Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Otherwise Known as Possum by Maria D Laso


Title: Otherwise Known as Possum
Author: Maria D Laso
Genre: Middle Grade
Length: 240 Pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: February 28, 2017
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Possum Porter has had it with change. First she lost Mama, leaving a hole nothing can fill. And now, instead of trying to return to some kind of normal, Daddy's sending Possum to school. A real school, where you have to wear SHOES. Where some Yankee teacher will try to erase all the useful things Mama taught Possum during their lessons at home.

So Possum comes up with a plan. If she can prove that she already knows everything worth knowing, Daddy will let her quit school and stay where she belongs. She won't have to deal with snooty classmates, or worry about tarnishing Mama's memory. 

But unfortunately, Possum doesn't shoot to the top of the class like she expected. Even worse, the unmarried Yankee teacher seems to have her eyes on someone . . . Possum's Daddy. With time running out, Possum decides to do something drastic to get away from school-and get Daddy out of Ms. Arthington's clutches-or risk losing everything that's keeping her broken heart glued together.

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I fell in love with Possum Porter from day one. A young girl growing up in a small town that doesn't have much but gossip. Still reeling from the death of her mother and baby brother, I was instantly thrust into Possum's world and didn't want to leave.  Possum is quite the tom-girl, more comfortable in her cover-alls and bare feet, running through the woods and learning from the world around her.

But her father is lost without her mother. Deciding she needs to go to school, against her wishes he tells her she must attend the one-room school house. Determined to prove she doesn't need it, she goes up against the school bully, attempts to win an essay contest, and makes new friends. Learning all the way.

There are tons of great characters in the book that surround Possum. From the teacher, the school kids, and even one of their parents. Life was very different back then and I fell like Maria D Laso captured that feeling perfectly.

In the end, I bawled my eyes out. Yes, a middle grade book made me cry and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The last scene was beyond touching. It moved me in ways I find hard to explain. I think this book needs to be in every library and every school. Capturing this girl's moment in time was priceless.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book**

The Supernatural Pet Sitter by Diane Moat ~ Review


The Supernatural Pet Sitter
Diane Moat
(The Magic Thief, #1)
Publication date: March 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Middle-Grade
Pepper is a 12 year old who pet sits magical animals. When someone steals their magic, Pepper must find the thief before the thief finds her!


















Author Bio:
Diane is a Tennessee transplant, animal rescuer, and nurse. Dog Gone is her debut novel, born from years of hearing animal rescuers say about animal abusers, “If only I could get my hands on that person...” Diane is assisted by her many rescue dogs.

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Monday, February 27, 2017

Arcana Rising by Kresley Cole ~ Review


Title: Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles #4
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian
Length: 280 pages
Publisher: Valkyrie Press
Release Date: August 15, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Losses mount and deadly new threats converge in this next action-packed tale of the Arcana Chronicles by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole. 

When the battle is done . . . 
The Emperor unleashes hell and annihilates an army, jeopardizing the future of mankind--but Circe strikes back. The epic clash between them devastates the Arcana world and nearly kills Evie, separating her from her allies.

And all hope is lost . . . 
With Aric missing and no sign that Jack and Selena escaped Richter's reach, Evie turns more and more to the darkness lurking inside her. Two Arcana emerge as game changers: one who could be her salvation, the other her worst nightmare.

Vengeance becomes everything.
To take on Richter, Evie must reunite with Death and mend their broken bond. But as she learns more about her role in the future--and her chilling past--will she become a monster like the Emperor? Or can Evie and her allies rise up from Richter's ashes, stronger than ever before?


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Things are going really crazy here! Evie is on her own. Jack seems to be dead, and she is swept away from Arik by a monster wave courtesy of Circe. I liked seeing her on her own a little. She was able to really explore her capabilities and test the limits of not just her power, but of what she was willing to do with it.

In Day Zero, the novella sharing the beginnings of the Arcana, we meet the rest of the deck, and they begin to make their appearance here. They are a twisted lot, some more than others, and some just doing whatever it takes to stay alive. As Evie encounters each one, the decisions she's forced to make on her own have major consequences for everyone. There are new enemies, new friends, and some that I'm just not quite sure of yet.

The love triangle style of romance really comes to a head here after Richter washes Jack away in a sea of lava. Evie no longer has to choose, but that doesn't seem right to her. She wants what she can't have, and she wants what's still around to have. She want's her past, and she wants her present. Another big decision Evie will have to make on her own.

There's a lot of growth and development in the Arcana in this book. They are all forced to look at their lives and their plans for the future, adapting as things change faster than they can really keep up. I'm interested to see what the Fool has up his sleeve, and how it will change the game in the next book - which is supposed to be coming pretty soon!


The Arcana Chronicles

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Moribund by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge ~ Cover Reveal


Moribund
Genevieve Iseult Eldredge
(Circuit Fae, #1)
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: September 12th 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
High school sophomore Syl Skye is an ordinary girl. At least, she’s trying to be. School photographer and all-around geek, she introverts hard and keeps her crush on sexy-hot glam-Goth star Euphoria on the down-low. But when a freak accident Awakens her slumbering power, Syl is forced to accept a destiny she never wanted—as the last sleeper-princess of the fair Fae. 
Suddenly hunted by the dark Fae, Syl’s pretty sure things can’t get any worse. Until she discovers her secret crush, Euphoria, is really a dark Circuit Fae able to harness the killing magic in technology. Even worse, she’s been sent to destroy Syl. With mean girls and magic and dark Fae trying to kill her, it’ll take more than just “clap if you believe in fairies” to save Syl’s bacon—not to mention, her heart.



Author Bio:
Genevieve Iseult Eldredge writes LGBTQ YA because as a young adult, she never had any lesbian heroes like her.
Now she brings together her love of LGBTQ literature, urban fantasy, young adult fiction, and the secret world of the Fae in her lesbian YA series, Circuit Fae--so that young adults of the LGBTQ community can have heroes that understand, that think and act, live and love like them.
GIE is also an MFA grad, a martial artist, a self-rescuing princess, and all-around strong female character. She’s multi-published, and in her role as an editor has helped hundreds of authors make their dream of being published a reality.
GIE believes in fairies (in fact, she’s clapping right now), true love (not “to blave”), and championing the often-unheard female voice. She might be using D&D figures to plot out an epic fight scene right now.

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Thursday, February 2, 2017

Just Like You Said it Would Be by C.K. Kelly Martin ~ Cover Reveal


Just Like You Said it Would Be
C.K. Kelly Martin
Publication date: February 15th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Did you ever want something so much that it felt like a kind of sickness, one you didn’t want to be cured of? On New Year’s Eve the feeling compels seventeen-year-old Amira to text the Irish ex-boyfriend she’s been missing desperately since they broke up at the end of summer, when she returned to Canada. 
They agreed they wouldn’t be friends, that it would never be enough. But that was then— back when Amira’s separated parents had shipped her off to relatives in Dublin for the summer so they could test-drive the idea of getting back together on a long haul cruise. 
Back when Amira was torn away from a friend in need in Toronto only to fall in love with a Dublin screenwriting class and take a step closer to her dream career. And only to fall for cousin Zoey’s bandmate, Darragh, the guy who is first her friend, then her enemy and later something much more complicated—the guy she can say anything to, the guy who makes every inch of her feel wide awake in a way she hadn’t known was possible. The guy she might never see again. Or is there, despite the distance, somehow still a chance for them?


Author Bio:
Long before I was an author I was a fan of books about Winnie the Pooh, Babar, Madeline, Anne Shirley and anything by Judy Blume. Throughout high school my favourite class was English. No surprise, then, that most of my time spent at York University in Toronto was as an English major--not the traditional way to graduate with a B.A. in Film Studies but a fine way to get a general arts education. 

After getting my film studies degree I headed for Dublin, Ireland and spent the majority of the nineties there in forgettable jobs meeting unforgettable people and enjoying the buzz. I always thoughts I'd get around to writing in earnest eventually and I began writing my first novel in a flat in Dublin and finished it in a Toronto suburb. By then I'd discovered that writing about young characters felt the freshest and most exciting to me. You have most of your life to be an adult but you only grow up once. 
Currently residing near Toronto with my Dub husband, I became an Irish citizen in 2001 and continue to visit Dublin as often as I can. My first young adult book, I Know It's Over, came out with Random House in September 2008 and was followed by One Lonely Degree, The Lighter Side of Life and Death, My Beating Teenage Heart and Yesterday. I released Yesterday's sequel, Tomorrow, in 2013 and put out my first adult novel, Come See About Me, as an ebook in June 2012. My most recent YA book, The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing, was published by Cormorant Books' Dancing Cat Books imprint in 2014 and I'm pleased to announce they'll be releasing my upcoming contemporary young adult novel, Delicate, on September 16th. Watch my website for more details! 

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