Showcase Sunday

This week was actually pretty busy since I go a lot of NetGalley adds. And I got my first books from a publisher! So happy! Anyways, I had some great books and I'm expecting 3-4 more this week!

While I'm at it, credit goes to The Story Siren Books, Biscuits, and Tea for creating this meme where bloggers tell you what books we got this week!

Bought:

         

Bloggers:

                            

Library:

Publisher:

                   

NetGalley:

         

A dystopian Cinderella? Who can't love that? And with it taking place in China? Talk about a new spin!

Currently reading glimmer, and it's pretty good so far! I got this from Damaris (Good Choice Reading) for free! The synopsis sounds intriguing and I can' wait to sink deeper in. the rest have come out, bu I haven't goten he chance o read. Hopeuflly I can his week!

I know, I know, with Hidden coming out so soon, I should've read his, but back then I didn't read much, so I never read Vanish. Well, now I will!

So excited ha these are my first books from the pub! It sounds like Hex Hall to me, but beter since our protagonist never knew her supernatural status! I will definitely review these.

These are not all he books I got, but only two. NetGalley, why do you have so many neat books on there!?

Endure by Carrie Jones***

Goodreads Blurb

It’s all-out war (and no-holds-barred romance) in the climactic conclusion to Carrie Jones’s bestselling series.

Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

Yet another eARC from NetGalley! I swear, I am addicted to NetGalley now!

Endure is the fourth book in the Need series, and I read the rest of the series about two years ago, I guess. I loved it…until the third book. Entice was a kind of disappointment, I have to admit. Sure, it was supposed to be one of the biggest parts of the series, where Zara finally becomes a pixie to save Nick (and succeeds), but I don’t know…it lacked the action, the anticipation, of Need and Captivate. At least, that’s how it seemed. Endure definitely made up for that missing part, though.

Nick seems to loathe Zara now that she’s a pixie, despite the fact that she changed to save him. He denies it over and over, but when he leaves, Zara doesn’t know what to think. She’s more isolated than ever. Betty has run off, Nick has gone away, her mom is in another state, and Mrs. Nix is dead. Her mother-in-law, I guess, is helping an evil pixie king capture Zara for their own gains. Her only comfort now is found in Astley, her pixie king, the one who turned her, and one of the only “good pixie kings” and her best friend, Issie. To make matters worse, she now has to deal with Loki, a volcano god that is now after her. How does she know this? An ice giant told her with his dying breath. As a quote from Zara, it was “Twilight Zone creepy”. Zara feels like she’s being stalked. Others find out about pixies. Astley is poisoned. That’s only the first 75 pages. She’s afraid, confused, and has every right to be.

I am completely Team Astley. At first, it was Nick, yeah, but by the middle of Entice, I switched sides. Astley is Zara’s rock. He’s always there for her and always makes sure she’s safe. He’s willing to do almost anything for her, and yet, she still pines for Nick. Zara’s still a bit weak and wimpy, but she’s a lot stronger than when she first was introduced as a character. Not only do I, the reader, think so, Astley, Nick, Issie, Devyn, Astley, and everyone else does too! Nick just lost his glory in my eyes. He’s hurt Zara over and over again. When he found out she was the daughter of a pixie king, when he found out that she might become a pixie queen, and when he found out that she turned pixie. Pixie, pixie, pixie! Nick has an old prejudice, and it definitely gets annoying.

I don’t know exactly what’s different for me in the writing of Endure compared to Entice, but Endure seems more…real? I guess? I think the genre of the book changing is what did it. Instead of all the foolish fun I sensed in books 1, 2, and 3, Endure is more of a post-apocalypse book than just a plain-old fantasy/paranormal. Entice was where Zara went and got changed into a pixie, went to Valhalla, and rescued Nick, but Endure is where things hit home. Of course, there are still some parts where everyone still seems to take it as a joke. For example: “Somebody fake screams. Someone else shouts, ‘Die, you pixie scum!’”  It just made me loathe those people. I mean, they know they’re on the verge of the end of the world, but they’re joking about this? Really? No. Just no.  I admit that some got me laughing, but others were just plain no-at-this-time-jokes. But you can still feel the danger, see their fear and desperation. At one point I seriously panicked. It was impossible! Carrie Jones could absolutely not do that!

 I had a lot of suspicions about a few characters in this book. Such as the mysterious woman who (minor spoiler) attacks Zara in the snow. I’m a major geek on legends, whether it’s Greek, Latin, Norse, or just superstition. I guess that was one of the reasons I got clued in, but I’m not saying anything else!

Anyways, as an overview, the plot is original, which we all know is pretty hard to do these days with all these great books coming in, but that’s how it’s been for all books in the Need series. There’s still the love triangle, and more than once Nick and Astley are on the verge of literally fighting for a girl, but the Need series has Norse mythology, Valhalla, and were-tigers and were-eagles! How cool is that! And it has pixies. Ok, so maybe the “pixies” are actually faeries (I mean, iron? Invitation to come in? Flying?), but they’re different because of the king needing a queen, the link between the pixies in one…kingdom. These are what makes the Need series so unique and completely lovable! And the ending? Well…it scared me half to death (for those of you who’ve read Endure, excuse the pun), but the epilogue…it was exactly what I expected from this book! And that is absolutely not a bad thing

Quick Summary: I loved Endure! Entice ruined the series for me, but Endure redeemed it! It was fun, dangerous, humorous, and deliciously so. Hurt, passion, love, sacrifices, and betrayal are gathered in this one book. Many of the main characters are as lovable as always, if not more so! As the fourth book in the series, it ends in a heartbreaking fall (Quite literally). I was a bit confused as to what happened, but after about 5 minutes pondering that section, I finally got it. Call me slow. But Endure was one of the best ending sequels I’ve ever read.

Pages: 288

Series: Need #4

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Rating: 5 stars

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Goodreads Blurb

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

I got this ARC in the mail in a blogger trade and I absolutely loved every minute I spent reading it! The blurb, cover, writing, plot, well it all equates into one of the best books of 2012!

What the blurb above does not mention, however, is that before America Singer (add an n at the end of her name. She even sings all the time!) heads off to the castle, Aspen breaks her heart. Of course, he didn't mean to, but he feels guilty that he can't provide for her, that she's providing food for him when it should be the other way around. Oh, Aspen. But that's when my opinion of him went down. I mean, he didn't exactly try to make things work. He. Gave. Up. I'm sorry Aspen, but you should've tried harder if you really loved her.

On the other hand, America is most likely one of my favorite heroines. She wasn't especially different in any way. She cried over Aspen, but not pathetically so, and stood tall 'n proud when she was leaving. Not every normal girl can do that. Especially not when she's about to (unwillingly) compete for the heart of a Prince. She was a character that many of us girls (and some guys) can relate to. America is definitely one of my favorite characters in The Selection.

Onto the writing. The writing was wonderful, descriptive where it needed to be, and vague where it should've been. We, at least I, could feel America's sorrow and her hesitance. I could imagine Celeste's angry face and her nails ripping at the dress. It was dramatic and funny, witty and smart and I adored reading about everything that was going on! However, the dialogue was cheesy and very, very cliche. Sometimes I just stared and the phrase "She said that? You're kidding me! She actually said that!"

The Selection has been called "The Bachelor meets the Hunger Games" and I think that's true. Many of the things that happened did, in fact, happen in the last season of "The Bachelor" and yes, I do watch that show. Celeste? Courtney. Maxon? Whatever his name is (Ben? I'm not sure.) I mean, Celeste did pretend to be another person just as Courtney did in the show. Basically, much of the book was similar to that season.

Summary: Though The Selection does have its bad moments, the good overrides the bad. It was a fun, magical read that made me remember the fairy tales of old. Princesses, Princes, love triangles, they all figured into The Selection and I loved it for that! It was beautiful in (almost) every way.

Pages: 327
Series: The Selection Trilogy #1
Genre: Romance/Dystopia
Rating: 4 stars

"It bothered me, but I knew I couldn’t hold it against them in the long run. We couldn’t afford the luxury of wants. We had needs.”

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

Goodreads Blurb

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew

Jen Ryand from www.jenryland.com sent me an ARC copy for free, so thanks! Anyways, I saw many great reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed, but it didn’t meet up to my expectations either.

Haven Terra is offered an opportunity to work for the glamorous Aurelia Brown at the Lexington Hotel. What else could one girl want? And when Aurelia’s right hand man, Lucian, turns out to be an alluring gorgeous man no older than Haven, she think she’s in heaven. The key word being thinks. She discovers a journal with her name inscribed on it and receives letters from an unknown hand telling her things to do and calling her the “winged one”. What does that mean? And then Haven’s best friend, Dante, is pulling away from her, leaving Haven with the third person who came with them, Lance. To make things even more complicated, Haven finds out the Outfit, the prestigious group of beautiful people that work at the Lexington Hotel, have sold their souls for beauty. That includes Aurelia and Lucian who are planning on stealing the souls of Haven’s former classmates on prom night. Can Haven ever get a break?

I was hyped up for Illuminate which may be why it seemed so boring for me. Anyways, let’s look at the cover for a moment. I love the shadows of wings that seem to be sprouting from the girl’s back. It just tells you that there’s something supernatural about our main character, something that’s fairly easy to hide, but when someone finds out, they won’t forget it. It’s just an amazing cover. The model was perfect for what I imagines Have to be.

Onto the content: It took about 300 pages for me to finally get into the book. I’m sorry, but it was kind of boring. I mean, all she did was work and follow the orders she was given. There was a bit of romance between Lucian and Haven, but that was pretty much the only interesting thing besides the messages. But after the 300 page mark, everything finally started becoming entrancing. The action, the danger, and the hidden threat all made me enraptured and I quickly finished the book after that. A—ma—zing! The action finally started and the danger finally showed itself.  The rest of the book was the ideal plot of a paranormal fiction. And that was about 200 pages worth, so I would recommend at least reading it.

I loved the characters though. Even the Outfit. They had different, yet realistic, personalities (excluding the Outfit). The Outfit on the other hand, were the perfect characters to play the soulless slaves. Dante, as much as I loved his character, was a bit on the stereotypical side, being all girly-like. Just because he like guys doesn’t technically make you girly. But overall, the characters get a nine out of ten.

