Dystopian Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Happy Halloween! Welcome to my stop on the Dystopian Giveaway Blog Hop. This hop is co-hosted by April & Kat at My Shelf Confessions and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

What You Can Win

One of the best dystopian novels that I've read this year is Pierce Brown's debut novel, Red Rising. I read and reviewed this book a earlier this year, and I enjoyed it so much that I want to share it. Here's a little about the book:



Title: Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1)
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Buy Links
Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond


Giveaway

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Tudor Vendetta by C.W. Gortner

Title: The Tudor Vendetta (The Spymaster Chronicles #3)
Author: C.W. Gortner
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan)
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Acquired Via: Historical Fiction Blog Tours
London, 1558. Queen Mary is dead, and 25-year old Elizabeth ascends the throne. Summoned to court from exile abroad, Elizabeth’s intimate spy, Brendan Prescott, is reunited with the young queen, as well as his beloved Kate, scheming William Cecil, and arch-rival, Robert Dudley. A poison attempt on Elizabeth soon overshadows her coronation, but before Brendan can investigate, Elizabeth summons him in private to dispatch him on a far more confidential mission: to find her favored lady in waiting, Lady Parry, who has disappeared during a visit to her family manor in Yorkshire.

Upon his arrival at the desolate sea-side manor where Lady Parry was last seen, he encounters a strange, impoverished family beset by grief, as well as mounting evidence that they hide a secret from him. The mystery surrounding Lady Parry deepens as Brendan begins to realize there is far more going on at the manor than meets the eye, but the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery in Vaughn Hall, the more he learns that in his zeal to uncover the truth, he could be precipitating Elizabeth’s destruction.

From the intrigue-laden passages of Whitehall to a foreboding Catholic manor and the deadly underworld of London, Brendan must race against time to unravel a vendetta that will strike at the very core of his world—a vendetta that could expose a buried past and betray everything he has fought for, including his loyalty to his queen.

My Review

I'm going to start out my review by telling you this - any enjoyment that I was lacking in The Tudor Vendetta was completely my fault. In case you're wondering how in the world I could manage that...well...I didn't do my research. I had no idea that this was the third book in a series, and I usually look these things up. That being said, once I got into the groove of this book, I was able to catch up with the plot of this particular installment.

Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Title: The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1)
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (Penguin)
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Acquired Via: Publisher
I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

My Review

You can read Kayla's review of the book HERE.

I have very mixed feelings about The Young Elites. On one hand I loved the world, but on the other I thought that there was a distinct lack of plot.

In an Italian-based society, fever has destroyed a nation and left behind either death or marked children called malfettos. Some of the marked children have manifested powers, and some of them have banded together and are known as the Young Elites. The other citizens fear and hate the malfettos, and a government group called the Inquisition is tasked with destroying the Young Elites.

Blog Tour (Excerpt & Giveaway): Night of a Thousand Stars by Deanna Raybourn

Title: Night of a Thousand Stars
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Acquired Via: Historical Fiction Blog Tours
New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn returns with a Jazz Age tale of grand adventure...

On the verge of a stilted life as an aristocrat’s wife, Poppy Hammond does the only sensible thing—she flees the chapel in her wedding gown. Assisted by the handsome curate who calls himself Sebastian Cantrip, she spirits away to her estranged father’s quiet country village, pursued by the family she left in uproar. But when the dust of her broken engagement settles and Sebastian disappears under mysterious circumstances, Poppy discovers there is more to her hero than it seems.

With only her feisty lady’s maid for company, Poppy secures employment and travels incognita—east across the seas, chasing a hunch and the whisper of clues. Danger abounds beneath the canopies of the silken city, and Poppy finds herself in the perilous sights of those who will stop at nothing to recover a fabled ancient treasure. Torn between allegiance to her kindly employer and a dashing, shadowy figure, Poppy will risk it all as she attempts to unravel a much larger plan—one that stretches to the very heart of the British government, and one that could endanger everything, and everyone, that she holds dear.

Excerpt

Chapter One
March 1920

“I say, if you’re running away from your wedding, you’re going about it quite wrong.”

I paused with my leg out the window, satin wedding gown hitched up above my knees. A layer of tulle floated over my face, obscuring my view. I shoved it aside to find a tall, bespectacled young man standing behind me. His expression was serious, but there was an unmistakable gleam in his eyes that was distinctly at odds with his clerical garb.

“Oh! Are you the curate? I know you can’t be the vicar. I met him last night at the rehearsal and he’s simply ancient. Looks like Methuselah’s godfather. You’re awfully young to be a priest, aren’t you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

“But I’m wearing a dog collar. I must be,” he protested. “And as I said, if you’re running away, you’ve gone about it quite stupidly.”

Waiting on Wednesday (78): A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Release Date: May 5, 2015
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.


I loved Maas' Throne of Glass, but this year's release of Heir of Fire blew all of my expectations out of the water. She was already one of my auto-buy authors, so I honestly didn't even read the synopsis after I saw the cover release and decided this must be this week's Waiting on Wednesday. Then, I found out that it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling (which is my absolute favorite), so I am counting the days until I can get this beauty into my hands.

What are you waiting on this week?

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Opal Crown by Jenny Lundquist

The Opal Crown Tour Schedule
Welcome to my stop on The Opal Crown Blog Tour, brought to you by Rockstar Book Tours. Today I will be featuring my review of the book, and there will be a tour-wide giveaway at the end of the post!



Title: The Opal Crown (The Opal Mask #2)
Author: Jenny Lundquist
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Tour Organizer: Rockstar Book Tours
Release Date: October 28, 2014
In the year since she was betrothed to the crown prince of Kyrenica, no one has suspected that the Masked Princess has been a decoy. That Elara, the secret twin sister, has been pretending to be Princess Wilha all along. The royal family has kept Elara’s identity hidden from the world, and for the girls, swapping lives has not been easy. Galandria is quickly declining, and the sisters continue to be a pawn in the Guardian’s ever-changing endgames.

But the stakes rise when Elara and Wilha’s younger brother, Andrei, takes the Galandrian throne after their father's death, and he reveals the girls' deception to Kyrenica’s royal family. Viewed as traitors, Elara and Wilha realize they are now fighting for their lives—and for their country. However, with only one crown and one throne to overthrow, Elara and Wilha must decide who will become queen. Or rather, the next savior for their people.

The sequel to the Princess in the Opal Mask.

My Review

You can read my review of the first book, The Princess in the Opal Mask, HERE.

I have to be honest. When I started The Opal Crown, I remembered very little about the first book in the series. (I'm awful about those sort of things, so don't even bother asking me what I had for breakfast.) However, once I started reading the book, I was returned to the wonderful world that Lundquist has created in these books.

Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Themed

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Halloween Themed Top Ten
I don't really read that many horror novels anymore. I already have an over-active imagination and night terrors; I don't need to add novels to get more ideas. So this is just a mix-up of Halloween themed media.

Books to Read to Get in the Halloween Spirit



1. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Coraline is one of the creepiest books for children I have ever read. I think if I had been a child when I read it, I might have had nightmares for a long time.



2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
What's more spooky and creepy than graveyards around Halloween? Growing up in a graveyard!

#Lionsgate Horror Movie #Giveaway

The Blair Witch Project was one of my favorite movies as a kid, so I want to share the opportunity to win a copy with you today, thanks to our friends at Lionsgate!

About #LionsgateHorror


Relive the horror classic! The Blair Witch Project follows a trio of filmmakers on what should have been a simple walk in the woods, but quickly becomes an excursion into heart-stopping terror.

Or dive into a new horror experience - from the director of The Blair Witch Project comes Exists, for five friends, it was a chance for a summer getaway - a weekend of camping in the Texas Big Thicket. But visions of a carefree vacation are shattered with an accident on a dark and desolate country road.

