Friday 27 February 2015

Memory's Wake Trilogy by Selina French : blitz


The Memory’s Wake Trilogy by Selina Fenech
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Memory's Wake (book #1)
Lost in a world full of monstrous fairies, a troubled sixteen year old has to find out who she is and why her memories were stolen before she is found by those who want her dead.
She takes the name “Memory” and knows she has just one goal – to find her way home, wherever that is. But this land is strange. No technology to be seen, and iron is banned, thanks to a pact the humans have with the magical creatures who share their pre-industrial era world. In her t-shirt and torn jeans, Memory knows she’s different, even before she performs impossible magic.
Haunted by her past, chased by a dragon, wanted by the king and stalked by the strange, handsome savage that seems to know her, everyone is after Memory, and she suspects it’s not just for her eye-catching outfit. Her forgotten past holds dangerous secrets that will challenge everything she believes and risk the lives of everyone she loves.
Memory’s Wake contains over 45 illustrations by the author and artist.

Hope's Reign (book #2)
Everything is slipping away from Memory. The bond of friendship between her, Eloryn, Roen, and Will, that was formed while running for their lives is tearing. In a world that doesn’t feel like home, with a mind filled with nothing but questions, Memory struggles to be true to herself… whoever that is. When her past self starts haunting her, she knows her sanity could be the next thing she will lose.







 Providence Unveiled (book #3)
A wicked plot dating back to the very beginning of Avall is coming to its end, and Memory is a vital part. In order to save her friends, Memory will break all the rules. With all worlds put at risk by her actions, she will have to step up and make the greatest sacrifice to repair Avall and make the world something better than before.










Giveaway
On my Twitter @lovelaces2. I will be holding a giveaway for book 1 in this series. All you have to do is be following me and retweet my tweet about the giveaway. CLOSES 10th March.

Author bio
AUTHOR BIO:
Born in 1981 to Australian and Maltese parents, Selina lives in Australia with her husband, her baby girl, an unnamed cat, and a lorikeet who's far too clever.

During her life Selina has found ancient Roman treasure, survived cancer, had knights joust at her wedding, been mugged for doughnuts, made a living as an artist, eaten every bizarre and wonderful food put in front of her, and now enjoys writing novels.


Thursday 26 February 2015

I Heart Robots trailer reveal

I Heart Robot by Suzanne van Rooyen 
Published by: Month9Books
Publication date: March 31st 2015
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Tyri wants to be a musician and wants to be with someone who won’t belittle her musical aspirations.

Q-I-99 aka ‘Quinn’ lives in a scrap metal sanctuary with other rogue droids. While some use violence to make their voices heard, demanding equal rights for AI enhanced robots, Quinn just wants a moment on stage with his violin to show the humans that androids like him have more to offer than their processing power.

Tyri and Quinn’s worlds collide when they’re accepted by the Baldur Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. As the rift between robots and humans deepens, Tyri and Quinn’s love of music brings them closer together, making Tyri question where her loyalties lie and Quinn question his place in the world. With the city on the brink of civil war, Tyri and Quinn make a shocking discovery that turns their world inside out. Will their passion for music be enough to hold them together while everything else crumbles down around them, or will the truth of who they are tear them apart?

http://youtu.be/Soih6uQTyas

AUTHOR BIO:
I'm a YA author with a penchant for the dark and strange. I primarily write speculative fiction but enjoy literary writing as well. I occasionally delve into adult genres too.

I'm a musician and have a Master's degree in music, but I prefer writing strange stories, baking peanut butter cupcakes and playing with my shiba inu. 

I'm repped by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.

Publicity manager for Anaiah Press.

