The Copper Promise

The Copper Promise
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

So, I'm gonna start this off a little differently. In case you aren't aware, The Copper Promise is 4 books in one, so this is a story in four parts. I feel like the synopsis for this only really covers the first part of the book, which is no good at all if you want to know what to expect!

Our journey starts with part one where we see Lord Frith, crippled after being tortured and thought dead, meeting with two sell swords. The Copper Cat, aka Wydrin who happens to be a bit of a card shark, and her companion Sir Sebastian, a Knight kicked out of his order. Frith wants revenge against the people who killed his family, and the secrets at the bottom of the Citadel are going to help him get it...and Sebastian and Wydrin of course. Frith finds what he's looking for and gets the means to his revenge, the mage's power, but the trio are tricked in to opening the last seals and releasing the last God left standing after they're trapped in the Citadel. A God called Y'Ruen who happens to be dragon shaped and who has a rather unusual army.

We continue the adventure in part two, dumped by Frith's magic in the middle of the forest, the trio stumble upon Pinehold, a town that's under the horrendous rule of Fane, the man who ordered the Frith family destroyed. Being the greedy villain he is, Fane is determined to find out the location of the Frith vault....as the residents of the village are finding out...he's methods aren't pleasant. With Friths magic out of control, the trio have to resort to more...explosive ways to free the town, and avoid being captured and killed by Fane and his Children of the Fog.

Part three see's our trio disbanded. After finding the location of the vault, Frith has set out to find the Nowhere Isles, the place where the forbidden texts, and the words he needs to know to control his magic, are located. Sebastian has gone after the dragon, and Wydrin is off home in search of her brother and more trouble. After a job involving pirates goes wrong, Wydrin is tracked down by dead man walking Gallo, and the two set off to find Sebastian aboard her brothers pirate ship. Meanwhile Sebastian is tracking the brood army when he stumbles upon a contingent of his old Order, and a mission, to find the enchanted armour they need to fight the army. In the Nowhere Isles, Frith is being tutored by a mystic called Jolnir, and is swiftly learning to control his magic. But when one is attacked by a dragon, another makes a deal with a demon, and the third stumbles across a fifth God no-one knew about...they need each others help even more.

The final part of our story concludes with Wydrin seeking out Frith for help, and at the same time being given a mission by a God, a way to destroy Y'Ruen to be precise. After picking up Sebastian along the way, our adventurers travel to a Gods Rookery, retrieve some rather suspect clues. But before they deal with the Dragon, Frith is determined to have his revenge, and an old foe shows up to cause trouble for Wydrin. Can the all stop bickering long enough to do what needs to be done to get rid of Y'Ruen once and for all?

So yeah....it's safe to say the plot is very complex, but don't let that put you off! Some concentration is required but you don't need to be sitting there making notes or anything! Don't let the size of the book put you off either! It really is a genuine quest story, featuring one of the best ragtag band of heroes I've come across!

"Follow me, Lord Frith and associated untrustworthies." 

The Copper Promise jumps straight in to the thick of it, and from there it's very fast paced, before you know it you're zooming through the book and it's over! I know you're looking at the size of the book and the amount of pages, and you're worrying about having to slog through it or it being hard to read, but fear not! The chapters are small which helps but unlike quite a lot of fantasy, the language is easy understand and read, there's no complicated pages of backstory, it's written very concisely, but still gives you a good amount of backstory and hitory but eked out over the book instead of giant info dumps. It's very concise for a fantasy to be honest!

The world is incredibly well built by the author. It's atmospheric, it's vivid and it sucks you straight in. It's incredibly imaginative, and you can see that in every aspect of the book not just the world created, but it really gives your imagination a workout. The world is incredibly expansive, there's plenty of other "realms" or "lands" hinted at, the opportunity for further exploration is definitely there.

The Copper Promise is as I said, fast paced, and the writing is so beautiful and descriptive the entire way through! The flow the book is so slick. We get multi POV's in Copper Promise, mostly Frith, Wydrin and Sebastian, but from part two we get the POV of the thirty-third one of the soldiers, and we also get the POV's of various other secondary characters. No matter the character, the narrative flows smoothly from point of view to point of view, and keeps you engaged the entire way through. Some of them are delightfully creepy!

Each POV was done very well, I loved getting to see the characters from each others perspective, as well as the event, although for part three it came in handy so you could keep  up with what was going on with all of them instead of one character! Some of the POV's where simply fascinating, others where kind of creepy, but all where written fantastically.

Each part is ended leaving you needing to know more, I mean the ending of Part One was chill inducingly powerful. Then there was the incredibly creepy opening chapter from the POV of the thirty-third, and it just goes on!

"One day, child, you will learn that the written word is powerful precisely because anyone can use it." 

Each and every one of the main three characters is written with incredible detail, they each have a complex backstory, which you get little parts of as we journey with them through the story. They have incredible depth. The characters, including the secondary ones, all jump off the page, they all have interesting/colourful personalities each different from the other and they're all equally as complex, you end up loving all three of them and even a couple of the secondary ones!

I think Wydrin has to be my favourite character, I really loved her. Her love for knives was a little quirk that made you like her all the more, as well as her love of a good fight! She's just so loud and loveable and she makes you laugh again and again! Her friendship with Sebastian was interesting seeing as she's kind of reckless and always gets in to trouble, but Sebastian is more level headed and always has her back. Sebastian was interesting because despite being kicked out of his Order, he still wants to help people, he still has honour. Not to mention his bizarre connection to the thirty third.  Frith, well, I liked him, he was quite badass at times but he came across as a sulky child more than once and he's totally out for revenge which is understandable, but he does help others despite the cost to him so he's not totally selfish.
I also really loved Jarath, and I really need more of him because I loved his relationship with Wydrin. And he's a pirate, so there's that!

There's so much to love in the book, there's magic, dragons, weird lizards, Griffins, a woman who can make magic glass which is totally awesome! Every aspect of the book is incredibly unique. That's not including the Gods and the pirates and assorted other unsavouries.

The plot is complex, there's a lot going on and there's plots within plots, but it all comes back to getting rid of the dragon in the end. In the meantime you get little side stories, each expertly woven together, and flowing on from each other smoothly as the story follows it's course to the end. The plot is incredibly rich with so much woven in to it, the plot points, the arcs, the characters and everything. There's also a very rich history to the world that's been created, woven in to the story expertly, you get hints, little tidbits, legends that are mentioned or concisely told by the characters to each other.

The plot twists and reveals come out of nowhere and take you by surprise, they pretty much leave you shocked and astounded by the new information or new direction of the story.

For all you romance fans, there's even a liiiiittle bit of that. I'm sure you can guess it's Wydrin and Frith, but it's not the main focus of the book. In the beginning it's little things and you kind of see it happening subtly, then near the end it's like "Okay it's really happening!". I was incredibly raaaaaaaahhh about the almost kiss! Come ooonnnnn they need some happy!

I still think there could be more to this, I think there could be other books, I mean it was left kind of open ended with Wydrin and Frith and the whole brood army training issue, I'd personally love to see another one and see more of the world from the book!

The Copper Promise is an engaging and entertaining quest story, with a complex plot made up of many threads, and featuring lively and colourful characters you can't help but love, magic, crazy gadgets, demons and bizarre creatures! It's impossible to put down to be honest, and unique to the core. An imaginative and different read, perfect for when you want something a little bit special!

Half-Blood

Half-Blood
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

Alex Andros is a half-blood courtesy of her pure blood mum getting it on with a mortal. Now if you're a pure- blood, you get these epic godlike powers, seeing as how you're descended from Gods having flings with mortals, but if you're a half -blood like Alex? Well you've got two options....drink some freaky elixir and spend the rest of your life being a slave or train to become a sentinel and hunt daimons. I'm sure you can tell which option Alex picked.

Three years ago, Alex and her mum fled the safety of the Deity Island Covenant, no-one, least of all Alex, knows why, but after a tragic run in with a couple of daimons, Alex is found and dragged back to the Covenant. She doesn't get quite the welcome party she hopes for, narrowly avoiding becoming enslaved and all, luckily for her Aiden steps in and offers to spend his spare time away from his Sentinel duties helping her catch up so she can resume her training....but she's on thin ice. One slip...and it's buh bye kicking Daimon ass and being all revengey, and hello scrubbing toilets for her horrific step father.

