Waiting on Wednesday: Three Dark Crowns

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!

THREE DARK CROWNS

Kendare Blake

YA Fantasy

Releases September 2016 from HarperTeen

From Goodreads:

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose...it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

Ummm. I feel like all I really need to say about this one is YES PLEASE! This story sounds like a fantasy Tudor court meets the Borgia family and I can't wait to dive into all the scheming and politics involved in battling for the crown. WHICH SISTER AM I GOING TO ROOT FOR? At the moment I'm leaning toward Katharine simply because she seems to be a bit of an underdog - not sure how helpful being able to withstand poisons will be unless someone is actively trying to poison her, and given her sisters are probably aware of this gift, it doesn't seem like they'd choose this method to take her down. Both Mirabella and Arsinoe seem to have more active gifts, so Katharine seems to be at the biggest disadvantage and that earns her my initial support.

Also, Kendare Blake is the author which makes adding this to the TBR list a no brainer.

Goodreads • Amazon

Waiting on Thursday (?)

Okay, clearly I'm a day late with the Waiting on Wednesday meme, but I so love highlighting books I'm really excited about and since I was on a tour yesterday, I decided to do a Waiting on Thursday post instead. Well done me:)

If you haven't checked out Epic Reads lately, be sure and hop over to their blog because they've been revealing their Fall 2016 covers over the past couple days and Of Fire and Stars jumped out at me immediately!

OF FIRE AND STARS

Audrey Coulthurst

Young Adult/Fantasy/LGBTQ

Release November 2016 from Balzer + Bray

From Goodreads:

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden.

Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses before her coronation—and her teacher is the person who intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess Amaranthine (called Mare), sister of her betrothed.

When a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom reeling, Mare and Denna reluctantly join forces to search for the culprit. As the two work together, each discovers there’s more to the other than she thought. Mare is surprised by Denna’s intelligence and bravery, while Denna is drawn to Mare’s independent streak. Soon their friendship is threatening to blossom into something more.

But with dangerous conflict brewing that makes the alliance more important than ever, acting on their feelings could be deadly. Forced to choose between their duty and their hearts, Mare and Denna must find a way to save their kingdoms—and each other.

Well hello there gorgeous gold typography! As soon as I get my hands on a copy of this beauty I'm going to clutch it to my bosom and call it My Preciousssss. SO PRETTY. 

I think there's a lot to like about this one aside from the illustrated and typographic mastery that is the cover - we've got magic, warhorses, and a f/f antagonistic romance that has me indescribably excited. WHY DOES THIS BOOK NOT RELEASE IN MARCH?! The only drawback for me is the fact that I can't pronounce Denna's full name (Denna-lee-a? Denna-lay-a? Dennal-ia?) and I keep wanting to call the prince's kingdom Narnia instead of Mynaria. It's in my head now, so Denna will forever be the future princess of Narnia according to Jenny:)

Can't wait for this though!

Goodreads

Fun Happenings This Week

Hey Everyone!

Sometimes during the week I learn of a few interesting bookish tidbits, so the past couple weeks I've been taking a few minutes to put together a post that gathers them together so I can share the fun all at one time:) These posts are typically an assortment of randomness, and I for one am a big fan of all things random, so I hope you guys enjoy!

EPIC READS: LIKE, TRY, WHY

I was recently asked by the awesome folks at Epic Reads to sponsor their weekly Like, Try, Why feature wherein books are recommended based on a preference for a particular genre, trope, type of character, or any other number of things. Basically it's a "if you're a fan of title A, then title B is the book for you" situation (hence the feature name), and I had a blast coming up with the reasoning behind my three suggestions below!

I want to extend a huge thank you to HarperCollins and Epic Reads for letting me be a part of Like, Try, Why, and if any bloggers out there are interested in coming up with your own recommendations for this feature, be sure to contact epicreads(at)harpercollins(dot)com to let them know you're interested.

GRIFFIN'S STORM

I'm thrilled today to share with you the new cover design for the third book in Darby Karchut's young adult Griffin series, Griffin's Storm. This book will be releasing in December of this year, and as I very much enjoyed the first book in the series, Griffin Rising, I can't wait to get caught up with Griffin's Fire before picking this third book up!

