RELEASE DAY: The 19 Dragons by S.M. Reine

The 19 Dragons on Goodreads.

       Blurb: 

There are nineteen provinces in the Land held aloft by nineteen pillars. Above the earth there is sky, and nobody knows what goes below except the Nineteen Dragons.

That is all you need to know, but that is not all there is to be known.

The Device has been stolen and the godlike Dragons have been rendered mortal. Someone is murdering them one by one, and each death brings the world closer to its end. Unless the the Device is somehow restored to its deceased owner, the Dragons are doomed to destruction-- and the human world will go with them.

        Where you can get a copy: 

              Barnes and Noble (Nook) / Amazon (Kindle)

And...it's only $0.99!

I haven't finished reading The 19 Dragons yet, but I have started it, and I must say, it's pretty interesting! :D

Will you be buying a copy?

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Review: Forever (Wolves of Mercy Fall #3) by Maggie Steifvater

Source: Received an ARC from Scholastic Canada for an honest review.

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: July 12, 2011
Number of Pages: 386 (Hardcover)

(Goodreads Link.)

Blurb from Goodreads:


The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater
In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

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Goodreads links to the other two books in The Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy:
Shiver (#1), and Linger (#2)

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I first started the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy a few years ago. I came across Shiver in the bookstore, and I absolutely loved the cover (I'm a real sucker for shiny stuff haha) and the description on the back. To this day, I am so glad that I picked up Shiver, and I will continue to encourage people to read this series. It's fantastic!

The whole story within this trilogy is definitely one of a kind, and it's one that I think even readers who don't really like paranormal stories would enjoy. It's the kind of story that actually helps you try to understand what goes on to the people who become "supernatural" and doesn't just tell you that's how it is, and you need to get over the fact that you just will never know why. I absolutely love that there's some science mixed in with the whole paranormal aspect. I found it refreshing, and honestly, it kind of made me want to learn. :P

Back when I started reading this series, I immediately fell in love with Maggie's writing, and the world she created. I loved the crazy way that the chapters in Shiver were organized with temperatures and months and all those goodies, and I have absolutely loved reading about Sam, Grace, Mercy Falls, the wolves, and all of the other fabulous things that make this trilogy so amazing *cough*COLE*cough*. Maggie writes amazing characters, and the emotion that she puts into their thoughts and narratives is genius. Plus, Sam and Grace's whole relationship was amazing. Their love is so genuine, constant, and it can seriously withstand anything...plus, how could Grace not have fallen for Sam, he's written songs about her. ;) I also absolutely love the chapters when you get to be inside of one of the character's heads while they're a wolf. She's given the wolves such unique thoughts, and the way that they process and think about things has continued to astound me. I also love the way they exchange thoughts between their pack. They throw around images to each other, which is just so interesting...it also makes me curious about real wolves.

I am of course, a little sad that the series is over, but I feel that Maggie has ended this series on a note of hope, and it left me satisfied...curious, but definitely satisfied. I also loved her Author's note at the end of the book, it was so heart-warming, and I will definitely admit it had me tearing up. I cried while reading the book too, just in case anyone is curious. :P I also laughed, and smiled on countless occasions. One of the things I love about this series is that in each book you get more and more narrators. In Shiver, you have Grace and Sam. Then in Linger, you get Grace, Sam, Isabel, and Cole. And in Forever, you get Grace, Sam, Cole, Isabel, and even Shelby in the prologue. I remember reading Linger and being all..."What? new people!", but honestly, I absolutely love Cole now...I'm kind of a Cole fangirl, but I totally still love me some Sam. They're so different that you can honestly love them both. :P

In Forever, so much stuff happens. The timeline of the book isn't actually very long, but it's packed with tonnes of stuff. You get to see the characters in completely different places than they were in the last two books, and you get to see how the series ends...who doesn't love that?! The Wolves of Mercy Falls is an amazing series, and it's one that I want encourage everyone to start because I really think you'll love it! This is a series you can connect with while reading, and you will find it hard to walk away from these books without feeling something for these characters. If you by some chance don't love it, then that's fine too, after all, not all books are for everybody!

In case you couldn't tell from my review, I loved Forever, and while I'm sad the series is over, I'm happy for the characters and the ending definitely left me satisfied. :)

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Have YOU started the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy yet?
Are you anxious for Forever's release???

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Guest Post: McCarty Griffin and GIVEAWAY! (Closed)

Having your book reviewed is a scary thing. I doubt any writer would disagree with that statement. The first time I submitted one of my books for review, which was only a short handful of months ago, I was so nervous, my stomach hurt. When I received the email notice that the reviewer had posted his review, I immediately clicked off my email and went to do something else. That notice danced around the edge of my mind for a few hours before I gathered my courage enough to go back to my email and read it again. A review. Someone posted a review of my book. My book. Click. Off went the email again. I went another whole day before I found the courage to actually go read the review. If I’d been a nail-chewer, I might have lost the tips of all my fingers to the first joint.

So, with great trepidation, I read the review. Oh, the relief! He liked my book! No, he loved my book! Thank God, my first review over and it wasn’t so bad. The anticipation had been so much worse than the actual thing, as many things in life tend to be.


Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who can accept the good things in life without reservations. I’m actually more the kind who realizes I’m not worried about anything in particular at that moment and then immediately wonders what I’m missing that I should be worrying about. And so, even after the joy of that first positive review, I dreaded submitting my books for review, because I knew it was simply a matter of time before that first bad review slammed into my ego like a punch to the stomach. Logically, I realized not everyone could love what I wrote, but naturally I still couldn’t bear to think that anyone wouldn’t. My books are like my children, carefully created and nurtured into maturity, then launched into the world where they have to stand or fall on their own merit.

Finally, it happened. My first negative review. I reacted every bit as badly as I had always thought I would. I cursed, I paced the floor, I ranted at my cats, who all stared back at me as if certain I had lost my mind. My young dog, Roxie, ran to get her ball, having misinterpreted my arm-waving and shouting as a desire to play fetch with her. I read and re-read the criticisms, and answered the reviewer back for every one of them, and generally had a full-on tantrum. Thankfully, I did this all in the privacy of my office, where only I and my cats and dog heard my ravings. After I had vented, I emailed the reviewer and thanked him for his time and effort, deleted the link to his blog with a vicious stab of my finger on the mouse key, and then tried to put his words out of my mind. Eventually, distracted by life and work and other, not-so-bad reviews, I managed to move on from my crushed ego and hurt feelings. I can even admit now that getting a bad review was probably good for me. Really.



I took at least one good thing away from the experience: I’m not afraid of reviews anymore. I feel no urgency at all--well, maybe not quite as much urgency--about reading every new review that comes out. I’ve even missed a few altogether. I’ve come to accept with at least a modicum of decorum that not everyone will like my writing; some may even hate it. That’s just a fact of life on a planet filled with billions of other human beings with their own likes and dislikes. I knew that before, intellectually. The difference is that now, I know I can live with it.

Goodreads:

Half-Inch

Monster Story

The Tribe

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GIVEAWAY TIME!

This giveaway is going to be nice and simple. To fill out the form all you're gonna have to do is put in your name and email, and then select your top 2 choices out of McCarty Griffin's 3 books!

Details:

- INTERNATIONAL
- 3 Winners! (Each winner will receive one ebook.)
- You must be 13 or older to enter.
- Following and linking is not required, but is, as always, appreciated. :)
- Giveaway ends on July 18th at 11:59 PM (M.S.T.)
- Winners will be chosen using Random.org, and they will have 48 hours to claim their prizes.

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To enter fill out this FORM.

****THIS GIVEAWAY HAS CLOSED.****

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Thanks for entering!

Good Luck!

And don't forget to leave McCarty Griffin some comments! :D

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Teaser Tuesday (33)

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:

"Jarom drew back the bow and let the arrow fly. It was small but
sleek, and it cut through the air without a sound. The arrow flew
true, striking the man a few inches below his heart. Caught completely
off guard, the thug leader reeled, fell back, and dropped his
flaming club on top of himself in surprise."

- The Last Archangel by Michael Young, p.195

(I just had to give you guys more than the 2 sentences, 4 was just better! :P)

Well that’s a tease of what I’m reading, do you have a teaser to share?

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (34)

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. All title links go to Goodreads. :)

Books I Read Last Week:

-None, I worked lots last week.
When I did read, I only read a little bit at a time, but I'm working on it.
I'm trying to find a nice balance between sleeping and reading on my downtime. :)

Reading Now:

• Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

 I'm actually almost done this one!
I read a bunch last night before going to sleep, and I'm so loving it!
I already can't wait to read Dust and Decay! :D

• The Last Archangel by Michael Young

I've only really read the prologue of this one so far,
but the prologue was good...definitely made me anxious to get into it!

Books I Want to Read This Week:

• The 19 Dragons by S.M. Reine

Sara send me an ecopy of The 19 Dragons,
and I'm excited to start it. It comes out later this week,
so I'd like to get it read before it's release. :D


*I also still want to read
Darkness and Light by J.A. Belfield,
and Little White Lies by Aimee Laine! :D

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