Under the Never Sky

Author: Veronica Rossi
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Source: Gift

Summary from Goodreads: Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.
As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.
They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.
The first book in a captivating trilogy, Veronica Rossi’s enthralling debut sweeps you into an unforgettable adventure.

Rating: êêêê

Review: This book was a bit challenging to get into at first. There is a lot of terminology that the author uses that is clearly common in this dystopian future but not to the present day reader, so there was a lot to figure out and some of it I’m not 100% positive I envisioned correctly. The world building could use some work, there is little explanation about how the world came to be this way. I also struggled to connect with the two point of views, but that changed about 25% of the way into the book.

Eventually the plot started to pick up and before I knew it, I was reading until I fell asleep with my kindle in hand and waking up reaching for it again. There is a dash of paranormal sci-fi that works really well. There is also a nice balance of romance, you’ll see it coming but it doesn’t over power the story. There is a decent amount of action and a pretty big twist. In summary, it has all the elements that create a book that I will love.

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap Show Off

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap is hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps

This was my first swap and I loved it. First of all it was really cool to get to know a blogger that I might never have connected with otherwise. Second, it was really fun to purchase books for someone else. And of course, the anticipation for the books I would receive felt sort of like Christmas.

For this swap, I was paired with Kady from Ioniun and the Three Biscuits.

Kady gifted me with three ebooks.

1. A book that Kady loves

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

2. A book that Kady hasn't read yet

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

3. A book from my wishlist

Defy by Sara B Larson

Check out what other people got in their swaps here

Thunderlight: Cover Reveal, Excerpt, Giveaway

Title: Thunderlight

Author: Adrienne Woods
Series: The Dragonian Series, book 2
Genre: young adult fantasy
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishers
Release Date: 21 November 2014

Book Description:Vibrant, scale swathed wings… Abilities that can be harnessed by a chosen few… Dragons…

All this may seem like old news, but for sixteen year-old Elena Watkins the world of Paegeia is not finished revealing all its secrets. During a summer break intended for relaxation, she discovers that her harrowing adventure to retrieve the King of Lion sword wasn’t the destiny foretold by the cryptic Viden, a dragon with the ability to see a person’s true fate. The words inked onto the page of the mysterious Book of Shadows remains black and Elena must return to Dragonia Academy to discover their true meaning.
Upon her return to the magnificent castle she has to face a challenge of a different kind, keeping her boyfriend Lucian McKenzie, the Prince of Tith and love of her life, away from the dangerous new student, Paul Sutton. As a Wyvern, Paul has made it his mission to claim Elena as his rider but he is proving to be more perilous than at first glance.

Everyone knew that Wyverns were bad news, and just as evil as the darkness that lurked inside Blake Leaf, the Rubicon forced to fight against his inner nature every day. But Elena can see a small light lurking in the darkness, a destiny still unfulfilled; to prove that Wyverns can be claimed.

Will Lucian’s dark secret about Wyverns and Elena’s need to prove their true nature cause their love to be torn apart? And which of Elena’s friends will be sacrificed this time if she is wrong?

Excerpt

Chapter One

Castle of Etan

Anger, betrayal, and hate turned my stomach acid, it consumed my mind and I watched as bottles, papers and books on the desk, flew off and crushed to the floor.

A maid rushed to my side. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes reflected fear. The dustpan in her hand trembled as she started to sweep up the jagged shards of glass. Rising from the floor she began to straighten the books that had fallen to the floor in a heap. Every few seconds I would notice her eyes dart nervously in my direction as if a mere breath would make me lash out as her with my outstretched hand.

I touched her face gently until my hand reached her neck, tightening slowly as my anger began to rise once again. My grip tightened around her soft, shapely neck as I lifted her up from her position on the floor at my feet. Listening carefully I could hear her heart fluttering like a bird trapped inside a cage.

“How did I become this way?” I thought, giving voice to my reality softly.

She just stared at me with round, brown unblinking eyes. Her eyes were sunken deep into the surface of her face and her cheek bones were sharply defined.

Looking at her sullen face made me feel worse. I lifted up my other hand and struck the woman hard across her cheek.

A cry left her mouth and I threw her from me as if she weighed nothing. She skidded across the floor landing in a heap against a wall of cold, unforgiving stone. If I was a dragon I would blast fire, redeem this wretched place to a pile of insignificant ashes.

Two other maids, hearing the startled cry, rushed into the room. Their eyes were wide as they took in the room and the immobile heap near the far wall. “Sorry, me lord,” the older one said. “She’s new, we will train her better.”

They picked up the maid who had come too and begun sobbing. She clutched the side of her face, cover the huge red hand print where I struck her.

I nodded. The old maid knew her place well, although I still didn’t care for her name, she knew where she stood.

I plunged myself down onto the chair and closed my eyes. A silent roar growled inside of me lighting a fire of rage deep in my core.

The girl had made it.

The Rubicon saved her life, so a part of him was still fighting me. I could still see her eyes searching mine. They bore into my soul, seeking answers. How was this possible! The wall wouldn’t allow any human to go to the other side.

Albert’s laughter echoed inside the castle; a startling reminder that good would always win. He would pay dearly for this. I would find a way, but I promised she wouldn’t live much longer.

I got up, rubbed my face hard and let the emotion of my anger escaped my lips. The rage that emanated from deep within me overpowered the haunting laughter and echoed throughout the entire castle.

“Master,” Cain’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Speak my loyal servant,” I said out loud. “What is the news?”

“Everything is in place. We won’t fail you,” his voice said in my head.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let it out hard. “We’ll see.”

About The  Auhor

Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa where she still lives with her husband and two beautiful little girls. When she’s not dabbing into all sorts of genres, written under various different pen names, she’s busy being a mother, and a loving wife. Family always comes first and her hobby has to wait till she gets a chance to write.

Giveaway

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Carnelian: Book Tour

Carnelian (Chalcedony Chronicles #1) by B. Kristin McMichael
Release Date: 02/01/14

Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Check out other stops on this tour

Summary from Goodreads:Everyone has a past, but for most it isn’t as long ago as Seth Sangre. His past is literally thousands of years ago. Seth’s life led him to the present seeking something that might help him save his country from destruction. He has been in the present for over three years now and just found exactly what he has been looking for.
Mari had dreams that college will be a fresh start, one where she would start over and not fall for the good looking player like high school. Unfortunately for her, that’s exactly what ends up falling into her lap on the first day she moves into the dorms. Now she has to hold to her promise to herself and not fall for the handsome Seth. But he doesn’t plan to make it easy for her. Seth has already marked her as his next conquest. As the semester progresses, Mari learns that Seth might just have a life of his own that’s actually from the past.
Suddenly Mari finds her future along with her past put into question. She’s connected to Seth far more than she ever wanted to be and maybe the player isn’t who she thought he was. If Mari can trust her heart enough to follow him, Seth will lead Mari on an adventure of a lifetime and reveal family secrets she never knew existed.

About The  Auhor:     Originally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in biology as a scientist. In her free time she is currently hard at work on multiple novels. Every day is a new writing adventure. She is a fan of all YA/NA fantasy and science fiction.

Giveaway

1 grand prize of signed copies of both Carnelian and Chrysoprase
2 runners-up can get signed copies of Carnelian

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Hosted by:

Summer!

So as some of you may know, I am a high school math teacher. Today was the last day of school!!
Since, I was proctoring final exams, grading finals, and closing my classroom for the summer, reading was put on the back burner for a bit.

Now that I am officially on "vacation" you might assume that I'll be reading all the time, but unfortunately that is not the case. I have lots of projects around the house to do and I am teaching two new courses next year that I have to prepare over the summer. So, I apologize, but my posting might be a bit sporadic.

Thank you for understanding. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Stacking the Shelves #14 (6/14/2014)

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

For Review

Into the Blind by Helen Rena

Gypsy by Trisha Leigh

Book Blogging and Piracy

I'm hopping into this conversation a little late, but I still think it needs to be addressed. So, as many of you have probably heard an author, Teresa Mummert, was notified by one of her readers about a giveaway in which she received a pirated copy of an ebook. Here's a link to Teresa's post, you may want to read it.


OK, so now you know what happened.

As book bloggers, we sometimes receive books in exchange for honest reviews. However, there is almost always a catch: the book you receive is for your eyes only! Writing is a job - authors deserve to be paid for their work. When someone distributes files that are not supposed to be shared they are pirating and stealing from the author. (FYI: according to merriam-webster, pirating is "the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright")

Now some people might argue that this file sharing is similar to buying a book at the book store and lending it to a friend, but it is NOT the same. First of all, you would have purchased the book, where review copies are given to you for free. Second, if friend A has your book, then you can't lend it to friend B at the same time. Also, if friend A chooses to share your book with friend C without telling you, you would most likely be pretty pissed at friend A. With electronic files, you can share them with as many people as you want at one time and in turn they can share them with as many people as they want and so on and so on. This is stealing! You are sharing something you had no right to share! Kindle readers: ever notice how some ebooks purchased through Amazon are "shareable" and some are not? ever notice how you can only share with one person at a time and for a limited number of days? This is allowed because you purchased the book and it is similar to sharing a physical copy.

Most of us blog about books for a few similar reasons:

1. we love to read
2. we enjoy connecting with authors
3. we like to promote authors and our favorite books

It is essential that you keep this in mind whenever you accept an electronic copy of a book. 

It is also your responsibility to ensure that all electronic copies of books that you receive are done so appropriately (i.e. purchased or gifted through an appropriate website; sent to you by an author, publisher, or promotional company). It is also our responsibility to report incidents in which we may have been given a pirated copy of someone's work.

OK Book Bloggers and followers - now that you know where I stand on this, I hope we are on the same page.