Review: Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

Title: Conjured
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (Bloomsbury)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date (US): September 3, 2013
Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

My Review

Sometimes, a book can surprise you. I was surprised by Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst because I actually finished reading it. The book wasn't bad, but I went into it blind (I didn't read the synopsis), and Conjured really wasn't the right book for that. The main character, Eve, had no memories or any idea of what was going on. Therefore, I had no idea what was going on until maybe the last sixty pages. However, I liked Eve enough to make the journey with her.

Review: Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Title: Asylum
Author: Madeleine Roux
Publisher: Harper Teen
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: August 20, 2013
Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

My Review

Madeleine Roux is an author who has been on my radar for a while (I own, but am yet to read, Allison Hewitt is Trapped), so I decided that I would give her YA debut, Asylum, a try. The story is about three friends - Dan, Abby, & Jordan - who meet at a summer college prep program. The dormitory where the teens are staying for that particular summer happens to be an old asylum for the criminally insane. The book was sinister and eerie at first, but ultimately fell flat.

Blog Tour (Guest Post & Giveaway): Dreamscape by Christie Rich

Title: Dreamscape (Netherworld #1)
Author: Christie Rich
Genre: Fantasy
Age: New Adult (14+)
Release Date: July 23, 2013
Every night before Amelia falls asleep she makes a wish to dream of him – the man who calls her to their beautiful private oasis, her sanctuary where she is free of her greedy landlord’s threats. But tonight, he will not call Amelia to him. Tonight, another man will step into her world to claim her. Tonight, Amelia’s shattering reality will crumble - and disappear into the Dreamscape…along with her freedom.

When Amelia dreams tonight, her nightmare becomes her new world where Seth is her captor and anything is possible…except escape. Seth needs Amelia to break the curse that binds him to the Dreamscape. He must convince her that she was made to free him, that she was made to join him.

For if he fails, he will never escape his prison, and he will lose Earth to the Netherworld where the evil Erobos wait to consume the human realm and everything in it. If he fails, Seth will lose the one thing that matters to him: Amelia.

Little Known Books
Christie Rich
Hello! I’m so excited to be here with you today. Thanks, Kayla for hosting me today.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I want to read something original. I love a good vampire romance, but occasionally I’d like something with a new edge. I’m listing some of the books I’ve read lately that snared me and made me want more. This isn’t an all inclusive list by any means because I’ve read some great books lately, but these are the ones that came to mind when I tried to remember the best I’ve read lately.

Review: A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

Title: A Long, Long Sleep
Author: Anna Sheehan
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Release Date: August 9, 2011
It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep. But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone-- and her future full of peril.

Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose--hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire--is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes--or be left without any future at all.

My Review

Christina at A Reader of Fictions said that she told me ages ago to read A Long, Long Sleep but, sadly, my memory is shite, and I forgot that I needed to read it. Thankfully, the book was on my TBR in my Kindle and in my Audible library because I lack self control. After finishing my Grave Mercy reread, I needed an audiobook, and A Long, Long Sleep never looked so good.

Blog Tour (Interview): Sky's End by Lesley Young

Tour Schedule



Title: Sky's End (Cassiel Winters #1)
Author: Lesley Young
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Release Date: July 15, 2013
A secret she must never share. A secret that two warring species are determined to control. A universe’s future at stake.

Twenty-year-old Cassiel Winters joins Earth’s new space academy in hopes of finding her brother, one of Command’s top pilots and her only family, who’s been reported MIA. But she quickly realizes she may not be cut out for life in space, where female cadets are outnumbered, competition’s fierce, and she’s already failed her hand-to-hand combat test once.

Even the station’s most respected officer, Lt. Damian King, probably can’t help Cassiel pass the second time around – so why is he so interested in her progress? If only one of her freaky déjà vu visions would offer an answer instead of mysterious messages like hide.

When Cassiel’s manipulated into a perilous mission, she encounters a warrior species bred to protect the universe from an even greater threat. And she learns that her secret visions are at the heart of it all.

