Monday, January 30, 2012

TBR PILE Reading Challenge (January Wrap-Up)


 Just a quickie reminder that the wrap-up for January is hosted by Donna from Book Passion For Life

The wrap-up post is now up, so go ahead and link up your January reviews!
There is also a Book Depository GIVEAWAY for participants!
And a cute SNOWFLAKE Challenge that will get you some extra points in the giveaway!

February's wrap-up host is:

Nicole @All I Ever Read (Theme: Un-requited Love/Love Gone Wrong + Advice Column Challenge)

So! What did you guys read this month?! Can't believe January is over!
I had a super busy month and am disappointed, because I only got to read 2 books of my TBR Pile ;( 

But these were good books, so overall I'm a happy camper :)




I did not, however, got to review them yet ;( So I will be linking up my reviews next month! 

Looking forward to checking out your reviews, tho! And remember - it's never too late to join the TBR PILE Reading Challenge! :D 

Happy reading in February, everyone!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Contest Spotlight: Guardian E-Book Launch Contest



Here's something worth checking out :) S.B. Rodgers (Sarah and Becky Rodgers) are about to launch their YA ebook, Guardian. The book looks fabulous and has beautiful cover art by Sarah Rodgers.

To celebrate the release of their book, the fantastic authors are hosting a contest!


WHAT IS THE PRIZE?! Okay, enough stalling! Sara-the S in S.B. Rodgers-also known for her Tumblr (The Land of Fluff and Needles) is going to create a custom little cutie and send it to the winner. I know, AWESOME! Right?
     You pick the fandom and the character and Sara will create a 3 inch felt figure specifically for you! It will be handmade and most likely one of a kind.
 (You may have to send reference pictures if you choose an obscure character)


What?: So what is the contest? First things first, you do NOT have to purchase a copy of Guardian to participate in this contest. (Though it'd be totally rad if you did :)
There are two ways to participate in this contest.
1)  For those who do NOT wish to purchase a copy of Guardian but still want a chance at the prize, you’re in luck! What you have to do is go to our blog (sbrodgers.blogspot.com) and click on the page entitled Guardian. You will find two sample chapters on this page. Read them, leave a comment and you’re in the running!
 (Please Note: If you do not already have a Google account you may need to create one to leave a comment.)
2)  For those who DO plan on purchasing a copy of Guardian, your task is a little different. After you purchase your copy-which we are completely and utterly thankful for-take some time to enjoy the book. The contest lasts for three weeks so don’t rush! (Unless you find you can’t put the book down…in which case…KEEP READING! ;)
Once you’ve finished, your task is to leave a review of the book on Amazon.
(Please Note: If you do not have an Amazon account you may need to create one to leave a review.)

When?: 
 The contest will last three weeks to give the wonderful people who decided to read Guardian a chance to enjoy their copy.  
Contest starts on Tuesday January 31st, 2012 @ 8:00a.m (EST time zone: Toronto, New York)
&
Contest ends Tuesday February 21st, 2012 @ 8:00a.m. (EST time zone: Toronto, New York)
The winner will be announced on our Blog and Facebook by 12:00p.m on Tuesday 21st, 2012
 
For more info about the rules, the when, the where and the how, please visit their blog:
http://sbrodgers.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Blog Tour: The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney (ARC Review + Giveaway)

Genre:Mystery
Publication.Date  January 5th 2012
Pages:416
Published By:  Viking Canada   | 
WebsiteStef Penney

The Invisible Ones - Goodreads
My review copy:Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Where to get: Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Chapters






     Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed. But before the accident that landed him there, he had promised to find Rose Janko. Rose was married to the charismatic son of a travelling gypsy family, Ivo Janko. When Ray starts to investigate her disappearance he's surprised that her family are so hostile towards him. The Jankos have not had an easy past. They are a clan touched by tragedy - either they are cursed, or they are hiding a terrible secret. Could it be that Rose's discovery of that secret led to her disappearance all those years ago? Soon Ray wishes that he'd never asked the question. In a novel that is totally different from Stef's extraordinary debut The Tenderness of Wolves, she shows herself once more to be a matchless storyteller.
(Goodreads)




It begins in May -- a month when everyone, even private investigators, should be happy and optimistic. The mistakes of the last year have been wiped clean and everything has started again. Leaves unfurl, eggs hatch, men hope. All is new, green, growing.
 I do find it strange that adultery, which is by no definition a tragedy, is so much more painful than death.
  Sometimes you can know too much. Of all people, I know this to be true. Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power. Which would you prefer?

Stef Penney author talk!







   


     Set in 1980's England, The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney is a stylish and intelligent mystery - destined to become a bestseller! With its fascinating cultural background, supreme readability, memorable characters and thoroughly captivating plot line, it's a read that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

     Ray Lovell, a private investigator/detective, wakes up in a hospital partially paralyzed and with no recollection of the events that landed him there. Apparently, he's been in a car crash and drove his car off the road, through a fence and into a tree. Not long before his accident, Ray had been hired by Leon Wood to find his missing daughter, Rose Wood. Rose, a pureblood Romany (Gypsy), married a son from another Gypsy family (Janko) and then disappeared without a trace. No one has heard from her for seven years. To make matters worse, no one has ever looked for her, nor wondered what really happened. Her husband is convinced that she ran off with a gorjio (non-Romany). But is that really what happened? Being half-Romany himself, Ray is asked to investigate the case. As he goes deeper into his investigation, he realizes that there's so much more to Rose disappearance than what he initially suspected. There are some dark secrets in Janko family's past, ones that will not be given up easily.

     The Invisible Ones was such a brilliant and profoundly meaningful story. I am still reeling from it. It's not just a mystery, it's so much more! Stef Penney did a fabulous job depicting the Romany, their way of life and their culture. It's an atmospheric, humane and harrowing read, one that really creeps up on you and sinks in long afterwards. It's not an easy read by any means. Not a quick one, either. It took me 5 days to finish it --and 5 days is a long time in the blogging world. But although I can't say I devoured it in one sitting, I can certainly promise you one thing: I cherished every second I spent reading this book. It's one extraordinary novel and I'm so glad I picked it up!

     The atmosphere is marvelous. It's thick with suspense, weighty with murky secrets, grimly authentic and powerful. There are so many questions to which there are no answers. Ray really doesn't have many leads. Rose disappeared seven years ago and the whole thing is basically a cold, hopeless case. The Jankos don't want to cooperate, their answers are vague and often misleading. There's this overwhelming sense of wrongness. Right from the get-go you know that something is really off. Something weird and possibly dark is going on here, and yet you can't seem to be able to put your finger on it. The tension never lets up and finding out what really happened to Rose is starting to resemble a game of blind man's bluff rather than a typical investigation.

     The characters and the unique cultural background is what really makes this story shine. I loved how the story was told from two different perspectives - Ray's and JJ's. JJ turned out to be my favorite character in the story and I really enjoyed looking at the world through his eyes. Ray, too, was a very interesting protagonist. Well-drawn, complex and convincing, he's one of those characters you instantly connect with. There's a real depth to his character, which I really appreciated. And the ending? The ending will simply BLOW. YOU. AWAY!

     Stef Penney writes with sensitivity and tenderness, providing a great insight into the culture and life of the Romany people. The resulting narrative is evocative and gripping, full of flavor and vibrance. Deliciously taut. Enlightening. Moving. It's a book highly recommended for readers who enjoy a good mystery set against a vividly painted cultural backdrop. Elegantly constructed, intensive and mesmerizing, The Invisible Ones is a heartbreakingly gorgeous mystery novel, one you really can't afford to miss!






Since I loved this book so much and I'm planning to buy a hardcover copy for my collection, I'm giving away my lightly read ARC of The Invisible Ones.
OPEN: INTERNATIONALLY!

Enter through Raffl below!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Blog Tour: Under the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham (Review)

Genre:Historical Romance, Paranormal
Publication.Date  January 3rd 2012
Pages:336
Published By:  Berkley Trade   | 
WebsiteGenevieve Graham
Under the Same Sky - Goodreads
My review copy:Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Where to get: Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Chapters






     The year is 1746. A young woman from South Carolina and a Scottish Highlander share an intimacy and devotion beyond their understanding.

They’ve known each other their entire lives.
They live a half-world apart.

And they have never met…

      Maggie Johnson has been gifted with “the Sight” ever since she was a child. Her dreams bring her visions of the future and of a presence she knows is not a figment of her imagination. She calls him Wolf, having watched him grow from a careless young boy into a fearsome warrior, and she trusts him with her life and her heart.

      Andrew MacDonnell is fascinated by the woman who has visited him in his dreams for as long as he can remember, entranced by her beauty, knowing deep in his soul that she is as real as he. Although he doesn’t know who she is, Andrew believes that destiny will bring them together.

     When tragedy and war strike their homelands, both Maggie and Andrew suffer indescribable losses. Separated across an ocean, the bond they share nevertheless grows as they sense each other’s pain, lend each other strength, and embark on a journey of the spirit to find and love one another at long last… 
(Author's website)




Close enough that our minds were like one, far enough that we never felt each other's touch. We were what we had always been.
 Now I lived among the people, I had always been told were savages. The people who, it had been said, killed without mercy and conversed with dead. I should have been afraid.
Instead, i felt envious.
  Andrew belonged, body and soul, to the girl from his dreams. He was hers and she was his, whether they ever touched or not.








   


     Under the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham is a superb historical romance with a unique paranormal twist. From the outstandingly thorough development of characters and plot to the deliciously served historical details, it's a real treat to read. Fast paced, gracefully written and immensely enjoyable, it's a book to devour.


My dreams introduced me to people I had never seen, and took me places I could never have known existed.
    Maggie Johnson, a sixteen-year old girl from South Carolina, has been gifted with a special talent. Like her Grandmother before her, Maggie has "the Sight". She can see things that haven't yet happened, or are happening right now miles away. Her dreams reveal to her what will happen an hour, a day, a week, or even a year before it does. She can also find things that are lost or hidden.
I first saw him when we were children: a young boy with eyes as dark as rain-soaked mud, staring at me from under a mane of chestnut hair. I kept him secret, invisible to everyone but me. He should have been invisible to me as well, because he was never really there, on the windblown land, under the same sky. 
     In addition to her prophetic gift, Maggie can also see someone in her dreams. Andrew, a young Highlander, has been there (in her dreams) ever since she can remember. They basically grew up together and helped each other through difficult times. They are connected in a weird, magical way. Maggie calls Andrew "Wolf", as she doesn't know his real name. Worlds apart, not really knowing anything about each other and yet so madly in love with one another, these unlikely lovers will do anything it takes to finally be together for real. They'll embark on a dangerous journey across the treacherous lands and seas. A journey filled with many obstacles, with dreams as their only guide.

       This book was wonderful. It offered so much more than I expected. Not only it has a great historical background, that is absolutely fascinating to read about (like the battle of Culloden (1746) or the conflict between British-American settlers and the Cheeroke), but also the romance part of the story is simply fantastic. Not in the least cheesy or overdone. In fact, the developing relationship between Maggie and Andrew is very pleasant to read about. Their attraction is genuine. Unlike in many other historical (or not) romances, where the attraction is instantaneous and often deprived of emotional depth, Genevieve's characters fell in love with each other over the course of many years.
All the silent communication from our childhood had brought us to this point. I would never leave him. Wherever he needed me to be, if only if his thoughts. I would give him courage, strength and love. And he would give me the same whenever my mind called to him.
   There's a lot going on on the pages of Under the Same Sky. Surprisingly, only about 40-50% of the book focuses on the love-and-romance aspect of the story, which - if you'd ask me- is really great and refreshing! We actually get to know the main characters, instead of being bombarded with love scenes and constant oohs and aaahs. They truly love and care about each other, but they don't sit around pondering their feelings all the time. There's some real action in this book, most of it quite heart-breaking! Plus the paranormal aspect makes it so much more intriguing and compelling!

      It's a character-driven story and I'm happy to tell you that the characters were really great. Genevieve does an excellent job drawing them. Her descriptions are detailed and rich in flavor, her writing enthralling. Maggie goes through so much! The story kicks-off with the tragic death of her father. Not long after that her mother gets killed by bandits who then kidnap her and her sisters. She's raped and abused, starved, beaten... She witnesses her sister's murder and is then forced to kill a man to defend her life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound like a typical romance book to me! It was truly captivating, gut-wrenching and profoundly emotional. The story hes so much depth to it, so much meaning, it's breathtaking! It's not your typical, shallow romance. It's a fabulous and brilliant piece of literature, definitely worth reading! The best part? You don't need to be a romance fan to enjoy this book. I'm fairly confident that this fabulous book can be greatly enjoyed even by people who usually stay away from any sort of romance novels. I highly recommend it to everyone!






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About the Author
Evie is the Blogger behind Bookish. She enjoys reading many different genres, especially YA, Paranormal, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy.
She loves talking to authors and is always happy to welcome them for interviews, and guest posts. She also likes spreading the love for awesome books and  chatting with fellow book-worms.
You can find Evie here: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Shelfari | The Library Thing

Saturday, January 7, 2012

2012 Eastern European Challenge!


I came across this challenge today and thought it was super cool, so decided to join it! 
I found it over at The Black Sheep Dances

There aren't many rules and it's basically about reading and reviewing a few Eastern European books in 2012~ Sounds fantastic to me! There at least a dozen awesome books from Eastern Europe that immediately popped in my head when I fist found this fab challenge and I think I'll have plenty of fun participating in it! :)

Here's some info about the challenge:

Regions: Choose titles about or by an author from any of the following regions: Croatia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Belarus, Estonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Rep., Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Romania, Moldova, and Kosovo.

Titles: Can be any genre: crime, poetry, literary fiction, history, historical fiction, memoirs, etc. If possible, try to select titles that are translated works to help support the continuing exposure of Eastern works to Western readers.

Links to reviews of Eastern European or Russian titles are in the comments box here:
http://www.theblacksheepdances.com/2011/01/links-to-your-reviews-of-eastern.html

Suggested titles by participants are here:
http://www.theblacksheepdances.com/2011/01/suggest-title-for-eastern-european.

Levels:
tourist: 4 books over the 12 months
ambassador: 8 books over 12 months
scholar: 12 books over 12 months

I think I will go for SCHOLAR level, as I plan on doing one Eastern European book per month!
Here are a few books that I would love to read and feature on my blog:

1) Andrzej Sapkowski - The Blood of Elves (Poland, fantasy)
2) Dorota Masłowska - Snow White and Russian Red (Poland, contemporary/historical)
3) Sergei Lukyanenko - Night Watch (Russia, fantasy)
4) Dmitry Glukhovsky - Metro 2033 (Russia, fantasy/dystopia)

There's more, I just need to do research if they were translated to English :)
I'm really excited for this challenge! Woohoooo! 2012 is going to be so fun!



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (ARC Review)

Genre:Young Adult, Steampunk, Fairy Tale
Publication.Date  January 3rd 2012
Pages:387
Published By:  Feiwel & Friends 
WebsiteMarissa Meyer
Cinder - Goodreads
My review copy:ARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Where to get: Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Book Depository




Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.
(goodreads.com)





Do your kind even know what love is? Can you feel anything at all, or is it just... programmed?
Maybe her programming was overwhelmed by Prince Kai's uncanny hotness.
"Were there many sick people in Europe that you recall? Any notable outbreaks in your province?
"I don't know. I don't actually remember anything from before the surgery."
His eyebrows rose, his blue eyes sucking in all the light in the room. "The cybernetic operation?"
"No, the sex change."










    
    Cinder by Marissa Meyer is one outrageously amazing book! If you haven't read it yet, get on it. LIKE. RIGHT NOW. It's funny, touching, thought-provoking, fiercely compelling and insanely heartbreaking. Ridiculously well-written, taut, original, deeply emotional and gorgeously mesmerizing, it's the definition of a page-turner.
She was a cyborg, and she would never go to a ball.
    Linh Cinder is a cyborg, which of course means some of her body parts have been replaced with mechanical ones. It also means, she's a second-class citizen and she is treated as such. She lives with her "adopted family" in New Beijing, in the Eastern Commonwealth, and has to earn her keep working as a full-service mechanic at the Beijing's weekly market. The Earth's population, ravaged by Letumosis, was driven to the brink of extinction. No one knows the cause of this worldwide pandemic that already killed thousands of people. No one knows how to cure it, either.
Imagine there was a cure, but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?
      Letumosis is not the only thing that Prince Kai has to worry about, though. There is also the threat of war against the Lunar (Moon) Empire hanging over the nation (no pun intended!). The evil Queen Levana has long been lusting over the blue planet. She wants Earth for herself, and she always gets everything she wants. She's powerful. She can manipulate the bioelectricity of people around her, casting a sort of glamour, making them see and feel whatever she chooses. She's despicable and ruthless, yet people can't resist her "charm". She's ugly and disgusting, yet all that others can see is a beautiful, trust-worthy, angel-like woman. And they follow her. And now she wants Prince Kai and Earth, and she's tired of waiting and negotiating.
"My only mistake was in waiting too long to be rid of you", Adri said, running the washcloth between her fingers. "Believe me, Cinder. You are a sacrifice I will never regret."
   Cinder's world is flipped inside-out when her beloved little sister, Peony, falls ill and is taken away to die in isolation. Her grief-stricken step-mother blames Cinder for her daughter's sickness. She sends Cinder away, volunteering her as a test subject for plague testing. But that's just the beginning of her problems. What she's about to discover will change not only her life, but also the lives of everyone around her, possibly the whole planet.
He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client - and her prince.
And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.
      This book left me speechless.
When I first started reading, I was, like, "So OK, it looks like just another re-telling of the classic fairy tale with a futuristic cyborg twist". I was intrigued (I have a THING for anything clockwork), but not entirely sold yet. The first 20-30 pages is like that. The beginning of the story was great, but with Prince Kai visiting Cinder's mechanical shop, and then Cinder  day-dreaming about His Hotness, it didn't have the air of uniqueness about it. Not until Peony got sick. That's exactly when - forgive my French - shit hits the fan (trust me, it's a very accurate description of how things go really bad from this moment onward). From that point in the story EVERYTHING you thought you knew about Cinderella is re-defined and re-envisioned. For the most part it still follows the simple set up of the original tale, but Meyer adds some seriously insane depth to it. She builds around it, gracefully weaving all the fascinating futuristic details and extraterrestrial elements into the plot, creating a complex, impressive, fantastically imagined world. It's mind-blowing.
Her netlink fished for information, telling her that the palace had been built after the World War IV, when the city was little more than rubble. It was designed in the fashion of the old world, with hearty dosages of both nostalgic symbolism and state-of-the-art engineering. The pagoda-style roofs were made of gold-tinged tiles and surrounded by Qilin gargoyles, but the tiles were actually galvanized steel covered with tiny solar capsules that created enough energy to sustain the entire palace, including the research wing, and the gargoyles were equipped with motion sensors, ID scanners, 36-degree cameras, and radars that could detect approaching aircrafts and hovers within a sixty-mile radius.
      Marissa Meyer created a truly unforgettable world. Her writing style is amazingly descriptive and enjoyable. She has such a fabulous imagination (and is not afraid to use it!). I can easily picture New Beijing in my head. I think the setting of the story couldn't be any more perfect. On top of the fabulous world-building there's also the savvy plot line. It's a mesmerizing blend of stempunk, fairy tale AND mystery. Some plot developments are easy to predict, but mostly you're just sitting there with your jaw on your knees and eyes bulging out in surprise. And even if you could predict everything that will happen, you'd still love reading about it - it's a real crowd-pleaser in terms of its readability.

      I loved the characters. To say that they had more depth than the characters from the original fairy tale would be a major understatement. For once it's not about the silly ball, dancing with the shallow Prince or running away in a carriage made of pumpkin! The characters are real, their emotions are real, they have real problems, fears, struggles. There is a ball, but it's not the kind of ball you imagine when you think of Cinderella. There's a mechanical foot instead of a glass slipper and the dress is not only wrinkled, grease-stained and not in the least magical, but there is also a profound meaning to it. The Prince is not a brain-dead, spoiled little master with personality deficiency, who fancy sumptuous balls. He's an intelligent, good-hearted young man, who finds himself caught between duty and love. He has some insanely difficult decisions to make, and choosing a bride for himself is the least of his problems. Even the wicked step-mother is not entirely rid of human feelings. As much as I disliked her, she did have a few genuinely heart-breaking moments, when you could see a whole different layer of emotions shining through. My favorite character, though, was Cinder's adorable android friend, Iko. She was ROTFL-worthy, witty, supportive, loyal and just so.. cute! Her hilarious comments made for fantastic tension breakers. I really hope to see more of Iko in the next book of the Lunar Chronicles! Oh, and let's not forget about Queen Levana! Oh lord, what a gorgeously evil character she is! The White Witch and the Snow Queen combined wouldn't stand a chance! The whole concept of the Lunar Kingdom and the long lost Princess Selene reminded me of Sailor Moon - how could it not?! There are of course some major differences, but I'm fairly confident that Naoko Takeuchi's greatly enjoyable manga series inspired this breath-taking YA debut novel in some ways. And I LOVED IT!

      To sum it all up: Cinder by Marissa Meyer is one helluva book! It's only the beginning of 2012 and yet I'm 100% sure this book will make it to my TOP 10 of 2012 list. I can't wait to learn more about Queen Levana and the mysterious Lunar Kingdom, and find out what will happen to Cinder, Nainsi and Prince Kai. I strongly recommend this read to everyone!!!



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About the Author
Evie is the Blogger behind Bookish. She enjoys reading many different genres, especially YA, Paranormal, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy.
She loves talking to authors and is always happy to welcome them for interviews, and guest posts. She also likes spreading the love for awesome books and  chatting with fellow book-worms.
You can find Evie here: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Shelfari | The Library Thing
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