HOLIDAY HAPPINESS: Book Review: Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Title: Ensnared (Splintered #3)

Author: A.G. Howard
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: January 6, 2015

Format Read: Hardback

Description from Goodreads: After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles... and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world-- a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?

ENSNARED was my favorite of the trilogy, hands down. It flipped so many things and turned elements on their heads, and it was a stunningly beautiful conclusion. It even made me change teams... Goodbye #TeamJeb, Hello #TeamMothra. I never thought I'd say that, yet here we are. What have you done to me, ENSNARED? 

Though I have to say that there was something about the book that bugged me, but for spoilery reasons, I cannot explain or tell you why: The ending... I wasn't in love with it. (Poor miss A.G. Howard knows this already, as I tweeted her quite furiously about it and may or may not have accosted her at NTTBF about it... *looks away, whistles*)  The ending did not satisfy me, which is why I'm extremely pumped for UNTAMED, which comes out in a mere ***25 DAYS***

Four stars to ENSNARED, which was beautiful and near perfect and YES. If you read book one, if you read book two, you have to read book three. Even if you didn't like either of them (Is that possible?) you have to read the third one. It tops the first two books and shimmers in all of it's netherling glory, and as far as conclusion books, it definitely makes my Top Five list.

Happily,

Stephanie

Blogisode #1: Craze About Crit Partners with A.G. Howard and Bethany Crandell

If you saw my announcement post about Blogisodes, then you know that June's chat is going to be titled The Craze About Crit Partners, and the two authors (And critique partners!) who will be joining me for a live-show are A.G. Howard and Bethany Crandell. 

I wanted to go ahead and let you guys know that we have a date and time! The live-show will be held THIS Saturday, June 20th, at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central/2pm Mountain/1pm Pacific. I give you all three times because I am terrible at converting time differences and maybe some of you are like me and don't want to struggle with figuring it out. So. There you go.

We'll be talking about all kinds of things related to both of their books, and the main topic of focus is going to be critique partners. Bethany and Anita will give us the in-s and out-s of critting, answer my questions as well as your questions, and maybe, juuuust maybe, I can convince them to play a fun game.

Here's the link to the live-show host.  Let me know if you'll be watching! I'm super excited for this event, and I hope that you guys are as well. 

DON'T FORGET:

If you want to submit any questions before the show starts, or even as it's going on, there are a few ways you can do that. 

1.) You can comment below.

2.) You can Tweet, using #CrazeAboutCritPs.

3.) You can Like my page on Facebook and comment on the link to this post.

If you tweet, BE SURE to use the hashtag, or else we won't see your questions.

Did I leave out the part about a giveaway?

I thought something was missing ;)

During the show, I'll be giving away a copy of Bethany's book, Summer On The Short Bus, as well as a pre-order of Anita's upcoming release, Untamed! You definitely don't want to miss either of these, and here's your chance to win them both!

To enter to win these books, all you have to do is RSVP to the show. The winner will be drawn  and announced during the giveaway.

Alright, I'm going to go and get the last few things set up for Saturday. You guys be thinking on your questions, and don't forget to RSVP!

Book Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

In honor of ENSNARED (Splintered book 3) being released today, I thought I'd post my review!

     I'm not a big fan of retellings. I like my fairy tales and my classics left just as they are, thankyouverymuch. That being said, I could not get enough of SPLINTERED. I absolutely loved it with all of my heart.

     Alyssa can hear things that most people can't. She can hear the whispers of bugs and plants. This ability has plagued the women in her family for generations, all the way back to where it started-- Alice Liddell. The girl from who Lewis Caroll got his inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. With her mom in the mental ward for hearing things only descendants of Alice can hear, Alyssa knows to keep her own ability a secret.

    Her world is turned upside down when she finds herself in Wonderland with her neighbor/childhood best friend/crush, and the only way to get back home is to fix everything that Alice ruined when she came down the rabbit hole.

     With a love triangle so strange that it makes you fall for both guys, and twists and turns at every chapter, SPLINTERED has potential to make it's way to my list of favorite trilogies. Every time I thought I knew exactly what was gong on, I was absolutely wrong, and that's what made it such a thrilling read. Suspense, mystery, fantasy, and romance all in one-- you can't go wrong with SPLINTERED by A.G. Howard.

     P.S. Team Jeb! Boo Morpheus!