Tuesday 31 December 2013

Teardrop


Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers 
Release Date: October 22nd/2013
Pages: 441
Type: Hardcover
Goodreads
Purchase

What It's About!

Never, ever cry... 

Seventeen-year-old Eureka won't let anyone close enough to feel her pain. After her mother was killed in a freak accident, the things she used to love hold no meaning. She wants to escape, but one thing holds her back: Ander, the boy who is everywhere she goes, whose turquoise eyes are like the ocean. 

And then Eureka uncovers an ancient tale of romance and heartbreak, about a girl who cried an entire continent into the sea. Suddenly her mother's death and Ander's appearance seem connected, and her life takes on dark undercurrents that don't make sense. Can everything you love be washed away?

Review

Honestly, the only reason I bought this book was because it was by Lauren Kate. I really loved her FALLEN series, so I was really looking forward to something new of hers. If this book hadn't been by Lauren, I'm not sure I would have picked it up, the synopsis just doesn't cut it very well.

However, with that being said, I actually REALLY enjoyed Teardrop. I know the synopsis sounds very similar to the Fallen series, but they're actually totally different!

I had no idea this book had anything to do with any kind of mythology until I started reading it. I have come to find I am a total sucker for mythology in the YA genre, I just find them so much more interesting for some reason. The main character, Eureka, is part of the mythology of Atlantis. I've seen some people ask "who would name their characters 'this' and 'that'?" Um, one that's based her novel off a mythology, and if you actually took the time to read the book before bashing the author and her work, you would know this. *rant over*

I really liked how the author based her characters names off the mythology that the book has in it. The deeper you get into the book, the more it becomes clear how these characters are involved in things that seem to be bigger than themselves, and the more they find out, the bigger things seem to get, which made it really exciting. I also loved how the book progressed. It started out a little slow, but soon picked up speed, until we had a whirlwind of mystery, confusion, things the characters thought they knew, but really didn't, and so many more elements that made this book great.

The only thing that bothered me, was the ending. It just felt so unrealistic, and if the bad guys are really after you, they're not just gonna stand there and wait for you to ask questions and learn how to defeat them! Like really! Minus the ending, I loved this book, and I'm definitely looking forward to the second book!

Rating 

Friday 27 December 2013

Feature Friday #5



Act Of Will by A.J. Hartley

Act of Will was originally published four years ago by a traditional publisher as an adult novel, though the author felt it fit more into the young adult genre. It has now been self-published as a YA novel. It is available in both ebook and paperback formats.

Goodreads
Purchase


 What It's About!
 
Will Hawthorne is in trouble. He had been looking forward to his 18th 
birthday because that meant he’d finally be a professional actor, but 
Will has a knack for screwing things up royally. He winds up on the run 
from the authorities and into the arms of a party of principled 
adventurers who represent everything Will doesn’t believe in—principle, 
self-sacrifice, maybe even magic—but they seem to be his best chance of 
staying alive and free for a few more days…

But when his new “friends” take a job investigating a band of ruthless 
and mysterious horsemen who have been devastating a land far from all 
Will has known, he encounters an altogether different level of danger. 
Soon it is not clear which is more likely to get him killed, the party’s 
nobility, the enemy’s merciless efficiency, or his own special talent 
for fiasco.

Can Will get used to this world of vanishing adversaries and magic 
swords? He will have to if he’s going to survive it. And to wind up rich 
and in the good graces of the beautiful Renthrette, he’s going to have 
to do rather more than that…

Praise for 'Act of Will'

“Hartley’s prose is so graceful, his narrative so taut and his 
battle-scenes so exciting and well-described… This is especially true of 
the compulsively readable second half which unfolds with remarkable 
grace and power.” -Booklist

A “clever page-turner” -Publishers Weekly (Starred review)

“Fast paced and beautifully written” -R.A. Salvatore

“I was amazed by these vividly knowledgeable adventures of a youth 
living by his wits in a world much like Elizabethan England.” -David 
Drake

“Adventure meets a hero who just won’t shut up in this fast-talking 
charmer of a novel” -Kate Elliott
 
 

Thursday 26 December 2013

2014 Releases


Now that Christmas has come and gone (for the most part), and the new year is well on it's way, I thought I'd put a list together of some AMAZING books that are going to be coming out. Hope you enjoy! :) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! 

Click on the books to check them out on Goodreads.


 photo 17565845_zpsf96e4a09.jpg  photo 16069030_zpsfb3a7579.jpg  photo 13645358_zpse8bf9885.jpg  photo 13618440_zpsf0f9e0ca.jpg  photo 17926775_zps38d375d6.jpg  photo 9627755_zps643d9552.jpg  photo 8709524_zpsdd51b93f.jpg  photo 12711662_zps57eb906f.jpg  photo 12852064_zpsc96d72ab.jpg  photo 12369550_zps3e94f3ee.jpg  photo 13188676_zpsdf097fda.jpg  photo 12578370_zps7785e37d.jpg  photo 13507921_zps7d86283f.jpg  photo 10222365_zpsad9570ce.jpg  photo 15832932_zpscbce1199.jpg  photo 14288998_zpsac44f8da.jpg  photo 15792316_zpsaf809a5c.jpg  photo 15844362_zps081f3c7b.jpg  photo 16085468_zpsebdfdb93.jpg  photo 17228280_zpsbad23365.jpg  photo 18525702_zps3c75c9d6.jpg  photo 17902141_zpsd0498c8e.jpg

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Book Release



What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 15/2014
Pages: 416
Goodreads
Puchase

What It's About!

From the author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.

Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.
A magnetic, push-me-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti.


 

Monday 23 December 2013

Book Release



Eternal Night by Jade Kerrion

Published by Createspace
Release Date: October 22nd/2013
Pages: 162
Goodreads
Purchase links are at the bottom

What It's About!

Alone for a millennium, since a human murdered her beloved consort, Ashra, the immortal icrathari queen, rules over Aeternae Noctis, the domed city of eternal night. Her loneliness appears to be at an end when her consort's soul is reborn in a human, Jaden Hunter, but their reunion will not be easy. Icrathari are born, not made. If Ashra infuses Jaden with her immortal blood, he will be a vampire, a lesser creature of the night, a blood-drinker rather than a soul-drinker. Furthermore, Jaden is sworn to protect his half-sister, five-year-old Khiarra. She is the child of prophecy, destined to end the eternal night and the dominion of the Night Terrors-the icrathari and the vampires. As Ashra struggles to sustain her crumbling kingdom in the face of enemies without and treachery within, Jaden fights to defend his sister and unravel a greater mystery: what is the city of eternal night, and how did it come to be?

 "What makes Kerrion’s writing so compelling is the beautifully flawed characters that find themselves in unexpected relationships...these kind of character level conflicts make Kerrion’s writing so deliciously addictive."—Noor A Jahangir, Author of The Changeling King “Everything you want in a great story. Love, intrigue, action, betrayal, and understanding.”—Ch’kara Silverwolf, Author of Daughter of Light and Dark 


READ AN EXCERPT 

With Tera beside her, Ashra strode forward. A wall of vampires parted to reveal the other two icrathari, Siri and Elsker. A dark-haired human slumped at Elsker’s feet, his wrists cuffed behind his back. Ashra stifled a chuckle. Surely Tera was overreacting; the human was by far the weakest creature in the chamber.

Tera knelt down, wrapped her fingers into the human’s hair, and pulled his head back. The human’s face was handsome enough—the slash of his cheekbones accentuated his perfectly proportioned, sculptured features—but taken as a whole, he was not compelling enough to justify the fuss.

Ashra shrugged. “You’re wasting my time, Tera.” 

Apparently undeterred, the icrathari warlord shook the human hard. His eyes flashed open. They were brilliant green, the exact color of the emerald ring Ashra wore on the index finger of her right hand. His gaze was unfocused, and the reflexive narrowing of his eyes matched the clenching of his jaw, hinting of wrenching pain. 

Tera looked up and met Ashra’s gaze. “Taste his soul.”

Ashra recoiled, her upper lip curling in disgust. She had no desire to taste a human’s soul. Over the centuries, humans had grown weak, their small lives consumed by superstition and fear. It was better to live on the edge of perpetual starvation than fill her hunger with the pitiful excuse humans called a soul.

“Go deep,” Tera said
But why? Ashra’s brow furrowed. She glanced at Siri and Elsker, but the two icrathari shrugged, apparently no more clued in than she was. She looked back at Tera. The icrathari warlord known as Ashra’s Blade was the epitome of calm understatement. If she was so insistent, she must have had a reason.

Ashra knelt beside the human. Without flinching, she placed her hand against his muscled abdomen. It was bloody, his flesh ripped by a vampire’s talons.


The man tensed at her touch, and his eyes flared wide with agony when her soul-sucking powers leeched into him. His breath came hard and fast, his chest heaving with the effort as he twisted in Tera’s unyielding grip, trying to break free. 

Ashra’s eyes narrowed. The human was weakened—tapped into his life source, she waded through his dazed thoughts and shivered from the echo of each spasm of pain that wracked his body—but still, he fought Tera on the physical plane and Ashra on the psychic dimension, denying her access to his memories and to his soul.

She frowned and slammed her will against his, tearing an anguished scream from his throat, but still, his will did not crumble. 

Askance, Ashra looked at Tera. “Did you taste him?”

Tera nodded. “It wasn’t hard the first time; he didn’t know what to expect, but apparently, he does now and is doing a fine job of fighting back.”


Was that grudging respect she heard in Tera’s voice? “Does his soul really matter?” 

The icrathari nodded again. 

Ashra’s shoulders shifted with the motion of a silent sigh. His resistance left her with little choice. She leaned forward and glided her lips over his in a whisper of a kiss.

Human myths spoke of succubi and incubi—demons that, with a touch, could stir lust in their unwilling victims. All myths were based in reality. The maddening beauty and soul-sucking powers of the icrathari had spawned the legends of succubi and incubi. With a touch, the icrathari could lure their victims into a state of sexual ecstasy, bending the will and baring the soul.

The human tensed against Ashra, resisting the intimate contact. She almost recoiled. Had the centuries dulled her innate powers? Surely she had not forgotten how to lure a man.

She closed her eyes and remembered love. 

As always, Rohkeus’s fine-featured face—those beautiful gold-flecked green eyes, so unusual for an icrathari, and teasing smile—came to the fore. With a dreamy half-smile, she deepened the kiss, driving the memory of love before her like a sharpened stake. 

At last, the man relaxed, succumbing to the kiss. She leaned into him, heedless of his crimson blood staining her white gown. He was warm, feverish even. Just skimming over six feet, he had more than twelve inches on her, but his physical strength, compared to hers, was puny. She was well aged; over four millennia old, she was the oldest of the icrathari and the strongest. She could have broken his neck with as little effort as a human child snapping a twig. 

Her hand trailed across his muscled torso. He made it easy for her to be gentle. His body trembled as if he longed for her. His mouth was hungry for her kiss. He arched up against her, as if craving more. His need was like a living creature, wild and aching for her touch.

Eyes closed, Ashra shivered. Only one other person had desired her as much. 

And he was dead. 

She forced her way through the memories of pale bodies tangled upon cool silk sheets. When her soul-sucking power leeched out, it found no opposition. Images of the human’s life rewound in a blaze of vivid sights, sounds, and sensations. 

Ashra looked up at Tera, her smile little more than a barely perceptible curve of her lips. “He fancies himself the protector of the child of prophecy. Was she among those taken tonight?” 

Tera nodded.
  
Ashra chuckled, the sound without humor. “It’s a pity her genetic heritage wasn’t sufficiently superior to prevent her from being culled.”

“There’s more. Go deep.”

She pushed past the blackness at the start of his memories, expecting deeper darkness. Instead, the colors shifted into shades of ochre and gray. Memories, older than his body, resided in his soul; memories of an Earth long since lost to them—a planet surrounded and nourished by water; images of tall buildings glistening beneath a benevolent sun, and of thriving cities filled with the bustle of humans; memories of quiet and intimate conversations beneath a silver moon, the same silver moon that now graced Malum Turris with its light, though a thousand years older and viewed only from beneath the protection of the dome. 

She saw herself as he must have seen her, a much-younger icrathari, still hopeful for the future, never realizing that the Earth they had all known and loved was irretrievably lost. Had she ever looked that vulnerable? Had her smile ever been so beautiful, so filled with love as she looked upon—
 
Rohkeus?” Oh, blessed Creator, was that stricken whisper her voice? 

~*~
E-books available at Amazon / Amazon UK / Apple / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords

Paperbacks available at Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository

Connect with Jade Kerrion at: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...