Review: Grave Witch (Alex Craft #1) by Kalayna Price

Published: September 21, 2010 Roc
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Kindle

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary 

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say.

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around...

To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life...and her soul.

"Death was certainly consistent in my world."

Whew I've been lucky with some pretty great Urban Fantasy reads lately! This is another series to add to my favorite UF list for sure.

The Good

There is so much going on in this story that it would be impossible for me to touch on it all. Alexis is as the title suggests, a grave witch. She has the power of the grave and is able to raise shades and speak with ghosts. I had a lot of fun learning about this intricate world full of different types of witches, fae, ghosts, gargoyles and even reapers. With her business, Tongues for the Dead, she raises shades so they can speak to clients about a number of things. I got to watch this spin out of control into court cases, fae politics, magical battles, and soul sucking. It was quite the sight to 'read'.

The characters were also many and a lot of fun. Each very different from each other. I will talk more about some of them in the Romance section because my favorites were the love interests. Also, I really enjoyed Alexis' family and their odd dynamic. I look forward to learning more about what is going on there in future books. This is one dysfunctional family.

Caleb, Tamara, and Holly are close friends of Alex. Caleb is a fae and apparently a good one. The wonderful thing about this series is the 'some are good and some you need to watch out for' when it comes to the fae. I love it when there are fae characters that you can trust, but I also really enjoy the tricky fellows because nasty fae can be extremely terrifying.

The story is excellent. There is action virtually non-stop. It did keep me guessing, and with Alex, I was wondering who was behind the mischief until the very end almost. I was kept on my toes throughout most of it, and thought the ending was a good setup for the next book.

The Bad

Alex resembles some other characters that I've read in fiction, though only a little. With her grave powers and detecting, she immediately brings to mind Anita Blake from her Vampire Hunter Series. Then there is the FIB. Called the Federal Interland Bureau in The Hollows, but in this story known as the Fae Investigation Bureau. Other similarities to The Hollows is that there is a gargoyle on her steep, and in one scene she mentions having to sport her red halter and leather pants. She clearly has some Rachel Morgan in her. So even though this is it's own story with a dynamic world and characters, there are some instances of other UF series shown slightly throughout.

Alexis clearly makes an odd deductive reasoning that had me scratching my head since I knew that she had it wrong. Not sure why she went down the wrong path when the answer to me was so clear, but this irked me a bit.

The Romance

My favorites were the love interests Falin and Death. Yes, you read that right. The collector in this series, Death, runs into Alexis often and she's the only one she knows of that can converse with and physically touch him. He's brooding and mysterious and, personally, I found him fascinating. Falin, on the other hand, starts out a little pompous and they don't get along too well. Then slowly through the pages, he turns up the yummy meter and somehow the more I got to know of him the more mysterious he becomes. She has two juicy prospects. I don't usually enjoy love triangles because I feel like another guy is just thrown in as a distraction, but this time she is presented with two options right off the bat, and I kinda like that. There is a pretty detailed romantic scene. Hope to see more of this romance because I enjoy both of the guys, and I'm really wondering where this triangle will go.

Conclusion

This was a great read! I was thrilled with the amount of action involved and the fact that I was on my toes though everything. I enjoyed all the characters that Alex interacted with throughout and the romance is intriguing. Recommended to Urban Fantasy lovers!

Excerpts

"Sorry. One handshake doesn't admit you to the good graces club."
   "But one phrase said in anger - justified anger that someone was tampering with evidence in my case - is enough to bar me from it?"
I smiled at him. "First impressions suck that way."
   His shoulders rolled back. "You have pertinent information about my case. I could arrest you for obstruction of justice."
And on to threats.

"This goes no further than you, but I believe the body is a fake. It is only spelled to look like Coleman." Okay, that wasn't completely what I believed, but it touched the truth in quite a few places.

I cried when I was angry. Which only pissed me off more.

"They tried to kidnap me." Falin glanced at me from the corner of his eye but didn't say anything. I looked up at him. "You shot him." Still he said nothing. I cleared my throat. "Shouldn't you, like...call it in and secure the scene?

Mel is Celebrating Her 4th Blogoversary

Hey everyone! Head on over to:



Where we are celebrating Mel's 4th Blogoversary and I'm listing my Top 5 Urban Fantasy Reads of the Year. Don't forget to check out the other cool posts that she already has up for her celebration as well as give-aways. She'll be doing this all week!

I'd like to say to Melissa - Thank you so much for having me and Happy Blogoversary!!!

 Also, I'll have a review up for you for Grave Witch later in the day :D

Book Tour Review: Solstice High by Ardash Vartparonian

Welcome to my stop on the Solstice High Book Tour hosted by Virtual Author Book Tours.com.

