{August 28, 2014} {Release Day Launch} Iron Pendulum by Megan Curd (Periodic #2)

IT’S HERE!!! I am so excited that today is the Release Day for Megan Curd’s IRON PENDULUM! IRON PENDULUM is Young Adult Steampunk Fantasy and the second book in Megan’s The Periodic Series!!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble — Coming Soon

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IRON PENDULUM Synopsis:

A month ago, Avery thought the world ended outside Dome Four. Thought she was one of the few of her kind. Thought the war that brought the human race to the brink of extinction was over.

But a month can change everything.

After fighting to escape a tyranny she didn’t even know existed, Avery has had to come to grips with all the secrets she’s uncovered. But more secrets continue to come to light, revealing how little of her world she truly knew. When evidence starts to show that Dome Four might be under siege, Avery knows what she must do.

Returning to the dome she longed to escape is a challenge for Avery, but now she knows there’s corruption lurking in the shadows. A massive steam shortage leaves half the dome without power, and people are falling ill. Dying.

And they’re blaming Avery.

A month can change everything. One more month could kill everyone. The clock is ticking.

Read my 5 Star Review HERE!

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About Megan Curd:

Megan Curd is a graduate of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While having always enjoyed reading any books she could get her hands on, Megan didn’t begin writing until a friend encouraged her to do so while in college.

When not writing, Megan enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Photography, traveling and snowboarding are hobbies she loves, and she doesn’t turn down the opportunity to play xBox with her brother and friends when it presents itself.

Megan currently resides in Ohio with her husband and son, where she is trying to convert them into Buckeye fans.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Author Goodreads | IRON PENDULUM Goodreads

Enter to win a SIGNED paperback of STEEL LILY HERE!

{August 27, 2014} {Blog Tour: Excerpt and Review} Iron Pendulum by Megan Curd (Periodic #2)

REVIEW:

From Goodreads: A month ago, Avery thought the world ended outside Dome Four. Thought she was one of the few of her kind. Thought the war that brought the human race to the brink of extinction was over.

But a month can change everything.

And they’re blaming Avery.

A month can change everything. One more month could kill everyone. The clock is ticking.

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This second novel of the Periodic series knocked my socks off—if you’re looking for an awesome steampunk dystopian series, then look no further! Curd has woven a tale so captivating that when all is said and done, you’ll be dying for more. And dying for more is exactly where I am as Curd leaves us with a most amazing cliffhanger that had my mind in a whirl!

Avery and all her beloved companions are back in Iron Pendulum, including swoonworthy Jaxon, best-friend Alice, and tech savvy Sari, a cast of characters I would certainly throw my lot in with if the chance ever came up. From the get go, I was enthralled with this second installment, jumping right back into to fierce world that Curd has created in this dystopian steampunk adventure.

As Avery tempts fate with her presence back in Dome 4, where corruption runs rampant and the tables have drastically turned against Avery and her friends, there were many a time that I just wanted to reach through the pages and punch her adversaries—they are awful, and I just loved to hate them as the story progressed. Erin, another teen able to produce steam, as well as another foe who I shall not name because his/her appearance in the novel had my jaw dropping, are so loathsome that I cannot wait for them to get their comeuppance; Curd has definitely turned this story on its head with betrayals and, like I said before, a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers.

The world building is absolutely superb, and as evil slowly begins to take over all aspects both inside and outside the Dome, it’s a heart-pounding race against time for not only Avery and her friends, but everyone else, as well.

If you love a good story and you’re looking for a series that is kick-butt and will leaving you breathless, then look no further. Curd’s Periodic series has it all—mystery, elements, zombies, romance, kick butt fight scenes, betrayal, heartache, joy, fear… read it. You won’t be disappointed. Five amazing stars.

I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This title releases tomorrow.

Be sure to pick up book 1, Steel Lily, now!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

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EXCERPT:

Alice huffed, the sound sending static through the earpieces. The Alliance had provided us the new and improved masks, capable of allowing us to speak without lifting our masks and exposing us to low oxygen levels. It was a great development, one that Sari had worked on for months to perfect. One that was currently annoying me, since all I heard was a flurry of irritation at my momentary attention lapse.

I adjusted the map and clicked on my headlamp, its dull glow illuminating the wrinkled, water-stained blueprints in my hands. I traced the lines of our route. “I think we need to go left.”

“You think?” I heard Jaxon’s voice, not through the muffled sound of the speaker, but loud and clear beside me. His lips grazed the side of my cheek, not exactly kissing me, but dissolving my focus all the same. His musical tone sent shivers down my spine, even when he was being infuriatingly sarcastic.

Jaxon’s ability to breathe in lower-oxygen situations was because of his father, Riggs, who had performed research on Jaxon from a young age. While Riggs had been forced to do it by Xander—the man behind the Resistance, and the one responsible for the fact that we were living in hiding—I still didn’t have much love for Riggs. He’d hurt Jaxon, and that hurt me. It would be a while before I trusted Riggs, no matter what he said or how many times Lexie vouched for him.

Jaxon leaned against the cement wall with his arms crossed, his dreads pulled back in a standard leather tie. His headlamp sat cockeyed, as if in tribute to his off-kilter humor and devil-may-care attitude. I wouldn’t want it any other way, even though I knew he did care, and he wasn’t nearly as unimpressed with the world as he’d like everyone to think. He’d proven that when he’d taken a vial of my blood, allowing himself to be a test subject once more for the sake of learning more about my abilities. We didn’t know how the blood would affect him—would it hurt him? Give him abilities like mine?—but it was a chance he was willing to take.

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GIVEAWAY:

Win a $5 gift card to your choice of Amazon or Barnes & Noble PLUS an ecopy of Steel Lily!!

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About Megan Curd:

Megan currently resides in Ohio with her husband and son, where she is trying to convert them into Buckeye fans.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Author Goodreads | IRON PENDULUM Goodreads

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Make sure you stay tuned to the rest of the tour!

Blog Tour Schedule:

August 26^th

Book Lovin’ Mamas – Excerpt

Fabulous and Fun – Excerpt & Review

Once Upon a Twilight – Excerpt & Review

Coffee Books & Art – Excerpt

August 27^th

The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club – Excerpt & Playlist

A Book Vacation – Excerpt & Review

Becky on Books – Excerpt

Born To Read – Excerpt & Review

August 28^th

Adventures in Writing – Guest Post & Review

In between The Pages – Excerpt & Review

Let Me Be Fictional – Excerpt & Review

Bibliophilia, Please – Excerpt

August 29^th

Roxy’s Reviews – Excerpt & Review

A Dream Within A Dream – Excerpt & Review

Paperback Cowgirl Reviews – Excerpt & Review

SassyCat’s Books Review – Excerpt & Character Playlist

August 30^th

Book Sense – Excerpt & Review

Loves All Things Books – Excerpt & Dream Cast

Girl in the Woods Reviews – Excerpt & Review

The Small Nerd – Excerpt & Review

August 31^st

Ashley’s Paranormal Book Blog – Excerpt & Review

One Guy’s Guide to Good Reads – Excerpt & Review

deal sharing aunt – Excerpt & Interview

Chibi Reader – Excerpt & Review

September 1^st

GenGen’s Book Blog – Excerpt & Review

Resch Reads and Reviews – Excerpt & Review

Shelfspace Needed – Excerpt & Review

This Redhead LOVES Books – Excerpt

September 2^nd

The Revolving Bookcase for Young Readers – Excerpt

Dowie’s Place – Excerpt & Review

Istyria book blog – Excerpt & Review

The Bearded Scribe – Excerpt & Review

September 3^rd

Addicted Readers – Excerpt

Shayna Varadeaux Books & Reviews – Excerpt & Guest Post

K.R. Grace – Excerpt & Review

Mercurial Musings – Excerpt & Review

September 4^th

Avid Reader Musings – Excerpt & Review

Bookinfatuation – Excerpt & Review

Out of Time – Excerpt & Review

Morgan Wylie~Author – Excerpt

September 5^th

Fabulous and Fun – Excerpt & Interview

A Cup of Coffee and a Book – Excerpt & Review

Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt

September 6^th

The Rest Is Still Unwritten – Excerpt & Review

Write Away Bliss – Excerpt & Review

Racing To Read – Excerpt & Review

September 7^th

Such a Novel Idea – Excerpt & Guest Post

The La La Land of Books – Excerpt & Review

paranormal book club ( PBC) – Excerpt & Review

The Book Beacon – Excerpt & Review

September 8^th

Much Loved Books – Excerpt & Review

Life Between the Pages – Excerpt & Review

Reading on the Farm – Excerpt & Review

Shelves of Books/ Reading For Fun – Excerpt & Review

September 9^th

Books for a Delicate Eternity – Excerpt & Review

The Bookie Monster – Guest Post & Review

Dizneeee’s World of Books – Excerpt & Review

{August 10, 2014} {ARC Review} Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore

From Goodreads: Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare-a haunting magical thriller set in a riveting 1930s-esque world.

Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder’s mother is cursed with a spell that’s driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.
Thea spends her nights waitressing at the decadent Telephone Club attending to the glitzy clientele. But when her best friend, Nan, vanishes, Thea is compelled to find her. She meets Freddy, a young, magnetic patron at the club, and he agrees to help her uncover the city’s secrets-even while he hides secrets of his own.

Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they’re not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.

Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, this is a chilling thriller with a touch of magic where the dead don’t always seem to stay that way.

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If you enjoy magical-realism and/or the paranormal set within the realms of everyday life, then I highly suggest you pick up this novel. It reminded me just a touch of the movie Sin City based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, with the spells and abilities replacing superpowers and villains, though I wouldn’t say Dark Metropolis is nearly as gruesome or action packed. Secrets abound, magic flies, and as the novel unfolds, Dolamore does a great job foreshadowing what’s to come, nudging readers in the right direction as they attempt to figure out just what is at work in the depths of the city.

I enojyed the characterization and the surprise at the end, and am interested to see what happens next in this surreal world full of danger and magic. Told from the perspective of multiple characters, a writing style that I just adore, I think many will enjoy this series. Four stars.

I received this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

{June 3, 2014} {ARC Review} Dark Days by Kate Ormand

From Goodreads: The future world has been divided into sectors–each the same as the other. Surrounded by thick steel fences, there is no way in and no way out. Yet a cyborg army penetrates each sector, picking off its citizens one by one, until no one is left. Behind the sectors’ thick walls, the citizens wait to die. Few will be chosen to survive what’s coming; the rest will be left behind to suffer. A new world has been created, and its rulers are incredibly selective on who will become a citizen. They want only those with important roles in society to help create a more perfect future. Sixteen-year-old Sia lives in one of the sectors as part of a family that is far too ordinary to be picked to live. According to the digital clock that towers high above her sector, she has only fifteen days to live. Sia has seen the reports and knows a horrific death is in store for her, but she is determined to make the most of her final days. Sia refuses to mourn her short life, instead promising herself that she’ll stay strong, despite being suffocated by her depressed mother and her frightened best friend. Just when Sia feels more alone than ever, she meets Mace, a mysterious boy. There is something that draws Sia to him, despite his dangerousness, and together, they join a group of rebels and embark on an epic journey to destroy the new world and its machines, and to put an end to the slaughter of innocent people.

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Imagine knowing the exact day you’re going to die—as if you could forget, the clock tower is counting down the days for you. Imagine knowing a cyborg army is coming to kill you and everyone you love; knowing there is no chance of survival. Welcome to the future, where the select are creating a new world, and you’re not invited. In 15 days, the cyborgs will come, and everyone knows it’ll be a painful death—the 24 hour TV footage of other sectors’ demolishen proves that. You can’t hide; there’s nowhere to go. No one in any sector has survived the cyborgs. No. One.

This is Sia’s reality; thankfully it’s not ours, but Ormand does a great job putting readers right in the thick of the action as Sia lives out her last 15 days, first in fear, then in resignation, and then in determination to fight back. Who has the right to say you’re not worthy to live? According to Sia, nobody.

While the novel starts out believable enough, with Sia’s revelations and resignations, I have to admit that as the action begins to quicken, the believability became a bit disjointed for me. Infiltrating a high security site with little to no incident just didn’t seem real, especially as Sia flys by the seat of her pants, has had no infiltration training, and doesn’t know anything about the people she needs to know about in order to survive in this new world. Her ill-thought-out plan does backfire, but the ease of escape was just too perfect in my mind—not that I’m looking for terrible things to happen to the characters, but it just seemed to me that every time an obstacle came up, it was easily overcome by the characters in one way or another. Of course, this is just a small segment of the overall novel; much more is to come for Sia and the characters after her antics, and the final events and showdowns were, in my opinion, much more up to snuff in terms of believability. So while the novel seems to take a small dive in the midst of it all, by the end I found it to be back on track and intense, and I certainly do not want to switch places with Sia. Three and a half stars.

Sky Pony Press was extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

{May 26, 2014} {Review} Two Moons of Sera by Pavarti K. Tyler

From Goodreads: Finally, the complete Two Moons of Sera novel in one edition! Read all four volumes in one collection.

In a world where water and earth teem with life, Serafay is an anomaly. The result of genetic experiments on her mother’s waterborne line Serafay will have to face the very people responsible to discover who she really is. But is she the only one?

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Two Moons of Sera—Omnibus, is the complete four part series all in one book. For me, it was like the element world met fantasy, complete with land dwellers–Erlanders, water dwellers–Sualwet, and even a fire dwellers–A’aihea. Segregated and at war with one another, Serafay knows little of any world. Half human and half Sualwet, and despised by both races, she’s lived her life in seclusion for her sixteen years. But today, everything she’s ever known is going to change.

This four part volume takes place over the course of about a week, beginning with Sera as she hems and haws about her mother not allowing her to go anywhere aside from their beach, however, a sighting of a strange Erlander piques her interest and is the beginning of the end of life as she knows it. Meeting Tor is a godsend in a way, because soon after, the war between Erlanders and Sualwet takes a turn for the worst, and Sera is forced to flee. Hand in hand with Tor, the strange Erlander she met on the beach, her adventures begin as they find themselves in many a precarious situation.

I loved learning about the different people of this world Tyler has created. The Erlanders are just like humans as we know them, living within the confines of cities, believing themselves superior, starting wars. But the difference here is the dystopian aspect—Erlanders are at the mercy of their government; they are matched with others, are given three chances to reproduce within their match, are assigned jobs, and are unable to make their own choices about basically everything. The Sulawet live underwater and are the equivalent to merfolk in my mind, but they also have the ability to walk on land. Their eyes and webbed feet give them away, and because land is foreign, most do not tread the ground often. They have their own distinct language, live in underwater cities, and disown/dislike any foreign object, people included. And the A’aihea are fire dwellers. The closest equivalent I was able to make in my mind was those who live near the equator. While the A’aihea people of Tyler’s story dwell in the mountains and deep underground, their lack of clothing due to heat, and their vast hatred of any and all foreigners, Erlander or Sulawet alike, made me think of a more tribal type of group.

Overall, the vast similarity between these groups is their hatred for any and all foreigners. And it is this was Tyler speaks about in her writing, though it’s more of a theme than a direct admonition of the world today.

I found the beginning of this novel to be a bit slow, but when Sera met Tor, the storyline began to pick up. As events unfolded, I found myself engrossed in the story, rooting for Sera and Tor and becoming quite protective of them as they found themselves on some fairly wild adventures with both Erlanders and A’aiheas alike. However, I must say that the very last volume left me wanting; there is minimal closure, and so I am sure that Tyler must be planning a sequel of sorts. While an epilogue does exist, it creates more questions than it answers, with the biggest of them all still left unanswered: what is Sera’s purpose the A’aihea spoke of? Overall, this is a great fantasy serial that I highly recommend, but know going in that this isn’t the whole story. Four stars.

I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon Paperback | Kindle

{April 29, 2014} {Review} Monument 14: Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14 #2)

From Goodreads: Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected…

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I absolutely adored the first novel in this series, and while this second novel is very well written, it just didn’t grab me like the first. While part of this has to do with needing to rekindle my relationships with the characters, and thankfully Laybourne gives readers all the reminders they need to get back on track, the main issue for me was the font. Normally, I don’t discuss layout or font when critiquing a novel, especially since it generally has no barring on the story itself—the author doesn’t control font in a big publishing house—but I just can’t get over it. The novel is split between two characters, Dean and Alex, as they branch off from one another and tell their stories as the days unfold. Dean and just a few young survivors are staying behind at the Greenway Superstore due to blood toxin issues, and so events unfolding there are told through his eyes, in a normal, every day font. On the other hand, Alex, Dean’s brother, and the rest of the young survivors have taken the bus and are driving 60+ miles to the airport in attempts to bring people to help rescue Dean and the other survivors who can’t weather the toxins in the air. And here is where the story lost me—I had trouble reading Alex’s point of view because the font changed, and it wasn’t a normal easy font for me to read. It was lighter than normal font, with the letters elongated and spaced out, and it really impacted my reading. One can’t enjoy something they struggle to read, and while I get the idea behind different fonts, I think it was a not so great move on the part of the publishers. I just couldn’t get into Alex’s story because I struggled so much to follow it.

This novel is actually rather short in the realm of things, sitting at 213 pages, and truthfully, not a whole lot happened. There were a few issues that arose, but our heroes and heroines were able to smooth things over quite quickly, which is good, but doesn’t leave much in terms of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, I did like the story, and I’m excited to see what happens next for the characters, but I hope there is just a little more substance and, of course, a normal font throughout. Three stars.

I purchased this novel from Barnes and Noble.

Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

{April 14, 2014} {Review} X and Y by Rebecca Finlayson

From Goodreads: Olivia Adonane has it all; remarkable intelligence, stunning beauty, and – as the daughter of the head of the Triad, Society’s top three Human Designers – immeasurable wealth. Yet, all is not as it seems. Olivia discovers a dark secret about her homeland, formerly known as Great Britain, where humans are designed in the womb, and she watches her best friend, Lily, die in a secret chamber below the Triad Building in London. From here on, she has a choice. Will she continue on her pre-designed path, following in her father’s footsteps to become the country’s most powerful Human Designer? Or will she seek to rebel against the government, attempting to expose and overthrow the seemingly-invincible regime so that her fellow citizens can be truly free?

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Finlayson’s novel, X&Y, thrusts readers into a society that designs and tags its population, keeping the wealthy beyond rich and the poor barely scraping by. Everyone is designed for a reason, and no one goes against the system; it’s in place for their own protection, and it’s existed long enough that no one really questions it. After all, everyone has a purpose. It’s destiny.

Told in a series of sections, readers really get to know Olivia as she goes from timid high school student to determined university student. Questioning everything she’s ever known, watching people disappear, and believing the worst of her parents, Olivia’s struggles are very real, and though I didn’t always agree with her decisions, it’s easy for me to take the high road as an outsider looking in; it always is. But what isn’t easy is deciding to do what’s right when you know it could end with your death, and worse, the death of those you love and hold dear. This is the obstacle that Olivia is up against, and as she struggles and comes into herself, it’s impossible not to fall in love with her. As the novel progresses, what seems like a lifetime passes as Finlayson weaves together her tale, giving it life and validity. I enjoyed the sectioning within the novel, allowing time to pass easily without any sudden transitions, and for a novel that takes place over a span of years, it was the perfect execution.

What I think perhaps floored me the most about this novel is the fact that the genetic engineering imposed in former Great Britain is actually happening under the radar of the rest of the world. Indeed, the rest of the world, the United States in particular, has continued its existence and democracy much as if this were a present day novel and not a dystopian one, and it was both jarring and awesome when I realized that Olivia’s country was on its own in the technological advances and misuse of genetic engineering. Ingeniously, former Great Britain has adopted this strategy unbeknownst to the rest of the world, and I found that really interesting as Finlayson ties it all in to the idea of world police, a topic that has been in the news much recently due to the civil unrest in many countries, causing the United States to once again attempt to police other countries.

Overall, this was a great read. If you enjoy movies like Gattaka, I think you’ll definitely love this X&Y. Four stars.

I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Check out Rebecca Finlayson’s Guest Post!

{April 13, 2014} {Guest Post} Rebecca Finlayson–Author of X and Y

A Guest Post with Rebecca Finlayson–author of X & Y

“Olivia Adonane has it all; remarkable intelligence, stunning beauty, and – as the daughter of the head of the Triad, Society’s top three Human Designers – immeasurable wealth. Yet, all is not as it seems. Olivia discovers a dark secret about her homeland, formerly known as Great Britain, where humans are designed in the womb, and she watches her best friend, Lily, die in a secret chamber below the Triad Building in London. From here on, she has a choice. Will she continue on her pre-designed path, following in her father’s footsteps to become the country’s most powerful Human Designer? Or will she seek to rebel against the government, attempting to expose and overthrow the seemingly-invincible regime so that her fellow citizens can be truly free?”

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Every author has a dream of where their book could end up – top of the New York Times list, worldwide bestseller, movie deal . Sure, they may not believe it could ever happen but dreaming is still fun. At least, that was the case for me.

The problem I had was to not let those dreams distract me from the actual novel-writing process.

When I sat down to type the first words of “X&Y” I had to forget about all the YA novels I had read, particularly the Dystopian ones, and just focus on my story. How could I make “X&Y” the best it could be on its own terms, and not compared to, say, The Hunger Games? How could I make Olivia, the protagonist, successful as a character in and of herself, and not trying to live up to Katniss Everdeen’s reputation?

Good writers read and learn from successful writers, but for me there came a point where I just had to forget about all the rest, otherwise I would lose sight of what I was doing, which was trying to communicate something about the world I had built in my head. I wanted to build good relationships with my characters because they’re great characters (at least, I think so). I wanted to do something that many good authors have done successfully – i.e. portray a vision of the future as a warning to our society. ‘Society’ (the futuristic new version of Great Britain in X&Y) could exist. At the rate our technology is developing, it wouldn’t be crazy to think so.

Dreams of a movie deal aside, I am personally very proud of “X&Y”. I am letting others decide whether it can stand up to other YA Dystopian novels, but I am glad that it’s out there and that readers are enjoying it. I hope whoever reads this post will join them!

—Rebecca Finlayson