Friday, March 31, 2017

Book Blitz: Wyatt Watkins and the Adder Stones by Jacob Tate & Kate Callahan...with giveaway!


Wyatt Watkins and the Adder Stones (Wyatt Watkins #1)
by Jacob Tate & Kate Callahan
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: May 28th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

Wyatt Watkins is like most young boys his age. He’s an excited daydreamer, always eager to make friends – and he always keeps an eye out for his next adventure. 

Life in New York City has always been simple and pleasant for Wyatt and his siblings, Josh and Rose. Wyatt works hard in school, gets good grades, and enjoys a reliable and fun circle of friends. But when tragedy strikes the Watkins family, they are forced to relocate from the city to Upstate New York and the rural, forgotten town of Cloverbrook. 

A seemingly harmless, small town of roughly 3,000 people, nestled at the base of the Adirondack Mountains, Cloverbrook welcomes the family quickly as it prepares for its 72nd Annual Pumpkin Smash and Harvest Festival. Wyatt finds the massive forests, blanketed in a sea of orange, red and yellow leaves, the perfect playground to adjust to his new life, while the family struggles to cope with their loss. 

But deep in the dark forests that surround the town, a hidden evil lurks…waiting…watching. And while the evil forces in the forest continue to grow, Wyatt uncovers an artifact with untold power that will thrust the entire family into the middle of an ancient struggle between good and evil.


Amazon Link!


Out today! Wyatt Walkins and the Table of the Marked:

Amazon Links:


Jacob Tate is an Amazon Best Selling Author in both Dark Fantasy and Horror Occult. His writing mixes paranormal, horror and fantasy related themes. He is the author of three novels from the adult horror/humor series, Max Cutter and The First Black Book and the young-adult fantasy series, Wyatt Watkins and the Adder Stones. 

Author Links:
 photo icongoodreads32_zps60f83491.png  photo iconfacebook-32x32_zps64a79d4a.png  photo iconamazon-32x32_zpsbe2ba933.png

GIVEAWAY:

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Blog Tour: The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend...Review & Giveaway!


I am very pleased to be able share my thoughts about The Other F-Word by Nastaha Friend with you all today!
Keep reading to learn more!

The Other F-Word
by Natasha Friend
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
 photo addtogoodreadssmall_zpsa2a6cf28.png photo B6096376-6C81-4465-8935-CE890C777EB9-1855-000001A1E900B890_zps5affbed6.jpg

Synopsis:

A fresh, humorous, and timely YA novel about two teens conceived via in vitro fertilization who go in search for answers about their donor.

Milo has two great moms, but he's never known what it's like to have a dad. When Milo's doctor suggests asking his biological father to undergo genetic testing to shed some light on Milo's extreme allergies, he realizes this is a golden opportunity to find the man he's always wondered about. 

Hollis's mom Leigh hasn't been the same since her other mom, Pam, passed away seven years ago. But suddenly, Leigh seems happy—giddy, even—by the thought of reconnecting with Hollis's half-brother Milo. Hollis and Milo were conceived using the same sperm donor. They met once, years ago, before Pam died. 

Now Milo has reached out to Hollis to help him find their donor. Along the way, they locate three other donor siblings, and they discover the true meaning of the other F-word: family.
     



Natasha Friend is the award-winning author of Perfect, Lush, Bounce, For Keeps, My Life in Black and White, Where You'll Find Me, and The Other F-Word. When she isn’t writing, she is building forts and making chocolate-chip pancakes. Natasha lives on the Connecticut shoreline with her husband, three children, and dog, Beckett.



Title: The Other F-Word
Author: Natasha Friend
Format: Digital ARC
Source: Netgalley/Publisher

With an interesting subject, The Other F-Word is one of the most unique books I've read this year.

Even though they were not raised together, Hollis and Milo are half-siblings thanks to the same sperm donor. Both raised by lesbian mothers in different states, their lives couldn't be more different.  Milo, who is allergic to almost everything, has grown up with both of his overprotective moms, while Hollis is being raised by a single mom who hasn't gotten over the death of Hollis' other mother.

When Milo decides to track down their donor for medical reasons (and his own curiosity), he enlists a reluctant Hollis to assist him. Both are unsure of what they'll find, but their search brings them closer together as they learn more about each other as well as about themselves.  As they search, they discover some surprising details that change everything and affect both them and their search.

The whole concept of this story fascinated me for some reason. The author took what could have been a really heavy topic and added some humor and lightness to it.  It's tough enough being a teen as you try to discover who you are, but when you add in a search for a biological father, things can definitely get more interesting and complicated. It's a lot to deal with for all of those involved and I enjoyed seeing how everything progressed and how each character handled everything that happens as they redefined what makes a family.

Both Milo and Hollis are interesting characters and I loved how they discovered some of their own similarities along the way as well as their differences as a brother-sister bond forms between them. However, their actions and personalities did not really fit their age to me at times. Occasionally, Hollis comes across a little bratty and immature (especially about the death of her other mother and her mom's reaction to it.  It's not like Hollis never met the woman, she was her mother for half her life, but Hollis acts like she was a stranger) and then there are other times she seems older than her fourteen years. In fact, even Milo seems like he should be older than he is in the book sometimes.

As for the main characters' moms, they are also fascinating and very different characters with different reactions to their kids' decisions. The author did a nice job of conveying all sides of the search and its impact.  It all felt very real to me and I couldn't help but think of the real children as well as the parents out there in this situation.  Having never dealt with anything remotely similar to what happens in the book, I cannot imagine how I'd react to any of this.

I also have to say that the story ends a bit abruptly. I can't say a whole lot about what the siblings discover or how it all ends because I don't want to spoil the story, but I could definitely have used a little bit more to tie up some loose ends.

Overall, this was an entertaining contemporary story that felt current and realistic and I enjoyed reading it.
 *I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.*






Monday, March 27, 2017

Blog Tour: Summoner Rising by Melanie McFarlane...Guest Post & Giveaway!


Today it is my pleasure to welcome author Melanie McFarlane to the blog as she tells us how she was inspired to become a writer.
But first, here is a little more info about her latest release, Summoner Rising.
Title: SUMMONER RISING
Author: Melanie McFarlane
Pub. Date: March 28, 2017
Publisher: Month9Books
Format: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 300
Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play Books | Indiebound

Excerpt from, The Book of Summoning: 
Law One: A summoner is responsible for all creatures it lets through from the netherworld. 

Dacie Cantar wishes someone had explained the Laws of Summoning to her before she watched a shadowy creature crawl out of a painting at the local arcade. At least it explains the strange things she's witnessed since moving in with her great-aunt, after her mother’s untimely death. But who wants to be followed by shadows the rest of their life? Add that to being stalked by a strange boy at school, who just might be her Tovaros (aka soulmate), it’s about all Dacie can handle in her new life. 

As she nears her seventeenth birthday, will she be ready for her new responsibilities, or will the shadows that stalked her mother until her death, finally consume Dacie, too? And then there’s Law Two…
And now here's Melanie to share what inspired her to become a writer...

I was raised to be a ferocious reader. My mother always pushed us to read, and my greatest accomplishment was finishing Lord of the Rings in middle school. I dabbled a little during those years in short stories that were more like fan fiction of Little House on the Prairie, or Nancy Drew. But it wasn’t until I stepped inside my grade ten high school English class, taught by a poet near the end of his teaching career, that I realized I could be a writer. Little did I know his support and belief in me way back then would come to fruition nearly two decades later.

Fast forward twenty years…

About a year before writing There Once Were Stars I decided to start taking my writing career seriously. I joined my local writer’s guild, started taking workshops, and I even locally self-published a middle grade novel, after working with an editor. I learned there was still so much I had to learn, and starting looking at writing classes, but before I could start an idea popped in my head. It was a thought about a girl lying in the woods, watching the stars glitter across the top of the dome that covered her city…a dome that was put there to protect mankind from a virus that broke out across the entire world…a virus that not only wiped out the infection but also the view of the stars in the skies…and so began There Once Were Stars. I was so lucky when I found a home for it with Month9Books, and the next year they picked up my second book, Summoner Rising. My dream is now a reality and I don’t plan on stopping!
Melanie McFarlane is a passionate writer of other-wordly adventures, a little excitable, and a little quirky. Whether it’s uncovering the corruption of the future, or traveling to other worlds to save the universe, she jumps in with both hands on her keyboard. Though she can be found obsessing over zombies and orcs from time to time, Melanie has focused her powers on her YA debut There Once Were Stars, and her YA urban fantasy Summoner Rising.

She lives with her husband and two daughters in the Land of Living Skies.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram |  Goodreads
1 winner will receive a DVD of THE CRAFT, US Only.


Tour Schedule:

Week 1:
3/27/2017- Never Too Many To ReadGuest Post
3/27/2017- Realm of the Sapphired dragonReview

3/28/2017- Book Review BeccaReview
3/28/2017- Bibliobibuli YAInterview

3/29/2017- StephanieCassidyBlogReview
3/29/2017- LILbooKloversInterview

3/30/2017- Don't Judge, ReadReview
3/30/2017- trishajennreadsExcerpt

Week 2:
3/31/2017- Wishful EndingsReview
3/31/2017- Two Chicks on BooksInterview

4/3/2017- Omg Books and More BooksReview
4/3/2017- Month9BooksExcerpt

4/4/2017- Under the Book CoverReview
4/4/2017- So Few BooksInterview

4/5/2017- BooksbooksmurderReview

4/6/2017- Natural briReview

4/7/2017- YA and WineReview

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Blog Tour: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco...Review, Favorite Quotes, Giveaway, & More!


It's my turn to tell you about Rin Chupeco's new release, The Bone Witch!
This was a fascinating story filled with rich detail and intriguing characters.
Keep reading to find out more about the book, its author, my thoughts and more!
The Bone Witch (#1)
by Rin Chupeco
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal


 photo addtogoodreadssmall_zpsa2a6cf28.png photo B6096376-6C81-4465-8935-CE890C777EB9-1855-000001A1E900B890_zps5affbed6.jpg

Synopsis:


The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer. 

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.
   



Rin Chupeco wrote obscure manuals for complicated computer programs, talked people out of their money at event shows, and did many other terrible things. She now writes about ghosts and fairy tales but is still sometimes mistaken for a revenant. She wrote The Girl from the Well, its sequel, The Suffering, and The Bone Witch, the first book of a new YA Fantasy trilogy. Find her at rinchupeco.com.
Title: The Bone Witch
Author: Rin Chupeco
Format: Digital ARC
Source: Netgalley/Publisher 

Confession...I was originally drawn to this book solely by its gorgeous cover. Once I read the synopsis, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  And while I was definitely intrigued and entertained by this lovely fantasy, I was also a tiny bit let down.

As I began the story, I was a little unsure of exactly what was going on, but the more I read, the more I was able to understand and slowly began to enjoy the story and its lead character, Tea.  Alternating between an unknown narrator's point of view as they question the bone witch Tea about her past and Tea's own recollections, the story features a fascinating world of magic, power, and intrigue. Tea provides detailed flashbacks of how she became who she is as she shares her memories and prepares for revenge for something that is not clear to readers at first. Meanwhile, the narrator character does a wonderful job of showing the changes between the young, inexperienced asha (witch) Tea tells us about and the fierce, vengeful witch that she has become. Tea is a fascinating character full of contradictions that at times it is difficult to remember that the character our narrator describes is the same person as our young, innocent bone witch who is just learning the ways of the world. She experiences an interesting, and at times emotional, journey that definitely impacts her in so many ways.

The flashbacks of this journey begin when, at a young age, Tea discovers that, unlike the other witches in her family, she is a bone witch, one of the most feared asha in the land because of their powerful magic and gift for necromancy.  As Tea shares her story, we learn of her early training and the events and people that shaped her as well as learning more about the world that Rin Chupeco has created.

And it definitely is an interesting world with various types of asha and different magical elements that captured my attention.  Each chapter revealed something new and helped me to picture Tea's life and world.

However, despite the rich and vivid descriptions the author provides, the story moves a little slow, in my opinion, and I soon grew a little impatient waiting to see where the author and characters were taking us.  In addition, there were so many characters and terms to keep up with, that I feared I'd become lost in the story...and not in a good way. Nevertheless, I continued to read and was glad I did so because it ended up being an entertaining story.  

Overall, while I didn't LOVE this book as I had hoped, I still enjoyed and liked it and would read more of the author's work.
*I received a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*










  • Open Internationally
  • Please read our Rules and Guidelines in the Rafflecopter
  • (1) winner will win a crochet Tea doll and Signed Hardback copy of The Bone Witch
  • (2) winners will win a Bottlecap Necklace and a crochet Tea doll each




Rin made some adorable chibi sketches for the eight different types of kingdom asha (one for each of the eight kingdoms).
If you like, you can take a quiz to find out which asha you are most like!
I got Kion! 
How about you?