Love, Lies & Spies by Cindy Anstey Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway!!

Hello there guys!!

Welcome to my stop of the Blog Tour for Love, Lies & Spies by Cindy Anstey, hosted & organized by Xpresso Book Tours!

As part of my stop I'll have my review of this delightful historical fiction debut and a giveaway, so make sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for that.

But before you get to read my ramblings and enter to win a copy of the book (US only), let me give you a lil bit more info about both book and author!

Love, Lies & Spies by Cindy Anstey

Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: April 19th 2016
Genres: Historical, Young Adult


Juliana Telford is not your average nineteenth-century young lady. She’s much more interested in researching ladybugs than marriage, fashionable dresses, or dances. So when her father sends her to London for a season, she’s determined not to form any attachments. Instead, she plans to secretly publish their research.

Spencer Northam is not the average young gentleman of leisure he appears. He is actually a spy for the War Office, and is more focused on acing his first mission than meeting eligible ladies. Fortunately, Juliana feels the same, and they agree to pretend to fall for each other. Spencer can finally focus, until he is tasked with observing Juliana’s traveling companions . . . and Juliana herself.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes

About the author:

She has lived on three continents, had a monkey in her yard and a scorpion under her sink, dwelt among castles and canals, enjoyed the jazz of Beale St and attempted to speak French.

Cindy loves history, mystery and… a chocolate Labrador called Chester. Love, Lies and Spies is her debut novel.

Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter 

REVIEW

What an absolutely delightful book! It was exactly what I needed to improve my mood! Lady Beetles! Victorian propierty be damned!

Juliana is a young lady that is getting ready for her debut and first season in London with her aunt, cousin and a poor but very influential nobility family. That sounds like a pretty standard beginning for historical fiction, but our main character Juliana is anything but standard or typical. She must go to London and for that she must endure the season attendance, but getting married is so NOT her objective!

I loved how she was trying her best to ensure she'd be able to accomplish her objective (that no one else was privy to, not even her cousin) but at the same time she didn't stay silent when she didn't agree with something or when she felt that she had to make a stand, even propierty would have demanded she stayed meekly quiet.

Spencer was also not exactly your regular young man with an easy life and money to spend, and he had to be rather peculiar to hide his real intentions and purposes and to complete his mission. He finds himself mixed up with Juliana and her family and hosts and although he doesn't entirely lose track of his mission, things do get a bit more muddled now and then!

Aside from the quite unusual romance, mostly because it's not really Victorian era style, since both characters are very dedicated to their pursuits and missions and marriage really is not in their minds, and the fact that they're both in denial about the change of feeling until very close to the end. There are another two plot lines: Juliana and her research of Lady Beetles and Spencer's mission for the government. Although Spencer's mission seems to take more space on the narrative, Juliana's was her main motivation for her actions, which means it was also ever present.

The writing, the pacing, the interactions between the characters, the build up for the romance... the best way I can describe this book and the first word that comes to mind is delightful! It was cute, it was interesting, it had me turning pages fast and wanting to keep on reading, made me smile, made me laugh and completely improved my rather sullen mood at the time!

A wonderful debut, very much deserving of 4 stars! Really looking forward to more stories like this one from the author!

GIVEAWAY

US/CAN only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mark This Book Monday: House of Ivy And Sorrow by Natalie Whipple!!

Hello everyone! Happy Monday!

Though for me it's like Saturday, since I have today and tomorrow off after working the weekend! For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have a book that I preordered after reading the super positive and excited review by Octavia from Read Sleep Repeat, and that I started wondering about after reading some other blogger friends' not so positive reviews. But after reading Alyssa from The Eater of Books' positive review, I knew I had to read the book myself and make up my one mind.

This book is not part of any of my challenges for this year and it's a standalone, so it's just one of those "me" reads, a shiny new book that I felt like reading right away after release!



House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


From the moment that I saw the gorgeous cover of this book I was curious about it and though I'm not the biggest fan of book about witches I added it to my TBR list. Then one of my fave blogger friends read an ARC and loved it to bits, reading her review made me even preorder it! But as release date came closer, some negative reviews started popping up on other blogger friends' blogs and I began worrying I'd end up not liking the book. Then also some positive reviews popped here and there, and I knew this was the kind of book you had to read and see where you stand.

Luckily for me, I absolutely enjoyed this book, with its dark moments, its more normal silly and light moments, the different kind of witch lore and the extremely strong friendships between Jo, Gwen and Kat.

