Friday, September 28, 2012

Feature and Follow Friday (8)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! :)

Q: What is the BIGGEST word you've seen used in a book lately - that made you stop and look it up? Might as well leave the definition & book too.

A: Nothing really but I just learned what "quickening" means! (from The Game of Thrones. :))

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Winners!!


Here are the winners for the MIBF Giveaway and the A Need So Beautiful Giveaway!

The lucky winner of our A Need So Beautiful Giveaway is...

Neil R.!!


And the winner of our MIBF SWAG Giveaway is...

Kazhmere d.!!
(Cool name, btw.)


Congrats to the winners! You'll be receiving an e-mail from us shortly. :)
And winners, please check your Spam Mail from time to time.

Oh and you guys can still enter to win a signed copy of The Taker by Alma Katsu! Just click HERE.
And we'll still be having a bunch of giveaways soon! (I foresee a book with a blue cover being given away somewhere in the near future. ;D)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Book Launch: The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

I'm absolutely positive that there's a gazillion people out there dying to read J. K. Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy! Well, we've got awesome news! The Casual Vacancy will be coming out in the Philippines on the publication date!

NATIONAL BOOK STORE LAUNCHES J.K. ROWLING’S THE CASUAL VACANCY

The long wait is finally over! One of the most anticipated book releases of the year, J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, will be launched in the Philippines on September 27 at exactly 3 pm by National Book Store.


J.K. Rowling is the author of the biggest selling young adult series of all-time, Harry Potter, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide. The Harry Potter books have also been adapted into eight blockbuster movies.

The Casual Vacancy is Rowling’s first book in five years and is her first book aimed at an adult readership. It tells the story of the little town of Pagford, which is left in shock after the death of Barry Fairbrother. Pagford, seemingly an English idyll, is a town at war. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council triggers the biggest war the town has yet seen.

Shop online at www.nationalbookstore.com. Follow National Book Store on Facebook and Twitter for the latest events and exclusive promos and contests.

Make sure you mark this date and rush to the bookstore then! :D

Title: The Casual Vacancy
Author: J. K. Rowling

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the town's council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults.

(Summary from Goodreads)

 Follow National Bookstore on: Twitter / Facebook

Waiting on Wednesday (10)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.
This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is:




Title: Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1)
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication date: December 11th 2012
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power--brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished--and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past--and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?
(Summary from Goodreads)

Why I'm excited for this:
First off, the cover is absolutely badass. The guy looks like some sort of assassin! And secondly, I am a HUGE fan of Fantasy novels. And lastly, the summary is such an attention-grabber. I feel like these people each have a story of their own and i just want to unravel them all!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Stacking the Shelves (3) aka Awesome Mail Week!


Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews! It's where bloggers can share what they got for review, bought, borrowed, won or gifted (both physical and eBooks may be included! :D)


Here's what I got this week:


For review:

ARC of Passenger (The Marbury Lens #2) by Andrew Smith (Goodreads)
[We're both so happy that we got a copy of this because we are just DYING to read Passenger and it's so perfect since it was our Waiting on Wednesday pick this week as well!]

Won:

Redemption (Hearts of Stone #1) by Veronique Launier (Goodreads)
Silver (Bandia #1) by Talia Vance (Goodreads)
Rebel Heart (Dust Lands #2) by Moira Young (Goodreads)
The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day (Goodreads)
*signed*  ARC of Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead (Goodreads)

SWAG:


Yes, we got a shipload of SWAG this week!



Thank you so much to the following people: Scholastic UK, Macmillan Kids, Flux Books, Claire Legrand, Kimberly Derting, Kiki Hamilton, Daniel Marks, Melissa de la Cruz, Jennifer Castle, Miranda Keneally, Tara Fuller, Lisa T. Bergren, and Fiona Paul! <3



Leave us a comment with a link to your post and we'll check it out! :)

Friday, September 21, 2012

Feature and Follow Friday (7)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! :)

This week's question:
Q: What hyped up book was worth all of the fuss?

A: This question is kind of hard since there's a lot of books that I really enjoyed that did get a lot of buzz... But here are a few:
~ Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
~ Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
~ Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
~ The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa
~ Cinder by Marissa Meyer
~ Um... Cassandra Clare's books
~ AND WAY MORE

Leave us a comment with you FF post and we'll check it out! :)

Cover Reveal: Opal (Lux #3) by Jennifer Armentrout

Okay, can I just say how honored and ecstatic I am to be a part of this cover reveal? My mom has been continuously gushing about how amazing Obsidian is, and while I haven't read it yet I know that it'll be as every bit amazing as I'm told it is. So without further ado, I present to you the cover of Opal, the third Lux novel (and I'll be ending our cover reveal week as well. Heehee):


Title: Opal (Lux #3)
Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication date: December 11th 2012
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble


No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

About the author:



USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.
You can find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog



OH AND GUYS, YOU DEFINITELY WANT TO BOOKMARK THIS PAGE:
Some super exciting things will be happening. ;)

My thoughts:
I think anyone can attest to the fact that this is one sexy cover. Yup. Is it getting hot in here, or what? Jennifer Armentrout has always had awesome covers and this one is no exception! I absolutely cannot wait to start with my copy of Obsidian and get obsessed!!

Thanks so much Entangled Publishing for including us in the reveal. :)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Review: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Title: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Pages: 402 pages
Publisher: June 12th 2012
Published on: Balzer + Bray
Source: Bought from Fully Booked
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.


Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to
rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's "Persuasion," "For Darkness Shows the Stars" is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.
(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

This book is truly set-apart from all the other dystopian stories. Where as technology is highlighted in the other novels, this kind of dystopian gives a refreshing twist along the lines of "How would it be like if our precious technology backfired?"  This book is giving us a glimpse of a future where genetic experiments and modifications have gone too far and have cause a national problem. It's not very far off from reality and is very highly believable. One reason why you'll be absorbed in this outstanding, genius creativity of Miss. Peterfreund.

Elliot North reminds me of an egg. She acts all tough, like the outer shell, seemingly resistant to the harsh extremities of the world not because she was born with it, but because she developed it whilst growing up. Always wanting to be the strong one, but is actually very fragile. The egg white being her thoughts, them wanting to run free, but restrained by the shell which her society has taught and made her build. The yolk being her deepest wants. Close to her thoughts, but is kept even deeper inside for she never lets her want get over her rightful judgement. Seems boring, doesn't it? But of course, we have the ever-dashing Kai. He's Elliot polar opposite in terms of societal standings. Him being a post (used as an adjective, not a noun) and her being a Luddite. The romance between them is strong, you can sense it from the first few pages. Their chemistry well crafted in the laboratory of relations. I liked everything about this book. How it kept me guessing and just when you thought it would be a typical romance story of childhood friends who grow up and marry each other. No, sir-ee this book has a whole other agenda in its hands. It's like I would love to read more books like these, but at the same time I don't, because it might lose it's special whole other classification in my mind. The plot turns were really well executed not so much to make you go "WTF..." but enough to make you jump around in excitement and squeal like a little girl. All in all, this book was what I was looking for in the "fresh" category. It was something I never expected and I was well pleased with how it turned out. Good job, Miss Peterfreund!

A great big congratulatory hug to Miss Peterfreund for writing such an exhilarating novel! :)

Rating:

Cover Reveal: Abandon (Possession #3) by Elana Johnson

It's been a week of awesome cover reveals! (Whoot!) Well, here's the cover for Elana Johnson's third book, Abandon:



Title: Abandon (Possession #3)
Author: Elana Johnson
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: June 2013


seduced by power,
broken by control,
and consumed by love...


Vi has made her choice between Jag and Zenn, and the Resistance may have suffered for it. But with the Thinkers as strong as ever, the rebels still have a job to do. Vi knows better than anyone that there's more at stake than a few broken hearts. 


But there is a traitor among them...and the choices he makes could lead to the total destruction of everything Vi has fought for.

Vi, Jag, and Zenn must set their problems aside for the Resistance to have any hope of ending the Thinkers' reign. Their success means everything...and their failure means death.



About the author:

Elana is the author of the Possession series, which includes full-length novels POSSESSION and SURRENDER, and short stories REGRET (ebook only) and INSIDER INFORMATION (free here!).

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a regular contributor to The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of SCBWI, ANWA, and LDStorymakers.

Chat her up on her Twitter or check out her blog!



My thoughts:

I really love the color of the cover and the flower inside the tube is really interesting. So far, this series has had pretty amazing covers. I'll definitely have to check it out soon!

Thanks AToMR Tours for hosting the reveal! :)


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (9)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.
This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is:


Title: Passenger (Marbury Lens #2)
Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication date: October 2nd 2012
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Jack and Conner have a plan.

They think it's the only reasonable way to deal with the Marbury lens.

But the four boys - Jack, Conner, Ben, and Griffin - end up scattered in different places at different times. Jack is lost in a Marbury that isn't Marbury, a Glenbrook that isn't Glenbrook, pursued through every crumbling not-world by an uncaring cop trying to solve the mystery of Freddie Horvath's murder, and a deceitful kid named Quinn Cahill who believes he is the King of Marbury. Jack's universe is collapsing in on itself. He finds his friends. He finds his home.

There's always just one thing, and Jack knows it.

This can't be it.
(Summary from Goodreads)

Why I'm excited for this book:
Guys, I fell so in love with the Marbury Lens. It's one of my mist favorite books EVER even though it's disturbing and absolutely mental, it only adds to its appeal. I am dying to read this book. Absolutely dying. I miss reading the way Andrew Smith writes; with such great detail and emotions that will reach out to you from the book and tug at your heart and mind. I can't wait to read Passenger.

Leave us a comment with your WoW and we'll check it out! :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Author Interview: Alma Katsu (Author of The Taker trilogy) + Giveaway!

Hey guys! It's that time of the week again... We're having another author interview! I, personally, am a big fan of her work so I'm very excited to present to you the talented... ALMA KATSU!




