Tag: YA

This Chick Read: Rosemarked by Livia Blackburne

When her village, and the soldiers in it, are sickened by fever only a few survive. If you are a survivor and have umber marks you can live freely among society. However, if you live and are rosemarked, this means that you can still spread the disease and at some point in the future you will catch fever again and die from it. Zivah is a healer in her village when the fever spreads and while helping the sick she catches it, survives and is rosemarked destined to live alone, an outcast among her own. Dineas is a prisoner of the Amparan army when he is sickened. He does survive, but is thought dead and thrown in among the corpses. When he survives, he is umber marked. His tribe, at war with the Amparan’s hatches a plan with Zivah’s village that will send them both undercover as spies. Zivah’s knowledge with herbs and potions are used to help Dineas forget all of the torture he had received from his captors so he can live among them and report on their actions.

Rosemarked excelled at building a world that was easy to understand and a story that although political was brimming with emotions and drama. Zivah as a healer took her “do no harm” vows very seriously and she walked a fine line when giving Dineas potions that would make him forget his past life and allow him to live among the Amparan’s and even move up in their soldiers ranks. I found that when Dineas “remembered” who he was and thought of his actions within the Amparan army the plot was more interesting. Except for the fact that Zivah came up with the potions, I found she was kind of irrelevant. The conflict throughout the book was built around Dineas character and I was more drawn to his story.

The relationship between them grew from uneasy alliance to friendship and then more. But there was always an uneasiness in Zivah because what Dineas felt, although not false, was certainly not based upon true reality. It was based upon the life he was living in that moment. That was an interesting plot, although I felt the reader’s feelings were left in a to be continued ending that was frustrating and I wasn’t satisfied with the conclusion. Will I care enough to continue with the second novel when it comes out? I’m still mulling it over. To be continued. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Rosemarked

Click this link to purchase! Rosemarked

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: The Case for Jamie (Charlotte Holmes #3) by Brittany Cavallaro

It has been a year since August Moriarty’s death and it has also been a year since Jamie and Charlotte have seen each other. Jamie is back at boarding school where he is hanging out with the same group of friends, but has a new girlfriend. When things start to go awry, his dorm room getting broken into, his report for class deleted and he is accused of stealing money he realizes that he may be the victim of a Moriarty trying to plot revenge on Charlotte. Even if he knew where Charlotte was, Jamie is too stubborn and too determined to try his investigative skills on his own.

The Case for Jamie was told from two point of view’s. Charlotte is off on her own, struggling to come to grips with Augusts death and also find out what devilish deeds Lucien may be up to. Her POV is a girl on the edge of a nervous breakdown and fascinating to read. Jamie’s point of view is strictly the investigation and his emotional wallowing in Charlotte’s absence. Yes, he has a new girlfriend but she seems to be a placeholder for his best friend Charlotte. I’ll admit that I found Charlotte to be a more fascinating character because of the depths of depravity she has been driven to. Jamie is just the boy next door, although in this novel he shows he has brains to go along with that brawn.

I thought the author did a great job weaving the mystery together without giving away the whole plot. I loved the personal twists this novel took with Jamie’s life. Those twists were life changing for Jamie and really made him evaluate what was important to him. He really grew up a lot in this novel. Some readers may not love the ending to this book but I loved how Ms. Cavallaro created a mystery around Jamie and Charlotte’s relationship leaving the reader wanting more, more, more! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

The Case for Jamie

Click this link to purchase! The Case for Jamie (Charlotte Holmes Novel)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Ever since she was little Scarlett has had a dream of she and her sister Tella escaping their reality to go to Caraval, a magical performance that takes place in different locations annually. One day she receives a return letter from the master of Caraval, Legend, with an invitation to join the performance this year. Now that the invitation has arrived Scarlett panic’s at braving their fathers wrath until Tella takes that decision away from her, spiriting them to Caraval, Scarlett an unconscious accomplice. When Scarlett awakes, she finds that Tella has become the mystery she has to solve in order to gain the prize, one wish.

Even though I had read a lot of reviews about Caraval, I still didn’t know what to expect from the actual story. I knew the synopsis, but what I didn’t get from the glowing reviews was how the characters and story were so colorfully written. Scarlett has the ability to see emotions in color and Stephanie Garber embued the body of the story with the richness of those colors. As Scarlett unravels the clues to the mystery of where Tella had been hidden she goes on a journey of self discovery. Having lived under her fathers rule, his actions determining her own, this was the first time she was able to choose the path she’d take. As the story progressed, I loved seeing her self confidence bloom!

