In My Mailbox (16) and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (51)

So, I'm choosing to combine my IMM and Monday posts today, I just didn't really feel like doing two separate ones, so hopefully this works. :P lol

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, and inspired by her friend, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It's a way to share the books that you've received over the past week. They could come from the bookstore, the library, a friend, your mailbox or wherever. It gives us all a chance to showcase the books that we've gotten, and maybe give others an idea for the book they want to read or buy next. :)

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta (bought)
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (bought)
The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (bought)
The Inferior by Peadar Ó Guilín (Library)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (from Scholastic Canada for review)
Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick x 2 (bought and won a copy from Simon and Schuster Canada)
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (from Simon and Schuster Canada)

Thanks to Scholastic Canada, and Simon and Schuster Canada! :D I totally bought a copy of Silence online a couple of weeks ago...only to have it show up at the same time as the copy I didn't know I'd won...oh well, I guess I know one of the things I'm giving my friend for Christmas...shhhh don't tell! And some of you might have noticed that Clockwork Prince has been in my IMM before, this is the second copy I've gotten, not sure how that happened, but I'm sending this one to my friend Steph because I want someone else to get the chance to read it before it's released. :)
So overall, I'm thrilled with my mailbox this week, I've started Silence, and I can't wait to read The Scorpio Races! Seriously if anyone from Scholastic Canada reads this...I love you for sending me this book! :D Anyway, that's my mailbox, how about yours? Leave a link in the comments and I'll be sure to check yours out...and stayed tuned for my Monday post...right after this break.

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haha did you like my cheesy joke up there about a break?...get it, a page break...anyway, moving on. :P

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, is a bookish meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It’s a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over to Journey and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.

Books I Read Last Week:

• The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Yup, I got through another Sarah Dessen book this week, and I loved this one...one word, Wes....sorry I totally just "sa-wooned" haha This is definitely one of my favourites out of Dessen's books so far, although I've yet to read one that I didn't like. :P I wasn't sure about this one at first, but the further I got into the story, the more I loved it! I definitely encourage everybody to check this one out! :D

Reading Now:

• Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

I read an excerpt of this one about a month ago, and ever since I have been so anxious to read it! So, now I am...and I'm definitely enjoying it. And I'm still totally in love with this cover...it's so gorgeous...and so is the cover model. ;) Anyway, definitely excited to get to read this one a bit during the week. Probably won't be a lot though because of school, but I'll try before bed. :)

• Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

This one's for my Canadian Lit class, and I've only read a tiny bit, but it seems like it's going to be an interesting story, and definitely clearer to understand than The Double Hook. ;) haha

Books I Want to Read This Week:

....really not sure. I'm leaving this week open, don't want to disappoint myself. :P

And what are you reading???

Check out One Person's Journey Through a World of Books to see what other people are reading. :)

Happy Reading and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D

♪♫ Ambur

The Glass Man Winner! :D

I'm gonna do this one nice and quickly!

The winner of the copy of The Glass Man is:

oriana vasquez

Congratulations, Oriana! :D 

I've already emailed you, so make sure to check your junk folder! 

I hope that you enjoy The Glass Man! 

If you didn't win, you should still check the book out, it's available at several online locations, and also in Chapters and Cole stores in Canada...you can find purchase links on my interview post. 

Also, don't forget to enter my Trick-or-Trick Giveaway! :D 

Happy Reading and Happy Halloween! :D

♪♫ Ambur

 

Zompacolypse Trick-or-Treat Hop - GIVEAWAY!

As I mentioned before Paranormal Wasteland is hosting Zompacolypse 2011, and with it there's a giveaway hop...and that hop starts today! :D 

I'm going to try and make my giveaway nice and simple! I'm using Rafflecopter because I like how simple it is to fill them out, and liking pages or following on Twitter as so easy...it's nice. *sigh*

The one thing Rafflecopter does let me do...is ask multiple choice questions, which I was going to do to allow you to pick what you wanted to win. So instead I'll just post what I'm offering here, and you can pick if you're a winner. :)

First, the details!

