Cover Reveal: The Zodiac Collector by Laura Diamond

About the Author:

 

She's a board-certified psychiatrist and a multi-published author. Laura writes YA, MG, paranormal, dystopian, and horror. Her YA paranormal romance prequel novelette, NEW PRIDE, and YA pararom, SHIFTING PRIDE, is available NOW by Etopia Press! Her YA dystopians, ENDURE and EVOKE, are coming soon from Etopia Press. Her YA adventure, ZODIAC COLLECTOR, is coming 2014 by Spencer Hill Press.

 

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For almost-16 year-old Anne Devans, the annual Renaissance Faire means three things—her dad spending weeks in the smithy, her bipolar mom doing some manic costume making, and another ruined birthday for her and her twin sister, Mary.

This year, Anne wants things to be different, and she's going to do things her way.

On the eve of the Faire, Anne (along with a reluctant Mary) conjures up a spell that will make their 16th birthday party a whirlwind event.  Little do they know that it's a literal request.

After the mini tornado in their room subsides, the girls realize they've invoked the power of the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux.  That's the good news. The bad news is they also caught the attention of a sorceress named Zeena who has been collecting children born under each Zodiac Sign to enhance her power. Once she captures Anne and Mary, Gemini twins, the entire Zodiac—and the world—will be hers.

Anne leads the fight against Zeena, but her one-sided decisions could throw them into a world so far from home, even the Renaissance Faire would seem like a brilliant vacation. Between managing their new Zodiac powers, dodging their manic mother and trying to stop Zeena, they'll get a 16th birthday they'll never forget.

 

Title: The Zodiac Collector
Author: Laura Diamond

Cover Design:  Veronica Jones

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

ISBN: 978-1-937053-63-5
Release Date:  May 2014
Formats: Paperback, e-book

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray Release Day Book Blitz

Paperback, 296 pages

Expected publication: October 22nd 2013 by Spencer Hill Press

ISBN 1937053644 (ISBN13: 9781937053642)

Edition language: English

Book Blurb

A virus that had once been contained has returned, and soon no place will be left untouched by its
destruction. But when Cheyenne wakes up in Elysian Fields--a subdivision cut off from the world and its monster-creating virus--she is thrilled to have a chance at survival.

At first, Elysian Fields, with its beautiful houses and manicured lawns, is perfect. Teo Richardson, the older man who stole Cheyenne's heart, built it so they could be together. But when Teo tells Cheyenne there are tests that she and seven other couples must pass to be worthy of salvation, Cheyenne begins to question the perfection of his world.

The people they were before are gone. Cheyenne is now "Persephone," and each couple has been re-
named to reflect the most tragic romances ever told. Everyone is fighting to pass the test, to remain in

Elysian Fields. Teo dresses them up, tells them when to move and how to act, and in order to pass the
test, they must play along.

If they play it right, then they'll be safe.

But if they play it wrong, they'll die

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Add THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM to your Goodreads shelf.

Excerpt #1 from Chapter One

 

Gruff fingers yank a blindfold off my face, light splashes into my eyes, and I blink. Gray walls swim about my head, and the ceiling soars much too high above me. I don’t know this place. I was walking to my bathroom when someone grabbed me from behind and forced a sour-smelling cloth over my face and—someone grapples with my hair, and I flinch. Who—who is touching me?

 

I try turning in the flimsy chair, but someone’s grabbing my shoulders, forcing me not to move. Spasms of fear shoot up and down my arms and legs. I try swinging my fists to make them loosen their grip, but my captor’s fingers only tighten.

 

Raising my arm to jab my captor in the gut, I pause. Someone’s laughing. How do I know that sound? It’s beautiful and low, a laugh I could recognize anywhere. Glancing around the sun-filled room, I find the source almost immediately. It’s Teo, my Teo, standing across from me on the hardwood floor, beaming at me. His ebony eyes shine forth like two onyx stones, and even his olive-toned skin makes me breathe a bit shallower. Choking back a strangled laugh—no one’s here to hurt me—I reach out for the love of my life, too tongue-tied to say anything.

 

His lips spread into a thin smile, reminding me of his mouth melting into my own. Fire raged beneath my skin with that kiss and it felt like I was lifted up into the air and floating. It’s been six days since our kiss and we still haven’t been able to talk about it. I tried repeatedly to go into his classroom, but it was like our school had purposely decided to schedule a more than average number of parent-teacher meetings.

 

Locking his eyes on mine, Teo asks, “Manicure?”

 

I glance down at my fingernails, trying to see why he would think I needed a manicure, when my shoulders are released and pale, icy fingers grip my hand. Chills run through me.

 

A flat, tenor voice says, “Yes.” And I’m startled to see my fingernails are actually painted. Clear and shiny.

 

The fingers drop my hand, and my captor walks around to face me. White uniform, white skin, white hair. He’s albino. Who is he?

 

Excerpt #2 from Chapter One

 

“Makeup is good.” Teo taps lightly on a handheld computer screen. “Hair is so-so.” He continues to scan the device, and I don’t like how he’s picking me apart like he’s Photoshopping me. Where are the other students? Or maybe it’s more than I could ever hope: it’s really just the two—three—of us, and he is finally unveiling his feelings. I never expected to fall in love with a teacher, but when I started at Khabela, the Austin math and science school, Teo was the only one who welcomed me. It took me a moment to understand why a math teacher would care that I read Tristan and Isolde, but soon we were knee-deep in conversation about all our favorite classic stories.

 

I wish he’d tell me why he brought me here. Maybe he let my mom know, explained what we

were actually doing.

 

“Teo—?”

 

But I fail for words, the gray walls seeming to snatch at the fear inside me. My palms break out

in a sweat and it’s calculus all over again, where Teo asked me to stand in front of my class to share the index card I had made to memorize last year’s trig functions. While I hate speaking in front of groups, I did it anyway, my heart slamming against the insides of my chest the entire time. When I’d finished, Teo congratulated me, making the fear worth it.

 

Tapping his computer screen, Teo trains his gaze on me again, softening a little. “I cannot tell you how much seeing you here pleases me.”

 

 My heart flip-flops and it’s hard to say anything. He’s happy to see me. It’s all I can do to keep

myself from smiling stupidly.

 

He takes one step toward me and I long to fill the gap. And when he speaks, his voice rings out in

a baritone melody. “I hope you enjoy our little neighborhood, Miss Laurent. The women are on one side of the street, the men on the other. They each have their own houses. Seven again.” His lips perk up into one of those smiles that I love, and I’m reminded of his reverence for the number seven, how he arranges our desks in three rows of seven.

 

Glancing at the wooden door ahead, I open my mouth to ask if he’ll show me this street, when he says, “That is right. You should desire to go through that door. Of course, the choice is yours.” He

gestures behind me. “The back door is always an option.”

 

I turn to find the back door, only to see plastic shadows, slick and dark—body bags—hanging on

a rod by the door. Another one of Teo’s jokes, maybe. A metaphorical exercise. Life without love is not living. See, Miss Laurent, you might as well be dead. But Teo would never hurt me. When we kissed, he held me like a porcelain doll, treasured me.

 

“Front door, then?” Teo asks when I manage to turn back to him, his tone light, almost happy. He

wants to show me this neighborhood that revolves around the number seven. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I want him to show me.

 

Teo and the albino grab me by the arms and force me up, but there’s no reason to be touchy-feely.

Wherever he goes is where I want to be. Teo is brilliant and kind. He would never shatter me.

About the Author

Mary Gray has a fascination with all things creepy. That's why all her
favorite stories usually involve panic attacks and hyperventilating. In real life, she prefers to type away on her computer, ogle over her favorite TV shows, and savor fiction. When she's not immersed in other worlds, she and her husband get their exercise by chasing after their three children. THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM is her first novel.

Author Links:

Goodreads | Website | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM, author Mary Gray is giving away one signed copy of THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM (U.S. only) and an unsigned copy of THE
DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM (open to all). Ends 10/23/13 (midnight).

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway!!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Character Names

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they're particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish (and who isn't?). They're all about creating new lists including a little bit of everything and I've been meaning to participate for so long but always seemed to get behind. So here we are and hopefully you'll head over to their page and check out what everyone else put up for this week's Top Ten.

So for this week's top ten post I was able to take the time and go back through some of the books I've read in the past and get reaquainted with the characters and more specifically, their names.  It was a ton of fun and I was able to remember all over again if there was one here or there that caught my interest right off the bat, or just struck me as a great addition by the author.  Here are ten of my favorites.

Favorite Character Name #1:  Lulu - Just One Day (Just One Day, #1) by Gayle Forman

A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Favorite Character Name #2:  Suzume - The Darkest Minds (The Darkes Minds, #1) by Alexandra Bracken

 

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

Favorite Character Name #3:  Christian Van Lorten - Taste Test by Kelly Fiore

If you can grill it, smoke it, or fry it, Nora Henderson knows all about it. She’s been basting baby back ribs and pulling pork at her father’s barbeque joint since she was tall enough to reach the counter. When she’s accepted to Taste Test, a reality-television teen cooking competition, Nora can’t wait to leave her humble hometown behind, even if it means saying good-bye to her dad and her best friend, Billy. Once she’s on set, run-ins with her high-society roommate and the maddeningly handsome—not to mention talented—son of a famous chef, Christian Van Lorten, mean Nora must work even harder to prove herself. But as mysterious accidents plague the kitchen arena, protecting her heart from one annoyingly charming fellow contestant in particular becomes the least of her concerns. Someone is conducting real-life eliminations, and if Nora doesn’t figure out who, she could be next to get chopped for good.

With romance and intrigue as delectable as the winning recipes included in the story, this debut novel will be devoured by all.

 

Favorite Character Name #4:  Caia Ribeiro - Moon Spell (The Tale of Lunarmorte, #1) by Samantha Young

 

Enter a world of fierce wolves, stunning magic and romance...

It’s bad enough feeling different among the human crowd, but feeling different among wolves?

No one said returning to her pack would be easy, especially after ten years without them, but seventeen year old Caia Ribeiro is unprepared for the realities of the transition. Raised in a world where kids aren’t scared by bedtime tales of the bogeyman but by the real life threat of enemy supernaturals who might come creeping into their community to kill them in their sleep, Caia is used to the darkness; she’s used to the mystery and the intrigue of the ancient underworld war she’s bound to by chance of birth. What she’s having trouble with are pack members treating her with wary suspicion, the Elders tucking secrets behind their backs out of her sightline, and her young Alpha, Lucien, distracting her, with a dangerous attraction, from her decision to uncover the truth.

But as the saying goes ‘the truth will out’ and when it does, Caia will only have so long to prepare herself before the war comes pounding on their door threatening to destroy the safe, secret lives of the wolves… and the girl they protect.

Favorite Character Name #5:  Rain - The Color of Rain by Cori McCarthy

If there is one thing that seventeen-year-old Rain knows and knows well, it is survival. Caring for her little brother, Walker, who is "Touched," and losing the rest of her family to the same disease, Rain has long had to fend for herself on the bleak, dangerous streets of Earth City. When she looks to the stars, Rain sees escape and the only possible cure for Walker. And when a darkly handsome and mysterious captain named Johnny offers her passage to the Edge, Rain immediately boards his spaceship. Her only price: her "willingness."

The Void cloaks many secrets, and Rain quickly discovers that Johnny's ship serves as host for an underground slave trade for the Touched . . . and a prostitution ring for Johnny's girls. With hair as red as the bracelet that indicates her status on the ship, the feeling of being a marked target is not helpful in Rain's quest to escape. Even worse, Rain is unsure if she will be able to pay the costs of love, family, hope, and self-preservation.

With intergalactic twists and turns, Cori McCarthy's debut space thriller exists in an orbit of its own.

Favorite Character Name #6:  Four - Divergent (Divergent, #1) by Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

 

Favorite Character Name #7:  Daemon Black - Obsidian (Lux, #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

 

Favorite Character Name #8:  Ever Van Ruysdael - Ever (Ever, #1) by Jessa Russo

 

BOOK ONE in The EVER Trilogy

Seventeen-year-old Ever’s love life has been on hold for the past two years. She’s secretly in love with her best friend Frankie, and he’s completely oblivious.

Of course, it doesn't help that he’s dead, and waking up to his ghost every day has made moving on nearly impossible.

Frustrated and desperate for something real, Ever finds herself falling for her hot new neighbor Toby. His relaxed confidence is irresistible, and not just Ever knows it. But falling for Toby comes with a price that throws Ever’s life into a whirlwind of chaos and drama. More than hearts are on the line, and more than Ever will suffer.

Some girls lose their hearts to love.

Some girls lose their minds.

Ever Van Ruysdael could lose her soul.

 

Favorite Character Name #9:  Morpheus - Splintered (Splintered, #1) by A.G. Howard

 

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

 

Favorite Character Name #10:  Ronan - Isle of Night (The Watchers, #1) by Veronica Wolff

 

Is life offering fewer and fewer options? Then join the dead.

When Annelise meets dark and seductive Ronan, he promises her a new life-if she has the courage to chance the unknown. Now, she's whisked away to a mysterious island and pitted against other female recruits to become a Watcher-girls who are partnered with vampires and assist them in their missions. To survive and become a Watcher, Annelise has to beat out every other girl, but she's determined to do so, because to fail doesn't mean dishonor-it means death.

Domestic Violence Awareness

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Author Kristie Cook is asking us to "Share the <3"! 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men just in the United States have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime (Center for Disease Control statistics). You likely know someone who lives through this nightmare every day - a relative, a friend, a coworker or a neighbor down the street. Too many don't live. And too many children witness the violence to/between their parents - or are direct victims themselves.

