Impatiently Waiting! Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Expected publish date:
March 5, 2013

Summary: Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight. Of Pandemonium, ALA Booklist noted that “like all successful second volumes, this expands the world and ups the stakes, setting us up for the big finale.”

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.



♥♥♥♥♥

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Inbetween by Tara Fuller ~ Scene from Cash's POV

Inbetween Scene from Cash’s POV: Tara Fuller Guest Post
The world came back fuzzy and dark. My head throbbed so hard I could feel my heartbeat behind my eyelids. What the hell had happened to me? The last thing I remembered was being on my second beer, and half way through some Cold Play song Marc was trying to teach me. I definitely hadn’t had enough to make me feel like this. It had only been two beers, right? Damn it, I couldn’t remember. Maybe the paint fumes were finally starting to get to me. Familiar fingers combed through my hair and I forced my eyes open.

“Cash,” Emma said softly, the space between her eyes creased with worry. “Are you okay?”

I squinted up at her and blinked. “What happened?”

“You…um…you passed out.”

Sitting up, I rubbed my head, trying to place my surroundings. As soon as I was up, the headache set in with a vengeance. “Shit. I feel like I got hit by a truck. How much did I drink?” I scanned Emma’s room, feeling like I was missing some important piece of a puzzle. “And how did I get over here?”

I glanced over at Emma and everything went still. Her mouth was open, but no sound came out. Her hands were trembling, fingers twisting the bottom of her shirt, trying to keep still.

“Hey…” I reached out to touch her arm and she jerked away, as if my fingers were flames. She wouldn’t even look at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Her voice broke half way through the word. It was all I needed to hear to know there was a whole hell of a lot more than nothing wrong. I ran my hand over my chest trying to remember what I’d done to piss her off but…I looked down. Where the hell was my shirt? My eyes kept moving down to my half-unzipped jeans, then back up to Emma’s face. Her lips full and pink. Her blond hair messy. Shirt twisted out of place.

Oh, hell….no, no, no.

I scrambled back and the bed disappeared underneath me. I shot back up, breathing hard, and met Emma’s gaze. “What…what did I do?” I motioned between us. “What did we do?” I stumbled, backing away from the bed until I hit her vanity. My heart felt like it was about to pound through my ribs. Everything was about to change. I knew it. I wasn’t ready for it. Emma kept her gaze on the wall behind me refusing to look at me.

“You didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Em.” I shoved my fingers through my hair and leaned on the vanity. I rubbed my fingers over my lips and the taste of peppermint exploded on my tongue. I glanced down at the tube of Emma’s peppermint chapstick rolling across the vanity and groaned. “I can taste that peppermint lip crap you use, for God’s sake!”

“Cash…”

“Look at you. You can’t even look at me.” I strode forward and reached out to touch her, but stopped. Was this even okay anymore? The way she was flinching away from my touch said it wasn’t. Panic tore through my chest.

“Please tell me what I did. Please? I’m sorry, Em. I am so—”

“We kissed, okay?”

I froze at the sound of her words. I knew it…but hearing her say it made it real. I was so not ready for this to be real. It’s not like I hadn’t thought about it, but when I thought about it…it was later. This was supposed to come much later for us. Not now. Not when I was still just a screw up that didn’t deserve her. God! The fact that I couldn’t even remember kissing her for the first time just showed how much I didn’t deserve her. I dind’t realize I was holding my breath until she started talking again.

“You were drunk. And we kissed. And now…now we’re going to forget it ever happened. Okay?”

“Did I hurt you?”

“God, no!” Emma grabbed my hand and pulled me down to sit beside her. “It…it was just stupid, okay? It didn’t mean anything. Right?”

I let my eyes wander over Emma’s face. The face I’d fallen asleep staring at more nights than I could count. I knew she meant something. But did this mean something? Did she want it to mean something? Suddenly the bed seemed way too small for the two of us. There wasn’t even enough air in the room. I finally found the words and said, “Do…do you want it to mean something?”

Emma sat back, brows pulled together. “N-no. Do you?”

