Giveaway - The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain

Today is the release day for book two in Rebecca Rynecki's Alaina Downs series.  I'm so happy to see it in print and out in ebook, so...I'm giving away a copy!

Check it out:

The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain

by Rebecca Rynecki

Alaina Downs, book two 

 



Teaser synopsis:
Two years have passed since Alaina and Gabriel left, and forty years have passed in Isleen. The King is dead. The Queen's powers have weakened. And Gabriel faces the consequences of his bargain. Among dragons, evil witches and a sorceress intent on taking over the world, Alaina has to save Isleen...again. (description from Amazon.com)

While this book is darker in tone than the first, The Secret World of Alaina Downs, I loved being able to jump back into Alaina and Gabriel's story. In their return to Isleen, Alaina and Gabriel meet a lot of familiar characters from the first book, though we see them in slightly different ways now.  A lot of things have changed in the time they've been away... including themselves. 

In fact, I loved the beginning of this book because we get to see Alaina and Gabriel living in our world. I found myself giggling a lot as I read about Gabriel's attempts to adjust to life here...and then sympathizing when he found himself floundering, just like Alaina had in Isleen. This book really focused in on how the two main characters interact with each other and built their relationship to be even stronger...even as they found themselves in danger once again. 

There were still moments that reminded me of The Princess Bride in this book, though I found myself much more emotionally wraught throughout the second half...by the time I reached the ending, I felt like I'd been through the wringer! Every emotion you could hope to experience in a love story (a real life one, not a fairy tale...) can be found here.  You will laugh, you will cry, and you will shake your fist at the sky...

So... Want a chance to read it for yourself??
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out the author's blog!
Full disclosure: Personal friend/writing partner of author.

Island of Silence

Island of Silence

by Lisa McMann

The Unwanteds, book two



Following the life-altering events at the conclusion of The Unwanteds, the stark world of Quill and the magical haven of Artimé are now home to whoever wants to live there, whether they are Wanteds, Unwanteds, or Necessaries.

In Artimé, Alex Stowe and his friends continue to hone their artistic magical spells while welcoming newcomers, wondering how long this peace between Quill and Artimé will last. Alex is stunned when Mr. Today comes to him with a very special request—one Alex questions his readiness for, until circumstances offer a dramatic answer.

And back in Quill, Aaron Stowe, Alex’s twin, faces a very different path. Devastated by his loss of status after Justine’s defeat and seething with rage toward Alex, Aaron is stealthily planning his revenge and return to power. (Description from Amazon.com)

 

This is a series that I will tell you I unabashedly enjoy. It has a very similar feel to Harry Potter, but takes a very unique spin on the arts. I envy Lisa McMann's imagination when I read about the artistically inspired spells the kids use in Artime.

As in Harry Potter, this second book has taken the series to a slightly darker place. While Artime is still a thriving, beautiful, and creative place, the political repurcussions of opening Artime to everyone are felt throughout the land. While the Artimeans are busy battling the Quillians, they also discover that something sinister may be occuring outside of their land, as well. In fact, even as Alex is trying to wrap his brain around being groomed to lead Artime one day and also deal with his evil twin's sinister plotting (which gave me shivers, btw...kid's got real power issues!), several of Alex's friends go missing and Alex finds himself in charge much earlier than expected.

The only fault I found with this book was that it left off with huge plot cliffhangers!! While a few questions were answered, many more were raised, and I'm going to have a hard time waiting for book three to find out what's really going on at the Island of Silence!!

 

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for SLJ

Partials

Partials
by Dan Wells

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.


Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.  (description taken from Amazon.com)

Feel like you are tired of dystopians, yet? If so, I'd say give Partials a chance and see if it restores your faith in the genre. I love dystopians, really love them, but with the influx to the market right now, it is easy to get burnt out! I'm finding myself having to be much more careful in my selections and having to space them out between books from other genres to give myself a mental reboot. However, I really, thoroughly enjoyed Partials and would read a sequel from this author in a heartbeat!

This book had a great premise and followed through with realistic fallout. I loved how not only had the human population been decimated by a virus (that they essentially unleashed upon themselves after creating the Partials superhuman army...), but that they then also had to deal with their inability to reproduce successfully and how their society dealt with the prospect of dying out. There were LAYERS of things going on here!!  LAYERS, people.

Kira was a great heroine.  She was tough, she fought for what she believed in...she made dumb mistakes and she was scared sh!tless sometimes, but she also inspired change! She was a gamechanger. She thought outside the box. In a word, she was awesome. I would take Kira on my side against the world, any day!

Full of action, great observations of people and not only how they react singly to important events, but as a group, with a really strong main character... Partials is a dystopia I recommend to all that love the genre.  It makes my top three dystopians list!  

*Side note - I listened to this as an audio book and it was great.  So good, that I ended up being too impatient to listen to the very end and had to grab the book so I could finish it faster! LOL.  

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile