From the world of Beautiful Creatures -- a dangerous new tale of love and magic.
Ridley
Duchannes is nobody's heroine. She's a Dark Caster, a Siren. She can
make you do things. Anything. You can't trust her, or yourself when
she's around. And she'll be the first to tell you to stay
away -- especially if you're going to do something as stupid as fall in
love with her.
Lucky for Ridley, her wannabe rocker boyfriend,
Wesley "Link" Lincoln, never listens to anyone. Link doesn't care if
Rid's no good for him, and he takes her along when he leaves small-town
Gatlin to follow his rock-star dream. He teams up with a ragtag group of
Dark Casters, and when the band scores a gig at a hot Underground club,
it looks like all of Link's dreams are about to come true.
But
New York City is a dangerous place for both Casters and Mortals, and
soon Ridley realizes that Link's bandmates are keeping secrets. With
bad-boy club owner Lennox Gates on her heels, Rid is determined to find
out the truth. What she discovers is worse than she could have imagined:
Link has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay.
With their lives on the line, what's a Siren to do?
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling
coauthors of the Beautiful Creatures novels, are back to cast another
magical spell. Their signature blend of mystery, suspense, and romance,
with a healthy dose of wit and danger, will pull fans in and leave them
begging for more.
What is it about the color blue, I wonder, that gives me so much delight every single time I see it, whether on a book cover, a car, or any other object? But then, it's a very specific shade of blue....perhaps I could call it "electric blue". And that's the shade on this gorgeous cover!
I guess it's just that this color is a very peaceful, mystical one. After all, it's associated with the sky and the ocean, two of the most beautiful things on this planet. It's also a very magical color -- the color of wonder and mysterious, unknown worlds....
The artist who created this cover has certainly used this color to its greatest advantage! The swooping bird -- I think it's a raven or crow -- seems to have a ghostly shadow image, and I love the various tones of blue in its feathers and body. The landscape below looks rather ghostly, as well. I'm not sure if it consists of blue mist rolling over mountains, or blue surf rolling over rocks at the ocean's shore. Perhaps the artist means this to be ambiguous. That just adds to its mystery and visual appeal, I think.
I also love that Art Deco-inspired border around the cover image, as well as the beautiful font used for the title, which looks as if it is indeed gilded. I'm sure the letters are actually raised from the cover, on the actual book.
I was torn between using this book for "Shelf Candy Saturday" or "Waiting On Wednesday", because it won't be released until March 1st. However, I finally decided to feature it as my SCS post today; that cover just had to be showcased! Of course, I am waiting on this book, too!!
When I opened the Amazon online reader to look up the artist who designed this brilliant (in more ways than one) cover, I was very happy to find that, this time, the artist was credited -- on the copyright page.
Her name is Abby Kuperstock, and she lives in Rochester, New York. She has a graphic design studio by the name of "AbbyDora Design", and does very whimsical illustrations for children's books. She studied illustration and graphic design at Rochester Institute of Technology, going on to get her M.S. in Communication Design from Pratt Institute. She specializes in the following areas: book design, typesetting, custom cards, invitations, and business identities and collateral.
Laney Harris didn't want to live there. When her mother remarried and moved
them to a town where a date meant hanging out at the Sonic, Laney figured that
"boring" would have a whole new meaning. A new stepsister who
despised her and a high school where she was the only topic of gossip were bad
enough. But when she met the school counselor (and his terminal bad breath),
she grew suspicious. Especially since he had wings that only she could see. And
then there were Josh and Mason, two gorgeous glimmering-eyed classmates whose
interest in her might not be for the reasons she hoped. Not to mention that
dead guy she nearly tripped over in gym class.
She was right. Boring took on an entirely new dimension in Fairy, Texas.
Fairy High could have fit into one wing of my old school. The
three-story, red brick building looked like it had been around for at least a
century—it actually had carvings over two of the doorways that read “Men’s
Entrance” and “Women’s Entrance.” I was glad to see that none of the kids paid
any attention to those instructions.
“Counselor’s
office,” I muttered to myself. At least I wasn’t starting in the middle of a
term—though given the fact that there were fewer than 500 students in the
entire high school, I didn’t think I was going to be able to go unnoticed, even
in the general bustle of the first day back from summer vacation.
I walked through
the door marked “Men’s Entrance,” just be contrary, and faced a long hallway
lined with heavy wooden doors. The spaces in between the doors were filled with
lockers and marble staircases with ornate hand-rails flanked each end of the
long hallway. Students poured in behind me, calling out greetings to each other
and jostling me off to the side while I tried to get my bearings. None of the
doors obviously led to a main office; I was going to have to walk the entire
length of the hallway. And people were already starting to stare and whisper.
God. I hated
being the new kid.
I took a deep
breath and stepped forward. I made it halfway down the hall without seeing
anything informative—all the doors had numbers over them and many of them had
name plaques, but neither of those things did me any good since I didn’t know
the name or office number for the counselor. I was almost getting desperate
enough to ask Kayla, but of course she was nowhere to be seen.
I turned back
from scanning the halls for her and caught sight of the first adult I’d
seen—and almost screamed. As it was, I gasped loudly enough for a guy walking
past me to do a double take. The man standing in the open doorway was tall,
over six feet, and way skinny—so emaciated that it looked like you ought to be
able to see his ribs through his shirt, if his shirt didn’t hang so loosely on
him. He had white hair that stuck out in tufts, thin lips, a sharp nose, and
pale blue eyes that narrowed as he watched the kids walk past—and all the kids
gave him a wide berth without even seeming to notice that they did so. He stood
in an empty circle while students streamed around him in the crowded hallway.
But none of that
was what made me almost scream.
For a moment,
just as I’d turned toward him, I could have sworn that I’d seen the shadow of
two huge, black, leathery wings stretched out behind him.
Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels,
including Waking Up Dead, Fairy, Texas, and Legally Undead (forthcoming in 2014). She lives in Texas with her
husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level
English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys
reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of
her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and
other monsters.
Fabulosity Reads Book Promotionsis a book touring website that promotes authors
and their precious works to an extensive audience using blogs, Twitter,
Facebook and other social media, with the aim of introducing them to an
appreciative readership.
They offer a diverse
range of both complimentary and affordable products to help the reach of your
book go that much further.
Forsaken (The World of Nightwalkers #3) Jacquelyn Frank Mass Market Paperback, 368 pages Ballantine Books, January 7, 2014 Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Book Synopsis:As a mercenary, Leo Alvarez has signed on for a lot—but he never signed on for his best friend becoming host to the soul of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Jackson is now inhabited by a Bodywalker, and Leo is forced to grapple with a realm of supernatural beings far more dangerous than anything he’s ever encountered.
But when Jackson is wounded by an attack from a demon god, Leo must team up with another supernatural creature—a Night Angel—to save his friend from utter destruction. With skin as black as midnight, hair as white as snow, and a body of pure perfection, the Night Angel arouses a burning desire in Leo, even as he refuses to be intimidated by her power—or the power of those who would destroy his friend. An unusual alliance is forged, electrified by sexual temptation, and together the two must unite their strengths to bring down a supreme evil.
My Review
As a lover of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, I was immediately interested in this series. I had heard of this author before, but had never read any of her books.
Although this tour includes the first three books in this series, The World of Nightwalkers (a spinoff from the original Nightwalkers series), I decided to read only Forsaken, the most recently published one. I did not have time for all three, due to my hectic work schedule. Besides, I really like to do justice to a book, and there just isn't enough space here for three reviews.
The premise of this series, as well as the original one, is fascinating. Several supernatural races of beings, known as Nightwalkers, exist side by side with humans, who are completely unaware that such beings walk the planet. Among these races are the Bodywalkers, humans who serve as hosts to the souls of ancient and very powerful Pharaohs. I did find this concept rather creepy initially, especially when I discovered that the soul of the original inhabitant was supposed to "blend" with that of the new entity. In spite of this, I decided to delve into the story, to see just why Ms. Frank is a New York Times bestselling author.
I definitely found out why! Her characters are so well-drawn, the reader starts to think of them as people who might be friends, or even family. The writing is tight and the plot very well developed. And the world-building.....the world-building is magnificent, to say the least!
There are not only Bodywalkers, but Gargoyles who can be flesh-and-blood people alternatively with their stone selves, Djynn of different orders and powers, Mysticals, Shadowdwellers, Vampires, Lycanthropes, and Night Angels such as Faith, who teams up with Leo Alvarez, the central character, in order to save his friend, Jackson Waverly, after the latter is viciously attacked by the evil god, Apep, and left barely hanging on to his life. Then there are the evil Templar Bodywalkers, who, instead of blending with their hosts' souls, ruthlessly suppress and dominate them.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a Hispanic as one of the main characters in the book. Leo is a man of Mexican descent, a man of explosive emotions, as well as a very good heart. His concern for Jackson, whose sister, Docia, he helped raise, is very touching. Although he has been badly scarred in his encounters with Chatha, a Templar Bodywalker, he strives to put this aside, and do everything he can to save his friend's life.
Faith, the Night Angel, is a very sweet, unassuming character, in spite of the power she obviously possesses. The members of her race have the strange ability to see 'scrolls', which is what they call the beacon of light emanated by every human being, in which Night Angels can read the words that accompany the humans' emotions and thoughts. I find this to be a fascinating, and very original, concept! Faith can immediately see that Leo is a damaged soul. It's her compassion for him, as well as her patience, that slowly helps to heal his tormented emotions, throughout the course of the novel.
The romance between Leo and Faith blossoms rather rapidly shortly after they are thrown together, thanks to the intervention of a very powerful Djynn. Leo was a badly scarred man -- not only physically, but emotionally, so I tried hard not to dislike him in spite of the way he treated Faith at first. After all, his hatred of all supernatural beings was understandable, because of his earlier experiences with Chatha.
Interestingly, the author contrasted Leo's prejudice against the Nightwalkers with his own experiences with prejudice toward Hispanics. I thought this was a very powerful statement on the author's part. I was happy to see that Leo came to realize the irony of hating the Nightwalkers when he himself had experienced such hatred. This realization really hit home after he was reminded by Faith that not all Nightwalkers are as evil as Chatha, whom the author identifies as a psychopath.
Once Leo realizes what a kind, gentle being Faith is, and how selflessly she throws herself into danger just so she can help him, their romance becomes a truly beautiful thing. They are not only a team in the sense that they're both committed to helping save Jackson's life. They become a solid couple as well, and Leo begins to treat her with the tenderness she deserves.
This is the third book in the World of the Nightwalkers series. Still, this novel reads quite well as a stand-alone. Frank doesn't spend countless pages repeating information from the earlier books, and she uses her characters to inform her readers about how her supernatural world works. She does this very skillfully, too, so the reader never feels bored, or loaded with tons of information.
The romance, of course, is very sensual, but this is not 'casual sex'; it's obviously laced with the couple's care for each other. Leo never uses Faith simply to consummate his passion, and it's clear that Faith has fallen in love with him long before he's willing to admit that he has fallen in love with her, as well.
Even though I very much enjoyed reading this book, I did have a couple of issues with it.
The first was the opening scene, in which the violence was very graphically described. It was a dream in which Leo was reliving a horrible, real experience with the evil Chatha. If you're very squeamish, like me, you might want to skip the first pages of Chapter One, and head straight to page 5, beginning with the paragraph that starts with the sentence, "Leo awoke with a savage shout, his body lurching out of bed...."
Another issue I have with the novel is the very frequent use of profanity. The 'F bomb' is dropped very, very often. There are readers, of course, who are not at all put off by these things, so they will be able to enjoy the story without cringing every time they encounter this type of language.
In spite of the above objections, I do think that this is a very well-written novel, with great characters, terrific world-building, and a fascinating plot that holds a reader's interest all the way to the end. Paranormal romance and urban fantasy fans will definitely love this novel, and fans of Jacquelyn Frank will not be disappointed. Frank can tell a very compelling story, and she is definitely a master of this exciting genre!
MY RATING:
Reviewer's Note
I received copies of all three books
in The World of Nightwalkers series,
in return for my honest reviews.
Due to time constraints, I have only reviewed
the most recently published one.
I will be reviewing the other two later on.
My thanks to TLC Tours!!
Jacquelyn Frank
About the Author
Jacquelyn Frank is the New York Times bestselling author of The World of Nightwalkers series (Forbidden, Forever, and Forsaken), the Three Worlds series, (Seduce Me In Dreams and Seduce Me In Flames), the Nightwalkers series (Adam, Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien, and Noah), the Shadowdwellers novels (Ecstasy, Rapture, and Pleasure), and the Gatherers novels (Hunting Julian and Stealing Katherine). She lives in North Carolina and has been writing romantic fiction ever since she picked up her first teen romance at age 13.
Wherever freedom and the right to exercise it are honored, so will be the memory of the great Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the American civil rights movement, who was born on January 15, 1929, and was cruelly assassinated on April 4, 1968. He followed the nonviolent example of Mahatma Ghandi, and, like him, ironically died a violent death.
Sadly, not every employer in the U.S. chooses to honor the memory of this unforgettable man. He is indeed honored by those whose moral compass compels them to do so.
His stirring speeches have been gathered into several books, one of which I have listed here. I have also included his 'autobiography', which was actually compiled from several sources, a biography written by 'the reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights movement' (Goodreads synopsis), and a book of reflections on the principles of nonviolence, titled Strength to Love. Also included here is Dr. King's compelling account of the 1963 Birmingham campaign, Why We Can't Wait.
Using Stanford University's voluminous collection of archival material, including previously unpublished writings, interviews, recordings, and correspondence, King scholar Clayborne Carson has constructed a remarkable first-person account of Dr. King's extraordinary life.
The remarkable courage and deep conviction of Martin Luther King Jr. live on in this classic prophetic text, a veritable primer in the principles and practice of nonviolence. Despite nearly fifty years since its publication, Strength to Love reads as pertinently to our situation as it did in the midst of the civil rights movement.
Marshall Frady, the
reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights
movement, here re-creates the life and turbulent times of its
inspirational leader. Deftly interweaving the story of King’s quest with
a history of the African American struggle for equality, Frady offers
fascinating insights into his subject’s magnetic character, with its
mixture of piety and ambition. He explores the complexities of King’s
relationships with other civil rights leaders, the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations, and the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover, who conducted a
relentless vendetta against him. The result is a biography that conveys
not just the facts of King’s life but the power of his legacy.
Here, in the only major one-volume collection of his writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections, is Martin Luther
King Jr. on non-violence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope,
and more.
Why We Can't Wait Martin Luther King, Jr. Trade Paperback, 256 pages Beacon Press January 11, 2011 (first published 1963) Essays, History, Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Social Justice
Book Synopsis
Often applauded as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most incisive and eloquent book, Why We Can’t Wait
recounts the Birmingham campaign in vivid detail, while underscoring
why 1963 was such a crucial year for the civil rights movement. During
this time, Birmingham, Alabama, was perhaps the most racially segregated
city in the United States, but the campaign launched by Fred
Shuttlesworth, King, and others demonstrated to the world the power of
nonviolent direct action. King examines the history of the civil rights
struggle and the tasks that future generations must accomplish to bring
about full equality. The book also includes the extraordinary “Letter
from Birmingham Jail,” which King wrote in April of 1963.
