Slowly trying to dip my feet back into the blogging world, it's been what...months?... trying my best to catch up and think up something new! *Hwaiting! ;)
Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success, and gorgeous Matthew keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she's the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: she's a werewolf.
As Claire is initiated into the pack of female werewolves, she must deal not only with her changing identity, but also with a rogue werewolf who is putting everyone she knows in danger. Claire's new life threatens her blossoming romance with Matthew, whose father is leading the werewolf hunt. Now burdened with a dark secret and pushing the boundaries of forbidden love, Claire is struggling to feel comfortable in either skin. With her lupine loyalty at odds with her human heart, she will make a choice that will change her forever?
Hi Everybody!So In My Mailbox is where I post the books/swag I won, received for review, bought, borrowed, or ect.* *The book titles are linked to their goodreads pages**IMM is hosted by The Story Siren / Inspired by Alea from Pop Culture Junkie
Want to get to know Alyx Harvey better? Well, Bloomsbury is giving you a chance with their "Get to Know Alyx Harvey” video contest.In the video, Alyx will give a tour of her haunted farmhouse and maybe answer a question from YOU!
What you need to do: Submit a question for Alyx Harvey by filling out the "Get to Know Alyx Harvey” form below by Saturday July 3th, 2010. I will then gather all the information together and pass it along to the publisher.
Why?: If your question is chosen, it will be answered by Alyx in the video and your name and hometown will appear as well! Look for the video after September 1st on www.thedrakechronicles.com to see if you are a winner! PLUS everyone who submits a question will receive an exclusive sneak peak of Out for Blood!
Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl...until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck--Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon--who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.
Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter--a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat....
Hi Everybody!So In My Mailbox is where I post the books/swag I won, received for review, bought, borrowed, or ect.* *The book titles are linked to their goodreads pages**IMM is hosted by The Story Siren / Inspired by Alea from Pop Culture Junkie
Want to find new book blogs or spread the word about your own?
Then head over to Crazy-for-Books and sign up for the Book Blogger Hop! You can sign up HERE. Well, what are you waiting for? GO!
It's Friday! Time for another Book Blogger Hop!!
ABOUT THE HOP:
This is a weekly event, hosted here, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read. It's a great way to network with other bloggers and make new friends! In the spirit of the Friday Follow, I thought it would be cool to do a Book Blogger Hop to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start Hopping!! Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.
If you start following someone through the Hop, leave a comment on their blog to let them know! Stop back during the week to see other blogs that are added! And, most importantly, the idea is to HAVE FUN!!
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
Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
The last thing Henry Arlington wants is a girlfriend. He's just very, very good with girls—reading their body language, knowing what they want to hear, and more importantly: getting them into the backseat of his car. But all that changes when he meets Garrett Lennox at one of the many Sweet Sixteen parties he crashes.
Garrett thinks she's done with guys. She was dumped by her ex when she moved from Chicago to Long Island, and now she realizes that she needs to find out who she is by herself, instead of with a boyfriend. What she really needs is some good friends.
Fortunately for Garrett, the J Squad—the "it" girls of East Shore High School—want her in their clique. All she has to do is pass one little test: get East Shore god Henry Arlington to take her to one of the biggest Sweet Sixteens of the year, then dump him in front of everyone.
Garrett has promised herself not to fall for another guy, so playing with Henry's heart shouldn't be hard. Right?
And Henry doesn't fall for girls, so when he and Garrett start to click, it doesn't matter. Does it?
As William Shakespeare once said, "Love is blind," or in this case, the lovers may be, as Henry and Garrett fall in love—and into the trap that awaits them. Because neither of them can even begin to see what the girls of Henry Arlington's past have in store.
My Thoughts:
I thought it was going to be like another one of those teen romance movies like She's All That mixed with a little John Tucked Must Die. Crash Test Love was different, it's about honesty and being true to yourself. It might not have ended the way i wanted but it left open the possibility, and i think that was the point.
The characters were uniquely crafted and well developed. Henry is known as a "playa" but it's his cover up.He doesn't fully trust anyone and yet He has everything, but nobody has ever gotten close enough to REALLY know him. Not until Garret comes in the picture. He begins to open up i really started to like him. Garret is independent and she knows what she wants. But the relationship between Garrett and Henry is rocky but they are soo good for each other. Henry has so much to offer. I remember him saying something about decisions, that there is no right or wrong but just decisions in life. That's what Garrett does she makes her decision. It may have been a selfish one but it was the right one for her. The J Squad is your average mean girl group*hated them* But i found London to be a little dot different. Duke and Nigel are funny and support Henry in everything.
I really enjoyed Crash Test Love!! I was happy, sad, ans surprised all at the same time, once i finished the last page. Ted is an awesome writer, i liked the little email chats, and the dialogue conversions in this book. I had my mix feelings but its definitely about making YOUR decisions,even though it might not always please others. I think Ted wants the reader to look beyond the ending of the book...:D
Cover: ♥♥♥♥♥ YA-ness: PG-15+
(few F-bombs, little bit of a sex scene, drinking involved)
When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.
After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.
My thoughts:
Deception is one of those books that will have you on the edge of your sit/nail biting mysteries. Its by far one of my favorite ghost(while besides Shade) novels.
We meet Emma who has nothing but drama going on through out the book. She is a strong character/normal teen minus the whole powerful ghostkeeper thing, and missing parents. But she handles the drama....well like a teen. She has her questions, still learning about her powers, and her attraction to Bennett. I didn't quite get Bennett...i mean he was charming, but distance. He leaves Emma alone in a BIG house/museum, there relationship is forbidden, full of secrets and you have the age issue. I wanted to know more about him. I liked how some of the ghost were friendly it was funny because Emma would confuse ghost with normal people. She would be like "your alive." Martha was my fave too. She's motherly and caring.
I loved when Emma moved to New England! new school with cute British guys. Sara, Harry, Coby are Emma's new friends, she has trouble trusting them after what happened back at home. But like Coby alot!
Nichols ghostkeeping world is captivating. I was even a little scared at times. Only when the wraiths would whisper neos and pop up in scary dark places. You'd be surprised at what happens in this book. There are questions to be answered i can't wait to read the next book!
Hi Everybody!So In My Mailbox is where I post the books/swag I won, received for review, bought, borrowed, or ect.* *The book titles are linked to their goodreads pages**IMM is hosted by The Story Siren / Inspired by Alea from Pop Culture Junkie
"Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go."
A sequel to Crank, this harrowing and disturbing look at addiction finds protagonist Kristina Snow thinking she can use drugs yet control the consequences. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong and, before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She will do anything for it, including giving up the only thing that makes her truly happy.
My Thoughts:
Glass has completely changed my thoughts about Kristen. In Glass I learned more about Kristen and her addicting battle with drugs. All of Ellen's book are always eye opening and interesting to me. Her books are intense. There no sugar coating about it.
My thoughts on Kristen have changed. but I can't necessarily say i like her or hate hate. I don't agree with what she does. To me she's acting like a child with a baby. She's 18, i just wanted her to grown up and stop being so boy crazy. I knew it would be hard for her to stop taking Crank/Glass. But i felt that she was more aware. In the book she says she has control. I wish it was control to gradually stop...for herself and the baby. Everybody she was associated with were druggies. You know that's no help. She started drugs to fit in(in Crank) but now the drugs keep her company. She goes to all the wrong people for love, but she's surrounded by love from her family and son Hunter. I think it hurts her to know she's failing...or maybe she has given up...
That's what i love about Ellen's books. Her characters have depth. I really care about them. And of course her writing, beautiful but raw.I can't wait to read Fallout!
Welcome Lee Nichols to Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm!Her YA novel Deception, will be out June 8th. I can't wait to read it!
About Lee
Lee Nichols was born in Marblehead, Mass., raised in Santa Barbara, and now lives in Yarmouth, Maine. Which is probably why the four years she attended Hampshire College in Amherst, where she studied history and psychology, made her antsy. It was much too far from the ocean. She is the author of five novels for adults and the HAUNTING EMMA series for young adults. She is married to novelist Joel Naftali, who sometimes writes as Joel N. Ross, and they have one son.
Blog ___________________________________________________
What is your astrological sign? How closely does it match your personality?
I'm a Taurus. I never find my horoscope very helpful, but oddly I do seem to have a lot of very close friends who are also Taurus and Capricorns have been big in my life. My husband is a Libra and we're both ruled by Venus, so maybe that explains why we have such a good relationship.
I agree with you! my horoscope never helps!*wondering why hmm*
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
I went to Hampshire College and there are no tests, so all you do is write papers. And I really liked that. My first three published books were non-fiction I co-wrote with my husband.
What is the hardest thing about being a writer?
Well, it's a pretty unstable career. You never know if you're book is going to sell well, if you're advance is going to be high enough, there are no benefits, retirement, etc. On the other hand it's unbelievably awesome to see your book in print and hear from fans. And I love that there's always something to strive for--I'm always thinking about the next idea, hoping to write a an even better book.
How much actual facts from your life get written into your fiction stories?
Not a lot. I pretty much make everything up. The thing I do use is feelings. Like with Emma in Deception, she moves from California to Massachusetts, which I did when I went to college. So my sense of what that was like influenced her feelings about it.
How involved would you want to be if your book was being made into a movie?
I'd love complete control over everything, but that almost never happens.
What inspired the character of Emma in your new book Deception?
I wanted to write a contemporary Gothic novel with a kick-butt heroine and she's who I came up with.
What part of your novel was the most fun to write?
I liked creating to the world of ghostkeepers.
Ghostkeepers? that does sound fun!*skimming pages*
The world has suffered from a one-day only loss of power. You have no cell phone, computer, lights, or anything else that requires a computer, cell battery, or electricity. What do you spend the day doing?
Reading, hanging out with my family, and taking the dogs for a long walk through the woods.
Thanks is exactly how i would spend my day! Thanks Lee!
~
A rich New England setting filled with mystery, tradition, and prep-school intrigue make Deception the perfect choice for fans of series like Kate Brian's Private, as well as all those paranormal fans.
When Emma Vaile's parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, her brother's very cute best friend, Bennett Stern—Emma's knight in J. Crew armor—arrives unexpectedly to whisk her away to New England. There, Emma settles into his family's museum-like mansion and enrolls at an old-fashioned private school. Emma has memories of Thatcher that she can't explain—it's as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Finally, Emma confides in Bennett and learns she is a ghostkeeper, a person who can communicate with ghosts. Bennett brought Emma to Thatcher to protect her, but now he needs her help tracking an other-worldly murderer.
Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.
Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.
When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.
My Thoughts:
Forgive My Fins is enchanting, fun,and where have you been bookie?!*hugs it tightly*This is one of my favorites. This is one my 1st Tera Lynn Childs books. i guess i'll have to pick up her other books too!
We get introduced to Lily Sanderson, who is a mermaid princess. But shes not exactly living in her kingdom,Thalassinia. She's hanging out with us humans on land. Going to high school, teen drama, and being soo in love with Brody. She thinks his the one perfect guy to bond with. I found Lily to be a little shallow and caught up in la la land. But when the moment Lily can finally get Brody alone....Quince comes. The annoying, rude,baby boy, next door neighbor hunk! He's always teasing her at first he was a jerk. But in my head i was like "ah huh you like her" ha! i've been there!*why can't guys just say they like you* But when Quince and Lily start spending more time together... it was clear that they need to be together. I've always liked Quince, he's smart, nice, and not a total jerk i thought he was going to be. Way better then Brody, he is shallow. Like Quince said Lily "is he toy". At times i wanted to shake her to snap into reality. She was so blind because love was already in front of her.
My favorite movie growing up was Little Mermaid, so when ever there a YA mermaid book i have to read! Not only does the author have to create fabulous characters but a whole new beautiful world! Tera does that! Forgive My Fins will hook readers from the very 1st page!
Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there to read! You never know what great blogs you can find!
If you're visiting from the hop make sure you leave your link and I'll make sure to visit/follow your blog! Have fun! :D
Welcome to Shannon Delany's Start Your Day with Serial Tour! Shannon's debut novel (and first in her YA paranormal series) 13 to Life started as a winning cell phone novel written in serial segments. During the tour you can read bits of the book in order. Miss a day? Hop to Shannon's blog and check the link to the blog tour calendar in her sidebar. There will also be a contest that will close at the end of the tour. Winners get a bunch of stuff.
Today I'm super excited to be interviewing Shannon!! YAY!
"13 to Life is a debut novel that you shouldn't miss. If not for the wolves, then for the writing that turns this book into something more than a book about wolves. I loved it."
I miss my grandpa's farm... but i don't miss the evil chickens lol. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Yes. Limiting the number of projects racing around in my head at one time. I frequently have different stories, their characters and emerging worlds fighting for space in my head. Shoving them aside and working on what's due is tough.
What part of your novel was the most fun to write?
Oh! It's a tie! I loved writing both the fight scenes and the kissing scenes. I tell people all the time: I love drama--in stories, not in my personal life.
You can't get enough of theses!
So you’ve invented a new national holiday. What is it called, and what does it celebrate?
Oh--this is a great (and daunting) question. I'd want to celebrate people who have overcome something big in their lives--something transformative. 13 to Life is dedicated to my mother who survived cancer for a couple hard-fought years, but I can't come up with a title for a holiday that's worthy of that sort of spirit.
A movie is being made of 13 to Life, who will star as the main characters?
There's actually a website called StoryCasting.com that lets readers do just this: imagine a dream cast for their favorite books (I invite you all to check it out and cast for 13 to Life once you've read it). My cast changes as I watch more movies and television. You can see my previous cast here (and cast YOUR favorites): http://tinyurl.com/Cast13toLife
Alexi Rusakova
Chris Evans
Annabelle Lee
Elle Fanning
Jessica Gillmansen
Emma Watson
Pietr Rusakova
Drew Tyler Bell
Sarah Luxom
Annasophia Robb
Sophia
Dakota Fanning
Your cast is great Shannon! I'll keep them in mind when i'm reading 13 to life.Chris Evans!!!*hot* The paranormal genre is big in teen/YA literature right now. Most bestsellers feature vampires, werewolves, faeries, angels, or the like as a main character. In your opinion, why are teens currently fascinated with all things paranormal?
Two reasons jump to mind. I think teens, like anyone else, are fascinated by stuff that's waaay beyond their normal realm of experience. No matter how strange or exciting our real lives seem to someone else, as a teen (which I was once--looong ago) we feel bored. Bored with our town or city, bored (and frustrated) with our families... We totally relate to that old phrase "the grass is always greener on the other side." So paranormal novels let us experience that "other side." Teens get the excitement, the weirdness, the romance... and the control. You can shut a book--controlling an entire world--much more easily than you can control what you wind up dealing with in real life as a teen.
Would you like to add anything?
Yes--just a great big THANK YOU to everyone who gives 13 to Life a chance when it releases June 22--there are going to be bunches of werewolf and shapeshifter novels (and the movie Eclipse--Team Jacob!!!) so it's even more special to me whenever someone chooses to buy mine. I'll even have a special contest for people photographed reading 13 to Life in line at Eclipse... Must. Spread. Werewolf. Love.
And thanks to you, too, Faye, for hosting me on your cool blog! *hugs*
Thank you Shannon, your awesome! i guess i'll be reading your book while i'm going to see Eclipse.Team Jacob! Woot!
~
1
13 to Life: Chapter 3, part B (used with the author’s permission)
I had been obsessed with Derek in ninth and tenth grade and he hadn't even given me a second glance. Wondering what had changed, I looked down at my hands and encountered my boobs along the way. Yep, that had definitely been a change, I realized, blush stinging high on my cheeks. In tenth grade I'd been flat as a board and then, in summer, more than wildflowers had sprouted. I pulled out my worry stone and rubbed it.
So was that it then? Had my sudden — developments — been all that caught Derek's attention? I squashed the doubt down. Surely there was more to me that he'd noticed.
Shannon's hosting several contests during the Start Your Day with Serial Tour. The big contest will award one lucky winner with a royal amber pendant, pietersite jeweled bookmark, stuffed wolf, 13 to Life mousepad, pen, tote, signed poster, personalized copy of 13 to Life and both of the 13 to Life pins. All you need to do is comment at 13 of the blogs hosting Shannon during her 30 day tour. Everyone who does so will be entered into a random drawing. Winner may be international.
"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex, #1)
by Caitlin Kittredge
A series set in a Lovecraftian industrial city in an alternate 1950s that centers on a mechanically gifted young girl approaching her 16th birthday, the age at which everyone in her family goes insane, leaving it up to her to unravel the mystery of their madness--and save the world.
It is 1955...but not the 1955 you know. The Witchcraft Scare polarizes America. Magic is outlawed and practitioners are burned. And one girls has discovered that magic is neither fiction nor fairy tale, but very much alive...
Aoife Grayson is a month shy of sixteen, the age when everyone in her family goes mad. An orphan in the steam-powered city of Lovecraft, Massachusetts, Aoife escapes the confines of her repressive boarding school and along with her best friend Sam and outlaw guide Dean, sets out to discover the secret of her family's madness. What she discovers is a world of forbidden magic and faerie curses, and a dark secret that has shadowed the Grayson family for generations. Aoife must choose between keeping the secret or keeping her sanity, and unravel the dark machinations of the Winter Court of the Fae before it's too late to save her city...or herself.
**Summary Via Goodreads**
February 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Special thanks to Kate! the awesome Bloomsbury publicist, Lee, and thank you who entered this giveaway. 
Winters Passage by Julie Kagawa
Crash Test Love by Ted Micheal
Welcome Lee Nichols to Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm! Her YA novel Deception, will be out June 8th. I can't wait to read it! 
Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there to read! You never know what great blogs you can find!
Welcome to Shannon Delany's Start Your Day with Serial Tour! Shannon's debut novel (and first in her YA paranormal series) 13 to Life started as a winning cell phone novel written in serial segments. During the tour you can read bits of the book in order. Miss a day? Hop to Shannon's blog and check the link to the blog tour calendar in her sidebar. There will also be a contest that will close at the end of the tour. Winners get a bunch of stuff.
