In the Shadow of the Dragon King (The Chronicles of Fallhollow #1) by J. Keller Ford (WOW #11)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that everyone’s excited about!

Seventeen-year-old, Eric, is a kick-butt squire to the most revered knight in Fallhollow. Well he would be if Sir Trogsdill allowed him to do anything even remotely awesome. Determined to prove his worth, Eric sets out to find the mythical paladin summoned to protect the realm from the evil lurking nearby. 

Sixteen-year-old, David, spends his days collecting school honors, winning archery tournaments, and trying not to fall in love with his scrappy best friend, Charlotte. 

Right when things start to get interesting, he is whisked away to the magical realm of Fallhollow where everyone thinks he's some sort of paladin destined to fulfill a two-hundred-year-old prophecy. He's supposed to help kill a dragon with some sort of magic key. The same key that happens to adorn the neck of an annoying squire who's too wrapped up in proving himself to be much help to anyone. 

With egos as big as the dragon they need to destroy, Eric and David must get over themselves, or watch everything they know and love, burn.

In the Shadow of the Dragon King releases on May 31, 2016 from Month9Books

So I literally only heard about this book yesterday and I'm already obsessed with getting my hands on it. I kind of have a thing for books where one of the characters gets pulled from the modern world into a fantasy realm. I have high hopes for this one! Plus, look at the cover!!!

So, what are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Book Review: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1)

Release Date: July 8, 2014
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publisher: Henry Holt
Length: 492 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Lia is a princess who is terrified of entering into an arranged marriage. She doesn't want a loveless marriage and she doesn't want to possibly marry someone old enough to be her father, or worse, grandfather. So she makes a plan and escapes on her wedding day and finds a new life in a small town as a barmaid. That is until two men enter her bar, one is the jilted prince she left at the alter and the other is an assassin sent to kill her. I really liked the character of Lia, she's smart, resourceful, and while she may not be a kick ass heroine like other fantasy YA protagonists, she is a very strong character. While her motivations for the most part of this book involve wanting to find someone to love her for who she is and not her title, as the story goes on she becomes much more than that and she becomes a much more three-dimensional character.

Romance: So this book does have a love triangle and I'll get to the gimmick involved in another part, but I just want to talk about the romance at face value here. Right off the bat it's obvious which boy Lia favors, but the question still remains who he is; prince or assassin, and I really liked the character she was more drawn to a lot, and for a while, even though it's easy to see who Lia favors I still took the love triangle seriously. However after the truth comes out, about at least one of the guys, I quickly felt myself losing all respect I had for one of her love interests (sorry I'm so vague, just trying to avoid possible spoilers) but after we learn who he is and given the situation everything he does just seems creepy after that.

World-Building: So when I started this book and really thought about this book, for about the first half or so I realized I didn't know much about this world. There are some excerpts from in book texts sporadically placed between chapters, but for the most part I didn't get that real expansive world-building feeling. That is until the giant shift in the story where we really get a feel for what's going on in this world and how our main character fits into it all. There's a subplot to the first portion of this book that only begins to make sense after the big shift and while I would have liked to see a little more about it prior to the shift, when we do learn about it, it does really give a whole new perspective of this world to not only the reader but to Lia as well.

Predictability: So the big gimmick of this book is the fact that we, as the reader, have no idea which one of the boys that walked into Lia's life is the prince and which is the assassin. Now I went crazy over not knowing who was who. At first it seems obvious, but then my mind went on overdrive wondering if it was a trick, or if I was supposed to think it was a trick. I have to say the author did a spectacular job keeping the identities wrapped up, especially since we get chapters from the perspectives of both guys. When the truth came out, I had so many emotions going through my head, it was a weird mixture between genuine surprise and this feeling of knowing all along. While this was the biggest twist of the book there are other great twists, none I really saw coming, but none that were presented like this twist.

Ending: It's interesting thinking about where I thought this book would end upon starting it and where it actually ended. There is so much to the story that I was expecting and I wasn't disappointed in the end. Though I do have to say there wasn't really a final climax in the traditional sense and the author did sort of skip to building up to a great cliffhanger. I think the cliffhanger really surprised me most of all, not necessarily what happens in it, but more that the author chose to end this first book on such a dramatic moment.

Rating:

So I did really enjoy this book, the story is captivation once it gets going and those hidden identities drove me to the brink of insanity, but I really wanted to take the love triangle more seriously and at this point, I really loathe one of the supposed love interests and can't take him seriously as a contender for Lia's heart.

Bloodmoon (Bloodmark #3) by Aurora Whittet (WOW #9)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that everyone’s excited about!

Just months shy of her claiming at Carrowmore and fulfilling a centuries-old prophecy, werewolf Ashling Boru has stepped into her role as the Crimson Queen. She finally has the support of her pack and her love for Grey is stronger than ever.

But it's not easy being queen. Ashling's guardian, Baran, has been captured by the Dvergars, a family of evil wolves who will stop at nothing to possess Ashling's power and destroy everything--and everyone--she loves. Ashling must unite the clans and build an army to stand against the Dvergars before it's too late. Unfortunately, the Dvergars also have armies of the darkest creatures the world has ever known.

Shadows loom, growing ever larger as generations of pack secrets begin to unfold. Ashling's people, the humans they protect, and Old Mother Earth herself all hang in the balance of Ashling's choices. Will Ashling have to forsake her true love to save the world? And will she have the strength to do it?

Bloodmoon is the thrilling conclusion to the Bloodmark Saga.

Bloodmoon releases on March 21, 2016 from Wise Ink

So it's no secret I had problems with the first book in this series, and while I stand by my four star rating for it, I was a bit apprehensive to read the next installment, but when I did I LOVED it! It was phenomenal and I can't wait to see how this trilogy wraps up!

So, what are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Book Review: Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2)

Release Date: March 29, 2016
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Length: 384 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds

Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life.

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules.

And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here.

    

Review:

Protagonists:This book focuses on Razor from the Reign of Terror Motorcycle Club and his love interest Breanna. Razor is a live wire, he's impulsive, it's hard for him to trust people, and he can go off at a moment's notice. This has caused him to be labeled as crazy and the most dangerous member of the Terror. Breanna has a brain that works a bit differently, she can remember random bits of information, things that seem trivial to someone else, this has led to her being labeled as freak among even her siblings. She's shy and reserved and likes to stay hidden and inconspicuous. After these two characters meet, even before they begin their romance they begin to change, slowly at first, but as the story goes on they begin to really bring out the best in each other. Some things that they previously thought were their flaws become their strengths and while they are in some ways still flawed they grow into fantastic characters who it's hard not to root for.

Romance: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Katie McGarry knows how to write romance well. The funny thing is that this story takes place over just a few months, and during some of that time these characters are just flirting or basking in the romantic tension before actually doing something about it. Everything that happened in this romance felt natural, when the "I love you"s eventually came out it didn't feel too soon or too crazy, it felt earned and deserved. The way these two characters fit is fantastic. Another thing I love about this author is that she can take two characters who don't seem like they belong together, two characters from different worlds and find a way for them to fall in love.

World-Building: So, if I had one criticism for this book it's that I wasn't as compelled by the story as I was for the first book in this series. The first book had this crazy mystery and I felt a pull to continue reading to see where everything went. In this book though while the central mystery was interesting, I just wasn't as invested in it as I wanted to be. I liked the idea of seeing a resident of Snowflake, unaffiliated with the Terror, fall for one of their members and learning more about how the people of Snowflake see the motorcycle club, but that's it really. The cyber-bullying and blackmail story line was at times intense and aggravating (in a good way), but in the end it was just way too easy to see a way through.

Predictability: I'll admit while there were a few great twists in this book, some that really revved up the suspense and added great layers to this story and world, for the most part it was easy to see how things would go. Not everything was obvious, but it was easy to tell what was going through characters' heads and to see the choices or similar choices they'd make. The central mystery of how Razor's mom died, left me in the dark for quite a while, but unlike the previous installment there weren't all these little clues that led up to the big reveal it was sort of once one big clue was revealed everything just sort of made sense.

Ending: Like all of Katie McGarry's other books this book can be read as a standalone and because of that it provides a lot of closure for this duo and their adventure. Let's start with the final climax though, holy crap was it intense, I was genuinely surprised at where things ended up going. The cool down period of this book was longer than I expected but again was done nicely and tied things up rather neatly. While a part of me is sad to see Breanna and Razor's story go, a much larger part of me can't wait for Violet's story!

Rating:

So this was really hard for me because in a lot of ways I loved this book and it's another fantastic Katie McGarry read, but since I was able to very easily put it down for as long as I did, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving it 5 stars, though in the end it really pays off!

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire (Untitled #1) by Rosamund Hodge (WOW #7)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that everyone’s excited about!

When the mysterious fog of the Ruining crept over the world, the living died and the dead rose. Only the walled city of Viyara was left untouched.

The heirs of the city’s most powerful—and warring—families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan—and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.

Paris Catresou has always wanted to serve his family by guarding Juliet. But when his ward tries to escape her fate, magic goes terribly wrong—killing her and leaving Paris bound to Romeo. If he wants to discover the truth of what happened, Paris must delve deep into the city, ally with his worst enemy . . . and perhaps turn against his own clan.

Mahyanai Runajo just wants to protect her city—but she’s the only one who believes it’s in peril. In her desperate hunt for information, she accidentally pulls Juliet from the mouth of death—and finds herself bound to the bitter, angry girl. Runajo quickly discovers Juliet might be the one person who can help her recover the secret to saving Viyara.

Both pairs will find friendship where they least expect it. Both will find that Viyara holds more secrets and dangers than anyone ever expected. And outside the walls, death is waiting. . . .

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire releases on September 27, 2016 from Balzer + Bray

Okay this sounds... creepy, and a bit complicated, but I can't wait to read it. I've read Hodge's other books and the way she retells stories is phenomenal. I'll be interested to see if the two books in this "series" come out as a duology or companion novels.

So, what are you waiting for this Wednesday?