Review: Doctor Who: Royal Blood by Una McCormack

Title:Doctor Who: Royal Blood
Author: Una McCormack
Source/Format: Blogging for Books, Paperback Review Copy
More Details: Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Broadway Books, September 8, 2015 

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

“The Grail is a story, a myth! It didn’t exist on your world! It can’t exist here!”

The city-state of Varuz is failing. Duke Aurelian is the last of his line, his capital is crumbling, and the armies of his enemy, Duke Conrad, are poised beyond the mountains to invade. Aurelian is preparing to gamble everything on one last battle. So when a holy man, the Doctor, comes to Varuz from beyond the mountains, Aurelian asks for his blessing in the war.

But all is not what it seems in Varuz. The city-guard have lasers for swords, and the halls are lit by electric candlelight. Aurelian’s beloved wife, Guena, and his most trusted knight, Bernhardt, seem to be plotting to overthrow their Duke, and Clara finds herself drawn into their intrigue...

Will the Doctor stop Aurelian from going to war? Will Clara’s involvement in the plot against the Duke be discovered? Why is Conrad’s ambassador so nervous? And who are the ancient and weary knights who arrive in Varuz claiming to be on a quest for the Holy Grail…?

You know, there is something about the Doctor Who books that keeps me coming back for more. I love the show too so getting Royal Blood was an easy decision. I read this book in a few hours—it was kind of short—but pretty much perfect for what I was looking for. The book opens with the Doctor and Clara landing in a new place, but from the start there was something very odd about the isolated city of Varuz. With its laser swords and electricity, its first appearance is that of a great city but on closer inspection it seemed like the place was crumbling away—it made for an excellent setting. The plot was pretty straight forward as the Doctor and Clara got wrapped up in the conflicts that surrounded Varuz. And in the typical fashion of Doctor Who, they tried to help solve some of the problems to the best of their abilities. The ending was a little sad, but overall, I really enjoyed this book.

This copy of the book was provided by Blogging for Books for this review, thank you! 

Una McCormack is a New York Times bestselling author. She has written two Doctor Who novels featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory: The King’s Dragon and The Way through the Woods, as well as several audio dramas for Big Finish. She lives in Cambridge with her partner, Matthew, and their daughter, Verity

Release Week Blitz & Giveaway: The Pirate Code by Heidi Schulz

I'm so excited that THE PIRATE CODE by Heidi Schulz releases today and that I get to share the news along with an awesome giveaway! If you haven’t yet heard about this series by Heidi Schulz, be sure to check out all the details below. And don't forget to check out the giveaway at the bottom for the post, and enter for a chance to win copies of both HOOK’S REVENGE books! US Only.

Title: THE PIRATE CODE: HOOK'S REVENGE Book 2

Author: Heidi Schulz

Pub. Date: September 15, 2015

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

Fresh off a fearsome encounter with the Neverland crocodile, Jocelyn Hook decides the most practical plan is to hunt down her father's famous fortune. After all, she'll need the gold to fund her adventuring in the future. (And luckily, Hook left her the map.)

But the map proves to be a bit harder to crack than Jocelyn had hoped, and she's convinced that the horrible Peter Pan might be the only one with the answers. Of course, he doesn't really feel like helping her, so Jocelyn takes the only reasonable course of action left to her: she kidnaps his mother. Evie, though, is absolutely thrilled to be taken prisoner, so Jocelyn's daring ploy doesn't have quite the effect she'd planned for.

Along with the problem of her all-too-willing captive, Jocelyn must also contend with Captain Krueger, whose general policy is that no deed is too dastardly when it comes to stealing Hook's treasure. And with the ever-shifting Whens of the Neverland working against her as well, Jocelyn, Evie, Roger, and the rest of the Hook's Revenge crew have their work cut out for them.

In this rambunctious showdown between characters new and old, Jocelyn puts her own brand of pirating to the test in a quest to save her future and those she loves...

About Heidi...

Heidi Schulz is a writer, reader, and giraffe suspicioner. She lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband, co-captaining a crew made of their teen daughter, a terrible little dog, and five irascible chickens. Her debut novel for middle grade readers, HOOK’S REVENGE, published by Disney•Hyperion, was a Bank Street Best book, among the New York Public Library’s Top 100 Titles for Children in 2014, and an OCTE Oregon Spirit Honor Book. A sequel, HOOK’S REVENGE: THE PIRATE CODE, will follow in September 2015. Bloomsbury Kids will publish her picture book debut, GIRAFFES RUIN EVERYTHING, in Spring 2016.

Connect with the author:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | TUMBLR | INSTAGRAM

And now time for the giveaway. One winner will receive both HOOKS’S REVENGE Books. This contest is US Only and ends on September 25th at Midnight EST!

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Sale Alert & Giveaway: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Oh yes, it's that time again. The ebook for Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne is going to be on sale for $0.99 starting on September 10th to the 13th. So if you haven't read it yet, now would be the time to get it.

Check out the sale here

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Growing up on Forge’s streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that’s not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs. But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he’s persistent—and darkly attractive—and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull. Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease. When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival—and vengeance—might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.

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And don't forget to check out the second book in the series, Daughter of Dusk!

Synopsis from Goodreads...

After learning the truth about her bloodlines, Kyra can’t help but feel like a monster. Though she’s formed a tentative alliance with the Palace, Kyra must keep her identity a secret or risk being hunted like the rest of her Demon Rider kin. Tristam and the imprisoned assassin James are among the few who know about her heritage, but when Tristam reveals a heartbreaking secret of his own, Kyra’s not sure she can trust him. And with James’s fate in the hands of the palace, Kyra fears that he will give her away to save himself. As tensions rise within Forge's Council, and vicious Demon Rider attacks continue in surrounding villages, Kyra knows she must do something to save her city. But she walks a dangerous line between opposing armies: will she be able to use her link to the Demon Riders for good, or will her Makvani blood prove to be deadly?

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Livia Blackburne wrote her first novel while researching the neuroscience of reading at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then, she’s switched to full time writing, which also involves getting into people’s heads but without the help of a three tesla MRI scanner. Her novel MIDNIGHT THIEF debuted with Disney-Hyperion in July 2014, and its sequel DAUGHTER OF DUSK came out in August 2015. 

Website     Twitter     Goodreads

And now, time for the giveaway. Enter for a chance to win a prize pack from Livia Blackburn including an audiobook copy of Midnight Thief, a annotated paperback copy of Poison Dance, a early manuscript of Daughter of Dusk (with editorial marks), and book swag. This giveaway is International.

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Summer Lovin' Book Tag

Today I'm participating in the Summer Lovin' Book Tag since I'm kind of sad that summer is over. It kind of seems like the time flew by way too quickly, but that's besides the point. As always, check out the original tag video HERE over on Richard Denney's Youtube Channel.

Start of summer: Pick a book with an attention grabbing first sentence?

I’m going to pick Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. With this series I actually started with the second book, read the last one, all before I went back to start the trilogy from the beginning. “The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised.” It was the perfect opening for the novel.

Too hot to go Out: Pick a book for a day in?

I would pick any book from the Double Vision series (Double Vision, Code Name 711, The Alias Men) by F.T. Bradley. 

Summer Road trip: Pick a book you’d take with you on the road?

If I was going to take a book with me I would probably choose Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It’s been a very long time since I read it so it would be kind of nice to finally reread it. 

Iced Tea Goodness: Pick a book with a cold setting?

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep (There was lots of snow in this book.)

Nasty Sunburn: A book you really disliked (so far) this year?

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. You can read my thoughts on the novel HERE, but there were factors that I didn't like and I found it difficult to get into the story.

Sizzling Read: Recommend one of your favorite books?

I really can't decide between Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham and Love Fortunes and Other disasters by Kimberly Karalius. I recommend both of them because they were great books.

And that's it. Don't forget to check out Richard Denney's Youtube Channel, and if you want to do this tag, go for it, because I tag you. Happy reading!

Review: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Title:The Madman's Daughter
Author: Megan Shepherd
Source/Format: Won, Paperback
More Details: Young Adult, Historical, Horror,  
Publisher/Publication Date: Balzer + Bray, January 29, 2013

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true. Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect...

The synopsis says “Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau,” and I definitely got what I was looking for with The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd. The overall feel was pretty creepy given the themes that heavily influenced the story and the setting—there were always those lingering details that hinted at underlying mysteries—not everything was as it seemed.

The beginning started out by introducing Juliet Moreau, showing the situation she was left in after a scandal involving her father ruined her family. And when I say ruined, I really mean that the incident absolutely decimated their reputation. And London was a society based on reputation. It wasn’t a kind place to Juliet—proven by her living situation and current employment. But the interesting portions of the novel definitely happened after she departed from London for the tropical island in search of her father.

Juliet was a pretty good protagonist—minus her indecisiveness about her two main love interests. Juliet’s father was also a main focus of the story, and the broken bonds between the two were well developed. It was easy to see that Juliet was clinging to the vision she had of him as a child—she tried really hard to see the good in him—and for a second there I almost bought it. Throughout the novel things began to happen which slowly picked apart the first appearances shown by most of the characters. Everyone had their secrets. There was bitterness, but it was expected and justified.

The Madman’s Daughter was a long book, but I liked its length and the details put into developing the story and the setting. The horror aspect is another detail worth noting because it was done well, and by the time I got to the end I still had a lot of unanswered questions about the fate of the characters. Needless to say, I am curious to know how the trilogy ends. (Actual rating 4.5)