Salute to the Ships

Tags

falling kingdoms, st valentines, the captive, the cat eye chronicles shadowmarch, throne of glass

❤ ❤ ❤ In honor of St. Valentines’ Day, I would like to take a moment to pause and salute the results of my matchmaking amongst fictional characters. I can be a most passionate shipper, having been known to hyperventilate, swear, and shriek in reaction to whatever latest development has befallen my ship. You have probably heard me mention these before, but prepare to be hit with a wave of fangirling once more. ❤ ❤ ❤

 

Chaolaena (Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas)

I will ship this until the day I freaking die and I don’t bloody care what anyone says and if this ship sinks I will have WORDS.

 

Cleo & Magnus (Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes)

As of page 316 of Rebel Spring, I ship this. I’m convinced they’re perfect for each other, if they’d ever stop with the sarcasm and the hostility long enough to figure it out.

 

Crora (The Cat’s Eye Chronicles by T.L. Shreffler)

From my current Favorite Series, I ship this so much it hurts. I love Crash, I love Sora, I love everything about them and I have shipped them from the moment they met. I need this to work out!

 

Braith & Arianna (The Captive series by Erica Stevens)

Just…yes. My inaugural foray into vampire literature, I adore these books and them as a couple and this series was one of the first romance titles to end up on my Shelf of Awesome.

 

Vansen & Briony (Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams)

 

You have not known the true pain of fangirling until you have shipped something for four gigantic books and the characters only speak twice while one of them makes plans to marry some prince. But I stuck with the series and it was soooooo worth it. The moral of the story? Stand by your ships.

 

❤ ❤ ❤ Happy St. Valentines’ Day to you, your ships, and, to those of you who have them, your significant other. ❤ ❤ ❤

Top book series I wish had Fandoms

Tags

am hargrove, Erica Stevens, gerald morris, guardians of vesturon, indie books, intisar khanani, jadie jones, kaitlyn deann, madeleine l'engle, moonlit, my favorites, paranormal, sunbolt chronicles, the captive, the cats eye chronicles, the squires tales, the time quintet, The witches sleep, tll shreffler, ya

These eight book series are among my All Time Favorites and I believe they are tragically underrated. I see the memes and fangirling for The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments, and I can’t help but feel jealous and think “I know of books that are even better!” (Purely my opinion, but I didn’t particularly love The Hunger Games trilogy or City of Bones.) So I cannot hold it in any longer. Here are the top book series I believe should have massive fandoms of screaming fangirls and/or fanboys staying up until 2:00 a.m. to finish the latest installments or mourning the series’ conclusions. This list has expanded since I wrote the post, so you can expect a part 2!

The Cat’s Eye Chronicles by T.L. Shreffler

I discovered this series awhile back and downloaded the first, but only read it until recently. While I thought the first chapter was a bit slow, I quickly became engrossed in the story, only stopping for trivial things like eating. I went and downloaded the second book straightaway and am now living in agony waiting for the fourth/fifth’s release.

The Captive

This was my inaugural foray into vampire love stories. The writing can be rusty in places, but the story is absolutely, positively, awesome and the romance…oh, the romance! I was so sad to see the series end and ecstatic to hear of the author planning a spinoff!

The Sunbolt Chronicles

From what I have seen, anything by Intisar Khanani is incredible. Her original worlds with heroines who are strong, but still relatable and empathetic are unquestionably underrated. For clean, action-packed, magic-brimming fantasy, Khanani is your go-to source!

Moonlit

Horses, ancient love, horses, age-old prophecies, sorcery, horses, and a gloriously bad villain, what more could you want? I was not expecting to enjoy this book nearly as much as I did and I was highly impressed with the author’s talent. Definitely one worthy of a fandom and I will be stalking the internet for the first word of the trilogy conclusion.

The Witches’ Sleep by Kaitlyn Deann

I’m normally not a fan of dystopia-esque stories, but this teen author’s debut novel was the clear exception. Paranormal excitement and political intrigue mix together in perfect harmony for a story that should be read, read, read by as many people as possible.

The Squire’s Tales by Gerald Morris

Gerald Morris’ ingenious reimagining of the Arthurian legends are among my absolute favorites. Though this is more of an MG series, I am a HUGE fan of these books and wish more people were familiar with them so I could be accompanied in my mad fangirling.

The Guardians of Vesturon by A.M. Hargrove

Another wonderful romance series from a brilliant mind. Though they might not be for everyone, I find it impossible not to adore monotheistic, honor-conscious, chaste, swoon-worthy aliens and I can’t be the only one. Forget vampire or werewolf, if I had my pick, I’d take a Vesturion Guardian before you could say “shadar.”

 

The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle

This series has the singular honor of being the only one I have read beginning to end more than once. I believe Madeleine L’Engle was a true literary genius, on par with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Her stories teach love, forgiveness, and courage in the most beautiful way and we can all learn from those lessons.

Review: Redemption (The Captive, #5) by Erica Stevens @EricaStevensCGP

Tags

Erica Stevens, indie author, indie book review, indies, paranormal romance, redemption, review, romance, self-published, series, the captive, vampires, ya, young adult

This is the fifth book in The Captive Series. It is a stand alone novel however it is recommended that the other books in the series be read. Available now!

A year has passed since the war against Jack’s father that freed the humans from their roles as blood slaves and servants to the vampire race. Having left the palace behind in order to ensure that the outer towns are obeying the new laws, Jack struggles to come to terms with the grief and haunting memories that drove him from the palace in the first place. He’s content to lose himself in the outer lands and the obscurity that they offer him. That is, until he encounters Hannah.

Growing up in the small town of Chippman, Hannah had long ago accepted the fact that she would never leave it. When Jack walks into her life, and turns it upside down, she quickly realizes that not everything is what she’d believed it to be. Knowing that Jack will reject her if he learns the truth about her, Hannah struggles to fight her growing attraction to him. For though the town of Chippman seems normal on the outside, its residents harbor secrets that they’ve taken great pains to keep hidden. Secrets that have forced the town to live under the rule of the one man that could tear Jack and Hannah apart forever.

Blurb and cover from Goodreads

5 out of 5 stars
By far the best book yet! Don’t get me wrong, I adored Braith and Aria (still do), but the plot, development, dialogue—the everything—the writing style has gone through such an evolution that it’s mind blowing.

The plot:
I had to force myself to put down my Kindle at 1:00 a.m. I nearly murdered my family because they wouldn’t let me read. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book no matter what I was doing. The plot grabbed me by the throat and dragged me through without a second’s rest. The “squee” moments and the “hell no” moments were mixed together with perfect balance to keep my eyeballs affixed to my screen. Highest marks here.

The characters:
In books 3-4, we get brief glimpses into Jack’s psyche, usually when he’s thinking about the war or trying to navigate Braith’s volcanic temper regarding Aria. In this book, we delve much, much deeper, exploring how Jack ended up with the rebels to begin with, and what goes on in that head of his. A lot of it I would never have guessed and it was all the more fun for it.

I adored Hannah! She’s tough, determined, but also has a plethora of insecurities due to her “defect” and the lifestyle she was raised into. She and Jack are beautiful together and they’re one of those couples to make the fangirls squee and scream with delight.

Some of the characters from the earlier books also make an appearance and I was a little surprised to see them again. There was one point where I was thinking “Braith and Aria—leave! This is Hannah and Jack’s story now!” But they fit in nicely and it was kind of funny to see Jack come to understand just what it is Braith went through when he lost Aria. (The “how did you not kill me” conversation was so funny!)

I have received word that there will be a sixth book—one dedicated to Aria’s brother, William. I’m a little hesitant, but then I was hesitant with this one. I have high hopes and it looks like I will be a fan of this series for some time yet!

Find Redemption on Goodreads

Find Redemption on Amazon

Find Redemption on BN.com

Fanged Mania #3: Review: Renegade (The Captive, #2) by Erica Stevens

Tags

captured, Erica Stevens, Fanged mania, paranormal romance, renegade, review, sequel, the captive, Vampire

To join in, copy and paste these rules and the above banner into your Fanged Mania post and add your link to this week’s Fanged Mania post at Elisabeth Wheatley’s Blog. Fanged Mania is a Friday meme counting down to the release of Fanged Princess and displaying all things vampire and awesome. Fanged Mania posts can be a review of a vampire book, a quote from the latest Vampire Diaries episode, a showcase of a cool vampire book’s cover, or whatever you like so long as it is vampire related. Don’t forget, participants will be entered in the drawing to win a fanged-abulous prize pack!

So for this week’s Fanged Mania post, I am reviewing the second book in Erica Stevens’ THE CAPTIVE series. Oh, and the next book in this series comes out next month!

Review:
Like I said, after reading the first book, CAPTURED, I went and immediately snatched up this one. While I did like CAPTURED better, I am still enamored with this series and will continue to stalk the author for news of future releases.

RENEGADE picks up about two months after CAPTURED ends. In that time, Arianna hasn’t been able to get over Braith, even though he deceived her about being engaged. Meanwhile, Braith considers himself to have been betrayed by Arianna and his heartbreak drives him into a vicious madness as he waits for the human girl to be recaptured and made to pay for what she did to him.

After two months of waiting for his brother, Caleb, to obtain Arianna, Braith decides to hunt her down himself. Since Braith let her drink his blood, the two of them are connected and finding her is easy.

But once he finds her, Braith can’t bring himself to drink her veins dry as he had planned. And Arianna falls for the vampire prince all over again. But between Braith’s ruthless father and brother who are determined to crush the rebels; and Arianna’s family who are certain Braith hurt her while she was his blood slave, they may be forced apart just when they’ve found their way back together.

I LOVED this book about 70% through. Up until the end when the stuff about bloodlinks came up and that was a personal, picky thing. Aside from the stuff about bloodlinks, this story fully met the sky-high standard set by the first. I’m now eagerly awaiting the Christmastime release of the third book. ERICA STEVENS, YOU ROCK!!!

Add Renegade on Goodreads

Find Renegade on Amazon

Find Renegade on BN.com

Download the first book in this series for free

Post your thoughts and links to your Fanged Mania posts below!