Update

Hey guys! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I am so sorry that I haven't posted in so long!

First of all, the rush of getting back into classes, preparing for end of year tests, having a relationship and friendships to mantain, schoolwork, a broken email, and so many other careers getting in the way, it has made blogging quite difficult.

This is definitely NOT a hiatus, but it IS a warning that posts will be getting slightly less frequent, maybe just one a week, since reading has taken the back burner for a month or so until I can get everything back on track.

I am still reading! Just not as much. But I will have to start reading again next week since I received 26+ novels in the mail this month! (And more on the way!) So I will have to get back to reading.

But for now, I apolgize for my absence. Please expect a new post coming next week, and more after that. I currently have 25 or so novels I received in the mail to read, and about 4 or so that I have received from authors to review. So I will be posting as soon as I can. I am currently reading 6 novels at once, so I will be finishing one of them soon hopefully.

Thanks again for understanding, and please don't be discouraged! Don't subscribe! You'll hear from me again next week.

Love you guys!

Cover Reveal: Touched With Fire by Christopher Datta

 

Welcome to the TOUCHED WITH FIRE cover reveal! This fabulous historical fiction has received a new look and it's going to blow you away. Now before we get to that, let's talk about Touched With Fire, a novel of the Civil War inspired by the true story of Ellen Craft.

Ellen Craft is property; in this case, of her half-sister Debra, to whom she was given as a wedding gift. The illegitimate daughter of a Georgia plantation owner and a house slave, she learned to hate her own image, which so closely resembled that of her “father:” the same wiry build, the same blue eyes, and the same pale—indeed, lily-white—skin. Ellen lives a solitary life until she falls, unexpectedly, in love with a dark-skinned slave named William Craft, and together they devise a plan to run North. Ellie will pose as a gentleman planter bound for Philadelphia accompanied by his “boy” Will. They make it as far as Baltimore when Will is turned back, and Ellie has no choice but continue. With no way of knowing if he is dead or alive, she resolves to make a second journey—South again. And so Elijah Craft enlists with the 125th Ohio Volunteers of the Union Army: she will literally fight her way back to her husband. Eli/Ellie’s journey is the story of an extraordinary individual and an abiding love, but also of the corrosive effects of slavery, and of a nation at a watershed moment.

“The story tells of how a brave and resilient black woman went to great lengths to gain not only her freedom, but that of the man she loved.” - Amazon Reviewer Kelley McCormick “[A] deliberate and sincere historical fiction wends its way through this abject time in our nation’s youth...Touched with Fire is a welcome addition to the ever-increasing canon of Civil War fiction.” - E. Warren Perry, Jr.,
author, Swift to My Wounded: Walt Whitman and the Civil War

Celebrate this great new cover with us by entering our giveaway below and spreading the word!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read an excerpt:

Late Evening of September 20, 1862

Warren, Ohio

Ellie rolled up tight in her blankets, as usual sleeping in the upper hayloft of the stable on a bed of straw. She stared out the open hayloft door at the stars glittering in the moonless night sky, her breath condensing into white mist in the cold September air. Only at this time of the evening did she allow herself the luxury of becoming a woman again. She thought about William, as she always did before sleeping. Was he still alive? If he was, was he right this moment gazing up on the same stars? She missed him every minute of every day, but she missed him the most as she lay waiting for sleep to take her to him in dreams. Her cousin Ann had tried to help after William was left behind at Baltimore, yet there had been a barrier that Ellie could never quite overcome, that never let her feel comfortable around Ann. She was white, and Ellie was black. It was simply not in her to trust a white. She could not help it, her fear and loathing of that race rooted in a lifetime of hard experience with its cruelty, starting with and most particularly including her very own father, the man who should have cared the most for her happiness and welfare and who instead kept her as property.

Ann offered to buy William, and Ellie appreciated that. But out of sheer spite Miss Deb bought William herself to stop the sale. Even worse, she sent slave hunters north to find Ellie and bring her back.

Foolishly not expecting Debra Collins to stoop so low, Ellie was caught off guard and nearly taken. The fugitive slave act required Mrs. Henderson to turn Ellie over to the authorities, and the slave hunters brought local police with them to Mrs. Henderson’s home, demanding she surrender Ellie, who was no more than stolen property in the eyes of the law.

It was a narrow escape. Dressed as a man again, Ann sent Ellie through a hatch in the roof. From there, she stole across the tops of several adjacent row houses until she found a balcony she could safely drop down to. She nearly broke her ankle doing it, but from there used a fire escape to climb down to the street and disappear. She walked right past a policeman posted at the end of the block, but he was on the lookout for a woman. Once again, becoming a man saved her.

