Book Review: Just Like The Movies by Kelly Fiore

Just Like The Movies
Author: Kelly Fiore
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: July 22, 2014
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA | Netgalley

Pretty and popular track star Marijke Monti is confident about almost everything – she’s got great friends, a great family, and she’s on her way to the State Track Championship. In fact, the only thing Marijke isn’t confident about is her relationship with Tommy Lawson.

Lily Spencer has spent her entire high school career preparing for the future – she’s participated in every extracurricular activity and volunteer committee she could. But, at home, she watches her mother go on date after date with dud-dudes, still searching for “the one.” Lily realizes that she’s about to graduate and still hasn’t even had a boyfriend.

While they live on each other’s periphery at school, Lily and Marijke never seemed to have much in common; but, after a coincidental meeting at the movie theater, Lily gets an idea – why can’t life be like a movie? Why can’t they set up their perfect romantic situations, just in time for their senior prom, using movie techniques?

Once the girls come up with the perfect plans, they commit themselves to being secret cohorts and, just like in the movies, drama ensues.

I realize I'm close to being in my mid-twenties, BUT, I still totally feel like a sixteen year old girl. Which is why I enjoyed Just Like The Movies SO much! It is definitely a fun read for a teenage girl, but I think it's also fun for an oldie like me to read and reminisce about "the good ole' days" in high school. And, to add to that, it's also really enjoyable to hopeless romantics all around.

Just Like The Movies is about two totally different girls with boy trouble. Lily and Marijke meet by choice of destiny. These girls would have never been friends for it had not been that one fateful night where they run into each other, both hopelessly in love and in a rut. They muster up an amazing plan to make the boys they love, love them back by recreating scenes from famous romance movies. Because, why can't it happen like the movies? Of course in real life we can't script things or "take two" so when the girls' plan fails time after time again it puts a strain on their friendship.

This was such a cute book full of romance, friendship, heartache, and all-over high school cuteness. It was truly enjoyable.

Book Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Also Known As
AKA #1
Author: Robin Benway
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Mystery/Spy Thriller/Romance
Released: February 26th 2013
Review Source: Walker Childrens

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

Maggie Silver the main character in this book lives in a family of Spies. She knows how to crack safes and she is only in High School. This book was a page turner and I couldn't put it done because it was such a awesome book. Sometimes I wished I had that life in High School. But there is a lot of disadvantages of being a spy. You can't tell anybody and you don't ever use your real name because your always undercover.

After the last mission that Maggie was on she found out that she was going to be moving to New York City and going to High school. The one catch was that she was going to have to be on a job. Her next assignment was to keep an eye out on Jesse Oliver. What she has been told was that his father was writing an article that was going to expose all the spies including her family. Her job was to try and find out the details of the story and stop Jesse father from writing it. Along the way she meets a friend in school that has her own personality and is always home alone because her parents are always gone. Maggie goes to parties and tries to keep to her assignment but the one thing that she was hoping wouldn't happen. She ends up falling in love with her assignment. Maggie can't keep her eyes off Jesse Oliver when she meets him. They end up hanging out and going on dates but the one thing she is always trying to do is stick to her job and find out why his father wants to expose them. She does end up getting a USB card but it ends up just having pictures on it of Jesse when he was little. So her family thinks she is getting to involved with him and can't even think straight because she is head over heels in love with him until something happens that changes her life forever. She finds out the guy that sent her on the mission was actually involved with the whole crime after all. She needs to find a way to stop him, get the article to not be published and try to keep her friends by her side. But she knows she has to tell her friend and the love of her life. She hopes when she tells them they will understand and stick by her and help her with her plan. In the end it turns out to be an awesome ending. 

I love when you come across those characters in the story that you hope fall in love and stay in love. You keep rooting them on. That's what I did with Jesse and Maggie right up until the end. Grab this book and read it. It's a wonderful book for all ages. You will love it...

Blog Tour: The Bone Season | Samantha Shannon | Review | Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on Samantha Shannon's blog tour for 'The Bone Season' hosted by Bloomsbury USA. The Bone Season has already been optioned by The Imaginarium Studios and is set as a 7 book deal that Shannon got a 6 figure deal for. She is a recent graduate of Oxford University. All this at the age of 21. TODAY book club has kicked off making 'The Bone Season' the first book in this interactive digital book club.

---

The Bone Season
The Bone Season #1
Author: Samantha Shannon
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Dystopian/Fantasy
Released: August 20th 2013
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA

“Welcome to Scion, no safer place. It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, she commits treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister than Scion. The prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the clairvoyants highly—as soldiers in their army. Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.”

Samantha Shannon's debut is thrilling complex futuristic fantasy tale situated in a dystopian London.  When you crack the first page to begin reading you are immediately introduced to Scion London's criminal underworld. Their is a secret society you can say that protects its Clairvoyant residents from the Amaurotic (non-clairvoyant) residents listed as Seven Dials. In this world that Samantha Shannon created if you are clairvoyant in any way you are at risk every second of your life because its treason to be any of the seven orders. So most clairvoyants turn to a life of crime to earn protection.

I hope so far I'm not too confusing. The Bone Season is probably one of the most complex novels I have read in a long time. The last time I think I had to think so hard and pay very close attention to the story was with one of Dan Brown's novel. The Bone Season comes with a glossary that I referenced to quite a few times throughout the whole book. I truly recommend to study the terms written in the glossary a little before beginning and then using it once you have started. If not I think it will make the book a bit hard to follow. It does sound like a bit of work but in the end the story itself is worth the homework. I can see why The Bone Season was optioned to become a movie. Shannon goes into a lot of details and keeps the reader consumed with every chapter.

The narrator of the story is 19 year old Paige. She of course is clairvoyant and part of Scion. Instead of continuing school like a normal 16 year old, Paige got involved or brainwashed into being employed for Jaxon. He is the mime-lord in charge of I-4 which is in SciLo (Scion London). She believe this was what she must do because her crush Nick introduced them. Jaxon of course took her in with open arms because Paige is one of the rare clairvoyants. See Paige is what the call a Dreamwalker. Being a Dreamwalker, Jaxon uses her to break into others mind to get information he needs. Jaxon has recruited 6 others with rare gifts like Paige and named themselves the Seven Seals.

What is a Dreamwalker you ask? A Dreamwalker is classified in The Seven Orders of Clairvoyance as Jumpers. This group is able to affect the æther outside their own physical limits. Greater sensitivity to the æther. And if you are wondering what æther is, its the spirit realm, accessible by clairvoyants. Also called the source. All these definitions are found in the book.

Everything changes one day for Paige when she is out and about alone which is extremely dangerous and this leads to her getting kidnapped. She is taken to a place that has been erased from the map for over 200 years. Paige basically can tell she isn't in Kansas anymore. And she isn't surrounded by the Lion or the Tin Man but something much worse. Are these beings Immortals? Paige has been captured by the Rephaim. The Rephain value all clairvoyants and create armies with them to fight of the Emin. The Enim are the enemies of the Rephaim and are called "the dreaded ones". They feed off flesh and are extremely mysterious. Sounds good so far? That's until you start to get deeper into the story and see how the Rephain really treat the clairvoyants. Paige is lucky in a way because she is assigned to Warden, her new keeper and trainer. Being his she is somewhat protected from what truly happens Sheol I. Even though she is still a slave and her life can be taken at any second.

Paige will have to work at fine tuning her gifts and trust her worst enemy if she ever wants to be free again or at least see Nick again. The Bone Season is for the reader that likes a good story that engages you and takes you on a thrill ride. Make sure you ties your shoes tight and get ready to sprint through these pages until you cross the finish line.

---

About the author:

I'm the author of The Bone Season, the first in a projected series of seven novels. I was born in Hammersmith in 1991. From 2010 – 2013 I studied English Language and Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford, specialising in Principles of Film Criticism and the American poet Emily Dickinson. I'm now working on the second book in theBone Season series.

I'm a fan of old music, gramophones, silent film, good coffee, and real books. I have four siblings, four parents, and a male tortoise named Lily-Beth, some of whom live with me in west London. The Bone Season is my first published novel.

Web | Pinterest | Tumblr
  

---

To celebrate this new debut, Bloomsbury USA is offering a final copy of The Bone Season to a US or CA resident. You can enter below in the rafflecopter and read the terms and conditions. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Trailer Thursday: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season

Summary: It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.

Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.

CLICK HERE to read all about The Bone Season being optioned by Imaginarium Studios.

Cover Reveal: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles Partial Cover Reveal

Today we are taking part in Simone Elkeles cover reveal of Wild Cards. The Story Siren, Green Bean Teen Queen, Anna Reads and us are partially revealing the cover, then on Friday, May 10th the full cover will be revealed on Wild Cards Facebook page. 

---

Each site will have its own partial design of the cover reveal to show off. Below you can see the pin wheel design that was taken of Wild Cards. I see some interesting clues in the cover that I like. What about you?

WILD CARDS

Fullriders #1

Author: Simone Elkeles

Expected Publication Date: October 1st 2013

Reading Level/Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Pre-order: Amazon

Summary: After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama. Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

Follow Simone Elkeles via: Web • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter • Amazon

Follow Bloomsbury Teens via: Web • Facebook • Twitter

UPDATE: Here is the full cover of Wild Cards

Book Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Also Known As
Author: Robin Benway
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Contemporary/Spy Thriller
Released: February 26th 2013
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Benway this past weekend at Books & Books at the Triple Threat Tour with Yelena Black (Dance of Shadows) & Megan Miranda (Hysterical), but I had never actually heard of Benway until I met her. I know, lame. I found out that she actually did the audio book for Also Known As & after hearing her read a passage from the book, I can't say I'm surprised. If you like audio books, I highly recommend getting it. The way she reads her characters is truly something magical. 2013 is shaping up to be the year for contemporary romances. I enjoyed this book immensely, but for totally different reasons.

Maggie is part of a family of spies. Her specialty: safe cracking. Maggie, along with her parents, works for a secret organization called The Collective. In a nutshell, they travel the world correcting the misdoing of others. When they move to NYC for Maggie's first solo mission, The Collective doesn't make it easy on her. Not only does she have to go to high school for the first time, she also needs to get close to a boy named Jesse Oliver (who I must say is absolutely adorable)! His father has some how gotten a hold of some important files that could put everyone in The Collective, including her family in danger. She must retrieve those files no matter what. Her only problem? Cracking people isn't as easy as cracking a safe.

Reading that you would think "Yes! This is going to be a super awesome spy book. I can't wait to dive right in." That, my friends, is not the case. Really the whole aspect of anything remotely close to something spy related is lost in these incredible characters. Even though Maggie does pick some locks & cracks a couple of safes, that really isn't the main focus of the story. We mainly focus on the interactions between the characters and I, for one, was ok with that since in the end it's what really made the book so like able. 

Maggie has to be one of the few characters that I loved inside & out. Not only is she funny, she's also very clever. She one of the few heroines that actually thinks things through. As much as I enjoyed Mags, Roux (her first real friend) & Angelo (her kick-ass mentor) actually stole the show for me. From being over-dramatic to absolutely hilarious, both of the characters were perfectly written. I've never had the pleasure of reading so many secondary characters that shine throughout the whole book. That's including her parents & Jesse. 

Even though I did start reading Also Known As for the spy aspect of the story, in the end I really did love reading this book. Benway's wit and sense of humor leaps off of the pages & will keep those pages turning while laughing out loud throughout the whole book. So, if you're looking for a couple of laughs & a little bit of romance this is the book for you.

Blog Tour: Erin Jade Lange Author Post - Butter

Welcome to our stop on Erin Jade Lange's blog tour for Butter. Butter is Erin's first novel. The tour is hosted by Bloomsbury. Today Erin shares with us a special post on being bullied. 

Erin Jade Lange Links: Web • Blog • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

Bio: Erin writes facts by day and fiction by night. As a journalist, she is inspired by current events and real-world issues and uses her writing to explore how those issues impact teenagers.

