{Story Diary} White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Jul 27, 2015

This is it, you guys. The conclusion to the Dark Element trilogy is finally here. Happy release day, Every Last Breath! Who are you rooting for Layla to pick? (I'm team Layla...and kind of Roth...and Zayn too...eh, I'll just stick to team Layla). Let's take it back to the first book, White Hot Kiss with a story diary to celebrate, shall we?




White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
February 25, 2014 from Harlequin Teen



One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.






Washington D.C., MD


[Image Source]

 Smithsonian Institute


[Image Source]

Washington Monument + Pool


[Image Source]

D.C. Union Station


[Image Source]



Warden (Gargoyles) and Demons


Can be found in my story diary for Bitter Sweet Love.

Zombies


"Patchy skin like brown worms. Areas of it's face were missing flesh. A strip on the cheek flapped against the purplish lips, and what remained hung from the bones, heavily creased and resembling dried-out beef jerky."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss








It's not a JLA book if Supernatural isn't mentioned, am I right or am I right? ;)









Some songs popped in my head while reading that quite fits somewhere in this story. And one song in particular was mentioned in the book.

[spotify id="spotify:user:wolfcubriot:playlist:65yBjB6pZuydrqTevIrVOh" width="300" height="330" /]

Find You by Zedd reminds me of Roth and Layla. There's this scene where Roth tells Layla something about losing himself when he found her...yeah, it seemed fitting.

Paradise City is Roth's anthem. You can find him whistling the tune throughout the book, so it has become his anthem.





Layla and Roth's banter cracked me up. Here's a little taste of their dynamic. (Note: not all of the quotes below are of Layla and Roth, just most.).


"I stared at him, wishing Hell would swallow him up and welcome him back with open arms."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss


LOL, Layla. (Same).


"You're such a fountain of random knowledge. Where do you keep it all?"
"In my brain. You have one too, I think."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss


Gotta love secondary character banter.


"Crack is whack."
"I can't believe you just said that."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss


Hold the phone. Roth just said crack is whack. LOL. (And I just said hold the phone. Don't mind me. Carry on).


"You know what they say about first kiss."
"You regret them?"
"No, I was going to go with 'you never forget them.'"

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss


Nice one, Layla. What a way to kill a what could have been a romantic moment. I like it! High-five.


"I'm okay. I can fight."
"I sure hope so because if you're just going to lay there and bleed, you suck."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss


You tell her, Roth!


"Your life isn't about what you can't do. It's about what you can do."

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss

Amen.

and last, but definitely not least...

whk fav quote

That scene and line. Broke. Me. How about y'all? All the feeels. *cries for 34 years*





[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qPYvsTNtWQ]




# 1 New York Times and International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.


{Story Diary} This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Jul 13, 2015

tswsylThis Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Young Adult Contemporary
September 17, 2013 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux



Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, This Song Will Save Your Life is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.





[spotify id="spotify:user:macmillanchildrensbooks:playlist:68KPz76rEYpqs5KKCM7B1Y" width="300" height="380" /]

**Playlist found on Mac Teen Books's website**





-
"Would You Say Stop?" by Acid House Kings
"I Didn't See It Coming" by Belle & Sebastian
"So Here We Are" by Bloc Party
"The Sweetest Things" by Camera Obscura
"I'd Rather Dance with You" by Kings of Convenience
"Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers
"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel
"Such Great Heights" by the The Postal Service
"Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space" by Spiritualized
"Mersey Paradise" by the Stones Roses

**Playlist can be found in the back of the book (paperback)**





-
"Quarter to Three" by Gary U.S. Bonds
"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by James Brown
"Do You Love Me" by the Contours
"Keep on Dancing" by the Gentrys
"Rave On" by Buddy Holly
"Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers
"Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis
"You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes
"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson
"Uptight (Everything's Alright)" by Stevie Wonder

**Playlist can be found in the back of the book (paperback)**





-
"Evaporated" by Ben Folds Five
"This Modern Love" by Bloc Party
"Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley
"Country Mile" by Camera Obscura
"Fight Test" by the Flaming Lips
"Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem
"I Don't Want to Get Over You" by the Magnetic Fields
"Ceremony" by New Order
"I Know It's Over" by the Smiths
"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" by Stars

**Playlist can be found in the back of the book (paperback)**






“I believe that a person's taste in music tells you a lot about them.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


“The thing about being an artist," Dad said, folding his newspaper and setting it down on the table, "is that there are always going to be people who want to stop you from doing your art. But this usually says more about them and their issues than it does about you and your art.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


"Popularity rewards the uninteresting."

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


“Throughout it all, you are still, always, you: beautiful and bruised, known and unknowable.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


“I don't believe that anyone who is a legitimately interesting person can be popular as a teenager.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


“I had once thought that I wanted to get revenge by dying. But getting revenge by living, and living well, was much, much sweeter.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life


“Some people will mess with you, whenever they want, and for no reason except that they can. But hurting yourself is giving those people all the power, and they don’t deserve it. Why would they deserve to have control over your life? Because they’re cool? Because they’re pretty? That’s completely illogical.”

-- Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life






[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmYeS4PykN0&w=460&h=290]




I was born in 1984, and I grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, with my parents and our cat. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a writer, actress, or singer. The writing part turned out to be easiest to accomplish, since it turns out I can’t really carry a tune, though I can do a pretty compelling karaoke rendition of “Hey Mickey.”

I wrote and illustrated approximately one million picture books when I was in elementary school, all of them about unicorns or cats or princesses, or princess unicorns who were best friends with princess cats. When I was seven, I wrote a longer story about quintuplets named Marissa, Larissa, Clarissa, Melissa, and Alyssa. The quintuplets were not princesses, but they did get invited to a royal ball.

During middle school and high school, I wrote five unpublished YA novels. I also acted in plays, competed in gymnastics meets and debate tournaments, babysat, and did an awful lot of schoolwork. My favorite school subject was math, and my worst subject was either science or Spanish.

I went to college at the University of Chicago, where I majored in psychology. I also performed in Off-Off Campus (an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe), competed in debate tournaments all over the world, helped judge the world’s largest scavenger hunt, and wrote a humor column for the school paper. And I wrote another unpublished YA novel, for which I was awarded the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for Fiction Writing.

After graduating, I got a job at a children’s book publishing company in New York City, where I remain to this day. My first novel was published in 2010, and since then, I’ve just kept working on more. During the daytime I read other people’s books, and during the nighttime I write my own. What more could I need?


{Story Diary} Lost Night by Kate Ellison

Jul 6, 2015

Lost Night by Kate Ellison
Older Young Adult /New Adult Contemporary
May 5, 2015



Sapphire knows she has to avoid trouble if she's going to survive in Neverland, the seedy neighborhood of Cleveland she now calls home. Other girls here have gone missing when they didn't play by the rules: the "lost girls," she calls them. Like her, they're all runaways - no one to notice if they vanish for good.

And Sapphire knows, too, that falling for Bird is only going to cause trouble. She just doesn't know how soon, or how bad... And whether that trouble will come from the dangers of Neverland or from Bird himself.

All she knows is that this will be their last night together - or the night she's lost forever.




cleveland

neverland

giant eagle

vanderbilt

carousel





lost night fav quote

lost night quotes 3

lost night quotes 2

lost night quotes

"If only more young people were able to pull their heads out of their smart phones and pay attention to the rest of the world."

--Kate Ellison, Lost Night (Loc 197)


Isn't that the truth!


Bird and Saph's tumultuous relationship reminds me of some songs from particular bands, so I decided to compile a playlist that I felt best fits their relationship/the vibe I get from them. I wonder what music what they listen to while on late night drives.

[spotify id="spotify:user:wolfcubriot:playlist:5wbKkmCd692BgaRvavYNIi" width="300" height="400" /]

"Degausser" by Brand New
"Everlong" by Foo Fighters
"Wicked Games" by The Weeknd
"Angels" by The XX
"Night Time, My Time" by Sky Ferreira
"Happy With Me" by HOLYCHILD
"Reckless" by Julia Lauren
"Sex" by The 1975
"Fallingforyou" by The 1975
"Bones" by MS MR
"Desire" by Meg Myers
"Better in the Dark" by Say Lou Lou
"The Devil Within" by Digital Daggers
"Not On Drugs" by Tove Lo
"Dark In My Imagination" by of Verona
"Run On Love" by Lucas Nord and Tove Lo
"I Can't Stop Drinking About You" by Bebe Rexha
"Kiss Me" by Ed Sheeran
"Tonight, I Love You" by The Latency
"Painkiller" by Three Days Grace
"push pull" by Purity Ring
"Is There Somewhere" by Halsey
"Get Lost" by Icona Pop
"The Edge of Tonight" by All Time Low
"Think Of You" by MS MR
"Hold Me Down" by Halsey
"Hunger" by Of Monsters and Men
"Tear In My Heart" by Twenty One Pilots
"This Is Love" by Cappa
"Rain" by Cappa
"R U Mine?" by Arctic Monkeys
"If It Means A Lot To You" by A Day To Remember
"Nova cane" by Frank Ocean
"Take My Hand" by The Cab
"Kids In Love" by Mayday Parade
"Beside You" by Marianas Trench
"Dreams" by Cassie Steele
"Chains" by Cassie Steele
"Beast" by Nico Vega
"So High" by Ghost Loft
"Ashtrays and Heartbreaks" by Miley Cyrus ft. Snoop Lion
"Bonnie and Clyde" by Jonathan Clay





Kate Ellison spent a lot of time as a child, in Baltimore, pretending to be things she wasn't: a twin, a telekinetic, a benevolent witch with a box full of magical stones, a spy, a soccer player. She trained as an actor in Chicago and has walked across the entire country of Spain. She is a painter and jewelry-maker, and has at least one artist friend who really does keep his true name a secret from the world. He told her, but don't ask her to tell you—she's not gonna do it. Kate lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Butterfly Clues is her first novel.


madly + pressed juicery

Jul 5, 2015



today was a day well-spent sitting by the bonfire pit at the fountains reading an arc of madly by amy alward that i picked up at ala last month, accompanied with a vanilla almond juice from pressed juicery.


add madly by amy alward to your tbr!


title: madly
author: amy alward
publication date: september 29, 2015
publisher: simon schuster books for young readers
genre: young adult fantasy
empty kingdom. Design by Berenica Designs.