Caravel was one of those stories you want to relish, yet are also eager to see what the next chapter brings. I found myself speeding up and slowing down, changing the pace of my reading to fit the sequence of events I was reading about. This novel could’ve been a stand alone and I would’ve been happy with the completeness of the ending, but Legendary, the second novel, will be out May29th and we’ll get to read about Tella and find out what makes her tick. I hope to see behind the curtain of Caraval even more with her story and dare I hope a glimpse at Legend himself? ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Caraval

Click the link to purchase! Caraval

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads10 Comments

This Chick Read: Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton

Very slight spoilers ahead….

Why did I wait so long to read Traitor to the Throne????  I LOVED Rebel of the Sands, the first edition in this series. I think sometimes when you read a book that good you are scared that the second book can’t possibly live up to your expections. I am happy to say that I loved Traitor to the Throne just as much. Whew!

Amani, our Blue-Eyed Bandit, is back with the Rebel Prince, Ahmed and his crew. Except her guy, Jin, has run off. He was scared that she was going to die after being shot coming to his defense. When Traitor opens, she is trying to rescue some of her compatriots that have been captured. During their mad escape with other Demdji who were in jail with her friends we discover that the Sultan is collecting Demdji. We don’t realize why until Amani does actually get captured and the Sultan reveals his plans. As she gets to know him she starts to doubt her cause.

There is something about the bad guy, isn’t there? When we get introduced to the Sultan, horrible things have been done to Amani and immediately I dislike him. However, he treats Amani kind of like a surrogate daughter which confuses her. Is he really that bad a guy?  Ummm, Yes! He is one dastardly dude! However he was written with a subtlety that even when we know how bad he is, he still left me with that question in my gut, a hint of hope before that hope was dashed yet again. See what I mean? Subtle evil! Interesting!

For those of you who love Jin and Amani’s love story, it comes to the forefront of this story and may change how you feel about him and them as a couple moving forward. There is a lot of love, but for me, she is just such a strong character and her personality dwarfs his. I’m looking forward to seeing how they move forward in the next novel, which has actually already been released. Will I wait as long to read the next one? Nope, not after two solid books. I have faith that Alwyn Hamilton is going to give me a third strong story and a conclusion that I will also love. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Traitor to the Throne

Click this link to purchase! Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads4 Comments

I am published- Book Bloggers and Reviewers Wanted!

I started this blog for a couple of reasons. The first was because I like to talk about the books I am reading and none of my friends or family were interested. The second reason is because I wanted to jump start my creative writing. I figured if I were blogging regularly I would get used to making the effort to write and would actually start that novel that I had been kicking around in my head. I gave you all a taste of my novel as I was going through edits and got some nice feedback from several of you. Well, I have GREAT news! Yes, I finished the book, but not only that, I have self published the book on Amazon and Smashwords.

Now that I am published (boy is it weird to say those words!) I need some help getting the word out. I get it. We are all super busy, and a lot of us, myself included have our calendars full. I was wondering if there were any of you who would be willing to read my novel and review it, and of course, post those reviews on your blog and on Amazon or Smashwords? As with any review I do for other authors, I only want honest reviews. If you don’t like the book, that’s ok. If you love it, great! Please take a look at the cover and read the synopsis below and let me know if you are interested and I’ll send you an e-copy. The book is relatively short at just over 210 pages and around 67k words.

Midnight Metamorphosis Cover -3

Here’s the synopsis for my YA Paranormal novel Midnight Metamorphosis:

A prophecy that a child of both Elemental and Seer races would be born as savior or destroyer of their kind prompts the existence of two factions. One faction wants to kill the child before her sixteenth birthday when she’s due to transition into her full powers. The other wants to steal her powers and with those powers help Avadar, a Grand Duke of Hell, rule the Earth.
Avery Anderson, at fifteen, lives with her aunt in southern California following her mother’s death. She wants a normal life going to high school and making friends, everything she hasn’t done living on the run with her mother for years.
On her first day of school her Elemental powers start to manifest and Avery finds out that her life will be anything but ordinary- this school is filled with Other kids, one of whom is assigned her Guardian, Cole.

Devon, part Mesmer and Elemental and his twin sister Dani have been enrolled at Avery’s school by the other faction to become close with Avery. Devon uses his Mesmer talent to become paired with Avery on an assignment. When they realize they can share their powers during a fight against Demonids, the Sentinel of the Elementals, who is also Avery’s father, realizes she is a threat to all Elementals and orders Cole to kill Avery before she goes through her transition on her sixteenth birthday. 
As her birthday approaches the attacks on Avery intensify and it is only with the help of her friends that she is able beat back evil, but as with any battle there is tragedy.

Of course, if you are interested in taking a look at the Amazon  and Smashwords pages here are the links:

Amazon – Midnight Metamorphosis

Smashwords- Midnight Metamorphosis

Thanks so much for your consideration,

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads17 Comments

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Uppercase Box – April ’18 Reveal + #Giveaway

It’s that time again! I look forward to the middle of the month because I know my Uppercase Box will arrive. In case you aren’t familiar with it, Uppercase is a YA book subscription that sends you a recent YA book release. Sometimes the book is a fantasy novel, sci-fi, or contemporary. We’ve had a few fantasy-ish novels lately so I had guessed that April would bring a novel in a contemporary setting. Was I right? You’ll see if you keep reading. Sheesh!

Uppercase (2)

The Uppercase subscription actually comes in a bag, not a box but it doesn’t really matter does it? A book any which way it comes is a great thing. Oh no! I just realized you can kind of see the title of the book through the bag. Oh well. I’ll admit, I’m too lazy to re-take the picture.

There are always other bookish gifts in the bag. This month along with the note about the book was a reading journal. Very cute, but a little too youthful for me. I will be putting this one out in my Little Free Library for one of the neighborhood kids to enjoy!

Upper reading journal

The other items were these two cute book pins. I know there are quite a few bloggers who collect bookish pins. I myself have them on my rolling bag that I take to book fairs and conventions. It’s hard to see but the pin on the left shaped like a book says Read Past My Bedtime. I do that a LOT.

Bookish pins

On to the book in the bag! This month’s book is called Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett. I have not read a book by Jenn Bennett before but I know she is very popular! There was a cute postcard for the book that also came in the bag that leads me to believe that this one is definitely a romance.

Starry Eyes

Synopsis:

In this romantic dramedy from the author of Alex, Approximately, a teen girl’s way-too-ordinary life is driven off the beaten path when she’s abandoned in the wilderness with her worst adversary—the boy who broke her heart.

Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern day, Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.

But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.

What could go wrong?

With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.

And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

Wow, this book was just released on April 03! I’ll tell you what. I’m going to read this book in the next couple of weeks and give this copy of Starry Eyes- and the post card, away to one of my fellow bloggers. Wait, what??!! I can hear all of these excited gasps of excitement from all of you. LOL.

What do you have to do? Well, it’s easy. In the comments section below, please convince me why your favorite fictional romantic couple is so fabulous. They can be from any genre I’m not picky. I will randomly pick a winner! If my winner is in a country where it may be too expensive to mail I’ll send you this book in e-format and will pick another winner who lives in the US to receive the physical copy of the book.

I can’t wait to hear about your favorite fictional couples!

Until next Sunday,

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads7 Comments

This Chick Read: Obsidio (The Illuminai Files #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff- Audio Review

Obsidio was one of my most anticipated releases for this year. I had previously listened to both Illuminae and Gemina and was easily caught up in the action of Katie, Ezra, Hannah, and Nick as they fought against Bei Tech’s forces. Obsidio wraps up their stories while giving us two new characters to root for in Asha and Rhys. A couple who lost touch with each other and ended up on opposite sides of this war.

Katie and Ezra, in Illuminae Files had escaped Kerenza, but her cousin Asha was one of those who were left behind to deal with the invading force. While working in the hospital, Katie runs into her old boyfriend Rhys, who has just landed on Kerenza from the invading spaceship Magellen, where he’s been for the last seven months. The combination of the atrocities he’s witnessing and seeing Asha who he still loves is enough for him to question what Bei Tech is doing on this planet. Is all as it appears? Meanwhile, Katie, Ezra, Hannah and Nick are on the spaceship Mao heading back towards Kerenza. Their crew is a mixture of crews from several ships and lets just say that they all don’t see eye to eye. Mix in the conflicted AIDAN, the AI computer that is malfunctioning due to his developing feelings, and the mutiny on the Bounty crew and you have an action packed novel that was really hard to not listen to from start to finish.

Since I had listened to both Illuminae and Gemina before reading, I decided to do the same thing with Obsidio. I was again amazed at the quality of the cast and the feeling that I was listening to a movie (with sound effects!) rather than a cast of narrators reading a book. This series is truly among the best when it comes to the audio quality of it’s cast. Combine that top quality cast with an emotional action novel and you get around 18 hours of fun! This was a hard novel to hit pause on for sure.

If I had one criticism, I would say that Asha and Rhys, while definitely pivotal characters in this book, seemed to also be somewhat superfluous. I had been so caught up in both Katie/Ezra and Hannah/Nick’s stories that Asha and Rhys paled in comparison. However, the climax to this book was as powerful as it was because of those two characters so I’m a little conflicted and ultimately shrugged those feelings off. AIDAN also can’t be forgotten. Bei Tech was the evil villain but AIDAN was a close second and his emotional development was fascinating. Is this really the last Illuminae Files book? The ending seemed to leave a small opening for another novel or an offshoot of this series. I hope so, these books were so much fun to listen to and read, truly innovative! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Obsidio

Click this link to purchase! Obsidio (The Illuminae Files)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads3 Comments

This Chick Read: The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

The Queen’s Rising is a fantasy novel that has an old world European feel. Brienne has been at the Marigald estate since she was ten studying for her passion, an affinity for Art, Music, Knowledge, Wit and Dramatics. The trouble is, Brienne didn’t go into this school with an affinity for any of these, she dabbled a bit with each before settling on knowledge with only three years left to study. The opening to this novel felt a little bit like Kiera Cass’s Selection series, however at the end of their schooling, instead of getting picked to marry a prince, they find a patron. A job interview of sorts, where they sign a contract and move on with their life. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen.

