Teaser Tuesday (8) & Contest Time

It's that time again....

"Teaser Tuesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Mizb of Should Be Reading. Anyone can do it, here's how:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.  
4. Share the title and the author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.
   

• 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.)
  

This week I've decided to to be all about Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia so that is of course where my teaser is coming from.

"'I couldn't help but be drawn into your world.  It was too hard to be outside it any longer,' he whispered against my cheek."

I know it's a short teaser this week but that's because I really really really didn't want to give anything away and possibly ruin it for anyone before you've had the chance to read it for yourselves.

So despite me only giving you the tiniest teaser....I've got great news that I hope will totally make up for it!  It's CONTEST time...again!

Jennifer Murgia has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and for many different reasons.  Angel Star....well I'm in love with everything about it, so there's reason number one.  Number two would be that she's by far just a way cool person, super nice, super helpful and way generous with not only her time but with putting up with me of course, lol!  

While meeting her at the book festival this weekend she was kind enough to sign a copy of Angel Star for me to GIVE AWAY on the blog, how great is that?  And was that enough for her....no way, she went ahead and sent me some Angel Star sway to go with the book for the winner of the contest.  Like I said, she's the best!  So the picture below was the best I could do with my limited photography skills, but this is what you'll get if you win:

• 
• A signed copy of Angel Star
• The Angel Star book jacket/flap
• Bookmarks, stickers, a signed book plate and a very special Angel Star feather (cute right?)

So there aren't many rules for this contest, as long as you're a follower and a U.S./Canada resident you're good to go, so fill out the form below, the contest ends May 31st and good luck!

Check back with me this week for my review of Angel Star and my very first author interview, with....you guessed it.....Jennifer Murgia!

So get to the store now and pick up a copy of Angel Star and happy reading!

Gaithersburg Book Festival

Yesterday was the Gaithersburg Book Festival and it was so much fun that I had to share some of the experience with you guys!  It was a day long event and was jam packed with authors, readings, signings, book tents, etc...

I've only been to one book signing before this and although that was a great experience I will say that we were able to cram so much into this day and who wouldn't want that right?  My friend Lyric was good enough to make the trek with me to Gaithersburg... I think she's becoming a closet reading fanatic!  And Jenn from the blog Book Crazy met up with us and we had so much fun going from author to author events together.  If you haven't checked our her blog do so immediately, she's got some great insight regarding books that have hit the shelves and that will in the future, she's very up to date in her YA reads!

Now it did take us a while to find the first booth we were looking for but we finally did and it was so worth the confusion lol!  We got to meet Jennifer Murgia, author of Angel Star and Shelena Shorts, author of The Pace and the upcoming The Broken Lake.  They were fantastic and we were able to get our books signed and have some pictures taken with them.  I was so excited to meet them both and they didn't dissapoint.  The two of them were beyond nice and welcoming and were really excited to do the whole meet and greet with all their fans!

After making our way back from their table we headed over to hear Elizabeth Eulberg, author of The Lonely Hearts Club speak about her book and life in publishing/the process she underwent to becoming a published author.  I am now in the process of reading this book, and I can't say enough about Elizabeth, she was wonderful and such an awesome speaker!

After Elizabeth spoke we made our way over to her table to have our books signed and then we went back to hear Erica S. Perl, author of Vintage Veronica speak.  She took us through her writing process and told us some inside stories of her experience at the Garment District which was her inspiration in writing Vintage Veronica.

All in all it was a great day.  The authors were amazing and so much fun to meet and speak with.  The staff who organized the festival and made it what it was were fantastic and I really hope that they'll be able to make this Festival an annual event, it was great and I would love to keep coming back year after year.

Now I couldn't go to a great event like that and forget about my amazing followers now could I?  Of course not....so to start I was able to get a copy of The Pace signed by Shelena and if you fill out the form below you could be the lucky winner!  This contest is open to US residents only, sorry guys but this time my wallet is calling the shots.  This is not all but it's all I'll share for now, so stay tuned and make sure to keep tabs on the blog throughout the week.  I'm so excited for the next reveal, I can't even begin to tell you!

So fill out the form below, the contest for The Pace will end on May 30th and happy reading as always!  

** I was having problems with the link I had for this form so now I've just put the form below, sorry for the problems!**

Review: Oh. My. Gods. (Oh.My.Gods, #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

When Phoebe's mom returns from Greece with a new husband and plans to move to an island in the Aegean Sea, Phoebe's well-plotted senior year becomes ancient history. Now, instead of enjoying a triumphant track season and planning for college with her best friends, Phoebe is trying to keep her head above water at the uberexclusive Academy. If it isn't hard enough being the new kid in school, Phoebe's classmates are all descendants of the Greek gods! When you're running against teammates with superpowers, dealing with a stepsister from Hades, and nursing a crush on a boy who is quite literally a god, the drama takes on mythic proportions!

Right off the bat I just have to say that this was a fun book to read. I've always been fascinated with Greek and Roman mythology, right from the start in middle school where it was a large part of my history class' curriculum. And not much has changed. I'm still interested in mythology and folklore, but I've expanded my horizons since sixth grade, and my interests now vary and include exploring cultures other than Greek and Roman. But when I came across this book and found it a was another fun spin on Greek mythology I couldn't resist...and I'm glad I didn't. Oh.My.Gods. is book I'm glad I added to my collection.

I've read a lot of great books lately but not many have been light reads. Some were intense and others very dramatic and emotional. This book was not any of those things in my opinion. It was light and I found it easy to fly through the pages. It was extremely fun to read about the main character Phoebe and her struggles to fit in as a "nothos" or a human without any godly blood running through her gene pool. Tera Lynn Childs' spin on a modern day version of a high school that caters to the descendants of the Greek gods was entertaining.

Phoebe dealt with the typical struggles of a normal teenage girl; fitting in at a new high school, close-knit cliques that are very hard to break into, making friends, crushing on cute but unfortunately not so nice boys, and having her single mother marry a complete stranger. While these issues may be ones we've all heard of before or experienced in part for ourselves, the writing and this particular story were not. The writing was clever and witty and was not overloaded with teenage slang, it was funny throughout and often I found myself laughing out loud at parts which is not always the case for me. A chuckle or two can be expected while reading a comedy but some parts in this novel were just downright funny and hard to resist.

If you're looking for a fun read, this might be something for you to pick up. The sequel, Goddess Boot Camp, is out and I'll be downloading it to my Kindle momentarily. I want to find out what happens next with Phoebe and the whole gang. It may not fall into my category of keeping me up late at night because I had to find out what happens next but at the same time that wasn't what I was looking for at the moment. I wanted FUN and I got it in spades with this book.

I gave Oh.My.Gods. (Oh.My.Gods, #1) 3 shamrocks! Lots and lots of fun!

Review: The Fire Opal by Regina McBride

There was a time when Maeve O'Tullagh led a simple life; a time when she and her mother, Nuala, collected kelp on the foreshore near their cottage in Ard Macha; a time when she played among the Celtic ruins with her older brothers and daydreamed about the legendary Holy Isles, an enchanted land ruled in a past age by a beautiful goddess.

But after Maeve's sister, Ishleen, is born, her mother sinks into a deep, impenetrable trance. For years, Maeve tries to help her mother "awaken," and then the unthinkable happens: Ishleen succumbs to the same mysterious ailment as Nuala.

Heartbroken to think that her sister and her mother might be lost to her forever, Maeve sets off on an unimaginable quest to a world filled with fantastical creatures, a web of secrets, a handsome, devious villain who will stop at nothing to have her hand in marriage—braving them all to retrieve a powerful glowing stone that will help her recover the souls of her loved ones and bring them home to Ard Macha.

An adventure-filled and spellbinding novel, The Fire Opal will enchant fantasy readers young and old.

As an Irish girl I will admit to being somewhat biased coming into this book. With scenery like the brilliant Irish landscapes, laid out for readers to picture while experiencing the journey that was The Fire Opal, what can you expect? I was already half in love with the story before finishing the first chapter.

McBride gives her readers magic, mythology/folklore and realism all wrapped up neatly in her debut YA novel. She has made the cross from writing adult fiction to YA fantasy quite seamlessly in my opinion.
Our main character, Maeve O'Tullagh was fierce and brace and built for an adventure. With a will of her own she becomes quite the opponent for the mean spirited (and hateful in my opinion) Tom Cavan. She even proves that she is a worthy adversary for an ancient and foreboding Goddess of days old and long forgotten. Not too shabby for a 19 year old girl.

This is a story that had me wondering about so many things throughout; will Maeve "save the day" so to speak? Will she be able to rescue her mom and sister in time? Will evil really conquer good? The only aspect I was truly disappointed with was the ending. It might just be me but I found it lacking. I would have appreciated more information. At the same time, although it didn't feel like a traditional cliffhanger, maybe McBride is setting up her readers for future works involving these characters? I can only hope and wait and see what McBride has in store for us.

I gave The Fire Opal 3 shamrocks!!!

In My Mailbox (8)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board.

Every week we’ll post about what books we have received (whether they’re bought/borrowed, etc… you get the idea). This is generally done on Sunday, but I’m told that it’s really whatever day works for you; I’m going to be posting mine on Fridays because I tend to post less on the weekends.

Everyone participating will try and visit other lists to comment and possibly pine for the new arrivals everyone’s talking about. I’ve learned that it’s a great idea to really try and stop by at least two or three lists because I’m constantly finding out about new books that I’ve later added to my TBR list.

So this week was slow on the new purchases...mainly because I'm still trying to get through the old ones, but I was lucky enough to be able to get one that I've been waiting on for a while.  

The Fire Opal by Regina McBride

There was a time when Maeve O'Tullagh led a simple life; a time when she and her mother, Nuala, collected kelp on the foreshore near their cottage in Ard Macha; a time when she played among the Celtic ruins with her older brothers and daydreamed about the legendary Holy Isles, an enchanted land ruled in a past age by a beautiful goddess.

But after Maeve's sister, Ishleen, is born, her mother sinks into a deep, impenetrable trance. For years, Maeve tries to help her mother "awaken," and then the unthinkable happens: Ishleen succumbs to the same mysterious ailment as Nuala.

Heartbroken to think that her sister and her mother might be lost to her forever, Maeve sets off on an unimaginable quest to a world filled with fantastical creatures, a web of secrets, a handsome, devious villain who will stop at nothing to have her hand in marriage—braving them all to retrieve a powerful glowing stone that will help her recover the souls of her loved ones and bring them home to Ard Macha.

That was it for my mailbox this week but on a more exciting note, starting Monday I have a really fun week planned for the blog...it's Angel Star themed and there will be a review, (of course) and an interview with the author, Jennifer Murgia.  I'll also have a post about the Gaithersburg Book Festival which takes place tomorrow, Murgia will be there along with a lot of other great authors I'm looking forward to meeting.

And there just might be a new contest that everyone will want to get in on...because you guys know I don't like to go to a book signing and not share the love with you guys....so stay tuned next week for some great fun!

It's Friday and you know by now what that means....it's Book Blogger Hop time! I can't tell you how many great blogs I've come across and started following week after week thanks to Jennifer's weekly meme that gives everyone a chance to get their blog noticed...so head on over to Crazy-for-Books and let me know what you find.

Just another reminder...don't forget to enter the contest for your chance to win one of four great books! Just click on the contest tab at the top of the page and you'll find the link, contest ends May 21st.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Anything Alyson Noel and the Immortals series' fans out there?  Well if you click here you can have some fun and get a chance to discover your own aura with St. Martin's Press' new aura finding application.  It's pretty cool if you ask me?

Want to be in the next House of Night novel as one of the characters?  Click here for your chance to win their character contest!  And who's not excited about the October 25, 2010 release of The Fledging Handbook 101????  That's right, check out the cover...how cool does that sound?  An inside look at what the students at the House of Night get to read, I say that's very cool.

And if you haven't read Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon you can start with an excerpt here and after that I'm sure you'll be just as excited to start reading this one as I am.

More updates to come as I come across them, hope your Thursday's already flying by...it's almost Friday!

Happy Reading as always!

***Update***

Check out the 6th teaser trailer for Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead here...can you believe we're at the 1 week countdown...oh so exciting!

Review: Wereling (Wereling, #1) by Steve Feasey

Fourteen-year-old Trey Laporte is not a kid anymore. Not after the day he wakes up in agony—retina-splitting, vomit-inducing agony. His clothes are torn. His room is trashed.

Enter Lucien Charron, the mysterious, long-lost “uncle” with freakish fire-flecked eyes and skin that blisters in the sun. Suddenly, Trey finds himself living in a luxury penthouse at the heart of a strange and sinister empire built on the powers of the Netherworld—vampires, demons, sorcerers, and djinn.

And there is a girl—Alexa Charron—who is half vampire, half human, and insanely pretty, with powers all of her own. Trey is falling for her.

Trey is training night and day to control the newly discovered power lurking inside him. Now, demons are closing in on every side, and the most psychopathic bloodsucker to rock the Netherworld wants to destroy him. Above all, he must face one terrifying question:
Is he a boy . . . or is he a beast?

Right from the start I have to say that above all else, reading Wereling has reminded me that trying something different often times ends up being a fantastic idea! Reading a male point of view is not something I'm used to, nor do I usually seek it out. I'm not quite sure why I picked this book up, I know it wasn't the cover (that kind of scared me) but whatever the reason, I'm just glad that I did.

It was a nice change of pace for me and a good break in routine from what I normally read. Feasey's writing is quick and gripping. He sets a break neck pace from start to finish and had me stressed out through most of it...but in a good way. It was suspenseful and addicting.

With characters like Trey, Lucien, Alexa and Tom, I never knew what to expect but enjoyed myself the whole way through. It was a great cast of characters and they were incredibly entertaining the entire way through. I found myself easily relating to each of them and felt concern and empathy for them as they went through their struggles within the novel. But along with the suspense and anxiety, Feasey managed to throw in a good bit of humor and kept things light when I found myself needing a short break from all the stress.
I did however find that I needed to know what would happen to Trey and how he would handle all of these new revelations that were being thrown his way. I wanted to learn more about Lucien and whether his intentions were good or not, how dark was his past really? Is Tom as easy going as he seems, and how can he possibly survive with everything that's going on around him? And of course I wanted to know if anything would develop between Trey and Alexa beyond a platonic friendship...this might not be a romance but in some ways I'll never change, I'm always a sucker for a little bit of young love!

Feasey kept me on the edge with these questions in my head and although some were answered by the end of the novel I found the my list continued to grow. I've always loved a series as opposed to a stand alone novel because I hate to say goodbye to the characters that I grow so attached to, and Feasey has not disappointed me. I think I have a very good chance to see Trey and this bunch more in the future and can't wait to reunite with them.

I gave Wereling (Wereling, #1) 4 shamrocks!!!!

**Author Interview Coming Soon**