Review: The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden

The Casquette Girls 

by Alys Arden 

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Publication Date: October 2013
Page Count: 512
Source: e-book for review

Goodreads Synopsis: After the Storm of the Century rips apart New Orleans, Adele Le Moyne and her father are among the first to return to the city following the mandatory evacuation. Adele wants nothing more than for life to return to normal, but with the silent city resembling a mold-infested war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normal will have to be redefined.

Events too unnatural – even for New Orleans – lead Adele to an attic that has been sealed for three hundred years, and the chaos she unleashes threatens not only her life but everyone she knows. Mother Nature couldn’t drain the joie de vivre from the Big Easy, but someone or something is draining life from its residents.

Caught suddenly in a hurricane of eighteenth-century myths and monsters, Adele must quickly untangle a web of magic that links the climbing murder rate back to her own ancestors. But who can you trust in a city where everyone has a secret, and where keeping them can be a matter of life and death – unless, that is, you’re immortal.

GOODREADS . AMAZON 

Review: When I opened up the email about the opportunity to read this book for review, I was initially struck by the cover. Let's just take a moment to appreciate just how beautifully done it is. I love this sort of cover; simple, but with a picture that has your intrigued about the story. Wonderful typography that is a color that pops off the background. Yeah, I would say that this is an A+ cover. For anyone who has been around my blog, you probably already know that I tend to decide what to read based on the cover. 

Now, I was a little concerned when I read the synopsis and realized that it was going to be a paranormal. Usually I do not choose paranormal books to read when it is a review opportunity offered to me. However, I was very much intrigued by the synopsis, so I decided that I would give it a chance. I am incredibly glad that I did so, as well. I did not expect to love this book as much as a did, but it was simply wonderful, and I was thrilled to be reading another debut author this year! 

The book is broken up into three separate parts. The first part was a bit slow for me, but it was still beautifully written. We are introduced to Adele, who is returning to her home of New Orleans after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. It was amazing listening to the description of the town based on how Adele was seeing it, and it did make me feel like I was there with her. I love when an author describes the setting so well that you feel like you are there, and Arden did an amazing job of this. 

Part two was honestly my favorite part of the novel. I loved the flash backs that we received from the past back to the present, and then seeing how they were going to play a role in the rest of the plot and book. I am a big fan of getting flashbacks in novels as long as they are handled well, and I feel that Arden did a very good job of having things flow smoothly. We met so many other great characters through this part of the book as well, and they were all so developed. I love when an author spends as much time developing the minor characters as she does the protagonist. 

Now part three brought about a lot of the things that I was most worried about, and luckily I had worried for nothing. Of course, we are all used to the idea of vampires of Twilight where they sparkle and fall in love with the humans without worrying about the danger and what not. I am SO glad that none of that was the case, here. Sure, there were relationships and things happening, but these vampires were obviously dangerous in the way that you would expect them to be. I respect Arden for doing this so well. 

Lastly, another thing that I really enjoyed about this book was that I could never guess what was going to happen next. Well, I tried to guess, but I always ended up being completely wrong. I love when a book surprises me, and this book seemed to keep me on my toes the whole time. I could have never guessed how this book was going to end, and I loved that. I really look forward to continuing this series, and reading anything else that Arden decides to publish.

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 

 

2014 "Real" Book Challenge

I am very excited about finding this challenge! I know that I am taking part in several this year, but I think that they will help me stay committed and excited about reading. This one is all about reading the "real" physical books I own. This is something I have been bad about doing since I always just take my kindle with me everywhere to read books I'm reviewing and what not. I want to get through all of those books on my shelves, though!

Here are the guidelines, but you can find more information at the challenge page HERE.

Challenge Guidelines:

• *This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2014 - Dec 31, 2014.
• *The challenge is open to anyone! You don't have to be a blogger, as long as you have a place to post about the challenge. (Your blog, Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, youtube, tumblr, etc.)
• *Any book counts. It can be any genre, any length, and as old or new as you want. If you can hold it in your hand and turn the pages yourself, it belongs here. (This includes Advanced Reader Copies.)
• *Feel free to list your books in your first post or wait until the end of the year and write them in a wrap-up post. Even if you list them, you can always make changes later.
• *Sign-ups will be open until Dec 1, 2014, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
• *When you sign up in the linky below, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2014 “Real” Book Challenge. (If you don't have a blog, post about it wherever you plan on making all your challenge posts this year!)
• *On the 1st of each month we will post a wrap-up post, on Swoony Boys Podcast and Fiction Fare. Every wrap-up will have a giveaway and place for you to link up your wrap-up posts for the month. Each book that you read in the month will get you one entry in our giveaway for the month. Prizes will vary, and winners will be announced the following month in our newsletter.
• *If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your books the next month. Don’t try to count a book twice, we’ll be watching!
• *December will be a wrap-up for the whole year. All the books you read January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a GRAND PRIZE giveaway.

Levels:

(The number of books you read for this challenge! We will have fun graphics for each level and as you progress up the list your accomplishments will appear in the newsletter!) 

1-10 - Real Book Newbie 
11-20 - Real Book Enthusiast 
21-30 - Real Book Snob 
31-40 - Real Book Aficionado 
41-50 - Real Book Hoarder 
50+ - Real Book Queen/King 

I really hope to get to at least  21-30 of these books, but I hope to go past that as well. 

The books I Have Read for this Challenge:
Book Count: 25

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
2. She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
3. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
4. Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
5. How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love by Ken Baker
6. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
7. Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
8. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
9. Burning Blue by Paul Griffin
10. Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell
11. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl
12. The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
13. Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley
14. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
15. Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
16. Enclave by Ann Aguirre
17. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
18. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
19. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
20. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
21. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
22. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
23. Divergent by Veronica Roth
24. Readicide by Kelly Gallagher
25. My Story by Elizabeth Smart 

Review: Selling Scarlett by Ella James

Selling Scarlett 

by Ella James 

Category: New Adult
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: April 2013
Page Count: 426
Source: e-book for review

Goodreads Synopsis: Elizabeth DeVille doesn't belong at a party like this - one where the gowns cost more than her Camry and cigars run higher than her grad school utility bills. Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.

Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail.

When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter's den of vices, she's a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn't have, and she's come up with a foolproof way to get it.

Follow Elizabeth - code-named Scarlett - to the lush Nevada brothel where she'll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that's not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil's mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.

GOODREADS . AMAZON  

Review: Let me start by saying that Ella James is one of my favorite new authors that I have discovered this year. I read Here by her much earlier this year, and it quickly became one of my favorite books of 2014. I really, really need to read the second book in the series. However, that was the start to a young adult series, and this book is the start to a new adult series. Despite that, since I enjoy her writing I did want to give the book a chance, though I was a little bit nervous about it. 

Needless to say, if you read my review from yesterday evening, this was not one of my favorite books. There were parts of it that I really, really enjoyed, but there were also parts that I struggled to get past. Let's start with the positives though, as most of the negatives for me are similar to what I spoke about yesterday. 

First of all, I think that the character development in this novel was really, really good. Libby was a very likeable character. While she was incredibly naive at first, I do think that we were supposed to see her that way in order for it to work with the novel. I do think that she felt incredibly guilty about her friend getting hurt, and she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to make the money to pay for his treatment - even if that meant selling her virginity. 

Hunter was a great character as well, but I hated him. I am not sure that I was supposed to hate him, but that was really all I could end up feeling for the boy. While he acted like he cared about Libby, a girl from his past, and therefore was the one to pay for her (or "Scarlett" I suppose), I just had a really tough time believing that he could actually be that sweet guy. He was busy sleeping with every other woman, something that Libby actually walked in on at one point, and I really did not understand her affection towards him at all. He annoyed me, and I could not help bu feel any different about him. 

As with the book I already read, Ella James' writing really was fantastic. I like her style very much, and that is probably part of why I did not completely dislike this novel. It certainly had its redeeming qualities; however, it still crossed a bit of a line for me when it came near the erotica area. It's just not something that I enjoy reading at this point, and so it always puts me off a little. Especially when I had to deal with the darkness that surrounded the sex that Hunter had with Priscilla. Honestly, I ended up skipping most of those parts. 

I did not love this book, but I did not hate it either. I enjoyed several parts of it, and it was enough to make me want to finish the book. I do think that New Adult fans will enjoy this book, it just was not really for me so I doubt that I will continue on with the series. 

Rating: 3.0 / 5.0 

Review: Love, Lex & Yours Truly, Taddy by Avery Aster

Love, Lex & Yours Truly, Taddy 

by Avery Aster 

Love, Lex
Category: New Adult
Genre: Romance
Page Count: 218
Source: e-book for review

Goodreads Synopsis: This summer, I’d planned to celebrate my eighteenth birthday in Europe with my fellow Manhattanites—Taddy Brill, Blake Morgan, and Vive Farnworth—until I caught my boyfriend screwing my mother. According to the police report, this vomit-inducing incident happened around the same time I’d supposedly blown-up my mother’s penthouse. Like I’m walking around Soho with a stick of dynamite in my Louis Vuitton purse—not! Now, my besties and I are in jail.

Officer Ford Gotti, the Harley-wheelin’ biker cop who arrested us, keeps sticking his perfectly-sculpted nose into my case. His inked body is jacked like a superhero, and he says I can trust him. He wants me to fess up. I won’t. Not again. Why should I? My friends and I had a previous stint in juvie that nearly destroyed us. I gotta protect them and keep my mouth shut. Right? —Lex Easton, women’s studies major, motorcycle enthusiast, and virgin.

The Undergrad Years is a New Adult contemporary miniseries about first loves, independence, and everlasting friendships.

Reader warning: Contains mature content intended for readers 17 and up.

Yours Truly, Taddy
Category: New Adult
Genre: Romance
Page Count: 192
Source: e-book for review 

Goodreads Synopsis: Jetting to Martinique for a modeling assignment with three of Europe’s hottest magazine photographers—Gustave, Fabian, and Leon—should’ve been easy, breezy beautiful. Never did I expect to look up and see a hole in the ceiling of our plane that was bigger in size than my Birkin bag.

Shit! We’re nose-diving toward Eden Island. I pictured how my New York Times obituary might read when I’m gone, “Taddy Brill, Manhattanite, dethroned descendant of the Austrian House of Brillford royalty, dies at age eighteen, penniless, unloved, and a virgin.” I swear this crap only happens to me. Suddenly, Leon pulls me with Fabian and Gustave. Adrenaline racing through me, our bodies clung as one. We prepared to…crash.

The Undergrad Years is a New Adult contemporary miniseries about first loves, independence, and everlasting friendships.

Reader warning: Contains mature content intended for readers 17 and up.

Review: As these two are part of the same series and I read one right after the other, I decided to include them in the same review post. Along with that, frankly I put them both together in the same post because I do not have a lot to say about them, and I do hate being negative about books. I will say that these books were not BAD; however, they just weren't my style or what I typically look for when reading a book that I really love. 

Like I have said before, the New Adult category is pretty new to me. I have read some books in the genre that I have really loved, and I have read some that I did not like at all. Honestly, some of them contain some stuff that I would really just prefer not to read about, and that was the case with these books, unfortunately. Some people do not mind it at all, and for those readers I think that you will really enjoy these short books/novellas very much. 

I must say that the one major positive for me was the sense of humor that I found within the books. Clearly Aster does know how to write in a way to amuse her readers, and this did cause me to like the characters a bit more than I would have otherwise. Along with that, I really do love the cover of Love, Lex and I very much enjoy the titles of both of the books. I think that they both had great synopsis, and the plots were pretty good for the most part, but some things I could not overlook. 

Through Love Lex, I feel like the majority of the book was about her wanting to lose her virginity. That's all well and fine based on her age and what not, but she is so desperate for it that it became incredibly annoying. I am used to reading young adult books where sex is not the main theme or focus, and I am perfectly okay with that. I was already a bit put off by the first book that it was difficult for me to like Yours Truly, Taddy anymore as well. While I really did want to enjoy these books, it's just not something that happened for me. If you are a new adult fan and are enjoy the more mature content, I think many readers will enjoy these books more than I did. 

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0 

 

June Wrap-Up

I cannot believe that tomorrow is already the last day of June. The month went by incredibly fast, and I hope that things start to slow down so that summer can last awhile before the next school year starts! While I'm excited about my new job, I'm not ready to get back to work yet!

Number of Books Read This Month: 12

1. Don't Fall by Rachel Schieffelbein
2. First Impression by Pauline Creeden
3. Shattered Veil by Tracy E. Banghart
4. Torn Away by Jennifer Brown
5. The Skinwalker's Apprentice by Claribel Ortega
6. Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
7. The Witch of Luna Hill by Neel Kay
8. Perception by Lee Strauss
9. A Risk Worth Taking by Heather Hildenbrand
10. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
11. She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
12. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Reviews This Month: 14

1. Don't Fall by Rachel Schieffelbein 
2. Shattered Veil by Tracy E. Banghart
3. August Moon by Tammy Morea 
4. First Impression by Pauline Creeden 
5. Gypsy by Trisha Leigh 
6. Torn Away by Jennifer Brown
7. Deuce by Janine Caldwell 
8. The Skinwalker's Apprentice by Claribel Ortega
9. The Witch of Luna Hill by Neel Kay
10. Ex-Factor/Unbreakable by Elisa Dane
11. A Risk Worth Taking by Heather Hildenbrand
12. Heart Shaped Rock by Laura Roppe
13. Hive & Heist by Janine A. Southard
14. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall 

It was a pretty busy month of reviews on the blog. I had a bad habit at first of signing up for a lot of blog tours, leaving me not much time to read anything outside of those review books. Luckily, I realized pretty quickly that this was a problem and have been careful about what I've signed up for since then. I hope to get it down to about one or two a week in the future months, so we will see how it goes! 

Also, be prepared. Today I plan to post/update all of my posts for the challenges I am participating in this year as it has already taken me way too long to take care of this!

August Moon by Tammy Morea

Review: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

A Little Something Different 

by Sandy Hall 

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Publication Date: August 26, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Reads - Macmillan
Edition: ARC
Page Count: 272
Source: ARC from Macmillan. Thank you SO much!

Goodreads Synopsis: The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.  But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

GOODREADS .  AMAZON . B&N 

Review: It was a few weeks ago when I decided that it might be time for me to try emailing an ARC request to a couple of publishers. I knew that there was a strong chance that nothing would come of it, but my blog had been up and running for a few months, and I had posted many, many reviews. I did not hear anything back, but I was not stressed about it, either. I knew I would continue my blog, continue doing what I love by reading books, and then try again in the future. When this book showed up on my doorstep from Macmillan in the middle of last week, I was shocked, and in the best way. I was so excited to open up the package and find this book inside. So excited, in fact, that I opened the book and read it right then and there. Cover to cover in one sitting, and let me tell you, it was so amazing. 

This book is the perfect summer read for a contemporary lover, and I found that I could not put the book down (not even to have dinner, we ended up eating pretty late that night!). I just had to know what happened next with the characters, and that is an element of a great book, in my opinion. I already assumed that this would be a book I would enjoy after reading the synopsis and requesting it. I never thought that it would be this good, though, and I am so grateful I was able to read it now. 

One of the best things about this book is that it is written in the narrative perspective of fourteen different people/objects, but none of them are the two main characters of Gabe and Azalea, or Lea as she prefers. Instead, we get to see everything that develops between them through the eyes and words of all of the other supporting characters within the novel. These people range between their friends, siblings, roommates, classmates, a creative writing professor, baristas, diner waitress, bus driver, a bench on their college campus, and even a squirrel! (and let me tell you, the squirrel was one of my favorites!). 

The wonderful thing about getting the book in this way is that we get to know much more of the story. We get to see the main characters in the eyes of so many people around them, positive and negative views. Since Gabe and Lea are far too shy to make things happen on their own, they need the encouragement and prodding of all of these other characters as well. Their professor loves playing match maker with students in the classroom, the workers at the local coffee shop think they're adorable, the diner waitress is sure they belong together, and the bus driver is reminded of the relationship he had with his own wife when they met. 

While this is a love story, it was not typical and predictable. It was not instalove that tends to drive me a bit crazy, as it's usually completely unrealistic. Instead, Gabe and Lea have plenty of issues that lead to complications when they try to make things happen between them. Gabe has physical issues that cause problems between them, as well as take quite the toll on his confidence. Lea tends to be a bit shy, and becomes impatient and annoyed instead of asking more questions. They were far from perfect, and that is what I loved about them. 

This book was adorable, the romance was heart-warming, and the characters and plot line made me want to continue reading. This book left me wanting to read more; I wanted to know what happened next for all of the characters, and I love that I get to leave those things up to my imagination. (Of course, I'm a sap, so everything works out perfectly in my mind!). I applaud Sandy Hall for this book and the wonderful narrative technique she decided to use. I look forward to purchasing a finished copy of this book in August, and I'm excited to see what Swoon Reads continues to publish. 


Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Stacking the Shelves [15] + June Book Haul Video

I am joining in on Stacking The Shelves, a weekly meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It is an easy way to share what books you picked up that week, and to see what other people have picked up to read themselves.

How to Participate?

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

Purchased: 

1. Lullaby by Amanda Hocking
2. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
3. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer 
4. The Dead & The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
5. Killer by Sara Shepard
6. Heartless by Sara Shepard
7. Stunning by Sara Shepard 
8. Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin 
9. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
10. Requiem by Lauren Oliver
11. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson 
12. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins '

I also posted my June Book Haul video on my booktube channel this morning. Here it is if you would like to check it out. 

Booktube

Hey all! I have made the decision to start a booktube channel to go along with my blog. It's not going to be anything super special, as I will be using my webcam on my computer and Windows Movie Maker, but it's just something that I wanted to try out. More time will still be spent on my blog, but I will add some videos now and then, so if you would like to subscribe that would be great! :]

HERE is the link to my channel.

Hive & Heist by Janine A. Southard Blog Tour + Review

BOOK ONE:

Queen & Commander by Janine A. Southard 
(Hive Queen Saga #1)
Publication date: May 2013
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Synopsis:

**WINNER 2013 IPPY AWARD -- Silver Medal for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror E-Book**

On a world where high school test scores determine your future, six students rebel. They’ll outrun society as fast as their questionably obtained spaceship will take them.

Rhiannon doesn’t technically cheat the Test. She’s smarter than the computers that administer it, and she uses that to her advantage. She emerges from Test Day with the most prestigious future career possible: Hive Queen.

Gwyn & Victor are madly in love, but their Test results will tear them apart. Good thing Rhiannon is Gwyn’s best friend. Rhiannon can fix this. Queens can do anything.

Gavin is the wild card. Raised off-planet, he can’t wait to leave again... and he’s heard of an empty ship in orbit. The Ceridwen’s Cauldron.

Both Luciano and Alan fit in the system. They don’t need to leave. Only their devotion to Rhiannon spurs them to join the Cauldron’s crew.

Spaceships. Blackmail. Anywhere but here.

BOOK TWO:

Hive & Heist by Janine A. Southard 
(Hive Queen Saga #2)
Publication date: May 2014
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Queen Rhiannon and her Hive have found safety on John Wayne Station, but with no way to pay their docking fees or Victor’s medical bills, their debts are racking up quickly. Thankfully, Gavin gets a job with American Space Ranger M3L-15-A, who’s hot on the trail of dangerous criminals.

The teens move in with their Ranger benefactor, but when they revisit their ship to pick up personal belongings, they realize their Alcubierre tensor jet has been stolen!

If Rhiannon and her Hivemates ever hope to leave, they must find and steal back what’s theirs. But far from home and among strangers, who can they trust? Will they be stuck on John Wayne for the rest of their lives?

Goodreads book 1

Goodreads book 2

Purchase book 1:

--Amazon

--B&N

Purchase book 2:

--Amazon

--B&N

Review: Upon joining in on this tour, I had not read Queen and Commander, so I had to begin there before I could read the next book in the series. I felt like it was a pretty good first book in a series, though it did leave me wanting for a bit more. I do realize that sometimes first books can be this way as it is going to be continued, so I was mostly okay with it. I did like the characters very much and enjoyed the writing style, so I did know that I would be happy to move on to reading book two, Hive & Heist.

Now, I can say right away that I enjoyed book two more than book one. This is not unusual for a series, especially for me. I have found through most of the series I read that I am a big fan of book two. Like most series, this book gave me more information, more answers, and more information on the characters that was missing from the first book. The beginning of the book was a bit slow for me, but once I got to the middle it really picked up and I did not want to put it down.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the characters and how they come to work together. It was nice to get information on multiple side characters as well instead of just focusing on the main characters as a lot of authors seem to do. In this story, they all must work together in order to survive, so for me it was important to see and show that they were all playing their own part in the scenario. This also led to seeing growth of all of the characters as you read, too.

Overall, I feel like this book was a good mix of everything that I enjoy in a science fiction now. There was certainly adventure and some mystery, but it also had the elements of friendship and family that are so important, but so often left out in books of this nature. I do believe that book number two was better than book one, and I looked forward to seeing what happens next with the characters.

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

AUTHOR BIO

Janine A. Southard writes and edits speculative fiction in between working on videogame projects. She’s attended more than the average number of universities, which she claims is a FEATURE. (“Oxford educated, but Californian at heart.”) She’s also lived and traveled in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Currently, she lives in Seattle with a husband (and a cat) and sings with a Celtic band.

Author Links:

http://www.janinesouthard.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6935843.Janine_A_Southard

https://twitter.com/jani_s

Third Date by Kylie Keene Book Blitz

Third Date by Kylie Keene
Publication date: June 20th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

At 23, Morgan is a little behind other women her age when it comes to dating and relationships. More specifically, she’s a virgin. Dating wasn’t a priority in high school and college, but now that Morgan has a job and her own apartment, she’s ready to jump back into the dating scene.

When Morgan’s friends at work inform her that most men expect sex on the third date, she panics. She’s convinced her lack of experience will be a total turn-off for guys and make for a really awkward third date. Her friends tell her to just do it with a random guy to get it over with, but Morgan isn’t sure that’s what she wants.

When she meets a guy she’s certain is her dream man, she’s ready to lose it on their third date. But doing so isn’t as easy as she thought. And then there’s the fact that she can’t get another guy out of her head.

Through a series of mishaps and misunderstandings, Morgan eventually finds herself at a place she wasn’t expecting, but the place she wanted to be all along.

Purchase:

--Amazon

GIVEAWAY

Blitz-wide giveaway

Open internationally - Ends July 1st

-10$ Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

The Soul of the Sun by Genevieve Crownson Book Spotlight

 

Title: The Soul of the Sun
Genre: Paranormal/Young Adult
Author: Genevieve Crownson
Publisher: Genevieve Crownson
Pages: 348
Format: Paperback; Kindle
Purchase at AMAZON

“The hands of time turn on the face of the sun. Only you can move them. If the Watcher controls the hands of the clock he can go anywhere, past or future-- and destroy our planet.” 

Since the days of ancient Greece, the Argos dynasty has kept a secret, a mystery passed down through their descendants from generation to generation, in the hopes that the forces of good can stop the evil destruction of planet Earth. 

Margaret Ingall is harboring that secret. Time is running out for the descendants of the Argos. They know a great healer and time traveler will be born of their blood. But the only person that knows whom they will call “the soul of the sun” is Margaret’s sister, Abigail. Before she can reveal the healer’s identity, disaster strikes… 

Evil stalks them, watching and waiting to find out which member of her family has the ultimate power. Is it Margaret’s own child? Or her beloved granddaughter? Or even herself? Their only clue is a powerful protective amulet that will lead them all in a cat-and-mouse game to discover secrets as ancient as time. 

If the Watcher discovers the truth before they do, all will be lost. 

Fate, time and love weave together in their struggle to fulfill their destiny. Will Margaret’s fears sabotage her family’s protection? Can the healer accept her gifts in time? And once the soul of the sun is finally revealed, will it be too late? 

Her power is incredible. The sacrifices required of her are immense. 

Will it be enough to stop the Watcher? 

Excerpt:

The rain fell in sheets around me, it was gloomy and depressing, but I didn’t feel a drop. I was completely encased in light; I was a moving, breathing, flaming yellow orb that no one could penetrate. I watched in amazement as my broken leg instantly healed and the torn pajama fabric cinched itself back together. My jaw pain ceased. I closed my hands over the amulet, now humming with intensity. In a split second, I was vibrating with the same power. The wind picked up and the sky loomed black. The moon lay dark behind an inky sky and somehow strange chanting words flowed out of me. Lava hot and fraught with meaning, they rose to a fever pitch. Every word was a part of me, part of my being. Words from another time, Tanga’s time, slipped from my lips as though it were my native tongue. It was the inscription on the amulet, of that much I was sure.

I stretched my glowing hands out to Thomas.

“I call on you Lady Isis.

Protect Me.

For I am the one, the Soul of the Sun.

I plead with you and your son Horus to give refuge.

Patroness of Nature and Magic bring all my power and your power together to glorify

what is right and true in this world.

Honor your name and those we safeguard from harm. Let time be taken from no man.

Amen.”

He was laughing at me.

“You stupid little twit, did you honestly think that would work? You think that I can’t take what’s mine?”

As he spoke, I chanted the same words, repeating them over and over. I saw fear cross his face just for a moment when he realized I was using the amulet’s power. A brilliant beam of light continued to radiate from my core. It was strange, the light now shone gold instead of blue. It must have changed when it sealed together. I continued to watch and to my astonishment, he became transparent and, with a puff of smoke, evaporated into the heavens. I could hear his heart-rending screams echoing through the ocean’s storm. Drained completely of energy, I crumpled, exhausted, onto the sand.

About the Author:

Genevieve Crownson graduated from the College of Charleston with a Bachelors of Science degree. A love of writing led her to pen her debut novel, The Soul of the Sun. This is book one in her highly anticipated trilogy, The Argos Dynasty. She currently lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with her family and beloved four-legged friends.

You can find her at www.genevievecrownson.com.

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