It's INTERNATIONAL as I'll be ordering from The Book Depository, and there will be 2 WINNERS.

Each winner will have the option of choosing one of the 4 books I'm offering, or a book of their choice for under $15 (Canadian). For people who prefer ebooks, I'm also going to offer to buy you one or two, and we can work out which ones you'll get. :) This giveaways runs from October 28th until November 1st at midnight, so I'll likely be announcing winners later that day. :) Winners will be chosen using Rafflecopter and they will have 48 hours to claim their prize.

So the books I'm offering are:

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

*ebook option*

*1 book of your choice under $15 CAD*

I've read Rot and Ruin, and Tyger Tyger and I loved them, so I'd love to share them with others! I haven't read the other two, but I've heard they're really great books...and creepy, so very fitting for Hallowe'en! ;)

To enter fill out the Rafflecopter below:

(it may take a while to load)

Now that you've entered my giveaway...you should know that you've stumbled on one of the 15"hidden bonus" blog stops! :D 

Click the candy bucket below to enter to win an Amazon giftcard!

Also, you can enter once at every stop with the candy bucket...it's a reward for finding the hidden stops. So...keep hopping and look for more blogs with the bucket!

Click this picture to go to the Google Form to enter to win an Amazon Giftcard!

Here's the linky list for the rest of the blog stops:

Good luck to everyone who enters! :D

Happy Halloween and as always, Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

The Glass Man Blog Tour: Character Interview and Giveaway! -- GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

 
Hey, Lila! :D
Hey, Ambur. Thanks for the invite.

First, would you mind telling us all a bit about yourself? :)
Me? Oh hell, where do I start? ::taps chin:: Well, I’ve lived on my own for a long time, moving from place to place. Mostly in the woods, eating what I can find. ::shrugs:: It wasn’t so bad, though if I have to look at another bug in my life, it’ll be too soon. My whole family was murdered by lunatic in a designer suit. Oh, and I can control people and things with my mind. That’s about it.
Hey, why are you moving away?


Your powers are incredible! Can you describe how it feels to use them?
They are pretty amazing, even though they scare the bajeepers out of me sometimes. When they emerge it feels sort of like I swallowed fireworks just before they were about to explode into a million shards of light and colour, and if I don’t keep control, I’ll destroy myself and everything around me. I feel the pulse of the earth and every mind within reach. It’s both humbling and terrifying. Hell, right now I could force my will on you and make you do the chicken dance on top of that table over there. Not that I would. ::shrugs: Just saying.

I know he isn’t your favourite person...or I guess ‘being’, but would you mind telling us a bit about the “Glass Man?”
$#@*!!!! Damn, sorry about that. ::grits teeth:: I didn’t know we were going to talk about that psycho piece of … ::ahem:: … work. The guy’s a murderer. A sociopath who’s been hunting me for the better part of a decade, since I was thirteen. He’s obsessed with his fancy clothes and primps and preens like a randy peacock. Oh, and he’s a murderer. Did I mention that already? He took my family from me. Don’t bring him up again. ::crosses arms::

Do you think your mother would be proud of you for eluding the “Glass Man” for so long?
Huh … that’s a hard one to answer. I know she’s proud of me, for everything I’ve accomplished, but I don’t think she intended me to be separated from our people for so long. I don’t know if the chaotic state of the world made it harder for me to figure things out, or if I just didn’t try hard enough until I had no choice but to face up to my heritage. I’d like to believe she thinks I did the best with my circumstances. The little cynic in my head nags me that I could have saved her and the rest of the people the Glass Man killed along the way if I’d done things differently. It’s just something I have to live with.

You were on the run for a long time now, did you ever think of staying somewhere and trying to settle down?
Not until I met Liam. Damn, did I say that out loud? ::hangs head:: Don’t suppose you can edit that out? Yeah, didn’t think so. Just don’t tell him I said that.
Anyway … the world’s gone to hell in a hand grenade, and just about everywhere I went I ended up looking down the barrel of a gun or near some red-neck backwoods idiot looking for a good time. Being a tall blonde didn’t help much. That’s not to say I didn’t fantasize about how it would feel to have a home, because I did. Goddess help me, but I did. More often than I should have. Nope, I’ll accept what comes and be prepared for the next steaming heap of trouble to land on me. Dreams, most often, are for fools. Liam can disagree with me all he wants.

Now, I can’t do this interview without asking about Liam...and you did mention him first, so how about you tell us a bit about him, too? ;)
What? No, I did not just sigh! Okay, fine, I did. I suppose you’re going to print that, too? ::shakes head:: Thought so.
Tell you about Liam, huh? Well, at first I thought he was a total arrogant … uh … jerk. But he’s not. I mean, sometimes he can be, but he’s got a bright soul, you know? Yeah, he makes mistakes, but don’t we all? When it counted he was there for me. Not to mention he’s got those intense blue eyes and the nicest as— ::clears throat::
Nothing. I didn’t say anything.

Thanks for stopping by, Lila! :D It’s been great having you here, and I can’t wait to read more of your adventures!
Hey, thanks, Ambur. Nice to meet you. Gotta run. Lia—uh—someone’s waiting for me. ::grins::

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I love this interview! :D Lila is so fun! I hope that you all enjoyed it, too! If you keep reading you can find out more about The Glass Man, Jocelyn Adams (the author), and you can enter an international giveaway! :D 

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      About The Glass Man:

Lila Gray is just a human—at least that’s her mantra when she accidentally topples a building or bends a paranoid local's gun into modern art. That she can sense and control the minds around her doesn’t prove anything, either. Unwilling to put others at risk, she hides in the wilderness from the beautiful creature who hunts her, one who sees her as his ultimate prize.

Alone, the egocentric Glass Man can kill with a thought. Mated with Lila, he's a supernatural weapon prepared to annihilate the humans he loathes.

Caught in the Glass Man’s latest scheme, Lila is plunged into a hidden fae realm, faced with a secret birthright and a forbidden romance.

With the Glass Man threatening everyone she loves, can Lila accept who she is in time to end his bloody reign? Or will she succumb to his dark power and become the vehicle of destruction for the human race?

Intended audience: 18+, strong language, adult themes, some violence.

- Blurb taken from Goodreads.

Buy The Glass Man from: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books on Board

If you're in Canada, you can also find it in any Chapters or Coles bookstores. :)

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      About the Author:

Jocelyn Adams is an author and lover of fantasy stories, a wife, mother and former I.T. geek.

Joce is thrilled to share her debut novel, The Glass Man, with you in October, a short story in the Into the Unknown anthology in December and a novella, Touch of Frost, in February, 2012.

Her short stories have appeared in Residential Aliens Magazine, Hall Brothers Villainy anthology, Winter Canons anthology, Roar and Thunder Magazine, Wicked East Press's Twisted Fairy Tales II anthology, Dead Robots' Society's Explorers: Beyond the Horizon anthology, and The Red Penny Papers.

- Blurb taken from Goodreads.

Follow Jocelyn: Twitter | Wordpress Blog | Author Website | Facebook | Goodreads Author Page

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GIVEAWAY!

1 Winner will win a copy of The Glass Man

International!

However, if you're within North America you can win either a signed Paperback copy or a digitally signed eBook and if you're from elsewhere you'll automatically get the Ebook.

The giveaways runs until Friday (Oct. 28).

The winner will have 48 hours to respond, and will be chosen randomly using Rafflecopter. :)

To enter just fill out the Rafflecopter form. :)

*******THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!*********

 Good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway! 

I hope that you all get the chance to read The Glass Man, it's an amazing story! :D

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Teaser Tuesday (48)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

"Mr. D'Antoni, one of those long-haired hippie types with a ponytail, was our English teacher. You could be different like that if you were into poems and plays, and people wouldn't think much about it."

- Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi, p.22

Well that’s what I’m reading, so what are you reading?

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (50)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, is a bookish meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It’s a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over to Journey and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.

