Book Flame

Blog Tour: When the Marquess Was Mine by Caroline Linden - Excerpt

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 04:00:00 +0000

On Sale: September 24, 2019

ISBN: 9780062913593

E-ISBN: 9780062913609

Digital Audio ISBN: 9780062963123

In the game of love…

Georgiana Lucas despises the arrogant and cruel Marquess of Westmorland even before learning that

he’s won the deed to her friend Kitty’s home in a card game. Still, Georgiana assures Kitty the marquess

wouldn’t possibly come all the way to Derbyshire to throw them out—until he shows up, bloody and

unconscious. Fearing that Kitty would rather see him die, Georgiana blurts out that he’s her fiancé. She’ll

nurse the hateful man back to health and make him vow to leave and never return. The man who wakes

up, though, is nothing like the heartless rogue Georgiana thought she knew…

You have to risk it all

He wakes up with no memory of being assaulted—or of who he is. The bewitching beauty tending him

so devotedly calls him Rob and claims she’s his fiancée even as she avoids his touch. Though he can’t

remember how he won her hand, he’s now determined to win her heart. But as his memory returns and

the truth is revealed, Rob must decide if the game is up—or if he’ll take a chance on a love that defies all

odds.

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Excerpt:

Chapter One

1819

It was to be a bacchanal for the ages.

As Heathercote remarked, a man only turned twenty-nine once. Marlow pointed out that a man also

only turned twenty-eight, or thirty, once as well, but they were well used to ignoring Marlow’s odd

points of reason, and this one was promptly forgotten.

Heathercote planned the entire affair, inviting the most dashing, daring rogues and scoundrels in

London. He declared it to be the invitation of the month, and that he’d turned away several fellows for

lacking wit, style, or both. “You mean they aren’t up to your standard of mayhem,” said Westmorland,

whose birthday it was, to which Heathercote mimed tipping his hat in acknowledgment.

After a raucous dinner at White’s, they decamped for the theater. The production was well under way

when they invaded the pit in search of amusement. By the time the show ended, they had drunk a great

deal of brandy, thrown oranges at the stage, and lost Clifton to the company of a prostitute.

Everyone’s memories ran a bit ragged after that, with vague recollections of singing in the streets and

Marlow casting up his accounts somewhere in Westminster, but eventually they settled at the Vega

Club. It was so late, the manager tried to dissuade them from play. Mr. Forbes knew every one of them

could wager for hours, and the Vega Club closed its doors at dawn.

But Heathercote persuaded him to let them in and to give them the whist salon all to themselves. “We’ll

leave by noon,” he promised, patting Forbes on the chest as he slid a handful of notes into the man’s

hand. His words were remarkably steady for a man who’d been drinking for eight hours. Grim-faced,

Forbes let them in, where they commandeered the main table and called for yet more wine.

A few intrepid souls followed them from the club proper. Forbes tried to stop them at the door, but

Forester recognized one and waved them in. “We don’t mind winning their money,” he said with a

hiccup.

They played whist, then switched to loo. One loser was dared to drink off the contents of his full flask in

one go, which he did. The room filled with cigar smoke and ribald language, and the wagers grew

extravagant. Marlow won a prize colt off Forester. Heathercote wagered his new phaeton and ended up

with someone’s barouche. Sackville won the largest pot of the night, and everyone pelted him with

markers.

And then one of the hangers-on spoiled it. He had the look of a country fellow new to London, with an

arrogant bluster that was initially amusing but eventually turned annoying. He’d played well enough,

winning a bit and losing with colorful curses that made the rest of them roar with laughter. But it

became abruptly clear that Sir Charles Winston was in over his head when he wagered his house.

Marlow laughed. Heathercote picked up the scribbled note Winston had put forth and read it with one

brow arched. “Can’t wager property, Winslow.”

The man was already ruddy from drink, and now he turned scarlet. “Can so! Your fellow wagered a

horse.”

“Horses are portable,” said Forester, his Liverpool accent bleeding through. “Houses are not.”

“Houses are worth more!”

“Aye, too much more.” Heathercote flicked the note back across the table. “Markers.”

“I haven’t got any more markers,” muttered the younger man. For a moment everyone focused in

surprised silence on the empty space in front of him. None of them had run out.

“Then fold your hand,” Forester told him. “You’re out!”

Winston’s chin set stubbornly. His mate tried to slide some markers toward him, but he angrily shoved

them back. “Give me a chance to win it back.”

“All the more reason to walk away, if you’ve lost ‘em all.” Marlow waved one hand, nearly toppling out

of his seat. Mr. Forbes, watching grimly from the corner, came forward. “Forbes, Windermere is done.”

“Sir Charles,” murmured the manager. “Perhaps it’s time to go.”

“Not yet!” Winston scowled at them all, shaking off his friend’s quiet attempts to get him to fold. “Not

now, Farley! They got a chance to turn their luck. Why shouldn’t I?”

“Luck is like the wind,” said a new voice. Nicholas Dashwood, the owner of the Vega Club, stepped out

of the shadows. “It rarely turns propitiously.”

Winston stubbornly sank lower in his seat. “I deserve ‘nother chance.”

Heathercote slung his arms over the back of his chair. “Well, West? What say you? Shall we let him stay

and wager away everything he’s got?”

Lounging in his seat, the Marquess of Westmorland looked up in irritation. “Really ought to go,

Winsmore.”

“Wins-less, more like,” snickered Marlow.

Winston sat up straighter in his seat. “Please, my lord.”

“Oh, let him ruin himself,” muttered Forester, shuffling his cards restlessly.

The marquess lifted one shoulder. “Damned if I care.”

“Sir Charles,” said Dashwood evenly, “do not wager what you cannot afford to lose.”

Winston scooped up the scribbled paper and added a line, signing his name with a flourish. “I won’t, sir.”

But he did. Within four hands, he’d won a bit and then lost it all—including the deed. Suddenly he did

not look so belligerent or so stubborn. He looked young and quite literally green, staring at the winning

hand, lying on the table.

“Should have listened,” said the unsympathetic Heathercote. “Should have left.”

Winston puffed up furiously. “Should have known better than to play with the likes of you!”

“Di’n’t y’know that before you sa’ down?” Marlow’s words slurred together. “Stupid bloody fool!”

“That’s my home!”

“And you risked it at loo!” Heath made a derisive noise. “Idiot.”

Winston was the color of beets. “Don’t call me that.”

Sackville raised one brow. “No? ’S not your home anymore.” He reached out and plucked the scrawled

paper from the pile of markers and examined it, although his eyes never quite managed to focus on it.

“It ‘pears to be West’s.”

His friends howled with laughter. “He doesn’t need it,” cried Winston. He made a convulsive grab for the

paper before his lone remaining friend caught his arm. “He’s got a dozen houses!”

“Set it up as a brothel, West,” suggested Forester. “And give all your mates discounted fees.”

“Free!” yelped Marlow with a wheezing laugh.

Winston drew a furious breath, but instead of continuing the fight he turned and rushed from the room,

rather unsteadily; he wrestled with the door, and then almost tripped on his way out, causing more

howls of laughter from the table. His friend helped him back onto his feet before the door closed on

them both.

“Who invited him?” asked Heathercote in disdain.

“Marlow.”

“Ballocks,” mumbled Marlow, putting his head down on the table. “Never did. Was Forester.”

Forester made a rude gesture. “I vouched for the other man, Farley.”

“Your friends are all bad ton,” said Sackville.

Forester’s face tightened. He rose and swung his wineglass into the air in a toast, spilling some. “Thank

you all for a most exciting evening, gentlemen.” Pointedly he bowed only to Viscount Heathercote and

Lord Westmorland. Sackville repaid him with a rude gesture at Forester’s back.

Heathercote protested, but Forester waved him off and left. With Marlow asleep on the table and

Sackville still giggling drunkenly to himself, Westmorland placed his hands on the table, hesitated as if

gathering strength, then heaved himself to his feet. “The carriages, Dashwood.”

Stone-faced, the owner left. Westmorland surveyed the table. “Did I win the last?”

“Aye,” said Heathercote with a wide yawn.

“Credit it all, Forbes,” said the marquess. “God above, I’m tired.”

As expressionless as his employer, the manager stepped forward. With an air of distaste, he picked up

the deed promise and held it out. “I cannot credit this, my lord.”

West stared at it. “Damn. Right.” He stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket and staggered out into the

morning sunlight with Heathercote, never guessing the trouble that wagered deed was about to cause

him.

About the Author

Caroline Linden was born a reader, not a writer. She earned a math degree from Harvard University and wrote computer code before discovering that writing fiction was far more fun. Since then, the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series ~~three~~ FOUR times, which is not related but still worth mentioning. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages, and have won the NEC-RWA Reader's Choice Award, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the NJRW Golden Leaf Award, and RWA's RITA Award. She lives in New England.

Review: The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 04:00:00 +0000

The Beautiful by

Renée Ahdieh

Pub. Date: October 8, 2019
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Pages: 448
Series: The Beautiful #1
Rating:5/5
Goodreads/Amazon

New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

Review: I haven't picked up a book having to do with Vampires in a long time and I didn't realize how much I needed them back in my life until I got my hands on The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh. Ahdieh took us into the world of a dark and wickedly ravishing New Orleans with writing so lush and vivid I couldn't stop turning the pages and found myself reading the novel late into the night sacrificing my sleep and I love my sleep time so any book that can get me to do that deserves five stars. And I just have to say THAT ENDING!!! Talk about a cliffhanger...wow.

Let's start with the characters, I loved Celine, Sébastien Saint Germain, and Odette the most out of the many noteworthy characters in the novel. Celine, she is courageous, spirited, and fearless. I also really loved how she didn't give a damn about fitting in with proper society. Moving on to Bastien, he has this whole dark mysterious ruthless vibe going on for him when you first meet him but I loved seeing his story unravel and I feel that there is still so much more we need to learn about him as much as I loved Celine he was far more interesting to me. As far as Odette I really did love her, for the most part, there was a moment when I questioned her motives also I know she isn't the MC but I do hope that she is more fleshed out in the next book because she really is one of those characters you wish had her own book.

Now that I think about it one thing I would love to see overall in the next book is that I wish the supporting characters were more fleshed out.

I did enjoy being transported back into 1872 New Orleans, the attention to detail by Ahdieh was perfection. The writing was beautiful and lyrical and I didn't expect anything less from Renée Ahdieh.

I have to say I'm a huge fantasy reader and this felt more like YA Romance with Fantasy thrown in the mix, a quick read and I can't wait for the next book to be out. Overall if you love romance, vampires, and an author who can weave an amazing story The Beautiful is a must-read.

Review: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Pub. Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 327
Series: Vengeance Road #1
Rating:4.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon

Revenge is worth its weight in gold.

When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers—and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of allies, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.

Review: I don't like Westerns. Not a fan of the movies so I never really cared much for the books either so you are wondering why in the world I decided to read Vengeance Road, honestly because of that cover. Yep. Total cover lust here. Luckily the book was fantastic, I loved it and I can say I'm more open to reading books from the Western genre because of it.

The author did an awesome job with the writing and the dialogue, it all felt so realistic to the time and setting which helped draw me in very quickly. Right off the bat, I loved Kate, there is nothing more I love than a badass female protagonist. Kate was strong and capable of doing what needs to be done without having to depend on anyone and I loved how she had no problems shooting it up with the boys if it meant a life and death situation, she never hesitated which was refreshing.

I found Vengeance Road to be quite unpredictable surprisingly, I really thought I had it figured out but nope, the author threw in a huge plot twist which had me going like WTF! Well, I wasn't expecting that! I loved Kate and the adventures she went on with the Colton brothers riding by her side and a few other interesting characters she meets along the way.

Overall this was an unforgettable read and even if you don't like Western's I say step out your comfort zone and pick up Vengeance Road you won't regret it.

$50 Blast Giveaway – Just a Name by Becky Monson

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Just a Name by Becky Monson

Holly has a plan for everything. But she never could have planned for this. If there’s one thing Holly Murphy loves, it’s a solid plan. She has her entire life figured out—or so she thinks. But when life pulls the rug out from under her, she’s left to deal with a canceled wedding—hers, to be precise. And the promotion she’s worked toward for years is now in jeopardy because the team she supervises doesn’t like her management style. Thinking that Holly is too tightly wound and needs a break from everything, her boss demands she take a vacation. But how can she take a vacation when her promotion is on the line? Trying to help out, her best friend, Quinn, suggests she still go on her honeymoon and conduct a nationwide search to find a man with the same name as her ex-fiancé to use his plane ticket. Leaving Holly to wonder if she’s the only sane person left on the planet. Yet when her boss gets wind of the idea and loves it, Holly finds herself in a corner she can’t get out of. And when handsome Nate Jones from Newport Beach gets picked to go with her, she wonders if this whole thing won’t be so bad after all. Can Holly learn to let go? Or will this crazy adventure send her running right back to her safety net?

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Praise for Just A Name “Just a Name is a delicious escape! I devoured every character, every moment, and every quirk and couldn’t get enough. This book is Becky Monson at her finest!” -Author Whitney Dineen “Becky Monson has outdone herself with Just a Name. It’s FANTASTIC! I’m still swooning.” -Author Jennifer Peel “Fans of romantic comedies should grab a copy of Just a Name; it has the perfect balance between sweet and sassy.”-Readers’ Favorite "Full of fun, swoon, and humor, all topped with unexpected twists. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in these pages!" -Katie's Clean Book Collection "I loved it. Becky Monson is so good at writing humor into her books. Sarcasm and wit reign supreme right along with a slow growing romance." - Aimee Brown from Getting Your Read On.

Excerpt

I hate today.

Which doesn’t bode well, since it’s only eight thirty in the morning.

This is par for the course with my life right now, since the past three weeks haven’t particularly been my favorite either. Before that—which feels like ages ago—I was feeling like I was on the right path. Like everything I had planned for myself was happening. And I actually remember thinking, “Life can’t get any better.” Clearly, I jinxed myself.

Because my life is not on track. Not even close.

