Review: Through The Zombie Glass - Gena Showalter

Title: Through The Zombie Glass (White Rabbit Chronicles #2)
Author: Gena Showalter
Release Date: September 24th, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Age and Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance

Pages: 480

Source: for review from publisher

Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home. After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things. The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

This is one of the best sequels EVER. Like, seriously so amazing I can't even. I liked the first one alright in the oh-its-good-but-could-be-better way, but this sequel was so mind-blowingly epic. And had everything the first one didn't. Lots more romance and development of the relationships, the heroine didn't make me want to strangle her and the love interest was FINALLY interesting. And swoon-worthy and hot and..yeah. You get my point.

I have a lot of respect for Alice now. From what hell she's gone through and all her other issues with Cole and everyone, this girl was strong. And admirable and smart. She's not stupid (which I liked), and while I didn't agree with few of her decisions, I understood them and thought the flaw made her more likable. Cole was so boring in the first book, but in Through The Zombie Glass, he was like WHOA. I loved how complicated his character was, and he's got so many swoony lines that even in scenes where you want to hate him, like Alice, you just can't help your feelings for him. The romance in this was definitely stronger, and more development went to it. Their relationship go through a whole lot in this book, I have to admit, I did hate Cole at one point. Like, why the hell would you do that, you little twat?! Then all is well and I forgiven him (kind off.)

There was a lot of suspense and mystery in this book. I did kinda suspect that person, but who cares. It was just so brilliantly done that I didn't really mind. And the secondary characters was amazing. I want a book about Kat and Frosty!!!! I love their hot and cold relationship and their dialogues!

Even though you're not a lover of zombies (I wasn't, until after this book), I would still highly recommend this series! It's now in my list of fav YA paranormal series, and I am DYING for the third/final book. I need to know what happens next!!!

Showcase Sunday (46)

Hosted by the lovely Books, Biscuits and Tea, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto e-readers each week.

~BOUGHT~

 

 



 

Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines

Rated it 3 stars. Can't wait for the continuation of this series.

 

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Currently reading this one and it's very interesting!!!

All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

I have read reviews of this and it sounds so intriguing and mysterious and tense and ahh.

 

Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

I loved Something LIke Normal which was her debut book, and she became one of my new fav authors after that. Love the cover for this one too.

 

Wicked Thing by Angeline Kace

It's NA and you guys know my obsession with those, right? Plus I've read the teasers and OMG.

 

~ FOR REVIEW ~

Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Rated million stars. May or may not be my best read of 2013..Review for blog tour coming soon! Thanks Harlequin Teen and MiraInk!

Olivia Twisted by Vivi Barnes

Haven't read this yet but feels like I've been waiting for this book for ages. Thanks Entangled! 

Pawn by Aimee Carter

I haven't read any books from Aimee before but I''m hoping this'll be a good one! Thanks Harlequin Teen and MiraInk!

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

This has been out ages ago but the UK pub tweeted bloggers who wanted to get a copy of this for review! Yay!

Popping The Cherry by Aurelia B. Rowl

This sounds hilarious and fun! Can't wait to read - thanks Harlequin Teen!

So that's my weekly haul! Any books there that you want me to read immediately or want me to review soon? :)

Waiting On Wednesday (51)

IGNITE ME by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me #3

February 4th, 2013

HarperCollins

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.

Seriously, who ISN'T excited for this?? This Shatter Me series has become one of my all time favourites and I really just fell in love with Tahereh's beautiful writing style. The reason why I really would give my first born child for this? I WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE'LL END UP WITH. I'm personally Team Adam (though I love both!) but after reading this blurb and the title, I have a feeling Warner's going to win. We shall see. EEEEP. In February. Which is too long!!!

 

Cover Thoughts: I do love the eyes, and how it fits with the rest of the series. The details on the eyes are gorgeous! (Honestly I don't really get why eyes are featured on every cover of this series?)

So what are you waiting for this Wednesday? And what do you think of my choice this week?

And I want to know, are you Team Adam or Warner? Hate Chapter 62 or loved it?? 

Release Day Launch: Tragically Flawed by A.M. Hargrove

Tragically Flawed by A.M. Hargrove

 

September 2013

Goodreads

 

 

 

BOOK SUMMARY:

Riviera Benson has a talent...one she discovered by accident. She’s a painter, but canvas isn’t her medium. She creates her lovely masterpieces on walls and ceilings of million dollar homes as murals and faux finishes. Her art is in high demand now, but life wasn’t always that way. Riviera has secrets from her past she intends to keep tightly locked away...terrifying secrets that keep her awake at night...that prevent her from getting close to anyone...anyone that is, until she meets Shan.

 

Benjamin Shandon, owner of Shandon Homes, works like a thousand demons are chasing him...because perhaps they are. His business has boomed, ever since the forest fire swept through the canyon and destroyed hundreds of million dollar homes. He demands excellence in everything...from his employees to his women. He slows down for nothing, keeping a schedule that no sane person would want. But Riviera interrupts everything, twisting his guts inside out, and wedging her way into his heart, destroying a promise he made to himself.

 

Will they let their pasts control their future, or will they decide to let go and allow their hearts to discover each other’s?

 

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/14wIgQ0

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/19qMpVb

 

Author Information

 

One day, on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove, realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn't do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life.  So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase.  Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodge ball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head.  Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what laptop out the window.  She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone, called her boss and quit her job.  Grinning, she made another call to her hubs and told him of her new adventure (after making sure his heart was beating properly again).

 

So began A. M. Hargrove's career as a YA/NA and Adult Romance writer. Her books include the following: Edge of Disaster, Shattered Edge and Kissing Fire (The Edge Series); The Guardians of Vesturon series (Survival, Resurrection, Determinant, reEmergent and Beginnings); Dark Waltz and Tragically Flawed.

 

Other than being in love with writing about being in love, she loves chocolate, ice cream and coffee and is positive they should be added as part of the USDA food groups.

 

Author Links:

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Author Goodreads

Review: Unchained - J. Lynn

Title: Unchained (Nephilim Rising #1)
Author: J. Lynn
Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Publisher: Entangled (Edge)

Age and Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 400

Source: for review from publisher

Between the pissed off creatures that want demon-hunter Lily Marks dead and the fallen angel who just...wants her, Lily is about ready to trade in forever for a comfy job in a cubicle farm.

The fact that she and Julian are civil to one another is enough to have her thrown out of the Sanctuary, but she can't shake her not-so-angelic stalker or how he brings her dangerously close to ecstasy.

Her forbidden relationship with Julian provides the perfect fuel for suspicion when a traitor is discovered to be working within the Sanctuary. Lily quickly finds herself hunted by well, everyone.

Her only hope is to discover the real traitor before she loses everything--and she'll need Julian's help. That is, if Julian is really there to help her...and not destroy her.

Yeah, being a Nephilim isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

I've probably been waiting for this book for about two years now or something like that. It was announced AGES ago and I was so upset last year when they moved it to this year instead. This was one of Jen's early books ever, and to be honest, it was pretty obvious as her writing has really improved since then. Even though this wasn't the best JLA book (probably right up there Cursed for the least fav for me), I still pretty enjoyed it and would recommend it to other JLA fans.

Lily was a character I really loved! She was just so awesome and feisty and brave and can really hold her own in front of others. Even though she's like tiny, her personality really makes up for it! She's got some of the best lines in this book and as always with Jen's main character, Lily is someone you're going to root for. Though I must say, she's a bit too naive and there was one where I was like "Can't you see?!?!? All the evidence are right there in front of you woman!!!"

Julian fell a little bit flat for me. Compared to Daemon and Aiden and Hunter, this guy just couldn't stand a chance. Hell no. And what's up with the stalking?! That was so not romantic and reminded me of Edward you know who. So creepy. That thing aside, he was very genuine to Lily, and was really protective and supportive of her. Julian made her see what she didn't want to. I think they both bring out the best in each other. The scenes were EXTRA hot and definitely the steamest of Jen's books so far! Romantic fans are gonna love this one.

Must warn you now - this book has multiple POVs. Third persons and all that. I thought we were just getting Lily's (which I preferred to be honest) but then we got more character's POVs. And I just didn't like that. I knew it helped in some scenes, but overall I just didn't like the other characters too much to enjoy reading their POVs.

The whole angel and Nephilim thing was really interesting and different to all the other angel books I've read before. Yes, there was a lot of info-dumping and boring history lessons in the first half, but the second half kinda makes up for it. I can't wait to see where the author is going to take this story next. I must say, I did kinda guess who betrayed them in the very beginning, but then I suspected someone else and then went back to the original person and yes I was right. I didn't want to be right though! :(

So, while this won't be on my favourites list, I will definitely read the next book in this promising series and I need more Julian/Lily time now! :)

3.5 rating.

 

Book Blitz: Deadly To Love - Mia Hoddell

 

Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers #1)
by Mia Hoddell
Release Date: February 2013

Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy
ASIN: B00BDQ3QGA
ISBN: 978-1-291-41025-9

Blurb:
The world is dangerous – but love will kill you.

Little did Serena Jackson know that one simple, flirty remark to an anonymous guy online would lead to her world being changed forever.

She doesn’t know him, but inexplicably, is drawn. She knows it is wrong but she agrees to meet.

His real name is Kai. He is beautiful. And immediately Serena feels herself blindly falling for him even though she senses a lie. She knows he is hiding something and it terrifies her.

What she doesn’t realise is that her entire life has been built on secrets and lies. The people she loved left her in the dark for a reason.

She trusted them. She trusts Kai. But as he pulls her straight into the heart of the danger the lies and deadly secrets are revealed. They overwhelm her, and the person she once was no longer exists as she is thrown into a ruthless world of elemental forces. The price of truth is her life—and now the world wants her dead.

Available from:

Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback) | Lulu
and only 99c / 77p on Kindle for September!

Praise:

“I couldn't put it down. So I finished it last night and all I can say is WOW! This book was amazing and different.” Brianna (Book Blogger)

“I loved how the author took a different approach to writing a love story in modern times with the paranormal element present. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and refreshing. Marvelous!” Kathy H (Amazon Reviewer)

“I will admit I scoffed at the way it started but in the end I had fallen in love with this story…completely untraditional it was a very original idea, not to mention modern. This story had such a good plot and the story structure was sound.” Kacii – The Kooky Bookworm (Book Blogger)

About the Author

Mia Hoddell lives in the UK with her family and two cats. She spends most of her time writing or reading and loves anything paranormal. Mia always had a love of writing but never reading. She was more interested in sports and hated sitting still - despite getting three poems published before the age of sixteen. Finally though, she found some novels that captured her interest and developed a love of reading which is now one of her favourite hobbies.

Mia began with poems before moving on to short stories. Although she enjoyed this, Mia found she had too much to tell with too little space, so later on she created her first series 'The Wanderer Trilogy' and from there other ideas have emerged. With a total of nine books planned at this moment, she is busy working on her second series 'Elemental Killers' before moving onto the next idea on her ever growing list.

Author Links

   

***Excerpt***

Happy with the amount of photos I had collected I started to head back out of the forest, still flicking through my shots. As well as close ups, I had taken a few landscapes and as I was almost at the edge of the forest I noticed something in one of the photographs that made me stop.

In the left hand corner was a figure that looked mostly human, but was blurred as if they were moving on the spot.

A cold shudder shot through me.

Looking over my shoulder I became slightly panicked and felt as if someone was following me.

My eyes flicked and searched the shadows. Even though there was no sign that anything had ever been behind me, the forest looked different now - dark and threatening.

Instinctively I broke away and ran, still clutching the camera that was displaying the freaky image. Surrounded by trees I didn’t stop until I was free of the forest and back in the open light and sight of my house.

Throwing open my door, I slumped against the inside of it, regaining my breath from the short sprint. Once I had recovered I looked down at the photo once more, just to make sure that I hadn’t been seeing things. The old saying “the camera never lies,” came into my mind and for the first time I wished it not to be true. Sure enough though, as I looked down at the screen, the figure was still there and this time I noticed a red and orange glow around where its feet should have been. The image almost looked like the person was on fire but I thought I would have surely noticed if there had been a burning man in front of me.

***GIVEAWAY***

Mia Hoddell is giving away an Amazon gift card this month only there is a slight twist: the more entries she receives the more money she will put on the gift card to giveaway! For example:

No matter what = $5

100 entries = $10

150 entries = $15

200 entries = $20

and so forth...

So if she gets 1000 entries she will give away $100, there’s no limit!

To enter all you have to do is buy or have bought Deadly to Love. It's only $0.99 or £0.79 on Amazon for the duration of the giveaway! This will also unlock extra entries for you so you can earn more points by sharing the giveaway. Remember the more entries she gets the bigger the prize for you so share!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Showcase Sunday (45)

Hosted by the lovely Books, Biscuits and Tea, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto e-readers each week.

 

 

 

 ~BOUGHT~

 

 

 

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

I have read Gretchen's other book TEN and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully this one too!

 

Silver Heart by Victoria Green

I just read a few (amazing) reviews of this early and let's just say I couldn't stop my hand from clicking 'buy' on kindle.

 

Once We Were by Kat Zhang

I still haven't read the first book in the series but I'm planning to soon. Plus, this one was on sale when I got it. 

 

Best Friends Forever: Liar Liar by Dawn Pendleton

It was only 77p on Kindle (Amazon UK) and the story does sound very interesting!

 

Ever After High (novellas: Raven Queen, Briar Beauty, Apple White, Madeline Hatter and Ashlynn Ella)

Ok, so this was when I went a bit crazy (or not). I got the Atom newsletter and it mentioned this new series and so obviously I had to get the free novellas on kindle and watched a few episodes of it on youtube! It's very fun and cute! And, all the girls are the daughters of fairytales - as I'm obsessed with Disney, well how can I not? :P

 

 

~ FOR REVIEW ~

 

 

 

 

Shock Me by Ashley Harris

I really do not like the cover but who cares. The book sounds awesome! Thanks to Barclay Publicity.

 

Waterfell by Amalie Howard

It's YA mermaid book that I'm so excited to read! Thanks HarlequinTeen!

 

Wish I May by Lexi Ryan

I have read the companion to this and while it was just ok, I'm hoping this will be lots better. Thanks Inkslinger!

 

Parawars:Uprising by Caitlin Greer

It's NA gargoyle/paranormal book! Currently reading this one! Thanks to author Cait!

 

Finding It by Cora Carmack

Rated it 5 stars! Definitely my fav Cora Carmack book! Jackson Hunt <3 coming="" em="" inslinger="" review="" soon.="" thanks="">

 

 

 

So that's my weekly haul! Any books there that you want me to read immediately or want me to review soon? :)