Review and Author Interview: Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean

Book info:

Title:  Toward a Secret Sky
Author:  Heather Maclean
Series:  ???
Genre:  YA Paranormal romance
Published:  April 4th, 2017
Source:  Received from publicist for honest review
My rating:  4.5 stars

Synopsis:
Shortly after 17-year-old Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with grandparents she’s never met in Scotland, she receives an encrypted journal from her dead mother that makes her and everyone around her a target. It confirms that her parents were employed by a secret, international organization that’s now intent on recruiting her. As Maren works to unravel the clues left behind by her mother, a murderous madness sweeps through the local population, terrorizing her small town. Maren must decide if she’ll continue her parents’ fight or stay behind to save her friends.

With the help of Gavin, an otherworldly mercenary she’s not supposed to fall in love with, and Graham, a charming aristocrat who is entranced with her, Maren races against the clock and around the country from palatial estates with twisted labyrinths to famous cathedrals with booby-trapped subterranean crypts to stay ahead of the enemy and find a cure. Along the way, she discovers the great truth of love: that laying down your life for another isn’t as hard as watching them sacrifice everything for you. 

My Review:
I received an email back in March requesting that I possibly review this and another book.  I unfortunately got started on this one a little late so that I didn't get it finished in time to post the review before the publishing date.  I did however really enjoy the book, and will definitely be recommending it.  If you've followed me for awhile, you know that I am a Twilight fan.  This book definitely was reminiscent of that story, in a good way, but not an identical way.  And when I read the author's answers to my interview questions, it turns out that it is supposed to be similar.   I know some people are not fans of the Twilight series, and I'm sorry, they may or may not enjoy this.  I will definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story about angels and demons on earth.  I loved how the author brought in specific types of demons, Incubus to name one.  The way the characters fit into whatever category, angel - demon - human, was done so creatively, and really quite originally in some cases.  I loved the characters and the setting of Scotland as well.  Although I might be a bit more partial to Irish than Scottish, I still liked that is how the setting was.

My only issues are that some of the story went a little faster and I didn't get as many details as I would have liked, but part of that is probably my own particular idiosyncrasies and tastes.  I was a little confused at the very beginning as to why everyone was screaming at the funeral, and I'm still a bit unsure as to whether that was just normal reaction to the stormy weather, or if there was something else going on.  Anyway, this was a page-turner, hard to put down, and I totally recommend it!

Also, possible spoiler, the way it ends, I totally feel like there needs to be a sequel, yet I don't see anything saying there will be on Goodreads.  So I'll just cross my fingers, and hope that like a book I read last year about this time that I really wanted a sequel for, this too will get one.

Author Interview:

1.         What does your writing process look like?  Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, note cards, post-it notes, etc.?

I’m almost afraid to admit it, but I am a write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl—at least for the first draft. I have to get the story out, with all of its passion, and the plot sorted, then I’ll go back and tweak everything. For staying organized, I actually use the extremely old-school Excel. I make a spreadsheet by chapter with columns for the main action, each character, and then any themes such as love, loss, problems, then I fill in each box. I can step back then and see how long it’s been since someone appeared, how the character development is going, if I’ve got enough tension throughout, etc.

I’m also a Post-It note queen. I have dozens of stacks all over my house and in my purse and I’ll jot down ideas as they come to me, which is more often than not when I’m just about to fall asleep!

2.         How did you come up with the idea for your story?

I had just seen the movie Twilight with my best friend and our daughters. It was such a great bonding night, and when we got home, our girls demanded I write them a similar story. I started on the spot. My initial idea was a Da Vinci Code-type adventure book set in Scotland, but I wanted to make sure it had an epic Twilight-level love story. I know people like to critique that book, but Stephanie Meyer got the love story down perfectly. The idea that this guy had been waiting a thousand years for his true love? Amazing. And I believe in soul mates and love and first sight since I’ve experienced both, so those had to be in there too!  

3.         How long have you been writing?

Since I could hold a pencil! Professionally though, any chance I got. I was the editor of my grade school and high school newspapers. I worked for my college newspaper. I was the Publisher of the largest student-run magazine in the world, Business Today. I interned at Entertainment Weekly. And this was all before the internet! There are so many more opportunities now for aspiring writers!

4.         What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

Creative tips: When the writing muse visits, drop everything and write! She might not be back for days!

