Review: The Luthier's Apprentice

The Luthier's Apprentice by Mayra Calvani
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: May 10, 2014
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Book Description:

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), one of the greatest violinists who ever lived and rumored to have made a pact with the devil, has somehow transferred unique powers to another.

When violinists around the world mysteriously vanish, 16-year-old Emma Braun takes notice. But when her beloved violin teacher disappears… Emma takes charge. With Sherlock Holmes fanatic, not to mention gorgeous Corey Fletcher, Emma discovers a parallel world ruled by an ex-violinist turned evil sorceress who wants to rule the music world on her own terms.

But why are only men violinists captured and not women? What is the connection between Emma's family, the sorceress, and the infamous Niccolò Paganini Emma must unravel the mystery in order to save her teacher from the fatal destiny that awaits him. And undo the curse that torments her family—before evil wins and she becomes the next luthier's apprentice


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"The Luthier's Apprentice" by Mayra Calvani was a fast and easy read for me. At less than 200 pages, it's a book that can be read in just a day or two, and the story was interesting enough to keep me interested all the way through.

For those of you who don't know (because I surely didn't before I read this book), a Luthier is someone who makes violins. The main character in this book is Emma, and she's a teenaged violinist who gets caught up in a mystery when her music teacher vanishes along with other violinists around the world. She's set to solve the puzzle along with her best friend and a new friend named Corey, who is also one of her teacher's students.

If you didn't know anything about violins before reading this book, you will know at least a bit by the time you've finished. Emma isn't only a violinist, but her grandfather is a Luthier and she is studying under him in order to learn to make violins herself. There's a lot of musical and technical jargon thrown in throughout the story, and it works to give the story a bit of extra depth. These are people who live and breathe violins and the music that the instrument creates, and Calvani did a great job of incorporating that into her story to give it a more authentic feel.

Book Blitz: 100 Proof Stud (The Darcy Walker Series #3)

100 Proof Stud (The Darcy Walker Series #3) by A.J. Lape
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Sometimes life smacks you right in the kisser with a whole lot of ohhhh craaaaap.

Just ask Darcy Walker.

100 Proof Stud picks up four months after No Brainer’s cliffhanger ending, and Darcy discovers the aftermath pales in comparison to the crisis her heart is in. All of a sudden it’s raining men, and this teenage heroine’s personal life turns her inside out.

Before she can sort out her feelings, she chases a spray-painting vandal and stumbles upon a case of identity theft right in her own backyard. Darcy jumps into the fray headfirst to prove she can hang with the big boys.

But it’s not just to hang…nope, she’s chasing reward money.

Tapping her band of misfit brothers for help, she turns Valley upside down trying to unearth the criminals. Problem is, the cloak and dagger goes high-octane, and she raises the bar on “crazy” in the process.

Bullets ring out…dead bodies appear…and Darcy rubs shoulders with the ultimate sociopath. In the midst of murder and mayhem, will she finally follow her heart or build a fortress of lies around it? Will she even get the chance?

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To Plot or Not To Plot…that is the question

When I started writing, I didn’t even know someone along the great literary way had divided us into groups. Wouldn’t you know I’d fall into the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants one? For those that are into the label thing, there are two types of writers: plotters and pansters. A plotter is like a general. They like structure and plan things out before they even open a notebook or fire up their laptops.

In fact, the lack of organization is kind of like trying to get to California from Podunk, Kentucky without a road map. They’d feel more prepared if they had an outline in their heads of what would get them from Point A to Point B. A panster, however, may have an overall plot in mind, but mostly they’re flying blind, letting the story develop as they peck on their keyboards. In fact, pesky rules tend to disrupt the creative juices.

Oh, God help me, I’m sooooooo a panster. I spent two weeks making an outline once, only to throw all that hard work out when I got to chapter three. In fact, I often write chapters out of sequence because that scene is so strong in my head that the characters won’t leave me alone until I immortalize their little rants and ravings. I’m actually like one of those little pilot fish, just sucking on the back of a character and hanging on for the ride.

Review: The Landfill

The Landfill by Kevin Hopson
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Horror
Release Date: April 2, 2014
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Book Description:

Billy, a high school senior, has lost a lot in the past year, including his younger sister, Sara. Billy lacks excitement and purpose in life until his curiosity takes him and his best friend, Connor, to an old, abandoned landfill along the river.

Connor would rather forget the experience, but Billy can’t help but feel invigorated by their findings.

Taking it upon himself to uncover the mystery, Billy finds his life coming full circle – but is that a good or bad thing?




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"The Landfill" is a short story by Kevin Hopson. Now, normally I don't make a habit of reading a lot of short stories (at least not since they were assigned in college) since I'm mostly a novel and series kind of girl, but the description for this story seemed creepy enough to rouse my interest. And I'm pleased to say that it did maintain that interest while I was reading it.

Obviously, since it is a short story it's a very quick read. "The Landfill" totals at a little over 30 pages, and I was able to read it all in one sitting. The language Hopson uses is clear and direct, which also made it an easy read.

Review: Before They Find Us

Before They Find Us by Michelle A. Hansen
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: November 2013
Buy Links:

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Book Description:

I’m going to make you wish you were dead. Just a text. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Hales tries not to worry. Probably a wrong number. 

Not really meant for her, and definitely not related to the crime she witnessed six years ago. Right? Then two states away, a bomb goes off in her best friend's locker. Soon Ryan is labeled a terrorist and runs to the safest place he knows—Rebecca’s house in small-town Wyoming. 

It doesn’t take long for the FBI to show up asking questions. Rebecca lies, of course, and says she hasn’t seen him. Now she's neck-deep in it with him, whatever "it" is. The only way out is to return to Vegas, where Ryan is a wanted man. The city of lies and illusion tests Rebecca’s wits as she struggles to find the person who framed Ryan and why. 

Is Rebecca’s text linked to the bombing? And what does it have to do with a six year old murder? Rebecca needs to find out before she loses Ryan—and her own life.

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"Before They Find Us" by Michelle A. Hansen was one of those books that I literally could not put down. It was such a page turner that I was up until two in the morning because I was determined to finish it and see the end of Rebecca and Ryan's journey before I went to bed.

The book starts off with a Prologue that seems out of place, until you realize who the characters were and what they were planning. Starting the book this way shows the reader that there is an elaborate plan about to go down, and our main characters are going to be at the heart of it. We are clued in right away to the fact that this is going to be a book with some twists and turns that will leave us at the edge of our seat.

I really enjoyed the main character, Rebecca. The main story was told in her point of view, and Hansen did a great job of making a well rounded character out of her. She has suffered from nightmares since she witnessed something traumatic when she was younger (and is still living with some of the repercussions), but that doesn't turn her into a complete basket case.

Book Blast: Winter Reads $100 Giveaway!

Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary. Many of the Indelibles have given you access to both the first and second books in their series – you’ll be reading well into the New Year!

LIMITED TIME BOX SET - from 15 bestselling YA authors ON SALE 12/29 - 1/11 for just $1.99

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

15 Winter Reads includes:

 

The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn

Escaping an experimental prison, Thalia tries to hide her past and her gifts, from her friends. But her past isn’t always easy to escape, especially when it hunts you down.

Twitter ♥ Facebook ♥ Goodreads ♥ Website

 

Tremble (Celestra Series) by Addison Moore

Sixteen year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.

Blog ♥ Twitter ♥ Facebook ♥ Goodreads

 

Exiled by RaShelle Workman

Venus wakes to find herself no longer on her home planet of Kelari, but on Earth with a week to get back or she'll die.

Twitter ♥ Facebook ♥ Blog ♥ Goodreads ♥ Wattpad

Book Blitz: Breaking Glass

Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: July 9, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears.

When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.



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Excerpt:

“So where is he?” She cranes her neck, trying to spot Ryan in the crowd. Heart pounding, my mind hiccups through its storehouse of facts. I reposition myself to block her view. There’s no time to try texting Ryan a warning.

I could tell Susannah. Tell her how Ryan has been sneaking around behind her back for over a year, even hooking up with two college juniors in a motel room during one of our out of town meets. But defying the Morgan machine by pointing this out takes too much energy. Instead I blurt, “Did you realize the Watch Hill carousel was once part of a traveling carnival?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “What? Jeremy, sometimes you can be such a--”

But her voice trails off as her gaze wanders past mine, her smile crumpling like a paper bag. I follow her line of sight and I know this is it. The crowd has thinned around Ryan, enough for her to see him with his mouth smashed against Claudia’s.

Review: Also Known As

Also Known As by Robin Benway
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mystery
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

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This book was 350 pages? Really? Maybe I shouldn’t start a review with a question, but this was another book that I basically devoured in a few hours time. That should tell you that I really, really liked it. But in case it didn’t, I REALLY REALLY liked this book. It was light-hearted, it was funny, it was warm, it was full of really interesting characters.

While there was some spy-related stuff, it’s not the kind of tense espionage one would see in a novel about an adult spy. It’s more focused on the main character, Maggie, trying to figure out how to balance pretending to be a normal teenage girl—something she has NO experience with—and not disappointing her spy parents.

Promotional Event: Alexander Drake's Extraordinary Pursuit

Alexander Drake's Extraordinary Pursuit by Elizabeth Parkinson Bellows
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Meet Alexander Drake, a curious young man living in a drab, oversized mansion with his secretive father. He spent his days playing alone. In the back of his mind he wondered what happened to his mother, and why his father was tight-lipped about the past; but secrets have a way of getting out.

It all started with a stay at his grandmother’s cottage. Alexander found strange clues tucked away in his father’s old bedroom. With a mysterious key and several maps in his pack he set off on an innocent search for answers about his family.

When he discovered a secret passageway the search took a dramatic turn. He suddenly worried about what was searching for him. Alexander was being hunted by a sorcerer from his father’s past. Answers lead to more questions and the journey of his life.

Promotional Event: Altered (The Academy #1)

Altered (The Academy #1) by Aubrey Coletti
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Release Date: June 6, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N ♥ Smashwords

Book Description:

When Toni, Joseph and Charlie arrive at their new boarding school, they are glad to leave their families - and respective problems - behind. Isolated as boarders, they meet a handsome senior with a personality like iced snake's blood, teachers with a penchant for physical punishment, and four other outcasts who reveal that their being brought to the Academy wasn't random at all.

When the arrivals discover that their new school is engaged in "behavior modification" through electric shocks, isolation, restraints, and an ever-evolving set of methods to "fix" them, they declare war on their Academy. During their campaign of sabotage, they fight, hate, scorn, love, and begin to uncover the reasons why they were brought to the school.

But as their war against the school escalates beyond their control, will they become the very things the Academy believes they are: dangerous, delinquent - and mad?

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What was the plot of your very first piece of unpublished fiction you ever wrote?

Oh wow, I don’t even know. Probably something about teenagers with super powers, doing the sorts of things you would expect teens with super powers to do.

Writers tend to have a pretty active imagination for obvious reasons, if you had to describe what the inside of your head was like what would you tell us?

Review: SIC

SIC by Scott Kelly
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Release Date: August 17, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

One rule: If another player taps you on the shoulder, you have to completely change your life within the next fifteen minutes. In front of everyone. Your car, your virginity, your grades, your identity – nothing is safe.

When five high school students from the wrong part of town devote their lives to playing the game David invented, they walk a line between insanity and enlightenment.

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It isn’t often that I read something and it leaves me speechless, actually that’s pretty rare. But I think it’s safe to say that [sic] by Scott Kelly blew me away. I’ll admit this isn’t my typical genre of books, I tend to stay in the paranormal romance area, but I am incredibly glad I decided to venture out into new territory.

It was the book blurb that initially drew me in and the story that unfolded in the following 208 pages was intense and original. I can honestly say I’ve never read a story like this before and the sheer concept of it fascinated and captured me. I could not put this book down. Jacob is compelling as he retells the story of David Bloom, Eureka, and the six.

While playing Eureka, six dysfunctional teens use the game to change their lives while psychoanalyzing every decision that people make and what makes a person who they are, circumstance or something else entirely. I like Jacob. I can’t help it, there is just something about the character that makes me want to reach out and be his friend.

Review: Hanging by a Thread

Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

Buy @ Amazon

Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.

And they're not the only ones hiding something.

Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.

In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?

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After moving back to the small town Clare grew up in, she starts a small business selling her refashioned clothing with her childhood friend and typical popular girl, Rachel. Rachel tries to make sure that Clare fits into her new life, but Clare still feels the challenge of maintaining a balance between her individuality and fitting in when her style and family history cause her to stand out. Her family home is often thought to be haunted by others due to the murder of Clare’s great-great grandmother. The events on the day of the murder left her great-grandmother with a special gift that Clare’s grandmother and Clare inherited. When Clare touches an article of clothing she can often get vision of things that happened while it was worn. The more violent an action committed by the wearer, the more intense the vision is for Clare as well as the drive for justice.