Roseblood by A.G. Howard Release Day Blitz!!

Hello there guys!

I know the blog has been so very quiet as of late but I am so excited about ROSEBLOOD by A.G. Howard that releases today so I had to take part of the Release Day Blitz!

If you haven’t yet heard about this amazing book by author A.G. Howard, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed ROSEBLOOD poster and a mask courtesy of A.G. and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

About The Book:

Title: ROSEBLOOD

Author: A.G. Howard

Pub.Date: January 10, 2016

Publisher: Amulet Books

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Audible

In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly
choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known.







I was beyond lucky to get sent a physical ARC of Roseblood by the UK publisher, so I could read it early and I'm just beyond grateful for it! Now I'm awaiting my preoder of the gorgeous finished copy and it won't arrive soon enough for my taste!

I read my ARC while listening to the Spotify playlist and it was simply PERFECT! It created the absolutely perfect mood and I highly recommend that you do too if you can! You can find the Spotify playlist for Roseblood HERE!

I must confess that all my knowledge of The Phantom of the Opera comes from popular culture and the Iron Maiden song, because I haven't read the original book or seen the musical, BUT NOW... Now I'm itching to see the musical and read the original book, as well as re-read Roseblood!

Anita's writing is as visual and lyrical as always, it's one of the things I love the most about her books! I'm not usually one to get images very clearly in my head while reading, but with Anita's books? I always feel like I see and feel and almost even smell it all!

About A.G. Howard

A.G. Howard was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a child.

When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

1 winner will receive a signed ROSEBLOOD poster and a Mask. US Only.

Ends on January 17th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mark These Book(s) Monday: The Architect of Song & Warrior Witch!!!

Hello there guys!!

Back on the blog today! I keep trying to be a bit more constant with the blogging and the reviews but something or other keeps on getting in the way!

BUT today I am back with two reviews of eARCs! One of the will count towards my NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge and the other counts for my ARC August Challenge!!

The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Anita Howard is one of my auto buy authors and every book of hers reinforces this more and more!

The Architect of Song is a perfect example of a brilliantly done gothic novel. Atmospheric, enticing and absolutely captivating!

The writing is as vivid and visual as it was in her previous books and it paints us clearly both settings and characters without bogging down the narrative.

Very soon we are completely enthralled by the mystery and Juliet's experience through it all. Given Juliet's disability and her losses in the book, she is a wonderful & strong main character that tries to be strong and true to herself even if it goes against what society expects and accepts in her time.

She still has a support system that accepts her as a whole and even if misguidedly try to push her towards something or other, they always try and be there for her when she needs it.

The romance is very much part of the mystery, a mix of love triangle and forbidden love and the author really managed to surprise me and very much like and enjoy the way she did & resolved the love triangle, and that really IS saying something!

There's so much tension in this book, romantic tension and character development tension and it's all so well paced! It just keeps you glued to the page, wanting to continue reading and finding out more and finally knowing what will happen!

And the way the book ends is done so very well!! It's the first book of a series of companion novels and as such ends up resolving everything very satisfactory, but have you looking forward to more stories too! Very much deserved 5 stars to this enthralling & perfect gothic tale!

Warrior Witch by Danielle L. Jensen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Warrior Witch is the final book in the Malediction trilogy and as such it had to find a way to solve everything that had come to clash and burn at the end of the last book.

Once again Tristan and Cécile need to find a way to work together and learn from each other how to balance the greater good and the individual good and how to balance thinking and acting. Cécile is still the one that will always throw herself into action and will always be more emotional, and Tristan is the one that thinks everything through and through every possible angle. They do find a way to let each other do what they have to, even if not everyone agrees with the tactic.

Things are more and more complicated because not only we have the trolls out BUT we do have the trolls ancestors throwing their on sides of the war in, and that makes everything even more complex!

I wasn't thrilled by some of the choices that both Tristan and Cécile made, but they were very much in character and in the end proved to be the right ones, even if they were probably more of the "lesser of two evils" variety at some point.

The ending really packed an emotional punch, and there were plenty of casualties and pain along the way, but I'm so glad that Danielle managed to add hope and redemption in this very harsh road! I don't think the trilogy could have ended better in any other way. Very much deserved 4 stars!

Friday Reads: Ensnared by A. G. Howard!!!

Hello there!

Friday is once again here, and I'm having a weekend of zombieness, because I'm working today and Sunday night shift, which means I'm hoping for quiet shifts for some reading time! And then I'll spend Saturday and Monday like a zombie!

Today I have one of my most awaited books of the year up for review for this week's Saturday Page! And it also counts towards my 105 Challenge for my 2015 release category!

Ensnared by A.G. Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ensnared was one of my most awaited books of this year, the conclusion to one of my fave trilogies as of late, the Splintered series! A creepy and visual reimagining of the Alice in Wonderland story with Burtonian touches!

After that cruel cliffhanger of an ending that Unhinged left us with, I was dying to get my hands on Ensnared and although it was shipped early, I had to wait over a week and a half till it finally arrived!