Simple right? Weeeeelll did I mention Aiden is a pure-blood? Did I mention that there's a bunch of rules and rule number one is that relationships between halfs and pures are forbidden? Alex can't avoid falling for Aiden, but things get even more complicated when Alex gets a cryptic warning from the Oracle, Seth aka the Apollyon aka a totally badass half who can control all the elements and a super special fifth one, and Alex finds out the real reason her mother fled the Covenant with her. Not to mention everything they knew about Daimons....could be very very wrong. Following the rules, and surviving until graduation just became reaaallly hard.

"The pures believed she communed with the Gods. I believed she communed with a lot of liquor." 

 I love Armentrouts books, I say this every single time! And I've lusted after this series for a while, so when it got shiny new covers wellll......

....I couldn't resist it when I saw it on Bookbridgr, I mean look at how pretty the cover is! And this edition has the prequel to Half-Blood in it as well, which is fun to read before you read Half-Blood...or after, whatever floats your boat.

As soon as you start reading Half-Blood you're thrown in to the action straight away with Alex, and you're pretty much hooked from page one. The opening scene is full of tension and allusions to events we haven't witnessed and it hooks you completely. Especially when Aiden shows up with his badass entrance worthy of a movie. From there, it's fast paced all the way and you're unable to put the book down!

Half-Blood is incredibly unique to everything out there in the YA genre, and you can see it from opening chapter. There's daimons, halfs, pures and Gods. The mythology behind the daimons is rich and like I said, unique, Pures get turned, only halfs can see what they really are after they're turned, hence why they get trained up to hunt them. We've got the whole take on the Gods, and you get fed some little bits of myths. Then we have the Apollyon, who has the Buffy "one born every generation" shebang going on, and gets to control all the elements, something no other half can do, Pures get one element each, and he gets control over the fifth element...Akasha. Like I said, it's some very detailed and rich mythology.

The world building is also astounding. We get this incredibly rich, unique world, shrouded in mystery and things you just NEED to know now, with Greek Gods woven in to it and Greek mythology. It's a modern world, yeah, but it has Greek accents, shall we say? The world that's created will suck you in, and you'll leave kinda wishing you could go to the Covenant, everything is written very vividly.

I love Alex, I really do, she is like my twin and probably the only person who can match me for snark. I love snarky badass characters and Alex is the best of them. She's not perfect, she could be described as having some anger issues, but the imperfections make me love her more, and make her some more realistic and human. Alex is written very realistically, and with plenty of depth as well as being a strong character. Her speech is very current and up to date, and I picked up more than one phrase from her! Alex's inner monologue and narrative is engaging and incredibly entertaining, I'm not talking little chuckles here, I'm talking ugly snort laughing!

"-more than just her merry band of psychos."

Aiden is kind of aloof, at first, and you're fed this little bit of backstory about him, but you still want to  know more, you can see what drives him and shaped him, and how he looks after his brother is and is like a parent is cute, but also kinda sad for him. Aiden is generally adorable, the little things he does for Alex with the uniform and everything for example, and it's way obvious he likes her but doesn't want anything bad to happen to her.

Seth is....Seth. He's intriguing, we don't really know much about him, where he comes from and so on, we just know he's the Apollyon and like Alex, you kinda wanna smack him upside the head sometimes. He and Alex have a connection that's more than what it first appears, shall we say.

Our main characters are all written so vividly they jump off the page, and the same goes for the secondary characters. I particularly love Caleb and his friendship/relationship with Alex, they're hilarious together! Alex is written so well you can connect with her easily and feel what she feels, so Lucian you just want to punch and Marcus I'm just like ugh what a douche. You literally go through Alex's emotions with her, through the good and the bad.

The romance isn't full throttle from the go. It builds slowly, you watch it start, slowly blossom and develop, but there's a pretty huge obstacle in the way. That's not to say there aren't any cute scenes, there totally are, and the two of them are ridiculously adorable, warm and fuzzies all the way, you end up squealing internally along with Alex. We're watching the beginning stages of the "we like each other, but...." phase. They can't get together straight away but the potential is there. Aiden gets Alex, and he's adorably protective but he does know she can hold her own.

There is also the potential for a love triangle, but this one is going to be interesting. It's against the rules for Alex and Aiden to be together and he won't let anything happen in case they get found out and Alex ends up a slave, and with Seth there's the whole connection thing. Alex doesn't have feelings for Seth but their bond, and the fact it will get stronger, is going to be a spanner in the works. There's going to be the whole "is this because of the connection thing or?"

As for the writing, Half-Blood is written cinematically in my opinion, the flow is fantastic, each chapter ends making you want to read on. The plot is fairly complex, there's different things going on, different mysteries to work out, or try to, you have to put the pieces together, and nothings as it seems at first. I mean you could be forgiven for thinking the main deal with the plot is Alex falling for Aiden, some torrid love affair occurs and there's lots of training. No. As I said, we see the start of Aiden and Alex, wisps you could say, there's so much more going on than the synopsis leads you to believe, there's secrets and plots, and a tonne of plot twist you won't see coming and will shock you to the "mouth hanging open, uncomprehending" stage.

Another thing I enjoyed about the book is how there was all the potential to leave it on a cliffhanger for the next book, I was kind of expecting, but instead you get this incredibly beautiful, eyes slightly welling up, ending that finishes the book perfectly.

This'll be one of those books you re-read until it's falling apart!

"Grandma had apparently missed that memo"

As for the prequel, it's incredibly fleshed out, just as much as the actual novel, I find this rare in novellas not going to lie. It basically details Alex being accepted in to the Covenant, the events leading up to, and the death of, her mother, and then the events immediately before Half-Blood, like how she ended up where she was for example. Alex's characterization runs true to the book, she's just as snarky. There's lots of information woven in to this action packed novella, and it's a fantastic continuation of the story. It gives you loads more insight in to Alex as a character and what her life was like for her in the mortal world. There's even some mentions of Aiden *winkwink*. It's also kind of heartbreaking to read about Alex with her mum and see what their relationship was like, not gonna lie!

Half-Blood is a humorous, fun, and un-put-down-able read, with a world and characters that are expertly built, engaging, and suck you in. The characters are as vivid as the world, and you connect to them so easily, the world...well...I kinda wanna live in it! Half-Blood entertains, while perfectly setting up the next book incredibly subtly and almost like an afterthought. Half-Blood is a must read, there's so much more to explore in the world created, and the potential for the story arc is astounding.

Cursed

Cursed
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

You know when you're in a car accident and you die and then your baby sister brings you back to life with her freaky but kind of awesome gift? No? Well Ember does, and ever since baby sis Olivia brought her back she's operated on a strict no touchy rule to avoid the awkward moment when she kills someone just by touching them.

Yep that's right, worlds suckiest "gift" award right here. Everything Ember touches dies, plants, animals....people. Facing a life of never being able to touch anyone ever again, including boys, things are looking pretty bleak for Ember, who also pretty much parents Olivia since their mum went spacey after the accident that killed Ember's father and her....temporarily. But then Hayden Cromwell shows up, if the slightly stalkery tendencies didn't make Ember think he'd gone off the deep end, the whole "your curse is a gift" thing definitely did.

But then Hayden offers to help her learn to control it. But in order to do so, Ember will have to trust Hayden's adopted father who collects gifted kids like a fanboy collects Lord of The Rings action figures. Oh and live in a house with a couple of other gifted kids who really do not want her there, or trust her. And they're quite vocal about their opinions. When Ember finds out the car accident wasn't really an accident, she has no idea who to trust, especially with someone leaving little "presents" in her locker, and someone else trying to kill her.

"No one  that good-looking had a reason to be that creepy." 

I hope y'all enjoy that funny little quote, cos it's all I've got, I meant to pick some others but, well....I got too engrossed in the book. Jennifer is seriously ruining my life with all her awesome books, with all the awesomely perfect/adorable guys, raising my expectations to a ridiculous standard!

I'm sure you've guessed that I'm a huge fan of Jennifer, my review of White Hot Kiss is floating around this blog somewhere, and I've got another on my review pile, I'm literally in heaven. Jennifer's books are always perfect and always pick you right up if it's one of those days.

