Thursday, October 27, 2011

Book Blogger Hop : 28 Oct 2011


Book Blogger Hop


In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to 
connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other,
and generally just share our love of books!
Q: What is your favorite Halloween costume? Even if you don’t celebrate, what kinds of costumes do you like?  
      I haven't celebrate Halloween, not even once, there's none of Halloween culture where I lived. But if I go, I shalt be clad as a smokin' hot vampire. Or try to, anyway, with smoky eyes, red lips, a pretty dress and heels, and of course, fangs. Vamps are always my fave, even the hideous ones.

How are ya celebratin ya Halloween?

*My review of Divergent here
*Interview with debut author Rhiannon Paille here
*Review of Passion here
*Review of The Pledge here

Feature and Follow Friday : 27 Oct 2011

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers. First you leave your name here, then you create a post on your own blog that links back here and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them hi in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Now to make this #FF interesting we do a FEATURE blogger. The Feature bloggers are chosen randomly from participants in the Follow Friday or through twitter and blog introductions. If you are interested in becoming a Feature let me know! It is also required to follow the host blog (parajunkee.com) and the Feature blog to participate in the #FF.
Today's feature : Em @ In Which Em Reviews Books

Q: If you could have dinner with your favorite book character, who would you eat with and what would you serve?

     A list of characters scramble in my head, but I could only pick one. Weep. Oh, it's killing me!
    And the winner is : Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games(my review here). Too many boys crying for my attention, so a settle for a female instead. And I would serve my momma's spaghetti bolognese. Bet she's never had that before. What? It's delicious, I love it, plus I can't cook. Katniss, could you teach me how to strung an arrow or kiss, I dunno, Gale?

What's your answer?

*My review of Divergent here
*Interview with debut author Rhiannon Paille here
*Review of Passion here

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Review : DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth


Beatrice Prior is one of the Abnegation faction, one of the five factions in dystopian Chicago. Every 16 year-olds are given a choice to choose their faction, and family for ever : Dauntless(the brave), Amity(the peaceful), Candor(the honest), Erudite(the intelligent) and Abnegation(the selfless). Before they choose, the teenagers are given a test to help them decide which faction they're supposed to be in. Beatrice's results shows that she's a Divergent, something rare and dangerous. She is warned to keep the secret to herself, just to keep herself safe. In the end, Beatrice chooses Dauntless and leave her family behind. At Dauntless compounds, Beatrice is known as  "Tris" and makes new friends and try to survive brutal tests during Initiation, all the while feeling drawn to a quiet Four who seems to have a past. Can Tris survive Initiation? Who is Four? And most important, why must Tris keep her test results a secret?

     Again, another dystopian which gripped my heart. Divergent is moderately paced, speeding up in the last 100 pages or so. Slightly predictable, but with a few interesting twists I didn't foresee. Good, vivid language that made me fell in love with the Dauntless community (the better part of it, at least). The world Roth painted is so clear, I yearned to be a part of it and yet fear that those described in Divergent will become our future. Let's hope I'll be long gone when that happens.

     The main character, Tris, and also the narrator, is strong, brave, intelligent, loyal and self sacrificing, even if she doesn't know it. She is not blinded by new found love with you-know-who, a quality which made her practical and mature and is willing to look only for the good side of people, something people in real life needed badly. Tris is with potential and flaws, which made her a very three dimensional and lively character. She resembles Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (my review here), only a little more braver, less calculating and minus the love triangle. She is the kind of friend I would love to have, though sometimes I want to knock her head for not seeing the events that are coming her way.

     Four is another favorite. I love him far better than Peeta or Gale(The Hunger Games), and even Stefan from The Vampire Diaries (my review here). I love his no nonsense tone, his figure, his sense of justice and everything that comes along with the package. He felt real and compassionate. Again, his flaws accentuates his admirable qualities, not that he has many flaws. And his phobia of heights is a little funny. Sign me up for a date with the man! ( I sound like a boy-crazed girl, right? Ah, very well.) The other characters are very lively as well, especially good ol' Christina.

     The romance between Tris and Four is full of chemistry and quite convincing. Both of them are attracted to each other by their strength and bravery. The way Tris got hurt and jealous is cute, and is essential to add realism to the relationship.Four is just as quick to protect Tris, even when he's risking his own life. Oww, how sweet. Can you find a couple as on par with each other as Tris and Four are?

     I would like to read more about the locked fence, Four' relationship with his father and the Prior family, but I don't think that's quite possible with some major events happening to the 'rentals. Beautifully crafted, and humorous and times, Divergent is one dystopian you do not want to miss.

     The cover is simple and elegant, though I like the UK cover more, especially the tease line in beside the ravens.

Divergent book jacket UK edition

Ratings : 4 stars (I would love to give a 4.5 if the novel isn't so predictable in parts)


For more info about the author or book, click here

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Watch out for the Flames!

My friend, Rhiannon Paille is debut-ing her novel, Flame of Surrender on 1st November, 2011. And here are the treats:


You come here” Teaser







Countdown Widget: (If you really love Rhiannon, you could put this on your sidebar)
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If you want to join in the celebration please do! Feel free to repost the goodies on your blog, just remember to link back to http://rhiannonpaille.blogspot.com



Flame of Surrender :
The boy who follows death meets the girl who could cause the apocalypse. 

Krishani thinks he’s doomed until he meets Kaliel, the one girl on the island of Avristar who isn’t afraid of him. She’s unlike the other girls, she swims with merfolk, talks to trees and blooms flowers with her touch. What he doesn’t know is that she’s a Flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons, hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl.

Nobody has fallen in love with a Flame until now. She becomes Krishani’s refuge from the dreams of death and the weather abilities he can’t control. Striking down thousand year old trees with lightning isn’t something he tries to do, it just happens. When the Ferryman dies, Krishani knows that he’s the next and that a lifetime of following death is his destiny.

And Kaliel can’t come with him. The Valtanyana are hunting the Flames, the safest place for her is Avristar. Krishani can’t bear to leave her, and one innocent mistake grants the Valtanyana access to their mystical island. They’re coming for Kaliel, and they won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead. She has to choose, hide, face them, or awaken the Flame and potentially destroy herself. 


Don't miss Flame of Surrender!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Review : PASSION by Lauren Kate



Passion is another volume in the Fallen series, picking off where Torment(my review here) ended. Luce just witnessed a battle against the fallen angels, now shed stepped into the past through an Announcer, determined to find out a way to break the curse that condemns their love, and witness her own death and Daniel's heartbreak repeatedly. While hopping from one past to another, Luce gets the accompaniment of Bill. Bill shows Luce the way to cleave- emerging into the body of your past self. Meanwhile, Daniel hops chases Luce into the past, but every time he arrives, Luce left a minute ago. Who is the stranger Bill? Why is he helping Luce? Can Daniel catch Luce before she alters the future into one which doesn't hold neither Luce or Daniel?

     Passion continues the story of Luce and Daniel, working the story into the messy past. The plot is somewhat quite expected, only I didn't foresee the role of a demon in it. Luce went away, find out the secret of their curse, Daniel finds her, end of story. Yet it is not how it turned up. The ending anyway. Good pace, smooth language, enough steam where Daniel is concerned.

     Luce, the main character, is - I'm gonna say it! - annoying. Sometimes she acts like a mindless schoolgirl who is blinded by love. She tries to alter the past so the curse will break, and gets into a hell lot of trouble. Why can't she stay content with Daniel? Anyway, she redeems herself when she finally save Danial a heartbreak and not kill herself in attempt to break the curse. Yes, she's going to kill herself, and I'm not telling ya why.
     Fallen angel Daniel is his usual sweet, endearing self. Trying to save Luce, he witnesses his own heartbreaks after Luce's deaths. He is just so full of love for Luce. Daniel, get over her and come to me, please! I won't treat you the way Luce did! It just kills me that Daniel gets hurt time over time because of Luce's decisions and now he has to save her from herself. 

    Another tiny flaw of Passion is the very hot and steamy romance scenes. Too much, Kate! Some of the scenes were so intimate that I feel embarrassed watching them. Please, spare me. Yet the love between Luce and Daniel was so pure and realistic.

     Cut down the steam and Luce's slightly annoying acts and you'll have a good novel. I just hope the sequel, Rapture, wouldn't be a mess of repeating past and kiss like Passion. I'll be rooting for Daniel even more right now. Eagerly waiting to know how the tragic story of the star-crossed lovers will end.
     The cover is simply amazing, the Luce isn't the Luce I imagined. Er Kate, shouldn't the rose in Luce's hand be a peony?


Ratings : 4 stars ( I gave half a star more because of Daniel)

For more info about the book or author, click here

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Trip to Bali!

Hi everyone! I just came back from a long break from blogging and now I have to inform you that I'll be away for a few days again. Just a few days, 21 to 25 Oct, for a trip to Bali. Then I'll be back for good. Since I can't attend to my blog next weekend, I have a post scheduled on 20 October, and the post is the review of Divergent! Excited, eh? Anyway, come back for the review of the best book this year!

Love,
Jez

Friday, October 14, 2011

Interview : RHIANNON PAILLE



     




    Hi! We're flattered to have Rhiannon Paille for an interview today. Rhiannon a psychic, a metaphysical therapist and the author of The Ferryman and The Flame series. Her first book, FLAME OF SURRENDER is coming out on November 1st, 2011, which means it's just a few weeks away. Without further ado, let us hear what Rhiannon has to say.


____________________________________________________

Tell us about your new book
Flame of Surrender, the first book in The Ferryman and The Flame series is a tragic love story between a boy that is destined to become the ferryman and a girl that is a flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl. 

Can you share your journey of writing and publishing with us?
Sure, but it's not all that interesting ;) I did what everyone else does, I wrote stuff, it was horrifying, I beta tested it, revised it, queried, got shot down, and eventually by chance began talking with an editor who was interested. The whole thing about my publication deal is that technically, I called him about his company coming out to an event I work with, and I ended up pitching him over the phone. About 8 weeks after that, I signed a book contract with him.

What was the spark/inspiration that made you write Flame of Surrender?
Have you ever thought you heard a story as a kid, and you know it so by heart that you can recite it by heart if asked? That's how The Ferryman and The Flame has been for me. I've known this story like the back of my hand for as long as I can remember that part of me feels like it really happened at some point history and that the story was lost. That Chapter 0 bit about Kemplan finding the lost parchment . . . I actually own the original parchment that was based on. I found it pressed into the pages of a book in my husband's house. No, I've never gone so far as to have it checked out, it just provided endless inspiration for the building blocks of a story that I've known bits and pieces of my entire life.

Tell us how was a day in Rhiannon Paille's shoe.
You're right, some days I'm only wearing one shoe and about ten different hats at the same time. I'm a mom, a store owner's wife, a secretary for a major annual festival event, a metaphysical therapist, an author, and a freelance writer for various spirituality publications. 

Half the time I have no time to breathe.

What's your favorite thing about being an author?
I don't have one favorite thing about it, I have about ten thousand favorite things. I love writing down the scenes that have been stuck in my head forever. I love seeing the cosplayers in my character's costumes, I love shooting the book trailers, I love the fans and their perceptions of the book (both good and bad) and I love the entire process.

Better question would be what I dislike and by far, the copy editing process wins.

Was writing what you'd always wanted to do?
No, this might sound awkward but I wanted to be a singer. I had dreams of being a major recording artist and touring the world. When I was 18, I tried out for Canadian Idol and I failed, and those dreams just faded away. I replaced them with other dreams of becoming one of the best metaphysical therapists in the country and writing great books both non-fiction and fiction. 

Is there any thing you need when you're writing?
 I need music. I found I couldn't write something without the perfect music to go along with the character's mind frame. 

Books and writing aside - what is you favorite: 
- novel (okay, just one book related question)  Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater 
- movie        The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet
- drink         Canadian Iced Tea and 7-Eleven Slurpees
- past time   Karaoke . . . it's an addiction, and admittedly I don't do it enough. 

 What is the one thing you can't live without?
My husband. There used to be a lot of people that would tear me down for my lofty goals. They wanted me to have more realistic goals and to be like everyone else. The problem is, I'm not like everyone else, not even a little bit. My husband embraced me for who I am and he had similar lofty goals. Together we have helped each other get to where we are today. I can't live without him, he can't live without me, we just make a great team. 

Since you made it - what is your advice to inspiring authors?
If you have a really awesome idea for a book, but you've never written a book before, write something else. Once you get your pacing, style, and personal preferences down, then you can take out that shiny awesome idea and turn it into the best book you've ever written. 

In case you're wondering, Flame of Surrender was the first full length novel I've ever written and I wish I had written something else first because I will always feel like there's something still flawed in this first book. I suppose that's because this was a growing book and I had to rewrite it about four times before I finally got it right and I feel in some ways that it'll never be perfect.  

At least that's behind me now, I won't be able to change things when it comes out so all I can do is move on to the train wreck that book 2 is and the shiny first draft of the third book. 

___________________________________________________

Thanks Rhiannon, for sharing your life in one shoe! We will be waiting for your book. Have a nice day!


Find Flame of Surrender on :
Goodreads

Find Rhiannon on :
Blog 

Another author interview : Raymond Rose

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Book Blogger Hop : 14 October




Book Blogger Hop


In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to 
connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other,
and generally just share our love of books!

“What is your favorite spooky book (i.e. mystery/suspense, thriller, ghost story, etc.)?”
     
     Does Lisey's Story (Stephen King) counts as a spooky book? Well, if it does, it certainly spooked me (don't tell anyone I said that). The concept is frightening, it kept me up thinking about death, writing, depression and monsters for quite some time. And any story from Stephen King couldn't be less than brilliant. 

** Stay tuned for an interview with debut author Rhiannon Paille!
** Check out my review of Passion(17 Oct) and The Pledge!

Feature and Follow Friday : 14 Oct

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers. First you leave your name here, then you create a post on your own blog that links back here and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them hi in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Now to make this #FF interesting we do a FEATURE blogger. The Feature bloggers are chosen randomly from participants in the Follow Friday or through twitter and blog introductions. If you are interested in becoming a Feature let me know! It is also required to follow the host blog (parajunkee.com) and the Feature blog to participate in the #FF.
Today's feature : Shannon McGee @ Confuzzled Books 

Q: If you could Weicharacters from a book meet and form an epic storyline with characters from a TV series, which characters would you choose and why?

      I'm having hallucinations of Rosemary Hathaway of Vampire Academy (my review here) meeting with the Bones gang, especially Dr Temperance "Bones" Brennen. Vampire meets a very practical normal human being, I could just imagine the laughs I will get.

** Check out my interview with debut author Rhiannon Paille on 14 Oct!

Review : THE PLEDGE by Kimberly Derting

* courtesy of  Simon and Schuster Galley Grab program


Charlaina "Charlie" Hart tries to keep her daily routine while rebels are trying to overthrow the ruler, Queen Sabara in violent Ludania. She seems to be a normal girl in the Vendor class, but she is not what she seems to be, and neither is her little sister, Angelina. Charlie can understand Englaise, Pashon and other languages she shouldn't be able to understand, and if anyone finds out about her secret ability, it could mean not only her death, but also her family's. When she is unreasonably drawn to a handsome guy who seems to know her secret, the very fabric that builds her life starts to dissolve, while her parents wants to keep she and her sister hidden from the truth that will shatter life as they know it.

     I love The Pledge. Love. It. A little dystopian and a little fantasy. The idea that languages can separate you into classes, and you can't change which class you're born into is quite interesting. Harsh, I know. Too bad Derting didn't create new languages like what Christopher Paolini did in Eragon.

     The novel is well paced, there wasn't a page lacking of suspense and thrill. Language flowing and descriptive. It's told in Charlie's voice and the all-knowing narrator, since some of the moments crucial for understanding the plot doesn't happen to Charlie. I couldn't flip through (or rather, click through) the pages fast enough.

     Charlie strikes me as a very protective sister, and she has a very strong and clear voice. She's brave with very few flaws. She's in love with the prince, but I don't find the immediate irresistible draw to a stranger convincing. And I don't get why the prince likes her so much, even when he barely knows her. Perhaps a few more scenes from Derting could explain the romance. Charlie just wasn't as lively as Katniss Everdeen in the The Hunger Games (my review here). Angelina is just lovable, and honestly, I like her a little(just a little) more than the older sister. I would like to see Charlie's magical power develop in the sequel, since her power is so limited in The Pledge.

     The ending is sort of a closure for The Pledge, but written in a way that you're sure that there will be a sequel. Precise and gripping, I just can't wait for the next novel in the trilogy(yes, you heard me right : it's a trilogy!). 

     Overall, The Pledge is a decent novel. However, I read the novel because of it's plot instead of the characters.

     The cover is so dang gorgeous! Black, my sort of cover! Just the image of Charlie wasn't the one I imagined and there's no mention of a dress with hood made out of black silk.

Ratings : 4 stars



** Check back on 14 October for an interview with Rhiannon Paille!
** Upcoming reviews of Passion and Divergent!

I'm BACK!!

Hiya, I'm back! And I'm not coming back in empty hands. I have an upcoming interview with debut author Rhiannon Paille (14 October) and a few reviews, including a review of The Pledge by Kimberly Derting. Have a crazy time reading!

Jez
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