After that, Ellie determined to stay disguised as a man. The slave hunters searched for a woman. As a white man, Ellie could go where she pleased and do what she wanted without arousing suspicion. Even a white woman did not have the freedom she now had. She blended in and covered her tracks so well it made her impossible to find. At least, she hoped so.

With money Mrs. Henderson had thrust into her unwilling hand as she fled through the roof, she caught a train west, eventually stopping in Warren, Ohio, nearly broke. She started working for Mr. Craig as a stable hand, tending horses and fixing wagons. She slept in the stable except on the coldest of nights, and spent little of the money she earned. She had no desire to socialize and kept to herself, which suited Mr. Craig fine since he also had little use for mixing with folk outside of his business dealings.

But every day she thought of William and the bitterness grew and burned inside her until she felt consumed by it. What she feared most, her separation from William by the white masters, had come to pass, and she hated them for what they did to her in the name of preserving “their way of life.” Most especially she grew bitter toward her white “family,” her father and her half sister Debra. She wanted so much to make them pay for their plain low-down meanness.

She spent every night thinking on how to free William. She saved what she could against the time when an opportunity might present itself, and had accumulated five hundred dollars, but rack her brains as she might, nothing realistic ever came to her.

But today what this Wilkins fellow said kept running through her mind. The only real hope she had of rescuing William was in the defeat of the South. At the opening of the war, from all she heard, Lincoln was perfectly content to let the South keep its slaves if it would preserve the Union, and she had set no hopes on the war bringing William back to her. But perhaps that was changing. If it was true Lincoln would soon make this a fight to end slavery, then maybe there was hope after all.

But she doubted it. She found little support for the abolitionist movement here in Warren. Northern whites, on the whole, did not care one way or another about the welfare of Negros; they just wanted them gone. Even if Lincoln declared this a war against slavery, the North, she believed, would go back on its word in a heartbeat if keeping slavery reunited the nation.

And then a thought suggested itself. Maybe the North would not, in the end, free the slaves, but the one thing the North had to do was to conquer the South. From one end of that infernal pest hole to the other, Union troops would have to strike down and occupy every inch of Southern territory. Ellie pursed her lips in the dark, thinking hard on that fact. She could join the army and fight her way into Georgia. At the head of an army, there was nothing any planter could do to stop her. And once she found William, they could easily escape to Canada where the slave hunters could never reach them no matter how the war ended.

She jumped up, clutching the blankets close around her shoulders and pacing before the open hayloft door. Wilkins said the 125th Ohio was recruiting volunteers. She could join. What was to stop her? Her fevered mind thrilled at the excitement of finally having a plan, until all the reasons why it could not be done rained down on her like a thunderstorm on an open camp fire.

It was one thing to play a man while escaping North, which had been for just three days and with the help of William to guide her, and quite another to be a man in the army. Of course, even now she managed it well enough, but she lived a solitary life. She had plenty of time by herself in the evenings to let her guard down and take care of womanly things as required. Even with that, Mr. Craig once found a bloody rag she discarded during one of her flows, and demanded to know where it came from. Had she injured one of the horses? She made up a story about losing a wisdom tooth. Concerned, he asked to look in her mouth to see, but she was able to attend to a customer who fortunately appeared at that moment.

Being in the army would give her little to no privacy. Living in the constant close company of men, she would have to be a man all the time and never let down her guard. How would she bathe? How would she manage her cycles? What if she was wounded? In the army, the odds of being discovered multiplied a hundredfold. She sat down on a bale of hay, holding her face in her hands, despairing.

She had looked at it a thousand different ways. If she slipped back into Macon on her own, even disguised as a man, she would certainly be recognized eventually. Even if she was not, and she found William, how could she free him? No white Southerner would dare take a slave North for any reason now. Everyone she met would demand an explanation she could not give.

Joining the army was her only chance. She could not just wait for the war’s end and hope the North won, and in winning also abolished slavery.

She lifted her face from her hands. She was tired of being alone. She was tired of feeling powerless to change her life and William’s. She was tired of despising her half sister and her father and the entire South without having the means to punish them. A grim determination filled her. She <i>would</i> join the army. She would carry a gun and she would fight. She would find a way to keep her identity secret, and if they found her out, she was no worse off than now. All they could do would be to send her back to Ohio. All she could do was try and trust to God.

She stared up at the night sky, hoping William also looked up at those same stars, and she suddenly was sure of it. She could feel him reaching out to her, and she held out her hand to the lights in the sky, reaching back to him.

“I’m coming for you, William,” she said out loud, her hand clutching into a fist. “I’ll find you, and as God is my witness we will never be slaves again.”

Review: Vision of Shadows by Vincent Morrone

Title: Vision of Shadows by Vincent Morrone

Publisher: Entranced Publishing

Release Date: December 29th, 2013

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Drama

Medium: Ebook, Received for Review (Thanks Vincent!)

Oh. My. Gosh. Where do I start? Well, I usually don't start off a review sounding like a fan girl, but this is an unusual case. I have to say, I fell head over heels for this novel. From the very beginning, I was entranced in the amazing story of Bristol and her paranormal infused life. And the moment Payne enters the story... I haven't flipped pages that fast in along time. This story is exactly what I've been looking for. Easily one of the best novels I have ever read and one of my absolute favorites.

After the death of her parents, Bristol Blackburn’s life is thrown into chaos and she’s forced to move to Spirit, a small town where shadows are stirring. As she learns to navigate her new school and figures out how to keep her psychic abilities secret from her family, Bristol comes face to face with the boy who makes a regular appearance in her dreams: the gorgeous, possibly deadly, Payne McKnight. Soon she’ll find out if Payne will be the love of her life, or the end of it — and she has no idea which possibility scares her more. 

And that’s not even the worst of it. Strange shadows are haunting her dreams, and they’re up to something that could put Bristol and the lives of everyone she loves in jeopardy. -Amazon.com

From the very first page, the plot takes off and you are hanging on the edge of your seat. Naturally, when some authors write a plot like this (action-packed to the point that it is at a constant climax) it is too much to handle and is too busy. With Vincent Morrone's novel, that is definitely not the case. He writes with constant suspense and action, throwing in surprises at every turn, leaving you guessing every second. It flowed naturally, but also had many twists I didn't expect. The plot was both so suspenseful and gripping that I rarely had a free moment where I wasn't reading this story. I was that hooked. And I can't say that very often.

The characters were unbelievably realistic and interesting. Bristol's POV was an absolute joy to read in, and the way she saw things was both intriguing and easy to believe. She harnessed that 'normal teenage girl' factor that most authors seem to miss, while still having the fantasy characteristics when she accepts her role of talking to ghosts. And Payne... Oh Payne. His character was one of the most refreshing I have read from this year. He was an all-around normal guy (aside from being a handsome gentleman with a special ability) but because of his normality, he also has his faults. That is what I liked about these characters. They were so powerful and unreal, yet at the same time, realistic and relatable. Their faults made them the strong characters they were in the end. They really are nicely formed, descriptive, interesting characters.

The writing also left me speechless. Not only was the plot written perfectly, and the characters' back stories impeccable, but so was every other bit of the novel. Just the normal transitioning of scenes and characters' actions were written with untouchable skill. And the dialogue shared between the characters absolutely blew me away! I have read novels before where every bit of the dialogue feels like filler and sounds robotic. The characters sound very predictable and the dialogue is either cheesy or fake. And when writing about characters in their teenage years, for a teenage audience, the characters need to talk like normal teenagers. Not like children off a 90s sitcom. With this novel, the characters spoke to one another spot-on, perfect dialogue. Theirs words actually meant something, were emotional, and constantly laugh-out-loud funny! I had the best time reading this novel.

Overall, this novel was an absolute joy to read. I wasn't disappointed with a single thing and found zero faults and a million things to love. From the plot, to the characters, to the overall writing of this novel, it left me breathless. It was so amazing, I want my own paperback copy now! This is definitely a novel I would recommend to everyone, no matter what genres you prefer. Because you will love this novel. I know I did! As soon as I get myself a paperback copy, I will have to simply wait on pins and needles until I can get ahold of the sequel. Oh, how I cannot wait!

Review: Death and The Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones

Title: Death and The Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones (Darklight #3)

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: October 8, 2013

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal

Medium: Paperback, Received For Review. Thanks Bauer Teen!

Here's my preamble: I absolutely adored this novel! Even though I haven't read the previous two novels in this series, I will be quick to correct that mistake. This novel is just one delicious novel in a page-turning series full of the paranormal, drama, action and romance.