What’s a Halloween party without some creepy background visuals? Download the films and be prepped for this month’s creepy festivities.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Download | Facebook

EXISTS
Download | Facebook

CABIN IN THE WOODS
Download

CABIN FEVER
Download

THE DESCENT
Download
Blog App

#TheDevilsHand - #ProphecyParty & $15 iTunes Gift Card #Giveaway

Bibliophilia, Please is a "book blog", but I want to share the opportunity to win a prize with you guys. Today I'm featuring The Devil's Hand blog app, along with the opportunity to enter to win a $15 iTunes Gift Card!

About the Movie


When six girls are born on the sixth day of the sixth month to different mothers in the small, devout village of New Bethlehem an ancient prophecy is set in motion - on their 18th birthday one of the girls will become the Devil's Hand. As the day approaches and one by one the young women begin to disappear, terror overtakes the quiet community and those remaining girls band together to uncover who or what is behind these treacherous acts.

Starring Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter), Rufus Sewell (Dark City), and Adelaide Kane (The CW’s Reign), it will give you thrills and chills this October!

The Devil’s Hand is now available on iTunes, VOD and in select theaters.
Blog App

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu

Title: Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials (Singaporean Mystery #2)
Author: Ovidia Yu
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (HarperCollins)
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Rosie “Aunty” Lee, the feisty widow, amateur sleuth, and proprietor of Singapore’s best-loved home cooking restaurant, is back in another delectable, witty mystery involving scandal and murder among the city’s elite.

Few know more about what goes on in Singapore than Aunty Lee. When a scandal over illegal organ donation involving prominent citizens makes news, she already has a list of suspects. There’s no time to snoop, though—Aunty Lee’s Delights is catering a brunch for local socialites Henry and Mabel Sung at their opulent house.

Rumor has it that the Sung’s fortune is in trouble, and Aunty Lee wonders if the gossip is true. But soon after arriving at the Sung’s house, her curiosity turns to suspicion. Why is a storage house she discovers locked? What is the couple arguing about behind closed doors? Where is the guest of honor who never showed up?

Then, Mabel Sung and her son Leonard are found dead. The authorities blame it on Aunty Lee’s special stewed chicken with buah keluak, a local black nut that can be poisonous if cooked improperly. Aunty Lee has never carelessly prepared a dish. She’s certain the deaths are murder—and that they’re somehow linked to the organ donor scandal.

To save her business and her reputation, she’s got to prove it—and unmask a dangerous killer whose next victim may just be Aunty Lee.

My Review

You can read my review of the first book, Aunty Lee's Delights, HERE.

Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials, like its predecessor, takes you on a culinary, mystery adventure in Singapore with everyone's favorite Aunty. There was not a moment while reading this book that I wasn't wishing I was planning a vacation to Singapore, having my mouth water thinking about the food, or snickering loudly at Aunty Lee's antics. I always come to these books for the visuals and then stick around for the mystery.

Trailer Debut: Morganville Vampire Web TV 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.

Trailer


Welcome to Morganville! Claire Danvers has no reason to suspect choosing Texas Prairie University, the isolated town’s college, will be dangerous until she’s forced off campus and into the shabby-chic Glass House, and stumbles into a secret: Morganville’s owned by vampires. And so is everybody in it. With the help of Glass House residents Michael, Eve and Shane, she might have a fighting chance of surviving the toughest little town in Texas … not to mention her killer classes.

This six-part first season stars Robert Picardo (Oliver), Amber Benson (Amelie), Ben Easter (Michael), Lindsay Seidel (Claire), Jordan Farris (Shane), Haileigh Todd (Eve), and a great supporting cast.

Rachel Caine wrote the script for the first season, and it will follow the plotlines of the first two books in the series.

Morganville premieres October 27, 2014
on Geek & Sundry.
Links

Rachel Caine
Website
Twitter
Facebook

The Morganville Series
Series Website
Book Website Goodreads

Review (Giveaway): Loop by Karen Akins

Title: Loop (Loop #1)
Author: Karen Akins
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (Macmillan)
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Acquired Via: Publisher
At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels...at screwing up.

After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he’s in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her.

Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues—a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium—that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self.

But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.

My Review

Time travel books have always been very hit-or-miss with me, especially in YA. I found Karen Akins' debut, Loop, to be a fun read and very near to the bullseye. It has a very likable heroine, a love interest that I can stand behind, and reasonable enough science to back the time travel up.

Waiting on Wednesday (77): Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade #1)
Author: Jennifer Estep
Publisher: K-Teen (Kensington)
Release Date: April 28, 2015
THERE BE MONSTERS HERE…

It’s not as great as you’d think, living in a tourist town that’s known as “the most magical place in America.” Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power.

I try to keep out of it. I’ve got my mom’s bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick.

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend’s pawn shop, and I have to make a call—get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn’t. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I’m stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I’m going to end up just like her…


It took me a while to warm up to Estep's Elemental Assassin series, but now that I'm on book four I'm liking it a lot better. I'm interested in seeing her new YA series, especially since it has a thief with some magical talents.

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Title: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1)
Author: Sara Raasch
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Acquired Via: Edelweiss
Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now the Winterians' only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter's magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter's defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians' general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend and future king, Mather—she would do anything to help Winter rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore their magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she's scaling towers and fighting enemy soldiers just as she's always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn't go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics—and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

My Review

You can read Kayla's review HERE.

Snow Like Ashes is one of my favorite reads of the year. Besides Meira being one of my favorite heroines, the world was stunning, imaginative and bleak.

I'll admit that I was a little confused in the first chapter or so with the world and kingdoms. I'm glad that Sara Raasch posted a map of Primoria on her Tumblr, because I did not have the setup of the kingdoms right at all (my e-ARC had a small map in the front, but it was impossible to see on my Kindle). I liked the setup of the kingdoms - four Season kingdoms that each have only one season, and four rhythm kingdoms that cycle normally through all four seasons. It did take a little bit of suspension of disbelief, but it's fantasy, so that's par for the course. My main confusion was regarding where the magic was actually "located" and that was helped by the map.

Top Ten Tuesday: New Series I Want to Start

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Series I Want to Start


1. Sparrow Hill Road (Ghost Stories #1) by Seanan McGuire
May 6, 2014
Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross—a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea.

It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running.

They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her.

You can’t kill what’s already dead.

I'm reading and enjoying McGuire's October Daye series. I had previously tried her InCryptid series, and while I liked it, I haven't continued in the series. But, McGuire has a lot of talent in creating imaginative worlds and likable heroines. I'm interested in seeing what she does with a ghost story.



2. Dirty Magic (Prospero's War #1) by Jaye Wells
January 21, 2014
The last thing patrol cop Kate Prospero expected to find on her nightly rounds was a werewolf covered in the blood of his latest victim. But then, she also didn't expect that shooting him would land her in the crosshairs of a Magic Enforcement Agency task force, who wants to know why she killed their lead snitch.

The more Prospero learns about the dangerous new potion the MEA is investigating, the more she's convinced that earning a spot on their task force is the career break she's been wanting. But getting the assignment proves much easier than solving the case. Especially once the investigation reveals their lead suspect is the man she walked away from ten years earlier—on the same day she swore she'd never use dirty magic again.

Kate Prospero's about to learn the hard way that crossing a wizard will always get you burned, and that when it comes to magic, you should be never say never.

I've read and enjoyed most of Wells' Sabine Kane series. Since I enjoy witches/mages/wizards way more than I do vampires, I'm really excited about this new series. I just haven't made time yet to read it.

Spotlight (Excerpt and Giveaway): Desert Bound by Elizabeth Hunter

Title: Desert Bound (Cambio Springs #2)
Author: Elizabeth Hunter
Publisher: Self
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Can you turn the clock back on your first love? Would you even want to try?

Alex McCann and Teodora "Ted" Vasquez left Cambio Springs together. Ted came back. Alex didn't.

Now, years later, the future alpha of the McCann wolves has returned with plans to bring new life to the dying desert community. Plans that could change everything for the isolated enclave of shapeshifters in the California desert. Some love the plan. Others hate it.

As the town's doctor and one of the strongest daughters in the cat clan, Ted has her own concerns about exposing her community to outsiders. The two former lovers are at each other's throats. And everyone is watching to see what happens.

But when murder once again strikes Cambio Springs, can they overcome their past to help the community they both call home? And can the love they shared once burn again when so many stand against it?

Excerpt

Ted ignored the happy purr of her lion and tried to lean away from his body, but Alex still managed to surround her. With his arms, his scent, and that indescribable hum that always seemed to follow him. Like a live wire, her body reacted. She could feel the spark of awareness as he scented her.

Damn wolf.

He leaned in, his rough voice licking along her nerves.

“You smell good.”

Review: Chasing Power by Sarah Beth Durst

Title: Chasing Power
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind-things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers-and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again . . . which would mean grave danger for them both.

When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel-a boy with the ability to teleport-he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it. Together, they embark on a quest to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family-and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive . . . or survive.

My Review

You can read Kayla's review HERE.

After reading the synopsis and with my previous experience with Durst's The Lost, I expected an Indiana Jones-type adventure with some special powers thrown in and possibly more than a little magical realism. And that's exactly what I got. There were a few small issues, but for the most part, I was thoroughly entertained by Chasing Power.

Waiting on Wednesday (76): Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Court of Fives (The Fives #1)
Author: Kate Elliott
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette)
Release Date: August 18, 2015
A teenage girl secretly competes in her city's prestigious athletic competitions in this high-fantasy adventure that can be pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games meets Little Women.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.


I have enjoyed Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, but I still need to read the last in the trilogy. Although I haven't read it, yet, I have also heard great things about Elliott's Crown of Stars series. So, of course, when I heard that she was writing a new YA series, I was excited. This just sounds like it's going to be amazing.

What are you waiting on this week?

5th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the humongous Spooktacular Giveaway Hop hosted by the scarily fantastic blogger, Kathy @ I Am A Reader, Not A Writer! I love scary stories (as long as they aren't TOO scary *shudders*), so I know this hop is going to be a lot of fun for everyone taking part.

What You Can Win

I haven't done an international giveaway in a while, I'll open this up for everybody. Today you're entering to win your choice of scary book. I'm not featuring anything in particular today because of my crazy life and getting behind on All The Things. But I digress, so carry on and enter to win below!

Giveaway

Top Ten Tuesday: Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit
Real Places



1. New York
Ever since Sex and the City, I have dreamed of living in New York even though I have never even visited. I just know it's my place. I just couldn't live in a shoebox for $2,000 a month.



2. England
Probably a majority of all of my books are set in England. It's so full of history and interesting places. I want to visit soooooo bad. It would be awesome if I got to experience it the same as Diana did in Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.

Author Interview: Sarah Beth Durst, Chasing Power

Title: Chasing Power
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind-things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers-and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again . . . which would mean grave danger for them both.

When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel-a boy with the ability to teleport-he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it. Together, they embark on a quest to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family-and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive . . . or survive.

Interview

Amber: Hi Sarah, thank you so much for stopping by Bibliophilia, Please! Please tell us a little bit about your new book, Chasing Power.

Sarah Beth Durst: Thanks for having me here! My new book is about Kayla, a sixteen-year-old girl who can move things with her mind, and Daniel, a boy who can teleport across continents and who lies as easily as he travels. Together, they embark on an Indiana-Jones-style adventure to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millenia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family, and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive... or survive.

Amber: Where did you get the idea for Chasing Power?

Kayla Will Be MIA...

I know I don't write a lot of personal posts, but I don't want you guys to think that I've taken a hiatus or anything. My family and I have been staying with my mother-in-law off and on for the past few weeks to make it easier for Mister do his side jobs and get his deer stand ready. Anywho, Mister went home a few days ago to get some school uniforms for our daughter and discovered a bit of a mess. Not only had our air gone out, but a water line going to the back of our refrigerator had burst.

Our house was flooded.

My daughter's room was fine, but our kitchen, living room, and master bedroom was a swamp.

Review: Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke

Title: Dissonance (Dissonance #1)
Author: Erica O'Rourke
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
In this inventive romantic thriller, Del has the power to navigate between alternate realities—and the power to save multiple worlds.