To be honest, I didn’t like Lance because of what happened between Haven and Lance, preferring Lucian more. I mean, no no spoiler, he just seems way nicer than Lance…It helps that he actually stands up to people…

Pages: 534
Series: Gilded Wings #1
Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Rating: 3 stars

“Everything sinful is glamorous these days, isn’t it?”

Showcase Sunday

Another week of in My Mailbox Showcase Sunday is here! I got a wonderful ARC trhough trade, and can't wait to read/review it! If you followed my on twitter you know what it is. What can I say? It was too exciting.

Credit to The Story Siren Books, Biscuits, and Tea for coming up with in My Mailbox   Showcase Sunday!

If you didn't know, In My Mailbox Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme where bloggers share what we recieved in the mail for review!

Books I bought:

         

Books I recieved form other bloggers:

         

No Books From Library

I acutally bought a giant batch last week but decided to save some for following weeks. Anyways, Everneath is the first one I'll be reading and it sounds so good! But the main character's name is
Nikki...hopeuflly she doesn't die. Embrace has been called the "Hottest Young Adult Debut of 2012" and I'll be having an interview with the author! check back on April 15 for that!

I am so excited to be recieving the ARC of The Selection! I love the cover and the plot! I'm going to be buying the finished copy when it come sout so I may give it up for a giveaway! The Scorpio Races seems interesting enough, but i'm not sure about it...

Author Interview: Amy Lignor

An author interview with the amazing Amy Lignor, author of until Next Time, Book 1 of the Angel Chronicles:

Fiction Freak: What was your reaction when your book was published?

Amy Lignor: Disbelief? Like Robert Pattinson had just come in and asked for my hand in marriage J. (And not everyone’s true love ‘Edward’- just the swoon-worthy actor) No, I suppose you could say that I was filled with hope and excitement that Emily and Matt were finally going to appear in people’s lives.

FF: Who is your absolute favorite YA author? And why?

AM: God, this is hard. I can go for ages with this one, but to just pick one author who represented to me the best YA fiction had to offer was J.K. Rowling, and she always will be. The characters she brought to life brought children and young adults back to reading.  She carved a monumental niche into history by giving the public something they, quite obviously, needed, and I truly admire her for that.

FF: Describe your daily writing process.

AM: When beginning a book I look at a month solid of sitting in the dark, listening to music, picturing my characters, and getting to know every fault, tone of voice, desire - everything I can about them. I need to know them before I can tell their story. When I begin to write it’s like a whirlwind. I have no set schedule.  I can get up at 1:00 a.m. and begin. I look up at the clock when I swear no more than an hour has passed and yet, there’s my dog, up for his 8:00 a.m. run, and I suddenly realize that I’ve been in that ‘world’ that I’ve created for a very long time. When the words hit, I run for that keyboard.

FF: What's the best and worst part of writing

AM: Best: Watching these characters come alive on the page, and caring about them. From the strong, independent ones to the sarcastic, intelligent ones to the romantic heroes to the worst of humanity - watching every character grow on that page is the best feeling in the world.

Worst: When the story comes to an end. I feel like I have to say goodbye and I don’t want to.

FF:In 5 words tell me what your book has that others don't.

AM: A new point of view!

FF:If your characters came alive what would you say/do?

AM: In my head, they’re already alive, we talk all the time. (No, I don’t need to be locked up. LOL). If they were standing in front of me I would give them a great big hug, a cup of coffee, and talk to them for hours on end. They’ve become my best friends over time and it would be great to be able to spend time with them in ‘real life,’ too. There is one character, however, I would probably sit and drool over and not know what the heck to say.

FF: Say zombies suddenly attacked your house. What would you do?

AM: If I surprised myself and didn’t pass out and become food for them, I would take my dog and run like the wind, hoping my angels were somewhere behind me to take them out.

FF:Funniest moment?

FF: I love humor and I try to find a way to laugh at everything. But I think the one that will always stand out for me was when my five-year-old daughter was watching cartoons and an ad came on that I couldn’t believe was being shown on a Saturday morning.  She turned to me and asked what a reptile dysfunction was. Without thinking, I just told her what I saw in my head - a crocodile with a limp.

FF:What is the one school subject you hate the most?

AM: Math. I have NO concept of why we have to take it, seeing as when we grow up we get handed a computer and/or a calculator anyway. Always seemed pointless to me.

FF:Have you ever pranked someone on April Fool's and if you did what did you do?

AM: I was working at a graphic arts company when I was younger and used some bright red ink on my face in order to ’create’ a bit of a nightmare for someone I worked with. I know it was gross, but this was before vampires were all the rage and this person truly believed that they could never be shocked or scared of anything because they loved horror books and movies and had seen it all. Apparently, he hadn’t seen everything J

Until Next Time Blurb:

How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.

Short Author Bio:

Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

Contact Information:

Angel Chronicle's Website

The Angel Chronicles Facebook

Amy Lignor's Facebook

Amy Lignor's Twitter

Amy Lignor's Blog

Amy Lignor's Goodreads

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook