Bookalicious

Survey says that you guys like when I put several reviews together. So I will be trying out this format for a while and seeing how it works traffic wise. I like the idea. I think if you come to read about one book, you may discover more.

Everneath

From Hicklebee’s (buy now) Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

It is hard to put my love for Everneath into words. I am a lover of Greek Mythology and while I always thought I was a purist, Ashton has found a way to shake up the myth and keep me reading page after page with bated breath. The story of Persephone and Hades has long been one of my favorites, Ashton took that myth and gave it a 21st century feel without losing the tang of bittersweet attached to the orignal story.

The characters are beautiful and flawed and dangerous. The MC is strong and vulnerable and in love. I do hope there is a second novel.

Blurb: Persephone and Hades with a chic 21st century vibe. Everneath will delight any lover of myth. Strong debut from Brodie Ashton.

Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story

From Hicklebee’s (buy now) What do guys and girls really think? Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of he said/she said stories he tells it from the guy s point of view, she tells it from the girl s. These are stories of love and heartbreak. There s the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl, and the flipside, the toxic girl who never learned to be loved; the basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; the gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen. Each story in this unforgettable collection teaches us that relationships are complicated because there are two sides to every story.

I generally love a collection of stories and this one was absolutely stellar. Male and female authors are pitted against one another to tell one story in two parts, one from the feminine side of things and the other from the male. I think James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger should write their story together in a full length novel *hint hint nudge nudge*.

The stories hint at how misconceptions are formed in relationships especially in the teen years. How one can say one thing and mean something completely different and the other can take it a completely different way than how it was intended. The stories are full of love, arguments and the torture that only first love can be.

Blurb: Fabulous collection from Chronicle Books. The stories while not always perfectly melding together gave an added bonus of miscommunication and misconception. A definite for any short story collector.

When the Sea is Rising Red

From Hicklebee’s (pre-order now) After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven’s death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg’s caste system, and the whole city along with it.

I read this book on a five hour flight. I raced through it, there was no way that I was going to land and not have finished it. This is the absolute best story I have read about magic in many years. Not only was the story perfectly plotted, the language and phrases used were so beautiful I could feel my teeth getting cavities. The author’s words had me feeling things along with the characters and desperately wanting their stories to have a happily ever after. I have never felt such despair, or hope.

Weeks later I am still thinking about the characters and their plights. I am still thinking about the writing and the use of language and I am hoping and waiting for something else from this author. I am in instant fan.

Blurb: Set in a magical world on the brink of a new age Cat Hellisen guides the reader through the turmoil with expert hands. You do not want to miss this tantalizing debut.

Arcania: Trial by Fire

From Amazon (buy now on your Kindle eink device) Arcania Trial By Fire is an “Active Fiction” title, a new type of e-book from Coliloquy. In this Active Fiction series, your input influences future books from this author. Specifically, in Arcania Trial By Fire, your input influences what happens to Adia, a young sorceress. Born without arcania in her blood, Adia has lived in the shadow of her magical twin, until the day she inherits her sister’s spellcasting talents. As she leaves for the training academy, there are plenty of people to show her the ropes: Grey, the darkly passionate top shield, Seger, a swashbuckling rogue with a talent for daggers, and Finola, a clever and empathic healer. With a battle heating up, Adia must learn to master her magic and earn a spot on a fighting team before the ancient war between the forces of magic destroys her loved ones on Earth. The author sees the aggregate statistics on what option gets picked the most, so the more you read, the more you influence what she writes!

I really liked Arcania. I don’t have sisters but I can imagine what it is like being a twin and always living in the shadow of the ‘good’ twin. The parents are absent in this book but that seems to be the norm for the magical children in this universe. Arcania deals with magic, and alternate realities and the choose your own path style that Coliloquy provides makes the reading more enjoyable. It feels more high stakes, like what I choose effects the storyline and my reading experience.

There is a love story, a familial drama and a delightful catty relationship with another warrior. Our MC must find new friends, learn to control a power that doesn’t belong to her and solve the mystery of her sister’s death all at once. If you have a Kindle e-ink device you should read it.

Blurb: Arcania: Trial by Fire is a rapid story line with high stakes that will leave the reader breathless with their choices.