She is an only child, which means she spent a lot of time entertaining herself as a kid. This required her to rely heavily on her own imagination, which is probably why she became a writer.

Erin grew up in the cornfields of northern Illinois, along the Mississippi River in one of the few places it flows east to west. She now lives in the sunshine of Arizona and will forever be torn between her love of rivers and her love of the desert.

BUTTER is her first novel.

---

10 suggestions if you are or have been bullied

Every case of bullying or cruelty is different. Every bully is different. Every target of bullying is different. And there is no one right way to handle the situation. But here are ten things I wish I had known when I was bullied:

1. There is nothing to be ashamed of. You are NOT the things they call you. You are merely the random target they have selected. If you accept that they are wrong about you, they have no power to shame you.

2. Tell someone. I wish I had trusted my parents more at the age I was bullied – wish I had known they had the power to help me. I also wish I had confided in a friend, but my friends at the time were outside of school, and I didn’t want them to know I wasn’t “cool” at school.

3. Find an outlet for your frustration. A journal, a favorite song to play on repeat, a kickboxing class – anything that can help you vent, so you don’t turn that frustration in on yourself.

4. Walk away. If you are able to walk away from your bully, do it. Their only kickback from being cruel is seeing the pain they’ve caused. Give them nothing.

5. Resist the urge to pay it forward. It can be too easy, when you are a target of bullying, to say or do something cruel in return – or to point the finger at someone else, if it looks like you can divert the bully’s attention to another victim. Remember to be kind. Be better than the bullies.

6. You are amazing. Too often, the targets of bullying have been singled out because they are different in some way. You are uber-smart (nerd); you are creative with your wardrobe (freak); etc… The truth is, you probably have something special that your bully envies – something you should be proud of.

7. Forgive. This one can be hard, and it took me many years to do it myself. Consider what might be going on in a bully’s life that makes them cruel or violent. Maybe they are insecure – lashing out before they can become a target themselves. Maybe they get hit at home. They may be in a lot of pain and taking that pain out on you.

8. Dream. Your best years are ahead, and this moment of bullying is brief. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the moment, but if you can focus instead on your big bright future, it will be here before you know it.

9. Read, Write, Connect. There are so many stories of bullying, both in books and on the internet. Seeking out those stories and knowing you’re not alone can be a life-saver… literally! And sharing your own story with others is a powerful way to heal.

10. It gets better. I promise.

---

Butter
Author: Erin Jade Lange
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Released: September 4th 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Available: Amazon • BN.com • IndieBound

Summary: (from goodreads) A lonely obese boy everyone calls "Butter" is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn't go through with his plans? With a deft hand, E.J. Lange allows readers to identify with both the bullies and the bullied in this all-consuming look at one teen's battle with himself.

Blog Tour: Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught Review

Welcome to our stop on the Freaks Like Us Blog Tour for Susan Vaught. The tour is hosted by Bloomsbury. 

Susan Vaught Links: Web / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

---

Freaks Like Us
Author: Susan Vaught
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Mystery
Released: September 4th 2012
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Available: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

Summary: (from goodreads) When Jason Milwaukee's best friend Sunshine vanishes, Jason knows that something is terribly wrong, but solving her disappearance will require pushing through all the voices in his head and then getting the world to listen to him. His schizophrenia is stopping him from remembering the events leading up to her disappearance, and often he discounts his own memories, and his own impressions. But his deep knowledge that he would never hurt his friend, plus the faith of his parents and a few others in the town bring him to the point of solving the mystery. In the end, it's Sunshine's own love for Jason (Freak) that persuades him of his own strength and goodness. By turns brilliantly witty and searingly honest, Susan Vaught's newest novel is a laugh-out-loud, tear-jerking, coming-of-age story.

Freaks like us is the second book I have read from Susan Vaught. I am truly becoming a fan of her work. There are no vampires, werewolves or mythical creatures in her stories, only real life people in real life situations. She opens our eyes to things that go on every day and no one really knows or thinks about.

