Teaser Tuesday (6) Fated Mates

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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 that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

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

Teaser One

“You know Grant, I’ve known you since I was a little girl. You don’t have to play dumb or act all ‘Alpha Lycan’ with me.” She crossed her arms.

Grant frowned. "It's not that. I've just never had to do this before."

Fated Mates Kindle Location 864 

Cady may be the only human to talk to an Alpha like that. She is what all of these Lycans need.

Teaser Two

"My line of work?" she said her voice rising slightly. She paused. "Yes, actually it is. Human nature is predictable. We all want what we can't have. And when we do have something good, we want more.

Fated Mates Kindle Location 1802

There is so much truth in this statement that all want to do is say "preach sister, preach."

Teaser Three

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pull him down.
He didn't need further encouragement. He crashed his lips against hers in a needy, searing kiss.

Fated Mates Kindle Location 2643

Since there are technically three couples that I am currently shipping in this book, I am so not going to tell you which one is kissing. 

Book Trailer Saturday (5) The School of Good and Evil #5 A Crystal of Time

Some people believe you can fall in love at first sight. When it comes to books I believe those people. Book trailers are an excellent way to fall in love at first sight. I hope to feature a book trailer here every Saturday to help you fall in love at first sigh...

In this fifth installment in Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling School for Good and Evil fantasy series, the past will come back to haunt the present.

A false king has seized Camelot’s throne, sentencing Tedros, the true king, to death. While Agatha, narrowly escapes the same fate, Sophie is caught in King Rhian’s trap. With her wedding to Rhian approaching, she’s forced to play a dangerous game as her friends’ lives hang in the balance.

All the while, King Rhian’s dark plans for Camelot are taking shape. Now the students of the School for Good and Evil must find a way to restore Tedros to the throne before their stories—and the future of the Endless Woods—are rewritten . . . forever.

Fandom Friday (5) The Magicians

Hey y’all, thanks so much for stopping by my FF!

Fandom Friday is a weekly meme that highlights, various fandoms. Typically those that I am definitely a part of, sometimes those that I am not a part of but do feel strongly should have a fandom surrounding them.

The month of February is going to be dedicated to television shows that I love.

Currently in it’s fourth season, and just renewed for a fifth, The Magicians, is a fantasy series based on novels by Lev Grossman. Centered around a group of graduate students at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, it’s fandom is quiet vocal about how captivating the storylines are. The first three season can be binged watched on Netflix for those of who have yet to discover magic for adults.

Why I am a fan?

Brakebills can easily be compared to Hogwarts as a school for magical users yet that is where the comparison ends. This is definitely an adult show with adult themes and situations. Sometimes lighthearted and other times serious as all get out. Weekly it is the one show currently on tv that I stop and make time for, clearing out my schedule and the living room of my children so that I can once again escape to a land where magic runs freely or at least it did.

I have to know what is going on with Quentin, Eliot, Margo, Julia, Penny, Kadie, Josh and even Alice. Who admittedly I am still a little annoyed with, although I am sure she will redeem herself later on. Dean Fogg is nothing like the headmasters that we are use to and yet there is something about his faith in those that he teaches that keeps us hoping nothing bad happens to him.  Mainly, it is the relationships between the characters that brings me back week after week to see how they are doing.

Polls and quizzes one could take:

The Magicians Personality Quiz 

Which "Magicians" Character Are you?
Determine Your Discipline

Merchandise: 

Memes: 

Gifs:

via GIPHY


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via GIPHY

via GIPHY

Waiting on Wednesday (5) Tomboy

Hey y'all, thanks so much for stopping by my WoW!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

Don’t miss the next installment of the USA Today bestselling romantic comedy series and find out what happens when the whole town thinks Fallon Hartigan slept with the most hated man in Harbor City. 

Why am I waiting? 

I read the first two books in this series and I liked them. I feel invested in side characters lives and want to see if they get their happily-ever-after. Plus, that teaser at the end of Muffin Top- I really need this one now.

Teaser Tuesday (5) Serpent's Kiss

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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 that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

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

Teaser One

“Why are you and Carling the only two people on the island?” 

The Vampyre said in a muffled voice, “Because she’s dying, and everybody else is afraid.”

Serpent's Kiss Kindle Location 736

Why is Rhoswen not afraid? I don't trust her Rune, she is shady.

Teaser Two

Or maybe she was the only one who had experienced the crazy out-of-control passion, just as she was the only who had realized she had fallen in love. Falling in love was such a lonely business.

Serpent's Kiss Kindle Location 3233

Carling is right, sometimes falling in love is a lonely business. Also a scary one.

Teaser Three

“Here’s the thing,” he whispered. “I love you. I didn’t want to. I fought it. I put up barriers, and they all came crashing down one by one. It wasn’t just one thing. It was everything you did, both here in the present and back in the past. It’s everything you were, and everything you are. So I just fucking love you, and you are going to have to fucking deal with it. You got that?”

Serpent's Kiss Kindle Location 4157 

You gotta hand it to Rune- he sure does know how to make a declaration.

Book Trailer Saturday (4) From Breath and Ruin

Some people believe you can fall in love at first sight. When it comes to books I believe those people. Book trailers are an excellent way to fall in love at first sight. I hope to feature a book trailer here every Saturday to help you fall in love at first sigh...

In her YA debut, New York Times bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan dives into a world with magic and sacrifice with the Elements of Five.

Five hundred years ago, the Maison Realm was shattered, divided into warring kingdoms of elemental Wielders with fate and truth shadowed and uncertain. Now, factions of both the light and dark venture into the human realm in search of the prophesied Spirit Priestess who is said to Wield the Elements of Five and bring the two fractured kingdoms together.

Lyric has no idea that there's a realm outside the human one she lives in. When fate and circumstances are pulled from her hands after an accident, and she finds out that nothing is as it seems.

There is a war surrounding her and when Lyric realizes that they are searching for her, she must rely on those she once trusted: a boy who isn't who she thought, and a new realm of warriors who have come to protect her as she trains.

For the darkness is coming, and the Queen of Obscurite wants to ensure that the King of Lumiere can't get his hands on Lyric. And the only way to ensure that is if Lyric herself is no more ... no matter the cost to prophecy.

Fandom Friday (4) Fantasy

Hey y’all, thanks so much for stopping by my FF!

Fandom Friday is a weekly meme that highlights, various fandoms. Typically those that I am definitely a part of, sometimes those that I am not a part of but do feel strongly should have a fandom surrounding them.

Taken from Encyclopedia Britannica:

Fantasy- imaginative fiction dependent for effect on strangeness of setting (such as other worlds or times) and of characters (such as supernatural or unnatural beings). Examples include William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and T.H White’s The Once and Future King.

Various aspects found in fantasy novels include the following:

They may have aspects of animals/toys behaving like human beings (talking, emotions and actions). Magical powers/objects, alternative worlds, an adventure with a quest of some sort, usually a battle between good and evil. Regardless of what aspect they have the reader is often entertained for hours.

Why I am a fan?

How can I not be a fan? Magic, adventure, the struggles of the hero/heroine, the battle of good and evil. Fantasy brings all my favorites together and wraps them in a nice little book, if I am really excited it may even have a bow on it. How am I kind with all of my kids I sure do use the e-reader way more than I ever dreamed of. Sometimes they even have a map in them. Yes, I am excited about a map- who wouldn’t be?

Here are a few of my favorite series (both traditionally published and self-published as well as some hybrids authors)

The Witchlands

The Kingmaker Chronicles

The Transplanted Tales Series

Shadow Falls Series

Polls and quizzes one could take:

Which Fantasy Character Are You?

Which Witchery is yours?

Which Fictional World Do You Belong In?

Which Shadow Falls Character Are You?

Merchandise:

Memes:

via GIPHY

Gifs:

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

Review: Moonlight Seduction

Author Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Format e-book 

Print Length 400 pages 

Publisher Avon

Published June 26, 2018 

The de Vincent brothers are back—and so is the intrigue that surrounds them—in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s sizzling new novel...

Nicolette Bresson never thought she’d return to the de Vincents’ bayou compound. It’s where her parents work, where Nikki grew up... and where she got her heart broken by Gabriel de Vincent himself. Yet here she is, filling in for her sick mother. Avoiding Gabe should be easy, especially when so much of Nikki’s time is spent trying not to be stabbed in the back by the malicious hangers-on who frequent the mansion. But escaping memories of Gabe, much less his smoking-hot presence, is harder than expected—especially since he seems determined to be in Nikki’s space as much as possible.

Gabriel spent years beating himself up over his last encounter with Nikki. He’d wanted her then, but for reasons that were bad for both of them. Things have now changed. Gabe sees more than a girl he’s known forever; he sees a smart, talented, and heartbreakingly beautiful woman... one who’s being stalked from the shadows. Now, Gabe will do anything to keep Nikki safe—and to stop the de Vincent curse from striking again. 

My Opinion 

Moonlight Sin spoilers ahead, you have been warned. 

Rarely is there a series out that is contemporary and yet gothic at the same time. This is one of them. We were introduced to Gabe in the first book, Moonlight Sins, here we knew that something horrible had happened to his previous girlfriend. We were also witnesses to him being hit on repeatedly by Sabrina, who is his older brother Dev’s fiancé. What the ever lasting heck is up with that? 

As the only daughter to the housekeeper and the butler, Nikki grew up around the de Vincent house. As she grew so did her adoration for Gabe, the youngest of the brothers. Since Gabe was way older than her (by ten years) he kept his distance and treated her like a younger sister. Yet, something happened, of which neither one of them is telling, to make them avoid each other until she went off to college. Nikki’s momma got sick and she came home to help her parents with their job responsibilities. It is okay though, she has a plan on how not to fall for Gabe again. 

The tension between these two is off the charts hot. They don’t act on it for a lot of the book. This had a lot to do with Gabe running hot and cold for a lot of the book. Yes, he has reasons to do so- like their age difference but at some point he needed to own his feelings. This one did feel like a second chance romance with suspense and mystery thrown in. Nikki is a smart girl, who is guarding her heart this time. Gabe is an older man, who is unsure of a lot of things. At times he is a jerk, with purpose. Just like at times Nikki is well distant and aloof. This is done to protect both of them from additional heartbreak. I am not sure if it needed to occur as often as it did. 

 The mystery of what has happened, why Nikki has had some close encounters, and is there someone stalking her to up a lot of their time. Her close encounters allowed for a lot of action sprinkled throughout the book.  This did create a more suspenseful read, which I enjoyed.

While a lot was revealed a lot was left unspoken. Theories running around- their daddy’s death? The curse? There is still more to reveal. Dev’s story is next and I cannot wait to dive straight into it. I felt that Rosie was one of the reasons I loved this book so much and I honestly want to see her knock Dev down a few, as he is so high and mighty. 

My Rating 5 out of 5 stars 

Favorite Quote Rosie was dropping truth bombs like it was D-Day. 

Other People 

Dev- Gabe’s older brother 

Lucian- Gabe’s little brother 

Julia- Lucian’s fiancé 

Sabrina- Dev’s fiancé 

Rosie- Nikki’s bff

Waiting on Wednesday (4) Four Dead Queens

Hey y'all, thanks so much for stopping by my WoW! 

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

A divided nation. Four Queens. A ruthless pickpocket. A noble messenger. And the murders that unite them.

​

Get in quick, get out quicker.

These are the words Keralie Corrington lives by as the preeminent dipper in the Concord, the central area uniting the four quadrants of Quadara. She steals under the guidance of her mentor Mackiel, who runs a black market selling their bounty to buyers desperate for what they can’t get in their own quarter. For in the nation of Quadara, each quarter is strictly divided from the other. Four queens rule together, one from each region:

Toria: the intellectual quarter that values education and ambition

Ludia: the pleasure quarter that values celebration, passion, and entertainment

Archia: the agricultural quarter that values simplicity and nature

Eonia: the futurist quarter that values technology, stoicism and harmonious community

When Keralie intercepts a comm disk coming from the House of Concord, what seems like a standard job goes horribly wrong. Upon watching the comm disks, Keralie sees all four queens murdered in four brutal ways. Hoping that discovering the intended recipient will reveal the culprit – information that is bound to be valuable bartering material with the palace – Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the Eonist messenger she stole from, to complete Varin’s original job and see where it takes them. 

Why am I waiting? 

A kingdom ruled by four queens. All four queens brutally murdered. Will Karalie stop the deaths in time? The gorgeous cover is also keeping my attention.

Teaser Tuesday (4) Spartan Promise

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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 that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

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

Teaser One

“We’re going to explore some creepy old tunnels that run underneath Mythos Academy, the school of warrior kids, mythological monsters, and artifacts that summon mythological monsters. What could possibly go wrong?”

Kindle Location  68

Nothing like a little foreshadowing to get you interested in a book. With this as a teaser I couldn't put the book down! What is going to happen in the tunnels?  Why was Zoe so sure that something will go wrong?

Teaser Two

“Don’t worry, Rory,” he called out. “We’ll save you.” 

“Don’t you worry,” I countered. “I’ll save myself.”

Kindle Location 3548

I love that Rory knows she can save herself. She trusts in her skill as a Spartan.  I also like knowing that Ian and the rest of them were going to came after her as well.

Review: Storm's Heart

Author Thea Harrison 

Format e-book

Print Length 305 pages 

Publisher Berkley Sensation 

Published August 1, 2011 

He's a Wyr warrior, a god of storms. She's the heir to the Dark Fae throne. But desire will bring both to their knees in this all-new Novel of the Elder Races.

During the rule of her murderous Dark Fae uncle, Thistle "Tricks" Periwinkle found sanctuary among the Wyr in New York. Her ethereal beauty and sparkling personality won the hearts of the public, but after her uncle's death, there are those who don't want to see her ascend to the throne.

Able to wield thunder and lightning, Wyr sentinel Tiago Black Eagle has ruled the skies for centuries. His massive build and thunderous power make him one of the Wyr's best weapons. And he's sent to protect Tricks when she's almost assassinated in Chicago.

Soon, both Tiago and Tricks will fall prey to the stormy hunger that engulfs them—a passion that will shake the very foundation of all the worlds. 

My Opinion 

We met both of these characters in Dragon Bound. Tricks was Dragos PR rep, has been for years. Humans and the Elder Races alike adore her, little did they know she was hiding in plain sight. When her parents the kind and queen of the Dark Fae were murdered by her uncle she ran to Dragos for protection. For centuries she hid behind the great dragon. Now she must step out into the limelight once again no longer Tricks Dragos PR rep but instead as her true self, Niniane Dark Fae princess. When she does there are those that would do anything for her not to ascend to the throne. When Tricks goes missing Dragos’ sentinel, Tiago goes after her to make sure she is okay. Once there, he vows to protect her much to her dismay. 

Tricks reminds me of a coneflower it can survive a severe winter of snow, where its color fades but come spring it comes back brighter and stronger. Tricks has survived the worse and now she is making her comeback. She is delicate like the flower, yes she needs to be nurtured and at times taken care of. She likes to be liked and adored. She loves all things that are girly and isn’t afraid to admit it. Yet she has a backbone to her that you would not at first recognize. 

Tiago is thunderbird wry, a warlord, a sentinel and a protector. There are even some in Egypt that believed him a god of storm and lightning (no not Thor). Tricks and Tiago have known each other from afar for centuries. Neither getting to close, although when they are near each other sparks often flew. After view a hideous attack on her in Chicago while in the board room in New York he asks for a leave of absence from his sentinel duties. None of the others knowing that he has stronger emotions for her than even he knows. 

Them as a couple is another thing that I liked about this one. Tricks does not give up her girly ways- yes she is emotional, she still loves chocolate, she reads romance novels. Tiago knows all of this going into the relationship, he knows it and embraces it. Heck after an attempt on her life he sends someone out to get her all things girly-even lipstick and dangly earrings. So it must mean true mateship. None of their friends see this relationship coming, it came out of nowhere for them-except Pia. She had gotten close to Tricks in the previous book. 

There is a lot of action in this book. Believable action with a lot of history behind it. The big baddie was a bit of a surprise until closer to the reveal time. Adriyel, the Dark Fae home in the otherworld, is beautiful if not a little medieval in their thinking and actions. Hopefully Tricks can bring them into the 21st century a little. The political power plays by a lot of the Elder Races in this one was fun to watch. Tricks handled them well, having been trained by her parents and then Dragos. 

I liked Stroms Heart way more than I did Dragon Bound. The characters’ history together is what made me love it more. They were already friends of a sort way before they fall for each other. The alpha male agrees to take the backseat to the delicate yet strong female, which admittedly is unusual. Of course when I finished this one I had to one-click the next book in the series. 

My Rating 4 out of 5 stars 

Favorite Quote “Assume you will make enemies. Work to make allies. Don’t expect to make friends. Friends are a gift that happens over time.” 

Other People 

Drago- Tiago’s boss 

Pia- Drago’s mate 

Rune- Gryphon Wry, sentinel 

Aryal- Harpy, sentinel

Carling- Vampyre queen

Book Trailer Saturday (3) Bloodwitch

Some people believe you can fall in love at first sight. When it comes to books I believe those people. Book trailers are an excellent way to fall in love at first sight. I hope to feature a book trailer here every Saturday to help you fall in love at first sigh...

Fans of Susan Dennard's New York Times bestselling Witchlands series have fallen in love with the Bloodwitch Aeduan. And now, finally, comes his story.

High in a snowy mountain range, a monastery that holds more than just faith clings to the side of a cliff. Below, thwarted by a lake, a bloodthirsty horde of raiders await the coming of winter and the frozen path to destroy the sanctuary and its secrets.

The Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop the destruction. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past.