Review: The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

This is a book I was lucky enough to get the ARC of at the bookstore where I work.  I had been very intrigued by it after all the promotional posts going on from the author, as well as on other blogs.  Overall, I was pretty pleased with the book!  And I think I'm glad for it to be a series, as I don't know that I'm thrilled with how the book ended, although it did end well enough.

We have two main characters, Vika and Nikolai.  Both are enchanters, Vika uses nature and the elements mostly for her magic, whereas Nikolai is better making or using man made things for his magic.  When the tsar decides that he needs a Royal Enchanter to help keep his country safe, he must initiate the Crown's Game.  In this, the two enchanters will have to duel, and only one can win, which also means only one will be left alive.  Either one of them will kill the other one, or the tsar/game will kill the loser.

Vika has always lived away from everyone, on an island with her father, where he has trained her all of her life to be the enchanter.  He doesn't know that there is another one out there, and so when the game begins, he must figure out the best way to help his daughter.

Nikolai was an orphan, and taken in by a woman who had been training him not only to be an enchanter, but also to win the Crown's Game.  Nikolai is also best friend with the tsar's son, Pasha.  Now he must keep the game a secret, and so he cannot tell his friend Pasha about it.  But one day he and Pasha had been out on Vika's island, and they had seen her do magic in the forest.  Seeing her caused Pasha to be intrigued by this girl, and want to know more about her, as well as magic.  Nikolai on the other hand, now had a bit of an advantage over Vika, knowing who she was before the game begins.  You see they put wards around themselves to keep the other from knowing who they are, to try to keep the other from being able to kill them.  The tsar has asked the two enchanters to make their feats of magic something to impress his son before his birthday.  They begin with making the buildings colorful and beautiful.  Then the water is made to do very neat things.  Nikolai does try to kill Vika, sort of, with stone birds.  But other than that, they soon become friends, somewhat.  And Pasha starts to figure things out about the game, not realizing that it isn't just Vika.

When something terrible happens to the tsar and his wife, Pasha must hurry up the ending of the game, and this leads to Vika and Nikolai having to make heavy decisions.  Will they choose to save their own life by taking the other enchanter's life?  Or will they try to figure out a way to not hurt the person they have come to know.  The ending is sad, very suspenseful, but sad.  And as I mentioned at the beginning, I'm very intrigued to see what will happen next in the story.  I also liked how the author gave us some factual information about Russia during that time period.  I love when authors do that!

Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

I won this book from another blog a year or so ago, and at the time, I forgot to put a little note in the book to remind me when I blogged about it. Oh well.  I have to say that I just adored this book!  I can't believe I waited this long to read it, but in a way that's kind of good. Because the 2nd book is coming out soon, and now I can read it and not have to remember from a year ago what happened.  If you haven't read this yet, let me tell you that you need to pick it up as soon as you can, it was as wonderful as everyone has said!

The main character is Shahrzad.  She lives in a land inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, where the new king, called a Caliph, is the stuff of nightmares. Every night he marries a woman, and then she is hung with a silk cord around her neck the very next morning.  Shahrzad has volunteered to be his next wife/queen, after her best friend, Shiva, had been one of those wives that was killed in that very way.  Shahrzad has vowed to get revenge.  And the only way she can see to do that is to try to last more than one night.  And her plan is to take it one night at a time.  She lasts the first night by telling a story that when the dawn comes, and it is time for her to be hung, she hasn't finished the story.  And the boy-king, Khalid, stays her execution so that he can hear the rest of the story the following night.  And then, something happens each night, and even during the day that he keeps her around, and tells all of the staff that no harm should come to her.  Until one night, when he doesn't come to her room at all. And in the morning, the soldiers come for her and begin to go through with the hanging.  Fortunately Khalid gets there in time to save her, and it is now that he promises to kill anyone who ever touches her again. 

Within the palace Shahrzad faces other dangers, you see there are reasons why the girls must be killed or sacrificed each morning. And there are people not happy that she has ended this trend.  While Shahrzad knows in her heart that she should hate him, and find a way to kill him for what he did to her friend Shiva, as well as all the other girls, she soon finds there is something about him that is not quite the monster she believed him to be before.  She will befriend her personal maid, as well as her bodyguard.  And all the same, her father is trying to go to whatever length he can to not fail his daughter, trying to find the magic or power that he can use to save her.  She also has a boyfriend/betrothed childhood friend, Tariq, who will go in to try to get her back.  But the longer Shahrzad is with Khalid, the more she feels for him, and the more she knows she must stay.  She learns there are things about her that she never knew, things that may be able to help Khalid in what is plaguing his lands. 

In the end there will be a major event that will cause Shahrzad to make a decision on whether to go with Tariq, or to stay with Khalid.  And what happens, well I won't tell  you, just know that it is a tear-jerking ending, and I am so needing to read the next book and know what will happen next! 

I do love a good fairy tale, or other story retelling, and this one does not disappoint!  This is not just a book with a beautiful cover, it is a book with a beautiful story inside of it. 

Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Well, first I was lucky enough to get an egalley of this on Netgalley from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group. Then, I found someone willing to do a book trade for this.  I wanted a physical copy because I found out that the author was going to be in town with Cassandra Clare a couple weeks ago.  So that was awesome, and actually what I read. But even cooler, was the fact that for the book tour, they went ahead and brought the published copies of this book to sell to those who attended the event.  Here it is:

I still just read my ARC, and I am keeping my ARC, I had it signed to me. The finished copy that I bought I immediately donated to the school library where I work.  It was so much fun listening to Sarah Rees Brennan ask Cassandra Clare the audience's questions.  I've seen Brennan in action before, back at the RT Convention when it was in Kansas City.  So I knew everyone there was in for a hilarious time.  One of the thing the two authors talked about was how Brennan laughs as she is writing parts that will make her readers cry. And I have to say that she must have been dying laughing as she wrote the end of this book, because I was crying a lot!  As with all of Brennan's books so far, I loved this one.  It started out a tiny bit slow, but in no time, it picked right up and there were the types of characters that I love so much from this author, as well as a very interesting new world that she had created.  The title is awesome, and it was neat to realize it is a quote from a Charles Dickens book, A Tale of Two Cities, which is fitting, because it has definite characteristics that make it a similar story.

The main character is a girl named Lucie.  Lucie is really from the Dark city, the Dark New York, but because of how she went about saving her father from a horrible punishment, she and her father were brought to the Light New York, back to where he came from before he met her mother in the dark city.  The notoriety Lucie got from this whole thing ensured that she was able to go to one of the best schools in town as well.  It was there that she met Ethan Stryker, son of the most powerful men in Light New York.  Ethan isn't like his father and uncle, he is very sweet, and not as much into all the politics.  When we first meet these two, they are coming back to the city on a train from a vacation.  Somewhere along the way, during the night, Ethan is ripped out of the train by Light Guards who are calling him a traitor. Saying they have proof, an eye witness.  Lucie tries to get the guards to back off by telling them just who he is.  But the guards already know who he is, that is why they stopped the train and pulled him off.  Before they can kill him, the punishment for his crime, another person steps off the train, a person who is basically Ethan's twin.

In this future world, there are doppelgangers.  These are created by magic, dark magic, in order to save the life of the person they are the exact copy of.  But the doppelgangers are supposedly not good, they seem to have lots of dark magic, supposedly they have all the dark in them that has been taken away from the original to save the original.  The person who stepped off the train to save Ethan is a boy named Carwyn.  Seeing Carwyn, and knowing that they now don't know for sure who is the person that was being traitorous, the guards let both of the boys back on the train, to go back to the city.

Lucie feels such a level of gratitude to Carwyn.  But Carwyn is who he is because of his life, where he's lived, knowing what he knew about his mother and family, the family who left him in the Dark city.  While all of Ethan's family wants him gone.  If anyone sees him it would get out that his father created a doppelganger, something that is very frowned upon.  So first the guards who tried to arrest Ethan disappear.  While the Strykers want Carwyn to disappear, Lucie tries to be nice and show him she is grateful. But in her effort, she gives him a chance to feel normal for a while, by taking off the collar that all doppelgangers are required to wear. The only thing that really identifies him.   Around this time, so many things begin to happen.  Lucie must keep up her front, of who she is, and how she can take care of her dad.  Her dad was almost broken in the cage they used for punishment on him.  But all these things they've begun to feel can be their new normal take a turn for the worse when Carwyn disappears, and people start dying. 

I really loved the two worlds.  I would even love to know more about them.  I would love to go back into the earlier world where Lucie's parents were.  Or learn more about what will happen after the end of the book.  I feel like this is probably a standalone book, and it does end satisfactorily for that.  But the wonderful characters, and the rich world building, made it a story I wanted to keep myself lost in as long as I could. 

The night of the author presentation and signing, they wouldn't let us take our own pictures with the authors, we had to just look for the pictures the professional photographer took.  This really disappointed me with Cassandra Clare, as it was my first time meeting her. And the whole lining up and signature part of the event was very disappointing to me.  Probably because it wasn't my first one of those, and I know how they usually go.  I've even been to ones with either just the library where it took place, and it went find there.  I've been to some with the bookstore that was also a part of the event, and those have been fine as well.  So I don't know just how everything got to be so messed up.  I do have to say there were some people/fans in line that didn't seem to know how to act either, and when the person working in line was being really slow about putting the post its with my name inside my books, the people behind me tried to go around me.  It was very irritating.  I didn't need the post its, the woman was being a pain, I already had the ones I needed, and I had the books arranged by what author they were for. And she wanted me to put all of the books together instead.  Of course once I got up to the front of the line, the way she'd had it was wrong, just like I knew.  Oh well, it was still great to listen to the authors, and get to talk to them for a minute in the line.  Here is my picture as I got to talk to Sarah Rees Brennan.  I'm in the background, you can barely see me.  :-( 

Review: The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

First, thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for allowing  me to read an egalley of this title.  This is actually my first book by this author, and I can say that I will definitely be reading more!  I really enjoyed this story.  The characters were ones that I really liked, and the story was a great one as well. 

We have a couple main characters that the story is told from their viewpoints.  And then there are a couple chapters that are another side character's viewpoint. While I know some reviews said this was kind of confusing, I didn't really have any problem with it.  The first main character is Princess Aerity.  Princess Aerity has had a pretty good life. She has wonderful caring parents, who because her father married for love, he has always said his children could do the same.  Until the great beast comes to their land.  They keep sending their best hunters and troops out to kill it, but nothing works, and more people keep getting killed.  The townspeople begin to blame the "lashed".  People who are able to do magic.  But they have been banned from doing magic ever since one of them tried to take over the countries and killed many people.  In order to try to keep peace in the land, the King comes up with the only thing he can think of to draw in the best hunters from all around, the only thing left to get them to risk their lives.  He offers his daughter, Aerity, in marriage.  Aerity understands it must be done, that even though she'd always thought she would get to choose, this was the life of a royal. 

Our other main character is Paxton.  He is one of the townspeople in Princess Aerity's kingdom.  He is one of the best hunters, and while he is not a fan of the King or any royalty, he does enter the contest, mainly for the money.  He enters with his younger brother, Tiern, who is kind of the people person in the family.  Paxton is more of a loner,  and very standoffish.  But once on the royal grounds, when he sees Aerity, he feels a pull towards her, even though he is sure that he will not be able to stand her, that she will be an uptight snob.  Now Paxton has reason to be the way he is, and we will learn about that when things get bad on the hunts, and his brother's life is at risk. 

