mignon mykel { reviews }: review || THE SELECTION { blog tour } by Christine Castle & Jayne Faith

Saturday, December 12, 2015

review || THE SELECTION { blog tour } by Christine Castle & Jayne Faith

Self-Published | October 2015 | Paranormal New Adult
Sapient Salvation, book 1
★★★★

SOURCE: XPRESSO BOOK TOURS

Twice a year, the alien Lord Toric demands a selection of human women between the ages of 18 and 20 to compete in the Tournament of the Offered for a place in his harem. Maya must get through just one more selection and then she can marry the man of her dreams. She should have been safe, but when a young woman who was supposed to compete dies the day of the selection, Maya is forced into the Tournament.

Now she must compete against women who have been training for the Tournament for years to hone their skills of poise, charm, cunning, and seduction. And there is only one winner in the Tournament. The losers will be sacrificed.

Thrown into the fight of her life with no preparation, Maya must shed her innocence and win Lord Toric’s favor. Will she survive the first round, or will she pay the ultimate price for her inexperience?

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{ about christine & jayne } .

Hi there! I’m author Jayne Faith. When I’m not tapping away at my keyboard while swilling coffee and tea, I’m playing with my dog; eating crunchy snacks, flipping through recipes online, fantasizing about food, dreaming up my next meal (you get the idea – I’m a foodie!); doing yoga or Pilates; or watching TV (my co-author Christine Castle and I are both obsessive fans of the small screen!).

Visit with me and Christy on Twitter @CCJFbooks. Be sure to join our Insiders List – our insider members get all kinds of fun stuff, including free stories, insider info about upcoming books, and lots of fun behind-the-scenes tidbits from us – join the Insiders on our website CCJFbooks.com!

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{ review } .

Not much of a fan for aliens, I was drawn to this title because of everything else it brought forth. The idea of Maya, who just wanted to marry Court, being in her last selection before being able to go about her dreams... but then her dreams being blown up in smoke? Absolutely drew me in.

I was a big HUNGER GAMES fan -- I did, however, wait until the cast of the movie was announced before even wanting to read the books. At that time, I was not a big young-adult-dystopian fan. I was not a big fan of books that everyone and their mother were reading. No thank you. But then there was the uproar on the casting so naturally, I had to read the books. And I loved them.

So I went into this book with the whole HUNGER GAMES selection mentality.

And the book didn't disappoint.

I felt that the authors wrote Maya very well. I was drawn in to her feelings and her desires; I was disappointed alongside her when she was thrown into the tournament. The story was written extremely well, and even though it wasn't quite full-novel length, it was longer than a novella, giving the reader ample time to fall for these characters. And as much as I want something to happen so Court and Maya can live happily ever after, the tournament isn't set up that way... and Lord Toric has his appealing aspects.

The next part comes out sometime in 2016, and I'm actually a little excited for it..!
...said that way because it's more aliens, of course.

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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