Thankfully, help is available. Unfortunately, not enough people know whom they can call for help - safely and privately. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides this kind of secure resource, helping survivors of abuse do what they need to do to reach safety and restart their lives. I, along with Kristie, many other authors, bloggers and readers, ask you to join us in supporting The Hotline so it may continue to provide the refuge people need. Help us "Share the <3" because "all <3's deserve to feel safe."

If you can donate even $5 to The Hotline, you could be supporting one phone call that can save a life. And for each dollar you donate, you can be entered to win Kristie's Share the <3 Giveaway! Simply email your receipt(s) dated 10/1/2013 through 10/31/2013 to publisher (at) angdora (dot) com. There are other ways to enter, as well, in the Rafflecopter below.

You can win!!!

An Indie Book Nerd t-shirt signed by over 40 authors, including Kristie Cook, G.P. Ching, Tabatha Vargo, Tiffany King, Shelly Crane and Isaac Marion, author of Warm Bodies; Kristie Cook's Soul Savers and Book of Phoenix books signed; and a bag full of swag.

A bundle of Kristie's Soul Savers Series audiobooks, Books 1-5.

$25 gift card to Amazon, B&N or iTunes

So give what you can, email your receipt and gain extra entries below. The more you give, the better your chances of winning these amazing prizes. PLUS, Kristie will be matching all donation receipts, up to $1,000. So your donation will be doubled!

From Kristie and from me, thank you for your help and support! Think of all that can happen if we each "Share the <3" today.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Countdown: November 2013 (2)

While the month of October is one of my favorites (your birthday month usually is) I find that November has always been an exciting and fun time of year as well. Everyone is always running around trying (and usually failing) to get ready for the December holidays, visiting family, booking those trips and making travel plans. Its all usually a whirlwind and sometimes I find myself feeling a bit frayed at the edges, but I love it nonetheless! So amid all the chaos that the holidays usually bring all of us, I enjoy counting down for the books that will hit the shelves and hopefully carving out some time to take a break and lose myself in their pages.

 

Countdown Pick #1:  Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin (11/12/2013)

 

LOUD. There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That's the only thing left she can cling to.

AWAKE. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. The pieces of her former self no longer fit together. She can't even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won't talk about?

LOST. One by one, Ember discovers the answers to these questions, like a twisted game of dominos. And little by little, the person she used to be slips further and further away.

In the wake of her critically praised young adult psychological thrillers, Tighter and All You Never Wanted, National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin has created another triumph. Loud Awake & Lost is an unflinching story of loss and recovery.

 

I'm a huge fan of Griffin's previous works and while this one doesn't sound exactly the same as her others, if it's got her special touch I'm confident it will be one I'll want to own and add to the library.

 

Countdown Pick #2:  Save the Enemy by Arin Greenwood (11/12/2013)

 

Everything has been downhill since Zoey Trask’s mother was murdered in a random mugging. Her younger brother, Ben, is on the autistic spectrum and needs constant supervision. It’s senior year, and she’s the new girl at a weird private school in Old Town Alexandria, VA, full of kids who seem too nice to be true—including a very cute boy named Pete. Aside from half-forgotten martial arts and survivalist skills that her widowed father insisted on teaching her (because that is excellent for her social life), Zoey has nothing to offer Pete or anyone else.

Then Dad is kidnapped. Zoey suddenly finds herself sole caretaker of a younger brother she barely understands. Worse, Ben seems to hold the key to their father’s disappearance in his Dream Diary, a bizarre journal of names and places Ben claims that their mother shares from beyond the grave. And as if Zoey doesn’t have enough on her plate, there’s Pete, who stubbornly refuses to leave her side.

Relying on the skills she never wanted to learn—Dad might have had his reasons after all—Zoey is plunged into a lethal battle to rescue her father, protect her brother, and determine the identity of her family’s true enemy.

 

So while I know this is not falling under the paranormal genre, it doesn't sound like your typical contemporary novel either, does it?  As a romantic I'm already liking the sound of this Pete character, who's not going anywhere despite the fact that Zoey doesn't seem to be the type to throw herself at a boy...only time will tell what Zoey finds when she gets to the bottom of this mystery revolving around her family.

 

Countdown Pick #3:  This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink (11/14/2013)

 

Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.

The voodoo business.

Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.

She doesn’t believe.

Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans – and voodoo – when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.

But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo – and the families that make up the Guild – than meets the eye.

Including her own.

As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy – and the disbelief that may very well kill her.

 

New Orleans has always fascinated me, and if you put a story with a spin like this in front of me, there's no way I'm going to pass it up.

 

Countdown Pick #4:  Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1) by Aimee Carter (11/26/2013)

 

YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

Previously titled Masked.

 

It sounds to me like we've got another great dystopian series on our hands!  Not only does this book sounds like it's got the potential to be a real page turner that will keep readers on the edges of their seats, but this cover completely drew me in, and the tagline, 'The first move is hers...' I just loved everything about it!

In My Mailbox (115)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. I'm always picking up new books, because I never tire of reading, but the other thing I like about this meme is that it gives everyone an opportunity to check out what other book fanatics, bloggers, etc... got for themselves. I've gotten great recommendations from this meme and hope that keeps up in the future.

Here's what I got, what did you guys get this week?

For Review:

 

Immortals (Runes, #2) by Ednah Walters

 

Nothing can stop Raine Cooper when she wants something...
Raine finally knows that her gorgeous neighbor, Torin St. James, is a legend straight out of Norse mythology, and that her feelings for him are strong. Torin is crazy about Raine too, breaking the one rule he lives by: Never fall for a mortal. The problem is he no longer remembers her, his memories erased by Norns—Norse destiny deities—to punish her for defying them.

So Raine comes up with a plan...
She will make Torin forget his one rule a second time and fall in love with her all over again.
But she quickly learns that well-laid plans do not work when dealing with deities and supernatural beings. Desperate, Raine makes choices that could not only tear her and Torin further apart, but lead to the destruction of everything and everyone she loves.

Fireblood (Fireblood, #1) by Trisha Wolfe (Thanks to Spencer Hill Press)

To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control.

When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father’s capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin.

Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult.

When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart’s twisted world, Zara’s path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara’s hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father’s evil nature, or they will take him out.

But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels’ command and where the prince’s heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she’s truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart.

The Rising (The Painted Maidens Trilogy, #1) by Terra Harmony (Thanks to Patchwork Press)

Fifteen-year-old Serena is the youngest member of a dying race. The increasing acidity of the ocean is destroying her home, slowly eating away at the once thriving underwater landscape. But since the night of Serena’s birth, it is an outside force that most threatens their dwindling population. Werewolves, who once served as protectors for mermaids in the Kingdom of the Undine, now seek to eliminate all who dwell in the ocean — and Serena is about to find herself right in the middle of the deadly conflict.

Given the title of Werewolf Liaison, Serena is determined to make things right for her people. When she ventures to The Dry, she meets Liam, the werewolf with hazel eyes, and her whole world gets turned upside down. As Serena discovers the real history between werewolves and mermaids, she is left wondering who her true enemies are.

 

Guest Review: Crash (Visions, #1) by Lisa McMann

I'm very excited to have a guest reviewer on the blog today!!!  I'm still hoping to make this a regular thing.  My cousin and fellow bibliophile, Ashley has recently finished Lisa McMann's first installment in the Visions series after picking it up at a local book festival and volunteered (and by volunteered I mean I begged her) to write a review for the blog.  So please give her a big welcome back and thank you so much again Ashley for contributing to the blog!  PLEASE come back anytime you've read a title that you'd like to review and share!!!  She's the best!!

If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first of three books from the New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.

Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode...and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere—on billboards, television screens, windows—and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more she sees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality.

 

I picked up this novel at the Library of Congress’s National Book Festival a couple weeks ago. I initially picked it up to add to my classroom library for students, but when I sat down on Metro and picked it up, it was hard to put it down.

 

Our narrator is likable and easy to read. She speaks the way teens are actually speaking today. Jules, starts seeing these bizarre crashes. Actually, it’s the same crash, over and over again. She sees the same crash and body bags, and it keeps playing out like a movie. She realizes she’s seen the place in the crash, and the face of the one person in the body bag she keeps seeing, is none other than her

once-friend, major-crush, family-revival Sawyer. Sawyer’s family owns the revival restaurant to Jules’ family. Their families banned them each from seeing each other in the third grade, but that hasn’t stopped Jules from majorly crushing on him.

 

Jules starts to see the visions everywhere she goes, no matter what she does. She decides that this is some kind of message and she’s going to stop it, and save the people that are in those body bags she keeps seeing in the crash.

 

The witty banter between Jules and her siblings and they way they support and care for each other makes me really wish I had siblings. Sawyer is adorable and sweet, and totally brings me back to my high school days having a crush. There’s so much build-up to the actual crash that Jules is trying to stop, I was afraid the ending was going to flat line, but I’m happy to say McMann really delivers. I give it a 4/5 stars, it’s a quick and fun read!

 

**Thank again for stopping by Ashley, and keep those review coming!!!