April New Release Giveaway!

Welcome to the April New Release Giveaway, hosted by Librarian Lavender and It Starts At Midnight! The hop runs from now through until midnight on April 30 2015. Up for grabs is any new release this month up to the value of $22 from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here.

All you have to do is leave a comment including your choice of book published in April (you can change your mind later!) and a way of contacting you - email, Twitter etc.

Check out the list here to find more blogs taking part in the giveaway, thanks for entering and good luck!

Review & Giveaway: Becoming Jinn - Lori Goldstein

Becoming Jinn (Becoming Jinn #1)
by Lori Goldstein
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: April 21st 2015

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Mythology

Synopsis:

Forget everything you thought you knew about genies!

Azra has just turned sixteen, and overnight her body lengthens, her olive skin deepens, and her eyes glisten gold thanks to the brand-new silver bangle that locks around her wrist. As she always knew it would, her Jinn ancestry brings not just magical powers but the reality of a life of servitude, as her wish granting is controlled by a remote ruling class of Jinn known as the Afrit. 

To the humans she lives among, she’s just the girl working at the snack bar at the beach, navigating the fryer and her first crush. But behind closed doors, she’s learning how to harness her powers and fulfill the obligations of her destiny. 

Mentored by her mother and her Zar “sisters”, Azra discovers she may not be quite like the rest of her circle of female Jinn . . . and that her powers could endanger them all. As Azra uncovers the darker world of becoming Jinn, she realizes when genies and wishes are involved, there’s always a trick.

As the first line of the synopsis says, you might think you know everything you need to about genies but until you've read Becoming Jinn you definitely don't.

Azra is turning sixteen and this means her life as a Jinn is about to start properly. This is when she comes into her power, becomes beautiful overnight and finds a silver bangle locked around her wrist. Growing up Azra has always known she was different from her human friends but still valued them over her Zar sisters, daughters of other Jinn's that will essentially be her family. Choosing to spend time with Henry, one of the two love interests means that Azra is finding it difficult to discover her role among her Zar sisters and feels isolated by them.

Spending more and more time with Nate, another human boy from the beach where she works, Azra finds herself not only in a love triangle but torn between two cultures.

The way the Jinn lived was fascinating. Separated from husbands and fathers, away from grandmothers and former Jinn who aren't raising daughters, Azra has never known her father and lives with the possibility that if anything goes wrong the Afrit, the ruling Jinn family, could potentially split her family up forever. However, Azra isn't just any Jinn. She's special and as the book progresses makes discoveries that turn everything she has ever known on its head.

There are a great group of characters in Becoming Jinn, especially the other daughters who form Azra's Zar family. Yasmin was definitely the most interesting as she didn't particularly appear to think much of Azra and at times was a complete b**** to those around her. The only other daughter we get to really know is Laila, daughter of Azra's mother's closest friend. Laila is the youngest and the quietest of the girls but also the closest thing to a friend Azra has since losing her best friend Jenny, Henry's younger sister, after a tragic accident. I'm hoping we get to know the other three girls - Hana, Farrah and Mina, in the sequel.

On the whole I really enjoyed Becoming Jinn so can almost overlook the few things that irked me most. The biggest problem for me was the love triangle, or at least the potential love triangle. Things could go in a completely different direction in the sequel for all I know but this was a classic case of boy next door loves girl, girl has crush on different boy so boy next door moves on and girl suddenly realizes that maybe boy next door could be more. The relationship between Nate and Azra was another sticking point. It just seemed far too unrealistic and there didn't appear to be an ounce of chemistry between them but this could be my perception of it. The biggest thing that annoyed me though was that just as things were starting to get interesting the book ended, literally just ended! On one page Azra is getting ready to do something and then the next page you're reading the author acknowledgements and settling in for the long wait for the planned 2016 release of the sequel.

Becoming Jinn is a great contemporary twist on the story of the Jinn so definitely worth reading, especially if you're looking for something a bit different.

Click here for more information about the Pre-order giveaway hosted by Lori Goldstein.

Follow the Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

My debut novel, the Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy Becoming Jinn, is a modern spin on the traditional tale of wish-granting genies. It will be released on April 21, 2015, by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s. The sequel will follow in Spring 2016. I am represented by Lucy Carson of The Friedrich Agency.

Too much of my day involves chatting books, obsessing over The Vampire Diaries, and perfecting the art of efficient writing through Twitter. Find me at @loriagoldstein and follow my blog at www.lorigoldsteinbooks.com or my Tumblr at http://lorigoldsteinbooks.tumblr.com. Like my author page on Facebook for fun book-related photos, tidbits, and happenings as well as news on Becoming Jinn.

US Only & International | Must be 13 or older to enter

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Waiting On Wednesday #116 - Marked

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

Marked (The Soulseer Trilogy #1)- Sue Tingey

ISBN - 9781848668942

Publisher - Jo Fletcher Books

Release date - May 7 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

With no family and very few friends, Lucky’s psychic ability has always made her an outcast. The only person she can rely on is Kayla, the ghost girl who has been with her since she was born.

But Kayla is not all that she appears.

And when Lucky is visited by a demonic assassin with a message for her friend, she finds herself dragged into the Underlands – and the political fight for the daemon king’s throne.

Lucky, trapped in the daemon world, is determined to find her way home… until she finds herself caught between the charms of the Guardian Jamie, the charismatic Daemon of Death Jinx – and the lure of finding out who she really is...

I stumbled across this one the other day and was immediately drawn to that cover! Luckily the synopsis sounds pretty cool as well so definitely one for the wishlist. 

Bookmarked... #2

The return of the weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons :) If you want to join in check out all the links here!

So, what is Bookmarked... going to comprise of ? What I read over the previous week, what I'm planning on reading during the current week and what book-to-television/movie adaptations I've been watching!

Read Last Week

Reading This Week

Watching

GoT Season 4

Once Upon A Time Season 2

Book Haul #108, Or The One Where I Develop Vertigo...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Yes, you read that correctly. I have vertigo, quite badly in fact, thanks to a pesky ear infection and it's all I can do remain upright for long enough to do anything! The one bright point is that I can genuinely do nothing but read so there's always a silver lining :)

I've been really good this week and bought one book. And if that book hadn't been written by one of my dearest, oldest friends then I would have been purchase free. I've been waiting for this girl to get published for a long time though so absolutely had to buy a copy of Under My Skin. I've already finished it and I can highly recommend it if you're a fan of anything Gothic, YA, horror or Frankenstein. There will be a review appearing just as soon I can sit still without the world turning and/or wanting to be sick!

Bought

For Review

Ghosts of Heaven

The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath

The Dragons of Heaven

The Memory Hit

13 Days of Midnight

Challenge Update... March 2015

The end of another month so it must be time for the March challenge update! We are now one quarter of the way through the year rather scarily. Here's my reading progress and challenge updates up to and including the end of March. The challenge I'm struggling with most is the Fairy Tale Challenge, no idea why but I'm going to have to read a lot of fairy tales over the next nine months.

January Update
February Update

Goodreads Challenge

Goal -

Read at least 300 books

Total so far -

87

This puts me at 29% for the year so far and 13 books ahead of schedule.Considering we've just finished the first quarter of the year I'm really pleased that I've already met over a quarter of my final Goodreads total. I still have a bit of wiggle room if any reading slumps should hit. I also think the total for British Books Challenge is wrong but I can't figure out where... As ever, to see the list of books go here!

Fairy Tale Challenge

Hosted by Mel at the Daily Prophecy

Goal - 

Wicked Fairy Godmother Level, 21 to 25 books

Books Read -

1

British Books Challenge

Hosted by Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies

Goal - 

Read at least 12 books by British authors

Books Read

8

 2015 TBR Pile Challenge

Hosted by Evie at Bookish

Goal - 

Married With Children Level, 50+ books

Books Read

23

Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge

Hosted by Falling For YA

Goal - 

Gold Level, 50 books

Books Read

10

Waiting On Wednesday #115 - The House of Shattered Wings

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

The House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard

ISBN - 9781473212558

Publisher - Gollancz

Release date - August 20 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out – literally – of a war in Heaven.

Paris has survived the Great Magicians War – just. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation. They may be the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

I've previously read Aliette de Bodard's Obsidian and Blood series and quite enjoyed it so I'm looking forward to reading The House of Shattered Wings which sounds completely different!