Blog Tour: Gargoyle Addiction by Livia Olteano (Review)

About The Author
Livia lives in Europe where she listens to obscene amounts of music and devours every reading material in sight. When she’s not doing either of the two, she fiddles with anything remotely customizable within reach.

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Review

Title: Gargoyle Addiction
Author: Livia Olteano
Publisher: Self
Pages: 240 (Kindle)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Summonari don’t trust. Under their command, they summon any number of creatures from the Otherwolds—but never trust them outside of the summoning.

Gargoyles don’t love. Fierce descendants of dragons, they function on power and fear—never love.
Karla isn’t the happily-ever-after type of girl. No territory-hungry guy is going to stick flags all over her unclaimed grounds.

Kann’s world is death and betrayal. As Dar Primus of Haus Varis, he’s expected to follow tradition but he’s not your regular gargoyle. In fact, he’s anything but. 

One fateful Friday night, Otherworlds collide. Stuck together in one world or another, Karla and Kann face everything from Awakenings and turbulent love to Festnavals and bloodthirsty scorned suitors.

If there’s one thing they can’t escape, it’s the addiction to each other. And they’ve got it bad.

I only had to see the word 'gargoyle' to know that I wanted to read this book. I love the paranormal genre as a rule, and I read a lot of it. However, I had never come across gargoyles before - well, not outside of the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame - so naturally I was intrigued. For my first book on gargoyles, Gargoyle Addiction was amazing, and I can tell you that I am now in love with this sub-genre!

Top Ten Tuesday (#9)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish, where bloggers get together and list the top ten things related to that week's topic.

Top Ten...Top Ten Books I Would Love To See As A Movie/TV Show (set in a perfect world...in which movies don't butcher the books we love)

15 Minutes by Jill Cooper (Review, Excerpt + Giveaway)

About The Author

Jill loves to blend horror, comedy, the supernatural, and love, through her novels. A fan of genre blending, her work strives to cross boundaries, but most of all strives to entertain. She loves soft cuddly cats, warm blankets, and paranormal romances. Jill resides in Massachusetts, is constantly renovating her home that she shares with her husband, young daughter, and two skittish cats.

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

Review

Title: 15 Minutes

Author: Jill Cooper

Publisher: Self

Released: June 15th 2013

Pages: 236 (eBook)

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

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I have 15 minutes to save my mother’s life….

15 minutes is all the Rewind Agency gives you in the past, but for Lara Crane it’s enough time to race through the city, find her mother, and stop her from being killed in a mugging that happened over ten years ago.

But that’s not how it happened. The story she’s been told all her life is a lie and when Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever.

The love of her life acts like a stranger. Her simple life is replaced with a giant house, glamorous clothes and a new boyfriend. 

Except someone knows her secret. And he will try to stop her at every turn as she races against the clock to unravel a dangerous conspiracy.

Science fiction stories featuring time travel can either go really, really well, or really, really badly. With an electrifying plot, an amazing concept and likeable characters, 15 Minutes is one of the best I've read yet.

Cover Reveal (#13) + Giveaway

I'm trying not to shriek with excitement (because lets face it, no one wants me deafening them, do they?) I've followed the Tragic trilogy from the first blog tour, and it's my pleasure to reveal the cover for the last instalment, Panic.

Rook is chasing her dream—film school and a chance at a life beyond the one she left behind six months ago. But before she can become the girl she wants to be, she must deal with the girl she left behind.

Ronin is also chasing his dream—a family of his own and a life away from erotic modeling. And he too, has a past he’s trying to forget. A past that makes Rook question everything about their life together.

Lies, secrets, and shocking truths will rock the foundation Rook and Ronin have built. Can they put the past behind them and move forward together? Or is this just another too good to be true relationship that will crash and burn in the end?

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Released: February 9th 2010
Pages: 291 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history - and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

Being a fan of Carter's Gallagher Girl series, when I saw Heist Society, I knew I had to read it. Yeah, I'd seen a few negative reviews here and there - but her writing isn't for everyone. Turns out that statement can't be more true, and now it seems that her writing just isn't for me anymore.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Title: Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Released: September 25th 2012
Pages: 416 (Kindle)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

This is not a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I feel like maybe this statement is the first thing that should be on the synopsis? A lot of the low-rating reviews I have come across are from disappointed readers who expected a book-version of the video-game Alice - the only thing Alice in Zombieland has in common with these other franchises is a main character called Alice and a rabbit-shaped cloud. However, that certainly doesn't mean that this book isn't good - on the contrary, it is actually amazing. If I wasn't a fan of Showalter's before, then I definitely am now.

Follow Friday (#32)

Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read where you meet and follow different bloggers.

Question of the Week: Bookshelf Tour. Give us a tour of your bookshelf.

Okay, so for the Christmas of 2011, I decided I wanted two new bookshelves - Nerd Problems 101. 

This is the first bookcase. The top shelf holds my classics and a range of other random books (and my Captain America mini-figure, which is adorable!)


The second shelf mainly holds my series...and then a bunch of other random books (see a theme here?)

I probably shouldn't complain about lack of shelf-space considering I've dedicated this last shelf to DVDs...but where else was I supposed to put them?






Now this is my second bookcase. I probably shouldn't favour one over the other, but for some completely odd reason, this is my favourite. That may be because the top shelf is dedicated to my most favourite of reads - Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, John Green, The Perks of Being a Wallflower...you get the picture. It also holds my HP DVDs.


The second shelf is, you've guessed it, random books! It's got my HoN series on it, as well as Game of Thrones and The Maze Runner, with a bit of JLA next to my Supernatural John Winchester journal.

Now the very last shelf is my review copy shelf. All of these are my review books, aside from the ones on the left which are books I've borrowed.

And last but not least, by my bookshelf is a little pile of books I've borrowed from the library (*tries not to fangirl over the Black Dagger Brotherhood*)










So that's it for the bookshelf tour, folks! Now it's your turn. Leave a link in a comment below, and I'll come and check out all your shelves!

Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb

Title: Witchstruck
Author: Victoria Lamb
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Released: July 5th 2013
Pages: 320 (eBook)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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If she sink, she be no witch and shall be drowned.

If she float, she be a witch and must be hanged.

Meg Lytton has always known she is different--that she bears a dark and powerful gift. But in 1554 England, in service at Woodstock Palace to the banished Tudor princess Elizabeth, it has never been more dangerous to practise witchcraft. Meg knows she must guard her secret carefully from the many suspicious eyes watching over the princess and her companions. One wrong move could mean her life, and the life of Elizabeth, rightful heir to the English throne.

With witchfinder Marcus Dent determined to have Meg's hand in marriage, and Meg's own family conspiring against the English queen, there isn't a single person Meg can trust. Certainly not the enigmatic young Spanish priest Alejandro de Castillo, despite her undeniable feelings. But when all the world turns against her, Meg must open her heart to a dangerous choice.

I don't really know what I was expecting, to be honest. I like historical novels - there's something educational but equally fascinating about them - and as the Tudor period is one of my favourites to study, I thought this would be right up my street. Turns out that it wasn't what I had been expecting.

Top Ten Tuesday (#8)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish, where bloggers get together and list the top ten things related to that week's topic.

Top Ten...Contemporary Books That Would Be Great Paired With A Required Reading Book / Books That You Wish Were Taught In Schools

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Released: October 4th 2012
Pages: 360 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Incapable. Awkward. Artless. 
That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: She wants to fail. 

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen to work the looms is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to manipulate the very fabric of reality. But if controlling what people eat, where they live, and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and used her hidden talent for a moment. Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her dad’s jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because tonight, they’ll come for her.

I went into Crewel expecting to enjoy it - I came out of Crewel wondering what the heck I had just read. THIS. IS. AMAZING. I have spent the last few days reeling from this book and avoiding writing a review because what the heck am I supposed to say? In my eyes, Crewel just got better and better with each page; it is addictive, imaginative, and full to the brim with suspense.

Two-Year Blogaversary Giveaway Winners! (what a mouthful)

So after two months, the giveaway is finally over! Before I announce the winners, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who took part and to everyone who has supported this blog! If I had an infinite amount of money, I would send out books to each and every one of you because, as cliché as it sounds, none of this would be possible without you.

Anyway: the winners! Since the blog reached over 200 followers on Bloglovin' (squee!), I added another winner, hence the plural. So who are these lucky two? Entry #148 Samantha, and entry #2 Sunny! Samantha has chosen Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, and Sunny has chosen Pivot Point by Kasie West.

So once more, thank you to everyone who entered the competition, and congratulations to Samantha and Sunny! I'm already planning the next competition, so keep your eyes peeled, folks!

Book of the Month: August

I was actually quite worried this month, because for the majority of it, I hadn't rated any book five stars! Wanting to read at least one book that I knew I would enjoy, I fell back onto my safety series: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Naturally, I adored Shadow Kiss and predicted that it would be my book of the month. However, what I hadn't been banking on was Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Although I love the VA series, this book left room for no contest.

You know those books that change the reader as a person? Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is definitely one of them. Sure, I was intrigued by the synopsis, but I didn't realise how much Leonard's story would actually affect me, fictional or otherwise. There are people out there who experience feelings similar to his, and my heart really goes out to them. So if you're looking for a book that will tear your heart out, go for this. It is one of my favourite reads this year.