Hey guys! So today, I am very excited to be taking part in the Greta & The Goblin blog tour, hosted by Shane from Itching For Books. In my tour stop, I'll be featuring an excerpt as well as my review and a giveaway for the chance of winning a finished copy of Greta & The Goblin King! Hope you enjoy and good luck winning :D
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Blurb:
While trying to save her brother from the witch three years ago, Greta was thrown into the fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon. To survive, 17-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape. But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil being knows she’s the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the boys she finds stranded in the woods will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back . . .
My Review:
For a starter, this book was just amazing! I REALLY enjoyed the idea of this book and the world-building as well which was so well-crafted and creative and I liked that the story is slightly reminiscent of Peter Pan in the terms of the 'lost boys' being in another world, it's just that in this book, it wasn't Neverland, not even close.
When I first started reading this book, I was put off by the third POV narrating - which really annoyed and confused me throughout the rest of the book - and then, I was also kinda put off by the idea of ugly monsters and ghouls but there was something about the plot that gripped me. For me, it became sufficient to be reading about a new thing and I was really intriguied by the world-building and the plot which was full of unexpected incidents. Add on that a kick-ass heroine and it was complete. Greta of all, was able to fill her place as the protagonist and I honestly enjoyed her the most. A human thrust into the cold Mylena but she preserved it all good and fought her way through bravely.
There wasn't much of a love story in this book, just a beginning of one. The ending, however, was a bit child-ish and wasn't all satisfying because it was when things started to get hot between Greta & the Goblin King, Issac that the book ended and we didn't get to know what happened to the 'lost boys'.
Overall, I didn't expect liking this book as much as I do now, I was vastly impressed. And along with the eventful plot which was full of twists and turns, the kick-ass protoganist, and the surprisingly sublte world-building, the story itself was a poignant and original one. So if you are a fellow fantasy lover and want a change, away from the accustomed worlds of vampires and witches, then by all means, go ahead and read this book, you won't regret it. But now I'm just eagerly awaiting the sequel. Recommend it!
Title: Greta And The Goblin King
Author: Chloe Jacobs
Series: Mylena Chronicles #1
Release Date: November 13th 2012 by Entangled Publishing, LLC
Source: For Review ( For blog tour )
Rating: 4/5
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
When she’d set out to track the foul beast hunkered down in the cavern ahead, Greta hadn’t counted on gale force winds and an ice storm engulfing three goblin territories descending like a bitter, frozen plague to torture her.
She should have. A blinding blizzard was nothing less than typical Mylean weather, and after spending four years stranded here, she definitely should have expected it. The cold had long agopenetrated her thick coat and the layers of wool and soft cotton, until it seemed more like days than hours since she’d felt the welcome of a roaring fire in the hearth, but her comfort would have to wait a while longer. A young goblin boy had gone missing from his home in the village. She refused to believe he was dead already.
With a weary sigh, she squinted through a break in the canopy of gloomy evergreens, gauging the amount of fury left in the turbulent sky. The shadows falling across the blanket of craptastic white stuff were still long, but at least she could see her hands in front of her face again. She had to have been on the ghoul’s trail for at least three hours by now.
Three hours of non-stop fun
.
She approached the cave entrance carefully. After scoping it out from a safe distance, she circled back and came at it from the side.
Her stomach twisted as she thought of the kid suffering inside, but the image that came to mind wasn’t of a frightened goblin child. Instead, she saw a human boy from another time and place.
Drew.
Shaking her head, she squared her shoulders and kept moving. Blizzard or not, she needed to bring the goblin home alive if she wanted to get paid, and the creature who took the boy had ensconced itself and its prize deep inside the cave.
A noise. Distinctive from the natural groaning of tree limbs weighed down by snow. A crunch behind her as someone took a step closer.
Damn. She’d miscalculated, assuming no one would have followed
her while she was following the ghoul.
She spun as a familiar flash of amethyst rushed her in the not quite dark. Before she could duck and roll, a thick, muscled arm slammed across her chest and shoved her against the cave wall so hard the back of her head scraped rock.
With a speed and strength that had been drilled into her daily for four years, Greta brought her knee up. Her attacker evaded but wasn’t quick enough to avoid her headbutt to his lying face.
“Danem Greta, stop.” Isaac grunted and frowned down at her.
She sneered at his use of the conventional form of Mylean address. Not that she wasn’t used to it, but coming from Mylena’s shiny new goblin king—who was only a little older than her seventeen years—it felt like a veiled insult instead of an expression of respect.
With a hard swallow, she took in his appearance. His fur-lined cloak gaped open at the throat, and black hair streaked with deep purple curled at his neck. He had a square face and sharp features, although his cheeks were pale and smooth in the dark of the forest.
Like most goblins, he was tall and wide, built like someone had simply chipped away at a hunk of granite. It wasn’t hard to imagine him in a fight to the death for the goblin throne, no matter how young he was.
He rubbed his abdomen with a pinched expression. “What did you do that for?”
Because I knew it was you?
“Oddly enough, I don’t enjoy being attacked from behind by strangers.”
His startling violet eyes locked on her. Lying eyes.
Manipulative eyes. Eyes she’d been seeing in her sleep for too many nights. He chuckled low under his breath. “Ah, but I’m not a stranger to you, am I?”
She fought against the deep cadence of his accented voice and the mischievous grin that curled his lips, reminding herself it was all an act. Their entire relationship was based on tricks and lies, and Greta wasn’t going to fall for them again.
“But since you mention it,” he continued, “which one of us is out lurking in the
Goblin Forest in the middle of the worst storm all year?”
She rolled her eyes. Sure, if he wanted to press the issue, this was technically the Goblin Forest and he was technically the goblin king. She was trespassing.
Technically.
Not that she cared about such minor things as legal boundaries. Not when it came to doing her job. Especially in a territory run by an arrogant goblin whose biggest claim to fame was that he happened to be the youngest monarch Mylena had ever seen.
“This can’t be the worst storm all year,” she said. “I’m sure the one that slammed us a fortnight ago was just as bad. Are there ever any conditions in Mylena other than crappy?”
He grinned and his face was transformed. Suddenly, he was the boy she’d met that evening at Maidra’s who smiled at her and made her feel accepted for the first time since…well, since
she found herself trapped here. As the only human in a world where her kind was reviled and any suggestion of their presence created a furious outcry for blood, acceptance and the possibility of friendship were things she’d never expected to experience.
But she didn’t want him to be that boy again. He should go back to being the goblin king. At least then she knew where she stood—as far away as possible.
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Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About The Author:
Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.
Happy Reading!
xoxo, Mariam
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