March 30, 2009

True Blood Season 2 Preview Pics!

HBO's True Blood is set to come back with season two starting June 14th. That is pretty far away but I'm looking forward to it. It's based off of the best selling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. Season 1 was decent and I'm hoping season 2 won't disappoint. Especially when HBO costs us $15 a month! Geesh!
More pics available at ShockTilYouDrop.com.


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Contest: New Author Bree Despain

Thanks to Erika Lynn of Kiss My Book for this info! 

Bree Despain is a member of the blog 2010: A Book Odyssey, a blog for authors who will be debuting in 2010. Go to her blog where there is a super cool contest for some really cool prizes which you need to enter. The only catch: you have to tell her I sent you!

Her book The Dark Divine will be out in 2010. Here is a summary from the 2010 blog.
Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in blood--but the monstrous secret of what really transpired resurfaces when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's small Christian high school.

Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry, glint in his eyes. The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, and the lives of her enitre family, as her actions stir the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind Daniel and Jude's dark secret, and the way to save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul.
So go enter and tell her I sent you!

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In My Mailbox!

I got one book this week. It was one that I won on a blog and one that I've already read! I have the ARC of this book and loved it. Not sure if I'll keep it or give it away. You can read my review of it here.
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Purchased this book from Target on Saturday night. I love the cover! I didn't realize it is three books, should've since it's sooo huge! I'm really interested in reading it. It includes:
Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler
The Power of Love
Soulmates

It's 704 pages.
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A love beyond life...a danger beyond doubt.

When her boyfriend, Tristan, died, Ivy thought she'd lost everything, even her faith in angels. But now she's discovered that he's her guardian angel -- his presence so strong that she can feel the touch of his hand, the beat of his heart. Ivy needs Tristan now more than ever because he knows she's in terrible danger. Only Ivy's guardian angel can save her now that his killer is after her.

But if Tristan rescues Ivy, his mission on earth will be finished, and he must leave her behind forever. Will saving Ivy mean losing her just when he's finally reached her again?


What did you get? I wish I got more ARCs but I'm cool with what I can get! I'd need more time to read if I received too many at a time.

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March 26, 2009

Contest: Stargazer (Evernight, Book 2) by Claudia Gray

http://www.teenlibris.com/images/covers/Stargazer.jpgHere's your chance to win a BRAND NEW hardcover copy of Stargazer (Evernight, book 2) by Claudia Gray!

Contest Rules:
Read my previously posted review of Stargazer. You'll need info. from here to fill out the entry form.
Fill out the below Contest Entry Form.
Leave a comment to this post letting me know you've filled out and submitted the Contest Form.
Multiple entries are calculated in the form.
Entries must be subitted via the form by Saturday, April 4, 11:59 p.m. EST. (I extended this on 04/02/09)
U.S. mailing address only. Sorry.

Thanks and good luck!

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Contest: Stargazer (Evernight, Book 2) by Claudia Gray

http://www.teenlibris.com/images/covers/Stargazer.jpgHere's your chance to win a BRAND NEW hardcover copy of Stargazer (Evernight, book 2) by Claudia Gray!

Contest Rules:
Read my previously posted review of Stargazer. You'll need info. from here to fill out the entry form.
Fill out the below Contest Entry Form.
Leave a comment to this post letting me know you've filled out and submitted the Contest Form.
Multiple entries are calculated in the form.
Entries must be subitted via the form by Friday, April 3, 11:59 p.m. EST.
U.S. mailing address only. Sorry.

Thanks and good luck!

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My Tattoo!

Wow. What a night!
Last night I got my first tattoo and it will be one I never forget.

The artist, Jim, started my tattoo. About 5 minutes in he asked if someone was burning incense. The other dude there said yeah it was possible, they did it often.

20 minutes or so into the tattoo, one flower and tree leaf cluster complete, smoke starts billowing into the upstairs hallway and someone yells from downstairs, "Fire! Get out now!".

Jim puts down the "pen", I grab my stuff and we proceed to evacuate out the front. Smoke is seeping through the basement windows around the sides of the house. This is in Gettysburg, downtown, an old duplex building.

We go around back to get a look-see at the fire. It's coming from the back porch, which is also the entrance to the basement. It's wooden, with a door, and on fire!! One of the other artists was able to put out the majority of the flame with a few jugs of water before the first voluteer fireman arrived shouting, "Where's the fire!?", in his very hick, fire obsessed voice. It was so obnxious, not for him I'm sure, that I wanted to laugh so bad, but I held it in.

Click the pictures for a closer look!

 
Then the whole fire squad, ambulance squad, reporters, and police men arrived closing off the entire block. The response was insane and they were there before the girl who called 9-1-1 was even off the phone with them! I think this had to do with the ADT fire alarm system they had installed in the building.

We crowded on the front sidewalk until they gave us the all clear to re-enter the building. The fire was contained on just the back porch and the smoke was removed using an awesome, huge fan they blew into the building.

The firemen left deflated looking because there wasn't any "real" fire to put out. At least one guy had fun axing the hell out of the porch. They couldn't get their chain saw to work. :(

We returned to our now freezing room to continue my tattoo. Which I am completely satisfied with. Jim did great. The pain was minimal and pretty much tickled and gave me continious goose bumps.

Here's my Celtic Tree of Life:


It's on my right, inner forearm. My elbow crease is at the bottom of the above pic. I wanted it position so that it was right side up to me, not others looking at it. It's mine and I want to see it correctly!
What do you think?

P.S. My artist was Jimbo of Chrome Gardens.Here's their blog post about the incident!

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March 25, 2009

Evermore Contest Results!

Congrats to:


mis(h)takes
!


You are the lucky winner of my copy of Evermore!


Winner was picked using BuzzMyBlog.com Contest Winner Picker

I'll be putting this into the mail to you tomorrow, hopefully, as long as my day goes okay.
I'll be emailing you just to confirm your address one last time.

Thanks to everyone who entered!
Stay tuned! I'll be hosting a contest for a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer by Claudia Gray!
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March 24, 2009

Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia Gray

Evernight Book 2: Stargazer by Claudia GrayThis post will be the review only. I will post the contest this weekend as I am having a crazy week.

Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia Gray
HarperTeen (March 24, 2009)
329 pages (Hardcover)

Originality: 19!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 19!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 19!
Passion: 10!
Grade: 97/100!


NEW! Cover Bonus Points: 2/5!
99/100!

Inside flap description:

The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .
Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.
But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.
Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.
Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .
Read an excerpt HERE!

Originality:
The plot was very original in this book. Ghosts, vampires, humans, teens, adults, extremely old vampire teens. It has it all. Everything worked well together in this recent installment by Claudia Gray.

Characters:

Bianca and Lucas's love holds strong even thought they are forced apart. We learn more about Bianca, her parents, and her roommate Raquel. We also learn a bit more about snob Courtney. And a major character this time around is one of my favorite characters: Balthazar. We also meet his sister in this book, who turns out to be a major character.

Writing:
Claudia did such a better job on the writing this time around! I remember reading Evernight feeling confused and a bit ahead of where the reader should have been or something like that. Not with this book. I felt right at home. Everything matched and met up at the correct times. There was no confusion about the storyline, the characters, or even where it was all leading to. It was very well done.

Setting:

Well, the setting is Evernight Academy. A giant stone building with towers and gargoyles. The setting is setup very well. A lot takes place within Evernight and the details needed to convey the setting were there, not aggressive but not lacking either. We got to travel a bit in this book and each new setting was welcome and presented just great.

Plot:

This book was chock full o' badassness! There was lots of action, lots of planning, lots of collaboration between characters. Overall, I had tons of fun reading this. Everything worked out in the end with little-to-no loose ends, well except for the ending, but that's to be expected!

Passion:
Wow. The passion is totally there. Between Lucas and Bianca and even Bianca and Balty. Lucas and Bianca have a very close scene that they both ended up confused by what the other wants and it ends terribly, terribly bad. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I felt totally sad for Bianca but I also understood where Lucas was coming from. And what makes it even worse is that Balthazar is such a nice guy, vampire, whatever, and he and Bianca would work great together. They share a moment that was so hot it was freezing....for a moment I thought I was reading one of my adult romances.

Cover:
The cover isn't that great. They stayed true with the artwork of the first book with a contrasted pic of a girl but I don't get it. I do love the font that Stargazer is set in though. And the purple is cool too.

Overall:
This was a great book. I totally loved it and I was soo sad with the end. Because I didn't want it to end. Here's the closing line:
"Yeah." I looked at Lucas as I took his hand in mine. "I'm with you."

So, needless to say, I WANT MORE!

The next book titled Hourglass will probably be a whole year away.

There are some cool wallpapers and avatars on Claudia's website!

Stay tuned for my contest of a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer! I'll be posting it sometime later this week!






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Teaser Tuesday!

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TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two "teaser" sentences from that page.
Share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from so we can add that book to our never ending TBR pile!
Avoid spoilers!

