Book Review: Hidden Magic by Melanie Crouse

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hiddenmagiccover 3.5 Stars

 BLURB:

When Jenny has the opportunity to spend the summer with her sister, a small slice of freedom is all she’s really hoping for when she has the opportunity to spend the summer with her sister. Instead she finds something else altogether: electricity.

That’s what Jenny feels when she looks at Arram. She knows he’s drawn to her too, but the mage-in-training does his best to hide it.

Stung, Jenny turns to Arram’s former best friend, Jack. But Arram and Jack’s rivalry is much darker than Jenny suspects, and so are Jack’s intentions. Soon she’s caught in a mystery of old murder, ancient prophecies, and magic hidden where no one has thought to look.

When Jenny uncovers a secret magic, she is offered two choices. Arram wants her to do the safe thing. Jack wants to show her the easy way out. Whatever Jenny decides, her life will irrevocably change.

Either way, freedom may be the one thing Jenny can never have.

Excerpt

Jack put his finger to his lips and motioned toward an empty bedroom across the hall. Not knowing what else to do, she went in, her heart thudding against her ribs. “Jack,” she whispered. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“What? No welcome home kiss?” His voice was mocking.

Trying to keep her voice steady, she said, “So Arram was right. You do want to kidnap me after all.”

“Kidnap you?” Jack looked horrified. Underneath the horror though, Jenny could see that his eyes were sparkling with mischief. “I should have known Arram would fill your head with something stupid like that. No, you wonderful, impossible girl, I’m here to rescue you.”

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Purchase on Amazon

MY REVIEW: 

I received an ARC of this book for a honest review. This book was a major surprise to me. From the beginning, I was drawn in trying to figure out WTH was going on. Now if a paranormal book does this from the first page, then I’m hooked.

Innocent Jenny, just likes excitement and adventure in her life and you see that from the beginning. She’s an undercover rebel in a family who chooses to shelter and treat her like a child when she is no longer one. Jenny has a naive vulnerability that grabs at your heart and you can see that she has a big heart but is also very curious. Living in a world where paranormal beings exist, Jenny’s upbringing tells her to steer clear of these individuals, however she feels drawn to them.

There are so many twists and turns in this book and all of them are very exciting; many I didn’t see coming. But I did feel like the romance between Jenny and Arram was rushed. It seemed like he was there then not, and all of the romance and relationship blossoming didn’t take place. I had a better feel of the relationship between Jenny and Jack as you could read and feel the attraction and mutual connection to “courting” taking place. However once you read the book you will better understand the disconnect. Both Jack and Arram were complete jerks at many points through the book, but there were traits about each that you would like.

The magic that happens in this book was great, and no I’m not talking about sex. It’s a paranormal book so magic  should appear somewhere, and when it did, it was at the right time. From shapeshifting, to manipulating fire, dragons, magic stones  and so much more; this book will keep your attention. I’m looking forward to the next book.

Blog Tour & Book Review: Sparks by RS MCcoy

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3 Stars

 Sparks by RS McCoy

 New Adult Paranormal Fantasy Romance

 Blurb:

“Everyone
in the world has a spark, a light inside that guides them, keeps them alive.”
Myxini
School for Children specializes in training young men and women who have
powerful sparks. Strikers are taught to manipulate fire. Trackers learn to find
animals in the most formidable terrains. Handlers are instructed in
communication with large predators. But forty years have passed since the last
time they had a Reader – a student with the ability to read minds.
When Lark
Davies enrolls at Myxini, he knows there aren’t many like him, but he doesn’t
realize just how rare his abilities really are. He thinks nothing of being
asked to keep his spark a secret; after all, he can barely control it. Thoughts
and emotions flood unbidden into his mind until he can scarcely walk or hold a
conversation. But just when he needs it most, his ability fails him.
Larks meets
Khea, a small frightened girl who mysteriously insights his protective nature.
He has no explanation for the curious strength of their relationship, and it
doesn’t help that she is one of the few people in the world whose thoughts
can’t be read. As he struggles to get to the root of their unique bond, Lark
begins to unravel more power than even his mentor expected, but in the process
makes himself a target to political leaders eager to take control.

Buy Sparks on Amazon for $3.99:

Teaser:

Wearing only my loose brown pants, I crawled into the most
comfortable bed I had ever known and sank into the soft down pillows. I had just
started to drift off when I heard a knock at the door. I’m going to kill Avis.
“What do you-“ I started until I realized it wasn’t Avis. It
was a stunning blonde with blue eyes. Khea.
 
“I’m sorry to wake you. I just- I had to see you.” Her arms
moved to wrap around my waist and hold me tight as I questioned if I was really
sleeping or not.
“Uh, do you want to come in?” We both knew the rules about being in someone else’s
room after hours, so I pulled her in and sat down on the edge of the bed, still
a little surprised she was there.
In the dim light her hair looked a little darker, but her
face was still sweet and there was no denying that the last two years had done
her well. Who would have thought such a beautiful young woman would come from
that skinny little girl in Lagodon?
“How’d you know I was back?” I asked her, trying to appear
less tired or shocked than I was.
“A friend told me.”
“I didn’t think you-“ Cared? It wasn’t the right word, but I
was beyond amazed that she was interested in my whereabouts. I hadn’t seen her
since that night at the Moonwater and it had changed everything for me since
then. But for her, I wasn’t aware that she had been affected in any way.
“Ride with me tomorrow?”
“Uh, yea, of course.” It was a struggle to cover how little
I wanted to wait. I would have given anything to have her stay.
A wide smile erupted across her sweet lips as she said, “meet
me at the lake at noon.” With a lingering kiss on my cheek, she walked back
through the door and disappeared into the dark stone corridor.
What just happened?
I hadn’t seen her in person in years, and we were hardly close before that. And
now she arrived in my room in the middle of the night and kissed me on the
cheek. Was it a kiss like a friend would give another? Or more? I couldn’t make
any sense of it, but there was only thing I was sure of. I would be at the lake
at noon if it was the last thing I did.

MY REVIEW:

This book was a struggle initially for me as I was trying to get into the story. I didn’t necessarily get the OMG I can’t put this book down, but I did find myself still reading as there were questions in my head that needed to be answered from the beginning. The biggest one was “Where the hell are they going?” lol I know this question seems insignificant, but if you decided to read this novel, you will understand why that was my question. There were points in the book where i wished the author would have spent more time giving details or laying the foundation. Some of the book felt really rushed as though there wasn’t enough time to talk about what was happening and I believe it was because of that notion that someone how I felt cheated as if important points in the story were missing. Lots of the events that happened in the novel all happened so quickly whereas it reduced the probability of the readers truly engaging and enjoying the journey. Overall the story was a decent read and some what easy to follow, and ending was surprisingly better than the beginning of the book. I did enjoy the characters in the story including the bad ones…lol. They had a sort of camaraderie that really help transport the book and made it what it was. Though Lark had my attention, I really liked Khea’s  character. I must say, despite the fact that I did struggle reading this book in the beginning, as I continued to read things became more of an element of surprise.  Remember my question that initially kept me reading?  The author did have a way of making me feel like one of the characters in which I had to take the journey to the school with them, with absolutely no idea of what was going on or what to expect. If you like fantasy then this is a good book to read.

 

Cover Reveal: Falling Into Place by Brandy Rivers

Title: Falling Into Place
Series: Others of Edenton: Book 3
Author: Brandy L Rivers
Release Date: December 23rd 2013

Falling Ebook

Robert would have done anything for Liz, even let her go when she claimed she needed to be alone. With his life in shambles, he dove into his work as a Silver Council enforcer.

Liz never fit in, but to protect her first love, she walked away when a wild burst of magic nearly killed him. Tremaine found her, and helped her put her life back together.

The man who tore her world apart awakes from a 21 year slumber with revenge on his mind. Nothing will stop James from tearing the power from Liz’s body.

After learning James is alive, Robert rushes to Liz and bands together with Tremaine to keep her safe. Facing her worst fears Liz realizes she can only fall apart or fall into place.


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Playlist for Falling Into Place

Want to know more about the Others of Edenton? You can find out at Brandy’s website.

www.brandylrivers.com

You can also find her at Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Smashwords, and Amazon

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Robrt

Liz teaseA young man with a beautiful physique

Top Ten Authors I’d Love To Have At My Thanksgiving Feast

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Top Ten Tuesday is, as always, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I’m skipping this week’s official topic because Thanksgiving is approaching and I would love to see these authors and have a conversation with them. What an exciting dialogue we would have! So here is my list.

k. bromberg

1. K. Bromberg author of The Driven Trilogy –

I love this series and am NOT patiently waiting for book 3 Crashed.

sylvia day

2. Sylvia Day author of the Crossfire Series

eljames

3. E. L. James author of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

Cassandra Clare

4. Cassandra Clare author of the Mortal Instruments Series and The Infernal Devices

jc.reed treasureyourlove

5. J.C. Reed author of the Surrender Your Love Series

Richelle_Mead

6. Richelle Mead author of the bloodlines Series

Review-Complete-Me-By-J-Kenner-Chilly-Fear-Plots

7. J. Kenner author of the Complete Me Series

lisa.renee.jones

8. Lisa Renee Jones author of the Inside Out Series

j.sorensenJessica Sorenson Writer Wrangler

9. Jessica Sorenson author of several series including Shattered Promises Series

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10. Stephen King author of several amazing books

Blog Tour: “The Guardians Series” By Wendy Owens

Today is the day. Book #5 of “The Guardian Series” is being released. So get your copy now!!!!!!!! Here is a little teaser from the book……….

 

theguardianscrownThe Guardians Crown (Book 5)

by Wendy Owens

Goodreads

Release Date: September 27th

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Goodreads

Blurb:

Gabe is finally forced to answer the ultimate question, will he give his life to save the world? What about just to save the one he loves the most? The Guardians struggle to find another way–ideas that don’t involve Gabe’s death–to defeat Baal. Time is running out. What will Gabe choose? What price will he pay for that choice?

 

Excerpt #1

As Michael watched her speak, he swallowed hard, remembering in that moment it was more than her beauty he had fallen in love with. “I don’t know what to do,” he replied, his words barely audible.

“People need hope Michael, as much as they need a leader. You and Gabe are the answer to both of those things. You’ll lead the people of earth to victory and Gabe will give them the hope they need to keep going,” Mirada said, her voice sensitive, yet unwavering.

“I don’t know if I can,” For the first time in Michael’s life he was completely unsure of what he should do. He had lost all sense of purpose.

“You can, and I’ll be at your side every step of the way,” she said with a smile.

“Are you serious?” Michael asked, his heart now racing.

Falling to her knees she embraced him, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss. She pulled away, looking into his eyes. “I’m never going to leave your side again.”

Michael felt as if his heart might burst. With the death of the council he had felt as though he had lost everything that mattered to him, but here in his arms, he found the last piece of hope he had left in the world. “We have to go back and help Gabe.”

“Why, what’s wrong with Gabe?” Mirada asked.

“They found a book that says the guardians crown is real,” Michael explained.

“Well it is real, or it was,” Mirada stated, staring back at Michael.

Michael watched as she rose, taking a seat next to him on the bed and wrapping her fingers around his. “What do you mean it was?” he asked.

 

What does Mirada know that nobody else seems to? Read The Guardians Crown to find out if The Guardians have a chance to change their fate or simply must face their destiny.

Excerpt #2

“Do you think there’s any chance Mirada got the coordinates wrong?” Rachel asked. It was clear to the group that they had followed the directions precisely, and after thoroughly searching the area there was no sign of a cave.

At first nobody answered her question. Sophie and Haim collapsed on the ground, both relieving themselves of the rope around their waist. The rest of the group soon followed suite.

“I don’t know, maybe she had bad information,” Sophie suggested.

Gabe took a big gulp of the water then made his own suggestion, “Perhaps she’s not all that different from her sisters after all.”

Uri nodded in response, but Rachel quickly chimed in to defend the woman whom she barely knew. “That’s not fair. Mirada told us from the beginning that she was working off secondhand knowledge and that this could be a wild goose chase. I think you’re being too hard on her.”

“She has a point,” Haim added, moving to stand next to Rachel, causing her stature to look even smaller. “I don’t think Michael would marry someone who’s that dishonest.”

“You’re sure giving him a lot of credit when it comes to judging a pretty face,” Gabe remarked.

“Really?” Rachel snarled, leaning back against the surface of the rocks behind her.

Suddenly her face shifted from one of contempt towards her husband’s comment to one of pure terror. Before Gabe could react, he watched helplessly as Rachel slipped backwards and out of sight into the mountainside, a crumbling wall now the only thing he could see.

“Rachel!” Gabe shouted, rushing forward. Before Gabe could reach her Haim, being closer to where she had fallen through, leapt into the gaping hole after her.

The group now only heard Haim’s cries echoing in the darkness as they drifted further away.

“What the hell?” Uri shouted as he and Sophie hopped to their feet, peering down the hole with Gabe, only darkness staring back at them.

“Where did they go?” Gabe cried.

Peering into the darkness, Uri commented, “it looks like some sort of old shaft.

“Get out of my way, I’m going after them!” Gabe exclaimed.

He didn’t hesitate. Grabbing what remained of the sides of the cavern, he propelled himself through the hole, and down the ice-covered tube. As he rocketed through the shaft, he could see where pieces above his head had melted away, exposing solid rock, or in some place even an empty darkness.

 

Excerpt #3

Releasing one last big breath, pushing all the air from his lungs, Michael emerged into the room. He opened his eyes, wide, and prepared to greet his brethren. The room shrank inward, all around him, as his eyes took in a sight he had not expected. He had accepted the idea this was a trick, that perhaps he had offended the council one too many times with his unorthodox methods. He had accepted they might, in fact, be luring him there to imprison him for his insubordination. What he saw now though, was not what he had expected.

A half circle of handmade bamboo tables was sprawled out before him. At each table, a small stool perched behind it with an elder seated in it. None of them looked up at him, their heads lying on the table tops, the blood from their slit throats draining, and spilling onto the dirt floor. All of them, they were all dead.

Michael’s head began to spin. He fell to his knees, purging himself of all of his stomach contents. A tear ran down his cheek, as he wiped away a string of vomit with the back of his hand, from the corner of his mouth. “No,” he gasped, shaking his head, as if trying to make the reality before him disappear.

“I knew you’d come!” a voice called out behind him.

Michael staggered to his feet and turned to face his worst nightmare. Baal stood before him, a smirk on his face. He wore his signature grey, pinstripe, three-piece suit, and casually twisted his pinky ring on his long and slender well-manicured finger. As it rotated Michael caught a glimpse of the rubies in the skull’s eye sockets. His black hair was slicked back, the sight of his false appearance made Michael sick to his stomach.

A slight panic rushed over him as he thought, you need to get the hell out of here. But he knew transporting would be pointless. If he fled back to Iron Gate, Baal would most certainly pick up the tracer and follow him. He would bring the same fate of the council down on everyone he cared about. There was only one option. He would stand and fight, even if it meant perishing like the council.

 

Author Bio: wendy.owens

Wendy Owens was raised in the small college town of Oxford, Ohio. After attending Miami University, Wendy went on to a career in the visual arts. After several years of creating and selling her own artwork, she gave her first love, writing, a try.

Since 2011, she has published a young adult paranormal series, The Guardians, which will contain five books total, as well as a novella.

Wendy now happily spends her days writing—her loving dachshund, Piper, curled up at her feet. When she’s not writing, she can be found spending time with her tech geek husband and their three amazing kids, exploring the city she loves to call home: Cincinnati, OH.

Author Links:

Website: http://wendy-owens.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WendyLOwens

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wendy-L-Owens/191731754221996?fref=ts

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5038955.Wendy_Owens

A busy, busy week……now it’s time to unwind

Wow is all I can say. It’s been a very busy week for me. I’ve been running from one side of town to the next, in the car, out of the car and so forth. So right now I just want to unwind.

So to update you on my week challenge (exercise for 4 days out of the week)……lol it was an epic “FAIL”. There are no excuses, I just didn’t get it done. So now the question is how do you find the time when you are busy as heck???? Any suggestions????? Now I did eat healthier this past week, so does that count?

Any-who…….so today really is all about relaxing so when you’ve had a stressful and busy week what is your best unwind methods?

I’ll start with mine. Today I’m going to have a glass of wine, or two, and get back to reading “The Grave Winner” by Lindsey R. Loucks. So far this has been a very interesting book and I am enjoying it. Want a Synopsis? Heck why not!!!!

Synopsis- Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead — just like the prom queen did. Single tree in field during winter 2

While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom’s things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.

She should have listened.

Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.

With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what’s so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn’t, she’ll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead – herself.

Now this is a YA Paranormal/Fantasy Romance book and I thought I might read it first before I recommend it to my niece who loves paranormal books as well. She told me that she wanted a better variety of these books so I guess it’s my duty to check it out to see if it might be something she likes.  With my love for books I am presently dripping in her to read more but as I know with the children of this generation, it is difficult to get them off the computers, ipods and television to read a book.  I digress….

Back to the mission at hand, time to get my read on and unwind. You’ll see the review for this book posted soon.