SWOON Thursday (#19): Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton

Hosted by YA Bound

From the book you’re currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering. Shout it out on Twitter with the hashtag #YABound, post it here in the comments, or grab the adorable button above and share it on your blog! We want to know :-)

Here's mine (this one is kind of heartbreaking, but it also pulled at my heart strings, and it is from an "adult" pararom):

"I love you, kardia," he said louder as the guard shoved him up the first step. He twisted around to look at her. "You have my heart. You always have. Just you. Just you, Isadora."

As they dragged him away, his last image was of her standing between her sisters with tears streaming down her cheeks.
- Tempted SWOON #YABound

Countdown to City of Lost Souls {5 Days Snippet}

In the final countdown to the release of ‘City of Lost Souls,’ Cassandra Clare has promised to share a snippet every day leading up to the May 8th release.

“Either you stand with us, or against us, Jocelyn.” His face hardened. “But you cannot stand against your own son.”

Tour: When Destiny Knocks by Heather M. White (Review Bk.1)

I'd like to thank Heather @ SupaGurl Books for giving me this opportunity to participate in the DESTINY Blog Tour and providing me a copy of the book to review.

This is my first stop on the tour with a review for When Destiny Knocks. My second stop on the tour will be on May 10th with a review for When Destiny Strikes!

Title: When Destiny Knocks
Series: The Destiny Saga #1
Author: Heather M. White
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Elements: Demons, Ghosts, Angels, Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, Shapeshifters
Publisher: Heather M. White
Format: PDF, 95 Pages
ASIN: B006PTPZQY
Release Date: December 24, 2011
Source: Tour Host {SupaGurl Books}
Rating: 4/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: 16-year-old Karlie has had a pretty normal life... But when her mom dies she is forced to move over 1,000 miles away to live with her dad. That's when things start getting wired.

She can't explain the earthquakes that nobody else feels, or why she no longer sleeps. But most of all she doesn't know why she trusts Shane so much, even though his dad wants her dead.

Suddenly, Karlie's normal life is turned upside down and she enters a world she never dreamed could really exist.

Review:

I've read quite a few books lately with the heroine having some kind of special destiny or purpose and they can tend to all run together because of their similarities. Although there are commonalities between When Destiny Knocks and those other stories, there's something about this story that stands out from the crowd. For me, what set When Destiny Knocks apart was the characters and their interactions and relationships with each other; as well as the intricacies and circumstances of Karlie's abilities and new job.

Karlie has had a normal life until her mother dies and she's sent to live with her father in Arkansas. Once she arrives strange things start happening--earthquakes no one seems to notice, she's not sleeping anymore, and she's having visions that show her that sinister things are afoot. She also has an instant attraction to Shane and she can't understand why she feels she can trust him, especially when her friends Savannah, Jessica, Jarrod, and Mark all warn her to stay away from him. Not to mention all the scary spooks of nightmares that are attacking her left and right, front and back.

Turns out that Karlie is the "chosen one" who is tasked with fighting and protecting the world from the evils of Hell. Creatures such as demons, vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters, are coming out of the woodwork, trying to kill Karlie before her seventeenth birthday when she will receive her full powers. Not only that, but Karlie's friends are actually her "protectors" and Shane is the half-demon son of the demon who wants her dead--and want Shane to be the one to deliver the deathblow! Karlie's simple life has just gotten a lot more complicated.

I'm not usually a big fan of instant love, but if there is something else added to it like some kind of adversity or another love interest, it's a lot more interesting and it adds some reality to the romance. Heather White does both in When Destiny Knocks. Because Shane is the half-demon son of the demon who wants Karlie dead, and wants Shane to be the one to do it, there's definitely adversity and controversy in their relationship. Karlie's family and friends want her to stay away for her own safety, if nothing else. Add in the fact that the angel in town falls in love with Karlie, and we've got ourselves a love triangle! I like to see the couple work toward being together. The love story is more gripping and intense, and the relationship is stronger in the end because of the work they put into it.

One character that I found really interesting was Serenity, the last "chosen one." She's now a ghost because, well, she's dead, and she also has a past with Alex (you could say that he's the "chosen one's" guardian angel). She helps Karlie learn her abilities, but her personality isn't at all what you would expect of humanity's guardian. She's a suspicious entity with questionable motives, and that's made all the more apparent by her actions at the end of the book. I can't wait to see what exactly she has planned.

About this Author:

Hi! I am Heather M. White, the author of the Destiny Saga, the Vampire Hunter Series and the upcoming novel Redheads are Soulless! It's so nice to meet you!

I am a returning resident to Arkansas. I just migrated south from Saint Louis, MO with my husband. We have been married a year. :)

I love to write. I have been writing since I was a kid - literally. I decided in the 2nd grade I would write a book. I wrote lots of stories and poems... And did I mention I wrote over 200 songs? (Yeah, I'm a musician too). So I wrote my very first novel at the ripe age of 14... My Mom still has it :-/. Ok, so maybe it wasn't my best work, but I had a LOT of fun writing it!

I started college at the young age of 17. (I graduated high school at 16). And my English papers were always a hit in my classroom. Somebody told me "you should make that story into a book". I pushed it to the back of my mind... Until recently.

I LOVE TO READ. Besides writing it is my absolute favorite thing to do.

I also love the TV series: Supernatural and Vampire Diaries... More like obsessed. I have seen every episode of Supernatural EVER. And I kind of have an obsession with Damon... And I'm watching American Idol this season because my friend Lauren Gray is on there! GO LAUREN!

I play music. I have played the guitar for 10 years, bass for 8 and drums for about 9. I use to play guitar in a band. We were actually good. But my bass player got pregnant and my drummer got engaged. And I decided music wasn't my "main" passion anymore.

Countdown to City of Lost Souls {6 Days Snippet}

In the final countdown to the release of ‘City of Lost Souls,’ Cassandra Clare has promised to share a snippet every day leading up to the May 8th release.

Dim light spilled through the windows, and a faint red glow from the smoke alarm over the closet. Clary was lying on her side, under a heap of blankets, and her back was deliciously warm. An arm was draped along her side. For a moment, in the half-conscious dizzy space between waking and sleeping, she wondered if Simon had crawled in the window while she slept, and laid down beside her, the way they used to sleep in the same bed together when they were children.

But Simon had no body heat…

Waiting on Wednesday (#20): Black-Hearted Betrayal by Kasey MacKenzie

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's eagerly anticipated release is:

Black-Hearted Betrayal (Shades of Fury #3)
by Kasey MacKenzie
Expected publication: June 26th 2012 by Ace 

Riss Holloway has taken a leave of absence from her mortal job as Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator to focus on an unsettling friction brewing in the Sisterhood—only to be ushered into a tumultuous civil war drawing every other god and goddess into the chaos as well.

Teaser Tuesday (#20): xxxHOLiC Volume 19 by CLAMP

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser (mine's from a manga this week):

"I know it's the new calender, but these days, is there anybody left who thinks in terms of the old calender anymore? It's people who perform festivals. So the people decide. And people decay and vanish. They decide without notice, change things without notice, then forget without notice. And those of us run ragged by their decisions are pretty much fed up with it."

"And who pays the price when you're fed up?"

"The humans pay. Sooner or later."

- xxxHOLiC Volume 19 by CLAMP, Pages 14-16

Women of the Otherworld Challenge: Month Three

Today marks the beginning of Month Three in the Women Of The Otherworld Series Challenge! If you haven’t signed up and would like to participate, just click image above to be taken to the challenge sign-up post! It is also a great reference for the details concerning this reading challenge!

CHALLENGE: MONTH THREE

DIME STORE MAGIC BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG

Leader of the American Coven, guardian to the preteen daughter of a black witch … it’s not the lifestyle twenty-three year-old Paige Winterbourne imagined for herself, and it’s wreaking hell on her social life.

But she’s up to the challenge. When half-demon Leah O’Donnell returns to fight for custody of Savannah, Paige is ready.

She’s not as prepared for the team of supernaturals Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah’s father. Cut off from her friends, accused of witchcraft, Satanism, necromancy, murder…Paige quickly realizes that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else. Has she finally found a battle she isn’t willing to fight?

May 1^st – May 31^st, 2012

For this month, our goal will be to read/re-read and post a review the second book in the Women Of The Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong, Dime Store Magic.

Challenge members can either post a review, share your reading experience, create your personal character casting for Bitten, or anything else related to this title within the Woman Of The Otherworld series.

Be creative and have fun with your post!

THIS MONTH'S PRIZE:

ONE participant will be selected to win any book of their choice up to a $15 limit on The Book Depository. The winner will be selected through Random.org.

To qualify for this month's giveaway:

You all have until May 31^st to link to your reviews or posts to be included for this month’s prize.

The giveaway winners’ names will be drawn on June 1^st, 2012 

(the start of month four of the reading challenge).

**If you missed the last two month's Bitten & Stolen challenges or are not able to read Dime Store Magic this month, you can post your review next month or any month throughout the entire challenge for that month's prize. You can also leave more than one link during each month of the challenge (example: if you review more that one book at a time), however, you will only have receive one entry for the monthly prize. Don't worry! All your posts will not go to waste and will ALL be counted towards the Grand Prize at the very end of the entire challenge!**

**Most importantly: You do NOT have to commit to the entire 13 month challenge; feel free to join even if you only want to participate for a few months.**

**Mini-Challenges**:

Don't forget to keep an eye out for monthly mini-challenges where participants can gain more chances to win additional prizes! Each month's mini-challenge will be different and they will all have the Women of the Otherworld theme. This month's mini-challenge will be posted mid-May and only then will the challenge be revealed so keep an eye out!

 Don't forget to link to your posts here!

Countdown to City of Lost Souls {7 Days Snippet}

In the final countdown to the release of ‘City of Lost Souls,’ Cassandra Clare has promised to share a snippet every day leading up to the May 8th release.

Sebastian looked at Jocelyn, his black eyes quiet and narrow. “If you were really a real mother,” he said, “a good mother, you would have known I was alive. There was a man once who said that mothers carry the key of our souls with them all our lives. But you threw mine away.”