Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Huntington Beach Dark Days Tour Stop!



I am the official live blogger for the Huntington Beach Dark Days tour stop! 

If you have any questions for Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Rossi, Cynthia Hand, or Brodi Ashton, please fill out the form! I will ask them at the event and report back with the answers! 

If you are in the area, make sure you attend!
February 4 @ 7:00 PM Barnes & Noble
Bella Terra, 7881 Edinger Ave. #110
Huntington Beach, CA


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

HOUSE RULES Blog Tour and Giveaway!

 
House Rules by Chloe Neill
Publisher: NAL Penguin
Publication Date: February 5th
Source: Publisher – Thank you!
Rating: I LOVED IT
At the tender age of 27, Merit became a sword-wielding vampire. Since then, she’s become the protector of her House, watched Chicago nearly burn to the ground, and seen her Master fall and rise. Now she’ll see her mettle—and her metal—tested like never before. It started with two . . . Two rogues vanishing without a trace. Someone is targeting Chicago’s vampires, and anyone could be next. With their house in peril, Merit and her Master, the centuries old Ethan Sullivan, must race to stop the disappearances. But as they untangle a web of secret alliances and ancient evils, they realize their foe is more familiar, and more powerful, than they could have ever imagined.


Welcome to my stop on the HOUSE RULES blog tour! This is the tour that I am most excited about participating in, because The Chicagoland Vampire series is my favorite series. 
 
A few weeks ago, I received my copy of HOUSE RULES and immediately cancelled all plans and skipped class to spend some alone time with Ethan – I mean Merit and her super friends. After the events in HARD BITTEN, I have been nervous to read each new CV novel. The trauma that I experienced as a result of reading that amazing book has permanently scarred me, and noting the August release of BITING BAD, I prepared myself for the worst. Chloe has taken us on such a journey with these characters that I feel strongly invested in their happiness. Do you remember when we first met Merit? Do you remember how she fought her attraction to Ethan and how Ethan asked her to be his special lady friend? Oh, we have come a long way, novitiates.

In HOUSE RULES, Merit is a forceful wind, leaving her mark on every person and event. She is strong, intelligent, and endearingly vulnerable. Ethan is still ridiculously hot, and I needed to take walks around the block in 40-degree weather after a few scenes. That man is a gift straight from Mount Olympus.  We see Merit and Ethan together (finally!), but their relationship was not all pints of O-neg and sharp fangs. Their relationship is battered by stress, jealously, and distrust. They are the Matthew and Mary Crawley of the vampire world, and it was such a relief to finally see them together. Luc, Lindsey, Jeff, Catcher, and Mallory all make welcome appearances, and I am excited to see more of them. Luc and Lindsey are particularly adorable, and I am excited about the LL short story that Chloe is currently outlining.

HOUSE RULES is the best book in The Chicagoland Vampire series. The pacing is so fast that you do not have a moment to relax. You will feel the stress of the decisions, fear the outcomes, and desperately hope for a resolution. Surprises are well-hidden and are shocking when revealed. When I finished HOUSE RULES, the only word that came to mind was “Wow.” Chloe is a fantastic writer, and she has the ability to seamlessly weave wit, suspense, betrayal, and love together to create a series that is memorable and addictive. In short, I hope this series never ends! With each new installment, Chloe invites readers into a world that is richly built and intricately described. This is wonderful storytelling, my friends. Every sentence and every scene are perfect.  

If you are interested in complex characters, unique storylines, and a romance so sizzling that it will make you blush, you need to read The Chicagoland Vampire series.
Giveaway!
Chloe sent some fantastic CV swag, and I want to spread the love as much as possible, so to enter, please leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you (blog, twitter, etc.). I have bookmarks, too, so international readers are welcome to enter, too!

The fun doesn’t stop here!

Want more chances to win? You can also enter Chloe’s House Rules Grand Prize Giveaways, which will run January 30th through February 7th on Chloe’s web site.

What are the Grand Prize Giveaway prizes?

Prize One: The Paper Prize
  • A complete set of autographed Chicagoland Vampires novels
  • A $50 gift card from Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice)
  • A set of personalized bookplates, courtesy of Felix Doolittle
  • A Chicagoland Vampires tote bag

Prize Two: The Tech Prize

Check out the other stops on the tour!






February 2, 2013
Dark Faerie Tales (The Mating Game Event)
Fic Fare

February 4, 2013
Vampire Book Club (Character Love Letters)
Cocktails and Books
Paranormal Cravings

February 5, 2013 – Release Day!
The Autumn Review
Gizmo’s Reviews

February 6, 2013
A Great Read
The Book Twins

February 7, 2013
Books-N-Kisses
She Wolf Reads




Wednesday, January 9, 2013

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer BLOG TOUR


An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: anuary 8, 2013
Source: Publisher – Thank you, Harper!
Rating: I really liked it
Afraid of losing her parents at a young age, Naomi Feinstein prepares single-mindedly for a prestigious future as a doctor. But when her only friend and confidant abruptly departs from her life, Naomi isn’t sure she will ever recover, even after a long-awaited acceptance letter to Wellesley arrives. Yet Naomi soon learns that college isn’t the bastion of solidarity and security she had imagined. Amid hundreds of other young women, she is consumed by loneliness—until the day she sees a girl fall into the freezing waters of a lake. The event marks Naomi’s introduction to Wellesley’s oldest honor society, the mysterious Shakespeare Society, defined by secret rituals and filled with unconventional, passionate students. As Naomi immerses herself in this exciting and liberating world, her happiness is soon compromised by a scandal that brings devastating consequences. Naomi has always tried to save the ones she loves, but sometimes saving others is a matter of saving yourself.

The Skinny: Voice, voice, and more voice

At ALA Annual last year, I saw people with copies of An Uncommon Education, and I was saddened that I missed out on meeting Elizabeth Percer. My disappointment has vanished now that I am able to help celebrate the paperback release of this wonderful book. An Uncommon Education tracks the life of Naomi, a girl who experiences loneliness and loss so profound that she carries the mark throughout her life. When Naomi’s best friend is suddenly ripped from her life, she is unable to cope and her unresolved feelings follow her to university. 

Naomi is a wonderful narrator. She is consistent, believable, and real. I could hear her voice so strong and so loudly. As the story progressed, I could hear how her childhood nervousness transformed into careful observations. Her mature handling of situations marks Naomi’s development from childhood to adulthood, and I was astonished at certain points of the story at how she dealt with surprising revelations. The one character that held my attention was Teddy. Though we spend quite a bit of time with him at the beginning of the story, he hangs on every page like a reluctant cloud. His relationship with Naomi is extraordinary, and their love for each other is so meaningful that it has become one of the love stories that I will treasure the most. They spun around each other like twin flames. Too seldom are people fortunate enough to find someone who loves unconditionally and deeply. What Elizabeth did with Teddy and Naomi is incredible. She did not trivialize young love. She gave it power and meaning.

Elizabeth Percer held my heart in her hands and gently squeezed it throughout the story. I am the type of reader who will experience events right alongside the characters. They become my friends, and I love and cherish them. With Teddy, I felt so dreadfully sad. His story unfolds slowly – like a child unwrapping a treasured present – and it is so beautifully written that I felt hopeless and lost. How amazing that a writer can convey a story so exquisitely while simultaneously evaporating cheerfulness in the world. It is apparent that Elizabeth has a talent of tenderly describing events and unpacking them to show readers how her characters end up. I was riveted, and I will automatically buy any book that Elizabeth writes. She is a talented writer, and I am certain that she will receive great admiration for her work.

I highly recommend An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer. It is a lovely story and the writing is perfect. Simply perfect.
 

Elizabeth Percer is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and has twice been honored by the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Foundation. She received a BA in English from Wellesley and a PhD in arts education from Stanford University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship for the National Writing Project at UC Berkeley. She lives in California with her husband and three children. An Uncommon Education is her first novel. Visit Elizabeth at her website and follow her on Facebook.

Check out the rest of the tour!

Thursday, January 10th: nomadreader
Monday, January 14th: 5 Minutes for Books
Tuesday, January 15th: Bibliosue
Wednesday, January 16th: Dreaming in Books
Thursday, January 17th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]
Monday, January 21st: Peppermint Ph.D.
Tuesday, January 22nd: Book Hooked Blog