The Gift Of Books Giveaway Blast!

We're excited to be a part of THE GIFT OF BOOKS GIVEAWAY BLAST! hosted by Erika @ One Day A YA. Some really cool books are up for grabs in the giveaway. There will be a total of SIX winners! So come along and participate! Wish you all the very best and hope you win! :) 

The Gift of Books Giveaway Blast is hosted by One A Day Y.A. and runs from December 14-21, 2012. There are 15 ebooks, 1 $10 Amazon Gift Card and a total of 6 winners. We hope you have...a blast!

Grand Prize - 1 Winner

Plus

Rhiannon Paille - Surrender and Lantern & Poison

Laura A. H. Elliot - Transfer Student

Brooke Passmore - Scarlet Woods

Marie Landry - Blue Sky Days

Nyrae Dawn - Winner's Choice!  

Second Prize - 1 Winner

Cheryl Rainfield - Parallel Visions

Laura A. H. Elliot - Winnemucca

Sarah Dalton - The Blemished

Stephanie Parent - Defy the Stars

Jennifer L. Fry - A Part to Play

Runner Up - 4 Winners

Scarlet Woods by Brooke Passmore

To enter in the draw, fill out the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is open internationally to anyone 13 and older. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sarika

Feature & Follow Friday #17

Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read. 

Today's question is:

Q: WHAT IS THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY? TELL US ABOUT THE SCENE…

My answer:

Books tend to leave a hole in my heart and make my heart feel heavy. But it's very rare that I actually cry after reading something.

I haven't been able to connect with any book like I could connect with J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

The chapter titled The Prince's Tale (Snape's flashback) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows really made me cry. Ah, just remembering it makes my heart do a little tug and pull. It truly moved me and made me want to love, hate, slap, kiss, hug, throw and trust Severus Snape all at once. 

Actually the whole of Deathly Hallows made me cry. 

More recently, however, Kathleen Winter's Annabel also managed to bring a few tears to my eyes. It's difficult to explain the scene. I'll just share the quote. 

You were a daughter as well as a son. But what would Wayne do with the truth? He would need more than the truth. He would need a world that understood. 

What scene from which book made you cry?

Follow us and we'll follow back! 

Happy Friday, everyone! 

Sarika

Review- Dizzy by Nyrae Dawn and Jolene Perry

Summary-

Dylan doesn’t do relationships. He and his older brother watched their dad go through hell and back, so they made a pact years ago—no girl would come between the Gibson boys. But his brother sells out. He's getting married anyway. To the sister of a chick Dylan met at a party, who's probably the angriest girl he's ever met. Unfortunately, she happens to be hot, too.

Ziah’s life is upside down—her safe boyfriend turns out to be not-so-safe, and now her sister is getting married before college is over to the older brother of a spoiled, party boy who drives her crazy. And also makes her heart beat too fast.

There’s no denying the attraction, but there's also no denying how much they irritate each other. When they’re thrown together as forced wedding planners, they find an ally in each other--neither wants this wedding to happen.

But instead of putting a stop to the crazy nuptials they find themselves at fittings and cake testing. And maybe even…a few dates?
Dizzy is a novel about what happens when two people who are determined not to fall in love, maybe do anyway. Maybe.

Review-

Dizzy was a very fun and cute Young Adult book which definitely got a smile to my face. It had just the right amount of angst and drama to make it believable without making me frustrated with any of the characters or any situation whatsoever in the book.

Dizzy starts off with Dylan and Ziah meeting at a party. They are both attracted to each other and can feel the connection but each have their own set of circumstances which makes them reluctant to do anything about it. Dylan think Ziah is the angriest girl he's ever met and Ziah thinks Dylan is a spoiled, rich, party boy who just drives her crazy.

Both of them are unprepared when they find out that their older siblings have fallen in love with each other and are getting married. Here Dylan and Ziah are forced to help in the wedding planning which brings them together so many times. So as they begin to really get to know each other they can't help the sparks that fly off whenever they are in each other's company.

I loved Dylan and Ziah's banter.It was cute and fun and natural all at the same time. You can see how Ziah is hesitant to put herself out there after her boyfriend's betrayal and you can see how Dylan has yet to get over his mother's abandonment. They are complete opposites on the outside but inside they are exactly the same just looking for somebody to love them for who they are.

I loved Nyrae Dawn's writing from before but I'd read Jolene Perry for the first time and she was just as good. Dylan's pov is written by Nyrae and Ziah's pov is written by Jolene. This was a light read with a sweet romance and a great set of characters. If you're looking for a nice contemporary young adult read Dizzy is definitely the book for you.

 X 4

Janhvi

Review- Haunted by Douglas Misquita

Goodreads Summary:

FBI Special Agent Kirk Ingram’s life is torn apart when his family is brutally murdered before his eyes. Devastated physically and psychologically, he vows to destroy organized crime in all forms.

In the Eastern bloc, a rogue dictator state is stockpiling Citex, a deadly nerve agent...

Across the globe, an international trade house funnels Balkan organized crime activities through its business channels and now hatches a plot to distribute Citex to major cities in the world, creating a nexus with terror that threatens to bring the world order to the point of anarchy.

And only one man stands in the way of global terror and paranoia. One man seeking redemption and waging a personal battle against the demons of his past.


HAUNTED, the action-thriller from Douglas Misquita has been extremely well received by fans of the genre. 
Fast, explosive, visual and fluid, Haunted packs enough punches for an adrenaline-filled rollercoaster read!

REVIEW:

A thrilling read, Haunted is an intelligent book with a brilliant plot that will keep the reader on his/her toes and make them want to move on to the next page ASAP! 

FBI Agent Kirk Ingram's family is brutally murdered under his nose and he is helpless in the situation. From there, the story moves to various happenings all over. The characters and their names do get a bit confusing, but that is what makes it all the more interesting. It makes the reader want to know more and more... Some of the really impressive characters were all the FBI Agents and the smart detectives as also the ones that pose a threath. Besides being a battle to maintain stability and save the lives of innocent people, the book also speaks of how the Agents leave behind their families to save the world and yet are willing to lay down their lives for their families AND a good cause at the same time.
Overall, I'd say the entire story is gripping and totally worth reading. 

RATING:

X 3

Sarika

Waiting On Wednesday #17

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

                                                    Dare To You by Katie McGarry

                                                               May 28 2013

Summary-

"I dare you..." 

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does.... 

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him. 

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all...

 I LOVED Pushing The Limits and am so excited for Beth's story. This cover is absolutely gorgeous! Hope the book is just as good!

                                                     What are you waiting on?

                  Janhvi

Review- The Kindred Curse Anthology by Terra Harmony

Goodreads Summary:

Their very blood betrays them.

A disease passed to each new generation of descendants attracts vampires. Pieces of family history and the secrets to survival are lost as the lineage progresses. The Kindred Curse Anthology prequels lead you back in time, revealing the root of a dynasty's plight and a beginning that ultimately transcends the family's end.

Consisting of five short stories, each subsequent book in this anthology is written as a prequel to the prior. The matriarch of the family, Anna Sprengel, survives a vampire poisoning. Her tainted blood is passed down to each new generation, morphing into deadly auto-immune diseases. However, no descendant can escape the magnetic-like pull they have toward vampires - and vampires have toward the family. Loosely based on the true story of the foundations of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Anna foresees the destruction of the world, and joins forces with a vampire in order to prevent the total loss of both races. But every member of the family in each generation must play their part. Constantly on the run from vampires, their instincts for self-preservation overcome even their kindred bonds. Anna is no longer around to ensure the prophecy is carried out by her family, but her vampire cohort, Xavier, is. Even if he can overcome the sensual pull toward Isabelle, the prophecy remains precarious as the future of both races is at stake.

REVIEW:

The Kindred Curse Anthology by Terra Harmony is a very interesting read. A short story about vampires, the book doesn't take much time to finish. Add to it the fact that the story is quite gripping. A book that can be finished in just one sitting, Gleaming White starts as a story about two twins, one of whom, that is Gabriella, died after being turned into a vampire. Her twin sister, Isabella is the next victim. She becomes the fancy of a vampire Elder, Xavier and is on the way to bringing her sister back to life... The anthology goes backward in time. So generations of vampires are described from the present to the past. From Gabriella and Isabella, we move on to the story of thier mother, Diana. Diana's story was very very interesting. There are in all five stories in the anothology and  they all come together to make a very riveting whole.  
A nice and different take on vampires, The Kindred Curse Anthology is tiny, interesting and a great read!

RATING:

X 3

Sarika

Teaser Tuesday #17

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

I hated that every word I said to her was cruel, but I needed her to stay away from me. She had no idea exactly who I was. No one did, really. I was many different things to many different people. Sometimes I didn't even know who the hell I was anymore. 

-Abbi Glines, Just For Now (Sea Breeze #4)

Goodreads Summary:

The day Preston Drake figured out that wealthy women paid well for a set of tight abs and a pretty face his life turned around.

The run down rat-infested trailer he had shared with his alcoholic mother and three younger siblings was now only a place he visited to pay the bills and stock the pantry with food. 

He no longer worried about his family starving or living without electricity. The money he made entertaining rich older women more than covered his family’s needs and his own. He had it all figured out. Except…

There was this girl.

She was as innocent as he was tainted.

Amanda Hardy wished her knees didn’t get weak when Preston walked into a room. She hated the fact her heart raced when he flashed his smile in her direction. He had a different girl in his bed every night. He was the kind of boy a smart girl ran from. So, why was she coming up with ways to get close to him? Even when it was obvious he wanted to keep her at a distance.

Maybe her heart knew something the world didn’t. Maybe Preston Drake was more than just a pretty face.

What's your teaser? 

Happy reading, everyone! 

Sarika