Dystopian Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the Dystopian Giveaway Hop hosted by My Shelf Confessions and I Am A Reader Not A Writer! The hop runs from now through to midnight on November 7th 2013. The amazing prize up for grabs is a book of your choice (either YA or Adult) which must be dystopian, up to the value of $15 from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here. Simply follow the instructions on the rafflecopter to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the list below for lots more chances to win, thanks for entering and good luck!

Waiting on Wednesday #49 - Of Metal & Wishes

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

Of Metal & Wishes - Sarah Fine
ISBN - 9781442483583
Publisher - Margaret K. McElderry Books
Expected release date - August 15th 2014
Find - Goodreads

'There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her … for a very long time.

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.' - Goodreads

Phantom of the Opera in a slaughterhouse with a ghost? Yes please!

Top Ten Tuesday #29 - Best Halloween Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely people at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Best Halloween Reads

This week you could either pick scary book covers or your best reads for Halloween, I went with best reads for Halloween because I wish these were the books I was reading this week but I'm not...Oh well, maybe next year?

IT - Stephen King

'Salem's Lot - Stephen King

Asylum - Madeleine Roux

We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker

Book Haul #48

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews and Letterbox Love is a UK edition hosted by Narratively Speaking. Here we can share what new books we've picked up this past week. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Thanks for all the well wishes about my dad, that meant a lot :) He's doing alright so far but we're all still worried about him a great deal. I'm giving myself the day off from looking after him and heading to my first ever convention! As you read this I'll be enjoying various panels such as 'How To Poop In A Fantasy Universe' and 'Seriously Inventive Ways of Killing People' at BristolCon, mixing with lots of lovely people and lots of lovely authors. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to get up at 6am, the con is only 20 miles from me but of course, being a non-driver, I have to get the train which involves leaving too early for my liking...

Without further ado, here are the books I got this week! I would just like to say that the cover of Fearie Tales is absolutely stunning in real life and if you love fairy tales you need to buy a copy of this book (and there's a Neil Gaiman story in there as an added incentive to invest). There's a whole load of bargains in the UK Kindle store at the moment, you can be proud of me as I managed to resist buying dozens of books!

Bought

Fearie Tales - ed. Stephen Jones

Dark Currents - Jacqueline Carey

Deathless - Catherynne M Valente

Kindle

Ways To See A Ghost - Emily Diamand

A very restrained week on all counts, I'm hoping this new surge of will-power will get me through BristolCon without blowing too much. What will help is knowing whatever I do buy I've got to carry home...

Let me know what you got this week!

Very Superstitious - Blog Tour & Giveaway!

Welcome to the blog tour for the deliciously creep Very Superstitious anthology hosted by Chapter By Chapter with thanks to Month9Books!

The tales you will read in Very Superstitious: Myths, Legends and Tales of Supserstition are based on urban legends, myths, tribal tales and superstitions from around the world.  This great book is also a charity anthology to benefit SPCA International featuring short stories by the following authors!

Shannon Delany

SHANNON DELANY has written stories since she was a child. She began writing in earnest when her grandmother fell unexpectedly ill during a family vacation. In 2008 her greatly abbreviated version of 13 to Life (written in just five weeks) won the grand prize in the first-ever cell phone novel contest in the western world through Textnovel.com.

Shannon’s new series (a steampunk trilogy titled Weather Witch, St. Martin’s Press) launched June 25, 2013.

Previously a teacher and now a farmer raising heritage livestock, Shannon lives and writes in Upstate New York and enjoys traveling to talk to people about most anything.

Find Shannon:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Jackie Morse Kessler

JACKIE MORSE KESSLER grew up in Brooklyn, NY, with a cranky cat and overflowing shelves filled with dolls and books. Now she’s in Upstate NY with another cranky cat, a loving husband, two sons, and overflowing shelves filled with dragons and books (except when her sons steal her dragons). She has a bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature, and yet she’s never read any Jane Austen (with or without zombies). She also has a master’s degree in media ecology. (The living study of technology and culture. Which is cool, but she still can’t figure out how to use Tweetdeck.)

Jackie spends a lot of time writing, reading, and getting distracted by bright and shiny new ideas. (She just came up with a new idea right now.) She has a weakness for chocolate and a tendency to let her cat take over her office chair.

                                Find Jackie:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Stephanie Kuehnert

STEPHANIE KUEHNERT got her start writing bad poetry about unrequited love and razor blades in eighth grade. In high school, she discovered punk rock and produced several D.I.Y. feminist ‘zines. After short stints in Ohio and Wisconsin, Stephanie ultimately returned home and received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago. She currently resides in Forest Park, IL.   



                      Find Stephanie:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Jennifer Knight

JENNIFER KNIGHT. Hi. I’m Jen. I am twenty-two years old and live in Miami, Florida with my family. I’m a lifelong lover of books, romance and anything even vaguely supernatural. Except zombies. Zombies scare me.

I wrote the first draft of Blood on the Moon in about two months, during which I locked myself in my room and thought about teeth and moons and kissing.

I must have done something right , because Running Press bought my book and now you're here reading this. I guess that means you liked the book. Yay! If I had a cookie, I'd totally give it to you. You deserve it.

