Salt & Stone (Fire & Blood #2) by Victoria Scott

* * * 3/4

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't quit--she has to win the race, save Cody, and then fight to make sure the race stops before it can claim any more lives. In the next legs of the race, across the ocean and over mountains, Tella will face frostbite, sharks, avalanche, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you'd relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the start of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the final part of the race, just forty-one are left--and only one can win.

Talk about kicking it up several notches! Salt & Stone may have a quiet start but our heroes are anything but. After coming through the first two treacherous legs of the Brimstone Bleed, Tella, Gus and company are mourning for those they lost while they rest and prepare for the next phase. Taking stock of what they have left and making plans for what lies beyond the race are what’s keeping Tella and Gus motivated. Only are in cahoots to destroy the cruel organizers of the race from within and bring the cure to everyone.  However, Tella finds Gus’ one-man-savior-of-all frustrating. She wants to be his partner in efforts to win more than the race but his tendency to shove every one aside and take on the risks on his own anger her to no end. She spends a great deal of time angry with him and confused by his mixed signals. Salt & Stone becomes as much about Tella bolstering her own confidence to prove Gus wrong about her capabilities as it is about finishing the race and winning the cure.

When the race starts up again, they face new rules with higher stakes. But this time they’re tasked to work in teams which makes things harder to a certain extent. Tella, who has always had a tough time in compromising her morals as a Contender, must act judiciously as she steps into a leadership role among the group. Caring for everyone’s needs and seeing to her own could be overwhelming for any seventeen year-old but Tella carries the responsibility with conviction. No matter how grueling the obstacles become overcomes them with sheer determination. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t occasionally escape into teenage reverie which only makes her situation sadder.

Victoria Scott also introduces some new faces to the group resulting in a few worrying confrontations. It definitely made for more interesting dynamics. Tella’s gut instincts are tested constantly so have no doubt that there are some surprises ahead.

The Fire & Blood series has always been about Tella and her fellow Contenders surviving this ordeal as a group. Tella's compassion and compulsion to always look out for others regardless of her own safety is the very heart of the series. Salt & Stone was every bit as thrilling and dangerous as Fire & Blood, and suspenseful to the very end. I’m definitely excited to see what happens next!

~ Bel

   

     

   

A Peek In The BiblioBin #140

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


For Review:

Raising Cain (the Key Guardians #1) by Kelli Ireland

Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade #1) by Jennifer Estep

There You Stand (Between Breaths #5) by Christina Lee


Borrowed:

The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us #1) by Maggie Hall

Salt & Stone (Fire & Blood #2) by Victoria Scott

Trowchester Blues (Trowchester Blues #1) by Alex Beecroft


Purchased:

Rebound (Boomerang #2) by Noelle August

Black John (Johnnies #4) by Amy Lane

Sticks & Stones (Cut & Run #2) by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

The Fine Art of Pretending (The Fine Art of Pretending #1) by Rachel Harris 

The Duff by Kody Keplinger 

Waiting on Wednesday (136)

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

By Victoria Scott

Publication Date: February 24, 2015

What would you do to save someone you love?

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't quit--she has to win the race, save Cody, and then fight to make sure the race stops before it can claim any more lives. In the next legs of the race, across the ocean and over mountains, Tella will face frostbite, sharks, avalanche, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you'd relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the start of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the final part of the race, just forty-one are left--and only one can win.

By Alexis Hall

Publication Date:  February 23, 2015

People come as well as go.

Twelve years ago, Edwin Tully came to Oxford and fell in love with a boy named Marius. He was brilliant. An artist. It was going to be forever.

Two years ago, it ended.

Now Edwin lives alone in the house they used to share. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to a build a future from the fragments of the past.

Then the weather turns, and the river spills into Edwin’s quiet world, bringing with it Adam Dacre from the Environment Agency. An unlikely knight, this stranger with roughened hands and worn wellingtons, but he offers Edwin the hope of something he thought he would never have again.

As the two men grow closer in their struggle against the rising waters, Edwin learns he can’t protect himself from everything—and sometimes he doesn't need to try.

The Warrior Release Day Blast

BiblioJunkies - especially Bel - is super thrilled to help celebrate one of our favourite (read: Bel's favourite) books!

Entangled Teen is excited to be announcing the release of Victoria Scott’s, The Warrior, the third and final book in the Dante Walker series, which readers are already raving about!

About The Warrior:

War between heaven and hell is coming, but Dante Walker makes it look damn good.

Dante’s girlfriend, Charlie, is fated to save the world. And Aspen, the girl who feels like a sister, is an ordained soldier. In order to help both fulfill their destiny and win the war, Dante must complete liberator training at the Hive, rescue Aspen from hell, and uncover a message hidden on an ancient scroll.

Dante is built for battle, but even he can’t handle the nightmares where spiders crawl from Aspen’s eyes, or the look on Charlie’s face that foretells of devastation. To make matters worse, the enemy seizes every opportunity to break inside the Hive and cripple the liberators. But the day of reckoning is fast approaching, and to stand victorious, Dante will have to embrace something inside himself he never has before—faith.

Find The Warrior Online:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

Author Bio:

Victoria Scott is a teen fiction writer represented by Sara Crowe of the Harvey-Klinger Literary  Agency. She’s the author of the FIRE & FLOOD series published by Scholastic, and the DANTE WALKER trilogy published by Entangled Teen. Her books have been bought and translated in eleven foreign markets including the UK, Turkey, China, Poland, Israel, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

Victoria lives in Dallas with her husband and hearts cotton candy something fierce.

Find Victoria Scott Online:

Website: http://www.victoriascottya.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VictoriaScottYA

Author Facebook: httpss://www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaScott

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3251728.Victoria_Scott

The Liberator (Dante Walker #2) by Victoria Scott

* * * *

Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.

Seriously, why do I love the bad boys so? And this bad boy in particular is such a prize, it’s remarkable I don’t want to punch him in the face. But it’s Dante, and Dante gets away with it because even though he’s a certifiable ego maniac, shallow and overbearing at times, he owns it and manages to surprise us at the same time. Yeah, he’s special.

Dante is now in the very unfamiliar and uncomfortable role as Liberator, working for the good guys now as opposed to being a Collector and working for the underworld camp. It’s like he’s entered bizzaro world and he can barely recognize himself. He’s constantly reminding himself that he IS one of the Good Guys and that he should shed his notorious past but he’s unable to let it go. He feels like a poser essentially. His new assignment to liberate a teenager in Colorado means taking him away from Charlie, the girl whose soul he was previously assigned to take. Who would have thought that Dante could be whipped? Charlie keeps him in check and encourages him to fulfill his assignment and return to her.

It’s not that easy of course. Aspen is rough, very rough around the edges and Dante’s usual charms don’t work on her. Still he manages to infiltrate her social circle and winds up caring about this lost girl. He has no clue as to her importance to the good guys or that somehow she and Charlie are connected. When the worlds collide and the Collectors send their minions after Dante and company, Dante takes a stand not just to protect the girl he loves but also for what’s right.

Dante has come a long way. This continues to be about his story and it's told in his singular voice. Because of this, Charlie feels a bit distant which is what I struggled with slightly with The Collector. However, this time around it didn’t bother me at all because I enjoyed being inside Dante’s head. He’s so full of bravado, incredibly amusing, even making his own eyes roll at his antics. He’s definitely no angel and he has no pretensions to that end.  But he’s evolving into a better man - that fact is alarming to him but endearing to the reader. Despite his deep love for Charlie and his belief in her purpose, there’s a small part of him that feels unworthy of her and of his own redemption. It’s only when he’s finally forced to confront his personal demon that he can be liberated. 

The Dante Walker series is simply fantastic. It has a different pulse that I just can’t get enough of. Just the very first sentence in The Liberator had me all giddy and excited again. It’s hard not to fall for Dante and his ridiculous persona. I think what draws me to the books and to him especially is that every thought in his head and everything he says is honest – even the cringe-worthy, socially incorrect remarks. He can’t help who he is and now that he has figured out who he is becoming, I am eager, no wait, chomping at the bit to read The Warrior that comes out this May.

~ Bel

Fire & Blood (Fire & Blood #1) by Victoria Scott

* * * *

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Being a fan of Victoria Scott is my main reason for reading Fire & Blood. Plus that this was something drastically different from her Dante Walker series piqued my interest.

First, I’ll address what’s on everyone’s minds (and mine too, I’ll admit) – the comparisons to The Hunger Games. It’s promoted as such so obviously that stuck with me. As I read on, the comparisons between what was similar diminished and turned into what was different. Similar – girl enters crazy contest to win ultimate prize to save loved ones.  That’s it.

