Posts Tagged Review
REVIEW: STAINED By: Ella James
Posted by The Literary Melting Pot in Reviews on March 22, 2014
BLURB:
Seventeen-year-old Julia is finally living the good life. She’s traded a hard cot in a Memphis orphanage for her very own room in a perfect little house, on a perfect little street, with a perfect set of parents who picked her to be their daughter.
But Julia is hiding a secret – and one fall night, she returns home from a friend’s house to find that her secret has found her. Her ‘forever home’ is ashes. Her parents are dead. And, in the sky above the flames, a winged creature hunts her.
The Nephilim King, Samyaza, has taken everything from Cayne. After struggling in the darkness for years to piece together his shattered life, Cayne is finally ready to confront his past and avenge the loss of everything he loved. He tracks Samyaza to a Memphis warehouse, where he winds up flat on his back, in the healing hands of a beautiful, dark-haired girl he doesn’t need to know.
Unbeknownst to either of them, they are already bound. Cayne’s past holds the answers to Julia’s future. But what will pose the greatest threat to her? The bounty placed on her head by the leaders of two Celestial realms, or giving her heart to a man who is bound, by birth, to break it?
Review:
This YA novel starts off with a terrifying beginning, which immediately grabbed my attention! Exhilaration filled me as an adventure ensued!
Julia’s a gifted young woman with a compassionate soul, but she’s not a normal teenager. Compared to Cayne, though, she’s the girl next door. Cayne is an impossibly gorgeous breed of his kind, but he’s got a real bad side. Fortunately for Julia, his anger is aimed towards someone else. These two have good dialogue and the author does a great job of building the romantic tension. The action-packed fights between Samyaza and Cayne create the perfect path of heroism for Cayne, yet terrifies you at the same time.
There’s another world and a few more characters that have an important impact on the story, but I don’t want to cross the spoiler line. I’ll simply say that although the narration goes back and forth between these worlds, it is seldom, and it’s easily understood.
I honestly don’t know how I’ve missed this series, but I’m glad it was sent to me! I kept thinking of a younger version of Hellboy throughout this novel, and for the record, I love Hellboy. The sensual aura between Julia and Cayne kept the romance lover inside of me wishing for more, while the danger around them caused me to read like a speed demon! My advice: slow down or you’ll miss important innuendos. Ending with a cliffhanger, which is an ingenious way of capturing the reader, this novel was a joy to read. Since I’m now a hostage, I can’t wait to follow this cast of characters in the next installment!
– STAINED BOOKS TWO AND THREE LISTED IN AMAZON’S TOP 100 YA EBOOKS OF 2012.
-NOMINATED BEST DEBUT NOVEL AT UTOPYA CONVENTION 2012.
-NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 10 YA ROMANCE BOOKS OF 2011.
-WINNER OF THE FLAMINGNET TOP CHOICE AWARD.
-CAYNE NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 10 BEST BOOK BOYFRIENDS OF 2011.
-FEATURED ON NUMEROUS AMAZON BESTSELLER LISTS.
-FIRST IN A COMPLETED SERIES OF FOUR (INCLUDING STOLEN, CHOSEN, AND EXALTED)
About This Literary Chef:
Ella James is a Colorado author who writes teen and adult romance. She is happily married to a man who knows how to wield a red pen, and together they are raising a feisty two-year-old who will probably grow up believing everyone’s parents go to war over the placement of a comma.
Ella’s books have been listed on numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including the Movers & Shakers list and the Amazon Top 100; two were listed among Amazon’s Top 100 Young Adult Ebooks of 2012.
http://facebook.com/ellajamesauthorpage
http://www.ellajamesbooks.com/
Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: A Thousand Perfect Things
Posted by The Literary Melting Pot in Reviews on March 15, 2014
A Thousand Perfect Things
BLURB:
In this epic new work, the award-winning Kenyon, whose work has be compared to Larry Nivens and Stephen R. Donaldson, creates an alternate Earth in the 19th century. This Earth is ruled by two warring factions—scientific Anglica (England) and magical Bharata (India).
Tori Harding, a Victorian woman, whose heart aches to claim the legendary powers of the golden lotus, must leave her reasoned world behind and journey to Bharata. In pursuit of the golden lotus, Tori will be forced to brave its magics, intrigues, deadly secrets and haunted places, to claim her destiny and choose between two lovers in two irreconcilable realms.
As a great native insurrection sweeps the continent of Bharata—Tori will find the thing she most desires, beautifully flawed and more wonderfully strange than she could have ever dreamed.
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Excerpt:
Prologue
January 18, 1857
Lord Nelson’s statue perched on its granite column in the square, but to Edwina Banning it appeared that his shoulders stooped, as though he were weary of the heroic pose. It might have been a trick of the light.
Presently satisfied that the great naval hero was not drooping–and how, indeed, could a statue droop–Edwina tipped her parasol back into place and turned to watch six-year old Anna who was feeding pigeons with her father. The day darkened as a sudden high cloud tented the sky wintry gray. A horse pulling a coach shied in its traces, for a moment disrupting the decorous progression of carriages. Anna’s father pulled her close.
“Papa,” Anna said, pointing at Lord Nelson on his column, “the statue is bleeding.”
Mr. Banning held his top hat on as he craned his neck to see. “Pigeons do make rather a mess,” he said.
“But the mess is red.”
Edwina Banning turned to look, noting with alarm a red slime oozing down the column. Just as she was trying to imagine how this could be, she stared hard at one of the lions anchoring a corner of the plinth. The metal sculpture opened its mouth in a cavernous yawn. It was said that the iron lions had been cast from Scottish cannons. She had always found satisfaction in that story, and therefore it took her a moment before she entirely grasped that the animals were awake.
They stirred.
As Mr. and Mrs. Banning gaped in stunned denial, blood oozed from under Nelson’s coat and dribbled down the granite column.
Edwina’s lips parted for a scream just as one of the lions–the one facing the church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields–leapt through the air and landed on a peanut vendor, crushing him to the ground. Then the second lion found its prey: a top-hatted gentleman with a cane. The cane crashed down on the beast’s head, but as the lion was made of iron, it had no effect. The square erupted with shouts and screams. Pigeons flew up in a clatter of wings and demented cooing.
Lord Nelson sagged and fell to one knee, clutching his chest.
The rampage began. The lions rushed to the slaughter, breaking necks with mighty paws and tearing at throats. They did not linger to feed, but turned from one victim to the next, finding their quarry closely packed in the square, though trying to flee. The fastest among them got as far as the steps of the National Gallery before falling.
Mr. Banning yanked open the door of a carriage, and surprised the lady inside by throwing his daughter into her lap and shoving his wife in as far as he could. He jumped inside and slammed the door closed. As terrified horses charged away, their careening carriages in tow, people in the square threw themselves on top of the conveyances, or clung to riding boards.
From the floor of the carriage where she huddled with her mother little Anna whispered, “They’re not real lions, though.”
Edwina clutched her daughter tightly. They weren’t, they weren’t at all.
But they killed.
Review:
An excellent Sci-Fi twist in Historical Fiction fashion!
I loved this beautifully descriptive novel, and was fascinated by its story line. The author has represented two worlds in a unique fashion, and created a wonderful cast of characters! Magic, religion, science, mythical creatures, and a land of exotic wonders await you!
About This Literary Chef:
Author Kay Kenyon
Kay Kenyon is the author of eleven science fiction and fantasy novels, including A Thousand Perfect Things. She is the author of the critically acclaimed science fiction quartet, The Entire and The Rose. Bright of the Sky was among PW’s top 150 books of 2007. The series has twice been shortlisted for the ALA Reading List awards and three times for the Endeavour Award. Four of her novels have been translated into French, Spanish and Czech. Along with her novels Tropic of Creation and Maximum Ice, two of the works in the quartet received starred reviews from PW.
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Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 3/31/14
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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