Published: October 22, 2012 Strategic Book Group
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Kindle
Source: Gifted for honest review

Goodreads Summary

It's the first day of school at prestigious Solstice High. Seniors Matt, Rochelle, Daphne and Jonas each have a big surprise waiting for them. When the four friends undergo a freak accident, they begin to develop superhuman abilities and come to realize that all is not as it seems within the bleak walls of their high school. While dealing with the day-to-day challenges of being teenagers, they must also confront their sinister principal, Mr. Devlin, who seems to have more than just education on his agenda.

Purchase Solstice High at Amazon

Fast-paced and Supernatural Packed

 I received this book from the author for an honest review.

The Good

This book dives into 4 different POV's for the main characters through rotating chapters. Matt is the first character that we get to see. He is an out-of-the closet gay teenager that hates math. Daphne was the next chapter's narrator and she is a bit on the grumpy side, intelligent with red hair and emerald eyes. Rochelle followed next, and this girl is fiesty. She is a bomshell and is the Queen B of the school. Jonas is the last in the round robin and is the smart, good-looking, straight-laced jock who is also the leader of the little group that they all look to for direction. In all groups of friends, there are always duos that are closest and in this case, there is Matt and Daphne, and Jonas and Rochelle. Vartparonian did an exceptional job of rounding out all the characters in this book, creating extensive personalities and voices. They are all FLAWED. I love that these characters each have good and bad in qualities in them and they are very well-developed.

The setting is the high school that they all attend and it quickly becomes a surreal world where so much is going on underneath the surface. The principal is this wonderfully evil villain that is talked about more than he's actually in person, but this creates an air of mystery and more fear surrounding his character. This group stumbles upon supernatural powers like I've never seen before. Some are more normal, but with the way they are delivered and expounded upon, they are unique to this story and these characters. I enjoyed the way they each handled becoming supernatural in their own ways and yet still remained connected as a group of friends.

There were very mysterious characters that I didn't know whether were good or bad. There were twists and turns where the ones that I thought were good turned bad and vice versa. This plot was fantastic and well-delivered. The climax was fast-paced and action packed. I often didn't know what was going to happen, and had to keep turning the pages to find out.

The Bad

This is a YA book aimed at teenagers where the main characters are teenagers in high school. There are many instances of the main characters smoking, drinking, being promiscuous and doing drugs. Generally, when I see these topics brought up in literature, the characters feel a need to change this negative behavior because the outcome is always bad. While I did have to watch one of the girls get her first kiss with the crush in the book after having vomited (GROSS by the way) from drinking too much, there was never a feeling of wanting to change any of these habits, so the moral in the story was lost on me. The one character that didn't employ any of these behaviors that was in effect the 'leader' of the group was constantly teased by the rest of the characters for being a prude. Not setting a very good example in my opinion. As I said earlier, I really appreciated that these characters were flawed, what got to me was that there was this lack of growth with these negative aspects.

Then there was talk of suicide, past attempts as well as one of the characters actually committing suicide in the pages of this book. While I will go ahead and spoil the story here and say that the outcome turned out ok, that is precisely the problem. There was absolutely no remorse. Everything turned out ok, but there were no feelings of, "I wouldn't do that again." As a matter of fact, I feel that they would've done the exact same thing if presented with the same situation. Again, Vartparonian had the chance to use his voice to let the readers know that this is a HORRIBLE solution to any situation no matter how bleak it may look. Suicide is never the answer. I had to take some stars off for the simple fact that this book is going into the hands of kids that face these problems every day and there was no moral, no advice, no solution offered in the pages of the book, only all these bad things in essence being 'blessed' because these supernatural, kick-butt characters are doing them so they should be ok, right?

I will say that Vartparonian was 18 while writing this, so he was in fact the age of the intended readers himself. While you can feel the knowledge he holds for modern-day teenagers in the story, I still can't condone the message it seems to convey. I doubt all readers will feel the same, it's simply my opinion on this score.

The Romance

There are a few romances in this story since there are quite a few main characters. Matt gets his chance at romance. Daphne meets a beau. Rochelle and Jonas are quite the pair. The first kiss wasn't particular my favorite for those two, but the romance sweetened up after that and was very fun to read about. That pairing was my favorite in this story. There are some YA romantic scenes. Also, there is an attempted rape scene.

Conclusion

Very well developed characters with flaws, fast-paced, intense, supernatural story with good twists and turns. Mysterious characters and a great plot, plus this one was a page turner. The only draw-back for me was the missing moral of the story on some of the elements. I would read this one again, and if there is a 2nd one I would read that one as well.

Excerpts

"He must be feeling like such a god up there on his little podium," Rochelle whispered in my ear, and we both laughed quietly.

"Math..." I muttered, fighting back a groan. I regarded numbers as my own personal enemies. They were discriminative, I thought, for there was only one acceptable answer, and all others deemed wrong; a numerical apartheid in my indignant opinion.

Was I in the wrong room? But it couldn't be. We had crossed the only other door of the changing rooms that led into the P.E. office. But, sure as Rochelle was a reckless lunatic, this was most definitely not the P.E. office.

"And let me tell you something, Vampire Bill can 'Sukeh' me anytime, anywhere he likes."

For a second I thought I heard a pang of envy in Matt's voice, and that helped me recover from the shock. Envy was really just another form of flattery. 

About Ardash Vartparonian:

Ardash Vartparonian was born in London but raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of 18 he began his debut novel, Solstice High, and continued writing throughout his last year of school and first year of university, where he moved back to the UK to study English Literature at Edinburgh University. Now a fourth year student, Ardash enjoys going out with his friends, watching horror movies and reading fantasy book while trying to keep up with his university work.

Website / Facebook /  Solstice High / Google +

Sunday Cover Scramble [27]

Let's have some fun! I am going to post covers on here every Sunday that are scrambled up graphically, making it hard to tell what cover it is. I would like your guesses on what cover you think I've posted. I won't answer you until the next day to let you know if you are right, allowing other to guess as well. Some will be hard, and others may be easy. If you need hints, I will only post covers of series talked about on my blog previously. Also, let me know in the comments if you'd like some more hints and I'll offer some more throughout the day if no one guesses it correctly. Here we go:

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Sidekick Showcase [33] - Cowboy

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as Sidekick Saturday, is a weekly bookish meme, hosted here by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. Just do the following:

• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fits in the week's topic
• Share a picture (if you can) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post their's throughout the week as well

August Themes:
August 2nd - Leather-Clad
August 9th - One-third of a love triangle
August 16th - Not who they say they are
August 23rd - Law Enforcement
August 30th - Living Dead

This week is Cowboy

My choice is Warren
The Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

Warren is the 3rd in the Tri-Cities Werewolf Pack. Dominant enough to be the 2nd, but with a stigma hanging over his head of being homosexual, he remains humbly in the 3rd rank. He was a straight-up Texan cowboy, and that's the way I always picture him while reading. I love Warren! His movie nights with Mercy and Kyle are always so much fun, and he just has a quiet strength about him that makes him such a fun character to read. He's a true best friend to Mercy, and someone that she counts on to have her back. He has that Southern gentleman charm, and he's not hard to please.

Quotes:

Iron Kissed-
A second floor window opened, and Kyle stuck his head and shoulders out so he could look down at us. “If you two are finished playing Cowboy and Indian out there, some of us would like to get their beauty sleep.”

I looked at Warren. “You heard ‘um Kemo Sabe. Me go to my little wigwam and get ‘um shut-eye.”

“How come you always get to play the Indian?” whined Warren, deadpan.

“Cause she’s the Indian, white boy,” said Kyle.

---

Iron Kissed-
“A cowboy, a lawyer, and a mechanic watched Queen of the Damned,” I murmured.
Warren—who had once, a long time ago, been a cowboy—snickered and wiggled his bare feet. “It could be the beginning of either a bad joke or a horror story."

---

Blood Bound-
“Warren made a noise, the first one I'd heard out of him since we'd come into the room. I'd have been happier if he hadn't sounded scared.
"Easy, Warren," Adam told him. "You're safe here.”
"If you die on us, you won't be," said Kyle with a growl that would have done credit to any of the werewolves in the room.

---

Frost Burned-
“You’re a dead man,” Kyle said. “Warren doesn’t take kindly to people who hurt me.”

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Review: Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson #7) by Patricia Briggs

Published: March 5, 2013 Ace Hardcover
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Kindle

Source: Purchased

*Please note that it is very hard to review books past the first one in the series without having any spoilers at all. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as I can.

Goodreads Summary 

Mercy Thompson returns in the seventh novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Mercy Thompson’s life has undergone a seismic change. Becoming the mate of Adam Hauptman—the charismatic Alpha of the local werewolf pack—has made her a stepmother to his daughter Jesse, a relationship that brings moments of blissful normalcy to Mercy’s life. But on the edges of humanity, what passes for a minor mishap on an ordinary day can turn into so much more…

After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can’t reach Adam—or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They’ve all been abducted.

Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related—and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.

"But the silver?"

I actually thought that River Marked was the last book in the series, so when I found about this one, I was thrilled. I adore everything about the these books!

The Good

What's funny about Mercy is that in the beginning of the series, she knew werewolf decorum, but didn't follow it much at all because she's too stubborn to be considered a lowly coyote. Now that she's the Alpha's Mate, she quotes the "rule book" like she wrote it. Not necessarily to suit her, but because these are her wolves now and she cares about every single one - even the ones that hate her. I love that she's embraced the good with the bad.

When Adam gets in to trouble this time, Mercy calls on a group of old friends to help. Stefan is one of my favorite enigmatic characters, with his Scooby Doo references but scary vampire ways, he's a character I never will fully understand, but continue to love. Zee is also briefly there lending a grumpy, but knowledgeable helping hand. Someone I loved getting to learn more about that we haven't seen much in earlier books was Zee's son, Tad. He actually plays a fairly large roll in this one. Ben got to be around quite a bit too, taking the place of wolf-by-Mercy's side, Sam. I couldn't stand Ben in the beginning of the series, but as each layer is peeled off, I love him more and more with every new book. One of the new characters Asil was fantastic! I love his history and just not knowing what he was going to do.

The story is a great one! It's a page turner that goes from one mishap to another and the book was over far faster than I really wanted it to be. The action, drama, and sequence of events was dead-on.

The Bad

Sam's gone.

The Romance

Well, these two are still incredibly in love which I'm thankful for. They don't need any fights or arguments splitting them up. The problem may be with the fact that they weren't together much so there was a little romance, but not a whole lot. Seeing the few chapters through Adam's POV really was fantastic though! I can tell how much they both truly care for each other.

Conclusion

It's excellent. If you love Urban Fantasies, it is a don't miss for sure. It has action, great characters, excellent flow, and a wonderful story with development.

Excerpts

"Nope. I know you haven't been part of this family long, so you don't know all the rules. When you break someone else's toy, you have to pay for it yourself."

"No more driving for you, tonight," the cop told the downed man cheerfully. "No more hitting nice ladies, either. It's off to the pokey to dry out." "Pokey?" I said.

I knew what Adam would say about turning on the lights when we were possibly hiding from some unknown group capable of taking on a pack of werewolves and coming out on top. But my night vision wasn't up to first aid in the dark.

It was like triage. Decision one - preserve those who were save. Decision two - retrieve the rest. Decision three - make the ones who took them regret it. 

I decided to trust Ariana to know her own strengths. If she could keep us hidden until I talked to Adam, it would really help.

Cover Reveal: Melted Tears by Annabelle Blume

Melted Tears by Annabelle Blume

Expected Publication: August 2013, Inkspell Publishing

Genre: Sci-Fi Romance

Official Blurb:

Two lovers face off against a government determined to keep them apart. It’s only brave if it’s hard.  

After a decade of being alone in the wilderness, Cressenda is still adjusting to life with the man of her dreams. When Beckett hatches a plan to break her parents out of The Affinity prison work camps, Cressenda must make the biggest sacrifice of her life; trading her freedom for her parents’. Cressenda’s fortitude is tested at every turn, from surviving the conditions of West Fallen work camp to believing in Beckett’s dedication to their plan and their love, even when it looks like all hope is lost. With the help of a unlikely ally, Cressenda learns to stop fighting against her fears and embrace the power of fighting for her dreams.

Will trusting Beckett to take down The Affinity be the ultimate show of faith or a fatal mistake?

About Annabelle Blume:

Annabelle is a Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy Romance author, that is, when she's not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant for that which is outside the norm.

Her Sociology degree has given her the ability to construct worlds that exist only in her head and translate them passionately to the page. The time spent studying individuals, interpersonal relationships, and particularly, women, within the constraints of our society led to Annabelle's unabashed ability to talk about sex as it fits into our modern lives.

She's also the author/personality of The Bombshell Mommy at Vitacost.com, where she expounds her knowledge of being a vixen clad in sweatpants.

A serial book monogamist, Annabelle is deeply devoted to the literary love of her life until the next amazing book falls into her clutches and she obsesses anew.

Find Annabelle:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Don’t forget to check out the first book
A decade surviving on her own.
Three days with the enemy.
Can love conquer all?

Cressenda knows how to survive. With her sled dogs as her only companions, she’s spent the past ten years hiding in the snow covered wilderness from the oppressive regime of the Affinity. When a routine trip to civilization takes a turn for the worst, Cressenda is forced to take refuge with the enemy or lose her life to the frozen countryside.

