Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Lions Tigers and Boys by Tawny Stokes!

Title: Lions Tigers and Boys

Author: Tawny Stokes

Publication date: January 8th, 2018

Publisher: Entangled Crave

Genre: YA Paranormal

About the Book:

The last thing a girl as awkward as Dani Gale should be doing is trying to learn the high wire. Yet that’s exactly where Dani ends up—at OZ, the Oswald Zinzendorf School of Circus Arts. Trying to overcome her shyness is near impossible when her new partner—the hottest guy she’s ever laid eyes on, and whose touch seems to give her poise she thought impossible—also seems to be sabotaging her progress.

The last thing Cai Coppersmith needs is a distraction, especially in the form of the new, cute shy girl. He needs to focus on trying not to shape-shift into a tiger on school grounds, and completing his mission to keep Dani from winning the school’s high-wire competition. In fact, the entire safety of OZ is relying on Dani not succeeding. But there’s something about the girl that draws him in. She has magic, he can feel it. So he’ll do what he can to protect her, even if it means pushing her away.

Get It Here:

Entangled Publishing

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About the Author:

Tawny Stokes has always been a writer. From an early age, she’d spin tales of serial killers in love, vampires taking over the world, and sometimes about fluffy bunnies turned bunnicidal maniacs. An honour student in high school, with a penchant for math and English, you’d never know it by the foot high blue Mohawk and Doc Martens, which often got her into trouble. No longer a Mohawk wearer, Tawny still enjoys old school punk rock, trance, zombie movies, teen horror films, and fluffy bunnies. She lives in Canada with her fantastical daughter, two cats, and spends most of her time creating new stories for teens.

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Review:

★★★

In short, this was a cute and fast read.

I really liked the fact that this book has a Wizard of Oz theme with it, though it's not a retelling.

I also really liked the concept and setting for the book. I think it's cool that there's a boarding school tucked away in the middle of the woods in God Knows Where, USA full of kids who are learning circus skills. The circus acts add a nice twist to the usual mean girls/high school drama because they're competing for a chance to shine under the spotlight.

I liked the characters. Cai is a shifter and a bit mysterious. Dani is super awkward but really sweet in a way that comes across as totally believable. The alternating POVs worked well because each character was different enough in voice where you could tell them apart, although some of the vocabulary used is a little questionable (Deets, off the chain). While they were likable and cute, I feel like the love was too instant. I didn't really have a lot of time to warm up to them individually before the feelings started.

There's a lot going on in this book that makes it a bit hard to focus, but also really interesting at the same time. There's a circus, there's boarding school drama, there's magic, there's shape shifters, there's romance. There's a lot of balls in the air, but it seems to work pretty well together.

I didn't care for all of the pop culture references (Emma Watson, So You Think You Can Dance) because I feel like it dates the book and makes it less relatable down the road. That's just a personal preference though, I'm sure others reading didn't think twice about it.

All in all, this is a solid young adult book. It was engaging with cool world building and some interesting concepts. If you like high school romance, circuses, or boarding school themed books, or attractive red-headed tiger shifters, this is a book worth checking out.

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Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Freeks by Amanda Hocking!

Title: Freeks

Author: Amanda Hocking

Release date: January 3rd 2017

Summary:

Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodies are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.

Bestselling author Amanda Hocking draws readers inside the dark and mysterious world of Freeks.

Review:

★★★★

I was so excited to get a chance to read this book, thanks to St. Martin's Press. I've read Amanda Hocking's work before, and loved it. I'm happy to say that Freeks didn't disappoint!

One reason that I really enjoyed this book is because the plot centers around a sideshow. One way to ensure that I read a book is to make it feature a side show, carnival, or circus. I have no idea why, but it's one of my absolute favorite settings to have for a novel. Naturally, this is what lured me into reading Freeks. I wish there would have been a little more focus on the actual traveling show, but that's nitpicking a bit.

It's also pretty dark and creepy, which is a huge plus. Hocking is great at getting that unsettling undertone into her writing, so that you're not exactly sure where the twists of the story will take you, but you know you should brace yourself for when it happens. Hocking also demonstrates her writing skills when it comes to the depth of her characters. They're the ones who sell this book, and by the end of the adventure you'll definitely have some feelings and connections to Mara and Gabe.

Speaking of Mara and Gabe, this book also features a romance. This was a little shaky for me. It wasn't bad, necessarily. I actually can't really explain why the romance didn't work perfectly for me. The timing seemed off somehow. It's okay, but there were some spots in their story where I was left raising a brow.

All in all, I am not sorry that I read Freeks. It is a paranormal young adult romance set in the 1980s that has the dark, southern charm of Louisiana mixed with a traveling side show and a super cool cast of characters. It's like Cirque du Freak grew up into a teen and got itself a boyfriend. If you like supernatural talents, mysteries, romance, or circuses and freak shows, I recommend Freeks for sure.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Get it Here:

Amazon | Macmillan | BN | BAM

Find the Author:

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Giveaway:

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, who offered up one hardcover copy of Freeks for a US reader!

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Mini Review: Lucas Mackenzie and the London Midnight Ghost Show by Steve Bryant!

Title: Lucas Mackenzie and the London Midnight Ghost Show
Author: Steve Bryant
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: February 24th
Source: Month9Books, LLC


Book Description via Goodreads:

“Lucas Mackenzie has got the best job of any ten-year-old boy. He travels from city-to-city as part of the London Midnight Ghost Show, scaring unsuspecting show-goers year round. Performing comes naturally to Lucas and the rest of the troupe, who’ve been doing it for as long as Lucas can remember. But there’s something Lucas doesn’t know. Like the rest of Lucas's friends, he’s dead. And for some reason, Lucas can’t remember his former life, his parents or friends. Did he go to school? Have a dog? Brothers and sisters? If only he could recall his former life, maybe even reach out to his parents, haunt them. When a ghost hunter determines to shut the show down, Lucas realizes the life he has might soon be over. And without a connection to his family, he will have nothing. There’s little time, and Lucas has much to do. Keep the lights on! Lucas Mackenzie’s coming to town.

Review:

★★

Ultimately, I don't have too much to say on this book. I was really excited when I got the chance to read it, because I love books that are given a circus-y setting. I don't know why I'm fascinated by it, but I'm the first to admit that I am. I was hoping that it would be something like the Cirque du Freak books, which is one of my favorite young adult series. Plus, I love the cover. And I should know by now that that is not the best way to judge.

Anyway, that's not what I got.

I don't have a lot to say about it, because I found to this book to be really, really boring. That's a very weird and rare thing for me to say. Normally if I don't like the book I can pick a reason, like bad writing or bad character development. This book wasn't badly written per se, though it did use outdated language that made it a bit irksome at times.

I just felt like nothing was happening. I expected action or excitement or even to be creeped out at a book that has "London Midnight Ghost Show" in the title, but at the end of the day I was left just glad that the book was over so that I could go and read something else.

By all means, give this book a try. I think this is just one of those times where a book and me aren't meant to be friends. Maybe this will be right up your alley. But for me, it was a swing and a miss.

I was provided a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth

Title: The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black
Author: E.B. Hudspeth
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Pub. Date: May 21st 2013
Source: Quirk Books


Book Description via Goodreads:

Philadelphia, the late 1870s. A city of gas lamps, cobblestone streets, and horse-drawn carriages—and home to the controversial surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a grave robber, young Dr. Black studies at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs—were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?

The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from a childhood spent exhuming corpses through his medical training, his travels with carnivals, and the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. The Resurrectionist tells his story.

Review:

★★★★★

This book is nothing at all like I expected, and I mean that in the best possible sense. I think that The Resurrectionist is a book that all lovers of Gothic literature, the macabre, horror, and fantastical creatures will devour if they get their claws into it.

A beautiful hardcover edition, The Resurrectionist is divided into two parts. The first part reads like a text book biography of the fictional scholar Dr. Spencer Black. It narrates his unusual upbringing and how it influenced his studies as he got older and more educated. It chronicles his descent into a more bizarre lifestyle involving freak show-esque performances in travelling shows and circuses as well as his experimentation on animals and humans alike in order to piece together his theory of evolution: that the creatures we know today as myth once existed and that humans and animals breathing now are ancestors of these elegant beasts.

The first part of this book is fascinating in and of itself because it's written with such detail and precision- including dated diary entries, circus flyers, and letters of correspondence- that if I didn't know better I would swear to you that this was a well researched non-fictional account of a doctor's life. From the first few pages, when you learn that his father was a grave robber, the book continues with this really dark, creepy tone to it reminiscent of Poe. It was almost like a car crash: his life is so bizarre and almost horrifying that you hesitate to turn the page, and yet you can't quite seem to turn away either.

The second part of the book is the final research of Dr. Black: The Codex Extinct Animalia. The art in this section of this book is absolutely phenomenal. It is here that Black explains the so-called method to his madness: the evolutionary ties and the anatomical make up of fantasy creatures. From the hellhound Cerberus to harpies and centaurs, each creature is given multiple pages of medical artwork that give up close examinations of the skeletal structures, muscle make up, and other traits of the animals. It looks like a medical text book, but with mythical beings, and I absolutely loved it. So much thought, work, and effort had to go into making these illustrations. I would totally hang a few of them up in my room (then again, my room is decorated in the Goth style, so that may just be me).

This book is a quick one to read but a slow one to absorb and is filled to the brim with equal dashes of horror and fantasy. I'd really recommend it to those who enjoy the Gothic genre, historical history, fantasy, horror, or realistic fiction. Thank you so much to Quirk Books for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Mini Review: Circus Escape

Title: Circus Escape
Author: Lilliana Rose
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: April 2nd 2014
Source: Netgalley & Less Than Three Press

★

One Star.

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This will be a short review, since Circus Escape is a novella. I was drawn in by the cover, and some of the key words in the description that I love. Steampunk, circus, lesbian themes? Sign me up. Unfortunately, this is a novella that leaves a lot to be desired, and I was left disappointed.

I never got a sense of... Anything, really. I didn't grow to know much about either of the main characters, let alone get a sense of the chemistry that is supposed to be between them. I didn't learn much about the setting or the era. I know that this is a short novella, so there's only so much space to describe such things, but I've seen others handled much better. I also didn't care much for the writing itself, it seemed overly simple and a bit choppy.

It's my understanding that this novella is the first in a series, but Circus Escape didn't satisfy me enough to be interested in continuing onward with the series. This might be one of the examples where it would have been better in a one piece book as opposed to a series. All in all, this one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Less Than Three Press for the chance to read this. I wanted to like it, I really did.

Review: Joyland by Stephen King

Title: Joyland
Author: Stephen King
Format: Paperback, 283 pages
Pub. Date: June 4th 2013
Source: Gift

★★★★

Four stars.

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Devin Jones needed to get away from it all for a little while. The girl he loved more than anything broke his heart, and he needed to take some time to himself to remember what life without her is like. When he gets a summer job at a small town amusement park, he starts to feel at home... At first. When he started to uncover the oddities surrounding the park: a ghost story, tales of murder, and even a hokey psychic who may not be lying after all, he discovered that this summer would change his life completely.... That is, if he survives it.


I was really excited when my girlfriend's mother surprised me with a copy of this book. I'm a big fan of King's, and had fallen in love with the cover. I'm a sucker for stories set in a carnival/circus setting, and I knew I needed to read this one. It definitely didn't disappoint.

The thing that I loved most about this book was, you guessed it, the setting. This crime tale takes place in a Coney Island-like amusement park on the east coast. I loved all of the "Talk" that the carnies used, that is, the slang among them. Whether it's accurate or not, it was really cool to see life at one of these attractions after hours, and from the employee's point of view. The way King writes made it sound like a place I'd want to visit, and a place of sleepy summer life. I felt like I was at the park, from start to finish.

I also really liked the combination of genres in this book. It has supernatural elements, crime, murder, and a good old fashioned whodunnit. I didn't see the puzzle being pieced together until the very end, and then I got irrationally angry at the results. That's a good sign, because it means that King wrote characters that I cared about and really connected to.

The book jumps around a bit in time, but they're easy transitions, and I was at no point in the novel confused by the changes.

This book put me in mind of R.L. Stine's Fear Park series, but for the older crowd. This book contains profanity and sex, but it's a Stephen King book, so you probably guessed as much. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good murder case with a bit of a haunted twist.

Thanks again for the book, Lisa.