Review: AVOW by Chelsea Fine.

Scarlet remembers. Everything. Her past lives, Tristan, Gabriel, Nate: she remembers it all--including how to get to the Fountain of Youth. But time is running out.

Heather and Gabriel have been kidnapped by Raven, while the curse that has plagued Scarlet and Tristan for centuries has shifted, putting the star-crossed lovers in more danger than ever before. Water from the Fountain of Youth is the only thing that can save Scarlet and her loved ones. But the water comes at a price.

With lives--and hearts--at stake, Scarlet leads her friends on a dangerous journey to the Fountain of Youth. Where eternal life is possible, but death is certain.

Oh, man. The third and final book in the Archers of Avalon series. I don't even know where to begin. This series was such a roller coaster of emotions, at times I had to just lay it down and walk away for a minute. Trust me when I say that's a *good* thing! Chelsea is just an amazing author with a true sense of her characters. They're each so distinct and unique. She really is one of the best character writers I've read. I can't even begin to express my bumminess at this series being over. Sigh.

Onward, I suppose.

So, AVOW. Yeah, it was pretty much in every way epic. Scarlet and Tristan are as amazing as ever. You absolutely can't help but cheer for them! With the characters finally knowing what's up and fully understanding the curse and what it entails, they all take on such a stronger role. It's seriously impressive! Early on, I wondered how Chelsea would tie everything up and leave the reader satisfied with the character's fates. Worry not, my dears. While there are moments of joy and heartache, of loss and triumph, you'll be happy with everyone's futures ;)

AVOW was definitely my favorite of the series, and I thought after the first two, they couldn't be topped. Happily wrong! The banter and inner monologue between the characters is flawless and hilarious. Chelsea has a beautiful way of taking the edge of an otherwise serious situation. BUT this doesn't take away from the seriousness. It's like some kind witchery. I don't even know how she does it, but she does it exceedingly well! Gabriel and Heather really excel in this story with their antagonism and sarcastic ways. Oh! And we finally get the whole back story of the characters by getting to experience it. I'd generally say I'm not a fan of the timeline back and forth method, but again, Chelsea owns it!

Easily one of my all-time favorite series, I can't recommend AVOW highly enough!

Review: Awry by Chelsea Fine

Sometimes love is meant to be. But sometimes...love is the death of you....

Seventeen-year-old Scarlet has just died. Only, dying isn't unusual for a girl under a centuries old curse that left her semi-immortal.

This time, though, she comes back to her current life instead of awaking in a new one, and she realizes the curse is changing. Together with the immortal Archer brothers, Scarlet must piece together her life and try to break the curse before her impending death comes again.

As y'all know, I absolutely loved Anew, book 1 in Chelsea Fine's Archers of Avalon series! So, you can imagine the expectations I had going into Awry. Sadly, sequels don't always live up to their predecessors...BUT I'm so excited to say, this one did and more!

We finally get a chance to touch on Scarlet's history, going all the way back to the 1500's. And let me say, Chelsea did a great job of realistically incorporating the times without it being "stiff" or fake. We really get a feel for the characters' relationships leading up to the present. You can totally see how everyone wound up in their predicaments, and it comes across in such a real and relatable way.

Leaving Anew with a cliffhanger, I couldn't wait to dive in. Things have changed for her this time around, because the curse has changed. We soon learn this is a result of a shift caused by Tristan and Scarlet breaking the rules in her past life. After an attack by a strange, ashy villain, Scarlet decides to spill the beans about the curse to Heather, who totally rocks the "stand by your BFF" role. Who wouldn't want her watching their back?

We soon learn that Gabriel's ex isn't the only one involved in the curse. While she set it in motion, there's more the situation than we might've suspected. While I had my suspicions about things, I was surprised to see which paths certain characters ended up following! Anew definitely kept me guessing till the end.

Trust me when I say, this is one triangle you'll never say is cliche! Chelsea had me in every kind of knot trying to figure out how she was going to work things out. The Archers of Avalon series isn't like anything I've ever read, and I can't recommend it highly enough!

If you love fantasy, great characters, and magic, this is series to read!

