Book Blitz + Giveaway: A Vault of Sins by Sarah Harian

A Vault of Sins (Chaos Theory, #2) 

by Sarah Harian
Publication date: September 16th 2014
NA, dystopia
 

In her stunning New Adult debut, The Wicked We Have Done, Sarah Harian introduced readers to the Compass Room: a twisted experimental jail where the guilty and the innocent suffer alike. But breaking out was only the beginning…

Even though she’s escaped, twenty-two-year-old Evalyn Ibarra is anything but free. She’s desperate to return to a life that no longer exists, but prying reporters continually draw her back into nightmarish memories, using the tabloids to vilify her. Bad press is the last thing she needs during the trial of the year: the case that she and her fellow survivors staked against the Compass Room engineers. A case that could terminate the use of the inhumane system forever…

But in her dreams, she is still locked in that terrifying jail.

When she wakes, someone is trying to communicate with her in secret, through strange and intricate clues. As Evalyn follows their signs, she uncovers a conspiracy that goes so much deeper than her own ordeal. A dangerous intrigue that only she can bring to light. One that will force her to work with the one person she doesn’t want to see.

The person who owns her heart…

A Vault of Sins on Goodreads.

 

Purchase!

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Author bio
 

Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite and received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Fresno State University. When not writing, she is usually hiking some mountain or another in the Sierras, playing video games with her husband, or rough-housing with her dog.

 

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Excerpt

Time is a luxury I didn’t acknowledge until recently.

“Wait,” I repeat.

His eyelashes flutter against me as he blinks. I count, forcing myself to wait a full minute before our lips meet. His tongue coaxes me open, hands fisting the back of my shirt.

I unwrap him, fingers fumbling on every button of his coat. He shrugs it off, and my hands roam from his collar to his belt, sliding beneath his shirt to risen scars. Familiar territory.

“Fuck the media. Fuck everyone. I can’t live like this.” He flips me onto my back and slides on top of me, even though I know he’s hurting. “I can’t keep ignoring you. I can’t keep pretending I don’t give a shit about your life when half the country would kill you if they had the chance.”

“It’s too dangerous.” The second the sentence leaves my mouth, I know it will never persuade him. Hand cupping the back of my neck, he says, “I’d take a bullet for you.”

“Don’t you ever say that again,” I threaten.

He rolls his eyes. “Regardless, we’re fucked anyway, Ev.”

No, I want to say. I’m fucked. And it’s the truth. Before we entered the Compass Room, we signed a contract that said we could be retried for our original crimes. Casey’s lawyer is fantastic. His sentence will be minimal.

Me on the other hand—no further evidence has been found unearthing what really happened the day of the shooting; it’s a closed case. If I’m lucky, I’ll be sentenced to life in prison.

I don’t remind Casey of this. It isn’t just his hip that pains and slows him. I see the shape of his soul in his eyes and the lines of his face. And I want him, as selfish as that is. While I deserve all of this self-loathing, being with Casey reminds me that I’m capable of other emotions too.

I nod. “Then we’ll make something work.”

His smile reaches his eyes, skin crinkling around his lashes. He leans in, and our kiss is slow. His sweeping tongue savors me, and the feeling borders between euphoria and pure torture.

My fingers fumble with his belt buckle until he stops me.

“Not tonight.”

I gape at him, but before I can argue, he cuts me off. “Evalyn, I have three more hours before the sun comes up and all I want to do is stare at you. Let me.”

I relax in defeat and touch my forehead to his. His eyes search mine and I want to ask what he’s looking for, but the question would be too much of an interruption.

So for three hours, we say nothing. His fingers comb through my hair as I think of our confessions of love in the Compass Room, wondering if they were contrived by circumstance—by desperation. Maybe they were and maybe I don’t care. Casey makes me feel human. It’s different with Mom, and even with Liam in the brief moments I’ve seen him since I escaped. In the same breath they say they believe me, they also want to forget, hoping I’ll reboot and begin again.

Casey knows better. He knows it’s more complicated than starting over.

At five in the morning, we call our cars and leave our shitty Missouri hotel. I shut the door behind me, and beneath the eaves, he leans in and kisses me on the cheek.

As he limps toward his car, I realize we haven’t exchanged a word in three hours. And those three hours were exactly how they should have been.

 

Giveaway!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I've Only Read One Book From But Need To Read More

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

In no particular order:

Chris O'Guinn: I read Arrivals last May and it was brilliant. I need to read more O'Guinn's brilliantness and I've heard good things about his other books.

 

Suzanne van Rooyen: Obscura Burning blew my mind, literally. I've been eyeing The Other Me and I really need to read it. Also, there's a book called I Heart Robots coming from her and I really really want to read that.

 

David Levithan: Technically I've only read book he co-wrote, Will Grayson Will Grayson. I liked Levithan's parts even more than John Green's and I have several of Levithan's books on my TBR.

 

Mandy Hubbard: Dangerous Boy was amazing because it wasn't what mainstream of YA is about. The twist, oh the twist. I need more Hubbards briliantness and I really really want to read Ripple.

 

Vivian Vande Velde: She has one of the unique vampire story's I've ever had pleasure to read (Companions of the Night) and she has published tons of books, so yes, I need to read more stories from her.

 

April Genevieve Tucholke: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is as stunning as it's name. I need to last instalment of this duology and I'll be so happy when I get to read it. Tucholke has her way with the words and the air she creates in her story, so amazing.

 

Page Morgan: Read and loved The Beautiful and the Cursed, such an amazing story; the characters, the feel, the historical aspect. I need the sequel, The Lovely and the Lost (such intriguing name!)

 

Neil Gaiman: Stardust is one of my all time favourites. It's amazing story Gaiman is magic, I'm sure of it. What I need, is to read more of his books. I own Interwold that he co-wrote but I also want to read his other stories.

 

Janet Edwards: Anyone following my posts probably know I loved Edwards' Earth Girl. I need to read rest of the series because it was stunning, so brilliant and I almost don't have words for it. I also need her to write more books.

 

Jane Austen: Shame on me, I've only read Pride and Prejudice. It's wonderful and for years I've been meaning to read more of Austen's books but never got around actually reading them. I will, I absolutely will. I'm not sure where to start, honestly.

 

(+ Sally Green but she doesn't have more than one book, yet, so that's not even possible.)

Stacking the Shelves (16)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

For review via NetGalley

 

Bottled Up Secret by Brian McNamara 

The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack

 

Purchased
 

 

Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout (includes Shadows)

The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
 

 

Freebies

 

Deviations by Crystal C. Johnson
 The Forgotten by Saruuh Kelsey

I probably shouldn't get more review copies but I wanted to read Bottled Up Secret and Daughter of the Sea and Sky, and it's not like I'm drowning under my pile of review copies. I have pretty much solid plan for reading them all, so yeah.

The books I purchased, well, I ordered them some weeks ago. Let me just say, the cover of Wuthering Heights is the most beautiful cover ever - and you can never have too many copies of your favourite classic (and I have only three now, and one of them are in Finnish). I loved The Beautiful and the Cursed so I had to have my own copy (and with prettier cover than the UK edition that library had). Opposition.. I'm so disappointed with the cover. It sparkles. I don't want to my covers sparkling. Hell, if I want anything to sparkle I'll watch Twilight. Why did they have to change the covers and make them sparkle? I will never understand.

Freebies are always nice. Eh, I kind of own paperback copy of The Forgotten as well as PDF but well, I didn't have it on my Kindle. It's amazing book and yeah, I'm so not regretting of owning way too many copies of it.

What did you get this week?

Feature & Follow Friday #10

 

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by two different hosts, Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! This meme is here for bloggers to gain new blogger friends and followers.

 

This weeks topic:

 

Before blogging (dark times people!) how would you find out about new books or did you?

 

Well, when I was little I was in a book club so I got two new books every month, thus far I read those. Also my friends suggested books for me (I found Harry Potter that way). It went like that for years, friends or teachers recommending books to me. I also loved browsing the library and bookstore, so I kind of found books on my own, too. On my gap year I found out about Goodreads so I use it for finding new books - and I also got new bookish friends even before starting to this blog so yeah, they recommend some books to me.

 

Basically, I still found new books to read via all those channels: friends, teachers, library, bookstore and Goodreads. Blogging is there now, too, but it's not how I found most of the books I read. Just some.

 

 

Or you can add me on Google+.

 

I will always follow back!

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Underrated Authors In YA (and NA)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

This is mostly about YA but I had to add NA there because one of the most underrated authors (and my personal favourite) writes mainly NA - but it's mainly because her characters are eighteen or nineteen and while her stories are NA there isn't huge amount of sex - if there's sex at all. So that's why NA, too.

 

1. Kelley York

Yes, she's the author. My favourite. I've only read two of her books, Hushed and Made of Stars but I'm definitely reading her self-published books Suicide Watch and Dirty London soon (Hushed and Made of Stars are published by Entangled). York's stories are a little bit dark but then again, everything worth of anything must hurt at least a little bit. And she's genious. I love her characters, stories and everything. She's definitely underrated!

 

2. Veronica Rossi

Everyone's at least heard of her, about Under the Never Sky trilogy but she's underrated. Everyone's raving about The Hunger Games and Divergent while in my opinion, Rossi has the most amazing dystopian series with great variety of awesome characters. She's amazing and her writing is awesome. Why aren't we talking about how strong character Aria is instead of always raving about Tris? I'm Team UTNS.

 

3. Dan Wells

Well, I confess that I've only read Partials from him. BUT. Partials is awesome and it's so perfect because it doesn't focus romance or some bullshit troubles. It's freaking cool dystopia with perfectly build world. I'm definitely reading Fragments and Ruins when I get my hands on them. And Wells' other series, too.

 

4. Sally Green

Everyone's probably heard about Half Bad but how many have actually read it? Appreciated it? I loved Half Bad, it was stunning, captivating and yeah, I wanted save Nathan from everyone. I'm not huge fan of magic in YA because often it ends up being so... boring - well if we don't count Harry Potters because that's awesome. Half Bad is about old school magic and it was so good and why haven't you read it? Read, it's good and Green is definitely underrated.

 

5. Sarah Crossan

Okay, again, I confess that I've only read Breathe. I do own Resist and I have every intention to read it soon-ish. Breathe is so awesome dystopian that there's no boundaries (and it's duology - how freaking many dystopians are duologys? not many). Also, Crossan has a couple of contemporaries and they sound intriguing. I really need to get them.

 

6. Janet Edwards

I really need to read Earth Star and Earth Flight but let me just say that Earth Girl was truly good. It was so perfect, Jarra was amazing and strong character and the romance wasn't the main point and if you want, you can read Earth Girl as a standalone and not read the two following books. Also, there's history in it. Like they freaking study history/archaelogy in future and it's so awesome because so often in dystopia/sci-fi YA books they ignores history. We don't have future unless we have history.

 

7. Jus Accardo

Why she isn't worshipped? Hmm? She has tons of amazing books, both YA and NA and her writing and characters are so witty, snarky and perfect little beings. The Denazen series (Touch, Toxic, Tremble + two untitled books) is so good, Rules of Survival is fun and captivating and yeah, haven't read rest of her books yet but I'm planning to read Ruined and Darker Days soon. I trust Accardo, she writes amazing stories and characters that I can't help but love.

 

Okay, that was all and I'm going to leave it that way even though there's not ten. I'll let it go this time.

