October 26, 2011

Mini-Tour: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout + GIVEAWAY


Hi everyone!

Today is my stop of Jennifer L. Armentrout's Obsidian Mini-Tour! Today I will be sharing an excerpt of Obsidian, along with my review.


Follow along with the rest of the tour with the links below:

Monday, 10/24: Books Complete Me
Tuesday, 10/25: Reading Angel
Wednesday, 10/26: Good Choice Reading
Thursday, 10/27: Between the Pages
Friday, 10/28: Mundie Moms




Excerpt:

Chapter 1
I stared at the pile of boxes in my new bedroom, wishing the Internet had been hooked up. Not being able to do anything with my review blog since moving here was like missing an arm or a leg. According to my mom, “Katy’s Krazy Obsession” was my whole life. Not entirely, but it was important to me. She didn’t get books the way I did.

I sighed. We’d been here two days, and there was still so much left to unpack. I hated the idea of boxes sitting around. Even more than I hated being here.

At least I’d finally stopped jumping at every little creaking sound since moving to West “By God” Virginia and this house that looked like something straight out of a horror movie. It even had a turret—a freaking turret. What was I supposed to do with that?
Ketterman was unincorporated, meaning it wasn’t a real town.

The closest place was Petersburg—a two or three stoplight town near a few other towns that probably didn’t have a Starbucks. We wouldn’t get mail at our house. We would have to drive into Petersburg to get our mail.

Barbaric.

Like a kick in the face, it hit me. Florida was gone—eaten by the miles we’d traveled in Mom’s mad dash to start over. It wasn’t that I missed Gainesville, the weather, my old school, or even our apartment. Leaning against the wall, I rubbed the palm of my hand over my forehead.
I missed Dad.

And Florida was Dad. It was where he’d been born, where he met my mom, and where everything had been perfect… until it all fell apart. My eyes burned, but I refused to cry. Crying didn’t change the past, and Dad would’ve hated to know I was still crying three years later.
But I missed Mom, too. The Mom before Dad had died, the one who used to curl up on the couch beside me and read one of her trashy romance novels. It seemed like a lifetime ago. It certainly was half a country ago.

Ever since Dad died, Mom had started working more and more. She used to want to be home. Then it seemed like she wanted to be as far away as possible. She’d finally given up on that option and decided we needed to drive far away. At least since we’d gotten here, even though she was still working like a demon, she was determined to be more in my life.

I had decided to ignore my inner compulsive streak and let the boxes be damned today, when the smell of something familiar tickled my nose. Mom was cooking. This was so not good. I raced downstairs.

She stood at the stove, dressed in her polka-dotted scrubs. Only she could wear head-to-toe polka dots and still manage to look good. Mom had this glorious blonde hair that was stick straight and sparkling hazel eyes. Even in scrubs she made me look dull with my gray eyes and plain brown hair.

And somehow I ended up more… round than her. Curvy hips, puffy lips, and huge eyes that Mom loved but made me look like a demented kewpie doll.

She turned and waved a wooden spatula at me, half-cooked eggs splattering onto the stove. “Good morning, honey.”

I stared at the mess and wondered how best to take over this fiasco in the making without hurting her feelings. She was trying to do mom-stuff. This was huge. Progress. “You’re home early.”

“I worked almost a double shift between last night and today. I’m set to work Wednesday through Saturday, eleven till nine a.m. That leaves me with three days off. I’m thinking of either working part time at one of the clinics around here or possibly in Winchester.” She scraped out the eggs onto two plates and set the half-burned offering in front of me.
Yum. Guess it was too late for an intervention, so I rifled through a box resting on the far counter marked ‘Silverware & Stuff.’
“You know how I don’t like having nothing to do, so I’m going to check into them soon.”
Yeah, I knew.

And most parents would probably saw off their left arm before thinking of leaving a teenaged girl at home alone all the time, but not mine. She trusted me because I never gave her reason not to. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Well, okay, maybe it was.
I was kind of boring.

In my old group of friends in Florida, I wasn’t the quiet one, but I never skipped class, maintained a 4.0, and was pretty much a good girl. Not because I was afraid to do anything reckless or wild; I didn’t want
to add to Mom’s troubles. Not then…

Grabbing two glasses, I filled them with orange juice Mom must have picked up on her way home. “Do you want me to get groceries today? We have nothing.”
She nodded and spoke around a mouthful of eggs. “You think of everything. A grocery trip would be perfect.” She grabbed her purse off the table, pulling out cash. “This should be enough.”
I pocketed the money into my jeans without looking at the amount; she always gave me too much in the first place. “Thanks,” I mumbled.

She leaned forward, a twinkle in her eyes. “So… this morning I saw something interesting.”
God only knows with her. I smiled. “What?”
“Have you noticed that there are two kids about your age next door?”
My inner golden retriever kicked in and my ears perked up. “Really?”
“You haven’t been outside, have you?” She smiled. “I’d thought for sure you’d be all over that disgusting flower bed by now.”

“I plan on it, but the boxes aren’t unpacking themselves.” I gave her a pointed look. I loved the woman, but leave it to her to somehow forget that part. “Anyway, back to the kids.”
“Well, one is a girl who looks about your age, and there’s a boy.” She grinned as she stood. “He’s a hottie.”

A tiny piece of egg caught in my throat. It was seriously gross to hear Mom talking about boys my age. “Hottie? Mom, that’s just weird.”

Mom pushed off from the counter, picked up her plate from the table, and headed to the sink. “Honey, I might be old, but my eyes are still working fine. And they were really working earlier.”

I cringed. Double gross. “Are you turning into a cougar? Is this some sort of midlife crisis I need to be concerned about?”

Rinsing off her plate, she glanced over her shoulder. “Katy, I hope you’ll make an effort to meet them. I think it would be nice for you to make friends before school starts.” Pausing, she yawned. “They could show you around, yes?”

I refused to think about the first day of school, new kid and all. I dumped my uneaten eggs in the garbage. “Yeah, it would be nice. But I don’t want to go banging on their door, begging them to be my friend.”

“It wouldn’t be begging. If you put on one of those pretty sundresses you wore in Florida instead of this.” She tugged on the hem of my shirt. “It would be flirting.”
I glanced down. It said MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG. There wasn’t a thing wrong with it. “How about I show up in my undies?”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “That would definitely make an impression.”
“Mom!” I laughed. “You’re supposed to yell at me and tell me that’s not a good idea!”
“Baby, I don’t worry about you doing anything stupid. But seriously, make an effort.”
I wasn’t sure how to ‘make an effort.’

She yawned again. “Well, honey, I’m going to catch up on sleep.”

“All right, I’ll get some good stuff at the store.” And maybe mulch and plants. The flower bed outside was hideous.

“Katy?” Mom had stopped in the doorway, frowning.

“Yeah?”

A shadow flickered over her face, darkening her eyes. “I know this move is hard for you, especially before your senior year, but it was the best thing for us to do. Staying there, in that apartment, without him…

It’s time we started living again. Your dad would have wanted that.”

The lump in my throat I thought I’d left in Florida was back. “I know, Mom. I’m fine.”

“Are you?” Her fingers curled into a fist. The sunlight coming through the window reflected off the gold band around her ring finger.

I nodded quickly, needing to reassure her. “I’m okay. And I’ll go next door. Maybe they can tell me where the store is. You know, make an effort.”

“Excellent! If you need anything, call me. Okay?” Mom’s eyes watered on another long yawn. “I love you, honey.”

I started to tell her that I loved her, too, but she disappeared upstairs before the words were out of my mouth. At least she was trying to change, and I was determined to at least try and fit in here. Not hide in my room on my laptop all day like Mom was afraid I’d do. But mingling with kids I’d never met wasn’t my thing.

I’d rather read a book and stalk my blog comments.

I bit my lip. I could hear my dad’s voice, his favorite phrase encouraging me, “Come on, Kittycat, don’t be a bystander.” I squared my shoulders. Dad had never let life pass him by…
And asking about the nearest store was an innocent-enough reason to introduce myself. If Mom was right and they were my age, maybe this wouldn’t turn out to be such an epic fail of a move. This was stupid, but I was doing it. I hurried across the lawn and across the driveway before I chickened out.

Hopping onto the wide porch, I opened the screen door and knocked, then stepped back and smoothed the wrinkles out of my shirt. I’m cool. I got this. There is nothing weird about asking for directions.

Heavy footsteps came from the other side, and then the door was swinging open and I was staring at a very broad, tan, well-muscled chest. A naked chest. My gaze dropped and my breath sort of…stalled. Jeans hung low on his hips, revealing a thin line of dark hair that formed below his navel and disappeared under the band of the jeans.

His stomach was ripped. Perfect. Totally touchable. Not the kind of stomach I expected on a seventeen-year-old boy, which is how old I suspected he was, but yeah, I wasn’t complaining. I also wasn’t talking. And I was staring.

My gaze finally traveling north again, I noted thick, sooty lashes fanning the tips of his high cheeks and hiding the color of his eyes as he looked down at me. I needed to know what color his eyes were.

“Can I help you?” Full, kissable lips turned down in annoyance.

His voice was deep and firm. The kind of voice accustomed to people listening and obeying without question. His lashes lifted, revealing eyes so green and brilliant they couldn’t be real. They were an intense emerald color that stood out in vibrant contrast against his tan skin.

REVIEW:



Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Expected publication: December 6th 2011
Entangled Publishing

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring…. until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don’t kill him first, that is.

Obsidian is nothing like you would expect. Now I don't normally read anything that has to do with Aliens, but since I am familiar with Jennifer L. Armentrout's previous book, Half-Blood, I knew that I had to read it. Armentrout just has a way with words and will make you feel a part of a story.

Kat is a character that I think everyone will easily connect with, especially book bloggers all around. She is a blogger who reads and reviews books. I really liked that the author added some parts about the blogging world and some of things we do on our blogs. It was very easy to relate to the main character this way. Kat was also smart and amusing. When she meets Daemon for the first time, it was like I entered in to a big box of sexual tension. You can tell immediately that Kat and Daemon have a thing for each other. Daemon tries his best to keep Kat away from him and his sister, but soon realizes that keeping Kat away is a lot harder than he counted on. So he decides he will just push all of her buttons and make her not want to be around them. But Kat refused to be bullied and the more he pushed, she pushed back. It was very entertaining lol. Their relationship had me laughing out loud throughout most of the book. It was a lot of bickering and teasing and I wanted to jump into the story and make them kiss already! They had so much chemistry that it was practically coming off the pages. Daemon and Kat were great together and I loved every single second of their relationship.

I didn't doubt for a second that I would love this book, and I was right. It’s very entertaining and fast paced. When I hear the word “aliens,” I think space ships and weird looking creatures, but Obsidian wasn’t like that at all. It was a lot more modern than I thought it would be. Daemon and his sister do come from a different planet, but they are nothing like you would think. Jennifer Armentrout came up with a really unique idea and pieced it together really well. I loved the characters and I loved the way the story started and ended. The only thing I wish were different was that Daemon and Kat admitted their feelings for each other a little sooner in the story, but the wait was worth it and made up for it.

Obsidian is definitely a must-read, must-buy!

5 out of 5 Stars!


Purchase Obsidian:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
GoodReads

Find Jennifer L. Armentrout:
Blog
Twitter
GoodReads
Facebook


GIVEAWAY:

Jennifer is giving away some swag to one lucky follower. Bookmarks, Guitar picks & stickers!

TO ENTER:
- US ONLY
- Leave a comment on this post and make sure to leave your e-mail address so we can contact you if you win.
- Winners will be chosen by Random.org
- This giveaway ends on November 3rd

Good luck! 




33 comments:

  1. This sounds sooo interesting. Very different. Thanks for the review and giveaway!
    Britney @ Living Fictitiously
    britneywyatt[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am looking forward to this book. It sounds amazing!

    Amy @ Book Loving Mom

    alf421.af@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can't wait to finally read this book! It sound so good and is very different than anything I've ever read.

    Kelly @ Dandelion Dreams

    kellybsand89(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway!

    minas_1989(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the giveaway. Loved the excerpt I already have the book pre-ordered on Amazon.

    mromero2012 AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is that book I'd give an arm for :{ I've heard so many great things about it. Awesome excerpt! :D Glad to find out how Katy and Daemon meet.

    Seattlelover7@aim.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. A must read? Five stars?!
    An awesome excerpt?!!! Ahh! This is awesome! :D


    Cindy Ramirez
    cindy.ramirez78@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow I so need more. Totally loved the excerpt. I think its awesome that Katy is a book blogger she seems like she will be easy to relate to. Gosh I need more of Daemon lol. Thanks for the giveaway I'm so excited for Obsidian to come out.

    Sthrnsweetie115@AOL.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is such an awesome book! I love this author :) edysicecreamlover18@gmailDOTcom

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have been hearing way too many good things to turn this story down. And now with that excerpt... It's become a SUPER must-read!

    - Asher (from Paranormal Indulgence)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I really want to read this book. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Can't wait to read the rest=)

    ansindt@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can't wait to read this book!
    greekpatty13(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Awesome! Thanks for the excerpt and review! I would totally love to win a guitar pick :) Thanks for the giveaway!

    Email: osnapitzAngiex3(AT)aol(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Loved the excerpt! I finally got to read some. Now I can't wait :)

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  16. book sounds amazing! and it comes out on my birthday! cant wait!
    pa2fl8904 at yahoo dot com
    gfc jramos1289

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sounds really interesting, can't wait.

    jennifervillanueva23@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the giveaway! I can't wait to read this book!!
    Samjam@earthlink.net

    ReplyDelete
  19. I cannot wait to read this book!! :)
    naruto_and_hinata(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I cant wait for this book!!!!
    khelseyrjackson@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I would love to be entered. I will support anything Jennifer Armentrout does <3


    abackwardsstory (at) gmail (dot) com

    Thank you so much for this opportunity!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I want to read Obsidian so bad. I loved half blood and can't wait to see what jennifer comes up with next. :) Happy Halloween.

    Jennifer K Jovus
    kjovus at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Loving this book so far! Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Forgot my email (vi3ti3abe at gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Looks good, can't wait to read it!

    jennifervillanueva23@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. This sound so good.
    I want to read it!!
    Thank a million for the giveaway!
    Mi e-mail. sweetarace@gmail.com
    Bye.-

    ReplyDelete
  27. Sounds like a great book! Thanks for the chance.

    nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great post! I can't wait to read Obsidian!

    Mari
    marisolgaddi (at) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  29. So excited!! Can't wait to read!!

    bbleon62@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. I so want to read this book badly..ahh thanks for the review and giveaway

    khyla_808ATyahooDOTcom

    ReplyDelete
  31. This book sounds real interesting.

    Would like a chance to win giveaway, please. ^_^


    Alice/ escagirl1056@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. I am so excited for this book, can't wait to read it!!!

    danceislove27 At gmail DoT com

    ReplyDelete

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