Cover Reveal (Giveaway): Birthright by Nichole Giles

Title: Birthright (Descendant #2)
Author: Nichole Giles
Publisher: Jelly Bean Press
Cover Reveal Organizer: Blog Tours by Elana
Release Date: May 1, 2014
Two months ago, Abigail Johnson saved the life of the boy she believes is her destiny and defeated an army of demons that have pursued her ancestors for centuries. Now, she and Kye should be taking their place as leaders of the new generation of Gifted. But the curse they thought was broken has returned, and every minute together brings them closer to death.

When remaining shadow demons attack again, the Dragons send Abby to Mexico. Being apart from Kye is slowly killing her soul, and it turns out she isn’t any safer here than she was back home. The shadows have tracked her, the locals expect her to help with their own demon problems, and the more time she spends away from Kye, the more she doubts the destiny that ties them together.

When the demons destroy her safe house, Abby has no choice but to take the fight to them. But the arrival of an old nemesis throws their careful plans into disarray, and Abby and her friends find themselves facing new adversaries in a battle that turns fatal. This time, not everyone will make it out alive.


About the Author

Audiobook Review: Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2)
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: My Local Library
Release Date: September 18, 2012
“Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”- Michael Corleone, The Godfather

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

My Review

Previously reviewed in series: All These Things I've Done

Because It Is My Blood is the second book in the Birthright series, aka the series that I never was interested in reading but became a little obsessed with. Okay, a lot obsessed with. Anya Balanchine has become one of my favorite literary characters for reasons that I can't exactly pinpoint - perhaps it is the way the novel is written. I guess this is an instance where the narrator of the story (not the audiobook), Anya, talking directly to us as her audience actually works. I imagine her as a old woman telling her grandchildren about the important events in her teenage years, which makes for a successful audiobook.

Audiobook Review: All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: My Local Library
Release Date: September 6, 2011
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.

My Review

My coming across Gabrielle Zevin's Birthright series is a bit of a happy accident. I was trolling around the blogosphere (as I am wont to do), and I happened upon an excerpt of All These Things I've Done. (You can find that excerpt HERE.) I have never had the slightest interest in this book for whatever reason (I don't understand my own taste - I admit it), but I was drawn to the excerpt. I don't know if it's a glitch on my work computer or with Macmillan's website, but a lot of the excerpt is blacked out. I am very nosy by nature, and the blacked out text merely fed my curiosity. I had to find some way to read it, and I did. Surprisingly, I liked what I read very much. I ordered the audiobook from my library and was going to keep it sitting in my car until I finished what I had been reading. However, the other book had to wait because I was already too far invested in All These Things I've Done and Anya, the main character.