ARC Review of Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas

August 20, 2016September 8, 2020 Olivia Chanel3 Comments

Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas

Publication Date: August 22, 2016.

Publisher: Entangled Crush.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, and Romance.

Rating:

Selling points: Extraordinary f/f romance, magical writing, and diverse characters.

Purchase here: Amazon | The Book Depository

Synopsis: Two girls. One Kiss.

The last person Riya Johnson expected to run into at her new summer camp is Courtney Chastain—her childhood best friend and the girl who broke her heart after a secret, mind-blowing, life-altering kiss. She definitely didn’t expect to be sharing a bunk bed with her for four long weeks.

Courtney has what every girl wants—she’s beautiful, rich, and the object of every boy’s desire at Camp Pine Ridge. Too bad none of them make her feel an iota of what Riya’s kiss did all those years ago. But Courtney needs to uphold appearances at all costs—even if it means instigating an all-out prank war with Riya as her main target.

Neither girl can stop thinking about the other…but that doesn’t mean they can give up past hurts and take a chance on a future together.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains drinking, sexual situations, and a fairy-tale romance sure to make your heart melt.

Thank you Entangled Crush for my review copy of Keeping Her Secret. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Keeping Her Secret is a book that stays with you like a beautiful sunset is engraved in your mind for days or even weeks after you’ve seen it. This book is refreshing, beautiful and fills your heart with love and joy. Keeping Her Secret has now become one of my favorite books of all time, I already want to reread it and experience these emotions all over again. You can review a book where you analyze it point after point, however, the one thing that has always had the greatest impact on me is how a book makes me feel. Keeping Her Secret makes me feel a lot, in the best way possible.

Waiting on Wednesday #1 As I Descended by Robin Talley

August 17, 2016March 12, 2017 Olivia Chanel13 Comments

galaxyblogwaitingonwednesday1

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I’m eagerly anticipating As I Descended by Robin Talley. This book has been said to be based on MacBeth, a bit dark and creepy, and totally about girls.

As I Descended by Robin Talley

Expected publication: September 6, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT, Retellings

Add to your To Be Read shelf on Goodreads.

Pre-order on Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.

Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.

Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.

But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.

Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.

But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.

From acclaimed author Robin Talley comes a Shakespeare-inspired story of revenge and redemption, where fair is foul, and foul is fair.

What book are you waiting on this Wednesday? Are you also anticipating As I Descended by Robin Talley?

signature9

YA Fantasy Gets Social Media: Unicorn Tracks AU

July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 Olivia Chanel5 Comments

Do any of you guys ever read a YA Fantasy book and wonder what the characters in it would do in our time and world? What social media accounts would they have? What would they post? Sometimes imagining your favorite fantasy characters in our world is just the best thing ever. That is why I came up with YA Fantasy Gets Social Media, where I create social media accounts for my favorite fictional characters from young adult fantasy books. I’m not sure how often I’ll do this but I do know that I loved making this post so I’ll definitely make more!

The first YA Fantasy to get social media is *insert super intense drumroll* Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember. This is by far one of my favorite reads this year. I’m just so in love with Mnemba and Kara, and of course all the magical creatures they encounter. I mean unicorns and mermaids, be right back while I just fangirl for a moment. If you need further convincing as to why you have to read this book, read my review here (I gave it five slices of cake) and add it on Goodreads.

Mnemba and Kara’s iMessage texts

If Mnemba and Kara lived in our time and world they’d both have iPhones (matching ones 0f course because goals) and they’d be all over each other with texts. Mnemba is usually busy during the day holding her guides and Kara must stay behind to do some much needed work with Tumelo in the office. However, when Mnemba gets a little reception in the wild she sometimes texts about the ridiculous things the tourists say. Kara is usually fast to respond, often with a joke and a reminder to stay alert, to which Mnemba replies that she’s the expert.

However, when they’ve been away from each other for a while the texts do get a little more heated and when they think no one is looking they are often found smiling at their phones because of something the other one has sent.

Mnemba and Kara’s Instagram accounts

After that I can see both Mnemba and Kara getting Instagram. I can imagine Mnemba uploading pictures of the quiet views she encounters during her guides. When she’s not too busy keeping the foreigners from getting eaten by animals she might even try to catch a picture of a Chimera just to show Oswe once again who’s the best of the best. When she’s not doing that, Mnemba is probably uploading pictures of her beautiful girlfriend Kara, her very own Chimera. Her favorite photos is always the ones where Kara looks at peace just soaking up the sunshine.

For Kara I can see her Instagram being filled with her research and lots and lots of pictures of the beasts she studies. Everything from unicorns, to river mermaids and griffins. However, a lot of pictures are really just of Michi and him growing up to become the beautiful unicorn he is. When Kara is not taking pictures of animals, she’s probably kissing her girlfriend and trying to sneak a picture or two while she’s still asleep in the morning.

Mnemba and Kara’s Twitter accounts

Twitter is something I think Kara would just love. It’d be the perfect tool for her to promote her book The Beasts of Nazwimbe and also Tumelo’s growing business. Mnemba claimed in the beginning that she sees no use of having a Twitter but after a lot of nagging by Kara, Mnemba just asked her to make an account for her. Mnemba mostly uses her Twitter to retweet all of Kara’s tweets and tell the world how intelligent and beautiful her girlfriend is.

Disclaimer: This Unicorn Tracks AU is purely made as a fun thing for me and is nothing official. These amazing characters belong to Julia Ember but the words are made up by me, not the author. The pictures belong to their respectful owners.

That was it for YA Fantasy Unicorn Tracks Gets Social Media. I hope you thought this post was as fun to read as it was for me to make. I have also uploaded these pictures on my Tumblr so you can reblog it here if you’re also on there. Do you guys think Mnemba or Kara would get any other social media accounts? If yes, which ones?

If you haven’t read Unicorn Tracks yet I really recommend it, here are a few useful links for you. You can go to Julia Ember’s website here, add the book on Goodreads here or just buy it directly on Amazon here. You won’t regret it!

Welcome To Olivia Chanel’s Book Restaurant

July 17, 2016April 3, 2018 Olivia Chanel5 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Olivia Chanel’s book restaurant. Are you looking for a bite to read? To take a sip of a summer read or just take a dish of a dark and complex heroin for dinner? Then this is the restaurant for you! Down below you can see this week’s menu. We have a wide range of dishes, desserts, drinks and wines you can choose from.

This week’s House Special is a very adventurous and sexy dish, one that will make you taste the dreams of Las Vegas. This week the chef has chosen Amour Amour by Krista and Becca Ritchie.

oliviachanelbookmenu4 oliviachanelbookmenu2 oliviachanelbookmenu7 oliviachanelbookmenu6

There is PRIDE 12 months a year

June 30, 2016April 3, 2018 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Today July 30th marks the last day of Pride Month, a month in celebration of the LGBTQIA community. Or more precisely, a month for the celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual people.

“I am a human being just as deserving of love and happiness as the next person. I tell myself this every day.”

– Dirty London by Kelley York

June has been a month filled with both sadness and happiness, one where we have seen that there is still a lot of hate and ignorance towards the LGBTQIA community but also a lot of love. We have seen people come together to fight against that hate, to fight hate with love. As we exit this month, I think we should all remember that though there are people out there who wish great evil upon the LGBT community, there are thousands more that are filled with love, acceptance and hope. Love is love is love, and love always wins in the end.

pridepost3

This month has been a great month when it comes to books in correlation to the LGBT+ community. We have had Julia Ember (author of Unicorn Tracks) and her #ReadProud challenge which I think has been an absolute success. You can tell that people have really read more LGBTQIA books with this tag, have promoted more of these books and put them in the spotlight they very much deserve.

However, this brings me to another important topic that I think we should all remember. June, the official Pride Month, is a month once a year where we celebrate LGBTQIA, however, we need to remember that every single month is Pride Month for this community. The ups and downs, the good and the bad, they’re something people in this community face every day and therefore the support for this community and the books connected to this community should be there in the spotlight more than just once a year. The support we have seen this month, we should see it every month. We have to support LGBTQIA authors and LGBTQIA books all the time. Therefore I want to recommend you as many LGBTQIA books as I can, both books that are already published and books that are yet to come. We should also remember that when we support authors, we should put extra focus on books that are #ownvoices, and also have intersectional diversity because these are the books that need the attention the most. These are the books readers need.

Book Blitz: Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember

April 21, 2016October 19, 2016 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi guys! Today on this lovely Thursday Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember comes out and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s about unicorns, girls and other exciting things. Down below you can read an exclusive excerpt, see beautiful art and find all the links you could want. Are you as excited as I am for this book?

About The Book

Unicorn Tracks

by Julia Ember
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: April 21st 2016
Harmony Ink Press

Summary from Goodreads:

After a savage attack drives her from her home, sixteen-year-old Mnemba finds a place in her cousin Tumelo’s successful safari business, where she quickly excels as a guide. Surrounding herself with nature and the mystical animals inhabiting the savannah not only allows Mnemba’s tracking skills to shine, it helps her to hide from the terrible memories that haunt her.

Mnemba is employed to guide Mr. Harving and his daughter, Kara, through the wilderness as they study unicorns. The young women are drawn to each other, despite that fact that Kara is betrothed. During their research, they discover a conspiracy by a group of poachers to capture the Unicorns and exploit their supernatural strength to build a railway. Together, they must find a way to protect the creatures Kara adores while resisting the love they know they can never indulge.

Add to Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon│Harmony Ink Press

Excerpt From The Book

When he reached the baobab tree, the unicorn looked around in confusion. The trance of the moonstone seemed to break with the humans closing in on him. He sniffed the horns around him, squealing and pawing the ground in distress. Three of the riders threw their ropes, catching him around the neck. As he struggled to back away, others advanced. Men taunted the stallion with their whips, making him kick and try to rear. When his feet lifted, they threw more ropes, circling the nooses around his powerful feet. As a group, they wrestled the unicorn to the ground, throwing themselves on top of him the moment his knees touched the grass.

Even with the weight of six on his back, and men all around holding ropes anchoring him to the ground, the stallion kept fighting. His eyes rolled back in his head, his legs thrashed and I could hear his screams from the cliff. I’d never heard a unicorn make a sound before, and hearing it now sent a chill through my entire body. His screams were different than a horse, higher in pitch, with a vibrating tremor that made him sound almost like a singer at the crescendo of a performance.

The leader of the group advanced on the now subdued unicorn, holding what looked like a handsaw. The stallion tried frantically to spear the man with his horn, but three of the followers held the animal’s head in place. Still he tried, snorting and staring his captor in the eye, silver-tipped horn poised like a sword toward the leader’s heart.

Kill him, I found myself praying. Fight them. Kill him and this will all be over.

The saw began to tremble in the man’s hand as he swiped again and again across the base of the stallion’s horn. Fragments the size of fingernail clippings covered the earth like snow. Beside me, I felt Kara start to shake. Her whole frame quivered with silent sobs. The horn fell to the ground and all at once, the stallion quit struggling. The men climbed off him and loosened their hold on the ropes that bound him.

The group’s leader reached for one of the ropes around the unicorn’s neck. He turned and the stallion followed him, meek as an old broodmare. His eyes seemed to blink back a heavy sadness, the only echo of his proud battle song.

About The Author

Originally from Chicago, Julia Ember now resides in Sunny Scotland where she learned to enjoy both haggis and black pudding. She spends her days working as a professional Book Nerd for a large book wholesaler, and her nights writing YA Romantic Fantasy novels. She also spends an inordinate amount of time managing her growing city-based menagerie of pets with Harry Potter themed names.

A world traveller since childhood, Julia has now visited over 60 countries. Her travels inspire the fictional worlds she writes about and she populates those worlds with magic and monsters.

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook