Review: Pawn by Aimée Carter

Title: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)
Author: Aimée Carter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Acquired Via: NetGalley
Release Date: November 26, 2013
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There’s only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that’s not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she’s only beginning to understand.

My Review

Pawn by Aimée Carter first caught my eye back in the summer of 2012, but I was torn about whether or not I should read it. On one hand, there is a dystopia, rebellion, and castes. On the other hand, it is Harlequin (which implies romance, and I HAVE to be in the mood for it) and the potential for switched identities (instant frustration). The lull of the evil government won me over in the end, and I am so glad that I got down from my high horse long enough to read Pawn.

Blog Tour (Interview & Giveaway): The Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Klehr

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Title: The Cutting Room Floor
Author: Dawn Klehr
Publisher: Flux
Blog Tour Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Behind-the-scenes secrets could turn deadly for Desmond and Riley.

Life in the Heights has never been easy for seventeen-year-old Riley Frost, but when she's publicly dumped and outed at the same time, she becomes an immediate social outcast at her high school. So Riley swears off romance and throws herself into solving the shocking murder of her favorite teacher, Ms. Dunn.

Riley turns to her best friend, budding filmmaker Desmond Brandt, for help. What she doesn't know is that Dez has been secretly directing her life, blackmailing her friends, and hoping his manipulations will make her love him. When his schemes go too far, Dez's web of lies threatens to destroy both of their lives.

Interview with Dawn

Hi, Dawn! 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 The Cutting Room Floor – what is something funny about you that only your friends know?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one. I have a ton of embarrassing facts, but funny? Oh, I know. I fell down a manhole when I was in fourth grade. I wasn’t watching where I was going and chatting with a friend, and the cover was off the hole, and I just fell down it!

Okay, now to business. Please tell us a little bit about The Cutting Room Floor in your own words but with a Twitter twist – 140 characters or less.

Blog Tour (Excerpt & Giveaway): Rebels by Scott & Judith Powell

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Title: Rebels
Authors: Scott & Judith Powell
Blast Organizer: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
Release Date: October 6, 2013
The world is on fire. From the ashes like a phoenix rises a new America, one that will save it all. Under one condition; absolute and complete surrender. The world complies without question. Those who don’t are destroyed. It is in this world, John is born. His very name is treason.

If the New America, now known to everyone as the State, knew what John was, they’d kill him, but instead they give him a gift.

Praise for Rebels

"John has a lot of potential (especially for someone so young) in that he sees the flaws in this society. He wants to be like George Washington and knows a lot about the manner in which a government should be run… Highly recommended." - Amazon Review

Excerpt

But unlike the others, my parents have made me commit to memory the preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America, a document outlawed by the State and every night my father pulls out a very old Bible hidden in a compartment in our wall and we listen to him read aloud its words. If it is found out that we have such a book, the penalty is death, but we read it anyway. Our government is called the State of America and consists of most of the civilized world. I do not know what schools were like before the Great Fires but ours are old and moldy, full to the breaking point with youth and children. The conditions have worsened through the years since the State has taken over and slowly broken down society much like strip mining, leaving nothing in place of what they have taken. In many ways, we are no more than cattle waiting to be taken to the slaughter, only to serve the State and its needs. It is here at school that my life changed forever and I could no longer sit and do nothing while others decided my fate for me.

Buy Links
Amazon


About the Authors

Scott Powell was born in Burlington, Vermont, to a father who was a police officer and a mother who emigrated from South Korea. He received a degree in marketing from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Scott served a two-year Spanish-speaking mission for his church. He is a mixed martial artist who continues to train with his father, a second-degree black belt in Tae kwon do and a kick boxer.

Besides being married to Scott for over seventeen years, Judith Powell is a stay-at-home mom whose whole life has been full of stories. Being raised by an Irish storytelling father and a Native American mother, stories have filled her life and her head until they finally had no choice but to flow out through her fingertips.

Find Scott & Judith Online
Website | Twitter | Pinterest
Rebels’ Facebook Page
Judith’s Facebook | Scott’s Facebook


Blog Tour Giveaway

Win $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends at 12:01am EST on December 26th
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Cover Reveal: AfterLife by Zoe Dawson

Title: AfterLife (The Starbuck Chronicles #1)
Authors: Zoe Dawson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Cover Designer: Jessica Allain
Cover Reveal Organizer: AToMR Tours
Release Date: December 23, 2013
Lily Starbuck’s day doesn’t start well with blood on the horizon and a grumpy werewolf who refuses to pay his catering bill. Her day only gets worse when she finds out that her business partner in their catering company has embezzled all their available cash.

Lily can get no answers from her partner when she finds her dead. That’s the least of her worries—her landlord is evicting her, she’s being hounded by the Fairy Dust Administration (FDA) who suspects that her partner was dealing in illegal dust, and Lily’s pissed off their werewolf supplier.

With Lily’s very livelihood in jeopardy, she has no choice but to discover who killed her partner and try to track down the cash. She has only Spocko, a small, wizened gnome with just a bit of gremlin blood in him that makes him cantankerous at best to depend on, but he often goes invisible on her. Clues lead her to an open case being investigated by Otherworld Security (O.S.) and the tough O.S. Warden, shapeshifter, Tam Darkwood. And, at the outset of the investigation, a tiny, mythical fire-breathing, red dragon joins her as her trusty (and opinionated) sidekick, Kindle.

It seems a rogue mage has created a video game that is unwarded and game monsters are being released to terrorize the citizens of the Twin Cities. Trouble is Lily has reason to believe that this mage killed her partner.

The investigation takes an unexpected turn when they are led to influential and powerful Archmage Tarquin Wilding and somehow Lily finds herself embroiled in a sinister shadow Fae plot. With her friends at her side, she tackles dangerous and unpredictable supernaturals and monsters with an “all in a day’s work” attitude.


About the Author

Zoe Dawson is the alter ego of Karen Anders, award winning, multi-published author. Her writing journey started with poetry and branched out into fiction. With a couple of college English courses under her belt, she penned a historical, then moved onto contemporary romance fiction. Today, she is happy producing romantic suspense, romantic mystery, urban fantasy and paranormal novels. The words feed her soul and the happily ever afters feed her heart.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter

Blog Tour (Guest Post & Giveaway): Another Little Piece of My Heart by Tracey Martin

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Title: Another Little Piece of My Heart
Author: Tracey Martin
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Blog Tour Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: December 1, 2013
What if your devastating break-up became this summer’s hit single? In this rock-and-roll retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, music can either bring you together or tear you apart.

At her dying mother’s request, Claire dumps Jared, the only boy she’s ever loved. Left with a broken family and a broken heart, Claire is furious when she discovers that her biggest regret became Jared’s big break. While Jared is catapulted into rock-star status, another piece of Claire’s heart crumbles every time his song plays on the radio.

The summer after her senior year, it’s been months since the big break-up, and Claire is just trying to keep her head down and make it through a tense trip to the beach with her family. But when Jared shows up, and old feelings reignite, can Claire and Jared let go of the past? Or will they be stuck singing the same old refrain?

What's on Your Desk


The beauty of laptops is that my desk is wherever I can park my butt for a while. Wherever that is though, I’ll most likely have a mug of something hot and caffeinated nearby. On my laptop screen is the print galley for my urban fantasy, Wicked Misery, which I’m currently going through.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble


About the Author

Review: Champion by Marie Lu

Title: Champion (Legend #3)
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (Penguin)
Acquired Via: Library Release Date: November 5, 2013
The explosive finale to Marie Lu’s New York Times bestselling LEGEND trilogy—perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT!

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

My Review

Thar be spoilers infesting these waters if you're new to these seas, matey. Arrr!

The negative:

The plot, or lack thereof. There wasn’t really a whole happening until almost the very end of the book. Or maybe, there was stuff happening, but it didn’t feel like it mattered in the long run. There was a whole lot of Day not telling June information, which is one plot device that drives me crazy. If the only way there is tension between characters is the lack of truth or the existence of lies, I get really annoyed. Mostly because this conflict is normally drug out much longer than necessary, because the quick and easy fix for the problem is the characters just being honest with each other. There were plenty of other issues between June and Day that this was unnecessary. Other than being annoyed with this issue, I found myself kind of bored and uninterested at times, even when there was action supposedly going on. I think a lot of what was happening was supposed to show the reader that Anden was a good guy and not a monster like his dad was. But, there could have been fewer scenes showing the conflicts that were presented to Anden and all his responsibilities, and I would still have understood that Anden was one of the good guys.

The positive:

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Shadows of Asphodel by Karen Kincy

Shadows of Asphodel Tour Schedule



Title: Shadows of Asphodel
Author: Karen Kincy
Publisher: Createspace
Acquired Via: CBB Book Promotions
Release Date: September 13, 2013
When Ardis discovers a man bleeding to death on the battlefield, she knows she has to walk away.

1913. In her work as a mercenary for Austria-Hungary, Ardis has killed many men without hesitation. One more man shouldn’t matter, even if he manages to be a charming bastard while he stands dying in the snow.

But when he raises the dead to fight for him, she realizes she must save his life.

If a necromancer like Wendel dies, he will return as a monster—or so the rumors say. Ardis decides to play it safe and rescues him. What she doesn’t expect is Wendel falling to one knee and swearing fealty. Ardis never asked for the undying loyalty of a necromancer, but it’s too late now.

Ardis and Wendel forge an uneasy alliance underscored with sexual tension. Together, they confront rebels, assassins, and a conspiracy involving a military secret: robotically-enhanced soldiers for a world on the brink of war. But as Ardis starts to fall for Wendel, she realizes the scars from his past run more deeply than she ever imagined. Can Ardis stop Wendel before his thirst for revenge destroys him and everyone else around him?

My Review

Shadows of Asphodel by Karen Kincy came as a bit of a surprise to me. Self-published punk novels (dieselpunk in this instance) have not had much luck with me as their reader. However, it did not take me long to realize that the world-building and imagination in Shadows of Asphodel is just as good as anything that I have ever read in a traditionally published novel. While the worldbuilding was amazing, I did have a little bit of issue with the relationship between Ardis and Wendel, but I promise you, there was good in that as well.

Waiting on Wednesday (32): Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder

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: Taste of Darkness (Healer #3)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: December 31, 2013

She's fought death and won. But how can she fight her fears?

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

But there's a more immediate threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.


Maria Snyder’s Study series was phenomenal, and this Healer series has a similar feel. And after the cliffhanger ending in Scent of Magic, I am dying to get my hands on this one!

What are you waiting on this week?