paranormal

Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

February 28, 2013 by Sana

ABOUT THE BOOK

Pivot Point by Kasie West
young adult paranormal fantasy published by HarperTeen on 12 February 2013
first book in the Pivot Point duology

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

“I run my finger along the smooth glass, drawing my standard doodle—a line that halfway up splits in two. Then I circle the pivot point. The point right before the path separates. I press my finger into the center. One little choice can make all the difference.”

The split second when the mind is swaying between two things, there is a subtle buzzing. If you ponder too much, you might get paralyzed and ultimately rendered unable to make the right choice. If you don’t ponder at all, you might make a wrong one. What comes to mind in that instance is a wish to be able to see the outcome of each choice, a searing hope. It all happens in a moment that Pivot Point explores.

Addison Coleman is a Divergent so when faced with a choice, she can close her eyes, feel and see the future almost as if it was real. The Compound where Addie lives is full of Paranormals who have a special something in their genes and are much more advanced that the Normals who are unaware of their existence.

Thus, it comes as more than a shock when her parents tell her that they’re divorcing. Even more so when she comes to know that her father has decided to leave the Compound for the Normal world. As easy as it sounds, to make a decision based on the familiarity of the Compound and the unfamiliarity of the Normal world, Addies knows that she has to Search.

The journey between the words ambush and screwed thus ensues. I say this because of the word and its definition at the start of each of the 36 chapters. The events of the next six weeks of the two possible futures occur almost simultaneously in Addie’s mind. Alternating between the Normal and the Paranormal, Addie experiences life like never before.

In the Normal world, she has a hard time adjusting to its ways with electrical switches, locks, and the people. Trevor is the only one who gives her hope that she might just survive okay. While in the Paranormal world, life goes on as it was before with Addie trying to act out and Duke showing interest in her.

One of the things I really loved about Addie was her behavior in each of the worlds. It’s fascinating to see her out of her element in the Norm world and then to really see her make her way into life with the help of Laila, her best friend, in the Paranormal world. I like that she’s a reader, she’s witty and she’s smart. It’s very easy to relate to her and her problems even though she’s a paranorm which makes her so fascinating.

Trevor is a pretty reserved character and as a reader, you really want to get to know what is going on with him. He surprised me with his penchant for graphic novels and the quiet. His capability to put other people at ease is what makes him the perfect choice for Addie to get to know in the Norm world. Duke, on the other hand, is flamboyant, swoon-worthy, humorous and definitely have a way with words.

The abilities in the Paranormal Compound range from being fairly simple to dangerous. There are the ones who have the ability to Persuade and Discern, the ones who can perform Telekinesis, then there are also Memory Erasers, Mood Controllers and of course, Clairvoyants. Essentially, these are mind powers and seeing as how obsessed I’m with anything to do with the brain and its manipulation, I devoured the explosive way they came together to make Pivot Point a thoroughly breathtaking read.

Kasie West style of writing is simple and clever and you really marvel at Pivot Point as it maneuvers its way through tough decisions and laugh-out-loud moments. It is a difficult feat to achieve that balance and still shock the reader at the end of the book. Kasie West made it look easy and for that, I am amazed.

THE QUOTES

“Sometimes I feel like I’m slowly floating away. I’m constantly looking for something to grab on to so I don’t lose myself.”

“And can we just get this out of the way? Your eyelashes make mine want to commit suicide from shame.”

“I hate obvious boys. Tell me that.” “You hate obvious boys. Because heaven forbid you like something that everyone else does. If you don’t have to hunt for it, and carefully plan its capture, it must not be worth having.”

Review: Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy Blog Tour + Giveaway

February 22, 2013 by Sana

ABOUT THE BOOK

Freshman year of college is hard even when you’re not tied to the future king of a supernatural society.

Allie dives into college head first with Hailey as her roommate and the city of New Orleans as her backyard. As things within The Society heat up, Allie realizes that whether she’s with Levi or not, she’s in far too deep to turn back.

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

Focus begins a little after the events of Flight as Allie and Hailey are settling in Tulane as freshmen. It felt good to be treated to Allie’s feistiness again and see her stand up for herself. However, as normal as she’d like her college life to be, it isn’t surprising to see Hailey, Owen, Jared and even Levi accompanying her to classes. At first Allie thinks it’s just a Pterons thing but things are much more serious than Levi let on.

As Allie is transitioning into her college and dorm life and making new friends, Levi is hard at work trying to make up to her. But Allie’s indecisiveness is as apparent as it was in Flight. It’s actually relieving to know where it’s coming from because we know it’s not that Allie doesn’t want to be with Levi. She needs time and Levi respects that even though he keeps trying.

What I really like about Focus is how Levi and Allie work on their relationship. As a reader, you get that they belong with each other but it’s not easy to guess how they’re going to work out the kinks. It’s obvious that Levi is a control freak and possessive as hell. But then Allie is hotheaded and stubborn like anything. So it gets really interesting to read about the sexual tension as well as their little arguments.

Focus gives more insight into the secondary characters as well and it felt good to know more about Jared and Owen. Allie’s and Hailey’s friendship also deepens more but I was sad when Jess didn’t make much of an appearance. However, it is understandable because both of them have started college in different states. Allie knows she’s in for good but is having a hard time as any so she immerses herself in her study. Allie also attends a few meetings of The Society and gets to see more of the hierarchy, even though she doesn’t truly understand its dynamics or her role in it.

Focus moved at a regular pace; though at times I found myself wishing that things would get more exciting somehow. It isn’t that there isn’t much action, but it has more to do with the fact that even though there is an underlying buzz that Pterons are being threatened; it’s more of the same. Though I will admit, Focus is much hotter than I was expecting it to be. There’s a lot of teasing going on and we get to see a sexier side of Allie, too. Focus ends in a much similar way to Flight meaning pretty unexpectedly but it left me wanting more because it was a pretty unpredictable end. Found has to be an earth-shattering end to a remarkable series. I look forward to reading it!

THE QUOTES

“Break ups aren’t fair. Why does only one person have power? We both agreed to start dating. Why do you get to make the decision to end it? Shouldn’t it be a joint decision too?”

“Relationships aren’t a democracy. Not everyone gets an equal vote.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alyssa Rose Ivy is a Young Adult and New Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Alyssa Rose Ivy can be found at

Buy Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2)

THE GIVEAWAY

The following giveaway is part of the blog tour. Enter away and good luck!

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Thanks to Alyssa Rose Ivy and ATOMR for providing me a copy of Focus for review.

Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

December 25, 2012 by Sana

Title: Cursed

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Release Date: 18 September 2012

Pages: 288 (ARC)

Synopsis

Dying sucks and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things–including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s adopted father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out.

However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister’s hand again. And hell, she’d also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn’t? But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.

For real this time.

My Rating

* * *

The Review

You know just when you think that something cannot get any worse, it does? That’s what it’s like to live Ember’s life. She was supposed to be dead; only her younger sister Olivia brought her back from the dead. Now Ember feels cursed because her touch is deadly, her mother has a dead-to-the-world state of mind since her father died and Olivia keeps resurrecting animals. It’s like a family of freaks and even though Ember wants to just disappear, she can’t leave Olivia alone.

So in between juggling bullies at school and keeping up with Olivia’s demands, Ember is swamped, tired and lonely. She only has Adam to fall back on but even he doesn’t know her secret or the real reason behind her wearing gloves. And then she spots a Hot Dude and thinks, “My brain must have felt sorry for me, so it’d created the only type of guy I could touch—a fantasy one.”

Things take a turn for the worse when her ex-boyfriend dies at Ember’s hands, someone takes Olivia from school and the Hot Dude ends up squeezing her hands instead of dying when she attacks him knowing he has something to do with Olivia’s disappearance. Turns out there are gifted people out there and a man named Cromwell protects them. So it’s only natural that he ~~forces~~ takes in Ember’s family in order to protect Olivia’s gift.

The fact that Ember is a danger to others is made painfully obvious to her by the other gifted people her family is now living with. All except Hayden the Hot Dude. He has the power to absorb energy and he believes that Ember can control her touch of death if she practices.

Ember is fierce yet extremely vulnerable ever since the accident and so she has a hard time trusting people and rightly so. There is something amiss with Cromwell and that doesn’t sit well with Ember so she tries to break free of him. I really connected with Ember on a certain level because she didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere however much she tried to make it all better. And boy does she! It’s like a battle of touch-don’t-touch going on inside her head.

As deeply emotional and captivating it was to read Cursed, it also has light and funny moments to offer. The romance between Ember and Hayden is built slowly and steadily. Hayden has his own demons to deal with and together they fit with that connection. Though they go through certain misunderstandings, Hayden really believes in Ember and gives her hope. However, Ember is convinced that Cromwell is bad news and tries to work out theories which agitates Hayden to an extent because he thinks highly of him.

Cursed is an engaging read and Jennifer Armentrout has put her own concept into it with the way the story is crafted. It has mysterious elements and a villain with a twisted mind. If you like books about deadly touches, Cursed is a must read and it will leave you feeling satisfied at the end.

The Quotes:

“You worry about hurting me, but you never seem to worry about me hurting you. And I’m the one with the killer touch.”

“My heart jumped in my chest, and then sped up erratically. The thick tension hit a new all-time high. Surprisingly, I found that I still had the ability to speak.”

Thanks to Spencer Hill Press for providing me an ARC of Cursed for review.

Review: Betwixt by Melissa Pearl Blog Tour + Giveaway

December 7, 2012 by Sana

ABOUT THE BOOK

Betwixt by Melissa Pearl

young adult paranormal self-published on 5 November 2012
first book in Betwixt series

Beautiful, wild-child Nicole Tepper is hit by a car and left for dead. But when she wakes the next morning, Nicole finds herself in bed without a scratch. Perhaps she was more intoxicated than usual, as her mother is giving her the silent treatment and her friends are ignoring her as well.

Things take a turn for the weird when Nicole soon discovers she is actually hovering between life and death. Her body is lying in the forest while her spirit is searching for anyone who can hear her. Unfortunately the only person who can is Dale Finnigan, the guy she publicly humiliated with a sharp-tongued insult that has left him branded.

Desperate, Nicole has no choice but to haunt Dale and convince the freaked-out senior to help her. Will he find her body before it’s too late? Or will the guy who tried to kill her with his car, beat him there and finish her off before anyone finds out?

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

Even though Betwixt is little over 200 pages long, it managed to stir up a range of emotions inside me. The story begins when Nicole was out partying as usual but then things turned from bad to worse when her boyfriend Trent leaves her stranded in the middle of nowhere. More annoyed than frightened, she starts walking down the road cursing, gets hit by a car and wakes up invisible to everyone but Dale Finnegan. With no memory of what happened last night, Nicole really thinks she is doomed.

On the surface, Nicole seems like the run of the mill popular, mean girl in high school who spend her days partying and staying out late at nights. She has almost convinced herself of the persona she adopted ever since Jody. The tree that Nicole tried to avoid looking at in order to forget the pain of what happened. To be mean and rude so people end up hating her which is so much easier than letting them see the damage in her.

There are little revelations along the way, as the discovery for Nicole’s body continues with Dale’s help. Being invisible to everyone except Dale, Nicole gets to see the true face of all the people in her life. When the initial shock wears off and search efforts go futile, Nicole gets the overwhelming feeling of deserving to die. To never be found. But it’s more about the journey of getting to her body than the destination. Especially when she drifts inside her body from time to time and the unbearable pain makes her realize the grave situation she is. She might just die if no one finds her in time.

Dale is a unique character in the book, he has an easygoing aura around him and the fact that it’s difficult for something to get to him. He might just have a scar running down one side of his face but he feels more proud of it than ashamed. No one know how he got it. He attempted to talk to Nicole before but she more than harsh with her and he finally had to let go. So when he comes across Nicole’s voice in school, despite being wary of her he decides to help her.

For all the time Nicole spends with Dale, she actually likes it but is afraid to admit so. Saddened by her parents initial reaction of her running away, Nicole goes through strong emotions when her parents consider the graveness of the situation as days pass. Dale and Nicole try to locate her body and find themselves more times at a standstill than they’d have preferred. However, when Nicole catches two people trying to find her body to bury her, things starts looking up.

The time Nicole and Dale spend together, confiding in each other and just being together is stirring. When Nicole gets to look at her life from the outside, she realizes how empty it really has been. And she knows why. It’s heartbreaking and gut-wrenching when her parents finally realizes that Nicole is worse off then they’d believe. What pulled them apart is part of the mystery and same goes for Dale and his headfirst approach towards life.

Betwixt is an engaging story of the time Nicole spends in between the state of living and dead. Will she survive and whether she would amend her falling out with her parents is an engrossing discovery. Betwixt is a thought-provoking book which jolts the reader’s mind to question the existence and why do we choose what we choose. Melissa Pearl has written a beautiful story of not just surviving life but living it. Yet for all that Betwixt offers, it’s a forgettable story because of its genericity.

THE QUOTES

‘I can feel the clock ticking with excruciating slowness as we wait for a resolution. It’s almost more painful than my wounds.’

‘And I want to kiss you every day, but not just because I’m saying goodbye.’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has spent much of her life abroad, living in countries such as Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan… not to mention a nine month road trip around North America with her husband. “Best. Year. Ever!!” She now lives in China with her husband and two sons. She is a trained elementary teacher, but writing is her passion. Since becoming a full time mother she has had the opportunity to pursue this dream and her debut novel hit the internet in November, 2011. Since then she has produced three more books with her fifth novel, Betwixt, out in November 2012.

Melissa Pearl can be found at

Buy Betwixt

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THE GIVEAWAY

The giveaway is open internationally and there are lots of prizes up for grabs!

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Thanks to Melissa Pearl and ATOMR for providing me a copy of Betwixt for review.

Review: Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs Blog Tour + Interview + Giveaway

November 28, 2012 by Sana

Title: Greta and the Goblin King (The Mylena Chronicles, #1)

Author: Chloe Jacobs

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Release Date: 13 November 2012

Pages: 298 (eARC)

Synopsis

While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back…

My Rating

* * * *

The Review

Greta and the Goblin King sucked me in from the start. I had been pretty intrigued by the cover and the synopsis but to actually read the book, it was all I could ask for. The action sequences, the electric chemistry, Mylena creatures out for blood and a bounty hunter as the protagonist. Just wow. Greta is something else entirely and on top of it, Isaac is a very intriguing character.

Greta and the Goblin King is set in the world of Mylena where the humans are considered evil and where every kind of creature from faeries to goblins to gnomes, demons and ghouls thrive. But Agramon wreaked havoc on Mylena and the Great Mother had to put a curse of ice and snow and the two moons on the people of Mylena. The world-building is flawless and being as taken with the icy cold weather as I am, I found myself wanting to feel the cold penetrate deep in my bones more than once.

Add up all that with a human stuck in their world unwillingly as a result of a sacrifice to save her brother’s life. Suffice it to say that it hasn’t been an easy four years in Mylena for Greta. But Luke miraculously didn’t kill her on sight, instead took her in and taught her all the trades of surviving. Everything was as peachy as it could be for Greta when the goblin king decided to pay her a visit during her job as a bounty hunter. The same goblin who just a fortnight ago was trying to get her to say his name and unknowingly giving him the power to come inside her mind whenever she dreams. All because Greta intrigued him. Now isn’t that charming.

What do you do become when you have nothing? Fearless is only a glimpse into Greta’s personality and she is pretty self-reliant. But for a human to survive right along with paranormal creatures as a bounty hunter and trying to disguise her humaneness. Not an easy one. But somehow Greta manages until all hell in the shape and name of Agramon threatens to take her last bit of her sanity.

And then there is Isaac, the infuriatingly intense and hot as hell Goblin King of Mylena. Only not as much by choice but as a stroke of fate. It is so engaging to see Isaac hot on her trail, haunting her in her dreams, making her want him and trying to get her to see the real him. But Greta haven’t earned the title of the best bounty hunter for nothing. She is an expert when it comes to guarding her emotions. Only lately, along with Isaac, she is somehow also letting others affect her judgement and making her care.

Wyatt, Sloane, Jacob and especially Ray made me fall in love with their stories and it was admirable to see them trying to protect each other through thick and thin. All of them played a role in trying Greta to see the other side of the story and to light the fire in her again that willed her to live and survive in the cold, cursed land of Mylena.

I found myself absolutely engrossed in the story of Greta and the Goblin King, willing the words to fly by as quickly as they can so I would know what was going to happen next and how it would all play out. I always find such books to be great reads. I loved how Isaac remained true to his own self even in the most turbulent of times; that’s devotion. I can only imagine what kind of action would be in store for Greta in Books 2. Three cheers for Chloe Jacobs!

Best Quotes:

““You have such a peculiar way of speaking,” he said. “I rarely have any notion what you’re talking about, but I could listen to your voice all day long.”“

“There was no mistaking his frustration and anger, even his pain. It came off him like a fever, engulfing her with a blast of terrible heat, but she still felt safe, protected. It may only last for as long as he held her, but for now that was enough.”

About the Author

Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she’d at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

Chloe Jacobs can be found at

Buy Greta and the Goblin King (The Mylena Chronicles, #1)

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The Interview
Now it’s time for a fun interview with Chloe Jacobs getting to know more about Chloe, the characters and their story. I hope you all find it as much fun as I did!

So do you really own ‘fuzzy pink bunny slippers’ as it says in your bio?

Yes! I love them! My son found them in a store once and he said he had to buy them for me. He was four at the time, so I’m pretty sure my husband paid for them (which he probably regrets because he trips on them all the time—I have a bad habit of leaving them on his side of the bed *evil grin*).

What is the one thing writing Greta and the Goblin King has taught you?

Writing this story taught me the value of a fantastic editor. Without Heather’s help this book would never have been as good as it ended up.

What five words would you use to define your debut book?

Dark. Fantasy. Character-driven. Emotional.

Despite being a very strong character, Greta has a hard time figuring out who she really is. What made you write about such a character?

I was really intrigued about the idea of a character who is stripped of EVERYTHING. How would I survive if I were in her place? If I couldn’t call my family, or email them, or Facebook them? If I couldn’t see them again, and I had no friends. If, in fact, everyone wanted me dead?? It just seemed like the perfect character to set on this particular journey.

A Goblin King as the hero. How did you come up with the idea?

It started as a twist on the Hansel and Gretel story, and when I was thinking about the world Greta finds herself in, I knew there would be goblins and ghouls and all kinds of fairy tale creatures, so the Goblin King sounded like a much better choice than King of the Ogres. The trick was trying to make Goblin = sexy 🙂

How difficult it was for you to tackle the world-building in Mylena?

I LOVE world building. I can’t get enough of it. In fact, there was probably a lot more of the world building in the original draft, but for the sake of keeping up the pace of the book, we had to trim it down a little bit. In book 2 I’ll be expanding the world and hopefully helping readers see Mylena a little better.

What do you want readers to take away from Greta and the Goblin King?

I want them to see how much Greta grows, to see her strength and realize that it’s even more precious because it doesn’t come easy for her. As strong as she is, she struggles not to give into her loneliness and sorrow every day. I would also want readers to know that there’s much more to Isaac than we’ll see in this book, but not to worry. I’m going to put him through his paces in book 2.

What was the hardest part of writing Greta and the Goblin King?

The hardest part was trying to find a proper balance between the story and the backstory. Since the book starts after Greta and Isaac’s first meeting, I had to filter in their history at appropriate times in the book, trying not to halt the action and pacing of the current plot line.

And the best?

OMG the best part was the back and forth between Greta and Isaac. They had fantastic chemistry on the page and I LOVED writing the scenes when they were facing off against one another!

Everyone should know that you are – ?

Crazy.

Lastly, what question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview and how would you answer that question?

If I were a superhero, I’d be the kind that could read people’s minds. I always want to know what people are thinking. It must be the writer in me that’s always looking at someone and needing to know what’s going on in their head. I want to know their deepest darkest secrets, and I want to see their every desire.

…That would probably get me in a lot of trouble though. LOL

Thanks so much for letting me come visit you! I had a BLAST!

The Giveaway
Chloe Jacobs is giving away fabulous prizes to US/Can residents. International entries can win an eBook copy of Greta and the Goblin King. Rules are it the widget.

Enter away!