We're really excited to be hosting a 5 day tour for Amber Argyle's Witch Song. This five day tour includes five different blogs whom will all be posting a chapter from Witch Song. This tour is running in conjunction with the Witch Song blog tour hosted by The Teen Scene, which we're also apart of.
By Amber Argyle
Published by Rhemalda Publishing
To Be Released on September 1st, 2011
The world is changing.
For thousands of years, witch song has controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons. But not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by the dark Witch, Espen.
As the last echoes of witch song fade, Espen grows stronger as winter and summer come within the space of a day. Now she’s coming for the one she missed—a shy, untrained girl of fifteen named Brusenna. Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find Espen. Fight her. Defeat her. Or there won’t be anything left to save.Amber Argyle's debut, Witch Song, is a classic fantantasy for young adults. It will be released Sept 1st 2011.
You can also read Amber's Q&A about her debut here, follow the two different blog tour going on here, and find out where Amber will be signing at here.
Hades is the sequel to Alexandra's US debut, Halo, and picks up right where book one ended. This time around the story centers more on Beth and her trip to Hades. In Halo, she along with her brother and sister are sent to earth on a mission, and during that time she met one of the fallen, Jake, who of course is from Hades.
I was really intrigued with Jake in Halo and I liked seeing more of him in Hades. It didn't take him long to live up to his promise he made to Beth in Halo. Not long after the story starts Jake ends up capturing Beth and takes her to Hades. Okay, really he tricked her, and then kidnapped her and drove her to Hades on his motorcycle. The cover, which I think is very fitting of the story, is from this scene. Despite the fact he's such a great villain, he was one of the characters who kept me invested in the story. Jake is someone I felt bad for and at the same time I understand his natural tendencies. I mean, he is after all on the original fallen angels who now rules one of the circles in Hell. Of course he's going to be naturally bad, but I liked seeing a different side of him at times, and I was really surprised with how charismatic he could be.
There's a lot of interesting characters living in Hades. There's a few that surprised me with their character twists and a few I really enjoyed getting to read about. Beth's new found friends, as well as Jake on occasion are there to save her when her best intentions find her in a lot of trouble, and this happens more than a couple of times. I was surprised with how Hades itself is described. It has house penthouses, night clubs and all the worldly things that would entice people to either fall or make their deal with the devil if they found themselves in a certain situation. There's a few things that happen there that give readers a glimpse of what hell is like for a few unnamed characters.
I was hoping that with the sequel I would be able to connect with Beth, but like Halo, I found myself really frustrated with her character and not able to connect with her at all. One of the things that bothers me was how rash she was to make a decision before thinking it through, which is the main reason why she had to keep being rescused from the trouble she found herself in. The other thing that bothered me is how naive she still is for being an angel. I had excepted her to be a little bit more in the know on things. Don't get me wrong she is as innocent and pure as they come, and I love how good hearted she is, but as a protagonist I was hoping she would have been a little bit stronger.
Halo fans will enjoy knowing that Gabriel, Ivy and Xavier are very much apart of Hades. Their roles aren't as big as they were in Halo, but they're still here. Gabriel and Ivy will of course do anything to save Beth as well as Xavier. He's still the fabulous, hunky, fearless boyfriend who will do anything to save his girlfriend. To contend with him is Jake. I know I already talked about him, but I think some readers will find this bad boy/angel's cocky attitude and good looks irresistible. The romance is strong, the characters a bit more in depth, and there's a few great twists in the story.
While I'm still not as in love with this series as I would like to be, I thought it was a good sequel to Halo. There's a lot of things that happen in Hades that kept me turing the pages. It's a fast paced read and one I think fans of Halo will really enjoy.
This week's Freebie Friday is awesome! Thank you to Simon & Schuster I have a handful of audio and hardcover books to giveaway for Richard Paul Evans YA debut, Michael Vey: Prison of Cell 25. I reviewed this book a couple days ago and I really enjoyed it. You can read my review here.
Here's a little bit about the book:
My name is Michael Vey, and the story I’m about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It’s my story.
To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers.
Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he’s to survive.
Here's what we're giving away:
* 2 hard cover books
* 4 audiobooks
And you can also enter to win a hard cover book and an audiobook over on Mundie Kids.
Here's the rules:
* Normally I say you have to be 13 yrs & older to enter, but since this is a book that's one both YA and MG readers will like, if you're under 13 you HAVE to have your parents/guardian's permission to enter
* 1 entry per person, more than one will result in your entries being deleted & yes I do read all the entries
* This is for US residents only (but if you are an internationally follower and have someone the book can be sent to in the US please feel free to include a c/0 and their name and address)
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