#Unboxing @uppercasebox

A new month and a new Uppercase Box. Hooray!

 The choice of book this month is I'll Meet You There. I actually have an eArc of the book but didn't get to it like I planned so I'm glad to have the physical copy. I often read fast when I have a physical copy and I'm not sure why.

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper

Along with the book was a little mini collage kit. Which is awesome. I went through a big collage phase in college. I haven't decided how I'm going to put this one together yet.

So another great month for Uppercase!

Greta and the Glass Kingdom by Chloe Jacobs #BookReview #Giveaway

Greta and the Glass Kingdom (Mylena Chronicles #2)
by Chloe Jacobs
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2015
Entangled Teen

Once upon a dark time…

Greta the human bounty hunter never quite fit into the shadowed, icy world of Mylena. Yet she's managed to defeat the demon Agramon and win the love of the darkly intense Goblin King, Isaac. Now Isaac wants her to rule by his side—a human queen. And the very announcement is enough to incite rebellion…

To make matters worse, defeating Agramon left Greta tainted with a dark magick. Its unclean power threatens to destroy her and everything she loves. With the Goblin King's life and the very peace of Mylena at stake, Greta must find a cure and fast.

Her only hope lies with the strange, elusive faeries in the Glass Kingdom…if she can get there before the evil within her destroys everything.

I was happy to rejoin Greta and Isaac in Greta and the Glass Kingdom. I actually read the first and second book in a row, so I was completely absorbed into the world. It’s a very addicting read.

I have to say there were definitely parts of this book that kept stressing me out. Wyatt was not actually one of the things but he was managing to annoy me anyway. I liked how the plot was more of an adventure for this one. We have a lot more going on getting from point a to point b. As they take the sometimes treacherous journey from the Goblin palace to the Glass Kingdom.It helps keep the action moving and allows me to focus on something else instead of the things stressing me out.

We also get to know a little more about the fairies that keep themselves locked away. About who they are and what they can do. Also what Siona’s connection with them is. Besides the fairies we get more in depth look at Siona and of course Wyatt is still hanging around.

Of course I love Greta and Isaac and how sweet their love is. Especially because they have a whole world against them. I like how they can make one another gentle because they are both very fierce.

I think Greta has really changed in this book from the first. She is more accepting of her role and her life in Mylena. Especially since she is finally open with her feelings about Isaac. It really brings her character to a new a level because she is not so closed off and cold. She is more trusting which can be good and bad. Or maybe it’s more that she is now willing to take the chance that someone might be trustworthy or not.

I continued to be completely absorbed in Mylena and the story. I can not wait for the next book so I can find out what happens!

OTHER BOOKS

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles #1)

by Chloe Jacobs

Release Date: 12/11/12

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back...

(Only $0.99 for a limited time at select online retailers!)

Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

    

  

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Sword by Amy Bai #Excerpt #Giveaway

Sword by Amy Bai
Publication date: February 10th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:
Sword shall guide the hands of men . . .

For over a thousand years the kingdom of Lardan has been at peace: isolated from the world, safe from the wars of its neighbors, slowly forgetting the wild and deadly magic of its origins. Now the deepest truths of the past and the darkest predictions for the future survive only in the verses of nursery rhymes.

For over a thousand years, some of Lardan’s fractious provinces have been biding their time.

Kyali Corwynall is the daughter of the Lord General, a child of one of the royal Houses, and the court’s only sword-wielding girl. She has known for all of her sixteen years what the future holds for her–politics and duty, the management of a House, and protecting her best friend, the princess and presumed heir to the throne. But one day an old nursery rhyme begins to come true, an ancient magic wakes, and the future changes for everyone. In the space of a single night her entire life unravels into violence and chaos. Now Kyali must find a way to master the magic her people have left behind, or watch her world–and her closest friends–fall to a war older than the kingdom itself.

The next branch took her unawares and caught her full in the face. It stung, and she stopped. A hand to her nose came back bloodied. The realization that she was being a fool came to her somehow out of the sight of her own blood. Here she was, running from nothing, in the middle of—

Oh, damn.

In her preoccupation, she had been a very great fool indeed.

The trees parted just in front of her. Two men were gaping at her from where they sat on the ground near a smothered firepit.

Outlaws. And she was completely alone here.

For a brief instant, not even a whisper of wind marred the perfect silence, and then one man gave a wild shout, leaping to his feet. The other lunged at her from where he knelt, a flash of metal in his hands. She felt the shock of whatever it was as it grated off her vest.

Her sword came free of its sheath and cut his feet out from under him. His scream was terrible. The rest seemed to happen as if at some distance—the arc of blood following the sweep of steel, the bewildered agony on the man’s face as she drove her sword through him. It was far too easy.

Her own ragged panting brought her back to herself.

Kyali backed up a step and then another, and moaned in what she first thought was horror and then realized was pain. At her side, her blood leaked out. A great deal of it was already soaking the leather armor.

A very great deal of it.

Not so easy after all, it seemed.

The second man held an old dagger. The pain, when she let fall her sword and tried to release the side buckle of her vest, loosened her knees. She dropped to the ground. The locket around her neck leapt up and swung. She stared fixedly at the Corwynall dragon engraved on it as she worked at the armor’s catches, hissing through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the pain, which was rising rapidly past endurance.

The buckle came undone. Her fingers found the wound at once, and she drew in a ragged gasp and shrieked at the feel of her hand against it. Unable to do anything else, Kyali pressed both hands against the outpouring of blood, rolling onto her back.

The peaceful trees grew shadowed, then faded altogether into a strangely gold-flecked dark.

Amy Bai has been, by order of neither chronology nor preference, a barista, a numbers-cruncher, a paper-pusher, and a farmhand. She likes thunderstorms, the enthusiasm of dogs, tall boots and long jackets, cinnamon basil, margaritas, and being surprised by the weirdness of her fellow humans. She lives in New England with her guitar-playing Russian husband and two very goofy sheepdogs.

   

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A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas #BookReview #Dreamcast #Playlist #Giveaway

A Wicked Thing
by Rhiannon Thomas
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 24th 2015

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Rhiannon Thomas weaves together vivid scenes of action, romance, and gorgeous gowns to reveal a richly imagined world … and Sleeping Beauty as she’s never been seen before.

EXCERPT

A Wicked Thing is an extremely creative take on the story of Sleeping Beauty. Picking up from the point where Aurora wakes up.

The first half of the book is more of Aurora adjustment to life 102 years after the one she originally lived. Everything is different, everyone she cared about is dead and now she feels like a stranger in her own land. I can’t say I felt like I connected with Aurora and I’m not sure if it was because of the third person perspective but it also really didn’t bother me. I thought she was interesting and wanted to know what was going to happen to her regardless. I kept thinking what would it be like to wake up in the situation she does. I liked how she really changes from the beginning of the book to the end. I was frustrated with her naivety but also what was she supposed to do. This poor girl is constantly kept under lock and key, I think she doesn't even know how reclaim herself at first.

There are three boys involved but it’s not really a love triangle. Although Aurora might be intrigued and care about each one she isn’t really focused on finding true love. She seems more concerned about finding her place and finding a way to restore her kingdom.

Finnegan is definitely my favorite out of the three. He tells things how they are and seems to always be honest. He does have a roguish way about him but it’s more about the political game then it is about him being a player. He is a people reader and therefore can mold himself into who he needs to be to get what he wants.

Tristan is the boy who lives in the village. He is fun and adventurous but also clearly has his own agenda. He will not be swayed by affections.

Of course then there is Rodric, the prince who woke Aurora up. What a sweet and caring boy his is. I feel sorry for him because he is thrust into a position of expectations. He seems like genuinely good guy. Aurora might not love him but I think even she finds it difficult to not care about him.

The second half of the book really picks up as we uncover more of what has actually happened to the kingdom while Aurora was sleeping. I think people really start to begin their true colors and there are some things that I was not expecting. The book sets itself up to continue on and definitely sets up the framework.

As far as a Sleeping Beauty retelling, I really enjoyed this one and thought the premise is so unique. It manages to keep that haunting feeling of a fairy tale while creating a new tale. This is definitely a story for fans of retellings to check out.

Aurora

Hannah New

Prince Rodric

Steven R. McQueen

Prince Finnegan

Ben Barnes

Tristan

Chris Sheffield

I tried to pick more girl power songs for the playlist because I feel like that is what Aurora needs.
I also tossed a Sleeping Beauty song in there.

Direct Link

Rhiannon Thomas is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied English and Japanese, and smuggled bubble tea into the library on a regular basis. She now lives in York, England.

As well as reading and writing YA fiction, she runs the blog FeministFiction.com, where she discusses TV, books, and all kinds of fannish things from a feminist perspective.

I don't hang out on Goodreads much, so if you want to contact me, please swing by my personal website or message me on Twitter.

    

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