Review: The Blood of Kings

Title: The Blood of Kings (Phoebe Pope #2)
Author: Nya Jade
Page Count: 374
My Rating: 4.5 TURTLES: A really great read, I highly recommend!
*I received this book in exchange for an honest review
Amazon

Description:
The thrilling, un-put-downable sequel to The Year of Four. According to the press, Phoebe Pope and teen movie star Colten Chase are no longer an item—which is just how the happy new couple like it. And yet there’s trouble in paradise . . . Phoebe is haunted by dreams that show her things she can’t possibly know about—including a pact between Colten and a wanted assassin. In the daylight, she struggles to keep a newly emerging power hidden, even as her hands itch to wield it. Meanwhile, in the wake of their escape from a Vigo crèche, Phoebe and her fellow Hyphas study under lock and key at the Campus Below. As the foursome wait to see who among them will fulfill the prophecy, someone dear to Phoebe is kidnapped by a powerful Vigo determined to use her to spy on the Shaper royalty. When the Hyphas are called to the Royal Court, Phoebe refuses to heed warnings of imminent danger for she will do whatever it takes to rescue her loved one. But once at court, nothing is as it first appears. A sinister force controls some royals, while others whisper behind closed doors about forbidden alliances. And as Phoebe draws on her courage to complete the task set by her enemy, she makes a startling discovery—one that upends her father’s memory. With dangerous conspiracies surfacing, Phoebe must uncover what the Royal Shapers really want from her, and decide whether there’s room for Colten in her unraveling life.

Review:

This was a super action-packed, exciting sequel to The Year of Four. We learn so much more about the magic of Phoebe's world, who she is, and the politics of her world, but also leaves us with as many questions as it answers! I guess I'll just have to wait until book three!

The view of The Blood of Kings expands way out, giving a much wider range of the world and history of the Shapers and the Vigos. Just like the first book, I was impressed with the world building in this book, especially since there is so much more of it. I also loved seeing how the Hyphas powers started to develop and learning more about what Vigos are and what they can do. The Blood of Kings' plot is filled with twists, turns and shocks that I did not see coming at all - some exciting, and some devastating.

This definitely isn't a sequel that you can just pick up without having read the first book already. If you haven't read The Year of Four yet though, you can read my review. This series is definitely worth your time and I highly recommend you check it out





Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Cover Reveal: Cradled

Cradled
Christina Bauer
(Beholder #4.5)
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: July 31st 2018
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

An Epilogue Novella
At last, Elea and Rowan are settling in to their new lives. Trouble is, Rowan is spending a lot of time cleaning up messes from his childhood. And considering the nightmare that was his mother, those are some ugly messes indeed. In fact, the experience is enough to make Rowan vow that he never wants children of his own.
Oops.
BEHOLDER
Cursed
Concealed
Cherished
Crowned
Cradled

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Author Bio:
Christina Bauer thinks that fantasy books are like bacon: they just make life better. All of which is why she writes romance novels that feature demons, dragons, wizards, witches, elves, elementals, and a bunch of random stuff that she brainstorms while riding the Boston T. Oh, and she includes lots of humor and kick-ass chicks, too.
Christina graduated from Syracuse University's Newhouse School with BA's in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.
Be the first to know about new releases from Christina by signing up for her newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/CBupdates

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Book Blitz: Fierce

Fierce
L.G. Kelso
(A Whatever It Takes Novel)
Publication date: April 3rd 2018 (re-release)
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Sports

Three years ago, Tori beat the wrong man. Her MMA training partner, nursing a bruised ego, snapped-shattering her trust and confidence.
Now, she's putting herself through college, avoiding all things fight related, and keeping her fists to herself. That is, until her uncle's failing health draws her back to his gym and her old pounding grounds. With her demons still haunting the cage, she's determined to keep up the wall she's so carefully constructed between the past and present.
Until pro-fighter Max Estrada saunters into her life.
The temptation to go glove-to-glove with the sexy Columbian is too much, drawing her back into the world of MMA-a world where her ex-partner reigns as current Middleweight Champion. The secret they share is a liability to his career, and he'll do anything to keep her quiet. If she wants her old life back, and a future with the fighter she's fallen for, she'll have to do more than just survive. With her life on the ropes, she'll have to face her past and fight like she's never fought before.

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EXCERPT:

The alcohol probably wasn't helping. The side of the bathtub, cool against the back of my legs, felt as if it would fall out from under me as I stared at the water pouring from the bathtub's faucet and over the cuts on my leg.
I went to scrub the soap into the cuts, but my wet shirt kept getting in the way. Every time I moved, it stuck to my skin.
Wrapping the hem of my long shirt around my fingers, I lifted the shirt up, over my head-
"Woah, there, Tori. What are you doing?"
"It's in the way!"
"No, it's not," Max said as he yanked my shirt back down.
"It's wet."
"Well, yes, it is. You can go change in a second. Tori, put your shirt down."
"Why?"
He sighed. "Because you're drunk."
"You've seen me in a sports bra."
"Which you are definitely not wearing right now."
His reaction was making my skin burn again, but this time, I couldn't figure out why. Was it because he so didn't want to see me without a shirt? Was it that bad? I mean, compared to Cheyenne sure, but still.
"The idea of seeing me shirtless is that awful, huh?"
He tugged. I rolled forward, giving up the shirt.
"That's-no."
"I know I don't look like your lingerie model of a girlfriend, but jeez."
"Tori." The conviction in his voice made me stop blabbering like a damn idiot. His fingers found my chin and tilted my head. He was so close. The brown of his eyes were darker in this light, making his eyes look like black pools.
"Should you ever wish to yank your shirt off in front of me when you're sober, I definitely will not stop you. It would be the opposite of awful."
Had he gotten closer? And what did he mean by opposite of awful?
His lips were swollen; he must have taken one hit to the mouth before knocking the other guy out.
The alcohol didn't do as much to my brain as being around Max did. Everything about him teased me in some way. His adrenaline teased out my own. I wanted to pull him against me. I wanted to find someone to fight in an octagon. I wanted to be me again, whoever that was, and I wanted to be it with Max.
"Tori," he said again, and I tore my gaze away from his mouth and back to his eyes. A wave of shivers started at the top of my spine, my skin prickling as it passed through the rest of my body. The look in his eyes…it was quite possibly the best thing I had ever seen.
He continued a moment later. "But right now, you are drunk. So your clothes are staying on."

Author Bio:
L.G. Kelso writes authentic sports fiction about characters falling in love with combat sports and also each other. She's a fan of anything that bashes gender stereotypes, and she can be found in her MMA gym when not writing.
Visit her website at http://www.lgkelso.com for more information about her and upcoming projects, including another book in the Whatever It Takes universe.

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Why I Love Audiobooks and You Might Too

I was resistant to the idea of audiobooks for a long time.

I don’t know if it was because I had internalized some silly idea that it wasn’t “real reading” or if I just had never really listened to them growing up.

I remember once my family bought a book on tape (as they used to be called back in the dark ages of the mid ‘00s) but we weren’t committed to it and stopped listening part way through. I still don’t know how Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord ends.

This mentality began to shift sometime in high school. I’m not entirely sure what brought it about, but I think it was a combination of several things.

First of all, bookworm that I am, I wanted to have a way to read while walking that didn’t end with me stepping in a puddle or running into a pole, door or person. All those things had happened or nearly happened to me. I was like those confuddled people in infomercials who look directly into the camera and declare “there’s got to be a better way!”

The second reason, honestly, I started listening to audiobooks was that Google, in all its algorithmic, capitalist wisdom, had been showing me ads for Audible (an audiobook buying website for those of you who don't know) for some time and I finally caved. My walking-infomercial-self had found a problem and the internet had responded with “there’s an app for that.”

Although there are many places online where you can find audiobooks, I really like Audible because as a member I get one "free" book a month (I put "free" in quotations since there is the $15 monthly fee, but since many audiobooks cost most than that I usually come out ahead) as well as access to a member discount for any other book I may want to buy. (And, Audible does give you your first month of membership free so you can see if you like it). If you have never given audiobooks a shot, I highly, highly recommend that you do.

Most of the pleasure reading I’m able to get in during the school year is through audiobooks. I may not have much time to sit down and read a book for fun (because, let’s be real, I hardly even have that time to read books assigned for class) but I do have snippets of time between walking to class, eating and working out at the gym. That time adds up quickly and allows me to get a fair amount of pleasure “reading” in.

Listening to books can also be great for doing homework. For speed readers it may not be worth it, but as someone who is a slow reader, has a reading heavy course load and is prone to eye strain, it really is. Also, depending on the platform you are listening through, you may be able to speed up the narration to two to three times the recorded speed for when you’re in a hurry.

There is also a theatrical element to audiobooks, placing the experience of listening to one somewhere between reading a book and listening to a radio play. The voice actors will often do different voices and accents for the various characters and the inflections of their voices as they narrate will sometimes lead me to interpret a scene differently than if I had been reading the story and imagined the inflections differently.

Also, books that come from big publishers, especially books that have been heavily hyped, will often have a big name attached as the narrator. I imagine some people might find this distracting, but I really enjoy it.

Take the audiobook for one of my favorite books Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, for example.

The narrator of that audiobook, at the time I first listened to it was, from what I understand, well-respected and known among the Broadway community, but not particularly famous. Several years later, when I listened to it again, I was surprised and delighted to realize that the narrator was, in fact, Lin-Manuel Miranda. (This revelation made the scene in the novel where the main character is complaining about have to write a paper on Alexander Hamilton ten times funnier than it would have been otherwise).

In this current age, we have so many ways of sharing and consuming stories, yet the audiobook is often overlooked. Hopefully, if you have never listened to one before, I have piqued your interest enough to at least give this medium a try.


This piece first appeared in the Manitou Messenger, St. Olaf College's student newspaper.


Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive some money if you make purchases.

Release Blitz: The Mage Heir

About the Book

Traitor: that's what Tatsu is now. On the run from both Runon and Chayd, Tatsu and Yudai's only hope for survival is to disappear into the wilds. However, when the siphon's deadly curse returns, they have no choice but to travel into the desert kingdom of Joesar in search of a cure.

Battling the unforgiving elements of the sands, Tatsu starts to realize that the path towards destroying the siphon may claim Yudai's life. Time is running out as Nota's fury-and the siphon's hunger-begin to spiral wildly beyond their control. As their options slowly fall away, the only thing Tatsu and Yudai can count on is each other.

Author Bio

Kathryn didn't major in creative writing, but never stopped believing. She survives on books, strong coffee, craft beer, puppies, and the Oxford comma. She currently lives in Japan with her husband and teaches high school English to shape the next generation of young minds. She also comma splices like it's going out of style.

Links

The Mage Heir on Amazon

Book One (The Life Siphon) on Amazon

Book Excerpt

Tatsu didn't mind sleeping under the leaves, but Yudai's agitation seemed to grow as the sky darkened. He paced back and forth between two ancient tree trunks with his hands clasped behind his back, over and over, until the stars came out.

"You're going to have to sleep eventually," Tatsu pointed out, voice mild, once the moon was high overhead. It earned him a growl in reply. "Please just sit down."

"This clearing will be dead by morning," Yudai snapped. When he turned to retrace his steps again, Tatsu could see the twist of his fingers clenched together in tight fists.

"You can't do anything about it, so there's no point in blaming yourself. It's probably just making the whole thing worse."

The look Yudai threw him was dubious at best, but evidently, the possibility was difficult to ignore. Yudai eventually settled himself down between two patches of yellow-green weeds, and he ran his finger over his lip a few times before his eyes flickered up towards Tatsu. "Distract me."

"You could ask nicely," Tatsu said.

One corner of Yudai's mouth quirked upward. "I could," he agreed, and said nothing more.

"Did you know that my mother had other children?"

Yudai blinked and sat back, face slackening. "Good distraction."

Giveaway

Giveaway for 5 eBook copies of "The Mage Heir" to celebrate the release day.

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Author Interview: Kaethe Schwehn

I was recently able to ask Kaethe Schwehn, author of the just-released dystopian novel "The Rending and the Nest" a few questions about her career and new book. She is an award-winning writer and poet and currently lives in Northfield, Minnesota where she teaches at St. Olaf College. The interview in full is below.

I know you have a collection of poetry and a memoir out, is this your first novel?

It's my first published novel. I have another one languishing in a drawer somewhere.

When did you first start writing “The Rending and the Nest?”

Almost five years ago. It took three years to write and then the submission and publication process took almost another two years.

Could you talk a little bit about what your writing process was like for this book?

I write longhand first. I filled up a number of journals trying to figure out the characters and the setting. Once I knew where the story began I started typing. When I finally submitted it to the amazing woman who is now my agent she suggested that I needed to expand the ending. I thought she meant I needed to add a page or two.  "No," she said, "I think you need about another 20,000 words." She was absolutely right.

Are you currently working on any other projects?

I'm in the beginning stages of an historical novel set in 4BCE.  

What is one piece of advice would you give aspiring writers?

Write a lot. Read a lot. Join communities of other writers and readers. I guess that was three pieces of advice. :)


About The Rending and the Nest:

A chilling yet redemptive post-apocalyptic debut that examines community, motherhood, faith, and the importance of telling one's own story.

When 95 percent of the earth's population disappears for no apparent reason, Mira does what she can to create some semblance of a life: She cobbles together a haphazard community named Zion, scavenges the Piles for supplies they might need, and avoids loving anyone she can't afford to lose. She has everything under control. Almost. 

Four years after the Rending, Mira's best friend, Lana, announces her pregnancy, the first since everything changed and a new source of hope for Mira. But when Lana gives birth to an inanimate object--and other women of Zion follow suit--the thin veil of normalcy Mira has thrown over her new life begins to fray. As the Zionites wrestle with the presence of these Babies, a confident outsider named Michael appears, proselytizing about the world beyond Zion. He lures Lana away and when she doesn't return, Mira must decide how much she's willing to let go in order to save her friend, her home, and her own fraught pregnancy.

Like California by Edan Lepucki and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Rending and the Nest uses a fantastical, post-apocalyptic landscape to ask decidedly human questions: How well do we know the people we love? What sustains us in the midst of suffering? How do we forgive the brokenness we find within others--and within ourselves?

Find it on Amazon!




Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Spotlight: Cold Flood by RJ Corgan

Book Description:
For geologist Kea Wright, when a volcano erupts under an ice cap, it isn't just a good time, it's a living. Camped at the base of an icecap in southeast Iceland, Kea and her team are investigating landforms created by catastrophic floods. With only days left in the field season, bad weather on the way, and the volcano due to erupt at any time, the team is struck by a tragedy that threatens to shut down the entire project. As the team rushes to complete their work, the expedition continues to be plagued by setbacks, leading Kea to wonder if the initial tragedy was an accident after all. During her reluctant - and inept - attempts to investigate, Kea inadvertently stumbles upon a secret. One so valuable, someone is willing to kill to keep it hidden.


Author Bio:

Raised by librarians, RJ has a PhD in Geology, and has worked on volcanoes and glaciers across the globe. Cold Flood  is his debut novel, mixing genres of actual scientific expeditions and thrillers.

The adventures of Kea Wright will continue in the forthcoming novels Meerkat Murders and Mammoth Drop in 2019.

Find Cold Flood on Amazon!

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.