Now Cassiel must fight to control her own destiny and race to save her brother – even if it means pretending to be the pawn of Prime Or’ic, the cold-as-steel Thell’eon leader. Even if it means risking her life, facing hard truths, and making the ultimate sacrifice.

Interview with Lesley Young

Hi, Lesley! Thank you so much for agreeing to take some time from your busy schedule to answer some questions for us here at Bibliophilia, Please. Let’s break the ice a little before talking about Sky's End – what is something funny about you that only your friends know?

Oh how I wish this was a short list. If I had to name just one, let’s just say I make Bella’s clumsiness seem cute. In fact, I’ve tripped and fallen, mind you, in more than 11 cities around the world. I know this because it was a trivia question at my wedding. Also . . . hm, should I admit this? Oh why not — my brother’s nickname for me growing up was "Lurch". I am tall (5’10) so it’s gotta be a center of gravity thing.

Can you tell us a little bit about Cassiel Winters and how she evolved from initial thought to the character she becomes in Sky's End*?

Blog Tour (Guest Post & Giveaway): Caged by J.A. Belfield

Title: Caged (Holloway Pack #3)
Author: J.A. Belfield
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing
Release Date: August 15, 2013
If the meek can become deadly, the strongest can be weak.

For Ethan Holloway, his mission to find a missing werewolf should be simple. Crack a few heads, bust a few chops and the solution always reveals itself. Always.

Not this time.

Ethan’s reputation precedes him, and because it does, someone is ready. Waiting. Unbeknownst to Ethan, he’s about to go down. Hard. Against a foe he never suspected and in a world he never imagined could be real.

What awaits Ethan is a fight not only for his reputation, but also his pack, his female, and his life. If he survives, damage control will become priority number one.

If he survives.

Because even Ethan’s not sure he’s strong enough to take on an entire race all by himself.

Especially one hell bent on exposing who and what he is in the name of sport.


How My Favourite Character Formed
J.A. Belfield
I often get asked who my favourite Holloway Pack member is, and although I fell in love with Ethan when writing Caged, and fell in love all over again with the MC of Unnatural, I have always had a deep love for Sean.

Book Blast (Giveaway): Midnight Masquerade by Marcia Lynn McClure

Title: Midnight Masquerade
Author: Marcia Lynn McClure
Publisher: Distractions Ink
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Stavos Voronin was not as blind-eyed as many nobles and royals. Evony’s physical gestures—even the simplest movement of her hands—revealed that she had not always been destitute. The same was true of the children—of their polished manners and the boy’s knowledge of horses and tendency to be bold and fearless of strangers.

Ah yes, Stavos enjoyed a good mystery. After all, interest in the inexplicable circumstances surrounding the royals of Abawyth was the very thing that had lured him to the kingdom—the enigma of Abawyth’s twelve sleepy princesses. And yet now—now his mind was all the more intrigued. Not only was the obscurity of what had caused the profound and baffling torpidity of Abawyth’s princesses laid out before him, but also he found his curiosity intensely piqued over the riddle surrounding the very lovely Evony and her siblings.

As Stavos strode through the village resting on the outskirts of Abawyth Castle, his mind reeled with possibilities. His musings were drawn back to why he had come to Abawyth at all—to solve the conundrum surrounding the twelve beautiful princesses of Abawyth kingdom—to solve the seemingly impenetrable crux and thereby win the hand of one of Abawyth’s princesses, as his father, King Letholdus of Ethiarien, had commanded.

Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between #1)
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: August 15, 2013
You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

My Review

I've always imagined that winning the lottery is an exciting and pulse-pounding experience. Until the people and things around you become creepy, and then downright scary. When all the family starts showing up with their secrets and airing of dirty laundry, things start to go downhill. Finally, the batshit crazy muthatrucker that nobody has ever heard of comes along, demanding things and waving his gun around, pretty much ruining any good times to be had for everyone. This lottery metaphor pretty much sums up April Genevieve Tucholke's debut, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.