Initiation - Imogen Rose - Giveaway/Excerpt/Review

For my stop on the tour I am featuring a review, an excerpt, and there is also a tour wide giveaway, so make sure you enter your information in the Rafflecopter below.  Please note that Fictional Candy will not be picking or announcing the winner

Title: Initiation (Bonfire Academy #1)

Author: Imogen Rose

Format: ebook provided by Bewitching Blog Tours for Review

From Goodreads:
Welcome to Bonfire Academy. Set in the foothills of the alpine mountains in St.Moritz, this exclusive private school caters to a special kind of student. Enter at your own risk... but if you are human, you may not want to enter at all. 

This is part one of the prequel series (Bonfire Academy) in the Bonfire Chronicles. Book two, INTEGRATION, will be released summer 2012

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As a book blogger I have a very hectic “book life”.  My “To Be Read” pile is enormous.  I wanted in this tour as soon as I saw it on the Bewitching Blog Tours site.  Then I got the book, and paid it no mind until it was time to read.  Then I opened it up on my kindle.  Over 400 pages! My first thought was “oh no, what have I got myself into???”  Seriously, I was worried.

And that was the most useless thought I’ve had in a very long time because – no joke – this book had me hooked from the very first page, and I barely put it down until I was finished.  Less than 24 hours later (which includes work, some sleep, and a bit of time with my daughter) and I was done. 

So lets start, eh?  This is a super power / paranormal private school type book.  But that’s about where the similarities to any other private school book end.  Perhaps this book is YA, but it’s definitely on the higher end.  There is violence and swearing, and there is some steam, but not outright steam.  Got it? 

Cordelia is a third year student at Bonfire Academy, which is an ultra posh paranormal prep school in Switzerland (interesting note – that’s where the author is from!). She isn’t required to attend this year, but she does so that she can focus on tennis a bit more.  Because demons have interests outside of being well, demonic.  That’s when Jagger, uber hot Student Council President fae, assigns her to a new student as a mentor.  It should be easy, since both girls are demonic princesses.  Yep, I told you it was an ultra posh school! The new student is Faustine, and she’s only 12.  But she is rare in the fact that she is half human.  The paranormal beings often procreate outside their own race, but hardly ever with us humans. 

               

                “My words were supposed to come out in a firm demonic growl, but instead, they slithered out in an unfortunate raspy whisper”

Then something happens between Jagger and Cordelia that is 1) totally unexpected, and 2) totally life changing.  And I loved every minute of it!!  If there is one thing I could wish for this book, or this series, is more Jagger and Cordelia!!  Of course, Cordelia has a boyfriend, Quinn, but who cares??  He is clearly not the one for her.  She needs to drop him like a hot demon potato and get with some hunky fae Student Council President action!

This book has a lot going on.  You’ve got vampires, weres, shifters, demons, fae and even more.  And here’s something great – they don’t all get along!  And this creates a ton of drama and mystery at school.  You expect that you can go to school and feel safe walking down the hallway, but at Bonfire, things are more than a little different!

Something else that I absolutely loved – when demons or shifters shift into their paranormal form, it doesn’t mean that they turn into some 7 foot beautiful demigod of a being. Nope.  Some of them are downright ugly and repulsive.  Perfect!!  It was surprise after surprise in this book, and I love how Imogen Rose has not only bent the rules, she’s downright broken and rewrote them.

Cordelia, that poor girl haha.  She really takes a beating in this book.  I hope the rest of her life doesn’t go on like her third year at Bonfire, because she’s spent so much time in the infirmary she should get a personal room there!  Anyhow, she is a wonderful character.  She has heart and a conscience, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a demon. 

And there is a myriad of colorful characters to choose from.  Mysterious Jagger, helpful Quinn, naïve Faustine, mile a minute Martha, and Ryker – another mystery.  You will definitely not get bored reading this book, and I couldn’t recommend it any more than this!  Read it! Love it!  Come back here and tell me what you thought, cause I love to dish about my favorite books.  And that’s where this book is going, my favorites list!