Random Reads #340, May 31st

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 1217 which turned out to be Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready! It's been on my TBR pile since August 3rd, 2011, and I added it because I love her writing! Happy reading!

Will the Time Come #365, May 31st

Every Thursday I am going to list a book which I really want to read/keep meaning to get to. These are mostly books which have been on my shelf for awhile now but don't have to be, maybe you got it two weeks ago and really want to read it! Thanks to Jodie from Books for Company for this meme!

Want to Join?

-Pick a book you have been meaning to read

-Do a post telling us about the book    

-Link the post up in the linky  

-Visit the other blogs

From Goodreads:

For Rhia was bound to the Spirit of Crow, gifted with the foresight of Death's approach and doomed to the isolation of one feared and set apart.
There must always be one whose magic can ease the passage of the people of Asermos to the Other Side. But to be the guide her people require, to truly know the depth of her gift--her curse--Rhia must surrender herself to the wisdom of the Great Forest…and drink deeply of Death itself. And though two powerful men stand ready to aid her, even to love her, the Aspect of Crow demands unthinkable sacrifices from one who walks its path.

Why the time hasn't come yet...
I don't know, but I just got a book or two in this series, so yeah, hopefully I'll read it soon! What about you guys? Happy reading!

Jeri Smith-Ready Author Page

The Story: I found Shade and Shift at the library, and they just looked really great, so I just really had to check them out! And they were just so good! Now I need to read more of her books! Yeah!

Website

Series: Shade, WVMP Radio, Aspect of the Crow.

Shade: Shade and her site, my review, my reread, Shift and her site, my review, my reread, Bridge and her site, (Part of *Enthralled*), Shine and her site, my review, my reread, Shattered and her site, my review.

Bridge is a short story in the anthology Enthralled, set in the Shade world, here's my review, my reread.

WVMP Radio: Crossroads and her site, my review, Rave On and her site, my review, When the Music's Over and her site, my review, Last Request and her site, my review, Wicked Game and her site, my review, Bad to the Bone and her site, my review, Bring on the Night and her site, my review, Let it Bleed and her site, my review, Lust for Life and her site, my review.

Aspect of the Crow: The Wild's Call and her site, my review, Eyes of Crow and her site, my review, Voice of Crow and her site, my review, The Reawakened and her site, my review, Storm Reaper and her site, my review.

Stand Alone's: This Side of Salvation and her site, my review.

Anthologies: Grim and my review.

Random Reads #142, August 14th

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 1331 which turned out to be Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready! It's been on my TBR pile since August 1st 2011, and I added it because I enjoyed her YA series!! Happy reading! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #154, May 19th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week...and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well...you never know where that next "must read" book will come from!

What happened in the past week:

Weekly Memes:
It's Monday! What Are You Reading #153
Teaser Tuesday #161
WWW Wednesday #161
WOW #158
Will the Time Come #154
Third Sentence Thursday #144
Random Reads #129
First Lines Friday #149
The Reward Challenge Round 97 Part 1
Follow Friday #132
LLFL Reading Challenge Update 45

Week 20 Reviews:
The Immortal Rules
Days of Blood & Starlight
Night of Cakes & Puppets
Dreams of Gods & Monsters
Ruthless Game
Sweet Evil Extra 1
Sweet Evil Extra 2
Sweet Evil
This Side of Salvation

Tours:
Revelation: Book Blitz
Killing Ruby Rose: Review
Inquisitor: Book Blast

Bout of Books:
Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
Mini Challenge 2
Update 4
Update 5
Update 6
Mini Challenge 3
Mini Challenge 4
Update 7
Update 8
Update 9
Update 10
Update 11
Update 12
Update 13
Update 14 and Wrap Up

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge:
Update 6
Update 7
Update 8
Update 9
Update 10
Update 11

OK, so I got 42 posts in 7 days, so a bit of a slow down from last week! Still pretty exhausted, though! What about you guys? Happy reading!

So this week I want to read Sweet Peril Extra 1, Sweet Peril, Sweet Reckoning, The Eternity Cure, The Forever Song, Tease, Samurai Game, The Secret Diamond Sisters,  Far From You, The Dare, Banded, House of Ivy & Sorrow, Rebel, Precious Blood,  Article 5, A Dawn Most Wicked, Something Strange and Deadly, The Liberator, Renegade, Divided, The Rules for Breaking, V is for Villain, Meridian, Second Star, Nantucket Blue, White Space, Push, and My Last Kiss.

