Review ~ THE LAST PRINCESS, by Galaxy Craze

Happily ever after is a thing of the past. A series of natural disasters has decimated the earth. Cut off from the rest of the world, England is a dark place. The sun rarely shines, food is scarce, and groups of criminals roam the woods, searching for prey. The people are growing restless. When a ruthless revolutionary sets out to overthrow the crown, he makes the royal family his first target. Blood is shed in Buckingham Palace, and only sixteen-year-old Princess Eliza manages to escape. Determined to kill the man who destroyed her family, Eliza joins the enemy forces in disguise. She has nothing left to live for but revenge, until she meets someone who helps her remember how to hope—and to love—once more. Now she must risk everything to ensure that she not become... The Last Princess.  ~From GoodReads

Although I read the synopsis, I didn't quite understand what THE LAST PRINCESS was actually about. I honestly thought it was a fantasy, though I have no idea why. I'm not a strong fan of fantasy books, but I wanted to read the story nonetheless. And was pleasantly surprised when I realized THE LAST PRINCESS is this girl's survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

The verdict? I am really glad I gave THE LAST PRINCESS a shot. I am in love with the premise. I have always had love for all things English. My ancestry is strongly rooted in England (Wordsworth, yo!), and I have always been fascinated with the royal family. So when I realized that the main character Eliza is actually a future member of the Windsor family(with references to Queen Elizabeth and Princesses Diana and Kate), I was sold.

In the future the world is nearly destroyed by what is referred to as "The Seventeen Days". During The Seventeen Days, the world is ravaged by tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions. The eruptions blocked the sun and covered the earth with ash. Virtually all plants and animals were wiped out. This of course causes a food shortage, basically all technology is brought to a halt. England is cut off from the rest of the world, they have no way of knowing if there are survivors in other countries. So, naturally, when you have starving citizens and a king who remains oblivious, you almost certainly end up with a revolution. But this revolution is headed up by an evil, power-hungry psychopath. After Eliza narrowly manages to escape capture and certain death, she is set on a journey to save herself, her family, and her country.

Eliza's struggles were gripping. The author most certainly did not let her have the easy way out of the situations Eliza faced. I admired her struggle to continue ahead, no matter how frightened or injured she was. The story had many heartbreaking moments, I was shocked by the brutality of this scary new world. There were some insanely intense moments at the end. I'm fairly sure I held my breath for a full minute at one point. But ultimately, it was triumphant, complete with Eliza's very own "Braveheart" moment when she rallied the Resistance.

The story seemed to pulled together and end nicely. I loved where it was headed and could have left it as a stand-alone. But I knew that a second book was planned for 2013, so I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And although I would have been happy with the ending, I have to admit the setup for the next book was neat.

Favorite Quote:

"His skin smelled sweet and fresh, like water. I closed my eyes, pretending for a moment that this could last, that we could always be like this, together in the warmth of this tiny cottage in the middle of a poisoned forest."  (pg. 158)

Published May 1st 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers             


You can purchase THE LAST PRINCESS at:
Barnes & Noble  |  Amazon  |  Book Depository


Source: Received from publisher in exchange for an honest review.

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY

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

This week's WoW selection is...

The hol­i­day from hell just got ugly. As if get­ting dumped on his vaca­tion wasn’t enough, British jour­nal­ist Chris Warner finds him­self stranded on the Mediter­ranean with a des­per­ate boss push­ing dead­lines down his throat all while facing an uncer­tain future. Enter Jamie Cooper, a free spir­ited and slightly unsta­ble travel writer whose arrival only seems to make mat­ters worse. All Chris wants is to get back to Lon­don, win back his ex and start climb­ing up the cor­po­rate lad­der. Unfor­tu­nately, Jamie has dif­fer­ent plans for him and the may­hem that fol­lows turns both their lives upside down and up again. “Lost in Wanderlust” is a rowdy roman­tic com­edy about two memorable char­ac­ters who embark on a jour­ney through hell, high water and a lot of wine, in order to find them­selves, each other and a mis­placed diary that holds the key to their happiness. ~From GoodReads

Why I'm Waiting ~  I am a big fan of Karina Halle's work. Her Experiment in Terror series is creepy and exciting. I am curious to see what she does with a contemporary romance. But if I know Karina, there will be nothing typical about this book!

(PS- This cover is stunning.)

