#BookReview: A Three Letter Name by @LisenbyAnnie @parliamentbooks

Synopsis: Els never wanted to marry. Her purpose was to protect her village from the feline beasts that prowled the forest at night, and love had no part in it. But after a fever stole much of her hearing she was forced to choose between exile and marrying a stranger.

The girl Samuel loved abandoned him when an injury left him with a mangled foot. He fled from his village across the island to escape living under his father’s unreasonable expectations. Never again would Samuel be the great hunter and leader that his father wanted.

Before they can adapt to their new life as a married couple, the very beasts from which Els used to protect the village kill her friend, sending everyone flurrying with fear.

Now, there’s only one choice: Hunt the beasts and kill every last one. And do it together.

Learning to adapt to their new disabilities Els, Samuel, and their rag-tag team must learn to listen with their hearts—or die trying.

#BookReview: Awakened by Ciara Duggan

Synopsis: For fans of L.J.Smith's The Vampire Diaries, Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Tracy Wolff's Crave, and Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush.

After losing her parents in an accident only she survived, Hannah is desperate for answers. Haunted by the events of that tragic night, she struggles to move on, yearning for some deeper truth about her loss.

But when it comes time to turn a new page and move cross country for college, she vows to leave the past behind. After all, Bellcliff University is a thousand miles away from the ghosts nipping at her heels.

Yet when Hannah accidentally awakens a handsome witch from a hidden cave near campus, she realizes he isn’t the only thing stirring out of slumber. Hannah has roused all magic…including the devil herself.

As if spells, curses, and college jitters weren’t enough, this witch claims to know Hannah from four centuries prior—and their connection is more than casual.

Thrust into a world of sorcery and monsters, Hannah must fight to keep the magic she’d unleashed from claiming a price far too steep for her to pay. 

#BookReview: Mark of the Empress (The Empire Saga #2) by @MDalto421

Synopsis: An Empress ripped back to the life she left behind.

A Prince desperate to save his people.

One child lost within another realm, the other dependent on their constant protection.

Betrayed by those closest to her, Empress Alexstrayna must figure out a way to get it all back - her throne, her people, her son. 

Fulfilling a two-thousand-year-old prophecy, Reylor, the banished Lord Steward, has stripped Alex of her rightful rule and set in motion a chain of events even he, himself, does not fully understand. Determined to strip his brother of happiness by any means possible, his actions send Alex and Treyan back to Boston and away from the Empire they called home.

Blinded by vengeance with hate running thick within her veins, the Empress must consider the ramifications of their return, for better or for worse. But when an unexpected visitor offers help assist with their attempts, Alex and Treyan need to determine how best to reclaim their Empire without more lives lost before whatever time they have left runs out.

It’s time to return to the Empire. Are you prepared to join the battle?

#BookReview: Two Thousand Years (The Empire Saga #1) by M. Dalto

Synopsis: Two thousand years ago, the Prophecy of Fire and Light foretold the coming of the Queen Empress who would lead the Empire into a time of peace and tranquility. But instead of the coming of a prosperous world, a forbidden love for the Empress waged a war that ravaged the land, creating a chasm between the factions, raising the death toll of innocent lives until the final, bloody battle.

Centuries later, Alexandra, a twenty-two-year-old barista living in Boston, is taken to an unfamiliar realm of mystery and magic where her life is threatened by Reylor, its banished Lord Steward. She crosses paths with Treyan, the arrogant and seductive Crown Prince of the Empire, and together they discover how their lives, and their love, are so intricately intertwined by a Prophecy set in motion so many years ago.

Alex, now the predestined Queen Empress Alexstrayna, whose arrival was foretold by the Annals of the Empire, controls the fate of her new home as war rages between the Crown Prince and Lord Steward. Either choice could tear her world apart as she attempts to keep the Empire's torrid history from repeating itself. In a realm where betrayal and revenge will be as crucial to her survival as love and honor, Alex must discover whether it is her choice - or her fate - that determines how she survives the Empire's rising conflicts.

#BookReview: Night Warden (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy, #3) by @AmberR_Duell

Synopsis: The Nightmare Lord has fallen.
The usurper, beaten.
Now darker forces rise.

Nora accepted her role as the Lady of Nightmares. With the Nightmare Kail at her side, she's even managed to excel, but past mistakes refuse to stay quiet. Not only is the Weaver narrating Nora's every move, but Mara—the Ancient that hitched a ride back to the Nightmare Realm—is intent on opening the Ever Safe. The Sandman is doing his best to plan Mara's defeat, but secrets threaten to tear everything apart.

In the thrilling conclusion to the Dark Dreamer trilogy, Nora and the Sandman must face old friends, dead enemies, and new betrayal if they're going to keep the Ever Safe shut. If they fail, both the Day and Night Worlds will descend into darkness.

#BookReview: Dark Consort (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy, #2) by @AmberR_Duell

Synopsis: Nora has faced the horrors of the Nightmare Realm and put a stop to the Weaver. But the girl that went in isn’t the same one who has come out. Now, as the Lady of Nightmares, Nora’s next passage to the Night World will be permanent. Months in the Day World have already taken their toll on her new identity. Her body aches from the strain of magic and her mind is tormented by a powerful darkness. The only thing holding her together is the thought of returning to the place that beckons her as much as it terrifies her.

The Sandman knows Nora needs to return to her realm, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Especially when he sees firsthand what happened in the Nightmare Realm since she left. Not only have the nightmares become restless, but Rowan stole the Weaver’s Keep and is gathering an army strong enough to rip the magic from Nora so she can dominate the realm. If the Sandman can put off the inevitable for a few more days, he will.

When Nora finds her own way back to the Nightmare Realm, her relationship with the Sandman stretches thin, but there isn’t time to dwell on hurt feelings. Not when she’s delivered straight to Kail, the masked nightmare that got her into this mess. Unfortunately, her allies are too few and Kail’s desire for Rowan’s death seems to burn as brightly as her own. Nora must decide whom to trust if she wants to survive the Nightmare Realm. And, if she wants to reclaim what’s hers, she must embrace the darkness within.

#BookReview: Dream Keeper (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy, #1) by @AmberR_Duell

Synopsis: The Sandman is seventeen-year-old Nora’s closest friend and best-kept secret. He has to be, if she doesn’t want a one-way ticket back to the psychiatrist. It took her too long to learn not to mention the hooded figure in her dreams to her mother, who still watches Nora as if she’ll crack. So when Nora’s friends start mysteriously dying gruesome deaths in their sleep, she isn’t altogether surprised when the police direct their suspicion at her. The Sandman is the only one she can turn to for answers. But the truth might be more than she bargained for…

For the last five years, the Sandman has spent every night protecting Nora. When he hid the secret to the Nightmare Lord’s escape inside her dreams, he never expected to fall in love with her. Neither did he think his nemesis would find her so quickly, but there’s no mistaking his cruel handiwork. The Nightmare Lord is tired of playing by the rules and will do anything to release his deadly nightmares into the world, even if that means tormenting Nora until she breaks.

When the Nightmare Lord kidnaps Nora’s sister, Nora must enter enemy territory to save her. The Sandman is determined to help, but if Nora isn’t careful, she could lose even more than her family to the darkness.

(Please note: This story contains vivid death scenes.) 

#BookReview: In Restless Dreams (The Phantasmer Cycle, #1) by Wren Handman

Synopsis: Sylvia is just a normal girl with huge, normal problems – her mother’s attempted suicide; how to adjust to life on the Upper East Side; trying to make friends in a rich prep school where she doesn’t belong; whether or not to trust the cute boy with the dangerous eyes. She thinks that’s more than she can handle, but she tests the limits of her endurance when she learns that she is the long awaited Phantasmer, a human who can change the fabric of Fairy simply by believing in a new story. Sylvia’s life is thrown off course as two warring Courts, the Seelie and Unseelie, both attempt to co-opt her gift to fight the other Court, which she has to deal with while trying not to get kicked out of school for fighting. And it doesn’t help matters that the fairies begging for her help are both attractive young men – with their own agendas.

#BookReview: Veiled By Desire (Laith #2) by Candace Robinson @Literarydust @parliamentbooks

Title: Veiled By Desire (Laith #2) 

Author: Candace Robinson

Published: November 19th 2019
Publisher: The Parliament House
Format: Kindle Edition, 254 pages

Synopsis: In Laith, when the moons are high, Tavarra is allowed to walk the land as a human for one day, losing her seahorse-like tail. But should she remain out of the water, a curse will overtake her, turning her into a beast with sharp fangs and long claws. A beast that, on some nights, takes the shape of a rampaging, uncontrollable monster.

Rhona, along with her village, are under a sinister leader’s control. Their leader has taken Rhona from the boy she loves, stripped away her abilities and, under the threat of killing everyone she loves, forces her on a dangerous task to retrieve a dark prism that will increase his already massive powers.

When Tavarra and Rhona cross paths, they discover they need each other. Rhona knows how to help the cursed sea creature, while Tavarra knows where to find the dark prism. They embark on a mission that could help them break Tavarra’s spell and save Rhona’s family and village. But with an untamable beast inside Tavarra, nothing is certain...

#BookReview: Clouded By Envy (Laith #1) by Candace Robinson @Literarydust @parliamentbooks

Title: Clouded By Envy (Laith #1)
Author: Candace Robinson 

Published:  February 19th 2019
Publisher: The Parliament House
Kindle Edition, 215 pages
Synopsis: Brenik has always been envious of his twin sister, Bray. Growing up as fairy-like creatures, known as bats, everything came easier to Bray. While Brenik spent his time in her shadows, never feeling he was enough. After escaping their world of Laith, and living on Earth for ten years, Brenik attempts to strike a deal with the Stone of Desire to become human. Though true humanity is not an option, he will accept the curse that will alter him to get as close as he can. 

Living in a tree trunk for the past year hasn’t been easy for Bray, more so after her brother disappears again. When a human boy and his brother, Wes, find her, a new friendship is struck. Through Wes, Bray learns there can be more to life than waiting within a tree. But worrying over where Brenik has vanished to always remains in the back of her mind.

When Bray reunites with Brenik, she realizes she must help him break the curse after she discovers the need for blood is beginning to overpower him. The curse not only damages those who get close to Brenik, but it could also destroy whatever is blooming between Bray and Wes. 

#BookReview: The Sin Soldiers (Fragments #1) by Tracy Auerbach

Synopsis: Red compound makes them angry. Yellow exhausts them. Blue drives them into a state of ravenous addiction. The thief Kai knows about the chemically controlled soldiers of the Eastern forces and their savage, deadly nature. When a robbery attempt at Club Seven goes wrong, Kai is captured by a handler and his bestial soldier-boy. She wakes up inside the military base with no idea what happened to her twin brother, Dex.

Things go from bad to worse when Kai is started on a drug and training regimen, and forced to take injections of blue compound. The scientists in charge plan to make her into a working soldier who will mine the mysterious power crystals beneath the desert. Kai becomes a victim of the bully Finn, a handsome but nasty soldier whose years on red compound seem to have erased his humanity. Still, she begins to pity the Seven Soldiers, including the monstrous boy who tried to rip her to shreds at the club. They appear to be nothing more than genetically enhanced, drug-controlled teenagers.

On the outside, Dex and his tech-savvy boyfriend try to crack the soldiers’ chemical code to find a weakness that will break the system. But Kai has already been drawn deep into her new world. Strong feelings for the soldiers she’s come to know have started to cloud her judgment. Can she escape and find Dex without becoming a monster herself?

#BookReview: Marrow Charm by @krazydiamond07

Synopsis: 'In his pursuit of the occult, the Third Reich opened the Gate to a realm of magic and brought the world to ruin. The Gate was eventually closed, but They were already in our world and They were hungry.'

-The Lost History, Library of Avergard

Azure ‘Azzy’ Brimvine lives in a world decimated by magic, where humans have retreated underground from the overwhelming dangers of the surface. But Below is no safer than Above.

Magic borne plagues continue to eat away at the remaining human cities, a sickness that doesn’t merely kill, but creates aberrations from the stricken: people twisted by magic into something dark, dangerous, and powerful. It is an existence of fear and constant dread. When Azzy’s brother, Armin, is infected and cast out into the Above, she sets out after him, determined to be there for him no matter what he becomes.

The world Above is full of monsters, both wild and cunning, some more human than Azzy was led to believe. Armin is captured and bound for the Auction block of Avergard, a ruthless city of inhuman lords and twisted creatures. To reach him, Azzy must brave the perils of the Above and the chaotic life forms created by the Gate. To reach him, she must find allies and forge new bonds in this broken world.

And Azzy must reach him, before Armin’s new power is used to open the Gate once more.

#BookReview: Dream Keeper (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy #1) by @AmberR_Duell #Giveaway

Synopsis: The Sandman is seventeen-year-old Nora’s closest friend and best-kept secret. He has to be, if she doesn’t want a one-way ticket back to the psychiatrist. It took her too long to learn not to mention the hooded figure in her dreams to her mother, who still watches Nora as if she’ll crack. So when Nora’s friends start mysteriously dying gruesome deaths in their sleep, she isn’t altogether surprised when the police direct their suspicion at her. The Sandman is the only one she can turn to for answers. But the truth might be more than she bargained for…

For the last five years, the Sandman has spent every night protecting Nora. When he hid the secret to the Nightmare Lord’s escape inside her dreams, he never expected to fall in love with her. Neither did he think his nemesis would find her so quickly, but there’s no mistaking his cruel handiwork. The Nightmare Lord is tired of playing by the rules and will do anything to release his deadly nightmares into the world, even if that means tormenting Nora until she breaks.

When the Nightmare Lord kidnaps Nora’s sister, Nora must enter enemy territory to save her. The Sandman is determined to help, but if Nora isn’t careful, she could lose even more than her family to the darkness.

(Please note: This story contains vivid death scenes.)