Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Ilse Witch by Terry Brooks ~ Review


Title: The Ilse Witch (Voyage of the Jerle Shannara #1)
Author: Terry Brooks
Genre: Adult, Fantasy
Length: 456 Pages
Publisher: Del Ray
Release Date: August 2001
Source: Library
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

When a half-drowned elf is found floating in the seas of the Blue Divide, an old mystery resurfaces. Thirty years ago, an elven prince led an expedition in search of a legendary magic said to be more powerful than any in the world. Of all those who set out on that ill-fated voyage, not one has ever returned. Until now. The rescued elf carries a map covered with mysterious symbols–and Walker Boh, the last of the Druids, has the skill to decipher them. But someone else understands the map’s significance: the Ilse Witch, a ruthless young woman who wields a magic as potent as his own. She will stop at nothing to possess the map–and the magic it leads to.

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This one got off to a bit of a slow start for me. Terry Brooks has always had a great way of writing about the journey, the preparation, the traveling, the planning. But I don't think he quite hit that mark in this one. There are some fairly unique characters and a couple big surprises along the way to prepare for the journey, but it just wasn't enough to really pull me through that section of the story. 

Once we were underway, things got a little better. The aura of danger and being chased was amazing, but the highlights of their stops seemed to be rushed sometimes. I wanted to know more about each stop, see more of the islands, and more of the adventure.

But, true to form, Terry Brooks still dragged me into the story and by the end of the book the characters had taken over and I needed to finish the story. Left with a bit of a cliffhanger, I'll be requesting book two soon!


Monday, November 28, 2016

Guardian of Secrets by Brenda Drake ~ Cover Reveal

guardian-of-secrets

Let us know what you think of the cover for Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2) by Brenda Drake which releases February 7, 2017!

This cover reveal is brought to you by Entangled TEEN & YA Interrobang!

Brenda Drake's thoughts on the cover:

I had an idea of what I wanted the cover of Guardian of Secrets to look like the entire time I was writing the story. I was delighted (I might have screamed) when the cover showed up in my email and it was EXACTLY what I’d imagined. I love that it’s blue since part of the setting of the book takes place in a cold climate. I’m thrilled the couple is on it, too. They resemble the characters I’ve created in my mind perfectly. The cover is so beautiful, and I’m beyond excited to share it with everyone!

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About Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2):

Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and secret gardens. Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. No one knows that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away from her friends and life as she knew it. And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik, is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like that’s going to be Gia. Maybe. If she survives.

Want to read more? Pre-order your copy of Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2) by Brenda Drake today!

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Take the Storm by Rebecca Zanetti ~ Review


Title: Take the Storm (Rising Storm Season One: Episode Six)
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Genre: Adult, Contemporary
Length: 91 Pages
Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts, Inc
Release Date: October 29, 2015
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Secrets, Sex and Scandals … 

Welcome to Storm, Texas, where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy… Get ready. The storm is coming. 

Marisol Moreno has spent her youth taking care of her younger siblings. Now, with her sister, Ginny, in crisis, and her brother in the throes of his first real relationship, she doesn’t have time for anything else. Especially not the overtures of the incredibly compelling Patrick Murphy.



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I really enjoyed getting a look into Marisol's life and personality. Up until now, I have only been able to see her as the guardian and caregiver for her siblings, but in Take the Storm, we get to see who she is as a person. Unfortunately, that person has been locked away and only came up for breath a couple times. She so embedded in being the perfect parent figure, that she's forgotten about herself.

Patrick wants to see her come out of her shell and do something for herself, but his pushing and ultimatums may backfire. Marisol isn't a woman to take demands lightly. The rest of Storm, TX is chugging along with its usual drama. We see glimpses of other characters and Dakota takes an interesting turn in her views on her relationship with the Senator (not for the better). A good addition, with plenty to tease you for what's next.



Rising Storm
Season One

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

London Belongs to Me by Lacquelyn Middleton ~ Review


Title: London Belongs to Me
Author: Jacquelyn Middleton
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary
Length: 394 Pages
Publisher: Kirkwall Books
Release Date: October 14, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

A New City A New Start. Same Old Demons.