But Beckett, a Guard of the Affinity, is more than a man in uniform. His desperate need to help Cressenda escape both- the blizzard and the Affinity- makes her feelings for him all the more troubling. Will Beckett be true to his word and set Cressenda free? Will her heart let her leave after all they’ve shared?

Teaser Tuesday [20] - Alex Craft

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

"You did this." Her finger drilled into my arm. Oh good - she's found someone to blame. Me. Clearing my throat, I ducked my head and said, "I'm very sorry for your loss." She continued as though she hadn't heard me. "I told him not to hire a witch. I told him." Her voice turned shrill, and she collapsed into the wall. "I told him."

Goodreads Summary:

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say.

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around...

To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life...and her soul.

Release Day Review: Hipstopia (The Uprising) by R.A. Desilets

Published: July 22, 2013 CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Genre: YA (semi-comedic) Dystopian
Format: Kindle

Source: sent by author for honest review

Goodreads Summary 

It's been three years since Murphy led the Hipster uprising. For three years, Jay has been by his side. All that's about to change. It starts with the beautifully intense Prisoner Forty-Seven... and a loaded gun.

Hipstopia is the first book in Young Adult Dystopian duet, The Uprising.

"Because it's fashionable"

Charismatic Murphy inspired a bunch of hipsters from Silverlake to stand against 'corporate personhood', and they chased out everyone who believed in it. With his biggest glasses, he created his own little pocket of hipsters built on being fashionable, changed their names to end in a more lyrical 'y' and have no televisions. This story is about Jay, his right-hand man. Jay smokes all day instead of eating, loves that everything is done locally and that he doesn't have to make decisions, and at the age of 18 he has never had a girlfriend. In this novelette, I watched him grow, questioning everything he'd known, and finally become a man.

The Good

I'm not a huge fan of novelettes in general. There just aren't enough pages in my opinion. However, I absorb Desilets writing like a sponge and love every minute of it. Do I pine for more when it's over? Yes! She is able to create a well-wrapped up story in a novelette. When I'm finished reading, I feel like I've gotten all the facts that I needed, even while I wish the story would continue. Thankfully, this one has a second, full-length book coming to follow it up in this series.

I'm amazed at how Desilets can take this concept and turn it into a mixture of absurdity and honesty, thoughtfulness and comedy. I'm giggling at these kids saying they won't do something because 'it's not fashionable', but at the same time there are poignant moments where true emotion comes out in the characters. It's a dystopain built on a unique and silly world with real characters and feelings. Also, even though it's not categorized as New Adult, I feel that it could easily be classed as that since it's a coming of age story about Jay and his growth. I love everything about how the mixtures came together to create a great story.

The Bad

There is insta-love, or rather insta-crush. Given that this is a novelette, there's not a lot of pages to get the romance going, so I understand the need to have it develop rather quickly.

The Romance

Jay is immediately drawn to Prisoner Forty-Seven. Never having had a girlfriend, it's easy to see why he would become quickly attached to her. Prisoner Forty-Seven is the catalyst that turns Jay on his head. She's fierce, smart, and beautiful, and he needs to be close to her. I love this character! She is exactly what he needs and he didn't even know he was missing anything.

Conclusion

I really hope you give this one a shot. With the follow-up full length book, this series is one to add to your too-read shelf. It's incredibly unique, very well-written, funny, honest, and enjoyable.

Excerpts

If anyone asked why Murphy was the ruler, I would say it was because he had the thickest glasses of us all.

We didn't hit people to kill them; killing them wasn't fashionable.

I ran back to Los Angeles. I ran away from Corpo Country, because I hated the idea that my own flesh and blood would force me into living a certain way, that they would take away my choice.

I ashed the end of my cigarette, which had already burned halfway through. I inhaled, wishing for real food to magically appear out of thin air. My stomach growled at the thought. What was wrong with me?

Forty-Seven, the girl with fierce, cutting eyes that would make me forget today ever happened. As soon as I got to the cells and started to handout meals to the other prisoners, I realized I didn't want to forget today.

Sunday Cover Scramble [26]

Let's have some fun! I am going to post covers on here every Sunday that are scrambled up graphically, making it hard to tell what cover it is. I would like your guesses on what cover you think I've posted. I won't answer you until the next day to let you know if you are right, allowing other to guess as well. Some will be hard, and others may be easy. If you need hints, I will only post covers of series talked about on my blog previously. Also, let me know in the comments if you'd like some more hints and I'll offer some more throughout the day if no one guesses it correctly. Here we go:

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Harry Potter Moment of the Week [5] - Catching Up 2 Week's Worth

This is a meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts.The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/ films/ J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! She is picking a topic within HP for us to focus on each week and then if anyone wants to take part feel free! All she asks is to link back to her blog :). There is now a full list of the topics to come here.

