Thursday, January 26, 2012

Young Adult Giveaway Hop!






Welcome to my stop in the Young Adult Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. This hop is to celebrate the young adult genre! I just so happen to have two advance reader copies of young adult books that I would like to give away! These are ARCs, but they both have the same covers as the finished copies.



Up for grabs:

Damned (Crusade #2)
Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

AND

Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2)
Kiersten White

One reader will win both books! Because I will be shipping these, you must live in the US to enter. You must also be 13 or older.

Enter using the Rafflecoptor form below, then check out the other blogs participating below!


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Cover Reveal

Sorry its been a little quiet around the blog the last week or two. I've been busy with work and school and was feeling a little under the weather. In my absence, a lot of great covers have been revealed for series or authors that I love! So, I am posting in case you missed any of them:


Before I Wake
(Soul Screamers #6)
Rachel Vincent

Gorgeous! I'm not fully caught up in this series but the covers just get more and more beautiful as the series goes on! This is definitely the most eye catching yet!


(Shaede Assassin #2)
Amanda Bonilla

Okay, I haven't read the first book in this series yet, and I've read some mixed reviews. I still plan to read it though because I like to make my own mind up about books and also because the second book might be better than the first. I also love her crazy, flowing hair on the covers!


Shadows Before the Sun
(Charlie Madigan #4)
Kelly Gay

I admit, I'm a little scared of the look on Charlie's face on this cover, but I still love the color combination here! Hopefully Hank will be back on the next one........


Death and the Girl Next Door
(Darklight #1)
Darynda Jones

When I found out Darynda Jones was writing a YA novel I was SO excited! I'm sure it won't be anything like her adult series, but I'm just as sure that her snarky writing style will be wonderful in a YA version. Although, I gotta admit, this cover does not excite me. I think they should have left the guys off of it (Gasp!) and made the text look a little better. 


Blood Kin
(The Half-Light City #2)
M.J. Scott

Okay okay, I actually haven't read the first book for this series either. But all my Goodreads friends have and they are super excited about it so I can't wait! Plus the covers are really great!


Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
(Charley Davidson #4)
Darynda Jones

I believe I've addressed my love for all things Darynda Jones a few books above........I love the color for this cover. The only thing I don't like is the model's face. There shouldn't be so much of it.


Moonglow
(Darkest London #2)
Kristen Callihan

The covers for these books are wonderfully sexy and mysterious! I love a PNR cover that doesn't have the cliche half naked guy and drooling girl. 


(White Trash Zombie #2)
Diana Rowland

I'm sure there are people out there who will hate the covers for this series and be offended by them. I am DEFINITELY not one of them! I love the crazy covers and I love the stories inside even more!


City of Lost Souls
(The Mortal Instruments #5)
Cassandra Clare

So if you're a fan of the series you have probably already seen this cover already (unless, of course, you live under a rock). There are some who think the cover looks too cheesy, but I really love that we finally have Jace and Clary together on a cover! I had to save this picture from Goodreads with my hand blocking the rest of the page because I'm not through with City of Fallen Angels yet - so, no spoilers!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (15) - Discount Armageddon


Waiting on Wednesday is a feature hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that shares the upcoming releases we bloggers are on the edge of our seats about!

Discount Armageddon
(Incryptid #1)
Seanan McGuire
Release date: March 6, 2012

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night...

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right?

It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...


Umm..........what? I don't know what the hell this book is even about, I just know I want to read it!!! Admittedly, part of that desire is due to the ridiculously intriguing cover, but the crazy synopsis helps too!

What is YOUR WoW pick?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

In My Mailbox (19)


In My Mailbox is a weekly meme to share what we bought, checked out, swapped, or won. IMM is hosted by The Story Siren

Here's what I got in my mailbox this week!

FOR REVIEW:


The Selection
(The Selection #1)
Kiera Cass


A Beautiful Evil
(Gods and Monsters #2)
Kelly Keaton



Dragonswood
Janet Lee Carey

I had an AMAZING week of ARCs this week! HarperTeen sent me a copy of The Selection and Simon & Schuster sent me A Beautiful Evil!!! I am super excited to read both of these as soon as I'm done with the group read I'm participating in right now. Thank you SO much to both publishers! I also swapped with another blogger this week and received Dragonswood, which I've heard good things about and am really excited to read. 

