After the Curtain Falls, Ainsley Shay

After the Curtain Falls | Ainsley Shay 

Published January 31st 2014

YA Paranormal

Erik never had to be anything other than a freak…until now.

Two hundred fifty-three days is a long time to fake being normal when night after night you perform miraculous feats on stage in a freak show. Thousands have paid to witness the miracle, suspecting nothing more than a hoax. But it is very real and it is slowly destroying him. Erik is weakened to the point where he’ll stop performing and start going to school for the first time ever—in his senior year. His only goal is to rebuild his strength so he can return to the stage and perform doing what he loves most in this world. What he didn’t plan for was the appearances of beautiful Addison and mysterious Naya. Now, unfamiliar feelings and bizarre new friendships threaten to unbalance Erik’s future as a miracle-performing freak.

 Just £0.77/0.99c!!

About the Author

Ainsley Shay avoids insanity by living mostly in the fiction world. She believes surrounding herself with positive people, and strives for balance in everything. She owns more jeans with rips and holes than without; and has recently found the magic of patches. For her, reading or writing the perfect sentence is better than the smoothest piece of dark chocolate melting in her mouth. She is a deltiologist for pure enjoyment, not for the study of. She longs to move north one day, even though she hates the cold. (Go figure!) So, for now, she continues to live in warm south Florida with her incredible husband, three beautiful daughters, and two lazy cats. (We won’t mention the dog.)

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Cover reveal: Deliver Me by Kate Jarvik Birch

Deliver Me | Kate Jarvik Birch

Expected April 15th from Bloomsbury Spark

One People. One Union. One Future. 

Wynne’s entire life is dictated by the Union: the clothes she wears, the books she reads, even the genes she inherited. And like every other girl in the Union, Wynne dreams of being chosen as a Carrier on her 16th birthday—one of the elite selected to carry the future generation within her womb. Wynne and her best friend Odessa are certain they will both make the cut, but when Odessa is chosen and whisked off to a life of privilege, Wynne is left behind to work as an assistant, delivering babies for the Union.

As Odessa slips deeper and deeper into the role of Carrier, Wynne begins to see the Union for what it really is: a society that criminalizes the notion of love, and forbids words like mother and family.

For the first time in her life, Wynne is faced with a choice: submit to the will of the Union, or find a way to escape and save Odessa before she is lost forever.

About the Author

Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist and writer living in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids. She wrote her first novel in fourth grade. The main character was suspiciously similar to herself and the love interest bore quite a strong resemblance to the boy she had a crush on. As an adult, her essays and short stories have been published in Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, Saint Ann's Review, Scissors and Spackle and Indiana Review. Her first play, (a man enters), co-written with Elaine Jarvik, was produced in 2011 by Salt Lake Acting Co.

Kate’s debut novel, DELIVER ME, comes out April 15th from Bloomsbury Spark. PERFECTED will be released July 1st from Entangled Teen.

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Win an electronic copy of DELIVER ME from Bloomsbury Spark as well as a $20 Amazon gift card!

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Reading round up (15)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress and my thoughts on each book as I read it. Next week is deadline week for me, so I'm hoping to read a lot of books this week because I won't be next week.

17th February

Currently reading: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Current page/percent: 88%

# of pages/percentage read today: 22%

Thoughts: I have no idea why that needed to happen but okay! Cecile doing magic! Cool!

18th February

Finished Stolen Songbird (22%) and started The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (31 pages) which I've been wanting to read for a while. Didn't enjoy the Iron Fey series but hoping to like this one.

19th February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 96

# of pages/percentage read today: 66 pages

Thoughts: Starting to like this.

20th February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 137

# of pages/percentage read today: 41 pages

Thoughts: Not much time to read but hoping to get through a lot of it tomorrow. This book is really good now.

21st February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 189

# of pages/percentage read today: 52 pages

Thoughts: I really REALLY like this. Again: no time to read.

22nd February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 237

# of pages/percentage read today: 48 pages

Thoughts: Hmmmm. I'm not sure where this is going but okay. Cute human boy. I miss Kanin.

