Book Blitz: AnguiSH

About the Book:
Title: AnguiSH
Author: Lila Felix
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: November 6th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis: 

The help-wanted ad on the bulletin board at Ashland’s college was simple enough: mother seeks live-in maid for son. But it turns out Breaker James is a mess in more ways than one. He’s confined to a prison of his own making, crippled by his fear of people and any social interaction whatsoever. Every vibe he’s giving off is begging Ashland to stay away, yet she finds herself strangely drawn to him. Can she coax him out of his darkness and help him overcome the deep trauma of his past to reclaim a normal life?

A contemporary romance perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall and JoJo Moyes’ Me Before You, AnguiSH delves deep into complex human emotions and the struggle to move forward from devastating past events.

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EXCERPT:

She moved over on the bed, giving me room to get in next to her. I got in. “I’m afraid I’m… God, this is hard to admit.”

Her hand glided down my jaw. “Tell me.”

“I tried—I tried to go out the other day, just for a walk or something. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t make it past the damned threshold of the door.”

Her face was pure disappointment, and I knew mine mirrored it. Admitting it to her, I felt like a shadow of a man.

“But you tried, right? That has to count. I mean, you go out with me all the time.” Her voice faltered at the end of the sentence.

“I did try. But I couldn’t go through with it.”

She scooted closer to me and put one hand on my face while she buried her own in the hollow of my neck. “Can you just hold me and forget that there’s something we can’t do?

I’d like to hang on to the notion that you can do anything—just for the night.”

Author Bio:

Lila Felix is full of antics and stories. She refused to go to Kindergarten after the teacher made her take a nap on the first day of school. She staged her first protest in middle school. She almost flunked out of her first semester at Pepperdine University because she was enthralled with their library and frequently was locked in. Now her husband and three children have to put up with her rebel nature in Louisiana where her days are filled with cypress trees, crawfish, and of course her books and writing. She writes about the ordinary people who fall extraordinarily in wild, true love.

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~Cassie

Cover Reveal: Undone

   
From New York Times and USA Today bestseller Wendy Higgins comes a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more. UNDONE, the final book in the Unknown Trilogy, is coming December 5^th, 2017! Don’t miss the stunning new covers for the Unknown Trilogy, and order your copies today!
   

About UNKNOWN (Unknown Trilogy #1):

Amber Tate believes the worst thing she’ll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother’s best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She’s wrong on both counts.

When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed—everything from food and water sources to technology and communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn’t one to hide or watch helplessly. She’s determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have. In this first installment of NY Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins’s debut New Adult series, a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America is brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more.

✦ Amazon ✦ Amazon Paperback ✦ Barnes & Noble ✦ iBooks ✦ Kobo

   

About UNREST (Unknown Trilogy #2):

Being on the run in the desert means food and sanctuary are hard to come by, but Amber Tate and her crew are not about to give up. Not after having so many of the things they love brutally ripped from them by an unknown enemy who sent their world into the apocalypse.

Survival takes precedence, but once safe shelter is found, their guards fall and the emotions they’ve been holding in are finally released. Anger, insecurities...lust. In their tight quarters, Amber, Rylen, Tater, and Remy can't escape it. The past must be faced, and passions run even stronger in the darkest of times. In the midst of unrest, their worlds are rocked again when they discover the truth about the war that’s ruined their lives. They thought finding out the enemy's identity would give them the edge; instead it’s revealed terrifying dangers they never thought possible.

             ✦ Amazon ✦ Amazon Paperback ✦ Barnes & Noble ✦ iBooks ✦ Kobo

   

About UNDONE (Unknown Trilogy #3, Coming 12/5/17):

Amber Tate never dreamed their heart-wrenching escape from the enemy’s attack would lead them to the most beautiful place she’s ever seen. Like everywhere else in the world, Elmendorf military base in Alaska has been taken over, but it’s time to take it back—all of it—one base, one city at a time. After losing so much, Amber clings to the one precious person she has left, and vows to sacrifice everything to help save the Earth.

Remy Haines is a lover, not a fighter, so when she finds herself in enemy territory, expected to feign allegiance while gathering intel for the rebel cause, she’s never been more out of her element. Tensions only increase when her feelings for Jacob “Tater” Tate won’t go away, and the enemy’s leader takes an interest in her. She’s torn between what her heart wants, and what she knows she should do. As for what her body needs…well, it’s always had a mind of its own.

✦ Amazon ✦ Kobo ✦Stay Tuned for More Retailers Coming Soon!

About Wendy Higgins: 

Wendy Higgins is a soccer mom and backstage drama mama. Most people in her tiny bayside town don’t know she’s a USA Today and NYT bestselling author of paranormal, fantasy, and science-fiction romances. Wendy is a former high school English teacher who now writes full time in her pajamas, and lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her veterinarian husband, daughter, son, and little doggie Rue. Wendy earned a bachelor’s in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford University.    

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | UNKNOWN Goodreads | UNREST Goodreads | UNDONE Goodreads | Wendy Higgins Goodreads

 

~Cassie

Waiting on Wednesday #120

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Cassie's Waiting On: 

Between the Blade and the Heart by Amanda Hocking
Publication Date: January 2nd, 2018

Synopsis:

Valkyries have one great responsibility: to return immortals to the afterlife by slaying them. As a Valkyrie, Malin has always known that the balance of the world rests on her ability to carry out orders. But when Malin discovers that her mother spared the life of an immortal who was destined to die, her world is thrown into chaos. 

Malin not only wrestles with the knowledge that her mother might not be who she thought—she’s also thrust into the path of a gorgeous blue eyed guy named Asher who needs her help slaying the rogue immortal who destroyed his family. The balance of the world is at stake. And, as Asher competes with Malin’s ex for her love and loyalty, so is her heart.

I'm a huge fan of Amanda Hocking so I was excited to see that I could start the year off right by reading a new series by her! This sounds like an interesting new series and I'm looking forward to seeing my Amanda Hocking collection grow :)

Blog Tour: Wolves & Roses

About the Book:
Title: Wolves & Roses (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum #1)
Author: Christina Bauer
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: October 31st 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Synopsis: 

“If Janet Evanovich teamed with a young adult, fairy-tale author like Marissa Meyer (the Lunar Chronicles) or Alex Flinn (Beastly), the result might be something like Christina Bauer’s Wolves and Roses.” –Blue Ink Review

Seventeen-year-old Bryar Rose has a problem. She’s descended from one of the three magical races—shifters, fairies, or witches. That makes her one of the Magicorum, and Magicorum always follow a fairy tale life template. In Bryar’s case, that template should be Sleeping Beauty.

“Should” being the key word.

Trouble is, Bryar is nowhere near the sleeping beauty life template. Not even close. She doesn’t like birds or woodland creatures. She can’t sing. And she certainly can’t stand Prince Philpot, the so-called “His Highness of Hedge Funds” that her aunties want her to marry. Even worse, Bryar’s having recurring dreams of a bad boy hottie and is obsessed with finding papyri from ancient Egypt. What’s up with that?

All Bryar wants is to attend a regular high school with normal humans and forget all about shifters, fairies, witches, and the curse that Colonel Mallory the Magnificent placed on her. And she might be able to do just that–if only she can just keep her head down until her eighteenth birthday when the spell that’s ruined her life goes buh-bye.

But that plan gets turned upside down when Bryar Rose meets Knox, the bad boy who’s literally from her dreams. Knox is a powerful werewolf, and his presence in her life changes everything, and not just because he makes her knees turn into Jell-O. If Bryar can’t figure out who—or what—she really is, it might cost both her and Knox their lives… as well as jeopardize the very nature of magic itself.

FAIRY TALES OF THE MAGICORUM
1. Wolves And Roses (Fall 2017)
1.5. Moonlight And Midtown (Spring 2018)
2. Shifters And Glyphs (Fall 2018)

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Author Bio:

Christina Bauer knows how to tell stories about kick-ass women. In her best selling Angelbound series, the heroine is a part-demon girl who loves to fight in Purgatory’s Arena and falls in love with a part-angel prince. This young adult best seller has driven more than 500,000 ebook downloads and 9,000 reviews on Goodreads and retailers.

Bauer has also told the story of the Women’s March on Washington by leading PR efforts for the Massachusetts Chapter. Her pre-event press release—the only one sent out on a major wire service—resulted in more than 19,000 global impressions and redistribution by over 350 different media entities including the Associated Press. Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.

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Review:

I was excited to begin reading this story from Christina Bauer after reading the synopsis. I'm a big fan of paranormal romance, plus this seemed like it offered a unique twist on fairytales. While I did like it for the most part, there were a couple things that fell a little flat for me, which meant I couldn't give the book a higher rating. Regardless of these problems, I still greatly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to reading the next in the series!

Wolves and Roses is set in a world similar to our own where the Magicorum (aka magical beings) live alongside humans. We are quickly introduced to Bryar Rose who is not your average princess. She has no desire to fulfill her "template" of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, including a marriage to Prince Philpot at the ripe old age of 18. I honestly loved Bryar Rose as the MC. She was independent, fierce, and fiery. She certainly could handle herself and wanted to be free to make her own decisions. Bryar Rose was definitely a standout amongst the other cast of characters (even for her wit alone!), but I enjoyed the other characters as well. They were all very likable and fun to read about. 

