Release Day and Giveaway: Cinderella Dressed in Ashes by Cameron Jace

Interested in a twisted paranormal fairy tale series?  I highly recommend you start with Cameron Jace's Grimm Diaries Prequels to become acquainted with his stories.  Because they'll hook you and keep you reading...

Cinderella Dressed in Ashes by Cameron Jace

The Grimm Diaries, Book 2

Cameron Jace' website

Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

Loki is controlled by the Queen through his Dreamhunter's Fleece, and he's now Snow White's enemy. No one's sure what the Queen of Sorrow wants to do next, and what her plans with Sorrow are. In another Dreamory, they learn who Cinderella really is, where she came from, her relationship with Snow, and what historical period she'd affected with what she calls the Forbidden Art.

Check out my review and description of the first book in the series, Snow White Sorrow, if you haven't started the series.

Excerpt

The door of the Schloss sprang open, followed by a gust of a sinister wind spiraling in the hallways.

Snow White, sleeping in her coffin, opened her weary eyes. Her heart tightened in a strange way as if some invisible force wrapped a velvet rope around it and started squeezing. Something dreadful was coming her way.

The first recognizable voice was Fable screaming outside the castle.

“Don’t—” Fable shouted.

The sinister and howling wind ate the rest of Fable’s words like cookie monster, protecting whatever evil was approaching Snow White.

“Wake up, Shew,” the wind laughed. Snow White wondered if she had just imagined the wind talk to her. “It’s time to…,” the wind laughed again.

“Stop!” Axel’s voice splintered like shattered glass across the wind’s wings.

Axel and Fable. I remember them. They’re Loki’s friends.

Snow White had been waiting for Loki all day. He’d went to Candy House to meet up with the Crumblewood’s foster mother. He was supposed to return to the Schloss before sunset. It was midnight.

Snow White heard someone enter the castle downstairs. Whoever it was, he or she were breathing heavily, smelling of uncanny evil—a scent Snow White had worn on her soul for years before Loki’s kiss.

Sidenote:  That excerpt gets me excited for this one.  It pulls from the first novel and leaves you with expectations for the this one.

Giveaway

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Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Genre:  Adult Urban Fantasy

Sookie Stackhouse Series, Book 13

Charlaine Harris' website

Amazon |  Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart...

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough...

And a much-loved series comes to an end.  As much as I loved the first few books in this series (maybe the first half of the series), I will not be shedding any tears to see this series conclude.  It was long overdue, and I'm happy Sookie gets her "happily ever after".

The description does the book justice.  Anything I try to add will just ruin plots from earlier stories.  We do get to see appearances of all the characters (ahem, men) Sookie has seen throughout the series.  But that's all they are: appearances.  There isn't much meaning to them actually being in the story other than the hotness factor.

It seems like the author tries to make Sookie's life seem normal.  But her life is anything but, and that's why we want to read about her.  In the attempt to add too many normal-ness to her life, we don't really get enough action and surprises.  I mean, I knew exactly how this ride was going to end quite a few books ago, the least they could do was make it an action-packed ride through it all.

I love the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Even though the last few books weren't as attention-getting and fun as I had hoped, I still enjoyed them.  But my mind might have had a difficult time differentiating between the characters in the books and the characters on tv (True Blood).  In fact, I think I'm going to go watch that now...

Challenges:  Paranormal Reading Challenge

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly post hosted by Breaking the Spine, and it spotlights upcoming books that we as readers are anxiously awaiting...

Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb
Genre:  YA Historical Paranormal
Victoria Lamb's website
Expected publication date:  September 24, 2013
Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

If she sink, she be no witch and shall be drowned.

If she float, she be a witch and must be hanged.

Meg Lytton has always known she is different—that she bears a dark and powerful gift. But in 1554 England, in service at Woodstock Palace to the banished Tudor princess Elizabeth, it has never been more dangerous to practise witchcraft. Meg knows she must guard her secret carefully from the many suspicious eyes watching over the princess and her companions. One wrong move could mean her life, and the life of Elizabeth, rightful heir to the English throne.

With witchfinder Marcus Dent determined to have Meg's hand in marriage, and Meg's own family conspiring against the English queen, there isn't a single person Meg can trust. Certainly not the enigmatic young Spanish priest Alejandro de Castillo, despite her undeniable feelings. But when all the world turns against her, Meg must open her heart to a dangerous choice.

What's my favorite era of history?  The Tudor era (don't ask me why, I don't know why).  What's my favorite genre?  Paranormal!!  And the fact that I haven't struck out yet with witches in history...  Boo yah!  I'm ready for this one...

Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction edited by Carrie Ryan

Genre:  YA Short Stories

Carrie Ryan's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Carrie Ryan's website):

Have you ever been tempted to look into the future? To challenge predictions? To question fate? It's human nature to wonder about life's twists and turns. But is the future already written—or do you have the power to alter it?

From fantastical prophecies to predictions of how the future will transpire, Foretold is a collection of stories about our universal fascination with life's unknowns and of what is yet to come as interpreted by 14 of young adult fiction's brightest stars.

This anthology is collection of short stories from well-known young adult authors regarding prophecy and predictions.  And I have to say that I had an easier time reading this set of short stories because I didn't read it from beginning to end.  I kind of picked and chose which story to read next based on author and title (but I did read all of the stories).  The authors include (and yes, they are ordered from my favorite stories to least-favorite):

• Laini Taylor
• Meg Cabot
• Saundra Mitchell
• Simone Elkeles
• Richelle Mead
• Michael Grant
• Lisa McMann
• Carrie Ryan
• Diana Peterfreund
• Kami Garcia
• Malinda Lo
• Matt de la Peña
• Heather Brewer
• Margaret Stohl

I'm only going to mention a few of my favorite stories.  Laini Taylor wrote a beautiful piece about falling in love with gentlemen's phantoms.  Meg Cabot wrote about aliens, and this story kept me laughing.  One author who really surprised me (because I did not care for her book) was Saundra Mitchell's story; it was about a girl in a fantasy world on a quest to save her sister.  There's a lot of love stories including a short story from Vampire Academy characters.

This book definitely introduced me to some must-read authors.  If only I had more time to read...

Challenges:  TBR Pile Reading Challenge