Pixie Vixen Book Reviews: 2016

Stay on the roads. Don’t enter the woods. Never go out at night.

Those are the rules in Rowan’s Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton’s family has lived for centuries. It’s an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstition and traditions, and sixteen-year-old Ivy loves it. The other kids at school may think the Glen kids are weird, but Ivy doesn’t care—she has her cousin Heather as her best friend. The two girls share everything with each other—or so Ivy thinks. When Heather goes missing after a May Day celebration, Ivy discovers that both her best friend and her beloved hometown are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them.

Review:

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude is a Southern Gothic tale that delivers both a spooky and thrilling storyline. While there is plenty of gore to be creepy, there is just enough love to make it a romance. That said, the romantic story arcs make this an excellent diverse YA book, as Jude isn't afraid to explore same-sex relationships.

The atmosphere and world-building is spot on and makes the perfect backdrop for such a dark, twisted tale. Jude's descriptions are vivid and imaginative and her writing is nearly flawless. The characters are well-constructed, and while not always likeable, they are real and relatable.

Another thing I really was charmed by was how besides being dark and thrilling, this was also a book about "firsts". Main character, Ivy, is suddenly thrown into a first love and mystery and is ultimately forced into finding herself along the way.

Finally, the ending is creepy and surprising and will throw you completely off because you won't see it coming. Sarah Jude has written a phenomenal book that spans many genres and has something for pretty much everyone!!

Exclusive Content: (Yay!)

The cover for May Queen Murders is gorgeous. Can you talk about its composition, and how it pertains to your story? Are there any secrets hidden in the illustration that hint at more you only know having written the story that inspired it?

Isn’t it? The photographer is a young Polish artist named Marcin Nabgraba, and his work is so striking. It’s an image in a series that he has worked on for years and he only takes one picture in the series a year, and they are all equally beautiful. It’s a funny story how it became the cover. I initially stumbled across the image and put it on a private inspiration board because it was haunting and the water looked cold and the woods eerie. Shortly after my book was acquired, my editor and I got to talking about how I’m an artist and a very visual person, so it made sense for her to look at images I’d collected as she edited. Somehow this picture wound

up in the hands of the art department and while there were other (all incredibly gorgeous) cover comps created, this one was the unanimous YES from my agent, my editor, the whole team, and myself.

I admit I was unsure about the pink, slashed font for the title because I just have an aversion to pink (I’m a purple gal). And yet the more I looked at it, the more it stood out.

As far as any secrets in the photograph . . . well, I can tell you it’s not directly supposed to Ivy or Heather but something older than either of the cousins.

About the Book:

Pages: Hardcover, 304 pages

Release Date: May 3rd 2016

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

About The Book:

Learning Spanish The Gringa Way By: Erin Ashley Sieber Published: September 24, 2014 Publisher: AuthorHouse Pages: 232

Step into a new world of learning, in which the journey itself is actually fun and exciting! The Gringa has taken a somewhat "nontraditional" approach toward teaching the Spanish language to English speakers. In doing so, she pioneered a system, The Gringa Way, which allows learners to translate their English thoughts into Spanish thoughts and sentences. This total "new approach" not only makes the language much easier to learn and understand but it transforms what many thought was "impossible" and makes it completely achievable. Many people have been totally overwhelmed by the "strict rules" and vast grammatical differences they discovered when trying the "old" and "traditional" methods of learning usable Spanish - so they quit - saying it is simply way too hard and frustrating. With The Gringa Way method and the help of this book, you will be speaking Spanish easier than you ever thought possible.

Book Links:

Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BAM

**REVIEW**

As someone who took French her entire life, I was initially very skeptical about a book promising to teach me Spanish. I am a French girl through and through. The Spanish classes I took in college did nothing but confuse me and my pronunciation was garbled.

However, Erin Ashley Sieber breaks down the Spanish language into easy to understand methods that even I could follow! Within a few pages, I was hooked, and found myself speaking out loud to myself!

This is a great tool that will allow you to begin learning conversational, basic Spanish and develop a love for the language. Those of you looking to pick up another language should definitely check out Learn Spanish The Gringa Way!!!

.99 Weekly Special:

Purchase the digital edition of The Gringa Way for the special reduced price of .99 during this week only at the thegringa.com. Not only will you get a stellar discount, but you will also receive a personalized and signed GRINGA card and pen. Please send proof of purchase with physical mailing address to ladyreadertours@gmail.com.

Book Trailer:

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January 18^th – Cabin Goddess – Recipe and Review

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January 21^st – Karin's Fantasy World – Review

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January 22^nd – Anything But Vanilla Book Blog – Review

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January 22^nd – Lady Reader's Bookstuff - Tiff – Review

About The Author:

"I fell in love with the Spanish language, as well as the Spanish people, at a young, impressionable age. When I was fourteen I received a trip to Cancun, Mexico as a gift for Christmas! It was this trip that changed the rest of my career course, and really my outlook on life and other cultures.

What happened you ask? When I arrived to Cancun, Mexico, I was excited and eager to explore this new and beautiful land. It was my first time out of the States, and I was ready to mingle! Along my journey in Cancun, I encountered some people from South America who were traveling. I was all too eager to hear and learn about their background and country of Argentina - but there was one big problem I encountered with this: I did not speak Spanish (at the time) and they did not speak English. Besides knowing how to say “hola,” I had yet to have learned any Spanish. My best friend, (who was with me on the trip) did have a year of Spanish, but she was not yet fluent in any sense of the term. What is the point of this story you might ask? It was in that very moment of pure frustration and disappointment from not being able to communicate - I told myself: I would not let this happen again.

When I got back to the states, not only did I pick Spanish as my (language of choice) for all of my high schooling, but decided to go on to also make the Spanish language my major in College, and then go on to pursue a career using Spanish. My love for the language opened up many doors:

In High School, the National Spanish Honor Society inducted me into their honor roll. I then earned my first degree in the Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and International Business from Florida Atlantic University. While attending the university, I jumped at the chance to live and study in Salamanca, Spain and El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, as well as attend the private language school, Estudio Sampere for six months, where I received some of my most intense instruction in the Spanish language. I then went on to obtain my Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business at Nova Southeastern University.

Since then, I have traveled the world and been to more than 8 Spanish speaking countries, have worked for the major newspaper El Nuevo Herald as their Business Development Manager , am a member of the American Translation Association as well as a qualified Court Interpreter in my home state of Maryland. I have also had the privilege to teach English to Spanish speaking members of a Major League baseball team."