The 12 Days of Magic: Spellbound Book Blitz & Giveaway

We're excited to be a part of the Book Blitz for Nikki Jefford's Spellbound series, organized by Xpresso Book Tours. Read on to find out more about each book in the series and to check out an excerpt from the first book, Entangled. There's also a giveaway, so be sure to enter for your chance to win a Spellbound prize pack!

Entangled (Spellbound #1)
By Nikki Jefford
Publication Date: February 20, 2012
Goodreads

Synopsis:

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

Duplicity (Spellbound #2)
By Nikki Jefford
Publication Date: March 20, 2012
Goodreads

Synopsis:

If Graylee Perez thought sharing a body with her twin sister was bad, dealing with a duplicate of herself is two times worse. Gray the second doesn’t seem to get that Lee’s boyfriend, Raj McKenna, is off limits. Then there’s the problem of Adrian Montez. He expects one of the Grays to be his.

Nearly a year later, the council is onto them for past misdeeds; Lee, along with the rest of the coven, has lost control of her powers; and Gray is being stalked by what looks like the Grim Reaper.

If they work together, they may stand a chance of setting things right and making it out alive.

Enchantment (Spellbound #3)
By Nikki Jefford
Publication Date: April 2013
Goodreads

Synopsis:

In the third and final installment of the Spellbound series, Graylee Perez (the duplicate), goes to Spain for a summer of escape. There she meets new friends and comes face to face with her old adversary, Adrian Montez.

When Gray tries to set up a spell that will banish Adrian from her life, she inadvertently falls under a love spell instead.

Charlene returns, having hijacked a new body, for one final battle between the twins.

Purchase the Spellbound series:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | The Book Depository

** Excerpt **

"Being Charlene," from Entangled (Spellbound #1):

IN THIS SCENE: After Graylee Perez is brought back to life she must pretend to be her twin sister Charlene while she’s stuck sharing her body. To “help” her out, Charlene has started a communications notebook instructing Gray on ‘How to be Charlene.’

“. . . for now I’m supposed to pretend to be Charlene?”

Mom brought a notebook over. “Yes, and your sister left some notes to help you out.”

Gray stared at the notebook a moment before taking it. She flipped it open.

NO MORE PIZZA, YOU PIG!!! I GAINED 2 POUNDS BECAUSE OF YOU!

No wearing your clothes in public. I will choose an outfit for you to wear to school on the days you’re me.

Hair must be worn down. No pig tails, pony tails, hair clips or goofy Princess Leia style buns on the side of your head.

No leaving the house without makeup. I have taped examples and tips in the following pages on how to create a smoky eye.

Gray flipped back to several pages of magazine print and step-by-step illustrated guides for creating a smoldering look. She flipped back to the front page.

No speaking to anyone at McKinley who isn’t on the approved list (see the following pages). Don’t even think about trying to visit with your old friends unless you want to get us committed to an insane asylum.

Absolutely no—UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES—having sex with Blake.

Ewwww!

Gray looked up, her face still contorted. “Did you read this?”

Mom was putting away the brown sugar. “No, Charlene told me not to.”

“And you listened to her?”

Mom looked directly at Gray. “She said it was private.”

More like psychotic.

About Nikki Jefford

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She writes edgy teen fiction, including the Spellbound Trilogy and Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter.

Nikki married Sébastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington.

You can find Nikki on her website, Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

** Giveaway **

Open internationally and ends on December 27, 2012.
Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves (20)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's an opportunity for everyone to share the books which we've added to our shelves.

We were happy to be notified that some holds we had at the library were ready for pick-up this week, especially Melissa, as you'll see from her haul.

For Review:

The Watcher by Lisa Voisin
Within by Clare C. Marshall
Thanks to Inkspell Publishing and Clare Marshall!

Ally's Books:

Borrowed:

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski

Lee's Books:

Borrowed:

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
The Diviners by Libba Bray

Bought:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Amazon is having 12 days of book deals, and I grabbed this for $2.99!

Melissa's Books:

Borrowed:

Darkness Before Dawn by J. A. London
Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

What did you add to your shelves this week? Please link us up!

Review: Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Gilt (The Royal Circle #1)
By Katherine Longshore
Publisher: Viking Juvenile

To Sum It Up:

Since the age of eight, Kitty Tylney has lived in the household of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Kitty couldn’t imagine life without her best friend, Catherine Howard, who clearly rules over the other girls in the Duchess’s care. Cat is about to become a queen for real when she’s chosen to go to court as a maid of honor to King Henry VIII’s new wife, Anne of Cleves, and then manages to turn the king’s affections to herself. Kitty is reunited in London with her best friend, who is now Queen of England, but Cat’s secrets from both the past and the present threaten the happiness of the two young women.

Review:

Every so often I get a hankering for a good historical fiction read, so I had high hopes for Gilt. Although I’m more of a Plantagenet buff than a Tudor one, I was really looking forward to reading this because it was a very promising combination of YA and historical fiction. Sadly, though, I couldn’t form an attachment with any of the characters, and the book didn’t offer much in the way of an in-depth portrait of Catherine Howard, the doomed fifth wife of Henry VIII.

The story is told through the eyes of Katherine “Kitty” Tylney, one of the many charges placed into the household of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Kitty considers Catherine “Cat” Howard to be her best friend, but Kitty is more like a sheep trailing in Cat’s domineering wake. At first I felt a little sorry for Kitty, whose parents didn’t shed too many tears upon their daughter’s departure. As the novel went on, however, I found Kitty to be increasingly whiny. When Cat leaves Norfolk House for London, all Kitty does is mope about how Cat has abandoned her for the glamour of court life. Even after Cat becomes queen and Kitty is by her side once again, Kitty is not content. She constantly frets that Cat’s past misdeeds at Norfolk House will come to light and that she’ll get caught assisting Cat with the latter’s current intrigue. Yes, Kitty’s concerns were legitimate, but there was little more to her character than worrying and complaining. Not being able to rally behind the main character pretty much guarantees that a book isn’t going to work out for me, and Gilt was no exception.

Cat, as depicted in Gilt, is an utterly unsympathetic character. She’s shallow, selfish, and manipulative. There is nothing redeeming about her, even as she faces execution. I never got the sense that she cared a whit for anyone but herself, despite all of her assurances to Kitty otherwise. Like Kitty, Cat possesses a single facet to her character, and it’s not a flattering one.

I wish that I’d been able to overcome my problems with the characters because I loved the setting. Katherine Longshore obviously researched the Tudor era thoroughly because the descriptions of court life are exquisitely detailed. What can I say? I enjoy reading about lavish castles and frilly dresses that I’d never in a million years wear myself (that’s what books about them are for).

Overall, Gilt read more like a history textbook, with the events leading up to Cat’s downfall proceeding one after the other. The novel didn’t delve enough into the fictional side of historical fiction to really draw me into the story. I think that if Kitty and Cat had shown more dimension to their characters, this would have been a far more compelling read.

All in All:

I was disappointed with this. To me, the characters were one-note and lacked the complexity that might have made me more invested in them. Still, if you have a particular interest in this time period and its historical figures, then you might want to give Gilt a try.

Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)
By Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen

To Sum It Up:

After Anna Korlov, aka Anna Dressed in Blood, disappears through a gateway to Hell in order to save ghost-hunter Cas Lowood and his friends, Cas refuses to move on. He has to know for sure that Anna is safe. So, when Cas begins to see Anna being tortured everywhere he turns, he begins a dangerous quest for answers. The answers Cas finds may kill him, but Cas knows it's his turn to save Anna.

Review:

I loved Anna Dressed in Blood so much, I almost died having to wait for Girl of Nightmares. I was relieved to find that everything I loved in the first book carried over into the sequel.

Cas was as sarcastically charming as ever, and his friends, Thomas and Carmel, grew on me even more. They are the most loyal friends anyone could ever have. They pull out a side of Cas you only caught a glimpse of in Anna Dressed in Blood. Cas knows that hunting ghosts puts his friends in danger, a realization that plagues him throughout the book, but Thomas and Carmel are not going anywhere.

The only thing (and I mean the ONLY) I didn't love was the lack of Anna in the book. I wish readers could have seen more of her experience in Hell than what they did through Cas. On the other hand, it might have been too grotesque for some readers. When we did get to see Anna in Hell, I was engrossed in the world Kendare Blake had created. Wow, it was so creative and detailed and original! Not only did she create this entire Hell in her head, but she translated it so well to the reader through words.

My pet peeve with books is when they raise questions that are never answered, leaving holes in the plot. There were so many questions left unanswered in Anna Dressed in Blood, I was afraid this might happen. GOOD NEWS: It didn't! Everything that required an answer was given one, and anything left unanswered, worked. If the author explains everything, there is nothing left tying the reader's thoughts to the book after it has ended.

All in All:

It’s really sad that this was the last book, but it ended beautifully. I loved Girl of Nightmares, and I know fans of Anna Dressed in Blood will too. So, I guess I'm saying: Go read it!

Cover Reveal: Desolate City by Racquel Jones

Today we're excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Desolate City, organized by Xpresso Book Tours.

Desolate City (Albertos Series #1)
By Racquel Jones
Publication Date: January 10, 2013
Goodreads

Cover designed by Silviya Yordanova (Deviant Art)

Synopsis:

After being invited to a party, Seiren never dreamed of being haunted by the Haydens--supernatural beings--of her city. She was suppose to forget about how they watched her every move days before. She was suppose to forget how everything went downhill after meeting a certain white eyed Hayden. But that would be too simple . . .

Ereshkigal, a group of powerful beings that all Haydens resent, have their sights on Seiren and Haydens from every corner of Black Phoenix will do everything in their power to stop them.

With the help of the gun-toting agent Luann and Hayden guardian Julius, Seiren must figure out her place in all of this and why she is literally running for her life.

About Racquel Jones

Racquel Jones has been a Michigander for 22 years now. She has a love for all things fantasy, art and the history behind it and comic book heroes. Since she was able to talk, she told stories to her friends rather it be fan fiction or her own original ideas. Right now, she is looking to one day expand her horizons into writing for comics and owning a branch of unique cafes/bookstores.

You can find Racquel on her website, Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.