ARC Review: Phoenix (Black City # 2) by Elizabeth Richards

Title: Phoenix

Author: Elizabeth Richards

Series: Black City #2

Number of Pages: 368

Published: June 4th 2013 by Putnam Juvenile
Source: Publisher - ARC paperback

Genre: Paranormal Romance > Dystopia

Reading Level: YA

Ash and Natalie are just starting to build a life together when things in the United Sentry States go from bad to worse. Ash and Natalie find themselves at the center of turmoil when dictator Purian Rose threatens Natalie’s life unless Ash votes in favor of Rose’s Law—a law that will send Darklings and other dissenters to a deadly concentration camp known as the Tenth.

When Ash can’t bring himself to trade Natalie’s life for those of millions of Darklings, her fate is sealed. Enter Elijah Theroux, the handsome Bastet boy Natalie once saved from her mother’s labs, where he’d been experimented on and tortured. It was his venom the Sentry used to create the lethal Golden Haze, the heart of the government conspiracy that led to Black City’s uprising and Ash’s rebirth as the Phoenix, the face of the rebellion. Elijah is back and Ash doesn’t like him; it’s clear he’s taken with Natalie, and Ash fears she may have feelings for him as well.

But Elijah also may have the answer to taking down Purian Rose for good—a powerful weapon called the Ora. Ash, Natalie and Elijah just have to escape Black City undetected to find it. But fleeing the city and finding this weapon (if it even exists) are easier said than done, and the quest could tear Ash and Natalie apart, even pushing them into the arms of others.

This enthralling sequel to Black City is just as absorbing, delicious and steamy as the first book, leaving readers hungry for the series conclusion.

Purchase @ Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | The Book Depository

Check out my review on Black City - Book 1 - HERE

*sigh and dreamy look* This series keeps getting better and better, book by book. If you have not read book one if the series, Black City then I would suggest you do and also be aware there may be some slight spoilers in this review.

Phoenix picks up almost right after Black City ends. Once again the story is being told from both Ash and Natalie's POV. Ash "The boy who rose from the ashes" is now given the name PHOENIX because of the recently attempted execution by the Government and President Rose. Both Ash and Natalie remain within the walls of Black City. They desperately try to give hope to their people and somehow find a way to end this fuming war once and for all. Although the quest for freedom does not come easy for either Ash or Natalie. Things go from bad to worse when President Rose threatens Ash to make a decision between the girl he loves, and his followers, the people of Black City. Ash must now make the right choice. But how can he choose between two things he loves so dearly. With only days left to choose someone new comes into the picture....someone who offers Ash a way out and way to end this war once and for all. But the price of this freedom may be more than anyone saw coming...

From here the story truly begins - Death, Bloodshed, Battles, Lost, an Escape and a LOVE like no other.
PHOENIX has it all!

The EPIC battle to save their world.....begins with a savior; "The boy who rose from the ashes".


Wow, I was blown away by this book. I kept telling myself that this book could not get any better than Black City but boy was I wrong. PHOENIX was immensely fast paced and held my attention throughout the entire book. I read it from cover to cover in only one day. Yeah, it was THAT good! I loved the dual narration between Ash and Natalie. Seeing things happen from both of their POV's. Oh, and the romance between them was better than ever. Although the author throws us a curve ball; there is a "love triangle" introduced into the book. I won't go into this future because I don't want to spoil it for those who have not read, Pheonix. 

Author Elizabeth Richards has captured by heart once again. Her writing style is almost lyrical.  Elizabeth somehow finds a way to make her story "jump off the page" come alive. I felt like I too could feel what the characters were going through; their pain, hurt, loss, loneliness, indecision, and most of all love and to never give up in what they believed in.  

There was never a dull moment. Phoenix is so super action packed and for me this made the book really carry it's own. 

The beginning was heartbreaking and the ending was breathtaking....
AGAIN, I'll say: PHOENIX has it all! This book, this series, IS a MUST read! If you've been procrastinating on whether or not to read this series ...STOP! DON"T THINK! DO! 
I promise you'll never regret it.

 

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!!

About The Author: Elizabeth Richards

Find Elizabeth @ 

Goodreads |  Website | Facebook | Twitter

Elizabeth Richards is an award-winning journalist, who spent her early career reviewing videogames before making the bold (or crazy) move into travel writing, despite suffering from terrible travel sickness.

In her spare time, she ran a successful lifestyle website aimed at teenage girls, where she got to interview many of her favourite bands, go to gigs and basically blag loads of free swag all in the name of ‘research’.

Elizabeth lives in Buckinghamshire, England, with her husband. Black City is her debut novel.

I would love to hear what you think of my review. Leave me a comment. :) 

Breathless Reads winter 2013 Author Tour: Meeting the Authors, taking pictures & giveaway!

Today I am going to share with you all about the Breathless Reads book tour I went to on Feb 11th, 2013. The event took place at a local indie bookstore called Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC. This was the east coast leg of the tour which featured the following YA authors:

Fiona Paul (Venom)

Beth Revis (Shades of Earth)

Morgan Rhodes (Falling Kingdoms)

Elizabeth Richards (Black City)

Jess Spotswood (Born Wicked)

I had got there a little late because of traffic, as I was coming from Raleigh, NC. I ended up sitting in the back because of this so I was not able to get really good pictures. (a lot of peoples heads in the way)

Of course there was some Q & A, as well are the authors each speaking about their older and new upcoming books. Again after I got all of my books signed by the authors I ended up staying late and chatting with each one more personally. Which, yes, was pretty dang EPIC! Elizabeth Richards asked me what book  really brought me back into my love of reading? I told her I was not sure I would have to think about this. So she mentioned I should turn the discussion into a blog post. I plan to too one day soon. 

Anyway, here are my pictures I took of and with the authors as well are images of my signed books/poster.

I hope you all enjoy and please leave me a comment. There will be a giveaway at the end of this post for some more signed swag items. Be sure to enter. :)

The Authors

The Goodies

 Group Picture w/ Me

Wanna win some signed swag items?

I may add some extra goodies in with these for the winner. ;)

Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In My Mailbox # 38 + Stacking The Shelves # 15

A weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we post about all the books we have received whether in the mail, if we purchased it, or got it from our local library.

Stacking The Shelves ( hosted by Tynga's Reviews ) is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Books I have received for Review:

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

ARC White Lines by Jennifer Banash - For a giveaway

ARC Flicker & Burn (Cold Fury #2) by T.M. Goeglein

ARC Phoenix (Black City #2) by Elizabeth Richards

Books I have won or was gifted:

A TON of swag from a giveaways and author event (Breathless Reads) Some are signed & I will be having a giveaway for a chance to win a few. 

Books I have got from the library:

Dark Frost (Mythos Academy #3) by Jennifer Estep

City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

Books I have bought:

Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) by Jessica Spotswood 

(I met Jessica on the Breathless Reads Tour. She is so totally sweet!)

I just want to thank the wonderful people at Penguin as well as author Bella Forrest for all of my new ARC's. Also THANK YOU Jessica Spotswood for signing my copy of your book and being so...well...AWESOME! :)

Thank you for stopping everyone! I will be giving away my extra copy of White Lines as well are some super cool swag items (signed of course) from the Breathless Reads author tour. : ) So be on the look out for those coming soon...  Be sure to leave me a comment and/or leave your mailbox haul link below so I can come check it out. 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Blog Tour: Black City by Elizabeth Richards / Review + Giveaway!

Hello my lovelies! 

Welcome to my stop on the Black City Blog Tour hosted by Good Choice Reading. I am lucky to be part of this outstanding tour and so super excited to share with you all my review for the book. Black City is like nothing I have ever read. I truly hope my review will get you guys excited to read this wonderful debut novel. Enjoy!

Title: Black City 

Author: Elizabeth Richards

Number of Pages: 384 

Expected publication: November 13th 2012 by G.P. Putnam's Sons BYR

Source: Print ARC - Publisher

Genre: Dystopia > Paranormal Romance

Reading Level: 14 and up

Goodreads | Purchase

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

Black City is one of the most highly anticipated YA novels of 2012 and if you ask me, one of the best! To be completely honest I was not quite sure I would enjoy the book. Even though the cover is breathtaking and the plot sounded unique I felt it may just be another vampire novel. I don't know about you but I am kind of tired of vampires in books. Yeah, big shocker right? I will tell you right now I was sadly mistaken. Black City IS so much more than another vampire book, by far. Author Elizabeth Richards takes "vampires" to a WHOLE new level, and then some. The story is set in a dark post-apocalyptic world were new creatures have emerged. Darklings (a vampire like creature), twin bloods (a mix of vampire and human) and of course humans. Humans of course are known as the superior race and live as such. This also mean they make the laws for the darklings and Twin-Bloods. Of course like any dystopian world the lesser race is not happy. They do not want to live under the human rules but to break down the very wall the separates them from each other. 

A teenage human girl named Natalie Buchanan who is also the daughter of the Emissary lives by these rules and tries hard not to question what she knows to be right. Although soon something or yet someone will have her questioning everything she once believed in.

  

Ash Fisher a darkling boy, part-time "haze dealer" and all around hottie lives outside the wall and has never known anything else. Until the day he meets Natalie Buchanan and from that moment Ash's world and heart becomes alive. In a turn of events both of their lives will soon come to change. Even though they are so different Ash and Natalie will need to find the will to fight for what's right and above all else true love.

For me the story was a very dark and futuristic Romeo and Juliet tale of sorts. Both Ash and  Natalie have very intense relationship and the character development was spot on amazing!

I felt I really got to know both of them as individuals and a couple. Now while the main characters Ash and Natalie were great I felt the secondary characters could use a bit of work. I really wanted to get to know Day and Beetle more in this book than what I did. I can see that the author does leave room for them both to grow in her next installment in the series, or so I hope. 

The world building was outstanding as well as the amount of action within the story. I will admit there were a few slow scenes in the book, mostly toward the beginning. 

All in all Black City is a excellent read which I think most of you will enjoy.  Elizabeth Richards did a beautiful job of turning the overdone vampire tale into something outstanding. Black City is by far one of my favorite reads of 2012 and I can't wait until next year to find out what happens next. 

 Totally Awesome! I loved it, would read again.

 Find Elizabeth @ Website / Blog / FB / Twitter / Goodreads

Elizabeth Richards is a YA author who loves books about supernatural boys, kissing and blood.

Elizabeth recently signed a three-book deal with Putnam, Penguin. BLACK CITY, Book #1 of the BLACK CITY trilogy will be published in North America in November 2012. 

Here's your chance to WIN a copy of Black City and/or a pre-order of book 2 Phoenix! 

Just us the rafflecopter from below to be entered. Giveaway will ends Nov 30th. 

A HUGE thank you goes to the wonderful gals @ Good Choice Reading for hosting this awesome giveaway !

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and read my review. Leave me a comment on my review or this post and you will get 5 extra entries into the giveaway above.

Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday # 2 / Special Edition

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Today is my special edition WOW. Why? As some of you already know I am taking part in the Black City by Elizabeth Richards book tour on the 12th. So to gain hype for the tour my WOW is Phoenix (Black City #2). I have been asked by the author to spotlight the book in this Waiting on Wednesday post. Enjoy! :)

Phoenix 

Book #2 Black City

by Elizabeth Richards

Hardcover

Expected publication: June 4th 2013 by G.P. Putnam's Sons BFYR

Add on Goodreads / Preorder

Engaged to be married, Ash and Natalie are just starting to build a life together, when things in the United Sentry States go from bad to worse. Ash and Natalie find themselves at the center of the turmoil when dictator Purian Rose threatens Natalie’s life unless Ash votes in favor of Rose’s law—a law that will send Darklings and other dissenters to a deadly concentration camp known as the Tenth. 

Ash can’t bring himself to trade Natalie’s life for those of millions of Darklings. The only way to save everyone is to escape Black City and find the Ora, a powerful weapon that could take down Purian Rose for good. But fleeing the city and finding this weapon is easier said than done, if it even exists, and becomes a quest that could tear Ash and Natalie apart, even pushing them into the arms of others.

WHY? 

