Dystopian Giveaway Hop (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the Dystopian Giveaway Blog Hop. This hop is co-hosted by April at My Shelf Confessions and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

What You Can Win

Today I'm giving away a UK edition of ACID by Emma Pass. I read and reviewed this book a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed it so much that I want to share it. Here's a little about the book:

Blog Tour (Guest Post & Giveaway): Relic by Heather Terrell

Title: Relic (Books of Eva #1)
Author: Heather Terrell
Publisher: Soho Teen
Release Date: October 29, 2013
The truth will test you...

For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down.

When Eva’s twin brother, Eamon, falls to his death just a few months before he is due to participate in The Testing, no one expects Eva to take his place. She’s a Maiden, slated for embroidery classes, curtseys, and soon a prestigious marriage befitting the daughter of an Aerie ruler. But Eva insists on honoring her brother by becoming a Testor. After all, she wouldn’t be the first Maiden to Test, just the first in 150 years.

Eva knows the Testing is no dance class. Gallant Testors train for their entire lives to search icy wastelands for Relics: artifacts of the corrupt civilization that existed before The Healing drowned the world. Out in the Boundary Lands, Eva must rely on every moment of the lightning-quick training she received from Lukas—her servant, a Boundary native, and her closest friend now that Eamon is gone.

But there are threats in The Testing beyond what Lukas could have prepared her for. And no one could have imagined the danger Eva unleashes when she discovers a Relic that shakes the Aerie to its core.

Heather Terrell's Guest Post

I often dream about the apocalypse. Not really the actual cataclysmic event itself -- a tsunami or a terrorist attack or nuclear warfare or something even my active imagination can’t contemplate -- but my steps to prepare for it. In these dreams, I am racing about gathering all the necessary things for a post-apocalyptic world -- medicines, food stores, money, fuel, and even weaponry. The most nightmarish part of these dreams is that I am scrambling to ready myself and my family, but I know that I’m running out of time. That I won’t be able to gather everything that we need before the event happens, and it’s too late. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I write about a post-global warming world in my newest novel Relic.

Review: Relic by Heather Terrell

Title: Relic (Books of Eva #1)
Author: Heather Terrell
Publisher: Soho Teen
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date (US): October 29, 2013
The truth will test you...

For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down.

When Eva’s twin brother, Eamon, falls to his death just a few months before he is due to participate in The Testing, no one expects Eva to take his place. She’s a Maiden, slated for embroidery classes, curtseys, and soon a prestigious marriage befitting the daughter of an Aerie ruler. But Eva insists on honoring her brother by becoming a Testor. After all, she wouldn’t be the first Maiden to Test, just the first in 150 years.

Eva knows the Testing is no dance class. Gallant Testors train for their entire lives to search icy wastelands for Relics: artifacts of the corrupt civilization that existed before The Healing drowned the world. Out in the Boundary Lands, Eva must rely on every moment of the lightning-quick training she received from Lukas—her servant, a Boundary native, and her closest friend now that Eamon is gone.

But there are threats in The Testing beyond what Lukas could have prepared her for. And no one could have imagined the danger Eva unleashes when she discovers a Relic that shakes the Aerie to its core.

My Review

So, I didn't really have an idea of what to expect from Relic by Heather Terrell, but I knew it wasn't going to be A Game of Thrones and/or The Hunger Games (nothing ever is). However, I was pleased with what I got. Relic is an imaginative mixture of post-apocalyptic quasi-dystopia with an epic quest aimed at a young adult audience. Sadly, there is no magic or fantasy. (Dear Game of Thrones Comparer, Here there not be dragons. Or incest.)

Review: Blythewood by Carol Goodman

Title: Blythewood
Author: Carol Goodman
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Welcome to Blythewood.

At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she’s on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.

But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes.

Vivid and atmospheric, full of mystery and magic, this romantic page-turner by bestselling author Carol Goodman tells the story of a world on the brink of change and the girl who is the catalyst for it all.

My Review

I almost didn't read this book. You know how it goes - you get busy, life poops on you, blah blah blah... I said to hell with my reading schedule, and I read this book when I was already behind. I spent extra time with the book because it released after my turn with the ARC. I wouldn't say that I couldn't put the book down, but I picked it up at every opportunity that I had.

Book Trailer Reveal (Giveaway): Champion by Marie Lu

Title: Champion (Legend #3)
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (Penguin)
Release Date: November 5, 2013
The explosive finale to Marie Lu’s New York Times bestselling LEGEND trilogy—perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT!

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

Book Trailer

Cover Reveal: Wasteland by Lindsay Leggett

Title: Wasteland (Flight #2)
Author: Lindsay Leggett
Genre: Science Fiction
Age Group: Young Adult
Cover Reveal Organizer: Xpresso Book Tours
Wasteland, the next book in the FLIGHT trilogy, takes place a few months after the ending of book one.

Trapped in a cell and experimented on, Piper Madden’s only hope is remembering Asher. Then, Elder Corp President Rupert Elder gives her new orders: to be a leader in a war against the Harpies. Without a choice, Piper must obey Rupert’s commands or suffer from paralyzing and painful Nanomachines. But the war is just beginning, and Asher has gone missing. The resistance is slowly building, and the upcoming war will be larger and bloodier than anything seen since the Devastation that ruined the earth. Throughout all of this, Piper remembers the time before she ran to Ichton, when David was alive and her hope in Elder Corp was still strong.


About Lindsay Leggett

Review: Bound to Remember by Lola James

Title: Bound to Remember (Spellbound #1)
Author: Lola James
Acquired Via: Purchase
Release Date: October 26, 2011
Vampires and Witches and Myths, oh my!

Toni is a young doctor with a past she can't remember and a deadly reason for forgetting it.

Ben is a nurse who has his own tragic past and transfers hospitals after an act of heroism forces his secluded life public.

Ben can’t believe his eyes when he meets Toni, she has an uncanny resemblance to an old friend of his, and Toni can’t help but find Ben irresistible.

Enter Kevin, Toni’s sexy but arrogant Ex. Kevin’s jealousy of Ben blinds him from his main objective, Toni.

A dangerous secret is revealed and a magic spell seems to be a quick remedy, but the witch that helps has a little more than magic up her sleeve…

My Review

Around Halloween, I always like to delve into something paranormal. Lola James' Bound to Remember is a fun autumn read with vampires, witches, and just a bit of mytholgoy. It's a short read that I breezed through in one sitting, and one that I enjoyed for the most part.

Audiobook Review: All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: My Local Library
Release Date: September 6, 2011
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.

My Review

My coming across Gabrielle Zevin's Birthright series is a bit of a happy accident. I was trolling around the blogosphere (as I am wont to do), and I happened upon an excerpt of All These Things I've Done. (You can find that excerpt HERE.) I have never had the slightest interest in this book for whatever reason (I don't understand my own taste - I admit it), but I was drawn to the excerpt. I don't know if it's a glitch on my work computer or with Macmillan's website, but a lot of the excerpt is blacked out. I am very nosy by nature, and the blacked out text merely fed my curiosity. I had to find some way to read it, and I did. Surprisingly, I liked what I read very much. I ordered the audiobook from my library and was going to keep it sitting in my car until I finished what I had been reading. However, the other book had to wait because I was already too far invested in All These Things I've Done and Anya, the main character.

Book Blast (Giveaway): Knowing Vera by Rachelle Ayala

Title: Knowing Vera (Chance for Love #3)
Author: Rachelle Ayala
Publisher: World Literary Press
Book Blast Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: October 3, 2013
Some secrets are best untold. Vera Custodio has never fallen in love, though she has strong feelings for her friend and sometimes lover, Zach Spencer. Long-forgotten memories resurface when Vera discovers Zach’s mother was the woman her father supposedly murdered many years ago. After losing his leg, former triathlete Zach Spencer reevaluates his life—and realizes he’s falling in love with Vera. When she ends their relationship, Zach is determined to prove his love and follows her to Australia in search of the killer. Caught between a web of family secrets and a deranged adversary, Vera and Zach must depend on each other for survival. Love blossoms, but the truth explodes everything Vera knows about herself. Will she close her heart forever or risk it all for a shot at happily-ever-after?

Buy Links
Amazon | CreateSpace


About the Author

Waiting on Wednesday (30): In the Age of Blood and Chocolate

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
I haven't participated in WOW in nearly a year (or more, I didn't look), but I have to share a book that I am dying to read. I began the Birthright series by Gabrielle Zevin a few weeks ago because I read an excerpt for All These Things I've Done and liked it. The audiobook sat in my car for ages before I finally picked it up. Once I did, though, I was hooked. Just as I was wrapping up Because It Is My Blood, I tried to order the last book in the series from the library so I could see how things wrap up for Anya. IT ISN'T OUT YET! *dies*



Title: In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright #3)
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Release Date: October 29, 2013

All These Things I’ve Done, the first novel in the Birthright series, introduced us to timeless heroine Anya Balanchine, a plucky sixteen year old with the heart of a girl and the responsibilities of a grown woman. Now eighteen, life has been more bitter than sweet for Anya. She has lost her parents and her grandmother, and has spent the better part of her high school years in trouble with the law. Perhaps hardest of all, her decision to open a nightclub with her old nemesis Charles Delacroix has cost Anya her relationship with Win.

Still, it is Anya’s nature to soldier on. She puts the loss of Win behind her and focuses on her work. Against the odds, the nightclub becomes an enormous success, and Anya feels like she is on her way and that nothing will ever go wrong for her again. But after a terrible misjudgment leaves Anya fighting for her life, she is forced to reckon with her choices and to let people help her for the first time in her life.

In the Age of Love and Chocolate is the story of growing up and learning what love really is. It showcases the best of Gabrielle Zevin’s writing for young adults: the intricate characterization of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and the big-heartedness of Elsewhere. It will make you remember why you loved her writing in the first place.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond


If you haven't read this series yet, you're really missing out. I've known about the Birthright series forever, but I thought it wasn't for me. I couldn't have been more wrong. I know I only have to wait less than a week, but it's too long! *makes grabby hands*

What are you waiting on this week?

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): The Diabolist by Layton Green

The Diabolist Blog Tour Schedule



Title: The Diabolist (Dominic Grey #3)
Author: Layton Green
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Acquired Via: Pump Up Your Book! Tours
Release Date: June 4, 2013
In this gripping thriller, the bizarre murder of a Satanic priest in San Francisco draws Dominic Grey and Viktor Radek, private investigators of cults, to the scene. Witnesses claim a robed figure, seemingly able to appear and disappear at will, set fire to the priest. When the leader of another Satanic cult in Paris dies under similar circumstances, the case only grows stranger… and more dangerous.

Convinced that a charismatic New Age prophet is behind the murders, the investigators undergo a perilous journey into the world of the occult as they try to penetrate the prophet’s inner circle. From the catacombs of Paris to London’s nefarious East End, from the haunted walls of York to a monastic fortress in the Sicilian wilderness, the case plunges Viktor and Grey into a vortex of black magic, ancient heresies, and the dark corners of their own pasts.

The Diabolist is a chilling novel that not only pulsates with action and suspense, but also mines a trove of fascinating historical, philosophical, and paranormal research to probe some of our closest held beliefs. From the opening pages to the astonishing conclusion, this latest installment in one of today’s most original new thriller series is not to be missed.

My Review

Reviews of Previous Books:

The Egyptian (Will's review)

It is a rare and excellent thing to find a novel that you feel like has been written expressly for you, and Layton Green's The Diabolist is just that. I would like to blame my co-blogger, Will, for my not reading Green's previous work and call him a rat-faced, monkey sniffer for it, but that would not be fair because he did try to get me to read them. (You know what it's like to have been behind on your reading for, oh, say, two years, right?) Because of Will's love for Green and Green being such a nice guy, I jumped on the opportunity to review The Diabolist. And let me tell you, it was a pleasant surprise for me.

Review: Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker

Title: Ashes to Ashes
Author: Melissa Walker
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: December 23, 2013
Callie McPhee knows all the classic Charleston ghost stories by heart.

What she doesn't realize is that she's about to become one.

When Callie's life is cut short by a tragic accident, she expects to find nothingness, or maybe some version of heaven. Instead, her spirit travels to the Prism, an ethereal plane populated by the ghosts she thought were fictional. Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.

With Thatcher at her side, Callie watches in agony while her father, her best friend, and her boyfriend mourn her—and she's not sure she wants to help them let her go; she may be invisible, but she's still here. However, as Callie desperately tries to make contact with the people she left behind, she uncovers a dark secret about the spirit world: The angry souls that always populate ghost stories are real, dangerous, and willing to do anything to stay on Earth, threatening the existence of everyone she ever cared about.

When she fights to save them, Callie will learn that while it may no longer beat, her heart can still love—and break.

Ashes to Ashes is Melissa Walker's sweeping, romantic, and emotionally rich story about the things that torment and tempt us, even from the Great Beyond.

My Review

On occasion, I enjoy a good ghost story from the ghost's point of view. Since Ashes to Ashes was compared to Ghost (one of the best movies out there, in my opinion) in some versions of the synopsis, I became excited about reading Callie's story. However, the story was completely predictable and about 150 pages too long.

Early Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Title: No One Else Can Have You
Author: Kathleen Hale
Publisher: HarperTeen
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 689 688), is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Fried is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield.

Unfortunately, Friendship's police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth's best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth's secret diary, sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship—where no one is a suspect—anyone could be the killer.

My Review

If there was ever a literary character to completely steal my heart, it would be Kippy Bushman from Kathleen Hale's debut novel, No One Else Can Have You. It is a very quirky contemporary novel with an odd, utterly flawed characters and the very best sort of dark humor.

Blog Tour (Interview & Giveaway): Garden of Eden by Kate Cowan

Tour Schedule



Title: Garden of Eden
Author: Kate Cowan
Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
Release Date: October 22, 2013
It has been four years.

Four years since the day the Catchers found her family.

Four years since she escaped capture.

And four years since the day her mother locked her and Will, a boy she hardly knew, in an attic, 'for their own protection'.

Now, Eden White is fifteen, and sick of being a prisoner of parents who all but abandoned her. It was as simple as one walk down a beautiful, foggy beach, but it ended with Eden and Will face to face with Catchers - and this time, there is no escape.

When Eden wakes, she finds herself on an island, surrounded by hundreds of stolen children. Enrolled in the island school, Jordan Hall, Eden quickly learns that the island is not what it seems.

And, in the woods surrounding the school, she discovers a wild, beautiful magic inside of herself - one she has no idea how to control. With three unlikely new friends, Eden begins to realize that the headmistress is hiding much more than the stolen children - and what they learn in the laboratories below the school could cost Eden her life.

Interview with Kate Cowan

Hi, Kate! Thank you so much for agreeing to take some time from your busy schedule to answer some questions for us here at Bibliophilia, Please. Let’s break the ice a little before talking about Garden of Eden – what is something funny about you that only your friends know?

I'm a total brony. Google it, I dare you ;)

Challenge accepted.

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Just Ella by Annette K. Larsen

Tour Schedule



Title: Just Ella
Author: Annette K. Larsen
Publisher: Self
Acquired Via: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
Release Date: August 14, 2013
A Proper Romance

Ariella was only looking for a distraction, something to break up the monotony of palace life. What she found was a young man willing to overlook her title and show her a new and vibrant way of life. But when her growing feelings for Gavin spiral out of control and clash with the expectations of her station, she will discover that the consequences of her curiosity are far more severe than she’d imagined.

I watched in helpless horror as two guards hauled Gavin to his feet and dragged him from the room. My voice was frozen, unable to protest as another guard took hold of my arm, leading me upstairs. From the confines of my room, I stared into the darkness beyond my window, hoping to catch one more glimpse of Gavin. He was gone, and I wondered if he would have been better off if he had never met me.

My Review

I absolutely adore fairy tales and happily ever after stories, so Just Ella was the perfect book to feed my interest. Just Ella is about Princess Ariella, who wants to be more than just a princess in a castle. She was curious about the world outside of the walls and was always trying to sneak away to see how her servants or the common people lived. She reminded me of two Disney princesses: Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Cinderella from her namesake film. I suppose that may have been an intentional reminder as Ariella's name is a portmanteau. Not that it really matters - she prefers "just Ella".

