Author: Ambrosia

Book Review: Burned by P.C & Kristin Cast

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

When friends stop trusting each other, Darkness is there to fan the flames….

Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampyre High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left…

Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home but also threatens to explode her whole world.

In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite: ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you could call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether she wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance.

Three girls… playing with fire… if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned.

Once again I jumped into the world of the House of Night and it’s unique set of tattooed vampires. Burned picks up right where we left everyone from the last book, Stevie Rae is recovering from her burns from being on top of the roof and Zoey’s soul has shattered with the death of her human consort Heath. Because it has been a little while for me since I read the last book in the series it did take me a little bit to feel comfortable with everyone again, but because of the nice smooth building writing style of the book it did not take long.

I can not say how much I enjoy this series of books, for every twist that a story takes where I know the answer there is another one in which I don’t. We get to meet another collection of characters in Burned when Stark takes the empty body of Zoey to The Isle of Women, an island said to be off Scotland with a Warrior Queen at it’s head. We are than also introduced to an ancient religion power within this world of two bulls The Black Bull of good and The White Bull of evil. Think that is backwards? Yeah I did to until I read the reasoning given and then it all made perfect sense.

Aphrodite is her usual smart ass self, and yet even while doing that she does good and she is growing on me as a character. There is goodness in her and it is nice to see her maturing into the person that her warrior Darius seems to think she can be. There are still plenty of fun pop culture references that keep the book fresh (love me some True Blood references!) and over all it really is just an enjoyable fast paced read. Of course the ending is a cliff hanger and Kalona the bad guy is still out there along with Neferet, but it is a series after all. I highly recommend this one!

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Blast: Fields of Elysium by A.B. Whelan

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Fields of Elysium by A.B. Whelan

How can love mend a heart full of hate?

Small town girl, Molly Bennett, moves to Los Angeles where she becomes an outsider while attending Beverly Hills High School. It seems life cannot be any more dreadful. Then one day after school, something magical happens. On a secluded hike in the Hollywood Hills, Molly chases her disobedient mutt and only friend into a hidden cavern. She stumbles upon a strange glimmering gateway that transports her to Arkana, a planet that is the cradle of an advanced human race. There, teenagers navigate amazing flying vehicles, compete in perilous games for glory, and possess supernatural powers. While Molly tries to wrap her mind around this unbelievable discovery, she meets the alluring and mysterious Victor Sorren. He is a Sentinel Apprentice, whose hatred toward people from Earth is beyond understanding. Yet every time Victor unpredictably saves Molly’s life, his heart draws closer to hers, no matter how much he tries to fight against it. It further complicates things that their growing friendship is strictly forbidden. Earth people are prohibited in Arkana, yet Molly continues to cross through the portal to Arkana to see Victor. Torn between their double lives, they go down a dangerous path, from where there is no return and multiple endings.

Fields of Elysium is a suspenseful, romantic tale full of forbidden secrets, unimaginable danger, deception, and the never-ending fight for true love.

PRAISE

“The novel’s take on otherworldly travel is a compelling one, and the romantic plot will likely appeal to Twilight fans.” – Kirkus Reviews

“I expected a good love story with a paranormal twist. I got so much more. I think you should take the chance and read it. Let this book take you on the adventure, fall in love.” – Young Adult and Teen Readers

“Fields of Elysium is a fabulous read. … Whelan paints her faith into the fabric of her story with deft, light brushstrokes, making her work accessible to all, no matter their spiritual beliefs or background.” – Readers Favorite

“I escaped into this fantasy world, author, A.B.Whelan, created and I didn’t want Molly to go. From detailed descriptions, to sweet romance, and to all the twist and turns in the story, it had me captivated from page one.” – Mary Ting, author of the Crossroads Saga

“Whelan’s writing is very vivid and descriptive. It’s more formal than the average YA novel, but I enjoyed the lyrical and mesmerizing quality to it. I thought the overall story read like a fairy tale–very sweet.” – Megan Thomason, author of Daynight

Author A.B. Whelan

A.B.Whelan is a Hungarian born, American writer. She currently lives with her husband and two children in Southern California.
While growing up in a wealthy Eastern European family, she had a chance to travel Europe. Later as an adult, she visited Africa and the Middle East and lived in Ecuador and in Crete.

Tour Schedule

$50 Book Blast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash plus a gift bag of one signed copy of Fields of Elysium, a scrabble-tile pendant with a butterfly image on a chain necklace, and a fridge magnet.

Ends 3/11/13

Gift Bag open to US only.  If winner is international they will receive only the gift card or paypal cash.
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 http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WWW Wens 2/26/13

- Ambrosia 4 Comments

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What are you reading next?

I finished reading Burned from the House of Night series and I will have a review of it up soon so you can see my thoughts on it. To keep it short I will say I really enjoyed it and it was great to get back into reading about those kids. The next on in the series is Awakened and I plan on reading that sometime soon (I hope).

I have just started to read Buyer Beware, I did not notice at first when I got it from Net Gallery that it was the second book in the series but I will go back and read the first later hopefully I will get enough to know what is going on I find with mysteries it usually works out okay.

Up after Buyer Beware will be Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen. I LOVED Water for Elephants so I hope I like this one as well. It has horses in it which for me is always a big plus.

Posted in WWW

Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back by Sariah Wilson

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Everyone knows how all those fairy tales go. The princess gets beautiful, nabs her prince, falls instantly in love, lives happily ever after and leaves her evil stepsisters in the dust.

But what happens when you’re the ugly stepsister and your obnoxiously perfect—read pretty, smart, and, worst of all, sickeningly nice—stepsister is dating the charming, tall, devastatingly handsome guy you’ve had a thing for since you were nine years old?

Quirky, artistic and snarky Mattie Lowe does not lead a charmed life. Her mother is constantly belittling her on Skype. Mercedes, the school mean girl, has made it her personal mission to torment Mattie. But worst of all? Her stepsister Ella is the most beautiful, popular girl in school and is dating Mattie’s secret longtime crush, Jake Kingston.

Tired of being left out and done with waiting for her own stupid fairy godmother to show up, Mattie decides to change her life. She’ll start by running for senior class president against wildly popular Jake.

Ella can keep her Prince Annoying. Mattie’s going to rule the school.

And no one, not even a cute and suddenly flirty Jake, is going to stop her.

The Ugly Step sister strikes back by Sariah Wilson takes us into the world of two teenagers Ella and Mattie. Ella is of course cast as the Cinderella stepsister by Mattie and the book opens with Mattie listing her grievances against the pretty, kind, sweet (etc) Ella. We also meet Prince Charming, or is he Prince not so charming when Mattie tells us about the love her young life Jake.

My first thought when I started reading Sariah Wilson’s book was “wow this Mattie is a bit of a whinny mean girl.”. I think that is what your supposed to feel until you get to know Mattie a bit better the Ugly Step Sister Strikes back is indeed a journey for the reader for for Mattie and Ella. A journey that I found myself really invested in for both girls.

Both Ella and Mattie find out things not only about each other but about themselves. They find out that while they both made some sore misjudgments about one another they also wanted a relationship. I personally really enjoyed the journey that they took and by the end of the book I really loved both Mattie and Ella. Not to mention I love the take on the mean girl spirit of the book and well I don’t want to ruin the story but you have to enjoy the outcome of everything concerned.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 2/26/13

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“No one has experienced it’s like since the mighty vampyre Cleopatra casted a protective circle around her beloved Alexandria.”
“No one enters the Isle of Women without the permission of Sgiach, ” Darius said. pg.88 Burned (House of Night)

Book Blast: Phantom Summer by Amy Sparling

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

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Phantom Summer by Amy Sparling

Seventeen-year-old Taylor Gray moves to Sterling Island to get over her dead boyfriend. Mom’s cool with letting her crash on the couch, but Taylor needs to get a job before the lights are cut off again.

When the tall, dark and crazy Raine Tsunami offers her a position at his thriving ghost tour business, she figures it’s an easy way to make some cash. Taylor isn’t afraid of ghosts–that crap is as fake as her mom’s boob job. She loves their adventures on the historic island, especially the secret places he shows her when the crowds go home. So what if all the ghost stories are just legends?

When Taylor comes face to face with a ghost and Raine crosses the line between friend and boyfriend–Taylor’s new life collides with her haunted past. If murdered people end up as ghosts, then that someone she was trying to forget is probably trying to find her.

Praise
“I was wonderfully surprised by Phantom Summer!!! I couldn’t put it down. Loved everything about it.”
~Amazon Reviewer Angelmusic

“The emotions are so well written… I would definitely recommend reading this.”
~Goodreads Reviewer Lauren

Author Amy Sparling

Amy Sparling is a Texas native with a passion for young adult literature. In her free time she participates in an unhealthy amount of Xbox playing, attends nerd conventions and reads books with her daughter. She’s studying to become a high school teacher and lives near the beach with her daughter and two cats. Amy Sparling is a pen name.

$50 Book Blast Giveaway

Ends 3/10/13

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 http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Musing Monday 2/25/13

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Musing Monday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.

 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I am going to highlight a book I am reading again this week because well I can! I am reading Burned by P.C and Kristin Cast, a House of Night Novel.

I am only 10 pages in but I am really enjoying it so far. It has been well over a year since I read my last House of Night Novel, but I have been able to fall in comfortably again with the characters. I needed to refresh myself a little on the situation with Kalona but I am perfectly happy after I did. This may be a Young Adult series but it is really gripping and can hold an Adults attention well I feel.

I suppose the fact that I have had this book for well over a year brings up another habit of mine. When I a series and end up liking it I feel like I have to have the whole series before I can read the next ones. However once I have all of the books I tend to read them slowly. I like to savor them slowly and okay I admit it I worry I will run out of the author does not publish more in the series and then I don’t get to spend more time with the characters. That said I think there are 2 or maybe even 3 books from the House of Night series I do not yet have that come after the one I am reading now. Whoopsy I am slacking!

Book Review: The Icecutter’s Daughter by Tracie Peterson

- Ambrosia Leave a comment


Release Date: March 1st 2013
Merrill Krause longs for a family of her own, but she’s bound by a promise to her dying mother to care for her father and older brothers until they no longer need her. She enjoys being part of the family business, harvesting ice during the brutal Minnesota winters. Merrill actively takes part, possessing a keen ability to work with the horses–despite the advice of her good friend, who disapproves of her unladylike behavior.

This book had me at Minnesota. I am homesick for the state that I was born and raised in so I was more than happy to settle into a book that had familiar surroundings for me, even if they were in the end of the 1800’s. While those who know me know that I am not a huge Christian Fiction reader I do enjoy some stories and authors and Tracie Peterson is one of them, she really did draw me into The Icecutter’s daughter from the get go.

Merrill Krause is the only daughter in a family where her Mother passed and she is tasked with taking care of her Father and Brothers. She is more comfortable out in the barn with the horses then doing her hair or picking out fabric for dresses. In short for me Merrill is a Lady who is just like me in many senses so of course I like her right off. I in fact like the whole of the Krause family and everything about them a good strong German Minnesotan family.

Rurik is a tall Swede from Kansas who comes to Minnesota to help his Uncle due to failing health. He is also a loveable character, honorable, strong and a gentleman. It is no surprise when he sets his eyes to Merrill and she to him. I won’t ruin the story by giving away many of the trials that the pair must face, but there are many and they are well written. Everything in this book flows along nicely and lends itself to be a fast and heart warming read.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities.

But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art.

The Birth of Venus is a tour de force, the first historical novel from one of Britain’s most innovative writers of literary suspense. It brings alive the history of Florence at its most dramatic period, telling a compulsively absorbing story of love, art, religion, and power through the passionate voice of Alessandra, a heroine with the same vibrancy of spirit as her beloved city.

I really tried to like this book, I wanted to like this book as it has been on my to read pile for a long time but it was one I thought sounded really good. Sadly I just could not get into this one and while I read the whole thing it really was not one I probably should have finished.

The core things that I look for in a good historical fiction were there. The history was solid and I liked the time period as well as the location. You can not get much better then a story in Florence during the Renaissance after all. I love hearing about all the art of the time, after all some of the finest art came out of that time. However there was just something about this one that I could not get myself to like. I suspect it was the general writing style as it just did not connect well with me. There is also the fact that after the initial introduction (which I enjoyed) most of the book becomes rather predictable.

While I can look past mistakes in form and technical aspect of things if the story grips me because this one didn’t I tended to find the mistakes in this one easier and it bothered me. I know others have enjoyed the book and I would love for them to perhaps tell me the key to what I am missing here although perhaps I am not missing anything at all, I just did not care for it much. If you like predictable plot, and a lot of art talk this may be a read for you, otherwise I wouldn’t read it.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Spin the Plate by Donna Anastasi

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Synopsis of Spin the Plate: Jo is a survivor of a bleak and abusive childhood who roams the city streets at night as a powerful vigilante. Francis is a mysterious man she meets on the subway train. In this story, the average-guy hero battles to win the battered heart of the wary, edgy, less-than-perfect heroine. “A fast-paced, edgy, darkly comic tale of resilience, romance, and redemption that breaks over you in waves.” – Holly Robinson, author

Spin the plate is not a book that is for the faint of heart. The content is of course emotional and gripping with the past the Jo has. However for every bit of darker emotional edge you also see a spirit that is a fighter one that despite everything she has been through wants to battle back and find sense of normalcy again. In Jo you find a character that you can really admire. She has been through so much and yet she is a fighter both in the thought of the word and literally with her vigilante justice she serves out.

The book is well written and a really good read. I like a book that gets me emotionally involved and this one does it. While I connected more with Jo I think Francis is also a good character and very relate able for readers which always makes for a great read. I would recommend this one for anyone who likes a story that not only has a romantic angle, because it does have that. Francis is a great guy trying to win the heart of his battered lady. But a story about fighter who take abuse that she has suffered and comes back in a very kick ass way. The writing is solid and the plot takes a nice progressive curve with the pacing. So as long as your not scared of a little bit of the dark side with some dark comedy wrapped around it, give Spin the plate a try, I promise you will not regret it.

My Gemstone Rating:

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