Anyway, now that Blood On The Moon is done, I'm writing the sequel. And also some other stuff that hopefully you'll see one day.

                              Find Jennifer:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Mari Mancusi

MARI MANCUSI used to wish she could become a vampire back in high school. But she ended up in another blood sucking profession - journalism - instead. Today she works as a freelance TV producer and author of books for teens and adults.

When not writing about creatures of the night, Mari enjoys traveling, cooking, goth clubbing, watching cheesy horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure - video games. A graduate of Boston University and a two-time Emmy Award Winner, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon and their dog Mesquite. In addition to the links below you can also find Mari online at Blood Coven Vampires.

                         Find Mari:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Michelle E Reed

Michelle Reed was born in a small Midwestern town, to which she has returned to raise her own family. Her imagination and love of literature were fueled by a childhood of late nights, hidden under the covers and reading by flashlight. She is a passionate adoption advocate who lives in Wisconsin with her husband, son, and their yellow lab, Sully.

Find Michelle:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Dianne K Salerni

DIANNE K. SALERNI is a fifth grade teacher by day and a writer by night. She’s the author of YA historical novels, We Hear the Dead (Sourcebooks) and The Caged Graves (Clarion/HMH), and a forthcoming MG fantasy series, The Eighth Day (HarperCollins 2014).  The Caged Graves is a Junior Library Guild Selection, and We Hear The Dead was the inspiration for a ten minute short film, The Spirit Game, which premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In her spare time , Dianne is prone to hanging around creepy cemeteries and climbing 2000 year old pyramids in the name of book research.

               Find Dianne:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Pab Sungenis

Born in the swamps of Southern New Jersey, Pab Sungenis developed a childhood fascination with cartooning and drew a daily strip for his own amusement for two years before realizing he couldn’t draw. He wound up in broadcasting, worked for numerous stations including WSBU, WOND, WMGM, WSKR, WBNJ, WWBZ, and WKTU. He describes his drawing ability as like that of “a mentally challenged rhinoceros on a Ny-Quil bender”, but thanks to the wonders of photo-manipulation and computer image editing, on February 8, 2006 he found himself creating The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, which has appeared ever since, first on Comicssherpa.com., and now in online syndication with gocomics.com. Pab Sungenis is available for quotes, signings, video or podcast appearances, and all opportunities relative to SIDEKICK: THE MISADVENTURES OF THE NEW SCARLET KNIGHT.

                   

           Find Pab:  Website | Twitter | Facebook

Follow the rest of the Very Superstitious tour here and check out my review which will be up later today!

Find Very Superstitious on - Goodreads/AmazonUS/Kobo

Giveaway!

Prizes - There will be two winners! One International who will receive an e-book of each authors' work and one US winner who will receive a paperback copy of Very Superstitious!

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Waiting On Wednesday #48 - Shadowplay

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.


*Spoiler Alert - DO NOT PROCEED if you haven't read Pantomime!*

This week's choice is -

Shadowplay (Pantomime #2) - Laura Lam
ISBN - 9781908844392
Publisher - Strange Chemistry
Expected release date - January 4th 2014
Find - Goodreads/Book Depository 

*Spoiler Alert - DO NOT PROCEED if you haven't read Pantomime!*



'The circus lies behind Micah Grey in dust and ashes.

He and the white clown, Drystan, take refuge with the once-great magician, Jasper Maske. When Maske agrees to teach them his trade, his embittered rival challenges them to a duel which could decide all of their fates. People also hunt both Micah and the person he was before the circus--the runaway daughter of a noble family. And Micah discovers there is magic and power in the world, far beyond the card tricks and illusions he's perfecting...

A tale of phantom wings, a clockwork hand, and the delicate unfurling of new love, Shadowplay continues Micah Grey’s extraordinary journey.' - Goodreads

If this is anywhere near as good as Pantomime I shall be a very happy reader! And I love the cover...

Top Ten Tuesday #28 - Favorite Bookish Names

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely people at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Character Names I Love

Loved this topic! I'm always making notes about names that are gorgeous, especially if they're in some of my favorite books so here are some of the best names I've come across.

1. Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas

 Celaena - love this name even though I pondered over how to pronounce it for the longest time!

2. Grave Mercy - Robin LaFevers

Ismae - I've always loved the name Esme but Twilight ruined it for me. This is close but still different enough.

3. Dead Witch Walking - Kim Harrison

Kisten - from the Hollows novels, Kisten was my favorite character and the name is unforgettable.

4. Coraline - Neil Gaiman

 Coraline - no reason except that I love the name.

5. Poison Study - Maria V Snyder

Yelena - another name that's familiar but different.

6. The Body Finder - Kimberly Derting

Violet - I had a best friend when I was little called Violet and I have always loved the name.

7. A Game of Thrones - George R R Martin

Cersei & Daenerys - cheating a bit here by listing two from the same series but I could have listed a lot more, GRRM has a knack of picking great names.

8. Lovely, Dark & Deep - Amy McNamara

Wren - probably my favorite name, one of my friends actually called her daughter Wren!

9. Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

Clara - my sister's name :)

10. Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor

Karou - completely unusual but absolutely perfect for the character

Blog Tour & Review: Endless - Amanda Gray

Welcome to my stop on the tour for Endless by Amanda Gray! Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Endless - Amanda Gray
ISBN - 9780988340954
Publisher - Month9 Books
Release date - September 10th 2013
Find - Goodreads/Amazon US

IN A RACE AGAINST TIME, HOW DO YOU KEEP THOSE YOU LOVE SAFE?

Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumbles on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought.

Like a past life.

Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren’t alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock -- and the Order -- the trio discovers a link that joins them in life -- and beyond death.

As soon as I saw the beautiful cover for Endless I was sold, that was only confirmed on discovering that the book was about Russian history, reincarnation and time travel. Russian history and time travel are two things guaranteed to get me to read something (I've been slightly obsessed with Russia since I was little) so I couldn't wait to start Endless.

Endless is the story of Jenny, a bit of a loner and different to the rest of her school friends with a wonderful best friend, Tiffany (one of my favorite characters) and an architect father who's reluctant to let her pursue her dream of being an artist thanks to her mother's erratic behavior. The story opens with Jenny being pressured to take part in a seance using a Ouija board, after blacking out she discovers that a message did come through - meant for her. From that night on Jenny can no longer pretend her life is normal, to living with the power of seeing people's past lives with a mere brush of the hand, she spends her days wearing gloves and avoiding touch. Thanks to her dad she meets Ben, the son of a client, who seems as much of a loner as she does. Exploring the attic of Ben's house they come across a music box and instructions for mesmerization. This leads to a shared dream/vision between the two of them and the realization that somehow their lives, along with of another boy, Nikolai, are inexplicably linked together. Things only get more complicated for the three of them as they fight to understand what is going on and in the case of Jenny & Nikolai, stay together. They face all manner of obstacles, not least a mysterious Order that live in an isolated retreat and may or may not have included Jenny's mother as a member.

For me, Endless was a great read which I enjoyed from start to finish. I loved how, even though there were two boys in Jenny's life (in the past as well as the present) there was no love triangle  - it was obvious, to me anyway, who Jenny should be with but considering the circumstances I would have liked to have seen more of their relationship development in the past as Jenny was very quick to literally jump into his arms in the present. I liked the snippets of Russian history and the inclusion of the Romanov family who must be both one of the most famous and one of the most tragic families in history. It was nice that at least in fiction one of them had a happy ending of sorts.. What I would have loved to see more of was the actual time travel although I did like the sections where how it worked was explained and how there were rules & consequences for using time travel, hence the need for the Order. I'm definitely hoping there's a sequel as that was one ending I did not like, it certainly appears to be set up for one anyway so fingers crossed! If you like mystery, time travel and Russian history with a dash of romance then you'll love Endless, definitely worth reading.

ABOUT AMANDA GRAY:

Amanda Gray believes in magic and fantasy and possibilities. She is a team of two bestselling authors who live only miles apart but have never met in person. They talk on the phone and are the best of friends and between them have written more than a dozen novels and novellas and have had their work appear on television.

Giveaway Information:

·        Two (2) print copies of Endless by Amanda Gray (US Only)

·        Two (2) eBook copies of Endless by Amanda Gray (INT)

            ·        $25 iTunes gift card (INT)

To enter the giveaway and check out all the other stops on the tour check out this link!

Book Haul #47

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews and Letterbox Love is a UK edition hosted by Narratively Speaking. Here we can share what new books we've picked up this past week. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!


I wrote this post on Tuesday as I knew I'd received all the books I was expecting this week, including my monthly library book delivery, just as well really as later that day my dad had a stroke. He's okay but it's been a huge shock to all of us, along with the fact that apparently this isn't his first stroke and he appears to have had at least one before this week. He's at home but he's physically worn out and not himself so as I'm the closest of all three daughters I'll be the one looking after him. this means that things may get really quiet around here, just for a couple of days or so, maybe a week but having only just lost my mum you can understand I'm freaking out slightly! I'll do my best to respond to comments and to return visits but this week I can't guarantee it so please bear with me while I get everything sorted out, thanks!


Here's what I got this week, it includes a couple of extras that I've bought to take to BristolCon next week in the vain hope that i don't buy too many whilst there but that may be overly optimistic...


Bought

Beauty - Sarah Pinborough

Ashes - Ilsa J Bick

Shadows - Ilsa J Bick

The Emperor's Knife - Mazrakis Williams

Shades of Milk & Honey - Mary Robinette Kowal

London Falling - Paul Cornell

Received for Blog Tours

Unchosen - Michele Vail

Scion of the Sun - Nicola Marsh

All That Glows - Ryan Graudin

Library Books

Every Day - David Levithan

The Long Weekend - Savita Kalhan

Sea of Ghosts - Alan Campbell

The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo

Edelweiss

Of Metal & Wishes - Sarah Fine

House of Ivy & Sorrow - Natalie Whipple

Avalon - Mindee Arnett

Panic - Lauren Oliver

What did you get this week? Leave me links to your book hauls!