Jo has lived alone with her grandma since her mum died ten years ago, trying to hide from the Curse that has killed many witches before and all of the Hemlock family, except for them. One day Jo finds a strange man outside their house and she feels something is seriously wrong with him. That visit is what starts a cascade of actions and reactions, full of plot twists and unexpected revelations.

One of my favourite parts of the book was the witches' lore and how it was its own little bit of unique and dark. Magic is not good or bad, magic is power and as such it can corrupt and control you, the different between good and bad witches is that the good witches control their magic and the bad witches let magic control and corrupt them. Another important part of that was that no matter what ingredients you used for your potion (and we're talking about the most classical spiders, toads' eyes and eagles tears) you always have to sacrifice something of your own, a piece of yourself for the magic to work. Everything in magic has a price and you have to be prepared to pay it.

The darker parts of the book, following the main plot line of Jo and her grandma deciding that they cannot hide anymore and have to fight the Curse are balanced out with the lighter ones of Jo and her crush on Winn and their start of a relationship. It's quite cute and adorable, even if at times it seems that Winn is too perfect to be real (and indeed he is hiding something).

One of my absolute favourite parts of the book is how strong the friendship between Jo, Gwen and Kat is. They're been friends for a long time and when that friendship is put to the test with some dark threats and some gruesome sacrificies, not only it doesn't fail but comes out of it stronger. It's not often that a friendship is so important and pivotal to the plot and to the heroine.

Adorable, funny with plenty of darker moments, some disturbing ones and quite a few unexpected plot twists, this was one book that kept me up late at night reading and deserves 4 stars!



View all my reviews

Read Discuss Repeat Virtual Book Club: Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz!!

Today I'm reviewing March's book for my virtual book club, Read Discuss Repeat! I managed to finish it on March 31st, cutting it quite close this time! I couldn't join the chats on Wiggio but I'm hoping I'll be able to for April's book! The best thing about a book club is reading those books you might have wondered about but didn't try before and even some books that are not your usual read.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was March's book for my virtual book club (Read Discuss Repeat) and I was quite pleased when it was selected cause I had thought of reading it, but wasn't sure about it. This was the right push, and boy am I glad that I read it.

This book is a wonderful and lyrical coming of age story. Two boys growing up, discovering who they are, forging a friendship and discovering how to deal with who they are.

This is not only the story that any guy having doubts about his own self and his own sexuality should read, it is also a book anyone that ever wondered who they really are and what defines who they are would want to read.

Both Ari and Dante and fantastic characters, very different, very real and have you rooting for them since page one. I also loved how present their parents are. Their families don't need to be perfect because they all have to work through things, but they are together and want to help each other, and even if it hurts, in the end they find a way to communicate.

Ari is the one that has the hardest road to walk, because he seems to be the one that is harder on himself and has more silence around him at home. His mother is a wonderful character that is always trying to reach his fifteen year old son and that worries about him in a way that he can't fully understand.

Dante might have a different fight ahead of himself, but he seem to accept himself as he is more easily than Ari does. He becomes Ari's best friend and the one that helps him get out of himself for the first time.

A wonderful book that made me cry rivers but also left me with a truly wonderful feeling. Very much recommended and easily a 4.5 to 5 stars read!



View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

Hello everyone!

Finally, I'm back on Monday with a Mark This Book Monday entry! Hopefully, it'll be more than one, if I don't distract myself too much by reading!

For this first entry, I have to introduce you to Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

This book was a very pleasant surprise. The 4 stars kind of pleasant surprise!

When I first read about it, I was very intrigued, since it was about sylphs that could manipulate wind, but I wasn't so sure about the romance.

I decided to give it a go, and it really captured me. The alternate points of view worked perfectly for me, as did all the revelations and world building that came with each one. The progression of the story keeps you hooked, with every bit of information making you want to learn more. And the characters, well, what can I say, I love how both point of views let you see both of them through their own eyes and through the other's eyes.

I have to say I loved how very consequent both Audra and Vane are with the way events and consequences of those events have shaped them, and how their choices continue to be in character with who they are, and how they begin to change by interacting with each other. Vane discovers that he is an air elemental, and the last one of his kind, and to add to that, he is in danger and needs to learn to defend himself and use his powers in a matter of days. Audra needs to teach Vane about himself and his powers so he'll be able to help her fight the enemy, and does it out of guilt, out of duty and because it has shaped who she has become.

The building up to the climax is quite effective, and the twist at the end, though not completely unexpected in hindsight, it is quite effective.

The ending is not exactly a cliffhanger, but it does leave you wanting to read book two for sure!