The story itself is very fast-paced with a lot of twist and turns that I didn't fully see coming. Sure, I was able to figure some stuff out, but not everything. Everything is more or less wrapped up in the end, so there isn't a cliffhanger, but there are still plenty of questions for future books to explore. For the most part, the world-building was excellent...but this is also where my first problem arose. When we first start the story (and even in the synopsis), there is mention of how the Magicorum live their lives according to "templates" modeled on different fairytales. The problem is that it's never really explained why this is a thing or what happens if they don't actually fulfill there "template." This is something that was bothering me throughout the story and I wanted to know more about! The only other information we get about the "templates" is in regards to shifters: if they do not let their inner animal transform before their 18th birthday, the animal will die. We don't however, learn about what happens to any other magical beings. For now, I'm just kind of assuming that nothing happens to other Magicorum, but maybe this idea will be explored and further explained in future books.

Another small problem I had was that there are certain things in the book that are told to the reader repeatedly (e.g. the inner animal of shifters dying). I know it's important to repeat certain things in a story, but it just became a little too much repetition after awhile. Finally, I did feel like the story slowed down in the end. This was only because the main battle took place over 50 pages before the actual end of the book. With everything being so fast-paced in the story prior to this, I felt like the pace lost its momentum a bit after that final battle. I don't have any problem with how the book ended though because Ms. Bauer did wrap things up very nicely. I just wish things didn't slow down as much as they did.

All in all, I really enjoyed Wolves and Roses and would recommend checking it out when you get the chance! It's a fun and unique story with a couple flaws that could be fixed in the next book. I am excited to see where this story goes and what is in store for these characters next!

Happy reading and HAPPY HALLOWEEN 💀💀💀

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~Cassie

Cover Reveal: Beneath the Lighthouse

About the Book:
Title: Beneath the Lighthouse
Author: Julieanne Lynch
Publication date: TBA
Genres: Horror, Young Adult

Synopsis: 

SOME SECRETS ARE MADE TO BE UNCOVERED.

Sixteen-year-old Jamie McGuiness’s sister is dead. Sinking into a deep depression, he frequents the lighthouse where her body was discovered, unaware of the sinister forces surrounding him.

When an angry spirit latches onto Jamie, he’s led down a dark and twisted path, one that uncovers old family secrets, destroying everything Jamie ever believed in.

Caught between the world of the living and the vengeful dead, Jamie fights the pull of the other side. It’s up to Jamie to settle old scores or no one will rest in peace—but, first, he has to survive.

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Author Bio:

Julieanne Lynch is an author of urban fantasy and contemporary fiction for both adults and teens. Julieanne lives in Northern Ireland, with her husband and five children, where she works on novels full-time. Before becoming a writer, she considered a few different career paths, a rock star being one of them. She studied English Literature and Creative Writing at The Open University and considered journalism as a career path. However, she decided writing was the way for her and is thankful for each day she lives her dream.

Julieanne is represented by Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management, and is both traditionally and independently published.

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~Cassie

ARC Review: The Missing

About the Book:
Title: The Missing
Author: Jerico Lenk
Pub. Date: September 19, 2017
Publisher: Month9Books
Pages: 320
Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis:

It is 1890, and London has secrets. For sixteen-year-old Will Winchester, born Willow Winchester and raised as a young man, the safety of his own secrets rests one atop the other. Hiding his gender queerness is important. But so is hiding the ghostly voices of the Missing, which Will hears when no one else can … until the Spiritualist Black Cross Order of Occult Occurrences wants him in their service to keep peace between London’s living and dead.

The freedom to be himself may come with a price. Working alongside a patchwork team of misfits and unlikely allies, Will finds he isn't the only one keeping secrets. Someone does not want him to uncover the truth about the ghosts who aren’t just missing from the world of the living, but missing from history itself. Can he find the Missing before he ends up becoming one of them?

Review:

Do you want a good spooky read just in time for Halloween? Then The Missing is the perfect book for you!! This was an absolutely fantastic story that is a standout novel in more ways than one. It's unique and fun, and set against a backdrop of Victorian England, you really can't lose with this book!

Let me start off by talking about the plot and then we'll go into the amazing cast of characters and why this book really was next level for me. The whole book reminded me of a mix between the tv show Supernatural (and how can it not when the MC's last name is even Winchester!!), which I adore, and Clockwork Angel. It was literally the perfect setting for this entire novel and it elevated the story from run-of-the-mill ghost story to something more! Wil, our MC, is clairvoyant and can interact with ghosts. Because of this, Will feels compelled to join a society called the Black Cross, who hunt down and dispel the ghosts and ghouls of Victorian England. The one thing that I really loved though was how in depth Jerico Lenk went into describing the spirit world and what it was that the Black Cross does. For example, we learn that the team investigates what actually keeps the ghosts tethered to our world. Moreover, Lenk also questioned what they do. And this is something that is honestly unheard of in ghost-themed books. By this I mean, he questioned: is it actually okay to be killing the ghosts. If they are as sentient as the society and people believe, and even befriend the living, why is it suddenly okay to dispel/kill them? I was blown away by the inclusion of this whole plot point because seriously, how many ghost books have we all read and this never has come up?! This has never once been questioned! It makes you think, and it really took this book to the next level. 

Where this book truly shines though is in its characters. There is such diversity and I think it really made this book for me. This is one of the few books that I have read recently that has such a diverse character set and has done it well by normalizing it. Let me tell you how absolutely important this is. Diversity is something that should be celebrated and not be seen as this "weird" or "unique" thing to do when it's something that has always existed in society . So let's start with Wil. Wil is gender fluid, which means while Wil is anatomically female, depending on the day Wil identifies as somewhere between male and female. This is how it's described in the novel:

"I felt both a young lady and a young man. Not at the same time—sometimes, Will; other times, Willow. And despite how it sounds, it all felt very normal to me. My normal. A kind of bi-genderness, something fluid between the two. Simple as that."

I loved how Lenk explored this aspect throughout the book, and I thought Wil's character was incredibly well written. Additionally, the other characters featured in the story are diverse as well. But what I really loved is how the diversity of the cast is just there...no explanations, just a normal everyday thing. Because that's how it should be in all books!! For example, there was mentions of 2 women dating, and that a male character had interest in another male at a party. Can I get an AMEN for well written representation!! I also really appreciated that While Wil was more or less accepted by others, Lenk still explored the prejudices of the time and the difficulties Wil faced. 

I highly recommend checking this book out if you are looking for a fantastic spooky read! With a great mix of Supernatural and Clockwork Angel (2 personal favorites), this book is an all around winner! Lenk is a very talented author and is definitely one to watch. I am excited to see what else Jerico Lenk writes because I'll definitely be checking it out!

Happy reading :)

~Cassie

Book Blitz: Heroines and Hellions

About the Books:
Title: Heroines & Hellions: An Urban Fantasy and Fantasy Collection
Author: Various Authors
Publication date: March 13th 2018
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: 

NO DAMSELS ALLOWED! @nodamselallowd #heroinesandhellions #urbanfantasy http://heroinesandhellions.com/
22 Kickass Heroines.
22 Exclusive, Full-length Urban Fantasy and Fantasy Novels. 0 Damsels in Distress.

Do you like your leading ladies to save the day…or raze it?

No matter which you prefer, this set is brimming with 20 magical stories (many BRAND NEW) told by some of the leading voices of urban fantasy and fantasy in the industry, including several New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors!
If you want strong female leads who strike back against the captivating worlds of vampires, elementals, fiends, and paranormal monsters, then you’re ready to charge into the adventures of HEROINES & HELLIONS, a pure Urban Fantasy/Fantasy collection!
Grab your stake, silver bullets, and your limited edition copy of HEROINES & HELLIONS today!

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Sneak Peek at One of the Stories

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HEATHER MARIE ADKINS writes too much but still too little. She also has too many cats, not enough tequila, and a torrid love affair with procrastination. She is the USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels. Find out more at heathermarieadkins.com. Facebook | Newsletter

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Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend

Hell has spilled over into the real world. But that’s okay. Nobody’s dead. Yet. 

An uneasy truce has been found: Demons don’t screw the world up; humans don’t kill them. It’s a pretty simple set-up, kept in check by the immigration and selection process. Kahri O’Reilly has a nice, quiet life teaching martial arts by day and sleeping with her cat by night, until a 200-year old demigod sexier-than-sin shows up to drag her to hell. Turns out, Kahri’s polite, cross-stitch obsessed mother is actually a demon who married the wrong man and fled to earth the minute the portals began to open. She just neglected to share that with Kahri. Below the unknowing surface world, civil war is brewing. Kahri’s dad is dead, and blood bonds dictate she has to take his place. Only, the legacy he left her is a bloody one. His problems—and his enemies—have suddenly become hers, and she has no idea what she’s doing. Kahri is poised between the worlds, the perfect ambassador to prevent the apocalypse—as long as she doesn’t die first.

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~Cassie