I'm catching up for 2 week's worth so there are two questions I'm answering. The first is for what is my favorite odd thing in the Harry Potter Universe and the other is a free Harry Potter topic of my choosing.

Thestral Picture Created by Jaclyn Canada

My favorite odd thing in the Harry Potter Universe besides a person, is the thestral.

They aren't necessarily my favorite creature overall, but as far as being odd, and such a work of Rowling's creativity, I LOVE them! I've never read about a creature like them before. Harry and crew ride to the school on horseless carriages and then one day, Harry suddenly sees these scary looking horses pulling them instead. No one else can see them so he believes he has gone a bit crazy, and really doesn't feel much better when he finds out that Luna is one of the only people that can see them as well. She believes in all manner of wild animals that most of the crew believe don't exist so he doesn't have much hope that what he's seeing are really there. However, the thestrals are only seen by a select few that have seen death in their past, making them scarier and misunderstood. I really enjoyed how much they kept appearing as transportation for the characters due to their stealth and ability to find places so well.

My Free Topic is PotterMore:

 Zane and  I are on PotterMore in the Huffepuff house. I'll say that we both thought we would get in the Ravenclaw house more, but after some thought, we realized that being considered loyal and true really does fit our characters so we would take it. I enjoy reading through the books and collecting items. I think doing the potions are pretty fun as well. Zane likes to do the spells more. Are you a part of the Pottermore World? What house are you in? If you would like to friend me, my user name is DragonThorn23958.

Sidekick Showcase [32] - Mentor

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as Sidekick Saturday, is a weekly bookish meme, hosted here by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. Just do the following:

• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fit's in the week's topic
• Share a picture (if you can) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post their's throughout the week as well

Here are the July Topics:
July 26th - Cowboy

This week is Mentor

My choice is Cinna
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Cinna Picture Created by Jaclyn Canada based on Lenny Kravitz's Portrayal

Katniss meets Cinna as her stylist for The Hunger Games. He is the first person that she meets from The Capitol that she finds endearing and she grows close to him and trusts him pretty quickly. Cinna truly doesn't get enough page time for how great a character he is. He is actually thought about by Katniss more often than he is in the books. She looks to him as a guide in her thoughts as to how she should act and what he would expect of her. Without giving too much away, he truly shapes her character and her growth throughout the series.

Quotes:

Catching Fire-
“Remember, girl on fire,” he says, “I'm still betting on you.”

---

The Hunger Games-
“Not exactly. You see, Portia and I think that the coal miner thing's very overdone. No one will remember you in that. And we both see it has our job to make District 12 tributes unforgettable," says Cinna.
I'll be naked for sure, I think.
"So rather than focus on the coal mining itself, we're going to focus on the coal," says Cinna.
Naked and covered in black dust, i think.
"And what do we do with coal? We burn it," says Cinna. "You're not afraid of fire, are you, Katniss?" He sees my expression and grins.

---

The Hunger Games-
My mouth has gone dry as sawdust. I desperately find Cinna in the crowd and lock eyes with him. I imagine the words coming from his lips. "What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" I rack my brain for something that made me happy here. Be honest, I think. Be honest.

---

The Hunger Games-
“That's right. Who am I thinking of? Oh, I know. It's Cinna who likes you. But that's mainly because you didn't try to run when he set you on fire," says Peeta. "On the other hand, Haymitch... well, if I were you, I'd avoid Haymitch completely. He hates you.”

---

Mockingjay-
"The question is, what are you going to do?"
It turns out the question that's been eating away at me has only ever had one possible answer. But it took Peeta's ploy for me to recognize it.
What am I going to do?
I take a deep breath. My arms rise slightly - as if recalling the black-and-white wings Cinna gave me - then come to rest at my sides.
"I'm going to be the Mockingjay.”

---

The Hunger Games -
“The pounding music, the cheers, the admiration work their way into my blood, and I can’t suppress my excitement. Cinna has given me a great advantage. No one will forget me. Not my look, not my name. Katniss. The girl who was on fire.”

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Blog Tour Review: Bait by K.C. Blake

We had technical problems for some reason yesterday and this post mysteriously disappeared. Sorry to be a day late for the blog tour post, but most definitely better late than never!

Published:  April 25, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Mystery YA
Format: Kindle
Source: sent for review as part of a blog tour

Goodreads Summary

Ghosts, a reaper, and a rock star.

