Isn't Megg Jensen's cover of the last book to her Cloud Prophet Trilogy A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!
June 30, 2011
June 28, 2011
Megg Jensens' Guest Post & GIVEAWAY!
Real Life (Almost) Never Impacts My Writing
When readers talk to me about Anathema and Oubliette, they often ask how my real life impacts my stories. The simple answer: it doesn't. Sure, many of the characters are names stolen from friends (Johna and Hanne, for example), and maybe my emotional state will impact the direction of the novel while I'm first drafting. But it's very, very rare that anything from my actual life will show up in my novels. I think my life is far more boring than what happens in my books.
But, there is an exception to every rule. For my upcoming novel, Sleepers, I used one portion of life that I'm very passionate about - martial arts. No, I don't have a black belt in anything. My fear of standing up in front of other people has always held me back from taking a class. However, five years ago my daughter started taekwondo and I spent a good part of every week practicing with her. Everyone told me I should take class with her, but I told them I couldn't because I still had a younger child to watch so how could I possibly commit to take the class? The truth was that I adored taekwondo, but I feared standing up in a class of children (it's offered age six and up but it's rare to see a parent in the class) with parents looking on.
Since I didn't feel like I could truly express myself in taekwondo, I used it in Sleepers. My main character, Lianne, is an expert in martial arts. In developing this part of her life, I was able to let myself live it with her.
Well, my son is now old enough to take taekwondo too. At his first class, the instructor told the parents that any of them were welcome, in fact encouraged, to take the class with their children. He looked at me, and called me out in front of everyone. I thought, just for a moment, that I would melt into a puddle of embarrassment. Surprisingly, I didn't.
On the way home, my husband said, "Why don't we take it with the kids now?" I hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Okay." Working on edits for Sleepers (which I wrote more than a year ago) has reminded me how much I love taekwondo. I'm still scared to death to step on that mat with all of the other adults watching, but I'm going to do it anyway.
So yeah, real life impacted my writing - and now, I can honestly say, that writing has impacted my real life.
My question:
I am going to start off with my question and it is something that I am going to write a blog post about. I am also determined to make T-Shirts that ask this question...so here it is.
"Why are most of my favorite authors redheads?"
Megg Jensen's answer:
"All your fav authors are redheads because we are the awesomest of all
humans - particularly the natural redheads, like me. ;) lol!" and then she said, "Bwahahaha!!!! Every single redhead I know has a screw loose (myself included). ;)"
It's me...Mindy again! See! Redheads truly do ROCK! Keep your eyes open... because I am determined to have a T-Shirt made and have all my fave redhead authors sign it! "Megg, will you be my first author to sign my shirt?" LoL! If any of you have an awesome T-Shirt designers...give me the 411.
So do you want a chance to win an ebook of Anathema & Oubliette? Well there will be 2 lucky winners that can win! You can enter by: (Make sure you leave your email address)
- One entry if you ask Megg Jensen a question by commenting on this guest post.
- One entry if you post a question for Megg or comment on my Anathema by Megg Jensen review.
- One entry if you post a question for Megg or comment on my Oubliette by Megg Jensen review.
- One entry if you tweet about Megg stopping by and the eBook giveaway with a link (include @bookluvrmindy in the tweet)!!
Oubliette by Megg Jensen
Author Summary: Reychel thought she was finally free. She was wrong.
Everyone saw her gift of prophecy as a blessing, but her gift is controllable. No one alive can teach her to manipulate her unique gift and the answers she needs lie buried within a madman’s journals.
She’s thrust in the midst of a brewing war and the only uniting factor for her people is their belief in the Prophet. Will Reychel learn to control her gift or will she be forced to deliver a false prophecy that could lead her people into a violent, unwinnable war?
My Take: I don’t know how Megg Jensen does it! The second book to the Cloud Prophet Trilogy was more that I could possibly have expected or asked for. If I was asked to give you one word to describe Oubliette, I would have to say, “BRILLIANT.”
First off, I have to say that there is not a whole lot I can say about this book to avoid spoilers! As I said in my review of Anathema (See my review HERE), there is very little detail about Oubliette that I would want to include in this review because I loved that I read it completely blind, AND I would prefer it to be the same with everyone else.
But what I CAN say is that Oubliette is perfect as a sequel for Anathema. Based off of Megg’s last book, I was expecting some betrayal and maybe some twists in this book, so I was constantly trying to figure them out while reading. There were a couple of things that didn’t surprise me “too” much, BUT I was COMPLETELY blindsided by one HUGE twist and it was, like I said, B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T!
The fantasy world that Megg created for me has a little bit of a medieval times feel to it. I loved how she showed a lot more magic in this book. And to top it ALL off, the ending was AMAZING! I really hope I don’t have to wait long to read the last book in the trilogy because I just KNOW that it will be as phenomenal as Anathema and Oubliette, and I think you will too!
Buy on Smashwords.com Oubliette (Cloud Prophet Trilogy)
Buy Kindle Edition with Amazon Oubliette (Cloud Prophet Trilogy)
Buy Paperback edition with Amazon Oubliette: Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Book Two
June 27, 2011
Winners of Bookluvr Mindy's 30th Birthday Giveaway
Congratulations!
The first three winners of Bookluvr Mindy's 30th Birthday Giveaway are....
Courtney, Janae & Latisha!
All three winners will receive signed copies of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy!
The winners are being released...as the winners redeem their items!
Their names will be listed next to the prizes once they have redeemed their prize!
Here are the list of prizes:
Anathema & Oubliette by Megg Jensen
- Signed books of both Anathema & Oubliette - Shelby
- eBooks of both Anathema & Oubliette - Jessica
- eBooks of both Anathema & Oubliette - Shanna
- eBooks of both Anathema & Oubliette - Amy
- Bookmark - Marjie
- Signed copy of Meant to Be - SpadesHigh
- eBook of Meant to Be - Holly
Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace
- eReader Skin - Alyssa @ Hesperia Loves Books
- eReader Skin - Jessica
- Signed Copy of Daimon - Amber
- Signed Copy of Daimon - AmyC
- Daimon/ Half-Blood Swag - Amber
- Daimon/ Half-Blood Swag - IngaSilbergBooks
- Daimon/ Half-Blood Swag - Memrie
- Daimon/ Half-Blood Swag - AmyC
- Daimon/ Half-Blood Swag - Raychelle
- Signed ARC of Anathema - Marjie
- eBook of Anathema - Katja
- eBook of Anathema - Shanna
- Bookmark - April X
- Bookmark - Julie
- Bookmark - Jenn
- Bookmark - Andrea
- Bookmark - Shannon
- eBook of Sleight - Emily
- eBook of Sleight - Brielle
- Signed copy of Released - Jennifer
- eBook of Released - Latisha
- Kindle eReader Skin - Alyssa @ Hesperia Loves Books
- eBook of Dirty Blood - Brianna
- eBook of Across the Galaxy - Heidi
June 24, 2011
Hey Book Bloggers! Wanna join my Book Club?
For a couple of months now, I have really wanted to start a blogger/reviewer book club.
And my reason is a lot like what Megg Jensen says in her post, Love Me, Love Me Not. What I really want is for people to read the reviews I write and give me feedback, even if it’s critical. If you are a passionate book reviewer like me, then I think you would agree. Personally, I would prefer less followers if I had more people reading my reviews.
So here’s what I am thinking, and please feel free to give me any suggestions. I am hoping to get at least 5 bloggers/reviewers every weekend to participate, but the more the merrier, right? So spread the word! And, a couple times a month I will probably ask one of you awesome bloggers to actually host the Bookluvr’s Book Club on your blog. My plan is to Feature one of my fave bloggers and one of their reviews each month, and I plan to do this even if I am not the host of that weekend’s Bookluvr’s Book Club.
Here are the rules I threw together:
- Each week that you would like to participate, add your blog Url in the InLinkz located on the hosting blog. Make sure you submit the name of your blog in the name field.
- Select at least 5 different blogs/reviewers who are participating (assuming at least 5 participate), find a review of a book you have not read, read their review and leave an honest, real comment. Since it would be nice to still get more followers, as a courtesy for joining the Bookluvr’s Book Club it would also be nice to follow the blog you are reviewing!
- If someone makes a comment on your review, be generous and at least become a follower of their blog. Maybe even consider reading and leaving a comment on one of their reviews.
- *Optional* In addition, if you come across a book you have already read and you like/dislike the review, it would be fun to chat back and forth about the book! Maybe even on twitter!
- Since this is a weekend review book club, you may enter as early as the Bookluvr’s Book Club is open and then come back anytime throughout the weekend to pick your 5 reviewers to read their reviews.
- This is also *Optional*, if you find a fabulous blog and/or review, it would be totally awesome if you would feature their blog as well. And let them know you have featured them on your blog!
Once again, I am completely open to suggestions on anything that we could change or any other fun ideas!
June 21, 2011
Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
My Take: Yay! OMG…OMG…OH-MY-GOSH!!! I was finally able to read the book that I have been waiting to read for about 4 months now! This is the actual book that started my determination to get into blogging. It's a long story, so I may blog about it at a later date.
