I'm slowly but surely starting to get back on track, which means I am now ACCEPTING REVIEW REQUESTS. To read about what kind of requests I take, make sure to check out my Review Policy.
It's time to par-tay! Why? The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove by Marta Acosta has been bought by Tor Books! I made a post about Shadow Girl around April, a while after Marta had posted the manuscript as a free read on Scribd - where it became the #1 Young Adult novel on the site. This is a great twist on a popular theme we've seen countless times in YA, and I definitely urge all of you guys to read it. It's definitely going to be a worthy buy once it's published!!
This is a weekly event hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books. It's a chance to discover new blogs and to garner new readers for your blog as well. This Week's Question ...
Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!
We'll start with the beginning... Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. Fairy tales were most definitely my first obsession with reading, and I have these masters to thank. Anne Rice soon took over when I got older and began my vampire obsession. Stephen King was around the same time and he got me into horror. Oh, how I love some King! Following with the horror theme, I soon found HP Lovecraft who I immediately fell in love with. He's so macabre! I'd be hurting only myself if I didn't include Edgar Allan Poe - he's truly one of a kind and his work amazes me, even to this day. If you want a more recent author, it is hands down Gena Showalter - her writing is amazing and has inspired me to get back into writing, though not exactly romance. ;)
Ready to join in on the Hop? Click here to share your link to your blog!
New here from the blogger? Feel free to leave a comment and I'll be sure to follow you back!
!! DON'T FORGET ABOUT FOLLOW [MY BOOK BLOG] FRIDAY! !!
It's Week FOUR of Follow My Book Blog Friday, hosted by Parajunkee's View. Want to get more people to follow your blog? Want to find awesome fellow bloggers? Be sure to head over to Parajunkee's post to check out a Featured Blogger, as well as the blog hop!
To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
This is a reminder to tell you guys that my giveaway for one of Gena Showalter's books is ending on Saturday, July 10th at midnight EST. Now, I've only just realized that I actually won't be home until Sunday... so, I won't be able to tell if anyone has entered after midnight. *HINT HINT* Thanks to you guys and all the extra promotional things you guys are doing ... I have a TON of entries to go through. However, it's worth it!
So, if you haven't... GO ENTER! There's still time and the best part is you get a FREE BOOK!
Intrinsical by Lani Woodland Hardcover, 738 pages Pendrell Publishing Release Date August 20, 2010
Sixteen-year-old Yara Silva has always known that ghosts walk alongside the living. Her grandma, like the other females in her family, is a Waker, someone who can see and communicate with ghosts. Yara grew up watching her grandmother taunted and scorned for this unusual ability and doesn't want that to be her future. She has been dreading the day when she too would see ghosts, and is relieved that the usually dominant Waker gene seems to have skipped her, letting her live a normal teenage life. However, all that changes for Yara on her first day at her elite boarding school when she discovers the gene was only lying dormant. She witnesses a dark mist attack Brent, a handsome fellow student, and rushes to his rescue. Her act of heroism draws the mist?s attention, and the dark spirit begins stalking her. Yara finds herself entrenched in a sixty-year-old curse that haunts the school, threatening not only her life, but the lives of her closest friends as well. Yara soon realizes that the past she was trying to put behind her isn't going to go quietly.
Can I just tell you how I am loving this cover! It is THE first thing that I discovered about this book, and once I discovered it I had to know more! I've been on this huge ghost kick the past week. Afterlife, not moving on, ghost hunting, haunted castles, haunted stories ... the works. I blame my friends for making me think too much. As luck would have it, I also just got around to Shade (Jeri Smith-Ready) on my TBR list. Finding this book just seemed as though it was fated. Plus, the synopsis seems a lot darker than what I've been reading lately, and I'm reading for a little bit of dark in my life. One thing that caught my eye: is it really 738 pages, or is it a typo? I don't know, but that makes it even more intriguing for me!
Has anyone had the chance to read this book? What are you Waiting On this week??
The Thirteenth Chime by Emma Michaels Bokheim Publishing [Released on] August 13, 2010
No one knew of its existence until it was removed from the attic upstairs.
In a beautiful house that overlooks the sea, an antique clock has the power to change the course of their lives.
