Teaser Tuesday: Strands of Bronze and Gold (Strands of Bronze and Gold #1) by Jane Nickerson

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

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

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

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

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"When I opened my eyes a crack, the pale glimmering light of the Sisters bathed the room. I heard one word whispered, not out loud, but neither was it in my mind: 'Runnnnn!'"
Chapter 24, 65% e-ARC
Strands of Bronze and Gold (Strands of Bronze and Gold #1) by Jane Nickerson

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Top Ten Tuesday (51)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's theme is: 

Top Ten Authors I'd Put on My Auto-Buy List

1. Cassandra Rose Clarke - I read her debut YA novel a few months back and absolutely love, love, loved it! When I was offered the opportunity to read her adult novel, I jumped at the chance. The books were completely different, but both were outstanding. She has so much talent and I plan to read everything she releases in the future!
2. Veronica Roth - I love the Divergent series and she's such a sweetheart--that always helps!
3. Lisa McMann - The woman is a goddess. I have read everything she's written thus far, with the exception of The Unwanteds (but only because my father still has my copies!). She's enthralled me with every book she's released and I will continue to support her forever.
4. Marissa Meyer - Cinder and Scarlet? Fantastic! Ms. Meyer has an amazing talent. Everything she produces in the future will be purchased by me!
5. Hannah Moskowitz - The only thing I ever know to expect from Moskowitz's work is perfection.
6. Leigh Bardugo - Foreverandeverandeverandeverandever.
7. John Green - He's so inspirational and writes some of the most fantastic stories I've ever read. I absolutely adore him and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next!
8. Lish McBride - Lish's humor is what makes her books so good and I never have trouble rereading her work. She's an author whose work I could read all day, any day.
9. Patrick Ness - I didn't know what to expect from Patrick's work when I first started his Chaos Walking series, but as the story progressed, my adoration for Patrick grew. He is utterly brilliant. After reading A Monster Calls, I will buy anything he ever writes because he's just that good.
10. Stephanie Perkins - Her writing is just so sweet and entertaining. I have fun reading and rereading her books. There aren't many authors that leave so big of an impression on me that I will actually reread their work multiple times, but Stephanie is one of them!

What authors are on your auto-buy list?

Blog Tour: ARC Review + Giveaway: Broken Wings (Angel Eyes Trilogy #2) by Shannon Dittemore

Today, Edwin and Emily are happy to be a part of the 

Broken Wings Blog Tour

hosted by YA Bound.

Find the other tour stops here.

Broken Wings (Angel Eyes Trilogy #2) by Shannon Dittemore

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: February 19, 2013
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
311 Pages

Giant angels with metal wings and visible song. A blind demon restored from the pit of darkness. And a girl who has never felt more broken.

Brielle sees the world as it really is: a place where the Celestial exists side by side with human reality. But in the aftermath of a supernatural showdown, her life begins to crumble. Her boyfriend, Jake, is keeping something from her—something important. Her overprotective father has started drinking again. He’s dating a much younger woman who makes Brielle’s skin crawl, and he’s downright hostile toward Jake. Haunting nightmares keep Brielle from sleeping, and flashes of Celestial vision keep her off kilter.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s been targeted. The Prince of Darkness himself has heard of the boy with healing in his hands and of the girl who sees through the Terrestrial Veil. When he plucks the blind demon, Damien, from the fiery chasm and sends him back to Earth with new eyes, the stage is set for a cataclysmic battle of good versus evil.

Then Brielle unearths the truth about her mother’s death and she must question everything she ever thought was true.

Brielle has no choice. She knows evil forces are converging and will soon rain their terror down upon the town of Stratus. She must master the weapons she’s been given. She must fight.

But can she fly with broken wings?

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Tour-Wide Giveaway Details:

- One winner will receive print copies of Angel Eyes and Broken Wings by Shannon Dittemore

- Five winners will receive a print copy of Broken Wings by Shannon Dittemore

- Open to US entrants only

- We are not responsible for lost and/or damaged packages

- Ends 03/01/2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Review:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't like angel books. Now, I know what you are thinking: "Why did you pick up Broken Wings if you don't like angel books?" The answer is because I was extremely impressed with the first book in this series, Angel Eyes. I decided to read Broken Wings because though this is a pretty religion-oriented novel, it is handled tastefully and the story is compelling beyond the religious aspects.

In Broken Wings, Brielle and Jake are in search of answers. Answers about Jake's past, answers about Brielle's mom and answers about their gifts. But beyond their search, danger is coming and it's coming for them. The Prince knows of their existence and wants Damien, whose eyes have been restored, to be them to him. It doesn't help that Brielle's father is starting to fall apart, or that Jake's been keeping a secret. To survive the impending battle of good and evil, Brielle and Jake must trust in each other, trust in the Father and fight.

I really love these characters. They are genuine and easy to relate to, which made reading the book a breeze. Brielle and Jake's love for each other is pure and so fantastically sweet. Brielle's dad really angered me in this story. He's drinking a lot. He's being cruel to Jake, even though Jake is being nothing but kind to him. He's also dating a much younger woman who Brielle doesn't trust. I really wanted to smack her dad. He's extremely selfish in this novel and I started to loathe him. And Olivia? I had a bad feeling about her from the moment she was introduced. I look forward to seeing how the author expands her story in the next book. The minor characters that are reintroduced from the first book continue to build the plot. Especially Marco and Kaylee. I wish we could see inside their heads!

The story itself was captivating. I read through it quickly and didn't even think about putting it down. The author brilliant weaves a tale that will capture the interest of all of its readers, even those who, like me, are not religious. I have so many questions I need answered. Broken Wings left a lot unresolved. We are introduced to many new problems, but only given a few solutions. It sets up the final book nicely. 

Ms. Dittemore has thoroughly impressed me with these Broken Wings and its prequel, Angel Eyes. I eagerly am awaiting the third and final book in the series, Dark Halo. (Though I'm not excited about having to wait six months to read it because of the way the book ended!)

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Netgalley.

Follow Friday (53)

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

Q. We always talk about books WE want. Let's turn it on its head. What books have you given other people lately?

A. Hmm, well, in the last giveaway we held, we gave away a $25 dollar credit to TBD, which the winner used to buy a copy of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I let my mom borrow (see: BORROW) my copy of Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Apparently, I've talked about it so much, that she needed to read it herself. I FINALLY convinced my best friend to read Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, but she got that from the library because I wouldn't share my copy. My cousin also has reaped the benefit of my love of sharing. She's been taking books from me left and right! (Though she's on her way to probation. She thought it would be nice to read Dark Lover over candle light AND BURNED SOME OF THE PAGES. ... ... ... ...)

What books have you given (shared with) others lately?

Triple Threat Blog Tour: Book Review: Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Today, Edwin and Emily are happy to be a part of the Triple Threat Blog Tour

hosted by Bloomsbury Teens. 

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Publisher: Walker Childrens
336 Pages

Mallory killed her boyfriend, Brian. She can't remember the details of that night but everyone knows it was self-defense, so she isn't charged. But Mallory still feels Brian's presence in her life. Is it all in her head? Or is it something more? In desperate need of a fresh start, Mallory is sent to Monroe, a fancy prep school where no one knows her . . . or anything about her past.But the feeling follows her, as do her secrets. Then, one of her new classmates turns up dead. As suspicion falls on Mallory, she must find a way to remember the details of both deadly nights so she can prove her innocence-to herself and others. 

In another riveting tale of life and death, Megan Miranda's masterful storytelling brings readers along for a ride to the edge of sanity and back again.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:

After reading Megan Miranda's debut title, Fracture, and loving it, I looked forward to seeing how her writing would progress. When the cover for Hysteria was released, I knew I would enjoy this book. No, it's not the best book of all time, but it really is a exellent and eery tale.

Mallory can't remember the night she killed her boyfriend, Brian. She wasn't charged with a crime, since it was ruled self-defense, but her parents still decide to send her off to Monroe, her father's old prep school. She isn't happy with the idea, but is willing to go to get away from Brian's memory, which is haunting her. When a student at Monroe is killed, all eyes are on Mallory and people really start to question her. Was Brian's death really just self-defense?

Hysteria has some obvious plot twists, and the climax fell a bit flat, but what leads up to them is what kept me reading. I found myself captivated by Mallory's story. Even though more often than not, I didn't agree with her actions, it was impossible for me not to be drawn into her world. Mallory can be a difficult character. For me, at least, she's not a character that I immediately fell in love with. She's pretty selfish and immature. As the story progressed, my feelings towards her fluctuated, but my enjoyment of the story, did not.

The characters in this story had a lot of flaws, and not very much kindness. For the most part, the characters are stereotypical. You've got the mean girls, cruel boys who want into everyone's pants, and parents who don't know what the heck they are doing. Colleen and Reid were the only characters that I really liked. Reid's faith and the way he cares about Mallory are the two major reasons I liked him so much. Mallory's best friend, Colleen, and I didn't always get along. For the most part, I believe she is a good friend, but there were times in this book where I wanted to yell at her. That being said, there were also many times in this novel where I felt Mallory needed a good talking-to.

The plot was extremely creepy. We see flashbacks of Mallory's relationship with Brian, how the relationship started and… how it ended. The prose, the unstable main characters and the occurrences within the school pull together to make a truly spooky tale.

We also are introduced to a setting that is perfect for this thrilling story. The boarding school is perfect for this novel. The outside layout of the school, the forest, the ghost stories surrounding the school all made Hysteria that much darker. Miranda did an excellent job at creating a novel that was suspenseful in every nook and cranny.

I'm not sure what it is about Megan Miranda's work, but she knows just how to hook me. If I had to pick one thing that really sticks out, it's her compelling, haunting prose. She has a serious knack for it. I'm not all that into thrillers, but Ms. Miranda dispels my hesitancy and sucks me into her stories. 

Miranda's sophomore novel is as compelling and darkly fascinating as her first. Hysteria will provide its audience with a thrill ride that will keep them reading from start to finish. I cannot wait for the author's third book. It will definitely be one that I pick up immediately!

I received an e-copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review from the publisher via Netgalley.

YA Paranormal Giveaway Hop

The YA Paranormal Giveaway Hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and YA Between the Lines and runs from February 21th to February 27th.

We LOVE paranormal books. Lately, Edwin's been into fantasy and I've been really into contemporary, but paranormal books are ones on which we know we can always count! If you are following this hop, you love paranormal books, too, or you just like giveaways. Either way, welcome!

As part of this giveaway, Ed and I are giving away a paperback copy of Embrace (The Violet Eden Chapters #1) and an ARC of Entice (The Violet Eden Chapters #2) by Jessica Shirvington! I have two copies of each, and this is the perfect time to share!

Giveaway Details:

- One winner will receive a paperback copy of Embrace and an ARC of Entice by Jessica Shirvington 

- Open internationally

- One entrant per household

- Cheating results in immediate disqualification

- Winners have 48 hours to respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen

- We are not responsible for lost/damaged packages

- Ends 02/28/2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER OUR BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY! IT'S INTERNATIONAL AS WELL AND YOU COULD WIN ALL SIX VAMPIRE ACADEMY BOOKS SIGNED BY RICHELLE MEAD! (And they fit in with the paranormal theme of this hop! Win!)

Blog Tour: Excerpt: Pieces (The Breakaway #2) by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Today, Edwin and Emily are happy to be a part of the Pieces Blog Tour

hosted by Xpresso Book Tours.

Find the other tour stops here.

Pieces (The Breakaway #2) by Michelle Davidson Argyle

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
284 Pages

Staying in love can mean running away...

Two years after watching her kidnappers go to prison, Naomi Jensen is still in love with one of them. Jesse will be released in a few years, and Naomi knows college is the perfect distraction while she waits. But when her new friend Finn makes her question what is right and what is wrong, she begins to wonder if Jesse is the one for her...until she discovers he's out on parole. Naomi must sort through her confusion to figure out where love and freedom truly lie-in Finn, who has no connections to her past, or Jesse, who has just asked her to run away with him.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Excerpt from Pieces by Michelle Davidson Argyle:

The next day, after reading books until she thought she would go mad, she walked to the door again. She heard no arguing this time, but when she reached for the handle she broke into a sweat and turned around.

Not today.

This was what had stopped her from trying to escape the house—a deep-seated fear of the unknown, of wondering what might happen if things didn’t go right, a precarious feeling her universe might implode if she couldn’t plan everything down to the last detail and know how it would end. So, instead of trying, she held back. It was what had kept her from leaving Brad before her kidnapping. More than Jesse’s plea, it was what kept her from calling her mother.

She curled into a ball on the bed and cried herself to sleep until Jesse came home and woke her up. He started rubbing her back.

“This is how it’s going to be,” he explained, leaning down to her ear. “I’m sorry, but I have to work if we want to live here. Your money won’t last very long and we’ve spent most of mine now.”

“You want to work,” she said, burying her face in the pillows. “I know you love the job you have. It’s everything you ever wanted.”

“Everything I ever wanted is right here.” He scooped her into his arms and held her close. “You’re scared, I know, but you’ll get used to everything. It’ll get easier. This is a new start, remember?” 

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said, feeling like an idiot. “Why can’t I be strong?”

Turning her to look up at him, he lifted a hand and traced her lips with his fingers. “You’re stronger than you think, just not in ways most people expect.”

“What do you mean?”

He continued tracing her lips as a warm smile lit up his face. “Do you think you’d be alive right now if you weren’t strong? Eric would have killed you in the first three weeks if you hadn’t kept your cool like you did.”

“I was too scared to try anything,” she whispered. “I wasn’t being strong.”

He lifted his fingers from her lips as his smile melted into a straight line. “Strength doesn’t always mean fighting back. Sometimes it means enduring to the end—quietly. Not everybody could have handled your situation the way you did. Most would’ve tried to get away because they would’ve been too impatient to evaluate the kinds of people they were dealing with. They would have pissed Eric off so much he would have shot them in the head the first chance he had. You saw past that. I don’t care if you call it cowardice or fear. To me, it was smart and brave.”

Naomi didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t thought of herself as handling her captivity very well, but maybe Jesse had a point. He watched her for a moment, admiration sparkling in his eyes. It made her want to hug him and never let go. 

FIND BOOK ONE:

The Breakaway (The Breakaway #1)

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

What do you think? Does this series interest you?

Big thanks to Giselle from Xpresso Reads and Michelle for allowing us to be apart of this tour!

Top Ten Tuesday (50)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's theme is: 

Top Ten Favorite Characters in the Contemporary Genre

1. Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars
2. Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars
3. Freda (and Nicholas) from Painted Faces
4. Will Grayson (and Will Grayson) from Will Grayson, Will Grayson
5. Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson
6. Rowan from Wanderlove
7. Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door
8. Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss
9. John from Going Too Far
10. Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower (and Logan Lerman, yesh)

The lesson we've learned from this is that I love John Green and fictional characters of the male gender.

Who are your favorite characters from the contemporary genre? If you picked a different genre, which did you choose?

Teaser Tuesday: My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush by Laura Toffler-Corrie

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

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

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

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

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"I accidentally knock an apple onto the floor.
Luke tries to intercept it with his foot, but then accidentally kicks it, sending it rolling until it stops under feet of some poor freshman with a full tray."
Chapter 6, ARC Page 56
My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush by Laura Toffler-Corrie

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One Year and One-Thousand Followers Later Giveaway

Wow, has it really been a year? I know that's very typical of me to say, but it really is hard to believe that it's been a year since I forced my good friend, Edwin, into making a blog. BUT IT HAS BEEN. Where does the time go?

We also made it to over 1000 GFC followers, almost 3000 total (there are *cough* several ways to follow). Excuse my dropped jaw! You guys are amazing. I, personally, have had some of the greatest experiences due to the making of this blog. It's be a fantastic year and I'm excited to have shared it with you all! You are great. Did you know that? You are so. awesomely. great. and. stuff.

So to celebrate, we are giving away stuff. (And it's pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself.)

I've met Richelle Mead twice. My father (gotta love him) has also met her twice, as a favor to me. Because of these four events, I have three sets of the Vampire Academy series signed. And in honor of our one year/reaching one-thousand followers, one lucky follower will win a signed set!

Giveaway Details:

- One winner will receive the Vampire Academy series SIGNED by Richelle Mead

- Open internationally

- One entrant per household

- Cheating results in immediate disqualification

- Winners have 48 hours to respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen

- We are not responsible for lost/damaged packages

- Ends 03/10/2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone for making this year what it was and may we have many more with you!

ARC Review: The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: January 22, 2013
Publisher: Hyperion
328 Pages

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website

FIND THE BOOK:
Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:

As soon as I heard about The Archived, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. Victoria Schwab blew me away with her debut, The Near Witch and when I found out she was releasing a new series, I knew I had to read it. Lucky for me, I won an ARC in a giveaway hosted by Sara McClung and immediately immersed myself in this new world that Ms. Schwab so skillfully weaves. 

Mackenzie Bishop is a keeper. Entrusted with the job that her grandfather, Da, left to her her when she was twelve, Mackenzie sees that lost souls, or Histories, get returned to their resting place in the Archive, a library "where the dead rest on shelves like books." As if dealing with this responsibility after the loss of Da wasn't enough, her younger brother is suddenly killed. Now her parents avoid anything that reminds them of him and move them from their home to The Coronado, an old hotel made into an apartment building. While she deals with these tragedies, she must also solve the mystery of who is releasing the dead from their slumber and erasing their memories. Without discovering the truth, the world she was raised to protect will be destroyed.

This book was not what I was expecting, but it drew me in all the same. There is some predictability, but the unexpected events overrode any annoyance the predictable parts could've caused. The parts I didn't see coming were thrilling, fantastic twists. Not only is the action dark, but backstories of the characters from The Archived are dark and often depressing. This book had me tearing up more than once. The author portrays the characters' emotions perfectly. I felt real pain when Mac lamented about her brother, Ben, or her Da. She loved them both very much and it's obvious in the way she speaks about them. Absolutely heartbreaking. It was almost masochistic how much I enjoyed the angst in this novel.

Mackenzie made some decisions with which I didn't agree throughout the novel. Though it was hard to get on board with those choices, the reason for her making them was understandable. It makes a book that much better when an author can make you like a character, even when you don't like what they do. Victoria Schwab as some serious talent. 

The Archived has romance, but it is not the focal point of the story, and though there are two "love interests," it didn't feel like a love triangle. I don't really know how to explain it. It's almost like, instead of loving both of these boys, she's using one to hide behind and refusing herself the connection to the other. It's not annoyingly tormenting as other triangles. While I personally didn't like one of the boys, I adored the other. I think he's absolutely wonderful and I wish he was real so that I could date him. He quickly made his way into my heart, unlike the other boy, whom I was never able to trust. The decision was obvious to me, but it took Mac awhile to get there.

The Archived really felt like it came full circle. There were definitely things that could've been expand on and others that could've been perfected, but overall, I absolutely loved it. The end, especially, left me extremely satisfied. Throughout the book the audience will watch as Mackenzie grows as a person and her character development is extremely realistic. You could tell that she learned a lot from her experiences and became a more mature person because of her mistakes.

Saying that I'm excited for the next book would be a huge understatement. Some things I would like to play out:  as I said earlier, I really hope that Mac hashing out the past with her parents will be a big part, as well as her friendships with the Librarians, her friendship with Wesley -  and more about him and his past - and more about the other Coronado residents. I cannot wait to see what Ms. Schwab makes of this series. There is so much she could do with it and I honestly have no idea what is coming next!

I won an ARC of this novel in a giveaway.

Follow Friday (52)

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

Activity! Write a letter to your favorite character. Rant, rave or gush... just pretend they are real and you just want to let them know a "few things."- Kelly Walker, author

Dear Cinder,
GO GET 'CHO MAN, GIRL. SAVE SOME PEOPLE. RULE THE WORLD. HAVE SOME LITTLE PRINCES AND PRINCESSES, MAYBE. YA KNOW, WHATEVZ.
KEEP BEING ROBOTIC.
PEACE.
Love,
Emily

I blame this letter on the fact that the sun still isn't up here and I'm awake. I don't even... Happy Friday!

To whom would you write? 

(Look at me being all grammatically correct.)