Waiting On Wednesday #36

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

                                                              Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

                                                     Publication Date: September 10 2013

Summary-

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god. 

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. 

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out. 

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

I am a huge fan of Kendare Blake because I LOVED Anna Dressed In Blood and Girl Of Nightmares. So I will definitely be reading Antigoddess.

What are you waiting on?

Teaser Tuesday #36

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Here's my teaser-

"I'll be whatever she needs me to be. I can't walk away from her. I tried. I'm hooked. And now I'm about to lose my mind because I don't know how to help her. I just need to go find her and hold her the rest of the damn day. I need to know she's okay."

-Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines

Summary-

Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren’t something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected…

Woods Kerrington had never been one to be attracted to fragile females. They seemed like too much work. He wasn’t in it for the work just the pleasure. A night full of naughty fun had been exactly what was on his mind when he’d laid eyes on the hot little number that didn’t know how to pump gas and needed some help.

What he didn’t know was she was as fragile as they came.
The carefree girl who spoke her mind and didn’t care what the world thought of her was more breakable than he could ever imagine…

I am swooning over Woods!

What's your teaser tuesday?

Review- Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Goodreads Summary:

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong...

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.

Vampire Academy series:

Sarika's review of Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)

Janhvi's review of Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2)

Sarika's review of Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3)

Janhvi's review of Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4)

REVIEW:

The fact that Spirit Bound is Janhvi's favourite Vampire Academy novel makes it a little difficult for me to write this review. Not because of what she will think after reading my review, but because maybe I won't be able to do it as much justice as she would and perhaps I won't give it as much praise as it deserves. 
Like the other Vampire Academy novels, Spirit Bound also started out really slowly and seemed very dragged out to me. But there comes a certain point in these books where everything comes crashing down at once, the plot thickens, the book becomes rapidly unputdownable, you want to know what's going on and poof- it ends on a cliffhanger! Spirit Bound starts off with Rose and Lissa graduating from St. Vladimir's Academy and they actually step out into the read world and a death threat/love letter sent to Rose. By now we almost know how Rose's mind works with all the crazy ideas. And yet, she surprises us with her spontaneity. She and Lissa are staying at the Royal Court and so many things happen in the book that it's hard to say anything without giving away everything. 
Rose was her usual kick ass and awesome self. She's so hot and cool at the same time and it really is hard not to like and admire her. Lissa was just as amazing. She's really sweet and kind, a perfect contrast and match to Rose. Lissa's boyfriend Christian is amazing as well and he and Lissa are perfect together. I'm so glad they made up in this book.  I wish I could just say 'screw being Team Adrian or Team Dimitri, I wanna be Team Christian', but Adrian and Dimitri are just as beaut and just as good. Adrian is... He's got spunk, he's really cool. And Dimitri is simply excellent. The side characters in Spirit Bound were all just as important as the main characters and even though I like some and don't like some, they're all really good and well portrayed. 
Author Richelle Mead's writing, as always, is first class. She makes me want to know more and more. Rose's voice is awesome just like her. The way in which Rose reads through Lissa's mind is described meticulously. 
It's been a long time since I read a proper series made up of a solid six books. Like with all series, as excited and desperate I am to read Last Sacrifice, it's also sad that it's now the last book and the series will come to an end. Luckily, there's Bloodlines so hopefully we'll get to see all these rocking Vampire Academy people once again. 

RATING:

Review- Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Summary-

Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same. 

The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved? 

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

Vampire Academy

Frostbite

Shadow Kiss

Review-

Blood Promise starts off right from where we were left in Shadow Kiss. After the devastating events which have taken place in the Academy Rose's life is not the same. So Rose leaves everything she has ever known behind and goes in search of Dimitri.

The first half of Blood Promise goes where Rose is in Russia in search of Dimitri. We get to meet Dimitri's family in this book. I loved getting a glimpse into Dimitri's life. His sisters, mother and grandmother were a great bunch and someone Rose needed to share her love of Dimitri with. Though I did feel that it was pulled a bit too long. I would have loved diving right in.

We also get to meet Sydney, the Alchemist. Even though Rose is far away from the Academy for almost the whole book we do get to see what is going on with Lissa and the gang in bits and pieces. I found Adrian hilarious, as always. I was totally satisfied to see Rose actually give him a real chance at the end of the book. We get to meet quite a few new characters is this book. Some felt necessary, some not.

And then we have Dimitri. Unlike the past books the romance takes the center point in Blood Promise. When Rose finally meets Dimitri he's still the same Dimitri but not in many ways. The love between them is so obvious but I did not like the way Dimitri treated her. Somewhere along the way Rose does lose her focus and becomes vulnerable but thankfully we get to see the bad ass Rose we love and know so well again.

Blood Promise is a great fourth installment in the Vampire Academy series. I still love and admire Rose with all her sarcasm and snarkiness. Her sense of humor is awesome. Rose and Lissa's friendship had taken a turn for the worse in the previous book but by the end of Blood Promise things are definitely looking more optimistic. Richelle Mead pulls of all the action wonderfully and I'm already eager to start Spirit Bound.

Review- Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Goodreads Summary:

It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She's having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all... might be seeing ghosts.

As Rose questions her sanity, new complications arise. Lissa has begun experimenting with her magic once more, their enemy Victor Dashkov might be set free, and Rose's forbidden relationship with Dimitri is starting to heat up again. But when a deadly threat no one saw coming changes their entire world, Rose must put her own life on the line - and choose between the two people she loves most.

Vampire Academy series:

Sarika's review of Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)

Janhvi's review Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2)

REVIEW:

I must admit that the third book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, Shadow Kiss seemed pretty dragged out to me, but honestly, that ending... The book was worth it all. I loved it. 
Shadow Kiss starts off with Rose seeing the ghost of Mason, her friend/ boyfriend who died in the Spokane incident in Frostbite. Rose is going through a hell lot in this one and with so much happening, she's so busy trying to protect those she cares about the most that she tends to forget herself and her feelings. I love her friendship with Lissa. They both rock, like seriously. They're awesome. 
When Lissa's uncle Victor Dashkov makes a reappearance in Shadow Kiss, I felt pretty scared for her. She comes across Adrian who also happens to be very much like her and they both set out to research and discover the power and use of the element of spirit. One of the best things that happened in Shadow Kiss is a lot of Adrian Ivaskov. Adrian is funny, smart, good looking and so cool. And we got to see a lot him. I loved him. 
When the senior Moroi at St. Vladimir's Academy get assigned a senior dhampir as their guardian for the dhampir's field experience, Rose is assigned Christian Ozera, Lissa's boyfriend. Although not the best of friends, the banter between Rose and Christian was great and they did care about each other, which was visible and obvious. Christian is amazing. He's so sweet and so crazy in love with Liss. I really really love that guy too.
There's also another person who is super sweet and that's Eddie, Mason's best friend who is assigned as Lissa's guardian. Rose, Lissa, Christian and Eddie, and Adrian as well, when together, were fun and I loved reading those parts. 
Rose's love interest and trainer Dimitri Belikov was again his beaut self in Shadow Kiss. He is strong and sensible. When the school is attacked by Strigoi, Dimitri performs  really really well, so well that... well, let it be. 
So we have Mason, Adrian Christian, Eddie and Dimitri.  Is it just me or are all the guys in this series swoon-worthy! 
The ending of Shadow Kiss was perfect but very sad, even for a cliff hanger and sad ending lover like me. But there obviously are three more books to go in the series, so I know for a fact that things are going to change for the better in the books to come. 
Author Richelle  Mead's writing is really excellent. Rose's voice is easy to understand and she is one kick ass girl. I am totally into the Vampire Academy series and I can't wait to know what happens next. 

RATING:

Feature & Follow Friday #35

Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Today's question is:

Q: If you could hang out with any author (living) who would it be and what would you want to do?

My answer:

I'm gonna have to go for Gena Showalter. I just so badly want to know how her mind works and how she came up with the amazing Lords of the Underworld. Mostly, I just want to know all the future plot lines but still it'd be cool to hang out with an author I so love and admire.

I would love to know your answer!

Follow us and we'll follow back!

Happy Friday everybody :)

Grand Finale- Terra by Gretchen Powell

On Tour with Prism Book Tours...

Hello there! My name is Gretchen Powell. I am 24 years old, half-Chinese, and the owner of two adorable miniature schnauzers. I am an occasional drinker of classy wines, and I wrote a book.

By day, I work for a government contractor in our nation’s capital.

By night, I binge on episodes of Doctor Who and sleep fitfully.

Sometime in the mid-afternoon, I write another blog called Honey, I Shrunk the Gretchen! about weight loss, food, fitness, and my life.

Some of my favorite things include polka dots, Harry Potter, pretty much any TV show that airs on Thursday nights (yep, I'm talking Vampire Diaries #notashamed), and playing the ukulele.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Terra
by Gretchen Powell
Paperback, 286 pages
Published December 12th 2012 by Hopewell Media

Premise:

A broken and desolate Earth. A young girl struggling to survive. A lost boy with a powerful secret.

A discovery that will change everything.

In the distant wake of a plague that has decimated the Earth's population, humanity is split in two: The rich and powerful live in skycities that float overhead, while those who remain on the ground have gathered in settlements strewn across a dying planet. Eighteen-year-old Terra Rhodon is a terrestrial--a denizen of the barren groundworld--who makes her living as a scav. Long abandoned by her father, her caregivers gone, Terra supports herself and her younger brother, Mica, by scouring the earth for discarded scraps and metals to recycle for profit. One day, while on a routine scavenging run, she discovers something that shocks her home settlement of Genesis X-16. When the value of her discovery is revealed, Terra's world is turned upside down.

