Welcome to my tour stop for the Love, Lucy blog tour! I hope you enjoy your time here. Make sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post!

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Love, Lucy

Welcome to the Secret Diamond Sisters Book Blitz! I hope you all enjoy and make sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom!

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The Secret Diamond Sisters

All the Bright Places

Book Buddies is a bi-monthly thing with Lauren @ Bookmark Lit! Each month we will read a book and discuss it! Our discussions are then turned into posts! Half of the discussion will be on Lauren's blog and the other half will be on this one!

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This month we read...

Ruin and Rising

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for. 

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Were you expecting how this book ended and did you like it?

L: To be honest, I am seriously awful about predicting the endings of books! I certainly didn't see this one ending that way, but I wasn't sure about how it was going to end anyways. There were some characters I was nervous we're going to get killed off, but I'm glad they weren't! Overall I liked the ending; I think it's how it was meant to end. I wasn't surprised by it and it was pretty cute and comforting. Some parts of it felt a little cheesy, to be honest, but it was nice to have something loaded with positive feels instead of being nervous or scared for once! The rest of the book was a complete roller coaster, so I thought Alina definitely deserved a happy ending.

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Never Always Sometimes

Dave and Julia are best friends. On the brink of high school, they made a list of cliches they would never do. Now in their senior year, Dave and Julia decide to try every Never on the list. As they break out of their comfort zone and have many adventures- both together and apart- they learn a lot more about who they are and what their true feelings are for one another.

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Why I am excited about this book being published...

Seize the Tuesday is a book blogger meme created by Adi Alsaid and the Let’s Get Lost Buddies Street Team, to share stories about how we’ve seized the Tuesday, with a special focus on the particular book we're reading. We’ll post on as many Tuesdays as possible and share our posts online with the hashtag:#LetsAllGetLost. If you loved Let’s Get Lost then join the LGL Buddies on Facebook and help promote the book!

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Under a Painted Sky

A powerful story of friendship and sacrifice, for fans of Code Name Verity. Missouri, 1849: Samantha dreams of moving back to New York to be a professional musician—not an easy thing if you’re a girl, and harder still if you’re Chinese. But a tragic accident dashes any hopes of fulfilling her dream, and instead, leaves her fearing for her life. With the help of a runaway slave named Annamae, Samantha flees town for the unknown frontier. But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls, so they disguise themselves as Sammy and Andy, two boys headed for the California gold rush. Sammy and Andy forge a powerful bond as they each search for a link to their past, and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. But when they cross paths with a band of cowboys, the light-hearted troupe turn out to be unexpected allies. With the law closing in on them and new setbacks coming each day, the girls quickly learn that there are not many places to hide on the open trail. This beautifully written debut is an exciting adventure and heart-wrenching survival tale. But above all else, it’s a story about perseverance and trust that will restore your faith in the power of friendship. 

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How did I Seize the Tuesday...

So how can you Seize the Tuesday? Well go outside, learn something new, pamper yourself! Spread around this Seizing and enjoy the day! Or should I say…Seize? So tell me: How have you Seize the Tuesday?

I attended Stacey Lee's launch event for her debut book Under a Painted Sky! I got there about 10 minutes before it started (that's a first for me). Let me say this, everyone knew everyone. People were walking in and saying hi to other people that were here. I guess I can say everyone who attended knew everyone from the area. The event started about 20 minutes after 4 and Stacey's husband introduced Bennett (I think that's how it's spelled?), Stacey's son. Bennett then introduced Stacey and she talked for some time.

Bennett opening the event!

Stacey also told us more about herself and her parents as well. We then watched the book trailer and the girl who played Samantha in the trailer was actually sitting a round in front of me and was wearing the same dress she was wearing in the trailer. Her name is Savannah and she is a lot younger than Samantha actually is. After we watched the trailer Stacey opened up to questions. There were a lot of interesting questions and, yes, I asked one too. After that we all moved to have cake, cookies, popcorn, or drinks or into the signing line. I wasn't very far into the signing line so I wasn't waiting for too long. I got to Stacey and she recognized me! I said hi to her, we shared a hug, took a picture, and she signed my book!

Stacey signing my book!

Afterward I got some of what was left of the cake and drinks. I also talked to Stephanie, one of Stacey's friends, and got a picture with her!

Stephanie and I! (You see the cake in my hand?)

We just stayed a little longer and then left. It was a really nicely organized event and I'm so glad I went. Can't wait to see what adventures Stacey has in that mind of her's. :D

More pictures!

Stacey and I!

In this pano: Stacey, her signing line, chairs, people talking.

My signed book and fiddle bookmark!

The Glass Magician

Author: Charlie N. Holmberg
Pages: 222
Published by: 47North
Published on: November 4th 2014

Three months after returning Magician Emery Thane’s heart to his body, Ceony Twill is well on her way to becoming a Folder. Unfortunately, not all of Ceony’s thoughts have been focused on paper magic. Though she was promised romance by a fortuity box, Ceony still hasn’t broken the teacher-student barrier with Emery, despite their growing closeness. When a magician with a penchant for revenge believes that Ceony possesses a secret, he vows to discover it…even if it tears apart the very fabric of their magical world. After a series of attacks target Ceony and catch those she holds most dear in the crossfire, Ceony knows she must find the true limits of her powers…and keep her knowledge from falling into wayward hands. The delightful sequel to Charlie N. Holmberg’s The Paper Magician, The Glass Magician will charm readers young and old alike.

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I'll admit it, I really like how this trilogy is going so far. I thought the first one was a great read but the second one. Oh, boy. I'm really excited to read on about Ceony's paper magic adventures! This book picked up about a month from the ending of The Paper Magician and not much has changed. The ending was written so well and provided a nice platform for the next book. We get introduced to some new characters and it was all fun!

One of the things that really made this book so enjoyable was the mystery and action that went on. The mystery starts literally in the first few chapters and it drags through the book, bringing along some EPIC fight scenes. The world this book takes place in is also a great contributor to the epicness. The fact that you can fold paper or just say simple spells and kind of like "bend" the thing/element is so cool. As a Avatar: The Last Airbender junkie, I approve!

As I mentioned above, there were some epic fight scenes and Holmberg did a great job with those. I liked how she very much incorporated the magic in it yet had a great balance with the hand-to-hand combat. There was also the suspense of not knowing who was going to win a fight. Sometimes in books when two opposing sides get into a fight you can predict who wins, that is not played in this book. Ceony does do some fighting and I think we can all say she isn't the best person in the warzone. She fights two different people and at one point of those parts I was actually unsure who would win because her Folding skills have gotten so well in combat. Other than that, they provided a lot of entertainment and I had a blast reading them.

Ceony as a character has developed so much. Not only her paper folding skills, but her characteristics. She used to be so upset over the fact that she wasn't a smelter and was a bit shy. Now she is facing her own problems and taking charge of the situation.

All in all, this book was a great read with action, a little humor, and more of Ceony's glorious cooking!

This is a meme I (Uncorked Thoughts) started and thought I’d (with a lot of help from Ula @Blog of Erised) that I’d make a schedule of the posts to come if anyone wants to join in :). The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object, quote etc. from the books/ films/ J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! Each topic will be posted on this page for the week. There will also be free week where everyone can decide whatever topic they want! Hope you enjoy!

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What would your Amortentia smell like?

$10 she smelled Ron (or something related to him)

Invaded

Pages: 356
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Published on: February 3rd 2015

The romantic sequel to Alienated takes long-distance relationships to a new level as Cara and Aelyx long for each other from opposite ends of the universe...until a threat to both their worlds reunites them. Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her. Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side. Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life. The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

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