Bea Reviews The Masked CIty by Genevieve Cogman

Series: Invisible Library #2
Publisher: Roc
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 6th, 2016
Challenges: Finishing the Series Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Librarian-spy Irene and her apprentice Kai are back in the second in this “dazzling”* book-filled fantasy series from the author of The Invisible Library.
 
The written word is mightier than the sword—most of the time...
 
Working in an alternate version of Victorian London, Librarian-spy Irene has settled into a routine, collecting important fiction for the mysterious Library and blending in nicely with the local culture. But when her apprentice, Kai—a dragon of royal descent—is kidnapped by the Fae, her carefully crafted undercover operation begins to crumble.

Kai’s abduction could incite a conflict between the forces of chaos and order that would devastate all worlds and all dimensions. To keep humanity from getting caught in the crossfire, Irene will have to team up with a local Fae leader to travel deep into a version of Venice filled with dark magic, strange coincidences, and a perpetual celebration of Carnival—and save her friend before he becomes the first casualty of a catastrophic war.

But navigating the tumultuous landscape of Fae politics will take more than Irene’s book-smarts and fast-talking—to ward off Armageddon, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear....

Steph Reviews Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk Books
Series: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #1
Format Read: E-book
Source: Purchased
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Into the West by J.A. Campbell: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

"Into the West" is an edited re-release of a serial that came out several years ago. I enjoyed the original book and am excited to be part of its re-release. The author, J.A. Campbell, has been a guest on the blog many times over the years; I always enjoy her books. Note: Jax was one of the proofreaders for the revised edition and I was for the original edition.

J.A. Campbell has been many things over the last few years, from college student, to bookstore clerk and an over the road trucker. She’s worked as a 911 dispatcher and in computer tech support, but through it all she’s been a writer and when she’s not out riding horses, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer. She lives in Colorado with her three cats, her vampire-hunting dog Kira, her new horse and Traveler-in training, Triska, and her Irish Sailor. She is the author of many Vampire and Ghost-Hunting Dog stories and the young adult fantasy series Tales of the Travelers. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Dog Writers of America Association and the editor for Steampunk Trails fiction magazine.

Bea Reviews Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Challenges: May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* |  Kobo | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A hidden book. A found cipher. A game begins . . . .

Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles. But Emily soon learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold and leads to a valuable prize. But there are others on the hunt for this book, and Emily and James must race to solve the puzzles Griswold left behind before Griswold's attackers make them their next target.

Quote-Tastic #59 You Look So Respectable, You Know.

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed you for one reason or another. Everyone's welcome to join in - authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier! Just grab the button and put up your post :) Don't have a blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section.  Quote-tastic is hosted by Herding Cats & Burning Soup.

Another oldie but goodie this week; this one is a cozy adventure story. I have mad love for the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman. Mrs. Polliifax was a widow and grandmother who was bored with her life so she applied to join the CIA. Through a series of mix-ups, she gets hired and proves herself to be amazingly resourceful. She's eccentric, wise, compassionate, level-headed, and clever. Most of the earlier books are quite dated now but their mix of zaniness, wisdom, and gentle satire keeps me coming back. "The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax" is the second book in the series.

In this scene, set in Turkey, Mrs. Pollifax and her new friend Colin are trying to dispose of a body, another CIA operative, that they've temporarily stored in Colin's uncle's van.
.

"Cemetery!" exclaimed Mrs. Pollifax thoughtfully.
Colin looked at her. "You can't possibly-"
"But we must find somewhere appropriate to leave Henry."
He groaned. "You look so extremely respectable, you know." 
"I have a flexible mind-I believe it's one of the advantages of growing old," she explained. "I find youth quite rigid at times. Why not a cemetery?" 
Colin sighed. "I daresay there's a certain logic there. You're not-uh-thinking of burying him as well?"
"That would be illegal," she told him reproachfully, "and scarcely kind to Henry."

Bea Reviews Inferno by Dan Brown

Publisher: Doubleday
Series: Robert Langdon #4
Format Read: Hardcover
Source: local library
Release Date: May 13, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Bea Reviews The Last Savanna by Mike Bond & Adventurer's Kit Giveaway

Publisher: Mandevilla Press

Format Read: eGalley

Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: January 15, 2014

Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble Nook | Barnes & Noble Paperback |

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

With Africa's last elephants dying under the poachers' guns, Kenya rancher and former SAS officer Ian MacAdam leads a commando squad against them. Pursuing the poachers through jungled mountains and searing deserts he battles thirst, solitude, terror and lethal animals, only to find that the poachers have kidnapped a young archaeologist, Rebecca Hecht, whom he once loved and bitterly lost. 

McAdam embarks upon a desperate trek to save not only Rebecca but his own soul in an Africa torn apart by wars, overpopulation, and the slaughter of its last wildlife. Based on the author's experiences pursuing elephant poachers in the wilds of East Africa.

ARC Review of Secretariat Reborn by Susan Klaus

Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date:
Buying Links: Amazon*  | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate link; the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through this link.

Blurb from goodreads:

Christian Roberts, lanky, blond, and twenty-five-years-old, rents out small sailboats on Sarasota Bay. His peaceful life is shattered when he accepts a thoroughbred colt from his estranged, dying father, an Ocala horse trainer. 

When Christian promises his father that he'll race the colt, he's plunged into the underworld of horse racing. To navigate his way he naively hires Ed Price, a heartless Miami trainer. And when his colt shows potential -- a surprising resemblance to Secretariat -- a dubious wealthy sheik wants to buy him, but Christian vows to keep his promise to his father. With a sizable debt still owed on the horse, Christian is forced to take out a loan, his only recourse, Vince, a New York mobster. If the money is not repaid on time, Christian's life and that of Allie, his colt's trainer, are threatened. To add to his rollercoaster of troubles, he faces fraud charges since his father illegally registered the colt, and he is being stalked by a psychotic ex-girlfriend.

Spotlight on Egypt Rising by Stan Schatt & A GC Giveaway

Tour Schedule

 

Blurb from the author ~

 Some ancient secrets should remain buried. An American teenager in Cairo finds herself in the middle of the Egyptian revolution fleeing militant Islamic extremists. She leads her worst enemy and the boy she thinks about much too often on the adventure of a lifetime. When she discovers an ancient artifact that was buried for thousands of years, she learns that very powerful people will stop at nothing, including murder, to learn the secrets of a long-dead civilization.   

 Amazon*

* affiliate link- the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through this link.

Bea Reviews Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre

Publisher: Ace
Series: Sirantha Jax #3
Format Read: paperback
Source: My local library
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
*affiliate links; clicking & purchasing results in a small commission for the blog.

Blurb from goodreads:

It’s not easy to tread lightly wearing steel-toed boots.

Sirantha Jax isn’t known for diplomatic finesse. As a “Jumper” who navigates ships through grimspace, she’s used to kicking ass first and taking names later—much later. Not exactly the obvious choice to sell the Conglomerate to the Ithtorians, a people whose opinions of humans are as hard as their exoskeletons.

And Ithiss-Tor council meetings aren’t the only place where Ambassador Jax needs to maneuver carefully. Her lover, March, is frozen in permanent “kill” mode, and his hair-trigger threatens to sabotage the talks—not to mention their relationship.

But Jax won’t give up on the man or the mission. With the Outskirts beleaguered by raiders, pirates, and the flesh-eating Morgut, an alliance with Ithiss-Tor may be humanity’s only hope.

Which has Jax wondering why a notorious troublemaker like her was given the job.