The connection between Paxton and Aerity is one that she decides she wants, even though he keeps his distance and pushes her away most of the time.  There are other hunters that Aerity already knows, such as Harrison, her childhood friend, who is in love with her.  Then there is the Lord that comes from a country far away, but seems to only have eyes for Aerity's cousin Wyneth.  Wyneth who lost her betrothed to the monster at the beginning of the story. 

What will happen if someone who doesn't love Aerity wins?  What will happen if Paxton wins, but refuses to marry her?  And will they be able to defeat the beast?  What do the lashed have to do with the beast, or do they have anything at all to do with it?  While many in the kingdom do treat them badly, Aerity and her family have never really been that way.  In fact an older woman who is their healer is a lashed, and Aerity feels like she is a grandmother type of figure. 

Paxton and other men in the contest will be interesting characters.  Aerity's younger siblings both Vixie and her younger brother, are fun and such a great part of the story.  There is an ending that is kind of sad, what happens to the beast, who Aerity must marry, and have they really solved it all?  And will Aerity, as well as everyone in the kingdom, be able to accept Paxton, even with his secret?  I look forward to book two, to find out what will happen.

Review: Persuasion (The Heirs of Watson Island #2) by Martina Boone

First I have to say thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I am still on the lookout, however, for a physical ARC of this title to match the physical ARC I have of the first book in the series, Compulsion.  So if you know of where I might be able to find one, let me know!  Anyway, can I say that once again I loved the book!  I was sucked right back into the story as soon as I picked it up.  If you haven't read the first one yet though, I can't promise there won't be spoilers here.  So then you should stop reading here and click the link above for the review of the first first book to see if it sounds like what you'd like to read.  Now, on with the review.

When we join back into the story, Barrie is on her way home to Watson's Landing from picking up her godfather's ashes.  Eight and his father went with her.  When they get back they can see that it has kind of turned into a circus as people are just waiting in boats to see the ghosts that they've heard about.  It's become so bad that Barrie's aunt has had to close down the little tea room on the plantation to keep people out.  And when they first get out of the car, Cassie sees this guy standing there.  No one else seems to see him, and he just disappears before she can find anyone to show him to.  But there are footprints left where he was standing, so it seems proof that he isn't just a ghost.  The yunwi are scared of him, and throw things at him whenever he is around.  His name is Obadiah, and he does come back and offers Barrie a chance to be rid of the curse, her connection to the plantation.  But only if she doesn't tell anyone about it. 

Cassie is probably going to jail, but after seeing how Cassie acts at her father's funeral, Barrie decides that maybe she should get some leniency. And so in front of the judge, Barrie speaks up for Cassie.  It turns out that Cassie had told some archaeologists that they could come and dig at Colesworth Place.  Even though Barrie knows that what is buried there probably isn't gold, what she feels tells her it is more something sentimental than riches would be.  It seems there is a lodestone there that Obadiah actually wants to help get rid of the curse.  And he needs Barrie to use her power to find it.  But when they go to do the search, something happens during the spell that he seems to be doing, and all of a sudden Cassie and Barrie are seeing what looks to be the past at the Colesworth Place, at the end of the Civil War.  What they see is the ancestors being pulled out of the house by the soldiers from the North.  From this vision, or time travel, whatever it is, Barrie learns something more about what might be buried on the property. 

All of this is going on at the same time that Seven tells Barrie she must convince Eight to go away to college. That he needs his time away, because once Seven dies, Eight will be stuck there the way Seven is.  And while Barrie knows it is best, it is hard to convince Eight that she wants something, that really deep down, she doesn't want. 

Meanwhile back at Watson's Landing they are preparing to open a restaurant where people will eat there by invitation only, to try to cut down on all the people coming in and causing problems.  Her aunt decides they need horses again, and follows through on that.  Barrie learns to love her home, where she cannot be too far from without being in pain, headaches really, until she gets back.

So much happened in this book!  I know I can't possibly give a really good overview without giving too much away.  And the ending, I just about cried, and I can't believe that is where it ended!  I don't know that I can wait another year for the next book, and oh how I hope it's not any longer than that!  Another great read, definitely give it a try if you get the chance!

Waiting on Wednesday: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.   I've actually picked a standalone book this week, or at least it is not a sequel, not sure if it will be the first in a new series or anything.  I picked it by the fact that it is by an author that I just adore, Sarah Rees Brennan.  I loved her Lynburn Legacy series, and I got to meet her at the Romantic Times convention in Kansas City in 2013.  And let me tell you, she is just so much fun to watch and see how she interacts with the other authors and fans.  So I am pretty much into any book she writes these days, and I was thrilled to find this one one Goodreads.  Here is the blurb, which isn't much for now, but enough:

Tell the Wind & Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: the city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie’s own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can’t share with anyone.

The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic, who has to conceal the face identical to Ethan’s with a hood fastened by a collar nobody but a Light magician with magical rings can take off… and who introduces himself to both of them by, for reasons nobody can understand, saving Ethan’s life…


Hmm, I think it sounds interesting.  A soulless doppelganger boyfriend?  Magic, etc., New York, two different worlds.  I'm all in, especially for the wonderful characters and dialogue that I know Sarah Rees Brennan will create.  The bad thing?  It's not expected publication until 2016!!!

So, how about you, what are you eagerly anticipating this week?  

Blog Tour: Review and Official Playlist - Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein (and 2 Giveaways!)

I have to say thanks to Fantastic Flying Book Club for allowing me to take part in this tour. And also thanks to the author and publisher who ended up sending out physical ARCs instead of just e-galleys.  It's such a pretty book I'm glad to have a physical copy of it to keep.  I'm going to share my review first, then I'll share the Official Playlist from the author. After that will be all the information you need to enter the giveaway, as well as how to get to the rest of the stops on the tour.

