Cover Wars: The Selection vs Darkness Before Dawn

Hey everyone! Welcome to another brilliant edition of Cover Wars, hosted at Tantalizing Illusions! Cover Wars is a little feature all about appreciating covers. Every week there is a showdown between two covers- a "Defender" (last week's winner) and a "Challenger" (a new cover). Both covers will fight for the most votes and the winner will continue on to next week's battle. This is my way of appreciating the beauty of YA covers. 

Last week The Selection dominated The Golden Lily. This week it's back to fight against a new, darker cover, Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London. 

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What do you guys think? Both covers feature girls in pretty dresses that have layer. Both covers have the girls hiding their faces in some way. They both manage to have very different vibes and I'm really curious to see which cover will come out on top. 

Now that you've seen the competitors, it's time to VOTE!! Vote for your favourite cover on the right and be sure to let me know your choice and your thoughts in the comments. Or if you have any suggestions for future Cover Wars, also let me know. 

And if you like Cover Wars at Tantalizing Illusions, you'll love The Book Faery's Cover Wars! 

Cover Wars: Of Poseidon vs. Incarnate

Cover Wars is a fun little feature I do on Tantalizing Illusions all about celebrating the gorgeousness of covers. It's my way of appreciating them and featuring them. Every week there is a winner based on readers's votes that will go against a new cover.

Last week Of Poseidon triumphed against Deadly Cool. Now it's against a very different sort of pretty: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. Will Of Poseidon be able to win again? Or is it Incarnate's chance to shine? Vote on the right to figure it out!

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Remember, vote on the poll to the right! And don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments. :)

New Covers of August Part 1

I love covers so I thought I'd do a sort of recap for new YA covers released in August. The source for my list is Tor.com Urban Fantasy on Facebook.  I like them since they're so awesome and have lots of cool posts. All credit for this post goes to them!

Set against the backdrop of a Coney Island summer comes The Vicious Deep, the story of sixteen year old Tristan Hart whose life is turned upside down when the mermaids make an unscheduled return to land in search of their new king.
When a sudden storm pulls Tristan from lifeguard duty into a deadly riptide, he discovers what he really is—a prince of the Sea Court. Turns out, his girlfriend hopping and talents as a swimmer aren’t caused by his teenage prime hormones after all.

In this modern Arthurian tale with a twist, when all a guy wants to do is get The Girl and enjoy the freak show that is a Coney Island summer, Tristan has to fight for his life, the lives of his friends, and his humanity, if he still wants it, as he’s caught in a race for a throne that is as ancient as the gods.

Releases: March 2012

Kendra Hilferty, the witch who curses Kyle Kingsbury in Beastly, tells about her immortal existence-how she discovered she was a witch and the various ways she has used her powers to help people throughout the centuries. (Unfortunately her attempts have often backfired.) As it turns out, Kendra has actually had a hand in "Hansel and Gretel," "The Princess and the Pea," and "The Little Mermaid"-but these are not the fairy tales you think you know! Kendra's reminiscences are wrapped around a real-time version of "Cinderella," except the "ugly" stepsister is the good guy. 
With dark twists, hilarious turns, and unexpected endings, Bewitching is a contemporary read for fairy-tale lovers, fantasy fans, and anyone looking for more Alex Flinn.

Releases: March 14th 2012

All Airel ever wanted to be was normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like sudden mysterious illness. Then there’s Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous…and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything she hopes for even now. Airel knew change would be inevitable as life went on. But can she hold on when murder and darkness begin to close in and take away everything she loves? Will she have what it takes when the truth is finally revealed?

Releases: August 31 2011

 Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.

Releases: October 6 2011

   A love so strong, even eternity can’t separate them. Evie Starling has lived a relatively uneventful life hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and driving her 1966 Mustang. All of that changes when she moves to Gunnison, Colorado, to start college and meets two mysterious men. For centuries, Alex Night and Emil Stone have yearned for Evie—but they each have their own reasons for wanting to be with her. When both men claim to be her soul mate and tell her about an unbelievable past, Evie learns that she’s not the person she thought she was. Soon, Evie finds herself in the middle of an age-old battle between the Amaranthine Society—the soul protectors, and the Daevos Resistance—the soul destroyers. With a past she doesn’t understand, and a future rife with danger, Evie has to decide who she can trust. But Alex and Emil aren’t the only ones who want Evie, and her soul is about to become the rope in an eternal tug-of-war.

Releases: December 6 2011



That's just part one. The reason I'm doing this in parts is that I don't want people to get overwhelmed! Weren't these covers beautiful? I am SO using them for Cover Wars. I'm so excited to read them all!

Charmfall by Chloe Neill (I love this cover!)

WARNING- Major cover lust.

It's no surprise that I like pretty things. It's vain in a way but I get excited about the new and the pretty, which was why I was super excited to see this:



I love this cover!!!!! Even though I've only read the first book in this series, Firespell, this cover makes me want to read this book. Now. What I love are the colours. Black, purple, silverish white? Yes please. The smoke is a really nice touch, as is the key and I love the font.

These are the covers for the other two books in the series.


Is it just me or are the covers getting better and better?

What do you think of Charmfall's cover? Do you like it?

Review: Once in a Full Moon

Author: Ellen Schreiber
Pages: 304
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Library
Synopis (from Amazon):


Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever.


Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend's Run is famous for them. She's used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend's Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.


Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who's from the wrong side of town. But she can't deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste's hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend's Run.


Psychic predictions, generations-old secrets, a town divided, and the possibility of falling in love with a hot and heroic werewolf are the perfect formula for what happens . . . once in a full moon.


Once in a Full Moon is a nice, light, romantic werewolf story.

The main character is Celeste, a quiet, dreamer sort of girl who is nice and sweet. She's meant to be relatable but I ended up not liking her. Celeste has two best friends, Ivy and Abby, who are both very rich girls. Celeste isn't as rich as them, which may be why her opinion often differs from them on the topic of the "Westsiders" (people from the "wrong" side of town). What bugs me is how annoying Celeste's supposed best friends are. Celeste always comments on how much she cares for them and how they mean well, but I kept wondering what kind of good friends force her to be with some guy she doesn't like? What kind of friends completely ignore her wishes and wants so that their own can come true? I lost respect for Celeste since she hangs out with people like that. An example would be when Brandon, a Westsider, sat down in a seat that was meant to be hers. Her friends were rude to him, even though it was the first day of school just because he was a Westsider.

Another annoying character was Nash, Celeste's boyfriend. I'm glad she makes the choice to stay away from him, but his cowardly attitude and neediness makes me very mad at him. He is a jerk in every sense and I'm glad Celeste realizes it. Though his part in the story is needed, I wish there was something that could redeem him.

I liked Celeste much more when she was alone or with Brandon. She is a calm, cool girl. Albeit a kind of lovestruck, typical teenager, but still she is a way better person than before. She's more original and genuinely happy to help others. Plus when her friends aren't around, her loyalty to them is sweet.

So obviously, most of the problems I had with this book were the characters that I didn't like. They acted unbelievably, and I didn't feel any sympathy toward most of them.

The supernatural element of the story is interesting, but not for my tastes. It is more of a classic werewolf story. The prophecies of a kiss under the moon however are very interesting and made sure that the story ends in a good way. There is a plot that's more original than your "girl meets bad boy with terrible secret" which I appreciated.

Once in a Full Moon was written really well and was easy to read. I would recommend this to people looking for a light, romantic werewolf read.

3 stars, ***

Thoughts about the cover:
This will be a new feature basically about the cover and presentation of the book because I find it's an important part of any book for me.

I love the cover of this book! Dark blues and hot pink in cursive? *sighs* The inside of the book is reallt cool too. The first  page of every chapter is a page all in black  with the exception of the writing and there are trees and a moon... pretty. I'd give 4 out of five stars because it's so pretty.

xoxo,