Thursday, 28 February 2013

Wait For You Cover Reveal



What do early readers have to say about WAIT FOR YOU?

“J. Lynn creates a wonderful cast of characters that will make you laugh, swoon, and cry. Cam stole my heart.” – Cora Carmack, NYTimes and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of LOSING IT
“For the love of all that is Cameron without a shirt on! Wait for You will have you laughing out loud, fanning yourself and anxiously waiting to know what will happen next.” – Molly McAdams, NYTimes and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of FROM ASHES and TAKING CHANCES
“I don't think I have ever read a NA Contemporary novel with as much depth as this one. It really moved me and by the end I was just speechless over how inspirational and uplifting it was as well as being sexy and cute and funny and emotional.” - K Books

“Wait For You is uniquely different from anything else J. Lynn's written but it might possibly be her best work yet.” – Jenuine Cupcakes

“For all of you in love with Aiden and Daemon, PREPARE YOURSELVES! Your heart will have to expand a little more for Cam.” Total Bookaholic

“For the love of all things CAM, this book deserves more than 5 stars.” – Mundie Moms

“I cannot even begin to explain how much I adored this perfectly crafted contemporary.” – Shortie Says

Excited? Ready to see the cover for WAIT FOR YOU?




Synopsis
Some things are worth waiting for…
Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.
Some things are worth experiencing…
Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.
Some things should never be kept quiet…
But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?
And some things are worth fighting for…
WAIT FOR YOU is available now!
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Wait-for-You-ebook/dp/B00BLTOXEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1361958795&sr=1-1&keywords=wait+for+you
Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wait-for-you-j-lynn/1114701569?ean=2940016231921



 J. Lynn, also known as Jennifer L. Armentrout, is the USA TODAY Bestselling author of the adult romance Gamble Brothers’ series, the young adult Lux Series and award winning Covenant Series. She pretty much writes everything—contemporary, paranormal, and fantasy. All of her books have one thing in common no matter the name or genre: kissing… and stuff. When she’s not busy writing, which is never, she’s usually hanging out with dog Loki, watching reruns of The Walking Dead, or procrastinating on the Internet. You can find out more about Jennifer by visiting the following websites:


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Saturday, 23 February 2013

Root Bound Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway


Hey everyone, today is my stop of the Root Bound Blog Tour. For this awesome tour, I will be reviewing the book Root Bound by Tanya Karen Gough and there will also be TWO generous giveaways, both open INTERNATIONALLY! You can enter these at the bottom of this post. Thank you to Tanya who provided me with a hardcopy of the book for review and for Giselle for organising the tour. To follow the rest of the tour, find the schedule here.


Root Bound by Tanya Karen Gough (Fantasy/Adventure)
Publication date: June 3rd 2012
by Baba Yaga Press
"A lighthearted, whimsical confection that will delight both kids and their parents’ inner child." - Kirkus Reviews

How far will you go to find your way home?

Emma and her father are always on the move, travelling from place to place as her father’s work demands. Their new home, however, is different. There’s a frightening woman who lives down the hall: she bears an uncanny resemblance to a witch. A mysterious light comes from her apartment, and a small boy seems to be trapped inside.

School in this town is no happy place either, with an odd principal and a gang of girls who make tormenting Emma their special project. And strangest of all is the fact that there seem to be brownies - basement brownies, in the air vent in her bedroom.

Haunted by visions of her mother, Emma travels through the brownie burrow to the valley of Hades to visit with the goddess Ceres, following a series of clues that lead her across the sea of memory to the centre of the world.

There, on an inhospitable rock floating in a sea of steaming lava, Emma must find a way to release her mother from the sea of memory and restore magic to both the brownie burrow and the human world above.


Purchase:


AUTHOR BIO
Tanya Karen Gough was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in New England, where she developed a healthy appetite for ghosts and things that go bump in the night. An avid reader from a young age, she quickly worked her way through Alice in Wonderland, the Magical Monarch of Mo, Andrew Lang's Fairy Books, all of the Tintin comic books, Nancy Drew, and most of the other books in the children's library.

