Showing posts with label Percy Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Percy Jackson. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

Review and Giveaway: Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow



About Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows:
 
Title: Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows

Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Release Date: January 26, 2016
Series: Elementals #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Format: eBook and paperback
ISBN: 2940152448849 



Filled with magic, thrilling adventure, and sweet romance, Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson and The Secret Circle will love!

When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers—and, to her dismay, by Blake—the school’s notorious bad-boy.

Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.

When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

Buy Links:  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  iBooks

Add to your TBR List:  Goodreads

My Review:
First, I have to say thanks to Barclay Publicity and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I have been a fan of Michelle Madow since her first series, Transcend Time.   I actually even met her my first time at BEA in 2012, standing in the blogger day conference line.  And then I got to see her again when I went in 2014, and I remembered to get a picture with her:

However, not one time that I've seen her have I had one of her books to get autographed.  Next time, I will for sure!    I have to say that this new series kept right up with what I've enjoyed about her books so far, and I'm very excited to read on after I finished this one.  

Now the blurb above pretty much tells you what the story is about, so I don't want to repeat all of that.  So, I'm going to tell you the things I really liked about it instead!  I love the theme children of the gods of Olympus idea being used again in this type of story.  We got to have more of a romantic teen story than you really get with the Percy Jackson series, although I do love that series!  I feel like all of the characters had something small about them that made them different from other similar characters in similar stories.  The way that all of it unfolded was great as well.  I love the little clues the five main characters got, and how they learned just what "abilities" they had.  This was the way they learned who their Olympian "parent" was.  The story around Blake and his girlfriend Danielle is interesting.  I do like that Nicole pretty much sticks to her guns about not dating Blake until he officially breaks up with Danielle, as well as realizing that to start dating him right away after they do, will cause many issues for the group.  My only complaint was that at first it seemed to kind of move too quickly and skim over things that I wanted more details on.  But as the book went on that got better, and by the end I was really happy with how it was written.

 About Michelle Madow:


Michelle Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college, and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.


To get instant updates about Michelle's new books, subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Amazon!

Connect with Michelle:  Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Goodreads
  



Giveaway:
  • Michelle is offering up a fabulous prize during her Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows Virtual Tour event. One (1) lucky winner will receive a Kindle Fire 7”! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:  
     a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: Elementals #1 by Michelle Madow


Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson and The Secret Circle will love!

Book Info:


-->
Title: Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows

Author: Michelle Madow
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: January 26, 2016
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Series: Elementals #1
Format: eBook
ISBN: 2940152448849
 
 

-->
Synopsis:

When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers—and, to her dismay, by Blake—the school’s notorious bad-boy.
Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.
When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

Pre-order:  Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble  |  iBooks  



Giveaway:


--> Michelle is offering one lucky winner a signed paperback ARC of Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:  
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:


Michelle Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college, and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.

To chat with Michelle and other fans about her books, join Michelle Madow's Street Team on Facebook!

Connect with Michelle:  Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Goodreads
 
 



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday - Books/Authors I'm Thankful For

I'm not an every week participant in the Top Ten Tuesday, but being Thanksgiving week, seeing this on blogs I follow I figured I'd join in.  This is sponsored by The Broke and the Bookish.  And the perfect theme for this week is the top 10 books and/or authors that we're thankful for.  And like some of the other posts I've seen, not all of my posts will be specific books or authors exactly.

1.  First I have to say I'm thankful for the Nancy Drew series, which in a way means I'm thankful to my mom.  When I was young, 3rd grade I think, there was a bunch of the series for sale at an outlet store.  My mom bought like the first 10 in the series I think!  I took them home and devoured them.  A great beginner series, and also thanks to my mom, who at the time didn't see quite how obsesses I would be with reading.

2.  I know many people out there aren't a fan, and have lots of criticisms.  But I LOVE the Twilight series.  The story just sucked me in.  And, to see how much this series got people excited about reading again, that makes my day.  

3.  I have to also mention the Harry Potter books.  For making such a huge pop culture following along with the movies and the books, where it was cool, in some crowds, to be discussing fictional characters and how things would work for them.

4.  Next would be the Percy Jackson series.  Once again the students I saw that were former reluctant readers, and they got pulled right into reading, and never looked back, really just made me happy to be a teacher again.

5.  And along the same lines would be The Hunger Games.  Having students come up to me and talk about things that were missing from the movie, that totally made my day.  To have kids knowing how the books are always better than the movie was just music to my ears!

6.  Stephen King is an author I'm thankful for.  His scary stories were ones that again I was able to share with my mother, or maybe vice-versa.  At first I wasn't allowed to read them.  But I remember the summer before my freshman year of high school, my mother had left one of them sitting out, and I read it.  And from then on, I was unable to put his books down.

7.  V. C. Andrews is an author that I loved, and the books I read over and over and over!!  Sick as the stories really are, there are a lot of things from those books that have stuck in my head.

8.  All the Buffy the Vampire Slayer books.  Not the comics, but the actual books.  They gave me something to continue reading when the show was over.  And always bring me right back to hanging with the Scooby Gang.

9.  I'm going to combine the Wrinkle In Time series with the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series.  Both of these are books I read over and over as a child.  Again, they are reference points for me for several things, many situations in life bring to mind things that happened in these stories.  Even the movie The Avengers the summer reminded me that I'd learned about a tesseract first in A Wrinkle in Time.

10.  This is kind of a general one, going out for all those awesome authors that are out there and available to talk to on social media.  How cool to be able to so easily interact with these people who are my rock stars.  A couple specific shouts go out to Cara Lynn Shultz, who was so cool to actually meet up with me last year when I visited NYC for the first time.  Also Maureen Johnson who is so funny on Twitter.  I could go on and on, but pretty much almost every YA author on Twitter is who I'm thinking of.  Heather Brewer, Beth Revis, Jodi Meadows, Rachel Vincent, Aimee Carter, Jay Asher, Nancy Holder, there are so many I could go on and on!!!

So, what books or authors are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season?