Top Ten Tuesday (72)- My Top Ten Books I Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

July 5:  Top Ten Books I Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads

I have ton of underrated books so picking only 10 will be hard! I will put the cover and why I love the book and a link to it's goodreads page!

1. SNAKEROOT by Andrea Cremer. I am really surprised with her fanbase that this doesn't have over 2000 ratings! And I actually liked this one better than her Nightshade series lol!

2. THE ARCHITECT OF SONG by A.G. Howard. Ok so this one isn't out yet so of course it doesn't have many ratings but it only has 1500 to-reads so I'm hoping that by sharing it it gets more! I finished this book 2 days ago and am still thinking about it. It was really awesome!

3. Deception's Princess by Esther M. Friesner. I love this historical Scottish tale! If you're an Outlander fan I think you'll love this!

4. The OPAL MASK Series by Jenny Lundquist. Another awesome fantasy series that deserves some more love!

5. THE CADET OF TILDOR by Alex Liddell. I love this fantasy and I think if you're a fan of fantasy you will too! Lets get this one up in the rankings!

6. BLACKHEARTS by Nicole Castroman. I can't believe this doesn't have 2000 Ratings. This was one of my favorite books of 2016!

7. NAMELESS by Jennifer Jenkins. How in the world does this fantastic fantasy have only 396 ratings??? Everyone needs to read this one! 

8. THE GODDESS WARS Series by Trisha Wolfe. Yes this is NA and an indie but I love the series and that it's a Fantasy NA!!! Which is something we need more of! Also if you want to give it a go the eBook of book 1 is FREE on Amazon!

9. THE REQUIEM RED by Brynn Chapman. This historical horror/fantasy/romance was awesome! I loved the multiple POV's that were easy to differentiate and the story and romance were so good! Also love the cover!

10. MAGNETIC SHIFT by Lucy D. Briand. I loved this book! I am a huge NASCAR fan and I loved that she incorporated this into a light sci-fi story with romance!

So what about you? What are some of your favorite underrated books? And check back next week for my Top Ten Facts About Me! 

Hugs,

Jaime

Top Ten Tuesday (65)- Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

May 17: Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim 

A lot of these books are going to be from before I started blogging or when I first started. I haven't picked up a book on a whim in quite a while lol!

1. WICKED GAME by Jeri Smith-Ready. I found this at a used bookstore many years ago and loved the synopsis. It was a good thing too because I fell in love with this series!

2. THE PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK by Jenny Lundquist. I hadn't heard much about this one and I'm really glad I decided to read this awesome high fantasy!

3. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE by Anne Rice. I was 15 and at a friends house who had this on their books shelf. I grabbed it and didn't put it down until I was finished.

4. THE CADET OF TILDOR by Alex Lidell. Another high fantasy that there was zero buzz for but there should have been! This book was fantastic!

5. POISON PRINCESS by Kresley Cole. When I got this ARC there was no buzz for it. I got it really early. And I'll admit I hated the first 13 chapters but ended up loving the book and am obsessed with this series!

6. THE GATHERING STORM by Robin Bridges. This was purely an impulse by I love fantasy and books about Imperial Russia so I knew I had to have this and I loved it!

7. ANATHEMA by K.A. Tucker. I had never heard of this book but I loved the cover and the description. I ended up loving it!

8. WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr. This was another cover love buy and I loved the series.

9. DARK LOVER by J.R. Ward. I was an a huge paranormal romance phase when I grabbed this and it did not disappoint.

10. THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. Yes lol all you want but I had never heard of this series when I got the first book! I hadn't been reading YA for long and had been reading all paranormal. I grabbed this at Borders (sobs I miss Borders) wanting to try something different. And thank goodness I did.

So what about you? What are some of your go to websites? And check back next week for my Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed!

Hugs,

Jaime

Blog Tour- THE OPAL CROWN by Jenny Lundquist and a Giveaway!

Hey y'all I'm trilled to have Jenny Lundquist here for THE OPAL CROWN blog tour! I absolutely love this high fantasy series of hers and I can't wait for you all to see how it ends. I have a scene from the swoonworthy Stefan today. Oh and make sure to stick around and enter the giveaway! 
Haven't heard of THE OPAL CROWN? Check it out!

Title: THE OPAL CROWN (The Opal Mask #2)

Author: Jenny Lundquist

Pub. Date: October 28, 2014

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Pages: 368

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

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. Galandra 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.

Now on to the post!

Distant laughter echoes through the halls as Stefan Strassburg walks the corridor leading to his bride-to-be’s chambers. Behind him, a line of guards silently follow him.

          It is the longest walk of his life.

          Lord Royce’s words still ring in his ears: “They discussed sending a decoy to Kyrenica. We cannot be sure that the woman you are to marry is in fact Wilhamina Andewyn.”

          At first Stefan had laughed at the Guardian. For how could it be? No one could be that conniving, that deceitful. And yet…hasn’t he wondered at her slips in memory? At her strange mix of elegance and ignorance? At her fiery spirit, so at odds with everything he ever heard about Wilhamina Andewyn, the Masked Princess?

          He knocks on her door and she lets him in, while the guards wait behind. They make small talk, but he feels he must be giving himself away somehow, for her eyes are shifting around, like a cat caught among wolves. Would she look this way if she was innocent?

          “I had the most interesting message from your brother Andrei, accompanied by the most interesting messenger. Do you want to hear it?”

          He watches her as he relays the message. Her face drains of color, and she looks frightened. And all at once, he realizes he doesn’t need to hear her answer.  He was right to summon the guards. The message is true.

          The woman in front of him is an imposter.

          She doesn’t give in, not at first. But finally: “I’m not her. I’m not Wilhamina. But I swear I’m royal. I’m not just a look-alike. I’m Wilha’s—”

          “I don’t care who you are!” He pushes all his anger, all his hurt into his goblet. Then he hurls it at the wall and the glass shatters, just as he feels shattered. But there’s no sense of relief, no lessening of the pain raking his heart. She’s a liar, a manipulator.

          “Stefan, I can explain—”

          “Explain? I was falling in love with you,” he says and he can’t keep his voice from breaking. “I would have married you and spent my life trying to win your love in return.” For he’d always known she didn’t love him as he did her. But he didn’t care. He wanted her. It didn’t matter that their marriage was the key to keeping peace in the region—he wanted her, the girl who told such enthralling tales around the fire. The girl who seemed to genuinely love his sister. The girl who, it turns out, never existed at all.

But if he was honest, he’d thought he’d seen small sparks, small clues that her heart was softening to him, even if she rarely let her guard down.      But it must have all been lies; it was all in his head.

This woman didn’t love him, and never would.

          “Guards!”

          The guards enter and surround her, and he’s sickened as, in the course of a few minutes, she fades from a princess, and into a criminal. Ruby, his small, impressionable sister, bursts in, and even as he’s shouting, telling Ruby to stay away, already he’s thinking ahead, to what he knows will come next. What will happen when the others hear. Some will call for her execution.

And he knows no way to stop it.

         

Thanks Jenny for the awesome scene! 

About Jenny:

Jenny Lundquist grew up in Huntington Beach, California, wearing glasses and wishing they had magic powers. They didn't, but they did help her earn a degree in intercultural studies at Biola University. Jenny has painted an orphanage in Mexico, taught English at a university in Russia, and hopes one day to write a book at a café in Paris. Jenny and her husband live in northern California with their two sons and Rambo, the world's whiniest cat.

Website | Twitter | Facebook |Pinterest | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

(1)  Winner will receive a $25 Amazon or Barnes &Noble Gift card and a set of THE PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK and THE OPAL CROWN. US Only.

(4) Winners will receive a set of THE PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK and THE OPAL CROWN. US Only.

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Check out the Tour Schedule for more awesome posts!

Week One:

10/20/2014- Tales of the Marvelous- Review

10/21/2014- The Reading Nook Reviews- Interview

10/22/2014- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

10/23/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

10/24/2014- The Paige-Turner- Review

Week Two:

10/27/2014- A Backwards Story- Interview

10/28/2014- Bibliophilia, Please- Review

10/29/2014- Stories & Sweeties-Guest Post

10/30/2014- Jessabella Reads- Review

10/31/2014-  Me, My Shelf and I- Guest Post

Exclusive Cover Reveal!!!! THE OPAL CROWN by Jenny Lundquist and a Giveaway!

I am sooooooo excited!!!! Today I get the EXCLUSIVE cover reveal for THE OPAL CROWN, book 2 in The Opal Mask Series, by Jenny Lundquist releasing in October 2014! I adored THE PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK and am dying to get my hands on this one myself! Check out the gorgeous cover, synopsis, and enter to win an ARC!

About the book: (Spoilers for book 1 so don't read if you haven't read The Princess in The Opal Mask)

THE OPAL CROWN by Jenny Lundquist (The Opal Mask #2)

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Publication date: October 28, 2014

One year after her betrothal to the crown prince of Kyrenica, no one has suspected that Princess Wilha (also known as the Masked Princess) has been a decoy. And that Elara, her secret twin sister, has been pretending to be Wilha all along. The Galandrian royal family has kept Elara’s identity hidden from the world, and for the girls, swapping lives has not been easy. There is word that their kingdom is deteriorating, and the sisters need to decide if returning home will offer peace—or add fuel to the slow-burning fire.

When their father, the king, mysteriously dies and Elara and Wilha’s younger brother, Andrei, claims the Galandrian throne, 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. But with only one crown to claim and one throne to overthrow, Elara and Wilha must decide who will become queen. Or rather, who will become the next savior for their people.

Jenny Lundquist’s final installment to The Princess in the Opal Mask series delivers a fast-paced fantasy packed with palace intrigue, romance, and epic twists. Fans of princesses and fairy-tale re-imaginings will be rooting for these fierce heroines until the very end.

Find THE OPAL CROWN Online:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads 

 

Jenny Lundquist was born and raised in Huntington Beach, CA. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Intercultural Studies with a minor in TESOL at Biola University. Lundquist is the author of The Princess in Opal Mask and two middle-grade novels, Seeing Cinderella and Plastic Polly. She lives in Rancho Cordova, California, with her husband and two sons. Visit her online at jennylundquist.com and Twitter @Jenny_Lundquist.

Find Jenny Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

Giveaway

 Want to win your very own ARC of THE OPAL MASK?  Enter the Rafflecopter. Good luck everyone! US Only.

 

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Make sure to grab your copy of THE PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK! Available now!

Praise for The Princess in the Opal Mask:

“Fantasy readers will eagerly await the promised second title.”—Booklist

“This delightfully fanciful tale will find a captive audience among fans of Gail Carson Levine.”—School Library Journal

“Engaging and action-packed . . . fans of romantic fantasy will be left begging for a sequel.”—VOYA

The Princess in the Opal Mask

320 pages

ISBN 987-0-7624-5109-8

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads 

Every Fairy-Tale Ending Has a Price. . .

Orphaned as a child in the crumbling village of Tulan, Elara is determined to learn her true identity, even if it means wielding a dagger. Meanwhile, in Galandria's royal capital, Princess Wilha stands out as someone to either worship or fear. Though no one knows why the king has always made her conceal her face—including Wilha herself.

When an assassination attempt threatens the peace of neighboring kingdoms, Elara and Wilha are brought face to face . . . with a chance at claiming new identities. However, with dark revelations now surfacing, both girls will need to decide if brighter futures are worth the binding risks.