**REVIEW & GIVEAWAY** Starling by Lesley Livingston

This one gave me more than I had expected!!!  I have enjoyed everything 

else Lesley has put out but this one blew me away!!

Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name--the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family--with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods--is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Set against the gritty, shadowed back-drop of New York City, this first novel in award-winning author Lesley Livingston's epic Starling Saga is an intoxicating blend of sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action.

Release Date:  August 28, 2012

Published By:  Harper Teen

Review Copy:  Hardcover, 352 pages

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Review

  

  The rich and dramatic Norse Mythology, combined with Lesley's beautiful writing made for a high impact story that has left me breathless.  The first chapter was enough to pull me in, the action absolutely seduced me.  Pacing was done perfectly and there was not a moment that I wold call dull or where there was a lull.  Not to mention that every time you think that you have it figured out there is something new thrown out that made me second guess just how correct I was about the circumstances.

  Mason was quite simply a great character to read.  She wasn't perfect but the fears and her imperfections were real, she behaved as I would expect most people to behave when put in certain situations, especially given her fears.  Many of us complain about insta love in novels, well I had a case of it (girl crush style) when it came to Mason's fierce and determined attitude.  It was really brought out by Fennrys.  You now Fennrys Wolf.  These two characters complimented each other perfectly.  Though Fennrys dramatic entrance into Mason's world changed everything you could tell that, that was the way things were meant to be.

  Though Mason and Fennry were spectacular, Lesley did something that not many novels have: secondary characters with substance.  I actually found myself particularly drawn to Heather.  There is something about her that I just feel the need to know more about.  Weaved into the story was also how all of the characters were tied together with the Norse Mythology.  There were those that worked for Ragnarok's end-of-the-world but there are also those that now that there is a loophole for every prophecy and wish to prevent the world from being torn apart.  Thing is it's hard at times to tell who is playing for what team and there were players that turned out on the team I just didn't expect.

  I was really unsure where my loyalties laid when it came to the love interest thing for the first bit of the book.  Cal was the guy that everyone in the school wanted to be with including Mason and for a bit it looked like she was going to get him.  Then circumstances kind of made him withdraw and behave a little jerkish but it was obvious that he cared for her and it hurt me a little to see the development and change in him.  With Fennrys it was not instant (well maybe the physical part was but hey if you seen him make an entrance like he did you would feel the same) but they did develop into some loose form or relationship quite easily.  Not that I'm complaining because there was the right amount of hesitation and chemistry pouring between the two of them.  To be honest I am not even recalling love being mentioned in the entire read!

  It was easy to get pulled into Mason's quickly changed world and all of the action and suspense that came with the change.  There is a little of something for everyone and jst enough of everthing to hook you from start to finish.  There is a cliff hanger at the end but realistically what series of books doesn't?  I am already dying to get my hands on the next book and highly recommend this book for everyone, especially if you have enjoyed any of Lesley's previous novels.

Absolutely breathtaking.  

Quotes

What is this guy, like some kind of shaman or something?  Mason wondered.  That was ridiculous.  But then so was the idea that they'd been attacked by monsters.  I do not believe in supernatural creatures, Mason said to herself firmly.

Jealous gods, scheming and plotting against one another-only added bonus of a fatalistic rush toward the eventual prophesied annihilation of the world.  Mason had never developed her father's fierce fascination with the myths.  Still she knew enough abot the ancient stories of her ancestors to know that a wolf figured prominently in the lore.

"Ah." Fennrys winced a bit at the memory.  "Wouldn't a guy like that have enough money to hire a guy with pants if that was the case?  And maybe, I don't know, a machine gun instead of a sword?"

She told her everything that had happened with Fennrys, including the incident at the Boat Basin Cafe and all that had occurred over the last few hours.  Up to and including burying three inches of cold steel in Fenn's shoulder muscle.

I am the author of the WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy (HarperCollins), ONCE EVERY NEVER (Penguin Canada), and the soon-to-be released STARLING (HarperCollins). I am also the co-author of the upcoming new Middle Grade series THE WIGGINS WEIRD, with Jonathan Llyr (Penguin Canada)

The next book in the Starling series: Descendant is set to release
August 27, 2013!  The cover is AMAZING & I can not wait to get my
hands on a copy and dive back into this outstanding world!

Giveaway

Thank you to Harper Collin Canada for donating a copy of this spectacular book!!  I am so excited to be able to share this with someone.  Open to CAN/US.  If the winner is in 
Canada the publisher will ship it and if it is in US I will!!  Sorry INT people but there are
may other awesome INT giveaways for you to check out!! 

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