Once Upon a Moonlight Review...

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski Series:  The Winner's Trilogy #1 Published by  Bloomsbury Children's Books on 3rd July 2014 Pages: 368 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* Winning what you want may cost you everything you love. As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Troisi Series:  Chronicles of the Overworld #1 Published by  Open Road Integrated Media on 27th May 2014 Pages:  230 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* Nihal lives in one of the many towers of the Land of the Wind. There is nobody like her in the Overworld: big violet eyes, pointed ears, and blue hair. She is an expert in swordplay and the leader of a handful of friends that includes Sennar the wizard. She has no parents; brought up by an armorer and a sorceress, Nihal seems to be from nowhere. Things suddenly change when the Tyrant takes charge. Nihal finds herself forced to take action when she is faced with the most difficult mission a girl her age could imagine. Fierce, strong, and armed with her black crystal sword, Nihal sets out to become a real warrior. Readers will be riveted as she forges her powerful path of resistance. This was an easy read containing action and adventure alo

IFB is hosting the promo tour for the third and final book in Susan Dennard's steampunk, zombie trilogy. Continue below for a sample and a cool giveaway. Strange and Ever After    by  Susan Dennard Published by  HarperTeen on 22nd July 2014 Purchase:   Amazon  |  B&N In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late. He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled her

Pure  by Julianna Baggott Series:  Pure #1 Published by  Headline on 7th June 2012 Pages:  461 Source:  *Received from Publisher in exchange for an honest review* Thank you! We know you are here, our brothers and sisters. We will, one day, emerge from the Dome to join you in peace. For now, we watch from afar, benevolently. Pressia Belze has lived outside of the Dome ever since the detonations. Struggling for survival she dreams of life inside the safety of the Dome with the 'Pure'. Partridge, himself a Pure, knows that life inside the Dome, under the strict control of the leaders' regime, isn't as perfect as others think. Bound by a history that neither can clearly remember, Pressia and Partridge are destined to forge a new world.  This was a darkly imaginative, unique, thrilling, action-packed yet emotional novel where at one point you are happy then 'BAM!' your angry and sad. I am not a massive fan of the cover, though it is si

Hexed by Michelle Krys Series: The Witch Hunter #1 Published by  Delacorte Press on 10th June 2014 Pages:  384 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her? Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too. Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war be

Buzz Kill  by Beth Fantaskey Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on 6th May 2014 Pages:  368 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* In this fresh and funny teen mystery, seventeen-year-old Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Albright, to try to find out who murdered Coach Killdare. Putting the dead in deadline To Bee or not to Bee? When the widely disliked Honeywell Stingers football coach is found murdered, 17-year-old Millie is determined to investigate. She is chasing a lead for the school newspaper - and looking to clear her father, the assistant coach, and prime suspect. Millie's partner is gorgeous, smart-and keeping secrets Millie joins forces with her mysterious classmate Chase who seems to want to help her even while covering up secrets of his own. She's starting to get a reputation…without any of the benefits. Drama-and bodies-pile up around Millie and she chases clues, snugg

Avoiding Alpha  by Aileen Erin Series: Alpha Girl #2 Published by  Ink Monster Pages:  145 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* Seventeen-year-old Tessa McCaide has come a long way since her abrupt entrance into the world of werewolves, but she still has just as far to go before she’s comfortable with turning full wolf. In the meantime, she’s avoiding the topic of shifting to four legs any way she can. Thankfully her mate, Dastien Laurent, is quite the distraction. When she finds her best friend, Meredith, getting sick in the bathroom, Tessa knows something’s majorly wrong. Meredith was cursed years ago, and the dark magic kept her wolf dormant—only now the wolf is awake, and that same spell is killing her. Tessa has no intention of sitting around while Meredith wastes away. Even if it means playing with magic she doesn’t understand, she’ll do anything to save Meredith’s life. Including bargaining with the local coven of witches and i

This is a way for us to compare the UK and US covers of the same book. Ever since i started Book Blogging, I was interested in how you had different covers for different countries, so I decided to post every SUNDAY a comparison of two covers. Red by Alison Cherry Felicity St. John has it all—loyal best friends, a hot guy, and artistic talent. And she’s right on track to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Her perfect life is possible because of just one thing: her long, wavy, coppery red hair. Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville. Redheads hold all the power—and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her roots when she receives an anonymous note: I know your secret. Because Felicity is a big fake. Her hair color comes straight out of a bottle. And if anyone discovered the truth, she’d be a social outcast faster than she could say "strawberry blond." Her mother would disown her, her friends would shun her,

Dangerous Dream by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl Series: Dangerous Creatures #0.5 Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 17th December 2013 Pages: 46 Source:  *Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* Catch up with Ethan, Lena, and Link as they finally graduate from high school and get ready to leave the small Southern town of Gatlin. But when Dark Caster Ridley makes an appearance, the sometime bad girl can't resist picking a fight with her sometime boyfriend, Link. Angry and rebellious as ever, Ridley ends up alone in New York City and becomes entangled in the dangerous underground Caster club scene, where the stakes are high and losers pay the ultimate price. Where's a Linkubus when you need him? I have never read the  Caster Chronicles ,   so I decided why not read the novella to the companion series... I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was intrigued from the very beginning of the world Garcia and Stohl

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger Published by Hodder Children's Books on 5th June 2014 Pages:  336 Source:  *Received from Publisher in exchange for an honest review* Thank you! The girls of Hamilton High School are going on strike. Sick of the rivalry between their boyfriends' American football and soccer teams, Lissa and her friends are determined that the boys won't see any action from them until they put an end to their immature pranks. But Lissa hasn't counted on a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first... My expectations of this novel were high as I have never read a Kody Keplinger book before, though I know everyone loves them. However sadly, this was just not my cup-of-tea. The cover is brilliant, being really bright it stands out clearly though I felt the war stripes were, to me, misleading. At Hamilton High, there has been a war between the American Football pl

17 First Kisses by  Rachael Allen Publisher: HarperTeen Release Date: June 17th 2014 Synopsis: No matter how many boys Claire kisses, she can’t seem to find a decent boyfriend. Someone who wouldn’t rather date her gorgeous best friend, Megan. Someone who won’t freak out when he learns about the tragedy her family still hasn’t recovered from. Someone whose kisses can carry her away from her backwoods town for one fleeting moment. Until Claire meets Luke. But Megan is falling for Luke, too, and if there’s one thing Claire knows for sure, it’s that Megan’s pretty much irresistible. With true love and best friendship on the line, Claire suddenly has everything to lose. And what she learns—about her crush, her friends, and most of all herself—makes the choices even harder. In her moving debut, Rachael Allen brilliantly captures the complexities of friendship, the struggles of self-discovery, and the difficulties of trying to find love in high school. Fans of