The Lantern's Ember Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

The Lantern's Ember
Author: Colleen Houck
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal
Release Date: September 11, 2018
Publisher: Delacorte Press

Description:

Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare. 

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD

The Lantern's Ember was another one of my most anticipated reads of this year and it didn't disappoint. I've read most of the author's other books, so I had high hopes for this one and happily I wasn't let down in the least. The description sounded so awesome that I couldn't wait to read this one. I have to admit that the plot and story line was fantastic and incredibly well done. It mixed a bunch of Halloween lore and scary stories we're all familiar with intriguing new concepts and one heck of a romantic tale. I wasn't expecting the romance to play as big a part of the novel as it did, but I honestly didn't mind it. Usually romance takes over the main story line and suffocates it. That didn't happen at all in this book. I ended up really loving the story and I was rooting for Ember and Jack the whole time. I will admit that I got a big teary-eyed a couple times when things got mushy. There was a weird love rectangle type thing, but not really. Ember had three guys chasing after her, in love with her, but she only had eyes for one of them. 

The rest of the plot was about the Otherworld, Ember's power as a witch, and the lantern's ember and place in the world. I loved learning all I could about the Otherworld - it was very steampunky and awesome. I really enjoyed meeting all the secondary characters like Dev, Finney, Delia, Rune, and even the crazy inventor. The only thing I have a bit of a complaint about is the author's choice of writing style. She did it from the third person point of view, from a bunch of character's perspectives. It mainly was with Ember and Jack, but it bounced around to a lot of the secondary characters too. It got kind of confusing in places and I couldn't deeply connect with Ember or Jack the way I usually like to. The only writing style that allows me personally to achieve that closeness is the first person POV, and sadly the author didn't choose that style for the book. It's the only reason I didn't give it a full five stars, but this is purely my opinion and I'm sure other readers won't have the same issues. Definitely recommended for fans of the author, YA, fantasy, paranormal, horror, and romance.

New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she’s not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.

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(3) winners will receive a finished copy of THE LANTERN'S EMBER - US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule: 

Week One: 

9/3/2018- Captivated Reading- Review 

9/4/2018- Jrsbookreviews- Review 

9/5/2018- Portrait of a Book- Review 

9/6/2018- YA Books Central- Interview 

9/7/2018- Zach's YA Reviews- Review 

Week Two: 

9/10/2018- Such A Novel Idea- Review 

9/11/2018- Lisa Loves Literature- Review 

9/12/2018- Wishful Endings- Interview 

9/13/2018- The Bookish Libra- Review 

9/14/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review 

Week Three: 

9/17/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review 

9/18/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review 

9/19/2018- Book-Keeping- Review 

9/20/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Review 

9/21/2018- A Court of Coffee and Books- Review 

Week Four: 

9/24/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review 

9/25/2018- Savings in Seconds- Review 

9/26/2018- Book Briefs- Review 

9/27/2018- Pacific Northwest Bookworm- Review 

9/28/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt