The Artisans Blog Tour Review & Giveaway!

About the Author

Born in Ohio, I lived next to my grandfather’s horse farm until the fourth grade. Summers were about riding, fishing and make-believe, while winter brought sledding and ice-skating on frozen ponds. Most of life was magical, but not all.

I struggled with multiple learning disabilities, did not excel in school. I spent much of my time looking out windows and daydreaming. In the fourth grade (with the help of one very nice teacher) I fought dyslexia for my right to read, like a prince fights a dragon in order to free the princess locked in a tower, and I won.

Afterwards, I read like a fiend. I invented stories where I could be the princess… or a gifted heroine from another world who kicked bad guy butt to win the heart of a charismatic hero. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Later, I moved to Florida where I continued to fantasize about superpowers and monsters, fabricating stories (my mother called it lying) and sharing them with my friends.

Then I thought I’d write one down…

Hooked, I’ve been writing ever since. I write historical, contemporary, urban fantasy, adventure, and young adult romances. I love strong heroines, sweeping tales of mystery and epic adventure… which must include a really hot guy. My writing is proof you can work hard to overcome any obstacle. Don’t give up. I say, if you write, write on!

☆ How to find Julie ☆
Website ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook ☆ Goodreads

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About the Book

They say death can be beautiful. But after the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old Raven Weathersby gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, barely surviving life in the South Carolina lowlands.

To make ends meet, Raven works after school as a seamstress creating stunning works of fashion that often rival the great names of the day.

Instead of making things easier on the high school senior, her stepdad's drinking leads to a run in with the highly reclusive heir to the Maddox family fortune, Gideon Maddox.

But Raven's stepdad's drying out and in no condition to attend the meeting with Maddox. So Raven volunteers to take his place and offers to repay the debt in order to keep the only father she's ever known out of jail, or worse.

Gideon Maddox agrees, outlining an outrageous demand: Raven must live in his home for a year while she designs for Maddox Industries' clothing line, signing over her creative rights.

Her handsome young captor is arrogant and infuriating to the nth degree, and Raven can't imagine working for him, let alone sharing the same space for more than five minutes.

But nothing is ever as it seems. Is Gideon Maddox the monster the world believes him to be? And can he stand to let the young seamstress see him as he really is?

☆ Where to find The Artisans ☆
Amazon ☆ Barnes & Noble ☆ Kobo ☆ The Book Depository
☆ Goodreads ☆

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☆ Mindy's Review ☆

My rating
Story Elements

THE ARTISANS is a Beauty and the Beast retelling that takes place in an urban setting with a southern gothic feel to it. While reading, you get the sense that there is something paranormal involved, and many times I felt on edge as I got an eerie feeling while reading this intense story. But figuring out the paranormal element is part of the mystery to this story AND…OMG…it’s all so freaky!

The story primarily takes place at a “Victorian monstrosity” (Giddeon Maddox’s mansion)…a place where Raven Weathersby reluctantly agrees to live while designing clothing to pay off her alcoholic gambler-of-a-step-father’s debt.

Writing Style

I really like Julie Reece’s writing style and I felt like I was able to read THE ARTISANS really fast. Julie’s world building and character development were exceptionally compelling, so much so that she was able to connect me to the story while also compelling me to continue reading.

Characters

I can’t say that I always agreed with Raven’s actions, but I couldn’t help but really like her character. She would do anything for the people she loves. That’s why it’s so easy to understand the reason why she gave up her freedom for her stepfather. And, even though I’m not artistic, I would love to see someone put together some of the outfits she designs. They sound fantastic!

Maggie and Dane are the best-est friends anyone could hope to ask for. I love Maggie’s personality; she’s hilarious. And Dane is so caring and sweet that he seems to worry about and wants to take care of everyone.

Gideon is extremely mysterious! The intensity he portrays throughout the story is what keeps you on edge. I kept craving for him to appear on every page just so I could figure him out.

Final thought

I tried to be really cautious in this review to avoid spoilers, but I have to say that I’m obsessed with this book! I don’t think anyone could have prepared me for the story twists! And the romance is insanely intense! I can’t wait for everyone to experience this book because it is so freakin’ good!






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This is a tour hosted giveaway!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of The Artisans by Julie Reece (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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☆ The Tour ☆
Week One:
5/18/2015 Novel Novice – Guest Post
5/18/2015 The Mama Games – Review
5/19/2015 Magical Urban Fantasy Reads – Review
5/19/2015 The A P Book Club – Guest Post
5/20/2015 Jorie Loves A Story – Interview
5/20/2015 Book Hounds YA – Spotlight/Promo
5/21/2015 Paper Cuts – Review
5/21/2015 Two Chicks on Books – Guest Post
5/22/2015 Simple Wyrdings – Review
5/22/2015 The Page Unbound – Spotlight/Promo
5/23/2015 Bitches n Prose – Spotlight/Promo
5/23/2015 YA Chit Chat – Review
5/24/2015 Diana’s Book Reviews – Review


Week Two:
5/25/2015 We Do Write – Interview
5/26/2015 On Writing and Riding – Interview
5/27/2015 The Shadow Realm – Review
5/27/2015 Kimber Leigh Writes – Review
5/28/2015 A Thousand Words A Million Books – Review
5/28/2015 Reader Girls – Review
5/28/2015 Mundie Moms – Review
5/29/2015 Beauty and the Bookshelf – Guest Post
5/29/2015 Tale of the Ravenous Reader – Interview
5/30/2015 Wishful Endings – review
5/31/2015 A Book Addict’s Bookshelves – Guest Post
5/31/2015 Jennifer M. Eaton – Review

Tour Stop! Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers + Giveaway!

About the Author

Robin LaFevers was raised on a steady diet of fairy tales, Bulfinch’s mythology, and 19th century poetry. It is not surprising she grew up to be a hopeless romantic.

Though she has never trained as an assassin or joined a convent, she did attend Catholic school for three years, which instilled in her a deep fascination with sacred rituals and the concept of the Divine. She has been on a search for answers to life’s mysteries ever since.

While many of those answers still elude her, she was lucky enough to find her one true love, and is living happily ever after with him in the foothills of southern California.

In addition to writing about teen assassin nuns in medieval Brittany, she writes books for middle grade readers, including the Theodosia books and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series. You can learn more about those books at www.rllafevers.com.

☆ How to find Robin ☆
Website ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook ☆ Goodreads ☆ Pinterest ☆ Tumblr

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Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn't mean she has...

My take: This book was so flipping good that I ate it alive! In Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers reminds us how remarkably brilliant she is at crafting riveting historical novels, and she ended this trilogy phenomenally; but I’m super sad that it’s all over. I sure hope Robin will write a spin-off.

I loved how, with each book in this series, we follow a different character in the His Fair Assassin trilogy, and I appreciated how different, yet connected, each book was in this series. In the first book, we have a girl that has lived a life of pure hatred toward men where finding a purpose in life allows her to have an outlet for her hatred . . . and love. In book two, we have a girl that is severely mentally disturbed who has tried everything to escape the hauntings of her past but the past eventually catches up to her and blows up . . . and it’s horrifying. And in this last book, we have a girl that helped train girls to be Death’s assassin, she watches each assassin get their assignment but she never does and all she wants to do is serve her god. This last book is about discovering who this girl, Annith, really is and discovering her purpose in life.

There are a few truly insane twists throughout this book. While reading it, I felt like I was continuously engaged in a guessing game to help figure out where Annith’s story was going to go. Annith was an insanely good eaves-dropper and investigator throughout this series. She always wanted to know the “why” of every situation and circumstance. But there were times Annith would hardly give the evidence in front of her face the smallest bit of notice, where even I could see it plainly, and I wanted to yell at her through the pages to open her dang eyes! The storyline in Mortal Heart was well laid out, but it really was the unexpected plot twists that made this story phenomenal.

There were many things in this trilogy that were dramatically changed by how this story ended, and there were also new, exciting elements that were introduced in this book. The story ended beautifully, but because of the new elements that were introduced in this book, I’m hoping that a spin-off will be revealed soon.




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This is a tour hosted giveaway!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

☆ The Tour ☆
Week One:
10/27/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post
10/28/2014- Katie's Book Blog- Review
10/29/2014- Once Upon a Twilight- Interview
10/30/2014- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Review
10/31/2014- Reading YA Rocks- Guest Post



Week Two:
11/3/2014- Mundie Moms- Review
11/4/2014- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview
11/5/2014- The Starry-Eyed Revue- Review
11/6/2014- Step Into Fiction- Interview
11/7/2014- Parajunkee- Guest Post

Tour Stop! Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch + Giveaway!

Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, the first in a trilogy, comes out October 14, 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures.

☆ How to find Sara ☆
Tumblr ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook ☆ Goodreads ☆ Pinterest

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Publisher’s summary: Game of Thrones meets Graceling in this striking fantasy tale of dark magic, dangerous politics, and discovering your true self. Sara Raasch’s debut fantasy is a lightning-fast story of loyalty, love, and controlling one’s destiny.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. The Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been searching for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild their kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, Winter’s future king—she would do anything to help Winter rise to power again. So when scouts discover the location of half of the ancient locket that can restore their magic, Meira decides to go after it herself—only to find herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics, and to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

My take: I absolutely loved Snow Like Ashes! This book has it all . . . chaos, betrayal, heartache, torment, despair and bloodshed . . . all the while still including moments of friendship, loyalty, sacrifice and love. I’m absolutely blown away with everything that happened and I’m more than a little excited to read anything else written by Sara Raasch; more importantly, I’m dying for the next book in the Snow Like Ashes series.

My all-time favorite aspect of this book is the character build. We immediately start to learn the unique personalities of these characters, and Meira is the perfect heroine for this series. As each character is introduced, you almost immediately have feelings of admiration for the character or utter hate. There is nothing better than a story where you can actual have as much hate toward a villain as do the characters in the book. Or when there is a betrayal, you feel as though that knife was plunged into your back right along with the character. I have to say to Sara, “Now that’s talent!” Normally I’d pick several characters to talk about at this point along with the specifics of my love, my hate or my anger towards them, but I’m scared I might spoil something by expressing my feelings about any one character. Well . . . I will give you a shout-out about two characters. First, I have a huge crush on Theron and, second, Nessa is just so dang cute. Both characters you will not meet right away. Is that good enough?

The world Sara created in this book is truly phenomenal, even though I have to admit that I’m a little confused over the differences between the Seasons and the Rhythms and all that. But I absolutely loved the politics! Oh! My! Gosh! There is so much betrayal, backstabbing and desperation when it comes to the politics that it’s just plain crazy! And then when someone actually does recognize the need to be self-sacrificing, it even turns out worse when it doesn’t even work out the way they wanted it to. Or, worse, when it doesn’t work out at all! INSANE I tell ya!!!

I love how, in only one book, there are so many changes in scenery as we get to see the characters’ lives from multiple angles. And, oh my! I’m sitting here thinking that Snow Like Ashes was going to be like most books where we have a storyline that might lead to a crazy insane ending…but no! Sara wants to give us the entire craziness right smack in the middle! Because, even though there are some crazy action scenes throughout the book, something really big happens right smack in the middle, and it completely changes things! Or does it? I’m going to stop now . . . or I might end up taking away some of the awesomeness of this book by telling you about things that happen. All I’ll say is that, at that point smack in the middle of the story, the scenery completely changes again…to very dark. But Sara doesn’t leave it there . . . and there are still tons of moments of heart pounding intensity, with an ending that leaves me craving for more.


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This is a tour hosted giveaway!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

☆ The Tour ☆
Week One:
10/6/2014- Bookish- Interview
10/7/2014- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Review
10/8/2014- Bewitched Bookworms- Guest Post
10/9/2014- Fictitious Delicious- Review
10/10/2014- Adventures of a Book Junkie- Interview


Week Two:
10/13/2014- Fiction Freak- Review
10/14/2014- Dark Faerie Tales- Interview
10/15/2014- Fiktshun- Guest Post
10/16/2014- IceyBooks- Review
10/17/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

The Treatment by Suzanne Young

Publisher’s summary: Can Sloane and James survive the lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end? Find out in this sequel to The Program, which Publishers Weekly called “chilling and suspenseful.”

How do you stop an epidemic?

Sloane and James are on the run after barely surviving the suicide epidemic and The Program. But they’re not out of danger. Huge pieces of their memories are still missing, and although Sloane and James have found their way back to each other, The Program isn’t ready to let them go.

Escaping with a group of troubled rebels, Sloane and James will have to figure out who they can trust, and how to take down The Program. But for as far as they’ve come, there’s still a lot Sloane and James can’t remember. The key to unlocking their past lies with the Treatment—a pill that can bring back forgotten memories, but at a high cost. And there’s only one dose.

Ultimately when the stakes are at their highest, can Sloane and James survive the many lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end?

My Take: CRAZINESS!!! The last half of this book gave me such crazy anxiety it’s not even funny! It was a build-up of a heck of a lot of crap that my mind and emotions had a hard time handling it. But it was soooooo good, and the ending was phenomenal! This book made me a huge fan of Suzanne Young, and I’m so sad that it’s over!

The first part of the book had me getting reacquainted with the characters and getting sucked back into the scary paranoid life of the teens in this duology. And speaking of sucked…since Sloane doesn’t have her memories from before The Program (and since it has been a year since I read The Program), it took me some time to figure out the “who, what, and where” of this story. But that didn’t cause any problems with me enjoying The Treatment because the writing and the continued story-line was so intriguing that I was completely absorbed into the story.

One thing I loved about this book was the rollercoaster of emotions it put me through. Throughout the entire book, I agonized over who I thought Sloane should trust when she would get to those dark, depressive states. I think it would be horrifying to be a teen living in a world like this. The other thing I loved about this book was learning to love and hate all of the characters right along with Sloane. Sloane is by far my favorite character in this book and there was only one time I was mad at her over her actions.

There were so many cans of worms opened in this book and so many unanswered questions from The Program that I never thought they could all be tied up in a duology. All along I kept thinking this series was going to be a trilogy and, as I was nearing the end of the book, I was getting a little freaked out thinking that I was going to have to wait a whole nuther year to relieve this anxiety. But IT.IS.OVER! And I couldn’t be more thrilled with how this book played out even though I’m so sad to say goodbye!

For those of you who haven’t read this series, read it now!

Special Feature! Author Rachel Clarke! ...I'm so excited!

About Rachel

Rachel Clarke has loved writing stories since the moment she figured out how to pick up a crayon and form letters and turn them into words and then sentences. While she has tried out many different career paths, writing has been and will always be her passion. And every so often, when she’s not working, reading or blogging about books, she tries to turn those ideas rattling around in her head into stories. Some of which can be found on her website.


☆ How to find Rachel ☆
Author Website ★ Fiktshun ★ Rockstar Book Tours
Facebook ★ Fiktshun Facebook ★ Twitter

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Her Awesomeness Stories!

The Cop and the...
Kilt, Stripper, Ex-Con & More

Author Summary: The Cop and the... is a series of fun and flirty short stories that chronicle the misadventures of Officer Mindy Harding. This first volume contains: The Cop and the Kilt - an introduction to Mindy, her sexy-but-disapproving partner Maxwell Stone and a rather memorable encounter with a drunk and disorderly on her first day as a police officer; The Cop and the Stripper - a story of revenge gone wrong as Mindy attempts to get payback but finds that getting one over on Stone isn't so easy; and The Cop and the Ex-Con – a stranded Mindy goes looking for a ride, but when a hot ex-con shows up willing to give her one, she's not entirely sure what kind of ride he's offering.


What I have to say: There are so many reasons why these stories are so special to me! But, first off, the thing I’m super excited about is that the main character’s name is “Mindy.” And it’s not a coincidence! Rachel named her after me!!! I’d also like to believe the main character’s physical attributes (like her blonde hair and blue eyes) are based after me too . . . but I’m not quite so sure about those parts so I’ll just have to quietly keep giving myself that bit of credit in my own head.

And speaking about taking credit, the only other thing I can take credit for is a twitter chat that Rachel and I had with Jaime (Two Chicks on Books) when the first story started to take shape. After Rachel wrote this totally hilarious story about Demon Ryder and her Ab-man Aximander, she asked us for another sexy, physical, dude-attribute that she could write about. And I said, “Rock. Hard. Thighs.” Yep, she took that and totally rolled with it! So, in the first story in The Cop and the Kilt Mindy has this serious problem with drooling over dudes’ Rock. Hard. Thighs. One of the dudes is her total douche-bag partner (Mindy's a cop) and the other is the dude in a kilt (best part). It’s a totally brilliant story and I can’t help myself from reading it over and over again!

After Rachel wrote The Cop and the Kilt, she later gave me a heads up whenever she had another short story she was finishing up that told us more about Mindy’s unfortunate (or not so unfortunate!) escapades in these amazing short stories! And the best part about every single one of these stories is that every single time Rachel would send one of them to me, it always seemed to arrive just when I was going through a difficult time in my life and I needed something to brighten up my week/month/year/lifetime. (I’d like to think it wasn’t just a coincidence that I’d get one of these stories just when I needed it the most, if you get my meaning. Or, if it WAS only a coincidence, then it was the MOST awesome coincidence ever!) And each story is just fabulous! So unbelievably awesome! Some of the moments in the stories had me laughing so much and so hard that I was actually crying! And, even though some of the stories had me feeling really bad for the main character and the situations she got herself into (because “things” kept happening in ways she totally did not intend!), I loved it! And I just loved Mindy more for them and I just couldn’t help but admire her. She is so very different from me, that I feel like she could be my slightly rebellious twin . . . the twin who I always wanted to be like even though SHE’s always getting herself into trouble (yep I was putting myself in Mindy’s shoes while I was reading because, well, because she’s Mindy!) OK . . . maybe not quite! Mindy does take quite the extreme leap in The Cop and the Ex-Con, but I love it! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it all!

I’m more than a little excited to see there’s a brilliant new cover for this book! And that chick on the cover is HOT! Which means, once again, I’m jealous of my rebellious twin-Mindy! LOL! And I’m even more excited that I now have the eBook on my Kindle and on my phone so I can re-read them forever and ever and ever! Rachel’s still working on The Cop and the Tattoo Artist, and I can hardly wait to read it! But since I know she puts a lot of pressure on herself to work on her other “works” during NANOWRIMO, I’ll just have to be patiently waiting!

To top all this awesomeness off, Rachel is an absolutely fabulous writer! I’m in awe by how amazing her writing is, and I hope one of these days I get to read a full on novel by Rachel Clarke.

Rachel says she plans make these awesome short stories available on Amazon, and I think that’ll be awesome because you all will get the chance to put them on your eReaders too!

But, for now, you can read them on her website
rachel-clarke.com/stories.


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Love Stinks!
by Douglas Rees, Vivi Barnes, Marni Bates, Eldritch Black, Karice Bolton, Naomi Canale, Cecily Chase, Rachel Clarke, Shanyn Day, Tara Gonzalez, Laurie McLean, Lynda K. Scott, Linda Wisdom, Carol Wolf

Description: Love is magical. Love is amazing. But every once in a while love stinks! We’ve all been there. Heartbreak spawning crafty ideas of revenge. The “It’s not you, it’s me,” syndrome. Well, this book celebrates all those love-bumps along the great highway of life. Fourteen YA authors have come together to reveal the truth about the dark side of love that few people talk about. But with a lot of humor and a bit of mystery, you might not mind too much that LOVE STINKS!

Love Bites
(Chapter 6 in Love Stinks!)
by Rachel Clarke


My take: I don’t read Anthologies very often, more like, almost never! But when I heard that Rachel was writing a short story for an Anthology, I knew that I’d read it the moment I got it in my hands, and I did! I have yet to read the other stories in Love Stinks!, so I’m only writing a small review of Love Bites by Rachel Clarke.

I don’t want to say too much to prevent from spoiling, so I’ll try really hard to be careful. And, I don’t want to judge the main character, Shelby, too harshly from this story because this story takes place on her least favorite day of the year…Valentine’s Day…so she was pretty much in a sour mood right from the beginning of the story. But I absolutely love her best friend, Brie! She’s upbeat and quirky and loves and supports her friend as she tries to make the day good for Shelby. But I really don’t care too much for Brie’s boyfriend, Dan...in my opinion, he’s a jerk. Anyways, in the process of trying to make Shelby’s day better, Brie takes Shelby to a party and what happens in the party makes the whole story so much fun. The ending totally rocks! It makes the story phenomenal. But I really wish we could find out what happens with Shelby! And find out if THAT Valentine’s Day ended up being her absolute best or worst day ever. Pure brilliance!

☆ Where to Buy ☆
Amazon ★ Barnes & Noble ★ SmashWords ★ Kobo

Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Publisher’s summary: She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

My take: Alice in Zombieland is the first book in a long time that I got me so super excited I just had to talk to someone about it! In fact, it was so much fun that I’m super excited that Through the Zombie Glass will be coming out next month…and I want to read it now!

In the beginning of the book, I was trying to wrap my brain around how this story could possibly be about zombies because it’s an Urban Fantasy story and, in the beginning, there’s not a single zombie. So I started wondering if there was going to be a big zombie outbreak somewhere in the book, but nope…not even close…it’s something totally different. And even though it took me just a little bit to figure out exactly what’s happening with this version of the zombie genre, I like how Gena Showalter created an Urban Fantasy book with zombies. Yep, I said it right! It stays Urban Fantasy, so no all-of-a-sudden outbreak. You’ll have to read it to get it…I’m not spoiling.

I really liked Ali’s character and I felt really bad for her because of her horrifying loss in the beginning of the book. Then there is the friend she meets right after the tragedy, and I think that character (sorry I’m suck with names) might just be my favorite character in the entire book. Ali’s grandparents were hilarious when they were constantly misusing slang words while trying to connect and be on the same level as Ali, and I just loved them for it. The best part is when they give “the talk” to the guy picking Ali up for the night. I couldn’t help myself from laughing out loud. But, best of all, is Cole! Oh….Cole! Hawt, bad boy…gotta love him.

Of course, there are some horrifying things that happen near the end of the book that were really sad, but I absolutely loved the way the book ended and, like I said before, I’m dying to read Through the Zombie Glass. It needs to happen, like ASAP!

The Program by Suzanne Young

Publisher’s summary: In this “gripping tale for lovers of dystopian romance” (Kirkus Reviews), true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in.

And The Program is coming for them.

My take: Oh…wow! This book sucked the life out of me and left me numb! But it was so good! I have no idea how Suzanne would be able to write this book without going into a deep dark depression because she would have to literally put herself into a deep, dark depressed state of mind to accomplish the feelings and emotions that come out of this book. And I think it was really important for Suzanne to create these true, dark feelings in order to create and tell the story as well as she did. She did a phenomenal job in my opinion.

It killed me while reading this book, knowing that these teens are constantly being watched to see if they develop signs of sadness or depression which means they’ll be thrown into The Program. And how is it even possible for these teens to avoid the very emotions The Program supposedly says proves they are infected…when one in every three teens is killing themselves (these teens know other teens who have committed suicide), when they are constantly being monitored, and when they then see these other kids come out of The Program as totally different people. Don’t these things alone give them a reason to show signs of sadness, depression and anxiety? Wow!

There is something that happens really early on in the book that has you truly understanding what these teens are going through. And then that’s only the beginning…craziness is going on throughout the entire book! It all blew me away.

Suzanne Young is an amazing writer. She does an amazing job developing the story’s characters, and she did an amazing job emotionally attaching me to the characters. The world she created in this book and her storytelling were remarkable! And I especially love how she created a contemporary feel to this dystopian novel.

The story ends amazingly well, and I’m really excited to see where the story will lead!

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

Publisher's summary: The third book in Rae Carson's award-winning The Girl of Fire and Thorns fantasy trilogy. Elisa, the seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen, will travel into an unknown enemy's realm to win back her true love, save her kingdom, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Veronica Roth called The Girl of Fire and Thorns "intense, unique . . . definitely recommended."

Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and George R. R. Martin's style of sweeping and deeply satisfying epic fantasy, the third and final book in the trilogy takes the young queen on a journey more dangerous than any she has faced before. Elisa will stand before the gate of the enemy. And she must rise up as champion—even to those who have hated her—or her kingdom will fall. Full of sorcery, adventure, sizzling romance, and secrets that challenge everything she believes, this is a bold and powerful conclusion to an extraordinary trilogy. As USAToday.com proclaimed, "Rae Carson has proved she's a master and has shaken up the YA genre."

My take: I’m totally blown away and in complete and utter awe with what Rae Carson has accomplished in The Bitter Kingdom! There was so much that happened in this story that it’s hard to believe that it all happened in just one book!

I’ve done a lot of thinking when it comes to Elisa’s character. OMG! She has changed so much from that first scene in the first book (The Girl of Fire and Thorns) when she’s getting herself ready for her wedding. She’s now so much more independent, confident and way more calculating than she has ever been before. And she handles every situation throughout this book perfectly.

I didn’t really have many expectations for this book because the characters and world Rae Carson has created are so completely unique and, after she killed off some pretty important characters in the first book, I went in with only one expectation, and I’m pretty freakin’ thrilled with the way the story turned out.

I think my favorite character in this book is a new character that is introduced pretty early on in the story. She plays such an important role throughout the story, and adds some fun spice as well, that I just loved, loved, loved it!

I’m sad to see this series go, but I don’t think the series could have had a better ending than the ending in The Bitter Kingdom.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Publisher's summary: After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

My take: This book is amazing! Really, I’d have to say it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year!

Whenever I tell someone about this book, I always paint a picture of the first scene in the book because, for me, it totally sets the tone for the entire story. And I knew I’d love this book right after that scene transpired.

What makes this book amazing? The whole premise of the book is awesomely unique, the characters were very well developed and the execution was perfect!

As far as the characters go, I’m not quite sure if I’m really all that fond of Cassie, the main character, because her actions were really flip-flop to me. One minute she’s being super mean to pretty much every dude her age she interacts with, and the next minute she’s changing how she reacts to the other dude (can’t say cause it’s a spoiler). Yes, I know in her internal dialog she notices this character trait about herself, but she doesn’t really do anything about it, and it still bugged me. Plus, I’m not thrilled with how she feels about one of the characters by the end of the book. There are 3 other POVs in this story (all 3 are male character POVs), but two of them are kind of spoilers so I’m not going to talk about them (other than to say that one of those 2 is my FAVORITE POV.) The one male POV that I am OK with discussing is Zombie’s. I’m actually really fond of his character, and I think he rocks! OH! And pretty much all the other side characters from Zombie’s POV are my favorites too. I was always thrilled to be in is POV.

The ending is the BEST and I loved it! I’m so excited about this book…I truly believe it 100% deserves the hype it’s been given, and I know this one will be a big hit!

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Publisher's summary: In Cia's dystopian society it's an honor to be chosen for The Testing. But it’s not enough to pass the Test. Cia will have to survive it.

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever. Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await.

My take: Holy flippin’ crap! This book was downright craziness! I’m having the shakes right now thinking about everything that happened in this book, and I’m having severe separation anxiety because I want Independent Study (book 2) now! If I were put in “The Testing,” I don’t think I could control my temper one bit; I think I’d probably hemorrhage right then and there and start acting like a raving lunatic. In fact, while reading The Testing, in one moment I’d feel like I wanted to jump right through the pages and go on a frenzied rampage, and then in the next moment I’d feel the complete opposite and I wanted to curl up in a ball and have an internal freak out.

In the very beginning of the book I wasn’t fully invested in the story, and it took me a few tries to get drawn into the story, as I’d start and stop reading. Which is really weird because it wasn’t very far into the book before the story takes a turn that really sparked my interest and got my full attention. At that point, there is this one particular thing that happens that actually had me leaping from my seat in shock, and I was stuck.

I can’t really talk too much about the characters in The Testing because I have some really strong feelings about a lot of those characters. This is one of those books that had me changing my original feelings for some of the characters by the stuff that transpires by the end of the story. So, by talking about the characters, I’d be revealing major spoilers, and you know how much I hate to do that! In fact, my feelings for some of the characters were so strong that I’ve gotten into a few heated battles with some blogger friends, particularly Jaime from Two Chicks on Books.

This is a book I would totally recommend! And if you are struggling with the beginning, don’t let that hold you back because the story’s phenomenal!

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Publisher's summary: Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this thrilling sequel to Grave Mercy.

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

My take: This book was phenomenal! I had really high hopes for this book after reading Grave Mercy and it didn’t disappoint even one bit…I got everything I wanted and more!

After reading Grave Mercy, I was super excited when I learned that in Dark Triumph we get to learn more about Sybella, cause all throughout Grave Mercy we only got to see little glimpses of Sybella, and her character was extremely intriguing. Now I know why! Holy CRAP! That girl has had one extremely messed up life. I don’t think it could at all get any worse than what she had to go through, and I knew that pretty much immediately as soon as I discovered who her family was. And OMG!...it’s horrifying. I kept questioning myself like, “Is that really her dad? Oh crap!” Being able to be in Sybella’s mind, to truly understand what she’s thinking, and gauge her reactions to situations was perfect!

Other than Sybella’s story, there are other things that I was thrilled that we get to see more of. We get to learn more about St. Mortain (Death) and the Convent. We get to see Ismae through Sybella’s eyes and we get to know more about the politics between the countries. And we learn more about the death marks!

Every part of this book was fabulous. The beginning, the middle and the end were all AWESOME! And hooray for the romance! Score!!! It was the most perfect of all perfect matches! I couldn’t have asked for a better dude for Sybella.

I’m super excited that the last book in the His Fair Assassin Trilogy is going to be about Annith. I can’t imagine what kind of life she has had, and I hope that she gets a happily ever after. I have a feeling that I’m going to have a really hard time saying goodbye to this series. I can’t believe there is only one book left.

Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris - Tour Stop!

Amazon ☆ B&N
The Book Depository

Publisher's summary: Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

My take: I have no idea what I expected before I read Unbreakable, but it sure wasn’t ALL that! Unbreakable was insanely epic on so many levels, and I’m sad that it’s over.

I’m trying to visualize in my head the similarities between Unraveling and Unbreakable, and the only thing I can come up with is the countdown clock and the desperate investigation to save the universe. Unraveling was all about investigating these strange murders and discovering what this countdown meant that ultimately might lead to a bunch of horrific tragedies and crazy destruction. Unbreakable was experiencing this new Sci-Fi element that was introduced at the end of Unraveling, with a lot of action thrown in and having to open your mind to the unthinkable.

Talking about the word “unthinkable,” I’m now thinking that should be Unbreakable’s title because I’m so flabbergasted on all the crazy! We first start off in the book on our world, which has been destroyed…literally! And then this horrific human-trafficking plot between worlds thingy is going on, and Janelle is the only hope to stop it! And when I say horrific, I really mean it! It got to the point that I thought this would be like Jeffery Dahmer having almost unlimited access to do whatever horrific thing he wanted to do to a VERY large number of people. It’s insane!

One of the big differences between this book and the first is the unquenchable action. There is a heck of a lot of running for their lives going on, and a heck of a lot of really insane moments. But the craziest, upon craziest moments is right smack in the middle of the book, and it had me almost pissing my pants from the reaction I had. It was insane and awkward and had me totally freaking out! I think I was flinching away from the page because I was scared to turn the page to find out what would happen next. Before this particular moment, this book already had more than enough complications, insanity and craziness but that actual extra crazy moment took a whole spin to take the insanity to a whole new level of unthinkable insanity!

Another crazy thing about this book is a character who I hated in the first book becomes one of my favorite characters in this book! I think an author is truly brilliant when she can pull that off. Especially, when her books are already very strongly character driven and her characters are already very well developed.

I could go on and on and on about this book…but I say you just read it and love it like I did!








About the author!
Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together. Her first novel, UNRAVELING (Balzer+Bray, April 2012), is the story of one girl's fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming.


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The film rights to Unraveling have been optioned by MTV! Check out this article: MTV Developing Elizabeth Norris' Young Adult Novel 'Unraveling' (Exclusive)


Twitter Events!
Liz Norris will be doing an Unbreakable Twitter Teaser with PageTurners (April 21st, 8pm ET) and BookHounds (April 22nd, 8pm ET) hosting. Followers can send @pageturnersblog and @maryinhb page numbers from Unbreakable and Liz will respond with a line from the book and bit of back story or insight about it. There will also be a giveaway both nights. On April 24th, at 8pm ET, Liz will be participating in a Live Chat with @mundiemoms hosting. Hashtag for all three Twitter events: #BeUnbreakable

Want a signed book?
You can purchase Unbreakable through Books of Wonder until the release date and you'll not only get a signed copy, but it will include an exclusive extra content booklet that includes:

An Alternate Beginning
A Pivotal Scene from Ben's POV
A Pivotal Scene from Barclay's POV
An Alternate Ending


Tour Stops!
April 15, 2013: All Things Urban Fantasy
April 16, 3013: Two Chicks on Books
April 17, 2013: A Book and a Latte
April 18, 2013: Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
April 19, 2013: Shortie Says
April 22, 2013: Katie's Book Blog
April 23, 2013: Supernatural Snark
April 24, 2013: Justin's Book Blog
April 25, 2013: Tales of a Ravenous Reader
April 26, 2013: Fiktshun


There will be 5 awesome prizes!!!!!

Grand prize: A signed copy of Unbreakable, the Unraveling paperback and some swag.
Winners 1-4: A copy of either Unraveling or Unbreakable their choice.
a Rafflecopter giveaway