Venom by Fiona Paul

Goodreads Blurb

Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice’s lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady’s maid, and a wealthy fiancé, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman—practically in her own backyard—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret societies. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin... and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Beauty, love, romance, and mystery weave together in a stunning novel that’s as seductive and surprising as the city of Venice itself.

HOLY GUACAMOLE. This book was awesome. Full out blow my mind awesome. The book, characters, plot, they all stayed with me for days, weeks, after I read it. I am so happy I got a copy!

The World:

The world of Venom made me felt as if it was fantasy somehow. The descriptions of Venice were absolutely enchanting and the fact that underneath the beautiful waterways and glittering jewels there were grave robbers, illicit meetings, and murdered women...well, let's just say if I hadn't already been absolutely caught up in the book, I was then. The way that Fiona Paul weaves her world is spectacular and magical.

The Characters:

Let's start with Cass. I absolutely adored Cass! Unlike a lot of other heroines in historical, she doesn't use extreme measures to get out of an engagement. Sure she wasn't exactly ecstatic, but she accepted it. Cass was adventurous, brave, and willing. Not to mention stubborn and insanely protective of her friends.
Falco! MEEP! Falco was definitely the boy I was rooting for. With his dark looks and scandalous suggestions, I found myself laughing, giggling, and falling hard right there with Cass. My heart was in my throat at one point where Cass and Falco were...not exactly at good odds.

The Plot:
The plot had twists and turns that I never would've believed in other circumstances. I would think one thing and Fiona Paul would tell me something else. You have no idea how many times my mouth popped open in shock.
What struck me as different than other Historical fictions though, was the fact that it wasn't as...boring as others. Venom was so much more scandalous and had more action, romance, than others and that definitely made me love Venom all the more.

Overall:
Venom is a must read for any YA reader who's looking for something new and fun. I found myself sucked into this world filled with mystery, romance, and intrigue and couldn't pull myself out until the last page was read. Fiona Paul somehow made me love one genre I usually avoided and I hope I find more novels as wonderfully written as this!

Pages: 432
Series: Venom #1
Genre: Historical/Romance
Publisher: Philomel
Release Date: October 30
Rating: 10/5

"How stupid of me to let my heart go. It was a lovely fantasy while it lasted though, wasn't it?"

P.S. No that teaser was not spoiler. Though it does leave you wondering...

Have a Picture!

Is it or is it not completely true?

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Showcase Sunday

I'm expecting quite the batch of books this week. But anyhow, the books I got last week were pretty awesome too.

Props to Books, Biscuits, and Tea for creating this meme where we tell you what we got in out mailbox!

For Review

         

Traded

Given


Won
              

All three have been on my wishlist and hey! I finally get to read them. Of course I'll review them.
My BBB traded this with me. It's actually through this trade we became friends. Weird, right? Anyways, I love the cover, but the plot sounds a bit...familiar. And I've heard of the love triangle. Ummm...but we'll see.
That's right people! I was given an ARC of Venom. From who? Fiona Paul herself! Fangirl moment! Do you know how much screaming was done once we reached our hotel? A lot. Wouldn't hav emissed it for the world...maybe BEA though. ;)
Teen Author Carnival is where I won these. Fathomless sounds interesting, I haven't read Belles so I won't be reading book two, Narc seems...OK, and I've already read Goddess Test. I did re-read it though, and saw things with a critical eye. As in, it was once 5 stars...and decreased to 3.5. Ah well. Things happen.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Some things are going on that you should've heard about by now. If you haven't, no worries! It's all here:

YA Crush Tourney Nominations
The nominations are starting for the annual YA Crush Tourney, hosted by the YA Sisterhood. Do you know your top ten swoon-worthy boys? The enter them here!

Lost Prince Release Date
We have the actual date now! Count down the days until October 23rd to buy the spin-off Iron Fey book!

Need Some Giveaways?
The famous Clear-your-shelf giveaway is here where bloggers are giving away their extras/unwanted books! I've entered at least 75% of them already! Find the links here!

