Blog Tour: Desecration: The Wizard Queen at Sixteen by Hadley Holt

  Synopsis:

In a hidden world of wizards where only men hold the power of magic, one girl arises with the power to change everything, if she isn’t killed first…

Adriana Victoriana Evangelista (Addie), daughter to the High Chancellor of the Wizard’s Council, has always been the perfect wizard girl. She never questions why men possess magical powers and women have no power at all, magical or otherwise. Male wizards blend into the modern human world, leading huge corporations while wizard women are sequestered away.  

On her sixteenth birthday, Addie discovers she possesses magic. Under wizard law, she is a desecration. An ancient prophecy surrounds the emergence of a girl magic-wielder, the wizard queen, who is destined to bring about the downfall of the wizard-kin.

Addie has long had a forbidden crush on a human boy who lives in the wizard stronghold, Rory Devlin. As she delves deeper into the dangerous mysteries surrounding her own destiny, she suspects Rory might be more than just human.

Addie’s fate sends her straight into the path of a powerful and evil sorcerer, but the worst danger of all may come from right inside her own home.

My Review:

Initial Thoughts: What a truly and amazingly well written book. Everything was developed so well that I was literally hooked from the first sentence. The story was perfect and I loved everything about it.  

The Characters: There's Addie, her best friend Izzy, Hugo, and Rory. Addie is an awesome character. She's sixteen and has always followed her place in the wizard society but on her sixteenth birthday she gets powers which girls aren't supposed to have and everything goes haywire from there. Izzy is an awesome best friend to Addie. She's funny and full of life. Hugo is also amazing. He cares for his friends so much and all of their friendship feels so real and true when reading the book. Now Rory is a human who lives with this wizard family and I liked him from the start (so does Addie apparently!) and as the story goes on, you learn more and more about why he is a part of everything and his heritage as well. 

The Story: It's Addie and her twin's brother sixteenth birthday and it isn't a very good one for Addie. First she gets powers which doesn't happen and later that day, she gets a rare familiar (an animal that chooses a wizard to be with for the rest of their life and communicates with them and helps to boost their powers). And since familiars only choose wizards, it only confirms that Addie is one. But she pretends it's a fluke because of her brother. But Hugo, Izzy, and Rory know she has powers and Hugo starts to teach her how to use it. Addie also has the ability to see a person's magic color which is helpful and dangerous because it allows her to see sorcerers who are evil wizards. But as the story goes along, more secrets are uncovered and discoveries are made about Rory and other wizards and just their world and war in general. The whole story was full of action and the characters changed for better or for worse. Addie definitely changed and become a stronger person about her role that she would play and that was a great thing to see. Some characters obviously fell in love and I definitely approve of Addie and Rory together. I also think Izzy and Hugo would be cute but I don't know how things are going to work out because in their society, there are arranged marriages and no way out, so I definitely am looking forward for the next book!

End Thoughts: I think this is one of the best YA books I've ever read. It was clean, enticing, engaging, and an all around great book. I'd recommend it to anyone! 5 stars!!

Hadley Holt Bio:

Hadley Holt, author of paranormal, and fantasy YA (Young Adult) has always loved to write. She also nurtures an incurable fascination with all things supernatural and fantastical. From a young age, she imagined stories about dragons, wizards, witches, ghosts, shape-shifters, vampires, and other magical creatures. As life often does, it blessed Hadley with family - a hunky husband and amazing children, and with family came a rewarding career. Hadley spent many years in the not-so-magical world of finance and mortgage banking, but the stories were always there in the back of her mind, demanding to be set free. 

Thanks to the housing market crash, Hadley finally realized her dreams. She now breathes life into her magical tales of reluctant young heroes finding their inner power to stand up against terrible creatures and even more terrible odds.

 Please visit me at HadleyHolt.com! 

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Waiting On Wednesday - 3/19/14

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

So the book I'm waiting for this week is called Hexed by Michelle Krys and it sounds good and so I'm excited for it's release!

Summary: If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

Teaser Tuesday - 3/18/14

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Hmm what to write, what to write... Okay because I just finished The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. The Book was so amazing! I'll have a review for it (and other books I want to review) as soon as this week is over because I'll have tons of time for writing next week! And with that I'll give you the prologue to the book, here you go...

"WHEN THE WHITE NOISE WENT OFF, we were in the Garden, pulling weeds.

I always reacted badly to it. It didn’t matter if I was outside, eating in the Mess Hall, or locked in my cabin. When it came, the shrieking tones blew up like a pipe bomb between my ears. Other girls at Thurmond could pick themselves up after a few minutes, shaking off the nausea and disorientation like the loose grass clinging to their camp uniforms. But me? Hours would pass before I was able to piece myself back together.

This time should have been no different.

But it was.

I didn’t see what had happened to provoke the punishment. We were working so close to the camp’s electric fence that I could smell the singed air and feel the voltage it shed vibrating in my teeth. Maybe someone got brave and decided to step out of the Garden’s bounds. Or maybe, dreaming big, someone fulfilled all our fantasies and threw a rock at the head of the nearest Psi Special Forces soldier. That would have been worth it.

The only thing I knew for certain was that the overhead speakers spurted out two warning blares: one short, one long. The skin on my neck crawled as I leaned forward into the damp dirt, hands pressed tightly against my ears, shoulders tensed to take the hit.

The sound that came over the speakers wasn’t really white noise. It wasn’t that weird buzz that the air sometimes takes on when you’re sitting alone in silence, or the faint hum of a computer monitor. To the United States government and its Department of Psi Youth, it was the lovechild of a car alarm and a dental drill, turned up high enough to make your ears bleed.

Literally.

The sound ripped out of the speakers and shredded every nerve in my body. It forced its way past my hands, roaring over the screams of a hundred teenage freaks, and settled at the center of my brain, where I couldn’t reach in and rip it out.

My eyes flooded with tears. I tried to ram my face into the ground—all I could taste in my mouth was blood and dirt. A girl fell forward next to me, her mouth open in a cry I couldn’t hear. Everything else faded out of focus.

My body shook in time with the bursts of static, curling in on itself like an old, yellowing piece of paper. Someone’s hands were shaking my shoulders; I heard someone say my name—Ruby—but I was too far gone to respond. Gone, gone, gone, sinking until there was nothing, like the earth had swallowed me up in a single, deep breath. Then darkness.

And silence."

 Summary:  When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government "rehabilitation camp." She might have survived the mysterious disease that's killed most of America's children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she's on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her-East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can't risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

Monday Recs. - 3/17/14

Hey guys, this past weekend has been really busy for me! So some quick notes is that planned posts are as usual for the week but there will be a blog tour stop here on Saturday for this really awesome book that wThe Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth (have I mentioned I've seen her before as in like right in front of me?!?!? No?? Well I did and she's awesome!!!).
as amazing!! Also I get to see an advanced screening of the Divergent Movie tomorrow so if any of you are Divergent fans or have read them - go you! And with that this week's Monday Recommendation is...

Summary: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

ARC Review: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

Summary: So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

***

**I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Initial Thoughts: I am one of those people who can't watch suspense, or horror, or thriller movies because I literally scream and jump and hide under blankets and pillows whenever some type of movie like that is playing. So those kinds of movies are not for me, BUT I definitely can read those kinds of books and let me tell you, this book is a whole bunch of scary, creepy, mystery, thriller, and amazing. The plot was so intricate and secretive that I no idea how to figure anything out. I really loved the story and am so excited to see how the rest of the series will go!

The Characters: There were quite a few characters in this book. There was Ben, Pilot, Anne, Molly, and others too. Anne is the main character and one day her dad sends her to some weird and creepy school in Maine. Everyone is weird and distant and closed-off. Anne has no idea what's going on with anything and no one is talking. Pilot comes off as a really good and funny guy but the whole time reading,something had always felt off about him at least to me. Molly was the best. She was sweet, sassy, and adorable. Ben is complicated. You know he knows things but he doesn't/can't say anything. And then Anne has this connection to him and I figured out how and why pretty quickly but there was only one or two hints pointing to it so I was really happy to have guessed that right!

The Story: As I said, Anne comes to this weird school, weird people, and even weirder behavior. When Anne gets there, she is assigned a guardian and a PT. A PT is something that the guardian choses and the student has to follow it to a "T" if they want to be named valedictorian at the end of their senior year. And the thing is you want, no, have to be valedictorian if you want to...survive we'll say. A lot of the story is about Anne trying to uncover what is going on and figure everything out. Lots of action and sadly, death. I totally cried when this one character died! Then there's a huge plot twist that I didn't see coming and then there's even more and by the end, my mind was going crazy with everything that happened.

The Romance: Well, it's complicated. In the book, there isn't a whole lot of time for romance and there isn't a whole for building it between Anne and Ben but that connection thing I mentioned earlier plays a huge part in it. But I do have to say that I like those two together!

End Thoughts: Really well done story. It had action, and it was funny, scary, creepy, mysterious and so much more. I enjoyed the book immensely and would definitely recommend it! 4.5 stars!

Friday Favorites - 3/14/14

Friday Favorites is where I tell you about my favorite read or reads of the week!

I have two favorite reads for this week. They were Altered by Jennifer Rush and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I loved both of these so I hope you check them out someday! Happy Reading!!

 Summary: When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. 

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Summary: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Cover Reveal: Deadly Mates by Ashley Stoyanoff

And the cover to Deadly Mates is...

Release Date: April 26, 2014

Summary: Jade never thought she’d embrace being a werewolf, but after having accepted her new role as alpha female of Dog Mountain’s pack, she finds herself doing just that. She’s training with the enforcers and learning to use the alpha within her to her advantage. And for the most part, Jade is content, well at least with her training she is.

But Dog Mountain is a small town with big problems. The new alpha pair is divided, splitting the already unstable pack with them, and to make matters worse, Jade’s father is on his way home. Except Jade’s father and his twisted pack of werecourgars aren’t the only threat.

When Aidan brings in a new set of enforcers to weed out the problems within the pack, Jade is forced to delve into the center of the issue. She soon realizes that she is the indirect cause of the uneasiness within the pack, and if Jade doesn’t fix it, she’ll lose everything, even Aidan.

Teaser:

“Does it hurt?” I asked, and then swallowed hard. I lifted my hand and dabbed at the blood, wiping it away as best I could. “I hope it does. You’ve ruined everything.” Even though I said the words, they held no meaning. My voice was weak, straining against an onslaught of emotion blooming within my chest.

“No,” he grunted. “It’s already healed.” He grabbed my wrist, holding my shaking hand still. “I did what was needed. You’re not staying here any longer, Jade. This little game you’re playing ends now. I’m taking you home, where you belong.”

I clucked my tongue and dropped my gaze. More butterflies surfaced in my belly and I breathed, “This is where I belong.”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that,” he said. When I didn’t lift my head he chuckled, a deep rumble that turned my knees to mush. “You can’t, can you?”

Giveaway:
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Ashley Stoyanoff is an author of paranormal romance books for young adults, including The Soul's Mark series and the Deadly Trilogy. She lives in Southern Ontario with her husband, Jordan, and two cats: Tanzy and Trinity. In July 2012, Ashley published her first novel, The Soul’s Mark: FOUND, and shortly thereafter, she was honored with The Royal Dragonfly Book Award for both young adult and newbie fiction categories. An avid reader, Ashley enjoys anything with a bit of romance and a paranormal twist. When she’s not writing or devouring her latest read, she can be found spending time with her family, watching cheesy chick flicks or buying far too many clothes. Ashley loves hearing from her readers, so feel free to connect with her online.

Ashley's Links:
Website: www.ashleystoyanoff.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AshleyStoyanoffTheSo...
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/ashley_stoyanoff
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshleyStoyanoff

Links:
Deadly Mates Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20946338-deadly-mates