The fate of the world is not something a girl wants on her shoulders, and that is especially true for Lorelei McAlister.  Unfortunately for her, that is exactly where the world’s fate has decided to take up residence. Lorelei has seen firsthand the horrors that lie beneath our everyday world. And those horrors are getting her friends killed. Because of this, she agrees to leave the sanctity of her hometown and is sent to a different world entirely. A boarding school. But even here she is being watched. Someone knows what she is. What she carries inside her soul.  And on top of that she’s seeing visions.  This is nothing new for Lorelei.  But these visions are something more: death, destruction, and the end of the world.   Lorelei must face the fact that there are people who want her dead, and no matter where she goes, no matter how far she runs, the lives of her friends and family are in mortal peril.  Lucky for her, her friends and family include the handsome Angel of Death, a fiercely protective half-angel, and a ragtag group of loyal supporters who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty in the name of fighting pure evil. -From Amazon.com

The plot of this novel is riveting from beginning to end. It grabs your attention from the very first page, first sentence, and envelopes you in a world so believable, yet so unlike our own. You are dropped into the spellbinding tale of Lorelei McAlister, a girl with amazing powers who begins her tale in the foreignness that is a boarding school. You are then introduced to the main plot: the nearing of the End of The World. You are then introduced to a cast of memorable characters, all of who are crucial to the plot and make every page exciting. And I feel that I should mention the handsome Angel of Death, a character that keeps the action and steamy romance going endlessly. Strewn throughout this novel is perfectly timed bits of humor, romance, action, and drama, all within an action-packed plot that is sure to please any fan of the fantasy and paranormal. Not only is there certain wizard-like qualities and time travel, but there is also angels and demons, a mix that is sure to keep you flipping pages way into the night. I know I did!

The writing in this novel also blew me away. For the first time in a long time, I read a piece of literature that was not overdone, unnecessarily complicated, or fake. The writing was very real and raw, in the way that it seemed very down to earth. Nothing felt dragged out or missing from the novel, and I felt like all the best components of a novel were covered. And though this novel was the third installment of a series I had not yet read, I felt like Jones wrote it so that you could pick up on the story from any point. It didn't matter that I hadn't read the first two. I was instantly hooked. The plot was fresh and exciting, the characters were intriguing and new, and the writing made this novel an instant favorite of mine! I have literally fallen head over heels for this series.

Overall, I found Death and The Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones a masterpiece of epic fantasy proportions, and a series I will definitely be finishing. Even though I haven't read the first two, this story was easy to pick up on and definitely left me wanting more. The Darklight series is perfect for anyone craving a masterful story with small amounts of the paranormal, all housed within a skilledly-written novel. Darynda Jones weaves a tale both dark and mysterious, with a plot and characters sure to illicit more rave reviews from readers of every genre. 

Cover Reveal: The Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter

Oh. My. Gosh.

It's here. It's finally here.

Can we all just take a moment and-

AHHHHHHH!

*cleara throat* Ok.

Review: The Sorcery Code by Dima Zales

Title: The Sorcery Code by Dima Zales

Publisher: Mozaika Publications

Release Date: February 6, 2014

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Drama

Medium: Ebook, Received For Review by Author (Thanks Dima!)

The Sorcery Code is a fantastic unique novel with original fantasy practically oozing from its pages. This novel screams and demands to be read by fans of fantasy, and because of its tremendous originality, I cannot come up with many novels to compare it to. Fans of The Lord of The Rings will surely enjoy, but those who are new to the genre will immensely enjoy this novel as well. 

Once a respected member of the Sorcerer Council and now an outcast, Blaise has spent the last year of his life working on a special magical object. The outcome of his quest is unlike anything he could've ever imagined - because, instead of an object, he creates Her.

She is Gala, and she is anything but inanimate. Born in the Spell Realm, she is beautiful and highly intelligent - and nobody knows what she's capable of. She will do anything to experience the world . . . even leave the man she is beginning to fall for.

Augusta, a powerful sorceress and Blaise's former fiancée, sees Blaise's deed as the ultimate hubris and Gala as an abomination that must be destroyed. In her quest to save the human race, Augusta will forge new alliances, becoming tangled in a web of intrigue that stretches further than any of them suspect. -Amazon.com

Wow. Where do I start? This novel grabs your attention from the very first page and instantly envelopes you in a story unlike no other. With an enchanting plot and the interesting tag line of science-themed magic, this story will change your mind about the fantasy genre. The plot is fast paced and riveting, full of drama, romance, and tons of action. The changing POV fuels the story perfectly. With well developed characters and emotional ties and relationships, this story is dramatic and enticing, and quite realistic in some ways.

The writing was very nice. Every page was descriptive and interesting, and there was never a dull moment. The characters were formed perfectly and the plot flowed very nicely. For once, I have found a fantasy novel that was not cliched and boring, but instead, extravagant and creative. I can see that Dima Zales has been a breakout author and a great one at that. I am looking forward to reading his other works.

Overall, The Sorcery Code was a very nicely written quick fantasy novel that will surely keep you flipping pages all day. With interesting characters, an original flowing plot, and creative writing, this novel is the first of its kind and perfect for any one looking for a delicious new read. I definitely recommend it!

Fractured Heart Blog Tour!

Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuWC9DbCPhs

It is because we love them so much that we lay our heart in their hands. So when they do not treat it delicately, instead choosing to squeeze the life out of it, it becomes fractured. A fractured heart almost impossible to heal the pain etched into that tiny little organ.

But there is mercy... My name is Katy. I have been ripped apart and torn to shreds by past and present circumstances. Everything that I am had been tested, and faith is slowly fading away. I try to forget the past. I try not to let those events define my life. But the past, she just walked through the door, and she is about to test every limit that I can handle, and push me completely over the edge. My life...just got real

Krystle is a full time stay at home mom with a passion for reading and writing. Currently, she lives in Florida on an island with her husband and two young boys. Writing has always been something she loved to do, but she had to step away from it for awhile. Pursuing a career in Pharmacy was her dream. But, after five years working in a pharmacy, the pull to write was too great, so today she writes as if it were a living breathing part of her, and she loves every moment of it.

Fractured Heart is the first in The Redemption Series. It is also Krystle's debut novel.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

February 10

Here is some of what I read / My Journeys Into Pure Imagination / Clutter Your Kindle

February 11

Zita's Dream Writing / 2 friends, promote your books with us / Ramblings from Beneath the Sheets

February 12

Stormy Day Reading Books / Next Page Reviews / For the Love of Books

February 13

The Phantom Paragrapher / StoreyBook Reviews

February 14

Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews / Cant beat a good book

An Imperfect Circle Blog Tour!

 

What do you do when the boy who rescues the last remnants of your soul rejects what’s left straight afterwards? You move on. That’s what you do. I’m not the sort of girl who sits on the sofa with a bucket of ice cream mourning over anything. Especially not over a boy."

Sixteen year old Ellie Belrose has spent the last five years rebuilding her life after something she'd rather forget. She's finally getting somewhere but, when a figure from her past makes an unwanted reappearance in her life, she's forced to confront her demons. Karl Carter is fascinated by Ellie the moment he sees her but he doesn't realise she's Elise. His Elise. He never forgot her and still isn't willing to - despite her insistence. The two of them are stubborn, angry at the world, and sparks fly when they come together. Can they help each other move on from the past or will they drag each other back there?

RJ Sable is an author from the UK. She is a lover of language of all kinds 

and has a degree in linguistics and phonetics. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts she is only fluent
in English and Swedish after having lived in Sweden for three years. When she's not writing, RJ can be found with an impossibly large cup of tea, a crochet hook, and a mess of tangled yarn. Alternatively, she might be on her beloved racing bike "Mary" or mountain bike "Bumble", annoying car drivers everywhere. RJ Loves to cycle, run, and swim, and her current non-writing aspiration is to complete a Tough Mudder and an Ironman 70.3 at some point during 2014.

 

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I5QITDG/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5QITDG/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/an-imperfect-circle
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/398589

Release Date: Feb. 1st

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

February 3

Who You Callin' A Book Whore? / For the Love of Books / Next Page Reviews

February 4

Will Read for Coffee / Angee's After Thoughts / Fiction's Our Addiction

February 5

Living Between the Sheets / Reading My Escape / Fiona's Book Reviews

February 6

Mia Point of View / Dawn's Reading Nook / The Phantom Paragrapher / A Dirty Book Affair

February 7

Luv Books Galore / Deal Sharing Aunt / Sweet Books

Stacking The Shelves: January (#8)

Hello guys! It's that time again. Time to showcase all the novels I have bought, won, been gifted, etc. in this month of January! This is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews which I am proud to participate in monthly.

This month, I received 14 novels! I am VERY happy to say I received the following:

ARCs from Publisher: (Thanks Random House!)

The Mirk & Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Road Rash by Simin Wood

Received for Review from Publisher:

Death and The Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones (Thanks Bauer Teen!)

Received for Review from Author:

If Only We by Jessica Sankiewicz  (Thanks Jessica!)

Won:

ARC paperback of Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens

Channel Your Brave/Faking Normal HarlerTeen Tshirts!

3 Channel Your Brave bracelets

1 signed postcard of Faking Normal

1 signed Green Lantern postcard with letter to me!

1 mini wooden book made by author!

Z 2135 by Sean Platy and David Wright

The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons by Barbara Mariconda (hardcover!)

The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons by Barbara Mariconda (hardcover!)

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (hardcover) (Thanks to Bittersweet Enchantment!)

Bought:

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner (hardcover!)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Viola In The Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani (hardcover!) 

Total January Haul! 

I'm already so excited for February's haul, considering I ordered 20 books from Books A Million last night ;)