Author, editor, reader, and fangirl.
My thoughts on my latest and greatest reads.
Long-time readers (of this blog that’s hardly ever updated anymore) know I’m the beta reader and one of the biggest fangirls for Melissa Giorgio’s The Silver Moon Saga. Now it’s your turn to see what all the fuss is about because:
Okay, there are a few days left in the year, but I probably won’t finish the book I’m working on before then. (But who knows, I could get really addicted–if so, I’ll edit this entry!)
Last year I listed the books I’d read for the year at the end of the year, and I thought I’d keep up the tradition. It’s a fun retrospective, and I’m especially happy since this year I read way more books than I usually do (which is still very little compared to some avid readers out there). As usual, most of the books are YA, but some MG and adult made their way on there.
This year a number of things happened, reading-wise:
The 2013 list (not counting the many graphic novels and manga I read this year as well):
Gabi, Rafe, and all of their friends are back in three exciting short stories that bridge the gap between books one and two of the Silver Moon Saga. Join them as they celebrate Halloween in A Sweet Treat—can they make it through the night without Gabi destroying her costume? Find out what Rafe’s really afraid of in Indiana Rafe, a story told exclusively from his perspective. And in An Autumn Dream, Gabi struggles to make amends with a painful part of her past. Filled with laughter and tears, demon battles and plenty of kissing, this novella is a must read for fans of The Sight Seer!
Gabi, Rafe, and all of their friends are back in three exciting short stories that bridge the gap between books one and two of the Silver Moon Saga. Join them as they celebrate Halloween in A Sweet Treat—can they make it through the night without Gabi destroying her costume? Find out what Rafe’s really afraid of in Indiana Rafe, a story told exclusively from his perspective. And in An Autumn Dream, Gabi struggles to make amends with a painful part of her past. Filled with laughter and tears, demon battles and plenty of kissing, this novella is a must read for fans of The Sight Seer!
For fans of The Sight Seer, the first book in the Silver Moon saga, getting your hands on this book is a no-brainer, so I thought I’d give one lucky fan a helping hand!
I’m giving away one e-book copy of An Autumn Dream. The e-book is for the Kindle only, so the winner will have to provide me with an e-mail address connected to his or her Kindle account. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can still get the digital Kindle copy and read it via a free Kindle app for PCs, Macs, tablets, smartphones and web browsers.
Contest ends November 13th, the day before An Autumn Dream‘s book birthday. Once the e-book is available, and the contest ends, I’ll send it to the winner after I confirm his or her Kindle e-mail address. Enter every day, and follow the instructions on Rafflecopter for even more chances!
Every few months in the past year or so, my NY bestie and fellow writer Melissa tells me about going to YA author events at Books of Wonder, an independent children’s bookshop in Manhattan. So when visiting NY this year, I half jokingly asked her if the bookstore would have an event when I’d be there, and they did! I hadn’t heard of a single one of the authors there. Melissa had only heard of/read one book of one, but we figured, why not?
The guests who showed (I think one may have canceled) were Patrick Ness, Robin Wasserman, Alex London, and Gene Luen Yang. Before the event (because I feel weird taking pictures of people without their permission, heh):
I browsed some of the books by the authors we’d see and wasn’t sure which I wanted to buy. Melissa bought one to get signed for a friend. We got seats at the event and waited. And it was so fun! Even my non-YA-author-reader boyfriend had a nice time. Seriously, they were all incredibly funny, and I think I could never in a million years be as entertaining if called on to give a talk. (I’m worried about future signings apparently, ha.) The authors were also good at pitching their books to the point where I wanted ALL THE BOOKS. I settled on buying three… But I wished I could buy them all. ;-;
The authors were all nice, but I was too chicken to say much other than their books sounded great… (And point out to two of them I didn’t have a nifty post-it with my name on it like everyone else–but that was rectified by the time I saw the third one.) Mr. Ness asked if I’d just bought the book there, and I said yes and admitted I’d never read ANY of his books, and he said not to worry, I hadn’t been spoiled much (a fan in the audience asked what she even admitted was a spoilery question 0-0) and he hoped I enjoyed it. The other authors seemed like big fans of his, so I’m sure his writing is awesome!
It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and I definitely recommend that anyone in Manhattan keep an eye out for future events!
My goodies:
Anyone reading my blog lately has noticed I participated in the WIP marathon for the month of August, and that helped me really crack down on my writing goals. I wouldn’t have found out about the group if I hadn’t become Twitter friends with Emma L. Adams, one of the WIP marathon participants. She’s a MG/YA/NA author who writes some pretty awesome-sounding fantasy and paranormal stuff. So I decided to join in on her cover reveal today! This book sounds great, so let’s all check it out next month! Enjoy the pretty:
Darkness Watching by Emma L. Adams
(Darkworld #1)
Publication date: September 30th 2013
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
AUTHOR BIO:
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy and paranormal for young adults. She was born in Birmingham, UK, which she fled at the first opportunity to study English Literature at Lancaster University. In her three years at Lancaster, she hiked up mountains, skydived in Australia, and endured a traumatic episode involving a swarm of bees in the Costa Rican jungle. She also wrote various novels and short stories. These included her first publication, a rather bleak dystopian piece, and a disturbing story about a homicidal duck (which she hopes will never see the light of day).If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may have noticed me getting excited over a particular book release. The Sight Seer, published by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, is one of my dearest friends’ first published book. Melissa Giorgio and I are beta readers for each other, and I had the pleasure of reading about Gabi and Rafe and all those nasty tricky demons long before most. If you haven’t followed my advice to check her book out yet, now is the time.
That’s right, for three days only you can get your hands on a Kindle copy of The Sight Seer for just 99 cents! This is a limited time sale, and you may never be able to read this book for so cheap ever again.
Gabi Harkins likes to think she’s a pretty normal sixteen-year-old. She goes to school, suffers though an awful part-time job, and deals with a bratty younger sister. But when a potential shoplifter morphs into a monster right in front of her, Gabi realizes her life is far from normal—especially when that monster follows her home and ends up battling a boy wielding a sword in her backyard.
The boy, Rafe Fitzgerald, is a member of Silver Moon, an organization devoted to eradicating demons before they kill humans. If this little bit of news isn’t earth-shattering enough, Rafe reveals that he needs Gabi’s help. As strong as Rafe is, he does not possess the Sight—a rare ability that allows a hunter to See through a demon’s glamour, enabling them to strike before the demon does. But guess who does?
While Gabi is reluctant to face another demon, she knows she owes Rafe big time for saving her. Together, they’re thrown headfirst into heart-stopping situations as they battle newer and more frightening demons. When she starts to fall for Rafe, Gabi knows her normal life is gone forever.
Those of you without a Kindle or those who just prefer the feeling of a paper book in your hands:
Gabi Harkins likes to think she’s a pretty normal sixteen-year-old. She goes to school, suffers though an awful part-time job, and deals with a bratty younger sister. But when a potential shoplifter morphs into a monster right in front of her, Gabi realizes her life is far from normal-especially when that monster follows her home and ends up battling a boy wielding a sword in her backyard.
The boy, Rafe Fitzgerald, is a member of Silver Moon, an organization devoted to eradicating demons before they kill humans. If this little bit of news isn’t earth-shattering enough, Rafe reveals that he needs Gabi’s help. As strong as Rafe is, he does not possess the Sight-a rare ability that allows a hunter to See through a demon’s glamour, enabling them to strike before the demon does. But guess who does?
While Gabi is reluctant to face another demon, she knows she owes Rafe big time for saving her. Together, they’re thrown headfirst into heart-stopping situations as they battle newer and more frightening demons. When she starts to fall for Rafe, Gabi knows her normal life is gone forever.
I used Rafflecopter to pick the winners:
I e-mailed them both and gave them a week to respond in order to claim their prizes. Prizes claimed! Thank you all for entering and congratulations to the winners!
If you didn’t win, please buy the book!
It’s a day early than I expected, but the Kindle version of Melissa Giorgio‘s The Sight Seer is available today! And for only $2.99! For less than a cup of coffee, you can be swept up in the YA paranormal thriller adventure of Gabi Harkins and swoon-worthy Rafe Fitzgerald.
If you don’t have a Kindle and don’t want to use the free Kindle app to read it on PCs, Macs, tablets, smartphones and web browsers, or you just love holding a book in your hands and keeping it on your shelf, the paperback version of The Sight Seer is due soon, probably within a few weeks. I’ll keep you posted when I see it for sale!
