Blog Tour: Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill (Review and Giveaway)

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Books, Chicago, Chicagoland Vampires, Chloe Neill, Review, Wild Hunger

Hey guys and welcome to one of the many stops on the WILD HUNGER blog tour! I am excited and thankful to be one of the hosts’ on this tour and get to review the book as well as giveaway some awesome stuff to you guys! Keep reading for the review and giveaway rules!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Audible

Wild Hunger – Chloe Neill

Release Date: August 14th 2018

Berkley (Penguin Random House): Urban Fantasy

329 pages (paperback)

You can read this review and others on my Goodreads here. (Don’t be shy to send a friend request as well!

As the only vampire child ever born, some believed Elisa Sullivan had all the luck. But the magic that helped bring her into the world left her with a dark secret. Shifter Connor Keene, the only son of North American Central Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, is the only one she trusts with it. But she’s a vampire and the daughter of a Master and a Sentinel, and he’s prince of the Pack and its future king.

When the assassination of an ambassador brings old feuds to the fore again, Elisa and Connor must choose between love and family, between honor and obligation, before Chicago disappears forever.

*Be forewarned that this series is a continuation of Neill’s previous series Chicagoland Vampires and it could be quite spoilery for those who have not read or finished the books.*

I am a huge fan of the Chicagoland Vampires books and have been for about seven years and have immersed myself with the Sentinel Merit and the vampire Master Ethan Sullivan both of Cadogan House. I was quite excited to see the Neill was going to go for a spin-off that included their daughter – Elisa. At first, I was not sure what to expect, however, once I started to read – I couldn’t stop.

Usually with spin-offs there are characters who are pretty much an essence of previous characters such as they have the same sarcastic remarks, are described somewhat similar and really, its just the same character with another name. Neill took this and did a 180 in that we hardly saw previous character unless it was necessary as it was more important to meet and fall in love with the new characters rather than bring the old ones back. As much as I love Merit and Ethan, I found I really loved Elisa, her best friend Lulu and her ‘frenemy’ Connor. These characters were so much fun to learn about and see that they weren’t their parents from the previous series. Lulu was the best friend I wished I could have as she was eccentric yet laid back at the same time and knew when to fight her battles and when she should stay put. Connor, of course, was the kind of character you would expect to be as the prince of the North American Central Pack – broody yet yummy. He has trouble with finding who he is among  trying to be what his pack needs but he tries to be there for Elisa whenever he can despite their years of nagging one another. Elisa was … not her parents at all. I wasn’t quite expecting this so much as really enjoying her as an individual. She is fierce but very compassionate and she, like Connor, is fighting to find herself in a world that has already characterized her.

The story was easy to get into from the start yet difficult to put down as I did not finish till 2 AM. Like all of Chloe Neill’s books it was filled with action packed scenes as well as the best one liners she could give to her characters that had me holding in my laugh too many times. Like her parents, Elisa is skilled in wielding a katana and she is not afraid to use it, though she is a vampire (a monster to some) there is also something within Elisa that she calls a monster and isn’t sure what to become of it and she is found to fight against throughout the book as well as learn to fight with it.

Another fact about the book I loved was that it felt like more of an adventure rather than a romance and while there are steamy connections, I appreciated learning about the world, character relationships and new character developments. It was fun reading about the old gang and learning about the new gang coming together and seeing them all interact. I am excited for a sequel and wish I had the book in my hands right now.

Overall I gave WILD HUNGER 4 stars and wish Connor Keene and Ethan Sullivan were real people and that I could have more than one husband because they would definitely be in my circle of husbands. Thank you readers for reading and I will have another blog post up soon.

Over and out.

Giveaway: There are two giveaways, one hosted by me and one by Chloe Neill, and everyone is able to enter either or both!

Giveaway hosted by me includes:

• A Wild Hunger tote bag and bookmark
• A Stuffed “Connor Keene” Wolf Keychain
• A signed Chloe Neill book
• Assorted Chicagoland and Devil’s Isle bookmarks and swag

(enter by following the blog and commenting below that you did)

(per shipping costs US only!)

*extra entries if you follow on Twitter and Instagram @BookFanatic757*

The fun doesn’t stop here. Want more chances to win? You can also enter the Wild Hunger Grand Prize Giveaway, which runs August 6 through August 17 on Chloe’s web site.

• A Wild Hunger tote bag and bookmark
• A Stuffed “Connor Keene” Wolf Keychain
• A gorgeous box of Ladurée French Macarons (You’ll find out why in WILD HUNGER!)
• Amazon Kindle
• $50 Amazon gift card
• Bookmarks and swag

About the Author

Chloe Neill is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Devil’s Isle, Chicagoland Vampires, and Dark Elite series. She was born and raised in the South, but now makes her home in the Midwest.  When not writing, she bakes, knits, Pins, and scours the Internet for good recipes and great graphic design. Chloe also maintains her sanity by spending time with her boys–her favorite landscape photographer/husband and their dogs, Baxter and Scout. (Both she and the photographer understand the dogs are in charge.)

Website/Twitter/Facebook

 

If you have gotten this far, thank you so much for reading and I wish all of you luck for the giveaway, and make sure to go check out the rest of Chloe Neill’s books as well as the rest of the lovely blogs that are apart of this tour! You can check out the schedule down below (:

Week One

Monday, August 6 – The Consummate Reader
Tuesday, August 7 – Moonlight Rendezvous | Books of My Heart
Wednesday, August 8 – Book Dragons 24/7
Thursday, August 9 – MeliH
Friday, August 10 – A Book Fanatic Obsession | Silence is Read

Week Two

Monday, August 13 – Loves Great Reads
Tuesday, August 14 (Release Day) – Snoopydoo’s Book Review | The Saucy Wenches Book Club
Wednesday, August 15 – A Great Read | Book Nook Nuts
Thursday, August 16 – Urban Fantasy Investigations | Goldilocks and the Three Weres
Friday, August 17 – Dawn’s Reading Nook | Besties & Books

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A Book Tag

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Books, Reading

Hey guys, I wanted to do something a little different other than book reviews because some are coming your way and I don’t want to bore you with them. I thought that I could do a little book tag that let you know a little more about me and my reading habits and such. I don’t know who I should tag particularly so just leave in the comments on your answers, I’d love to see them!

 

Q1. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

• I actually hoard a lot of my bookmarks and use them as something to hold on to and stare at because I own several. Most of the time I just try to memorize the page I stop at or guess and check by flipping through the pages until I find my spot. Sometimes when I remember I will carry a bookmark but for the most part I just collect them.

Q2. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

• Since I am at school my reading spot is either my bed or the Barnes & Noble down the street when I’m through studying. When the whether is nice I like to sit under this tower clock in the courtyard next to a chapel and behind the cafeteria. It’s really beautiful to sit against the bricks and watch nearby students walk to and from class.

Q3. Do you eat or drink while reading?

• Hmmm. I’d say it’s half and half. Half of the time I will munch on some chips or animal crackers with water or iced coffee. The other half I’m too immersed within the book that I can’t do anything other than read.

Q4. One book at a time or several at once?

• When I was younger I would only read one book at a time but as I grew older and there was too many books I bought at once I would start to read maybe two at the same time. Though they had to be two completely different genres that way I don’t get confused with the worlds and such and I only do this when I’m in a slump that way one or the other will get me out of that slump.

Q5. Can you stop reading anytime you want or do you have to stop at a certain point or chapter, page, part etc.?

• If it is a book I am really invested in then I will probably pull an all nighter trying to finish it. But most of the time I will stop at a chapter unless it gets really good then I try to only stop when I can wait till the next part. I also am really fond of even number, I don’t know why, but if I stop on a page it has to be an even number.

Q6. Can you read while listening to music or watching TV?

• I actually cannot read without listening to music. It’s like I can’t get into the groove of reading until I have my headphones in my ears and I am jamming out to my favorite songs. When I am reading you will catch me nodding or tapping my fingers to the beat and either singing or humming along to the music. I  multitask so it’s weird to do just one thing for me. Rarely will I watch TV and read but when I do I’ll read when the show gets boring or during commercials.

Q7. Do you read ahead or skip pages?

• When the book gets boring to the point where if I don’t find out what the heck is going on and debate on DNF-ing the book then I’ll probably skip to the end or skim a  few pages until it gets good but that’s rare.

Q8. Do you write in books?

• No. Once during my junior year in AP English my teacher made the class write in whatever book we read as a class which totaled to about 6 different books. When I realized what we had to do I was appalled – write in books? Purposely? I didn’t like it but it was either write in the book or fail so I chose the latter. I didn’t like it but I did it.

Q9. Read at home or everywhere?

• Um both? I have a book with me wherever I go whether it’s a physical copy or an e-book on my phone. I don’t mind reading anywhere or at home though I prefer home in my bed with a drink and my dog next to me.

Q10. Reading out loud or silently in your head?

• Silently in my head. I am self conscious about reading out loud and I read faster silently anyways. Sometimes I will mouth the words or when I am getting bored I’ll whisper in a English accent to try and make it more appealing but then I go back to reading silently.

 

Ok that was The Book Tag. A very bland name but kind of fun. If you would like to do this or answer the questions down in the comments – go for it! If you like these type of things or want to see something different let me know that way I don’t drown y’alls inbox with reviews after reviews. Thank you readers for reading and I will have another blog post up soon.

Over and out.

2015 Blogger Love-A-Thon!

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Books

Today is the kick-off for the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon! It is a weekend event where bloggers from all around share about ourselves, make new friends, find new blogs and of course, talk about all things books! I’d like to thank Alexa for setting this up and letting me be apart of it.

If you have yet to hear about the Love-A-Thon I believe you can still sign up and join in one the fun by signing up and reading the post here. Then tweet the amazing host, Alexa, @alexalovesbooks or leave an email to bbloveathon@gmail.com so she can add to the list of participating bloggers in her main post!

Now that I am officially late on my post I should get started so today we start off with a questionnaire that will hopefully help you all figure out on my personality or just realize I am crazy, so here we go:

What is your name?

My name is Alyssia, pronounced Uh-Lee-See-Uh, or like the name Alicia but spelled differently.

Where in the world are you blogging from?

I am blogging from my hometown of Dallas, TX

How did you get into blogging in the first place?

It was sort of an accident that I hadn’t thought through. I was scrolling through Goodreads almost two years ago and saw a post for one of the groups I was in about free books and that’s all my brain acknowledged. In order to get these “free books” I had to review them, which was something foreign to me until I realized how many people did it. SO I started reviewing for both the sake of receiving these amazing books for only a review and as an outlet for me to talk about how much I loved the book I was reading at the time. Then here I am!

How did you come up with your blog name?

My blog name is what it is because I was to lazy to try of think of something creative so I took the cheesy road and added my name to book obsession and thought it worked.

What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?

I don’t really post specific genre reviews but I have been in the New Adult genre lately because who doesn’t like a good steamy romance every now and then? I am particular to Contemporary and Dystopian and Chick Lit, Fantasy sometimes, Paranormal, and basically everything.

What other types of posts do you do on your blog, apart from reviews?

Oh goodness I do lots apart from reviewing such as cover reveals, book blitzes, excerpt reveals, giveaways. I tried to start the Waiting on Wednesday thing but I was too excited about posting it and completely forgot until Wednesday when the day was over.

Best Blogging experience so far?

Probably being asked the chance to review a book I have been wanting for forever from one of my favorite authors. The book was Black Widow by Jennifer Estep! I had the finished copy a month before it dropped for release and also had the chance to interview the author for my blog. However the contacting was screwed up so I didn’t have my chance but I reviewed the book, LOVED IT and went about my blog.

Favorite thing about the blogging community?

I love the blogging community but I also love the reading community as well. There are so many bloggers/readers out there and they are so nice and forthcoming about their love for books. It is amazing to see such a large community have one thing in common that can bring us all together. My favorite part is making friends who are just as crazy as you when it comes to book and understand the feelings a book can bring you. Also the friends who will also cry in the middle of a store because you get to that one part where the authors words just kill you inside and don’t care who is watching you cry.

Name 5 books you are most excited for 2015.

I recently read The Red Queen and fell in love with it, I can’t wait to hear what all my blogger friends think about it! I am also excited for Victoria Scott’s Salt & Stone the sequel to Fire & Flood which was one of my favorite 2014 reads last year. I just finished Gayle Forman’s I Was Here and of course she blew me away with her books as she always does. Rachel Vincent, one of my all time fav authors is taking the indie route and publishing Lion’s Share, the spin-off series to her adult series Shifters that I fell in love with in 2011, is releasing the 23rd of THIS month ! That is 2 days away and already pre-ordered it and am on my toes for it to be here already! The 5th book I am most excited for is Katie McGarry’s Nowhere But Here.

What is an underrated book or series you think everyone should read?

Oh. oh. I got this. Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamer series. Anything by Cassie Mae because she is just an artist with books, Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige because duh, evil Dorothy. Kelley Armstrong’s YA books are the BEST. Just gonna throw out Vampire Academy, if you only seen the movie don’t judge read the books!

Apart from reading, what are your favorite hobbies and/or interests?

As crazy as it sounds I really really like to read books all day everyday all day. However when I am shockingly not reading I have taken up learning sign language or ASL. Other than that I am just your average 18 year old who is constantly on the internet and posting pictures of books on my Instagram.

There are more questions but I am already behind schedule so I’ll just leave what questions I have already answered and going to go check on the other blogs in this Love-A-Thon and hope you all have a great time and I will have another blog post up soon!

Over and out.

Weekly Update #3 Books upon books upon MORE BOOKS!

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Books

I guess you could say that this week was a really, REALLY, really good week for all things books in my life. Throughout the week I have found myself just getting books as they come, and then getting more just because I could, though they weren’t the physical books but that just fine! Well there was one but I got that one last week. Anywho here is how my week has been…..

There are so many new books on my phone that I have acquired and I’ll just post the covers instead of killing my fingers by writing down all the titles (:

That is 11, 11, new books to my Google account on my phone and there is plenty I am planning to get within the new week.

However there is also several more that I have recently finished and they are:

The Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead is an Adult Paranormal Fantasy series that I practically blazed through! I loved every second of it however the ending to the series about killed me with frustration. Walking Disaster was even better than the first book, Beautiful Disaster and I was quite pleased with being in Travis’ head for awhile. And the last book, Cruel Beauty, was dark and very strange but I devoured that sucker within days. I admit the beginning was a little slow but once you are in your own reading pace, there is no stopping until you finish the book!

Now to the good part!

ARCs that I have received:

I received Firebug by Lish McBride via Twitter from Fierce Reads by winning a giveaway, Black Widow by Jennifer Estep via NetGalley and finally Torture to Her Soul via the author, J.M. Darhower! Guys you do not know how excited I am to have received these books and even more excited to get to read them!

So that has been my week of fun filled books, how has yours been?

Thank you guys for reading, stay tuned for a possible giveaway(: I need someone to take a few ARC’s off my hand!

Over and out.

Weekly Update #2 Playing Catch Up with Alyssia

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Books

So I’m sure you all have noticed I haven’t been updating the blog for a week.

Sorry.

I have no access to the internet until I visit my dad during my annual visit dad time because of parents marraige divorce thingy. Also because school is fixing to begin for us youngins, Senior year for me! But alas I’m back for the duration until tomorrow night and then I will try to schedule posts for the weekdays so I’m not scrambling to McDonald’s for some free WiFi.

In other news, as you can see from the title I have been trying, trying, to catch up on reviews but it is more of Alyssia-gets-distracted-by-the-internet-when-reviews-are-needed-to-be-done-but-doesn’t.

Internet/Life: 1 Alyssia: 0

BUT I got two reviews finished, yesterday? I think. Anyways it got done so I need to post them ASAP. However it is saved on my laptop and while I brought my laptop with me to my dad’s place, I forgot the charger. Thus me blogging on my Kindle.

Internet/Life: 2 Alyssia: .5 (I get half a point because I at least got two reviews done)

Besides reviews, I did get plenty of reading done!

New to my shelves:
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster (Bought)
Elixir (ARC) – Ted Galdi

New to my Kindle:
Wild Hearts (Justiss Alliance, #0.5) by Tina Wainscott
Wild on You (Justiss Alliance, #1) by Tina Wainscott
Wild Ways (Justiss Alliance, #2) by Tina Wainscott
Wild Nights (Justiss Alliance, #3) by Tina Wainscott (all via NetGalley)
Tears of Tess (Monster in the Dark, #1) by Pepper Winters (via NetGalley)
Quintessential Q (Monsters in the Dark, #2) by Pepper Winters
Twisted Together (Monsters in the Dark, #3) by Pepper Winters

All the books new to my Kindle, I have already read and am beginning to write the reviews. Also book 2 & 3 in the Monsters in the Dark series, a friend a loaned them to me through her email to my Kindle and I am so thankful and happy that she sent them to me. She is on Instagram @obsessivecompulsivereader, if you want to check her page out and also her blog is http://www.thisgirlreadsalot.blogspot.com if you want to check that out as well. She is so interactive with her followers and her blog is awesome! 

Ok I think that is everything I needed to cover this week and I will try, TRY, to post my weekly wrap up next Sunday on time and get some reviews out and about for y’all to see (:

Thanks for reading,
Over and out.

Book Review: Providence by Jamie McGuire

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Books, Jamie McGuire, Providence, Review

You can read this review and others on my Goodreads here.

 

So I have only read one other book by Jamie McGuire and that was Beautiful Disaster and honestly? I wasn’t into the book all that much as others were and I think I gave it 2 maybe 3 stars. I feel bad because almost everyone I knew who read it, loved it.

But not me.

This book falls into the same category as well.

The story starts off with us meeting Nina and her struggling with her father’s death. Skip past a few days to the night after his funeral and Nina just so happens to meet this hunk of sexy, Jared Ryel.

Ok this Jared guy is someone that is just too good looking to be true and Nina believes that they are to be something, anything really because almost everywhere she was, there he was. It had to be fate. But oddly while Jared wants to be with Nina he tells her that there is something that keeps them apart and that they shouldn’t be. Kinda hard to be apart when he is almost stalking her, popping out at all times whenever she seems to walk into trouble.

Though it all changes when they do get together, sort of, and Jared admits that he has been watching Nina her whole life and is her somewhat bodyguard.

Oh he is not just a her bodyguard but also her guardian angel.

Yeah angel.

Anyways there are these men that are looking for some paperwork that her father has, who was some hotshot business dude, though they is some trouble that her father had gotten himself into and now that trouble had lead to Nina.

Ummm. I will say I did like this book because it was a paranormal read that involved angels and I haven’t read an angel book in a while so that was refreshing. However the book was too much like her other book I read, Beautiful Disaster, and the similar parts annoyed me to no end.

The characters were too much alike, the girl meets boy who shouldn’t be with her, deny the feels, go with the feels and be with each other, realize they can’t be with one another, deny the feels again, get together and love each other all night. And this all happens in their first year of college.

I shouldn’t have let the little things irritate me but it happened. There were certain scenes in the story that made no sense to me such as the back and forth between Nina, Jared and the other guy that was also in love with Nina, Ryan. When Nina was not with Jared she was hanging out with Ryan and yes I did like Ryan, he was cute, funny and the all around nice guy though I seriously think he had a case of bi polar problems. He, of course, was jealous of Jared and when Jared was not around he was great and had a hoot with Nina but once Jared came around Ryan hated every inch of Nina and said horrible things but again once Jared left he was all smiles and it creeped me out.

I also felt that Nina was a little to clingy in the beginning of the simple thought of her and Jared being a thing. She was constantly looking at her phone and when he would finally pop up he would do something that seemed to lead her on and then Nina would somehow wind up getting hurt and be pissed at him. They he was sweet the next time and she had they lovey dovey bird look in her eyes for him. I felt that Jared was messing with her emotions and I did not like him one bit in the beginning. Though later on is a different story.

One character I enjoyed immensely was Nina’s best friend Kim. Goodness the random things that came from her mouth had me smiling and laughing whenever she opened her mouth. Kim brought the funny, good feeling to the book, the light hearted relaxed feel.

Overall I liked the book, I may read the rest of the series but will find out when I get there, and I did like Jared towards the end because I mean c’mon he IS cute and chiseled and strong and sweet. I liked the action part of the storyline, the fighting scenes and some of the love scenes. I give this book about 3 stars and hope to maybe give the series more later on.

Thanks for reading!

Over and out.