danny bewitched

Random notes about: ....books ...reading ....and about me! Find me at Bewitched Bookworms where I talk books !

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Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/10/menagerie-by-rachel-vincent.html

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

I adore Rachel Vincent! I read all her books, the Young Adult ones, but also her Adult series, so I was more than excited when i heard about Menagerie, a new Adult Paranormal Series! And, even though her Adult books are always a little darker I wasn’t prepared by how dark this new series would be…

Imagine being stripped of all your rights, everything that makes you human and then being thrown in a cave, a circus to be displayed like an animal …

In Menagerie we are introduced to a world where there is a deep, cruel mistrust to everything that is paranormal or magical. Something very bad happened in the 80s and ever since paranormals are hunted down and stripped of all their rights.

We get introduced into this world in a very very smart way, by following Delilah who always though she is human. But then, when she visits a menagerie where paranormals are displayed – an incident happens and suddenly everyone (including Delilah) knows that she is indeed not human, but paranormal.

Now, she is stripped of all her rights, her friends are scared and she is sold into the very same Menagerie she visited just a day before. And here, the cruelty just begins.

Put into a cage, treated like an animal with an intense hate and cruelty that will make you tear up!

You can’t imagine the horrors Delilah has to endure after being captured, it’s a horrific scenario with so much cruel abuse that it’s atrocious. She’s beaten, left with no real food and her handler is been told “to brake her in” so that she can perform in front of a crowed.

I have no words what I felt when reading about Delilah’s terrible journey!

But there is hope.. we need hope to survive this story as much as Delilah needs hope to survive!

And hope comes from her fellow caged paranormals, with whom she slowly begins to bond. But more importantly, there is Gallagher – her handler who shows already in the beginning that there is more to him that meets the eye. He is not as cruel as the other ones and treats Delilah differently than the others.

And .. a part of his mystery is revealed towards the end of the story and it was an amazing twist! Something you wouldn’t see coming and just adds the perfect “wohoo” effect to an already outstanding story!

Bewitched Rating

Bottom Line

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent is dark, twisted and full of abuse. It introduces us to a horrific world where people (well, paranormals) have no rights and are treated like animals. Delilah is an amazingly strong heroine, which guides us through this world and story. Managerie is without doubt an outstanding novel that you should not miss!!

      Have you read Menagerie? Have you read Rachel Vincent other books? Are you excited about it now?

[dannybewitched]

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/10/tonight-the-streets-are-ours-by-leila-sales.html

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

  Tonight the Streets Are Ours is one of those books that is so realistic that it can make you feel a bit nostalgic for your lost teenage years one second, but in the next it reminds you just how much of a bitch those years actually were. This novel isn’t a romance, it’s a very realistic look at what it’s like to be a seventeen-year-old girl who chooses to take care of everyone that she loves, and it certainly isn’t very happy or pretty at times.

Arden Huntley knows that her place in the world is to be the best friend and family member that she can be, whether it’s just supporting her school musical actor boyfriend while he does the audition circuit, runs her younger brother to his basketball games, or takes the fall for her best friend Lindsey’s bad judgement calls. It’s just what Arden has been taught to do, but when she finally realizes that these relationships aren’t as two dimensional as she’d like, she googles “Why don’t people love me as much as I love them?” And this simple search leads her to New York teenager Peter’s blog, Tonight the Streets Are Ours. Peter posts about his missing brother, his on-again/off-again relationship with Bianca, and his difficult relationship with his unsupportive rich parents. Arden feels like she gets to know Peter and sympathizes with him, and on a whim when she’s finally had enough, Arden and her best friend Lindsey set off on a trip to New York City to find Peter. But will Arden find that Peter is everything that she read in his blog or will she be disappointed?

Arden’s role model of love is her mother–the woman who gave everything of herself to her husband and children until she had nothing left to give and snapped, walking away on Arden’s dance night during the family dinner. Arden thinks that to love someone she should always protect them and do whatever she can to keep them happy and safe, even when that makes her unhappy in the process and leaves her feeling used up. Arden has her backstage work, but she doesn’t have anything else to do but be a good student, good friend, and support everyone else. As Arden meets up with Peter and they experience a wild night of parties, limo rides, and deep discussions, she starts to see that maybe everyone lies to themselves–especially when it comes to what they put out for the world to see.

I give Tonight the Streets Are Ours a four out of five. The character development was excellent, even during the slower paced first half of the book building up to Arden’s breaking point. This is such a realistic book that I didn’t enjoy the characters the entire time because they were too real, and real people are insensitive jerks that are out for themselves. But I have to applaud Leila Sales for capturing such a realistic picture of humanity, even if I was cringing and wanting to hide my eyes for the characters at different parts of the book. Overall, this is an entertaining read about a girl who needed to learn to give a bit less of herself while those who love her need to realize that they should reciprocate every now and then.

[dannybewitched]

Motor City Shakedown by Jonathan Watkins – Blog Tour – Guest Post and Giveaway

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Motor City Shakedown by Jonathan Watkins – Blog Tour – Guest Post and Giveaway

Happy Friday, and I’m so excited to bring you the Kismet blog tour stop for Jonathan Watkins’ legal thriller Motor City Shakedown. Mysteries and thrillers are my go-to genre and I love the variety that there is to read inside therein. I asked Jonathan to share some of his favorite books that he could recommend to fellow mystery/thriller lovers.

Darren’s Bookshelves – what Five books might Darren recommend to all the mystery/thriller lovers out there?

Taming a Sea-Horse, by Robert B. Parker. This Spenser novel puts the Boston gum shoe’s pure and idealized love for Susan Silverman at the fore. Darren could relate to the lengths Spenser goes to protect Susan, as he would do the same for Issabella. More than any literary couple, the love and respect Spenser and Susan share for one another was a tremendous influence on my shaping the relationship between Darren and Issabella.

Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett. It’s a classic, responsible for so much of the detective fiction that has followed in the decades since. I think Darren would have read it when he was young, as he enjoyed a rich man’s privileged education and would have been exposed to seminal works of all variety. The protagonist of the story is not shy about breaking rules and stirring up trouble in order to get to what he personally considers justice, which is a quality Darren shares.

Flood, by Andrew Vachss. The first book in the series introduces Burke, a paranoid, damaged, and exceedingly dangerous anti-hero and his fiercely loyal ‘family of choice’. Darren would likely be drawn to the insights that Vachss (a lawyer who specializes in representing abused youth) offers about the criminal justice system and the myriad ways it fails the victims of abuse, both children and the adults they grow up to become.

Any of the Travis McGee mysteries by John D MacDonald. Darren would love Travis. Like Darren, he is a bit of a knight-errant, striving for the noble and the sublime but all-too-often finding himself entangled in the banal, violent machinations of bad men. Darren’s personal favorite would likely be Nightmare in Pink, with its prophetic whimsies about the future and the condition of the individual in a too-modern world.

Tough Guys Don’t Dance, by Norman Mailer. The book, taken as a whole, is absurd. It’s a catalogue of every aging man’s fears: failure to live up to the measure of your father, a true love in the arms of a man who pleases her better than you ever could, and not being up to the fight when the fight shows up. It’s exaggerated, lewd, and preposterous. Still, Mailer was a master of pouring his id all over the page. I think Darren would appreciate the introspective passages, where Mailer discards the pretense that he is writing from a fictional point of view and just lays out his big, rude, and fascinating soul.

About Motor City Shakedown:

Goodreads

Amazon | B&N

Darren Fletcher, once the rising star of Detroit’s criminal justice system, has fallen far. All the way to an office in a smoky dive bar on the wrong side of the city. But a single phone call could be the key to climbing out of his downward spiral: a police brutality victim needs his help, and the family’s willing to pay. Big-time.

