Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Maggie Stiefvater Signing RECAP!

I'm always a bit slow posting these recaps, but last Thursday Megan from Megan Likes Books and I went to Maggie Stiefvater's signing at the Indigo in CrossIron Mills Mall (it's just a bit outside of Calgary for anyone wondering), and we had an amazing time!! :D


Indigo did an amazing job hosting the event, and it was just a fantastic atmosphere! And so much fun!

Megan & I showed up super duper early! I was driving from Edmonton, so we wanted to make sure that we got good seats...and we did! Right at the front! :D We had quite a few books to get signed, and even got some signed for a few of our fellow Edmonton Book Bloggers! :D We also had plenty of time to get caught up, which was great! :D

Here's a picture of Megan (left) and I waiting to meet Maggie! We were the entire line for a bit there....but we were also REALLY REALLY early! haha This photo was taken by the lovely Megan and posted on her Twitter.

Before Maggie came out, we had some trivia for Chapters/Indigo gift cards, which was really fun! 
 
 Here's the audience for the signing holding up their favourite book of Maggie's! Photo from Indigo Events' Twitter (@indigogreenroom).

Then we got to see Maggie! She told us some hilarious stories (like the one about "The Knife Incident" and her feinting goats), did an audience reading, and answered some questions!

 Here's Maggie!!! :D She's a fantastic public speaker, funny, and just so entertaining! She told us about her struggles writing Forever (she felt like the fans were watching her while she was writing, so she took twice as long as usual to write it because she ended up taking it back from her editor to make it better :P), how she found out Linger was #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and she even mentioned how Hollywood is extremely complicated and that she likes book-to-movie adaptations as long as they keep the same "flavour" as the book, which she said was the reason she pulled the options for Shiver before---apparently Sam was a homeless guy digging up a can of peaches, and that just didn't feel like Shiver at all... and I definitely have to agree with her. :P

As I mentioned before, she had an audience reading! So, members of the audience helped participate in a reading of her book...and I got to be a part of it! We read from one of the chapters in The Dream Thieves, and I was Persephone! :D (Once again, I borrowed this picture from Megan.)

The event itself was really well put together, and it was definitely worth my three hour drive! ;D
Maggie was also nice enough to sign all of our books at once (without a limit), so Megan and I didn't even have to line up again...and we totally thought we'd have to because we had 9 books each! ;D

Meeting Maggie was awesome though! She was really easy to talk to and so fun!!!

 They took some candid photos of us while we were talking to Maggie, and this one was my favourite! I just love both of our expressions...I look seriously fangirly and happy...and totally entertained by Maggie, and Maggie looks like she's saying something intense. :D

 Here are a couple of the books I got signed! :D The Scorpio Races is my favourite because of the doodle Maggie drew (plus, the book itself is fabulous!)...so awesome! :D


 Also, Megan was much quicker at posting her recap of the signing, so if you're curious about what she had to say about the event, youu can find her recap HERE.

There you have it, that's my recap for what happened at the Maggie Steifvater signing that I went to last week! It was awesome, and Megan and I had a blast! Everyone at the signing also wrote a little something to Maggie in a notebook...and Megan and I wrote a poem for her...it was pretty fun, even if we're not very good at rhyming...although hopefully Maggie thought our poem wasn't too "draggy". :P

I definitely hope to get to meet Maggie again someday because she's just a fantastic person, and her books are pretty fabulous, too!

Have you been to a signing before?
What was it like and who was it for?
And if you haven't been to one before, 
which author (or authors) signing(s) would you want to go to?

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TYGER TYGER is free ALL WEEK!



You may have noticed me gushing over the Goblin Wars trilogy by Kersten Hamilton before...and I'm going to gush about it even more today because the first book in the trilogy, TYGER TYGER, is free all week!!! :D
Purchase Links: 
iBookstore | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
 * Note: I've been told that it isn't free for everyone on Amazon yet, but it is supposed to, so check again later and see if it is. I know it's free for me, so hopefully it'll be free for everyone else, too.

Anyway, to help promote Tyger Tyger being free, I've thought of some nice handy tweets that you can just copy & tweet yourself, here they are:

Looking for a Halloween read? Try Tyger Tyger! Get your FREE copy:  |  |
Goblins & Travellers OH MY! Get your FREE copy of TYGER TYGER:  |  |
Finn MacCumhaill is a beast! Get your FREE copy of TYGER TYGER:  |  |
RT if you like GORILLAS! Get your FREE copy of TYGER TYGER:  |  |
RT if U want to travel w/ Finn! Get your FREE copy of TYGER TYGER:  |  |

And the last one, short, simple, and sweet: 
Get your FREE copy of TYGER TYGER:  |  |
If you've got another great idea for a short and sweet tweet, mention it in a comment and I'll add it to the list. :D

As, I've professed before, I'm a huge fan of this trilogy!
What about you, are you a fan?
If you haven't started the Goblin Wars trilogy yet, are you going to now that you can get the first book for FREE?! And if you aren't, why not? (Seriously...it's fantastic I can't say that enough!!!)


Pssst...if you need more motivation to read the trilogy you can find my reviews here: Tyger Tyger, In the Forests of the Night, and When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears. And you can check out their Goodreads pages here: Tyger Tyger, In the Forests of the Night, and When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears.

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Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Book Blitz: Unbreathable (Unbreathable #1) by Hafsah Laziaf #Giveaway #Excerpt



I'm gonna start this blitz post off nice and simply...I'm gonna tell you a bit about UNBREATHABLE and share it's gorgeous cover with you all! :D


Title: Unbreathable (Unbreathable, #1)
Author: Hafsah Laziaf
Publisher: Self
Release date: October 29, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18651186-unbreathable

Summary from Goodreads:
One hundred and fifty years ago, Earth was destroyed, and the remaining humans fled to the dusty red planet of Jutaire, where the only oxygen is manufactured, food is scarce, and death strikes often. 

When Lissa's father discovers Earth still exists, she accidentally inhales the toxic air of Jutaire, and in one breath, discovers she isn't quite human.

Her father hangs for his discovery, and Lissa knows the Chancellors will come for her, for she saw the Earth that night too. With nothing to lose, she sets out to expose the truth. It isn't long before she meets Julian, a beautiful boy who can breathe the toxic air like she can - and shows her that the Jute, the original inhabitants of the planet, are more tangled in their lives than she knows.

But the Chancellors are only pawns in a greater game - one where the Jute control everything. Worse, the Jute plan to leave Jutaire for Earth, but to get there, they need her. And they'll stop at nothing until Lissa is in their clutches, even if they kill every human in the process.

The race for Earth has begun.

Unbreathable is a tale of love, redemption, and sacrifice, and one girl's struggle to find her place in a world where she doesn't belong.

Purchase links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks
Link to book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvrxiG2GVU

About the author:
Hafsah Laziaf was born on the east coast on a hot summer day in 1993, raised on the west coast and is now stuck in the middle – in Texas – with more books than she can read. She’s the designer behind IceyDesigns and the blogger behind IceyBooks.

UNBREATHABLE is her debut novel.

Connect with Hafsah Laziaf: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Excerpt

 If Julian notices my confusion, he doesn’t let on. In fact, he swiftly switches topic. “Did you really see the Earth?”
“Yes.” The word flies free from my lips. The outburst between Julian and Slate disappears from my mind. I’m light-headed, filled with a giddy happiness, at the thought of having another person to trust, despite the tendrils of warning fear.
“What’s it like?” For a moment, I think he's asking about trust. But when I meet his eyes, I know. Only one thing in our dwindling world can lighten and brighten a person's eyes to full awe.
“Earth?” I ask anyway. He nods and excitement builds in my chest. I've never spoken to anyone about Earth. It’s a secret that could take me straight to the gallows. But right now, I don’t care. “It really is green and blue and white, but different. Alive, almost.”
His eyes light up and I want to grab his hand and push away the sun, entice the moon into the sky so I can show him Earth. But I don’t have a scope. I don't have the courage to reach for his hand.
 “It’s a perfect round thing floating in a universe of darkness. When you've heard all your life that it doesn't exist, that it isn't real, seeing it for the first time shatters everything else. Everything you thought you knew is a lie.”
“Seeing it in the sky for barely a heartbeat is all you need. Nothing else matters, you know?”
My question echoes in awkward silence. I finger the hem of my shirt and when I meet his eyes, he's staring at me with an expression I can't place. His eyes are a mixture of dark and light and I can't bring myself to look away.
Heat creeps up my cheeks. With a jolt, I realize I'm sitting alone in a room, too close to a boy.
“What?” My voice is barely a whisper.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head. His voice is even softer, close to my whisper. Despite his answer, I can see the words waiting to be said.
“It’s so many millions of miles away”—he pauses and searches my face—“and look what it’s done to you.”
He's right. I can feel it, like a beacon of light inside me, spreading all the way to the tips of my fingers. Even before I saw the Earth, I felt it.
Only Earth could do that to me. At least, that’s what I thought when I saw it that night. But when he looks at me, I think… I think I feel it too. When he speaks, he seems to understand. I’ve been isolated for seventeen years, knowing no one but Father, who knew me all my life, who never truly understood me. Julian has known me for less than a day and he knows. I'm a person in his eyes. Not a shadow who became a criminal’s daughter.
Giveaway
Details:
1st place: a signed paperback copy of UNBREATHABLE (US)
2nd place: an e-book of UNBREATHABLE (INT)
3rd place: an UNBREATHABLE swag pack (US)

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW: 



a Rafflecopter giveaway




Oh boy!!! This one is on my to-read-REALLY-soon list, and I can't wait to start it! :D

What about you?
What do you think about Unbreathable?
And did you love that excerpt, too?!

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Wednesday, 16 October 2013

The Thrill of It by Lauren Blakely #CoverReveal & #Giveaway!!!

Are you ready for Lauren Blakely's THE THRILL OF IT cover reveal? Well, we have it for you! This sexy New Adult Contemporary Romance will let you see Lauren Blakely as you have never seen her before! Today, we're revealing the beautiful cover for THE THRILL OF IT!


Isn't it amazing? Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations did a great job on it! 

And right now, you can pre-order THE THRILL OF IT at a promotional price of $2.99. This price will go up to $3.99 on its release day, November 21st! You can pre-order it HERE!

See below for all of the information regarding THE THRILL OF IT and Lauren Blakely! And then keep going because we have an awesome giveaway for you!

Here's the full jacket of the cover! Isn't it gorgeous??



ABOUT THE THRILL OF IT:
A new adult story of Love. Sex. Addiction. Blackmail. And Power...

Some say love can be an addiction. Others say it's the thing that
makes life worth living. Let me tell you everything I know about
love...Love isn't patient, love isn't kind. Love is a game, a chase. A
thrill. Love is wild and war-like, and every man and woman must fight
for themselves. At least that's how it was for me. A high-priced
virgin call girl by the time I started college, I was addicted to love
and to sex. Even though I've never had either. I controlled love,
played it, and held the world in the palm of my hands. Then I fell
down from those highs, and I'm being blackmailed for all my mistakes,
forced to keep secrets from everyone, except the only guy I don't
regret.

Trey...

With all the other women, I knew what they were. They were temporary.
They were pills, they were bottles, they took away all the pain, and
numbed the awful memories that wore down my ragged, wasted heart.
Until I met Harley. She's the only girl I ever missed when she walked
away. But now she's back in my life, every day, and there are no
guarantees for us, especially since I don't know how to tell her my
secrets. What happened to my family. All I know is she's the closest
I've ever come to something real, and I want to feel every second of
it.

How can you love with no regrets when regret is all you know?

ABOUT LAUREN BLAKELY:
Lauren Blakely writes sexy contemporary romance novels with heat, heart, and humor, and her books have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks bestseller lists. Like the heroine in FAR TOO TEMPTING, she thinks life should be filled with family, laughter, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband, children, and dogs. Her novels include Caught Up In Us, Pretending He’s Mine, Playing With Her Heart, and Trophy Husband. She also writes for young adults under the name Daisy Whitney.

Pre-Order Links: AMAZON
Links: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | THE THRILL OF IT Goodreads | Lauren Blakely Goodreads

Don't forget to enter to win one of three signed copies of The Thrill of It!

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:



I absolutely LOVE this cover!!! It's gorgeous, and I absolutely love the black and white with the colourful title...plus that little bit of white for contrast is stunning! I also love the heart with an arrow as the "o" in "of", just such a neat element! I also just can't wait to read The Thrill of It! It sounds amazing!!! :D

What about you?
What do you think of the cover?
And are you excited to read The Thrill of It?

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Friday, 11 October 2013

Blog Tour Review: Let It Be Me by Toni Aleo


Title: Let it be Me
Author: Toni Aleo
Published: 10/2/2013
Published by: Toni Aleo
Source: ARC received to participate in 
the blog tour and give an honest review.

Book Blurb:
Do you see that woman there?
The one with long, wavy blond hair and blue eyes that used to sparkle?
That’s me, Violet Moore.
Do you see those men over there?
One is my husband, Rob.
A man who claimed he loved me, but proved his fist loved me more.
The other is Tucker McCloud, my savior and confidant.
I'm torn between what's right and my own fear.
But not anymore.
I’m taking my life back now.
I will fight back.
I will be happy.
Book Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Author Bio:

Toni Aleo is the author of the Nasvhille Assassins series: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Empty Net,Falling for the Backup, & Blue Lines.
When not rooting for her beloved Nashville Predators, she’s going to her husband’s and son’s hockey games and her daughter’s dance competitions, or reading the latest romance novel

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

REVIEW

Let It Be Me was so different from Toni Aleo's Assassins series, but I still really enjoyed it. :) I liked the characters, the story, and really admired Toni's efforts as she tried new things in this book. The style was extremely different, and I especially enjoyed the occasional conversational tone that the narrator picked up. I'm trying to avoid spoilers in this review, but since the blurb kind of tells a lot of what happens in a general sense anyway, I think anything I'm talking about isn't a spoiler anyway, and hopefully you all will agree. :)

 The main character of Let It Be Me, Violet, seemed so fragile at times, but I really liked seeing her get stronger and start to realize that she didn't have to take, nor did she deserve, her husband's abuse. I wasn't a fan of her husband...but we really aren't supposed to be, and I was so glad to see Violet find the strength to stand up to him. She had a lot of moments where she went back to him and was so afraid, but it felt so realistic and authentic, that while I wanted Violet out of there, I knew that her inner struggles were something that a lot of women really do struggle with. I thought that Toni Aleo did an amazing job with the abuse aspect and with Violet's growth and her ultimate decision to get away from her situation. I also loved that she included support groups and real methods that women in Violet's situation use.

Then there was Tucker...holy cow! I definitely understood Violet's attraction to Dr. Tucker, and I really enjoyed their banter and seeing them get to know one another. It did feel like their relationship moved really fast because we didn't get to see all of their conversations, but I did still see the chemistry between them, and I loved seeing Violet realize through Tucker that she was worth loving and that she didn't need to be treated the way that her husband Rob treated her.

 Overall, I really enjoyed Let It Be Me. The story was fast-paced and felt very realistic. I love Toni Aleo's Assassin series, but it was great to see her branch out, and I look forward to reading more of her books as she tries out new things with her writing!

GIVEAWAY

3 ebooks and 2 signed books of Let it be Me

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


What do you think?
Does Let It Be Me sound like something you would like to read?

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