Four books to trade! (all are in great condition)

I went through my bookshelves at home and found four books I have no interest to read again. Instead of collecting dust on my shelves I decided to offer them to someone who would like to read them. So here's my deal: I have four books (great condition, read once [one not read at all], no dog ears, no broken spines) I'm willing to trade. If you want one of them, send me an email offering me a book for exchange. If I accept it, I'll send the book you chose to you. I'll pay the shipping but that means you have to pay the shipping of book you'll send me. I think it's fair and both can be happy and have new books to read!

 

However, the books are at my home and I'll be leaving for campus on Monday, you'll have to email me before Midnight on Sunday (UTC+2 so that'll be 5pm at New York and 10pm at London), and I'll be shipping the books on Monday.

 

Here's picture of the books in question:

 

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

 

(Pandemonium is larger than others, other's are pretty standard size and Pandemonium is huge.)

 

All are paperbacks.

 

If you want one, email me howlingforbooks[at]gmail[dot]com and tell me what book you want and what are you offering for me in trade. I'll answer to you ASAP and if I accept your offer, I'll email my address and expect yours in return so I can send the book to you.

 

First offer I accept will get the book (and I'll update this post to announce what books are already taken). And I'll probably accept your offer as long as your book is in good condition and I don't already have copy of it (I read pretty much all genres from all ages so I'm not picky at all).



Stacking the Shelves (15)

 

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

 

Purchased

 

Interworld by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

 

 

Gifts (won a giftcard for LT3 Bookmarket Place)

 

Dragon Slayer by Isabella Carter

Finding the Wolf by Mell Eight

Into the Divide by Sandra Bard

Words of Divinity by Kayla Bain-Vrba

 

I had some time at the bookstore while waiting for the bus so I picked up Interworld (it sounds so good) and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (which was ridicilously cheap for a hardcover). On Wednesday I won a gift card to LT3's own online store so I picked five books (the fifth was a preorder so it'll come later) that caught my attention.

 

Also my previous book order apparently came but it's on campus and I'm at home so I'll include it next week's STS.

 

What did you get this week?

Feature & Follow Friday #9

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by two different hosts, Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! This meme is here for bloggers to gain new blogger friends and followers.

 

This weeks topic:

Are you also a writer and what genre or did you ever consider writing?

 

I do write, yes, but I have trouble to stay with one story so I've tons of storylines and characters plotted and I've written most from one page to ten pages. There's some stories I keep coming back regularly and write some more but I don't have time that much now when I started my studies again, with this blog and all reading I do. But yeah, my goal is to some day start writing more and daily and I do intent to finish my stories. Nowadays my priority just is studying because I do want to graduate with good grades in the future.

 

(And for what genre, let's just say that it doesn't matter that much - everything from YA to adult, from contemporary to high fantasy and beyond. I'm not genre oriented, obviously.)

 

 

 

Or you can add me on Google+.

 

I will always follow back!

ARC Review: Press Play by Eric Devine

Press Play
by Eric Devine
Published by Running Press
Ebook (received from publisher via NetGalley, thank you!)
YA, contemporary, realistic fiction

Greg Dunsmore, a.k.a. Dun the Ton, is focused on one thing: making a documentary that will guarantee his admission into the film school of his choice. Every day, Greg films his intense weight-loss focused workouts as well as the nonstop bullying that comes from his classmates. But when he captures footage of violent, extreme hazing by his high school’s championship-winning lacrosse team in the presence of his principal, Greg’s field of view is in for a readjustment.

Greg knows there is a story to be told, but it is not clear exactly what. And his attempts to find out the truth only create more obstacles, not to mention physical harm upon himself. Yet if Greg wants to make his exposé his ticket out of town rather than a veritable death sentence, he will have to learn to play the game and find a team to help him.

Press Play is honest. That's the theme of the book and Devine's style: being so honest it hurts. Devine isn't afraid of saying things like they are or avoiding any subjects, and yes, at times it hurt. The shameless honesty hurt but it made the whole reading experience even better because it got me thinking. There was parts of the story when you just had to stop reading, think about what happened and what was said before continuing. Honesty is the thing in this book but it's not the only thing that made me love the story and it's characters.

There was solid plot but it was written so sneaky way that there was times when I wondered: where is this going? Is this relevant? And then, something happened and I understood the whole point. What makes a good contemporary story is a plot like this one had: there's a solid plot but it's not clear and obvious. The story flows like a real life: there was normal things, little things and then there was the whole picture. Also, I praise Devine not forcing any romance on the story. Devine let the story live it's own life and all romantic feelings were these little gestures and it was perfect that way.

Press Play had strong characters with flaws. Even when Greg or his friends didn't seem strong, they were. And oh, the character developement! Greg had such an amazing character developement, as did Quinn, Ollie and even Ella. There was also so many intriguing supporting characters, even the "bad guys" were well developed and I loved how Devine made it like real life: no one's simply bad without reasons, no one acts like they do without something being there in the past (or present). Press Play had complex subject but Devine handed it perfectly.

I highly recommend Press Play for everyone. It's one of those books you just should read like S.E. Hinton's Outsiders. It's stunning story about growing up, accepting who you are, about honesty, how life's not easy and probably never will be but you have to keep trying - and friend's makes things a little bit better.

Press Play is intriguing, captivating and brutally honest.

 

5 of 5 stars.

Thank you, Running Press, for giving me a chance to review Press Play!

 

 

Press Play on Goodreads.

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Characters That Would Be Sitting At My Lunch Table

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

This is a mix of book characters who resemble some ways my friends and a little bit a dream team. But mostly who resembles even some ways my friends.

In no particular order, let me present my lunch table:

 

Perry from Under the Never Sky: Perry does resemble one of my friends. Strong, silent but intelligent and fierce to defend what's his. He'd definitely be at my lunch table! He's the one who's most silent but when he says something, everyone listens.
 

Alby from The Maze Runner: The leader. Intelligent and strong and yes, Alby resembles one of my friend. Not loudest one but sure speaks when it matters.
 

Nico from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Nico's more like a dream team. Or more like I'd adopt him and not let him sit anywhere else. Nico is my favourite from Percy Jackson series and my heart goes for him.
 

Sirius Black from Harry Potter: Bad boy extraordinary, funny and handsome - I love Sirius and strangely, he resembles somehow one of my friends so yeah, he'd be sitting at my lunch table. I wouldn't mind if rest of the marauders would came with Sirius, I like package deals.
 

Nathan from Half Bad: More like a dream team. I love Nathan, and my heart goes for him and everything he's been going through. I'm a little bit of a mother hen so I'd probably just adopt him and not let him sit anywhere else just like Nico. Rest of my lunch table would protect them.
 

Knox from Proxy: Dream team, definitely. I loved Knox and yeah, I want him and his sarcasm at my lunch table. He'd be so fun!
 

Jarra from Earth Girl: Resembles one of my friends and hey, we need a little bit girl power at the lunch table, too. Though, in real life there's more guys than girls on my lunch table but whatever. Jarra's strong, even headstrong, and she understands my obsession with history.
 

Brenda from The Maze Runner: She's strong, intelligent, funny and resembles one of my friends. Won't let guys intimidate herself and yeah, who wouldn't want Brenda at their lunch table? I loved Brenda on books and I hope they'll do the second movie so we get to meet Brenda onscreen.
 

Kira from Partials: She's also strong and intelligent, and I have way too many friends (and little sister) who wants to become practical nurse/nurse. So, yes, I'd love to have Kira at my lunch table!
 

Chance from Made of Stars: Chance is my dream team, of course. He's anything but ordinary, and I bet discussions with him would be truly intriguing. I'd let him on my lunch table any given day. He can bring Hunter with him!

Who would be sitting at your lunch table?