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: When The Moon Was Ours & A Study In Scarlet Women!!!

Hello there guys!!

Yep, I'm well aware that the blog has been pretty silent for the most part, despite a few blog tours post here and there. Seems like blog tours have been the only way to motivate me to blog as of late...

I'm hoping that a bit more blogging that I have up for this week will continue, even if it might be just three days a week for the most part.

Today I have two mini reviews for Mark These Book(s) Monday and both were highly coveted eARCs that I was approved for via Netgalley and sent a widget by the publisher for NG too. I am beyond happy that they allowed me to read these books in advance!

As Netgalley eARCs I'm also counting these two as part of my NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge!

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What an absolutely gorgeous book! The writing, the characters, the little bits of magic here and there, the relationships between characters... it all fills me with a sense of wonder!

I have only read one or two magical realism books before reading WTMWO but I had not liked those previous books much, hadn't got into any of them and the fantasy elements seemed too random in relation with the story somehow, but even with those previous experiences, I went into reading this book with an open mind and I'm so very glad I did!!

The writing, Anna-Marie has a gloriously gorgeous writing style and a way with words that simply ensnared me from the very first page and line! I was not sure where the story was going, but I knew I was going to love my reading journey!

Miel and Sam, Honey and Moon, are both fantastic and complex characters, with a lot of magic in their story in very small and big ways but they felt so right and so part of the story, even if they never felt like we're in a fantasy world, but in a world very much like our own, just with a magic we might not see.

I absolutely loved the journey of growth and self acceptance and discovery that both Miel and Sam have to go through, and it's a beautiful story about Sam finally making his own decision between being Samir or Samira and how he wants to continue his life, and it was quite fantastic to see support for him in his family and Miel. And Miel also had a lot to learn and accept about herself and her past and to find a way to move on and be true to herself.

If you've ever wondered about reading magical realism, and you want to read a wonderfully diverse book, with a trans boy, Latina/o characters and amazing writing, When The Moon Was Ours is your book!

Very much deserved 5 stars!



A Study In Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm not usually a big fan of retellings, but if there is a kind of retelling I seem to adore, it's Sherlock Holmes retellings/reimaginings! The moment I found out about a gender swapped retelling of Sherlock done by Sherry Thomas, I knew I needed it badly, and I was extremely lucky to be allowed to read it early!

Charlotte (I was so tickled about the choice of name for our lady Sherlock!) is an uncommon woman, for her time and society and even for her closest family. We met her after she's made quite what it seems a rather unreasonable choice that will mark her life forever, but soon enough we see she is quite resourceful, despite the low position she has to overcome.

It's a while till we are involved in the main case for the book but I was so captivated by the character interactions and figuring out who would be who in this retelling, I adored how we get our Mrs Hudson and Watson all in one and with a wonderful past to boot! I love how much support & solidarity between can be found in this book, even with how very accurate to the time period everything is kept.

This gender swaped Sherlock Holmes captivated me from the very first page and had me in its thrall until I turned the last page! That characters were amazing, there is quite a shippity ship and the mystery was intriguing enough to have me guessing and still quite surprise me by the end!

I just need many many books to come in this series and I will devour them all as avidly as I've done with this one! Bravo, Sherry Thomas! So very well deserved 5 stars to this one!


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Friday Reads: Mini reviews for The Star Touched Queen & The Forbidden Wish!!!

Hiya there guys!

While I'm sleeping the day away after working a double shift yesterday and working night shift again tonight, I'm gonna leave you with a pair of mini reviews for this week's Friday Reads!

Both books are 2016 releases, both highly awaited for me, and one of them even more because it was one of my top 3 MOST awaited debuts of the year! I'll be counting it towards my 2016 Debut Author Challenge!

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


With a most wondrous & gorgeous prose and a wonderful story full of Hindu mythology and with a few winks to both Hades & Persephone (and maybe it's just me, but also a lil bit of Eros & Pysche myth), this one is the perfect debut to leave us wanting more! The story does end like a standalone, even if it also makes you want a lil bit more.

I could go on and on about the amazing writing and how it reminded me of the traditional myths and how they resonate very much in this story, but without the dryness that sometimes the more traditional storytelling they might have. You simply cannot stop turning pages to see what else will be coming, what else we'll find out about the past and the previous history of the characters.

The world was both wondrous and utterly dangerous and the secondary characters really added so much to the story, particularly a certain non-vegetarian horse! I couldn't get enough of her thoughts stream and her sense of humour!

I was quite surprised about the progression of the book, because I wasn't sure where the story was going or what turns it'd take, given the various myths that I feel woven into the story! Which made it even more fun to read, meeting new characters, seeing Maya discover who she was and who she is and who she wants to be, and what she wants her future to be!

Now, I will read whatever Roshani will write next, grocery list and all! Very much deserved 5 stars to this most highly awaited debut that didn't disappoint!



 The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Oh how I loved this retelling of the Aladdin story!! Aladdin has always been one of my fave Disney movies and I've always been a big fan of the tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights, so when I heard about a retelling with a gender swapped genie, I was all over it!

This was my first Jessica Khoury book and I'm very much in love with her writing and storytelling style! The story is told in first person POV and we are in Zahra's mind, which makes it easier to understand her doubts, her torn feelings and loyalties and made me really root for her!

Aladdin both the lovely rogue we know and also so much more! We are given some background about his family and the rebellion he is avoiding and we understand him so much better, even if we're never inside his head. I feel like multiple POV chapters between Zahra and Aladdin would have been a lot of fun to read too!

Between the personal relationships between characters, human politics and power plays and the threat and power plays between the Jinn too, the book was never boring! There's so much scheming and plotting and finding alliances! Zahra finds herself having to make some very tough choices! And to make everything even more interesting, we get Zahra's remembrances about the past and her human friend and sister like, her guilt about what happened and the fact that time has changed the history and the story of Zahra and her friend.

Wrapped so well but I feel like I still want more!! I'm not keen on saying goodbye to Zahra and Aladdin or Cas and her Watchmaidens...

Very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars! I'm very much hoping Jessica Khoury will feel like writing a companion novel or two, because I so loved the world and the characters!

Saturday Pages: Mini Reviews: The Rest of Us Just Live Here, An Ember in The Ashes & Winter!!!

Hiya there!

How's your Saturday going? I hope the weekend is going well! I work this weekend so I plan to be really lazy and not do much other than that!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have a bunch of mini-reviews because I have been in a rather massive reiew-writing slump and I feel that mini-reviews are much more manageable and less imposing that having to write a looong review, even more when I really loved all these books and sometimes when you really love a book, it's harder to find the coherent words for it!

I feel like I have mostly abandoned (& FAILED!) my challenges for this year, but since one of the books is a debut, I'm totally counting it towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It took me a while to read this book because I started it when the hype was at its peak and for some reason it didn't seem to grab me at the time. I decided to set it back down for a while and it was the right call. Now that the hype is gone (and I know for sure there is a sequel coming) I picked it up again and simply devoured it!

An Ember in the Ashes is told in dual POV, Elias and Laia, both part of this reimagined Roman Empire-ish world, one an Elite soldier, the other one of the oppresed & conquered, both looking for freedom and both stuck in a situation where they cannot reach it.

The world is brutal, the military training is brutal, slavery is brutal, the power plays are brutal and there are so many characters driving their own agendas without regard of others that is a wonder how some of them remain human. There's also a magical feel to the world bulding and the world, some glances at beauty and freedom and happiness that are the best motivators for the characters.

Elias and Laia's fights are very different from each other, Laia's trying to fight for her brother and trying to find acceptance of herself and finding her courage. Elias is trying to keep his individuality and his soul/conscience in a brutal world he never wanted to be part of.

And then we have the bigger picture issues, with the Trials, a new Emperor needed and the war that is coming towards the Empire and the humans that was foreseen but no one seems to remember.

The book can feel like its own story sorted but the ending has so many open threads unsorted and unfinished that it NEEDED a sequel, and I'm so very glad we'll be getting it! Not soon enough, because sequels are never here soon enough unless you're dealing with a finished series.

An Ember in the Ashes is a stunning debut! With magical writing, fantastic world building, imperfect & believable character with great development and neck-breaking pacing! Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!




The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My first Patrick Ness book and I am simply in love! This book is both funny and poignant, reflecting on what it is to try to get through normal life with whatever challenges it may throw at us, showing us what mental health issues can look like without ridicule but with enough humour so it wouldn't feel hopeless.

I love Mikey, I love Mel, I love Jared and I love Henna. They felt complex and genuine and raw and real. They felt very much human. I flipped the book open to check it out and I simply continued reading till I was done with it. Laughing and tearing up and simply loving it to bits!

This book had a strong sense of tongue in cheek humour when it dealt with the paranormal cliches of the "chosen ones" stories, but the focus was always more in the regular lives that the "rest of us" normal people have to deal with, even if we also saw how the events could affect the normal lives as collateral, without really being sure what the hell is going on.

