Happy Book Day to...
THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES
by Alethea Kontis!
O P E N I N G L I N E:
"Does it matter? At least I was given a choice. The only wrong decision would have been not making one." Kai Xanthopoulos stopped what she was doing and froze. Took a deep breath. She had to knead the dough gently for it to come out right, not pummel it into oblivion.
Thanks to Owen's insistence on discussing this topic again, she really, really wanted to pummel it into oblivion.
(pg. 9, US e-ARC edition)
“Fate only clears the path. How you walk it is up to you.”
~THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES
THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES is out today. Snag a digital copy for a mere $2.99!!!
THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES may be part of the Nocturne Falls Universe created by Kristen Painter, but you don't have to read that series to read this. The characters are brand-new, and the title focuses on the teens living in the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year rather than the adults.
If you love paranormal novels, you'll really enjoy this! If you're not a huge PN reader (I'm not, either!), you still may love it because it's more focused on mythology and relationships than it is about "being paranormal."
Alethea Kontis inputs her trademark mixing of mythology and lore into her latest offering. Kai Xanthopoulos is Greek and living in a town of paranormal beings. It's commonplace to rub elbows with werewolves, fairies, witches, etc. Kai is Greek, and hasn't come into her abilities yet--though she will begin to as the novel progresses, and while they're super spoilery, they're also super cool! Kai's life is uneventful until the day Finn Kincaid blows into town. He's a werewolf on the run, cursed with bad luck. When he sees Kai, he can't help but kiss her, despite having never met her before. His existence starts bringing out Kai's powerful abilities, and if she can figure out who she is and learn how to control her manifesting powers, maybe she can break Finn's curse and figure out why she feels so drawn to him.
I gulped this book down in one sitting and immediately wanted more. Kontis has created an intriguing world and introduced us to already-endearing new characters. There are enough loose threads that I could see her returning to Nocturne Falls and giving us more books about these characters, because I'm just not ready to say goodbye to them yet. There are so many spoilery things I can't talk about, which makes this review hard, but I really like the way all the magical and mystical elements were handled. It was a great blend of contemporary and fantasy and paranormal, and it never bored me. In fact, I kind of wanted to see if Ivy had a story in the original series because her character intrigued me so much. I'm also wondering if any other residents of Nocturne Falls that we encountered were from Kristen Painter's original series. While I never felt left out or like I was missing anything because Kontis introduced the world so well, it did make me wonder what I'd missed out on and consider coming back to play with the original series! When Kontis published FISH OUT OF WATER this past fall as part of the Barefoot Bay line, I had no desire to read any other books in that world because the surrounding characters didn't stand out to me. I can already tell that Painter has well-fleshed out characters and an intriguing world (I mean, seriously, a town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year and has residents who have NO CLUE that paranormal beings live among them? SO INTRIGUING!!!) because they carried over into THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES so well and so naturally. Nothing felt forced or added in for no reason.
While I'm normally not a fan of insta-love romances, the one between Kai and Finn really works here. There are REASONS that these two have the connection they do, and since Kontis has that fairy tale-vibe in all of her writing, it just works. I loved all the Greek asides inputted throughout the book, as well as the way Finn is always quoting Hamlet. A guy who loves literature and has memorized the classics? Yes, please!!! There are also a lot of great secondary characters, but the stand-out has to be Owen, who....well, SPOILERS, but I definitely would love to see these books continue and to see more of him!
Overall, THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES was a fun, fast, engaging read that was hard to put down. I'm already packing my suitcase because I want to take another trip to Nocturne Falls VERY soon!!!
***BREAKING NEWS!!!***
YOU GUYS, YOU GUYS, YOU GUYS!!!! I KNOW SECRETS. SECRETS I'M ALLOWED TO SHARE WITH ***YOU.***
1) THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES is going to tie into a BRAND NEW SERIES from Alethea Kontis debuting later this year!!!!!!!!! It's called The Border Court, about a special street in our world (South Carolina, specifically) where people live who are exiled or have run away from Faerie!!! Does that not sound AMAZING!? I seriously already want to read it!!!!
2) THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES is not--I repeat NOT--the only book Alethea will write in the Nocturne Falls Universe!!!!!!! There has been speculation--heck, I speculated in this review! *flails* The second book will be about Bellamy, who is a super cool friend of Kai's that helps to break Finn's curse and I'm so excited to dig into her story!!! The book will come out in September 2017!
3) FINALLY...!!!!! Want to hear something suspicious???? Have you noticed that Sherrilyn Kenyon and Alethea Kontis are doing a LOT of stuff together this year??? They miiiight be working on some more books in the Dark-Hunter universe...Nothing is confirmed, of course, but there are rumors of a Dark-Hunter alphabet book and a YA series about Simi!!!!!!!
New to the world of Alethea Kontis?
I've previously reviewed ENCHANTED, HERO, DEAREST, TRIXTER, and TRIX AND THE FAERIE QUEEN, as well as her novella BLOOD & WATER, and chatted about Snow Whites role in ENCHANTED.
I've most recently reviewed her YA contemporary FISH OUT OF WATER, and Mandy has reviewed her YA horror novel HAVEN, KANSAS and had Alethea over for a guest post on how making horror movies helped give her the foundation to write HAVEN!
Alethea Kontis has also stopped by A Backwards Story several times to talk about her books, fairy tales, mermaids, and more because she's awesome like that! *loves her*
a flash fiction piece entitled "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales,"
a guest post on "Families in Fiction,"
a guest post on "The Real Peter Woodcutter,"
a guest post on "Behind the Scenes with Alethea Kontis as she reveals the missing FINAL chapter from her latest published novel DEAREST,"
and a guest post entitled "I Dedicate This Post to You!"
She's also shared two of her famous fairy tale rant videos, one about Rapunzel and one about Cinderella and how it inspired her novel ENCHANTED!
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C O N T E N T R A T I N G S
Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Romance: PG ( Kissing )
Language: --
Violence: G ( Mention of a bear attack that killed a character's friend before the book begins )
Violence: G ( Mention of a bear attack that killed a character's friend before the book begins )
Other: G ( Mention about how a character was maltreated at home before he ran away. )
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C O V E R D E S I G N:
I like the 50s Restaurant vibe on the cover--it makes me want a milkshake!!
I also love that there is a CAT in the background because....that's important! It's just really, really cute!
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O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND WOLVES
Author: Alethea Kontis
Author: Alethea Kontis
Release Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Sugar Skull Books
SUMMARY:
Like many paranormals of Greek descent, Kai Xanthopoulos will not know her true nature until her young powers fully manifest. Unlike her parents—and much to the dismay of her stray cat best friend—Kai has chosen not to spend the rest of her life at the diner in Nocturne Falls. She takes a job at Delaney’s Delectables instead, a decision that puts her directly in the path of a fugitive werewolf that could change her destiny…
Finn Kincaid is cursed. Literally. Accused of murdering his pack-brother, beaten and left for dead in the woods, he runs to Nocturne Falls to seek sanctuary with the one cousin who successfully got out of Tennessee: Ivy Merrow, the sheriff’s wife. On his way there, he’s drawn off course by a girl with no idea how much power she possesses, both within herself, and over him.
Together, Kai and Finn must find a way to break the curse and fight their fate, without destroying each other—and their future—in the process.
Buy the Book!
Amazon│Barnes and Noble│iBooks│Kobo
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****Giveaway*****
To celebrate the expansion of the Nocturne Falls Universe, Kristen Painter is hosting an AWESOME giveaway on her website!!!!
You could win a Kindle Fire or a cool pumpkin charm!!!
Here's what Kristen Painter had to say about the giveaway!
---THE BIG GIVEAWAY!---
What can I say? I'm excited about this. How excited?
I'm giving away a Kindle Fire and 10 Nocturne Falls silver pumpkin charms!
How do you get in on this? Easy-peasey. Go here.
You could win a Kindle Fire or a cool pumpkin charm!!!
Here's what Kristen Painter had to say about the giveaway!
What can I say? I'm excited about this. How excited?
I'm giving away a Kindle Fire and 10 Nocturne Falls silver pumpkin charms!
How do you get in on this? Easy-peasey. Go here.
Enter now!
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