Although this novel starts with a bunch of girls at school, it’s actually very political. Brienne may have trouble figuring out her passion, but when memories surface of a past relative that may have implications that could change a monarchy, she doesn’t hesitate to get involved. Brienne learns that her heritage may be the key to making change to a monarchy.

There was quite a lot to love in this novel. I loved the world building. It was easy to enmesh myself as a reader because it was not that dissimilar to our world politically. It was a fantasy novel, so no planes, trains and automobiles, instead there were carriages, castles and candles. I felt like I was reading a historical novel, but more in the vein of King Arthur’s realm. It was easy to like Brienne. She seemed very young and insecure in the beginning but as the story went on she overcame those insecurities and found an inner strength. I liked her Master (teacher) Cartier. They had a forbidden attraction that added some tension to help move the plot forward and added emotion to the story.

This was Rebecca Ross’s debut novel and boy did she deliver! Put The Queen’s Rising on your TBR folks, this one is a winner! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase! Queen’s Rising

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads2 Comments

This Chick Read: Future Lost (Future Shock #3) by Elizabeth Briggs

Elena and Adam have traveled to the future several times, initially as part of a team hired by a tech firm, Aether Corporation. Each time they have traveled, they have seen different visions of what their future would be like, and those future’s keep getting more and more grim. After things went wrong in the previous novel, Future Threat, Elena and Adam and their friends are determined to never make that trip to the future again, but Adams search for the cure to cancer becomes and obsession. When he disappears one day, Elena finds out that he took a trip back to the future again, alone.

Future Lost does a great job of subtly recapping the previous two novels into the plot, so I could quickly become engrossed in the plot and root for Elena to finally find security and happiness in her life. When Adam goes missing I knew where he went and eagerly looked forward to seeing what their future world looked like now. Without getting into the intricacies of the plot, I’ll just say “Apocalyptic” would be a good description.

Elena is an easy character to root for. She’s led a tough life and has found happiness with Adam and seen a future that she is willing to fight towards. Hope is one of Elena’s greatest characteristics, but unfortunately she has to set it aside and go back to a darker place using some of her darker skills to fight the Aether Corporation and save her future. Adam starts off this novel in a darker place than Elena and it’s interesting to see how her initial hopefulness and his desperation to find the cure for cancer seem to run on a parallel path to each other, only meeting when her hope turns to desperation and his desperation to hope.

Future Lost was the darkest of the three novels but that glimmer of hope ran through the story like a grain of gold waiting to be mined. The plot took me on a journey of feelings, despair, desperation, sadness, love and most importantly that hope. On any other novel I may have felt the conclusion was a little too perfectly wrapped, but I think the feeling of calmness I felt was a kind of conviction that the characters finally found themselves in the right place, at the right time. Their happily ever after stretching out in front of them. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

To read my review of Future Shock click HERE and Future Threat click HERE

I was given a copy of this novel through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Future Lost

Click this link to purchase! Future Lost (Future Shock)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Alice and her mother were always a step ahead of bad luck until one day it caught up to them. Living in New York, Alice’s mother had married a wealthy man and seemed to have stopped believe in their bad luck. Working in a coffee shop, Alice see’s a familiar face from her childhood. A man who had kidnapped her to take her back to her grandmother, a famous author of dark fairy tales, at her home in the Hazel Wood. When she spots this man, he doesn’t look a day older than he did ten years ago, so she doesn’t believe her instincts. When she gets home and finds her mother has been kidnapped by the people they had been running from, Alice has to find her grandmother’s estate, hoping that is where her mother is being taken. This is a story of adventure and self discovery for Alice and like the dark fairy tale’s her grandmother wrote, her journey also follows a dark path.

As I started reading The Hazel Wood I loved the world that Melissa Albert had created. Alice, like Alice in Wonderland, seemed to have fallen down a dark hole and as Alice and I learned more about the fairy tale’s that her grandmother wrote it became hard to second guess where the story was leading. When Alice got to the Hazel Wood and her existence was revealed I’ll admit that it became harder for me to like. This was not a Disneyland fairy tale and even though there was a happy ending I didn’t feel very happy at the end.

I had mixed feelings about this novel. The writing was excellent and it was a unique story but in the end I felt “meh”. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The Hazel Wood

Click this link to purchase! The Hazel Wood: A Novel

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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