Behind the Music for Project Paper Doll: The Rules by Stacey Kade

Me:
I'm super excited that Stacey Kade has stopped by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads during her The Rules tour and I'm thrilled for this guest post! So let me introduce you to Stacey Kade!

Stacey:
I love making playlists! There's nothing like the shiver of delight I get when I hear a song that has a phrase or just a sound that perfectly matches a scene I'm working on or an emotion I'm trying to convey.

The songs below are some of the songs that were on my playlist for writing The Rules. Some of them spoke to me because of the lyrics; others were added because of the general idea or emotion they evoked.

Often they make me think of a specific chapter or scene in the book. So, I'm going to try to share that with you...without spoilers! If you haven't read the book yet, you'll probably be a little like, "Huh?" But then when you read it, it'll all make sense! :D



Homecoming by Hey Monday
Chapter 1, scene 2

Explanation: You may have heard the phrase "trouble comes home to roost." That's what this song makes me think of. In this scene, we see Ariane confronting Rachel Jacobs, the granddaughter of her creator (Dr. Jacobs at GTX). GTX made Ariane to be a weapon and we see those abilities actually jeopardizing Jacobs's granddaughter (not that she realizes the true source or nature of the threat.) Trouble always comes home to roost. :)



I Feel Like Dancin' by All Time Low
Chapter 2

Explanation: This scene with Zane at Rachel's pool is the first one that popped into my head for this story. And even though Zane is not dancing in that scene, he is rebelling in his own small way already by enjoying the fact that Ariane managed to throw Rachel off her game.



King Of Anything by Sara Bareilles
"You're so busy making maps, with my name on them in all caps. You've got the talking down, just not the listening."

Chapters 3 and 4

Explanation: Ariane and Zane are, in many ways, trapped by expectations and rules that are not of their own making.



Perfect by Marianas Trench
"What you want, what you need has been killing me.
Try to be everything that you want me to be.
I'll say yes, I'll undress, I've done more for less.
Now I'll change everything till it's perfect again."

Chapter 4, scene 1

Explanation: Zane will never be good enough for his dad. And yet, he can't seem to stop trying or stop being bothered by the fact that his father has this opinion.


About the Book

1. Never trust anyone.
2. Remember they are always searching.
3. Don't get involved.
4. Keep your head down.
5. Don't fall in love.

Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane's survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans, to hide in plain sight from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) "project." But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief's son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules.


About the Author

As a former award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their two retired racing greyhounds, Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy). More information about The Rules and Stacey can be found online at StaceyKade.com. She is also on Twitter @StaceyKade and on Facebook.

Darkness Kindled Release Day Blast

The Book!

Ebook:
Amazon ☆ Amazon UK ☆ B&N

Paperback:
Amazon ☆ Amazon UK
Ari Johnson wishes adjusting to living with her boyfriend was her only source of excitement and anxiety.
She wishes a lot of things.
But then wishing was what got her here in the first place.

Ari chose to be a Guild Hunter. She wanted to hunt dangerous Jinn and destroy them before they could harm innocent people. But now that Ari is a member of The Guild, she finds herself in the impossible position of hunting her ex-best friend – human-turned-dangerous sorcerer, Charlie Creagh. As Ari struggles to come to terms with her duty, an ancient Jinn and his companion want revenge on her for using the command of the Seal against them; the White King refuses to give up on his quest to resurrect Lilif, and Asmodeus isn’t done toying with her.

When Ari can take no more, rushing to the Sultan Azazil’s side to demand of him the favor he owes her, the events she sets in motion will not only alter everyone’s lives, it will kindle a darkness that will shake the realms to their very core.


The Other Books!

Fire Spirits Series (books 1-3)



About the Author!

Samantha Young is a New
York Times and USA Today bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance for her international bestseller ON DUBLIN STREET.

She is a 27 year old Scottish book addict that graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2009. She studied ancient and medieval history at uni, and it was in her first year there, in the middle of a classical literature lecture, that she first came up with the idea for The Tale of Lunarmorte. She’s been writing since as long as she can remember, and she writes in a number of genres including romance, paranormal, urban fantasy, fantasy, and contemporary.
She loves pulling pieces of historical fact (or mythology) and twisting it to fit my stories, and she is more than thankful her degree is being put to good use in her writing. She began self-publishing in 2011 and now writes full time.

Where to Stalk

Samantha Young's Blog ☆ Fire Spirits Blog
Goodreads ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook

Where can you buy Samantha Young's books?

Amazon ☆ Barnes and Noble



One lucky winner will win an ebook set of the Fire Spirits series (Books 1-4)
4 winners will win an ebook copy of Darkness Kindled

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Spellcaster by Claudia Gray

Publisher’s summary: When Nadia's family moves to Captive's Sound, she instantly realizes there's more to the place than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia can sense that a spell has been cast over the tiny Rhode Island town—a sickness infecting everyone and everything in it. The magic at work is darker and more powerful than anything she's come across and has sunk its claws most deeply into Mateo . . . her rescuer, her friend, and the guy she yearns to get closer to even as he pushes her away.

Mateo has lived in Captive's Sound his entire life, shadowed by small-town gossip and his family's tormented past. Every generation, the local legends say, one member of the family goes mad, claiming to know the future before descending into insanity. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl from a car accident actually come true, he knows he's doomed.

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his terrible family curse, and to prevent a coming disaster that even now threatens the entire town, including Nadia's family, her newfound friends, and her own life. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray's new novel depicts a dark and unforgettable world of witches, curses, buried secrets, and star-crossed romance.

My take: Wow! I’m actually really surprised how much I really liked this book! When I got to the end of Spellcaster, I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to be in a series, but I’m thrilled to find out that there is going to be a series…because I’m seriously eager to find out what happens with the characters.

The very first scene in Spellcaster starts off with something crazy happening. I was totally caught off guard that something like that would happen right from the start. If the beginning of the book could start off that way, then the end just has to be pretty awesome, right? Well my assumptions were correct! The ending was pretty awesome.

Spellcaster is different than most of the other books I’ve read because it moves back and forth between the POV of the protagonist Nadia and the villain. So the difference with this book is there is not a whole lot of surprise. The benefit to seeing the story in the POV of the villain is that you know that she’s extremely crazy! She’s right up there with the all-time ultimate of all evil villains.

Personally, I loved the character Verlaine the best. So I was super happy when we got a couple POV scenes with her character. I would love it a lot if the next books in this series have her character throughout because I would love to learn more about her.

Overall, Spellcaster is a really quick and fun read. It reminded me why I love Claudia Gray’s writing style.

Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris - Tour Stop!

Amazon ☆ B&N
The Book Depository

Publisher's summary: Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

My take: I have no idea what I expected before I read Unbreakable, but it sure wasn’t ALL that! Unbreakable was insanely epic on so many levels, and I’m sad that it’s over.

I’m trying to visualize in my head the similarities between Unraveling and Unbreakable, and the only thing I can come up with is the countdown clock and the desperate investigation to save the universe. Unraveling was all about investigating these strange murders and discovering what this countdown meant that ultimately might lead to a bunch of horrific tragedies and crazy destruction. Unbreakable was experiencing this new Sci-Fi element that was introduced at the end of Unraveling, with a lot of action thrown in and having to open your mind to the unthinkable.

Talking about the word “unthinkable,” I’m now thinking that should be Unbreakable’s title because I’m so flabbergasted on all the crazy! We first start off in the book on our world, which has been destroyed…literally! And then this horrific human-trafficking plot between worlds thingy is going on, and Janelle is the only hope to stop it! And when I say horrific, I really mean it! It got to the point that I thought this would be like Jeffery Dahmer having almost unlimited access to do whatever horrific thing he wanted to do to a VERY large number of people. It’s insane!

One of the big differences between this book and the first is the unquenchable action. There is a heck of a lot of running for their lives going on, and a heck of a lot of really insane moments. But the craziest, upon craziest moments is right smack in the middle of the book, and it had me almost pissing my pants from the reaction I had. It was insane and awkward and had me totally freaking out! I think I was flinching away from the page because I was scared to turn the page to find out what would happen next. Before this particular moment, this book already had more than enough complications, insanity and craziness but that actual extra crazy moment took a whole spin to take the insanity to a whole new level of unthinkable insanity!

Another crazy thing about this book is a character who I hated in the first book becomes one of my favorite characters in this book! I think an author is truly brilliant when she can pull that off. Especially, when her books are already very strongly character driven and her characters are already very well developed.

I could go on and on and on about this book…but I say you just read it and love it like I did!








About the author!
Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together. Her first novel, UNRAVELING (Balzer+Bray, April 2012), is the story of one girl's fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming.


