Friday 4 January 2013

A Look At My Bookshelves.

So I thought I'd give everybody a look at my 2 bookshelves that hold my books that I've read, while I have 6 bookshelves in total, mostly the other 4 contain books I need to read.
So I'll put up pictures of a shelf a day of my owned and read books.
I love looking at other people's bookshelves, so this gave me the idea to show mine.
I hope you enjoy!




I had to split the picture into 2 because it was too long!


Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Doorknob Society And The Impossible Engineers - MJ Fletcher, Book Reviews (198) & (199).



YA Urban Fantasy/ SteamPunk/Paranormal
Title: The Doorknob Society
Author: M.J. Fletcher
Date Published: February 9, 2012

Synopsis: 

Chloe Masters’ world changes in a heartbeat and all she 
did was touch a doorknob. 
When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked 
by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself 
traveling with her father’s magic act, where illusions 
were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes 
when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out 
to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities 
she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into 
a world of ancient societies and secrets.
When her father disappears it is a race against time to 
find answers before she loses what’s left of her family. 
Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will 
do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking 
about.
My Thoughts...
You know the saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover', well I was guilty of doing that with this book, but inside was a fast-paced, highly entertaining story that I did not want to put down.
I love it when you come across a new book/series that you fall in love with.

The lead heroine Chloe is a kick-ass character with her straight -up no nonsense talk and her ability to stick up for herself and those she loves.

Living with her Dad after her Mum deserted them when Chloe was little, she soon discovers that she can create doorways from out of nowhere and has the ability to walk through a doorway and have it take her anywhere she wants to go, within reason.

She finds out that not only do both of her parents but also her families on both sides have the same/similiar abilities.

Chloe is sent to Paladin Academy, to learn about her gifts and how to control them, while there se makes some new friends and is reunited with long lost family whom she hasn't seen since her Mother's disappearance.

But when her Dad goes missing,Chloe with the help of her new friends take it upon themselves to save him from the New Kind, a new threat who want to take over the council and rule their society.

An amazing start to what appears to be a very addictive series.

I give this 5/5.






YA Urban Fantasy/ SteamPunk/Paranormal
Title: The Impossible Engineers
Author: M.J. Fletcher
Date Published: 27th April 2012


Synopsis:

Chloe Masters’s world changes in a heartbeat and all she did was touch a doorknob. 
James Nightshade has been on Chloe’s mind since the day she met him. Arrogant and frustrating, she thought she had put him behind her when she chose Michael Slade.
When the secret she is seeking leads to questions about the death of Nightshade’s former girlfriend, she has no chose but to bring him into the investigation. A move she will come to regret. 
Danger awaits them around every corner as they search for answers. In the end a choice will need to be made, but is Chloe strong enough to make it?
My Thoughts...
I think that I may like this book better than the first one, I say may but they are both such extremely good reads that it's hard to say for sure.

Although Chloe is now dating Slade, she is still undeniably drawn to Nightshade, but he is ignoring her while spending all his time with their friends when she's not around, even Slade and they normally can't stand each other.

With her Father reinstated back into the Society and working to find some old artifacts before the New Kind do, Chloe is keeping a big secret from him and all her friends, the reappearance of her Mother and the fact that she is now working for the New Kind.

But when one of her friends is kidnapped by the New Kind they will only let the person go if and when they are given the newly found artifact, in the fight to survive one of Chloe's friends is tragically lost through sacrificing themselves for her, and oh my god did I cry, there's just no words to describe how upsetting it was, I'm kind of hoping that the person miraculously survived, PLEASE!!

After the ending Im very excited to continue on with this series to see where it goes, I highly recommend both books.

I give this 5/5.





Author Bio
MJ Fletcher is the creator of the comic book series Adam Zero: The Last Man of Earth published by Ronin Studios. He's also been published in Hope: The Hero Initiative and Digital Webbing Presents. The Doorknob Society series is his fist book series and he's thrilled about it. He lives near the beach with his wife, daughter, dog, and a crotchety cat.    

Contact Links
Twitter: @fletch125
Facebook: doorknobsociety

Links to Buy 


Thursday 3 January 2013

Feature And Follow Friday.


Q: WHAT NEW YEARS BLOGGING OR WRITING RESOLUTION HAVE YOU PLACED ON YOURSELf?

I haven't made any New Years resolutions to do with blogging or writing at all.
I did make one to read more books though.


Tuesday 1 January 2013

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....

Four Summoner's Tales (Joe Ledger)

Four terror-inducing novellas from acclaimed bestselling authors Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Christopher Golden, and Jonathan Maberry beginning with the premise: “A stranger comes to town, offering to raise the townsfolk’s dearly departed from the dead—for a price.”

In Kelley Armstrong’s “Suffer the Children,” an acute diphtheria outbreak kills most of the children in an isolated village in nineteen-century Ontario. Then a stranger arrives and offers to bring the children back to life. He wants money, of course, an extravagant sum, but more importantly, but for each child resurrected, one villager must voluntarily offer his life... 

In David Liss’s “The Good-Natured Man,” a con man on the margins of eighteenth-century British society discovers a book that reveals the method for bringing the dead back to life. After considering just how far he would go to avoid bringing his violent father back, he realizes the real value of this book. Instead of getting people to pay him to revive their departed, he will get people to pay him not to...

In “Pipers” by Christopher Golden, the Texas Border Volunteers wage a private war against drug smuggling by Mexican cartels in a modern-day South Texas town, complete with an indestructible army of the risen dead...

In “Alive Day” by Jonathan Maberry, a US Army sergeant must dive into the underworld of modern-day Afghanistan to try and barter for the release of his team, never dreaming of the horrors that await him..
Expected publication: September 17th 2013 by Gallery Books

All Our Pretty Songs

The first book in an exciting YA trilogy, this is the story of two best friends on the verge of a terrifying divide when they begin to encounter a cast of strange and mythical characters.

Set against the lush, magical backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, two inseparable best friends who have grown up like sisters—the charismatic, mercurial, and beautiful Aurora and the devoted, soulful, watchful narrator—find their bond challenged for the first time ever when a mysterious and gifted musician named Jack comes between them. Suddenly, each girl must decide what matters most: friendship, or love. What both girls don’t know is that the stakes are even higher than either of them could have imagined. They’re not the only ones who have noticed Jack’s gift; his music has awakened an ancient evil—and a world both above and below which may not be mythical at all. The real and the mystical; the romantic and the heartbreaking all begin to swirl together, carrying the two on journey that is both enthralling and terrifying.

And it’s up to the narrator to protect the people she loves—if she can.
Expected publication: July 30th 2013 by St. Martin's Griffin

Earthbound

Tavia, the "Earthbound" heroine, is the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her parents and left her in the keeping of an aunt and uncle. She's safe, she's happy, she should be able to move on with her life. 

But... she can't shake the feeling that something's not right- not when she keeps having visions of a beautiful, alluring stranger who wants her to leave her family and flee to Maine, and not when it starts to look like the accident that orphaned her was part of a plot to end her life. 

Soon, she's on the run with no one to trust...except the childhood friend she's sworn to love forever, and whose heart she'd have to break to learn the truth about who she is.
Expected publication: July 30th 2013 by Razorbill

After Eden (After Eden #1)

Eden Anfield loves puzzles, so when mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school she's hooked. On the face of it, he's a typical American teenager. So why doesn't he recognise pizza? And how come he hasn't heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden the most, however, is the interest he's taking in her. 

As Eden starts to fall in love with Ryan, she begins to unravel his secret. Her breakthrough comes one rainy afternoon when she stumbles across a book in Ryan's bedroom - a biography of her best friend - written over fifty years in the future. Confronting Ryan, she discovers that he is there with one unbelievably important purpose ... and she might just have destroyed his only chance of success.
Expected publication: July 4th 2013 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books

Some Quiet Place

Monday 31 December 2012

The Arcadia Falls Chronicles Book 1 Is Now Available



The Arcadia Falls Chronicles
Book 1
Love & War
Jennifer Wright7b(1)A war is brewing between the hunters and the vampires and Chloe is determined to strike against the vampires before they have a chance to attack the hunter community. 
While Chloe tries to convince the hunter community, and most especially tries to convince Drew, that they should move against the vampires first instead of waiting for an attack, the group of new friends—Oscar, Alice, Drew, Chloe and Christina—are distracted by news reports of a vigilante who is saving innocent humans against what can only be vampire attacks. Fearing this vigilante will cause unwanted attention that will expose the vampire-hunter community with each person he rescues, the group attempts to discover who this mysterious potential vampire hunter is. 
When they catch up with him, the group learns a sho

cking revelation that might just change everything for everyone in Arcadia Falls, but will have the most profound impact on Chloe herself. 
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles is the continuation of The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter. Following the format of The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter, The Arcadia Falls Chronicles is serialized into several novella-length stories.
It’s Here! The day we have all been waiting for, the release of Book 1 in The Arcadia Falls Chronicles!
Here are the links where you can get it, for now. As you know it can take some time for it to show up in other places. Please spread the word so everyone knows that once again, It’s Vampire Hunting Season!
Amazon / Smashwords B&N 

Sunday 30 December 2012

(ARC) Book Review (197): The Mad Scientist's Daughter - Cassandra Rose Clarke


The Mad Scientist’s Daughter


Publication: 7th February 2013
Publisher: Angry Robot
Pages: 400
Genre: Science-Fiction
Age Appropriate: Young Adult


The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is the heartbreaking story of the journey from childhood to adulthood, with an intriguing science fictional twist.

There’s never been anyone - or anything - quite like Finn.
He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat.
When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.
My Thoughts...
As much as I enjoyed this book, I also found it to be a little bit disturbing, as in the relationship between Kat and Finn.
Don't get me wrong, it is an interesting concept but when it came to the physical side of their relationship I was turned off a bit, although in saying that I did end up in tears quite a few times throughout their time together.

I did really like Finn's character in the book, he was humanised so much that sometimes I did forget that he was an android.
Kat however I had a love/hate relationship with, her indecisiveness and her dependency on Finn, so much so that when he wasn't around it was like she just shut down.
And I wonder how much of that had to do with what I interpreted as the indiference her parents (her Mum especially) showed her, so that she had no one but Finn to associate with and to become emotionally attached to.

At the age of five Kat's Father (who is a scientist, hence the title) bring's home an android named Finn to become Kat's tutor, after initially being wary around him at first, Kat and Finn become very close much to the concern of her parents.

This story told in three parts begins when Kat is a child and works it's way through her teenage and adult years, taking us on a journey of their relationship, through marriage and death, this book does leave a lasting impression that will have you thinking about it long after you turn the final page.

For those of you who like a bit of romance with their Science-Fiction then definitely pick this book up.

I give this 4/5.

Saturday 29 December 2012

Blog Tour: Pulse (Pulse #1) - Kailin Gow, Book Review (196).


Pulse (Pulse #1)

by 

Publication: 7th June 2011
Publisher: Edge Books
Pages: 220
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age Appropriate: Young Adult

PULSE, was the Award-Winning Finalist in two categories - "Fiction: Romance" and "Fiction: Multicultural" of the 
2011 International Book Awards, where Pulse's author Kailin Gow won first place overall in Fiction Horror, joining winners from St. Martin's Press, Simon & Shuster, Zondervan, and Random House. 
She joins other winners such as Bishop Desmond Tutu and Rick Warren in the 2011 International Book Awards.

17 year-old Kalina didn t know her boyfriend was a vampire until the night he died of a freak accident. She didn t know he came from a long line of vampires until the night she was visited by his half-brothers Jaegar and Stuart Greystone. There were a lot of secrets her boyfriend didn t tell her. Now she must discover them in order to keep alive. But having two half-brothers vampires around had just gotten interesting.
My Thoughts...
I know that I seem to say the same thing everytime that I review a Kailin book but man can she write, no matter whatever she writes I can never seem to put the book down whenever I pick one up.

So this time we have a book about vampires (I love the title), and Kalina a 17 year old girl who's ex-boyfriend Aaron was recently killed, his two brothers Stuart and Jaegar come to town and it's not to long before Kalina ends up in a relationship with Stuart, while also being attracted to Jaegar who is the bad boy of the two.

Being vampires and also being centuries old they're bound to end up with an enemy or two and he comes in the form of Octavius , he is here to capture Kalina who is found to have special blood that will break a vampire's curse, and so it's up to the two brothers to make sure that she's safe and doesn't fall into Octavius' hands.

And as with all of Kailin's books this one has a killer ending, which as per usual means I need to get my hands on the next book pronto

This has become another one of my favourite Kailin series and I highly recommend it.

I give this 5/5.



LINKS TO BUY


Kailin Gow

Author Bio
Kailin Gow has appeared on top national syndicated talk shows such as ABC Radio, Barbara Dooley show, Chat with Women on KKNW Seattle, Broadminded on Sirius Radio XM, and more as a leading authority on YA and women's issues including self-esteem, body image, dating and sexual relationships, abuse, and bullying. Kailin has been a published author for over 10 years with over 100 titles published under her name and under pen names.

She is the founder of the community social site, The Saving You Saving Me Project,http://www.savingyousavingme.com which helps teens, young adults, and women deal with social issues like sexual abuse, self-esteem, body image, bullying, cutting, relationships, and more in a positive community environment. The Saving You Saving Me Project is an extention of her YA-mature fiction Saving You Saving Me.
Kailin Gow began writing books for tween girls to help them with self-confidence and self-esteem. Her book, Gifted Girls Activities Guide to 365 Days of the Week, became a reference book used in girls organizations across the U.S. As her tween fans grew to become teens and young adults, Kailin began writing engaging and entertaining young adult book series for them. The results are book series like the Frost Series, PULSE Series, Wicked Woods Series, Stoker Sisters, Phantom Diaries, The Fire Wars, FADE, DESIRE, and more.

All her books are inspired by personal experiences. Saving You Saving Me was inspired by her experience as a peer counselor for young women during college and from her psychology major college roommate's experience being in a relationship similar to the one portrayed by Sam and Collins in the book. Loving Summer was inspired by Kailin's experience growing up with a family consisting of a mother, two sons, and a daughter who went through a similar experience of tragedy in the book. Aunt Sookie is based on herself and some actor friends she knows. The Frost Series, Circus of Curiosities Series, and FADE Series came about through vivid dreams. Never Say Never was inspired by Kailin's experience as a radio host and working with and interviewing bands, as well as having college friends who were in bands. Kailin also played the drums and keyboard for a band she once started. A classically-trained musician, she was once led her school orchestra, playing first chair violin. Her experience in the music world and her love of Phantom of the Opera, inspired the Phantom Diaries. PULSE was inspired when Kailin was in the hospital suffering from heavy blood loss post surgery and needed several bags of blood to survive (like a vampire). Beautiful Beings was inspired by her college encounter with a young demon exorcist. A pastor once told her she had the gift of sight and that she was destined to become a prolific author, many times over.

She began taking her writing seriously when her daughter was diagnosed as being on the spectrum and her mother was fighting three types of cancer. Four years later, her daughter was no longer on the spectrum, and her mother became cancer free. Kailin believes in hope and miracles, after having been through several struggles and experiences herself. This is why she writes.
When not busy inhaling chocolate and drinking coffee by the gallon, Kailin makes time for writing fantasy books, blogging as an expert blogger for Fast Company, volunteering as an Emergency Responder and volunteering for battered women's shelters. For fun, she plays the electric violin, and puts together a music playlist for her radio and web shows.
Her Frost Series consisting of the Bitter Frost Series, The Wolf Fey Series, and the Fairy Rose Chronicles along with her other book series are being developed into worldwide MMORPG Games by SEE GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT, which is the world's leading game developer known for developing the top blockbuster films into games.


Contact Links
Facebook
Website
To sign up for news on new releases, contests, events, and more, join theEDGEbooks.com.
Twitter - @kailingow