Issabella Bright’s daily panic attacks aren’t entirely due to her decision to forgo a flashy firm and go out on her own, but that’s a large part of it. She never thought she’d resort to ambulance chasing, until the story about a SWAT raid gone wrong proves too intriguing to ignore—it’s the perfect chance to prove she made the right decision.

But Issabella’s not the only one after the job.

Darren’s connections are enough to get past the cops stonewalling them both at the hospital, but only a judge’s order makes Issabella even consider teaming up with the disheveled attorney and his weird—and weirdly effective—methods. But as the case deepens and it becomes clear the Detroit PD is concealing a much bigger conspiracy, Darren and his methods may be all that keep her alive.

About Jonathan Watkins:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Jonathan Watkins lives and works in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Children’s Literature from Eastern Michigan University and his Juris Doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. A life-long fan of detective fiction, Jonathan is the author of the Bright and Fletcher mystery series. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, who is too good for him. They are blessed with two kind-hearted sons.

Giveaway Info:

Harlequin is generously offering up the following prizes to one lucky winner!

5000 Harlequin Rewards Points (US/Can only)

$25 Amazon Gift Card

eCopy of MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form.

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Tour Schedule:

Monday, September 28th – Supernatural Snark

Wednesday,September 30th – Book Swarm

Friday, October 2nd – Bewitched Bookworms

Monday, October 5th – Good In The Stacks

Wednesday, October 7th – Happy Ever After Book Reviews

Friday, October 9th – Parajunkee

Monday, October 12th – Books and Things

Wednesday, October 14th – Nick’s Book Blog

Friday, October 16th – Curling Up With A Good Book

I’m definitely going to checkout the ones that Jonathan has recommended! What is a favorite book of yours in the mystery/thriller genre? Let me know in the comments below.

[dannybewitched]

Midnight Fire by Lisa Marie Rice – A Men of Midnight Novel, Blog Tour - Excerpt and Giveaway

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Midnight Fire by Lisa Marie Rice – A Men of Midnight Novel, Blog Tour - Excerpt and Giveaway

Do you wish you had a sexy, alpha hero in your life? The Midnight Series by Lisa Marie Rice is full of protective heroes just waiting to stand up for the women they love!

Midnight Fire by Lisa Marie Rice

Published  September 21st 2015 by Carina Press

Series: Men of Midnight #4

Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense

Add it on your Shelf on Goodreads

Available as ebook  and Audiobook on Amazon  |  B&N | iTunes

Jack Delvaux is alive

  Summer Redding thought the blindingly handsome jock who’d loved and left her years ago had died in the Washington Massacre. She grieved for her lost golden boy as the rest of the country mourned their dead—until she comes home to find a very alive Jack Delvaux waiting for her with a devastating secret that turns her life upside down.

  No longer the carefree man he was in his youth, this Jack is dark, hard and dangerous; a fifteen-year veteran of the CIA hungry for answers…and hungry for her. The rich, good-looking charmer who broke her heart once before would have been easy to resist, but this man, this powerful man? Summer needs him, and he knows it.

  When Jack’s mission uncovers evidence of government involvement in the Massacre—and plans for another attack—he’s primed for revenge. But he has more than vengeance to live for now, and when Summer’s life is threatened, it’s nearly Jack’s undoing. Someone taking shots at his woman? That’s a dead man walking.

MIDNIGHT FIRE Excerpt

  Jack stiffened. Nick was a good guy but no one could talk like that about Summer. Jack swiveled his head and glared. “Say anything like that again and I’ll rip you a new one,” he growled, meaning every word.

Nick’s eyes widened. “Dude. Sorry. Whoa, didn’t mean it that way. Hell, she’s an incredible woman. She followed the trail of Senator Rowland’s abuse of the family au pair like a terrier with a bone. If we have one less shitin the Senate, it’s thanks to her. I read Area 8 regularly, love it.” He blew out a breath. “So—now that we’ve got that out of the way—we still got a problem. A big one.”

Jack clenched his jaw.

“Problem. We’ve got a problem. You see that, don’t you? Talk to me, Jack.” They were at the safe house and Nick pulled into the covered alleyway in the back. “What are you going to do about it? One of the most well-known bloggers in America knows you are not dead. How do we remedy that?”

Silence.

“Jack?”

“I’m going to go talk to her,” Jack said finally.

About Lisa Marie Rice

Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall and willowy and beautiful. Men drop at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archaeology, nuclear physics, and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman and exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off.

Find our more about Lisa Marie on her website Bio!

Find Lisa Marie online: Website | Twitter | Facebook 

The Men of Midnight Series

Midnight Vengeance  (Men of Midnight #1) 

Midnight Promises (Men of Midnight, #2) 

Midnight Secrets (Men of Midnight, #3) 

Tour Schedule

Lisa Marie Rice will will be on an amazing three weeks Blog Tour – with exciting content and Interviews!

Monday, September 14th – Book Swarm

Wednesday,September 16th – Curling Up With A Good Book

Friday, September 18th – Romancing Rakes For The Love of Romance

Monday, September 21st – Sassy Book Lovers

Wednesday,September 23rd – The Book Cellar

Friday, September 25th – Gwyn Plummer: Happy Ever After Book Reviews

Monday, September 28th – Geeks in High School

Wednesday,September 30th – Bewitched Bookworms

Friday, October 2nd – Seeing Night Reviews

Giveaway

Harlequin is generously offering up 5000 Harlequin Rewards Points (US/Can only) as well as ebook copies of all four Men of Midnight books to one lucky winner! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[dannybewitched]

A Ghostly Murder by Tonya Kappes

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/a-ghostly-murder-by-tonya-kappes.html

A Ghostly Murder by Tonya Kappes

The Southern Ghostly Mystery series has been a real treat to discover this year, and I’ve really enjoyed reading about Emma Lee Raines as she’s trying to find her footing as a Betweener Medium. While she juggles trying to help murdered ghosts cross over and her regular job at the family funeral home, Emma Lee also spends time with handsome boyfriend Sheriff Jack Henry Ross. These books are full of quirky, fun, and believable characters that make the Kentucky town of Sleepy Hollow a great place to visit.

In the latest standalone A Ghostly Murder, the ghost that needs help is the town hypochondriac Mamie Sue Preston. While she doesn’t remember who killed her, the list of people who could have done her in isn’t very short thanks to Mamie Sue being the richest person in Sleepy Hollow. From the Baptist minister whose church received one million dollars in her will to her pretty housekeeper who is hawking her homemade moisturizer all over town while she cleans other rich people’s homes, Emma Lee has her work cut out for her while Mamie Sue jokes about everyone around her and promises Emma Lee a payday when she solves her murder.

While Emma Lee is sticking her nose in everyone’s business much to her boyfriend’s chagrin, she also has to save her granny’s neck since it seems that someone has it out for her after her failed bid for Sleepy Hollow mayor. While covering for Granny with Jack Henry isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, and the rival funeral home family is sure that Granny is messing with them. And their funeral home isn’t doing as well as it could thanks to Emma Lee being seen talking to herself so much, with more business going over to the Burns Funeral Homes by the day.

I really loved the tight timeline of this book. While the events took place over just a few days, everything seemed so frantic and much more important to get settled. While Emma Lee and Jack Henry’s relationship is going strong, it does hit some snags that I wasn’t sure they would pull through unscathed, and I was on pins and needles just waiting to see how it would turn out. Their relationship is so great. Jack Henry is the only one who knows about Emma Lee’s ghost abilities, and while he believes in her, he’s still weirded out about them and it’s really cute. Plus they are just so romantic it’s just super great how far their relationship has come in four books.

