THE FIRE QUEEN by Emily R. King

In the second book in The Hundredth Queen Series, Emily R. King once again follows a young warrior queen’s rise to meet her destiny in a richly imagined world of sorcery and forbidden powers.

Though the tyrant rajah she was forced to marry is dead, Kalinda’s troubles are far from over. A warlord has invaded the imperial city, and now she’s in exile. But she isn’t alone. Kalinda has the allegiance of Captain Deven Naik, her guard and beloved, imprisoned for treason and stripped of command. With the empire at war, their best hope is to find Prince Ashwin, the rajah’s son, who has promised Deven’s freedom on one condition: that Kalinda will fight and defeat three formidable opponents.

But as Kalinda’s tournament strengths are once again challenged, so too is her relationship with Deven. While Deven fears her powers, Ashwin reveres them—as well as the courageous woman who wields them. Kalinda comes to regard Ashwin as the only man who can repair a warring world and finds herself torn between her allegiance to Deven and a newly found respect for the young prince.

With both the responsibility to protect her people and the fate of those she loves weighing heavily upon her, Kalinda is forced again to compete. She must test the limits of her fire powers and her hard-won wisdom. But will that be enough to unite the empire without sacrificing all she holds dear?


 Opening line:
"Death has a stench, and it is not decaying flesh but the bitter scent of smoke clawing into my pores."

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first one! I was enthralled from the beginning and had a hard time putting the book down (I'm two hours behind in my chores!!).
Kalinda is the same brave woman we watched grow in book 1 but now she feels guilt for making bargains to save her empire and those bargains didn't quite work out.
Deven is still the devoted guard who wants to help and protect everyone.
The two are separated and a new "man" comes on the scene: Prince Ashwin. He is instantly enamored with Kali. Unfortunately for him, he looks just like his daddy who Kali killed: Turek.
There are also new friends added, who I really like, and new relationships. There was tons of palace intrigue that I thought Kali could dismiss because of who she was and how strong she is but that didn't happen. There are reasons...
I was so annoyed and frustrated with certain characters that I didn't mind when they were no longer part of the story. :)
Kali has a decision to make: be set free or defend her people. It's a big decision with lives and love in the balance.
Emily King does a great job developing characters and worlds and pulling readers in from the beginning (and the readers don't get the floors mopped because they. can't. stop. reading!).
I WILL read the third book! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Violence: fighting, whipping, death
Sex: kissing
Language: none

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson INTERVIEW! With 2016 debute author

Welcome to Lily Anderson! She's a 2016 debute author and I'm excited to have her here. I've read her book and loved it.

How long did you work on The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You?

I started THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU in late 2012. I wrote the first forty pages in a sprint and then set the book aside while I worked on other projects and moved and found a new job. When I picked the story back up again, it took about three months to finish. Then, after finding my literary agent, I did a small rewrite and a much larger overhauling when I started working with my editor at St. Martin’s Press. Turning in my copyedits in November of last year was the last time I could tweak the novel. So, all told, it was about three years of writing.

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

I was tired of whining about not being able to find a Much Ado About Nothing retelling! It’s my all-time favorite play and I wanted to see it modernized. (This was before Joss Whedon’s movie version came out.) I was 23 and working in a huge elementary school with 900 students between the ages of 5 and 14 and they all loved talking about Star Wars and Harry Potter and Marvel movies and Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who. And I started thinking about how different it must be to grow up in their generation--in a world full of technology with no wait between Potter books and all the Star Wars movies and cartoons they could ever want. I wanted to showcase some of that inherent geekery. Thus, THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU began.

Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play?

Much Ado About Nothing! Which is probably a cheat to say since I did write a retelling of it. Otherwise, I love A Midsummer Night’s Dream (such a huge cast! So many intermingling plots!) and Julius Caesar (which I directed in 2011 with one of my best friends at UC Davis and of which I have so many fond memories).

Have you written other books before this one?

I started writing pretty young. I wrote poetry exclusively until sixth grade and then I started writing plays (to be put up by my elementary school, much to the chagrin of, I think, literally everyone) and fan fiction. My last year of high school, I started writing a novel about life in a youth theater as my senior project. I spent the next two years working on that particular book, writing it from scratch at least three times before eventually giving up on it because a) it was eleventy billion words long and b) I no longer feel the need to examine my time as a theater kid that closely. Through my early twenties, I wrote a couple of New Adult novels, mostly to entertain myself and my friends. THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU was written to keep my spirits up while I tried (and failed) to get an agent for my first NA book.

Do you have a certain actor or actress for your main characters?

I see Trixie as a Jennifer Lawrence-type and Ben is constantly striving for a David Tennant-y swagger. And I always pictured Meg as Amy Okuda from The Guild.

What is your very favorite part of your book?

I think the friendships are my favorite part of the book. Having had two best friends myself for many, many years (the book is dedicated to them), I always wanted to write about a friendship trio. Trixie, Meg, and Harper aren’t me and my friends (no, really, they aren’t!), but I’m so happy that I got to showcase how awesome it is to have two people in your corner.

