Book Review: Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Title: Asylum

Author: Madeleine Roux

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: August 20, 2013

Length: 310 Pages

Buy Asylum: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.
As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

My Review

Looking for something dark and creepy enough to make your skin crawl for Halloween, then Asylum is the book for you. Creepy photos to add to the atmosphere of the book also accompany the story. As an ARC, I did not get to see all the photos but the ones I did fit perfectly into the story. Asylum is defiantly not a book to read alone in the dark. 

Dan is excited to attend the prestigious New Hampshire College Prep program. When he makes new friends, Abby and Jordan, he feels like NHCP could not get better. Students are staying in former Asylum converted into dorms for the college program. The three friends sneak into the old office and remaining closed off sections of the old Asylum. They come across old documents and when stuff starts happening Dan is convinced someone is coming after him. 

Madeleine Roux creates such an atmosphere in Asylum, I found myself covering up with blankets to cover my goose bumps while I read. Dan is trying to understand what happened at Asylum and why it is linked to what is happening now. As he delves further into the mystery the less, he seems to know about the Asylum and himself. 

I know that Asylum is constantly compared to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but since I have not had the chance to enjoy Miss Peregrine’s. I have nothing to compare it too. I know that if you like to read something not outright horror but something that starts unnerving and quickly builds to a nerve-racking creep, then Asylum is the book for you. 

**Unabridged Bookshelf received this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review**

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Cover Reveal: All The Pretty Lies

ALL THE PRETTY LIES by M. Leighton has a cover and we get to share it with you today! Check out how pretty it is and then look below to read all about the title and M. Leighton! That's right! M. Leighton is bringing us a new series!!

Release Date: November 12, 2013

All the Pretty Lies“Live, no regrets”

Her…

Sloane Locke has led a sheltered life.  However, with a history like hers, she can understand why her brothers and her father want so much to protect her.  She has gone along with it for twenty long years, but those days are over.  For the girl who never makes promises, Sloane has made a pact with herself that things will change on her twenty-first birthday.  So when the clock strikes midnight, Sloane strikes out to spread her wings and break a few rules.

Him…

In addition to inking skin, Hemi Spencer possesses many talents. Controlling himself has never been one of them.  It’s never had to be.  He’s lived a life of indulgence for as long as he can remember.  Right up until tragedy struck.  Now, he’s nothing but controlled. He’s a man on a mission, one who will let nothing and no one stand in his way. 

Them…

Nothing in their lives could’ve prepared Sloane and Hemi for what they’d find in each other—distraction and obsession, love and possession.  But the one thing they can’t find is a future.  Neither one has been totally honest.  And they’ll soon learn that the devil is in the details.  In the details and in the lies.

How far will two people go to live in the now when the now is all they’ve got?

About the Author

M. Leighton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Wild Ones and The Bad Boys romance trilogies.  She is a native of Ohio, relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she lets her mind wander to romantic settings with sexy Southern guys much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books.  When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding horses, swimming in ponds and experiencing life on a ranch, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.  

For more about M. Leighton, visit her website at www.MLeightonBooks.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter@mleightonbooks.

    

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Waiting on Wednesday: The Naturals

 

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we cannot wait to get our hands on.

 I am waiting on:

Title: The Naturals

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Publication Date: November 5, 2013

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

I love mysteries, they are the first books that drew me into reading when I was younger, so I have a special spot for mysteries. This one sounds like an intense mystery mixed with a bit of paranormal. I hope to get to read this one soon. 

What are you waiting on?

Let me know in the comments, feel free to leave me a link!

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Cover Reveal: Echoes in the Glass

COVER REVEAL

ECHOES IN THE GLASS

By Cheri Lasota

Releasing December 2013

Publisher: Ever-Sea Press

Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Finnian bears the scar of an unspeakable crime. McKenna hides the pain of a terrible betrayal. When all their secrets are laid bare, will the truth rip them apart or forever silence the echoes of the past? Seventeen-year-old Finnian Bell has been on the run for years, but he finally has a chance to rebuild his life while restoring an abandoned lighthouse on the Oregon Coast. McKenna Lucas, the lightkeeper’s daughter, is still reeling from the pain of an event that has shattered her innocence. Fear and bitterness have turned her heart from Finnian, but he is determined not to let her go. The lighthouse harbors dark secrets of its own… When Finnian and McKenna uncover the story of two teens hidden in the tower back in 1934, they discover a shocking connection that bridges time and death.

       

About the Author

Cheri Lasota has written poetry and fiction for sixteen years, edited fiction for nine years and recently jumped headlong into design work for enhanced e-books. She has a great love for all things techy, so she finds herself pushing the boundaries of e-book marketing and design at every turn. Her passion for fiction and helping other novelists achieve their goals is without limits.

Her bestselling debut novel, ARTEMIS RISING, is a 2013 Cygnus Awards First Place Winner and a 2012 finalist in the Next Generation Indie Books Awards. Cheri just released her how-to e-book DESIGN AND UPLOAD YOUR EPUB and is currently finishing up her second YA novel, ECHOES IN THE GLASS, set on the Oregon Coast.

     

 
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Teaser Tuesday: City of Ashes

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others!

Make sure to share the title and the author so other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their to be read piles.

My teaser this week comes from:

Title: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments #2

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

Yes I am finally reading the second book in The Mortal Instrument books. I have been planning on doing it for a couple years, but I kept putting it off. Now that I have started I feel a Mortal Instruments Binge session coming on.

My Teaser"Well, I'm not kissing the mundane," said Jace, "I'd rather stay down here and rot."
"Forever?" said Simon. "Forever's an awfully long time."
Jace raised his eyebrows.
Page 171

This part made me laugh so hard!

Do you have a teaser for me?
Let me know in the comments and feel free to leave me a link!

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The Unseen Book Blitz: Guest Post and Giveaways

Welcome to the Book Blitz for The Unseen. The Unseen by J.L. Bryan releases on Halloween, and today I have a guest post and two different giveaway for you to enter.

The Unseen by J.L. Bryan has a special release price of 99 cents through Halloween.  See his website

for details and links

About the Book

Title: The Unseen

Author: J.L. Bryan

Publication Date: October 31, 2013

Genre: Horror

Amazon | B & N

Cassidy is a young tattoo artist living in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. She’s always suffered terrible nightmares, and sometimes the hideous creatures seem to follow her out of her dreams and into her waking life, though she’s the only one who can see them. Drugs and alcohol can blot them out, but never entirely chase them away.
When a demonic cult begins to take control of the people in her life, including her younger brother, Cassidy discovers that the unseen world of monsters is very real. She can no longer avoid it. To protect those she loves, she must accept her own hidden supernatural talents and face the forces of evil before the sinister cult achieves its twisted goals and casts the world into darkness.

About the Author

J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on the English Renaissance and the Romantic period. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He enjoys remixing elements of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, horror and science fiction into new kinds of stories.

He is the author of The Paranormals series (starting with Jenny Pox), The Songs of Magic series, Nomad, and other books. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Christina, his son John, and some dogs and cats.

 

Crafty Witchcraft: How to Make Your Own Ouija Board!

Last month, we told you how to brighten up your home with magic-wand toilet paper dispensers, shrunken-head pull tabs for your ceiling fans, and a cheerful cauldron made from the skull of a demented gorilla.  This month, Crafty Witchcraft magazine is happy to bring you some tips and tricks for making your own spirit board, for when you want to speak to the dead but just don’t have time to visit in person.

There are a few important considerations when making a talking board for your own use:

1.The board itself—this is an important choice!  Skp the boring poster paper and consider all your options: wood from a lightning-struck tree, dark obsidian rummaged from ancient temple ruins, or cursed cardboard from an evil factory are all great places to start!  Remember, this will do more than anything else to determine the look, feel, and demon-summoning power of your board.

2.Decorate! If you’re going to speak to the really interesting evil spirits out there, you’re going to need a little something extra.  Consider a black-lace doily edging and pentagrams drawn in goat blood.  A bit of glue and a dash of glitter or ground bone powder from the corpse of a serial killer will really make your board stand out to the dark ghosts of the unseen world.

3.Modernize!  There’s no reason to stick with just the old-fashioned, humdrum letters and numbers.  These days, you’ll want to include a hashtag and an @-sign for more modern communication with the Other Side.  All your witchy friends will see how hip you are when you’re getting messages like this:

Lucifer Morningstar (@TheFallenOne)

GIVE ME YOUR SOUL, WRETCHED MORTAL!

That’s right!  Even fallen angels are hip to social media—shouldn’t you be?

4.Improvise! There’s no reason to stick with a little rectangular board game model.  Consider painting an entire room with the letters, numbers, and other symbols.  Instead of a pointer, use a glass-top table on wheels.  Invite your occult-oriented friends over for a spirit-summoning party, and watch those other witches turn green with envy!

5.Accessorize! Why keep it to a simple, boring old pointer?  Adds some bells and whistles!  Literally. Maybe your spirit wants to express itself through spooky music or flashing lights.  Be creative, and you’ll attract all the coolest ghosts.

We hope today’s article has helped spur a few ideas of your own!  Remember, you’re speaking to the dead—there’s no reason to bore them to death all over again!

First Giveaway is for an eBook of The Unseen

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for the Grand Prize Giveaway!
Enter to win these amazing prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Cover Reveal: The Witch Avenue Omnibus

Coming Halloween! The entire Witch Avenue Series will be available on October 31st. The Witch Avenue set includes Lonely, Altered, Released, and Shattered Souls, plus a few bonus scenes. 

To Celebrate this release, Unabridged Bookshelf presents The Witch Avenue Collection Cover Reveal!

About the Books

Every town has its mysteries. Every avenue has its secrets...

Devastated by the loss of her mother, Triss throws herself into uncovering clues surrounding her mother's disappearance. When the Witch Avenue Coven turns their backs on Triss, she realizes she's caught in a world that is ruled by Lonely Souls. But who is controlling them?

Recognizing the herbal lore she grew up learning will do little to fight against the underworld, she is relieved when her best friend from childhood, Logan, returns to help her find answers. When they begin uncovering secrets from her family's past, she learns her mother might not have been the only target.

But as Triss falls deeply for Logan, she discovers her family isn't the only one with secrets and his may be deadly.

 

The realm of Altered Souls brings nothing but unrest, deceit, and pain forcing Triss to come face to face with heartbreak from her past. 

Facing a betrayal like never before, Triss questions everything she thought she knew about her family, coven, and abilities. 

With the help of Logan, she embarks on a journey enabling her to confront the dark side of magic and the person who controls it. Realizing Triss’s ancestors have been seduced for centuries by the dark side, Triss and Logan must ensure no more in their world fall victim to the realm of Altered Souls, even if that means ending the ones they love.

Triss and Logan's love is becoming stronger by the day as they harness the powers between them, but will that make them blind to the evil they're facing?
After uncovering startling information about her family, Triss is determined to right the wrongs of her ancestors. Triss and Logan uncover who has infiltrated the covens across the globe, and they realize the plans of the dark side are far more sinister than they'd ever imagined.
As the power of this hidden world is exposed, Triss learns her role in the covens. With Logan, Dace and Bakula's assistance, Triss is now able to fully realize the abilities her ancestors have given her.
It won't be long until the dark forces regain their strength, especially as their leader, Eben, continues his quest for a power that can never be revoked. Triss must stop him before it is too late.

The final installment of the Witch Avenue Series. 

A battle is brewing among the covens… 

As Triss prepares to defeat the Praedivinus, a new order rises, and this one is far more deadly. Navigating her way through mystic realms, and unknown portals it is up to Triss to recognize real from imagined and stop the two from colliding.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karice Bolton lives in the Pacific Northwest and is a writer of Young Adult and New Adult books. She loves to read anything and everything. She also enjoys baking, skiing, and spending time with her wonderful husband and two English bulldogs.
Books currently available:
*Beyond Love Series: Beyond Control (Book 1)
Beyond Doubt (Book 2) ~ coming November
*The Camp

*The Witch Avenue Series: Lonely Souls (Book 1), Altered Souls (Book 2), Released Souls (Book 3) Shattered Souls (Book 4)

*The Watchers Trilogy: Awakening (Book 1), Legions (Book 2), Cataclysm (Book 3), Taken Novella (Watchers Prequel)
Afterworld Series (RecruitZ) – coming soon
Karice would love if you stopped by her blog or FB page to find out the latest news on giveaways and upcoming releases, or you can just send her an email. She loves hearing from her readers and responds as soon as she can.

   

My Thoughts: First the covers of The Witch Avenue Series have always been amazing! I really love the complete collection cover! It is a very beautiful cover, I especially love the blue hue to the cover. If you have not started the Witch Avenue series the complete collection is the way to go. I loved Lonley Souls and Altered Souls. I have not read the last two but they are defiantly on my TBR list. 

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Stacking the Shelves (29)

Stacking The Shelves was created and is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. Stacking the Shelves is where I will be sharing the books and goodies I have received for the week. This will include both physical and eBooks that are purchased, borrowed, gifted, or for review. 

*Covers take you to Goodreads*

For Review

Thank you to Spencer Hill Press, Karice Bolton, and Kim Cleary!

Won

Thank you to Brittany and Michelle @ The Passionate Bookworms

Borrowed

I have been nervous about reading this one, but my best friend said I just had to read it. I am going to take her advice and give it a try.

Have you read it? What did you think?

This Week on Unabridged Bookshelf

Cover Reveal: Dark Winter
Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon Wrap Up
Book Review: As the World Dies: Untold Tales Volume 1
Book Review: As The World Dies: Untold Tales Volume 2
As the World Dies: Untold Tales Blog Tour: Reviews, Excerpt, and Giveaways Oh My
Cover Reveal, Excerpt, and Giveaway: Chasing The Star Garden
Book Review: Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Cover Reveal: Beneath Manhattan Skies
Book Review: Elysian Fields by Suzanne Johnson

Next Week on Unabridged Bookshelf

What did goodies did you get this week?
Make sure to let me know in the comments or feel free to leave me a link!

Thank you for stopping by Unabridged Bookshelf!