Book Review: Runied by Amy Tintera

We were given the opportunity to read Ruined by Amy Tintera.  Read below to find out what this book is about and to see what the Vise Library thought about it!

About the book:

Amy Tintera’s new YA fantasy trilogy blends the romance of Kiera Cass’s Selection series and the epic stakes of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen in a story of revenge, adventure, and unexpected love.

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war; her parents were killed and her sister was kidnapped. Even though Em is only a useless Ruined—completely lacking any magic—she is determined to get revenge.

Her plan is simple: She will infiltrate the enemy’s kingdom, posing as the crown prince’s betrothed. She will lead an ambush. She will kill the king and everything he holds dear, including his son. 

The closer Em gets to the prince, though, the more she questions her mission. Her rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake.

Emelina, or Em, is just trying to survive.  She is royalty from Ruina which is is known for magic (and obviously other kingdoms are afraid of this).  Both of her parents are dead and she is trying to find her sister, who was kidnapped from the kingdom of Lera.  In order to find out where her sister is being held, she poses as the princess from another kingdom that is betrothed to prince, Cas, of Lera.  She is hoping to infiltrate their kingdom and seek revenge against the royal family.  However, all of that does not go according to plan.  Cas is not like his father (who had Em's parents killed) and seems to listen to her.  She still has to find a way to rescue her sister and wrestle with the guilt of betraying Cas.  When a neighboring kingdom plans to attack Lera, Em must make a decision that has no easy answer.

This book was such a great fantasy novel.  There was so much intrigue with Em being not who she appears to be and the potential with Cas.  There are a few devastating things that happen when one of Em's close friends is captured.  Em is a strong female character and she learns to overcome her lack of magic. There are times where I laughed out loud when she would banter with Cas.  My favorite part in the book is near the end when Em really gets to be herself and shows who she is to *other* people.  Be warned that there is a major cliffhanger, but you will enjoy this book so much that you can let it slide.  We can't wait for book two!  Look for this book in our Popular Collection when it releases next month!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Parnassus Books

About the author:

Hi! I'm Amy Tintera, and I write novels for young adults. I grew up in Austin, Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in journalism. After receiving a masters in film at Emerson College I moved to Los Angeles, where I promptly discovered I didn't enjoy working in the film industry, and went back to my first love, writing.

Connect with the author:

Website | Twitter |Facebook | Goodreads 

Cover Reveal: Unknown by Wendy Higgins

The Vise Library was selected to participate in the cover reveal for Wendy Higgin's new NA series that is scheduled to release later this year.  Check out the cover below and there is also a link to checkout the first few chapters of the book through Higgins' Wattpad account.  We can't wait for this book!

Synopsis

Amber Tate believes the worst thing she’ll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother’s best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She’s wrong on both counts.

When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed—everything from food and water sources to technological communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn’t one to hide or watch helplessly. She’s determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have. 

In this first installment of NY Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins’s debut New Adult series, a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America is brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more.

Start reading the first few of chapters of this book!

 

Add on Goodreads

About the Author

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today and NYT bestselling author of the Sweet Evil series from HarperTeen, the high fantasy duology The Great Hunt, and her independently published Irish fantasy, See Me. She is a former high school English teacher who now writes full time, and lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her veterinarian husband, daughter, son, and doggie Rue. 

Wendy earned a bachelor's in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford University. 

Connect with Wendy

Website | Twitter |Facebook | Instagram 

  

Advice for Olivia Bloom from Blushing!

Last week the Vise Library wrote a book review for Katie Delahanty's newest book Blushing.  (You can find the review of that book here!)  I thought (with a little help!) it would be fun to do something a little different with this book.  Since the main characters are engaged and I am recently married, I thought it might be interesting to give Olivia Bloom some advice in the engagement/planning a wedding department!

For some reason when you first get engaged people expect you to have all of the details of when? where? worked out the moment you get engaged.  It seems like you just slipped on the ring and are expected to have all of this thought through.  When your engagement is a complete and utter surprise, there is no way for this to happen.  So my advice is just to enjoy the moment and let it be about the two of you (that's what it is supposed to be about anyways isn't it???) without any added pressure.  Everything will sort itself out and it will just take time.  Do not feel like you need to have everything worked out overnight; planning a wedding takes time.  This should be fun, not stressful!

Now that you are engaged, your new best friend will be Pinterest.  I honestly have no idea how people planned any kind of event without this site.  You can find all the inspiration you need for your Old Hollywood themed wedding here.  I have started creating your own personal board here to get you started!  I tried to find things to fit you and Berkeley's style! :)  Pinterest helped me to appear to be more creative than I actually am in real life.

The next step you need to worry about is about those engagement pictures!  Picking the right photographer can be very difficult.  You want to make sure they can capture such a happy time.  If you do not have a lot of pictures of the two of you, this can be an excuse to have beautiful pictures taken that you can use to decorate your future home.  Now, make sure you do not make any mistakes of these couples.  I found that the pictures that weren't as posed and more real feeling were the ones that worked best for us.  Just be you!

When the big day is finally here, remember to take it easy.  My husband and I decided to see each other with a couple friends and family before the ceremony.  Those are some of my favorite pictures and helped me calm down before I had to say my vows in front of everyone.  It was a very special moment and it was great to have pictures from it.  Remember to take multiple pictures with everyone!  After we got our wedding pictures back, I realized I only had one picture of my dad and myself together.  We were so busy trying to make sure things were moving along that we did not take time for more pictures.  That is the only thing I regret.  Our wedding was very small (about ten people) with a larger reception for more friends and family.  This suited both of us perfectly.  This allowed us to share that moment with people that had supported us from day one and then celebrate with everyone else.  People may become upset, but in the end it is again just about the two of you!  Maybe this could be something the two of you would be interested in. :)

One of my last bits of advice to both you and Berkeley would be to just be happy.  Of course there will be stress along the way, but just be confident in your commitment to each other.  Life isn't perfect. But if you have something good to hold on to, the bad doesn't seem so terrible then.  Overall, just remember what is important in the long run!

I hope this advice has been helpful as you begin to navigate through all the bliss of an engagement and wedding.  If you have any other questions Olivia (and Berkeley!) then I am your girl! :)

For more information about Katie Delahanty, Blushing and In Bloom, check out Katie Delahanty's website!  Her books are available for purchase here.

Book Review: Water's Wrath by Elise Kova

The Vise Library is introducing books (in separate blog posts) that will be available in our catalog soon.  We were given the opportunity to read Water's Wrath prior to its release in April (huge shout out to Elise Kova for providing us with a copy!!).  Read below to find out what this book is about and to see what the Vise Library thought about it!

About the book:

Librarian turned sorcerer. Sorcerer turned hero. Hero turned puppet. 

The Solaris Empire found victory in the North and, at the cost of her heart and her innocence, Vhalla Yarl has earned her freedom. But the true fight is only beginning as the secret forces that have been lurking in the shadows, tugging at the strings of Vhalla’s fate, finally come to light. Nowhere is safe, and Vhalla must tread carefully or else she’ll fall into the waiting arms of her greatest foe. Or former lover.

 Water's Wrath is the fourth book in Elise Kova's Air Awakens series.  If you haven't read the other books in the series make sure you get caught up by checking out the first book (we also own the second and third books, don't worry)!  Due to spoilers, I won't give too much away since some people may have not read the other books in the series and I don't want to spoil anything.  However, this book gets us caught up to the point after Vhalla has left after the "victory" in the North.  She is on her own and on a mission to find out more information about the Knights of Jadar.  Some action-y things happen that eventually take her back South to Aldrik (and his wonderful father, the emperor).  There are bigger things at play and Vhalla is caught up in them.  She is stronger than ever and learns to really respect and value herself.  There are a lot of gut wrenching things that happen in this book that you will NOT BELIEVE.  EVERYTHING changes and Vhalla has to learn who she can rely on.  Some of it is too late and some of it is not.  The new war is really just beginning and people are changed for better or for worse.  Just a little warning...be prepared for you heart to be ripped out and to be stomped on, repeatedly.  :)

Readers of this series will NOT be disappointed and hopefully new readers to this series will give it a shot.  There are so many plot twists and heart string tugs to this book that will leave readers (okay, me) ready for the fifth and final book to this series.  I enjoyed the fact that I didn't know what was peeking out around every corner.  I also really liked that some things were resolved and many more questions were raised.   Kova's stories always have layers to them and you will stumble (later) on why certain details are important.  This series is wildly entertaining and I hope you give Water's Wrath a shot (after reading the first three books, of course)!

About the author:

Elise Kova has always had a passion for storytelling. She wrote her first novella, a high-fantasy, in sixth grade. Over the years she's honed her love of literature with everything from fantasy to romance, science fiction to mystery, and whatever else catches her eye.

Elise lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where she's currently working on the next installment in her debut YA fantasy series: Air Awakens. She enjoys video games, anime, table-top role playing games, and many other forms of "geekdom." She loves talking with fans on Twitter (@EliseKova) and Facebook (/AuthorEliseKova). Visit her website, EliseKova.com/, for news and extras about her books!

Connect with the author:

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