Head In The Clouds: Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the SUN POISONED blog tour!! Today I have my reviews of Sunshine and Sun Poisoned to share with you. Make sure to check out the rest of the stops on the tour and don't forget to enter the Giveaway at the end of this post!

Tour Schedule

SUNSHINE

SUNSHINE SERIES #1

Author: Nikki Rae

Publication Date: 01/28/2013

Published By: Nikki Rae

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy

18 year old Sophie Jean is pretty good at acting normal. Sure, she’s not exactly happy, but happiness is nothing compared to being like everyone else. She can pretend she’s not allergic to the sun. She can hide what her ex-boyfriend did to her. She can cover up the scars she’s made for herself. Ignore anything. Forget anything. Then Myles enters her life, and he has more than a few secrets of his own. When accident after accident keeps happening to Sophie, she can’t help noticing that he’s everywhere. That he knows too much. That she’s remembering too much.

It’s one thing covering up her own dark past, but does she really need to worry about people finding out just how much Myles likes her? Or that despite how much she doesn’t want to repeat past mistakes, she kind of likes him back? Not to mention the fact that she now has to conceal that Myles drinks blood-that he says he’s about four hundred years old.

She almost forgot about that part.

But Sophie has no plans to ruin the normal life she has created for herself. She can deal with this little glitch, no problem. Even if word has gotten around to the wrong vampire about Sophie and Myles, even if she’s putting the few people she loves at risk. Suddenly, those who were monsters before are just people, and the monsters? They’re real. Now being a normal human being is the least of her problems. Now she has to stay alive.

REVIEW

First let me say that this book discusses some pretty heavy subject matter. That being said, Nikki Rae does an excellent job of bringing these issues into the light.

The characters that compose the main group of friends are all excellently developed and quirky in their own ways and each one has a way of keeping Sophie grounded. My favorite characters were most definitely Sophie's brother Jade and his boyfriend Stevie. They turn out to be the best support system for Sophie. I loved the author's creativity when it came to naming the characters (Trei, Boo, Barbie) I chuckled a little each time one was introduced.

Our main character, Sophie Jean, has an allergy to the sun forcing her to stay completely covered up when the sun is out. She also has a very troubling past and inner demons. She finds momentary relief from these issues by cutting (which turns out to be a monster in it's own right). The story follows her and her friends along as she meets Myles (who isn't what he seems) and learns to let people in. Really that seems to be a majority of the storyline of course towards the end things get exciting in a different way but the majority of the book is Sophie getting to know Myles and dealing with her inner demons, her past ex boyfriend, and her evil bitch mother.

The story was well developed and the pacing adequate. I really had an overload of emotion, between HATING certain characters and feeling the overwhelming darkness and sadness that Sophie felt. I was inwardly screaming at Sophie the whole time to let Myles in before it was too late but what I thought was going to happen definitely did not. Kudos to Rae for creating a creative story with a twist I didnt see coming!

~ Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords ~

SUN POISONED

SUNSHINE SERIES #2

Author: Nikki Rae

Publication Date: 06/28/2013

Published By: Nikki Rae

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy

Sophie’s life has changed. She’s moved to New York, she’s playing music for new people, and she’s making new friends. Then there’s Myles, and the fact that he is now her boyfriend—and everyone knows it.

She’s not exactly normal, living in a half-human, half-vampire world, but she’s finally, truly happy. However, some parts of Sophie and Myles’ old lives still hide in the dark, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

Sophie’s having nightmares again, but they aren't about her; Myles is hiding something as well, something Sophie isn’t sure she wants to know.

And one lie will change everything.

No matter how hard she tries to cover up the marks her monsters have left behind, they never truly go away, and Myles’ monsters are no different.

Once again, Sophie’s caught between life and death, but this time, only she can save herself.

REVIEW

The second book in this series blew my mind! There was so much going on!!

Sophie and her group of friends have moved to New York where they get paid for their band to play at club Midnight which is owned by Myles' friend Evan. Sophie is settling in to a normal life and a new relationship with Myles. What she doesn't expect is for the person she trusts to be lying to her or for the monsters from her past to reappear. In the end she is left with a choice and it will change everything!

There were plenty of emotions to be felt in this book and we learn a little more about Myles' past but I feel like there is still something he is hiding from us and I feel like it's going to be HUGE! I feel like the pacing in Sun Poisoned was way better than Sunshine, in fact I finished it in a day (probably because I couldn't put it down).

The ending was really the only thing that made me want to throw the book. Seriously, it was like Nikki Rae decided she was done writing for the moment so she typed in a period and wrote no more. I seriously thought my copy of the book didn't download right, I had to research to make sure I had the right amount of pages. Why, Nikki, WHY?! So here I sit, dying of suspense, waiting for the next book to come out.

As a side note I would like to point out that Sophie sleeps/blacks out/passes out an awful lot. Seriously it seems like once a chapter she is unconscious. Don't get me wrong, if I could, I would sleep as much as I can it's just you don't usually see books that mention sleeping that much.

All in all I'm pretty happy with where this series is going. I can't wait to see what book three has in store for us!

~ Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords ~

THE AUTHOR

Nikki Rae is a student and writer who lives in New Jersey. She is an independent author and has appeared numerously on Amazon Best Seller lists. She is the author of The Sunshine Series and concentrates on making her imaginary characters as real as possible. She writes mainly dark, scary, romantic tales, but she’ll try anything once. When she is not writing, reading, or thinking, you can find her spending time with animals, drawing in a quiet corner, or studying people. Closely.

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

QUESTION OF THE DAY

How would you cope with not being able to go outside due to being allergic to the sun?

THE GIVEAWAY

Grand Prize:

E-books of Sun Shine and Sun Poisoned + an autographed post card (INT)

Two winners will win (1) e-book of both Sunshine and Sun Poisoned (INT)

Four winners will win an autographed Post card (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Organized By:

Hey ya'll Thanks for dropping by for my stop on the Unchosen Blog Tour!

Hosted by

Unchosen
Michele Vail

(The Reaper Diaries #2)
Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy

I thought the worst of my reaper training was behind me… turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Molly Bartolucci has done a lot of growing up but after being accused of using illegal magic at her school for necromancers, reaper-in-training Molly is treading lightly. As the destined leader of Anubis’s Chosen, she needs to study hard, train harder, and stay out of trouble.

Uh, right.

It doesn’t help that she’s feeling more than academic about her melt-your-bones hot reaping instructor, Rath. And if her relationship drama isn’t enough to drive her over the edge, she has to deal with mother issues, nosy little sisters, suspicious friends, and an unnamed force stalking her at school.

Then her family is attacked, and her bio-dad ends up comatose in the hospital. Now, Molly has to uncover who’s trying to hurt her loved ones—and all without the help of Anubis.

I've never understood why someone (or something) can't just tap you on the shoulder and say, "Look, the apocalypse will be here on Tuesday. You might want to get a helmet and a weapon. Tell your friends."

REVIEW

I'm unsure of how I really feel about Unchosen. It was good and I'm glad I got a chance to read it but it definitely had a middle book feel to it. At times it felt rushed and there were parts that in my opinion could have used more depth but were barely talked about. Especially Molly and Rath's relationship, it felt rather lacking of emotion.

Aside from that it was a good read. Molly is told early on that there will be a competition to decide who will be The Champion of Anubis, this upsets Molly for obvious reasons since she is the champion according to Anubis himself. While training she loses touch with her friends, which I was sad to see happen, I really wish they could be more of a team. Henry her ghoul also hints that it's important to find a specific book, Anubis and the Seventh Warrior, which evidently holds clues to Molly's family secrets. There is also somebody that's trying to get to Molly, she gets attacked several times and the person even goes after her bio-dad and family. All of this crap goes down and Anubis is nowhere to be found, what good is having a god for a dad if you can't count on him to help in battle?! There is a crazy discovery at the end of the book and a cliffhanger that leaves you wondering what is going to happen. Like I said I did enjoy reading the book but it left a lot of ends untied, hence the middle book feeling. I predict the final book being AMAZING!

Keep calm ... and carry your scythe.

~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Goodreads ~

* I received an ARC ebook of Unchosen in exchange for an honest review. In no way does that effect my thoughts or opinions. I did not get paid in any way for this review.

*I would like to thank Michele Vail and The Fantastic Flying Book Club for giving me the chance to read, review, and be a part of this tour!

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Undeadly
Michele Vail

(The Reaper Diaries #1)
Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy

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 boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

~ My Review ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ Goodreads ~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michele Vail writes young adult paranormal fiction about zombies and reapers. The Reaper Diaries is set in present day Nevada in a world where ancient Egyptian religion and necromancer magic is real and part of every day life. Oh, and there are zombies. Lots and lots of zombies.

Michele likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate. Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking husband in the Pacific Northwest.

Michele's Website

The Reaper Diaries Website

Michele's Goodreads Profile