Time for another review, Addicts. This one is for GIRL IN THE SHADOWS by Gwenda Bond.
Read on to see where this one fell on the Addiction Scales :)
Girl in the Shadows 
Gwenda Bond 
(Girl on a Wire #2) 
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: July 5th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
MY REVIEW:
Thanks to Gwenda and Xpresso Book Tours for letting me join in on this blog tour and for gifting me a copy of GIRL IN THE SHADOWS in exchange for my honest opinion.
GIRL IN THE SHADOWS is the prequel to Gwenda's GIRL ON A WIRE book, so you don't have to have read the first to appreciate this one. And appreciate it I did.
Overall this was a good read, quick and interesting and I really enjoyed the idea of the world of traveling circuses and magic.
Moira was an interesting heroine, kinda annoying at time, but many YA girls are. I liked that she wanted something and went for it, though her parental issues need to be worked out more. This book had a slower, much less action and adventure pace and feel that made it hard to keep on reading at certain points, but I am glad that I did finish this. The ending was a decent one.
My real problem was, that as cool as the magic/circus world was, it wasn't fully developed. Same with all the characters, even the heros and supporting ones. I think if those things had been much stronger, this book would have been a fantastic read.
In my own opinion, if a book isn't going to be packed with action, adventure or untypical drama, then there needs to be another really unique, attention grabbing element that hold a reader and makes the story really sparkle. This totally cool cover does a good job of drawing people in, but the story just didn't follow through.
Overall, not bad; I will recommend this, and I will, most likely, pick up the other book in this series at some point.
-DynoMoon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gwenda Bond is the author of the young adult novels Lois Lane: Fallout and Girl on a Wire, among others. Lois Lane: Double Down and Girl in the Shadows, a companion novel to Girl on a Wire set in the Cirque American, are next up in 2016. She’s also hard at work on some secret projects you don’t know about yet.

Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She has an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe. There are rumors she escaped from a screwball comedy, and she might have a journalism degree because of her childhood love of Lois Lane. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or @gwenda on Twitter.

I'm here with another review for a book I received through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This one is THE SWAY by Ruby Knight (wickedly cool name BTW!)
Read on to see where this one hit on the Addiction Scale for me :)

The Sway (Classified #1)

Her mission is to get close to him for inside information.
His mission is to kidnap her for a supernatural militant group.
Recruited in her teens for a life of espionage, Julia Caldwell, now 19, is the youngest CIA agent on record. Her mission is simple: get close to Cole Thomas for intel on his father, a known and dangerous weapons dealer. As she grows closer to Cole, something is off. He might not be who she thinks he is. And worse, his mission will put an end to hers.
Always believing the government’s story that her purpose in life was to keep the world safe, Julia doesn’t know who to trust or who to believe. But now, THE SWAY has a different story—a different purpose for her—that goes well beyond all she ever imagined


MY REVIEW:
THE SWAY by Ruby Knight first caught my attention with this totally cool cover! This cover designer deserves a big hug. And happily, this story delivers almost as much as the cover draws you in :D
Julia and Cole are cool heroes and despite the insta love of it all, I thought they had great chemistry and seeing them together felt right, even though they both started off as spies for opposing forces. There was a lot of confusion, for me, at the beginning, but I liked it! I know you're probably thinking huh? but hear me out. It was very fun to discover who the bad guys really were, and who the good guys really were through Julia's eyes (since this story is told in first person). Though some more foreshadowing would have been appreciated, to help the overall flow of info.
There was a lot of repetitive info dumps that jumbled and slowed the plot pace--totally NOT in a good way. This story could have possibly benefited from two or three pauses to let things settle a bit and to make it all feel more natural.
I loved the spy/mystery/thriller of this all, but I wish THE SWAY hadn't taken the leap that it did. (even if it did work overall, it would have been nice to see this story stay firmly rooted in real world and not Urban Fantasy.) Based on the book blurb I wasn't anticipating the x-men like chemically created super soldiers that have special abilities, almost like superpowers.
I won't spoil what Julia's is, but I give Ruby Knight credit for not making it a typical power you see in a lot of books.
Overall, a really cool, intriguing, breakneck paced thrill ride that had me hooked until the end. I would recommend this one to YA fans and fans of thriller spy stories.
-DynoMoon

Alright Addicts, time for another review, this one is for S.M. Reine's CAST IN ANGELFIRE! Read on to see where this one fell on my Addiction Scale :)

Cast in Angelfire (Mage Craft #1)
Eighteen-year-old Marion can’t remember anything before waking up in the hospital. All she knows that a lot of people want to kill her. And her would-be assassins are not human…
Vampires are real. So are faeries and angels.
They all want Marion dead.
Surrounded by enemies, Marion turns to Lucas Flynn: a mysterious doctor who seems to know more than he’s letting on. He’s as good with a gun as he is with a scalpel. He fights like a demon but claims that he’s human. And he’s hellbent on protecting Marion.
Lucas claims that Marion is a mage: half-witch, half-angel with terrifying powers that could crack the world. But Marion can’t remember how to cast magic any more than she can remember where she comes from.
Marion must find her identity and her power…before the forgotten sins of her past catch up with her


MY REVIEW:
Thanks to the author and publisher for gifting me a copy of CAST IN ANGELFIRE through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
And my honest opinion is.........mehh, okay.
Let me start by saying I have never read anything by S.M. Reine before, and had I realized that this book was the start of another series in an already well established world, I probably wouldn't have requested it. But that's only because I felt, through the whole book, that there were just so many things missing or that didn't make sense to me, little things, that I realized at the end came from her previous books.
This is not to say I didn't enjoy the story, I did--for being a post-apocalyptic universe, which all of my Addicts know I'm not a fan of.
Marion was my biggest problem with this book, outside of the small detail that went over my head. I didn't ever connect with her and she was so freaking arrogant and entitled for a girl that didn't have any memories. I give S.M. full credit for changing up the missing memories trope and making it her own, not an easy thing to do, but I would have liked that aspect, and her getting those memories back, to have been a little more fleshed out.
Lucas was a cool hero/doctor, I liked him alot and I felt he was a much better character than Marion.
For as much as I didn't get it all, I do think S.M. did a great job in building this universe, that is clearly very popular, and I love how creative she was with her vampires, witches, faeries, angels and werewolves. Clearly this author has a great and very unique imagination that the brings to life very well.
I might go and pick up one of the first books in this series, to see if I can understand the world a little more.
Overall a good read and I would recommend it to paranormal fans, with the caveat of making sure they read at least part of the series that set up this universe.
-DynoMoon

Hey Addicts! I'm back with another review, this one is of my friend LH Nicole's 3rd King Arthur book RELICS OF CAMELOT!
I've been sitting on this review for a while but now I am glad to share it with my fellow YA Addicts.
Read on to see where this gem fell on my Addiction Scale :)

Relics of Camelot (Legendary Saga #3)
By LH Nicole
Genre YA Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Making a devil’s bargain with a Fae queen is a dangerous thing.
Thrown back to the golden days of Camelot, the Destined One needs to find the object that will lead her and the Knights of the Round Table to the Grail of Power. But Aliana must also figure out and complete a mystery task before she can return to her own time. The consequences of revealing Camelot’s future to King Arthur or any member of the Round Table family could be devastating. She is forced to keep secrets, feeling more alone than ever, even with the support of new friends and allies. With the unwelcome knowledge of their looming deaths, will she be able to resist the temptation to save the people she loves?
The attentions of Sir Galahad and King Arthur are a delightful yet confusing distraction. Her feelings for Arthur—even this version of him who doesn’t know her—continue to grow. The sparking sensation she’d felt whenever she touched Sir Galahad is mysteriously missing, but she can’t deny a continued connection with the protective knight.
Weapons powerful enough to destroy even Excalibur surface along with a shadowy figure that even seems to have influence over Mordrid. The time of the eclipse grows ever closer and everything Aliana thought she knew will once again be tossed into question again as she continues on her Legendary quest


MY REVIEW:
It's no secret I'm a fan of LH's LEGENDARY SAGA books, and when I got my hands on RELICS OF CAMELOT I read it twice in three days! Outside of the most A-MA-ZING cover yet, this story just keeps getting better and better! It sucked me in right from the very first pages and was a non stop action, romance, mystery and hot knight filled adventure!
RELICS OF CAMELOT picks up right where book 2 CLAIMING EXCALIBUR left off with Aliana, our heroine, getting unceremoniously dropped back into Camelot's past by that scheming Fae Queen Titania.
I admit to being confused and a tad worried, I mean it's hard to get historical settings right and then you add in the magic of the book and all the secrets Aliana needs to keep...........but I couldn't have been happier with the results.
While some of the things may have seemed a bit stretched, and even a tad convenient, the story flowed at a fast pace with something critical happening in every scene.
It was a really nice switch to see the Knights, Galahad and Arthur as they were in Camelot--Morgana too--and to get to meet yet more characters, including Guin! I think the only thing I didn't like about her was the fact she didn't get a lot of attention. I really wanted more of her and Lancelot's story, but the ending more than made up for that earlier lack :D
Speaking of new characters: GALAHAD HAS A LITTLE SISTER!!! And she is the most adorable thing ever. Sophvira, or Vira to her friends, was a bright spot that really helped give Galahad's character, and many of the other knights, a chance to show more depth beyond being the badass knights that they are. When that scene more than half way through the book happened...............I was ready to die too, but I think it was for the best in the end!
And can I say WOW, what a way to tie so many things together with just a few simple acts. So many things from the previous books suddenly came back and made so much more sense!
I don't know if LH intended for us to feel so bad for Morgana but man, I didn't see her story coming. I can't believe how she turned to the side of evil. Well done :)
Mordrid is still his nasty bad self, and we get another villain, his and Morgana's teacher, and we learn more about Mordrid's dark back story and why he set down on the path he did.
I think this book has been my favorite of the lot so far, for so many reasons, but I gotta say the romance in this one..........holy hot pants! The romantic tension was much more prevalent and focused and seeing both Arthur and Galahad vie for Aliana's attention was a heart swelling experience. Those kisses...........*fans face*
This was a book I have been sorely needing and dying for, and thank god we are not left on a nasty cliffhanger like we were with CLAIMING EXCALIBUR.
If you are a fan of fantasy, King Arthur, fairy tales, YA epic adventure then you need to read RELICS OF CAMELOT and the firs two books in this series!
One warning, there is some pretty serious death in this one so maybe keep this out of the hands of readers under 12 or 13 years old.
~DynoMoon

The Midnight Sea
Kat Ross
(Fourth Element #1)
Publication date: May 10th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

They are the light against the darkness.
The steel against the necromancy of the Druj.
And they use demons to hunt demons….
Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King’s elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister.
Scarred by grief, she’s willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he’s possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other’s emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close.
As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius’s past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake…

Author Bio:
Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Hey Addicts, check out this blitz for Jess Haines SMOKE AND MIRRORS :)


Smoke and Mirrors
Jess Haines
(Blackhollow Academy #1)
Publication date: May 1st 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

A girl who uses her illusions to fool the world into thi
A dragon who sees through her lies.
Together they just might survive a world that wants to control or destroy them both.
Kimberly may wield ultimate cosmic power, but even a mage has to pay the rent. No one will hire her for her magic talents until she’s got the credentials, so she’s stuck in a crappy rent controlled apartment with her mother, yearning for treats she can’t afford at her part time job in a café, counting down the days until she graduates the secret Blackhollow Academy school for magi. Only then will she have the certificate she needs to land her dream job in a coven.
The problem? She needs a familiar to graduate.
As an illusionist, she doesn’t have the ability to summon or create a familiar of her own. Her only option is to convince a supernatural creature to let her bind it instead. Since having a powerful Other at her beck and call would guarantee her a place in a coven after she graduates—and legendary treasure hoards are an added bonus—she thinks binding a dragon as her familiar will solve all her problems…
Because sometimes a girl needs a dragon, not a knight.

Viper made a soft hissing sound of irritation between his teeth, pulling back from her. “Cormac has no vision. I know what I want and I’m prepared to offer anything to get it. You have but to ask.”
Well. There was one thing. Her cheeks flared crimson and she squirmed a bit before stuttering out another question, swallowing back her embarrassment.
“You keep a hoard like a dragon, right? I don’t suppose you would consider loaning me a little? I swear I’d pay it back.”
His head tipped to one side, and he looked her up and down anew. She suspected he was just noticing her frayed cuffs and cheap shoes. He’d been so intent on getting whatever it was he wanted out of her that he hadn’t paid attention to the package it came in until now. When she caught the very slight curl of his lip, there and gone in a flash, embarrassed heat filled her cheeks.
Feeling both dirty and humiliated, she ducked her head. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this.”
“Come now, I’m sure it’s not that hard. All it takes is a yes.”
“No,” she said, this time with a bit more vehemence. Cormac was right. There was something off about Viper, and never mind what a perfect ass she’d just made of herself. Worst of all, that flash of disgust showed he obviously had no respect for her. At least Cormac never made her feel tolerated. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll find some other way of getting what I need.”
He slowly rose to stand, heaving a sigh as he settled back on his heels.
“That’s unfortunate. This would have been much easier if you had agreed.”
Kimberly would have asked what he meant by that, but the look in his eyes froze her in place.
His eyes burned a molten gold as he spread his arms, which were expanding and shifting at an alarming rate. Faster than she might have thought possible, he was growing, his clothing melting and skin disappearing under a layer of metallic scales. Nearby, people were noticing, shouting and screaming in fear as they stampeded in every direction to escape the shapechanging Other in their midst.
When he ceased growing, from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, he was over thirty feet long, with a wingspan half again that size.
Kimberly sat immobile, unable to so much as squeak in terror as the beast before her lurched back to arch its neck and spread its wings, barbed tail lashing as it growled at her. One thick, talon-tipped paw lashed out, flattening her on the grass and squeezing the air out of her lungs. It gave an awkward, one-legged hop forward to catch its balance before clenching its claws to dig deep furrows in the grass and close around her waist and legs, pinning her.
Then those wide, ribbed wings began to flap, the sun playing off the tones of brass and copper and gold. The ground fell away, people scattering before the airborne monster.
And Kimberly could do nothing but pray, staring up at this great beast that had her in its claws.
She’d gotten what she’d asked for. Now she would have to pay the price.

Author Bio:
I'm a displaced New Yorker with a penchant for the silly, the obscure, and the fantastical. Tampa, Florida is home for the time being. I'm currently working on the H&W Investigations urban fantasy series and the Blackhollow Academy young adult contemporary fantasy series. Find out more about my books, drop me a line, or join my mailing list at www.jesshaines.com!

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Bookbub / Amazon

Alright my Addicts, time for a new review offering from author G.K. DeRosa via NetGalley--thanks for the copy of WILDER in exchange for my honest review! Read on Addicts to see where this one fell on the scales of book addiction.


Wilder by G.K. DeRosa


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Hey Addicts I've got a new blitz for author Destiny Blake's LEGENDS, a new YA vampire books. Let' showp this one is as good as it sounds! I've definitely got this one added to my TBR list :) Read on Addicts!
~DynoMoon

Legends
by Destiny Blake
Genre: YA Paranormal
Release Date: April 26th 2016

Summary:

Time for a new review curtsy of NetGalley and Spencer Hill Press! Presenting Anne Riley's PULL!
Read on my Addicts :)

Pull

MY REVIEW:
What a great cover PULL by Anne Riley has. And a pretty solid story base too! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy of this one :)
Clearly I liked this one, and I honestly did. The Drama, plot, twists and pacing were very nice and helped keep me glued to this one late into the night. I drew a LOT of similarities to The Mortal Instruments series though, maybe a few too many to make this story really shine the way it deserves to.
Rosie was a cool heroine. I loved that she cared so deeply about her family, especially her troubled little brother Paul. We don't get a lot of YA characters that are like that. It made her a stronger character in my opinion. I also loved when they were at her dying Grand father's side and he suddenly started talking in her head! Took me by surprise and had me dying to know how he did it and what his cryptic message meant. I also liked that her reaction to learning that people can "pull" (traveling back several minutes in time to prevent something bad). She freaked and thought she was going crazy and she didn't automatically believe an explanation that was forced upon her. She questioned it and it took the hero, Albert, Pulling to save her own life for her to grasp the concept. Yet even then she still didn't totally buy into it. Everything about her reaction was real and not like many many other YA books.
Now Albert. He was pretty cool and tough but not cave man about it. He also wasn't a chest beating Alpha which was a nice change of pace. It's hard to get a male hero that can be tough and badass but not obnoxious. I didn't like that he was reluctant to fully read Rosie in though. For liking her as much as he did I would have liked if he was more open without her having to make him tell her.
This brings me to our supporting character: Isaac, Casey and Dan--all like Rosie and Albert, able to "pull" through time. They were good supporters to the story and Isaac's dislike for Rosie helped add some more drama to the story (can we say Alec?)
Now, we can't have people with special abilities not have a name for themselves. These guys are called SERVATORS. The time puling aspect was cool and original but I didn't buy the group as a whole. I mean only 6 of them, in the whole world, really? I'm sure in the next book we will discover there are many more Servators, because that's the only way I can see this story surviving. The world building was lacking here. I liked that there was a real world feel but there was so much more that could have been explored and expanded upon.
Last thing, the romance. Rosie is a girl on the rebound when she fell for Albert. I think that forced feel to their relationship is what kept me from truly loving them. I did love them, but no where as much as I've loved other book couples.
All this said, PULL was a good read and I will certainly read the next book in this series! Assuming there is another coming, which I think there should be because of how the ending set it up. I really hope that when that comes we'll get a lot more answers and a slightly stronger world for these wonderful characters.
~DynoMoon

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