What was the best writing advice you’ve received?

Finish! It’s can be really easy to start a book and to plot out where it’s heading, but unless you finish it, it’s never going to be more than half a hobby. When I was a teenager, I had a friend who finished her first book by the time she was sixteen. She proved to me that it could be done and inspired me to get to the end.

What’s your writing ritual like? Do you like to listen to music? Work at home or library or someplace else?

When I start really working on a novel, I make an absurdly long Spotify playlist of songs that capture the tone or setting of the book. I’ll listen to it when I write or in my car when I’m running errands and trying to unravel a plot point. I typically work at home. I have a beautiful home office and yet usually end up with my laptop on the couch. On weekends, I’ll spice things up and grab a table at Starbucks or the public library. (Although, working at the library is hard because I love having something to sip when I’m working--even if it’s just water!)

How long have you been writing?

I won my first writing contest when I was six, so I’d say that I’ve been writing pretty consistently since I learned how to put together a sentence!

What advice would you pass on to aspiring writers?

Make sure that you’re always presenting your best work. Understand that your best work will be made better by sharing it with other people and seeing it through their eyes.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m writing another book YA about [a different set of] geniuses and a small town mystery series. 

 And here is Lily's awesome and fun book:






Trixie Watson has two very important goals for senior year: to finally save enough to buy the set of Doctor Who figurines at the local comic books store, and to place third in her class and knock Ben West--and his horrendous new mustache that he spent all summer growing--down to number four.

Trixie will do anything to get her name ranked over Ben's, including give up sleep and comic books--well, maybe not comic books--but definitely sleep. After all, the war of Watson v. West is as vicious as the Doctor v. Daleks and Browncoats v. Alliance combined, and it goes all the way back to the infamous monkey bars incident in the first grade. Over a decade later, it's time to declare a champion once and for all.

The war is Trixie's for the winning, until her best friend starts dating Ben's best friend and the two are unceremoniously dumped together and told to play nice. Finding common ground is odious and tooth-pullingly-painful, but Trixie and Ben's cautious truce slowly transforms into a fandom-based tentative friendship. When Trixie's best friend gets expelled for cheating and Trixie cries foul play, however, they have to choose who to believe and which side they're on--and they might not pick the same side.



 Any book that gets me to sit still and reading-not skim-is worth a shout out.

The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You is funny, nerdy, witty, cute, smart, geeky, well-paced...ETC.

Beatrice, or Trixie, is a senior at a prestigious school for gifted students. She loves Dr. Who and comic books. Benedick, or Ben, grew a mustache over the summer which is fair game to Trixie and the sparring begins, and not in a positive way either. They banter throughout the whole book and its pretty funny and painful and sometimes mean.

But when Trixie's best friend starts dating Ben's best friend, the whole situation goes to a different level when the two are thrown together more often then either of them want to be. But what if one of them really doesn't hate the other? What if a chance conversation changes everything? Or a creepy clown? (haha!)

Does this story sound vaguely familiar? This story was a very clever retelling of Much Ado About Nothing and worth reading.


V: No
L: No
S: No


Thanks to netgalley for the advanced read!

5 STARS

Lily Anderson is a school librarian and Melvil Dewey fangirl with an ever-growing collection of musical theater tattoos and Harry Potter ephemera. She lives in Northern California, far from her mortal enemy: the snow.

Summer in Snow Valley ~ Sweet Romance Anthologies

Another fun, clean, romantic read, only $.99! Just in time for summer! 

The #1 Bestselling Amazon Authors of Christmas in Snow Valley, have teamed up again with six wonderful summer romances that are sure to make your summer sweet and sassy!

Catching Caytie by Amazon Top Seller Cindy Roland Anderson

On the night Caytie Holbrook intends to break up with her cheating boyfriend, he blindsides her by announcing their engagement at a dinner party. When Caytie discovers her father is in on the scheme, she runs away from her home in Beverly Hills to hide out at her uncle’s ranch in Snow Valley, Montana. While Snow Valley is a beautiful place, Caytie only plans to stay until her twenty-fifth birthday when she’ll inherit a trust fund her grandmother left her, allowing her to pursue her dream to move to Italy. That is until she meets Jace McAllister, an incredibly sexy—although somewhat grumpy—cowboy who threatens to disrupt her plans.

Tin Foil Tiaras by Amazon Top Seller Jeanette Lewis

Cameron Elliott has come to Snow Valley to coach Annalisa Drake in the Miss Snow Valley pageant, and prove to her demanding boss that she deserves a place at the prestigious Westbrooke Agency. But Annalisa’s handsome and protective big brother, Kyle, is determined to keep his sister from becoming a reluctant beauty queen. As Cameron tries to win Kyle over, Kyle insists some things are more valuable than a title and as crazy as it sounds, Cameron might just believe him.

A Touch of Love by Amazon Top Seller Cami Checketts

Annie Stirland has endured a lifetime of teasing, embarrassment, and isolation due to her speech impediment. When irresistible cowboy, Luke Wilson, seems to be falling for her, she’s certain he’s too good to be true. A tragedy involving his ex-girlfriend proves she’s right. What man can resist sheltering someone they once loved? Annie knows she should walk away, but Luke isn’t ready to give her up.

First Love; Love First by Amazon Top Seller Taylor Hart 

Janet Snow doesn’t expect to get caught in a full-blown make out session at her brother’s wedding. Especially not with Michael Hamilton, the boy she’d written off ten years ago. Even though they both agree to no complications, Janet's not sure they can stick to it given their past. After a trip to the hot springs, a helicopter ride, and a proposal, even the most cautious single mother would start to wonder if true love really is just about the timing. Now Janet has to make a choice—play it safe or trust that her first love could also be her last.

Romancing Rebecca by Amazon Top Seller and Award-winning Author, Kimberley Montpetit

Rebecca Dash loved spending her teen summers swooning over Jane Austin and helping her aunt at the Starry Skies Bed & Breakfast inSnow Valley. But as a recent college grad, she’d rather write sappy romance novels than go out with guys that make her a nervous wreck. When a team of fire-fighters set up camp on the lawns of the B&B and Captain Wade catches her eye, Becca soon learns that there’s more to a happily-ever-after than a flirty firemen with muscles the size of the Montana hills.

Love in Light and Shadow by Amazon Top Seller and Award-winning author Lucy McConnell

Mercedes O'Shay has sworn off gorgeous men because they have a tendency to break her heart. When she meets her new neighbor, Chet Bauer, she immediately puts him in the Do Not Date category based on his well-defined muscles and stunning blue eyes. But the more Mercedes learns about the cowboy who reads classics and forges iron, the more she realizes the heart doesn't see in black and white; it sees light and shadows.

FEEDBACK by Robison Wells

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy’s deadly rules and brutal gangs.

Or so he thought.

But now Benson is trapped in a different kind of prison: a town filled with hauntingly familiar faces. People from Maxfield he saw die. Friends he was afraid he had killed.

They are all pawns in the school’s twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force. As he searches for answers, Benson discovers that Maxfield Academy’s plans are more sinister than anything he imagined—and they may be impossible to stop.

Variant blew readers away with its breakneck pacing, flawless plotting, and impossibly high stakes. It earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and VOYA, which described it as “an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read that combines psychological themes from works like Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Ender’s Game in a truly unique way.”

In Feedback, Robison Wells delivers all the answers you’ve been craving—with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the very last page.

Last line:
""Just checking.""



Good sequel to VARIANT by Robison Wells. Once I got reading the book, I couldn't put it down, even though there were a few times I got confused. 
Benson feels guilty. In VARIANT, he led a revolt and escape from the awful school. Many students died in the attempt, Becky was hurt and Benson feels guilty. 
But the escape didn't bring freedom. Benson and Becky ended up in another prison. A place the bad students were sent--detention. A fort and barracks. There are secrets at the fort. Like, the same people who own the school, own the fort. 
Now, Benson needs to figure out another escape. But he's crippled by the guilt of the deaths and Becky's injuries. Can he help the others?
There are a lot of twists and turns and surprises in this book. And confusion. I should have read the first book again before reading this one. Though Mr. Wells tries to remind us of what happened before, it doesn't always make sense.
I thought the last few chapters of the book were too short or rushed. And the last few sentences of the book? Weird. 
But overall, it's a good read and YA readers will enjoy it.


Rating: PG 13
V: Boy is murdered, fighting robots
L:  A few words
S: No

Liked:
Short chapters

Disliked:
The ending. It was...weird.

3 1/2 Stars

POISON by Bridget Zinn

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

Poor Kyra! The kings soldiers are after her, she has to save the kingdom and now she has an enchanted pig to take care of. Not to mention, a traveling companion named Fred.
All Kyra tried to do was kill the princess.
Kyra is a potions master and this talent and her potions come in handy as she disguises herself, fights off goblins and helps Fred sleep so he won't follow her. But Kyra's life does not go according to her plans. I liked Kyra. She's strong and bright and flawed. She has to learn to accept and use certain things in her life to accomplish what she needs to. I just wish we would have seen more of that earlier in the story.
This story is full of interesting and unique characters, like Rosie the enchanted pig and Arlo, the bad guy (who I kept picturing as the goblin king in The Hobbit movie). Also, lots of wit and humor fill the pages.
A lot of humor came out in the end between the characters. I wanted more of that throughout the book.
There was a twist I didn't see coming but some of the others were foreshadowed.
Good, clean teen read.

Last line:
"Then she kissed him back."

Rating: PG
V: Some fighting
L: No
S: kissing

Liked:
Rosie
Kyra
Ari
Fred

Disliked:
Quick ending

4 STARS


Thanks to Netgalley for the preview!