Cover Love: POSSESS by Gretchen McNeil

My fellow Apocalypsie Gretchen McNeil revealed the cover of her debut novel POSSESS yesterday. Isn't it gorgeous?

Here's the blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her overprotective mom, by the hunky son of the police officer who got her father killed, and by the eerie voices which she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Turns out the voices are demons--the Biblical kind, not the Buffy kind--and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them.

San Francisco's senior exorcist and his newly assigned partner from the Vatican enlist Bridget's help with increasingly bizarre and dangerous cases of demonic possession. But when one of Bridget's oldest friends turns up dead in a ritualistic sacrifice that mirrors her father's murder, Bridget realizes she can't trust anyone. An interview with her father's murderer reveals a link between Bridget and the Emim: a race of part-demons intent on raising their forefathers to the earth in human form. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the Emim's plan before someone else close to her winds up dead, or worse--the human vessel for a Demon King.

Awesome, right? RIGHT!

Blogversary contest!

I started this blog almost a year ago on March 5^th 2010. That's a reason for celebration! And there's no better way to celebrate than a contest!

As a 2012 debut author, I want to support this year's debut authors. That's why I'm giving away 2011 debuts.

There'll be two winners. Each winner can choose one of the following books:

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
XVI by Julia Karr

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Warped by Maurissa Guibord

So Shelly by Ty Roth

Clarity by Kim Harrington

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

The contest is open internationally. Contest ends March 5^th (the anniversary of my first blogpost!). Winners will be announced on March 6th 2011.

Comment +1 entry
New blog follower + 1 / Old blog follower + 2
Twitter follower +1 (please let me know your twitter name)

Facebook friend + 1 (please let me know your facebook name)
tweet about contest + 2 (please tell me your twitter name or leave a link)
blog about contest + 3 (Please leave the link in the comments)

Maximum: 10 entries

Review: XVI by Julia Karr

I read this book as part of the Debut Author Challenge 2011.

Publication date: January 6th, 2011

Summary: Every girl gets one. An XVI tattoo on the wrist -- sixteen. They say they're there for protection.

Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though, she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help - and he may just hold the key to her past.

But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as whisper, one thing is for sure...

for Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.

Review:

A glance at the cover already tells you that turning sixteen and the tattoo accompanying that age aren't all sunshine and roses. In Nina's world when you turn sixteen you're allowed to have sex and that makes girls vulnerable to sexual predators who just have take a look at your wrist to determine if they'll have to face repercussions for assaulting you.

XVI is set in a future where Mars and Moon are colonized, people are vegetarians, commercials (verts how it's called in the book) blurt from speakers at every corner and the population is divided into tiers ( a modern caste system).

I love the dystopian world Julia Karr created, though I'd hate to live in it. Girls with the XVI on their wrist are like prey - feminism is dead. As a reader I was constantly worried for Nina. I felt her fear of getting the XVI tattoo and it added to the suspense.

It took me a few pages to get used to the slang Julia Karr created for her dystopian world but then I was so immersed in her world that words like FeLS, trannie, mannebots or NonCon became second nature to me.

XVI is a suspenseful read that makes you turn page after page. If you love dystopians, then this is a must-read. I can't wait for the sequel (I hope there'll be one!!).

Have you read XVI yet?

Jill's ARC Giveaway

Jill is giving away an ARC of THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker on her blog!
You have until Thursday to enter!
I can't wait to get my hands on that book. Who doesn't love a heroine with pink hair??? :D

Shopping Spree

I couldn't resist...once again. I think I might be addicted to books. I can't help it. Here's the result of my two latest shopping sprees:

I bought Timeless, Warped and Across the Universe about two weeks ago. Because of my ridiculous to read pile I haven't even found the time to read them yet!

But that didn't stop me from buying even more books!

The Lightning Thief

A Northern Light

Raised by Wolves

Plain Kate

A Certain Slant of Slight

Shadow Hills

Tell me a secret

The Ghost and the Goth

The Tension of Opposites

Perfect Chemistry

and

Crescendo

arrived today. So many great books. And the cover of A Certain Slant of Light is deliciously creepy.

I started XVI by Julia Karr from my to-read pile yesterday but I've got no clue what to read after that.

Did you read any of the books I bought? Any favorites?

When it starts feeling real...

I, like many other writers, tend to doubt myself, my writing and my achievements. I think it would feel strange if there ever was a day when I didn't have a moment of "oh my god, how did I ever think I could write? I suck!".

But then there are moments when I believe that I can write and that the things I write are good. Sometimes we writers need to be reminded though.

Getting my contract from my publisher Usborne was one of those wonderful reminders.

Even doggie was excited and wanted to take a look at my contract!

So now whenever I think: "Maybe I'm just imagining the whole thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and that lovely bookdeal turns out to be a big dream.", I'll just take a look at these pics:

Signing your contract is one of the things on the journey to publication that make it feel real, that convince me that I was lucky enough to not only get an agent but also a bookdeal. And then I allow myself to believe that I'm really living my dream.

Review: Entangled by Cat Clarke

Read as a part of the Debut Author Challenge 2011

Publication Date: January 6th 2011

Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Summary:

The same questions whirl round and round in my head:
What does he want from me?
How could I have let this happen?
AM I GOING TO DIE?

17-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with a table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got here.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget. There's falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see?

Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?

A story of dark secrets, intense friendship and electrifying attraction.

Review:

I picked up Entangled because of its gorgeous cover. The red of the girl's hair and her white skin and the way she looks at you...Gorgeous. Needless to say that I would have bought Entangled even if the plot hadn't interested me.

But Entangled is more than a beautiful cover. So much more.

I loved it.

It made me cry and I don't cry often and almost never because of a book. But Entangled made my vision all blurry and the only reason I didn't start bawling was my husband who sat beside me on the sofa and who would have gotten a shock if I'd cried over a book.

But back to why I loved Entangled:

Grace.

I was nothing like her when I was a teen and I don't understand her actions and I don't support them, but nothing of that matters.

What matters is:

Grace is a character that feels real. She's got flaws. She does stupid things – lots of stupid things. And sometimes I wanted to shake or maybe slap her. And sometimes I wanted to hug her. And sometimes I wanted to cry with her because her worries and pain and insecurities felt so real.

She's someone who'll stay with me even after I've put down the book. I certainly won't forget her name any time soon.

Cat Clarke did a fabulous job telling Grace's story and I loved the way she did it. I loved how we found out more about Grace's life through her writing, how she wrote down her emotions and experiences and how she learned about herself through it.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, so I'll stop here.

Just one more thing: Go, buy the book!