Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver

Published: 21st March 2013
By: Hodder & Stoughton
Source: Publisher for review

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

May be Spoilers for previous books

Pandemonium ended on such a cliffhanger that the wait for Requiem was almost impossible. I would have liked to have it begin right where Pandemonium left off, when Alex makes an appearance, but no, it's a few days later so we've missed the initial reactions. But the tension is heavy between Alex, Lena and Julian. Though I don't think I can blame Alex for the way he feels.

I did feel really sorry for Julian though as I'd also become really fond of him in Pandemonium. Being who he is, going into the camp full of resistant strangers was hard enough without the added conflict. And Lena, is only ally, I feel blows hot and cold towards him.

This was a love triangle that had me all over the place. Usually, I find that I have a clear persuasion towards one of the guys, but both Alex and Julian stole my affections. I admit that I didn't completely love Delirium and Alex was my favourite thing about that book. The ending shocked and upset me and I fervently hoped that he'd be making a re-appearance in Pandemonium. But I, much like Lena, didn't expect to also fall for Julian.

There wasn't many romantic moments in this book but, given the environment, on the move in search of a permanent settlement, and being constantly on alert for being attacked, I wouldn't have expected too many stolen moments. Which I was glad off, because it meant I could enjoy reading without feeling too much apprehension for the guy who wasn't on the receiving end of Lena's affections.

This book has the added POV of Hana, which I honestly wasn't overjoyed about, feeling that I'd just want to keep getting back to Lena and where the action was. But I found myself really enjoying it. It was interesting to see the war from the other side, where she's paired with the cruel and antagonistic new mayor, and also to see how much influential people can get away with. Not only the resistance, but a lot of the cured's are going to suffer more than they are already, under his plans. The cure doesn't appear to have worked properly for Hana and she's aware that her fiancée is wrong and maybe even slightly crazy.

Unfortunately, disappointing is the first word to come to mind when I try to describe the ending of this book. In fact, it doesn't feel like an ending at all. More like it just cut off in the middle. So much left unanswered. Hana, the romance, the resistance, the war......we aren't given any clarity of how things turn out in any of these, just completely open ended, something I really don't like, but I felt it was taken to the extreme here.

As the final book in the series, and I completely enjoyed reading it, hence four stars, the ending was not in the least bit satisfying. An epilogue would have been needed or maybe a novella or something to tidy things up. I definitely feel things need to be tied up in this series.

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Crossfire (Darkride Chronicles #2) by Laura Bradley Rede

Crossfire by Laura Bradley Rede
Published: January 2013

My rating: 4.5 stars

Spoilers for Darkride

I was delighted to be asked by Laura to review Crossfire because I had previously read and loved the first book in the series, Darkride (you can read that review here. The characters go through so much in Darkride and I was anxious to see how things were faring for them.

Crossfire starts off where Darkride finishes, with a gang of three vampirs, two werewolves and one human/thrall on the run, heading away from the hunters and a group of ancient vampires. They are looking for a safe place, and have a name, left by Michael, to go to in case of emergency, but no idea as to who or what they are headed towards.

Cicely has only recently been turned into a vampire, an enluzante, literally undead. Unlike Luke, who is a living, breathing vampire, but is once again immortal now that the curse has been broken. And Ander, the guy/werewolf that she's been in love with for the past few years, and he with her, is finding that hard to deal with. While Cicely is struggling to handle dying, becoming a vampire and losing herself, she is also trying to deal with Anders feelings towards her. She thought that they would be together now that he can control his wolf, she did die for him after all, to save both him and Luke. Luke feels that Cicely should just be with him now, they are both the same, and he hates seeing her pine for Ander.

Whey they arrive at their destination, they meet Naomi Faire, a witch who can charm animals. She's able to help Ander with DJ, who's only a new wolf, as he goes through his first change at the full moon. Spending a lot of time together, Ander and Naomi start to become close and Cicely is feeling jealous and resentful. Luke and Emmie are also spending more time together, all being able to walk in the light while Cicely must remain in the dark. But when someone turns against them, and Emmie is captured, the action really begins.

As a main character, Cicely was always likeable and at the ending of Darkride, I felt really, really sorry for her. While they all suffered their own losses, Cicely's impacted on me most, and in this book too, I was hoping that she was going to find some happiness and her place in this new world.

This series has some fantastic characters. Emmie is a thrall, and is such a sweetheart, you can't help but love her. Ander, a hunter turned werewolf, then taken in by a vampire and his thrall, is strong and protective. Luke, a living vampire, and the other side of the love triangle, is 200 years old, and having been in torper (deathly sleep), for 100 years, is again learning modern ways and speech/saying with some humorous results. Naomi, is new to the series, and in the beginning, I didn't feel I was going to take to her, but she was so nice and kind hearted to everyone, it wasn't possible to dislike her. DJ and Five, two characters that didn't stand out as much as the rest, but play their part in making this awesome story.

This book is written from the POV of Cicely, Ander, Luke and Emmie and is extremely well done. Laura's writing style is enjoyable with no long winded descriptions but enough to let get a feel for it. A great second book in an awesome series.

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Name Change Giveaway

Well, some of you may have already noticed, and some not lol. But I've recently changed the name of my blog. When I started out, I didn't really have a clue what I was up to, and being completely unimaginative, Paranormal Book Fan was the first thing that came to mind. It was never a name that I was completely happy with so, I finally decided to do something about it.

To celebrate my blog's new name, I'm having a giveaway. It's international, as long as the Book Depository ships to your country. One winner can choose any book of their choice up to a value of €10.

So, good luck to you all :)


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Blog Tour: Dark Genesis by Dave Ferraro Excerpt and Giveaway

Ebook: 432 pages
Release Date: 18th March 2013

Alyssa opened her eyes to darkness. And in the first flash of light provided by a gathering storm, she could make out a ring of bodies surrounding her.

With no memory of who she is, Alyssa stumbles into a dark world populated by witches. The witches are powerful, and demonstrate frightening powers, but even more terrifying are the monsters who rule over the land. Vampires, werewolves and other awful creatures of the night have taken over, forcing the witches behind stone walls, afraid to venture outdoors. But Alyssa finds that as she kills certain monsters, memories return to her, memories of a life on Earth, and the boy she left behind.

The quest to collect her memories and piece together the puzzle of what has happened to her is a daunting one, with betrayals and sacrifices every step of the way. But Alyssa is determined to fight for a world that is not her own, destroying powerful monsters along the way, so that she can return home to the boy she is coming to love through the memories she recollects.

__________________________________________________________

Excerpt:

The room suddenly grew brighter, and Alyssa cursed as more lava creatures slipped into the room from the moat below.
“He has an endless source of troops to send against us,” Parker said.
“And troops that we can’t touch,” Vessa added, looking up as The Fire King lifted his hands from his face.
Steam still poured from his face, but fire was already returning to his collar, and if his bared teeth and sizzling eyes were any indication, he was pissed.
Vessa didn’t have a chance to react before The Fire King backhanded her with one of his rock-hard hands, sending her flying from the table and into a wall, sliding down it silently in a heap.
“Vessa!” Parker rushed to her aid, The Fire King pursuing him.
“Ambrosia!” Lace cried.
Ambrosia leapt from her shoulder and began scratching at The Fire King’s head, drawing his attention from their fallen comrade. But the lava creatures were already upon them, circling Vessa and Parker across the room, and moving in on Alyssa and Lace, pushing them back from the table and against the opposite wall.
Lace gasped as one of her feet slipped through the hole in the wall, but Alyssa pulled her back up and steadied her, turning to face their adversaries with a brave face.
The creatures kept advancing, pushing them up against the wall while The Fire King continued to roar behind them like a demon possessed.
Alyssa struck out at one of the creatures with a long knife, but it passed through harmlessly. “Damn it!”
Lace stepped back again and her foot slipped back into the hole like before. She grabbed desperately for Alyssa as she fell through the opening, pulling her along for the descent into the lava.
Alyssa’s mouth opened in a silent scream of horror as she slipped through the hole, falling rapidly toward the roiling lava. Every second that passed felt hotter and hotter, despite the air that rushed by her in her freefall.
She closed her eyes when the heat became unbearable and she knew she was about to slam into the moat. But the moment never came. In fact, it was suddenly extremely cold.
Her eyes flew open and she was surprised to see nothing but white. Squinting, she made out white specks floating past her vision, and when they began to hit her face, she realized that it was snow.
She frowned, looking up at the white skies and noting where they intersected the white snowy plains around her. She turned slowly to the left and saw white mountains, reaching up toward the sky. Quite the contrast from the deserts of The Fire King’s domain.
Wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the cold, Alyssa looked down to see Lace out cold at her feet, a fresh trail of blood slipping from one of her nostrils. She looked rather pretty in the fresh snow, her purple hair spilled out around her head, flurries catching in her eyelashes, but her alarmingly pale skin was only a few shades warmer than her surroundings, which couldn’t be good.
Alyssa looked around them for shelter, wondering where the hell they could be, and noticed something alarming in the opposite direction. While The Fire King’s castle had been black and Gothic and ugly, the castle she saw in the distance here was white and delicate, with fragile-looking spires that reminded her of icicles.
And she knew without a doubt that she was looking at the castle of The Ice Queen.

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Make sure to check out the rest of the tour here.

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Blog Tour: My Wolf's Bane by Veronica Blade - Review, Excerpt and Giveaway

Publisher - Crush Publishing, Inc
Publication date - February 1st, 2013
Format - print and ebook
Page count - (appx 365)
Genre - YA Paranormal Romance

Different species. Mortal enemies. It'll never work, but they'll die trying.

Autumn Rossi thought she was a normal teenager. Suddenly, she can outrun every critter in the forest, making her wonder if she’s even human.

When the new guy at school, Zack de Luca, witnesses a questionable scene, he unfairly pins her as stuck-up. He acts like he hates her, yet he keeps bailing her out of trouble. Not only is Zack both insufferable and irresistible, he seems to sniff her anytime he gets close.

As passion flares between them, Autumn isn’t sure which is more dangerous: her psycho ex-boyfriend, or falling for Zack — who’s risking his life just by being near her.

________________________________________________

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's not often that I turn down, or fail to enjoy, a werewolf story. There's just something about this hot, sexy beast, that I'm drawn too. And Zack was no exception. 

Autumn walks out of the room and promptly bumps into a strange, extremely hot guy, only to have her boyfriend Daniel arrive on the scene, act like an arrogant jackass, telling him to keep his hands off his girlfriend, and leaving the new guy, Zack, with the opinion that Autumn is equally as obnoxious. 

Autumn is appalled but let's Daniel lead her away so as not to make anymore of a scene. When she spots Zack at lunch, he looks at her with utter contempt. He appears to hate her, but yet always seems to be around when she needs someone, like when her car breaks down. 

This is totally my type of book. Zack is a wonderful character, who seems to constantly be the knight in shining armour even though its completely against his nature. He continues to help and look out for Autumn, even knowing it could get both of them killed. Autumn and Zack's relationship begins as one of mutual dislike, but when they get pushed together when his cousin starts dating Autumn's friend, things gradually begin to change between them. Zack knows what's coming for Autumn and he wants to be there to help her through it.

When Daniel goes from annoying ex-boyfriend to complete psycho, Zack is the only other person who knows the truth about him and can protect Autumn from him.

This book won't be for everyone. There are the cliches that I know some people don't like. These don't bother me or impact in any way on my enjoyment of the book. In fact, they may actually make me enjoy it more. This is actually quite a sweet little romance, and I think anyone who likes that will enjoy it. 

So, while this book wasn't perfect, I'm not going to nit pick. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

________________________________________________

A nice little excerpt:

I tossed the makeup bag into my backpack, slung it over my shoulder and whipped open the door. Barreling out of the bathroom, I slammed into what felt like a walking boulder. I ricocheted off the human rock and my backpack hit the wall behind me, throwing me off balance and pitching me forward into the hard, linoleum tile.

My palms cushioned my fall, but I winced as pain spiked up my wrists. On all fours, I lifted my chin and peeked through my curtain of dark hair.

He wore a black tee that molded to his wide, muscular shoulders and jeans that fit over powerful legs. Wow. I’d thought my soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend was cute, but this guy…

“You okay?” the hottie asked in a sexy, gravelly voice, stretching a hand toward me. His hand wrapped around mine and effortlessly pulled me up, as if I weighed no more than my calculus book. Maybe it was the throbbing in my limbs or the warmth of his hands on my elbows. Or maybe it was his earthy scent invading my senses, but a wave of dizziness hit me and I tipped forward.

His hands shot to my hips to steady me. “Easy there.”

I stared into his deep, green eyes as my palms rested on his hard biceps for support. Lord, he smelled good, like the forest after rain.

My breath hitched.

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Author Bio:

Veronica Blade lives in Southern California with her husband and children. By day she runs the family business, but each night she slips away to spin her tales. She writes stories about young adults to relive her own childhood and to live vicariously through her characters. Except her heroes and heroines lead far more interesting lives — and they are always way hotter.

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NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: As with any Veronica Blade book, this is a ROMANCE NOVEL, meaning it's romance FIRST and everything else is secondary. Rated PG-13 for sexual situations and mild profanity.

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. You know the rules: grab your current read, open to a random page and share a two sentence teaser with us (no spoilers!). Be sure to tell us about the book, so we can add it to our TBR list!

This weeks teaser comes from A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Never touch what's mine. Sofia Claremont is mine. Whoever harms her answers to me. Understood?

I know an excuse when I hear one. Don't you dare deceive yourself into believing that you're the victim, Derek Novak

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Stacking the Shelves #27

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, (and filling our kindle) sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process! Hosted by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews

Well, it's time for another Stacking the Shelves. I haven't posted in three weeks, so these are the books I've received over that time. I think I'm doing well holding back on review books, but I still have a lot to catch up on. I'm reading and enjoying Requiem at the moment and hope to get it finished today. I hope you've all had a lovely weekend so far.

You can click on the book title for more information.

Bought: 

 

Everbound  by Brodi Ashton

The Indigo Spell  by Richelle Mead

Gifted:

Neverfall by Brodi Ashton

For review:

   

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake 

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Shadowed (Fated #3) by Sarah Alderson

Thanks to the awesome Eleanor from my local library for gifting me a copy of Neverfall. Thanks to Orchard Books, Hodder & Stoughton, Netgalley and Sarah Alderson.

So, what awesome goodies do you have on show this week. Leave me your links so I can stop by and check them out.

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The Vampire's Daughter (Of Light and Darkness #1) by Shayne Leighton

The Vampire's Daughter by Shayne Leighton
Published: 28th June 2011
By: Decadent Publishing
Source: Netgalley

My rating: A high 3.5 stars, but not quite 4

This may be one of the more disturbing YA books that I've read but I did really enjoy it and Shayne had no trouble holding my attention from the word go. But it wasn't perfect, and I did have my issues with it. There were some mistakes I noticed, not spelling or grammer, but one thing being said at one stage and then this being completely changed later on. Like at one point, Valek doesn't want Charlotte in the room when he is going to "sleep" because he's most volatile at this time and might attack her, but later, it's ok for her to lie in a coffin with him for this.

The vampire Valek finds Charlotte as an abandoned baby on the streets of Prague, takes her home and raises her like a daughter. Makes him sound like one of the nice, romanticised vampires right? But no, he's actually quite disgusting. As we first meet eighteen year old Charlotte, she is out hunting for a human for Valek, as he's not allowed to pass beyond the walls of the occult, she isn't noticed as no humans are supposed to be on the inside.

She's also developing quite an un-daughterly like crush on Valek, which he eventually comes to return. Quite disturbing!! But, I feel these characters changed completely under the strenuous circumstances that they find themselves in, and as we don't really see much interaction as parent and child, I had to keep reminding myself of this. I couldn't really invest in the whole romance between them, but I could of course, understand how they would love each other. But then predicaments that Charlotte finds herself in because of Valek, leaves me questioning that love.

Charlotte, unsurprisingly, is not like other eighteen year old girls, having been raised by a vampire, and not being too bothered by him drinking human blood, killing humans, and keeping bodies in the freezer, maybe the inappropriate relationship is not surprising under these circumstances. But, he's the man who raised her, protected her, and comforted her when she was upset. She knows the way she feels about him is wrong, but she can't help her feelings.

Valek is a nasty type vampire. He needs blood daily or the monster arises, he has claws as hands and when he sleeps during the day, he actually dies and becomes corpse like. I can't see the attraction, but I enjoyed him as a character, and as weird as it was, I eventually found myself rooting for them, when an even more dangerous arrangement is put in their way.

I enjoyed the world building. There's all kinds of supernaturals in these books, but they all live under the rule of Wizards. Aiden, one of Charlotte's closest friends, is a wizard, and I found myself really liking him. Things really take a twist around him, but I won't say anymore, don't want to give too much away. There's quite a few interesting secondary characters who add to this story. It has a lot of action and living on the edge, a fast paced page turner.

I didn't like the cover for this book, but after reading it, it's actually quite fitting. And while I did have a few problems with this book, I still enjoyed this story overall and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

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Blood-Kissed Sky by J.A. London

Blood-Kissed Sky by J.A. London
Published: 26th December 2012
By: Harperteen
Source: Bought

My rating: 4.5 stars

Blood Kissed Sky is the second book in the Darkness Before Dawn series and it definitely was a fantastic sequel. I was disappointed to realise that Victor was going to be absent for a lot of this book, while Dawn goes to Los Angeles. And while I did really miss him, we got to see glimpses of him through dreams, and there was a lot going on with Dawn in LA to keep me glued to the pages.

Dawn heads to LA, a city that is completely free of vampires, to find out how they are dealing with the Thirst. Also, that's where Sin said he came from, and while he may have been lying, Dawn hopes he wasn't and that she can also find out more about him and his day walkers. What she discovers in LA is truly terrifying.

The attack on the teenagers at the Blood Drive in Darkness Before Dawn, is now being dubbed "Hell Night" and the terrible events of that night have taken their toll and I felt we see changes in the characters due to this. Dawn is tougher, and Michael and Tegan, realising the full extent of the danger now, appealed to me much more when they weren't constantly trying to talk Dawn into doing stupid, dangerous things. And Victor, in his role as the Lord of the Denver Vampires, is discovering that the position is more difficult than he previously thought, and it seems he may be harder on the humans than Dawn thought he was going to be.

Questions I'd been pondering in the last book were answered here, and the twist at the end, wasn't completely unexpected. I'm really looking forward to After Daybreak where I think things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. I'm expecting a lot of action and anticipation and hopefully, lots of Victor too. With a release date for June, we don't have too long to wait. Thankfully, this hasn't been a long drawn out series.

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Blud and Magick by Preston Norton

Blud and Magick by Preston Norton
Published: 8th January 2013
By: Cedar Fort Inc. 
Source: Netgalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. For two reasons. The first being that the protag, Darla, is only 14. This must have slipped my notice when I requested this book because, with the exception of Harry Potter, I prefer the characters to be a bit older.

The second reason, is that this book was written by a male author, and with a female protag. In the past, I've found that I struggle more to connect with females, written by men, though there have been a couple of exceptions.

Darla Summer was born out of the ashes of the evil Remmus Alrad, also known as The Shadow Lord, in front of a Council of Sages who mostly thought she should be killed immediately. Except for Edwin, who said that someone born out of something so evil, would be the complete opposite and would be inherently good. He offered to take her to the human world where he names her Darla Summer, and raises her as his niece, constantly on the move, so as not to be found by any of the Shadow Lord's followers.

But, on her first day at a new school, Darla and three of her fellow students are attacked at school by some of these followers, known as Shadow Risers. They believe his soul still resides inside Darla and they want to release him and have him back as their leader.

Darla, and two of the boys, adopted brothers Ash and Cirrus, a wizard and half vampire respectively, and who happen to also be living in the human world are taken back to Trivaesia, to attend The Alrad Academy of Blud and Magick, where they can live and learn among their own kind. But things will not be easy for Darla, being what she is. A vessel for the most feared and evil man in Trivaesia.

This book is set in two worlds, the world of Trivaesia and the human world. I enjoyed the world building, and the explanations and history of the gods, and how Remmus came to be. Darla was a great little character who had a lot thrown onto her shoulders after believing she was human for the first fourteen years of her life, but she handles it well. Her friendship with Cirrus and Ash begins because they are together at the wrong place at the wrong time, but blossoms as the book continues. Ash is quite a surly character but I actually enjoyed his attitude. Darla and Cirrus are better friends. He's caring and fun loving and I can't help but wonder if this will turn into more down the road. I did enjoy the interactions between this trio.

This book doesn't have any romance, which would usually be a negative for me, as I never truly enjoy a book that lacks in the romance department, but this was an exception. It actually didn't quite register with me that there was none until I had finished the book.

The ending surprised me and I'm really looking forward to the next book because there was a bit of a twist. But, sadly, with a release date of January 2014, I'll have quite the wait.

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Through the Lens by Shannon Dermott

Through the Lens by Shannon Dermott
Published: 22 November 2012

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Shannon released a contemporary novel, while not my regular read, I knew I'd have to read it. I love how she writes romance in her Cambion series, and having been a beta reader for the first book in her new series, Remember, I knew she'd done a great job there too.

We're led into the story knowing that Jessa has just lost weight, having been the fat twin. She's not like her identical twin Jenna, who is beautiful and part of the popular crowd. Jessa doesn't see herself as beautiful and prefers to just stick with her two best friends. She lacks the confidence of her sister and so does nothing about her crust on Josh, one of the popular guys at school, who used to date her sister.

One weekend, with nothing better to do, she helps her dad clean out the attic and comes across an old camera. She heads out to take some photographs, not realising that this is about to change her life. While snapping away at a local park, she suddenly comes across a gorgeous guy sitting on a bench, lost in thought and begins snapping photos of him. When he notices, he takes her into the Butterfly Museum where he works and allows her to take pictures there.

Before she knows it, she has a job and two new friends, Ethan and his girlfriend Allie. Bummer, because Jessa has a major crush on Ethan but really likes Allie too so has to keep reminding herself that he's her friends boyfriend.

Things change one night, when Jessa spots an anklet on Ethan's leg, and immediately jumps to conclusions causing them to have a falling out. So when her old crush, Josh, starts showing an interest in her, she decides to give it a go.

This book had a thriller mystery kind of feel to it. Plenty of suspense and I was on the edge of my seat while reading. I really enjoyed the romance, as I had expected to and the characters were well written and awesome. Ethan = swooning.....It wasn't predictable at all as I really couldn't figure out the direction that this book was going to take, every turn of the page left me anticipating something awful happening.

The only negative thing I would have to say about this book is that I felt the ending to be a bit rushed. I felt it could have been played out a bit more with more detail. It did however, end well, and realistically. I can't wait for the next book, Broken Lens, which continues on but is written from Ethan's POV, while he's away at college.

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Blog Tour: The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

Release date: March 5th, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teens
Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

My thoughts:
One of my most anticipated reads of 2013, this book didn't disappoint. While it didn't blow me away, I still enjoyed it quite a lot.

There were just a few issues I had with it. The story is built around a lot of mystery and suspense but I found it to be really predictable. I worked it out almost from the beginning and found that the character that I suspected was bland uninteresting and there seemed to be no other reason for him to be there, but for him to be the bad guy when it came to it.

I don't know whether I would really call this a love triangle or not. There were two guys, but one relationship finished before another started, so I'm not sure. But I didn't find the romance in this to be very appealing. There was some enjoyable tension between two of the characters but I felt it was resolved too quickly, which for me, gave it an insta lovey kind of feel. And I didn't quite take to the other guy, I had my suspicions of him, so that was fairly disappointing.

I was happy with how this story started off, I just felt that we got to the bones of it too quickly. I would have liked to see Dusty interacting at the Academy and one or two uneventful dream feeds first before getting to the important one. But I did manage to connect with the story straight away but I then felt it waned a little in the middle before picking up again for an exciting ending.

Dusty is a nightmare, literally. This is original for me, as I've only come across one once before, and it wasn't as a main character so it was nice to have this whole book based around one. I loved the idea of dream seers, especially with someone as hot as Eli, I wouldn't complain. Dusty's smart mouthed attitude endeared her to me and her only friend, Selene, who is a siren, was also a character I just couldn't help but like.

I really liked Eli too. He holds it against Dusty because he had to leave his school and attend the Academy. I enjoy tension between characters that gradually builds into something more, but here, I just found him being overly nice to Dusty far too soon for my liking. He was a part of the "in" crowd and very few people seemed to like Dusty because she was a nightmare, so I felt it could have been played out a bit longer.

Looking back, this review does sound extremely negative and that's not the impression I wanted to give. None of these issues really hindered my enjoyment of the book and I will have no hesitation in recommending it. It is well written, with a decent plot and good characterisation, for the most part. For me, it just could have been slightly better.

Excerpt:
Breaking and entering wasn't as easy as it looked in the movies. Especially not from the second story of a house in the suburbs. Yet there I was, perched on the ledge by my tippy toes and tugging on the stupid window that refused to budge even though I could see it wasn't locked. My feet were starting to cramp.

I gave the window another hard tug, and it came free at once, smacking the top of the frame with a loud thump. The force of it knocked me off balance, and I tumbled inside, landing on my face. Way to go, Dusty, I thought.

But, it could've been worse. Might've gone the other way.
Panicked by the noise I was making, I sat up, certain the bedroom's occupant would be coming at me with a baseball bat any second. My heart felt like a jack hammer trying to break its way through my chest. I froze, listening for movement but heard only the sound of someone sleeping. I looked up and saw a huge bed towering over me. A repugnant smell, like the inside of a gym locker, filled my nose. I glanced down and realised I was sitting on a pile of clothes, including what appeared to be several pairs of dirty boxer shorts. Gross.

About the Author
Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares.

Website/Twitter

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Stacking the Shelves #26

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, (and filling our kindle) sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process! Hosted by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews

Hey there everyone. I hope you're all enjoying your weekends and getting lots of reading done. I haven't done a STS post in three weeks so this is not a big haul. I have so many good books at the moment, and I just need more reading time :) A cleaner and a nanny would soon sort that lol... 

While you're here, why not enter my giveaway to win your choice of book by Shannon Dermott, who is my favourite indie author.

Click on the book title for Goodreads information

Bought:

  

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Sealed with a Curse by Cecy Robson

Recalled by Cambria Hebert

For Review:

   

Crossfire (Darkride Chronicles #2) by Laura Bradley Rede (author)

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa (publishers)

Day After (The 19th Year #2) by Michele Vail (publishers)
Strangelets  by Michelle Gagnon (Netgalley)

So, what have you got in your haul this week. Leave me your links so I can stop by and check out your goodies :)

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Fire and Ice Giveaway Hop: Author Shannon Dermott

Today, I'm happy to be spotlighting my favourite indie author, Shannon Dermott. Anyone who knows me, already knows how much I enjoy her books. I've spotlighted Shannon's Cambion series on the blog before, but Shannon released the first book in a new contemporary series recently, which I read and loved. And there's also another paranormal series on the way. I was lucky enough to beta read the first book, Remember, and I can testify that it is awesome.


Beg for Mercy (Cambion #1)
Everyone dreams of that first kiss. Of that magic moment when your lips finally meet those of that special person you’ve waited your whole life for. A little awkward, a little scary, a little hot and every bit amazing. We speculate that the whole world will shake and time will just stop. No one, however, ever imagines that kiss to bring Death himself knocking.

Sixteen year old Mercy Moore's life just got more complicated. The kiss that originally could have meant she would finally have a boyfriend now was the kiss that could have very nearly ended his life. A small detail her mother conveniently never told her will take her life for an abrupt u-turn. Dating, no love, was now completely and utterly impossible. And the boy well, that boy would never be the same.

But life, however cruel, goes on. Far too soon for her taste, Mercy finds herself at a senior party with the elite students of her school and her best friend. And of all things, playing a stupid game that could very well mean the death of someone in that small room. If it were not for her best friend, the hottest guys in school, and a small need to fit in, she may have been able to escape the disaster that was to come. Her worst nightmare, her personal curse, her very life, only gets dangerously worse.

Flynn and Luke were best friends, but I'd hardly paid any attention to Luke these past two years. I'd been too busy ignoring Flynn with the best of my abilities, to know much about him. Then it dawned on me. I had forgotten to count Luke. There weren't seven of us. Luke made eight. Each pair was a couple except Luke and me. Was I being set up with him?

“You're the kind of girl a guy can fall for," he said then paused before speaking again. "And you of all people know that love is not possible for people like you and me.”

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Buy a copy of Beg for Mercy Amazon/Barnes & Noble

Through the Lens (Through the Lens #1)
Being a twin isn’t all that bad, nor is it all that good. Being the fat twin makes things a little worse. Seventeen year old, Jessa Shelby has been all but ignored. Trimmed down, but not skinny like her sister, she has decided to make her mark in her final year in high school.

Things begin anew the summer before her senior year when she makes friends with Ethan Hart, a boy with a twisted past, and Allie, his near celebrity status girlfriend, while taking pictures with her new prized possession. Hanging out with them opened her eyes to a lot of new possibilities including Josh Macon, whom she’s secretly crushed on all through high school. No longer the ‘fat girl’, Josh now seems interested in her too.

Long before the day comes to graduate, Jessa finds herself gasping for air. With her vision clouded from tears born of pain as the straps from her precious camera tighten around her throat, clarity sets in. They say that just before you die your life flashes before your eyes. And on the threshold of death claiming her, she finds that partially true. Her flash begins as if to explain just how she ended up on Death’s door. With mere moments left, she has to wonder if trust had come at a very high price.

Prologue:People say that right before death, your life flashes in front of your eyes. Well, choking and gasping for mine, I can testify that it's sort of true. But the likelihood of my telling anyone was drifting away as I could no longer get air into my lungs. Coasting into the blackness, I looked through the haze that was my vision and wondered why, why he was doing this.
My life in surround sound didn't start at the beginning. No. it isn't my whole life. It started just months before, at a crucial moment in my life, when I brought my camera up to my face and looked through the lens for the first time.

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Buy Through the Lens Amazon/Barnes & Noble

Remember
Sixteen year old Charlize Daniels didn’t crave the limelight and relished being ignored. That until she finds herself being hunted. With no memory of how she ended up lost near her home, it was an angel face boy with an uncanny ability to disappear who saved her. Her obsession with the supernatural, one she developed after her father’s unnatural death, had her hoping her rescuer was her guardian angel. But little did she know, that couldn’t be further from the truth. With a new resolve gained after her brush with death, she no longer wanted live in the shadows. But her biggest obstacle will be to survive being hunted. Her only hope might be to remember the truth.

My gloom deepened when I checked the street. Peter wasn't parked there. I hung my head for a second before I began the slow walk down the front steps, and onto the lawn students were lounging on. My only wish was that before I made it down to the sidewalk, Peter would appear. I couldn't believe he'd stood me up. But two steps in, I felt burning eyes on me. Glancing to the left of the student parking lot, I met Alex's eyes. They were cold and his mouth was in a tight grimace. I was confused by his emotion, when he hadn't acted that way in class not long ago. Besides, he should have been getting ready for the game, why was he in the parking lot waiting for me? Then glancing away from his unease, my eyes fell onto Peter, parked only two cars away. 

"You just roll up to my school with your smouldering good looks, in a car I'm sure no one around here has ever even seen before, with your snappy comments and I wonder how real you can be."He pinched my arm. "Ouch." I said.See, you're not dreaming," he said furtively.

(from an unfinished copy)

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And now for the giveaway. I'm giving you a chance to win an ecopy of a book of your choice from the three above. If you've already read Beg for Mercy, you can choose another book in the series and if you decide to choose Remember, it will have to be a pre-order as this has yet to release. The giveaway is open internationally as long as you can accept an ebook gift from me from Amazon etc.


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Shannon's links: Twitter/Facebook/Blog/Website

You can view the rest of the blogs who are taking part in this hop here.

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Blog Tour: Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four by Nya Jade

 

Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four
Author: Nya Jade
Published: 30th October 2012
By: Dreamwell Publishing

While I've cut down almost completely on signing up for blog tours, I liked the sound of Phoebe Pope. I always tend to enjoy books that are based around schools or academies and I also love books with shifters, so it sounded like a win/win.

And I'm happy to say that it was. While not perfect, it was still really enjoyable and I quickly became engrossed in it. There were a few similarities to Harry Potter in the beginning but I got over that as the book moved into it's own original story. And one of the main characters being a movie star was something completely new to me.

For the first few chapters, I felt Phoebe's character was quite emotionless and bland and she was overshadowed personality wise by her friends, Hayley and Scott who were both bubbly, passionate characters. Thankfully, this flaw in Phoebe's character did rectify itself before long and I found myself really warming towards her.

Colten, the movie star, is quite the mystery from the start and I spent most of the book trying to figure him out. I really liked him though and times that Phoebe spent with him made up some of my favourite scenes in the book.

Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four has shifters, enemy tigers, kidnapping, mystery, suspense and star crossed lovers with some surprises popping up in the final few chapters.

I was hoping this wasn't going to be a stand alone, as I know I'd enjoy more time spent in this world, and it seems it's not. But with no information whatsoever on a sequel, I'm hoping it's not going to be too long a wait.

Overall, a great debut novel for Nya, that I would definitely recommend.

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Author Links: Website/Goodreads/Twitter/Facebook

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Check out the rest of the tour here

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. You know the rules: grab your current read, open to a random page and share a two sentence teaser with us (no spoilers!). Be sure to tell us about the book, so we can add it to our TBR list!

This week my teaser comes from The Demon Trappers by Jana Oliver.

'How's about some hot chocolate?' Ori asked. 'We can get some at a tent down the way.' 'Ah,' she began. This was the third time she'd run into this guy: twice in the market and once on the street near the coffee shop. That wasn't just coincidence. He didn't feel like a psycho stalker, but you never knew. 'I'll buy,' he offered. They'd be in a public place. What was the harm?

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The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
Published: 13th November 2012 on kindle, Paperback 1st June 2013
By: Atria Books
Source: Netgalley

My rating: 4.5 stars

The Sea of Tranquility was a heart wrenching, bitter-sweet story that stayed with me long after I finished reading.

Nastya and Josh both have pasts that are marred by trauma and they are still broken as a result. Nastya can't bear being around her family at the moment, so she moves two hours away to live with her aunt and start her senior year, where no one knows her. On her first day, she spots Josh sitting alone in a crowded lunch area. It reminds her of someone with a force field keeping people away. But that's the way Josh likes it. And Nastya soon finds herself spending her lunch hour hiding away in the bathroom. But they seem to constantly get thrown together, until they reach a stage where Nastya can't seem to stay away from Josh and he can't seem to make her.

Nastya, Josh and Josh's unlikely best friend, Drew, are the main characters here, with the book being written from the POV of both Nastya and Josh. Nastya has had something really bad happen to her and is still dealing with it on a daily basis, and she doesn't speak. She doesn't want to act like herself as she feels that the real her, died three years ago, so she has created a new persona for herself. Josh has lived through his own personal hell and now, everyone just leaves him to himself. And he likes it this way. Things happen to the people he gets close to. And Drew, the manwhore, always trying to get into the girls panties and dumping them afterwards. Himself and Nastya build an interesting relationship, to say the least. No love triangle though.

While contemporary fiction is not my first love, this book just captured me with no release until I'd read the last line, and not even then. This book still invaded my thoughts for days afterwards. And with parts that made me want to cry, there were also times when I couldn't keep the smile from my face. Especially the last line. I closed the curtains on this book with an enormous grin.

This review has been a long time coming as I read this book back in December, but writing this review, I want to read it again right now. One you should definitely pick up.

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Buy the book on kindle: Amazon

Pre-order the paperback: The Book Depository

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Rivals and Retribution (13 to Life #5) by Shannon Delany

Rivals and Retribution by Shannon Delany
Published: 7th August 2012
By: St. Martin's Griffen
Source: The Book Depository

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

SPOILERS

The 13 to Life series started of amazingly well for me and I was completely enamoured with this original werewolf story. But, books 4 and 5 were a complete let down. I felt book 4, Destiny and Deception, was just a long drawn out lead up to this one. Peter is a completely different character from the beginning after taking the cure, and not in a good way, the timing is all over the place, and just as things start to pick up, it ends on a cliff hanger.

Rivals and Retribution opens where Destiny and Deception left off, with a rescue mission by the Rusakova's to rescue Jessie. Even at Jessie's kidnapping, Pietr didn't seem to be able to build up any heat or passion. Thankfully, fear for Jessie's life is enough to make Pietr's wolf overcome the cure, but my joy at that didn't last very long, as he immediately imprints with Marlaena, alpha of a rival pack who arrived in Junction in the last book, and is a really unappealing character.

The Pietr who appeared in the first three books of this series was hot, passionate, caring, tough, protective and all those things that I love in my book crushes, but this guy disappeared at the end of book 3 and unfortunately, never makes a reappearance.

Again, the timing in this book was all over the place and at times, it felt rushed. At one point, Alexei is struggling to find the new cure and doesn't know if he's going to have it in time to save Pietr, then within a couple of pages, he's on his way home from the laboratory with enough of the cure for everyone. It was just really off.

The last chapter was really annoying. Jessie wakes up after a few hours of sleep and thinks the whole book series has just been a dream!!!! WTF! She eventually realises it wasn't but this was just ridiculous.

I feel as if Shannon had completely lost interest in this series for the last two books. If she'd stopped after book 3, this would have been an amazing series, but unfortunately, that wasn't to be. With the result that I'll be reluctant to pick up anything by this author again.

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The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski

The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski
Published: 16th October 2012
By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Source: Netgalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I began the Shadow Society with some hesitation having seen bloggers, whose opinions I've really grown to appreciate, hadn't been very happy with it. I was aware of the clichéd "new guy at school that girl can't stop obsessing over", but I felt that was something that wouldn't bother me, I'd be fine with that. Maybe low expectations paid off again, but this book was really for me. I was completely engrossed in it.

Darcy was abandoned outside a fire station when she was just five years old and has no recollections of her life before then. She has went from foster home to foster home her whole life, and is only now, settled enough with her foster mother to still going to the same school for the second year in a row.

She notices Conn on the first morning back to school, hard not to when there's a complete stranger staring at you like they hate you. Over the next few days, he starts trying to get to know her, and volunteers to be her partner for a science project. But his actions contradict the look in his eyes and he cringes at her touch. But as he seems to be warming up to her more, she realises that she's starting to like him too. And she kisses him. Suddenly, he's slapped handcuffs on her and all hell breaks loose. Darcy's life is torn apart again as she discovers that she's not human, she's a shade, and she's from an alter world.

Darcy has always had a difficult life in the foster care system and there's always seemed to be something a little off about her. But things get so much worse for her when she's arrested by Conn, who's a member of the IIB and taken to the alter world where everyone hates her and looks at her with disgust, and they just want to lock her up for the rest of her life.

Darcy is a strong willed character. It's tough and must be really scary, she has no one. Yet, she fights back against both systems that seem to just want to take her freedom away, the humans of the IIB and her own kind, the shades of the Shadow Society. She doesn't care about their war, she doesn't want to be on either side, she just wants to do what's right.

And while Conn does appear to be the bad guy, I liked him from the start. He's young, but tough, and excellent at his job. He listens to his gut and goes with what he believes in.

Darcy's friends are wonderful. Jims, Lily and Raphael, they're not present for most of the book but enough for me to get to like them and see how good they are. And while it was a tad on the unbelievable side, I still enjoyed the part they play in the ending of this book and the impact they have.

Overall, I was mostly happy with the world building, I would have liked some more information on exactly how the alter world was created. The split in worlds was caused by the Great Chicago Fire, but how, and why? And the people who live in the alter, how do they come to be there, are they people from the original world? The people in the alter world are aware of the original world, but not vice versa. This lack of knowledge didn't impact on my enjoyment of the story but it did leave me extremely curious.

The Shadow Society is a stand alone book, something I haven't read for quite a while. I'm happy about that in one way, no long wait for a sequel, but still slightly sad, as it would have been nice to have some more time with Conn and Darcy.

“There can be second chances. But maybe it's also true that things can never be the same, and that you have to decide whether the second chance lives up to the first.”

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