Why the trailer comes out LATER than the book?
Trailer is supposed to mean a promotion of an UPCOMING novel.
That's just weird.
Showing posts with label Hidden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hidden. Show all posts
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Hidden: Trailer
After the tenth book of the bestselling House of Night series has been released, now it's time for the trailer!
But Wait,
Why the trailer comes out LATER than the book?
Trailer is supposed to mean a promotion of an UPCOMING novel.
That's just weird.
Why the trailer comes out LATER than the book?
Trailer is supposed to mean a promotion of an UPCOMING novel.
That's just weird.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Hidden: Review
I've finished the tenth book of the bestselling House of Night series. Check out the summary below:
Neferet’s true nature
has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang
might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved
school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And
they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
***
I'm not sure what to say about this book. I guess the best is to say that it's good and bad at the same time.
What are the good things? Well, one thing has been kept all along since Marked was published. And this thing is there's no extra love-sick stuff in it. Which is good, considering to many love-sick materials will ruin the book. Another thing is the words, which have also been kept all along the series. The words is imaginative. You can never guess what the characters are going to say. Well, at least that's the good part.
And the bad parts? I'm sorry HON fans but I gotta be honest (like Candor!) to myself. There are bad parts in the book. One, the book's plot is a little bit too scattered. Seriously, I don't care about Lenobia's relationship with Travis at all. What I care about is the world's safety. Normally I would care about main characters' relationship with other character. Not in this series. (Note: There's no contradiction between the no-extra-love-sick-stuff and this cuz I just don't care about how the supporting characters' love life).
Another bad thing is the series lasts way too freaking long. Like I'd said before for millions of times. I don't think a battle toward a evil ex-High Priestess can last that long. The plot is weak up to now cuz there are nine FREAKING books before Hidden. And I want a real battle, not just Zoey and her friends battling Neferet all by themselves. That's not a war. That's not even close to a small battle. I really want some violence because come on, it's the tenth book. There must be something real bad happen. There's only two books before the end of the series. Why not just push it and push it until it reach it's limit in the last book?
Zoey is not exactly my favorite character throughout the series (Damien is). I know she tries her best to save the world from Neferet's blood-soaked hands. I understand that. And I appreciate that. But if Zoey's gonna save the world, can she just stop acting like a school girl. That's not mature for a girl to save the entire world. Sometimes she just blubbering to her friends "I can't do this" ,"I can't do that", blah blah blah. Well, I call bullshit on that. Stop acting like a little girl and grow up.
Erin's reaction is kind of... well, unexpected. I know Water is easy to manipulate emotionally. You can see it from the people who are Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio. But I just can't believe that she cross lines with that Dallas. She is not stupid. How come she can't see Dallas' evil plan? Even though her emotions are tangled, I don't think she's stupid enough to run away from Shaunee and straight to Dallas' horrible arms.
I can't say I am super excited about the next book of the House of Night series. Somehow I want it end now. But I guess I will keep reading HON until the series ends.
Rating: 6/10
***
I'm not sure what to say about this book. I guess the best is to say that it's good and bad at the same time.
What are the good things? Well, one thing has been kept all along since Marked was published. And this thing is there's no extra love-sick stuff in it. Which is good, considering to many love-sick materials will ruin the book. Another thing is the words, which have also been kept all along the series. The words is imaginative. You can never guess what the characters are going to say. Well, at least that's the good part.
And the bad parts? I'm sorry HON fans but I gotta be honest (like Candor!) to myself. There are bad parts in the book. One, the book's plot is a little bit too scattered. Seriously, I don't care about Lenobia's relationship with Travis at all. What I care about is the world's safety. Normally I would care about main characters' relationship with other character. Not in this series. (Note: There's no contradiction between the no-extra-love-sick-stuff and this cuz I just don't care about how the supporting characters' love life).
Another bad thing is the series lasts way too freaking long. Like I'd said before for millions of times. I don't think a battle toward a evil ex-High Priestess can last that long. The plot is weak up to now cuz there are nine FREAKING books before Hidden. And I want a real battle, not just Zoey and her friends battling Neferet all by themselves. That's not a war. That's not even close to a small battle. I really want some violence because come on, it's the tenth book. There must be something real bad happen. There's only two books before the end of the series. Why not just push it and push it until it reach it's limit in the last book?
Zoey is not exactly my favorite character throughout the series (Damien is). I know she tries her best to save the world from Neferet's blood-soaked hands. I understand that. And I appreciate that. But if Zoey's gonna save the world, can she just stop acting like a school girl. That's not mature for a girl to save the entire world. Sometimes she just blubbering to her friends "I can't do this" ,"I can't do that", blah blah blah. Well, I call bullshit on that. Stop acting like a little girl and grow up.
Erin's reaction is kind of... well, unexpected. I know Water is easy to manipulate emotionally. You can see it from the people who are Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio. But I just can't believe that she cross lines with that Dallas. She is not stupid. How come she can't see Dallas' evil plan? Even though her emotions are tangled, I don't think she's stupid enough to run away from Shaunee and straight to Dallas' horrible arms.
I can't say I am super excited about the next book of the House of Night series. Somehow I want it end now. But I guess I will keep reading HON until the series ends.
Rating: 6/10
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Hidden: Out Now!
Happy Hidden Day! It's time for the bestselling House of Night series to hit bookstores everywhere! What are your predictions about Hidden?
Summary:
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Hidden: 1 day to go!
I am sure many of you have heard of the bestselling House of Night series by P.C.Cast and Kristen Cast. Tomorrow is the day that Hidden hits bookstores! Are you excited?
Summary:
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
***
Looks like Neferet is losing this battle. Yay.
I know some of you hate this series because you think that's stupid or dumb. Well, I sort of like it, but I don't mind if you hate it. I know this is not one of the best series on Earth, but I think it's good enough. And according to Wikipedia (although its accuracy is questionable), there will be two more books after Hidden. I don't know how I should react. The series lasts way too long. I don't know if Hidden is the last book or not. But looks like there's still a long way to the end.
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
***
Looks like Neferet is losing this battle. Yay.
I know some of you hate this series because you think that's stupid or dumb. Well, I sort of like it, but I don't mind if you hate it. I know this is not one of the best series on Earth, but I think it's good enough. And according to Wikipedia (although its accuracy is questionable), there will be two more books after Hidden. I don't know how I should react. The series lasts way too long. I don't know if Hidden is the last book or not. But looks like there's still a long way to the end.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Gonna Read: October and November
It's almost October and I release this article about what books are gonna be released soon. It includes the upcoming months, October and November.
So let's start with October.
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) US Version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
Summary:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.
Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.
Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.
(Truth to be told, I will buy the UK version of the book which has already been released. If I can find it in bookshops, I will go all YAY ME)
Release Date: October 23
***
Hidden (House of Night #10) by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast
Summary:
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Release Date: October 16
(I am not even sure if I want to read this series anymore, cuz it lasts way too long)
***
Finale (Hush, Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Summary:
Fates unfurl in the gripping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush saga.Nora is more certain than ever that she is in love with Patch. Fallen angel or no, he is the one for her. Her heritage and destiny may mean they are fated to be enemies, but there is no turning her back on him. Now Nora and Patch must gather their strength to face one last, perilous trial. Old enemies return, new enemies are made, and a friend's ultimate betrayal threatens the peace Patch and Nora so desperately want. The battle lines are drawn—but which sides are they on? And in the end, are there some obstacles even love can't conquer?
Release Date: October 23
***
The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1) by Julie Kagawa
Summary:
Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.
That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.
Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.
Release Date: October 23
***
Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4) by C.C.Hunter
Summary:
Shadow Falls Camp is back in session with the most explosive installment yet. A shocking new threat will rock Shadow Falls—changing it forever and altering Kylie’s journey in ways she never imagined.
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf. With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.
As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante. Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway. Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever. In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure. Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.
The breathtaking fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise
Release Date: October 2
(I don't even have time to read the first book of the series, I seriously doubt that I will make a review about this series soon)
***
Mystic City (Mystic City #1) by Theo Lawrence
Summary:
For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.
Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.
Release date: October 9
(A new series, hope that it will be good, although I doubt I have the time to read it, and I gotta say that the girl looks so much like Lily Collins)
@@@
And it's time for my birthday month, November!
Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Summary:
"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "
Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.
If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.
But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.
Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...
Release Date: November 6
(This will definitely be the best book in November!)
***
Elixir (Covenant #3.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Summary:
Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex.
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for.
Even if it means making war against the gods.
Release Date: November 27
(God this will be awesome, I can tell)
***
Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries #1) by Michele Vail
Summary:
The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.
Release date: November 20
(This is a new series, I hope it will be good)
***
Echo (Soul Seekers #2) by Alyson Noel
Summary:
The second book in the Soul Seekers series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël!
Daire Santos just saved her grandmother's life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world.
As Daire and Dace's relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all.
Release date: November 13
(I seriously doubt I will read this book cuz I don't really like Fated)
Anything that you wanna read in these two months?
So let's start with October.
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) US Version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.
Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.
Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.
(Truth to be told, I will buy the UK version of the book which has already been released. If I can find it in bookshops, I will go all YAY ME)
Release Date: October 23
***
Hidden (House of Night #10) by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Release Date: October 16
(I am not even sure if I want to read this series anymore, cuz it lasts way too long)
***
Finale (Hush, Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Fates unfurl in the gripping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush saga.Nora is more certain than ever that she is in love with Patch. Fallen angel or no, he is the one for her. Her heritage and destiny may mean they are fated to be enemies, but there is no turning her back on him. Now Nora and Patch must gather their strength to face one last, perilous trial. Old enemies return, new enemies are made, and a friend's ultimate betrayal threatens the peace Patch and Nora so desperately want. The battle lines are drawn—but which sides are they on? And in the end, are there some obstacles even love can't conquer?
Release Date: October 23
***
The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1) by Julie Kagawa
Summary:
Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.
That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.
Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.
Release Date: October 23
***
Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4) by C.C.Hunter
Shadow Falls Camp is back in session with the most explosive installment yet. A shocking new threat will rock Shadow Falls—changing it forever and altering Kylie’s journey in ways she never imagined.
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf. With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.
As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante. Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway. Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever. In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure. Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.
The breathtaking fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise
Release Date: October 2
(I don't even have time to read the first book of the series, I seriously doubt that I will make a review about this series soon)
***
Mystic City (Mystic City #1) by Theo Lawrence
For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.
Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.
Release date: October 9
(A new series, hope that it will be good, although I doubt I have the time to read it, and I gotta say that the girl looks so much like Lily Collins)
@@@
And it's time for my birthday month, November!
Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "
Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.
If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.
But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.
Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...
Release Date: November 6
(This will definitely be the best book in November!)
***
Elixir (Covenant #3.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Aiden St. Delphi will do anything to save Alex.
Even if it means doing the one thing he will never forgive himself for.
Even if it means making war against the gods.
Release Date: November 27
(God this will be awesome, I can tell)
***
Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries #1) by Michele Vail
The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.
Release date: November 20
(This is a new series, I hope it will be good)
***
Echo (Soul Seekers #2) by Alyson Noel
The second book in the Soul Seekers series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël!
Daire Santos just saved her grandmother's life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world.
As Daire and Dace's relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all.
Release date: November 13
(I seriously doubt I will read this book cuz I don't really like Fated)
Anything that you wanna read in these two months?
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Gonna Read in September and October
To me September is the start of the whole book-publishing trend. So let's start listing the books that will be released in this September and the coming October!
September:
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) UK version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Summary:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin.
But he never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a Caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice.
Now Ethan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies or risking their loved ones' lives.
Can Ethan and Lena rewrite their fate and their spellbinding love story in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series?
Release Date: September 26th, 2012
P.S. The official date (The US version) is October 23rd, 2012. Yay me, because I can only get the UK version in my area (not that I live in UK)
***
Ceaseless (Existence Trilogy #3) by Abbi Glines
Summary:
Can he make her fall in love with him… again?
When Pagan Moore proved worthy of Death’s devotion, he was given the gift of getting to keep her.
But Dank was never promised that Pagan would keep him.
When a soul is created, so is its mate. In every lifetime those souls find each other. They complete the other’s destiny. It’s time for Pagan’s soul to choose if she truly wants an eternity at Death’s side or if she wants the mate created just for her.
Dank didn’t think he had to worry about her choice. He knew where her heart belonged. Until he realized that every kiss, every touch, every moment of their time together would be washed from her memories. He would have to win her heart all over again and prove to her soul that he was where she belonged.
If only her soul’s mate wasn’t right there standing in his way.
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
***
The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
Summary:
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
______________________________________________________________
October:
Hidden (House of Night #10) by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast
Summary:
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Release Date: October 16th, 2012
***
Finale (Hush, Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Summary:
Fates unfurl in the gripping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush saga.Nora is more certain than ever that she is in love with Patch. Fallen angel or no, he is the one for her. Her heritage and destiny may mean they are fated to be enemies, but there is no turning her back on him. Now Nora and Patch must gather their strength to face one last, perilous trial. Old enemies return, new enemies are made, and a friend's ultimate betrayal threatens the peace Patch and Nora so desperately want. The battle lines are drawn—but which sides are they on? And in the end, are there some obstacles even love can't conquer?
Release Date: October 13th, 2012
***
The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of The Forgotten #1) by Julie Kagawa
Summary:
Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.
Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
***
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) US version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Summary:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.
Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.
Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.
P.S. The UK version of Beautiful Redemption will be released in September, if you pay attention to the first part of this article.
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
I am so excited about September and October. But what is better is November and December.
September:
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) UK version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Summary:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin.
But he never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a Caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice.
Now Ethan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies or risking their loved ones' lives.
Can Ethan and Lena rewrite their fate and their spellbinding love story in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series?
Release Date: September 26th, 2012
P.S. The official date (The US version) is October 23rd, 2012. Yay me, because I can only get the UK version in my area (not that I live in UK)
***
Ceaseless (Existence Trilogy #3) by Abbi Glines
Summary:
Can he make her fall in love with him… again?
When Pagan Moore proved worthy of Death’s devotion, he was given the gift of getting to keep her.
But Dank was never promised that Pagan would keep him.
When a soul is created, so is its mate. In every lifetime those souls find each other. They complete the other’s destiny. It’s time for Pagan’s soul to choose if she truly wants an eternity at Death’s side or if she wants the mate created just for her.
Dank didn’t think he had to worry about her choice. He knew where her heart belonged. Until he realized that every kiss, every touch, every moment of their time together would be washed from her memories. He would have to win her heart all over again and prove to her soul that he was where she belonged.
If only her soul’s mate wasn’t right there standing in his way.
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
***
The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
______________________________________________________________
October:
Hidden (House of Night #10) by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
Release Date: October 16th, 2012
***
Finale (Hush, Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Fates unfurl in the gripping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush saga.Nora is more certain than ever that she is in love with Patch. Fallen angel or no, he is the one for her. Her heritage and destiny may mean they are fated to be enemies, but there is no turning her back on him. Now Nora and Patch must gather their strength to face one last, perilous trial. Old enemies return, new enemies are made, and a friend's ultimate betrayal threatens the peace Patch and Nora so desperately want. The battle lines are drawn—but which sides are they on? And in the end, are there some obstacles even love can't conquer?
Release Date: October 13th, 2012
***
The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of The Forgotten #1) by Julie Kagawa
Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.
Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
***
Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles #4) US version by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.
Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.
Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.
P.S. The UK version of Beautiful Redemption will be released in September, if you pay attention to the first part of this article.
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
I am so excited about September and October. But what is better is November and December.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Hidden: Chapter 1!
P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast have released the first chapter of the upcoming House of Night
novel, Hidden.
Check it out:
It began with a memory. Decades, and then centuries fell away leaving Lenobia young and naïve again, and in the cargo hold of the ship that had carried her from France to America— from one world to another. It was during that journey that Lenobia had met Martin, the man who should have been her Mate for his entire life. Instead he had died too young and had taken her love to the grave with him.
In her dream Lenobia could feel the gentle roll of the ship and smell the scent of horse and hay, sea and fish— and Martin. Always Martin. He was standing before her, gazing down at her through eyes that were olive and amber and worried. She had just told him she loved him.
“It is impossible.” The dream memory replayed in her mind as Martin reached out, took her hand, and lifted it gently. He raised his own arm until the two were side by side. “You see the difference, you?”
The dreaming Lenobia made a small, wordless exclamation of pain. The sound of his voice! That distinct Creole accent—deep, sensual, unique. It was the bittersweet sound of his voice and its beautiful accent that had kept Lenobia away from New Orleans for more than two hundred years.
“No,” the young Lenobia had answered his question as she gazed down at their arms—one brown, one white—where they pressed together. “All I see is you.”
Still deeply asleep, Lenobia, Horse Mistress of the Tulsa House of Night, moved restlessly, as if her body was attempting to force her mind to awaken. But this night her mind did not obey. This night dreams and what might have been ruled.
The sequence of memories shifted and changed to another scene, still in the cargo hold of the same ship, still with Martin, but days later. He was handing her a long string of leather tied to a small pouch dyed a deep sapphire blue. Martin put it around her neck saying, “This gris-gris protect you, cherie.”
In the space of a heartbeat the memory wavered and time fast-forwarded a century. An older, wiser, more cynical Lenobia was cradling the crumbling leather pouch in her hands as it split and spilled it contents—thirteen things, just as Martin had told her—but most of them had become unrecognizable during the century she’d worn the charm. Lenobia remembered a faint scent of juniper, the smooth feel of the clay pebble before it turned to dust, and the tiny dove’s feather that had crumbled between her fingers. But most of all Lenobia remembered the fleeting rush of joy she’d felt when, in the midst of the disintegrating remnants of Martin’s love and protection, she’d discovered something that time hadn’t been able to ravage. It had been a ring—a heart shaped emerald, surrounded by tiny diamonds, set in gold.
“Your mother’s heart—your heart—my heart,” Lenobia had whispered as she’d slipped it over the knuckle of her ring finger. “I still miss you, Martin. I’ve never forgotten. I vowed it.”
And then the dream memories rewound again, taking Lenobia back to Martin, only this time they weren’t at sea finding one another in the cargo hold and falling in love. This memory was dark and terrible. Even dreaming, Lenobia knew the place and the date: New Orleans, March 21, 1788, not long after sunset.
The stables had exploded in fire and Martin had saved her, carrying her from the flames.
“Oh, no! Martin! No!” Lenobia had screamed at him then, now she whimpered, struggling to awaken before she had to relive the horrible end of the memory.
She didn’t wake. Instead she heard her only love repeat the words that had broken her heart two hundred years before, feeling it again as if the wound was raw and fresh.
“Too late, cherie. This world too late for us. I see you again, though. My love for you don’ end here. My love for you, it never end . . . find you again, cherie. That I vow.”
As Martin captured the evil human who had tried to enslave her, and then walked back into the flaming stables with him, saving Lenobia’s life, the Horse Mistress was finally able to wake herself with a wrenching sob. She sat up in bed, and with a trembling hand brushed her sweat-soaked hair from her face.
Lenobia’s first waking thought was for her mare. Through the psychic connection they shared, she could feel that Mujaji was agitated, almost panicked. “Shhh, my beauty. Go back to sleep. I am well.” Lenobia spoke aloud, sending soothing feelings to the black mare with whom she had a special bond. Feeling guilty for upsetting Mujaji, she bowed her head and cradled her hand, twisting the emerald ring around and around her finger.
“Stop being so foolish,” Lenobia told herself firmly. “It was just a dream. I am safe. I am not back there. What happened then cannot hurt me more than it already has.” Lenobia lied to herself. I can be hurt again. If Martin has come back—really come back—my heart can be hurt again. Another sob tried to escape from Lenobia, but she pressed her lips together and forced her emotions under control.
He might not be Martin, she told herself firmly, logically. Travis Foster, the new human hired by Neferet to assist her in the stables, was simply a handsome distraction—him and his big, beautiful Percheron mare. “Which is probably exactly what Neferet intended when she hired him,” Lenobia muttered. “To distract me. And his Percheron is just an odd coincidence.” Lenobia closed her eyes and blocked the memories that lifted from her past, and then repeated aloud, “Travis might not be Martin reincarnated. I know my reaction to him is unusually strong, but it has been a long time since I have taken a lover.” You have never taken a human lover— you vowed not to, her conscience reminded her. “So it’s simply past time I took a vampyre lover, even if briefly. And that type of distraction will be good for me.” Lenobia tried to busy her imagination with considering and then rejecting a list of handsome Son of Erebus Warriors, her mind’s eye not seeing their strong, muscular bodies, but instead envisioning whisky brown eyes tinged with familiar olive green and a ready smile . . .
“No!” She would not think of it. She would not think of him.
But what if Travis could really hold Martin’s soul? Lenobia’s errant mind whispered enticingly. He gave his word he would find me again.
Perhaps he has. “And then what?” Lenobia stood and began to pace restlessly. “I know all too well the fragility of humans. They are too easily killed, and today the world is even more dangerous than it was in 1788. My love ended in heartbreak and flame once. Once was too much.” Lenobia stopped and put her face in her hands as her heart knew the truth, and pumped it through her body and soul, becoming reality. “I am a coward. If Travis is not Martin I do not want to open myself to him—to take a chance on loving another human. And if he is Martin returned to me, I cannot bear the inevitable, that I will lose him again.”
Lenobia sat heavily in the old rocking chair she’d placed beside her bedroom window. She liked to read there, and if she couldn’t sleep her window faced east so she could watch the rising of the sun and look out at the grounds beside the stables. Though Lenobia appreciated the irony, she couldn’t help but enjoy the morning light. Vampyre or not, at her core she would eternally be a girl who loved mornings and horses and a tall, cappuccino skinned human who had died long ago when he had been far too young.
Her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t thought of Martin so often in decades. His renewed memory was a double-edged sword—on one side she loved recalling his smile, his scent, his touch. On the other his memory also evoked the void his absence had left. For more than two hundred years Lenobia had grieved for a lost possibility—a wasted life.
“Our future was burned away from us. Destroyed by flames of hatred and obsession and evil.” Lenobia shook her head and wiped her eyes. She must regain control over her emotions. Evil was still burning a swath through Light and goodness. She drew in a deep, centering breath and turned her thoughts to a subject that never failed to calm her, no matter how chaotic the world around her had become—horses—Mujaji, in particular. Feeling calmer now, Lenobia reached out again with that extra special part of her spirit that Nyx had touched, and gifted with an affinity for horses, the day sixteen year-old Lenobia had been Marked. She found her mare easily, and instantly felt guilty at the mirrored agitation she sensed in Mujaji.
“Shhh,” Lenobia soothed again, repeating aloud the reassurance she was sending through her bond with the mare. “I am only being foolish and self- indulgent. It will pass, I give you my vow, sweet one.”
Lenobia focused a tide of warmth and love on her night-colored mare, and, as always, Mujaji regained her own calm.
Lenobia closed her eyes and released a long breath. She could envision her mare, black and beautiful as the night, finally settling down, cocking a back leg, and falling into a dreamless sleep.
The Horse Mistress concentrated on her mare, shutting out the turmoil that the young cowboy’s arrival at her stables had caused within her. Tomorrow, she promised herself sleepily, tomorrow I will make it clear to Travis that we will never be more than employer and employee. The color of his eyes and the way he makes me feel, all of that will begin to ease when I distance myself from him. It must . . . it must . . .
Finally, Lenobia slept.
She had seen only a few red fledglings on her way there. Neferet smiled, satisfied at the thought of how she added the rogue reds to the House of Night. What lovely, chaotic possibilities they presented—especially after she ensured Zoey’s circle would be broken and her best friend, Stevie Rae, would be devastated, grieving the loss of her lover.
The knowledge that she was assuring future pain and suffering for Zoey pleased Neferet immeasurably, but she was too disciplined to allow herself to begin gloating before the sacrificial spell was complete and her commands were set into motion. Though the school was unusually quiet tonight, almost abandoned, the truth was anyone could happen into the Field House. Neferet needed to work quickly and quietly. There would be ample time to revel over the fruits of her labors later.
She spoke softly to the cat, coaxing him closer to her, and when he was near enough she knelt to his level. Neferet had thought he would be leery of her—cats knew things. They were much harder to fool than humans, fledglings, or even vampyres. Neferet’s own cat, Skylar, had refused to relocate to her new Mayo pent house suite, choosing instead to lurk in the shadows of the House of Night and watch her knowingly with his large, green eyes.
Shadowfax wasn’t as wary.
Neferet beckoned. Shadowfax came to her, slowly closing the last bit of distance between them. The big cat wasn’t friendly—he didn’t rub against her and mark her affectionately with his scent—but he came to her. His obedience was all that concerned Neferet. She didn’t want his love; she wanted his life.
The Tsi Sgili, immortal Consort of Darkness, and former High Priestess of the House of Night, felt only a vague shadow of regret as her left hand caressed the long length of the Maine Coon’s grey tiger striped back. His fur was soft and thick over his lithe, athletic body.
Like Dragon Lankford, the Warrior he’d chosen as his own, Shadowfax was powerful and in the prime of his life. Such a shame he was needed for a greater purpose. A higher purpose.
Neferet’s regret did not equate to hesitation. She used her Goddess-given affinity for felines and channeled warmth and reassurance through her palm and into the already trusting feline. While her left hand caressed him, encouraging him to arch and begin to purr, her right hand snaked out and with her razor-edged athame, she quickly, cleanly, slashed Shadowfax’s throat.
The big cat made no sound. His body spasmed, trying to jerk away from her, but her hand fisted in his fur, holding him so close that his blood sprayed, hot and wet, across the bodice of her green velvet dress.
The threads of Darkness that were always present around Neferet throbbed and quivered with anticipation.
Neferet ignored them.
The cat died faster than she’d imagined, and for that Neferet was glad. She hadn’t expected him to stare at her, but the Warrior cat held her gaze even after he had collapsed into the sandy field house floor and could no longer fight her, but lay breathing shallowly, twitching silently, and staring.
Working quickly, while the cat was still living, Neferet began the spell. Using the blade of her ritual athame, Neferet drew a circle around Shadowfax’s dying body, so that as blood pooled around him it poured into it, and a miniature moat of scarlet was formed.
Then she pressed one palm of her hand into the fresh, warm, blood, stood just outside the circle, and lifted both hands—one bloody, one holding the scarlet- edged knife, and intoned:
To complete the spell she dipped the athame into the blood, and wrote directly into the sand with it, closing the incantation:
Holding an image of Aurox in her mind, Neferet stepped inside the circle and plunged the dagger into Shadowfax’s body, pinning him to the Field House floor while she loosed the tendrils of Darkness so that they could consume their feast of blood and pain.
When the cat was thoroughly drained and absolutely dead, Neferet spoke, “The sacrifice has been made. The spell cast. Do as I command. Force Aurox to kill Rephaim. Make Stevie Rae break the circle. Cause the reveal spell to fail. Now!”
Like a nest of seething snakes, the minions of Darkness slithered into the night, heading away from the field house and toward a lavender field and the ritual that was already underway there.
Neferet gazed after them, smiling in satisfaction. One particular thread of darkness, thick as her forearm whipped through the door that opened from the field house to the stables. Neferet’s attention was pulled its way by the muffled sound of breaking glass.
Curious, the Tsi Sgili glided forward. Being careful to make no noise, and cloaking herself in shadow, Neferet peered into the stables. Her emerald eyes widened in pleased surprise. The thick thread of Darkness had been clumsy. It had knocked one of the gas lanterns from its resting place on a peg that hung not far from the piles of neatly stacked hay Lenobia was always so meticulous about choosing for her creatures. Neferet watched, fascinated, as first one tuft of hay caught fire, sputtered, and then with a renewed surge of yellow, and a mighty whoosh! It fully caught.
Neferet looked down the long line of closed, wooden stalls. She could see only the faint, dark outlines of a few of the horses. Most were sleeping. Some were lazily grazing, already settled down for the approaching dawn and the rest the sun would bring them until it set and students arrived for their never ending classes.
She glanced back at the hay. An entire bale was engulfed in flame.
The scent of smoke drifted to her, and she could hear crackling as, like a loosed beast, the fire fed and grew.
Neferet turned away from the stable, closing the thick door between it and the field house securely. It seems likely that Stevie Rae may not be the only one who will be grieving after tonight. The thought satisfied Neferet, and she left the field house and the carnage she’d caused there, not seeing the small white cat that padded to Shadowfax’s motionless body, curled beside him, and closed her eyes.
The Horse Mistress awakened with a horrid feeling of foreboding. Confused, Lenobia rubbed her hands over her face. She’d fallen asleep in the rocking chair near her window and this sudden awakening seemed more nightmare than reality.
“This is foolishness,” she muttered sleepily. “I must find my center again.” Meditation had helped quiet her thoughts in the past.
Resolutely, Lenobia drew a deep, cleansing breath.
It was with that deep breath that Lenobia smelled it—fire. A burning stable to be specific. She clenched her teeth together. Begone ghosts of the past! I am too old to play these games. Then an ominous cracking sound had Lenobia shaking off the last of the sleep that had clouded her mind as she moved quickly to the window and drew aside the heavy black drapes. The Horse Mistress looked down at her stables and gasped in horror.
It hadn’t been a dream.
It hadn’t been her imagination.
Instead it was a living nightmare.
Flames were licking the sides of the building and as she stared, the double doors just at the edge of her vision were thrown open from the inside and against a backdrop of billowing smoke and consuming flames, was the silhouette of a tall cowboy leading a huge gray Percheron and a night black mare from within.
Travis let loose of the mares, shooing them into the school grounds and away from the flaming stables, and then he ran back into the flaming mouth of the building.
Everything within Lenobia came alive as the sight extinguished her fear and doubt.
“No, Goddess. Not again. I am no longer a frightened girl. This time his end will be different!”
***
I think the Neferet part is a link to what happened at the end of Destined. And I can hardly see any reason to talk about Lenobia in that situation. I mean, although Lenobia is good, there are definitely more important things to do. And I was like why don't you just talk about Zoey or their friends? Even though the story of Lenobia is good, I think I will put more concentration on the battle against Darkness.
And one more thing. This is just a piece of information.
novel, Hidden.
Check it out:
CHAPTER ONE
Lenobia
Lenobia’s sleep was so restless that the familiar dream took on a
sense of reality that overstepped the ethereal realm of subconscious
outlets and fantasies and became, from the beginning, all too
heartbreakingly real.Lenobia
It began with a memory. Decades, and then centuries fell away leaving Lenobia young and naïve again, and in the cargo hold of the ship that had carried her from France to America— from one world to another. It was during that journey that Lenobia had met Martin, the man who should have been her Mate for his entire life. Instead he had died too young and had taken her love to the grave with him.
In her dream Lenobia could feel the gentle roll of the ship and smell the scent of horse and hay, sea and fish— and Martin. Always Martin. He was standing before her, gazing down at her through eyes that were olive and amber and worried. She had just told him she loved him.
“It is impossible.” The dream memory replayed in her mind as Martin reached out, took her hand, and lifted it gently. He raised his own arm until the two were side by side. “You see the difference, you?”
The dreaming Lenobia made a small, wordless exclamation of pain. The sound of his voice! That distinct Creole accent—deep, sensual, unique. It was the bittersweet sound of his voice and its beautiful accent that had kept Lenobia away from New Orleans for more than two hundred years.
“No,” the young Lenobia had answered his question as she gazed down at their arms—one brown, one white—where they pressed together. “All I see is you.”
Still deeply asleep, Lenobia, Horse Mistress of the Tulsa House of Night, moved restlessly, as if her body was attempting to force her mind to awaken. But this night her mind did not obey. This night dreams and what might have been ruled.
The sequence of memories shifted and changed to another scene, still in the cargo hold of the same ship, still with Martin, but days later. He was handing her a long string of leather tied to a small pouch dyed a deep sapphire blue. Martin put it around her neck saying, “This gris-gris protect you, cherie.”
In the space of a heartbeat the memory wavered and time fast-forwarded a century. An older, wiser, more cynical Lenobia was cradling the crumbling leather pouch in her hands as it split and spilled it contents—thirteen things, just as Martin had told her—but most of them had become unrecognizable during the century she’d worn the charm. Lenobia remembered a faint scent of juniper, the smooth feel of the clay pebble before it turned to dust, and the tiny dove’s feather that had crumbled between her fingers. But most of all Lenobia remembered the fleeting rush of joy she’d felt when, in the midst of the disintegrating remnants of Martin’s love and protection, she’d discovered something that time hadn’t been able to ravage. It had been a ring—a heart shaped emerald, surrounded by tiny diamonds, set in gold.
“Your mother’s heart—your heart—my heart,” Lenobia had whispered as she’d slipped it over the knuckle of her ring finger. “I still miss you, Martin. I’ve never forgotten. I vowed it.”
And then the dream memories rewound again, taking Lenobia back to Martin, only this time they weren’t at sea finding one another in the cargo hold and falling in love. This memory was dark and terrible. Even dreaming, Lenobia knew the place and the date: New Orleans, March 21, 1788, not long after sunset.
The stables had exploded in fire and Martin had saved her, carrying her from the flames.
“Oh, no! Martin! No!” Lenobia had screamed at him then, now she whimpered, struggling to awaken before she had to relive the horrible end of the memory.
She didn’t wake. Instead she heard her only love repeat the words that had broken her heart two hundred years before, feeling it again as if the wound was raw and fresh.
“Too late, cherie. This world too late for us. I see you again, though. My love for you don’ end here. My love for you, it never end . . . find you again, cherie. That I vow.”
As Martin captured the evil human who had tried to enslave her, and then walked back into the flaming stables with him, saving Lenobia’s life, the Horse Mistress was finally able to wake herself with a wrenching sob. She sat up in bed, and with a trembling hand brushed her sweat-soaked hair from her face.
Lenobia’s first waking thought was for her mare. Through the psychic connection they shared, she could feel that Mujaji was agitated, almost panicked. “Shhh, my beauty. Go back to sleep. I am well.” Lenobia spoke aloud, sending soothing feelings to the black mare with whom she had a special bond. Feeling guilty for upsetting Mujaji, she bowed her head and cradled her hand, twisting the emerald ring around and around her finger.
“Stop being so foolish,” Lenobia told herself firmly. “It was just a dream. I am safe. I am not back there. What happened then cannot hurt me more than it already has.” Lenobia lied to herself. I can be hurt again. If Martin has come back—really come back—my heart can be hurt again. Another sob tried to escape from Lenobia, but she pressed her lips together and forced her emotions under control.
He might not be Martin, she told herself firmly, logically. Travis Foster, the new human hired by Neferet to assist her in the stables, was simply a handsome distraction—him and his big, beautiful Percheron mare. “Which is probably exactly what Neferet intended when she hired him,” Lenobia muttered. “To distract me. And his Percheron is just an odd coincidence.” Lenobia closed her eyes and blocked the memories that lifted from her past, and then repeated aloud, “Travis might not be Martin reincarnated. I know my reaction to him is unusually strong, but it has been a long time since I have taken a lover.” You have never taken a human lover— you vowed not to, her conscience reminded her. “So it’s simply past time I took a vampyre lover, even if briefly. And that type of distraction will be good for me.” Lenobia tried to busy her imagination with considering and then rejecting a list of handsome Son of Erebus Warriors, her mind’s eye not seeing their strong, muscular bodies, but instead envisioning whisky brown eyes tinged with familiar olive green and a ready smile . . .
“No!” She would not think of it. She would not think of him.
But what if Travis could really hold Martin’s soul? Lenobia’s errant mind whispered enticingly. He gave his word he would find me again.
