Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Two Moon Princess Tour Post and Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Today I have Andrea from Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban! She is here today to answer some this or that questions. Enjoy!

1. Blue or Pink
Blue

2. Dresses/ Skirts or Pants/ Shorts
Pants

3. Dogs or Cats
Dogs

4. Up or Down
Up

5. Summer or Winter
Summer

6. Light or Dark
Light

7. Chocolate or Candy
Chocolate

8. Socks or Slippers
Socks

9. Milk or Juice
Juice

10. Sunshine or Rain
Sunshine

If you comment on this post (with your email address), you can win your very own copy of Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban! Don't pass up the opportunity to read this book! Contest will end April 27th.

Swords are for fighting,

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Overprotected: Into the Past

Hi readers! Today I have author Jennifer Laurens here to promote her book, Overprotected by telling us about her favorite books as a child.

Favorite Past Books:

Since I was an only child, my mom started collections for me: dolls, dollhouses, miniatures, tea cups, books, were among the few. Dolls were a favorite. Naturally, Dare Wright’s series The Lonely Doll became an obsession for me. A lonely doll living in a fantastic penthouse in New York City? Candy for this child. I loved the black and white photos, the setting of New York even at that age, and have been to NYC and written about it in two of my novels. I’d live there if I could.

At 12 I had pretty much devoured every Nancy Drew mystery and had the whole set. Mysteries were a favorite of mine at the time, but no book rated on my shelf like Time at the Top by Edward Ormandryod. Again, about a girl living in the city who sees a crazy lady on the street ( dressed in old fashioned clothes) who tells her, “I’ll give you three.” The girl has no idea what “three” the old lady is talking about, but when she presses the elevator button to go to the top floor of her building and finds herself back in time, she quickly realizes she has three trips back. It’s a fascinating story and I still have my original hardback.

Girls my age hid romances in lunch bag wrapping paper when we were in high school. My friend introduced me to my first in class one day: Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss. As a sheltered, only child, the lusty romance was an eye opener for me and I devoured a bunch of those during my high school years, along with classics I read in school that I loved: The Good Earth, Lord of the Flies and selected SciFi. It wasn’t until much later that I fell in love with romances again via Nora Roberts’ work. I also read Endless Love by Scott Spencer for the first time. I never forgot the book, but, at 16 hardly appreciated his literary genius. It was only when I picked up the book again and re-read it 10 years ago that I was, once again, BLOWN away by his text. His book is one of the few on my NOOK now. A Keeper. I was working hard in the film industry at age 21 – no time to read. I wrote screenplays. I didn’t pick up reading heavily again until I’d been married and had a few children and found the escape an inexpensive, wonderful time for me to “get away” from it all – even if only temporarily. My favs: Nora Roberts’ Quinn Brothers series, selected Lisa Kleypas novels and the occasional suspense thriller by Sandra Brown and Penn Williamson.

I don’t think I would have appreciated the books I love now, if I’d had them back then. Like I said with Endless Love, it was the book everyone was reading, so I read it –but I didn’t see the beauty in his story, the structure of his sentences, etc, that I see now as a writer. So, there aren’t any books that I can say I would have LOVED to have had in my hands. I don’t spend much time looking back, I never have. I look forward.

Jennifer

Thanks, Jennifer! Make sure to check out her book, Overprotected. You can read my review of it here.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (49)...


Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I am eagerly anticipating.



This week's Waiting on Wednesday pick is: Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

Publication Date: April 1, 2011 (Yes, it already came out, but I still don't have it!)

Synopsis:
Nora, the popular girl and happy consumer, witnesses a horrific bombing on a shopping trip with her mother. In Nora’s near-future world, terrorism is so commonplace that she can pop one little white pill to forget and go on like nothing ever happened. However, when Nora makes her first trip to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic, she learns what her mother, a frequent forgetter, has been frequently forgetting. Nora secretly spits out the pill and holds on to her memories. The memory of the bombing as well as her mother’s secret and her budding awareness of the world outside her little clique make it increasingly difficult for Nora to cope. She turns to two new friends, each with their own reasons to remember, and together they share their experiences with their classmates through an underground comic. They soon learn, though, they can’t get away with remembering.


This book sounds awesome, right?

Swords are for fighting,

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Teaser Tuesday (50)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along, 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!

This week's Teaser Tuesday comes from page 77 of Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban:


"With long strides, John came toward us, talking with another boy. His eyes were pale brown, as I remembered them, the color of the honey I used to steal from honeycombs back in my world to please my mother."


I just started this book, so I have no idea what is going on in this teaser!
 
Make sure to come back to Swords for Fighting on April 20th for an interview with the main character of Two Moon Princess, Andrea.
Feel free to share your teasers with me!
 
Swords are for fighting,

Monday, April 4, 2011

Celebrate the lives of those who have battled or have cancer, remember loved ones lost to cancer, and fight back against cancer!

Hi everyone!

Relay for Life is fast approaching (it is this Saturday!), so I wanted to see one more time if anyone would like to donate to a great cause.



We all know at least one person who has or has had cancer. The goal of Relay for Life is to fight back against cancer by raising money that will go towards research. I am calling on all of you to donate any money that you can towards fighting against cancer. Whether it is $5 or more, any amount of money will help! You can even donate in honor, in memory, or in support of a loved one who has battled or is battling cancer.
If you can, please help by donating. You can just click here. Any amount of money can help towards finding a cure. Thanks for reading!


Please, spread the word if you can!

Review: Overprotected by Jennifer Laurens

Synopsis:
Ashlyn: A lonely society princess living in New York City.

Daddy hired you to be my bodyguard.

Colin: Childhood enemy, now her protector.

Daddy thought I’d be safe. He thought I’d never fall in love. He thought he could keep me forever.

Charles: obsessed with keeping her safe, keeping her his, he hires the one person he knows she could never fall in love with: Colin.

Daddy was wrong.


Review:
Overprotected is the second book I have read by Jennifer Laurens (A Season of Eden being the first), and I absolutely loved it! It had me hooked right from the beginning, and it was difficult to put down. The writing style had me absorbed in the book no matter what was happening.

Ashlyn is a seventeen year old girl that longs for freedom. Sure, her family is well off, but she has no freedom whatsoever. She was kidnapped as a young child, and ever since her father has had a bodyguard for her. This means that Ashlyn has absolutely no freedom to do what she wants and no freedom to experience life. All of her worldly experiences come from the romance novels she reads, so it is easy to see why she wants space.

After her bodyguard gets fired, her father hires Colin, a childhood friend of Ashlyn that used to bully her, as her new bodyguard. After Ashlyn gets to know the new Colin, sparks fly. Colin, being the gentleman that he is, tries to stay professional and ignore their chemistry. I enjoyed the forbidden romance aspect of this book. It definitely made the book exciting. Colin is such a sweetheart. I loved his personality and the way he cared for Ashlyn made him easy to love.

Ashlyn's father is way too overprotective. Thanks to him, everything about her life is planned out for her and controlled. He is definitely my least favorite character in this book. Ashlyn cannot even keep her friends if her father does not approve of them! I hated the way he treated Ashlyn.

Overprotected is a wonderful book. If you like teenage angst, you will definitely enjoy this story. I thought the story was adorably and heart-warming. I definitely enjoyed it. I am looking forward to reading more books by Jennifer Laurens.

Also make sure to stop by on April 11th to see a guest post from Jennifer Laurens herself!

Rating: 4/5

Swords are for fighting,

Sunday, April 3, 2011

In My Mailbox (49)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren where I share what books I got in the past week.







This is what I received this week:

Review:
  • Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
  • Phantom Universe by Laura Kreitzer
Borrowed:
  • The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

    What did you get this week?

    Swords are for fighting,

    Saturday, April 2, 2011

    Then I Met My Sister Cover Post

    Today, we have Christine Hurley Deriso here talking about the cover of her new book, Then I Met My Sister:

    Love, love, love the cover. I think it captures the eeriness, transcendence and mystery of the book. I'm so grateful to my wonderful publisher, Flux, for treating my book with such TLC, including coming up with such a great cover. Coincidentally, the girl on the cover of the book (Shannon) looks a lot like my daughter, who portrays Shannon in the book trailer. (Check it out either on my website, www.christinehurleyderiso.com) or my publisher's, www.fluxnow.com.) 

    Thanks, Christine! Here is the trailer for those of you that want to see it:



    Don't forget to check out Then I Met My Sister, which comes out April 8, 2011!

    Swords are for fighting,