book when it comes out on September 11 2018

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed The Lantern's Ember. I would describe this book as the perfect Halloween or fall read - or anytime read if you love witches and vampires and magic! Ember is an incredibly strong witch - and also incredibly fierce, independent and curious. Ember decides to allow a vampire to escort her to the Underworld - where all the magic and mystery is - and embarks upon a wild adventure. Pirate ships, secret islands, boogeyman - The Lantern's Ember will keep you on your feet, don't worry! Ember attracts the attention of not one, not two, but three men - although she never lets them put her aside and always fights her own battles. This is one love (square?) that will keep you on your toes! Houck plays around with all of our favorite Halloween tropes - A lantern, named Jack, who keeps his soul in a pumpkin. A vampire who decides to move to a town called Transylvania. A witch in desperate need of escape who enchants the only rideable object available to fly - a broomstick. The Lantern's Ember is charming and adventurous and a wonderful retelling of our favorite monsters, demons, and scary Halloween creatures.

I am a fan of Houck’s Tiger’s Curse series. It was unique and different in the young adult world. The Lantern’s Ember does not disappoint, it is a fun and unique stand-alone.
Ember is a young witch who is stubborn and head-strong which does not always allow for making the best choices. Jack is the Lantern who is stationed at the crossroads in her town. The Lanterns help keep out the monsters from the Otherworld out of the human world. The Otherworld is home to all of the monsters of our nightmares. Ember takes up with a debonair vampire, manages to get into the Otherworld, and the action is non-stop from there. Jack has to get Ember back to keep all hell from breaking loose in both worlds.
This story is loosely based on Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, although Houck’s interpretation has brought it into 2018. It is a fresh and exciting take for a whole new audience.

The Lantern’s Ember

This book was the perfect book to satisfy my need for Halloween. When I read The Lantern’s Ember it was in the middle of June and it had me thinking about pumpkins, golden leaves littering the ground, and little kids dressed up in costumes. Needless to say I loved this book and could not get enough of it. The plot was amazing, the world building was stunning, and the characters were fantastic.

Characters

Ember: I loved Ember. She was full of life and had a great sense of adventure. Although she could be naïve and a little bit reckless she also did her best and attempted to do what she thought was best for the situation. Overall I found Ember to be a perfectly delightful character that I loved watching grow as the novel progressed. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was how she sometimes used the different men in her life to make a different man jealous.

Jack: Jack was by far my favorite character through out the whole novel. I found his backstory to be fascinating and completely fantastical. I enjoyed his serious ways and I especially enjoyed when he let loose and became playful. While his treatment of others could sometimes be a little harsh he always tried to make up for it. I loved that he always did what he thought was best for everyone even if it put himself in danger.

Dev: I honestly don’t know how I feel about Dev. At times I felt sympathy and pity for his lot in life, and at times I wished the best possible outcome for him. At other times I thought he was a little bit sly and used others to get what he wanted. Sometimes I think this was the authors intent. In the end I was found that my like for him out weighed my dislike for him.

Secondary characters: I loved all the secondary characters (Finney, Delia, and Rune). I found that all of them added something to the plot and contributed. One of biggest issues with books is when there are secondary characters who do absolutely nothing for the progression of the plot.

This novel was a mix of old Halloween tales (such as Sleepy Hollow and The Boogyman), steampunk elements (like Clockwork guns and airships), and elements of history (The Salem witch trials). I cannot express how perfect this novel was in its worldbuilding I could almost imagine crossroads existing in or ordinary world. I don’t think there exists a book that has ever satisfied my need for the supernatural and Halloween quite like this one.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good book with fantastic supernatural elements or perfectly crafted otherworldly environments.

You would think that book that involved witches, sleepy hollow, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, pirates and the boogeyman would be complicated and jam packed but colleen made it all work.
I thought this would have to be 2 books but she made it all come together quickly at the end. It didnt seem rushed but i felt like after how well i liked the first 90% of the book that the ending didnt do it justice.
I wouldnt say theres a love triangle but theres a chance that you might want her with another guy for awhile. If so it will be changed back fairly quickly.
Overall i enjoyed this book. If you like her other books you will like this
Its angreat book to read around Halloween

To start off, I was really excited about this book when I first heard about it. The author described it as a retelling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (which I love!) but to be honest... I've read better reimaginings of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This book just kind of fell flat for me.

It has a gorgeous cover, don't get me wrong, but the story inside is just kind of ... meh. I didn't care for our naive heroine, the fact that all of the male characters were in love with her, the steampunk themes, and I guess I was expecting something a little spookier.

Overall, this book was not for me. Maybe it would appeal to somebody younger, I don't know. I really wanted to love this one but I just couldn't. I'm left feeling disappointed.

I loved the unique twist on Sleepy Hallow and the beautiful cover, but unfortunately that's it. It was boring and dreadful. Ember was extremely juvenile and immature. I understand that she's only 17 but I was still reading her as the child she was when she first arrived there. She believed the Vampire over Jack, someone who had been watching over her for years. Jack was very one dimensional to me. I didn't believe his love for her or Ember's love for him. It was very shallow and surface level. I wanted more of the setting and the unique structure of the monsters and less of well, everything else. The whole plot of the novel is very cliche, which would not have been a problem if the characters were stronger and more unique. The background and setting of the story would've elevated the cliche plot to something exciting, but unfortunately the characters weren't there for me. At all.

This cover is stunning, and initially what drew me to this book, and the title is very clever.  Once I started reading, the world-building enchanted and intrigued me and, along with Ember, I enjoyed learning about the Otherworld, its rules, and the creatures inhabiting it.

With his pumpkin and Headless Horseman comparison, Jack is my favorite character in this book, but I have to admit, Dev is one of the most charming vampires I've come across in a while.  Del, Finney, Frank (you can probably guess what that's short for) - all are wonderful characters, but it took me a while to warm up to Ember - probably because of my frustration with her actions early in the book.

While the world-building and characterization are strong points, the love square between Ember, Finney, Jack, and Dev grew a bit tiresome and takes up a chunk of the book.  I also had to backtrack numerous times when the POV changed abruptly during paragraphs - which happens a lot.

With the satisfying ending, I don't see the author doing a sequel, and there's no need for one.  It's nice to read a standalone in a genre with so many series.  This is a perfect read to curl up with on a chilly fall evening - even better if it's closer to Halloween.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book because I've had really good luck with this author in the past; however, this book was a different story for me. The characters are likable, but the romance, the need to save someone, the "I love you's" happened so quickly without any real character development or history. I would have loved to have seen some progression before the vows of love and loyalty. It felt very rushed which made it hard for me to root for the characters. I struggled with the first 80% of the book until Ash came into the storyline. He definitely added a lot to the storyline and made me a little more curious about picking up the next book in the series.

**2.5 stars**

Halloween-y, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Lanterns (aka headless horseman), witch power.

I honestly love this cover but it is a little off putting compared to the actual story.

The timeline for this is somewhere after the Salem witch trials but doesn’t focus much on her hometown. We learn more about the otherworld, which is far advanced compared to the human world in regards to technology due to the witch light that is basically otherworld’s electricity. So basically we have some steampunk going on here and I’m all for it.

Characters:
Ember – I’m still on the edge about her. She didn’t really seem to have a personality that clicked with me. It felt like her personality changed like a mood ring and wasn’t very consistent. I did like her in some parts but mostly I was meh about her.

Finney – Adorable smol baby. Genius, nerdy, techy, special cinnamon roll.

Dev – Vampire play boy. Devious little shit.

Deila – Favorite character. Badass, pirate ship captain, with a freaking metal tooth. Y’all. I’d marry her. There needs to be a book just for her and I would read it.

Jack – IDK how I feel about him really. I kind of see him as a protective overbearing brother to Ember and Finney.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s like steampunk Halloween town meets Stardust.

Jack is a lantern who is tasked with guarding one of many bridges into the other world, or as I like to call it, Halloween town with a twist. He is watching over this bridge that sits near a town that has a young witch named Ember.
Ember has a pull to this otherworld and as much as Jack tries to sway her from entering, she gets in with the help of a vampire named Deverell.

Jack is now tasked with trying to get to Ember before all those bad guys find her. That is where it felt like Stardust to me... there’s someone that everyone wants for themselves or is trying to help her.

I’d give this book 4/5 stars. I loved all the characters and how action packed it was. I LOVED that it had a the Halloween spin on it with the way the otherworld designed and all the creatures living inside of it.

I will definitely be re-reading this come Halloween time! I enjoyed this take on the jack-o-lantern story, and all of the supernatural creatures who haunted its (simulated) pages. I did feel at times that the writing was a bit stilted, and the author really just wanted to get to the point, and that she could have taken her time, described things more thoroughly. For a ya, however, not too shabby! Will be rereading in the fall.

This was a cool little story. I didn't like the character of Ember though. I wasn't super crazy about Jack either but I love the background and how Houck used Sleepy Hollow as an inspiration. The ending had a little twist and wrapped up very neatly.

First off, I absolutely love the cover! It’s what grabbed my attention right away. It’s so beautiful and intriguing!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for the book itself. I found it really boring. I couldn’t connect with the characters and I actually began skimming after a few pages. It’s not necessarily a bad book, it’s just not my type.

The cover of this book is amazing and the synopsis definitely had me intrigued but while both held the promise of something both deliciously creepy and nefarious, this book sadly did not deliver. This story was a steampunk mashup retelling of the origins of Halloween bringing back all of all the classic cast of characters, like werewolves, vampires, and even Frankenstein. Here's the problem, the synopsis described a completely different book. That would have been ok if there weren't so many other issues with the plot and character development throughout the story.

Ember has no character growth throughout this story and consistently makes decisions that make absolutely no sense. Most of the male characters in this book have no depth and seem to have no purpose other than to be madly in love with Ember. The plot was under-developed and predictable but I did like the way Ms. Houck tied everything together at the end to explain the origins of Halloween. So, if you're looking for a quick-read about Halloween, you should enjoy this.

Disappointed would the be the best word to describe my reading experience. I went into The Lantern's Ember expecting a cool, spooky story similar to urban legends like Sleepy Hallow full of paranormal creatures and magic. Instead, I got a strange steampunk version of Halloweentown. I actually would have been okay with that, but the writing was mediocre and the story seemed a bit juvenile for my tastes. Ember was the super special heroine that acted naively and never bothered to follow common sense, much less warnings given to her by other people. And yet despite her shortcomings, all three of the male characters happen to be in love with her. None of the characters felt fleshed out or any kind of character growth has the story went on. The book is written in third person omniscient, which I think heavily contributed to the fact that the characters didn't have much depth. The plot itself didn't have much substance to it either; it was predictable, boring at times, and many of the conflicts were resolved with a little too conveniently.