Blog Tour Excerpt—Analiese Rising by Brenda Drake

Analiese Rising

By Brenda Drake

ISBN: 978-1640635081

1/8/19

American Gods meets the Da Vinci Code in ANALIESE RISING (Entangled; 01/08/19), a suspense-filled novel by New York Times bestselling author Brenda Drake. This first book in a new fantasy series offers a new take on the paranormal romance genre—with a mythological spin. Gone are vampires and werewolves; in are descendants of the God of Death.

Brenda Drake is known for creating addictive, entertaining series with strong female characters (Library Jumpers and The Fated) and her fans will not be disappointed.

ABOUT ANALIESE RISING: When a stranger gives Analiese Jordan a list of names before he dies, the last thing she expects to see is her own on it. Not. Cool. Her search for answers leads to the man’s grandson, Marek, who has dangerous secrets of his own. Both are determined to unlock the mystery of the list.

But the truth is deadly. Analiese is a descendant of the God of Death, known as a Riser, with the power to raise the dead and control them. Finding out she has hidden powers? Cool. Finding out she turns corpses into killers? No, thank you.

Now the trail plants her and Marek in the middle of a war between gods who apparently want to raise an army of the Risen, and Analiese must figure out how to save the world—from herself.

Excerpt: 

The tiny scalpel shakes as I ready to make the cut. My stomach lurches as if it wants to leave my body and walk out the door. I don’t want to do this. It’s not right. The instrument slips from my hand and clatters onto the table. 

“I can’t.” I pull off the gloves, drop them beside the tray, and push the goggles up to my forehead. “This is just too inhumane. Poor frog never hurt anyone. I don’t get why we can’t do virtual dissections like they do at Grant.” 

“Ha!” That smug look is back on his face. “Do you concede, then?”

My eyes go back to the frog. Sadness deflates my soul the way a balloon loses air. Had it been hopping in a pond somewhere green and lush, minding its own business, searching for bugs to eat before the net caught it?

 Had it been scared, struggling against the cords to get out? Had it been docile once it realized there was no
 hope? No escape.

A girl’s squeal sounds behind me just before Rod stumbles and hits my back, pushing me forward. My bare palm lands on the frog, its body cold, firm, and lifeless. A shudder runs down my spine, and I pull back my hand as if I’ll catch a disease. 

“Eww.” I push Rod away. “Be careful.”

“Oh sorry,” he says, a laugh hanging in his voice. 

Mrs. Cryer’s eyes shift in our direction. “Mr. Stone, settle down, or you’ll spend lunch in the office.”

Rod returns to his table, Maggie and Sofia’s stifled laughs greeting him.

Dalton shoots out of his chair. “Did you see that? It moved.”

I snap back around. The frog is as still as a statue in the tray. “It did not. Stop doing that.”

“Doing what? I swear it—”

The frog’s eyes pop open, and it struggles against the pins holding its limbs down. A gasp punches from my chest, and I scoot back. This time it’s me bumping into Rod. 

“Hey,” he protests, shoving me back toward my table.

“What is going on over there?” Mrs. Cryer’s commanding voice stills the class. 

This can’t be real.

ABOUT BRENDA DRAKE: Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up is of her eccentric, Irish grandmother's animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she's not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Other blogs on the tour:

Dec. 27- https://agingerlyreview.wordpress.com (Excerpt 1)

http://www.velarisreads.wordpress.com (Excerpt 2)

Dec. 28- http://thelovelybooksbookblog.blogspot.com (Excerpt 3)

https://indecisiveopinions.blogspot.com (Excerpt 4)

Dec. 29- http://www.ohheybooks.com (Excerpt 5)

http://pagesbetween.blogspot.com (Excerpt 6)

Dec. 30- https://confessionsofayareader.wordpress.com/   (Excerpt 7)

http://chaptersthroughlife.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1 (Excerpt 8)

Dec. 31- http://www.travelsnreads.com (Excerpt 9)

Http://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com (Excerpt 10)

Jan. 1- https://instagram.com/live.laugh.love.library (Excerpt 11)

http://booksandmakeup.blogspot.com (Excerpt 12)

Jan. 2- http://cantstopwontstopbooks.wordpress.com (Excerpt 13)

http://taylorfenner.blogspot.com  (Excerpt 14)

Jan. 3- https://carriesbookreviews.com/ (Excerpt 15)

http://omgreads.com/blog/ (Excerpt 16)

Jan. 4- http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com (Excerpt 17)

https://bookishfriendsandfelinefancies.wordpress.com (Excerpt 18)

Jan. 5- https://booklovinmamas.net (Excerpt 19)

https://twirlingbookprincess.com/ (Excerpt 20)

Jan. 6-  http://www.literaryme.net/ (Excerpt 21)

http://www.kindlykatey.com (Excerpt 22)

Jan. 7- https://kristinsbooks.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling(Excerpt 23)

Blog Tour Review—The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Published: October 23, 2018

Genre: Middle School 

Source: Finished Copy

Rating: 5 Stars

GOODREADS

Blurb:

Why settle for a pony or a puppy for Christmas when you could have a dinosaur? A rollicking adventure from singer-songwriter and YouTuber Tom Fletcher.

Once upon a time--long, long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth--an egg rolled away from its mother and landed in the ocean, where it froze solid and stayed peacefully for thousands of years. Then one day Santa and his elves discover the frozen egg, and Santa sits on it to see if it will hatch. But he can't guess what's inside. . . . A dinosaur!

Meanwhile, a young boy named William Trundle has only ever wished for one thing for Christmas: a dinosaur! So when Santa accidentally gives William the real Christmasaurus instead of a stuffed replica, it's the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! Until an evil man known as the Hunter decides a dinosaur will be the perfect addition to his collection.

A wild and hilarious adventure ensues. An instant Christmas classic!

Review:

Oh. My. Goodness. This is probably one of the best and most imaginative children’s books I’ve read in a long time. It was absolute joy from the very first page until the very last to read. I love when books do that! I’ll admit I’ve never heard of the author until I was asked to be part of the blog tour for The Christmasaurus. 

I didn’t waste any time whatsoever going and buying the other books Fletcher has written. His mind is genius and I loved his take on Santa and Christmas. Bonus points for including dinosaurs. I believe with more books out there like those of Fletcher’s; more children will want to flock to reading. After all, reading is very essential to success. I read it in a book, so it must be true!

William Trundle is a boy whose only ever wanted one thing for Christmas—a dinosaur. Not a toy dinosaur either...a REAL ONE! The adventure that awaits the reader is magical. Magic is totally real and if there’s one thing to learn from this book, it’s to dream big. 

This is one families should have at Christmas time reading around a fire. And as the author himself suggests; prepare a plate of cookies and some hot cocoa for the occasion. I can see this story becoming a classic everywhere. It has the highest of recommendations from me!

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

BUY AMAZON US

BUY AMAZON UK

About the Author:

Written by McFly band member, YouTuber, and UK celebrity TOM FLETCHER (he has over 1+ MILLION FOLLOWERS on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube), THE CHRISTMASAURUS is sure to become an instant Christmas classic.

Blog Tour Guest Post ft. Giveaway—A Dreadful Fairy Book Written by Jon Etter

Publisher’s Synopsis: Shade the sprite is dreadful at being the perfect fairy. After her treehouse burns to the ground, Shade embarks on a quest, albeit with rather questionable companions, to find a place her outré self can finally fit in—a place of companionship and comfort and, most importantly, positively filled with books. When fantastic ruffians, swindlers, and a pack of ruthless Unseelie hunters threaten to halt her at every turn, can Shade survive the dreadful journey and find a destination she can truly call home?

Ages 9-12 | Publisher: Amberjack Publishing | November 20, 2018 | ISBN-13: 978-1948705141

Fairy Tales and How They Influenced A Dreadful Fairy Book

Looking back on my childhood, I’ve come to believe myself the product of the most wonderful and benevolent negligence. At age six, my parents started letting me watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus with them, thus making me constitutionally unable to take much of anything seriously. I don’t remember a single time when the good librarians at Forrest Public Library questioned a single book I ever checked out, even when a parent was nowhere in sight and my choices were all but guaranteed to cause nightmares.  And my first grade art teacher, having confirmed that my drawing was indeed a guillotine (complete with basket filled with severed heads), replied with a nod and a nonplussed “Okay” rather than referring me to the school psychologist (if we even had one back then).

​My Grandma Ruth, however, is probably the one we have to blame for A Dreadful Fairy Book. Whenever I spent the day at her house, she would read to me. Sometimes it was Edgar Allan Poe (“You share a birthday with him, so you should know his work,” she explained to me at age 5 before kindly terrorizing me with “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”), but more often than not it was with fairy tales. Not the sanitized, Disney-fied, tasteless pap that passed for fairy tales in the early ‘80s. The good, old, savory stuff. Tales of tricksters and shapeshifters, blessings and curses, bewitchments and bafflements, schemes and thefts and adductions and patricide, matricide, infanticide, and just about every other –cide you could think of. In the stories that she read to me, Little Red Riding
 Hood and Grandma ended up in the wolf’s belly (later to be cut out of it) instead of a cozy little closet, helpful little birds were sweet enough to peck the eyes out of Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters, and Jack killed more than just one giant—and in more inventive and gruesome ways than chopping down a beanstalk.

​As I grew older, stories on Grandma’s lap fell by the wayside but the fairy stories remained, thanks to that perennial corrupter of young imaginations: the local library. There lurking in the 398s of the Dewey Decimal system were the elves, dwarves, kobolds, grindylows, pixies, redcaps, and other fairy folk, lovingly compiled by folklorists like Katharine Briggs, ready to snatch up a curious reader like an untended baby from its crib. These were some of my most regular companions as I grew up there in those wonderfully musty stacks.

​And so when I decided in the spring of 2016 to write a fairy book to amuse my children (and, to be honest, myself), I went back to the source. I pillaged the shelves of my local library and hopped into the first fairy circle I could find, careful to consume no food nor drink and to accept no gifts to guarantee my safe return. There were all my old friends and many new ones I had never met before—cowlugs, skrikers, and the fearsome nuckelavee to name but a few—all of whom seemed ready for a romp. Sure, some of them got a bit deconstructed and fractured and made just plain silly along the way (fortunately, your average fairy seems to have a pretty good sense of humor), but many if not most were brought to the page just as they were. And when it came time to slap a name—names being, as we all know, extremely powerful things—on my fairyland, it didn’t make much sense to call it anything other than what the Scots have always called it: Elfame.

​Now I know at the beginning of this post I highlighted my early love of the more sanguine elements of traditional fairy and folk tales, which, if you are kind enough to read my little book, you’ll no doubt notice are largely absent (it is a comedy for kids, after all, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t do a Game of Thrones-esque culling of my characters). That wasn’t what left the greatest impression on me as a child. It was the morality of fairy tales. Granted, I never much cared for the ones that stressed obedience to one’s elders (and care even less for those now!) and always thought those maidens would be a great deal better off if they could—or, more accurately, were allowed to—save themselves a little more often (perhaps fencing lessons and self-esteem workshops are in order), but the others? Stories where wickedness is always revealed and punished? Stories where acts of kindness and mercy are always rewarded? Stories where being clever always trumps being big and strong and cruel? Those are the stories I loved, still love,always will love, and it’s those stories that I like to think are embedded deep in the DNA of my book.

​For all the fun that it pokes, I really believe that A Dreadful Fairy Book is more of a traditional fairy story than not. If it breaks completely from any traditions, it would be from more modern ones that call for children’s stories to be simple and bland and as safe as an unloaded Nerf gun bundled up in bubble wrap. Those traditions I would kindly ask to go see if the oven is hot enough. Gretel there would be delighted to give you a hand…

OFFICIAL LINKS

https://www.jonetter.com

https://www.amberjackpublishing.com/a-dreadful-fairy-book

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmberjackPublishing/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amberjackpub

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberjackpublishing/

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win a copy of A Dreadful Fairy Book by Jon Etter!

Ten (10) winners receive:

• A bound galley copy of A Dreadful Fairy Book

Giveaway begins November 13, 2018, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends December , 2018, at 11:59 P.M. PST.

Giveaway open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older.

Amberjack Publishing is responsible for prize fulfillment.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review—A Duke Changes Everything (Duke's Den #1) by Christy Carlyle

Publisher: Avon

Published: November 26, 2018

Genre: Historical Romance 

Source: Print copy

Rating: 2.5 Stars

GOODREADS

Blurb:

In the first novel in Christy Carlyle’s sizzling Duke’s Den series, three men, intent on making a fortune, discover irresistible opportunities . . .

Nicholas Lyon gambled his way into a fortune and ownership of the most opulent, notorious gentlemen’s club in England. But when Nick’s cruel brother dies, he inherits a title he never wanted. The sooner Nick is rid of the estate that has always haunted him, the sooner he can return to the life he’s built in London. But there’s one obstacle—the exquisite Thomasina Thorne.

When the new heir to the Tremayne dukedom suddenly appears in Mina Thorne’s life, she’s flustered. Not only is he breathtakingly handsome, but he’s also determined to take away her home and position as steward of the Enderley estate. If Mina learns what makes the enigmatic duke tick, perhaps she can change his mind—as long as she doesn’t get too close to him.

With each day Nick spends with Mina, his resolve weakens as their colliding wills lead to explosive desire. Could she be the one woman who can help him finally bury the ghosts of his past? 

Review:

A Duke Changes Everything has all the makings of everything I love about historical romance. It has a sassy and snarky heroine—and a hero that doesn’t know what’s he’s in for once he meets the main lady. 

That’s where the positives end, unfortunately. I’m just going to go right ahead and say it, pull the bandaid, so to speak. This was very hard to get through because for most of it, I was so bored. 

The initial meeting between the two was cute and I liked it a lot. Mina shows Nicholas that she won’t go down without a fight and that’s what I loved most about her. You could clearly see that Nicholas did as well. It’s too bad I felt the execution didn’t quite match up to what I felt could have been amazing.

Overall, I would like to see the second book to see if it improves—but if you’re looking for something that will completely take you away from this world, I don’t think this is the one for you. Of course, I never truly want to deter people from something you may enjoy. So if this is something that sparks an interest, try it!

*Thank you to the author for providing a copy for an honest an unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

AMAZON US 

ANAZON UK 

About the Author:

Fueled by Pacific Northwest coffee and inspired by multiple viewings of every British costume drama she can get her hands on, USA Today bestselling author Christy Carlyle writes sensual historical romance set in the Victorian era. She loves heroes who struggle against all odds and heroines who are ahead of their time. A former teacher with a degree in history, she finds there's nothing better than being able to combine her love of the past with a die-hard belief in happy endings.

Blog Tour Review—The Reckoning of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions #2) by Michelle Hodkin

I'm so happy to start off the blog tour for our boy, Noah! We have a lot of fun blog posts planned for you. Please make sure to check out the schedule below! 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Published: November 13, 2018

Genre: YA PNR

Source: Print ARC

Rating: 3 Stars

GOODREADS

Book Synopsis

In this sequel to The Becoming of Noah Shaw, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, legacies are revealed, lies are unraveled, and old alliances are forged. Noah’s reckoning is here.

Noah Shaw wants nothing more than to escape the consequences of his choices. 

He can’t. 

He’s sure the memories that haunt him are merely proof of a broken heart. 

They aren’t. 

He thinks he can move forward without first confronting his past. 

He’s wrong.

Review:

Well...that was something. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I feel like something was missing. That being said, of course I enjoyed this. It’s Noah Shaw for goodness sake! If you haven’t yet read Mara Dyer Trilogy and/or the first book in The Shaw Confessions—then I highly recommend that you do. Why? Well for one, a lot of spoilers and you’ll be lost. Things that happened in Mara Dyer are making a comeback in this book. 

Proceed with caution. 

With the way the first book ended—on a cliffhanger, no less—I knew that I needed the next book to see how the story would go. It was weird seeing Noah in such a pessimistic light. Which is kind of the same way he is in The Reckoning. Only, I kind of feel like nothing happened. Plot? Non existent. Mara? Not in the book! For real, I was a
little upset about that.

The ending has definitely made me want to get the next book. Yes, it’s one of those endings again! Noah is an interesting character and being in his head was a bit of a mind game in itself. A bit confusing, if I’m being honest. But this is Noah we’re talking about and nothing can keep me away from him. 

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

BUY NOAH HERE US
BUY NOAH HERE UK

Author Bio

Michelle Hodkin grew up in Florida, went to college in New York, and studied law in Michigan. She is the author of the Mara Dyer trilogy, including The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, and The Retribution 
of Mara Dyer. Visit her online at MichelleHodkin.com.

Blog Tour Schedule

November 5 – The Lovely Books

November 6 – Too Fond of Books

November 7 – Downright Dystopian

November 8 – Pure Imagination

November 9 – The Book Loving Nut

November 10 – a GREAT Read

November 11 – The Eater of Books!

November 12 – My Guilty Obsession

November 13 – Arctic Books

November 14 – A Gingerly Review

November 15 – Ex Libris Kate

November 16 – Girl in the Pages

Review—Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Publisher: Freeform

Published: November 6, 2018

Genre: YA Mystery

Source: Print ARC

Rating: 3 Stars

GOODREADS

Blurb:

“I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off.

Review-

Little White Lies starts off amazing. I knew right away it was one I would love. The mystery aspect to the story was perfection and I liked how it all tied together. I didn’t even see that twist coming at all. Sawyer, the main character, is as cool as they get. The girl is a mechanic who comes in contact with her long lost grandmother. Lillian makes Sawyer an offer she couldn’t refuse. 

We then meet a gang of beautiful girls with secrets to hide. The secrets are what kept me reading because I had to know what would happen next. I seriously have so much love for the characters. All of them. They are bring something different to the table but I couldn’t help but adore them. 

Once Sawyer delves deeper into the debutante life, the more secrets start unraveling. Things are not what they seem and sooner or later the truth will prevail. I do admit that at times it was a tiny bit slow. But it’s all worth it. 

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

BUY:

Amazon US 

Amazon UK 

About the Author:

Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She's been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a "practice book" and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.

Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.