Friday, May 30, 2014

HOLLOW CITY - THE SECOND NOVEL OF MISS PEREGRINE'S PECULIAR CHILDREN - REVIEW

12396528
pic and description taken from Goodreads



Description:

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London the peculiar capital of the world. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reacting experience.


My Review / Thoughts:

This has been kind of a fun week for me in the reading department.  I have put aside all "required reviews" and just read for myself.  It's been awesome!!!  I have really enjoyed reading this series.  Although to me this one was not as creepy as the first one, but it is still pretty darn good.  This book is action packed, and has a lot going on.

I love the peculiar animals in this book.  I LOVE the photos that go along with the story.  It just makes it seem so "real" to me.  I know I have said this before but I HATE HATE HATE Clowns.  There is one picture in this book, that I had to cover up while I was reading because Clowns TERRIFY me.   I honestly will never, ever, ever understand why people think that clowns are "fun" or "cool".  No, they are evil. Period.  Okay, anyway, that was probably the creepiest thing about this book.  "Clown Boy".  Even though he is one of the peculiar, he is the scariest thing to me, because of the photo.  Every time they mention him it sent a chill down my spine.  Clowns are EVIL.  Period.

Jacob learns how to use his "talent" a little better in this book, and it's quite interesting.  I love all the things these kids can do.  Although I think floating would probably be the scariest one.  I don't think I would like to feel like I would float away if I wasn't wearing weighted shoes...hehe.

The journey these kids go on in this book is non stop.  They never seem to catch a break.  Poor kids.  They are trying to save Miss Peregrine in this book, and lets just say that what happens was like "WHAT"?????  I don't want to ruin it, but I was NOT expecting what happened.

I like how they meet other peculiar during their travels.  I am hoping that they will play more of a part in the next book.  Which will not come out soon enough, in my opinion.  I need to remember to NOT read series until they are all out.  It drives me mad.  :).  

This book is so interesting.  It's exciting, and action packed.  I enjoyed it from beginning to end.  The only wish I had for this book, was that I wished it was a  little more scary.  The first one had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, but this one was more action related, than creepy.  All good things, I just thought it would be creepy as well.  :).

My Rating:
4.5 out of 5

Where to Buy:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Ransom Riggs
image and bio taken from Goodreads

I grew up in Florida, went to Kenyon College in Ohio, then film school at USC in LA, where I still live. I write books and screenplays, blog daily for mentalfloss.com, and make short films. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is my first novel. I'm really excited about it -- it was challenging and rewarding and I hope people like it. If you read that and like the found photographs in it, you might be interested in a book comprised entirely of found photographs that I have coming out January 2012 from HarperCollins. It's called Talking Pictures. You can find sneak peeks by doing a search for "mental floss talking pictures" (I included a number of images in blogs there) and I made a kinda-sorta book trailer for it, which is on my youtube page: youtube.com/ransriggs.

Also, watch out for a Miss Peregrine book trailer, which I'm working on right now! I get to go to Belgium and film inside creepy abandoned chateaus, which I'm *really* looking forward to.


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MOVING TOO FAST BY HELEN CONRAD - EXCERPT


On tour with Prism Book Tours

Welcome to my stop for the REVIEW & EXCERPT TOUR for
Moving Too Fast
Destiny Bay Romances: Sweet Editions
by Helen Conrad

Special Price!
Moving Too Fast is only $0.99 for Kindle from now until Sunday, June 1st!


Moving Too Fast
Destiny Bay Romances - Forever Yours
(Sweet Edition #3)
by Helen Conrad
Adult Romance
Paperback & Ebook, 165 pages
March 28th 2014 by Doorknock Publishing

A sweet old-fashioned girl–

–isn’t what Grant Carrington is looking for. A man who lives for speed and danger, he’s only slowed down because he’s been forced to by an injury. Carrie Harlow isn’t his type, but he needs her in order to heal. She knows she’s playing with fire, but she feels she can help him and she goes for it—even though she knows she’s endangering her own heart as she fixes his.

Recipe for Carrie's Chicken Picatta included.

EXCERPT:

His very arrogance took her breath away. She almost laughed.

“Do you always get what you want?” she prodded, gazing up from beneath her dark lashes.

He touched her chin with one lone finger. “Always,” he said, and it was as much a warning as apromise.

From then on they played like children. She put an ice cube down the back of his swimsuit and hethrew her into the pool once he’d caught her, then dived in to chase her through the blue water. It took them twice as long as usual to complete the program, and when it was over, Carrie packed up toleave.

“Don’t go,” he said, dripping with water from the pool.

She smiled, watching the sun catch the drops of water on his brown skin. “I should check in at theoffice,” she told him. “Besides, I don’t have anything to wear.”

His hand cupped her cheek. “‘Then don’t wear anything,” he said, eyes full of laughter. “Simplesolution.”

She made a face. “Your housekeeper might be a bit surprised to find a naked woman wanderingaround your estate,” she reminded him.

“Not at all,” he said flippantly. “Happens all the time.”

“Does it?” She pretended outrage. “The ever-present Grand Prix groupies? Where do you hide them when I come over?”

He grinned. “I just stuff them into any convenient closet. They get sulky when you stay too long.”

“Then they’ll be happy now.” She slung her bag over her shoulder. “I’m leaving.”

Purchase from Amazon.


[Pin, share, or tweet this image for an extra entry in the giveaway.]


Image of Helen Conrad

Helen Conrad is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 90 romances (over 15 million copies sold) published under various pseudonyms with Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept, and others. She is currently revamping and rewriting much of her backlist—mainly into the Destiny Bay Romances Series. The first six, the Forever Yours Series, are being rewritten as Sweet Editions.

Website - Facebook - Goodreads


A Little About the Destiny Bay Romances: Sweet Editions
From Author Helen Conrad

"The Destiny Bay Romances take place in the sort of beach town I've always loved--and now I live in one! But writing about beach towns came first and this series is centered on the rich, influential Carrington family living along the California Coast, and in Hawaii. These are good-looking, fast-driving, hard-hitting men and women whose impulses lead them into trouble every time--and inevitably to fall in love.

The original series includes language and love scenes that aren't, for the most part, especially harsh and explicit--but some of my readers from my years writing sweets for Harlequin as Raye Morgan have asked if we couldn't have sweet and clean versions--and I thought--what a good idea! 

These are basically the same stories...but with the conflicts softened a bit, the language cleaned up, and no explicit love scenes. There are still a few adult situations, but they're muted. Consider these the PG versions. 

I hope you enjoy them!"


Tour-Wide Giveaway

- US Grand Prize: $20 Amazon gift card and paperbacks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast
- INT Grand Prize: $20 Amazon gift card and ebooks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast
- 2 sets of ebooks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The other stops on this tour:

Run Run Runaway
May 12 - Book Intro

May 13

May 14

May 15

May 16

May 18

Moving Too Fast
May 26 - Book Intro

May 27

May 28

May 29

May 30

Jun 1

June 2 - Grand Finale


Prism Book Tours
Are you a blogger and want to receive information about new tours? Go HERE.
Are you an author or publisher and would like to have us organize a tour event? Go HERE.
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Thursday, May 29, 2014

CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE BY CASSANDRA CLARE - REVIEW

8755785
pic and description taken from Goodreads


Description:

ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. 

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance?


My Review / Thoughts:

***************** MAY BE SPOILERS *****************

OH MY GOSH........ I mean OH MY GOSH!!!!! 752 pages of pure AWESOMENESS! First, lets start with that cover.  Can you say "AWESOME"?  I was so afraid and excited to get this little gem in the mail.  I have had a few series end so badly lately that it kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.  To me (personally) if a series ends bad, it ruins the whole thing for me.  Then I am just sad. 

