Review: Dreamland by Alyson Noel

Title: Dreamland (Riley Bloom #3)

Author: Alyson Noel
Started: 26/10/11
Finished: 28/10/11

Goodreads


Synopsis: 

Riley Bloom's adventures continues in this 3rd installment of the the Riley Bloom series. Incase you all don't know yet. Riley Bloom is dead and life doesn't end on the Earth Plane. She lives her 'afterlife' at Here & Now, a place all the dead go when they crossover. Riley found it a drag at first. But then she found her purpose. This purpose is 'Soul Catching' where she has to help convince stubborn ghosts to stop haunting people and crossover. During a supposed vacation in book 2, Riley decides to go against the rules and try to get an evil ghost to crossover which didn't end well. Now, in this 3rd installment, she is punished and suspended but she sees this as an opportunity to go out and try to communicate with her living sister Ever through her dream this as well is forbidden. Read the hardships she goes through trying to make it through Dreamland in this new installment.

Review: 

Dreamland picked up where the last book left out. Riley's being stubborn as usual tries to break the rules all over again. This 3rd installment is as good as the other 2. Eventful, clean, and page-turning. The writing is written simply in 1st person and is perfect for younger readers and its extremely easy and quick to read.

This is my favorite out of the 3 books in the series. Riley continues to throw tantrums and acts like your usual 12 year old girl and is determined to figure out how to turn 13, but thats tricky since she's dead. She was beginning to get on my nerves but then she finally learns a huge life lesson. Which she found through great characters like Balthazar, a former Hollywood director who now directs dreams. Her sister Ever, who goes through huge challenges because of the loss of her family and Bodhi, Riley's guide in her afterlife, who told her off and gave her the biggest eye-opening and hurtful speech ever.

This is a step up from the last 2 books and a wonderful read for younger readers from ages 11 onwards.  Dreamland is a perfect combination of flawless writing and a great light plot.

Blog Tour: Review/Giveaway Savor by Megan Duncan

Megan, you be pure awesomeness! Thank you for allowing me to be part of this tour. I appreciate it. Keep writing if you don't I'll go into cold turkey. :DDDD

Synopsis:


When Claire Miller turned eighteen all she wanted to do was celebrate her birthday, but after a night on the town with her best friend she awakes to a visitor she never expected. The rulers of her region, a vampire royal family, have chosen her to be turned as their new heir and vampire princess. Claire quickly discovers the royal family is not what they seem and that she has secrets in her past, she never knew existed.


Review:


Amongst dozens of vampire based Young Adult novels there is always one in a dozen that stands out amongst them. This is one in that dozen that stands out the most with its bright maroon/red cover and the amazing mix of dystopian, modernization, monarchy and vampires.

In the beginning we meet our main character Claire as she gets ready for her issuing of her Donor ID now that she's 18. In this world Megan created for us, we all each live in different regions wherein a vampire King reins amongst the humans. But in this region instead of brutally killing humans for blood like in the dark ages, humans donate their blood to the system monthly for the vampires. This clearly gives the region a sense of peace between humans and vampires.

As Claire's blood goes through testing before she gets her official Donor ID, the blood is tested and is concerned one of the purest of blood seen amongst the humans for years. And this catches the eyes of the King and the royal family. And they want Claire to be heir of their throne and their new daughter and Princess.

We follow Claire as she moves into the home of her new family and the process between her humanity all the way to her coronation and further. Claire holds a stern character that I liked a lot and immediately clicked with her character. She wasn't annoying or overly overwhelming. She was just the kind of teen I love to read about. Despite the fact that she had to leave her home and away from her friends and mom for perhaps forever, she rather took it well. If I was thrown in that situation I wouldn't be able to handle leaving my family that way.

The secondary characters were all easily liked. Especially Robin with her enthusiasm and cheerfulness I liked her immediately. But of course, there are those characters that you can’t help but loathe with their antagonist complex and such. Grr’s at them! Then out of nowhere Megan teases us with a shadowy hot figure in the distance that Claire can’t see but feels a strong bond for. Then Megan had to add in the whole whispering hotness that he is. And when we’ve finally met him she has to end the book! Of course, it was all before the fighting bits and the explosion which I found exciting but I won’t go further into.

Megan Duncan wrote such a beautifully written novel with few details and still managing to get the message out there. The storyline, love and bonds were realistic and new. An unputdownable read filled with love, family, and pure guardian hotness that annoyed me that it had to end. I look forward to Indulge!

Goodreads | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Amazon l Barnes and Noble

1st place: eBook copy of Savor (Int) or Paperback copy of Savor (US only)

2nd place: Bookmark Swag

Rules:

Must be 13 and over

Must be a follower of my blog & Megan's Blog

Must share on Twitter, Facebook, or through a blog post.

Winner’s will be announced on the 26th of November (picked by Random.org)

FILL UP THIS FORM

Blog Tour: Interview with Suki Michelle and Carlyle Clark (The Apocalypse Gene)

Welcome Suki Michelle & Carlyle Clark! 

Thank you, Unputdownablebooks, for giving us the chance to share a little bit of ourselves and our creation. You are a SPIKIN’ AMAZING girl, and we wish you everything wonderful that the universe (and all its alternate realities) has to offer. 

BRIEF BIO:

Suki Michelle is a life-long Chicagoan. She lives and writes with her soul mate, Carlyle Clark. She has one beautiful daughter, Bree, the first reader and tough critic of The Apocalypse Gene. Carlyle is a burly dude from San Diego. By day, Suki owns a Medical Transcription company and Carlyle is the assistant director of security for an international company. On the outside, Suki and Carlyle seem totally different. On the inside, they are the REAL Neo-Twins. You’ll have to read The Apocalypse Gene to find out who the Neo-Twins are, but here’s a hint: They are twisted devils with mirror-melded auras. 

1. What was the inspiration behind The Apocalypse Gene? 

Suki: I have a vivid imagination and a low tolerance for boredom. During a particularly tiresome day typing medical reports, I asked myself - What if there was a pandemic and the cure was beyond the reach of medical science and into the hands of mystics? (Naj's Note: Haha, I share the same tolerance for boredom)
Carlyle: What Suki said.  

2. Ever had writer's block while writing it? If so, how'd you get over it? 

Carlyle: I never get writer's block because I use the “spray and pray” technique knowing it’s fine to do as many revisions as it takes (number in the millions).  (Naj's Note: Revisions are good then. I always thought its a bad sign that I'm a bad writer. -.- )

Suki: I live with perpetual writer’s block. I stare at a blank screen, poke at the keys, rewrite a sentence seven-hundred times before powering down and going to bed pissed off. Then I wake up at three a.m., trip over the dog, limp to my computer and bang out a scene. (Naj's Note: Poor doggie!)

3. What was the best book you ever read? 

Suki: Tough question. I’ll say The Poisonwood Bible. I’ve always wanted to be Barbara Kingsolver when I grow up.

Carlyle: Deadwood by Pete Dexter. It's literary fiction set in the American West and the "voices" he gives the characters and the West itself make it feel very other. The people were the same but also different than we are now. 

4. How many times do you go back and rewrite a plot? 

Suki: Countless. Every time a character sticks out a fictional tongue, refuses to behave as instructed, and makes me change everything.

Carlyle: As often as it takes until everything makes sense. I can't say an exact number because I don't just power through to the end. I am constantly rewriting the plot as well as every other aspect 

5. Paperback or hardback? Why? 

Hardback for prettiness on the shelf, paperback for frugality. 

6. Who is your most favorite character and why? 

Suki: Louis from Interview with the Vampire, my first exposure to an immortal with deep morality in the face of insatiable hunger. While I’m at it, I have to say in the movie version, Louis in the form of Brad Pitt was astonishingly gorgeous. (Naj's Note: I concur)

Carlyle: Cletus Purcel from James Lee Burke's Dave Robiceaux series because I smile whenever he appears knowing that some well-meaning mayhem is sure to follow.

7. What is your weakness? Books, Food, etc. 

Suki: I love ALL foods as long as they’re chocolate.

Carlyle: Fried food and laziness. (Naj's Note: Fried Food is bad, and oh so gooood)

8. State 5 random facts about yourselves (10 facts total). 

Suki: 
1) I’m a people-person with a low tolerance for people (a frustrating irony).
2) Cashiers, waitresses and toll booth clerks find it impossible not to tell me their life story. (Naj's Note: Hahahahahahahahahaha)
3) My super power is asking a question about a TV show and having it be answered precisely one second later IN THE SHOW - an uncanny yet completely useless skill.
4) I suffer from odd-number phobia (notice this is #4?).
5) Half the time I have no idea what I’m doing. The other half, I’m trying to undo what I did when I didn’t know what I was doing.

Carlyle: 
1) I am one of the few people in the world who was literally paid to watch concrete dry. (Naj's Note: O.O Amazing)
2) I caught the Lake record bluegill at Poway Lake but they refused to post my name on the wall and I didn’t insist because I was supposed to have been in school at the time.
3) A bed once collapsed under my weight alone, well after Suki left it, proving that I can defy physics by weighing more by myself than I do with another adult.
4) I didn’t do it (no matter what the video shows).
5) I actually think I’m funny. (Naj's Note: I think you're funny. :DDD)

9. What are you currently reading? 

Suki: Under Heaven” by Guy Gavriel Kay, and listening to “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Euginides – both BRILLIANT.

Carlyle: The Towers of Midnight by Jordan & Sandersen + Provinces of Night by William Gay. Been reading The Wheel of Time since high school and Saandersen has brought it back up to its original form. Gay's dialogue, characterization, and metaphors are genius. 

10. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first? 

Suki: To the horror section. Unfortunately, the older I get, the less tolerance I have for the really scary stuff.

Carlyle: Straight to fantasy, in bookstores and in life. 

11. Your favorite Genre? 

Suki: Anything character- driven from speculative fiction to high-brow literary.
Carlyle: Epic Fantasy –battles, twisted politics, interpersonal-conflict, and a bit of romance . 

12. How many books in a month do you tend to read? 

Suki: I’d read all day if my day-job didn’t drain my focus - probably two.

Carlyle: I read nonstop wherever and whenever I can. I knock out about four books a month. 

13. What particular place do you write in? 

At home. We love being with each other and our furry pack of four-leggeds. We’re reclusive by nature. Sometimes it takes grease and a shoehorn to get us out of the house. 

14. Your favorite reading place? 

In bed with our dog at our feet and cats on our bellies. 

15. Here’s your chance to market the book. Describe 'The Apocalypse Gene' and why readers should pick it up? 

The Apocalypse Gene takes place in the near future during a time of global pandemic. Olivya, a highly sensitive psychic with aura-sight, lives in Hospice Row with her mother, cares for the dying, and attends virtual school. Being “sighted” in such dire circumstances is too much to take, and she tries hard to suppress her talent. 

In V-school, she meets the gorgeous, charismatic Mikah, an elite Empath in a clan of demon hybrids, The Kindred. Mikah tells Olivya that the Kindred are linked to the pandemic, but without initiation, he is barred from learning their truths. When Olivya’s mother falls ill, Olivya and Mikah embark on a quest to uncover Kindred secrets and soon discover that the pandemic is far more than a mere disease.

You should read it because the story, setting, and characters are unique - no vampires or werewolves, witches or fairies, and no love triangles, but an assortment of monsters and immortals you’ve never seen before, a strange paranormal romance, and funny dialogue. We wrote each scene vividly, intending that someday it will make a very cool 3D movie. It’s about believing in yourself, embracing your talents, and the power of love in the face of impossible odds. 

The book will be available for purchase on 10/17/2011. Go the www.theapocalypsegene.com, Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and Parker-Publishing for ordering information. You can also find us at: 

Goodreads | Website | Trailer | Facebook | Blog | Author Blog | Publishing | Twitter @ Suki_Michelle

Bloggers Note: Thank you Carlyle and Suki for spicing up my blog, with your awesome answers! They literally made me, and my sister laugh out loud. You guys rock! *sends you virtual cake and cookies*

Want to Read a review of the book? Click here: http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-apocalypse-gene/

BIG LAUNCH PARTY! :D

Wanna win a Kindle? Enter here NOW for your chance!

NEXT STOP: Loving Books