Books I Read Last Week:

• The Kissing Tree by Prudence Bice

 I really ended up liking this one, it was a very sweet story. :) And the characters were feisty...just how I like 'em! haha I'll be reviewing this one for a blog tour in November, so my review won't be up for a while, but keep your eyes open for it. ;)

• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

So, clearly I made time for Lola this week...and I loved it! Seriously, it was amazing! I loved Lola, I loved Cricket, and I loved everything I could have possibly loved about this book! It was fabulous! :D

• Cryptic Cravings (Vampire Kisses #8) by Ellen Schreiber

I like this series, but I always feel like just when it starts to get intense...BAM! The book's over. They're pretty short, and they're very fast reads, but I always want more after I finish! I really like Raven, she's definitely a darker character...who actually said she wanted to be a vampire when she grew up back in her elementary days, but she always stands up for what she wants, and I thunk because of that, she's a fantastic role model, and she's hilarious...plus her boyfriend is very dreamy. ;P

• Aces Up by Lauren Barnholdt

I love Lauren Barnholdt! :D And this one was a great read, it wasn't my favourite though, in fact, I think it's my least favourite so far, but I still really enjoyed it. The one thing that I didn't like about this one was that the  main character, Shannon, would constantly think things and then she'd say them out loud, or something very similar, right afterward, and it just got on my nerves because it was so repetitive, but other than that, I really liked it! :)

• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

I've read two Sarah Dessen books before this one, and I saw this one recommended on a blog a while back, so I put it on hold from the library, and also quite a few of her other books...which is why I keep getting so many from the library. :P Anyway, I loved this one! It took a while to get into because it skips back and forth between time a lot, but once I got into the story it really hooked me...and so did Owen...*sigh* ;)

Reading Now:

• Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

I haven't read too much of this one yet, but it's okay so far. I like that it's from a guy's POV, and that it's a book that deals with issues, like peer pressure, bullying...and definitely BIGOTRY...tonnes of bigotry. I've got a bunch of assignments to work on this week, so hopefully I can squeeze in enough time to finish it...I'm sure I can. ;)

Books I Want to Read This Week:

• Deviant by Adrian McKinty

I don't feel like making plans for reading this week...so I'll just pick this one, and hopefully I'll get to it...and maybe a few others, too. :)

As you can see, I've had an amazing week! I got so much reading done, and it was a week of fabulous books! I hope that you all had great reading weeks, too. :)

And what are you reading???

Check out One Person's Journey Through a World of Books to see what other people are reading. :)

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Tower of Parlen Min Blog Tour: Guest Post - The Folklore in Tower of Parlen Min

Hey everyone, and thanks so much to Ambur for having this Matt Xell on her blog for a guest post (or something like it), I'm uber excited. So here we go ...

Everlon is the fictional world setting of The Narrow Escapes of Ves Asirin series of books ( of which Tower of Parlen Min is the first) and it is something of a 21st century alternate of Earth where a lot of things we consider supernatural, mythical and impossible in our world are widely accepted as reality. And so when creating this world I borrowed a lot of what I loved about Earth's historical events, myths, legends, fables and folklore and blended it with my own unique storytelling elements.

Today I'd like to talk about how I used bits of Celtic legends and Saxon history to create a folklore origin for Meden District, which is where the Tower of Parlen Min is located.

As you may know, on Earth, the Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe. On Everlon, the Celts that resided in what is now the country of Machus Ina were pagans that followed religious movements of the Druids. Each year, in late October (or Oktober in Everlon) the Celts celebrated Samhain, a festival where they burned large, sacrificial, wooden effigies known as ‘Wicker men’ atop sacred hilltops. The wicker men would be filled with animals, prisoners of war, criminals, and other sacrifices to their deities.These practices were put to an end when Charles Magnus, the Saxon Emperor defeated the celts and conquered much of western and central Europa.

Some four hundred years later, a sinister sorcerer of Celtic descent came to the land of Meden (now a district in Machus Ina) and started kidnapping women and children, taking them deep into the woods and killing them as sacrifices in his imitation rituals. This man was christened 'Sam Hain' and he would later be slain, as folk stories say, by the Golden Knight -- an infamous character in many Europan and Atlantian myths and legends.

