#Review of The Thorn and the Blossom by @theodoragoss & #Giveaway via @quirkbooks

One enchanting romance. Two lovers keeping secrets. And a uniquely crafted book that binds their stories forever.

When Evelyn Morgan walked into the village bookstore, she didn’t know she would meet the love of her life. When Brendan Thorne handed her a medieval romance, he didn’t know it would change the course of his future. It was almost as if they were the cursed lovers in the old book itself . . .

The Thorn and the Blossom is a remarkable literary artifact: You can open the book in either direction to decide whether you’ll first read Brendan’s, or Evelyn’s account of the mysterious love affair. Choose a side, read it like a regular novel—and when you get to the end, you’ll find yourself at a whole new beginning.

#Review of Nice Girls Endure by Chris Struyk-Bonn

Chelsea Duvay is so many things. She's an avid musical lover, she's a gifted singer, and she has the most perfect, beautiful feet. But no one ever notices that. All they notice is Chelsea's weight.

Daily, Chelsea endures endless comments about her appearance from well-meaning adults and cruel classmates. So she keeps to herself and just tries to make it through. Don't make waves. Don't draw attention. That's how life is for Chelsea until a special class project pushes the energetic and incessantly social Melody into Chelsea's world.

As their unlikely friendship grows, Chelsea emerges from her isolated existence, and she begins to find the confidence to enjoy life. But bullies are bullies, and they remain as vicious as ever. One terrible encounter threatens to destroy everything Chelsea has worked so hard to achieve. Readers will be captivated by Chelsea s journey as she discovers the courage to declare her own beauty and self-worth, no matter what others might think. A must-read for anyone who loves to explore the personal but powerful territory of everyday life. 

#Review of 100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen & #Giveaway via @simonteen

Get well soon isn’t going to cut it in this quirky and poignant debut novel about a girl, her depression, an aggressive amount of baked goods, and the struggle to simply stay afloat in an unpredictable, bittersweet life.

There are only three things that can get seventeen-year-old Molly Byrne out of bed these days: her job at FishTopia, the promise of endless episodes of Golden Girls, and some delicious lo mien. You see, for the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with something more than your usual teenage angst. Her shrink, Dr. Brooks isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression—as if cake can magically make her rejoin the swim team, get along with her promiscuous sister, or care about the SATs.

Um, no. Never going to happen.

But Molly plays along, stomaching her mother’s failed culinary experiments, because, whatever—as long as it makes someone happy, right? Besides, as far as Molly’s concerned, hanging out with Alex at the rundown exotic fish store makes life tolerable enough. Even if he does ask her out every…single…day. But—sarcastic drum roll, please—nothing can stay the same forever. When Molly finds out FishTopia is turning into a bleak country diner, her whole life seems to fall apart at once. Soon she has to figure out what—if anything—is worth fighting for.

#Review of Down from the Mountain by Elizabeth Fixmer

Eva just wants to be a good disciple of the Righteous Path. She grew up knowing that she and her mother are among the chosen few to be saved from Armageddon. Lately, though, being saved feels awfully treacherous. Ever since they moved to the compound in Colorado, their food supplies have dwindled even while their leader, Ezekial, has stockpiled weapons. The only money comes from the jewelry Eva makes and sells down in Boulder--a purpose she'll serve until she becomes one of Ezekial's wives. 
But a college student named Trevor and the other "heathens" she meets on her trips beyond the compound are different from what she's been led to believe.

Knight’s Apprentice: Knights of the Immortals (book 1) by Catrina Taylor

 

Knight’s Apprentice: Knights of the Immortals (book 1) by Catrina Taylor Genre: YA Scifi, Alternate Reality, Space Colonies Published May 24th, 2015 61 Pages Published by Midnight Rose Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/knights-of-the-immortals Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Knights-Apprentice-Immortals-Catrina-Taylor-ebook/dp/B00Y7E6B4E Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knights-of-the-immortals-catrina-taylor/1122232944 Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/554400 This book is currently free on Amazon! Life altering reality, hidden in plain sight. Ralph has a problem. The Grand Council of Atlantis, the council who rules the twelve hominid tribes, has chosen his apprentice for him. This unusual move has one obstacle. She doesn’t know what it means to be Atlantean. Cerita Guzman is the oldest child in a struggling, single parent home. She doesn’t have time for world shattering reality to interfere with life. She has work, school, siblings, her mom, the house and now, of all things, Atlantis wants her time too. How is that even possible? James has lived among the homo-sapiens, on the surface, for most of his life. He’s training though, to serve his people in Atlantis. His heart is torn when his master knight requests him to bring in the young woman selected by the Grand Council to train with him. She’s in a lot of his classes. She’s beautiful. She’s human.   When Atlantis calls, he listens. As Cerita resists the call to serve Atlantis, James must find a way to help her accept the truth about the world around her, about herself. He does. He forces her to activate her internal nanites. She’s forced to accept whole new hominid species exist. If that’s not enough, she’s also forced to accept she’s one of them, when her nanites come to life, and she opens a wormhole into space. Join Cerita, James, and Ralph on the first adventure into the world of Atlantis. Knight’s of the Immortals is a Young Adult Scifi – Adventure that’s loved by readers of all ages. Knight’s Apprentice is free. Download it so you can start reading it today.

