Feature and Follow #255

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

---

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow me and them to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code at the host blogs and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

                              Question of the Week: 

How many books have you got on your TBR list? - Suggested by Obsessive Compulsive Reader

 

                                                       My answer: 

This is an interesting question! On my TBR list I have 1287 books, counting out mangas (41), my read-list (792), and the list of the 2016 releases (20).

                                 So in total I have 2088 books!

                                                       Show them Tony!!!

Now for the Follow Fun!

                                           FOLLOW ME ON GFC ON YOUR LEFT!!

Alison Can Read

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Review: "OFF BOOK" by Jessica Dall

Welcome to my review stop for the blog otur of "OFF BOOK" by Jessica Dall! We are introduced into a different kind of story which I hope will spark your interest just like it did with me!

About OFF BOOK: 
Twenty-year-old Eloise has learned all she can from the School, where characters live until joining their novels. No one knows genre and plot structure better than her, but despite her knowledge, she’s yet to be assigned to her own story. All her friends are off starting their lives with their authors—and if Eloise doesn’t get assigned soon, she’ll fade away, forgotten by all.

When she is suddenly offered a job at the Recording Office, she takes the chance to write her own future. Suddenly living among the post-storied, Eloise meets Barnaby Fitzwilliam, a former romance novel hero who hasn’t lost any of his in-story charm. But just as their relationship begins to get serious, everything Eloise has been taught gets turned upside down when she’s sucked into a novel she was never meant to be part of.

Now, caught where the only rules are made by the authors and truly anything is possible, Eloise must find her way back home—or else her life might end before she ever gets the chance to live it. Set in a world dictated by Authors, OFF BOOK explores the story beneath the stories we all know and love, taking readers and characters alike on an adventure just waiting to be written.

Start reading today! Find the book on AMAZON!



REVIEW


Off Book by Jessica Dall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised by this book! I've never read anything like this before and I am sure that any author out there will never think of his or her characters the same way ever again!
The story of Eloise takes place into a somewhat parallel universe, where all pre-storied characters await thei 'call' from the authors' imagination. Then they are assigned into a story until its end, so they later return back home.

If they are not killed in the proccess by the authors' plot. Eloise meets Barnaby and after a strange incident she is transported into the set of a story. And then the adventure begins.

This read was funny, a great shock to my writer's spirit since I never thought that characters would have the ability to think, act and love like Eloise and her world does. In every page Eloise mentions all the funny facts about the writer-world like "Plot Bunnies", "Climax", "Love at First Sight" and more! I loved how she tried to save everyone and that didn't stop her from being a strong heroine.

It was an enjoyable read and I totally recommend it!






About The Author:

Jessica Dall finished her first novel at age 15 and been writing ever since. She is the author of such novels as Grey Areas and The Bleeding Crowd, the Broken Line Series, and a number of short stories which have appeared in both literary magazines and anthologies.

When not writing, she works as a freelance editor and creative writing teacher in Washington, DC.

 Find Jessica Dall on twitter, facebook, and goodreads.




So what do you think?

 

Bookish News #3

Welcome to "Bookish News"! It's a post made for you who love anything that has to do with books, cover reveals, upadates from Blogsphere and more! On today's post we have lots to see and hope to read on the near future!

NEWS BY LAINI TAYLOR


You do remember "Daughter of smoke and bone" series? Karou with her blue hair and Akiva with his fiery wings? Well, Laini Taylor just posted on GoodReads her new project titled as "The Muse of Nightmares". The summary is exciting and knowing Laini's style we will anticipate this series for a long time!

Summary from GoodReads

There was a war between men and gods, and men won. The few surviving children of the gods have grown up in hiding, dreading the day they know must come: when humans find them, and end them. That day is at hand.

Moving on, Mundie Moms have posted many exciting news concerning the new "Shadowhunters" TV series! Yesterday, 5/25, the filming for the 1st episode began inToronto! Well, we already have gotten the cast and personally I like them more than the ones from the movie. Look at them!

But the surprise came from Veronica Rossi! The author of "Under the Never Sky" series has revealed the summary and the cover of her new apocalyptic series "The Riders"!

For eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake, nothing but death can keep him from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

Recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

Riders of Apocalypse, a girl in danger and swoon-worthy romance! Yup, I'm in!


Although I am still reading "An Ember in the Ashes" it was also announced that the second book will also be published in the future. I didn't know that there was a chance for a second book but the first one has already caught my attention with its great world-building! You can find it in GoodReads. Here's the blurb:


The book will pick up the story of the heroine Laia, the undercover rebel who is fighting to protect her family, and Elias, a reluctant soldier for the empire, as they travel north to free Laia’s brother from prison and try to evade the empire’s armies.


As for me I am heading to my reading/writing cave since many things are coming for me in the future! Don't forget that you can also find me on Wattpad where I have posted my completed novels, as also you can find there Karina Halle who has posted the prologue of her new novel "The Offer"!



FEATURING FROM MY WORKS

Claire thought that being a doorkeeper with that salary was 

her best chance of escaping her hard life. 

But the condo hides more secrets than the haunted willow tree or the gargoyle, 

which seems to move, 

when nobody looks at it. 
Three men, a bored vampire, a fallen Fae royalty and a lone werewolf 

are the residents. 

Outcasts from their races they live in solitude until a girl 

with cocky attitude lands on their doorstep.

Life became really interesting after that.

You can find the book here. 

                                                                             Until next time.

Review: "The Winner's Crime" (The Winner's Trilogy #2) by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.


BUY ON AMAZON (click the covers) the third book is up for PRE-ORDER!










AND DON'T MIIS THE FIRST BOOK OF THE SERIES!

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love...

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

 War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks.

But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?







 
REVIEW

 I was able to gather my wits and write my review about the second book. While the first one was a great start with strong world-building and characters who had, and still have, many obstacles before them, the second book was a gut-tearing read.

While Kestrel tries to come to terms with her decisions and Arin can't get over his feelings for her, the Emperor, her father and the court become a nice golden prison for her, full of secrets and spies. I was relieved that there was no second love interest (since we are presented at the prince) since that would be an epic fail and a common book which suffers 'second-book-syndrome'. Arin was the character who had to deal with many responsibilities while Kestrel felt more like a martyr rather like a woman who was so strong willed on the first book.

She does try to save Arin with everything she has at her disposal, kniwing that on the path to do so she loses Arin. The ending was another epic cliffhanger with which I will have to deal until 2016. And the Emperor? Think King of Ardalan from "Throne of Glass" but less malicious. That's why I hope all the fiction emperors will die!

About the author:

 Marie Rutkoski is the author of the YA novel The Shadow Society and the children's fantasy series The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of Wonders, The Celestial Globe and The Jewel of the Kalderash. Her next project is a YA trilogy that begins with The Winner's Curse, which is scheduled to be published in March 2014.

Marie grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Harvard University. Marie is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children's literature and fiction writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/marier...

Feature and Follow #254

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

---

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow me and them to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code at the host blogs and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

                              Question of the Week: 

How do you write your reviews? - Suggested by Blue Books and Butterflies. 

 

                                                         My answer: 

After finishing my book, I make sure to add it on th list I have created on GoodReads (2015, favorites). After that I use the review system of the site and with the help of HTML I post the review on my blog, Tumblr, Google+ and Twitter.

I also like to use gifs. The girls from *Starry-Eyed Revenue* have also created a post where their reviews are consisted entirely of GIFs. 

 

Moreover, I want to comment on the world-building and the characters. I don't like insta-love and a weak world-building. That part must reach Satah J. Maas/ Marie Rutskoski level! How about you?

 

 

Now for the Follow Fun!

                                           FOLLOW ME ON GFC ON YOUR LEFT!!

Alison Can Read

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Review: "Vision in Silver" (The Others #3) by Anne Bishop

Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads



 The Others freed the  cassandra sangue  to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before—both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep…



BUY ON AMAZON






 REVIEW

I was able to get the third audiobook and boy, I wasn't disappointed!
With more happening all over Thasia Simon and Meg will have to face new enemies and form fragile alliances if they want all of their firends and pack to survive.

The good thing on the plot of the third book was the constant change between action scenes, visons and sweet moments. While the plot itself felt too long for my liking and a little bit stretched, I was patient waiting for the next Simon-Meg scene. The romance here is AGONIZINGLY slow but in the end where Simon takes Meg's hand, I felt hope surging wanting more...intimate moments between them.

There were also many funny moments and many sad ones. Lizzie was a nice add to the plot and if she is paired with Sam on the nexts books I believe we'll have many jokes and funny moments. But the threat of the Others in the last hours of the audiobook had me gripping the Ipod wondering what they will do on the next book. I only hope for the best.

Until the next one, I recommend the series to those who love a nice and different urban fantasy with many plots and characters!





About the author: 

Anne Bishop lives in upstate New York where she enjoys gardening, music, and writing dark, romantic stories. She is the author of fourteen novels, including the award-winning Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel,Twilight’s Dawn, made the New York Times bestsellers list. She is currently working on a new series, which is an urban dark fantasy with a bit of a twist. Crawford Award (2000)