Another Blog Tour! (and it’s awesome!)

Hey everyone! Guess what?! It’s another blog tour! 😛

Anyways, this is the third book in The Blades of Acktar by Tricia Mingerink (tied for my favorite author!!!!!!!!): Defy.

The first two reviews for the first two books in the series are here: click for book one // click for book two.

And click here for the rest of the tour!

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 The war for Acktar has begun.

With his betrayal revealed, former Blade Leith Torren flees into the Sheered Rock Hills, pursued by King Respen’s vengeful Blades.

Left behind at Nalgar Castle, Renna Faythe tries to find her purpose, yet that purpose isn’t what she expected.

Brandi Faythe has been torn from her sister, and that isn’t all right. If Leith can’t rescue Renna, Brandi will take matters into her own hands.

War demands sacrifice. Courage falters. Who will find the strength to defy King Respen?

Acktar rests on one hope:
The Leader is ready.

Preorder the Kindle ebook on Amazon.

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What I thought:

Guys, I’m serious when I say this, I can’t pick a favorite book in this series! Usually, I can pick one that I LOVE, then all the others are tied for second. 😉 But with The Blades of Acktar (hereby known as TBoA. I know, SUPER hard to remember!), I can’t pick!

Something I found cool was that Brandi was a narrator in this book. When it was first her, I was slightly confused since in the previous two books, only Leith and Renna narrated (right?!), but I LOVED her POV!

Once you get inside her head, you can really tell just how deep of a character she really is; that she’s not just some super bubbly little sister. She’s so dimensional and deals with a lot of super hard problems.

Without giving too much away, there is a “Mulan moment” (well, two, and the first. one. pained. me. greatly.). So, needless to say, I was a little (or A LOT) worried that it’d be cliche, but, it wasn’t!! What joy! Okay, maybe it was a little, but I didn’t really feel it was so!

Don’t worry, it wasn’t only Brandi in this book!!

Renna. Ooooohhhh, Renna. She had some tough stuff going on! A few times I was squealing (though not from a Blade Faythe moment… ) and was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Well, bed, I guess.

Guys, this had closure (which makes sense, since it was originally going to be the last in the series), which was nice, BUT I STILL WANT THE NEXT BOOK NOW. ACK.

Writing/Plot:

If any of you guys are fans of Jaye L. Knight, then I can honestly say that you’d like this. While they’re different, Jaye and Tricia have similar writing styles (I’m just saying that, ’cause I know that some of my followers are Ilyon fans).

But, anyways, Tricia’s writing is just awesome! It’s descriptive, but not overly. There’s dialect, but there’s also a lot of inside-head stuff. It’s great! And when *ahem* certain people get injured – both mentally and physically – it. hurts. so. badly.

The plot was done pretty intricately! And I was in a book slump when I read this, so I was worried!! But it was very well done! You have the whole Renna/Respen stuff, Leith and the Blades, Jamie and Brandi. It was all so inter-connected, and wonderfully done overall! 😀

Characters:

I guess that I already did a lot of Brandi’s character above. 🙂 But, anyways, I just connected with her a little better in this book then the others.

Wow. Renna had sooo much character developement in this one! She was in a … certain situation that calls for either cowardice or bravery. Renna did so well in this, and I found myself constantly wanting to be reading from her POV!

Leith. My poor little Leith.

Okay, um, can I just say, RESPEN?!?! (Maybe add in a little more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I have very mixed feelings towards him in this book. On one hand, your like “AWWW” and want him to be good, but on the other, you’re like “Die, you nasty, tricksie hobbitses!!” Oops, wait, wrong fandom. But that’s how you feel. And there’s character development, there, as well.

Problems:

The stuff with Brandi felt a little cliche. But, other then that, nope!

Other/Summary:

So, this is definitely a favorite with me!

Violence wise is the same as the other books: Torture (why???!!!!), sword/dagger fighting, fist-fighting, etc. Not too bad, but maybe a little more then the others.

Romance: EEEEEKKKKK!!!!

Yep.

(Though there is a spot where a girl was worried what a guy would do to her if she were to marry him. Just a warning.)

I’d definitely recommend this to all of you who are teenagers! It’s amazing, and should definitely not be missed!

Five Stars ∗∗∗∗∗

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 Hi Tricia! Let’s start off with a basic (haha, OR not) question. Do you have anything planned for when you finish up the four books of THE BLADES OF ACKTAR? (Especially for all the fangirls when one of their favorite series is finished.)

Of course! I have so many ideas I could probably spend the rest of my life writing all the ideas I have right now, and I wouldn’t run out.

Right now, I’m brainstorming the beginning of a fairy tale retelling series sprinkled with allegory somewhat in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia or Tales of Goldstone Wood, though I can’t promise anything quite as spectacular as either of those series.

Each book in the series would be a stand alone book, though characters and storylines do connect. Since this is a very open-ended type series, it is something I can keep building with a book here or there while writing other series as well, like a steampunk idea I’d also like to pursue.

Well, I’m glad that you have stuff planned! Because if not, I might be getting out the ol’ pitchfork….      If you could make any unusual animal able to be ridden and your pet without harming you, then what would it be?

Able to be ridden? Hmmm… that narrows it down. If I could pick from fantasy creatures, then a dragon. Because who doesn’t want to be able to ride a huge, fire-breathing animal?

In real life, well, technically a mustang IS a type of wild horse and I already have one as a pet, so can I say been there, done that? 😉 Not that my horse is all that wild. He just likes to think he’s a brave, wild mustang…right up until a little kid walks up to the fence with an apple and he turns into a big pushover.

Yes, yes, dragons! Haha, yes, I guess you could. 😛 I would choose a tiger, because, I love them.      If you could now learn any skill in a snap, what would it be?

Sword fighting. I don’t mean fencing. I mean legitimate, medieval-style sword fighting. That would be really cool.

Learning to throw knives would also be really cool. 😉

Cool! Yeah, I’m in the same boat as you. 😛 (Though after reading your books, I think that I’m slightly better at throwing sticks at my brother…)     Back to writing, which of your characters is the easiest to write? Hardest?

Brandi is the easiest. She simply blurts out whatever she’s thinking onto the page. Sometimes she says and does things I didn’t intend for her to do, but I’ve learned to just roll with it. Brandi usually knows what she’s doing.

Renna is by far the hardest. I spend hours in revision trying to coax her thoughts and feelings onto the page. It got easier with each book, but there were still parts of Defy that my editor and my early readers marked where Renna’s character was still too flat.

Ahh, Brandi characters are the best, aren’t they? 😉     Lastly, of all the villains (other then your own) which would you least like to find yourself facing?

Davira from The Ilyon Chronicles. Daican from the same books is really scary because he is so pleasant, but he at least has some standards and boundaries. Davira? She’s just insane. And cruel.

*shudders* Yes, she is pretty …. creepy. Anyways, thanks for letting me have you over! It was fun! 😀

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About the Author

 Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn’t writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog.

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FUN STUFF

And first up for “fun stuff” (other then the interview, of course), is that both Dare and Deny, the first two books, will be on sale (Amazon Kindle) during the release tour! Yay!

**note:

Due to some problems, the sale will be moved to June 2- June 4 for Deny only, so, yeah, just letting you know! But Dare‘s sale is still going as normal!!

And guys *sniffs* there’s gonna be this REALLY FUN FACEBOOK PARTY on June 2.

There’ll be a guest author: Jaye L. Knight; giveaways for Jaye’s books, Nadine Brandes’, and Angie Brashear’s; giveaways for the audiobooks for Dare and Deny, and the whole TBoA series in paperback!

And the real seller, there’ll be A LIVE CHARACTER CHAT WITH TBoA CHARACTERS!!! ACK!! Which means, well, let me let Tricia use her own words:

What does this mean (the character chat, yes, this is me, Alyssa)? It means that for 1.5 hours on June 2, several of the characters will have Facebook accounts and know how to use them. They’ll be there to answer questions and chat. Have you ever wanted to ask Leith a question? This will be your chance. Want to have a chat with Brandi? You’ll be able to do that too. It’s going to be grand chaos.

AHH! Exciting, anyone? So why am I sad?? Well, I, unfortunately, do not have a Facebook account. So, while you all are having fun, I’ll be sitting here like this:

BUT PEOPLES! Don’t feel bad for me (okay … maybe a little) and don’t go! Just have fun and squeal about it to me. Though I’m serious, GO.

Also here’s an exciting one, there’s a GIVEAWAY for both DARE and DENY on GR (sorry if your not on!), so check that out! 😀 😀

And, I think that’s it! I hope that you all enjoyed this post, and check out the rest of the tour, and DEFINITELY read Tricia’s books!!! XD

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So, guys, did I make you excited?! (Tell me I did!) And have you ever felt like Richard Armitage (or, Thorin Oakenshield, or the guy in the last pic)?? Tell me about it below! Thanks for reading! Hope to talk to you in the comments!!! 😀