Tuesday 22 September 2015

BLOG TOUR - BITTEROOT PT1 - BITTEROOT SERIES BY S.M. REINE & HEATHER HILDENBRAND

Bitterroot is a YA Paranormal with a dose of sibling rivalry... 
Who will YOU root for?

Title: Bitteroot
Series: Bitteroot
Authors: Heather Hildenbrand & S.M. Reine
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Shifter
Publisher: Elephantine Publishing
Release Date: 15th September 2015

BLURB from Goodreads
Seventeen year-old Regan Vuk has lived her whole life under the shadow of her future: the pack alpha. She is fast, smart, and determined. According to her own pack members, she is a shoo-in. But Regan’s dad has a secret.

Seventeen year-old Charlie spent her adolescence drifting from place to place with a mother desperate to hide her illegitimate daughter from the unforgiving reality of werewolf pack dynamics. All Charlie has ever wanted is to know her father--and the family that's been kept from her all these years. But most of all, she wants a place to belong in the world. Where she doesn’t have to pretend she can’t sprout fur and paws at will.

Being kidnapped on her way home from prom was not what she had in mind.
When Charlie finds out the only way to fit in with her new family is to defeat her long-lost sister for the role of alpha, she refuses. That is until she learns that the strange and alluring vampire she's befriended, Owen, is the same vampire prince that's been promised the winner.
Regan has no doubt that, although she loathes the vampires, it will be her who "wins" Owen.

Only problem: Charlie's already fallen for him.

Bitterroot is a Young Adult Paranormal with a dose of sibling rivalry... Who will you root for?


PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon UK
B&N
iBooks


TEASER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~ HEATHER HILDENBRAND
Heather Hildenbrand was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia where she was homeschooled through high school. Since 2011, she’s published more than eight YA & NA novels including the bestselling Dirty Blood series. She splits her time between coastal Virginia and the island of Guam and loves having a mobile career and outrageous lifestyle of living in two places. 

Heather is also a publishing and success coach bent on equipping and educating artists who call themselves authors. She loves teaching fellow writers how to create the same freedom-based lifestyle she enjoys. For more information visit www.phoenixauthorink.com and find out how to create your own OutRAGEous Life. 

For more information on my books, release dates, or just general stalker-material, um, I mean FAN material, visit my website. I love hearing from readers!

You can find out more about Heather and her books at www.heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~ S.M. REINE
As there is no information held on Goodreads about this author I had
nothing to put together about this author.

MY REVIEW
Title: Bitteroot
Series: Bitteroot
Authors: Heather Hildenbrand & S.M. Reine
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Shifter
Publisher: Elephantine Publishing
Release Date: 15th September 2015

BLURB from Goodreads

Seventeen year-old Regan Vuk has lived her whole life under the shadow of her future: the pack alpha. She is fast, smart, and determined. According to her own pack members, she is a shoo-in. But Regan’s dad has a secret.



Seventeen year-old Charlie spent her adolescence drifting from place to place with a mother desperate to hide her illegitimate daughter from the unforgiving reality of werewolf pack dynamics. All Charlie has ever wanted is to know her father--and the family that's been kept from her all these years. But most of all, she wants a place to belong in the world. Where she doesn’t have to pretend she can’t sprout fur and paws at will.


Being kidnapped on her way home from prom was not what she had in mind.
When Charlie finds out the only way to fit in with her new family is to defeat her long-lost sister for the role of alpha, she refuses. That is until she learns that the strange and alluring vampire she's befriended, Owen, is the same vampire prince that's been promised the winner.
Regan has no doubt that, although she loathes the vampires, it will be her who "wins" Owen.

Only problem: Charlie's already fallen for him.

Bitterroot is a Young Adult Paranormal with a dose of sibling rivalry... Who will you root for?

PURCHASE LINKS

INITIAL THOUGHTS
Well I love a great shifter book, and I've loved the books I've read by Heather Hildenbrand and as I've heard good things about S.M. Reine I thought giving this one a go was an easy choice!

MY REVIEW
I am lucky enough to be part of Heather's Street Team "Heather's Hotshots" so was given an e-arc of this one in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to both Heather Hildenbrand & S.M. Reine & Elephantine Publishers too. I did begin reading this one before even seeing the cover but for the purpose of this review and keeping it in the same format as other reviews, I will talk about the cover now. The cover is a rich evening blue colour, and features a moonlit background. In front of the moon are two females, both wearing white dresses, whose joined hands are holding a beautiful bouquet of deep red roses. The female on the left (as you look at the book) is blonde, and her dress has straps on it. The female on the right is dark haired and her white dress is strapless. The title of the book is in a cursive font, that catches by eye. 
After reading the book I'd say that the two females on the front cover are very good likenesses of the females described in the book, in fact the cover image could be an actual scene from the book, and fits really well within the plot of the book.
So would this cover make me pick it up from a book store shelf? Hmm that's difficult as the cover doesn't scream "this is a shifter book" but being a "nosey reader" I'd want to know who the two females were, and whether their characters are as "chalk & cheese" as their looks appear to be. So I think I can say yes, the cover would interest me enough to pick it up and read the blurb.
The book begins as seventeen year old Charlie, one of the main female characters of this book, and featured on the cover leaving a school dance. A dance she hadn't really wanted to go to but had been coerced into attending when Joey Lusk asks her to it. Joey is a nice guy and really is the only person who still smiles and still proffers friendship to Charlie, everyone else has accepted she's a loner and given up. The main reason Charlie keeps herself to herself is because she has a secret to keep. Charlie is a shifter, and has moved around a lot with her mother. Charlie loves the earthy smells of Kallyso, Oregon, the latest place they are living. Charlie has noticed her mum is suddenly acting strangely, getting her to practice her shifting more often than usual. Charlie has practiced changing back and forth so much she can now change and leave her clothes intact, so she decides to take the more scenic and shifter friendly route back home to her mum. Charlie's mum has always told Charlie to steer clear of other shifters, in fact her mum told her to run and get away as fast as possible, so when charlie smells shifter's and hears voices she is in somewhat of a quandary as whether to run or not. As Charlies mum is inside she decides to investigate before taking action and hides in a rhodedendron bush, trying to listen to what is being said and to check if her mum was okay. Charlie sneaks closer and closer, and her mum shouts her name, as Charlie enters the room, her mother tearfully apologizes and  then Charlie is hit and knocked out!
We then learn about the other teenager on the cover, Regan, she is also a shifter but lives with her pack. 
When Charlie wakes up she discovers she has been taken by her father. Charlie has a half sister to meet and the rest of the pack. Naturally Charlie initially feels out of place and still needs her time alone to get used to the idea of suddenly having a family and pack to belong to. It's during one of her solitary runs that she meets a rather gorgeous, mysterious guy. After being nervous and perhaps a little fearful of him, Charlie ends up talking to him and really ending up quite smitten by him.
After giving Charlie a small amount of time to settle in and become acquainted with her sister and some members of the pack Charlie does begin to think she could settle here. In fact it will be rather nice to have a family and a permanent place to stay in and call home. Then her father William, informs her she is now expected to take her rightful place in his pack. This sounds like it may be fairly easy and Charlie thinks it will be great to have a sister, someone to share things with, from clothes to her innermost feelings. However the pack and her father expect Charlie to fight her own half sister Regan for the right to be the next female Alpha.  It's hard for Charlie to get her head around, and her sister Regan isn't that impressed about having to fight for something she believes should be hers by right, she has grown up with the pack. It is her mum that was the last Alpha so naturally she should be Alpha. All this sounds fairly simple Charlie isn't bothered about being Alpha, she has had no training in fighting, so Regan will easily win. Then Charlie is informed she will have fighting training to get her ready for the duel. The problem is the one who become's Alpha has been promised in marriage to the head and Alpha Owen Rossi. Neither girl is particularly wanting to be married let alone married to an opposing packs Alpha Owen Rossi, who they have no feelings for. Regan still believes it was someone from Owen'[s pack that killed her mother. William (Regan & Charlie's father) desperately wants to unite his pack with Owen Rossi's pack to achieve a larger park and to attempt to keep peace. Neither girl particularly wants to get married, in fact Charlie has never met Owen Rossi, or so she thinks. Whilst wandering around alone she has met a gorgeous, mysterious guy who she's like to see and get to know better. Charlie doesn't know the gorgeous guys name but learns who he is at the party her father is throwing. This is where the cover fits into the book as I would say it is an image of both girls in their unique wedding dresses holding their bouquet's of red roses.
I could really go on and on about this novella but I have tried to be sparing with details so you can read the novella and allow the plot to unfold and discover it's content as I did by reading her. The easy pace of this book is perfect, making it an enjoyable read. I felt like I flew through the novella, as I certainly say I did not want to put this one down! I think it is ideal for the YA Audience it is being aimed at. At the end of the novella, I was "You cannot seriously be ending it right here!" then frantically searching for when part 2 would be available!
So Did I enjoy the book? Yes! though I certainly don't fall into the teen bracket myself I thoroughly enjoyed it myself! Would I recommend the book? Definitely yes! Would I want to read another novella/book in this series? Yes please I've signed up to read the next e-arc-novella. Would I want to read another title by this Author? I have actually began reading Heather's Clone Chronicles Series and I have purchased the first book in her Dirty Blood to begin reading that series too! This was the first S.M. Reine title I have read but I will be looking at other titles by this author too.

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