In My Mailbox #30

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren and is a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and reviewing. I always love seeing what everyone else got for their week!



FOR REVIEW:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (Thank you HarperCollins)
The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegan (Thank you Egmont and NetGalley)
Dark Souls by Paula Morris (Thank you Scholastic Point)

WON:
A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young (Thank you SO much Nic@Irresistible Reads)

And the winner of my ABITHICA giveaway:

Vivien

A big thank you too to all of you who entered the giveaway and a special thanks to Susan Goldsmith for offering up a signed copy for the blog. Congratulations to Vivien, you have been emailed!

Review: In the Arms of Stone Angels

IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS
Jordan Dane
Paranormal Young Adult
320 pages
Harlequin
Available Now
Received via Net Galley for review

THE STORY
Two years ago Brenna Nash called 911 and informed them she found the boy she loves crouching over the dead body of a classmate gripping a knife and chanting to himself. She hasn't seen him since that day. Now, after a couple long years, Brenna and her mother are returning to the small town where she made that fateful call and sentenced her best friend and first love to an unfathomable fate.

Upon her return, Brenna learns that White Bird has been in a mental institution the entire time she's been away, locked in his own mind and unresponsive to any outside stimuli. Though she's spent most of her time thinking about how that call changed her own life, she's finally realizing the impact she had on the one person she feels truly understood her.

There are plenty of people in town who aren't happy to see Brenna and her Native American sympathies back however, and they seek to keep her from looking into White Bird's case any way they can. The more she digs though, the more she begins to think her accusation against her best friend was very, very wrong, and maybe the person responsible for her classmate's death isn't the most obvious choice after all.

MY THOUGHTS
In the Arms of Stone Angels is a story both saddening and disheartening initially, drawing our attention to a darker side of humanity where certain individuals take gross pleasure in the pain and suffering of others as a way of ensuring their own misery isn't without ample company. Because we know people like Brenna's peers are unlikely to express any type of guilt or remorse over their actions, it becomes agonizingly clear that they will only steadily increase the intensity of their assault on her, a realization that causes are fingers to itch with the need to skip ahead to the end to hopefully relieve some of our stress and give us the strength to endure whatever atrocities are likely to occur. Even if we did flip to the end and find the opposite to be true– things with Brenna only getting worse instead of better–at least we could take a small comfort in being able to prepare ourselves for what's to come. We therefore wrestle with ourselves the entire time we're reading, wanting a definitive emotion, either happiness and relief or anger and hurt, to latch on to as a lifesaver to keep us afloat in the tempest of hate found in this little town.

Brenna is a hard young woman, an attitude of indifference firmly in place as she shuns a world she feels shunned her first. She's shrouded herself in so many layers of simulated feelings it's almost impossible to get to the heart of her, and we falter repeatedly as we attempt to decipher her true emotions from those she merely projects as a diversion from the truth. Her relationship with her mother is strained to a truly spectacular degree, so full of holes she doesn't even know where to begin patching should she wish to, so she instead decides to do nothing and allows those holes to slowly widen. Luckily for us though, Brenna exhibits some truly impressive growth as the story progresses, expanding her Brenna-centric world to eventually include her mother and us as she fights for the life of a friend to whom a grave injustice has been done.

Though the story is powerful and compelling and Brenna is a strong young heroine, the events toward the end seem to get resolved rather easily for the strength of the hatred and discrimination infecting both the teenagers and adults in this tale. For hundreds of pages we are tied in mental and emotional knots of increasing complexity, but then just as our determination to see wrongs righted reaches its peak, the ties unwind and slip free of their own accord and we're given a neatly wrapped-up resolution. People who have been truly awful seem to change their attitudes with little argument or opposition, causing the sincerity of their repentance to remain suspect with us given the quick nature of their turnaround. Perhaps if we were given a little extra time in the town itself and with Brenna and White Bird as well instead of being cut off fairly immediately after the truth comes to light, the changes might not have been as questionable. Overall however, In the Arms of Stone Angels is a darkly entertaining read, angering and pleasing us equally as we see a slow attitude adjustment start with one young woman and then spread like wildfire.

Rating: 3.5/5

Interview: Becca Ritchie

I've got author Becca Ritchie joining me on the blog today to answer a few questions about her young adult Wynter Chelsea series, so I'd like to extend a big Supernatural Snark welcome to her and I hope you all enjoy the interview!

If Amanda were to give us all short descriptions of Jack, Dustin, and Trevor, what might she say about each of them?

Jack - an overprotective brother who tries to act more like her father, which she does not appreciate.

Dustin - her best friend; he doesn’t curse, doesn’t normally raise his voice, is a saint among men but still gets irritated by his own brother, Trevor Wynter. Amanda puts Dustin on a high pedestal and believes he’s unattainable in any way other than friendship.

Trevor - even though he’s not related to Amanda, he’s like the annoying little brother you want to go away. So she would probably tell everyone he’s the most annoying human being on the planet while others actually find him comical.

You have your choice of any of the abilities your characters possess; which would you most like to have?

Jack’s ability to conjure items. There’s a limitation - he can only conjure things he can hold, but still, the power to conjure money or groceries would be fantastic. Telepathy and empathy have too many negative qualities, which is definitely seen in the book since those powers cause more harm than good.

If each of your four protagonists could be partnered with either a comic book hero, a movie star, or a character from another book to help them in their fight, who would each of them choose and why?

Trevor would choose Pyro from X-Men comics because he’s a pyromaniac for one and he even looks up to Pyro, the fictional character, in Wynter Chelsea by name dropping him a few times. Jack wouldn’t take anyone and just fight alone. He’s too prideful to want someone else to share his power in leading. Amanda would probably choose Sam and Dean from Supernatural (hopefully they come in a package) because they’re experienced hunters and nice to look at, and Dustin would be not so happy that there’s more young hunters around. He’s not the type to try to make her jealous, so he would choose a neutral person like Bobby from Supernatural just to even things out.

What is your favorite element of the supernatural world you’ve created in Wynter Chelsea?

The Marathaca. He’s the big bad of the series, and with all the demonology I used in the first book, he was the only supernatural being I created rather than researched. He drives the first book and has served to be quite an interesting character. That being said, I also love where the Wynters and Chelseas live because it’s gritty like most of the book. They could easily move because Jack can conjure money, but they chose to stay in New Jersey because their legacy developed there for hundreds of years.

The search for their parents takes Jack, Dustin, Trevor, and Amanda across the US; is there a particular place here that is a favorite or one you’d most like to visit?

Colorado. I have family in Denver and Telluride. I’ve also visited Breckenridge which is breathtakingly beautiful. I love everything about Colorado from the air, the mountains, and the woods. Hopefully that beauty somewhat came across in the book amidst all the demons.

Since you work in television, can you tell us your favorite book-to-TV series or book-to-movie adaptation?

Vampire Diaries, hands down. I’ve never read the book though (not sure if this counts then) but it’s by far my favorite TV show on air right now. It has beautiful writing, storytelling, and acting.

Do you think, if they could, your characters would ask you to change anything about them, their circumstances, or the world they live in?

I think deep down, they all want to be able to tell other people that they hunt supernatural and not feel like they’re putting that person in danger. Because of the secrecy, they really have to lean on each other, and sometimes when you can’t talk to your sister or your family friends, you’re just left contemplating things on your own and that can be painful and lonely. Amanda would probably want the opportunity to go to college as well, but because of their circumstances, that can’t happen.

Can you give us a quick “on the next episode” type preview of what’s in store for everyone in book 3?

Book 3 picks up right where Book 2 (The Sublimity) leaves off, and I am striving to keep away from the usual supernatural plot lines of Heaven vs. Hell, so keep that in mind at the end of Book 2 because what you believe might not be the exact answer. I know it’s very cryptic.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Jenny!

Thanks so much for stopping by Becca! For more information on Becca and the Wynter Chelsea books, you can find her here:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Buy on Amazon

WYNTER CHELSEA: THE LEGACY

Few know of the demonic beings that plague our world, threatening to destroy it. But for two families, it is a familiar battle they have fought for ages.

The Wynters and the Chelseas live for the hunt, to kill those who prey upon the innocent. Four children, born of these two dynasties, are now in their teenage and young adult years. The three boys-Jack, the conjurer; Dustin, the telepath, and Trevor, prescient one-are all warriors, well aware that their destinies are sealed. Then there is 17-year-old Amanda, the one who has been protected and guarded all of her life-much to her great questioning and dismay. She is the special one, the empath and first girl born to the families. Burning with the fever to fight, Amanda constantly challenges the status quo, but to no avail. When their parents inexplicably disappear, Amanda's dream of joining the legacy wins out, and she goes to battle with her brother and her lifelong friends. But as the four follow a dangerous path across the United States, a long-buried affection surfaces between Dustin and Amanda, and each must confront their hidden emotions . . . and ultimate reason for their existence.

Review: Trial By Fire

TRIAL BY FIRE
(Raised by Wolves #2)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Paranormal Young Adult
368 Pages
Egmont
Available Now
Received at BEA

THE STORY
Being the only human to ever be raised in a pack of werewolves, Bryn's used to an unusual life. With the help of her unique gift to re-work pack bonds, she's found herself the alpha of her own small pack of wolves, most of whom are turned wolves not born; something that separates their pack even further from the others.

When a beaten and bloody wolf stuck mid-shift shows up on Bryn's doorstep seeking sanctuary, she knows things are about to get more complicated. Bryn has something a lot of the alphas would kill for: a high percentage of female wolves. One alpha in particular, Shay, is gunning for Bryn and what she's protecting, and it just so happens the abused wolf at her door belongs to him.

Bryn knows the boy is part of a bigger plan Shay has to take what's hers, and he knows her well enough to understand that turning over the young man to his abusers, as is werewolf law, will tear Bryn apart. Shay is not the only one looking for him however, and Bryn soon finds her mettle as alpha tested from all sides. When Callum, the man who raised her and a fellow alpha, offers no immediate assistance, she knows she's on her own to prove she's worthy of defending those she loves.

MY THOUGHTS
Trial By Fire is a stunningly beautiful and deliciously complex story, fascinating us with the challenge of harnessing our own conflicting emotions as we read, and keeping us on edge as to what we'll be made to feel next. We're often both comfortable with Bryn and her pack and, at the same time, acutely uncomfortable as we wait with breath held for the inevitable trouble to come knocking. We also both love the unpredictability and uncertainty as to exactly what is going to happen while cursing it at the same time for tying our stomachs knots and pulling our heartstrings dangerously taut. Reading Ms. Barnes's characters and her world is a decadent indulgence, her story a spectacular blend of rich characters, layered plot, and breathtaking emotional connections that truly makes us sit back and remember why we love to pick up a book in the first place.

Bryn has a maturity that exceeds her young years, making difficult decisions that affect an entire group of people who rely on her for their mental and emotional strength. She is a character who exists in nuances, new facets of her personality revealed with every threat she faces both outside and within the pack, and each test reinforces our bond with her until we can't possibly feel any closer. Her relationship with Chase is anything but a typical teen romance, and she struggles to deal with his absolute certainty of his priorities when she knows her own must differ from his due to her position. He has to be second to her first in his life–her duty to the pack resolute and unwavering–and their quiet and often brief exchanges are all the more interesting for this dynamic. Nothing is simple for them but nor are things unnecessarily complex, it's just them and the exquisiteness of their individual natures as they deal with a species barrier, a hierarchy barrier, and the multiple mental barriers erected as coping mechanisms against shared difficult pasts.

In addition to the brilliance of Bryn and Chase, Ms. Barnes has written one of the most enigmatic and captivating characters in alpha and father-figure Callum. He is a werewolf nearly impossible to label in terms of our exact feelings for him, we can only settle for taking his measure in terms of how we want to feel as he proves himself to be an utterly foreign being for all that he is recognizable to our minds as both human and wolf. Though he is both, there's absolutely no separating the two, being so firmly ensconced in werewolf politics and life we can't possibly judge him by the standards to which we might hold a human man, instead we can only watch mesmerized as his methods of teaching Bryn to grow as an alpha often hurt and help in equal measure. We want so badly to know how he truly feels about the incredible young woman he helped raise, wishing for a definitive action or gesture instead of cryptic gifts and the occasional flash of the eyes or twitch of the facial muscles to telegraph his emotional response to her. Frustratingly and admirably however, he always remains steadfastly Callum, neither man nor wolf but indisputably and irrevocably both.

Raised by Wolves and Trial by Fire are not to be missed, they are books to be savored rather than devoured quickly as Ms. Barnes has layered her story with details and subtleties that only reveal themselves if we take the time to linger. She has an uncanny ability to create tension in even the simplest moments, keeping us constantly on our toes by setting up numerous different outcomes and possibilities that sometimes force us to walk away in a moment of emotional self-preservation before returning almost immediately, gluttons for the most delectable of punishments.

Rating: 5/5

Review + Giveaway: Abithica

ABITHICA
Susan Goldsmith
Urban Fantasy
288 pages
Twilight Times Books
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY
She moves from human host to human host with little memory of the people she's taken over before. Once she's in a new body, it's her job to figure out what in their life has caused someone higher up to send her to them, and then fix whatever is going wrong before moving on to the next person. She doesn't know her name, how long she's lived, or how many hosts she's helped.

When she's dropped into the body of Sydney Turner, she plans on following her rule of not getting attached to the person with whom she's so intimately connected. Don't get attached. Don't want what they have. Just help them and move on. But Sydney's case is different for her, and she finds herself with a very angry Sydney sharing her consciousness and a very problematic past catching up with the young woman who is her new mission.

When going to work with Sydney's mother, she and Sydney meet Lane and his younger sister Shae who instantly recognizes that she's not really Sydney – that she's something more. She finds herself quickly falling in love with Lane and wanting desperately to stay in this life though she knows it's not meant to be. Little does she know however, that Lane, Shae and even Sydney herself are going to change her life as much as she changes theirs.

MY THOUGHTS
Imaginative and intriguing, Abithica plucks us from our own lives and deposits us in the life of an entity that defies definition for majority of the book, and like Abithica (we learn her real name toward the end of the story) we find ourselves disoriented but undeniably curious as to what will unfold in the new life we've temporarily commandeered. Abithica's ignorance eases the frustration of our own, and we feel as closely aligned with her as is possible for people on either side of the fictional divide, yearning to discover her purpose in this latest mission as though it were ours as well. The reality of our world easily falls away once we start reading, the sights, sounds, and emotions of Abithica and Sydney's world smoothly replacing them, enveloping us in a tale awash with possibilities, enigmas, and individuals who hold our undivided attention.

Abithica springs to life instantly, her sense of humor about the unfortunate timing of her latest body assignment bringing a smile to our faces as she approaches her unusual existence with an infectious good attitude. Though we laugh initially, we quickly sober as details of Abithica's (not Sydney's) life are revealed, illuminating a suffocating loneliness as she acts as a catalyst for positive change in others but can claim nothing of those lives as her own. She goes through each day knowing a clock is counting down her time with Sydney, but she has no idea how many numbers are left before everything of this mission is but a memory that, with time and new hosts, will eventually fade altogether. Though we acutely feel her longing to belong, she never mopes or wraps herself in a dramatic shroud of self-pity, having only brief understandable outbursts to wish things were different before accepting her role in Sydney's life again and moving forward.

Watching her form a connection with Lane and his sister Shae is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, her moments of happiness with him often overshadowed by her uncertainty as to what Lane is responding to–body or soul–and the incessant ticking of an invisible clock. We desperately hope Abithica will have a moment of clarity and find a solution where all will be well and she can have her proverbial cake and eat it too, but as much as we want it, we also secretly crave the tension that accompanies the possibility that things will not go our way. Though their relationship does move at hyper-speed, our overwhelming desire to see Abithica grab a piece of life and keep it for her own acts as a balm to sooth our averse reaction to their instant love.

One slight drawback to this story is the secondary plotline with the Legnas gang, a group of apparent demons seeking to hurt and destroy lives instead of heal and fix as Abithica does. Their scenes are disturbing and dark to Abithica's light, and while they have a terrifying allure that keeps our eyes glued to the pages however much we might want to look away, this first book fails to provide us any link between them and Abithica herself. Knowing there is a second book that is going to more clearly illustrate the correlation between our sides of good and evil is helpful, but both Abithica's struggles to help Sydney and her affection for Lane against her better judgment are interesting enough that we wouldn't mind staying with her the entire time. Overall though this is a beautifully told urban fantasy story, and I certainly look forward to more from Ms. Goldsmith.

Rating: 4/5

GIVEAWAY

Ms. Goldsmith has generously offered up a signed printed copy of Abithica to give away on the blog today! To enter, please just leave a comment with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only and will run through midnight on Friday, July 8th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

Blogoversary Winners!

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who helped me celebrate my one year blogoversary and took the time to leave a comment and enter the giveaway. Random.org has chosen my three winners and they have all been emailed!

PRIZE PACK #1

Winner:
Rebecca

PRIZE PACK #2

Winner:
Rachelle

PRIZE PACK #3

Winner:
Ruby of Ruby's Reads

Thanks so much again and Happy Fourth of July!