REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: Auracle by Gina Rosati

Title: AURACLE 

Author: Gina Rosati
Pages: 304

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Release Date: August 7^th 2012

ISBN: 1596437103

Rating: *4 stars*

16 year old Anna Rogan has a secret she's only shared with her best friend, Rei; she can astrally project out of her body, allowing her spirit to explore the world and the far reaches of the universe. When there's a fatal accident and her classmate Taylor takes over Anna's body, what was an exhilarating distraction from her repressive home life threatens to become a permanent state...

(click here to read full summary)

 AMAZON | THE BOOK DEPOSITORY

Not Just A Pretty Cover...

In the past year I have been beyond frustrated with the Bad-Book-Amazing-Cover trend. A lot of these books have made it into my Did Not Finish (DNF) pile because I could not get through them at all. In spite of my initial feelings that Auracle might turn out to be another BBAC, Auracle manages to do its beautiful cover more than enough justice and more.

REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: Auracle by Gina Rosati

TRAILER: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil...

Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip to meet her father forces Anna to face the reality that hope and love are not options for her kind. When she confronts her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

 ~ ~ ~

BELOW is the trailer of Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins to be released May 1st, 2012. This was my first time imagining Anna with a southern accent; when I imagined her talking in my head she didn't really have much of one.

If you read my review of Sweet Evil, you know how much I utterly adored this book!

TRAILER: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

SWEET EVIL by Wendy Higgins Review!

S W E E T   E V I L

Author: Wendy Higgins
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 464
Release Date: May 1st, 2012
Pre-order: Amazon | The Book Depository

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil.

Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip forces Anna to face the reality that hope and love are not options for her kind. Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns.

    



I'm going to be upfront with you about this book—Sweet Evil tops the books coming out in 2012 easily. There's no way I can tell you how much I utterly adore this book, which is why I took me forever to write a proper review for it. I'll start off with why I love this book so much. Originality—finally someone who gets it right! Among all the books out there about angels and demons Sweet Evil has the most original take on them that I've read. The whole badge concept and the fact that the Nephilim's sole purpose is being bad influences to humans is pure genius!


  The characters. If there's any YA character that is swoon-worthy than Kaidan Rowe is exactly that. Every time he's in a scene of the book I'm practically bouncing up and down with excitement. There isn't a thing I don't like about him. Kaidan is my man. ;) Anna is an amazing female protagonist,  and I felt even the side characters were all very well developed. The plot's pacing is perfect. I never felt bored anywhere or felt the need to stop. There was always something interesting to keep my attention. Which brings me to my 3rd reason for loving this—high stakes. The higher the stakes are in a book the more I want to read it. Sweet Evil does not fail in making that happen.


I am completely enamored with Sweet Evil. It's one of those books you're only expecting to read for about a half hour or so (because you're busy and have other work you should probably be attending to) and end up reading the whole thing in one sitting, forgetting all the things you had to do that day (Spoken from true experience!). So yeah, even though I've already read this I'm going straight to the bookstore in May to get a shiny brand new copy and will probably re-read it several times until the next one comes out. :)

A B O U T  W E N D Y :

After earning a B.A. in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, I taught high school English until becoming a mommy. Writing Young Adult (YA) stories gives me the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal, daunting, and exciting years before adulthood. I live in Northern Virginia with my husband, daughter, and son.Visit Wendy at her Website and Twitter.

SWEET EVIL by Wendy Higgins Review!

☆Giveaway! Dreaming Awake by Gwen Hayes☆



The Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop is hosted by the lovely Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

I decided since I had an extra copy of Dreaming Awake that I'd host another giveaway. I don’t like having extra copies of books lying around when there’s probably someone out there that would really want to read it. I haven't finished it yet, but it's been an amazing read so far! To those of you who don't know, Dreaming Awake is the sequel to Fallen Under, the first book in the Fallen Under series. I first fell in love with the book when I saw its beautiful cover.

I mean look at it:

But let me tell you—it goes above and beyond that. So even if you haven't read Fallen Under yet, maybe you'd want to get this one so you won't have to wait an eternity to get the next one. :)

GUIDELINES:
- Enter using rafflecopter
(try not to use your real name if you don’t want others to see it)
- Must be 13 years or older to enter
- Contest ends 12:01 am on January 19th
- INTERNATIONAL

☆Giveaway! Dreaming Awake by Gwen Hayes☆

Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa Review

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the Iron Knight and let me tell you—it did not disappoint. After being completely enamored with the first three books in the Iron Fey series I didn’t think it could get any better. I was wrong. This book was not only just as good as the others, but even better. I laughed, I cried, my heart raced with fear, the tension in some parts caused me to hold my breath. And then there’s that twist that completely threw me off. It was incredibly unexpected! Just when we think that there’s nothing left to surprise us with; Julie proves us wrong.

The story starts off with Ash and Puck searching for Grimalkin. When they find him they go on a journey to search for a way to make Ash human again so that he can be with Meghan (the Iron Queen) without withering away in the Iron Realm. Although the book is told from Ash’s point of view it wasn’t only about him. We got to see a lot of Puck, and the other characters. Actually, it wasn’t until this book that I really started to love Puck! I felt like this book showed a side of him that the other three didn’t.  At first, from books 1 though 3, I was strictly team Ash…but, towards the end of the Iron Knight I became both Team Ash and Team Puck because I realized that both characters were equally loveable in different ways. So much of Ash’s character and true self was portrayed in this book that it made me love him ten times more than I did in the last book.

Although I am sad to see the Iron Fey series end, I was really satisfied with the way it ended. It was a world-wind of emotions for me, and probably one of the most memorable books I’ve read all year. The Iron Knight was a stunning conclusion to the Iron Fey series, and a book you’re sure never to forget.

This book is a must read!

Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa Review

Spellbound ARC Review

Author: Cara Lynn Shultz

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release date: July 2011

Life hasn’t been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Conner, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she’s irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight. But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can’t stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma’s been having the oddest dreams. Visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

I was completely spellbounded by Spellbound. It was one of those really rare books that clicked with me right from the beginning. After having a taste of what the author's voice was like I had a feeling that I was going to love this book. The male lead Brendan is on top of my list for swoon-worthy YA chracters. He has this mix of being perfect and completely normal at the same time. And I really liked Emma who was brave, quirky, and smart throughout the story. Out of all the other books I’ve read in the past about reincarnated star-crossed lovers this one is my favorite. The characters were all intriguing, the plot was fast paced, and the authors voice was truly mesmerizing. I didn't feel like the end of the book was really the end. It didn't feel climatic enough to me. Although most people seem to think this is a stand-alone book I'm more than sure that it isn't. With that said, I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Should you read Spellbound when it comes out in July 2011? I read this book in one sitting, and I have plans to read it a second or third time.This book is a must read!


Buy from: [ Amazon ]

Spellbound ARC Review

March: Sites for Writers

So I decided that at the beginning of each new month from now on I’m going to post the links to some of my favorite writing articles/websites. If you wrote a helpful article on your blog and would like to be linked please let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

One of the places where I get the best advice on writing is Writersdigest.com.

The one I recently got in my mailbox was called:

8 Ways to Write a 5 star Chapter One

http://writersdigest.com/article/8-ways-to-write-a-5-star-chapter-one/

And here are some other articles that are a MUST read:

Beyond Basic Blunders

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/Beyond_Basic_Blunders/

This one is my absolute favorite article! You have no idea how many times I’ve seen the Morning-routine cliché, especially in published books. For some reason it bothers me to see it so much even though I’ve done it a fair number of times when I first started writing. Everyone should read this ASAP, and see whether or not you have some of these clichés in your own work.

How to Build Tension and Heighten Stakes:

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/how-to-build-tension-to-heighten-the-stakes/

This basically tells you all the ways you can heighten the stakes in your book: for ex. with change, twists, dialogue, etc...

~~~

Another site I’d recommend for the general dos and don’ts of writing is darkwaves.com’s Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Killian. I think this is the first article on writing I’ve ever read and it’s always been a great resource for me to go back to. I highly recommend reading through this at least once.

http://www.darkwaves.com/sfch/writing/ckilian/

~~~

Reccomended blog:

http://www.editsthatrock.com/blogETR/

"...we provide tips on writing, editing, and publishing." -Rochelle French


Note: I've noticed that there is a problem with the comments. It sometimes swtiches back to the regular blogger comment system even though I'm using intense debate. This usually happens because the page isn't loaded all the way. If it continues I'll just go back to using the regular blogger comments.

March: Sites for Writers

Angelfire ARC Review

A N G E L F I R E by Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: February 15th, 2011.

Angelfire is about Ellie an average girl who finds out one day that she is Preliator--a warrior who has to battle dark creatures called the Reapers. When Will, her guardian, comes and awakens her powers. Ellie trains with him to learn how to fight and try to recover some of the memories she’d lost from her past reincarnations. With the second war between Heaven and Hell fast approaching it is up to Ellie to save the world from destruction, while still trying her best to maintain a normal life.

The story wasn’t as easy to get into at the beginning but once it started to pick up the pace—boy did it make an impression on me.

Angelfire was not what I was expecting it to be at all. It had high stakes that’ll have you reeling for more, and scenes that’ll leave you breathless. The relationship between Ellie and Will is sweet, and the fighting scenes were amazing! I read this book all in one day because I could not for the life of me stop turning the pages. This book is a MUST read. It’s the perfect book to start of 2011 with.

Angelfire ARC Review