It’s time for another blog tour as we get closer to Christmas aka my favorite holiday in the entire world.

It has been such a pleasure to have done so many blog tours this year and this one will be my last before the new year so it is extra special. This blog tour for The Touched by Jennifer Weiser is being hosted by Xpresso Book Tours who I can’t thank enough for giving me this and many opportunity these past few months.

If you fancy a dystopian read with a paranormal element to it as well as fated lovers, then I definitely suggest you check out The Touched!

The Touched by Jennifer Weiser
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: September 29th 2015
Genres: Dystopia, Paranormal, Young Adult

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25964260-the-touched?ac=1

 Purchase:
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Review

This is the first time that I have read young adult novel that is both dystopian and paranormal and I must say the combination is quite fantastic. Those elements together intrigued me and within good reason because I was sucked into this book from the very first pages. I dare you to read the prologue of this book and try to dissuade yourself to continue reading because it is simply not possible. The pure emotion of the tragedy that comes to life on those pages along with the air of mystery of what is to come that surrounds it compels you to keep reading and once you do you can’t stop.

Within this world you have individuals who are referred to as The Touched.  They are mortals who possess the abilities and gifts of the gods and therefore have can do things anywhere from mind control to predicting the past, present, or future (not all three though) to reading the emotions of other around you which is what Arabella, our protagonist can do. The only problem is that in Arabella’s world these individuals are feared, hunted down, and even burned at the stake in front of everyone which is called a Reaping. We are introduced to these horrible events as the beginning of the novel, the prologue that completely sucked me in, is a Reaping but not just any Reaping. It is the Reaping of Carter Decker’s mother who is plays another key part in the novel as he is Arabella’s love interest even though they don’t necessarily get along with one another when they first meet.

See Carter is not a fan of Union City which is the one of the legions that makes up the world in this novel. They strive to find and annihilate all of the Touched that exist Carter’s mother being one of them. Ever since he witnessed his mother being killed he has been hell bent on revenge against Union City (no shocker there if you ask me). His father is in a position of power in Midnight City which is the legion adjacent to Union City and where they are much more open to the people who live there. They accept people who are Touched which makes sense since both Carter and his father are both Touched. This alliance involves Arabella and considering that Arabella is Touched, her staying in Union City is not a good idea altogether given the fact that if discovered she is Touched she would be executed despite her family being in a position of power. So thus she travels to Midnight City to train with Carter who is none too thrilled that this is happening. What neither of them know is that they share a bond that has exist since birth.

Within the culture of the Touched, there is this notion that each Touched is fated to another in that there is one person out there they are meant to be with. They refer to it as a person’s bound. It is extremely rare given how so many of this race has been extinguished that the Touched find their bound. But in this instance amongst all the political intrigue and chaos that is occurring, Carter and Arabella soon learn that they are indeed connected to one another even if accepting that took some time. When your father is responsible for sentencing his mother to be burned at the stake I can only guess that they would not accept one another with open arms even if they are both Touched. But who doesn’t love when two characters who are meant to be initially bicker and may or may not hold animosity towards one another. Personally those kind of relationships are guilty pleasures for me so that is just another reason as to why I enjoyed this book so much and could not put it down.

If the fated lovers don’t suck you in at first, I guarantee the world and the story will as this book is wonderfully unique and captivated me from the very first page.

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season so far! I am personally counting down till it is Christmas like a little kid but that is totally normal since this my favorite time of the year.

In addition to it being my favorite time of the year, I am also excited to be a host for this blog tour for I’ll Be There by Samantha Chase because this was such a fun, adorable read.You can follow the rest of the blog tour which is being hosted by Tasty Book Tours here.

If you enjoy contemporary romances that are emotionally charged as well as incredibly entertaining then I definitely think you should check out I’ll Be There.

I’ll Be There
Montgomery Brothers #6
By: Samantha Chase
Releasing December 1st, 2015
Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book #6 in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Samantha Chase’s popular Montgomery series

This Montgomery Has a Head for Business

Working for Zach Montgomery is challenging on many levels-coming from a wealthy and powerful family, he lives by his own rules and doesn’t answer to anyone. But Gabriella Martine has no intention of backing down. She’s used to handling stubborn men, and it doesn’t hurt that Zach is smart, charismatic…and gorgeous.

And a Heart for Adventure

Zach’s perfect world is turned upside down when a climbing accident leaves him broken, angry, and maddeningly dependent. In his slow quest for recovery, Gabriella is always there to help…but as Zach comes to see his beautiful assistant in a new light, he is forced to re-evaluate what it really means to be a man worthy of Gabriella’s love.

 Link to Follow Tour:  http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/09/ill-be-there-montgomery-brothers-6-by.html 

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25392793-i-ll-be-there?ac=1

Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/103361-the-montgomery-brothers 

Buy Links:  Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan’s Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40’s to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.

When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Giveaway
A complete signed set of the Montgomery Brother’s paperbacks & $50 Amazon Gift Card

Click the link below to enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me first start off by saying that this is the first book by Samantha Chase that I have read. Given that this is the sixth book her Montgomery Brothers series, my knowledge of the other characters and storylines are essentially nonexistent. Though I am assuming each of these books can be read as a stand alone, having the previous knowledge of past characters definitely provides you with more of a connection with the series which I personally gravitate towards. Regardless of that, the way this book is written allows you to not only get the necessary context needed to follow along but also allows you to form that connection with the characters and the story almost instantaneously.

Zach Montgomery’s life has been put on pause as he recovers from the near fatal fall while he was climbing a mountain. The recovery of breaking almost every bone is in his body has been a lot more difficult than he anticipated as he is one who can usually handle pain and conquer the challenges placed in front of him. But the swift recovery he believed he would have has been anything but which leads to him accept that this is his life now unable to do the things he enjoyed before. As a result his negativity and anger towards the situation has taken over as he basically gives up and takes his frustration and pain and anger out on everyone around him specifically his assistant Gabriella Montane.

Gabriella Montane has been Zach’s assistant for the past 5 years and since the beginning there has always been a connection between the two of them beyond being boss and assistant. But striving to maintain that professional relationship, Gabriella never let her feelings for Zach collide with her job. That changes when Zach becomes more critical and strict in the office after an incident involving office gossip and her family creating rift between them that has yet to be mended. Add in Zach’s injury and their relationship gets progressively worse as Zach takes things out on Gabriella as he is struggling to reel in the anger/frustration/negativity he feels due to his accident. Emotions and feelings build up as Gabriella can’t take it anymore and decides to move on and become Ethan’s assistant, Zach’s best friend, who is now the acting president of Zach’s company while Zach get his life back together.

Zach and Gabriella’s relationship was so emotionally charged as one decides to move on while the other desperately tries to mend things and take them back to where they were when they first starting working together. Zach’s progression in the first half of the book was so wonderful to see because of how awful he treated Gabriella but it was also heartbreaking because he tried so hard to apologize and make things right with her but she consistently tried to make that break between them. Obviously their feelings for one another delayed that from happening. I became so invested in their romance from the very beginning that I could not put the book down. Their love for one another though masked by other emotions most of the time hooks you in as you are dying to see if things turn out right between them. If the other relationships written about in this series are anything like Zach and Gabriella’s romance, then I will definitely be continuing on with this series and other works by Samantha Chase.