Review- Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Poison Princess

Kresley Cole

Release Date: October 2, 2012

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

ISBN: 1442436646

Source: ARC from Fiktshun

Rating: Loved

Goodreads/ Amazon/ Barnes & Noble/ The Book Depository

From Goodreads.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces The Arcana Chronicles, post-apocalyptic tales filled with riveting action, the dark mysticism of Tarot cards, and breathtaking romance.She could save the world—or destroy it.                                                                                                     Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.                                                                                                           But she can’t do either alone.                                                                                                                      With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?                                                                                                       Who can Evie trust?                                                                                                                                                As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

I have a serious love/hate relationship with this book. You can definitely say more love but the hate is still there. I’ll be honest I hated chapters 1 through 13. I hated Evie I thought she was a rich stuck up little bitch and didn’t really care about her backstory. I also thought Jack was an ass and had no idea why anyone would like him. But I loved the prologue and every chapter after 13! Oh and the cover love the bike and the background but I’m not a fan of the Jack on this cover he is soooooo much hotter in my head!

After chapter 13, Evie started to grow on me and I found myself liking her and pulling for her to survive, and figure out her gifts. I also ended up falling, hard, for Jack, with his Cajun accent and broken French which thankfully I understood without translation since I speak passable French. I also loved the idea behind this story that the major Arcana from tarot decks were people. I’ve studied the tarot and to see them as people it was really fascinating! And their gifts were wicked cool! This story really made me scream at times I was so frustrated with both Evie and Jack but not only them; I was frustrated with the secrets that everyone was keeping from everyone else. At the end of the story I understood why but, while I was reading it I wanted to scream at the book and say “Why????? If you you’d have just told them……” ugh it was so frustratingly good! Oh and the sexual tension between Jack and Evie OMG you could cut it with a knife it was so thick! I found myself saying “just do it already!” a few times but I know it’s a YA book so probably not gonna happen. But one can hope.

So yeah as you can see the love definitely outweighed the hate in this book. Oh and the ending broke my heart! I loved it so much I can’t wait to get my hands on book 2!!!!

I’ve chosen a scene between Evie and Jack. And yes it’s one of those sexual tension scenes with a pool lol ;)

“You’re not going in!”

In answer, he pulled his shirt over his head, revealing rigid planes of muscles. Yes, I’d caught glimpses of him shirtless before—but this was the first time I’d utterly lost my breath looking at him.

His face and his broad chest were still tanned, his eyes seeming to glow in the moonlight. That onyx rosary around his neck glinted with his movements.

He was stripping before my eyes, yet I couldn’t look away. I bit my bottom lip. 

Any minute I would turn my back. Any minute…

As he began to unbuckle his belt, his stomach muscles rippled.

I grew weak in the knees. Any minute—

When he reached his zipper, he cocked his head and met my gaze.

I was frozen, could do nothing but stare. He raised his eyebrows at me in challenge, his fingers inching his zipper down.

A second after I’d finally found the presence of mind to turn my back, I heard his belt buckle ping on the tile floor, the rustle of his dropped pants. Eyes wide, I snapped, “This is foolish, Jackson—“

In the space of a heartbeat, he’d snagged my pack off my back, looped an arm around my waist—and hauled us both into the pool.

*Fans self* Woo smoking hot right?!?!? I can’t wait for more of Jack in book 2!!!!

 I wish I could have found a trailer for this book but check out Kresley’s description of the book and the characters!

Cover Reveal- Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout and a Giveaway!!!!

OMG Y’all I am seriously excited to reveal this cover!!!! Not just because it’s sexy as hell but because I can’t wait to get my hands on this one!!!!! Oh and there’s an epic giveaway I have no clue what it is but anything from Jenn is going to epic!

Ok so here’s the new cover sexy isn’t it?????

Opal
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Teen
ISBN: 1620610094
Goodreads
Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

No one is like Daemon Black.         When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.                                                      But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.                             After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.                                    Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Follow this link to an ~~~ EPIC CONTEST ~~~ Announcement. You will want to bookmark this page!

http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/p/october-1-2012.html

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: 

Twitter /Facebook/Goodreads/Website/Blog

Cover Reveal- Abandon (Possession #3) by Elana Johnson

Hey y’all! Today I have a gorgeous cover to reveal for the YA novel, ABANDON (Possession, #3), by Elana Johnson and Simon Pulse. Expected release is June 2013. This cover reveal is brought to you not only by Elana and Simon Pulse but AToMR Tours as well.

Elana is running a Pinterest contest for the cover. She wants to get 500 pins (or repins) over the next  two days. If we can get that many, she'll pick someone who pinned the cover to win a $50 Amazon gift card. It's so easy to do this. All you have to do is click over to Elana’s blog for details. Or look below the cover info for a link..

So here's the beautiful cover!!!

seduced by power,                                            broken by control,                                             and consumed by love...                                              Vi has made her choice between Jag and Zenn, and the Resistance may have suffered for it. But with the Thinkers as strong as ever, the rebels still have a job to do. Vi knows better than anyone that there's more at stake than a few broken hearts. But there is a traitor among them...and the choices he makes could lead to the total destruction of everything Vi has fought for. Vi, Jag, and Zenn must set their problems aside for the Resistance to have any hope of ending the Thinkers' reign. Their success means everything...and their failure means death.

Add it to Goodreads

Don't have a Pinterest board yet? Put it on your Tumblr page. Your Facebook page. Your twitter stream. Elana will count those too! Just be sure to tag her @ElanaJ on twitter or on Facebook!  
 

The Sweet Evil Read Along!!!!!

Introducing the... Sweet Evil Read Along!

We are very excited to introduce you to the Sweet Evil Read Along!  We are huge fans of Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, and we think you will be too!  This read along will run from October 1st through the 28th.  You’ve already read Sweet Evil?  Read it again!  You haven’t?  Oh, my gosh!  Then you totally need to participate!  Do you want to follow along with Goodreads?  Great!  Do you want to follow along on your blog?  Fabulous!   Each week, for 4 weeks, there will be designated chapters and themes that we will focus on.

How do you participate?  Do a weekly post on your blog or a status update on Goodreads and discuss your thoughts about the designated chapters, share your favorite quotes, and show your creativity in the weekly theme!

The Read along is hosted by:

Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

With Co-Hosts:

Two Chicks on Books

Fiktshun

Tater’s Tall Tails
The Ravenous Reader

1st Week:  October 1 – 7

Chapter One - Nine:

Pages  1 - 121

Theme:  Road Trip - You choose.  Examples, what would you pack and why, your playlist, your dream road trip or road trip games.

2nd Week:  October 8 – 14:

                                         

Chapters Ten - Sixteen:

Pages 122 – 231

Theme: Citrus or Pear recipe.  Share a citrus or pear food/drink recipe.

3rd Week:  October 15 – 21:

                                        

Chapters Seventeen - Twenty-Five:

Pages 232 - 340

Theme:  Truth or Dare

4th Week:  October 22 – 28:

                                       

Chapters Twenty-Six - Thirty-One:

Pages 341 - 447

Theme:  Halloween

Giveaways? HELL YES!

Participating in the Sweet Evil Read Along event increases your chance to win one of at least four truly drool-worthy ARCs!  And the giveaway will be Open International!  Watch for details of this giveaway on the participating blogs on September 30, 2012.

Sign up now in the Sweet Evil Read Along Linky, and fill out the Rafflecopter to enter to win a signed copy of Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, or an eBook of Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi. This giveaway will end September 30, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST and is Open International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dying to Read (6)- The Obsidian Mirror

Hey y’all thanks for stopping by to see my Dying to Read post and of course as always I have to give credit to the lovely Jill over at Breaking the Spine for the Waiting on Wednesday Meme!

This week the book I’m dying to read is The Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher! I love Catherine’s Incarceron Series and I can’t wait to read this new series of hers! 

The Obsidian Mirror (Chronoptika #1)

Catherine Fisher

Release Date: April 23, 2013

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Dial (Penguin)

ISBN: 0803739699

Goodreads

Amazon

Jake's father disappears while working on mysterious experiments with the obsessive, reclusive Oberon Venn. Jake is convinced Venn has murdered him. But the truth he finds at the snow-bound Wintercombe Abbey is far stranger ... The experiments concerned a black mirror, which is a portal to both the past and the future. Venn is not alone in wanting to use its powers. Strangers begin gathering in and around Venn's estate: Sarah - a runaway, who appears out of nowhere and is clearly not what she says, Maskelyne - who claims the mirror was stolen from him in some past century. There are others, a product of the mirror's power to twist time. And a tribe of elemental beings surround this isolated estate, fey, cold, untrustworthy, and filled with hate for humans. But of them all, Jake is hell-bent on using the mirror to get to the truth. Whatever the cost, he must learn what really happened to his father.

So what do you think? Will you be adding this to your pile? What are you dying to read this week?

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century Blog Tour- Playlist and a Giveaway!

Hey y’all! Today I have a playlist for you from the awesomesauce Rachel Harris for the My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century Blog Tour! And yes I can say that I’ve met her. And she is definitely awesomesauce ;)

Haven’t heard anything about the book? Here’s the synopsis! Want to read the book? There's a chance to win an eBook at the end of this post so make sure to fill out the Rafflecopter :)

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century

Rachel Harris
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Entangled Teen

ISBN: 162061135X
Goodreads
Amazon/Barnes & Noble/Book Depository 

On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze. Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?

Now on to Rachel’s playlist!

I make soundtracks before I start writing anything, and the selections end up being very different from book to book because I choose songs based on each particular main character’s emotional arc.

Songs are picked for their titles, the chorus, or sometimes even just a line that stands out and perfectly captures the story I’m trying to tell or a feeling I want to get across.

The soundtrack for My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century has 21 songs, so I’ll spare you the full list. The songs below highlight Cat’s main arc (and leaves out the big spoilers, he he).

Also, I guess it’s good to know for those who haven’t read the book that Cat’s journey is about going from being closed off and not really trusting anyone to get close to her to the end where she learns to open up to emotions experiences, and people:  

·         Poker Face by Lady Gaga – This is the very first song on the soundtrack and is even Cat’s ringtone in the beginning of the book.

·         Because of You by Kelly Clarkson – this was chosen because it perfectly shows Cat’s relationship with her birthmother, and how that formed the way she relates to other people

·         On My Own (Les Miserables) – This was really chosen because it’s the song Cat sings—or I should say attempts to sing—when she’s asked to perform at a dinner party her first full day in the past, but it also has a hidden significance, too.

·         Today Was a Fairytale by Taylor Swift – There’s a scene in the countryside that pretty much marks a turning point for Cat in the story, and this song captures the feeling and even some of the details of that scene so perfectly.

I couldn’t find the official one, but this is a homemade one staring little kids that is SO FREAKING ADORABLE!!

Stay by Wideawake – I love this song and I admit I kinda use it several soundtracks. It’s about growth, wanting to be “free” and change and let people know the real you. This video is from a concert, so the music is kinda off, but the lyrics are just AMAZING, so I’ll give two links, one for the video, and the other for the powerful lyrics. Lyrics

·         Steel Bars by Jill Phillips – Another favorite to show that big turning point of growth. I couldn’t find an official video, but this video has the lyrics written at the bottom as well as the song in the background, and the pictures are kinda cute

(I should note that apparently, this is a Christian song—I didn’t even know that until I went to find the video for this post—so some of the images in the video have a religious undertone, but I think the lyrics are universal.) Lyrics

·         Love Story by Taylor Swift – One of the last songs on the soundtrack (can’t give away all the spoilers!) but this pretty much completes the big arc for Cat….plus the video itself gave me tons of inspiration for the storyline as well (*grin*)

As a teen, Rachel Harris threw raging parties that shook her parents’ walls and created embarrassing fodder for future YA novels. As an adult, she reads and writes obsessively, rehashes said embarrassing fodder, and dreams up characters who become her own grown up version of imaginary friends.

 When she’s not typing furiously or flipping pages in an enthralling romance, you can find her homeschooling her two beautiful princesses, hanging out with her amazing husband, or taking a hot bubble bath…next to a pile of chocolate. MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY is her debut novel.

She did have her own fantabulous Sweet Sixteen in high school. Sadly, it wasn’t televised.

Where you can find Rachel.

Website/Twitter/Facebook

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Cover Reveal Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

So I’m seriously excited to reveal this cover! One because it’s awesome and two because I adore Trisha Wolfe and I am dying to read this one! Trisha if you need a beta reader look no further I’m your girl lol. Ok so want to know what the book is about? Here’s the synopsis!

To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control. When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father's capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin. Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult. When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart's twisted world, Zara's path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara's hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father's evil nature, or they will take him out. But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels' command and where the prince's heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she's truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart .

And here’s the gorgeous cover!!!!

Title: Fireblood

Author: Trisha Wolfe

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

ISBN: 978-1-937053-59-8 

Release Date: October 8, 2013

Formats: Paper, e-book 

Author website | Fireblood Novels | Spencer Hill Press | Goodreads

Also check out this video about making the cover!