 

For centuries, there have been rumors about a lowly caste of supernatural beings known as the Terrae Angeli. Armed with the power to control Earth, Fire, Wind and Water, these warriors and their apprentices clandestinely serve as guardians for humans in danger.

An old enemy returns. A new alliance is formed. And Griffin finds himself in the eye of the storm when an ancient racial hatred is set loose, jeopardizing the very existence of the Terrae Angeli.

Once again, the teen guardian angel is forced to battle his worst nightmare. But this time, Griffin comes back swinging. With a vengeance.

After all, an eye for an eye...

More information on Darby and her books can be found here:
Website
Blog

MONSTROUS BEAUTY AUDIO CLIP

Macmillan Audio was nice enough to share with me a brief clip from the audiobook of Elizabeth Fama's dark paranormal tale (ha! I amuse myself with my oh-so brilliant allusion to mermaids) Monstrous Beauty, so I thought I would forward this little taste on:

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. 

For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

A Random Assortment of Fun

Hey Everyone!

A bunch of book-related awesomeness has been brought to my attention over the past week, so I just wanted to do a quick post to put said awesomeness on your radar. I know, I know. I'm a giver through and through ;-)

First up: ENTICE ME DAY

Entice Me Day: September 15th, 2012

Entice Me Day is going to be an amazing day for both fans of the Violet Eden series as well as those who are new to it, with all sorts of amazing giveaways and a live chat with author Jessica Shirvington. From Sourcebooks:

During the day, @EmbraceSeries and Facebook.com/embracetheseries will be posting cool character quotes, informing readers about the character videos, directing people to quote quizzes, announcing a new chapter release and hosting a giveaway.

ENTICE ME DAY Sweepstakes: We are offering one lucky grand prize winner the chance to win a NOOK Color!  We’re uploading this device with the e-books for EMBRACE, ENTICE, and early chapters from the next book in the series, EMBLAZE.  PLUS, we are including a “YA Starter Library” with a selection of our other cool YA titles, for a total of about 10 books.  The Sweepstakes entries will begin midnight on September 7th and end midnight on September 15th. 

If that weren't exciting enough, the entire week leading up to Entice Me Day will be filled with special character profiles each day, giving you behind the scenes info on everyone involved in this world. I'm thrilled to announce that I will be hosting bad boy Phoenix here on Supernatural Snark, so be sure and check in on the 12th for all the juicy scoop on this delicious baddie!

A full schedule for the week as well as all the details for Entice Me Day can be found here. I hope you guys are as excited for this as I am!

BREATHE

Thanks to the fabulous people over at HarperTeen I have a very cool video in which author Sarah Corssan discusses her writing process to share with you! I'm very excited about the world of Breathe, how cool does it sound?

In a barren land, a shimmering glass dome houses the survivors of the Switch, the period when oxygen levels plunged and the green world withered.

A state lottery meant a lucky few won safety, while the rest suffocated in the thin air. And now Alina, Quinn, and Bea—an unlikely trio, each with their own agendas, their own longings and fears—walk straight into the heart of danger. With two days’ worth of oxygen in their tanks, they leave the dome.

DEFIANCE JEWELRY GIVEAWAY!

Pop over to Epic Reads (such a great site - all sorts of entertaining things like giveaways, polls, and quizzes happen here) and enter to win some custom jewelry based on C.J. Redwine's Defiance. Awesome.

Last, but not least, I want to quickly announce the winners of my past several giveaways. A huge thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Authors on the Web for providing such fantastic books, and to all of you who entered! All winners have been emailed.

ANASTASIA FOREVER

Winner: Rebe

ANGELFALL

Winner: Asheley

BACK TO BOOKS

Winner: Anatea

A Taste of Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets

Some of you may have heard of a little book called Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets. Some of you may be dying to read it. Like me. I am quite possibly one of the least patient people ever when it comes to waiting for highly anticipated books. I obsess. I stare constantly at the calendar as though the weight of my glare will make the days go faster, and then stress when it turns out it's only been about 2 hours since I last looked at the calendar. I read the synopsis over and over again in the delusional hope that more information will have magically appeared since the last time I checked. That almost never happens. Today is an exception.

It's recently come to my attention that a sneak peek of Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets is now available. A SNEAK PEEK PEOPLE! You can find it HERE. If that wasn't enough, I also have 2 stills from the trailer (which will be released in full on August 14th) to share with you today:

UNTAMED CITY: CARNIVAL OF SECRETS

Trailer Still #1

UNTAMED CITY: CARNIVAL OF SECRETS

Trailer Still #2

Cannot. Wait. As always, more crazy fun things like interviews, trailers, giveaways, and quizzes can be found on HarperTeen's fantastic Epic Reads site. I recently took their Starling Quiz to see which character from the book I was most like. I clicked on the link. I answered the questions as truthfully as possible. And this is the name that came up:

CALUM ARISTARCHOS

I blinked at the name. I thought to myself "self, that sounds an awful lot like a guy's name". Probably because it is. Apparently, I'm most similar to a teenage boy. *self esteem plummets* The silver lining to my gender confusing test results was that Lesley Livingston found the whole thing endlessly amusing when I shared my answer with her on Twitter. She might have even mentioned that Cal would look great in a dress to make me feel better (though that sort of made it worse O.o). Regardless of said results, Cal and I have a date when Starling releases on August 28th, and I've told him (via Lesley) that I'll bring the dresses for us both.

Hope you all have time to take a quiz or two at Epic Reads and don't forget to grab your Carnival of Secrets Sneak Peek!

Summer Fun HarperTeen Style: SPF9 Epic Giveaway

Who's excited for summer? *raises hand* Though it's not quite as exciting as it was when I was in school and summer meant 3 months off, I still love this time of year, and the people over at HarperTeen are trying to make it even better with some amazing giveaways and opportunities to experience their books. Love it.

Before I get to all the giveaway goodness though, HarperTeen has a few other things made of win I wanted to share with you. First up:

See the art.

Spread the love.

Join the Resistance

Love is not a disease.

Follow the above link to join the Resistance from Lauren Oliver's Pandemonium by sharing some beautiful posters with your friends to help encourage recruitment.

EPIC READS

Have you heard of Epic Reads? No? Well HarperTeen has recently launched EpicReads.com, a central location of awesomeness for all of HarperTeen's books, and now we can all officially join. Yay! The people at Harper can explain it a bit better than I can, so I'll let them give it to you straight from the source:

EpicReads.com is the new hub for all of HarperTeen’s books. We’ve also launched two channels, for readers who prefer particular genres. If you’re a huge fan of paranormal or dystopian fiction, PitchDark.com is the channel for you! Rather read about romance than werewolves? Then you should definitely explore the StoryCrush.com channel! Each channel has its own blog, contests, polls, quizzes and forums – so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, win free books, & chat with authors!

I just registered this week, I hope to see you guys on there!

YA CRUSH TOURNAMENT

This tournament isn't related specifically to HarperTeen but I wanted to include it because it should be a blast. The YA Sisterhood is hosting their Crush Tournament in which all our favorite book boyfriends go head to head to see who's the hottest crush of the year. It's nomination time again, and now through June 19th you can nominate your top 10 YA crushes and see who's already topping the list.

Topping my personal list this year is The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer's Noah Shaw, followed closely by Kaidan Rowe of Sweet Evil. The fabulous Michelle Hodkin is offering fans extra incentive to add Noah to their lists (as if we need it) by offering up a special scene of our choice should he receive enough nominations. Maybe it will be another scene from his POV! You can find all the details on Michelle's Blog.

SPF9 GIVEAWAY

Last but not least, I have the SPF9 Giveaway (from HarperTeen):

Did you know… books provide excellent shade? HarperTeen is giving you the chance to sample your very own Sun-Proof Fiction with nine of our most fantastic summer reads in paperback. During the month of June, we’ll be tweeting our favorite beach reading photos with #spf9 hashtag, giving away books and more on HarperTeen’s Facebook, and spreading the word that books can be better than sunglasses.

To enter the giveaway, just visit HarperTeen's Facebook Page.

WAIT! Before you run off and enter (because this giveaway is unbelievably awesome), HarperTeen has given me the privilege of hosting a separate giveaway here on the blog. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and you'll be entered for a chance to win. Giveaway is open to US residents only, good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway