Bookish Challenge: LIL Bookish June: Books and Jewelry Dragon Style

I'll admit when it comes to twitter and instagram I'm not the best at keeping up with them. It sometimes sucks because it feels like that is where everything is happening, and I am just out of the loop. So for the month of June I decided I'm going to try and do LIL Bookish June for Instagram, but also here on my site.

If you want to follow along with me on Instagram my IG name is bookaholicsanonymous 

DAY 6 of Lil Bookish June

I decided to go dragon-esque.

My lil purple friend is the mascot for Lit Cube that came in one of their boxes.

The first book I chose was Rogue by Julie Kagawa it's the second book in the talon series.

The Second book is Shattered by Mari Mancusi it's also the second book in the shattered series.

The necklace on Rogue is actually a preorder gift from ordering Rogue it's a dragon egg.

The bracelet on Shattered is from one of my monhly subscription boxes.

Blog Tour: Trial by Fire byChris Cannon

Trial by Fire (Going Down in Flames #3) by Chris Cannon 

Release Date: April 4th 2016

 Summary from Goodreads: Bryn’s hopes for a peaceful new semester at school go up in smoke when someone tries to kill her—again. She’s not sure which is scarier, facing the radicals who want to sacrifice her for their cause, or her impending nightmare-of-a-Directorate-arranged marriage to her nemesis, Jaxon. The one bright spot in her life is Valmont, her smoking-hot knight who is assigned to watch over her twenty-four hours a day. Is what she feels for him real, or just a side effect of the dragon-knight bond? At this point, stopping the impending civil war might be easier than figuring out her love life. 

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 Buy Links: Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo│Amazon UK│Amazon CA│iTunes 

 Book One: Going Down in Flames by Chris Cannon 

Release Date: June 30th 2014 

Entangled Teen 

Summary from Goodreads: Finding out on your sixteenth birthday you’re a shape-shifting dragon is tough to swallow. Being hauled off to an elite boarding school is enough to choke on. Since Bryn is the only crossbreed at the Institute for Excellence, all eyes are on her, but it’s a particular black dragon, Zavien, who catches her attention. Zavien is tired of the Directorate’s rules. Segregated clans, being told who to love, and close-minded leaders make freedom of choice almost impossible. The new girl with the striped hair is a breath of fresh air, and with Bryn’s help, they may be able to change the rules. At the Institute, old grudges, new crushes, and death threats are all part of a normal day for Bryn. She’ll need to learn to control her dragon powers if she wants to make it through her first year at school. But even focusing on staying alive is difficult when you’re falling for someone you can’t have. 

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 Buy Links: Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo│Amazon UK│Amazon CA│iTunes│Entangled Publishing 

Book Two: Bridges Burned (Going Down in Flames #2) by Chris Cannon

Release Date: January 19th 2015 

Entangled Teen 

 Summary from Goodreads: Since discovering she is a shape-shifting, fire-breathing dragon on her sixteenth birthday (surprise!), Bryn McKenna’s world has been thrown into chaos. Being a “crossbreed”—part Red dragon and part Blue—means Bryn will never fit in. Not with dragon society. Not with the archaic and controlling Directorate. And definitely not when she has striped hair and a not-so-popular affection for rule-breaking… But sneaking around with her secret boyfriend, Zavien, gets a whole lot harder when he’s betrothed to someone else. Someone who isn't a mixed breed and totally forbidden. And for an added complication, it turns out Bryn’s former archnemesis Jaxon Westgate isn’t quite the evil asshat she thought. Now she’s caught between her desire to fit in and a need to set things on fire. Literally. Because if Bryn can’t adapt to the status quo…well, then maybe it’s time for her to change it.

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 Buy Links: Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo│Amazon UK│Amazon CA│iTunes│Entangled Publishing 

EXCERPT

Excerpt:

Sunday, Bryn was happy to find herself at Suzette’s without Jaxon, watching Lillith and the other Blue women ooh and ahh over baby clothes. It made the normally cold and standoffish Blues seem far more human and likable.

And the pie was awesome. Bryn dug into her third piece of cherry pie, while her grandmother handed another gift to Lillith. It seemed her grandmother and Lillith had become friends, which was nice and terrifying at the same time. Nice because Lillith seemed like she needed friends, and terrifying because it implied to all present that they were working at cementing an alliance between the two families, aka the nightmare marriage between her and Jaxon.

Valmont stood on guard off to the side, with a polite smile plastered on his face.

“Isn’t this adorable?” Lillith held out a tiny tuxedo.

A tuxedo for a baby? Seriously? There was even a tiny bow tie. Poor kid. If Clint thought penguin suits were uncomfortable now, what would they be like for a baby?

Bryn leaned over and spoke to the woman next to her. “Can you really get a baby to wear one of those?”

“Of course.” She seemed shocked by the question.

No wonder Jaxon and his friends acted so stiff and formal. It had been drummed into them since birth.

Lillith unwrapped Bryn’s present next.

“Oh, Bryn, I love it.” She held out the silver rattle with Westgate engraved down the side so everyone could see.

Warmth bloomed in Bryn’s chest, somewhat filling the gaping hole left by her parents death. If she had to marry Jaxon, at least she’d gain Lillith as a mother-in-law. Oh, holy hell, are there drugs in the cherry pie? How’d I think that without flinching?

She smiled at Lillith. “I’m glad you like it.”

“You know, if things turn out like we expect, you could receive one of these one day.” Lillith beamed.

Bryn opened her mouth to object, vehemently and with great gusto and many obscenities, at the idea of giving birth to Jaxon's children. It was bad enough she’d thought about marrying him, but having his kids deserved a whole other level of freaking out. Then she realized every woman in the room was staring at her. She swallowed her, over-my-dead-body response, and said, “It is a possibility.”

Her grandmother nodded, but Bryn didn’t know whether it was a response to how Bryn had handled the situation or if she was nodding in agreement. She ate two more pieces of pie to quell the instinct to run screaming from the room. 

About the Author: Chris Cannon lives in Southern Illinois with her husband and her three dogs, Pete the shih tzu who sleeps on her desk while she writes, Molly the ever-shedding yellow lab, and Tyson the sandwich-stealing German Shepherd Beagle. She believes coffee is the Elixir of Life. Most evenings after work, you can find her sucking down caffeine and writing fire-breathing paranormal adventures or romantic comedies.

Author Links: Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook 

 GIVEAWAY: A journal, a signed copy of Going Down In Flames (Book 1), signed bookmarks and postcards. (INT) a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Blog Tour Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours

Firelight Review

AUTHOR: Sophie Jordan
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
PAGES: 323
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Series book 1(Vanish #2)

OUTLINE:
A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.
Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy. (Goodreads)

STARTED: 12-25-10
FINISHED: 12-28-10

MY THOUGHTS:
Okay, I think this is one of those books for me that falls into the category of -I don't know what to really say about it. Not because I hated it or loved it, but because I'm stuck. I'm at an empass here. Does that make sense? This actually is really hard. I think I've come back to this review like 4 or 5 times now. I'm not one to go into like detailed outlines of the story because I would just be repeating what the outline at the top says so usually I try and tell about the characters. Hum! Perhaps I'll break my rule this once...sorta.

Well to start off the book did begin with action as Jacinda and her friend, Azure take it upon themselves to go against their coven rules, and go for flight. Which leads to an action sequence with the Draki Hunters going after them both. Being a good friend that Jacinda is she tells Az to go and duck under water (Azure a Water Draki) until they leave and she'll lead them elsewhere. After awhile of the chasing, and the draki hunters not finding Jacinda because someone let her go. They give up. (I think. My memory is kind of bad) Anyways, the leaders of Jacinda's Clan: Cassian and his father, and Jace's mother show up. Jacinda knows that something is bound to happen to her because after all she did break some rules, but she never gets the chance to find out because her mother takes her and her sister out of the safe compound area. (I guess that's what you call it) to freedom and safety, or so they think. From then on it kind of falls into a slump. There's not a whole lot of action after that. It's more of Jacinda and Tamra at school with friends, and then Jacinda
seeing Will again since the incident. Her falling for Will, and knowing she shouldn't because of what he is, but wanting to anyways to keep her Draki part of her alive, and so forth. It gets a little repetitive. I mean there's only so much of I want Will, I don't want Will a person can take. Personally I would have loved to just stay with him. Yes, he's a hunter, but the other option is go back to a place where your suppose to be "family" wants to hurt you/use you just as bad. So, see I'm stuck on my feelings. I definitely think it has room to improve on the next book. I must say I did find Will's predicament interesting. Something could come from that. I'm not a fan of the way it ended. I guess I should be glad there is a second book coming out.


Honestly, I have mixed feelings about Jacinda, Will, Cassian,Catherine, and a few of the others.

Jacinda was okay. Like I said I got tired of the back and forth with Will. She seemed a little stubborn too not wanting to leave, and making her mom and sis suffer some. I guess in a way she had her own reasons for being like that mainly not wanting to lose part of herself, and that's completely understandable.

Will the hunter. I actually liked his character more than the others. I've read some reviews saying where he seemed over-protective and possessive, but I didn't really see that in him.

Cassian was the son and future leader of the Draki Clan. I didn't particularly like his character, but maybe it's just because he didn't get as much book time as needed to develop and make him likable. When we did get to see him it wasn't for very long and he just seemed like a jerk. He said he would protect Jacinda, but I found that hard to believe. (maybe I'll be proved wrong though)

Tamra was Jacinda's sister who had a semi big part, but I didn't really like her either I guess she seemed snotty, and bratty to me. Yeah, maybe she had her reasons still I wanted to tell her to get over it.

There are a few more characters, but I wasn't fond of most of them either. Those were the other "bad guys" well besides the few friends Jacinda did make besides Will.


It didn't do much for me like I would have hoped it did, but you should still read it and see for yourself. :) It wasn't at all sucky. So read read!


QUOTES:
-A sad realization. To know the ones you love will be better off without you around. (Jacinda)
-You're here again?(Jacinda)
Apparently. (Will)
Can't stay away? (Jacinda)
Apparently not. (Will) (Love this little convo)
-Why do I get the feeling I'm abducting you? Should I be on alert for sirens in the rearview mirror?(Will)
I left willingly. I don't think you'll get arrested. (Jacinda)
Great. You don't think. That's encouraging. (Will)