Book Blitz, Q&A and Giveaway (INT): Insanity, by Cameron Jace

Welcome to the book blitz for Insanity by Cameron Jace, a New Adult paranormal story inspired by Alice in Wonderland! If you've been following me for a while, you know how much I love Alice retellings, so participating in this blitz was a no-brainer. Below you can find more info on the book and author, as well as a Q&A and TWO giveaways!


THE BOOK

Publication date: December 20th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Paranormal

Synopsis:
After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder is now a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll’s paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland’s real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.

Buy it on Amazon

THE AUTHOR

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.

Website    Goodreads    Facebook    Twitter

Q&A
Q: Is insanity an Alice in Wonderland retelling where fact and fiction intermingle like in your previous series the Grimm Diaries?
A: It’s not quite a retelling of Alice in Wonderland as much as inspired by it. It has all the whimsical and nonsensical wonderland fantasy parts, but it’s more grounded to reality because it happens in our time. Fact and fiction do walk side by side in this book. For instance, Lewis Carroll is present as character himself.

Q: Why did you call it Insanity?
A: Well, insanity is the main theme of the book. All what Alice has seen could be interpreted as madness in many ways. Also, when you read the book, it’s insane. I mean like really insane. You will either love or hate it. I don’t think there is a middle zone.

Q: Is the story told from many point of views like the Grimm Diaries?
A: Just a few, but most of the story is Alice’s personal journey.

Q: The Grimm Diaries was filled with research, how much did you put in Insanity?
A: I think the research in Insanity is even greater than the Grimm Diaries. The book is also more action oriented. Alice travels from Oxford, London, Vatican City then Belgium in a couple of days. Each city had to be researches and connected with Lewis Carroll and his books.

Q: The blurb says Alice’s sanity can only be proved through Lewis Carroll’s photography and writing. We thought this is about Wonderland.
A: It’s about Wonderland. The idea is that all puzzles, action scenes, and even romance have a Lewis Carroll background to them. The main reason why this book came to my mind is my fascination with both Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll himself. If you learn the reasons behind each character and location in his book, you will love Alice in Wonderland even more. It’s no coincidence that we all relate to the book. It’s a masterpiece.

Q: You said Insanity is more of a TV pilot. How so?
A: I did write it as a novel but also as TV pilot. The reason is that once you get the idea of the book, the possibilities are infinite, and incredibly amusing. When outlining my plot, I found out it would take books and books to write it. So I wrote one story with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s satisfying on its own, but if I succeeded in peaking your interest you should like to read the next books. The beauty of it is that once you read one book, each other book will be a story of its own. It’s very much like a TV series.

Q: Anything you want to add?
A: I wish everyone and awesome Christmas and a Fantabulous new year And if I messed with you childhood memories of Alice in Wonderland a bit, don’t hate me. Lol.

GIVEAWAYS

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New Adult Review: Hushed, by Kelley York

Release date: November 11, 2013 (previously released Nov 30 2011)
Publisher: Entangled Embrace
Format: ebook, 244 pages

Goodreads description:
He’s loved her. Killed for her. Yet he may not be able to save her.
Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids. Since then, he’s never stopped trying to shelter her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when skipping from one toxic relationship to another. Archer is always there, reeled in and tossed out, waiting to be noticed.

Then Evan Bishop breezes into town with a warm smile and calming touch, and Archer can’t deny his attraction to him. Evan is the only person who keeps him around without a single string attached. And the harder Archer falls for Evan, the more he sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and once she finds out Archer’s dark secret, she threatens to expose the truth if she doesn’t get what she wants. And what she wants is for him to end his relationship with Evan...permanently. 

Amazon    B&N  

The following review is based on a copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, Entangled :)


Review
I started Hushed this morning and just finished reading. I don’t quite know what to say… I kind of knew it would be good (I’ve wanted to read it for more than a year), but I wasn’t prepared for how intense this story would be. It definitely packs one hell of a punch. It’s an unconventional and courageous book on a number of levels. I’ll just try to give you an impression without spoiling anything.

Hushed begins with Archer, our main character, forcing a guy to kill himself via an overdose. He doesn’t like it, but he also feels no regrets. It wasn’t the first time. And it made me really uncomfortable as a reader, because we’re not used to being made complicit with a murderer. The murderer isn’t usually the main character, it’s the villain, right?

It took me a while to warm up to Archer, understand where he was coming from, why he did what he did. He remains controversial throughout the book, and I liked that. He also goes through a huge character development and I loved how complex he was, how the writing never tried to apologize for him or ‘force’ the reader to sympathize/throw a pity party. The style was sparse and straightforward and that worked perfectly. Even though everything is told in the third person, I never felt distant from Archer, I was right there, sometimes closer than I was comfortable being. But I think that’s a sign of good literature – it makes you uncomfortable. I was also unable to stop reading or ‘look away’, hence why I finished the story in half a day.

Archer is a withdrawn college freshman who’s gone through too much in his short life. He keeps himself on a tight leash. His whole life revolves around Vivian, the girl who’s been his best friend and only love for his entire life. He’d do anything for her. Really anything. If she’d only notice that he was the only guy who’s never hurt her, always been there for her… At first that didn’t make me like him. I had the impression that he was the typical friendzoned guy who wasn’t dealing well, but it soon turned out that the reasons for his behavior were different and more complex. He and Viv seemed to be chained together and their relationship was very very unhealthy and co-dependent. I had to keep thinking about that quote from Perks of Being a Wallflower: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” For Vivian apparently that meant running back to the guy who beat her up and using Archer to fall back on whenever she needed him inbetween.

