Waiting on Wednesday: Wink Poppy Midnight

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke


Publication Date: March 22nd, 2016
Publisher: Dial Books
Series: None
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
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Amazon | B&N

Every story needs a hero.Every story needs a villain.Every story needs a secret.

Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.

What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.

The Tsar's Guard Parade + GIVEAWAY!

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

Publication Date: May 17th, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series: The Crown's Game #1
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Buy it here: Amazon
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Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Star Touched Queen

The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Publication Date: May 3rd, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Series: None
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Buy it here: Amazon
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Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

The Star-Touched Queen is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

My Rebel of The Sands blogger reputation + GIVEAWAY!

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

Review: The V-Girl {Not for readers under 18}

The V-Girl by Mya Robarts

Publication Date: July 1st, 2014
Publisher: Self
Series: None
Format: e-PUB
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 3 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon

In post-apocalyptic North America, rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town and can take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her town. Lila does not love him but he is the only man who has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love.

Lila’s coping mechanism to her mother’s rape and kidnapping is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to Aleksey, a foreign, broody man. Lila does not trust him because his links to the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. Aleksey offers Lila an alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her…and tempts her in spite of herself.

All the while Lila will have to find a way to live in the constant company of death, slavery, starvation, sexual abuse and the danger of losing the people she loves the most.

ARC Review: Tempting The Dryad {For mature readers only}

Tempting The Dryad by Rebecca Rivard


Publication Date: January 13th, 2016
Publisher: Wild Hearts Press
Series: The Fada Shapeshifters #3
Format: e-PUB
Source: Author
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon

His dark Gift...
Tiago, the youngest brother of Rock Run's alpha, is hiding a dark Gift, one so powerful it could make him a pariah in his own clan. To make things worse, he desperately wants the beautiful sun fae queen—his own brother's mate. The temptation to use his Gift to make his darkest fantasies come true is almost irresistible. The only good thing in his life is his friendship with the dryad Alesia.

Her shifter mate...
Alesia is a wild, solitary fae who lives on an uninhabited island in Rock Run territory. She spends her days tending to her woodland home, but her nights are lonely—until the day she meets the sexy Latino river shifter. Now they’re best friends, but she longs for more.

A clan's fate at stake...
Then Tiago makes a move—and everything changes. But just as the two realize they may be mates, a den of rogue shifters threatens to bring war down on the entire Rock Run clan—and Tiago and Alesia are caught in the middle.

Can Tiago's terrifying Gift save them? Or will he lose his mate as well as his soul?

Tempting the Dryad is a full-length paranormal romance novel, free of cliffhangers, with an HEA. For readers 18+ only.

THE FADA.
Shapeshifters created during Dionysus’s infamous bacchanals.
They’re ruthless, untamed—and irresistible to the one person fated to be their mate.

ARC Review: Firsts

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Publication Date: January 5th, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Series: None
Format: e-PUB
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon 

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

ARC Review: Bookishly Ever After

Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

Publication Date: January 12th, 2016
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Series: Ever After #1
Format: e-PUB
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 2.5-3 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon

Goodreads Description: 
In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?

ARC Review: Sanctuary Bay

Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz

Publication Date: January 19th, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Series: None
Format: e-PUB
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon

Goodreads Description: 
In this genre-bending YA thriller, will Sarah Merson's shiny new prep school change her life forever or bring it to a dark and sinister end?

When Sarah Merson receives the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the most elite prep school in the country-Sanctuary Bay Academy-it seems almost too good to be true. But, after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home, escaping to its tranquil setting, nestled deep in Swans Island, couldn't sound more appealing. Swiftly thrown into a world of privilege and secrets, Sarah quickly realizes finding herself noticed by class charmer, Nate, as well as her roommate's dangerously attentive boyfriend, Ethan, are the least of her worries. When her roommate suddenly goes missing, she finds herself in a race against time, not only to find her, but to save herself and discover the dark truth behind Sanctuary Bay's glossy reputation. 

In this genre-bending YA thriller, Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, Sarah's new school may seem like an idyllic temple of learning, but as she unearths years of terrifying history and manipulation, she discovers this "school" is something much more sinister.

ARC Review: Passenger

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Publication Date: January 5th, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Series: Passenger #1
Format: e-PUB
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N 
ADD TO GOODREADS

passage, n.
i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are play­ing, treacherous forces threaten to sep­arate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever.

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