Blog Tour: Review of The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

Hi everyone! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Caged Queen, the second book in Kristin Ciccarelli's Iskari series. If you haven't started this series yet, I highly recommend it - it's got dragons, magic, sisters, fighting - all the things I love in one book! On to my review.

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The Caged Queen (Iskari #2) by Kristin Ciccarelli

Publisher: Gollancz

Released: 27th September 2018

My Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Find it on Goodreads

Once there were two sisters born with a bond so strong that it forged them together forever. When they were angry, mirrors shattered, and when they were happy, flowers bloomed. It was a magic they cherished - until the day a terrible accident took Essie's life and trapped her soul in this world.

Dax - the heir to Firgaard's throne - was responsible for the accident. Roa swore to hate him forever. But eight years later he returned, begging for her help. He was determined to dethrone his cruel father, under whose oppressive reign Roa's people had suffered. Roa made him a deal: she'd give him the army he needed if he made her queen.

Together with Dax and his sister, Asha, Roa and her people waged war and deposed a tyrant. But now Asha is on the run, hiding from the price on her head. And Roa is an outlander queen, far from home and married to her enemy. Worst of all: Dax's promises go unfulfilled. Roa's people continue to suffer.

Then a chance to right every wrong arises - an opportunity for Roa to rid herself of this enemy king and rescue her beloved sister. During the Relinquishing, when the spirits of the dead are said to return, Roa can reclaim her sister for good.

All she has to do is kill the king. (from Goodreads)

I have to admit, upon finding out The Caged Queen was a companion novel, rather than a sequel, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as book one - I really loved the characters from the first book, especially Asha. However, I was proven wrong because The Caged Queen is every bit as good as The Last Namsara, and a fantastic continuation of the series.

Roa was the highlight of this book for me. She had married Dax because they had made a deal, and in her eyes, he had not fulfilled his end of the bargain. He was flouncing around flirting with every woman he laid his eyes on, but he was doing nothing to help Roa's people. She was worried that he'd end up even worse than his father and, desperate as she was to bring her sister back to life, she face a lot of difficult ethical questions on what action she should take. I loved seeing Dax from Roa's point of view, how she blamed him for what happened to Essie, how she had no faith in his ability to lead, and the way he changed in her eyes as she learnt more about him and what was going on around her. Above all however, I loved Roa's relationship with her sister Essie. They had been incredibly close when Essie was still alive - and death had done nothing to sever that bond between them. It was so nice to see such a fleshed out sibling relationship, and I think the ending was all the more poignant because of the work that had gone into building the closeness between the characters.

Dax grew on me, just as I suppose was intended. I started off disliking him as much as Roa did, though I knew from book one he wasn't really all that bad. It was his flippant attitude that put me off - but as we learnt more about him, we started to understand why he chose to act that way. He still wasn't my favourite by the end, but I definitely came to respect him more, and again, I really liked his relationship with his sister too. Asha and Torwin did make brief appearances in this book and it was really nice to see them again! 

Plot-wise, this was a slower paced read than The Last Namsara - it was by no means boring, but there was less action, less suspense in every chapter. That being said there was a more subtle tension running throughout the book - what would Roa do? What would be the outcome of her decision? There were so many characters with ulterior motives - it always seems that the humans are more dangerous than the dragons in this world!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was a great addition to the series. I shall eagerly await the next book Kristin Ciccarelli writes!

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Kristen Ciccarelli hails from Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula where she grew up on her grandfather’s grape farm. She made her living as a baker, a bookseller, and a potter, but now writes books about bloodthirsty dragons, girls wielding really cool weapons, and the transformative power of stories.

Website: https://www.kristenciccarelli.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SheLuresDragons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristenciccarelli/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKristenCiccarelli/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15428577.Kristen_Ciccarelli

Many thanks to Stevie and Gollancz for letting me take part in this blog tour! Make sure to visit the next stops at A Daydreamer's Thoughts, A Dream of Books and The Book Hour tomorrow.

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Blog Tour: Everything Under The Sun by Jessica Redmerski + Giveaway!

Hello everyone and welcome to the BLOG TOUR for

Everything Under The Sun by Jessica Redmerski!

Today I will be sharing with you all about the book and author. There will also be a fun except and giveaway. Hope YOU enjoy this post!

Title: EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN

Author: Jessica Redmerski

Pub. Date: August 28, 2017

Publisher: Jessica Redmerski

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 656

Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when her town is attacked by raiders, she and her blind sister are taken away to the East-Central Territory where she is destined to live the cruel and unjust kind of life her late mother warned her about.

Atticus Hunt is a troubled soldier in Lexington City who has spent the past seven years trying to conform to the vicious nature of men in a post-apocalyptic society. He knows that in order to survive, he must abandon his morals and his conscience and become like those he is surrounded by. But when he meets Thais, morals and conscience win out over conformity, and he risks his rank and his life to help her. They escape the city and set out together on a long and perilous journey to find safety in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Struggling to survive in a world without electricity, food, shelter, and clean water, Atticus and Thais shed their fear of growing too close, and they fall hopelessly in love. But can love survive in such dark times, or is it fated to die with them?

Purchase at: Amazon | TBD

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN – JESSICA REDMERSKI

– COPYRIGHT 2017

EXCERPT #3: “AND YOU ASK WHY?”

“Why are you so angry, Atticus?” My voice was soft and concerned now.

He blinked, but offered no response.

“I’ve seen men fight before,” I went on, “but I’ve never seen a man as angry at the world as you are. The way you beat that man in your room”—I shook my head with despondency—“the one just now; Atticus, you’re just so full of rage and hate. Why?”

He snorted, as if he’d found my question ridiculous.

“Why?” he mocked incredulously, holding out his hands, palms up. “I’ll tell you why, Thais: at every turn someone wants to rob or maim or kill us; we can’t sleep, night or day, without the thought in our heads as we close our fucking eyes that we might not wake up.” He gestured his arms wildly, his features constricted with indignation. “We’re covering our shit up like animals, sleeping in ditches, watching over our shoulder every second of every day for the chaos to grab us by the ankles and pull us down with it—and you ask why?”

I sat against my quilt, unable to stand to hear this truth. And as if his movements depended on mine, Atticus fell into a crouch in front of me, bouncing on the toes of his boots. I never looked away from the pull of his gaze, trapped by the intensity of it.

“I haven’t slept since you arrived in Lexington City,” he went on. “When I saw you that day, clutching your sister as she was ripped away from you; when you lay on the sidewalk, begging me to help you—it did two things to me, Thais”—he held up two fingers, and then dropped them between his legs—“it fucking killed me; the things I had to do, the part I had to play in not only your fate, but the fate of every girl in those ropes—it fucking killed me! It killed what little was left of my humanity!” His voice had risen with his heated words, his memories, but then he paused to calm himself, lowering his head but for a moment.

I remained motionless, speechless, but my heart began to ache and fill up at the same time. I listened raptly to every word, my heart breaking as he spoke them.

“It killed me,” he repeated. “But then something reached into Hell, grabbed me by the throat and pulled me back. I died that day in the street, Thais Fenwick; I died and then there I was, looking down at you with the eyes of the man I used to be, and I wanted to help you. I still fought with myself after that, but I wasn’t going to let you die or be raped or forced to marry a man you didn’t love—I didn’t know what to do, but I was going to do something, goddammit.”

I sighed. I wanted to hold him, but all I could do was sigh.

J.A. (Jessica) Redmerski is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, international bestseller, and award winner, who juggles several different genres. She began self-publishing in 2012, and later with the success of THE EDGE OF NEVER, signed on with Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance. Her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. Her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, has been optioned for television and film by actor and model William Levy.

Website | Twitter | Amazon Author Page 

Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

5 winners will receive signed paperbacks of EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN with bookmarks and post cards (United States and Canada only).

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Blog Tour: Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison!

Welcome everyone to the blog tour for:

Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison!

Today you can learn all about the book in the book spotlight below. 

Enjoy!

Of Sea and Stone 
by Kate Avery Ellison 
Genre: YA Fantasy 
Release Date: February 2014 

Aemi lives in a village carved from stones and surrounded by sea. She wins spear-throwing competitions in disguise and earns slaps from her spoiled mistress by talking back. She hates being a slave. She survives by remembering her mother's tales of home, a paradise called Perilous.

Aemi intends to find it.

But then, black ships rise from the sea in the night. Aemi is captured and taken to Itlantis, an underwater world of cities and gardens encased in glass, dazzling technology. and a centuries-long war.

She is determined to escape, even if it means conspiring with fellow prisoner Nol, who fills her with equal parts anger and desire. Even if it means impersonating her mistress. Even if it means fleeing into the territory of the Dron, the bloodthirsty barbarians of the deep.

But when Aemi witnesses firsthand an attack by the Dron, she realizes not all is as it seems below the sea.

And Perilous might be closer than she thinks.

Purchase at: Amazon / Nook / KoBo / Google Play

I'm the author of the Frost Chronicles, an Amazon bestselling series and source material for the adventure app game Frost by Delight Games, as well as numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. I love putting a dash of mystery in everything I write, an ode to a childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes. I can’t resist adding a good twist in the story wherever I can.

I wish I could live in a place where it’s always October, but until that’s possible, I make my home in humid Atlanta with my husband, children, and two spoiled cats.

Author Links:

    

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Blog Tour: Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison!

Welcome everyone to the blog tour for:

Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison!

Today you can learn all about the book in the book spotlight below. 

Enjoy!

Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison
Genre: YA Fantasy 
Release Date: February 2014 

Aemi lives in a village carved from stones and surrounded by sea. She wins spear-throwing competitions in disguise and earns slaps from her spoiled mistress by talking back. She hates being a slave. She survives by remembering her mother's tales of home, a paradise called Perilous.

Aemi intends to find it.

But then, black ships rise from the sea in the night. Aemi is captured and taken to Itlantis, an underwater world of cities and gardens encased in glass, dazzling technology. and a centuries-long war.

She is determined to escape, even if it means conspiring with fellow prisoner Nol, who fills her with equal parts anger and desire. Even if it means impersonating her mistress. Even if it means fleeing into the territory of the Dron, the bloodthirsty barbarians of the deep.

But when Aemi witnesses firsthand an attack by the Dron, she realizes not all is as it seems below the sea.

And Perilous might be closer than she thinks.

About Kate Avery Ellison

 I'm the author of the Frost Chronicles, an Amazon bestselling series and source material for the adventure app game Frost by Delight Games, as well as numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. I love putting a dash of mystery in everything I write, an ode to a childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes. I can’t resist adding a good twist in the story wherever I can.

I wish I could live in a place where it’s always October, but until that’s possible, I make my home in humid Atlanta with my husband, children, and two spoiled cats.

Author Links:

    

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Blog Tour: BERSERKER by Emmy Laybourne | Top Ten List + Giveaway!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the blog tour for 

BERSERKER by Emmy Laybourne! 

Today you can learn all about this fabulous new novel, find out what authors Emmy Laybourne would love to be able to work with and enter to win a giveaway for a copy of the book!

Enjoy!

Berserker by Emmy Laybourne 
Series: Berserker (Book 1) 
Hardcover: 352 pages 
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (October 10, 2017) Language: English 
ISBN-10: 1250055202 
ISBN-13: 978-1250055200

Are Hanne's powers a gift from the old Norse gods, or a curse?

Her brother Stieg swears their powers are a gift from the old gods, but Hanne Hemstad knows she is truly cursed. It's not Stieg's fault that their father is dead, their mother has left, and their brother Knut has been accused of a crime he didn't commit.

No, the fault lies with Hanne and her inability to control her murderous "gift"--she is a Berserker. When someone she loves is threatened, she flies into a killing state. The siblings must leave Norway for the American frontier or risk being brought to justice.

Aided by a young cowboy who agrees to be their guide, Hanne and her siblings use their powers to survive the perilous trail, where blizzards, wild animals, and vicious bounty hunters await.

Will they be able to reach their uncle, the one man Hanne believes may be able to teach her how to control her drive to kill? With Berserker, Emmy Laybourne, the author of Monument 14, presents her vision of an American west studded with Viking glory.

You can purchase Berserker at the following Retailers:

        

Praise for BERSERKER

"Emmy Labourne deftly melds Viking lore with the American West and creates something wholly new, a journey filled with heart-pounding suspense and surprising tenderness. Loved!"―Danielle Paige New York Times-bestselling author the Dorothy Must Die series

"Berserker combines the magic of Norse mythology with the thrill of the American West with staggering results. Startlingly original, unputdownable, and electrifying." ―Kass Morgan, author of New York Times bestseller The 100

"A completely winning, romantic, and heart-wrenching historical fantasy. Your pulse will race from page one of this rich, rugged adventure of a book."―Alyson Noel, New York Times-bestselling author of The Immortals series

"Berserker embraces the beautiful brutality of both Viking lore and Frontier tales, and it does so without resorting to tired tropes or toxic masculinity. This is a brilliantly unexpected fusion of cowboys and old gods―intense and gritty and yet surprisingly tender―but the real strength of Emmy Laybourne's writing is that, for all their superhuman abilities, her characters are so very human."―William Ritter, author of the New York Times-bestselling Jackaby series

Praise for EMMY LAYBOURNE

“Simultaneously terrifying, hilarious, and action-packed, Sweet is a wild ride that holds up a warped mirror to our society. I loved it from the first line to the last.” ―Marie Lu, author of Legend and The Young Elites on Sweet

“Frighteningly real . . . Riveting.” ―The New York Times Book Review on Monument 14

“A tense, claustrophobic, and fast-paced thriller.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review of Monument 14

“Pretty darn breathless.” ―Booklist on Sky on Fire

Top Ten authors I’d like to work with by Emmy Laybourne

1. David Levinthan.  I love his premises.  They're so clever and inventive and yet you never feel for a minute like you're reading a high concept book. They never feel gimmicky in the slightest bit. His books are always so deep and moving. I’m a huge fan.

2. Jason Reynolds. I’m blown away by the heart in his books and the language! Reynolds writes and you hear the characters talking and (this is important)  you love them. I read Ghost in one sitting, in my car, in the parking lot of the bookstore. That’s how good this guy is.

3. I'd love to work with Kristin Cashore.  Heck, I would just like to have lunch with Kristin Cashore.  I would even just like to be on line for the bathroom with Kristin Cashore! Her world building, her characters, her sense of drama -- she is the master. I admire the Graceling series endlessly.

4. Joe Abercrombie.  Man, oh man, have you read Joe Abercrombie?  He writes adult fantasy set in a Viking inspired world. Wow, this guy can write a battle scene.  I read ALL his books this summer. He’s got 5 or 6 and they’re each 400+ pages long.

5. Robin McKinley.  Oh, I would just like to sit at her feet and massage her ankles and maybe I would learn something from writing just by massaging her ankles.  Wait. That's really weird.  If she reads this she's going to be really uncomfortable.  Okay, forget the ankle thing. Maybe I could be her assistant. I feel like I could soak up a lot of wisdom from her.

6. Margaret Atwood.  Margaret Atwood is to me just one of the most brilliant writers of all times -- and that she’s writing now? It’s so exciting.  Atwood sees our world so keenly and can convey the complexity of what she perceives.  Her word-smithing is electrifying.  Each sentence in her books feels like poetry but not kind of froufrou overwritten poetry that makes you feel like you've been put at an arm's distance -- the kind of poetry that makes you remember you are alive.  

7. Stephen King.  Oh my God.  Stephen King.  The maestro.  I feel like if you were collaborating with Stephen King it would be like being a passenger in a car with the brake lines cut.  You would just careen along smashing down signposts and taking corners on two wheels.  That would be a hell of a joyride.  

8. Who else?  Elmore Leonard.  Oh my God.  It would so cool to work with Elmore Leonard.  I'm not worthy at all but man he knows so much about character and his writing is so lean and delicious.

9. A combo -- I met Dave Barry and Ridly Pearson on a panel at Yallwest a few years ago and we really hit it off.  I would like to collaborate with those guys.  I think we could have a lot of fun together.  They were really outrageously funny but also very kind, respectful and professional at the same time.  

10. Marie Lu.  Marie Lu.  The thing you have to know about Marie Lu is that she is absolutely the nicest person working in Young Adult literature bar none.  She is kind and thoughtful, funny, gracious, generous, and don’t even get me started on her talent, which appears to be limitless! She has terrific ideas and executes them flawlessly. We’d have quite a bit of fun, me and Marie.

Emmy Laybourne is a novelist, screenwriter and former character actress. She is the author of the upcoming release BERSERKER ("You will love Emmy Laybourne's vision of an American west studded with Viking glory." - Hypable.com), as well as the MONUMENT 14 trilogy ("Frighteningly real… riveting" - NYT Book Review, Editor’s Choice) and the novel SWEET (“A gripping action-adventure survival story” – VOYA, rated Perfect Ten). 

Before her life as a novelist, Emmy performed original comedy on Comedy Central, MTV and VH1; and acted in the movies "Superstar," "The In-Laws" and "Nancy Drew," among others. Emmy lives outside New York City with her husband, two kids and a flock of 9 nifty chickens.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

- 4 Winners will receive a Copy of BERSERKER by Emmy Laybourne.

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