Exquisite Captive (Dark Caravan Cycle #1) by Heather Demetrios

How lucky was I that I got a sneak peek at this book? And now that it's officially in ARC, I get to review it!

Nalia is a powerful jinni enslaved to a human master who will stop at nothing--literally nothing--to get exactly what he wants. And Malek wants Nalia. It doesn't matter that he tortures Nalia until she wishes for death or that her little brother is suffering in an Arjinnan prison camp or that the jinn are about to self-destruct in their battle for power in the magical realm. But the leader of the Arjinnan Revolution, a man who hates everything that Nalia was born to be, offers her a way to escape Malek and save her brother. Only Nalia and Raif must learn to trust each other and use their power to break the ancient magic that has trapped thousands of helpless jinn on Earth before they can fight for their own goals.

Heather is an amazing plotter, and I want her to share all of her secrets with me. There's great foreshadowing and hint-dropping and set-up for books to come. The subtext about the modern slave trade and war lords and arms dealing and drug trafficking gives it a great depth that I hope teen readers will see as well. I will admit that epiphanic rather than episodic series drive me a little nuts, but that's just personal taste, and this book handles it well. The ending actually feels like an ending and not a cliffhanger, but it still teases us with what's to come.

Nalia is a great character--I know she's done evil things, but I still feel badly for her. Maybe because she has blood on her hands, it makes her psudo-romantic relationship with Malek more believable and understandable. But I'll just admit now: I HATE Malek. I find him despicable in so many ways, which isn't a bad quality in a protagonist. All of the characters are really kind of evil, but somehow, I root for them and understand them. It makes me sound like a bit of a psychopath saying that, but it's totally true.

Visit Heather's webpage for more information and follow her on twitter, facebook and instragram to learn ways to win your own copy of the book. This book will be available at your local book store on October 7, and rumor has it that Heather will also be heading out for a book tour after the release.

Catching Up, or The Very Snowy Winter

Hello, blog, my old friend. Do you remember all those times I used to post about fun book events I was going to? Or news stories that impacted my life? Or random thoughts that would pop into my head and bring enlightenment to an issue I was deal with? Yeah, I miss those days, too.

There's too much to catch up on all that has happened in my life, so let me sum up.

I was a bit sad (as sad as someone who hates snow can be, anyway) when I got to Vermont for my last winter residency at Vermont College of Fine Arts to find it slushy and brown. But I wasn't there for the weather—I was there to learn and write and have fun, all of which I did. And just as I was ready to head home, the snow fell. After my flight got cancelled, I took the train from Vermont back to DC, only the snow decided to join us on the train, freezing the water in the restrooms and the doors shut, and what should have been an eight-hour train ride stretched into 16 hours. It was quite the adventure.

Back in DC, I got to attend the signing of my friend's second book (Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd), which was a blast. I also might have gone a little fan-girl on Stephanie Perkins—but come on! It was freaking Stephanie Perkins! My leopard gecko Harper thought this was Megan's best book so far.

I celebrated handing in the first packet of my last semester with a quick trip up to New York City for my friend’s book launch. Heather Demetrios (author of Something Real and the upcoming Exquisite Captive) is talented and funny, and I'm so lucky to call her my friend. We had a blast at her party and then spent the night dancing at her favorite club, and there may or may not have been a impromptu performance of "Sisters" from White Christmas at some point. It was a brilliant weekend away.

While I was up in NYC, my good friend's baby boy decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet us all and made an appearance a month and a half early. So the day I got back from NYC and the day my other friend just happened to fly in from Ethiopia (where she's stationed for the next year and a half) for some training, we went to visit Heather and her son. Healther Bingham is an incredibly talented opera singer, and while she's taking a few months to enjoy being a new mom, I look forward to seeing her back on stage soon. (Sorry, no baby pictures as I'm not sure Heather wants her son exposed online just yet.)

And then there was more snow. Six inches of snow between midnight and 5 a.m. meant DC was shut down for the day and I didn’t even bother getting out of my PJs. We've had four snow days this season, with four more delayed starts because of icy conditions. That brings the total snowfall for this season to 23 inches, eight inches above normal. But I could be back in Chicago where that total is 68 inches, which is 42 inches above normal. Small blessings.

So now you're all caught up on my life. Or at least some of the highlights. And only for the next few days until I bury myself in homework once again and forget to blog for awhile.