Giveaway! The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

Hey, everyone! I thought it would be a really spiffy thing to host a giveaway of the Iron Druid Chronicles books by Kevin Hearne because the 4th novel just came out this past Tuesday, April 24th. 

 

You can enter to win any ONE of the FOUR books out now in this series:

Hounded (Book 1)

Hexed (Book 2)

Hammered (Book 3)  

Tricked (Book 4)

• Open internationally (where Book Depository ships).
• Be 13 years of age, or older.
• Enter 5 different ways through the Rafflecopter form below.
• Giveaway ends Thursday, May 3rd 11:59pm.

Giveaway: The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox

I'm happy to be hosting a giveaway for the middle grade fantasy novel, The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox on my blog for the next week. The giveaway will extend from Friday, March 9th through next Thursday, March 15th.

Here's a little bit about the book:

The Magic Warble (Book 1)

by Victoria Simcox

Dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals, and an evil queen – all these and more can be found in The Magic Warble, an enchanting tale of adventure and friendship.

Twelve-year-old Kristina Kingsly feels like the most unpopular girl in her school. The kids all tease her, and she never seems to fit in. But when Kristina receives an unusual Christmas gift, she suddenly finds herself magically transported to the land of Bernovem, home of dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals, and the evil Queen Sentiz.

In Bernovem, Kristina not only fits in, she’s honored as “the chosen one” the only one who can release the land from Queen Sentiz’s control. But it’s not as simple as it seems. To save Bernovem, she must place the gift she was given, the famous “Magic Warble” in its final resting place. And she must travel through the deep forest, climb a treacherous mountain, and risk capture by the queen’s “zelbocks” before she reaches her destination. Guided by her new fairy friends, Clover and Looper and by Prince Werrien, a teenage boy, as well as an assortment of other characters, Kristina sets off on a perilous journey that not only tests her strength but her heart.

Read about the author, Victoria Simcox!

 Victoria was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She now lives in Western Washington with her husband, Russ and their three children, Toby, Kristina, and William. Her other family members are a Chihuahua, named Pipsy and two cats, named Frodo and Fritz. Besides being an author, Victoria is a home-schooling mother of twelve years and an elementary school art teacher of eleven years. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys managing her two older children's Celtic band. She also loves writing, reading, painting watercolors, hiking, good movies, and just simply hanging out with her family and friends.

Find Victoria:

Author blog: http://www.victoriasimcox.blogspot.com

"The Magic Warble" on Facebook 

Victoria on Twitter

 
Buy The Magic Warble on Amazon for $2.99.


Giveaway Details:

• Open internationally.
• Be 13 years of age or older.
• 2 winners will each get 1 ebook of The Magic Warble.
• 1st entry is free.
• Earn up to 4 extra entries (+4).

Enter your information below to enter! 
Note: Use Victoria's links above to earn more entries.


 

Young Adult Paranormal Activity Giveaway Hop!

I had to sign-up for this giveaway hop because it's so perfect for my blog. As you can see, I'm a stop on the tour of the Young Adult Paranormal Activity Giveaway Hop (Friday, Feb. 24th - Tuesday 28th, 2012), hosted by Kathy @ I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. 

This means for ONE lucky blog follower, you will have your choice of ONE Young Adult paranormal book from my list of 12 possibilities. (See list below.) Here are the details of the giveaway:

• Open internationally (shipping from Book Depository)
• Be 13 years of age or older
• Follow my blog (GFC, or RSS) to enter 
• +1 entry for following me on Twitter
• +1 entry for tweeting about this giveaway

YA Paranormal books I'm offering:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead                              Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Soul Screamers, Vol. 1 by Rachel Vincent                       Switched by Amanda Hocking

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater                                         The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare                             The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia                               Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black                                        Evernight by Claudia Gray 

Enter using the Rafflecopter form:

Review + Giveaway: A Soul to Steal by Rob Blackwell

Hey, everybody! I've got a special treat for you all after this review. Rob Blackwell, the author of A Soul to Steal, has given me permission to giveaway ONE free ebook copy of his book to a lucky blog reader! It's the perfect read for Halloween, so read on to the end of the review to find out how to enter this giveaway… 

A Soul to Steal

by Rob Blackwell

Genre: Thriller/Urban Fantasy

Reading Grade: Adult

Publishing Type: self-published

Publication Date: August 29, 2011

Source: review copy (ebook)

Age Rating: 17+

| Amazon | 

Something is stalking the citizens of Loudoun County, Va. Is it the return of the notorious serial killer known as Lord Halloween? Or is it something worse—a figure that can cloak itself as your worst nightmare? Kate and Quinn, two community journalists, rush to uncover the truth before a promised bloodbath on Halloween night.

