A review by Ms. M. Bookworm our resident young adult and young adult reviewer (My Daughter)
For a moment, a face flashed before my eyes—the most hideous face I’d ever seen. No matter how hard I tried to forget what had happened, I saw him everywhere I went. It was Loki—the evil god that I’d helped set free against my will.
I should have known that my first official date with Logan Quinn was destined to end in disaster. If we’d gotten into a swordfight, or been ambushed by Reapers, I’d have been more prepared. But getting arrested mid-sip at the local coffee hangout? I didn’t see that one coming.
I’ve been accused of purposely helping the Reapers free Loki from his prison—and the person leading the charge against me is Linus Quinn, Logan’s dad. The worst part is that pretty much everyone at Mythos Academy thinks I’m guilty. If I’m going to get out of this mess alive, I’ll have to do it myself…
Released on Christmas Eve, Gwen Frost’s newest adventure featured battles, love, betrayal, talking swords, plot twists, and a very small dog. While Crimson Frost is certainly the best book in the series, sadly I didn’t like the other books much at all.
The book features one Gwen Frost, a Gypsy (no not that kind) who has magic powers that let her see the memories and feelings attached to things people have touched. Gwen has many friends, all with their own powers, and they fight evil together.
The thing is, the book is well written in the sense of proper structure and the like and it has an engaging story arch, and really all the ingredients for a good book, but sadly it lacks something very important; depth to the characters. They have no personality! The cast goes as such; The witty lead, the pretty but tough besty, the cute nerd, the broody love interest, the evil one, the one-you-think-is-good-but-is-evil, the exasperated teacher, and a handful of more one dimensional characters that fail to invoke any sense of empathy.
The plot follows a beat that you could waltz to its so predictable, but is still interesting, and I did manage to get entertained for a bit. And it is true that the premise is interesting, but it all fails to excuse the horrible characters!
Let's just focus on Gwen; such care is put into describing the outfit of the day that I wish that the same care had been invested in to the wearer. Gwen seems to put much more care into making sure she has a new wisecrack, and less is put into solving the problems she faces. The girl must be brain damaged because I can accurately guess who the villain is and their whole evil scheme by the time that little Gwen is still chasing after her red herring.
I know that this is not what a lot of other book reviewers are saying about this book but this is my opinion, I felt it had the makings of a great story if the characters had more than the emotional depth of a puddle.
Red always knew she would have to face the man who nearly destroyed her. She just didn’t figure it would happen so soon . . .
With the plague sweeping across the nation, destroying many and turning others into walking corpses, survivors head West in search of a chosen land, a place designed to keep the infected out, while sealing survivors inside. In theory, the idea seems the only way to keep humanity alive. In practice, it doesn’t matter whether a person is on the inside or the out—there is no humanity.
. . . And even though John Gatherum hunted her down and instigated their reunion, Red’s no longer the passive girl he once manipulated. This time, she has a hidden agenda of her own.
Kill him. Save her family. Save herself.
Survivor Round up is the 2nd book the first being Wanted: Dead or Undead, you will not follow this book very well without reading the first one.
Red and Trace are back and life in the fort is getting to the point that they need more supplies, this leads to the adventure in this book. I really enjoyed the first book, Wanted: Dead or Undead, I think the second, Survivor Roundup is even better. I feel like the characters have matured a little in this book and as in the first Ms. Scott creates an amazing dystopian world in the old west.
The characters in Survivor Roundup are funny, easy to like and full of complex emotions that we are allowed to see and be a part of. I felt that in this second book the characters are even more approachable and it was easier to dive in and be a part of the book. This is written for a young adult audience and while it touches on the physical side of love briefly nothing explicit is ever said or used.
Even if you are not a zombie fan I think you will like this book and enjoy it a great deal, I know I did.
4 out of 5 flowers.
