Feature and Follow Friday {11}

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. This week's featured blogs are Pinkindle Reads & Reviews and Bookaddict Bieke.

This week's question is:

Activity! Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon… so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture.

My answer:

I have four (yes, four. Four... Tobias? Sorry, must be the coffee.) favorite reading spots: my bedroom, the terrace of our house in the province, the train, and my school's corridors. I don't have pictures of the last three, and, well, I'd take a picture of my bedroom but I'll spare you guys the view of my personal mess :)) 

Oh, wait! I have another favorite spot, and I do have a picture of it. Or something like it, anyway. *grins*

(photo from here)

What? It's better to read than sleep in class, right?

Book Review: The Water Witch - Juliet Dark

Title: The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles #2)

Author: Juliet Dark

Release Date: February 12th 2013

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

After casting out a dark spirit, Callie McFay, a professor of gothic literature, has at last restored a semblance of calm to her rambling Victorian house. But in the nearby thicket of the Honeysuckle Forest, and in the currents of the rushing Undine River, more trouble is stirring...

The enchanted town of Fairwick’s dazzling mix of mythical creatures has come under siege from the Grove: a sinister group of witches determined to banish the fey back to their ancestral land. With factions turning on one another, all are cruelly forced to take sides. Callie’s grandmother, a prominent Grove member, demands her granddaughter’s compliance, but half-witch/half-fey Callie can hardly betray her friends and colleagues at the college.

To stave off disaster, Callie enlists Duncan Laird, an alluring seductive academic who cultivates her vast magical potential, but to what end? Deeply conflicted, Callie struggles to save her beloved Fairwick, dangerously pushing her extraordinary powers to the limit—risking all, even the needs of her own passionate heart.

Since I already had nothing but praises for The Demon Lover, I didn't think this sequel could surpass that by a big margin. Well, I'm happy to say I stand corrected, because The Water Witch was everything the first book was, and so much more.

Cailleach McFay was trying to live normally after she had banished Liam, her incubus lover, but she couldn't deny that she missed him, and that she blamed herself for not being able to love him - the only requirement for Liam to become human. But being doorkeeper to the last passageway to Faerie was keeping Callie busy, what with a crazy undine who wants to kill her, and her grandmother's witchy friends set to close the door.

The Water Witch was a really great sequel. It kept the first book's winning attributes while working on the bad ones. It still teemed with magical creatures, expanding on the ones we met in The Demon Lover and introducing new ones, all of which were critical to the plot. The descriptions still flowed so smoothly and lyrically, especially as we learned more about Faerie (because Callie finally went there!) and its history. 

What made this better than the first book, though, was the fast pace. In less than three chapters, Callie already had a huge problem, and as the story progressed, her list of things to solve and face just got longer. She had to unlock her full power which her parents "warded" so her power-hungry grandmother wouldn't know about it, she had to learn how to keep the last door to Faerie open, and also deal with her conflicting feelings for Liam.

With a plot tighter than the first book's, The Water Witch was a fast read for me because I couldn't stop turning to the next page; I read 60% in one sitting! Although the foreshadowing was a bit too much because I'd guessed what I suppose was the big shocker, the ending was heartbreaking (again) and an absolutely perfect set-up for the third book, The Angel Stone!

MY FAVORITE PART was the shocking and excruciating ending.

RATING:

(cover and blurb from Goodreads.com)

Book Review: Ten Tiny Breaths - K.A. Tucker

Title: Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Release Date: February 12th 2013

Publisher: Atria Books

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Just breathe, Kacey. Ten tiny breaths. Seize them. Feel them. Love them.

Four years ago Kacey Cleary’s life imploded when her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her parents, boyfriend, and best friend. Still haunted by memories of being trapped inside, holding her boyfriend’s lifeless hand and listening to her mother take her last breath, Kacey wants to leave her past behind. Armed with two bus tickets, twenty-year-old Kacey and her fifteen-year-old sister, Livie, escape Grand Rapids, Michigan, to start over in Miami. Struggling to make ends meet, Kacey needs to figure out how to get by. But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle anything—anything but her mysterious neighbor in apartment 1D.

Trent Emerson has smoldering blue eyes, deep dimples, and he perfectly skates that irresistible line between nice guy and bad boy. Hardened by her tragic past, Kacey is determined to keep everyone at a distance, but their mutual attraction is undeniable and Trent is determined to find a way into Kacey’s guarded heart—even if it means that an explosive secret could shatter both their worlds.

When I started reading Ten Tiny Breaths, I thought I'd be getting another dark, sexy NA read. Man, oh man, was I wrong. This book has utterly surprised me and will stay with me for only God knows how long.

From page one, Kacey's badass, no-nonsense attitude ignited my curiosity and endeared her to me. She was broken inside, and although she had let that pain control her before, she grew out of it for her younger sister, Livie, and I really admired that. At first I was confused by her hate of holding hands but when the reason was finally revealed, I think I'd also avoid handshakes like the plague if I were her. Also, I normally hate passive characters who refuse to deal with their problems, but not with Kacey.

When Trent Emerson came into the story with his piercing blue eyes, I was officially addicted and couldn't stop reading. If it were up to me, I would have stayed in bed until I'd finished this but alas, life called. Anyway, the author did a brilliant job of making me believe that Trent was Kacey's perfect knight-in-shining-armor, when he actually had issues just as deep as hers.

The maddening sexual tension between these two seriously frustrated me. She wanted him, and he wanted her. I'd have locked them up in a room if I could. But after that came the romance, the kind of romance that I find absolutely well-written. Before Ten Tiny Breaths, I had DNF-ed a contemporary adult romance book because in the process of writing a believable, well-developed romance, the author slowed down the whole plot and made the book lengthier than it could've been. But not this one. In here, Tucker wrote a believable and well-developed romance that tugged on my heartstrings while progressing the other parts of the plot that were just as integral to the characters. Although I guessed the big shocker at halfway through the story, it still surprised me. Must have been my wishful thinking. 

Aside from Kacey and Trent, there were also a whole lot of secondary characters in here who were just as fully-fleshed out with real issues of their own, and the entwining of their stories has created this heartwarming story about love, hope, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

MY FAVORITE PART was the ending... *sigh*

RATING:

Just how good was it? Well, I'm already looking forward to re-reading it before the sequel comes out in June!

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)

{Blog Tour} Excerpt: Finding Out - Sheryn MacMunn

 

Thanks for dropping by my stop for the Finding Out tour! You can follow the tour here.

Title: Finding Out

Author: Sheryn MacMunn

Release Date: April 7th 2012

Publisher: Self-published

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Getting dumped on the sidewalk by her live-in boyfriend of seven years and finding he nearly emptied their savings account is the first of Sheila Davenport's problems. At thirty-six, Sheila had thought her life was on track.

Now she's saddled with a mortgage that is about to skyrocket, a psychotic boss, and she has to train someone who is unqualified and just doesn't care about the rules. Life no longer makes sense.

Her friends advise her to date immediately, preferably someone rich and successful, or risk being old and alone. But Sheila's trying to figure out what went wrong and how she got to this place. Since Prince Charming has ruined Sheila's life, who can save her now?

Help comes unexpectedly from her elderly neighbor, Ruth Grey, who has had her own share of life's ups and downs. As their friendship grows, Ruth reveals a mesmerizing story of life in WWII Germany mixed with a tale of powerful love and revenge. Ruth's story provides the perspective that Sheila needs to put the pieces of her own life together.

Will Sheila succeed at work or walk away? Can she save her home? And why do her friends think their lives are any better?

A story of love found and lost, true friendship, and how the human spirit endures, Finding Out is a gripping page-turner that pays homage to the greatest generation of our time.

About the author:
Sheryn MacMunn self-published her debut novel, Finding Out, in April 2012. It became an Amazon best-seller in two months, hitting the Contemporary Women and Contemporary Fiction list. FINDING OUT then hit best-seller status in the Single Women, Friendship, Romance, and Love & Romance categories as well. In addition to being a self-published author, Sheryn works full-time in Mobile ad sales. Sheryn attended University of Massachusetts, Lowell and received her MBA from Simmons College School of Management. She now lives in Connecticut with her family.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Excerpt!

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: The Wicked Within - Kelly Keaton

Title: The Wicked Within (Gods & Monsters #3)

Author: Kelly Keaton

Release: September 17th 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Goodreads | Amazon

Blurb to come.

Other books in the series:

Title: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1)

Release Date: February 22nd 2011

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

 Title: A Beautiful Evil (Gods & Monsters #2)

Release Date: February 21st 2012

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Myth and mayhem inhabit a richly reimagined New Orleans in this sequel to Darkness Becomes Her.After the epic graveyard battle at the end of Darkness Becomes Her, Ari and her friends know what they’re up against: Ari is facing the Medusa curse and is haunted by the image of what she will become. To make matters worse, the heinous goddess Athena has kidnapped young Violet and is threatening to destroy Ari.

Ari, along with the superhot Sebastian, is doing everything she can to learn more about Athena and to get Violet back. But the battle of good and evil is bigger than she realizes, and she’s about to be pulled into a world more horrific than she could ever imagine....

Giveaway!