IF HE WRITES YOUR NAME DOWN, IT’S A DEATH SENTENCE . . Los Angeles, December 4th – exactly three weeks until Christmas day. Angela Wood, a master in the art of pickpocket, has just finished for the day – six hundred and eighty-seven dollars – not bad for less than fifteen minutes work.
As she celebrates her profitable day with a cocktail, one of the patrons in the lounge she’s in catches her attention by being rude to an old man. Angela decides to teach him a lesson, and steals the man’s expensive-looking leather bag.
Inside is no money … no laptop computer … nothing of any value … at least not to Angela. Just a black, leather-bound book, surprisingly heavy. Curiosity takes over and in the comfort of her apartment, Angela quickly leafs through the pages.
That is when the worst nightmare of her life begins. This is no ordinary book. Read it at your own peril.
I received Written in Blood for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Simon & Schuster and Chris Carter for this lovely surprise.
It is my first encounter with Robert Hunter and by far one of the best surprises I got in a while! Without being a difficult read it is written in a way that got my eyes glued on the pages for a clue. With characters that are intelligent and humane, flawed yet striving for more than they are, Chris Carter created a book that reflects accurately the darkness that envelopes the world and the light that shines in it.
I can talk all day about this book, but I don’t want to spoil the story. So in the ending all I will say is… On to the next adventure, please!
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
Simon vs the homosapien agenda was my second adiobook and I loved it! If you never tried audiobooks than this book should be your first. The narrator’s voice was warm and sweet. It didn’t feel like a book. It was more like a best friend who wants to tell you his secrets. And it made the book so real. For a non-English person it means a lot!
The story is really sweet and interesting. I liked the idea with secret names and in the same time it killed me. All the time I screamed “Who is Blue???? ” and “Tell him!!!!”. I thought I knew who is Blue, but of course I was wrong. Like everyone who reads the book.
It is a lovely story with a sweet main character. I really enjoyed listening this book.
Hello bookdragons! Today it’s my birthday and it’s my first book blog tour 😍. I’m so happy to be part of A wicked magic tour 💙. Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours and Sasha Laurens for this opportunity!
A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens
Publisher: Razorbill
Publishing date: July 28th 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Synopsis:
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The Craft when modern witches must save teens stolen by an ancient demon in this YA fantasy-thriller debut.
Dan and Liss are witches. The Black Book granted them that power. Harnessing that power feelsgood, especially when everything in their lives makes them feel powerless. During a spell gone wrong, Liss’s boyfriend is snatched away by an evil entity and presumed dead. Dan and Liss’s friendship dies that night, too. How can they practice magic after the darkness that they conjured?
Months later, Liss discovers that her boyfriend is alive, trapped underground in the grips of anancient force. She must save him, and she needs Dan and the power of The Black Book to doso. Dan is quickly sucked back into Liss’s orbit and pushes away her best friend, Alexa. But Alexa has some big secrets she’s hiding and her own unique magical disaster to deal with. When another teenager disappears, the girls know it’s no coincidence. What greedy magic have they awakened? And what does it want with these teens it has stolen?
Set in the atmospheric wilds of California’s northern coast, Sasha Laurens’s thrilling debut novelis about the complications of friendship, how to take back power, and how to embrace thedarkness that lives within us all.
SASHA LAURENS grew up in Northern California, where she learned to drive on Highway 1’s switchback turns and got accustomed to the best weather in the world. After studying creative writing and literature at Columbia University, she lived in New York for years and, at various times, in Russia. She currently resides in Michigan, where she is pursuing a PhD in political science.
Prize: Finished Copie of A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens (US/Canada Only)
Start date: July 28th, 2020
End date: August 3rd, 2020 Here is the giveaway link. Good luck! 💙
If you wish to read a happy story about cute little witches, then this is not your book! This is about dark magic, demons, curses and kidnapped lovers. It’s not just hocus pocus. It’s about friendship and what can happen between two best friends when they find a Black Book and… a boy.
OMG! I really loved this book. Every page was a delight. I love the author’s writing style. You will fall in love with the book quickly. The characters are so different from each other that it’s easy to feel for them, but in the same time to scream at all three. Alexa is my favourite and Liss is the least. And everything could be great if they just talked!
In conclusion, it’s one of my favourite books with witches. And I can’t wait to read more books by Sasha Laurens.
Favorite quotes
Dan was sure, all at once, that every star in the sky was staring right at them, that the world was paused for them, it’s breath held, waiting and watching for what they would do.
But the world is a tangled knot. How do we untangle it?
Death was a fact, not a matter of belief or desire, and it didn’t care anything for what she believed.
Each song danced through darkness, toying with the question of what living was for, and Rickey’s voice answering, maybe nothing at all. His songs could make you feel that in your bones.
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for…
I heard so many good things about this series that I had to read it. And guess what. I wasn’t disappointed. The hardest part was that reading an ebook you can’t just go back to see the meaning of a word for the 10th time and unfortunately there were so many new words. The same problem I got with the map too. But ignoring all of these, the story is really good. It caught me from the beginning.
The world building is breathtaking. I wish I could be there to smell all the spices, to taste all the food. Just thinking of them my mouth is watery and my stomach is screaming for food. An Indian takeaway would help? Asking for a friend. And a short question for the author, how much you ate while you were writing these phrases? Because for sure I couldn’t stop!
And what I can say about the characters. Nahri is my favourite. She is a fighter and she never gives up, even when everybody wants to cut her wings. Ali has a soft heart and I love it. He sees the good in people and wants to help everybody who is helpless. And sometimes he cares more that he should. Dara is something else. I read a review about him that he is racist and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Because it’s true. But he is like a cookie. Hard outside, soft inside. I know that after you open his heart he would do everything for you. (please don’t cut him! It’s just a metaphor)
All in all, you should read The City of Brass because you will fall in love with this new world. I did!
On the dawn of her courtship trials, Princess Lyana Aethionus knows she should be focused on winning her perfect mate, yet her thoughts wander to the open sky waiting at the edge of her floating kingdom. One final adventure calls. Upon fleeing the palace, the last thing she expects to find is a raven prince locked in a death match with a dragon.
A bastard aching to belong…
Reviled son of a dead king, Rafe would do anything for his beloved half-brother, Prince Lysander Taetanus, including posing as him in the upcoming courtship trials. When a dragon interrupts their secret exchange, he orders his studious sibling to run. After suffering a fatal blow, Rafe is saved by a beautiful dove who possesses forbidden magic, just like him.
Fate brought them together, now destiny will tear them apart…
Unknown to the world above, on the foggy sea ten thousand feet below, a young king fights a forgotten war. He believes Lyana is the queen prophesied to save the world, and with the help of his favored spy, hidden deep in the highest ranks of the dove royal house, he will stop at nothing to have her.
This is the kind of book that I would buy just for the cover. The art is really beautiful and it makes you curious about the story. And reading the book I can say that I wouldn’t be disappointed if I would buy it just for the cover. I really loved the plot. It’s interesting the idea of people mix with birds and how they became like this.
The world building is amazing. It’s something new and hopefully we will find out about every realm not just for the doves and the ravens. At the beginning you can find a map that helps to imagine where the characters are living and where they are going.
Also you can fall in love easily with the main characters. Xander is underrated because I know he can do anything he wants. He should believe more in himself. Rafe is the book boyfriend who every nerd will want. Lyana is that kind of princess with backbone but unfortunately I saw her more childish than a fearless girl. And Cass is the mysterious owl with a dark secret.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the book and can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
Lily Rose is used to people paying attention to her gorgeous twin sister, Daisy. But even though Lily loves her own fat body, she can’t shake the idea that no one would ever choose her over Daisy – not when they could have the thin twin.
That is, until she meets Cal, the gorgeous, sweet guy from New Zealand who can’t seem to stay away. The gorgeous, sweet guy who also happens to be Daisy’s summer crush. Lily can’t seem to figure out why she isn’t as into him as she should be. She should be head-over-heels in love, not missing time at the ice-cream shack with her life-long best friend, Cassie. Not wondering what Cassie is getting up to with Cal’s friend Jack, or what she’s thinking about when they’re alone . . .
With University threatening to tear Cassie and Lily apart at the end of summer, trying to keep Cal a secret from Daisy and a growing right-wing threat disturbing the usual quiet of their pleasant seaside town, Lily’s summer is set to be far from relaxing.
An easy summer read! It wasn’t as I thought would be. I expected a girl who doesn’t see herself beautiful. But she meets the perfect boy and he makes her to understand that being beautiful doesn’t mean being skinny. Happy ending. Oh and somewhere in this image you can find her best friend. I know it sounds like a cliche. But for me it’s better than the actual story.
I don’t want to sound harsh. The book started good. I used to feel “invisible” as Lily when I was in high school. So of course I wanted to find more about this character and how she will evolve till the end. The perfect boy appeared on stage. She won his heart. At this moment all I wanted was her to understand that she was beautiful and that a boy can love her.
But nope! Everything changed 180°. What she really understood was that she was bi. This wasn’t the problem for me. The real problem was the way she found out. She met the boy and in 5 seconds she knew she was bi. And then every discussion with her best friend sounded vapid.
I don’t want to say more about this book. I will let you decide for yourself if the story is good or not. Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest.
Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own.
Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.
Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?
In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.
What a beautiful read! I have so many things to say about this book but also my mind is like a void. The Asian style of writing doesn’t stop from amazing me. Reading Descendant of the Crane was like watching a Chinese drama where you can see the beauty of their traditions: the ruqun, the hanfu, the koutou, the stunning gardens. One of the reasons why I chose this book is that I’m a big fan of Asian traditions.
Just looking at the cover you’ll know that by reading this book you will travel to a different world. But don’t think it’s a place where you have a sassy, clever main character who nobody can fool. Nope! Hesina is a clumsy queen, she trust everybody who shouldn’t and does big mistakes. But she is fair with everyone. And like Sayuri from Memoirs of a geisha, Hesina hides her thoughts beneath the rice powder.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to read this beautiful book and even if I can talk all day about it I will let you read it. But prepare yourself for dark secrets, twists and a cliffhanger. Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.
Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.
But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.
Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.
OMG! All I can say is that this was an amazing story. It’s first time when I’m reading a lesbian romance. And even better! It’s a rom-com. Because that’s the only way I could read a romance book . And because of the title and the cover I said I need this book in my life!
My favourite character is Saoirse. She is sassy, but soft too. I love that she is sarcastic and clever. And her monologues are a delight. Life made her cautious, she doesn’t need anybody’s pity. But sometimes being too cautious makes you to not see what’s in front of you and you could lose a happy ending. I like how she evolve till the end.
Thank you @pridebooktours for this book in exchange for an honest review. I’m glad I could read it because it was a good story for a debut novel.
Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.
Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest.
But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away who whispers rumors that the High Caste possesses magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.
Set in the world of the New York Times–bestselling Winner’s Trilogy, beloved author Marie Rutkoski returns with an epic LGBTQ romantic fantasy about learning to free ourselves from the lies others tell us—and the lies we tell ourselves.
I waited too much till I finally read this book. And I had no excuse! Because OMG!!! I fell in love from the first chapter. And after I finished it I hated myself for not picking earlier. Or maybe something inside my brain said don’t read it because it’s a series and you have to wait for second book. And I understand that because now I really want the second book!
The cover is stunning and it calls you to take the book and read it. That’s why I chose it. And because of the title. The Midnight Lie sounds magical and illegal at the same time. So of course I had to get it. But the plot was the one who got me in its tentacles. For me it was something new. Even the world building was captivating.
The story was well written with well defined characters. I loved the differences between Nirrim and Sid. They both have strong personalities. What killed me was the ending. It was pure evil! And i can’t wait for book 2!
Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.
Fleeing her past and a dark tragedy that haunts her every waking moment, Rose settles for a crummy retail job in a crummy town in the middle of Indiana. Her one solace – the sprawling forest behind her apartment complex – leads her down a dizzying path into a topsy-turvy world where Rose escapes her painful memories…but finds herself at the center of a dangerous plot.
A mysterious (and frequently unconscious) stranger, a technicolor landscape, and a sinister but charismatic leader pull Rose deeper into an unexpected adventure…where nothing is as it seems.
Follow Rose on her journey through this perilous but beautiful land, as she wonders if she can save it…or herself.
I wanted to read this book for the cover. It looks interesting and the blurb sounds like a good fantasy book. But unfortunately it wasn’t as I thought. The story is about a dying Wonderland, a twin world with ours. It’s a bit confusing and, like Alice, I didn’t know what would happen next. Zombie mice, blue trees, a girl with a red eye who has a bag full with heads. You can’t say no to a story like this.
The beginning is good, it makes you to fall in love with the book. But after the middle of the story, I was bored and I wanted to finish faster. Maybe because of the too many useless details or because the author says the same things on and on. It could be a good story because I really liked the idea of the book.
Thank you NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for a review.