The power the clock resonates will not only force Destiny and ex-boyfriend David on a journey into the depths of one man's mind long dead, but into the mind of a man filled with hatred and bent on revenge.
With the only clues to the nature of the clock having disappeared into the sea, Destiny and David must retrace the steps the man had taken into the darkness, before they fall prey to the trap he had set in motion over half a century ago.
Hatred never dies.
I was going to wait to post this next week, since I already had a Waiting on Wednesday choice picked out for this week. However, for some reason, I'm extremely anxious about this book ... so I had to post it. The author, Emma Michaels, actually contacted me via my blog about a week ago to tell me about her novel (this one) being published. Talk about exciting ... I was excited for her! Unfortunately I was out of town and couldn't do much ... but now, I'm at home. This is just one post that I am doing, and you'll see more in the future because I do plan on promoting this book a lot!
Back to the book ... I'm truly excited about it. Not only is the cover AMAZING (look closely at the eye!), but it's a storyline that I haven't heard of much at all. Originality = major points! I could go on, but I'd like to save a little for other posts.
· Grab your current read. · Open to a random page. · Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. · BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) · Share the author and title, too, so that the other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
I opened my eyes, coughing from the smoke still in my lungs. The room was swirling, blurry. "What the hell are you children doing here?" I fixed my eyes on the locket and the room came back into focus. It lay on the stone floor, looking small and harmless. Marian dropped my hand.
Alright, so it was just a few short weeks ago that I featured Shadow Hills as my pick for Waiting on Wednesday. Can you believe that it is now only ONE SHORT WEEK away from the official release date of the book?! It's on my BlackBerry countdown - it's that big of a deal!
Now? We have more to look forward to. Anastasia Hopcus is holding a contest on her blog for a finished copy of Shadow Hills! Head over to THIS POST for your opportunity to enter for a chance to win one of S-I-X finished copies of the book. However, you DO have to hurry ... as the contest ends tomorrow (July 6th) at 6pm CST.
Don't know what Shadow Hills is? First, you've lived under a rock. ;) But have no fear! I've decided to post some information on the book here.
Synopsis:
His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.
After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.
But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.
Book Information:
Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus Hardcover, 400 pages Published by Egmont USA [To Be] Released On Tuesday, July 13, 2010
ISBN-10: 1606840835
ISBN-13: 978-1606840832
Book Trailer:
Additional Information:
The first chapter of Shadow Hills has been published on the world wide web. Please click HERE to read it!
It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event - hosted by the wonderful Sheila - to share what we are reading this week, as well as what we read the previous week. Feel free to share in on the fun, or just click on the link to see what others are reading!
How's my reading going?
It's been better. I finished Beastly, which I've been working on. Besides that, I was working on my womanly duties of house work to prepare for my trip to see my friends the weekend of the Fourth. Now, I'm home ... hoping to jump back in the saddle soon. What did I finish last week? Beastly, by Alex Flinn - LOVED it, despite my fear. It took me a while to get to it, but it was worth the wait. What do I plan reading this week? Poison Study, by Maria V Snyder - I started this last week and it looks promising.
Since I have my laptop back, I want to catch up on reviews and everything, so this will probably be my only read this week.
How's your reading going??
Musing Mondays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. This week's musing is ...
What are you currently reading? Would you recommend it to others? Is it part of a series (if so, which one)? What are you thinking about it? What book(s) would you compare it to, if any?
I actually just finished Beastly by Alex Flinn which is a modern, Young Adult re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. It's not part of a series, though Flinn also recently did another re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty.
I actually avoided this book for a small amount of time because, well, I'm kind of tired of the whole black-and-red marketing of all paranormal-type YA stories now. Then, I saw the movie trailer - and avoided it more because of Vanessa Hudgens. Ha. However, I finally came to my senses and realized that I was being really unfair to the author by doing these things and, honestly, I loved Beauty and the Beast when I was younger - so, I put it on order. I'm so glad I did. I don't know if I would actually compare it to any other books, unless you do go with the other re-tellings that are floating around these days. I'd say I'm already liking the book more than the movie, though I will be checking out the movie when it comes out. I don't know if I've read anything that is similar to actually compare it to, unless you DO compare it to the Brothers Grimm story. If you liked the old, then I'm sure you'll love the new.
