A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

"Eimear McBride's debut tells, with astonishing insight and in brutal detail, the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. Not so much a stream of consciousness, as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist, to read A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable - but it is always a revelation.

Touching on everything from family violence to sexuality and the personal struggle to remain intact in times of intense trauma, McBride writes with singular intensity, acute sensitivity and mordant wit. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is moving, funny – and alarming. It is a book you will never forget. " -Goodreads

This book was an exceptionally difficult read. I had trouble keeping up with the book and actually had to stop reading it as the story just didn't keep me interested. This development was quite disappointing, seeing as it had rave reviews. I really wanted to like this book, but just couldn't. 1/5 stars.

*I received this book through bloggingforbooks.com

Today is the cover reveal for Saven: Deception (The Saven Series #1) by Siobhan Davis. This cover reveal is organized by Lola's Blog Tours.

Saven: Deception (The Saven Series #1)
By Siobhan Davis
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: December 15, 2015

Blurb:
I’ve fallen hard for an alien.
But he’s harboring secrets.
Massive ones that threaten the very essence of humanity.
How can I give him my heart when his race plan on taking my future?

Sadie Owens has been slowly dying inside. Bit by bit, piece by piece, day by day. Trapped in a life she hates, she relies on only one person: Herself.

Despised by her family, and betrayed by an unscrupulous government, Sadie dreams of a different life. When she is chosen to participate in the government’s new social experiment, she is ecstatic at the prospect of spending six months in Thalassic City, the shiny new city under the sea.

Immediately drawn to Logan Chandler, Sadie is captivated by the beautiful boy with the ocean-blue eyes. Logan seems to embody everything that has been forbidden, but he isn’t all he appears to be.

When Sadie finally learns the truth about why the Saven walk among us, will it be too late to save her heart and the human race?

You can find Saven: Deception on Goodreads

You can pre-order Saven: Deception here:
- Amazon USA
- Amazon UK
- Amazon Canada
- Amazon Australia

Excerpt:
Please note that this book is currently undergoing professional editing so this is an unedited sample. The final published version will be slightly different.

The stench of stale sweat, unwashed skin, and rancid body odor assaults my nostrils and I gag. The temp in the carriage must be pushing ninety degrees and a steady line of sweat coasts down my spine, gluing my shirt to my back. A craving to crawl out of my skin hits me like a bullet to the chest.
It’s not a new sentiment. It’s an urge I feel at least once every hour.
A potent desire to be anyone but myself.
To live any life but this one.
Heat rolls off the large body pressed into me from behind and the man grunts loudly. The desire to shed my skin accelerates and I shudder uncontrollably. Everywhere I look I’m confronted by a sea of grimy, male chests in dirty, sweat encrusted work wear. Being short sucks almost all of the time, but being stuck in the middle of an overcrowded, bursting-at-the-seams subway carriage, during one of the hottest heatwaves New York has ever known, sucks butt on a stratospheric level, and has me cursing the genes that stalled my growth at five feet one.
Claustrophobia swoops in, surrounding me in an anxiety-laced cloud, and I know I’ve reaching my tipping point.
I can’t bear this a second longer.
With my lungs screaming for air, I push my way forward, shuddering as I squeeze past more disgusting, heaving forms.
I fling myself out onto the platform in the nick of time. The train eases out of the station as my legs make a break for freedom. Bounding up the stairs two at a time, I thrust my tiny frame forward, propelling my legs as fast as they can go. My entire being strains for release.

About the Author:
Siobhan Davis is the author of YA science fiction romance series True Calling.
A self-diagnosed ‘teenager forever’—at least when it comes to books, music and movies; Siobhan is totally addicted to teen fiction and superhero/blockbuster movies. Siobhan loves baking, crime novels, shoes, bags, make-up, anti-wrinkle cream, anything pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and Robert Pattinson (definitely Team Edward).
Siobhan has forged a successful corporate career, in Human Resources, over the last twenty years.
Siobhan resides in the Garden County of Ireland with her husband and two sons.
Contact Siobhan at: www.siobhandavis.com

You can find and contact Siobhan here:
- Website
- Blog
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google +
- Goodreads
- Amazon
- Newsletter

Sample chapters, quotes, reviews and book excerpts are all available to download from the authors website

There is a cover reveal wide giveaway for the cover reveal of Saven: Deception. You can win a 10$ Amazon Gift Card. For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
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Ward Against Destruction (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer, #4)

by Melanie Card

Release Date: 10/05/15

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Ward de’Ath used to the think that nothing could be more terrible than death. Now he realizes

there are worse things. Like his never-ending hunger for blood. Even if he conquers the

unbearable cravings that drive him headlong toward destruction,he’s a wanted man with a bleak

future.

Assassin Celia Carlyle learns she is the only one who can protect Ward from disaster. She loves him–she wants to help him, but no one can tell her how to save him from himself. And the confusing voices in her head scream to let him go.

But Ward's dark trials keep mounting. A malevolent evil is rising in the land, threatening to

unleash horror upon the world. The only way Ward can defeat it, and have the chance to marry

Celia, is by accepting his fate and becoming the one thing he swore he would never become..

 

Buy Links:

Entangled Publishing: http://www.entangledpublishing.com/ward-against-destruction/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ward-against-destruction-melanie-card/1122566783?cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-je6NUbpObpQ-_-10:1

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Destruction-Entangled-Chronicles-Reluctant-Necromancer-ebook/dp/B014CS5P50

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/ward-against-destruction-entangled-teen

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ward-against-destruction/id1033096910?mt=11

Amazon.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Destruction-Chronicles-Reluctant-Necromancer-ebook/dp/B014CS5P50/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1441776138&sr=1-1&keywords=ward+against+destruction

Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/Against-Destruction-Chronicles-Reluctant-Necromancer-ebook/dp/B014CS5P50/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1441776194&sr=1-1&keywords=ward+against+destruction

***Books in this series***

Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer #1)

by Melanie Card 

Release Date: 08/02/11

Entangled Teen

306 pages

Ward Against Disaster (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer #3)

by Melanie Card

Release Date: 01/19/14

Entangled Teen

276 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

Ward de'Ath should be dead by now. Instead, he’s chasing after a soul-eating creature—that he unleashed— and is bent on stopping her before she slaughters more innocents. Fortunately, Celia Carlyle remains by his side, a nobleman's gorgeous and deadly daughter, who is...well, dead.

Celia claims she’ll champion Ward wherever he goes, even when she thinks his quest is hopeless. He can only hope her pledge comes from her heart, and not because she’s bound to him through his magic.

When they enter Dulthyne, they stumble upon a dark power that threatens the entire town. Ward, with his unreliable necromancy, is determined to help but finds himself ensnared in the lure of white-hot magic...blood magic he struggles to resist. But if Celia’s love is a lie, it might just doom his soul to the dark arts forever. 

About the Author

I have always been drawn to story telling. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t telling a story in my head or on paper. In grade school, we had journal writing time which I turned into story telling time, weaving tales of magic and adventure that mimicked the fairy tales and myths that I loved to read. It was there, with the help of two very special teachers, that I nurtured this love and started my journey as a writer.

I write fantasy, paranormal romance, and everything in between, seasoned with a good dash of adventure and mystery. Join me on my tales of magic, adventure, and romance.

Author Links:

   

GIVEAWAY:

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Danny by Gwendal Le Bec and Yann Le Bec

 Danny the potbellied hippopotamus lived happily in his swampy marsh. On having his teeth cleaned in normal swamp fashion, Danny overhears a worrying conversation that sends him hurrying to find a dentist. And when Danny returns to the marshes, fully fitted with braces, he is the envy of one particular reptile whose gleaming whites lead to a disastrous fate for a city dentist.

    

 This book was just too cute. It portrays the importance of good dental hygiene as well as regularly visiting a dentist in a way that a child can understand it. It would be the perfect story to tell at bedtime or any other time that a child might be interested in hearing a story. The illustrations in the book are, for lack of a better term, ‘super cute.’ I really quite enjoyed this book, and I am sure many others would too. I give it a 5/5 stars.

[I received a free copy of this book on a read to review basis thanks to the Nobrow Ltd and Edelweiss.]

Blue Yodel by Ansel Elkins, Carl Phillips

I received a review copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and its publisher.
“Originated in 1919 to showcase the works of exceptional American poets under the age of forty, the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize is the oldest annual literary award presented in the United States. Ansel Elkins’s poetry collection, Blue Yodel, is the 109th volume to be so honored. Esteemed poet and competition judge Carl Phillips praises Elkins for her “arresting use of persona,” calling her poems “razor-edged in their intelligence, Southern Gothic in their sensibility.”

In her imaginative and haunting debut collection, Elkins introduces readers to a multitude of characters whose “otherness” has condemned them to live on the margins of society. She weaves blues, ballads, folklore, and storytelling into an intricate tapestry that depicts the violence, poverty, and loneliness of the Deep South, as well as the compassion, generosity, and hope that brings light to people in their darkest times. The blue yodel heard throughout this diverse compilation is a raw, primal, deeply felt expression of the human experience, calling on us to reach out to the isolated and disenfranchised and to find the humanity in every person.” –Goodreads
 
      After finishing the first poem, I felt something. I don’t know whether it was shock, joy, terror, or fright but it was something. I’ve only ever once had this happen to me. Poetry isn’t usually the kind of material I read, but this was something different. These poems told stories and those stories meant something. The words created vivid images in my mind that I can’t fully describe. A good lot of the poems had religious ties and that didn’t bother me, even though I am not religious. It wasn’t overly forward with the aspect of religion but rather incorporated the tales of it in a manner that can be enjoyed by anyone.
     However, a few of the poems lacked what I would call ‘the umph factor.’ They were just kind of there. This is why I am rating this book a 4/5 stars. It was a truly wonderful read and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in poetry or is just curious. I loved this book very much and am  urging people to read it because it is truly awe inspiring.

Gronk Volume 1 (Gronk #1) by Katie Cook

Gronk is a monster... and not a very good one.

Gronk tells the tale of a young monster who has turned her back on monsterdom (mostly because no one found her scary) and has become fascinated with humans.

She moves in with her human friend Dale and her pets Kitty and Harli, a 160 lb. Newfoundland Dale wants to declare as a dependent to the IRS.
I received this book from Netgalley.

 Alright, short review for a short book. This book was probably the cutest thing I've seen since they decided to add stickers to Facebook Messenger. This story  would be perfect at bedtime, or anytime really! I'm almost certain that almost any child would enjoy this book, no matter the age. 5/5 stars.