The debut novel from award-winning journalist Rob Blackwell, A Soul to Steal balances suspense, horror, action and humor, building to a gripping and unforgettable conclusion. For readers who enjoy Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Jim Butcher, A Soul to Steal is the perfect autumn novel.

My Review

I'm not one to read much in the way of thriller-suspense novels, so I'm no expert in the genre. But, I do know a good story when I read it, and this is definitely great. Whether or not the 'whodunnit' aspect is all that clever—I don't know, because I have nothing to compare it to. But, I think it's awesome because I was wrong about who the killer is, and when you guess, then realize you're wrong by the end, you must have read an effective mystery.

We follow around quite a few different characters, but most of the time, we're inside the heads of Quinn and Kate, the main characters. They are reporters for a small town newspaper called The Loudoun Chronicle, in Virginia. Kate moves there for very personal reasons because she's connected to the serial killer that terrorized the town twelve years earlier.

But, that killer has started to kill in Loudoun again, and as the story progresses, everybody's trying to find him, and this guy's downright terrifying! He keeps on succeeding and a lot people, despite being super careful, still get picked off by him. He is as sick as you'll ever find because he uses the newspaper to publicize his crimes, and to get the people of the town to tremble in fear every October so he can get off on it.

For some reason, he takes a twelve year hiatus and then starts killing again in October of 2006. It's definitely a thrilling ride as you try to figure out who he is and why he's killing people. But, there's this very original and creative aspect to the story that I loved in how it all connected to Washington Irving's “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” I won't spoil how it's connected, but it intersects with this story in a really neat way, and sort of parallels Irving's classic spooky read.

I think any adult reader would love this, especially during this time of year. Because the events take place only during October, it's the perfect Halloween read. It's not scary in the horror kind of way since there's not much gore. Lots of murder and mayhem, but we don't see every detail of every kill. That made it easy for me to read and enjoy. From what I understand, this is the first book in a trilogy, so there's more to come in future Halloweens.

I received this book for review from the author for my honest opinion.

My score: 4.5 stars out of 5. 

 

*This goes toward my 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

• open internationally
• leave a comment under this blog post with your name, email, and Google Friend Connect (GFC) name, if you're a follower
• following my blog is NOT required, but encouraged
• followers of my blog will receive an extra entry (+1)
• 1 winner will be chosen by Random.org
• 1 ebook in ONE of the following formats will be chosen by the winner:
  Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF, PDB, or Plain Text
• Last day to enter: Sunday, November 6^th, 2011.

Dark Seeker Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway of Taryn Browning's, Dark Seeker novel. This was my first blog giveaway, and I found it was really fun! I'm planning on doing another one next week, so stay tuned for that....

(Picked at random by Random.org.)

The winner of Dark Seeker (Kindle ed.) is...

Renee Rearden! 

Congratz! You're Kindle copy is attached to the email sent to you. Thanks so much for participating.

Author Interview + Giveaway! Featured: Taryn Browning

Today, I have the delightful Taryn Browning, author of the Dark Seeker novel series here doing an interview for the blog! She was kind enough to answer some questions about her vampire hunter series, short story "Dark Beauty," and its following novel series, Dark Seeker. The questions are about the prequel story, "Dark Beauty," since that's all I've read, so far, but they are both part of the same fictional universe.

At the end of the interview, find out how ONE lucky reader can win a free Kindle ebook copy of Taryn's novel, Dark Seeker, which is now available for sale. UPDATE (10/18/2011): THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW EXPIRED...

1. Is “Dark Beauty” your first published work? Tell us a little about your history and experience as an author.

Yes. I’ve written three independent novels ranging from YA paranormal romance to urban fantasy, and a short story (Dark Beauty). I also have a bunch of partials and a novella floating around that I hope to get back to sometime in the not-so-distant future. Although, I’m not counting on it since I already have ideas for book #2 in the Seeker series.

2. I've seen you mention that you are represented by a literary agent. Your vampire-hunter short story, “Dark Beauty,” seems to be self-published. Why did you decide to self-publish this title?

Even though I’m represented by an agent, I am self-publishing a short story and the first novel in a series of books to come. I think many authors are starting to dip their feet into both the traditional and self-publishing worlds. For me, self-publishing allows me to share my stories with readers while also pursuing my traditional publishing dreams. Plus, I’m having a great time getting to know readers and I enjoy discussing YA. I absolutely love the diverse characters in Dark Seeker—and I also happen to have a crush on Kai! :) Each character—good, bad, or both (sometimes it’s hard to determine)—has a unique personality and background. They definitely make the book fun to write, and read.

3. Will you be writing more “Dark Beauty”?

Yes. I’ve actually started writing the second story in the prequel series. I’ve had lots of people ask for more of Isabelle and Abram during their Seeker years, so, I’m writing more. Plus, I feel like they still have more to share. Their relationship is touched upon in Dark Seeker. I’d love to fill in more of their back story by continuing Dark Beauty. More of their relationship will also be revealed in the next Seeker novel.

4. What inspired you to write “Dark Beauty”? Did anything from your life or the media influence you?

I am a huge Buffy fan, so I guess you could say it was influenced by my love of the show. I love strong female characters. Like Buffy, Isabelle and Janie can definitely hold their own.

5. Your main character, Isabelle, is from Cherokee descent. What made you decide to give her that particular cultural heritage?

I wanted Isabelle to have a unique background and there are a lot of really cool Native American legends about vampires and demons to further explore in the series.

6. In the world of “Dark Beauty,” the vampire-hunters are called Seekers and they live all over the United States. Can you explain a little about their origin, without spoiling any possible future installments?

Seekers have been around for as long as vampires have existed. They are overseen by the Apotheosis, who place Chapters made up of mentors and past Seekers in each city to supervise Seeker duties. Being a Seeker runs in the family. The offspring of Seekers grow up to be Seekers themselves once they turn 15, or enter high school. From there, they do four-year rotations, starting over again in a different city once they complete their senior year. This continues until they make the decision to leave the Seeker life. During their time as a Seeker they don’t age.

As for Isabelle, Abram and Janie, you’ll just have to wait to find out more about their lives as Seekers and when/if they decide to leave it—and what roles they play within the Seeker “world” in the future. One thing that’s certain is their primary enemy isn’t vampires anymore. There is a new, more deadly hybrid with plans to create more of their kind.

7. I love the snarky friction between Isabelle and Abram. Is there a chance it will lead to some romance between them?

There is definitely a spark between Isabelle and Abram. Since they are much older in Dark Seeker, they have a relationship and history, but I’m not going to tell you what type. You’ll have to read Dark Seeker and the next story in the prequel series to find out. Sorry! :)

8. My final question for you, Taryn, is about your writing process, something I can't help but be curious about with authors... Planner or Pantser?
   
   I’m a panster. I come up with an idea and run with it. I’ve jumped up from the dinner table, rushed out of the shower, and woken up in the middle of the night with a thought in my head. I have to immediately jot it down or I will forget (story of my life). I don’t know if it’s just a glitch in my brain, but stories just seem to roll out of my head. I’ve always had an over-active imagination. I thought it was normal to think up stuff—until my husband told me it wasn’t, lol! :) That’s okay—I embrace it.  

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Enter the giveaway for a chance to win ONE free Kindle ebook copy of Taryn's latest novel, Dark Seeker! All you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post with your name and email address so I can contact you if you win. All entrants who follow this blog will get an extra entry (+1), so be sure to leave me your Google Friend Connect name in the comment below, too!

This giveaway will stay open for entries from Tuesday, October 4, 2011 through Monday, October 17, 2011. That's TWO weeks!