Expected publication: June 20th 2012 by Metal Blonde Books         

Mini-Review ~ SWEETNESS (Bold As Love #1) by Lindsey Paige

Emily wished she was invisible. But after moving to a new town with her dad, a charming boy makes it impossible for her to disappear. Despite her feelings of unworthiness, Emily soon finds herself drawn to the safety of Jake's world. Good looking and the star of the hockey team, Jake has a lot going for him. What most people don't see is the difficult life he has at home. When quiet Emily steals his heart, Jake vows to help her discover she is worthy of love. Just when the two of them realize the sweetness of their relationship, they are put to the test. Only together can they overcome their haunted pasts to fight for a future together. ~From GoodReads

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of SWEETNESS. (Sorry, Lindsay!) I couldn't tell you why, for certain. Maybe it was the length of the book. Maybe I'm just weird sometimes. But I have to say, I was, overall, pleasantly surprised.

I would describe SWEETNESS as "sweet" with a bit of an edge. I know that seems easy because of the title, but it really was. The main characters had such an endearing charm. But they were also fragile, particularly Emily. Jake was such a rock, despite his circumstances, and treated Emily almost to perfection. Their progression throughout the story was charming and, again, sweet.

The issues the teens face are sobering. Emily has undergone a traumatic experience and hasn't fully recovered. I did feel the issues were pretty heavily glossed over, and that was a missed opportunity. I don't know if the author has delved more deeply in subsequent books, or plans to leave it be. Regardless, I know I would have felt more deeply for Emily if I had know a bit more about her past, instead of just the bits she shared.

SWEETNESS definitely snuck up on me. I didn't expect to care as much for the characters as I did. I am definitely curious as to what happens to Jake and Emily next, more so if their issues are fully fleshed.


Favorite Quote:

"That short act of slamming the metal door closed and hearing the clack of metal on metal made me feel slightly better. It was a smaller ecstasy of doing something like standing on the top of a three-story building and throwing stuff over the edge."  (ebook, 1%)

Published November 11th 2011 by CreateSpace             

You can purchase SWEETNESS at:
Amazon  |  Smashwords


Source: Received from author in exchange for an honest review.

TEASER TUESDAY

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as 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 any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others.

Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles.

Happily ever after is a thing of the past. A series of natural disasters has decimated the earth. Cut off from the rest of the world, England is a dark place. The sun rarely shines, food is scarce, and groups of criminals roam the woods, searching for prey. The people are growing restless. When a ruthless revolutionary sets out to overthrow the crown, he makes the royal family his first target. Blood is shed in Buckingham Palace, and only sixteen-year-old Princess Eliza manages to escape. Determined to kill the man who destroyed her family, Eliza joins the enemy forces in disguise. She has nothing left to live for but revenge, until she meets someone who helps her remember how to hope—and to love—once more. Now she must risk everything to ensure that she not become... The Last Princess.  ~From GoodReads

My Teaser ~

"I stared up at the dark ceiling, fighting a strange urge to laugh.Why were we holding a ball while bands of criminals stalked our lands? Roses didn't even grow anymore." (pg. 31)

I really enjoyed this book. You can check out my review on Thursday!

Published May 1st 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers             

Blog Tour ~ ENTANGLED (Spellbound #1) by Nikki Jefford

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the ENTANGLED Blog Tour. My stop on the tour includes a guest post from the lovely Nikki Jefford, all the information you need to find her books, and a giveaway! But first, take a look at ENTANGLED.

Twin witches Graylee and Charlene Perez agree on one rule: No dating warlocks. Not so easy when a certain rogue warlock is convinced he and Graylee belong together and will use anything, including magic, to try and impress Gray. When Charlene’s boyfriend dumps her, she threatens to kill either herself or the girl who stole Blake. Somehow, Gray ends up dead. A Resurrection Spell Gone Wrong: Two months after dying, Gray wakes up in Charlene’s body. As a witch, can anyone blame her mother for attempting to bring her daughter back to life? Only now Gray’s stuck sharing her sister’s body 50/50 in twenty-four hour shifts. The race is on for Gray to find a way back inside her own body before Charlene purges her from existence. Raj McKenna is rumored to meddle in the black arts, not to mention he’s after Gray’s invisibility spell and worse – her heart. But Raj might be the only one powerful enough to save Gray from fading away forever.~From GoodReads

The Making of a Series

Three Times a Charm

I’m very touched by the requests to expand the Spellbound trilogy, but I’ve seen what happens when series are dragged out for the sake of continuation. Many of my favorite TV shows have gone noticeably downhill after season three. This isn’t always the case, of course. (Friends and Buffy improved each season.)

 Entangled was initially a standalone title. Let me back up. It began as a novella for a group project. As I outlined the story, it became obvious real quick that I had a full length novel on my hands. I actually wrote the book first then chopped it up to get it into novella length. (No easy feat let me tell you.)

And Then There Were Two

 I “stole” the above line from a review of Duplicity at The Coffee Pot because I love it so much. (http://freshcoffeespot.blogspot.com/2012/05/duplicity-spellbound-2.html)

 It didn’t make sense to invest so much time and money in Entangled without a follow-up so last fall I wracked my brain for ideas. I really had to stretch my imagination. I mean, what’s wilder than twins stuck in the same body? Try duplicate Grays!

 This also gave me a chance to deal with all the unfinished business from book one.

 I love new challenges. Writing from the POV of “Gray” and “Lee” was definitely unusual. Some chapter rearranging occurred in the editing stages to cut back on confusion, but beyond that there wasn’t much else that could be done short of removing one Gray altogether.

Third and Final

I had to pull Enchantment out of a hat. I felt obligated to make Spellbound a trilogy. Whoever heard of a two book “series”?

Outlining really helped. Before writing one word of Duplicity, I saw that once more I was left with loose ends that needed tying up.

 And speaking of tying up, check out a steamy scene from Enchantment over at Lili Lost in a Book. I know most people don’t like spoilers (unless you’re me and you have A.D.D.), but I think this is just a fun scene that doesn’t give anything particular away. A glimpse if you will.

 http://lili-lost-in-a-book.blogspot.com/)

 The new challenge with Enchantment is not to let the romance writer in me get too carried away (YA alert!), but also not to water the story down so much the flame fizzles out.

 That and work Charlene back into the story for one final showdown between the twins.

 What’s Next?

 I don’t want the Spellbound series to end, either. *sniff* Then again, Spellbound turned into a very long break from a vampire slayer series I started last spring. The first book was finished over a year ago and edited several times. Then a beta reader compared the training scenes to Divergent (which I hadn’t heard of at the time).

 I bought a copy of Divergent last fall, read it, and was like, ‘How the heck can I possibly publish my novel when this thing is so freakin’ awesome?’ So, I set it aside.

 I had to remind myself that my book is a completely different type of story (vampires in Alaska!) and my writing a different style. I refuse to let Veronica Roth intimidate me, even if she is a genius.

**Thanks to Nikki for this very cool, entertaining post.**

Giveaway

Enter to win the SPELLBOUND SWAG PACK (International)

· Evil Eye Amulet and Bracelet: In Duplicity, Gray wears an evil eye pendant, also known as a nazar, to protect herself from a spell that’s causing havoc over the witches and warlocks in her coven. The evil eye (a Turkish amulet) is used for both luck and protection against envy.

· Two Headed Quarter: Two Grays are better than none and two heads are better than one, especially when flipping over who gets to choose which movie to watch with a trick coin. Adrian returns in Duplicity and opens a magic shop.

· Entangled bookmark

Don’t miss the Cover Reveal of book three, Enchantment, at designer Najla Qamber’s review site: Unputdownable Books on June 7^th.

http://unputdownablebookies.blogspot.com/

Extras:

Entangled book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZnDgYFCVVw

Duplicity book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCwY_Mj_Syk

Buy links:

You can purchase ENTANGLED at Amazon

(Entangled is available for ebook at amazon. It will return to Barnes & Noble and Smashwords once KDP select ends July 15, 2012.)

You can purchase DUPLICITY at:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

About:

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands where she is, once more, neighbors with Canada. She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Alaska Anchorage and was a reporter before returning to her first love: fiction.

After a whirlwind romance in France, Nikki married Sébastien in March 2000. They reside with Cosmo the wonder Westie.

Find her at:

her website  |  Twitter  |  GoodReads

THE WEEKLY REWIND, #6

THE WEEKLY REWIND is a weekly post in which I recap the bookish awesomeness from the past week, and post a book haul. Warning: I tend to ramble in my vlogs. Sometimes I get excited about things and I flail. Although, I don't follow a specific format, this was inspired by a few different blogs: For What It's Worth Reviews , Book Brats and Xpresso Reads.

Book Haul

Books Received:

• MADLY AND THE JACKAL (Madly #3) by M. Leighton
• EASY, by Tammara Webber
• GRASPING AT ETERNITY, by Karen Amanda Hooper
• WISHING FOR SOMEDAY SOON, by Tiffany King
• HOURGLASS, by Myra McIntyre
• EXHALE (Just Breathe, #2) by Kendall Grey
• THE STORY OF US, by Deb Calletti
• SWITCHED (Trylle, #1) by Amanda Hocking
• FRAGILE ETERNITY (Wicked Lovely, #3) by Melissa Marr

Awesome People:

• M. Leighton
• Tammara Webber
• Kendall Grey
• Tiffany King
• Karen at For What It's Worth Reviews
• Karen Amanda Hooper

Posts:

• Review and Giveaway ~ THE VINCENT BROTHERS (The Vincent Boys, #2) by Abbi Glines
• Teaser Tuesday ~ from BETWEEN THE LINES by Tammara Webber
• Blog Tour ~ CLOSED HEARTS  (Mind Jack Trilogy #2) by Susan Quinn
• Waiting on Wednesday ~ STEALING PARKER, by Miranda Kenneally
• Series Review ~ BEHIND THE LINES (Books 1-3) by Tammara Webber
• EARTHSEED (Seed #1) by Pamela Sargent
• Feature ~ MADLY AND THE JACKAL (Madly #3) by M. Leighton
• Sexy Summer Saturdays,  #1 ~ MY WICKED GLADIATORS , by Lauren Hawkeye

Giveaways:

• THE VINCENT BOYS SERIES
• CLOSED HEARTS

Thanks for stopping by. Leave a comment, and I'll come check out your blog. Have a great week

SEXY SUMMER SATURDAYS, #1 {18+}

Sexy Summer Saturdays is a weekly post that Hackaroos Reviews, Attack the Stacks, Sims-Sational Books, The Autumn Review, and The Bookish Babe created for fun, to challenge one other to add a little spice to our reading and to spread the word about sizzling summer reads.

My first Sexy Summer read is a hot one. If you're under eighteen, you really need to skip today's post. ;-)

Alba has spent her entire life pleasing others. As an upper-class plebeian woman in Ancient Rome, that is her place in life. But when her husband Lucius, the owner of a prestigious gladiatorial school, uses her body as a bargaining tool to increase his fortunes, she is faced with doing as he demands, or finding herself on the street. Forced to lay with masked gladiators chosen by Lucius, Alba is surprised to discover pleasure in being powerless. Only in the forbidden arms of Caius and Marcus does she find comfort, however temporary it may be. But with Lucius’ demands looming and the threat of death for her gladiators ever-present, will Alba’s fleeting pleasures be enough? Or will Alba finally grab hold of her happily ever after, no matter the consequences? ~From GoodReads

I'll get straight to the verdict. I loved MY WICKED GLADIATORS. I almost can't wrap my mind around everything that happened. So I thought the best way to review the book would be to break it down into two parts, the story and the steam.

The plot of the story was great. I used to love historical romance and have read several that took place during the days of the gladiators. The main character, Alba, is the oppressed wife of Lucius. Lucius owns a ludus, a gladiator facility. So of course, if your husband is an world-class asshat who'd rather get it on with the slaves than you AND you have hunky gladiators to lust over, what are you going to do? You're going to find the biggest badass gladiator around and tell him in no uncertain terms to service you, right? And that is exactly what our lovely Alba does. And apparently, once you go gladiator, you don't go...I can't think of a rhyme for that. But anyway, once Alba experiences a taste (heh) of Marcus, she's done for.

But...Alba's husband needs an heir to secure a business deal and he's shooting blanks. So, he does what any smart man does and forces his wife to "mate" with the ridiculously hot gladiators. What a dummy. And so, she is introduced to Caius. Now, Caius and Marcus are physically very similar. So much so that she is unable to determine which of the two she is breeding with (because he's wearing a mask).  Alba who is still having illicit relations with Marcus, has no idea who will be the father of her child if she does become pregnant, but as long as it's Marcus or Caius and not her sleaze of a husband, she's cool with that.

Here's where things get kinky(er): Marcus and Caius are having "relations" with EACH OTHER.  This is the norm in Rome, sexuality is very fluid. Alba's very concerned, though, because why do Marcus and Caius need her when they have each other? Never fear, fair Alba, because there is always room for one more in their life and bed and you are the secret ingredient they've been missing. Now, all the three need to do is secure their freedoms from the evil Lucius. Simple, right?

Like I said, the plot was great. It held my attention on it's own without the sex. But since I brought it up...

Holy. Freaking. Wow. This was, hands down, the hottest book I've ever read. Ever. Author Lauren Hawkeye did an awesome job of painting a smoking hot picture. Nothing is vague. I could visualize everything. I liked what I saw. <----Understatement of my life. My friend, Autumn, and I had a read-along for MY WICKED GLADIATORS. This read-along was full of rampant swearing. We took breaks to cool ourselves down, like this dude here

The book left us looking like this.

from reactiongifs.com

And one more, just because it's awesome and I'm all about the LOLs.



from reactiongifs.com

MY WICKED GLADIATORS is such a great read, it makes me wish I still smoked. And yeah, I'm going to be cliche' and say that it is a WICKED good time. I've already ordered my copy.

Favorite Quote:

"I would remember that the two filled different halves of my soul, and that when we were all together, I was complete." (eARC,  81%)

Expected Published date: June 5, 2012 by Avon Red

You can pre-order MY WICKED GLADIATORS at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Book Depository (only $5.99!)


Source: I received this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.