Friday Feature: Fading Into the Shadows Cover Reveal

I'm so excited to share the cover of Fading Into the Shadows because I actually designed it myself and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Check it out!

When sixteen-year-old Ella Andrews’s best friend, Avery, goes missing, she’ll do anything to get him back—starting with punching the no-brain cop who couldn’t care less about the disappearance. 

Ella’s convinced Avery’s been kidnapped, and she tries everything to find him—even following a strange shadow to another world where the constellations are real-life figures in the sky. But three star groups have fallen and are destroying the world. 

The fallen constellations are not the only enemy. Melanie, the princess of Stellaris, is forcing Ella, Avery, and an army of other kids kidnapped from their world to fight the rogue constellations, even as the land is draining away their life. The longer they stay, the more they fade into substanceless shadows—a fate worse than death.

Can Ella save Stellaris before there’s nothing left of her and Avery?

Preorder your copy here.

I love the full spread too! This cover was so much fun to design, but I admit it was a lot of work.

e-ARCs are also available. If you'd like an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review, click here to sign up.

*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Monday Mishmash 3/24/14

Happy Monday! Here's my mishmash of thoughts:

1. Touch of Death for $0.99!!! Yes, you read that correctly. Touch of Death is only $0.99 on Kindle. Get it here.

2. Need To Read  I've created a new meme over at YA Bound called Need To Read. On the first Tuesday of each month, I'll feature releases from that month that I'm excited to read. You can join me by grabbing the button and posting your Need To Read list on the first Tuesday of each month.

3. Catching up on my TBR list  I have three books to review this week as I try to catch up on my TBR pile.

4. Drafting  I'm drafting a new idea but I'm doing it between a lot of other stuff, which is not typical for me. I hope this works. lol

5. My Tethered Soul Cover Reveal  Dorothy Dreyer had a cover reveal on Friday. Check out the cover and blurb for My Tethered Soul. (I'm looking forward to this one!)

It’s been months since Zadie faced her sister’s Reaper, months during which she’s been under her mentor’s magical protection. But now that she’s turning seventeen, that protection is about to run out.

When dark forces lure Zadie to wander at night, she’s manipulated into committing unspeakable acts. With her friends and family at risk, Zadie must try to use her powers to break free from the Reaper’s grasp, or surrender to the Reaper’s Rite, which can only lead to death.

That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Deity by Jennifer Armentrout (Review)

Summary:
History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time.

Alexandria isn’t sure she’s going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she’s a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that’s not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she’s caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed… and destroyed. Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

My thoughts:
It is so hard to review this book and not give anything away (spoiler-wise). Let me just say that I know so many people are Team Aiden, and I get why. But I love Seth. Not that I don't love Aiden, too. I do. But from the very start, I could see why Alex was drawn to Seth. So as we learn more about Seth in this book, well...I'm not sure what to say except I'm afraid of where this series is going. Will I continue to read the books? Of course! I love Jennifer's writing, and this series drew me in from the start. 

On a different note, the gods are in this book! I love that. I'm a big mythology fan, so seeing the gods revealed in this book was just awesome. And Hades! I was excited to see that Jennifer views Hades the same way I do in Touch of Death. :) He is one hot god, hot in appearance and in temper. I'm looking forward to seeing more of these gods.

Just for fun: The last line in the summary is about whether love is greater than fate. What do you think?

Painted Blind by Michelle Hansen

Summary:
Seventeen years old and agoraphobic, Psyche Middleton vows her dad will never see the risque photos she took during a summer modeling stint abroad, but one of them ends up on a billboard in her Montana hometown. Suddenly, she is a hometown celebrity.

At a street carnival she is rescued from a mob by a guy who has the ability to make himself invisible. He takes her to a palace in an idyllic kingdom, and she is swept into the beauty and culture of his world, but his affection has one condition: she may not see him.

Psyche must decide if she is brave enough to love him blindly, and if she's not, will she lose him forever?

My thoughts:
First, I love the Cupid and Psyche myth. I've read other retellings of it, and I have to say this one is different in such a great way. I really identified with Psyche. Hansen shows Psyche come into her fame, which is totally unwanted. It really made me cheer Psyche on as she became the center of attention and struggled to have a normal life. 

When Eros rescues her from the crowd and brings her to his world, she's rightfully uncertain. But he wins her over, and Psyche loves being with him. The dynamic between the two is really well done. I also loved the world Hansen created. I could see the gorgeous gowns and the palace. I almost felt like I was flying on Pixis, Eros' winged horse.

And for those of you familiar with this myth, the trials Psyche has to endure to be with Eros were extremely well done. Hansen made them her own.

If you like mythology, Painted Blind is well worth your time.

Just for fun: Could you love someone if you could never see their face?

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Synopsis:
It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.


My thoughts:
It's no secret I love mythology (Touch of Death is based on a lesser known myth.), so I've had my eye on this book for a while. Kate is surrounded by death. First her mother is dying of cancer and then Ava, an enemy turned friend, drowns. Kate is willing to do anything to keep the people she cares about alive--even make a deal with the Hades, or as he's calling himself, Henry. When Kate goes to Eden Manor to to see if she can take Persephone's place as Henry's queen, she discovers she's being tested all the time. And if she fails, it will mean Henry's death. What she doesn't expect is to fall for him.
I think Carter does a great job weaving the tests throughout the story, but this was one of those times when the prologue kind of ruined the story for me. I figured out the ending ahead of time. I was loving the story up until I had everything figured out. Then it lost a little magic for me. Overall, this was a great read though, and I'll definitely read the next book.


Just for fun: Would you promise to marry Hades and spend six months a year for all eternity with him to save someone you love?

Destined by Jessie Harrell

Synopsis:
When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.
As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifying tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: You cannot escape what is destined.

My thoughts:
I love Greek mythology, so I knew I had to read this book. Psyche's beauty makes her famous, and soon she is declared Aphrodite's daughter, making her the most eligible and desired young woman in Greece. But Aphrodite has plans for Psyche, involving her own son, Eros. A battle of wills, a misplaced arrow, and a romance to challenge all others follows as Psyche discovers exactly what is destined for her.
Harrell creates a very realistic romance between Psyche and Eros. Their feelings are true to the situations they are in. It's not love at first sight but rather something much deeper and more meaningful. I devoured this book in just over a day. If you enjoy Greek mythology or even a good romance, you need to read this. Actually, if you enjoy YA, you should read this. It's that good.

Just for fun: When Psyche is declared Aphrodite's mortal daughter, Psyche's parents decide to marry her off to the highest bidder. How would you feel if you were in Psyche's position, about to be bought for your beauty?

Half-blood by Jennifer Armentrout

Synopsis:
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1: Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

My thoughts:
Alex has been away from the Covenant for years, but after a family tragedy, she wants nothing more than to go back to the school. Now more than ever, she wants to become a Sentinel and fight daimons. But the laws of half-bloods, pures, and daimons are changing, and Alex is wrapped up in the changes. She'll question everything she thought she knew.

Alex is a character I immediately identified with. She doesn't like following rules. She likes to think she's totally badass, and yet she falls prey to her emotions like any teenage girl. Between her feelings for Aiden and her family issues, Alex is a lot like a mortal girl. But her desire to learn to fight daimons and her drive to become a Sentinel proves that she's one tough half-blood.

I can't wait for PURE, the next book in the Covenant series. Big things have already happened to Alex, but her future promises to hold even more surprises.

Just for fun: Alex has to choose between a life of servitude or a life fighting daimons to the death. Which would you choose?