Lately, every morning I wake up with hopes that this will be the day when things will look up for me. The day my life will take a turn for the better and I’ll get myself back on track. Apparently, today is not that day.

Right now, I’m sitting in an air-conditioned office, holding a piece of paper in my hands, staring at the words in front of me and trying to make sense of it all. The top of the paper, in bold lettering, says, “CT Anderson Bank,” and underneath it, “Holly Murphy—Supervisor Assessment.”

Under that are a whole bunch of words I can’t believe I’m reading. Words like “too controlling” and “micromanaging” and “not a team player.” It’s all there, in Times New Roman, eleven-point type. Coincidentally, these are some of the words Nathan—my ex-fiancé—used when he called off our wedding nearly three weeks ago. He even used the words “not a team player”—whatever that’s supposed to mean. And this was all only a little over two months before we were to marry.

Way to kick me when I’m down, Life.

Author Becky Monson By day, Becky Monson is a mother to three young children, and a wife. By night, she escapes with reading books and writing. An award-winning author, Becky uses humor and true-life experiences to bring her characters to life. She loves all things chick-lit (movies, books, etc.), and wishes she had a British accent. She has recently given up Diet Coke for the fiftieth time and is hopeful this time will last... but it probably won't.

Giveaway Details $50 Amazon Gift Code or $50 in Paypal Cash Ends 11/27/18 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use money sent via Paypal or gift codes via Amazon.com. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Give The Dark My Love by Beth Revis

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

Pub. Date: September 25, 2018
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 368
Series: Give the Dark My Love #1
Rating:3.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon

When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her.

All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague.

Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

Review: I can never get enough books having to do with necromancy, now that I think about it there aren't that many books I have come across that have to do with the subject matter so of course, I had to get my hands on Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis.

I went into this novel expecting a fast-paced read from the very beginning and honestly, it wasn't. It was a slow build up the first half took me quite some time to get through, not that it wasn't interesting because it was but I didn't have the urge to flip the pages and read and read and read to my hearts content, I was able to put the book down, walk away and not have that urge to hurry up and pick it back up to see what happens next. It wasn't until the second half of the novel where things picked up and my curiosity started flourishing. This also wasn't my first Beth Revis book and I know she is one hell of a writer so I stuck with it and as expected wasn't disappointed.

There are two points of views in Give the Dark My Love, Nedra and Grey and the whole time I could not understand why Grey's POV was important, I don't feel like he moved the story along in any way, we learned a little about the politics of the world through him but nothing that couldn't have been figured out through Nedra. I really did not find him interesting and could care less about his character. Is it wrong to say I hope Revis just totally gets rid of his character in the next book? And if romance is a must maybe bring someone in who is a lot more complex and multidimensional?

Now on to what I loved, Nedra is the definition of an Anti-Hero and I loved it. It is so refreshing to read novels with anti-heroes. Nedra started off with good intentions but things happened that drove her to take the most drastic of measures. I don't want to give spoilers on why but I was rooting for her throughout the whole novel. I found her life and her world intriguing which is what kept me reading the first half when things were slow.

The book gets dark, really dark, I would definitely put Give the Dark My Love in the horror genre especially the second half and I am so excited for the next book. Overall it started off slow, there were some things I didn't like but nothing that took away from my overall enjoyment of the book and I am looking forward to seeing what becomes of Nedra.

Review: The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palmobo

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palombo

Pub. Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 416
Rating:4/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

When Ichabod Crane arrives in the spooky little village of Sleepy Hollow as the new schoolmaster, Katrina Van Tassel is instantly drawn to him. Through their shared love of books and music, they form a friendship that quickly develops into romance. Ichabod knows that as an itinerant schoolteacher of little social standing, he has nothing to offer the wealthy Katrina – unlike her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Brom Van Brunt, who is the suitor Katrina’s father favors.

But when romance gives way to passion, Ichabod and Katrina embark on a secret love affair, sneaking away into the woods after dark to be together – all while praying they do not catch sight of Sleepy Hollow’s legendary Headless Horseman. That is, until All Hallows’s Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears, leaving Katrina alone and in a perilous position.

Enlisting the help of her friend – and rumored witch – Charlotte Jansen, Katrina seeks the truth of Ichabod Crane’s disappearance, investigating the forest around Sleepy Hollow using unconventional – often magical – means. What they find forces Katrina to question everything she once knew, and to wonder if the Headless Horseman is perhaps more than just a story after all. In Alyssa Palombo's The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel nothing is as it seems, and love is a thing even death won't erase.

Review: I have always been enamored with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and when The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow landed at my doorsteps I was thrilled. There was this dark seductive yet haunting vibe throughout the whole book and with the gloomy rainy weather we were having here in Seattle the mood was set just right for me to get into this novel.

The book grabbed my attention from page one when it started with "Washington Irving got it wrong." I was all in. I knew I had to know Katrina's side of the story what really went down and I was not disappointed. I feel Palombo gave Katrina's character depth something even the original classic never accomplished, we learn so much about Katrina and I really did love her through her struggles and heartbreaks and hard decisions, I loved her through and through.

Another character that surprisingly stood out to me in the novel was Charlotte, Katrina's dearest friend. Without Charlotte, I don't see how Katrina could have managed the whole ordeal with Ichabod. I found Charlotte to be a quiet strength and a loyal friend I would have loved to see things from her perspective as well.

If you go into this novel expecting it to be heavy in the supernatural realm of things, it's not. It really is a story of Katrina and how she met Ichabod and what transpired between them with tidbits of the supernatural thrown in giving it the right amount of eeriness.

Overall The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow couldn't be released at a better time with us being knee deep in Autumn now and Halloween upon us soon, I highly recommend it especially if you loved the original classic this is a great addition to your collection.

$50 Blast Giveaway - Something About Forever by Kimberly Loth

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Something About Forever by Kimberly Loth

Boys. They are bound to be the death of me. Especially one with blue eyes, perfectly Mormon cut hair, and probably the inspiration for the girl’s camp song "Hot Priest". Why the heck did he have to be the bishop’s son? Cause here’s the thing. While I’m Mormon, I don’t really belong. I mean, I want to, but I just can’t seem to keep on the straight and narrow. Seriously, look at me. I’m not even supposed to use the name Mormon anymore, but Latter-Day Saint is a mouthful. So I’m sticking to Mormon. Sorry, Prophet. The bishop knows my past. He knows my problems. There is no freaking way he’s going to let me date his son. Yet, Nate comes after me anyway. And I fall hard. But eventually….I will have to tell him about my past. And I know, he’ll run far, far away from me when I do.

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Praise for Something About Forever: Something About Forever hit me directly in the feels. I haven’t read a book in a while that’s made me cry but this one got my tear ducts flowing. Lauren and Nate’s story is very reliable. I completely recommend this book if you haven’t read it yet! ~Brianna

While this book could have been preachy, it is far from it. Religion isn't forced on you, even though it plays a major role in the story. It is simply one part of what helps Lauren turn her life around. I liked the way Lauren struggled to overcome her past and forgive herself. It was realistic. This story is unlike any I've read by Kimberly Loth. She moved in an entirely new direction with her writing. The result is a story well worth reading. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book in the series. ~Donna

Being not so perfect either, this book resonated deeply within my soul. The power of forgiveness for yourself and in giving to others can change your life. What a masterfully told story of love, acceptance, and forgiveness that is appropriate for teenagers and adults alike. ~Alie

I'm not really someone who is big on books with religion, but I really loved this story... This is such a sweet and forgiving story that the entire time I read it I felt light-hearted and happy. I really enjoyed the adventure of Lauren and Nate. ~Ruby

A different genre than normal, I was totally enraptured by this tale. This author truly breathed life into these characters and captured the very essence of forgiveness and redemption. ~Patty

A heartbreaking love story. It was hard for me to get passed the specificity of religion but I feel it could fit into any Christian setting. It's a good story. Well written. I hope that you enjoy it too. ~Richard

This book draws you in from the beginning and keeps you enthralled in Lauren and Nate’s story. It’s a real tear-jerker, so make sure the tissues are handy when you read it. It has great characters that you soon become invested in and an emotional plot that keeps you turning the pages. ~Rabid

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EXCERPT

Introduction

Hi, yeah, it’s me, Lauren. I’m breaking the fourth wall. Nate would be appalled. He hates it when people do this in movies or TV shows. He won’t even watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with me for that very reason. He’s nuts, but cute, so you know, I guess it all works out in the end. Anyway, I wanted to let you in on a few things.

I have no idea why you’re here. Maybe you want to hear about my journey to find eternity. Maybe you want to know if I’ll ever speak to my dad again. Or maybe you want to know why my mother married a guy who smokes a pack a day. Or maybe you just think Nate is hot. It’s okay. I do too. (You did see Nate, right? He’s on the cover. If you missed him, or even if you didn’t, go look. Sigh. So hot.)

Now I’m all flustered. Nate does that to me.

Where was I? Oh yeah, why are you here? I bet it’s the music. I’m all famous on YouTube and you wanted to see how it all started. Snort. Yeah, that was not my fault.

Anyway, whatever your reason, I feel I must make a disclaimer. This is my story. I’m not terribly funny or clever, but I do have a lot of obscure thoughts, and I promise I will break this wall again cause there are things that must be explained.

I’m a Mormon, so if that bothers you, you might want to stop reading now. But maybe you’re curious. That brings me to my next disclaimer. I’m not a very good Mormon. So if you’ve come here expecting me to quote the prophet or recite scriptures, you’ve come to the wrong place. I mean, I don’t even go to seminary.

Let’s talk about that for a second. What teenager willingly gets up a whole hour earlier than they are supposed to every single day? Not only that, but go to a class that is basically just reading the scriptures. Talk about a snoozer. They must be insane. Certifiably—we did already establish that Nate was nuts—I can’t even stay awake during Sunday School. How do people do it every stinking day of the week? Sorry, not my thing.

I don’t remember what else I wanted to say to you. Au revoir. Enjoy my story. You’re going to be examining my every flaw and thought. I do find that rather creepy. Good thing I never have to see you again after it’s over.

Hugs and kisses. Just kidding. I’m so not a hugs and kisses kind of girl… unless you are Nate. Which you’re not, cause I would never let him read this.

I’m out.

Lauren

Author Kimberly Loth Kimberly Loth has lived all over the world. From the isolated woods of the Ozarks to exotic city of Cairo. Currently, she resides in Tucson, Arizona with her family including an old grumpy cat named Max. She’s been writing for ten years and is the author of the Amazon bestselling series The Dragon Kings. In her free time, she volunteers at church, reads, and travels as often as possible.

Website * BookBub * Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter

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Review & Giveaway: Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis

Pub. Date: September 25, 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Pages: 384
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #6
Rating:4/5
Goodreads/Amazon

Who needs mistletoe?

Most people wouldn't think of a bad Santa case as the perfect Christmas gift. Then again, Molly Malone, office manager at Hunt Investigations, isn't most people, and she could really use a distraction from the fantasies she's been having since spending the night with her very secret crush, Lucas Knight. Nothing happened, not that Lucas knows that — but Molly just wants to enjoy being a little naughty for once...

Whiskey and pain meds for almost-healed bullet wounds don't mix. Lucas needs to remember that next time he's shot on the job, which may be sooner rather than later if Molly's brother, Joe, finds out about them. Lucas can't believe he's drawing a blank on his (supposedly) passionate tryst with Molly, who's the hottest, smartest, strongest woman he's ever known. Strong enough to kick his butt if she discovers he's been assigned to babysit her on her first case. And hot enough to melt his cold heart this Christmas.

Review: Hot Winter Nights was my first Jill Shalvis book and boy was it a fun ride, it is the sixth book in the Heartbreaker Bay series but for someone who has not read the previous books, Hot Winter Nights can easily be read as a standalone since every book focuses on a new couple.

Going into the book I expected a Christmas romance and from the blurb I knew there would be some type of suspense but what I didn't anticipate was falling adorably in love with Molly and Lucas, these two made such an awesome pair and had me smiling ear to ear so many times not to mention I found myself laughing out loud at quite a few of their antics as well. Shalvis couldn't have written a better pair, the chemistry between the two was off the charts and they just gave me all sorts of feels.

I also really liked how Shalvis had two heavily flawed characters, both Molly and Lucas have their own baggage and scars to deal with, things that happened in the past that neither one of them have fully dealt with which prevents them from getting close to anyone. So it was interesting seeing the two grow and trust and eventually love again.

Overall I really enjoyed reading Hot Winter Nights it was a perfect blend of romance, suspense, and humor and I'm actually looking forward to the next book in the series and might even go back and read a few of the previous novels, I'm especially curious about Archer so definitely going to pick that one up.

About the author

Jill lives with her family in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters (Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is mostly coincidental). She does most of her writing on her deck surrounded by more animals than humans. Which is quite astonishing considering she’s a city girl who was plucked from the wilds of L.A. to the wilds of the Sierra’s. Most of her books come from a combination of hard work, cookies, and hot guy pics, and not necessarily in that order.

Jill often travels to reader weekends & conventions where she LOVES getting to meet and hang-out with readers. The only problem being she tends to get lost in her hotels. So if you ever see NYTimes Bestselling author Jill Shalvis roaming the halls, someone please return her immediately.

Connect with Jill

Website: http://jillshalvis.com/

Facebook: @JillShalvis

Twitter: @JillShalvis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillshalvis/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jillshalvis/

Tumblr: http://jillshalvis.tumblr.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22370.Jill_Shalvis?from_search=true

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Giveaway & Excerpt: Ruin of Stars by Linsey Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Ruin of Stars

Author: Linsey Miller

ISBN: 9781492647522

Release Date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

· Praise for Ruin of Stars:

“Sal’s strong-willed personality and rich emotions create a protagonist who continues to shine” —Booklist

“Sal is intriguing and their genderfluidity adds depth to their personality. The narrative deals with issues of mystery, self-identity, and revenge. The ending provides a sense of closure, while leaving the door ajar for further adventures.” —VOYA Magazine

· Summary:

The thrilling conclusion to the Mask of Shadows duology that weaves a tale of magic, shadows, and most importantly, revenge.

As one of the Queen’s elite assassins, Sal finally has the power, prestige, and permission to hunt down the lords who killed their family. But Sal still has to figure out who the culprits are. They must enlist the help of some old friends and enemies while ignoring a growing distaste for the queen and that the charming Elise is being held prisoner by her father.

But there’s something terribly wrong in the north. Talk of the return of shadows, missing children, and magic abounds. As Sal takes out the people responsible for their ruined homeland, Sal learns secrets and truths that can’t be forgotten.

· Goodreads

· Purchase Ruin of Stars:

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· Excerpt from Ruin of Stars:

Chapter One

hand snuffed out the light. I leaned over the edge of the greenhouse trellis, wooden beams creaking beneath me. The guards, as they had done every night I’d been spying, left soon as Lord del Aer tucked his daughter in, and they followed him through the halls of his estate. His daughter’s room was left unguarded except for the ones patrolling the grounds. He couldn’t comprehend someone killing his child to get at him.

I could.

I could because of him.

Lord Mattin del Aer was a good father and a terrible leader.

North Star. Deadfall. Riparian. Caldera. Winter.

The five secret names of the Erlend nobles who allowed Nacea to be destroyed by shadows. I knew only North Star, Caldera, and Winter by their real names—Gaspar del Weylin, Mattin del Aer, and Nevierno del Farone. I heard his name in my nightmares of the massacre he’d caused. I felt it on my skin every time I wore my Opal mask. I tasted it every time I muttered the last words my targets would ever hear.

Caldera. Caldera. Caldera.

The fourth Erlend lord on my list to kill and only the second one to die.

I had carved their names into the inside of my mask. Our Queen had named me Opal, her assassin and protector, and given me leave to kill my list. I’d the whole of the Igna court to help me hunt them down.

And the hunt was on.

He was predictable as an Erlend. He rose at dawn, flipped through reports sent to him from the other traitor Erlend lords who’d seceded from Igna barely two months ago, woke his daughter for breakfast, and spent the day with a series of advisers, guards, and tutors, each more boring than the last. He did not hear his citizens’ concerns or worries.

He didn’t talk to them at all, just told them war was upon us and the time to take up arms and reclaim Erlend was now. Didn’t even speak to them in person to draft them. The flyers went up overnight, and the rangers from North Star’s stronghold up north went out hunting for dodgers the next day.

War. Again. Always. Never ending so long as North Star and his Erlend lords still clung to power and greed. There’d been no attacks yet. Only the dead, stripped of clothes and skin and life, strung up across the trees near the border.

We figured they were folks speaking out against the war. Wasn’t much left of them to identify.

Wouldn’t be much of Caldera left either after I was done with him.

Caldera’s daughter snored. I slid a knife from its sheath, slipping the point beneath the glass pane of her window. She slept on, and I pushed the window up, the oil I’d squeezed into the tracks last night keeping it quiet. A paper shade or shutters would’ve been easier, but this worked just as well. They’d wonder how I entered with no shades cut or shutters broken. They’d think the killer a shadow.

I looked like one at least. The Left Hand of Our Queen—Emerald, Amethyst, Opal, and Ruby—were her royal assassins and named for the rings she wore. And I, the new Opal, had been gifted six masks. Three of bone white and three of pure midnight blue, the sort of purplish black that made you think of deep caves and missing stars. I’d carved my list into each one.

North Star. Deadfall. Riparian. Caldera. Winter.

The Erlend nobles who’d let the shadows tear my family to shreds, who’d ten years to atone for hundreds of thousands of deaths and done nothing, would know me as I knew them.

Bitterly. Painfully. A wound so raw it still ached in the night when the dark twisted like mage shadows. They’d made my whole world a nightmare.

And I would be theirs.

Caldera’s daughter shifted, blankets tumbling to the floor, and I crawled into her room, knife slicing through the leftover smoke of her reading candle. The key to her father’s study, one of only two, hung from the chain round her neck. I unhooked the chain from her head and took the key. I had to return it.

It would be better, Our Queen had said to me, one hand clutching my chin, if Caldera’s fellows thought no doors or locks or guards could keep them safe.

“Let Erlend think we have made shadows anew and sent them after the nobles who betrayed us,” she’d said. “After all, they made you the same way they made the shadows—through violence and fear.”

I’d not given her an answer, didn’t think she’d deserved one yet, not with so many deaths staining her soul, but she was right.

I was Our Queen’s Honorable Opal, and I would kill Caldera as she saw fit.

If I did, she’d let me have the other lords on my list, and I wasn’t passing that up.

North Star. Winter.

They would be mine and mine alone.

I tucked the blanket back around Caldera’s daughter and left. I could comprehend killing his kid to get at him, but I wasn’t him. Caldera’s daughter was no more at fault for her father’s deeds than Elise was for hers, and only Caldera was dying tonight.

The hallway outside her room was empty. I pressed my ear to the door of his study, the only room with a lock on the outside and inside. Nothing. Too thick for me to hear through and too thick for folks to hear Caldera scream. I unlocked it, muffling the click with my hand, and darted inside. The mechanisms reset behind me.

Caldera was talking to himself. He gestured to the windowless walls, hands flying through the air and back to me. A map twice as tall as me and even longer detailed the continent in deep forest greens, wheat yellow, and spring-water blue. The sliver of coastal land to the east of Erlend was labeled as Erlend too, but instead of rolling green hills, the cartographer had scratched it out in black and labeled it Fallow. Only the northernmost tip of Nacea, the little snaggletooth of land embedded in North Star’s mountain range home, was green. It was labeled as Erlend.

“Absurd!” Caldera flung the letter he’d been reading aside and ran his fingers through his long, light hair. “That woman is absurd.”

I walked up behind him till I was close enough to taste the gold-cold scent of his gilded form and the lantern behind me cast three flickering shadows against the wall. He froze.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “You won’t have to deal with her much longer.”

He shrieked and tried run. I grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him down, sending him flailing to the floor.

“No one can hear you, Caldera.” No windows. No guards. No threat of being interrupted since the only two keys to the door were in this locked room. “No one is coming to help.”

He crawled to his knees and pulled a chair between us. “How did you get—”

I pulled out his daughter’s key.

“How well do you know your daughter?” I dropped it, let it clatter between us, and pulled out a second knife. “I watched the shadows you let loose in Nacea flay my family. I know every bloody part of them. Do you know what your daughter’s bones look like?”

He whimpered and I lived, furious and alive, Sallot Leon, auditioner Twenty-Three, and Opal all crushed together by his hands. He didn’t know fear like me. He didn’t know anything.

“Please,” he said. “Please, I don’t know anything. Don’t kill me.”

I leapt over the chair and grabbed him, dragging him to the center of the floor. He was tall and broad, healthier and heavier than most folks I’d fought, and he ripped from my grasp once. I let him know freedom for a breath.

“Help!” He stumbled into the wall, knocking over a lamp and leaving the room at the mercy of one single candle. “Help me!” He pounded against the door.

I laughed, and it echoed between my mouth and mask. The sound died too quick to be natural.

“You’re Caldera. Your old flame Lena told me. No one likes you.” I leaned over him, and my two shadows flickering at my feet followed. “She only nodded when I said you’d been responsible for killing a whole country. Said it sounded like you. Was it you?”

Lena was one of the only Erlend nobles to stand with Igna and pledge her loyalty to Our Queen again, and she’d given me Caldera’s name. He’d tried to marry her once, to get ownership of her land back when they’d both been Erlend and Erlend land could only be inherited by Erlend lords, and he’d told her his secrets to make her fall in love.

“It wasn’t my idea.” He choked on the words.

I stepped on his ankle. “But you agreed to it.”

“I’m sorry.” He flinched. “I’m sorry. I am. I have been since it happened, all those people. I didn’t want to, but they made me.”

“Who?” I asked, and when he shook his head, no names ready, I pulled out my knife. “Who went by the names Riparian and Deadfall?”

“I don’t know.” He raised his arms like a shield. “I don’t know. Other than North Star, we never shared.”

He took my silence for consideration. “I’ve regretted it since. What do you want? Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

“You’ve nothing I want.” I took his tear-streaked face in my hands. “Apologies won’t bring my family back. They won’t clear the shadows from my mind. They won’t change anything at all except the weight of your guilt.”

I pulled him up.

“And it’s not heavy enough for what you did.”

I jammed my knife into his chest, watched his last breath leave his lips, and dropped him.

“If you were sorry,” I said to his corpse, “you’d not be doing it again.”

The gaping wound in my soul that never healed and ached with each breath only grew deeper at the sight of him. Each breath was cold and empty, a sharp pain between my heart and ribs. I was split—the Sallot Leon that could’ve been if Nacea stood whole, one that knew all of their nation’s rituals and words, and the Sallot Leon that was, one that knew only the press of five names against their face and the fractured bones that came from offering mercy. I’d let Winter live at Elise’s request, and he’d thrown me from a window. Folks devoted so deeply to themselves never changed.

They stole and stole and stole.

“Nothing can fix this.” I rifled through his desk and shelves, turning over every scrap of paper for anything Our Queen would find useful. “Nothing can help me, but I can help the world.”

Erlend had reduced us to nothing, to casualties in a ledger. They would do it again. I couldn’t let that happen.

A fake wall shifted under my fingers. I pried the thin wood away from the bottom of his desk drawer and shoved my hand into the space. Papers crinkled. I grabbed them all.

Scraps and envelopes heavy with broken seals tumbled to the floor. I bent to pick them up.

Not seals. Not wax. An ear.

A tattered, runed human ear.

· About the Author:

A wayward biologist from Arkansas, Linsey previously worked as a crime lab intern, neuroscience lab assistant, and pharmacy technician. She can be found writing about science and magic anywhere there’s coffee.

· Connect with author

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Review: Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

Pub. Date: August 28, 2018
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 384
Series:Seafire #1
Rating:3.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

After her family is killed by corrupt warlord Aric Athair and his bloodthirsty army of Bullets, Caledonia Styx is left to chart her own course on the dangerous and deadly seas. She captains her ship, the Mors Navis, with a crew of girls and women just like her, whose lives have been turned upside down by Aric and his men. The crew has one misson: stay alive, and take down Aric's armed and armored fleet.

But when Caledonia's best friend and second-in-command just barely survives an attack thanks to help from a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia finds herself questioning whether or not to let him join their crew. Is this boy the key to taking down Aric Athair once and for all...or will he threaten everything the women of the Mors Navis have worked for?

Review: I love books having to do with pirates and when I heard about Seafire, an all girl crew pirate ship I knew it was a must read. I flew through Seafire it was incredibly fast paced with characters I grew to adore. The book is advertised as a female empowering novel having to do with sisterhood and loyalty and it did not let me down, the message was clear throughout the entire novel. I can't sing enough praise about how well Parker did on that front.

We are told the entire story from Caledonia's point of view and talk about a deeply flawed character because Caledonia is just that. She is very haunted due to something that she was the cause of in her past and at times she could be frustrating but not in an annoying I can't stand her way, more of a okay I see how she has to go through this for character growth and you do love her more as the book progresses.

What would have made me love Seafire even more would have been another point of view, I feel that Pisces the girl who has been with Caledonia since the very beginning deserved her own point of view I loved her equally if not more than Caledonia and I feel we deserve to know her journey just as much as Caledonia's,.

Okay now on to the reasons why I couldn't give the book a full five stars. Two things the world building and the romance. The writing was beautiful but the world building lacked depth, we are told about the Bullets and their tyrant ruler and we see the Bullets in battle but we still don't know much of anything then there was the actual world they were living in it was very unique but not much history was given at all about how and why things are the way they are. Then there was the romance which felt forced upon us towards the end, there was no chemistry between the two and then all of a sudden we are supposed to believe they have feelings for each other which they act upon out of nowhere. It would have been better off if there was no romance in the book, it literally felt like it was put in there for the sake of putting it in the book.

Overall I did enjoy Seafire and I will recommend it to anyone looking for a book having to do with strong women who are loyal and fierce. I am very excited for the next book especially with that cliffhanger we are left with at the end.

Giveaway & Excerpt: Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Someone I Used to Know

Author: Patty Blount

ISBN: 9781492632818

Release Date: August 7, 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

· Praise for Someone I Used to Know:

“Blount has written a heartrending but much-needed view on this subject. This book provides a nuanced look at the toxicity of rape culture and the long-lasting and harming aftermath of sexual assault.”— School Library Journal

· Summary:

From the award-winning author of Some Boys comes an unflinching examination of rape culture that delves into a family torn apart by sexual assault.

It’s been two years since the night that changed Ashley’s life. Two years since she was raped by her brother’s teammate. And a year since she sat in a court and watched as he was given a slap on the wrist sentence. But the years have done nothing to stop the pain.

It’s been two years of hell for Derek. His family is totally messed up and he and his sister are barely speaking. He knows he handled it all wrong. Now at college, he has to come to terms with what happened, and the rape culture that he was inadvertently a part of that destroyed his sister’s life.

When it all comes to head at Thanksgiving, Derek and Ashley have to decide if their relationship is able to be saved. And if their family can ever be whole again.

· Goodreads

· Purchase Someone I Used to Know:

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· Excerpt from Someone I Used to Know:

ASHLEY

Your Honor, thank you for letting me address this court. The first thing I want to say is that I couldn’t wait to start high school. I liked the defendant. I really liked him. And I thought he liked me back. But now I know he never saw me as a person. I was nothing more than an opportunity for him. So now I can’t wait until I’m done with high school.

—Ashley E. Lawrence, victim impact statement

NOW

BELLFORD, OHIO

The mirror is my enemy.

So is the closet.

There’s literally nothing to wear. Clothes litter my room. Several pairs of jeans are balled up on my bed because they hug my butt too tightly. T-shirts lie in piles on the floor because they’re too clingy. Shorts and skirts? No. They reveal too much leg. I throw them over my shoulder. Dr. Joyce, my therapist, claims it’s normal to have trouble getting dressed after what happened.

I always tell her I don’t care what’s normal after what happened; I just want normal—without qualifiers. I want to open my closet, pull on any old outfit, and not obsess about people thinking I’m asking for it.

“Ashley?”

I glance up and find Mom in my doorway, looking me over. I’m wearing a robe even though it’s about ninety degrees outside.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” I lie and dive back into my closet, mopping sweat from the back of my neck. We’d agreed that I’d go to school on my own today. It’s time.

“Ashley, look at me.”

I pull my head out of my closet and meet her eyes.

“Honey, I know you’re upset. We all are, but I promise you, it’s going to be okay.”

At those words, I clench my jaw and shoot up a hand. Then I just turn away because, honestly, I don’t know which part pisses me off more…the colossal understatement implied by a wimpy word like upset or the addition of the pronoun we, suggesting everybody else in this family knows exactly how I feel when they don’t have the slightest clue.

She sighs but nods and then steps over to the closet, rehanging the discarded clothes I dumped on my bed. “We haven’t looked west yet. California is truly beautiful. You know I’ve never been there?”

I roll my eyes. We haven’t looked anywhere. All we’ve done is talk about it, so I say the same thing I always say when this comes up. “Mom, I don’t want to move away.”

“But it could be a fresh new start for all of us, Ashley. No one would even have to know you were—”

“Mom.” I cut her off, forcefully this time. “I really have to get dressed.”

Her blue eyes, the eyes both of my brothers inherited, fill with the look that’s become way too common over the last two years. It’s disappointment. Is it directed at me or what happened to me? I don’t know anymore, and I don’t think it even matters. All I know is it’s so acute, I can’t bear to see it and have to look away. Once again, I return my attention to the closet to find something to wear.

“Okay. Have a great first day. Call if…if you need me.” She turns and heads downstairs.

I don’t answer because great days are yet another myth I’ve discovered in a long series of them, starting with the concept of justice. I roll my eyes. California. Like it would be no problem to just shut down Dad’s auto repair shop and move a family of five across the country where there are no grandparents, no aunts, no uncles or cousins.

As the front door closes and the engine starts in the driveway, my phone buzzes. It hardly ever does that anymore. I glance at the display, annoyed when some stupid tiny seed of hope blooms because there’s a text message from Derek.

Derek: Good luck today.

Rage ignites inside me like a match held to dry leaves. Cursing, I kick over my hamper, swipe every last book and paper off my desk, and come perilously close to hurling my cell phone at the wall. Good luck. Could he be this clueless?

As this is my brother, yes. He could be and often is this clueless…and worse.

Ashley: Yeah. Sure. Luck. That’ll help.

The phone buzzes again.

Derek: I’m sorry. I swear I am.

Sorry? I almost laugh. Derek doesn’t do apologies.

“Derek, tell Ashley you’re sorry,” Mom would order him after he’d made me cry for some thing or another.

And he’d say, “Sorry, Ash.” Mom would walk away or turn her back, and he’d stick out his tongue or roll his eyes and smile that Derek smile, and I’d know. I’d know he wasn’t really sorry. He was only saying it to make Mom happy. Apologies happen when you own up to having been wrong, and Derek has never been wrong in his life.

I stare at the words I’d have given anything to hear my brother say two years ago, but they’re too little, too late, and knowing Derek as I do, false.

I toss the phone to my bed and go back to pawing through every drawer in my dresser and every hanger in my closet for something to wear and finally spy something. It’s this old maxi dress Mom bought for me years ago. The tags are still on it. I grab it and hold it up. It probably doesn’t fit. I think I was twelve or thirteen when she bought it.

There’s a little pang in my chest. Twelve or thirteen.

Before everything changed.

I swallow hard, trying to hold on to the pain because if it gets loose—

Deep breath. Hold it in. Okay. Dress. Right.

I hold the dress up to my body, considering it. Yeah, it might work. I slip it on, smooth it out. It’s actually a bit big. And ugly. Shades of dull beige and brown in a paisley print that hangs all the way to my ankles. I grab a sweater to hide my shoulders revealed by this outfit and smooth down a cowlick in my hair, which has finally reached shoulder length again.

Above the shelf on my wall, there’s a mirror Mom bought so I could get ready for the new school year. I’d smashed the old mirror in another fit of rage not long after I’d hacked off my long hair. Yeah, this outfit does work. It hides pretty much everything.

I grab my phone and try to visualize the day ahead. Tara, my best friend, will meet me at school. She always has my back. The rest of the school is a different story.

Derek’s words rattle around inside my head like some kind of curse. Good luck, Ash Tray. You’ll need it.

Deep breaths. Breathe in, hold for one…two…three…four, breathe out. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. I hate doing these breathing exercises because I feel like a total loser. I mean, who has to concentrate on breathing?

Traumatized people like me, that’s who.

Two years. It’s been two years. I’m fine. I’m absolutely fine. I roll my eyes because that’s another thing I must do. Tell myself complete and total lies. It’s supposed to help me believe them, turning them into what my therapist claims are self-fulfilling prophecies. I get it. The power of positive thinking and all that crap. But the truth is, I’m still waiting to feel fulfilled, yet I keep doing the same stupid breathing exercise, and I keep repeating the same stupid lies until finally my heart stops trying to beat out of my chest.

This is it—the first day of school. Junior year. I can do this. I can. I will do this.

I do something else…something my therapist never told me about. I visualize. I imagine building a dam…a little beaver dam of logs and twigs and dried mud to keep all of the triggers and memories and rage and…pain from leaking out into my life. I spend some time shoring up my dam, and with one last deep breath, I head downstairs, pretending the dread that’s still climbing up my rib cage is anticipation for the first day of my junior year.

I see two coffee cups in the sink and dishes from my parents’ breakfast. It’s normal and typical, and it gives me something to hang on to while I wrestle all that dread back behind the dam.

I glance at the clock to make sure I have time and discover it’s after 8:00 a.m.

No, that can’t be right. I woke up extra early.

My shoulders sag while I stare at the clock blinking on the microwave over the stove and then pull the phone from my pocket. It shows the same time. How? How is this possible? They’re wrong. They’re both wrong. They have to be. I run to the family room, but the cable box is blinking the same time.

I’ve not only missed the bus, but I’ve missed the start of first period.

I shoulder my bag and start walking.

I thought I was past this. I thought the days when I’d lost huge chunks of time doing nothing except breathing were behind me.

***

School is terminally irritating.

I missed first period entirely, and by the time the old bat in the front office gives me my pass, I’ve missed half of second, too.

“Ashley. Hey,” Tara whispers when I finally take my seat in lit class, her face split in a huge smile. “What took you so long?” And then she looks at my outfit. “What are you wearing?”

I shake my head. “Don’t even.”

She puts up both hands in apology—or maybe surrender—and turns back to her notebook. Mrs. Kaplan is reading us the class rules and information about homework, exams, and class participation. I know this drill so I zone out. I take a look around the class, see who’s here, who’s not, and spot Sebastian Valenti over by the window at the same second he jerks his eyes away from me.

They’re really amazing eyes. Hazel. I used to think hazel was a color but found out it actually means eyes that change colors. Sebastian’s eyes look green sometimes, and other times, they look brown, and I’ve even seen them look practically yellow. Sebastian’s a good guy. The best. He saved me when my stupid brother didn’t. Wouldn’t. He keeps asking how I’m doing, and I keep saying fine. And that’s about as deep as our conversations ever get, so I just don’t bother anymore. I haven’t talked to him all summer. But he’s still a really good guy.

“May I have your attention please?”

The PA system cracks into life, and Mrs. Kaplan takes a seat at her desk while the principal welcomes us back to the new school year and tells us about some after-school clubs. And then, right after an announcement about several new teachers, Principal McCloskey ruins what’s left of my life.

“We’d like to welcome our new calculus teacher, Mr. Davidson, to Bellford High. In addition to teaching calculus, Mr. Davidson has agreed to help us start a new and improved football program. Tryouts for this year’s Bengals team will be held after school.”

A cheer goes up around the classroom.

I sit in my seat, frozen. I’m fine. I’m absolutely fine. I lie to myself, but my brain knows better, and I can feel that old pressure spinning inside my chest.

A hand squeezes mine, and I jolt like I’ve been struck by lightning. I look up into the concerned eyes of Tara. That’s when I discover everybody in the entire class has swiveled around to see how I’m taking this news. Most people look concerned, like Tara. But others are triumphant, like Andre, sitting at the front of the classroom, and Bruce, over by the windows next to Sebastian. I can’t stand it, can’t deal with it. Suddenly, I’m on my feet, running for the door. “Ashley! Ashley, come back here!” Mrs. Kaplan shouts after me.

I dart across the hall into the girls’ bathroom and lock myself into a stall. I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine.

I repeat the words over and over so fast, they morph into percussion that syncs to the pounding of my heart. It’s bad enough seeing everybody stare at me. Everybody blames me for canceling football.

Derek blames me.

My brother blames me for what happened two years ago. I can never forget that…or forgive it.

It doesn’t matter how many lies I tell myself or how deep I bury those memories, how strong the dam is. Those memories—the pain they cause—they keep finding ways to break out, and I’m just not strong enough to hold them back.

I don’t think I ever will be.

TWO YEARS AGO

BELLFORD, OHIO

It’s raining, but I don’t care. I love the way the air smells when it rains. Earthy. Clean and fresh and—so alive. I’m totally psyched to start high school and don’t care if there’s a hurricane. Armed with my bright pink umbrella, I’m ready to head to the bus stop, but Mom says Derek could have the car if he drives both of us to school. I squeal and clap. I love riding shotgun with Derek…when he lets me, that is.

Derek’s been treating me like crap for ages. We’re only a year and a half apart, so we shared a stroller, took baths together, went to gymnastics and soccer together. We were on different teams, though. That always bugged me. I wanted to play on his team. We’re a unit, a combo special, ateam. Justin, our brother, is a lot older. He has his own separate life. But Derek and I are best friends. Nobody knows it but me, but Derek wants to make video games when we grow up. He has a ton of cool ideas, too.

At least, he used to. He never talks about that kind of stuff with me anymore. Now he’s all about football and girls and driving and avoids me as much as he can. I annoy him. I don’t see how that’s even possible. I try to do all the things he always liked doing with me like movie nights and epic game battles. Now he just rolls his eyes and says I should get a life.

But this is my first day of high school. So that means we can hang out again. I’m older and not so annoying. Derek doesn’t argue with Mom about driving me to school, so I kind of assume that means he’s finally outgrown his problems with me. Mom said he would…eventually. I also kind of assume that driving us to school also means driving us home. He has other ideas.

“Take the bus home. I’m hanging with my friends later.”

“Oh,” I say, smile fading. “Yeah. Sure.”

My first day of high school is awesome in every possible way. I have lunch with Donna Jennings, a girl I know from middle school, who got her hair cut in this really cool undershaved style and got a boyfriend over the summer. She showed everybody the gold heart necklace he’d given her, and my heart sighed. It had stopped raining by the afternoon, so I take my time heading to the parking lot to ride home with Derek, but the space where he’d parked Mom’s car is empty.

Darn. I was supposed to take the bus home. I totally forgot.

“You look lost.” A boy with messy hair and blue eyes says. He is seriously cute and standing with three other boys against a blue car.

“Must be a freshman,” another says.

“Just looking for my brother.”

“Who is he?”

“Um. Derek Lawrence.”

They exchange glances and laugh. “Oh, you’re Ash Tray. Sorry, you just missed him.”

“Cut it out,” the cute one says. “I’m Vic. Victor Patton.” He smiles at me. Dimples. Wow.

“Hey, that’s what Derek calls her.” The boy laughs.

Oh my God. Derek told them that? My face bursts into flames, and I turn away.

“Leave her alone.” Vic straightens up and walks toward me. He’s tall, taller than Derek. “Derek left. He might be back. Why don’t you call him?”

Yeah. Good idea. I pull out my phone and hit his name. It rings, but he never picks up. Next, I try texting him. Meanwhile, the boys pile into the blue car and take off, splashing water all over me.

I brush muddy splotches from my clothes, choking back tears, and call Mom’s cell phone, but it goes straight to voicemail. I try calling Dad too. Same thing.

What am I supposed to do? I head back to the main entrance, sink down on one of the steps, and drop my chin into my hands. I sit there, quietly crying, until the steel doors burst open and a bunch of laughing girls jog past me. Quickly, I fluff my waist-long hair in front of my face to hide the tears. All but one of the five girls wear warm-up suits bearing the word Fusion in bright red letters down one leg.

One crouches down to get a look at me. “Hey. You okay?”

I nod vigorously. “Yeah. Fine.”

“You’re crying. Can I help?” She takes a step closer, and I scrub at my face with the back of my hand, like that has even a remote chance at erasing my complete embarrassment.

“Not unless you have a magic potion that works on stupid brothers,” I blurt. Oh my God! I slap a hand over my mouth. I need to die. Right now. Where’s a lightning bolt when you need one?

“Oh, a stupid brother. I have one of those.” She smiles. She’s so pretty. Long, dark, and lean, she looks like one of the models in my Teen Vogue magazines.

I’m suddenly interested in hearing her story. “Older or younger?”

“Younger. Takes annoying to whole new levels, like it’s some kind of vow he took. Do you know he actually put my retainer in the toilet? My mother nearly burst a blood vessel after that.” She giggles. “Oh! I’m Candace Ladd.”

“Hey.” This time, my smile is bigger. “Ashley. Ashley Lawrence.”

“You must be a freshman.”

I wince, face burning all over again. “Does it show?”

She laughs, revealing perfectly straight, bright white teeth that somehow remained impervious to her little brother ruining her retainer. “Nah. I’ve just never seen you before, and I know pretty much everybody. I’m a junior.” She studies me, her head angled to one side. “Lawrence, huh?” And then her dark eyes open wide. “Oh my God. Is that stupid brother you mentioned Derek Lawrence?”

“You know him?”

She nods. “Yeah, we’re in the same homeroom. Oh, wow. Brittany is gonna hate hearing he’s a jerk. She’s really into him.” Candace points to the field on the other side of the small parking lot. The pretty blond with the great smile is doing ballet pliés.

