Stealing Snow Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today I'm so pleased to welcome author Danielle Paige back to the blog as part of the promotional tour of her newest release, Stealing Snow. You guys know already how much I love a good fairytale retelling, so I couldn't be more excited about this book. A huge thank you to Danielle for taking the time to answer my questions, I hope you guys enjoy!

To introduce us to the fantasy world of Algid, what are three things we should know before we follow Snow on her journey there?

Algid is ruled by a prophesy that foretells Snow’s rise to power
Her father is an evil King who may just want to kill her
There is snow and magic everywhere and a lot of cute boys.

If you could write yourself into any one fairytale/ folktale, which one would you most like “visit” and what role would you play?

I want to be Maleficent for a day! Before Danerys (from Game of Thrones) was Mother of Dragons, Maleficent actually could turn into one. The power...the horns...loved!

But also the fairy godmother in Cinderella—I really want to know her story. Who the heck is she? And why is she sprinkling fairy dust on the world? In my mind there may be a less Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo-version of how she got to Cinderella.

If the Disney version of the Snow Queen were to meet your version, what do you think her initial reaction would be?

I am assuming she would attempt a “Let It Go” duet. I think Elsa would understand Snow! Snow is Elsa without the sisterly intervention. Disney’s Elsa grows up knowing about her power and fearing it. But Snow has grown up in the dark about her identity and her power. For Elsa, it is a journey of acceptance. For Snow, it is both acceptance and self-knowledge. And since Snow is a little bit older than Elsa, she also gets to deal with some more grown up complications, like romance!

Before making her escape, Snow is confined to a high security mental hospital, a situation that just happens to be one of my recurring nightmares. *shudders* If you were to find yourself in The Whittaker Institute alongside Snow, would you try to reason with the doctors to prove your sanity, or would you immediately start planning your escape route?

I am definitely much more of a mental strategist than an escape artist. I would have to try and outwit Dr. Harris.

Looking forward to this series as a whole, what warning or piece of advice might the Snow of the later installments give to the Snow in this first book?

Without being too spoiler-y, I would have to say be prepared for a pretty epic ending with a lot of twists and turns! The first book ends very, very far from happily ever after.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

STEALING SNOW

Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent her life locked in Whittaker Psychiatric—but she isn’t crazy. And that’s not the worst of it. Her very first kiss proves anything but innocent…when Bale, her only love, turns violent.

Despite Snow knowing that Bale would never truly hurt her, he is taken away—dashing her last hope for any sort of future in the mental ward she calls home. With nowhere else to turn, Snow finds herself drawn to a strange new orderly who whispers secrets in the night about a mysterious past and a kingdom that’s hers for the taking—if only she can find her way past the iron gates to the Tree that has been haunting her dreams.

Beyond the Tree lies Algid, a land far away from the real world, frozen by a ruthless king. And there too await the River Witch, a village boy named Kai, the charming thief Jagger, and a prophecy that Snow will save them all.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

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DANIELLE PAIGE

Danielle Paige is the New York Times bestselling author of the Dorothy Must Die series, and the upcoming  Stealing Snow series (Bloomsbury, 2016). In addition to writing young adult books, she works in the television industry, where she's received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She is a graduate of Columbia University and currently lives in New York City.

Website • Tumblr • Twitter  

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GIVEAWAY

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Review: Burning

BURNING
Danielle Rollins
Paranormal Young Adult
352 Pages
Bloomsbury Childrens
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After three years in juvie, Angela Davis is just a few months shy of release, and she'll finally be free from the hole that is Brunesfield Correctional Facility. Then Jessica arrives. Only ten years old and under the highest security possible, this girl has to be dangerous, even if no one knows what she did to land in juvie. As strange things begin happening to Angela and her friends that can only be traced to the new girl's arrival, it becomes clear that Brunesfield is no longer safe. They must find a way to get out, but how can they save themselves when the world has forgotten them?

MY THOUGHTS
Burning is a quick and engaging read, the day to day life for Angela and her cellmates at Brunesfield drawing us in before the paranormal element even comes into play, thus forcing us to make the nearly impossible choice between getting some much needed sleep and staying up all night to see how everything plays out.

Despite the fact that Angela is one of the more serious offenders currently residing at Brunesfield, she's easy to root for from the beginning, and we quickly find ourselves counting down the days until her release right along with her. She's madly in love with her younger brother Charlie, living for the letters he sends even though her dyslexia keeps her from reading them herself, and is simply trying to keep her head down so her release date isn't pushed back once again. She's fiercely loyal to friends and cellmates Issie and Cara (and eventually Jessica), helping to to keep their spirits up by regaling them with stories late at night and managing to keep a level head on her shoulders even as the new doctor shows up and charms all the girls with promises too good to be true.

The mystery surrounding Jessica and the new doctor unfolds slowly, not so slowly as to be boring, but rather perfectly paced so we have plenty of time to question and wonder where we're being led. The only problems with this story arise in the final few chapters, loose ends everywhere left blowing madly in the breeze by the time we reach the last page to leave us with the kinds of questions that are more frustrating than delightfully intriguing. That being said however, though I haven't found any mention of this being the first in a series, it's entirely possible that is the case, and if so, the lingering questions make far more sense and undoubtedlyshift that sense of frustration to one of anticipation.

Rating:  I'm going to split my rating since it's unclear (to me) if this is going to be a series or not:)

If a standalone - 3/5
If book one in a series: 4/5

Find Danielle:

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday: The "Is It Time Yet?" Edition

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

I decided to do 2 picks this week, books that I've been dying to read for what feels like 293482023948023 years but in fact has been less than one. How slow time goes when I'm desperate to return to beloved characters! I don't have to wait much longer though, and sometimes even re-reading the synopsis for the hundredth time is enough to tide me over for another week (or day, whichever), so today I'm going to stare at the beautiful covers and pretend that tomorrow is release day for these two ;-)

All that I need to say about these is YES.

ICE LIKE FIRE

Snow Like Ashes #2

Sara Raasch

Young Adult/Fantasy

Releases October 13th from Balzer + Bray

From Goodreads:

It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

QUEEN OF SHADOWS

Throne of Glass #4

Sarah J. Maas

Young Adult/Fantasy

Releases September 1st from Bloomsbury

From Goodreads:

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

Review: The Fixer

THE FIXER
The Fixer #1
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Young Adult/Mystery
384 pages
Available Now
Bloomsbury
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’ problems.

And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.

Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Heist Society, readers will be clamoring for this compelling teen drama with a political twist.

MY THOUGHTS
The Fixer is a perfect blend of humor and gravity, the world of political intrigue Tess is drawn into proving to be a deadly one, but through it all we’re treated to banter between her and her new friends to make sure the weight of all that Tess faces doesn’t grow too heavy. Ms. Barnes also manages to give us teenage sleuths who play by the rules for the most part, making smart choices and sharing pertinent information with one another as well as people in a realistic position to help, thereby completely eliminating the need to suspend disbelief. Instead, we get to easily settle in with Tess as she uses all the resources at her disposal to put the pieces of an ever-expanding political conspiracy together.

Tess is easy to like from page one, her love for her ailing grandfather and her fear that someone will find out just how fast he’s declining palpable, but instead of throwing a fit when her sister intervenes and takes her away from everything she knows, she handles her anger and disappointment with maturity. It’s not to say Tess is without flaws, after all a perfect character would be a bit of a bore, but she makes–if we're being brutally honest–the same choices we can see ourselves making at every turn, even when those choices are ones that land her in hot water with family, friends or school authorities.

One of the many highlights of this tale is Ms. Barnes’s sense of humor, the witty repartee between Tess and resident troublemaker Asher making us laugh out loud as insults are hurled back and forth before bouncing harmlessly off the other person’s shield of sarcasm. While there are two boys in Tess’s orbit, there’s only the barest hint of a possible romance as the story progresses, and a love triangle doesn’t even come close to entering the picture. Tess’s journey from Montana farm girl to D.C. fixer is at the forefront the entire time, keeping us guessing as we try and sort through all the political lies along with her.

Overall, The Fixer is a hugely entertaining first installment, weaving a complex mystery and giving us a cast of characters we won’t soon forget. We’re left in a satisfying place, a few cogs in the political machine revealed and a few answers brought to light, but the larger picture still hovers just out of reach to tease us into picking up future books. I personally can’t wait to see what Ms. Barnes has in store for Tess and company moving forward.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Jennifer:

Website • Tumblr • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion. 

Review: Lion Heart

LION HEART
Scarlet #3
A.C. Gaughen
Young Adult/Historical
348 pages
Bloomsbury
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Scarlet has captured the hearts of readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.

Imprisoned by Prince John for months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring escape from the Prince's clutches, she learns that King Richard’s life is in jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine demands a service Scarlet can’t refuse: spy for her and help bring Richard home safe. But fate—and her heart—won’t allow her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long, and together, Scarlet and Rob must stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England. They can not rest until he’s stopped, but will their love be enough to save them once and for all?

MY THOUGHTS
Lion Heart, like Lady Thief before it, is not always an easy read, a villain drunk on power with the might of a royal name behind him causing every muscle in our bodies to seize up as we flip the pages, trying valiantly to keep from throwing the book across the room in the hopes that mighty Prince John will feel it. While we have faith that Ms. Gaughen will usher Rob and Scarlet to a happy end by the time we close the back cover, that faith doesn’t lessen the intensity of their story, and we start each chapter with excitement and dread battling for supremacy as we wait to see what’s in store for our epic couple.

Scarlet has been easy to root for from the beginning, an innate need to protect those she loves driving her to step into the line of fire repeatedly, and through it all she holds herself together with a strength and grace we’re sure we wouldn’t be able to muster were we faced with the same circumstances. While she does have a brief moment where she seriously considers the tried and true romantic gesture of pushing Rob away for his own protection, her senses quickly return to her and she fully embraces the fact that she and Rob will forever be stronger together than apart.

After a lengthy build up with Prince John and his Machiavellian scheming to permanently remove his brother from the throne, the final showdown does happen fairly quickly and leaves us with almost no follow up as to what happens to our beloved cast of characters in the aftermath. That being said though, Ms. Gaughen does include an author’s note in the end that details a bit more of the history on which the story is based as well as where she took a few creative liberties, and those few pages provide quite a bit of closure. Overall, Lion Heart and the entirety of the Scarlet series is outstanding, both heart-wrenching and heartwarming in equal measure, and satisfying on every possible level.

Rating: 4/5

Find A.C.:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES
A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Sarah J. Maas
Young Adult/Fantasy
416 pages
Bloomsbury
Available May 5th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

MY THOUGHTS
Every once in a while when we emerge from a story that's held our undivided attention for so long, blinking blearily at our reality, we find we can focus on nothing other than the desire to return to the first page and start the experience all over again. A Court of Thorns and Roses is very much that type of tale; one that leaves us physically unable to pick up another book for days following the turn of the last page given that doing so would be acknowledging our time with Feyre and Tamlin is temporarily over.

Ms. Maas has the uncanny ability to write characters who are a study in contrasts; a beautiful mess of conflicting attributes that resonate so thoroughly they become unforgettable in a very short amount of time. Feyre is gorgeously strong physically and mentally, providing for her crippled father and two older sisters as they sit comfortably in the tiny cottage they call home and complain about the speed at which Feyre puts food on their table. While confident in her hunting abilities, she's hugely self-conscious with regard to her intelligence, her inability to read and write something that causes her no shortage of shame. What she sees as a flaw though is but one of the many threads that bind us to her emotionally, able to feel her every joy and pain as if it were our own.

Tamlin, though more of a mystery to us given we spend all our time in Feyre's head, is as stunningly layered as she is, comprised of more shades of gray than we would have imagined possible prior to reading. At his core he could be described as good or even heroic, but like Feyre, when challenged and backed into a corner he's capable of making decisions that have brutal consequences for those around him. His relationship with Feyre is deliciously tense, the two of them tiptoeing around one another for much of the first half, trying to figure out how to make the best of a situation that's difficult for all involved. They spare us the drama we might have anticipated given Feyre's essentially kidnapped and forced to live in a world unfamiliar to her, instead proving they are not above apologizing when they make a misstep and constantly choosing to compromise when they could so easily lash out.

While Feyre and Tamlin are highlights, Ms. Maas supports them an extraordinary cast of secondary characters, each with shadows behind their eyes that whisper beseechingly to us as we slip further and further under the spell of this magnificent world, letting us know they have secrets to tell and scars for us to examine more closely. We're left in a very satisfying place, the events of the final hundred pages clearly going to have epic repercussions on this world and its inhabitants, but those repercussions remain firmly on the horizon as we flip the final page. A Court of Thorns and Roses is Ms. Maas at her very finest, giving us a glimpse at an imagination that impresses us more fully with each book we're gifted.

Rating: 5/5

Find Sarah:

 

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Start of Me and You

THE START OF ME AND YOU
Emery Lord
Contemporary Young Adult
384 pages
Bloomsbury
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads):
It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

MY THOUGHTS
There’s never a shortage of trepidation to be had when picking up the second novel by an author who blew us away with their debut, anxiety as to whether or not we’ll fall as hard for it as we did for its predecessor wreaking havoc on our insides as we crack the spine. What we find immediately with The Start of Me and You however is that our fear and anxiety are unnecessary, Ms. Lord’s sophomore novel a delight in every possible way as it proves that young adult friendships and romantic relationships don’t have to be full of angst to be thoroughly memorable and compelling.

Ms. Lord has a gift for writing teenage voices that are so genuine and believable that we immediately flashback to our younger selves, remembering the exact moment when we had the chance to show our high school crush just how cool we were by letting loose a remark so charmingly witty that they'd have no choice but to fall in love with us, only to be horrified by the inanity that escapes instead. Paige has more than a few of those moments, endearing her to us forever as we nod along knowingly and smile in shared embarrassment when those small moments don’t go as planned.

What’s so beautifully perfect about this tale–in addition to a standout protagonist who exudes warmth and the type of every-girl normalcy to which so many can relate–is that Ms. Lord has every opportunity to follow a familiar path with regard to the friendships and romance in this story, but at every turn she chooses to highlight the positive over the negative. The friendship between Paige and her three closest friends has moment after moment where things could easily turn sour, the relationship deteriorating into cattiness and jealousy as life happens, but instead the four of them prove that the strength of a friendship is proven in every day moments as much as it is in those of consequence.

The romance is adorably low-key, refusing to shift even slightly in the direction of a love triangle despite the presence of both longtime crush Ryan and perfectly nerdy Max. Ms. Lord once again chooses to portray teenagers with a maturity and humor that has us wishing we could bestow upon her the gift of speed writing so the wait for her next book might not be quite as long.

Rating: 5/5

Find Emery:

Website • Twitter • Tumblr • Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

The Big Love Letter Event: Emery Lord

It's the last week of The Big Love Letter Event! *sobs* Fear not though, I'm wrapping things up in epic fashion today with a little something special from Emery Lord. I devoured Emery's debut novel Open Road Summer last year and then pounced on her upcoming release, The Start of Me and You (releases March 31st!) with an embarrassing level of enthusiasm when it became available for review. It's safe to say I'm a fan of her storytelling. The Start of Me and You absolutely blew me away, cementing the fact that I will forever read anything and everything Emery decides to write. Even if she decides to do a retelling of Crime and Punishment (that book scarred me for life in high school, my friends. It was so long. With so many Russian names. And it resulted in my one and only F on a test. It haunts me still ;-)

But I digress. All you really need to know is Emery's characters are utterly genuine and a joy to read about, and I can't recommend her enough if you've yet to give her a try! She's here today to share a letter to all the kids out there (and those of us who are still kids at heart) who love to read:

To the kids who always have books stashed in their backpack,
stacked on their nightstands, piled high at library checkout-
To the kids whose characters are dear friends, kids who
would rather be in Narnia than at a sleepover-
To the kids who feel things more deeply than other kids seem to,
I want to tell you: you will find your people.

They may not be in your third-grade classroom, but someday
I promise, you will find us. We reread Harry Pottery every
few autumns, we broke into the Met with Claudia Kincaid,
we traveled by tesseract with Meg Murry and mixed up
raspberry cordial and currant wine with Anne Shirley.
Perhaps you'll be at the library or online or in college and you'll
grumble about homework like "I'd rather dig holes with Stanley Yelnats IV,"
and we'll snort with bits of laughter and you'll realize:
Other people speak the language that you thought you invented,
the language you thought only you could speak.
It will be like Jonas seeing color for the first time. (We loved that one too.)

So hang on, little reader, if you feel you don't belong.
When all the other lights in the neighborhood turn off,
your bedroom light remains aglow as you sneak one more chapter.
If only you could see what the moon sees from the heavens:
the late-night lights of little readers everywhere, glimmering around the world.
And you belong with us- the readers, the feel-too-much, made-up-land dwellers.
Our lights are still on too. You just can't see them yet.

Love,
Emery, whose light was on till 2AM last night. Oops!

*Jenny dies*

If that isn't the perfect ending to this event, I don't know what is. Thank you Emery, for so eloquently summing up what it is to love books and to take comfort in the stories that may only exist in black ink on white pages, but that sometimes feel even more real and vibrant than the world around us.

Book people are my people, and I couldn't be more grateful for all of you!
 

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OPEN ROAD SUMMER

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. 

But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

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THE START OF ME AND YOU
(releases March 31st from Bloomsbury)

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

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EMERY LORD

Emery Lord is a 20-something Midwestern girl who writes stories about high school and best friends and weird families and the crushes that make you feel combustibly alive and also more awkward than you thought was possible. If you're not sure how to pronounce Emery, try slurring the name "Emily," and that will get you really close.

She lives in Cincinnati in a 100 year-old pink row house with her BFF/husband, a closet full of dresses, and lots of books. If karaoke-ing in grocery store aisles or guzzling coffee while impulse shopping were illegal, Emery would be writing her overemotional YA books from jail. Also, she makes up words sometimes. Like combustibly.

Open Road Summer, her first YA novel, is out now with Bloomsbury. Her second, The Start of Me & You, will be released March 31, 2015.

Website • Twitter • Tumblr

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GIVEAWAY

Danny and I have (what we think) is a pretty fabulous giveaway that will run for the entirety of this event with 5 winners in total when all is said and done:

• Winners 1-4: Each will get a book of your choice from one of the participating authors. (Open internationally as long as Book Depository ships to you! )
• Winner 5  : Hardcover copy of LAILAH by Nikki Kelley plus some awesomely cute swag (international ). Prize is provided by author - thank you so much!
  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check back both here and at Bewitched Bookworms every Friday in February for more letters and a whole lot more love from these fantastic authors:

• Kristen Simmons (The Glass Arrow)
• Mindee Arnett (Polaris, The Nightmare Dilemma)
• Melissa Landers (Invaded)
• Sara Raasch (Snow Like Ashes)
• Emery Lord (The Start of Me and You)
• Liza Palmer (Girl Before a Mirror)
• Anna Banks (Joyride)
• Heather Demetrios (I'll Meet You There)
• Nikki Kelly (The Styclar Saga)
• Paula Stokes (Liars, Inc.)
• & More!

The Mime Order Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

THE MIME ORDER
The Bone Season #2
Samantha Shannon
Urban Fantasy/Dystopian
528 pages
Bloomsbury
Available January 27th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the fugitives are still missing and she is the most wanted person in London.

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on Paige, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided. Will Paige know who to trust? The hunt for the dreamwalker is on.

MY THOUGHTS

The Mime Order, much like The Bone Season, is a touch overwhelming in the beginning, a deluge of unfamiliar terminology hitting us immediately as we pick up with Paige at the exact moment we left her, and we can't help but struggle to find our footing in the first few chapters (for those who are smarter than me, Samantha has a handy refresher post to help you before you dive in). It's a fair amount of time before we're given an oh-so brief review of Paige's time in Sheol I as she recounts it for two of her friends, and so we spend much of the first hundred or so pages trying to remember the finer details of this world, its vast history, and Paige's role in the middle of all of it. That being said however, Ms. Shannon kicks everything up several notches in the remaining two thirds of this tale, introducing us to the inner workings of the corrupt syndicate and further developing the stunningly layered relationship between Paige and Warden.

The slower pace of the first third can be largely attributed to the fact that Paige, understandably, slides right back into her previous life, the smart, strong, fighter of a girl who refused to be cowed by the Rephaim in Sheol I returned to a quieter young woman who does her Mime Lord's bidding with only a mere grumble to show her dissatisfaction. It's made clear to us how few options Paige has available to her though, and how ultimately the status afforded her as Jaxon's Mollisher will get her a far cry further on the road to change than if she clung tight to her pride went her own way, so her decisions, while difficult to swallow at times, make sense. Once Warden reenters the picture though, Paige's fight returns, his presence sparking the same rebellious fire in her it did before, pushing her to be the strongest and most powerful–physically, emotionally and mentally–version of herself possible.

As was the case with The Bone Season, Paige's relationship with Warden is one of highlights of this second installment. Warden's inhumanity is made clear to us time and again, but it's always beautifully contrasted by quiet moments with Paige; moments that warm the chill created by the cool indifference of his kind. Their path to happiness together is one blocked by every type of barrier imaginable–the two of them separated by a bottomless chasm of differences–but for all the ways they're different, they're also both outcasts and reluctant leaders, struggling to right a world gone so very wrong. They see one another with a stark honesty to which those around them are blind, and though what they have is too jaggedly misshapen (and all the more fascinating for it) to fit in a neatly labeled romantic box, it brings a warm flush to our skin and a smile to our faces nonetheless.

Overall, The Mime Order takes a little while to settle into, the politics of the syndicate and the sheer vastness of a futuristic London keeping us from reengaging with Paige's story the way we'd like, but before long the tide of power among the Mime Lords begins to shift and we can do nothing but hang on for the ride. We're left with a revelation that leaves us with our lips curled up in one corner, part-grimace and part wicked smile as we look forward to what this new piece of information will mean for the events of book three.


Rating: 4/5

 Find Samantha

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This book was sent to me free of charge by the publisher for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

• • • • • • • • • • • • 

BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY

As part of the tour, the hugely creative team at Bloomsbury asked us all to send in a picture of ourselves so we could have an aura added to them. For those who haven't read this series, those with certain special clairvoyant abilities are, thanks to Paige's Mime Lord, divided into seven distinct orders. Each order has a specific aura associated with it:

I. Soothsayers – Purple – Require ritual objects called numa to connect with the æther

II. Augurs – Blue – Use organic matter, or elements, to connect with the æther

III. Mediums – Green – Connect with the æther through spiritual possession

IV. Sensors – Yellow – Privy to the æther on a sensory and linguistic level

V.  Guardians – Orange – Have a higher degree of control over spirits

VI.  Furies – Orange-red – Subject to internal change when connecting with the aether

VII. Jumpers – Red – Able to affect the aether outside their own physical limits

As I'm a HUGE fan of Paige, I went with a red aura to match hers. And since I don't care for pictures of me by myself, I sent Bloomsbury the photo of me and Griffin that I use for all blog-related things. I didn't realize until after they'd sent the image back however that I'd provided them with the smallest picture EVER, so good luck trying to see us. I had to laugh though, teeny tiny Griffin and I with our red and magenta fluffy auras (Griffin is very lion-like, he would approve) just brought a smile to my face:

    (Yes, that's seriously the size of the photo I sent them. So sorry, Bloomsbury.)

I'm lucky enough to have a copy of The Mime Order to give away on the blog today, so yay! If you haven't had the chance to start this series yet, I can't recommend it enough:) To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out the remaining stops on the tour!

(click to enlarge)

Review: Soulprint

SOULPRINT
Megan Miranda
Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Mystery
368 pages
Bloomsbury
Available February 3rd
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
Seventeen-year-old Alina Chase has spent her entire life imprisoned on a secluded island—not for a crime she committed in this lifetime, but one done by her past self. Her very soul is like a fingerprint, carried from one life to the next—and Alina is sick of being guilty.

Aided by three teens with their own ulterior motives, Alina manages to escape. Although she’s not sure she can trust any of them, she soon finds herself drawn to Cameron, the most enigmatic and alluring of the trio. But when she uncovers clues from her past life, secrets begin to unravel and Alina must figure out whether she’s more than the soul she inherited, or if she’s fated to repeat history.

This stunning “new world” romance from acclaimed author Megan Miranda will leave readers wondering how far they would go to escape the past.

MY THOUGHTS
Soulprint has a horrifyingly fascinating premise, the idea that a current incarnation of our soul could be punished for the sins of a prior life the type of thing that keeps the gears in our minds turning from beginning to end. We thankfully learn early on what crime June–the soul our protagonist Alina now carries–committed that was serious enough to warrant the imprisonment (or “containment” as those watching Alina call it) of her future self despite that self having never stepped a single toe out of line, thereby satisfying enough of our curiosity to fully ground us in Alina's story. Once we have solid footing and a basic understanding of the level of fear surrounding June's actions, Ms. Miranda kicks the tension and mystery up a notch and we find ourselves as desperate to uncover the secrets June left behind as Alina is.

Alina is a young woman it's nearly impossibly not to feel for, her entire life defined by the actions of someone else as she pays for the mistakes of the girl who came before her. It would certainly be understandable if she were to let her circumstances get the better of her, existing in a melancholic state of "why me"type questions, but instead the Alina we first meet is someone who uses her time wisely. She teaches herself how to build things that might come in useful in any type of escape attempt and, once on the run, approaching her rescuers with an appropriate level of wariness. She makes smart decisions despite her limited dealings with people other than the guards tasked with watching her, observing the interactions between Cameron, Casey and Dominic and quickly deducing what she needs to do to gain and keep her freedom.

The synopsis puts emphasis on the romance between Cameron and Alina, but that aspect is relatively subtle, taking a definite back seat to the mystery surrounding June's crime and subsequent death seventeen years prior. It's present enough so as to not feel like an afterthought, the build-up of trust between them both beautiful and believable, but not so prominent as to overshadow the dozens of questions we have about the concept of tracking a soul from one lifetime to the next. When we reach the last page we are nothing short of blissfully satisfied, June's motivations all those years ago made clear and majority of our nagging questions answered, allowing us to revel in what the future might hold for Cameron and Alina.

Rating: 4/5

Find Miranda:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Chasing Power

CHASING POWER
Sarah Beth Durst
Paranormal Young Adult
376 pages
Bloomsbury
Available October 14th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind-things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers-and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again . . . which would mean grave danger for them both.

When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel-a boy with the ability to teleport-he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it. Together, they embark on a quest to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family-and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive . . . or survive.

MY THOUGHTS
Chasing Power is a fun, fast adventure, quite literally (given Daniel is a teleporter) jumping us from one place to the next as he and Kayla try and beat those responsible for his mother’s kidnapping to a series of ancient artifacts. While not the type of story to wrap our hearts in a vise-like grip and squeeze them until we hemorrhage feelings, our time with Kayla and Daniel is memorable in its sheer entertainment value, and we find ourselves happily flipping the pages to see how everything will work out for the two of them.

Kayla is a young woman gifted in the art of sarcasm, her banter with best friend Selena bringing tears of laughter to our eyes thanks to the dry delivery and their shared ability to introduce impressively random conversational tangents. She also, despite finding herself in increasingly precarious physical and emotional situations, lacks a flair for the dramatic, instead approaching revealed secrets and lies with the type of straightforward honesty that brings a smile to our faces. The calmness with which she accepts various truths once they’re all out in the open could be due in part to her tendency to keep her own motivations close to her chest, repeatedly lying to her mother about where she’s going and what’s she’s doing with Daniel. While we want to shake her a time or two and tell her to trust her mother with what’s happening, the fact that she doesn’t is understandable based on what we know about her past, and it’s not frustrating enough to noticeably detract from our overall enjoyment.

The romance with Daniel is sweet and subtle, the two of them partners in crime first and foremost as they try and thwart those pursuing them, and only ever-so slowly does their relationship change from antagonism and distrust to attraction and affection. Daniel manages to hold his own against Kayla’s smart mouth, and like her, isn’t prone to emotional overreaction or melodrama. Overall, the romance adds a nice touch without being overdone, allowing the humor and the mystery to be the elements that truly shine, and we reach a last page free of cliffhangers and unanswered questions and full of satisfaction instead.

Rating: 4/5

Find Sarah:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Fire Artist

THE FIRE ARTIST
Daisy Whitney
Paranormal Young Adult
288 pages
Bloomsbury
Available October 14th
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Aria is an elemental artist—she creates fire from her hands. But her power is not natural. She steals it from lightning. It’s dangerous and illegal in her world. When she’s recruited to perform, she seizes the chance to get away from her family. But her power is fading too fast to keep stealing from the sky. She has no choice but to turn to a Granter—a modern day genie. She gets one wish at an extremely high price. Aria’s willing to take a chance, but then she falls in love with the Granter . . . and he wants his freedom. Aria must decide what she’s willing to bargain and how much her own heart, body, and soul are worth.

In a world where the sport of elemental powers is the most popular form of entertainment, readers will be swept away by a romance with stakes higher than life and death.

MY THOUGHTS
The Fire Artist is ripe with the type of tension that accompanies waiting for the other shoe to drop, knowing things for our young protagonist are going to rapidly unravel while we can do nothing but sit idly by and let it happen. The weight of our stress only grows heavier as her story progresses, the rope holding the guillotine blade over Aria's fragile neck fraying with each and every chapter until we reach the moment it finally gives and she must face the fate that's been building from the beginning. While we find ourselves fully invested in Aria's future however, wishing and hoping right along with her for a life free of her abusive father, the romance leaves a bit to be desired as does the final showdown with the man responsible for the deterioration of her family.

Aria is an engaging protagonist, the brief glimpses we get of how she came to be a fire artist more than enough to have us taking up secure residence in her corner, ready to do battle against a father blinded to anything and everything but his own desire for wealth and status. Though we root for her throughout, she's a young woman who really proves her mettle in the latter half of the story, her silence with regard to her father's abuse and her mother's obliviousness in the first half making us want to scream at the top of our lungs on her behalf. Once her Faustian bargain is made though, Aria comes to vibrant life, owning up to her mistakes and fully accepting the consequences of her actions as she seeks to fix her family as much as possible before the devil comes to collect his due.

The romance with Taj, a granter of wishes, is one aspect of this story that keeps it from a higher rating, the development of feelings seeming to exist only between them on the pages while failing to transcend the ink and paper to draw our hearts into the mix as well. There's thankfully very little drama between them and certainly no second love interest in sight, but the evolution of like to love does happen fairly quickly for Aria, and we simply don't have time to catch up and get lost in the haze of joyous confusion that accompanies first love. That being said however, Taj is sweet and charming–and a lover of books–so while we might wish for a little more from their relationship, the two of them are still enjoyable as a couple.

The other small flaw with this tale is more personal in nature and likely something that will be a non-issue for many a reader, but there are times (for me) in a paranormal story when a supernatural solution to a problem seems like the easy way out, a quick fix to something deserving of a more realistic resolution. In this case, that problem is Aria's father, his comeuppance in the final chapters occurring in such a way as to be somewhat unsatisfying given all the pain and hurt he caused his wife and daughters. Overall though, The Fire Artist is a quick and entertaining read, not necessarily one that blazes a new trail in the young adult market but still a story that proves itself to be a fun way to spend a few hours nonetheless.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

Find Daisy:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.