Book Blitz: The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow + Giveaway!

Welcome everyone to the book blitz for The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow! Who's excited about a new book series by Michelle Madow? I know I am! I've had the pleasure of working with Michelle many times and years ago and I must say her books keep getting better and better! 

Enjoy this post and be sure to enter the giveaway below before you leave. :)

The Prophecy of Shadows
by Michelle Madow
Series: Elementals #1
Published by: Dreamscape Publishing
Publication Date: January 26th 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Filled with magic, thrilling adventure, and sweet romance, Elementals is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson and The Secret Circle will love!

When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers–and, to her dismay, by Blake–the school’s notorious bad-boy.

Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.

When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect–it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

 Purchase at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

“Elementals is going to blow your mind!”
-Crossroad Reviews, ★★★★★

“Five glittery stars for being such a compelling read!”
-Andrea Heltsley, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★

“A perfect mixture of magic and mythology. An entrancing story of trust, friendship and well naughty boys. WITCHES are not the only thing walking the earth!”
– BenjaminOfTomes, BookTuber ★★★★★

Everyone stared at me, and I looked to the front of the room, where a tall, lanky man in a tweed suit stood next to a blackboard covered with the morning announcements. His gray hair shined under the light, and his wrinkled skin and warm smile reminded me more of a grandfather than a teacher.

He cleared his throat and rolled a piece of chalk in his palm. “You must be Nicole Cassidy,” he said.

“Yeah.” I nodded and looked around at the other students. There were about thirty of them, and there seemed to be an invisible line going down the middle of the room, dividing them in half. The students near the door wore jeans and sweatshirts, but the ones closer to the wall looked like they were dressed for a fashion show instead of school.

“It’s nice to meet you Nicole.” The teacher sounded sincere, like he was meeting a new friend instead of a student. “Welcome to our homeroom. I’m Mr. Faulkner, but please call me Darius.” He turned to the chalkboard, lifted his hand, and waved it from one side to the other. “You probably weren’t expecting everything to look so normal, but we have to be careful. As I’m sure you know, we can’t risk letting anyone else know what goes on in here.”

Then the board shimmered—like sunlight glimmering off the ocean—and the morning announcements changed into different letters right in front of my eyes.

Michelle Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college, and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.Visit Michelle online at www.michellemadow.com, and be sure to sign up for her newsletter and follow her on Amazon to get instant updates on her books!

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)

$25 gift card for Amazon or B&N

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Insurgent by Veronica Roth - Review

What can I really say about reading Insurgent? Well before you dive further into my review, let me say that I will not be spoiling one single detail for those who haven't devoured Insurgent yet!

Quite honestly, I'm not even going to put up a synopsis for you. All you need to know is that this book takes up a little after Divergent has ended. I'm just going to explain a little bit about how I felt while reading this book rather than review it in my typical fashion. Here goes!


I always know that a book is great, when I feel like I come out of a fog after reading it. It took me a few minutes to come back to reality and stop feeling like I was in Chicago and part of a faction in the future. I really had to get my head cleared because I was so completely and utterly wrapped up in this book and this world that Veronica Roth created for her readers. She has such an exceptional talent for world building and how she presents said world to her readers. You will never feel like you're getting too much description or too much analysis of the world surrounding the main characters.

One of the most awesome parts of this book is that we get to see deeper into all of the factions (Amity, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor and Abnegation). In this story, we get to visit with each faction and not only learn about their traditions and ways of life, but we learn about their flaws and really the flaws in society as a whole. It's not hard to imagine yourself into the world that Roth has created and to see what troubles a society organized in this way would pose.

In Insurgent, Roth takes a look at the human condition. We get to see what blind power does when it's handed to one individual and how when you get rid of one crazy person, there is always another crazier person waiting to be brought forth. I loved how Tris in this novel had to figure out what it meant to be Divergent and she had to struggle with right and wrong. She had to deal with the loss of her parents and to try and figure out what it meant for herself and her future when they sacrificed themselves for her well being. It's a position that no one hopes to be in, but one can relate to her struggles and her sacrifices.

Don't worry, you'll be seing plenty of Four (or Tobias as he is interchangeably called through out the story) as he has to battle his own demons as well. Tobias and Tris as a dynamic couple were so great to see in that they had to figure out how to be together while balancing secrets and betrayal. They're one of my favorite couples to watch.

Let me say that this was one of the hardest reviews I've written. It took me a while to get my thoughts straightened out and I apologize if this review is a tad erratic or confusing. Think of it as a book worms ramblings after finishing one of the best books they've ever read all year.

9 out of 10

Happy reading :)

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Giveaway #4!

Hey guys! It's giveaway time again! While I normally have some sort of theme when doing giveaways, I figured with this one, I'd just plain give away books! Who doesn't love to win free books? This particualr giveaway will have 3 separate winners!  Each winner will get a pool of books to choose from and they will be sent to you straight from Book Depository! If it's a book that is not yet out, I will pre-order it for you :)



Here are the rules!

• Must be 13 years or older
• It's an International giveaway! As long as Book Depository will ship to you :) You can check here!
• I will announce the winners on the blog and send the winners an email! You'll have 72 hours to respond to the email in order to be a winner. In this email, I will ask for your address to ship the book to!
• If the book is not yet released, I will order it as a pre-order for you!
• Contest will run from today (May 4th) until May 18th!

And now to the prizes!

1st winner can pick from...

2nd winner can pick from...

3rd winner can pick from...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare

All right people... I thought I could stop afterCity of Bones, but quite obviously you see that I could not. After finishing City of Bones for the second time, I figured I might as well read the rest of the books in the series, as City of Lost Souls comes out in roughly a week. I got through City of Ashes much faster thanCity of Bones and so hopefully my quick reading streak continues and I can finish City of Glass and City of Angels before May 8th. Now, I'm going to write this as spoiler free as humanly possible, so feel safe in reading my review if you are new to The Mortal Instruments series!
City of Ashes takes off right whereCity of Bones leaves us... some big stuff happens... people change...there's fighting? How can I even begin to describe this book without any spoilers? Well, here goes! Valentine is still bad, very bad. Clary and Jace try to deal with and fight with their big heritage issue... think Starwars. Simon and Alec discover whole new lifestyles, and it's definitely not what you think. In this second installment, Clary and the gang must work even harder to overcome not only the bumps that Valentine put in the road, but they must also overcome a few personal obstacles before they can hope to defeat him.

In book two, Clare introduces us to her brand of writing where everyone has a part. We've got vampires, werewolves, some man on man love, warlocks, demons, Shadowhunters, Faeries and more. It seems that Cassandra Clare's invisible world is a world just like our own. One full of not only prejudiced people, but all kinds of people. It's not often we see young adult fiction featuring homosexuality, especially in a book series as widely popular as The Mortal Instruments. This is a huge reason for my love of Clare's books: she writes for everyone. Instead of devastatingly beautiful princesses falling in love with dashingly charming princes living happily ever after, Clare's characters are ordinary. Ordinary you ask? Didn't your list above include supernatural demon hunters descended from Angels? Her characters are ordinary in that they have real problems. Simon is in love with his best friend who won't return his love. Clary, while pretty in her own right, is described as an awkward ginger who is short and gangly. We have Shadowhunters finding out how to express to their friends and family that they are gay, in a world where being a warrior and being gay never go hand in hand. The characters go through their own struggles while still saving the day and that is a huge reason why these books are such a must read.

The book as a whole sets a different mood from the first book. In City of Bones, we find ourselves dying for as much information as we can, learning about the invisible world in Clare's writing. In this book, we dive further and further into their world with Clary as she discovers more about herself in the mundane world and the Shadowhunter world. She becomes ever stronger as she learns of unrequited love, forbidden love and the love and bonds of a family. Clary grows up fast in these books and unlike many other stories, her growing pains are pains indeed. She comes to realize that life isn't easy, it's the difficult choies that you make that make you an adult, not the fact that you're glowingly happy all the time. Clary is definitely one of my favorites. Dare I say a close second to Hermione Granger... yep I said it.

While there is still a lot of character development in this book, we find more in the plot department as well. We learn more of Valentine and his plans and also about the fate of the Clave and the Shadowhunter world. The action in this book is simply awesome too.  Sword fighting, giant venom spitting Demons, explosions, it's great.  While these books do have a fair amount of blood and guts, it's not in excess and even the most squeamish reader will find themselves devouring page after page, yearning for more.

What can I say? Each book gets  better and better! If you'd like more information about Cassandra Clare's upcoming releases, what she's currently writing and the City of Bones movie, check out my review of City of Bones and scroll to the bottom for news :)

Happy Reading!

8 out of 10

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