Friday56 - The Countess

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find any sentence that grabs you.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or if you do not have your own blog you can post on Freda's comment section.
* Post a link along with your post back to Freda's Voice

Closest Book: The Countess

Author: Rebecca Johns

Page 56: When we came in sight of the estate at last, it was near dark, and the driver and the horses were exhausted from making the last push across the countryside so that we would not have to stop for the night.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Rip Tide

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Rip Tide (Dark Life #2) by Kat Falls
Expected publication: Aug 4th 2011

From Amazon:
Return to the subsea frontier with Ty and Gemma, where the mysteries of the deep are deadlier than ever. With time running out for his parents, Ty's desperation leads the two teenagers to the underwater underworld and into an alliance with the outlaws of the Seablite Gang. But one mystery soon leads to another. How has an entire township disappeared? Why is the local sea-life suddenly so aggressive? And can the Seablite Gang be trusted or are Ty and Gemma in deeper water than they realise?

Teaser Tuesdays: The Lying Game

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Lying Game (The Lying Game #1) by Sara Shepard

"Guess someone didn't know she was a star on the Internet, huh?" Travis snatched the phone from her hands.
Clarice raked her hands through her hair. She kept glancing from the video screen to Emma's face. "Is this what you do for fun?", she asked Emma in a hoarse voice.

~* page 19

James Patterson's "The Gift" - Banned Materials

I deciphered the "Banned Materials" for James Patterson's book, "Witch & Wizard" on an earlier blog post HERE.

Here is a work-in-progress for the sequel, "The Gift".


Especially Offensive Books That Have Been Banned: As Dictated by The One Who Bans Books
The Brawlers - Warriors by Erin Hunter (see comments)
Gossip Ghost - Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar
The Interesting Crossover Of The Dog To The Shadowland – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Thirst Tournament – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Unfortunate Stones –
Ultimate Armstrong – Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
(Armstrong number - also known as narcissistic numbers; Armstrong numbers are the sum of their own digits to the power of the number of digits.)

Some Particularly Reprehensible Noise Polluters Of The Former Age: As Defined by The One That Monitors Auditory Stimuli
Duchess Goo Goo - Lady GaGa
Dustin Beeper - Justin Bieber
The Red-Eyed Sleazes – The Black-Eyed Peas
Smiley Pyrus – Miley Cyrus
Swifty Tailor - Taylor Swift

Visual "Artists" Who Are No Longer Sullying The World: As Annotated by The One Who Assesses Visual Stimuli
Pierre Pondrain - Piet Mondrian
Paulo Cezonne - Paul Cézanne
Rancher Elfie – Shepard Fairey
Sandy Eyehole – Andy Warhol
Septembre Feynoir – Auguste Renoir
Thanksy - Banksy

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Dark Parties

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Dark Parties by Sara Grant
Published: April 2011 by Little, Brown

From Goodreads:

Dark Parties is a dystopian novel about a country that generations ago closed its borders to people and ideas. No one knows what exists outside their protected society. Neva and her best friend secretly plot to force the government to open its borders. Anyone who threatens the government seems to disappear mysteriously. Neva receives a message from her grandma who vanished without a trace 10 years ago, inviting her to escape to the outside. Now she has a choice–stay and save her country or leave and save herself.

Teaser Tuesdays: The End of the World

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The End of the World: Stories of the Apocalypse
Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Robert Silverberg (Introduction)

For three years he had been searching for another man or woman down here in this world under the city. For three years he had prowled the seven hundred miles of storm drains that threaded their way under the skin Los Angeles like the veins in a giant's body-and he had found nothing. Nothing.
Even now, after all the days and night of search, he could not really accept the fact that he was alone, that he was the last man alive in a city of seven million...

~* page 83
edited to add: this is from William F. Nolan's short story, "The Underdweller".

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Summary from Goodreads:
Bound to her late father's second wife and daughter. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where a woman is valued less than livestock. Bound to be alone, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society.

But all of this is about to change as Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future.

A Chinese fairy tale based on the retelling of the oldest known version of Cinderella, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Xian

The story revolves around the lives and interactions of four women; Xing Xing, her dead mother, her stepmother and her dauther, Wei Ping.

After the death of her parents, Xing Xing becomes bound as a servant to her stepmother and for caring for her halfsister, Wei Ping.
In hopes of finding a good marriage for her daughter, her mother binds the girl's feet even though she is over the customary age of foot binding because their father did not believe in the practice.
It's up to Xing Xing to do the chores and care for her half-sister.

Surprising, the elegant clothes, jewels, and golden slippers Xing Xing finds hidden by her mother and later the prince who seeks out the true wearer of the slipper is only a small part of the story.

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry

Summary from Goodreads:
In a secluded village, magic sparkles on the edges of the forest. There, a young girl named Evie possesses unusually strong powers as a healer. A gypsy's charms—no more than trinkets when worn by others—are remarkably potent when Evie ties them around her neck. Her talents, and charms, have not escaped the notice of the shy stonemason's apprentice. But Evie wants more than a quiet village and the boy next-door. When the young king's carriage arrives one day, and his footman has fallen ill, Evie might just get her chance after all...

Secondhand Charm was a like an old-fashioned "Once Upon a Time" type of story with lots of unexpected twists & turns. Even the story itself was a surprise and I really enjoyed reading it - it's been awhile since a book has surprised me the way this one has and I highly recommend it.

Friday56: Nevermore

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find any sentence that grabs you.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or if you do not have your own blog you can post on Freda's comment section.
* Post a link along with your post back to Freda's Voice

Closest Book: Nevermore

Author: Kelly Creagh

Page 56: "I fell," Isobel said to relieve Steph's anxiety. She picked herself up to the grumbling of the squad, leaving her floundering dignity to choke to death on the floor.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Throat

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Throat by R.A. Nelson
Published January 25th 2011

From Goodreads:
R. A. Nelson takes us on a supernatural thrill ride, a modern-day vampire story set on a NASA base and filled with space-and-science intrigue. Seventeen-year-old Emma feels cursed by her epilepsy—until the lost night. She's shocked to wake up in the hospital one morning, weak from blood loss. When her memories begin to return, she pieces together that it was a man—a monster—who attacked her: a vampire named Wirtz. And it was her very condition that saved her: a grand mal seizure interrupted Wirtz and left Emma with all the amazing powers of a vampire—heightened senses, rapid speed—but no need to drink blood. Is Emma now a half-vampire girl? One thing soon becomes clear: the vampire Wirtz is fierce and merciless, feared even by his own kind, and won't leave a job undone.

Teaser Tuesdays: Blue Fire

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Blue Fire (Healing Wars #2) by Janice Hardy

Her gaze flicked Danello's way, then stopped on me. "Isn't she a little young for a soldier?"
Heart racing, I harrumphed. "Aren't you a little nosy for a guard?"

~* Page 178

Quote It! Saturday

A weekly meme hosted at Freda's Voice!
Please feel free to grab the button and create your own post. Add as many quotes as you wish, from whom ever you wish. It can even be lyrics to a song. Just tell us who it is. Anonymous welcome too. And please leave your link.

From the movie, The Thin Red Line
If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack; a glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours.
~ First Sgt. Edward Welsh (Sean Penn)

Friday56: Autumn

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find any sentence that grabs you.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or if you do not have your own blog you can post on Freda's comment section.
* Post a link along with your post back to Freda's Voice

Closest Book: Autumn

Author: David Moody

Page 56: For a moment the air was pure and refreshing and he swallowed several deep, calming breaths before the now familiar stench of death and burning buildings quickly returned, blown toward him on a cool and gusting wind.

Win an ARC of Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray from That's Swell!

Courtesy of Penguin Group, That's Swell! is having a giveaway for 3 Advanced Reader Copies of LILY OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray.

Please fill out the form and answer the 4 questions and leave a comment at That's Swell! HERE

The giveaway is from December 8th - December 15th, 2010.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Lily of the Nile

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
Published January 4th 2011 by Berkley Trade

From Goodreads:
Heiress of one empire and prisoner of another, it is up to the daughter of Cleopatra to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers...

To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse. Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams. Can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win-or die?

Stephanie Dray’s Celebrating Lily of the Nile Giveaway

Stephanie Dray’s debut novel, Lily of the Nile, releases January 2011 and to celebrate its launch, she is having a wonderful giveaway.

