Blog Tour: Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan

Welcome to my Crazy Dangerous tour stop, I have a promotional post about Andrew Klavan's Top Ten books! Be Sure to check out Crazy Dangerous, it looks like a great read. Plus, the cover is amazing and it is from a male POV! :)

P.S. Click the blog tour banner below to check out the other tour posts with giveaways! 

Title: Crazy Dangerous
Author: Andrew Klavan
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: May 1st 2012

Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: "You probably want to hear about Jennifer and the demons and how I played chicken with a freight train and—oh yeah—the weird murder and how I found out about it—you're definitely going to want to hear about that. But first, I have to tell you about the stupidest thing I ever did . . ."

Sam Hopkins is bored with his status as a preacher's kid. So when a group of guys notorious for being in trouble offers him friendship, he accepts. Before long, he has several new skills—including hot-wiring cars.

At school, there's an eccentric loner named Jennifer. When Sam defends her from being bullied, she begins to seek him out as her only friend. Her ramblings often seem illogical . . . but then start to contain grains of truth. One leads Sam to discover that one of his new friends has been killed. And then she tells him, "I'm looking for the devil." Sam doesn't know what that means, but he knows it's a matter of life and death that he figure it out.

Everyone else thinks Jennifer is suffering from schizophrenia. But Sam is starting to wonder if there could be something prophetic in her words. Discovering the truth is going to be both crazy and dangerous.

Andrew Klavan's TOP TEN BOOKS

There are too many great books to name my favorite ten but, leaving out the Bible and Shakespeare, I’ll name ten that are among my favorites:

1.    Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2.    David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
3.    War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4.    The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
5.    The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
6.    The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
7.    The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
8.    The Ambassadors by Henry James
9.    Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
10.    Germinal by Emile Zola.

Award winning author, screenwriter and media commentator Andrew Klavan is the author of such internationally bestselling novels as True Crime, filmed by Clint Eastwood, and Don’t Say A Word, filmed starring Michael Douglas. Andrew has been nominated for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award five times and has won twice. His books have been translated around the world. His latest novel for adults, The Identity Man, has been praised by Nelson Demille as “fast paced, intelligent and thought-provoking; a great read!” Television and radio host Glenn Beck says “Andrew Klavan never disappoints…one of the best illustrations of the power of redemption that I’ve ever read.” His last novel Empire of Lies was about media bias in the age of terror, and topped Amazon.com’s thriller list. Andrew has also published a series of thrillers for young adults, The Homelanders, which follows a patriotic teenager’s battle against jihadists. The books have been optioned to be made into movies by Summit Entertainment, the team behind the mega-successful Twilight film series.

Author website | Twitter | Facebook | Thomas Nelson Fiction

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Review/Blog Tour: Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittermore

Title: Angel Eyes
Author: Shannon Dittermore
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Fiction
Published: May 29th 2012
Series: Angel Eyes Trilogy #1
Source: ebook (provided for review by publisher)

Goodreads | Amazon

Summary: Once you’ve seen, you can’t unsee. Everything changes when you’ve looked at the world through . . .

ANGEL EYES

Brielle’s a ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake.

Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.

Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.

A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.

Review:  I was not expecting a religious book and I would say that it affected my rating for it in a huge way. I am usually pretty tolerant when it comes to religion-related situations but I was not pleased with the way Christianity was shoved down my throat in this book.

Obviously Angels have everything got to do with the Christian religion but in all of the Angel books I have read, I never came across one that hinted so heavily on how being a Christian is the only way blablabla. Angel Eyes was basically a wild roller coaster ride. 

The beginning was confusing, nothing was explained, especially the chapters narrated by the angel but it was still interesting because of Brielle's part of the story. Towards the middle it got really good!!! I was really into the book and couldn't put it down. And then the Christian club rolled in...there was a massive dump of how there is only one God and how amazing he is because he controls everyone's lives (??? that's supposed to be a good thing???). I skimmed through it pretty quickly once I realised what was was going on because I didn't want to ruin the book. The ending came along and I thought it was a pretty good ending but well, the whole God-deciding-if-you-live-or-die talk really got on my nerves and I decided that I wasn't even going to read the next book. Just a disclaimer, I have read books that are very religion-inclined but at least I was prepared because it was mentioned in the synopsis or back cover. Also, it was written as a discussion unlike in Angel Eyes where it was displayed as facts.


I would say that plot-wise it was a pretty good story although the backbone of it bore some similarities to Twilight. *gasp* Girl moves in with dad in a quite town, starts school and meets a boy, boy seems interested in her, saves her, love connection, saves her a few more times, reveals secret about self, she becomes part of his and his family's lives etc. (you know the rest) What really kept it interesting were the slight twists in the Angel lore and the amazing insights we had to the baddies.


Overall it was a really good read and I would have honestly given it one more star if not for the religious undertones. Do not hesitate to pick up this book if you are a Christian or wouldn't mind the religious undertones since you have been given a heads up and know what to expect. :)


My rating:

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Release Day Tour: Sandro: The Forsaken World

Title: Sandro: The Forsaken World
Author: V. F. Porzio
Synopsis: Sandro is the sweeping tale of the artist Sandro Botticelli and Ernesto, the orphaned boy he rescues. It is a tale of friendship, of fathers and sons, and of love and betrayal. Their story begins in the basement of the famous Paris library Bibliotheque de Paris then moves to Florence during the Renaissance, when great masters wielded their art in astonishing ways.

In 1938, the Parisian art critic Jacques Mesnil is assigned to uncover a secret about one of the greatest artists who ever lived…Sandro Botticelli. During Botticelli's time, Florence was ruled by the wealthy and powerful Medici family who bore a dark secret. The corrupt Pope Alexander VI, who wanted to wrestle control from the Medici family, decried that all power in Italy should be for himself…and he vowed to get it anyway he could. Standing in his way was Florence's crazed priest Giralamo Savonarola with his forceful, non-religious ways, even going as far as to have a mass burning of art.

In an age when conspirators, betrayers and assassins wove their ways through the lives of common people, Sandro and Ernesto are thrown into a family's dark secret, resulting in jealousy, mystery, adventure and death.

Sandro Botticelli left his mark on the world…this is his life.

Excerpt: http://www.authorvfporzio.com/SandroExcerpt1.pdf

Buy Links: Will be available on May 7th. You can find the links here on the right side of the
page in green columns: http://www.authorvfporzio.com/index.html

Author Bio: Vincent F Porzio is an engaging debut writer entering the literary world. Born and raised in New Jersey, he graduated as an art major with a degree in art history. Yearning to see the world, he found himself among people from all walks of life, learning from them throughout the continental United States. His travels took him worldwide where he roamed dark dingy basements throughout ancient churches in the U.S. and in Europe, studying architecture and historic art forms of long ago civilizations such as the ancient Romans and Etruscans. His travels enabled him to not only study people, but to observe their struggles, triumphs, loves and passions. As a result, creativity and passion for the written page was born.

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