Creatures of the Night - Blog Tour

 

Creatures of the Night

by Grace Collins
Publisher: Wattpad Books
Release Date: July 13th 2021

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal

Goodreads

Make your way home at five. Be in the tunnels as the sun begins to fall. Seal the entrance. Leave enough room for malfunction. These are the rules I grew up with, the ones I never dared to break. Until now.

Milena’s twentieth birthday, the day she would join the ranks of her village’s hunters, should have been the most exciting day of her life. Being a hunter meant she would be able to help protect her village from the murderous wolves who take human form—the creatures of the night. But a chance encounter with Elias, the enigmatic leader of the creatures, leaves her questioning everything she has ever believed to be true.

Up until now, Elias has managed to protect the creatures of the night and keep the secrets of his past well hidden. Now, as tensions between the groups grow, Elias is forced to make hard decisions: ones that will cost lives. Nobody is safe, especially Milena, the person he is inexplicably drawn to even though it could destroy them both.

My Thoughts:

I have not read a lot of paranormal romance but I’m so glad I gave this one a try. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. One of my favorite things about this book is the shifters included. I really think YA needs more books with shifters in them. I really appreciated the growth that Milena went through in the book but mostly in the second half. I am definitely looking to forward to seeing her character develop more in the next book.

I felt that the dialogue done in this book was well written and flowed very smoothly. While the dialogue was done well, I do wish I would’ve seen a bit more complexity in Milena’s and Elias’ relationship. Regardless of the flat relationship, I really enjoyed Milena and Elias as separate characters. Another thing that’s hard for me is literally just the character name, Elias. It’s being used way too much in recent YA novels and it made it a little tough to keep his character, his own.

To sum it all up though, I enjoyed this story and felt that it was unique and thoughtful. I loved the various tropes that were used and the number of times I was able to relate to the character.

*Favorite Quotes*

"And they're gone and I'm left alone with the one person I'm convinced actually wants me dead."

"When they look human and act human, it's hard to believe they're not."

"I feel like the knife before I see it, a sharp pain blossoming in my chest as her eyes meet mine."

"All my life I hid from the trees. The night and its shadows were my enemies."

"Because even as night descends around us, stars peek through the shadows. And they shine brighter in the darkness."

 

BOOK LINKS

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54968304-creatures-of-the-night

Amazon: https://amzn.to/34NQHuY

Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Creatures-Night-Grace-Collins/9781989365496?ref=grid-view&qid=1622813910773&sr=1-2

B&N; https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/creatures-of-the-night-grace-collins/1137491789?ean=9781989365496

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/creatures-of-the-night/id1551648674

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/creatures-of-the-night-15

Google Books: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LEEDEAAAQBAJ

 

AUTHOR BIO

Grace Collins first discovered her love for writing when she posted her ideas online at the age of thirteen. She has a BA in psychology and French, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in education. Her debut novel, Creatures of the Night, has amassed over one million reads online and received a Watty Award for Horror and Paranormal. Grace lives in Aotearoa New Zealand and enjoys spending time in nature, traveling, and learning new languages.

 

AUTHOR LINKS

Wattpad: https://books.wattpad.com/grace-collins

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20847440.Grace_Collins

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cloudedwstories

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cloudedwstories/

 

BOOK TRAILER

Link: Creatures of the Night by Grace Collins | Official Book Trailer | Wattpad Books

 

TOUR SCHEDULE

https://favouritepagesbookclub.blogspot.com/2021/06/tour-schedule-creatures-of-night-by.html

Review and Giveaway!! The Boy Next Story (Bookish Boyfriends #2)

The Boy Next Story

 by Tiffany Schmidt

Synopsis:

The second book in a series where your favorite literary characters come to life, inspired by the timeless classic, Little Women!

There’s no one better than the boy next door. At least not according to Aurora Campbell, fourteen, who has been in love with Tobias May since their very first sandbox kiss. The problem is, he’s in love with her older sister, Merrilee. And Merri is already dating one of his best friends.

Rory is learning all about pining as her class reads The Great Gatsby, a book she doesn’t find “great” at all. Also not great—her GPA, something she needs to fix, quickly, if she’d like to apply for the chance to spend a week studying art with her hero in New York City over winter break. But when Ms. Gregoire assigns her to read Little Women for extra credit, Rory discovers more than she expected—both about herself and Toby. Maybe she wasn’t in love with the boy next door. . . but the boy next story.

Love is complicated, and it’s all about to get even trickier for Rory at Reginald R. Hero Prep . . . where with the help of one quirky English teacher, students’ fantasies come true, often with surprising consequences.

My Take:

I knew that I was going to be smitten with this book as soon as I read the Booklist review, "This contemporary rom-com series starter is a fun introduction to classics... wittily making old stories new again".  I probably should have read Little Women first, since the book is loosely based off of this classic, but alas I did not.  So, I may not have been able to get some of the hints, nods or references to the original title, but even still, I was in awe of Rory and her journey. 

I admit I couldn't fully relate to Rory because of her being only 14, and I'm well, not 14, but I could totally relate to the feelings of not being seen or heard and for those reasons, I imagined myself as Rory.  I also love her relationship with art.  Though I never really appreciated it as a kid, as I've gotten older, I find it so powerful for so many different reasons and I think that also helped me to relate to Rory a bit more.  

Tobias was a wonderful character though.  One of the best young males I've read of in a long time.  I prefer my guys a little on the shy side and I totally got that with Toby.  I couldn't have asked for a better male lead.

I wasn't quite expecting so much of the sisterly bonding though that is on me, because I know Little Women and also that was explained more in the first book, which admittedly I did not read, the good news is that you don't have to read the first book to get this one!  Just that like me, you might be a bit surprised to find a lot more than what's on the back cover, and that is totally a badass quality by the way!  I thoroughly enjoyed The Boy Next Story and can't wait to see what else Tiffany has up her literary sleeves!

Favorite Quotes:

"His hand squeezed mine before he pulled away to flag down our waitress. "Could I have the check?"

"If I stayed stuck in the past, it would destroy me.  It was time to move on. It was time to let go."

"Don't decide you can't before you discover you can."

"It was an accidental declaration in all its messy glory."

"And maybe families weren't a game of balancing a seesaw but of playing Red Rover.  You held on as tight as you could and protected that bond from the forces that flew against you and tried to tear you apart."

About the Author 

Tiffany Schmidt 

Tiffany Schmidt is the author of Send Me a Sign, Bright Before Sunrise, and Hold Me Like a Breath (Once Upon a Crime Family book 1).  She’s found her happily ever after in Pennsylvania with her saintly husband, impish twin boys, and a pair of mischievous puggles. You can find out more about her and her books at: TiffanySchmidt.com, TiffanySchmidtWrites.Tumblr.com or by following her on Twitter @TiffanySchmidt.

Tour Schedule

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/04/tour-schedule-boy-next-story-bookish.html

Givewaway

Prize: Win a copy of BOOKISH BOYFRIENDS: THE BOY NEXT STORY by Tiffany Schmidt (US Only)

 Start Date: 21^st May 2019

End Date: 4^th June 2019

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86368/?

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing

By: Delia Owens

I haven’t read many coming of age novels, but Where the Crawdads Sing was the pick for our book club for May and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  Your heart goes out to the main character Kya right from the beginning.  Her family in disarray, her living conditions also completely pitiful but this story doesn’t focus on that.  Rather it talks about resilience.  The need to keep going to live, to thrive.  A young girl growing into adult hood and not by the help of her mother or sisters or aunts, but by nature.  You find everything from gulls to lightening bugs, fishing and digging for mussels.  The reader truly feels enveloped by the marsh and its inhabitants throughout this story. 

Kya goes on one emotional ride after the other and you can’t help but stay with her through her journeys of isolation.  How can one young person be so isolated but still have so much love in their heart?  We meet Tate early on and though we initially love him, he all people, makes his own mistakes.  I found it hard to forgive him but in the end found no other alternative.  Chase Andrews was the other guy we meet in this story, and I feel that we all have met a real life Chase at one time or another.  I absolutely hated him from the beginning to the end but loved that he was a character in this story because it needed him.  Our lives need a Chase Andrews so we can learn from them.  Most of us don’t find a perfect romance in the first love of our lives and instead we must be dealt a broken heart and learn how to put the pieces back together again and do our best to move on. 

So many other side characters in this novel, made this story so heartwarming and gut-wrenching all at the same time. Jumpin’ and Mabel are protectors I think we all wish we could have had and I don’t think I realized just how big Jumpin’s impact on Kya was until later in the story.  With touches on abandonment, isolation, survival, science, and love, Where the Crawdads Sing touched my heart in many different ways, with Kya taking a little piece of my heart along the way.

The Memory Trees With Giveaway!!!

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Memory Trees

by Kali Wallace

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Release Date: October 10th 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Paranormal

 

Synopsis:

The Memory Trees is a dark magical realism novel about a mysterious family legacy, a centuries-old feud, and a tragic loss that resurfaces when sixteen-year-old Sorrow returns to her mother’s family orchard for the summer.

Sorrow Lovegood’s life has been shaped by the stories of the women who came before her: brave, resilient women who settled long ago on a mercurial apple orchard in Vermont. The land has been passed down through generations, and Sorrow and her family take pride in its strange history. Their offbeat habits may be ridiculed by other townspeople—especially their neighbors, the Abrams family—but for the first eight years of her life, the orchard is Sorrow’s whole world. 

Then one winter night everything changes. Sorrow’s sister Patience is tragically killed. Their mother suffers a mental breakdown. Sorrow is sent to live with her dad in Miami, away from the only home she’s ever known.

Now sixteen, Sorrow’s memories of her life in Vermont are maddeningly hazy; even the details of her sister’s death are unclear. She returns to the orchard for the summer, determined to learn ore about her troubled childhood and the family she left eight years ago. Why has her mother kept her distance over the years? What actually happened the night Patience died? Is the orchard trying to tell her something, or is she just imagining things?

Buy Links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33830397-the-memory-trees

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Trees-Kali-Wallace/dp/0062366238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507015724&sr=8-1&keywords=the+memory+trees+kali+wallace

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-memory-trees-kali-wallace/1125454855?ean=9780062366238

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Memory-Trees-Kali-Wallace/9780062366238?ref=grid-view&qid=1507015817411&sr=1-7

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-memory-trees

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-memory-trees/id1195499950?mt=11

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062366238

                                            

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kali Wallace studied geology and geophysics before she decided she enjoyed inventing imaginary worlds as much as she liked researching the real one. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, F&SF, Asimov's, Lightspeed Magazine, and Tor.com. Her first novel, Shallow Graves, was published by Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins in 2016. Her second novel, The Memory Trees, will follow in 2017. She lives in southern California.

Website:  http://www.kaliwallace.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6863587.Kali_Wallace

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaliphyte

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kali.wallace.9

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaliphyte/

Tour link: http://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2017/09/tour-schedule-memory-trees-by-kali.html

1 signed hardcover copy of THE MEMORY TREES by Kali Wallace (US Only)

Direct Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86267/?

There is a preorder giveaway: anybody who preorders by 10/10 can get a signed bookplate and some bookmarks if they send an email to thememorytrees@gmail.com.

Giveaway for Of Jenny & The Aliens!!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Of Jenny and the Aliens

by Ryan Gebhart

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Release Date: August 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Sci-Fi

Synopsis:

When boy meets girl meets alien, the angst of first love gets an extraterrestrial intervention in a tale both outrageously funny and full of heart.

Ten years after Earth sent messages out into deep space, there has been an answer. Music from a distant planet has reached the world’s radios. Are aliens about to invade? No one knows, and almost-eighteen-year-old Derek doesn’t really care, because at a wild end-of-the-world party, Jennifer Novak invited him to play beer pong, and things, well, progressed from there. Derek is in love. Deeply, hopelessly in love. He wants it all — marriage, kids, growing old on a beach in Costa Rica. For him, Jenny is the One. But Jenny has other plans, which may or may not include Derek. So Derek will try anything to win her — even soliciting advice from an alien who shows up in his hometown. This alien may just be the answer to Derek’s problem, but is Derek prepared to risk starting an interstellar war to get his girl? Just how far is he willing to travel to discover the mysteries of the universe — and the enigma of love?

AUTHOR GUEST POST!! 

Hi y'all!

My name is Ryan Gebhart and I'm the author of the upper YA novel Of Jenny and the Aliens. It's about first love and first contact. About world peace and/or an interstellar war. It's full of crass humor, UFOs, and as Booklist says in a starred review: “The narrative probes the boundless nature of love and the boundaries people impose on it, and draws attention to the process of hiding from and then finding oneself.” I'm thrilled that the Fantastic Flying Book Club is hosting its book tour. Thank you so much to all involved!

Three main things and a million little other things inspired Of Jenny and the Aliens, but I'll stick with sharing just the top three:

1)      Well, I saw a UFO. I was at a party in Texas and everyone was lying on blankets looking up at the night sky as this ring of spinning lights moved across the sky effortlessly, sometimes vanishing, only to reappear somewhere else in the sky five seconds later. Everyone was debating what it could be, and we settled on the possibility that this UFO was alien in nature. Then the topic transitioned into what these theoretical aliens' intentions were: do they come in peace or with hostile intentions?  To me, the potential aliens on board had to be friendly. Because if they were hostile and capable of traveling to Earth, then why haven't they already killed us in an attempt to recolonize our planet for their own purposes, or to enslave humanity and/or harvest us for food? Then a thought occurred to me: maybe they're afraid of us. I knew I had expand upon that idea.

2)      Uhh, (cough) I haven't had the best of luck with relationships. Although my main character Derek's story in no way directly reflects my own, I have shared many of the emotions he experiences. I guess Derek and I both grew up having some unrealistic expectations of what love is supposed to be, and how love in real life isn't always like how it's portrayed on film. Love is complicated, it can be amazing, it can suck miserably, but as Derek's dad says at one point: “...whether we like it or not, it's what keeps the human race going.” I wanted to write a love story, but I wanted to make is as messy and shocking and nauseating and as an episode of Jerry Springer. Sure, there are perfect Cinderella romances in the real world. I chose to represent the romances that turn into absolute train wrecks that, as a spectator, you just can't look away from.

3)      The Iraq War. When I was first drafting the idea for Of Jenny and the Aliens, it was 2007 and I had already spent years trying to concept how we could be in another war after we had already been involved in so many other wars. When would the violence stop? I remember when I studied abroad, I had so much fun learning someone else's language, trying brand new foods, dancing brand new dances. Every culture across the globe has so much depth, so much history, so much humanity. Iraqis are no exception, so why were we fighting them when instead we could be communicating with them, learning about them, and just simply hanging out? I delved deeper into those thoughts until I asked myself: what would it take for humanity to collectively stop fighting each other? What would it take for actual world peace? These questions ate away at me so much until I thought of a plausible answer. I won't give it away, but it's cynical as hell and, yeah, it involves aliens...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

   

Ryan Gebhart is the author of the middle-grade novel There Will Be Bears, about which Publishers Weekly said in a starred review, “Fully developed characters, complex and realistic relationships . . . and a spot-on narrative voice . . . make this story stand out. About Of Jenny and the Aliens, the author says, “This book is about first love and discovering that we're not alone in the universe, and how maybe those two things aren't that different from each other.” Ryan Gebhart lives in Ohio.

His debut young adult Of Jenny and the Aliens, about first love and discovering that we're not alone in the universe, will be released Spring 2017 with Candlewick Press.

Links:

Website- http://rgebhart82.livejournal.com

Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7177790.Ryan_Gebhart

Twitter- https://twitter.com/ryangebhart

Links:

Goodreads-https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25226092-of-jenny-and-the-aliens

Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Aliens-Ryan-Gebhart/dp/0763688452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498851855&sr=8-1&keywords=of+jenny+and+the+aliens

B&N-https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/of-jenny-and-the-aliens-ryan-gebhart/1124807221?ean=9780763688455

BookDepository-https://www.bookdepository.com/Of-Jenny-and-the-Aliens-Ryan-Gebhart/9780763688455?ref=grid-view&qid=1498851994094&sr=1-8

Kobo- https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/of-jenny-and-the-aliens

  ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:

•    3 copies of OF JENNY AND THE ALIENS will go to 3 winners

•    US Only

•    Read the Rafflecopter Rules for more details

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86253/?

Read Along: Before The Snow by Danielle Paige

A Wonderful Novella

Paving the way for Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige   

Enter a world of elemental magic, forbidden romance, and betrayal in this prequel to New York Times bestselling author Danielle Paige's upcoming Stealing Snow.

Young Nepenthe is half-princess, half-mermaid. Though she longs for the sea, her father wants her to stay on land. But only love can make a mermaid give up the water, and Nepenthe doesn't love anyone the way her mother loves her human father. She wants to live as a mermaid and become the River Witch, like her mother.

Then Nepenthe meets Prince Lazar, the son of the all-powerful Snow King of Algid, and she can't help but fall for him. After a horrible tragedy strikes, Nepenthe joins forces with a young fire witch named Ora to save Lazar and protect the kingdom. But it soon becomes clear that Ora loves Lazar just as much as Nepenthe does... And now Nepenthe must decide: inherit the power of the River Witch, or betray her friend to be with the boy she loves.

And Nepenthe's role in the prophecy is only just beginning. . . In the future, she is destined to cross paths with a girl named Snow, who will have the power to change Algid forever-for better, or for worse.

My Take:

I had no idea what to expect with this novella, because it was my first Danielle Paige novel.  I had seen post after post on Twitter about Stealing Snow and was totally getting hyped up everyday I signed on.  So when the Before The Snow novella was revealed and available on Amazon, I was all about buying and reading that!  

I am so glad I did! 

Nepenthe is the daughter of Princess Ariel and Prince Eric and though her father wants her to remain on land, she feels the calling of the sea, talking to her. Oh, the feels you guys!  And then of course, a young charming prince makes his debut and eventually, Nepenthe must choose between her calling and her heart's desires.  Oh and BIG PROBLEM, her sister Ora, loves the same prince.  With betrayal, friendship, and magic, this novella surprised me constantly! 

Danielle has a key sense on providing vivid imagery for her readers.  I felt like I was being pulled into the story, to stand side by side with Nepenthe as she goes on this trying journey.  I can only imagine what Stealing Snow has in store for us, and I will be in the highest state of anticipation waiting for this read! 

This is a must read for any fantasy+magic+romance+fairy tale lover!