Jenny Pox Birthday Celebration + Giveaway

Today I'm thrilled to be a part of the birthday celebration for JL Bryan's paranormal novel Jenny Pox. Jenny Pox is a disturbing and beautifully challenging read, but also one that slipped beneath my skin before I was really aware of it, ensuring her story has been one to stick with me for a very long time. JL is joining me on the blog today to share with us a little bit about the girl with whom I share a name, and to give us all some very exciting news!

Today is the second anniversary of the publication of Jenny Pox!  And that makes it a great day to announce that there will be a fourth Jenny Pox book, something I wasn’t expecting.  Jenny Plague-Bringer, the grand finale for the series, will be out this fall...details to follow in the near future!  You heard it here first!

For the hop, I’m doing a short guest post about each of the six paranormal characters from the series.  Appropriately enough, we’ll begin here on Jenny’s blog with a short sketch of Jenny Morton...

WHO IS JENNY?

Jenny, the lead character of the series, was born with an unfortunate paranormal condition: her touch infects and kills other living things with a deadly supernatural plague. 

We see glimpses of her childhood and how this has affected her life, making contact with others impossible.  She avoids any contact with others, and so has an intensely lonely life. She lives with her father in a ramshackle house in the woods outside town, because her mother died in childbirth.  Being dirt poor, and having the eccentric habit of wearing gloves at all times, even in summer (to avoid touching anyone) only make her more isolated from everyone around her.  For most of the first book, she’s eighteen and a senior in high school.

Jenny’s life changes when she meets Seth, a boy with an opposite power, a touch that heals.  He is the first boy she can touch (without killing him...).  Unfortunately, Seth’s pretty, popular girlfriend Ashleigh has a secret, devilish power of her own, and she is quite an evil manipulator with a lifelong hatred of Jenny.  Ashleigh uses her own paranormal touch to turn the world against Jenny...who only has one way to strike back.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the Jenny Pox trailer!



The Jenny Pox ebook is currently free on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, and Sony, and cheap on Nook!

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate Jenny’s birthday, and this exciting new announcement, we’re offering a giveaway of a full set of Jenny Pox, Tommy Nightmare, and Alexander Death, autographed and inscribed to the winner!

How to enter: A comment on each blog on the hop counts as an entry, so you can enter up to six times!  Here are all the blog hosts and the paranormal character they’re featuring:

Supernatural Snark (Jenny)
Xpresso Reads (Ashleigh)
Between the Pages (Seth)
Bewitched Bookworms (Tommy)
J.L. Bryan’s Books (Esmeralda)
Bookish Brunette (Alexander)

Random.org will pick a winning blog & then a winning comment!  Must be 13 to enter, U.S. only.  Please include email or Twitter contact information with your comment in case you win!

Links for stalking J.L. Bryan:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Amazon US Author Profile
Amazon UK Author Profile 

Interview and Giveaway: Kristin Miller + Forbidden by Fate

FORBIDDEN BY FATE

Kristin Miller
Adult Paranormal Romance
Novella
Harlequin
Available Now
Received through Lit Connect for review

THE STORY (from Lit Connect)
A forbidden love……

A second chance……

A night of passion neither will forget.

Sasha, a love-thirsty werewolf and rightful heir to the Were throne, is ready to take control over her pack. But when her first love, dragon shifter Damon Frost, lands on her doorstep, demanding their races negotiate ownership over Feralon’’s hot springs, he makes her question more than the fight for the enchanted neutral ground. No matter the emotions bubbling inside her, Sasha can’’t become involved with Damon. Not now. Not ever again.

Forbidden to step foot onto Were land after a romp with the Alpha’’s daughter as a teenager, Damon has bided his time, waiting for the day when he’’d be accepted back onto Were land. Using the hot spring negotiation as a way to get closer to Sasha, Damon plans to use every minute alone to remind her of the passion they shared–—a passion they could ignite again.

One night of ecstasy stands between them and the fight for the springs. One night of revealing glances, skin searing chemistry, and erotic desires they’’d long buried.

Will one taste of forbidden love be enough to satiate their desires? Or will the need to explore the depths of their love unleash a Were-Draco war?

MY THOUGHTS
A quick and sexy paranormal romance, Forbidden by Fate thrusts us right into the middle of tensions between not only species, but former lovers as well, wasting little time ratcheting up our anticipation of both an intimate battle and an all-out Draco and Were war. As with most novellas, we are denied the gritty details of Damon and Sasha’s past as well as the specifics of the world in which they live, but we’re given just enough information to draw the necessary conclusions, and Ms. Miller does a very nice job of ensuring we feel both the physical and emotional draw between our hero and heroine despite our limited time with them. Both the romance and the battle between dragon and shifter wrap up quickly and easily (as to be expected at just 83 pages), leaving us wishing for an added explanation here and there but ultimately satisfied with the characters and their brief story as a whole.

Rating: 3.5/5

INTERVIEW WITH KRISTIN

Can you describe what you personally would look like in dragon form?

Ooh, love this question. Since my favorite color is purple (and dragon scales have nothing to do with eye or hair color), I’d be shimmering violet. Although I’d like to think I’d be sleek and quick, able to shoot through the sky like a bolt of lightning, I’d more likely be caught sunbathing on a rock near a stream, stretching out my wings.

When Damon and Sasha come face to face after years apart, Sasha, speaking sarcastically, asks Damon to lie to her and he does, thereby revealing the truth of his feelings to her in a roundabout way. Let’s say Damon was to request the same of Sasha, what lie might she give him the moment she sees him alone?

She’d say that she never dreamed of this moment—the one when he was standing before her, confessing his love. She’d say that she never wanted Damon to return and sweep her away from her family, so they could be together, just the two of them. She never dreamed of that at all…

Dragon shifters are relatively uncommon in paranormal romance (much to my dismay as I’m ridiculously fond of them); is there another dragon shifter besides Damon you find oh-so attractive?

I’ve got a thing for dragons, too and couldn’t wait to write them. Rafe, the emerald-scaled dragon from Claimed by Desire, Isle of Feralon #1, was the first dragon I ever wrote, so he’s got a special place in my heart. He’s just as powerful and radiant as Damon, but he’s led a tortured existence since he banished his lover from the isle. (I love a tortured hero!) I also love Dragos from Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound.

You’re Alpha of a pack of Weres standing on a battlefield facing an enormous number of Dracos. Using your ability to mind-speak with your brethren, what do you tell them to prepare them for war?

I’d tell them to buck up! Ha! Although my Weres and Dracos have a semi-reasonable alliance, if they did line up for all-out war, I’d tell them to watch each other’s back. When they have one eye on the enemy in front of them, the other should be on the sky, waiting on the ambush from above.

If you could live in one of the fictional worlds that either you’ve created or someone else has created, which one would it be?

I would *love* to live on the Isle of Feralon. Not only would I love the mist and rain, caves and hot springs, I would absolutely love to live in a place where dragons soar the skies.

Is there any other character from Sasha and Damon’s world whose story you’d really like to write?

I think Queen Elixa has a story somewhere, though I’m not sure what that is yet. I’m waiting for her to speak to me. The next two Isle of Feralon novellas (I’m writing the proposals for them now), will be about two other heroes and heroines from the same world though they couldn’t be found in Sasha and Damon’s story. Each novella is stand alone.

What challenges does writing a novella present that you don’t find when writing a full-length novel?

I find that there’s *so much* to include in such a short amount of time, it’s difficult to know what to cut and what to leave. It really makes me look at a scene and determine if what happens in that scene is absolutely essential to the plot or development of the characters. If you’ve ever read a novella and thought “I would’ve liked to see more about xyz”, you can safely assume the writer wanted to include more too! There simply isn’t room to cover everything and still have the novella under the necessary word count.
  
A huge thank you to Kristin for taking the time to answer my questions! More information on Kristin and her books can be found here:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Buy Link
Barnes & Noble Buy Link

GIVEAWAY

As part of the promotional tour for Forbidden By Fate, there are copies of either Forbidden by Fate or Claimed by Desire up for grabs! 2 lucky commenters from the entire tour will win an ebook copy of one of the above. Woot! To enter, please leave a comment on this blog about the review or interview and be sure and leave a valid email address (broken up please - jenny(at)gmail(dot)com) so you can be contacted if you win. You can increase your chances of winning by commenting on previous tour posts, so be sure and check out all the participating blogs HERE. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL given both novellas are ebooks, and please note when entering that this is an adult paranormal romance, not YA. The giveaway is only open through midnight tonight (July 20th) so good luck everyone!

Review + Giveaway: Dark Territory

DARK TERRITORY (The Tracks #1)

J. Gabriel Gates & Charlene Keel
Paranormal Young Adult
504 pages
HCI Teens
Available Now
Received from TLC Book Tours for review

THE STORY (From Goodreads)

When Ignacio Torrez moved from the rough streets of Los Angeles to a small town dead smack in the middle of nowhere, he never expected to find himself in the midst of a gang war. But, he soon learns, these are no ordinary gangs. The wealthy, preppie Toppers on one side of the tracks and the working-class Flatliners on the other adhere to a strict code of honor and use their deadly martial arts skills, taught to them by the wise Master Chin, to battle one another for pride, territory, and survival. 

When Raphael, leader of the Flatliners, falls forAimee, a Topper girl, the rival gangs prepare for a bloody, all-out war. The only hope for peace between them lies within the dark territory of the abandoned train tunnels where the tracks cross. Under the direction of the mysterious and frightening Magician, the awesome power within the crossing sends the rivals on a terrifying mystical quest to fight the malevolent force that threatens the existence of Middleburg-and quite possibly, the world.

MY THOUGHTS

Dark Territory is an interesting jumble of elements, forbidden romance existing alongside a paranormal mystery existing alongside a small town gang war, and while each individual element is something that easily piques our curiosity, the combination of all of them together has us struggling for sure footing in this 500-page tale. This first installment starts out strong, newcomer Ignacio running afoul of rival gangs on his very first day of school, and continues to draw us in as the daughter of the richest man in town returns after a violent incident caused her father to send her to boarding school in Montana. There are just enough secrets in the opening chapters to have us itching to learn more, but as we continue on, we find Dark Territory to be an extravagant and almost unnavigable maze, tempting us in one direction only to lead us to what seems to be a dead end (possibly only a temporary one as there are more books) before taking us down another path that results in the same fate.

The synopsis leads us to believe that south central L.A. transplant Ignacio is going to be our protagonist, a witness to the Romeo and Juliet-esque love between leader of the Flatliner gang Raphael and Topper Aimee, however, this story surprises us a bit by bouncing around to a variety of other characters, each of whom raises more questions in our minds as we follow them for brief periods of time. The romance between Raphael and Aimee, perhaps the element that has us most intrigued, doesn’t really begin until almost halfway through, the flashes of them together captivating but fleeting as we’re quickly whisked to another part of the maze and given another road to travel.

As the final showdown between the gangs approaches toward the end, the story starts to unravel a bit, the strands of rope linking all the different elements and characters together fraying as the paranormal element kicks into high gear. What began as a tale of starcrossed lovers with a supernatural twist suddenly becomes something we can’t even begin to classify, worlds colliding and paranormal entities overflowing with nary an explanation in sight. It’s easy to grant this story a certain degree of suspension of disbelief as it progresses, hoping the concluding pages will hold some answers to the labyrinth created by all the characters and their various stories, however, no answers to any of our questions are provided. Instead we’re left a touch befuddled by the sheer number of events taking place simultaneously in the final chapters, longing for a return to the delightful simplicity of Raphael and Aimee’s relationship.

Despite some of the confusion Dark Territory leaves us with, the story itself is well written and often times extremely engaging, it just suffers from trying to do a bit too much in a single story to the detriment of characters who could have easily held our attention if their individual story was allowed to be more of a sole focus.

Rating: 3/5

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to J. Gabriel Gates, Charlene Keel, and TLC Book Tours, I have one copy of both Dark Territory and it's sequel Ghost Crown to give away on the blog today. To enter, please just leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only and will run through midnight on Friday, the 27th after which time a winner will be chosen and emailed. Good luck everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday: Valkyrie Rising

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!

VALKYRIE RISING

Ingrid Paulson

Releases October 9th, 2012

HarperTeen

From Goodreads:

Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there.

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

Mythological warriors? Yes, please! I believe there is mention of a sarcastic, alluring boy as well, thereby assuring this one a place on my must read list.  Sarcasm and I are good, good friends. Sarcasm AND hot boys? *Jenny dies of happiness*

Plus, as an added bonus, we only have to wait until October. That's do-able. Come October 9th though? TUCK IS  MINE!

Review: Something Strange and Deadly

SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY

(Something Strange and Deadly #1)
Susan Dennard
Paranormal Young Adult
400 pages
HarperTeen
Available July 24th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

MY THOUGHTS

Something Strange and Deadly is a grimly beautiful story, a myriad of different elements making for colorful cogs in a fascinating machine, but as we read we see that the gears driving this steampunk zombie tale are not shiny and new, but rather are twisted and rusted, covered in a grime that adds a delicious edge to this debut. Ms. Dennard ensures that all the pieces of her puzzle are visible from three hundred and sixty degrees, each page we flip like the revolution of a gear that propels us forward so that we can see a new side of the characters or events, and we remain on our toes throughout wondering if what will be revealed will be dark or light in nature, or perhaps more interestingly, something in between.

Eleanor is a strong and willful heroine, stuck in a time of chaperones and marriages of financial necessity when she clearly has the mind and sensibilities of a much more modern time period. She is extraordinarily loyal, loving her brother more than life itself as she throws herself into increasingly dangerous situations in order to uncover what’s happened to him and save him from a gruesome fate at the hands of the dead. For all that she wades into the middle of deadly encounters with spirits and zombies alike, she never truly comes across as irritatingly reckless, rather her desire to be of assistance when everyone around her seeks to shield her is something we can’t help but admire. She learns quickly and applies that knowledge as she goes along, proving herself to be an asset to the Spirit Hunters rather than a hindrance, and it’s easy to smile even as untold horrors are taking place because Eleanor proves again and again that her value is not defined strictly by high society’s standards.

Ms. Dennard does a brilliant job of creating a cast of secondary characters who straddle the line between good and bad, covering each of them in a fine layer of dirt—the smudges thick in some places while other areas remain pristine to give us individuals with flaws of varying severity who keep us guessing throughout. Even the villainous necromancer, for all the devastation he/she unleashes, earns our momentary flashes of sympathy, and each chapter either adds a new layer of grit to the characters or washes a layer away, ensuring that we are never bored while in their presence. The romance with Daniel is an atypical one in young adult fiction, the only familiar element being Daniel’s sometimes brooding nature, but there’s nary an instant electric connection or all consuming love in sight, and in fact we are left with nothing more than a promise – a whisper of a relationship still so fragile merely thinking of their potential together could shatter it.

While the identity of the necromancer is fairly easy to guess early on, it doesn’t detract from the other pieces of the Something Strange and Deadly mystery, things coming together in the end to paint a full picture we only could make out a single corner of previously. Ms. Dennard impresses with her characters and world in this first installment, and the days until the release of the second book cannot pass by quickly enough.

Rating: 4/5

Double Review: Soul Thief + Forgiven

SOUL THIEF (Demon Trapper's Daughter #2)

FORGIVEN (Demon Trapper's Daughter #3)

Jana Oliver

Paranormal Young Adult

St. Martin's Press

Available Now

Bought/Received from publisher for review

SOUL THIEF (the story from Goodreads)

*the synopsis for Forgiven contains spoilers from Soul Thief, so I'm leaving that out*

Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them…

Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad.With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether.
 

But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell’s attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever… 

MY THOUGHTS

Soul Thief and Forgiven are books that build beautifully upon their predecessor, giving us much-desired character growth while intensifying the demonic presence in Atlanta until we’re on the edge of our seats wondering what’s in store for young Riley both physically and emotionally. The world of the demon trappers is a dark one, the number of those fighting evil greatly overwhelmed by the number of demons intent on destroying them, but through it all we have characters who acknowledge they’re outnumbered and yet refuse to accept it, standing strong against an onslaught from Heaven, Hell, and humanity itself. Ms. Oliver does a magnificent job creating her world – one that’s close enough to our own as to be familiar and recognizable, and one that’s richly enhanced by each and every individual that occupies it.

The first book in the series introduced us to Riley Blackthorne, a strong and captivating young woman who challenged us at every turn. Our relationship with her was often troubled due to her relationship with fellow trapper Beck, her lack of maturity in dealing with him hindering our ability to fully support her, but in both Soul Thief and Forgiven we see her put in a great deal of effort to salvage a relationship with the man she’s wanted forever and who rejected her a few years prior. She’s infinitely more patient with him, accepting his verbal jabs without always returning one of her own, and all the while trying–though admittedly sometimes in vain–to open channels of communication with him instead of bottling up her hurt and anger until she can only release it by hurling an insult in his direction.

Riley and Beck are truly the highlights of this series, their relationship a painful dance of want and need accompanied by a healthy dose of fear that they are unworthy of the other person’s love. While both sides make huge steps forward in dealing with one another, things are in no way easy for them, and they often revert back to what they know best – defending themselves and their hearts through offense. Riley and Beck are both a colorful array of emotional bruises, making it extraordinarily difficult to watch as they poke the other person's tender flesh with a practiced finger, knowing just where to touch to inflict the most damage before retreating behind the armor both have painstakingly donned to protect themselves. Where the Riley and Beck of The Demon Trapper’s Daughter repeatedly cut one another with their verbal blades before retreating to separately lick their wounds, the Riley and Beck of Soul Thief and Forgiven don’t always run after leaving the other bleeding, instead they attempt to acknowledge the wound and the reasons for causing it so they can avoid the same injury moving forward.

Forgiven concludes with Riley and Beck both in difficult situations, but the final lines leave us with a great deal of hope for the future, everything we’ve learned about Riley thus far telling us she’s a fighter who won’t back down from a challenge. Foretold promises to be the most intense of the series, things between our two protagonists finally reaching the point where they’re going to have to decide if simply wanting to be together will be enough to make it happen, and I for one can't wait to get my hands on it.

Rating: 4/5