Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway! The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard

The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard
(The Danaan Trilogy #1) 
Publication date: April 30th 2013
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Purchase Links: Amazon /  Barnes & Noble

About the Book

Goodreads Link

Allison O’Malley’s plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she’s been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison’s mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn’t trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother’s sanity.

My Rating: 

When the tour came around for The Forgotten Ones, I was very excited. It had been on my To Read list for a while, I had even downloaded it when it was free for Kindle at one point, so I knew it would be up my alley. It honestly took me a little while to get into the beginning of the story, I would say the first 20-30% was a good amount of set up got the plot to begin.

Allison is out main character and she is strong but very stubborn and set on a single path, taking over the care of her sick mother. And she does not want to deviate from that path for anything or anyone. Not friends, boys, school, work…yes she works and goes to school but it is all set up for taking care of her mother later. I found this to both an honorable trait but also frustrating. She continually blames herself for everything and as a strong female, which you can see if in her potential it was defeating.

The other characters in the story were interested but did not overtake the story. Ethan, who is Allison’s long time crush that she will not pursue and not for his lack of trying. It was kind of pathetic the way he flirts and asks her out all the time but he is built up as a male flirt who can have all the girls anyway. Nicole is her cousin and best friend for the most part and she is your typical secondary character, she is a bit bossy and wants to make sure Allison lives her life rather than sitting around with a book.

As for the plot, I was super excited to get into it! It is about Danaan or fairies J I looooooove fairies and most of the time love to read books about them. This was no exception to that either; I was intrigued by their abilities and the characters that revealed themselves to Allison. I think this was a great set up to the series and will continue to read them as they become available.

Grand Prize Giveaway 

 Open internationally 

Prizes: --5 eBook copies of The Forgotten Ones 

--25$ Amazon Gift Card

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

About the Author

Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

Find the Author
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Goodreads Author Page

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Monthy Re-Cap: August

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 

 

Another month down, here's another wrap-up- complete with Goodreads and Review links. 

 

With the ARC August Challenge snapping at my heels at the beginning of the month I was determined to make some headway into the ARCs stacking up on my shelf and I think it finally kicked me into gear. I have read a lot this month and am loving it :)

 

What did you read or listen to in August? Link me up in the comments section!

~~Books Read in August~~

Click the book covers to go to Goodreads

~~Links to Reviews ~~
The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe (4 Stars) -- YA
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews (3 Stars) -- MG 
Stitch Head. The Pirates Eye [Stitch Head #2] by Guy Bass (4 Stars) -- MG
Wacko Academy by Faith Wilkins (2 Stars) -- YA/ MG 
Candy and the Cankersaur by Jason Sandberg (4 Stars) -- Youth
A Beautiful Fate by Cat Mann (5 Stars) -- New Adult
Wrecked by Alyssa Rose Ivy (5 Stars) -- New Adult 
Diary of Edward the Hamster by Miriam and Ezra Elie (3 Stars) -- Graphic Novel - Review  on 9/5/2013
Exemeus [Exemeus #1] by Folami Morris (4 Stars) -- YA
The Cute Girl Network by Greg Means, MK Reed, and Joe Flood (4 Stars) -- Graphic Novel - Review on 11/1/2013

Will Finish by the end of August! 
The Forgotten Ones [The Danaan Triology #1] by Laura Howard -- review tomorrow 8/31 
Wicked Kiss [Nightwatchers #2] by Michelle Rowen -- YA 
 

~~Audiobooks in August~~

 

Click the book covers to go to Goodreads

~~Links to Reviews ~~

 Clockwork Princess [The Infernal Devices #3] by Cassandra Clare (4 Stars)  -- YA
Gated by Amy Christine Parker (3 stars) -- YA

~~Did Not Finish in August~~

 
Weather Witch by Shannon Delany -- YA -- DNF :(

Cover Reveal: The Lovely and The Lost by Page Morgan

AH! The other day on twitter Page Morgan shared this cover, I guess I had missed its official reveal, but WOW am I excited to finally see it. I love it!

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The Lovely and the Lost by Page Morgan

Series: The Dispossessed #2

Available: May 13, 2014 (So long a wait..aggg)

So far there is no cover blurb available but Page says it will be available soon [I tweeted to ask :)]

Here is the mini blurb from Amazon (Kind of spoilery if you haven't read book 1):

Ingrid and Gabby survived the Underneath. They saved their brother, Grayson, from a future of dark servitude and exposed a plot to undermine the Alliance. But danger still lurks in the streets of Paris, and the Dispossessed, perched on the city's bridges and rooftops, might not be able to save their human wards this time.

Are you swooning yet?!!!

If you haven't read it yet, the first book in this series is The Beautiful and the Damned and it was so good!  Here is a link to My Review. There is also a Novella that came out in July which I am going to grab right now! :/

Here are the Amazon buy links for books (If you buy through these a very miniscule portion comes back to the blog to fund giveaways)

Cover Reveal: Chasing Before by Lenore Appelhans

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Yesterday SimonTeen revealed the cover for Chasing Before, book 2 in The Memory Chronicles series. It looks super good, right?

Here is some info:

Goodreads Synopsis

Felicia and Neil have left Level 2 behind, but another level stands between them and Heaven: Level 3. While the purpose of Level 2 is to relive your time on Earth and make peace with your memories, the objective of Level 3 is to completely detach from life and prepare for your divine vocation.

During Felicia and Neil's training period, a series of explosions destroy the portals out of Level 3. Tension is high, and casualties are mounting. Though Neil wants to become either a Muse or a Healer to help, Felicia is drawn to the Seraphim Guard. A rift forms between the pair, one that grows wider when Felicia receives memories of her life that occur after her supposed death. The memories cast doubt on the people she loves the most, but Felicia can't stop her curiosity. She has to know the truth about her life before she moves on--if she can manage to evade old enemies long enough to find a way out of Level 3.

Expected publication: August 26th 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Link

Interested in this series? Read book 1: The Memory of After (aka: Level 2) by Lenore Appelhans

Interview: Ericka Johnson, Author of Boe Peep The Tale Revealed

Boe Peep: The Tale Revealed by Ericka Johnson
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-10: 149057316X
ISBN-13: 978-1490573168

Amazon Synopsis:
The real Little Boe Peep (with an E) definitely will find her sheep. She’ll grab her bow and take on the entire pack of wolves and anyone else who messes with them. Her family depends on them for their livelihood and it is up to Boe to protect her sheep, at any cost. After a pack of giant wolves have stolen Boe’s sheep in the middle of the night, she sets out to get them back. Little does Boe realize what she has gotten herself into as she flings herself head on into a pack of wolves that are being controlled by a fox king, named Snider. After Boe is captured, she talks the wolves into ridding themselves of the slimy fox. They devise a plan, but they soon realize the main man behind the controls is Doc, a mad scientist who is trying to come up with an invention that will enable him to eventually control all animals, and then…people. Boe finds herself far from home, and on an adventure that she had never dreamed of having; until now.

Welcome to Cover2CoverBlog, thank you for joining us. First could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, my name is Ericka Johnson. Thank you Stephanie for letting me be on this blog! I am a 16 year old girl from North Idaho. I live on a farm near the Canadian Border, and absolutely love it. I live near the mountains, and we even have a pond that is an awesome swimming hole. I enjoy a lot of outdoor activity, including sports.

What was your inspiration for Little Boe Peep?

Well, I and some family and friends were going on a vacation that required a lot of driving in a big bus. I have these two little sisters that were really getting bored.  So as a last resort they came over to where I was sitting and asked me if that I would please tell them a story.  I have to admit, I was getting pretty bored myself so I decided why not. I had always thought that the poem of Little Bo Peep, was really quite lame, and that there was so much more to her than just that short poem. So it was on this bus that I let my imagination take over. I wasn’t able to finish the story before the trip ended, but a little while later I decided to start writing it down.  And that was only the beginning.

Which came first – the story concept or the characters?

Probably the character’s; when I first was telling the story, I wanted Boe to be quite a bit different than in the poem. And as for the wolves, I wanted the wolves to be different, something that you would never expect to be in a little Boe Peep story. First I would imagine what the characters were, how they looked and what they did, then the story  would just sorta roll along. It was a lot of fun, yet I have to admit, at times it did seem like it was a lot of work and commitment. But I am sure that that’s how a lot of writers experience; I guess that that is just a part of the writing process :)

If you could be any fairy tale character, who would you be and why?