Becoming Jinn (Becoming Jinn #1)
by: Lori Goldstein
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: April 21st 2015

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Mythology

My rating:  4 stars

Becoming Jinn is a very unique story about Jinn, or what we think of as genies.  At least I felt it was unique as I hadn't read anything like it before.  The main character is Azra, and it is her 16th birthday.  The day that all female Jinn finally get their powers and are able to grant wishes.  Only Azra isn't very excited about it.  In fact she's tried to find a way out of having to do this her whole life.  Ever since her best friend Jenny, just a normal human girl, but one that shared her same birthday, died while they were playing, and her mother who was a Jinn was unable to save her, she's not wanted anything to do with it.  She has always thought it made no sense that the Afrit, the leaders of the Jinn, are the only ones who get to choose who will get wishes granted.  And her mother has always been able to heal her little injuries, so it doesn't seem fair that she couldn't save her friend.  On her 16th birthday Azra gets a silver bangle bracelet that gives her the power to use her magic.  She also becomes a part of a Zar, a group of five other girls around her age that will be like her sisters, and that they will all work together to help each other with each wish assignment as needed.  And she's grown up with the girls, Yasmin - kind of her archenemy, Hana, Mina, Farrah, and Laila - the youngest and really the one she's always been closest to.  They've been like cousins, with their mothers who are part of their own Zar as her aunts.  But none of them, other than Laila, showed her any sympathy when Jenny died.  In fact they acted as if it shouldn't matter, that only they should matter.  But now Azra will have to become closer to her Zar sisters as she can't tell anyone who is not Jinn about it.  That is until the neighbor boy, Jenny's older brother Henry, sees things happen.  Items in the house floating from one place to another, people just appearing out of nowhere (apporting).  Henry becomes a good friend knowing all about the magic.  He is someone she can talk to when she doesn't feel like talking to her Zar because they're not really that close.  It's good to have someone to talk to because of messing up her first few times, and what that could do to her. The punishment that she could get for messing up.  But Henry is just a friend, her love interest is Nate, who works as a lifeguard down at the beach where Azra will have her first summer job.  As her first assignments begin showing up, it seems like the Afrit are trying to make her life miserable, by making the assignments as hard as possible, with as little time as possible. And when her first big mistake catches their attention way quicker than she would have thought possible, Azra will have to work her way back into the silver bangle bracelet and prove she can be a model Jinn like her mother.

I really enjoyed this story, the characters were all really good.  At first I didn't completely agree with Azra's dislike of being a Jinn. But as the story went on and more was revealed about all the rules and other background stories having to do with her father and other people in her world, I was more on her side with that.  And it will have a sequel, so I am eager to see how she handles the wish that she was left trying to figure out how to grant at the end of this book.    Oh yeah, and my favorite quote:  "aluminum-flavored skunk urine" or as you might know it as, a can of beer.  I am not a fan of beer, so this is an almost perfect description for what I kind of think it tastes like. 

Okay, enough from me, how about a playlist from the author herself?  Here you go, enjoy!

Music plays very distinct roles for authors. Some listen to music all the time while writing, some need absolute silence or the din of a coffee shop. Some listen to certain songs to get into a particular character’s head or to write a love scene or a fight scene (probably not the same song, but you never know…).

As for me, my best writing comes when I have background music playing, which means instrumental music. I discovered the Downton Abbey soundtracks while writing Becoming Jinn and they’ve become the soundtrack to my writing life (minus the few songs with vocals!). The two together last for almost two hours, and when the first few notes sound, I’m instantly in writing mode. The familiarity and repetition allow me to push out all other distractions and focus solely on the words.

That’s a long way of saying that I don’t have a playlist that I’ve listened to while writing or revising Becoming Jinn. What I do have are songs I listen to while thinking about writing or revising Jinn! When I’m stuck, I go for walks to clear my head so that my imagination can wander and, hopefully, find a solution to my character or plot problem. Certain songs help me feel a character or the tone of the particular part of the book I’m working on.

So here’s my list of songs that have meaning in Becoming Jinn, arranged in chronological order to match the events in the story. (here’s a link to the list on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/user/lorigoldsteinbooks/playlist/3LMVQLhNj1M0sf8lRDZQ3a)

1. I Dream of Jeannie – Okay, so I can’t have a playlist for a genie book that doesn’t include this theme song. While all the genie tropes in Jinn are turned on their head, this is still the song I think of when someone says “genie!”

2. Hello by Martin Solveig –The back and forth Azra has with learning to use her magic, which she could take or leave, is embodied by the attitude in this song, especially in its lyrics, for example: “I could stick around and get along with you; Hello; It doesn't really mean that I'm into you.”

3. Anna Sun by Walk the Moon – Azra’s struggles at the beginning of the novel and the defiance she exhibits are represented for me in the fast beat and lyrics of this one.

4. Ho Hey by The Lumineers – I love this song to death. For Jinn, it has a great meaning for Azra, staring with the lines of “I’ve been living a lonely life,” up through the pull Azra starts to feel between the people in her life. In particular, the lines, “So show me family . . . I don’t know where I belong,” and concluding with the realization that “I belong with you, you belong with me.” In fact, this makes it a song that from start to finish encapsulates Jinn.

5. Demons by Imagine Dragons – In the middle of the book, Azra is faced with the consequences of her actions, so this song and “the mess you’ve made” line fit perfectly.

6. Echo by Jason Walker – To be completely honest, this song played during a particularly emotional scene between Damon and Elena on my fav show, The Vampire Diaries. It’s haunting sadness is the perfect embodiment of a scene that comes late in the book during which Azra alienates those who mean the most to her and she feels utterly alone. 

7. Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift – Yeah, well, things change from the start to finish of books, right? True for Azra as well!

8. Begin Again by Taylor Swift -- Okay, so I might have a TS obsession to match my TVD one. But the hope in this song—overcoming sadness and coming out the other side—is exactly the way I feel about how Becoming Jinn ends leading into the sequel.

 

My debut novel, the Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy Becoming Jinn, is a modern spin on the traditional tale of wish-granting genies. It will be released on April 21, 2015, by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s. The sequel will follow in Spring 2016. I am represented by Lucy Carson of The Friedrich Agency.

Too much of my day involves chatting books, obsessing over The Vampire Diaries, and perfecting the art of efficient writing through Twitter. Find me at @loriagoldstein and follow my blog at www.lorigoldsteinbooks.com or my Tumblr at http://lorigoldsteinbooks.tumblr.com. Like my author page on Facebook for fun book-related photos, tidbits, and happenings as well as news on Becoming Jinn.


And now for what I'm sure everyone is really excited for, the giveaways!

 

US Only and International | Must be 13 or older to enter

Details: 3 Prizes
Grand Prize: 1 winner will win a finished signed book, signed bookmarks, and an infinity necklace like the girls in Becoming Jinn (US Only)
First Prize: 2 winners will win a full Jinn swag pack of bookmarks, magnets, plastic bracelets, temporary tattoos and a genie charm (INT)
Second Prize: 2 winners will win bookmarks, magnets, and wristbands (INT)

Giveaway Starts: April 6th, 2015
Giveaway Ends: April 15th, 2015

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  

Follow the Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Review: Between the Shadow and the Soul by Susanne Winnacker

First of all I have to say thanks to the author herself for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  I had read and enjoyed The Other Life by the author, so when I saw that she would be putting this book out soon, I volunteered to do a cover reveal for it.  The author then decided to send me the e-galley to review as well. The other story I'd read was a zombie type of story, and this was about witches, and I'm not that big of a witch story person. But I did enjoy this one as well.  It had a pretty good story line, with a lot of detail and good background to the world. 

The main character is Nela.  Nela is a witch, and lives in a world where everyone knows that witches are real.  And they have been persecuted in the past with being burned at the stake, and all the other things you've heard about being done to witches. In this world though, it is a modern day world, the witches have a peace treaty with the Brotherhood.  At a certain age they all have to get a tattoo.  The tattoo will spread as they do magic, also causing them pain.  Nela hates this because she can feel her magic trying to get out, it's as if she will bust if she doesn't perform magic.  But her mother and father tell her to do what she's been told, it's better and safer that way.  Her mother seems to understand more about how hard it is, but her father seems to be on the side of the Brotherhood.  Nela even wonders if he would be the kind to turn his own family members in.

The other main character is Darko.  I hate that name, had trouble reading it the whole way through the book, and that was the only thing I really didn't like.  But anyway, his name does fit him.  He is a wizard, but grew up somewhere different, a small town.  In his small town his parents were killed by the townspeople. And like still happens, they were burned at the stake.  In front of Darko and his sister.  Then they were going to kill Darko and his sister by drowning them. But Darko was able to use his magic to save them and get away.  His sister still died later on, and he has been so angry since that when he met his Master, who said he could bring his sister back to life.  His master says that he will need Nela, who he saw on the tv airing of her tattooing ceremony.  He says that he knows she is a necromancer like her uncle was, in other words she can raise the dead.  And he needs her help, her as a sacrifice, to help him bring a demon into the world so that he can live forever, as well as control the demon for his own use. 

Darko goes on the mission to gain Nela's trust so that he can lure her to his Master's lair to be sacrificed.  But along the way he falls in love with her.  When tragedy strikes Nela's family, she turns to Darko who she now loves and trusts, and now he must decide if his love for Nela, or his love for his sister will win out on what he decides to do in the end.

I definitely liked the way the witchcraft was talked about, the way the Brotherhood dealt with it was actually kind of a current topic for the things that are going on these days. I'd say it is a good new story to add to the other witch/magic type of books out there.  It does leave off on a bit of a cliffhanger, so that was something to keep in mind if you read it. 

Review: Unmarked (The Legion #2) by Kami Garcia

First, thanks to Little Brown Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this.  It showed up on the site right about the time it was going to be published.   So it is already out, I didn't really get it in time to read it before.  But that's okay, I really enjoyed it!  I finally read the first book, Unbreakable this summer when I checked it out from my school library where I work.  Of course if you haven't read the first book, I can't help but there will be spoilers from that one.  Just know that this is a great solo series by one of the author of the Beautiful Creatures series.

When we left off at the end of the 1st book, the 5 people making up the Legion, Alara, Jared and Lukas, Priest, and Kennedy have just accidentally set the demon Andras free.  They didn't know that the Shift they were putting together wasn't a way to get rid of him, but to release him.  And actually, Kennedy still isn't a member of the Legion.  So the group figures out there must still be someone else.  That her mother hadn't actually been the person in the Legion.  They kind of assume maybe it was her father, who she hasn't seen since he left.  But soon they figure out that it must be his sister, Faith, and they set out to find her.  Finding her leads to a confrontation with the Illuminati.  Or as we learn, a small rebel group of the Illuminati.  And while the Legion and the Illuminati have never been "friends" or even on cooperating terms, in this case, it is the two Illuminati members, Gabriel and Dmitri who show up and actually kind of save the Legion from the demon.  Or they do, until the unthinkable happens.  The demon jumps into Jared.  Now the group must find a way to get Andras out of Jared without killing him.  But the longer the demon is inside, the more powerful he gets.  And the demon is already pretty powerful from the souls of the girls he's been taking and killing.  The girls who all look similar to Kennedy. 

We learn a lot more about Kennedy's family, and how the Illuminati has been a part of her life just as much as the Legion.  Priest and Alara will find out Jared's secret about the list he made of the members.  And Andras isn't the only demon, he is able to summon at least one more, in his quest to start open the gates of hell and take over the world.  Kennedy's best friend Elle is along for the ride this time, as she is the one who helped the others to find the private school where Kennedy had been sent by her mother's remaining family after she'd shown up at the hospital with her injuries, and had been suspected of running away.