Business tips: Get a great, experienced agent. There are tons out there, and they’re always looking for new talent. I have many writer friends who represent themselves, but I absolutely rely on my agent. She used to be an editor, she’s just so gosh darn smart, and she’s become like a part of my family. Publishing is ultimately a business, and you need a professional who has your back when things get dicey (which they do!).

5.         Favorites: 

i.                  Books/authors/genres

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, anything by Thomas Hardy, and Historical Fiction

ii.                  Movies/TV Shows

Movies: Braveheart, Moana, Deadpool
TV Shows: Victoria, Reign, Gotham, Southern Charm

iii.                  Music

An embarrassing mix of Alternative and Pop: the Lumineers, George Ezra, Clean Bandit, Machine Gun Kelly, James Arthur, Taylor Swift, and I’m a huge Eminem fan.

iv.                  Food/writing snack

Snicker bites (they should be outlawed!), mini candy canes, and milk chocolate pretzel Snappers.

v.                  Social Media Site

Pinterest!   

Author Bio: 

Heather Maclean is a bestselling author who is making her YA debut with Toward a Secret Sky, hitting shelves nationwide on April 4. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show on CBS, Fox Business Network, ParentsTV and Dr. Radio on Sirius XM. A graduate from Princeton University, she began her career at Entertainment Weekly. Her work has appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, Pregnancy Magazine, NY Metro Parents Magazine, as well as numerous newspapers from across the country. A mother of three, Maclean is the founder of Little Laureate, an award-winning educational children's media company. Named one of the "16 Best Entrepreneurs in America" by Sir Richard Branson, she accompanied the adventurous business legend on a 50,000-mile trip around the world, alternately helping improve the lives of others (designing sustainable development initiatives in South African villages) and fearing for her own (rappelling out of a Black helicopter in a Moroccan sandstorm). Visit www.towardasecretsky.com to learn more about Heather. 

 

 

Promo Post and Author Interview: Touched by Elisa S. Amore

Book info:

Title:  Touched: The Caress of Fate

Author:   Elisa S. Amore

Genre:  YA Gothic Romance

#1 Amazon Bestseller for more than six months, surpassing The Hunger Games, The Hobbit, and Divergent.

More than 10,000 downloads in the first week.

Sales topped 50,000 copies in the first month.

One of the most read books on Amazon in the last two months.

The International sensation that everyone is talking about is now available in the U.S. and we would love to have you share it with your readers.

 ~~~~

What are you willing to sacrifice when the only person who can save you is the same one who has to kill you?

A new breed of Angels is here to usher you into their dark world in Elisa S. Amore’s breakout bestseller TOUCHED: The Caress of Fate. “As seductive as Meet Joe Black. As mysterious as City of Angels. As powerful as Twilight,” Amore has written the bestselling angel series that everyone is talking about.

“Elisa S. Amore is one of the few phenomena in Italian self-publishing.” — Vanity Fair Italy

“Girls who dream of love, a new novel just for you has come out in bookshops.” — Marie Claire Italy

When Gemma’s eyes first meet the dark, piercing gaze of Evan James, an ominous shadow creeps into her life, ultimately leading her to face her destiny. She doesn’t realize Evan is one of Death’s soldiers and that Death is summoning her.

Her time is up: Gemma must die . . . and Evan has been sent to kill her. But what if she’s the only one who can truly see him?

An ancient, deadly, inescapable race. No one can see them. They’re shadows of destiny. They’re knights of death. They’re here to claim our lives. Commanded by a mysterious congregation called the Masala, the Angels of Death ensure that each man’s destiny takes its due course on Earth. But what happens when love intervenes? Can an Angel of Death deny his own nature and challenge destiny? Can love rebel against fate?

Against every rule. Against fate itself. Against everything and everyone. A story of forbidden love and star-crossed destinies. Dark. Romantic. Dangerous.

 Author Interview:

1.  What does your writing process look like?  Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, note cards, post-it notes, etc.?

I usually know how the story starts and how it is supposed to end, but sometimes I don’t know in advance what will happen in the middle. When the idea for Touched first came into my mind, I imagined the main scenes for the whole saga, from Book 1 to Book 4. The rest of it, though, wasn’t planned in advance. Once I start writing, it’s like the characters make their own decisions and lead me to the next planned scene. When I have a new story to write, even when I’m not actually writing, I’m always thinking about the characters. They interact in my mind just as if they were real people and I take notes on their interactions, using whatever writing materials I can find first: tissues, napkins, my phone—even my hands! Whatever happens to be handy. Then, when I sit down to write later, I read through my notes and develop them into more complete scenes.

2.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?

Inspiration can hit me at any moment, but I usually get the best ideas while I’m in the car. The story of Evan and Gemma, for example, came into my head suddenly one day while I was driving to work. I had a sort of vision—I saw a boy with eyes of ice staring at me from the side of the road and I immediately knew he would be the protagonist of a new story. I thought, "Who was that guy? And why was he staring at me so intently? What if I were the only one who could see him? And what if he were there for me?" Next, I came up with the most important question of all, the one that gave me all the answers: "What if he were there to take me away?" It was while I was pondering that last question that the idea of the Angel of Death appeared in my mind. I immediately pulled over and started to write it down. I didn’t stop until I’d created the outline for the whole saga. During that time of my life, I waited tables at my parents’ cafeteria. That day I was definitely late for work! When I finally got home, I couldn’t wait to find out how the story would continue. I sat down and wrote for hours.

3.  How long have you been writing?

I’ve always loved stories, whether they’re on the big screen or on paper. At some point I began to be fascinated with the idea of being able to write a story myself. Writing has always played an important role in my life. I was a shy child and had difficulty socializing, so I used to create characters on paper, imagining new worlds where I could take refuge. Even at the age of ten or eleven, I wrote short stories and poems for the school newspaper. Touched is my first full-length novel, the one that made me realize how important writing was to me. When I started writing it, the characters took over and guided me towards their destiny rather than the other way around.

4.  What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

Find your style and don’t emulate others. Keep reading and writing to improve your own voice. And never, ever give up.

5. Favorites:  

Books/authors/genres

Movies/TV Shows

Music

Food/writing snack

Social Media Site

My all-time favorite writer is Shakespeare, but I also love Nicholas Sparks. My favorite genres are romance, fantasy, dystopian, and everything related. I read a lot and am a huge fan of many TV series. My all-time favorite movie is Pearl Harbor. I’ve watched it over and over. Some of my favorite series are The 100, Flash, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and many, many others. I love how the characters face new challenges every day and how they never surrender. It’s motivating for me, and each of the characters inspires me. I love Lana Del Rey as well—in fact, the protagonist of Touched always listens to her songs.

 
About the Author:

Website: http://www.touchedsaga.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElisaSAmore

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eli.amore/

Elisa's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eli.amore

TOUCHED Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TouchedSaga?ref=hl



 

Review: Every Last Breath (The Dark Elements #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Series Ender Challenge #6)

