Spoiler-Free Review: How I Magically Messed Up My Life In 4 Freakin' Days by Megan O'Russell4/14/2018 Spoiler-Free Review: How I Magically Messed Up My Life In 4 Freakin' Days by Megan O'Russell How I Magically Messed Up My Life In 4 Freakin' Days(The Tale of Byrant Adams #1) by Megan O'Russell Date Started - 13/10/2017 Date Finished - 1/1/2018 Genre(s) - YA Fantasy, Magic Synopsis: Ever wanted to grow a five-story tall flower in central park? How about fight a deadly battle under the subway tunnels of Manhattan? Don't worry. I never wanted to either. But if you're ever being chased by ladies made of mist and you have to save the girl with the sparkly eyes you've never had the guts to say actual words to, there's an app for that. I found a magic cell phone, opened an app I shouldn't have, burned down the set shop for my high school's theatre, and it was all downhill from there. A drag queen seer who lives under a bridge is my only hope for keeping my mom alive, and I think the cops might be after me for destroying my dad's penthouse. But it gets better! Now I'm stuck being the sidekick to the guy who got me into this mess in the first place. It'll be a miracle if I survive until Monday. *Requested for review. All opinions are my own and honest* I was meant to have reviewed this for November, but things sort of piled up and I just didn't really get to properly read it until December. I just didn't have much time to read it, so that's why it took me nearly 4 months to read it. Sorry! I did read the synopsis before I requested the book, but by the time I started it I'd sort of forgotten what it was about. I knew it was a fantasy and something to do with magic, but that was about it. Starting it, I did struggle to get in to the story at first, so I did put it down for a couple of days because I was already starting to get into a reading slump and I didn't want to make it worse. I came back to after a week or so and tried it again and read further. The second time round, it pulled me in and I really got a feel for the voice of Bryant, the main character. It took me a while to understand the characters and the setting, but once I did I was able to really get into he storyline. it took a couple of chapters before the action started and the story began to start. Once Eric was introduced and this mad chase began to take place, I was hooked. From here we got to learn the magic world that is featured in this story and the rivalries. I was completely invested into this new world and I loved getting to learn new things. As the story developed, the pacing was brilliant. It matched the events perfectly and there seemed to never be a dull moment and when the action really started, I found myself on the edge of my seat. I liked most of the characters, especially Elizabeth. She wasn't just the pretty girl, she was smart and brave too. She took charge of some of the situations well and overall she seemed like a good example of a strong female character. Bryant had a bit of a crush on her to begin with and I enjoyed seeing him turn into this nervous awkward character around her. You got to see a lot of character development between the pair as they went on this adventure together. I also really loved Devon, Bryant's best mate, and his humour. I did find it a bit tedious and annoying when Devon and Bryant had some arguments over Elizabeth and her relationship status. Not going to say too much more as I don't want to spoil it, but it just annoyed me as it was like what Elizabeth thought or wanted didn't matter. This did change later and I was glad to see her making her own decisions. Eric also played a huge part in the story, especially from the middle on to the end. I loved his snarky comments towards Devon and vice versa. Their relationship or lack of was brilliant to read and I found myself laughing out loud at certain comments between the two. Eric was just quite a humorous character and I really enjoyed his part in the development of the story. Towards the end there are some action scenes that I thought were just brilliantly done by Megan. They were fast and action-packed and they broke up the bits in between well. I was sat on the edge of my seat through some of the tenser ones and I found myself rushing through the pages, desperate to know what was going to happen. The ending closed up the story well, but left it open to continue easily with the rest of the series to come in the future. I really enjoyed this first instalment and getting to know this new world and set of characters. Overall, it took me a bit to get into, but from the middle onwards I was completely hooked and sped through the story through December. I'm looking forward to seeing what Megan will bring to this series in the future and I can't wait to see what will happen to Bryant, Devon, Elizabeth and Eric next. Rate - 3.75/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32231955-how-i-magically-messed-up-my-life-in-four-freakin-days?ac=1&from_search=true BD - https://www.bookdepository.com/How-I-Magically-Messed-Up-My-Life-in-Four-Freakin-Days-Megan-ORussell/9781976416293 AMAZON - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magically-Messed-Life-Four-Freakin/dp/1976416299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517682144&sr=8-1&keywords=how+i+magically+messed+up+my+life+in+4+freakin%27+days+by+megan+O%27russell BYE!
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Book Blitz: Grown Ups’ Crusade by Audrey Greathouse (Excerpt & Giveaway) Hey! Today I'm posting as part of the book blitz for The Grown-Ups' Crusade by Audrey Greathouse. The Grown-Ups' Crusade is the third book in the YA Fantasy/Fairy Tales series, The Neverland Wars. This title was released earlier this week on the 27th March. To celebrate the release, I get to share an excerpt as well as an international giveaway. Carry on reading! The Grown Ups’ Crusade by Audrey Greathouse (The Neverland Wars #3) Published by: Clean Teen Publishing Publication date: March 27th 2018 Genres: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Young Adult Synopsis: Gwen has returned to Neverland with Peter Pan and the lost children, but this time, the adults are following close behind.The Anomalous Activity Department has plans to finally conquer Neverland by bringing the final battle to the vulnerable island. The children will have to rally fairies, mermaids, and allies from other magical realms to stand a chance against the shadow-casting army of grown-ups heading for them. The black-coat soldiers are far from their only problem. Lasiandra is missing. No one has seen her since Gwen left her at the lakeside with Jay, and the mermaids searching have found only grave omens in the stars. With the island on the cusp of a war that threatens to strip the land of its magic, the last thing Peter and Gwen need is the ancient flagship that appears on their horizon, sailing pirates straight for their shores. When the battle begins amid old and new enemies, Gwen’s maturity will be a double-edged sword. She will either grow stronger or grow up… maybe both. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36104250-the-grown-ups-crusade?ac=1&from_search=true Purchase: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Grown-Crusade-Neverland-Wars-Book-ebook/dp/B078SZLVYV B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-grown-ups-crusade-audrey-greathouse/1126998003?ean=9781634222822#/ iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-grown-ups-crusade/id1273748373?mt=11 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-grown-ups-crusade Audrey Greathouse is a lost child in a perpetual quest for her own post-adolescent Neverland. Originally from Seattle, she earned her English B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University's online program while backpacking around the west coast and pretending to be a student at Stanford. A pianist, circus artist, fire-eater, street mime, swing dancer, and novelist, Audrey wears many hats wherever she is. She has grand hopes for the future which include publishing more books and owning a crockpot. You can find her at audreygreathouse.com Author links: https://audreygreathouse.com/ https://twitter.com/missaudreyjoy https://www.facebook.com/audrey.greathouse https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6545831.Audrey_Greathouse Excerpt:Excerpt 1: A Mermaid Goes Missing Gwen gathered fruit as fast as she could in the dim of the early morning. Mangos and marionberries, peaches and papayas, star fruit and oranges… she shoved the land fruit into her bag, never breaking pace as she trekked weast across the island. She needed to get to the coast and back before any fairies awoke. The entire fairy population had indulged in joyful revelries the night before, celebrating some amorphous holiday unknown to humans. The dawn would find even the most temperate fairies still lolling in drunken dreams and merry slumber. But dawn had not yet arrived and not everyone slept; stars still speckled the bluing sky and certain inhabitants of Neverland were still speaking with them. Tromping over vines and fungi, Gwen bushwhacked her way through the forest-jungle on anxious feet. The mermaids had not been helpful as of late. The new mermaids she’d met wouldn’t even give her their names. Eglantine and Cynara had been snide at best, and contemptuous at worst. Gwen wouldn’t have minded it—she didn’t care what mermaids thought of her—but she felt certain they knew what had happened to Lasiandra and refused to explain. This drowsy morning offered her a chance to tempt them with an overabundance of land fruit without anyone noticing. She would persuade the mermaids to cede their starry secrets and hurry back before any stray fairy or curious child found her at the incriminating lagoon. Gwen reached the wood’s end and hurried down the steps carved into the chalky cliff face. She moved so fast she half-flew toward the slender figures half-submerged in the lagoon. Gwen had not seen Lasiandra since the night she escaped with Jay from Lake Agana. In the chaos, she had never retrieved the scale from Lasiandra, and thus lost her ability to call her friend. She hadn’t worried about it—until days and weeks passed without sight of her at the lagoon. “What business have you with Lasiandra?” Eglantine had demanded last time Gwen visited. “What matter is she to you?” “I’m just worried about her,” Gwen had answered, innocent and truthful. The region’s entire Anomalous Activity Department had been on duty that night, trying to apprehend lost children and capture whatever magic followed them. Lasiandra’s disappearance was ominous, to say the least. A few fairies had not returned from the mission, and there was no question of what fate had befallen them. In response, the mermaids had only mocked her, contorting their melodic voices into cackling imitations of her land-dwelling accent, “I’m just worried about her.” “Worried about her! Concerned about a mermaid?” Cynara had declared, insulted and amused. “We are not of such a feeble nature as you landmaids. Mermaids have more strength in a single scale than you have in all of your heart. You need not worry for a mermaid, girl. We can take care of ourselves.” Gwen had wanted to believe her. GIVEAWAY - ENDS APRIL 5TH Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)
BYE! Blog Tour - Reviews: Moribund (#1) and Ouroboros (#2) by Genevieve Iseult Edredge Hey! Today is my day to post as part of the blog tour for Ouroboros by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge. Ouroboros is the second book in the Circuit Fae series, a kickass YA Fantasy series. As part of the blog tour, I was able to read both Moribund, the first book in the series, and Ouroboros and today I get to review them for you. As well as the reviews, I'll also be sharing a pretty awesome giveaway that has been kindly set up by the author. Well I have a lot to tell you about, so let's go! Moribund (Circuit Fae #1) by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge Synopsis: High school sophomore Syl Skye is an ordinary girl. At least, she’s trying to be. School photographer and all-around geek, she introverts hard and keeps her crush on sexy-hot glam-Goth star Euphoria on the down-low. But when a freak accident Awakens her slumbering power, Syl is forced to accept a destiny she never wanted—as the last sleeper-princess of the fair Fae. Suddenly hunted by the dark Fae, Syl’s pretty sure things can’t get any worse. Until she discovers her secret crush, Euphoria, is really a dark Circuit Fae able to harness the killing magic in technology. Even worse, she’s been sent to destroy Syl. With mean girls and magic and dark Fae trying to kill her, it’ll take more than just “clap if you believe in fairies” to save Syl’s bacon—not to mention, her heart. Review: I'll only talk briefly about Moribund, because most of what I would say is the same for Ouroboros, so I'll leave it till then. Moribund is where the series starts and oh does it start well. In Moribund, Syl is introduced to this whole new world, which she thought was made up and only in the stories her Grandma used to tell her. She was in a big train accident and was one of the very few who survived. It's the year after and she's back at school and she has no idea what will be happening in just a couple of days. The book starts off well and I was sucked into the story pretty quickly. From this point onwards, the book just built in intensity and I whizzed straight through it, barely able to put it down at times. There were some many tense bits and twists and turns. I thought I was doing pretty well at guessing where the story would go, but I was wrong at so many points as instead a big twist would come and completely switch the direction of the story. I loved this as you never knew who you could trust or what they would do next. The action scenes were my favourite bits and they were just so addictive! Once I was reading one of those scenes, I couldn't put the book down until I knew it'd calmed down. The description and the writing in these bits kept the tension building, but also made the scenes so vivid. I could really get a feel for what was going on but also for what the characters were going through. Overall, I really loved Moribund and ended up jumping straight into Ouroboros because I was desperate to know what would happen next. Rate - 4.25/5 Ouroboros by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge (Circuit Fae #2) Published by: Monster House Books Publication date: March 27th 2018 Genres: LGBTQ+, Urban Fantasy, Young AdultSynopsis: Syl’s a princess of the fair Fae. Her girlfriend Rouen is a princess of the dark Fae. Mortal enemies. Girlfriends. Relationship status: It's Complicated All introverted geek girl Syl Skye wants is to get close to her girlfriend. But when you can kill with a simple touch, a normal date night’s not really in the cards. As it happens, Syl is also a sleeper-princess of the fair Fae. Last year after a freak accident, her power Awakened, granting her white flame to purify the darkness. Rouen Rivoche is that darkness—a dark Fae princess whose power to bewitch mortals is as terrifying as the violet lightning she controls. Rouen is Syl’s total opposite. Her mortal enemy. She’s also Syl’s beloved girlfriend. And even though they joined forces to defeat the evil Circuit Fae who harnessed the killing magic in technology to take over the school…that was so last year. Now, Syl’s touch could mean Rouen’s death. Her increasing power is spiraling out of control, threatening to burn down everything she and Rouen have built together. Their lives, their love, their very world.. REVIEW I kept my Moribund review short specifically so I could spend more time talking about Ouroboros, because in fairness, the tour is focused on it and I just have a lot to say. One of the main focuses of the series, among all the different Fae and the fighting and action scenes, is the relationship between Syl and Rouen/Euphoria. Both characters are gay and they sort of have a relationship going, it would be more of one if they didn't have to keep saving the world of Fae every few minutes. I was so glad to see this representation in the series and I loved seeing how this translated into working together and having to put other stuff before their relationship. It showed how tough they were together. In this relationship there was also the aspect that their two worlds don't get along, they hate each other and both worlds would be against their relationship, but they continue to fight. They fight for what they want and it was so empowering that they put themselves first before these rules and what other people would think. This story is told in two perspectives, Syl's and then Rouen's/Euphoria's. I loved this dual-POV and the switch in the order of the chapters as when they were apart it showed what the other one was doing but even when they were together, it showed the different ways in which they think and act. It added another dimension to the story and allowed me to understand both characters a lot more than it would've done in a single POV. Moribund introduced the world, but Ouroboros extended and developed it so much more. As the reader you're able to better understand the relationship between the Fae, their two worlds, but you are also introduced to new sorts of people/magical species (?). I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but for example in Ouroboros, we learn about a Puca and what they area and how they ended up like that. I found it really interesting to learn about and how that that fitted with the storyline. All of the main characters were so well developed that I even like Fiann and if you know what she's like then that's pretty unexpected. I loved the high school dynamic, but also the greater evil and good fight between Syl, Rouen and Fiann that most of the school knew nothing about. I enjoyed how both main characters were strong women, but they were more importantly strong, lesbian/gay women. They both stood up for themselves and I loved how strong Syl stood against Aldebaran when he was treating her like an object and his possession. She was having none of it and showed why that wasn't right and I think that whole idea was dealt with well. One of my favourite characters has to be Syl's mum. I wasn't that impressed with her at first in Moribund, but as this series develops, she's showing how kickass she can be and it shows where Syl got her tough side from. Overall, I also enjoyed Ouroboros. I only had one minor issue and that was that the dialogue did get a bit repetitive at times and it felt like the same ideas were being mentioned just a bit too often. I am looking forward to seeing where the story will go next. I'd definitely recommend this series if you're looking for a fantasy with strong female characters because trust me, Syl and Rouen definitely bring that. RATE - 4/5 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35268030-ouroboros?ac=1&from_search=true Purchase: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ouroboros-Circuit-Fae-Book-2-ebook/dp/B072FTDHJ1 B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ouroboros-genevieve-iseult-eldredge/1126484885?ean=9781945723179 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/ouroboros-6 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Genevieve_Iseult_Eldredge_Ouroboros?id=tqslDwAAQBAJ iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ouroboros/id1242504644?mt=11 AUTHOR BIO: Raised by witches and dragons in the northern wilds, GIE writes angsty urban fantasy YA romance--where girls who are mortal enemies kick butt, take names, and fall in love against all odds. She enjoys long hikes in the woods (where better to find the fair folk?), believing in fairies (in fact, she's clapping right now), dancing with dark elves (always wear your best shoes), being a self-rescuing princess (hello, black belt!), and writing diverse books about teenage girls finding love, romance, and their own inner power. She might be planning high tea at the Fae Court right now. GIE is multi-published, and in her role as an editor has helped hundreds of authors make their dream of being published a reality. Author links: Website: https://www.girlyengine.com/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16340733.Genevieve_Iseult_Eldredge Blog: https://www.girlyengine.com/blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GirlyEngine/ Twitter: @girlyengine Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/girlyengine/ Join GIE's newsletter at Monster House Books and never miss a release: http://monsterhousebooks.com/contact Giveaway: Tour-wide giveaway
A big thank you to Xpresso Tours and Genevieve for having me on this blog tour! BYE! |
AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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