Feature & Follow #11

Friday, April 29, 2016

THE FUTURE & 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 US TO SHOW OFF MORE NEW BLOGS.

HOW DOES THE #FF WORK?

The goal is to increase blog followers, make friends and have something to post.

You create your own post using the post prompt.

You leave your link and thumbnail in the linky list that links back to your post prompt.

Once you have your post up and linked, visit other posts and tell them hi. The point is to FOLLOW them not just comment.

If you see a post that just hit it to the moon, or just want to show appreciation to a fellow blogger friend, like their name on the linky list to show some appreciation.

The person with the most likes gets chosen as the next Feature (you can be chosen every 90 days unless we are in need of features)

It is required that if you participate that you have to follow the FEATURE. It is a big no-no to participate and ignore the feature. They are the special snowflake in this little blizzard.

As a participant it is up to your discretion on how you want people to follow. Please post RSS, GFC etc if you have a follow of choice.

Specific RULES

Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.

Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.

If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followedFollow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”

Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”

If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers

THE POST PROMPT:

3 favorite heroines, books they're in, and why you love them.

MY ANSWER:

The first female character I love to read and relate to in terms of bookish nerdiness (if that's a word) is Lucy Piper or Pip from "The Untold Tale". She is forced to travel into her favorite world from a book series, she meets Forsyth a secondary character and she heads into a quest! There is nothing I don't love about her.

(Pip & Forsyth. Pic belings to J. M. Frey's site)

The second female character I loved in 2016 was Lila from "A Gathering of Shadows". She is fierce, even a little stubborn and daring but she wants to be independent. Not to metion I love her dagger skills!

The third one may not be so known or not having the fame like Celaena or Iseult and Sazi or Emma and Clary but she makes a name of her own. She is Meg Corbin from "The Others" series. A blood prophet with a hard futire and ends up living in a place with the most savage predators in the books and in the proccess falling in love with one of them.

Now for the Follow Fun!

FOLLOW ME IN ANY WAY TO YOUR LEFT

Blog Tour Review: Z by Larissa Ione (1001 Dark Nights Novella)

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Z is the latest in Larissa Ione’s incredible Demonica Underworld Series brought to you by the amazing team at 1001 Dark Nights! Be sure you grab your copy of this sexy new novella today!

Amazon Paperback**

About Z:

Zhubaal, fallen angel assistant to the Grim Reaper, has spent decades searching for the angel he loved and lost nearly a century ago. Not even her death can keep him from trying to find her, not when he knows she’s been given a second chance at life in a new body. But as time passes, he’s losing hope, and he wonders how much longer he can hold to the oath he swore to her so long ago…

As an emim, the wingless offspring of two fallen angels, Vex has always felt like a second-class citizen. But if she manages to secure a deal with the Grim Reaper — by any means necessary — she will have earned her place in the world. The only obstacle in the way of her plan is a sexy hardass called Z, who seems determined to thwart her at every turn. Soon it becomes clear that they have a powerful connection rooted in the past…but can any vow stand the test of time?

REVIEW

I missed the world of Daemonica. It was one of the series I had devoured back on 2015 and was glad to return to. Vex is an Enim with an unusual power and circumstances leads her before Azagorth. Z is the fallen Angel who has been searching his lover's soul for centuries. As the two come together an old enemy will appear and emotions will be revealed.

I liked the cameo appearances of favorite characters and I hope to read more later on how the others got along.

About Larissa Ione: Larissa Ione is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. An Air Force veteran, she traded in a career as a meteorologist to pursue her passion of writing. She now spends her days in pajamas with her computer, strong coffee, and supernatural worlds. She believes in celebrating everything, and would never be caught without a bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge…just in case. She currently lives in Wisconsin with her U.S. Coast Guard husband, her teenage son, a rescue cat named Vegas, and her very own hellhound, a King Shepherd named Hexe.

Website | Facebook |Twitter | 1001 Dark Nights

Larissa Ione’s Z – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:

April 27^th

A Fortress of books – Review

What Is That Book About – Excerpt

Booklovers For Life – Review & Excerpt

Queens of the Darkside – Excerpt

April 28^th

Milky Way of Books – Review

Extreme Bookaholics – Excerpt

Nice Ladies, Naughty Books – Excerpt

April 29^th

Collector of book boyfriends – Excerpt

Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews – Review

I Smell Sheep – Review

Oh My Shelves – Review

April 30^th

Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt

Smokin' Hot Reads Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Barbara Book Reviews – Excerpt

May 1^st

Angelika blogja – Review

Sultry, Steamy Reading – Review & Excerpt

Deluged with Books Cafe – Review & Excerpt

Coffee-Books-Life Blog – Review & Excerpt

May 2^nd

Bridget's Book Bungalow – Review & Excerpt

That's What I'm Talking About – Review

Books-n-Kisses – Review & Excerpt

May 3^rd

Reads All the Books – Review & Excerpt

Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews – Excerpt

Diane’s Book Blog – Review

Alpha book club – Review & Excerpt

May 4^th

The Romance Reviews – Review

Ashley Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Romancing the Readers – Review

KatyaRath – Review & Excerpt

May 5^th

Hike2Forty and beyond – Review & Excerpt

KT Book Reviews – Excerpt

A Hopeless Romantic's Booklandia – Review & Excerpt

SnoopyDoo's Book Reviews – Excerpt

May 6^th

Hart's Romance Pulse – Excerpt

Book Lovin' Mamas – Review & Excerpt

Angel's Guilty Pleasures – Excerpt

Evermore Books – Review & Excerpt

Blog Tour Review+Excrept+Giveaway: "CHARGED" (Saints of Denver #2) by Jay Crownover

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

From New York Times bestselling author Jay Crownover comes CHARGED, the latest in her sexy The Saints of Denver Series, releasing May 24th! Known for her strong heroines and alpha males, you won't know what hit you as you read Avett and Quaid's story. Keep reading for more about the Leagle Eagle and Avett and order your copy today.

Amazon iBooks Barnes & Noble ** Kobo

About CHARGED:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the second installment in the Saints of Denver series featuring a bad girl and a by the book attorney who could be her salvation...or her ruin.

Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson’s worlds have no reason to collide. Ever. Quaid is a high powered criminal attorney as slick as he is handsome. Avett is a pink-haired troublemaker with a bad attitude and a history of picking the wrong men.

When Avett lands in a sea of hot water because of one terrible mistake, the only person who can get her out of it is the insanely sexy lawyer. The last thing on earth she wants to do is rely on the no-nonsense attorney who thinks of her as nothing more than a nuisance. He literally has her fate in his hands. Yet there is something about him that makes her want to convince him to loosen his tie and have a little fun…with her.

Quaid never takes on clients like the impulsive young woman with a Technicolor dye job. She could stand to learn a hard lesson or two, but something about her guileless hazel eyes intrigues him. Still, he’s determined to keep their relationship strictly business. But doing so is becoming more impossible with each day he spends with her.

As they work side-by-side, they’ll have to figure out a way to get along and keep their hands off each other—because the chemistry between them is beyond charged.

EXCREPT

Avett

“This is a bad idea.” I knew it. I could feel it deep in my bones and the allure of letting go, of doing what I always did, and falling headfirst into disaster, was pulling at me hard. But I was supposed to be changing. I was supposed to actually be sorry, not just saying it and turning around into the next catastrophe. I knew kissing Quaid Jackson was going to lead to all kinds of sorry and sorrow. I knew it as much as I knew I didn’t care and that I was going to kiss him and chase this bad idea until it crashed and burned, like they always did.
“You made a lot of them lately. What’s one more?”
He was right. What was one more? Especially when it looked like him, when it smelled sleepy and expensive like he did, when it felt hot and hard pressed up against me. What was one more awful choice when it came with lips that were firm and demanding as they landed against mine? What was one more when it was attached to rough hands that brushed along my exposed rib cage and paused under the achy swell of my breast? What was one more bad decision on top of all the other ones that had led this particular mammoth-sized bad decision to my door?
I had plenty of time, tomorrow, to do the right thing, but now I was going to enjoy the hell out of the wrong thing as he pressed his mouth more insistently into mine, taking the choice of which came first—the kiss or the story—out of my hands. Maybe that was why I was so drawn to him, so attracted to everything there was about him. He didn’t give me the room or the chance to make any kind of choice, good or bad. He decided and I followed his lead towards victory or towards ruin…and this kiss felt like it had everything in it to ruin both of us.
It was the first time in my life that a bad idea felt like the best idea I had ever had.

REVIEW

I love everything Jay Crownover writes. The tattoo artwork, the wounded men and women of her books, and the heart-breaking, funny moments too!

In the newest story in the spin-off series, from her "Marked Men", we meet Avett a young woman who has done many mistakes in her life and thinks that everything will never become better for her. When an incident forces her to see her future for the first time, she will change.

And meet Quaid in the proccess.

Frigid, sexy Quaid, a lawyer who has suffered from the expectations of his life and wants to love and feel like he is someone's only one. As he and Avett, meet and learn about each other, the danger around them will become intense.

I loved the cameo appearances of Rome and Asa. Those two are my favorites. There was also the appearance of Church and Wheeler, who also will get their books, I am sure. I am pretty curious to see what will happen in Wheeler's case.

The story was intense and fast with packed emotion and showed how family can be supportive even after the wrong choices and the concequences of their members. Very recommended and I hope to read about the new characters soon!

And don’t miss the first titles in The Saints of Denver Series!

LEVELED

Studio portrait of young bearded man --- Image by © pinkypills/Corbis

BUILT

About Jay Crownover: Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men, The Point, and the Saints of Denverseries. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

Website Blog Facebook ** Twitter

CHARGED Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CHARGED Review & Excerpt Tour

May 16^th

Ramblings From This Chick – Review & Excerpt

BJ' S Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

2 Girls & Their Kindles – Review & Excerpt

She Hearts Books – Review & Excerpt

Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom – Review & Excerpt

Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt

BookWorm221 – Review & Excerpt

Red Hot + Blue Reads – Review & Excerpt

Three Little Birds Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Gemma Reads Too Much – Review & Excerpt

Review: "The Mirror King" (The Orphan Queen #2) by Jodi Meadows

The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.

HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right.

HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.

HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.

In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.

BUY ON AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

REVIEW

Knowing that this series was going to be a duology made me feel both relieved and sad. Relieved because I wouldn't have to wait yet another year for a possible third book to be released and sad because yet another great story by Jodi Meadows was coming to an end.

The story immediately picks up from the horrible cliffhanger we were left one year ago. Wil will have to face Patrick and save the rest of the Ospreys while at the same time she must deal with the wraith boy she created.

Needless to say that there is a cluster of emotions; friendship and hatred, suspicion and regret and angst, lots of it. Jodi gave great detail in the emotional world of Wil and her relationships with the others. Especially after the events of a particular chapter (cruel, very cruel Jodi!), Wil must travel back to Aecor while at the same time in her whole world there is an Apocalypse coming. There was a point I even sympathized with the wraith boy and his brutal honesty.

There was nothing I didn't love in Jodi's writing. The dresses, the world building even the way she describes magic, makes the book unique. You can aslo understand the symbolsim behind this dashing, drool-worthing cover!

The ending was indeed bittersweet but filled with hope. It's actually pretty good for once to read a book that had too much emotional turmoil yet gave me a hopeful smile. "The Mirror King" was a great ending to this series. So for now I am going to hope and anticipate the next book by Jodi Meadows. And if you want a healthy dose of her writing, don't forget to read her other series "Newsoul". ;)

About the author:

Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and the ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen), and a coauthor of the forthcoming MY LADY JANE (HarperTeen). Visit her at www.jodimeadows.com
*A Kippy is a cat.

Website

http://www.jodimeadows.com

2 Sweet Sized Reviews: "In Real Life" by Jessica Love & "Tell Me Three Things" by Julie Buxbaum

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

What if the person you need the most is someone you’ve never met?

Julie Buxbaum mixes comedy and tragedy, love and loss, pain and elation, in her debut YA novel whose characters will come to feel like friends. Tell Me Three Things will appeal to fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven, and E. Lockhart.“Three Things about this novel: (1) I loved it. (2) No, really, I LOVED it. (3) I wish I could tell every teen to read it. Buxbaum’s book sounds, reads, breathes, worries, and soars like real adolescents do.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Time and Off the Page
Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

BUY ON AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

REVIEW

If I had to consider one of the cutest contemporaries I have read so far, "Tell me Three things" would be the IT! The story follows Jessie who after the death of her mother she moves into her new stepmom's house together with her father. She'll have to deal with the grief she feels, her new enviroment and the mysterious SN (Somebody Nobody) who sends her e-mails in order to help Jessie in this new enviroment.

To be honest I didn't realize how quickly I read the book. If felt so good to be in Jessie's head, feeling her grief and the way she tries to see everything around her. All the secondary characters were also pretty well written and the identity of SN was revealed in a very funny way.

I really hope the author will write more in this genre; she has the potential for that! ;)

About the author:

Please check out my website www.juliebuxbaum.com for more information about my books.

Or to follow my recent shenanigans, please check out my blog, JULIE HAS WRITER'S BLOG, at www.juliebuxbaum.com/blog/

One of my favorite things about being a novelist is the opportunity to talk to reading groups. If you are part of a reading group and would like to set up a conference call, or maybe even a meeting in person, please check out the reading group form and the reading group guide on my website.

In Real Life by Jessica Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper have been best friends since 8th grade. They talk for hours on the phone, regularly shower each other with presents, and know everything there is to know about one another.

There's just one problem: Hannah and Nick have never actually met.

Hannah has spent her entire life doing what she's supposed to, but when her senior year spring break plans get ruined by a rule-breaker, she decides to break a rule or two herself. She impulsively decides to road trip to Las Vegas, her older sister and BFF in tow, to surprise Nick and finally declare her more-than-friend feelings for him.

Hannah's surprise romantic gesture backfires when she gets to Vegas and finds out that Nick has been keeping some major secrets. Hannah knows the real Nick can't be that different from the online Nick she knows and loves, but now she only has night in Sin City to figure out what her feelings for Nick really are, all while discovering how life can change when you break the rules every now and then.

BUY ON AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITOTY

REVIEW

What can I say about this book? It was a tangle of emotions, very funny moments and Las Vegas!! I really wonder how any teen can live in that city! Not to mention that from beginning to end, I couldn't stop laughing!

Hannah and Nick know each other since they were in 8th grade. But they have never met each other face to face. After being introduced from their older siblings, they grew into each other as friends. When Hannah decideds to go into a road trip with her sister and her friend in order to finally meet Nick, she will come into many relevations and she will learn that nothing is as it appears.

Now the missing star goes to the fact that Hannah and Nick became friends though social media. True, technology has taken up many parts of our lives but you can't just blow up everything and go into another city to meet someone who you know only through a screen. Not to mention that Hannah didn't tell her parents, not even her older sister.

Despite that, Las Vegas as a background was a really good setting. I know about the city only through TV and Movies so I wasn't that ignorant. The ending was very satisfying and I seriously would love to read more from this author! :)

About the author:

Jessica Love is a high school English teacher who lives in Southern California with her husband and their two tiny dogs. She's working on her Master's Degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Spalding University, and her big love is contemporary YA romance. Jessica spends all of her free money on concerts, constantly tries to prove that blondes have more fun, and is pretty much always on the internet.

IN REAL LIFE will be released from St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne on March 1, 2016. Co-written with Chelsie Hill from Sundance Channel's reality TV show Push Girls, Jessica's debut novel PUSH GIRL is available now.

Website

http://www.jessicalove.net

Twitter

_JessicaLove

Release Day Blitz+Giveaway: "The Rose & the Dagger" (The Wrath & the Dawn #2) by Renée Ahdieh

Monday, April 25, 2016

I am so excited that THE ROSE & THE DAGGER by Renée Ahdieh releases today and that I get to share the news, along with an awesome giveaway!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Renée Ahdieh, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a paperback of THE WRATH & THE DAWN and a hardcover of THE ROSE & THE DAGGER and an awesome candle from The Melting Library’s Etsy Store, US Only! So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

Title: THE ROSE & THE DAGGER

Author: Renée Ahdieh

Release Date: April 26, 2016

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iBooks

The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as "a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance."

I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.

While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

Praise for The Rose and the Dagger:

“Above all there is the shattering, triumphant catharsis of love… In a story about stories, love is ‘the power to speak without words.’ Thrillingly full of feeling.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fiery romance, a spirited heroine, shifting loyalties… With more than a few heartrending twists and turns.”—Booklist

Excerpt:

About Renée:

Renée lives in North Carolina (Go Heels!) with her husband Victor and their dog Mushu. Her YA fantasy novel, THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, will be published on May 12th, 2015. In her spare time, she likes to cook, dance salsa, and wreak havoc on the lives of her characters.

She’s also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, as well as an active member of theScience Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a paperback of THE WRATH & THE DAWN, a hardcover of THE ROSE & THE DAGGER, and a His Calipha candle from The Melting Library’s Etsy Store, US Only.

Ends on May 3rd at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feature & Follow #10

Friday, April 22, 2016

HOW DOES THE #FF WORK?

The goal is to increase blog followers, make friends and have something to post.

You create your own post using the post prompt.

You leave your link and thumbnail in the linky list that links back to your post prompt.

Once you have your post up and linked, visit other posts and tell them hi. The point is to FOLLOW them not just comment.

If you see a post that just hit it to the moon, or just want to show appreciation to a fellow blogger friend, like their name on the linky list to show some appreciation.

The person with the most likes gets chosen as the next Feature (you can be chosen every 90 days unless we are in need of features)

It is required that if you participate that you have to follow the FEATURE. It is a big no-no to participate and ignore the feature. They are the special snowflake in this little blizzard.

As a participant it is up to your discretion on how you want people to follow. Please post RSS, GFC etc if you have a follow of choice.

Specific RULES

Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.

Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.

If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers

THE POST PROMPT:

What's your criteria of a misbehaving author/reviewer?

My ANSWER:

One of my biggest fears when I began posting on my blog for the first time, was the reactions of the fellow bloggers/reviewers. So far I have nothing but great things to say about everyone who have read my posts. What I characterize as "misbehaving reviewer" is the one who posts offensive reviews, to the point of becoming rude. There are also those who after receiving an ARC (and we all know how rare and sweet is to get one of those) he/she sells them on Ebay or something similar.

A misbehaving author is the one who wants to request reviews to the point of becoming annoying. I have added my "no review acceptance request" for that reason. Mostly for that part I don't think I can think anything else since many of the fellow bloggers have covered that part.