Feb 24, 2013

Fire & Ice: Gifted by Liz Long

Welcome everyone to my week on the Fire & Ice blog hop. As your hostess for the last week I have a bunch of giveaways planned and a few more to link to. So stay tuned.

Today there are no other giveaways but this one. But trust me it's a good one. So, let's get started. The book I am featuring today is Gifted by Liz Long. And Liz has stopped by to answer a few bookish questions.

My Review
Lucy is gifted, like so many others in the world with a special power, hers is fire. Lucy is a firestarter, someone who can create and control fire. Soon after the death of both her parents she decides it's time to return to the place she spent part of her childhood, the Donovan Circus. There gifted people, mixed with a few actual humans, put on an amazing show to entertain the masses. Lucy will make new friends and start to feel like she belongs again, but before the good feeling can sink in someone turns up dead. Burned to death. And the new firestarter is the number one suspect. Now Lucy has to clear her name and find out who the real killer is before more people she cares about end up dead.

Gifted had all the thinks I love reading about. A circus, someone with firepower and people popping up dead. I really enjoyed the circus life and all the different characters we were introduced to. So many amazing gifted people. I wasn't the hugest fan of Lucy in the beginning cause she just couldn't realise the obvious, that her gifted was so much better than anyones else, that she was truly special, but she finally saw that. Her two love interests on the other hand (yes this has a love triangle in it) were both swoon worthy. I found myself more attracted to Keegan though, although it's pretty obvious she won't end up with him and I felt sorry for him cause Lucy was kind of leading him on.

There was a lot of action in the beginning of the book and a pretty awesome fight at the end of it, but in the middle the book got a little slow. Lucy was not hanging out with her friends that much, instead she was always with her two love interests, talking on and on. That was the downfall of it. It was a bit frustrating after the great beginning, but fortunately the ending was action packed too. Hence the 4 stars.

All in all, this is a great book. Especially if like me you are a huge fan of circus novels and firestarters.
★★★★☆
The Interview

Describe your book in three words.
Fast, action-packed, mystery

What inspired you to write about a circus?
The circus setting actually came second in the story - when I began to write the "Gifted" world, I came up with several characters and gifts first. After asking myself how in the world they'd hide themselves from humans, the circus was an immediate answer - it made total sense to have them hide in plain sight! Then it sort of took a life of its own as I began to put the puzzle pieces together in how Lucy got there and what would happen.

Was describing the circus life a challenge? Did you get any research done in order to do so?
The circus life wasn't too challenging, at least for this book. Since I wanted the focus to be on Lucy and her circumstances, and because she is so new, I left circus life a little vague, since we're discovering everything for the first time with her. She doesn't know the routines or rules, so it was easy to move right along with her and learn them. I did do a bit of research - I own a few "behind the circus scenes" books and spent several hours watching and rewatching the PBS documentary "Big Apple" which was really helpful in the little things, such as how they set up their camps behind the grounds. But because this is a unique supernatural world, I openly admit I changed many things to work with the gifted world.

Where do you usually write/read? (Provide photos if possible)
I have a small office where I write, though I often choose to take my laptop and go to the couch instead so I can sit with my dog and write while my husband plays video games. I read on a Kindle, so that's 9 out of 10 times done on the couch.

What is the one thing you always need with you when you are writing? (Music, notebook, coffee...)
It's not a requirement, but I have an unhealthy love for Hot Tamales, which are great for waking myself up when it's midnight and I'm still trying to finish a scene! I don't think I really have any "must haves." Sometimes I write with music and sometimes not - as long as I have my laptop with Scrivener open at the ready, I'm good to go!

What are your top 3 favourite books/series of all time?
Harry Potter is hands down my top favorite series of all time. It's just not fair how brilliant JK is with the little details! I also loved the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, though admittedly I'll be glad when she finishes the 13th and final book since it's dragged out a little - same goes for the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. I'm a sucker for thrillers or murder mysteries.

Your favourite movies or tv shows?
I watch way, way too much TV. I would say either Grimm or Elementary are my favorite shows right now. Grimm combines a supernatural aspect with a cop drama which is right up my alley. As far as movies, I'm in love with the Avengers and any superhero movies involving those heroes, as well as the Dark Knight trilogy. I really don't think I can pick just one favorite!

What should we expect from you in the future?
I'm anticipating my next release, Witch Hearts, to be out this spring. I haven't written out the synopsis yet, but witches are being murdered with their hearts ripped out. Ruby, the protagonist, becomes the killer's obsession after he kills her best friend.
I also plan to write another title in the Gifted Donovan Circus series this year, though that might not be released til early 2014. And of course, there are always 59 other ideas brewing in the back of my mind!


The Giveaway

Liz is offering one e-copy(Kindle or Nook) of Gifted to one lucky winner.
Open Internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feb 23, 2013

Blogger Interview Saturday

Hey guys, I have some exciting news, for me at least. Lolita @ Lola's Reviews has interviewed me. It was really fun. I love interviews. You can see the interview simply by following this link: http://lolabookreviews.blogspot.nl/2013/02/blogger-interview-saturday-mostly.html

And if you want to be featured in her Blogger Saturday Interviews too, all you have to do is scroll down to the end of the interview to get Lolita's email.

Feb 22, 2013

Cover Reveal: Beneath by Cambria Hebert

Hey everyone. I am really excited because there is another novella coming out in the Heven and Hell series and today I have the honor to be on the cover reveal. So without any further ado here's the cover and the book info.


Beneath (Heven and Hell #3.5)
by Cambria Hebert
Release Date: March 29, 2013
Where I came from everything is perfect. Everything is beautiful and predictable. Life isn’t measured by days, but by infinite joy that never ends.

But it did.

When I fell in love with a man who was perfectly imperfect.

The price for forbidden affection was steep and my beautiful white wings withered and died around me.

I was fallen. I am fallen.

Years have passed, and I’ve learned the true meaning of time. I’ve learned to build a wall around myself and exist alone. Yet, when he looks at me… the heart beneath my armor trembles.

But I must remember.

I must remember that I might not have anything left to lose, but he certainly does. And risking him is something I won’t do. So I lock my feelings where they belong.

Beneath.

And here is the book trailer.
 

Author Bio

Cambria Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series and the Death Escorts series. She loves a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and children (both human and furry) where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cambriahebert
Cambria website: http://www.cambriahebert.com

Fire & Ice: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Welcome back everyone to another Fire & Ice giveaway. This time I am featuring one of my favorite series of all times. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. And to see how much I love this series here are my 5 star reviews for all three books.

Oh My God! Where do I begin with Hex Hall? The book was so amazing I had to force myself to stop reading it cause I had a life to live. I loved it!!!

The cover is so pretty I knew I had to buy it in hardback from the first time I saw it. Thank God I did!
Sophie is a smart, funny heroine, who I loved from the first page. Hex Hall is a place I'd kill to be really, just like Hogwarts. The story was amazing, I loved that there were so many things from the past that influence the story line.

I ordered the next one before I was finished but I still have to wait a week to get my hands on it. I want so bad to read it!
Oh my... what an amazing book! Be careful, don't start reading this one unless you already have Spell Bound. Trust me.

In Demonglass we follow Sophie to her trip in London the summer right after everything in the first book happened. Accompanied by her best friend, the vampire, Jenna and her betrothal Cal, as we soon discover, Sophie visits Thorne Abbey, the place where her father lives and her Grandmother Alice was turned into a demon. But what she finds there is even more surprising than she expected, there are other two demon-kids living in Thorne Abbey along with few of the Councils members. Sophie will try to find as much as she can about the two other demons, her father, the history behind Alice's transformation and of course herself, all the while running from the Eye and discovering who is actually raising all these demons.

This book was AMAZING. I was a little sad that it wouldn't take place at Hex Hall, I really loved that school, but still it was amazing. Everything I was expecting, action, drama, sarcasm and a lot of surprises, both good and bad along the way. After reading halfway through the book I couldn't stop there was so much going on, so many new discoveries and secrets revealed and so much yet to be discovered.

As always I loved Sophie and her sarcasm, this girl had me laughing every other sentence. And Archer, oh Archer, how much I missed you! I was really glad he was back. All the moments he spend with Sophie were simply magical.

I can't really say anything else about this book cause I am afraid I would just start posting spoilers. I mean... I am still socked from the ending. Massive CLIFFHANGER. You have been warned!
In the last book of the Hex Hall series the story goes on right after Sophie tries to find her mother who is living with the Brannicks, where she discovers even more secrets about her family's past and who she is. One by one the people she is worried might be dead turn up to be okay, but before she even has any time to calm herself and make a plan to bring the Casnoffs down, she gets pulled back in Hex Hall, literally, and this time the school is nothing like it used to be.

Oh my, what an amazing ending to an awesome series. Loved loved loved it! The action, the sarcasm, the tears, the passions. I love this series to the end. I hate that it's over and I can't wait for the spin-off that I think it's going to be about Izzy Brannick, because there was oen thing about her and the dude in the mirror, Torin, mentioned in this book but it was left unsolved. So...fingers crossed.

Anyways, I don't think I can say much about this book cause I just finished it and I am left speecless and a bit breathless. I love the world Hawkins has created and Sophie, oh Sophie, how I love your snarky comments. You rock girl! I am not going to start another rant about how awesome the characters are, I think I did it with the two first books. I am just going to say that this book left me with the perfect bittersweet feeling and simply made me happy in the end.

The Giveaway
One of you will win one book in the series.
Open Internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feb 19, 2013

Fire & Ice: A Shade of Vampire

Welcome back for another Fire & Ice giveaway. This time around I have a very special book for you guys. I just read and totally fell in love with A Shade of Vampire. You might think, "Vampires? I got bored of them a million years ago", trust me I did too but this book is amazing. The story, the characters, everything.

My Review

I started reading this book expecting nothing really just a short vampire story and since I am not a big fan of vampires I thought that I might not even like the story, but because of the book's length I gave it a try. Little did I know I would end up loving it at the end.

A Shade of Vampire is the story of Sofia, a girl that has been taken captive just to enter a vampire prince's harem and Derek, the prince who just woke up from a 400 years sleep and who hates what he has become. The story was fast paced and didn't have a single boring moment. Even though the book is basically about how Sofia got in the island and met Derek and how their life started there and you'd expect that to be boring, it is not! At all.

The characters of this book is what made me truly love it though. Sofia and Derek are pretty much the perfect characters to me.

Sofia, is terrified of getting abducted and being trapped into a mysterious island but that doesn't stop her from trying to escape and standing up for herself, even having compassion for her captors. I loved the struggle inside her as she realizes that her life in the island is better than it used to be (her life sucked before anything happened) and how she doesn't allow herself to believe that she found a new home, cause the people around her are blood drinking vamps.

On the other hand there is Derek. I loved that the book had he pov too. Derek is so sweet and strong and protective of his people. He doesn't like the fact that he has become a vampire and he still struggles to hold on to his humanity. Basically if it was up to him he would go back to sleep forever so that he wouldn't have to face the monster he and his family has become.

Besides the main characters who we get to know a lot about there are others too. Derek's dangerous brother, and I am not talking Damon Salvatore dangerous, I am talking crazy, psycho killer dangerous. And Vivienne who in the end left me waiting for the next book.

★★★★★

The Giveaway
Bella has kindly offered a signed copy of the book.
So what are you waiting for? Go enter now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

I started reading this book expecting nothing really just a short vampire story and since I am not a big fan of vampires I thought that I might not even like the story, but because of the book's length I gave it a try. Little did I know I would end up loving it at the end.

A Shade of Vampire is the story of Sofia, a girl that has been taken captive just to enter a vampire prince's harem and Derek, the prince who just woke up from a 400 years sleep and who hates what he has become. The story was fast paced and didn't have a single boring moment. Even though the book is basically about how Sofia got in the island and met Derek and how their life started there and you'd expect that to be boring, it is not! At all.

The characters of this book is what made me truly love it though. Sofia and Derek are pretty much the perfect characters to me.

Sofia, is terrified of getting abducted and being trapped into a mysterious island but that doesn't stop her from trying to escape and standing up for herself, even having compassion for her captors. I loved the struggle inside her as she realizes that her life in the island is better than it used to be (her life sucked before anything happened) and how she doesn't allow herself to believe that she found a new home, cause the people around her are blood drinking vamps.

On the other hand there is Derek. I loved that the book had he pov too. Derek is so sweet and strong and protective of his people. He doesn't like the fact that he has become a vampire and he still struggles to hold on to his humanity. Basically if it was up to him he would go back to sleep forever so that he wouldn't have to face the monster he and his family has become.

Besides the main characters who we get to know a lot about there are others too. Derek's dangerous brother, and I am not talking Damon Salvatore dangerous, I am talking crazy, psycho killer dangerous. And Vivienne who in the end left me waiting for the next book.

★★★★★

book 3

Feb 18, 2013

Review Copy Cleanup 3.0 - Week 2 Wrap Up

Second week of the Review Copy Cleanup has come to an end and I am really glad with what I managed to read last week. As I have said before during the first week I only managed to read one review book, Tough Girl, but last week I read two! YAY!

Tough Girl by Libby Heily
Recalled by Cambria Hebert 
Red Fox by Karina Halle
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest 
Finding ELE by Rebecca Gober & Courtney Nuckels [next]
Ashuliya: The Lost Kingdom by Sabine A. Reed (There is no link for it yet)

Last week I read Recalled and then A Shade of Vampire. Both books got 5 stars but I have to say A Shade of Vampire blew me away. I went in with zero expectations, maybe thinking it won't be good cause I am not a fan of vamps, but it was amazing. Wait for my review tomorrow and a giveaway :) Truly amazing. And of course Recalled was brilliant too, but I've read all of Hebert's books and it was to be expected.

So, right now I am not reading any review book, instead I started Born Wicked, which hopefully will pick up the pace soon. But after that I will start Finding ELE.

How did you do?