I stare and swallow hard. Brittany is everything I’m not. Beautiful. Skinny. She even looks like Derek with perfect blond hair and blue eyes. They could be Ken and Barbie. I have dark hair and dark eyes. “Maybe he’ll be nicer to her.”

“Come on.” Candace Ladd grabs my hand, tugging me off the step where I’d been sitting, crying. “You know what’s great for getting over the stupid stuff brothers do?”

I have no idea, but I follow her anyway, making my way across the lot to the field that’s empty except for these girls.

“Dancing.”

I plant my feet in the grass at that. I love dancing. I’d taken dance classes for years when I was little. But I stopped about two years ago and now have a roll of fat bulging from the top of my jeans. I’d stick out like one of those old Sesame Street games—one of these things is so not like the others.

“Everybody, this is Ashley Lawrence. She’s Derek’s sister.”

The really pretty blond snaps her head up at that. Her smooth hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and her blue eyes are so blue, I wonder if she wears contacts. “I’m Brittany,” she says with a smile. “And this is Tara, Marlena, and Deanne.”

“Hi,” I manage to squeak out while the girls each smile and greet me.

Oh God, they’re all so beautiful. Next to them, I feel like a freak.

I am a freak.

“Ashley’s gonna dance with us today. She’s got some brother crap to work out of her system,” Candace explains to her friends, and Tara’s face instantly breaks into an expression of total understanding.

“Oh, honey. I got two of them. Is Derek what caused all this?” She waves a hand with pink-striped fingernails at my new back-to-school outfit, currently splattered in mud thanks to the boys in the blue car.

“Um, indirectly,” I admit.

“Jerk.”

“What an asshole!”

One by one, they all give their opinion of Derek while adjusting hairstyles, retying shoes, and stretching leg muscles. I’m entranced.

“You a freshman?” Marlena asks, and my face heats up again.

I nod, expecting her to make a disgusted face, but she just says, “I’m a sophomore. Candace and Brittany are juniors. And Tara’s a freshman, like you.”

I perk up at this news. Finally, somebody my own age.

Brittany pulls a small wireless speaker from her backpack, turns it on, and sets it on a bench at the edge of the athletic field. “It’s nice having the field to ourselves for once.”

“Hey, let’s teach her the routine,” Deanne suggests. “Then she can try out for Ms. Pasmore.”

Wait, what? Try out?

Holy crap, I can’t. But the rest of the girls agree. Candace crosses her arms and studies me. “Can you do basic moves like pirouettes and leaps?”

I shake my head. “I haven’t done those in a long time.”

“But you know how?” Candace prods. I can only shrug. “Oh, come on. Just try.” She urges me with a smile.

“Come on, Ashley. It would be great if we both make it on to the team,” Tara adds.

Tara’s words shoot straight into my heart and sort of plant roots. Suddenly, I want this. I want to dance and be on the team and have friends who understand all of my Derek problems.

“It’s okay, Ashley. You can do this,” Tara says, and that spot inside my heart warms up again.

I swallow hard, rub my damp palms down my legs, and get into fourth position…or is it fifth? I perform a slow, shaky pirouette. The girls applaud, and my face feels hot.

“That’s seriously not bad for someone who hasn’t danced in a couple of years.” Candace lifts her palm for a high five that I happily give her.

Derek would freak out if I do this.

So I should totally do it.

“That’s really great, Ashley. Okay, now strut!” She calls out, and the girls line up with me, everybody moving left, pumping their arms. I follow along, astounded by my efforts. “Other way. That’s good, Ashley! Now make it bigger.”

We strut back and march in place, and then Brittany takes over, leading us in a series of big, bold movements—kicks, leaps, shoulder shimmies, and pirouettes. They were right. This is fun. We dance for over an hour. The girls teach me their entire routine, and I do it all and have no time to be mad about Derek.

When we finally stop, Brittany angles her head, studying me.

“You know, you should cut some of that. It’s way too long for you.” She waves a hand over my hair.

My hair reaches my waist. “I, um, don’t look good with short hair. I mean, no offense,” I quickly say to Tara, whose jaw-length bob looks totally awesome.

“No, not that short,” Brittany says. “Maybe about here.” She indicates the middle of my back with her hand. “Take some of it off. I think it’ll have more volume.”

“Yeah,” Candace agrees. “When you do those snap turns, you won’t whip us in the face.”

Deanne hands me some forms. “Here. After you try out, you’ll need to order these.”

I stare down the sheet of papers, see the various items, each bearing the team name, Fusion.

“What do you say, Ashley? Are you in?” Candace grins, those bright white teeth gleaming at me.

I scan the group of them, all of them perfect and pretty and good at dancing. “Aren’t you worried I’ll make you look bad? I don’t…look like you all.”

“Oh, honey,” Tara says, putting an arm around me. “All you need is some practice to build up your confidence.” She looks around the group for verification.

“Hell, yeah. In freshman year, I had braces on my teeth, a terrible haircut, and I was six inches shorter than I am now. I could barely talk to anyone,” Brittany admits. “But you have something I didn’t have in freshman year.”

I did? “What’s that?”

“Boobs.” The other girls crack up as my face bursts into flames. “The boys won’t see anything else. Trust me.”

Brittany and Candace hop into a car and are gone after a honk and a wave. Deanne and Marlena stand with me until a minivan pulls up, and then it’s just me and Tara. We start walking toward the school’s main exit.

“So how are you getting home?” I ask her, and she shrugs.

“Walk. I live pretty much next door.” She points down the road.

“Handy.”

“Well, see you tomorrow. It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I call back.

I start walking toward town, where my dad’s garage is, wishing I had a bottle of water with me. My legs are like noodles after all that dancing, and a two-mile walk does not appeal to me. Like a wish granted, a horn honks, and a shiny black Chevy slows down beside me.

“Hey, Derek’s sister! Need a ride?”

Oh. Em. Gee.

It’s him. The boy with the cute smile and the dimples.

My voice gets stuck in my throat, so I only nod.

“What’s your name? Your real name, I mean,” he asks through the open passenger side window, smiling and making my wobbly legs even weaker. He isn’t going to call me Ash Tray? Swoon.

“Um. Ashley.” My voice is all squeaky.

“I’m Vic.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Vic. What a cool name. The coolest name in the world. I want to name a baby Vic.

He laughs. “Good. So where are you heading?”

“Oh, um. To my dad’s garage. Over on Blaine.”

“Right, right. I know where it is. Hop in,” he invites with a jerk of his head. “I’ll give you a lift.”

It never occurs to me to say no. He has such a great smile. His hair is somewhere between blond and brown and so messy I itch to touch it and smooth it. He’s really tall but lean. And his eyes are so blue, they look like pools you never want to get out of. But it’s that smile, the one with the dimple at the corner, that makes me forget my name.

“So, Ashley. You’re what? A freshman?”

Is there a sign hanging over my head or something? Wincing, I nod. “It must show.”

“Just a little.” He looks over and winks. “I’m a senior.”

A senior is driving me home. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

“Did you join a club or something?”

I nod, and suddenly remember I am probably in urgent need of a shower or a can of deodorant or a wet wipe, and I try to shrivel up against the passenger door and hope he doesn’t get close enough to sniff me. “Yeah. The dance team.”

“Fusion? That’s awesome! The dance team performs at all the Bengals games. I’ll probably see you at practice. Our coach had a meeting today, otherwise we’d have been on the field.” He slows down for a traffic light.

Can he hear my heart pounding?

“How do you like Bellford High?”

“I like the girls on the dance team. And I like my science teacher.”

“Who did you get?”

“Mr. Wilder.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s great. I had him. He likes to give pop quizzes every week, so be ready.”

“Oh. Yeah. I will.”

“Nothing terrible. Just read ahead and you’ll be fine.”

Read ahead. I can do totally do that.

Vic puts on his turn signal and waits for a left turn. “So your brother’s kind of a jerk to you, huh?”

My heart sinks, and I slide a little lower in my seat.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll say something to him tomorrow.”

Suddenly, I’m grinning like a maniac. There’s probably a circle of cartoon birds and butterflies flying around the heart that just floated out of my body. Vic laughs and shakes his head as he pulls to the curb.

“We’re here. It was nice to meet you, Ashley Lawrence.” Vic hands me my bag as I pretty much fall out of the car on legs I can no longer feel. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

He honks and waves as he pulls away. I’m halfway in love.

“Ashley? Who was that?” Dad asks. He just stepped out of one of the garage bay doors.

“Hmm?”

“Ashley!”

I turn and see Mom in the entrance to Dad’s garage. “Mom! Can we get my hair cut? Please? I’m gonna try out for the dance team, and my hair is too long, and it’s in the way, and I met a senior named Vic, and I need to buy these if I make the team.” I finally pause for air, and Mom takes the Fusion gear order form I have clutched in my hand.

“A haircut. And a uniform. Well, okay. But a senior? No. I don’t know about that.”

“I’m with you on that,” Dad says, grabbing Mom in a hug and tickling her until she squeals.

· About the Author:

Powered by way too much chocolate, award-winning author Patty Blount loves to write and has written everything from technical manuals to poetry. A 2015 CLMP Firecracker Award winner as well as Rita finalist, Patty writes issue-driven novels for teens and is currently working on a romantic thriller. Her editor claims she writes her best work when she’s mad, so if you happen to upset Patty and don’t have any chocolate on hand to throw at her, prepare to be a subject of an upcoming novel. Patty lives on Long Island with her family in a house that sadly doesn’t have anywhere near enough bookshelves…or chocolate.

· Connect with author

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Giveaway & Excerpt: The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

The Dark Beneath the Ice

Author: Amelinda Bérubé

ISBN: 9781492657071

Release Date: August 7, 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

· Praise for Dark Beneath the Ice:

“Bérubé’s debut novel is a sinister exploration of self-doubt, internalized hatred, trust, and a romantic awakening...well-crafted and unsettling.” —Booklist

“Fun frights and a well-constructed haunting..it's Black Swan meets Carrie.” —Kirkus

“A gripping, creepy story that had me keeping the lights on while I read... Will be highly recommending!” —Teresa Steele, Old Firehouse Books

· Summary:

Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity in this compelling ghost story about a former dancer whose grip on reality slips when she begins to think a dark entity is stalking her.

Something is wrong with Marianne.

It’s not just that her parents have finally split up. Or that life hasn’t been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital.

She’s losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. Something is after her. And the only one who seems to believe her is the daughter of a local psychic.

But their first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. Whatever is haunting her, it wants everything she has—everything it’s convinced she stole. Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it thinks it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

· Goodreads

· Purchase Dark Beneath the Ice:

Amazon / Barnes&Noble / BooksAMillion / !ndigo / Indiebound

· Excerpt from Dark Beneath the Ice:

The silence still clings to me.

If I close my eyes it’s there waiting for me, filling my mouth, heavy as water. Ready to swallow me again.

I rest my forehead against the window, willing the ordinary sounds around me to wash the memory away: the windshield wipers, the spatter of the rain, the rattle in the wheel well. In the driver’s seat beside me, Mom breathes in little hitches, trying not to sound like she’s crying.

I risk a glance at her; she’s wiping her eyes. Her hair is usually tied up in a neat sweep of gleaming black, silver threads glinting through it. Today she’s yanked it through an elastic, pieces straggling dull and stringy around her face. Before I can look away again her gaze meets mine and she attempts a half smile.

It hurts to see it. I study the flowers in my lap: lilies—big, splashy orange ones. The smell is giving me a headache. They’re for Aunt Jennifer, for taking care of me. It’s not like I haven’t been to Aunt Jen’s overnight before, not like it’s some huge favor. How long is she planning to leave me there?

Mom slams on the brakes, and I clutch the bouquet to stop it from sliding to the floor. She grates out a few choice swear words at the car ahead of us.

“I left your father a message,” she says. “I sure hope he calls you.”

I take the words in like water—like an icy lake, swallowing their impact without a splash, letting them sink. I turn back to the window, watch my reflection slide over the river and the low-slung clouds. My face is thin and pale, my eyes dark hollows. I look like a ghost.

Mom heaves a sigh, yanks a tissue from the box sitting between us. She won’t tell me where she’s going. She won’t tell me why. Not that I’ve pressed her for details. There’s a traitorous piece of me that’s relieved. Mom’s always been unpredictable, prone to wild mood swings she apologizes for later, and Hurricane Laura, as Dad puts it, has been howling full blast these past couple days. We used to joke about battening down the hatches, waiting out the storm. But this time, Dad’s the reason she’s in pieces.

And he left me to pick them up by myself.

I won’t think about it. Just like last night—whatever happened last night. It’s a stone, and it’s vanishing into the water, leaving me serene. Unmoved.

Aunt Jen’s building is long and low, brick and stucco, a little shabby at the edges. It’s a strange contrast with the palatial homes on the next street, but that’s what this whole neighborhood is like. The boat launch at the end of the road is barricaded and piled high with sandbags to keep the river from swallowing the pavement. Right beside it, half a dozen two-story row units are surrounded by a high cedar hedge. Aunt Jen’s is the last one before the water. As the car crunches to a stop in the driveway, the sun comes out, as if from behind a veil. Suddenly, over the seawall, the river is all blue glitter, the trees drooping over the end of the street glowing golden-green, the last drops of rain sparkling as they drip from the leaves.

We sit silently in the car for a long moment. Seagulls wheel overhead, crying.

“Wait here,” Mom manages eventually, taking the flowers. She slams the door without waiting for me to respond and hurries over to Jen’s gate in the hedge, where a flush of pink roses shine in the sun.

I get out more slowly once she’s disappeared behind it. Their voices drift toward me: Mom’s barely muffled wails, Jen’s reassurances. I can’t make out words from here, though. I kick at a rock, following it down to the end of the road toward the seawall.

The river shouldn’t be this high. Behind the seawall—a chest-high barrier that zigzags behind the imposing homes lining the waterfront—the water is brown, choppy, slapping at the concrete a foot below the top, an occasional wave sending spray sloshing over onto the grass. By now it’s usually fallen low enough that the boat launch stands open to the river; later in the summer it drops all the way down to a stony outcropping that makes for a great place to skip rocks. It’s hard to imagine that now.

The rain hasn’t stopped for more than a couple of hours at a time this past week; I can’t even remember the last time the sun was out for this long. It won’t last. The news has been talking endlessly about record precipitation and the threat of flooding, images of picnic tables standing in the water and empty outdoor swimming pools with their surfaces pocked with raindrops. The DJs hosting the radio morning shows, in between laughing at their own jokes, moan about how summer is never going to come. Usually I love the peace and softness of rain, its soothing murmur on the roof. But it’s starting to feel oppressive lately. Inescapable.

I turn my back on the water, breathe in its green, weedy smell, and tell myself to relax. Aunt Jen’s place has always been cozy, a haven of good memories going back to when I was little. I used to play “inflatable Auntie” with her, pretending to blow her up like a beach ball. She would puff up obligingly and then deflate again, sagging in her chair and making a loud raspberry noise for full effect. I tried that game once with my mom, but she put on a pained smile and told me she didn’t like it. I think she was worried I was implying she was fat. Aunt Jen, comfortably plump compared to Mom, doesn’t seem to care about that sort of thing; she keeps her graying hair cut short, doesn’t wear makeup, and lives in jeans and sweaters unless forced to dress up, when she just drapes herself in something long and flowy.

The gate creaks, and Mom hurries out toward me, folds me into a tight hug. She’s not even trying to hide that she’s crying now. Aunt Jen follows behind her but heads to the car, popping open the trunk, although she casts a worried look our way.

“It’s only for a little while,” Mom whispers. “Just a little while. It’s not you, sweetie, I just can’t deal with this, not on top of everything else.”

“With what?” My voice breaks too, and despite my resolve, they come bubbling up: all the questions I haven’t dared to ask. “Mom. Please tell me. Did something happen last night?” She lets me go, half turns away, wrapping her arms around herself as if I punched her, her face crumpling. “Mom, what happened?”

“Nothing,” Mom sobs. “Nothing. Nothing.”

She draws a fierce breath, then another, and grips my shoulders, fixing me with a tearful glare.

“Nothing happened, Marianne!” Her fingers dig into my arms. “Understand? It’s not you. I just need to get some help. I’m going to get some help, all right? I’ll come and get you as soon as I can, and…and we’ll figure everything out. Okay?”

I nod. There’s nothing else I can do. The sun is gone again. I’m cold from the tips of my fingers to the hollow of my back, despite my sweater.

“Okay,” Mom repeats. Her lips tremble. “I love you.”

She pulls away, takes long steps back toward the car, and yanks the door open. She folds her arms over the steering wheel and rests her head on them for a moment while her shoulders shake. With the glass between us, I can’t hear her sobbing.

“Come on, Mare-bear.” It’s Aunt Jen’s arm around me now, a band of warmth, pulling me close. “Let’s go inside.”

***

We step into Aunt Jen’s living room, a cool, leafy cavern. Gray light filters through plants that spill from shelves and dangle from hanging planters. The piano, a mass of dark, carven wood, is the only surface that isn’t draped with fronds or vines. The little radio on the side table next to the old maroon couch fills the room with earnest, thoughtful conversation.

“I’ve set up the spare room for you,” Aunt Jen says, pulling the patio door closed behind us. “You can get yourself settled in a bit, and then we’ll have a cup of tea.”

Hugging my pillow, my laptop case banging against my leg, I follow her up the stairs. There are empty spots on the wall where pictures of my parents used to hang. I feel for my phone in my pocket. Dad hasn’t called. I hope he will. I hope he won’t.

The room hasn’t changed: the window looking down onto the garden and the river beyond it, a twin bed with a threadbare quilt, moss-green walls, a white dresser topped with a menagerie of little china animals—a tiger, a monkey, a turkey, a horse. Mom told me they belonged to my grandmother, who died when I was still a baby. I used to play with them when I was little.

“There’s plenty of space in the dresser if you want to unpack,” Aunt Jen offers tentatively. “It’s never fun living out of a suitcase.”

I set down the laptop case and fluff my pillow a couple of times before arranging it on the bed, trying to avoid her gaze.

“Well. I’ll go put the kettle on, Mare-bear, okay? Take your time.”

“It’s Marianne, please, Aunt Jen.” But she’s already out the door.

I sink down on the bed, which creaks under me. The rest of my life is unrecognizable, but everything here is the same. It’s like I’ve stepped into some parallel universe. Like any second I’ll hear my parents laughing downstairs as Jen pours glasses of wine, and none of this will have happened.

There is one thing that’s different. Usually there’s a picture of me and my parents on the wall beside the mirror. Now a much smaller frame hangs a little crookedly in its place, holding a snapshot from some distant summer: just me, striking a ta-da pose beside a leaning sandcastle. I remember that red swimsuit.

The photo must be from the beach right down the street from here, so close that we used to go there all the time. I remember those trips in flashes: Mom’s smile as she glanced back at me from the front seat, strings of hair whipping around her face in the gale from the open window. Dad’s hand on her bare knee. My sandaled toes tipping up toward the jewel blue of the sky at the apex of a swing. Dad diving for a volleyball and sprawling in the sand, making me laugh so hard my sides ached. The sparkle of the water, its delicious chill when I waded in. Swimming out as far as I dared, diving as deep as I could, reaching for the murky bottom.

I took yoga classes with Mom after I quit dance. To help me calm down, she said. Like she thought it would fix me. The studio must have been nice during the day, with sunshine pouring in through the wall of windows at the front. At night the fluorescent lights made everyone look tired and cold. At the beginning of each class, as we lay on our thin, hard mats, the instructor asked us to picture a place where we’d found tranquility, and every time that’s what I called up: the water, cold and green. It’s second nature now, the one useful thing I learned in those six weeks. I can summon it easily, lower myself into chilly weightlessness, the absence of sound, and hang suspended between worlds for a few long breaths until I’m cool and reasonable again. Lately I’ve frosted the surface over with a layer of ice, a shield keeping me submerged.

I close my eyes. The memory of silence, an empty horizon, rises around me, but I push it aside, force it down into the depths where dark water belongs. I’m not letting a bad dream spoil this for me, the one place where I’m truly safe. Around me I summon sunlight filtering down through the waves, a translucent, icy ceiling inches thick. Perfect, thoughtless peace closes over my head.

And then a noise like a firecracker, like a gunshot, yanks me back to reality. I leap to my feet, fear splashing through my chest.

It was the mirror above the dresser. Breaking. From a smashed, spiderwebbed epicenter, it’s split side to side, slicing my reflection in two with a thread of silver, frozen lightning. The two halves of my dislocated image slide past each other as the frame trembles into stillness.

“Marianne?” Aunt Jen appears in the doorway, frowning. “Is everything—”

Her words disappear into an indrawn breath. I follow her stare back to the mirror, and then to the floor, where the wooden cat from the bedside table is lying on the linoleum next to the dresser.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she says. The words are gentle; horrified. I shrink away from them. What just happened? She thinks I threw it. I open my mouth to protest—but I didn’t!—but the words wither, half-formed.

Did I throw it?

Aunt Jen looks at me for another long moment, her lips pursed in consternation, then comes over to wrap an arm around my shoulders. She ushers me downstairs, leads me to the couch like I might break, pours me a steaming cup of some herbal tea that smells like flowers. The orange lilies stand in a vase on the dining room table, brassy and loud as trumpets.

I wrap my hands around the warmth glowing from the teacup to stop them from shaking. My heart is made of moths, fluttering against my ribs, in my throat.

“Are you going to tell Dad?” I blurt out as she sits down next to me. “About the mirror?”

“I don’t know, Mare-bear.” She eyes me over the rim of her own cup. “Do I need to?”

I shake my head, obviously. But I can’t remember picking up the figurine, much less throwing it. It’s a hairline crack in the day, a thread of blank space. Just like last night.

“Well. Listen, sweetie. I’m not mad. Honestly. I know this is hard. It’s awful, and I just want you to know you can talk to me if you need to. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Silence descends while she waits for me to continue. Eventually she gives up and clears her throat.

“So,” Aunt Jen says in a sprightly, let’s-talk-about-something-else way. “You’ll need to take the bus to school tomorrow. Just exams left after that, eh?”

“Yeah.” Just two weeks. Just forever.

The radio chimes to announce the news. More rain in the forecast; they’re piling sandbags in the East End.

“Well, I took some vacation days to look after things, so I’ll have all the time in the world. You just let me know what you want to do. Or maybe you’d rather get together with some friends, you know… That’s fine too.”

I shake my head. Ingrid’s the only one I want to spend time with. But San Francisco might as well be the moon. I slurp my still-too-hot tea and burn my tongue.

There’s not really anywhere left for the conversation to go. Aunt Jen watches me for a while and finally sighs, perches her glasses on her nose, and picks up her crochet needle. I sip my tea a couple more times and then murmur an excuse about checking my email before escaping back to my room.

No notifications, of course, when I pull out my phone. I start a text to Ingrid for the hundredth time, and for the hundredth time I sit motionless, my fingers hovering over the screen until it goes dark. The words won’t condense, somehow, from the formless worry and grief. Music drifts up from downstairs: Aunt Jen’s flying through the twinkling notes of a Chopin waltz on the piano. I think she means it to be comforting.

I used to dance to this when I visited, twirling around the tiny living room on the tips of my toes, my hair swinging out behind me, my arms swept over my head, fingers poised to pluck butterflies from the air, just like they’d taught us. Mom always applauded earnestly. I was her star. Dad would be watching us both, smiling.

Water can stop bullets if it’s deep enough. The memory can’t touch me. I just have to breathe, breathe, and let it sink. Like everything else.

Like my silent phone.

Call me, I want to type, but how many ways can you tell somebody you miss them before you end up sounding hopelessly needy? If I could talk to Ingrid about all this awfulness, it would lose its weight, disappear. If I confided in her, maybe I wouldn’t feel so alone. But maybe—probably—it would just be oversharing. And I can’t think of a way to tell her about the things that scare me most. Strange things.

Like the mirror. Its broken face keeps twinkling in the pale afternoon light, catching my eye, drawing it back. Eventually I grab the quilt folded at the end of the bed and throw it over the frame. Was it me? It must have been me. How else could that happen, glass simply breaking, out of nowhere?

· About the Author:

Amelinda Bérubé has been a writer and editor with a small department in the Canadian public service. She holds a bachelor of humanities from Carleton University and a master of arts from McGill. Amelinda is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

· Connect with author

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Review: Royals by Rachel Hawkins

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Royals by Rachel Hawkins

Pub. Date: May 1, 2018
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Pages: 296
Series:Royals #1
Rating:4.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

Review: Royals was the most unexpected read I've had all year so far. I haven't been reading a lot of contemporary this year let alone light fluffy reads having to do with princes and princesses, all I know is Royals by Rachel Hawkins is exactly what I didn't know I needed and I loved every minute of it.

Daisy Winters is the type of best friend I would love to have she was sarcastic, witty, and funny as hell. She made the book. It was fun seeing her being thrown into the midst of royalty as a "commoner" where etiquette and image is so important and then seeing a character like her who has no filter come along and try to navigate in that world.

The romance was super cute just like the whole damn book. I lived for the moments between Daisy and the love interest. It had the feels of an enemies to lovers trope and I'm all in for that. With that said the romance is also the reason I couldn't give the book a full five stars, I really wish it was a little bit more in depth and explored a bit more.

Also I am really hoping that this will be a series with several books because there were so many characters whom I really want to get to know better and I feel deserve their own book. Overall Royals by Rachel Hawkins is a must read especially if you need a break from heavier books and just want a fun laugh out loud adorable read with an awesome protagonist.

Mini Review: House of Darken by Jaymin Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 04:00:00 +0000

House of Darken by Jaymin Eve

Pub. Date: June 1 , 2018
Publisher: Self Published
Pages:340
Rating:2/5 Stars
Series: Secret Keepers #1
Goodreads/Amazon

When Emma moves to Astoria, Oregon, she is given two rules:

#1 – Don’t cross to “their” side of the street.

#2 – Don’t mess with the elites, especially Lexen Darken, top elite and resident bad boy.

While she finds this both weird and insulting, Emma has no actual intention of breaking these rules - until her guardians go missing. Now all bets are off. Only a single line separates her side of the street from the elites', and she's crossing it.

Captured and held by Lexen and his brothers, she learns the rules are in place for a very good reason. There's a secret world hidden in this small town which goes far beyond the one she knows and understands.

A world not for humans.

Review: For a book that has such glowing reviews I'm still trying to figure out what I just read, I mean did I read the same book as everyone else?

It started off with a twilight fan fic vibe which I was okay with, what I didn't like was the underdeveloped characters and relationships and let's not forget how the MC was always ALWAYS crying and annoying and ugh whiny, which is one of my biggest character pet peeves. She cried every chance she got whether she was sad or happy, frankly it got old real fast. The girl was a damsel in distress of the worst kind.

Then there was the love interest, I'm all for the bad boy enemies to lovers trope, I actually live for those, they are one of my favorites BUT when you mix that in with insta-love...no thanks. I'm talking about within two days they are falling for each other, it was so utterly unbelievable especially when I am still trying to figure out HOW? What did Lex see in Emma and not because I didn't like her but I really don't understand how he fell for her, what made him fall for her. One minute he hated her and next we are being told he loves her.

The book has dragons...DRAGONS! Dragons always signify an epic read and House of Darken had so much potential with just that element alone but sadly the MC and insta love ruined it for me.

Review: The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

Pub. Date: June 5 , 2018
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Pages:256
Rating:1/5 Stars
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

There's no hiding on a cruise ship-not even from yourself.
Natalie's parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise for her seventeenth birthday. A sail-a-bration, they call it. But it's only been a few short months since Natalie's boyfriend died in a tragic accident, and she wants to be anywhere but here.
Then she meets a guy on the first night and sparks fly. After a moonlit conversation on a secluded deck of the ship, Natalie pops down to her cabin to get her swimsuit so they can go for a dip. But when she returns, he's gone. Something he said makes her think he might have . . . jumped? No, he couldn't have.
But why do her friends think she's crazy for wanting to make sure he's okay? Also, why do they seem to be hiding something from her? And how can she find him when she doesn't even know his name? Most importantly, why is the captain on the intercom announcing the urgent need for a headcount?

With her signature thrilling storytelling, the author of The Leaving and The Possible explores our vulnerability to the power of suggestion-and the lies we tell others and ourselves-in a twisting, Hitchcock-inspired mystery with high stakes and dark secrets.

Review: The Opposite of Here is my first one star book of the year, but to keep this review fair I'll state I'm not much of a thriller reader and I was in a huge reading slump this year so I haven't read that many books so far.

I'm pretty scared of cruise ships so I thought this would be the perfect read for me and maybe this will have to do with an unreliable character which would have made things much more interesting but that wasn't the case.

The book was just weird and all over the place. All the secondary characters were one dimensional, Natalie's friends, if their names weren't mentioned I would not have been able to tell them apart. Then there was Natalie, so many of her actions rubbed me the wrong way, seeing how this is a thriller I feel if I go in depth about what those actions are might ruin the read for some so one example is treating the people who were there for her like they were nothing while chasing after some random guy she just met on the ship who was playing head games with her.

I ended up marking this book DNF at one point, but decided to pick it up in case the overall grand scheme of things (mystery aspect) would make up for it. It didn't. The reason behind everything was disappointing and this book just left me shaking my head wondering what did I just read and not in a good way.

Overall The Opposite of Here was not for me. If you are mostly a non mystery/thriller reader like me don't even bother this is not the book for us to convert us into reading the genre more but if you live for thrillers then I'd say go take a look at the reviews from people who love thrillers and then make your decision if this is a book for you.

Review: Beast a Tale of Love and Revenge by Lisa Jensen

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 04:00:00 +0000

Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge by Lisa Jensen

Pub. Date: July 10, 2018
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages:352
Rating:3.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

Filled with magic and fierce emotion, Lisa Jensen's multilayered novel will make you question all you think you know about beauty, beastliness, and happily ever after.

They say Château Beaumont is cursed. But servant-girl Lucie can’t believe such foolishness about handsome Jean-Loup Christian Henri LeNoir, Chevalier de Beaumont, master of the estate. But when the chevalier's cruelty is revealed, Lucie vows to see him suffer. A wisewoman grants her wish, with a spell that transforms Jean-Loup into monstrous-looking Beast, reflecting the monster he is inside. But Beast is nothing like the chevalier. Jean-Loup would never patiently tend his roses; Jean-Loup would never attempt poetry; Jean-Loup would never express remorse for the wrong done to Lucie. Gradually, Lucie realizes that Beast is an entirely different creature from the handsome chevalier, with a heart more human than Jean-Loup’s ever was. Lucie dares to hope that noble Beast has permanently replaced the cruel Jean-Loup — until an innocent beauty arrives at Beast’s château with the power to break the spell.

Review: I have read so many different retelling's of Beauty and the Beast seeing how it is one of my all time favorite fairy tales so of course I had to jump at the chance to read Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, I mean look at the title, that alone captured my interest, not to mention that beautiful cover which fits perfectly with the dark almost brothers grimm-esque type of tale you will find inside the pages of this beauty which Lisa Jensen has created.

When I went into this book I did not expect the direction in which it went. I expected a Belle (in this case Rose) and a Prince turned Beast but what I didn't expect was Lucie, I knew going in this would be a tale told from the perspective of someone else but still, Lucie surprised me, this was as much her story as it was the Beasts, not the prince (or in this case Lord Beaumont) but the Beasts, and I'll leave it at that I don't want to give any spoilers.

It took me about a week to finish the novel, I'm not sure how to explain it correctly but it was a very quiet novel, you are stuck inside Lucie's head the whole time while she is observing one person for majority of the book. It's not the most fast paced book, actually it moved rather slow but it was interesting but slow and quiet. In other words this book is not everyone's cup of tea. If you are okay with dark, gloomy reads this might be for you, I personally liked it even though I am used to fast paced action packed type of books and maybe that is because I grew to really care for Lucie and I was hell bent on knowing how things work out for her in the end, along with Beast.

Trigger warning: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

Review: War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 04:00:00 +0000

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

Pub. Date: May 15, 2018
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 662
Series:Red Queen #4
Rating:2/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?

In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive.

Review: I have no words. Which is never a good thing. I loved the Red Queen and I really liked Glass Sword but I almost wish I hadn't because than I would have stopped the series there and never would have had to deal with the last two books in the series. After the frustration which was King's Cage I was really hoping War Storm would redeem the series for me but the last and final book dragged, it was such a slow read for me, it took me over three weeks to finish it.

Red Queen is the first series in a long time where by the end of it I didn't care for any of the characters that I loved in the first book, although I did find myself oddly rooting for Maven towards the last few chapters of War Storm, mainly because of how much I couldn't stand Mare and Cal anymore.

The book was unnecessarily long and the way it ended I just found it all to be so anti-climatic, in the end I was just pissed over 650 some odd pages and that was it?!?! yeah I'm still irritated about it. I invested so much time in this series for THAT!?!

Now as far as point of views go I was bored out of my mind with Iris, no one cares about her she wasn't relevant why not just have given all that extra space to Maven. On the bright side there was Evangeline, I loved her after War Storm sadly the only character I loved after this entire series, anyhow she was a nice surprise.

This wasn't so much of a review as it was me trying to put my thoughts together and not give any spoilers. So far this has been the most disappointing read of 2018 for me mainly because I still had high hopes for War Storm and really wanted to end this series on a good note actually loving Mare and Cal again but instead it has left me with no closure, frustrated and annoyed to where I'm ready to donate these books because I know I will never want to read them again. I know harsh but that is how I feel.

Review: The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross

Pub. Date: February 6, 2018
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 464
Series: The Queen's Rising #1
Rating:4/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?

Review: I read this book well over a month ago and I still remember every bit of it in great detail and I'm sure that has something to do with the exceptionally beautiful writing done by Rebecca Ross. It's been a while since I've come across something original in the YA Fantasy genre and Ross managed to do just that, she has created a unique plot with some really interesting characters.

Brienna was a fantastic MC, she was flawed, she faced hardships and she overcame through perseverance, hard not to love someone so relatable and the whole time I was rooting for her, she had heart and a bravery that was something to be admired of. I loved seeing her grow as a character and really come into her own.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book which concentrated on Brienna at school with her passion sisters learning her passion but I truly didn't fall in love until the book takes a turn and Brienna has to separate from her passion sisters, that's when things get very interesting and the book turns into a full-blown page turner that I did not want to put down. There was danger, secrets, rebels and just one hell of a storyline.

The way it ended I thought it would be a standalone but I see that on goodreads this is a series, so I'm really hoping the next books instead of focusing on Brienna since it seemed like her story wrapped up rather nicely that maybe each book will be about one of her passion sisters, I am rather curious about the rest of the girls and their story.

Overall The Queen's Rising was an amazing debut novel and I can't wait to see what Ross has in store for us in future books.

Review: Everless by Sara Holland

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Everless by Sara Holland

Pub. Date: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 368
Series: Everless #1
Rating:5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

Review: I finished Everless days ago and I have been sitting here wondering how in the hell to review the book because I feel it is impossible to really talk about it without giving away all the plot twists so this review will be short but full of reasons on why you need this book in your life all at the same time.

Everless was everything I love in YA Fantasy, great writing, well-developed complex characters, swoon worthy moments, unpredictability and oh lord the plot twists that had my heart racing the whole damn time. That is Everless summed up. Oh and by the way have you seen that gorgeous cover!

Jules is the type of heroine I like to read about. The girl has been through a lot, she lives in a world where blood is time and people if desperate enough use it for currency. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Jules ends up in Everless a place she knows far too well and a place where she is in more danger than she can even imagine. I loved Jules she wasn't weak and always had her priorities straight and was one determined girl.

Okay right off the bat no love triangle!!! Yay! When I started the book I was sure on how the romance was going to play out and with whom but plot twist and I wasn't so sure then more plot twist and I was like well damn I smell a love triangle coming soon and then more plot twist and I was rest assured no love triangle. Needless to say, I was relieved because a fantasy book as amazing as Everless does not need to be bogged down by any unnecessary love triangle. Now the romance that is on the horizon between Jules and the love interest has me really excited because I love slow burn romances and that is what this is going to be from what I can tell and at first I didn't like the guy but holy hell this guy has so many layers that I am just dying to peel back. He is one of those characters that is definitely more than what they seem and I can't wait for Jules to fall hard for him because I'm already falling.

There are so many characters worthy of talking about but impossible to do so without giving away spoilers. Just know Sara Holland knows how to create complex characters and characters who are very hard to forget.

The world building was done very well. I never felt lost or felt that anything was rushed. Holland really throws us deep into the world in the most entertaining of ways possible. I honestly did not want to leave I felt like I was a part of it living through Jules eyes.

For someone who reads a ton of fantasy books I usually always know how things are going to play out and it takes a lot to make me stumble and Holland made me trip over myself repeatedly. It is one of the most unpredictable books I have read in the genre in a long time. I did suspect a thing or two but I was never a hundred percent sure. There are some things I didn't even see coming whatsoever and I am still stunned. The book ends in a huge cliffhanger which has me dying for the next book.

Review: Love Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Love Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Pub. Date: January 16, 2018
Publisher: Soho Teen
Pages: 281
Rating:4.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape--perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adam Silvera.

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school.

There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.

Review: I knew the moment I saw Love Hate & Other Filters I had to have it. Even though I am not Muslim I was an Indian-American teenager growing up during the time when 9/11 happened and I had quite a few Muslim Indian-American friends as well whom I saw having to deal with the backlash that came after the terrorist act along with people who weren't Muslim but looked a certain way. All I have to say is that Samira Ahmed did this book justice with the powerful and bold story she told about Maya Aziz and Love Hate & Other Filters is a very important read especially with all that is going on in our society.

I adored Maya she is stuck between wanting to live her life and the life her parents want for her. It was surreal how well I could relate to her. Maya was a very strong character that you can't help but love and respect, she knows what she wants out of life and wasn't about to compromise on her dreams. In the midst of trying to figure her future out Maya, being the only Indian-American Muslim girl in her school also had to deal with a lot of racism and stereotypes and damn it if my heart did not feel for her. It was so gut-wrenching to see everything that she went through while also bringing up personal memories for me as well.

One thing I wasn't a fan of was the romance and in this case the unnecessary love triangle, I really wasn't feeling it at all. I liked the guy she ended up with but felt the book focused too much time on the romance.

Samira Ahmed has written a riveting coming of age tale about a girl growing up in a world where she has to fight for her right to live her dreams and it is a must-read. I also feel Love Hate & Other Filters will be a great conversation starter as well.

Review: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Pub. Date: February 6, 2018
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 448
Rating:4/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.

With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.

Review: Do not let the beautiful cover fool you like it did me. The world in which The Belles live may look like a dream come true from the outside looking in but when you bury yourself into those pages and submerse yourself entirely into their world, you learn it's all just a facade. The way things work in the world of The Belles are all oh so very dark and twisted.

It did take a while for me to really get into the book, not saying I didn't find the slower parts interesting because I did, but it didn't become a true page turner for me until the plot really kicked up and people started showing their true colors. I loved the vivid come to life writing by Clayton, I mean the way she described scenes and people and places was almost kind of poetic, I couldn't get enough of it.

The characters in The Belles will infuriate you, some you will love, others you will feel a great deal of sorrow for and then some you will love to hate. Through her characters Clayton really shows the ugliness behind a society who cares too much for beauty, I know our beauty-obsessed society is nowhere near as bad as what is in this book but it's a little scary to think what if we had Belles in our world would we go as far as the people in this book do. A great conversation starter in my opinion.

I am a little upset with the way things left off, okay I'm devastated and I get it cliffhangers keep us coming back because we need our damn closure and boy did this book have one hell of a cliffhanger. I need the book gods to bless me with the next book in the series like yesterday. I am very excited to see what happens next, the ending was intense and I have so many questions and let me put it like this for all of you, nothing was resolved at the end...nothing.

Overall I highly recommend it, I just wish I had read this closer to the release of the next book.

Review: Beyond A Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Beyond A Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake

Pub. Date: April 10, 2018
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 384
Rating:4.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

The ancient land of Éirinn is mired in war. Ciara, Princess of Mide, has never known a time when Éirinn’s kingdoms were not battling for power, or Northmen were not plundering their shores.

The people of Mide have thankfully always been safe because of Ciara’s unearthly ability to control her enemies’ minds and actions. But lately, a mysterious crow has been appearing to Ciara, whispering warnings of an even darker threat. Although her clansmen dismiss her visions as pagan nonsense, Ciara fears this coming evil will destroy not just Éirinn, but the entire world.

Then the crow leads Ciara to Leif, a young Northman leader. Leif should be Ciara’s enemy, but when Ciara discovers that he, too, shares her prophetic visions, she knows he’s something more. Leif is mounting an impressive army, and with Ciara’s strength in battle the two might have a chance to save their world.

With evil rising around them, they’ll do what it takes to defend the land they love…even if it means making the greatest sacrifice of all.

Review: Beyond A Darkened Shore surprised me, maybe it's because I didn't have any expectations going in for the novel, I just knew it had a breathtaking cover and I wanted to read it. This book is not just a pretty cover, inside the pages is an epic fantasy filled with magic, Norse and Irish mythology, undead armies, monsters, love and loss along with characters you will come to love or love to hate. I'd say it's pretty damn amazing.

Any epic fantasy read needs to have phenomenal world building and Jessica Leake nailed it. She knows how to create a world that pulls its readers in, as I was reading the final page it was bittersweet because I didn't want to leave Ciara and Leif and the magical world of Beyond a Darkened Shore.