Freaks Like Us is about three teenagers who call themselves "Alphabets." They all have some sort of mental disability. They call themselves Alphabets because that’s how they are labeled. Derrick aka "Drip" has ADHD and ADD. Sunshine, is SM (Selectively Mute) and Jason, aka "Freak" is GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and SCZI (Schizophrenic). Susan really exposes what it is like to be inside of a person with Schizophrenia. Jason, the main character, is in a constant battle with the voices in his head. One day, Sunshine doesn’t make it home after their school bus drops them off. Jason, Derrick and Sunshine have been best friends since they were little kids and they have only had each other for support. "Because who really listens to Alphabets, right?" Derrick, Jason and their parents area all in the police station being questions since they were the last people to see Sunshine before she disappeared. But Jason, starts to feel like he is being accused of hurting or even killing Sunshine. There is no way he could hurt his best friend. Right? In the back of Jason's mind he knows that Sunshine told him a secret and it's something he promised he would never tell. The only problem is, he doesn’t know if it really happened or if he just made it up in his head. Now, Jason is hearing the voices more and they are getting louder and soon starts to see things. Jason needs to take his medication that somewhat control these things, but he refuses to take them because he wants to be awake and help with the search for Sunshine. The ending, which I do not want to reveal, really made me cry. I will say that we do find out what really happened to Sunshine.

 
You can't help but to feel bad for these kids. They would give anything to be normal and not have to take medication every day in order for them to function. It’s a catch 22. If they don’t take their medication, they see and hear things. But if they are medicated, they sleep a lot and aren't as alert. Plus, who wants to be sedated every day for the rest of their lives? There isn't a happy medium and its really sad. Susan Vaught is a psychologist therefore, she has experience with these types of disorders. I am sure it must break her heart to see children every day with these disorders. I strongly recommend reading Freaks Like Us and any other book from Susan Vaught. Her books open us to something most people know very little about, but a lot of families have to deal with in real life.

Blog Tour: Interview with Sarah J. Maas - Throne of Glass

Welcome to the next stop in the Throne of Glass blog tour for Sarah J. Maas. The tour is hosted by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Throne of Glass is the debut in Sarah's Throne of Glass series. 

Sarah J. Maas Links: Website • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

Author Bio: I’m a 25 year-old YA fantasy author living in the desert in Southern California. My debut novel, Throne of Glass, will be published by Bloomsbury Children’s on August 7th, 2012.

I was born/raised in Manhattan, but traded freezing winters and sweltering summers for No Winter Ever Weather when I followed my then-boyfriend (now husband!) out to California in 2008. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hamilton College with a degree in Creative Writing, and a minor in Religious Studies. I’m represented by Tamar Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency.

---

OUaT: Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Oh yeah. All the time. In the years that I’ve been writing, I’ve just had to learn to work through it—to write, even if it is PAINFUL for me to do so. Now that I’m published and have deadlines for my books, I can’t afford to let writer’s block get in my way…which definitely results in some miserable days (but the work gets done)!

OUaT: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

You don’t need a prince to save you. :)

OUaT: How much of your work is realistic?

Well, given that my book is set in a completely different world with some very different rules and magic, I’d say that a good chunk of it is anything BUT realistic. But I like to think that the characters, their interactions, and their personal development is realistic. And I certainly did a lot of research on how to make elements of their world realistic, too—how ancient cities worked, politics, warfare before guns/cannons existed, armor, how clothes were made, etc…

OUaT: As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I desperately wanted to be a marine biologist so I could study great white sharks. I was OBSESSED with white sharks—and still am. But after nearly failing high school biology, that dream quickly ended (though I still dream of getting into a shark cage one day and seeing white sharks in the wild).

OUaT: What do you do to unwind and relax?

Watch TV. Lots of TV. Chat with my other writer-friends on skype. Spend time with my husband and our dog. Honestly, eating a pizza on the couch as I marathon a tv show is my idea of paradise.

---

Throne of Glass
Throne of Glass #1
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Fantasy
Released: August 7th 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Available: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • IndieBound

Summary: (from goodreads) After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Read and buy all 4 prequel e-novellas on Amazon: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord • The Assassin and the Desert • The Assassin and the Underworld • The Assassin and the Empire