Blood of a Red Rose Blog Tour!!

It's tour time everybody and today I'm lucky enough to be the first stop along Tish Thawer's blog tour for her upcoming release of Blood of a Red Rose in her exciting Rose Trilogy. So be sure to check out all the stops after this one on the tour because it's sure shaped up to a be a great number of fun and interesting BLOGS! And now for my review....

As soon as I finished Thawer's series opener, Scent of a White Rose, I couldn't wait until I would get the chance to check out the second installment in her trilogy. After meeting her wonderful characters and being introduced to this unique and interesting world Thawer created, I had to know what would happen to them next. Secrets were revealed, surprises and shocking twists were thrown at readers at all possible times, and this novel was definitely not lacking in suspense.

I was also relieved and excited to find that Thawer's gift for fast paced writing and flowing dialogue continued on in her second installment. I literally flew through this title, finding myself finishing it all in one day! It was addicting and I think readers will find themselves hooked and unable to close their books until the last page has been read. And what a last page it was! Some may feel differently but one of my favorite aspects of Thawer's writing and this series in general is that she varies her narrators. I love getting the chance to hear from each of the main character's points of view. Readers get a full compass of everything that's going on and how each character feels and views the goings on around them. It makes me feel like nothing is left out and nothing is held back.

The various narrators also keeps things exciting in my opinion. There's never a dull moment because even when the action slows down at points, it's at these moments where Thawer lets her readers get a glimpse into how her characters are reflecting on everything that's happening. I found myself just as anxious to read how certain people were feeling as well as finding out what would happen next. Thawer is definitely not one to leave her readers complacent and comfortable. She throws wrenches into her characters' well thought out plans left and right. There is no lull in the action and at times I could attempt to tamper down my frustration at all these characters were going through. It was exciting to say the least.

Now that Thawer has left her readers with another doozy of a cliffhanger to wrap this second installment up with, I'm once again craving the next book. Not sure when readers will be able to plan on seeing the third and final installment hit the shelves in this exciting series, but you can be sure that as soon as I find out the countdown will begin and I can't wait! Be sure to pick up your copies of this installment when it hits bookstores' shelves, tomorrow, May 8th!

I gave Blood of a Red Rose (The Rose Trilogy, #2) 3 shamrocks!!!

Scent of a White Rose Blog Tour and Treasure Hunt

A little while back I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with author Tish Thawer and she was kind enough to include me as a stop on her Scent of a White Rose blog tour! So today I have a special treat for you guys....and interview with Tish (awesome right?), a chance to enter yourselves in her treasure hunt, and a review of Scent of a White Rose. If you haven't picked up this book yet I strongly suggest you get on it!

If you're not super familiar with Tish, here's a little background before we start the interview...

Before becoming a writer I worked as a computer consultant, a photographer, and a graphic designer. I also operate a custom glass etching business, in addition to being a wife and mother of 3 wonderful children.

I've been a fan of the paranormal for as long as I can remember. Anything to do with superpowers, myth and magic has always held a special place in my heart. From my first paranormal cartoon, Isis, to the phenomenon that is Twilight, this genre has always been a part of my life. Thanks for joining me on this magical journey.

A common FAQ: "How do you pronounce your last name?"
Answer: Think "Bower" or "Thow-er". It's Persian!

Now let's get to the good stuff....on with the interview!

Katelyn: The paranormal genre has always been pretty popular and lately any book with vampires and werewolves seems to be flying off the shelves. How did you make yours different from the other vampire books out there? What drew you to write about them?

Tish: The first thing that sets my vampires apart is that they experience drifting. Drifting is the action of a vampire's appearance changing from light to dark in correspondence with their impulses and emotions. Also, my vampires are not inherently bad or evil. And, the third thing that sets my vampires apart is that the sire's are the only ones who can create or kill other vampires.

Katelyn: I know from personal experience that when I start to read a book, attachments to certain characters inevitably follow. Do you have a favorite or two among your cast of characters? If so, can you tell us who and what it is about them specifically that made the decision for you?

Tish: This is such a hard question for me because I have definitely developed a connection with quite a few of my characters. But to pick my favorite two...I would say Christian and Evangeline.

Christian because he's loyal, heroic, sensitive, and sexy.

Evangeline because she's motherly, caring, strong, and fierce when she needs to be.

Katelyn: Favorite author/book?

Tish: Again with the hard questions. I would say that one of my favorite author's is Gena Showalter. And as of this past year, my favorite book was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

Katelyn: With your second book in the trilogy, Blood of a Red Rose coming out in May, can you tell us a little bit about it? Any juicy details you want to give us? :)

Tish: Oh my! Well, let's just say that Rose is faced with some heavy decisions that she doesn't handle very well. And Christian struggles to understand some of her actions. Evangeline starts the hunt for the woman who infected Terrance and let's just say - that woman becomes a major pain in the ass in book two.

Katelyn: Are you working on any other books at the moment? Can we expect another new series after you've finished with the Rose trilogy? ( I hope so!)

Tish: Actually yes! I'm just finishing up Rose and Christian's short story - Rose & Thorns. It will be released March 6th in eBook format only. After that will come the Ovialell Trilogy and then the Towers of the Mist series. You can find more details about each of those on my blog under the "Coming Soon" tab.

Katelyn: And finally, just for fun....if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and what three things would you bring along with you?

Tish: I would go see Stonehenge and then travel to Ireland. I would bring: my family, my laptop, and my cell phone. (Yes, I'm dependent on technology, but I would make the hubby pack the essentials like clothes and money.)

Katelyn: Tish, thank you so much again for stopping by and answering a few questions for us. I can only say how much I enjoyed the first installment in your Rose trilogy and look forward to the upcoming installments and future work from you!

Treasure Hunt

So before we get to my review...Tish has come up with a fun treasure hunt for everyone to participate in. On each blog stop there will be a graphic of a smoking white rose. You'll need to find the white roses and take note of how many you find and where you are at the time. Click on the smoking white rose image and to link to Tish's page. Once you're there, leave her a comment and tell her how many white roses you found and where you found them. (i.e. "Today I found three smoking roses at The Book Addict.")

This comment will qualify you for the giveaway...and trust me, you want a chance to win this fantastic giveaway Tish is hosting!

On January 28th Tish will be posting a questionnaire at her blog. The first person to answer all the questions correctly, and has already qualified by finding all the roses wins!

So here's my graphic:

Thanks again to Tish for including me on your tour, and to all the readers who stopped by today. Take a look below for my review of Scent of a White Rose and like I said before, do yourselves a favor and pick a copy up for yourselves today!

Review: Scent of a White Rose (The Rose Trilogy, #1) by Tish Thawer

A vampire's love...

An innocent's guilt...

A secret no one could've imagined...

A paranormal romance that entices with a heroine that isn't quite what she seems, a vampire whose love story is filled with dark surprises, and a vampire clan whose Sire has lost the ability to inflict "the change".

~ ROSE ~
I'm Rose Reynolds. I have recently lost my Mom in a "freak accident".
Now everyone sees me as an innocent girl.... a “white Rose”.
But I have a secret that no one can imagine.
I'm not as innocent as everyone thinks…

~ CHRISTIAN ~
I'm Christian and I’m in love with Rose. I also have a secret as old as time.
I’m a vampire.
No, she doesn’t know…yet.
But when our new Sire is revealed, I'll petition them to change her.
Because truly, I can't live without her...

Here was yet another book that took me by surprise. It's been happening a lot lately and I couldn't be more excited about that fact. It's looking like 2012 will be chalk full of fantastic reads. Usually I read a synopsis and have already made judgements, we all do it and it's almost unavoidable no matter how hard we try to go into each and every read with an open mind. I'm not sure why, but although I thought this book sounded entertaining and it definitely piqued my interest, I'm not sure I was expecting to like it as much as I did. Thawer's writing keeps a steady pace that I personally enjoyed, and her characters have you relating to them as if they were your friends. She gave me background and got me involved but didn't let that slow down her plot in my opinion.

While Rose became a character I was rooting for, I'll admit to liking Christian and his "family" much more. Their stories and history were exciting and touching all at the same time. I would have liked more details into each of his "family" members but I'm optimistic that with this being the first book, the later installments will provide the information I'm looking for. And in the meantime I've found myself invested in their futures, so to speak. Thawer managed what I thought was an impossible feat. She was able to put yet another new spin on the age old vampire tale. With so many different vampire young adult books on the shelves these days I'm not sure where the creativity stems from, but her world was definitely not one I'd call a carbon copy of the others I've read and become familiar with. She made it her own and in turn made me an instant fan.

Rose and Christian and all their friends and family are faced with a unique situation that had me tense, anxious, and gripping my seat until the very last page. I'll admit that while the ending wasn't entirely predictable, I was hoping for one that was slightly different. She left her readers with a cliffhanger of course, what else would she do with two more books in the trilogy scheduled to come out, but my nerves and the romantic side of me was still crossing my fingers that a few of the loose ends would have been tied up. Oh well, I'm the reader, not the author so I'll just have to wait until the second installment, Blood of a Red Rose comes out in May 2012. That makes for a long countdown but I'm hoping a few teasers might come out in the meantime to keep my nerves in check.

I gave Scent of a White Rose 4 shamrocks!!!

Countdown: New Series (2)

Since I managed to find so many great new reads the other day while I was exploring and searching for new authors, new titles and most especially new series....I couldn't fit them all onto one list without a doubt. So I'm back with another batch of great new books that I'm too excited to get the chance to read and hopefully will find myself falling in love with a few more series that I can follow for a good time to come. As always, if you've got any titles or authors that have caught your eye and you haven't seen me mention them here I'd love to hear about them. I can't even count how many of your recommendations have been the reason I've added to my collection and I'm always grateful for the points in the right direction.

Countdown Pick #1: Incarnate (New Soul, #1) by Jodi Meadows (1/31/2012)

NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

This is one that I just came upon but wish it was already out on the shelves. I would have downloaded it to my kindle instantly to start reading it if I could have. The idea of reincarnation is not one I ponder very often, but Meadows has me enthralled. What would it be like to be like one of these characters knowing that you'll always come back (with all your previous memories no less) and be able to reunite with previous family members and people you loved? Like I said...I'm enthralled.

Countdown Pick #2: Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, #1) by Jessica Spotswood (2/7/2012)

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

I love anything witch related lately. I'm thinking 2012 will be their year in books. And Spotswood's tale seems like one I could really dig in to. I'm curious to learn more about the sisterhood the synopsis refers to, not to mention this deep, dark, family secret. As if a family of witches wouldn't be a big enough secret. So Spotswood has me intrigued and I'm so glad that she has more installments in the works, because if this series opener is as good as it sounds, I'm going to want more.

Countdown Pick #3: Hemlock (Hemlock, #1) by Kathleen Peacock (2012)

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Lupine syndrome...now there's one I've never heard before. HarperCollins is teasing readers with buzzwords like spellbinding, and questions revolving around love and lies, etc... It's totally working for me. I'm eager to see how the main character Mac treks her way through murder, nightmares, werewolves and violence. I so don't envy the girl her predicament. Author Kimberly Derting said she was, "biting [her] nails with anticipation." That's a good enough endorsement for me.
Countdown Pick #4: Scent of a White Rose (The Rose Trilogy, #1) by Tish Thawer (1/10/2012)

A vampire's love...

An innocent's guilt...

A secret no one could've imagined...

A YA paranormal romance that entices with a heroine that isn't quite what she seems, a vampire whose love story is filled with dark surprises, and a vampire clan whose Sire has lost the ability to inflict "the change".

~ ROSE ~
I'm Rose Reynolds. I have recently lost my Mom in a "freak accident".
Now everyone sees me as an innocent girl.... a “white Rose”.
But I have a secret that no one can imagine.
I'm not as innocent as everyone thinks…

~ CHRISTIAN ~
I'm Christian and I’m in love with Rose. I also have a secret as old as time.
I’m a vampire.
No, she doesn’t know…yet.
But when our new Sire is revealed, I'll petition them to change her.
Because truly, I can't live without her...

I'm wondering what Rose will think about Christian's vampire revelation? Is it that easy for vampires in Thawer's world to change people over? Do those people get a say in it? I'm also wondering what Rose's secret is? Did she kill her mother? Lots of questions rolling around in my head over this series. I'll be on the lookout for this title in 2012 and hopefully Thawer will provide me with a lot of answers.

Countdown Pick #5: Halflings (Halflings, #1) by Heather Burch (January 2012)

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

Give me a story involving angels (or at least I think it's about angels) and I'm on the band wagon. With no real concrete details about what kind of trouble our heroine is in or why she's the focal point for such malice, my imagination is running away from me. But the girl gets three gorgeous, hulking me to protect and look out for her! A little danger might be worth their company, you just never know. It looks like January might turn out to be a busy month of reading for this girl.