At sixteen Bay-Lee is not your typical girl. She doesn't even try to fit in at school. What's the point when she'll be moving to a new place within a few months?
She's lived her whole life on the run, hiding from monsters.

Then a reaper uses her closet to cross over from the Spirit Realm. It has a message for her. Just when she's about to join her father at his school for hunters she finds out they are dying on their birthdays. Something is killing them, slipping past locked doors, never leaving a trace of evidence, and her birthday is only two months away.

Becoming a hunter isn't exactly her dream come true. She's doing it for her mother, for revenge, for justice. Nothing is going to get in her way, least of all love. Then she looks up into a pair of jungle green eyes and everything changes.

Bait is also available in ebook form from all the usual suspects in online retailers.

“I break into the homes of random girls all the time… just to talk.  Being a rock star doesn't keep me busy enough.”

This book follows 16 year old Bay-Lee.   Most of her life she has been moving around, changing identities, and flying under the radar with her Uncle Conner.    Since she is Van Halsing's daughter, she has to live a life of hiding from the Order and other monsters.   Her life takes an odd turn when she is visited one night by 2 different people.  One being the spirit of Tyler Beck, the heart throb from the famous group Bad Rock.  He swears she ruined his life, even though she has never met the man before.  The other creature is a reaper with an ominous message about her death.  She soon finds herself in her father’s academy learning the ways of a hunter.   She is now faced with trying to figure out who Bay-Lee is after years of pretending to be someone else.   She also seems to stumble into a forbidden love.   Bay-Lee soon sees the reaper's warnings coming true of many hunters dying on their birthday.  Her new mission is to figure out what and who is behind these murders, and stop them before they kill her and the boy she loves.

This was a very good and interesting book to me.  It is set in a world where there are vampires, werewolves, spirits of all kinds, mermaids, and reapers.  Most of these creatures are talked about and mentioned but aren’t really a big part of this story.  In this book the main protagonist is actually from the spirit category.   Not much action with the others in this book.  I did absolutely love and adore this book though.  Bay-Lee is a very strong lead.  I fell in love with her character from the first page.  She is very multi-dimensional, she has a fun spunky attitude, a little hard-headed, and she reminds me a lot of me.  I love a character with so many layers.  Then there’s Tyler Beck, the rock God.  He is everything a heart throb should be.  When Bay-Lee first encounters him he is a jerk who swears she is the sole reason his whole life has been ruined.   Part of the fun of this book is trying to figure out why he has such hatred for poor Bay-Lee.   The big mystery in the book is why hunters keep dying on their birthdays.  And it just gets better from there.   I don’t want to say too much about it because when you read it, I want every surprise and twist and turn to hit you in the face like it did me.

Well there’s Van Halsing he’s the greatest legend around:

What did I love about this book?  The better question is what didn’t I love?    The characters were well fleshed out, the story line was well thought out and executed.  With so many different directions you can go in a setting with so many creatures, it would be easy to over complicate a story.   The author did a great job at balancing the story.  I personally fell in love with the characters from the beginning.   A good book comes from a good story and characters you can love.  I adored Bay-Lee.   I haven’t talked much about her father yet.  Van Halsing is one of those characters that the people in the book are almost afraid of because of his power and his great skills.  But you get to see a vulnerable side when it comes to his daughter it is very sweet.   It feels like an authentic strained father/daughter relationship.  Something a lot of people can relate to.   The main plot of course is about the hunters dying on their birthday.   With every new twist and turn, it had my mind going 90 to nothing.   I don’t want to go into detail about any of the story because it is just that good and I want everything to surprise you like it did me.   The subplot centers around a forbidden love and a prophecy of a doomed world.  This mystery also had me wanting to know more.  It had my full attention.  The other thing I ABSOLUTELY LOVED was the fact at the end of the book I was taken totally by surprised.  One of those surely I did not read what I thought I read moments. When a book does something totally unexpected it makes me all warm and tingly inside.  

There is no such thing as a good Border Monster:

I can’t really say there was much about this book I didn’t like.   The only thing I would say was kind of a letdown was I pegged the killer early on.   In all fairness I have read so many books I am pretty good at that.   It’s not often I can say I didn’t see the killer coming.  Even with that, not a big complaint.  I still loved the book!

Conclusion: I would love to be a Van Halsing

This is a great book, with a great foundation for a series.   I think no matter what genre you prefer you would like this book.  It is well written and easy to follow.  The story and the characters are all wonderful.   I highly recommend.    I will be reading the 2nd book without a doubt!!

“I thought this was every teen girl’s fantasy to have me in her bedroom.  Was I wrong?”

Author K.C. Blake

Born and raised in California, I fell in love with writing while reading The Outsiders. Then I fell in love with Stephen King's writing style. I enjoy reading many types of books, but YA Paranormal is my favorite. I used to write for Harlequin under a different name. So that's my background. Exciting, no?

Find the Author: Goodreads | Facebook | Website | Twitter

Cover Reveal: Shadowed Threads (A Rylee Adamson Novel #4) by Shannon Mayer

Shadowed Threads (A Rylee Adamson Novel #4) by Shannon Mayer

First, I need to apologize because I was supposed to have a review by Melody for you today for a blog tour for Bait. I have emailed the author, K.C. Blake, and will hopefully have that for you guys in a day or two because for some unknown reason, the post just disappeared. 

I am thrilled to bring this cover reveal to you while you wait for that one. I signed up last minute, and I'm glad they are having me be a part of it. I saw the Rylee Adamson series over on Bookworm Brandee's site and won the first in the series in a giveaway from her. I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm super excited to read it once I do!

Expected Publication: August 15, 2013

Genre: Paranormal Urban Fantasy Romance
Age Group: New Adult, 18+

Cover Design: Damon Za

Official Blurb:

"My name is Rylee, and I am a Tracker."

When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I'm the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot.

O’Shea is AWOL, and Tracking him is proving to be harder than I expected.

Not to mention the small fact that I have the Beast of Bodmin Moor chasing me across Europe, in a race against the odds, and my life as the prize.

But those things are minor compared to the secrets that finally come to light.

Secrets I wish had stayed hidden in the darkness . . . .

** 18+ for adult situations, sexual situations and language.

About Shannon Mayer:

Shannon Mayer lives in the southwestern tip of Canada with her husband, dog, cats, horse, and cows. When not writing she spends her time staring at immense amounts of rain, herding old people (similar to herding cats) and attempting to stay out of trouble. Especially that last is difficult for her.

She is the bestselling author of High Risk Love, The Nevermore Trilogy, The Rylee Adamson Novels and the Celtic Legacy series.

Find Shannon:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Cover Reveal: Unafraid (Beachwood Bay #2) by Melody Grace

Unafraid (Beachwood Bay #2) by Melody Grace

Expected Publication: August 27, 2013

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Official Blurb:

The first time I saw her, I knew this girl was wilder than any stallion I’d ever trained. She was headstrong, wounded, passionate and free. And I had to have her…”

Brittany Ray doesn’t care about her bad reputation. Growing up in a sleepy beach town with a junkie mom and a runaway dad, Brit’s learned the hard way that the people you love will only let you down. It’s no use hoping for love or happiness. Some dreams aren’t meant for girls like her.

Hunter Covington is one of those dreams.

Gorgeous, charming Hunter is damn near perfect—and it’s killing him. Son of Charleston royalty, he’s been trapped in a gilded cage since the day he was born. Now he’s breaking free. He’s quit law school to restore his grandpa’s old horse ranch, trying to soothe the demons in his soul. But Beachwood Bay is full of old ghosts, like the mysterious girl who spent an unforgettable night with him—and then slipped away before dawn. Brit.

Everything about her screams danger, but Hunter doesn’t care: he’s never felt a connection so deep. And try as she may, Brit can’t resist the desire consuming her —or the safety she finds in Hunter’s arms.

A reckless passion. An undeniable bond. Scarred by their pasts, Brit and Hunter fight to heal old wounds. But will dark secrets tear apart their new beginning? And when love is the biggest risk of all, can they find the courage to face the future unafraid?

About Melody Grace:

Melody Grace is the USA Today bestselling author of UNBROKEN and UNTOUCHED. A small-town girl turned SoCal beach-lover, she spent years with her nose in a book before deciding it was time to write them for herself. She loves bad boys, good books, and pistachio-flavored ice-cream.

Find Melody:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Teaser Tuesday [19] - Powers for Good or Evil

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Solstice High by Ardash Vartparonian

Teaser:

"No, the risk is too big. What if we get caught? We'll be shipped off to some lab probably. We got them by chance. We didn't ask for them, so we're not obligated to do anything. Yeah, it sounds selfish, but it's too risky. The world isn't ready for this.

It's not ready for us."

Goodreads Summary:

It's the first day of school at prestigious Solstice High. Seniors Matt, Rochelle, Daphne and Jonas each have a big surprise waiting for them.
When the four friends undergo a freak accident, they begin to develop superhuman abilities and come to realize that all is not as it seems within the bleak walls of their high school. While dealing with the day-to-day challenges of being teenagers, they must also confront their sinister principal, Mr. Devlin, who seems to have more than just education on his agenda.