Giveaway Winners!

Winner of the Here Lies Bridget Giveaway is...

Kate (ThatBookBlog)

Winner of the Wickedness Manuscript Giveaway is...

Sarah Webster

Winner of the Cherished Giveaway is...

Siobhan @ TotallyBookalicious

Congrats to all the winners!

Review: Meridian (Fenestra #1) - Amber Kizer

Name: Meridian (Fenestra #1)

Author: Amber Kizer

General Release Date: 11th August 2009

Date I finished it: 23rd September 2011

Type: Audio Book

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Meridian has never been a normal girl, death seems to follow her wherever she goes.

On her sixteenth birthday things start to turn very strange, and when a car crashes in front of her house, Meridian is sent to stay with her aunt in Colorado. 

Meridian's aunt is the one to tell her what she really is, a Fenestra.

She is a link between the living and the dead and she must learn to let dead souls pass through her into heaven.

While learning about her new powers, Meridian also learns that there is a darker side to death, they are called Aternocti. Instead of allowing souls to pass through to heaven, they pass through them to hell.

All the while Meridian has to deal with being away from her family and not knowing if she will ever see them again, a dying aunt who she is becoming very close to and a strange new religious cult that seems to have sweeped the small town by storm.

I loved Meridian, it was such a great book!

For me, it was a complete change to my usual YA paranormal reads. The book is something different from vampires and werewolves and it is beautifully written. Meridian is a loveable character who people can connect with and understand what she is going through.

As the story unfolds I was more and more hooked on it. I wanted to find out what was happening and why all this was happening to poor little Meridian. There was one point in the book I thought was predictable, and my guess turned out to be right. Because of that one point I gave the book four stars instead of five.

I did shed a few tears during this book, parts of it were very moving which I think adds to the overall feel of the book.

Overall I loved Meridian and cannot wait to get started on the second book, Wildcat Fireflies.

Cherished Blog Tour and Giveaway!

I am so happy to be part of this blog tour for Cherished today!

Cherished is the second novella in the Mystic Wolves series by Belinda Boring aka The Bookish Snob.

Today I have a lovely guest post from Belinda about how she created the Mystic Wolves novellas:

I Dreamed A Dream – The Creation of the Mystic Wolves

Ever gone to bed one night and woken up so caught up in a dream, you’re almost positive it’s real? I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve woken up to slap my husband! He tries to reason with me and then rolls back over to proceed snoring. Thank goodness I love him, right?

I remember waking up one morning on the verge of hysterics. The most gut wrenching agony filled me and I thought my heart would break. All I remember was a gun and trying desperately to save someone. Nothing I did made a difference and the grief from the moment nearly crushed me. I texted my BFF, telling her about this horrible dream and how I just couldn’t shake how I was feeling. Her advice? “Write it out, Bel.” So I closed my eyes and started typing. From those feelings the Mystic Wolves was created.

If I could say what type of supernatural gal I am, I’d say hands down I love vampires! There’s something incredibly sexy about a man with fangs, all that danger and mystery just thrumming through him. So as I began writing and I needed to decide the “who” of my dream, I knew they weren’t human. Don’t get me wrong, I’m human (GO TEAM!) but reading paranormal romance is addictive so it was an easy assumption my characters would be some kind of creature. The vamp girl in me naturally leaned towards this story being about vampires but wait… Darcy had other plans – she was a werewolf and there was NO WAY she was going to be a blood drinking heroine. No worries, right? This opened up a whole different direction – one filled with delicious Alpha males and as I pictured Mason, I’ll admit I got chills. Werewolves it was and I didn’t look back!

Did you know that the Mystic Wolves was only meant to be a short story in an anthology? Yep, just one powerful scene that revolved around a dream theme. When I finished Without Mercy, it stood at 9,000 words and I was in love. Not wanting to wait, I released it one morning… SURPRISE… and the support I received back was amazing! The whole day was spent in a giddy fog as people embraced Darcy and begged for more. That’s when my BFF came forward again, “Bel, you should make this a series. Every 4-6 weeks release the next installment as small novellas.” My response? “Oooh I love it. Let’s see what happens.”

One thing I hear a lot about is that Without Mercy and Cherished are short. I hear you and it’s for a reason. No, I’m not being the mean author, although I do feel the urge to MWAHAHAHA every now and then. As a reader, one of the things I dislike the most is the LOOOOONG wait for my next fix in a favorite series. I know I’m not the only one either. By setting the Mystic Wolves up in monthly installments, I’m hoping people will enjoy getting little pieces at a time. Having something to look forward to that doesn’t require an act of sainthood patience.

I will promise you this; each installment is dictated by the characters. Depending on the story they want to share, each novella will vary in length. Right now, as Mason, Darcy and Devlin are whispering, Blood Oath will come close to 30,000 words. I know, not the full length novel but it’ll definitely be worth the read. The Mystic Wolves have a lot to share with everyone, lots of drama and emotion. But most all, you’ll find a lot of heart and swoon so thank you for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the series!

Thank you so much for sharing that with us Belinda, Remember to check out my reviews of Without Mercy and Cherished.

And also to stop by Book Savvy Babe tomorrow for the next stop on the tour.

I am also giving away an e-copy of Cherished to one lucky winner! All you have to do is FILL OUT THIS FORM! Giveaway is open from today 2/10/11 till 9/10/11!

Review: Cherished (Mystic Wolves #2) - Belinda Boring

Name: Cherished (Mystic Wolves #2)

Author: Belinda Boring

General Release Date: 27th August 2011

Date I finished it: 11th September 2011

Type: E-Book

From: Kindle version

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Cherished is the second novella in the Mystic Wolves series, I want to say a massive thank you to the author Belinda Boring for giving me a review copy of this book for her blog tour!

Cherished follows on from Without Mercy just perfectly, it centres around Darcy and Mason and all the emotions they are both feeling after such a great loss of Jasmine the night before.

The book gives the reader an insight into the world of the wolves and their pack, shows us how things are run and what is expected of them.

It also shows the reader just how close these pack members are, they are truly a family.

The story between Darcy and Mason is lovely, I couldn't tear myself away from all the emotion flying between the two of them.

After only getting a brief glimpse of these two characters in the first book I wanted to know more about them, Cherished does just that!

Overall it is a lovely little novella and I am looking forward to reading more in this series!

End of September RAK Wrap Up

Random Acts of kindness is hosted by BookSoulmates

This month I sent out:

Flawless by Lara Chapman to Siobhan @ Totally Bookalicious

The Haunted by Jessica Verday to Misty @ Bookaholics Book Club

Last Chance by Sarah Dessen to Lesley @ My Keeper Shelf

Beauty by Robert McKinley to Sarah @ Whispering Words

And I received:

Huntress by Malinda Lo and Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien from Misty @ Bookaholics Book Club

Abandon by Meg Cabot and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor from Siobhan @ Totally Bookalicious

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

Thanks so much to everyone who sent me books this month, I love each and every one of them!