I would be an elf. One of those really small kind that can get in and out of anywhere. I think that it would be a lot of fun to be an elf; like in the story of the elves and the shoemaker, where all the elves come at night, and make shoes for the old shoemaker. Yet the shoe maker doesn’t know who it is that is helping him, because they are so sneaky.

What is your favorite part about the writing process? Do you have a special writing spot?

I think that my favorite part about the writing process would be the part where you trying to imagine how it’s all going to work for this certain spot or whatever. It’s where you get to let your imagination take over and it’s almost like watching a movie, if you just close your eyes, as your imagination takes you on a wild ride. The cool thing is, is that if something happens that you don’t like, or something that didn’t quite fit, you can always pause, and change it to whatever you want.  My favorite writing spot is probably on my bed, with a propped up pillow against the wall. That is where I have spent a lot of time typing and brainstorming.

Is there anything about you that would surprise your readers?

It may surprise some that I am 16 years old, and have soloed both a Cessna 172 and Cessna 1-50. I am currently working on trying to get my private pilot’s license on my 17^th Birthday. My dad and two of my older sisters are also pilots, so I guess you can see that flying just runs in our blood. I really love to fly. I also enjoy trail riding on ATV’s and my motorbike, and also love camping. I do a lot of hunting, and am hoping that I can win the moose hunt draw this year. Wish me luck!

Which is your favorite: Vampires, werewolves, faeries, or zombies?

I am going to have to say werewolves. There is just something mysterious about them that I like. I mean half human have wolf is pretty cool. Although I have to admit, I'm not sure that I would exactly want to meet up with one ;)

Review from Cover2CoverBlog coming soon!

Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway -- Exemeus by Folami and Abeni Morris

About the Book
Her short life was devoted to love and to hate. Love of the man who stole her heart, hate for the man who stole the world. Murdered by the government she swore to destroy, she's been given another chance to make it right. But to save the planet, she needs the help of the most powerful mystic the world has ever seen—unfortunately he hasn’t been born yet.

In a world where fear is the only currency, Dephon has committed the ultimate crime: inspiring hope.

His only goal is to make it safely through ninth grade, but on a post-apocalyptic Earth run by the Treptonian government, it isn’t that simple. Heir to a legendary power, Dephon Johnson is the only threat to the government’s rule. And on Trepton, all threats must be eliminated. When hundreds of assassins are dispatched to neutralize him, Dephon is forced to fight back. His only chance of survival is to enlist the aid of the greatest warrior the world has ever known. The only problem is, she's been dead for 13 years.

My Rating:

In a world where there is no diversity and you are not allowed to assemble ever, except for maybe on your designated shopping day, the Earth has become known as Trepton. The Treptonian government run the population through fear and students must attend school underground in the sewers. Dephon is your typical unpopular kid, harassed by the football team and just trying to get through life, when we discovers that his family has a lot of big secrets. Magic runs in his family history and it is strong and he must do everything he can to make sure he is prepared for an impending war.

Exemeus is really two tales in one. It is the story of Dephon coming to realize his heritage and power but also the history of his mother and her life before she died for a great cause. The story alternates with Dephon reading a book a book about his mother’s life while figuring out his own and that was an interesting way to get through the book. I found it a little confusing at first because I kept forgetting who I was reading about when I had to leave for something.

Dephon is a character that you grow with throughout the book though his revelations of his new gifts and his mothers story. I think that the magic was interesting and the world building was unique and fun.

In the beginning it was hard to understand some of the world building though because there are so many different components: Earth is completely changed as a post-apocalyptic setting, then there are other planets that are their own worlds and on top of all that existing cultures that we have learned about in history are recaptured with magic and lore that will blow the readers mind and make you think about the everything very differently and in a fun and exciting way. I have to say that while this wasn’t the fastest read I have picked up lately it was very fun and full of magical elements and plot that kept me interested and excited to read more.

Follow the Tour!

  Here are the Prizes!:

1 winner will get the Kindle 6" e-ink, 

1 will get a $25 Amazon Gift Card

1 will get a Paperback of Demon's at Deadnight by A & E Kirk

 a Rafflecopter giveaway  

About the Authors

Folami and Abeni Morris are a sister-sister writing team. Together they wrote (and rewrote) The Exemeus, somehow managing to accomplish it without murdering one another. Despite their facial similarities, tendency to finish each other’s thoughts and stick up for each other constantly, no, they’re not twins and thus deserve their own individual bio. 

Folami Morris: 

Folami grew up in the tiny city of San Mateo Ca, where nothing ever happens and no one ever leaves. She went to Xavier University for undergraduate, getting her B.A in physics and her B.S in Biology. After graduation she returned to California, to live in an even smaller city, where even less happens, Antioch Ca. During this time she escaped the monotony by hanging out with her imaginary friends Hyalee and Dephon, and by writing the Exemeus. She finally escaped to Queens NY and now realizes that quiet and tiny aren’t so bad. 

Abeni Morris: 

As luck (and logic) would have it, Abeni grew up in the same tiny little town as her sister, then she too escaped to the tinier town of Antioch. She has yet to leave. She received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood development from Cal State East Bay. She is the mom of two amazing kids, who swear that they deserve a percentage of the book proceeds and a ton of the credit. At least she raised dreamers.

Find the book: Amazon | GoodReads

Find the authors: Website

EXTRA FUN!!!

Scavenger Hunt Time! (Win a Kindle Fire or $150!) 

This is open internationally, but if you are outside the US you will receive the $150 via paypal.

Yay! You found the Exemeus scavenger hunt. Below are the second set of questions for the week.

3. What is stolen out of the safe at the Johnson family Home?

4. What does Jacqueline put in Dephon’s locker?

Tune in tomorrow at Ja citam, a ti?

If you missed the first stop visit My Guilty Obsession. Good luck!

Release Day Blitz: A Broken Fate by Cat Mann

So by chance I signed up for a blog tour for A Beautiful Fate, book one in this series and I was surprised and blown away. I read the book in about one sitting and loved the plot/ suspense/ romance/ characters, all of it. I cannot wait to grab this book! Here is a quick teaser for its release! :)

Title: A Broken Fate (A Beautiful Fate Series #2)

Author: Cat Mann

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance

About the Book

Coping with the traumatic experiences Ava endured with the Kakos is more challenging than she ever imagined it to be. She finds herself struggling to remember the details of her time kept away with Damien Kakos and when the memories assault her mind, she is plagued with crippling fear. There is something in the back of Ava’s thoughts screaming at her, telling her that the fight with the devil’s brood has not yet ended.

Newly married, Ava and Ari deal with issues involving trust, honesty and faith in one another and as they plot their course for a new life together, they discover that their individual wants and needs don’t exactly match. Ari’s promises to Ava begin to break. Some of the Alexander’s family secrets are revealed and Ava realizes that she needs to keep her friends close, and her enemies even closer. A Broken Fate, the second novel in The Beautiful Fate Series, dives further into Ava and Ari’s nail-bitter of a story and adds even more suspense, mystery, romance and thrills. This series is impossible for any reader to resist.  

Teaser

I stood there alone for what felt like ages. I hate what I had done to my marriage. I hate who I’d become. I had isolated myself from everyone I know, from everyone who has come to love me and accept me. Misha was right. I was ungrateful, spoiled and selfish. I was going to die, this I knew. No. 7 would come for me and I would accept him. I would accept my death. My family would be the ones who would suffer, they would be the ones who would end up hurt and would cry for me. Just like they had every other time I faced death, every other time I turned away from them, lied to them and betrayed their trust.

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Ari- “You are beautiful, Ava, even in defeat.”

Ava-- “I was a big, fat liar.”

About The Author

Cat Mann has lived her entire life in central Illinois, but her interests and passions span the planet. She loves skiing, French music and working with the written language.

A self-proclaimed hermit, she is happiest at home reading, writing and scouring the far corners of the internet for new musical artists -- artists she skillfully weaves into her tales of the offspring of ancient Greece. She is happily married to her amazing and awe-inspiring best friend, Derek Mann, and together they have created two beautiful daughters.

A Beautiful Fate is Cat’s first novel in The Beautiful Fate Series. The second installment of The Beautiful Fate Series, A Broken Fate, will be available summer 2013. Visit Cat on Facebook and keep up with Cat on her blog.

Find the Author

Blog

Facebook

Goodreads

Purchase A Beautiful Fate on Amazon

Purchase a A Beautiful Fate on BN

Building the Book Pile #63

Welcome to Building the Book Pile! 
A Weekly meme inspired by Stacking the Shelves

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 

Giveaways Going on NOW!        

  
Click pic to be taken to the giveaway!
Others may be linked on the right sidebar :) check them out!

  
What's Happening?!

Coming up on the Blog...

  Blog Blitz: Broken Fate by Cat Mann (NA)
Blog Tour: Exemeus by Folami and Abeni Morris (YA) + Giveaway :)
Interview and Review: Boe Peep: The Tale Revealed by Ericka Johnson (MG)
..possibly some other spontaneous stuff...
August ReCap -- So many!
Blog Tour: The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard (YA)

What I got this week...

EBooks

Sick by Tom Leveen from Netgalley and Abrams for review

Why Kimba Saved the World by Meg Welch Dendler from the author for review as received a paperback for a giveaway :)
Stryker by M.M. Wheezee from the Authors for review
Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr -- Bought on Amazon for $1.99 on Friday :)

Covers Link to Goodreads

 

Have you missed anything lately?

Last Week

A to Z Survey
Review: Wrecked (Clayton Falls #3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy (NA)

Spotlight: Excerpt and Giveaway! Lucky Phoo  by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon (MG)
Review: Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare (YA) 
Review: Gated by Amy Christine Parker (YA)
ARC Update #3
The Mortal Instruments: Should you go see it? Review

Cover Reveal: Immagica by K.A. Last (YA)
DNF Review: Weather Witch by Shannon Delany (YA)

  Comment and leave me a link to your Round-up post! Happy Reading!

Recent Reads: Weather Witch by Shannon Delany- DNF

Weather Witch by Shannon Delany
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Available: Now

 

Source: Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Ebook

My Rating: DNF

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a vastly different and darker Philadelphia of 1844, steam power has been repressed, war threatens from deep, dark waters, and one young lady of high social standing is expecting a surprise at her seventeenth birthday party–but certainly not the one she gets!

Jordan Astraea, who has lived out all of her life in Philadelphia’s most exclusive neighborhood, is preparing to celebrate her birthday with friends, family and all the extravagance they might muster. The young man who is most often her dashing companion, Rowen Burchette, has told her a surprise awaits her and her best friend, Catrina Hollindale, wouldn’t miss this night for all the world!

But storm clouds are gathering and threatening to do far more than dampen her party plans because someone in the Astraea household has committed the greatest of social sins by Harboring a Weather Witch.

Review: Weather Witch is a new series by the author, Shannon Delany. Toted as Young Adult and Steampunk in genre the plot takes place in Philadelphia in 1844 and is about a young girl taken from her family, accused of being a witch and enslaved for the use of her power.

I received this book as an e-copy from the publisher and just recently got around to reading it. I have heard over the interwebs that it was going to be a love it or hate it type of book. The masses are definitely divided. I have seen 5 star raving reviews and 1-2 star loathing ones.

I requested this book based on the premise, it was going to be Steampunk and about witches and it is YA…completely up my alley right? Well… not so much, sadly. I really wanted to like and get deeper into this book but I got to 46% and then decided to call it quits. I don’t DNF much but this was one of them for me.

The whole time I found the book to be mmmeehhh. I enjoyed the scenes about Jordan, the main character, and her situation and the doom becoming of the Astraea household but found the other characters boring and their stories for the time being completely astray from the main one, and there were a lot of them.

The book jumps around to various groups of characters and their events after Jordan’s party is broken up by the worst thing that could possibly happen…someone being deemed a witch! (I say this kind of mockingly, because in the first few chapters Jordon brings up this statement A LOT! I understand that you are alluding to the rest of the book, but really like every paragraph?!)

The classification of steampunk was an interesting one for this book; first, it is set in the US in Philadelphia, which in and of itself is strange for a steampunk setting. Secondly, for the first half of the book there isn’t all that much to give us the steampunk world building; yes, there are airships and yes their electricity is gathered in a rather unusual fashion, but normally when a book is steampunk it is STEAMPUNK.

The one thing that I did enjoy was something that wasn’t even in the plot, but the naming of the family, Astraea. I thought it was intriguing that Jordan and her family is thrown into this conundrum of justice against witches when their name essentially stands for ‘justice.’ Astraea was a Greek goddess, also known as the star-maiden (if I remember right :/) and she embodied justice along with innocence and purity…all things that I think are great if they really allude to more in the story later. I just couldn’t have that be the only reason I kept reading (sad face).

Normally this is where I say something along the lines of “this book would be great for people that enjoy …” but today I am not sure I can do that. I don’t think it will appeal to the diehard Steampunk fans and I am not sure there is enough instant plot happening to appease the normal YA readers. If you think this plot line is something for you, feel free to pick it up, I just thought it was slow moving.


View all my reviews

Cover Reveal + Giveaway!: Immagica by K.A. Last

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Title: Immagica

Author: K. A. Last

Genre: YA Fantasy/Adventure

Expected Date of Publication: November 2013

Word Count: approximately 66,000

Cover Illustration: Lawrence Mann LawrenceMann.co.uk

Cover Designer: KILA Designs – www.facebook.com/KILAdesigns

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/18194824-immagica

 

About the Book

Immagica…

Where anything is possible, but not always controllable.

Enter at your own risk.

The night before her fifteenth birthday, Rosaline Clayton receives an amulet from her deranged father. He tells her she must find the book, and begs her to save him. Rosaline is used to her father not making any sense, and she dismisses their conversation as another of his crazy rants.

Rosaline and her younger brother, Elliot, find the old, leather-bound book tucked away in their Nana’s attic, and it sucks them into its pages. They land in a magical world where anything is possible, but when Rosaline and Elliot are separated, the only thing Rosaline wants is to find her brother and go home.

The creatures of Immagica have other ideas. Rosaline befriends a black unicorn, two fairies, and a girl named Brynn, who are under threat from a menacing dragon. Rosaline discovers she is bound to Immagica in ways she doesn’t understand, and the fate of this magical world rests entirely on her shoulders.

The book flew open and a gust of wind whipped my curls around my face. The pages riffled back and forth before coming to a halt, open at the first page. This was getting a little weird. I was about to slam the book shut when words began to appear of their own volition, right before our eyes.

“Um, Elliot. Can you see that? Or am I as crazy as Dad?”

“I can see it,” he whispered.

Immagica, the place where anything is possible, but not always controllable.

Enter at your own risk.

“What a load of crap,” I said, picking the book up. The new line of text flickered gold and pulsed, on then off, then on again, like a flashing, neon sign. I gingerly picked up the corner of the page and peeked under it to the next, but it was blank.

“How do we enter?” Elliot asked, leaning into me and staring at the book.

“Why do you keep asking me all these questions? You’re here, you know as much as I do.”

“You’re older, and always acting so much smarter than me,” Elliot said. I poked my tongue out. “That’s real mature.” He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, so you’re Mr Maturity now you’re a teenager.”

“Sometimes I’m more mature than you!”

While we argued, we were oblivious to what was happening. The book riffled its pages again, and another gust of wind hit our faces. Before we knew what was happening, the golden glow exploded from the book and sucked us in. That’s the best way I can describe it. One minute we were in my room, surrounded by my grandmother’s elegant interior decorating, and the next we were enveloped with gold light.

At first I felt Elliot beside me, but then he was gone. The light was warm, like a soft, fuzzy blanket. Then the ground hit me in the face. It was hard and rough. The force of my landing knocked the wind out of me, and I tumbled over myself before coming to a halt on my back. Above me was an azure sky dotted with fluffy, marshmallow clouds. I turned my head and spotted the book lying closed on the ground a few metres away. I tried to move to retrieve it, but it took a few moments before I could roll onto my side and get to my knees.

When I finally managed to stand, I took in my surroundings with wide eyes. The sky may have been blue, but the ground was dirty charcoal. Lumps of gravel mixed with sand and dead grass. It stretched on, and on, nothing but barren wasteland no matter which way I turned. The only break in the landscape was where the horizon met the sky.

A lump of fear rose in my throat. Where was Elliot?

I didn’t know where I was, and I was completely alone.

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About the Author

K. A. Last was born in Subiaco, Western Australia, and moved to Sydney with her parents and older brother when she was eight. Artistic and creative by nature, she studied Graphic Design and graduated with an Advanced Diploma. After marrying her high school sweetheart, she concentrated on her career before settling into family life. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she began writing to let off creative steam, and fell in love with it. She now resides in a peaceful, leafy suburb north of Sydney with her husband, their two children, and a rabbit named Twitch.

Find the Author

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 Amazon Author Page