Last Days Of Freedom Giveaway Hop.

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Feature And Follow Friday (39).

Q: What blogger inspires you? It can be any kind, it doesn’t have to be a book blog.

I wouldn't say that I've been inspired by just one blogger but by a whole heap of you, when I decided to start up my blog it's because of all the different blogs I came across that were so interesting and well put together.

Cover Reveal: Wicked Kiss - Michelle Rowen

Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers #2)

by Michelle Rowen

MY KISS CAN KILL. 

I used to be ordinary Samantha Day, but that's changed. Now, after one dark kiss from a dangerous boy, I can steal someone's soul...or their life. If I give in to the constant hunger inside me, I hurt anyone I kiss. If I don't...I hurt myself. 

Bishop is the one whose kiss I crave most, but if I kiss him, I'll kill him. Then there's another boy, one I can't hurt. One whose kiss seems to miraculously quell my hunger. They're both part of a team of angels and demons that's joined forces in my city to fight a mysterious rising darkness, an evil that threatens everyone I know and love. I just wonder if I'll be able to help Bishop-or if I'm just another part of the darkness he's sworn to destroy.... 

NIGHTWATCHERS 

When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...

Expected publication: February 26th 2013 by Harlequin Tee

Waiting On Wednesday.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Also Known As

by Robin Benway

ALSO KNOWN AS is the story of Maggie, a gifted teenage safecracker, who works alongside her parents as a spy for the mysterious entity known as the Collective. When she's assigned to infiltrate a private Manhattan high school, she's forced to make friends, investigate the mysterious Jesse, and solve the case, all without blowing her cover. 

Expected publication: February 2013 by Walker

The Fairest Beauty

by Melanie Dickerson

A daring rescue. A difficult choice.

Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother's jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie's one chance at freedom—but can she trust another person to keep her safe?

Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl's inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible—she is his brother's future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else—he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what.
When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help—but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them—they must also protect their hearts.

Expected publication: December 24th 2012 by Zondervan

Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands #1)

by Sarah Fine 

"My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple."

A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos's best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn't just anyone – she's determined to save her best friend's soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife. 

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she's captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city's endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn't – the dark city isn't the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.

Expected publication: October 16th 2012 by Marshall Cavendish Children's/Amazon Children's Publishing

(ARC) Book Review (124): Deity - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Deity (Covenant #3)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Publication: 6th November 2012

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Pages: 360

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

*Warning Contains Spoilers From Previous Books In The Series*

"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "


Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden. 

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome. 

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed. 

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

My Thoughts...

WOW, JUST WOW!

Just when you think that Armentrout couldn't get any better, she writes a new book and hits it out of the park!

I just can't get enough of this series, the storyline, the characters and the dialogue just has me in stitches from constantly laughing.

It's only months until Alex will become the second Apollyn, her bond with Seth is getting stronger but still all she wants is to be with Aiden, she's also afraid of losing herself and not being able to feel anything but what Seth feels.

After the ending from the previous book Pure you're on tenterhooks hoping that Alex, Aiden's and Seth's secret doesn't get out, and that there will be no repercussions.

The Gods finally make their appearance in this series, some are on her side and some aren't, if that's not enough she will find out the true natures of the people she surrounds herself with.

Alex also finds out something about her Father that will change everything she knew about her parents and their past together.

The rules that she and other half-bloods have followed all their lives are questioned when it's discovered that not all rules were made by the Gods but by the Pures instead.

The ending will have you wishing that it's next year already and you had the next book on hand, because trust me you'll me wanting to tear your hair out in frustration and anticipation.

I cannot praise this book, series or author enough!

I give this a huge 5/5.

Pre-Order This Book

The Book Depository      Amazon

Blog Tour: Witch Weigh - Caroline Mickelson, Book Review (123).

Witch Weigh

by Caroline Mickelson 

Publication: 24th April 2012

Publisher: Bon Accord Press

Pages: 86

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Appropriate: 15+

Tessa Von Hellengaard is a real witch. Magical spells aside, she’s snarky and selfish, and the other witches in her silent spell coven are fed up with her. Their plan to reform Tessa involves taking away her magic, saddling her with one hundred extra pounds and sending her to a weight loss spa. For good measure they call in Liam Kennedy, a charming and sexy fairy godfather, to teach her some manners. Desperate to regain her magic and determined to shed the weight, Tessa soon realizes that protecting her heart from Liam will prove to be her greatest challenge.

Excerpt...

      “I do have one question.” She twirled her beer bottle as she spoke, without taking a second sip. “If you’re my fairy godperson, aren’t you supposed to grant me three wishes?”

            He laughed. He couldn’t help it. She was so clueless.

            “No, that would be a genie, a different game altogether.” He took one last swig of beer and set the empty bottle on the table. “But, just for the sake of conversation and getting to know each other, tell me what your first wish would be if I were your genie.”

            “You’ll do it?”

            “If I can. Go ahead, your reasonable wish is my command.”

            Tessa suddenly looked as satisfied as a cat with a canary’s feather in its teeth.

            “I wish you’d take off your shirt.”

            That certainly wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. Contessa Von Hellengaard was a witch in a million. Someone at Fairy Godmother Inc. had done him a good turn indeed when they’d assigned Tessa’s case to him. Of course, they’d likely just wanted to pass the buck after reading her file.

            He stood and pulled his t-shirt off over his head.

            The look on her face was priceless.

            He watched her eyes wander over his body. He didn’t feel the least bit self-conscious. Not after the hours he put in at the gym every morning. It was actually nice to have his hard work appreciated.

            “Turn around.” Her voice sounded far less imperious than usual.

            He did as she bid. He knew what she was after and it wasn’t her first fairy experience between silk sheets with him. She was looking for wings.

            He was more than happy to give her an eyeful.

My Thoughts...

I loved this novella, it was humorous with a sassy and feisty heroine.

Tessa is a witch who doesn't think about anybody except herself, she uses her magic for everything especially when people get in her way.

Tessa is sentenced by the Upper Hallow's Witch Council to work with a 'fairy godmother' who actually turns out to be Liam a hot fairy godfather, who is going to help Tessa become the better version of herself, one who thinks about others.

She is unknowingly sent to a weight loss spa, after she wakes up there the first morning she finds herself sporting an extra one hundred pounds, the only way to lose the pounds are to help and be nice to others, of course it takes her a while to figure this out.

She becomes friends with Marcus, Bethany and Claudia, and through her frienship with them she learns how to care about others.

Sparks fly whenever Tessa and Liam share a scene together, they are such a cute couple, their scenes together are very funny and Liam can hold his own up against Tessa's snark.

I would have loved this to be longer, it was so good I could have read a full novel.

I look forward to more of Mickelson's work.

I give this 4/5.

About The Author...

Caroline Mickelson loves her family and loves to write. She also loves a good adventure, among her favorites thus far were attending graduate school in a Scottish castle, riding a camel around the Pyramids in Giza, and taking a best-in-a-lifetime road trip to Graceland. Caroline lives in the American southwest with her husband and their four children, affectionately known as The Miracles.

Links...

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CarolineM67

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarolineMickelsonBooks

Website:  www.carolinemickelson.com

Twitter:  @authorCarolineM

B&N:  http://tinyurl.com/witchweighb-n

Amazon:  http://tinyurl.com/witchweighamazon

Book Review (122): Children Of The In-Between - Jodee Taylah

Children Of The In-Between

by Jodee Taylah

Publication: 1st April 2011

Publisher: Toxic Apple Studios

Pages: 74

Genre: Gothic

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Children of the In-between is essentially about a world between life and death. The story is based around 14-year-old Elizabeth Maddison and her visit to this world when she died for eleven minutes. I’ve set the book out in a very specific format, using diary entries and letters from different characters to really create suspense around Elizabeth’s life.

My Thoughts...

I loved this dark, gothic and creepy book.

What Taylah has written an is an extremely eerie, spine-tingling book

I loved the concept, the story and the illustrations also drawn by the author are fabulous.

Elizabeth is fourteen in 1896 when she 'dies' for eleven minutes which works out to be hundreds of years in the in-between, and in that time she met quite a few people that were trapped there, whom haven't yet moved on, the in-between is a place you go to where you wait to see what they decide to do with you, in Elizabeth's case she was sent back to continue on living, of course once she's brought back no one believes her story, least of all her parents who send her to an asylum.

It's there we learn her story from her illustrations and descriptions in her sketchbook of the friends she made in the in-between while also hearing the story through the Doctor's diaries.

This book is such an original idea, I would have loved an even longer book, the story was so intriguing that it was such a pity when it finally came to an end.

But what you do get from the 74 pages is a well thought out, entertaining read.

I'm eager to see what Taylah will come up with next, this debut is nothing short of brilliant.

I give this a huge 5/5.

Jodee Taylah is a Melbourne based illustrator and creator.

She has been drawing since she could hold a pencil, and writing stories since she knew how to spell. Her love of art has developed consistently throughout her life and Jodee continues to grow as a creative. ​

Studying at NMIT in Melbourne gave Jodee the skills and guidance she needed, and moulded her style into a direction she never knew she could go.

Over the years Jodee has developed a certain gothic flavour to her work, drawing her inspiration from creatives such as Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly.

Her illustration style and techniques have attracted recognition by the industry gaining Jodee several award nominations and many opportunities. Jodee has gained awards in 'illustration excellence' and nominations for 'emerging talent' awards. In 2010, her work was personally recognised by Tim Burton as part of his exhibition in Melbourne  an award that Jodee regards highly.

Jodee's work is a blend of the fantastical and creepy lovliness, exploring themes of dark beauty and intrigue. She is inspired by stormy days, unusual landscapes, antiques and pocket-watches.

Jodee's work has been described by industry professionals as 'quirky' and 'beautifully twisted'.

Links...

Website: http://www.jodeetaylah.com/#!home/mainPage

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodeetaylahillustrator

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6447128.Jodee_Taylah

Buy It: http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Children-of-In-Between-Jodee-Taylah-Jodee-Taylah/9780646557311

A Big Thanks To Angie @ Love Of Books