Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart #1) by Sarah Ahiers

Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart #1)
by Sarah Ahiers
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 2nd 2016
Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

Synopsis:

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.

Lately some amazing YA stories have been published and I am always looking for novels that blow my mind just like An Ember in The Ashes or Red Queen did, for example. Assassin's Heart is an enjoyable YA read in a world where murders are permitted as long as one of the nine assassins' families commits them. I can say that I was not disappointed at all by this novel. In fact, I had a great time while reading it, always not knowing what the author had planned for her characters.

I have to admit that the premise made me doubt a bit. I didn't know if I would enjoy the story due to the whole thing of the nine rival families murdering people as a job and that everything was pretty normal in the kingdom of Lovero. I found it a bit strange, to be completely honest, because I wouldn't go out of my house if I lived there. But when the story was presented to me in the first chapters and you accept the fact that we're dealing with assassins who murder people and who want to murder each other everything has a new perspective and you start truly enjoying the story.

The fact that Sarah Ahiers knew how to built her kingdom, not trying to evoke any other kingdoms that we already know, and trying to be original, but at the same time reminding us to other stories such as Romeo and Juliet but more murderous, was what made this story so enjoyable in the first place. Plus, her writing is also a bonus.

I did not give my five gorjuss dolls to this book mainly because I felt a bit disconnected from the story from time to time. Like there are some parts in the story where it catches the reader's interest and it's nearly impossible to even take a breath and some parts where you are just going through the motions and trying to get back to those mind-blowing scenes I mentioned before. In spite of this, the story was a good one and Sarah Ahiers had a great story to told us. I am just beyond thankful that HaperTeen let me read it.

And... I would recommend this book? YES! Why not? To me, it felt that it was on the line of other YA books published in 2015 that blowed our minds and even though the story is not quite on the same level as those other books, it's nearly there. So if you love a good story about love, assassins, betrayal and crimes, this is your kind of story. I will definitely keep an eye on the next book!

Follow the ROCKSTAR BOOK TOURS blog tour and don't miss a thing!

Week One:

1/25/2016- Adventures of a Book Junkie- Interview

1/26/2016- Brittany's Book Rambles- Review

1/27/2016- Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews- Guest Post

1/28/2016- The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club- Review

1/29/2016- The Young Folks- Interview

Week Two:

2/1/2016- Cover2Cover- Review

2/2/2016- YaReads- Guest Post

2/3/2016- Dark Faerie Tales- Review

2/4/2016- Storybook Slayers- Interview

2/5/2016- Fiction Fare- Review

Sarah Ahiers is working towards an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and lives in Minnesota with three dogs and a house full of critters. She has a collection of steampunk hats and when she’s not writing she fills her time with good games, good food, good friends and good family.

Sarah writes Young Adult and Middle Grade novels and occasionally dabbles in Picture Books. Fantasy is her favorite genre, though she sometimes can be found playing around with Horror and other things that go bump in the night.

Sarah’s debut novel, ASSASSIN’S HEART (HarperTeen, February 2nd, 2016) is a Young Adult Fantasy. In the Kingdom of Lovero, where families of assassins lawfully kill people for the right price, seventeen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana sets out on a path of vengeance against the most powerful assassin family of all.

She is represented by Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary & Media.

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Blog Tour: Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart #1) by Sarah Ahiers

Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart #1)
by Sarah Ahiers
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 2nd 2016

Review coming tomorrow!

Synopsis:

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.

Follow the ROCKSTAR BOOK TOURS blog tour and don't miss a thing!

Week One:

1/25/2016- Adventures of a Book Junkie- Interview

1/26/2016- Brittany's Book Rambles- Review

1/27/2016- Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews- Guest Post

1/28/2016- The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club- Review

1/29/2016- The Young Folks- Interview

Week Two:

2/1/2016- Cover2Cover- Review

2/2/2016- YaReads- Guest Post

2/3/2016- Dark Faerie Tales- Review

2/4/2016- Storybook Slayers- Interview

2/5/2016- Fiction Fare- Review

Sarah Ahiers is working towards an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and lives in Minnesota with three dogs and a house full of critters. She has a collection of steampunk hats and when she’s not writing she fills her time with good games, good food, good friends and good family.

Sarah writes Young Adult and Middle Grade novels and occasionally dabbles in Picture Books. Fantasy is her favorite genre, though she sometimes can be found playing around with Horror and other things that go bump in the night.

Sarah’s debut novel, ASSASSIN’S HEART (HarperTeen, February 2nd, 2016) is a Young Adult Fantasy. In the Kingdom of Lovero, where families of assassins lawfully kill people for the right price, seventeen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana sets out on a path of vengeance against the most powerful assassin family of all.

She is represented by Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary & Media.

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Blog Tour: Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Myer

Last Song Before Night
by Ilana C. Myer
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: September 29th 2015

Synopsis:

A high fantasy following a young woman’s defiance of her culture as she undertakes a dangerous quest to restore her world’s lost magic 

Her name was Kimbralin Amaristoth: sister to a cruel brother, daughter of a hateful family. But that name she has forsworn, and now she is simply Lin, a musician and lyricist of uncommon ability in a land where women are forbidden to answer such callings—a fugitive who must conceal her identity or risk imprisonment and even death. 

On the eve of a great festival, Lin learns that an ancient scourge has returned to the land of Eivar, a pandemic both deadly and unnatural. Its resurgence brings with it the memory of an apocalypse that transformed half a continent. Long ago, magic was everywhere, rising from artistic expression—from song, from verse, from stories. But in Eivar, where poets once wove enchantments from their words and harps, the power was lost. Forbidden experiments in blood divination unleashed the plague that is remembered as the Red Death, killing thousands before it was stopped, and Eivar’s connection to the Otherworld from which all enchantment flowed, broken. 

The Red Death’s return can mean only one thing: someone is spilling innocent blood in order to master dark magic. Now poets who thought only to gain fame for their songs face a challenge much　greater: galvanized by Valanir Ocune, greatest Seer of the age, Lin and several others set out to reclaim their legacy and reopen the way to the Otherworld—a quest that will test their deepest desires, imperil their lives, and decide the future.

Could you tell to readers a little bit about Last Song Before Night?

The book is set in a world where art and magic are intertwined, and the protagonists are poets. 

How did you come up with the story? Did you find inspiration in any other story/movie/show and how has this affected your writing?

I was initially inspired by Celtic mythology and the troubadours of medieval France, and went from there! I fell into a hole of many, many books and they all influenced the story somehow.

Is there a specific scene that you had the most fun to write?

There is a scene when a character is wandering in the city in the early hours of the morning, alone and lost. I happened to write it when I couldn’t sleep at 3am because we were having a heat wave in Jerusalem. I went out to our porch, overlooking the silent streets of Jerusalem, and wrote my character wandering the streets of his city. 

If you had to pick one song to be the Theme Song for Last Song Before Night – Which one would you pick? 

In a way, there already is a theme song—the composer Robert Holmes wrote a piece of music inspired by Last Song Before Night: https://soundcloud.com/robert-j-holmes/last-song-before-night

Imagine that we get to see your book on the big screen (how awesome would that be?). Who would you pick to play your characters?

It would be totally awesome, and I’d need to think about this much more. I did have a realization recently that Darien Aldemoor could be played by a young Bon Jovi. There is that same hint of mischief. 

Is there any recommendations you could give your readers to be in the “perfect mood” to read Last Song Before Night (specific music, snacks…)? 

I’d suggest a red, complex wine. And chocolate is good with everything.

What’s next for you? 

I’m currently working on the sequel to Last Song Before Night—my contract with Tor was for three books.

Thank you so much for everything, Ilana!

My pleasure.

Click on the banner below to follow all tour stops!

Ilana C. Myer has written for the Globe and Mail, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, and the Huffington Post. Previously she was a freelance journalist in Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Daily Forward, Time Out Israel and other publications. She lives in New York City.

Ilana was born in New York but grew up in Jerusalem, Israel, where she spent her teen years haunting secondhand bookstores in search of books written in English—especially fantasy. It was in one of these shops that she discovered David Eddings and realized that epic fantasy continued after Tolkien, and from there went on to make such marvelous discoveries as Tad Williams, Robin Hobb, and Guy Gavriel Kay.

Since learning to read, Ilana had decided she would write books, but during college in New York City was confronted with the reality of making rent, and worked as a receptionist, administrative assistant, and executive assistant where she on occasion picked up dry cleaning. She afterwards found more fulfillment as a journalist in Jerusalem where she covered social issues, the arts, and innovations in technology, and co-founded the Middle East environment blog, Green Prophet. It was during these years in Jerusalem, on stolen time, that Last Song Before Night took shape.

She writes as Ilana Teitelbaum for various outlets, but decided early on—since the days of haunting bookstores, in fact—that “Teitelbaum” was too long for a book cover. “Myer” is a variation on the maiden name of her grandmother, whose family was exterminated in Germany. It is a family with a long history of writers, so it seems appropriate to give credit—or blame—where it’s due.

3 winners will receive a finished copy of LAST SONG BEFORE NIGHT (US Only)

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