The book starts pretty much where Unhinged left us. With Alyssa dragging her dad into an adventure that he doesn't even know he's part of, with magic shrinking mushrooms and a toy train where to recover his lost memories.

Everything got bigger and creepier and the plot twists got even twistier! Alyssa's dad past was something I wouldn't have expected but so very fitting! And then going to AnyElsewhere was like Wonderland with an extra dose of darkness and creepiness, and meeting the Queen of Hearts was even creepier than the Red Queen, except for when you realize that the Red Queen has plots within plots and you're not sure how Alyssa and the rest will manage to stay afloat!

The character development, the plot, the descriptions, the brilliant and visual writing would guarantee a 5 stars from me for this book, but emotionally this book was very tough for me to read... not by any fault of the book, but my own emotional state. I was too anguished and I ended up having to distance myself from the romance and the story a bit, so when the ending came I was left with a very odd feeling. Uneasy I think it's how I'd describe it, so I'm gonna end up giving the book 4 stars. Not because I don't think the ending is not appropriate or the book isn't amazing, but the romance gave me such a bittersweet feeling...

So 4 stars it is for this one, a wonderful conclusion to this amazing series and I cannot wait to see what Anita has coming next!



View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #25!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and 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!

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen


Her throne awaits . . . if she can live long enough to take it.

It was on her nineteenth birthday that the soldiers came for Kelsea Glynn. They’d come to escort her back to the place of her birth – and to ensure she survives long enough to be able to take possession of what is rightfully hers.

But like many nineteen-year-olds, Kelsea is unruly, has high principles and believes she knows better than her elders. Unlike many nineteen-year-olds, she is about to inherit a kingdom that is on its knees – corrupt, debauched and dangerous.

Kelsea will either become the most fearsome ruler the kingdom has ever known . . . or be dead within the week.

Combining thrilling adventure and action, dark magic, mystery and romance, The Queen of the Tearling is the debut of a born storyteller blessed with a startling imagination.

 Ensnared by A.G. Howard

 After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She’s determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world—-a parallel dimension filled with mutated and sadistic netherling outcasts.

In the final installment of the Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that’s gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But even if everyone succeeds and comes out alive, can they all truly have their happily ever after?



This week I'm taking a lil breather from reading ARCs and enjoying the feel of reading some physical books! I'm finally reading Ensnared, the highly awaited finaly book in the Splintered trilogy, and I'm doing a buddy read with Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm! And I'm also finally reading my Alyssa Recommends book for January: The Queen of the Tearling! After not only having Alyssa recommend it, but also Wendy and Layla from The Midnight Garden highly recommend it, I had to read it already!

 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!!
  

Ink & Batter #2: Unhinged by A.G. Howard!!

This week we have our second edition of Ink & Batter!


Last week I had cupcakes inspired by Splintered by A.G. Howard, and this week I have the ones inspired by book two: Unhinged! I actually made them at the same time, green tea cupcakes with cream cheese icing and with purple cupcake liners to match the cover of the book!

This week Ink & Batter is even more special cause I'm teaming with Becca from Pivot Book Reviews! She's been one of the biggest cheerleaders for Ink & Batter to be a regular feature in the blog, and she does this amazing feature in hers on Thursdays called Cover Puppies (where she recreates the cover of a book with her adorable puppies!) so we decided that we HAD to synch our features! So this week you have Unhinged cupcakes here and she has recreated Unhinged's cover for her Cover Puppies of the week!

We're gonna try synching both features as often as possible, and if she's already done cover puppies for that book before, I will be linking to it here too! Go check out her Unhinged Cover Puppies NOW!

As always all the decorations are partly traditional Alice and partly uniquely Unhinged! I used two colours for the icing, to reflect the colours of the cover. And then I made a yes-I-know-it's-a-butterfly-but-let's-pretend-it's-a-moth for Morpheus, some more bugs and flowers cause Wonderland still has them, a top hat cause we know how Morpheus loves his hats, more tea cups, Rabid the skinned skeletal rabbit that was a challenge head and I'm still not sure what he looks like... All in all, I had an absolute blast making these! Hope you'll like them!

Stay tuned for more inspired cupcakes coming next week!

Ink & Batter #1: Splintered by A.G. Howard!!

Well, here is the first official first post for Ink & Batter!

I'm starting with one of the books I've had in my list to make inspired cupcakes for quite a while! Splintered by A.G. Howard! Since it is a very creepy & a bit Burtonian reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, I've made some more typical Alice items and some that are straight from the book!

I chose green tea cupcakes (recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) with cream cheese icing, and used green cupcake liners to match the cover of the book!

As you can see, there are some bugs, the ones that Alyssa doesn't want to hear, some flowers cause you can't forget the creepy flowers of Wonderland, a key that is important to the story, a skateboard for the "skate girl", the clock that ticks, teapot & cup for when Alyssa has tea with her mum and a lil faery for Gossamer!


What say you guys? I had a blast working on this one, modeling with fondant always reminds me of when I was a lil girl playing with plasticine!

Stay tuned for more Ink & Batter cupcakes next week!