BOUGHT (PAPERBACK):


(The Mortal Instruments #2)
Cassandra Clare


(The Mortal Instruments #3)
Cassandra Clare


(The Mortal Instruments #4)
Cassandra Clare

This is the group read I was referring to above. I already had book one, but clearly I NEEDED the rest!!! 

GIFTED:


(The Infernal Devices #1)
Cassandra Clare

Kat from Confessions of a Common Reader got me Clockwork Angel for my Kindle as a RAK gift!!! So it looks like after TMI I'll be reading TID!!!

Wow, all YA this week (and mostly Cassandra Clare)!!!

Things to Check Out:
Join the 2012 Paranormal Fantasy Reading Challenge! 
Check it out and sign up 
HERE

Giveaway of FRACTURE and interview with author Megan Miranda!
HERE 



Okay, I showed you mine. Now show me yours! What did you get this week?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Follow Friday (20)


Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read






Here is this week's question:

Many readers/bloggers are also big music fans. Tell us about a few of your favorite bands/singers that we should listen to in 2012.

I listen to a lot of different kinds of music depending on my mood, but there is one band/singer that is my absolute hands down favorite -

Rilo Kiley 
(Jenny Lewis)




I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rilo Kiley! And when the lead singer, Jenny Lewis, began putting out solo albums in between Rilo Kiley albums I got very excited! I've made you a little playlist with my seven favorite songs:


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones

Sooooooo what do you think? And what music are YOU in love with?

Check out what's going on:

2012 Paranormal Fantasy Reading Challenge Sign Up

Giveaway of FRACTURE and author interview

Happy Friday everyone!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Giveaway and Interview - Fracture by Megan Miranda


Welcome!

I am excited today to have Megan Miranda, author or Fracture, here visiting! (Okay, she is not actually here here........). Megan has answered some questions for you all AND I am giving away my advance copy of Fracture because I loved it so much I just HAVE to share it!

About the book:

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine - despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.


The Interview:

1. Your teenagers in Fracture are all so believable. Were you drawing from your own teenage past at all?

Thank you! I don’t think I was drawing on my personal experiences, necessarily, but in hindsight, I think there are some things that are just…universal. Jealousy and guilt, love and heartbreak—I think they are unifying emotions that we can all relate to, regardless of age. When I was trying to write things that I had never truly experienced, I found myself tapping into the underlying emotions of it all.

So the actual experiences? No. The general teenage-ness? A bit.

2. When describing Delaney’s brain injury (or lack thereof) in Fracture, it was obvious that you knew what you were talking about. What kind of medical research did you do when writing?

Well, I had been a science-loving kid, and then I became a science-studying teen—and eventually a science-doing adult. I had picked up a lot of things here and there, but I had to do a lot of fact-checking. And I had to do more research on some of the specific tests they might run, which I didn’t have any first-hand experience with. I also tried to read a lot about people’s first-hand experiences as well.

3. This appears to be a stand-alone novel. Is it? Or can we expect more about Delaney and Decker?

This is a standalone novel. I never envisioned it as anything else. I did write a short story from Decker’s POV during the time Delaney was under the ice and the 6 days that follow (available here: (https://www.facebook.com/FRACTUREBYMEGANMIRANDA), but I feel like Decker and Delaney’s story is complete.

4. When you’re not writing, what are you reading? What books have made your favorites list this past year?

I love, love, love to read. I’d say that my taste in books has expanded since I began writing—I try to get a taste for everything. Some of my personal favorites that I read in 2011 are: Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma, Ship Breakerby Paolo Bacigalupi, Where She Went by Gayle Forman, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Please Excuse Vera Dietz by A.S. King, and Room by Emma Donaghue.

5. So let’s say it’s the weekend. You are free from reaching any word count minimums or deadlines for the moment (we’re pretending here…). What are you up to?

When I’m not writing, I’m usually spending the time with my family and friends. I have a 3 and 5-year old, and we have a great neighborhood full of kids, so we’re usually involved in something kid-related.

6. You chose not to include any of the typical paranormal/supernatural ‘creatures’ in your book, but there are certainly plenty out there! Favorites?

Oh, it totally depends! I like the vampires of the Sookie Stackhouse series, with their history and politics and the way immortality affects their view of humanity, and I love the ghosts in A Certain Slant of Light (side note: gah, what an amazing read), and then there’s The Book Thief, which is narrated by death. Does death count as a paranormal creature? Because if it does, that one’s definitely my favorite.

7. What are you working on right now?

I’m editing my second book, another standalone, set to come out in early 2013. It’s in the same vein as Fracture, in that it walks the line a bit between science and paranormal, but it’s also very, very different. It’s about memories, the line between the real and the imagined, and friendship.

~~~ Thank you SO much to Megan Miranda for 'visiting'! ~~~

The Giveaway:

And now for the giveaway! I am giving away my personal ARC (advance reader's copy) of Fracture. Since this is an ARC, it does not have the cover art, but the inside story is the same. Since I will be shipping this, you must live in the US. As always, you need to be 13 or older to enter. Just enter on the Rafflecopter form below! The giveaway end on January 17 - which is also the official release day of Fracture!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

In My Mailbox (18)


In My Mailbox is a weekly meme to share what we bought, checked out, swapped, or won. IMM is hosted by The Story Siren

Here's what I got in my mailbox this week!

BOUGHT (PAPERBACK):


(Gods and Monters #1)
Kelly Keaton

So Barnes and Noble got me again! They emailed out a coupon for 50% off Teen/Young Adult books........so of course I bought some! For some reason they shipped two separate boxes and the other box hasn't come yet. But this is what came in box one! Did you guys know that the author, Kelly Keaton, is really Kelly Gay!?!?!?!? She writes an adult urban fantasy series that I love - the Charlie Madigan series. When I found that out I just HAD to buy this one!

FOR REVIEW (NETGALLEY):


(Newsoul #1)
Jodi Meadows


Jill Hathaway


(Under the Never Sky #1)
Veronica Rossi

Did you know these three books are available on Netgalley? I sure didn't. I was very excited to discover that they were!


GIFTED:


and
Rhiannon's Law (#1 and #2)
J.A. Saare

Yay for R.A.K.! Barbara from Basia's Bookshelf gifted both of these books to me on my Kindle. I'm SUPER excited to read this series because all my friend on Goodreads have been raving over it, so thank you again Barbara!


Please join the 2012 Paranormal Fantasy Reading Challenge! 
Photobucket
Check it out and sign up 

Okay, I showed you mine. Now show me yours! What did you get this week?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Follow Friday (19)


Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read


Here is this week's question:

Go count the number of unread books sitting on your shelf. How many?

LOL! I knew I should have waited till morning to look at the Feature and Follow for this week........now here I am after midnight counting books........

Here's the damage:

Print books on bookshelf: 61
Books on Kindle: 40

Ummmmmmm........that is a bigger amount than I was expecting!!! That's 101 books all together!
    
And while we're talking about books we need to read........why not throw a few more on the pile (can't hurt, right?). I just posted a reading challenge that I would love for YOU to join! It is for reading 2012 releases of adult paranormal and fantasy books. Check it out and sign up (you know you want to........)!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

2012 Paranormal Fantasy Reading Challenge - Sign Up Post


Guess what? I've decided to host my own reading challenge - it's all very exciting! I just couldn't find a challenge that was exactly what I wanted, so I created my own. Here are the details:

1. This is a challenge to read 2012 releases that have paranormal or fantasy elements. This means anything with vampires, witches, magic-users, shifters, fae, zombies, (etc.) qualifies! Also, humans with supernatural powers count (since that is fantasy........).

2. This challenge is for reading adult books. There are plenty of YA reading challenge out there already. 

3. The books must be 2012 releases, but they don't need to be debuts (although they can be). Continuing a series is perfectly acceptable.

4. Choose how dedicated you are to the world of the paranormal:

(The names of the levels are just for fun. Any paranormal/fantasy book qualifies for any level!)

Magic's kind of interesting: 1 - 10 books
I'd Pet A Werewolf: 11 - 20 books
Take Me To the Fae Realm: 21 - 30 books
Bite Me, I Want To Be A Vampire: 31 or more books

5. At the end of every month there will be an update post. You can link up your reviews for that month that meet the challenge (a great way to get your reviews read by others, and to check out others' reviews to get ideas for what to read!).

Interested? 
Create a post about the challenge on your own blog. You can list the books you plan to read toward the challenge, but it's not necessary. Sign up using the linky below (the URL should link to the post on your blog about the challenge) and grab the challenge button.




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