Cover Reveal - UNDONE By Cat Clarke

A while ago now I was invited to a gathering with the Quercus guys.  We all enjoyed drinks and chats, but also got given a sneaky look at the new cover for Cat Clarke's next book Undone.  We were all speechless on the awesomeness of it, and finally today we get to share it with everyone!!

I have to say this is probably my favourite of all of Cat's covers, they are all stunning so say one stands out is pretty impressive.  I love that you can't see the models face.  But also what exactly is happening, is the girl leaping to her demise, is she falling backwards?  All answers I hope will be answered when we finally get to read the book!!

Shattered Dreams GIVEAWAY

The Lovely people at Quercus books have offered TWO copies of Shattered Dreams By Ellie James to you lucky lot!!

All you have to do is enter the form below......

Guest Post By ELLIE JAMES - SHATTERED DREAMS: Lessons Learned

Shattered Dreams: Lessons Learned

Ellie James, author of Shattered Dreams featuring teenage psychic Trinity Monsour, joins us today to preview a few big lessons coming out of her YA thriller, Shattered Dreams.

Life as a psychic can be rather bizarre, especially when you’re sixteen and living in the most haunted city in America, when everyone in your life was a stranger six months before, when secrets lurk around every corner and every now and then you have these….dreams. Dreams you don’t understand. Without time- or place-stamps. Dreams that terrify.

Dreams that come true.

Oh, yeah, and the wrong guy has a way of showing up at exact the right moment.

1.     Not all dreams end when you wake up.

2.     The truth can be far more dangerous than a dare.

3.     Being on the outside looking in is sometimes far better than being trapped on the inside.

4.     Seeing things that aren’t there doesn’t always mean you’re crazy.

5.     A smile can be the most dangerous disguise.

6.     Nothing is random.

7.     Sometimes when you close your eyes, you can see far better than when they’re open.

8.     Silver is far more than a color.

9.     Just because you don’t remember something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

10.  Opening your eyes in the wrong guy’s arms isn’t always…wrong.

11.  Morgues aren’t fun places.

12.  The soul remembers.

13.  Once open, some doors can never be closed.

14.  Only a coward lets fear stand in their way.

15.  A single kiss can change everything.

About Shattered Dreams

The firstborn daughter, of the firstborn daughter, of the firstborn daughter, sixteen year old psychic Trinity Monsour has a connection to the Other Side. She knows secrets and truths she shouldn’t, feels emotions that do not belong to her, and see events that have yet to happen. They come to her as glimpses, shadowy, disjointed snapshots that flicker through her dreams. Some terrify: a girl screaming, a knife lifting, a body in the grass. But others--the dark, tortured eyes and the shattering kiss, the promise of forever--whisper to her soul.

They come without warning. They come without detail.

But they always mean the same thing: The clock is ticking, and only Trinity can stop it.

Find Ellie James on Twitter @EllieJamesMDB

http://extracts.quercusbooks.co.uk/shattered-dreams/

Letterbox Love (3 to 6)

Letterbox Love Is Hosted By The Fabulous Lynsey over at Narratively Speaking.  Its a fun way for us to showcase our weeks new books here in the UK

Book links will take you to Amazon UK

 Not going to lie I've not been around for quite some time.  Life just got in the way for a while and for some reason I couldn't handle the thought of trying to fit in blogging.  I'm now going to make a real effort to sort myself out and get back to some normality.

FOR REVIEW

From Harper Collins

The Selection By Kiera Cass

From Strange Chemistry

Shift By Kim Curran

 Blackwood By Gwenda Bond

From Simon And Schuster

 The Age Of Miracles By Karen Thompson Walker

 Wentworth Hall By Abby Grahame

From Macmillan

Dark Inside By Jeyn  Roberts

From Quercus

Shattered Dreams By Ellie James

Taken By Storm By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

From Atom

Hades By Alexandra Adornetto

From Andersen Press

Grave Mercy By Robin LaFevers

From Indigo / Orion

The Gathering Dark By Leigh Bardugo

The Masque Of The Red Death By Bethany Griffin

From Randomhouse

Seraphina By Rachel Hartman

BOUGHT

Harry Potter - Film Wizardry

.....Phew that's the lot!!  I just need to get some more hours to read them all!!!

What did you get?? x

Review - Dead Rules By R.S.Russell

When Jana Webster dies in a tragic accident, she finds herself transferred to 'Dead School' in the afterlife, where students fall into distinct cliques. Risers (good kids who died innocently), Sliders (bad kids, who have one foot tied to earth) and Virgins (there are fewer than Jana would expect). Jana's boyfriend and love of her life - Michael - is still in the land of the living. Michael is Romeo to Jana's Juliet and as the story goes... even death can't keep them apart. Tired of waiting for him to kill himself over his grief of losing her, Jana decides she needs to do it for him. To kill Michael she'll need the help of a dangerous and sexy Slider - Mars Dreamcoate. But Mars has a goal of his own: he wants to save a life to atone for having taken one in a drunk-driving accident. And to complicate matters, he was trying to save Jana when she died and saw what was really going on when her 'accident' happened. Jana decides to do whatever it takes to get Michael back, and nothing - not even Mars' warm touch or the devastating secret he holds about her death - will stop her.  - taken from Goodreads

The first I actually heard of this book, was when I received it in the mail.  From looking at the cover & then reading the blurb I was definitely excited.

The cover is very dramatic.  The girls face and features are so eye catching and almost sinister looking without having anything remotely scary about it.

On starting this I have to admit I was hugely confused.  It was kind of like I was dropped into the middle of a story with no explanations - its like you are expected to already know what has passed.  So from the start I have to say I had trouble connecting to the story.

Then came my next lot of what I can only call confusion came, the characters were so blase about their current situations.  Something seriously HUGE has happened to all of them and especially the main character Jana is essentially just 'oh well nevermind' I just could not grasp this attitude.

But this all blends in eventually and you realise the story is basically a black comedy / drama.  The way some of the kids have to 'live' is very darkly comical - you almost feel guilty for giggling to yourself.

The story really got going for me towards the end, I found I was more intrigued and wanting to know the conclusion of the story.  The end kept in with the black humour theme - you definitely couldn't say it was a happy ending for all.

This was an interesting story that had mirrors to the book series Ghost Girl and to the TV show Dead Like Me - both of which I loved, so there were definitely some parts that I really did enjoy.

Rating 3 Out Of 5

This Is Published In The UK By Quercus

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

Dead Rules GIVEAWAY

The WONDERFUL people at Quercus Books have Offered TWO Copies of Dead Rules to YOU lucky readers!!

All you have to do is fill out the form below - SIMPLES!!

Dead Rules Blog Tour

Today I am THRILLED to kick of the Dead Rules tour with a fantastic post by the author himself R. S. Russell And an extract from the book!!!

PLUS Come Back later for a Giveaway of The book

She loved Michael that much, he thought.

Mars knew that love wasn’t all red paper valentines and candy hearts. Love wasn't always joy.  Love could be hot-blooded pain down to the bone.

Sometimes love was despair. And sometimes love was wrong.

Jana loved Michael enough to kill him for it. Jana loved Michael to death.

  

 Where did the idea for Dead Rules come from?

I created Dead Rule from a fascination with trying to understand love. I believe love is endless.  Sadly, our bodies are not. I wondered one day how young people might handle being dead and still being in love. Death is easy. Love’s the hard part.  

With this in mind I sat down and wrote Jana Webster’s story of being a victim of her own love in the afterlife. Because she needed people to talk to, I created an entire school of dead kids and, like all of life and death, there are some fun parts, too. Going out on dates when you’re dead isn’t always dreary (at least I hope it isn’t)…

Review - Every Other Day By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

"Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process." from goodreads

I was mega excited when I received this book to review.  I've had Jennifer's previous books on my shelf for a while, but as often happens I just hadn't gotten to reading them yet.  In some ways I think this could be a positive thing as I wasn't reading it expecting other characters to pop up or another storyline to be there.

The cover is awesome.  I love the idea of the blood filled hour glass - such a subtle yet sinister cover image.

I'd never thought of an idea like this before and so it was a very new reading perspective for me.  When you think of it, it would be so hard to adjust to having super human powers one day and the next being just a mere mortal.  You could imagine yourself getting into sticky situations when its definitely not the right day to do so.

I actually found the story somewhat reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - a very normal looking girl, that can do extraordinary things.  I did find the urges of Kali more like Faith though - the renegade Slayer who lived for the kill.
The descriptions are particularly vivid and brutal, which had me going Ewwww a few times.  Secretly though I do like a gross out session now and again.

Jennifer has a great way of tidying up the back story in a quick way, but done early on.  I often find it frustrating when you keep going back over old ground or when you are out of the loop on something.  Big thumbs up to Jennifer!!

The world of Kali is quite like ours today, but with supernatural creatures thrown into the mix.  Obviously that is a fantasy element, but this didn't feel like a fantasy story to me at all and I think that fact made it even more enjoyable to me.  It was a place that was somewhat relate able too and not totally foreign.

The book takes quite a unique turn for a YA book in my opinion and I really enjoyed this.  I didn't see it coming and a surprise is always fantastic!!!

The only thing is, I was left wondering if there is more to come and I still don't know.....Is there????

Rating 4 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Quercus

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

In My Mailbox (51)

In My Mailbox Is An Awesome Blog Post Idea Hosted By The Story Siren

All links will take you to Amazon

Uneventful week, but got some great books - makes everything right in the world!!

BOUGHT

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight By Jennifer E. Smith

I got this in a Charity shop can you believe it???  It was in the shop window and I did a dramatic double take, run in to the shop and took this from the window.  Have heard great stuff about it and can't wait to get round to it!!

GIFTED

Signed Dark Parties Bookmark & Freaks By Kieran Larwood

These were given to me by the wonderful Laura from SisterSpooky: Bookfangirl - not often to you go to see a friend and walk away with goodies!!  THANK YOU HUN!!

Fever By Lauren DeStefano

I have been DYING to read this for so long & kind of messaged Lauren a lot on twitter.  She mentioned my longing to read the next instalment to a lovely American blogger called Lynn at Bringing The Epic who had an ARC and she very kindly passed her copy on to me.  I had the biggest smile you have EVER seen when I received it - Thanks Lynn!!

REVIEW

Dead Rules By R.S.Russell

I got this very cool sounding book from the great people at Quercus.  Very interested in this one

Unravelling By Elizabeth Norris

Another very exciting read - shall start this as soon as I can.  Huge Thanks to Harper Collins for this one

Forgiven By Jana Oliver

The latest in the Demon Trappers series.  I really enjoyed the first in this series and have the second on my shelf waiting to be read.  Going to enjoy jumping into both of these.  Many Thanks to Macmillan for this one

SENT

The Fantastic Megan Crewe was offering bookmarks and signed book plates to anyone that had bought a copy of her book.  I was thrilled to get my copy and now have an awesome bookplate to join it!  Thanks Megan!!

Hoping you had an interesting book week??

Leanne 

xoxo

I also have TWO giveaways this week - 

Valentines Giveaway

Signed Switched Giveaway

In My Mailbox (49)

In My Mailbox Is An Awesome Blog Post Idea Hosted By The Story Siren

Book links will take you to Amazon

I was an extremely good girl this week and didn't buy a single book - well I did order one, but that doesn't count till its in my hands!!

I did get sent some great books for review though, so my book habit wasn't completely starved.....

For Review

 These were all from the fantastic Simon And Schuster - Many thanks to Kat

Dark Storm By Sarah Singleton

I've not read any of Sarah's other books, but this one sounds really good.  I'm all for some dark romance!!

Spellbound By Rachel Hawkins

I need to start this series, I hear all great things about it!!

Choker By Elizabeth Woods

This isn't the first book I would have checked out, but I'm excited to give it a read

These were sent to me by the lovely people at Quercus, THANKS!!!

Every Other Day By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This looks incredible.  I'm so eager to read some of Jennifer's work!!

Torn By Cat Clarke

Cat is uber cool, really happy to have a copy of this finally!!

Tomorrow When The War Began AND The Dead Of Night By John Marsden

I've seen things about these books, but don't know a huge amount about them.  Excited to give them a go!!

Hope you have had a wonderful week??

Leanne

xoxo

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (32) Every Other Day By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine      

Every Other Day By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published In The UK By Quercus Books
Due For Release Feb 2012
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK

"Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process."

Firstly I should admit I haven't read Jennifer's wolves series of books.  I have them sitting all pretty on my bookshelf & I'm dying to read them, but something always seems to get in the way.  This time I plan to get in at the beginning read it immediately.   And what a cracker of a book it sounds.  Bring on the release!!!