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.

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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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Novella Mini Review: Touching Paradise by Cleo Peitsche

Title: Touching Paradise
Series: Shark Shifter Paranormal Romance #1
Author: Cleo Peitsche
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: August 27th 2014
Source: Pouch Productions & Netgalley

Description via Goodreads:

TOUCHING PARADISE is an erotic paranormal romance of 41,000 words.

Despite his billions in the bank, Koenraad is a shark shapeshifter haunted by secrets and regrets. Unable to move on with his life, he relentlessly patrols the waters near the island he once considered home. Fate puts the beautiful Monroe in his path, and duty demands he offer his services, but one look into her eyes and he knows the lonely, frightened woman secretly yearns for adventure.

Monroe is having a hard time getting into the vacation spirit. She’s surrounded by powdery white sand and swaying palm trees, but she’s terrified of the ocean. When her tour boat breaks down at sea, she’s thrilled to skip the so-called trip of a lifetime. However, a gorgeous man with a sleek yacht is determined to change her mind… and maybe her life.

Contains explicit sexual content and graphic language that may be objectionable to some readers. Includes sexual dominance and submission and very mild BDSM elements. For adults only.

★★★★

I've read a fair amount of erotica in my life, and a very large portion of those titles contain shifters that are either some sort of jungle cat or most commonly, a wolf. I tried passing this book by as I looked through titles, but I just couldn't do it. How often does one stumble across a shifter romance where the hunky lead's shifting form is a shark? I thought this would be just what I needed to get out of the wolf-cat shifter romance rut I've been in, and I was largely correct.

I really liked both main characters in this story. Monroe is likable and relatable. She's trying to figure out what she wants out of life and how to get it, and has self-worth issues that I think we all have grappled with at some point or another. She gains her inner strength and decides to take what she wants, and I like that about her. And then there's Koenraad, the hunky shifter previously mentioned. He's rich and protective and alpha and all other things good in the world of romance books. Together they're explosive and I loved reading about them growing together as a couple. The sex scenes are well written, and the rest of the plot is too.

I also really liked the setting. It's very detailed so that the reader feels like they've been whisked off to a beautiful island paradise too. The shark shifting ties into the island's history, and I found this to be a nice touch to the setting and explanation of the significance of Koenraad's abilities.

This was my first experience reading a romance where a shark shifter takes center stage, but oddly enough it really worked for me and I hope that it won't be the last. If Goodreads proves correct, this is a series, and I would definitely read the next book to follow what happens. If you're tired of run of the mill shifter romances, this is a book for you. Thanks to Pouch Productions & Netgalley who provided me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Firebug by Lish McBride

Title: Firebug
Series: Firebug #1
Author: Lish McBride
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: September 23rd 2014
Source: Netgalley & Henry Holt and Co

Description via Goodreads:

Ava can start fires with her mind . . . but is it a blessing or a curse?

Ava is a firebug—she can start fires with her mind. Which would all be well and good if she weren't caught in a deadly contract with the Coterie, a magical mafia. She's one of their main hit men . . . and she doesn't like it one bit. Not least because her mother's death was ordered by Venus—who is now her boss.

When Venus asks Ava to kill a family friend, Ava rebels. She knows very well that you can't say no to the Coterie and expect to get away with it, though, so she and her friends hit the road, trying desperately to think of a way out of the mess they find themselves in. Preferably keeping the murder to a minimum.

★★★★

Firebug is a really solid series debut. I really enjoyed what this book had to offer, and though I had a few faults with it, I would definitely pick up the next book in the series to see what happens next.

Perhaps what I loved most about this book is the characters. There were some that I loved and some that I hated, and some that I'm still torn about, but they were each a distinct voice. Every character was in place for a reason, and despite the fact that there gets to be a fairly large cast of characters, it was easy to keep them straight because they were defined so differently. I know this is Ava's book, but for me her best friends/co-workers Ezra and Lock stole the show for me. Ezra is sexy and he knows it and has a great sense of humor, and Lock has cool powers and a sense of protectiveness that I find endearing. I look forward to seeing what happens with them in the future. And as much as I'm supposed to hate the "villain" of this story, Venus, I actually kind of love her. If I were a villain, she's who I'd look to for inspiration. Just sayin'.

Speaking of Venus, I also really liked the settings of this book, particularly Venus's nightclub. It's a front for her "organization" that sounds like the place I'd want to party if, you know, there wasn't the whole threat of imminent death thing going on. It kind of reminded me of the bar scenes in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which was a welcome comparison to me.

The "organization" that meets is the Coterie... Kind of like a mafia system for paranormals. I thought this was all very well explained and I liked the way it was laid out. I also liked the wide variety of gifts/breeds/whatever you wish to call them that were present. There are vampires, shifters, elementals, blood witches, nymphs, you name it, this book has it. It was well pulled off, diverse without being too much.

This book has a nice blend of humor (I laughed out loud more than once, admittedly), action, and fighting. The pacing is good and there's always something happening. And when there's not... Well, there's the tone that some stuff is going to start going down soon enough. I also totally didn't see the ending coming, so props for that.

The fighting, while overall well-written and rather plentiful in this book, is one of the drawbacks for me, at no fault to the author. I have a hard time visualizing fight scenes a lot of the times, so in books were fighting is heavy it sometimes gets hard for me to follow. That's just a personal quirk, and I'm sure you won't have a problem with it unless you feel the same about fight scenes as I do.

Firebug is a great start to a young adult fantasy/urban fantasy series that I think fans of magic and paranormal will enjoy. I look forward to book two in the series and recommend it to anyone who wants to read about a paranormal mafia and the bring down of a vampiric goddess tyrant.

Thanks to Netgalley & Henry Holt and Co. for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Blog Tour Review: Wavecrossed

Title: Wavecrossed
Author: Andrea Colt
Pub. Date: August 22 2013
Genre: Paranormal YA

Blurb:

A young-adult paranormal novel about selkies, tasers, kissing and secrets.
To Cassandra Kelleher, trust is a dirty word. A teenage selkie who grew up on land, all she wants is to free her family from the man who stole their sealskins long ago. With her twin brother Brennan losing hope and her window of opportunity disappearing like the beach at high tide, she’ll try anything. Before long, however, Cassandra can’t tell whether her biggest threat is the man holding her family captive, a classmate who’s discovered her secret, or her own paranoia. Battling broken friendships and alarming romantic entanglements, Cassandra finds that trust could be the key to winning her family’s freedom … or losing her own.

*Click cover for Goodreads page!*

Review:

★★★★

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Overall, this is a pretty solid young adult fantasy read. I read Andrea Colt's first book, a contemporary whodunnit entitled Torched, and absolutely loved it. Wavecrossed is a completely different kind of story, and I have to applaud Colt for making such a drastic changed. I would have never thought that these books were by the same author, going on blurb alone.

The paranormal/fantastical creature that stars in this book is the selkie, which is a being from Scottish mythology that (oversimplified) is a human on land and a seal in the water. I've heard the myth and was familiar with the being, but this is my first time reading a novel with selkies as protagonists. I love werewolves and vampires as much as the next girl, but this was a very refreshing change from the paranormal trends seen lately, in my opinion.

Colt does a great job not only describing what selkies are and how they shift, but the underwater settings and the characters as a whole. It wasn't hard to dive into (no pun intended) Brennan and Cassandra's world. Speaking of which, I really liked the twin dynamic of this. Despite their mythological nature, they seemed very human and believable. They weren't creepily best friends or forever sworn enemies (which I see a lot), but a realistic combination of loving family and bickering annoyance.

I wasn't a huge fan of Cassandra by herself though. I never really connected to her, because she often came off as aggressive and controlling. I understand that her life, and her family's, are on the line, but I wouldn't have wanted to help her, that's for sure. I much preferred Brennan, who seemed less irritating as a whole.

I also found the start of the story to be a bit confusing. I'm not sure what would fix it, maybe a prologue or a back story or something. For the first few chapters I felt like I was reading the start of a sequel, like I was supposed to have already had some concept of the twins' situation and the drama that went along with it. It got better with time, but it made it a bit slow to start for me.

Despite the issues that I had with this book, it is a solid fantasy read from an author that I continue to love. I recommend it to young adult readers with any of the following- an interest in mythology, shifters, or underwater fantasy such as mermaids. If you're not a fan of those, or high school drama, then this may not be for you.

Thank you to Oops I Read A Book Again Blog Tours for my copy in exchange for an honest review.


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Amazon | CreateSpace.

About the Author

Andrea Colt grew up reading and squabbling with her identical twin. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, a fridge full of cheese, and two feline muses. Visit to get to know her better.

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