MISTAKE OF MAGIC by Alex Lidell Blog Tour!

Title: MISTAKE OF MAGIC (Power Of Five #2)

Author: Alex Lidell

Pub. Date: June 29, 2018

Publisher: Danger Bearing Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 193

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon

FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!!!

Three trials stand between Lera and exile. Unless the training kills her first.

Quint magic has never chosen a human before, and the Elders Council is convinced Lera is a mistake. 

When the quint refuses to be cleaved apart, the enraged elders give them a choice: exile from Lunos or demotion to the lowest of trainees. Subject again to the humiliations and deadly trials they endured centuries ago, the males now face a new challenge—training Lera to survive. 

River, Shade, Coal, and Tye will do whatever it takes to keep Lera safe. But Lera will do whatever she must to keep them together—even if it means putting herself in mortal danger.

Teaser:

I press my cheek into Shade’s palm and he pulls me against him, his silky hair brushing his shoulder as he bows his head over mine. The smell of damp earth and rain fills my lungs, and my heart quickens in spite of itself, my hands rising to rest on Shade’s taut hips. The yellow of his eyes shines in the sunlight, the bit of black in the center swallowing both the light and my thoughts. I wonder what those eyes see when they look at me from a wolf’s body.

About Book 1:

 Title: POWER OF FIVE

Author: Alex Lidell

Pub. Date: May 4, 2018

Publisher: Danger Bearing Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 312

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon

FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!!!

Four elite fae warriors. One mortal female. A magical bond they can’t allow—or resist. 

Orphaned and sold to a harsh master, Lera’s life is about mucking stalls, avoiding her master’s advances, and steering clear of the mystical forest separating the mortal and fae worlds. Only fools venture into the immortal realms, and only dark rumors come out... Until four powerful fae warriors appear at Lera’s barn. 

River, Coal, Tye, and Shade have waited a decade for their new fifth to be chosen, the wounds from their quint brother’s loss still raw. But the magic has played a cruel trick, bonding the four immortal warriors to... a female. A mortal female. 

Distractingly beautiful and dangerously frail, Lera can only be one thing—a mistake. Yet as the males bring Lera back to the fae lands to sever the bond, they discover that she holds more power over their souls than is safe for anyone... especially for Lera herself. 

Power of Five is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel. 

About Alex:

Alex Lidell is the Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s life long love for YA fantasy books. Alex is represented by Leigh Feldman of Leigh Feldman Literary. She lives in Washington, DC.

Join Alex's newsletter for news, bonus content and sneak peeks: www.subscribepage.com/TIDES 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Book Bub | Instagram

Giveaway!

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will win a Signed copy of the book, notebook, & swag, US Only.

3 winners will win an eBook of MISTAKE OF MAGIC, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read More

BLACK BIRD OF THE GALLOWS by Meg Kassel

Rating: B+
Synopsis:
A simple but forgotten truth: Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.

Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.

What’s more, she knows something most don’t. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.

My thoughts on the book:
Black Bird of the Gallows is one of the strangest novels that I've ever read, and I mean that in a good way. I like different and bizarre, and this novel definitely has those two qualities. In addition to being completely unique, the characters are well-developed, the writing is gorgeous, and the pacing and plot are fantastic. The world-building is a little sparse, which is the only reason I rated the book lower than an A. While this is a standalone story, there is another novel coming out that's set in this world, and I can't wait for Keeper of the Bees to come out in September!

Angie was a great main character. She was flawed and broken, but still a good person. She was an easy character to connect with, and I really enjoyed reading from her perspective. She was strong and capable and intelligent. Reece was an interesting male lead, and I thought for a bit that this book was going to go Twilight on me and make Reece out to be some billion year old creeper, but it didn't, thankfully. He was selfless and he tried to make the best of his curse and tried to do what was right. I really had a lot of sympathy for him because he had a rough life to say the least. The secondary characters weren't overly developed, but they had their own personalities, and I think they contributed nicely to the story. I would have liked a bit more background on Deno and Lacey, but they felt real nonetheless.

The plot for this story was a bit complex, and I enjoyed that. Nothing really was what it seemed, and it kept me engaged. The pacing was spot-on, and I didn't get bored and nothing felt rushed. The writing was well-done, and the descriptions were wonderfully written. Some parts of this book are horrifying and not for the faint of heart, and the author doesn't pull any punches. That being said, there are no gratuitously violent scenes. There was a lot of heart put into this book, and I did tear up a few times, and I also had quite a few laughs, so I was also emotionally engaged with these characters and the story. My only complaint is the world-building. While the different creatures did a bit of explanation of the magic and their world, I still don't feel like I fully understand what was going on. That could have been the reason. It was the first book in this series, and even though it can serve as a standalone, since the sequel will have new characters and a new location, I assume the world will keep building in the next installment. The ending tied things up nicely for these characters. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a slightly horrifying and bizarre YA paranormal romance. The premise is extremely interesting and it's executed very well. 

Read More

THE FREEDOM CLUB by Cindy Vine Book Blitz!

Read more »

Read More

SEVENTH BORN by Monica Sanz Cover Reveal!!

Read more »

Read More

A PROMISE OF FIRE by Amanda Bouchet

Rating: A
Synopsis:
KINGDOMS WILL RISE AND FALL FOR HER...
BUT NOT IF SHE CAN HELP IT

Catalia "Cat" Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm-until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin's fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

My thoughts on the book:
I picked up A Promise of Fire at BEA in Chicago, back in 2016. Between all of the moves and life disasters and events since then, I never got around to reading it. When I was looking at my bookshelf yesterday, trying to decide what to read, it jumped out at me, and I'm glad it did. This is a fantastic novel. The characters are so well-developed, they feel like real people. The writing is superb; the pacing is spot-on. There is the right balance of action and romance, and the ending ties things up while leaving room for the sequel, which I've already bought and downloaded on my Kindle. 

Cat is a fantastic heroine. She has just the right amount of sass. Her horrific past is heartbreaking, and while she seems too combative and flat out abusive, it starts to make sense the more Cat reveals about herself. Griffin was a bit too "macho" for my tastes. He needed a course on toxic masculinity and then he needed to tone it down a bit. Cat can more than stand up for herself, though, and at least she called him out on his crap. Also, he took a lot of Cat's abuse, and even though he abducted her (when looking at this through an Ancient Greek mythological lens and all of the events surrounding it, it's not as annoying or awful as it would be in other contexts), he was kind and didn't deserve her wrath to the extent that she dealt it. I liked that both characters were flawed and that I didn't love everything about them, though. It made them more real. The secondary characters were just as well-developed, and I really loved Flynn and Carver. They were my two favorites, I think. 

The world-building and descriptions were well done, and I felt like I was there in this fantastical realm with Cat and Griffin. The plot was sound, and with all of the Greek mythology woven into a fantasy realm, that couldn't have been easy. Normally I get annoyed with characters who seem to develop Stockholm's Syndrome, I don't think that was really the case in this instance. There were a lot of sociopolitical, cultural, and religious things surrounding Cat's abduction that made it less of an abduction and more of a fate type of thing. Anyway, potential Stockholm's Syndrome aside, there was just the right mix of action and romance, and our heroine is no pansy. She can fight just as well, if not better than, the men. One thing that struck me as different in this novel is that there were large sections devoted to Cat developing relationships (friendships and a romantic relationship) with different people, and while I would have thought that would annoy me, it actually made the relationships feel more realistic and really created a rich emotional story. 

Overall, I'd recommend this novel to anyone who loves paranormal romance, fantasy novels, and Greek mythology. It's a wonderfully unique and genuine read.

Read More

WATCHING YOU by Shannon Greenland Release Day Blast!

If you love a great YA romantic suspense be sure to pick up Watching You by Shannon Greenland today!

About Watching You

Viola’s always been that girl from that family, so a scholarship to a prestigious private school in Florida was supposed to be her ticket out of poverty and into a brand-new life. But Viola’s secrets have followed her. Her relationship with the intelligent and gorgeous Riel should have been the salvation she needed—he understands her troubled past better than anyone. But then weird things start to happen.

Frightening messages.

Missing personal items.

The unsettling feeling that she’s being watched.

Viola’s never been one to give her trust easily, but she’ll need to trust in Riel if she’s going to survive her stalker. Because she’s not fighting for a new life anymore—she’s fighting to stay alive.

Start Reading Now!

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

Read More