Friday Freebie #28 Wander Dust (The Seraphina Parrish Trilogy, #1) by Michelle Warren

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friday freebie, michelle warren, paranormal romance, time travel, uppper ya, urban fantasy, wander dust, young adult

I read this…forever ago. I didn’t even post it to my blog. Lazy me.

Ever since her sixteenth birthday, strange things keep happening to Seraphina Parrish.

The Lady in Black burns Sera’s memories.

Unexplainable Premonitions catapult her to other cities.

The Grungy Gang wants to kill her.

And a beautiful, mysterious boy stalks her.

But when Sera moves to Chicago, and her aunt reveals their family connection to a centuries old, secret society, she is immediately thrust into an unbelievable fantasy world, leading her on a quest to unravel the mysteries that plague her. In the end, their meanings crash into an epic struggle of loyalty and betrayal, and she’ll be forced to choose between the boy who has stolen her heart and the thing she desires most.

Wander Dust is the breathtaking fantasy that will catapult you through a story of time, adventure, and love.

Blurb and cover from Goodreads

Read my review of Wander Dust

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I said “Fantasy,” not “Paranormal Romance”

Tags

fantasy, genres, paranormal romance, subgenres, swords and sorcery, urban fantasy

Not too long ago I was checking the Amazon bestseller’s lists and found Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight listed under “Fantasy.” I then spent several moments blinking at the screen, contemplating what diabolical devilry this was and how anyone could so drastically confuse genres. Once I got over my snobbery, I realized why someone might think Twilight belongs in the Fantasy genre. After all, vampires in high school don’t belong to Nonfiction or Contemporary. But Twilight is not Fantasy, it is Paranormal Romance.

Paranormal Romance is a subset of the Romance and—yes—Fantasy genres, but tends to be a closer relation of Romance than Fantasy. The supernatural elements in Paranormal Romance are generally a source of conflict that adds more complication to the couples’ relationship in place of something like Edward Ferrars’ prior engagement or Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues. (There are exceptions, but I did say “generally.”) If you want to be a literalist, PNR can technically be lumped in with the Fantasy genre, but then some people say hippopotamuses can technically be lumped in with racehorses.

(Then there is the difference between your standard Paranormal Romance and a true Fantasy Romance, but that’s for a whole other blog post entirely.)

If you look at my reading list from last year, you will note that I am quite fond of Paranormal Romance and I’ve been known to write a bit of it. Some of my favorite books of all time belong to that subgenre, but my one true literary love will forever and always be true Fantasy.

When I say “true” Fantasy, I mean the Swords and Sorcery subgenre that encompasses series like Throne of Glass, The Lord of the Rings, Shadowmarch, and Game of Thrones. One cannot get much truer to Fantasy than a magical world born from the author’s mind. But series like Harry Potter and Inkheart also fall into Fantasy.

Fantasy means a setting entirely different from our everyday surroundings, whether that be an entirely different reality or a tweaked version of our own. Harry Potter takes place in Hogwarts and the Wizarding World, The Mortal Instruments takes place in the seedy underbelly of the supernatural world (at least the first book mostly did, I haven’t gotten to the others), and the Sword and Sorcery examples I’ve given are self explanatory. In a Fantasy book that takes place on Earth, there should be some preternatural element around which the story revolves, like in The Exemeus or A Wrinkle in Time and in all Fantasy subsets the villain should have motivation involving the ethereal or be using some sort of ethereal power to achieve his/her ends or both.

I grew up with Fantasy from the time I was old enough to watch Disney movies and it was kind of like a third parent or maybe a fourth sibling. That might be just a tad dramatic, but the fact remains that I am deeply passionate about the genre and that makes me deeply protective of what makes it what it is. So call me a nit-picker and a literary snob, if you must. I will be over here, staunchly preaching the traits and distinctions of the true Fantasy genre.

Review: Love and War (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles, #1) by Jennifer Malone Wright

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arcadia falls chronicles, guns, Jennifer Malone wright, love and war, paranormal, urban fantasy, vampires, young adult

A war is brewing between the hunters and the vampires and Chloe is determined to strike against the vampires before they have a chance to attack the hunter community.

While Chloe tries to convince the hunter community, and most especially tries to convince Drew, that they should move against the vampires first instead of waiting for an attack, the group of new friends—Oscar, Alice, Drew, Chloe and Christina—are distracted by news reports of a vigilante who is saving innocent humans against what can only be vampire attacks. Fearing this vigilante will cause unwanted attention that will expose the vampire-hunter community with each person he rescues, the group attempts to discover who this mysterious potential vampire hunter is.

When they catch up with him, the group learns a shocking revelation that might just change everything for everyone in Arcadia Falls, but will have the most profound impact on Chloe herself.

The Arcadia Falls Chronicles is the continuation of The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter. Following the format of The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter, The Arcadia Falls Chronicles is serialized into several novella-length stories.

Blurb and cover from Goodreads

4 out of 5 stars

This is the sequel novella series to The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter short stories which I read basically in one sitting. It picks up shortly after the last short story ends, following sixteen-year-old Chloe and her crew of vampire hunters, a young witch, and a male siren as they try to figure out what to do next in the shadow of the vampire war they are sure is coming.

I disagree with a lot of things in this series—mainly the mentality that vampires. Are. Bad. With no hope or shot at redemption even if they wanted it. I understand that they can’t all be Edwards and Angels, but it makes no sense that a person would become automatically evil after turning when there doesn’t really seem to be any genuine change to their personality or world view. And if Ms. Wright plans for the hunters to kill “all vampires” as she says, can’t she at least make it so that they find a cure so that they can un-vampire the good ones instead of committing blind genocide? (Don’t tell me there aren’t good ones. Don’t you dare.) I also got a bit irked with Chloe’s martial mentality and thought she could do with a bit of calming down.

Strangely, the one of the things I take issue with is also my favorite thing about this series. Jennifer Malone Wright doesn’t censor her talk of weaponry, firearms, and fighting and I think that’s a rare quality in artists these days (Texas girl here, what can I say?). The hunters do what needs doing and don’t worry about it being legal or acceptable to normal people.

I figured out the revelation in this story before it was revealed and I’m pretty proud of myself in spite of it being, well…easy to figure out. There was some sweet romance in here between Chloe and Drew and I really find myself liking Drew. Though Ms. Wright seems hell-bent on putting a love triangle in here and I think there really isn’t a need for it. At least Chloe made the right choice in this novella. (And so long as she keeps making the right choice, we’re good.)

This was a quick, easy, enjoyable read and I look forward to the next novella, Taking Talon, coming out in June. I recommend it to fans of YA urban fantasy!

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EXCITING NEWS!!!

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fanged princess, my books, news, novella, pure awesomeness, urban fantasy, ya

I  would like to announce something very, very exciting! I have just completed my first-ever novella and it will be published January 22, 2013!

Now it’s all rather hush-hush…

But what I can tell you is that the title is Fanged Princess, it’s about vampires,  there’s a good dose of romance, the cover reveal is going to be next month, and the main character is an eighteen-year-old vampire named Hadassah Chadwick (and I am very proud of myself for coming up with that name). You can even check it out on Goodreads, here! So, until November, guys can all be like…

Ta-ta!

Review: Pyxis (Pyxis #1) by KC Neal

Tags

KC Neal, paranormal, Pyxis, review, series, urban fantasy

Corinne lives an average teenage life working at her dad’s cafe, hanging out with her best friend, and trying to forget a falling-out with her almost-boyfriend Mason. Things take a strange turn when she uses her late grandmother’s food dyes for a bake sale, and her customers suddenly find her irresistibly alluring. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path.

Pursued by shadowy figures and a crazy woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world–and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free.

Blurb and cover from Goodreads

Short book=Short Review
An enjoyable, fun read. I think that this book was excellent, it just didn’t grab me. I have a problem with the modern mentality of the teenagers and dating and that just put me out a bit. (I’m a prude, yes, I get that a lot. Please don’t hate me!) Still, I recommend this book to fans of urban fantasy. It was a good story and I hope you’ll give it a shot!

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