Website ☆ Blog ☆ Twitter ☆ Facebook
Tumblr ☆ Goodereads

The film rights to Unraveling have been optioned by MTV! Check out this article: MTV Developing Elizabeth Norris' Young Adult Novel 'Unraveling' (Exclusive)


Twitter Events!
Liz Norris will be doing an Unbreakable Twitter Teaser with PageTurners (April 21st, 8pm ET) and BookHounds (April 22nd, 8pm ET) hosting. Followers can send @pageturnersblog and @maryinhb page numbers from Unbreakable and Liz will respond with a line from the book and bit of back story or insight about it. There will also be a giveaway both nights. On April 24th, at 8pm ET, Liz will be participating in a Live Chat with @mundiemoms hosting. Hashtag for all three Twitter events: #BeUnbreakable

Want a signed book?
You can purchase Unbreakable through Books of Wonder until the release date and you'll not only get a signed copy, but it will include an exclusive extra content booklet that includes:

An Alternate Beginning
A Pivotal Scene from Ben's POV
A Pivotal Scene from Barclay's POV
An Alternate Ending


Tour Stops!
April 15, 2013: All Things Urban Fantasy
April 16, 3013: Two Chicks on Books
April 17, 2013: A Book and a Latte
April 18, 2013: Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
April 19, 2013: Shortie Says
April 22, 2013: Katie's Book Blog
April 23, 2013: Supernatural Snark
April 24, 2013: Justin's Book Blog
April 25, 2013: Tales of a Ravenous Reader
April 26, 2013: Fiktshun


There will be 5 awesome prizes!!!!!

Grand prize: A signed copy of Unbreakable, the Unraveling paperback and some swag.
Winners 1-4: A copy of either Unraveling or Unbreakable their choice.
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Excerpt from Otherborn by Anna Silver

The Excerpt!
“It’s now or never, London,” she said to herself and crushed the cig into the chipped paint of the reprocessing bin beside her. She shook out her hands, tossed back her shoulders, and rounded the corner to the entrance reading Dogma in unlit neon tubing.

“I have something I want you to hear,” London announced, breezing into the dark room still swimming with smoke from the night before. She dropped her guitar and backpack to the floor.

Pauly swung a burly arm across the once polished wood of his City Central bar, now rubbed raw at the corners and pitted with deep dents from years of use, wiping it with a torn bit of rag from an old t-shirt. He didn’t look up.

London reached out and grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop. “I have something I want you to hear,” she repeated, more forcefully this time. If there was one thing she couldn’t abide, it was being ignored.

He sighed. “Kid, I got loads of work before the night crowd arrives. You gonna wash my glasses if I stop to listen to whatever it is you got to say?”

London smirked. He always did this, acted put out. But deep down, she knew Pauly cared about her. In fact, he might be the only one who did care. He’d been sharing his rations with her mom for the last thirteen years just to make sure London kept clothes on her back and food in her mouth. Which was more than most people would be willing to do for someone outside their own family. “Come on old man. I’ll shine your glasses later. And it’s not something I have to say. It’s something I have to play.”

Pauly dropped the rag and folded his arms across his barrel chest. “Who you playin’ now?” he asked as London moved to the little stage and propped her long self against the edge of a stool. “You already mastered that entire album by the Replacements I gave ya last week?”

“Just listen,” she said and began to pick out the unsteady chords on the black acoustic guitar he’d given her barely a year ago, feeling her way through the melody. The bite of the steel strings hardly registered on her calloused fingers anymore, but the vibrations seemed to carry all the way to her soul. She moved her way through the tune, doing her best to maintain the pitch of her voice, first soft and trickling, then ripening into a bold chorus where she strummed with such aggression she worried about popping a string or vocal cord.

Popping a string was bad. It could take weeks to scrap a new one. Popping a vocal cord would be worse. Her mother had very few medical rations stored. They only came biannually, and the handful of doctors inside city walls already had ridiculous waiting lists. Capital City used to be full of hospitals, or so it was said, but after the Energy Crisis, the rooms were needed for housing.

Pauly was listening in spite of his earlier moaning. His round head bobbing with the rhythm told London that. She smiled inwardly at the light bouncing off the bald section in the middle. He liked it, she could tell.

When she at last finished, London put down the guitar and said breathlessly, “I’m still working out the lyrics on that last part.”

Pauly gave her a quizzical look, but didn’t respond.

“So, what do you think?”

He nodded, “Not bad. But I’ve never heard that one. Who’s it by? They can’t be anyone I introduced you to. You got a disc Scrapper up your sleeve that I don’t know about?”

London laughed. Pauly always shared his discs with her, which allowed her to save anything and everything she could to trade for illegal tech. He should know she wouldn’t turn to a Scrapper for new music material, no matter where they managed to find the discs and sneak them into the city. “No old man. It’s mine.”

Pauly dropped his arms, his face serious now. “What do you mean yours?”

London shrugged, her loose sweater nearly dropping off one shoulder. “I mean I wrote it.”

Pauly shook his head, his remaining wisps of hair dancing in the air above it. “Wrote it? You?”

“Yeah,” London said, nonchalant. “What’s the big deal?” But London knew exactly what the big deal was. Her song was New.


About the book!

London and her teenage friends live in a reprocessed world.

Confined within Capital City’s concrete walls, London has done the impossible and the illegal. She’s created something New- a song. But her mentor, club owner Pauly, is not impressed. Since the historic Energy Crisis forced everyone behind walls generations ago, the Tycoons have ensured there is truly nothing new allowed under the sun. Pauly warns London to keep her song to herself, if she knows what’s good for her.

What he doesn’t know is that London is keeping an even bigger secret: she dreams. And she’s not alone. London’s band-mates and friends have begun dreaming as well, seeing themselves in “night pictures” as beings from another world. As Otherborn, they must piece together the story of their astral avatars, the Others, in order to save their world from a dreamless, hopeless future.

When Pauly is murdered and an Otherborn goes missing, London realizes someone is hunting them down. Escaping along the Outroads, they brave the deserted Houselands with only their dreams to guide them. Can they find their friend before the assassin finds them? Will being Otherborn save their lives, or destroy them?

About the author!

Website ★ Blog ★ Twitter
Facebook ★ Goodreads ★ Pinterest
Publisher
Anna Silver grew up with a passion for words, books, and storytelling. She began writing as a child and eventually landed at St. Edward’s University in Austin where she studied English Writing & Rhetoric. She has always nurtured a vivid imagination and a love for art, expression, and fantasy. Currently she resides in the greater Houston area with her family and pets where she continues to read, write, and dream. Otherborn is her first published novel.
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Impatiently Waiting! The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

Expected publish date:
November 19, 2013

Goodreads' summary: In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn't over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there's still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

Pulses will race throughout this thrilling fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where no secret is safe.


♥♥♥♥♥

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

Teaser - Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she'll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but civilization is slowly rebuilding, and life is starting to resume some kind of normalcy—until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up, asking for Janelle's help. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human-trafficking ring—kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths. And Ben, with his unique abilities, is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn't turn himself over within five days. When Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger.

Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they're lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she's in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

In this heart-pounding sequel to Unraveling, author Elizabeth Norris explores the sacrifices we make to save the people we love and the worlds we'll travel to find them.

The Teaser!
Brushing my fingers through his hair, I whisper, "I love you Jared," and then, because I know it's an X-Files quote he'll understand, I add, "'Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant. My touchstone.'"

A muffled, "'And you were mine'" comes out from under the covers. From the sound of his voice, I can tell he's smiling.

- ARC Page 80
*Mindy's Note - This is an FYI for the peeps that hasn't read Unraveling: Janelle is speaking to her brother Jared...not her dude.

♥♥♥♥♥




Teaser Tuesday is hosted by is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.


Make sure you come back Thursday for this tour stop!

Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Publisher’s summary: Embrace Your Destiny

Anna Whitt, daughter of a guardian angel and a fallen one, promised herself she'd never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She'd been naive to make such a claim. She'd been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school's party girl. And all the while there's Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of the Duke of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: Is loving someone worth risking your life?

My take: It’s about flippin’ time! I thought I might die if I had to wait another day to read this dang book! And gaaaah! It was so unbelievably good! I forgot how well Wendy can tease out all so many feels in her writing. *sigh* Obviously, I was not even a little bit disappointed with this book. In fact, I’m in love with this book, the characters and Wendy. Wendy, can you please come live with me so you can tell me bedtime stories? Or, you could just call at bedtime and then I’ll just fall asleep on the phone! I’m down with whatever! You tell me, I’ll be there. LOL

Anyways, enough about me; let’s talk about Sweet Peril. Right from the very first page, I was instantaneously sucked into the story and I was almost totally satisfied before I even got started! Well, actually, there’s an amazing scene that isn’t really on the very first page but its close enough and pretty much at the very beginning of the book that I’d say it “almost” totally satisfied my craving for this second book in Wendy’s Sweet Trilogy series. But, without a doubt, I was definitely fully satisfied by the end! And a heads up...this review is going to be heavily surrounding the characters because I think that is one of this book’s/series biggest strengths.

First thing I loved about this book is that we get to meet two new Nephilim in Sweet Peril! I loved learning about these new Nephilim, and I grew attached to them the moment they showed up on the pages. And then, near the end of the book, we’re introduced to this other young Nephilim from afar who had me totally freaking out! I’m thinking Wendy might have just introduced us to a whole new evil complication. I’m getting chills thinking about it right now.

For all you Kope fans, there’s a lot of him in this book, and I’m actually really happy with it. I can’t say that I would have liked it if I knew beforehand that he would be in the majority of this book, but I’m so happy now that he was. I think that in Sweet Evil I didn’t really allow myself the chance to get attached to his character too much, mainly because I thought of him too much as a complication. Yes, I think that, in a sense, he’s part of a love triangle…but not really. But in Sweet Peril I actually allowed myself to connect with him, and I just love that guy.

Then there are the twins! How can you not love those girls???!!! There are enough of them in this book that we get to love them even more and I really hope that they will be in the majority of the last book.

Last, but not least, there’s Kaidan! Kaidan, oh Kaidan! I love you!!! I’m not saying too much about him because it’s just too much of a spoiler, but…why oh why Kai are you a fictional character?

There is a lot of craziness in the end, and when I was finished with Sweet Peril I was absolutely thrilled with the entire book. I can say that my only negative feelings are that I now have to wait for the resolution. I’m thinking that this is a series I’ll read over and over again.

Easy by Tammara Webber

Publisher’s summary: Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl's struggle to regain the trust she's lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy.

My take: First of all, I want everyone who’s reading this review to be fully aware that a lot of content in this book is all about THE very things that I normally say absolutely NO to when reading a book. So, me giving this book 4 stars is pretty ginormous. Number one, I do not read Contemporary. Number two, I do not read anything that has Adult or New Adult content. And, lastly, I stay 100 feet away from anything that has to do with sexual assault. All of the peeps out there who have been trying to push me into reading this book really don’t know me too well. But even after saying all that, I actually quite enjoyed this book.

I listened to Easy on Audible on a road trip, and I only started listening to it because I was struggling to keep awake while listening to another book. I’m not going to tell you what other book I had to put on hold in order to listen to Easy, but I think everyone would die if they knew what book I set aside to listen to this one.

Anyways, the scene in the very beginning pretty much should have told me to run far, far away. But it didn’t frighten me as much as it normally would, and I was consumed into the writing style so that I kept on listening.

Easy was written with extremely well developed characters. Jacqueline is struggling with a previous breakup, then this horrible thing happens to her and then she grows into a very strong character throughout the story. Everything about Lucas is easy to fall in love with from his hot looks, to his funny, playful and protective personality. And then there are the several douchebag characters that were very well developed too.

Obviously, you can see that this book is full of all kinds of drama, so it’s a given that there would be a lot of tears shed while listening to this book. And yes, I sobbed! The best part of the story was the romance with Jacqueline and Lucas! The whole development of their relationship was extremely well done.

Fragments by Dan Wells

Publisher’s summary: Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues 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 involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions 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 Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn't even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity's time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means—and even more important, a reason—for our survival.

My take: The moment I started Fragments, I was immediately immersed back into the world that Dan Wells created. This series is so awesome! I’m dying to get my hands on the last book in the trilogy! A year is just way too far away.

Even though I was happy that we get to follow along in Kira’s POV (so we know what the heck she’s doing after the way Partials ended), I was even more thrilled that we got a lot of the book from the POV of Marcus. Kira’s story is very important to the trilogy because it’s a huge link to everything, but I felt like Marcus’ story moved along a lot faster and kept the story entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, Kira’s story is very entertaining, but there was a lot of traveling, investigating and hiccups along the way in all of her parts, so it didn’t move as fast as what was going on with Marcus. I do have to admit that some of the craziest scenes in the book are still with Kira, but one of the suckiest scenes is with Kira as well. I could hardly believe that Dan Wells would even go there. It was actually quite cruel! So, basically, the whole book was pretty phenomenal.

One of the things I love most about these books are the intense action scenes and discovering how complicated the world has become. But what I love most about this book is that a lot of the loose ends about what truly happened to the world start to tie together, and it’s actually crazily insane. You’re left wondering what the heck the humans were thinking when they made all these crazy decisions.

There is a twist that is revealed pretty close to the end of the book that I actually figured out pretty early on, but it was still a shock to see that it was true. And how it all happened is pretty crazy in itself.

So enough about talking in riddles. The way Fragments ended is set in a way that is blatantly obvious that the last book in the trilogy is going to be awesome! I can hardly wait to experience it too!

Cover Reveal! One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

The Cover!
Sequel to Ten Tiny Breaths



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Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

★ ★ ★
The Other Books!

★ ★ ★
About K.A. Tucker

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Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.