Showing posts with label Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Series. Show all posts

October 9, 2016

Forgotten Book Reviews ~ Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

Whilst going through my archives I found a few book reviews that seem to have been overlooked and left unpublished... so here's the first from my 'forgotten book reviews' file!

~~~

Title: Menagerie (Menagerie #1)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: September 29th 2015
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley


When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town.

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.


The general meaning of Menagerie is a collection of wild animals kept and trained in captivity for exhibition, so I was interested in the concept of keeping animals/beings/mythical creatures in a fair-ground, much like the oddities in freak shows back in the day - or most recently as seen on television on the show American Horror Story (Season 4, 2014). And I've always been a sucker for myths and legends, so I was intrigued as to how this story would bring all the elements of story together.

I liked the beginning - it had a definite changeling (Irish/Scottish) folklore feel to it and I was immediately sucked in, such a promising start. The flash forward to her 12 year old self was okay - but it didn't really follow on the anticipation of the introduction. And then another time jump to 'present' day. *note: I'm not a fan of the multiple time jumping thing unless it completely affects future narrative and/or is actually at time travel novel (in hindsight - not so much).

TBH - Dililah is boring. Boring life. Boring job. Boring boyfriend. Just boring. And I guess that's the point - she needs to grow as a person once she 'reveals' herself, it's a plot point - only it doesn't really work because she stays consistently boring! There are no high points or light points of story line to really get you motivated to root for her character and the possible romance factor is on such a slow burn it may in fact fizzle out - and for all their abilities/talents/weirdness - nothing of any importance ever really happens. It's all too even keeled which really is a shame. The potential for this story to blow your mind is right there - and yet its totally overlooked in favor of a 'nice' read.

I also was not a fan of the news 'snippets' interspersed amongst the chapters in an attempt to clarify 'the reaping' that had occurred - it just tended to add mud to an already murky story line.

So while I was not impressed at all by this book, I am curious to see if the author can improve on the story next time around, so I may give book #2 a look.

I so wanted this to be an epic story... but with very little light and shade, it was just mediocre at best - 2 stars



September 24, 2016

Challenge Completed! Book Review ~ Spark by Rachael Craw


Title: Spark (Spark #1)
Author: Rachael Craw
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Release Date: July 1st 2014
Source: Purchased

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.


Goodreads Link




Initially, I simply set out to read a book from cover-to-cover without getting distracted and losing interest as my recent track record has been - but very quickly, all that changed...

Spark is the first book in a YA trilogy about genetically engineered people with superhuman powers and a creepy secret organisation that tries to control everything and everyone associated with it (it has a very cool 'The Tomorrow People' vibe to it).

Evie is an average girl who has just buried her mother and she's trying to adjust to living with her aunt - but right off the bat you know she's sick, you know that weird stuff is about to go down, and it is so, so good.

If you love young dystopian novels like The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, and Divergent; there are definitely those same crazy institutional overlord vibes going on within the Affinity Project (the bad guys) but Spark is so much more than that - it has fabulous friendships, amazing first loves, and super awesome secrets that hold you to the edge of your seat!

And the writing is so damn good - I saw it all playing out in my head! The author has an incredible talent for painting such lifelike scenes, I actually felt like I was watching a CW show. (Supergirl, The Flash, Supernatural, Legends of Tomorrow, TVD, iZombie, Arrow, etc, etc, etc, I am a CW show fa-na-tic!! and Spark would totally rule as a CW show!!)

Full of twists and turns, mystery, adventure, and forbidden desire - Spark is a roller coaster read and quite easily the best YA book I've read in a very long time. And as an added bonus, I described this book to my fourteen year old and it's now on her tbr pile, and honestly, my nine year old is lining up to read it too and as a parent, any book that will get my kids off their devices is a blessing!

Spark is a heart poundingly good read and completely deserving of a 5 star rating.



September 21, 2016

Challenging Myself...

My reading record of late has been a bit dismal and so I'm setting myself a little reading challenge.

I've chosen a book by a New Zealand author that I've seen popping up on all my social media feeds recently - Spark by Rachael Craw.

I've had a copy of this book on my tbr pile for quite some time but the third book in the series just released earlier this month and my feeds have been flooded with lots of beautiful cover art and I'm hearing fabulous things - so its time to dust my copy off and take the plunge!

The challenge is... I want to get this book read within a week - considering the reading funk I've been in of late it may be harder than it sounds - however, I've only heard great feedback so I'm hoping to finish it much sooner!

Here's the cover and blurb for those that might like to take a look...


Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.

Goodreads Link







April 27, 2016

Cover Reveal ~ Scorched Fury by T.G. Ayer

     
Releases on May 10, 2016
In the 5th book in the SkinWalker series, Panther shifter Kailin Odel is bombarded with problems. The Great Ash Trees - supernatural guardian trees of the DarkWorld - are dying, and Kai enlists the help of MetalSinger & Fae Queen Tara to find those who threaten the stability of all the realms. Then, Logan - still in his cryo-induced coma - makes a request of Kai that she cannot refuse. "Save her." Whether Logan lives or dies, Kai is determined to fulfil her promise to find the girl from Logan's memories and help him find peace. What Kai doesn't expect is to find her in a world on the brink of extinction, a world Kai didn't even know existed. But there is more at stake than a missing girl. Can she keep her promises or will it be an impossible ask? Filled with grief, and blossoming passion, redemption, and growing hope, Scorched Fury reveals secrets long buried and brings together a band of friends who are destined to one day save the DarkWorld.
 
Haven't started the Skin Walker Series yet? The first one is FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

Abandoned by her mother and raised by her aloof Alpha father, panther shifter Kailin Odel has finally found a way to feel like she makes a difference. Discovering her unique power to track Wraith's, Kailin moonlights as a Hunter - ridding the streets of Chicago of these soul-sucking demons. Her human friends have no idea the supernatural worlds exists alongside theirs. No idea shifter and demons walk in the shadows. And Kai prefers to keep it that way.
Until she discovers the body of a murdered shifter, and is quickly embroiled in a world of supernatural drug-dealing and renegade shifters who leave a trail of blood and mayhem wherever they go.
When Logan Westin, paranormal investigator and super-hot human, begins investigating the murder Kai refuses to allow her feelings to control her. Humans are off-limits, no matter how sizzlingly sexy they are. But can Kai keep him at bay? And does she even want to?
In her quest to find the killer Kai inadvertently puts her friends' life in danger and brings her to the attention of the sadistic shifter killer. Her comfortable life is gone, her friend murdered, and shifters are disappearing around her. To survive and to save her friends, Kai must allow herself to trust Logan, to give her scarred heart to someone again.

About T.G. Ayer


I have been a writer since I was old enough to recognize that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse and am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It's a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each others loves - it works wonderfully...
My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. The other half of me has been transplanted to the island of New Zealand. A land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands - I shall forever remain crosseyed.
 

November 16, 2015

Cover Reveal ~ Perfekt Control by S.T. Bende

COVER REVEAL

PERFEKT CONTROL
THE ÆRE SAGA: BOOK TWO

Genre: Upper YA Paranormal/Fantasy (Norse Mythology) Release Date: February 9, 2016

Rule the realms.

Brynn Aksel is a valkyrie—a battle goddess tasked with protecting both the God of War and the future of Asgard. She fends off giants and dark elves with an iron fist, a glossy smile, and no less than perfekt control. She’s focused one-hundred-percent on rising through the valkyrie ranks, and not at all on her lifelong crush on Henrik Andersson—the one guy in all the realms who could be her undoing.

Henrik serves as War’s other bodyguard, and he’s too focused on protecting their shared charge to realize that Brynn’s a girl. When an unprecedented surge of darkness abducts the Goddess of Love, Brynn’s already-steely focus is singularly directed on her new assignment—accompany Henrik to recover the realms’ source of light before the cosmos descends into chaos.

While battling demons, dragons, and the not-quite-dead, it becomes clear that immortality does not equal invincibility. And when Hel herself puts a hit on Brynn, the valkyrie has to decide if staying in control is worth losing everything . . . or if it’s time to rule the realms.

Pre-Order Links

Add PERFEKT CONTROL to your Goodreads TBR

AUTHOR BIO:
Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, S.T. Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of McVities cookies. Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired the books of The Elsker Saga and The Ære Saga. She hopes her characters make you smile and that one day, waffles will be considered a health food.

Find S.T. on Twitter @stbende, her website (www.stbende.com), or send her an e-mail. While you're at it, introduce yourself to @UllMyhr and @TyrFredriksen -- when they’re not saving the cosmos from dark elves, they love meeting new friends . . . especially the human kind.

Want to connect with fellow Norse god fans? S.T.'s readers have created a Facebook group! Head over to the RagnaRockstars page to chat with other readers, talk with S.T., and get access to exclusive content... including Ull POVs and sneak peeks at upcoming Ære Saga books!

AUTHOR LINKS
Connect with ST Bende at:

TUR is currently available for FREE to newsletter subscribers!

Skål, y’all!






October 12, 2015

Cover Reveal ~ She Will Be Loved by Theresa Troutman




Three very different girls searching for love.

Everyone deserves a happy ending, that’s what Penny Stanton thought. Only her ending was anything but happy after her husband died. Her friends had been an amazing support system over the year following Maxwell’s death, but there was a hole in Penny’s heart she felt would never heal. Can an old flame reignite her passion and make her take a second chance on love?

Mattie Irons was rambunctious, charming, and smart. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes until her baby brother was born. Her parents, especially her mother, spent more time cooing over the infant than paying attention to Mattie. Now Mattie is feeling unloved, leaving Sebastian and Tess searching for a way to abate their daughter’s fears.

Kate Hamilton has made the move to England to be with her daughter and son-in-law. Her new upper-crust English life style is a long way from middle class suburbia in America. She volunteers at the local children’s hospital and helps Tess raise the children. Yet Sutton castle is a large building and it, along with its butler, are very intimidating. Can she adapt to this new life as her daughter did and find love again?

She Will Be Loved will be released on October 26, 2015!

Add to your Goodreads TBR:







In this series:

Life's What You Make It

Love This Life
  
London Loves
 Paperback: http://goo.gl/Dhhh1L


By My Side (Free with Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback:  http://goo.gl/bhSEpq

My Secret Summer
Google Play: bit.ly/1qzrtIw

A Special Connection

Theresa Troutman also writes erotic taboo tales as T.S. Irons
(her naughty personality)

Stepdaddy Dom

Sibling Rivalry

My Wicked Stepsister




Theresa Troutman lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their crazy dog, Niko. She loves reading, theatre and traveling. Her books include: My Secret Summer, A Special Connection and the Love's Great Adventure Series: Life's What You Make It and Love This Life and London Loves. Her most recent release is a contemporary second-change erotic romance called, By My Side.

Feel free to contact her on her:
https://twitter.com/TheresaTroutman    @theresatroutman 




October 8, 2015

Blog Tour Book Review & Giveaway ~ Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh





Kit and Noah’s rock star romance is finally here in the newest addition to Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss Series!! 



Kit Devigny could have loved rock guitarist Noah St. John. Their friendship burned with the promise of intense passion and searing tenderness…until the night Noah deliberately shattered her heart.

Noah knows he destroyed something precious the night he chose to betray Kit, but he’d rather she hate him than learn his darkest secret. All he has left is his music. It’s his saving grace, but it doesn’t silence the voices that keep him up at night. Chasing oblivion through endless one-night-stands, he earns a few hours’ sleep and his bad boy reputation.

When a media error sees Noah and Kit dubbed the new “it” couple, Kit discovers her chance at the role of a lifetime hinges on riding the media wave. Wanting—needing—to give Kit this, even if he can’t give her everything, Noah agrees to play the adoring boyfriend. Only the illusion is suddenly too real, too painful, too beautiful…and it may be too late for the redemption of Noah St. John.


NOW AVAILABLE
 

I've been waiting for Noah and Kit's story for what seems like forever and finally it's here!

Noah and Kit have a genuine friendship, a real connection and more baggage than you can throw a stick at. Put to the test more than once they try to push past their differences and re-build their fractured relationship, but at every turn there is something keeping them apart - secrets.
 
Rock Redemption is far from a perfect love story - but life aint perfect people and that's what makes for an interesting story - seeing how people overcome adversity, fear and self loathing to carry on and thrive, becoming their true selves. This love story felt extra real to me because of the parallels between Noah and Kit's relationship and the one I have with my hubby - I love a good friends that become lovers story, even with a ton of drama along the way!

Funnily enough the one thing that I really liked about this story is also the thing that annoyed me - the amount of time it took for the friendship to finally blossom into a love story! Which was why I was only going to award RR 4 stars. However the delicacy with which a certain part of this story was told really stole my breath and deserves to bump it up a bit... so yeah, Rock Redemption gets 4 1/2 stars from me.

Excerpt from ROCK REDEMPTION 
by Nalini Singh

Kit groaned at the sound of her phone. Reaching out blindly toward the nightstand, she hurled mental curses upon herself for forgetting to turn it off so she could catch some uninterrupted sleep before her four-a.m. makeup call.
It’d be fun and great for her career, her agent had said when recommending Kit take the superhero flick. Coming off two serious and emotionally wrenching projects, Kit had taken Harper’s advice and jumped on board the high-budget, high-octane venture. Unfortunately, Harper had forgotten to mention the four hours it would take to put her into the head-to-toe makeup required for the role. Daily.
“What?” she snarled into the phone without checking to see who it was.
“Hey, Katie.”
Every cell in her body snapped wide awake. Lifting her eyelids, she just stared at the ceiling through gritty eyes. Her heart thumped, her throat moving convulsively as she swallowed. She hated that he could still do this to her, hated it, but her visceral response to Noah wasn’t something she could stop. She knew because she’d tried for the past two years and three months.
“Noah,” she said flatly. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Two fifteen,” he answered.
Kit should’ve hung up. God, he’d hurt her. So much. But there was something in his voice that had her sitting up. “Are you drunk?” One thing she knew about Noah: no matter his bad-boy rep, he was never wasted. He might give a good indication of it, but look closely and those dark gray eyes were always sober.
“Probably.” A silence, followed by, “I just wanted to hear your voice. Sorry for waking you.”
“Wait,” she said when he would’ve hung up. “Where are you?”
“Some dive.” He took a deep breath, released it in a harsh exhale. “I’m sorry for being an asshole. I wanted to tell you that. I don’t want to go without saying that.”
“Noah,” she said, a horrible feeling in her stomach. “Where exactly are you?”
“The Blue Flamingo Inn off Hollywood Boulevard. Far, far, far off.” He laughed, and it held no humor. “It has a neon sign of a blue—surprise!—flamingo that’s flashing right through my window. Looks like someone stole the curtains.”
Having already grabbed her laptop, which she’d left beside the bed after answering some e-mails before sleep claimed her, she found the Blue Flamingo Inn. But Noah was already gone, having said, “I love your voice, Kit,” in an oddly raw tone before hanging up.
He didn’t pick up when she called back.
“Damn it! Damn it!” She shoved aside the blanket under which she’d been buried, having turned the AC to ice-cold as she usually did at night. Shivering, she tugged on a pair of jeans and an old sweatshirt over the panties and tank top in which she’d gone to sleep.
Pulling her black hair into a rough ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, she ran through the house, phone in one pocket, credit card and driver’s license in the other. In the kitchen, she grabbed her keys off the counter and shoved her feet into the tennis shoes by the door that led to the garage.
She was in her car and on the way to the motel three minutes after Noah had hung up, mouth dry and an ugliness in her gut. “Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay,” she kept saying, the mantra doing nothing to calm her down, but at least it kept her mind focused.
She wanted to call Molly and Fox, or the others in the band, but no one was currently in the city. Schoolboy Choir had completed the final show in the band’s hugely successful tour just over two weeks earlier. Day after that, they’d all gone their separate ways to recharge and regroup.
“Much as I love these guys,” David had said with a grin that reached the dark gold of his eyes, “I’ve been looking at their ugly mugs daily for months. We need to go blow off some steam separately before we start snarling at each other.”
At the time, Kit had nodded in understanding, having had that same experience while working on location for long periods. Tonight, however, she wished the others were all here, not scattered across the country, because something was very wrong with Noah.
 “Noah doesn’t do drugs,” she told herself as she drove as fast as she dared, not wanting to risk getting pulled over and further delayed. “He isn’t the kind to—” She couldn’t say it, couldn’t even think of Noah ending his life. “No,” she said firmly, her hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel. “Noah isn’t like that.”

If you’d like to read the rest of this chapter, as well as the next, click this link: http://nalinisingh.com/books/rock-kiss-series/rock-redemption/






The Rock Kiss Reading Order

Rock Addiction (Book One) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/WqA2rj
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9piir
Nook: http://bit.ly/1t5T7Zt
iTunes: http://bit.ly/1ng9zE9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1lPqB19

Rock Courtship (Book 1.5) A Rock Kiss Novel

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/XXjjxG
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9pmhZ
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1lzgNIi
Nook: http://bit.ly/1COgaC6
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1pEeCy6

Rock Hard (Book Two) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1BXhHWB
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1G9oslz
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1utQDee
Nook: http://bit.ly/1KEyBIx
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1APyqnU

Rock Redemption (Book Three) Rock Kiss Series

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1hP7G54
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1XBZsOB
Nook:http://bit.ly/1VIYkH2
iBooks: http://apple.co/1ITi0i7
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1VIYoXo


Meet The Author
 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling, Guild Hunter, and Rock Kiss series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a beautiful, charismatic guitarist with a dark past. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.

Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. Also, don't forget to swing by the site to check out the special behind-the-scenes page for the Rock Kiss series, complete with photos of many of the locations used in the books.

STALK HER: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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