Cindy's Love Of Books

Released Day Blitz of Scintillate

Posted on February 4, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

Scintillate by Tracy Clark

A mighty flame follows a tiny spark

Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective, and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.

As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn’s mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he’s fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.

There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…and end her life.

Title: Scintillate (The Light Key Trilogy)
Author: Tracy Clark
Genre: YA Paranormal
Length: 304 pages
Release Date: February 2014
Print ISBN: 978-1-62266-145-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62266-146-6
Imprint: Teen

Advanced praise for Scintillate by Tracy Clark

“A lush and atmospheric debut with a scorching romance and a metaphysical mystery. It had me hooked from the start.” -Suzanne Young, author of THE PROGRAM.

“Beautifully written. Keep your eye on author, Tracy Clark. She’s going places!” -Ellen Hopkins, New York Times Bestselling Author of the CRANK trilogy.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Alchemy Blog Tour

Posted on January 31, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

Exclusive Teaser:

“Dr. Child said he threw my rocks in the pond,” I said.

Sam looked at me blankly. “Why would he go to all the trouble of stealing a bag of rocks from you, just to throw them into the pond?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But what if he did? They just look like common, everyday rocks. How will I be able to tell them apart from all the other rocks?”

Both Sam and Sebastian gave me an odd look when I said that. Finally, Sam said, “They are just common, everyday rocks, Ana. Aren’t they?”

I didn’t quite know what to say to that. Of course they are just normal rocks. But they were my rocks. Dr. Child had no right to take them from me. I realized I was blinking back tears as I said, “Yeah. But if Dr. Child had something of yours from before you came here, even if it was just something other people thought was stupid, wouldn’t you want it back?” Sam nodded, and then elbowed Sebastian in the ribs. Sebastian said, “We’ll go to the pond and help you look for them after breakfast.”

Then Juliette walked in. Sam noticed her first, and gaped. I turned to see what he was looking at, and stared too. Juliette looked beautiful. I can’t put my finger on what was different about her. I know she’s been running lately, and I’ll tell you, I think I might join her from now on. But it wasn’t just that. Finally I figured out what it was — for the first time since I’ve met her, she looked completely well-rested. She almost sparkled. It made me wish I’d gotten up earlier to at least take a shower.

Sam, who usually can’t shut up, didn’t seem to know what to say, and Sebastian seemed lost in his own gloom, so finally I said, “You look great, Juliette. Kind of Blue has been good to you.”

She smiled — an honest to goodness smile, and said, “That trumpet, Ana — you’re going to love it. We’ll get speakers and blast it all night long and you’ll sleep like a baby. Nightmares can’t stand trumpets.”

Oh no. Neither can I. I had a sudden flashback to the night I kept my family up all night listening to Beyond Breathing. I didn’t sleep a wink that night, and somehow I don’t think Miles Davis is going to be magically different.

I plastered a smile on my face, and we all drifted into a melancholy silence. After breakfast, we headed to the pond to look for my rocks. We walked along the bank of the lake for a few minutes, and I didn’t see any little piles of rocks that might have been mine. All the rocks were granite, and there weren’t many of them. It was mostly just mud.

“You know he was probably lying,” Sam said, after a few minutes. He and Sebastian had taken off their shoes, and were about to wade in, which was a foolhardy thing to do. The water was freezing, and the air wasn’t much warmer. Still, I didn’t tell them to stop. I should have, but I didn’t.

“I know,” I said with a sigh. I took off my own shoes and was about to take the first step into the water, when I saw James emerging out of the woods. The trees were bare, and he kicked up leaves as he strolled toward us.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Being crazy,” I said. There’s no way I could explain why those rocks meant so much to me.

He didn’t press the matter. Instead he stood next to me and looked out at the water. Sam, Seb, and Juliette seemed determined for me to take the first step into the water, and they sat down to wait for me. Sebastian looked thunderous.

“This is a beautiful pond in the summertime,” James said. “A little buggy, of course, but beautiful. There are even ducks. And frogs on the lily pads…” his voice trailed off, and he turned to look at me.

I couldn’t have said why, but at that moment, it felt like we were completely alone. “I love lily pads,” I said, and my voice faltered. “The flowers…”

“…smell like lemon,” he said, his eyes searching my face. For some reason, I shivered as we both nodded.

With a whoop, Sebastian catapulted into the pond, and came up dripping wet and muddy. It was so unlike his usual serious nature that I couldn’t help myself. I started to laugh, and the moment was broken.

“It’s freezing!” Sebastian shouted, and then Sam and Juliette were in the water too. What else could I do? I took a step toward them, and when I turned to look at James, he was disappearing back into the woods.

“I’m warming it up,” Sam called, as I dipped my toe in the water, and, in a circle around him, steam rose off the surface of the lake.

Juliette knocked him on the back of his head. “You’re going to kill the fish,” she snapped. By this point, I was up to my knees, and my whole body was already shaking with the cold.

“There are fish in here?” Sam shrieked, as though he and James hadn’t been swimming in that very pond a dozen times. He spun in a circle. “Something just brushed past my leg,” he said. “I’m getting out.

“No, you’re not,” Juliette said, and pulled him until he fell with a splash, and then she jumped on him, and pushed his head under the water. He came up spluttering and laughing, and pretty soon Juliette had gone under the water too.

We never did find my rocks.

Be sure to check out the other stops on this tour:

Schedule:

January 20th–

Books Over Reality
Forget About TV, Grab A Book!
Suzy Turner, YA Author

January 22nd–
Here Is Some Of What I Read
A Book Addict’s Bookshelves
Worlds of Words
Painted Words

January 23rd–
Penny For Them
Our Wolves Den
Wicca 4 Witch Book Blog
Sapphyria’s Book Reviews
Bound 4 Escape

January 24th–
The One with the Fairy Tales
Works of Fiction

January 25th–
Once Upon a YA Book
Howling Books and Design

January 26th–
Books and Their Wordly Realms
In Libris Veritas

January 27th–
The Girl Bookaholic
The Passionate Bookworms

January 28th–
Hooked in a Book
Discover Words

January 29th–
Dalene’s Book Reviews
Deal Sharing Aunt

January 30th–
Perks of Being A Book Nerd
Mythical Books

January 31st–
Cindy’s Love of Books

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Just a Reminder to….

Posted on January 23, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

I am super thrilled that the third book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bones series will be released April 8th.

The books in the series are Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Days of Blood & Starlight and finally Dreams of Gods & Monsters. There is also a novella called Night of Cake & Puppets.

I am super excited to start reading this series now and if you know me I really love starting a series once the books are all out because I am so impatient and hate waiting.

Have you read this series yet?

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.
Meet Karou. A young art student from Prague. She has bright blue hair, an ear for languages… and a haunted past she can’t quite remember.

When a mysterious stranger — the beautiful, haunted Akiva — fixes his fire-colored eyes on Karou 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? And will this newfound love survive the threat of a brutal otherworldly war?

The mesmerizing sequel to Daughter of Smoke & Bone.

Karou may have finally found the answers she has always sought. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo, a truth of love and betrayal.

Now Karou must decide how far she’ll go to avenge her people, as she builds up a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight.

Meanwhile, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

The epic, final installment in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone saga arrives 4.8.2014.

When a brutal angel army trespasses into the human world, Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat—and against larger dangers that loom on the horizon. They begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves—maybe even toward love.

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera, and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Meme/ In Bed With a Book #10

Posted on January 22, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

My awesome friend Kate from Midnight Book Girl has introduced a new blog hop/meme to her blog called In Bed With a Book. This was a Sunday feature on her blog (and I believe she is still doing it on Sundays) and its basically a meme that you share what book you are reading today/this week.

There will be a link on her blog every Sunday so you can put your book there no matter what day of the week it is. I think for me I will continue to post this on Wednesday’s unless there is something I need to post on a Wednesday which it will then be posted on a Sunday.

This week I am reading this:

I am starting a new book this week and its Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich. I am on a blog tour for this and my stop is coming up in February I believe.

I was able to finally finish up The Pledge this past weekend and that was due to being able to read in the car to and from our hockey tournament on the weekend and our night in a hotel room.

Michael played in a hockey tournament that was about an hour away from our house and due to the possiblity of snow we decided to stay over since we had two games on Saturday and one early Sunday morning. I am happy to say that our team came in second place. The kids were thrilled.

