Blog Tour: Call Me Elizabeth Lark by Melissa Colasanti [Interview + Giveaway]

Call Me Elizabeth Lark

Author: Melissa Colasanti

Published: 9th March 2021

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Genre: Domestic Suspense 

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Synopsis:

Your daughter went missing twenty years ago. Now, she's finally back. You thought she had returned a few times in the past, and your husband tells you she's not the one, but you feel it in your bones.

Now, what will you do to keep her home?

Twenty years ago, Myra Barkley's daughter disappeared from the rocky beach across from the family inn, off the Oregon coast. Ever since, Myra has waited at the front desk for her child to come home. One rainy afternoon, the miracle happens--her missing daughter, now twenty-eight years old with a child of her own, walks in the door.

Elizabeth Lark is on the run with her son. She's just killed her abusive husband and needs a place to hide. Against her better judgment, she heads to her hometown and stops at the Barkley Inn. When the innkeeper insists that Elizabeth is her long lost daughter, the opportunity for a new life, and more importantly, the safety of her child, is too much for Elizabeth to pass up. But she knows that she isn't the Barkleys's daughter, and the more deeply intertwined she becomes with the family, the harder it becomes to confess the truth.

Except the Barkley girl didn't just disappear on her own. As the news spreads across the small town that the Barkley girl has returned, Elizabeth suddenly comes into the limelight in a dangerous way, and the culprit behind the disappearance those twenty years ago is back to finish the job. 

My Interview

Hello Melissa, thank you for being on my blog today! To start, tell us 3 reasons why we should read your book “Call Me Elizabeth Lark” – besides for its gorgeous cover!

Thank you for having me! I appreciate it so much. I loved writing the little cast of characters in the book, so I’m certainly biased. But I think Call Me Elizabeth Lark has three very intriguing central characters with complicated relationships. There are several big twists and layers of family secrets. If you enjoy domestic suspense this is definitely a book where I hope readers will get caught up in this little family with big secrets.

If you had to pick one character as your favorite, who would it be and why?

If I had to pick, I’d say Gwen is my favorite. She is the guilt-ridden older sister who was supposed to be babysitting the night her sister disappeared from the beach. Because of this, her relationship with Myra, her mother, is very strained. I thought about this even before writing the novel. What is too much for a mother to truly forgive? And even if this forgiveness is granted, would the teenage girl who lost her sister, never to return again, ever forgive herself? Twenty years later, when Elizabeth Lark enters the family’s life, Gwen is a bit prickly, a perfectionist, trying to control everything so she doesn’t make the same mistakes with her own kids. As a result, she’s caught up in this façade of ‘the perfect mother’ that we see portrayed on social media, the societal expectations of women. I felt for her as I wrote her, but also, I wanted to make her not entirely likable while still sympathetic. So she’s the character I worked with a lot to achieve that middle ground. I wanted to be free to explore all of these characters’ flaws—because they are deeply flawed—while keeping them intriguing. And Gwen’s personality is generally guarded so I had to work harder on showing the vulnerable side of her. 

What was the funniest thing about writing this book?

I have six kids. And I used to have quiet time when the majority of them were at school and a babysitter was helping out with the youngest. Or when I could leave them home and work at Starbucks or the library for a few hours. But with COVID, we were suddenly all home together. And the babysitter option was out because I felt it was too risky. Eight people and two dogs in a house together when I was on a tight deadline for revisions on this book. Now, this part isn’t funny, but the creativity it took to get this done kind of was. I wrote in my walk-in closet, with the bedroom door locked, and the bathroom door locked, and the closet door shut just to slow them down and mute out the perpetual, “Mommy! Mommy! Can I have a snack?” 

Is this your first published book or are there more of your novels?

I have another book, written under Melissa Woods, called That Night on the Bayou, which is literary fiction. This is my suspense debut, which is why I write under a pseudonym.

If you could work with any author, who would it be?

Ooh this is tough because I admire so many authors. I just finished Ruth Ware’s latest novel. So, I’m going to say Ruth Ware.

What was the most rewarding experience you’ve had since being published?

