Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick FitzBlitz

It's finally here! Bestselling author Becca Fitzpatrick's latest release Dangerous Lies is about to be released into the wild. Hitting stores on November 10th, Dangerous Lies is a mystery that isn't always what you expect and is filled with romance!

As a fan of Becca's I'm excited to be a part of Simon & Schuster Australia's FitzBlitz Crew and take part in the FitzBlitz for Dangerous Lies. Each blog participating has different content and unique creative posts.

I posted my review in the previous post to this and I hope you enjoy my poem tribute to Dangerous Lies. Oh, and be sure to check out the other Aussie blogs participating in the tour!

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A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

Add on Goodreads or check out my review!

Pre-Order:

Bookworld | The Nile | Booktopia | Simon & Schuster 
 Amazon AU


DANGEROUS LIES POEM!
**Hope you enjoy my little poem about Dangerous Lies**



angerous Lies is written by an author that’s easy to love and follow (Personally I’ve read every one of her books!)

 
lways keeps you on your toes.

ebraska, Thunder Basin. Learn the name. Love the town.

et ready to want your own cowboy!

xpect the unexpected and be prepared to be surprised.

omance that sizzles and pops from the beginning to the end.

utstanding character development.

nderrated but perfectly paced.

tella really does grow and develop perfectly considering her circumstances.

ose yourself within Dangerous Lies’ pages.

ncredible setting and even more incredible and vivid cast of supporting characters

ver wanted to live in a small country town? I guarantee you will now!

tella and Chet sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Becca Fitzpatrick grew up reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden with a flashlight under the covers. She graduated college with a degree in health, which she promptly abandoned for storytelling. When not writing, she's most likely prowling sale racks for reject shoes, running, or watching crime dramas on TV. She is the author of the bestselling HUSH, HUSH Saga.

Visit Becca:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter  Facebook

 

 

Isn't it purdy?? Don't you want it?? Enter below for you chance to win!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be Sure To Check Out The Other Blogs On The Tour!

 

A big thanks goes out to Simon & Schuster for inviting me to be a part of this tour. Hope you all check out some of the other fun posts and enjoy!

 

 

Book Shelf: Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

Add on Goodreads.....


Review:

Dangerous Lies is the latest release from best-selling author Becca Fitzpatrick and is a surprisingly warm read that features a lovely coming of age story and wonderful character growth.

Everything about Stella Gordon is a lie. Her name, her life, her entire history. Everything about her is a carefully crafted lie orcastrated by the United States government after Stella witnessed a violent crime and was put into witness protection following the arrest of the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer. Ripped away from her home, her boyfriend, and her life in Philadelphia, Stella is sent to small town Thunder Basin, Nebraska to hide out. Stella just wants her life to return to normal and despises the thought of being stuck in Thunder Basin....but with the help of some super friendly locals, her tough-as-nails "foster mother" Carmina and her sexy next-door neighbour Chet, Stella soon begins to find unexpected happiness. But what happens when the secrets Stella keeps come back to haunt her? Will she and those she cares about pay for her past mistakes?

Having now finished this book, I'm finding it really hard to categories Dangerous Lies. Despite its premise, it’s not really a mystery or a thriller per say, despite our heroine’s connection to a violent crime. It actually comes across more as a coming of age story at times and merges with a nice romance set in a small country town in Nebraska.

Dangerous Lies is a steadily paced novel and isn’t overly fast. Some readers may find the beginning slow, but those who persevere will be rewarded with a warm and enjoyable read, tinged with mystery and the possibility of danger. Becca Fitzpatrick always satisfies and Dangerous Lies is no exception; if you’re anything like myself, you’ll be sucked into the characters world within Thunder Basin after a few chapters and be hopeful things work out for Stella.

Yet in saying that, in the beginning I very much loathed Stella. I mean, loathed her. She came across as spoilt and selfish and infinitely ungrateful. And yet, as the story went on, we began to understand the life she’d led and what forced her to become so guarded and jaded. We learnt about what went on behind closed doors of her high society life, and as Stella took steps forward and began to grow, I ended up liking her much more. By the end of Dangerous Lies, she was almost a completely different character who had grown so much—and I liked this.

The romance within Dangerous Lies as also something I did enjoy. Fitzpatrick starts Stella and Chet out as friends who despite their obvious attraction, slowly develop their relationship. Stella is very conflicted as technically she had a boyfriend prior to her move to Thunder Basin, so her reluctance to "cheat" on him is the main conflict behind her and Chet’s relationship.

I enjoyed the vast array of characters who called Thunder Basin home; most notably Carmina, Chet and Inny. Personally I would love to explore them some more if the chance ever arose. Becca Fitzpatrick manages to make the small country town of Thunder Basin a place I would love to visit (if it existed in real life that is!) with its swimming holes, carhops and carnival fun!

Overall a good read, Dangerous Lies admittedly starts slow, but then picks up to be an enjoyable tale. Worth a read!

Rating:
Source: Sent for review by Simon & Schuster (Thanks so much Jen!)
Format: Paperback ARC proof
Buy it: Bookworld | The Nile | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Recommendation: Enjoy mystery and romance? This is for you!
Cover: I love the great of our Aussie cover and the way the cover represents Thunder Basin
Will I read sequel/continue with series: This is a standalone novel, but I'll always read whatever Becca Fitzpatrick releases.....

Sorry I've Been M.I.A!

Hey guys!

Sorry I've been MIA....I've been really sick the past couple of weeks. No work, no reading, no blogging.....just a lot of sleeping and feeling terrible. I've let everything slip including a lot of scheduled tours and reviews.

Please just bear with me while I catch up in the next week or so. I'm back at work and slowly on the mend. I'm also heading to Melbourne for Fictionally Yours this Thursday (yay), so between this and catching up, you may not see me for a new more days or a week or so.

I will be back!

Waiting on Wednesday #112

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on.....  

A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann

Releases on: March 15th 2016

Add on Goodreads!

 

Five gifted teenagers are selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace was sealed after the aristocrats fled there. No one has set foot in it for over two centuries.

Now, in the present day, the teenagers enter with cutting-edge technology, state-of-the-art security, scientists and chaperones. And then a brutal accident occurs. No way out. Caught in the dark.

They will have to fight to survive. But are they really alone in the depths?

 

Thoughts:

What can I say? I'm a sucker for any kind of novel that features gifted teens. For some reason it's a premise that never fails to call to me and A Drop of Night is no exception to this rule! Whether it's a supernatural gift, or a gift of wit, intelligence or physicality I'm interested and A Drop of Night sounds like to might be a really interesting read. Can't wait to check it out upon release!

 

What do YOU think of A Drop of Night? Is it something you would read?

And what are you waiting on this week?

 

 

Book Shelf: Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1) by Abbi Glines

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

More info on Goodreads.....


Review:

Until Friday Night is the latest release by bestselling author Abbi Glines and is easily her best work yet! Kicking off her new YA series, Until Friday Night is heart-felt, deeply written and emotional!

West Ashby is one of the stars of his high school football team. He’s good-looking, popular and never lacking in female companionship, but West is also hiding a secret. His father is dying of cancer….and its killing West. No one seems to understand his pain, until a moment of weakness sees West spilling his secret to Maggie Carleton; his best friend’s cousin, and the only person who even comes close to understanding what West is going through. Two years ago Maggie’s world was torn apart by a senseless death, and she hasn’t spoken a words since. Moving in with her aunt, uncle and cousin is harder than she expects, but it’s not until West confides in her that Maggie finally begins opening up. Connecting in a way neither expects, West and Maggie soon find themselves slowly beginning to fall for the other, and as they both battle their own pain, and demons, it’s only with the help of the other that they finally begin to really feel…..

It’s no secret that I’m an Abbi Glines fan. I love her storytelling abilities and the way in which she manages to create complex, likeable and beguiling characters, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Until Friday Night is her best book to date! I suppose after reading so many stories that tend to appear similar by an author, so it’s sometimes refreshing to have them take a step back, and in a new direction, and begin a brand new series. 

That’s what Glines does with Until Friday Night, the first book in her The Field Party series, set to take us back to Texas football games, sweet new romances and sensual connections. Introducing us to not only to two incredible main characters, but a new bunch of boys I’m sure we’ll all see get a story, Until Friday Night does a great job telling it’s individual tale but also beginning to set up the world Glines plans to explore and all the possibilities that come along with it. 

Until Friday Night was a highly addictive read. It’s one of those books you pick up intending to read a few chapters, but then find yourself unable to put it down. Abbi Glines really hit a note in me with this highly emotional but beautiful book. Every aspect of it seemed perfect, from the setting, to the characters, the dialogue and of course of authenticity and realness that seemed to come from it. 

Both West and Maggie really won me over with their depth and loyalty to each other. Glines gave them real issues and allowed them to have a common connection that developed beautifully over time. Maggie was a really honest, sweet kind of girl and I really enjoyed her quiet maturity. She complimented West, who was a womanizer, but also just a troubled young man at the end of the day who had a good heart at his base.

Unlike some of Glines previous books, the romance in Until Friday Night develops slowly over time, but is in no way no less powerful than if the characters had have dived straight into it. In fact, seeing them bond and share so much with each other, whilst their strong friendship develops into a beautiful romance was perfect. I can’t fault them as a couple, or as individual characters who I really came to care for and adore. 

Emotional, endearing and beautifully told, Until Friday Night is a great release from Abbi Glines that leaves me extremely excited about all the possibilities this new series holds. Highly recommend!

Rating:
Source: Sent for review by Simon & Schuster Australia (Thank you Jen!)
Format: Format
Buy it: Bookworld | The Nile | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Recommendation: Best Abbi Glines book yet
Cover: It's nice--I like the picture it forms.
Will I read sequel/continue with series: YES! Can't wait for more of these characters!

Book Shelf: The Protector Project by Jenna Lincoln- Excerpt & Giveaway

After posting my review yesterday, today I have the Blog Tour for The Protector Project by Jenna Lincoln on the blog thanks to YA Bound Book Tours! Below I have an excerpt from the book as well as a giveaway :) Enjoy!

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Teen soldier Mara de la Luz is about to find out what makes her so special that some would kidnap and kill her—and others, willingly die for her.

ENDLESS CARNAGE. ENDLESS QUESTIONS.

Mara is a 16-year-old soldier who’s spent years fighting a war that’s lasted generations. Wide-eyed children, some just turned thirteen, rarely survive their first fights despite her best efforts to train and lead them. What she thinks she wants is to uncover the root causes of the war between the Protectors and the masked Gaishan, maybe find a way to end it. But what she really wants is a future—for herself and the others—beyond the battlefield.

Then she’s injured in combat, and when an enemy fighter not only heals her wounds but reveals his face, she sees the promise of all she desires. This cunning teen Gaishan has answers to her questions, but first she must commit treason and travel beyond the boundaries of her world. She must brave a place where everything rests on the point of a blade: her loyalties, her friends, her heart.

Add on Goodreads or check out my 4 star review!

Purchase:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | The Book Depository
 

 

Excerpt #1 – the two leads, Mara and Dalin, meet for the first time

Agony disrupted Mara’s ability to maintain her energy shield. Dizzy and nauseated, she pulled off her helmet and tried not to vomit. With one hand she soothed her horse, with her other hand she pressed hard on the gash. Hot blood trickled into her boot.

 A Gaishan stepped out from the trees. Its hand came down next to hers, brushing Mara’s fingers and the wound.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled.

The figure pulled off the Gaishan mask revealing a human face, young and male. His smile was grim, “Mara, you were out of position.”

Mara’s breath stopped. She stared into the Gaishan’s silver gray eyes, felt the tremor of magic cross from his fingers into the torn flesh of her leg. The air shimmered and shrank, enclosing them. He was light haired and tall, not much older than any of the Protectors. The pain eased and the burning tapered to a mild sting.

“Your questions have answers. But you’re asking the wrong people,” he said.

She threw a punch at his mask-less face, but the Gaishan blocked it, trapping her hand.

His smile relaxed into a grin and he leaned closer. “One of the answers is, this isn’t your fight.” He slapped her horse on the rear, propelling them back to the field.

Want more? Get your copy of The Protector Project today!

 

Jenna Lincoln loves to read, write, and talk about reading and writing. She spent many happy years as a language arts teacher doing just those things. After dabbling in Firefly and Supernatural fan fiction, Jenna got serious about building her own imaginary world, big enough to get lost in for a long, long time.

When she comes back to reality, Jenna enjoys her home in beautiful Colorado with her husband and two daughters.

Visit Jenna:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Shelf: The Protector Project by Jenna Lincoln

Teen soldier Mara de la Luz is about to find out what makes her so special that some would kidnap and kill her—and others, willingly die for her.

ENDLESS CARNAGE. ENDLESS QUESTIONS.

Mara is a 16-year-old soldier who’s spent years fighting a war that’s lasted generations. Wide-eyed children, some just turned thirteen, rarely survive their first fights despite her best efforts to train and lead them. What she thinks she wants is to uncover the root causes of the war between the Protectors and the masked Gaishan, maybe find a way to end it. But what she really wants is a future—for herself and the others—beyond the battlefield.

Then she’s injured in combat, and when an enemy fighter not only heals her wounds but reveals his face, she sees the promise of all she desires. This cunning teen Gaishan has answers to her questions, but first she must commit treason and travel beyond the boundaries of her world. She must brave a place where everything rests on the point of a blade: her loyalties, her friends, her heart.

More info on Goodreads......


Review:

The Protector Project is Jenna Lincoln’s debut novel and is an intriguing tale of twists and turns that will draw you in and keep you guessing all the way through. 

Sixteen year old Mara de la Luz is a Protector; a soldier who has spent years training, fighting and battling against her people’s sworn enemy, the Gaishan. Fierce, brave and determined, Mara is the leader of her cohort and content to continue the battle against the masked Gaishan, even though secretly she would love more from life. Yet when an injury on the battlefield sees Mara saved by an enemy solider, Mara soon begins to discover that not everything is as it seems and the truth is going to change her life forever………

Heading into The Protector Project I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The premise sounded interesting, if not mysterious and I found myself intrigued to discover just what was going on; something that remained the same throughout the entire story. The Protector Project was a delightful blend of simplistic living and advanced technology that really highlights the different societies existing in The Protector Project.

The world within The Protector Project really isn’t what is seems and as the main character Mara slowly comes to discover this, so too do we as the reader. This is one of those instances where as the reader, you only know as much, or as little, as the protagonist knows and as Mara begins to discover the truth about her world we discover alongside her. 

Personally I really liked Mara’s voice and the character Jennifer Lincoln wrote her to be. She has a lot of courage and ability, but she also managed to have personality. I enjoyed the innocence she had regarding a lot of the world around her and the childlike wonder she expressed as she learnt to do everyday things like read and write within the Gaishan world. 

Dalin is a great love interest, supporter, friend and somewhat savior to Mara in The Protector Project. Coming into the story as someone who saves Mara’s life, Dalin’s involvement is initially what forces Mara to see her world through different eyes and it’s with his help that she manages to leave behind her role in the project and discover unexpected truths.

There’s many different elements that make The Protector Project an enjoyable read and I’m impressed with what I’ve read so far. Fantasy, magic and nicely told battle scenes blend together with friendship, family and romance, and are all tied together and topped with mystery to create a debut that is sure to leave you ready for the next instalment!

Rating:
Source: Sent for review thanks to YA Bound Book Tours and author Jenner Lincoln (Thank you guys!)
Format: Kindle ebook
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | The Book Depository
My Recommendation: Fans of good fantasy will enjoy this.
Cover: I don't think the cover necessarily does the book justice.
Will I read sequel/continue with series: Yes. I look forward to reading more.