ARC Book Review: Stealing Infinity by Alyson Noel

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Stealing Infinity
Stolen Beauty #1

Author: Alyson Noel
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: 06/28/2022
Review Source: Netgalley

These days, I’ve been killing it when it comes to letting people down. Now I’ve been kicked out of high school, arrested, and accepted into a remote, off-the-grid school owned and operated by an inscrutable billionaire tech guru.

Gray Wolf Academy is looking for a certain kind of student. Ones that no one will miss. Like me.

Then there’s Braxton. The beautiful, oddly anachronistic guy who showed up right when the trouble started. And he’s a total enigma—which means that I definitely can’t trust him, even if there’s something about him that makes me want to. They all tell me I have a gift. A very rare gift. And Gray Wolf Academy wants me to learn it. To use it. Because if what they say is true, I have all the time in the world. And that makes me the most dangerous high school student you’ll never know…

Stealing Infinity tells a story of time travellers with a pinch of romance, a lot of secrets and even more mystery. Gray Wolf Academy isn't how it seems - even if I don't know why yet. The whole book revealed so many questions and not many answers so as you can imagine I am dying for more! 

The further into the book you get, the more intriguing the prologue becomes.  

"When the boy does find my daughter - and he will - I can only hope it will lead to her uncovering this object."

Has she already met this mysterious blue eyed boy? What does he want with her? Why? How does this tie in with her current situation? Ms Noel, I need answers!

The novel began with an introduction to numerology (something I'd never heard of) and I loved that it was included as it was fun to workout and read up on my number - I'm an eight! You can see the amount of research and detail the author included and it was a fantastic touch!

Alyson Noel is an author who has been in my heart for years - way back when The Immortals series came out and Stealing Infinity did not disappoint. The gripping storyline had me from the beginning and I was desperate for more when it ended. The author took a trope I generally don't like (time travelling) and spun a tale that become one my favourite reads of the year.

Blog Tour: Breaking the Ice by Julie Cross | Review

Welcome to our stop on tour for Breaking the Ice by Julie Cross. 

This tour is hosted by Chapter by Chapter.

Breaking the Ice
Juniper Falls #2
Author: Julie Cross
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: December 26, 2017
Review Source: Chapter by Chapter

The second book in the Juniper Falls series from NY Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Cross, perfect for fans of Miranda Kenneally and Abbi Glines. Haley Stevenson seems like she’s got it all together: cheer captain, “Princess” of Juniper Falls, and voted Most Likely to Get Things Done. But below the surface, she’s struggling with a less-than-stellar GPA and still reeling from the loss of her first love. Repeating her Civics class during summer school is her chance to Get Things Done, not angst over boys. In fact, she’s sworn them off completely until college. Fletcher Scott is happy to keep a low profile around Juniper Falls. He’s always been the invisible guy, warming the bench on the hockey team and moonlighting at a job that would make his grandma blush. Suddenly, though, he’s finding he wants more: more time on the ice, and more time with his infuriatingly perfect summer-school study partner. But leave it to a girl who requires perfection to shake up a boy who’s ready to break all the rules.

 

Hi my name is Bianca and I am a sucker for cute contemporaries and boys with cute names.

Although Breaking the Ice is the #2 installment in the Juniper Falls series, it can be read as a stand alone. It's completely out of my OCD nature to enter a series this way, and to be honest I don't know why I did- but what matters is that I did. It was such a good start to have this be my first read of the New Year. Nothing too complicated. Although we can argue about Fletcher being complicated.

That was the base of Breaking the Ice. Fletcher and his mysteriousness. All he wanted was to take Civics in summer school for extra credit so he could focus on having ice time during hockey games. But, his seat selection changed his world. He sits behind Haley Stevenson, Princess/ Cheer captain.

Fletcher TOTALLY intrigues Haley and immediately she wants to know more about him. So they end up as study partners and before you know it each of their focuses or goals have changed. And, although on the outside these two characters seem as simple as it gets- high school cheer captain who cares only about cheer and invisible guy who cares about nothing, Julie Cross comes through with making them very realistic.

Listen, I stayed up till close to 4am because I couldn't stop reading. If that doesn't tell you how much I liked this book I don't know what can. (P.S. I'm a tired person with a 1 year old human to chase after everyday. I love sleep.)

And now I'm going to go back and pick up the first book in this series also...

About Julie Cross

Julie Cross is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author of New Adult and Young Adult fiction, including the Tempest series, a young adult science fiction trilogy which includes Tempest, Vortex, Timestorm (St. Martin’s Press).

She’s also the author of Letters to Nowhere series, Whatever Life Throws at You, Third Degree, Halfway Perfect, and many more to come!

Julie lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She’s a former gymnast, longtime gymnastics fan, coach, and former Gymnastics Program Director with the YMCA.

She’s a lover of books, devouring several novels a week, especially in the young adult and new adult genres.

Outside of her reading and writing credibility’s, Julie Cross is a committed–but not talented–long distance runner, creator of imaginary beach vacations, Midwest bipolar weather survivor, expired CPR certification card holder, as well as a ponytail and gym shoe addict.

       

COVER REVEAL: Society of Wishes by Kova and Larsh

We are so stoked about this cover reveal for Society of Wishes!

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Society of Wishes (Wish Quartet, #1)
Publication Date: January 29, 2018
Author: Elise Kova and Lynn Larsh
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: New-Adult, Urban Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Silver Wing Press

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

Josephina Espinosa makes her living as a hacker-for-hire in the Lone Star Republic, a remnant of the fractured U.S.A. That is, until the day she and her best friend are gunned down in a government raid. 

With her dying breath, Jo uses magical lore passed down from her grandmother to summon a wish-granter. Her wish? To save her friend’s life. Except wishes have costs, and for Jo, the price is the erasure of her entire mortal existence. 

Now, as the most recent addition to the mysterious Society of Wishes, Jo must form a new “life” alongside the seven other members, one of which being her savior himself. Living as an occupant of the Society’s lavish mansion should be quite the perk, but while it is furnished with everything its inhabitants could possibly need, it lacks one thing—freedom. 

Her otherworldly identity crisis takes a backseat, however, when Jo learns that the friend she sacrificed everything for is headed down the same path to ruin. Jumping in head-first, Jo uses her newfound magical abilities to protect him, only to realize that the ripples of her actions have far-reaching consequences. When the Society’s aloof leader Snow decides to give her a taste of his own ancient magic, Jo discovers that there are threads woven into the tapestry of her new reality that reach far beyond the wishes she is now required to grant. Ones that, if tugged on, could mean the unraveling of her existence itself.

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ABOUT AUTHORS

ELISE KOVA

Elise Kova is the USA Today bestselling author of the Air Awakens series, Loom Saga, and Wish Quartet.

In her past lives, she has graduated from an MBA program, lived in Japan for a bit, and worked for a Fortune 500 technology company. However, she finds herself much happier in her current reincarnation as full-time author. When not writing, she can usually be found playing video games, drawing, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media. She’s happy to call Saint Petersburg, Florida, her home, but is always looking forward to her next trip.

LYNN LARSH

Lynn Larsh considers herself to be a serial hobby-dabbler. She got a bachelors degree in music (which she used for all of four months), studied aerial acrobatics and classical piano for many years, worked briefly as a stunt woman in a Wild West stunt show (it’s a long story), and eventually settled down into the bar tending business in St. Petersberg, FL. When she’s not acting as a purveyor of fine libations, you can find her diving head first into her newest venture as a New Adult author, or simply writing Voltron fan fiction on Archive of Our Own.

The Rebels of Gold Cover Reveal by Elise Kova

We are so stoked about this cover reveal for The Rebels of Gold!

This is a bitter sweet cover reveal, it looms amazingly fantastic. I am saddened because I've really been loving the series and the fact it's only three books is great but as always, we want more. The world of Loom is gritty, and desperate in it's fight for survival in trying to work and row while under the control of Nova, the floating sky capital.

Arianna has gone to Nova, leaving Florence behind to help with the second rebellion (hint, that's who's on the cover). The second installment of the series left me needing to know what was going to happen to everyone, all the while Ari and Cvareh are dancing closer and closer to a line that once crossed can't really be redrawn again.

I was a big fan of Elise Kova's previous series, Air Awakens and the short prequels the Tower Guard books. Her writing is wonderfully descriptive without being wordy or long (think like the Hobbit). If steampunk isn't your thing, don't let that label stop you from reading these books. This series is an epic science fiction fantasy more than anything else, with some elements of steampunk are woven in to show how advanced their society could have been if not hindered or slowed down by the dragons on Nova, of their King.

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The Rebels of Gold
Author: Elise Kova
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Loom Saga (Book Three) – Final book!
Publisher: Keymaster Press

A new rebellion rises from the still-smoldering remnants of the five guilds of Loom to stand against Dragon tyranny. Meanwhile, on Nova, those same Dragons fight amongst themselves, as age-old power struggles shift the political landscape in fateful and unexpected ways. Unlikely leaders vie for the opportunity to shape a new world order from the perfect clockwork designs of one temperamental engineer. This is the final installment of USA Today bestselling author Elise Kova’s Loom Saga, THE REBELS OF GOLD will reveal the fate of Loom’s brilliantly contrasting world and its beloved inhabitants.

Books in the Loom Saga:

1 - THE ALCHEMISTS OF LOOM
2 - THE DRAGONS OF NOVA
3 - THE REBELS OF GOLD

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Elise Kova has always had a profound love of fantastical worlds. Somehow, she managed to focus on the real world long enough to graduate with a Master's in Business Administration before crawling back under her favorite writing blanket to conceptualize her next magic system. She currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and when she is not writing can be found playing video games, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media.

Cover Reveal OMEGA by Karina Espinosa

Title: Omega (Mackenzie Grey #4)

RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 11, 2017

Synopsis

Being alone is not easy.

Bodies drained of blood are scattered around New York City. With a serial killer on the loose, Mackenzie Grey is obsessed with solving the murders. She dives into her work at the Supernatural Investigative Unit to forget about the events that dismantled her Pack over a year ago. When the killer makes Kenz the target, she falls down the rabbit hole and discovers she has a lot more to do with these murders than she realized.

As her past creeps up behind her, she must swallow her pride and seek aid from old and new friends. Nothing stays hidden as Kenz learns a valuable lesson: rats swim.

In the epic finale of the Mackenzie Grey: Origins series, she will finally become the wolf she is destined to be…

Title: SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1)

Published Date: February 10th 2015

FREE on Amazon!

Synopsis

It's hard enough being an undergraduate student, an intern at Downtown Manhattan's police station, and a bouncer at a local bar. Add her now ex-boyfriend who recently dumped her for the school's resident bimbo—oh, and she's a werewolf.

Mackenzie Grey meets her match when she is kidnapped by the Brooklyn Pack and tossed between Sebastian and Jonah—the Alpha and the Beta. Being a lone-wolf in the city is dangerous, and now that the Pack has found her, so can every supernatural being in the Tri-State area. And not even her sarcastic, smart mouth can get her out of this.

When a string of kidnappings involves Mackenzie in supernatural politics, she questions her new acquaintances and finds unlikely allies. Can she escape Pack law and keep her freedom—or will she be condemned to an unwanted path?

Title: CAGED (Mackenzie Grey #2)

Published Date: April 26th 2016

99 CENTS on Amazon!

Synopsis

It’s hard out there for a lone-wolf.

Mackenzie Grey has started a brand new life in an attempt to escape the Brooklyn Pack. She settles in as a detective in a special unit of the LAPD when her identity is put at risk, and she has no choice but to run again. The question is: does she want to run forever?

As events force Mackenzie to confront her past, she is met with many surprises—including the revelation of her true ancestry. When Packs across the country learn of who she is, Kenz becomes the object of desire in a deadly wolf hunt, and she must once again fight to keep her freedom.

Witnessing first-hand the barbaric treatment of Lunas, Mackenzie has to make a choice—follow the prediction of her Vision Quest or let herself be CAGED...

Title: ALPHA (Mackenzie Grey #3)

Published Date: November 16th, 2016

Synopsis

It’s hard being a Princess.

Mackenzie Grey never felt as vulnerable as she does now—but that won’t stop her from getting what she wants: revenge. Kenz and her friends journey to a new land where everyone has a motive and everyone is a suspect.

The Lunas find their voices after the massacre but the question still stands—who is the real enemy? If Mackenzie wants to free herself, she will need to free them all; and it won’t be easy. As she approaches her 24th birthday—in the middle of a web of lies, deception, and murder—Kenz has to weave her way to the truth before she’s next on the chopping block.

With her companions, Mackenzie will make her final stand and change the course of the Lycan world forever…

Mostly known for her hipster style, New York City swagger, and South Florida passion; Urban Fantasy author, Karina Espinosa’s true gift is writing snarky but endearing characters in her series like the Sins of the Fallen and the Mackenzie Grey series. When she isn’t writing, you can find Karina binge watching on Netflix or immersing herself in her infatuation with travel, pop culture, and music. You can usually catch her on Facebook, Instagram, and live-tweeting during episodes of The Walking Dead, Orphan Black, and Game of Thrones. 

www.karinaespinosa.com

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