GIVEAWAY/Guest Post: "The Never Prayer" by Aaron Ritchey

Dude. You're old. You're a boy. What do you know about being a teenage girl?

            So my very first reader, a real, live Young Adult, emailed me and told me she couldn’t believe I could capture how it felt to be a teenage girl when I was a guy getting on in years.  Yeah, I’m middle-aged.  It’s a shameful thing to age, but it beats death.

            I get asked this a lot—how do you capture what it’s like to be a teenage girl since you’ve never been one?

            The short answer is that being human is more important than being our gender.  Being human is hard—boy, girl, rich, poor.  In my next life I’m going to be a dog living with a rich, childless couple in Manhattan, and of course, my owners will work from home.  So all day long my life will be nothing but love and treats.  This life, I’m stuck being one of them crazy homo sapiens.

            In my debut novel, The Never Prayer, I tried to capture a human experience and didn’t really focus on gender.  That’s the short answer.

            The long answer, well, take a seat.  I learned early on that I couldn’t play the “guy” game.  I didn’t like sports.  My brother was God’s gift to women.  I was overweight and underappreciated.  And when the boys started flexing, I knew I was never going to win at that game.

            So I made my own way.  I went where my spirit led me.   I watched soap operas, read romance novels, and I was the dreamy boy who never quite fit in.  A lot of people thought I was gay, but I liked girls.  I still like girls.  I really, really like girls.

            No.  Really.

            As a result of my past, I have a lot of female energy.  I appreciate emotional depth, I understand the yearning to be wanted, I lean toward vanity, and I long for strong connections with the people around me.

            Are men shallow, sloppy, and uncaring?  Well, I don’t want to bash my gender, but male energy is about getting things done, overcoming obstacles, going out in the world and conquering.  What your hair looks like doesn’t much matter, and if I hurt your feelings, well, you’ll get over it.

I do have that part of me.  I run triathlons because when you’re in the last mile of the run, your feelings don’t matter, and listening to your body is for wussy-sissy-girls.  You run that last mile, no matter what.  You git ‘r done.

            One of my goals in life is to experience as much as I can, to be big enough on the inside to hold all the contradictions and paradoxes in life without wavering.  To have both male and female energy.  To be both an atheist and a believer.  To hold it all and accept it all as a part of life.

            I must admit, I would have had an easier time of it if I had been just a normal guy.  If I could have flexed more and been successful at it.  But then, I don’t think I would have grown up to be a writer.

            My next life, though, as the dog, it’s all gonna be far more simple.  Girl dog, boy dog, doesn’t matter.  I’ll be a dog, on my owner’s lap, enjoying a nice pet.  Until then, I’ll write my characters as honestly as I can with what I know.

            And I’ll continue to enjoy a cool pair of shoes, even if they hurt my feet.


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Author Bio
Aaron Michael Ritchey has been a world traveler and an endurance athlete, and even considered the priesthood. He dances among the extremes, reading Twilight, Atlas Shrugged, and A Case for God simultaneously. Writing Young Adult novels is perfect for him because that's a time of extremes and firsts, and who doesn't love firsts?


Aaron's Website     Twitter     Facebook     Goodreads     Amazon     IndieBound     Barnes and Noble


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Shattered by the death of her parents, Lena will risk everything to keep her disintegrating family together. Torn between her love for an Angel and a Demon, Lena thinks she knows the difference between Heaven’s Fury and Hell’s Desire. She never had a prayer…


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Giveaway Guidelines!!

• -Must be at least 13 years old 
• -Open INTERNATIONALLY 
• -If you win only I will have access to your email address and will only use it for contact purposes and to -give to the author so they can send you your e-book
• -If you win you have 48 hours to respond to the email or a new winner will be chosen
• -Ends on July 6th at 12:01am
• -One entry per person
• -See how to enter below
• 
  

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How to enter!!


To enter all you have to do is leave a nice comment below! Make sure to put your email address that way I have a way to contact you if you win. If you want to go the extra mile also put your twitter link and I can contact you that way as well.


Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!!

Follow Friday #22

This Weeks Follow Friday Question:Birthday Wishes -- Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake... who is it and what book are they from? Hmm... This is a very good question! I would have to say Suze from Meg Cabot's Mediator series. I would love to know if there were any ghosts in my house and what they were saying. I would also love to be able to help her help them. How fun!! Ghosts are so cool to me, I have no idea how someone would want to get rid of that gift, but then again I don't have the gift so I wouldn't know how hard it was in the first place. It would be weird to have her jump out of my cake though. I would want her there as a guest. A hot guy should jump out of my cake so I guess I would pick Lucas from Easy by Tammara Webber *swoon*
So who would you pick to jump out of your cake?
For the list to add your name and follow others go to Parajunkee's and Alison Can Read's Follow Friday post =]

BBReview: "Easy" by Tammara Webber

Genre: Young Adult -Contemporary
Publishing Date: May 25th, 2012
Page Count: 310
Source: Bought from Amazon
Format: E-Book

Description from Goodreads.com:
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex's frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she's still the same intelligent girl she's always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There's just one problem - their only interactions are through email.

Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. At a downtown club, he disappears after several dances that leave her on fire. When he asks if he can sketch her, alone in her room, she agrees - hoping for more.

Then Jacqueline discovers a withheld connection between her supportive tutor and her seductive classmate, her ex comes back into the picture, and her stalker escalates his attention by spreading rumors that they've hooked up. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

Author Recommendation: Mature Young Adults (language, drinking, sexual situations)

Review:
Amazing! Heart pumping, gasping, aww inducing, utterly amazing! After I read A Book Vacations review on Easy I knew I had to get it. The description alone made me want to read it, but when one of your favorite bloggers says that this novel was a masterpiece you know you have to read it! From the description it is easy to guess what might end up happening, but what you can guess is not the big point of this story. Easy talks about a very dark topic and even though I haven't experienced that I feel like Webber did it justice. I know a lot of victims and hearing their stories I know that they went through something similar to how Jacqueline dealt with it. I feel like the topic was handled very appropriately and that Webber wrote it fantastically.

I really love that this is a mature young adult. Sometimes it is hard to connect with main characters that are 16/17, but for once it was someone who was my age and I could better connect to her feelings, being in college, dealing with that load and failing your first class. I really advise you to listen to the author recommendation, because I know I personally would feel better if only 17+ would read this, because it is very mature and has a lot of adult situations.

I think what really made me love this novel was that it was a mature young adult. A lot of young adults can touch base on a dark topic and then add some romance and a bad guy and voila it's a hit, but this went darker and deeper than a normal young adult can go. It talks about a time when you are in college, you are on your own, officially an adult and you still have emotional struggles to deal with. Plus the steamy sex scenes were definitely a plus in my book. I felt like a little kid giggling while reading it, because I am not used to reading such vivid sex scenes.

The characters were fantastic and their growth throughout the novel was flawless. Jacqueline was an amazing main character and I really connected with her. Jacqueline's roommate/best friend was fantastic and totally reminded me of myself with her "I don't care" attitude. Lucas was dreamy and perfect. Dark hair... tattoos... muscles... *swoon* and Kennedy was your perfect douche bag ex boyfriend =D

Overall:
Easy is an amazingly, fantastic novel! I love that it is a mature young adult, because I could better connect with the characters since they are my age. I know it may sound weird, but I did love that it talked about a very dark subject, because it made the novel feel more real and it was extremely interesting and heart wrenching to read about how someone deals with something like that. It was beautifully done and I couldn't ask for better. All of the characters were fantastic and I loved how they progressively grew through out the novel. And you cannot forget about the sex scenes! haha I recommend this novel for anyone who loves young adult, but isn't "normal/targeted" young adult aged. I highly recommend that you listen to the above author recommendation, because this is much more mature than regular young adult novels. You have been warned and recommended =D

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5


*Cover photo, description, and publishing date are from Goodreads.com. The goodreads page where they were borrowed from is linked back on this page. I, personally, bought this novel from Amazon for my kindle. I am not affiliated with Amazon, Kindle, or Goodreads. All other work and opinions are of my own creation*

Question of the Moment 84

Have you ever tried a novel not because it sounded good to you or was the type you would normally like, but because of all the hype over it? A novel where everyone is talking about how amazing it is so you just go ahead and buy it since it has to be amazing? If so, what novel(s) and did you end up liking it/them?

I have definitely done this a few times. You know especially when you are a book blogger and you read tons of bloggers reviewing the same book or tons of bloggers having it in their mailbox you just want to get it too and read it too. It must be good if the majority of the people you follow are reading it. Three novels come to mind on this. 

Two of them I did not have any desire to read, but so many people said they were AMAZING and I had to read them! Those two are...

I ended up liking both even though I was sure I wouldn't. I love the Harry Potter movies, but since the novels are middle grade I thought they would be too lame for me to enjoy. The Hunger Games just sounded too depressing and I thought I would never get into it, that it would almost be science fiction-y for me, but I ended up loving both =D 

The last one is one that there has been a lot of buzz about, and once I read the description I was on the band wagon for it as well. That one is...

This one...jeese I do not even know where to start. I couldn't put this one down. It was utterly fantastic and I can't wait to tell you all about why I loved it tomorrow in my review =D

So do you believe all the hype? Which novels have you been guilted into buying? Did you like them? Let me know in the comments below =]

Top Ten Doppelganger Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there will be a new topic for everyone to create a top ten list with. 

This Weeks Topic:

Top Ten Characters Who Remind Me Of Myself Or Someone I Know In Real Life

Yay! I am very excited to be starting this new weekly meme. Making lists is one of my favorite things to do so this shall be fun. The only thing is they picked a pretty rough topic for my first week (haha). Lets see how many I can actually come up with.

1. Angela from "Unspoken" by Sarah Rees Brennan

Angela definitely reminds me of myself. She is very EXTREMELY sarcastic and doesn't like people. She has friends, but she doesn't like crowds and definitely isn't afraid to hurt someone's feelings. She also is a big fan of eating and sleeping, two of my loves =D. I am one of the most sarcastic people you will ever meet, I do not like people and I love sleep, but again just like Angela the people she does care about she would do anything for.