Delancey knows for sure that there is more than one universe. Many more. Because every time someone makes a choice, a new, parallel world is spun off the existing one. Eating breakfast or skipping it, turning left instead of right, sneaking out instead of staying in bed—all of these choices create alternate universes in which echo selves take the roads not traveled. Del knows all of this because she’s a Walker, someone who can navigate between the worlds, and whose job is to keep the dimensions in harmony.

But Del’s decisions have consequences too. Even though she’s forbidden from Walking after a training session goes horribly wrong, she secretly starts to investigate other dissonant worlds. She’s particularly intrigued by the echo versions of Simon Lane, a guy who won’t give her the time of day in the main world, but whose alternate selves are uniquely interested. But falling for Simon draws Del closer to a truth that the Council of Walkers is trying to hide—a secret that threatens the fate of the entire multiverse.

My Review

I officially have a problem with 500(ish)-page YA novels. It seems like nine times out of ten they are too long by at least a hundred pages. Dissonance is evidence of this. It had a strong enough start, an interesting world, and a likeable enough main character. However, it dragged on for so long that I am beyond proud of myself for being able to finish it.

Blog Tour (Review): How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

Title: How to Build a Girl
Author: Caitlin Moran
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
What do you do in your teenage years when you realize what your parents taught you wasn't enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes—and build yourself.

It's 1990. Johanna Morrigan, fourteen, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there's no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde—fast-talking, hard-drinking gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer. She will save her poverty-stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer—like Jo in Little Women, or the Brontës—but without the dying-young bit.

By sixteen, she's smoking cigarettes, getting drunk, and working for a music paper. She's writing pornographic letters to rock stars, having all the kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.

But what happens when Johanna realizes she's built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters, and a head full of paperbacks enough to build a girl after all?

Imagine The Bell Jar—written by Rizzo from Grease. How to Build a Girl is a funny, poignant, and heartbreakingly evocative story of self-discovery and invention, as only Caitlin Moran could tell it.

My Review

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up Caitlyn Moran's How to Build a Girl. I was only vaguely aware of Moran, but I was thinking this would be a YA coming-of-age story. It kind of is a coming-of-age story, but I think How to Build a Girl felt mostly like Chelsea Handler writing fiction for teenagers.

Review: Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews

Title: Burn For Me (Hidden Legacy #1)
Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Avon (HarperCollins)
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Acquired Via: Edelweiss
Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

My Review

Burn For Me is the first book in a new series by one of my favorite writing duos, Ilona Andrews. I'll warn you now, I'm a total fangirl, but I'll try to be at least a little objective.

First, Burn For Me is more Paranormal Romance than Urban Fantasy. I say this because the romance takes more of a front and center aspect. However, Ilona Andrews is perfect at the slow-burn, and I have a feeling that this series is going to be just that. While there is some kissing and a few hot and heavy scenes, nothing culminates so to speak. I like the slow burn, so this works for me, but if you want a HEA in one book, it's not going to happen. But the journey will be glorious. :)

Waiting on Wednesday (75): Lion Heart by A.C. Gaughen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Lion Heart (Scarlet #3)
Author: A.C. Gaughen
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: May 19, 2015
The eagerly-awaited conclusion to the Scarlet trilogy delivers another action-packed and romance-filled adventure.

Scarlet has captured the hearts of readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.

Imprisoned by Prince John for months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring escape from the Prince's clutches, she learns that King Richard’s life is in jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine demands a service Scarlet can’t refuse: spy for her and help bring Richard home safe. But fate—and her heart—won’t allow her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long, and together, Scarlet and Rob must stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England. They can not rest until he’s stopped, but will their love be enough to save them once and for all?


Scarlet book three!!! King Richard! The first two in this trilogy have been phenomenal, so I'm expecting nothing less from the ending. A.C. Gaughen said on her blog that this was the hardest thing she had ever done. I can't wait to see where all her hard work and turmoil created. Although, I'm a a little underwhelmed by the cover; the first two covers were much better. I think it's that filigree on the side that is so off-putting for me.

What are you waiting on this week?