Cover Reveal: Relentless by Molly H Hall

Posted by Lizzy on Apr 15, 2013 in covers | 1 comment

Today, I’m happy to present the sequel to one of my favorite books of 2012.  You can read my review of Reckoning by Molly M Hall.  It’s one of those books that were so good that I purchased a second copy after reviewing just to share with friends.  If you like paranormal romances with creepy scenes, then you’ll love this series.  Check out the cover to book two!  Beautiful!

Relentless (Dark Prophecy #2) by Molly H Hall

“Out of the darkness and into the fire.

The truth changes everything.”

The discovery of who and what she is changed Kat Matheson’s life forever, revealing a world she never knew existed. A world filled with ominous spirits, mystical beings and dark magic. And a powerful ruler who will stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate goal: her death. Now, in her fight to stay alive, and to protect those she loves, Kat begins the battle to take back what’s hers.

Teaming with the enigmatic Lovell, Kat searches for the clues that hold the secret to her destiny. Clues that take her to places she never imagined, exposing her life—and her heart—to dangers she never saw coming…

Coming soon…Relentless, Book 2 in the Dark Prophecy series.

 

 ”They say the truth can set you free. I found out it can kill you.”

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Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop

Posted by Lizzy on Mar 25, 2013 in giveaway, hop | 62 comments

Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop

This Hop is hosted by I am a reader, not a writer, The Book Rat, and A Backwards Story.

You may have a copy of any book on my fantasy review list.  This is an ebook giveaway for INT, but if you live in the US you may choose a paperback instead.  Urban fantasy and paranormal romance books from my review list can be chosen too.  You can find the full list HERE.  Any book that I review that’s fantasy related between now and the end of the contest can also be selected.  And you may pick any book in the series as long as I’ve reviewed as least one of the series books.

US residents win a print copy!

Here’s a sample of what you can pick!

 You may follow me any way you choose.  Twitter, Facebook, Network Blogs, Linky, or email/RSS.  All I care is that you come back.  :)

 

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10 Things You’re Too Scared to Ask – Dave Ferraro

Posted by Lizzy on Mar 10, 2013 in author interviews | 6 comments

Today is release day for Dark Genesis.  Check out the full schedule HERE.  I haven’t been participating in many tours, but I couldn’t help but accept when Dave Ferraro said that he was willing to answer my crazy interview questions.   I get so giddy reading these answers!  Dave Ferraro has a tour wide giveaway going on for a $40 Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON that enters the giveaway will win a FREE copy of Dark Genesis.

So what do you have to lose?  If you’d like, leave me a comment telling me what question/answers you REALLY love.  This helps me decide if should I reuse them in future interviews or feed them to my pet sock monster.  Thanks!

10 Things You’re Too Scared To Ask

Author Dave Ferraro

 

1) Imagine your characters are on Survivor. They have to vote one character out of your book. Who votes for who and why?

Fun question! I think all of the characters would vote off Kaitlyn, since she acts so haughty, and she very clearly does whatever she can to please the queen. It can be annoying. Kaitlyn would vote off Lace, just because she’s jealous of the king’s daughter. But she would claim it’s because Lace is a lazy, good-for-nothing.

2) Your main character has committed a crime. What is the crime and how do they do it?

As Alyssa regains memories through “Dark Genesis,” you’ll see that she has quite a colorful past. You can tell right off the bat that she’d been trained to fight, so let’s say that she could have easily been taken in for assault. She would probably do it with a right hook and a solid elbow to the nose. And she’s not above kicking a guy between the legs for good measure.

3) You have to fight zombies. What is in your arsenal?

My legs. They will carry me far, far away. Actually, I think that a fireplace poker would be a good weapon. It’s pretty long, so you can get a jab in from far enough away that you don’t have to worry about a bite, and it can deliver a good blow to the head to make them stay down. Unless we’re talking fast-moving zombies, because then I’m screwed unless they’re frightened off by the sound of screaming.

4) Your main characters are stuck on a desert island. What is their initial reaction? Which one has the best chance of getting off the island alive?

Is it a cheat that Lace can teleport? Okay, let’s say that she’s unconscious. The characters would try to wake her up first. lol. After that…they would discuss how they could get food and create a shelter. If one of them’s going to get off the island alive, I say Alyssa, because of her knowledge of the modern world that the others don’t have.

5) Write the most ridiculous death scene possible.

I think that it would be pretty ridiculous if someone were choking to death and no one would help him, so he’s trying to do the Heimlich maneuver by shoving himself into a chair, then into a tabletop so he gets something more solid underneath him. Then maybe running into a wall desperately. That would be funny. I mean, sad. Sad funny. Maybe somebody would revive him out of pity.

6) Reveal the darkest moment in your life.

In junior high school, I was really overweight, had bad acne, and braces. I was teased constantly, called names in the hallways, and always last to get picked in gym class. It was pretty terrible. The worst was the bus ride to school because the high school students rode the same bus and I dreaded that they would notice me, because it meant that they would embarrass me for the entire half hour it took to get to the school building.

7) One of your favorite authors agrees to go on a date. Who is it and how do you woe him/her?

I have a little crush on David James, author of “Light of the Moon.” He probably knows this because I’ve flirted with him. Maybe. Probably. I’m a big flirt, so I can’t really help myself. And of course, a sparkling personality, innate charm and sharp wit are on my side. And did I mention my devilish good looks? He would really have no choice but to give in. And then my boyfriend would sever my internet connection and take my phone before the date could take place.

8) Pick a popular book with an ending you didn’t like. What’s the new ending?

Let’s go with Twilight: Breaking Dawn. I would make something actually happen. Like, I don’t know…an actual battle? Actually, I think it would have been tragic if, after Bella had made her choice to be with Edward over Jacob, that Edward would have died. And with Jacob impressed on her daughter, she would be alone. Too cruel? She would have her memories to comfort her! I mean, let’s face it, she did not deserve Robert Patterson ..I mean, Edward!

9) You are a misunderstood monster (like Shrek). Briefly write about what your life is like.

I would probably stumble around like an oaf, clumsily running into things a lot. People would yell at me. I would be sad. After years of this, I would probably take a hint and find a nice little quiet house in the middle of nowhere, where I would eat children who stumbled into the bog. What don’t people understand about eating children?

10) Name one culturally “taboo” thing you wish would be accepted.

I think that people should be allowed to die if they’re in pain and there’s no hope for them. We euthanize animals, but not humans who are in intolerable amounts of pain? It seems strange to me that this isn’t allowed.

 

Dark Genesis by Dave Ferraro

Publisher:  Self-Published

Genre:  YA Paranormal

Links:  Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Smashwords

Releases March 10th, 2013

Alyssa opened her eyes to darkness. And in the first flash of light provided by a gathering storm, she could make out a ring of bodies surrounding her.

With no memory of who she is, Alyssa stumbles into a dark world populated by witches. The witches are powerful, and demonstrate frightening powers, but even more terrifying are the monsters who rule over the land. Vampires, werewolves and other awful creatures of the night have taken over, forcing the witches behind stone walls, afraid to venture outdoors. But Alyssa finds that as she kills certain monsters, memories return to her, memories of a life on Earth, and the boy she left behind.

The quest to collect her memories and piece together the puzzle of what has happened to her is a daunting one, with betrayals and sacrifices every step of the way. But Alyssa is determined to fight for a world that is not her own, destroying powerful monsters along the way, so that she can return home to the boy she is coming to love through the memories she recollects.

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This is YOUR song #3 – book playlist

Posted by Lizzy on Mar 8, 2013 in meme | 4 comments

 

Welcome to This is YOUR song

a brand new book meme hosted by Lizzy’s Dark Fiction.

Meme name is inspired by the Elton John song.  Here, I find that perfect song to fit some of the most popular books. I’ll pick 5 books from different genres or age groups and match them with the song that I think describes the book the best.  

1)  Representing Paranormal Romance books, we have Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned–to her old life, her family, her boyfriend–before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance–and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

Song Match:  I Will Wait For You by Mumford & Sons

Lyrics:  And I came home / Like a stone / And I fell heavy into your arms / These days of darkness / Which we’ve known / Will blow away with this new sun

Reason:  The only thing that gets Nikki through the underworld is the face of her beloved.  When they finally reunite, it’s like the time apart never happened.

#2  Representing Dystopian books, we have The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender.

If she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Song Match: Take it Easy by The Eagles

Lyrics: Come on, baby, don’t say maybe / I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me / We may lose and we may win though / We will never be here again.

Reason:  Despite fighting impossible odds, everyone around Katniss keeps telling her to lighten up and enjoy all that the Capital has to offer while she’s there.  Peeta also wants to extend his love and friendship, telling her that together they stand a better chance.  Win or lose, it’s only going to happen once, right?  *cough Catching Fire cough*

3)  Representing Controversial books, we have Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.

Sephy is a Cross — a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought — a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum — a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?

In this gripping, stimulating and totally absorbing novel, black and white are right and wrong.

Song Match:  Black or White by Micheal Jackson

Lyrics:  But, if you’re thinking about my baby / It don’t matter if you’re black or white / And I told about equality / And it’s true / Either you’re wrong or you’re right

Reason:  Because Callum and Sephy repeatedly defy the rules of society to be together.  They don’t care what color the other one is, as long as it means they will be together in the end.

4)  Representing Children’s books, we have Eve Hallows by Robert Gray.

Fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows lives in a monster-inhabited place where everything is horrible, which in her world means wonderful, but things are about to become wonderful (horrible) when she must move to the human world.

Song Match:  Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett

Lyrics:  The zombies were having fun / The party had just begun / The guests included Wolf Man, Dracula, and his son 

Reason:  Because it’s a kick-ass song about fun monsters and Eve Hallows is a kick-ass book about a monster family I’d love to be a part of.

5)  Representing Horror books, we have Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story…

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Song Match:  Sally’s Song by Amy Lee

Lyrics:  And does he notice my feelings for him? / And will he see how much he means to me? / I think it’s not to be / What will become of my dear friend / Where will his actions lead us then?

Reason:  Cas is a ghost hunter.  His presence in the house marks the end for Anna Dressed in Blood, but she can’t help but spare him from the horrors ahead, even if it means retribution from whatever else is in the house.  As Cas keeps returning to see her, Anna can’t help but love him, even though their relationship is doomed from the start.

What songs would you pick with these books?

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Book Review: Angel’s Heart: The Keeper by Lisa Bilbrey

Posted by Lizzy on Mar 6, 2013 in reviews | 2 comments

Angel’s Heart: The Keeper by Lisa Bilbrey

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Renaissance Romance Publishing

Links:  Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

Released July 24th, 2012

Unaware of an age-old prophecy, secret societies, and an enemy she doesn’t know she has, Sophie Crenshaw thinks of herself as just being average. Along with her two best friends, Deva and Tabitha, Sophie sets off on what she thinks is a normal vacation. What she doesn’t know is that everything she thought she knew about who she is, and what she can do, is about to change. Thrust in a world she knows nothing about, Sophie tries to find her true self, without losing her grip on her own sanity.

Henry Chang lives in world full of magic, where the stories over the legendary Angel’s Heart are spoken in whispered conversations, and midnight meetings. His job is to protect the Heart, keep it safe from anyone who wishes to hurt it or its Keeper. In a divine moment, he’s tied to the Keeper’s heart forever. While trying to understand his own feelings, Henry does what he can to support Sophie, and keep her from falling apart.

With the help of Willow Crest members, who are sworn to protect her, without ever meeting her, Sophie will struggle to get control of her feeling and new found powers. Or will it be too much for her to handle? Will their growing love give Sophie the strength and courage to face the greatest challenge of her young life?

I should have learned by now that the first chapter of a book typically reflects what to expect in the rest of the book. The first chapter of Angel’s Heart: The Keeper was boring with cliche characters and an overused backstory. If I had stopped after the first chapter, I would never have guessed how bad this book could possibly be. It was the literary equivalency of Honey Boo Boo and felt like fan-fiction of all the popular paranormal books mixed together. In fact, if you piece together the worst parts of every paranormal book on the market, it STILL might be better than this book.

Sophie is a depressed, unemployed orphan with a beautiful best friend that stinks of narcissism and another one that really didn’t have a personality.  Her best friends decide to surprise her with a vacation to Hawaii.  On the plane flight, the three girls meet three sexy, mysterious boys…and surprise, surprise, guess what happens?

Well, apparently Sophie is the most magical being to ever walk the Earth and her magical powers are unlimited.  Not just that but her parents aren’t dead but rather being held captive by a villain that has less character development and personality than Maleficent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

And that mysterious boy Sophie meets on the plane she falls madly in love with and loses her virginity to him twice – yeah once on page 86 and once on page 124.  The only other character I’ve ever seen do this is Rhapsody by Elizabeth Hayden.  Not only that, but they become accidentally marked for life, which is a very rare thing (yet half a dozen characters in the novel also had it happen).

The end reminded me of Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer.  There’s a huge buildup to the final battle and when it happens, you’re like “that’s it?”.  Also, the plot is nicely wrapped up 2/3rd of the way through the book.  What happens after is nothing more than Sophie whining about how much her life sucks, despite there being NOTHING wrong with her life at this point.  And every character coddles her.  There’s one character that calls her out for being childish and she whips him into shape with her Mary-Sue powers.

The only reason I was able to finish the book was because it had, at least, been properly edited.  If the author does the exact opposite of what she did with Angel’s Heart:  The Keeper, then the sequel will be phenomenal. (F)

(I won a copy of this book from the author in a Goodreads giveaway.)

(Picture and information borrowed from Goodreads.)

Obsessive, compulsive, slightly crazed, but enough about her personality. First and foremost, Lisa Bilbrey is a mom to three and a wife to one. She loves to write, and spends the majority of everyday writing. It’s who she is, and what she’s meant to be doing. Words are her life, the air she breathes, and the nutrients of her soul.

Finding a love in the written word, Lisa Bilbrey started writing as a way to express herself and let her voice be heard. From the first word she wrote, she’d found her heart and soul.Always willing to learn, she’s spends much of her time trying to improve as a storyteller.

Lisa has been blessed to find Michele Richard and Laura Braley, both of whom she spends hours everyday writing with. In October of 2011, they opened Renaissance Romance Publishing, hoping to be able to give other the same change to let their work shine.

Lisa’s works include:

Life is More than Candy Hearts, Book One of the Candy Collection:
–Life’s Unexpected Gifts

Summer Confections, Book Two of the Candy Collection:
–A Season of Change

Angel’s Heart Series:
–The Keeper

Harvest Treats, Book Three of the Candy Collection:
–The Journey Home

Sugarplum Dreams, Book Four of the Candy Collection:
–Broken Hearts & Dusty Dreams (coming December 11, 2012)(

Goodreads  |  Website  |  Twitter

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