Terra suddenly finds herself asking questions no one will answer. Her search for the truth leads her to Adam--a beguiling skydweller unlike any she has ever met. But Adam has secrets and a quest of his own, and with him by her side, the world Terra thought she knew begins to unravel. Soon her discoveries unearth a terrifying conspiracy that has the potential to shatter everything--a revelation that will test the bonds of loyalty, family, and love.

Amazon  *  Barnes & Noble

Intro by Gretchen Powell:

In Terra's world, resources are scarce and many people make their living as "scavs," hunting for scraps to turn in on Collection Day in exchange for credits. For this tour, YOU are a scav, and there are scraps all over the blogosphere for you to find! On each participating blog, there will be one of 9 possible questions. Answer the question to receive a keyword that will get you an extra entry in the awesome giveaway!


Our Scavenger Hunt Tour:

A Tiffyfit's Reading Corner - Review:

The characters were well-developed and the lead protagonist, Terra, was not whiny, angsty, or annoying.

Pause Time - Review:

I loved Adam from the first moment

Total Book Geek - Excerpt #1

Terra Collection #1

Man, those are come beautiful brown eyes you got!

Mel's Shelves - Review

the book is full of twists and turns I didn't see coming--a big plus for me!

I Am a Reader, Not a Writer - Excerpt #2

Terra Collection #2

You find yourself in Genesis X-16. What is your eye color?

Lovin' Los Libros - Review

If you are a fan of Hunger Games, Divergent, or even The Maze Runner series, I think you will really enjoy Terra.

fuonlyknew - Excerpt #3

Terra Collection #3

You found something while scavenging in the fields! Quick, hide it in your bag! What is it?

The Quiet Concert - Review

Terra had to be my favorite character. She is a strong, stubborn, protective girl who will do what it takes to protect her family and find answers.

Jessie's Book Place - Excerpt #4

Terra Collection #4

Uh-oh, rain's about to start. What do you do?

Christy's Cozy Corner - Review:

 Nothing in the book felt unnecessary. No unnecessary conversations or characters.

The Reading Diaries - Excerpt #5
 & 5 Star Review:

WOW!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE TERRA!!!!!Such a fantastic story I finished in one afternoon unable to put it down. Terra is a brilliant mix between Dystopia and Sci fi in my opinion the story just flows beautifully.

Terra Collection #5

You've scored some steel to buy some grub. Where in Genesis X-16 are you shopping today?

LDS & Lovin' It - Review

And while the world she creates is a made up one, I saw distinct parallels to our own world and the heartbreaking poverty that exists here as well as the developing environmental problems that clearly led to the devastation of Terra's world.

Tressa's Wishful Endings - Review

I also really liked Adam! He's got bright blue eyes, a lopsided-smile, is intelligent and caring. Though he has his imperfections too. You know that he is keeping something from Terra, but I didn't realize what it was until Terra finds out herself.

Colorimetry - Excerpt #6

Terra Collection #6

Choose yer rations!

Living a Goddess Life - Lemon Berry Preserves Recipe:

& Review:

It's very rare, in my experience, to find an indie book that is as good as anything that's gone through a corporate editing process. In fact, it may very well be the Holy Grail of small press books. And yet, on her first lap out of the gate, Gretchen Powell has birthed a fantastic book, self-published. So....consider me a fan!

Passion and Life - Excerpt #7

Terra Collection #7

You were born and bred in Genesis X-16. What’s your job?

Bookworm Lisa -  Review

The ending left me looking frantically for when the second book is to be released.

Blood, Sweat & Books - Review

Terra was a solid science fiction/Dystopian with detailed world building, plenty of action and enjoyable secondary characters.

Marked by Books - Excerpt #8

Terra Collection #8

Since school on the groundworld isn’t based on grade level or age, it’s all about how motivated you are to pass your primary, secondary, and tertiary examinations. Where do you think you’d fit in?

My Seryniti - Review

 The writing is so good that you are transported to this other world and when something happens I constantly found myself gasping aloud, knowing that the crap was going to hit the fan, but not know why!

Mortality Bites - Excerpt #9

Terra Collection #9

You’re a skydweller who’s been assigned to a job on the groundworld (much to your annoyance.) Are you a…

Getting Your Read On - Review

The Broke Book Bank - Intervew!! (Answer to #10)

I guess you can kind of think of them kind of like the reorganized continents of today. When the world fell apart and the Tribunal took over, things changed.

Terra Collection #10

Underground takes Terra out of Genesis X-16 and out into the world. If you were her, where would you want to go most?

Giveaway:

One lucky scav will win a Terra prize pack! Get a signed copy of Terra, along with three exclusive (and gorgeous!) bookmarks, as well as a delicate silver watch--just like Terra's!--all packed up inside a scav bag of your very own! US only.

An additional five (FIVE!) winners will get a digital copy of Terra in the format of their choice. International.

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced on Rafflecopter and Grand Finale posts as well as emailed and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Burgandy Ice @ Colorimetry and Prism Book Tours and sponsored by Gretchen Powell. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway