Only You {Mephisto Mark} by Stephanie Feagan Giveaway!

How would one of you lovelies like to win a fabulous book by the fabulous Stephanie Feagan?  Her Mephisto Covenant series is on its third book {first two written under her YA pen name Trinity Faegen}.  I freakin' love her books, and her third Mephisto is the best so far!  So, with that, I have an extra copy to give away!  This copy is kinda special... its from the first printing, back when Only You was titled The Mephisto Mark and was still under her YA/NA pen name Trinity Faegen.  So, while it looks like this on Goodreads and Amazon:

You will be getting this lovely copy{!}:

So what do you need to know about this giveaway?  Well, here are the rules:

• One person will win The Mephisto Mark book.
• I will be checking all the entries.  If you say you commented, and I don't see a blog comment, your entry will be invalid.  Ditto with Twitter posts and following via twitter.  If I can't verify it, that entry is invalid.
• This is open to US and Canadian readers only.  Sorry, guys, not international, because I really don't have the money to do that!
• The winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond. If I don't hear back within that time frame, a new winner will be chosen.
• Must be 17 or older to enter {this is technically a New Adult book, and covers some pretty tough/graphic material... please keep that in mind when entering!}
• By entering this giveaway, you're agreeing to the terms/rules listed above.

 {Also, I know this doesn't end for a while... I'm going to be on vacation starting the 25th for several days, and I want to be able to mail in out to the winner as soon as it's over, not have you wait a week!}

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Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins | Review

Title: Sweet Reckoning
Author: Wendy Higgins
Pages: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Goodreads rating: 4.54 stars
Published: April 29, 2014
Source: Paperback/Bought

Descprition:

It’s time.

Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways.

The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

In the most sensual and fast-paced installment yet, Sweet Reckoning brings all the beloved Neph together one last time to fight for their freedom.


This trilogy had me hooked from the first chapter of the first book.  It was seriously that good, and Sweet Reckoning did not disappoint! If you haven't picked these up yet, I would suggest it (especially if you're a fan of Jennifer L Armentrout's Lux series).

Sweet Reckoning picks up right where Sweet Peril left off, and the pace Higgins has set is fast. There is no part that feels slow or irrelevant. Every single word is important to the story and plot, and is written is such a way to hook the reader. I'll admit, I had a difficult time putting this down when D woke up from his naps!

Anna is the same beautiful character I loved at the beginning of Sweet Evil, only stronger and more sure of herself. And I absolutely love how Higgins brings in Anna's faith into this final chapter of the Sweet Trilogy and everything it means to all of the Nephs (but without being preachy... This isn't Christian fiction, so I honestly didn't expect as much spiritual references, but it was pretty refreshing to see). Two words sum up Anna in this book: warrior woman. 

And Kaidan... Still just as swoon worthy as ever, even more so as you see his bond with Anna strengthen and mature. What's more swoony than a man so in love with his woman that he would do anything for her? And I mean anything. Yeah, kinda hard not to get all swoony over him and his relationship with Anna. 

Wendy Higgins has concluded this trilogy wonderfully. Her characters have grown and really stand on their own. Out of all the conclusions I've read for various trilogies and series lately, this one is one of my favorites. It's has love, betrayal, heartbreak, life, death, angels, demons and even an earthquake. And it just goes to show that the most powerful weapon one can have on their side is love. 

Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins | Review

Title: Sweet Peril
Author: Wendy Higgins
Pages: 371
Publisher: HarperTeen
Goodreads rating: 4.38 stars
Published: April 30, 2013
Source: Paperback/Bought

Descripton:

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?


Sweet Evil won me over.  And Sweet Peril picked up with stealing me away into this awesome, unique world that Wendy Higgins has created.  These books are addictive in the way of pretty much anything written by Jennifer L Armentrout.  In fact, I would think it's safe to say that these do for Nephilim what the Lux Series did for aliens.  Hot dang!  ::swoon::

This story follows Anna, but now she has to play the part of the daughter of the Duke of Substance Abuse.  She's being watched by demon whisperers, who want to cause mayhem and see humans fall and sin, which is what good little Nephs should want, too.  You watch her struggle as the angel in her doesn't' want to lead people to party and drink, and the little devil in her that occasionally gives in and says "yes!".  The beauty about Anna is she listens to the angel side more than the devil.

The snippet at the vary beginning of the book gives a glimpse at Neph history, and a little into some of the Dukes and the way they run things {and how heartless they really are, as well as some of the Nephs}.  Wendy Higgins is the master at writing characters as soulless {pretty much all the Dukes} and the most kind, caring, considerate people {Patti and Anna}, not to mention those who are tormented {Kaidan, I'm looking at you}.  It amazes me how effortlessly the writing flows from the various characters and the emotions I saw in them while reading.

Wendy Higgins is offically one of my Auto-Buy Authors now.  I can't wait to see what happens with Kaidan and Anna in the third {and final ::sobs::} installment of the Sweet Trilogy. 

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins | Review

Title: Sweet Evil
Author: Wendy Higgins
Pages: 453
Publisher: HarperTeen
Goodreads rating: 4.21 stars
Published: May 1, 2012
Source: Paperback/Bought

Description:

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?


I've had this on my shelf for-eh-ver, and I've been following Wendy Higgins on Twitter for just as long... the ONLY reason I'm happy it took me so long to read this is I think I would have gone nuts having to wait a year for each book to come out.  I read this in two days, which is huge because, HEY!, I have a kiddo I'm running around with most of the day, plus I'm keeping a house clean like we don't even live here in case we need to do a showing {yep, trying to sell our house and buy another!}.  So, yes, reading any book has been taking a little while for me, but not this one!  I devoured it.  Wendy Higgins is officially on my Author Auto-Buy List.

Anna is the definition of "goody-two-shoes".  If you were to Google it, you should see her picture.  She's been blessed/cursed with knowing other people's emotions {and feeling them, but this is less prevalent in the book}.  She seems pretty normal, acts normal, flies under the radar for the most part.  She has one really good friend, Jay, who's her buddy and has "never felt that way" toward her {she should know: his emotions are literally swirling around him in a cloud of colors for Anna to see}.  Anna is thisclose with her step-mom, Patti, who adopted her as a baby after her birth mother died in childbirth and her dad went to prison.  The only thing about Anna that's maybe not so great is she feels this weird pull towards certain vices...

Enter Kaidan Rowe, with his swoony looks and {drum roll please} British accent {its okay to have Tom Hiddleson's voice in your head while you read Kaidan's lines... or Henry Cavill}.  He's what every good girl is told to stay away from: band member {drummer}, womanizer, bad boy.  And he's very, very good at getting the ladies to swoon - he is the son of the Duke of Lust, after all.  He quite literally know exactly what to say or do to get any woman to want to be with him.  When he spots Anna at one of his gigs, tagging along with her friend Jay, he knows she's different... she's like him...

The characters and the world building were so good in this book, I would be transported every time I opened it.  I just could not get enough {thankfully I'd purchased Sweet Peril a while back}.  Even though he's this charmer bad boy, I was cheering for Kaidan and Anna the whole time, cringing when various Dukes came in the picture {okay, pretty much any Duke other than Anna's dad}.  Kaidan's father makes me want to run away every time I read about him... Or take a hot, cleansing mind rub.  The man/fallen angel is evil.  As he's supposed to be - he is one of the twelve Dukes of Sin who roam the earth, pushing humans to give in to their sinful natures.  And almost all the Dukes have children who do their bidding as well {Nephilim, or Nephs, in this book}, which makes it harder for Kaidan and Anna to even be in the same area together, much less be together.

Sweet Evil was just the book I needed to get me to start diving into reading again {my TBR pile is a little scary at the moment}, and Sweet Peril was even more so {review on that one will be up a bit later}.  So, in a nutshell, if you haven't read this book and you're a fan of pretty much any supernatural YA, you need to.  Even if you aren't a fan of supernatural YA, you should read this.  Saying "it's SO good" just does not cut it for this book.  It's beyond awesome.