Your flight is now boarding! Join Alex Sinclair for a life-changing, trans-Atlantic journey. London Belongs to Me is a coming-of-age story about friendship, following your dreams, and learning when to let go … and when to hang on.

Meet Alex, a recent college graduate from Tallahassee, Florida in love with London, pop culture, and comic cons. It’s not easy being twenty-one-years-old, and Alex has never been the most popular girl. She’s an outsider, a geeky fangirl … with dreams of becoming a playwright in a city she’s loved from afar, but never visited. Fleeing America after a devastating betrayal, she believes London is where she’ll be understood, where she belongs. But Alex’s past of panic attacks and broken relationships is hard to escape. When her demons team up with a jealous rival determined to destroy her new British life, Alex begins to question everything: her life-long dream, her new friends, and whether London is where she truly belongs.
 



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This was a really fun story. I was drawn into Alex's world from page one, when she lands in London and all her perfectly laid plans fall apart one after another. Her luggage is lost, her ride can't pick her up, and her room is more of a closet. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, things quickly get even worse as she struggles to find her place in the world of the London theater. From plagiarism, to theft, to just people being really crappy.

There is a bright side. She re-connects with an internet buddy in person,a and they open a new world of people of places to here. They show her a new attitude and that lifelong friends are possible. Alex faces a lot during her first year in London, and she doesn't always handle it well. Those are the times I loved her the most, when she was down and out and making the worst decisions possible. We've all been there and it only encouraged me to cheer harder.

There is a great ending. Mean people get what they deserve and the good people find happiness. I loved the characters - they were so believable and likable that I wish I think I'll need to go visit them again sometime soon. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The Romeo Catchers by Alys Arden ~ Cover Reveal


The Romeo Catchers
Alys Arden

(The Casquette Girls #2)
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: May 23rd 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Tormented by the fate she condemned her mother to, and by the lies she’s forced to tell to cover it up, Adele scours Storm-ravaged New Orleans for the truth about her family’s magical past. But every turn leads her back to the one person she’s determined to forget: Niccolò Medici. Not even the multitude of enchanted locks on the attic door trapping Nicco within can break their connection. 
Sensing Nicco calling to Adele, Isaac tries relentlessly to keep her from exploring paths too dark that would endanger them all. But a new threat is rising: the Medici’s presence has attracted something else to New Orleans…an older enemy, one that will bring Isaac’s haunted past to life, test the witches’ friendships, and jeopardize Adele and Isaac’s blossoming relationship. 
In this spellbinding continuation of The Casquette Girls saga, Adele must draw on the past—from seventeenth-century Florence, a time bubbling with alchemy and fraternal betrayal—and sort history from fantasy if she is to have any chance of saving her mother, her coven, and her magic.

Sequel to:
25917801



Author Bio:
Alys Arden was raised by the street performers, tea leaf-readers, and glittering drag queens of the New Orleans French Quarter. She cut her teeth on the streets of New York and has worked all around the world since. She either talks too much or not at all. 
She obsessively documents things. Her hair ranges from eggplant to cotton-candy colored. One dreary day in London, she missed home and started writing The Casquette Girls. 
Her debut novel garnered over one million reads online before it was acquired by Skyscape in a two book deal. Her second book is due out winter 2016. 
Alys is represented by ICM. And she still plans to run away with the circus one star swept night. 

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Monday, November 14, 2016

An Address in Amsterdam by Mary Dingee Tillmore


Title: An Address in Amsterdam
Author: Mary Dingee Tillmore
Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction
Length: 360 Pages
Publisher: She Writes Press
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rachel Klein hopes she can ignore the Nazis when they roll into Amsterdam in May 1940. She s falling in love, and her city has been the safest place in the world for Jewish people since the Spanish Inquisition. But when Rachel s Gentile boyfriend is forced to disappear rather than face arrest, she realizes that everything is changing, and so must she so, although she is often tired and scared, she delivers papers for the underground under the Nazis noses. But after eighteen months of ever increasing danger, she pushes her parents to go into hiding with her. The dank basement where they take refuge seems like the last place where Rachel would meet a new man but she does. An Address in Amsterdam shows that, even in the most hopeless situation, an ordinary young woman can make the choice to act with courage and even love.

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I have read quite a few stories about World War II, but most were about events that took place in Germany or England. This was a very different one for me, taking place in Amsterdam. A place where the Jewish population was almost wiped out by the end of WWII. The people of Amsterdam never thought the war would come to them. They had lived peacefully for years and hadn't gotten involved in WWII. They thought it was pass them by.

But as we know, it did not just pass them by. Rachel Klein, a young Jewish woman, finds herself caught up in all of it. As she watches the Nazi's take over her city and country, she knows she can't stand by and watch it happen. When her friends and neighbors are hauled away to placed unknown to never be heard from again, she turns from an innocent girl without many cares, into one of the best messengers with the resistance. 

Putting her life on the line countless times to help fellow Jews and those that support them, the time comes where it's too dangerous for her to continue and she goes into hiding with her family.

This was an incredibly uplifting story of how one person can make a difference in other's lives. But it was also an incredibly sad tale of one of the worst times in human history. Well written, and from what I can tell, well researched, An Address in Amsterdam was a chilling look into human nature and history that we should never forget.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Hi Jack by Karen Gorden


Hi Jack
Karen Gordon
(Vivienne Series, #2)
Publication date: January 12th 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Overthinking-control-freak Vivienne Ramsey’s life is out of control.
She’s lost her dad, the man she thought she would be with forever moved away, and her best friend is about to get married. The only stable thing in her life right now is her job. Thank God for her job.
But even that might be up in the air.
She’s been summoned to meet with the CEO of the company and has no idea why. The handsome, married exec has had his eye on her. But is she ready for a move to the executive suites? Can she out play a big-time player like Joel Rockhurst?
HiJack is book 2 in the Vivienne Series, a continuing story of one woman trying to shatter the glass ceiling without her life breaking to pieces.
Sequel to:
30235845


Author Bio:
Karen Gordon is an indie author who loves supporting strong and sexy women in fiction and in real life.
Born and raised in St. Charles, Missouri, she found her love of extraordinary stories about ordinary places by finding excitement in mundane suburbia. Although she currently writes romance and chick lit, you never know what she might do next. (You'll never find a woman-hating, bad-boy hero though.)
She currently lives with the loves of her life, three very cool geeky men and one perfect puppy, just outside of Memphis, TN.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The Gilded Cage by Sherry D. Ficklin


The Gilded Cage
Sherry D. Ficklin
(A Canary Club Novella)
Publication date: December 1st 2016
Genres: Historical, Young Adult
Masie, the flaxen-haired daughter of notorious boot-legger Dutch Schultz, returns home from boarding school to find her family in crisis. Her mother is dangerously unstable, her father’s empire is on the brink of ruin, and the boy she once loved has become a ruthless killer for hire. To keep her family’s dangerous secrets Masie is forced into a lie that will change the course of her future—and leave her trapped in a gilded cage of her own making. As she watches her world fall apart, Masie must decide whether to take her place in the hierarchy, or spread her wings, leaving the people she loves, and the life she despises, far behind her.
Two worlds collide in Gatsby era New York, in a time of dazzling speakeasies and vicious shoot-outs, of gritty gangsters and iridescent ingénues, where not everything that sparkles is gold.

*This is the first of the Canary Club series and is a short story introduction into the forthcoming novels.


Author Bio:
Sherry is a full time writer from Colorado and the author of over a dozen novels for teens and young adults including the best selling Stolen Empire series. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.
Sherry also writes New Adult fiction under the pen name Ranae Glass and is a contributing writer for fangirlish.com. You can find her at her official website, www.sherryficklin.com, or stalk her on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/sherry.ficklin.

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