Where The Hunger Games is set in a very bleak world, Fire & Blood opens with Tella and her family living a secluded life in Montana. She rattles on about the life she misses in Boston and all the modern-day luxuries she has had to give up. She’s a sixteen year-old who has typical teenage priorities – friends, hair, clothes, etc.  So when she happens upon the device that serves as an invitation to the Brimstone Bleed, she defies her parents and takes off. Of course, she hasn’t thought this thing through at all but once she arrives at the initial destination and encounters all the other Contenders there, she’s hit with the overwhelming reality of the situation.  

With her head in the game she takes on the challenge, reminding herself why she’s doing this. And unlike that other series, there’s more camaraderie and teamwork involved. It’s a relief for Tella to be a part of that while she hones her survival skills to press on.

Victoria Scott has included some creative elements that take Fire & Blood to a new level of excitement and suspense. There are quite a few characters whose motives are hard to anticipate. I think that being the reader I was naturally cynical of everyone, whereas Tella is always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. And we can’t tell such a story without including a quiet, brooding warrior and a slightly agitated fighter who makes everyone nervous.

In Fire & Blood, Victoria Scott has fulfilled the thrill-seeking, nerve-wracking adventure I was looking forward to. I was so caught off guard when I got to the end because I honestly thought I had another 20-something pages to go, that I was left feeling skittish. I simply wasn’t ready for it to be over. 

~ Bel

3rd Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!

Hello gentle-readers!  Welcome to our third (yes third) Spooktacular Giveaway!  It's impossible to believe that we've been doing this for three years.  As always, a big thank you to Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for hosting the hop.  After you enter to win our fantastic giveaway should check out all the amazing participating blogs in the linky below.

Today we are giving away two fantastic books to go along with the Halloween theme.  I've been lucky enough to meet the fantastically talented Chloe Neill on multiple occasions, most recently at Anderson's Bookshop, where she autographed a copy of the first in the Chicagoland Vampire series, Some Girls Bite, for our giveaway.

Guys, if you haven't read this series, you need to.  It is awesome!

Our second book up for grabs is a signed copy of The Collector first in  the Dante Walker  series by Victoria Scott.  Bel loves this series, which is recommendation enough for me (plus there's a pretty hot guy on the cover).  

You know the drill, fill out the Rafflecopter below and good luck!  Don't forget to check out all the other giveaways!

~Shel, Bel & Nat

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Collector (Dante Walker #1) by Victoria Scott

* * *  

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence has made him one of Hell’s best — a soul collector. His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment: Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days.

Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of Hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions long ago buried.

I’ve been craving some snarky, bad boy action lately and Dante Walker fits that bill perfectly.  As a soul collector it’s his job to steer people toward his way of thinking so that he can eventually deliver them to his boss. He doesn’t ask questions. He does what’s asked of him and gets the job done. Of course, having a little fun and messing about while on duty is a bonus.

His latest assignment to lure Charlie to the dark side ends up being his most challenging to date. She’s simply not as easy a mark as he assumed. She is one of those truly kind-hearted, selfless individuals that Dante is allergic to.  He works hard at coaxing her to embrace her wild side (if she has one) in hopes that he can loosen her morals. He certainly has his work cut out for him! As his time runs out, he also discovers that he's not the only one after Charlie and has to determine who he can trust and what to believe.

Here’s what I liked: Dante is a d-bag and he's completely okay with it. However, around Charlie, he finds himself in the unfamiliar role of wanting to protect her more than convert her. He starts off being not attracted to her but then begins to care for her as he gets to know her better.  Her good-natured heart brings to the surface all his unresolved feelings about his family and his past. 

What didn’t quite work for me was Charlie’s character. She comes across as flat to me so much so that I couldn’t quite believe it when he started developing feelings for her.  I felt that she is just a list of positive attributes but not an actual person.  Still his reaction and internal dilemma about Charlie are surprising and ridiculous. 

I’m still happy with The Collector. It has an interesting and fun premise that kept me tuned in. There are more characters who add extra drama and tension to things. Some things were a bit far-fetched which is baffling because if I’m willing to believe that a soul collector is out to seal people's fates then what was with my eye rolls when he paid for everyone to go to Vegas? Regardless, The Collector is entertaining because Dante, the cocky s.o.b. really powers the story. 

~ Bel