"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

Title: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
Author: Stephanie Oakes
Publisher: Dial/Penguin, 400 Pages (June 9th, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: With a harrowing poetic voice, this contemporary page-turner is perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, Julie Berry's All The Truth That's in Me, and the works of Ellen Hopkins.

The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust.

And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too.

Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it's clear that Minnow knows something—but she's not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of—if she’s willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow By is a hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in oneself.

Title: Between Us and the Moon
Author: Rebecca Maizel
Publisher: Harper Teen, 384 Pages (June 30th, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: A luminous young adult novel that evokes Judy Blume’s Forever for a new generation.

Ever since Sarah was born, she’s lived in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Scarlett. But this summer on Cape Cod, she’s determined to finally grow up. Then she meets gorgeous college boy Andrew. He sees her as the girl she wants to be. A girl who’s older than she is. A girl like Scarlett.

Before she knows what’s happened, one little lie has transformed into something real. And by the end of August, she might have to choose between falling in love, and finding herself.

Fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins are destined to fall for this story about how life and love are impossible to predict.

*covers are always subject to change.

Title: Promise Me This (Between Breaths #4)
Author: Christina Lee
Publisher: Penguin/InterMix (October 7th, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, iTunes

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: A new love will test the boundaries of passion between a privileged boy next door and the tattooed, blue-haired girl who helps him embrace his wild side...

Nate has developed quite a playboy reputation around campus. It's not that he doesn't respect or trust women; he doesn't trust himself. The men in Nate’s family are prone to abusive behavior—a dirty secret that Nate’s been running from his entire life—so Nate doesn't do relationships. But he can’t help himself around one girl…

Jessie is strong, independent, and works at a tattoo parlor. Nate can’t resist getting close to her, even if it’s strictly a friendship. But it doesn't take long for Nate to admit that what he wants with Jessie is more than just friendly.

With Jessie, he can be himself and explore what he’s always felt was a terrifying darkness inside him. Even when Nate begins to crave her in a way that both shocks and horrifies him, Jessie still wants to know every part of him. Testing their boundaries together will take a trust that could render them inseparable… or tear them apart.

About the Author:

Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys. She's addicted to lip gloss, salted caramel everything, and believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.

Find Christina Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY!!!

CLICK TO ENTER >>>> a Rafflecopter giveaway

Title: A Vault of Sins (Chaos Theory #2)
Author: Sarah Harian
Publisher: Penguin/Intermix, 257 Pages (September 16th 2014)
Genres: Dystopia, New Adult
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Kobo

Check out my review for: The Wicked We Have Done (Chaos Theory #1) By: Sarah Harian

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: In her stunning New Adult debut, The Wicked We Have Done, Sarah Harian introduced readers to the Compass Room: a twisted experimental jail where the guilty and the innocent suffer alike. But breaking out was only the beginning…

Even though she’s escaped, twenty-two-year-old Evalyn Ibarra is anything but free. She’s desperate to return to a life that no longer exists, but prying reporters continually draw her back into nightmarish memories, using the tabloids to vilify her. Bad press is the last thing she needs during the trial of the year: the case that she and her fellow survivors staked against the Compass Room engineers. A case that could terminate the use of the inhumane system forever…

But in her dreams, she is still locked in that terrifying jail.

When she wakes, someone is trying to communicate with her in secret, through strange and intricate clues. As Evalyn follows their signs, she uncovers a conspiracy that goes so much deeper than her own ordeal. A dangerous intrigue that only she can bring to light. One that will force her to work with the one person she doesn’t want to see.

The person who owns her heart…

Excerpt:

In my dream, I’m alone.
The forest swells up all around me, warm and dark and moist. It’s a cocoon of comfort, if I didn’t know better. This is always the worst part of the dream—the feeling of entrapment, of loneliness. I’m lying on the ground, the underbrush of the woods spidering over my body, and I smell the Compass Room again. The wood fire, the soil, the sweat—and the blood, permeating above all the other odors.
It’s always night in the dream-Compass Room. Fog rolls through the air, thick enough to taste.
I hear the other candidates. Tanner and Jace scream the loudest. Shrieks of anguish, like their flesh is slowly being ripped from their bones. I shut my eyes to wait it out because I know that I can’t save them.
But then I hear Casey.
The underbrush ropes me to the ground, growing tighter as I twist and writhe, trying to free myself to get to him. His voice rips the night in half, and I scream to match his, back arching off the earth, the entire forest shattering into a thousand sharp pieces.
I jerk awake, lying on my back with my hand pressed to my chest, waiting for my heart to stop pounding. I inhale the cold air of my living room and hold it in my lungs as the terror dissipates. It’s like waiting for a brain freeze to end. I get up, flipping on all the light switches in the silent house, checking the shadowy corners for dream monsters.
Not dream monsters. Illusions. Nick or Meghan, a Compass Room test crawling from the darkness. There’s nothing in the house, but of course there wouldn’t be.
I peel back the curtain in the living room. Fingers of the dark trees sway back and forth with the wind and I want to throw up my heart. I let the curtain fall back into place, rush to the kitchen, and take a long pull from the tequila bottle. The good tequila bottle.
Returning to the living room, I flop back onto the bed.
The woods in my dreams are thick, always lurking with Compass Room devils. The woods around my home are nothing more than a scattering of sad little trees, but my mind doesn’t care.
Gemma and the division thought they erased Compass Room C from existence, but they can’t. It’s everywhere.

About the Author: 

Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite and received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Fresno State University. When not writing, she is usually hiking some mountain or another in the Sierras, playing video games with her husband, or rough-housing with her dog.

Find Sarah Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY!!!

Prize: Eight winners will receive their choice of one of the following New Adult Scifi/Fantasy ebook titles (INTL):

DARK SACRIFICE, DARK PARADISE, or DARK REDEMPTION by Angie Sandro
CARRIER by Anne Tibbets
THE STAR THIEF or ATHENA'S ASHES by Jamie Grey
THE WORLD WITHOUT A FUTURE or THE HORDE WITHOUT END by Nazarea Andrews
KING HALL or KING CAVE by Scarlett Dawn

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Title: Promise Me This (Between Breaths #4)
Author: Christina Lee
Publisher: Penguin/InterMix (October 7th, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, iTunes

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: A new love will test the boundaries of passion between a privileged boy next door and the tattooed, blue-haired girl who helps him embrace his wild side...

Nate has developed quite a playboy reputation around campus. It's not that he doesn't respect or trust women; he doesn't trust himself. The men in Nate’s family are prone to abusive behavior—a dirty secret that Nate’s been running from his entire life—so Nate doesn't do relationships. But he can’t help himself around one girl…

Jessie is strong, independent, and works at a tattoo parlor. Nate can’t resist getting close to her, even if it’s strictly a friendship. But it doesn't take long for Nate to admit that what he wants with Jessie is more than just friendly.

With Jessie, he can be himself and explore what he’s always felt was a terrifying darkness inside him. Even when Nate begins to crave her in a way that both shocks and horrifies him, Jessie still wants to know every part of him. Testing their boundaries together will take a trust that could render them inseparable… or tear them apart.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all these covers and this is another great one!!! 

About the Author:

Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys. She's addicted to lip gloss, salted caramel everything, and believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.

Find Christina Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Title: A Vault of Sins (Chaos Theory #2)
Author: Sarah Harian
Publisher: Intermix/Penguin, (September 2014)
Genres: New Adult, Thriller
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK

Check out my review of: The Wicked We Have Done (Chaos Theory #1) By: Sarah Harian

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: In her stunning New Adult debut, The Wicked We Have Done, Sarah Harian introduced readers to the Compass Room: a twisted experimental jail where the guilty and the innocent suffer alike. But breaking out was only the beginning…

Even though she’s escaped, twenty-two-year-old Evalyn Ibarra is anything but free. She’s desperate to return to a life that no longer exists, but prying reporters continually draw her back into nightmarish memories, using the tabloids to vilify her. Bad press is the last thing she needs during the trial of the year: the case that she and her fellow survivors staked against the Compass Room engineers. A case that could terminate the use of the inhumane system forever…

But in her dreams, she is still locked in that terrifying jail.

When she wakes, someone is trying to communicate with her in secret, through strange and intricate clues. As Evalyn follows their signs, she uncovers a conspiracy that goes so much deeper than her own ordeal. A dangerous intrigue that only she can bring to light. One that will force her to work with the one person she doesn’t want to see.
>The person who owns her heart…

Can't wait to find out what's going to happen next with Evalyn and Casey!!! Really looking forward to their continued story.

About the Author: 

Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite and received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Fresno State University. When not writing, she is usually hiking some mountain or another in the Sierras, playing video games with her husband, or rough-housing with her dog.

Find Sarah Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

US Cover

Title: The Wicked We Have Done (Chaos Theory #1)
Author: Sarah Harian
Publisher: US: Penguin/InterMix Books, 272 Pages (March 18th 2014) UK: Headline 272 Pages (March 18th 2014)
From: the UK Publisher (Hardline)
Format: eARC
Add to: US Goodreads | UK Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: Evalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice.

If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent.

Locked up with nine notorious and potentially psychotic criminals, Evalyn must fight the prison and dismantle her past to stay alive. But the system prized for accuracy appears to be killing at random.

She doesn’t plan on making friends.

She doesn’t plan on falling in love, either.

Review: 4 Stars - The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian gives convicted killers in prison a way to redeem themselves in a twisted, creepy and dangerous experimental month long sentence called the Compass Room.

Evalyn is your everyday college student. Until she's not. Until she's charged as being a terrorist and hated by everyone inside and outside prison. She's given a choice which she accepts. Spend a month in the Compass Room and if she survives she'll be deemed innocent.

Wow, where to even start with this one. It's told in past and present tense so you don't really know Evalyn's whole story until much later in the book. That's one part that I was most eager to learn because   I felt as she was just giving up way too easy. I never had the feeling that she was in fact guilty only that she felt extremely guilty because of events that unfolded throughout the flashbacks of her story.

The prisoners she's put into the Compass room with are all murders. However none of them or their stories are alike. Some are just wrong and horrible through and through while others feel awful and remorseful for what they had done.

There are plenty of times throughout reading that I was extremely creeped out. Once while reading in the middle of the night, in a dark room by Kindle light I had to stop because I was that freaked out. Harian's writing was often gory and very visual and the Compass Room is no joke. However one thing.. it felt reminiscent of The Hunger Games, if only slightly it was still there. The story and characters are completely different however once you start putting groups of people together who have to struggle to survive and when maybe only one or two people might come out alive... it's easy to get that feeling.

While it does have a slight Hunger Games feel there's so much more to the story because of the backgrounds we learn about for these prisoners. A few of them I felt my heart break for because of what lead them to the place they found themselves in. Which might sound weird, but a person can only survive so much abuse before they snap in one way or another.

There is a bit of a love story woven into the nightmare that is the Compass room. It's not a typical story yet there was something about Evelyn and how she looked at herself and the people around her she's forced to deal with as they go through their tests to see who survives. That made me like her some of the time and be frustrated with her other times. She's carrying around so much guilt, you can't help but feel horrible for her once you reach her beginning.

I felt that the ending was somewhat abrupt yet upon learning that there will be a second book, I can somewhat understand it. And while this is a “New Adult” title I believe that with the touch of horror and all the gore it should without a doubt be read by an older audience. If you like reading a story with a touch of darkness, something that might just creep you out, with interesting characters... even though they are all murders and an insane take on the prison/justice system then look no further! I for one will be on the look out for the next title, I really can't wait to see what happens next. Happy Reading!

UK Cover

Today, I'm helping to reveal the cover for Melissa West’s upcoming NA contemporary romance, Pieces of Olivia!!

Title: Pieces of Olivia
Author: Melissa West
Publisher: Penguin/InterMix, (July 15, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Order one of Melissa's books online here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: Olivia Warren used to be a normal girl with a bright future. But on one fated night, everything changed.

Hiding the scars of her past up her sleeves, Olivia transfers her enrollment from Columbia University to The College of Charleston, determined to pursue her own dreams for the first time in her life.

She intends to allow herself a bit of alone time to heal... that is, until she meets Preston.

Preston is best friends with her roommate, completely hot, and off-limits.  But the chemistry between them is instantaneous—and as the pair begins to spend more time with one another, their feelings for each other build into something undeniable, something powerful enough to heal Olivia’s deepest scars.

Olivia tries to put her own past behind her and trust Preston, but she discovers that his past might be more present than she ever bargained for…

Excerpt:

