Book Review: Toward A Secret Sky by Heather Maclean

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Toward A Secret Sky

Author: Heather Maclean
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: April 4 2017
Review Source: Blink

Shortly after 17-year-old Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with grandparents she’s never met in Scotland, she receives an encrypted journal from her dead mother that makes her and everyone around her a target. It confirms that her parents were employed by a secret, international organization that’s now intent on recruiting her. As Maren works to unravel the clues left behind by her mother, a murderous madness sweeps through the local population, terrorizing her small town. Maren must decide if she’ll continue her parents’ fight or stay behind to save her friends.

With the help of Gavin, an otherworldly mercenary she’s not supposed to fall in love with, and Graham, a charming aristocrat who is entranced with her, Maren races against the clock and around the country from palatial estates with twisted labyrinths to famous cathedrals with booby-trapped subterranean crypts to stay ahead of the enemy and find a cure. Along the way, she discovers the great truth of love: that laying down your life for another isn’t as hard as watching them sacrifice everything for you.

Toward A Secret Sky is about a girl who just lost her mother to only find out that it wasn't because of natural or earthly causes. There's more to the story than she realizes, yet she's still stuck in her grief before she realizes what is taking place.

This book is set in Scotland, which I absolutely loved. I am someone who wants to travel and this book made me feel as though I had traveled to Scotland. Maclean's writing was so descriptive that it really made you feel as though you were in Scotland, and it made you feel as though you were experiencing the whole story as if it were happening to you. While this is great it did make the description of the food a bit disgusting. While I'd love to go to Scotland I've realized that I wouldn't love their food.

This story did not grip me as well as I would've hoped. I had assumed that I would be hooked since page 1, and that I'd be thrown into the story right away. I feel as though the denouement just didn't grip me as well as I would've hoped. The action of the story happened too late into the book. The build up of the characters and the arc of the story was long drawn for me and made me feel as though the book were too long in the long run. I'm also not sure if this was because of my age. Weird thing to say, I know. But I've realized that if the writing is more attuned to a certain age level - like preteen or midteen - then I lose interest fast. Don't get me wrong I love Young Adult novels. But for some reason a certain writing style within YA will make me lose interest quick.

Blog Tour: Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon | Excerpt | Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on the Gilt Hollow tour for Lorie Langdon. This tour is hosted by Jean Book Nerd.

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Gilt Hollow
Author: Lorie Langdon
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Released: September 27th 2016
Publisher: Blink

Willow Lamott’s best friend is a murderer, and no one in the small town of Gilt Hollow will let her forget it. For four long years, she’s tried to fade into the background—but none of that matters when Ashton Keller comes striding into school, fresh out of juvie and fueled by revenge. The moment their eyes meet, Willow no longer feels invisible. Drawn to the vulnerability behind Ashton’s mask of rage, she sinks deeper into his sinister world and begins to question whether he’s a villain, a savior, or both.

Ashton thought he wanted vengeance, until Willow reminded him what he’d been missing. Now he longs to clear his name and become the person she sees in him. But the closer they get to uncovering the truth, the darker the secrets become, and Ashton fears his return to Gilt Hollow will destroy everyone he loves, especially the girl he left behind.

Excerpt

Willow despised crowds—the stink of too many bodies clustered in one place, people touching her she didn’t know …

Who scheduled a pep rally in the middle of the week anyway? As the cheerleaders began their first routine, Willow glanced around trying to find Lisa’s bright curls but instead saw Ashton two rows behind, his dark head melding with Penelope’s platinum blonde as he whispered something in her ear. Willow whipped around, heat bursting into her cheeks, her rib cage squeezing her insides until she thought she might gag. It had to be at least a hundred degrees in there. Whatever Willow thought was between her and Ashton, the magnetic energy she felt when she was with him, must be one-sided. Obviously he preferred the beautiful, flighty type.

The band joined the cheerleaders in the school fight song, and people raised their fists to chant all around her. A buzz vibrated in Willow’s pocket. Praying it was Lisa texting to rescue her, she whipped out her cell and swiped in the code. But it was another SnapMail notification. Unable to resist, she pressed the icon.

If you don’t stop helping Keller, what happens to you will be worse than this . . .

The next message was a picture of Cory Martin, lying flat, arms at his sides—dead in his casket.

The room spun in a hard circle, and Willow felt herself sway. Her heart pumped so fast it hurt. She gripped her chest, the room narrowing to a shadowy tunnel as the football players ran out onto the floor. It was too hot. Too close. Her lungs constricted until it felt like she was sucking every breath through a tube. She had to get out of there.

Turning, she pushed past the kids in her row, stepping on book bags and feet, stumbling into people as she swayed. But their protests were jumbled in her brain. If she didn’t get air soon, she would suffocate.

Finally out of her row, she made it down two sets of stairs before a wave of dizziness turned the room on its side and she fell forward. Her arms flailed as she tried to catch herself. She smacked hard on her hands and knees, the angle of the stairs and the momentum of her bag knocking her flat on her face. Silence spread through the room like a wave.

Then someone yelled out, “Is she drunk?” Followed by laughter and “We’ve got a stoner here!”

“Wait! I think she’s sick.”

“Somebody call 911!”

Taken from Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon Copyright © 2016. Used by permission of Blink. www.BlinkYABooks.com

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Lorie Langdon has longed to write her own novels since she was a wee girl reading every Judy Blume book she could get her hands on. So a few years ago, she left her thriving corporate career to satisfy the voices in her head. Now as a full-time author, she spends her days tucked into her cozy office, Havanese puppy by her side, working to translate her effusive imagination into the written word.
Lorie has been interviewed on Entertainment Weekly.com and several NPR radio programs, including Lisa Loeb’s national Kid Lit show. The DOON series has been featured on such high profile sites as USAToday.com, Hypable.com and BroadwayWorld.com.
Lorie’s first solo novel, GILT HOLLOW, a YA romantic thriller, releases September 27th 2016!

--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

-ONE winner will get a chance to have a 10-15 minute Skype call or Google Hangout (Winner's Choice) with Lorie and a Signed Copy of Gilt Hollow.

-ONE winner will receive a signed copy of Gilt Hollow.

-THREE winners will receive a copy of Gilt Hollow.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Trailer Thursday: Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen + Paddington

Both of Me

Author: Jonathan Friesen

Publication Date: December 23, 2014

Publisher: Blink

Elias Phinn has always been considered stupid, but that may be because no one knows his vacant exterior holds a gifted mind. A mind that has learned to focus on his created world of Warilia, through which Elias distills everything he sees in order to cope with the excruciating, actual world around him. But with each passing year, the detailed sketches and notebooks describing Warilia have not only taken over Elias's time, they have become a world he must slip into in order to get through each day. Clara Tobias has been running from her own reality, leaving behind her fragile mother and two siblings in order to have the whirlwind life of travel and adventure she always wanted. She justifies she put in her time caring for others, and that the rest of her life is hers to use as she pleases. Even if guilt won't leave her alone.

On a flight out of New York---Elias heading home for the summer, Clara on another trip to Somewhere---the two end up side by side. And when their carry-ons are mistakenly switched, Clara opens her bag to discover the histories of Warilia while Elias finds photographs and journals he uses to flesh out the mysterious girl who sat beside him, whom he sees as the beautiful daughter of a Warilian diplomat, making her and her mother an integral part of his entire world.

When Clara arrives at the Phinn's boarding house for her luggage, she begs Elias to show her Warilia---and he does, taking her to locations that to him are not ordinary landscapes and buildings but epic mountains and massive skyscrapers. But as Clara finds herself further drawn to this intriguing boy, word comes her mother has died. When Elias becomes unable to deal with the death of his diplomat, he and Clara leave on a mission Elias claims will preserve Warilia forever. Though in the end it could be the one thing that allows Clara to piece her own world together.

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Paddington

Release Date: January 16th 2015

Director: Paul King

Writers: Michael Bond (novels), Paul King (screen story), Hamish McColl (screen story)

Main Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Nicole Kidman, and Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington

From the beloved novels by Michael Bond and producer David Heyman (HARRY POTTER), PADDINGTON tells the story of the comic misadventures of a young Peruvian bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) who travels to the city in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined - until he meets the kindly Brown family who read the label around his neck that says “Please look after this bear. Thank you,” and offer him a temporary haven. It looks as though his luck has changed until this rarest of bears catches the eye of a museum taxidermist.

* Look for OUaT's review of Paddington on 1/16/15! 

Blog Tour: Remnants: Season of Wonder | Lisa T. Bergren | Exclusive Excerpt | Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on the REMNANTS: SEASON OF WONDER blog tour for the talented Lisa T. Bergren. We are huge fans of Bergren and he books and are thrilled to have been a part of this tour.

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An Excerpt (Unedited!) from the upcoming REMNANTS: SEASON OF FIRE

By Lisa T. Bergren:

I turned to face him, wanting to take his hands, but knew it would make it all the harder. If I touched him, it might be all over.

“Don’t say it,” he said miserably, folding his arm, turning partially away, and rubbing the back of his neck. “I know, Dri. I know.”

There would be no betrothal ceremony for Ronan and me. No children. No settling into a cozy cottage in the Valley. With a start, I admitted to myself that I’d been fantasizing about all of those things for days, now. Ever since we’d kissed in  the tree house. Maybe even before then, in the Wadi.

No, we would likely give our lives for this cause…to turn the world back toward the Way. To point toward hope. Peace.

“Supreme goals always demand supreme sacrifice,” I muttered, repeating a quote my father had often shared with me.

“It’s selfish, our love,” he whispered slowly, as if each word pained him. “We were born to serve a love even greater than ours.” He turned toward me again, his beautiful river-green eyes searching me, and I watched as the morning sun, filtering through the trees, caught the tips of his dark lashes. The longing, the aching within him doubled my own.

“We were,” I made myself whisper. Then I couldn’t stand it any longer. I pulled him close, resting my cheek against his chest, feeling the comforting thump of his heartbeat, the warmth of him as he struggled.

“Dri,” he groaned.

“I know. I know,” I said, tears rising. “I just need you to hold me. One more time.”

Tentatively, he put his arms around me at last, his hands unmoving. Disappointment sliced through him, and me. A slow, grinding pain, the knowledge of impending division. A sort of agony that tripled my own.

“We won’t be separate, Ronan,” I said quickly. “We’ll be together more than most married couples are.”

“All of the pain, none of the pleasure,” he said with a sardonic laugh.

I huffed a laugh with him. “It’s a gift, to be your best friend, even if I can never have all your love.”

When he said nothing, I leaned back to look at his face.

He reached then, to cradle my cheek, every bit of his action denoting devotion. “Make no mistake, Andriana,” he said fiercely, but softly. “I intend to see this mission through.” He put his other hand on my other cheek then. His eyes searched mine, back and forth, and I felt the ferocity of his pledge. “But when it’s over, I will not rest until you are completely mine.”

With that, he kissed me one final time, just the barest, lightest, slowest touch of our lips. Then he took my hand and led me back to camp.

© 2014 Lisa T. Bergren; please do not reproduce in any form

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Remnants: Season of Wonder

The Remnants #1

Author: Lisa T. Bergren
Reading Level: Young Adult

Released: April 8th 2014
Publisher: Blink

 

*Email Lisa that you ordered or purchased Remnants: Season of Wonder IN APRIL and she’ll mail you a signed bookplate! (Lisa@bergrencreativegroup.com)

Andriana is a Remnant, one of the gifted teens born on the seventh day during the seventy-seventh Harvest after the Great War, and destined to act as humanity’s last shield against the horrors that now plague those who remain.

After years of training in stealth and warfare, Andriana and her Knight protector, Ronan, are finally ready to answer the Call and begin the life they were designed for. But as they embark with the other Remnants on the first of their assignments, they quickly discover that the world beyond their protected Valley home is more dangerous than they imagined.

The Sons of Sheol will stop at nothing to prevent Dri and Ronan from rescuing anyone sympathetic to the Remnants’ cause. And as the Remnants attempt to battle the demonic forces, other enemies close in. Dangers intensify, but so do Dri's feelings for Ronan--the one emotion she is not meant to feel. In the midst of their mission, Andriana must find a way to master her feelings, or risk compromising everything.

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About the Author:

Lisa T. Bergren is the author of over forty books, with a combined count of over 2.5 million copies sold. She has written best-selling children’s books, award-winning YA (River of Time Series: Waterfall), popular historical fiction, contemporary fiction, women’s nonfiction, and gift books. She is a writer and editor residing in Colorado Springs, CO, with her husband and three children. You can find out more about Lisa at LisaBergren.com.

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Be sure to write down this STOP #26 LAUNCH TOUR CLUE: today

Collect all the clues and fill out Lisa’s Rafflecopter form on her launch tour post at LisaBergren.com at the end of April and you could win either a Kindle Fire HDX ($229) or iPod Touch ($229)!

Read a scene lately in a novel that you keep thinking about? Why? Share about it in the comments below!