Then there’s Evan, a new addition to their circle of friends. He is the only one not put off my Archer’s rather anti-social behavior. He seeks him out, wants to spend time with and listen to him. He makes him start to stand up for himself when it comes to Vivian; he makes him think he might be able to be a better person. That his whole life doesn’t have to revolve around a selfish person dragging him down and never giving anything in return. Their friendship and relationship evolves very naturally and gradually, it never felt forced or contrived and I never had the impression that the book/author tried to make a big deal out of it (the fact that they’re both guys, I mean). I really like that – that’s it’s simply two people finding each other and growing closer and not so much about Archer coming to terms with feeling something for a guy.

However, there’s the bodycount. And if you have a problem with violence, then maybe this isn’t the book for you. It’s never gratuitous, but it’s also unapologetic and at times graphic. At first I was almost shocked at how Archer just seemed to take the kills in stride… but then something changes, and he’s no longer sure he wants to go on as he did. The walls he’s built around himself begin to crumble. People get suspicious, questions are asked, lies told. How will Archer react when Viv goes off the deep end? Will Evan stay with him when he finds out what Archer’s done?

Despite the murder plot, Hushed is very character-focused, but it never felt slow. There was always a lot going on either on an emotional or a plot level. The book is perfectly structured and well-paced; never breathless, never boring. I was completely immersed. Hoping, fearing, hurting, not knowing what to think and who I wanted to get caught. There were dramatic scenes, but no ‘milking the drama’ or overdoing things in a ridiculous way to increase the tension.

If you’re looking for a dark New Adult read that deals with heavy themes and is well-written and gritty, go for it. If you want something fluffy and fun, look elsewhere. The ending was satisfying but realistic and as far as I know, there is no sequel planned. If you enjoy books that dare to push the limits a bit and have atypical characters that you can’t always root for unconditionally, I think Hushed is the book for you. It always forces you to reconsider your position to what is happening. In any case, I’m glad I’ve had the chance to read it. It was thought-provoking and cathartic and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of Kelley York’s work.


Have you read Hushed? What did you think? If not, do you think this might be a book for you? Have you read anything similar?

Blog Tour: Review & giveaway for Catch by Michelle D. Argyle

Hi there and welcome to my stop on the tour for Michelle D. Argyle's novella Catch! Below you can find out more about the book & author, as well as my review and an international giveaway.


THE BOOK

Release date: September 20, 2014
Publisher: MDA books
Format: ebook, 20,000 words/90 pages

Goodreads description:
When eighteen-year-old Miranda chases a purse snatcher on the Las Vegas Strip, the last thing she expects is for the pursuit to turn into an extended game of hide-and-seek. All Miranda wants are the old black and white photographs buried at the bottom of her purse. They’re the only things she has left of the grandmother she never knew. But how much is she willing to put on the line to save them? And is it possible she’s falling in love with a thief?

Goodreads    Amazon

THE AUTHOR

Michelle D. Argyle lives and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She adores cheese, chocolate, sushi, and lots of ethnic food, and loves to read and write books in the time she grabs between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life. Michelle writes contemporary Young Adult and New Adult fiction (and other genres when she feels like it).

Website    Twitter    Facebook

The following review is based on a copy provided to me by the tour organizer in exchange for my honest opinion.


REVIEW
I loved Michelle Davidson Argyle’s The Breakaway and Pieces (click for my reviews), so when the opportunity to be part of the tour for this novella arose, I had to be on it! Catch didn’t deliver the kind of emotional punch that the former two books did for me, but that’s okay because this is a different type of story and I still very much enjoyed it.

Miranda’s dad has to go to Las Vegas on business, and because Miranda will be going to college once summer is over, her family decided to turn it into their last vacation together. Miranda loves her family but is unsatisfied with the predictability of her life and disillusioned with guys after having made a couple of negative experiences. When her mother sends her and her sister on a hunt to rediscover their dead grandmother’s life via a bunch of old photographs, her purse is snatched from her by a young guy in a suit.

Almost to her own surprise, Miranda goes after him but eventually has to give up. Her phone, her mother’s camera, her wallet… lost. Most of all though, Miranda wants the pictures back because they cannot be replaced. When her sister suggests in jest that she should just call her own phone, she never expected the thief to pick up, nor the crazy bunch of days to follow after that initial conversation.

Miranda is a very likeable character that I think a lot of girls who are in that gap between high school and college, family and a life on their own, will be able to identify with. She’s lived a fairly sheltered life with parents who love her and left her a lot of freedom, but she’s also been burned by relationships in the past and does not trust easily. I really enjoyed the focus the novella put on family constellations, memories, reconstructing the past, but also looking towards the future and building your own life by making independent decisions.

As for Ollie, the thief, he remains a mystery for quite a big part of the book, and that’s part of the reason Miranda is fascinated by him. Why does a seemingly well-to-do guy steal purses? Why is he sending her on a ‘treasure hunt’ around the city to get her stuff back? Who is he, and how does he tick? I can’t say too much here because of spoilers, but I really enjoyed seeing the two of them get closer to each other and I loved the setting and the conversation when they really got to know one another. The moment was somehow suspended in time, both artificial and natural, and I found myself highlighting a lot of passages because I liked them so much.

There’s a twist towards the end that I wasn’t expecting, but it definitely added to the story and heightened the tension. The ending itself could have been cheesy, but wasn’t because it still manages to remain realistic and somewhat open (not in the sense of being left hanging).

Despite being rather short (20,000 words), quite a lot of themes are packed into Catch. What stood out for me was the wavering between opposites: safety vs. risk, family vs. independence, past vs. future, fear vs. desire. The way these subjects were treated went beyond the superficial and made me think about my own situation.

"In all reality, she wanted safety. Staying in one place could guarantee that. But she also craved excitement and adventure and had always dreamed of breaking out of her shell. To her, safety and excitement were akin to oil and water. Was it possible to have both?"
(Loc. 716 / 75% through the ebook)

If you’re looking for a short contemporary treat to devour in one sitting, Catch should be up your alley, especially if you enjoy stories that fall into the overlap between YA and NA. The main characters are well-developed despite the shortness of the story, and the pacing kept me engaged throughout. All in all, a great story and a good way to check out the author’s writing if you’ve been thinking about reading one of her novels (which you should).

GIVEAWAY

Enter below for your chance to win! Also, don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour with interviews and excerpts (links below). Thanks to Shane from Itching For Books for organizing everything :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

October 28th -

the enigma of herself *Review & Dream Cast (blogger's choice)
Book Savvy *Review

October 29th -

Beth's Blog *Review
The Book Town *Review & Favorite Quotes

October 30th -

My Tangled Skeins Book Reviews *Guest Post
Crossroad readers *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)
deal sharing aunt *Blurb

October 31st -

Book Freak *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)
Two-tall-tales *Interview
Stephanie Parent Reader and Writer *Review
Some Like It Paranormal *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)

November 1st -

kimberlyfaye reads *Review
Pete de violet *Review
Shelfspace Needed *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)
Random-ish *Interview

New Adult Review: The Edge of Never, by J.A. Redmerski

Release date: November 15, 2012
Publisher: Createspace
Format: ebook, 423 pages

Goodreads description:
Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?


The following reviews is based on a copy that I purchased myself.


Review
I’ve wanted this book basically since the first time I laid eyes on the cover and read the description. It’s been on my kindle for months and when I was lounging on a couch at a hostel in London and couldn’t get into the anthology I had for review, I thought this was the time. Being kind of on the road myself, I found it easy to slip into Camryn and Andrew’s story and identify with them. It was surprisingly hard to tear myself away from the book even if it was to catch some sleep so I’d have the energy to go exploring the city in the morning!

I’ve read a couple New Adult novels so far and this was definitely among the best ones! Camryn had real problems to deal with but she wasn’t whiny. She was depressed (her boyfriend died, her brother’s in prison), couldn’t muster the energy to feel much, and felt trapped in a life she never wanted that way. So one day, she simply got on a bus and left. On that bus, she met Andrew and slowly came to trust him. The way their relationship developed from wariness to being comfortable with each other and eventually developing stronger feelings felt natural and right to me. They challenged each other and helped each other grow. They stood by each other in very difficult situations. And during their time on the road, they managed to live the spontaneous life both of them had dreamed of. But every trip has to end at some point…

I was surprised when the book first switched to Andrew’s point of view after staying with Camryn for so long, but I quickly got accustomed to the more frequent switches and appreciated getting a glimpse of Andrew’s mind. It let a few of the previous scenes appear in a new light and really added to the overall story. I also simply liked him as a person. There were moments when I thought he was too impulsive but it always remained on a level I could still understand and didn’t get too out of hand. I really enjoyed how he liked to push and tease Camryn but would never do anything that really went against her will. The two really got one another and the chemistry was sizzling.

Well. Where that would eventually lead was pretty clear from the beginning, but let’s just say that once the sex happens it’s at a point where they know each other well enough for it to mean something, which is always makes those scenes more enjoyable for me as a reader. I have to add though that even for New Adult, I thought the scenes were pretty explicit. I didn’t mind because they were well-written, but I thought I’d mention it for those who don’t like that kind of thing. However, I liked that those two were so sexually comfortable with one another.

The Edge of Never is a story about awakenings and moments that turn your life around on many levels. It’s about being young, feeling trapped, about breaking away from the routine and trying new things. I also enjoyed the significance that music had for the story and that both Camryn and Andrew’s families were so important and involved. Despite being 20 and 25, they didn’t have that ‘cut-off’ from their roots aspect to them that I often see in YA and NA.

However, I also have to say that I liked the last third or fourth of the book less than the previous parts. It was like everything disappeared for Camryn apart from Andrew, and I felt that at the end of the book, there were a couple things about her old life that felt rather unfinished as she kind of slipped into his world. Also, the big revelation about why Andrew always held something back from her and thought about leaving a few times didn’t sit all that well with me. Part of that is because it’s one of my plot peeves (and I need to add that it’s something a lot of people actually like to read about), but partly it was also because I felt like it came out of nowhere. The ending, then, was also kind of sudden and incorporated another two elements that felt clichéd to me. Nevertheless, the novel was rounded off and can be read as a standalone, though I saw that there’s a sequel to be released.

Overall, I really want to read the sequel because I loved Camryn and Andrew as characters and want to see what else life (or, you know, the author) has in store for them. Redmerski’s prose flows well and she manages to write romantic scenes without being sappy. If you’re looking for a contemporary summer read with a road trip and romance that is both fun but also treats serious themes, you should definitely give The Edge of Never a try!


Have you read The Edge of Never? What were your thoughts? What do you think of the New Adult trend in general, and now that there are so many NA books out, how do you decide what to read?

Stacking the Shelves: assassins coldly faking it with ruthlessness

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This week's haul was really sweet because it brought me couple books I've been wanting for a while :)

Netgalley

Indelible, by Dawn Metcalf

It sounds great and I'd requested it so long ago that I was no longer expecting a positive answer! A nice surprise and my next read once I'm done with Emma Pass' Acid.


Bought in Print

The Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks

I've been wanting to read this series for years! And there's this nice boxset I've been staring at for a while. On Thursday I caved and bought it because it's actually cheap considering you get 3 books!


Ebooks


Debt Collector 7-9, by Susan Kaye Quinn
The Cold King, by Amber Jaeger
Losing It, by Cora Carmack
Faking It, by Cora Carmack
Emancipating Andie, by Priscilla Glenn

All these ebooks apart from The Cold King, which I'd never heard of and got on a whim because it was free on amazon and sounded cool, are New Adult. I completely fell in love with Susan Kaye Quinn's amazing Debt Collector novella series and just had to get the collected novellas 7-9 now that they're available! Also, I've been wanting to read Losing It for forever! I was part of the cover reveal way back when it was self-published. I read it today and oh my god it was So. Funny!!! I had to get Faking It immediately afterwards as long as they were still on sale ^^
Emancipating Andie is another one I'd heard great things about and was meaning to check out - I love good girl/bad boy parings and road trips, so it was a kinda perfect combination ^^

That's my book spree! What do you think of my haul, and how did your week go?
Oh! And if you haven't checked it out yet, I'm part of the Cover Madness Giveaway Hop - see what's up for grabs here :) I also posted a new review for Luminaire by Ciye Cho, a mermaid novel.

Blog Tour review and excerpt: Girls Love Travis Walker, by Anne Pfeffer

Hey guys and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Girls Love Travis Walker, an NA contemporary novel. Below you can find more info about the book as well as my review and an excerpt :)

Release date: March 15, 2013
Format: Kindle ebook, 323 pages

Goodreads description:
To nineteen-year-old high school dropout Travis Walker, women are like snowflakes--each one different, but beautiful in her own way.

He can charm any girl he meets, and yet down deep he fears he'll always be a loser like his jailbird father. As the landlady threatens to evict him and his sick mother, Travis takes a job he hates and spends his evenings picking up girls at a nearby night spot.

When he enlists in a teen program at the local fire station, he finds out he’s amazing at it. Then he meets the smoking hot Kat Summers, enlists Kat’s friend Zoey to help him woo her, and falls in love for the first time ever.

But he keeps the details of his life secret. His girl will never love him back if she knows the truth about him….


The following review is based on a copy I got from the tour organizer in exchange for my honest opinion.


Review:
Travis Walker can charm his way into any girl’s pants. Alongside his best friend DJ, he hangs out at bars to pick up women so he can forget about his problems for a couple hours. But those problems continue to grow until they can no longer be ignored, not even temporarily. Threat of eviction and homelessness for you and your sick mother will do that to you. Travis is forced to drop out of high school and work full-time in order for him and his mum to survive on a day to day basis. When he meets a girl who is different and realizes that there is a career path that he might be great at and feels passionate about, will he be able to keep his life together or will the pressure become too much?

Travis isn’t the type of guy I usually tend to like, but I really clicked with his voice and the realness of his problems when I read an excerpt of the book a couple months back. Travis, despite his rugged look and shitty life situation, is a good guy. He works his hands to the bone to take care of his mother, who does nothing but lie in bed sleeping almost 24/7 (I flip-flopped between hating and pitying her character). They cannot afford a doctor. She can’t work. His dad’s in jail, there’s no money, and Travis is the only one who can at least try to keep up appearances, somehow hold on to their flat, and put food on the table. And yes, he has a way with women, but he never lies to them or makes them believe there will be anything more than one night. Also, he changes a lot over the course of the novel. He wants something more, wants to evolve, wants to find a way out of the dirt back to a life worth living instead of just surviving one day at a time.

The novel does a good job discussing themes of poverty and homelessness. I haven’t seen that to this extent in a New Adult book before. Anne Pfeffer really lets her main character take a plunge down to the very bottom, and shows the paradoxical interrelation of needing an apartment to get a job and needing a job to pay for an apartment in a striking way. Lose one, lose the other.

The unfairness of it all was striking – you can try all you want and work very very hard, but you might still not get anything for it, while others have it all and don’t need to lift a finger. I think this aspect of the novel also rang with me because it’s something I’m not familiar with from my own country because it wouldn’t be possible here in this way (our health insurance/social security system is very different). Travis’ alternating feelings of anger, despair, hope, ambition, and pride were credible and tangible as the only thing that gives his life purpose is slipping away from him. I really rooted for Travis despite or maybe because of his character flaws.

I also liked his love interest a lot, though for spoiler reasons I cannot talk about her by name or reveal too much. She was kind and understanding and I thought they were evenly matched. They’re relationship was slow-building and gave them time to get to know one another as friends first. Some of that plot line was a bit predictable, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. There were steamy scenes, but nothing too graphic that would overstep NA boundaries.

The pace was good, the plot- and romance arch well balanced. Pfeffer knows how to write great dialogue that can also lift the mood and keep the story from becoming too depressing. One point of critique for me is that the ending felt a bit rushed and some things resolved a little too easily. Don’t get me wrong, I like the note on which the story ended, but it somehow happened a bit fast.

All in all, Girls Love Travis Walker is a great NA contemporary, especially if you enjoy authentic guy POV. The writing is fluid and very compelling; I read the book in a day. It tackles basic life problems and issues in a very realistic way without becoming too bleak and not offering a way out. Travis’ persistence was inspiring and also made me gain a new appreciation for things I tend to take for granted. The romance is important and has great chemistry but it’s by no means the only focus of the novel, as the title might make you suspect. I’d recommend it to anyone who is ready for a different set of characters than you’re usually confronted with and who is in the mood to dive into the world of struggling guy wanting to rise above his lot.


Excerpt:

Only fifteen minutes since I’d entered the halls of Perdido High School and already the beady eye of authority was upon me. I hadn’t even done anything wrong.

Yet.

“Travis!” Ms. Valenzuela called out to me from the door of the guidance office. Although she was getting old, maybe into her early forties, she hadn’t let herself go. She had great legs, which were hidden today by her lime green pants. 

“Yo.” I loped over and unleashed a grin that combined sincere remorse for my failings with my irresistible charm. 

She pursed her lips. “Don’t start with me, Travis.”  

I led the way to her office and took my usual chair while she sat at the desk across from me. “New picture,” I said, nodding to the updated photo of her two daughters. “Kelsi and … Julianne, right?”

She struggled to keep back a smile. “Yes, Travis. Those are their names.”

“Fifth and seventh grade, right?”

“Yes, Travis.” Now she was smiling for sure.

Maybe it was my blue-green eyes, or maybe my granite abs, but I could always get women to smile at me. 

Ms. Valenzuela opened my folder. “Six more absences since your last visit to my office. Plus numerous missed homework assignments. You’re this close to suspension.” She held up her thumb and index finger a millimeter apart. 

“I have to work, Ms. Val,” I said. “Gotta get ahead, you know.” I had a promising position as a bus boy at Jake’s Burgers.

“How many hours are you working these days?”

“As many as I can get, whenever I can get ‘em.”

“You can’t cut back?” She knew she couldn’t push me that hard. My family’s sudden move to Los Angeles in November of my junior year, coupled with my erratic attendance at Perdido High, had screwed up my graduation credits. With all my former classmates in college, I was starting my senior year, again, at age nineteen. 

“I can’t get weekend shifts at Jake’s,” I told Ms.Val.

She didn’t like me working there, but she should just be glad I wasn’t following in the path of my father, who knocked over a convenience mart a year ago and ended up in prison for armed robbery. Mom had gone to visit him, but I refused. He could rot there for all I cared.

“You’ve got one school year left to graduate. I want to see you get that high school diploma, Travis. Or a GED at least.” Between her fingers, she rolled a pen. It was the cheap kind the school district bought that wrote for about five minutes before it crapped out on you.

“Yeah, well, we’re about to get evicted,” I said, “so that’s kind of rearranged my priorities.”

 

Follow the tour and check out interviews and guest posts:

May 2 - My Bookmark Blog - Review

May 3 - Bean Counting Mommy - Review

May 4 - Flirting With Romance - Review/Interview

May 5 - Andi's YA Books - Review/Interview

May 6 - The Avid Reader - Review/Interview

May 8 - Gimme the Scoop Reviews - Review

May 11 - Please Another Book - Review/Interview

May 13 - Alway's YA at Heart - Review

May 15 - A Bibliophile's Thoughts - Review

May 16 - My Cozie Corner - Review

May 17 - Total Book Geek - Review

May 18 - Books and Needlepoint - Review

May 20 - Faerie Tale Books - Review

May 20 - Owlnestly Reviews - Review

May 21 - Up All Night Reviews - Review

May 22 - Read-A-Holicz - Review

May 23 - Shelf Space Needed - Review

May 24 - Bookishly Devoted - Review

May 25 - Doodles Book Blog - Review

May 27 - Love, Laughter, and Friendship - Review

May 28 - Reviewing Shelf - Review

May 28- Pixie Dust Reviews - Review/Interview

May 29 - YA Book Addict - Review

May 30 - LovLivLife Reviews  - Review

May 30 - Addicted to Books- Review

What do you guys think of my review, the excpert, or the general premise of the book? Is this something that would interest you? Let me know in the comments :)

Stacking the Shelves: Embers of Dreams hanging on Strings

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This week was pretty good for me! A bunch of these books have been on my TBR list for a long time, and with my current reading speed I hope to get to them soon :)


Bought in print:

Dreamfever, by Karen Marie Moning
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Dreamfever was fantastic but the ending was such a horrible cliffhanger!!! And the next book isn't available in the right format. Thank god my friend has it, but she's in Belgium till Monday >.< I even asked her for a small spoiler because I couldn't take the suspense. And I usually loathe spoilers with a passion.
Graceling I've wanted to read for sooo long! I even bought it in German but then never read it because I don't like translations (I didn't know it was *that* book when I bought it). I love the cover!

eBooks:

Anathema, by K.A. Tucker
Strings, by Kendall Grey
Ember X, by Jessica Sorensen

I really like the cover change for Anathema! I don't really know what to expect from the book but it sounds really interesting.
Strings should be fun. Just read the description XD
I already own Ember, but this is an 'updated' version that is more New Adult-ish than the previous one. I hope my old version wasn't changed because I'd love to read and compare both. Oh, and it was free on amazon when I got it, but no promises that it still is...


What do you guys think of my haul? Have you read any of the books? And what did you get in the past week?

Tour Review: Darkness of Light, by Stacey Marie Brown

Hey guys and welcome to my spot on the Darkness of Light tour organized by Rockstar Book Tours! Below you can find more info about the book and author as well as my review, and an international giveaway at the very bottom :)

Release date: February 15, 2013
Publisher: Twisted Fairy Publishing
Format: ebook / paperback, 298 pages

Goodreads description:
DARKNESS OF LIGHT is a Mature YA/New Adult Paranormal Romance


Freak. Witch. Crazy. Schizo.

Ember Brycin has been called them all. She’s always known she’s different. No one has ever called her normal, even under the best circumstances. Bizarre and inexplicable things continually happen to her, and having two different colored eyes, strange hair, and an unusual tattoo only contributes to the gossip about her.

When the latest school explosion lands her in a facility for trouble teens, she meets Eli Dragen, who’s hot as hell and darkly mysterious. Their connection is full of passion, danger, and secrets. Secrets that will not only change her life, but what and who she is—leading her down a path she never imagined possible.

Between Light and Dark, Ember finds a world where truth and knowledge are power and no one can be trusted. But her survival depends on finding out the truth about herself. In her pursuit, she is forced between love and destiny and good and evil, even when the differences between them aren’t always clear. At worst, she will incite a war that could destroy both worlds. At best, she will not only lose her heart but her life and everyone she loves. Once the truth is out, however, there will be no going back. And she’ll definitely wish she could.

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | SMASHWORDS | FACEBOOK

AUTHOR BIO

Stacey Marie Brown works by day as an Interior/Set Designer and by night a writer of paranormal fantasy, adventure, and literary fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s out hiking, spending time with friends, traveling, listening to music, or designing.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

REVIEW
I’m not going to lie, what first drew me to this book was the beautiful cover. It’s not just pretty but also relates to the story and represents it really well! Darkness of Light truly is a mixture of both these things: it has elements that are sinister and threatening but it’s also a fun read with great, sarcastic humor and a strong-spirited heroine!

Ember has never fit in anywhere. With her different-color eyes and two-toned hair, she has always stood out and been the object of suspicion. Strange things and accidents happen around her. Because she sees things other people cannot see, she has also spent time on the psych ward until she learnt to lie about her ‘hallucinations’ and was discharged. She is a character with a dark and painful past who is trying to make the best of the present. Since her mother’s death, she has been living with her stepfather, and I really liked how important he was in her life! Very often, the home life of protagonists is pretty much left out, but Ember and Mark have a close relationship and he is a father to her in everything but blood. Despite knowing that she is not quite normal, he stands up for her when she’s in trouble.

And trouble there is. Once more, Ember is being related to a fire that broke out at her school. There is no direct proof, but the sheriff has it out for her, and his word is pretty much the law in their small town. Ember is sent to Silverwood, a school for troubled teens at the edge of the Washington woods. Silverwood is a setting I really enjoyed, including the teachers and other kids Ember meets there. I thought the situation was rendered realistically and without resorting to convenient clichés like the evil principal (she’s awesome!) or general bad treatment of kids (not happening), but it also wasn’t idealized as some kind of sanctuary of the merely misunderstood.

Easily my favorite thing about the novel was the dialogue! At this point I have to mention Ember’s two best friends, Ryan and Kennedy. They were a great trio of outcasts, and both Ryan and Kennedy had their own strong voices and personalities. The three of them together had me cracking up all the time and I loved how loyal they were to each other!

Speaking of dialogue, I have to bring in Eli. Ember first meets him at the police station where he is handcuffed to a chair; later it turns out he does community service at Silverwood and they have to be around one another all the time. Eli is basically sex on a stick… or more like, on a Harley. Before you peg this as the typical good girl – bad boy thing, remember that Ember isn’t really a good girl, she’s snarky and a rule-breaker. Eli is a mystery, at one point reacting to Ember’s interest in him and then seemingly disgusted by her a moment later. There is something strange and different about him, and he (as well as his maybe-girlfriend) seems to know more about Ember than she does herself.

Their arguments and conversations were awesome! There were so many ‘oh-my-god-(s)he-did-NOT-just-say-that!’ moments that left me with my jaw hanging open. I loved it. Their interactions never felt forced and the mixture of attraction and repulsion between them was tangible. I also liked that there was no talk of ‘love’ after only a few days of knowing him and that Ember always keeps in the back of her head that whatever else he is, he is also very dangerous. Nevertheless, I do admit that sometimes I thought there was a bit much of the whole ‘you are bad for me but I want to do naughty things to your off-limits body’ theme, but that might well be personal. Regardless of it, I enjoyed their interactions (oh the tension! *fans self*) and burst out laughing on the train way too often.

More and more, Ember realizes that strange things are happening, that her dreams and hallucinations might be more than just that, and that both she, Eli, and a group of people around him must be more than simply human. There is also Torrin, a guy who keeps appearing in her dreams speaking of danger but refuses to ever answer her questions. He claims to protect her but I had a problem with his attitude.

Another really strong point of the book is the mystery. What is Ember? Is she the same as Eli? What really happened to her mother? Who was her father? What are her abilities? I had a hard time even coming up with theories! Nothing ever quite fit all the elements. At some point I was fairly sure I had Eli pegged, but I was wrong. Darkness of Light is a novel that will really keep you guessing until the end! The revelation, when it came, made a lot of sense though, but it also leads to some of my small parts of criticism of the book. I’d always found it easy to connect with Ember, but I didn’t quite buy her reaction to finding out what is really going on and to the events that happen at the very very end. Still, after that bomb of an ending I really need to know what happens next!

Overall, Darkness of Light is a great read on the edge of mature YA and NA that puts a twist on your usual paranormal novel. The plot is well thought-out with a mystery that keeps you guessing and characters that draw you in and make you feel for them. The dialogue is absolutely fantastic and the tension between Ember and Eli is off the charts! Stacey Marie Brown does a good job navigating around many of the typical YA paranormal clichés. If you’re looking for a read away from the usual urban high school setting and happen to love sarcasm, snark, and some dark themes, you really should give this book a try!

GIVEAWAY

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TOUR SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE:

May 6th - Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf - Guest Post

May 7th - Fade Into Fantasy - Interview

May 7th - Bibliophilia, Please - Guest Post

May 8th - Paranormal Book Club – Review

May 8th - Reading and Writing UrbanFantasy and Paranormal Romance - Guest Post

May 9th - Curling Up With A Good Book - Interview

May 10th - Shelfspace Needed  - Review

May 10th - Mom With A Kindle - Guest Post

WEEK TWO:

May 13th - A Book and a Latte - Interview

May 13th - Teen Blurb  - Review

May 14th - The Book Hookup - Interview

May 15^th – Another World ofBooks - Review

May 16th - Sweet Southern Home - Interview

May 16th - Paperback Princess - Review

May 17th - Consuming Worlds - Guest Post

May 17th - The Girl with Red Cape - Review

Cover & Trailer Reveal and Giveaway: Losing Francesca, by J.A. Huss

Today I'm taking part in the cover trailer reveal for Losing Francesca, an NA contemporary romance by J.A. Huss, organized by Xpresso Book Tours.


BOOK INFO

Release date: July 1, 2013
Publisher: self-pubbed
Format: paperback & ebook

Description:
Francesca Sabatini came to America to take in the sights, celebrate her high school graduation, and have fun wasting time before college starts in the fall.

That’s not what happens.

Fresh off the plane and barely on American soil more than a handful of minutes, Francesca’s face is recognized by TSA scanners to be a match for a child who was kidnapped twelve years ago.

Brody Mason remembers the day Fiona Sullivan went missing during a family vacation in Italy and it’s haunted him his whole life. So when Francesca shows up at the Sullivan farm down the road, he’s compelled to figure out if this girl really is his long lost friend.

But Francesca knows she’s not Fiona Sullivan. She knows exactly who she is. At least she thinks she knows – until Brody Mason relentlessly pursues her and she begins to have feelings for him. Maybe being Fiona isn’t so bad?

Reality becomes blurred, secrets are revealed, and life will never be the same when the final questions are answered: Is she Francesca or Fiona? And where does she really belong?


What intrigues me about this book is that it's not about the time of the actual kidnapping and how the Francesca fares with her abductors, but about how she doesn't remember, and whether it's even true! It's kind of like hearing you've been adopted, only worse.

TRAILER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

Website     Facebook     Goodreads     Twitter

GIVEAWAY

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My first DNF book thoughts: Taking Chances, by Molly McAdams

Release date: April 16, 2013. Previously self-published October 16, 2012
Publisher: William Morrow / HarperCollins
Format: Paperback, 452 pages

Goodreads description:
Eighteen year old Harper has grown up under her career Marine of a father's thumb. Ready to live life her own way and experience things she's only ever heard of from the jarheads in her father's unit; she's on her way to college at San Diego State University.

Thanks to her new roommate, Harper is introduced to a world of parties, gorgeous guys, family and emotions. Some she wasn't expecting yet, and others she never knew she was missing.

She finds herself being torn in two as she quickly falls in love with her boyfriend Brandon, and her roommate's brother Chase. Covered in tattoos, known for fighting in the Underground and ridiculously muscled...they're exactly what she was always warned to stay away from, but just what she needs. Despite their dangerous looks and histories, both adore and would do anything for Harper, including stepping back if it means she's happy.

Her first year away is turning out to be near perfect, but one weekend of giving in to heated passion will change everything.


The following post is based on an eARC I got from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest opinion. 


Thoughts upon DNF-ing the book:
Yes, this will be my first DNF post (I am not calling it a review), and I really dislike doing this to a book I got for review from the publisher. However, I’m just so annoyed with this novel that I decided it’s no longer worth my time. I’m only getting more and more worked up and I see no way this book could redeem itself in my eyes. I might pick it up again at a later point because not knowing what happens in a story tends to nag at me, but right now… no more.

First off I have to say that I was looking forward to reading this book and really wanted to like it, and in the beginning I did. Then it all went downhill for me. However, most of my problems with the book are personal – many, many people have enjoyed it! The Goodreads rating is around 4 stars, and I’ve also included links to blog reviews by people who loved the book at the bottom of this post so that you can weigh the different points which have been made about it and form your own opinion and judgment.

The description of this novel made it sound great to me. College setting, freedom, trying new things. I’m usually wary of love triangles but I had the impression that this one could be well-done, with an interesting dynamic between the characters. However, what I got instead was a selfish girl stringing along two pretty awesome guys she didn’t deserve. Harper was the main reason why I had to quit this book at 55%.

Caution: in order to properly talk about why this book didn’t work for me, there will be spoilers for the first 40% or so. If this bothers you, stop reading now and skip to the summary-paragraph at the bottom.
I was prepared to like Harper when I started reading this. She had an unusual and in some respects shitty upbringing, with a dad who never showed her any affection and whom she couldn’t really talk to. She grew up on his marine base as ‘one of the guys’, taking part in some of the marine training and being home-schooled there. She didn’t have any friends her age at all, so leaving at 18 and flying across the country to start college in San Diego was a huge change for her. There she meets Bree, her roommate, and is introduced to her loving family and her circle of friends. At this point Harper is still likeable, learning to get along with regular people, dress in more feminine clothes, and we also see that she can hold her own in a fight and kick ass if need be.

And yet, the weaknesses in her characterization are already showing. Of course she is totally gorgeous and only half-aware of that fact (at least in the beginning). And since she grew up under her father’s watchful eyes, she is unkissed and a virgin, though she’s heard plenty of stories from the soldiers on the base. Anyhow, she is quite shocked at what she sees when Bree takes her to a party at her brother’s house, but to cut matters short, there is instant chemistry of sorts between her and said brother, Chase, who also happens to be quite the manwhore. Then a couple days later, Harper meets Brandon, who also lives at Chase’s house, falls for him pretty much on the spot, and makes out with him before the day is out. What follows is Harper being with Brandon while constantly feeling her body drawn to Chase and having to fight off the urge to kiss him whenever they meet alone. Meanwhile, Brandon is a wonderful guy to her. He’d do anything for her and never pressures her to have sex with him before she’s ready.

There is nothing wrong with that – at the beginning I really liked that this book showed a loving relationship that worked without sex, and that Harper didn’t let herself be pressured into anything. Sometimes, though, I felt that she was being unfair to Brandon and playing with his feelings. Especially considering her thoughts about Chase. Especially when she visits Brandon's family over the holidays and basically thinks about marriage with the guy only to then go back… and sleep with Chase. Yup, you heard me. Then she keeps this from Brandon for weeks while also cutting off Chase and telling him she needs time to make up her mind. Yet she constantly complains that Chase isn’t around. Ugh.

The way she flat-out lies to Brandon after all that was disgusting. She was so duplicitous and basically a coward. She should have come clean to him. This goes on for weeks and she still doesn’t have sex with Brandon, even though obviously her ‘being ready’ isn’t an issue anymore. The only reason why she finally confesses everything to him is the following: she didn’t just cheat on him with Chase, she also begged him to keep going even though they didn’t have a condom. Alsahjaskdhgkahg!!! So. Stupid!! Even if STDs didn’t exist, did she really think that just because she’s a virgin she can’t get pregnant?! At this point I wanted to stop reading. I have a problem with pregnancy and don’t like reading about pregnant characters. A personal peeve. I had just hoped this book would follow a different course. But I read on… past her break-up with Brandon, past her keeping her pregnancy from Chase for another two or so months before telling him he’s the dad, which also drove me crazy.

This plays into yet another thing I disliked about Harper, and the setting: she’s actually rather one-dimensional. She goes to college, but we never see her in any classes. Or studying. Or doing homework. I know that she had As and Bs in her exams after the first semester, but I have no idea what she’s even studying because it’s never mentioned, though Brandon and Chase’s studies are. When she gets pregnant, she decides not to go back to school after the summer because her priorities changed. Yes, her dad will no longer pay for her and basically threw her out, but we also know that she’d have the money to pay for her education herself. (Because apparently 13 year-olds can work a 40-hour week at the marine base and save all that money they make during those 6 years. I don’t know about the US, but here it isn’t even legal to work at that age.) But she doesn’t, since apparently being a mum is a full-time, paying job and totally good planning for your future. Right? It was just unrealistic! But hey, it’s not like she had any other goals or dreams in life that we know of. I couldn’t even tell you whether she has a hobby.

And the question of abortion? It never even comes up. I mean if she wants to keep the child that’s fine with me, even though she’s way too young to think about babies and marriage at 19 in my opinion, but come on! It’s a question she should have asked herself, and an issue that should have been tackled in a novel like this. But it’s all just dandy and she can move in with Bree’s parents, all the while still not saying a word to Bree’s brother Chase, the kid’s dad! It drove me crazy. Her constant wavering between the guys and how selfish and needy she was acting, even though everyone kept assuring her it wasn’t her fault and she wasn’t a horrible person and was being mature about the situation… I would have laughed if it wasn’t actually so problematic ideologically. This also goes for sentences like “Guys need to understand that sometimes, we mean exactly the opposite of what we say.” (location 3270) Nnnngg. No wonder so many guys have a problem understanding that No means No means No. Always. Under any circumstances whatsoever.

This love triangle could have been treated with a fascinating and intricate dynamic between all three characters, but that never happened. Maybe it does later in the book, but all that I saw was two different but equally likeable guys being used because they see something awesome in a girl whose merit I couldn’t glimpse at all. Her decisions were always based on selfish motives and she wasn’t ready to really give up either of the guys and kept dragging everything out for weeks and weeks. She also had a habit of jumping to conclusions in moments when it was obvious to the reader that she was misreading the situation. It was just unnecessary drama. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the overarching plot or character arc of this novel is supposed to be. There was so much material that could have been cut because it was superfluous (just look at the pagecount!), while some important conversations I would have liked to see play out were merely summarized. When new drama started to rear its head after a while of everything looking unrealistically peachy, I decided to call it quits.

Finally, it’s impossible to read this novel without drawing some comparisons to Beautiful Disaster (which I didn’t like but finished with much eye-rolling). Virgin sleeps with manwhore without a condom. Similar situation about the college setting. Travis is also an underground fighter, like Brandon. Though Brandon is apart from that not as obsessive as Travis and generally a lot more likeable, in my opinion. I always felt uneasy about Travis, but never about Brandon or Chase.

Soooo… to summarize, without spoilers: this novel did not work for me at all, but it apparently does for a lot of other people. If you want a read with two great guys to swoon and drool over and don’t care about the female lead character that much and like lots of drama, go for it. The dialogue was pretty funny at times and the make-out scenes were good. The writing in general, while not outstanding by any means, was solid enough, and I might pick up another book by the author in the future depending on the subject matter. I just couldn’t deal with some of the content here, with Harper’s behavior and the way she and her relationship to the two love interests was portrayed. If you liked Beautiful Disaster, you’ll probably enjoy this. If not, stay away.

Some positive reviews:
Once Upon A Twilight
Readergirl Reviews A Teen Book
Confessions of a Book Addict


I can't believe I just wrote my longest post yet on a book I didn't even finish or like. Ugh. Anyhow, what are your thoughts after reading my reasons for DNFing? Have you read the book? Agree? Disagree? I guess this post might be somewhat controversial, but it really wasn't my intention to offend anyone and I hope I didn't rant too much...