Perhaps he has. “And then what?” Lenobia stood and began to pace restlessly. “I know all too well the fragility of humans. They are too easily killed, and today the world is even more dangerous than it was in 1788. My love ended in heartbreak and flame once. Once was too much.” Lenobia stopped and put her face in her hands as her heart knew the truth, and pumped it through her body and soul, becoming reality. “I am a coward. If Travis is not Martin I do not want to open myself to him—to take a chance on loving another human. And if he is Martin returned to me, I cannot bear the inevitable, that I will lose him again.”
Lenobia sat heavily in the old rocking chair she’d placed beside her bedroom window. She liked to read there, and if she couldn’t sleep her window faced east so she could watch the rising of the sun and look out at the grounds beside the stables. Though Lenobia appreciated the irony, she couldn’t help but enjoy the morning light. Vampyre or not, at her core she would eternally be a girl who loved mornings and horses and a tall, cappuccino skinned human who had died long ago when he had been far too young.
Her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t thought of Martin so often in decades. His renewed memory was a double-edged sword—on one side she loved recalling his smile, his scent, his touch. On the other his memory also evoked the void his absence had left. For more than two hundred years Lenobia had grieved for a lost possibility—a wasted life.
“Our future was burned away from us. Destroyed by flames of hatred and obsession and evil.” Lenobia shook her head and wiped her eyes. She must regain control over her emotions. Evil was still burning a swath through Light and goodness. She drew in a deep, centering breath and turned her thoughts to a subject that never failed to calm her, no matter how chaotic the world around her had become—horses—Mujaji, in particular. Feeling calmer now, Lenobia reached out again with that extra special part of her spirit that Nyx had touched, and gifted with an affinity for horses, the day sixteen year-old Lenobia had been Marked. She found her mare easily, and instantly felt guilty at the mirrored agitation she sensed in Mujaji.
“Shhh,” Lenobia soothed again, repeating aloud the reassurance she was sending through her bond with the mare. “I am only being foolish and self- indulgent. It will pass, I give you my vow, sweet one.”
Lenobia focused a tide of warmth and love on her night-colored mare, and, as always, Mujaji regained her own calm.
Lenobia closed her eyes and released a long breath. She could envision her mare, black and beautiful as the night, finally settling down, cocking a back leg, and falling into a dreamless sleep.
The Horse Mistress concentrated on her mare, shutting out the turmoil that the young cowboy’s arrival at her stables had caused within her. Tomorrow, she promised herself sleepily, tomorrow I will make it clear to Travis that we will never be more than employer and employee. The color of his eyes and the way he makes me feel, all of that will begin to ease when I distance myself from him. It must . . . it must . . .
Finally, Lenobia slept.
Neferet
Even though the feline was not bonded to her, Shadowfax came
willingly at Neferet’s call. Thankfully, classes were over for the
night, so when the big Maine Coon met her in the middle of the Field
House it was dimly lit and empty—no students were about—Dragon Lankford
himself was also absent, but probably only temporarily.She had seen only a few red fledglings on her way there. Neferet smiled, satisfied at the thought of how she added the rogue reds to the House of Night. What lovely, chaotic possibilities they presented—especially after she ensured Zoey’s circle would be broken and her best friend, Stevie Rae, would be devastated, grieving the loss of her lover.
The knowledge that she was assuring future pain and suffering for Zoey pleased Neferet immeasurably, but she was too disciplined to allow herself to begin gloating before the sacrificial spell was complete and her commands were set into motion. Though the school was unusually quiet tonight, almost abandoned, the truth was anyone could happen into the Field House. Neferet needed to work quickly and quietly. There would be ample time to revel over the fruits of her labors later.
She spoke softly to the cat, coaxing him closer to her, and when he was near enough she knelt to his level. Neferet had thought he would be leery of her—cats knew things. They were much harder to fool than humans, fledglings, or even vampyres. Neferet’s own cat, Skylar, had refused to relocate to her new Mayo pent house suite, choosing instead to lurk in the shadows of the House of Night and watch her knowingly with his large, green eyes.
Shadowfax wasn’t as wary.
Neferet beckoned. Shadowfax came to her, slowly closing the last bit of distance between them. The big cat wasn’t friendly—he didn’t rub against her and mark her affectionately with his scent—but he came to her. His obedience was all that concerned Neferet. She didn’t want his love; she wanted his life.
The Tsi Sgili, immortal Consort of Darkness, and former High Priestess of the House of Night, felt only a vague shadow of regret as her left hand caressed the long length of the Maine Coon’s grey tiger striped back. His fur was soft and thick over his lithe, athletic body.
Like Dragon Lankford, the Warrior he’d chosen as his own, Shadowfax was powerful and in the prime of his life. Such a shame he was needed for a greater purpose. A higher purpose.
Neferet’s regret did not equate to hesitation. She used her Goddess-given affinity for felines and channeled warmth and reassurance through her palm and into the already trusting feline. While her left hand caressed him, encouraging him to arch and begin to purr, her right hand snaked out and with her razor-edged athame, she quickly, cleanly, slashed Shadowfax’s throat.
The big cat made no sound. His body spasmed, trying to jerk away from her, but her hand fisted in his fur, holding him so close that his blood sprayed, hot and wet, across the bodice of her green velvet dress.
The threads of Darkness that were always present around Neferet throbbed and quivered with anticipation.
Neferet ignored them.
The cat died faster than she’d imagined, and for that Neferet was glad. She hadn’t expected him to stare at her, but the Warrior cat held her gaze even after he had collapsed into the sandy field house floor and could no longer fight her, but lay breathing shallowly, twitching silently, and staring.
Working quickly, while the cat was still living, Neferet began the spell. Using the blade of her ritual athame, Neferet drew a circle around Shadowfax’s dying body, so that as blood pooled around him it poured into it, and a miniature moat of scarlet was formed.
Then she pressed one palm of her hand into the fresh, warm, blood, stood just outside the circle, and lifted both hands—one bloody, one holding the scarlet- edged knife, and intoned:
“With this sacrifice I command
Darkness controlled by my hand.
Aurox, obey me!
Rephaim’s death it will be.”
Neferet paused, allowing the sticky threads of cold blackness to
brush against her and gather all around the circle. She felt their
eagerness, their need, their desire, their danger. But above all else,
she felt their power.Darkness controlled by my hand.
Aurox, obey me!
Rephaim’s death it will be.”
To complete the spell she dipped the athame into the blood, and wrote directly into the sand with it, closing the incantation:
“Through payment of blood, pain, and strife
I force the Vessel to be my knife!”
I force the Vessel to be my knife!”
Holding an image of Aurox in her mind, Neferet stepped inside the circle and plunged the dagger into Shadowfax’s body, pinning him to the Field House floor while she loosed the tendrils of Darkness so that they could consume their feast of blood and pain.
When the cat was thoroughly drained and absolutely dead, Neferet spoke, “The sacrifice has been made. The spell cast. Do as I command. Force Aurox to kill Rephaim. Make Stevie Rae break the circle. Cause the reveal spell to fail. Now!”
Like a nest of seething snakes, the minions of Darkness slithered into the night, heading away from the field house and toward a lavender field and the ritual that was already underway there.
Neferet gazed after them, smiling in satisfaction. One particular thread of darkness, thick as her forearm whipped through the door that opened from the field house to the stables. Neferet’s attention was pulled its way by the muffled sound of breaking glass.
Curious, the Tsi Sgili glided forward. Being careful to make no noise, and cloaking herself in shadow, Neferet peered into the stables. Her emerald eyes widened in pleased surprise. The thick thread of Darkness had been clumsy. It had knocked one of the gas lanterns from its resting place on a peg that hung not far from the piles of neatly stacked hay Lenobia was always so meticulous about choosing for her creatures. Neferet watched, fascinated, as first one tuft of hay caught fire, sputtered, and then with a renewed surge of yellow, and a mighty whoosh! It fully caught.
Neferet looked down the long line of closed, wooden stalls. She could see only the faint, dark outlines of a few of the horses. Most were sleeping. Some were lazily grazing, already settled down for the approaching dawn and the rest the sun would bring them until it set and students arrived for their never ending classes.
She glanced back at the hay. An entire bale was engulfed in flame.
The scent of smoke drifted to her, and she could hear crackling as, like a loosed beast, the fire fed and grew.
Neferet turned away from the stable, closing the thick door between it and the field house securely. It seems likely that Stevie Rae may not be the only one who will be grieving after tonight. The thought satisfied Neferet, and she left the field house and the carnage she’d caused there, not seeing the small white cat that padded to Shadowfax’s motionless body, curled beside him, and closed her eyes.
Lenobia
The Horse Mistress awakened with a horrid feeling of foreboding. Confused, Lenobia rubbed her hands over her face. She’d fallen asleep in the rocking chair near her window and this sudden awakening seemed more nightmare than reality.
“This is foolishness,” she muttered sleepily. “I must find my center again.” Meditation had helped quiet her thoughts in the past.
Resolutely, Lenobia drew a deep, cleansing breath.
It was with that deep breath that Lenobia smelled it—fire. A burning stable to be specific. She clenched her teeth together. Begone ghosts of the past! I am too old to play these games. Then an ominous cracking sound had Lenobia shaking off the last of the sleep that had clouded her mind as she moved quickly to the window and drew aside the heavy black drapes. The Horse Mistress looked down at her stables and gasped in horror.
It hadn’t been a dream.
It hadn’t been her imagination.
Instead it was a living nightmare.
Flames were licking the sides of the building and as she stared, the double doors just at the edge of her vision were thrown open from the inside and against a backdrop of billowing smoke and consuming flames, was the silhouette of a tall cowboy leading a huge gray Percheron and a night black mare from within.
Travis let loose of the mares, shooing them into the school grounds and away from the flaming stables, and then he ran back into the flaming mouth of the building.
Everything within Lenobia came alive as the sight extinguished her fear and doubt.
“No, Goddess. Not again. I am no longer a frightened girl. This time his end will be different!”
***
I think the Neferet part is a link to what happened at the end of Destined. And I can hardly see any reason to talk about Lenobia in that situation. I mean, although Lenobia is good, there are definitely more important things to do. And I was like why don't you just talk about Zoey or their friends? Even though the story of Lenobia is good, I think I will put more concentration on the battle against Darkness.
And one more thing. This is just a piece of information.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Hidden: UK Cover Reveal!
Ooh! The cover of UK version of the tenth book of the bestselling House of Night series has been revealed! Check it out:
I must say, this one is really GOOD. Not that the US version is not good. It's just that this one is better than the US version as the face of Zoey (or whoever she is) is not that clear. And sometimes it's a good thing because revealing too much of a character is not always good for the series. And this one is really different from the previous 9 books of the UK version of HON. The background color is orange, not black (if you get a glimpse at the previous 9 books, you will find that all of them are in black as a background color). This is brighter, and that's a good change. I like this cover!
What do you think about this cover?
What do you think about this cover?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Hidden: Cover Reveal!
The cover of upcoming book from the worldwide bestselling House of Night Series, Hidden, is revealed! Take a look:
Comment about the book cover:
Actually it's better than the US Cover of Destined (House of Night #9). It's more mysterious and very fit in the book name "Hidden". I don't know who the heck she is. Is she Zoey or Neferet? I can't identify. But I think she looks more like Zoey. Although I can't say this is the best among the House of Night Series, this is not bad actually.
So you can read the summary of this book below:
The House of Night series is an international phenomenon, reaching
#1 on U.S., German, and UK bestseller lists, and remaining a fixture on
the New York Times Children’s Series bestseller list for more
than 140 weeks and counting. With nearly 12 million copies in print,
rights sold in thirty-eight countries to date, and relatable, addictive
characters, this series is unstoppable. Now in Hidden, the tenth installment of the series, the stakes are higher than ever before.
Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.
I guess it's safe to say that I'm really excited about Hidden, because the whole cliffhanger in the last book is wearing my nerves off. I can't wait to see what happens next. I am so eager to see that Aurox's true self (or should I say the soul inside the vessel) to be truly revealed in front of Zoey and their friends. I can't wait to see Neferet to be beaten the hell up. Maybe all I wish to see is the release of the book and I can buy it immediately.
What do you think about the cover?
(P.S. it will be released on October 16, 2012)
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