Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Allure by Lea Nolan

Today, we're celebrating the cover reveal of Allure, the sequel to Lea Nolan's Conjure, coming October 1^st from Entangled Teen!

Eek, oh my god, I absolutely love this cover!  It should come as no surprise that I’m a total sucker for gorgeous covers, and Allure by Lea Nolan is in no shortage of gorgeousness. 

Synopsis

Worst. Summer. Ever.

Emma Guthrie races to learn the hoodoo magic needed to break The Beaumont Curse before her marked boyfriend Cooper's sixteenth birthday. But deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry, dark, mysterious forces encroach, conspiring to separate Emma and Cooper forever. When Cooper starts to change, turning cold and indifferent, Emma discovers that both his heart and body are marked for possession by competing but equally powerful adversaries.

Desperate to save him, Emma and her twin brother, Jack, risk their lives to uncover the source of the black magic that has allured Cooper and holds him in its grip. Face with the horror of a soul-eating boohag, Emma and Jack must fight to resist its fiendish power to free Cooper long enough to join their strengths and face it together, before it destroys them all.

Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | Goodreads | Facebook

Praise for Conjure

"Richly filled with exquisite imagery, a compelling story, and a strong, smart heroine, Conjure will keep you up way past your bedtime." ~ Trinity Faegen, author of The Mephisto Covenant series

"A true adventure, complete with pirates, romance, a flesh-eating curse, and ancient magic. I couldn't put it down!" ~ Inara Scott, author of The Talents (Delcroix Academy) series

"Ifthere is one book teens and adults should have on their must read list, Conjure is it! Fans of young love and adventure will hurry to the end of each chapter, in anticipation of what will happen next. Unfolding at an easy pace, this tale is magical and spellbinding. Nolan is one to watch!" ~ RT Book Reviews, 4 ½ Stars Top Pick

"Conjure is a sweet, adventure-packed romp for young teen readers... There are pirates, lost treasure, curses, and ancient curses, chases, narrow escapes, and secret letters galore." ~ New York Journal of Books

"This is an unexpected read: exciting, dangerous, adventurous - everything we want from a good book. Yet Nolan puts that creative twist on all the elements, making Conjure something special. Conjure is recommended, 4 out of 5 stars." ~ Teen Librarian's Toolbox

About the Author

Lea Nolan couldn’t read until the third grade. After a lot of hard work she finally got the hang of it and quickly learned the best way to get out of doing chores was to tell her parents she was reading. Soon she was hooked, devouring books by Roald Dahl, E.B. White, Judy Blume, C.S. Lewis, and anything with a shiny Newberry Award sticker on the cover. Books provided a portal to enchanted lands where anything was possible and characters relied on their wits to wiggle out of sticky situations. Today, even though she’s all grown up, Lea writes the kinds of stories she sought as a teen--smart paranormals with bright heroines, crazy-hot heroes, diabolical plot twists, plus a dose of magic, a draft of romance, and a sprinkle of history. She holds degrees in history and women’s studies concentrating in public policy and spent fifteen years as a health policy analyst and researcher. She lives in Maryland with her heroically supportive husband and three clever children, who’ve figured out how to get out of doing their chores.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway

Enter the giveaway below to win one of the first five electronic ARCs of Allure from Entangled Teen!

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Blog Blitz: Sweet Legacy by Tera Lynn Childs Mini Excerpt & Giveaway

     Hi everybody, welcome to the Blog Blitz for Sweet Legacy by Tera Lynn Childs! Before we get to the good stuff, I want to say a huge thank you to Tera Lynn Childs for allowing me to be one of the Blog Blitz hosts. So yeah, thank you! And now for why you’re here, below you’ll find information on Sweet Legacy, buy links, author links, a mini excerpt, and finally a massive giveaway. Excited yet? I know I am. Scroll down for more…

 

Blurb

Greer has always known she was privileged, though she had no idea how special her second sight made her, even among her triplet monster-fighting sisters. But when a god starts playing with her mind, can Greer step up in her pretty high heels to prevent anything from stopping her sisters’ mission?

Grace loves her adopted brother, Thane, but now that he’s back and has joined her sisters’ team, it’s clear his past is full of dark mysteries. She wants to trust him, but will Thane’s secret put the girls in even more danger?

Gretchen knows she can rely on her sisters to help her stop the monsters. But after getting to know some of the beasties in the abyss, she finds her role as a huntress comes with more responsibility than she ever imagined. How can she know what her birthright demands of her now?

The girls cannot hesitate as they seek the location of the lost door between the realms, even as monsters and gods descend on San Francisco in battle-ready droves. In this exciting conclusion to the Sweet Venom trilogy, these teenage heirs of Medusa must seek the truth, answer the ancient riddles, and claim their immortal legacy

Buy Links 

Indiebound (hardcover) Amazon (hardcover | kindle) Apple (ibookstore)

Barnes & Noble (hardcover | nook) Books-a-Million (hardcover) Book Depository (hardcover)

Links for Tera Lynn Childs

website twitter  facebook Sweet Legacy 

 

Mini Excerpt

“I saw it.“ My voice is barely a whisper. I don’t want Grace to overhear, but I need to say it out loud to Thane.
Even if he already knows.
I can’t stop the tears stinging at eyes. “I saw you save her. Back in the apartment, when you said you wanted to come with us. I saw precisely what just happened. I knew you were going to save Grace.“ I blink away the moisture. “I didn’t know you were going to save me.“
“I know.“
That is the craziest part. He does know.
“But how?“ I ask.
I have no idea how or why I see what I see. The entire process is a mystery that feels more like chance than skill. I know I inherited Medusa’s power of second sight, while Gretchen got Sthenno’s super strength and Grace got Euryale’s autoporting ability. I know that I have visions of things and those visions are coming true. I have no control over it, not yet. And I have no idea how Thane fits into the picture.
“How?” I repeat.
“Greer, I—“ His gray eyes shadow over. “It’s complicated.”
“I have an IQ of 154. Try me.”
He takes a deep breath and looks me in the eye. “I … don’t know how to.”

 

     Ok, and now for the giveaway which is US/Canada only. Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win one of the awesome prizes from Tera Lynn Childs! 



 

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ARC Review: Relic by Renee Collins

Title: Relic
Author: Renee Collins
Publisher/Publication Date:  Entangled Teen, August 27, 2013
Format/Source: E-ARC, Publisher
Age Range: YA

AMAZON     BARNES & NOBLE     GOODREADS





Summary from Goodreads

After a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is on her own to protect her younger sister and survive best she can in the Colorado town of Burning Mesa. In Maggie’s world, the bones of long-extinct magical creatures such as dragons and sirens are mined and traded for their residual magical elements, and harnessing these relics’ powers allows the user to wield fire, turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries. Read More

My Thoughts

After reading the summary of Relic by Renee Collins, I was really excited to read the book. I was intrigued by the Old West setting, so I eagerly took the plunge but was disappointed to find that the story wasn’t as I’d imagined. The history pertaining to the power of  relics was interesting, but when considering that this book was categorized as a young adult novel, I just couldn’t get over some of the content. In the beginning it seemed like Maggie was evolving into a strong heroine. After she was faced with the tragedy of losing her parents, it seemed that Maggie had started to overcome adversity as she found a job as a hostess at a saloon and cared for her sister. Okay, so here’s the problem, Maggie was only 16, and she worked in a saloon that employed dancers who also worked as prostitutes. The behavior of her boss, Connelly, can be described as nothing less than repugnant. He had a crass attitude and treated the young female employees like property and a paycheck. I personally found Connelly’s behavior so distasteful that I did not finish this book.

 

I received an e-arc of Relic by Renee Collins from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, thank you.

Entangled Teen Launch Party & Giveaway!

Welcome to the Entangled Teen ember, a division of Entangled Teen August 26th launch party! Today, we're celebrating the release of DARKER DAYS  by Jus Accardo CHAOS by Christine O’Neil!

DARKER DAYS by Jus Accardo

 



 

Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...

When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

Seven deadly ones, in fact.

They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...

There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

Amazon/Barnes & Noble/ Kobo/iBooks/Goodreads

Jus Accardo: Website/Twitter/Facebook

CHAOS by Christine O’Neil

My name is Maggie Raynard. After sixteen years being just plain me, suddenly I can kill people when I lose my temper. Turns out I'm a semi-god, descended from Aphrodite. Sounds cool in theory, but when I accidentally put my ex-boyfriend in a coma, things go downhill pretty fast.

Now some new guy named Mac Finnegan has made it his mission in life to continually piss me off. I'm stuck learning how to use my new powers while also dealing with regular high school problems, and with this---annoying and super-hot---guy all up in my business, I'm about to flip out.

But it gets worse. I just learned there's this council for semis that wants me dead. They think I'm bad to the bone and when my ex suddenly dies, it's like everyone is determined to take me out. Mac might turn out to be my only salvation, but he's got secrets of his own---that may just kill us both.

Amazon/Barnes & Noble/Kobo/iBooks/Goodreads

Christine O’Neil: Website/Twitter/ Goodreads

To celebrate, Entangled is giving away a Nook Simple Touch US Only and 2 copies of each book International! Check out the Rafflecopter below to enter.

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Movie, Book, or Both: Pacific Rim

    So there's an occasional thing we like to do on Our Thoughts Precisely.  We'll go see a movie and then read the book after to see if there are any differnces, if it's more detailed, and whatnot.  All to see if we like the Movie, the Book, or Both.  This time around after reviewing Pacific Rim (the movie), and you can find the review HERE, I decided to give the novel version a try.  Read on to see what I thought about it.

Title:Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization (Click title for Synopsis)

From Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Story by: Travis Beacham
 Screenplay by Travis Beacham & Guillermo Del Toro
Novelization by Alex Irvine

Source/ Format: Purchased, Mass market paperback

Publisher/ Publication Date: Titan Books, July 16, 2013

My thoughts:

 

     So you know, some time ago I reviewed Pacific Rim, well in recent times I read the novel adaption for it.  I liked the movie and it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that I enjoyed the novelization as well.  I feel like it goes into all the details that you miss when seeing the movie—there were more explanations to certain situations, and I have to say that I liked the answers I got.  Everything from how the first neural handshake between two pilots happened, to more about the characters themselves, as well as the effects that Drifting and piloting a Jaeger had on a person.  Such as the Drift Hangover, I found the theories about it fascinating that there was more to the Drift than what they originally thought.  Not only that, but we learned more about the Kaiju, and just what Newt’s drift with the piece of the brain had really done.  This book was fantastic, and I saw Pacific Rim from a whole new angle.  Oh, and don’t even get me started on the characters.  It’s one thing to watch the movie and see the characters as they experiencing these events.  But it’s another to actually be in their head and seeing all of the stuff left unsaid.  So in this case, I have to say that I enjoyed both the movie and the book about equally.  If you saw Pacific Rim and loved it, I definitely recommend reading the official novelization.

 

 

Favorite lines

“He’s a kaiju groupie,” Gottlieb said.  “He loves them.”—pg. 65
“Unscientific aside,” he said.  “Herman, if you’re listening to this, I’m either alive and proving what I’ve just done, in which case ha! I won!”—pg. 125
“Today, we are canceling the apocalypse.”—pg. 287