Street Team Blog Tour: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

 

Title: Stalking Jack the Ripper
By: Kerri Maniscalco
Release Date: September 20, 2016
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Pages: 366 (Hardcover)
Format: ARC

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.
Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Goodreads   |   Amazon   |   Barnes & Noble   |  Indiebound

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 My Top Five Raves of Stalking Jack the Ripper

1. From start to finish, Kerri Maniscalco’s writing is gritty, passionate, and bold. Each chapter kept me alert and intrigued, and I could not wait to discover what was on the next page. 

2. This novel meshes history, Gothic, mystery, romance, and science together so superbly. I felt like I was watching episodes of Sherlock, Bones, Penny Dreadful, and Pride & Prejudice clashing together as one.

3. Audrey Rose is sassy, independent, and headstrong. As our main character, she’s a heroine I enjoyed rooting for. I loved her feminist attitude and her snarky rebuttals she delivered to those who doubted her capability to hold her own in a male-dominated society.

4. This is the perfect read for Fall/Autumn. Through a Young Adult lens, Maniscalco integrates Jack the Ripper’s savage, grotesque murders in a setting that is flawlessly reminiscent of the dark and dreary, Victorian streets that plague many notable nineteenth-century classics. Stalking Jack the Ripper is a perfect mystery book to curl up with when the weather is chilly, an oak-burning fire is crackling, and the leaves are changing colors. 

5. The verbal repartee between Audrey Rose and Thomas is fiery, daring, swoony, and hilarious. I loved how blatantly forward Thomas is in Audrey Rose’s presence, and how accepting he is of her passion in science. I could not get enough of these two characters. 

FINAL INSIGHTS!

Overall, I thought this book was brilliant. I enjoyed playing detective, and  admired Maniscalco’s research and presentation of madness, science, and feminism in the nineteenth-century. I am a fanatic of books that take place during the Victorian Period, and adding a new retelling of Jack the Ripper had me drawn to this story like a moth to a flame. If you’re a fan of historical fiction, romance, and a whole lot of mystery, then you definitely need to add Stalking Jack the Ripper to your to-be-read list.

About the Author:

Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats. Stalking Jack the Ripper is her debut novel. It incorporates her love of forensic science and unsolved history, and is the first in a new series of gothic thrillers.

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Top 5 Wednesday: Books I Will Never Read

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY is a weekly meme created by Lainey @ GingerReadsLainey and is currently hosted by Samantha @ Thoughts on Tomes. Every Wednesday a new topic is listed on the Goodreads group, and you list your top 5 books related to the particular topic.

This week’s topic is…

 Books I Will Never Read

Alright, I tried to read this book, and I almost ripped my own brain out. I think once I got to page 20, I threw the book across the room. This book and series is not for me! 

When I saw that Allegiant had multiple points-of-view, I predicted the ending, and asked my brother if I was right. I am so disappointed with the predictability of this book, and refuse to read it. 

I have tried to watch the show, but I’ve only made it through half of the first season. Sadly, I have do not care for the story or any of the characters, so no Outlander books for me. 

I’ve read four Jane Austen books, and I’ve only liked one (Pride & Prejudice). I just cannot put myself through the torture of Emma. Sorry, Austen Fans. 

I just never see myself settling down to read this 500+ paged book. NO WAY! 

What books have you decided that you will never read? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Required Reading for every Nineteenth-Century Fan

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is a “Back To School Freebie,” so I picked

REQUIRED READING FOR EVERY NINETEENTH-CENTURY SETTING FAN

(Click the book cover to link to the book’s Goodreads’ page)

 

What books have you read that takes place in the nineteenth-century, which you would recommend to fellow nineteenth-century fanatics?

Book Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Title: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
By: Leslye Walton
Release Date: March 27, 2014
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult,Magical Realism, Romance, Fantasy
Pages: 320 (Hardcover)
Format: Hardocover
Source: Purchased

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

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MY RANTS AND RAVES OF The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

I have given myself over two weeks to think about this book before writing about it. And still today, I’m having a hard time comprehending or expressing how I feel. There are several elements in The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender that I love, but there is one big moment in this novel that had me screaming, “WHY?!” 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is beautifully written. The imagery, the language, each strung together sentence wistfully gathers on the page as whispers and secrets meant to be grasped and yearned for. The prose and the magical realism elements are intriguing and beautifully sprinkled throughout this story, which is centered on a young girl, Ava, born with wings and her twin brother who rarely speaks. But when he does speak, his words are foretelling.  

