Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books On My Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.

These lists are always fun.  So here we go!

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Those are the books I'm most looking forward to this winter, some I know I'll get to, and others I just am hoping for.  Are any of them on your TBR as well?  Or have you already read any of them?

Review: Dead of Winter (The Arcana Chronicles #3) by Kresley Cole

Book info:
Title:  Dead of Winter
Author:  Kresley Cole
Series:  The Arcana Chronicles #3
Genre:  YA Fantasy/post-apocalyptic
Published:  January 6th, 2015
Source:  I purchased book
My Rating:  5 stars









I read and finished this book while I was in New Orleans, while I got to meet the author even!  Here's my picture with her.

Once again I am so in love with this series!  I know a lot of people hate love triangles, but this one was okay, in fact I loved both guys, and can't decide who I want her to choose!  Well, I kind of know, maybe.  If you haven't read the first two books in the series, you probably ought to stop reading here.  Go back and read my reviews of the first two instead, Poison Princess and Endless Knight.  I won't be able to help any spoilers for those two books from here on out.

At the end of the last book, Evie had taken off, left Death in order to try to save Jack.  He's been taken by the Lovers, and the way that they "love" their prisoners is torture.  And most people don't survive the torture in one piece.  But her allies from before have joined up with an army, and are using it to protect themselves and others.  While in their search to not only save Jack, but also other people that the Lovers kidnap, Evie will run into other members of the Arcana, some foes, others that may become allies.  Death will return, and will decide to do what he can to convince Evie that she is meant to be his.  But Jack will do the same, that Evie is his.  

Evie must determine if one is really better for her, or if she is really right for that one, would Jack be better off with someone else? And can she trust Jack?  Is he still keeping things from her, like what actually happened with  her mother?  And then there is the Fool, who seems to be not so much on their side, but also still trying to help them when he can.  

So  many twists and turns in this.  I can't wait to read on!

 

Review: Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2) by Kresley Cole (September Sequel #3)

Book info:
Title:  Endless Knight  
Author:  Kresley Cole
Series:  The Arcana Chronicles #2  
Genre:  YA fantasy/post-apocalyptic
Published:  October 1st, 2013
Source:  I purchased from The Book Depository for specific cover

I fell in love with this series a bit late, last month after I was contacted about helping to publicize the release of the 4th book.  Between that and the fact that I am going to get to meet the author in about 2 weeks now, I decided to go ahead and pick it up and read it.  I loved Jack, and couldn't wait to find out where the story would go after the end of book one, Poison Princess, which I reviewed HERE. If you haven't read the first book, you probably should stop before reading any further in this review, and click on the link for the review of the first book.  But here is my review!

We are back again with Evie, or Evangeline as Jack calls her.  Jack has now seen what Evie really is, and he seems to be disgusted by it.  And so he takes off.  Or so it seems.  Eventually he does come back, and soon we find out just how he really feels about Evie.  After what happened in the last book, where it looked as if he kissed the other Arcana with them, we find out what really happened.  In this book we meet more of the other Arcana, some who want to fight Evie and her group, others who seem to feel the same about  possibly ending the game and not killing each other.  And then in the back of Evie's head, Death is still there, watching her every move it seems.  Matthew, the Fool, made a deal with him and owes him, so he lets Death in her head.  When Evie and Jack take their relationship further, Death gets extremely angry.  

We learn that all these flashes Evie is having of her past lives show that she and Death once were more than enemies, more like friends or allies, and maybe even more.  It seems that Death once may have loved Evie.  But who can blame him, Evie is the only person he can touch with his bare hands/skin that doesn't die.  When Death gets ahold of Evie after she is betrayed by one of their allies, going with him seems to be the only way to protect Jackson and the rest of her group. Once at Death's estate, he tells her that he is going to kill her, but never seems to be ready to do it.  He does torture her in some ways.  Puts a type of collar thing on her arm that keeps her from being able to change into her Empress form.  That way he can protect himself, although it will also make it so that at times she will not be able to protect herself.  As time goes by, they seem to be getting back to where they had once been.  But it's not just Evie playing Death to get close enough to kill him, she starts to understand and feel for him in her own way.  But there is always Jack in the back of her mind, and in her heart, and her promise to never leave him.

I loved this book.  And at first I didn't like Death at all, other than the picture on the cover that is.  But like Evie, I grew to see him differently, and to maybe see how she could have feelings for him.  Jack will always be who I love best, but Death will be a close second in this story.  There is the big moment between Jack and Evie that was just perfectly written, it made me feel ALL the feels.  I won't tell you what, I'll let you read it yourself.  Now, I can't wait until I can fit in the third book to read.  And I guess I'll probably buy the fourth book when I meet the author!

Review: Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1) by Kresley Cole

Book info:

Title:  Poison Princess  
Author:  Kresley Cole
Series:  The Arcana Chronicles #1  
Genre:  YA fantasy/post-apocalyptic
Published:  October 2nd, 2012
Source:  Traded for on Books For Trade

I had been interested in this book since the 2nd or 3rd one came out.  But I never got around to them.  Then this past summer, I got an email from a publicist for the next book in the series, Arcana Rising.  She offered me an e-copy of the book, but I had just traded for a copy, so just promised to get it read by August 15th.  The reason I had traded in the first place, is because I am going to get to meet the author when I go to NOLA Story Con.  I hadn't read the author before, and decided to start with this one.  And now, wow, as I read this one I fell in love with the book. And I'm guessing now I'll be in love with this author as well!  When I picked it up for the first time, I sat for an hour without even looking up reading, not even paying any attention to how late it was getting as I was in bed.  It sucked me in, and was so hard to put down whenever I had to do those silly things like go to sleep or go to work.  Another thing that is really cool about it, is that it is set down in Louisiana, and there are characters with Cajun accents, and since that is where I am going to meet the author, New Orleans, it was just the perfect time!  I actually kind of wonder if I'd enjoy listening to the audiobook just to hear the accent aloud.  

Our main character is Evie, and she is about to start her junior year in high school.  She comes from a good family, or at least a well-to-do one. They live on a plantation.  The school she's always gone to is made up of kids from families and situations like her own.  And while Evie is pretty popular, she also is very nice, to everyone in school and everyone she meets.  But she has a secret. This past summer while her friends and boyfriend were all on their normal extravagant vacations, she was in a sort of mental hospital because of visions and nightmares she was having.  Something that her grandmother seemed to have passed down to her.  Her grandmother that her mother had sent away to keep her from influencing Evie.  To Evie's mother, appearances are very important.  So she can't tell anyone where she actually was.  Of course by keeping it a secret, Evie also helps to keep her very popular boyfriend, and her friends.  

On the way to the first day of school, as Evie is being very flirty with her boyfriend in his car, a group of motorcycles drives by, the lead motorcycle rider checking out Evie's butt as she's kissing her boyfriend.  When they get to school, it's not long after that the motorcycles pull in, and it seems they are a group of kids from a poor area that will now attend their school thanks to a bridge that has been built.  At first, Evie thinks that she will continue to be the friendly person, even to these people that no one else seems to want to give a fair chance. That is until they walk up and start being rude to the other people, as well as saying things in Cajun French, that Evie is able to understand.  Crude things the guys say, and just plain rude.  And of course you can kind of guess how all of the school business will go.  The kids from the Basin will treat all the kids who normally go to the school as snobs, and Evie and the guy that was checking her out on the bike, Jackson, will have a little bit of a attraction between them, even if neither of them wants it.  

Now, we do start the book out with a glimpse of what is to come.  We won't be continuing with a normal year of school where Evie discovers all the weird stuff going on with her visions, no, there will be a huge natural disaster, called "the Flash".  The visions that Evie had been having will start to be more often, and more real.  She will figure out that she needs to get to her grandmother for help, that maybe her grandmother really knows what the visions mean.  Because there are people in her visions that she communicates with, or that she sees in the visions, that she will run into out in the real world.  She will learn that she is one of the Arcana, or the characters in a deck of Tarot cards, and that there are others out there, including Death, that all have a part to play in the end of the world environment.  When she loses her friends and family, she will gain help from an unexpected person, Jackson.  Together they will have to find a way to coexist, to help each other stay alive.  And Evie needs Jackson to help her get to her grandmother, even if he doesn't want to.  They will have to fight the feelings that they kind of saw before the Flash, and neither will know the right way to do it.  The other people they meet will either be danger, or else possibly those they will need to join with to move on in this prophecy.  

As I said, I fell in love with the story. Especially Jackson, although I did get really mad at him at one part towards the end.  When I finished this, I was prepared to just buy the next book so I could go right on.  I was so upset when I realized the bookstore where I work didn't have it!  I ordered it, but then I saw that to get the cover that matched the cover of the first one, I would have to order it from somewhere else, and I did from The Book Depository.  

I cannot wait to meet the author now.  So excited to tell her how much I love the book and Jackson.  Not to mention so excited to move on in the series once the second book arrives!  I've found a new favorite series with just one book.  Later today I'm going to post a special promo post for the new book in the series, so check back to learn more!

Spotlight: Day Zero (The Arcana Chronicles #3.5) by Kresley Cole

Book info:

Title:  Day Zero  
Author:  Kresley Cole
Series:  The Arcana Chronicles #3.5  
Genre:  YA Post-Apocalyptic, Romance
Published:  August 1st, 2016

Synopsis:
Arcana means secrets, and these Arcana Chronicles short stories from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole are filled with them. Experience firsthand the beginning of the end and behold the apocalypse through the eyes of characters you only thought you knew.

Ashes to ashes . . .
Evie Greene’s story of the Flash is just one of many. All over the world, those connected in some way to the lethal Arcana game—like Death, Jack, and Fortune—must first survive a horrifying night of blood and screams.

We all fall down.
Some will have to grapple with new powers; all will be damned to a hellish new existence of plague, brutality, desolation, and cannibalism. Find out who they lost, why they endure, and what they sacrificed in order to live past Day Zero. . . .

Buy Links:
Amazon: bit.ly/DayZeroKindle
iBooks: bit.ly/DayZeroiBooks
Kobo: bit.ly/DayZeroKobo
Nook: bit.ly/DayZeroNook
Google Play: bit.ly/DayZeroGooglePlay

Author bio:

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Gamemakers series, and five award-winning historical romances.

A master's grad and former athlete, she has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings.

Her books have been translated into twenty foreign languages, garnered three RITA awards, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists, in the U.S. and abroad.

You can learn more about her and her work at www.kresleycole.com or www.facebook.com/KresleyCole

Kresley Cole's Social Links: 
Website: www.kresleycole.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KresleyCole
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kresleycole

Excerpt from Day Zero:
http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/Excerpts/DayZeroKresleyCole.pdf