Morgan Matson BIR2010 Teaser Giveaway

14 Dec, 2010 by in Morgan Matson, simon schuster 8 comments

We have a second great teaser book giveaway for you today.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour
by Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Released: May 4, 2010
http://twitter.com/morgan_m

Book Summary: Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew–just in time for Amy’s senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she’s always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy’s mother’s old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she’s surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road–diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards–this is the story of one girl’s journey to find herself.

Giveaway:
One copy of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour shipped to the US only. Click here to enter!

Orson Scott Card Teaser Giveaway

14 Dec, 2010 by in orson scott card, pathfinder, Simon Pulse, simon schuster 6 comments

Welcome to day 9, our final day of the Best I’ve Read 2010. Our first teaser book giveaway today is

Pathfinder
By: Orson Scott Card
Published by: Simon Pulse
Card’s website: http://www.hatrack.com/
Book summary (from author website):
A powerful secret. A dangerous path.

Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg’s strange talent for seeing the paths of people’s pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him — secrets about Rigg’s own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.

Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent . . . or forfeit control of his destiny.

We have 2 copies of Pathfinder to give away courtesy of Orson Scott Card and Simon Schuster. To enter to win one, please fill out this form.

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Welcome To Our Newest Affiliate

13 Dec, 2010 by in maggie stiefvater, wolves of mercy falls Leave a comment

A big welcome to our newest site affiliate “Behind Yellow Eyes” a fansite dedicated to Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Maggie’s works are fabulous and we are happy to have joined up with her #1 fansite. Check them out here at http://www.behindyelloweyes.com/, follow them on twitter @Shiver_series and visit them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Behind-Yellow-Eyes/242338592218

BIR 2010 Giveaway Prize Pack #5

13 Dec, 2010 by in matched, sarah beth durst 11 comments

Welcome to day 8 of the Best I’ve Read 2010 giveaways. We have four books to highlight today with a chance to win one!

Matched
By Ally Condie
Published by Dutton Juvenile
Website: http://www.allysoncondie.com/
4.5 stars

Book Summary:
In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

I first spotted an ARC of this book at the Writing for Charity event and I fell in love with the cover. It is magical. Shimmering. Perfect. Matched is a story that will stick with you long after you are done reading. And it’s one I could happily read over and over. Ally Condie is a master. She takes a dystopian concept and gives it a hopeful poetic tone. Her writing leaves an impact and a deep impression in your mind. This is a book that I see being taught in classrooms because of the ideas it presents and explores.

It starts out as Cassia is getting ready to attend her Matching ceremony, traveling along with her childhood friend Xander and their families. The whole event sounds like a girl’s dream. A new green silk dress, and the once in a lifetime chance to meet the man you may marry. The society hand picks them for you and statistics show all will be well.

Cassia’s path may be different than her peers, after her match goes wrong and she sees the faces of two boys instead of one. Both of them live in her borough, but one has a secret. Soon the perfect face of society will start to crumble as Cassia uncovers their methods. They control every facet of life: the food, the jobs, the history, and even the chances you will have in the future to succeed. Society officials watch your every move and limit your choices. As they once seemed protective and helpful they become Cassia’s source of confusion and entrapment. Will she be able to break free and choose love over loyalty?

Matched is slow moving but immersive. I found myself falling for both of Cassia’s men. They are incredible. The families are tight knit, each of the character’s pasts are intertwined and interconnected. The plot has layers which continue to unravel and the romance element is clean and perfect. I’m looking forward to the sequel, since in the end there are a lot of unanswered questions. Overall Matched is a beautiful, thought provoking book bound to become a classic.

The Scorch Trials:
Sequel to the Maze Runner
By James Dashner
Released Oct 12, 2010
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
http://www.jamesdashner.com/

The Maze was only the beginning…

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more Variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety… until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, much of the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated–and with it, order–and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim… and meal.

The Gladers are far from done running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder–does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

The Lonely Hearts Club
By Elizabeth Eulberg
Published by Point
Released December 29, 2009
http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/

Love is all you need… or is it? Penny’s about to find out in this wonderful debut.

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It’s a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there’s this certain boy she can’t help but like. . . .

Enchanted Ivy
by Sarah Beth Durst
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published October 12th 2010
by Margaret K. McElderry

http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/

What Lily Carter wants most in the world is to attend Princeton University just like her grandfather. When she finally visits the campus, Grandpa surprises her: She has been selected to take the top-secret Legacy Test. Passing means automatic acceptance to Princeton. Sweet!

Lily’s test is to find the Ivy Key. But what is she looking for? Where does she start? As she searches, Lily is joined by Tye, a cute college boy with orange and black hair who says he’s her guard. That’s weird. But things get seriously strange when a gargoyle talks to her. He tells her that there are two Princetons—the ordinary one and a magical one—and the Key opens the gate between them. But there are more secrets that surround Lily. Worse secrets.

When Lily enters the magical Princeton, she uncovers old betrayals and new dangers, and a chance at her dream becomes a fight for her life. Soon Lily is caught in a power struggle between two worlds, with her family at its center. In a place where Knights slay monsters, boys are were-tigers, and dragons might be out for blood, Lily will need all of her ingenuity and courage—and a little magic—to unite the worlds and unlock the secrets of her past and her future.

For a chance to win one of these titles as a part of BIR2010 enter here.

SEA Interview and Giveaway

12 Dec, 2010 by in Sea 9 comments

SEA
by Heidi R Kling
published June 10th 2010
by Putnam Juvenile
Hardcover, 336 pages
url http://www.heidirkling.com/
5 Stars

Synopsis: Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers.

And Sea’s real adventure begins

Ever since I first read about Heidi’s book on Twitter I was intrigued by premise and elements of the story. The teasers started a creative flurry of activity for me of photos and jewelry, and I requested our local Barnes and Noble order it in. The wait has been long, but worth it. What an outstanding debut novel by Heidi R Kling. Sea is lyrically written from the eyes of Sienna, a young girl who suffers from PTSD and nightmares after losing her mother. Once filled with adventure and a love of the ocean, she has changed. When her father, a renowned world psychiatrist gifts her a trip to Indonesia with Team Hope, Sienna is forced to face her biggest fears. From her childhood friendship with a surfer named Spider, to touching lives at an orphanage in Yogyakarta; this book brought me to tears. It’s one that leaves you thinking and feeling hopeful for the power of change. Love overcomes loss as Deni shows Sienna that a choice must be made to live each new day. SEA will stick with you for a long time as will the impressions of post-tsunami recovery in Indonesia. It’s a meaningful, culturally rich novel with purpose. And this is one of those reviews where I feel like words aren’t adequate to describe my experience. So much of SEA is what I felt inside.

Thanks to Heidi R Kling for sharing her talent and answering a few questions as part of an exclusive interview for BIR2010.

Tell us about your book.
SEA is a romantic adventure about hope after disaster, set in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

Did you do any traveling or face to face interviews for SEA?
I have traveled quite a bit, but have never been to Indonesia. I interviewed by husband, who volunteered at a real Indonesian orphanage after the disaster and a female volunteer as well as two orphaned boys (via email).

What are some of the life lessons your characters have to face and how do they apply to today’s teens?
I think everyone can resinate with the idea of hope and loss. The human experience is checkered with these feelings. Part of the human experience is also hanging on to hope; that things will improve, get better. Maybe most American teens cannot relate to a tsunami washing over their village, but hopelessness is a common teen feeling. I hope SEA helps them realize these feelings are temporary. There is always, like my grandpa used to say, sunshine in the morning.

PTSD and natural disasters are explored in SEA. What advice would you give to someone who has survived a tragedy?
Let yourself grieve. It is a normal human reaction. It’s okay to be sad. It’s also okay to ask for help. PTSD is a psychiatric condition that you should seek medical help for.

What has been your most rewarding experience since writing SEA?
The readers, definitely. I think SEA is a smallish book, meaning it didn’t get a lot of fanfare or marketing from my publisher, but the readers have fallen in love with it. That means the world to me.

Any new projects coming up?
I’m writing a fantasy trilogy about estranged witches and warlocks. It’s like a Romeo and Juliet with magic story. I’m also contributing to anthologies, both this fall’s Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls, and Spring/2011 TRUTH & DARE.

What’s on your Chrsitmas list this year?
So funny you asked. For the first time in five years I have a long, long list for Santa. Short, grey Ugg boots are on there, the Eclipse DVD (my husband surprised me last night and gave it to be early!), a beach cruiser with a basket and a little horn. I’ve always wanted a little horn.

What books have most influenced your life?
John Green’s LOOKING FOR ALASKA influenced the way I thought about YA. Made me delve deeper with SEA. Toni Morrison’s BELOVED made me realize how incredibly rich modern prose could be. Judy Blume’s books taught me about everything else. 😉

Favorite writing snack?
Peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s. Frozen. In large handfuls.

Heidi will be giving one reader a signed bookmark and we will add one item from our SEA store on etsy. Enter the international giveaway here.

You may also want to visit the SEA Flickr gallery with photos which reminded me of the book at http://www.flickr.com/photos/heatherzahngardner/galleries/72157624488461623/

Dust City Giveaway

12 Dec, 2010 by in book giveaway, robert paul weston 7 comments

Dust City

by: Robert Paul Weston
Published by: Razorbill

Book Summary: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
His son, that’s who.

Ever since his father’s arrest for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood, teen wolf Henry Whelp has kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves . . . until a murder at the Home leads Henry to believe his father may have been framed.

Now, with the help of his kleptomaniac roommate, Jack, and a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry will have to venture deep into the heart of Dust City: a rundown, gritty metropolis where fairydust is craved by everyone and controlled by a dangerous mob of Water Nixies and their crime boss leader, Skinner.

Can Henry solve the mystery of his family’s sinister past? Or, like his father before him, is he destined for life as a big bad wolf?

This giveaway is open to both US and Canada. One copy of Dust City will be awarded to a lucky blog follower. Enter here.

BIR2010 YA Prize Pack #4

12 Dec, 2010 by in book giveaway 13 comments

Dark Flame
By Alyson Noel
Published by St. Martin’s Griffin
Released June 22, 2010
http://www.alysonnoel.com/

At the start of this mesmerizing new installment of the Immortals series, Ever is helping her friend Haven transition into life as an immortal. But with Haven drunk on her new powers and carelessly putting them all at risk, their friendship becomes more and more strained. At the same time, Ever delves deeper into magick in order to get control over her enemy Roman and free Damen from his power. But when the spell she casts on Roman backfires, she’s bound to her deadliest enemy. Frantic to reverse the spell the moment the moon enters a new phase, she finds her efforts are fruitless—there’s a strange, foreign pulse coursing through her, one that propels her toward Roman. Desperate to break free of this terrible curse before Damen or the twins can discover what she’s done, she turns to Jude and delves deeper and deeper into dark magick, ultimately risking everything she knows and loves—including Damen.

Once in A Full Moon
by Ellen Schreiber
Published by HarperCollins

Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever.

Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend’s Run is famous for them. She’s used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend’s Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.

Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who’s from the wrong side of town. But she can’t deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste’s hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend’s Run.

Psychic predictions, generations-old secrets, a town divided, and the possibility of falling in love with a hot and heroic werewolf are the perfect formula for what happens . . . once in a full moon.
One lucky US reader will receive both Dark Flame and Once in A Full Moon. Enter below.

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Scott Westerfeld Giveaway

11 Dec, 2010 by in scott westerfeld 9 comments

Our final BIR2010 giveaway for today is a double prize pack from Scott Westerfeld. He and Simon Schuster have offered up these two books forour blog readers.

Behemoth (Leviathan #2)
By Scott Westerfeld
Published by Simon Pulse
September 25, 2010
http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.
Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what’s ahead.

Leviathan
by Scott Westerfeld

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

To enter to win both Behemoth and Leviathan as a part of Best I’ve Read 2010, fill out this form.

BIR2010 YA Prize Pack #3

11 Dec, 2010 by in michelle zink, nancy weling 6 comments

Extraordinary
By Nancy Werlin
Released September 7, 2010
Published by Dial
http://www.nancywerlin.com/

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she’ll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe’s ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn’t been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

The Prophecy of the Sisters Book Two:
Guardian of the Gate
by Michelle Zink
Hardcover, 340 pages
Published August 1st 2010
by Little, Brown Books for Young http://www.prophecyofthesisters.com/

The ultimate battle between sisters is nearing, and its outcome could have catastrophic consequences. As sixteen year-old Lia Milthorpe searches for a way to end the prophecy, her twin sister Alice hones the skills she’ll need to defeat Lia. Alice will stop at nothing to reclaim her sister’s role in the prophecy, and that’s not the only thing she wants: There’s also Lia’s boyfriend James.

Lia and Alice always knew the Prophecy would turn those closest to them against them. But they didn’t know what betrayal could lead them to do. In the end, only one sister will be left standing

Both of these books are on my Christmas wish list! To enter to win one copy of Extraordinary and one copy of Guardian at the Gate fill out the attached form. Open to US and Canada (woot,woot!) Click on the box and use your scrolling arrows to move up and down.

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