Blog Tour (Review & Giveaway): Oddities & Entities by Roland Allnach

Title: Oddities and Entities
Author: Roland Allnach
Publisher: All Things That Matter Press
Release Date: March 2012
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Oddities & Entities is a surreal, provocative anthology of six tales within the supernatural/paranormal/horror genres, exploring a definition of life beyond the fragile vessel of the human body. The stories are: ‘Boneview’, in which a young woman struggles to balance her ability to see through people with the presence of a supernatural creature in her life; ‘Shift/Change’, in which a hospital worker struggles to regain his memory as he is confronted by a series of desperate people; ‘My Other Me’, in which a lonely college student finds himself displaced from his body by his alter ego; ‘Gray’, in which a frustrated man is stunned to discover a little creature has been living in his head; ‘Elmer Phelps’, in which a brother and sister find themselves linked in a strange reality by a bat bite in their youth; and lastly, ‘Appendage’, in which a cynical mercenary is hired by his son to protect a research lab on the verge of a stunning discovery.

My Review

Though I don't review it on the blog very often, I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. Well, in novels because horror movies give me major nightmares. One of the books that made me love reading and realize books were sometimes more than just pretty stories was Watchers by Dean Kootz. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I was very excited about having the opportunity to review an adult horror novel. I also love short stories, so this made Oddities & Entities twice as exciting for me.

Cover Reveal (Excerpt & Giveaway): Scintillate by Tracy Clark

Today Tracy Clark and Entangled Teen Ember are revealing the cover for Scintillate - coming out in February!



Title: Scintillate (The Light Key Trilogy #1)
Author: Tracy Clark
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Cover Reveal Organizer: Rockstar Book Tours
Release Date: February 4, 2013
Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and living in Ireland. Since then, Dad has been more than overprotective and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she is suddenly seeing around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.

Troubled by these strange flickerings and fearing she is being stalked, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves and Finn’s mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he’s fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.

There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—a conspiracy that could end her life and change mankind forever.

Scintillate is the first book in this lush and exciting new trilogy, full of romance, adventure and metaphysical mystery.

Excerpt

Finn began to play. Voices descended into a respectful hush. Soft strums of the guitar lifted and fell on shafts of daylight from the windows. A small patch of sun warmed my exposed neck as I listened. The orange beads of his bracelet flashed as he plucked the strings with slender fingers. His head hung over the guitar in reverent concentration.

Blog Tour (Spotlight): Postapoc by Liz Worth

Tour Schedule



Title: Postapoc
Author: Liz Worth
Publisher: Now or Never Publishing Company
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Sole survivor of a suicide pact, Ang has fallen into an underground music scene obsessed with the idea of the end of the world. But when the end finally does come, Ang and her friends don’t find the liberation they expected. Instead, those still alive are starving, strung out and struggling to survive in a world that no longer makes sense. As Ang navigates the world’s final days, her emotional and physical instability mix with growing uncertainty and she begins to distrust her perception in a place where nothing can ever be trusted for what it seems to be. Bleak and haunting, PostApoc blends poetry and punk rock, surrealism and stark imagery to tell the story of a girl wavering at the edge of her sanity.

Buy Links
Amazon | Book Depository | Fishpond


About Liz Worth

I am the author of three books - Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond; Amphetamine Heart; and PostApoc.

I also make and collect Ouija boards, practice Tarot, watch the Moon, drink a lot of coffee.

My current projects including Rewriting Warhol, where I am re-writing Andy Warhol's 'A: A Novel' as poetry, one page at a time (rewritingwarhol.blogspot.com) and launching a new website to help people reach their creative potential.

I find poetry in empty parking lots, inspiration on long bus rides, and clarity in the woods.

I'm a city kid who dreams of one day having a cabin in the woods.

Lifelong obsessions include The Smiths, ghosts, black leather boots, John Hughes movies, The Outsiders, Poppy Z. Brite, The Cure, experimental writing, early mornings, thrift stores, and bike rides.

Find Liz Online
Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Book Blast (Giveaway): Sisters in Bloom by Melissa Foster

Title: Sisters In Love (Love in Bloom: Snow Sisters #2)
Author: Melissa Foster
Publisher: World Literary Press
Book Blast Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: September 1, 2013
You loved Danica and Kaylie in Sisters in Love, find out what happens next with Sisters in Bloom.

Kaylie Snow has always been the fun, flirty, pretty sister. Now, her burgeoning baby bump, hormone infused emotions, and faltering singing career are sending her into an unexpected identity crisis. Watching her older sister Danica glide through a major career change and a new relationship with the grace of a ballerina, Kaylie’s insecurities rise to the forefront—and her relationship, with fiancé Chaz Crew, is caught in the crossfire.

Chaz Crew has everything he’s ever wanted: a lovely fiancée, a baby on the way, and soon, the film festival he owns will host its biggest event ever. When he’s called away to woo the festival’s largest sponsor—and the lover he’s never admitted to having—secrets from his past turn his new life upside down.

With her baby shower around the corner, and her fiancé’s big event looming, the pressure is on for Kaylie to pull herself together—and for Chaz to right his wrongs. In a few short weeks, the couple who had it all figured out will learn things about life and love that may change their minds—and their hearts.

Sisters in Bloom is a testament to the bond of sisters, the strength of women, and the pains and delights that accompany motherhood. A book for every mother, sister, and daughter, Sisters in Bloom will resonate with readers who love to explore family dramas

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble


About the Author

October New Release Giveaway Hop

Welcome to my stop on the October New Release Giveaway Hop! As always, it is being hosted by the magnificent O'Dell at Book Twirps and the glorious Dani at Refracted Light Reviews.

What You Can Win

This month I am featuring some October new releases that I have already reviewed (or has a forthcoming review) here on Bibliophilia, Please. You will be able to choose one of the four books, if you are the winner. Here are the books, and the links to my reviews are below them:



Relic by Heather Terrell
Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano
Red by Alison Cherry
The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray
The Giveaway

Early Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

My Review

Previously reviewed:
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)

Cress by Marissa Meyer is the third installment in the Lunar Chronicles, Meyer's popular quadrilogy that takes beloved fairy tales and drops them into her imaginative sci-fi heavy dystopian world. The main heroine of the series is Linh Cinder, the cyborg Cinderella who first appeared in Cinder, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite YA novels. I found Scarlet, the sequel that introduces Little Red Riding Hood, to be hugely underwhelming. Due to this, I was filled with both excitement and hesitation when it came to Cress. Luckily for me, Cress was everything I love about reading, and it more than made up for my disappointment with Scarlet. You will be safe reading below as my review will be mostly spoiler free. (If there are any, I promise that they are purely accidental.)

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the humongous Spooktacular Giveaway Hop hosted by the scarily fantastic blogger, Kathy @ I Am A Reader, Not A Writer! I love scary stories (as long as they aren't TOO scary *shudders*), so I know this hop is going to be a lot of fun for everyone taking part.

What You Can Win

Since my giveaway for the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop was so wildly popular last year (okay, there were just a lot of hoppers), I'm going to do the same thing again. I'm going to surprise the winner with a Halloween treat!


Based on the winner's answer in the Rafflecopter or in the comments, I will send them a shiny and new copy of a surprise book worth at least $10US. (It'll be fine, I promise.) We all love surprises at some level, and hopefully the winner will love their spooktacular surprise!

Giveaway Requirements

Book Blast (Giveaway): Black by Russell Blake

Title: Black
Author: Russell Blake
Publisher: Reprobatio Ltd
Blast Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: September 8, 2013
Artemus Black. Perennially down-on-his-luck Hollywood PI whose Bogie fixation is as dated as his wardrobe. With an assistant who mocks him relentlessly, an obese cat that loathes him, a romantic life that’s deader than Elvis, money problems, booze, nicotine, and anger management issues, how much worse can it get? When he takes a case that’s supposed to be easy money working for a celebrity whose colleagues and surrounding paparazzi are dropping faster than interest in the star’s big comeback, the cakewalk turns ugly and Black finds himself in a web of deceit, betrayal, and murder – and bad hair days.

The first in a new series from bestselling author Russell Blake, Black is a detective mystery with a difference that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy.

Praise for Black

“A sadistically good writer.” – The Kindle Book Review

Cover Reveal (Giveaway): Born of Deception by Teri Brown

Title: Born of Deception (Born of Illusion #2)
Author: Teri Brown
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Cover Reveal Organizer: Book Nerd Tours
Release Date: 2014
Budding illusionist Anna Van Housen is on top of the world: after scoring a spot on a prestigious European vaudeville tour, she has moved to London to chase her dream and to join an underground society for people like her with psychic abilities. Along with her handsome beau, Cole Archer, Anna is prepared to take the city by storm.

But when Anna arrives in London, she finds the group in turmoil. Sensitives are disappearing and, without a suspect, the group’s members are turning on one another. Could the kidnapper be someone within the society itself—or has the nefarious Dr. Boyle followed them to London?

As Cole and Anna begin to unravel the case and secrets about the society are revealed, they find themselves at odds, their plans for romance in London having vanished. Her life in danger and her relationship fizzling, can Anna find a way to track down the killer before he makes her his next victim—or will she have to pay the ultimate price for her powers?

Set in Jazz-Age London, this alluring sequel to Born of Illusion comes alive with sparkling romance, deadly intrigue, and daring magic.


About Teri Brown

Cover Reveal (Giveaway): Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton

Today The Mod Podge Bookshelf and Mod Podge Blog Tours are hosting Kelsey Sutton's exclusive Where Silence Gathers cover reveal!



Title: Where Silence Gathers (Some Quiet Place #2)
Author: Kelsey Sutton
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: July 8, 2014
In this companion novel to the critically acclaimed Some Quiet Place, Alex must choose between Revenge and Forgiveness.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandra Tate sits outside Nate Foster’s house, clutching a gun. After serving ten years for the drunk driving accident that killed Alex’s family, Nate has been released from prison. Every night, Alex waits out of sight, building up the courage to exact her own justice. There’s just one problem: Forgiveness. Alex has been able to see personified Emotions for as long as she can remember, and Revenge is her best friend. But when Forgiveness suddenly appears, he offers Alex a choice—getting even or moving on. It’s impossible to decide when Revenge whispers in one ear . . . and Forgiveness whispers in the other.


About the Author

Blog Tour (Excerpt & Giveaway): Through Glass by Rebecca Ethington

Tour Schedule
Welcome to my stop on the Through Glass Blog Tour, brought to you by Rockstar Book Tours. Today I will be featuring an excerpt from the book, and there will be a tour-wide giveaway at the end of the post!



Title: Through Glass (Glass #1)
Author: Rebecca Ethington
Tour Organizer: Rockstar Book Tours
Release Date: September 20, 2013
Everyone remembered the day the sky went black. The day the sun was wiped from the sky. They remember the wind as it brought in the darkness; the way the earth shook and everything changed.

Everyone remembered the screams as the darkness ate those who were out in the open, those who had surrounded themselves by light, and those who made noise.

Everyone remembered the voice from the sky and the way food disappeared.

At least, that’s what I hoped. I hoped that there was an ‘everyone’ that would remember because I am not sure how many are left, how many survived. Or if anyone did.

I hoped that I wasn’t alone.

I remembered that day.

I remembered because it was the day I became alone.

It was the day that everything was perfect until the monsters took it away. Then the house went silent and the birds stopped singing. It was the day when everyone disappeared, everyone except the boy, the only person I have seen in two years.

The boy I talk to through the glass.

Excerpt

If I focused hard enough I could almost feel the breeze against my skin as well as the warmth of the sun. I could maybe even hear the beautiful twitter of birds as they sang to the clouds. Clouds. I could almost remember the way they looked in the sky. I could get lost in the memories that filtered through some long forgotten piece of my mind. I could smell lilac in the air, I could feel grass on my fingertips.

Double Cover Reveal (Excerpt & Giveaway): In the Blood and Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up by Sara Hantz

Today I'm happy to be featuring not one, but two cover reveals for books by Sara Hantz! In the Blood releases November 5 and Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up? releases May 6, 2014. Scroll through the post to learn about these exciting new novels, and check out the giveaway at the end of the post!


For seventeen years Jed Franklin’s life was normal. Then his father was charged with the abuse and murder of four young boys and normal became a nightmare.

His mom’s practically a walking zombie, he’s lost most of his friends, and the press camps out on his lawn. The only things that keep him sane are his little sis; his best friend and dream girl, Summer; and the alcohol he stashes in his room. But after Jed wakes up from a total blackout to discover a local kid has gone missing—a kid he was last seen talking to—he’s forced to face his greatest fear: that he could somehow be responsible.

In a life that’s spiraled out of control, Jed must decide if he chooses his own destiny with Summer by his side or if the violent urges that plagued his father are truly in the blood…

Excerpt

Chapter One

Pedophile: Noun

An adult who is sexually attracted to children.