          His eyes swept over my face, and I knew what was about to happen. I could see the resolve in his face. Feel the swift change in the air as the charge between us sparked. He leaned toward me, his eyes never leaving mine.
          “I’m not going to kiss you,” I whispered.
          “I didn’t ask.”
          “Preston, we…”
          He tucked my hair behind my ear and moved still closer. “I can’t promise anything. I have nothing in me to promise, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try.”
          I swallowed, feeling the walls around me crumbling down.
          “Let me be what you need.”
          My breath caught, the fight in me diminishing with each spoken word. What was I so afraid of? I reached out, gliding my fingertips over his face and into his hair. Briefly, I thought of how often I’d dreamt of touching his hair, and then his mouth was on mine, and all thought was gone, except him and us and this moment. His lips took control, first soft and careful, and then full of urgency and need. Every unspoken word, every missed opportunity, was pushed into that single kiss.
          Preston laid me back on the sofa, his body warm and inviting. My fingers gripped his hair, pulling him closer, and he left my lips, kissing a trail down my chin to my neck. A soft moan of pleasure escaped my lips, and he thrust his hips against mine in answer to my ache. Our bodies moved together, our clothes the only thing keeping us from taking this further.
          I tugged his chin up so his lips were back on mine, the kiss growing to a frenzy of passion. His hand slid under the edge of my shirt, gliding over my stomach, before finding my breast. He groaned with pleasure, and I reached down to take his shirt off, eager to touch his impeccably toned chest and stomach. Preston slipped his shirt off and gripped mine, his intentions clear, when reality yanked me from pleasure and threw me into a sea of painful thoughts. I remembered my scars, Preston’s expression when he’d gotten a glimpse of them through my shirt at the pier. I shook my head, feeling myself tumbling deeper into sadness and farther from the moment.
          Preston glanced down at me. “We can stop.”
          “No.”
          “Olivia, you don’t have to—”
          I bit my lip, forcing myself to push away the fear and sadness and guilt that riddled my mind and peered back at him. “I don’t want to take my shirt off.”
          “Okay,” he whispered.
          “And I don’t want you judging that I don’t want to take my shirt off.”
          “Okay,” he repeated. I felt his heart beat against my chest, fast and sure and strong. A part of me wanted to disappear, embarrassed and ashamed that I’d yet again shown Preston Riggs just how crazy I was deep inside. But another part, a greater part, felt a surge of happiness that he’d stayed. He knew that I was broken and scarred and more than a little crazy, yet still, he didn’t run. He stayed.

About the Author:

Melissa West writes young adult and new adult novels for Entangled Teen and Embrace and Penguin/InterMix. She lives outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two daughters and spends most of her time writing, reading, or fueling her coffee addiction.

She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and a M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.

Connect with Melissa at www.melissawestauthor.com or on Twitter @MB_West.

Find Melissa Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

 

Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor. He's irresistible. Tattooed. And a virgin.

Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she's perfectly happy single. Privy to too many of her mother's bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes.

When she meets smoking hot tattoo artist Bennett, she wants him—for just one night. But he won't accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing.

Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Way more. As Avery wrestles with her emotions for Bennett, danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other. And Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too.

So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in.

 Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ B&N

********************

A sexy, emotional New Adult romance about a bad boy on the edge and a good girl about to lose control…

The star catcher of the college baseball team isn't supposed to have skeletons in his closet. But Daniel Quinn is hiding a guilty past so dark he refuses to let anyone get close. Except there’s something about gorgeous, studious Ella Abrams that goes beyond the electric attraction between them—something that makes him want to open up.

Ella has suffered enough heartache and guilt to fill one of her psychology textbooks, but she keeps that part of herself hidden behind a bubbly exterior. Until she receives an anonymous call while working the suicide helpline and the voice on the other end touches something inside of her that she can’t ignore.

Soon Ella and Quinn’s physical connection heats up, even as their deep and revealing hotline talks intensify. But by the time Ella realizes that her seductive jock and her sensitive caller are the same guy, it might be too late to save him—or to stop herself from falling too far.

*A companion novel to ALL OF YOU

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ B&N

********************
 

 

A hot and consuming New Adult romance about a wayward musician and the one girl who keeps him grounded…

At college, Rachel has a reputation for being a sarcastic flirt with a thing for star athletes. No one at school knows that she’d had her heart ripped to shreds by her high school sweetheart, who’d driven them both off the side of the road on a borrowed motorcycle, and then abandoned her. No one knows the real Rachel Mattson—except one person…

Ever since he helped nurse his sister’s feisty best friend back to health, pierced bass player Kai Nakos has been head over heels in love. But the supposed bad boy can’t risk letting Rachel know the truth—especially now that the two of them are back in their hometown for the summer, together for the first time since the months following that fateful night. Never mind that Rachel’s ex is back, groveling for her forgiveness.

Shaken by her ex’s return, Rachel finds herself turning to the one guy she knows she can trust. Kai is willing to hide his feelings for her, just to have Rachel touch him again. After all, this is only a temporary fling. Until it becomes something more. But maybe it had been more all along.

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ B&N

Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys.

She's addicted to lip gloss and salted caramel everything. She believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.

NA Contemporary Romance ALL OF YOU, out now (Penguin/InterMix). BEFORE YOU BREAK in February and WHISPER TO ME in May, 2014. Repped by Sara Megibow.


Also the creator of Tags-n-Stones (dot com) jewelry.

Jewelry ~ Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

Join us September 20th 2014 at 11 AM for one of the biggest author events to hit New Rochelle, NY! 

The day will be filled with a book signing, parties, giveaways, and more! 

Author Jennifer L. Armentrout will be your host for the evening and TrinDee Events your co-host!

For a full list of featured authors visit: http://www.cbcevent.com/p/authors.html

This event will be held at FunFuzin, an indoor amusement park in New Roc City: http://www.newroccity.com

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW:

 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/chapter-by-chapter-bookrave-tickets-8923431223

"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.


Title: Best Kind of Broken (Finding Fate #1)
Author: Chelsea Fine
Publisher: Forever, 226 Pages (March 4th, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+

Synopsis: New Adult Romance

Pixie and Levi haven't spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are... awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they're forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

(70,000 words)

Title: The Wicked We Have Done (Chaos Theory #1)
Author: Sarah Harian
Publisher: Penguin/InterMix Books, 272 Pages (March 18th, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Evalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice.

If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent.

Locked up with nine notorious and potentially psychotic criminals, Evalyn must fight the prison and dismantle her past to stay alive. But the system prized for accuracy appears to be killing at random.

She doesn’t plan on making friends.

She doesn’t plan on falling in love, either.

Title: Nearly Gone
Author: Elle Cosimano
Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books, 388 Pages (March 25th, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Bones meets Fringe in a big, dark, scary, brilliantly-plotted urban thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end.

Nearly Boswell knows how to keep secrets. Living in a DC trailer park, she knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with her classmates. Like her mother's job as an exotic dancer, her obsession with the personal ads, and especially the emotions she can taste when she brushes against someone's skin. But when a serial killer goes on a killing spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the newspaper that only Nearly can decipher, she confides in the one person she shouldn't trust: the new guy at school—a reformed bad boy working undercover for the police, doing surveillance. . . on her.

Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn't figure it all out soon—she'll be next.

Another three books this week. And I picked some that are about to release which is always great when you don't have much longer to wait for a book. One YA and Two "New Adult" this time around. We have childhood best friends who can't stand each other... or? And two that deal with killers, a deadly obstacle coarse, secrets and so much more. YES PLEASE to all THREE!

What do you think of this weeks picks? If you had a chance to read one now, which one would you choose and why?

*covers are always subject to change.

Title: Rift (Nightshade Prequel #1)
Author: Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel, 431 Pages (August 7th, 2012)
From: the Publisher
Format: ARC
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis: Chronicling the rise of the Keepers, this is the stunning prequel to Andrea Cremer's internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Sixteen-year-old Ember Morrow is promised to a group called Conatus after one of their healers saves her mother's life. Once she arrives, Ember finds joy in wielding swords, learning magic, and fighting the encroaching darkness loose in the world. She also finds herself falling in love with her mentor, the dashing, brooding, and powerful Barrow Hess. When the knights realize Eira, one of their leaders, is dabbling in dark magic, Ember and Barrow must choose whether to follow Eira into the nether realm or to pledge their lives to destroying her and her kind.

Review: 5 Stars - Rift by Andrea Cremer is a prequel to her Nightshade series and tells how Keepers originated. In a world filled with magic, good and bad, it’s a thrillingly adventurous story rich in history set back in a time when fathers married off their daughters to men & nobles from faraway places in the hopes of gaining them land and wealth. Our female protagonist Ember is different and wants something more for her life than being married off.

With a debt called in to her parents to claim Ember for a promise made long ago, she’s thrilled for the chance to leave and be on her way - far away from her father and maybe get a chance to fulfill what she wants for herself. She’s strong, loyal and fights hard for what she believes in. She questions things as they come along and works through them to the best of her abilities. While reading I had a chance to watch her grow. Ember had a lot to learn in a short amount of time, all the while dealing with the many changes that she was now facing in the world. All that she thought she knew has changed in the blink of an eye.

And then we have Barrow… oh, Barrow he’s such strength in the story. Strong and loyal as Ember is and a good support he takes fighting for what he believes in to a whole new level. He took Ember under his wing and taught her so much about the new world she was now living in and fighting for.

 In my eyes Barrow and Ember fit together really well and complemented each other time and time again. I enjoyed the interaction between these two and looked forward to their moments together.

Overall Rift was a book that I just couldn’t put down. I was riveted to the world that was rich in lore and characters that I couldn’t get enough of. The writing was just the right pace and I often couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! This is one of the best books I’ve read this year I am beyond excited and eager to read the next book in the prequel to Cremers’ previous trilogy. 

Don't forget to check out the giveaway to enter to win a SIGNED copy of RIFT!

Click >>>HERE<<< To enter!

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.