Waiting on Wednesday - The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton (17th April)

 

Hi everyone, thank-you so much for stopping by my WoW!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My choice for this weeks WoW is The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton, I am a BIG fan of Norse mythology and this book sounds wonderful! So I am definitely anxious to read it.

Author: Tessa Gratton

Series: The United States of Asgard

Pages: Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Random House

Amazon Pre-order: The Lost Sun

Release Date: 25^th June 2013

Synopsis: (Goodreads)

Fans of Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Holly Black's The Curse Workers will embrace this richly drawn, Norse-mythology-infused alternate world: the United States of Asgard. 

Seventeen-year-old Soren Bearskin is trying to escape the past. His father, a famed warrior, lost himself to the battle-frenzy and killed thirteen innocent people. Soren cannot deny that berserking is in his blood--the fevers, insomnia, and occasional feelings of uncontrollable rage haunt him. So he tries to remain calm and detached from everyone at Sanctus Sigurd's Academy. But that's hard to do when a popular, beautiful girl like Astrid Glyn tells Soren she dreams of him. That's not all Astrid dreams of--the daughter of a renowned prophetess, Astrid is coming into her own inherited abilities.

When Baldur, son of Odin and one of the most popular gods in the country, goes missing, Astrid sees where he is and convinces Soren to join her on a road trip that will take them to find not only a lost god, but also who they are beyond the legacy of their parents and everything they've been told they have to be.

What book/s are you eagerly anticipating this week?

REVIEW: Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1) by Tessa Gratton

Author: Tessa Gratton

Pages: 405

Publisher:Random House Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA Paranormal/UF

AMAZON: Blood Magic (The Blood Journals)

Synopsis (Goodreads)

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle ... place a dead leaf in the center ... sprinkle some salt ... recite a little Latin ... add a drop of blood ...

Maybe that last part isn't exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents' horrific deaths. She's willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.

The book isn't the only recent arrival in Silla's life. There's Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She's not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick's first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can't deny their attraction. And they can't ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Tessa Gratton's intoxicating first novel will keep pulses racing, minds reeling, and pages turning right up to the very last drop of blood.

REVIEW: 3 out of 5 stars

Blood Magic is in first person narration by the main characters, Drusilla Kennicott and Nicholas Pardee, each POV in alternating chapters along with journal entries from the evil antagonist.

Silla is known around town as being crazy, recently finding both of her parents dead in their family home she is grieving, the crime being blamed on murder suicide but Silla has her doubts never thinking her loving and stable father could commit such an atrocious act against her mother. When Silla receives a book of magic spells and a letter by someone known only as ‘The Deacon’ claiming her father as a magician she sets her sights on finding out whether the magic is real or whether her father had truly gone crazy.

Nick has reluctantly moved to Yaleylah from Chicago with his father and new step-mother to the house left by his late grandfather. When a late night walk takes him to the cemetery alongside his house he stumbles across Silla cutting herself and reviving a dead leaf, witnessing this act automatically brings back memories of his mother, his past and blood magic but he is instantly intrigued and fascinated by her.

When Silla realizes the magic within the book actually works, she includes her skeptic brother Reece and newcomer Nick into the fold, not aware of Nick’s past and the secrets he already knows. Behind all the magic something sinister is happening around them and it becomes obvious someone is out to do them great harm.

The concept of blood magic was unique and interesting, the premise of the book fascinating but unfortunately for me, it failed to deliver and the overall plot I found to be lacking. Some small scenes were overly descriptive but the more intense, dramatic scenes weren’t as detailed – one that was tad too much was the killing of the rabbit! It was gruesome.

In the first 3/4 of the book I found the pacing at times to be slow, I was skimming in some parts rather than eagerly turning the pages - it didn’t leave me anxious about what was going to happen next and it lacked emotion which I felt was truly necessary under the circumstances - not only with the grief and loss but also of the new ability they had gained. The action seemed to really pick up in the last few chapters.

I am definitely not a fan of instant love and lust and in Blood Magic I didn’t feel there was enough time between the H/H for this to happen but it did. I didn’t mind Nick and Silla as a couple – I enjoyed their back-stories, I just found them lacking in chemistry.

I actually preferred and enjoyed the evil character of Josephine Darley; she was written and described well, she had a unique history and became obsessed with the magic.

All in all an ok first book in this new series, the writing was solid and the dialogue enjoyable; I enjoyed the concept but my expectations were high and I saw too much potential.