Book 3 in Seraphina Parrish Trilogy by Michelle Warren Cover/title Reveal‏

Today we have VERY exciting news! We are revealing the title & cover of the third and final book in the Seraphina Parrish Trilogy by Michelle Warren. Who else is super excited?? 

Ruth Silver Guest Post

I am pleased to present the guest post written by Ruth Silver, author of Aberrant.
Please check out her website at http://writeawaybliss.com.
Aberrant was released on April 17th and on July 9th the paperback version will also be available.
I asked the author to do a guest post about something that as come to fascinate me:

The Ascending Popularity of Dystopian Novels

Dystopian Fiction has been around for a very long time. In college, I read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I had no idea it was categorized as Dystopian Fiction. I actually didn't know what to categorize it as, but I loved it. If I'd have known what it was, I'd have sought out similar books. Instead, I read several other novels by Atwood and they just didn't compare. I think this is true for the genre. It has existed but not everyone knew of its existence, until The Hunger Games.

Pop-culture has an effect on stories being produced. After readers finished The Hunger Games trilogy, they wanted other Dystopian novels to read. Many picked up Divergent because they were familiar with the genre. Some Dystopian novels were already written, however, publishers saw the rising success and there was a shift of new novels being produced. Consider it like Harry Potter or Twilight. After Twilight was a success, there was an increase of vampire novels being sold to publishers. It doesn't mean the stories weren't already written but publishers may not have been buying them until it became popular.

So why Dystopian fiction? We root for the underdog. We want the heroine to win but we often witness their change and growth through the story. We watch them endure through whatever hardship they suffer and in most cases, they come out stronger. It makes you connect with the story, the character and the world that they live in.

It's relevant because of our current economic state. The rise in unemployment, the uncertainty that even after you graduate college, you might not have a job. Dystopian stories have become relevant because they feel real. We often wonder how far away we are from taking that next step. Whether it's losing electricity around the globe or a massive pandemic, what's stopping us from no longer existing? It's something we may not even be able to control and yet that's what makes us even more curious to read about it. Then we wonder if the world had changed, what would become of it?  If a few survived, if we were the lucky ones, how would the world behave? Would we be caged like animals or free and alone?

Book Synopsis:

            In the future dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system. There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone. The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government’s match in marriage and “The Day of the Chosen”, a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn’t existed in generations. Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she’s arrested and thrown in prison. The only crime committed, her existence. Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from “The Day of the Chosen.” The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.
With Joshua’s help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run. Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together. Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven. New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay. Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands. Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her. Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive.

Author Biography:

            Ruth Silver attended Northern Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication in the spring of 2005.  While in college, she spent much of her free time writing with
friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004.  Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories.  Her love of writing led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia.  Silver enjoys reading, photography, traveling and most of all writing.  She loves dystopian and fantasy young adult stories.  Ruth has been actively writing since she was a teenager.  She currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois. You can find Ruth by following her on Twitter @writeawaybliss, or on Facebook: writeawaybliss.

 

Goodreads link for the book:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17696943-aberrant

 

'Aberrant' Cover Reveal

Aberrant

 

Book #1 in the Aberrant Trilogy

 

by Ruth Silver

 

Publication date of the ebook (by LazyDay Publishing): April 17, 2013

 



In the future dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system. There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone. The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government’s match in marriage and “The Day of the Chosen”, a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn’t existed in generations. Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she’s arrested and thrown in prison. The only crime committed, her existence. Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from “The Day of the Chosen.” The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.
With Joshua’s help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run. Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together. Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven. New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay. Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands. Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her. Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive.


About the author:

Ruth Silver attended Northen Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication in the spring of 2005. While in college, she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first nover, Deuces are Wild, wich she self-published in 2004. Her favourite class was Creative Writing senior year, where she often handed in assingnments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love for writing led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading, photography, traveling and most of all writing. She loves dystopian and fantasy young adult stories. Her debut novel published by LazyDay Publishing, ABERRANT is scheduled for release April 2013. Ruth has been actively writing since she was a teenager. She currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois.

Author links:

Website: http://writeawaybliss.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writeawaybliss

Twitter: https://twitter.com/writeawaybliss

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Ruth-Silver/e/B008NGH038/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Showtime (Chloe Kayne)

Synopses:

The grandeur of the traveling circus is at its peak in the early 1920s when sixteen-year-old Laila Vilonia is searching for an escape from her bleak future. Behind the gates of the legendary Marvelle Circus, she is thrust into a mysterious world she never knew existed—a paradise populated with outcasts. It’s in this glamorous new home that Laila sparks a controversial romance with notorious sideshow performer, "The Disappearing Man," and learns just how dangerous her new life can be.
Touring the picturesque eastern coast of America, Laila’s immersed in friendship, vaudeville, festivals, sequins, and serial killers. But behind the curtain, a sadistic plan is brewing that will crack the very foundation upon which she’s become so dependent.

