Monday, March 28, 2016

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows!!!

Hello there guys!

A new week is here and since my weekend is Monday and Tuesday, I'm gonna enjoy a day off over here while I also do some hourse chores.

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC review for an upcoming April book that I absolutely adored!

But before I proceed with the review, let me give you a warning in GIF form:




The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen #2)The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jodi Meadows has done it again! ALL THE FEELS!
---

I was so very lucky to read The Mirror King so very early on last year and not too long after reading The Orphan Queen, which was an absolute treat (and a real lifesaving!!) after THAT (bloody awful & heart crushing) cliffhanger!!

Let's start with a fair warning here, if you think that Orphan Queen was a killer for your feels, well... Mirror King might just be even crueler and more heart breaking! It'll ALL be worth it but... you might just really need the help and support of the OQ Support Group!

Mirror King starts JUST were Orphan Queen left (and thank goodness for that!) so binge reading these two back to back is the wisest choice (if it's been a while since you read OQ, do a re-read, it'll be for the best) so you can read the story with the right flow.

Things are extremely dire and stakes are very high from page one, and the action, the feels and the twists don't really slow during the whole book! And if you are wondering what more surprises might be coming in this one... well, let me tell you, hold on to your knickers, because they ARE coming!

Wil spends most of the book between a rock and hard place, with the Ospreys seemingly no longer on her side, trying to reclaim her kingdom at odds with her heart and her alliances. And let's not forget her magic and the Wraith and the unexpected consequences of it & how she can possibly make sure that the Inundation doesn't repeat and take everything away from everyone.

The romance is a killer for the feels, the friendships are also a point of conflict and feels and then the politics, the battles for the kingdoms and the battle for survival really!! Gods, this book barely gives you time to breathe!

It's a fantastic final book for the duology, full of action, full of emotion, full of twists and suprises and did I mention emotional distress?? It's brilliant but make sure you'll have plenty of tissues and comfort food and a member of the OQ Support Group a DM away to talk feels!!

5 very emotional stars to this brilliant conclusion that gave me a massive book hangover! I cannot wait till I can re-read Orphan Queen & Mirror King back to back!



View all my reviews

Saturday, March 26, 2016

It's almost time for ARC April!!


Hey there guys!

The awesome Octavia & Shelly from Read Sleep Repeat are once again holding ARC April, a way to motivate ourselves to tackle all those ARCs that are demanding our attention and that we'd like to clear off before heading to BEA!




This year there are extra prizes depending on the levels of ARCs you read and sign ups close up on April 15th, do check out the rest of the rules and info HERE.

 I'm hoping for the Silver level, that it's 5 to 9 ARCs. I'm mostly gonna be reading eARCs, although I also plan to read my left over ARCs from last year BEA, so I'll go to this year's BEA with a clean slate!

My three physical ARCs will be Newt's Emerald, The Witch Hunter and Blood Passage.

And from my eARC list from either Edelweiss and Netgalley I'm hoping to catch up a bit and read some backlogged eARCs and some going to be backlogged:

- The Last Faerie Queen
- Lair of Dreams
- Wendy Darling
- Tell the Wind and Fire
- Love, Lies & Spies

That's my list to choose from, let's see how I do!
Are you guys joining us on ARC April?


Friday, March 25, 2016

Friday Reads: ARC Review of Much of Madness by S.E. Summa!

Hello there guys!

After getting my laptop back from the world of the dead laptops (at least more or less) I have been unmotivated to do a lot of blogging, mostly due to laziness and wanting to spend more time reading, but I want to eventually get back in full swing. In the mean time I'll try and be somewhat consistent and have at the very least a pair of posts (ideally three) up each week!

For this week's Friday Reads I have a review book I got from Netgalley so it counts towards my NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge and will help me stick up to my over 80% ratio!




Much of Madness (Conexus Chronicles, #1)Much of Madness by S.E. Summa

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I discovered this book via my friend Jenny from Supernatural Snark & Seedlings Studio, because she's the talented cover designer that did the gorgeous cover for this one! Cover lust made me check the summary and I was intrigued, so when I saw it up for request on Netgalley, I jumped to the chance of reading it.

Much of Madness is a different twist of a paranormal story, with Sin Eaters, Spellcasters, Djinn and ghosts and Curse-Breakers! It was quite refreshing to see a story full of different paranormal types but without vampires or werewolves!

The story is told in dual POVs and at first the separation was done more clearly, one chapter per POV, getting Marceu's and Seraphina's story as they come to intersect and I really enjoyed their voices and individual stories. I loved seeing their different worlds and the way the interactions with their close circle of either friends or associates show their personalities.

When they met and started interacting I liked how their differences were showcased and how the worlds could collide, but I wasn't so keen on how their voices mixed up on the narrative... they were different enough to know when they switched even in the same chapter, but it seemed to muddy things a bit and confuse the narrative a bit.

Plot wise, it seemed quite clear where things would come to a point but I was pleasantly surprised that I still got some unexpected twists here and there. Some of the intersecting plots felt a bit forced to come together, even if when they did mix, it all seemed to work out pretty well.

I must confess the romance didn't really work for me. It wasn't insta love or underdeveloped, but I just never felt the chemistry or tension between the characters, so I never really connected with their romance. I did connect much more with the romance between two of the secondary characters. I cannot say why or why not... it just happened!

I really enjoyed all the NOLA and Nashville references and really felt like the atmosphere was so very realistic, even if I've never been to any of the places. It made ME want to visit there for sure! And made me crave beignets & chicory coffee like mad, dammit!

All in all, I'm pretty torn because I really enjoyed the first half of the book and then things became a lil messy in the second half and although I liked the ending and I'd probably read the sequel, I was not blown away by the book as a whole. I guess it'd be fair to give it a 3 star rating as it can stand as a quite unique paranormal.



View all my reviews

Monday, March 21, 2016

Furious by T.R. Ragan Book Blitz & Giveaway!!

Hello there guys!

Monday is here and I'm pretty happy to be part of the Book Blitz for Furious by T.R. Ragan, organized by the lovely Hannah from Irish Banana Tours!

There will be a  giveaway at the end of the post, so don't forget to scroll down, but first let me tell you all about the book!


Furious by T.R. Ragan

Faith McMann comes home to a nightmare: her husband is killed and her son and daughter are taken. Although the intruders leave her for dead, she survives. Crippling grief and fear for her children make life unbearable. Until her anguish turns to anger…and she trades victimhood for vengeance. 

Frustrated with the law’s efforts, she takes action to rescue her children—and wreaks havoc on the brutal criminals who tore them from her. With her family and newfound allies at her side, Faith descends into the hellish underworld of human trafficking, determined to make those who prey on the innocent pray for mercy. 

The forces she's up against have already proven that their ruthlessness knows no bounds. And there's nothing they won't do to turn Faith's crusade into a suicide mission. But they're about to learn that nothing is more dangerous than a mother fighting for her children—especially one who's earned the nickname Furious.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27131260-furious





  About the author:

T.R. Ragan (Theresa Ragan) is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author. Her exciting Lizzy Gardner series: Abducted, Dead Weight, A Dark Mind, Obsessed, Almost Dead, and Evil Never Dies, has received tremendous praise. In August 2015 Evil Never Dies hit #7 on the Wall Street Journal Bestselling List. Since publishing in 2011, she has sold over two million books and has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, the L.A. Times, PC Magazine, Huffington Post, and Publishers Weekly. Theresa grew up in a family of five girls in Lafayette, California. An avid traveler, her wanderings have carried her to Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, China, Thailand, and Nepal, where she narrowly survived being chased by a killer elephant. Before devoting herself to writing fiction, she worked as a legal secretary for a large corporation. Theresa and her husband Joe have four children and live in Sacramento, California. FURIOUS, the first book in her most recent Faith McMann series will be released March 22, 2016, followed by OUTRAGE and WRATH.


Early Praise

“Faith McMann, heroine of this gripping novel, is a Sacramento schoolteacher, wife, and mother who comes home just in time to witness her husband’s throat getting cut and her two children hauled away. The attempt on her life is botched—the killers were in a hurry—and as she recovers, she’s convinced the police are brushing her off. So she whacks a detective with his computer keyboard and gets sentenced to anger management sessions. If this were a cookie-cutter thriller, the male hero would be tracking the killers with an automatic weapon and maybe a major babe beside him. But our hero is smarter than that, and her revenge is a product of relationships, not bullets. In classes, she meets other victims as angry as she is, and, together, in fine scenes of action and suspense, they seek explanations and vengeance as well as the children’s rescue, which takes them into a slimy world of human trafficking. Learn here about “lot lizards” and “kiddie strolls” on the way to a wild finale. Suspenseful and smart, in equal measure.” —Don Crinklaw, Booklist

“Searing...Readers with strong stomachs will eagerly await the next installment.” —Publishers Weekly

Giveaway

5 copies of Furious (US only)

Rafflecopter link HERE
 

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Happy St Paddy's Day!!

Hello there guys!!

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!!


As one of those Irish-ish people (that means I'm not Irish but for some strange reason I'm in bloody love with that country), I love to celebrate St Paddy's Day! Which means I'm wearing green today, started my morning with Irish Breakfast tea, I'm listening to me Irish instrumental playlist and will be downing a few Guinness while I watch Boondock Saints tonight after work!

And since books are my thing, I want to recommend a few books here that are either set in Ireland or that have a certain Irish flair to them, or where Ireland is part of the plot, setting or motivation!




Sláinte!!


See Me by Wendy Higgins

While most seventeen-year-old American girls would refuse to let their parents marry them off to a stranger, Robyn Mason dreams of the mysterious McKale in Ireland, wondering how he’ll look and imagining his cute Irish accent. Prearranged bindings are common for magical families like her own, however when she travels to the whimsical Emerald Isle she discovers there’s more to her betrothal and McKale’s clan than she was led to believe.

What starts as an obligatory pairing between Robyn and McKale morphs over time into something they both need. But one giant obstacle stands in the way of their budding romance: a seductive and deadly Fae princess accustomed to getting what she wants—and what she wants is McKale as her plaything. Love, desire, and jealousies collide as Robyn’s family and McKale’s clan must work together to outsmart the powerful Faeries and preserve the only hope left for their people.




 The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long

A darkly compelling mix of romance, fairy tale, and suspense from a new voice in teen fiction

The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice--and not just her own.





 Girl Against The Universe by Paula Stokes

Maguire is bad luck.

No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.

It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.

From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck.



And I'll leave you with one of my very favourite instrumental songs from my Irish playlist!! 

 

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

COVER REVEAL for Memories of Ash by Intisar Khanani!!

Hello guys!! I know it's been a while since I've been around here, but my laptop has been pretty pissy and I decided to take the time to be online less and read more (to be said in the same way that Mr Burr tells Hamilton to talk less, smile more).

Buuut today I’m very excited to have Intisar Khanani on the blog today, after adoring her debut book Thorn, revealing the cover for her newest novel Memories of Ash. This cover was designed by the amazing Jenny of Seedlings Design Studio. There's also a Kindle Fire giveaway, so make sure to scroll down to the end of the post to enter.

Now I leave you guys with Intisar answering a few questions and of course with the utterly gorgeous coverrr!!


Describe Memories of Ash in 3 words.

Walk with courage.

What compelled you to write your first book?

I always wanted to write a novel, so my senior year of university I decided I’d better buckle down and try. I chose a fairy tale (The Goose Girl) to give me an over-arching plot and narrative structure, and then went to town with it. I really wrote it as an exercise to test myself, not intending to do anything with it when I finished. But, by the time I finished, I loved my characters so much that I ended up working through over a dozen revisions to take it from “writing exercise” to my debut novel, Thorn.

If you could live in one of your books, which one would you choose?

Definitely the world of the Sunbolt Chronicles. Sunbolt follows Hitomi, a street thief with a propensity to play hero when people need saving, and her nemesis, the dark mage who killed her father. Although there is a lot of darkness in Sunbolt, there’s also a lot of light. It’s a real world, in its way, and I love the diversity and vibrancy of the cultures and creatures that populate it. I’d have my choice of living in a tropical island sultanate reminiscent of historic Zanzibar, or among the nomadic desert tribes that eke out an existence alongside the cursed Burnt Lands, to name my two favorite options. Then again, in Memories of Ash, there’s the decaying grandeur of the capitol of a fallen empire that feels a lot like an Istanbul of old, right at the heart of the Eleven Kingdoms. Plus, I wouldn’t mind having shape-shifting friends and charms to keep my bread from burning.

What authors, or books, have influenced you?

As a young duckling, I imprinted on Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley's earlier works. I read pretty widely, but those are the authors I kept coming back to, especially McKinley’s Damar books. I am also an incorrigible Jane Austen fan, but my books don’t reflect that very much!

What are you reading now?

I just finished “Kingdom of Ruses” by Kate Stradling. In a kingdom where the eternal prince who rules is just a ruse kept up by the prime minister’s family (and most recently, Viola, our heroine), keeping the peace is a delicate thing. Enter a stranger who manages to take the place of the doppelganger the family uses, and Viola has her hands full.

Your first reaction to the cover in GIF format.



 

And here it is...



MoA_FC_FNL16_BN


In the year since she cast her sunbolt, Hitomi has recovered only a handful of memories. But the truths of the past have a tendency to come calling, and an isolated mountain fastness can offer only so much shelter. When the High Council of Mages summons Brigit Stormwind to stand trial for treason, Hitomi knows her mentor won’t return—not with Arch Mage Blackflame behind the charges.

Armed only with her magic and her wits, Hitomi vows to free her mentor from unjust imprisonment. She must traverse spell-cursed lands and barren deserts, facing powerful ancient enchantments and navigating bitter enmities, as she races to reach the High Council. There, she reunites with old friends, planning a rescue equal parts magic and trickery.

If she succeeds, Hitomi will be hunted the rest of her life. If she fails, she’ll face the ultimate punishment: enslavement to the High Council, her magic slowly drained until she dies.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17969479-memories-of-ash




A Special Treat For Those Who Pre-order...


Not only is the pre-order of Memories of Ash on sale for only 99 cents, but anyone who buys the pre-order will receive a free digital art print of Hitomi by artist Grace Fong. Just email your proof of purchase to moapreorder@gmail.com!

Haven't read Sunbolt (Book 1) yet? It's been knocked down to just 99 cents to celebrate the release and is available at most major e-retailers. That's two fantastic books for less than a cuppa joe.


MoA_PreOrder Special

 

 

About Intisar Khanani


Khanani_Author_Photo
 Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar's current projects include a companion trilogy to Thorn, featuring the heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife, and The Sunbolt Chronicles.



 


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Rise of Genesis by M.R. Merrick Book Blitz!





A new fantasy series from the 
Young Adult Author M.R. Merrick!




In a world where being Supernatural means you’re in danger, Ash Lawson is front and center. After years of helping others escape ATOM—a government entity known for abusing Supernaturals—he’s captured, and saving himself will prove to be the most difficult task he’s undertaken.

Tryst Rivera is a Succubus and veteran at the Academy, a facility tasked with converting underage Supernaturals into cooperative ATOM soldiers. She’s endured her time mostly unscathed, but when Ash arrives and their lives are tethered to one another, she’s placed in immediate danger.

With escape at the forefront of his mind, Ash struggles with the idea of life under ATOM’s thumb. He’ll die before he converts, but his life isn’t the only one he’s responsible for, and he already has more blood on his hands than he can bear. When a chance for freedom arises, Ash needs to decide how much—and who—he’s willing to risk for a second chance.













About the Author

M.R. Merrick is a Canadian writer and author of The Protector Series, and The Rise of Genesis. Having never traveled, he adventures to far off lands through his imagination and in between cups of coffee. As a music lover and proud breakfast enthusiast, he’s usually found at the computer between a pair of headphones and a large bowl of cereal.

Connect with the Author





Giveaway

Help us spread the word about this book!

Win $25 Amazon Gift Card




a Rafflecopter giveaway





Monday, March 14, 2016

What did I miss?!?



Hello there!!

You might have noticed that the blog had been rather quiet this past few days and it's not that I took an unexpected hiatus, it was more a case of a forced one! I updated my laptop to Windows 10 the Friday before last and boom... all of a sudden my lappy was freezing and uncooperative and not even opening the internet...

I know some of my friends do work on their blog posts on their tablets and I do bow to them for being able to do that... but my tablet is rather glitchy too, so I decided to ignore the damned laptop, take a break and try my luck again at some later point...

And in the meantime I've spent a LOT of time reading! I've re-read The Others series and Marked in Flesh and had a blast allowing myself reading without updates or checking the web... I missed chatting with my Twitter friends but...


Yesterday I gave the laptop another try and it started and it's running more or less okay, so I can be back onto blogging, but I'm gonna take it slowly for now... I think the hiatus and the time off was also a lil needed here!

What have you guys been up as of late?? Any books or bookish news I might have missed??



Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Illumicrate's February box is HERE!!

Hello there guys!!

If you are wondering why am I talking about a February subscription box when it's already March, the answer is because I am floundering a bit and time seems to just get away from me!


Anyways! Here I am to coo and squee about how very awesome Illumicrate's February box was!!

For starters, this time the Spanish post decided to NOT post an extra address label on the top of the box where the super cute logo can be see!!

If you are wondering what's Illumicrate, check either their website HERE or my first post about the first Illumicrate box HERE.



Do you see that gorgeous box?? Dylan was super excited to see what was inside this one!
 


 And that's the whole lot!! A lot of awesomeness in this box for sure!!
The book (UK ed of Truthwitch!!, ADSOM inspired candle, bookish pencils, super cute tote, lemonade recipe, handmade exclusive bookish pouch, badges and even magnetic bookmarks!!).



I'm absolutely in love with my Red London candle from Simple Candle Co! I keep sniffing it at random times of the day, and I'd got nuts for a guy that smelled like that! Also very happy that luck got me this one instead of either Grey, White or Black, since you got one randomly!



I adore Truthwitch and I've re-read it like 4 times already and I really wanted to get me the UK edition of the book, but money is tight so I couldn't justify it, so getting it with this book along with the bookmark, the signed bookplate and the special message from Susan was the ultimate treat!



And lastly this supremely adorable magnetic bookmarks from Beedoo. Seriously, that ship that says "I ship it" it's so beyond perfect!!

With every new box I'm more and more excited about the next Illumicrate box and happier than I subscribed! I cannot wait for May's box!! Subscriptions are open now too, in case you guys want to try it out! Highly recommended, even more if you are in the UK or Europe!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Tell Me Tuesdays # 36!!


Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!


Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the mountain. When CĂ©cile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she realises that the trolls are relying on her to break the curse.

CĂ©cile has only one thing on her mind: escape. But the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time…

But the more time she spends with the trolls, the more she understands their plight. There is a rebellion brewing. And she just might be the one the trolls were looking for...






 Golden Son by Pierce Brown

With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within. A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown’s continuing status as one of fiction’s most exciting new voices.






 Thorn by Intisar Khanani

For Princess Alyrra, choice is a luxury she's never had ... until she's betrayed.

Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family's cruelty and the court's contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.

But powerful men have powerful enemies--and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman's, giving Alyrra the first choice she's ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she's never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometime the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.

Thorn has received a Badge of Approval from Awesome Indies.



Both Stolen Songbird and Golden Son are re-reads. I've joined the official readalong to prepare for Warrior Witch on Goodreads, so each week we read a few chapters and discuss them! And I'm really enjoying Stolen Songbird, almost even more than the first time around! And Golden Son I'm re-reading on my own in preparation for finally reading Morning Star that arrived in the mail last week!

And Thorn is a buddy read with my friend LaLa for the #RockMyTBR challenge. It's a retelling of The Goose Girl and I'm really enjoying it!
  
So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!