It an instant I saw what it could be like. To be with her. To kiss her again and remember it. To crawl in through her window at night and it be something more than escape. And in another, I saw a million ways I would screw it up. And if I screwed it up…if I went there with her, that would be it for us. I wasn’t ready to take that chance. I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready. I needed her too much. Emma was my best friend. My family. Losing her wasn’t an option. Finally I shook my head.

“No. I don’t want to ruin this. I don’t…I can’t risk losing you, Em. If I ever went there with you…” I swallowed and dropped my gaze. “I’d ruin it. I would.”

“Hey.” Emma nudged my leg, and smiled a little. “You didn’t ruin anything. I’m still me. You’re still you. And we’re still us. Nothing’s changed.”

About Tara Fuller: Tara Fuller writes novels. Some about grim reapers. Some about witches. All of course are delightfully full of teen angst and kissing. Tara grew up in a one stop light town in Oklahoma where once upon a time she stayed up with a flash light reading RL Stine novels and only dreamed of becoming a writer. She has a slight obsession with music and a shameless addiction for zombie fiction, Mystery Science Theater, and black and white mochas. Tara no longer lives in a one stop light town. Now she lives with her family in a slightly larger town in North Carolina where they have at least three stoplights.

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Authors Are Rockstars! Talia Vance

Talia Vance is a practicing litigation attorney living in Northern California with her real life love interest, two-point-five kids, and a needy Saint Bernard named Huckleberry. Talia has been writing since she could talk, making up stories for every doll, stuffed animal and action figure she could get her hands on. She grew up hoping to write the great American novel, but her life ran more along the lines of tortured romance and fast paced thrillers, so that's what she writes.
Find Talia here:
Website ☆ Twitter ☆ Goodreads ☆ YA Muses

Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She's pretty enough, it's just that no one bothers to look. There's almost nothing that can't be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she's missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna's theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she's been hiding from even herself.

Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there's nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.
Pre-Order Silver now:
Amazon ☆ Barnes & Noble ☆ Book Depository

Me: Please welcome...and applaud...the totally awesome...and totally amazing...TALIA VANCE! Thank you Talia for stopping by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads! It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Wow! So the release of your debut Silver is right around the corner! Congrats! How do you feel about that? Is it a long time coming? Are you excited? Or nervous?

Talia: I am thrilled, excited, nervous and terrified. It’s both a long time coming and not that long at all. I’ve always wanted to write a book, and for twenty years, I would start something, write a few chapters and stop. It wasn’t until 2008 that I finally committed to finishing a book. I finished Silver in late 2009, found an agent for it in spring 2010, rewrote a large part of it in summer 2010, and sold it within a week and a half of going on submission. I’ve written two other books since Silver sold, including its sequel, Gold, which comes out in 2013.

Me: OK, I’m not familiar at all with Irish Mythology, so I was hoping you could educate us while also talking about your book!

Can you tell us about “your” Bandia and/or Danu mythology without giving us spoilers?

Talia: “My” mythology centers on a centuries’ old war between Pagan gods and the humans who banished them to the underworld. The gods are bound to the underworld, but use their human descendants as soldiers in a war that, if successful, will allow them to return to the earth. Because Paganism is often associated with witchcraft and sexuality, a central theme of the story is a battle of the sexes, with sex and attraction being used as a weapon by both sides.

That’s pretty general, but I do want to avoid spoilers. So let’s just say there is a history of murder, magic, sex, soul bonds, betrayal and revenge that underlies the conflict as it exists when Brianna discovers it.

Me: How is the mythology in your book similar and/or different than the traditional Irish mythology?

Talia: My mythology came about by taking several real Celtic myths and then creating my own story and world around them. The first myth that interested me came from the idea that dark powers manifested every seventh generation. I loved the idea that enough time would pass between generations before the powers showed up again, so that information could be ignored, lost, misinterpreted or, in some cases, carefully preserved.

The other myth that came straight from Irish mythology was the story of the Milesians, human warriors who drove the Tuath de Danu (people of Danu) from Ireland to the underworld, bringing an end to Paganism and ushering in a new era of Christianity. This myth is at the heart of the conflict in Silver- what if this war was still being fought by each side’s descendants?

Lastly, I came across a myth where a dark witch cursed a man with powers he didn’t want. This myth gave me the idea for the heart of the conflict between the Sons and the bandia- the fear that men have of female power over them (which I equate with female sexuality and intimacy) and the lengths they will go to avoid it.

The story of Danu and Killian, the giolla, and the curse that binds Blake and Brianna together are products of my imagination. There is a Celtic god named Arawn who is the guardian of the underworld, but I took significant liberties with his backstory and role in the conflict.

Me: What inspired you to write Silver, and with Irish mythology?

Talia: The story began as a contemporary novel that was loosely based on my husband and me when we were teens- we danced around each other but never quite connected because we kept getting pulled away by other people. I thought it would be interesting to write a story about a girl who lets her friends and the wrong guy keep her from the boy she really loves. Early on, I realized that I wanted to create something with a paranormal element, and I began researching Celtic myths after discovering that a lot of our American superstitions and beliefs about magic originated there. Once I found several myths that intrigued me, the story took on a life of its own, and became something very different than what I originally set out to write.

Me: How many love interests does Brianna have in book #1? *giggles*

Talia: There are two, but I wouldn’t call it a love triangle. While Brianna is attracted to Austin, she is tied to Blake in a way that doesn’t allow room for anyone else. Not that Austin doesn’t try…

Me: Which character(s) were your fave to write and why?

Talia: I loved writing Austin. He is so British and proper, but everything he says has layers of meaning. Of all the characters in Silver, Austin surprised me the most as I was writing. He is so complicated and I found that I couldn’t stop loving him, despite his flaws. I also loved writing Joe, because he’s just so cool all the time. I’ve said this before, but with Joe, I can’t help wondering what it would take to break him.

Still, I’d have to say that my favorite character to write was Brianna, because I experienced the story from her point of view. I loved how she evolved from a wall flower into a strong character, embracing her femininity and making her own decisions about what was right. I wrote Spies and Prejudice in between writing Silver and its sequel, and slipping back into Brianna’s voice felt like coming home.

Me: How were you able to connect with the intense love/hate emotions between Brianna & Blake?

Talia: I think first love tends to involve intense emotions, and those can twist into jealousy and hate as easily as love and friendship. Blake and Brianna drove me crazy at times, but they had their own fire when they were together, and there was so much external pressure warring against their emotional bond, that the distrust and conflict was easy to connect with. Lust was also easy, because they had great chemistry. Connecting with love was harder, in part, because I think it was the hardest part for Blake and Brianna to come to terms with. They have hurt each other, they will hurt each other, but they are also a part of each other, and in some ways they always will be.

Me: Was it always your intention to write in 1st person POV?

Talia: I actually started this book in third person, but I found it difficult to write internal dialogue in that point of view, so I switched to first person, past tense after a chapter or two. About halfway through the first draft, I switched again, to present tense, and that’s when I really started to connect with Brianna’s voice as I wrote the story.

Me: Are any of the characters in your book similar to someone you know, including yourself?

Talia: That is a loaded question! (See my answer to inspiration above). Silver was my first novel, and there are definitely pieces of my life in this story. Some characters did start out as people I knew, but I found that to be way too limiting as an author. The characters quickly evolved to such an extent that only tiny pieces of them have any connection to anyone in real life.

Brianna is the closest character to me. Like Brianna, I had an investment horse I had to sell to pay for college; I felt invisible until I met a boy playing quarters, but that boy ended up dating my best friend; and I dated a guy in high school who could only hurt me. Unfortunately, I do not look like a goddess or have awesome powers, but one of my ancestors was hung as a witch, and I come from a long line of independent women who defied their times.

Me: Now I’d like to learn a little bit about you!

Me: Fear or phobia?

Talia: Heights. Seriously, I will never bungee jump, parachute or go to the top of the Empire State Building.

Me: Guilty pleasure?

Talia: Reality television. My new favorite is Million Dollar Listing. Half of it is obviously staged, but the houses are really cool and the cast is likeable. It walks the line between cheesy and fun perfectly.

