Release Day Launch: Torn (Wicked #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

The highly anticipated second book in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Wicked Trilogy is available today! Be sure to grab your copy of TORN!

       

Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same.

Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her.

Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him?

But as the Fae Prince begins to close in on Ivy, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.

iBooks ** Amazon ** Kobo ** Barnes and Noble

 

"You need this book. You need this series. It's paranormal at its best. It's New Adult at its best...Can I give this book more than 5 stars? I would if I could." ~Valerie, Stuck in Books

   

EXCERPT: 

             I lifted my right hand, reaching for my iron stake out of instinct, even though I knew it would do no good against the prince.

             “You shouldn’t do that.” His voice was deep with what reminded me of an English accent. “I know you want to, but it would be very, very unwise of you, Ivy.”

              My hand twitched.

              Creepy Prince smiled slightly. “Your friend has been very helpful.”

              That got my hackles up. I slid my sunglasses onto my forehead and forced my tone to stay calm and level. “I’m sure she has. Speaking of Val, happen to know where I can find her?”

              His lips curled in a semblance of a smile as he stepped closer. The prince was tall, taller than Ren, who was pushing six foot two. My entire back stiffened as I forced myself to hold my ground, even though every instinct demanded that I run and run super fast, because he had almost killed me once before. Correction. He would have definitely killed me if he hadn’t realized what I was and had, I guessed, healed me.

              “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, instead of answering my question, his pale blue eyes fixed on mine.

              My hand curled into a useless fist. “That is extremely creepy to hear.”

              That cold smile returned. “Why don’t we talk? There are seats across the way.”

              “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

              The slow smile increased but never reached his eyes. “Oh, I know it is.”

              Fine hairs rose on my arms.

              “What exactly can you do right now?” he said in the same coldly polite voice. “Refuse me?” Creepy Prince laughed, and it wasn’t a bad sound. Again, it was something that was just cold, as if he were mimicking what a human would do. “You can’t.”

              “I can.” My palm itched to grab the thorn stake secured under my pant leg, but I held still. I might be reckless, but I wasn’t stupid.

              “Really? I will have to beg to differ on that. You see, humans surround us. So many of them, and I have an extraordinary appetite.” His eyes appeared to glimmer as his gaze slithered from the top of my curly head down to my toes. “A rather impressive appetite for many, many things.”

              “Okay. First off, ew.” My lip curled. “Secondly, I don’t want to hear about any of your appetites.”

              One dark eyebrow rose. “Oh, but you should know that I could kill twenty of these humans in less than five seconds and feed on the rest, leaving them to believe that it was this little red-headed girl who murdered these innocent people.” His voice dropped even lower as he leaned in and icy air brushed my cheek. “You deny me this, those lives will be on your hands, little bird.”

              Anger flushed hotly as my eyes met his. There wasn’t a single part of me that doubted anything he said. He had me. God, I hated to admit it, but he had me.

"Drama! Action! Romance! Twists! Torn had it all...Torn was a perfect continuation of the Wicked Saga." ~Kim, Kimberlyfaye Reads

       

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans…

Don’t miss the first title in the series, WICKED!

   

 

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iBooks ** Kobo

 

#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. 

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. 

 She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.  

Website ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Novel Goodreads ** Author Goodreads

• Book Review: Wicked (Wicked #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Excerpt Reveal: Torn (Wicked #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Books that Helped Me Survive My Sophomore Year of High School

I have no idea how old you are, what grade you are in, or if you have already graduated high school. All I do know, is that there seems to be primarily two types of high school experiences: either you have a great one, or a lousy one. While my own high school experience has allowed me to discover many other types in between the main two types, the feelings that people carry around about high school seem to only fall in those two categories. Academically, my two years of high school could not be going any better; however, my social one could use a major improvement. 

While my lack of blog posts over the last nine months or so has been due to my crazy school schedule and summer homework, I am gad to say that I survived and am thrilled to be back doing one of my favorite things: blogging. At the beginning of the school year, I struggled to find a balance between school work and reading, so I was unable to read much. The last half of the school year, however, allowed me to start reading more and I will be publishing several reviews of books that I read from January to June over the next couple weeks. 

This school year was rather challenging to me both socially and academically, so I wanted to make a blog post focusing on the books that helped keep me on track this year. I read these books either prior to or during this school year and I would not have finished the school year the way I did without them.

The only Advanced Placement class I took last year was AP World History. I pushed off the summer homework, reading nine chapters of a textbook while talking outline notes and reading nine chapters of an independent reading book while doing a double entry journal of each chapter, because why would I want to make my life easier? 

Long story short, I ended up being really behind on my work during the first quarter, who am I even kidding, I was behind on my work every quarter except the last quarter for that class. Anyway, my one saving grace in that class was the fact that I had marked down Dallas' suggestion to Carson, in All Lined Up, about how to properly outline an essay. While I did not have to outline an essay, the basic concept of how to outline notes allowed me create some amazing notes that my teacher always gave me full credit on, no matter how late I turned them in. I would like to take a moment to thank Cora for aiding me in keeping my 100+% average in history.

My teacher still has a majority of my notes, so I cannot count exactly how many I took. But, throughout the course, I took over two hundred pages of notes on a nine hundred and something paged textbook. That does not even count how many pages of notes I had to take on the massive religion packet and all the other packets he gave us throughout the year. I would also like to take a moment to recognize the lives of all the trees I took during that class. Rest in peace.

A lot of high school problems are due to your own insecurities, a lack of communication, and your skewed perspective. When you are a teenager, you believe that you are always hearing the truth, you never question the rumors or whatever you over-hear. In Nash, the main character, Nash, and his love-interest, Saint, knew each other from high school. Saint always had a crush on Nash and one day he heard a rude comment that Nash said about some girl and assumed he was talking about her. 

Teenagers as a whole are extremely vulnerable to anything that hurts our self-esteem or body image. Throughout both years of high school, I have had problems with my so-called "friends" and my body image because I lost 60 pounds a few years ago, but I still have no idea how to properly dress my new body. I am more of a loner, like Saint was in high school and over-hearing general statements as I walk by or from my friends that could easily fit always make me wonder. 

While no book can truly stomp out my insecurities, Nash made me question if those comments are really directed towards me. More than likely, any of the hundreds of girls in my school could have thought they were directed towards them as well. No one is truly perfect, I have to accept that whether or not I want to.

The Year We Fell Down is actually one of the few books I had the opportunity to read during this school year and it is one of the most important. The Year We Fell Down follows a girl's freshman year of college after being tragically paralyzed the year before. I had never read a book where the main character was paralyzed and it left a lasting impact on me. Like any teenage girl, my appearance means something to me. While I do not wear make-up, I could easily cover up a huge zit with some foundation. You cannot cover a life-lasting disability, like being paralyzed, with some foundation though.
The Year We Fell Down made me realize that, although I had to sit next to my crush in a couple classes with large zits on my face, I did not have to sit next to him in a wheelchair. Not only am I fortunate enough to not have a disability interfering with my in my daily life, I do not have one that interferes with what I love, running. I empathized for Corey because while she meets her love-interest, Hartley, due to his temporary foot injury, even sitting in her wheelchair temporarily when others come around shames him. Life could be a million times worse than the loads of homework I have or the zits I have.

• All Lined Up (Rusk University #1) by Cora Carmack

Recent(ish) Book Events I Attended

Love N' Vegas took place from July 17th to 19th in 2015 at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. I met Jay Crownover, Abbi Glines, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Jamie McGuire again. I also got to meet several new authors, such as Helena Hunting, Renee Carlino, M. Mabie, Monica Murphy, and Amy Harmon. There were also several models there, one of which was Drew Leighty, who models for Jennifer L. Armentrout's Titan series.

I was also fortunate enough to meet some other fellow readers who my parents and I quickly befriended. I really enjoyed the event and would love to attend another Love N' Vegas sometime in the future. Last year, the dates for Love N' Vegas were perfectly scheduled,  allowing my parents and I to come directly from San Diego after Comic-Con to Vegas. For more information on this year's event, from August 5th-7th, click here for more information.

YA Fest occurred October 10th of 2015 at the Palmer Branch of the Easton Public Library. This was the second year I attended YA Fest, you can read about my experience at YA Fest 2014 here. If you live around Philadelphia, or anywhere near Easton, Pennsylvania, I highly recommend checking out YA Fest. The event staff creates a highly organized event that always features a great list of attending authors. 

I was fortunate enough to meet one of my favorite authors, Wendy Higgins, for the third time. I was also able to meet Martina Boone, Mindy McGinnis, Robin Constantine, and countless other amazing YA authors. Do not forget to check out YA Fest on their website for information on next year's event. I am hoping I will be able to attend.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend Marissa Meyer's signing for Stars Above. I was, however, able to attend Victoria Aveyard and Sophie Jordan's talk and signing, along with Susan Dennard and Sarah J. Maas' Galentine's Day talk and signing. I had an amazing experience at both events and I arrived at Barnes and Noble early enough to get second in the signing lines and a good seat. The Barnes & Noble was fortunately located in the Neshaminy Mall, so my aunt and mom, who attended the event with me, were able to shop around. It was also nice because it allowed us to get a meal to eat at one of the restaurants in the mall. The store was in the absolute perfect spot and the staff members were very kind. I highly recommend attending any events that happen at this particular Barnes & Noble, I hope to go to an other event there sometime in the future.

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is my absolute favorite book of all time and I highly doubt it will every be topped. I had accepted the fact that more than likely I would never meet him due to him living in Australia as well as the fact that he rarely tours and that it will probably be a while until he releases a new book. When it was announced that he would be touring the U.S. for the 10th anniversary of The Book Thief's release, I knew I had to see if he was coming anywhere near my home in Pennsylvania. The closest he was coming was New Jersey and Connecticut. My parents were amazing enough to let me take off a few days of school and took me to Stamford, Connecticut, a more than four hour drive, to let me meet my absolute favorite author. I was actually the first person in his signing line at the Barrett Bookstore and later that night I attended his Q & A and got to watch the movie of The Book Thief in his presence at the Avon Theater. 

• Book Review: The Assassins Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5) & Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas
• Book Review: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas
• Book Review: Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas
• ARC Review: Truthwitch (Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard
• Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Becoming Rain (Burying Water #2) by K.A. Tucker

Summary: Luke Boone doesn't know exactly what his uncle Rust is involved in but he wants in on it-the cars, the money, the women. And it looks like he's finally getting his wish. When Rust hands him the managerial keys to the garage, they come with a second set—one that opens up the door to tons of cash and opportunity. Though it's not exactly legal, Luke's never been one to worry about that sort of thing. Especially when it puts him behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 and onto the radar of gorgeous socialite named Rain.

Clara Bertelli is at the top of her game—at only twenty-six years old, she's one of the most successful undercover officers in the Washington D.C. major crime unit, and she's just been handed a case that could catapult her career and expose one of the west coast's most notorious car theft rings. But, in order to do it, she'll need to go deep undercover as Rain Martines. Her target? The twenty-four-year old nephew of a key player who appears ready to follow in his uncle's footsteps.

As Clara drifts deeper into the luxurious lifestyle of Rain, and further into the arms of her very attractive and charming target, the lines between right and wrong start to blur, making her wonder if she'll be able to leave it all behind. Or if she'll even want to. (Via Goodreads.com)

Pages: 368

Release Date: March 3rd, 2015

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

There is no doubt in my mind that K.A. Tucker is quickly making her way up my list of favorite authors. I absolutely fell in love with her writing and story telling after reading her first book in this companion series, Burying Water. If you have yet to read my review for Burying Water, which is linked above, then you do not know how much I loved Burying Water. The story was so unique and the characters were my precious babies who deserved none of the harm that came their way. 

Due to my love for Burying Water, I had extremely high expectations for Becoming Rain. While I obviously enjoyed Becoming Rain from my high rating of 4 stars out of 5, it was difficult for me to separate Burying Water and Becoming Rain. While the plots of both stories deal with the Russian mob, both stories take place under different circumstances. It was not so much the fact that I was confusing the plot lines, I just had a hard time not thinking about the characters of Burying Water. It is so hard to describe my feelings for this book without spoiling it. Like I recommended with Burying Water, try not to read the plot synopsis for Becoming Rain either. If you are curious what character Becoming Rain follows, I will tell you: it follows Luke Boone's story. 

If you have yet to pick up the first book, Burying Water, I highly recommend you make a trip to your local bookstore or online bookstore just for it. You will not regret it. If you have yet to pick up the next book in the companion series, Becoming Rain, I recommend doing so. Becoming Rain follows a character that is walking the line between morals and greed and it has you rooting for and booing him at the exact same time.  

While reading Burying Water, I was concerned about Luke. He worried me because I knew that he was trying to get in with his Uncle and the rest of the mob. However, after he helped save Alex, I figured his involvement would fizzle out. I thought Alex's brutal attack would make him realize how unpredictable and unstable these men are, whether or not his Uncle trusts them. As Luke got more involved in the ring and Clara was starting to cover up the evidence against him, I was so pissed. I wanted Clara to help the FBI build a case against Luke, his Uncle, and everyone else involved. I know Clara wanted to protect him because he was not thinking straight, but she was putting the lives of others at risk. She allowed the ring to continue its operation, allowing countless people, like the man who died in the beginning, to be put at risk. I also wanted her to build the case because Luke deserved to be punished for his actions. Although I knew that even if she did end up building a case against him, the FBI would have only seen him as another Miller. They wanted Luke's confession and details so they could get to those in higher places. Luke was just a stepping stone in order to reach those above him in the food-chain. I never believed he was in danger of facing jail time; however, I really wanted him to go to jail. 

Do not get me wrong, Luke grew up in a good family, but his Uncle's influences were the death of him. I understand he wanted to impress his Uncle and try to repay him for everything that Rust gave him, but Rust would have been okay with him not following in his footsteps. Luke was not forced into that position, he pushed himself into it. If Rust truly cared for Luke, which he did, he would not have wanted his nephew, who was the son he never had, to be put into danger because of his illegal business. While Alex and Jesse deserved their happily ever after in Burying Water, I argue that Luke did not necessarily deserve his. While I am glad that Luke gave money to the family that lost their father over his red truck, but what about all the other families that lost their vehicles? While other families did not loose a family member, they lost their cars that could have been sold to pay for their kids college fund or debt they owed. Luke was devastated when his expensive car, that his Uncle gave him, got jacked, but what about the families who lost their cars that they spent their hard-earned money on them? What about the families who do not have friends or family that can give them a car to borrow or easily replace their stolen car? The innocent little man should not be hurt because of someone else's greed. While Luke began to understand how wrong the business was, it does not excuse his ignorance. 

While I did have some negative comments directed towards Luke, I did love the book and his character. While I preferred Jesse and Alex's story in Burying Water over Luke and Clara's, Becoming Rain was still enjoyable. I believe Chasing River, the next book, follows Jesse's sister, Amber, who is in Ireland after saving all her money to tour Europe. I am very excited that the series' pace and direction is changing. It will be a slight shock since up to this point, the series has revolved around the Russian mob. 



Cover Reveal: Long Way Home (Thunder Road #3) by Katie McGarry

Being released on January 31^st, 2017, the highly anticipated third book in Katie McGarry's Thunder Road Series has a cover that we can't wait to share with you! LONG WAY HOME is a Young Adult Contemporary Romance being published by Harlequin Teen! Pre-order your copy of the next book in this emotionally charged series, and don't miss Violet and Chevy's story!

   

Seventeen-year-old Violet has always been expected to sit back and let the boys do all the saving. 

It’s the code her father, a member of the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, raised her to live by. Yet when her dad is killed carrying out Terror business, Violet knows it’s up to her to do the saving. To protect herself, and her vulnerable younger brother, she needs to cut all ties with the club—including Chevy, the boy she’s known and loved her whole life.

But when a rival club comes after Violet, exposing old secrets and making new threats, she’s forced to question what she thought she knew about her father, the Reign of Terror, and what she thinks she wants. Which means re-evaluating everything: love, family, friends . . . and forgiveness.

Caught in the crosshairs between loyalty and freedom, Violet must decide whether old friends can be trusted—and if she’s strong enough to be the one person to save them all.

"An intoxicating and unforgettable story that kept me glued to the page."

—Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Walk the Edge

 

Add it to your Goodreads Now!

 

LONG WAY HOME Pre-Order Links:

Amazon | Kobo | BAM | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound

   

And Don’t Miss the First Two Titles in the Thunder Road Series!

NOWHERE BUT HERE

WALK THE EDGE

   

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.      

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Excerpt Reveal: Torn (Wicked #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The highly anticipated second book in #1 New York Times Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout's Wicked Trilogy is releasing July 19, 2016, and we have an excerpt for you! Check it out below, and be sure to grab the first book in the series, WICKED, which is on sale for $.99 for a limited time!



Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same. 

Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her.

Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him?

But as the Fae Prince begins to close in on Ivy, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.

TORN iBooks Exclusive Preorder

EXCERPT:

              My fingers tightened around the slender remote. “I was thinking that if the prince can sense me, why hasn’t he showed up here?”

              “I don’t know.” Tink came down to the coffee table and started marching across it. I’m not the prince, but if I was the prince, I’d be buying time.”

              “Buying time?” I scooted to the edge of the couch.

              “Yeah, because he’s got to win you over.” Tink swiped up the straw he’d had in his Coke. It was nearly the size of him. “That’s basically what he has to do if he wants to impregnate you.”

              I cringed, like a full body cringe. “Please do not use the word impregnate ever again.”

              “Why? That’s what he wants to do.” He started dancing with the straw, the kind of dancing you see in the clubs. Hips gyrating all over the place. “He knows coercing or tricking you isn’t going to get the deed done, so he’s probably trying to learn how not to be a sexed up dickhead.”

              “Sexed up dickhead?” I repeated.

              “Uh-huh.” Tink dipped the straw as one would a dancer. “Remember when I was telling you how I saw the prince getting it on with three females once? He’s totes sexed up. And he’s a dickhead. In other words, he has no empathy or compassion. No humanity.”

              “Most fae don’t.”

              Tink twirled the straw. “Yeah, but the ancients are worse. They’re as far away from human as you can get. He’s going to have to work on wooing you.”

              I slowly shook my head. “That’s…” There were no words.

              “That’s what I’d do.” Tink dropped the straw and whipped around toward me. “Or he’s plotting something major and any moment he’s going to knock down the front door and storm the place.”

              “Wow.” A fine shiver curled down my spine. “That’s really a relaxing thought.”

              He zipped over to the couch and sat on the arm. He tipped his head back and stared up at me. “Don’t worry. I’m here to protect you.”

              I just looked at him, because other than ordering shit off of Amazon, the only strength he had was the unique ability to annoy the crap out of me while somehow still managing to be endearing.

              Tink grinned. “Trust me, Ivy. The Prince is not going to want to mess with me.” 

*   *   *

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans…

Don’t miss the first title in the series, WICKED, now just $.99 for a limited time only!

 

 

Amazon  I  Barnes and Noble  I  iBooks  I  Kobo

#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. 

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. 

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.  

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