Shatter me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi
Published: November 15th 2011
Publisher: Harper

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.


The writing... OMG the writing is amazing. It has all the feels. ALL THE FEELS. It sounds so poetic, so like REAL thought and feelings.
And the crossover sentences, they’re such a perfect touch, I can’t decide weather I’m in her head or her notebook. And how sometimes the sentences are repeated 3 times... yeah great touch for someone in an Asylum.
Chapter 1 and I was hooked. Chapter 4 and I was seriously thinking of not going out with my friend because this was just so good I had to go on. (I did went out, mind you... and told her all about the 4 chapters I had read so far and how much she needed to get the book)

It has a little 1984 feeling, with the world divided in three and people in power trying to make everything new, including language.
I can also see the “The Hunger Games” thingy in it but at the same time, a combination of different elements that not only make it unique, it makes it perfect.

In this dystopian setting, The Reestablishment rules the world. A world where animals are almost extinct, and real food too. But the promises the movement made were empty and some people fight back, more and more everyday, so The Reestablishment thinks that Juliette might be the very thing they need to get what they want: Get rid of rebels.

Juliette is broken. Scared. Empty. After so long in there she doesn’t know who she is... after so long of being treated like a monster she believes them.

Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps, is what I don’t tell him. I’ll never be okay.

-Shatter Me

Her character is probably the best thing from the book.

I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.

-Juliette, Shatter Me

She’s so well developed!
Her touch kills people, it takes away their life force and for that the world has always treated her like a pariah, kids in school bullied her. She has every right in the world to be angry, resentful and look for revenge. But Juliette has never wanted anything else than fit in, to be love and to feel the warm and comfort of another human being.

One of my favourite things is how Juliette can describe such common things is such a beautiful way, how everything seems so new and wonderful. How you can feel her emotions towards them so easily with every word.

Adam is like sunshine, so innocent and pure in contrast to the Asylum. And then so strong, always by her side, always protecting her. *cue the swooning*
He’s strong and fierce and a warrior. He will fight for those he loves and what he believes in.

Warner is one of the leaders of the Reestablishment and he’s been obsessed with Juliette since he heard of what she could do. His twisted ways and crazy brain gave me a love/hate feeling. In his head, he’s giving Juliette the opportunity of her life to revenge all the wrong that’s been done to her, he’s protecting her from the evil world.
Yeah, totally crazy and yet so well written that, sometimes, I could see his logic and almost believe him.

There are 15,000 feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart. I’m tempted by recklessness, aching aching aching, desperate forever for what I can never have.

-Juliette, Shatter Me

I have 15.000 feelings right now, too! Can’t wait for the next book :)

About Tahereh Mafi

Tahereh Mafi is a girl. She’s 25. She writes books and reads books and drinks way too much coffee. SHATTER ME is her first novel, and the first of a trilogy, coming from Harper/HarperCollins on November 15, 2011. Film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox.

Her work is represented by Jodi Reamer of Writers House, LLC.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Lisa Voisin’s THE WATCHER will be releasing exactly one month from today, on March 4th, 2013 and we’re super excited to be able to share with our blog’s readers a short excerpt from the book and to be a part of the book’s awesome trailer reveal!

There is also a giveaway for a pre-order copy of THE WATCHER for US/Canada residents. So be sure to enter below.

THE WATCHER is author Lisa Voisin’s debut novel and is a book Eileen Cook says, “…is sure to keep readers turning the pages late into the night.”

And after having read both the excerpt and the book’s description, we couldn’t agree more! But we’ll let you decide for yourself. They’re both included below. As is the book’s wicked cool trailer!

With some gothic techno beats, super cool images and a description that is meant to tease, this trailer totally sets the mood for this story. What do you think?

About the Book


Title: THE WATCHER
Author: Lisa Voisin
Publisher: InkSpell Publishing
Publication date: March 4, 2013
Pages: 508
Format: Available to pre-order in Paperback
Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Inkspell | Kobo

Millennia ago, he fell from heaven for her.
Can he face her without falling again?

Fascinated with ancient civilizations, seventeen-year-old Mia Crawford dreams of becoming an archaeologist. She also dreams of wings—soft and silent like snow—and somebody trying to steal them.

When a horrible creature appears out of thin air and attacks her, she knows Michael Fontaine is involved, though he claims to know nothing about it. Secretive and aloof, Michael evokes feelings in Mia that she doesn’t understand. Images of another time and place haunt her. She recognizes them—but not from any textbook.

</ a>About the Author


A Canadian-born author, Lisa Voisin spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was her love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction.

When she's not writing, you'll find her meditating or hiking in the mountains to counter the side effects of drinking too much coffee.

She lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her fiance and their two cats.

Find her: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Blog




Instead of saying more, he brushed his fingertips along my cheek, and his halo glimmered. I could hear the waves slapping the rocks behind us, the wind driving them in. That same wind whipped against my skin, but the touch of his hand on my face was all I could think about. It sent a current through both of us and filled me with longing for something I wasn’t sure I understood.

“I’m sorry.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets as the light around him faded. “You don’t know what it’s like. Being near you now, remembering those moments we had…” His hair blew into his eyes, but this time he didn’t move. I wanted to brush it back, but I didn’t know how he’d react. Would touching him be bad?

“You want to know who you were?” he asked. “You may look different, but you’re the same. I look into your eyes and see you.” He took in a deep breath, fixing his attention on the horizon. I’d seen and heard so much now that the logical part of my brain had long since given up arguing with me. I could feel what he was saying was true. All of it.

• ONE pre-order copy of THE WATCHER by Lisa Voisin open to US/Canada.
• Must be 13 or older to enter.
• ONE entry per household.
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Temptation's Heat by Michelle Zink (The Shadowguard Series #1)
​
When Rowen Black is assigned to the elite unit of angelic assassins known as the Shadowguard, he thinks his biggest challenge will be overcoming his less-than-stellar reputation. But that’s before he meets his match in Scarlet Montgomery.
​
Beautiful, strong, and with a temper to match Rowen’s own, Scarlet is focused on the Shadowguard and her possible future as its leader. She’s become an expert at keeping her personal life separate from the Guard, all too aware that as the boss’s daughter, fellow warriors see her not as someone to be respected, but as someone to be protected.

Avoiding entanglements gets a lot harder when Rowen saunters into the room. Rowen puts the bad in "bad boy." Their connection is hot, visceral, and instantaneous.

When the pair are assigned to a joint investigation, they come face-to-face with their undeniable attraction, forcing Scarlet to consider that the connection is not only physical, but a destiny written in the halls of time.

Let's start with THIS IS HOT. Rowen is tall dark and Sexy, forget about handsome. Plus he's Scottish, he has an accent to die for!

Temptation's Heat is a short novella, the first in The Shadowuard Series, with action, sexual tension, mystery and great characters. 

Rowan belongs to a secret group called the Shadow guard, they are what you'd call Angel, but they don't have wings or live on Heaven. Nope, they are like your regular neighbor... kinda. He's the Bad Boy who never quite follows the rules.  And this is his last chance to prove he's worthy of being in the Guard.
Scarlet is the boss' daughter. She's a girl and she's small. She has a lot to prove so the rest of the Guard won't see her as the week little girl they have to protect and more as an equal. She's the kind of girl you don't wanna mess around with.

Since the moment they first see each other, sexual tension jumps at you from the page. The instant chemistry between them is excellent.


Scarlet's father, Ambrose, sends them both on a mission to figure out what really happened to the dead Revenant belonging to the Legion (basically a bad guy), and stop what could possibly be a war for all human's soul, and spending a lot of time together makes harder to deny the attraction between them. 

If I have one complain, it would be this is too short. I'd love to see more of them, but that's the beauty of short novellas. Somehow, in less than 100 pages, Michelle Zink put everything you need in a story (and first book in a series), character's background, introducing the rest of the important character's, and enough mystery for the rest of the novellas in the series to get into.

---

The second book in this series brings in the sweetness we didn't see in the first one but with the same amount of attraction between the characters.

Lily's the sweetest girl. She doesn't like violence, so despite being part of the descendants, she's not part of the Guard. She prefers to stay home and make sure everyone there is taken care of while she enjoys cooking and baking.
Kane is one of the best warriors of the Guard and he would do anything for Lily and to make sure she's happy.

But when the attraction between the two becomes too much and an unfortunately event at the house takes them to a place just the two of them, denial is nowhere to be found.
And while the relationship between Scarlet and Rowan was more visceral, Kane and Lily are a really sweet couple.






Temptation's Kiss gives us another clue to solve what happened to the dead Revenant and gives us a little bit more details on the next characters for the third book.
I can't wait to see how the series ends and read more of the awesome job of Michelle Zink.

---

Temptation's Fire by Michelle Zink (The Shadowguard Series​ #3)
​
Maggie O’ Reilly has her hands full. It’s all she can do to hold down her job at small-town newspaper and pay the nursing home bills for her deteriorating father. But a lead on a story from Ivan Montgomery might be just the thing to win her the promotion -- and raise -- she needs to secure her father’s care.

Ivan Montgomery isn’t exactly Mr. Popular. As the son of Ambrose Montgomery, head of the Shadowguard, Ivan has a reputation for being surly and confrontational. But somehow Maggie’s spirit and vulnerability make him want to be a better man.

Too bad a future between them is impossible. As an outsider, Maggie can never know that Shadowguard Security is a front for the Alliance, a group of angelic descendants who keep mankind balanced between the forces of  light and dark. And that means she can never know who -- and what -- Ivan really is.

But as the pair come closer to solving the mystery of who is framing the Shadowguard for murder, their attraction becomes impossible to deny. When a confrontation with a deadly foe forces them to face their feelings -- and their passion-- they will have to answer the question: can true love survive the ultimate secret?

---

William has spent six years running from his past and the last eight months trying to rid his mind of the dreams that increasingly haunt his nights. Trapped in a world of false ambitions and feigned affections, William knows he’s reached a breaking point and something’s going to give.

Review + Excerpt

**This is the 4th book in the series so the summary and review might contain spoilers**



When several werehyenas suddenly disappear and Mebis, the Keeper assigned to Miami, goes unexpectedly missing, Kess fears the worst. But even she’s unprepared for this latest threat: a hunter hiding in plain sight whose only goal is killing werecreatures. Can Kess and her friends survive this most dangerous game?

Hello loves!!

We haven't done this in a while... but here it is! Your list of free reading for the weekend. As always, check that they're still free before hitting enter ;) Enjoy!

1. Six Mooon Summer (Seasons of The Moon #1) by S.M. Reine
2. Airel (The Airel Saga #1) by Aaron Patterson and Chris White
3. Pyxis: The Discovery (The Pixys Saga #1) by K.C. Neal
4. City of The Falling Sky (The Seckry Sequence #1) by Joseph Evans
5. The Naturals: Awakening (Episodes 1-4 S. 1) by Melody Carlson, Robin Parrish, K.C. Neal and Aaron Petterson
6. Corridor (A mythWorks Novel) by Robin Parrish
7. Liar's Fire (A Cooper Brothers Novel) by Dee Burks
8. Entangled (Spellbound Trilogy #1) by Nikki Jefford
8. Undercover Heat by Danielle LaBue
9. Kahayatle (Apocalypsis #1) by Elle Casey
10. Bringer of Light by China Blue
11. Not So Snow White by K. Sean Jennkrist
12. Man Of Few Words by Ursula Whistler
13. Storm Dancer by Rayne Hall
14. A Lady of the Realm (House of DeDe) by Sharon E Mamolo
15. A Negotiated Marriage by Noelle Adams 
16. Shadow of the Wolf (Darkness Unleashed) by RG Porter
17. SURRENDER (The Ferryman + The Flame) by Rhiannon Paille