Dislikes: The lack of rules regarding the ghosts and who can move and touch things. Can new ghosts or old ghosts move objects or does age not matter? Where do the murdered ghosts go when they disappear, and for that matter, where was Mamie hanging out for all those years that she was dead before Emma Lee was hit on the head and became a Betweener Medium? I’m sure the where they go question probably won’t be answered, but the what age ghosts can manipulate objects was quite obvious in this one since a brand new ghost and an old ghost had quite different abilities and interest in watching humans, and it was opposite what I thought it would be.

I give A Ghostly Murder a 4.5 out of 5. This was my favorite installment yet, and I really loved the deeper character development and the broader glimpses into the main characters’ pasts that we got in this one. This book just felt much more well-rounded and I was more engaged because of it. The lack of some clear-cut rules of how ghosts physics works is starting to detract a bit for me, but the overall lightheartedness, quirkiness, and country appeal wins me over every time. I can’t wait for more of these characters, especially with Emma Lee’s new family and working situations.

[dannybewitched]

Against All Odds by Patricia Vanasse - Blog Tour & Giveaway

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/against-all-odds-by-patricia-vanasse-blog-tour-giveaway.html

Against All Odds by Patricia Vanasse - Blog Tour & Giveaway

Happy Monday my friends, and I have today a great Tour Stop for all those among you who love a good, sweet and romantic Young Adult Contemporary!

Sometimes boy meets girl, and the stars align, and their future is laid out neatly before them. Together forever. Meant to be. But Max and Loren are not one of those couples.

Guest Post from Patricia: 

Why Max and Loren are perfect for each other-  share some tiny little tidbits about their relationship?

Max are Loren are perfect for each other because they are both in that moment of their lives where she is everything he needs and vise-versa. Max and Loren are both dealing with loss, and they relate to each other’s pain. When they feel like they can’t find understanding in their friends, they turn to one another. They first become friends and, with their relationship blooming, share their weaknesses creating a strong bond. There’s a passage in the book where Max says:

“When she’s with me we share a different type of emotion, one that doesn’t make us smile. It’s like the bond we have was made through understanding what it is to live with the loss of someone you love. And it’s that same understanding that makes it so easy to open up with her about what I’ve been through.”

I have to agree with Max. I think their mutual pain and suffering brought them together and from there, they found their way to happiness.

Against All Odds by Patricia Vanasse

September 2015 by Pants On Fire Press

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Add it on your shelf on Goodreads

Available soon!

  Sometimes boy meets girl, and the stars align, and their future is laid out neatly before them. Together forever. Meant to be. But Max and Loren are not one of those couples.

  Seventeen-year-old Max DuPont is on the verge of becoming a ward of the state and foster kid. Contrary to expectations, Max is not from the “wrong” side of town. He’s from a good home in a nice neighborhood, but his mother left after his father lost his job and turned to drink. Max has been struggling to keep his head above water ever since. All he wants is to survive his senior year, play hockey, and move on to college. When his dad lands himself in jail, Max has no choice but to accept an offer to live with his father’s do-gooder attorney, Mr. Larssi. The only contingency is that Max must stay far away from Larssi’s beautiful teenage daughter Loren.

  Loren is aware that she’s had every opportunity in her young adult life—at least, that is, every opportunity her parents designed for her. She excels in academics at a competitive prep school, she never parties, she never dates, and she’s a budding ballerina and major hopeful for a Juilliard scholarship. But since her best friend Lily died tragically three months ago, Loren is lost. She knows just how precious life is. But she has no idea how to make the best of it. How can she live—really live—with obsessive parents breathing down her neck…and inviting the only guy who never noticed her to live right under their roof? Loren’s first step in living her own life might be to get Max to notice her. Max’s only chance at a solid future without foster care is to keep his distance from Loren. But their chemistry is undeniable. And they can’t fight the odds forever…

About Patricia Vanasse

Patricia Vanasse was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now she lives on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest. She has been through Culinary Arts, Psychology, Law School, and now has finally found her passion in creative writing. She also loves traveling, cooking, and is an avid reader. Her strength- believes that everything is possible. Her weakness- an obsessive relationship with caffeine.

  Find Patricia: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Tour Schedule

Monday, September 28th – Bewitched Bookworms – Guest PostTuesday, September 29th – Supernatural Snark – InterviewWednesday,September 30th – Two Chicks on Books – ExcerptThursday, October 1st – For The Love Of Books – Review together with Guest Post & Good In The Stacks – ReviewFriday, October 2nd – The Bookmark Blog – Review together with Guest Post– –Monday, October 5th – Here’s to Happy Endings – Review together with InterviewTuesday, October 6th – Curling Up With A Good Book – Review together with InterviewWednesday, October 7th – Book Swoon – ReviewThursday, October 8th – Ramblings From Beneath the Sheets – Review  &  Fiksthun – Review together with Guest PostFriday, October 9th – Kindle and Me – Review together with Guest Post

Giveaway Info:

Patricia is generously offering up a variety of prizes!

A $25 Amazon gift card (international)

A signed copy of AGAINST ALL ODDS (US only)

2 eCopies of AGAINST ALL ODDS (international)

Doesn’t this sound super cute? I love these kind of romantic stories where two people fight for each other even if they might not be perfect for each other! 

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

[dannybewitched]

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston- Fantastic Giveaway

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/a-thousand-nights-by-e-k-johnston-fantastic-giveaway.html

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston- Fantastic Giveaway

OoOO I love 1001 night tales and I love fairy tales and.. I love retellings! There are some amazing retellings that make a beloved story come to live in a completely different and surprising way! And.. today I have a great and awesome giveaway for you guys!

A Thousand Nights

by E.K. Johnston

About A Thousand Nights 

“A story threaded with shimmering vibrance and beauty, A Thousand Nights will weave its spell over readers’ hearts and leave them captivated long after the final tale has been told.” —Alexandra Bracken, New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds series

  Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

  And so she is taken in her sister’s place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin’s court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments.  She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

  Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.

  Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

  About E.K. Johnston

K. Johnston is a forensic archaeologist by training, a book seller and author by trade, and a grammarian by nature. She spends a great deal of time on the Internet because it is less expensive than going to Scotland. She can probably tell you, to the instant, when she fell in love with any particular song; but don’t ask her, because then it will be stuck in both of your heads.

  BOOK EXCERPT

Check out the first four chapters of A THOUSAND NIGHTS here.

LEARN MORE

Learn more on un-requiredreading.com

#AThousandNights

Giveaway

PRETTY THINGS IN A DANGEROUS PLACE prize pack

One (1) winner receives:

Copy of A Thousand Nights;

Branded nail polish set & tea bag dispenser.

Giveaway curtesy of Disney

Tell me do you love Retellings? Which one is your favorite retelling and which fairy tale definitely needs a cool retelling? 

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[dannybewitched]

So Amazing! - Chasing Impossible by Katie McGarry

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So Amazing! - Chasing Impossible by Katie McGarry

By now any of you who’ve read Katie McGarry’s books know that she has a formula that works: take a troubled girl and an equally but differently troubled boy, push them together, put them through the ringer, and then make them work for a fantastic happy ending. And it’s always told in alternating points of view between the boy and the girl so you’re getting a good perspective on both sides. I know what to expect when I pick up one of her novels, and I quite enjoy each one since she writes an enjoyable mix of characters. They’re pretty unique in each book and she isn’t rehashing the same old things over and over again.

In Chasing Impossible, my two favorite characters from the Pushing the Limits series are finally brought together: tough, no-nonsense drug dealing Abby (who we first saw in the very first book, Pushing the Limits) and never-back-away-from-a-dare, risk taker Logan (who we first met in Dare You To). I was really excited to delve into both of their backstories, especially after seeing more of them in Rachel and Isaiah’s novel Crash Into You where they both took up more prominent space. And Katie McGarry really delivered a believable romance between these two sarcastic, hard headed teens with trust issues.

Abby’s life was the hardest space to occupy. She’s thrown into the life of drug dealing by her father, who is in jail for dealing drugs, and she now must do it because she desperately needs money. When she finds that she’s in the cross hairs of rivals and she’s in major danger, she turns to the only person that sticks his neck out for her and more importantly, who she thinks she can trust with her secrets. She wants out of this hellish life, but when it’s all you’ve known from the time you were born and it pays the way, how can you do anything else–even if it puts the boy you’re starting to feel things for in danger? Her life has never been stable and she’s scary, tough, and able to turn off the emotions towards the outside people. But in Chasing Impossible we get to see the real Abby, the scared little girl that she doesn’t show anyone else, because that would make her a walking target.

Logan’s kept his Type I diabetes diagnosis a secret from his best friends and his baseball teammates for years–always testing his blood sugar in secret and administering insulin hidden away from prying eyes. He doesn’t want to be seen as different or weak, so he’s always overcompensated by being the craziest, the most no-holds-barred, the least afraid to hurt himself. But when faced with the reality that he’s been left behind by all of his older friends and teammates, he now must start over at a new school with Rachel and Abby to finish out his senior year, and he has to move in with his new age-y mother instead of his more down to earth father. That also means deciding if he’ll play another year of baseball, which he’s not so sure about. But convincing his parents that he might not want to play, even though they’ve already set up the meeting with the coach. All he wants to do is hang out with Abby and his friends, make some extra money this summer helping out on his friend Chris’ grandfather’s farm, and keep up the charade that everything is normal. But when crap hits the fan with Abby, everything is upside down–his feelings, his wants, and his future.

I give Chasing Impossible a five out of five. This is the character pairing that I’d been waiting for, and while I was a bit annoyed that I had to pre-order Nowhere But Here, book one in Katie McGarry’s new Thunder Road series, just to get a copy of this book, I’d do it all over again since you still can’t get a copy of Chasing Impossible any other way. Most of the main characters of the previous books are here in some way–either in presence or in name–so it was nice to catch up with the other characters. All in all, this was another emotionally charged book that focused on Abby’s life of crime and Logan’s need to help dig her out, but ultimately she needed to save herself so they could have any kind of a chance at a relationship. Hopefully this will be widely released to fans of this series can enjoy this book as much as I did.

[dannybewitched]

Review and Giveaway - Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/review-and-giveaway-paris-time-capsule-by-ella-carey.html

Review and Giveaway - Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey

  Who hasn’t seen the new story about the discovery in 2010 of a Paris apartment that was locked away untouched for seventy years? I was intrigued by the pictures that were released, and author Ella Carey was as well, enough so that this idea sparked a novel, Paris Time Capsule.

New Yorker Cat Jordan receives a mysterious package which contains a key and a letter, instructing her to fly to Paris and meet with an attorney. Once there, she learns that she’s inherited an apartment that was first left to her deceased grandmother by a dear friend that she’d had right before World War II. While the will states that Cat is the heir to the apartment, she doesn’t feel right taking possession of anything if there are living heirs of Isabelle de Florian. Once the grandson Loic shows up when Cat is ready to enter the apartment, he insists that the apartment wasn’t meant for them if his grandmother kept it a secret. But they’re both in for a very big surprise once they push open the door to an apartment that hasn’t been occupied or even opened since it’s tenants fled as the war closed in seventy years earlier.

As Cat and Loic are surprised by the elegance and opulence of the apartment. Loic and his mother Sylvie knew his grandmother a struggling house cleaner, so why would she own such a place and hide it? And so Cat and Loic’s journey throughout France begins to retrace Isabelle de Florian’s steps as she fled Paris in 1940 for the south of France, pregnant with Loic’s mother Sylvie. If Cat can prove that Sylvie should inherit the apartment and the very expensive Bollini painting that was inside, then they’ll take it–and Cat can return to her high society New York fiancée and her boring portrait photography life. But will a cross France trip convince Cat that maybe New York isn’t right for her and Europe is where she belongs, especially if she could be by the side of someone like Loic?

Cat believes that she is happy and she has a supportive fiancée in Christian, but her love of all things vintage doesn’t exactly fit in with his minimalistic and modern style. She knows that she’s not of the same social status as Christian and his friends, but she’s trying to fit in. When she travels to France, the lifestyle and pace is so different from she’s used to from New York–and she really loves the small towns, the slower pace, and the comforting feel of the people in the south of France as she and Loic move from town to town in search of answers.

Loic is the handsome grandson that Cat didn’t know she’d want or really needed as a friend. They grow very close they longer the travel the country together, and Loic never thinks twice about speaking his mind about how Cat is selling herself short with her New York lifestyle or her choice in men. He isn’t lying when he says that he doesn’t want the apartment because after all, he has a flourishing  and quite successful vineyard. All he wants to do is find out where his family comes from since his grandmother was always quite close-lipped about her life.

  I give Paris Time Capsule 4.5 out of 5. I loved, loved, loved this book. Ella Carey has taken a few basic facts from the discovery of Marthe de Florian’s apartment in Paris that had sat untouched for 70 years, and expanded it into such an amazingly emotional, educational, and touching story. The setting is really a secondary character in Paris Time Capsule, and I could vividly picture everywhere they traveled. From Paris and the dusty apartment to the country side, every sight and smell were easy to imagine. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I’m so happy that there is a second book on the way, What We Leave Behind, coming Spring 2016!

About Ella Carey

Ella Carey is a writer and Francophile who claims Paris as her second home. She has been studying French since the age of five, and she has degrees in music and English. Carey’s work has been published in the Review of Australian Fiction. She lives with her two children and two Italian greyhounds in Australia.

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win one copy of Paris Time Capsule. Open to US/Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Ella Carey’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, September 1st: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, September 3rd: Daily Mayo

Friday, September 4th: Just One More Chapter

Monday, September 7th: Romance Novels for the Beach

Tuesday, September 8th: Reading Reality

Wednesday, September 9th: Bookchickdi

Thursday, September 10th:  girlichef

Friday, September 11th: Raven Haired Girl

Monday, September 14th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Thursday, September 17th: Chick Lit Central – author guest post

Thursday, September 17th: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, September 21st: Bewitched Bookworms

Monday, September 21st: Books a la Mode – guest post/giveaway

Monday, September 21st: 100 Pages a Day

Monday, September 21st: Kritter’s Ramblings

Tuesday, September 22nd: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, September 23rd: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Thursday, September 24th: The Lit Bitch

Monday, September 28th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, September 29th: The Baking Bookworm

[dannybewitched]

Fall 2015 TV Series Premieres to get excited about! Part II

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/fall-2015-tv-series-premieres-to-get-excited-about-part-ii.html

Fall 2015 TV Series Premieres to get excited about! Part II

Summer Time is over and new TV shows are going to premier soon! Get your DVR’s ready because there are so many exciting chows coming this fall that it will be tough to decided what to watch! So below is my list of TV shows I will be most excited about watching.. and this list will just consist of premiere shows, not the returning series (like Supernatural.. *sigh* Dean & Sam) that are also high on my list!

Read Part I from last week !

This week, I have some more shows and also quite a few of them are actually based on former movies. It seems to be a trend to continue movies into TV shows.. I don’t complain:)

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

Premiere: 2016

Midseason on The CW

I am really really REALLY excited about this show. I LOVE The FLASH and The Arrow, so this mesh-up is going to be super pretty awesome! Plus the cast is phenomenal. !

about the show

When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends.

Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat—one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself.

Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known? DC’s Legends of Tomorrow stars Victor Garber (The Flash, Alias); Brandon Routh (Arrow, Superman Returns); Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who); Caity Lotz (Arrow); Ciarra Renee (Pippin); Franz Drameh (Edge of Tomorrow); with Dominic Purcell (The Flash, Prison Break); and Wentworth Miller (The Flash, Prison Break). Source: Warnerbrothers TV

Quantico

Premiere: Sunday, Sept. 27

Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC

Quanitco also comes with an amazing cast and the premise sounds exciting. It’s young, fresh, thrilling and I hope it delivers some serious action and mystery!

    about the show

Visit the official website

A diverse group of recruits has arrived at the FBI Quantico Base for training. They are the best, the brightest and the most vetted, so it seems impossible that one of them is suspected of masterminding the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11. – source:  official website

Wicked City

Premiere: Tuesday, Oct. 27

10 p.m. on ABC on ABC

Ed Westwick plays a serial killer! How perfect is that role for him? I can totally see him as a devious, killer and I am sure he’s delivering it perfectly! I also like that there will be both sites – the killer and the police trying to catch him!

about the show

“Wicked City” follows a unique case set in a noteworthy era of L.A. history, starting with a murder case from 1982 centered on the rock ’n’ roll, cocaine-infused revelry of the Sunset Strip. Alliances are formed to solve a serial murder case. Source: Official website

Starring: Ed Westwick | Erika Christensen | Taissa Farmiga | Gabriel Luna | Karolina Wydra | Anne Winters

Limitless

Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 22

Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS

Ok, I haven’t seen the movie with Bradley Cooper, but maybe I will after watching this show, which plays after the movie. Also… Bradley will appear in the series too!

about the show

Limitless, based on the feature film, is a fast-paced drama about Brian Finch, who discovers the brain-boosting power of the mysterious drug NZT and is coerced by the FBI into using his extraordinary cognitive abilities to solve complex cases for them. Working closely with Brian in the major case squad in New York City is Special Agent Rebecca Harris, a formidable investigator with a dark past, and Special Agent Boyle, a former military officer and Rebecca’s confidante. They report to Special Agent in Charge Nasreen “Naz” Pouran, a canny manipulator of the reins of power. Unbeknownst to the FBI, Brian also has a clandestine relationship with Senator Edward Morra (Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, recurring), a presidential hopeful and regular user of NZT who has plans of his own for his new protégé. Fueled now with a steady supply of NZT that enables him to use 100% of his brain capacity, Brian is more effective than all of the FBI agents combined, making him a criminal’s worst nightmare and the greatest asset the Bureau has ever possessed. source: official website 

Lucifer

Premiere: ? Midseason on Fox

Lucifer sounds exactly like a show I will love! The bad boy turned half-way good, but of course not entirely so there will be lots of gey zones to be explored. But this bad-boys alpha males are also something I love in literature, so Lucifer will be right up my alley:!

about the show

The Devil has come to Los Angeles… Based upon the characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg for DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, LUCIFER is the story of the original fallen angel. Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR (Tom Ellis, “Merlin”) has abandoned his throne and retired to L.A., where he owns Lux, an upscale nightclub. Charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome, Lucifer is enjoying his retirement, indulging in a few of his favorite things – wine, women and song – when a beautiful pop star is brutally murdered outside of Lux. For the first time in roughly 10 billion years, he feels something awaken deep within him as a result of this murder. Compassion? Sympathy? The very thought disturbs him – as well as his best friend and confidante, MAZIKEEN aka MAZE (Lesley-Ann Brandt, “The Librarians”), a fierce demon in the form of a beautiful young woman. – source website 

Minority Report

I saw the movie years ago, but I like that this is going to be a SciFi show and let’s see

Premiere: Monday, Sept. 21

Mondays at 9 p.m. on Fox

about the show

The future is coming. Based on the international blockbuster film by executive producer Steven Spielberg and the first of his films to be adapted for television, MINORITY REPORT follows the unlikely partnership between a man haunted by the future and a cop haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes of the year 2065 before they happen. Set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals…before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs – “precognitives” Dash, Arthur and Agatha – who were able to see the future. Now, in 2065, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs. – source: website 

From all the shows above I am most excited about Lucifer and Legends of Tomorrow! Which ones are the ones you are most excited about?

[dannybewitched]

Pre-Squee - Marry Me At Christmas by Susan Mallery

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Pre-Squee - Marry Me At Christmas by Susan Mallery

Welcome to the Pre-Squee, a weekly feature here at the Bookworms and at The Book Swarm. Some books, though they might not be coming out for a few months, need an early squee — we just can’t hold in our excitement about them! Sure, we’ll do full reviews closer to the release date but this feature gives us a chance to share a little bit of our love, whether it be for the story, cover, characters, or whatever. We’re quite flexible in our book love.

So today we Squee about 

Marry Me At Christmas

by Susan Mallery

Series: Fool’s Gold #19

Goodreads | Pre-Order : Amazon

September 29, 2015 by HQN Books

To bridal boutique owner Madeline Krug, organizing a Christmas wedding sounds like a joy—until she finds out she’ll be working closely with the gorgeous brother of the bride, movie star Jonny Blaze. How will a small-town girl like her keep from falling for the world’s sexiest guy? Especially with mistletoe lurking around every corner!

Jonny came to Fool’s Gold looking for normal, not for love. Happily-ever-after only happens in the movies. Still, nothing about this quirky town is quite what he expected, and “ordinary” Madeline is the most extraordinary woman he’s ever met. Refreshingly honest, disarmingly sweet. Achingly beautiful.

Planning the perfect wedding leads to candlelit dinners and strolls through snow-covered streets. And Madeline finds Jonny in real life even more captivating than her celebrity crush. But will the action star be brave enough to risk his heart and step into the role of a lifetime?

Ever since I read two of Susan Mallery’s books this year, I’ve fallen right in love with her writing and characters. Her Fool’s Gold series can be read as stand alones and is still going strong at 19 books and a few novellas and counting. After hearing so much about this mysterious celebrity Jonny Blaze in the last book Thrill Me, I can’t wait to read about him first hand and interacting with the boisterous Maddie!

Have you read anything by Susan Mallery? What upcoming holiday books are you excited for? 

[dannybewitched]

Danny's Harry Potter Bubble - Re-discovering a bookish phenomenon -Mini-Feature Series - Part II Pottermore

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/dannys-harry-potter-bubble-re-discovering-a-bookish-phenomenon-mini-feature-series-part-ii-pottermore.html

Danny's Harry Potter Bubble - Re-discovering a bookish phenomenon -Mini-Feature Series - Part II Pottermore

So you know what they say, you should blog about what you love and talk about the things you’d love to talk about, even though all these things have been said already. But here I am re-reading one of the most famous bookish phenomenon of our time and… it’s been glorious!

  This is how I decided to start a little mini-feature where I talk about my Harry Potter Re-Reading Adventures, which I started a few weeks ago! It feels like I spend these last weeks in my very own Harry Potter Bubble, hence the name of the Feature:)

But, I not only re-read the books – I also watched the wonderful movies again and finally discovered Pottermore.So here are the topics and posts that will be coming within the next weeks and I’m excited about talking about these with you – and I hope you will too!

Reading Harry Potter – Now and Then ! (Last Week)

Pottermore – TODAY 

Cover Art, which ones are the most beautiful?

Watching the Movies – Now and Then!

Finally Drinking Butterbeer! Exploring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando!

Harry Potter Tattoo Art

Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them

yes… of course we need to have 7 topics  

  Part II POTTERMORE

The site launched in 2012 and promised to experience the world of Harry Potter all over again, with new writings and some “behind the scenes” info from J.K. Rowling herself. You finally could get sorted into a house and learn more about the world and beloved characters beyond what we know from the books.

As a big fan I initially also logged in and explored a little bit, but to be honest I didn’t care so much for this site as it felt more like it was for a much younger audience.

However, now that I started again, I really took some time to discover what Pottermore offers and here is what I truly liked about it!

You can get sorted into a house! Seriously, which Harry Potter loving Fan does not want to know which house is yours! It’s done quite cute with some questions where you have to choose and violá you are sorted into a house! Me? I’m a Gryffindor! Yes, no kidding:)

You get your own want! Ok, this is cute but nothing more. Mine has a Unicorn core… 😉

The artwork is so super pretty!!! Pottermore is divided into all the books, and the books are divided by chapters and for each chapter an important moment is depicted! You can go through each book again and experience the important moments in Harry Potter!

You can duel and create Potions! Well, this is more for kids and I didn’t care too much for this option!

You can  unlock read new, unpublished and additional pieces from J.K Rowling! I must say that I am especially drawn to this feature. You can for instance learn more about the character you love like Remus Lupin, learn about his parents and more! I really love reading this little pieces from JK that gets me deeper into the fantastic world she created! This is really a treasure for every fan and for me the reason why I am enjoying Pottermore right now!

I’m enjoying going through the moments of each chapter, but I do not care to unlock everything in each moment, because you can collect little small items like Galleons and stuff.

Pottermore NEWS

Last week JK Rowling announced some ground breaking news and here they are:

From  Pottermore.com

Soon, Pottermore as you know it will transform into a new and reimagined website, giving you the opportunity to discover even more about J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.

Part one of Pottermore’s story, in which you have enjoyed the depiction of Harry’s story through illustrated ‘Moment’ artwork and experienced life within Hogwarts, is ending. We are now preparing for part two of Pottermore’s story to begin. As J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World expands, so too will Pottermore, becoming a place to imagine more and share in a world beyond the seven book series.

Those are exciting news, as also Pottermore will now be truly mobile for Smartphones and Tablets, but apparently  you won’t have to log in anymore, which also means no houses anymore.

New Logo with J.K Rowlings Handwriting and I just LOVE the Phoenix Feather background! 

But, Pottermore is expanding and very likely is getting more mature and branches out also in regards to the new (more mature) movie coming next year: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them!

Read an interesting Interview with Pottermore SEO Susan Jurevics at the Bookseller 

So here is what we know (and guess) will await us when the new website launches

iPad and Smartphone ready (YES!, that was definitely missing and I tried using Pottermore in my iPad but didn’t really like it!

From the pictures it has a more modern and sleeker design, probably aiming for a more mature audience

  Images from The Bookseller  Images from The Bookseller 

It says it will “expand” outside of Hogwards! So, this is exciting for those that know the books inside out and want to know more about the Wizard World!

You won’t get sorted into houses anymore to access the content. Well, this is rather sad as it was such an integral part of the Harry Potter world, but maybe the new changes will make up for this!

New Content will be accessed easier. Now you have to go through all the moments to and unlock this new content from JK, which is nice but also time-consuming.

This change most definitely comes with the new Trilogy that is coming out next year : Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them and will help expand the world even more!

So, I’ll try to go through the remaining moments and chapters I still have left and I’m ready for the next chapter!

[dannybewitched]

Blog Tour Review and Giveaway - The Captive Condition by Kevin P. Keating

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/blog-tour-review-and-giveaway-the-captive-condition-by-kevin-p-keating.html

Blog Tour Review and Giveaway - The Captive Condition by Kevin P. Keating

  This has been my “Summer of Horror,” and to mark the end of the season and a lot of wonderfully dark and twisted books, Kevin P. Keating’s The Captive Condition was my end cap. I’d like to say that this novel lived up to my expectations, but maybe a chocked-full summer of great horror has raised my expectations and made the competition quite stiff.

The Captive Condition is quite dark and hopeless, with nearly every person residing within the area hating their lives–with the exceptions of the eight year old twin girls, who are full on the creepiest twins I’ve read (think the movie version of The Shining). Main narrator Edmund is a failing graduate student who’s forced to take on work as a groundskeeper to make ends meet, and it’s here that he notices that his thesis adviser Professor Kingsley has been carrying on with a neighbor, Emily. When Emily drowns in her own pool and is discovered by a drunken Edmund, he becomes unhealthily obsessed with her. Emily’s twin girls are abandoned on Professor Kingsley’s doorstep for him and his wife to raise since he can’t cope, and those two evil girls put him through the ringer.

In the opening pages, I wasn’t sure what time period this book was supposed to be set in since the writing is quite descriptive and overly long. It even reminded me of something dark and brooding that would be set in dark Victorian England until a concrete setting of Normandy Falls in Ohio was established. While the book is mostly in third person, it jumps from narrator to narrator with each person sounding mostly the same. The bleakness and hopelessness that the characters had shone through quite clearly in this dark comedy, and I found this book to take quite a few pages of setup before things really started to takeoff.

The story is full of suspense and dark humor, which I did quite enjoy. The more unsavory characters of the townies in this college town, like Edmond’s boss The Gonk and his coworkers, were quite depraved and sadistic, and I certainly wasn’t rooting for them. But there wasn’t really anyone to root for in this book, and in a way, that’s a bit of a problem.

I give The Captive Condition a three out of five. With suffocatingly stiff and wordy prose, I often found myself thinking that reading this novel was more like work than what reading should be: something fun and enjoyable while you’re challenged to explore new worlds and characters that you’d love to never come across in real life. There was so much potential in the twisted town of Normandy Falls and the residents who seemed trapped within that the question of how Emily actually died seemed to fall by the wayside. Then why spend all of those first pages seemingly setting up that mystery? Kevin P. Keating can clearly write and write well, but it was hard to slog through a large paragragh that could have been said in two sentences–it takes away from the story too much.

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win a copy of The Captive Condition. Open to US/Canada mailing addresses.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Kevin P. Keating

After working as a boilermaker in the steel mills in Ohio, KEVIN P. KEATING became a professor of English and began teaching at Baldwin Wallace University, Cleveland State University, and Lorain County Community College. His essays and stories have appeared in more than fifty literary journals, and his first novel, The Natural Order of Things, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. His second novel, The Captive Condition, will be released by Pantheon Books in July of 2015. He lives in Cleveland.

Kevin P. Keating’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 24th: Wildfire Books

Tuesday, August 25th: The Steadfast Reader

Wednesday, August 26th: Mallory Heart Reviews

Thursday, August 27th: More Than Just Magic

Saturday, August 29th: Books that Hook

Monday, August 31st: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, September 2nd: Read Love Blog

Thursday, September 3rd: Sweet Southern Home

Friday, September 4th: 100 Pages a Day

Tuesday, September 8th: Book Chatter

Wednesday, September 9th: It’s a Mad Mad World

Thursday, September 10th: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, September 14th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, September 16th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, September 17th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Tuesday, September 22nd: Bibliotica

[dannybewitched]

COMPULSION by Martina Boone Paperback Blog Tour & Exciting Giveaway

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COMPULSION by Martina Boone Paperback Blog Tour & Exciting Giveaway

Hey and Happy Friday and welcome to an exciting  Blog Tour that is going on right now to promote Martina Boone’s Compulsion, leading up to the sequel Persuasion which is coming out in October

Today I have for you a very nice graphic that should give you more ideas about Compulsion  if you haven’t read the series!

If you liked Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – you really should try Compulsion, and here is why

Scavenger Hunt!

Don’t forget! There’s a fun scavenger hunt that’s part of this blog tour. Martina is releasing at least one new download each day! Visit each blog to find their code to unlock the the unique download and for more chances to win! You can find the full list of tour stops on the Tour Home Page.

For today’s codeword, keep reading below, and find the CODEWORD in all caps. You’ll find the instructions on what to do with that codeword down below as well!

COMPULSION by Martina Boone

October 28, 2014, Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Family, Legends, Myths, Fables, Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult Pages: 448

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead—a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the BINDING family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

Available Now in Hardcover, Paperback, and Audio      Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Walmart | Target | Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)

Pre-Order Heirs of Watson Island Book Two! PERSUASION by Martina Boone October 27, 2015, Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Family, Legends, Myths, Fables, Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult Pages: 464

Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon |  Book Depository | (free worldwide shipping)

About the Author

Martina Boone spoke several languages before she learned English after moving to the U.S. She has never fallen out of love with words, fairy tale settings, or characters who have to find themselves. She is the author of Compulsion, the acclaimed first book in the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy. with Persuasion releasing 10/27/15. She is also the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers site, the CompulsionForReading.com book drive campaign for underfunded schools and libraries, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a site devoted to the discovery and celebration of young adult literature and encouraging literacy through YA series. Locally in her home state, she is on the board of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, helping to promote literacy and adult education initiatives.

13 Free Downloads, Word-Search Fun, and a Persuasion Pre-Order Giveaway

If you’ve read and loved Compulsion, good news! Persuasion releases October 27th!

To say thank you to all the amazing readers who’ve let her know that they’re looking forward to reading the sequel packed with more mystery, magic, and romance–not to mention a ghost or two or six–and to celebrate Barrie Watsons gift of finding lost things, Martina has some great giveaways going on.

There are thirteen code words in the grid below that relate to Persuasion and the Heirs of Watson Island series.

From 8/31 to 9/11, the Compulsion paperback blog tour will reveal the code word or words that will unlock a special page at http://www.MartinaBoone.com that day. (Yes, somewhere on this page, there is a CODE WORD!)

There are three great giveaways (see below!) plus even more giveaways that are exclusive to Martina’s website when you visit.

As a code word unlocks a page, you can go to that page to download free items. There will be stickers, DYI origami bookmark, traditional bookmarks, door hangers, book plates, beautiful wallpapers, and more.

To unlock a page, replace the word CODEWORD in the following URL with the actual code and type or copy the whole thing into the address bar of your web browser: http://martinaboone.com/index.php/books/downloadables/CODEWORD/

ALL pages will be unlocked by 9/11. 

All downloads are free, and most are available whether or not you pre-order.

A few downloads will only be available with a pre-order receipt or order number.

Wherever you need a pre-order receipt, there’s also a special Rafflecopter with additional AMAZING giveaways.

Withpre-order, a limited number of people will also receive a signed bookplate, bumper sticker, and beautiful signed Compulsion and Persuasion charm bookmarks with ribbons.

Word Search Puzzle

Want a sneak peak at all the code words? Here’s the word search puzzle that contains all thirteen! But remember, one is unlocked for every stop on the blog tour, so you’ll need to stop by each of the tour hosts to find the code word that day so you can download the freebies!

Enter the Giveaways!

Prize One, Two & Three

  Compulsion For Reading Blog Tour

DON’T FORGET! 

Follow the rest of the tour for more free downloads every day!

For daily updated links to all the tour stops and codes for free downloadables, plus more prizes and chances to win, go here: martinaboone.com/index.php/books/downloadables/tour/

Exciting right?Have you read Compulsion? Have you read Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? 

[dannybewitched]

Fall 2015 TV Series Premieres to get excited about! Part I

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/fall-2015-tv-series-premieres-to-get-excited-about-part-i.html

Fall 2015 TV Series Premieres to get excited about! Part I

Summer Time is over and new TV shows are going to premier soon! Get your DVR’s ready because there are so many exciting chows coming this fall that it will be tough to decided what to watch! So below is my list of TV shows I will be most excited about watching.. and this list will just consist of premiere shows, not the returning series (like Supernatural.. *sigh* Dean & Sam) that are also high on my list!

Heroes Reborn

Premiere:Thursday, Sept. 24

Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC

I guess from all the shows I am most excited about Heroes! I LOVED LOVED LOVED Heroes back in 2005 and I was so super sad when it was cancelled and ended not completely resolved. So, this will be one who’s on my MUST watch list! Also, I love that they are mixing all and new Cast members!

About the show

From the official website: 

According to the official synopsis, the miniseries will “reconnect with the basic elements of the show’s first season” in which ordinary people discover that they have special abilities. The show will be preceded by a new digital series that introduces the new characters and story lines, around which Heroes Reborn is centered.[5]

According to the official website, the series takes place one year after a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas. The attack destroyed the city and the government blamed those with extraordinary abilities. Consequently they must live in hiding or flee from those with bad intentions. Two such vigilantes, Luke (Zachary Levi) and Joanne (Judith Shekoni), lost someone important in the event and seek revenge.

Noah Bennet, aka HRG (Jack Coleman) is also in hiding, but is found by the conspiracy theorist Quentin Frady (Henry Zebrowski) who tries to show him the truth behind the Odessa tragedy. While they’re in hiding, some of them are discovering their newfound skills. Malina (Danika Yarosh) is a brave and courageous girl, who was brought up much overprotected, but she finds out she is destined for greatness. Erica (Rya Kihlstedt) is the head of the highly successful tech conglomerate called Renautas, and she has her own dark goals. Awkward teen Tommy (Robbie Kay) tries to live a normal life and just has eyes for his dream girl, Emily (Gatlin Green), but he discovers a new terrifying ability that makes his will almost impossible. Meanwhile in Tokyo, Miko (Kiki Sukezane), a unique and quiet girl is looking for her missing father, but she hides an extraordinary secret that can be dangerous to her. Somewhere, a singular type of hero is emerging through Carlos (Ryan Guzman), a former soldier.

As long as new Heroes are emerging, some heroes of the past such as Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis), Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose), and Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey), among others, will cross paths with them. And, together, they will have their ultimate quest: save the world and mankind.[6]  – Source, NBC website

  Blood &Oil

Premiere: Sunday, Sept. 27

Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC

    I really can’t wait for this to start! It offers a handsome and attractive cast and promises so much drama that I am sure this is going to be a thrilling series! And.. I always love when the underdog mingles with rich and wealthy. Plus… I love Chase Crawford, he is most definitely quite nice to look at!

About the show

Billy and Cody Lefever dream of a new life and move to “The Bakken” in North Dakota, booming after the biggest oil discovery in American history. They’re soon pitted against a ruthless tycoon who forces them to put everything on the line, including their marriage. Source ABC.com

SuperGirl

Premiere: Monday, Oct. 26

Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS, (regular showing starts in Nov)

  I just love Super Hero shows… and I love the premier because it seems that it comes with some funny moments. Also, All superheroes usually stay in hiding, but Supergirl here wants to reveal herself!

About the show

Supergirl is an action-adventure drama based on the DC Comics character Kara Zor-El, Superman’s (Kal-El) cousin who, after 12 years of keeping her powers a secret on Earth, decides to finally embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be. Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents’ help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex, and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret. Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant. She works alongside her friend and IT technician Winn Schott and famous photographer James Olsen, who Grant just hired away from the Daily Planet to serve as her new art director. However, Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw, head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats. Though Kara will need to find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime. Source: CBS

  Blindspot

Premiere: Monday, Sept. 21

Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC

Ok I love mystery of this show, the idea of the tattooed woman who has no clue what is inked on her body! This really seems to be a great new mystery

About the show

A beautiful woman, with no memories of her past, is found naked in Times Square with her body fully covered in intricate tattoos. Her discovery sets off a vast and complex mystery that immediately ignites the attention of the FBI, which begins to follow the road map on her body into a larger conspiracy of crime, while bringing her closer to discovering the truth about her identity. Source: NBC 

Scream Queens

Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 22

Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on Fox

The case looks phenomenal, with Jamie Lee Curtis and I’m really interested to see where they are going with this show. I’m not sure how much “horror” there will be because I am usually really squeamish. But the preview also offers some comedic elements so let’s see..

About the show

The girls of Kappa House are dying for new pledges. SCREAM QUEENS is a new killer comedy-horror series from award-winning executive producers Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”), Brad Falchuk (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”) and Ian Brennan (“Glee”). – Source: FOX website 

  So this is part I of my Fall Preview Feature and next week I have some more exciting shows to look forward to. There are actually A LOT  of new shows and it will be interesting to see which ones are going to be a hit and which ones are going to fail to delivery their promises:)

So, from this list which ones are you most excited about??

[dannybewitched]

Broken Homes & Gardens by Rebecca Kelley - TLC Book Tour Stop

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/broken-homes-gardens-by-rebecca-kelley-tlc-book-tour-stop.html

Broken Homes & Gardens by Rebecca Kelley - TLC Book Tour Stop

From the back cover blurb for Broken Homes and Gardens, the comparisons are outright made with the movie when Harry Met Sally. Since I can’t really remember much of that movie after watching it when it was shown on cable for the first time way back, I’ll just say that you don’t need to make those comparisons to enjoy this book. The winding story of English teacher Joanne and carpenter Malcolm’s friendship/relationship is an entertaining and quite gripping one, and I certainly was engaged enough to read this book within a few sittings since I couldn’t put it down.

Joanne and Malcolm are twenty-something Portland, Oregon residents, and they’ve been circling around each other for some time. While Joanne is fearful of having a committed relationship with anyone since all of those deep connections end in divorce or with the other person inevitably leaving, she tries to keep what her and Malcolm have as non-committal and light as possible. Malcolm acts like he’s up for this challenge, but his feelings become quite clear as he and Joanne wind up co-habitating when he needs a place to stay and as he renovates her fixer-upper home. But as neither one is willing to go out on a limb and admit their true feelings, a cycle of hurt, passive aggressiveness, and co-dependency has them both needing to get away.

Rebecca Kelley has done a fine job of creating realistic characters that are flawed and relatable that I could connect with on some level. Joanne’s fear of commitment often took extreme levels of rationalization behavior on her part for her to justify why she acted the way she did and kept people at arm’s length. While some of her actions in the book were downright annoying after she made the same mistake over and over again, I just hoped that she saw the light at the end. Malcolm made plenty of his own mistakes too, and he’s just as scared to commit to Joanne when he’s not sure why she’s so flighty. The secondary characters, like Joanne’s sister, mother, and a few friends, are well utilized and decently fleshed out.

I give Broken Homes & Gardens a 3.5 out of 5. The writing flowed really well, and I loved the descriptions of the places in this book. The settings were like more characters, from the desert and mountains of Reno to rainy Portland. Rebecca Kelley has captured some of the fear people have in putting their heart in someone else’s hands, especially when they’ve never witnessed a successful relationship and they’re the product of divorce. All in all, it never felt like I got to see why or how Joanne and Malcolm were supposed to be such good friends. Sure, their relationship was based on sex at first, but the deeper friendship ties were implied and not explored. The ending was a bit abrupt and open ended, and it’s something that’s either meant to be poetic or leaving things open for a sequel. Either way, I would have enjoyed getting some more concrete closure. Overall, Broken Homes & Gardens was an enjoyable contemporary romance if you like to get a peek into two people’s lives as the dance around each other for a few years while everyone wonders why they aren’t together.

About Rebecca Kelley

Rebecca has taught writing at Oregon College of Art & Craft for nine years. Her work is infused with the sensibilities of the young creative class that uses the Pacific Northwest as its way station for earnest, well-meaning adventuring to the world at large. At home, her fiction turns to the quiet dramas of urban domestic life: growing tomatoes, making pancakes, examining the nature and validity of love and marriage in the context of our modern world.

She started the Green Baby Guide in 2007 along with Joy Hatch. Their book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, was published in 2010. Rebecca’s work has appeared in Scholastic Parent and Child,Metro Parent, Stealing Time magazine, and xoJane. She is represented by Jennifer Chen Tran of Penumbra Literary.

She lives in northeast Portland with her husband and daughter.

  Rebecca Kelley’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 17th: Open Book Society

Monday, August 24th: Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Wednesday, August 26th: Chick Lit Central

Thursday, August 27th:  Palmer’s Page Turners

Monday, August 31st: Diary of a Stay At Home Mom

Wednesday, September 2nd: Bookmark Lit

Thursday, September 3rd: Bibliotica

Monday, September 7th: girlichef

Tuesday, September 8th: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, September 8th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, September 9th: Bewitched Bookworms

Thursday, September 10th: Book Dilettante

Friday, September 11th: From L.A. to LA

Wednesday, September 16th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, September 17th: Book Mama Blog

[dannybewitched]

Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius

New Post has been published on http://bewitchedbookworms.com/2015/09/anne-henry-by-dawn-ius.html

Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius

I guess like many others, I have a huge fascination with the Tudors and I love their history and basically all the re-tellings, TV shows and historical novels. So, of course I was excited about this contemporary retelling of the famous Anne Boleyn and Henry Tudor!

Henry – not a royal prince but coming from a wealthy political family (just the same nowadays..)

I really liked Henry. Just like the “real” Tudor his family feels like royalty, with pre-approved girlfriends and a political career ahead. It’s the perfect contemporary setting for a “today” Henry Tudor, and I liked this boy who wanted to be a little free of his family and who wanted just a little bit of autonomy. Yet, just like the real Tudor he didn’t have this.. So when he meets Anne, who is so unlike all his friends and so unlike all these pretty perfect girls that are just about to catch a rich husband he falls head over heels for her openness and directness.

Anne Boleyn – the strong, bash outspoken girl who does not fit, but also does not seem to care..

Anne is a krass character, especially when entering the world of Henry. She doesn’t really fit with her directness and her strong, outspoken often blunt attitude. She just doesn’t fit, but then Henry falls for her and finally she finds herself in his inner circle of friends, who are just as fake as you’d think they are. But Anne also is a little naive, not really fitting in but believing these kids even though non of them are completely honest. Anne is a difficult character, of course her directness is to be admired, but one just feels like this is not going to end well..

A Romance… or rather an obsession?

Just like with the real Henry and Anne – their relationship is fast, weirdly intense and very fast does not feel like romance anymore but rather like an obsession on both ends. In the beginning I liked how their romance developed but pretty soon this turned and just didn’t feel right anymore. I also wasn’t sure if I liked them anymore. Don#t get me wrong – I did like Henry as a character and also Anne – I just didn’t like how they were together. It seemed like it all shifted into a very unhealthy relationship.

And of course, there the author deserves all he credits to develop it nearly exactly like history tells us the real Anne and Henry relationship became. That just doesn’t mean I need to like it. Plus, I was really hoping for a different ending, I was hoping these two would make it, different to their historical models … But that is just me hoping for a HEA that never happened and will never happen!

Bewitched Rating

  Bottom Line

Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius clearly created a very accurate contemporary retelling of the famous and beloved couple Anne and Henry. It captures the romance that turns to obsession quite realistically. I just hoped that this ReTelling would go a different route, which of course is just a personal preference because I am always loving a HEA….

      Do you also love the Tudors? Isn’t their story highly fascinating? Interested in a Contemporary YA retelling of their doomed love?