Review: Faded

Title: Faded (The Faded Trilogy #1)
Author: Chloe Miles
Publisher: self-published
Released: 24th August 2012
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Savannah's life gets turned around when she and three friends die in a car accident and find out that they're going to get another shot at life in exchange for helping a group of four teenage spirits.  Savannah and her friends are the new Chosen Ones, and they're going to work with the spirits against the Forces, another group of spirits - but these ones are rogue and determined to wreak havoc.  They're also looking for a new recruit: their eyes are on Savannah and they'll stop at nothing to get what they want.

What promised to be an engaging read unfortunately turned out to be something of a letdown.  What first struck me was that the narration was overly basic, making the story sound simplistic and general rather than honing in on the detail.  In fact it reminded me of the way fairytales are written or told for little children.  It didn't feel like I was watching a story unfold in front of me.  I didn't get to see things or find them out for myself; rather I was told everything, making it all seem flat.

Neither did I bond with the characters.  I didn't see any character depth, nothing that made me feel much towards them.  All the characters (except the Forces, of course) were nice.  They all have really good hearts, which is fine, but - there was no complexity.  I find that people generally comprise of several layers, but these characters were made up of one or two at most.  In addition to that, Miles seemed to want all of these characters to get along.  So for instance, Abigail, Savannah's best friend, doesn't like Madison, but they soon become fast friends.  Heidi, Miss Mean But Popular Cheerleader, realises the error of her ways after Madison helped her - for the second time - out of a dangerous situation.  It was too feel-good, too cheesy.  Plus there was the huge issue of Savannah, Madison, Abigail and Jackson accepting their situation so quickly.  The Forces themselves were not particularly impressive for an apparently evil group of spirits.

Likewise the romance wasn't realistic.  Faded is guilty of the dreaded insta-love and as soon as that happened, my tolerance for this book dropped even lower.  Sure, Hunter and Savannah are nice people/spirits, but I didn't really see why they loved each other.  What was it that made them special to each other?  I did, however, appreciate the easy conversation between them and the humour they provided.  Their's was a light, easygoing romance.  There was one stumble, but that was soon overcome and it continued on as before.

This book does warrant some credit.  The ideas behind it are good and it's a light read, ideal if you're looking for something like that.   But...it was too simplistic.  There was no development, no substance, no realism.  I desperately wanted to engage with the characters and the events, and found that I just couldn't.  Unfortunately this was one of those books that left me extremely unsatisfied.

Book Blitz: Excerpt, Special Offer & Giveaway: Snow White Sorrow

Hey guys!  Instead of my usual WoW post, I have something a little different for you this week.  Make sure you read the bottom of the post so you don't miss out on an incredible deal!

Title: Snow White Sorrow (The Grimm Diaries #1)
Author: Cameron Jace
Publisher: Akmal Eldin Farouk Ali Shebl
Released: February 2013

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?

Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that talks to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.

Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.

When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.

The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.

What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.

Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.

Excerpt from Snow White Blood Red

Dear Wilhelm Carl Grimm,
    She is not that giddy, naïve, and helpless princess she pretends to be. Please don’t let her fool you with her innocence if you see her sing to the birds in the forest. Resist her charm from bringing joyful tears to your eyes, and shield yourself from her devious beauty before she deceives you into wanting to kiss her awake. It'll  be a kiss of death. Your death. That’s how she fooled the Huntsman, Prince Charming, and me, her birth mother.
    I still remember the original script of the fairy tale, the one you wrote in 1812. It clearly stated that she was my own flesh and blood daughter. I don’t have the slightest idea why you altered it fifty years later.
    What was the point of turning me into an evil, narcissistic, and heartless stepmother, blinded by jealousy and envy of the young princess?
    For years, I have been looking forward to telling you the truth about her, but you were impossible to reach.
    I am glad I found your brother, Jacob. He told me that you wanted to tone the stories down so children could sleep better at night, instead of having nightmares about the Queen who sought to eat her daughter’s heart and liver.
    Shame on you, Wilhelm.
    You, of all authors, knew why I wanted to kill her. My actions were justified. I was trying to save my kingdom from her wrath, before everything we loved was destined to an end. The same way you had to rewrite the true fairytales after cursing us, so the War of Sorrows would end forever after.
    Night after night, and year after year, parents fed their children false bedtime stories, until your lies grew into inescapable memories. Your happily ever after lies, Wilhelm, shaped the so called fairy tale world.
    I wondered why you didn’t burn the original scripts, instead of rewriting them. You must have figured out that sooner or later someone would dig up the truth and expose you. Altering it was the smarter solution. You let children believe that the bites were resurrecting kisses, and that torturing glass coffins were made for sleeping beauties, waiting for a prince to come and kiss them awake.
    A wise man once said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was someone else. You did the same with us, Wilhelm. You turned us into pastiches of the immortals that we really are, and made it harder for us if wanted to persuade the world otherwise.
    I know that you did it to save us from her. And I appreciate how you concealed our real names, or we would have ended up like Rumpelstiltskin, tortured by those who knew of his real name.
    But sometimes, I can’t help but wonder why no one ever questioned why I was called the Evil Queen, and why I was never given a real name in the books.
    Was I so superficial to the world, so stereotypical and mundane? Why was I treated as if I were the monster of the week?
    You know what I think? I think that the world never got the time to hate me. It just wanted to hate me long before it met me.
    If I tell those who detest me about the true nature of their little princess, would they ever care about me half as much as they care about her?
    I know that deep inside, they adore me. They like the way I talk, walk, dress, and even the way I kill.
    They are just afraid to admit how much they love me. I am the Snow White Queen, strong enough that I don’t need anyone’s pity or love, because I am loved by the greatest and most majestic heart in the world:
    Mine.

Special Offer: until December 13th the prequal pack (all 6 prequels) are only 0.99c!  Click here.
Special Note: All "Likers" of Cameron's Facebook page will be notified of the exact release date, which is also when you will be able to get Snow White Sorrow for only 0.99 for only that 1 day.

Giveaway!

The winner will receive a prequel pack in Kindle format - you do not have to have a Kindle to be able to read it, you just need to have one of these free apps.  This giveaway is open internationally.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PROMO: Frost Fire: Excerpt

 

Title: Frost Fire (Tortured Elements #1)
Author: Olivia Rivers
Publisher: Self-published
Released: 20th November 2012
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

“Magic is just like love, Allai. It won’t wait for permission before it destroys you.”

Like sand in an hourglass, Allai’s future is dwindling away. She’s spent her entire life fighting the Mages who threaten humanity, and dreams of someday eradicating magic. But all it takes is an anonymous phone call for the truth to spill out: Allai is the one thing she despises most.

She’s a Mage.

Though ancient law mandates Allai’s death, she still has one last chance of survival. His name is Drake Rhaize, and he swears he can lead Allai to a sanctuary for Mages. Allai hasn’t seen Drake in years, but she remembers him as the Demon boy who used to hold her close and softly whisper that he’d keep her safe. But Drake has changed since then: He’s now suspected of murder, and has been out-casted for betraying his own kind.

While Allai doesn’t trust Drake, she has no choice but to put her life in his hands and hope he can get her to safety. Because Allai’s father has hired a pack of Demons to bring her back to him, dead or alive–and Demons never stop the hunt.

Excerpt

Seeing him was like reliving a perfect daydream and her worst nightmare at the same time. She didn’t know how to react. She didn’t know how to even think.

She knew Drake was the guy who’d tried to take her life. But somehow she couldn’t feel the right kind of fear toward him. She didn’t have that gut-wrenching, instinctual terror she’d felt toward Silas. Her fear for Drake was way more confusing, but she was slowly starting to decipher it:

She was afraid of learning the truth. Of finding out whether all those memories of him—of his comforting golden eyes and soft words—were real or not.

The thought threw off her footsteps, and she nearly missed the next step of the staircase. She slammed her foot down to regain balance. Her bad foot, of course. Because wasn’t that just her luck?

Pain ricocheted through her ankle, almost tearing a scream from her. But she held it back, biting her lip and only letting out a tiny whimper. Luke was going to have to look at her ankle and make sure it was only sprained, and not broken.

As if on cue, he appeared at the top of the stairs, his arms crossed and his expression turned down in a scowl. Allai read his expression and swallowed hard to keep her pounding heart in place. How could he have found out about Drake so quickly?

Allai gripped the banister, her nails digging into the smooth varnish. She had to tell him. She had to just blurt everything out and pretend she’d had no intention of keeping Drake’s predicament a secret.

“Allai,” Luke said quietly.

She hobbled up a few more steps and didn’t reply. She just focused on the plush carpet covering the steps, trying to dig her good foot into it to keep from slipping. All she had to do was open her mouth and say some simple words: Drake Rhaize is out by the border. Go catch him. It should have been easy.

But it wasn’t. 

Blog Tour: Review: Any Other Night

Title: Any Other Night
Author: Anne Pfeffer
Publisher: Bold Print Press
Released: 19th May 2012
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Leaving his best friend Michael alone at the birthday party of his crush Emily to go and talk to her, Ryan has no idea what's about to happen.  When he gets home he finds out that Michael never made it that far - instead he died in a car accident.  Ryan is haunted with guilt, made worse by the fact that Michael wanted to tell him something just before he walked away.  The secret is more shocking than he could have imagined and Ryan determines to do the right thing by Michael and take on the responsibility that came with it.

On the face of it, this book looks like it's just about Ryan's attempt to get Emily to fall as in love with him as he is with her.  This perception was certainly stronger when the book was titled Loving Emily.  But like so many other readers, I find the new title so much more apt, because this book is about far more than just their relationship.  It's about love, loss, building new relationships with people, guilt, surviving and moving on.  It takes a complex issue and deals with it exceptionally well, and this made it a very compelling read.

Ryan is surprisingly mature for a sixteen year old boy, even before he finds out what Michael got himself into.  I really appreciated reading from his perspective.  He comes from a wealthy background, but he's much more down-to-earth than you might expect, and his character goes through a lot of growth.  He feels guilty about his best friend's death even though it wasn't his fault, and this helps drive his actions.  But apart from that, he's a genuinely good guy who wants to help out and doesn't like shirking responsibility; he doesn't seem to mind taking on something that had nothing to do with him in the first place and he becomes a really admirable character.  His attempts to reconnect with his parents despite their obliviousness and continual absence was moving.  Emily was a likeable character and, although not as strong as Ryan, I could still see where she was coming from.

Despite a possibly unremarkable appearance, Any Other Night, once you open it, reveals itself to be a complex, emotional story that refuses to let go.  It's always wonderful being unexpectedly surprised like that, and I'm definitely glad I finally got the opportunity to read it.  I look forward to seeing what else Anne Pfeffer comes up with.

 

Waiting on Wednesday (#19)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to get our hands on.  Here's mine for this week!

Title: Notes From Ghost Town
Author: Kate Ellison
Publisher: Egmont USA
Released: 12th February 2013

They say first love never dies...

From critically acclaimed author Kate Ellison comes a heartbreaking mystery of mental illness, unspoken love, and murder. When sixteen-year-old artist Olivia Tithe is visited by the ghost of her first love, Lucas Stern, it's only through scattered images and notes left behind that she can unravel the mystery of his death.

There's a catch: Olivia has gone colorblind, and there's a good chance she's losing her mind completely--just like her mother did. How else to explain seeing (and falling in love all over again with) someone who isn't really there?

With the murder trial looming just nine days away, Olivia must follow her heart to the truth, no matter how painful. It's the only way she can save herself.

Summary taken from GoodReads

Well, colour me intrigued.  Ghosts?  Murder?  A question of sanity?  This one appeals to the corner of my heart that really enjoys Miss Marple and the marvellous Poirot.

What about you?  What are you waiting on this week?

Cover Reveal: Deeper We Fall

Title: Deeper We Fall
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron
Released: 12th January 2013

Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to try and forget the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen. He loves "To Kill a Mockingbird" as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible.

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. She must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

Author Bio

Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times and USA Today Best-Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Riven Blog Tour: Character Interview

Hey guys!  Today I'm delighted to be helping Alivia Anders celebrate the upcoming release of the third and final installment in the Illumine Series by taking part in this tour.  I recently read Illumine and Obumbrate, the first two, and can honestly say I really enjoyed them!  Please do go and add them to your to-read lists.

Today we have a special guest!  Readers and reviewers, I introduce to you...Kayden!  Who is he, you ask?  Well, read on and you'll find out! :)

Hello, Kayden! First of all, loving the name. It’s amazing having you here. Why don’t you start by telling readers a little bit about yourself?

Come now, darling, I don’t like to kiss and tell. Well, I don’t like to kiss and tell often. Perhaps I’ll make an exception, just for you? You can call me Kayden, the ever-infuriating demon continuously bothering dear Essallie. She’s quite the silly, hot-headed girl.

 

What does it feel like to be summoned, physically and emotionally (let’s pretend for a moment you have a heart :P)?

 

If I had a heart, I would imagine summoning would induce what your mortals refer to as a heart attack. Demons are comprised solely of our essence; to mortals, it appears as a smokey substance. Summoning us forces our essence through various timelines, planes, and realms as the incantation drags us to our calling point. It’s rather gut-twisting. 

 

When you’re not hanging around with Essalie, teaching her to handle her fire, playing with fire yourself by constantly taunting her and generally making your presence known, what do you do with yourself?

 

Come a little closer, what I do in my spare time isn’t for the prude to hear. Although, on occasion I’ll taunt Ari for amusement. He’s quite the hot-head himself.

 

What do you think of Essalie? We won’t tell if you don’t want her to know.

 

I briefly wonder if you would tell her, not that it matters. She’s a silly girl, an unfortunate with a time-bomb running in her tiny mortal veins. I feel pity for her. She’ll never have the ‘normal’ mortal life you humans so desperately search for.

 

She keeps asking how you do that thing where your arm disappears and it comes back healed. For the record, that’s a very cool trick. Are we ever going to find out how you do that?

 

All in the essence, my dear.

 

You have some demons of your own (pun intended). Do you think you’ll ever be ready to share them with Essie?

 

My past is not something to touch upon. Some demons, even ones I could handle without qualm, are best left to the past.

 

Of course you have your own agenda when it comes to her, but what are your thoughts generally when it comes to Nephilim, the reasons they exist and the powers they have? What about the way they’re treated? Would you prefer it another way? Have your thoughts changed over time?

 

By the standard definition, Nephilim are half-angel, half-mortal creatures, damned and vile. At least, that’s what we have given the mortal world to use and feed their wild imaginations. Nephilim, and their true destiny, is to restore and maintain the balance between mortal and supernatural, and remove those who cannot keep themselves quiet among the supernatural world. I have seen both sides of how the Nephilim have been treated, and how they treat those around them. It varies from one to the next, but overall most Nephilim carry a natural ability to see the better of the world, instead of feeding into the negative. I do believe that every Nephilim should carry a balance of light and dark within them; the last pure Nephilim I met, Lucy, was tragically murdered in battle, because she believed even the blackest of hearts could find redemption.

 

Without wanting to spoil anything, do you see a way out from what is, at the very least, a dire situation at the end of Obumbrate?

 

Most definitely. Can’t guarantee we’d all survive with all our limbs, though.

 

What do you think of Ari?

 

Charming little hormonal child. He would do good with a little time to grow-up.

 

If you knew you were going to die soon, how would you spend the time you had left?

 

Assuming I could actually, fully, completely die? I’ve always held a fond admiration for the beach. My final moments would be filled with sand, sun, and perhaps a lovely blonde-haired woman.

 

Last question. If you had to pick one eye colour to stick with, which would you go for?

 

Black. You can’t tell what someone is thinking when their eyes are black; all you see is darkness.

 

Hmm, he certainly makes a good point there! Although I imagine it would be disturbing actually looking at them. ;)  Kayden, folks! *He disappears in smoke after giving a lazy smile*

 

Links

Blog tour page - see who else is hosting what! (GIVEAWAY TOO!)

Author Facebook page

Twitter

Amazon Illumine

Amazon Obumbrate