QUOTES: The Flame Nerver Dies by Rachel Vincent Pre-Release Blitz + Giveaway!

I am super excited to be a part of this pre-release blitz to help spread the word that THE FLAME NEVER DIES, the second book in Rachel Vincent’s The Stars Never Rise series, is releasing on August 16th!

For those that are already caught up on this series, the wait is (almost) finally over! For those that haven’t yet met Nina Kane or discovered the dark and dangerous world she lives in, there’s still time to catch up - and a really sweet deal (details below) that will make you want to move this series to the top of your reading pile!

Scroll down to learn more about THE FLAME NEVER DIES and THE STARS NEVER RISE, the author, Rachel Vincent, and to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a signed hardback set of these two amazing books!

And for even more peeks at the fab content being shared throughout the blitz - shareable quotation graphics and excerpts - look for other blogger participants now through August 15th on social media #TheFlameNeverDies.

AND...

THE STARS NEVER RISE goes on sale!

In anticipation of the upcoming release of THE FLAME NEVER DIES, the publisher is dropping the price for the eBook version of the first book in the series - THE STARS NEVER RISE! So if you haven’t yet discovered this series, now is the perfect time!

Just head over to your favorite online e-tailer to look for THE STARS NEVER RISE with its newly lowered price or visit one of these online stores: 

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO.

Please note that at the time of this post some stores may not yet have updated their sites to the promotional pricing. If they haven’t, be sure to check back for this awesome not-to-be-missed deal!

About THE FLAME NEVER DIES

 THE FLAME NEVER DIES (The Stars Never Rise #2)

by Rachel Vincent

August 16, 2016

Delacorte Press

352 pgs

Hardcover, eBook

For fans of Cassandra Clare and Richelle Mead comes the unputdownable sequel to The Stars Never Rise, a book Rachel Caine, author of the bestselling Morganville Vampires series, called “haunting, unsettling, and eerily beautiful.”

ONE SPARK WILL RISE. Nina Kane was born to be an exorcist. And since uncovering the horrifying truth—that the war against demons is far from over—seventeen-year-old Nina and her pregnant younger sister, Mellie, have been on the run, incinerating the remains of the demon horde as they go.

In the badlands, Nina, Mellie, and Finn, the fugitive and rogue exorcist who saved her life, find allies in a group of freedom fighters. They also face a new threat: Pandemonia, a city full of demons. But this fresh new hell is the least of Nina’s worries. The well of souls ran dry more than a century ago, drained by the demons secretly living among humans, and without a donor soul, Mellie’s child will die within hours of its birth.

Nina isn’t about to let that happen . . . even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | INDIEBOUND | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO | GOODREADS

Quotes from THE FLAME NEVER DIES

Check out just a few of the ahhh-mazing quotes from THE FLAME NEVER DIES! Feel free to grab and share them on your blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other social media outlet using #TheFlameNeverDies!

About Rachel Vincent

Rachel Vincent is a former English teacher and an eager champion of the Oxford comma. She shares her home in Oklahoma with two cats, two teenagers, and her husband, who’s been her # 1 fan from the start. Rachel is older than she looks and younger than she feels, and she remains convinced that writing about the things that scare her is the cheapest form of therapy—but social media is a close second.

WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER | TUMBLR | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

About THE STARS NEVER RISE

THE STARS NEVER RISE (The Stars Never Rise #1)

Rachel Vincent

June 9, 2015

Delacorte Press

368 pgs

Hardcover, paperback, eBook***

***See above for details on the promotional pricing of the eBook

Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | INDIEBOUND | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO | GOODREADS

The Giveaway

Courtesy of the author, there is a blitz-wide giveaway for…

• ONE (1) winner will receive a SIGNED hardback set of THE STARS NEVER RISE + THE FLAME NEVER DIES

Giveaway is US only. Must be 13 or older to enter. Giveaway ends on August 14th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Enter in the Rafflecopter below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Top Ten Tuesday (43)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists there at The Broke and the Bookish. They'd love us to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of their bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on their post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share.  If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. 

The topic this week is:

Top Ten Romantic Quotes from YA Books

In honor of Valentine's Day, this week is a freebie, but with a romantic (or anti-romantic) twist.

I love a good quote, so I am rounding up 10 of my favorite romantic/beautiful YA quotes for you!

1. “The words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesl would hold them in her hands like clouds, and she would ring them out like the rain.” —Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
   
   
2. “On that cold night in January it all slipped into place for me and she became my everything and my everyone. My music, my sun, my words, my logic, my confusion, my flaw.” —Julie Murphy, Side Effects May Vary
   
   
3. “There's only one of him, she thought, and he's right here.  He knows I'll like a song before I've heard it. He laughs before I even get to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes me want to let him open doors for me.  There's only one of him." ―Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
   
   
4. “And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn’t matter.–Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
   
   
5. “This is what love does: It makes you want to rewrite the world. It makes you want to choose the characters, build the scenery, guide the plot. The person you love sits across from you, and you want to do everything in your power to make it possible, endlessly possible. And when it’s just the two of you, alone in a room, you can pretend that this is how it is, this is how it will be.” –David Levithan, Every Day
   
   
6. “She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.” –Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
   
   
7. “It’s like being in love, discovering your best friend.” –Elizabeth Wein, Code Name Verity
   
   
8.  "I hated him more than anything. I loved him more than anything. Because, he was everything. And I hated that, too." –Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You
   
   
9.  "In the end, it’s not the changes that break your heart; it’s that tug of familiarity." –Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
   
   Finally, I have to end with one of my favorite quotes from one of the most beautiful written books I've read:
   
   
10.  "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”–Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I know there was some doubling of books, but when the book's got good prose, whatta ya gonna do?

What are some of your favorite romantic/beautiful quotes?  Leave a comment below, or do your own post and link me!!

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Banned Books Week 2015 - The Quotes

Banned Books Week is not the only time we need to remember to fight against the banning or challenging of books.  The people protesting the book certainly don't wait for a certain season, and neither should book defenders!

Here are some great quotes to keep in mind all year round when fighting the good fight!

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A Revealing Haul

I am so excited to own this box set!  I know it may seem ridiculous to some people, as I already own copies of all these books (in some cases two already), but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to 1) get Karen Kavett's amazing box design; 2) two of the covers are the new paperback editions in hardcover!  Also, it didn't hurt that John signed the copies of Looking for Alaska (sans candle!) and The Fault in Our Stars (with matching blue sharpie!).

You can still purchase the box set, but I believe all the signed editions are sold out.  Bummer.  You can also still order the posters; there are a couple of designs (John talks about them), but LIMITED editions are available (like the Motherfing Fox one is SOLD OUT!!), so get them asap!

DFTBA!

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Banned Books Week: The Quotes!

In honor of Banned Books Week and the fight against censorship, here are some of my favorite author quotes about reading, censorship, and books.

Let me know what your favorites are and leave them in the comments!

Also don't forget to check out the Banned Books Week Hop, and enter to win some great prizes!

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”  ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

“There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.” ― Mary Wortley Montagu

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”  ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

"[D]on’t ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that’s what they’re there for. Use your library). Don’t apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend’s copy. What’s important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read… ”  ― Neil Gaiman

“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.” 
 ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
“My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn’t have any excuse to be stupid.”  ― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…”  ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

And finally, from the classic literary standard on book burning and book censorship,
“The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They’re Caesar’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.” Most of us can’t rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends. The things you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book. Don’t ask for guarantees. And don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.”  ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

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Top Ten Tuesday (17)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. They'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of their bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

The topic this week is: Top Ten Favorite Quotes From Books

All of the quotes come from Goodreads.  The links lead to the author pages & to the quote pages, so definitely check out all the books!

“Sorry, are you telling me that your demon-slaying buddies need to be driven to their next assignment with the forces of darkness by my mom?”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

“I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I'm seeing we don't live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist.”
― David Levithan, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I don't want to lose the boy with the bread.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“What the hell is that?" I laughed.
"It's my fox hat."
"Your fox hat?"
"Yeah, Pudge. My fox hat."
"Why are you wearing your fox hat?" I asked.
"Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

“A pixie's true skin color is blue. Cookie Monster, Grover, and other lovable Muppets are also blue. Do not confuse the two. Muppets don't kill you. Usually.”
― Carrie Jones, Captivate

“Francois Rabelais. He was a poet. And his last words were "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

“It's a lie, you know, to pretend that nothing is important to you. It's hiding. Believe me, I know because I hid for a long time. But now I won't do it anymore. The truth is bioluminescent. I don't lie, and I don't waste time on people who do.”
― Ellen Wittlinger, Hard Love

“Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.
"Don’t let it worry you," said Ron. "It’s me. I’m extremely famous.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“I feel like someone breathed new air into my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless.
I am Divergent.”
― Veronica Roth, Divergent

“I love you. Remember. They cannot take it”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

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Jekell Loves Hyde (Review)

Title: Jekel Loves Hyde

Author(s): Beth Fantaskey
Edition: Hardcover, 282 pages

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Publication Date: May 3, 2010

Source: Borrowed from library

Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

The Summary

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Jill Jekel has always obeyed her parents rules; especially the one about never opening the mysterious, old box in her father's office. But when her dad is murdered, and her college savings disappear, she's tempted to peek inside, as the contents might be the key to a lucrative chemistry scholarship. 

To improve her odds, Jill enlists the help of gorgeous, brooding Tristen Hyde, who has his own dark secrets locked away. As the team of Jekel and Hyde, they recreate experiments based on the classic novel, hoping not only to win a prize, but to save Tristen's sanity. Maybe his life. But Jill's accidental taste of a formula unleashes her darkest nature and compels her to risk everything, even Tristen's love just for the thrill of being . . . bad.

(Goodreads)

My Opinion
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Jekel Loves Hyde was Beth Fantaskey's debut novel. I've previously read her sophomore book, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, which I loved. Because Jekel Loves Hyde was her first book, I was expecting to love it as much as Jessica's Guide, but I was wrong! It was a strong book with a fun premise, great writing, and interesting protagonists!

The premise of a modern day Jekyll and Hyde was enticing, especially done in a Young Adult context.  The original is probably one of my favorite stories from Robert Louis Stevenson due to it's dark tones and investigation of the duality of human nature (did I get a little too English Lit. major there? Sorry).  Fantaskey takes both of these elements and puts them into a context familiar to teens: high school.

As with most books that I love, the characters are really what seals the deal.  The struggle that Tristen goes through is well-crafted, and heart-breaking.  The mix between teenager and otherworldly being is great.  As you read you can feel the pain, and that is so important to the story.  He is the strongest personality-wise between the two, but Jill still stands out on her own.  Fantaskey did an excellent job crafting Jill and Tristen, allowing the reader right into their psyche, where much of the anguish takes place.

I felt there was something a little lacking in plot.  There was a lot of convenient happenstances, but the characterization was able to glass over the more obvious ones making the book enjoyable.  I think when dealing with something so popular within the literature world sometimes it's hard to create your own story, but that is one area which Fantaskey hit it perfectly.  The spot on characters and the attention to detail really bolstered the whole book and made it great.

Overall, I think Jekel Loves Hyde was a fantastic paranormal romance.  I really loved the re-interpretation of a classic story, especially one that hasn't been done a million times.  Tackling something like this for a debut book was brave, and it definitely paid off.  Beth Fantaskey was able to throw me into a world of sinister evil, moral questioning, and hopeful love, and it was a great journey!

Extras

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Quote from Jekel Loves Hyde

“On the stage Tristen bent over the piano, his fingers swift and sure, his blond hair gleaming under the spotlight. I glanced around at the audience, watching their faces, gratified that they were as captivated as I was by the dark, thunderous song that Tristen conjured.” - Jill Jekel

Final Rating

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Book Cover: 4/5

Book Title: 4/5

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 9/10

Writing: 9/10

Ending: 9/10

Overall: 43/50: B

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