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Libera Me by Christine Fonseca
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost?
Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.
Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way to know the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - his feelings for Nesy.
Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed.
The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred.

I'm in agony, alright? How could I NOT LIKE any Christine Fonseca books? She's born to write for meeee!!!

Okay, that probably crossed the line but heyyyy, this woman has a gift with words. I think if I to die and reincarnated seven times as an emperor penguin, Darth Vader, an orc, a Ferrero Rocher, a bottle of mineral water, Sheldon Cooper, and Batman love interest, I still can't write as good as Christine Fonseca.

Before I decided on my final rating, I had to keep asking myself, am I being too harsh? I mean, I rated some books with sub-par writing more than 2-stars.

But girl,


And the message I got from this book was 'it's okay to cause so much destruction, to cause pain to everyone around you as long as you get to follow your heart'. For instance,

"And if she unleashes the Beast? What then? You know that it means if you can't control it."
"Oh yes, I know. And it's a risk I gladly take if it means there's a chance to save Nessa from all of this."

Wow. So every other human lives in this planet don't matter?

Okay, maybe I was being too harsh just now. But get this, the reading experience was not pleasant for me at all. But I have to applaud Christine Fonseca for her courageous attempt to make this book really different from its predecessor, Lacrimosa.

She was able to explore so many different emotions such as guilt, despair, longing and making sure you feel them too. Sadly, that didn't work for me because I kept going back to how the problem emerged in the first place and I always found the person to blame. Study these lines for example;

"What if it's a trap, Zane? Did you think about that? What if she's a demon sent by Azza?"
"Then I guess I'm going to die."

So instead of getting connected with the characters, I laughed and said 'serve you right' instead.

Yeah, I'm not a good reader in that sense.

Nessa. *sigh* Instead of being creep-ed out by a new guy who claimed he knows you all his life before, you feel guilty because you can't get your memories back? What evidence Aydan has for you to trust him that easily?

And you really need to stop crying.

Aydan. STOP CALLING YOUR GIRLFRIEND, BABY. Enough said.

Cass serves nothing more than Zane's personal angel. She has to keep telling Zane to do the right thing and sadly, Zane never listens.

But yeah, at the end of the day, if you think you like to enter a labyrinth of dreams and delusions with serious make outs in between while the actual story is static then this book is for you.

2 unimpressed faces

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Welcome to the Virtual Blog Tour for LIBERA ME, Book #2 in the Requiem Series by Christine Fonseca.
Beginning after Lacrimosa and the short story Mea Culpa, Libera Me follows Zane and Aydan as they try to figure out who Nessa really is. Here's the blurb:

What happens when everything you’ve sacrificed for is lost? Aydan thought Nesy’s death would be the end of him, until he meets Nessa and his hope is restored. Could she be Nesy reborn? He is certain she must be. That is, until her lack of memories and incessant nightmares begin to erode his faith.
Zane is used to trusting his mind, his wisdom and his angelic senses. But these attributes are no help with Nessa. He has no way to be certain of her identity, no way to know the truth. That is, unless he listens to the one thing he has refused to acknowledge throughout his existence - he feelings for Nesy. 
Blind to both angel and demon, Aydan and Zane must figure out the truth behind Nesy's identity before all is lost, Azza discovers the truth and the Beast is again unleashed. 
The lines between good and evil have never been so blurred.

Libera Me officially releases October 30. And be sure to check out the other books in the series:

LACRIMOSA

DIES IRAE (Free from Amazon and Smashwords)

MEA CULPA (Free from Amazon and Smashwords)


Introducing Nessa
 ~~
Thanks so much for hosting a leg of my tour today! I’d like to introduce you to the chracter that is the center of the mess in Libera Me – Nessa:

Decidedly human, Nessa is the human embodiment of the Sentinal Nesy. At least, Aydan thinks she is. In truth, he doesn’t know. No one knows. Nessa believes herself to be a girl that was abducted as a young child, subjected to horrific cruelties and abuses and now returned to her previous life. She has no memories of a time before living with a woman she believes is her aunt. No recollection of a life Aydan has told her about. And, she’s not sure she wants any part of that life.

Zane, too, believes Nessa to be Nesy. But, even he has to admit that she isn’t what she appears to be. She has no memory of being angelic, nothing to indicate she is more than human. Except, she can see Zane and the other angels. And she knows the ancient prayers. Still, something isn’t right. Not even close.

To get to know Nessa a little more, I thought I’d invite her to stop by and answer just a couple of questions:

1.      What do you think about Aydan and the life he tells you about? I love Aydan and his devotion to me. But, I don’t remember the life he speaks of, or the love we shared. I know that he makes me feels special, safe. And I know that he sincerely loves me. For now, that is enough. But I worry about our future. What if my memories don’t return? What if I am not the girl he thinks I am? These are the questions that plague my heart now.
         
2.      I hear you can see things others can’t. What do you think about that? It scares me, actually. Most of the time I think it’s just my mind playing tricks on me; you know, from all of the abuse I endured. But other times...well, other times I am fairly certain I’m just crazy. I mean, who actually sees things that aren’t there other than being with a mental illness, right? So yea, these visions or whatever they are scare me. A lot.

3.      What does your aunt and therapist think about your lack of memories? Both my aunt and my therapist think that I must have endured years of systematic abuse and the lack of memory is my brains way of protecting me. They are probably right. I just know that I remember nothing before standing on the porch of my aunt’s house, knocking on the door!

4.      What’s your biggest fear? Biggest hope? I have a lot of hopes and fears. But as it relates to Aydan, my biggest fear is that I will never remember the “Nesy” he speaks of and that I am nothing to him if those memories don’t surface. Worse, what if they do and I am just not that girl. My biggest hope is that he will love me regardless.

5.      What do you dream about? I don’t have dreams, I have nightmares. The scenes are always the same, alternating between an ancient world with caves set deep within a mountain that flanks a majestic blue sea, and a misty forest filled with stone ruins and the scent of rotting flesh. In both, I see horrific things I can’t bring myself to talk about aloud. In both, I feel a sense of terror that has no words. I really don’t like to sleep anymore...don’t like what the sleep brings.

So, there you have it – an introduction to Nessa. You will have to decide for yourself if she is Nesy or not.

About Christine:

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfictionauthor by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to
explore humanity. Her many titles include TRANSCEND, DIES IRAE, LACRIMOSA, MEA
CULPA, and in nonfiction: 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS and EMOTIONAL
INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS.

When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she canbe sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or
playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing
and life on her blog.
For more information about Christine Fonseca or theseries, visit her website –
http://christinefonseca.com or her blog
http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com. 

To celebrate to release and thank her readers, Christine is hosting a little contest honoring each of the main characters. Prizes include a new release YA book, Book swag, and even some of her own titles. She is also giving a Kindle as part of her Fall Release Party. Check out both giveaways below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mea Culpa by Christine Fonseca

Everything has a price, especially duty. And love.
Azza's attacks are always deadly...ALWAYS. But that was before Nesy. And before Mikayel and Zane. Now, death has a new enemy. But, what's the cost for saving a life?
MEA CULPA follows one angel's quest to save his best friend.

Okay, to be honest at first I wanted to skip this novella because Zane is not among my favourite characters from the Requiem series. But then when I tried to read Libera Me, I couldn't get into the story. Luckily, I followed Christine's advice to read Me Culpa first because now, everything makes more sense! Hehe.

Well, Christine's writing is spectacular as always but with only five chapters, there was barely enough time to really feel for the characters. Not that it should be written longer, I just feel it's unfair for me to rate it based on these five chapters alone.

And yes, Mikayel really gotten on my nerves this time. I know he was just trying to be diplomatic or whatever but he came across as being hypocrite for me.

Okie, I'm off to read Libera Me now! ^_^

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Demons, faeries, and mermaids.Claws, teeth, and nightmares.
They have been beaten and bruised, set on fire, and nearly drowned, but manage to always find their way home.  Over their last Winter Holiday break before college, Shayna, Jodi, and Steven try again to put aside the magic in their lives for a little mundane fun. But Shayna's mother is having dreams of fire and death. A mysterious stranger by the name of Liam has just arrived in town. And Shayna's attempts to manage her new angelic powers are set back by Steven's insistence that the trio intervene in a riot outside of a concert, with disastrous consequences.
In her attempt to stop the riot, a man sees Shayna use her magical abilities – a man driven mad by watching his brother die at the hands of a black witch. He stalks Shayna, plotting to destroy her and her friends. With her mother’s warnings echoing in her mind, Shayna is now in the fight of her life against an unlikely foe: a human man.

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Five years ago Shauna started work on her Elemental Series and released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011. When not reading and writing, Shauna enjoys cooking and playing hostess whenever she can.
  Shauna Granger| Facebook| Twitter

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Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Embrace the Forbidden
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Look, I'm aware of just how many of my GR friends are fans of this book. But, Kaidan didn't work his magic on me, nor I can tolerate everything else about this book.

Buckle up, boys. This ain't going to be pretty.

The whole time, I was trying to figure out the author. What was it actually that she wanted to convey? It was as if she was drunk herself while writing this!

I'm not saying that this is a total trainwreck. My 2-stars rating proved that. Somehow, Sweet Evil managed to sustain my attention until the end, and I actually almost fell for Kaidan. Almost.

Maybe I should show a figure to illustrate how I was feeling.


The prologue was okay, unfortunately its Chapter One was the worst first chapter I've ever read.

"Kai, like Thai, only yummier. Gah! Who was this girl invading my brain?"

I asked the same question myself, Anna.

"A freckle was not beautiful. It was a small dark attention grabber. I hated the way everyone's eyes went to it when they talked to me."

Tell me people with freckles, don't you find that offensive? Dear Anna, keep your idea of ideal beauty to yourself, will ya?

"I didn't really know what gonorrhea was, except that it was an STD"

Ugh, Anna. I thought you are this good girl who always scores in class. Even if you never learn about it in school, it doesn't hurt to have broader general knowledge.

After a couple of brief encounters, Anna made promise to Patti that she'll stay away from Kaidan, but the next thing she did was to go to Kaidan's apartment straight away?



And then, that 'a half-naked half demon was burying his face in my neck' thing (I seriously don't know what to call this)...was just disturbing in the sense that Anna got all excited and had to keep her hands from going everywhere on Kaidan.

I was sitting there, dumbfounded and thought


Look, I got that this Kaidan is the son of Lust and being sexy is indeed his job on this earth, but I would appreciate if Anna had more self control, considering she is ***spoiler ahead*** a half angel. ***spoiler finished***[considering she's a half angel! (hide spoiler)]

And then the road trip! So, they were short on time because Sister Ruth was dying, why wouldn't Kaidan and Anna just take a flight then? Come on, Kaidan is filthy rich right?

Don't get me wrong, I did miraculously enjoy the road trip part except when Kaidan slept naked and all those foreplay with Anna (seriously, Wendy Higgins, why wouldn't you just rename your book as FANSERVICE). I got to learn more about Kaidan's actual stance and the other side of his personality. Also, Anna became less annoying during this part.

Then, it went downhill from there. The awkward conversation between Anna and this father, the messy introduction of the other Nephilims, Anna's obsession for Kaidan, bla3. Like I said before, some other random shits.

So, tell me again what's up with all these Team Kaidan stuff? Because he hardly made an appearance after the road trip part.

Oh well, I should have known better than to read books with highly sought after bad boys. Maybe I should steer clear from Obsidian, Existence and Perfect Chemistry series.

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