The Book Addicted Girl

We have the wonderful Lucy from Queen of Contemporary here today! Yay!! :D

My name is Lucy Powrie and I'm the blogger behind Queen of Contemporary, a review site which I started in April 2012. You may know me from Twitter (@LucyTheReader), where I organise monthly UKYA chats, or if you've stopped by my blog before. Blogging and reading are my main hobbies and you can normally find me curled up in a chair with a good book, or typing away at a computer.

I love UKYA. I’m not ashamed to admit it; in fact I declare it as much as I possibly can. Today, I’m going to write about the best UKYA novels from a range of genres. Over the past few months I’ve been trying to do more to promote UKYA: hosting monthly Twitter chats, a fortnight of UKYA-themed posts on my blog and I’m currently planning a month long blog tour in November. Very exciting things ahead!

There are so many amazing books I could have added to this list, but I’ve chosen to include five that show what UKYA is all about. I’d love to know your favourite UKYA novels so do let me know!

ACID by Emma Pass

ACID may be one of the most gripping dystopias I’ve ever read. Set in a scarily realistic future Britain, it follows the life of Jenna Strong, who has been convicted for killing her parents. Everything was perfect about this novel and it’s my go-to when I want to read something totally unique. If you’re getting a bit fed up of the typical dystopian, give this a go!

The Elites by Natasha Ngan

Something that came out of the last UKYA Twitter chat was that people want to read novels with cultural diversity and, after reading this, I knew that I would be recommending it an awful lot. It’s another futuristic dystopia novel with an interesting array of characters that live in Neo-Babel. The Elites are a race of people with superior DNA which means that they’re trained to protect the city. But Neo-Babel is holding a lot more secrets under the surface…

Geek Girl by Holly Smale

UKYA does contemporary amazing and Geek Girl is humorous, fun and a real page turner. I cannot stop talking about it. It’s about a girl called Harriet Manners who is spotted by a modelling agency and goes on a whirlwind adventure full of catwalks, craziness and crushes. Harriet is a massive geek and readers will learn that sometimes it’s not a bad thing to, as I always say, wear your geekery like a badge.

Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse

Rockoholic is a book that all fangirls will be able to relate to. About a girl called Jody who is obsessed with the lead singer of a band, Rockoholic will be able to make even the sternest of people laugh. Humour is one of the things I love most about UKYA and so this was an obvious choice to add to this list.

When I was Joe by Keren David

Gritty novels are what UKYA authors do best, and When I was Joe is no exception to this. It’s about a boy who is taken into the witness protection programme after he is the onlooker of a crime and it’s fast paced and full of action.

If you’re looking for more UKYA titles, visit the UKYA blog (ukya.co.uk) or check out the #UKYA hashtag on Twitter.

Thank you for having me, Megan!

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Thank you for the awesome post, Lucy!! I'll definitely be checking out the #UKYA trend and blog!! :D
My fave UKYAs are probably Before I Die by Jenny Downham, the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore and Alex Ride by Anthony Horowitz, anything by Sarwat Chadda and the Benedict series by Joss Stirling. On top of all of the ones you listed, of course!! :D

I hope you all enjoyed Lucy's post! And don't forget to follow Lucy's Blog: Queen of Contemporary - and follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads too! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the awesome Little M from We Sat Down!!

It's great to have the brilliant Little M from We Sat Down here today! Little M opted to do her post without her mother and blogging partner M. Enjoy! :D

One day, we sat down on the brown sofa together and that’s where We Sat Down began....

We’re M & Little M – a mother and daughter who both love to read.

This blog is a record of the books we’ve read and our thoughts about them. Our focus is on books that teens and proper big grownups can share. M also reviews general fiction. We like to have fun and you'll sometimes find silly bookish nonsenses mixed up with some more serious debates too.

Our red heart logo is taken from a bookmark that Little M made for M. We think it says a lot about our relationship to books (and maybe each other - aaah sweet).

Back to School by Little M from We Sat Down

Back to school. For me, it means less time to read and more time for homework. However, you do read some books in English. Some of these books may be brilliant but some may be a bore.

In secondary school so far, I have read Holes by Louis Sachar, Noughts & Crosses (the play) by Malorie Blackman, Skellig by David Almond, Journey to Jo’Burg by Beverley Naidoo and the film of Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare and directed by Baz Luhrmann. My favourite out of these is the most recent one I read, Noughts & Crosses.

Noughts & Crosses is a novel about an inverted world where the black people as a race are the dominant oppressive power. They rule over the white people. It is my favourite so far because I think it is well written and I really enjoyed the plot.

The novel I’m reading this coming year is Flip by Martyn Bedford. I have already read it and I really, really liked it. We Sat Down also interviewed Martyn face-to-face. I really can’t wait to do this novel this year.

In school, I have never liked reading as a class because I hear the words but they just go in one ear and out the other. This year it will be better because they ask us to read the novel at home instead of as a class.

So it’s back to school soon but I’m not going to stop reading!

Thanks Megan for inviting me to take part.

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Thank you so much for your brilliant post, Little M! I wish we'd done books this good at my high school! Noughts & Crosses beats An Inspector Calls any day! ;) Hope you're enjoying school!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed Little M's post! And don't forget to follow her and M's Blog: We Sat Down, follow them on Twitter and Facebook! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the amazing Viv from Serendipity Reviews!!

It's a great pleasure to have the amazing Viv from Serendipity Reviews here today! Enjoy!! :D

Hi everyone. I'm Vivienne Dacosta and I run the UK book blog Serendipity Reviews. If I'm not raving about books on there, you will find me loitering on Twitter as @Serendipity_Viv. When I'm not talking about books, I should be found busily finishing writing my own Middle Grade book which I hope to one day get published.

Chuck A Book with Vivienne from Serendipity Reviews

So, I’m on The Book Addicted Girl today. I thought it might be best to participate in one of my very own features where I normally put bloggers and authors under the spotlight and ask them for their book recommendations. They normally hate me for it, as the idea is to provide just one book per question. Now it’s time to find out just how hard it really is to answer the questions of Chuck A Book.

1) The best book you have ever read.

Oooh now I can see why everyone moans at me. This really is a hard question to answer. Stumped at the first goal post! How on earth do I pick one book? Right, after much deliberation, I am going to say Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. This is one of those books that I often return to again and again. It is set in the Deep South and brings to life the warmth and hospitality of Americans from those parts.

2) A book you loved from your childhood.

Anne of Greengables by L.M. Montgomery

I had so many favourite books as a child, so this really was a difficult question to answer too. I had to think about who I wanted to be when I was younger and what I love doing now, which led me to Anne of Greengables. I think Anne’s love of imagination might have sparked my need to write. The fact that my hair was exactly the same colour as Anne’s only added to my love of this wonderful character.

3) A book that made you laugh.

The 13th Horseman by Barry Hutchison. When I first received this book, I thought it might be too dark for me. Perhaps too much horror my taste. Yet within the first few pages I was practically wetting myself with laughter. Barry’s light-hearted interpretation of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is the funniest book I have read in a long time.

4) A book you could not finish.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

I know a lot of people loved this book, but I just didn’t get it. A third way through the book, characters I had invested a lot of time in were killed and I quickly lost interest. The book just dragged on too much for me.

5) A book that made you swoon.

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Within the first few pages I was completely in love with Beau! He is such an awesome character, a real bad boy, slightly possessive but will do anything for Ash. I was swooning all the way through the book.

6) A book you can’t wait to read.

The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

I love the way Zoe writes and I’m so excited by the first book in her first ever trilogy. Zoe has teased us with snippets and now I am desperate to read the whole book!

7) A series you have read and loved.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I can’t believe I’m admitting to this, but I blooming loved the Twilight series of books. I read all four of them in one week during illness and they unleashed my passion for YA books. If I hadn’t read these books, I may never have discovered how wonderful YA books actually are.

8) A book that made you cry.

Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat, Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron.

This is the first non-fiction book that has ever had me crying. I was so upset by the end of this book, I had to go away and read it on my own, as I could not stop crying. If ever a book makes you appreciate the love your pets give you, then this is the one.

9) Your guilty pleasure book.

Oh crikey. I don’t really have a guilty pleasure book as I have quite an eclectic taste anyway and read such a wide variety of books. I am actually completely stumped by this question and would have to say I really don’t have one.

10) A book that took you out of your comfort zone.

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

I hated this book with a passion and it takes a lot for me to say that. It took me way out of my comfort zone and threw me into a hurricane. I was confused from page one and didn’t understand what the author was trying to get at within the story. The explicit content then took the book to such a level I had to stop reading it.

Phew! I am so glad that’s over. Now I can see why all the bloggers were making such a fuss about this guest post.

Thanks Megan for letting me play on your blog today, it was fun!

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Thank you so much for your amazing post, Viv!! It's a huge honour to have you here!! And thank you for this amazing list - I really must read The Vincent Boys!!
Hope you all enjoyed Viv's post! And don't forget to follow Viv's Blog: Serendipity Reviews, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for an awesome post by the brilliant Evie from Bookish!!

I'm super excited to have the brilliant Jenny from Supernatural Snark here again!! I love Jenny's blog and all of her posts so I'm really happy she's decided to take part again this year!! Now, over to Jenny...

First, I want to thank Megan for inviting me back to this amazing event she’s hosting, I’m thrilled to be part of it once again this year! I always struggle when trying to come up with fun topics, worrying I’ll bore any of you reading to tears with my ramblings, so I’m going to keep this post fairly short and sweet.

There are a handful of authors I consider auto-buy authors, meaning I will read anything and everything they write regardless of genre and without so much as reading the blurb because I know no matter what, the story that awaits me in between the pages will be something special. In the same vein, there are also a handful of authors who have been recommended to me innumerable times amidst claims I will absolutely adore them, and while I don’t doubt those who recommended them in the least, I for some reason have yet to pick up one of their books.

Below then are the top three authors I recommend to anyone who will listen, as well as the top three authors who have been recommended to me accompanied by threats of pain of death if I don’t read them soon!

AUTHORS I RECOMMEND

Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is an author I began reading long before I actually started the blog, picking up her first Elemental Assassin book after reading a positive review for it on a blog I frequented, and I haven’t stopped reading her books since. She writes amazingly rich and beautifully flawed characters, and while the subject matter of both her adult Elemental Assassin series and her young adult Mythos Academy series is a bit darker, she always infuses her stories with plenty of warmth and humor to keep them from getting overwhelming.

Katie McGarry

Confession: I am not a fan of contemporary YA. I typically steer pretty clear of it, wanting more the escape of some fantastical world than the drama of more realistic situations, but I will forever read Katie McGarry’s books. I love the dual point of view we get with each story–there’s just something fascinating about spending equal time with both male and female protagonists as they battle their not-insignificant issues, laugh, fight, and fall in love–and like Jennifer above, she writes the type of characters I feel compelled to read again and again, learning something new each time.

Wendy Higgins

I first picked up her debut, Sweet Evil, with no real expectations; it just had a pretty cover and a synopsis that struck me as intriguing given my undying love for bad boys. What I didn’t expect was to be blown away by her world and characters, or to completely lose my heart to the son of the Duke of Lust. Though Wendy has written only one other story outside of the Sweet Trilogy (as of now), a contemporary YA novella, it too impressed me with the strength of its characterization, and served only to reinforce my high opinion of Wendy and her ability to tell a brilliant story equal parts light and dark.

AUTHORS RECOMMENDED TO ME

Melina Marchetta

Okay, it’s not entirely true that I haven’t read anything by Melina. I have. Saving Francesca. But one Marchetta book simply isn’t enough, as anyone who has read the entirety of her backlist will tell you. I know I need to read Jellicoe Road, Finnikin of the Rock and a whole slew of others because I’ve been told just how amazing each and every one of her stories are. She’s on my to-be-read list Marchetta lovers, I swear!

Gayle Forman

If I Stay and Where She Went are books I’ve been told I MUST read time and again, but I fear this series because I know it’s going to make me cry. Which is weird because I always end up loving books that make me cry, I just have to work my way up to them and get myself in the right mindset to have my heart ripped out and stomped on. Also, the very fact that they come so highly recommended gives me pause, and worry that I won’t feel the same way sometimes recalls my hand right as I’m reaching for these books on the shelf. Yes, I am a book coward. J

Colleen Hoover

I was on a New Adult kick for a while, devouring Easy by Tammara Webber, On Dublin Street by Samantha Young, anything by Cora Carmack and others, but for some reason I never made my way to Colleen Hoover despite her receiving high praise from many blogger friends’ whose opinions I value. I took a break from New Adult for a while when the market suddenly got flooded with a lot of stories that all seemed the same, but I’m in the mood for a good NA once again, and I’m bound and determined to give Colleen a try this time around!

These are some of my favorite authors and authors I very much want to experience for myself, what books/authors do you guys recommend?

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Thank you so much for your brilliant post, Jenny! And you MUST read If I Stay!! Though you will cry... Sorry... And I must read something by Jennifer Estep - I've heard so many good things!!

But the authors I always recommend are: Jennifer L. Armentrout, Cassandra Clare, Richelle Mead, Robert Muchamore, Julie Kagawa, Anthony Horowitz, Sarwat Chadda and Jenny Downham. Amazing authors!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed Jenny's post! And don't forget to follow Jenny's Blog: Supernatural Snark, follow her on Twitter and Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the awesome Faye from A Daydreamer's Thoughts!!

I'm super excited to have the awesome Faye from A Daydreamer's Thoughts here today, talking all about covers! :D

A Daydreamer’s Thoughts was founded on September 15th 2011. It is a blog that consists of book reviews, film reviews, book articles, film articles, author interviews, guest posts, features, and memes. It is run by Faye who enjoys the task immensely and is always happy to communicate with her followers.

Before I start this post, I just want to thank Megan for hosting me on The Book Addicted Girl today. I really enjoyed writing this post and I hope that it is at least slightly entertaining for you. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the posts for the Fortnight of Guests!

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an incredibly famous phrase but one that I struggle to follow, or even fully understand. The cover is the first thing you will ever see of a book and graphic designers can spend weeks, or even months, working on book jackets to make sure that they are absolutely perfect. So who are we to ignore that cover that someone has slaved over? Especially when the cover is supposed to be the first indication of what we should expect to see in the book.

By this, I mean that the cover actually does tell you a lot about the story it holds. Graphic designers work hard to create covers that are similar to other books within the same genre so as to appeal to the right target audience. They work to create a book that is appealing to the eye and brings people to pick up the book. So with that in mind, of course we’re going to judge books by their covers, we’re actually required to as that is how it is supposed to happen.

For example, you could look at the very first design of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and know instantly that it is a book aimed at children. It has an animation on the front of a young boy in front of a train. You can see that you’re likely to get a book with adventure and maybe a little mystery. You also know straight away it will be fantasy as the train has “Hogwarts Express” on it and that was not a well-known train when it was first published. There is no indication on that book cover that adults would also like the book; that was just something that simply happened and that is why adult covers of these books were released – to appeal to a different target audience.

So when I mention that I dojudge books on their covers, I rarely feel guilty about it because in my opinion, we really should be doing so. But just not in the way that the phrase has been taken to mean these days. A cover can’t tell you about the quality of the writing inside the story, it cannot reveal that the plot is slow and bland, or that actually it deserves a more appealing cover because the story is so intensely brilliant that the cover doesn’t do the book justice. But a cover is supposed to tell you something about the story, or else there would never be a need for covers – and there never used to be, have you ever seen a leather-bound book? They all simply had the title and author on the spine.

Despite all of this, covers are also a very large marketing tool. Have you ever noticed a trend in book cover designs? Either from lots of different authors or just for the same author? If publishers can see that a certain book is selling well, they can know that people are more likely to pick up a book with a similar looking cover rather than one that is completely different. In their minds, they know they liked a book with a similar cover and would rather believe they’ll also enjoy another story with a similar cover – because it should reveal genre – then picking something different up entirely. And that is why last year, a lot of covers were black with just one image on, like the Twilight covers, and this year why so many books are coming out with large pieces of silver jewellery on – like Fifty Shades. Now, personally, I think this can have a damaging effect, especially when the books are not similar to their cover counterparts, but there is no denying that these books sell, it just may not always be to their target audience.

But perhaps you disagree? Is it wrong to judge a book by its cover, no matter how you do it? Do you believe there is no such thing as a trend in covers? Or do you think it reveals something else entirely? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

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Thank you so much for your brilliant post, Faye! I'm with you - covers are important. I'm more likely to pick up a book with an awesome cover than something that's just dull and meh. And, proving the insane childishness of my brain, I really prefer the kid's Harry Potter cover!! ;)
Hope you all enjoyed Faye's post! And don't forget to follow Faye's Blog: A Daydreamer's Thoughts, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the wonderful Jenny from Supernatural Snark!! Oh, and Megan from Paperbook Princess the day after - she's listing her fave covers!! :D

I'm super pleased to have some of the brilliant members of Spinebreakers here today, telling us all about their fave YA genres!! Spinebreakers is an awesome site for book-loving teens, run by the people at Penguin and at Livity, and is the perfect place to find awesome books and meet other book-lovers! Now, over to the Spinebreakers!! :D

Amber: AKA The Mile Long Bookshelf

Twitter: @MileLongBookS

Blog: The Mile Long Bookshelf

Spinebreaker Account

Hi! My favourite book genre is Contemporary because I can relate to it more. Contemporary fiction is, in my opinion, a book that contains realistic scenes and relatable content that shows true-to-life teens dealing with situations just like us. Those books usually make me feel like I'm there with the characters. I love reading Contemporary books and they seem more fun than other genres! Some great Contemporary authors are Sarah Dessen and Luisa Plaja.

Rachel: AKA Booktastic Reviews

Twitter: @BooktasticR

Blog: Booktastic Reviews

Spinebreaker Account

My favourite genre - at the minute anyway - is dystopian because I love all the different, terrifying worlds the authors create and how the main character usually goes through some developments! :)

Zoe: AKA Bookhi

Twitter: @Bookhi_blog

Blog: Bookhi

Spinebreaker Account

My favourite genre is... hmmm.... dystopian! That was tricky! I read so much dystopian and never get tired of it because there are so many different ways to carry out this genre. They are usually fast-paced, interesting and so original.

Ruby: AKA Feed Me Books Now!!!

Twitter: @RubyEatsBooks

Blog: Feed Me Books Now!!!

Spinebreaker Account

My favourite genre is fantasy because it gives us limitless possibilities of war-ravaged worlds worse than our own and desirable kingdoms much better. The whole genre is a feast for the imagination but also a twisted reflection of the world we live in.

Juwi: The Book Guru

Twitter: @juwithemad

Blog: Juwi's Random Ramblings...

Spinebreaker Account

Um, I don't have a fave genre. Sorry! I just love a good story whether it's fantasy or comedy.

Orli: AKA Orli The Bookworm

Blog: What Orli Did

Spinebreaker Account

It's so hard to pick a favourite genre, because it genuinely depends on my mood. If I have a particularly arduous day, chances are, I won't want to read a war novel - I'll want to escape to a fantasy or a dystopia to distract from the day. If I'm in the bath and feeling rather perky (does anyone say that anymore?), I'll read a girly book, usually slightly trashy. I also go through phases, a few months ago, I was obsessive and only read Dystopia, whereas a few months before that it was only chick lit. I'd say, overall, the two genres that have stayed with me throughout my life are fantasy and realism. Fantasy allows me to connect, unearth and distinguish a whole new world, whereas realism allows me to make friends and live lives I could live, but never will, and to be inspired. But, you know what? The more genres, the merrier. I'm very happy having a selection.

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Thank you so much for this, Spinebreakers!! What is your fave genres everyone? :D

Hope you all enjoyed their post! And don't forget to check out Spinebreakers, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook!!

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013!

And tomorrow welcomes the start of... THE AUTHOR FORTNIGHT!!!! Stop by tomorrow to see a post by the amazing Maria V. Snyder!! :D

I'm super excited to have the brilliant Sarah from Forever Young Adult here today! She allowed me to interrogate her - enjoy! :D

Real quick tell us about yourself and your blog.

I live in Austin, TX and work for the Alamo Drafthouse, a cinema company. I started Forever Young Adult back in 2009 as a community for adults like me to celebrate their YA obsessions without shame.

What makes your blog super special – ‘cause it is super special, if you ask me! ;)

Our site is definitely targeted to adults, so we have drinking games for our favorite books, shows and films. We also have a pretty unique structure for reviewing books that focuses on what we care about, including compelling protagonists, non-embarrassing covers and swoon.

Now onto…

Quick Fire Round!

Fave book of 2013 so far.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

Fave book to movie film.

The Perks Of Being a Wallflower tied with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Fave book boyfriend.

Marcus Flutie from Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling series

Fave YA heroine.

Jessica Darling

Fave genre.

Contemporary

2013 book you're most looking forward to.

The Dream Thieves

Funny or suspenseful?

Funny

Buffy or Vampire Academy?

BUFFY! Like there's even a question.

Reading or writing?

Reading

If you could have any superpower what would you choose?

Teleportation. I have so many friends spread around the globe, and there are days when I would kill just to snap my fingers and be in their company, so we could convo and drink French 75s together.

Which fantasy world would you enter if you could?

The world of Harry Potter, NO DOUBT.

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Thank you for letting me interrogate you, Sarah!! It's been so much fun - for me, anyway!! ;)
Hope you all enjoyed the interview! And don't forget to follow Sarah's brilliant Blog: Forever Young Adult, follow her on Twitter and Facebook! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013!

And now begins the Author Fortnight of my Month of Guests!! YAY!! I'm so excited - and even more excited that we are going to be kicking off with one of my favourite authors - Maria V. Snyder!! And that we're also kicking off with a giveaway of the Glass Trilogy (UK only - sorry international followers)! But now onto Maria...

Getting a Fresh Look!

I’m a lucky writer. Really! My books have been in print since 2005 and show no signs of being… *looking over shoulder – lowering my voice to a whisper* going out of print. That’s a nasty word in publishing. When your books are you know what, then readers can no longer find them when browsing the bookshops. I know, I know e-books are forever, but I’m old fashioned and love my print books – the smell, the feel… And I’m not the only one. But that’s not the point of this post.

Back to my topic. My books have been published in over a dozen countries with a wide variety of cool covers in the last eight years. The old adage of not judging a book by it’s cover is bunk. Yes, you heard me – bunk. We all judge books by their covers – it’s that sparkly, pretty, colorful, or intriguing design that draws the eye. Ohhh… we, say. What’s that book about? And we pick it up to read more. And that’s the purpose of the cover – to entice you away from that other book. You might not buy the book based on the cover, but you noticed.

My good friend, Alethea worked in a bookstore for years and she said, “A bad cover can kill a good book.” Amen, sistah!

This summer a few of my books have undergone a cover re-design. In the UK, my Study and Glass series of books had their covers redesigned and the books were re-reprinted. I love the new covers, but I also loved the old covers. I asked my publisher, MIRA Ink why the switch.

The Original UK Covers

Claudia Symons of MIRA Ink said, “Our reason for the new covers, was that we had seen the Australian covers (of the Study books) and really liked them and thought that they would work really well in the UK market as they were really striking and contemporary and that as we hadn't re- jacketed the books since they were first published that there was an opportunity to re-jacket and re-promote the books. We have also moved the Glass and Study series to our MIRA Ink imprint, where I think these books are perfectly suited and these covers are perfect for the YA market as well as having real cross-over appeal to your existing fan base. We're going to be doing a big push with these books in the libraries and the schools market over the coming month and i hope find a new generation of readers!”

The New UK Covers - What Do You Think?

Enticing new readers is an author’s bread and butter (plus my son started university this year – I need all the bread and butter I can get ;). In the USA and Canada, my Glass series of books were also re-designed using the Australian Glass covers. And they also came out in mass-market paperback format, which is cheaper and smaller than the original trade-sized paperback. Even more reasons for a new reader to pick up a copy. The books are in the grocery stores and airports. So exciting to see copies of Storm Glass in my local grocery story!

Now there is a down side. My readers might think I’ve come out with a brand new book and pick up a copy by mistake. I hope that doesn’t happen – just check my website and Facebook pages to keep up to date on my news. Or they might think this is a bid for more money – bottom line, my publisher sells books – that’s what they do. And because I’ve signed a publishing contract with them, they decide when and how they are going to publish the book. I’m in control of content only.

The biggest upside for me is knowing my publisher is still supporting me. I’m not as big as many other authors, but they believe in my stories and are hoping to spread the word about my books far and wide.

That’s why I’m a lucky writer!

So what do you think of the new UK covers? Which ones draw your eye?

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Yay, thank you so much for taking part, Maria!! I love the new covers so so much - I might just have to buy them all over again!! I love the new ones because I think they have more of a crossover appeal - boys and girls, adults and teens. Lots of new readers and fans, hopefully!!

Hope you all enjoyed Maria's post! And don't forget to follow Maria's Blog, follow her on Facebook and Goodreads and check out her Site!! :D

And enter the giveaway!! You'll win a complete set of the Glass series - a new cover set!! The giveaway is open only to people in UK and Ireland (sorry! the publisher is UK based!) and will close 10th October 2013.

Tweet and let people know!! :D

Check out The Book Addicted Girl's Giveaway Policy before entering.

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the wonderful James Dawson - I'm the final stop of the #MurderOnTheBeach blog tour!! :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Meteorologist turned novelist, Maria's been writing fantasy and science fiction since she was bored at work and needed something creative to do. A dozen novels and numerous short stories later, Maria's learned a thing or three about writing. She’s been on the New York Times bestseller list, won a half-dozen awards, and has earned her MA degree in Writing from Seton Hill University where she's been happily sharing her knowledge with the current crop of MFA students. She also enjoys creating new worlds where horses and swords rule, 'cause let's face it, they're cool, although she's been known to trap her poor characters in a giant metal cube and let them figure out how to get out. Readers are welcome to check out her website for book excerpts, free short stories, maps, blog, and her schedule at http://www.MariaVSnyder.com.

I'm the final stop on the awesome #MurderOnTheBeach tour! We have the lovely James Dawson here today, talking all about his inspirations for the brilliant Cruel Summer! Enjoy! :D

INSPIRATION

I’ve always been very upfront about what inspires me as a writer. In particular, the things that I was really into during my formative teenage years seem to have had a lasting effect. Here are the things which were particularly influential when it came to writing CRUEL SUMMER:

1. Christopher Pike: What people might not realise is how bonkers Pike’s teen horror novels were, or how risqué. If people say that teen fiction is getting more salacious, point them in the direction of Gimme A Kiss, in which herpes is a key plot point. Or how about Die Softlyin which the head cheerleader is also on crack. No, really. The one which came to mind when writing Cruel Summer was Weekend, in which a group of friends travel to Mexico for a long weekend. It’s not long before we delve into their secrets. Like Cruel Summer, Weekend is set in three time zones, but that’s pretty much where the similarity ends.

2. I Know What You Did Last Summer: I love this film (and the book), and feel it’s much more than Scream’s poorer cousin. Both Cruel Summer and IKWYDLS feature a key anniversary, the dumping of dead bodies and killer twists.

3. Agatha Christie: Especially the ‘shut door’ mysteries such as And Then There Were None and The Mousetrap. The idea of gathering a group of suspects in a remote location is as old as the hills, but Christie does them so well…so well in fact that she inspired both Cruel Summer and Ten by Gretchen McNeill which, is a straight retelling from what I can tell.

4. The Cabin In The Woods: I’d actually finished Cruel Summer when I first saw this, but I was struck by how Joss Whedon was similarly interested in the stereotypes we often find in teen thrillers. Cabingoes even further than Scream in analysing the conventions of the genre.

5. Carrie: The prom climax is legend, and Cruel Summer features its own dramatic prom moment.

6. Electra Heart: Electra is a persona created by Marina and the Diamonds – an album I was listening to constantly while writing the book. She informed how Ryan has also created an alter-ego for himself.

7. Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis: A satire on celebrity culture, Victor, the main character occupies a similar self-involved fantasy as Ryan in Cruel Summer. Both are somewhat morally bankrupt too, although Ryan in a more appealing way, I hope!

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Yay, thank you so much James! This was a brilliant post - and it's nice to be thinking of summer when the weather is so miserable - even if said summer is cruel and, evidently, rather horror-filled! ;)

Hope you all enjoyed James' post! And don't forget to follow James' Site, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and check out his books on Goodreads! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the amazing Katie Dale!!

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James Dawson is the award-nominated author of dark teen thrillers HOLLOW PIKE and CRUEL SUMMER (Indigo – Aug 2013). He grew up in West Yorkshire, writing imaginary episodes of Doctor Who. He later turned his talent to journalism, interviewing luminaries such as Steps and Atomic Kitten before writing a weekly serial in a Brighton newspaper.
Until recently, James worked as a teacher, specialising in PSHCE and behaviour. He is most proud of his work surrounding bullying and family diversity. This autumn, his first non-fiction book, BEING A BOY (Red Lemon) will tackle puberty, sex and relationships in a frank and funny fashion.
James writes full time and lives in South London. In his spare time, he STILL loves Doctor Who and is a keen follower of horror films and connoisseur of pop music.

The lovely Keris Stainton is here again this year! And without further ado, onto Keris....

My Favourite YA Tearjerkers

I love a good tearjerker. For some reason, I always end up reading the saddest books in public - I've sobbed on many trains and planes and I finished My Sister's Keeper in Starbucks, blowing my nose on the napkins. So I thought I'd share a few of my favourite YA tearjerkers in case I'm not alone in my love of books that make you blub…

Dear Zoe by Phillip Beard

I sigh whenever I think about this book - it's just gorgeous. It's narrated by Tess in the form of one long letter (divided into chapters) to her three-year old sister Zoe who died in a car crash almost a year earlier, on September 11, 2001. It's been compared to The Lovely Bones, but I found it warmer and less sentimental.

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

This book isn't even out until January next year, but it was reading it via Netgalley that gave me the idea for this post. When Emma's pregnant mother collapses and dies, Emma's stepfather decides to keep her body alive to try to save the baby. Emma can't grieve for her mother because she's still there, Emma visits her every day, and she's furious with her stepfather for not letting her mother go. She finds it hard to care about anything at all, until she meets Caleb Harrison, who is struggling with a family tragedy of his own. I had to keep putting this book down to catch my breath. It's so romantic, but also, unsurprisingly, incredibly sad.

The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day

This book is, I think, slightly younger than YA, but don't let that put you off. On her 13th birthday, Bluebell wishes for someone to rescue her and an alternative version of herself appears. 'Red' is Bluebell (or 'Blue') one year on. She's a lot more confident and she has great ideas for improving Blue's summer, but she seems to be hiding something… It's smart and funny and true and heartbreaking.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

You've probably already read this one (and, if not, why not?). It's one of my all-time favourite YA books and I recommend it to everyone. Set in 1986, it's a story of first love and it makes my heart hurt to think about it. (I saw a Tumblr post that had a photo of this book in the corner of the room, with the caption 'Sit there and think about what you've done'. Yes.)

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Thank you so much Keris! It's great to have you back again - thank you so much!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed Keris' post! And don't forget to follow Keris' Site and Blog, follow her on Twitter and Pinterest, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for an amazing post by the brilliant Julie Berry!!

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My mum always claimed that when she lived in America for a year, my dad wrote to her every day and, in one of his letters, proposed. My dad denies this. But when she got home they got married anyway. In 1966 they emigrated to Canada. They'd wanted to go to New Zealand, but it was full.
I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which, by all accounts, is very cold. And also hot. But when I was four months old, my parents moved back to the UK. Don't worry, they brought me too - this isn't a misery memoir. And so I grew up on the Wirral. You probably haven't heard of it.
When I was 18 I moved to London and, a few years later, after meeting and falling in love with (I don't mean "at first sight". At first sight, I didn't like him and he didn't like me either. But that's another story) a fellow northerner we moved back "up north". Now we live in Lancashire (which is lovely, particularly when it's not raining. Which is about two weeks a year) with our two ridiculously gorgeous sons and a pug. Okay, we haven't got a pug, but maybe if I write it here it will come true. If you write it, pugs will come.
I've been writing stories for as long as I can remember (I spent much of my teen years writing stories about George Michael falling in love with me so I've obviously always had a good imagination), but I didn't write a novel until 2004 when I took part in National Novel Writing Month. I haven't quite finished that one yet (!), but I have finished a few others.
I now write full time and I think it's probably the best job in the world. Although if George Clooney is ever looking for an underpant-wrangler, I'll probably apply

The lovely Julie Berry, author of the amazing All The Truth That's In Me, is here today! Enjoy! :D

When You Least Expect It, Write It Down:
Elusive Inspiration

The idea for my new novel, All the Truth That’s in Me (Templar), was summoned unromantically into the most mundane of settings. I sat on my bed one afternoon, surrounded by piles of laundry to fold, a stack of books, and a snoozing cat. I leafed through a craft book chapter on point of view in fiction: first person, third person (limited, omniscient, and shades between), and second person, the slippery one. My purpose was to find material for an essay. I was a grad student pursuing my MFA.

I read the paragraphs about using second person, and set the book down. “Hm,” I thought. “Second person could so easily be self-indulgent. I wonder if I could do it right.”

I reached for my laptop. A novel addressed entirely to you. What you? Who is you? Why would someone have so much to tell someone else? A sense filled my mind of someone whose universe orbited around another, someone so filled with longing for a beloved that they were the only ‘you’ who mattered. Such a person would spend a lot of time waiting and watching for the beloved. They couldn’t help it. They would know that person’s habits and movements, and would notice any deviation in them. If that person didn’t appear as expected one day, as longed for …

You didn’t come, I wrote. I felt a little shiver.

I waited all evening in the willow tree, with gnats buzzing in my face and sap sticking in my hair, watching for you to return from town.

Yes, yes. The obsessive one would endure indignities like gnats and sap and far worse, so great would be her need to see the beloved. And what would the price be for such a vigil?

Mother chided me ragged for missing chores and supper…

And so the first page went, one thought following another like footsteps, with the creative brain in control, leading me along a path, pressing upon me the question, why? Why does the obsessive one feel this way? Does the beloved know what she feels?

But you don’t know.

And you never will.

For I am forbidden from telling.

I closed the laptop. I’d filled one page. My heartbeat thumped in my ears.

What just happened here?

Starting a new story had not been my plan that day. Researching my essay was. But because I was engaged in the work of authorship, and because I listened and wrote when the little spark appeared (thank God!), a story began. The character, Judith, revealed herself to me gradually yet insistently, with a voice of clarity, vulnerability, and power. She carried herself regally from page one to page 266.

I love Judith. I do not consider myself to have made her.

This was my miracle. I’d had other good ideas, but never one like this.

I have found creative inspiration to be both elusive and present, like a leprechaun behind my back, usually there, but too slippery to catch. Usually I spy him best when I’m not seeking him, when my mind has lapsed into a passive state of slow cognition, such as when driving or taking a walk. It helps greatly if I’ve recently been at work writing, reading, or studying. He seems to favor those activities, and fortunately, so do I.

He’s willful, though. He resists being courted, and shows up uninvited. No wonder we’re vexed by inspiration, sly imp that he is.

I’m back in the ranks now of laboring hopefuls, casting about a passive but watchful eye for any leprechauns lurking around. I remind the universe that I’m ready for miracles. I’ll need them for the new project I’m working on, one whose initial spark, naturally, was kindled on a stretch of boring highway in my filthy minivan. For flashes such as these, I carry a notebook in my purse, and I make sure to pull over before I start to write them down.

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Thank you so much, Julie!

Hope you all enjoyed Julie's post! And don't forget to follow Julie's Site and Blog, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for an awesome triple threat post - Month Of Guests, The Waking World Blog Tour and the first ever Book Addicted Boys!! :D

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I grew up on a 50-acre farm in Western New York as the youngest of seven children. I was lucky to be the caboose kid in a big family full of avid readers, with a mother who loved poetry.I had a perfect little library of children’s classics to reread to my heart’s content. I think I came close to memorizing Charlotte’s Web, the Little House books, the Great Brain series, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The Secret Garden, Just So Stories, Heidi, Alice in Wonderland, and A Little Princess.I dreamed of being many things – a marine biologist, a chemist, a mother, a gymnast, a Solid Gold Dancer – but always, writing was on the back of my mind. Whatever else I might be or do, I hoped writing would be part of the mix.In college I met my husband Phil. We married young and started our family soon after. Now we’re the parents of four boys, including teenagers, and we don’t know where the time went. To keep the gender balance more even in our home, we have two girl cats.After my fourth son was born, I decided that since my family dreams were now well underway, it was time to pursue writing novels. I went back to school and earned an M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts, where I learned from many talented and committed writers for young people. The Amaranth Enchantment was the second novel I wrote in school, and the first one to sell to a publisher. Since then I’ve written Secondhand Charm, All the Truth That’s In Me, and the Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys series with my older sister, Sally Faye Gardner, as the illustrator.Now I’m home full-time, keeping the cats company by day while I write, and chasing the boys around in the afternoons and evenings. If you want to know if I’m working on another book now, the answer is always, “Yes.”

I was talking on Twitter to a bunch of awesome bloggers – one of whom was a boy. We were talking about how few male bloggers there are. And so I thought: Why not create a feature specifically designed to get boys into blogging – and reading? And so Book Addicted Boys was born!

The Waking World is a post apocalyptic tale based on the legend of Merlin and Arthur, packed with action, mystery and adventure. It is the debut fantasy novel by talented new author Tom Huddleston.

Enjoy! :D

Five Reasons Why Books Are Better Than Films Or Computer Games

It’s so easy these days to just switch on the TV, or fire up the Playstation, and settle back for a couple of hours. It’s fun, too! But there are experiences you can get from a book which you can’t get anywhere else, places you can go which no film or game can take you.

Epic Size!

You might walk out of a sci-fi or fantasy film feeling like you’ve seen something truly spectacular: an alien planet, an epic landscape, an army on the march. But really, you’ve only seen the bits of that world that the director and his special effects team had the time and the budget to show. In a book, there are no budgets, no time constraints, and the only limits are the writer’s – and the reader’s – imagination. In Mervyn Peake’s Titus trilogy, for instance, the huge, half-ruined castle of Gormenghast seems to grow with every page as the characters explore each crumbling tower, each winding stair, each cobwebbed room. The castle could never exist in the real world – it’s too huge, too complex, too strange – so attempts to film the books always fall flat. The only place it can exist is in the reader’s mind.

Depth and History

I really enjoyed Peter Jackson’s films of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, but there’s no way you could cram all the historical scope of JRR Tolkein’s books into three films, however long they were. When you read the books, you’re not just following Frodo and Sam as they journey to Mordor, you’re also learning about how this world came into being, the history and languages of elves, dwarves and men, the battles they fought and the great heroes who emerged. This adds so much to the book – it makes it feel as though the landscape the characters are travelling through is ancient and full of stories, and completely real. And that makes our own heroes’ task feel even more impossible and terrifying: if those legendary warriors couldn’t defeat Sauron, how are two little Hobbits supposed to manage it?

Getting Into Characters Heads

In a computer game, you don’t need to get into the character’s head – the character is you. But haven’t you ever wanted to live someone else’s life for a little while, to see what they see and feel what they feel? A book is the only place where such a thing is truly possible, provided the writer knows what they’re doing. In Rosemary Sutcliffe’s ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’ we’re invited into the head of a Roman Centurion marooned behind Hadrian’s Wall and pursued by savage Celtic tribes. Here we are, centuries in the past, in a world we barely recognise, and our only guide is this tough soldier, lost in the wilderness – and yet we relate to him completely, we trust his choices, we feel his hurts, and we’re with him every step of his journey.

Length of Stories

This is one area where movies and TV are finally starting to catch up to books – it would have been impossible to imagine an 8-part film series like ‘Harry Potter’ being made even 20 years ago. But still, books have the edge: just think of Richmal Crompton’s William stories, for instance, which fill around 40 books, or the Sherlock Holmes tales, of which there are well over 50. My own favourites, the King Arthur legends, seem to go on forever, with tales of this knight or that, all of them packed with adventure and dastardly deeds – and new writers are coming up with more of them all the time. If you find a character you love, you just want to know more and more about them, to share more and more of their experiences, and that’s something that can only really happen in books.

One Person’s Story

A computer game isn’t the vision of one person, there’s a huge team working for years to design every baddie and map out every landscape. Even films, which often claim to be ‘made’ by one director, are actually a massive group effort: you have scriptwriters, designers, cameramen, sound recordists, composers, editors and actors bringing a little bit of themselves to the finished work. And that’s a great thing: the collaborative process can make for a really exciting piece of work which no one person would’ve been able to produce on their own. But a book is the product of one mind, one vision, which gives it a focus which those other artforms can often lack. This one person ‘scripts’ every scene, ‘plays’ every part, ‘shoots’ everything the reader sees. This is their world, and they’re inviting you inside. Also, it means there’s only one place to send your questions or complaints to!

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Thank you so much for this post, Tom - and for being my first Book Addicted Boys author!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed Tom's post! And don't forget to follow Tom on Twitter, and check out his books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the amazing Joss Stirling!!

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Tom Huddleston is an author, musician and journalist currently employed on the film desk at Time Out London. Though he grew up in North Yorkshire - where his debut novel, The Waking World, takes place - he currently resides in Stoke Newington in East London. He intends to continue writing fiction, and has already begun a sequel to The Waking World.

The lovely Joss Stirling is here again with an awesome post! Enjoy! :D

Top Ten Villains In Books And Films

One of the parts of writing that I find the most fun and the most challenging is creating good villains. I'm learning all the time, trying to refine the mindset of the evil side so that it doesn't seem too cliched (very easy to fall into the he's just evil because he is evil trap). I started with the Kellys in Finding Sky but felt a little dissatisfied with the complexity of their motives - I wanted to push that further. The Seer in Stealing Phoenix was my answer - a dysfunctional man with terrible powers. You are supposed to see both his strengths and weaknesses. I can't say who the baddie is in Seeking Crystal as that is a plot twist, but those of you who have read it can see I'm going further still.

So here are my top ten villains - ones that have taught me lessons in how to tackle the dark side!

10.Wickham from Pride and Prejudice - ooo, so clever and so horrible. Austen doesn't push him too far to the dark side so it is plausible that he ends up married into the family to be a continual cloud of the Darcy and Elizabeth horizon in the post book world.

9.Darth Vader(original series IV to VI) - the villain of my childhood. Big black cloak, mental powers, and that voice!

8. Fagin from Oliver Twist both in book and film versions. He is a fabulous combination of tiny glimpses of kindness and greater greed and calculation.

7. Moriarty in Sherlock (the BBC version) - I really enjoyed this updated take on a villain, particularly the episode with the final showdown. Helped by great acting from Andrew Scott of course.

6. The White Witch from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - another terror from my childhood reading: strong, beautiful and ruthless. Also very well played in the recent film version by Tilda Swinton.

5. Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter - the best of the villains as she thinks she is so good. I find her far more interesting than Voldemort.

4. Frankenstein's creature - he doesn't really qualify in some ways as he is so pitiable but as he is also a child killer he made the top ten. A fantastic creation that has inspired me on numerous occasions in my writing. I suppose he shows that the best villains are ones whom we also understand. He shares this place with Caliban from The Tempest.

3. Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. I studied this at school and the character has never left me - a real challenge to our assumptions of who is good and who is bad in the play.

2. Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. A great lesson in the perils of over-reaching but also how divided we all our in our private selves.

1. Gollum from Lord of the Rings - yes, my precious! I love the idea of evil doing good despite itself and he is far more interesting psychologically than Sauron, who doesn't really exist as a character.

Let me know your favourite villains. Who would you put in your top ten?

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Thank you so, so much Joss! This was a brilliant post - thank you so much for stopping by and taking part in my Fortnight of Guests again!! :D

My favourite villains list also includes Moriarty, Fagin, Umbridge and definitely Gollum (my brothers and I still creep each other out by whispered: 'my precious' at the spookiest possible times!!). I think I'd have to add someone from The Mortal Instruments though - not Valentine: I always found him a bit flat, although I do love all the Lucifer references to his character. But the villain that comes after Valentine... well, a whole different story... Iago from Othello gets added too: the personifaction of the evil little voice inside our head, mixed with the Machiavellian characterisation and totally psychopathic manipulation he uses absolutely terrifies me!! :D I'm sure I can think of others but this is getting a little long... ;)

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed Joss' post! And don't forget to follow Joss' Site, follow her on Twitter, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D Oh, and Joss is a penname for the lovely Julia Golding, who also writes under Eve Edwards as well! So confusing - and sooo many amazing books!! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for an awesome and different post by the amazing Jana Oliver!!

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Julia Golding (born March 1969) is a British novelist.

Julia Golding was born in March 1969 in London and grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. She originally read English at the University of Cambridge.

Golding lives in Oxford and works as a freelance writer. She is married with three children.

In 2007 she was selected by Waterstone's as one of the 25 Authors of the Future.

Golding also publishes under two pen names: Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards.

The lovely Jana Oliver is here today, doing an awesome character interview!! I hope you enjoy it - and check out her new book Briar Rose!! :D

Briar Rose Character Interview!

We’ve managed to talk two of the lead characters from Briar Rose (Jana Oliver’s new twisty and dark young adult retelling of Sleeping Beauty) into joining us today.

Welcome, ladies!

Briar Rose:Okay. Hi! ::waves shyly::

Reena:Okay, I’m here. What do you want to know?

Moderator:Tell us a little about yourself.

Briar: Well, I’m almost sixteen and I live in this tiny town in Georgia. It’s called Bliss, but trust me, it’s nothing like that. Pretty boring, actually. Did I mention it’s tiny?

Reena:What she said, except I’m seventeen and I’m her best friend who got conned into doing this thing. ::glares at Briar:: You sooo owe me.

Moderator:That’s a good start. So I have to ask -- any cute guys in Bliss?

Briar:::smiles:: There’s a few cuties in our school, but the real hottie is Patterson Daniels. He’s a transplant from Ohio and he’s a complete hunk.

Reena:And a total butthead. His ego is as big as his pecs.

Briar:Ouch. How can you not think he’s hot?

Reena:Easy. He opens his mouth and you see the real guy behind the pretty face. Now if you said you thought Josh was cute, I could go with that.

Moderator:So who is this Josh guy?

Briar:Well, he’s…Joshua Quinn, and we used to be best buds, but that all changed. There’s this thing between our families and now I’m not supposed to be anywhere near him.

Moderator:Why?

Briar:It’s…messy. The bottom line is that his crazy mom goes totally nuclear if we’re even sharing the same airspace. It’s just weird.

Moderator:So no problem with this Patterson guy though?

::Briar smiles:: No, not at all. Pat’s…. ::sighs::

Reena:Like I’ve said before: there will be trouble. Trust me on this.

Briar:You’re just jealous cuz he’s been checking me out. I know a good guy when I see one, and he’s absolutely prince material.

Reena:Here we go. I wondered how long it would take for her to bring up the whole fairytale prince and castle bit. ::waggles a finger:: Do not make me do an intervention on you, girlfriend.

Briar:What’s wrong with having a handsome prince sweep me off my feet, put me up on his pretty white horse and take me to his gorgeous castle? You know, happily ever after? Like Sleeping Beauty.

Reena:Bad example. Some nosey dude hacks through a bunch of thorn bushes just to see what’s inside the castle. That’s actually breaking and entering, but we’re supposed to think this guy is noble just because he has Prince in front of his name?

Briar:Come on, it’s romantic! How cool is it that this guy would brave those nasty thorns just to wake the princess?

Reena:It’s not cool, it’s creepy. Like hey, I’ve got nothing else to do today but order my peasants around so I’m going to find some sleeping babe and wake her up. Then she’ll fall in love with me. If that’s what it takes for this guy to get a date, he seriously lacks social skills.

Briar:Sorry, my friend really is a bummer about this stuff. Me? I love all the fairytales, even the really scary ones. Like Snow White with the evil step-mom queen person and the really hunky huntsman. What’s not to love?

Reena:Maybe the part when the queen asks for Snow’s liver for supper?

::Briarfrowns :: How about Cinderella? You have to love that one.

Reena:Not a chance. That prince? He’s so stupid he couldn’t remember the chick’s name the next morning, or even what she looked like. How’s that for a total flatline IQ?

Briar:See what I have to put up with?

Moderator:Obviously we have some… disagreement here. So tell me, if you could meet your perfect prince/boyfriend, what would he look like?

Briar:Like Pat Daniels.

Reena:Nope, not going there.

Moderator:Ah, come on. Humor us.

::Reenamutters under her breath:: Okay, he’d be smart and sexy and…own a Formula One race car that he’d let me borrow every now and then.

Moderator:And so there we have it – two teens in search of a prince who has a white horse--

Reena:Or a race car--

Moderator:And who are growing up in Bliss, Georgia where fairytales may or may not come true. Thanks for joining us, ladies.

Briar: It’s been fun. Thanks.

Reena:Yeah. What she said. Can we go now?

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Yay, thank you so so much Jana - and Briar and Reena too!!

Hope you all enjoyed Jana's awesome post! And don't forget to follow Jana's Site, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, and check out her books on Goodreads! If you're interested in the brilliant Briar Rose - and yes: it really is brilliant - it came out September 12th, is published by Macmillan and you can check it out on Goodreads and Amazon!! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for another awesome character interview with the amazing characters of Tera Lynn Childs!!

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Jana Oliver is an American author. Her books cross many genres, including romance/fantasy and historical mystery. An Iowa native, she currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Her Time Rovers Series is published by Dragon Moon Press, a Canadian speculative fiction publisher, and in e-book form by Nevermore Press. The series has been nominated for fifteen awards and has won twelve, including ForeWord Magazine's Editor's Choice Book of the Year, the first time a science fiction novel has received that honor.
Her latest young adult series (The Demon Trappers) is published in the US by St. Martin's Press (THE DEMON TRAPPER'S DAUGHTER, SOUL THIEF and FORGIVEN).The series is also published in the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Brazil.

The lovely Tera Lynn Childs has brought over the Medusa Girls, Gretchen, Grace and Greer, for me to interview today!! Yay!! :D

Hi Gretchen, Grace and Greer! It's great to have you all here today!

Greer: Thank you for having us.

Ok so girls, you're descendants of Medusa. That sounds pretty damn awesome. But what exactly does that mean?

Gretchen: That means it's our responsibility to protect ordinary, unsuspecting humans from the monsters that lurk in plain sight.

Grace: And we get to kick a lot of serious monster butt!

Now for those who haven't met you, can you each describe yourself in one sentence?

Greer: I'm like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.

Gretchen: *eyeroll*

Grace: I'm just a normal girl who's good with computers and not so good with boys.

Gretchen: I've been doing this job for four years, so I pretty much am the job.

So what was it like, finding out that you were triplets? Was it more exciting or scary or...

All at once: Both!

Grace: I was probably the most excited. I'd always wanted sisters.

Gretchen: How does it feel, knowing that you're not on your own any more? And were you surprised by how Grace and Greer took the news?

Gretchen: I was surprised by how well Grace took it. Like she said, she was excited. Greer's no-thank-you, slam-the-door-in-my-face response was as expected.

Greer: I apologized for that.

Gretchen: *eyeroll*

Taken from Tera Lynn Child's Pinterest

Grace: I think you were probably the most excited to find your sisters. Why was this - you yourself say that your adopted family are amazing, and your new life is pretty dangerous... so what makes you so excited - and what do you want most with your new sisters?

Grace: I do, I love my adopted family so much. But I always felt like there was something more, something missing. And as much as my new life is scary on a daily basis, I think that's a good thing. Life should be scary, you should do things that challenge you. That's how you grow and become a better person.

Taken from Tera Lynn Child's Pinterest

Greer: You've always been an only child. It's gotta be weird, suddenly having these three sisters who look exactly like you and say you're the offspring of a mythical being. What was your initial, most innermost reaction to the discovery - and has that first impression changed now that you've gotten to know, gotten to fight with your sisters?

Greer: At first I was absolutely, unequivocally, ridiculously terrified. Not to find out I had sisters or that I had this mythological heritage, but because everything I thought I knew about my life turned out to be a lie. Now I recognize how the truth, however scary, is always preferable to the lie.

Taken from Tera Lynn Child's Pinterest

Gretchen, you've known about the beasties for a while. But Grace and Greer, this is all new to you. How did it make you feel, discovering that the world is so much more - so much scarier - than you thought it was?

Gretchen: I've always seen monsters. Even before Ursula found me and told me they were real and why I was destined to fight them. It was harder for me to tell my sisters the truth, to show them this world they had been protected from.

Greer: After seeing that monster in my bedroom when I was very young, I'd spent the rest of my life convincing myself that I'd just imagined the whole thing. It was scary to learn it was real, but it was also a relief.

Grace: I was really scared at first. But once I realized I would never be facing this alone, that I would always have my sisters at my side, I knew everything would be okay.

All of you now have a destiny - a purpose. But if you had just one day where there was no beasties, no danger, no responsibilities and no fear, what would you do?

All at once: Sleep!

Grace:Monsters don't exactly keep to a time clock. I can't remember the last time I got to sleep through the night.

Greer: Me neither.

Gretchen: It's a 24/7 job and it's definitely exhausting.

Each of you: what is your favourite thing about your sisters?

Grace: They both strong and confident, and I admire that so much. I aspire to that.

Gretchen: They are courageous. Even when they are in way over their heads.

Greer: They value people (me included) for who they are, not what they can do for them.

Who would be your ideal boyfriend - and is there anyone special in your lives...?

Greer: I like a mysterious boy. And I have one particular mystery in mind...

Grace: Milo and I are taking it one step at a time. He's pretty much my idea of a perfect boy.

Gretchen: I'm not a fan of the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. But I guess Nick and I are together.

What's next for you three - the Medusa Girls? Or, more precisely, what would you like to happen next?

Gretchen: I'd like to take a vacation.

Greer: Me too. Somewhere tropical.

Grace: *blushes* I'm happy just hanging out with my sisters, my brother, and Milo.

Gretchen: *grumbles* Yeah, me too.

*group hug*

Quick Fire!

Fave colour:

Grace: Green

Gretchen: Black

Greer: Gold

Fave book:

Grace: The Hunger Games

Gretchen: I only read non-fiction, monster research.

Greer: A Tale of Two Cities

Fave film:

Grace: The Matrix.

Gretchen: I don't watch movies.

Greer:Anything starring Grace Kelly. She is my idol.

Fave activity:

Gretchen:Punching things

Greer: Shoe shopping

Grace:Reading

Describe yourself in one word:

Grace: Happy

Gretchen: Strong

Greer:Perfect

Well, there you go. Three sisters who just want to sleep! ;)

Thank you so much for stopping by! :D

---

Thank you Tera!! This was so much fun!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed the interview! And don't forget to follow Tera's Site, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the amazing Sarah Alderson!!

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Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins, Fins Are Forever and Just For Fins, and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa that includes Sweet Venom, Sweet Shadows, and Sweet Legacy (September 3, 2013). She has two new e-novellas coming soon, Goddess In Time (November 2013) and Pretty In Pearls (January 2014). She has also e-published two fun chick lit romances, Eye Candy and Straight Stalk. Tera lives nowhere in particular and spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.

The lovely Sarah Alderson is here today, talking all about her favourite fictional couples!! Enjoy! :D

The Best Fictional Couples EVER.

1. Augustus & Hazel from The Fault In Our Stars

Found Here.

Tragic, doomed, real. This book has haunted me since I read it. Mainly I was completely sold on them as characters and on their relationship. There was such a tenderness and desperation in the way they were trying to fit everything into their limited time together. Broke. My. Heart.

2. Alex Fuentes & Brittney from Perfect Chemistry

I have to admit I’m not a fan of Britney but Alex Fuentes and his six pack totally makes up for it. I love this book.

3. Hermione & Ron from Harry Potter

A romance built on friendship, H &R are one of my all time favourite fictional couples. I love it that they went through so much together with Harry. The best non-love triangle ever invented by an author.

4. Han Solo & Princess Leia from Star Wars

Han Solo was the first fictional boy I ever fell in love with (aged about 7). I would dream I was Princess Leia. And let’s face it, PL is the most awesome princess to ever have graced our screens. Disney could learn a thing or two from her. She’s a brilliant fighter, a fearless leader, witty, smart and a resistance fighter to boot, out to save the galaxy. Han’s a loveable rogue, a pirate, a cynical anti-hero who can’t help but fall for the girl. I love the banter between her and Han.

5. Spike & Buffy

OK, for years I was a Buffy & Angel fan but then something happened – Spike gave that ‘you’re the one’ speech to Buffy and suddenly I was like ‘Angel who?’ This scene is so epically perfect I could watch it over and over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cWagC3IXI (Preview)

6. Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of The Rings

Would you give up immortality for a man? I would for this man. Aragorn – the noble Ranger of the North who leads the hobbits on their quest. I didn’t notice much else on screen beyond Aragorn’s thighs on that horse.

7. Jesse & Ren from The Sound

OK, OK, I’m a little biased here, but Jesse – the brooding, book reading, musician who’s great with his hands and known for being trouble is exactly the kind of boy I would fall for as a teenager. And Ren, the English girl who’s a music blogger, book lover and on the verge of giving up on boys altogether and definitely on any notion of there being ‘a one’. Can Jesse change her mind? The chemistry sizzles between them – what do you think?

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Thank you soo much, Sarah!! Oh, I'm so a Spuffy girl!! Spike just melts my heart!! And that speech... *sigh* ;)

Hope you all enjoyed Sarah's post! And don't forget to follow Sarah's Site, follow her on Twitter and Facebook, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for an interview with the lovely Alyxandra Harvey!!! :D

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Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and princess-obsessed daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home. After almost a year spent wandering around India, Singapore, Australia and the US, they settled in Bali where Sarah now spends her days writing and trying to machete open coconuts without severing a limb.She finished her first novel Hunting Lila just before they left the UK, wrote the sequel, Losing Lila, on the beach in India, and had signed a two book deal with Simon & Schuster by the time they reached Bali.A third book, Fated, about a teenage demon slayer, which was written during their stay in California, was also bought by Simon & Schuster and published in January 2012.The sequels to Fated – Severed & Shadowed – were released in November 2012 and March 2013. Sarah’s newest novel – The Sound – a young adult thriller, was released in August 2013 in the UK, Australia & Canada and is being published in the US in May 2014.Three more YA novels are lined up for release with Simon & Schuster over the coming years, as well as a collection of short stories.Sarah has co-written the Hunting Lila screenplay and is working on several other books and screenplays (multi-tasking is one of her favorite things). In her spare time she also writes adult romance novels under the pen name Lola Salt.

The lovely Alyxandra Harvey is here today - and today is a special day because Amazon is making the entire Drake Chronicles Kindle Daily Deal today!! Go check it out - ASAP!! :D

Oh, but read the interview first. ;)

Q&A With Alyxandra Harvey

So your Drake Chronicles just ended this year (my heart breaks a little more even as I write that!). What's next for you?

I have a new series coming out in January called the Lovegrove Legacy, about three cousins in 1814 London who discover they are witches.

I also have an Enovella called The Longest Night, set in the Drake Chronicles world out in December…I admit I missed the Drakes and wasn’t ready to completely say goodbye!

My Mental Rambling: Yay!!! More Drakes!!! *happy dance all over the place* And witches + Alyxandra Harvey = ecstatic blogger!!

I'm probably a bit biased (your Drake Chronicles was one of the first books I was sent to review) but I must say: your vampire mythology is one of the coolest I've come across. How did you come up with it all?!

Thank you! The recent vampire book craze was at its peak when I started writing the Drake Chronicles…but I’ve always loved vampire stories so I wanted to tell my story anyway.

My favourite part of vampires is the fact that they can live for hundreds of years…they could have lived in a medieval castle, met Jane Austen or Mary Frankenstein, or watched Stonehenge being built. It’s that love of history that informs my own vampire mythos.

And because I love fairy tales and young adult fiction, I threw in some Snow White and a sweet sixteen that’s anything but sweet!

You write so many absolutely amazing kickbutt lead girls. Do you have a favourite and are any like you?

Thank you! I don’t have favourite, but I admit Lucy is one of the easiest characters to write. She just pours onto the page.

Now this question is utterly evil on my part: Do you have a favourite male character? This is such an evil question - sorry! - but I really want to know!!

I have lots of favourites! Mr. Darcy, always. As for my own characters, I have soft spots for some (Nicholas, Colin from Haunting Violet, Eldric from Stolen Away), but no crushes. It’s kinda like crushing on your imaginary friend and it feels weird. ;)

My Mental Rambling: Nicholas is my favourite - and I have a big crush on him... *le sigh*

You write lots of brilliant fantasy books - but is fantasy your favourite genre to read?

Thank you again :) I adore reading fantasy novels. My favourite genres are paranormal YA, historical fiction, and fantasy. I also love poetry and history non-fiction.

One of my favourite things about your Drake books is the split POVs. Is it tricky to get all those utterly unique voices? Is it harder to write boys than it is girls? And is there one perspective you liked writing from most and one who was more difficult?

Logan was my first POV in a teen guy’s head…and I found that more difficult than writing a four hundred year old villain like Montmartre. I made some of my guy friends read Logan to make sure I wasn’t totally off!

Ok, fun questions time! You've written about vampires, faeries and psychics, but if you could be any mythical being yourself, what would you be?

I rather like werewolves…but the actual wolves not the gooey monsters of horror movies. I’d like to be a time traveler too...preferably with the Tenth Doctor!

The Drakeseries is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves: do any of the Drake boys resemble any of the dwarves and is this fairy tale your favourite? Are you planning any more awesome fairy tale twists?

I adore fairy tales so they are always in the back of my head. I wrote a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood a couple of years back that I hope will find its merry way to the bookstores. And my poetry collection Briar Rose, is all fairy tale retellings. I’m not sure that I have a favourite, but I do tend to write about Snow White, Little Red ad Rapunzel a lot!

And those Drake brothers! I never assigned them particular dwarves a la Disney…but I’d love to hear what the readers think. Snarky, Anti-Social, Gothic…. we could start a new dwarf collective!

My Mental Rambling: Ooh, that could be fun!! Note to self: sad fanpic coming up of Drake brothers as dwarves... ;)

And finally: If the Book Fairy could arrange a tea party with any fictional characters of your choice, who would you pick and why?

I love fictional tea party time! I’d like to nibble a scone with Mr. Darcy, and drink tea with Elizabeth Bennet. She’s just so witty and cheerful. And now that the new Sleepy Hollow is making Ichabod Crane so much more interesting, he’s welcome to the tea party too!

---

Thank yuos o much for this interview, Alyx!! It's been great having you!! I'm super excited about all your upcoming books!! :D

Hope you all enjoyed the interview! And don't forget to follow Alyx's Site, follow her on Twitter and Facebook, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D

And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the amazing Katie Dale!!

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Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.
Among her favourite books are ‘The Wood Wife’ by Terri Windling, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum.
Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.

It's the final day of my Month of Guests! I've had so much fun putting this event together and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! But we're going out with a bang, people! With an interview with the lovely Julie Kagawa, author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden and Call of the Forgotten series! Enjoy! :D

And Month of Guests will be back next year!! Don't worry, I'm already scheming and planning to make it EVEN BETTER... ;)

Oh, and there are still two giveaways going on, so check them out: here and here! :D

When did you really realize that you want to be a book writer?

It was sometime in high school, I believe. The plan wasn't always to become a writer; I was originally going to be a veterinarian. But then I discovered that to do be a vet, you had to know a great deal of MATH and science and biology and MATH. And since numbers and I hate each other, I decided that maybe I'd give this writer thing a try.

Describe the moment when you first got the idea of writing The Iron Fey in your mind.

The exact moment was actually in a bookstore. I remember browsing through the YA section, and suddenly having an idea for a story about a girl who was a faery. In the very beginning, Meghan started out as a full faery, but as the idea and the story progressed, she became the half-blood faery she is today.

How does it feel to have your books translated in multiple languages around the world?

Pretty surreal. I have a special bookshelf in my office for the foreign editions of the books, and every time I see it I have to smile. It’s awe-inspiring to know that your books are being read around the world in France or Germany or Japan. And words cannot express my love for the Japanese covers. Manga-style Ash!

You always mention your husband in the acknowledgments page. How does he help you in the writing process?

He is honestly my biggest help when I am working on a book. I can always go to him with a problem when I'm stuck, and we'll talk it through until I get un-stuck. Plus, he reads through the whole completed manuscript before it goes off to my editor and catches most of my grammar mistakes, though he has threatened to rip the semicolon key off my keyboard so I can't use it anymore. I guess I like my semicolons. :D

Tell us some funny moment with some fan.

I was at a friend's wedding, and began talking to a random stranger about YA books, which we both loved. She started talking about this YA book about a girl who was half-faery and who went into Faeryland to rescue her brother, and I said "You mean The Iron King?" She said: "Yes, have you read it?" "No," I told her, "I wrote it." Hilarity ensued immediately after.

What is the most fun moment you’ve had while writing a book?

I think the book I'm working on right now has been the most fun to write. Sadly, I can't share the details yet, but I'm extraordinarily excited about the whole thing and can't wait to actually share the news sometime this month.

Some message for your fans?

I am just incredibly grateful for all the support and enthusiasm my fans have given me over the years. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without my readers, and I hope I will always remember that. So, thank you, everyone, for being awesome.

What’s next for Julie Kagawa?

Well, the next book of the Blood of Eden series, The Eternity Cure, just came out in May, and then the second book of the Call of the Forgotten series, Traitor Son, will be released sometime in the Fall. Of course, I do have this secret new series I'm working on that’s going to be made into a movie by Universal Pictures, but I'm not allowed to share that until later. Hopefully I'll get to tell everyone soon! :)

My Mental Rambling: And revealed it has been... If you haven't heard, check out the news: here!! :D It's so exciting!! :D

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Thank you so much, Julie!!! I am sooo excited about your new series!!! :D :D

Hope you all enjoyed the interview! And don't forget to follow Julie's Site and Blog, follow her on Twitter and Facebook, and check out her books on Goodreads! Oh, and here's her Blood of Eden official site and The Iron Fey official site! :D

And if you missed any MonthOfGuests fun, check it ou on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013 or see a list of all the posts: here! :D

And if you have any ideas for next year, I'm always here for advice!! :D

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Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.
Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon.

Series: Covenant, Prequel

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Format: Paperback

Published: 6^th May 2011

Number of Pages: 86

Book: Gift (My Family Is Awesome)

Genre:Paranormal, Mythology, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Thriller, Suspense, Action-Adventure, Greek Myths, YA

Recommended Age: 14+

Contains:Violence, Death, Swearing, Alcohol References

No Drug References

Author's Blog: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing “I smite thee!” as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life.

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals – pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she’d been trained to fulfil as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she’s pretty much accepted that she’s a freak by mortal standards… and that she’ll never be prepared for that duty.

According to her mother, that’s a good thing.

But as every descendant of the gods know, fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return – the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death…. Because she’s being hunted by the very creatures she’d once trained to kill.

The daimons have found her.

Review:

“It wasn't like I could tell him anything. I could see me now. Guess what? You ever watch Clash of the Titans or read any Greek fables? Well, those gods are real and yeah, I’m sort of a descendant of them. Kind of like the stepchild no one wants to claim. Oh, and I hadn't even been around mortals until three years ago. Can we still be friends?

Not going to happen…”

The Hematoi are the pure-blood descendants of demigods. They have superiority issues. Kind of understandably. They have godlike powers.

The half-bloods are half Hematoi, half human. They have no powers and only two possible options.

The first is to be sent to the Masters: basically, they'll be servants for the Hematoi. Joy.

The second is the Covenant, where they're trained to be Sentinels and to kill daimons.

Half-blood Alexandria chose the daimons route.

Until she didn't. Until her mother dragged her out of the Covenant without any kind of explanation.

She's been living in the mortal world for three years now, trying to be normal and fit in. She sucks at it. She beats some kids up and gets dumped. Lame.

Little does she know that's the best part of her week.

Suddenly she's alone and on the run, hunted by daimons, the beings she was once trained to kill.

With nowhere else for her to go, Alex has only one choice. She has to return to the place she fled from, without knowing why she had to leave and whether returning is any safer than staying away...

Those of you who follow my blog may know that I am the biggest Jennifer Armentrout fan on earth. So I've been absolutely desperate to get stuck into her Covenantseries for soooo long! When I got the series for my birthday I did a crazy happy dance all over the place. And then I stopped and picked Daimon right up. I loved it. Like seriously freaking loved it. Jennifer is a book goddess – her books are always freaking amazing and always completely addictive. Daimon, whilst only a novella, was no different. It was brilliant – a read-in-one-go little novella. It also left me totally desperate for Half-Blood– thank gods I have it!

And Alex was brilliant – so totally kickass! She was a mixture of all my favourite book heroines: tough, vulnerable, funny, sarcastic, witty, brave, loyal, stubborn, kinda violent, in love with totally the wrong guy. She made me laugh and then I hurt right along with her. I can't wait to read more about Alex!

And Aiden, from what I've seen from the Half-Blood extract, anyway: Yum. All I'm gonna say. I think that says enough.

But this world: loved it! I know it's often been compared to Vampire Academy, and sure there are similarities. You have the magic 'pure bloods' and the 'half-bloods' that serve and protect them. There's a school where the half-bloods train to kill. The only other option for them is less than desirable. There are the 'bad guys' that they could turn into – sorta similar to Strigoi. One of the half-bloods on the run – a sarcastic and impulsive half-blood. So, yeah. Similarities. But also just as many differences. There are gods – awesome. These pure-bloods fight – awesome. The magic is different – and awesome. And so on and so on. Basically everything was awesome – too awesome, really, for the word awesome. It really combined some of the most brilliant aspects of two of my favourite series: Vampire Academyand Percy Jackson. We had the Greek gods and their demigod descendants along with Hematoi, half-bloods, daimons and the Covenant. I just loved this world to freaking pieces!

Daimon is only like sixty-something pages long but a hell of a lot happens in these few chapters. More than enough to leave a girl chomping at the bit for more! It was all very fast-paced, but not so much that anything was taken away from the world-building. And already I'm having a sneaking suspicion that I'm desperate to learn more about - like right now! And the writing, as ever with Jennifer, was amazing. I really got a feel of Alex and was laughing along with her and then feeling my heart break a little bit (a lot, really...). I've already fallen for Alex. I'm starting to fall (hard) for Aiden, even from hints throughout the novella and from that one-chapter extract of Half-Bloodfrom the back of the novella. I'm more than one-hundred-percent in love with this world.

So this all leads down to two closing statements:

One: Read Daimon. It's awesome. I loved it so much. I don't care if you're worried it's too like VA – it's just too good to care! Even from this little novella I can tell this. It's official Armentrout. That is, absa-freaking-amazing.

Two: Where'd I put my copy of Half-Blood? I need it right right now. Gimme. *grabby hands* I need more right now now now. I have titanium and I will use it if you don't give me my book. And if you guys don't read this series. And I'm totally giving all of you deadly serious looks right now.

Don't make me set a daimon or something on you. Not sure how I'd do it, but I'd find a way. And that's a promise.

Star Rating:
4 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

Anti-Goddess by Kendare Blake

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2013(Hosted by Book ChickCity)

Happy Reading

Megan

Series: Unravelling, Book One

Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks

Format: Paperback

Published: 7^th June 2012

Number of Pages: 416

Book: Bought

Genre:Psychological Suspense, Thriller Suspense, Contemporary, Realistic-Fiction, Science-Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Horror, YA

Recommended Age: 14+

Contains:Lots of Swearing, Alcohol, Drug and Sexual Assault References

Author's Site: Elizabeth Norris

Author's Blog: Elizabeth Norris

Leaving the beach, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit head on by a pickup truck.

And killed.

Then, someone is leaning over her, healing her stopped heart. But if she was brought back to life, it must be for a very good reason.

That reason?

Unless Janelle can stop it happening, the world is going to end in twenty three days.

The countdown has begun.

23:57:06

04…

Review:

“I wonder how long I was dead. Because I know with absolute certainty that I was. Dead.

And I also know with absolute certainty that somehow - even though it defies any logical explanation - Ben Michaels brought me back.”

Janelle's life is far from perfect. Her mother is bipolar and barely manages to get out of bed. Her father is a full-time FBI agent who is hardly ever there. Janelle is responsible for her brother, trying to play the mother while also trying to be a normal teen.

She doesn't realise how dead she feels until she is actually, physically dead.

Hit by a car. Very definitely dead. And then... brought back. Healed. Alive. Someone restarting her silent, broken heart, leaning over her with worried brown-black eyes.

This person – the one who heals her – loves her. Very, very much. But surely, surely, they have a better reason for bringing her back. There has to be something bigger going on. Right?

Possibly something that is linked to the series of mysterious and bizarre cases Janelle's dad is investigating.

Like her own. The car – the one that killed her - is unregistered, created by a car company no one has ever heard of. As if the car just... appeared. Out of nowhere. The driver, a John Doe, who died after hitting her. He died in his car. Only, he seems to have died from extensive radiation burns - injuries that could never have happened to him inside the car.

But all of that's impossible, right?

Unfortunately, no. Something far bigger than her is going on. Something the whole world is going to find out about in, oh, about twenty three days.

Well. Not really going to find out about, per say. More... not discover. Cause the world will be over.

Unless Janelle, her best friend and saviour can stop it - unless they can keep everything from unravelling.

'So far all attempts to stop the countdown have been unsuccessful...'

So, let the countdown begin and pray that Janelle can stop it...

Unravelling is the kind of book you pick up, start to read and then just can't stop. It is totally addictive. I could barely do anything else – even the so-called 'important' stuff, like eating and sleeping and breathing... Who came up with these stupid bodily rules? They totally get in the way of my reading. It is extremely annoying. But back on topic, Unravelling was completely hooking. I literally could not put it down at all, no matter how hard I tried – not that I tried all that hard, really, given that the book is freaking amazing.

I absolutely adored Janelle. She was so normal and yet so not. She was clever, stubborn, strong and snarky. She never let anyone walk over her or stop her from doing what she wanted – namely investigating FBI cases. I do admit, the fact that the only thing that seemed to work for her when she was grieving was just throwing herself into snoop mode was a bit odd to me (personally, I'm the curl-up-and-cry-and-eat-chocolate-and-watch-trashy-TV kind of girl) but, hey! People grieve in their own way and if that's what works... And no. I'm not telling you why she's grieving. You're just gonna have to read the book and find out.

As for Ben... Yum. Right from the word go, he made me fall in love. Damn me and my weak spot for the tortured ones! But seriously, he was so so amazing.

And Alex... Oh, I want an Alex. He was so sweet and amazing and just always alwaysthere for Janelle, no matter what. And I loved that they were just friends – no love triangle including new mysterious boy and boy-next-door. Yay!

The whole daughter-keeping-family-together, absent-workaholic-father and/or emotionally-absent-disturbed-mother thing has been done numerous times. But I think what made this family and the family angle so special is that even though it seemed like it was almost on the verge of falling apart, the family was still normal. Janelle, her dad and her little brother fire off X-Filesquotes, eat Chinese and joke around. There's Strutz, the basically-uncle, who's there and makes them laugh. Alex, to whom Janelle's dad is basically a second father. The beautiful, perfect and touching relationship between Janelle and her little brother Jared. Even the nickname they gave Janelle: "J-baby" just screamed normality. The mother might be the only abnormal thing, always holed up in bed with the occasional episode, but also the occasional normal, sunny period. And then there came The Event, which proved that even if you're normal and even though you love each other and are hanging on firmly, a single act or event can still devastate...

Oh, I have to mention the plot! Mainly 'cause I loved all the twists and turns. And, of course, because I'm a sucker for a good murder mystery! But my God, Miss Norris! Why do you seem to be set upon breaking my goddamn heart?! I mean, what's with that?! Because yes, this book that I wasn't expecting to be emotional, this book that I expected to be all sci-fi, was absolutely heartbreaking. The way Norris wrote... she made the sci-fi, far-fetched as it was, seem actually real and so emotional it was untrue. I fell in love, laughed, hated and then cried my eyes out at three in the morning. Oh, why did you do it, Miss Norris? Why why why...?

But back to the writing: it was brilliant. I think Janelle and her voice had a big part to play in that: J felt real and human and I felt everything she felt. Which, obviously, meant I mourned as she mourned. And now I'm pretty sure half my heart has been taken... But on top of the emotions there was the whole mystery. I loved that part of it - mainly 'cause generally speaking it didn't destroy me. I just had fun trying to figure everything out and loved racing through the book to the end, gobbling it all up. But seriously: that blend of emotions and pure sci-fi? Brilliant. Genius. Awesome. Yay!

So, yes. Unravelling was... incredible. I adored it. I have been left broken by it and yet absolutely deliriously desperate for Unbreakable. My heart may be broken but the torn muscle still aches for more of this story, of this world (or should I say worlds?) and of these characters. This is a book that will suck you in, capture your heart and mind and leave you breathless, broken and longing for more more more as soon as humanely possible. Just an absolutely stunning debut I can’t recommend enough.

Star Rating:
4¼ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

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Sister Assassin by Kiersten White

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2013 (Hosted by Book ChickCity)

Happy Reading

Megan

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Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris