Monday, October 22, 2012

Blog Tour ~ The Violet Fox by Clare C. Marshall Review + Giveaway!


Welcome to my stop on The Violet Fox tour!
Follow the full tour HERE
Check out my review and be sure to enter the giveaway!


The Violet Fox by Clare C. Marshall

Release Date: October 13, 2012
Publisher: Faery Ink Press  
Pages: 308
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: Author for tour review
Purchase: Amazon
Haunt Author: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Run.
That’s what instinct tells me.
But in order to save the secrets of my people
and to protect my brother
I have to become the enemy.
There are two kinds of people in the land of Marlenia. The Marlenians, who live on the surface, and the Freetors, who are forced to live underground. The war between them ended two hundred years ago, but the Freetors still fight for the right to live under the sun. Fifteen-year-old Kiera Driscoll embodies the Freetors' hopes as the Violet Fox. In a violet cape and mask, she sneaks around Marlenia City stealing food and freeing her people from slavery. Then the Elders task her with a secret mission: retrieve a stolen tome that contains the secrets of Freetor magic, something the Marlenians both fear and covet. Kiera must disguise herself as a noblewoman and infiltrate the Marlenian castle. Before the Freetor-hating Advisor finds out her real identity. Before her brother is imprisoned because of the secrets he hides. And before she falls any more in love with the prince she's supposed to hate. More is happening in the castle than she realizes, and Kiera is faced with a difficult choice. Will she be loyal to her people and their fight for freedom, or will she be loyal to her heart?

Fantasy is a real hit or miss with me and I'm so happy this was such a hit! Kiera is a Freetor, living under the surface, having to steal from the Marlenians above in order to eat and survive. Two hundred years ago there was a war which drove her people underground. The elders have the power of magic and must keep it protected since it is the one thing the Marlenians fear. When a tome holding the secret of Freetor magic goes misssing, Kiera must pretend to be a Marlenian noble woman to find it and return it. Living as the enemy becomes a problem as she begins falling for the Marlenian Prince Keegan.

Kiera was a very strong character. She put herself at risk daily to help bring in food for her people and to free slaves. She wore the Violet Fox costume to raise hope and to show the Marlenians that the Freetors were a strong force and would never back down. Though to be fair there was a lot of mistreatment and prejudices on both sides. The Marlenians were doing horrible things but the Freetors did some horrible things back. Like kidnapping Lady Dominique so Kiera could take her place. Lady Dominique was indeed an awful girl but probably did not deserve to be held captive. But then Lady Dominique would mention cutting out Freetor tongues and I would understand where Kiera was coming from. Right and wrong can be hard to decide when your people and family are murdered and starving.

Kiera becomes Lady Dominique and heads to Prince Keegan's birthday celebration. Kiera takes along her brother Rordan and other Freetors undercover. Kiera tried to pretend to be the Freetor hating noble woman but can't help challenging Keegan's beliefs. Keegan begins to see why a Freetor may act the way they do and how they are just trying to survive. Keegan began to seem like a great guy but when he thought Rordan was Kiera's lover I thought he became kind of selfish. Kiera asked him to help protect Rordan and I didn't feel like he tried hard enough. At first I excused this because I thought The Advisor was to blame. Keegan couldn't go against him. But then when secrets and twists came out about The Advisor I blamed him for the awful things that happened. It was just such a huge thing and I felt like Kiera should have held them more responsible since I was pretty upset! I'm kind of off on a tangent that probably makes no sense until you read it and because I'm trying not to spoil it, but I just wanted a bigger reaction out of Kiera for something so horrible that happened to someone close to her. I did understand that there was a lot of pressure to stick with the mission and to keep her cover as a Marlenian.

The Violet Fox was a very exciting fantasy with great world building. I could picture their underground home perfectly. The romance had a very realistic feel and I was happy there was no love triangle. Plenty of action kept me turning the pages and there were lots of twists, one big one I especially did not see coming at all! And I am not easily shocked with plots twists. I also really felt the emotion through the characters and one really shocking and depressing scene literally had me in tears. I'm still upset lol But there was humor as well to offset the somewhat depressing plot. Seeing Kiera go from rags to riches and impersonating a noble woman had me laughing at times. The ending was a nice wrap up of the events of book one but also set up all the work Kiera and Keegan have for the next book. Very excited to see where the series goes next!


My shoes touched a soft surface, and I was momentarily set off balance. I stopped and stared at the red surface, testing it gingerly with my pointed shoe.
"It's called carpet, Sis." Rordan muttered. "Let's keep going."
"It's like...grass," I whispered. "But it's inside."

"The court never allows a lady to reveal herself," Keegan replied. "Please...allow me to know you."

Rating: 5/5


Congratulations! You've spotted The Violet Fox #2! Report her to the authorities for a chance to win!

Instructions:

1. Copy the URL of this blog post
2. Paste it in the appropriate CATCH THE VIOLET FOX Rafflecopter entry option (Catch Me #1 for CATCH THE VIOLET FOX #1, Catch Me #2 for CATCH THE VIOLET FOX #2, etc).
3. Spot the Violet Fox 5 times for more entries into the grand giveaway!

Stay tuned. Those who are vigilant with their spotting of The Violet Fox may be eligible for extra prizes ;)

So for my stop copy and paste this link 
http://somelikeitparanormall.blogspot.com/2012/10/blog-tour-violet-fox-by-clare-c.html 
into Catch the Violet Fox #2 then follow the tour HERE to find the rest!

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for participating, I'm glad you liked it! ^_^

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  2. Great review! It sounds like a really good book. I am on the tour, but I didn't do a review. Hopefully sometime I can get around to reading this. :)

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  3. This is the second rave review I have read for this one. I love that it has so many good things going for it, action, strong world building, good romance, big twists and turns. I am like you fantasy is hit or miss with me, but this sounds like one to check out!

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  4. I remember seeing this one before (maybe it was pitched to me, I can't remember) but I have been so overwhelmed that I didn't give it much attention. But your rave review definitely got my attention now! One of these days when I'm not so overwhelmed I will have to give this one a shot, it sounds good!

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  5. I haven't heard of this one before so I am really fascinated by it. It sounds very unique...I'll have to check this one out! Thanks for the fabulous review, and the giveaway! :)

    ~ Maida @ Literary Love Affair

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  6. I'm not a big fantasy fan, but this does sound fun! I'm glad you loved it, Jennifer. Great review!

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  7. I'm the same way when it comes to fantasy, but this sounds very promising. To be honest, I probably would have passed on this book because of the over *hangs head in shame*

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  8. Thanks for your review. I enjoy reading what people are saying about this book. :) Sounds like a great read.

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  9. I love anything fantasy and this book sounds great!

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Thanks so much for visiting and commenting! I read and love every single comment!