SUMMER GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP----Aug 1-7th

Summer Giveaway Hop 

Thanks to Inspired Kathy at http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop_17.html
and Mary at http://www.maryinhb.blogspot.com/
for co-hosting this hop.

Winners will be chosen by Random.org.
Contest will be open internationally.  I will be giving away a $10 Amazon/Barnes and Noble

 Gift card or I'll let you chose a book from Book Depository up to $10 and as long as they ship free to you, you can enter. Just make sure they ship to you. If not sure,  check here.

I love to win Gift Cards and these are the simplest and the best as far as I'm concerned.
For every 50 brand new followers, I'll give away another $10 Gift card or book from Book Depository. Hope you'll take the time to look around, make a comment or two and offer any suggestions. 
(Going to use Rafflecopter for the first time, if you entered earlier before it was functioning correctly, I will use the comments as your entries or should it quit working I'll use the comments. Bare with me as I'm not real sure what it's going to do. )

What one thing did you NOT do this summer you wish you had taken the time to do?

I am number 42 and Logan E. Turner (Intl) is in front of me and Backseat Reader is behind me. Click here for the full list of participating bloggers on the hop. This is a great way to meet more bloggers, win books, gift cards and more!

Giveaway Details from the Grandbuns!

 --MUST ANSWER QUESTION

---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ON EACH COMMENT SO

I HAVE A WAY TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE A WINNER PLUS YOUR GFC handle!

EXTRA ENTRIES
---FOLLOW ON GOGGLE FRIEND CONNECT 

---COMMENT ON UP TO 5 POSTS FOR EXTRA ENTRY

All comments left from start of hop till end will count as entry as long as you leave email and GFC handle.

--MAY ALSO TWEET OR POST TO FACEBOOK FOR EXTRA ENTRY.

Be sure and leave link in a comment.

--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE 

TO COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY! 
Maximum of 6 entries! 









This contest runs till Aug 7th at 12 PM EST.
Be sure and check out my THE EYES HAVE IT contest .
You can watch for these covers and come back later to fill out the form. This one is open till Aug 10.

The Qwillery: Interview with Justin Gustainis and Giveaway - Jul...

The Qwillery: Interview with Justin Gustainis and Giveaway - Jul...: "Please welcome Justin Gustainis to The Qwillery. TQ : What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk? Justin : I have a har..."

Bumps In The Road: 100 Follower Giveaway

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Fangtastic Books: Guest Blog and Giveaway with Stephanie Rowe

Fangtastic Books: Guest Blog and Giveaway with Stephanie Rowe

All Things Urban Fantasy: Hot Off the Press: 82 new paranormal releases for ...

All Things Urban Fantasy: Hot Off the Press: 82 new paranormal releases for ...: "It’s the last Friday of the month which means it’s time to check out what we’re going to be reading next month in: [Snippet from a c..."

ROOTS IN MYTH: TANTALIZE: KIEREN'S STORY Graphic Novel by Cynthia...

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ROOTS IN MYTH: LEGEND by Marie Lu GIVEAWAY!

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Book Faery: 1200 (GFC) Followers Giveaway Contest!

Book Faery: 1200 (GFC) Followers Giveaway Contest!

Book Review: Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James

Summary:

Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She's done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.

Even more unlikely, Katherine's new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn’t want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice's enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice's private circle.

But Alice has secrets, too—darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson—only a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive.

My thoughts:

You can tell right away that something horrible must have happened to Katherine for her to try to erase her past like this, but I would never have guessed just how bad it was. This book surprised me over and over again, because even when the chapters written from the future (or present I guess, if everything else happened in the past) gave away some things, we never knew when or how those things would happen.

Katherine is such a great main character. She's not perfect, she doesn't always know what to do, and she has some serious issues that she needs to deal with. It amazed me how someone can go through a life changing event like that and still be so naive afterwards, but it did make Katherine a more likable person. The other characters, and especially Alice, are all very well described. After finishing Beautiful Malice I felt like I knew every one of them personally, and I could not stop thinking about the plot for days and days after.

One of my favorite things about Beautiful Malice is that I knew something bad has happened, and I knew there was more bad things to come, and yet I couldn't stop reading. I cried out of frustration, happiness, anger and heartbreaking sadness, I cursed certain characters out loud more than once while cheering others on, yet ultimately the story came to it's own end. It was not the ending I wanted, but it was the only one that fit.

The cover:

The eye on the cover totally creeps me out, which I guess matches the book pretty well.

My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:

Bookworming in the 21st Century
Wondrous Reads

Want to know more?

Add Beautiful Malice to your Goodreads wishlist

Visit Rebecca James' website

Read Rebecca James' blog

Follow Rebecca James on Twitter

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James

Published: July 13th 2010

Pages (hardcover): 272

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN: 0553808052 (ISBN13: 9780553808056)

Full disclosure: Checked out at my local library

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I am not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to about 100 countries.

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter - Waiting on Wednesday

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter. Release date: September 27th 2011. Published by: Orbit.

Why am I pining for Blood Rights?

I fell in love with the cover(I honestly don't know how anyone can resist it) and then I read the summary and it intrigued me. A special race of humans breed to feed vampires and a hookup between one of them and a outcast vampire, sounds like the receipt for a great paranormal romance for adults! 

Synopsis(borrowed from the Goodreads):

The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers. 

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. 

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

Want to know more?

Add Blood Rights to your Goodreads shelf

Visit Kirsten Painter's homepage

Read Kirsten's blog

Follow Kirsten on Twitter

What are you waiting for this week?

"Waiting On" Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Please visit Jill's blog to find out what other book bloggers are waiting for.

AKA

Bitten by Books � Release Party Chat and Contest with-----

Author Jennifer Estep Release Party and $40.00 Amazon Gift Card Contest 7/26 - RSVP Here

Gwen Frost is a 17-year-old Gypsy girl with the gift of psy­chom­e­try — or the abil­ity to know an object’s his­tory just by touch­ing it. Gwen can see every­one who’s ever touched an object — and she can feel their emo­tions too, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Gwen uses her magic to track down objects that other kids have lost like cell phones, wal­lets, and purses — for a price.

After a seri­ous freak­out with her magic and her mom’s death, Gwen gets shipped off to Mythos Acad­emy, a school for the rich, priv­i­leged descen­dants of ancient war­riors like Spar­tans, Ama­zons, Valkyries, and more. Gwen doesn’t know one end of the sword from the other, and she doesn’t fit in with the other kids. But when Jas­mine Ash­ton, the most pop­u­lar girl in school is mur­dered, and Gwen her­self is attacked, Gwen decides to use her Gypsy gift to fig­ure out who killed the other girl and why — and finds her­self learn­ing some secrets that just might kill her …







 Author Christine Cody Release Party and $150.00 Contest 7/26 - RSVP Here!

WooHoo! Ride Em Cowboy! Vampire Wild West!

At first they called it the New Badlands—a desolate area out West forged by the same events that altered the entire country. A place where a few scattered, frightened citizens retreated to underground dwellings that provide safety from the brutal weather…and from a society gone terribly dangerous.    It was only after the vampire arrived that they started calling it the Bloodlands.   The name didn’t change because Gabriel, a so-called monster running from his true self, came there to rediscover his humanity by hunting down the murderer of his lover.  e o rediscover his humanity by hunting down the murderer of his lover.

It didn’t change because Mariah, the woman who reluctantly took him in, would do anything—even kill—to survive the trials forced upon her and her neighbors.

No, the Badlands officially became the Bloodlands the moment a mortal gun-for-hire decided to slay Gabriel.

Now it’s up to Gabriel to stand up to the threat. But his desire to defend himself--and Mariah--without giving in to his vampire nature will prove to be futile. And when he can't beat the man sworn to kill him with human powers, he has to make a choice: be the monster he has tried so desperately to escape--or die…

BOOKS I'VE BOUGHT, SWAPPED OR WON FOR THE WEEK 7/25 # 45

If you hover your arrow at the bottom of the books, you can see where my books came from.

EVE SILVER IS GIVING AWAY 10 COPIES OF BODY OF SIN

Go here to see how to snag a copy 

Madison's Life Lessons on the Road to Hell: TREASURE QUEST: DISCOVERY LIES BETWEEN THE COVERS:...

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E.B. Walters: TREASURE QUEST: DISCOVERY LIES BETWEEN THE COVERS:...

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Dystopian Desserts: 500 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!

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Babbling Flow: EPIC Signed ARC Giveaway

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AwesomeSauce Book Club: 6 Month Blogiversary Week 4

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A Book in the Hand: GIVEAWAY! I {heart} YA Giveaway Hop

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Reader Choice Author - Laura Wright - Author Interview and Book Giveaway! - Were Vamps Romance

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Worst tragedy in Norway since WWII

The picture above is from front page of  The New York Times webpage.

This is not book related but I need to write a few words about the horrible tragedy that happened here in Norway yesterday, July 22nd.

The government center was bombed yesterday, eight people was killed and more injured. After that a man traveled to a little island called Utoya where a summer camp(this is a regular yearly event) was held for the Labor Party youth, over 600 young adults was gathered out there. The young people there was from 13-14 years old and upwards. The man was dressed as a police officer and said he was there to inform about the bomb in Oslo. There he started shooting, at least 68 young adults was killed. So far the investigations has reveled that it is most likely the same man that is behind both incidents.

It feels so unreal that something like this could happen in little Norway. I feel sick in my stomach and the tears are never far away. I'm so grateful that none of my loved ones was anywhere close to these horrible incidents but an acquaintance of ours had a child that was shot several times, the situation is critical. Norway is a small country so I believe almost everyone will know of someone who has been affected by these gruesome events.

Norway is in mourning today. My heart and thoughts goes to everyone that has lost a loved one in this tragedy and all the people that has been affected by this tragedy.

Laugh Love Write » Blog Archive » Leigh Michaels Interview and Give Away

Laugh Love Write » Blog Archive » Leigh Michaels Interview and Give Away

We have a new blog design made by Parajunkee! Do you like it?

Have you noticed our fabulous new blog design? Rachel, better known as Parajunkee, from Parajunkee's Design and Parajunkee's View is the mastermind behind this beautiful design. We love it! Thank you so much for all your help, Rachel.

Feel free to grab our beautiful button by the way.

AKA

Slayers by C.J. Hill - Waiting on Wednesday

Slayers by C.J. Hill. Release date: November 22nd 2011. Published by.  Feiwel & Friends.

Why am I pining for Slayers?

I love a good tale about dragons, they're such amazing creatures(yes, I know they don't exist..or do they?). I'm also super curious about the author C.J. Hill is a pseudonym for a well known young adult author and this is his or hers fantasy debut.

Synopsis(borrowed from the Goodreads):

Dragons exist. They’re ferocious. And they’re smart: Before they were killed off by slayer-knights, they rendered a select group of eggs dormant, so their offspring would survive. Only a handful of people know about this, let alone believe it – these “Slayers” are descended from the original knights, and are now a diverse group of teens that includes Tori, a smart but spoiled senator’s daughter who didn’t sign up to save the world.

The dragon eggs have fallen into the wrong hands. The Slayers must work together to stop the eggs from hatching. They will fight; they will fall in love. But will they survive?

Want to know more about the authors or the book?

Add Slayers to your Goodreads shelf

What are you waiting for this week?

"Waiting On" Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Please visit Jill's blog to find out what other book bloggers are waiting for.

AKA

Hereafter by Tara Hudson - Teaser Tuesday

This weeks teaser is brought to you from Hereafter by Tara Hudson, e-arc, Kindle location 876-78 :

For the briefest second, I thought about lying to him. I had the inexplicable urge to keep this memory all to myself, hoard it away like some secret.

I've been reading Hereafter for a while now. The reason why it is taking me such a long time to finish it isn't that I'm dragging myself through the story but that I'm reading several books at the time. At this point I'm enjoying the story very much, I love reading about ghosts!

MizB of Should Be Reading host this meme called Teaser Tuesday . 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!

AKA