Debut Author Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Hello again, giveaway hoppers! Thank you to the lovely ladies, Mary at Book Hounds and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, for hosting this hop. I mean, what could be more fun that featuring newly published authors and their books that we loved?

What You Can Win

Earlier this week (because I'm a procrastinator), I asked the other ladies of Bibliophilia, Please which books were their favorite debut reads of 2014. Amber is my reading twin the majority of the time, so her picks were the same as mine. Janelle's choice was one that I enjoyed as well. And here they are:

Amber's Picks



Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1) by Pierce Brown
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.



My Review

Book Deals: November 17, 2014

Title: Darkfever (Fever #1)
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Price: $1.99
MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae...

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands...

This book has an average of 4.18 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I rated this 5 out of 5 stars.

Please remember to check prices before buying. These prices are subject to change without notice.

Review: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Title: The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1)
Author: Erika Johansen
Publisher: Harper
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: July 8, 2014
On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend…if she can survive.

My Review

You can read Kayla's review HERE.

I apparently went into The Queen of the Tearling “knowing” that I was going to hate it. I realized this when I kept getting surprised at all the things I DIDN’T hate, and once I let that go, I really enjoyed myself.

In any ambitious fantasy, there is a line to straddle between too much info dumping/world building and not enough or conflicting information given to the reader. Johansen straddled that line quite well, so well, in fact, that The Queen of the Tearling does not feel like a debut fantasy novel. She does err on the side of too little information, which I found troublesome at times. Although I realized early on that the Tearling was a land set in the future, I’m still unsure about how exactly that future came about. The entire book I tried unsuccessfully to determine exactly what “the crossing” was. For Mr. Tear to have immigrated a group of people somewhere in the current world is unbelievable to me. Therefore, I think that “the crossing” was either to another planet (which is the most unlikely as the bulk of medical supplies and doctors sunk in a ship) or another world/dimension through magic or some high-tech dimensional travel. Also, what exactly prompted “the crossing”? Was there a nuclear war? Was there an android crash on earth on the dinosaur scale? What happened?!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer TBR List

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

Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List



1. Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) by Ilona Andrews
July 29, 2014
My favorite writing duo is bringing us a new Kate novel! I just can't get enough of Kate and Curran. Also, Renée Raudman brings this story to life through her narration. I can't read "Why me?" in any book without hearing it in Raudman's voice and inflection. If you like urban fantasy and haven't started this series, you need to immediately stop whatever you're reading and start this series.



2. The Kraken King Part II: The Kraken King and the Abominable Worm (Iron Seas #4.2) by Meljean Brook
I quickly devoured the first three in this series, along with a few novellas not too long ago. I'm attempting to be patient and read through the serials of book 4. My library has all of them but I am on the hold list for the second part. I really don't see myself holding out without just giving up and buying the rest of them. Which just confirms that I am too impatient for serials.

Blog Tour (Review): The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Title: The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1)
Author: Erika Johansen
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: July 8, 2014
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend...if she can survive.

My Review

I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately, and it's very easy for me to get burned out on the genre, though it's my favorite, because writers tend to stick to overused formulas and plot devices. Johansen's Queen of the Tearling did indeed put some of those fantasy formulas to use, but the writing and characters were so good that I was willing to overlook it.