Me: Strange quirks?

Talia: I always write on the corner of a couch with a laptop. Writing at a desk feels too much like work.

Me: Embarrassing moment?

Talia: Just one? The first time I met a literary agent, I basically said everything that an aspiring writer should not say. Pitched my book with a rambling summary that was unfocused and over enthusiastic? Check. Compared myself to best-selling author? Check. Offered to send a manuscript that wasn’t finished yet? Yeah, I did all of that. I knew it was bad as I was doing it, but I couldn’t stop myself. A few weeks later, the same agent used my faux paux as an example of what not to do in a blog post. I wasn’t mentioned by name, but I might have resembled those remarks…

Me: Facebook or Twitter?

Talia: Twitter

Me: Most visited website?

Talia: I’m not gonna lie- Goodreads. I know I shouldn’t look, but I can’t look away. Part of it is just the excitement that people are actually reading Silver. I still can’t quite believe it. It’s fun to see how people react to these characters and their story. And I truly appreciate every posted review, even the less than flattering ones, because it means that someone took the time to read the story, and then to talk about it. For me, the biggest fear of putting a book out there is not reviews- it’s more a fear of no one reading it. Can that count as a phobia? I think I might have to change my answer.

Me: Kindle or Nook?

Talia: iPad.

Me: Preferred weapon?

Talia: Broadsword. Let’s just leave that alone for now.

Me: Top 5 authors that inspire you?

Talia:

• Rachel Hawkins (the Hex Hall trilogy): I love the way she uses humor. I can’t read one of her books without laughing out loud, definitely something to aspire toward.
• Jennifer Echols (Forget You, Going too Far, Such a Rush): She is the queen of steamy YA romance as far as I am concerned, but always infuses her stories with emotional heart.
• Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky): her writing is seamless and clean, but full of tension, with lots going on between the lines. And she writes amazing boys. She’s also the hardest working writer I know.
• Katherine Longshore: Katherine has an incredible grasp of language and imagery. Plus, she writes character-driven historical fiction that still manages to be pacey and tight. I’m still trying to figure out how she does it.
• Donna Cooner: I know Donna, and she inspires me not only with her ability to craft characters that seem so real I feel like I know them in real life, but also with her ability to never, ever give up.

Me: Top 5 fave movies?

Talia:

• The Jerk: this movie was one of the first adult movies that I fell in love with as a kid, and I still laugh when I see it.
• Ice Castles: swoony romance and ice skating? Um, yes.
• The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: I loved this film. It was mind-bending and poignant.
• Peggy Sue Got Married: This one can count as guilty pleasure. Kathleen Turner is not believable as a high school student and Nic Cage mumbles through it, but I love how she has the chance to change everything, knowing how their relationship will end, and she doesn’t.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: This is my go-to action/adventure film. It still holds up, and young Harrison is sexy as hell.

Me: Top 5 book recommends recently read?

Talia:

• If I Lie by Corrine Jackson: a gorgeous, literary page-turner. Bring hankies, but so, so worth it.
• Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone: a sweet romance with a cool time travel twist.
• Gilt by Katherine Longshore: I just reread this and am still holding my breath.
• Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins: a fun, sexy paranormal that I read in one sitting.
• Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally: Parker is so messed up and relatable, plus Will (aka Corndog) is a sweetie.

Me: Fave TV show and/or movie when you were a kid?

Talia: I loved Walt Disney’s Bambi as a kid. I remembered it as being cute and romantic until I saw it again as an adult and realized it was filled with anti-war messages. But I still melt when baby Thumper is on screen.

Me: Which would you be willing to kiss, scares you the most and willing to ally with in an apocalypse? Your options are: Alien, Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie and Faery.

Talia: Kiss- vampires are sexy. Werewolf- Ally- dogs are loyal, right? Zombie- Dead people are scary. And gross.

Me: Thank you Talia for stopping by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads!

★★★★★★★
Make sure you check out Talia's blog tour coming up!