Alma Katsu is the author of the Taker trilogy. She currently lives in DC with her husband and is working on the third book of the trilogy, The Descent. Her debut, The Taker, a Gothic novel of suspense, has been compared to the early work of Anne Rice and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. The novel was named a Top Ten Debut Novel of 2011 by the American Library Association and has developed an international following. You can contact and chat her up at her blogFacebook and Twitter as well!  




Check out her books: The Taker and The Reckoning, the first and second book of the The Taker trilogy! (Click HERE for my review of The Taker. Which I LOVED.)

And watch out for her third and the final book of the trilogy, The Descent, coming out 2013.

And we're so very happy to have here today with us for an interview!


Here it is:


Hi Alma! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview with us!



It's my pleasure. I love connecting with new readers through book blogs. Book bloggers have really helped get the word out on my two books, The Taker and The Reckoning, and I'm extremely grateful.

What inspired you to portray immortality the way you did in your books?


It was definitely a way to up the ante. In The Taker, the villain Adair gives immortality to people who have done something spectacularly bad. They don’t know it at the time, but they’re being punished. If your punishment was to be tied to this terrible man, imagine how much worse it would be if you were tied to him forever, with no hope of escape, not even death? I guess I’m a fan of the Faustian bargain, of making a deal with the devil. (I blame my Catholic upbringing for this.) Only in The Taker, the heroine Lanny manages to get the better of the devil, though she still doesn’t get what she wants. By the end of the book she understands that it’s because she doesn’t deserve it.

If you were to describe your books in only three words, what would they be and why?

Realistic, original and dark.

Realistic: Quite a few reviews have said that The Taker was one book that made the supernatural feel possible, which I take as a great honor. I think it’s because the characters are very realistic. They’re complex, with complex reactions to the extraordinary situations in which they find themselves.

Original: The most common reaction from readers has been that the story was nothing like what they expected—for which I’m very happy! It doesn’t have vampires or angels, none of the horror/supernatural tropes that we’ve come to expect. Readers have also said they’ve never read a book like it and couldn’t put it down.

Dark: Let’s put it this way: Thomas Hardy is one of my favorite authors. Edgar Allan Poe is another. We all have a dark side (some people more than others). People are more interesting in their reactions to tragedy than they are when they are happy.

Were there parts in your books that were harder to write than others? And why?

The scenes where Lanny is being brutally emotionally honest were the hardest to write—for instance, the scene the morning after she has brought Jonathan to live in Adair’s house. By ‘hardest’ here I mean technically difficult. I had to rewrite them over and over to get the tone just right. And of course, the scenes of brutality or violence are always hard to write, not so much imagining what would happen and getting it all down, but dealing with the feelings of unease afterwards.

What is your favorite part in the writing process? I heard those edits can be a demon...

I much prefer writing the first draft to revision. The first draft is the time of discovery; it’s like when you’re just falling in love. Everything is new, there are all these possibilities, you find your characters utterly fascinating and want to spend all your waking moments with them. Revision is the hard work; you’re yoked to this story and you must do whatever is necessary to make it work, preferably without sucking the joy out of it.

Which of your two published books was more fun/easier to write? If you could change anything in either, would you?

Even though The Taker took ten years to write, it was the easier of the two. I only had about twenty months to write The Reckoning. It went through many, many revisions. Both Adair and Lanny had to go through this incredible emotional transformation, and it was difficult to pull off. And yes, there are things I would change in both books, probably more so in The Reckoning. But readers have told me they enjoy it more than The Taker, so I guess I got some things right.

Quick Questions:

Angels or Demons?

Demons. I find the bad sorts more interesting.

Vampires or Werewolves?

Vampires. They’re sexier.

Fruit juice or soda?

Soda. Regular coke (I’m allergic to Aspertame).

Comedy or Horror?

Real horror is hard to pull off, I think—but horror.

Vanilla or Chocolate?

Mmmm, vanilla in most things, but I love milk chocolate.

Fiction or Non-Ficition?

Fiction. Non-fiction feeds the intellect, but fiction feeds the soul.

Thank you so much for stopping by our blog, Alma! Keep writing awesome books!


Thanks so much for your time, Sisters, and the vote of confidence. Just a little reminder, the last book in the trilogy, The Descent, is scheduled for publication May 2013. To stay up on the latest news of releases, contests (we give away monthly prizes) and other stuff, I encourage readers to join my mailing list at http://www.almakatsu.com/contact.php#mailing-list.

Yup! You are definitely reading right! We're hosting another giveaway! (YAAAY!) Since I loved this book so much, I decided to give away my...


SIGNED copy of The Taker by Alma Katsu

Yes, I love you guys THAT much. I've only had this book for about a week or so and since I already had a copy, I thought that I might as well give away my extra copy and spread (the) The Taker love. :)

DETAILS:

~ REQUIRED: You MUST be a follower for you to enter.
~ Must be 13 years old or older.
~ Open INTERNATIONALLY.
~ Winners have 48 hours to respond to our e-mail else we'll be forced to pick new ones.


Good luck and well wishes! :)