Posts Tagged: free ebook

Free Read Friday…the 13th

13 Sep, 2013 by in Uncategorized 4 comments

Happy

the 13th!

Enjoy these awesome 


   Free Reads
   
 
We are happy to announce Free Read Friday hosted by Heather at Fire and Ice, a way for bloggers, authors and publicists and readers to spread our favorite weekly free Ebook finds.

Link up below to share your Free Read Friday posts!

The Siren’s Secret Blog Tour Author Guest Post, Breview and Giveaway

16 May, 2013 by in mermaids, The Shapeshifter's Secret #2, The Siren's Secret 2 comments


Author Heather Ostler is guest blogging today at Fire and Ice about Sirens as part of The Siren’s Secret official blog tour! 



Sirens are enchanting and mysterious creatures. In mythology they are believed to be beautiful woman who can lure men to their deaths. Though they are supernatural creatures who live in water like mermaids, they have legs, not fins.

Powerful and manipulative, sirens have always been seen as a threat. They are extremely smart, and can see into your past and the future from only meeting you.
Sirens are able to lure and hypnotize sailors using their lovely, sweet singing voices. Often in mythology sirens would find unsuspecting sailors and hypnotize them. Once the sailors were lured in from their singing, the sirens would capture them, or make them crash their boats into rocks.
The siren’s song was different for each sailor, but always too beautiful to resist. Unfortunately for the many sailors, the end of the siren’s song was death.
Sirens are usually portrayed as femme fatals. They are known as being vicious and deadly. They can use either their beauty to charm and entrance their victim, or they can use their hypnotizing abilities to get what they desire.  

Mythology always portrays sirens always living on islands surrounded by cliffs and rocks, and Roman writers always linked sirens closely to the sea. Sirens are also featured in Homer’s Odyssey, and are known as the Muses of the lower world.

– Heather Ostler Pead, Author, The Siren’s Secret

The Siren’s Secret
The Shapeshifter’s Secret #2
by Heather Ostler
Expected publication June 11, 2013
By Cedar Fort Books
Book Source: Netgalley
4 stars
Book Summary from Goodreads: Julia’s life has gone from complicated to nearly impossible! When Julia loses her shapeshifting powers and her appearance changes in alarming ways, she flees to Sirenity, where she learns an incredible secret about her mother. In this thrilling sequel, Julia must take greater risks and make bigger sacrifices as she discovers who she really is and what she can really become.

Early Breview: Sirens entrance me. I’ve always been fascinated by the creatures who live in the sea. When I saw this cover on Netgalley I was lured and captivated. I hadn’t read book one of the Shapeshifter’s Secret (we review it here) but was easily able to pick up where it left off as Heather gives a plot retelling in the first few chapters of book two. Julia is in hiding in an antique cottage with her father and the guard after an attempt on her life.  Her life seems ever more complicated as the tension heats up between her boyfriend Terrance and friend, protector Caleb. When a date with Terrance goes dangerously wrong and Julia is intercepted by a mysterious Siren there are questions to be answered.

With enchanting mythology and a magical setting, Heather Ostler paints her unique spin on shape shifters and the difference between water nymphs and sirens. I wish I could fully immerse myself in the Lockham academy and underwater scenes of Sirenity. I found myself wanting much more filling out of details and world building. With little inventions like a parchment that writes and receives messages and a truth telling ring there is plenty of room for lots more imagination. 

I also am pulling for one side of the love triangle to move ahead. I’m hoping book three picks up the pace in swoon worthiness and character development because a huge whopper of a plot twist has been dropped.

Content: The Siren’s Secret is a clean read suited for middle grade and young adult readers and I am happy to recommend it to all. Mild violence.


About the author: Heather Ostler grew up near the mountains with a rambunctiously entertaining family. She majored in English at Utah Valley University, and soon began composing stories about masquerades, water nymphs, and shapeshifters. She and her husband, Kellen, reside in Highland, Utah with two remarkably pleasant pugs.

Find out more about author Heather Ostler: Goodreads/ Twitter/ Website


  The Giveaway: We have one ebook copy of The Siren’s Secret to giveaway to our readers! Open internationally, simply fill out the rafflecopter form to enter. Good luck and thanks so much to Heather Ostler for visiting Fire and Ice today.

Ebook Review- Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

03 Apr, 2012 by in YA apocalyptic 2 comments

Hollowland
The Hollows #1
by Amanda Hocking
E-book; 308 pages
Publication Date: October 5, 2010
Publisher: Createspace
ASIN: B00466H8JK
Book Source: Amazon
3 stars
Summary From Amazon: “This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.”
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.
Danielle’s Review: Bestselling author, Amanda Hocking, took the self-publishing world by storm when she began pulling in millions of dollars from her paranormal young adult ebooks. Her success made ebooks an even more respectable business and a lucrative one. I was excited to have the opportunity to read HOLLOWLAND, the first in an apocalyptic series.
Remy King bursts forth out of a zombie compromised quarantine unit in the very first pages. With a few friends in tow, she must make her way across the zombie wasteland of what’s left of the United States in order to find her brother who’s been carted off by the government for study. Her adventures through ghost towns and cult compounds are dark, graphic and gory. Besides the interesting addition of a Vegas show lion to aid her in zombie killing, the majority of the action is the repetitive and descriptive slaughter of decomposing, flesh eating monsters.
Remy is amazingly deft at annihilating the walking dead, and her heart is rock hard. She is a strong, centered character, but at times I felt sad at the celebration of her heroic status. Not only was her stamina amazing, but the young girl could walk away from dying friends, kill vigilantes without blinking and push away any feelings of true love. Her only human quality seems to be her devotion for her brother who is immune to the contagious zombie virus.
There is no question that Ms. Hocking is a talented, unique storyteller. The action never stops, but at the same time, neither does the blood and gut letting. At times I actually felt nauseous, but the story, much like a train wreck, has an irresistible draw that lured me back to reading even after I had to put it down.
Being the first in the series and with an open, unresolved ending, most readers will be anxious to pick up the next zombie fest in the series. Although it was a crazy ride, I’m going to have to pass. I enjoyed the quirky talent of this runaway bestselling author, but HOLLOWLAND felt a little sold out for my taste; going for shock value over what could have been true literary genius. I do look forward to picking up another one of Ms. Hocking’s books, but I’ll have to pass on the zombie brains.
Content: This novel contains graphic violence, strong profanity and young adult sexuality. Not recommended for young readers. (Not recommend for old readers with weak stomachs.)
Danielle
About the Author: Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with John Hughes and Jim Henson. In between making collages and drinking too much Red Bull, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
Read Hollowland now for free: