Tuesday 28 March 2017

Excerpt: Dream Forever by Kit Alloway


Happy Release day to Dream Forever! Dream Forever is the final book in the Dream Walker trilogy by Kit Alloway, and as with every final book in a series, it’s so bittersweet. I really want to know how everything is resolved, yet I don’t want to say goodbye to the characters! I’m currently a little over half way through reading the book and it’s awesome so far! I hoped to be finished reading it by release day, but unexpected life-stuff has gotten in the way of my reading time over the past week and hopefully I’ll have a full review up soon. But I do have an excerpt from Dream Forever to share with you, and if you haven’t read the trilogy yet, maybe I can convince you to give it a shot? Here’s the links to my reviews of Dreamfire and Dreamfever if you’re interested!



Dream Forever by Kit Alloway book cover Journey Through Fiction

As the veil to the Dream becomes dangerously thin, Josh must stop it from tearing to save the world, in the conclusion to The Dream Walker Trilogy.

Trying to control her powers as the True Dream Walker is hard enough with Feodor as her instructor. But trying to learn her strengths with a broken heart makes it nearly impossible for Josh. When mysterious tears in the veil separating the Dream from the waking world begin to appear, and with Peregrine still on the run and Haley trapped in Death, Josh finds herself truly in over her head. With the World threatening to crumble around her, Josh must figure out who she really is and what she wants in time to save it, herself, and everyone she loves.

You won’t be disappointed in this exciting conclusion to Kit Alloway’s The Dream Walker Trilogy.





Dream Forever Excerpt

“Sometimes people give me special access because I’m Peregrine’s granddaughter.”

That was only part of the truth. Josh had a reputation among dream walkers as a prodigy, and they were usually more than happy to bend over backward for her.

“Ironic,” Feodor said, but he smiled at her in a way that made her feel like he saw right through her. “Unfortunately, triangulating the bodies will give us, at best, a rough idea of where Peregrine might be.”

Not to discount the lives of the five men Peregrine had killed, but Josh had a larger concern. If he found a way back into the Dream, he was likely to hurt a lot more people. “What are the chances he’ll figure out how to deactivate the symbol?”

Feodor considered. “I could do it. But then, Peregrine is not me.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Josh said.

“However . . . the power of obsession to propel a man to acts of which he might not otherwise be capable should not be underestimated. I believe Peregrine will continue until he finds a way.”

That was not reassuring.



Chapter 2



“I really think I’m over it,” Will Kansas told his counselor.

Malina wasn’t technically a therapist, but as a pastor, she’d been trained in counseling, and because she was a dream walker, Will could tell her the truth about what had happened to him. They were sitting in her office, which smelled pleasantly of herbal tea and was cluttered with little statues of angels.

Malina lifted her eyebrows at his words. “That’s pretty quick,” she said. “How long has it been? Six weeks?”

“Eight,” Will corrected. Eight weeks since they’d gone into the Hidden Kingdom. Eight weeks since Will had killed Bayla. Eight weeks since he’d failed to kill Peregrine.

Eight weeks since he and Josh had broken up.

“How do you know you’re over it?” Malina asked.

“I’ve stopped having flashbacks and nightmares. I’ve stopped thinking about it all the time. I feel—mostly—at peace with what I had to do to save everyone. I took down my stalker wall.”

“Okay,” Malina said, but the way she broke the syllable told Will she wasn’t crazy about his answer. “That’s all good evidence that your post-traumatic stress is under control, but I’m not sure how that indicates you’re moving on.”

Isn’t holding it together enough? Will wondered. It felt like it should count for something.

“Did you try out for track like we talked about?”

“No.”

“Did you join the Amnesty International Club?”

“No.” Before she could ask what other activities he had avoided, Will said, “I just keep thinking that Peregrine’s still out there. What’s the point of starting something new when I know he’s going to come back and screw it all up?”

“You’re certain he’ll come back.”

“As long as Josh has power he doesn’t have, he’ll be back to try to take it. I doubt he’s done with Mirren, either.”

“How’s Josh doing?”

In the two months since they’d broken up, Josh had tested out of her senior year and graduated early. She spent ten hours a day in the Dream, most of them with Feodor. She’d stopping eating meals with her family, and Will was pretty sure she was living on protein bars and candy. She’d also quit brushing her hair and was getting dressed in the dark, apparently, but her bizarre appearance was only part of the wiry, disheveled look she’d developed. Every time Will saw her, she seemed distracted, hassled, confused by the presence of other people, and more than once he’d caught her muttering to herself in Polish. Whatever was going on with her had ruined her already tenuous grip on the margins of normal behavior.

“Same as usual, I guess,” Will said.

Malina didn’t let him get away with the deflection. “Do you miss her?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I . . . still miss her. I wish things had gone differently.”

“What do you wish had gone differently?”

Everything, he thought.

“I wish we hadn’t lied to each other. I wish I’d asked for support when I needed it. I wish she had confided in me. But mostly I wish Feodor and Peregrine were gone. I think we could have worked things out if not for them.”

“Have you talked to Josh about what happened?”

“No.”

That was an understatement. Josh barely spoke two words to him. Then again, he barely saw her. She spent all her time with Feodor.

At least, Will thought she was spending all of her time with Feodor. Except for when she was dream walking, she wasn’t at home very much.

“Do you want to talk to her about it?” Malina asked.

“Do you want to talk to her about it?” Malina asked.

“I don’t know. Sometimes. Sometimes I want to explain why I had to break up with her.”

“What would you say?”

“That I did it to protect myself emotionally. That it had less to do with her than it had to do with Feodor and Peregrine and all that chaos. I want to tell her . . . that it wasn’t because I didn’t care about her.”

“Do you think she knows that?”

Josh, with her monstrous capacity for guilt and self-blame?

“Nope.”

“Would you feel better if you told her?”

(c) Kit Alloway and used with permission from St. Martin's Press.




Meet the Author


 Kit Alloway author

Kit Alloway writes primarily for young adults, having always had an affection for teenagers. In addition to writing, she plays various musical instruments, decorates cakes, mixes essential oils, and studies East European languages. She lives in Louisville, KY with her family and four very tiny dogs.

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Thursday 23 March 2017

Review: A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi


A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi blog tour Journey Through Fiction

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Roshani Chokshi's new novel, A Crown of Wishes, which is hosted by St. Martin's Press. I got the chance to read the book early, and I have my thoughts about the book included below, as well as other information about A Crown of Wishes and Roshani. Hope you enjoy!


A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi book cover

Title: A Crown of Wishes
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: Companion novel to
The Star-Touched Queen
Format: eARC kindly provided by
St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for
review. (Thank you!!)
My rating: 4 / 5
Release Date: 28th March 2017

Add to Goodreads


Gauri, the princess of Bharata, has been taken as a prisoner of war by her kingdom’s enemies. Faced with a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. Hope unexpectedly comes in the form of Vikram, the cunning prince of a neighboring land and her sworn enemy kingdom. Unsatisfied with becoming a mere puppet king, Vikram offers Gauri a chance to win back her kingdom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together, they’ll have to set aside their differences and team up to win the Tournament of Wishes—a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor.

Reaching the tournament is just the beginning. Once they arrive, danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans and mischievous story birds, a feast of fears and twisted fairy revels.

Every which way they turn new trials will test their wit and strength. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.

-- As seen on Goodreads


My Thoughts


*I received an eARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This didn't influence my opinion in any way.*


When I read The Star-Touched Queen last year I fell completely in love with the world Roshani Chokshi created, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the companion novel when it was released. I remember loving both the writing style and the characters she created and I was so excited to dive into a new story from her. Technically, A Crown of Wishes is a standalone novel and it definitely can be read as one. Apart from taking place in the same world as The Star-Touched Queen, it has few similarities to that story and any over-lapping will be described and recapped in this book. It follows the story of a Prince and Princess from enemy kingdoms joining forces to enter a Tournament of Wishes, and they take on a series of challenges in order to win a wish which can be used to grant the winner their hearts desire.


Considering how much I loved Maya’s story, I was really interested to see how her little sister’s story would compare. It took me a while to connect Guari with how Maya’s little sister was described from the first book. She’s very different to the character we met back then, and while that isn’t a bad thing at all, it did take a bit of getting used to. She’s grown up into a complete badass and I absolutely adored her! I also really liked Vikram, and the chemistry and banter between the two was my favourite part of the novel. Their sass and snark was so entertaining to read!


I can’t help but love Roshani’s writing style. It’s so consuming and visual it’s so easy to get swept up in the story and forget about everything else. However, I personally preferred the overall story arc from the first book a bit more and I thought the writing style in general suited the whimsical qualities of that story perfectly. It pains me to say this, but I felt that sometimes the descriptions and metaphors in A Crown of Wishes distracted instead of enhancing the story. I have to be honest, there were a few occasions where I hadn’t a clue what was being described, and I don’t remember having that problem at any stage reading the first book.


While there were a couple of things I didn’t enjoy quite as much as the first book, overall, I think A Crown of Wishes is a must read if you loved The Star-Touched Queen. I love the world that the author created, and it was so awesome to revisit the Night Bazaar again! I can’t wait to see what she’ll be working on next and to read more of her works in the future.




Meet the Author

 Roshani Chokshi

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.

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