Isn't it obvious? I mean, WOW just look at that cover. I adored Black City. I so WANT, no NEEEEEDDD Phoenix! I can't wait almost another year for the book to come out.  Don't you just love this cover too?  

Here's a sneak peak from the book, Black City!

The atmosphere in the kitchen drops by a few degrees when Ash spots me sitting at the table. Surprise registers on his face. He’s changed out of his school uniform and is now wearing dark trousers, leather work boots and

a fitted black shirt that accentuates every inch of his powerful, muscular frame.

He looks at me, into me, like he can see every secret I have, every rush of my blood. My pulse races with fear and a much more disturbing, unexpected emotion: desire. I turn away, horrified at my body’s reaction to him. It’s sick and irrational. He’s a Darkling, a predator that would gladly rip my throat out, given the slightest provocation. Then why are my cheeks burning so red?

I’m just hot from the fire, that’s all.

“Ash!” MJ beams.

“Hey, MJ. I swear you’ve shot up another inch since I last saw you,” Ash replies, ignoring the frosty look from Day.

“You’ll be almost as tall as me one day.”

MJ laughs at this. I doubt anyone will be as tall as Ash. He has to hunch over to stop his head from hitting the low ceiling as he walks over to Michael, passing him a crate of canned goods. It all seems so absurd. Ash is a Darkling, not to mention a Haze dealer. He’s a monster. If that’s true, then why is Ash giving Day’s family all that food? my father’s gentle voice whispers inside my head. Is that the action of a monster? A Darkling murdered you! I angrily silence him. Great, now I’m having arguments with my own imagination. That’s how much Ash Fisher’s unsettling me.

 Find Elizabeth @ Website / Blog / FB / Twitter

Elizabeth Richards is a YA author who loves books about supernatural boys, kissing and blood.

Elizabeth recently signed a three-book deal with Putnam, Penguin. BLACK CITY, Book #1 of the BLACK CITY trilogy will be published in North America in November 2012. 

Thank you for stopping by! :) Happy Reading.

Teaser Tuesday (#37)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

The Rules:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) or so “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Today I will be doing things a little different. The book and teaser for this week is NOT the book I am reading. I have been asked to post a teaser from the book Black City because I am part of the Black City book tour. I am already done reading the book and loved it. :) So here is a little teaser from Black City. Be sure to stop by on Nov 12th for my review.

My Teaser Tuesday comes from:  Black City written by Elizabeth Richards.

A thousand pale, famished Darklings stare back at us. Everything becomes deathly still, like the world is holding its breath. The Darklings don’t move at first, perhaps from shock or fear of reprisal. Then the scent of human blood hits them. The Darklings howl.

(Black City, Ash, page 259)

Please share with me your book teasers for this week.
 It may take me some time to get all of your blogs but I will asap. ;)

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Reading!

Follow Friday #27 + #FridayReads

Follow Friday is hosted by 

Parajunkee & Allison Can Read

Featured Bloggers are:

Katie @ Fiction Predictions

Megan @ Love, Literature, Art & Reason

Q: What is a deal breaker for you in a book? For example, do you abhor love triangles? Or can’t deal with bad editing?

My Answer:  I have a few pet peeves that really turn me off about a book. 

1. Very wordy, which seems to drag out the book. Just get to the point.

2. When a character is snobby, a know it all. Also when a character is whiny. Ugh! I hate that. I'm like, "Just get over it!" while reading.

3. NO ROMANCE! I don't know about you but I like books that have that "romance factor" added in. Even a little bit does the trick.

Friday reads is a huge event that goes on every Friday where we all discuss what we are reading.  From my understanding this idea originated on Twitter from @FridayReads. You use the hashtag #FridayReads to share your current read and talk with other readers/bloggers about theirs. 

I decided I would participate as well on my blog.  :) Here is what I am reading today:

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Paperback / ARC

Expected publication: November 13th 2012 by G.P. Putnam's Sons BYR

Reason for reading:

My blog has a stop on the Black City book blog tour. I will be posting my review on Nov 11th via the tour. For more info click here.

I am really enjoying Black City so far. I am about half way through and loving every minute of it. 

What are you reading today? I would love to know. :)

Happy Friday! Who's ready for the weekend?