"Before she could move or cry out, the creature leapt forward with unexpected speed and popped a bite of soup into Abisina's mouth. She gagged as a thick broth slipped down her throat, leaving the taste of mud."

Page 62, ARC of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott

It's a great read so far!
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Lisa Kleypas Smooth Talking Stranger

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March 23, 2009

In My Mailbox!

Last week I got two books! Both from the author's themselves!


Stargazer by Claudia Gray, Releases TODAY! March 23! I've already http://www.claudiagray.com/img/stargazer_cover.jpgconsumed this book and will be posting my review tonight, maybe! It was AWESOME! I'll be holding a contest for this book. I'm keeping the author signed copy but I forgot that I pre-ordered this from Amazon, hence I have an extra copy! Lucky for you guys!








Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott, will release April 1. I started reading http://www.authorsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/watersmeet_abbott-165x250.jpgthis yesterday. So far, so good! :)

Stay posted for my review of Stargazer and the contest! Watersmeet isn't too long so I should have that completed by the end of this week!










I forgot the put that hubby bought me Twilight while he was at the store last night!



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March 20, 2009

Friday Fill In!

Sponsored by Janet at Friday Fill Ins.
ffi
1. Why do we have to work 5 days a week?!
2. Drinking coffee and getting to work late everyday are now habits. o.O
3. I have a lovely cup of Hot Chai Latte.
4. I had never heard of the phrase "You can't shine a turd." and it confused me at first but then I understood the meaning.
5. I'm blogging instead of working the way I always do.
6. How was I to know that blogging would overcome work!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with our friends Lori, Kevin, and their baby boy Lucas, tomorrow my plans include reading (!), maybe some laundry and housework (no!), and Sunday, I want to read more(!)!

What about you?!

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March 18, 2009

Hunger Games Movie Rights Acquired

http://www.nassaulibrary.org/centreblog/hunger%20games.jpgLionsgate has acquired the worldwide distribution rights to produce the movie of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Source: Shocktilyoudrop.com

This book is on my list of TBR. I haven't purchased it yet but I've heard good things.

Good idea for a movie?


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My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent Teaser!

Rachel Vincent is by far one of my most favorite authors. She has a terrific Shifter series that I just love.

She's taking a journey and venturing into YA. Her upcoming release, August 1, of My Soul to Take, Soul Screamers series, is about a teenage bean sidhe (banshee). Here's what Rachel summarized about the main character Kaylee Cavanaugh:

Kaylee Cavanaugh is a high school junior who thinks she’s losing her mind when she’s struck by the grim certainty that someone near her is going to die–and by the irresistible urge to shriek in response. But when it turns out that she’s not crazy and people are dying, Kaylee becomes determined to stop the deaths she foresees. Especially when they begin to hit close to home…

And here's the excerpt she has teased us with:
Nervous sweat gathered on my palms, and for once I was glad I couldn’t talk. I swallowed, my throat clenching around the scream scalding me from the inside. The gray haze was darker now, though no thicker. I could see through it easily, yet it tainted everything my terrified gaze landed on, as if the entire gym had been draped in a translucent cloud of smog. And still things moved on the edge of my vision, drawing my eye in first one direction, then another. I would have given anything to be able to speak in that moment, not just to warn Emma - because that was evidently a moot point- but to ask Nash what the hell was going on. Could he see what I saw? More important, could they see us?

Rachel's post is available at Deadline Dames. Visit Rachel's blog and web site too!

I've read 3 of Rachel's Shifter books. You can read my reviews for Stray (Werecats, Book 1), and Rogue (Werecats, Book 2), and Pride (Werecats, Book 3). Book 4, Prey, is due out July 1, and I SOOO can't wait!

My Soul to Take is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

What do you think? A possible YA read for you? I'm totally on board. I told Rachel I would read anything she wrote. Bring it on Rachel!

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FREE Kindle Short Story! The Wild's Call by Jeri Smith-Ready

The Wild's Call cover

Get a free short story for your Kindle!
The Wild's Call is a short story by author Jeri Smith-Ready. It's a prequel to her Aspect of Crow series.
I've never heard of this series before so a prequel story is a great way to be acquainted. Don't have a Kindle? No worries! The publisher has the short story available for non-Kindlers.

 It is seven years after the collapse of modern civilization, and the world is entering a new Dark Age. Can best friends Elysia and Darien trust the animal spirits that are beckoning them to escape into the wilderness and create a new way of life? And will they give in to the mutual passion they’ve always denied?

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