This book was fabulous! The whole storyline was phenomenal! I stand by my statement from when I reviewed Nightshade and say that this series is truly a new fave of mine. I haven’t the slightest idea of how I am going to write this review and prevent spoilers but I am going to try.
I cried like a little baby over and over again throughout the entire book because there is so much shock, heartbreak and despair. “Calla, come over here so we can hug and cry together. You need it more than I do but we can comfort each other. Or, I can come there! I wouldn’t mind taking a look at that academy.” Yeah, that’s me talking to a fictional character (not a quote) but this is what fabulous books do to me. LoL
Holee calla! There were so many intense parts in this book! I was probably looking pretty crazy reading on the edge of my seat, gripping it for dear life, while my eyes were bugging out of my head! Every-Single-Time Calla started feeling that something was not right, I thought to myself, “Oh…my… gosh! WoooSahhh!!!…Here we go again!” My heart, yet again, would rise to its peak and, when everything was over, it would end in another blubber fest.
Obviously, I grew VERY attached to the characters in this book. I particularly grew attached to the new characters who were introduced. There is one really surprising thing I have to say that anyone who has read or is reading Wolfsbane might find shocking; and that is, the male character who actually won me over in this book was Ethan! Team Ethan? Shocking right?! There is one part in the book where he really made my heart melt like a popsicle on a hot day. Most of all, I grew a deep sympathy and attachment to Calla. My heart aches for her! All of the things she had to endure in this book just broke my heart. As Julie from http://www.tableforseven-julie.blogspot.com/ would say, “TEAM CALLA!”
I am still on the fence about the whole Shay vs. Ren thingy. Why????? It’s driving me nuts! The storyline feels like Andrea Cremer is always leaning toward Shay (for Calla). But why do “I” always lean in the direction of Ren? I really would have liked Ren to play a bigger role in this book. And the very small role he did play in…TOTALLY SUCKED! I will say that, near the end of Nightshade, I completely fell for Ren, but I don’t know what to think about the whole thing. I am really struggling with this one.
And then there is the cliffhanger! “Andrea, could you have just given me one more chapter! If not, maybe even just a few more pages? Why there?!” Yeah, I get it! To make everyone feel the way I’m feeling right now. Booooo!!!! Do we really have to wait until February to read Bloadrose?
If you are reading this and you haven’t yet read Nightshade, read it now before reading Wolfsbane! And, if you HAVE read Nightshade, make sure you preorder Wolfsbane so you can get it the day it is released! You won’t regret it.
Want to see my review of other books from this series? Click on the pic here:
June 11, 2011
It's My 30th Birthday Giveaway!
Let’s Celebrate My 30th Birthday!
Do you love Signed Books, eBooks and fabulous swag?
How about Signed Copies of Vampire Academy?
To make light of leaving my 20’s and to celebrate my 30th birthday, I have put together a HUGE giveaway! And I have a bunch of my favorite authors to thank who are also celebrating with me!
It's free to enter! You only have to fill out a form with your name and email address for an entry into the drawing! But if you take a few extra steps to spread the word and show these fabulous authors some LOVE, you can get additional entries into the giveaway!
It's free to enter! You only have to fill out a form with your name and email address for an entry into the drawing! But if you take a few extra steps to spread the word and show these fabulous authors some LOVE, you can get additional entries into the giveaway!
Signed Books and swag are ONLY open for US Shipping. See HERE for more details about the giveaway or click on the button above! If you are not a resident of the US, you are more than welcome to still enter into the drawings for the eBook Giveaways!
June 10, 2011
*Amazing Trailer* & eReader skins! Decended by Blood by Angeline Kace
I thought I would share with you all this amazing trailer of Decended by Blood by Angeline Kace!
And, guess what? Part of the My HUGE Birthday Giveaway, she is giving away totally awesome eReader skins. Here are some pics to show you how cute they are!
And, guess what? Part of the My HUGE Birthday Giveaway, she is giving away totally awesome eReader skins. Here are some pics to show you how cute they are!
June 7, 2011
Anathema by K. A. Tucker
Author Summary: Evangeline has spent her teenage years in obscurity. Her foster parents have the emotional aptitude of robots and her classmates barely acknowledge her existence. About to turn eighteen and feeling like a social pariah, she is desperate to connect with someone. Anyone.
When Evangeline meets Sophie after literally stumbling upon her café, she believes she’s found that connection. Willing to do anything to keep it, she accepts a job as Sofie’s assistant and drops everything to fly to Manhattan, where she is thrust into a luxurious world of Prada, diamonds, and limitless cash.
With such generosity and kindness, it’s easy for Evangeline to dismiss certain oddities . . . like Sofie’s erratic and sometimes violent behavior, and the monstrous guard dogs. She’s even willing to dismiss her vivid dreams of mob-style murders, beautiful homeless people living in caves, and white-eyed demons that haunt her each night as figments of her imagination—especially when one of those figments is the gorgeous Caden. When she wakes up with bite marks on her neck, the fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare. She slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Sofie and friends, and the reality of the bites and the “dreams.” What she discovers is far more mysterious and terrible than anything she could have imagined.
In a world where everyone has motive to lie for personal gain, Evangeline must decide which deception is least likely to get her killed.
K. A. Tucker has created both a fantastic Urban Fantasy setting (set in New York) AND a completely separate Dystopia Fantasy world! Can it get any better than that? The Fantasy world Tucker created mirrors earth (Urban Fantasy setting) in a lot of ways, but the other, Dystopia world has been completely taken over by Vampires and humans have been extinct for 700 years, AND their world has gone downhill ever since.
Evangeline is the main character in the book and I just adore her! She trusts easily and gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. If a person (or vampire LoL) breaks Evangeline’s trust or shows signs they should not be trusted, it takes actions not words to gain her trust back. I noticed this in her character right away because that is exactly how I am and this is exactly what I would look for in a friend! And, throughout the book I was in conflict with who Evangeline should trust, right along with her!
Evangeline was orphaned when her mother was killed in a car accident. Throughout her whole life she’s had a hard time getting close to anyone other than her mother, and then she loses her. In the beginning of the book, she is about to turn 18 and she is offered an amazing job making a lot of money that requires her to travel with this wealthy lady to New York!
But after she gets to New York, weird things start to happen to her. When she goes to sleep, she vividly dreams that she is actually waking up in strange places and meeting strange people. Her dreams are so vivid that, at the end of the night when she wakes up in her own bed, she can’t believe they were only dreams. What’s happening to her? And, why is this happening? Is there a reason? Who are these strange people she sees when she goes to bed? Is she living in the real (LoL) Urban Fantasy world . . . or living in the separate Dystopia Fantasy world! You will have to read and find out!
The romance in this book gave me butterflies and tingles! My stomach actually did flips a couple times. What I’m getting at here is that I am, once again, in love with a fictional character! Ooo! La! La!
K.A. Tucker included plenty of unexpected twists and turns in this story, and she has written an amazing, phenomenal, and, at the same time, heart-wrenching cliff hanger of an ending!
I LOVED it! I am really looking forward to K.A. Tucker’s next book!
Buy it on Smashwords Here: Anathema by K.A. Tucker
June 3, 2011
Hey Book Bloggers! Wanna join my Book Club?
For a couple of months now, I have really wanted to start a blogger/reviewer book club.
And my reason is a lot like what Megg Jensen says in her post, Love Me, Love Me Not. What I really want is for people to read the reviews I write and give me feedback, even if it’s critical. If you are a passionate book reviewer like me, then I think you would agree. Personally, I would prefer less followers if I had more people reading my reviews.
My plan is, every weekend I will Feature one of my fave bloggers and one of their reviews. I will do this, even if I am not the host that weekend Book Club.
So here’s what I am thinking, and please feel free to give me any suggestions. I am hoping to get at least 5 bloggers/reviewers every weekend to participate, but the more the merrier, right? So spread the word! And, a couple times a month I will probably ask one of you awesome bloggers to actually host the Bookluvr’s Book Club on your blog. My plan is to Feature one of my fave bloggers and one of their reviews each month, and I plan to do this even if I am not the host of that weekend’s Bookluvr’s Book Club.
Here are the rules I threw together:
- Each week that you would like to participate, add your blog Url in the InLinkz located on the hosting blog. Make sure you submit the name of your blog in the name field.
- Select at least 5 different blogs/reviewers who are participating (assuming at least 5 participate), find a review of a book you have not read, read their review and leave an honest, real comment. Since it would be nice to still get more followers, as a courtesy for joining the Bookluvr’s Book Club it would also be nice to follow the blog you are reviewing!
- If someone makes a comment on your review, be generous and at least become a follower of their blog. Maybe even consider reading and leaving a comment on one of their reviews.
- *Optional* In addition, if you come across a book you have already read and you like/dislike the review, it would be fun to chat back and forth about the book! Maybe even on twitter!
- Since this is a weekend review book club, you may enter as early as the Bookluvr’s Book Club is open and then come back anytime throughout the weekend to pick your 5 reviewers to read their reviews.
- This is also *Optional*, if you find a fabulous blog and/or review, it would be totally awesome if you would feature their blog as well. And let them know you have featured them on your blog!
Once again, I am completely open to suggestions on anything that we could change or any other fun ideas!