The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker Signed ARC Giveaway

I reported on the book launch of The Other Life last week (which you can read HERE) and promised I would be giving away a signed ARC copy.  Well I do keep my word and here is how you could win.

All you have to do is fill out the form below, YEP that easy!!!  GOOD LUCK!!!!

The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker Book Launch Event

Susanne with one of the cupcakes

One of the first ARCs I received out of the blue was The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker from the lovely guys at Usborne.  I hadn't heard anything about it prior to then, but from reading the little bit on the back I knew I was going to love it.  I got round to reviewing it in January and you can find my review for it HERE.
Early January I got a lovely but unexpected email asking if I would like to attend the book launch and meet the awesome author herself.  Of course I said a big YES PLEASE!!!
Next we got the news of where the event was being held - It was only at a swanky hotel in LONDON!!!  That made me even more thrilled to be attending!!

The pretty cupcakes

Like with the other events I have attending, my awesome Mum travelled up to London with me - what would I do without her?  Once I got there I met up with fellow bloggers Casey & Hayley from Dark Readers.  It was so nice to have familiar faces to walk through the door with, especially in such a fancy location.
We had to go in and speak to the main desk who showed us round to the library room, what an apt location for a book event.
Once inside I was taken a back by the gorgeousness of the room.  There were copies of the books on the shelves.  There was a table of cup cakes that had the signature butterflies on the top, beautiful food was being laid out on the tables and drinks lined the tables at the back of the room.  We even had our own waiter serving us drinks!!!!

Each of us were given the most awesome name tags EVER!!  Seriously it is just about the coolest item I have been given in a looooong time!!!
We were each introduced to Susanne, who is just about the cutest lady ever!!  She is so super friendly and we discussed our twitter chat of the Twilight casts hair - its not very good is it??!

Quickly more bloggers arrived which meant time for eating - Food time is Fun time!!!  I remember every little thing I ate, which I won't bore you with but I can say it was all rather delicious!!!
All of us sat around coffee tables and just generally chatted about books - there was a lot of book geeking going on.

After the food the Usborne team and Susanne did a little speech, which was lovely.  It was so nice to see and hear the bond that is built between author and publisher during their work together.  Getting to see just a glimpse of that is so special.

Our Goodie Bag

My Name Tag Of Awesome

 All of us attending was given a fabulous Usborne goodie bag that contained finished copies of the book, that we got to get signed.  I was actually kind of tricksey and brought along my ARC copy of the book to also get signed.

Me And Susanne

The event was now nearing to a close, but we had time to have a big group picture - Its majorly cute I have to say!!!
One last little treat we were each given one of the lovely cupcakes - this received a major Oooooh from all of us.  But me being the plonker I am had an accident before I even left the room.  Whilst putting on my coat somehow my cupcake went crashing on the floor and splattered face down - Major Face palm moment for me there.  There were a few cupcakes left and they kindly gave me a replacement - I am so sorry for my clumsiness though!!!

Once again Thanks to Susanne for her major kindness and to the lovely guys at Usborne for inviting me to such a wonderful event!!

Group picture curtesy of Usborne

Please Come back to my blog on Monday to find out how to win my signed ARC!!

In My Mailbox (50)

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

All links will take you to Amazon

 This week I got to go to a book launch in London.  It was so amazing, and I shall be doing a full report on it soon.

Here are the bookish goodies I got this week....

Bought

 The Way We Fall By Megan Crewe

This is sounds pretty awesome.  Do love me some dystopia

The Poison Diaries: Nightshade By Maryrose Wood

I found this is a charity shop, so snapped it up.

Received

 The Demon's Watch By Conrad Mason

I got this from the Great People at Random House.  This is aimed at slightly younger age group than YA, but those tend to be even more adventuresome.  Plus how cool is that cover??

Lenobia's Vow By P.C & Kristin Cast

I got this from the lovely ladies at ATOM.  Sadly I am really behind on this series, so fear I would be a bit lost reading this

 These Bits were from the book launch of

The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker .

We got a few goodies, plus a copy of

Mockingbird By Kathryn Erskine

For the release of CINDER By Marissa Meyer, there was a party on twitter where we had to tweet pictures of ourselves wearing red shoes, I of course took part and won this lovely bits

Hoping that your book week treated you well?

Review - The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker

"3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all?" - taken from Goodreads.com

First things first - AMAZING cover.  Very simple yet so effective.  I love the innocence of the butterfly, but when you look more closely you can see spidery hands, people running & blood dripping.  The city setting and also the barb wire near the title are all points that are in the story.  Just Awesome!!

Basically the idea of this book is pretty horrifying.  A rabies like infection has taken hold of people and the only way to save yourself is to lock yourself away from all other people.  This is the story of Sherry and her family.  They have lived in their bunker for over 3 years.  The thought of everyone potentially getting some awful disease turning you into a zombie is pretty scary, then add on the fact that you have to live with JUST your family for 3 years solid Eeeeek!!  I love my family to death but I don't know if I could cope with that!!!

But things as you would expect happen that mean Sherry and her Dad have to venture outside.  This is where the story really started for me.  The realisation of the devastation caused by the zombiefying illness.  It also made me think though, if as speculated we were unlucky enough to have a chemical war in our real life, then maybe this wouldn't be so different from what life could be like.  That is truly terrifying.

At the beginning of each chapter there is a page or so of content from Sherry's 'other life'  this is her life before the outbreak.  It was wonderful reading the simplicities & minor worries followed by the actual horrors they are living now. 

I loved that a first love story was incorporated into the book.  It gave me a little hope that in the midst of tragedy and living hell, light can still shine through.  That's the hope we all need to live by.

This is a fantastic story that for me was like a cross between Resident Evil & Lost.  You are constantly kept on your toes with fear and lightness, followed by horror.  There is even brief bits of humour, sometimes quite black.  I'm desperate to find out what will happen to everyone in the next part of the story 'The Life Beyond' 

Rating 4 1/2 Out Of 5

Due For Release 1st February 2012

Published In The UK By Usborne

This Can Be Purchased HERE and From Good Book Retailers