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review; the zoya factor
The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan When the younger players in India’s cricket team find out that advertising executive Zoya Singh Solanki was born at the very moment India won the World Cup back in 1983, they are intrigued. When having breakfast with her is followed by victories on the field, they are impressed. And when not eating with her results in defeat, they decide she’s a lucky charm. The nation goes a step further. Amazed at the ragtag team’s sudden spurt of victories, it declares her a Goddess. So when the eccentric IBCC president and his mesmeric, always-exquisitely-attired Swamiji invite Zoya to accompany the team to the tenth ICC…
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review; wolves & roses
Wolves & Roses by Christina Bauer Seventeen-year-old Bryar Rose has a problem. She’s descended from one of the three magical races – shifters, fairies, or witches. That makes her one of the Magicorum, and Magicorum always follow a fairy tale life template. In Bryar’s case, that template should be Sleeping Beauty. “Should” being the key word. Trouble is, Bryar is nowhere near the sleeping beauty life template. Not even close. She doesn’t like birds or woodland creatures. She can’t sing. And she certainly can’t stand Prince Philpot, the so-called “His Highness of Hedge Funds” that her aunties want her to marry. Even worse, Bryar’s having recurring dreams of a bad…
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review; masked
Masked by J.D. Wright Vada’s To-Do List: – Turn 18 (check!) – Register super name – Order supersuit – Attend superhero indoctrination – Graduate high school – Start kicking criminal tail Vada Lawson can’t wait to be a superhero. Born into a family with special powers, she’s been training to fight criminals and villains her whole life. But her indoctrination into the underground super community is derailed when normals start breaking out in superpowers themselves. Not trained to control their new abilities, the normals are frightened and vulnerable. Then their mutilated corpses begin turning up all over town. What the heck? Somehow, with the help – and hindrance – of…
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review; forest of a thousand lanterns
Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high? Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the…
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review; spellcaster
Spellcaster by Claudia Gray When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed – and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future… until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed. Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together…
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books & a cuppa;
Most of us like to have a glass of something when we read. For me, usually, that glass of something is a hot drink. Coffee, tea, sometimes a chocolate drink, like a Nutella hot chocolate. I choose my drinks based on my moods, and more often than not, my moods are linked to the book I am reading. What I’m saying, of course, is that I categorise my drinks by the type of books I am reading. There are just certain stories and genres that pair well with certain drinks. Chocolate; Fantasy It can be anywhere between overly sweet and dark bitterness. For me, hot chocolate pairs well with a…
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review; between the lines
Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer Delilah, a loner hates school as much as she loves books— one book in particular. In fact if anyone knew how many times she has read and reread the sweet little fairy tale she found in the library, especially her cooler than cool classmates, she’d be sent to social Siberia forever.To Delilah, though, this fairy tale is more than just words on the page. Sure, there’s a handsome (well, okay, incredibly handsome) prince, and a castle, and an evil villain, but it feels as if there’s something deeper going on. And one day, Delilah finds out there is. Turns out,…
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COVER REVEAL; The Big Event by Anne John-Ligali
Constance Jeffries is excited when she gets the chance to meet up with virtual friends at a get-together in a London hotel. She’s been tweeting and messaging her lovely friends for years and feels they must be just as excited to finally meet her in person too. Or so she hopes. A short story about the importance of ‘real’ friendships and how it’s the little things that matter the most. Pre-Order on Amazon. Now doesn’t that sound like something that we could relate too? The Big Event is the first book in the Friendship Online Short Story Series, and I, for one, cannot be more excited for it! ABOUT THE…
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review; reboot
Reboot by Amy Tintera Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation). Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions,…
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SPOTLIGHT; #cronebloggers
We interrupt our regular schedule to bring you this post. I’m going to be honest, I meant to write this post a while ago, but I’ve been out of town, and then the daughter was ill, so I’m only getting around it it now. For full information, check out Jenn @ a page of Jenniely‘s page on #CroneBloggers here. In brief, #CroneBloggers are a group of book bloggers that are older than the target audience for the Young Adult novels we read. Yes, anybody can read anything they want, etcetra etcetra, but being surrounded by young teenagers was – shall we say – making us feel our ages? So Jenn…