Ava begins her story with hundreds of pages plotting out her family history–a history consumed with generations of love, secrets, death, marriages, beloved recipes, and ghosts. I found the meshing of past familial memories integrated with Ava’s innocent worldviews, both enchanting and overwhelming. But it is the ending of this book that engrossed me in an emotional wreck; it is an ending that is daunting, disturbing, and very disheartening.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is enamored with magical elements and captivating characters that yearn for the unthinkable–consumed with the hunger for love, miracles, and religious revelations. This novel is immersed with memorable scenes. Scenes like Ava’s tongue sparking the fire of an unleavened wafer are unexpected, complicated, shocking, but alluring. I loved this book from Manhattan to a long journeyed train ride to the state of Washington, but it is the novel’s ending that has me trying to justify my overall feelings.  I cannot rationalize the vexing ending,  but I’m quite troubled with why such a beautifully written story has such an infuriating ending.  

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Note:   I bought this book with my own funds. I was not provided a copy of this book by the author or the publisher in an exchange for a review; I reviewed it at my own discretion.  All statements and opinions in this review are mine.

Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY is a weekly meme created by Lainey @ GingerReadsLainey and is currently hosted by Samantha @ Thoughts on Tomes. Every Wednesday a new topic is listed on the Goodreads group, and you list your top 5 books related to the particular topic.

This week’s topic is…

 Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year

I’ve heard people raving about this book, but I’ve also heard that this book made people cry. I want to read this book, but I also don’t want to cry. See I’m in a conundrum here. Hopefully, before the end of the year, I’m in a mindset that has prepared me to read The Serpent King. 

Stalking Jack the Ripper has been on my radar for quite a while, and I have been lucky to be invited to be part of the book’s blog tour. I cannot wait to read this one soon! 

I love Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniel series. Whenever a new Kate Daniels book shows up, I buy it, read it in one day, and then patiently wait for the next book in the series. If you love urban fantasy, a sassy and strong heroine, and awesome banter between two crazy-about-each-other-characters, definitely pick up this series. 

Kristen Simmons is one of my favorite authors in the YA community. I cannot wait to read her new book, Metaltown, and rave about how awesome she is some more. Plus this cover is artistically BEAUTIFUL. 

HOLY MOTHER OF BOOKS, DAT COVER! I am a cover fanatic, and yes, I will buy a book based off its cover, even if I do not know the synopsis. But I’ve read this synopsis of this book, and it just makes me want to read it even more. The synopsis had me at, “Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London…” GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!

What books do you hope to read before the end of the year? 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: 08/23/2016

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is…

Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven’t Read Yet

(Click the book cover to link to the book’s Goodreads’ page)

What are some books still on your TBR shelf that you still haven’t read since before you started blogging?

Blog Tour & Giveaway: There Once Were Stars by Melanie McFarlane

There Once Were Stars
Melanie McFarlane
Published by: Month9Books
Publication date: April 26th 2016
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult

Peace. Love. Order. Dome. That’s the motto that the Order has given the residents of Dome 1618 to live by. Natalia Greyes is a resident of Dome 1618, a covered city protected from the deadly radiation that has poisoned the world outside for four generations. Nat never questioned the Order, until one day she sees a stranger on the outside of the dome. Now Nat wants answers. Is there life outside the dome and if so, what has the Order been hiding from everyone?

 

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

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My Rants and Raves of There Once Were Stars

There Once Were Stars is a dystopian novel told in first person, in which we get the feelings, actions, and natural reactions from the main character, Natalia Greyes. From the very beginning, Nat is positioned in situations too heavy for any 18-year-old to handle. But even though Nat can be naive in these situations, she does overcome many trials and matures throughout the book.

I am a sucker for any dystopian read, and There Once Were Stars does not falter from themes of government paranoia, secrets, mystery, empowered rebels, and in this case, a heroine that wants to make a difference. I enjoyed the setting, in which we have societies placed in domes in order to protect citizens from radiation and outside predators. But it is the unknown, the things that lurk outside the dome, that intrigued me the most in this book. As the scientists continue to help humankind survive, Nat is trying to understand her role in her own dome, and where did Evan, a stranger found outside the dome, come from.

There Once Were Stars is a quick read, and action packed. As I was reading the book, I noticed that Natalia is positioned in both adolescent and adult situations one after the other, and she has very little time to think and react; she wants to be independent, but oftentimes she comes off angsty and experiences communication barriers that usually put her in dire situations. Even though Nat can be a bit dramatic at times, she also has a good heart; she naturally wants to help out her friends, family, and those in her dome.

Because we are so focused in Nat’s thoughts, we get limited world-building. But the world-building we do get is encompassed with incredible scenery of a dystopian society that definitely had me wanting more exploration and explanations. I think the sci-fi elements and the mystery behind Nat’s parents’ deaths, intrigued me to focus on the story. I enjoyed the swoony moments that were added to Nat’s fate, but most of all I loved that the story was littered with mystery and twists.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Author Bio:

Melanie McFarlane is a passionate writer of other-wordly adventures, a little excitable, and a little quirky. Whether it’s uncovering the corruption of the future, or traveling to other worlds to save the universe, she jumps in with both hands on her keyboard. Though she can be found obsessing over zombies and orcs from time to time, Melanie focuses her powers on writing young adult stories to keep the rest of the world up reading all night.

She lives with her husband and two daughters in the Land of Living Skies.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Wattpad / Instagram

 TOUR STOPS

August 15th
–Jackie’s Book World >> Excerpt
–Livre It To Me >> Review
–Please Pass The Books >> Excerpt
–The Book Sirens  >> Review

August 16th
–The Page Unbound >> Excerpt
–Smada’s Book Smack >> Review
–Solafide Book Club >> Guest post
–Haddie’s Haven >> Review
–If It Has Words >> Review

August 17th
–My Crazy Bookish Life >> Top 10 List
–Here’s to Happy Endings >> Excerpt
–Liz @ Freyja Eats Books >> Review
–The book slayer >> Review
–The Psychotic Nerd  >> Review

August 18th
–Daydreaming Books >> Review
–Olivia’s Catastrophe >> Review
–Paisley Piranhas >> Excerpt
–Between Reality >> Review

August 19th
–Fiction Adventures >> Interview
–the Blacksheep Project >> Review
–Essentially Bookish >> Review
–The Starred Review >> Review

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August 22nd
–Bookaholic Banter >> Guest post
–My Book Addiction >> Review
–Rants and Raves of a Bibliophile >> Review
–Lisa Loves Literature >> Interview

August 23rd
–Brooke Blogs >> Top 10 List
–FLYLēF >> Review
–Worth Reading It? >> Review
–Fervently Curious >> Review
–A Leisure Moment >> Review

August 24th
–Book Sniffers Anonymous >> Excerpt
–Buried Under Books >> Review
–The Best Books Ever >> Review
–Dani Reviews Things >> Guest post

August 25th
–Cheyanne Young >> Review
–The Avid Reader >> Review
–The Bookish Agenda  >> Review
–Omg Books and More Books >> Review

August 26th
–Book Wish >> Interview
–The Bookish Angel >> Review
–The Twisted Book Curmudgeon >> Review
–Riddle’s Reviews >> Review

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Midnight Sky by Amy Braun

Midnight Sky
Amy Braun
(Dark Sky #2)
Publication date: August 2nd 2016
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult

There are secrets, there are betrayals, and there are sacrifices…

The Behemoth has been destroyed, and the bloodthirsty Hellions seem to have left Westraven. But Claire Abernathy’s mind is not at ease. A terrible disease plagues her sister, appearing to have been brought on the Vesper, the leader of the Hellions beyond the tear between worlds– the Breach.

To save Abby and stop the Hellions for good, Claire must find the machine her parents built before the attacks, and fix it before the monsters return. To do so, she needs the help of her crew, and must ignore the secrets and rivalries between her captain and the man she saved.

Because the Hellions are not the only dangers following Claire. Twisted humans and old enemies surface to stop her and destroy all she loves. While she is determined to endure the trials, a single betrayal could shatter the hope of a better world, and force Claire to make a choice that will cost her dearly…

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks / Smashwords

 

Author Bio:

Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for “author voice, world-building and general bad-assery,” and the One Book Two Standout Award in 2015 for her Cursed trilogy. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, and is an active member of the Writing GIAM and Weekend Writing Warrior communities. When she isn’t writing, she’s reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

 

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

W…W…W…Wednesday: 8/17/2016

W…W…W…Wednesday

W…W…W…Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words and includes Three Ws:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I started this book at the beginning of summer and could not get into it. I’m giving the book another go, since I’m currently in the mood to read fantasy.

WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

   

I read both of these books on Sunday, and enjoyed both. I should have reviews up on both soon.

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

This is our August Book Club pick. I’m not familiar with the book, but the cover is cute and it makes me want to order waffles…HAHAHA. 

♥ What does your own W…W…W…Wednesday look like? ♥

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Set in High School

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is…

Top Ten Books Set in X

And since a lot of school’s are opening their doors this month, I decided to list… 

TOP TEN BOOKS SET IN HIGH SCHOOL

(Click the book cover to link to the book’s Goodreads’ page)

These are only a few of my favorite books that are set in a high school. I actually had to stop listing them, once I reached ten, HAHAHA.

What are some of your favorite books that are set in high school?