Review:

I should start by saying that I love the circus, so when the author agreed to send me an ebook, I didn't need to think twice.
One thing I loved about this book was the writing. Chloe Kane uses a very different, yet understandable kind of writing, which always helps readers really getting into the story.
The plot was also very interesting and when we start reading the very first scenes of  "Showtime", we know it is going to be a very interesting and unique experience. Nevertheless, as we progress further into the story, we realize that there are some aspects readers don't particulary enjoy.
It is sometimes repetitive, confusing and predictable, the characters often overreact, which makes their actions, reactions and thoughts seem unnatural and irrealistic. The romance is very sudden, but as we read more and more into this book, we come to find it very dark and mysterious, as well as beautiful and exciting.
Although these are most of the undesirable parts of the story contained in the middle of the covers of this book, they are minor and easy enough to be ignored.
The only things that kept me from giving Kayne's first book 4 out of 5 stars, were the following:
Primarily, the time period: When I started reading, I thought the narrative was set in today's days. However, we later learn that it is set during the early 1920's. We, as readers, don't get the felling that we are travelling with a circus in that era. Overall, I thought this was a wonderful story to be written in our days, not in it's original time. I would have loved to have read a tale about the Marvelle circus in 1918 if there had been some changes in the way the characters act and think and in the environment the story is wrapped.
Lastly, I felt that some characters were forgotten as the tale progressed and it became a 'four character's story'. I would have loved to see more of Florence and Alysia, for example, towards the end of the book.
Despite all of the weak points quoted above, I can say I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. Most scenes were very well put together and I particularly enjoyed the description of the actual circus scenes, while Laila was on the ring, performing.
I really liked how we, readers, could experience, feel and learn about the relationship between the main character and her mother. Those were the most emotional and heartbreaking scenes in the whole book.
The ending was beatiful and lovely, and really makes us love these characters more than we did in the beginning.
To finish this very, very long review, I ought to acknowledge that the design of the whole book was incredible and that always helps making the reading experience so much more pleasant and enjoyable.
Overall, 'Showtime' is definitely an amazing and magical masterpiece of the circus novels world and I congratulate Chloe Kayne for this fantastic job of wonder and love I would certainly read over and over again. The reason this review is so long and probably exhausting is because I had so much to say about this book, which is a good thing, so I'd like to thank the author for giving me the oportunity to do so.

City of Fallen Angels (Cassandra Clare)

Título: City of Fallen Angels

Autor: Cassandra Clare

Páginas: 424

Capa: Mole

 

Sinopse:

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And - most importantly of all - she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side - along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls - neither of whom knows about the other one.
When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

Opinião:

Depois de ler algumas opiniões sobre este livro que não foram completamente positivas, não pude deixar de ficar um pouco apreensiva. Estaria este quarto volume da saga Caçadores de Sombras à altura dos seus antecessores?

Felizmente, a resposta à pergunta anterior é, na minha opinião, afirmativa. Com uma história imprevisível e dramática, protagonistas memoráveis que nos fazem rir, chorar e questionar as suas desaventuras, vilões novos e ainda mais tenebrosos e, principalmente, um ponto de vista renovado, bem como a escrita inovadora e inteligente e o ritmo rápido utilizado por Cassandra Clare, este livro é, sem dúvida, um forte candidato para um dos melhores da série e do seu ano de lançamento.

Vampiros, feiticeiros, fadas, lobisomens e, claro, caçadores de sombras juntam-se para formar uma história de fantasia sensual, elétrica e romântica que nos leva a novos níveis de luxúria e divertimento.

As cenas de ação descritas por Clare conseguem ser apaixonantes e perigosas ao mesmo tempo.

Ligando todos os pontos apresentados ao longo da narrativa, o final é um que nenhum leitor poderá ter visto chegar.

Nenhum outro mundo de fantasia me tinha parecido tão apetecível desde Harry Potter.
 



Um bónus deste livro foi a carta deixada por Jace a Clary
 no volume anterior, A Cidade de Vidro e que deixaria
qualquer leitora a chorar por mais. Nunca um livro me tinha
apaixonado tanto.