Lets just say that this book did NOT leave a sour taste!  I cannot even tell you in words how much I loved this book.   I don't even know where to start.  Honestly.  I just loved every thing about this book.  Everything.  

I love how everything came together.   The Mortal Instruments, and The Infernal Devices.  Seriously, I had a smile my face a the end of this book from ear to ear.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it when books / series end in a pretty little bow.  Some people may not like that, but I LOVE it.  I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but I LOVE it ;).  I read books for pretty little bows.  Even a scary book can end up all nice and neat.  

This book was exciting and sad, and awesome.  I mean, just awesome.   Magnus is just as funny and ornery in this book as he has been in all of them.  Jace was funny just like he always has been.  I love it.  I love that this book has it all.  Love, friendship, family, excitement, sadness, joy...everything.  It's amazing.  I cannot thank Clare enough for this series.  Thank you for ending it well.  Thank you for making me fall in love with so many characters.  

This is probably a spoiler  - When everyone is in the demon world, some things happen there that made me super sad.  Each person saw what they thought their heart desired.  You would think that would be awesome, but when they have to find a way to return to Idris life changes in the blink of an eye.  My heart ached so much for Simon and Isabelle and Clary.  It was a heartbreaking moment.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I know that probably sounds like an oxymoron but it was.  The way Clare brought emotions out of me was just top notch.

I do not want to ruin too much for people, but if you have not read both of these series...The Mortal Instruments, and The Infernal Devices...you are missing out.  These two will go down as one of my favorite series of all time.  Along with Harry Potter.  I have loved a lot of books, but these have been such fantastic books from beginning to end.

Clare's writing is amazing.  I loved every page.  Even when something "bad" was happening, her writing is beautiful.

Okay, I could go on and on, and I want to!  There are so many wonderful things that happen in this book, that even as I type I am still smiling.  There are so many connections made in this book, and that just made it even more fun to read.

This book has a lot of pages, and I can honestly say I am so glad it does.  The book was paced well, and the story never got boring.  It took all of those pages to end a beautiful story!

If you have not read this series, you need to stop what you are doing and go buy it right now :).  Okay, that may be a bit hasty...but seriously, that is how much I loved it.  

Thanks Cassandra Clare....It was simply beautiful!

Source:  I bought this book for myself from Amazon.  I am not affiliated with Amazon in any way.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

My Rating:
5 out of 5 FANTASTIC Hearts :)

Where To Buy:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Author:


Cassandra Clare
pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Hello Goodreadsers. Here's my official bio:

"Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts."

You can find me online at 

www.cassandraclare.com



Posted by at 8 comments:

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

DON'T FALL BY RACHEL SCHIEFFELBEIN - RELEASE DAY BOOK BLITZ


Don't Fall
Release Date: 2014
Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads::
In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of RAPUNZEL.

 Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn't even have a best friend. 

 But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

 Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.



Guest Post- Retellings
First of all, thank you so much for having me on your blog! I’m going to talk a bit about fairy tales and why I wrote this retelling.

I have always loved fairy tales. I grew up on them, and I suppose I’m a bit of a romantic. I love magic, and true love, and happily ever afters. It makes me happy that retellings are gaining in popularity. All those old stories I loved are getting a new light shone on them, new twists, new characters, and new perspectives.
Rapunzel has been my favorite fairy tale from long before Disney made its version of it. (Although the Disney version is pretty cute.) To be honest, I think a big part of why it’s my favorite has to do with fond memories of visiting an elderly neighbor who used to read it to me.

It was a story I really wanted to work with, but making it contemporary had its challenges! So I will tell you now, no one climbs anyone’s hair. It’s the theme of the story I wanted to hold onto. The idea of this girl being locked away from the world, and how she has to set herself free to really find herself.

I love Anya, my Rapunzel. She’s sweet and innocent, but also spunky and fun. I wanted to write her a modern fairy tale, with its own kind of magic, true love, and happily ever after. Hopefully I’ve succeeded, and readers will fall for her and Zander, too.


About the Author
Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there, with her husband and their four kids. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.

Author Links:
   




***GIVEAWAY***
1 ebook of Don’t Fall + $10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:
Posted by at 13 comments:

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by RANSOM RIGGS - REVIEW

9460487
pic and description taken from Goodreads


Description:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.


My Review / Thoughts:

I have been so excited to read this book.  I had been eyeing it for a while, and one day I decided I needed it for Mothers Day.  I love it when I get what I want for Mothers Day ;).    I had seen it on some blogs and the cover drew me in right away.  I mean, it's a little creepy.  I am in the mood for creepy.  

This book has some fabulous characters in it.  I cannot tell you how much I love the pictures that linger between the pages of this book.  Some of them creep me out beyond reason.  I absolutely hate clowns.  HATE THEM...I am terrified of them.....TERRIFIED!  Jesters are just the same.  CREEPY characters.  There is a picture of two kids with their faces painted like a Jesters, and I almost couldn't touch the page it was so creepy to me.  Yes, I am being a little dramatic...but it's true.  That is how much they scare me.  But DANG, it was awesome.

I think the beginning of the book is creepy and fabulous.  When Abraham Portman finds himself in trouble his grandson Jake finally thinks that the stories his grandfather told him growing up might actually be true.  After Abraham Portmans murder, Jake is determined to find out what his grandfather was trying to tell him when he died.  Well, lets just say the awesomeness begins :).  I was reading the part about Portman dying while I was laying in bed very late one night, and when Jake says he saw something in the shadows, and explained it....I was creeped out, then I turned the page and the picture was there, and I jumped.  I know...kind of silly, but it was creepy.   (I seriously love creepy).

Jake travels to an island with his father and while there Jake is determined to find Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  What he finds is a run down old mansion with the insides coming apart.  It's only a little later that he finds himself in the past.  He sees people he has seen in photographs and finally realizes what his grandfather had been telling him was true.

This book kept me interested from the beginning to the very end.  It kind of got a little slow for me a bit in the middle, but it picked up again pretty quick.  The end of this book is fantastic.  It's exciting, and thrilling.  I totally did NOT call the bad guy in this one, so when it came about I was very surprised.  

I loved some of the characters that Jacob comes to be friends with when he is in the past.  Emma, who can shoot fire, and Millard the invisible boy.  I love Millard.  I don't know why he just was a funny character.  There a time in the book when they are eating dinner, and Miss Peregrine makes Millard leave the dinner table to put some clothes on..."you don't come to the table in the nude".  It cracked me up.  I probably would not have thought two shakes about it until Miss Peregrine points it out.  

I am so excited for the second book.  This one definitely left me wanting more.  I hope the second one is as good as this one.  I know I already said this, but the pictures that go along with this book are so fantastic.  I think they make the story more "realistic" and  so much more interesting.  It made it easier to visualize the "peculiar" children in my head after seeing the photos.  

If you like, creepy (but not too creepy) and exciting books, I recommend picking this little gem up.  :)

Source:  I bought this book for myself from Barnes and Noble.  I am not affiliated with B&N in anyway, and was not compensated for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Content:  There is a little bit of language in this book, but I never felt like it was "too much".

My Rating:
4.5 out of 5

Where to Buy:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Ransom Riggs
image and bio taken from Goodreads

I grew up in Florida, went to Kenyon College in Ohio, then film school at USC in LA, where I still live. I write books and screenplays, blog daily for mentalfloss.com, and make short films. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is my first novel. I'm really excited about it -- it was challenging and rewarding and I hope people like it. If you read that and like the found photographs in it, you might be interested in a book comprised entirely of found photographs that I have coming out January 2012 from HarperCollins. It's called Talking Pictures. You can find sneak peeks by doing a search for "mental floss talking pictures" (I included a number of images in blogs there) and I made a kinda-sorta book trailer for it, which is on my youtube page: youtube.com/ransriggs.

Also, watch out for a Miss Peregrine book trailer, which I'm working on right now! I get to go to Belgium and film inside creepy abandoned chateaus, which I'm *really* looking forward to.
Posted by at 10 comments:

Monday, May 26, 2014

MOVING TOO FAST BY HELEN CONRAD - DESTINY BAY ROMANCES LAUNCH


On tour with Prism Book Tours

Launching the REVIEW & EXCERPT TOUR for
Moving Too Fast
Destiny Bay Romances: Sweet Editions
by Helen Conrad

Special Price!
Moving Too Fast is only $0.99 for Kindle from now until Sunday, June 1st!



Intro to Moving Too Fast
From Author Helen Conrad

“Winning isn’t everything-it’s the only thing.”

Injured racecar driver Grant Carrington lives by those words and Carrie Harlow is afraid he’ll end up dying by them. She resists him at first, instinctively seeing that he’s dangerous to know. He needs her skill as a physical therapist, and she lives to heal. But he lives to win. That puts them at odds right from the beginning.

Grant is probably the hardest hero I’ve ever written. He puts on a gruff, rough shell to protect himself from the vulnerability he feels after being injured. His past is littered with old emotional pain and a history that makes him think he doesn’t deserve to be loved by a woman as good and loveable as Carrie. It takes patience and courage for her to work with him—but she heals his heart at the same time she heals his body, and in the end, he realizes that accepting and giving love makes him the biggest winner of all.

I hope you enjoy these books—and be on the lookout for the next three which will be released soon!


Moving Too Fast
Destiny Bay Romances - Forever Yours
(Sweet Edition #3)
by Helen Conrad
Adult Romance
Paperback & Ebook, 165 pages
March 28th 2014 by Doorknock Publishing

A sweet old-fashioned girl–

–isn’t what Grant Carrington is looking for. A man who lives for speed and danger, he’s only slowed down because he’s been forced to by an injury. Carrie Harlow isn’t his type, but he needs her in order to heal. She knows she’s playing with fire, but she feels she can help him and she goes for it—even though she knows she’s endangering her own heart as she fixes his.

Recipe for Carrie's Chicken Picatta included.

Purchase from Amazon.


[Pin, share, or tweet this image for an extra entry in the giveaway.]


Image of Helen Conrad

Helen Conrad is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 90 romances (over 15 million copies sold) published under various pseudonyms with Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept, and others. She is currently revamping and rewriting much of her backlist—mainly into the Destiny Bay Romances Series. The first six, the Forever Yours Series, are being rewritten as Sweet Editions.

Website - Facebook - Goodreads


A Little About the Destiny Bay Romances: Sweet Editions
From Author Helen Conrad

"The Destiny Bay Romances take place in the sort of beach town I've always loved--and now I live in one! But writing about beach towns came first and this series is centered on the rich, influential Carrington family living along the California Coast, and in Hawaii. These are good-looking, fast-driving, hard-hitting men and women whose impulses lead them into trouble every time--and inevitably to fall in love.

The original series includes language and love scenes that aren't, for the most part, especially harsh and explicit--but some of my readers from my years writing sweets for Harlequin as Raye Morgan have asked if we couldn't have sweet and clean versions--and I thought--what a good idea! 

These are basically the same stories...but with the conflicts softened a bit, the language cleaned up, and no explicit love scenes. There are still a few adult situations, but they're muted. Consider these the PG versions. 

I hope you enjoy them!"


Tour-Wide Giveaway

- US Grand Prize: $20 Amazon gift card and paperbacks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast
- INT Grand Prize: $20 Amazon gift card and ebooks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast
- 2 sets of ebooks of Run Run Runaway, A Little Blackmail, and Moving Too Fast (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The other stops on this tour:

Run Run Runaway
May 12 - Book Intro

May 13

May 14

May 15

May 16

May 18

Prism Book Tours
Are you a blogger and want to receive information about new tours? Go HERE.
Are you an author or publisher and would like to have us organize a tour event? Go HERE.
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