Saturday 18 February 2012

The World Among Us by Beth Ann Masarik - Blog Tour

 In The World Among Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power. In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene.

Hades does so, because Gaia is his natural enemy, and Selene is her favorite grandchild. He thinks that by killing off Gaia’s favorite grandchild, he will weaken her. With Selene out of the way, Hades then moves in on the Creatures of the Night. He wants to kill off their leader, Jason Aysel.

Jason is the go-between person between worlds, and another person that Gaia highly regards. Hades manipulates and cons Jason’s best friend, Leon Greene, into murdering him, by offering him Jason’s position as his reward. Because of these actions, a war is to take place on earth between the gods and other Creatures of the Night.

During this time, Selene is reincarnated, and kept hidden as a secret weapon to win the war against Hades. In order to win the war of wars, the gods and some of the demons will have to fight together, and learn to co-operate with each other.

Will the Titans and Olympians be able to set aside their differences, and take back the world from Hades? Or is the world as we know it, doomed to fall under Dark Shadows, forever?



 My Review


 I really didn't know what to expect with this book, so I was thrilled with how fantastic it turned out to be. The storyline was amazing and the characters are so strong and powerful. I devoured this book in two sittings and instantly wanted to read more. Beth Ann Masarik has dared to do what what many authors will not, build up a wonderful leading character only to kill them off at the start of the book. It was a real shocker for me, but I am so happy to say yit worked out fantastically.

The story kicks off with the beautiful moon goddess Selene's husband getting murdered. He is murdered by DuVessa, the niece of Hades. Du Vessa is in love with Hades son Damien, but he doesn't feel the same way. He is secretly in love with the moon goddess Selene. There are laws in place, that Demons and Gods are not aloud to mix together.

Hades always has plans in place for world domination, this time he wants his son Damien to prove himself for a change. He orders him to kill Selene or he will send him to purgatory.

Meanwhile Selene is distraught at the death of her husband. Everyone flocks to her side, her mother Thia, father Hyperion, her daughters and her grandmother Gia. Later that night Damien shows up to talk to Selene, he says he is going to go to the funeral to repenter his side.

Things really heat up and the book picks up pace from here on in. The ending was amazing, I was not expecting it at all/ I cannot wait to read what is going to happen next. I love Greek mythology, so this book was definitely the book for me. It is superbly written, it held my attention throughout and had characters that I loved and genuinely cared about and ones that I just loved to hate.

Some of my favourite characters:

Selene - is a wonderful character, I really cared what happened to her.

Damien -  I fell in love with, hi is a caring guy & has changed the most throughout the book. But he has a dark side which I think we are yet to see.

Du Vessa - What a great character, I am so intrigued by her. She is wickedly interesting.

Gia- A strong and powerful Goddess, who knows just what to do in a crisis.

Brilliant job Beth, I cannot wait to read more of your works. :)

Put The World Among Us on your TBR list today. 

Carly :)



Murderous Regrets


 Murderous Regrets is a short story inspired by The World Among Us by Beth Ann Masarik. In The World Among Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power. In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene.










  My Review

Murderous Regrets is a very short story that comes after The World Among Us novel. Elise Stevenson a reporter, her job is to interview Leon Greene. Leon & Elsie know each other and used to be friends. Leon gets escorted into Elsie's office for the interview. He reveals to Elsie why he murdered his best friend Jason Aysel. He also talks about his feelings about making the biggest mistake of his life. This is a well written and thought out piece from Beth Ann Masarik. It's great to get a little bit more insight into the amazing world Beth has created in The World Among Us.


Author Bio

Beth Ann Masarik was born on Long Island, NY in the year 1984 with an over-active imagination. She used to love playing make-believe games, and now loves creating her own fantasy worlds. Masarik has been writing since she was 15 years old, and had her first newspaper article published in her high school newspaper in her sophomore year. She has taken several creative writing classes, and started writing her very first novel in college, and is currently searching for the right literary agent. Aside from writing novels, Masarik enjoys bowling, gaming, and role playing online. She enjoys reading fantasy novels written by Richelle Mead, L.J. Smith, and J.K. Rowling, and looks to them for role models.


I did have the review for Beth's other short story Moon Spirit, but I seem to have misplaced it. Sorry. I will get it posted up ASAP. :)


Guest Post from Beth 

I write, because I need to. It’s something that is a part of me, and has always been a part of me. My imagination runs wild, and I have to satisfy my muse somehow. Ever since I was in high school (and probably long before), I’ve written stories. My first story was co-written by me and my best friend, Robin, who is also my illustrator. I’d written my first book with her, and was so proud of what I’d written. Granted, what I wrote back in high school was pure crap, but it was the first step to being an author/writer. I’d taken the first leap, and a couple of years later, I decided to take the full plunge into the wacky world of writing.


I’ve always been told that the more you read, the better you become with writing. When I was younger, I didn’t want to believe that. Why? Because believe it or not, I used to hate reading. Part of it was because I had to do so much for school, but the other part of it was that I was a slow reader. I was always behind everyone else, and it was discouraging. However, as the years went by, I soon realized that my mother was right…reading DOES help you with writing. (I HATE it when you’re right mom!) I’ve found, that over the last couple of years, whenever I hit writer’s block (which is a pain in the butt), I pick up a book in the same genre I write in, and usually after a couple of days, the old imagination will spark up again.


Now, what do I like to read, you ask? I love to read Young Adult fiction. Fantasy is my primary sub-genre, but I will give most any sub-genre in the YA world a chance. I absolutely LOVE books about magic, vampires and all that mythology stuff. My favorite book of all time was and still is the Harry Potter series. Wanna hear a funny story about me and my relationship with J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter? I’ll tell you anyway lol.


Back when I was in my “I don’t like to read phase,” my mom bought me Harry Potter. To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with those books. Partially because it had to do with the fact that it was so popular, but the other part was that I was such a slow reader. Finally, after basically being forced to read, I sat down and read the first Harry Potter book. It took me a while to get into it…I was very resistant. But once I was hooked, I was hooked. It wasn’t until I got up to Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, that I realized I wanted to be an author just like J.K. Rowling. So, after bouncing around some ideas with some friends at the time, The World Among Us came to life.


My ideas come from all over the place. They can come from a church sermon, or they can come from something that I am currently reading. Either way, I constantly get new ideas on almost a weekly basis. When I sit down to write, I turn off the television, and turn on the music. I like to crawl into bed, and relax while I write. Sometimes I’ll have some chips and a glass of either iced tea or soda. Either way, I like to pretend that I am having a party when I write, because it makes it more fun. And, in a way, it kind of is a party, it’s just that my characters are inside my head. LOL.


Well, there you have it folks…the scoop on me, writing, and reading. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you Carly for having me on your blog today!



Giveaway

Up for grabs is an e-copy of The World Among Us, you guys know the drill, fill out the Rafflecopter. Beth will contact the winner. Good luck :)






a Rafflecopter giveaway

7 comments:

  1. Great reviews and guest post, Beth and Carly! I never thought of writing like having a party; great way of looking at it! (which of course has all the characters in my head excited about it. LOL)

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  2. Thank you so much for having me today Carly! Great post! Come on guys! Please enter my contest :( I'm giving away some cool stuff.

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  3. Good post and great review can not wait to read it. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  4. Great review Carly! Thank you for doing the post and being a part of the tour :)

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  6. Holy Crow! (yes, I did just say that) Beth, you're beginnings sound alot like mine, except I hated reading and writing. Funny story about that, I'll tell you later, and yes, it involves Harry Potter.

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