EXCERPT, GIVEAWAY and REVIEW:: Runes (Runes #1) by Ednah Walters

I am extremely excited to be part of the Runes blog tour. If you want to see what you've missed up tho this point check out the blog of one of our hosts Forbidden Passions Reviews! I really enjoyed this book and you can find my review here and then there's a nice little excerpt from Torin's POV!! Yes I know right?! Love this so much! If you haven't met Torin yet, you're missing out! And at the end there's an awesome giveaway so let's get started shall we?

Title/Series: Runes | Runes #1

Author: Ednah Walters

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

Published: May 20th 2013

Format: eBook | Pages: 245

Genre: YA/NA, Paranormal, Romance, Mythology

Source: NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

★★★★ (4/5) Stars! 

Ednah Walters | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

My Review:

I read this a few months back before it was released and at the time I had been browsing through NetGalley, and in the back of my mind I really wanted to find a good Paranormal. It's always been my favorite genre and I had been stuck in a rut of Contemporaries. Which was fine...but I needed to mix it up a little bit. The cover of Runes caught my eye first. I thought it was beautiful and with a name like Runes I was hopeful that I may have found what I was looking for. So I clicked over and read the blurb and I was hooked. I had to click request. And it didn't disappoint.

Once I had my hands on it, I found it hard to put it down. Most of the characters were great. Raine is in a lot of ways like how I am now. Bookworm? Check! Quirky? Check! Babbles when nervous? Double check! Watches The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural? Uhh hello! You had me at Supernatural! Anyway she's fun and I really like her. Torin is just delicious. I dunno what it is with Harley riding dangerous boys that give cutesy nicknames (Freckles...What? I thought it was cute!) lately, all I know is my list of book crushes is getting beyond huge.

Eirik, the boyfriend from the summary, is good and sweet and reliable and the boy you've known your whole life and grew up with him and crushed on him. So yeah he's great and all, but typical me. I want the bad boy! Then we have Cora. Now in the very first couple paragraphs I liked her! I really did. But then she said one thing in a "baby talk" kind of way and that's such a HUGE pet peeve of mine that I wound up having it out for her most of the book (But really when it comes down to it she was pretty fun too I just like to hold a grudge lol).

I have a love for all things mythological so that just made this book double enjoyable for me. I wanted more of it because to be perfectly honest I've never really looked into Norse Mythology. My interest on the subject has been mostly centered around Greek Mythology. So it's pretty interesting to dig in and learn more, I Googled stuff on Odin mostly, while I was reading this. Just to try and get just a bit of an idea of what that dude was all about. I was also fascinated with the whole concept of the runes. I'm hoping for more of all of this in Immortals (Runes #2) coming out in August. I can't wait!! 

The biggest reason I can't wait? That evil Ednah Walters left us with a MAJOR cliffhanger. Oh my freaking immortal babies everywhere. Now I love a good cliffhanger, I know not a lot of us do but what can I say I'm crazy that way. But this book. OMG I think I yelled at my computer. Straight up told it to "Shut the *BEEP* up!!" Along with an endless stream of "No no no no no!!" Yeah it was that big of a deal lol. I bow down to the queen of the epic cliffhanger. I never saw it coming. Awesome curve ball of a twist.

I highly recommend this book to those of you into the paranormal, mythology, romantic types. Yeah I know I just said there's a major cliffhanger but trust me...it is so worth it!! This was my first book by Ednah Walters and it definitely won't be my last! I want to thank Firetrail Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book! :)

 

Runes Excerpt in Torin's POV:

 Closet Scene

I sauntered to the doorway of Raine’s class. She was ignoring me, but I was determined to win this battle of wills. Her eyes flashed when she saw me. I grinned.

She jumped up and marched to the doorway. “Follow me.”

“Finally. I thought I’d have to go to all your classes before you stopped ignoring me.”

She ignored me, marched to the left and yanked open a broom closet door. I closed the door and studied her. She looked glorious when pissed. I was tempted to pull her into my arms and kiss her senseless. Ever since we went to the waterfalls and I told her about her runes, she acted like I didn’t exist, which wouldn’t be bad if I wasn’t so aware of her every movement at home and school. She was driving me crazy.

“What are you doing?” she asked through clenched teeth.

I glanced around. “Hiding in a broom closet with you. Do people really make out in tight places like this?” I hoped so because I wanted to make out with her.

Her eyes narrowed as though she read my mind. “Why are you stalking me?”

“I don’t like to be ignored.”

She rolled her eyes. “So you humiliated my history teacher to get my attention?”

I grinned. “It worked, didn’t it? And no, I didn’t humiliate Mr. Finney. I challenged him. He’s actually a smart guy. Tomorrow he’ll be armed with facts to refute everything I said, which was all bullshit anyway. I’m looking forward to another—”

“No, you’re not coming to my classes tomorrow, Torin.”

“If you ignore me again—”

She sighed. “What do you want from me?”

“Everything.” I wanted her to be mine. Not just now. Forever. But from the flash of panic in her eyes, she wasn’t ready to hear it. I shook my head. “We need to talk. I’ll wait for you outside during lunch.”

“I can’t. I’m meeting Eirik.”

Screw Eirik. Every time I see him touch her, I wanted to rip his arm off. “Fine. Then have dinner with me.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do this, Torin. I want my old life back. It was sane, predictable, maybe a little boring—”

“A little?”

“But it was mine, and I loved it,” she finished as though I hadn’t spoken. “I don’t want to be hauled in front of the principal because I’m talking to people no one else can see. I don’t want weird writings appearing on my body whenever I’m hurt. I don’t want to travel at abnormal speed. I want a normal life with normal people.”

“But you’re…” not normal.

“I’m what?” 

She was special even though she refused accept it. The runes I’d seen on her arms weren’t like any I’d seen before.  

“You can’t even tell me what I am, let alone what you are, can you?” she asked. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’ll find out on my own.”

My chest tightened, imagining her going to Andris and Maliina for information. They were both too volatile and unpredictable. “Stay away from Andris and the girls.”

“Why? You scared they might tell me the truth? Like why I’m under the protection of Goddess Freya? Yeah, I learned that last night from Ingrid. Imagine what I’ll know by tomorrow. Stay away from me and my friends.” She reached for the doorknob and I reacted.

I pressed my hand on the door and stopped her from opening it. “I can’t. I promised to protect you, and I plan to keep my promise. Maliina is unhinged and fixated on you, and without Andris to keep an eye on her, there’s no telling how far she’ll go to hurt you. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen. I know I said things that scared you, and I’m sorry I did. You want space to deal with what you’ve learned?” She didn’t respond. “Fine. I’ll give you space. But please, don’t ask me to stay away from you or walk away. My greatest fear is Maliina will learn where you live and attack you when I’m not there.”

Raine’s chin lifted. “I’ll be fine.”

“No, you won’t. You’re not an Immortal. There’s just so much self-healing you can do before your body shuts down.”

Silence followed and I wondered what she was thinking. The vulnerability in her eyes bugged the Hel out of me. I wanted her throwing snarky comments, her eyes spitting fire at me. 

“Who will protect me from you, Torin?” she whispered.

Where in Hel’s Mist did that come from? Couldn’t she understand I’d do anything for her? “I’d never hurt you, Freckles. I would condemn myself to eternal servitude to Hel than harm a single strand of your hair.”

Her eyes widened and filled with tears. I wanted to take her into my arms and make her pain go away, but she lifted her chin and whispered, “I have to go.”                 

Giveaway:

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