Blog Tour: Until Next Time (The Angel Chronicles #1) by Amy Lignor

                                   

"How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart."

I want to start off by saying that I'm not the biggest fan of stories involving angels, but this book was a great refreshing take on the topic. Right off the bat we're thrown into an action scene that makes you want to know more about the characters because you automatically feel for them.

I'd usually find this type of plot confusing as it has a double plot of sorts, but it somehow worked really well with this story. One story follows Liz and Daniel while on earth, as the other follows their other life of Matt and Emily in heaven. There were a few times that were a bit confusing, but it was never an issue that would have me stop reading. All characters have their own personality and world so it was usually easy to figure out when I was thrown off.

While love triangles are a bit overdone, it was still enjoyable. I will say that I wasn't really a fan of either of the couples because I never truly felt anything for them, but I still enjoyed their characters as separate beings.

Overall, Until Next Time was a definite change from what I expected, but I loved how unique of a story it was. Lignor's writing was clear and flowed easily off the pages. Though there were a few unanswered questions, I look forward to reading the following installments. Those interested in a story that will continuously have you asking questions should definitely check out this first book!

Blog Tour & Character Interview: The Weeping by O'Dell Hutchison+ Interview w/ Heath Ingram

The Weeping Description

I usually add a book description with my reviews, but I didn't want to do that for this particular book. I initially read the description when I signed up for the tour, but when I got around to reading it, I was a bit hazy on major details other than it was a mystery involving a theatre. I'm actually really glad I didn't read the description again because it made the book into a puzzle I had to figure out. As a reader, I was immediately hooked on this story from the first sentence. I liked that I wasn't introduced to the main character right off the bat, but instead immediately taken into a scene of chaos where I didn't understand what was happening.

Once I was introduced to the main character, I was continually thrown into scenes that somehow always had a way of being haunting even when there wasn't really anything going on. Heath, our male lead, is a guy who had everything going for him, but then had his life completely shatter in an instant. With the little background knowledge, it was another miniature mystery trying to find out what exactly happened to him. Though the trauma was a bit predictable, I liked finding out what really happened as he began to feel more comfortable with characters and opened up because it felt as if he were opening up to me.

Being introduced to the number of side characters only makes the plot of this story more interesting even before odd occurrences start happening. Every character had a different personality that I wanted to know more about. Even if they were in few scenes, they all had a way of slightly impacting the story. As the more haunting elements come into play, the reader is deep into a thrilling mystery that becomes a "who-done-it" tale that kept me guessing to the very end.

With Hutchison's eerie undertones throughout the book, you'll be thrown into a plot that takes you on a number of journeys, with each one more exciting and intriguing than the last, and you won't want to put it down until you read every last twist and turn.

A.W.R. was lucky enough to score an interview with Heath during his off time! Read more about him below!

For those of us who don't know you, tell us a little about yourself.

Hmm, well, I’m from Seattle. I’m seventeen and I just graduated high school. Umm, I played baseball, and I had a scholarship for college, but after the accident… Let’s just say I can’t play baseball now. 

What do you do during your free time now?

I haven’t had a lot of free time since I got to Rock Harbor. I’m helping my uncle out at his theatre. It’s pretty busy. When I do have free time I hang out with my friends here.

What's your favorite childhood memory?

I would have to say winning the Little League baseball championship when I was thirteen. It was an awesome game. My friend Jake and I won the game for us. It was awesome.

Tell us a little about your friends (old or new, whatever you're comfortable with sharing).

They’re pretty cool. I just met them. Well, actually, I met Luke and Josie when I was younger, but I don’t really remember them. Luke’s a really nice guy. Josie’s really cool. She doesn’t take crap from anyone. We hang out a lot. Josie’s girlfriend Patrice is pretty cool too. Oh, and Molly. She’s sweet. I really like her.

How are you liking Rock Harbor? 

Well...it’s different. It’s a tourist town so it will be really quiet and then all of the sudden all of these people invade the town and crowd the beaches. There’s not much to do around here. The theatre is the main draw to the town.

I know you were unsure about the existence of ghosts, but do you believe in anything paranormal?

I don’t know, ya know? It’s weird. I never believed in any of that kind of stuff before, but there has been some really weird things going on lately. I don’t even know how to explain it. Totally freaky stuff has been happening. Yeah...

