The Unloved Blog Tour + Giveaway (INT)!

Welcome to my stop on the The Unloved blog tour by Jennifer Snyder hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!

The Unloved
by Jennifer Snyder

Published: July 28th 2012
Pages: 263
Source: For review

The Unloved is on sale this week only for $.99!
Amazon | B&N

Sometimes the love our heart needs to heal can be found in the familiar eyes of a childhood friend...

Julie Porter learned the hard way that trust is something which must be earned and not something to be given out lightly, those who say they love you are those who hold the power to hurt you most, and best friends can help you survive anything—until they move away.

Nick Owen knows a thing or two about a hard life. At a young age Nick learned how to take a hit and to make lemonade out of the lemons life tossed his way. Returning home after nearly two years of being away, all Nick cares about now is protecting his mom from the abusive hands of his father and catching up with his best friend—the girl who lived across the street, the girl he can’t seem to stop thinking about.

Finally reunited after two years apart, Nick and Julie are about to learn that age does nothing to protect you from life’s trials and tribulations, heartache and loss, but maybe together they’ll find a way to survive.

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
Like I've mentioned so many times earlier, I have a thing for sad and even disturbing stories. So I was absolutely thrilled to read this book!

Jules and Nick have always had it hard, but together they stayed strong. Until one day Nick was gone and Jules was left all alone against the world. But now it's two years later and Nick is back.

Like I said, I had some high hopes for this, and I wasn't really disappointed. In occasions, I managed to take the heartache and pain and feel like it was my own. And who doesn't love that??
Yet I had some trouble with connecting the characters. Some of the things were just so over the top, I couldn't take them seriously. Like how Jules feels so many times every guy is a potential rapist, or just a total creep, except for Nick of course. But everyone else seem to be a threat. And how she dresses to shirts 10 sizes too big. It was just taken too far.
And the beginning with Nick coming back to home.. To a mum, who just didn't seem to give a ****. Absolutely.. don't even know what.
Definitely too much sometimes, and sometimes just not enough.

I still managed to enjoy this, and even though I shouldn't describe this as "good time", that's exactly what I'm going to do. This didn't change my life, but was some pretty good time!

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About the author

I live in a small town nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband and two small children. Growing up, I was always an avid reader. My mother spent way too much money on R. L. Stine and Christopher Pike books!

Writing a novel of my own wasn't something I'd ever given much thought to. It seemed like an unobtainable, far-fetched dream. Then, in late 2007, I attempted to put pen to paper for the first time. What came out wasn't pure gold. And what came out next wasn't either. Things didn't work that way for me. I had to write and rewrite and learn more about my 'voice' as an author first.

It took me a while to find that. Roughly about two years.

I did make a stab at going the traditional route to getting a novel of mine published, but it didn't work out. Some might say I gave up too quickly, some might not. You can look on the 'For Writers' tab to read my post on why I went the way I did to hear the full story.

I will say, I don't regret my decision to Self-Publish. It was right for me. I'm loving that fact that I am able to still be a stay-at-home-mom even though my kids are both now in elementary school. I thank my readers for that. Seriously, a million times over I thank you!

SHATTERED SOUL was my debut novel and no, you haven't seen the end of me yet...

blog | twitter | facebook | goodreads

Ruby's Birthday Book Giveaway Hop!

It's been a while since I last participated in a hop, so it's about time!

This time I'm offering $10 Credit (USD) to The Book Depository!
This means that you can choose 1, 2, or however many books you like as long as they don’t add up to over $10 (USD). You tell me what you would like and I will purchase them on your behalf!

Good luck! :)
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Otherborn Blog Tour + Giveaway

CHECK THE TOUR SCHEDULE HERE!

Otherborn
by Anna Silver

Published: April 4th 2013
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing


Amazon |
Book Depository

London and her teenage friends live in a reprocessed world.

Confined within Capital City’s concrete walls, London has done the impossible and the illegal. She’s created something New- a song. But her mentor, club owner Pauly, is not impressed. Since the historic Energy Crisis forced everyone behind walls generations ago, the Tycoons have ensured there is truly nothing new allowed under the sun. Pauly warns London to keep her song to herself, if she knows what’s good for her.

What he doesn’t know is that London is keeping an even bigger secret: she dreams. And she’s not alone. London’s band-mates and friends have begun dreaming as well, seeing themselves in “night pictures” as beings from another world. As Otherborn, they must piece together the story of their astral avatars, the Others, in order to save their world from a dreamless, hopeless future.

When Pauly is murdered and an Otherborn goes missing, London realizes someone is hunting them down. Escaping along the Outroads, they brave the deserted Houselands with only their dreams to guide them. Can they find their friend before the assassin finds them? Will being Otherborn save their lives, or destroy them?

Excerpt


“It feels weird, doesn’t it?” London asked.
“What?” Kim said, lighting a cigarette.
“This. Leaving. It feels weird to just start walking with no place in particular to go. Where you’ve never been before.”

“Yeah, it does,” said Zen.
Rye smiled at her but didn’t say anything and London felt even more put off. “You okay?” she asked him.

“As good as can be expected,” he said.
She blew off the uneasiness this created in her and said, “So, any dreams last night? Anyone see their Otherborn? Degan?” She didn’t want to say Avery, but they all knew the name was right there on the tip of her tongue. A chorus of no’s confirmed that they were dreaming no more.

London shrugged. “Worth a shot. Let’s do this.”
They moved together through the maze of the city. Capital City was laid out in an urban grid of buildings, towering sentinels and squatty old-timers all squished together like they were in a tin can. It was a long trek down Travis, past the park, and up the ramps that crossed the bayou which ran all the way to Old Green and the west wall. The ramps led straight onto the Ten, but they had to get past the Interstate Gates before they’d truly be on their way. One stop for coffee set them back a bit, and Kim detoured at a corner store to grab a carton of cigarettes, courtesy of Capital City.

When they reached the ramps, they stood staring at the bayou below with bulging eyes.
Here it ran thick and disappeared through a culvert in the wall to the north. They were already pushing the scope of London’s territory, and they weren’t even outside the walls yet. She’d only seen the bayou a handful of times before. Kim leaned over and dangled his spit above the steady, deep, brown waters.

Rye chucked a pebble, watching it slip away beneath the surface. “Never really looked at the bayou,” he said matter-of-factly.

“That’s because it’s the color of shit. Not much worth looking at,” Kim said after finally letting his spit fall and mix into the rush. “Look!” he said pointing below. “Now I’m part of the bayou too.” He waggled his eyebrows at London. “We could’ve taken the culverts out.”

“Yeah, if we wanted to drown,” London said. “Morons,” she muttered to herself, though she knew there were Scrappers who braved the culverts all the time. Occasionally, one washed up at Old Green, bobbing on the surface, all bloated and sticky.

She stared up the asphalt and rebar ramp where the Interstate Gates hung, their solid aluminum bars glinting a plain white-silver in the sunlight at their rounded corners. They were offset, one falling just a little lower than the other, its dull metal finish nearly scraping the road. At the middle, they were bound together in chains, a large black padlock looped through each end. The chains reminded her of Ernesto’s necklaces.

From either side, the walls wrapped around the city like giant concrete arms, holding it in a stony embrace. The Interstate Gates were its metal hands, opening and closing at the Tycoons’ will. But the spaces between the poles of the gates were wide and gaping; anyone on foot could slip through them as easily as sand through fingers.

Beyond, the great asphalt snake of the Ten undulated through a thicket of uninhabited, decaying buildings swallowed by trees and overgrowth, their roofs and rafters, beams and walls rising from the flood of foliage like drowning men reaching out desperately for help. The Houselands. Graveyard to the ones who got locked out. A chill ran up London’s spine. What the hell were they doing?

“This is it,” she blinked. It wasn’t a question.
“Yep,” said Zen, turning away from the sight of flowing water. “This is the one the Tycoons always parade in and out on.”
The Tycoons didn’t make appearances often. Actually, they didn’t make them ever. Just their cars. Capital City housed the presidential compound, the last remaining government office—farce though it was. Once or twice a year, their caravan would parade slowly through the streets and circle on its lawns, a centipede of black shining metal and rolling rubber. More often, they traveled by plane or helicopter, which could be heard coming first, their growing rumble a hungry beast in the sky, followed by the sight of flashing wings or whirling propellers. London thought they looked like giant, mechanical bugs.

“That way?” Rye asked, pointing where the trees eventually converged on the interstate. A visible wound in the concrete skin of the Ten exposed steel rods like rusty bones. Beyond the walls, civilization was losing its war with nature.

“Yep,” Zen nodded.
London raised an eyebrow. She hoped she was right about this. Either way, she didn’t want to hang around City Central letting Kingsnake pick them off one by one. And there was nothing east but more Tycoon control—the pits, the plants, the farms. She didn’t exactly feel like visiting her dad’s grave today. They were going west. There was nothing else to do. “No point standing here thinking about it. May as well get started.”

As they approached the gates, London decided she wouldn’t look back at the receding city. Pauly wasn’t there, not anymore. Dogma would become just another dingy hole for city rejects. There was nothing in Capital City for her anymore. Whatever she had of value was tucked away inside a bag of memories or standing next to her now, in the form of Rye and her friends. She would leave her pain, her years of disappointment, and her grief over Pauly at these gates. There was nothing for them back there but death. Course, there may only be the same ahead. It was a chance they would have to take.

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Blog Tour: 2013 Belongs to Dante - The Collector by Victoria Scott

Welcome to my stop on the ‘2013 Belongs to Dante’ blog event hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!

The Collector
by Victoria Scott

Published: April 2nd 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Format: Ebook
Pages: 400
Source: For review
Amazon | B&N

He makes good girls... bad.



Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best — a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
You read the synopsis, right? So there's a whole lot of talk about this dude called Dante, and you probably a) rolled your eyes OR b) was like "hell yeah!".
I was something in between, meaning I casually rolled my eyes a little and in a small voice whispered "hell yeah".
Some small part of me was definitely excited for this kind of dude, but so many times I've been disappointed. Cause many times those badass dudes are written by female authors and you can just tell that right away. Meaning, no matter how tough they try to act, they end up being ridiculous douches, just screaming "Look how tough I try to act yet I wouldn't even dare to use word poop."

And now I got some good news: Dante actually is a badass!! He has a huge ego, bad manners and his duty is to lure good girls into trouble. And he actually sounds like a guy when doing all that! So yeah, Dante definitely can make good girls bad. At least in the beginning. And you tolerate his bad manners because you know he actually has a good heart. Despite the fact he's a demon and all.
So the beginning of the book is all about Dante making good girl do bad things, and that was just awesome. But then came the but. The bad boy fells in love with the good girl, and all the bad manners are byebye. Damn! The first actual eyeroll came when I got to the part where Dante swears eternal love to Charlie. Or something like that, can't really remember because of all the eyerolling.

Then there's Charlie, the ultimate good girl. I mean, there's no one better in the world. I'm dead serious. And she definitely would've deserved some extreme eyerolling with all the charity work and beauty flaws. So imagine my surprise when I managed not to roll my eyes until the whole Dante- scene came along! I did occasionally thought about it, but did not roll my eyes! *pat my head*
I still didn't feel that connected to Charlie, her character felt actually pretty distant and I never really got to know her that well.
But over all, writing characters so good and so evil could've ended up being a complete disaster, so the author definitely deserves the applause for doing such a great job! Not only with the characters, but also with the plot, since she managed to bring some new twists for the old good VS. evil story.

And she managed to give Dante a whole new life, as The Liberator, and that's definitely something to check out!

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About the author

I'm a YA writer represented by Laurie McLean.

Author of THE COLLECTOR (Entangled Teen, April 2013) and THE BRIMSTONE BLEED (Scholastic, 2014).

I have a master's degree in marketing, and live in Dallas with my husband.

When not writing, I can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.

Release Week Event: Bitter Angel by Megan Hand

Bitter Angel
by Megan Hand

Published:
April 1st 2013

Event organized by:
AToMR Tours

Amazon |
B&N

Torn between two realities.
A choice that will mean life or death.
But she won’t know anything… until she wakes up.

College sophomore, Lila Spencer lived Friday night twice. She doesn’t know how or why, just that she did. As if she split in half and went in two different directions.

Out clubbing with her friends, Heather and Nilah, the girls rock it out and party hard. What begins as an innocent night will lead to a deadly fight for their lives, and Lila might be their only chance for survival.

In bed with her boyfriend, Jay, Lila is safe and warm as she drifts to sleep in the arms of the man she loves. Until she is sucked into a horrifying nightmare of her friends' deaths.

As the sunlight warms her face on Saturday morning, the two scenarios collide. But there can be only one outcome. Will she wake up in her warm bed with Jay by her side, devastated and grieving for her friends? Or was she there to save them?

The answer is just the beginning.

Vengeance Bound Blog Tour + Giveaway (US/CA)

CHECK THE TOUR SCHEDULE HERE!

Vengeance Bound
by Justina Ireland

Published: April 2nd 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers


Amazon |
Book Depository

The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge… no matter how far it takes her.



Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.

Excerpt


I place my hand on the back of an empty chair and clear my throat. “Excuse me, can I borrow this?”

All conversation at the table stops and five sets of eyes turn to me. The nearest guy looks me up and down before shooting me a grin. He’s cute, in an arrogant jock sort of way. Dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin. There’s something about him I don’t like, though. “Why don’t you just ditch the losers and sit down with us? I’m sure we could entertain you.” He says the last part in a tone of voice that earns him a chorus of knowing chuckles and high fives.

Ah, that’s what it is. He’s setting off my internal douche bag alarm.

My face heats but I manage to keep the smile frozen on my face. Like a dork I stick out my hand to shake. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Corinne Graff.”

He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me forward, turning me around at the last second so that I’m sitting on his lap. Every muscle in my body stiffens. Dear god, he’s touching me.

“Dylan. Dylan Larchmont.” He whispers in my ear. I try to get away, and his hands snake around my waist. The additional contact sets off more alarms in my head. Slowly, They rouse with whispers of what he would like to do to me, and the thought makes bile burn the back of my throat. They urge me to cause him pain. I swallow thickly. If I don’t maintain control on Them this fun little outing could turn into a massacre of XY chromosomes.

Dylan laughs, oblivious to my dark thoughts. “See, you don’t need to sit with those losers, I have a seat for you right here.” He pats my thigh reassuringly.

I try to stand again but he holds on tight. Dylan is pissing me off. His hands skim places that are definitely off limits. All I can think of is escape, and I fight to stay calm so They don’t fully wake. Panic steals my breath, and I have to forcibly remind myself I’m not in any real danger. He’s just a bully, not a criminal. I squirm around until I can stare into in his muddy brown eyes. “Let me go,” I mutter.

He laughs. “Make me.” His friends whoop and a couple offer helpful suggestions as to what Dylan should do with me. I swallow dryly and ignore them. I’m no match for Dylan’s strength, but I know who is. I give in to Their sleepy murmurs and relax my hold on Them a little.

The noise of the restaurant fades away as I stare into Dylan’s eyes. His gaze is locked into mine, and it only takes a couple of seconds before I can feel the shift in his behavior. His smirk fades. A couple of heartbeats more and he jerks in surprise, then squirms in his seat. His breathing quickens and he tenses like a rabbit sensing danger, eyes widening. They can sense his fear, and now They are anxious for release, hungry for a taste of pain. My head pounds and I’m certain he can see Them swirling around in the depths of my eyes. A slight smile curves my lips. There is nothing friendly about it.

“Let. Me. Go.”

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Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Bitter Greens
by Kate Forsyth

Published: February 25th 2013
(first published January 1st 2012)

Publisher: Allison & Busby
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 542
Source: For review
Amazon |
Book Depository

An utterly captivating reinvention of the Rapunzel fairytale weaved together with the scandalous life of one of the tale's first tellers, Charlotte-Rose de la Force.

Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. She is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens...

Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-four years later. Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition, retaining her youth and beauty by the blood of young red-haired girls.

After Margherita's father steals a handful of parsley, wintercress and rapunzel from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off unless he and his wife give away their little red-haired girl. And so, when she turns seven, Margherita is locked away in a tower, her hair woven together with the locks of all the girls before her, growing to womanhood under the shadow of La Strega Bella, and dreaming of being rescued...

Three women, three lives, three stories, braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic and the redemptive power of love.

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
Bitter Greens ended up being a captivating story mixing both fiction and fantasy! This was both a fairytale retelling of Rapunzel and historical fiction revolving around Charlotte-Rose de la Force's scandalous life. Charlotte-Rose de la Force actually was a French novelist and poet. She was also the one telling the tale of Rapunzel for the first time. This definitely peaked my interested and added something extra for the story!

About half the book is about Charlotte-Rose de la Force and her life. Thanks to some scandals, king forces her to move to a convent, where life isn't fun and games. Especially in the beginning her life is miserable. We also get to see glimpses of her earlier life, which was filled with dancing, flirting, scandals, you name it. And I must say I definitely enjoyed those stories more.
Then there's the story of Rapunzel, which locates to Italy in the 16th century. This is the part containing most of the fantasy, yet I still ended up loving Charlotte-Rose's story more. Somehow it just seemed more relatable and the story just flowed. I could've read a book solely concentrating on Charlotte-Rose!

Through the book there's a lot of jumping back and forth in time, which many times confuses me. I don't usually get easily confused, but I never seem to remember which year we're in, so I always have to browse through earlier chapters. And when you add different stories and characters to that.. Oh my, I should've been completely lost!
Yet, the author managed the jumps brilliantly, even my chicken brain managed to stay focused!

This was kind of a risk for me to read, since I usually stick to young adult literature if possible. And tend to avoid any historical- something. So when I actually ended up enjoying this book, I was so happy! Because it's always a pleasure to find a great read, and it's somehow even more amazing when it's out of your comfort zone.
You don't like historical fiction? You should try this out! Love historical fiction? Again, you should definitely try this out.


My thanks to The Book Depository for providing the review copy!

Grimm Diaries Release Day Blitz

Grimm Diaries by Cameron Jace
Prequels 11-14



Publication date:
March 28th 2013

Genre:
YA Fantasy/
Fairy Tale


SALE! From the 28th until the 31st!
FIRST BUNDLE
SECOND BUNDLE




10.5) Happy Valentine’s Slay by Wee Willy Winkie The real Sandman Grimm sheds a light on what happened in Jawigi, and tells about how some of the teens in Sorrow spend their Valentine’s Day.

11) Children of Hamlin by the Devil The Devil tells the story of the Piper of Hamlin, who he really is, the historical events he witnessed, and his relationship to Ladle Rat. Most of all, why they call him the Black Death.

12) Tooth & Nail & Fairy Tale by Jack Madly Jack Madly stole a sack full of baby teeth from Bluebeard’s enchanted castle, which reminds him of when he first met the Tooth Fairy when he was a child; a memory he wishes to forget.

13) Ember in the Wind by the Little Match Girl All the Little Match Girl wants is to sell her matches so she uses the money to eat and find shelter from the cold. But no one in the cruel city of crowded London helps her. Eventually, she learns something about who she really is, and it changes her life forever.

14) Jar of Hearts by the Queen of Sorrow The Queen of Sorrow, still trapped in the Dreamworld summons Cassandra, the fortuneteller, to ask her about the identities of Lost Seven. The problem with Cassandra is that she’s cursed that her predictions will never be believed. The Queen is still determined to believe her, but it will cost more than she can bargain for.

About the author

Wonderlander, Neverlander, Unicorn-chaser, enchanter, musician, survived a coma, & totally awesome. Sometimes I tell stories. Always luv the little monsters.

I write young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and science fiction mostly. The Grimm Diaries series is a seven book saga that deals with retellings of fairy tales from a young adult POV - it connects most of the fairy tales together and claims to be the truth about fairy tales.

I live in San Fransisco and seriously think circles are way cooler than triangles.


Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge - Voting closed!

It's 3/24, and the voting is over! Thank you all who voted, there was only like three of you (...), but that's better than nothing, right? :)

And at least those three votes were all different, so here's what I'll be reading next month!



Awesome! And I'm pretty sure I'll be re-reading Delirium, since I can't really remember anything about it!

Stacking the Shelves #6

Meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews!

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual.

This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Guess I can only blame the spring for losing my interest in buying books? But at least I've received some review copies, phew!

For review

These two books I received a little while back..


Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
This I received through Maya from The Book Depository and their new reviewing programme! It's so pretty!



Plastic Polly by Jenny Lundquist
I absolutely loved Jenny's book Seeing Ciderella(review here!), so I literally jumped up and down when I received this!
And some awesome swag, yay!



The other day I got home from work and look what was waiting for me!


And inside were these babies!

Goddess by Josephine Angelini
Taken by Erin Bowman
(DUPLICATES! So there's going to be related giveaway at some point!)
The Ward by Jordana Frankel
Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting
Night School by C.J. Daughterty
The End Games by T. Michael Martin

I nearly had a heart attack! Again, I owe huge thanks to Christine and HarperCollins!


Bought

Like I mentioned, I haven't been buying books lately, but I did buy something book related..
My old phone is few years old and was starting to fall apart. So I decided to upgrade a little!
I wanted something between phone and tab, so here's what I bought..



And the first app I downloaded:

No surprise there! Hopefully this will get me all excited about reading again ;)