 Finally, at the tender age of 10, she produced this poetic masterpiece:

 "Whene'er you get a wandering leg
And feel that you must roam
Remember this and don't forget
The best place is at home"

 To date, she has moved more than 25 times. Along the way, she earned two degrees in English Literature, taught overseas, became the owner operator of the Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue, and contributed to a number of Shakespeare-related publications. Root Bound is the first of four books in the Emma and the Elementals series.

Author Links:

My Review:

Rating: 3.5 stars

This is an adventurous and meaningful book written well for middle-graders mainly. I was quite excited to read this after reading the synopsis for the book. Adventure, magic and a coming-of-age book? What more can I ask for? This book certainly is a pleasant break from the YA books I have been reading and reviewing lately. The innocent tone of the book as well as the building friendships really brought the story close to me. 

Tanya hooked me right in from the first page. Unlike some of the middle-grader books I have read, there's no boring banter or useless introduction, action starts right off. The reader immediately meets the main character Emma. As soon as I meet her, I can feel how lonely she is and the fact that she doesn't like to be on the move all the time with her dad. As a reader, I can relate very deeply with the fact that she has to re-start everytime she moves, therefore being the bottom of the social food chain without any lasting friends. When I was little, my family moved around quite a bit too, so I had personal experience at making a new beginning and new friends. Sadly, not everyone is nice and I too, felt lonely at times. Emma is a very likable character with lots of hidden spunk. She starts off quite timid and a pushover, but throughout the story she develops and realises she has her own power. I admire her determination and the caring nature she shows towards others. 

I really liked the idea of Emma finding her home. Do you have a home or are you a drifter? Home is such an important part of people's lives, without home, we would be lost. This is exactly what Emma felt at the beginning of the book, and through her quest home, she finds other values that worth a lot in life. 

The magical aspect and mythologies are well woven into the story and add a cute aspect to the book. I especially liked the parts when Emma meets the basement Brownies and trys to figure out what to do. When Emma realises that her house is special, and so is she, the reader sees a big change in her personality. The whole story lifts from that point on. If you like Greek and Roman mythology and magical adventures, you will definitely this an appealing and lovable story.

Lastly, the writing is brilliant! The language and techniques in this book takes take of every single little detail of actions, characters and the setting. I thoroughtly enjoyed the words and description of places and actions in this book. However, I think that it can be a little too much at time. Some descriptions are a little bit over the top and I think middle graders might be bored by this. 

Overall, this is a very enjoyable and light read, full of magic. The ending was a bit of a "WHAT?" for me, but then again, there's the next book. There is no romance in this book, but it felt right and it was a relief from the heart-wrenching and turbulent or not-good-enough romances from recent YA books I have read. If you want a light and fun read, definitely recommended!

Now onto the giveaways! The first giveaway is for an ecopy of Root Bound, open internationally.

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The second giveaway is the tour wide giveaway for a signed copy of Root Bound, also open internationally.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Friday, 22 February 2013

Recalled Blog Tour: Review + Guest Post + Giveaway


Welcome to my stop of the Recalled Blog Tour! I'll be doing a review of the book here, as well as a generous giveaway from the author Cambria Hebert. Most excitingly, Cambria will also be doing a guest post at my stop called "Who would you like to meet"! If you want to follow the rest to the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here. Enjoy!


Recalled by Cambria Hebert (Death Escorts, #1)
Publication date: February 15th, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance with paranormal, thriller and mystery elementsLove or Death? A simple question really. The choice seems obvious. But. What if you never knew love, what if your life was spent just trying to survive? What if you knew your fate before you were fully grown?

And then you died.

And you were given another chance. A better chance.

This new life depended upon one thing: your job. And so you agreed. You thought it would be simple. You thought it would be cut and dry.

It never is.

And now you are left holding the fate of someone else in the palm of your hand and you have to make the ultimate choice.

Love or Death?


Book Trailer:

Purchase:

AUTHOR BIO
Cambria Hebert
Author. Blogger. Latte Sipper.

 Cambria Hebert is an author who wrote her first book at the age of fifteen. It was terrible. But the passion for writing never went away so years later when she opened her laptop and started typing she worked until she wrote a book that she hopes everyone will be as excited about as she is.

 Cambria is obsessed with werewolves and is terrified of chickens (they are creepy!)She is an animal lover that would choose coffee over food and her favorite TV show is the Vampire Diaries (Hell-O Damon!)

Author Links:
   -Website: http://cambriahebert.com/

My Review:

Rating: 3 stars

I usually don't review ebooks for tours, I'm really more of the hardcopy kind of girl. But after reading the blurb for this book, I was thoroughly intrigued and immediately signed up for this awesome blog tour. Thank you to Cambria for this e-ARC of the book and to Giselle at Xpresso Blog Tours for organising it.

The idea of Death escorts is very original. What would you do if you were given a second chance to live? Would you use it solely to enjoy the pleasure no matter the cost, or would you choose to help someone you love? This is an interesting concept. When one's own future depended on one way or another, then throw in emotions and love into the mix too, it can be very hard to keep a leve head. That's what exactly Dex, the main guy character, had to deal with. He hasn't lived a previliged life and getting inside his head is very different from any other characters I have ever read about. He isn't one of you normal charming bad boys; he has his faults yet as a reader, I can't hate him. He is a very confusing character and changes his mind a lot. I didn't love him as a charactet either because at times he seemed to be petty and cowardy, but some of this changes throughout the course of the book. 

 Piper, the main girl character in comparison, is must more likable and easier to understand. I can relate to her well. However, she is supposed to be bright and inquisitive. I didn't find her bright at all when it comes to finding out truths about Dex. She seems to be stringed along for things without second-guessing whether or not it was a trap. Sometimes I just want to have a good shake at both Dex and her too! 

 The writing of this book is alright, but some description can be more detailed and the author could use the creative writing technique "show not tell" more. At a lot of places, there would be quite a bland description or abrupt action. Using more descriptions can smooth those a little. However, I enjoyed the style of this book, and it is one of the dual-perspective books that I thought was quite well done. Both Dex and Piper have their chance to tell the story from there angle (first-person narrative) and it gives insight to their thoughts and intentions. Recalled is a very enjoyable and light read. 

Guest Post by Cambria Hebert

Who would you like to meet?

Do you ever get asked this question: If there was one person you could meet who would it be?
I mean of course there are a lot of people that I think it would be cool to meet but no one that I am like “Oh my gosh!!” To be honest, I don’t get caught up in the whole celebrity thing… I mean, I like celebrities, I read People magazine because I’m nosy and I love to watch TV and movies. But really, aren’t celebs just like you and me? Except for them having a ton more money and cool jobs (course I think my job is pretty cool, too. LOL) So would I freak out if I saw a celebrity on the street? Probably not. I might stare a little (if it was someone like Ian Somerhalder, lol) but then I would move on. If given the chance to talk with someone famous I probably would take the chance but really what would I say? How’s the weather?? Ha ha ha ha.
I’m not into politics and if I met a politician I’d probably ask them why they couldn’t take a cut in their own salary to help out the rest of the struggling Americans… but I am not here to talk about that.
So… I guess that is why I think this question is hard.
But there is one person I really think would be cool to meet. I guess she is kind of a celebrity but that isn’t why I would want to meet her.
The person I would like to meet is Ina Garten AKA the Barefoot Contessa. She has a cooking show on Food Network and she has a million cookbooks.
So why would I want to meet her?
I watch her show, Barefoot Contessa, on TV whenever I can and the show films at her home in East Hampton, NY. It’s a beautiful home with gorgeous gardens and sprawling green grass. Her kitchen is calm and homey and she seems so happy there that it makes me want to sit there with a cup of coffee and watch her cook.
I am they type of person that is kind of high strung – I don’t relax easily at all – and I can honestly say that her show relaxes me. The sound of her voice is always calm she just appears to be a genuinely calm and happy person. She loves to entertain and if forever having people by on the show to cook for and they always show her at the table with her guests and its always casual and relaxed feeling and they are always laughing.
Plus, the food she makes always looks so mouth watering and simple. And who doesn’t like to eat? I do.
So, I guess the real question is why wouldn’t I want to meet her?
In case you aren’t familiar with Ina Garten AKA Barefoot Contessa here is some brief info about her AND following that is a recipe of hers for brownies!!!

Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) Bio:
In 1978, Ina Garten found herself working in the White House on nuclear energy policy and thinking, “There’s got to be more to life than this!” She saw an ad for a small food store for sale in a place she’d never been: the Hamptons at the end of Long Island. She and her husband drove up to investigate and made the owner an offer on the spot. Two months later she found herself the owner of Barefoot Contessa, a 400-sq. ft. specialty food store.
Twenty years later, Barefoot Contessa grew to a 3,000-square-foot food emporium where twenty cooks and bakers prepared the food. Twenty-five more employees worked in the store helping thousands of customers to choose breads, salads, dinners and baked goods to take home. In 1996, Ina sold the store to her employees. In 2003, the new owners of Barefoot Contessa decided to close their doors and go on to new adventures.
(bio provided by http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/ina-garten/index.html)

Ina’s recipe for Outrageous Brownies
Ingredients   
                                                                                                                             
  • 1 pound unsalted butter
  • 1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
  • 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 extra-large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
  • 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet.
Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

 DELISH!!! So that is who I want to meet. How about you – who would you like to meet??


Last but not least, it's giveaway time! It's open for US followers only, sorry!

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Friday, 15 February 2013

February New Release Giveaway Hop


OK, it's February and I'm participating in a giveaway hop again! I hope you all had an awesome Valentine's Day and here will be my present to a lucky one of you!

You can win one of the following February releases or choose another February New Release under $13 NZD if you really don't like my choices. This giveaway is international (yay!) as long as The Book Depository ships to you. My usual giveaway rules apply, so if you are the winner, please reply within 48 hours after I have contacted you. And no cheating please! Thank you for stopping buy and good luck!

Sever (The Chemical Gardens #3)
The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3)
Pivot Point
Dance of Shadows
The Gathering Dark
Breaking Point
The Lives We Lost
Override
Pieces
Arcadia Burns
Fragments (Partials #2)
Scarlet (THe Lunar Chronicles #2)
Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3)
Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2)
Mind Games
Dualed
Pulse
Revel
Hysteria
Etiquette & Espionage

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Tuesday, 5 February 2013

'Can't Wait for' Books in February

Every month, there are so many good books coming out. So, what are the top February releases I'm truly excited for?


1. Fragments (Partials #2) by Dan Wells

Release Date: February 26th

This is the sequel to Partials, a stunning young adult science-fiction. The independence of the main character Kira Walker is one of the largest reasons I loved this series (along with many other good reasons of course). Dying to get my hands on Fragments to see what Kira and Co. are up to.


2. Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3)

Release Date: February 5th

I loved the intellgient crime-committer Kat who is one of the most perfect thieves (in theory). Most of all, she and her crew only ever right the wrongs of other thieveries and have the most amazing stories together. Would love to know see how this series close. Please please please, let Hale and Kat have their happy ending!


3. Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Release Date: February 12th

I had an e-ARC of this book. But still haven't read it yet. The stunning cover drew my eyes and the blurb seemed to present an interesting story. Looking forward to it!


4. Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: February 5th

Heard lots of good things about this series. Just got out the first book from the library, and I'm pretty sure I'll want to get on to the second book straight away.
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