This book I had to buy as soon as it came out, even though I just now got around to reading it!  I finally went ahead and picked it up over some other books I was thinking about reading, so that I could go ahead and add another book to my series ender challenge total.  As always, I just loved the book, and loved getting more time with my one of my favorite book boyfriends, Roth.  If you haven't read the first two, White Hot Kiss and Stone Cold Touch, then you should probably click on the titles in this sentence and read those reviews first, because this will have spoilers for the first books.

Well, as we left off in the last one, we found out who the Lilin was.  And it had taken over the body of someone so close to Layla, Sam.  They were able to get away from it in the meetup at the beginning, partly because they found out that hurting the Lilin also hurt Layla.  Layla learns that the souls that the Lilin takes don't just go where they should, like Sam's should go to heaven, they go to hell.  Layla's new mission, until she can figure out a way to fight the Lilin, is to save Sam's soul from hell.  To do that, she finds out she needs to talk to Death.  Roth's friend/co-hort Cayman, helps her figure out how to do it.  At the same time, Cayman tells Layla that she needs to hurry up and decide who she wants to be with, who she truly loves, Roth, or Zayne.  If you know me, I've been team Roth the whole time.  And I was not disappointed.  Sorry, a bit of a spoiler, but it happens early on in the story, so even as I read, I was always wondering if something would happen to take Roth away, he is on the in trouble list with his boss, you know who.  And in that case, would she be able to return to Zayne? 

Layla also decides to get her first tattooed familiar, and it is a fox.  Her plan to go to see Death is one that she knows she has to keep a secret from Roth, because there is no way he would let her go.  And she doesn't want him going to hell because of the whole being in trouble thing.  So she and Cayman devise a plan for her to get there.  Now, in the meetup with the Lilin, Layla finds that she has wings with feathers.  She soon learns there is more to the story of her mother, Lillith.  While Zayne is not happy with Layla's decision, he knows that she is still not evil, like the rest of the Wardens may think. And so he does his best to try to keep the "good" guys fighting with her.  Of course those that she knew and was friends with before have never doubted her.  And Zayne's father, who was like a father to Layla himself, also will see the error in his judgement from before. 

There will be more good guys lost, but in the end, Layla and Roth, and Zayne and the others will get to what needs to be done in order to save the human race from an apocalypse and hell on earth. 

A wonderful, fitting end to this story.  So many sexy scenes with Roth and Layla.  I love seeing just what Roth's familiars are like when they're in hell, and what they can change into, especially the kittens!  As always, I'm just led to want to read more of Armentrout's stories, and I will be certain to continue stocking up on them as I can!

Review: End of Days (Penryn and the End of Days #3) by Susan Ee (Series Ender Challenge #4)

This is a series that I really have loved, and the ending was to me, the perfect way to end the trilogy.  I was first introduced to the series when I attended my first BEA back in 2012 and I got a copy of the first book, Angelfall.  I won a copy of the 2nd book about 2 years ago, but silly me, I didn't get around to reading World After until this past year.  I've started keeping a book up in my bedroom to read in case I don't want to mess with bringing my Nook upstairs, or whatever book I'm reading at the time.  Plus paperbacks are good to read when I'm taking a bubble bath.  As with the other books in this series, I feel like once I picked this up, I was sucked right back into the story.  For the most part it kind of updated me on everything that had happened before, but without any info dumps or other going back in flashbacks, etc.  Now, if you haven't read the first two, you should go click on the link above of the one you are ready to read and read that review. Because I can't promise there won't be any spoilers for those books in my review of this final book.

This book picks up basically right where we left off in the 2nd book.  Penryn is with Raffe.  He has recovered his angel wings, and needs to find someone to reattach them and take off the demon wings he has because of Beliel.  Beliel has been captured and he tries to tell Penryn that Raffe isn't quite the good guy she seems to think he is.  And so Beliel shows Penryn a memory having her touch him, where he pulls her into the underworld.  She sees him without eyes, and sees him being tortured by the demons who are there.  But when she steps back, a hellion comes out of the memory with her.

Her sister Paige is kind of the leader of the locust creatures that Uriel had created to start a plague among the humans and begin the apocalypse.  But there is one of them out there, they call him white streak, who wants to take control. And so there will be a fight for Paige to gain control, and be able to try to use them to help the humans.  Penryn must convince the humans in the Resistance to give her sister, and her crazy mother, a chance to help.

Penryn and Raffe decide to go into Beliel's memory and pull out the other Watchers, the ones who will follow Raffe in his campaign against Uriel.  Through this Penryn finds out just what made Beliel as bitter as he is.  Bringing the angels back isn't as helpful though, as they'd hoped.  It turns out that the competition chosen to decide between Raffe and Uriel is a hunt, of humans.  So while Raffe wants Penryn to go and hide until it is over, she will refuse.  She will do what she can to try to save the other humans, convince them this is their last chance to stand against the angels that have destroyed their lives, and maybe, just maybe, win their freedom back.

