Waiting on Wednesday: Novella Boyfriend 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!

Typically I choose just one book to focus on each week, but there are so many novellas coming out in the near future that feature some of my very favorite book boys that I couldn't possibly choose between them. I love them all equally you see, and I wouldn't want any of them to feel left out. I know how they all crave my undying affection ;-)

Novellas aren't always my thing–their brevity preventing me from getting to know the characters as well as I want to–but ones written in the POV of beloved characters from already existing series (whose POVs we don't get in the full length books) are a completely different story. Bring them on.

UNDONE

Unraveling #1.5

Elizabeth Norris

Young Adult SciFi

Available Now

HarperTeen Impulse

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Before the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.

Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris.

Before Ben Michaels saved Janelle Tenner’s life, Janelle saved Ben when he stumbled through an interuniverse portal into a completely new world. That day, he fell in love with the girl of his dreams. And he never forgot her.

Through three stories told from Ben’s point of view, learn how Ben and his friends discovered their ability to travel between worlds, how Ben first met Janelle, and how he pined for her for years before he actually got the chance to meet her, save her life, and capture her heart. And find out what happens to Ben between the cliff-hanger conclusion to Unraveling and the beginning of its heart-stopping sequel, Unbreakable.

This one is already out, so technically no waiting involved. WIN! I fell madly in love with Ben last year in Unraveling, so any extra time I get to spend with him is a good thing.

SPARTAN FROST

Mythos Academy #4.5

Jennifer Estep

Paranormal Young Adult

June 25th

Kensington Teen

*Warning: blurb contains spoilers from book 4, Crimson Frost

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
I’m Logan Quinn, the deadliest Spartan warrior at Mythos Academy. At least I was — until the day I almost killed Gwen Frost.

Professor Metis and Nickamedes say that I’m fine, that Loki and the Reapers don’t have a hold on me anymore, but I can’t risk it. I can’t risk hurting Gwen again. So I’m leaving Mythos and going somewhere far, far away.

I know Gwen wonders what’s happening to me, whether I’m safe. I can’t tell her, but this is my story …

Logan. Quinn. I want in his head. That is all.

 

DIE FOR HER

Revenants #2.5

Amy Plum

Paranormal Young Adult

April 2nd

HarperTeen Impulse

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Set in the romantic and death-defying world of the international bestselling Die for Me trilogy, this digital original novella follows Jules, a brooding, immortal French artist who has fallen in love with his best friend’s girlfriend.

Jules Marchenoir is a revenant-an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save human lives. He’s spent the better part of the last century flirting his way through Paris, but when he met Kate Mercier, the heroine from Amy Plum’s Die for Me trilogy, he knew his afterlife had changed forever and he had found the love of his life. Until Kate fell for his best friend, Vincent. Now Jules is faced with an impossible decision: choosing between his loyal friend and a love truly worth dying for.

Jules is one of my favorite characters from this series, and I always got the sense that he loves Kate, though he covers it up with jokes and witty remarks. I'm definitely looking forward to him being center stage in this novella!

Review: Until I Die

UNTIL I DIE (Revenants #2)

Amy Plum
Paranormal Young Adult
352 pages
HarperTeen
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series.

MY THOUGHTS

Until I Die is a story that treads softly, most of the story almost eerily quiet as the enemies of the Revenants decide to lay low and regroup after the events at the end of Die For Me, but the quiet is not a light one, instead each page of relative inaction is another weight laid upon our shoulders as we wait for the moment when noise is going to violently disrupt our comfortable calm. Because there is so little action for majority of the book, it does take us a while to settle back into this very unique world, our driving desire to learn more about a fresh and new group of paranormals stalled by a thick, almost viscous haze of pleasantness that prevents us from digging as deep as we’d like. We seem to tiptoe around anything overly emotional or physically taxing, stepping carefully page after page all the while hoping for something big to happen yank us into the story.

Ms. Plum has a rather difficult challenge in this second book in terms of us as readers, our contrary natures creating a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t situation with regard to Kate and Vincent’s relationship. On the one hand, we want to see them happy and together and enjoying each other after everything they went through in the last book, but at the same time we crave the tension and conflict that drew us to them in the first place. Ms. Plum grants us those sweet moments where feelings are given voice and growing attraction is acknowledged, and while we certainly release a contented sigh after such interactions, we also wait with bated breath for the delicious drama that seems to be missing from their blissful state.

All is not perfect in their world though, with Kate becoming increasingly aware of her mortality versus Vincent’s immortality, but even with the enormity of that particular obstacle we never quite feel the intensity or sense of urgency we would like to so we can overcome our slight disconnect and fully engage in their story. Finally, however, in the final third of the story Ms. Plum kicks things into gear in suspenseful and thrilling fashion, jolting us with certain revelations we had a sense were coming but hadn’t quite fully pieced together and leaving us with an ending that tears our hearts wide open while providing us absolutely no words of comfort to help stanch the bleeding.

While Until I Die starts slowly and proceeds to meander leisurely through some heartfelt moments between Kate and Vincent, it concludes in a blaze of painful glory, reminding us just how much we really do care for the characters, and shattering our sense of complacency with several well-aimed punches to the gut. The next book promises to give us that extra depth missing a touch from this second installment, our emotions sure to be in constant flux as everyone struggles to deal with a situation with which they’re all intimately familiar, though in this case familiarity fails to prepare them for the pain.

First 2/3 – 3.5/5
Last 1/3 – 4/5
 

Until I Die Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm super excited today to be a part of the blog tour for Amy Plum's Until I Die, the second in her Revenants series. Amy is joining me on the blog to answer a few questions, and she is generously offering up a signed paperback copy of Die For Me as well! Woo hoo! 

This tour started on April 21st and will run through May 12th, so be sure and check out all the participating blogs for reviews, interviews, guests posts, excerpts and lots of giveaways. You can find the full list of blogs on Mundie Moms, and all the details for both this stop's giveaway and the grand prize giveaway are located at the bottom of the post. 

Welcome to Supernatural Snark Amy!

Let’s say you’re in Vincent’s shoes, struggling between the need to be with the person you love most and the need to save innocent lives. Are you the type to constantly agonize over a decision while analyzing every possible outcome, or are you the type to make a choice and stick with it?

I am very impetuous, and make instinctive, split-second decisions and then hold on for dear life. This gets me in trouble sometimes, but my brain just doesn’t work on an analytical level.

Is there another city other than the amazingly atmospheric Paris you think would have suited Vincent, Kate and company equally well should Paris not have worked out as you were writing?

I never actually thought I’m going to set DIE FOR ME in Paris. From the beginning Paris was one of the main characters, almost as important as Kate and Vincent. In fact, I’ll give Paris third ranking in order of importance behind those two. I would love to write a book set in New York or Rome, but this particular story could only be set in the City of Lights.

If the teenage version of you was sitting in a café in Paris and noticed a good looking boy a few tables over, would you have the nerve to approach and start a conversation or would you simply admire from afar?

Approach a cute straight boy? Absolutely not. Even the adult version of me wouldn’t have the guts to do that! I would admire from afar, but wouldn’t even have the courage to be blatant about it. I would totally be hiding behind my book.

In most paranormal stories, immortality comes with a hefty physical and emotional price. If you were offered immortality tomorrow not knowing the specific price (i.e. feeding from others as a vampire or self-sacrificing as a revenant) you would pay for it but were told you would meet the absolute love of your life in one hundred years, would you take it?

That’s an interesting question because it is very rare that you hear of immortals who had some sort of choice in their fate. I would bet you that 95% of them would say that they wouldn’t choose the destiny they were given. However, knowing that you would meet the love of your life...that’s one hell of a carrot. I admit that I would decline the offer. But if it were forced upon me, I would resist destroying myself if I knew that my future held love.

Can you tell us which of the characters was the first to pop into your head when the idea for Die for Me came to you?

Kate. I knew I wanted to write a paranormal romance, and was sitting in my usual thinking spot (the bathtub – lots of bubbles) when this sentence popped into my mind: “Ten days after I got my driver’s license, my parents died in a car wreck.” And all of a sudden Kate existed as an practically fully-formed character in my mind. After that, I set myself the task of figuring out what kind of supernatural creature she would fall in love with.

Just for fun, let’s say both Kate and Vincent make lists (a la Ross’s laminated list from Friends) of characters from other books they’d be allowed to kiss should they ever meet that person. Which young adult characters would be in the top spot for each of them?

Neither Kate nor Vincent wanted to participate in this exercise. (They’re still a new couple – they only have eyes for each other.) But when forced to give me a name, Kate chose Jace Wayland from Mortal Instruments. He’s the opposite of Vincent looks-wise, but there’s just something about those tattoos and sauciness. Vincent said he would settle for Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games for her kick-assness, but only because she’s fictional so there’s no real chance of it happening.

What was your favorite part about returning to the world of revenants when you sat down to begin Until I Die?

In DIE FOR ME I had a whole world to set up, so I wasn’t able to delve very far into the revenant mythology without overwhelming the reader with too many details. In UNTIL I DIE, I’m able to add more Revenant Rules, so the reader will understand a bit more about these beings and how they work.

I also couldn’t wait to delve deeper into the characters’ personalities. When I finished DIE FOR ME, I actually felt lonely. I had been hanging out with the characters every day, and they felt like friends to me. So UNTIL I DIE was like a reunion. I got to see everyone again and get to know them better.

If you were to harness all the emotions and events of this second installment and reduce them to a single color, what color do you think would communicate the totality of Until I Die to us best?

Slate gray. It’s pretty dark. I’d say black, except it is shot through with a little bit of hope, a lot of passion, and some funny bits from our usual suspects.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Amy! More information on Amy and her books can be found here:

Website

Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

For this stop of the tour, I have one signed paperback copy of Die For Me to give away on the blog! To enter, please just leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open internationally and will run through midnight EST on Friday, May 11th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In addition to individual giveaways on each blog, there will also be a grand prize giveaway for the entire tour. How do you enter you ask? I'll let Amy tell you:

Each day of the blog tour you will find one or more words in bold. Collect all of them and put them together in the right order to form a riddle about UNTIL I DIE’s plot. The blog tour ends here on my blog on May 12. At that point, send me the riddle and your name will go into the hat to win this gorgeous Longchamps bag:

But that’s not all. After the complete riddle has been posted here on my blog, you will have two months to email me with the ANSWER to the riddle (after reading UNTIL I DIE). If you answer it correctly, I will send you a signed book plate to stick inside your copy of the book!

WORDS FOR THIS TOUR STOP: Two ways