Author links:
https://twitter.com/Suzanne_Writer
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-van-Rooyen/304965232847874
http://suzannevanrooyen.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5306442.Suzanne_van_Rooyen

Monday 23 February 2015

Ssh! by Stacey Nash : Blitz


 Shh! by Stacey Nash 
(Oxley College #1) 
Publication date: February 23rd 2015
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Nineteen-year-old Olivia Dean has the perfect reputation, the perfect boyfriend, and an increasingly perfect CV. She has it all, until Christian breaks up with her in public, calling her out as a self-gratifying sexoholic: the kind that plays solo. But Olivia doesn’t masturbate all night — the only thing she does is sleep … right?
Now all the boys on campus seem to want her attention for the absolutely wrong reason — including resident hottie, Logan Hays. He’s pulling out his best moves to gain her attention, so resisting his sexy charm is hard work. With rapidly slipping grades, a disturbingly lurid reputation and demanding parents, Olivia must discover the truth behind her rumoured sleeping problem. If she doesn’t, the perfect life she’s worked so hard for may slip away, including the one person who has Olivia breaking all her rules — Logan.
What do you do when you’re asleep?
***
Shh! is a story about acceptance, learning to trust and in turn love while facing life’s unexpected difficulties.
NB: This book is of a mild heat level, and contains no explicit sex scenes

Extract
At five p.m I was starving. After just the muesli bar for breakfast, I’d skipped lunch to avoid a potential repeat of this morning, which meant my stomach had jumped into full riot mode. Nervous about facing my fellow students, I pulled my big girl panties up and marched myself to the dining hall. It was early, so I wasn’t all that brave, if I were being totally honest with myself. The place should have been near empty.
There were half a dozen people in the common room, watching some crappy reality television show. I scooted around the back of the seats and up into the dining hall. Dinner smelled delicious—burgers—if my senses served me right.
Twirling my meal card around my fingers, I strolled right up to the servery and stood in line. The girl in front of me turned and I tossed a confident smile her way. She smiled back. The line wasn’t moving yet as dinner hadn’t officially started, but people began flowing in, increasing the number of voices in the room. I swiped my clammy hands on my jeans. This was the first time in more than a year that I’d come down to dinner alone. Generally I came with Christian and being alone was a little daunting. It was all cool, though. Savvy should turn up soon, then I wouldn’t look like a loner. She never responded to this morning’s text and I hadn’t seen her since Saturday night, but that wasn’t uncommon if she’d hooked up with a guy. Especially with how busy I’d be this year. She knew my Sundays were reserved for study, so she didn’t usually bother me then, and today we’d been at classes. Still, it was a little weird. She could have at least called to chat about Christian, surely she knew like everyone else.
My tummy grumbled like a truck moving at high speed. I glanced at the clock; it read five-thirty p.m. The line started moving, thank the lord. I glanced over my shoulder, and surprisingly the line curled all the way around the edge of the hall. Everyone had to be famished tonight, not just me. 
I kept my eyes to the front and walked through the servery where I built my own burger: meat, egg, tomato, beetroot, no lettuce, and a slathering of tomato sauce—perfect. As I emerged out the other side, my gaze slid over the line, looking for someone who might join me, and the weirdest thing happened. Not a soul met my gaze. It was like they all deliberately looked the other way, or were engrossed in such deep conversation that they didn’t see me.
I’d never had problems with friends. People just … well … they liked me. It had always been that way. I liked everyone, and they all liked me back.
My tummy churned for reasons not associated with hunger. What the heck had I done wrong? I walked over to one of the many empty tables and set my tray down, then flicked my phone out of my pocket and pretended to check my texts. Savvy had replied and I’d missed it.
Sorry I missed breakfast. Catch you at dinner.
A string of girls who I knew—we’d all been freshers together last year—walked right past me, talking softly as if they thought I couldn’t hear, but when people are talking about you, it’s not hard to tell. And those girls were most definitely doing just that. The glances my way every few seconds were a dead giveaway when everyone else in the room was deliberately avoiding my gaze.
I ducked my head, and studied my phone again. Whatever was going on, it was weird. I was the captain of Oxley’s hockey team, netball team, in the social committee, and even campaigning for the university’s student council. I had lots of friends.
Savannah’s giggle sounded like it came from somewhere behind me. Thank gosh. I really needed to talk to her and figure out what was happening. The whispers and stares, the fresher at uni this morning, Dane on Saturday night, sexploits—Oh my gosh. Christian. I glanced over my shoulder, raising my hand to call Savvy over, but my heart dropped into my stomach.
Savvy was attached to Dane’s hip. Her arm hung around his waist and his rested on her shoulders. Christian walked in step with them and the two guys wore massive grins. I hadn’t seen Christian that happy since … well, since I couldn’t remember. I suppose now that I thought about it, lately he’d been kind of cranky and tired. Always tired.
I swung back around in my seat, hoping they hadn’t seen me, and there someone had sat in the chair opposite me: the tool from this morning. He stared like I was some porn star he’d just paid to watch. And he smelled like a brewery; not to mention his eyes looked a little glassy.
Those same eyes locked on my mine and he placed his flattened palm on his chest like he was about to dive headfirst into a heartfelt apology. Which frankly, he owed me. His hand circled over his left pec, going for his heart, but then it moved to the other side and—ohmygod did he just tweak his nipple? My heart pounded a little faster and I glanced away. The entire dining hall looked at us. But he was like a train wreck. I couldn’t stop my gaze sliding back. His hand trailed down his chest and disappeared under the table in the general direction of his groin. He moaned, then his arm started moving slow at first and increasing in speed, all the while his dark eyes held my gaze. Then the crazy guy rolled his eyes back in his head and yelled, “Yes. Aaa—aa—ash. Yes!”
Someone clapped.
He arched his back. What in hell’s name was this freak doing? It was like that old nineties movie where the chick faked an orgasm in the middle of a cafĂ©, except this was some dude in the centre of the Oxley College dining hall and I wasn’t entirely sure he was faking it.
Spent, he flopped in the seat, his arms hanging beside it, then snapped his head forward again and his face split in a stupid grin as he pushed his chair back, placed an arm across his waist, and freaking bowed.
Everyone laughed.
The whole room full of people thought this idiot was funny.
I couldn’t move. It was as if the air had frozen around me and I was a statue unable to even blink.
“My impersonation of the one and only Olivia Dean,” he shouted, loud enough for the whole room to hear.
Couldn’t the ground just open up and swallow me already? My cheeks burned so hot they should have caught fire. Blood rushed past my ears so loud that I couldn’t hear anything; my stomach lurched.
I was going to throw up.
I needed to get out of there, right now. Whatever held me in place snapped free. I shot to my feet and high-tailed it out of the dining hall, past a million staring faces. The common room was no more than fuzz at the edge of my periphery, Front Courtyard much the same. I cut across the back of block F and made a beeline for K, then darted up the stairs and into my room.
Whatever was going down, it looked like I was the centre of a joke I didn’t find funny or nice. 

Giveaway
The prize is a signed copy of Ssh! and a $10 Amazon Gift card. This is an international giveaway.


Authors details
Writing for the young and new adult market, Stacey's books are all adventure filled stories with a lot of adventure, a good dose of danger, a smattering of romance, and plenty of KISSING! Hailing from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, she loves nothing more than immersing herself in the beauty and culture of the local area.

Author of the Collective Series; Forget Me Not and Remember Me. And Oxley College Saga; Shh! and Wait!





Author links:

Saturday 21 February 2015

Age Appropriate Books

Hi guys

I was watching Katytastic's video on age appropriate books and thought it was an interesting topic. So here I am writing a post on it.

I completely agree with what Kat says in this video about how different things effect different people. I am going to talk about me and one of my friends to show the difference. I can read a lot of different things that people can find triggering, I can put up with suicide and self harm and stuff to that example but I can't read about underage drinking or insomnia (don't ask why but the thing that scares me most in this world is insomnia). Whereas my friend can read about underage drinking and insomnia but not rape or comas.
At the age of 12 me and my friend decided to read 'the perks of being a wallflower' but we had no idea what it had in it just that Emma Watson was in the movie. We both came away completely shocked for entirely different reason.
This is a great example of why we should have ratings on books but instead of having 'this book is suitable for over 12s' we should have a list of things on the back of the book saying 'this book contains mild language and strong sex references' like they do on the back of a DVD, to say why the film is a 15.

Hope you didn't mind my ramblings. I would love it if you put your thoughts in the comments.

Friday 20 February 2015

Consent by Nancy Ohlin : cover reveal

Hi guys

Today I am doing my first cover reveal. I have been really excited about this for a while and now it is finally here and the cover is gorgeous. Drum roll please.

Consent by Nancy Ohlin 
Published by: Simon Pulse
Publication date: November 10th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult




Bea has a secret.
Actually, she has more than one. There’s her dreams for the future that she can’t tell anyone—not her father and not even her best friend, Plum.
And now there’s Dane Rossi. Dane is hot, he shares Bea’s love of piano, and he believes in her.
He’s also Bea’s teacher.
When their passion for music crosses into passion for each other, Bea finds herself falling completely for Dane. She’s never felt so wanted, so understood, so known to her core. But the risk of discovery carries unexpected surprises that could shake Bea entirely. Bea must piece together what is and isn’t true about Dane, herself, and the most intense relationship she’s ever experienced, in this absorbing novel from Nancy Ohlin.

I love this cover. It is perfect I think a lot of the time the cover is over complicated but this is just to the point. LOVE IT.

I am the author of BEAUTY, a YA retelling of the Snow White tale, and ALWAYS, FOREVER, a YA retelling of Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA. ALWAYS, FOREVER was originally published in hardcover as THORN ABBEY. 

I've also contributed to several celebrity novels, including a New York Times-bestselling YA trilogy.

I'm currently hard at work on my next YA novel, which will be as mind-bending as ALWAYS, FOREVER (I hope!).

My favorite cures for writers' block are long walks, long showers, popcorn, chocolate, and really expensive coffee. I talk to myself a lot while I write (you know, to make sure the dialogue zings).

Author links:

Wednesday 18 February 2015

who the hell is Ricky Bell by John Irving Clarke (review)

Hi guys

I'm not doing a top 5 Wednesday this week because I just wasn't inspired to do it, so I thought I would give you a different blog post instead.
(Can't figure out how to turn the photo around)
I was able to meet John and he is so lovely. He signed my book and was really interested in my love of spoken word.

Right onto the book. 'Who the hell is Ricky Bell' sounded like my kind of book from the start but after John talking to us about the book I just knew I was going to love it and I did. I read the book in two hours. The character development was great. I was totally shocked to find out Ricky's past. My favourite character was definitely Suzy, I thought she was just so loveable and played such a key part to the book without being a key character.

This book had me laughing and crying and just all the feels. I loved it. Defiantly a 5/5. I could not recommend this book enough.

Just a one of extra thing I want to mention:
- The book is so heavy. I don't know why, I compared it to a 500 page book and they weighed the same.

Monday 16 February 2015

Sword by Amy Bai : blitz with international giveaway

Hi guys

I would first like to thank xpresso reads tours for letting me take part in this. I would just like to thank Giselle from Xpresso Reads because I had some technical difficulty and she dealt with it immediately. So let's get started.
Sword by Amy Bai 
Publication date: February 10th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Sword shall guide the hands of men . . .
For over a thousand years the kingdom of Lardan has been at peace: isolated from the world, safe from the wars of its neighbors, slowly forgetting the wild and deadly magic of its origins. Now the deepest truths of the past and the darkest predictions for the future survive only in the verses of nursery rhymes.
For over a thousand years, some of Lardan’s fractious provinces have been biding their time.
Kyali Corwynall is the daughter of the Lord General, a child of one of the royal Houses, and the court’s only sword-wielding girl. She has known for all of her sixteen years what the future holds for her–politics and duty, the management of a House, and protecting her best friend, the princess and presumed heir to the throne. But one day an old nursery rhyme begins to come true, an ancient magic wakes, and the future changes for everyone. In the space of a single night her entire life unravels into violence and chaos. Now Kyali must find a way to master the magic her people have left behind, or watch her world–and her closest friends–fall to a war older than the kingdom itself.

Extract
The next branch took her unawares and caught her full in the face. It stung, and she stopped. A hand to her nose came back bloodied. The realization that she was being a fool came to her somehow out of the sight of her own blood. Here she was, running from nothing, in the middle of—
Oh, damn.
In her preoccupation, she had been a very great fool indeed.
The trees parted just in front of her. Two men were gaping at her from where they sat on the ground near a smothered firepit.
Outlaws. And she was completely alone here.
For a brief instant, not even a whisper of wind marred the perfect silence, and then one man gave a wild shout, leaping to his feet. The other lunged at her from where he knelt, a flash of metal in his hands. She felt the shock of whatever it was as it grated off her vest.
Her sword came free of its sheath and cut his feet out from under him. His scream was terrible. The rest seemed to happen as if at some distance—the arc of blood following the sweep of steel, the bewildered agony on the man’s face as she drove her sword through him. It was far too easy.
Her own ragged panting brought her back to herself.
Kyali backed up a step and then another, and moaned in what she first thought was horror and then realized was pain. At her side, her blood leaked out. A great deal of it was already soaking the leather armor.
very great deal of it.
Not so easy after all, it seemed.
The second man held an old dagger. The pain, when she let fall her sword and tried to release the side buckle of her vest, loosened her knees. She dropped to the ground. The locket around her neck leapt up and swung. She stared fixedly at the Corwynall dragon engraved on it as she worked at the armor’s catches, hissing through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the pain, which was rising rapidly past endurance.
The buckle came undone. Her fingers found the wound at once, and she drew in a ragged gasp and shrieked at the feel of her hand against it. Unable to do anything else, Kyali pressed both hands against the outpouring of blood, rolling onto her back.
The peaceful trees grew shadowed, then faded altogether into a strangely gold-flecked dark.
Now the part you have all been waiting for the giveaway. There are 2 giveaways, 1 ebook giveaway on this blog. To enter the one on this blog please follow my blog on bloglovin' and comment 'enter'. The second giveaway is a print copy of Sword (which comes with an extra short story and character sketches) and a poster of the cover, to enter this giveaway just click the link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Amy Bai has been, by order of neither chronology nor preference, a barista, a numbers-cruncher, a paper-pusher, and a farmhand. She likes thunderstorms, the enthusiasm of dogs, tall boots and long jackets, cinnamon basil, margaritas, and being surprised by the weirdness of her fellow humans. She lives in New England with her guitar-playing Russian husband and two very goofy sheepdogs.

Author links:

Wednesday 11 February 2015

top 5 furturistic books

Hi guys

Today I am doing another top 5. I would first of all like to explain that last week I did the wrong topic so I am doing last week's this week. Thanks for understanding. I found this week really hard to choose so bear with. As usual this is in no particular order.

1) Divergent by Vernoica Roth

This is one of my favourite series of all time. I cried and laughed and just all the feels in this series. Divergent is definitely my favourite book in th  series as nothing much happens in insurgent, though I still think it was necessary for the series and in allegient, Uriah.

2) Gathering Blue by L.S. Lowry

I did a review on this book and it is currently my favourite book in the giver series thought still not sure how it ties in with the first book.

3) Cinder by Marissa Mayer

I read this book last year and still haven't picked up the next book because I loved the ending so much (pretty sure that was just me thought). I am still really excited to read on I just have to wait for my local library to get it in. This is a bit of a sci-fi book which I don't usually like but the character development is just SOOO GOOD, that the plot could have been awful and I still would have loved it.

I can't find any other books that I read that were futuristic. I know shameful, I am planning on reading 'the maze runner's after I finish 'to kill a mockingbird'.
How about you comment a good futuristic novel in the comments.

Monday 9 February 2015

Of Mist and Magic by S.M.Blooding

OfMistandMagicbannermistandmagicEnter the world Of Mist And Magic, where fairy tales are reimagined under the influence of Really Slow Motion‘s inspiring music, in this enchanting anthology of short stories. Proceeds of the Amazon exclusive ebook will be donated to Elevate Life and Art studios, an amazing youth organization in Asheville, NC.

FIRE by Amy Willoughby-Burle
THE FOURTH WISH by Crystal Collier
THE WULFING by M. Pax
PIPER by Loni Townsend
AWAKENING by Shannon Kenoyer Lawrence
THE SNAKE PRINCE by C. Lee McKenzie
FAIRY GODMOTHERS WALK AMONG US by Vidya Sury
ROOTED by Ruth Long
THE ONE-LEGGED TIN SOLDIER by Michelle Wallace
BY THE LIGHT OF STARS by Lisa Shambrook
UNTOUCHABLE by SM Blooding
HOOD by Sarah Aisling
OF DREAMS AND DARING by Samantha Redstreake Geary

 

SM Blooding - Untouchable

Rumple’s twin brother, Stilt, has been a captive of the elders for a very long time. Rumple is the by-product of a hunter and a skinner, and therefore is a rare and treasured commodity–as long as he obeys Elder Tigris’ very simple rules.

He’s assigned a mission; bring back the dreamlander boy infected by dreams.

However, he discovers much more than he imagined. A bargaining chip, something to free his brother from incarceration and himself from servitude. But is the information itself more than Rumple can handle?

Buy on Amazon

Meet the Author:

SM “Frankie” Blooding lives in Colorado with her pet rock, Rockie, and Jack the Bird. Jack has refused to let her to take up the piano again, but is warming to the guitar. It might help that Frankie has learned more than two strings. She’s added a few more Arabic words to her vocabulary, but don’t invite her into conversation yet—unless, of course, you’re willing to have a very . . . slow . . . conversation. She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers and US Government assassins. Yes. She has stories. She’s also an investigator with a local paranormal investigation group, Colorado Paranormal Rescue!

Facebook /Twitter /Website

Win Charming Accents French Wire Spinning Wheel Earrings which perfectly accompanies SM Blooding's story.

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Thursday 5 February 2015

All fall down by Ally Carter review

*This book was given to me for free by netgalley in return for an honest review, however this doesn't' effect my opinion*

Hi guys

Today I am reviewing 'all fall down' by Ally Carter. It is Ally Carter's latest novel and is being released on 5th Feburary.

Goodreads synopsis:
his exciting new series from NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay--in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Thoughts:I was super excited for this book as Ally Carter wrote my favourite series 'the Gallagher girls' and she did not disappoint. I thought it was a really interesting concept and it was very well written.

My only problem with this book is that sometimes I got a bit annoyed with Grace. I thought at points she was a bit whiny but apart from that all the characters where great.my favourite being Alexei, really want more of him in the second book.

All in all I loved the book and sped through it. I am going to give it 4/5 stars. Just because I think liking the main character is such an important thing.

Wednesday 4 February 2015

top 5 books that take place in my country.

Hi guys

Today i am doing another top 5 Wednesday. I will just be listing the books this week because there isn't much to say about them but I will link the good reads. It is in no particular order.

1. Half bad by Sally Green
2. Ketchup clouds by Annabel Pitcher
3. Now you see me by Emma Haughton
4. We can be heroes by Catherine Bruton
5. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Claire