Scene from SWEET PERIL from Kaidan Rowe's point of view!!! (spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't read book 2...) Ever wondered what Kaidan thought about the make-out session against the stacked washer and dryer in his hall? Or what happened when he and Kope traveled to Syria together? Time to find out.

This scene is written in Kaidan's stream of consciousness, and it spans parts of chapters 17-20.

It’s time.

Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways.

The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

In the most sensual and fast-paced installment yet, Sweet Reckoning brings all the beloved Neph together one last time to fight for their freedom.

Vengeance will be hers.

Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster? With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

Monster.

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions - her creator Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost - the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.

In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, her triumph will be short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

THE FINAL HUNT IS ON.

What happens when a girl who always calls the shots meets a guy who's too wild for even her?

A born flirt and good-time party girl, Emerson has never had a problem finding a willing guy. She's always chosen her hookups carefully, and she's never broken her three cardinal rules:

Never let them see the real you.
Never fall in love.
Always leave them begging for more.

Then Shaw comes along. A hottie from the wrong side of the tracks, he's immune to her flirtatious banter and come-hither smile. After rescuing her from a disastrous night at a biker bar, he doesn't even try to take her to bed—he calls her a tease and sends her home instead. Unable to resist a challenge, or forget the sexy, dark-eyed, bad-boy biker, she vows to bring him to his knees.

But instead of making Shaw beg, Emerson finds herself craving him. For the first time in her life, she's throwing out her rule book. Suddenly, she's the one panting for a guy she can't control—a guy who won't settle for anything less than the real Emerson and who forces her to do things she's never imagined, including facing a past she thought she'd buried.

A guy who just might leave her wanting more. . .

In dystopian Manhattan, society is divided into six zones, with each one representing a citizen’s benefit to society: Stalwart (strength), Astute (intelligence), Collusive (greed), Radiant (beauty), Quixotic (no life direction), and the Altruistic (willingness to help others). On a citizen’s sixteenth birthday, a computer suggests a new zone for them based on their inherent benefit to society. When Kalenna Slater is sorted out of her home zone Quixotic and into Altruistic, she thinks things can’t get worse. Life looks dismal until she meets Gavin, a boy also just sorted into Altruistic who becomes the light needed on her cloudy days.

During sorting she receives a device known as ‘The Band’. It’s a large watch-like device that never comes off, and it measures a citizen’s karma on a scale from one to one hundred. If a citizen does good, they gain points. If a citizen does bad, including breaking laws, they lose points. When your number reaches zero, the band acts as judge, jury, and executioner, and you are injected with toxins that kill you within minutes.

After sorting, recruits are taken to a three month long mandatory school named HQ. It’s at HQ she meets new friends from different zones, and finally begins to feel at ease. Everything goes well until a rare trip home makes her discover that her father, who has been missing for a decade, may have taken part in a terrible program that stands to shake the fabric of society.

Josephine Hemlock has spent the last 10 years hiding from the Curse that killed her mother. But when a mysterious man arrives at her ivy-covered, magic-fortified home, it’s clear her mother’s killer has finally come to destroy the rest of the Hemlock bloodline. Before Jo can even think about fighting back, she must figure out who she’s fighting in the first place. The more truth Jo uncovers, the deeper she falls into witchcraft darker than she ever imagined. Trapped and running out of time, she begins to wonder if the very Curse that killed her mother is the only way to save everyone she loves.

The sequel to the action-packed Reboot is a can't-miss thrill ride, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Veronica Roth, and Marie Lu.

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn't what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren's instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he's underestimated Wren and Callum.

The explosive finale to the Reboot duology is full of riveting action and steamy love scenes as Wren and Callum become rebels against their own kind.

There is no one left for Mila to trust. Except for a boy she barely knows.

But Hunter has no idea who—and what—Mila really is. She can’t bear to reveal her secret, even though he’s unwittingly joined her search for Richard Grady, a man who may know more details of Mila’s complicated past.

Yet the road to the truth is more dangerous than ever. With General Holland and the Vita Obscura scouring the earth for her whereabouts, Mila must rely on her newfound android abilities to protect herself and Hunter from imminent harm. Still, embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity—as well as Hunter’s real motives.

The hunter becomes the hunted. . . .

West Grayer is done killing. She defeated her Alternate, a twin raised by another family, and proved she’s worthy of a future. She’s ready to move on with her life.

The Board has other plans. They want her to kill one last time, and offer her a deal worth killing for. But when West recognizes her target as a ghost from her past, she realizes she’s in over her head. The Board is lying, and West will have to uncover the truth of the past to secure her future.

How far will the Board go to keep their secrets safe? And how far will West go to save those she loves? With nonstop action and surprising twists, Elsie Chapman’s intoxicating sequel to Dualed reveals everything.

Anna Boyd almost lost her life to get what she wanted most in the world: freedom.

But just when it seems that her family has finally escaped Witness Protection, the illusion that Anna could resume a normal life comes crashing down.

The deadly man Anna knows as Thomas is still on the loose, and now he's using her as a pawn in a dangerous game with the drug cartel determined to silence her forever. When Thomas and a mysterious masked man capture not only Anna but also her fragile younger sister and her boyfriend, Anna decides it's time to break all the rules-even if it means teaming up with the lesser of two evils.

Anna will do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves and win her life back once and for all. But her true enemies are hidden in plain sight. Before long, Anna will learn that putting her trust in anyone may be the last mistake she ever makes.

Marina thought that she had solved all of the Arclight’s mysteries. She had found her own history—that she was one of the Fade, that she never should have been human. She knows that the Fade who surround the Arclight don’t want to be the humans' enemies at all. She knows that the leader of those inside the Arc, Honoria Whit, never told the whole truth. But there is so much more that Marina is just discovering. There are more survivors out there. Only Marina—and her friends, all of whom have connections to the Fade they'd never known about—can lead her people to them. But there are also darker dangers, things that even the Fade fear. And Marina slowly realizes she may never have been “cured,” after all. The sequel to Arclight, Meridian is an intense, action-packed page-turner about the lines we draw between right and wrong, light and dark . . . and the way nothing is ever that black and white.

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

In the tradition of Memento and Inception comes a thrilling and scary young adult novel about blurred reality where characters in a story find that a deadly and horrifying world exists in the space between the written lines.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Lindsay has problems: a head full of metal, no parents, a crazy artist for a guardian whom a stroke has turned into a vegetable, and all those times when she blinks away, dropping into other lives so ghostly and surreal it's as if the story of her life bleeds into theirs. But one thing Emma has never doubted is that she's real.

Then she writes "White Space," a story about these kids stranded in a spooky house during a blizzard.

Unfortunately, "White Space" turns out to be a dead ringer for part of an unfinished novel by a long-dead writer. The manuscript, which she's never seen, is a loopy Matrix meets Inkheart story in which characters fall out of different books and jump off the page. Thing is, when Emma blinks, she might be doing the same and, before long, she's dropped into the very story she thought she'd written. Trapped in a weird, snow-choked valley, Emma meets other kids with dark secrets and strange abilities: Eric, Casey, Bode, Rima, and a very special little girl, Lizzie. What they discover is that they--and Emma--may be nothing more than characters written into being from an alternative universe for a very specific purpose.

Now what they must uncover is why they've been brought to this place--a world between the lines where parallel realities are created and destroyed and nightmares are written--before someone pens their end.

It’s either break the rules or die.

Miki Jones lives her life by her own strict set of rules, to keep control, to keep the gray fog of grief at bay. Then she’s pulled into the Game, where she—and her team—will die unless she follows a new set of rules: those set by the mysterious Committee.

But rules don’t mean answers, and without answers, it’s hard to trust. People are dying. The rules are unraveling. And Miki knows she’s being watched, uncertain if it’s the Drau or someone—something—else. Forced to make impossible choices and battling to save those she loves, Miki begins to see the Committee in a glaring new light.

And then the Game crosses a new boundary, pushes harder into Miki’s and her friends’ lives, and there’s nothing in the rules that can save them now.

Push is the sequel Rush fans will be screaming for.

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made--good and bad--that led to her last kiss.

Bethany Neal's suspenseful debut novel is about the power of first love and the haunting lies that threaten to tear it apart.

Week 20 Review: This Side of Salvation

From Goodreads:
Everyone mourns differently. When his older brother was killed, David got angry. As in, fist-meets-someone-else's-face furious. But his parents? They got religious. David's still figuring out his relationship with a higher power, but there's one thing he does know for sure: The closer he gets to new-girl Bailey, the better, brighter, happier, more he feels.

Then his parents start cutting all their worldly ties to prepare for the Rush, the divine moment when the faithful will be whisked off to Heaven…and they want David to do the same. David's torn. There's a big difference between living in the moment and giving up his best friend, varsity baseball, and Bailey—especially Bailey—in hope of salvation.

But when he comes home late from prom, and late for the Rush, to find that his parents have vanished, David is in more trouble than he ever could have imagined...

My Review:
This was a freaking fantastic book! So enjoyable, and pretty easy to read for a girl, to read in a guy's perspective, and a pretty interesting, and one passage sparked an idea for me, should I find myself craving to write after my burn out!

I loved the writing, how it alternated chapters between the past to the present, and how the last few of the past chapters were of the hours leading up to the first chapter of the present, so that we had the complete story, and yeah, it was just an awesome choice to make!

Loved the relationship, it was nice, sweet, and fun to read, that he had to give up his whole life but prayer for the Rush, his friends and Bailey, and baseball, and school, yeah, that wasn't fun for him to do and he did get bored, but yeah, it was really good, that he was sacrificing so much for the change for his dad to get better.

Then the fact of what the Rush was for them? To just go to Almost Heaven, to pray, and prepare for the actual time where God takes the number of people off of Earth and the apocalypse starts. That was clever of the leader, Sophia, though pretty evil, setting out clothing to make it look like their parents had been Rushed.

I really enjoyed this book, and yeah, it was just really good, great ending, and yeah, just really good!

Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Read: May 16th, 2014
Source: Publisher for Review
Reason Why: Sounded good, and it's a SAC 2014 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: April 1st 2014

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge Update 7

Ok, so I read This Side of Salvation. I'm going to have to read more, but yeah, I know I'm going to meet my goal! 

Reading Journey:

The Hunt by Stacey Kade

Started On: May 3rd

Finished On: May 3rd, 9:56 PM

Pages Read: 370

The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

Started On: May 4th

Finished On: May 4th, 10:28 PM

Pages Read: 380

Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday

Started On: May 5th

Finished On: May 5th, 8:43 PM

Pages Read: 304

Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton

Started On: May 8th

Finished On: May 8th, 10:54 PM

Pages Read: 351

Phantom Eyes by Scott Tracey

Started On: May 9th

Finished On: May 9th, 11:35 PM

Pages Read: 277

Killing Ruby Rose by Jessie Humphries
Started On: May 13th
Finished On: May 13th, 10:18 PM
Pages Read: 303

This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready
Started On: May 16th
Finished On: May 16th, 11:34 PM
Pages Read: 368

Books Read: 7

Goal: 25 Books

Pages Read: 2363

Reading Next: The Secret Diamond Sisters, Unchosen, The Body in the Woods

Bout of Books Update 7

Read This Side of Salvation!!! And I wrote reviews for Sweet Evil, Sweet Evil, A Radiant Sky, This Side of Salvation!!!

My Reading Journey:

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
Started On: May 12th
Finished On: May 12th, 2:28 PM
Pages Read: 513

Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor
Started On: May 12th
Finished On: May 12th, 6:03 PM
Pages Read: 90

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
Started On: May 12th
Finished On: May 12th, 11:39 PM
Pages Read: 521

Killing Ruby Rose by Jessie Humphries
Started On: May 13th
Finished On: May 13th, 10:18 PM
Pages Read: 303

Ruthless Game by Christine Feehan
Started On: May 13th
Finished On: May 13th, 11:48 PM
Pages Read: 376

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Started On: May 14th
Finished On: May 14th, 2:45 PM
Pages Read: 447

This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready
Started On: May 16th
Finished On: May 16th, 11:34 PM
Pages Read: 368

The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow
Started On: May 14th
Pages Read: 26 of 393

Books Read: 7
Goal: 14 Books
Pages Read: 2618

My Review Journey:

Reviewed: The Immortal Rules, Cress, Raised by Wolves, Donna of the Dead, Crush. Candy, Corpse, Prey, Shift, Alpha, Killer Frost, Hungry, Come Home to Me, Royally Lost, Cruel Beauty, Murder Game, Fire, Proxy, Avalon, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Fallen, At Grave's End, Dark Wolf, Days of Blood & Starlight, Night of Cake & Puppets, Dreams of Gods & Monsters, Days of Blood & Starlight, Spirit's Chosen, Killing Ruby Rose, Plus One, Wild Rain, The Ruining, All Our Yesterdays, Ruthless Game, City of Lost Souls, City of Lost Souls, Tracker, Bloodline, Bloodline, The Resse Malcolm List, Premeditated, Sweet Evil, Sweet Evil, A Radiant Sky, This Side of Salvation.

Week 20: The Immortal Rules, Days of Blood & Starlight, Night of Cake & Puppets, Dreams of Gods & Monsters, Ruthless Game, Sweet Evil, This Side of Salvation.

Reviews Written: 38
Goal: 50 Reviews
Reviewing Next: Ten Big Ones, Flicker & Burn, The Clockwork Scarab

First Lines Friday #149, May 16th

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. We encourage all of our fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

-Grab your current read(s)
-Share the first line(s)
-Include the title and author so that other FLF participants can add the book to their TBR Lists!

"If this were the last night of my life, I could be at peace with that. That, and everything else, as I walk hand-in-hand with Bailey out of the pool house and back into the blare of the party. Her long hair brushes my elbow, stirring memories of reaching, fumbling in the dark, memories so fresh they feel more like dreams, not etched as events in my past, but posed as possibilities in my future." -This Side of Salvation

Well, sounds like a teenage boy to me! What about you guys? Happy reading!

First Lines Friday #148, May 9th

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. We encourage all of our fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

-Grab your current read(s)
-Share the first line(s)
-Include the title and author so that other FLF participants can add the book to their TBR Lists!

"If this were the last night of my life, I could be at peace with that." This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready.

Yeah, a book about the Rush, where the devoted go to Heaven? Yeah, that first line fits pretty well! What about you guys? Happy reading!

Third Sentence Thursday #143, May 8th

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which likes to watch fireworks especially while eating a cookie!

1) Take the book you are currently reading and open it to a random page. Share the third full sentence on that page. (If there isn’t a third one – like at the end of a chapter or a blank page – you can share the third sentence of the book or just choose another random page.) Feel free to share more than one sentence, if you feel the need to do so.

2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)

3) Post a link to your sentence at Words I Write Crazy (This Blog)

4) Visit one or two of the other blogs to check out their third sentences!

"What with the Rush and all." -This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready, page 61.

What, Rush? Like a football player rushing to get the ball across the line thingy so they get points?

What are your guy's 3rd lines? Link up below!

Waiting on Wednesday #142, January 22nd

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

Illusion by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Expected Publication: April 1st, 2014
From Goodreads:
Be careful what you wish for…
You just might get it.
Nick Gautier is tired of his destiny. He doesn’t want to be the son of a demon who’s fated to end the world. Nor does he want to see another demon or other preternatural creature who wants to kill or enslave him. He just wants to be normal and have normal problems like everyone else.

But normality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When he gets sucked into an alternate reality where his mother has married his mentor and his Atlantean god best friend has become a human geek, he begins to understand that no life is free of pain, and that every person has a specific place in the universe… Even the son of a hated demon.

Most of all, he sees that his powers aren’t the curse he thought they were, and that the world needs a champion, especially one its enemies can’t imagine rising up to defend the ones he should destroy.

Old enemies and new friends square off for a major battle that will either restore Nick to his real world, or end him forever.

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
Expected Publication: April 1st, 2014
From Goodreads:
By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. 

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Expected Publication: January 28th, 2014
From Goodreads: 
The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan's chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she's destined to become a murderer.

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.


Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

Creators by Tiffany Truitt
Expected Publication: April 1st, 2014
From Goodreads:
Heartbroken but more determined than ever after a tense showdown in the woods, sixteen-year-old Tess once again returns to the safety of her community of Isolationists. Bolstered by new alliances and desperate to protect those she loves, this time she knows she can return stronger and more powerful than ever to take back what is hers.

