Reign of Shadows Blog Tour (Review)

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About Reign of Shadows:

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.

But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.

With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

With lush writing and a star–crossed romance, Reign of Shadows is Sophie Jordan at her best.

About Sophie:

Sophie Jordan grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she's also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Avon historical romances. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she's not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes and Diet cherry Coke preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows. Sophie also writes paranormal romances under the name Sharie Kohler.

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Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $50 Amazon GC and signed copies of REIGN OF SHADOWS, FIRLELIGHT, & UNINVITED, US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rafflecopter link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ZTIzODliYTI4ZTEzMGVjODBhNzA2MmFmMTU3YWM3OjQwMg==/? 

Bel's Review:

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Step into a fantasy world that appears to begin somewhat peacefully but soon escalates into morbidity. The world has turned into a savage place that has been devoid of the sun for nearly two decades. People are forced to live in hiding, scrounging for what they can during the one hour of daylight, known as “midlight”. It’s miserable in this every-man-for-himself land where no one can be trusted lest you lose your food, your belongings or worse yet, your life.  

Luna lives in isolation in this bleak place with her two keepers. She’s being kept hidden from the tyrant who usurped the throne when he murdered her parents shortly after her birth. As the true heir to her kingdom, her heritage is kept a secret to protect her. But this quiet world they’ve carved out as a trio is interrupted when three strangers turn up needing help. Luna who has never met anyone else is fascinated by them, in particular Fowler, who’s not much older than she is. This gruff newcomer's priority is to get as far away from this terrible land as soon as possible, hopefully without any extra baggage. Unfortunately, his plans are thwarted. When Luna’s safety is under attack, they’re forced to escape together. The forest is a treacherous place because a fellow human is not the deadliest encounter out there.

Luna and Fowler are two opposites. She believes in kindness and helping people while he feels it’s a sure way to death. He refuses to trust anyone or get close, in part because he carries a heavy heart. Admittedly Luna is slightly naïve considering her sheltered upbringing but she’s hardly a weakling. She has been trained to be a skilled fighter and knows how to read her surroundings. Just when things seem grim, they arrive at a turning point.

This is some world that Jordan has created along with nightmarish creatures and desperate, skeptical humans doing anything they can just to stay alive.  I got a bit squeamish when she described these giant hellish bats. (Now I know what she was up to when she mentioned researching them in one of her Facebook posts. She did her research well, folks!) Jordan also elevated the risks by slipping in a vital detail at the beginning that I didn’t even catch until it was said out loud. Sneaky, sneaky! I love being surprised like that and it just made me that much more vested in the characters’ welfare. It also made me admire how Jordan raised the stakes.

Reign of Shadows is a rousing start to what looks to be a heart-pounding series set to a gruesome backdrop. I don’t think Luna and Fowler are going to get much rest. Their success in their quest depends on them remaining alert and quick-witted. It's been a while since I've read any fantasy. Reign of Shadows was a fun way back to it and with a doozy of a cliffhanger, I for one am beside myself to know what happens next!

~ Bel

The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness

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The highly anticipated finale to the #1 New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

With more than one million copies sold in the United States and appearing in thirty-eight foreign editions, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night have landed on all of the major bestseller lists and garnered rave reviews from countless publications. Eagerly awaited by Harkness’s legion of fans, The Book of Life brings this superbly written series to a deeply satisfying close.

I always joke with one of my friends that reading these books is a commitment. Case in point, I received Shadow of Night, book two in the series, for Christmas 2012. I desperately wanted it but waited until the timing was right to finally read it. That ended up being around Christmas 2013. There’s just so much detail and history infused into each page that you really need a comfy, quiet spot so that you can happily lose yourself in it. So I was both thrilled and worried about reading 600+ pages in a timely manner to post a review. But the thing is, once you’re in this carefully mapped out world, you’re in it completely.

Diana and Matthew return to the present after their timewalk to the past to discover more about her abilities and the precious Ashmole 782 document that may hold all the answers. However, they’re returning to unhappy circumstances and unwanted changes. Everyone has to adapt and be on the offensive in order to protect Diana’s newfound secret and the family that remains.

I thought the start was a bit slow but I think that could just have been me slowly getting back into the book’s rhythm. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this story which is so heavily immersed in history and science, managed to incorporate some current pop culture references - that being Buffy for example - that allowed for hilarious quips and moments between a few characters. It threw me off guard but was very welcome.

The Book of Life gathers momentum and urgency as some new characters are introduced leaving you wondering on which side of things they will stand as they face down tradition and hierarchy. The tension is heightened when Matthew and the family have to finally confront their most despicable and horrifying enemy – an enemy that they’ve known about for many centuries and who has been keeping tabs on them from afar. As a vampire, Matthew’s protective instincts towards his mate and wife Diana are always on high. Now with this new threat, they’re in overdrive. 

Much of the story is about Matthew learning to find control especially when it comes to Diana. She is as self-sufficient and headstrong as ever and understands her husband well. She herself is occupied with her own research which could lead to finding some help for Matthew. But Ashmole 782 is something that all the creatures want to get their hands on. Time’s a ticking and everything is carefully moving into place for the final moment of truth.

The Book of Life is just as thought-provoking and suspenseful as the previous two books in this series. Past and present collide plenty in this too, often complicating things before becoming an advantage. I did feel that this book had more movement than Shadow of Night which I liked.  The best part is that this is about family, a strange mix as it may be, and redefining what exactly that is.

~ Bel