Monday, January 7, 2013

The Arrival by Nicole MacDonald


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Nicole will be awarding a $50.00 gift card – Amazon or Barnes & Noble, winners choice, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Be sure to follow the tour HERE the more places you comment the better your chances of winning are.


Four friends in the midst of a man drought cast a love spell on a whim, unexpectedly landing them on another planet.

Oops.

On a foreign and often hostile world, love teeters on the horizon while the threat of civil war looms thanks to the girls' surprising gifts. Will the girls master these gifts in time to survive a war in which not only are they the ultimate weapons, but also the ultimate prize?

Right now THE ARRIVAL is available FREE everywhere (see links below)
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Itunes US
Itunes UK
Kobo
Sony ereader store
Smashwords (any format)
BN/Nook

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OMG! When I signed up to review this book it sounded familiar but when I started reading it I then realized it was a book I had read about a year ago and couldn't remember the name of the author so I couldn't find it among the the thousands of books on my Kindle (what? no I don't have a reading obsession ;o) LOL)
I was so excited to reread this to see if it was as good as I remembered and to make sure I marked it down so I could finish the trilogy as it came out.

This is such a fun book with travel across worlds and time, magic powers, griffins and dragons, four kick butt young women with mad skills and 4 handsome men of the Griffin Guard. We have magic battles, telepathy with mythological creatures and finding your soul mate by casting a spell.

I loved that they women were able to kick butt before they traveled and then they learned of magic powers they didn't know they had. I thought the men were sweet and the romance that blooms very tender. This isn't your heavy fantasy where there are 150 different species to keep track of and it isn't a hot and heavy steamy sexy book either it is a fun, exciting and suspenseful (at times) book with some mythological creatures, a new world and time that is slightly different from our own and a sweet romance that blooms between the young men and women.

My only issue with this book was the way that Ms MacDonald would switch points of view with out any sort of indication it was going to happen until after the fact, you would be reading and it would be from one characters point of view then the next line would be someone else's POV but you didn't know that until the thought ended and it would say it was someone else or the thought made no sense coming from the first character. That is the only reason I am giving a 4 instead of a 5 this is a really fun book.


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Photobucket This is really more Fantasy than PNR I need to get some more tags made :O)

Excerpt:

A rude awakening

“The branches we used to make the shelter stunk. I wasn’t sure yet if it was a good smell or a bad smell, just distractingly pungent. The shelter was a pretty basic design but it kept the wind out and might keep us dry.

It was just that smell.

Maybe it isn’t just the branches, I thought, it might be my pillow.

Sighing, I sat up to try and fix it again. Scrunching the leaves into a better shape, I re-fixed the hood of my cloak over them and lay down.

Sleep came quickly and it must have been around midnight when Audi’s soft growl woke me.

What? What was she growling about? Blinking, I peered around. The moon was full, making it surprisingly light in the shelter. I whispered her name and Audi crept to my side then gave another low growl. Placing a hand on her back I was shocked to feel the fur erect, like when we’d been chased by the elgrids.

Oh God, what now?

It couldn’t be anything little, considering Audi hadn’t raced out of the shelter to scare it off. Audrey wasn't a chicken, but she was sensible. With trembling hands, I knelt and strapped on the sword and daggers. The shuffling outside had gotten closer. My stomach seemed to sink to my feet and a wave of dizziness hit as fear swept through me.

Not again, I thought, the village is half a day’s walk away. There was no way we would be able to make it back.

I crawled over to Kassie and shook her, placing a hand over her mouth. She mumbled, then her eyes flashed open in shock.

'Shhh, something’s outside and Audi thinks it’s bad. Strap your sword on and get ready.'

She reached for her sword and I turned to repeat the process with Loi and Sian. “


AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Nicole MacDonald is the Independent author of The Arrival, and, Awakening, the first two books in the BirthRight Trilogy. Writing had never been a lifelong dream for her until she began The Arrival, but it now is an all-consuming passion.

A proud Kiwi (New Zealander) Nicole dreams that one day Peter Jackson will be in touch to option the film rights for the BirthRight Trilogy. When she's not daydreaming about that she's working on book three in the trilogy - Feel the Burn, available December 2012 - and planning future works.

Blog: www.damselinadirtydress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheBirthRightTrilogy
Twitter: @DmslinaDrtyDrss
Youtube link to book trailer


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Book two is also available to purchase

13 comments:

  1. This sounds like such a great story. I loved the review. It was very honest, and I really appreciate that. Also, I didnt realize it was a series before this review. I love series when I find a good book.

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  2. Great review, I enjoyed it. Sounds like a fun read.

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  3. Thanks for the review!

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

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  4. Eeeeepppp love the books been hanging for new one!!

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  5. I like strong, sassy, kick-butt female characters!

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  6. This sounds like a really great book! Thanks for introducing this author to me!

    sandywolters(dot)author(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. I do love the term "man drought". It is quite vivid.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  8. Sorry for the late post. I’m playing catch-up here so I’m just popping in to say HI and sorry I missed visiting with you on party day! Hope you all had a good time!

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

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  9. I like a female character, that can fight back and doesn't wait to be rescued.

    emiliana25(at)web(dot)de

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  10. lol that's hilarious that you didn't remember you already read it! I think someone has a reading problem... :P

    andrlaynn7 At gmail DOT com

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