23rd February

Ideally, I'd finish this today but that's not gonna happen. I have a tonne of other things to do. Also 100% not in the mood for vampires, so read 10% of The Blood List by Sarah Naughton.

Books finished this week: 1

Book Fashion Friday (21)

Book Fashion Friday is a weekly meme here at Syntax Reviews, featuring clothes inspired by YA books covers. Any cover is used for inspiration - new, old, forthcoming,  Feel free to post your own book inspired fashion and link back to this post!

So this week's BFF is inspired by Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan, a book I have endless love for.

THE BOOK:

THE FASHION:

$278 from Promgirl.

I just really like this dress. It's blue and fancy and for some inexplicable reason I thought of Untold when I saw it. I think it's very sleek and elegant, much like Kami.

~Saruuh

Stolen Songbird (ARC Review)

The Malediction Trilogy: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Published by: Strange Chemistry, April 1st 2014

Genre: YA, High Fantasy

Pages: 436

Format: Ebook

Source: Strange Chemistry via Netgalley (thank you so much!!)

For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy...

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

Stolen Songbird tells the tale of Cecile, a girl kidnapped and forced to marry a troll. Along the way there's magic and hijinks and politics and romance. It's pretty awesome and I am pretty bad at summaries. This won't be a coherent review, my friends.

One of my favourite things about this book is how unique and beautifully vivid the setting is. It's a cave, by the way, buried under a fricking mountain, which is kept from collapsing by troll magic. Oh, and the trolls are cursed and can't leave the mountain. I LOVE TROLLUS. I've never read anything like it in my life. The world building is at once subtle and expansive. Jensen is a bona fide genius at world building.

And the characters! Cecile is gutsy and emotional, feminine and badass. Tristan is swoon-worthy and complicated, a treacherous little shit and an adorable little puppy when he's around Cecile. I'm pretty pissed at a few things he did but I just adore him. The only thing I'd change about him is I'd give him Marc's appearance and make Cecile love him despite his 'grotesque' look. I think that would be a million times awesome. (that doesn't even make sense, don't question me, I love this book.)

I've forgotten what I'm saying. What am I saying? Oh yeah, the lore! Danielle. L. Jensen has somehow found a way to craft an entirely new, refreshing troll species, while still staying true to the superstitions and stories that are familiar to us. I don't know how she does it. I think she must have a bit of magic herself.

My only major issue with the book is the ending. 1: YOU CAN'T LEAVE IT LIKE THAT!!! 2: I kinda felt the last 20% could maybe have been done without. I was just ambling on to the point Cecile left Trollus, not enjoying as much as I had before. But maybe that was just me. I am rather pernickety about endings. Either way the book is amazing.

To sum: Stolen Songbird is an enchanting reinvention of troll folklore packed full of lyrical passages, flawless world building, and wonderful characters, with an original and compelling plot.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★☆

Cover reveal: Guarding Angel by S. L. Saboviec

Guarding Angel | S. L. Saboviec 

(Fallen Redemption #1) 

Expected April 28th 2014 

How beautiful is this cover? I am in LOVE with it. Definitely gonna check out this book, for sure.

The summary for Guarding Angel is as follows:

Guardian angel Enael can’t seem to keep her human Wards in check. They’re the ones who choose their paths before reincarnating—-she’s just there to help make sure they stay on track. But it’s not as easy as it might look.

When she meets and falls in love with charismatic Kaspen, a fellow Guardian, Enael’s feelings about Heaven, Hell, demons, and the life she’s known are turned upside down. Worse still, angel-turned-demon Yasva, Kaspen’s former love, still holds him in her clutches. Even as Yasva works toward obtaining complete control of Earth, she taunts and haunts Kaspen’s and Enael’s lives.

Now Enael is forced to face her past (which is centuries long and bursting with secrets), her present (which is terribly unfulfilling and full of questions), and her future (which becomes more uncertain as time passes). Armed with a newfound love and fear of losing it all, she must figure out how to save the world—-and the angel she loves. Which side will win? Who will Kaspen choose? Will Heaven and Earth continue to exist, or will everything go to Hell?

About the Author

S. L. Saboviec grew up in a small town in Iowa but now lives in the suburbs of Toronto with her Canadian husband and expatriate cat. Books that captured her imagination include Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series, Sylvia Browne’s The Other Side and Back, and Stephanie Meyers’ The Host. You can find her tweeting random nonsense on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/saboviec), pinning all the awesome fantasy and book pins on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/saboviec), and opining about the latest book she read on her blog (http://saboviec.wordpress.com).

Reading round up (14)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress and my thoughts on each book as I read it. I'm heavily in a sci fi thriller mood at the moment. Wonder if that'll break this week. I suspect so.

10th February

Currently reading: Ignite Me | Tahereh Mafi

Current page/percent: page 326

# of pages/percentage read today: 326 pages

Thoughts: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lost almost the entire day reading this.

11th February

Having a shitty day, so read nothing. Also I am pretty in denial about the Shatter Me series being over forever. Nope. Not happening.

12th February

Currently reading: Ignite Me | Tahereh Mafi

Current page/percent: page 416

# of pages/percentage read today: 90

Thoughts: I am dead. I've been slain. Go on without me.

13th February

Currently reading: The Murder Complex | Lindsay Cummings

Current page/percent: 84%

# of pages/percentage read today: 25%

Thoughts: Hmm. Doesn't seem like enough book left for what needs to happen.

14th February

Finished The Murder Complex (16%). Was hoping the ending would be high impact and insanely awesome, but it was just plain awesome. Still great, but I put a lot of expectations on this book. I also started Stolen Songbird by Danielle. L. Jensen. (4%)  Luc is so dreamy~~~~ *snorts* Not.

15th February

Currently reading: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Current page/percent: 18%

# of pages/percentage read today: 14%

Thoughts: I love Tristan. He's so sassy and sarcastic and scared - The Three S's of the tortured asshole.

16th February

Currently reading: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Current page/percent: 66%

# of pages/percentage read today: 48%

Thoughts: THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD HOLY HELL.

Books finished this week: 2

Cover Reveal: Elements Series, Mia Marshall

Broken Elements | Mia Marshall

(Elements series, book 1)

“It’s happening again, Aidan. We didn’t stop it, after all.”

As an elemental, Aidan Brook holds the power of water at her fingertips. A descendant of the earth’s oldest magic, she can cause tides to ebb and flow, put out house fires without calling 911, and give anyone who’s annoying her an impromptu shower.

But even her magic has its limits. After it fails her one terrible night, she hides from the world and everyone she once loved, trying to escape the memories that haunt her. Ten years later, her exile is brought to an abrupt end when her former best friend appears on her front porch. An elemental killer is once again murdering her friends, and she must return to the scene of her own crimes.

Lake Tahoe proves more than she bargained for. Between a sadistic killer, some clever FBI agents, an annoyingly attractive landlord, and way too many new roommates, she has a pretty full plate. Add in a past she’s desperate to escape and her own uncontrollable powers, and Aidan Brook is having a very, very bad month.

(Only 99 cents)

Shifting Selves | Mia Marshall

(Elements series, book 2)

Aidan Brook's world was shattered when the actions of a brutal murderer revealed long-buried secrets about her past--secrets even she didn't know. A powerful elemental, Aidan discovered she possesses the wrong kind of magic. It's a secret that could cost her sanity—or even her life.

What she needs is some peace and quiet. What she gets is a phone call from a division of the FBI so secret it doesn’t even have a name, asking for her help with a series of shifter disappearances.

Before Aidan can settle into a new routine of pancakes and evenings by the fire, the case develops claws. She quickly finds herself caught between uptight bears, deadly mountain lions, overprotective parents, and unhappy federal agents. Throw in a stalled romance with an enigmatic shifter and the slow dissolution of her chosen family, and it’s hard to say which will drive her mad first: her magic, or her chaotic life.

Shifting Selves is a 2013 RT Reviewers’ Choice nominee.

(Only 99 cents)

About the Author

Mia Marshall has been a genre reader from the first moment she cracked open The Wizard of Oz series and discovered it was even better than the movie.

A few decades after that, she decided to create her own imaginary worlds. Broken Elements and Shifting Selves are the first two books in the Elements urban fantasy series. The third book, Turning Tides, will be available May 2014.

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