Friday Reads: My Hellion, My Heart by Amalie Howard and Angie Page: ARC Review!!!

Hello guys!

*once again dusts off blog*


I keep on trying to return to more regular blogging and I keep on failing... but I really don't want to give up on my blog!

I love books, I love sharing that love with the world and I love shouting about the books I love and helping authors get the word out there about their books, so how come I'm failing SO MUCH at blogging and reviewing??

Today I want to share my love for the latest installment on a historial romance series I've adored from two authors I love, Amalie Howard and Angie Page! Big shout out to my girl Alyssa of The Eater of Books for getting me into reading more romance and giving historical romance a try, btw! *waves at Alyssa*

I was so lucky to be approved for an early ARC on Netgalley for My Hellion, My Heart by the publisher, (THANK YOU!!!) but you guys can grab the book right now because it published this Monday, so GO GET IT!


My Hellion, My Heart by Amalie Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm what I'd call a recent convert of the historical romance genre, so I'm by no means an expert but I've so thoroughly adored this entire series!

I really loved the previous books in the series, and I thought that the previous book, My Darling, My Disaster, all about North and Lana would be my favourite because I adored both characters since they were first introduced, BUT I was wrong! From the moment I started this one, Irina and Henry became my absolute favourites!

We met Irina as Lana's spirited little sister and when we meet her at the beginning of the book a few years have passed, but she's lost none of her spirit! As a princess she's a darling of society but also considered a bit of a hellion. She's been avoiding London and its season but finally returns after being nudged there by her friend, to both be closer to her sister and secretly to see again her first love.

I simply loved the interactions between Irina and Henry, there was so much chemistry from the very first moment! I had been a bit concerned about the age difference and how it would play in their relationship, but I soon realized it was handled great, without adding creepiness to the initial interactions between them in the previous book.

Henry has gone through so much since the previous book... When we met him, he was in the service of the Crown and on dangerous missions, but now he's trying and somewhat failing to return to normal life and Society. He's clearly suffering from PTSD after having survived very dangerous missions and having been captured and tortured as a spy & prisioner of war. He also feels rather guilty about his intense attraction to Irina, since she had been his ward as a young girl.

I love how Irina decided to own her fears and fight them and not let Society dictate her actions, because as a princess she has so many eyes on her but she also has a freedom that not many people enjoyed. She decided that she would not fight her love and attraction to Henry, even if she felt it made vulnerable, and once she saw it was not entirely one-sided, she decided to fight and get Henry to accept it and stop fighting the attraction.

Amalie and Angie did an amazing job to show the vulnerabilities and strenghts of both characters and how they could understand and help each other, and not just their amazing chemistry (have I mention that the attraction and sexual chemistry was so well done and off the charts? because oh boy, it so was!).

There's a thread of mystery and intrigue all along the book but it explodes towards the end, with betrayal and danger in a way that I wasn't expecting and that added that "dammit, not that everything seemed to finally be going well!" sort of feeling and I'm so very happy with how it was resolved!

All in all, an amazing book that I've loved! I really hope that Amalie and Angie will co-write many more historical romance books because I will be devouring them all!! 4.5 to 5 stars for sure!


View all my reviews

The Broken Ones by Danielle L Jensen Cover Reveal!!!

Hello there guys!!

The blog has been a bit abandoned as of late, as I'm sure you've noticed, but I'm hoping to recover enough motivation soon enough to start blogging more often and get back in the swing of things, after all, it's not like I've stopped reading at all!

Today I'm cleaning the cobwebs from the blog to take part in a cover reveal I'm extremely excited about!

I've always been a big fan of The Malediction Trilogy by Danielle L Jensen since I read the first book, Stolen Songbird and my love and excitement for the series continued through the next two books, Hidden Huntress & Warrior Witch.

So when Danielle announced that she was writing a prequel all about Marc & Penelope's story, I was beyond happy! I felt so much for Marc and had always wondered about their story, so having the chance to read it now makes this little bookworm very happy!

I'm so very happy to take part of the cover reveal for The Broken Ones, the story of Marc and Penelope!!

And without further ado, I'll just let you feast your eyes on THE PRETTEEEEEH!!!

Also, there's a giveaway at the bottom of the post, so don't forget to check it out!! ;)





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A prequel to the USA Today bestseller and Goodreads Choice finalist Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy).

Below Forsaken Mountain, a revolution stirs with the aim to overthrow the tyrant king of Trollus, and Marc is the right hand of its leader. It’s a secret more than one troll would kill to possess, which is why he must keep it from everyone, even the girl he loves.

Since a tragic accident revealed her affliction and ruined her sister’s chance at the throne, Pénélope is an anathema to her father, the Duke d’Angoulême. Deeming her life worthless, he gives her one chance to survive: find proof that the boy she loves is a leader in the sympathizer revolution.

Marc and Pénélope must navigate the complex politics of Trollus, where powers on all sides are intent on using them as pawns, forcing them to risk everything for a chance at a life together.

Except being together might be the greatest risk of all.

RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2017 (Angry Robot)

 If you guys haven't read the trilogy yet, I'm gonna leave the links to all three books down here, you're welcome!! ;)

Stolen Songbird

Hidden Huntress

Warrior Witch

 About the author:

Danielle L. Jensen was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. At the insistence of the left side of her brain, she graduated from the University of Calgary with a bachelor’s degree in finance. But the right side of her brain has ever been mutinous, and it sent her back to school to complete an entirely impractical English literature degree at Mount Royal University. Much to her satisfaction, the right side shows no sign of relinquishing its domination.

Danielle L. Jensen is the USA Today bestselling author of The Malediction Trilogy: Stolen Songbird, Hidden Huntress, and Warrior Witch

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

GIVEAWAY

Angry Robot is giving away four sets of paperbacks (to be sent when the finished copies of The Broken Ones are available), plus signed swag (bookmarks & bookplates)

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Street Team: A Shadow Bright & Burning by Jessica Cluess!!!

Sunday Street Team is organized by Nori @ ReadWriteLove28. SST is a cross between a blog tour and street team for a couple different titles each month. As the title suggests, the posts go up on Sundays!

Go here to learn more about SST.

2016 is full of amazing debuts and today I'm helping promote & shine a spotlight to one of my most awaited and the beginning of a new YA fantasy trilogy: A Shadow Bright & Burning by Jessica Cluess!

I'm gonna give you some information about the book and authors and will also be sharing my review!

A Shadow Bright & Burning by Jessica Cluess

I am Henrietta Howel.
The first female sorcerer in hundreds of years.
The prophesied one.
Or am I?

Henrietta Howel can burst into flames.
Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she's shocked when instead of being executed, she's invited to train as one of Her Majesty's royal sorcerers.

Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her.

But Henrietta Howel is not the chosen one.
As she plays a dangerous game of deception, she discovers that the sorcerers have their own secrets to protect. With battle looming, what does it mean to not be the one? And how much will she risk to save the city—and the one she loves?

Exhilarating and gripping, Jessica Cluess's spellbinding fantasy introduces a powerful, unforgettably heroine, and a world filled with magic, romance, and betrayal. Hand to fans of Libba Bray, Sarah J. Maas, and Cassandra Clare.

 About the author:



JESSICA CLUESS is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel. When she's not writing books, she's an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories.

REVIEW

 An excellent debut and very promising first book in a new fantasy series!

Herrietta is our main character and she's always been a survivor in a world where women are second class citizens at best, and were women & magic equals witch and witch equals death. As someone with magic she's been scared & hiding her powers all her life and when she's discovered, her life is shaken upside down, but not by the threat she expected at all!

This book might seem to be going through often throd paths when it comes to setting, as it's Victorian London, with the constrictions and customs of the time, and when magic is added to the mix, we keep on thinking it'll be the magic we know well and true, and very early on we start to see that none of the tropes and cliches to be expected will remain so.

Jessica Cluess does an amazing job at building a different system of magic from the ones we've usually seen, nothing that we haven't seen before, not really, but mixed and done fresh and differently! Same with the world and mythology of it, and we keep discovering how different things are from the expected route along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed having my expectations turned upside down and being wrong about what might come next!

We get a heroine that is NOT the chosen one but will not back down from doing what she can in the fight and in challenging the prejudices of society. We get some light romance because it's very much on the side and even if it's not a linear romance, it's also not clearly stablished as any sort of geometrical shape either. There's a very close relationship with a childhood friend & ally that could be something more but undefined and unexplored, and there's a certain entanglement of attraction with another fellow magic user but that's cut short very wisely. And there's something that might be nothing that's the one I'm rooting for because apparently I like things complicated!

We get quite a few revelations that shake not only our preconceptions but also the characters' knowledge of their world and history or at least what they thought they know, and although that leaves us really looking forward to what's to come in the next book(s), it manages to avoid the utter pain of a cliffhanger, which I was extremely thankful for!

Fantasy can have many well known characteristics and tropes and they can still be used to construe a fresh and original story, and this book is proof of that! 4 to 4.5 stars to this one!

GIVEAWAY

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Unrest by Wendy Higgins Cover Reveal!!!

Hello there guys!!

I know I have been a bit scarce around the blog as of late but Twitter drama and spoilers and general crap has got my motivation on the very low, so I decided I needed a break from blogging too.

But today I am back to share with you the cover of the next installment in a series by one of my adored auto-buy athors: Wendy Higgins!!

Wendy has decided to become a hybrid author and self publish her newest series: Unknown! And today we're revealing the cover of the second book in said series: Unrest!!

Are you guys ready to see the drool worthy cover of Unrest???




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Unrest by Wendy Higgins
Release date: February 16th 2017

Being on the run in the desert means food and sanctuary are hard to come by, but Amber Tate and her crew are not about to give up. Not after having so many of the things they love brutally ripped from them by an unknown enemy who sent their world into the apocalypse.

 

Survival takes precedence, but once safe shelter is found, their guards fall and the emotions they’ve been holding in are finally released. Anger, insecurities...lust. In their tight quarters, Amber, Rylen, Tater, and Remy can't escape it. The past must be faced, and passions run even stronger in the darkest of times.
 

In the midst of unrest, their worlds are rocked again when they discover the truth about the war that’s ruined their lives. They thought finding out the enemy's identity would give them the edge; instead it’s revealed terrifying dangers they never thought possible.

I devoured Unknown in a few hours and loved it and I just cannot wait to get my hands on Unrest!!


If you guys want to check out Unknow here are a few links to grab it:

Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Book Depository

About the author:

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today and NYT bestselling author of the Sweet Evil series from HarperTeen, the high fantasy duology The Great Hunt, and her independently published Irish fantasy, See Me. She is a former high school English teacher who now writes full time, and lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her veterinarian husband, daughter, son, and doggie Rue.

Wendy earned a bachelor's in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford University 

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