That's What HE Said Thursday #8

Image courtesy of Kei at The Lovely Pages Review

That's What He Said is a weekly meme hosted by the ladies at Chapter Break, where we spotlight a quote from our book crush to the object of his desire. We like to pretend it's us.

What better way to celebrate our book boyfriends?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My choice is from Shadows In Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton. It's book two in the Angelfire series. Shel loves this series and had me read it too so we could both share in the joy and heartbreak that is Will. In fact, whenever we discuss this book, we always start off with "poor Will". A lot happens in these books that leave you breathless and aching and Will is a huge part of why that is. If you haven't yet read these, you should! ~ Bel

“For centuries I’ve watched you with everyone but me, …Not him Ellie.”

~Will to Ellie regarding her attraction to nemesis Cadan

For more information about Courtney Allison Moulton and the Angelfire series, visit her website. You can also see her artwork - including lovely images of Will and the rest of her characters!

Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton

*****

From HarperCollins:

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .

Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.

The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.

As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world's darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.

Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

Look at those eyes!  Is it any wonder Ellie fell for Will?!  He's totally my book boyfriend!

You know when you love a series and the last book comes out and you are terrified, excited and devastated all at the same time?  Yeah, that's how I felt when we received the ARC of Shadows of the Silence from PageTurner's Blog.  I LOVE the Angelfire series.  There are endless ways a series can end and so many of those ways can be disappointing.  Will your favorite characters die?  Will the ending leave you cold?  Disappointing?  Heartbreaking?  

I despise spoilers, so all I will say about Shadows is that is was perfect.  Courtney Allison Moulton wrote an absolutely beautiful, touching and devastating conclusion to the Angelfire series.  As I tweeted to her after I finished the book, I love her so much for Shadows that I even forgive her for making me cry.  If you have yet to start the Angelfire series, do it now.  If you read Angelfire and Wings of the Wicked, run out now and get Shadows.  I only hope you love it as much as I did.  

Thank you Courtney Allison Moulton, HarperCollins and PageTurners Blog for choosing us to participate in the ARC tour.  Thank you Courtney Allison Moulton for writing a series that I have loved so much and characters to whom I want to give big hugs and root beer floats!  

~Shel

Waiting on Wednesday (49)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.

By Courtney Allison Moulton
Publication Date:  January 29, 2013

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.






By Megan Shepherd
Publication Date:  January 29, 2013

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect

A Peek in the BiblioBin (44)

Welcome to our Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves (or as we like to call it, A Peek in the Biblio-Bin) has been created by the lovely ladies at Tynga Reviews.

Stacking the Shelves is a way for bloggers to share what books they have won, received for review, bought from the bookstore, borrowed from the library or friend, etc.

This is what we have in our bin this week. Tell us what's in your Biblio-bin!

 For Review:

Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton



Bought:

Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay

Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally



 

Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

****1/2

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.

Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven's warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell's strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.
She's been warned.


Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian's new plan to destroy Ellie's soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian's schemes, the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.
 She'll be betrayed.

Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be Hell to pay.

You know how when you love the first book in a series, you are apprehensive about the rest?  Don't worry about that with Wings.  Wings continues the struggles of Ellie and her friends.  Ellie is trying desperately to balance her duties as the Preliator and her life as a high school senior, while trying to figure out where she stands with Will and how she feels about Cadan.  But of course, the battle between good and evil doesn't wait for prom...



The Bad:

Wings is long, which is not really a bad thing, because it is also excellent, but be prepared to set aside some time to read it.  I stayed up most the night on a Saturday and woke up early on Sunday to finish.  You are also introduced to many more characters and types of Reapers, but if you read Angelfire, you should have little trouble getting them straight. 

The Good:
The characters.  The story.  The phenomenal writing.  Take your pick.  Wings is a truly fascinating story.  The characters draw you in and won't let go with their snark and fun. 

To call Wings action-packed is an understatement, but to say it is also overflowing with emotion is not.  I finished Wings feeling (well beyond feeling that I wanted to read Book 3 immediately) completely drained and exhausted from the emotional toll the story took on me.  Neither Bel nor I could pick up another book for days it had that much of an impact.  And my literary crush Will is so sweet and really needs a lot of love in this book people! 

If you liked Angelfire, you will love Wings.  If you haven't gotten tired enough of me talking up Angelfire to read it yet - I say what are you waiting for?!  Read it now so you can get to Wings! 

I say again, you should all go check out Courtney's website for her graphic art of the characters and to stay tuned for updated on the third and final book in the series.  Also, Courtney is hosting a giveaway of some fine Angelfire Swag (which looks completely awesome!)  http://courtney-allison.blogspot.com/2012/02/fear-reaper-countdown-to-wings-of_13.html

~Shel




We were lucky enough to participate in the Wings of the Wicked ARC for the ARC Tour hosted by The PageTurners Blog and we thank them for the opportunity.

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

**** 1/2

From HarperCollins:

First there are nightmares.

Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.

Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

I know I previously mentioned that Angelfire is one of my surprise favorites of 2011; however, I recently re-read Angelfire when we received the Wings of the Wicked ARC for the ARC Tour hosted by The PageTurners Blog.  I was a little nervous that Angelfire may not live up to the hype in my head on a second read, but that was just silly.  Angelfire is the first in the trilogy telling the story of Ellie, the Preliator.  An ancient warrior who is reborn over and over to fight the demonic reapers and prevent the Apocalypse, ie the Second War between Heaven and Hell.

The Bad:

Keeping the different types of reapers separate and organized in my head was a little troublesome on my first read, but I definitely have them down now.  That was the only issue I had with Angelfire. 

The Good:

I love the characters that Courtney has created in this series, even the demonic reapers.  Plus, Will is my literary crush for 2011.  Angelfire is a riveting, compelling story with touching romance and mysteries that will keep you hanging on.  And seriously, Will.  Love. Him.  Check out Courtney's website for her graphic art of the characters, phenomenal - I seriously want some of the bookmarks she has created! http://www.courtneyallisonmoulton.com/

I could not put Angelifre down (really, ask my family, they were annoyed that I would not put the book down to spend time with them).  I had the pleasure to read an ARC of Wings of the Wicked and I have to tell you, I was not disappointed, not in the least.  Bel got to read it first and the moment I was done my phone rang for the post-game wrap up!  We will have a full review in the next few days.  Check out this beautiful cover:

~Shel

Shel's Top 10 of 2011

I know we have been a little lax this holiday season with keeping you entertained, but we will definitely be back to devouring books and driving our readers nutes wiht silliness after the holidays.  Until then, please enjoy my top 10 list:

Here at BiblioJunkies we have been discussing what to do with our 2011 "top" lists.  How many books, etc.  Unfortunately, when it came right down to it, I could not narrow my list down to just 5.  In fact, to get to 10 I had to be pretty specific in my lists - favorite by someone other than Meg Cabot or Janet Evanovich (because let's face it, these ladies will always top my favorite book lists) and lets not forget Rick Riordan, whom I adore.  And then I couldn't narrow down to eliminate books in a series (ie The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices, all of which are fantastic).  It really took a lot of thought and planning to get my list down to just 10, because I have read SOOO many truly fantastic books this year.  Each of the books below have touched (Yes, I am talking to you Suzanne Young) or entertained me and stood out among the plethora of books that I read this year.  So, here's my list, in no particular order:

The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

The Mythos Academy Series by Jennifer Estep

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Alex Van Helsing Series by Jason Henderson

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Hush, Hush by Becca FitzPatrick

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

The Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill

I recommend all of these books and/or series.  Check them out and let us know what your favorites of 2011 have been!  Happy New Year and happy reading in 2012!

~Shel