As she trains in combat and grows more confident, Tess receives beautiful letters penned by her forbidden love, the chosen one James, from his prison in Templeton. He is now serving as a bodyguard to the creators—the team of scientists who created artificial life in the first place. And what he has discovered about the true origin of the illness that halted natural life could change everything.

This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready
Expected Publication: April 1st, 2014
From Goodreads:
Everyone mourns differently. When his older brother was killed, David got angry. As in, fist-meets-someone-else’s-face furious. But his parents? They got religious. David’s still figuring out his relationship with a higher power, but there’s one thing he does know for sure: The closer he gets to new-girl Bailey, the better, brighter, happier, more he feels.

Then his parents start cutting all their worldly ties in to prepare for the Rush, the divine moment when the faithful will be whisked off to Heaven…and they want David to do the same. David’s torn. There’s a big difference between living in the moment and giving up his best friend, varsity baseball, and Bailey—especially Bailey—in hope of salvation.

But when he comes home late from prom, and late for the Rush, to find that his parents have vanished, David is in more trouble than he ever could have imagined...

Another day to love, April 1st, because Illusion and Dreams of Gods and Mosters come out on this day! Whoot! I really want these books, and I dying to read them!!! What about you guys? Happy reading!

Random Reads #75, May 2nd

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 1269 which turned out to be Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready! It's been on my TBR pile since August 3rd 2011, and I added it because I really enjoyed her other books! Happy reading! 

Week 45 Review: Enthralled

From Goodreads:
A journey may take hundreds of miles, or it may cover the distance between duty and desire.

Sixteen of today’s hottest writers of paranormal tales weave stories on a common theme of journeying. Authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, and Melissa Marr return to the beloved worlds of their bestselling series, while others, like Claudia Gray, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl, create new land-scapes and characters. But whether they’re writing about vampires, faeries, angels, or other magical beings, each author explores the strength and resilience of the human heart.

Suspenseful, funny, or romantic, the stories in Enthralled will leave you moved.


My Review:
I am so glad that I read this anthology! I loved all these stories, so much, I mean, all of these authors, are authors whose books that I've enjoyed! And some of these stories were part of series that I'd read before, and others were stand alones, but I'd love for them to be series!

The three main stories from series that I've read, are Niederwald by Rachel Vincent, A Mortal Winter King by Melissa Marr, and Facing Facts by Kelley Armstrong, from their respective series. It was so great for these looks from a bit outside the bounds of the series!

And the majority of them, they were, as far as I could tell, stand alones, and honestly, I would really enjoy having them get full length series, or at least more short stories (like the Sarah Rees Brennan one) so that we got more time with them!

These stories were just diverse, a great selection of YA, and again, illustrates why I love YA, because you can have so much, or so little, but it can be so good, either way, if written well! And all of these authors are spectacular at their jobs!

It was a pleasure to read this anthology, and I need to read more of these authors books!

Authors:  Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Vincent, Sarah Rees Brennan, Jeri Smith-Ready, Mary E. Pearson, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Jessica Verday, Claudia Gray, Jackson Pearce, Carrie Ryan, Rachel Caine, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Kimberly Derting, Ally Condie
Read: November 9th, 2012
Source: Library
Reason Why: Has stories by authors like Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Rachel Vincent, to name a few!
Publisher: Harper Collins
September 1st 2011

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

3.5/5 Stars

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #69, October 1st

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week...and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well...you never know where that next "must read" book will come from!

What happened in the past week:

Weekly Memes:

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #68

Teaser Tuesday #77

WWW Wednesday #77

WOW #73

Will the Time Come #69

Third Sentence Thursday #60

Random Reads #44

First Lines Friday #65
The Reward Challenge Round 57

Follow Friday #47
Last Letter, First Letter Reading Challenge Update 27

In My Mailbox #68

Week 39 Reviews:

Glitch

Truth

Warped

Embers & Echoes

Darkness Before Dawn

Black Heart

Shift

Shine

Destiny and Deception

Catching Jordan

Sirensong

Blood

Nightshade

The Calling

A Want so Wicked

Pretty Crooked

Foxfire

Unleashed

Rift

Alice in Zombieland

Tours:
The Twilight Saint: Review

Kavachi's Rise: Review

Binding Arbitration: Review

OK, so I got 34 posts in 7 days, and I got to read a lot of great books, and yeah, can't wait for this next week! What about you guys? Happy reading!

So this week I want to read Darke, Dark Victory, Obsidian, The Curse, Shadow Bound, Dark Vengenance, Dark Inside, Vanquished, Fury, Celebrity in Death, Bitterblue, Throne of Glass, Envy, Bad Taste in Boys, Close Your Eyes, The Girl is Murder, Team Human, Dark Storm, Defiance, and Raised by Wolves.

Currently Listening To: She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
Currently Reading: Celebrity in Death by J. R. Robb
Currently Watching: My Weekly Episodes

 In the sixth book of the Magykal series, Alther Mella has been Banished, a Darke Domaine engulfs the Castle, and a Darke dragon is on the loose. Septimus Heap must use all of his skills to save the Castle and the Wizard Tower from destruction: He must enter the Darke. But he cannot do this alone. With the help of Jenna, Alther Mella, Marcellus Pye, and Septimus's estranged brother, Simon Heap, Septimus and Marcia Overstrand battle the spreading Darkenesse. Will Septimus succeed in protecting his Magykal world?

Written with Angie Sage's characteristic humor, "Septimus Heap, Book Six: Darke" is a compelling fantasy adventure filled with surprises, thrills, and laugh-out-loud moments. Readers will revel in the action-packed story as they realize the wisdom of Magyk--that all things are meant to be part of a living whole.

Magda Lazarus was a reluctant witch until the dire threat of Nazi Germany convinced her to assume the mantle of her family’s ancient powers. But though this young, beautiful Jewish woman has fought off Hitler’s SS werewolves and the demon who would rule through the Führer, she has been unable to prevent the outbreak of World War II.

As long as Magda can summon spirits, there is still a chance to save people from the dire threat of the Holocaust. Her family’s guardian angel, Raziel, stands beside her in the battle against the human and supernatural forces of evil arrayed against her people and all of Europe.

In Michele Lang's Dark Victory, as the Nazis prepare to invade Poland, Magda and her beloved Raziel marshal their own army, a supernatural force that will battle Hitler’s minions to the death…or beyond.

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is.

On a mission to find a traitor, Evalle becomes the catalyst that unleashes a 2000-year-old Medb curse on the Beladors…and the world.

The Medb coven sends a team of deadly Svart Trolls to capture Alterants, starting with Evalle. To stop the troll-led gang wars erupting in Atlanta, Evalle borrows a weapon from her Black Ops friend Isak and, in the process, exposes a secret that complicates her tumultuous love life just as sexy skinwalker Storm surfaces with news of where he’s been – the last place she expects. But Evalle has bigger problems when she discovers the real target in jeopardy and the game changes with no time left on the clock.

If you live in the dark long enough, you begin to forget the light...

Kori Daniels is a shadow-walker, able to travel instantly from one shadow to another. After weeks of confinement for betraying her boss, she's ready to break free of the Tower syndicate for good. But Jake Tower has one final job for Kori, one chance to secure freedom for herself and her sister, Kenley, even if it means taking it from someone else....

The job? Recruit Ian Holt-or kill him.

Ian's ability to manipulate the dark has drawn interest from every syndicate in the world, most notably an invitation from Jake Tower. Though he has no interest in organized crime, Ian accepts the invite, because he's on a mission of his own. Ian has come to kill Tower's top Binder: Kori's little sister.

Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they'll have to choose between love and liberty....

Following the “globetrotting supernatural adventure” (Publishers Weekly) of Damned, the riveting conclusion to the Crusade trilogy pushes the power of love to its limits.

Hope is in short supply, but courage runs deep as the Salamancan hunters recover from a devastating loss. Jenn knows she must rally her team against the Cursed Ones, but her focus is shattered. She’s torn between passion for Antonio, who once fought by her side, and hate for the bloodthirsty vampire he’s become. His volatility is tearing apart their team...and Jenn’s trust.

As the Cursed Ones amass new strength, Team Salamanca must strike together if they hope to survive, let alone defend humanity. Jenn wants to believe Antonio’s loyal to their cause—and their love—but she’s slowly losing her heart to Resistance fighter Noah. And if Antonio’s not careful, he may just end up with a stake in his.

This gripping conclusion to an epic trilogy pairs steamy romance with heart-stopping action, and delivers an ending as dramatic as it is unexpected.

Hell hath no fury like an angel scorned…

Heartbreak. Vengeance. Truth. Betrayal.

Everything that has happened to Mercy over millennia has made her who she is. Now she and The Eight wage open war with Luc and his demons, and the earth is their battlefield.

Ryan’s love for Mercy is more powerful than ever, her guiding light in the hour of darkness. But the very love that sustains her, now places Ryan in mortal danger.

Two worlds collide as Mercy approaches her ultimate breathtaking choice.

Hell hath no fury like Mercy …

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she's managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It's a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director's luxury building. Now she's at the center of a crime scene-and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster and step into the role she was born to play: cop.

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

 The Furies are back in the second book of a chilling paranormal trilogy where revenge rules the day—and “sorry” isn’t going to cut it.

Spring is coming, and the ice is slowly melting in Ascension... revealing the secrets buried beneath.

Emily Winters knows the Furies have roots in Ascension, Maine—but she’s about to discover that they’re deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to dig them out. But it’s hard to focus when she’s desperate to make up with JD, and to figure out why Crow, a mysterious Ascension High dropout, seems to be shadowing her.

Meanwhile, new girl Skylar McVoy is determined to leave her own dark past behind. So she’s thrilled when popular Gabby takes her under her wing, and the stunning and sophisticated Meg offers to give her a major makeover. But everyone knows what happens to the vainest girl of all…

It’s tempting to be naughty. But beware: the Furies are always watching, and their power grows stronger by the day.

Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steriods are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate! She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town  . . . and stay hormonally human.

The FBI doesn’t usually consult with music therapists to solve their cases. But Kendra Michael’s astonishing powers of observation and analysis have made her a favorite of law enforcement agencies all across the country. Blind for the first twenty years of her life, she cares little for investigative work but can’t deny her unique skill, or the results she’s been able to facilitate. Kendra learned at an early age to become hyper-aware of her surroundings, perfecting the art of picking up the most subtle audio, olfactory, and tactile cues in the world around her. Like a secret weapon, she is in high demand.

Former FBI agent Adam Lynch, known as The Puppetmaster, has weapons of his own. He’s a notorious master manipulator, skillfully handling criminals and colleagues alike to get the results he wants. Now he needs Kendra’s special brand of help, but she’s not interested until Lynch reveals that Agent Jeff Stedler—Kendra’s ex—is missing and may have run directly into the path of a serial killer. What began as a heinous murder investigation escalates into something even larger and more frightening: a multi-million dollar conspiracy to hide a secret that’s worth killing for, again and again and again.

It's the Fall of 1942 and Iris's world is rapidly changing. Her Pop is back from the war with a missing leg, limiting his ability to do the physically grueling part of his detective work. Iris is dying to help, especially when she discovers that one of Pop's cases involves a boy at her school. Now, instead of sitting at home watching Deanna Durbin movies, Iris is sneaking out of the house, double crossing her friends, and dancing at the Savoy till all hours of the night. There's certainly never a dull moment in the private eye business.

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love.

Awakening after all this time in a world of absolute darkness and oppressive heat, Dax wonders in how many ways the world above must have changed. But it is how he has changed that fills him with dread and loathing. Buried alive for hundreds of years in a volcano in the Carpathian Mountains, Dax fears that he has become the full-fledged abomination that every Carpathian male fears, a victim of the insidious evil that has crept relentlessly into his mind and body over the centuries. But there are some things that never change.

His name is Mitro, the vampire Dax had hunted all these long centuries. Second in command to the prince of the Carpathian people he is the epitome of everything malevolent, and perpetrator of one of the most shocking killing sprees known to man - and beast. Even his friends and family weren't safe from Mitro's bloodlust. Neither was Mitro's lifemate, Arabejila, an extraordinary woman with extraordinary gifts. But now that Dax has re-emerged, so too has Mitro. The ultimate battle between good and evil has been re-engaged. Between Dax and Mitro, a violent game has begun - one that has marked Riley Parker, the last descendent of Arabejila, as the reward.

 Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city's brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father's apprentice, Logan--the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same one who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but a fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city's top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor's impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it.  That doesn't mean that she's averse to breaking a rule or two.

But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian's basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents' murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.

But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she's shaped?