Seeing my book on bookstore shelves! As a young child, this was what I wanted more than anything. My life’s dream. And having this book on a lot of bookstore shelves has been an amazing experience. Of course, as authors we’re always looking toward the next goal—whether that’s sales or the next book deal or reviews—but I think it’s so important to go back to that child’s mind, the one that made you want to be a writer in the first place. And for most of us, it was because we loved reading, and we wanted to be storytellers. This is a tough business, with lots of rejection along the way, with highs and lows. But if I take my mind back to the place it was in before I knew this was a business, seeing my name on a book at the store is a huge accomplishment. 

About the author:

Melissa Colasanti is a mother and an author. She has a BFA in fiction from Boise State University. Her writing has appeared in Lithub, Memoir Magazine, The Coffin Bell Journal and others. She is the Stephen R. Kustra scholar in creative writing for 2019, and was awarded the Glenn Balch Award for fiction in 2020.

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The Giveaway

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours

 for Melissa Colasanti. There will be one (1) winner of one (1) signed

 Copy of Call Me Elizabeth Lark + Swag (US Addresses ONLY). 

The giveaway begins on May 1, 2021 and runs

 through June 1, 2021. Void where prohibited.

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Blog Tour: The Queen's Rival by Anne O'Brien [Excerpt]

The Queen's Rival

Author: Anne O'Brien

Published: September 2020

Publisher: Harper Collins

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Number of pages: 531 pages

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Kobo

Synopsis:

England, 1459.

One family united by blood. Torn apart by war…

The Wars of the Roses storm through the country, and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, plots to topple the weak-minded King Henry VI from the throne.

But when the Yorkists are defeated at the battle of Ludford Bridge, Cecily’s family flee and abandon her to face a marauding Lancastrian army on her own.

Stripped of her lands and imprisoned in Tonbridge Castle, the Duchess begins to spin a web of deceit. One that will eventually lead to treason, to the fall of King Henry VI, and to her eldest son being crowned King Edward IV.

Read an excerpt

Duchess Cecily teaches a lesson in Ludlow Castle, October 1459

We were in occupation of one of the corner chambers in the old gatehouse keep at Ludlow Castle because it was a good vantage point from which to detect approaching marauders. Despite the lack of light and the all-pervasive reek of damp, I lit candles then unrolled the precious scroll with a flourish. It was a line of succession, drawn as a tree with thorny branches, all the way from the first man and woman on earth, Adam and Eve, enclosed in leaves and flowers in the Garden of Eden, to King Henry the Sixth, our present crowned and anointed King of England.

‘Hold down the corners,’ I said to my children.

My two elder sons already knew this lesson well, as did my elder daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, who were wed and living in their own households. Here with me were my three younger offspring. Margaret, more frequently called Meg, at twelve years was adept at reading and could work it out for herself. George at ten, and Richard, known to all as Diccon to avoid unnecessary complications in our domestic dealings, the youngest of my sons who had not yet achieved eight years, were still in the process of gleaning information on old alliances. It was time they knew of their profound inheritance. Indeed, in the circumstances, it had become an urgent affair.

George slouched over the table edge, pressing down hard with his whole hand, while Meg applied her fingertips with neat precision. Diccon had his elbows splayed along one edge, leaning close to survey the pattern of lines and names.

‘Do you see the roundels, painted next to each name?’ I pointed to some of them, the closest to us today and the most highly coloured, all capped or crowned with gold. ‘The scribe has included a picture of each King, and his heraldic symbol so that you might recognise him.’

They peered over the document, sufficiently engrossed, even George who preferred weapons to books.

‘Our King Henry.’ George pointed. ‘Our cousin.’

Meg placed her finger on a sword-wielding figure, two branches above. ‘That is the fourth King Henry.’

‘He was my mother’s – your grandmother Joan’s – half-brother.’ I traced my finger down from that fourth Henry to his son, the fifth Henry, and then his grandson, the sixth, our present King. ‘These Kings – all three Henrys – are from the House of Lancaster.’

‘Why is the fourth Henry the only one with a sword?’ Diccon asked.

‘Because he used the sword to slice through the branches of the tree. There.’ I pointed to the break in the branches. ‘Henry cut the order of succession and deposed King Richard.’ I watched as a frown furrowed George’s brow. ‘The fourth Henry is what we would call a usurper.’

‘What happened to Richard?’ George asked.

‘He died. In Pontefract Castle.’

‘Did Henry have him killed?’ Meg asked.

‘No one knows.’

‘I wager he did. He is fierce in the picture.’ Diccon looked impressed.

‘What do you learn from this?’ I asked.

‘They are all branches of the same tree, from father to son. Except there, when the Lancastrian Kings took over.’ Meg regarded me with her solemn stare. Her eyes were forthright, her chin stubborn, her countenance often firm-lipped and unsmiling, but I thought she would grow into a handsome woman. My husband said that of them all she was most like

me, and perhaps he was right. She was developing a strong will. ‘Would it have been better to keep Richard, whatever his faults?’ she asked.

‘The Lancastrian Henrys have brought us a peaceful and strong country,’ I stated. ‘Victory abroad in battles against the French. Richard may not have done so. And Richard had no son to follow him. It is important to have sons.’

‘Is our King Henry a good King?’ Diccon asked.

‘Sometimes he is not well,’ I suggested. ‘Sometimes he needs good advisors.’

‘Like our father?’

I regarded Diccon. My other sons would be as tall and broad and fair as the painted angels on the walls of my private chapel. Diccon would be neither tall nor broad, and his hair was the dark of a raven’s wing. He was the image of his father, who had more wiry strength than powerful muscle.

‘Yes, like your father.’

But King Henry’s worthiness was not a subject for discussion. We were stepping on the quivering ground of a morass that had recently begun to weaken the solid foundations of our vast, far-flung family.

‘But where does our father fit on the branches?’ George asked.

I pointed further back than the deposed King Richard, to the great third King Edward who had won battles at Crécy and Poitiers and thus defeated the French.

‘We come here, from the sons of this King Edward. He had five sons. Your father is descended from one of those sons, the Duke of York.’

‘I know that I will not inherit my father’s title, even though I have his name,’ Diccon said.

His acceptance rather than childish wistfulness made me smile. ‘You are named for him, but it is Ned who will be Duke of York. You will have your own title when you have grown a little more.’

My eldest son Edward – still Ned in his adolescence – would make an exemplary Duke of York.

I replaced the scroll, locked the coffer and returned the key to the purse, appropriately embroidered with our emblems of falcons and fetterlocks, at my girdle.

‘So our father is royal. We are royal.’ Diccon’s mind was still absorbed in the multi-layered branches of the tree as we left the chamber, even as he hopped with an excess of energy. George raced ahead down the narrow stairway, his voice echoing in a strident farewell, and I let him go. Meg walked with grace at my side.

‘You have Plantagenet blood in your veins, just as King Henry does. From your father and from me.’ It was never too early to instil some sense of pride in their inheritance, as I had learned it at my mother’s knee. My mother Joan, as one of John of Gaunt’s Beaufort children with Katherine Swynford, once disgracefully illegitimate before being restored to respectability, had more than her fair share of pride when she was wed to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland.

‘Why are we not on the tree as well, if we are all descended from the great King Edward?’ Diccon was asking.

I dropped my hand lightly on his head, ruffling his already ruffled hair.

‘Because we do not rule.’

‘Even though the fourth Henry was a usurper?’

He had remembered the word well.

‘Even though he was a usurper. We do not have the right to rule, and we never will.’

‘To think otherwise would be treason,’ Meg stated with all the smooth assurance of youth and untried loyalties.

Diccon looked to me for confirmation.

‘That is true. We are loyal subjects to the House of Lancaster. The House of York will always be so.’ I spoke what were to become fateful words. ‘Whatever you hear to the contrary, we are loyal subjects.’

There were storm clouds building on our immediate horizon. It was a simple thing to make this declaration of fealty. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold it as a truth.

At this moment there was an army outside our gates, almost within our sights across the river. It was led by Marguerite, Queen of England, who would be quick to cry me false.

About the author:

Sunday Times Bestselling author Anne O’Brien was born in West Yorkshire. After gaining a BA Honours degree in History at Manchester University and a Master’s in Education at Hull, she lived in East Yorkshire for many years as a teacher of history. 

Today she has sold over 700,000 copies of her books medieval history novels in the UK and internationally. She lives with her husband in an eighteenth-century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire. The area provides endless inspiration for her novels which breathe life into the forgotten women of medieval history.

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Blog Tour: Forsaking all Other by Catherine Meyrick [Book Spotlight]

Forsaking All Other

Author: Catherine Meyrick

Published: 16th March 2018

Publisher: Courante Publishing

Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Romance

Number of pages: 308

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | AppleBooks

Synopsis:

England, 1585.

Bess Stoughton, waiting woman to the well-connected Lady Allingbourne, has discovered that her father is arranging for her to marry an elderly neighbour. Normally obedient Bess rebels and wrests from her father a year's grace to find a husband more to her liking.

Edmund Wyard, a taciturn and scarred veteran of England’s campaign in Ireland, is attempting to ignore the pressure from his family to find a suitable wife as he prepares to join the Earl of Leicester’s army in the Netherlands.

Although Bess and Edmund are drawn to each other, they are aware that they can have nothing more than friendship. Bess knows that Edmund’s wealth and family connections place him beyond her reach. And Edmund, with his well-honed sense of duty, has never considered that he could follow his own wishes.

With England on the brink of war and fear of Catholic plots extending even into Lady Allingbourne’s household, time is running out for both of them.

Love is no game for women. The price is far too high.

About the author:

Catherine Meyrick is a writer of historical fiction with a particular love of Elizabethan England. Her stories weave fictional characters into the gaps within the historical record – tales of ordinary people who are very much men and women of their time, yet in so many ways are like us today. These are people with the same hopes and longings as we have to find both love and their own place in a troubled world.

Catherine grew up in regional Victoria, but has lived all her adult life in Melbourne, Australia. Until recently she worked as a customer service librarian at her local library. She has a Master of Arts in history and is also an obsessive genealogist. When not writing, reading and researching, Catherine enjoys gardening, the cinema and music of all sorts from early music and classical to folk and country and western and, not least of all, taking photos of the family cat to post on Instagram.

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Blog Tour: Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton [Interview]

Under the Light of the Italian Moon 

Author: Jennifer Anton

Published: 8th March 2021

Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers

Genre: Historical Fiction / Biographical Fiction

Number of pages: 394

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org

Synopsis:

A promise keeps them apart until WW2 threatens to destroy their love forever.

Fonzaso Italy, between two wars.

Nina Argenta doesn’t want the traditional life of a rural Italian woman. The daughter of a strong-willed midwife, she is determined to define her own destiny. But when her brother emigrates to America, she promises her mother to never leave. When childhood friend Pietro Pante briefly returns to their mountain town, passion between them ignites while Mussolini forces political tensions to rise. Just as their romance deepens, Pietro must leave again for work in the coal mines of America. Nina is torn between joining him and her commitment to Italy and her mother. As Mussolini’s fascists throw the country into chaos and Hitler’s Nazis terrorise their town, each day becomes a struggle to survive greater atrocities. A future with Pietro seems impossible when they lose contact and Nina’s dreams of a life together are threatened by Nazi occupation and an enemy she must face alone… 

A gripping historical fiction novel, based on a true story and heartbreaking real events. Spanning over two decades, Under the Light of the Italian Moon is an epic, emotional and triumphant tale of one woman’s incredible resilience during the rise of fascism and Italy’s collapse into WWII.

My Interview

1. Hello Jennifer, thank you for being here today! It’s so fascinating to have an Italian/American writer on my blog! To start, would you like to share with us a few lines from your book opening?

It all begins with women.

In them, Heaven and Earth transfer. Creation comes to life, and all of humanity springs forth.

In the mother’s powerful womb, the transition from Godly to worldly takes place.

It was Mary who gave birth to eternity and redemption.

The strength of the world is in its women.

The power of the world is within its women.

Yet it is the women we erase.

Some women are unwilling to be forgotten or to forget.

Particularly if they are Italian.

2. In the synopsis, it mentions that the book was inspired by a true story, could you tell us whose story it was?

The novel is based on the lives of my Italian ancestors. You have to read the book to find out the exact connection, but I can tell you that my grandmother was the start of where my research began. The novel tells the story of Nina Argenta, the daughter of a strong-willed midwife, who falls in love with Pietro Pante, a boy who emigrates to the coal mines of America. The story is based on the lives of my family and tales I have been told growing up, as well as research I did after my grandmother died in 2006.

3. What would you say the hardest part of writing this book was? T

The book was truly a joy to research and write but after fourteen years, there was a massive manuscript that would have been too big to publish. The most difficult thing was determining what to cut to make the story shine, without impacting the book negatively. For that, I did work with two fantastic developmental editors.

4. What is the thing that gets Nina attracted to Pietro?

Like many great love beginnings, there is a spark between them that makes them stand out to each other, even from a young age. She is curious about him at first, a boy she knows from around the small town heading to America on a great adventure. Ultimately, there is something unexplainable but very powerful about the way they are drawn together when he returns later. Oceans cannot keep them apart or destroy their love. How many of us can say that?

5. Now speaking a little bit about you, name one thing you love and one thing you hate about Italy.

I love so much about Italy: the feeling of connection to my strong female ancestors, the beautiful scenery, the food, the language, the art, the fashion, everything. Once, when we were in Rome and my daughter was three or four years old, she took a big bite of pasta, looked at us with wide eyes and asked, “Mom, why is everything so GOOD in Italy?” I had to laugh. From the mouths of babes. There is nothing I hate about Italy except for the historical pain the country has been through because of men who drive for power and end up ruining so much. It’s also sad how many families were separated through the years due to emigration. My greatest wish is for Italy to continue to create, thrive and grow. It would be nice to see more equality of females in leadership in order to ensure creation and new solutions for the future!

6. Do you have a favorite Italian author?

I love Bassani and Moravia (men who wrote during and after WWII) but right now I love Elena Ferrante and Donatella Di Pietrantonio blew me away with Girl Returned which is so few pages but has so much power! A must read.

7. Are you working on some other books right now?

I’ve started a second book which takes place in Fonzaso and is based off a minor character and another family member who left audio memoirs

About the author:

Jennifer Anton is an American/Italian dual citizen born in Joliet, Illinois and now lives between London and Lake Como, Italy. A proud advocate for women's rights and equality, she hopes to rescue women's stories from history, starting with her Italian family.

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Review: The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

The Flatshare  

Author: Beth o'Leary

Published: First published 10th April 2019

Publisher: Quercus

Number of pages: 329

Format: eBooks

Source: Bought

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

From Goodreads:

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast.
Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash.

Their friends think they're crazy, but it's the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy's at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly-imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven't met yet, they're about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window...

My Review:

This is my second book by Beth O'Leary and I'm so glad I read it after The Switch. I liked The Switch but I didn't share all the excitement other readers felt, while for the Flatshare, I was definitely hooked. 

The concept of this book is already funny, even without the sweet and akward Tiffy making it all the more enjoyable. I liked our protagonists from the beginning and I couldn't wait for the moment they would meet. I could not foresee though, how their encounter could change so drastically the reader's perspective on both of them. Before seeing Tiffy through Leon's eyes, I never really thought about Tiffy's appearance and never thought about her as a gorgeous young girl, especially since the first physical comment we have is from Leon's girlfriend, describing her as "Larger than life." The emotional turmoil she's living and the fact that she's presented mostly as a sobbing mess at first, certainly didn't help. But once we have Leon's pov, everything changes. Tiffy appeared in my mind, finally, absolutely beautiful and full of colours inside and out. Her vitality and her quirkiness not akward anymore but sweet and encouraging, pushing Leon into taking care of this magical person he has casually met. Same thing can be said for Leon seen through Tiffy's eyes, even if the shocking difference for me emerges much more with Tiffy's case. Leon is and remains an introvert, the nerd-kind-of-beauty, but certainly with Tiffy pushing him into partecipating more in life, we do see a growth. Taking part of these metamorphosis was what I truly enjoyed most about this book and what I believe must be one of Beth O'Leary's strong points. Another perspective that I thoroughly enjoyed is also the difference between Tiffy before the emotional abuse, and Tiffy after. Justin, Tiffy's ex-boyfriend is the worst man you could meet in life, one who doesn't really touch you but that manages to have complete control of your head, making you believe you might be someone you actually aren't. So we see a woman who thinks she's forgetful, weak, needy and mediocre by all meaning. With Leon's devotion and her friends' support though, Tiffy starts to regain some clarity and begins a journey of self-love and self-discovery that completely changes how Tiffy sees herself and is seen by others. I was glad the book offered this theme, as it was totally unexpected from what I thought was just a light rom-com.

In this book, I appreciated much more the author's humor but especially her writing skills, considering that she adopts completely different styles when speaking from Leon or Tiffy's points of view. Leon's chapters are short-sentenced, text-like, full of periods, while Tiffy's chapters are incredibly descriptive and reflect her exuberance. 

All these elements helped me create a strong affection for the characters and that is why I was dying to watch their love burn. After their first encounter, though, I expected for things to develop way more quickly than they did and I can not deny that I was a bit bored while reading the second part of the novel, where it seemed like their encounter never happened and other aspects of the story took the lead. And all I wanted to read about was Tiffy and Leon, Leon and Tiffy.

Overall, I liked this book very much, so much so that I would have made it my favorite read of April if it wasn't for ACOMAF. It certainly made me reconsider my opion of the author and now I'm actually looking forward to reading her new book, The Road Trip.

Rated

Book Blitz: Grave Robbing and Other Hobbies by Jayce Carter + Giveaway!

Grave Robbing and Other Hobbies
Jayce Carter
Grave Concerns #1

Publication date: April 20th 2021
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Reverse Harem, Romance

Ghosts, corpses and four hot men—what’s a girl to do?

Abandoned at three—whose parents want a kid who sees ghosts?—I learned the world is quick to punish misfits. I try my best to be a normal, boring human, but the call of the supernatural just won’t be ignored.

When a stranger shows up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s no sexy tryst. Instead, I’m off to the graveyard, digging up the corpse of a murder victim at the demand of the local vampire coven—and that small felony is just the start.

The spirit of the woman has gone missing—something that shouldn’t be possible—and everyone is looking to me for answers. There’s Kase, a vampire who’s both terrifying and secretive. Grant, a mage with a bad attitude and a lot of power. Troy, the possessive werewolf-detective next door and Hunter, a mysterious bad boy who isn’t even close to human.

It’s a race not just against time but against everything to figure out where the spirits are going, who’s behind it and if I can trust the men who now share my bed.

And all because of a little grave robbing…

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

Read an Excerpt

Hunter didn’t remove his hand from my mouth. It made me realize he was also entirely pressed against me, and despite it not being possible, he felt better than he’d looked. His skin was warm, even through my robe.

He took his hand off my mouth but didn’t move away. “Stay still,” he whispered against my ear.

“Why? Is it coming back?”

“No. I just really like looking down your robe.”

As soon as his words sank in, when I moved past the adrenaline and the purr of his voice, I realized that yes, my robe had bagged open and he had a perfect view down the front.

I elbowed him, but he didn’t seem to even feel it. He released me, though the way he did it implied my little move hadn’t meant a thing.

“I am so tired of people breaking into my house,” I said.

“You aren’t human, and you don’t have any wards. That’s the same as a ‘come on in ’sign in our world.”

“I am human.”

“Sure, shadow-girl.” He sent me a conspiratorial wink, as if we were on the joke together.

“No, I actually am. No funky teeth, no freaky eyes. Human.” I pointed at my face as though that drove the point home.

He waved at himself. “No funky teeth, no freaky eyes. Very much not human. Sure, though, if you want to pretend, I’m not one to turn down a bit of good roleplay. You want to be innocent Little Red Riding Hood? I’ll play the wolf.”

His suggestion derailed me. How could it not? Any girl who claimed she hadn’t had entirely inappropriate dreams about the wolf in that story was a damned liar. Once I’d reached a certain age, ‘all the better to eat you with ’had taken on a very different meaning.

I pictured a dark, heavily wooded forest as I ran, something on my heels, gaining ground. His warm breath on my neck when he caught me…

Suddenly I didn’t care what he’d said, why he was there or what exactly he meant by him ‘not being human’.

Until I recalled he’d broken in, and clearly him showing up at my office wasn’t a coincidence.

He snorted. “I liked where your mind was going before.”

“What are you doing here? And what was that thing?”

“Don’t we have better things to discuss? Or we can do away with talking all together.”

“I don’t sleep with people who might kill me, but thanks.”

“If someone might not kill you, are they even worth sleeping with in the first place?”

About the author:

Jayce Carter lives in Southern California with her husband and two spawns. She originally wanted to take over the world but realized that would require wearing pants. This led her to choosing writing, a completely pants-free occupation. She has a fear of heights yet rock climbs for fun and enjoys making up excuses for not going out and socializing.

 

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Review: A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury

ACOTAR #2

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Published: First published 3rd May 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrend

Number of pages: 656

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

Purchase: Amazon, B&N, TBD

From Goodreads:

The seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas’s spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she’s now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre’s hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas’s masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.

My Review

If you want, check out my A Court of Thorns and Roses review here.

So. The time when I would have switched team has come, and I couldn't stop it. I really, really wanted to go against the flow on this one, but inevitably, I fell for Rhysand. And if I look back about how much I loved Tamlin, I can't believe it myself.

*tries to organize her thoughts* ... how difficult it is to write a review about a book you seriously loved? I find them the hardest to put into (coherent) words! Well, if you read my review of the first book in this series, you might remember me talking incessantly about how good it was and about how excited I was of finally finding a series that could steal my heart. A Court of Mist and Fury did not diminish my enthusiasm about this new world and I'm happy to see that up until now, the first two books in this series were equally great, even if for different reasons.

The good thing about having a world divided into courts, each reigning over their own element, is that it gives you several scenarios where to set your story and therefore surprise the reader. I loved the change of scenarios in book #1 and I was anxiously waiting to have a chance to visit more of Prythian and its courts. I may repeat myself, but once again the author's writing abilities did the trick and I enjoyed how fully entertaining this book too was, giving me constant pictures and images about its endless, magical world. We have a better look at the Court of The Night and it was just the best place to spend all my imaginations into, its magical and romantic atmosphere like nothing I could have imagined and a certain protagonist to this chapter.

Just like ACOTAR, A Court of Mist and Fury is a slow-burner, but if in the first book the suspence is occupied by Feyre slowly falling for Tamlin, this time we have a much slower pace to get to the second step of her growth. Maybe, just maybe, I found this slower development a little bit bothersome, especially when I couldn't predict where the story was going. I was initially expecting a little more action from the second installment, especially since the ending of book #1 made us all aware that a lot of things were going to change for Feyre (and you can't even imagine) and I believed we would have had an immediate glimpse at how her life was proceeding. We did, but it was not what I expected at all, and let me say that it was shocking at first. Now looking at the whole story, I actually appreciated the time the author took into describing Feyre's adjustments as it made the character gain more credibility; moreover, this precious time also gave us the possibility to get acquainted to a great number of perfect characters that finally give our Feyre a so wanted family. The introduction of Cassian, Azriel, Mor and Amrel to the scene was an exquisite plus to an already perfect story and once again I have to just underline how incredibly talented the author is in picturing complex, multi-layered characters. They each have their stories, their pasts and everything they lived scarred them for eternity; they are feral, but they are also loyal and tender and I seriously can't wait to discover what lies beyond the beautiful eyes of each and every one of them. But it's not just them that are treated a certain way, what I noticed in the Acotar series is that even the more irrelevant character seems to have a specific background and identity. 

Just a couple of things that slightly annoyed me (I had to find something bad in such a paradise) are Feyre, that sometimes during the book acted super moody and incredibly unfair towards those who most cared for her, and second, the King of Hybern who seemed... ABSOLUTELY HARMLESS. It might have been me, but the few words he spoke in this title sounded just stupid and not at all intimidating as I expected from the antagonist par excellence. 

And if I'm not mentioning THE chemistry and THE steam in this book, is because I always try to write spoiler-free review, but for those of you who already read this... I DIED several times while reading this book and I will probably keep having problems dating for the rest of my life. 

Rated