Sunday, December 18, 2016

Monday Missions ~ 2016 Winter Cramathon!



I'm doing another readathon! 

This year's winter Cramathon takes place between December 16th - 23th. 

I'm starting a couple days late, unfortunately, but I have made headway in one of my picks, and the graphic novels will make quick reads, so that should make up for it a bit.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO:



THE CHALLENGES:

1. Read a book under 200 pages
2. Read a book in 24 hours
3. Read a book set in a different country
4. Read a "backburner"... a book you've been putting off
5. Read a book with pictures
6. Read a graphic novel
7. Read 7 books

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Follow the Cramathon Twitter:
@CramAThon

Follow MY Twitter:
@serenshadow

Follow my Instagram:
@serenshaow

I'll post updates on Twitter and Instagram!

~*~*~*~*~

If you plan to participate, comment with your TBR! :) 

~*~*~*~*~

MY TBR:

1. Blood+ Vol 1
Set several decades after the events in the popular Blood: The Last Vampire anime film, an amnesiac Saya Otonashi lives as a seemingly normal high school student with her adoptive family in Okinawa. Horrible nightmares are the only hints at the violent life she once led, but her past is about to catch up with her and awaken the merciless warrior within. Chiropterans -- powerful shape-changing creatures who need and crave blood -- threaten humanity once more, and a mysterious organization called the Red Shield needs Saya's deadly sword skills and mysterious powers to aid in the fight against these beasts. As her submerged abilities begin to reawaken and as she seeks to regain her memories, Chiropteran warriors are guided by a mysterious leader to threaten Saya and her loved ones. Asuka Katsura's manga series successfully expands upon the original Production I.G./Aniplex feature, delivering moments of jarring violence and thrilling action in a tale that spans several centuries. 

GOODREADS: 

2. United As One by Pittacus Lore

The seventh and final book in the #1 New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series! With United as One, this action-packed series comes to a surprising, breathtaking, and utterly satisfying conclusion. The Garde didn’t start this war, but they’ll do whatever it takes to end it once and for all. . . .

The Mogadorians have invaded Earth. Their warships loom over our most populated cities, and no country will risk taking them head on. The Garde are all that stand in the way, but they’ll need an army of their own to win this fight.

They’ve teamed up with the US military, but it might not be enough. The Garde need reinforcements, and they’ve found them in the most unexpected place. Teenagers from across the globe, like John Smith’s best friend, Sam, have developed abilities. So John and the others must get to them before the Mogs, because if they don’t their enemies will use these gifted teens for their own sinister plan.

But after all the Mogadorians have taken from John—his home, his family, his friends, and the person he loves most—he might not want to put any more lives in danger. He’s got nothing left to lose, and he’s just discovered he has been given an incredible new Legacy. Now he can turn himself into the ultimate weapon. So will he risk his life to save the world, or will he realize that power in numbers will save us all?

GOODREADS: 

3. A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe
Sora's life was full of magic--until she discovered it was all a lie.

Heir to Mt. Fuji's spirit kingdom, Sora yearns to finally take on the sacred kami duties. But just as she confronts her parents to make a plea, a ghostly army invades the mountain. Barely escaping with her life, Sora follows her mother's last instructions to a heart-wrenching discovery: she is a human changeling, raised as a decoy while her parents' true daughter remained safe but unaware in modern-day Tokyo. Her powers were only borrowed, never her own. Now, with the world's natural cycles falling into chaos and the ghosts plotting an even more deadly assault, it falls on her to train the unprepared kami princess.

As Sora struggles with her emerging human weaknesses and the draw of an unanticipated ally with secrets of his own, she vows to keep fighting for her loved ones and the world they once protected. But for one mortal girl to make a difference in this desperate war between the spirits, she may have to give up the only home she's ever known.

GOODREADS: 

4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house "spark joy" (and which don't), this international best seller featuring Tokyo's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home - and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

GOODREADS: 

5. Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

GOODREADS: 

6. Blood+ Vol 2

Saya seems, from all appearances, to be an ordinary teenage girl suffering from amnesia. Living with a foster family just outside an American military base in Okinawa, Japan, she soon discovers that she is anything but normal. She learns she is an apparently immortal warrior, who has ties dating to ancient Egyptian times if not earlier. For centuries she has been locked in a battle against a race of vampiric creatures known as Chiropterans, monsters that seem intent on destroying all life on Earth. In an epic tale that crisscrosses the globe from the streets of Japan to Vietnam, Russia, France, England, and ultimately North Carolina and New York City, Saya battles to save the world while searching for the secret of her lost memories

GOODREADS:

7. The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
A powerful collection of essays on feminism, geek culture, and a writer’s journey, from one of the most important new voices in genre.

The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of essays by double Hugo Award-winning essayist and science fiction and fantasy novelist Kameron Hurley.

The book collects dozens of Hurley’s essays on feminism, geek culture, and her experiences and insights as a genre writer, including “We Have Always Fought,” which won the 2014 Hugo for Best Related Work. The Geek Feminist Revolution will also feature several entirely new essays written specifically for this volume.

Unapologetically outspoken, Hurley has contributed essays to The Atlantic, Locus, Tor.com, and elsewhere on the rise of women in genre, her passion for SF/F, and the diversification of publishing.

GOODREADS:

~*~*~*~*~



Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Blog Tour + Review ~ Songs of Seraphina by Jude Houghton



Songs of Seraphina by Jude Houghton


Publication date: June 30th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult



Some battles bleed so much, and for so long, that the earth never truly forgets their dead. Some battles are born of oppression, and some of greed, and some simply because it was written in the stars.



Three sisters—Charlemagne, Cairo and Pendragon Agonistes—are sent from America to England to live with their eccentric grandparents after their mother disappears and their father falls to pieces. But before the girls have time to find their feet, Charlemagne is married off to a dead man, Penny takes a nap and wakes up as a boy, and Cairo is swept into a dangerous romance with a man who wants her for more than her considerable charm. With the girls wrapped up in a conflict they barely understand, they don’t notice that their grandmother is transforming, or that the two demigod assassins who took their mother are now coming for them—if one of them can get over his crisis of conscience.


In this richly painted tale, at whose heart is the unbreakable bond of family and blood, the world of Seraphina collides with our own as three unique girls are dragged into twilight lives past, fighting for vengeance, retribution, and the survival of their exiled people.







This turned out to be a longer read than I thought it was going to be, but I enjoyed every minute of it!

Songs of Seraphina blended fantasy, scifi, and political strife in an intriguing storytelling that reads almost like a fairytale. This sometimes dark and disturbing tale was steeped in a mystery that I found myself trying to unravel as I read. And unlike most mysteries, I didn't instantly know what was going on; this kept me guessing the whole time, which I both loved and hated. 

This book was odd but wonderful, and I highly recommend it to fantasy lovers. It's rather unique in a way and was thoroughly enjoyable once it was able to hook me. I found myself very emotionally pulled in about a fourth of the way through... in fact, I stayed up until 5am simply because I couldn't put it down. I experienced all the pins and needles and stomach knotting brought on by a really good story! 

I'm really hoping for a sequel! It doesn't REALLY get a resolution....



Author Bio:

Jude developed a love of fantasy from a relatively early age after realising an innate talent for making stuff up could result in something other than detention. Working across the globe in fields as diverse as journalism, data entry, sales, management consultancy and babysitting, Jude has partially succeeded in putting an English and History degree from Oxford University to good use. A somnambulist, insomniac, lover of letters, Jude writes late into the night, most nights, tumbling down the rabbit hole to dream of other lives. Jude currently lives in Pennsylvania with an over-enthusiastic family and absurdly entitled dog.



GIVEAWAY!



XBTBanner1

Monday, October 31, 2016

MONDAY MISSIONS!




The first book I'll be reading this week is Songs of Seraphina. I was sent an ecopy in exchange for an honest review. I'm about halfway through and I should have my review up by Wednesday! 

Songs of Seraphina by Jude Houghton

Some battles bleed so much, and for so long, that the earth never truly forgets their dead. Some battles are born of oppression, and some of greed, and some simply because it was written in the stars. 

Three sisters—Charlemagne, Cairo and Pendragon Agonistes—are sent from America to England to live with their eccentric grandparents after their mother disappears and their father falls to pieces. But before the girls have time to find their feet, Charlemagne is married off to a dead man, Penny takes a nap and wakes up as a boy, and Cairo is swept into a dangerous romance with a man who wants her for more than her considerable charm. With the girls wrapped up in a conflict they barely understand, they don’t notice that their grandmother is transforming, or that the two demigod assassins who took their mother are now coming for them—if one of them can get over his crisis of conscience. 

In this richly painted tale, at whose heart is the unbreakable bond of family and blood, the world of Seraphina collides with our own as three unique girls are dragged into twilight lives past, fighting for vengeance, retribution, and the survival of their exiled people.




Volumes 10-12 of the Kamisama Kiss manga series. 

A divine comedy!

Reads R to L (Japanese Style), for audiences rated teen.

Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment. So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local deity!

Kurama's father, the Sojobo of the Kurama tengu, is gravely ill. Nanami thinks she can cure him with her supply of Momotan, but first she needs to get past the magic shields of Jiro, the next in line for the leadership of the mountain. And Jiro isn’t the only thing on the mountain the gang needs to watch out for…



I got the final book of the Lorien Legacies series from the library awhile back and I've yet to read it. I'll def be making it a priority after Songs of Seraphina. 

United as One (Lorien Legacies #7) by Pittacus Lore

The seventh and final book in the #1 New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series! With United as One, this action-packed series comes to a surprising, breathtaking, and utterly satisfying conclusion. The Garde didn’t start this war, but they’ll do whatever it takes to end it once and for all. . . .

The Mogadorians have invaded Earth. Their warships loom over our most populated cities, and no country will risk taking them head on. The Garde are all that stand in the way, but they’ll need an army of their own to win this fight.

They’ve teamed up with the US military, but it might not be enough. The Garde need reinforcements, and they’ve found them in the most unexpected place. Teenagers from across the globe, like John Smith’s best friend, Sam, have developed abilities. So John and the others must get to them before the Mogs, because if they don’t their enemies will use these gifted teens for their own sinister plan.

But after all the Mogadorians have taken from John—his home, his family, his friends, and the person he loves most—he might not want to put any more lives in danger. He’s got nothing left to lose, and he’s just discovered he has been given an incredible new Legacy. Now he can turn himself into the ultimate weapon. So will he risk his life to save the world, or will he realize that power in numbers will save us all?

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27161189-united-as-one


Kristie is reading Better Love by Daisy Prescott. 


Better Love (Wingmen #4) by Daisy Prescott

Maybe that old song got it right.
Maybe love can be better the second time around.
When one of my wingmen needs help, I'll do anything for him, including calling in a favor with the one person I swore I'd never speak to again.

Not after I walked away from that life five years ago and ditched the trappings of my success. The keyword being trap.
I left it all behind.
Including her.

Now the ambitious, brilliant, talented, and undeniably beautiful Roslyn Porter is back in my life. I'm not the same person she knew. I'm trying to be a better man.

***

No man is an island, but Dan Ashland comes close. He's content with his quiet life on Whidbey, a world away from the rat race on the other side of the ferry. 
Dan has three great loves in his life: solitude, pizza, and Roslyn Porter. 

Better Love is a standalone second chance romance featuring Dan Ashland and the fourth book in the Wingmen series.



And plans to read... 

My Seinfeld Year by Fred Stoller

You'd know Fred Stoller if you saw him. He has appeared on practically every great sitcom you've ever seen - Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, and Murphy Brown just to name a few. But he has never been a regular on a series, always the guest star. He longs to find a showbiz home. Instead, he is a television foster child, shuttling from show to show in the vain hope that one will finally agree to keep him. "My Seinfeld Year" tells the hysterical and bittersweet story of what happened when Stoller finally got a shot at the showbiz stability he'd always dreamed of -- as a staff writer on one of the biggest television shows in history.

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13419905-my-seinfeld-year

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Blog Tour ~ Black Five by J. Lynn Bailey

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for: Black Five by J. Lynn Bailey. This tour will run from June 27th to July 1st. 

Black Five
Release Date: 11/17/15
Poorhouse Publishing
400 pages

Summary from Goodreads:
No one ever accused Penelope Jackson of being normal, nor did they suspect the dark secret she kept. A dangerous web of deceit and secrecy unravels when news of a stranger’s death puts Penn on a collision course with the very person she’s been hiding from her whole life. Her fragile world is shaken to its core with the sudden arrival of Vacavious and she soon discovers the bizarre and magical world surrounding her seemingly ordinary life.

No one is who they claim to be, including those closest to Penn. A mysterious security detail emerges from the shadows scrambling to protect her as powerful forces await the fall of her protective veil on her eighteenth birthday. 

Penn prepares to fight against unseen evils before it’s too late. The world of Nighmerianotte and its population depends on her survival, for she is the Sanguine, the Black Five.


Buy Links:
Amazon

About the Author
I'm a mother of two beautiful children and a wife to an adorably supportive husband. Seriously, he's adorable and tall. Really tall; he's my high school sweetheart. I'm also a mother of two fur children who are extremely needy, Leo and Vinni.

I live with my family in a small town tucked away in the redwood forest located on California's northern coast. 

I'm quite boring. But in case you're wondering, you can see what my loves, my loathes and things you may not know about me by clicking the menu above.

Author Links:
 photo iconwebsite-32x32_zps1f477f69.png  photo icongoodreads32_zps60f83491.png  photo icontwitter-32x32_zpsae13e2b2.png  photo iconfacebook-32x32_zps64a79d4a.png

GIVEAWAY:

YA Cover Reveal & New Release ~ Rue


Title: Key to the Journey 
Author: Rue
Series: The Chronicles of Hawthorn (Book 2)
Release date: July 19, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy

PRE-ORDER THE BOOK





Smashwords - http://bit.ly/28Msqbr




ABOUT THE BOOK

Young Flynn Hawthorn anxiously awaits the return of the initiates to Moa Bend. Normally she doesn’t look forward to her training sessions, but she’ll do anything to end her endless afternoons trapped in Mistress Tamsin’s Herb Hut.

Without warning, Flynn’s world turns upside down. Her best friend is missing and could be lost in Dreamwood Forest. Her mother, the High Priestess, finally tells Flynn the truth about her father—an outsider, from beyond the mist. And somehow, the falcon she chose to train is triggering strange episodes of time-warped astral travel! 

Flynn embarks on a journey to uncover long-awaited answers. Will she find a way to save her people from the growing threat in Southeil, or will she unwittingly put herself directly into the hands of the Shadow Witch?


ABOUT THE AUTHOR




Rue is a 2015 & 2016 IPPY Award Winner; 2016 National Indie Excellence Finalist and in her limited spare time, she reads voraciously. Her love of the written word led to the pursuit of a B.A. in Journalism from Pepperdine University in California and a lifelong passion for writing. Her respect for indigenous cultures, oral traditions, and the seasonal magick of nature inevitably brought her work to the world of fantasy. The story of Flynn Hawthorn has been part of her heart and imagination for nearly a decade.


Presented by


An Average Curse by Rue
The Chronicles of Hawthorn, Book 1



BUY THE BOOK

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/27o4SBL

ABOUT THE BOOK

On an island hidden from the rest of the world, Flynn Hawthorn, the ninth daughter of the ninth daughter, lives under a curse.

Her birth fulfills an ancient prophecy. She is destined to inherit the wand of the High Priestess and save her people by reuniting the separated halves of The Book of Shadow and Light.

But in a land filled with magick, Flynn is forced to live her life as a Watcher—born into magick, but unable to wield it.

As the threat from the Shadow Coven of Southeil grows, Flynn must pretend—with the help of her best friend, Hazel—that she actually has magick. Hazel would do anything for Flynn, but the game they are playing may cost them their lives…


ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Rue is a 2015 & 2016 IPPY Award Winner; 2016 National Indie Excellence Finalist and in her limited spare time, she reads voraciously. Her love of the written word led to the pursuit of a B.A. in Journalism from Pepperdine University in California and a lifelong passion for writing. Her respect for indigenous cultures, oral traditions, and the seasonal magick of nature inevitably brought her work to the world of fantasy. The story of Flynn Hawthorn has been part of her heart and imagination for nearly a decade.


GIVEAWAY!!!

Want your chance to win a Kindle fire or a Signed copy of An Average Curse?  Click the link below for your change!

  



Presented by


YA Cover Reveals ~ Laney McMann, Lily Velez, & Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban


Daemoneum
Laney McMann
(The Primordial Principles #2)
Published by: Jagged Lane Books
Publication date: July 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Boulder, Colorado is too quiet, and no one needs to remind Cole Spires how unnatural that is.
In the aftermath of Dracon’s death, the Daemoneum have gone into hiding. Every known Hive has been shut down and evacuated, and for the first time in Cole’s memory, the Brotherhood, Kinship, and all common houses across the country and abroad are considering lockdown. Leygates are being systematically closed around the world, and the Primordial are waiting …
In the bunker underneath the Brotherhood, Kade Sparrow is as safe as she can possibly be, or that’s the idea, but no one can explain how her Astrum necklace found its way into her bedroom. There were no footprints, no traces of breaking and entering, no evidence of any kind that someone had infiltrated the Brotherhood common house. Yet the necklace still sat on her night stand, wound in a perfect circle of gold, the tiny star glinting on its chain. And the only person who could have put it there … is dead.
In the second installment of The Primordial Principles, strange occurrences are happening across the globe. Relationships will be tested, old players will become new, foes will turn into allies, and an unlikely adversary will force Cole and Kade to go on the run.
As the fallen rise, the Primordial must unite as one.
Or all could be lost.
Sequel to:
27705018

Author Bio:
Laney McMann is the author of The Fire Born Novels, The Primordial Principles, and The CrossWorld Chronicles (coming soon)
The product of very creative parents and the most imaginative grandmother ever, she has an untapped passion for the supernatural and all things magical. Her voracious appetite for reading fantasy started really young ~ and so did her love of words.
She writes young adult dark urban fantasy novels mixed with a spike of romance, a hint of history, a dash of mythology, and lots of paranormal.
On the non-writing side of life, Laney is a former classical dancer, music snob, chef, and a right-brained thinker to a fault. When she's not dreaming up new dead ends to torture herself with, she spends her time running and playing her music way too loud.
Laney is published by J. Taylor Publishing and formerly by Booktrope Publishing.

XBTBanner1

Lavender in Bloom
Lily Velez
Publication date: July 25th 2016
Genres: Historical, Romance, Young Adult
It’s the year 1802 in Avignon, France…
Noah Capet has spent most of his young life living simple and unvaried days in the hushed countryside of southern France. Quiet, reserved, and diffident, his preference for existing is to do so in solitude, keeping to himself both in town and on his family’s farm—a predilection that’s altogether disrupted when a newcomer to town by the name of Jeremie Perreault begins an unremitting quest to befriend him.
Jeremie is everything Noah is not. Charismatic and gregarious, he leaves a trail of charmed admirers in his wake wherever he goes. Expressive and idealistic, he talks without end about his deep love for old books and his spirited dream to one day travel the world on a literary pilgrimage.
Over the course of a single summer, the two form an unlikely friendship, but just as quickly as it develops, it soon entirely dissolves as they’re forced to face the truth of what has unexpectedly emerged between them.
Lavender in Bloom is a tender and tragic coming-of-age story about first love and self-discovery, and a poignant reminder that time is fleeting and always takes with it the choices we’re too afraid to make.

Author Bio:
Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the 'real world' (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she's not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn't participating in the extreme sport known as napping. You can learn more about Lily and her books at www.lilyvelezbooks.com.

Hosted by:
XBTBanner1

The King in the Stone
Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
(Two Moon Princes, #2)
Publication date: July 25th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult
A full moon,
A silver key,
And the unbending passion of two young lovers
will bring hope to a defeated kingdom
and, through their sorrow, deliver a king
who will change its fate.
Vivid visions have haunted Andrea since her arrival in northern Spain. In her visions, the ruins of the medieval village she’s excavating comes alive, and, around the fires burning in the no longer buried hearths, she sees people dressed in furs sharpening old fashioned swords.
Even more upsetting for her that the headaches her visions leave is the fact that Julián appears in them—Julián, the king from her world whose rejection she is trying hard to forget.
But when a slide bury Andrea under the mountain, Julian comes searching for her. Soon after they are reunited under the mountains, the full moon opens a portal and sends them back a thousand years into the past, to a time right after the Spaniards have been defeated by the Arabian invaders.
Separated by a bitter winter, Andrea and Julian are caught in opposite sides in the battle between the Spanish last unconquered settlements and the Arabian army. A battle for survival that will determine the fate of a kingdom and demand of them the ultimate sacrifice: As the Arabs close on the mountains, Julián makes a decision that will break Andrea’s heart and change them forever.
Book Trailer:
Sequel to:
29670787

Author Bio:
Carmen Ferreiro Esteban is the author of the medieval fantasy Two Moon Princess (Tanglewood Press 2007), and Immortal Love (Crimson Romance 2012). Her own translation into Spanish of Immortal Love can be found under the title Bécquer eterno.
Carmen was born in Galicia (northern Spain) and went to college in Madrid, where she finished her Ph.D. in Biology. She worked as a researcher in Spain and California, before moving to Pennsylvania, where she now works as a writer, editor and translator.
For more information, please visit her website www.carmenferreiroesteban.com/, or reach her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorCarmenFerreiroEsteban?ref=ts.

XBTBanner1