I cannot really write a coherent and good enough review for this book because it has so many different aspects and genres and themes all mixed up and they all work together flawlessly!

This was my first Patrick Ness book and I think it won't be the last. If you haven't checked it out yet, don't fear the hype and go read it, it's very much worth it! Very well deserved 5 stars!



Winter by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Oh boy, what a wild ride this was!! And what a lovely book hangover is to be expected now because I really don't want to say goodbye to these characters!!

I'm not sure how to even begin to review Winter... I finished it yesterday and I still don't think I have enough coherent words! The wait was very much worth it and mostly all I can say is that I loved it and *ALL THE FLAILS*

First of all, I must give mad props to Marissa Meyer because she ALWAYS manages to make this romancephobe ship all her ships like there's no tomorrow! Cinder & Kai, Wolf (Ze'ev) & Scarlet, Cress & Thorne (oh boy these two were killing me in this boooook!!!) and Winter & Jacin!! From first attraction to alpha insticts, online crushes to long time friendship & love, she manages to make it work and root for the characters like mad!

As the final book of the series where all things come to an end, I was expecting planning and plotting and scheming and confrontation, but the amount of emotional ups and downs and the tension that the whole book managed to mantain for its over 800 pages is mind-blowing! I couldn't read fast enough and the book never felt long!!

I love the growth and development that the characters had in this one, even Winter we had barely ever met before, we get to know her and understand and feel so much for her, with her insanity born of kindness and a desire to do what's right and never harm anyone!

And as always, Marissa Meyer managed to weave some bits of the original fairty tale here and there, wonderful easter eggs/winks that I loved finding along the book! So well weaved into the story and the world she's created!

I... I just have no more words, and I'm already babbling!. Just, read it! It's brilliant! 5 very MUCH deserved stars!


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Friday Reads: ARC Review of Never Never by Brianna Shrum!!

Hello there guys!!

Friday is here! And since I am on vacation I kinda needed the reminder because days kinda run into each other and I'm not sure what day of the week they are anymore!

I don't have any big plans for this weekend other than reading and packing for my London trip that starts on Monday!

As this week's Friday Reads I have a review of an ARC that is one of the few new books I read during September (which also means that I'm quite behind on my ARCs reading...) and since it's also a retelling of Peter Pan debut, it counts towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

Never Never by Brianna Shrum

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I knew it... I knew the ending would destroy me. Brianna did a wonderful job of giving a new life to both Peter Pan and James Hook and gave a villain a story worth of being his own hero. *goes to stuff herself silly with cookies now*

This book had been in my wish list as one of the debuts to keep in mind, and after my very talented friend Sarah made her book trailer  SEE HERE and then I got super excited and requested it from NG as soon as I saw it there! Thank you so much to Spencer Hill Press for approving me!

Never Never is a fascinating story with a voice that change and progresses as the story does and grows as James does. The writing is very visual and it wraps you into the story with ease. Sometimes I was a bit confused because it seemed we switched from first person to third person for small periods of time and that was a bit disconcerting, but served also as a way to enhance the storytelling quality of the story.

Retellings aren't exactly my favourite thing to read, but when they are done from a different POV and even more if the POV is from the villain of the story... I'm all in! And Never Never succeeded in giving us a new perspective on not just James Hook but the entire Neverland story and of course, Peter Pan!

I've never read the original story (I know, I know...) so my only Peter Pan knowledge comes from two movies: the Disney version and Hook with a grown up Peter. Now reading Never Never made me think of how we sometimes lighten up tales that were darker in origin and I wonder if the original story also had this darker undertones.

Peter is an intriguing character, a forever child, one that has not grown to learn compassion or empathy and that is selfish and egotistical and doesn't see further that his own wants and needs. Even with a certain selective memory to forget what he doesn't like and no remorse for his choices. I feel like he is a mix of the worse qualities from a toddler and teenager mixed together!

We meet James Hook as a child and one that doesn't want to remain a child but wants to grow up, so him going to Neverland seemed like a bit of a doomed choice, one destined for unhappiness. He is fascinated by Peter Pan but he is never a Lost Boy, so he finds himself growing apart from Peter & the boy and growing up into a pirate, with an unhappy heart full of resentment.

He's not exactly the hero nor the villain of his own story, not really. He hates Peter Pan and not without reason, but he finds himself in a position with very limited choices and he doesn't always make the best ones either. He's such a nuanced character, full of hate, love, longing and remorse.

Tiger Lily is a much more present character that I ever saw in the movies and so glad of it, because she's a very strong female character that also has to make some really hard choices. Some that would even touch on the clash between destiny, purpose and free will.

The ending of the book can't be considered a surprise, given how it follows the original story, but after everything that we went through in the book it does pack quite the emotional punch!

A very much deserving 4 stars for this stunning debut! Looking forward to reading more from Brianna Shrum for sure!



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And because I've kinda liked the idea of adding a song that matches the feel of the book or makes me think of one of the characters, I will add a song that has very much the same emotional vibe for me, specially the ending of the book!

Friday Reads: ARC Review of The Eternity Key by Bree Despain!!

Hey there guys! Happy Friday!

I hope you guys are getting ready for the weekend! I am, but for a weekend at work! ;) My off days were Wednesday and Thursday this week!

Today for Friday Reads I have one of the ARCs that I had intended originally for ARC August, but that I ended up reading earlier.

Since it's a retelling of sort of the myth of Persephone and Hades, it totally counts towards my 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge, that had been very much abandoned for these past months!

The Eternity Key by Bree Despain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When last year I read The Shadow Prince I was quite pleasantly surprised about the twist on Greek mythology that the author had worked on. Qith some obvious references and a few surprises about who was who, I was left really looking forward to read the sequel!

Then I got approved for the sequel by the publisher on Netgalley (thank you!) and then came the Egdmont debacle and we had doubts about book 3 happening... and I ended up pushing back reading this one. Finally decided to go back to this series and very happy that I did, although I'm glad I didn't read it too much in advance of release date (rather quite a while after!) because there's quite the cliffhanger in the end!

I felt that the book was a bit slow at first... after all the revelations at the end of the first book, to find the crew stuck trying to find the Key and having no clue of what they're doing and trying to figure it out... I guess I was expecting them to be a bit more organized or to have more of a plan, but in the end they're such a bunch of teenagers, Greek myths or not, and they don't have a lot of knowlegde easily gathered, laying around.

What left me scratching my head was how wishy washy the team feel was, I was expecting that after all that they went through, they'd rely more on each other but it seemed like although they had THE common interest, they had gone back to their own lives, pretending like the clock is not ticking and the Skylords are not likely to make an appearance at any point.

Maybe it was because it's been a while since I read the first book but I felt like the relationship between Haden and Daphne had taken a few steps back in the beginning of this one, and we spend a good part of the book with these two not just trying to continue with school work, trying to find the Key, but also figuring out (again?) what they feel about each other (in Daphne's case) and how to express said feelings (in Haden's case).

We meet some new characters in this book and some are clearly the enemy while others are a bit more in the grey area, if not undercover allies, but with such high stakes at play, I feel that Haden was being wary enough but also keeping secrets from each other was a problem the group shouldn't have at this stage of the fight, but secrets they kept.

The relationships in general were well developed and we didn't just limit our focus to Daphne and Haden, but also Daphne and the very hard relationship of trusting him again after all that she found out, and how her father makes every possible effort. We also see Tobin struggling with his wanting to find his sister and how knowing his mother's secrets has killed their relationship.

The last part of the book was the best part, since we had the musical opening night with the Key search in a very heist like plan, and the action doesn't stop because there's plenty of surprises, revelations about characters that we thought that weren't important, and quite a dire betrayal! I suspected the traitor a pair of times while reading, but I was NOT expecting THAT kind of betrayal!

A very cliffhangery ending that leaves us wondering how anything can be fixed and worked around and very excitedly (if a lil vexed) awaiting the next book! Well deserved 3.5 stars for this one.




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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell!

Hiya there people!

So today is Monday and for me it is a Monday after a tough night shift at work and a tough Monday when I try not too sleep too much or too little so I can still function during the evening when I'm meeting friends from India here in vacation but also manage to fall asleep at night!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have yet another ARC review! This one I got both approved via NetGalley but also got gifted a physical ARC by my friend Britt from Please Feed The Bookworm! Such a lovely cover, so I'm super happy to have the physical ARC!

As a 2015 release it counts towards by 105 Challenge too!

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I fell in love with the cover of this book and really wanted to read a Cinderella retelling with not your typical ending. I ended up with both a physical and an eARC of this one and I'm beyond grateful for them!

Mechanica is a more "faithful" retelling than others that I have read before, but I cannot generalize much since I haven't read many. Nicolette is an orphan that's left with her Steps once her father dies. She's treated like a servant and lives like one. There's even a ball and a prince in this story too, but the setting and the way the story is woven sets it apart from the more known versions of Cinderella.

This is a world of clockwork and magic and secrets. Where the Fae were treated like servants before being expelled and where rebellion and a war are looming. I loved all the lil stories woven here and there about the magic and the Fae.

My favourite part of the whole book has to be seeing Nicolette working on her clockwork inventions and discovering all that had been shut down and finding a way to connect with her mother through the memories and diaries. And to see her planning and plotting a way to escape the Steps with her own work and talent, without needing anyone to rescue her!

I love that no matter what hurdles she faces, Nicolette continues to work and try to fix herself a new and better life, with her friends and some of those lovely mechanical critters that were her very first friends (and quite a wink to the Disney rodents).

I really loved many things in this book and you might be wondering why it didn't get a higher rating, but the thing is that the overall feeling was not one of overwhelming love or amazement, so I cannot give a 4 or 5 stars rating, but THIS is the kind of fairy tale I wish I could have read when I was a pre-teen and one I'll make sure young girls that I know will get to read.

We don't need books that have girls being rescued by marriage to a prince, but girls that despite being treated badly are still capable of finding friends and getting over heartbreak without bitterness and through their own work and talent rescue themselves. And this is a book that says exactly that. So big kudos to the author for writing a modern version with a very classical fairy tale feel to it.

Very much deserved 3.5 stars to this one. It'll be in the Xmas list for some young girls this year from me!



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Waiting On Wednesday #91!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!


This week the book that I'm extremely excited and cannot wait for it to be released is Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge!!

Goodreads Summary:


"When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption."
 


Why am I eagerly awaiting Crimson Bound? Well, I'm not usually too fond of fairy tales retellings but I heard so many great things about the author's debut book and I'm very intrigued about a Little Red Riding Hood retelling where the main character is fighting to save the world!


What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?

Friday Reads: Love in a Time of Monsters by Teresa Yea!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and with it another working weekend looming ahead for me. My brain is on overload thinking and worrying about expenses and the apartment and the plans for BEA... and I have been half tempted to just put the blog on hiatus already, but I shall wait till May 1st to start the official hiatus, minus some blog tour posts that I have scheduled.

For this week's Friday Reads I have a wonderful book that has been flying under the radar and I feel deserves to reach more readers because it's a fantasy NA and it is fantastic! It's counted towards my 105 Challenge for my Fantasy books category!

Love in a Time of Monsters by Teresa Yea

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I discovered this book through the amazing artist that did the cover (our dear Jenny from Supernatural Snark) and once I read the summary I knew I had to get it and read it.

And I was right, I loved this one so much! I started reading it at work (night shift) and finished it as soon as I got home and got some sleep. I'd describe this as gothic fantasy with retelling elements, because we get references to novels and characters that know, so maybe it's a gothic fantasy retelling of the events that inspired the classics? Something like that!

I loved the world building and how wonderfuly visual the descriptions for everything was, from the landscapes, to the characters, to the feeling of the places and the monsters.

I loved how well crafted the characters are! None of the characters felt too typical or underdeveloped, because from main to secondary, all have more going on that you see at first. Cat is a survivor, a monster hunter, fragile and strong and an addict. She's broken and so very far from perfect, but I loved her to bits even at her worst moments and I loved how Rob always managed to see the best in her and so make her try to be that best. Same with Liam, even if it took me quiet a while to warm up to him, he's a fantastic character, complex and the perfect mix of antihero and villain. And Rob, well... Rob is of course a very complex character, a reluctant hero if there's ever been one, but with enough strenght and love to make others want be better.

The book takes place in a time of monsters, where sirens drag sailors to their death and get hunted for their scales, where monster hunters are necessary and where the most dangerous of all monsters was brought to Scotland to try and save a life. Mixing POVs and moving from past to current events, this story kept me riveted to the pages, wanting to know more, to see what happened and hoping for as few deaths as possible, but the book really doesn't pull any punches, and I had quite a few weepy moments along the book!

Rob is Robert L Stevenson and some of the events in the book inspired him to write his Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and this is the part that made me call this book a bit of a retelling.

Before wrapping up this review I must talk about the romance, because there was a love triangle but it was done is such a different way that I just didn't bother me at all, and that's almost a first! Hooray for diversity, and even more diversity in fantasy books! And as a NA book, do consider yourselves warned, there are sexy times ahead, and there's also great humour, fantastic quotes and a lil bit of magic.

All in all a very recommended book to all the lovers of fantasy that will appreciate something fresh and unique and very well crafted! Very well deserve 4 to 4.5 stars!



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Friday Reads: Fairest by Marissa Meyer!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and for me is the end of my days off and the start of my working weekend! On Tuesday I went to a meeting for my apartment complex and it was a bit nuts, so on Wednesday I decided to take a full reading day!

For my first Friday Reads entry of the week I have a new release of this year and as such one that counts toward my 2015 release category on my 105 challenge!

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fairest is one of those extra books that we didn't expect and we didn't think we needed, but once you've read it, you realize that it was a really good idea to add it to the series!

We've hated Levana since pretty much the first time she came onto the page and that hate has continued growing with each book and each revelation of her evil plan, or at least that has been my case.

I was really excited to see Levana's story because I always like villains to have layers to their story, their evilness and their evil plans. I always like to know the reasons and why's of actions of everyone, I prefer a villain that I can understand how in their twisted way they can justify their actions, even if I'll never agree with them. Evil for evil's sake without some grey areas is rather boring for me!

And we do get a lot of background information about Levana and her entire family of psychopaths. I did feel bad for Levana every time she interacted with her sister because if Levana is nuts, Chanary was even worse! We learn about their parents, the lack of familial love in the family and between the sisters. There's quite something about the nature vs nurture in here, but in Levana's case is nature + nurture!

She is born in a family of sociopaths (and probably psycopaths) so she's got both things against her, and although we see her making some better choices here and there and being worried about Luna's welfare... she ends up being true to type and make choices that show her lack of empathy and her delusions that end up in lies that she makes herself believe.

I can understand better how she came to be the cruel and mad queen that we met in Cinder and I was quite glad once the book was over, because being in her head was one hell of a twisted place to be! We also get more background story on Winter's and on princess Selena's pasts and I'm sure all that will help us understand Winter better the next time we meet her.

A great book that would deserve a warning, because getting into Levana's head is not something for the faint of heart, but worth every cringe-worthy moment for the insight that we get and how the fight of our heroines and heroes being even more dire! Very well deserved 4 stars, Marissa Meyer knows how to write and write well ALL sort of characters!



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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!



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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!!
  

Waiting On Wednesday #71!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

What book am I dying to get my hands on this week, you might be wondering? Well, this week is all about the final and MORE than highly awaited final book of the Splintered series: Ensnared by A.G. Howard!!

Goodreads Summary:

"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 violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular 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 if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?"
 

Why am I eagerly awaiting Ensnared? Well, it IS the final book in what can be my very favourite retelling series, and after how the second book, Unhinged, ended... How can I not?!? January won't arrive here fast enough!!

What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?

First Chapter, First Paragraph #13: Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke!!

First Chapter, First Paragraph is one of the two memes that I will be alternating on Thursdays in place of my Ink & Batter posts during the summer, when I won't be baking due to the heat!

I discovered this meme via the ladies of My Shelf Confessions, and it is hosted on Tuesdays by Bibliophile by the Sea. But since I already have my blog tours posts and Tell Me Tuesdays, I thought that it'd work best on Thursdays for me!

The idea of this meme/feature is quite self-explanatory from its name, we share the first paragraph of the first chapter of our current read! Quite a good teaser for others to read and see if they'd be intrigued!

This is another of those ARCs that I was more than happy to get but that somehow its release date sneaked on me! So I'm now reading it and hoping to finish it soon so I can schedule the review for my vacation time!

Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke

"They've been lying from the start. From the first time we read the words "once upon a time", we're fed the idea that these girls - these gorgeous, demure, singing-with-the-wild life girls - get a happy ending. And I get it. Poor thing had to do some chores around the house, fine. But the idea that she needs a magic old lady to come down and skim off the dirt so the prince will see her beauty? That's ridiculous. Maybe she should have been working on her lockpicking skills instead of serenading squirrels. She could have been busted out, hitched a ride to the castle, and impressed the prince with her safe-cracking prowess."







What do you think? Would you want to know more?
What are you reading right now?

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Winterspell by Claire Legrand!!

Hello everyone! Happy Saturday!

How's your weekend going? Mine is going pretty well, losing sleep while devouring an extremely captivating book and finding myself actually swooning with a character like very few times (Jamie Frasier the Highlander is quite something!!) and today I'm actually off to have a girl's pampering day with one of my besties, as an her early birthday gift for me!

But I have a review for an ARC as this week's Saturday Pages and it's quite a great one! I was very lucky indeed to be approved this one by Simon & Schuster via Edelweiss for this one on my second try! As an ARC I'm also counting this one for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

Winterspell by Claire Legrand

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Winterspell was one of those highly awaited books that I was beyond happy (and surprised!) that I got the chance to read and review ahead of time. I requested it via Edelweiss and was declined the first time, so imagine my surprise when I tried again and was approved for it!

Since I knew there was a prequel novella coming out, I decided to wait to read it after I had read the novella, and I think it was quite the right choice! Reading Winterspell will spoil the story of Summerfall for you, and it was fantastic to discover Cane before the war and gave a much different and welcome insight to what's going on in Winterspell too.

Winterspell starts with a hint at Cane but with the focus on Clara Stole and her struggle to feel safe in her life in New York. Her mother recently dead, murdered, and her father folded in grief and a puppet of the mob, she struggles to keep herself and her sister safe from some very dark characters that are her father's "allies".

Clara is quite a complex character, she has an inner strenght and resiliance that seems to fly out of the window when confronted with some dark (and frankly scary) characters, but I couldn't blame her for feeling terrified of a certain Dr, he's a character that would make you shiver in anger and fear all at the same time. She's had a bit of an unusual upbringing with her Godfather, a very curious man that was a friend of her mother's and that has been telling her stories and training her on self defence since she was little.

I had began to wonder what the connections with Cane would be and where on the storyline after Summerfall we'll land with this one, and even if I didn't get my curiosity satisfied all too soon, I was treated to great storytelling and retelling, with some really interesting twists to the Nutcracker story thrown here and there!

Once Clara finds herself in Cane with Nicholas, she is thrown straight into a most dangerous game, war and dance of deceit, doubts, misplaced trust and self discovery that culminates on meeting Anise, the current queen of Cane and a half breed (that we met if briefly in Summerfall). Anise was a fascinating character, mad as a hatter and full of hate it seemed on the surface, but with a much unexpectly softer and fragile core that we barely get to glipse here and there. I found Clara's relationship with Nicholas and Anise both extremely interesting and well done, both serving to further the story and to help grow Clara's character to the savior that Cane needed.

The writing was gorgeous and captivating and I'm very much willing to read anything that Clare Legrand would write, and even if this one stands very well as a standalone, with an hopeful & open ending but satisfactory enough, I would also see enough openings for maybe companion novels or at least novellas, there's a lot of Cane that can be explored I'm sure!

A wonderful retelling that doesn't requite any knowlegde of the original story to be enjoyed, but those who know about the Nutcracker will find themselves delighted in the way that Clare has twisted the story in her own way. Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this one!



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First Chapter First Paragraph #11: Winterspell by Claire Legrand & Polaris by Mindee Arnett!!!

First Chapter, First Paragraph is one of the two memes that I will be alternating on Thursdays in place of my Ink & Batter posts during the summer, when I won't be baking due to the heat!

I discovered this meme via the ladies of My Shelf Confessions, and it is hosted on Tuesdays by Bibliophile by the Sea. But since I already have my blog tours posts and Tell Me Tuesdays, I thought that it'd work best on Thursdays for me!

The idea of this meme/feature is quite self-explanatory from its name, we share the first paragraph of the first chapter of our current read! Quite a good teaser for others to read and see if they'd be intrigued!

 Sooooo, I really haven't been reading much these past few days, so I'm still reading the same books I talked about on Tuesday and that means you guys are gonna get a peek at two ARCs and one of those is a 2015 one!! Excited?? I hope so!! Bear in mind, these paragraphs are taken from ARCs, so they might or might not remain like that on the finished books!

In case you are wondering why I haven't been reading the past days it's not cause I'm on a reading slump at all or cause I'm not enjoying the books (that I'm loving!) it's all a highlander's fault! I'm binge watching Outlander and falling madly in love with Jamie! *swoons*

 Winterspell by Claire Legrand

"One more hour and Clara Stole could turn criminal.

Could, that is, if she managed to stand her ground until then, for every eye in the crowd was watching her, waiting for her to say something impressive, something to commemorate the day. And she was so tired of fumbling through grand words that were never quite grand enough for such hungry, thirsty people."

Polaris by Mindee Arnett

"The spaceport's casino was the perfect spot for the deal to go down"

What? You want more? Ooookay!

"Jeth Seagrave knew it the moment he stepped inside. The place seemed to envelop him, the light so bright they made it almost impossible to see and the noise a constant vibration, everything from the hum of the slot machines to the shouts of dealers calling for bets. Some kind of mild, hypnotic music played in the background, blending the sounds together in a reassuring soundtrack -- time does not exist here, it seemed to intone. Here you are safe. Here you belong."





What do you think? Would you want to know more?
What are you reading right now?

Tell Me Tuesdays #12!!

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!

 Polaris by Mindee Arnett

"Following the events of Avalon, Jeth Seagrave and his crew are on the run. Jeth is desperate to find the resources and funding he needs to rescue his mother from an ITA’s research lab and leave this whole galaxy behind for a new life somewhere else. But the ITA is just as desperate, and soon Jeth finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure hell-bent on capturing Jeth and his crew—dead or alive. In a last-ditch effort to save everyone he holds dear, Jeth enters into a bargain with the last person he ever thought he'd see again: Dax Shepherd, the galaxy’s newest and most fearsome crime lord. And he’s not the only one: upon arriving back at Peltraz spaceport for the first time since he witnessed the death of his old employer, Jeth discovers Dax has a new partner: Jeth’s mother, Marian.

This shocking turn of events is only the first in another breathless, action-packed sci-fi adventure rife with danger, love, and betrayal, as Jeth has to once again ask himself how much he’s willing to invest in a morally bankrupt galaxy in the hopes of saving those he cares for."

 Winterspell by Claire Legrand

"Darkly romantic and entirely enchanting, this reimagining of The Nutcracker from Claire Legrand brims with magic, love, and intrigue. New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer (Cinder) says “this is not your grandmother’s Nutcracker tale.”

After her mother is brutally murdered, seventeen-year-old Clara Stole is determined to find out what happened to her. Her father, a powerful man with little integrity, is a notorious New York City gang lord in the syndicate-turned-empire called Concordia. And he isn’t much help.

But there is something even darker than Concordia’s corruption brewing under the surface of the city, something full of vengeance and magic, like the stories Clara’s godfather used to tell her when she was a little girl. Then her father is abducted and her little sister’s life is threatened, and Clara accidentally frees Nicholas from a statue that has been his prison for years. Nicholas is the rightful prince of Cane, a wintry kingdom that exists beyond the city Clara has known her whole life.

When Nicholas and Clara journey together to Cane to retrieve her father, Clara encounters Anise, the queen of the faeries, who has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara finds that this new world is not as foreign as she feared, but time is running out for her family, and there is only so much magic can do..."


These two are ARCs, and both of them I'm reading more as me reads than actually because I must. Winterspell is a September release, so this one is also working on the review pile, but Polaris... well, Polaris is a total "I want to read it now and I don't care if it's a 2015 release" case. I won the ARC on a giveaway that the author did on her blog and I'm just so happy to have it in my hands! Thank you Mindee!

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!!

 

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Feather Bound by Sara Raughley!

Hello everyone! For the first review of this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC that I got via NetGalley (thank you once again Strange Chemistry for the auto-approval!).

This one is part of ARC April and my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

Feather Bound by Sarah Raughley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


First of all I want to thank Strange Chemistry for having me auto-approved on NetGalley, so I'm always just a click away from their very unique and fresh books!

Feather Bound had a very unique premise, and was instantly drawn to a story in present time based on the Swan Maidens folk tales. I found I had some issues with the pacing on occasion, but still was a very unique read.

Deanna lives in a world where you can discover all of a sudden that you are Swan, which leaves you vulnerable to human trafficking of a sort that's even more horrible than the already awful one that exists out there. Once someone possesses a Swan's feathers they essentially own them and have their loyalty. The Swan will always have to return home and won't be able to speak against them. That means people are sold into slavery, wives stay with abusive husbands and lovers have to stay with someone they wouldn't even touch otherwise... It can be used as a metaphor for what control and power other people have over it, but here you can't really break free from it on your own, since you are compelled and bound by your own nature.

Deanna and her family had rather dysfunctional dynamics, with a sister that married up and nearly forgot about her family, a father that could never get over losing his lucrative job and then losing his wife, and Ade & Dee who seem to be trying to go on with their life dealing with their mother's death and their poor situation the best in their own way.

The plot was a bit confusing in this one at times, I wasn't entirely sure if it was about Deanna's family, the Swans or Dee & Hyde's romance. In the end, once the book is finished, I'd say it was a bit of a mish mash of everything, and maybe that was what made the book not work better for me. Seemed like the author wanted to juggle all those lines and sometimes you weren't entirely sure how to make them fit together. They came together in the end, but it wasn't always smooth sailing.

Deanna took a while to warm up to... at first I liked her a lot, but then she took a turn for the insecure and fragile in a way that was a lil irritating. I liked her much better once she decided to take action and find a way to turn things around, even if the plans weren't fool proof or worked exactly as she would have wanted.

The ending was quite satifying, most loose ends tied up, with plenty of reinforcement on the fact that communication is important! 3 to 3.5 to this one.



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