Stacking the Shelves [14]

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's a great way to show other people the books that you've bought or received for the past week.

Excluding Faking Normal and Maybe One Day, Here are the books I received for review the past 3 months. (Yes, the last time I put up an StS post was January. So much for New Year's resolutions...) All of these are 2014 titles which have been released recently or will be out pretty soon, and the aim is to read and review all of these by the end of June! (Good luck to me!)

Dead Silent by Sharon Jones

Wings by Elizabeth Richards

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

Tease by Amanda Maciel

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas

The Last Best Kiss by Claire LaZebnik

Pretty Sly by Elisa Ludwig

Three by Kristen Simmons

Rock War by Robert Muchamore

(not pictured) Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Thank you to Hachette UK, Tor Teen, Abrams and Chronicle UK, Jennifer Brown, Becca Fitzpatrick, Harper Collins International, and National Bookstore!

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release Date: February 25, 2014

Published by: Harlequin Teen

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One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

THOUGHTS:

I've read my fair share of Jennifer L. Armentrout books (and we all know she has a ton - I'm starting to think that she writes even while she's sleeping or something), but I wouldn't exactly call them favorites. They're entertaining enough, sure, but I've always thought that they lacked a little something that would put them well above the pack. Despite all this, however, I was really excited to read White Hot Kiss. A fair share of bloggers whom I follow have all professed their undying love for it and proclaimed it as the best book JLA has written so far, and as a result, I had to see whether that was true. Also, the premise is nothing short of enticing - demons? gargoyles? wardens? Yup, I was pretty much sold.

And... I think this is one of the few times wherein I book I read has lived up to all the hype surrounding it. Also, yes, I do think that White Hot Kiss is indeed JLA's best book to date!

JLA did such an amazing job in portraying her female MC, Layla. She's likeable, a character you want to know more about, and a character you just can't help but root for. Layla is half Warden and half-demon, but because she was raised amongst Wardens, (and demons are the Wardens' sworn enemies), Layla was taught to hate half of who she is. Can you imagine that - being raised to hate half of who you are? She was taught to embrace only her Warden half and does everything that she can to stamp out the demon blood running through her veins. Also, despite living with the Wardens all her life, she is, and will always be, considered an outsider. She is ostracized, ignored, and openly considered to be dangerous by the very people she has known all her life. Not only is Layla going through the normal identity crisis that all teens experience, she is also struggling to find out which side of herself she should embrace. Should she continue living as a Warden, or should she give her demon half a chance?

The plot mostly centered around Layla and her search for acceptance, as well as her desire to belong somewhere. All her life, she considered herself a Warden. She has helped kill demons for years now, and her closest ally, Zayne, is a Warden too. While Layla's home life isn't exactly full of sunshine and roses, she's always had Zayne by her side so when Zayne starts to seemingly have no time for her anymore, Layla feels more alone than ever. Not only that, Layla also realizes that there are now demons who seem to know who she is and who want to kill her. All in all, Layla is confused, lost, and alone... and suddenly, here comes a demon named Roth who not only saves her, but also introduces her to everything she was forced to hate in the past.

Roth is everything that Layla was taught to be afraid of, and at the same time, he was what the Wardens were trained to kill. At the same time, however, Roth is also the only guy Layla currently knows that she won't accidentally kill should she kiss him. Ho-hum! The way the romance between Roth and Layla played out is classic Armentrout - the chemistry is definitely there (and believe me, the chemistry is all sorts of intense), and Roth's sharp retorts and witty one-liners sure do keep things interesting. What I liked most about White Hot Kiss' romance angle was how Roth continuously teaches Layla that things aren't quite black and white, and that nothing is as simple as it ever seems. He encourages her to embrace absolutely everything about herself, and to ultimately embrace her strength and her special abilities.

And because I feel like this review won't be complete if I don't say it... Roth is hott. (Yes, with an extra T. Borrowing this bit from Wendy Higgins' Sweet Evil!)

The story was well-paced. It was action-packed, yes, but that didn't distract from Layla's search for acceptance and belongingness, which I consider the biggest plot point of the book. As I have previously mentioned, I also love the romance and how it complements Layla's journey. The world building was spot on. I didn't have the chance to read the prequel, Bitter Sweet Love, before I started White Hot Kiss but Armentrout's world was easy to soak in and get lost into. I can't wait for JLA to explore this world more in the succeeding books of this series!

Perhaps the one thing that I'm a bit iffy about is how JLA is setting up a love triangle between Layla, Roth, and Zayne. Don't get me wrong - I love Layla's relationship with Zayne. I love the easy camaraderie they share, and I just adore how comfortable they are with each other. Heck, I even love how JLA portrayed Layla's love for Zayne. It was genuine, and in those scenes, you really feel for Layla. Anyway, as I was saying, throughout the book, Layla struggles through her feelings for Zayne, which she assumes to be romantic love, but I believe otherwise. I really wish that JLA can just focus on the friendship developed for a good number of years between the two, instead of making everyone go "Team Roth!" or "Team Zayne!"

All in all, White Hot Kiss surprised me... in a good way. This is one JLA book that definitely deserves that 'favorite' label!

Rating: 4 Stars

[Blog Tour: Author Interview] Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen

 Title: Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy #1)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Release Date: April 1, 2014

Published by: Strange Chemistry

Goodreads | The Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

To celebrate the upcoming release of Stolen Songbird, I have Danielle on the blog today for a quick interview:

Please describe Stolen Songbird in five words.

Magic, intrigue, romance, adventure, and mystery

Can you please tell us about the research you had to do prior to (or maybe while) writing this novel?

I don’t do any research before I start writing, but I do spend quite a bit of time on Google once I’ve got the story going. Obviously I spent a bit of time thinking about existing troll mythology, but I also spent a lot of time looking into the properties of certain plants for Cécile’s witchy scenes. There are places in the novel that are based on the real world, so I looked up a lot of images for inspiration. My preference is to go back and edit or fill in research-based information after I’ve got the story itself down, because forcing those sorts of details in while I’m drafting often stifles my creative process. Which probably means that it’s a good thing I write fantasy and not historical fiction!

Please tell us more about this magical world that you created.

The bulk of the novel takes place in Trollus, which is the trolls’ city, if you hadn’t guessed from its super creative name ;-) Five hundred years prior to when the novel begins, Trollus was buried by a mountain that was split in half, and only the trolls’ magic kept everything from being crushed. So the city is effectively in a cave, and it’s surrounded by a labyrinth of rock where some nasty creatures called the sluag live.

I've read my fair share of fantasy novels, but I have to admit that this is the first time I've encountered a book wherein the main characters are trolls or part-trolls. What made you decide to write about them?

I was actually inspired to write the story by a dream I had about the setting. The trolls came into being when I started thinking about what sort of creatures would populate such a place, and they really grew and developed as the story went along. They are quite a bit different from the trolls of LoTR or Harry Potter, but hopefully people appreciate my spin on them.

What can we expect from this series? 

My goal was to write a trilogy with a balance of political intrigue, romance, and adventure. If readers are entertained by the story and care about the characters then I consider my mission accomplished.