But all of this will be a problem for the romance or feelings developing between Raffe and Penryn. The ones that he refuses to give in to, following the rules that landed all his Watchers in the underworld before with their love for "daughters of men."  Because if he succeeds and wins over Uriel, then he will be going back to Heaven, and there will be no more contact most likely between the two.  So not only is Penryn fighting for her life, she is doing it all while knowing that in the end she may lose this angel that she loves.

I love the characters, and I love the chemistry between Raffe and Penryn.  I love the Dee and Dum twins.  Really all the ways that things happen are so good, there is no lack of death or sacrifice on the part of both sides, and the end, the end I loved!  I'm so happy that it ended that way.  Another great angel story, with post-apocalyptic bits and also romance, and science fiction with the creatures that have been created.  Also a quick read, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Review: Unforgiven (Fallen #5) by Lauren Kate (Series Ender Challenge #3)

First, thanks to Delacorte Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an egalley of this book.  I just listened to books 2-4 in this series over the past month or so.  And then I saw this pop up on Edelweiss and I was very excited to read it.  I really have to say that I wasn't disappointed, it was a good story, and definitely a good addition to this world.  I did have one issue, that kind of kept it from being a 5 star review on Goodreads, but I'll mention that at the end of my review. 

So Luce and Daniel had their ending in Book 4.  And I really like the way we pretty much got to know how the rest of their story would go.  But how many people kind of wondered about Cam?  Cam, the bad boy, the one who started trying to seduce Luce in the first book.  In book 3, we got a glimpse of a romance that may have led to Cam being the angel he is when we first get to know him. A girl named Lilith, who he had been going to marry a long, long time ago, bibilical days I would guess.  They ended up not getting married because she would only get married in a church as that is what her family would expect. But see we learned in book 4 that the fallen angels could not go into churches.  So since he couldn't do that, they fought, because he wouldn't tell her why he didn't want to get married in the church, and they split up.  Now the story Cam had always told, isn't quite what happened, and we learn the true story in this book.

Cam finds out that Lilith is in hell, because of a deal she made with Lucifer.  And her hell is basically growing up over and over in the worst lives, and never being able to realize her dream, and then once that is over, she starts all over again.  I think that her different hells never last much longer than the amount of time Luce would get before she would die.  Cam decides after all that happened with Luce and Daniel, that maybe he wants to try again with the girl that he's never forgotten.  And so he makes another deal with the devil. That if he can get her to fall in love with him before the current hell she is in ends, he will save her from ever having to go through that again, and also get to be with her.  But if he loses, then he has to go to hell, never to leave, and to be Lucifer's right hand man.

Of course Lilith is in high school, and she is an outcast, no friends, a family with no father, a mother who is not very nice, and a younger brother with life-threatening health issues.  Cam remembers how much music was a part of Lilith before, and as her sees her here, she still loves music.  And so he enters high school, and tries to get her to start a band and perform.  Deep inside Lilith though, is the hate that she doesn't remember, but whenever she sees Cam, there is something in the back of her mind bringing it up.  And just when it seems like things might be going well, Lucifer drops in, and starts setting more obstacles in Cam's way.  Like for one thing, Cam starts aging, pot belly, losing his hair, wrinkles, and even worse, he starts getting goat/demon hooves.  Fortunately he is able to hide his feet in boots.

Cam must overcome all the obstacles and still win Lilith, basically by the prom in this hell she is in.  So many ups and downs, every time Cam seems to be ahead, some new obstacle pops up, usually put into motion by Lucifer.

As I said, a great story, a great way to spend more time with Cam.  While I always rooted for Daniel in the other books, you definitely are rooting for Cam to get the girl this time.  And after what we learned about Lucifer in the last two books, I so wanted to be able to step in and punch him every time he caused problems.

Okay, the one thing I didn't like, well I don't feel like I got a good closure, don't know what happens to the two at the end of the book like we did with Luce and Daniel.  Will they get to be together?  On Earth?  In hell?  In heaven?  I need to know!  I would love another book, although I'm not quite sure that it would take a full novel to finish the things I want to know.  Not a cliffhanger ending, just not all the things I want to know.  This is a great series, and I can't wait until next fall when the movie for the first book comes out in theaters.

Waiting on Wednesday: Unforgiven (Fallen #5) by Lauren Kate

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  While my pick is part of a series still this week, it is a book from a character's point of view that we haven't had as much from yet.  As I just finished recently the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, I was excited to see that this book would be coming soon.  Here's the blurb from Goodreads:

