Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): A Day of Fire - A Novel of Pompeii

Title: A Day of Fire
Author: Various
Publisher: Self
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Acquired Via: Historical Fiction Blog Tours
Pompeii was a lively resort flourishing in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius at the height of the Roman Empire. When Vesuvius erupted in an explosion of flame and ash, the entire town would be destroyed. Some of its citizens died in the chaos, some escaped the mountain’s wrath . . . and these are their stories:

A boy loses his innocence in Pompeii’s flourishing streets.
An heiress dreads her wedding day, not knowing it will be swallowed by fire.
An ex-legionary stakes his entire future on a gladiator bout destined never to be finished.
A crippled senator welcomes death, until a tomboy on horseback comes to his rescue.
A young mother faces an impossible choice for her unborn child as the ash falls.
A priestess and a whore seek resurrection and redemption as the town is buried.

Six authors bring to life overlapping stories of patricians and slaves, warriors and politicians, villains and heroes who cross each others’ path during Pompeii’s fiery end. But who will escape, and who will be buried for eternity?

My Review

Usually when reviewing a short story collection, I try to review each of the stories individually. However, with A Day of Fire, I don't really feel that it's necessary. Each of the stories are of the same quality, and I feel like the theme running between them was also the same. This is by no means a YA collection (though older teens may enjoy it), but each of the characters faced coming of age and learning who they were and what they were about, even the older characters. The most important thing that I saw the characters learning was honor in the face of the terrifying event that the anthology is based around.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Re-Read

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

Top Ten Books I Want to Re-Read


1. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews
This is one of my favorite series, and I really want to re-read it to fall in love all over again.



2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K. Rowling
Another one of my favorite series that I need to re-read just because it's so great.

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.