Review: ANEW by Chelsea Fine

Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery...until she met a boy with a familiar voice.

Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet's determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he's kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer.

Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet's world becomes even more muddled. While she's instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she's impossibly drawn to Tristan--and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past...might just be the death of her.

Okay, I have to start this post with a fact: Chelsea is one of the sweetest and most hilarious chicks ever. I had the chance to "officially" meet Chelsea and hang out a little at UtopYAcon this past June. If you haven't read about that experience, you can here. Chelsea even shares her own thoughts on What Not to Do at Book Conference. HILARIOUS video. We'd known each other through Twitter for some time, but as most of you have probably experienced, the face-to-face introduction is always more interesting. I mean, you can only say so much in 140 characters, right?

Continuing on, I got a signed copy of the first in her Archers of Avalon series, ANEW. After hearing everyone RAVE about it, and listening to Chelsea's experiences writing the series, working with the models, and various inspirations, made me all the more eager to get started. Thankfully, I had 12 hours worth of flying and layovers to get me started! Yay me!

Needless to say, between dinners, meetings, and changing time zones, I finished ANEW in no time flat ... then proceeded to immediately download the sequel, AWRY. Yeah. It's that awesome.

And here's why:

We begin the story with Scarlett, a teenage girl who lives with her amazing foster mom, Laura. Scarlett came to be under Laura's care when she woke up in the woods with full-blown amnesia wiping her mind of anything about her life leading up to that point. Yeah, talk about freaaaky.

Scarlett is a super down-to-earth girl who cares about her interim family and zealous friend more than fashion and boys, much to her BFF, Heather's disapproval.

They crew of awesome characters live in a small town called Avalon, Georgia. Much to my delight, Avalon is like less vampire-werewolf-doppelganger version of Mystic Falls when it comes to fun activities and festivals. And one of Scarlett's least favorites is The Kissing Festival--that is until she bumps into Gabriel Archer.

Sigh.

Gabriel Archer, that gorgeous, selfless, heartthrob of a guy. Chelsea definitely has the swoon worthy boys in her stories! Why do I say boys as in more than one? Because Gabriel happens to have an identical twin brother named Tristan! ::flatline::

Now, before you go thinking, "Is this going to be YA?" Let me say, yes. Yes it is. ;) Actually one of the things I love most about this series is how Chelsea works the love-triangle-but-not-a-love-triangle ... angle. Stay with me here.

See, Scarlett has ties and emotions and all kinds of stuff going on in her pretty little head, but it isn't because she's wishy-washy or a player. I can't tell you more than that because I don't do spoilers. You're welcome. But throughout the story, you really feel her distress and experience the challenge of the twins as they try to navigate the situation. Chelsea knocks it out of the park when it comes to believable and relatable characters. Their responses and feelings toward things are spot on, and you can't help but sympathize with their tragedy and triumph!

I will caution you now though ... have the second book on hand! OMGosh! I didn't sleep for waaay too long trying to find out what happened after book one ended! Good job, Chelsea!

So, with that, I give ANEW five very enthusiastic top hats! It's a definite must-read!!!

 

Buy. Read. Be happy.

Thankful for Books #Giveaway #Hop ~ Autographed Goodness

Okay, guys, I am SO excited about this hop! Want to know why? Because I'm giving away one of my very favorite books by one of my very favorite authors and ::drum roll:: ... it's SIGNED!!! Read on to find out more!


 

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. His life depends on it.    

So there you have it. If you want to see my review of Nevermore, you can find it here. It's spoiler free ;)

Want to win? Follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. Because this is an actual book, this contest is open to US residents ONLY.

Many thanks to I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Tristi Pinkston for hosting this awesome hop! Be sure and check out the Linky below for more bloggers participating in this hop!


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Review: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

From Goodreads

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. 

Wow. That's the best the way to sum up Nevermore by Kentucky author Kelly Creagh. I met Kelly at a multi-author signing in Louisville. At the time, I'd seen Nevermore, but never really paid attention to it. It wasn't until I saw the Raven on the shelf and the Edgar Allan Poe trinkets scattered around the table that I realized the title was actually associated with Poe himself. It was at this point, my heart did a little dance.

Okay, the story starts out with an interesting (and very well written) prologue. I know, I know. God forbid there's a prologue! It's necessary, I assure you. In the case of this book, it encouraged me to read it! Creagh introduces us to Poe here in such a cool way. She brings in some little known facts about his (very real) untimely death and uses them as the basis of the story.

The first chapter soon starts off with the cheerleader Isobel Lanley being paired up for a writing project with goth-boy Varen Nethers ... much to jock-guy, quarterback boyfriend's dismay. I'll admit it. I had more than a moment's pause about the cheerleader/goth/jock thing. I don't like cheerleader/goth/jock stories, because more often than not, they end up being so cliche. However, cliche can also be defined by the quiet nerdy girl who likes to read or the misunderstood nobody boy who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. It's all a matter of plot and perspective, how unique the STORY is, and how WELL is it WRITTEN.

There's a lot of awesomeness to cover in this one, so I'm going to categorize here.

Characters:

Varen. Varen is dark and brooding at first. I wondered if Miss Author-pants could pull it off without succumbing to the Count Gothica experience we've all had in YA books. Let's face it, tortured and brooding is tough to pull off these days. Creagh nailed it! While Varen has a very dark side to him, he has good reason, and Creagh defines it beautifully without going over the top. Her ability to paint the perfect picture of him and his emotion is enviable. I think he comes across exactly how she intended, and not as a woe-is-me emo kid.

Isobel. Isobel has her ups and downs in the story. On occasion, the moment kind of fell flat for me with her or an opportunity was missed for Isobel to shine. There were times when I really didn't like her in fact. Isobel let other people manipulate her because she wouldn't just put her foot down and stand up for the right thing. She overreacted in some situations and underacted in others. All in all, she was relatively wishy-washy in the beginning, but Varen's strong character and Creagh's beautiful writing kept me in the story. As the story progressed though, Isobel gained quite a bit of momentum, growing into the type of heroine I like to see: scared yet strong; flawed yet willing. I'm eager to see how her character develops in the sequel.

Secondary characters. Isobel's friends are a group of douche-canoes. I realize that's somewhat reminiscent of high school, but it took a while for Isobel to stand up to them, and they weren't even worth her time. When she did though, it felt real. Honestly, I could've done without the others. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.


* I LOVED Gwen. I have to say she's one of the best YA characters I've ever read. Her personality is fabulous, and Creagh captured it in the most realistic way.
* Pinfeathers is quite interesting. I haven't quite figured him out yet. I really liked the way Creagh incorporated "those guys" into the story. I don't want to give anything away, but they're cool in a twisted kind of way.
* Reynolds, though not in the story as much as I would've liked, is superb. He's blurred somewhere between the good guy and bad guy. He has a job to do. While he doesn't want to hurt anyone, he looks out for the overall best interest.

Plot/Pacing/Writing:

I won't get into everything because I hate spoilers, and this one is hard not to spoil. I will say this, the plot was unique and riveting. The pace was perfect in an unusual way. There were times I was ready for it to move on, almost to skimming, but then it picked back up. Different readers have different points of "too fast/too slow". This one's on the fence, but paced just right for me!

The writing. Oh my gosh, the writing. I fell in love with the prologue and it continued throughout the entire book! Excellent writing is something insanely hard to come by. Most readers don't mind, but as a writer too, it's epically important to me. The descriptive writing is incredible, but not overdone. The sensory aspect is perfectly done, making me feel like I was there, which is tough considering the third person POV. I didn't feel like I was missing any emotion, any experience like I sometimes do with third person. Overall, the writing was impeccable.

Final Thoughts:

I've never read anything like Nevermore. It's based loosely on Poe's life and works. I'm a HUGE Poe fan, so I found this just freaking amazing! The story is definitely dark and very creepy, but it's eerily charming. I don't see it being an across-the-board success from a plot/genre point of view, but the gorgeous writing, a handful of fabulous characters, and the epic uniqueness guarantee a great read! I absolutely recommend to ages 15 and up.