You were saying you felt as though you had "lost your mojo" when you first met Molly. Tell us about one of your old moves.

Ha ha, wow. Hmmm...wow. Wasn’t expecting that one. I don’t really know that I had a specific move. It was just always very easy for me to talk to girls and stuff. 

What do you think you'll be doing five years from now?

I just really hope I’ve graduated college by then and I'm starting a new life for myself, ya know? I haven’t really given it much thought. I’d always dreamed about making the Major Leagues when I finished college. That was always my plan. Now I don’t know.

Thanks so much for stopping by, anything else you want to add before we go?

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone will come out and support the shows this summer at Rock Harbor Opera House. We’ve got some exciting stuff coming up!

Don't forget to check rest of the tour! Click the banner above for the schedule or head on over to Novel Nerd for an interview with O'Dell Hutchison!

Giveaway & Review- Swirls by F.A. Hershey

"Sixteen-year-old Julia finds herself leaving her London life behind to move with her parents to the Amazon jungle. 

A native descendant, she becomes familiarized with her own roots for the first time in her life. However, she never imagines she is about to discover much more than her own past but also just how crowded our little planet is... "

I initially chose to review this book because it seemed different from other YA books. This book definitely took me a while to get into. Now I'm not saying it was bad, it just took some time for the story to get going. A slow beginning doesn't usually bother me, but I really didn't care for Julia as a character. She was a tad bit too whiny for me. I understood she was sad about moving, but every time she was sad it just seemed like the same sentence. After a while I really just stopped caring that she was sad. On the other hand, I absolutely loved the secondary character named Lola. She was so cute and bubbly. The male characters in this book are written in a way that they come off as very mysterious. You're always waiting to know more about them and who they are. That is one big thing this book really has going for it, it builds suspense up and gives you more and more questions to be answered.

This would also be a great book for people who enjoy a lot of description. I'm a reader who likes it in doses when it's needed, but this story is very detailed in it's surroundings. The descriptions of the Amazon put you right in the characters shoes. There are a few structural flaws in the book, but it isn't anything that deterred me from reading the story. 

The concept of the story is original and gives you insight to a world that hasn't been explored in books. I hope the following books close up some of the gaps in this first book and get into characters at a deeper level. I believe the book can definitely be a bit more edited and developed, but it's a great start to a brand new cultural viewpoint that I look forward to seeing more of. 

Want to win your very own ebook copy? Fill out the form below and cross those fingers! This contest will end on February 17th at midnight 12 a.m. PST

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Blog Tour: Within by Clare C. Marshall

"Trinity Hartell’s life changed after the accident. Left with irreversible brain damage, she becomes a burden to her mother, a cause for heartbreak for her boyfriend Zack, and a flattened obstacle for her jealous best friend, Ellie.

But then she starts writing. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that the psychotic, murderous protagonist of her novel bears a striking similarity to the charming Wiley Dalton, a mayoral candidate in the upcoming election.

Or, perhaps not…"


This book wasn't really what I was expecting, but I was somewhat surprised by how much I liked it in a hatred sort of way. Confusing I know, but you'll understand in a little bit.

The story is definitely original in its plot and characters. There are a number of twists in this book; it's sort of like a roller coaster. One minute I'd be in this heart-wrenching scene and the next I'd want to slap characters. (Yeah, I'm talking to you Ellie and Mrs. Hartell!)

The story does start off a bit slow and I did have to wait a while to really understand where the plot would go, but it wasn't anything that deterred me from reading. This brings me to the characters. Marshall was able to create an interesting array of characters that kept the story going. My only wish was that they were a bit more developed. I never really felt the best friend connection between Ellie and Trinity. Even after the accident, I found myself repeatedly screaming in my head, "How are you her friend?!" Alternatively, I did feel the love Zack had for Trinity even though there was little development in their story line as well. I believe it was due to how emotional Zack was throughout the book. His feelings always seemed to jump out from the pages and grab a hold of me.

The most enticing part of this book was the mystery of the plot. I never really understood what was going on until the latter half of the book. Dalton was one crazy psycho, and I'd really wanted to know more about him and where his story really stemmed from. Marshall did a great job writing a suspenseful yet heart-breaking plot that kept me reading to the last page.

Though different from what I first expected, this creepy page turner is for anyone who's looking for an intriguing love triangle with a twist. My only wish would be for the story to continue to get more into the lives of Trinity's family and friends. I'll definitely be watching out for Marshall's future projects! Thanks again to Faery Ink Press and Clare for letting me be a part of this amazing blog tour.

Book Tour: Tempest by Julie Cross

"The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun. 

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future. 

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities. 

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him. 

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world."

Krystal over at Live to Read is hosting a fun little arc tour for Tempest! Luckily, I got to be a part of this cool little crowd of folks on the tour and got my chance to read it this past week. The best way I could describe this book is The Time Traveler's Wife meets The Butterfly Effect.

I liked the whole science fiction meets love story idea, but I could've used a little more of a love story personally. The time travel aspects seemed to be a little too much for me, and oddly enough made the story drag sometimes. The overbearing theme didn't help me get into any of the characters for the most part. One of the characters that made me sigh pretty much right away was Jackson's best friend, Adam. I can't stand a character written for convenience, and I think that's exactly what he was. It was hard to believe that there just happened to be a friend who understood the space time continuum pretty well.

I will say Cross had a good handle on her ideas of time travel. It was interesting to see a slightly different take on the idea than we usually see. As a start to a trilogy, I hope to see a bit more development into characters as we jump deeper into the story. If you're into the whole jumper aspect, this story will definitely keep you reading!

Blog Tour- The Willows: Haven by Hope Collier

"When tragedy strikes, seventeen year-old Ashton Blake sets out on a cross-country road trip, leaving the comforts of Malibu for the mountains of Kentucky. Along the way, she encounters Gabe Willoughby—the mysterious drifter with eyes like the sea and a knowing smile. Getting to know Gabe raises questions about her past. But no secret can be buried forever, and Ashton soon finders herself in a world where water is air and myth becomes reality.

Just as Ashton comes to accept her newfound heritage, she’s summoned to fulfill a treaty laid down centuries before — a treaty that will divide her love and test her loyalty. In the end, her future isn’t her biggest concern, her humanity is. To run may mean war, but is she strong enough to stay?"

As soon as I saw this book, I was intrigued. It did have a way of sucking you in from the beginning and kept you reading to find out more. Collier brought me into the world of Nymphs in a really great and clever way. I will say that I think there were some plot issues, like the beginning never being truly explained, that bugged me. However, with there being more books in this series, I'm sure things will be answered.

The characters were well-written. Though Ashton was pushed into this new world, I like how she kind of learned as she went. Though I do believe she could've maybe asked a bit more about this crazy change into a new world, I thought she handled it in stride. I really wanted to like Ashton with Gabe, but I just couldn't do it. Even after a few weeks from reading it, I can't figure out why he just didn't do it for me. He was yummy, had that young rebellious thing going on...but I just couldn't accept him as a fictional book boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, their scenes were hot and I loooved how cute they were together with all the nicknames, cuddling and all around swoon-fest, but their relationship just didn't feel real for me. I think with a little development, it could've helped me love him and them a bit more. My favorite character was probably Ashton's BFF, Kyle. He was just so cute and boyish that I wanted to hang with him and eat ice-cream.

Overall, I think this was a pretty good start to a new series. Collier kept me trying to figure it out to the end, and I want to see what happens next in Ashton's new nymph world as she continues her adventure.

I know you wanna read this, so we have an e-book giveaway through A Tale of Many Reviews! Leave your email with your name! Also, make sure to check out the other stops on this tour for more chances to win!

Blog Tour Guest Post & Giveaway: Breathe by Abbi Glines

If you've been keeping up with this blog(yeah, I know you all stalk me regularly), you've seen a review of a book called "Breathe". Well, this week author, Abbi Glines has been awesome enough to share a guest post giving all you lovely people an inside look to the making of her book and how the name "Breathe" came to be! If ya missed it the first time around, we also have a cool e-book and grand prize giveaway at the end of this post.

The Naming of Breathe

Ideas for stories just pop out of nowhere for a writer. Doesn’t seem to matter where I am or what I’m doing, if a story is floating around somewhere it finds me. Kind of like little fairies looking for a place to curl up. A writer’s job is to latch onto that one perfect idea and run with it. We are good at that. It’s just how we roll. 

Deciding on the “title” of our beloved story is another thing. Titles aren’t floating around us. They tend to play hide and seek and man are they good at hiding! Hair has been pulled, nails have been bitten, and sleep has been lost trying to come up with that one small description that will become the name of a novel. 

I was recently asked how I came up with the name “Breathe”.  I could have named it a bazillion other things. At one point in the decision making process I had a notebook full of possibilities. A few in the top running were: My Summer with a Rock Star, The Summer I fell in love with a Rock Star, The Boy with a Guitar, and Steal Blue. None of those made me completely happy. None of those truly explained Sadie and Jax. I kept editing and tweaking Breathe, 

getting it ready so I could start sending out queries. Knowing, I had to nail down a title. 

One Sunday afternoon, I sat outside on my front porch rereading my still unnamed manuscript and I came to the turning point in Jax and Sadie’s relationship. The moment Jax laid himself bare as to how he really felt... (a small excerpt from Breathe by Abbi Glines)  “girlfriend seems to be too shallow a word for what I feel for you. These past two weeks it’s been as if you control my breathing. When I watched you with 

Marcus, my chest would tighten, and it became hard to breathe. But then I would see you smile or laugh and I could 

take a deep breath again.” 

After reading that passage the title came to me immediately. It summed up their feelings throughout the entire story. That feeling of tightness in your chest when the one person you love more than life walks away. You truly feel as if without them you can’t breathe. Title found! Gotcha ya, you sneaky little sucker =)

Abbi’s Links:

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Amazon

Want to try and get your hands on your very own copy of "Breathe"? Check out my review and leave a comment with your email! 

Want some more swag? Visit and comment with your email on all the stops on the YA Bound blog tour for your chance to win all this below!

Winners will be announced on August 25th at 8 p.m. EST during a live chat with Abbi! Good luck all!

Book Tour & Giveaway: Breathe by Abbi Glines

Holy crap! My very first blog tour and giveaway! I'm kind of excited if you couldn't tell. The story of Breathe by Abbie Glines is here to take my blog tour cherry.



"Sadie White’s summer job isn’t going to be on the beach life-guarding or working at rental booths like most kids her age. With her single mother’s increasing pregnancy and refusal to work, Sadie has to take over her mother’s job as a domestic servant for one of the wealthy summer families on a nearby island.
When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie hadn’t spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house she might have been normal enough to be excited about working for a rock star.


Even though Sadie isn’t impressed by Jax’s fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax but he fights his attraction. Relationship’s never work in his world and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. By the end of the summer, Jax discovers he can’t breathe without Sadie.
But can their love overcome the disparity in their lifestyles? Or will they have to learn how to without each other breathe again?"


As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew I had to read it. I mean really, who hasn't thought about what it'd be like to be with someone famous? I could probably come up with a list of people(how YOU doin' Matthew Gray Gubler). 


Glines wrote in a very easy to read manner that never made the book tiresome for me. Though I found some of the characters to be not as well-developed as I would've liked, they all seemed to have a lot of heart. Sadie was a lovable character in a naive way. As a reader, her life really pulled at the heartstrings. For someone who went through that many struggles, she seemed to always have a positive outlook on life and it was nice to see people have hope in their lives. Jax, our male hottie in this book, was written in a way that was almost too perfect. Though I could see how Glines was trying to portray two different sides to him, I would've liked to see more of the "normal" Jax side of him that he continuously said Sadie got to. However, an aspect I realized that I did enjoy was having a male character be the one to lay his heart out on the line. There are so many YA books out there always having the girl fall for some guy, where this book took a turn and had a male character speak about his emotions and what he felt for a girl without the girl saying it first. 


Sadie and Jax's relationship overall was pretty adorable from a teen point-of-view,but seemed a bit unrealistic for my taste. Though they were perfectly cute together, I couldn't really see some of their relationship fitting the way it did. The relationship ran a bit quickly for me and I would've enjoyed a little more set-up in them getting to know one another. 


If you're looking for a fun breezy beach read, Breathe could be just what you're looking for. 







Want to win an e-book copy of Breathe by Abbi Glines? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your email so we can contact you!












Just a book not enough for you? Visit and comment with your email on all the stops on the YA Bound blog tour for these awesome prizes!








Winners will be announced on August 25th at 8 p.m. EST during a live chat with author Abbi Glines! Good luck!