I don't think there was a dull moment in the book, not even a few pages in and we are thrust into a raid on Ciara's village and that is where she meets Leif, kind of. More like they are enemies and she kicks his ass and takes him prisoner. The two of them realize rather quickly there is something bigger than any threat the two of them could be to each other and so the two put their differences aside and go on a journey to save the world. I loved everything about Ciara and Leif, the slow burn romance, their loyalty and fierceness and most of all what was admirable was their love for their siblings. It was impossible not to root for them.

The reason I gave this 4.5 stars and not the full 5 is because I wish we got to know more about the villains. There were some hints that there was more to them than just these evil creatures but it was never really explored and I love complex villains, so they were a little one-sided for me.

I was thrilled that this was a standalone but at the same time I'm not too happy about it because I feel there is so much more left to explore in this world, so I'm crossing my fingers that maybe there will be other books if not revolved around Ciara and Leif, maybe other characters in the same world.

Overall, I highly recommend Beyond A Darkened Shore especially to all my Fantasy lovers, it is a must-read, and I can't wait to see what else the author has in store for us because she is definitely someone to be excited about.

Q&A with Amanda Hocking - Between the Blade and the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Q: What or who was the inspiration behind Between the Blade and the
Heart?
A: I have already written several books inspired by Scandinavian folklore, and
I was always fascinated by Valkyries. But because I had already done in
Scandinavian fantasy, I wanted to come at this one from a different angle. I
imagined the Valkyries helping to police a gritty, diverse, cyberpunk
metropolis, in a world filled with not just Norse figures but from many
mythologies.

Q: What are the life lessons that you want readers to glean from your book?
A: That love is a strength, not a weakness.

Q: If you were given the chance to go on a date with one of your characters,
who would you choose and what would you do together?
A: Oona. She doesn’t swing that way, but since I’m married anyway, it would
be a friendship date. I think it would be fun to go to an apothecary with her
and have her show me around the magic. Or maybe just veg out and watch
bad movies.

Q: Would the essence of your novel change if the main protagonist were
male?
A: Yes, it would be changed dramatically. For one, Valkyries are women. But I
also think the book explores the relationships between mothers and
daughters, and friendships between young women.

Q: What is your definition of true love in YA literature?
A: There has to be passion and desire – not necessarily anything physical,
but so much of young love is about yearning. But I also think that true love is
based on mutual respect and selflessness.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be an author/start
writing?
A: My biggest piece of advice is to just write. It’s so easy to get caught up in
self-doubt or procrastination. There are lot of great books and blogs about the
art of writing, but the most important thing is really to just do it. The best way
to get better at writing is by doing it.

Q: What’s one book you would have no trouble rereading for the rest of your
life?
A: It would be a toss up between Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli and Cat’s
Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I’ve read both of those books a dozen times
already, at least, and I never get sick of them.

Q: How did you name your characters? Are they based on people you know
in real life?
A: It’s combination of names I like and taking inspiration from the world itself.
With Between the Blade and the Heart, the names were inspired both by the
mythology they come from – many Valkyries have Norse names like Malin,
Teodora, and Freya, for example – and the futuristic setting of the book, so I
wanted names that seemed a bit cooler and just slightly different than the
ones we use now.

Q: Alright, Amanda, I know you& are a movie buff. What are some movies your
characters would pick as their all-time favorites?
A: That’s a tough one. Malin – The Crow, Oona – Pan’s Labyrinth, Quinn –
Wonder Woman, Asher – Inception, and Marlow – Twelve Monkeys.

Q: Which mythological character is the most like you?
A: Demeter, because she’s pretty dramatic – she basically kills all the plants
in the world when her daughter goes missing – but she’s also determined,
and will stop at nothing to protect those she cares about.

Q: Who is your favorite character in this book and why?
A: Oona or Bowie. Oona because she’s so practical, supportive, and
determined, and Bowie because he’s adorable.

Q: What is your favorite scene and why?
A: I don’t know if there is one particular scene that I loved more than the
others, but I really enjoyed writing about the city that Malin lives in and all the
creatures that inhabit it.

Q: What cities inspired the urban haven where the Valkyries live?
A: I was really obsessed with this idea of an overpopulated metropolis, and so
I took a lot of inspiration from some of the biggest cities in the world,
particularly Tokyo, Mexico City, Mumbai, and Manila. The city itself is actually
a sort of futuristic, alternate reality of Chicago (one of my favorite cities in the
world), and I wanted to incorporate that into it as well.

Q: What came first: The world, the mythology, or the characters?
A: I usually say the characters come first, and the world builds around it. But
for this one, it really was the world that drew me into it. I knew I was writing
about a young woman who was a Valkyrie, but that about all when I began
building up the world and the mythology.

Q: I love that these characters are in college. What inspired this choice?
A: Because of the complex relationship Malin has with her mother, I knew I
wanted some distance between them, so I thought putting her in college,
living away from her mom, was a good way to do it. Plus, I thought it would be
fun to explore the all the supernatural training that would be needed to do

these specialized jobs that come up in a world where every mythological
creature exists.

Q: What songs would you include if you were to make a soundtrack for the
book?
A: This is my favorite question! I love creating soundtracks that I listen to
while writing a book, and here are some of my favorite tracks from my
Between the Blade and the Heart playlist: Annie Lennox – “I Put a Spell on
You,” Daniel Johns – “Preach,” Halsey – “Trouble (stripped),” Meg Myers –
“Sorry (EthniKids Remix),” and MYYRA – “Human Nature.”

Q: Was this book always planned as a series or did that develop afterwards?
A: It was always planned as a duology. I don’t want to go into too much or risk
spoiling the second book, but I had this idea that one book would be above,
and the other below.

Q: Your novels and characters are so layered. How do you stay organized
while plotting/writing? Do you outline, use post-it notes, make charts, or
something else?
A: All of the above! This one was the most intensive as far as research and
note taking goes, and I also had maps, glossaries, and extensive lists of
various mythologies. I think I ended up with thirteen pages of just Places and
Things. I do a lot of typed notes, but I also do handwritten scribbles (which
can sometimes be confusing to me later on when I try to figure out what they
mean. I once left myself a note that just said “What are jelly beans?”) For this
one, I really did have to have lots of print outs on hand that I could look to
when writing.

Q: You've said that pop culture and the paranormal both influence your
writing. How do these things intersect for you?
A: In a way, I think they’re both about how humans choose to interpret and
define the world that surrounds us. So many mythologies come from humans
trying to make sense of the seasons and the chaos of existence, and even
though we’ve moved past a lot of the scientific questions, pop culture is still
tackling our existence. Even when looking at shows made for kids, like Pixar,
they handle a lot of difficult concepts, like what it means to love someone
else, how to be a good friend, facing your fears, and overcoming loss. These
are things that mythologies and stories have been going over for centuries.

Q: Did you choose the title first, or write the book then choose the title?
A: It depends on the book, but I will say with this one that it took a very, very
long time to come up with a title. It was already written and edited, and we
were still bouncing around different names.

Q: How many more books can we expect in “Between the Blade and the
Heart” series?
A: One more! From the Earth to the Shadows will be out in April 2018.

Q: What scene from the book are you most proud of (because of how you
handled the atmosphere, characters, dialogue, etc)?
A: I don’t want to say too much or risk spoiling it, but there’s a scene near the
end of the book where a confrontation leaves Malin reeling. I wrote it in an
almost present tense, stream-of-consciousness way because I thought that
was the best way to capture the raw intensity of her emotions.

When the fate of the world is at stake

Loyalties will be tested
Game of Thrones meets Blade Runner in this commanding new YA fantasy inspired by Norse Mythology from New York Times bestselling author Amanda Hocking.
As one of Odin's Valkyries, Malin's greatest responsibility is to slay immortals and return them to the underworld. But when she unearths a secret that could unravel the balance of all she knows, Malin along with her best friend and her ex-girlfriend must decide where their loyalties lie. And if helping the blue-eyed boy Asher enact his revenge is worth the risk—to the world and her heart.

AUTHOR BIO:

Amanda Hocking is the author of over twenty young adult novels, including the New York Times bestselling Trylle Trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. Her love of pop culture and all things paranormal influence her writing. She spends her time in Minnesota, taking care of her menagerie of pets and working on her next book.

Buy Links:

Social Links:

Author Website: http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

Twitter: @Amanda_Hocking

Facebook: @AmandaHockingFans

Author Blog

Review: The Sea King by C.L. Wilson

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The Sea King by C.L. Wilson

Pub. Date: October 31, 2017
Publisher: Avon Books
Pages: 608
Series: Weathermages of Mystral #2
Rating:3/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter King comes a breathtaking new tale of love and adventure set in the mystical land of Mystral...

He wasn't supposed to choose her...

Seafaring prince Dilys Merimydion has been invited to court the three magical princesses of Summerlea. To eradicate the pirates threatening Calberna and to secure the power of the Sea Throne, Dilys vows to return home with a fierce warrior-queen as his bride. But politics has nothing to do with unexpected temptation.

She didn't dare wed him...

A weathermage like her sisters, Gabriella Coruscate's gentleness exemplifies the qualities of her season name, Summer. Yet her quiet poise conceals dangerous powers she cannot begin to wield. Better to live without excitement, she reasons, than risk her heart and lose control— until an irresistible Sealord jolts her awake with a thunderclap of raw desire.

Until evil threatens everything they hold dear...

When pirates kidnap Summer and her sisters, Dilys is in a desperate quest to save the woman he loves. Only by combining his command of the seas with the unleashed fury of Summer's formidable gifts can they defeat their brutal enemies and claim the most priceless victory of all: true love.

Review: I waited three years for this release, The Sea King is the second book in the Weathermages of Mystral series. I loved The Winter King it was and still is one of my favorite Fantasy reads to date, but sadly The Sea King could not compare to the first book in the series. Don't get me wrong I still liked it but there were a few things that happened and certain character traits that really took away my enjoyment of it.

First, the things I did like, C.L. Wilson is an incredible world builder, she knows how to pull a reader into a world where you feel as if you are there living and breathing every moment with the characters. I was thrilled to see Wynter and Storm again and it shows how strong of a character those two were because every single time they made an appearance Dilys and Summer became an afterthought. I did enjoy getting to know the other summer sisters, Autumn and Spring I have a feeling they will make for an interesting read. I also loved learning about Calberna, the place where Dilys is from it is definitely a wonderful addition to Mystral, their mating rituals were really interesting and I loved learning about the history of their people.

Now on to our two main characters Summer a.k.a. Gabriella and Dily's Prince of Calberna. I had a love-hate relationship with the two through the entire book, more so with Summer than Dily's. First off the romance was too much, WHAT! I know what the heck am I talking about it, this is a Fantasy/Romance read but just hear me out, The Wynter King had a perfect balance of action and romance while The Sea King spent too much time on Summer and Dilys and their repetitive inner monologues. Majority of the book was spent Dilys chasing Summer and Summer rejecting him in the rudest of ways and it became incredibly boring and made for a slower read than I liked. A part of me actually became very annoyed with Summer because Dilys is a great guy, he is loyal, sweet, caring but all he got from Summer was mistreatment. I understand Summer had her reasons for pushing him away but her actions still made it hard for me to really like her and she just gave off the vibe of a spoiled princess.

I was glad when the action finally kicked up, the Summer sisters get kidnapped by some incredibly horrible people. There should be a trigger warning for rape ( there was no actual sexual intercourse but there was penetration with the monster of a man using his fingers which falls under the definition of rape.) I felt the addition of rape was so unnecessary I'm still trying to figure out why even add that to an otherwise mostly lighthearted romance. Then something else happened that would normally devastate a character, hell it completely caught me off guard.
SPOILER HIGHLIGHT TO READ ( Summers sisters are killed, or so we are led to believe) END OF SPOILER
I was pretty much done with Summer after this, she should have been grief-stricken but to get over it in a matter of hours if even that and then jump in the bed with Dilys soon after made absolutely no sense. Nothing justified that and it was the most unrealistic response ever.

For a book I waited three years for The Sea King sadly did not live up to my expectations, but I am still invested in the series as long as the next book doesn't take as long to release. I did like Autumn and Spring and am excited to see where their story leads to especially after that cliffhanger at the end.

But somehow Summer who should be so grief-stricken got over it in a matter of hours and then decided to have sex with Dily's and she was pretty much over it. I was so infuriated with her at that point and I went from tolerating her to just not liking her at all.

Review: The Empress by S.J. Kincaid

noreply@blogger.com (Book Flame) — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

The Empress by S.J. Kincaid

Pub. Date: October 31, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 378
Series: The Diabolic #2
Rating:4.5/5
Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.

But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress.

Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Review: I'm a ball of emotions right now and I don't know what to do with any of it except for the fact I know I need the next book in my hands like yesterday. I am happy to announce The Empress did not in any way suffer the second book syndrome, nope none at all. S.J. Kincaid made sure of that as she ripped my heart in two and damn near gave me a heart attack a few times.

The book picks up a while after the last one ended. Tyrus is now emperor and Nemesis is the new empress to be. Of course, if you read The Diabolic you know many will have issues with a diabolic being their new empress and if you remember the chaos and betrayals and back-stabbing from the first book oh you can bet your last dollar this book does not fall short, in actuality, there was much more scheming and what the f*** moments in The Empress then there ever was in The Diabolic, and The Diabolic had plenty.

Funny thing is The Diabolic was originally a standalone and I was happy with that, I loved how it ended and when I saw The Empress was released and it was the second book in the series I was on the fence of whether I was going to pick it up, honestly I was leaning more towards not, because I was satisfied with The Diabolic and how it was wrapped up and I was afraid that this was just a money grab by the publishers so I was going to stay away, well the book gods had other plans evidently because The Empress showed up at my doorstep and I took it as a sign that I am meant to read it and so I did and I loved the hell out of it and I can't believe I almost passed up on this. Shame on me. So if you are like me and you read the first book but not sure about The Empress, just go now and grab yourself a copy it was pretty effin' epic. Although reader beware the ending will kill you and wanting more. Luckily there is another book which now I will desperately be waiting for, with nervous anticipation.