Friday 29 September 2017

Review - When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon




Title: When Dimple Met Rishi
Author: Sandhya Menon
Pages: 384
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: 1st June 2017

Blurb from Goodreads: 

Meet Dimple. 

Her main aim in life is to escape her traditional parents, get to university and begin her plan for tech world domination.

Meet Rishi. 

He's rich, good-looking and a hopeless romantic. His parents think Dimple is the perfect match for him, but she's got other plans...

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works even harder to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

 









My Review:

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley*




 Dimple comes from a traditional family. Her mother wants her to marry a nice, Indian boy, but Dimple loves coding and wants a career.
Rishi is a romantic who is close to his parents and wants to be the dutiful first-born son and make them proud. His parents believe that Dimple would be a good wife for him, as do her own parents. Unknown to Dimple, they organise for Rishi and Dimple to attend the same summer program for aspiring web developers. The two meet but it doesn't go as Rishi plans.
Dimple doesn't want a relationship, but can Rishi persuade her otherwise?


When Dimple Met Rishi was a very cute read.
I enjoyed reading about an Indian protagonist(s) for a change. It was refreshing and interesting.
I really liked both Dimple and Rishi. They were relatable, believable and I wanted to be friends with both of them. I liked Celia and Rishi's brother as well.
The romance wasn't over the top and I thought Dimple and Rishi were adorable together.
The plot was good and held my attention, but I wasn't gripped. I found myself tearing up a few times (not good seeing as I was at work!).


Overall this was an enjoyable, unique read.

 



Thursday 28 September 2017

Book Blitz + Giveaway - The Chosen Knights (The Angel Knights, #1) by Mary Ting


The Chosen Knights (The Angel Knights #1) by Mary Ting
Publication date: March 19th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

(HIGHLY recommend to read prequel first–The Angel Knights)

SOME BOOKS AREN’T MEANT TO BE OPENED

When teens go missing in Hawaii, a group of demon-hunters—half human and half angel—disguised as high school students, must leave Crossroads, the place where they reside. In a race against time, they uncover the mystery connecting the missing teens, which dates back to the era of the Knights Templar. However, when they discover one of the Templars passed down a book containing all the secrets and codes to finding a particular treasure, they soon realize this forbidden treasure needs to be found before Cyrus, the lord of the possessor demons, acquires it—a treasure which been safeguarded and hidden from him.

There is only one problem: the pages containing the clues leading to the treasure is missing. When the first page is found, Cyrus threatens to kill more descendants of the Knights Templar if it is not given to him by Friday the thirteenth. In the midst of threats and discovery, the demon-hunting angels find they are not alone when supernatural beings begin to reveal themselves. Can they put their differences aside and work together to solve the Knights Templars’ cipher? As they astral travel to the past, they witness a lot more than they have bargained for. And some things are better left unseen.



***City of Bones meets The Da Vinci Code.

Urban fantasy lover’s dream! Demons, vampires, angels, witches, and fallen angels all set to the back drop of high school in Hawaii, and astral travel to the past to Knights Templar era.

*** SILVER AWARD WINNER 2016–YA FANTASY–READERS’ FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD***

A page turning mystery with a supernatural twist that entertains to the last page! ~InD’tale Magazine







 



FREE for a limited time only!







EXCERPT:


Eli willed his sword away. It disappeared behind his back, just the way I would have done it. “You know nothing. Nothing about me is human. I won’t be a part of something that could kill any one of you.”
“How could it kill us if—?” Then I had a thought, recalling the first time I’d seen him in the cafeteria. I had no evidence but it was worth the shot. “You can astral travel, can’t you? You’ve done it before, when you first saw me in the cafeteria. You can travel in the present too. That’s why you took off.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you even know what that is?” His jaw clenched.
I knew he was lying. “Out-of-body experience.” I followed behind him when he started walking away.
“You have no idea of the consequences when you travel. Astral travel.”
“Then let it be my consequence.”
Eli whipped around. His face was just a breath away from mine. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then show me.”
Eli pierced his eyes into mine. His heart drummed a mile a minute. “You want to feel pain, Lucia? You want to know what happens to people when they astral travel?”
“I-I—” I didn’t know what to say. I certainly didn’t expect him to say the things he did.
Eli extended his arm to me. “Take my hand.”
“No.”
“Take my hand, Lucia.” His tone was stern.
I shook my head.
“Last warning.”
“Last warning for—ELI.” I screamed. My stomach dropped, along with my body. Eli’s arms embraced me as we plunged through multiple layers of clouds with my back facing down. Hair whipped my face and the force of gravity made me dizzy.
“You didn’t heed my warning, Lucia,” Eli grumbled.
“So you’re trying to kill me?” The normal reaction for someone in this situation would be to fight back, but my instincts told me I wasn’t in danger. “What are you doing?” The clouds got smaller as we plummeted faster by the second. I began to have second thoughts. Wanting to believe so badly I could get through to him, I’d let it possibly cost my life.
He ignored my plea. Looking squarely in my eyes as air rushed against us, he said nonchalantly, “Get ready to die.”










Author Bio
 
International Bestselling Author Mary Ting/M. Clarke resides in Southern California with her husband and two children. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Writing her first novel, Crossroads Saga, happened by chance. It was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother, and inspired by a dream she once had as a young girl. When she started reading new adult novels, she fell in love with the genre. It was the reason she had to write one-Something Great. Why the pen name, M Clarke? She tours with Magic Johnson Foundation to promote literacy and her children's chapter book-No Bullies Allowed.










Blitz-wide giveaway

Open to US/INT  



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Monday 25 September 2017

Blog Tour + Giveaway - The Missing by Jerico Lenk


Find the tour schedule here.





The Missing by Jerico Lenk
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Publisher: Month9Books
  

Dark proclivities, excess, and outlandish curiosities prevail in 1890's London. Around the city, a battle rages between the living and the dead. The Black Cross, tasked to keep the peace, are quickly losing ground. 

Sixteen-year-old Willow Winchester, lives life as a boy called "Will" in his father's house of distinguished ladies, all but invisible to the wealthy Londoners who frequent. It's an easy ruse since his mother's death left his father's attention to fall upon business matters. But this isn't his only secret. 

When Will unwittingly becomes involved in a Black Cross ghost hunt, his uncanny ability to sense supernatural beings comes to light and the Black Cross wants him in their service. Suddenly, Will's free to be himself. 

But such freedom will come with a price, as Will fights for the acceptance of the only father he's ever known.

Now, part of a team of misfits and unlikely allies, Will finds he isn't the only one keeping secrets. Someone does not want him to uncover the truth about those who aren’t just missing from the world of the living, but missing from history itself. Can he find the Missing before he ends up becoming one of them?








Purchase Links:









 About the Author


 
Undergraduate studying Creative Writing, Classics, Russian and Western European History. Unabashed weeb probably burning incense and drinking too much coffee at this very moment. Out for queer representation and great sex hair. Beyond ready for the upcoming Vampire Chronicles TV series.
Lenk writes Young Adult/New Adult, spec fiction, poetry, and screenplays. He is currently unagented.
His poems have appeared at/in USF Tampa’s Thread Literary Inquiry, biannual 6x6 creative writing showcase, and placed second in National Poetry Month 2015; Tethered By Letters’ F(r)iction Spring 2016 poetry contest finalist; winner of the 2017 Bettye Newman Poetry award.












 Tour-wide giveaway




Saturday 23 September 2017

Review - Nemesis (Project Nemesis, #1) by Brendan Reichs




Title: Nemesis (Project Nemesis, #1)
Author: Brendan Reichs
Pages: 466
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Release date: 21st March 2017

Blurb from Goodreads: 

It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, the same man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later she wakes up in a clearing just outside her hometown alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him too, though he does his best to hide the signs. 

And as the world around them begins to spiral towards panic and destruction, the two troubled teens discover that people have been lying to them their whole lives . . .













My Review:


*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley*




Every two years since her eighth birthday Min has been murdered, waking up in a clearing the next morning as if nothing happened.
Noah is haunted by nightmares of murders, but he keeps it hidden, telling only his psychiatrist.
As natural disasters start occurring more frequently, Min and Noah realise that they have been lied to their whole lives by the people closest to them.
Why do the words Project Nemesis keep popping up?
Why do the murders happen? And who is the man in the black suit that kills Min?


I was really intrigued by the premise for Nemesis - a girl who is murdered on her birthday but then wakes up with no marks on her. I have to admit that the plot went in a direction that I wasn't expecting and I have mixed feelings about the way it did go.
I really liked Min - she had good morals, was smart and a good friend.
Noah was okay. I could understand why he reacted the way he did to certain things and I was disappointed in the path he took at the end of the book.
The plot was mostly enjoyable. I partly guessed the reason behind Project Nemesis, but I don't really like the way it turned out. The book did seem to drag a little. I'm not sure if I want to read the sequel or not.
I liked the writing style, which held my attention.
 
 

Overall this was a mostly enjoyable read but I was slightly disappointed in the direction it went in.