DNF Review: Frozen (No, not that Frozen)

Frozen
Author: Melissa de la Cruz and  Michael Johnston
Publication Date: October 2nd 2014                  
Publisher: Orchard Books   
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
 

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all

I've learned my lesson, me and Melissa de la Cruz books to not go well together. I read two of the Blue Bloods series when I was in my Vampire faze of reading, and even then I skimmed most of them because ugh.

Frozen was a hot mess, which is pretty ironic. It's not even a good hot mess where yes, most of it's all over the place but ends up with it tying all together nicely and everything had its place. This isn't that book. Frozen was a bad hot mess- and that was just the first half- I didn't even make it to the end. Which is probably really unfair of me, but you know.

Halloween Recommendation: Part Four: Psychological Thrillers

 

 Ultraviolet
Author:  R.J. Anderson
Publication Date: June 2nd 2011             
Publisher:  Orchard       

 

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her.

Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

 
 
 Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.

This is not her story.

Unless you count the part where I killed her.

Come on, tell me you're not the least bit interested after that hook? Also, set in a mental institute. Need I say more? Okay, Ultraviolet was more of a psychological thriller in the beginning before it went all sci-fi on us, but It's still one of my favourites to read around Halloween.

Waiting on Wednesday (#69)

 "Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 

 Expected publication: May 5th 2015 by Bloomsbury Children's

 

 

 

When 19-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it ... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

It's so pretty! Can I have it now? Please? Pretty please? I'll be nice to people until Throne of Glass #4 comes out. Or at least until the New Year, come on, Throne of Glass #4 is a long time, shhhh. ;)

What're you waiting on?

 



Halloween Recommendation: Part Three

Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Publication Date: October 17th 2011
Publisher: Tor Teen

 

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

 You have no idea how much I love Anna Dressed in Blood, look at the cover!

It's bloody and gory and a lot of limb pulling and dismemberments. Anna, pretty much has everything you want, creepy atmosphere, hauntings, badass characters, a lot of twistedness and...did I mention bloody, gory and a lot of limb pulling and dismemberments?

Review: Whisper the Dead (Hint, I love this book.)

Whisper the Dead
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publication Date: October 9th 2014        
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Gretchen is struggling with her newfound gift as a Whisperer; the constant buzzing in her ears from detecting spells is more frustrating than fun, especially when she is spending time with one of the Order of Iron Nail's Keepers, the icy but strikingly handsome Tobias Lawless. But while Gretchen tries to hide the truth and resolve her feelings for him, London fades from beautiful and bustling to deathly silent ...Something evil is once again menacing Mayfair, and Gretchen and her cousins must use their powers to prevent a horrible sacrifice.

This second book in the Lovegrove Legacy trilogy is full of dark twists, spellbinding suspense and sweeping romance - perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, Lauren Kate and Ruth Warburton.

As of A Breath of Frost, Whisper the Dead gave me the same feeling as it's predecessor gave me , while I absolutely adored it, I still have a few minor issues. With A Breath of Frost it took me a while to get into because of the large cast and side characters, the out of order perspective changes and such big personalities to contend with. Being familiar with the world now and the fun and outlandish characters that are out of style with the Regency Period, I had no problem getting back into it, and this time around, focusing more on Gretchen, who obviously now is was my favourite. She's so...Gretchen.

Stacking the Shelves (#68) & Recap

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

So, how was everybody's week? Mines been good, been a slow week, good book mail week though, lots of surprises and finally two pre-orders got here. I'm really hating Amazon at the moment. Only one digital this week, but it's a pretty important one. My first Gayle Forman!

Review: The Perfectionists (In which my inner bitch comes out to play, bitches.)

The Perfectionists
Author: Sara Shepard
Publication Date: October 2nd 2014        
Publisher: Hot Key Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

In Beacon Heights High, Nolan Hotchkiss is king. His charm, wealth and good looks are deceptively seductive, and many are the students whose lives and reputations have been ruined by it. All while Nolan continues to reign, unquestioned and undisrupted. Until now, that is.

Mackenzie, Ava, Julie, Caitlin and Parker seemingly don't have much in common. Each has their own friends, dramas and goals. But one thing they do share: they all have a deep hatred of Nolan Hotchkiss. And they all think it's about time he paid for what he's done. They come up with the perfect murder - a hypothetical murder, of course. It's all wishful thinking ... until they wake up one morning to find that their wish has come true. Nolan has been killed - in exactly the way they planned. The thing is, they didn't do it. So who did?

Let me introduce to you Pretty Little Liars 2.0 The Perfectionists.

Now, I couldn't get into the Pretty Little Liars books, but I'm addicted to the show,  and The Perfectionists reconfirms why. Yeah, the show is getting as repetitive as the books when it comes to A, he's A, no, she's A, no, she's A. Wait, he's A, no he's A. Wait- who's a, what's an A? Who the fuck is A? The characters are more fleshed out and it's so damn entertaining to watch. Key word watch. When it comes to reading, I however, like more substance that these don't give.

Puppet Release Day Blitz‏

 

 

 

 

About the book:

 

 

 

Penelope lives in a world of advanced technology but many claim society has yet to catch up. Marionettes have advanced in the form of robots; lifelike creations remote controlled to perform super human tasks.

When Penelope makes a deal with Jed, a marionette-obsessed scientist, she doesn’t fully realize what she’s getting herself into. In order for Jed to take her away from the orphanage she lives in, she must first agree to undergo his experiments and tests, ultimately creating something no one ever dreamed possible; the first living marionette.

As Jed shows off his scientific creation to the world, concerns arise surrounding Penelope’s abilities and what she’s capable of doing. Ordered to somehow lessen her abilities, Jed makes a desperate attempt to change Penelope to make her more human, more vulnerable. After Penelope lies to the officials about her past, Jed makes sure it’s the last one she’ll ever utter. The truth is now the only thing she is capable of telling.

As Penelope struggles with her past, her disturbingly new present, and her uncertain future, she is thrust into a magically twisted world of mayhem in search of the one thing she wants, but knows she can never have. The chance to be just a girl again. To be normal. To be real.

Get the book
@Amazon
@Barnes & Noble

Release Day Twitter Chat

The Patchwork Press team will be hosting a release day chat with Pauline and would love for anyone interested in the book to stop by. Just be sure to follow Pauline and Patchwork Press!

 

 

 

About the author:

Pauline C. Harris is a ninteen-year old author living in Northern Idaho. She started writing short stories when she was eight, and after she self-published her first book when she was fourteen, moved on to write the Mechanical Trilogy. She loves anything that has to do with science fiction, including Star Trek, and her main hobbies are writing and playing the violin in various orchestras and quartets.
​
Mechanical is her first professionally published novel. She is currently studying in both high school and college and hopes to achieve her AA degree alongside her high school diploma.

She is also working on another series of YA science fiction novels.

 

 WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

 

Halloween Recommendation: Part Two

Splintered
Author: A.G. Howard
Publication Date: January 1st 2013
Publisher:  Amulet Books

 

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 

 

 

 UnhingedAuthor: A.G. Howard
Publication Date: January 7th 2014        
Publisher: Amulet Books

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head 

 


 Okay, so these aren't exactly traditional Halloween reads in the way that'll scare you with Horror, and obviously, this series isn't Horror, but it is Halloween-y in it's own right. Just think about Wonderland, it's pretty weird and creepy on it's own, but with Splintered, A.G. Howard takes Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and whilst keeping it familiar, twists it into something completely twisted and strange with this side of off. It's vivid and dangerous and seductive. Then there's Morpheus. Just saying.

While Splintered is centred on and set in Wonderland, Unhinged is set in our world with Wonderland bleeding through, which is actually more disturbing and mad than Wonderland itself. We also get to see the effect it has and Alyssa's slope down the crazy train.

So basically, this series is quite mad. Embrace the craziness. And hey, Elizabeth  this ones for weenies (your words, not mine) ;)

Have you started the Splintered series yet? If so, let's talk Morpheus, because, you know, Morpheus.

            



Morganville: The Series

The web series for The Morganville Vampires was brought to life after 832 backers pledged on Kickstarter. The project was fully funded in July of 2013, and now after a little over a year – the trailer for the series is finally here.

You may have heard of this series called The Morganville Vampires, if you haven't, where you been? ;) It's one of my favourite series, so excited to see my favourite characters come to life on the 27th October, make sure to watch, because you know, Claire, Eve, Michael, Shane,

 

 

 

Read the series? What'd you think of the trailer? If you've read the series, did you picture the characters the way they are? :)

 

Waiting on Wednesday (#68)

 "Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman

 

 Expected publication: April 21st 2015 by Balzer + Bray

 

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives with a kindly English family, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then, Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside-down. And when she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped-and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture and recognition, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time-or will Hitler discover them first?



 

 

I loved Prisoner of Night and Fog, and I'm really glad the title doesn't have Fog in there this time, since for some reason, every time I typed the title I'd type Frog of Dog.

 

What're you waiting on?

Review: Stray

Stray
Author: Elissa Sussman
Publication Date: October 7th 2014        
Publisher:  Greenwillow
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

“I am grateful for my father, who keeps me good and sweet. I am grateful for my mother, who keeps her own heart guarded and safe. I am grateful for my adviser, who keeps me protected. I am grateful for the Path, which keeps me pure. Ever after.”

Princess Aislynn has long dreamed about attending her Introduction Ball, about dancing with the handsome suitors her adviser has chosen for her, about meeting her true love and starting her happily ever after.

When the night of the ball finally arrives and Nerine Academy is awash with roses and royalty, Aislynn wants nothing more than to dance the night away, dutifully following the Path that has been laid out for her. She does not intend to stray.

But try as she might, Aislynn has never quite managed to control the magic that burns within her-magic brought on by wicked, terrible desires that threaten the Path she has vowed to take.

After all, it is wrong to want what you do not need. Isn’t it?

STRAY is the first in a collection of intertwined stories, all set in a world where magic is a curse that only women bear and society is dictated by a strict doctrine called The Path. A cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and Wicked, with a dash of Grimm and Disney thrown in, this original fairy tale will be released October 7th, 2014 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins

You could say Stray is very Once Upon a Time-ish on most of it, but yes in one major way that I am not amused with.  I'd disagree mainly because there's a thin line between good and bad, the good are flawed and the bad have good. Take Regina, whose deliciously evil but she's well rounded and as it goes on, you see the depth of her character. The bad characters in Stray? One sided. Everyone's just out for poor, poor Aislynn, for no apparent reason, they look for things wrong with her, even if she hasn't done anything at all, they look the other way when others do something, or do or say something to Aislynn to  get a reaction from her, and then she gets told off for it. Poor, poor Aislynn, and I say that sarcastically because to be honest, I didn't like her but I didn't hate her. My point is, the wicked evils in this story had no reason.

Release Day Blitz: Runaway

Runaway (Camryn Cruise #1) by Brina Courtney

RELEASE DAY BLITZ

Camryn Cruise is not human. But she doesn’t know what she is. Not yet.

The world is falling apart and her only escape is Camp Silverlake where she frequently stayed as a child. But Camryn’s summers weren’t filled with crafting and swimming, they were spent learning combat skills and how to protect herself from the outside world.

Now she must return to Camp Silverlake to learn the truth, about who she is and she’ll discover the secret hidden within her blood. A secret that could save them all.

~*~GIVEAWAY~*~

The Cryptid Chronicles Set!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~*~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~*~

Brina Courtney is a young adult author obsessed with chocolate, crime shows, and fantasy movies. She's spent the last few years as an elementary teacher and a high school cheering coach. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two very loud, small dogs.

FIND BRINA AT:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brina-Courtney/270546116309774

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5295520.Brina_Courtney?from_search=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brinacourtney

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Brina-Courtney/e/B0073X9KRQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1402683149&sr=1-1

Website: http://www.brinacourtney.com/