Celebrating Lily of the Nile
Subscribers to Stephanie’s newsletter will be entered in a drawing to win a number of goodies including a signed copy of Lily of the Nile, an ankh charm, a bookmark, and a Cleopatra Action figure. All you have to do to enter is subscribe to the newsletter.



You get an extra entry in the drawing for spreading the word using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or your blog. Simply post your link HERE

Teaser Tuesdays: Chasing the Night

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Chasing the Night (Eve Duncan Thrillers) by Iris Johansen

Eve always gave her reconstructions names while she worked on them. It made her feel a connection while she strove desperately to give each a name and identity to those poor, murdered children who had been thrown away.

~* Page 2

Wintery Goodness Giveaway!

Kari from A Good Addiction and Corrine from Lost for Words
have teamed up to bring us another amazing contest full of hot winter release titles.
Fill out the FORM at one of the blogs to enter - please enter through only one blog.
Up for grabs to six different winners, covering a little of everything genre wise, are:
The Iron Witch - Karen Mahoney
Rival - Sara Bennett Wealer
XVI - Julia Karr
Like Mandarin - Kirsten Hubbard
A Touch Mortal - Leah Clifford
Warped - Maurissa Guibord

Here are the Rules and Details:
There will be six winners - one for each title.
First place gets first pick and on down the line.

All books will be preordered finished copies through Book Depository. These are not ARCs and will not be shipped until release.
This is international as long as Book Depository delivers to your country.
Contest ends December 26, 2010 at midnight EST.

AWAY cover revealed today!

Away (The Line #2) by Teri Hall

It is available for preorder now on Amazon HERE and will be released on September 15, 2011.

Goodreads summary:
Rachel’s adventure continues when she Crosses into the mysterious territory known as Away.






Away is the sequel to The Line by Teri Hall

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.
Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

Friday56: Lockdown

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find any sentence that grabs you.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or if you do not have your own blog you can post on Freda's comment section.
* Post a link along with your post back to Freda's Voice

Closest Book: Lockdown

Author: by Alexander Gordon Smith

Page 56: His face was too angular, the skin pulled tight against the bone beneath like he was a skeleton dressed in someone else's flesh - flesh that looked more like leather when it caught the light.

Pick of the Month - November

Picking a favorite this month was a tough one because I enjoy all of Lee Child's Jack Reacher stories. He is one of my favorite characters along with Temperance Brennan (she was only mentioned by name in Virals by Kathy Reichs).

This month I read a lot of books with sequels and although I'm looking forward to the next installments to all of them, I decided to go with one that didn't continue with a sequel so my top pick is: Room by Emma Donoghue

This chilling story was conceived after the author heard about the Fritzl case and five-year-old Felix.
It really blew me away - I highly recommend it.

Summary by Goodreads:

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Books read - November

Anthem by Ayn Rand
Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group, #1) by Maya Banks
Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Group, #2) by Maya Banks
The Iron King (Iron Fey, #1) by Julie Kagawa
The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey, #2) by Julie Kagawa
Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher Series, #15) by Lee Child
Nightshade (Nightshade, #1) by Andrea Cremer
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Auctioneer by Joan Samson
Manifest (Mystyx, #1) by Artist Arthur
Pegasus by Robin McKinley
The Darkest Hour (KGI, #1) by Maya Banks
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Room by Emma Donoghue
Virals by Kathy Reichs

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Bad Taste in Boys

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris
Published July 12th 2011

From Goodreads:
Someone's been a very bad zombie.
Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steriods are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate! She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town . . . and stay hormonally human.

WWW Wednesdays: December 1

~This meme has been discontinued~

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Glimmerglass (Faeriewalker #1) by Jenna Black

What did you recently finish reading?

Virals by Kathy Reichs

What do you think you’ll read next?

Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

2011 Debut Author Challenge

It's time for the third annual Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren.

This will be my first year participating and my booklist will depend on which books I can get on loan from my local library.

• The objective of the DAC is to read at least twelve novels from Young Adult or Middle Grade Authors. (While twelve is the minimum there is no maximum limit.)

• Books must be a Young Adult or Middle Grade novel.

• This must be the authors debut with a release date in 2011.

• The challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.