Right from the start of the book, I was hooked from the first page, sucked straight in to the world created and unable to put the book down. I told myself multiple times that I'd get an early night after many days reading too late, but that really didn't happen, I just.....I couldn't put it down, I kept saying "one more chapter" but then something would happen and I'd HAVE to read the next one!

Cursed is so engaging, and fast paced you whip through it, the flow was perfect. You spend the whole book intrigued and trying to work out who's behind everything, and then being wrong, or being all "I KNEW IT" but then being totally stumped by the motivation until all is revealed. Literally, I would set aside time to read this one in one go because you will not be able to find a suitable place to leave it, and even if you do, you will spend the entire time thinking about it. I promise you!

I connected with Ember from the offset. Seeing what she went through at her school, and how lonely and isolated from everyone she was, really makes you empathize with her, and the talks she has with her mother kinda make you choke up a little bit, not to mention how she's pretty much a mother to her sister. Ember is such a strong character, carrying on with life after everything that happened, and looking after her sister, even though she was facing a life of no college and no boyfriends or anything.

I loved Ember, she had some great lines that made me chuckle, but I truly admired her strength and her will. Jennifer writes her characters so well and with such depth that you connect to them yeah, but you also connect to them emotionally. You feel whatever Ember feels and more than once I kinda wanted to punch certain characters in the face, particularly when Ember is at the Cromwell house. It's a bit of a rollercoaster sometimes. It's kind of impossible to to become emotionally attached to her protags.

The other characters are kind of hard for me to describe, because you form your opinion of them based off Ember, or at least I did, like Ember I didn't particularly trust any of them or know who to trust. I have to say though, all of the other kids with gifts/the secondary characters, where written with just as much depth as Ember, and they all have clearly intriguing backgrounds that I would loooove to know more about! I'm particularly curious about poor Parker, besides our two leads, I really felt for him as well!

Hayden was adorable, even though I started off thinking he was a creepy stalker. At a certain point in the book near the end, I genuinely was following Embers thought process and was like "OH MY GOD NO WAY YOU CREEPY CREEPY HUMAN WHAAAAATTT" and then I was like...oh. My bad. Never mind. I felt so bad for him, and I loved how he was determined to help and wasn't afraid to touch her and actually spoke to her. He had a bit of a "you're a dick" period that he got over, but most of the time he was really cute, and I mean.....the way he handled her scars? Perfect boy.

Ember and Hayden's relationship was just.....sickeningly cute. Warm and fuzzies....check....internally squealing...check....kinda jealous....double check.  Their relationship was kind of rocky, with secrets and everything, but I liked how Hayden wanted to protect her, but didn't smother her and listened to her....well except for one occasion but still.

The plot, as I said, was totally engaging, you had the perfect blend of romance, mystery and action. I personally didn't work out who was behind the locker thing, I thought it was someone else. But I did work out who was "the big bad" purely because I was incredibly focused on the book and I picked up on some clues, however, I wasn't smart enough to put the pieces together regarding "j" and the motivation of said big bad so it was a nice surprise and everything clicked and I was like "oooohhh". So yeah, it's not predictable, but its workout-able if you pay attention, but there where plenty of twists I didn't see coming.

Cursed is a fantastic, engaging and unique book, perfect for making you laugh, or just giving you the warm and fuzzies on a bad day. Yes I know...death....touch of death...warm fuzzies shouldn't be possible, but the sad parts are outweighed.
Cursed features a protagonist that you get so attached to you want to punch fictional characters in the face, with characters that truly jump off the page, and a plot line full of intrigue, mystery, and shocking plot twists.

I didn't want to leave the characters or the world, and I'm not sure if there will be a sequel to Cursed, but I kind of hope there is because I would love more of Ember. Everything was wrapped up at the end, don't get me wrong,  but I'd love to see where Ember goes with regards to controlling her power, and I'd really like to learn more about the other characters and their stories! Please Jennifer....can I have some more?! *puppy eyes*

Wishing For Wednesday #2

Haaaii there!
Hope you're all having a fab Wednesday!
On this weeks Wishing For Wednesday I've got some real scorchers!
Ones a series finale, and the other two are from two of my favourite authors!
So without further delay...here we go!

Ghost House

After the loss of her mother, Chloe Kennedy starts seeing the ghosts that haunted her as a young girl again. Spending time at her grandmother's country estate in the south of England is her chance to get away from her grief and the spirits that haunt her. Until she meets a mysterious stranger…

Alexander Reade is 157 years dead, with secrets darker than the lake surrounding Grange Hall and a lifelike presence that draws Chloe more strongly than any ghost before. But the bond between them awakens the vengeful spirit of Alexander's past love, Isobel. And she will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who threatens to take him from her.

To stop Isobel, Chloe must push her developing abilities to their most dangerous limits, even if it means losing Alex forever… and giving the hungry dead a chance to claim her for their own.


Ghost House is out August 26th, pre-order your copy here.

The Beautiful Ashes

In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate. 

Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her. 

Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…

The Beautiful Ashes is out August 26th, pre-order your copy here.

Deliverance

Everything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.

Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.

Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.

But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?

Deliverance is out August 26th, pre-order your copy here.

As a huge fan of both Adornetto and Frost, I mean, I loved Halo and Night Huntress was one of the first series I read from the Supernatural type genre, so I'm excited to see the new books from both and which direction they go in! Deliverance is the last in the series, so ya know...it's gonna be a good one! 

Wishing For Wednesday

Hey guys, hope you're all having a fantastic Wednesday!
Wishing For Wednesday is a new thing for me, it'll be a weekly thing, and it's basically where I'll be showing you a couple of the books out each month that's on my wishlist/I really want to read!
Fair warning, it's probably going to cause your TBR lists to get that liiiittle bit longer!

First up.....

Gates of Thread and Stone

"In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where shecame from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power." 

Gates of Thread and Stone was out August 5th, grab your copy here.

Between The Spark and Burn

"The conclusion to Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, this gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and Daphne du Maurier is a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures and Anna Dressed in Blood.

Freddie once told me that the Devil created all the fear in the world.
But then, the Devil once told me that it's easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.
The problem with River West Redding was that he'd done both to me.

The crooked-smiling liar River West Redding, who drove into Violet's life one summer day and shook her world to pieces, is gone. Violet and Neely, River's other brother, are left to worry—until they catch a two a.m. radio program about strange events in a distant mountain town. They take off in search of River but are always a step behind, finding instead frenzied towns, witch hunts, and a wind-whipped island with the thrum of something strange and dangerous just under the surface. It isn't long before Violet begins to wonder if Neely, the one Redding brother she thought trustworthy, has been hiding a secret of his own . . ."

Between The Spark and Burn is out August 14th, pre-order your copy here.

Mortal Danger

"Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind..."

Mortal Danger was out August 5th, grab your copy here.

What's on  your wishlist? 

Share yours in the comments below! 

The Vanishing Witch

The Vanishing Witch
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

I confess, I haven't read any of Maitlands previous books, what drew me to The Vanishing Witch was the synopsis, being the history nerd that I am! And who can resist anything implying witchcraft?!

In the pages of The Vanishing Witch we dive headfirst in to the reign of Richard II, a true boy King, but unfortunately his reign is a tad bit troubled, with the poor facing some incredibly hard times when the poll tax takes the poor and makes them poorer. Not a fantastic time to live in, one could say. Hardly surprising that the poor rose up and riots broke out, with peasants fighting back, including one of our characters, Gunter.

While Gunter and his son become embroiled in the riots and we see the harsher side of life in 1380, we also see how the other half life. Gunter's boss, a wealthy wool merchant, happens to meet Widow Catlin, and it's not long before he's thoroughly enchanted, and his poor wife suddenly takes ill. Then promptly dies. With his son Jan crying murder, and Robert deaf to anything negative about Catlin, things aren't gonna be good! With a strange man following him, and seeing treachery everywhere, not to mention strange deaths everywhere, Robert comes to believe the only people he can trust are Catlin and her odd daughter. But all is not as it seems, some people aren't who they appear to be, and some aren't quite as innocent as they want you to believe.

Yes I know, I could have worded that clearer or made it clearer, but it's so hard to do so without some major spoilers going down! Anyways, we see a year of their lives, and the action is mostly centered around Lincoln with a brief jaunt to London.

I really enjoyed how we had the main story of Robert and Catlin and all that entailed, and seeing what life was like for the wealthy merchant, as well as how certain events effected him, and then having the side story of his employee, sort of, woven in to it showing how things where for the poorer half and how circumstances effected them.Both stories where perfectly woven together, with the characters each being crucial to the other at one point, but mostly having not much interaction despite being in the same world.

I just loved how you got two vastly different perspectives of what life was like at the time, and it was a huge insight. Although it was sometimes a slightly brutal insight, the book doesn't romanticize the time like so many do, we're treated to all the gritty details, some of which involving the revolt, are quite grim to say the least. Not to mention how you see how easily neighbours with grudges can go very badly when events such as in the book are going on.

Right from the opening pages, you're drawn straight in by the atmospheric writing and the world being woven, not to mention the curious little legend/myth right at the beginning which sets the tone of the book quite nicely. If that doesn't hook you, then the sufficiently creepy prologue will! As soon as you read you just have to know what happens next? Who is that man? and so on.

One of the things I loved about the book was how all the chapters had little tips/lore/whatever you wanna call it at the top, some of which where really  interesting, this one, for example:

"If a storm is raging, it may be stilled if a woman strips herself naked and presents her body to the storm. For this reason figure-heads of bare-breasted women are often set on the prow of a ship to still the waves and abate the tempest." 

I mean that one in particular I found fascinating, as I guess I'd never really questioned what the deal was with the ships having those figure-heads. Then there are others such as:

"If you fear that you are in the presence of a witch, clench both your hands into fists with the thumbs tucked under your fingers. Then she cannot enchant your mind"

Ones such as that really helped to plunge you in to the time, and the way of thinking of the characters and generally of people at the time. And again it was a fascinating look in to a world long lost to us. The chapter  headers further help to draw you in to the world and times, as well as introduce you to the superstitions!

The story was fast paced, the flow smooth and the narrative engaging, with the chapters all being relatively small, so it's quite easy to zoom through it. The world was suitably crafted to give you a sense of what it was like, and as I said, the writing was very atmospheric throughout.

The characters are all fleshed out, and interesting, and at points you think you know a character, and then you discover something about them or that they did and you're like "oookay maybe not", they all have different faces shall we say?

I loved the sense of mystery the entire time you're reading, personally, I thought the book was going in one direction and then it abruptly went in another, the plot twists where truly OMG worthy. I mean, one of them, I'd kind of guessed, but I was like no it can't be, and I was trying to work out who else it could be, and then I was like "no way I was right whaaaatt". Each twists is a surprise and a shock.

From the very beginning you just read about Catlin and you can hear Snape in the back of your mind going "people might think you're.....up...to something". Seriously. As you read, Catlin's facade gradually melts away and you see her true colours, and find out more about her she goes from mildly suspicious to straight up biatch. Edward isn't even sly with his murderous intentions! I didn't suspect what he was up to at all, I just thought...well that he was lazy, I suppose?

One of the biggest mysteries, and one I couldn't work out, was who our mysterious narrator was who'd pop in at the beginning of some chapters before we rejoined our characters. That was a huge point of intrigue because he was obviously a  ghost, and ya know, he had a ghost ferret, which was pretty awesome! It also added that extra dose of creepy! You don't find out who he is until right at the end and again, screeching "no waaayy" occurred, because for some reason, I'd never considered he could be who he was.

As I said, we are told the tale partially from this nameless ghost, and then from other main characters perspectives, which I thought was done fantastically, considering we see some characters perspective, never suspect who they are, and then the next thing you know they turn out to be someone different, but you never ever suspect. There's nothing in those characters narrative that would have you think they're anything other than who they say they are. Maitland gives nothing away!

The Vanishing Witch is dark, fast paced book, that will plunge you in to a world and a time you'll leave at the end of the book feeling glad you didn't live in. Laced with mystery, ghosts, witchcraft, murder and supersitions, you'll not fail to be intrigued the entire time and unable to stop reading!