Monday, December 22, 2014

Seize the Tuesday #6: Merry Christmas!



     Seize the Tuesday is a book blogger meme created by myself and the Let’s Get Lost Buddies Street Team, to share stories about how we’ve seized the Tuesday, with a special focus on the particular book we’re reading. We’ll share our posts online with the hashtag: #LetsAllGetLost
     The idea is to share little ways in which you may have embraced Bree’s motto of seizing the Tuesday. To relate it to books, you can talk about what book you’re reading, and how you stole some moments from the day to enjoy reading. It doesn’t have to be about reading, but we all know that a well-read day is a day seized. The idea is not just to help spread the word on LGL, but also to remind people to live fully, even/especially if that means spending a part of your day reading.

IT'S CHRISTMAS! Well, not today, but THURSDAY! So in celebration of that... let's have a Very Merry Christmas Giveaway today as well as a post!
Do you remember how I had a few Christmas books to read? Well, I only finished one *Sigh* but I'll just keep the Christmas Magic going into the New Year. MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME was pretty good overall. My favorite stories were those by Rainbow Rowell and Jenny Han, for sure! 
Have you read MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME? What did you think?! 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Blog Tour: THE NIGHT HOUSE by Rachel Tafoya


     In case you haven't heard, there's a new book on the block: THE NIGHT HOUSE by Rachel Tafoya. What's it about? Vampires. Also a blood prostitute. And a boy who takes the term "empath" to whole new level.



About the Book


Title: THE NIGHT HOUSE
Publication date: December 9, 2014
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Rachel Tafoya

Bianca St. Germain works at a Night House, a place where vampires like the aristocratic Jeremiah Archer, pay to feed on humans, and she doesn’t much care what others think of her. The money is good, and at least there, she’s safe. Bianca also doesn’t care that the Night House is killing her. All she cares about is: nauth, the highly addictive poison in vampire bites that brings a euphoria like no drug ever could.

But when Bianca meets James, a reclusive empath who feels everything she does, for the first time, she considers a life outside of the Night House and a someone worth living for. But Jeremiah has decided to keep Bianca for himself; he won’t allow her to walk away.

As she allows her feelings for James to grow, she struggles to contain nauth’s strong hold on her life. If they are to have a future, James must make her see what she’s worth, what she means to him, before Jeremiah and nauth claim her for good.


About the Author!


Rachel Tafoya studied creative writing while at Solebury School and was published in their student run literary magazine, SLAM. She attended a writing program for teens at both Susquehanna University and Denison University, and the Experimental Writing for Teens class and Novels for Young Writers program, both run by NY Times bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry. Rachel is the daughter crime author Dennis Tafoya.


Connect with the Author:  Tumblr | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads


Review

I've been waiting to read NIGHT HOUSE for a very long time. As soon as I heard about it, my interest was piqued, and when the opportunity to participate in the blog tour came about, I jumped at it. I received my eARC, devoured it in a few hours, and guys. We have an amazing new voice in the YA world.

Bianca St. Germain doesn't live a normal teenage life; she's one of the many girls that live at the Night House-- a feeding house for vampires. She'd get out if she could, but the truth is that she's addicted to the drug known as nauth, and the only way to get it is to let a vamp sink their fangs into her. A drug from a vampire's fangs may sound terrifying to some people, but it's what Bianca lives for.

James Fields has problems of his own-- he's an empath, but it's more than that-- he can feel people's emotions, their pain, their troubles. With only his adopted sister and his best friend aware of how much of a struggle it is for him to be around other people, he generally stays home and avoids large crowds at all costs. Except for one night. The night he met Bianca.

Now everything has changed. James' empathic abilities are tied to Bianca, and he feels everything she feels, just as she feels it, which means that he feels her pain and high from each bite. And things are starting to get rough around the Night House-- a powerful vamp called Jeremiah wants to own Bianca for himself, and it seems like he'll stop at nothing to have her.

Can all of this be enough for Bianca to finally get clean?

THE NIGHT HOUSE was everything I expected and more. An incredible debut from Tafoya-- a mixture of romance and vampires unlike any we've loved before-- I give it a 4.5/5 stars. If you have the chance, go out and snatch up a copy. You will not regret it.





Giveaway Time!

Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of The Night House by Rachel Tafoya (INT)

Friday, December 12, 2014

Blank Space- Bookified

     So I was listening to 1989 the other day, because this blogger right here is a huge Taylor Swift fan, when I came across one of my favorite lines of the song "Darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream". And I thought, Wow that describes so many books. So I decided to take Blank Space and... well... Book-ify it. Maybe this will be a one-time thing, maybe it will become a regular feature on the blog, I dunno. You guys tell me what you think.

I suggest you listen to the song as you read the lyrics. You know, get the full effect.



Nice to see you, where you been?
I could read you a hundred times
Love triangle, rebellion, When
I saw you there, I thought

Oh my gods look at that cover
You're the next one I'll devour
Fangirling's a game, wanna play?

New authors, debut books
I can read them all weekend
Places to go, but I'll stay in

And I know that I've got 
Things to do
But let's be real
I can't get over 
All of these feels

Grab your car keys and your wallet
'Cuz I just finished this book and now I need the sequel

This ship is gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
I'll let you know when it's over
If the high was worth all the pain

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me

We're all just booknerds
And we ship things way too hard
We say "They should be together"
Who cares if they share the same father?

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me

Tattered edges, colored ink
I bet your pages smell real good
But the, struggle, here, is 
Which one do I buy, because
That hardback would 
Look good on my shelf
But the paperback 
Is cheaper, so... well..
Now I see the Collector's Edi-i-tion, oh no

Don't have, enough, money for this
Buying books is s'posed to be painless
Left the store with a stack

Reading one now and I'm like
"Oh my gods, what is she?"
Def not human, maybe a banshee?
No not that, but something worse
She just killed my favorite character now I hate her with a passion

This ship is gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
I'll let you know when it's over
If the high was worth all the pain

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me

We're all just booknerds
And we ship things way too hard
We say "They should be together"
Who cares if they share the same father?

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me

Authors only write books for us as torture
Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn you
I'm not kidding when I say these books are torture
We must be masochists because you know we love it

This ship is gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
I'll let you know when it's over
If the high was worth all the pain

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me

We're all just booknerds
And we ship things way too hard
We say "They should be together"
Who cares if they share the same father?

Got a long list of book couples
Dying to be my OTP
But you know I can only choose one
And it's killing me



Friday, December 5, 2014

BoOk bLitZ: COMPULSION by Martina Boone



Welcome to the Book Blitz for the stunning Southern Gothic Romance, COMPULSION (HEIRS OF WATSON ISLAND) By the lovely Martina Boone. We have some good stuff from the author for the Blitz that you DON'T want to miss, including one of Martina's fabulous giveaways!





COMPULSION (HEIRS OF WATSON ISLAND, BOOK 1)
Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse
Hardcover, 10/28/14 ISBN: 1481411225

Summary from Goodreads:
Three plantations. Two gifts. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunts South Carolina plantation instead–a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who somehow seems to know what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her familys twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isnt what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.






Buy Compulsion
Compulsion is available anywhere books are sold. Signed copies are available from One More Page Books. You can also order with the special “I have a Compulsion for reading” bookplate from Eight Cousins.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Walmart | Target | Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)



About the Author
Martina Boone was born in Prague and spoke several languages before learning English. She fell in love with words and never stopped delighting in them.

She’s the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers site, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a Tumblr site devoted to news, giveaways, and insider secrets of much-loved and up-and-coming YA series.

From her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and Auggie the wonder dog, she enjoys writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she’d love to visit. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.


Character Cards
We all love a good romance, and the one in COMPULSION is definitely swoon-worthy. This is why I thought that most of the other bloggers would choose Barrie and Eight (At least). So instead, I've chosen to use the character cards that I found the most mind-probing. The Spirits.



My plan was to say a few words about each of the cards... but... I think I'll leave them here and let your mind wander. Maybe it'll encourage you to read the book to find out just WHAT (Or who..) these spirits are all about.




The  C O M P U L S I O N  Dream Cast
Before I get to the human characters, I have to say that setting is very definitely a
character in the HEIRS OF WATSON ISLAND trilogy. Watson Island is loosely based
on Edisto Island, and I borrowed from actual Charleston area plantation history to create
the three plantations that shaped who the three families became. There was tons of
material to work with-I mean, pirate treasure, ancient spirit witches, blood feuds, lonely,
demented characters, curses, forbidden romance . . . How could I resist?
My dream cast of plantations would include Boone Hall Plantation, with bits of Magnolia
Plantation and Drayton Hall thrown in. For the ruins of Colesworth Place, I’d love to use
part of the columns that are all that’s left of the Windsor Plantation in Port Gibson,
Mississippi. There is a Windsor Plantation on Edisto Island, too, but it doesn’t have the
same level of drama and echoing sadness.
Okay, and now on to the fun part. Human characters.


  
     

                                        Barrie

     Barrie first. I’d love to Jennifer Lawrence play Barrie, of course, but basically, I’d like Jennifer Lawrence to play the main character in every movie, so that may not tell you much. I might go with Nicola Peltz.








               



                     Eight 
(Charles Robert Beaufort, VIII)
     Liam Hemsworth, I think, although Alex Pettyfer is probably the default here for most readers, and of course I wouldn’t turn him down.






                  
                                        







Barrie’s cousin Cassie
Rooney Mara. This one’s a no-brainer for me. She could do Scarlett/Vivien Leigh, and I
think she’d pull off the various sides of Cassie with the complexity that Cassie needs.




 

Barrie’s godfather Mark
Idris Elba. I can picture him ROCKING a pink Chanel suit and heels and shaking his
booty and singing along with Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act doing “Hail Holy Queen.” I
wonder if he’d be willing to shave?






Barrie’s Aunt Pru
Hard to believe that Reese Witherspoon is about the right age, but she is. And she
would do a fabulous job.





   

Eight’s father Seven 
(Charles Robert Beaufort, VII)
If they cast Patrick Dempsey as Seven, then McDreamy might finally get the girl he
missed in Sweet Home Alabama. Maybe. Eventually. By the end of the series—if I
decide that Seven is truly good enough for Pru.




Giveaway Time!!



Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Seize the Tuesday #5: Christmas Books


Seize the Tuesday is a book blogger meme created by myself and the Let’s Get Lost Buddies Street Team, to share stories about how we’ve seized the Tuesday, with a special focus on the particular book we’re reading. We’ll share our posts online with the hashtag: #LetsAllGetLost
The idea is to share little ways in which you may have embraced Bree’s motto of seizing the Tuesday. To relate it to books, you can talk about what book you’re reading, and how you stole some moments from the day to enjoy reading. It doesn’t have to be about reading, but we all know that a well-read day is a day seized. The idea is not just to help spread the word on LGL, but also to remind people to live fully, even/especially if that means spending a part of your day reading.

It's officially the Christmas Season! No more complaining from those of you who said we were celebrating too early, because Thanksgiving has come and gone and TIS THE SEASON (to be Jolly fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la)! That being said, it's the perfect time to start in on the Christmas literature!
I have three Holiday Beauties to indulge in this year, and here they are:



I'm currently on Short Story Number Four on MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME, so we'll see how this one goes, and of course a review is to come. 

Are YOU reading anything Christmassy this season? Tell me in the comments! I may need some more Holiday books!