The Book of Ivy Announcment and Giveaway!

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel 

Releasing November 11, 2014

This post is to make you all aware of a really interesting book that will be coming out in November of this year (yep just a few weeks away guys). It's called The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel and I can't tell you how excited I am for this book to come out.

I've had my eye on it a while and am planning on putting up a review as soon as I get my hands on a copy, but until then I wanted to make sure as many people knew about it as possible before it comes out. So without further ado here is all the information you need to know about The Book of Ivy, and if you haven't already scroll back up and watch the awesome book trailer.



Book synopsis:


After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.


This year, it is my turn.


My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and return the Westfall family to power.


But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.


Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…


You can purchase a copy of the book here:

• Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mj5PXZ
• B&N: http://bit.ly/BoIBN
•  iTunes: http://bit.ly/BoIiTunes
• Kobo: http://bit.ly/BoIKobo 

And read some great reviews here:

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20640755-the-book-of-ivy?ac=1


About Amy Engel:


Amy Engel was born in Kansas and after a childhood spent bouncing between countries (Iran, Taiwan) and states (Kansas, California, Missouri, Washington, D.C.), she settled in Kansas City, Missouri where she lives with her husband and two kids. Before devoting herself full time to motherhood and writing, she was a criminal defense attorney, which is not quite as exciting as it looks on TV. When she has a free moment, she can usually be found reading, running, or shoe shopping.


Find Amy online:

• Website: http://amyengel.net 
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/aengelwrites

And that's all! I hope by now you guys are as excited for this book as I am! It comes out on November 11, but if you want a free copy before then follow this link to enter to win a free copy of the book:

   

    Goodreads Book Giveaway  

           

     

          The Book of Ivy      

          by Amy Engel      

         
            Giveaway ends November 04, 2014.          
         
            See the giveaway details             at Goodreads.          
     

Enter to win

~Dawn

The One Book Review

The One

Kiera Cass

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Series: The Selection

Series Volume: 3

Profanity:Mild

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: Mild (but clean)  

Age Recommendation: 13+

Author Website: http://www.kieracass.com/




Summary (Found on Author's Website):

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen—and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants.

Find out who America will choose in The One, the enchanting, beautifully romantic third book in the Selection series!


Review:

The third and final book in the selection series is one I have really wanted to read for a while now. I must say I am pleased with how it turned out. When I first started reading this series I thought for sure that The Selection (book 1) would be the only book in the series. Imagine my surprise when there is not only one but two more books! In the beginning I wasn't sure how Kiera Cass could write three books from what I'd seen in The Selection, but coming to the end of this journey I now see a wonderful and fully formed story.

The Selection trilogy felt like one story all the way through, which speaks of a lot of planing before hand by the author. This is something that I feel like doesn't happen often enough with trilogy's these days. It seems to me that lately authors (mostly YA authors) write a trilogy because it's popular and not because it's what their story demands. I didn't feel this with Kiera Cass's Selection series, something I am immensely grateful for.

Now I'll step off my soap box and give you a review of the book.

The One picks up right where The Elite left off, with America working out a plan to enact her new found determination to win. Things between her and Maxon still have their ups and downs through the book, and Aspen always seems to pop up. But things are changing, and America is finally starting to push back.

Many of the relationships in this book grow and change, and not just America's relationship with Maxon and Aspen, but also her relationships with the remaining members of the elite, her family, Maxon's family, her maids, and even a few new characters all go through major changes and testing. I found these growing relationships even more interesting than the main love story because I got to see a new part of many of the characters. We get a deeper look into the other elite girls and I found myself growing to really love each of the girls, including Celeste. I loved getting to see America's family again as well as getting to know some of the new characters. Overall I really enjoyed the character development in this book, Kiera Cass did a wonderful job of keeping the relationships realistic over the course of the book.

The story was so much more than just America's love life, but at the same time the unrest in the country didn't overwhelm the story. It was used to propel the story but it never took over this romance completely. One of the things I really liked about the Selection series was that it was overall a romance story. Yes it had it's dystopian elements but they never overwhelmed the story like I've seen happen. Kiera Cass made sure to keep the books true to the story she was telling, and that was America's journey through the Selection. That said, I loved everything we got to learn about the rebellion and what was going on in the kingdom. It was very interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes and get to learn a little bit of each sides intentions.

There wasn't anything I really disliked about this book. The romantic scenes got to be almost a little much at times, but they never went too far or got too mushy for me. I enjoyed America's struggle with saying I love you though, it seems to be something I think a lot of people deal with in relationships. When is the right time to say it? Who should say it first? These were questions she struggled with and their eventual resolution left nothing to be desired.

Overall The One was a great read and an excellent conclusion to the Selection trilogy. I would love to see more books by Keira Cass and would recommend anything she's written. If your new to the Selection series or just trying to decide if the finale is for you I say read them, read all three and you won't be dissapointed.

~Dawn