Devon Ashley's Blog, page 14

Spartan Frost (Mythos Academy #4.5)
Jennifer Esteps
Exp. Pub.: June 25, 2013

I’m Logan Quinn, the deadliest Spartan warrior at Mythos Academy. At least I was — until the day I almost killed Gwen Frost.

Professor Metis and Nickamedes say that I’m fine, that Loki and the Reapers don’t have a hold on me anymore, but I can’t risk it. I can’t risk hurting Gwen again. So I’m leaving Mythos and going somewhere far, far away.

I know Gwen wonders what’s happening to me, whether I’m safe. I can’t tell her, but this is my story … 
This is a novella, so there's only 5 chapters. After what happened in Crimson Frost, Logan and his father moved to their home in New York to put a little distance between Logan and Gwen. Understandable that he'd be afraid to be around her right now, but completely cutting her off when he still keeps in contact with their mutual friends? I don't know about that...seems like something only a jerk would do. But I guess the whole point of this novella is to make Logan decide if he'll return to the campus in North Carolina, or cut ties and move forward at the New York campus. At least in New York, he's able to join his father and other members of the Protectorate and go after Loki's Reapers, and we all know how much he'd like to kill every single one of them. So I guess we'll just have to wait for Midnight Frost and see where Logan ends up!  ARC provided by K-Teen for honest review.

 
YAY! Today's the day!  In celebration of Nearly Broken's release, there are a couple of places you can win a signed copy, and yes, they're all INT!  
 You can enter to win at the following sites:My favorite gal pal J.A. Redmerski's websiteAToMR Release Event (any stop along the event will give you the rafflecopter, but here's a random blog that will post sometime today) - 4 excerpts are available amongst the posts!GoodReads (somewhat INT) An ebook giveaway can be found at Jessica's Book Review  
We’d both gone missing at one point, but Claire had one thing I didn’t. Someone to notice. So why was I the one still here and she the one still gone?
Nineteen year old Megan Smith has spent the past year working in a small town diner in the middle of nowhere. Life is quiet, simple, safe. Then comes the news that her look-a-like has gone missing.

Claire.

Still damaged both physically and mentally, Megan's not looking to be noticed. Wherever she goes from here, it's a road she needs to take alone. But when Nickolas Ellis takes the job as the new nightshift cook, it scares her how easily her defenses crumble down, down, down for him. But there are secrets she can't bear to share with just anyone, unspeakable acts that continue to haunt, and when the similarities of Claire’s abduction couples with the fear of an unwanted visitor in town, the urge to run before it all happens again intensifies, threatening the only happiness Megan's ever found. New Adult Romantic Suspense / Dark Realistic FictionRecommended for 17+ for mature and disturbing situations, language and sexual content. Paperbacks available on Amazon US, UK, DE, FR, IT, and ES, and my E-store. (pending due to publisher discrepancy, hopefully available within the next week).eBooks available on Kindle US, UK, DE, FR, IT, ES, CA, BR, and JP; Kobo and Nook. Don't have an eReader? I think Nook offers the best online reading program.

THEME SONG: Jason Mraz's I WON'T GIVE UP

  JUNE'S GIVEAWAY
  Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver  I’m pushing aside
the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana
and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite. To enter, visit the Previously Loved Book Giveaway page!

Nearly Broken is going on tour at two different sites! If you've already received a promotional ARC from me and would like to post your review on one of the tours, please feel free to sign up at either location.

 
If you're a blogger with AToMR, sign-ups are already underway for the following events:
 RELEASE EVENT (June 4-10)BOOK TOUR (July 1-7)Click here to sign up!

 YA BOUND is also helping me out with a blog tour. So if you need more time to read the novel, check them out.

BOOK TOUR (July 22-27)Click here to sign up!

Nearly Broken is going on tour! If you're a blogger with AToMR, sign-ups are already underway for the following events: RELEASE EVENT (June 4-10)BOOK TOUR (July 1-7)
Click here to sign up!
 YA BOUND will also be hosting a tour in late July if you tour with them. I'll post the information once I get it. If you've already received a promotional ARC from me and would like to post your review on one of the tours, please feel free to sign up at either location.

School Spirits (School Spirits #1)
Rachel Hawkins
Pub Date: May 14, 2013

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?   
 To her dismay, there's actually a club at her new school of paranormal investigators, which Izzy knows usually just ends up getting the kids hurt most times than not. Charming her way into the lives of Romy, Dex and Anderson, Izzy gets the skinny on the high school's new resident ghost. And once she gets a visual confirmation and sees that the ghost of Mary is getting stronger the more she screws with teachers and students alike, the more exposed Izzy's knowledge of all things paranormal becomes to the group of friends she comes to adore, and who she fears will not understand the true Izzy should they ever learn she's not exactly who she pretends to be. Anyone that loved Hex Hall will fall in love with School Spirits too. Izzy's only fifteen and just beginning to learn about the world of friends, high school and first kisses, so she's got quite a ways to go to grow up before our eyes. But I have to admit, I miss reading about Sophie's spunk, and part of me would really like for Izzy to cut loose when she's at home, and be the raw, rough Irish badass I know she can be. That's right. Izzy. Unplugged. That would be awesome.   ARC provided by Disney-Hyperion for honest review. 

The Summer I Became a Nerd
Leah Rae Miller
Pub.: May 7, 2013

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.  
Sweet and adorkable. Just how I like 'em.
Surprise, surprise, another popular person is putting on an act, doing whatever's necessary to maintain that popularity status. But at least with this little blonde cheerleader, she's only hiding an obsession with Comic Con and the likes. Why, you ask? 'Cause kids can be cruel, and after an embarrassing Halloween contest several years back, Maddie's determined to never give them a reason to outcast her. So when summer begins and her favorite comic series is putting out their last issue, it takes everything she has to brave going to the local comic shop to get her copy.  But the only copy left in the store belongs to the guy at the counter, who also happens to be one of her classmates. Maddie thinks she's sly, but Logan sees right through her silly getup and offers her the chance to read his copy, setting into motion Logan's dream fantasy.

Succumbing to the lure of the comic store, - or in Maddie's case, absolute heaven! - Maddie finds herself slowly indulging herself in the dream world of conventions, live action role playing (LARP)and meeting people who are as obsessed as she is. And the cheerleader sorta loves it. Neglecting her anti-comic friends and a boyfriend that hardly makes the definition, Maddie finds herself falling for the guy with the life she's been so desperate to hide.

One thing I know after reading The Summer I Became a Nerd, is that LARPing is not for me, 'cause I could never see myself throwing glitter ping pong balls at my nemesis for battle points. But hey, to each his own. If you're into romance and can relate to a girl with an identity problem, this is the book for you! This YA novel is light and sweet with a little teenage drama and semi-love triangle thrown in for good measure. So if you're compiling a list of books to read this summer, be sure to add this clean romance to your bundle and enjoy!


ARC provided by Entangled Teen for honest review.
 

The Rules for Disappearing
Ashley Elston
Exp. Pub.: May 14, 2013


She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.

Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.

But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.
 
Megan and her family have spent the better part of the year in hiding, shuffled by the Feds to one location to the next, sometimes just mere weeks after being given a new identity. And all for what? Well, Megan doesn't know. Her parents are tight-lipped about it all, which is really infuriating to a girl in her senior year who constantly has to abandon a new life she's worked so hard to build-up, even forced to leave a guy waiting for her to show up for a date she'll never get to.  Once again, Megan and her family have been moved, and this time, they're requiring a full change of identity, chopping off her long, beautiful blonde hair and giving her an awkward brunette pixie cut and brown contacts to cover her blue eyes. She can't even recognize the girl in the mirror anymore. That, on top of a mom that's become a drunk, a father that won't talk to her much and a little sister that's pretty much shut down at the age of eleven, Megan decides enough is enough. She doesn't know what her father has done, but she's determined to end this horrible life of running. And with a new guy in her life that she can really see sticking with, she's determined to get what she wants one way or another.

The Rules for Disappearing didn't offer anything I didn't expect, nor did the twists surprise me, having figured them out long before they came to light, but it was still an enjoyable read about a chick that just felt relatable. I think most people can kick back with this novel and come out pretty satisfied, even though it seems a little farfetched that teenagers would go to such lengths and think they could outsmart the FBI. And any book that can keep my attention and get me to read it through the night in one sitting without bothering to sleep, always gets five stars from me!


ARC provided by Disney-Hyperion for honest review.
 

  MAY'S GIVEAWAY
  Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting  Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger. To enter, visit the Previously Loved Book Giveaway page!

The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)
Julie Kagawa
Exp. Pub.: April 30, 2013

Out here in the Fringes, there is only one rule: Blood calls to blood. She has done the unthinkable: died so she might continue to live. Now Allie, the reluctant teenage vampire who was cast out of Eden, and Zeke, the human boy who loves her, must attempt to save the world from a deadly new strain of plague. In order to do so, they must first hunt down the monster who holds the promise of the cure—and Allie’s beloved mentor—in his sadistic grip…. Joined by Allie’s blood brother, Jackal, this unlikely posse of companions will brave a landscape stalked by raiders, rabids, and rogue vampires. But even if they survive, they’re bound for the Inner city, and a vicious showdown that will test their bonds in ways they never expected. It may just be that becoming undead was the easy part. Confronting the horrors of Allie’s awakening hunger, her growing feelings for Zeke, and the uncertainties of their future is going to be the ultimate challenge.

Several months have passed since Allie left Zeke and the island of Eden behind. Tirelessly tracking down her sire through her blood bond, she's close to catching up with him and his captor. But along the way the trace splits in two, and unfortunately, she finds her wicked blood brother Jackal instead. They team up, but since both are seeking their sire for their own purposes, their newfound bond is shaky at best. And it doesn't help when they go seeking a guide in New Covington and end up finding Zeke as their best option.

Zeke. The guy Allie had come to love. The human boy, who left Eden to find her, coming to terms that the girl he loved ended up being the very thing he was raised to hate. But now Allison stands between him and Jackal, the vampire that was responsible for the deaths of several of his friends, and their relationship takes on a whole new set of problems. With tensions set to ready to kill, the three of them are forced to play nice as they seek to find a cure for the disease devastating the human population in New Covington, which is also wiping out the vampire city's blood supply. But by the end, new horrors will come to light that will force Allie's hand, and she'll finally be ready to push back the humanity she was desperately holding onto, allowing the beast within to take control, even if it risks her very soul.

Definitely wanna check this one out peeps. I liked The Immortal Rules better, but this was a strong follow-up. Super excited for the next, as I wanna see the bad side of Allie get to come to play for a bit. Evil laugh.


ARC provided by Harlequin Teen for honest review.