Every year since the death of Sam Hain, the people Meden celebrate his defeat by holding a festival at the Grounds of Wendsil, where he was killed on Halloween night. During the festival a large Wickerman made wire and mesh is set up in the center of the grounds and is lit on fire at midnight, an event which is followed by a world famous, grand display of fireworks.

In the book, Tower of Parlen Min, Ves Asirin and the other children invited to the Tower attend this festival on the first weekend of thier stay.

cheers and thanks for readin'

Matt

And if you're interested, here's the link to Tower of Parlen Min's book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niud9yQZb0M

In My Mailbox (15)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, and inspired by her friend, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It's a way to share the books that you've received over the past week. They could come from the bookstore, the library, a friend, your mailbox or wherever. It gives us all a chance to showcase the books that we've gotten, and maybe give others an idea for the book they want to read or buy next. :)

Netgalley: 

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Darker Still (Magic Most Foul #1) by Leanna Renee Hieber

The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry

The Deserter (The Bone World Trilogy #2) by Peadar Ó Guilín

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

Yup, lots from NetGalley this week, and I'm so excited for some of these, they sound fantastic...and I'm seriously smitten with the Darker Still cover! ;D

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Fall Book Exchange: 

Fateful by Claudia Gray

A Beautfiul Dark (A Beautiful Dark #1) by Jocelyn Davies

I received both of these books from Cat at Cat's Thoughts. It was kind of funny, she emailed me about RAK at the beginning of October, and then ended up getting me for the Fall Book Exchange, it was a crazy kind of coincidence. :D Thanks, Cat! I'm really excited to read these two! :D

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Bought: 

Once in a Full Moon (Full Moon #1) by Ellen Schreiber

Die For Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

Lost In Time (Blue Bloods #6) by Melissa de la Cruz (Wal-Mart)

Destiny's Path (Warrior Princess #2) by Frewin Jones

Little Black Lies by Tish Cohen

Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand

Department 19 (Department 19 #1) by Will Hill

Withering Tights (The Misadventures of Tallulah Casey #1) by Louise Rennison

Immortal (Immortal #1) by Gillian Shields

Betrayal (Immortal #2) by Gillian Shields

I ended up picking up 10 books this week...but I don't even feel guilty about it because I bought 9 of these for under $15!!! :D I went to The Book Cellar this week before my night class, and they had a bunch of new YA titles in...as you can see I found lots that I wanted! The only one I picked up elsewhere was Lost In Time, which I got at Wal-Mart. :) I'm going to take my friend to The Book Cellar this Thursday, so we'll see if I end up with some more, I'm going to help her pick some, but I can't resist getting them when I see them! I was especially excited at Department 19, which I've been waiting to get...and it was $2.99 there! :D It was even cheaper after they discounted the whole thing...I'm seriously in love with that store! I've already read Unearthly, but I wanted to pick up a finished copy, it's such a pretty book! :D

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Well, as you can see, I had a great shopping week on campus, and picked up some amazing titles! It's no wonder that I'm running out of shelves...correction, that I've already run out of shelves. :P haha Thanks to Netgalley, and once again, to Cat! :D

And how about you? What did you get in YOUR mailbox? Leave a link if you have one and I'll come check it out. :)

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Fall Book Exchange Recap! :)

I participated in the Fall Book Exchange this year.
It's hosted by Ruby's Reads, Ivy Reads, and Teens Read and Write.
 I've received my books, and the books I've sent have also been received, so here's my recap post! :D

I sent:

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and Divergent by Veronica Roth 

to Alanna at The Flashlight Reader.

And I received:

 Fateful by Claudia Gray and A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
from Cat at Cat's Thoughts.

Once again, I'd like to say thanks to Cat! :D And if you read this, I hope you enjoy your books Alanna! :D I'd also like to encourage everyone to participate in these book exchanges, they're so fun! :D And they're easy too, you can use the Book Depository, which I love...I love the Book Depo! haha I'm also participating in an exchange for Christmas, it's the button on my sidebar that says, "My Bookworm Santa." I definitely encourage everyone who's interested to participate, I love them! :D

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur