Blog Tour: All That We See or Seem & A Dream Within a Dream by Kristina Mahr [PROMO POST + GIVEAWAY]

Thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for organizing this blog tour!

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Book Title: All That We See or Seem
Author: Kristina Mahr
Genres: Dark Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Publication Date: May 2018
Published by: Uncommon Universes Press LLC

Goodreads | Amazon

Every night, seventeen-year-old Reeve Lennox finds herself under a noose.

By day she is a lady of Acarsaid’s royal house, daydreaming of adventure and love. But every night in sleep she wanders through a nightmarish city, an invisible witness to the screeches of monsters and the screams of their victims. Her only consolation is Bran, a battle-torn young man with a selfless heart and eyes that reflect the stars.

Yet while Reeve falls deeper into her dreams, in truth she is engaged to Arden, a mercurial nobleman who has long been cured of his belief in love and breathes fire and flattery like other people breathe air.

Torn between two lives, Reeve struggles to remember what’s real, until night and day collide, with a revelation that threatens all of Acarsaid.

Book Title:A Dream Within a Dream
Author: Kristina Mahr
Genres: Dark Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Publication Date: March 2019
Published by: Uncommon Universes Press LLC

Goodreads | Amazon

Invisible to the man she loves, Reeve Lennox fights to reclaim him from a dark world.

As her wedding day nears in Acarsaid, her betrothed Arden offers only his wayward soul and saucy tongue. At night she desperately tries to reach Bran, the young soldier of nightmarish Tenebris who holds her heart. However, her king insists that the realms of Tenebris and Acarsaid must remain separate, lest the evil wizard Rancore brutally conquer all.

But the dark magic of Tenebris defies mere distance. A war is coming, one only Reeve may be able to prevent, if she can reunite her family on opposing sides.

With two kingdoms at stake, Reeve must discover her strength and her family’s legacy before all is lost. Yet righting the wrongs of the past may require the sacrifice of her truest love.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Mahr devotes her days to numbers and her nights to words. She works full-time as an accountant in the suburbs of Chicago, where she lives with her two dogs and two cats, but her true passion is writing. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading, and waking up at the crack of dawn every weekend to watch the Premier League.

Website | Twitter | Instagram

 

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Blog Tour: Beware the Night by Jessika Fleck [REVIEW + GIVEAWAY!]

Book Title: Beware the Night
Author: Jessika Fleck
Series: None (Standalone/No mention of sequel)
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: March 12th 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

On the island of Bellona, they worship the sun. Seventeen-year-old Veda understands that keeping the sun content ensures plentiful crops, peace and harmony, and a thriving economy. But as a member of the Basso class, she never reaps those benefits.

Life as a Basso is one fraught with back-breaking work and imposing rules. Her close friendship with Nico is Veda’s one saving grace in a cruel world where the division between her people and the ruling Dogio is as wide and winding as the canals that snake through their island.

But when Veda’s grandfather is chosen as the next sacrificial offering to keep the sun’s favor, Veda is forced to see the injustice of her world. Turning away from the sun means she must join the night—and an underground revolution she’s been taught to fear all her life.

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours.

MY THOUGHTS

YOU NEED THIS ON YOUR TBR, I SWEAR TO GOD. Normally, I wouldn’t start my review with such aggression but, goddamn, this book is fantastic. AND LOOK AT THAT COVER! It’s so stunning!

Let me start with Veda, our main character, since I loved her so much. She’s a badass and she’s clearly my type of a main character: strong and hard-willed. Unlike others, she does not want to just be a symbol for the people in a raging war; she wants to actually fight with her people. Although she’s scared and admittedly not very equipped for the role, she does not cower. Also, from the first mention of whatever Veda is, it all seemed so flaky for me as well so I know where she is coming from with her doubts.

Nico, Veda’s best friend, was a well-written character as well. His personality resonates true depth and his genuine love for his friend seeps through this book’s pages. I feel every ounce of happiness, hurt, sadness, or whatever emotions he may feel and I’ve come to love him until the end of the book.

Although I’m really not one for love triangles, this one is an exception. It has been executed really well as I can understand and sympathize with each one of them. Despite the tropes, I really enjoyed this book’s plot and the concept about the Sun and Moon being worshiped by the people is something I haven’t read before. I vaguely remember that with every turn of the page, this book kept me wanting more and more!

If you haven’t yet, go get this book for yourself. I was delighted that I thoroughly enjoyed this one. And with the cliffhanger at the end, I refuse to believe that Beware the Night is a standalone. *huffs indignantly* I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story develops.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessika Fleck is an author, unapologetic coffee drinker, and knitter — she sincerely hopes to one day discover a way to do all three at once. Until then, she continues collecting vintage typewriters and hourglasses, dreaming of an Ireland getaway, and convincing her husband they NEED more kittens. Her YA debut, THE CASTAWAYS (Entangled TEEN), is now available. Her next YA novel, BEWARE THE NIGHT (Swoon Reads/Macmillan) releases March 12, 2019. More at www.jessikafleck.com

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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GIVEAWAY

Win a print copy of Beware the Night (US/CAN)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Secret of Dinswood

Book Title: The Secret of Dinswood
Author: Ellen Alexander
Series: N/A (Standalone)
Publisher: BHC Press
Publication Date: February 26th 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Middle Grade
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Amazon Book Depository

Desperate to get away from a home where she no longer feels wanted, twelve-year-old Emma Higsby is elated when she wins a scholarship to the prestigious Dinswood Academy boarding school.

Emma quickly falls in love with the renovated castle nestled in the heart of the mountains. But when rumors surface that her new school is having financial problems and may have to close, she begins to search for a way to save her new home.

When she discovers a riddle of buried treasure left by the eccentric school’s founder, Lord Dinswood, she and her friends must use their courage and intelligence to solve each clue.

But someone else is searching for the treasure as well. Emma and her friends will have to race against time and discover the secret of Dinswood first!

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I received a copy of this book from Netgalley (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my thoughts in any way.

MY THOUGHTS

The book in a few words: Boarding school. Pirate treasure. Mysterious hunt. Beautiful friendships. If that does not intrigue you at least a tiny bit, then I’m not sure this book’s for you.

The Secret of Dinswood follows a group of students from Dinswood Academy in their quest to save their school from financial troubles by hunting for Lord Dinswood’s hidden treasure. For a school that’s been struggling financially, Dinswood Academy is so freaking extravagant! This is exactly the kind of school I would’ve dreamed of attending during my childhood.

Emma and her friends only went on this hunt to save their school from crippling financial troubles. They go on and on about how they must save the school because it means everything to them despite only being there for, what, a few months? Granted, they did meet their best friends there but is going to separate schools really that awful to risk their lives on the hunt?

The main character here is so well-developed; I love her so much! At the start of the book, I could really feel Emma’s insecurities and anxiousness of being out of place in Dinswood Academy. Since it’s a prestigious boarding school, only accepting the richest of the rich, Emma could only afford to go there because of her scholarship. Despite the best efforts of her friends, she can’t deny that sometimes, she feel alienated among the wealthy crowd of students. I absolutely sympathize for her because I, personally, know that feeling which made me love and understand her better.

With that, I’d like to mention that Martha, Emma’s best friend, is the epitome of a great friend. She has always been there for Emma from the beginning, and she has never let the superficial things like financial status get in the way of their friendship. However, although Martha has been a wonderful buddy to Emma, she hasn’t been much help in the treasure hunt and frankly, she’s a bit repetitive too. In another time, and in another story, I really would have loved her more.

The pacing was a bit slow at first, which allowed readers to fully get to know the main characters and get accustomed to the school. Unfortunately, I think the book could have done with a little bit of a faster pace in terms of the mystery since they only discovered a substantial piece of clue at around 72% of the book, and they were still clueless up to that point.

This is a great book and I would really recommend it if you don’t mind a slower pace in mystery and if you love stories in boarding schools as much as I do!

 

Disclaimer: By clicking on the book covers above, you will be redirected to my Amazon affiliate link for the corresponding book. Purchase from that link and you’ll be able to help me and my blog out tremendously at no additional cost for you!

Can’t Wait Wednesday: The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa of Wishful Endings. This allows bloggers, such as myself, to feature upcoming book releases that we are ecstatic about.

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Can’t-Wait Wednesdays are always so fun for me to do but sometimes I get so, so torn on what upcoming book to feature. It usually takes me ages to pick what book to spotlight and time is gold so for this week, I just randomly picked a title from my list of anticipated upcoming releases.

Here it is, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake. I’ve heard nothing but great things about the author and her work, plus there are literally no low ratings for the book on Goodreads. I’m so stoked to see how astounding this book would be and what its impact would be on me since I expect great representation and tackling of heavy topics for middle grade audience.

Book Title: The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James
Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Series: None (Standalone)
Publication Date: March 26th 2019
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Middle Grade

 

Twelve-year-old Sunny St. James navigates heart surgery, reconnections with a lost mother, first kisses, and emerging feelings for another girl in this stunning, heartfelt novel–perfect for fans of Ali Benjamin and Erin Entrada Kelly.

When Sunny St. James receives a new heart, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”: 1) do awesome amazing things she could never do before; 2) find a new best friend; and 3) kiss a boy for the first time.

Her “New Life Plan” seems to be racing forward, but when she meets her new best friend Quinn, Sunny questions whether she really wants to kiss a boy at all. When the reemergence of her mother, Sunny begins a journey to becoming the new Sunny St. James.

This sweet, tender novel dares readers to find the might in their own hearts.

What about you? What’s an upcoming release you can’t wait for? Leave a comment and let’s chat!

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DISCLAIMER: By clicking the Amazon and Book Depository buttons, you will be directed to my affiliate links for the respective sites. If you purchase the book using my link, you have supported me and my blog since I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Wrapping It Up: JANUARY 2019

HI FRIENDSSSS! If it isn’t clear enough from the title, I’m doing an much overdue wrap-up. Man, I haven’t done this kind of post in ages, I’m pretty sure I forgot how to write this. But anyhoo, what’s important is that I’m trying. wink wink. So here it is!!

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BOOKS

Before anything else, I would just like to give huge thanks to Kaleena @ Reader Voracious Blog for a wonderful spreadsheet tracker that proved SOOOO useful for me. The chart graphics that I will be including here are from the results of that spreadsheet as well! If you’re anything like me, who wants to keep track of everything in life because being forgetful sucks, I highly recommend using the 2019 Book Blogger Spreadsheet Template.

For the month of January, I’ve read a total of 7 books which is a lot in my perspective. I’m usually a very slow reader due to a hectic academic schedule so I’m very satisfied with my progress for this month.

     
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Disclaimer: By clicking on the book covers above, you will be redirected to my Amazon affiliate link for the corresponding book. Purchase from that link and you’ll be able to help me and my blog out tremendously at no additional cost for you!

My favorite book for January 2019 would have to be The Silver Queen because I just adore that series. I’m so stoked to read the third book but in the meantime, you can check my review of The Silver Queen here.

PROGRESS GRAPHS

I’ve been meaning to cut down on my backlist TBR for a while now and I’m so glad that I’m making progress since half of the books I’ve read in January were backlist titles. There’s still a lot of ARCs I need to get to but I like mixing up my reading with backlist ones.

This one’s exciting as well! I have always loved Fantasy but I found myself not reading as many books as I would like from that genre. I mostly turn to Mystery and Contemporary as they are my favorite, so one of my resolutions for the year is to widen my horizons when it comes to genres! Well, so far so good for my progress in reading Fantasy, in my opinion!

BLOG

For the month of January, my blog statistics have been much more than what I’ve expected when I came back from my hiatus and I can’t thank you all enough for that!! The feedback I’ve received from all of you guys at my blog posts are so mindblowing and very heartwarming. Mindblowing because, frankly, I did not expect that anyone would care enough to read my blog posts, much less like and comment on them! So that really inspired me to write and post blog posts more than I have before for the next months to come!!

Here are all the blog posts I’ve published in January 2019:

• Book Review: Analiese Rising by Brenda Drake
• Book Review: Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
• Book Review: Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
• Can’t Wait Wednesday: Enchantée by Gita Trelease
• Cover Reveal: The Haunting of Elmwood Manor by Pamela McCord
• Book Review: Dream Keeper by Amber R. Duell
• Can’t Wait Wednesday: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte
• Book Blitz: The Princess of Baker Street by Mia Kerick [EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY]
• Luxe’s Thoughts: UK vs US Book Covers
• Book Review: Secrets, Lies, and Scandals by Amanda K. Morgan
• Book Blitz: Dream Keeper by Amber R. Duell [EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY]

I’ve realized that I really do love making book reviews and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon LOL. And I’m trying to participate in more events like blog tours, cover reveals and book blitzes. But the most exciting (and my favorite blog post in January) is my first discussion post in a looooong while: Luxe’s Thoughts: UK vs US Book Covers and YOU GUYS ARE SO SWEET AND AMAZING with your responses!

PERSONAL LIFE

Last January, I went back to school from our holiday break and so far, everything’s miraculously alright. I’m actually so proud of myself for doing quite well academic-wise, having no emotional breakdowns so far. My anxiety hasn’t been too bad lately and it is actually quite manageable most of the time!

On other news, I’ve acquired a bunch of lovely blogger friends—which are all Filipinos as well, might I add! This just means so much to me because they’re the first actual blogger friends who I constantly talk to. I JUST LOVE THEM, OKAY??

PSA: You should definitely follow their blogs because, as I’ve said and will say again and again, they’re fantastic, kind, gentle hoomans that deserve all the love in the world!

• Ate Angela from Hiding Behind Books Blog
• Ate Erica from Living a Hundred Lives
• Ate Justine from Bookish Wisps

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I now have a positive feeling for both my blog and personal life! I feel like I’m truly heading in the right direction and I can’t wait for what the future (for both my personal life and blogging) awaits for me.

For February, I didn’t set a particular TBR since I have a bold one for my Year of the Asian Reading Challenge sign-up and I think that it may be too much pressure for me if I had another TBR for February.

So, I guess that’s it for this wrap-up. I haven’t achieved much in retrospect but I’m pretty happy with myself nevertheless. How about you? How was your January? What other things do you put on wrap-ups? (Please help I am CLUELESS!) Let’s chat!