Waiting on Wednesday: Avalon by Mindee Arnett

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine spotlighting upcoming releases that readers are eagerly anticipating

Avalon

by Mindee Arnett

Publisher:  Balzer & Bray 

Release Date: January 14th, 2014

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Amazon

Jeth Seagrave is the leader of the Malleus Shades, the galaxy’s most accomplished and elusive band of teenage mercenaries. Working for feared crime boss Hammer Defoe, Jeth and his crew have made their name stealing unsecured metadrives – the complex piece of technology that makes faster-than-light-speed travel possible. The ITA–the far-reaching organization that produces and polices metatechnology–has been on Jeth’s tale for years, and is looking for any chance to take down Hammer’s black market metatech trade.

But Jeth doesn’t care about any of this. All he wants to do is earn enough money to purchase his parents’ ship, Avalon, from Hammer. His parents, former ITA scientists, were executed for treason years back, and Jeth, his sister Lizzie, and their uncle Milton fell into debt to Hammer. Finally, Jeth has found himself just one job away from freedom. This job, however, is going to give Jeth much, much more than he bargained for – and when he finds himself in possession of information that both Hammer and the ITA will kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s dreamed of for so long.

Why I'm Waiting...

ARC Review: A Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger

A Trick of the Light
by Lois Metzger

Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Release Date: June 18th, 2013
Source: Publisher

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Amazon

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.

Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Telling a story of a rarely recognized segment of eating disorder sufferers—young men—A Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger is a book for fans of the complex characters and emotional truths in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.

Review

Did you read the blurb? No? Then I can help out. A Trick of the Light is about Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy who suffers from an eating disorder. Now, the book starts off where he's overweight. Or is he? See, that's the thing with A Trick of the Light, the narrator is so biased that I'm not even sure if Mike was truly overweight to begin with. And I think that's one of the beauties of this novel.

Who is the narrator you ask? It's actually the little voice in Mike's head, the one telling him that he's disgusting every time he touches junk food or becomes sedentary. Yes, the narrator is anorexia. In a 200 page book, this was a perfect, inventive twist. It allowed me to connect with Mike on a new level, and I felt what he was fighting against almost immediately. That little voice that said "go" when all Mike really wanted to do was "stop," but as the voice grew louder, it was harder and harder to fight against it.

Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

Born of Illusion
by Teri Brown

Series: Born of Illusion #1
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Release Date: June 11th, 2013
Source: Publisher / Edelweiss

Goodreads

Amazon

Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived. But when a strange, serious young man moves into the flat downstairs, introducing her to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, he threatens to reveal the secrets Anna has fought so hard to keep, forcing her to face the truth about her past. Could the stories her mother has told her really be true? Could she really be the illegitimate daughter of the greatest magician of all?

Review

Who doesn't love a good magic show? With Now You See Me in theaters, I thought this would hold over my magic craving for another day. It totally did! Anna Van Housen -- a magician who may be more "magical" than meets the eye -- and her center-stage, fame-obsessed mother -- who is less than meets the eye (she's a bit of a con-artist and a meanie, more on that in a bit) -- hold seances and magic shows to pay the bills. Brown is such a visual writer that I was caught up in the plot and performances as much as the audience would be.

Stacking the Shelves [47]

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews featuring books added to our shelves and sharing our excitement for them.

Early Release on Amazon: Addicted to You!

So this is going to be a short and sweet post! Addicted to You is our New Adult book that Becca and I have decided to share with the world. The ebook is now officially on Amazon with a 15-day sale price of 99 cents! We've decided to do this to give people who've been really excited for the book a chance to purchase it at a cheaper price.

So yeah, we're excited! I hope you guys are too. Any and all support is so greatly appreciated. As bloggers and reviewers, we're so elated to share our story and also ready for the positive and negative criticism that comes with putting a book out to the public. 

If you could tweet about the news or share it with a friend, that would be so amazing. We love you all and thanks for dealing with the overflow of Addicted to You posts. We promise that we'll refrain from them until July 1st -- which is the paperback release date :)

Add to your Goodreads Shelf!

Purchase at Amazon!

And look out for the blog tour coming July 1st hosted by YA Bound! 

Book Mash [6]

A feature on Nawanda Files that is math...for books, where we mash up new and old releases with books, tv and movies. What equals our favorite reads? Find out in the simple equation below.

Combine a band of young students with striking personalities who must work together, a natural disaster situation that feels "impossible," and a situation that is very apocalyptic. What do you get?

Books into Movies: Vampire Academy and Divergent New Photos from Filming, If I Stay Casting Updates, and more!

More interesting books into movies news this week! Mostly photos via the always wonderful - Twitter. Filming is heating up for Divergent and Vampire Academy and Percy Jackson gets some more character poster love. Here are six of the seven books discussed in the post:

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

Filming News & Photos! Read It Below

If I Stay 

Casting News! Read It Below

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Post Production Posters! Read It Below

Divergent

Filming News & Photos! Read It Below

The Testing

Optioned to Film Read It Below

The 100

Books into TV News! Read It Below

Continue reading for all the juicy details!

New Adult Cover Reveal and Giveaway: A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

I'm so excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Lisa Desrocher's new adult novel, A Little Too Far! She's already penned an awesome paranormal series in Personal Demons. So I'm now anxiously awaiting her NA romance. Check out the cover and blurb below then head on down after the jump for a giveaway!

A Little Too Far

by Lisa Desrochers

Series: A Little Too Far #1

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Have you ever gone just a little too far?Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother.In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. As Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

"More than a ridiculously sexy, HOT read, Desrochers takes you on a wild ride of self-discovery and bittersweet romance." —Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn), New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You  

Continue reading to enter the giveaway!

Review: Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains)
by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: February 1st, 2013
Source: Won

Goodreads

Amazon

Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines, drawing comics and feeling invisible. She's desperate for soccer star Mark to notice her. And when her BFF texts Mark a photo of Blaze in sexy lingerie, it definitely gets his attention. After a hot date in the back of her minivan, Blaze is flying high, but suddenly Mark's feelings seem to have been blasted by a freeze-ray gun, and he dumps her. Blaze gets her revenge by posting a comic strip featuring uber-villain Mark the Shark. Mark then retaliates by posting her "sext" photo, and, overnight, Blaze goes from Super Virgin Girl to Super Slut. That life on the sidelines is looking pretty good right about now...

Review

Blaze totally misguided me. For some strange reason, I completely thought that this was going to be another young-YA story with light, fluffiness and a cute candy-coated romance. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of humor and fun stuff packed into this book, but I wasn't expecting the humor to be a little lewd or for the sexual scenes to be of the more graphic in the YA genre. Am I complaining? Hell no. I'm not a huge fan of younger-YA and tween books (which maybe is why I was hesitant to read this one). Blaze is definitely for the middle to older YA crowd looking for a contemporary that feels real to a seventeen-year-old's life.

Will there be cursing? Yes. Will there be some talk about penises (or... peni)? Yes. Will there be some under-the-bra fondling? Quite possibly. Because this a contemp that  goes there. And I love that Crompton wasn't afraid to portray older teenagers in a more realistic light.

Stacking the Shelves [46]

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews featuring books added to our shelves and sharing our excitement for them.