Sept 1st: YA Sisterhood - Blake Interview
Sept 2nd: Page Turners Blog hosted by Sophie - Lightening Round Q&A
Sept 3rd: The Review News - Review
Sept 4th: Two Chicks On Books - Dream Cast Post
Sept 5th: What The Cat Read - Silver Playlist
Sept 6th: I'm a Bookshark - Top Ten Scenes from Silver
Sept 7th: Debbie's World Of Books - Guest Post
Sept 8th: Magical Urban Fantasy Reads *Release Day* Scene from Blake’s POV
Sept 9th: The Ravenous Reader - Interview and Review
Sept 10th: Taters Tall Tales - Review
Sept 11th: Books Over Boys - Interview
Sept 12th: Jean Book Nerd - Interview
Sept 13th: Fiktshun - Celtic Myth Guest Post
Sept 14th: Literary Exploration - Interview

Impatiently Waiting! Fragments by Dan Wells

Expected publish date:
February 26, 2013

Summary: Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is only just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues as to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that Kira knows she is a part of, a plan that could save both races. Her allies are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira’s journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and they will both discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.
♥♥♥♥♥

But I'm also Impatiently Waiting the release of the Prequel to Partials!

Expected publish date:
August 28, 2013

Summary: Two decades before the events of Partials, the world was locked in a different battle for survival: a global war for the last remaining oil reserves on the planet. It was for the Isolation War that the American government contracted the ParaGen Corporation to manufacture the Partials—our last hope in reclaiming energy independence from China. And it was on these fields of battle that the seeds of humanity's eventual destruction were sown.

Isolation takes us back to the front lines of this war, a time when mankind's ambition far outstripped its foresight. Heron, a newly trained Partial soldier who specializes in infiltration, is sent on a mission deep behind enemy lines. What she discovers there has far-reaching implications—not only for the Isolation War, but for Partials and humans alike long after this war is over.

A powerful take of our world on the brink, Isolation gives readers a glimpse into the history from which Partials was born—as well as clues to where the Partials Sequence is heading next.


♥♥♥♥♥

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Wings of Tavea by Devri Walls ~ Cover Reveal

Author summary: Kiora is rapidly learning that evil and lies come in shades of black and white and swirling greys, but nothing could have prepared her for the shock of leaving Meros.

Kiora and her protector Emane step through the pass into a world they never knew existed but were always meant to save, only to find it far worse than they could have ever imagined. Good has been forced into hiding for its own survival, while the rest of the land bows to the Shadow, a force that pushes any remaining thoughts of Dralazar from Kiora’s mind. This land is full of new creatures, each more dangerous than the last. Her visions have taken on a deadly twist, and magic, or what comes of it, was never so real. And then there is Alcander: a Tavean, their guide, and an entirely different kind of trouble.

You can find Devri here:
Website ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook ☆ Goodreads

Devri Walls lives in Kuna Idaho with her husband and two kids. She has worked as a music teacher and currently, a preschool teacher. She majored in theater and her love of a story still drives her today. Thankfully, she has finally found an outlet for all the voices in her head. Her first novel, Wings of Arian, is available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Apple. The second book in the Solus trilogy, Wings of Tavea is scheduled for release Nov 2012.

Impatiently Waiting! Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Expected publish date:
September 25, 2012

Summary: She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.


♥♥♥♥♥

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Publisher's summary: Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost.

My take: I really enjoyed reading this book! I liked Origin so much that I was able to create a very vivid picture of Pia’s rain forest in my mind…with lots of green, splashes of flowers and lots of exotic animals, and, amongst all of that…a science research lab right smack in the middle of it all. And I love taking my mind back to that picture.

The characters in this story were very well developed. Pia was utterly fascinating in and of herself as the protagonist. She is a genetically born immortal who has been raised as a singularly consistent and compliant test subject; and she’s perfectly happy with that role, but she doesn’t always like the tests. In her mind all she cares about is that one day she will become one of the scientists running the lab and that she will be running the tests and genetically creating immortals just like her. I knew that I would be fascinated with her character right from the very first chapter as I read about one of the tests she was going through. The only thing I had a hard time with while reading about the characters was picturing Pia and this boy character, Eio, as teenagers throughout the story. I kept picturing them as slightly younger than teenagers, and I couldn’t get that picture out of my mind. I think it might have been because of Pia’s lack of normal human knowledge that had me picturing her as a younger girl. And, naturally, that means I kept picturing Pia’s love interest (Eio) as the same age as her.