New Book Site!
A new site has been launched, all about books! I was contacted and given the early access code which I'm allowed to pass on, so yes, this is allowed. The code is discover_books. Just type that in here and explore!

Awesome Cover Reveals
A few absolutely stunning covers were revealed. Click here to see my post of them!

On a personal note...

2-2-Too Late Giveaway
I've decided: If I reach 350 followers, I'll add in a winner. So then two winners will each receive two books!

Summer Goal!
I finally came up with my yearly summer goal: Collect all five Breathless Reads in ARC form! I already have 2/5. This'll be a cinch! I hope.

2-2-Too Late! Giveaway

<center><a href="http://fiction-freak.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="22Too Late Giveaway" src="http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p566/Nikki_Wang/2-2-Toolate.jpg" /></a></center>

So as you know, I like to do things a bit differently. Remember my 111 giveaway? Well I was going to do a 222 Giveaway, but we all know it's too late for that. After all, I have 280 followers now! (and no, I still can't believe that.) ?Right? Wrong. Introducing the 2-2-Too Late! Follower Giveaway. Oh, and don't forget to see my review of Arise by Tara Hudson. It's right below this post.
By the way, these are all books that are either semi-popular, or not that popular.

The Bolts and Rods

• US only. Sorry folks!
• You must be a follower!
• Do not leave your email in a comment
• If you are the winner, you must reply within 48 hours or anotehr winner will be picked.
• The books must be chosen from the list below

                                                             
         

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Arise by Tara Hudson

Goodreads Blurb

Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life...a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her

Amelia has stopped having her nightmares ever since she escaped the demons and into Joshua’s arms. She’s finally safe and happy. If you don’t stop and think about her random materializations and vanishing acts whenever a) her emotions run high or b) when she and Joshua are getting a bit…steamy, if you know what I mean. And that is quite the problem, isn’t it? And then Amelia discovers that the demons are after her and will kill anyone and everyone she loves. Including her mother, Joshua, even Jillian who seems to hater her. Any living being she associates with will be killed. And that’s when Amelia decides to leave Joshua, if only to protect him. But when New Orleans, Amelia finds that about five others can hear her, one of them are able to see her. Something that comes as quite the shock, especially when it turns out that they want to help, not harm, Amelia. Or do they? Because something weird is going on, especially when she meets Gaby, the ghost who lives half a life. Exactly what is going on? Is there a traitor in their mist? How does Gaby become solid? Questions are raised and answered in this sequel to the debut Hereafter.

We get to see new characters who I absolutely adored, even if a few weren’t very…real, and get to see more of old characters such as Joshua and Amelia as their budding relationship blossoms into something more…but that was the problem. The entire story, every little thing, was based on the romance. Amelia was in danger because she loved Joshua. She met the other evil ghosts...because she loved Joshua and wanted to leave him to protect him. She tried to become semi-human...for Joshua. OMG, Joshua, Joshua, Joshua. It just annoyed the heck out of me. Especially when the guy in questions is acting just a wee bit immature. And Amelia starts trusting almost everyone she meets. Really, Amelia?

On the other hand, I did enjoy this novel, especially because it's set in New Orleans which, as most know, is filled with ghosts so it was the perfect setting for this story. The characters all seemed to have a place in the story, so no one was exactly just there. The story line flowed naturally and beautifully so tehre weren't any akward moments, thank goodness! Our two main characters were in such a sweet romance and they seemed to be so loyal (maybe a bit too much.) The action was still there and I was at the edge of my seat, flipping through page after page. I’m still not sure if I think it suffered Sequel Syndrome where there is no actual plot since there were many revelations and plot development in Arise, but it seemed irrelevant though definitely interesting and fun to read.  The Hereafter series is definitely one of my favorite ghost stories!

Pages: 404
Series: Hereafter #2
Genre: Paranormal/romance
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: June 5
Rating: 4 stars

"Then when I finished apologizing, I would ifnally tell him I loved him. More than anything."