Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, by Ann Jacobus

Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, by Ann Jacobus.

Release Date: 10/6/15.

"A troubled teen, living in Paris, is torn between two boys, one of whom encourages her to embrace life, while the other—dark, dangerous, and attractive—urges her to embrace her fatal flaws.

Haunting and beautifully written, with a sharp and distinctive voice that could belong only to this character, Romancing the Dark in the City of Light is an unforgettable young adult novel.

Summer Barnes just moved to Paris to repeat her senior year of high school. After being kicked out of four boarding schools, she has to get on track or she risks losing her hefty inheritance. Summer is convinced that meeting the right guy will solve everything. She meets two. Moony, a classmate, is recovering against all odds from a serious car accident, and he encourages Summer to embrace life despite how hard it can be to make it through even one day. But when Summer meets Kurt, a hot, mysterious older man who she just can't shake, he leads her through the creepy underbelly of the city-and way out of her depth.

When Summer's behavior manages to alienate everyone, even Moony, she's forced to decide if a life so difficult is worth living."

Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, was a difficult book for me. It was a love/hate relationship, where I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue reading it, or if I wanted to lay it down.

I found myself struggling through the first 100 pages, and didn't really find myself interested in the story or the characters. I just didn't understand what the point of the story truly was. Those 100 pages basically entailed a teenage girl struggling with life. Her dad had just passed away a year ago, while her mother works a lot and isn't around often. She doesn't really have close friends, due to being kick out of four different schools, and usually picking the wrong crowd to be around anyways. She's lonely, and lost.

Reading the synopsis to this book, what else would you expect? The synopsis never once mentions the alcohol addiction Summer is struggle with, or the suicide she is contemplating. It never once mentions that the handsome stranger she meets, tries to actually talk her into committing suicide. None of that arises in the synopsis, and honestly it's a shame.

With this vague synopsis, and 100 pages of not much going on, I was ready to give up on this book. Nothing was pulling me towards it and I was starting to wonder if I was wasting my time...but deciding to push on through, I couldn't believe what this book was hiding in it's last 150 pages or so.

This story is so much more than a struggling teenager, or a troubled family. This story is so much more than high school, finding a boyfriend, or even Paris. This book is powerful, this book is meaningful, this book is vital.

The topics discussed in Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, is something a lot of people are dealing with and trying to overcome; alcoholism, depression, and suicide. This story takes you through the entire thought process of someone facing these issues, and ultimately overcoming them.

Hidden behind this bland synopsis, this contemporary romantic cover, and the cute title, is a powerful story, that everyone should read. It's filled with situations, incidents, and actions, we shouldn't ignore. It teaches us, that we should be more aware of friends, family and loved ones. And ultimately, that we shouldn't ignore things that don't "seem right", by simply brushing them off.

Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, reminds us that we need to be there for our loved ones, because that's what they are. We need to grateful, appreciative, and caring towards them every single day...because you don't know when it's their last or yours.

Overall, I fell in love with Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, and want to thank Ann Jacobus for reminding me what to do, and reminding me that life is so much more than these small meaningless struggles I face every day.

If you have the opportunity to pick up this book, I recommend doing so.

Am I Dead? School? Reviews? Giveaways?!

Let me forewarn you, this is going to be a longer post, full of explanations, more warnings, and what's to come in the future. Most of it will be rambling, and  ALL of it will be AWESOME!

Let's start with, "Where the heck have you been?". It's only been a week or so, since I was last online with either a video or blog post. I decided with the last few days of summer coming quickly to an end, as well as my freedom of doing whatever I want, that I would take those last few days off.

Not only did I want to spend the last few days in the sunshine, and having fun, but I also wanted to spend them with my best friend, who left for college. We were probably WAY more dramatic than anyone, would ever have to be...especially because she's only going 40 minutes away, but still! Who am I going to call in the middle of the night when I'm bored, or who is going to randomly come with me to the arcade when I want to play Dance Dance Revolution!?

Besides that, I also took a little bit of me time. During the school year, I'm all over the place, with almost no sleep, and a cup of coffee always in hand. So it was nice to just focus on myself for a day or two, and not have "any" responsibilities.

School started just last Wednesday, and so far it's been interesting. I don't know too many people in my classes, and everyone seems to be really friendly. I LOVE that about my campus, everyone seems to always have time for you, and always want to help!

In one class, we have a group project that lasts all quarter, and if someone in your group isn't doing their job, you can fire them. I always tend to have one person in my group who doesn't bother doing anything, and if I'm very unlucky, two. In another class, I'm having technical difficulties with the textbook and online program, but I'm hoping that by the end of today everything will be figured out. And finally, in my last class, the teacher is really cool, and even lets us out an hour early for the second class session of the week. Students can stay if they want to get help with homework, but if you don't need it, you have the opportunity to leave early!

With this first week of school, new classes, accounting club meetings, other extra curricular activities, also comes a very intense week of book reviewing.

I did a lot of reading while I was gone, but I'm more than excited to finally get back to making videos, and writing blog posts. I can't wait to start vlogging again today, to edit videos I filmed earlier, and start drafting posts for later this week.

I was sent four books for review, three of which release the same exact day...which sounds a little bit stressful, but I'm also dying to share my thoughts and opinions with you! Three reviews are going up this week, along with a giveaway on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The fourth book will be reviewed early next week, along with an author interview!

And the last thing I want to discuss is Etsy.

I love it! I can't believe how much I've come to enjoy doing it, and communicating through social media to spread the word of Turning Pages Co!

I want to spend some time this week fine tuning my store, coming up with new ways of packaging and sending off orders, and adding new merchandise. I really want to find Turning Pages Co's identity, and what my main selling point will be. I want to sell stickers, bookmarks, and paper clips. But I really want to focus on each one individually.

Because this blog post is already way too long, I'm going to go ahead and end things here! I had so much fun these few days, but getting back to school, and to blogging, is more than exciting! I can't wait to see what content I'm come up with this week, it should be pretty busy with hauls, book reviews, and a few discussion posts!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

St. Martin's Griffin: The Weight of Feathers Blog Tour!

The Weight of Feathers, by Anna-Marie McLemore

St. Martin’s Griffin

On Sale: September 15, 2015

Hardcover: 978-1-250-05865-2/ $18.99 USD

eBook: 978-1-466-87323-0 / $9.99 USD

About the Book:

"For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows—the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find. 

Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. "

My Review of The Weight of Feathers!

About The Author:

Anna-Marie McLemore was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and grew up in a Mexican-American family. She attended University of Southern California on a Trustee Scholarship. A Lambda Literary Fellow, she has had work featured by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, CRATE Literary Magazine's cratelit, Camera Obscura's Bridge the Gap Series, and The Portland Review.  The Weight of Feathers is her first novel.

Author's Links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

What inspired you to become a writer? And what inspired you to write a story about traveling performers?

My family, and the cultures I grew up with, first inspired me to write stories. And it was actually a family member who gave me the first inspiration for THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS. Years ago, my father told me about a mermaid show he’d seen when he was in his twenties. Ever since I’ve wanted to write a story about performing mermaids, but it wasn’t until a photographer friend had me out in the woods while wearing a set of wire and cloth wings that the idea for the book came to me. Women swimming in mermaid tails, and winged tree performers. The story grew from those two images coming together.


I'm absolutely afraid of heights, and would never walk a tight rope, if the opportunity surfaced, would you?

You and me both! But if the opportunity surfaced, and there was someone experienced to teach me, I’m not sure I could pass it up!


I love the title, The Weight of Feathers, how did you come up with it?

I actually didn’t! My wonderful agent came up with it, inspired by a phrase in the book.


If you could become a performer in this traveling show, what do you want to do?

I’d love to be a mermaid! I love being in water, and I’ve pretty much wanted to be a mermaid since I was three. Though I was young enough that I don’t remember learning, my father tells me about how quickly I took to swimming.

Thank you so much for having me!

Giveaway:

This giveaway is only for residents of US & Canada!

And the book will be shipped to you by the publisher, St. Martin's Griffin!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

IndieBound

Kobo

iBooks

Google Play

Books-A-Million

The Offering, by Kimberly Derting

The Offering by Kimberly Derting

(The Pledge #3)

Release Date: 12/31/13.

"True love—and world war—is at stake in the conclusion to The Pledge trilogy, a dark and romantic blend of dystopia and fantasy.

Charlie, otherwise known as Queen Charlaina of Ludania, has become comfortable as a leader and a ruler. She’s done admirable work to restore Ludania’s broken communications systems with other Queendoms, and she’s mastered the art of ignoring Sabara, the evil former queen whose Essence is alive within Charlie. Or so she thinks.

When the negotiation of a peace agreement with the Queendom of Astonia goes awry, Charlie receives a brutal message that threatens Ludania, and it seems her only option is to sacrifice herself in exchange for Ludanian freedom.

But things aren’t always as they seem. Charlie is walking into a trap—one set by Sabara, who is determined to reclaim the Queendoms at any cost."

The Offering is the third and final book in The Pledge trilogy! And I will say this over and over again, I love Kimberly Derting's writing, characters and stories! If you haven't read anything from her yet, you definitely should, because you're missing out.

After reviewing, both in verbal terms and in writing, The Pledge and The Essence, I'm starting to feel like I'm repeating myself a lot. I don't want to give too much information away from the previous books, and everything I can say, I feel like I already have.

The Pledge Review

The Essence Review

Instead of giving you all a little bit of background information, I'm just going straight to the meat and potatoes, to tell you what I think about the final segment in this trilogy!

I can easily say I'm in love. I started this trilogy curious about the main character, Charlie and her ability to speak so many languages. Also, I really wanted to see what kind of society she lived in, and what conditions she had to live with. But this trilogy gave me so much more than that.

It gave me a strong and brave female leading character, that doesn't exactly know what she's doing, but she knows exactly what she wants for her Queendom and people. She was quickly thrown into the royal throne, and Charlie basically rolls with the punches!

It also gave me, three fantastic endings, one explosive, one that kept me on the edge of my seat, and one that wasn't "happily ever after", but more than I could have ever hoped for. 

I couldn't get enough.

But after reading the entire trilogy, there are still a few questions I have that have been left unanswered.

1. Now that the society isn't divided by language or class, what other powers does Charlie have? Is that it?

2. What about Charlie's little sister? Will she use her powers to heal other people besides her family?

Overall, I enjoyed The Pledge trilogy, and can't wait to see what else Kimberly Derting has in store for her fans! Have you read this trilogy yet? What did you think?

Candles I'm Currently Burning!

Fall is "officially" upon us on in four days, meaning Wednesday September 23 is the first day of autumn.

Unlike the calendar, fall starts for me once the Pumpkin Spice Latte hits every Starbucks in my 50 mile radius, when the leaves start to change colors, and once it cools down enough to start burning candles!

After coming home from a long day at work or school, and driving in cold rain, there is nothing better than laying back and relaxing. All I want to do is get into comfy pajamas, warm blankets, light some candles and spend the night reading a good book...doesn't that sound...magical?

I love candles, and I'm sure I share this interest (addiction?) with some of you! So I decided it would be fun to show you all, which candles I'm currently in the middle of burning.

The first candle I'm burning is from a brand named "Living Colors", which I purchased for only $2.50 at Big Lots. I haven't purchased or even heard of this brand before, but they were cheap and smelled amazing! The scent I'm burning is "Cinnamon and Clove".

 

The second candle I'm burning is "Spiced Pumpkin Cider" from Bath and Body Works. I picked up this candle and five more, last year during their "3-wick candle for only $8" sale! I love Bath and Body Works candles especially when I can pick them up for an amazing deal! The only issue with this specific candle is that every time I light it, the wicks start popping small bits of black coal...right onto my white tables...

If you know how to solve this issue, please let me know! Cleaning off the black coal, on my white table is pretty hard!

 

The final candle I'm in the middle of burning is "Pumpkin Gingerbread', again from Bath and Body Works! This candle is VERY strong. It's a candle you can burn on one side of the house, but can smell it on the other side, or even upstairs. This candle doesn't hold back...It's one of my favorite candles, because of that! You only need one candle to make the entire house smell like gingerbread and baking!

 

Those are the three candles I'm in the middle of burning right now, and am looking for some different suggestions! If you have any favorite candles, or any good suggestions please leave them down below! They don't have to be from Bath and Body Works, as long as they smell good, it doesn't matter to me where they're from!

What Am I Currently Reading?

To All The Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han.

Released Date: 4/15/14.

"To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all."

I fell in love with Jenny Han's writing in her older trilogy, "The Summer I Turned Pretty". I adored her characters, I admired her stories and overall, Jenny Han quickly became one of my favorite authors!

I attempted to read her "Burn for Burn" trilogy, but just couldn't get into the first book. I decided to put it down, because I honestly enjoyed her writing too much in "The Summer I Turned Pretty" and didn't want to ruin that through "Burn for Burn".

When "To All The Boys I Love Before" was released I knew I had to get my hands on a copy! Obviously it's been a while since this book first hit the stores, but better late than never, right?

I started reading around midnight last night, and am three chapters into it. I don't really have an opinion just yet, but I can already sense, that I might not like Lara Jean's older sister. She seems heartless, and cold. 

I'm excited to crawl into bed tonight, light a few candles, and continue reading! I don't know too much about this story, besides what I read in the first few chapters, and that my best friend really enjoyed it...which means a lot because she hates contemporary romance!

Have you read "To All The Boys I've Loved Before"? Let me know what you think in the comments, just no spoilers!

The Weight of Feathers, by Anna-Marie McLemore

The Weight of Feather, by Anna-Marie McLemore

Release Date: 9/15/15

"For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows—the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find. 

Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. "

The Weight of Feathers is a very different and unusual take on Romeo and Juliet! Instead of taking place in the 1300's, this story takes place in modern time, following two star-crossed lovers, who each travel and perform in their feuding families businesses.

While Lace performs with her cousins, as colorful mermaids, Cluck invents and builds costumes for his family's performers. 

Their families have been feuding for twenty or so years; each blaming the other for various occurrences, and spreading rumors. No one truly knows what started this rivalry so many years ago, but each families members know better that to interact with the other. 

After Lace is stuck in not only a nylon net, that is tangled in the lake from their performance, but also an acid rain storm that is causing her skin to burn, she is saved by Cluck. While she is still conscious, Lace sees one of his black feather, with a hint of red fall on top of her, and she knows, right then, who he is. 

Since she was young, she's been told what these feathers mean, and what black magic hides behind them. She also knows that whatever they land on, or touch, is cursed with that very same black magic...

After waking up in a hospital bed, and finally making her way home, Lace knows that she needs to apologize to Cluck, thank him, and then figure out a way for him to get rid of the feather marking he left behind on her. If anyone in her family sees this feather traced onto her skin, she knows they will force her to leave.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the book, I mean...I did read the entire thing in a day!

I do have to say, that I was a bit worried The Weight of Feathers would be too similar to Romeo and Juliet, and follow the same basic outline. But after only a few chapters, I quickly began to realize that this wouldn't be an issue. 

These two families aren't just any traveling performers; while the Corbeaus grow black feathers out their hair, the Palomas each have a marking on their skin. I simply assumed that these families would walk tight ropes, and perform circus acts, but BOY was I wrong! Also the connection between the two families, and what truly caused this entire feud, was not only totally unexpected, but also amazing!

I honestly can't say there was ever a dull moment in this book. Every page and every chapter included new information about the two rivaling families, and new scenes from Cluck and Lace. What I also really enjoyed was that Cluck and Lace never turned one another, they stayed true to who they are, and what they believed and felt. They didn't let some old stories, and their family members get in their way. 

I enjoyed The Weight of Feather, very much! I do wish, however, that Cluck would have knocked one over Dax a LONG time ago, instead of just taking his beatings. But I was also very proud of him when he actually did!

If The Weight of Feathers isn't on your TBR list, it should be! This story is the perfect modern spin on Romeo and Juliet!