The other characters that were introduced in the beginning of the story I wasn’t too sure about; however, just a few chapters further in, we (along with Pia) are introduced to a few other characters that I just fell in love with…of course one of those being Eio.

The best parts of this book were discovering all the secrets and knowledge the scientists were keeping from Pia and also discovering if the only things she’s ever known are truly for the good or for the bad.

Oh! I do want to point out that I struggled big-time with the pronunciation of a lot of the names of the people and places in this book. So if anyone has an Origin pronunciation guide, I’d greatly appreciate you sharing it with me! LOL

The end is, of course, the best part! Jessica Khoury created a horrifically awesome twist and a couple of horrific betrayals that has almost the entire last part of the book in utter chaos…and it was crazy awesome.

Throne of Glass Blog Tour Stop

Questions for Celaena (Protagonist of Throne of Glass)
Mindy: Thanks for stopping by! I have grown to admire you as a kick butt heroine. But I’d like to learn more about you before competition.

Mindy: You amazingly survived a lot longer than most while being imprisoned at Endovier. What types of things did you have to do to survive?
Celaena: Honestly, I don’t particularly like talking about Endovier--about the things I did, the things I saw, the things I endured. I did certain things to survive, but I also did some things out of rage and despair. Don’t tell anyone this, but deep down, I’m not particularly proud of the things I did out of the latter emotions.

Mindy: As an assassin, what was your hardest kill?
Celaena: There’s a difference between hardest to kill and the hardest kill emotionally. When I was younger, there was one kill that I nearly botched (of course, I wound up succeeding in the end), but when I was seventeen, I killed someone that... Well, they didn’t deserve to be killed. I did my job perfectly, but...let’s just say that I was deceived and leave it at that.

Mindy: If you are made the king’s Champion, what is your worst fear that he will force you to do?
Celaena: Hurt the people I care about. I’ll do anything to avoid having to do that.

Mindy: Thank you for stopping by Celaena, it is an honor!!!

Sarah J. Maas is a New York native who currently lives in the California desert. This is her first novel, though she has a large on-line fanbase who eagerly support her writing.

Website ★ Facebook ★ Twitter
Questions for author Sarah J. Maas
Mindy: Now for you Sarah! Thank you for stopping by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads! I’m more than thrilled to have you.

Mindy: Which was your favorite character to write and why?
Sarah: Celaena. She’s so much fun to write, and always surprises me (even after so many years). Though I also love writing Chaol’s scenes. <3
Mindy: How long was the publishing process for you?
Sarah: I began writing this series in 2002, so from inception to publication, it’s been 10 years!

Mindy: I know that Throne of Glass is your first published debut, but did you write anything before Throne of Glass?
Sarah: ToG was my first completed book, but because I’ve been working on this series for so many years, I actually wound up writing well over a dozen manuscripts in between drafts, revisions, etc.. So, those manuscripts are now just sitting on my computer, waiting for their turn to be published. ;)

Mindy: Do you have any ideas for other books you want to write?
Sarah: Well, I have a Beauty and the Beast/East of the Sun West of the Moon retelling that I’m hoping to get published at some point. But in terms of ideas for books I’ve yet to write, I have a BUNCH of ideas simmering in the back of my mind right now. ;)

Mindy: Is there going to be a sequel or series?
Sarah: Yep! Book Two should be out sometime next year (I think), and if I’m blessed by the publishing gods, the THRONE OF GLASS series will be about six books long. :)

Here is a quick Q&A to get to know you more!
Mindy: Fear or phobia?
Sarah: Underwater caves. Can’t explain why, but it’s my ultimate nightmare to be trapped in an underwater cave.

Mindy: Guilty pleasure?
Sarah: Carbs. Lots and lots of carbs.

