Othermoon by Nina Berry

Othermoon (Otherkin #2) by Nina Berry

Publisher: K-Teen

Release Date: January 29th/2013

Pages: 320

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What It's About!

Everyone has secrets. I had no idea mine would lead me into shadow. Dez has found the place where she belongs. With the otherkin. With Caleb. Or so she thought. As the barriers between our world and Othersphere fall, a wall rises between Dez and Caleb, leaving her fiercest enemy her only friend.

And maybe something more.

Now Dez must make a devastating choice: keep the love of her life, or save the otherkin from annihilation.

 

 Meme hosted and created by Tynga's Reviews

Thank you SO much to Maria V. Snyder for the personalized signed paperback copy of Touch Of Power and bookmarks! It was like Christmas came early when I opened up the package! :) 

I also got some eBooks for review:

Taken by Kelli Maine

No Takebacks by Kelli Maine 

Hooked by Liz Fichera

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forest

The Living Curse by J.D. Swinn

Thanks so much to the authors and publishers for these review copies!   

 

 

Fury by Elizabeth Miles

Fury (Fury #1) by Elizabeth Miles

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: August 30th/2011
Pages: 384
Goodreads
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What It's About!

Sometimes sorry isn't enough...

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems... 

Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend. 

On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed. 

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.

Review

The first half of Fury is pretty much just about annoying high school kids with your typical high school drama. We get to see 2 main characters' points of view. Em is one of the popular girls in school, who "hooks up" with her best friend's boyfriend, and then we have Chase, who's not exactly popular, but he's not a total loner either, and hasn't grown up rich like most of the kids at school. He had humiliated a girl who used to be his childhood friend in a really sketchy way, and eventually, karma gets to them both.

Here and there we have the odd appearance from the 3 furies, until we get into the last few chapters, when it really picks up and the action gets going. It's basically your typical high school kids story with a paranormal twist.

Ali, Ty and Meg seek revenge on people who they think deserve it, like Em and Chase, for instance. At the very end of the book Em has to make a choice that changes everything, possibly more than what she originally thinks. It really made me want to get my hands on the second book right away!

The only character I actually liked was JD, Em's best friend from childhood. All the other characters, including Em and Chase weren't that bright and Chase didn't have much will power when it came to beautiful girls. Em was just as stupid when it came to certain things and it just drove me insane. Especially when it got near the end, I wanted to scream at Em that OBVIOUSLY it's most likely a trap, so WHY WOULDN'T YOU TAKE AT LEAST JD WITH YOU?! But then I was like no, she shouldn't have taken JD anyway, but on the other hand, the thing that unfortunately happened, probably would have happened anyway, whether he went with Em or not.

I really hope the second book doesn't start out like this one did, it dragged on until those last few chapters, when it really started to get me excited. Overall, Fury was pretty good, but it would have been a lot better without all the filler in the beginning before getting to the good stuff at the very end.

Rating

Of Triton by Anna Banks

Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2) by Anna Banks

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends 

Release Date: May 28th/2013

Pages: 288

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What It's About!

In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

 

Spellbound Book Blitz

Entangled (Spellbound #1) by Nikki Jefford

Release Date: February 20th/2012
Pages: 303
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What It's About!

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

Duplicity (Spellbound #2) by Nikki Jefford

Release Date:May 20th/2012
Pages: 280
Goodreads
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What It's About!

If Graylee Perez thought sharing a body with her twin sister was bad, dealing with a duplicate of herself is two times worse. Gray the second doesn’t seem to get that Lee’s boyfriend, Raj McKenna, is off limits. Then there’s the problem of Adrian Montez. He expects one of the Grays to be his.

Nearly a year later, the council is onto them for past misdeeds; Lee, along with the rest of the coven, has lost control of her powers; and Gray is being stalked by what looks like the Grim Reaper.

If they work together, they may stand a chance of setting things right and making it out alive.



Enchantment (Spellbound #3) by Nikki Jefford

Release Date: April 2013
Pages: N/A
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What It's About!

In the third and final installment of the Spellbound series, Graylee Perez (the duplicate), goes to Spain for a summer of escape. There she meets new friends and comes face to face with her old adversary, Adrian Montez.

When Gray tries to setup a spell that will banish Adrian from her life, she inadvertently falls under a love spell instead.

Charlene returns, having hijacked a new body, for one final battle between the twins.

 Nikki's Website/Goodreads/Facebook/Twitter

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She writes edgy teen fiction, including the Spellbound Trilogy and Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter.

Nikki married Sébastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington.

Blood Soltice by Samantha Young

Blood Soltice by Samantha Young

Published by Create Space
Release Date: October 10th/2011
Pages: 381
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What It's About! 

Enter a world of fierce wolves, stunning magic and romance...

In the final installment of The Tale of Lunarmorte, Caia is caught between the most powerful beings in her world, and they are all desperate to use her for their own means. While Caia struggles to find her purpose, tragedy strikes close to home, and time runs out.
Now she must decide if she will join the extremists she was trying to destroy... or bring them all down on her own terms...

 

In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams by Amy Martin

Self-Published
Release Date: ... 2012
Pages: 253
Goodreads 
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Copies were provided for review from the author

What It's About!

Sixteen-year-old Zara "Zip" McKee lives for three things: basketball, books, and bailing out of tiny Titusville, Illinois, where the junior high and high school are in the same building and everyone's known everyone else since birth. But when Kieran Lanier moves to town and passes out on her desk on his first day at school, Zip's life gets complicated in a way she never dreamed.

Kieran has narcolepsy, and although he sometimes struggles to stay awake, he has no trouble capturing Zip's heart and trusting her with his most guarded secret--he sees bits and pieces of the future in his dreams.

But just when Zip thinks that maybe she can handle having a boyfriend who sees things before they happen, her budding relationship with Kieran gets a jolt when Kieran's parents reveal that his sleeping disorder is not what it seems and may be putting them in harm's way. And when Zip begins to have unsettling dreams, she must decide if she can live with knowing the future in advance when she's afraid of what might happen.

 Review

I took this book to work every day to read on my breaks, thinking it wouldn't be that much different than a lot of books I've read about dreams and premonitions and stuff, but I got totally addicted to it and couldn't wait to get on my breaks to read it.

Amy Martin is an amazing writer, the writing easily created a clear picture in my mind as I read, and the storyline flowed really well. This is one author that definitely knows what she's doing! A lot of the authors that send me books turn out to be *okay* but Amy's book was really amazing.

Before I started it, I thought it was probably something paranormal that was the reason Kieran was having these dreams that predicted the future, but it actually turned out to be something else that added a nice twist to the story. Right away I felt like I already knew Zip as a character. She was really quirky and funny, and it was really easy to relate to her personality. Kieran was the other main character that Zip gets to know when his family moves to her small hometown. Instantly he became my new fictional boyfriend! Basically he was the perfect guy, aside from his "narcolepsy". He wasn't bad-ass or was hard to get or anything, he actually really cared for Zip and that made me just love his character even more.

In Your Dreams has a lot of mystery, thrill, romance and shockers that are all laced together to make this amazing story. I was intrigued until the very end, and was really sad when it ended. I didn't even know it was just the first book in a series until after I finished it, so I'm super happy it's not THE END! It was a really nice surprise to end up loving this book instead of being frustrated, or let down with it, like I have with a lot of books I've been reading lately.

Rating

 

Guest Review by Ellen Wookey

I was preparing for another paranormal story. I didn’t go into the book expecting much. But, again I was thrown against the wall, brick wall at that for judging the book beforehand.

Basketball = LOVE IT (my favorite sport)
Medical Twist = Perfect

Page one had the talk of basketball, and I was drawn in. I myself have been a basketball fanatic. Zip and Kieran meet off the wrong foot. Who just ups and dies in class? Well so Zip thought. But after talking with Kieran, Zip became the go to person that could answer the classmate’s questions.

I liked how the characters seemed their age; the romance grew as the characters got to know each other. The more Zip and Kieran get to know each other the more there is to his Narcolepsy.I loved learning about Narcolepsy. Once I heard of Kieran’s journal I was scared that this down to earth novel was going paranormal, but the twist following the journals kept it in the young adult genre. I thought this book could do well as a standalone story.

Amy Martin did a job well done and I just loved her writing style. You get romance, sports, and mystery all in one book. 4STARS

Ellen's Rating 

All I Need by Susane Colasanti

All I Need by Susane Colasanti

Publisher: Viking Juvenile 
Release Date: May 21st/2013
Pages: 240
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What It's About! 

The last night of summer is only the beginning.

Skye wants to meet the boy who will change her life forever. Seth feels their instant connection the second he sees her. When Seth starts talking to Skye at the last beach party of the summer, it’s obvious to both of them that this is something real. But when Seth leaves for college before they exchange contact info, Skye wonders if he felt the same way she did—and if she will ever see him again. Even if they find their way back to each other, can they make a long-distance relationship work despite trust issues, ex drama, and some serious background differences?

Teen favorite Susane Colasanti returns to the alternating-voice style of her beloved debut When It Happens in this Serendipity-inspired story about summer, soul mates, and the moments that change our lives forever.

 

Tour: Circle of Witches by Margaret Frazer

Circle Of Witches by Margaret Frazer

Purchase: Amazon|Amazon UK|Nook|Smashwords

Also available at iBookstore, Kobo, Google Play, and 

online bookstores everywhere.

 What It's About!
 

A GOTHIC ROMANCE. MISTY MOORS. ANCIENT SECRETS. FORBIDDEN PASSIONS. 

Her mother had always been afraid. That's what Damaris remembered. From 
the time she was a little girl until the day her mother died, she had seen the fear in her eyes.  

But now she understood. Now she was afraid, too. 

 Young Damaris wanted more than anything to be happy at Thornoak, the 
ancient manor owned by her aunt and uncle. Adventuring through the wide, 
open beauty of the Dale in the company of her rambunctious cousins she 
rediscovered a joy she had thought lost with the death of her parents.  

And in the deep, storm-tossed eyes of Lauran Ashbrigg she was surprised 
to find an entirely new emotion.

But even under the warm and inviting sun, Damaris is chilled by the 
undeniable fact that the family which claims to welcome and love her is 
hiding truths from her: The truth of the Lady Stone. The truth of the 
Old Ways. The truth of moon and star and witchcraft.

The truth of her mother's death.

~PRAISE FOR MARGARET FRAZER~ 

"Exquisitely written, the novel offers a brilliantly realized vision... 
Suspenseful from start to surprising conclusion, this is another gem 
from an author who's twice been nominated for an Edgar." - Publisher's 
Weekly 

 "Love the passionate attention to detail in character, custom, and 
setting, and the sympathetic creation of believable people and events. 
Essential." - Library Journal of New York 

“A lovingly told story, rich with fascinating description. Ms. Frazer 
provides a real treat for lovers of all things.” – Toby Bromberg, 
Romantic Times 

 "The writing is seamless... Rich period detail, canny characterization, 
and a lively plot should endear her tales to anyone..." - Minneapolis 
Star Tribune 

“Mystery… Suspense… Frazer executes with audacity and ingenuity.” – 
Kirkus Reviews

 

"Weaves a budding romance and a grand, unrequited passion with a bold 
and dangerous plot... Great fun for all!" - Alfred Hitchcock Magazine 

 "Frazer's books will be among those I read as soon as I see them." - 
Houston Facts 

Twice nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.
Twice nominated for the Edgar Award.
A Romantic Times Top Pick.
A Herodotus Award Winner.

Visit Margaret's Website

Margaret Frazer is the award-winning author of more than twenty 
historical murder mysteries and novels, including the Edgar-nominated 
Sister Frevisse and Player Joliffe series. She makes her home in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, surrounded by her books, but she lives her life 
in the 1400s.

"Over the years I’ve had a rag-tag of various jobs, including 
librarian, secretary, reseacher for a television station, gift shop 
manager, and assistant matron at an English girls’ school. Married once 
upon a time but not anymore, I have two well-grown sons who become 
uneasy if I read books about poisons at the supper table and refuse to 
turn their backs on me when I say I want to try something I might use in 
a story. When I write, I want to delve as far inside the perceptions of 
my characters as possible, to look at their world more from their point 
of view than from ours, because the pleasure of going thoroughly into 
otherwhen as well as otherwhere — the chance to move right away from the 
familiar into a whole other way of seeing and behaving — has always been 
one of my own great pleasures in reading. As a writer I deeply want to 
give that same pleasure to others."

Book Blitz Tour

Snow White Sorrow (The Grimm Diaries #1) by Cameron Jace

Publisher: Akmal Eldin Farouk Ali Shebl
Release Date: February 2013
Pages: 384
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What It's About!

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?
Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that talks to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.

Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.

When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.

The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.

What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.

Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.

Excerpt from:

SNOW WHITE BLOOD RED

Dear Wilhelm Carl Grimm, 

  

She is not that giddy, naïve, and helpless princess she pretends to be. Please don’t let her fool you with her innocence if you see her sing to the birds in the forest. Resist her charm from bringing joyful tears to your eyes, and shield yourself from her devious beauty before she deceives you into wanting to kiss her awake. It'll  be a kiss of death. Your death. That’s how she fooled the Huntsman, Prince Charming, and me, her birth mother. 

I still remember the original script of the fairy tale, the one you wrote in 1812. It clearly stated that she was my own flesh and blood daughter. I don’t have the slightest idea why you altered it fifty years later. 

What was the point of turning me into an evil, narcissistic, and heartless stepmother, blinded by jealousy and envy of the young princess? 

For years, I have been looking forward to telling you the truth about her, but you were impossible to reach. 

I am glad I found your brother, Jacob. He told me that you wanted to tone the stories down so children could sleep better at night, instead of having nightmares about the Queen who sought to eat her daughter’s heart and liver. 

Shame on you, Wilhelm. 

You, of all authors, knew why I wanted to kill her. My actions were justified. I was trying to save my kingdom from her wrath, before everything we loved was destined to an end. The same way you had to rewrite the true fairytales after cursing us, so the War of Sorrows would end forever after. 

Night after night, and year after year, parents fed their children false bedtime stories, until your lies grew into inescapable memories. Your happily ever after lies, Wilhelm, shaped the so called fairy tale world. 

I wondered why you didn’t burn the original scripts, instead of rewriting them. You must have figured out that sooner or later someone would dig up the truth and expose you. Altering it was the smarter solution. You let children believe that the bites were resurrecting kisses, and that torturing glass coffins were made for sleeping beauties, waiting for a prince to come and kiss them awake. 

A wise man once said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was someone else. You did the same with us, Wilhelm. You turned us into pastiches of the immortals that we really are, and made it harder for us if wanted to persuade the world otherwise. 

I know that you did it to save us from her. And I appreciate how you concealed our real names, or we would have ended up like Rumpelstiltskin, tortured by those who knew of his real name. 

But sometimes, I can’t help but wonder why no one ever questioned why I was called the Evil Queen, and why I was never given a real name in the books. 

Was I so superficial to the world, so stereotypical and mundane? Why was I treated as if I were the monster of the week? 

You know what I think? I think that the world never got the time to hate me. It just wanted to hate me long before it met me. 

If I tell those who detest me about the true nature of their little princess, would they ever care about me half as much as they care about her? 

I know that deep inside, they adore me. They like the way I talk, walk, dress, and even the way I kill. 

They are just afraid to admit how much they love me. I am the Snow White Queen, strong enough that I don’t need anyone’s pity or love, because I am loved by the greatest and most majestic heart in the world: 

Mine.

 Cameron's Website/Goodreads/Twitter/Facebook

 Wonderlander, Neverlander, Unicorn-chaser, enchanter, musician, survived a coma, & totally awesome. Sometimes I tell stories. Always luv the little monsters, I write young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and science fiction, mostly. The Grimm Diaries series is a seven book saga that deals with retellings of fairy tales from a young adult POV - it connects most of the fairy tales together and claims to be the truth about fairy tales. I live in San Fransisco and seriously think circles are way cooler than triangles.