Posts Tagged: bir2011

Best I’ve Read 2011 Day 5- Not My Type #BIR2011

15 Dec, 2011 by in book giveaway, melanie jacobson, not my type 7 comments

Today Fire and Ice is thrilled to host a guest post and giveaway from author Melanie Jacobson as our day 5 of Best I’ve Read 2011. I gave five stars to her newest book Not My Type.
Oh does Melanie know how to write a kiss! You will fall head over heels in love with her characters and the adventures of Indie girl who braves the crazy world of online dating for her job as a local journalist. This is one of the most fun books I’ve read all year. Welcome Melanie Jacobsen author of
Not My Type:
A Single Girl’s Guide to Doing It All Wrong
Paperback, 257 pages
Published September 1st 2011
by Covenant CommunicationsTwenty-three-year-old Pepper Spicer is not living the dream. She ended her engagement at the last minute because her fiance-a musician and soon-to-be reality TV star-wanted her to sacrifice her own career ambitions for his. Now she’s stuck at home sharing a room with her little sister, trying to pay off massive debt for a wedding that didn’t happen, and spending Friday nights Facebook-stalking everyone who has a better life. Her therapist father urges her to choose her career dreams and count her blessings by writing weekly thank-you notes, but gratitude is a tall order when she botches an important job interview and has to settle for writing an undercover dating web-zine column-the last thing in the world she wants to do. Life takes a major upswing as Pepper’s column hits the big time and she tastes the exhilarating thrill of success. But there’s one tiny problem: the intensely hot man she’s falling for is having issues with her job (again). Will Pepper trade her personal ambition for another chance at love?Q&A with the author Melanie Jacobsen:
What things would you have on your bucket list?

There are so many places I want to travel as part of my bucket list. Costa Rica, the Caribbean, Jerusalem, Africa. I also really want to learn to sew. But I’ve been lucky to get a lot of my bucket list done already. Guess it’s time to make a new one!

You review books occasionally, tell us what some of your favorite recent reads are? What about all-time best reads?

Best all time read is To Kill a Mockingbird. My oldest son’s middle name is even Atticus. But some favorite recent reads are My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison and Variant by Robison Wells.

Not My Type is partly about some of the fiascos of online dating…did you had any disaster dates before you got married?

I did. Oh, yes. Oof. The biggest standout is Zipper Pants Guy. He had these cargo pants that you could zip off to become shorts. He stuffed the zipped off legs of his pants into his pockets, along with his camera and a water bottle and a million other things until he walked at nearly a waddle. It was an odd visual. I never recovered enough to commit to another date.

What has been the most rewarding experience you’ve had as an author?

Several women have thanked me for offering them a guilt-free escape from some of their troubles. That makes it totally worth writing.

Do you have a music playlist for any of your books?

I totally don’t, which is so weird because I’m married to a musician. But I can’t read or write with music playing and since that’s what I do the most . . .

Nanowrimo yes or no?

Not this year. But I did it the past two years and I sold both of those novels, so I give NaNoWriMo two thumbs up!
About the author: Melanie Bennett Jacobson is an avid reader, amateur cook, and champion shopper. She consumes astonishing amounts of chocolate, chick flicks, and romance novels. After meeting her husband online, she is now living happily married in Southern California with her growing family and a series of doomed houseplants. Melanie is a former English teacher and a popular speaker who loves to laugh and make others laugh. In her down time (ha!), she writes romantic comedies for Covenant and maintains her humorous slice-of-life blog.
Visit Melanie on her website/ twitter or blog. Click here to order Not My Type at 20% off the cover price.

To enter to win a copy of her new novel, Not My Type: A Single Girl’s Guide to Doing It All Wrong, click here and fill out the form.

Best I’ve Read 2011 Day 2- Die For Me #BIR2011

12 Dec, 2011 by in Uncategorized 40 comments

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:

Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones

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.

The Giveaway: We have one copy of Die For Me to give away to US mailing addresses thanks to Amy Plum and HarperTeen. Click here to fill out the entry form.