Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: 27 Hours by Tristina Wright

Author: Tristina Wright 
Series: Nightshade Saga
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 3 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish.

But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.

Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother's shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon's darkest secret.

They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth.

During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.

27 Hours is a sweeping, thrilling story featuring a stellar cast of queer teenagers battling to save their homes and possibly every human on Sahara as the clock ticks down to zero. 

Review: Never Apart by Romily Bernard

Author: Romily Bernard
Genre: YA, Sci-fi, Mystery
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 4.5 stars
Summary From Goodreads: 
How many times would you die for love?

What if you had to relive the same five days over and over?

And what if at the end of it, your boyfriend is killed…
And you have to watch. Every time.
You don’t know why you’re stuck in this nightmare.
But you do know that these are the rules you now live by:
Wake Up.
Run.
Die.
Repeat.
Now, the only way to escape this loop is to attempt something crazy. Something dangerous. Something completely unexpected. This time…you’re not going to run.

Combining heart-pounding romance and a thrilling mystery, Never Apart is a stunning story you won’t soon forget.

Mini Reviews: Ward Against Death, Everything Everything, A Boy Called Cin

Here's a collection of mini reviews I was supposed to write forever ago but just got around to recently (why am I like this). In the case for most of these, I read them a year or two ago so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I did make sure to comment on things that really stuck out to me in particular.

Review: Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan

Author: Heidi Cullinan
Genre: NA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 8, 2017
Source: Netgalley

Summary From Goodreads: 

A single stroke can change your world.

Xander Fairchild can’t stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he’s forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour. 

Skylar’s life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander’s artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There’s something about the antisocial artist’s refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn’t dared to speak aloud, even to himself.

Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.

Blog Tour Review: Exposed by Brighton Walsh

Author: Brighton Walsh
Series: Captive #2
Genre: NA, Romance, Suspense, Contemporary
Release Date: July 21, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Formats: Paperback & eBook
Price: Print $14.99/ Ebook $9.99
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 4 Stars

Summary From Goodreads:

In this sexy, suspenseful New Adult novel, a young woman hiding from her criminal past is taken captive by her ex-boyfriend, the ultimate bad boy.

Evie is about to embark on the perfect life. Beautiful, poised, and engaged to a rising business star, she fits the part of trophy wife perfectly, except for one thing: her entire identity is a lie. 

Five years ago she created a new identity for herself, but it all crashes back when something she witnessed years ago comes back to haunt her. Now she's in danger of losing more than her social status. 

Determined to protect the careful life she's built for herself, Evie doesn't want anything to do with Riley, the criminal for hire who broke her heart years ago. But Riley has other ideas. He's never forgotten Evie, and to protect her, he steals her away. Hidden from the world, sparks begin to fly as old memories resurface and their passion reignites.

Review & Fancast: Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman

Author: Eleanor Herman
Series: Blood of Gods and Royals 
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Historical, Romance
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

Stacking the Shelves #7

Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, talks about all the books we are adding to our shelves. It can be any book, borrowed, bought, won, for review, and ebooks of course!

Review: Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay

Author: Stacey Jay
Series: None
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance
Release Date: December 9, 2014
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 5 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.
Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.
Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?

Review: The Witch of Painted Sorrows by MJ Rose

Author: M.J. Rose
Series: The Daughter's of La Lune
Genre: NA, Historical Fiction, Fantasy/Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: March 17, 2015
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 1.5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Possession. Power. Passion. New York Times bestselling novelist M. J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris.
Sandrine Salome flees New York for her grandmother’s Paris mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds there is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insists it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore the hidden night world of Paris, the forbidden occult underground and Sandrine’s deepest desires.Among the bohemians and the demi-monde, Sandrine discovers her erotic nature as a lover and painter. Then darker influences threaten—her cold and cruel husband is tracking her down and something sinister is taking hold, changing Sandrine, altering her. She’s become possessed by La Lune: A witch, a legend, and a sixteenth-century courtesan, who opens up her life to a darkness that may become a gift or a curse.

This is Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul,” her odyssey in the magnificent city of Paris, of art, love, and witchery.

Mini Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Series: None
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance/Realistic Fiction
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 4 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party.
But did you know Alice was sexting Brandon when he crashed his car?
It's true. Ask ANYBODY.
Rumor has it that Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the bathroom stall at Healy High for everyone to see. And after star quarterback Brandon Fitzsimmons dies in a car accident, the rumors start to spiral out of control.
In this remarkable debut novel, four Healy High students—the girl who has the infamous party, the car accident survivor, the former best friend, and the boy next door—tell all they know.
But exactly what is the truth about Alice? In the end there's only one person to ask: Alice herself.

Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Author: Ann Brashares
Series: None
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Time Travel, Romance
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 3 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. 

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

Review: The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C Carleson

Author: J.C Carleson

Series: None

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Release Date: February 11, 2014

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

From a former CIA officer comes the riveting account of a royal Middle Eastern family exiled to the American suburbs. 

When her father is killed in a coup, 15-year-old Laila flees from the war-torn middle east to a life of exile and anonymity in the U.S. Gradually she adjusts to a new school, new friends, and a new culture, but while Laila sees opportunity in her new life, her mother is focused on the past. She’s conspiring with CIA operatives and rebel factions to regain the throne their family lost. Laila can’t bear to stand still as an international crisis takes shape around her, but how can one girl stop a conflict that spans generations? 

Review: Defy (Defy #1) by Sara B. Larson

Author: Sara B. Larson
Series: Defy series
Genre: YA, Fantasy/High Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: January 7 , 2014
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Summary From Goodreads:
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory. 

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?