Gi-Gi who won a Love and Leftovers ARC and finally
Jessy who won the ARC of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.
Winners please email us your mailing address and stay tuned everyone else for new giveaways tomorrow!
Fire and Ice would like to welcome ephrielle, another part-time reviewer this week!
Bio: “I like to read. I love to read. I’m obsessed with reading. If I had twins, I’d have to hire someone to hold my book for me while they fed. My poor children. What were their names again? OK, so I’m not that obsessed. I like romantic dinners and long walks on the beach, in the books I read, but not in real life. Romantic dinners are too much hassle and I don’t like tracking sand in the house, besides who actually does that sort of stuff in their happily ever after anyway? That’s the whole reason why books have endings, so we don’t have to hear about all the dirty diapers, temper tantrums, and marital issues. So, that pretty much sums it up, I’m a wife, a mother, and I escape through books.”
Kristin A who won a bookplate and bookmark, and Persephone, Nikki A who all won signed bookmarks from Angela Corbett.
Email us to confirm your mailing address and we’ll get the prizes sent out!
Heather Zahn Gardner is the owner and full-time reviewer of Fire and Ice. She runs the twitter, facebook, tumblr pages. She also manages the review requests that come in from authors and publishers. She has a BS in psychology from Brigham Young University and has been writing and taking pictures since junior high.
She worked in the social work field for many years and served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Santiago, Chile. In her free time, Heather enjoys reading, traveling, music, triathlons, road biking, family history and time outdoors. She loves meeting new authors and working with them to create book trailers, covers, author photos, and interviews.
Our Best I’ve Read 2011 choice for day two is Die for Me by Amy Plum. We have the official book playlist as well as one copy donated by the author and publisher for giveaway.
Die For Me
by Amy Plum
Hardcover, 341 pages
Published: May 10th 2011
by HarperTeen
ISBN 0062004018
5 stars
My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.
Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.
Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.
Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.
While I’m fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family’s—in jeopardy for a chance at love?
Kate is a recently orphaned teen who has moved with her sister Georgia to Paris from the United States. The death of both her parents turns her inward, cutting off socially and finding relief in books, museums and hidden cafes. Kate is so completely immersed in grieving and going through the motions of life, which all changes the day she spots a handsome dark boy watching her intensely and she returns the stare. Vincent is kind and wise, handsome and chivalrous, but a little rusty on his people skills. So the two of them have many waters to navigate before they decide to get to know each other and trust one another. Their attachment, while seemingly immediate, takes trials and time to come into fruition.
Die for Me captured my attention so fully that from the moment I picked it up yesterday morning to the completion of the book at the very end of the day, I fell into the story and could not come out. Amy Plum paints a lush beautiful portrait of Paris from a native eye and sketches each character out fully and realistically. Harperteen does not disappoint with the quality of books they are releasing in the paranormal YA genre. Everything about this book felt new and untouched. The concept of revenant, the mythology and plot are spot on and achingly romantic. Besides falling in love with the main characters, I found a place in my heart for each member of the cast. Especially for funny, flirty Jules and Kate’s older sister Georgia. I hope book two will flesh out full roles for them. I also have my fingers crossed that the publisher chooses to stick with the cover on the advanced reader’s edition. It is breathtaking with Kate in a red boat on the Seine.
What can I say other than I won’t forget this book. I’m literally speechless. Die For Me leaves a mark in my mind as fresh as a stoke of a paintbrush and as lasting as a masterpiece. There are a few gruesome scenes that make it for readers who can stomach violence. Otherwise it is refreshingly clean and absolutely amazing. I love that it highlights the arts and history of France as well as close family relationships. Will I be picking up book two? As soon as I can get my hands on it!
You might also like: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand and Hereafter by Tara Hudson.
The Playlist:
DIE FOR ME’s THEME SONG: Kiss Me Slowly (Parachute w/Lady Antebellum)
Zombie (The Cranberries)
American Girl (Val Emmich)
Mad World (Donnie Darko soundtrack, Gary Jules)
Marian (Nouvelle Vague)
Pretty (The Cranberries)
Parallel Universe (Gypsy and the Cat)
I’m Not Done (Fever Ray)
Requiem for Anna (Portishead)
The Waltz (Diving With Andy*)
About The Author: Amy Plum is the author of the International Bestseller DIE FOR ME, which is an Indie Next List pick, Romance Times top pick, and recipient of a starred review from School Library Journal. DIE FOR ME is the first novel in a YA trilogy set in Paris.
After being raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in a rather restrictive environment, AMY PLUM escaped to Chicago to an even more restrictive environment at a university that expelled people for dancing. (And where she was called to the dean’s office for “wearing too much black”.) After all of that restrictiveness, she was forced to run far far away, specifically to Paris, France, where she only wore black and danced all she wanted.
After five years in Paris, she ventured to London, where she got an M.A. in Medieval Art History, specializing in Early Sienese Painting (1260-1348) mainly because it promised almost no hope of finding a paying job afterward. During grad school she married a ridiculously handsome Frenchman named Laurent, who she subsequently dragged with her to New York after securing her degree.
Amy worked in the world of art and antiques in New York, while Laurent used his French guy charms and started a very cool wine shop in Brooklyn. But after almost a decade of high-pressure lifestyle in the Big Apple, they decided to swap their American city for a French village of 1300 inhabitants. With their Bronx-born big red dog Ella, they moved to a tiny town in the Loire Valley down the road from Laurent’s father.
After signing with HarperCollins for the DIE FOR ME series, Amy left her job as an English professor at Tours University to write full-time. She juggles restoration of their old French farmhouse, with writing fun stories in her hundreds-of-years-old office (a stone house on the other side of her garden), and playing with her two extremely energetic pre-school age children.
She is a huge fan of Edward Gorey and Maira Kalman (and collects both of their books/art), as well as David Sedaris, Amadeo Modigliani, and Ira Glass.