Author info:
Angela Scott hears voices. Tiny fictional people sit on her shoulders and whisper their stories in her ear. Instead of medicating herself, she decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. She's not crazy. She's an author. For the most part, she writes contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, she found herself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West--and loving it. Her zombies don't sparkle, and they definitely don't cuddle. At least, she wouldn't suggest it. She lives on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. She graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of her love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn't require math. She can't spell, and grammar is her arch nemesis. But they gave her the degree, and there are no take backs. ONLINE LINKS: Blog Twitter @whimsywriting Facebook Goodreads Stalk me (I like it) at:Blog . Twitter . Facebook . Amazon . Zombie Book Trailer . Desert Rice Book Trailer
Check out: WANTED: Dead or Undead Survivor Roundup Desert Rice
Jennifer will award one commenter at every stop an 8x10 autographed print of an original illustration of one of her characters, and one randomly drawn commenter on the tour will receive an 11x17 autographed set of all three main characters in the book. (US/Canada only) Be sure to follow the tour HERE the more often you comment the better your chances of winning.
When fifteen-year-old actress Lucy Carter loses her older sister in a car accident, her mother shuts down and her father can’t hold the family together. Their only choice is to ship Lucy off to the Edmond School for Performing Arts. But boarding school is no cure for Lucy’s grief. With failing grades, wooden stage performances, and curfew violations, Lucy is threatened with expulsion. For the once talented Lucy, it feels as though she has nowhere to turn.
One night, Lucy hears mysterious music drifting through the school’s old heating system. The music leads her to a troubled but passionate songwriter whose brilliance gives her the strength to perform like never before. Yet their intense relationship puts Lucy in a precarious position: if she follows her muse, will she lose herself? And if she breaks it off, can she stand on her own again?
The first thing about A Part to Play that strikes you is the similarity to the story line of Phantom of the Opera, but not so much after you get into the book. This deals with some pretty heavy subject matter with Lucy's sisters death and her parents reaction to it. We also deal with teen love, high school popularity drama and friendships.
The characters in A Part to Play are on the typical side but they are well developed and you are able to connect with them and sympathize with them. I felt the drama with the "popular" girl at school was overplayed and not necessary to the love story but do help to flush out the character of Lucy.
Being a YA novel this has no sex scenes and very tame. We do have some profanity but who knows a teen that doesn't have at least some of that in their vocabulary? I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to my teen age daughter or anyone who enjoys YA books.
Excerpt:
He reached for her, pulling her close. His scent was similar to last night, still slightly metallic, but also dusty. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck. When he let go, she felt cold, with a strange emptiness that permeated every part of her body.
"Come here, I want you to hear something I started working on earlier." He reached for his guitar and patted the stool.
Chris looked natural with a guitar across his body. He held it like it was an extension of himself. Lucy sat on the stool, admiring his slightly rounded face and dark eyes, his hair falling forward as he looked down at the strings. She could think of nothing else. That was, until he started playing, then she lost herself in the chords and melody and everything in front of her went out of focus.
The song had a medium rhythm that she tapped her foot along with. Then he started singing, his voice caressing the notes with a rich, deep tone, and she was completely gone into another world where beautiful sounds filled every sense. Chris ended with a strong flourish, the last chord ringing for a while in the otherwise silent room.
"What do you think?" he asked. Lucy blinked, trying to focus her eyes. She didn't reply right away, and Chris wavered. "Well, I mean, it still needs work, but..."
She put a hand on his arm. "I loved it." She said it firmly, leaving no room for debate or misunderstanding.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jennifer L. Fry is a writer, artist, and teacher in Marin County, California, where she lives with her wonderful husband, two adorable dogs, and orange tabby cat. Though she has been writing since she was young, A PART TO PLAY is her first novel.
Marie will be awarding a $25.00 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.follow the tour HERE
With his father gone missing and his mother losing her grip on reality, Peter Bailey’s life is nopicnic. Peter’s gray existence changes unexpectedly after he takes his new snowboard for a ride in the mountains of Colorado and is stunned to find himself in Transadonia – a hidden world
that coexists alongside with the Earth.
Lara Grover never listened to her elders, so warnings like “do not talk to strangers” mean nothing to her. When a boy from an unknown world saves her from an avalanche with the aid of a snow dragon, Lara is not stunned in the least. Instead, she joins Peter on his quest to help him realize the purpose behind his arrival to Transadonia.
Together, Lara and Peter embark on an adventure filled with perils, trickery, betrayals, and unexpected alliances.
Exclusive Excerpt:
Bewildered, Peter looked around and saw that he was trapped inside a net, hanging in mid-air like a sack of groceries. He looked up and saw that he had fallen into a gash in the middle of the path. The path kept going up further, and Peter could see a dim light coming through the opening at the top. The ground surface was no more than twenty feet away, and if he had not slipped and fallen into the pothole, he would have been on the ground by now. Judging by the intensity of light coming through the opening, Peter guessed that the sun was about to set.
“Someone must have set up this trap on purpose, but whatever for?” he wondered.
He probed the net with his fingers. It was made of some kind of unknown fiber that was light, but very strong. Peter tried to cut the mesh with his pocketknife, but the net remained intact. Then he had an idea. With bated breath, he pressed Silverboard’s sharp edge against the net. The mesh gave way at once. Peter carefully enlarged the opening in the net - one wrong move and he would fall straight down into the yawning hole underneath him.
His plan was to use his body weight to swing the net to the side of the gorge and climb back up to the path. The surface of the walls was covered with icicles, but most of them did not look sturdy enough to grab onto. Peter noticed an outcrop on the left side of the wall. It was not very big, but it would hold him, and he could use it as a footing to start his climb back to the path. He would have to measure the force of the swing carefully. If he swung the net too softly, he would not reach the ledge, and if he swung too hard, he would smash against the hard ice. He took a deep breath and leaned against the net. Holding on to the edges of the opening, he swung the net towards the ledge. The effect was that of a pendulum, and Peter was catapulted towards the icy wall. He leaned forward quickly and pulled himself onto the ledge. The climb upward was steep, and Peter had to be very careful or else risk slipping and falling down to the very bottom of the pothole and having to start the climb all over again. He avoided looking down and concentrated on climbing up, testing each and every icicle and ledge before leaning on it. He could only use one arm, since with his other arm he was holding Silverboard and was unwilling to abandon it. Finally, with one last effort, Peter emerged onto the ground.
He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by a completely unfamiliar landscape. He was standing on a small clearing covered with patches of ice and frozen snow and everywhere around him there loomed vast mountains that made the mountains back home look like mere molehills. Suddenly, Peter heard voices and quickly ducked behind a cliff. Peering from his cover, he had to rub his eyes because he could not believe what he was seeing. Two incredibly tall and bulky figures clad in furs and skins were advancing towards the clearing. The creatures’ vast height and girth made it impossible for them to be human, and although Peter had never seen giants before, he could not think of a better word to describe them. The giants carried their girth with slow deliberation and appeared to be somewhat clumsy. If they see me, I can outrun them, thought Peter, gripping Silverboard tightly.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dear Reader,
Thank you very much for joining me for Over the Mountain and Back blog tour. The story of Over the Mountain and Back began over twenty years ago when I was fourteen years old and decided to write a novel as an anniversary gift for my parents. It was going to be a fantasy adventure about a boy named Peter and a girl named Lara set in a magical country, Transadonia. I remember writing studiously on the pages of an ornate notebook I had acquired especially for the occasion. Back then computers were not yet widely used, so I had to pay extra care to my handwriting. A year later, Over the Mountain and Back was completed, or at least I had thought so at the time. Needless to say my parents were very surprised with their anniversary gift.
Years passed; I finished high school and went on to college. Lara’s and Peter’s story faded from my mind, replaced by the hustles and bustles of everyday life. Then, one day – the day that happened to be my thirtieth birthday, my parents presented me with a gift: it was oblong in shape and wrapped in shiny paper. After I opened the wrapping, I was stunned to find the long forgotten story I had written all those years ago.
Long story short, after two years of extensive work, I rewrote and expanded Over the Mountain and Back into a novel of 95,000 words. For me it had been an exciting journey to be reunited with my old friends: Lara and Peter, Forest Witch Ramona, Chancellor Libra, Bookbrownies, and, of course, Carnelion, among the many others.
I hope that you will join Lara and Peter on their adventure in Transadonia.
If you would like to find out more about my books, please stop by website: www.marieastor.com.
Regards,
Marie Astor
Trace Monroe doesn't believe in luck. He never has. But when a fiery-headed cowgirl saunters through the saloon doors, wielding shotguns and a know-how for killing the living dead, he believes he just may be the luckiest man alive.
Trace wants to join Red's posse, but she prefers to work alone--less messy that way. In order to become her traveling companion, Trace has to agree to her terms: no names, no questions, and if he gets bit, he can't beg for mercy when she severs his brain stem.
He agrees, knowing only that Red is the sharpest shooter he's ever encountered. The fact she's stunning hasn't escaped his attention either.
What he doesn't know, is that Red has a very good reason to be on top of her game. She not only has the answer for how they can all outlive the plague taking over the wild, wild west, she IS the answer.
EXCERPT:
Sunken features, decaying flesh and teeth that ground and snapped against themselves—Bill was dead all right. Sure, he walked around grunting, but that was only a technicality.
Zombie Bill lunged at the man closest to the door, ripped a chunk of flesh from the screaming man's neck, and howled as warm blood gurgled between his teeth.
"He's got it a'right!" someone yelled.
Beer bottles and whisky jugs exploded from ill-aimed bullets. Wood chips showered down from the rafters and the air filled with the metallic smell of gun smoke. Trace fired a shot or two of his own, but decided his best option was to find some sort of shelter—drunks made horrible shooters. He pushed the poker table over on its side and hunkered down behind it. It was better than nothing.
The old poker player crouched beside him. "Don't go thinking we're through just 'cause a zombie walked in here and stopped me from killing you."
Trace shook his head. "No, sir, I figured we were just having ourselves an intermission." He aimed his gun over the top of the table and watched Zombie Bill continue forward, his body riddled with bullet holes. The dead man wouldn't die.
Set in the old west WANTED: Dead or Undead is a dystopian YA novel that turns history on it's ear and has the zombie apocalypse happening when James Garfield is the president of the United States.
Red is not only a gunslinger zombie fighter she is also a woman that makes her a pretty bad a$$ heroine in my book. Red keeps herself emotionally distant from people by not learning there names and not telling people hers, the is how Cowboy (Trace) ends up calling her Red and she calling him Cowboy.
The story evolves with Red first having Cowboy joining her mostly against her will to them adding on people as they go looking for her brother and trying to find someplace safe from the zombie plague. The underlying love story that is built between Red and Cowboy is sweet and tender. With WANTED: Dead or Undead falling into the Young Adult genre it has not cussing, no sex scenes and the gore while described is not graphic or gratuitous.
Ms Scott does an excellent job with the development of her characters and building a zombie dystopian world in the old west. I have to say this by far is one of my favorite YA books of the year and can't wait to read the ones to follow.
Author Info:
I hear voices. Tiny fictional people sit on my shoulders and whisper their stories in my ear. Instead of medicating myself, I decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. I’m not crazy. I’m an author. For the most part, I write contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, I found myself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West—and loving it. My zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, I wouldn’t suggest it.
I live on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of my love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. I can’t spell, and grammar is my arch nemesis. But they gave me the degree, and there are no take backs.
As a child, I never sucked on a pacifier; I chewed on a pencil. I’ve been writing that long. It has only been the past few years that I’ve pursued it professionally, forged relationships with other like-minded individuals, and determined to make a career out of it.
You can find me at my website, where I blog obsessively about my writing process and post updates on my current works. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook, but be forewarned, I tweet and post more than a normal person
About the Author:
Marie De La Rosa holds a degree in Graphic Design and has returned to college in hopes of obtaining a degree in Criminal Justice. With a passion for reading and writing, she excelled in Advanced Placement classes during high school but always considered writing a hobby up until now. Marie is perhaps more well-known for her reviews on the Paranormal Reads and Lunar Haven Reviews & Designs book blogs.
Marie is currently working on her debut YA Paranormal novel Resisting Fate, book one in The Right of Blood Series. The series is set to be released in 2013.
When not reviewing or working on Graphic Design projects, Marie can be found at her day job, out and about with a camera in her hand, or working to finish her book. Look for more information to come in the future.
Title: Resisting Fate
Series: Book One in The Right of Blood Series
Author: Marie De La Rosa
Published: Coming in 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal
Cover Art: Claudia McKinney - PhatPuppy Creations
Eighteen-year-old Araina was your normal teenager or at least she believed that to be true. She had only two things on her mind: graduating high school and getting away from home to start a life all on her own. But after a tragic accident claims the life of her mother, Araina is left dumbfounded and finds herself on a much different path: enrolling in the local college in Austin. Convinced that her mother’s death was no accident, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth, and becomes disconnected from everything around her in the process.
That is … until she meets Lucca.
Lucca is the captain of the Resistance: an elite group sworn to protect Araina. He knows the truth about her mother’s death and the future attempts that will be made on Araina’s life due to her being the great-granddaughter of Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo, which is why it is important he follow the one rule given to him: Don’t get too attached.
It is his job to gain her trust and somehow reveal her true lineage and what the fates have in store for her. Araina is about to be thrown into a world she never knew and will have to come to terms with the role she will play in the Resistance.
Will she stand up and fight or will she lose the one thing everyone has been trying to protect?
Her Life.
Excerpt:
He walked the path back to the house they were using as their headquarters at the moment; though it wasn’t much on the outside the inside made up plenty for it. As he walked in through the door he stopped and looked to the right to stare at his own reflection. Heavy bags hung under his eyes, his tan skin was much duller and his black hair a mess.
“You need to get rest. Huntir and I have everything set up so take this opportunity to gather your strength. Wearing yourself out like this will not be beneficial in guarding her.”
Lucca turned to his older brother Matteo, surprised that he had arrived so soon. “I know, I will go take a shower and get rest, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.” He passed Matteo but not before laying his hand on his brother's shoulder as if silently reassuring him not to worry and that he was fine. Though his brother had pointed out his need for rest, his mind was running around with too many unanswered questions with no way to solve them. But one question he kept going back to was always the same, the one that would matter most in the end.
When he finally reveals the truth to her will she rise from her sorrow and be the savior they needed her to be? Or will she turn away and go into hiding like her mother did and suffer the same fate? As he got to the top of the stairs, without turning around he asked, “Why did you arrive ahead of schedule brother?” he waited for his brother to reply, a heavy silence floated between the two. He did not expect the next few words that came out of his brother’s mouth.
“We have verification on who killed Aella.”
Looking for the Autumn blog hop page? You can find it HERE
Title: North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus
Author: Candace Jane Kringle
Genre: YA
Publisher: Elfpublishing books
MEET SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD CANDYCANE CLAUS. She's the most popular girl at North Pole High. Her father is world-famous. And every day is Christmas. What more could any girl want?
BOYS! And the new boy, Rudy Tutti, is hot chocolate. But he hates anything to do with Christmas!
When Candy and Rudy are forced to work together on a school Christmas-tree project, her world is turned upside down: Her grades start to suffer, she loses her taste for ice cream, and now the two North-Star-cross'd teens must contend with her overprotective father — Santa Claus — before Christmas is ruined for EVERYONE!
North Pole High is the story of Santa's little girl, Candy as in Candycane, and her falling in love with the bad boy that dad just can't stand, Rudy.
The book is written from the point of view of Candy a 16 year old girl, with all the drama and angst that comes with being a 16 year old girl. She can be sweet (no pun intended) she can be manipulative, stubborn and she can be confused and foolish.
Rudy, the hero in North Pole High, can't abide Christmas and is not happy to be living at the North Pole and he really can't stand all of the festiveness that is all around him. Rudy prefers to be the moody, brooding teenager, he has good reason to be that way.
The story of Candy and Rudy is a cute one and the feelings of being a teenager and being kinda awkward and unsure of how to express your feeling to the person you "like" is well done. The scene where Santa tries to explain the birds and the bees to Candy using Gingerbread men is hysterical. I think any teen to young adult readers will enjoy this book a great deal.
The only part about the book that I had a hard time with is the silly terminology and slang used in the book things like "Lord's a Leaping" to indicate surprise about something or some on "goes all peanut butter and jelly"or are feeling "jelly"if they are jelious. I felt that in this the book went a bit overboard in the "world building".
It's a cute teen story and if you can get used to everything being a bit sticky sweet you will enjoy it.
EXCERPT:
“That must be it,” he said, pointing to the crystalline palace perched at the far end of Eggnog Alley.
Rocks.
Chiseled blocks of ice formed frozen tables and seats. Smoothly powdered ice columns rose from the floor. Curtains of glistening icicles dangled across space in intricate, criss-cross patterns. Drinks were served at a long, translucent bar. Every piece of ice glowed in an ever-changing array of swirling hues that flashed and pulsated with the driving beat of the music being spun by Kanye North, the DJ seal.
On the slippery stage next to him, three dancing-girl seals performed all manner of flips and loop-the-loops over vertical ice rings, like floppy, breathing, bendable Hot Wheels cars. What a sight!From the first sip, the eggnog tasted funny. Funny in the sense that it made me want to laugh more than usual. It smelled like regular eggnog, but with the volume turned way up on the candy-cane flavoring. My mother’s ’nog never tasted like this.
I laughed at Silent’s and Rudy’s milk mustaches and licked mine away before they could see it. Then I cracked open one end of the paper wrapper on my straw and blew the other end into Rudy’s face. I laughed again as it bounced off his square chin and landed in his drink. He looked at me stone-faced as he plucked it out.
I stabbed the straw into my frosty glass and drew up a longer sample of that unusual taste when a spherical elf rolled into my legs like a bowling ball, mid-sip, making me jump. He unfurled himself, blanching when he realized he’d torpedoed his boss’s daughter. I assured him Daddy would never hear about our collision from me. The little guy seemed not to grasp how I would be in way more trouble than he if my father knew where I was. He apologized profusely until Chefy shoved him back across the ice like a shuffleboard weight.
“I think he liked you,” Snowflake teased.
“Shut up!” I flung a gingerbread torso at Snowflake’s head, which rolled down the front of her shirt. Then I hid my beet-red face behind my hands and rocked with laughter.
Snowflake dug the cookie piece out of her bra. She looked at it and said, “I can’t believe you threw a gingerbread boy’s you-know-what at me!” She put it in her mouth and bit down hard on it.
“Ew! I can’t believe you ate a gingerbread boy’s you-know-what!” The unusual-tasting eggnog was making me act more juvenile than usual. I allowed another long draw of the strange liquid to run down my throat and felt a buzz in my head that was part brain freeze and part something else.
About The Author:
Candace Jane Kringle is a junior at North Pole High. She likes candy canes, unicorn races, and making snow angels. Her father is the most well-known and beloved toymaker and toy distributor in the world. Her memoir, North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus , is her first book. After high school, she plans to enroll at North Pole University and write more books, maybe even some fiction. :)
