Guest Post & Recipe Inspired by DAUGHTER OF CHAOS by Jen McConnel

Daughter of Chaos (Red magic #1)
by Jen McConnel
Publisher: Month9Books
Release Date: March 25th 2014

Synopsis:

There comes a time in every witch's life when she must choose her path. Darlena's friends have already chosen, so why is it so hard for her to make up her mind? Now, Darlena is out of time. Under pressure from Hecate, the Queen of all witches, Darlena makes a rash decision to choose Red magic, a path no witch in her right mind would dare take. As a Red witch, she will be responsible for chaos and mayhem, drawing her deep into darkness. Will the power of Red magic prove too much for Darlena, or will she learn to control it before it's too late?

DAUGHTER OF CHAOS is the first in the RED MAGIC paranormal YA trilogy.

I'm so excited to be a part of the blog tour for my friend, Jen McConnel! We got to share a book birthday in March, and I'm thrilled to introduce you to her newest book,  
DAUGHTER OF CHAOS! 
Welcome, Jen!

Hey everyone! I’m so excited to be here today. When Veronica and I were talking about ideas for my guest post, she mentioned the recipe feature she has on this blog, and I thought that would be a really fun way to help y’all get in the DAUGHTER OF CHAOS spirit: sharing a recipe for a food that both Darlena and I adore. So today I’ll be sharing a recipe for chana masala with you! (Note: I don’t really cook, so my hubby was kind enough to pass on some of his secrets for this post).

This scene inspired this post because something pretty important happens during the meal...but I don’t want to give away any spoilers!

“Mom’s a vegetarian and she does the cooking, so I‘ve grown up on tofu and lots of spices. Vegetarian food is great, but for some reason, I was craving a juicy, red steak. I‘d never had a steak before, juicy or otherwise, so I thought this was pretty weird and didn‘t say anything. I just tucked into the chana masala Mom served, keeping my mouth as full as I could to avoid talking.”

From DAUGHTER OF CHAOS, available now from Month9Books

Like Darlena, I’m used to eating vegetarian meals.  I was a strict vegetarian for about a year, and since then, I’d still say 90% of my meals don’t involve meat. Chana masala is one of my favorite go-to meals when we try a new Indian restaurant, and my husband has finally found an easy, healthy way to make this dish at home. Now, I know you can make the sauce from fresh ingredients, but this is one recipe we actually seem to like better when it starts off in a jar. Without further ado, I give you:

Quick and Easy Chana Masala

Ingredients:

·         One can chickpeas, drained

·         One jar masala sauce

·         One orange bell pepper

·         Garlic

·         Onion

·         Spinach

·         Olive oil

Preparation:

1. Dice the garlic, onion, and pepper. Simmer together in oil in large pan over medium heat until caramelized.

2. Add the sauce to the pan and keep simmering. Turn the heat down, stirring to prevent sticking. Bring to the edge of a boil.

3. Add the chickpeas and spinach. Cover and simmer together for about 5 minutes.

4. Serve over rice and/or with naan.

And it’s as easy as that! This is a recipe that even I feel comfortable with (I’d much rather bake than cook), and it’s one of my favorites. I hope you’ll give this quick and easy chana masala a shot, and when you do, make sure you think about Darlena!

Click on the banner to follow the Daughter Of Chaos Blog Tour

Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).

She is also a former reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and a proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW.

A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. She's a graduate of Western Michigan University, and she also earned her MS in Library Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. 

When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

Follow Jen on Twitter @Jen_McConnel, and visit www.jenmcconnel.com to learn more.

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Cover Reveal! LIBRARY JUMPERS by Brenda Drake

Today is Brenda Drake's birthday!!

 

To celebrate, she's giving us a gift!! A sneak peek at the cover of her debut novel, LIBRARY JUMPERS, which will be released in February 2014!! Isn't it beautiful?

 

BEYOND THE HIDDEN GATEWAYS THAT CONNECT THE LIBRARIES OF OUR WORLD, LIES A DARK AND DANGEROUS WORLD JUST WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED.

I'm so excited to be a part of this cover reveal! I got a chance to read a draft of this book, and I love it! I'm already marking off days on my calendar, waiting for the release! Go add it to your To Be Read list on Goodreads! (I did!!)

Like Brenda's new author page on Facebook!

Book Review: EVER by Jessa Russo

 I'm so excited to be a part of the review blog tour for Jessa Russo's YA paranormal romance, EVER!

I read EVER for the first time back in November, while I was busily engaged in the month of Doing It All, where I decided to prove that I was insane by taking on more than any one person could reasonably accomplish in a month. In the midst of all this craziness, I won copies of EVER from TWO different contests (I kept one copy and let the other one go to another lucky winner). I told myself that I could read it as soon as November was over, as my reward for making it through the crazy month. (You can have a chance to win a copy of your own now! Just click here.)

But I couldn't wait to read it. December was simply too far away... And so my to-do list sat idle while I spent a full day curled up on the couch with EVER and a cuddly blanket. Because I'd been waiting to read this book since I first read the blurb, and I didn't want to wait another moment. (Here is the blurb. Can you blame me for being excited?)

 

 Seventeen-year-old Ever’s love life has been on hold for the past two years. She’s secretly in love with her best friend Frankie, and he’s completely oblivious.

Of course, it doesn't help that he’s dead, and waking up to his ghost every day has made moving on nearly impossible.

Frustrated and desperate for something real, Ever finds herself falling for her hot new neighbor Toby. His relaxed confidence is irresistible, and not just Ever knows it. But falling for Toby comes with a price that throws Ever’s life into a whirlwind of chaos and drama. More than hearts are on the line, and more than Ever will suffer.

Some girls lose their hearts to love.

Some girls lose their minds.

Ever Van Ruysdael could lose her soul.

 

 



Although Frankie felt like he was stuck in the fifties, with his pompadour hairstyle, blue-jeans-and-tight-t-shirt clothing and his ever-present cigarette, the way he cared for Ever made my little heart go pitter-pat.

 

And the "hot new neighbor" Toby had so much more going for him than his sexy smile. As I got to know him better, I found myself totally rooting for him to win Ever's heart. I almost never go for the "bad boy," but in so many ways, I could see how Toby was the better match for Ever - and not only because he was the only boy in this love triangle who was actually alive.

 

This book was totally a "guilty-pleasure," fun read for me. (It reminded me of Somewhere, Tomorrow - a 1983 Sarah Jessica Parker movie that I used to love when I was a kid.) However, it does contain some sex, so it's probably not suitable for young children.

LINKS: Jessa's Website Jessa on Twitter EVER on Amazon On Barnes & Noble GoodReads/EVER GoodReads/EVADE     BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE:                3/4/2013...	Al's Fair With Pen  &  Paper
3/5/2013...	Love & Life & Learning (That's me!!)
3/6/2013...	The Quiet Concert
3/8/2013...	Fiction for Foodies
3/11/2013...	Amazing Books!
3/12/2013...	Kate's Book Life
3/13/2013...	The Soul Sisters
3/14/2013...	Ms. Nose in a Book
3/15/2013...	My Library in the Making
3/18/2013...	CM Albert Writes
3/19/2013...	The Passionate Bookworm
3/20/2013...	Literary, Etc
3/21/2013...	Snuggling on the Sofa
3/22/2013...	Starbreaker
3/25/2013...	Beach Kissed YA Books
3/26/2013...	Girls PWN
3/27/2013...	Larissa's World
3/28/2013...	Beauty and the Bookshelf
4/2/2013...	Books for YA!
4/3/2013...	YA-Aholic
4/4/2013...	One Life Glory
4/6/2013...	Alex Reviews & Interviews
4/8/2013...	Loco for Libros
4/9/2013...	Katie's Stories
4/10/2013...	The Worm Hole
4/11/2013...	Pen & Muse
4/12/2013...	Jolene Haley
4/13/2013...	A Book Rapport, Not a Book Report
4/16/2013...	Ink in the Book
4/17/2013...	Paranormal Bookclub

Book Review: THE SHADOW SOCIETY by Marie Rutkoski

 

I picked up THE SHADOW SOCIETY by Marie Rutkoski rather reluctantly. When it arrived in a shipment of books to review, I set it aside as one I was certain I wouldn't enjoy. The blurb was somewhat interesting, but between the cover art and the first sentence ("Knowing what I know now, I'd say my foster mother had her reasons for throwing a kitchen knife at me."), I was certain this book would be much darker than the books I usually like to read. But this one totally surprised me. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked!

 

Darcy Jones can’t remember anything about her life before she was found abandoned outside a Chicago firehouse when she was five years old, although she finally feels like she might have found a place to belong, with a foster mother who genuinely seems to care and a small group of friends she can count on at school. But when Conn McCrea, the new boy at school, takes an interest in her, vague and confusing memories start to surface in Darcy’s mind, and she feels like she’s losing control. When Conn betrays and drags her through a portal into an alternate reality, Darcy is forced to accept the fact that she belongs to a different dimension, where the Great Chicago Fire never happened, and where a deadly group of beings, the Shades, terrorize the human population. Darcy, a Shade herself, agrees to infiltrate the Shadow Society, to help uncover their latest terrorist plot, but as she delves deeper into the Society, she finds herself questioning everything she’s learned.

As Darcy struggles to discover the truth about where she belongs, readers are swept along on a thrill ride that will keep them guessing until the end, when Darcy finally discovers that she cannot ignore either half of her heritage if she wants to save the worlds, and the people, she loves. Rutkoski explores issues of racial profiling and terrorism, allowing readers to empathize with both sides of the war and to realize that wars such as this are never clear-cut cases of good vs. evil. This book will appeal to readers of paranormal romance or thrillers, and those who, like Darcy, wonder where and even if they fit in.

Book Review: THE BROKEN LANDS by Kate Milford

See? What did I tell you? Life has a way of getting in the way, and between the extra craziness of the kids having a delayed start to the school day (due to inclement weather) and the way I got so wrapped up in the manuscript I'm critiquing for a friend right now (seriously, guys, it's amazing - I can't wait until it gets published so I can tell you all about it)... I completely forgot to post the book review I had written for yesterday. (If anyone can tell me how to schedule a post in blogger and make it actually appear on the blog on the day and time that I schedule it for, please let me know!! This is crazy!)

I recently read THE BROKEN LANDS by Kate Milford, illustrated by Andrea Offermann.

In this prequel to The Boneshaker, fifteen-year-old Sam Noctiluca spends his days hustling cards on Coney Island, and he’s good at what he does. But he dreams of doing something big and important with his life, something his father, who died while helping to build the Brooklyn Bridge, would be proud of. When evil forces threaten New York City, it’s up to Sam and his new friend, Jin, a Chinese girl with a talent for pyrotechnics, to bring together the five people who can keep the city from falling. These five “pillars” must work together to claim the control over the city before evil can take hold.

This book wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It was very well-written, with strong imagery and captivating language, but supernatural suspense tales like this aren't usually the kinds of books I prefer, and I must confess that I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Perhaps, if I had read The Boneshaker, it would have been easier to get into this one, but I didn't realize it was a prequel when I received this copy for review.

Though the novel starts off very slowly, as Milford sets the stage for the epic battle between good and evil on the still-under-construction bridge, the suspense and sense of danger gradually builds until even I had trouble putting the book down in the last third of the story. The characters gradually grew on me, and Milford succeeded in making me care about the outcome of the battle in the end. Offermann’s haunting illustrations add to the dark mood of the novel, pulling the reader into the fantastical world of Milford’s nineteenth-century New York and setting the chilling tone for the climactic battle on the bridge as Sam, Jin and their friends take on and defeat the demons who would make New York City their own.

Reminiscent of folktales from early American literature, such as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” this story of love, courage and friendship might appeal to history buffs and lovers of the fantastic and the supernatural. Since I don't often read this genre, I don't have any current titles to compare it to (sorry!), but it would probably appeal more to fans of Bram Stoker's Dracula than to the fans of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series.