The results were: first game 3-1 (we won), second game 1-3 (we lost) and the final game was 8-0 (we won). I think this was just what the team needed to boost up their confidence. It was a great weekend for team bonding with the kids and the parents.

I am also reading this book on my iPad:

I haven’t made much progress with this over the weekend and that was due to the fact that we (actually I enforced this) made this weekend a technology free weekend. All electronic gadgets were left home with the exception of my cell phone.

What are you reading today?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Cover Reveal/ Losing Logan

Posted on January 21, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

Today I am so thrilled to be sharing with you the cover reveal for Sherry Ficklin’s newest book “Losing Logan”

I am so excited for Sherry and her new book. I can’t wait to read it.

Losing Logan by Sherry D. Ficklin
Publication Date: May 6^th 2014
Genres: YA, Romance, Suspense, Paranormal

Synopsis:

Normally finding a hot guy in her bedroom wouldn’t irritate Zoe so badly, but finding her childhood friend Logan there is a big problem.

Mostly because he’s dead.

As the only person he can make contact with, he convinces Zoe to help him put together the pieces surrounding his mysterious death so he can move on. Thrust into his world of ultra popular rich kids, Zoe is out of her element and caught in the cross-hairs of Logan’s suspicious ex-girlfriend and the friends he left behind, each of whom had a reason to want him dead. The deeper they dig to find the truth, the closer Zoe gets to a killer who would do anything to protect his secrets. And that’s just the start of her problems because Zoe is falling for a dead guy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20493019-losing-logan

Find Losing Logan on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/LosingLogan

Sherry D Ficklin’s Official Website
http://www.sherryficklin.com

About the Author:

Sherry D. Ficklin is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she’s on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.

She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy now available from Dragonfly Publishing.

Her previously self-published novel After Burn: Military Brats has been acquired by Harlequin and will be released in 2015 with a second book in that series to follow.

Her newest YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is now available everywhere books are sold and her newest YA novel, Losing Logan, is due for release in 2014 from Clean Teen Publishing.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Book Review #1/ The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Posted on January 21, 2014April 12, 2014 by Cindy

Title: The Pledge

Series: Book 1 in A Pledge Series

Author: Kimberly Derting

Pub Date: November 2011

Pages: 338

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Imprint of Simon & Schuster)

Source: I purchased this book when it came out in 2011.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In the violent country of Ludania, the language you speak determines your class, and there are harsh punishments if you forget your place—looking a member of a higher class in the eye can result in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina (Charlie for short) can understand all languages, a dangerous ability she’s been hiding her whole life. The only reprieve from oppression is within the drug-filled underground club scene. There, she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy who speaks a language she’s never heard, and her secret is almost exposed. As the violent clashes between the totalitarian monarchy and the rebel forces escalate, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible grip of a deadly regime.

This was my first read of 2014 and the book I wanted to start the year off with. I have had this book since it first came out and now that I have the complete trilogy I thought now would be the time to finally take it off my shelf to read and to read the series.

Kimberly Derting is also the author of The Body Finder series which is another series I own but haven’t read yet. Just a heads up, Kimberly has another new series starting and the first book in that series is called The Taking and it will be released April 2014. This one sounds really interesting and I can’t wait to read it.

I am making this the year to get caught up on the books I currently own in my collection.

I have to start off by saying that I really like the cover of this and the other books in this series.

The Pledge takes place in the country of Ludania. Its a post apocalyptic world. In this world the language that you speak determines where you fall into the society. Doing that wrong thing and getting caught could cost you your life.

The people of Ludania know exactly what to do. They know they are to pledge allegiance to the Queen, they know they are to support the public executions and they knew to keep their heads down when higher classes are in their presence. The Queen has instilled fear into her people and they know it.

The main character Charlie (Charlaina is her real name) knows she is different and she has to be careful because doing the wrong thing could get her into trouble. Charlie has a secret that only her parents know about and that is she can understand certain languages. Since Charlie is born (or so she things) in the vendor class she is only allowed to speak Englasise and she is suppose to let the other classes thing that is all she understands but at times she finds it hard to control it.

No book would be complete without a little teen romance and that comes in the form of a young soldier named Max that she meets at a club. She is intrigued by him because not only is he good looking but he also speaks another language she has never heard of before. She is surprised that Max knows so much about her. She soon begins to wonder if he knows her secret and if he does will it cost her her life?

Towards the end of the book things come to a head when violent clashes start to happen and it forces people to hid underground where secrets are revealed. How will Charlie handle things when she realizes things aren’t what they seem and that they people that she knew were actually leading a double life? How will Charlie react when she discovers that she holds the key to something much better then she every imaged?

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started to read the book but I knew I wanted to take my time in reading it so that I could enjoy it more even though at times I just wanted to fly through the book. I am happy that I did take the time to read it because I enjoyed it. I am excited to start the second book The Essence.

I really like all the characters in the book with the exception to Brooke because she comes off as self centered and its all about her and her being happy. I have to say my favorite was Max. There was something about him that I wanted to read and find out more about. I was surprised to find out where he really placed in the social scheme of the country. Totally not what I was expecting.

I thought that Kimberly did a fantastic job and there was alot of twist and turns in the book that I didn’t find to be predictable. You never knew what was going to happen.

Have you read this? What did you think of it?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Review/ Hidden

Posted on January 19, 2014April 14, 2014 by Cindy

Title: Hidden
Author: Catherine McKenzie
Pub date: June 2013
Pages: 368
Publisher: Harper Collins

Source: I bought the book because I love reading Catherine’s books.

About The Book:

When a married man suffers a sudden fatal accident, two women are shattered-his wife and someone else”s-and past secrets, desires and regrets are brought to light.

While walking home from work one evening, Jeff Manning is struck by a car and killed. Not one but two women fall to pieces at the news: his wife, Claire, and his co-worker Tish. Reeling from her loss, Claire must comfort her grieving son and contend with funeral arrangements, well-meaning family members and the arrival of Jeff”s estranged brother-her ex-boyfriend-Tim.

With Tish”s co-workers in the dark about her connection to Jeff outside the workplace, she volunteers to attend the funeral on the company”s behalf, but only she knows the true risk of inserting herself into the wreckage of Jeff”s life. Told through the three voices of Jeff, Tish and Claire, Hidden explores the complexity of relationships, our personal choices and the responsibilities we have to the ones we love.

I always love reading Catherine’s books and I actually read this when it came out in June. This was actually my vacation book. I was going to review the book in the summer but I held off because I was hoping I could have gotten on her blog tour.

This is Catherine’s fourth book and all her books are stand alone. This was one of my favorites from Catherine to date.

When I read the synopsis I knew that this would be an emotional read and it was. I didn’t zip through the book like I normally do because I wanted to take it all in and at times I really wanted to just read it because there was alot of action and suspense because you never knew when secrets would be revealed.

Everyone dies but what if someone you loved died that had a secret? What if this secret was about to rock your world and change everything? We all have secrets, small and big.

Hidden is told in three points of view: Jeff (a married man who has been living a double life), Claire (Jeff’s wife who has no clue about her husband’s double life) and Tish (the secret love). I am always worried when there is multiple points of view told in the book but Catherine did a fantastic job of separating them so you knew who was who.

I actually enjoyed this because you got to discover more about the characters then you might not normally know about them in a normal story.

I think one of the elements that I really enjoyed was the mystery in the book because you had to keep asking yourself did Jeff really cheat on Claire with Tish? At times I have to say yea I think he did and then other times I was shaking my head no knowing if he did or didn’t. Will we ever find out if he did?

Jeff and Tish work for the same company but in different locations, Springfield (yes there are two). Their relationship starts out work related and then slowly builds into something. You can see the hesitation in both because they are both married with kids. No ones about their relationship as they have kept it hidden.

I was surprised because I thought that I would end up hating Jeff and Tish but I actually didn’t which is surprising. I know my heart was breaking for what Claire was going through with the lose of her husband and dealing with that as well as their son who is struggling with this as well. I actually was happy when Claire was putting two and two together wondering if her husband did cheat. It takes alot of courage to admit that their might have been something.

I loved that no one was perfect in the book. Everyone had flaws and secrets.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.