Once I had time to sit and read more than 30 minutes one day, I was sucked in, and it was really hard to put down.  I love all the back story that we're getting.  The information about the Illuminati is fun to think about if they were really that way.  It's fun to read this again as a fan of Supernatural and think of all the things that tie together for the paranormal aspects.  Another great read, but with another ending that leaves me impatiently awaiting the next book.  Especially since there is no information on Goodreads about it yet, since this one just came out. 

Review: Stray by Elissa Sussman

First, thanks to Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have really been into fairy tale re-tellings, as well as just reimaginings or stories with the characters from those fairy tales.  And this story ended up not disappointing. 

The main character is Princess Aislynn.  In the world she lives in women have magic, but are not supposed to use it.  They are supposed to follow the "Path"  and prepare themselves for a life with their future husband and without magic.  Girls who fail at holding their magic in will get redirected to be fairy godmothers.  The fairy godmothers are allowed to use magic.  And every princess, or girl on her path to her future life with her husband, has their own fairy godmother.  Aislynn has always had a little trouble holding her magic in.  She has learned when it is seeming to bubble up that she can stop it by causing herself some kind of bodily harm.  And so she has cuts and scars all over her legs.  A place that is hidden with her tights and long dresses.  But right when it is time for her big Introduction Ball, one of the other girls there, a very hateful girl, upsets her so much that she can't control the magic.  And from that she is redirected to become a fairy godmother.  She now will lose her loving heart, and become the help for another princess.  This time it is a well-known princess, Linnea, and she is at a new school, far away from her family.  At this new school she makes new friends.  A maid named Brigid, a gardener named Thackery, as well as the carriage driver named Ford.  And she learns that maybe not all she was taught as a princess is true.  Maybe those that she was always taught were evil aren't necessarily the ones causing the problems.  And maybe those they've always thought they needed to follow their directions and rules are the ones that should be feared.

A great idea of who fairy godmothers are or might have been before they became as we know them.  Now, there doesn't list a sequel on Goodreads, but it does say this is the first in a collection of intertwined stories, and I don't know how long I can wait to read the next one!  Especially since this had a bit of a cliffhanger ending.  This one did start off a bit slow for me, but soon it picked up and I could barely put it down to work, to sleep, to do anything else.  There are still many questions I have about this world, and so as I said, I'm very eager for the next story to come out.  A definite recommendation for anyone who enjoys fairy tales reimagined.

Teaser Tuesday - September 30th, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page
•  Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 My Teaser:

"Her magic gave a strange lurch, as if it was being pulled from inside her.  As if there was a hand sliding up through her ribs, stripping the magic away from her very core.  She felt as if she was being turned inside out and scraped clean." 
~p. 175, Stray by Elissa Sussman 

Review: The White Glove War (Magnolia League #2) by Katie Crouch and Grady Hendrix

I got ahold of an ARC of this book from the YA Book Exchange.  It's been out for about 2 years now, but I haven't had a chance to get a copy of it until I found it there. When I first started reading it I was a bit confused.  What I remembered from the fist book, The Magnolia League, was Alex's story.  And this book actually is told from two viewpoints.  It doesn't start with Alex though, and that is what got me confused I think.  It started with her friend Hayes.  But once I got into the book, I really was glad to get two sides of the story.  And it looks as if there should be a third book, that would follow Hayes, or at least trying to find and save her.  Again, if you haven't read the first book, go click on my link to it above and read that.  My review below might spoil it for you.

So Hayes is ready to be a part of the Magnolia League with her mother and grandmother.  Turns out though that her family and Alex's family haven't really ever gotten along. There has been a rivalry since the beginning.  Alex only wants to get her mother back.  And so she is trying to get in good with her grandmother in order to learn the things she would need to try to bring her mother back to life.  Never mind that this is against the three types of magic the Magnolia girls are not supposed to try.  Not only that, but her grandmother has trapped her mother in the blue room of her house, another type of magic not supposed to be done.  Someone has called on an evil spirit, The Gray Man, to hurt Alex, the same person who wanted her mother dead.  There are lots of secrets in the League.  And Alex has made a deal with Sina to get her mother back, in exchange for helping Sina bring down the Magnolia League.  The Gray Man takes over Alex and causes her to be hateful to her friends, not to mention almost making her drive head on into oncoming traffic, which would have killed her, but also Hayes who was in the car at the time.  Hayes's brother is still in love with Alex it seems, even after what happened in the last book.  And of course there is the third friend in the book, Madison.  Who may be able to help as an outside party between the two girls.  But her grandmother will also break one of the three spell rules.  All of these things could bring down the League if their hoodoo supplier, Doc, were to find out. 

There is lots of suspense.  So many moments of what next!  It was hard to put down, and as good a read as the first one, once I kind of figured out where I was.  I mean, you have to give me a bit of a break, I read the first one summer of 2011.  There is no 3rd one listed on Goodreads, at least not under the first author's name.  So I had to tweet her and ask if there was a third one in the works!  Because it definitely didn't end with this book. 

Review: The City by Dean Koontz

First, thanks to Random House/Bantam Dell and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  Dean Koontz will always be one of my all time favorite authors.  And while a couple books ago I was a bit disappointed, that changed with the last one, Innocence, and now this one, The City, has totally won me back over.

I loved this story.  It was such a good story, and it moved along at the perfect pace.  There was plenty of suspense, and it was good to see things didn't happen quite the way expected, but in a way that was just as, if not more, satisfying.  There were still some of the major losses that you would expect with a Koontz story, people you loved, and hated to have to see disappear.  But then there were others that stuck around, even when you just knew, based on all the foreshadowing, that something horrible must be able to befall them. 

The main character is Jonah Kirk, or you might like his given name from his dead beat father, Jonah Ellington Basie Hines Eldridge Wilson Hampton Armstrong Kirk.  All names of famous musical artists, ones that Jonah's grandpa on his mom's side would be a big fan of.  His father did this to try to get in good with his wife's parents.  Didn't quite work, as Grandpa Teddy kind of saw it for what it was.  Fortunately for Jonah, he had the possibility of living up to that name with his own musical talent.  But at first his father didn't seem to want him to, or at least his father was afraid that his grandfather would turn Jonah against him.  Jonah's dad soon left, but then would come back.  Until one time that his mom caught him visiting the woman who lived in the apartment above them.  Then his mother knew it was time to be done with the man.  Now Jonah had some magical types of things that happened to him, as in all good Dean Koontz stories you would expect.  He was given a little charm by a cab driver that seemed to have good luck.  He had this woman he named Miss Pearl that would come up to him on very rare occasions and talk to him.  She might help him out, as she did the first time, helping him to find a piano at the community center that he could finally begin to learn to play on.  But other times she came when he was dreaming, and the dreams she gave names to the people in them, and told him whether they were dreams of things to come, or things that had already happened.  The people in these dreams would become a part of his life soon, but not in good ways.  One, the bad man that he saw the things from the past from, he wouldn't really come into contact directly much until the end of all this.  The other, the woman, he would come into close contact, and she was pretty scary. This story took place during all the Civil Rights unrest in the US.  And Jonah is a young, black boy.  He makes friends with a Japanese man that lives in the same apartment complex. Although he does go about it in a kind of self serving way.  He wants to enlist the man in his keeping track of this evil woman.  In the end they become really good friends, Mr. Yoshioka almost a bit of a father figure, definitely someone Jonah knew and loved as much as a family member. 

The group of characters in this book were all colorful and so easily loved or hated.  While there was no animal really in this story, somewhat unusual for a Koontz story, overall it still was a great cast of people to build a story around.  I think that the amount of background spent on most of the characters and storylines was perfect.  Maybe a bit more time spent on one side character, but what was learned through that branch definitely added to the story.  I can once again go out and announce to the world that Dean Koontz is one of my favorite, as well as one of the best authors out there.

Review: Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore

First I have to say thanks to Disney-Hyperion for sending me an ARC of this title when I requested their Summer of Chills titles.  While it was a pretty good read, I find it interesting that this was the one I was most excited about receiving, yet the other 2, Don't Look Back, and Far From You, I actually ended up liking a lot more than I really liked this one.  But don't let that change your mind about this one if  you are looking forward to it, it was still a fun read.

The main character is Thea Holder.  She's only 16, but she has to work because her mother has what is called Bound-Sickness.  When people used to get married, they often would be bound, a type of magic spell.  And what that means is that when one was away, they missed them physically.  Thea's father died in the war.  The place she works is called the Telephone Club.  They have musical shows like a cabaret, and famous or rich people often come in and eat there.  Her best friend is named Nan.  She meets a handsome boy named Freddy at the beginning of the story when he is dining at the club.  He's very intriguing, both personality wise, and also looks, as his hair is white, yet he is about the same age as Thea.  At one point, Nan disappears.  Then, Thea's mom gets so bad, and it is noticed by those people around them, and so she is taken away to a mental health center to help her get better.  But someone in the city is reviving the dead people.  Including Nan.  We catch up with Nan when she wakes up from being dead.  She is now underground, and is working.  She can't remember quite who she is, or what happened.  And there is some serum she is supposed to take or else supposedly she will die again.  And they even see people in cages that are being punished by not getting the serum.  And those people turn into basically blood thirsty zombies.  All the main characters, Thea, Freddy, and Nan, must figure out their own part of the mystery, and do what they can to survive.  Even Freddy has a secret that will be a big shock to Thea, but can also help to solve some of the issues.

An interesting story.  I'm going to be ready to read the next one to answer some questions about this world.  The magic is there, almost like it is just an every day normal thing.  so is this a future of our current world?  Or a whole different world altogether?  I hope to learn more in the next book, and as I said, look forward to reading it when it comes out.

Review: House of Ivy and Sorry by Natalie Whipple

First, thanks to HarperTeen and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  I requested it quite a bit ago, and just finally got around to it about a month before it will be published.  It was a quick read, but a good read.  I feel like it had a little original twist to the way the witches/magic worked, at least for the books about magic/witches that I've read.

The main character is Josephine, and she lives with her grandmother in a house that is on a magical spot in the area where they live.  These witches get their energy from magical spots or life/nature basically.  And they are territorial in a way, once you find a spot, you build your house there, and your family stays there and protects it as they use it.  Jo lives with her grandmother because her mother was killed by the Curse that has been used to kill witches throughout time it seems.  She doesn't know her father, because in this world, only women have magic.  And so men can't stay after the children are born, because they are not supposed to know about it.  In fact, when men know about it, they usually become evil, Shadows I believe they are called, or Shades.  Other than having lost her mom to the Curse, Jo's life doesn't seem too bad.  When she hit a certain age, like all witches, she really hit what you might call a growth spurt, and has outgrown her freckles and become quite beautiful.  Other than her frizzy hair if you ask her.  And now she has attracted the cutest guy in town, Winn.  Not only that, she has the two best friends a girl could ask for, Gwen and Kat.  Of course no one knows she is a witch, that is part of it, keeping it secret.  They are even able to keep their house's actual location secret by having doors that open to different places around town.

One place is under a bridge, and they go outside there to often get things they need for their spells, bugs, snakes, etc.  One day when Jo goes out to get something for her grandmother, a man is there.  She doesn't know who he is, but there is a blackness about him.  He asks for her mother.  When Jo goes back in, she tells her grandmother about him, and her grandmother tells her to stay away from him.  Turns out, he does have a connection to her and someone has kind of "booby-trapped" him to try to get ahold of her and curse her.  When they try to save him, her grandmother must help, and she takes on the darkness.  Jo will also have to decide as they discover who this darkness is, and as her friends and family are threatened, who can she trust?  Can she break the rules and let her friends or boyfriend in on the secret, if only to keep them safe?  And not only that, there is another new guy in town, a young guy, a hot guy, one who seems to have magic somehow, even though that is not supposed to be something that can happen.

While I can see that there might be a bit of a love triangle started, I'm pretty sure it went the way it should, and that Jo saw exactly how it should be, but how it could have been if she'd met one boy before the other.  I feel there could be sequels, but I'm very happy with how it ended, and think it should remain a stand alone.  Although, re-visiting these characters would be nice too, and I would definitely read any others like it.

Darkness Falls (Immortal Beloved #2) by Cate Tiernan

The first book in this series was one that I just loved.  It was the kind that picked me up and hooked me right away.  In fact, you can read my review of Immortal Beloved HERE.  This book was similar, in that once I picked it up, it was hard to put it down.  In fact at work today, I really didn't want to go back from my lunch break until I finished it. But, alas, work must come first in order for me to have the money to continue to read and live, and etc.  While I had purchased the first one when Borders went out of business, I ended up checking this one out from the library.  Part of the reason is because I have the 3rd one as an ARC that I got from BEA in the summer of 2012.  Which, on that note, I bought my plane ticket to go to BEA next summer!  Can't wait!  Okay, okay, back to my review of the book.
We of course left off with Nastasya at River's farm, which is kind of like a rehab place for immortals.  While there she's learned that the really hot viking guy named Reyn, is actually part of the family that killed all of her family.  She is trying to come to terms with this, as well as her attraction to him.  But along with that, she is still dealing with learning just how selfish she had been in her past. Things she is just now starting to see that where once she told the story about the miracle of her survival, now she realizes all the people or animals that died when she could probably have saved them.  On New Year's Eve they have a circle, and each Immortal releases something into the fire that they want to work on being done with.  Nastasya decides to release her darkness into the fire.  When she does, the fire grows to immense proportions before it dies back down, and she is afraid that she didn't get rid of it, but actually released it into the world.  While she is learning about how most all of the Immortals had a bad start or past, as more and more things go wrong, eventually she decides she is the cause of it, and runs away.  Fortunately it seems, Innocencio just happens to be driving by and he finds her.  Now all this time she'd been having horrible nightmares about him, that he'd gone evil, sparked by when he'd killed the cab driver in the first book.  And in her dreams she also sees all their friends dead, killed by Incy.  But it turns out she was just dreaming.  Incy has been worried about her this whole time, he says he was unable to find her, and then today he was driving around, and he felt a strange pull, that she was going to be where he found her.  So Nastasya goes back to her friends, and a life of luxury.  But things aren't quite the same now, now that she really knows right from wrong, thanks to River.  And she must decide where she really fits in, what life she really is meant for, who are really her friends, before the wrong person decides to steal her power.
Still a good book for all the same reasons as the last one.  But, I was not happy that she ran away and went back to her old friends so quickly, and slipped back into that life style.  That's my only complaint I guess though.  Now I have to figure out when to fit in the 3rd one.  Maybe after I finish my next e-galley?

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

I actually thought this came out in August, so rushed to read it at the beginning of August, but now see that it isn't to be published till September, so I'm typing this review about 20 days before you will see it! I am so thankful to Random House Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss for allowing me to read this e-galley. At the end of the review, look for pictures of when I got to meet the author, Sarah Rees Brennan, this past May at the Romantic Times Convention. Now, when I met her, she said I could ask one question about this book, which I didn't have the e-galley of yet, and didn't know I'd even be able to get it. But my mind blanked! I couldn't think of anything specific to ask! She probably thought I was lying when I said I loved the first one, Unspoken, but I wasn't! I loved this one too. And a lot of what I love isn't just the story, it is the characters, the dialogue, all of it. There are times when I laughed out loud, literally, because the characters are written so realistically sarcastic.
So the main characters are back, Kami, Jared Lynburn and his "cousin" Ash Lynburn.  Kami's best friend Angela and her brother Rusty, and their friend Holly.  Kami and Jared's link was broken, and since then, things have been strained between them.  Ash's father has left and is gathering sorcerers to his side to try to take the town from his wife, Lillian, the true Lynburn heir.  And he wants it to go back to the way it used to be, where the people who weren't magic served the sorcerers, and magic was done by spilling blood.  Ash's mom, Lillian is very condescending, and doesn't see how someone like Kami could possibly help.  When Kami broke her bond with Jared, she lost any magical power that she had.  When Lillian gathers the sorcerers who do not want to go back to the old ways, they see they have way less than the other side.  Rob Lynburn goes and tells the townspeople that they must give him a sacrifice of one person on the fall equinox.  On the night it is to happen, they must all go to see if they can find a way to defeat his side.  Kami refuses to sit and let the magical people do all the work, so she does what she does best, investigates.  She tries to find out who all of the sorcerers are, and tries to get a personal item from each in order to maybe create a protection or blocking spell for the sorcerers on their side.  Kami uses her paper, The Nosy Parker, to get the message out to the students.  But as much as her mother has tried to keep all of this secret from her father, he finds out.  And now, Kami is not only worried about the town, she is worried about her mother and father not being able to repair this breach of trust.  And in the end, the Lynburns will do something to her family to try to win the war, and they will all have to decide what is left of their family.  And Kami must figure out if she and Jared are really over, if Ash is really going to be the nice guy he seems, or maybe it will be Angela's charming and humorous older brother Rusty who wins her over.
If you haven't read this series yet, you need to give it a try.  It's such a good read, such a smooth read, and like I said, a laugh out loud at times read!  My one complaint about the first book was the cover, but I'm much happier with this cover.  And now, how long do I have to wait for the 3rd book?  Too long!!

And as promised, some pictures of the author from when I met her.  First, a picture of me with her (I look like such a dork, but I was so excited!):

Next is a fun picture from one of the panels I saw her on.  She was timing all the authors as they read from their books, and as they got too close to the end time, she would go up and pretend she was choking them.