It’s the book FALLEN fans have been waiting for: Cam’s story, the brooding, bad-boy dark angel readers love.

High school can be hell.

Cam knows what it’s like to be haunted. He’s spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he can’t stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes.

Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails…there’s a special place in Hell just for him.

Tick-tock.

Spread your wings and cry as bad boy dark angel Cam finally reveals his anguished heart in the epic new FALLEN novel, UNFORGIVEN.

I never thought I would be one to say it, but sometimes Daniel was a little too goody-goody for me.  And sometimes he had the bossiness and possessiveness that people said Edward had in Twilight, but that I didn't see.  So I'm excited to see about Cam and hopefully find out he will get some happiness as well.

So, what book are you eagerly awaiting this week?  

And while you're here, don't forget to go enter my October New Release Giveaway. 

Audiobook Review: Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

Once again I have enjoyed another audio book downloaded through my public library using the Overdrive app.  Now, I haven't been exercising like I'm supposed to be, so I pretty much listened to this whole book in my car, with a bit on the plane rides to and from New Orleans a couple weeks ago.  While I still have issues with the narrator, by this time I'm pretty used to her voice and how she does the different characters.   All in all, I feel this was a pretty great conclusion to the whole series, even though there is now going to be a book #5.  If you haven't read the books up until this point, then I'm sorry, this will have spoilers for those books.  You can go back and read any of those reviews here:  Fallen, Torment, and Passion.  Now, on for my review of this book. (Excuse any incorrect character name spellings as I didn't read, but listened, so don't know for sure some of the spellings).

As we ended the last book with a huge possible end of the world situation going to be caused by Lucifer himself, that is exactly where we pick up again.  Turns out that there are some relics that Daniel had studied that should help them figure out where the angels' fall from heaven happened.  And that is what they must do, they must find those relics and get to the site of the fall in order to stop Lucifer from grabbing all the angels and taking them straight from the fall to the current day.  Because if they did that, all of history would be rewritten, and Luce and Daniel would never have the chance to get together, even with their curse.  So the story takes place as the angels we know and love, Daniel, Cam, Roland, Arriane, Annabelle, Molly, and Gabby, as well as Luce and her Nephilim friends Miles and Shelby, set off in search of the relics, but they come up against the Scales and the Outcasts.  They will find other obstacles, places that the relics were originally may have been moved, and other villains from the past, like Miss Sophia.  They are able to use the memories that Luce is now retrieving more easily thanks to her trips through the announcers into her past lives in the last book.  They will also find some new allies, relatives of Miss Sophia, as well as those that were once considered their enemies.  And we learn so much more about Luce, about how she and Daniel actually first met, and just why Lucifer went to so much trouble as Bill in the book before this one.

While I had an inkling about the reason for Lucifer's interference, it was nice to find the way it happened was done perfectly.  Many parts that we learned about heaven and before the fall totally reminded me of the Supernatural tv series that I love so much.  And not to offend anyone, but the part where angels were created by God for the sole purpose of adoring him, well that just really hits me in my not sure about what I think about God.  Who creates something just for that sole purpose?  It is similar to adopting a kid or buying a pet with the only thought that they will be there for you, not that you are there for them?  I don't know, that just sticks in my head.  And my complaints about the audiobook have to do with the narrator.  Once again I understand she is lowering her voice for the male characters, but often the way she did Daniel made him sound like a really dumb guy.  Just the way she did the voice, not necessarily his lines or anything specifically from the book. 

Overall, a great series, a great ending to the series as I said before.  I love the way the author ended it, I won't give that away, but I feel like it should be a very satisfactory ending and way to make sure that we know just how true the love between Daniel and Luce is.   I know that there is a #5, but it is going to be Cam's story, and that is something I'm eager to read.  Oh, on the end of the audio, there was an interview with the author, and it is funny that Cam is modeled on her husband, and they way she talks about that.  Now, I'm still waiting for the movie of the first book, and need to go do the research to find out when it will be coming to a theater near me!

Audio Book Review: Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate (September Sequel Challenge #2)

Once again I downloaded the audio book from the library to go on with this story. And I really enjoyed a lot about this next part in the series.  It was filled with so many different periods in history, which was a lot of fun.  We didn't get to see all of the characters that much in this book, other than of course Luce and Daniel, although the others did show up here and there for small parts of the story.  If you haven't read this far in the series yet, you can stop here and go back and read my review of the first book, Fallen, so that I don't give you any spoilers. 

In this story we pick up right where we left off from book 2, Torment, Luce has taken off inside of an Announcer, and the others are following her, trying to find her.  Especially Daniel.  Luce is trying to understand just why do they always fall in love.  It leads to death for her every time, and horrible heartbreak for Daniel every time.  And she doesn't know just why they fell in love, or if they are just compelled to because of the curse.  And so she is going back to her past lives to try to figure out why they love each other.  Along the way she will pick up someone named Bill, a gargoyle, who is there to help her figure out what she wants to see.  She will find out in some lives she is a much different girl than she is now.  She will see Daniel in all of his different human bodies as well.  We get to see how she dies, and Luce gets to actually be inside the bodies to experience the death in some of the situations.  I loved all the reincarnations, although so many were in Europe and places other than America, even before it got into the more ancient history.  But there was World War I, and World War II.  Russia, Shakespeare's time, ancient Mayans, and the one I was beginning to wonder if they'd have, ancient Egypt.

The whole time Daniel is following her, always showing up just right after she's left it seems.  And he is just hoping that she won't do something that could mess up all of history, including their love.  In the end, they will find each other, but it will be after something horrible is about to be set in motion.  You see the devil himself will show up, and he will have something to say about this whole thing with Luce and Daniel, and his own wants.  And we'll be left waiting to find out how the gang will fight him, and whether Luce and Daniel's love will really survive, and if they can finally break the curse.

I liked it better than the first two, although there were still moments I wanted to smack Luce, and moments that Daniel was still kind of a controlling jerk.  But again, I'm so ready to read the next book and find out what happens.  Or should I say listen to the next book.  I also heard there is going to be a 5th book, told from Cam's point of view.  And does anyone know when the movie comes out?  I thought it was this fall, but I haven't seen any previews for it.

Audio Book Review: Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

I decided to listen to this book after reading and mostly enjoying the first book, Fallen.  I finally figured out how to download audio books from the local library, and I'm now taking advantage of it.  I had mixed feelings about this book as well.  In my review of the first book, I mentioned how it definitely reminded me of Twilight.  However in this book, the guy that Luce is in love with, Daniel, totally embodies the controlling qualities that people seemed to attribute to Edward in Twilight, except that Edward was nowhere near this bad.  Daniel actually told Luce she should be "obeying" him.  That was the exact word, "obey".  Wow, my mouth hung open when I heard that on the audio book. 

So, this story picks up where the last one left off.  Daniel has taken Luce to a school out in California, one that he says she will be safe at.  In the meantime, Daniel and Cam are part of some kind of truce, and the story passes day by day of the truce.  But Luce is far away from all her old friends and family.  And as far as they know, she is still at Sword and Cross, the school from the last story.  Daniel tells her she cannot leave the campus, it's not safe.  Even when she goes down to the beach with other kids from the school, he gets upset with her, and tells her she can't even go that far.  The other kids at the school, well some of them, are Nephilim, or half angel/half human.  They have two teachers that are just part of the "gifted" program, what the human students think it is.  One is an angel and one is a demon.  Luce does have several close calls, but she also learns a lot while at the school.  She learns about all the shadows that she'd always seen.  It turns out they're called announcers, and they can use them to see events in the past.  They can even be used for traveling from one place to another.  Kind of like a transporter on Star Trek or a little wormhole that can be opened up and traveled through.

Of course at the end, the time is pretty much up for the truce.  We've got a new enemy, the Outcasts, and they are pretty creepy.  There is a trip to Las Vegas, and Luce starts seeing past families by looking in the announcers.  She makes a new friend, and even a guy friend, one that makes her wonder if Daniel and the soul-shattering love they have, is really what she wants. What if she could just live a normal life, with a normal boy, would it be worth it?  And what would happen to the curse? 

Honestly it just irritates me when people won't tell the other person what they ask questions about.  Nothing at all.  I think it is ridiculous the way Daniel treats her.  Especially when other people, Cam, other angels/demons, will tell her things.  Maybe not everything she needs to know, but at least some kind of information.  Things that can help her figure things out. Although, other than the "obeying" part, I feel like if a guy I loved, who was an angel, told me I needed to do something to be safe, I would probably do it.  But then, I guess it would be a pretty short, boring story. 

The ending was pretty exciting though, and so I immediately, actually before I even finished the 2nd one, had to download the audio book of the third book, Passion, so that I could pick up right where I left off.  And that is what I'm listening to in the car and when I exercise. 

Review: World After (Penryn and the End of Days #2) by Susan Ee (TBR Challenge #6)

I won a copy of this book a year or so ago, and just finally got around to it because I accidentally signed up for an egalley on Netgalley when I forgot I had it on my shelf.  As so often happens when I wait so long to read a book that is a sequel to a book that I loved (in this case, the first one was Angelfall, and I got it the first year I went to BEA, 2012), I was mad at myself for waiting to pick up the story and find out what happened next. Because I loved it.  I loved the originality of the angels in this story.  When we finally get back to Raffe, I loved the dynamic between him and Penryn.  If you haven't read the first book in the series, I can't promise no spoilers in this review unfortunately.

We start back and Penryn is back with her mom and her younger sister.  Her younger sister who has been changed thanks to whatever experiments the angels were doing that created the horrible scorpion creatures.  And now her sister Paige has scars on her face where they changed her.  And she doesn't seem to want to eat anything but meat.  And even that doesn't quite work for her.  But she still knows her mother and sister, and will do anything to protect them.  And not only does she have the scary physical improvements, she has great strength now.  But when the other humans turn on Paige and try to destroy her, Penryn tries to help her escape.  It is only with the help of the scorpion creatures that show up that she does get away.  All the people who are stung seem to be dead, just as Penryn had seemed until she came out of the venom.  But the other humans don't trust that and so throw all the paralyzed, dead seeming humans into a pile and get ready to bury them.  Penryn and her mother run off to find Paige.  In their escape they wind up getting caught by the angels. And soon learn that Paige might be with some of the angels, the one that had actually created her.  Penry still has Raffe's sword and tries to learn how to use it.  But to find Paige she ends up having to give it up and even try to infiltrate the angels as the biggest enemies escort.  It is here that she spots Raffe again, and the true use of the scorpion creatures comes to light, and you might say that all hell begins to break loose.

I know that's a very confusing summary, but I don't know how else to explain it without giving things away.  Just know that it was a good one, didn't suffer from the 2nd book slump in my opinion either.  Now, I'm so eager to read the final book in the series!

A to Z April - P: Paranormal

One type of story that has really taken off in the past decade it seems is paranormal. Especially for teens it seems. And it has always been one of my favorites.  For my post I'm considering books about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, angels, etc. to be considered paranormal.  I'll share 5 of my favorite paranormal books below.

1.

Make fun of me all you want, but I will always love the Twilight series.  And honestly, yes, it has vampires, but I really feel it is more of a romance story than a traditional vampire story.  Which for all those who make fun of vampire sparkling, need to really kind of get over it.  As far as we know, vampires aren't real, so who knows what they would really be like.  The author can make them however they want for their stories, and all authors do change them in some way.

2.

This is a book I'd seen on the shelves at the bookstore where I work, but just never got around to reading it until I got a good deal on the first two books at a Scholastic Book Warehouse sale.  Then, I really loved how detailed and creative the ghost story was.  You can read my review of it HERE.

3.

This is a really great ghost series that I found as e-books I believe.  There are 4 books I think in the series. But it is again really good characters, the ghosts are done well.  I've asked the author if she'll ever do any more with the series, and I don't thinks she plans on it.  But the characters and storyline has really stayed with me after reading them.  You can read my reviews of the first two books in this series HERE.

4.

I am a huge Maggie Stiefvater fan, as you know if you've been following my blog for very long.  And I could have shared her werewolves series, but this is a series that I find so creative and different, that I decided to share this one as well.  It includes ghosts, in face one of the main characters is a ghost.  And there are all other sorts of paranormal details.  You can read my review of this HERE.

5.

And this is a story about angels.  But an incredible story, so original, and so different.  I can't even think of any other stories to say it reminds me of them, because of how original it is.  Although, there are some bits that make me think of the Supernatural tv show.  I've got the 2nd book in the series on my TBR shelf, needs to be read soon, because the third books comes out this month!  You can read my review of this book HERE.

So, wow, I could go on forever and ever with all the paranormal books I love. These are all YA books, but I'm not a teen, I'm in my 40's, and I enjoyed them all.  Probably the ones that would be considered younger out of these are #2, and maybe, just a little bit, #3.  The rest would all be very in depth and great reads for any adult who loves paranormal titles.

Are you a fan of paranormal stories?  What are your favorites?  Do you consider what I've listed as paranormal or not?

Cover Characteristics - March 28th, 2014 - Angels

Cover Characteristics is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.  Here are the guidelines for how it works if you want to join in:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

This week's characteristic is:  Angels

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1.  My top cover is a movie cover, and of course it has Matt Damon as an angel on it, and I love him, so I have to put this cover first, and it is one of my favorite movies as well.

Now I know there are a lot of other angel covers out there, but I chose to once again pick ones from books I had read.  And I'm sure again there are others, but I only felt like going through 40 pages of my 89 pages of books on Goodreads this week.  What do you think of my cover choices?