Dark Dreams and Dead Things Review + #Giveaway

Dark Dreams and Dead Things
Dead Things Series
Book #2
Martina McAtee

Genre: YA Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Release Date: July 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-1533148414
ASIN: B01F0MFAAW

Paperback Pages: 540
E-book Pages: 510

Goodreads Rating: 4.89
My Rating: 5.0

Book Description:

17-year-old November Lonergan spent her whole life feeling like an outsider. She was right. She’s a reaper like her mother; like her two cousins, Kai and Tristin. The supernatural world believes they are part of a prophecy to save them from an evil known as the Grove. Ember just wants to survive high school and fix the fallout from bringing back her friend.

Old enemies are lurking; waiting for their opportunity to strike but the pack has a new problem. A group of legendary hunters has resurfaced, threatening the reapers and anybody who stands with them. They are making good on their threats too; attacking those closest to the pack.

Their only hope of defeating the Legionaries involves trusting a stranger to perform a dangerous spell to advance Ember and her cousin’s powers. But Ember has a secret; a secret she can’t tell the pack. One that leaves the pack vulnerable.

An attack on pack allies, leaves one member of the group injured and another missing, along with a mysterious girl named Evangeline who may play a bigger part in this than any of them realize. As the Legionaries are closing in, the pack must trust their enemies, enter hostile territories, and play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a psychopath. Their entire plan lynches on a dangerous bargain, but rescuing one member of the pack could mean losing another in their place…possibly forever. 

My Take on the Book:

I did not expect this sequel to be good. In my experience, the follow up in these books are never as good as the first. Especially if the first is really, really good. So I was pleasantly surprised at the awesome factor of this book. It was BETTER than the last and the last had a 5 Quill rating.

The story picks up where we left off in book 1 and I gotta say thank the heavens because I can’t stand unanswered questions. That’s not to say that I don’t have a whole list of them after reading this installment.

The characters got better and the story got more intriguing. I literally couldn’t put this book down. And even if I could, I didn’t want to. I don’t know how Ms. McAtee did it but I love these characters even more than I did before. They got 100 times more endearing and that’s just not natural. The character development in so on point it’s kind of ridiculous. I saw a lot of growth in book 1, then thought to myself sarcastically as I jumped into this book, “how much more can these characters grow?”

Welp.

They grew. They developed. They rocked. 

 

Sigh. Mace, I don’t know why I love you so much. I was literally smitten with you since the go in book 1 and while there was a rocky patch to cross here and there, my love stayed strong. So when I got so more insight on you, well let’s just say my heart melted a bit more. Sigh.

This story is heavy on the family theme and to me that’s a gem. Not enough books have that. Also, ahem, I totally love the LGBTQ romance (points at her ankle tat) it’s something that you don’t get enough of in YA books. It’s not something that is discussed enough and I think it should be.

5 Quills

Can I add a .5 to that? 5.5 Quills. Is that a thing I can do? Cause wow. Book 3… where are you? I need you in my life. Seriously guys and girls and everyone in between, hop to it, grab book 1 and start this series! The writing is so fluid and the story so good its honestly a treat to read this book.

Available for Purchase on Amazon

Read Book 1 for free

 Read my Review of book 1 here

About The Author

Martina McAtee lives in Jupiter, Florida with her teenage daughters, her best friend, two attack Chihuahua’s and two shady looking cats. By day she is a registered nurse but by night she writes young adult books about reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. She wrote her first story when she was five with an orange crayon on a legal pad she stole from her mom’s office. She’s been writing ever since. Her influences include Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, Joss Whedon, L.J. Smith and even J.K. Rowling. Living in South Florida provides her with plenty of material for the weird worlds she writes about. When she isn’t working, teaching or writing she’s reading or watching shows involving reapers, zombies, werewolves and other supernatural creatures.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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 “I received a free copy of the book from the author/publisher for my honest opinion. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are expressly my own”

The Neverland Wars by Audrey Greathouse Review

The Neverland Wars
Audrey Greathouse

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fairytale Retelling

Release Date: May 9, 2016

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

ISBN: 978-1634221719

ASIN: B01BPVZPB6

Pages: 302

Goodreads Rating: 3.48

My Rating: 4.5

Book Description:

Magic can do a lot—give you flight, show you mermaids, help you taste the stars, and… solve the budget crisis? That's what the grown-ups will do with it if they ever make it to Neverland to steal its magic and bring their children home.

However, Gwen doesn't know this. She's just a sixteen-year-old girl with a place on the debate team and a powerful crush on Jay, the soon-to-be homecoming king. She doesn't know her little sister could actually run away with Peter Pan, or that she might have to chase after her to bring her home safe. Gwen will find out though—and when she does, she'll discover she's in the middle of a looming war between Neverland and reality.

She'll be out of place as a teenager in Neverland, but she won't be the only one. Peter Pan's constant treks back to the mainland have slowly aged him into adolescence as well. Soon, Gwen will have to decide whether she's going to join impish, playful Peter in his fight for eternal youth… or if she's going to scramble back to reality in time for the homecoming dance. 

My Take on the Book:

When it comes to my sister and I, we couldn’t be more different. The same could be said about Rosemary and Gwen, the 2 sisters in this book. My sister is “dead inside” – her words not mine lol – and I am a bleeding heart. But even with our differences, there are some similarities and a connection you can only find with siblings. We annoyingly finish each other’s sentences or blurt out the same sarcastic thoughts. It’s a bond that comes for a lifetime of each other’s influence.

So being the bleeding heart that I am, I am not ashamed to admit that I did my fair share of sniffling in this book. It’s not a sad tale at all. At least not as far as I can tell but there are some inevitable moments where adulthood and reality rush in and damage the beauty and innocence of being a child. To me that was the most profound message in this book. But like many would say… no one in the world reads the same book, so it is likely that no one else will see what I see when I’m taken on this marvelous journey.

It was an extremely well written book and the beginning of what I can only assume is a new and unique series. I loved every minute of this book; and let me be clear, I devoured this book in what felt like minutes. There was strong character development, imagery, scenery.laughter and sadness and even a bit of envy while reading this book… in my opinion all the things that make a book more than just good, but great.

My only real complaint was the open ended final chapter. If this is indeed the beginning of a series, it’s a good way to gather more readers since you are literally left thinking ‘what the heck just happened’.

4.5 Quills

It’s interesting because other than some internal conflict and the mention of a war and a few moments that reflect that war, there was really no conflict. No clear “villain” and no clear “resolution” and yet I love this book. It’s odd because that’s nothing at all like me. I usually need a clear beginning, middle and end with all the fixings, and while the story itself was easy to follow it almost came off as a steady stream of information. With the book being called the Neverland Wars, I kind of expected a bit more conflict. But regardless it was an enjoyable read that likes to poke at emotions.

About The Author

Audrey Greathouse is a Seattle-based author of science-fiction and fantasy. Raised in the suburbs, she became a writer after being introduced to NaNoWriMo during her sophomore year of high school. Since then, she has drafted more than a dozen books, 100 sonnets, and 800 other poems, and a handful of short stories and one-act plays. 

After dropping out of her university and beginning training as a circus performer on the aerial silks, she returned to school to study at Southern New Hampshire University College of Online and Continuing Education to earn her B.A. in English Language and Literature, with a minor in Computer Information Technologies. 

Audrey Greathouse is a die-hard punk cabaret fan, and pianist of fourteen years. She's usually somewhere along the west coast, and she is always writing.

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“I received a free copy of the book from the author/publisher for my honest opinion. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are expressly my own” 

Ascenders: Skypunch Review + #Giveaway

Ascenders: Skypunch

Ascenders Series

Book #2

C.L. Gaber

Genre: YA Paranormal

Release Date: April 19, 2016

Publisher: Big Picture Media

ISBN: 978-0996242097

ASIN: B01EJZK5YM

Pages: 443

Goodreads Rating: 4.57

My Rating: 5.0

Book Description:

In the Midst—a place for those who die young—there are no rules except one.

And Walker Callaghan, dead at seventeen, just broke it. She briefly revisited her earthly life . . . and the punishment is eternal. Longing for her rebel love interest, Daniel Reid, Walker finds an ally in Cass, whose attraction to her is as alive as he is. “Life is short,” he tells her. “I’m banking on eternity. With you.”

In the second book of the Ascenders Saga, a realm-jumping journey takes Walker and Daniel back to life again when they search for something buried in history. They team with students from several other schools in the middle realm including a place for teens born with oddities. It’s home to the Claires . . . beautiful, ruthless, and quite dead seventeen-year-old quads who each have a different clairvoyant gift.

Can Walker survive another adventure of an afterlife-time—or at the tender age of seventeen will she find herself on the downside of eternity?

Sequel to:

My Take on the Book:

Well now…

I didn’t expect to like this book or at least not as much as I did. After reading book 1 and falling in love, I jumped into the book and found I was completely unable to put the book down.

The same characters I fell in love with from the first book are here and then I got introduced to new characters you aren’t sure you want to love or like even. I was swept away into this world that I never wanted to like, but I couldn’t help myself and lo and behold I did more than like this series and this book in particular. I loved it.

There is so much you want to know about these characters and this story when you first meet them and there is so much you are left questioning when you finish the first book so I found this to be an informative and enthralling follow up to an already intriguing series.

5 Quills

This book definitely falls under the meatier category, taking me longer than most books to read. Each chapter is split into portions and contrary to my initial reaction, I find that it actually helps with the flow of each chapter subsequently helping the flow of the story. It is easy to comprehend and uses popular well known figures in media to drive its point across. I think this was a legitimately good follow up to a book that I really enjoyed, and I can’t wait to read more from this promising series.

Amazon | Kindle

About The Author

C.L. Gaber is the author of the ASCENDERS SAGA and co author of Jex Malone. A well known entertainment journalist, she lives in Nevada with her husband Ron, bonus daughter Sabrina and two unruly dogs. ASCENDERS 2 is due out in early 2016.

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Tour Organized By:

 

 “I received a free copy of the book from the author/publisher for my honest opinion. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are expressly my own”