Mindy: Preferred weapon?
Sarah: A frying pan (a la TANGLED!)!

Mindy: Top 5 authors that inspire you?
Sarah: Melina Marchetta, Patricia A. McKillip, J. K. Rowling, James Clemens, and Garth Nix.

Mindy: Top 5 books recommends you recently read?
Sarah: SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY by Susan Dennard
LEGEND by Marie Lu
SKYLARK by Meagan Spooner
TAKEN by Erin Bowman (out April 2013)
BOUND by Erica O’Rourke
All amazing, amazing books.

Mindy: Favorite TV show when you were a kid?
Sarah: When I was reaaaaally little, I was pretty obsessed with Duck Tales. And then when I was in middle school (and early in high school), Sailor Moon and Buffy were my favorites.

Mindy: Which would you be willing to kiss, scares you the most and willing to ally with in an apocalypse? Between aliens, vampires, werewolves, zombies, faeries and demons.
Sarah: Alien during the apocalypse, because they’ll probably have super-advanced technology to help me survive (or they can just fly me off the planet)!
Zombies scare me the most. Definitely scare me the most.
I think I’d want to kiss a demon...the sexy kind of demon (not the scary kind). ;)

Mindy: Thank you so much Sarah J. Maas for stopping by! YOU ROCK!!!

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Publisher's summary: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Impatiently Waiting! Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Expected publish date:
February 5, 2013

Author's summary: Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.



♥♥♥♥♥

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Publisher's summary: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

My take: From the very first chapter, I was intrigued with Throne of Glass. Celaena, a fearless, imprisoned assassin, is offered a one-shot deal to win her freedom by competing against 23 other criminals in a competition to find a new royal assassin. What I think intrigued me the most was that I was going to be in the head of this indomitable assassin.

But I want to give you a heads up – I’m having a really hard time trying to find the words to adequately express how I feel about this book. For the first half of the book, I think I had really high expectations of how I thought the story would somehow play out; and even though I was kept entertained for that first half, I still thought there would be more action. It even got to the point where I was thinking the story wasn’t progressing or moving along even close to the way I thought it should. So, I ended up putting the book down for a day and then going back without any expectations. And from the very exact page where I started reading again, I was hooked for the remainder of the book.

I think the strongest trait of this book was the complex characters and how well they were developed by Sarah J. Maas. I absolutely love Celaena as a heroine. And even though we don’t see a whole lot of her frightening assassin side throughout the book, you do find out that she has this crazy, awesome reputation of being an assassin you just wouldn’t want to mess with. I also absolutely love both Prince Dorian and Choal, the Captain of the Guard. There’s one other character that comes into the story (a princess named Nehemia) who I just adored as well. Most of all, it was the interaction between the characters that makes this book a lot of fun to read. I’m still not quite sure if there really is a love triangle going on between Celaena, Prince Dorian and Choal, but if so I’m torn about this one. For some reason, I have a major soft spot for Choal, and for some reason I think he’s probably better for Celaena than Prince Dorian. But a lot of my favorite scenes are actually interactions between Prince Dorian and Celaena.

Pretty early on we learn that the world where this story takes place use to have a lot of magical elements to it, so I had high hopes from the beginning that we would see some fantastic fantasy elements. Unfortunately, you discover that the king has destroyed ALL magic in his kingdom. I won’t say if we see any magic in this book, but I will say that I have high hopes that we will see a lot of magical elements in Sarah’s future books in this series.

The end to this book was really crazy. Nearing the end, there were moments when I feared a tragic betrayal and wondered how the story would end, but the real ending was pretty awesome and has me super excited to see what will happen next to Celaena! And now, after reading this one, I’ve found that there are 4 short stories/prequels to this book, so I purchased them all since they are currently only $0.99, and I’m really looking forward to reading those as well.

Make sure you come back to here to Magical Urban Fantasy Reads this Thursday for Sarah J. Maas’ blog tour stop!

Impatiently Waiting! Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton

Expected publish date:
January 31, 2013

Summary: Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . . Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

♥♥♥♥♥

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.