 If you love books like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s American Gods or Good Omens, Joe Hill’s Nos4A2, or Stephen King’s (Richard Bachman) Blaze, then you’ll love Awakening!  Awakening: Rise as the Fall Unfolds by Carissa Andrews Publication date: November 12th 2019 Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Urban Fantasy Synopsis: The final five angels have been located and averting the apocalypse means somehow recreating the birth of Christ. Morgan never expected total annihilation would come down to the actions of five misfit angels. But as each one’s hidden angelic power unfolds, so does the sinister truth… the entire Jesus storyline has been wiped from the collective consciousness, leaving a tear in the fabric of reality. The final five need to figure out how their gifts are meant to fit together in order to set things right. However, coming to terms with the responsibility resting on their shoulders doesn’t come easy. To make matters worse, the demons have found them and unless they get on the same page quickly, the darkness will consume them all. But how can they make things right when the thing that’s missing happened more than 2000 years ago? One thing’s for sure. If they fail, existence ceases. Goodreads | ~ Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play |
Carissa’s Top Ten Favorite Supernatural Reads Being a reader, as well as writer, it's SUPER hard to pick some favorite books. I had to brainstorm like a crazy person and get as many of them down as possible. Once that was done, I was able to see a common theme about them: supernatural reads! As it turns out, I love to both read and write books with a genre bending quality that pulls in elements of the supernatural through them. Let’s see if we share some of the same awesome love for supernatural reads! 1. Nate Temple Chronicles, by Shayne Silvers – So good and so, so funny! If you are trying to decide between this or his Feathers and Fire series, I can honestly say – Nate Temple is where it’s at. Start here! 2. Rise of the Seer, by Brandon Barr – I bought this book when Brandon was still alive and trying to raise money for his family before his passing. It was a good read and one that I still recommend in honor of his legacy. 3. Blood, Flesh, Bone Trilogy, by Juliet Vane – Juliet is a friend of mine and I adored this series! I love anything with ghosts and hauntings and supernatural occurrences. Bonus: if you like music, too, you’ll love this series! 4. The Lux Series, by Jennifer Armentrout – Oh, what to say about this series… It reminds me of Roswell (old TV show) in a way. My BFF turned me on to this series and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the twists and turns! About mid-series it wandered a bit, but it came back around. If you love supernatural beings (or aliens), you’ll enjoy this read. 5. Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl – It’s been a while since I read this series, but I loved it! Obviously, it went on to become a movie as well, so I must not have been the only one! HA! 6. House of Night Series, by PC and Kristin Cast – I read this series as it came out years ago and to this day, it still lingers with me. It was post Twilight and probably one of the first true “academy” books outside of Hogwarts. 7. The Witch, by Christopher Pike – This one is a super throw-back to my childhood. I read this book when I was a kid and fell in love with all things witchy because of it. It doesn’t look like they have it in digital format, but the paperback is still out there! 8. The Relic, by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child – Oh to read the supernatural twisty turny books by Preston and Child. I love this duo and if you only watched the really craptastic movie of this book, you are sorely missing out. It was SO well written and intriguing. If you haven’t yet read the Pendercast books, get started with this one. Super good! 9. The Sookie Stackhouse Series, by Charlaine Harris – I read the Sookie Stackhouse books well before TrueBlood was a thing. I loved Sookie and her quirky town and all the crazy things that went on there. I haven’t yet had the chance to read her Midnight Texas books, but I can tell you, the show had me until mid-season and I binned it after the vampires got insanely action porny. (I am a plot driven girl and if you throw in weird action sequences for the sake of it, I bounce.) LOL! 10. Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyer – When I was pregnant with my daughter, and just before I started writing Pendomus, I watched an episode of Ellen where Stephenie Meyer was talking about New Moon coming out and the impending movies. I hadn’t yet heard of the books and instantly thought I needed to read them. (I was, after all, about to be housebound by a new baby.) Once I started reading them, they took off with my imagination and it was a wild ride until the end. Looking back, every author has to start somewhere, and while many critics give Stephenie a lot of slack over this series, I think for a first-time author, she did incredibly well. No, she nailed it, in fact. Her job as an author is to spellbind her readers – and she did that with flying colors. There you have it, my friends! My absolute supernatural favs.
 Carissa Andrews is a freelance writer, award-winning graphic designer, indie author coach, and internationally bestselling author from Crosslake Minnesota. She is the President of the Lakes Area Writers Alliance, a 501c3 nonprofit for writers in central Minnesota, as well as the owner of Author Revolution, LLC – an organization geared toward helping new authors navigate the waters of indie publishing. For 2020, Carissa has her sights set on becoming a NYT or USA Today Bestselling Author with her upcoming series, The Windhaven Witches. You can learn more about Carissa, her services, and her upcoming novels by visiting her websites: Website 1, Website 2, or Website 3 Author links: Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter |  Giveaway Details: Tour-wide giveaway (US only)
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 Resurrection Girls Ava Morgyn Hardcover, 272 pages Published October 1st 2019 by AW Teen ISBN: 0807569429 (ISBN13: 9780807569429) SYNOPSIS: Olivia Foster hasn’t felt alive since her little brother drowned in the backyard pool three years ago. Then Kara Hallas moves in across the street with her mother and grandmother, and Olivia is immediately drawn to these three generations of women. Kara is particularly intoxicating, so much so that Olivia not only comes to accept Kara's morbid habit of writing to men on death row, she helps her do it. They sign their letters as the Resurrection Girls. But as Kara’s friendship pulls Olivia out of the dark fog she’s been living in, Olivia realizes that a different kind of darkness taints the otherwise lively Hallas women—an impulse that is strange, magical, and possibly deadly. ORDER NOW: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound | ~ Add on Goodreads! REVIEW by LAWonder10: Olivia and her parents have simply been going through the motions of being alive since the death of the young brother, three years ago. The association they had with friends are, now, non-existent. The house across the street has been abandoned for years, since the man living there hung himself in the bedroom. Currently, someone is moving into it. Olivia discovers the occupants are three generations of women. The youngest girl, Kara, soon becomes a "force to be reckoned with". Due to Karen's persistence, Olivia cannot remain a recluse in seclusion. She, also, becomes reunited with her former best friend, who is persuaded to become a part of a dark secret Kara has. Olivia is shortly confronted with a choice to become a part of the dark secret. Will she allow herself to be pulled into the darkness, or will she immerse into reality before it is too late? The characters in this story are intriguing and the morbidity of being stuck in such grief is strongly felt by the reader. This message depicts the severity one might face if he/she doesn't take necessary steps to get through the grieving process in a healthy way. This tale will certainly keep the reader "on the edge of his/her seat" ! I love the uniqueness and message of the story, but it did slightly get repetitious in a few places. I would not want my Young Adult reading this, even though this type of language and topics are prevalent in society. ^^ READER BEWARE: Although this is written as a Young Adult book, there is a lot of profanity, plus, a couple of sexual situations, although not explicit. For this unique and well-written novel, I offer a Four Stars rating. This was gifted me with no suggestion of a positive review. This is my honest review.  ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ava Morgyn is a long-time avid reader and writer of young adult fiction. She studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, and now lives in Houston—city with the most rain, best food, and worst traffic—with her family. When she isn’t at her laptop spinning darkly hypnotic tales, she can be found making fairy houses, talking to her crystals and plants, hunting for delicious new vegan recipes, or bothering her dog. She also blogs regularly about the devastating journey of child loss at ForLoveofEvelyn.com. Website | Twitter
  Pax Novis by Erica Cameron Publication Date: November 4, 2019 | Publisher: Entangled Teen SYNOPSIS: Cira Antares is deeply loyal to two things: Pax Novis—the cargo ship captained by her mother that transports supplies across war-torn star systems—and her personal mission to save war orphans. But hiding them as stowaways on the ship is illegal, and if any of them were found, not even her mother could protect Cira from the consequences. She has successfully kept her secret…until supplies start to go missing. Food. Clothing. Tools. All signs point to her stowaways, but they wouldn’t do anything to risk exposing themselves—or her. Especially not Riston, the oldest of the group and someone Cira has grown close to. Someone she might even be falling in love with... And petty thefts are only the beginning—whole ships are disappearing now. Not caught in a firefight. Not destroyed by another planet. Vanishing. Without a trace. And Pax Novis is next. Link to Goodreads |~ Purchase Links: Amazon | Amazon Australia | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Pax Novis Excerpt #4 “Aye, aye, Captain.” Relieved, Cira left before Erryla thought of some other assignment to give her and headed straight for the medical bay. It was a short walk; the team that designed the PCCSs must have thought the bridge crews would sustain an inordinate number of life-threatening injuries, because the med bay was only a corridor away. As much as Cira appreciated not having to go far to reach Adrienn’s office, it didn’t make sense to have medical a whole deck away from engineering, the second-most accident-prone area on the ship. The arrangement did, however, make Cira’s stowaway conspiracy a whole lot easier to manage. The on-duty nurse looked up as Cira walked into the over-bright, too-white room, but only said, “Ze’s in zir office,” before immediately returning her attention to her patient. Nodding thanks the nurse couldn’t see, Cira strode toward the first door on the far wall and waved the ID chip in her flesh-and-blood wrist in front of the door’s sensor. A second later, the door split and slid open with a familiar shhhush. “Have you seen your mother since breakfast?” Adrienn asked before she could speak. “Only one of them. Which one are you looking for?” “Meida, not the captain.” “Then I can’t help you. Cap’s the only one I’ve seen.” Cira sat in the worn chair in front of Adrienn’s desk. “Something wrong?” “No, just a small glitch in the power running to a modpod of med supplies I’ve been tasked to keep an eye on.” Adrienn shrugged and ran zir hand through zir brown hair. Ze’d recently started cutting it almost to the skin on either side of zir head, letting the middle section grow a few inches. It had taken Cira weeks to get used to the switch from zir shoulder-length locks, the last in a series of physical changes as Adrienn had slowly transitioned, but now it was hard to imagine zem with any other style. “Just wanted her to look at it before we left port in case we needed to grab a part before we cleared Mitu.” “Speaking of clearing Mitu…” Cira cocked her head and waited. Ze shook zir head, no words needed. There weren’t any new passengers for Cira and Adrienn to worry about. But Adrienn was still tapping at the arm of zir chair and avoiding her eyes. It was another few seconds before ze asked, “Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it?” “No. It’s worth it.” They’d given five orphans her age or younger a place to call home. Twelve others had been given a ride, a new name, and a chance at a real life. Maybe it wasn’t much on a galactic scale, but it was something good for Cira to hold on to. There were days she desperately needed to feel like she was doing something to help others survive that chaos, when it got too hard to handle her guilt over having something as rare as safety and her anger at how little the quadrant was doing to help the children who hadn’t asked to be born into this mess. In some moments, she felt simultaneously crushed by privilege and strangled by the restrictions of her position. She’d been born into safety while the rest of the quadrant was consumed by chaos. It wasn’t fair, and yet she could do so little about it. One day she wanted to go further, to push for institutional changes that would allow everyone in the PSSC the freedom to help when aid, succor, or even just a free ride could be offered. She knew, though, that she couldn’t do any of this alone. “You don’t think so?” she asked, a little hesitant to hear the answer. “It’s—” Ze exhaled sharply, biting at the ring pierced through zir lip. “I’m a doctor. I love being able to help people, and I swore an oath that I would always do what I could, but the longer this goes on, the greater the probability becomes that someone will catch on or something will go wrong. The two of us are risking everyone on this ship—almost two hundred people. At what point does it stop being worth so many lives to help one more?” Cira looked down at her hands, watching her mechanical fingers intertwining with her flesh ones. Jaelena had started this whole enterprise. Four cycles ago, Cira was a brand-new ensign and Adrienn a restless junior doctor. They’d intervened when a drunkard had been abusing a little girl, saving seven-year-old Jaelena. Adrienn and Cira had tried to get station security involved at first, but it had quickly become clear that leaving Jaelena there would mean more of the same for the underfed, badly bruised child, and that had been more than Cira could take. She had watched so many refugees—many of them children—disappear from stations where they had previously been fixtures, and she knew few of them had “moved on to a different home” like her mothers had tried to insist. Cira didn’t know all the atrocities of the war, but she wasn’t naive enough to believe that. Although she accepted that there were certain realities she couldn’t change, Cira hadn’t been able to look into Jaelena’s gray eyes and refuse to help. Neither had Adrienn. With a lot of subterfuge and more credits than Cira wanted to think about, they’d come up with a plan. It almost hadn’t worked. Only Adrienn’s quick thinking had kept the dockmaster from checking their last-minute addition to the cargo manifest. Ze’d been committed to this endeavor from the beginning and in it to the end. “What happened?” Cira met and held zir hazel eyes. “Something must have happened. You wouldn’t just change your mind and start questioning everything. Not after all this time.” “Jaelena died.” Ze swiped up on zir screen and the text flashed to the wall display. “No, she— What?” Cira stared, trying to make sense of it. Adrienn had highlighted Jaelena’s name in bright yellow, but ze hadn’t needed to. Her name was one of the first. Jaelena Aarin. Heart stuttering, Cira started reading the report, quickly skimming it for details. Investigations are ongoing, but leaked video feeds from security stations and planetary defense networks have confirmed the truth. In apparent violation of the terms of warfare established in the peace summit of 3785, Pavonis S-class warships have destroyed most of the capital city on Oweba, the fourth planet in the Arae System. Hundreds died in the initial attack, and thousands have died since as medical personnel are limited and most of their supplies have been destroyed. From the timing of this attack, it can be hypothesized that the Pavonis Coalition ordered this as retaliation for the destruction of their research facility on Surka, a moon on the outer edges of their home system. Names of those confirmed deceased have been listed below. It sounds like Ladadhi. She shouldn’t have looked up those vids after meeting Riston three cycles ago, but curiosity had eaten at her. There had only been around six weeks between learning about Riston’s home city and Cira looking it up. Once she started digging for details, she hadn’t stopped. She hated to think of herself as an expert on the incident, but she practically was. So much about the description of what happened on Oweba sounded like the reports immediately following the attack on Ladadhi, the attack that had left Riston an orphan. Now, another attack, too much the same, had killed Jaelena  ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Erica Cameron is the author of books for young adults including the Ryogan Chronicles, the Assassins duology, and The Dream War Saga. She also co-authored the Laguna Tides novels with Lani Woodland. An advocate for asexuality and emotional abuse awareness, Erica has also worked with teens at a residential rehabilitation facility in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale. Website | Twitter | Facebook    Book details: In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety (The Cecily Taylor Series, #2) by Krysten Lindsay Hager Publication date: September 3rd 2019 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Synopsis: Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she’s lost two of the people closest to her. Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?Goodreads | ~ Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | IndieBound |  AUTHOR BIO: Who knew all those embarrassing, cringe-y moments in middle school and high school could turn into a career? And who would have thought that daydreaming in math class would pay off down the road? Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for children/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient. Krysten's work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton. Author links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
   Find Me Their Bones (Bring Me Their Hearts 2) by Sara Wolf Publication Date: November 4, 2019 | Publisher: Entangled Teen SYNOPSIS: No one can save her. In order to protect Prince Lucien d’Malvane’s heart, Zera had to betray him. Now, he hates the sight of her. Trapped in Cavanos as a prisoner of the king, she awaits the inevitable moment her witch severs their magical connection and finally ends her life. But fate isn't ready to give her up just yet. With freedom coming from the most unlikely of sources, Zera is given a second chance at life as a Heartless. But it comes with a terrible price. As the king mobilizes his army to march against the witches, Zera must tame an elusive and deadly valkerax trapped in the tunnels underneath the city if she wants to regain her humanity. Winning over a bloodthirsty valkerax? Hard. Winning back her friends before war breaks out? A little harder. But a Heartless winning back Prince Lucien’s heart? The hardest thing she’s ever done. The Bring Me Their Hearts series is best enjoyed in order. Add to Goodreads | ~ Pre-Order: Kobo | iBooks | B & N | Amazon | Other Books in Series   ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sara Wolf lives in Portland, Oregon, where the sun can’t get her anymore. When she isn’t pouring her allotted life force into writing, she’s reading, accidentally burning houses down whilst baking, or making faces at her highly appreciative cat. She is also the author of the NYT bestselling Lovely Vicious series. Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads   Winner of the 2019 Independent Press Award! #1 Bestseller in "Coming-Of-Age" Fiction #1 Bestseller in "Asian-American" Literature  The Heart of Aleppo: A Story of the Syrian Civil War by Ammar Habib Published July 26th 2018 | 252 pages BOOK SUMMARY: From the ashes of the Syrian Civil War comes this story of hope, love, and courage... After standing for over 7,000 years, Aleppo's ruin came overnight. Separated from his family during the night the rebels attacked the city, thirteen-year-old Zaid Kadir is lost in the middle of a war zone. Alongside his friends, he is forced to survive the dangers of a civil war he does not even fully understand. Zaid witnesses the destruction of the brutal Syrian Civil War as it grows more deadly by the day and rips his city apart. However, as he braves this destruction, as he desperately tries to survive this catastrophe, he discovers something. Zaid realizes that it is in the darkest hours when humanity's spirit of hope burns brightest. REVIEW by LAWonder10: This "stand alone" novel is a bittersweet tale of family, friendship, war, and sacrifices. It is a highly recommended reading material for Young Adults and Adults alike. It raises several good discussion points. It is ideal reading for Book Clubs. Zaid's life wasn't ideal, but he did enjoy a close relationship with his family and had some very close friends. He was teased a lot, and was always the last chosen on a team, but he had great family support. Zaid's closest friends were Fatima and her slightly older bother Salman. They had grown up together. While Zaid's dreams were "shot down" by his teacher and others, he was encouraged all would work out until that dreadful day when suddenly he began living a nightmare! Would any of their dreams still happen? Author Ammar Habib has effectively aided the reader to experience, in a small degree, the horrors of war many have to frequently experience in their own country, in their own neighborhoods. War caused by greed and inhumanity of some. The author has created very real characters and very realistic scenes, easily visualized. The Book Cover and Title depict the story contents well. This is very touching and action -packed. It has a strong message of valiance, integrity, and ethics. These are values greatly lacking in today's world. Although the message was powerful, there was too much consistent, repetitious detail which cause me to lose interest in the last parts of the story, wanting to just get to the end. The ending was very powerful! For the above reason, I offer a Three and a Half Stars rating. *This book was gifted me with no pressure for a positive review. This is my honest review. MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS: ~ "Spoiler"~ It is inspiring that there are people in the world who write of and value integrity, humility, concern for others, honor, spirituality, and commitment. It is sad there are others who view humility, integrity and honor as weaknesses and of little importance. Who are also, greedy for power and wealth, regardless how they have to obtain it. It is so sad, so many individuals see violence as appealing and as strength when it is just the opposite. As a society, we are caught up in being judmental and "stomping down" anyone who may seam a threat to what we want. Although the characters in the book appear to me Muslim, they look to their God for all humanity, not just for them. They also see the wrong in the corruption of others who claim to be Muslim, and how they abuse the teachings of the Qu'oran. They also give credance to those not of their faith, who are good people. This is the religious tolerance we need to all feel. If everyone would "look past" his/her prejudices, each would discover there are more each of us agree on than disagree. WE would better value each other as human beings.  ABOUT the AUTHOR: Ammar is an award winning & bestselling author originally from Lake Jackson, Texas. Writing has always been a passion of Ammar’s since he was in elementary school. Ammar enjoys crafting stories that are not only entertaining, but also have something useful to say to the reader. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of Thriller Magazine. Ammar presently resides in his hometown. He lives with his family, all of whom are his biggest fans. 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