#Review of First Born by Janelle Gabay

Fantasy/Contemporary/Adventure/Young Adult

At nineteen-years-old, Tarian Prescott is under attack for the immortal DNA he didn’t know he possessed. Audrey, his Cadet Sergeant, rescues him from an air strike on the Entente Military Academy. She takes him to the magical Guardians of Dare village, where he discovers his true identity. It is here that he learns about the secret society of immortals that run the government and keep the Entente of Nations safe. But the immortals are mysteriously dying, and Tarian’s miraculous birth nineteen years ago may be the link to their survival. Being the first immortal to be born in over five hundred years, his DNA holds the answer to the reproduction of his kind. But in the wrong hands, his existence may lead to something far more destructive. 

While his superiors debate over his role as the First Born, he seeks only revenge. His father was the first immortal killed by Death Serum. Now that Tarian knows the truth about himself and his dad, he will find the murderous traitor and bring him to justice. But Tarian is young, and his immortal gifts have not matured. With the help and guidance of Audrey, he may have a chance.

Tarian’s journey is both a physical challenge as well as an emotional coming of age enlightenment. His path of self-identity braids through the mortal and immortal world. With breath catching character revelations turning enemies into friends and friends into enemies, he must fight to save his loved ones and secure the two worlds he has come to love. 

First Born mixes fantasy with action adventure set in a near-future North America on the brink of a Border War offering a unique twist on an immortal tale. Interesting historical facts weave cleverly throughout the narrative providing extensive character background and playful speculation. Combining romantic fantasy with aggressive action think the All Souls trilogy meets the Divergent Trilogy.

#Review of Warp: A Novel by Lev Grossman & #Giveaway via @StMartinsPress

The story of a modern day Ulysses -- with the reality of post-graduation haze vollying off of Star Trek reruns, Hollis lives in an area not too far from where he graduated from college. His friends do too. They all sleep late, talk about jobs they might get, girls they might see, money their parents might send them. All of these lives are seemingly on hold. Everything is going to happen. But Hollis has more than this: Another reality is running constantly in his head, one that leads him to believe that maybe, just maybe, it's time to get serious.

Unlike other self-indulgent, whiny narratives of postgraduation angst, Warp is a lucid and immediate novel of what and where a twenty-something's mind is when it isn't even made up yet.

#Review of All These Perfect Strangers Aoife Clifford via @netgalley

You don’t have to believe in ghosts for the dead to haunt you.

You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.

Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.

College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.

‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’

‘This is a novel of disquieting intimacy and controlled suspense, Aoife Clifford deftly tightening the screws until we share the narrator’s sense of emotional and physical confinement and the unremitting grip of the past.’ - Garry Disher, author of Bitter Wash Road

#Review & #Giveaway of The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy

Lana used to know what was real.

That was before when her life was small and quiet.
Her golden step-brother, Ben, was alive, she could only dream about bonfiring with the populars, their wooded island home was idyllic, she could tell the truth from lies, and Ben’s childhood stories were firmly in her imagination.

Then came after.

After has Lana boldly kissing her crush, jumping into the water from too high up, and living with nerve and mischief. But after also has horrors, deaths that only make sense in fairy tales, and terrors from a past Lana thought long forgotten: Love, blood, and murder.

#Review of Reverie by Lauren Rico

Julia James has spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. For her, the cello was a way to get past a hellish childhood. Even now that she is one of the top cellists in the country, and a contender in the most prestigious, high-stakes music competition in the world, she hopes no one will notice her.
But then someone does.
A chance (or is it?) encounter brings her to the attention of the distractingly sexy, charismatic French horn player, Jeremy Corrigan. As he helps her to embrace her talent, her sexuality and her past, Julia thinks she might finally be headed toward her ‘happily-ever-after.'
Unfortunately, happily isn’t so much ‘ever-after’ for Julia.
The lines between love and obsession are blurred in REVERIE.

#Review & #Giveaway of My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act…different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

#Review of Girl in the Shadows @gwenda via @netgalley

Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.

But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

#Review #Giveaway of Smash & Grab by @amychristinepar

Smash & Grab
by Amy Christine Parker
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 19th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Rate: 5

Synopsis:

Ocean’s Eleven meets the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story.Grab some popcorn and get ready for an adrenaline-filled heist!

LEXI is a rich girl who loves a good rush. Whether it’s motorcycle racing or BASE jumping off a building in downtown Los Angeles, the only times she feels alive are when she and her friends are executing one of their dares. After her father’s arrest, Lexi doesn’t think twice about going undercover at his bank to steal the evidence that might clear his name. She enlists her hacker brother and her daredevil friends to plan a clever heist.

CHRISTIAN is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The local gang has blackmailed him and his friends into robbing banks, and he is desperate for a way out. When the boss promises that one really big job will be the last he ever has to do, Christian jumps at the chance for freedom. In fact, he’s just met a girl at the bank who might even prove useful. . . .

Two heists. One score. The only thing standing in their way is each other.

Told in alternating points of view, this caper is full of romance and fast-paced fun. Hand to fans of Perfect Chemistry, The Conspiracy of Us, and Heist Society.

#Review of Juana and Lucas (Juana and Lucas #1) by Juana Medina @Candlewick

    Juana loves many things — drawing, eating Brussels sprouts, living in Bogotá, Colombia, and especially her dog, Lucas, the best amigo ever. She does not love wearing her itchy school uniform, solving math problems, or going to dance class. And she especially does not love learning English. Why is it so important to learn a language that makes so little sense? But when Juana’s abuelos tell her about a special trip they are planning—one that Juana will need to speak English to go on—Juana begins to wonder whether learning English might be a good use of her time after all.

#Review #Giveaway of Imagine That by Mark Fins

    Big-hearted, 8 year-old Mark Leonard lives on the brink of two worlds: one steeped in the hardship of post-World War II America, where his father is consumed by financial woes; the other where he’s buoyed by his exceptionally vivid imagination. In his imagination, Mark is an heroic soldier, a surgeon and a daredevil striving to live up to the ideals of the 1950s. When his family uproots from Queens, New York to start afresh in Massachusetts, Mark finds refuge from loneliness in an unlikely friendship with an eccentric, wealthy, elderly neighbor who has shut out the world following a debilitating accident. Their mutual gift for for conjuring up imaginary worlds to cope with reality -- which for Mark includes the confusing teachings of his Jewish faith -- leads them to push the boundaries between these two realms, exploring the fine line between love, imagination and the existence of God. 

#Review of I Draw on Cats by A.R. Coffelt

  Since the dawn of time, humans have looked into the enigmatic faces of cats and wondered who are you? In this collection of connect-the-dots adventures, expert illustrator and cat motive decoder A. R. Coffelt takes us into the secret worlds of our feline friends— complete the puzzles and solve the mystery of what each adorable cat is really up to!

#Review of Anne of Green Bagels by Jon Buller, Susan Schade @PapercutzGN

    On her first day at her new school, Anne is saddled with the nickname Anne of Green Bagels, thanks to the health-food sandwich her grandmother has made her for lunch.  Can things get any worse? Already her father has left home to try out his newest crackpot invention, the Pedestrian Mobile home, and her mother has moved them from New Mexico to the cookie-cutter community of Megaton.  then she meets Otto, who shares her interest in music and in her favorite TB show, The Blimptons. Together they prepare to enter the school talent show with an original composition- Wolfman Stomp.  When Anne sees the drawings in a childhood notebook of her father's she wonders--could it be that he was the real inventor of the Blimptons?  And can she cumshaw get him to come home and claim the credit he deserves? 

#Review #Giveaway of We Are Growing! (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! #2) by Laurie Keller, Mo Willems @DisneyHyperion

  Walt and his friends are growing up! Everyone is the something-est. But . . . what about Walt? He is not the tallest, or the curliest, or the silliest. He is not the anything-est! As a BIG surprise inches closer, Walt discovers something special of his own!

#Review of The Other Rabbit by Marank Rinck @iLemniscaat

    In a world where everyone has a counterpart, Rabbit is searching for the Other Rabbit. He flies through the air, walks across the land, travels across the sea but still he cannot find him. Finally, he learns that the Other Rabbit is on another island and that the dragon who lives there won't let him leave because he is afraid of being lonely. Rabbit comes up with the perfect solution and no one is lonely again.

#Review #Giveaway of Fuzzy by @OrigamiYoda @PaulDe2 @abramskids

    When Max—Maxine Zealster—befriends her new robot classmate Fuzzy, part of Vanguard One Middle School’s new Robot Integration Program, she helps him learn everything he needs to know about surviving middle school—the good, the bad, and the really, really, ugly. Little do they know that surviving sixth grade is going to become a true matter of life and death, because Vanguard has an evil presence at its heart: a digital student evaluation system named BARBARA that might be taking its mission to shape the perfect student to extremes!