2. Gale from "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Gale reminds me who my boyfriend portrays himself as to outsiders. He is strong and manly and is willing to do anything for me. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and is willing to escape everything is there is a chance for things to get better. I think this is why I loved Gale so much. He was willing to do anything for Katniss and that is exactly what my boyfriend is about.







3. Peeta from "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

On the other hand Peeta also reminds me of my boyfriend, but the side that only I get to see. The caring, gentle, romantic, loving side of Peeta is how my boyfriend behaves as well when he doesn't have to put up appearances (lol). He will never admit it, but my boyfriend is a huge softy and that bread baking, cake decorating Peeta is too =D






4. Doc from "Shadowland" by Meg Cabot

Doc reminds me of my little brother. He is really interested in making an impression on me since he is so much younger than I am. He tries to act tough in front of me and tries to make me like him. He would say or do anything I told him just so I would keep hanging around him and that is how Doc is.







5. Mari from "Where Will You Run?" by M.E. Franco

Mari totally reminds me of my mom. My mom is in law enforcement, but it is not just that. My mom is all about the truth and willing to be a detective to seek that out. My mom and I love cop shows too so she definitely has some extra tips from those to figure out a crime. Mari's sister is put up in a mental hospital, because she says a vampire tried to kill her. Obviously nobody believes vampires exist, even Mari, but Mari is willing to look into it anyways and that is my mom to a T. She doesn't believe in the paranormal, but if one of her family members say something paranormal is there she will check it out anyways.




6. Mari's sister from "Where Will You Run?" by M.E. Franco

Mari's sister remind me of my aunt. You know the one who says vampires are trying to kill her and gets put up in a mental home. Yea, I would put my aunt there too. Mari's sister also gets into some trouble during her youth and thinks of herself as a badass and again that is exactly how my aunt was when she was younger.








7. Phoebe from "Passing strange" by Daniel Waters

Phoebe reminds me of my best friend Veronica. She is very unique and beautiful. She also does her own thing and doesn't worry about what other people think. When Phoebe becomes part of the undead her parents don't accept it and pretend that she doesn't exist, but Phoebe tries to not let this get her down and live her life as normal as possible. Veronica would be the same way. She would just try to get through it and get the "family" she needs from her friends.





I am pretty sure that 7 characters are all that I can think of right now. I will say that with such a tough topic I made some pretty good progress especially it being my first Top Ten Tuesday. Hope you stick around for next weeks =D

BBReview: "The Journeys of John and Julia in Chapter One: Genesis" by Aurelia

Genre: Middle Grade - Science Fiction
Publishing Date: September 9th, 2011
Page Count: 264
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-Book

Description from Goodreads.com:
The Journeys of John and Julia begin.
The Twenty-Two are watching.
Reality is about to change.

It all starts when Julia's parents totally mess with her summer. First Julia's dad takes off to start a whole new family. Then Julia's mom yanks Julia from cheerleader camp to spend the summer with her grandmother in the land of no signal, no mall, no best friend Kellie. Julia's only hope for human contact is geeky John Freeman, who is six months younger than she and about a million years behind her idea of cool.

If only Julia knew that her mom plans to dump her at Grandma's not just for the summer, but for a whole year. If only Julia knew that a collective of wondrous being called The Twenty-Two are watching over her and trying to make contact. If only Julia knew that they could tell Julia every thought she never knew she had and bend her reality in any way they choose. And that she'd be with John Freeman when it happened. He'd think that was way cool.

And that is just the beginning. For this seemingly mismatched pair have cracked open the door to another reality. And their enemy-to-be, the beyond evil Niem Vidalgo Oten, is about to enter the picture.

Review:
I honestly do not know where to begin with this novel and I do not know what, exactly, I was expecting when I requested it off of NetGalley. First of all I do not like science fiction nor do I like middle grade so if you are a fan of either or both then you may want to only take my review with a grain of salt.

Going into this I did not know it was a middle grade. I thought it was a science fiction young adult and I decided to give it a try, because maybe I would like it because it sounded innocent and that maybe I would be able to relate somewhat to the whole girl dealing would issues and maybe it would turn into a little bit of a romance between her and John. I was completely wrong about all my assumptions. Since it is a middle grade the characters are ages 12 and 13 and I do not relate to twelve/thirteen year olds well lol. They are still in that im a kid, but not a little kid stage so their "issues" and "struggles" aren't issues or struggles to me. Also this novel was described to me as "if you liked the TV show Heroes you are sure to like this". Needless to say I hated Heroes, so again no idea what I was thinking.

I really hated Julia's character, because she was a complete total brat. The way she talks to her mom is dumbfounding and I wanted to smack her across the mouth. I understand when in a YA a 17 year old will talk back to their parent, because usually it is when dealing with a big issue like a love interest, or college, or when they aren't being a parent at all, but when a 13 year old does it, because she can't go to cheerleading camp I am over it. When she tries to throw it back at her mom that the only reason she is booting her off to grandma's is because her mom is jealous that she has a life since she couldn't keep her father I am furious and want to stop reading. That whole scenario only happened in the beginning. Julia also treats her friends pretty crappy by saying rude things that she doesn't mean to hurt their feelings, but if they do it to her she goes nuts.

With John I definitely liked him more since he was a sweet 12 year old. He liked reading in his tree house that he built with his dad and eating homemade cookies from his grandma, but he was too young and sweet for me to connect with and want to read a whole chapter book on his terrible cousin. The Twenty-Two gang interested me a little bit cause I wanted to know all their powers, but it still wasn't enough for me to want to keep reading to find out.

On to a little bit more technical things. I understand that this is was put on NetGalley and that maybe it is considered an ARC, but it was released in September of last year so I am not sure if this is an ARC or the real deal. Either way the editing was terrible. Every single page I found either a typo, a grammatical error, or just sentences not making sense where I would try to re-read them over and over and try to decipher their hieroglyphic meanings, but could not. Lastly, I feel like there might have been some personal opinion of the author or their religion thrown into this novel a bit. I did only read till chapter nine, but it seemed like there was a lot of stigmatism about Julia's parents being divorced. It was an awful thing to all the characters in the book and even one of the Twenty-Two members thinks that if they just put her parents back together her life will be back to perfect. Also, Julia's friends mother had her when she was sixteen and there is a moment in the book where her friend shows shame for her mom being so young. I don't know if these topics were put in on purpose or it just happened that way, but I didn't like them.

Thus, I had to put down the book. I do not do this often so it was definitely a feat for me. I just couldn't relate to the characters enough to want to tough it out and if you have no connection with the characters you are screwed.

Overall:
I couldn't bring myself to finish this novel. The Journeys of John and Julia just wasn't for me and I will not be continuing with the series. I couldn't connect with the characters in any way and felt like the actions of Julia were extreme and just wanted to hit her. The editing in this novel was terrible, there were a lot of sentences that just didn't make any sense. Lastly, there were some opinions on topics in this novel that I just didn't agree with such as divorce and teen pregnancy and so I was left with just putting down the book and not looking back. If you like (possibly conservative) middle grade science fiction then you might like this novel. If you liked the TV show the heroes and like middle grade novels you may also like this series. I unfortunately do not.

Rating: ♥ 1/5


*The cover and book description were borrowed from Goodreads.com and both are linked back. The book I received from NetGalley for review. Everything else is my own creation and opinions.*

Question of the Moment 83

What causes you to just put down a book and not finish it? Is there any one factor? For other book bloggers, does it make a difference to you if you got it for review? Does that make you try harder to finish?

For me if I'm not grabbed into the stories main points then I lose interest. Like if its about something I don't care about or want to know more about, I am gone. You have lost me. Another thing is if I can't relate to the characters. I need to be able to relate to the main character in SOME way or even if there is a sub character that appears a lot that I connect with. A connection needs to be made, if there isn't one... you have lost me. And lastly, if I can't understand what I am reading, like it just looks like scholarly jargon to me. you have lost me.

I also think that, at least just for me, if it's a book you got for review I definitely try harder to finish it. I may complain about it the whole time in my review, but at least I gave it till the last page to change my mind. Im pretty sure those are the three main points that get me, because I can only think of four books I have ever not finished and they fall under those reasons.

What makes you drop a book and never look back? Let me know in the comments below =]

Wicked Wildfire Read-A-Thon Wrap Up

It is both Yay! and Nay! that the Wicked Wildfire Read-A-Thon is over. Yay! because I had so much fun and Nay! BECAUSE I HAD SO MUCH FUN! lol I did get a lot of reading done which was awesome!
I read 4 novels over the course of the read-a-thon and here they are...

• SOHO Teen Spring 2013 Sampler book
• The Journeys of John and Julia by Aurelia 
• Easy by Tammara Webber
• Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan 

The SOHO Teen sampler book I got from BEA this year. It has sample chapters from the six novels coming out in 2013 and I hope to be working with them so I had to read up on what was coming. The next novel I read was The Journeys of John and Julia and unfortunately it just wasn't my cup of tea. I should have known since they said "if you liked the show Heroes you will love this!" and I didn't like the show Heroes lol. So, it was my first DNF book. Easy was AMAZING! I highly recommend this to anyone who loves mature YA. I highly recommend you be at least 17, because then I feel more comfortable with you reading this, because it does talk about some very dark subjects and there is some pretty steamy scenes. Finally Unspoken I received from NetGalley awhile ago and it is expiring on Tuesday so I knew I had to start it. I am still finishing it now and am half way through, but let me tell you so far I am completely in love with this story! It is so good and freaking HILARIOUS!!

I am very proud of myself for my progress this read-a-thon. I didn't make any goals this time which was nice for once, because then I could only be happy of my progress. I would have liked to get in at least one more, but thats ok. I hope you all made your goals and Happy Reading =D 

The Sunday Post ~ First Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. The Sunday Post is a new meme where you can post about the new books you got this past week, or recap what has been happening the past week on your blog, or even a sneak peek for what is to come. 
I am super excited to be using this new weekly meme from now on. I don't know why I haven't thought of using such a genius idea before! So look forward to me using this new style of weekly updates and follow suit. (HAHA just kidding, unless you want to!)
Books I was asked to bite and books I decided to bite this week: 

For Review:

• Fated by Alyson Noel - Thanks to Macmillan Audio
• Bad Day for Voodoo by Jeff Strand

Bought from bookstores:

• Bras & Brooksticks by Sarah Mlynowski
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Bought for the Kindle:

• Revenge of the Homecoming Queen by Stephanie Hale - FREE
• Whisper by Chelsea M. Cameron - $0.99
• Knee Deep by Jolene Perry - $2.99
• To Kill A Warlock by H.P. Mallory - FREE

Bites you may have missed this past week:My Overall BEA 2012 Recap!!Guest Post: Elisabeth Wheatley author of The Secrets of the VanmarsWaveCloud: A New Site YOU Need to Join!Question of the Moment 82BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" by Nathan WrannMy Book Haul from BEA 2012Books Up For Grabs!!
What you can look forward to biting into next week: 

• Question of the Moments 83 and 84
• BBReview: The Journeys of John and Julia by Aurelia
• BBReview: Easy by Tammara Webber
• Another new meme I am going to start doing "Top Ten Tuesday" hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
• Hopefully *crosses fingers* Follow Friday post
• Guest Post/GIVEAWAY with Aaron Ritchey, the author of The Never Prayer

Thanks for checking out my Sunday Post! Hope you check in again next week =D

-Becky

Books Up For Grabs!!

Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D

This Weeks Schedule: 

Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap 

Tuesday: Guest Post
Wednesday: Wave Cloud

Wednesday: Question of the Moment

Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Saturday: Books Up For Grabs

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Here is all the extra copies of book that I got from BEA 2012 just for YOU, my followers!! I will be giving them away sporadically so make sure you check back =D

A few are not from BEA, but are just physical books that I have for giveaways, so I decided to just include them all as a preview to what you could win in the future. Stay tuned for their giveaways!!

The Ruin of Lace by Iris Anthony/ The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken/ The Hunger Games: Movie Cover Copy by Suzanne Collins/ The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz/ After Life by Rhian Ellis/ Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

 Carnival for the Dead by David Hewson/ The One That Got Away by Kelly Hunter/ Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes by P. H. C Marchesi (signed)(Middle Grade)/ Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (signed to me)/ Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (not signed)/ Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris (signed)

 Destined by Aprilynne Pike (signed)/ No Peace for the Damned by Megan Powell/ Grave of Angels by Michael Prescott/ Insurgent by Veronica Roth (signed)/ What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt (Middle Grade)/ Black Fridays by Michael Sears

The Vampire Diaries Vol 1: The Awakening and The Struggle by L. J. Smith/ The Vampire Diaries Vol. 2: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith/ The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff (signed)/ Betrayed by Ednah Walters/ Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Hope you enjoyed this preview to all of my upcoming physical book giveaways!! And I hope you check back often for other great posts and giveaways =D A great way to keep up with all my posts and amazing giveaways is to subscribe via email on the sidebar!! 

My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D

This Weeks Schedule: 

Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap 

Tuesday: Guest Post
Wednesday: Wave Cloud

Wednesday: Question of the Moment

Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Saturday: Books Up For Grabs

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Here are all of my books that I got from BEA this year! I hope you look some (or all) of them up and buy a few for your own collection, because I have a feeling all of these are going to be GREAT!!

 Seed by Ania Ahlborn/ Kiss & Makeup by Katie D. Anderson/ The Ruins of Lace by Iris Anthony/ Agorafabulous by Sara Benincasa/ The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken/ Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter (signed)

 BETA by Rachel Cohn/ Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti (signed)/ Matched by Ally Condie/ The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova/ The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross (signed)/ After edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (signed)

 Croak by Gina Damico (signed)/ Scorch by Gina Damico/ Angelfall by Susan Ee/ After Life by Rhian Ellis/ Sanctum by Sarah Fine/ Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (signed)

 War of Gods by Lizzy Ford/ Shadow's Edge: A Night Prowler Novel by J.T. Geissinger/ Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin (signed)/ Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan (signed)/ Speechless by Hannah Harrington/ Carnival for the Dead by David Hewson

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber/ The One That Got Away by Kelly Hunter/ The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (signed)/ Allegiance by Cayla Cluver (signed)/ Techno-Mancer by B.V. Larson/ Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

 Everyday by David Levithan/ God Save the Queen by Kate Locke (signed)/ Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas/ Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (signed)/ The Farm by Emily McKay/ Crush. Candy. Corpse by Sylvia Mcnicoll

 Me Before You by Jojo Moyes/ Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin (signed)/ Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris (signed)/ Breed by Chase Novak/ Destined by Aprilynne Pike (signed)/ No Peace for the Damned by Megan Powell

The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble/ Grave of Angels by Michael Prescott/ Insurgent by Veronica Roth (signed)/ The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (signed)/ Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter/ Spellcaster  by Cara Lynn Shultz (signed)

Criminal by Karin Slaughter (signed)/ Inside by Maria V. Snyder (signed)/ The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff (signed)/ Soul Screamers: Volume One by Rachel Vincent (signed)/ Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman/ Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner/ Murder by Moonlight by Vincent Zandri

Apparition by Dylan White
This one isn't from BEA, but I got it for review recently and wanted to just go ahead and add it to the haul.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Again this one isn't one I got at BEA, but I recently won it and got it in the mail the day I got back from BEA.
Won from Starry-Eyed Revue

Hope you enjoyed viewing my haul from BEA 2012 and I hope you pick up a few for yourself =D

BBReview: "Cor Griffin Bloodsuckers 2: From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Genre: Young Adult -Paranormal/Thriller
Publishing Date: January 15th, 2012
Page Count: 258
Source: Sent to me by the author
Format: E-Book

Description from Goodreads.com:
The Cor Griffin Bloodsuckers' story continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Matter Heart.

Cor, Taylor and Caitlyn have put an end to The Creeper's reign of terror, but at what cost? The teens' lives are thrust deeper into turmoil as Detectives Tolliver and Orlovsky keep Cor under surveillance; Caitlyn copes with her transformation, and Taylor sets off a cataclysmic chain of events that will tragically change their lives forever.

"From Out of Chaos is Book 2 in the "Dark Matter Heart" Trilogy.

Review:
From Out of Chaos is definitely much different than Dark Matter Heart. It was still straight to the point and thrilling, but it was chaotic (haha title pun) and even depressing. I almost felt like maybe Nathan Wrann was in a depressive stupor and just said, "to hell with these characters" lol. This time instead of outside factors creating the trouble or even the bad guys it was the good guys causing their own trouble by just making dumb mistakes. I will admit that I understand Taylor's terrible choice. He was curious and he is a scientist so I understand how that happened, but at the end Caitlyn's terrible idea was just unforgivable. I literally wanted to reach in the book and kill her. Also a terrible event happens and if you read this novel you will know exactly what terrible event I am talking about, but the way that Cor responds emotionally just doesn't sit well with me. I know everyone behaves differently in those situations, but still I thought he should have reacted someway. I am just glad he didn't respond with anger.

I also don't know how I feel about Wednesday (Diana). I guess I will just have to see how her character builds up (hopefully) in book three. I don't know if she will make an appearance, but hopefully she will because I love romance. I still definitely liked the overall story, but I did hate how Caitlyn's character behaves. I mean she is a very smart girl, but ever since she turned into a Vampire she has made really dumb decisions. She makes no sense to me and I just honestly don't like her character anymore. Taylor and Cor need to lose her.

Overall:
I did like From Out of Chaos, but not as much as I liked Dark Matter Heart. I didn't like that it was the good characters that caused the chaos and not the bad guys. It's one thing when you cannot control the bad things that happen to you, but its another thing when you cause them. I will definitely continue on with this series, because I want to see where it goes and I want to see how Cor and his friends are going to clean up the huge mess that was left behind in book 2.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 3/5

*Cover photo is from author. Description and publishing date is from Goodreads.com and is linked back to it. This novel was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Everything else is my original work*

Something Wicked This Way Comes... #WWReadathon Challenge

This challenge comes from the Wicked Wildfire Read-A-Thon that I am participating in. If you want to participate the linky is open till this weekend! If you just want to play along with the challenges in all good fun with me, but not participate in the read-a-thon or win a prize you can answer below in the comments... 

“A wildfire is quickly coming your way! What thing/s do you grab when you only have a few minutes to make it out?”
(I’ve saved any people or pets in there already!)

I know I would try to run upstairs and save all of my books, but I know that that probably won't happen. I really hope this never happens to me, because it honestly makes me want to cry thinking that I will lose all of my books lol. SO I will try and think of things to grab that are right here in this vicinity (my bedroom). I would grab my stuffed bear from my boyfriend, my Ipad, my sorority badge, my sorority bag to stuff all this in it, my laptop, and then I would start grabbing things at random. Like books from upstairs, random "important" items, but I know my mom would grab good, necessity, important things so I would just be left with grabbing important things from my bedroom. 

It's weird to kind of prioritize your things and think what is truly important to save that you can't replace. A lot of the things in my room I can replace, thats why I only grabbed things that mean something to me further than just their outwards importance. 

This challenge was kinda fun, but very depressing to me lol, because I keep thinking about all that I would lose. SO SAD!! Anyways, I am going to go see what others put down =D

HAPPY READING!!

Question of the Moment 82

Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D

This Weeks Schedule: 

Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap 

Tuesday: Guest Post

Wednesday: Wave Cloud
Wednesday: Question of the Moment

Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Saturday: Books Up For Grabs

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How do you deal with characters that make trouble for themselves? Do you enjoy them, because they make a more exciting story? OR do you hate them?

I hate them! Sorry lol but i do. I understand when "bad guys" make trouble, cause its their job or when there is already trouble to be solved from the beginning, but i do not like it when "good guys" make dumb decisions and make trouble for themselves. It drives me insane! It's like don't we have enough problems and you want to add more? I would kick them out of the book lol.

So how do you feel about the good guys making trouble? Let me know in the comments below =]

WaveCloud: A New Site YOU Need to Join!

Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D

This Weeks Schedule: 

Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap
Tuesday: Guest Post

Wednesday: Wave Cloud

Wednesday: Question of the Moment

Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Saturday: Books Up For Grabs

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Before BEA I was contacted by Jim Dissett to possibly stop by the WaveCloud booth and learn all about them! If you were at BEA you may have been approached by a guy with what looked like a jet pack on his back, but it was really a coffee machine, and was offering free cups of coffee. Well, he was with WaveCloud. I decided to stop by the WaveCloud booth, because they sounded like a very interesting new company and that is exactly what I learned they were!

WaveCloud is a new online site that is trying to connect authors with their readers and vice versa. Authors can go on WaveCloud and for free they can sell their novels. Customers can then go on WaveCloud and buy those books, sounds simple doesn't it? Here is where the awesome parts come in. Buying books is not the only thing you can do on WaveCloud. It isn't just another book selling website. Members of WaveCloud can also comment on the books, post reviews about them, and even post their favorite quotes from that book. Very soon you can even post up photos relating to that particular book or author and even post video. Authors can see all of this, of course, BUT they can interact with their readers. They can see who bought their novels, what they are saying about it, and can respond back and contact those readers. They can personally ask readers for feedback. They can post up extras from the book or even post on there about where they go their inspiration to create that character. Even when you buy the book you get an email saying thank you for purchasing from the author!

Currently WaveCloud has more than 150,000 titles available to buy, rate, and review. Three things that I find very interesting about WaveCloud is CloudPoints, CloudDiscovery, and AuthorDashboards.

CloudPoints are points that readers can earn from being interactive on WaveCloud. This include reviewing, buying, commenting, etc., You can then collect these points and redeem them later on for e-books and other book related items! How cool is that?
CloudDiscovery will provide a unique way to discover new authors and novels. It won't just be your typical Top 100 list or even "here's what others bought along with this".
AuthorDashboards allow authors to have a one-stop location for information on their work including who is buying their work, where they are from, and what they are saying about it to others.

WaveCloud wants there to no longer be barriers between authors and their fans. They want there to be a sense of friendship and open communication. I really feel that WaveCloud has a great thing going and will become extremely successful!!

I was sent a frequently asked questions document and here are a few that I think are the most important you should know...

What does WaveCloud offer readers?

For readers, WaveCloud offers a complete book lover's experience. In addition to finding and purchasing their favorite e-books, readers at WaveCloud gain access to a wide variety of features including:

• Researching and discovering new titles from new and established authors
• Building virtual collections of their favorite e-books to express themselves to their friends and to the world.
• Discovering the e-books that are popular in their trusted circles of friends
• Influencing peers by rating and discussing book online
• Discovering and learn from people with similar reading tastes
• Participating in online book groups to further explore literature and share ideas
• Interacting with and learning from authors

How do you differ from other e-book services and websites?

WaveCloud was developed specifically to connect readers and authors in a way that we believe has become lost in the transaction-based relationships that currently have a stranglehold on the market. WaveCloud believes that an author’s reader base is “intellectual property” – and as such authors should have a greater ability to identify, grow and increase the loyalty of their readership. Therefore, WaveCloud provides tools to authors to help them reach their audience in ways outside the transactional experience of the book purchase allowing them greater freedom over their work, even to the extent of setting the price readers pay.

Conversely, WaveCloud also believes that readers feed off the creative work of writers – and as such they crave a deeper, more engaging path to discover and experience new authors and new pieces of work. WaveCloud provides tools to readers to help them reach authors in ways outside the transactional experience of the book purchase and allows readers greater freedom over how they peruse, select and interact with the books and authors they read.

What are CloudPoints – and what can I do with them?

CloudPoints is a system that encourages participation in the WaveCloud community by rewarding activity on WaveCloud.com with points (“CloudPoints”) that can be redeemed toward a variety of goods and services. WaveCloud community members begin accumulating CloudPoints the moment they enter the site, and the number of points continues to increase with every action taken on WaveCloud. CloudPoints encourage community participation, provide an incentive for readers and writers to join the conversation and offer a great way for WaveCloud members to save money. 

What does WaveCloud offer authors?

WaveCloud offers authors, and aspiring writers, a platform that provides the tools and resources they need to complete, publish and bring their work to market in an environment where they can identify and reach their intended audience. Once authors are published, WaveCloud helps them connect with their readers in an intimate way that helps them to maintain and grow their existing fanbase while identifying and reaching new audiences.

WaveCloud is still in its BETA mode so not all of the features are up yet, but already it is a pretty amazing site. You can still sign up today and become a member so head on over to WaveCloud and become a part of a new author-reader interactive future!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

The Car Thief is now at discounted price!!

Hi everyone,

A little while back I reviewed Theodore Weesner's novel The Car Thief. 

Here is the book description from the publicist to refresh your memories:

It's 1959. Sixteen year-old Alex Housman has just stolen his fourteenth car and frankly doesn't know why. His divorced, working class father grinds out the night shift at the local Chevy Plant in Detroit, kept afloat by the flask in his glove compartment and the open bottles of booze in his Flint, Michigan home.

Abandoned and alone, father and son struggle to express a deep love for each other, even as Alex fills his day juggling cheap thrills and a crushing depression. He cruises and steals, running from, and to, the polic, compelled by reasons he frustratingly can't put into words. And then there's Irene Shaeffer, the pretty girl in school whose admiration Alex needs like a drug in order to get by. Broke and fighting to survive, Alex and his father face the realities of estrangement, incarceration, and even violence as their lives hurtle toward the climatic episode that a New York Times reviewer called "one of the most profoundly powerful in American fiction."

In this rich, beautifully crafted story, Weesner accomplishes a rare feat: He's written a transcendent piece of literature in deceptively plain language, painting a gripping portait of a father and a son, otherwise invisible among the mundane, everyday details of life in blue collar America.

A true and enduring American classic.

And here is a link to my review: Click Here =D

Anyways, the reason I posting again about The Car Thief is because recently The Car Thief was chosen for "Amazon's Summer Reading Promotion" which means that the e-book will be available on Kindle for only $2.99, but it will only be that price till June 24th which is just a couple days away! This means if you want to buy The Car Thief at it's new awesome price you need to act fast!! 

Click here to buy The Car Thief for only $2.99

If you use something other than Kindle you can find the book at Astor and Blue's website HERE

I hope you enjoy this discounted price and read The Car Thief for yourselves!!

-Becky

Guest Post: Elisabeth Wheatley author of The Secrets of the Vanmars

Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D

This Weeks Schedule: 

Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap 

Tuesday: Guest Post
Wednesday: Wave Cloud
Wednesday: Question of the Moment

Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann

Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012

Saturday: Books Up For Grabs

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Hello there again and thanks for stopping by Book Bite Reviews! Today i have an awesome guest post by the sixteen year old YA fantasy author Elisabeth Wheatley. I hope you enjoy and leave comments for her and answering her ending questions =D I know my answer is definitely the Márya Morévna heroine. 

The other day I was thinking, and I realized something rather fascinating. Heroines in fantasy books (or I suppose it could apply to any genre) can be grouped into the basic categories of three fairytale princesses.

First, we have the Snow White category (think of Disney’s Snow White). Snow White is very sweet, very beautiful, very cheerful, very kind, very thoughtful, very stupid. The things that people love about her, her gentle spirit and perpetually kind manner are also the things that get her into trouble. She thinks ill of no one and this often allows bad people to do bad things because she’s too trusting. The Snow White genus of heroine is practically extinct now, in favor of the other two categories.

There is the Márya Morévna category. Márya Morévna is a figure in Slavic folklore. A warrior queen who defeats an immortal ogre and locks him up in her dungeon. But then one day while she’s out fighting or doing whatever it is warrior queens do on the weekends, her boyfriend goes and lets the ogre out by accident. Márya must then go on a quest to rescue said boyfriend from the ogre. As you have probably guessed, the heroines in this category are what are commonly referred to as “kick-ass.” They are great fighters and they are the sort of young women you don’t provoke if you value your life. The Márya Morévna heroine is at the top of her game and the stories about these heroines usually involve her finally meeting an enemy who is stronger than she is. Kristin Cashore’s Katsa falls into the Márya Morévna category as does Sarah J. Maas’ Celaena Sardothien.

The third category is the Mulan heroine. Mulan is a character in Chinese folklore who dresses up as a boy to take her decrepit father’s place in the emperor’s army. This type of heroine is the sort who doesn’t know how to fight or use magic or what have you at the beginning of the story, but learns as she goes. The Mulan heroine is usually motivated by survival or the desire to save a loved one. She essentially wants to be left alone, but does what she needs to do. She relies more on her wits than her skills. Shannon Hale’s Ani is a Mulan heroine. The main character of my books, Janir Caersynn Argetallam, also falls into this category.

Of course, these are sweeping generalizations and some characters, like Suzanne Collins’ Katniss, could belong to more than one category. And then there could also be sub-categories within each category, too. Even the two heroines I used as examples for the Márya Morévna group could be divided into “trying to survive and help people along the way” and “went on quest to save kingdom.”

And there you have my random observation of the day. No surprise, my favorite category is the Mulan heroine, but everyone’s different (thank Heaven or life would be very boring!). So what’s your favorite type of heroine?

Again, please make sure you leave comments below for Elisabeth and make sure to go out and grab a copy of her YA fantasy novel The Secrets of the Vanmars. Below is the cover and the book trailer so I hope you check those out as well. 

Book Cover

Book Trailer