sabato 29 settembre 2012

Showcase Sunday #8 Netgalley edition!

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Book, Biscuits and Tea
               The aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag
                and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought
            in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week.

Ebooks from Netgalley:



 

Bought/Received:

I've bought three books this week, the last two, just this morning! :)
-Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr; I was really curious to read about this book and also, to try something from Melissa Marr.. and only for 6.90 E.! 
- Vortice di inganni; There's no English edition for this book, it's Italian. It's the story of Cesare Borgia, one of the most fascinating character or the Italian Renaissance, and I'm madly in love with him! 8.80 E
- La Chimera by Sebastiano Vassalli; Don't think there's an English edition for this one, neither. It's the story of a "witch" being burned. 2.50 E!


Shallow - Georgia Cates; Received for the Blog Tour, my stop: 25th October!
Dearly, Departed - Lia Habel; Bought, as I received the second one :)


And that's all for this week! I think I've never featured so many books, all at once! :)
What was in you mailbox, instead? Leave a link, I'll surely visit your post!

Sara

giovedì 27 settembre 2012

Release Day Party: Shallow by Georgia Cates


Today we're celebrating the Release of Shallow, a new Young Adult Contemporary 
novelby Georgia Cates. As many of you will know, Shallow is the second book in
 theGoing Under series. To know more about the book visit Sara In Bookland on the
25thOctober, I'll be posting my review of Shallow and an interview with Georgia Cates!


Shallow (Going Under Series #2)
by Georiga Cates

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Formats available: eBooks
Cover artist: Georgia Cates

Book Description:
Nick Hawke likes his car fast and his girls even faster. He blows through females quicker than his muscle car races down the drag strip in Collinsville and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Determined to avoid the devastation he has watched his father endure in the aftermath of his mother leaving, he believes there is no room in his life or his heart for a relationship lasting more than one night. He seeks happiness in things that won’t let him down...fast cars, parties and one night stands. To his absolute dismay, all of that changes when he unexpectedly runs into an old friend and is introduced to Payton Archer, the first girl he ever wanted for more than one night. There’s only one catch...she is completely immune to him and his smooth talking ways.Payton Archer is looking for what Claire has with Jessie, but she has given up on finding it...at least until she leaves for college in the Fall because she is certain that is where she will find the perfect guy to fit into her perfect world. She plans on Summer being nothing but three uneventful months of fun, but it turns out to be anything but ordinary when Payton is introduced to Nick Hawke, one of Jessie’s old Collinsville friends. She is shocked by her immediate and intense attraction for “Hawke” because nothing about him is what Payton is looking for. Sure, he’s hot and sexy but he comes from Collinsville and that is definitely not on her list of prerequisites. Everything about him makes Payton’s heart speed because he is exciting and dangerous, but his fast car and the dangerous chances he takes isn’t what scares Payton the most...it’s the way Nick Hawke makes her feel every time he looks at her. Can Payton find that moment of total fearlessness and make the decision to leave the safe, shallow end of love to risk going under completely?

Want to read chapter One?
Sex Tricks Jedi
Payton
Why the hell was I driving to Collinsville to watch Dane Wickam race? And better yet, how had I let him talk me into making a two-hundred dollar bet that he would win? I didn’t know jack about racing and if I had to guess, Dane didn’t either. Sure, his parents bought him a fast, new Porsche for graduation, but that didn’t mean he knew how to race it.
I came to a stop at a red light just before we entered Collinsville, Jessie’s old stomping ground, and looked up in my rearview mirror at him sitting in my backseat. “Hey, Jessie, do you know this guy Dane is going to race?”
“Yeah, I went to school with Hawke at Collinsville. We were in the same class.”
“Hawke?” I laughed and the only thing I could picture was some guy with a big hooked nose like a bad cartoon. “What kind of name is Hawke? His mom is wrong for doing that to him.”
“His name is Nick Hawke, but everyone calls him Hawke and the name suits him pretty well. He’s well known as somewhat of a predator.”
That didn’t sound like a compliment. “A predator? You mean like a hunter?”
I watched Jessie laughing in my mirror. “No, girls are his chosen prey.”
Claire turned around in her seat to look at Jessie. “That’s funny because I was under the impression that the Collinsville ladies’ man left when you came to East Franklin.”
“No, Hawke was always the favorite among the chicks. They love his pretty face. I swear he can sweet talk himself into any girl’s pants, so I want you to keep your distance from him. I don’t want you falling for any of his Jedi sex tricks.”
What tha’? I spun around to look at Jessie sitting in the backseat behind Claire.
“Did you just say Jedi sex tricks?”
Somehow in the midst of turning to look at Jessie, I forgot I was the one in the driver’s seat and my foot accidentally slipped off the brake and pounded onto the accelerator.
“Payton, look out!” Claire squealed just before I rammed into the back of the car stopped in front of us.
The whole thing happened in a split second. Shit. My parents were going to kill me. I didn’t have the best driving record ever, but at least I’d never gotten into an accident. So much for my clean accident-free driving history.
Jessie leaned toward me in the driver’s seat. “Yes, I said Jedi sex tricks.”
“Shut up,” I barked as I looked at the car in front of us to assess the damage but I couldn’t tell anything from inside the car. I watched the driver sling his door open and get out to look at the back of his car before he turned and stared at me with narrowed eyes.
Oh. My. Gosh. I just mated my Lexus with a P.O.S. Camaro being driven by quite possibly the hottest guy I’d ever seen. The problem, other than the obvious?

He was pissed about it...like really pissed and he was staring at me like he could strangle me.
“Uh, I don’t think you should get out of the car. He looks really mad. Maybe we should just call in the accident and wait on the police to come,” Claire suggested.
“Nah, I’ve got this.” Jessie opened the door and was out of my car before Claire could object. He was Claire’s knight in shining armor and because I was the bestie
without a boyfriend, he took it upon himself to be my protector as well. That was just Jessie.
I cracked my window as he walked by. “Hey, Kimosabe, do you think you can manage to not take a gunshot wound or knife to the gut? You know you don’t have a really great track record with confrontation.”
Without looking back, he flipped me off over his shoulder and I turned to Claire. “You really need to teach your boyfriend some manners.”
She rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “Apparently I’m not very successful at that. I haven’t managed to teach you any over the years.”
“I have manners, but you know my motto. Why be difficult, when with only a little bit of effort, you can be impossible?”
Claire shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she watched Jessie put his hands on his hips and turn back to look at us in the car. “There are a lot of other things you could excel at besides being a smart ass,” she argued.
“I'm sorry you find my normal behavior to be highly inappropriate, Princess.”
“Nope, you know that you don’t get to call me that,” Claire protested. “Jessie is the only one with that privilege.”
Jessie turned from talking with ‘hot guy I just slammed into’ and walked around to Claire’s side of the car. She rolled down her window and Jessie leaned in with his arms resting on top of my car and looked at Claire. “Warning...This is going to go over like a turd in the punchbowl.”
I leaned around Claire to see Jessie. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He says that he won’t sue if you’ll go out with him.” He was laughing as he said it.
I looked at Jessie and waited for the punchline. “You need to stop trying to be a clown because there’s not a circus in town.”
He held his hands up like he was an innocent party, but he was still laughing. “That’s what he said.”
“Oh, hell to the naw,” I announced as I waved my finger in the pattern of an imaginary zig zag. I slung my car door open and said, “I only need a minute to take care of this.”
“Be nice, Payton. You did just run into the back of his car,” Claire reminded me.
I slung my car door shut and straightened my short skirt before I walked toward Mr. Prince of Nothing Charming in my four inch wedge heels. This was going to be the most fun I would have all night so I better take advantage of it.
Damn. The closer I got, the more I realized how great looking this jerk was. His hair was dark and longer than I liked, but it fit him so perfectly the way the untamed tendrils curled and stuck to the perspiration along his hairline. He reached to shove a lock out of his face and his chocolate brown eyes pierced mine as though he saw straight through to my soul. My own heart betrayed me as it began to race without my permission and my breath was held hostage in the back of my throat as I wondered what his slightly scruffy face would feel like against my jaw.
Snap out of it, Dummy! I reminded myself that this guy was actually trying to blackmail me into a date.
Cars crept by and the occupants rubbernecked in our direction hoping to see something exciting. I stopped in front of him, crossed my arms and got down to business. “So, I have to go out with you if I don’t want to get sued, huh? Are you kiddin’ me, dude? That’s called blackmail.”
He gave me a big lopsided seductive grin and I was certain it wasn’t the first time he had used it to get what he wanted. “Some might call it extortion, but yeah...I think a date would be adequate compensation for any damage that may have occurred.”
I turned to look at the back of his car and saw that neither of our vehicles had suffered any damage during my unfortunate Jedi sex trick mishap. I could have argued that there was nothing to be compensated for, but I felt like having a little fun with this guy. “Do you have something I could use to write my contact information on?”
His lopsided grin oozed with satisfaction and turned up on both sides to reveal two of the cutest dimples I had ever seen. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. “Don’t need it. I’ll put you in my phone,” he said as he stood there waiting to hear my digits.
He was going to add me in his cell phone, today’s version of the Little Black Book. He didn’t see the smirk on my face because he was busy looking at his phone while I called off, “5-5-5-3-9-8-5. Vivian Archer, Attorney at Law. She’s my mother and your attorney may contact her so they may discuss the conditions of your claim against me.”
Okay, that was a little bit of a lie. My mother had not practiced law in years, but he didn’t have to know that. His sexy little grin faded and mine spread bigger as I said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have money riding on a race and I’d like to be there to collect my winnings.”
Then his lopsided grin returned. “A race, huh? I heard about that. I hope you bet on Hawke instead of that spoiled rich kid from East Franklin or you can expect to kiss your money good-bye.”
So, he was a ‘know it all’ also. “As a matter of fact, I did not bet on anyone named after a bird. My money is riding on the brand new Porsche.”
In his fitted black T-shirt and dark washed jeans, he stepped back and leaned against his old black Camaro. He crossed his arms and I suspected he did so to call attention to his muscular, tanned biceps. Mission accomplished.
“You placed a bet on a car with no consideration for the driver? That’s known as bad betting, Doll Face. I hope you didn’t wager a lot of money because you are going to lose.”
I shifted my weight to one leg and kept my arms crossed over my chest. “I have two Benjamins on the Porsche that is going to win.”
He let out a high pitched whistle. “Wow, you seem very confident in your car, so how would you feel about upping your ante since you’re so positive the Porsche will leave Hawke in the dust?”
I wish I could, but I didn’t have cash on me and I doubted this jerk took credit. “Sorry, no can do unless I can swipe my Visa up your ass crack.”
He laughed as he said, “Wow, I didn’t expect anything like that to come out of that beautiful little delicate mouth of yours.”
His statement alone showed he didn’t know all he thought he did because it was a rare occasion that anything delicate came out of my mouth. “You’d be surprised.”
He cocked his head slightly and smiled, a sure sign that he was intrigued by my less than ladylike statement. “I love surprises.”
I heard a car honk its horn in the distance. “In case you forgot, we’re in the middle of the road holding up traffic,” I reminded him.
He displayed his lack of concern with the traffic by the wave of his hand in their direction. “They can wait. I have a proposal for you.”
I suddenly thought of Demi Moore and Robert Redford in Indecent Proposal. “A decent proposal, I hope.”
He smiled and I was pretty sure he understood my reference to the movie.
“Don’t worry, Doll Face. It’s a decent proposal,” he promised. “I’d like to make a side bet with you. If your car wins, I’ll give you two-hundred bucks in addition to the winnings you’ll receive from the pot on the bet you have already placed.”
Wait for it. Wait for it. Where was the catch? “I’m listening, but I didn’t hear what you are proposing I wager?”
There was that seductive lopsided grin again. “I only ask that you agree to one night with me.”
Was he kiddin’ me? There was no way that could be considered a decent proposal. The way he said it was so seductive and I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by ‘one night with him.’ I was speechless. I was breathless. I was curious.
His expression became smug as he lifted one eyebrow and said, “I guess you’re not as confident as you claim to be or this would be a no-brainer.”
Shizzle, that eyebrow lift thing he did was sexy. I mentally pimp slapped myself and doused my face with ice water. I managed to gather some words but I wasn’t sure how convincing I sounded when I squeaked out, “I’m very confident that my driver is going to win.”
“Okay, prove it then. Accept my bet,” he provoked.
There it was. He challenged me and totally got my competitive juices flowing. I knew I shouldn’t agree to it because what would I be proving? Nothing...but it sure would be funny to wipe that grin of his face and it never hurt to make an extra two-hundred bucks. “I’m not afraid, so I’ll take your challenge.”
He held his hand out to me and I looked at it like it was a snake in the Garden of Eden. I reached to take it and asked, “Can I safely assume that you will be at the race and that you won’t run off with my money after Dane wins?”
He laughed at me and I might have been pissed about it except I got to see his gorgeous dimples again. “There won’t be any running off with your money, Doll Face. I’ll be looking for you so we can settle up on our night together.”
His cockiness pissed me off so I was the one to pull my hand free from his. “I think you’ve delighted me long enough with your trash talk. I have a race to watch.”
“And I have a race to win,” he said before he got into his car. He started the engine and it roared loudly, just like a race car. I stood frozen in the middle of the road and watched him pull away as I realized I never asked his name.
Shit! Was that Nick Hawke and had I unknowingly been preyed upon by the Sex Tricks Jedi? I did not want to admit it, but I think I had just been bested. I walked with my tail tucked between my legs and got into the car.
“What’s wrong, Payton?” Claire asked when I didn’t volunteer an explanation.
“Hell just froze over,” I said as I stared ahead at the spot once occupied by a Camaro and its driver.
“Oh, shit!” I heard Jessie growl from the back seat. “I know that look.”
I turned around and said, “That was him, wasn’t it? Nick Hawke? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t give me a chance to tell you anything before you hopped out of the car with promises of man handling him. You said that you only needed a minute to straighten him out and I believed you,” Jessie reminded me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and Claire recognized that as my signature move when I was stressed. “You’re pinching your nose. What’s wrong? What did he say to you?”
I felt stupid and played and I wasn’t telling them about my ignorant bet with Nick Hawke unless I had to...if I lost.
“Nothing, Claire. Let’s just go watch this race and get it over with.” And hope Dane drove that Porsche like he stole it.


About the author:


Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an author.
Blood of Anteros, Book One in The Vampire Agápe Series, was her first novel and it was released in September 2011. She decided to briefly step away from the paranormal genre to try her hand at a young adult contemporary romance when she wrote Going Under, but returned to the paranormal romance platform to complete the second book in The Vampire Agápe Series, Blood Jewel.
Her current works in progress are Shallow (A Going Under Novel) which will release on September 27th and Blood Doll (The Vampire Agápe Series #3), to be released in January 2013.

Follow Georgia:

lunedì 24 settembre 2012

Release Day Party: Peace by A.D Koboah


Hey Readers? How is this new week beginning? Here we're celebrating 
the release ofa new contemporary fiction novel, Peace by A.D Koboah. 
Come and celebrate with us!We're also hosting a fantastic giveaway for this event!

Peace
by A.D Koboah

Title: Peace Author: A.D. Koboah
GenreContemporary Urban Fiction
Publisher: Twenty-Four Publishing 
Publication Date: September 24th, 2012
Peace Osei is young, beautiful – and addicted to heroin; the only thing that can keep painful past memories at bay. But when a face from her past re-enters her life demanding answers to questions she is not ready to face, it threatens to send Peace swimming deeper into self-destructive waters. Having spent so long drifting away from the real world, can Peace find the strength to face the past and banish her demons?

Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Peace-A-D-Koboah/dp/0957300328/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1344186631&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=peace+a.D.+koboah

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5807160.A_D_Koboah
Website: http://www.adkoboah.co.uk/

Author Bio:
A.D. Koboah was born in London and completed an English Literature degree in 2000. Peace is her second novel. Her first novel, Dark Genesis, is a Paranormal Romance that was inspired by the concept of dehumanisation. She is currently working on a screenplay and will begin the sequel to Dark Genesis shortly.


Giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

domenica 23 settembre 2012

Showcase Sunday #7


Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Book, Biscuits and Tea
               The aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag
                and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought
            in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week.

Books and Goodies:


 
Not much to say this week, I bought these three books on Amazon, for free. 

What I posted this week:

sabato 22 settembre 2012

Review: Pledged by Gwynneth White

Pledged
Soul Wars Saga #1

Author: Gwynneth White
Published: June 13th 2012
Number of Pages: 503
Format: eARC
Source: Received from the Publisher
Purchase: Smashwords, Amazon

From Goodreads:

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?
Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient curse is tearing him away. And the demons who invoked it will stop at nothing – even murder – to claim him as their own. How can she win against a curse so binding that it has damned countless others to this same fate – an eternity alone? The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a pledge. Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya and confront the curse that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

My review:

Seth and Erin have never met before, or at least this is what they've first tought the first time they've seen each other. Due to the marriage between Erin's sister and Seth's brother, Seth is forced to fly to where it used to be Shenaya and where his brother has set an excavation site, to search for an ancient diamond known as the Seer' Stone.But when Seth and Erin will be transported into the diamond itself, in the Mist of Time, they'll know that that was not their first encounter and neither will be the last .Dragged in a world of time travelling, soul mates, Guardians, Gefallens, prophecies and curses Erin and Seth will have to stick together if they want to solve the curse and save their soul-mates friends. But how can this be possible if Seth is not intentioned to betray his brother for his soul mate? 

Well I think this is one of the most particular, original but at the same time muddled book I've ever read. Even though I've finished it I'm full of doubts about it, and I really don't know how to feel about it! Let's say that the book has all the ingredients of a good Fantasy book but somehow it didn't really caught me, at least not until the end. For the whole book the story paced really slowly and, in particular, I think that what disturbed me most were the time travels.As soon as I picked up the book I know it was an important point of the book, but I didn't thought the whole story would have revolved around it; I felt like there was so much of the past but nothing of the present. It seemed to me that it was given more time to the protagonists of the past instead to those of the future. Still, as I was saying, the last part of the book was the one who caught me most, maybe because the plot proceeded more speedily, with twists and revelations that where missing in the first part, or maybe because it was given more space to Seth and Erin, the soul-mates' couple of the Present. I just know that as soon as I finished the book, even with all the problems I had with it, I wanted more. Seriously, I can't explain to myself the sensation I felt, but I've not even felt the end coming; so when I read "End of Book One" I was shocked.In a few words I think that Pledged is really a particular read, with some very original elements, that you could like or not, as I did, but in the end is a really captivating book and you found yourself travelling along with Seth and Erin through past, present and future. And whether or not you 'll agree with some of the author's choices, you will definitely want more, and more, book by book. YES, that's EXACTLY how I feel! 
Speaking of the characters, the soul-mates I loved most were Jared and Sophia, both strong and ready to sacrifice themselves rather than to pledge to Reuel. I think also Erin was a strong one and I really adored her, that's probably why I was so upset she and Seth had so little space on book one; I loved how she felt "real", with her mood swings, her unexpected attacks of romance and her stubborness. Seth and Caled, instead, they didn't really leave a sign, in my opinion and neither does Talitha. I was a bit disappointed that Talitha practically disappears in book one but I think (and hope) her character will be reintegrated in book two.

There's nothing much to say; I apologize for the twisted review, but it is as twisted as I feel in this moment. Pledged is an original Fantasy book that I recommend for the variety of topic that it deals with and for everyone of you who likes to travel through time.

Rated:


Favourite quotes:

" Yes, my friends. There are things far worse than death. It's the loss of one's soul mate for which one must truly mourn."

"Here first thought was to walk out and leave him in his icy world, but she couldn't. As helpless as a comet pulled into the orbit of a giant planet, she was drawn to him. It was unstoppable. She wanted to fight the collision - after all, it was her heart that would be shattered by the impact - but her longing for him was too strong."

" Love. Such a tedious emotion. But strong enough to melt a frozen heart."

"I didn't invite you here."
"Not in words, no." he agreed, giving her a quizzical look. " But sometimes body language shouts    louder than any pretty speech."

domenica 16 settembre 2012

Showcase Sunday #6

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Book, Biscuits and Tea
               The aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag
                and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought
            in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week.
 
Book and Goodies:



I received "Kismetology" for review purposes directly from the author;
I partecipted in her book's release day party, you can check my post here.
I signed up for the "Ember" blog tour, on November, with SupaGurl Tour Host.
My post will be on the 25th on November!

What I posted this week:

Have a great day!



sabato 15 settembre 2012

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
by Michelle Hodkin

Author: Michelle Hodkin
Published: 27th September 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Number of pages: 452
Format: Hardback
Source: Bought.
Purchase: Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes & Noble

From Goodreads:
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger. She wakes from a coma in hospital with no memory of how she got there or of the bizarre accident that caused the deaths of her best friends and her boyfriend, yet left her mysteriously unharmed. The doctors suggest that starting over in a new city, a new school, would be good for her and just to let the memories gradually come back on their own. But Mara’s new start is anything but comforting. She sees the faces of her dead friends everywhere, and when she suddenly begins to see other people’s deaths right before they happen, Mara wonders whether she’s going crazy! And if dealing with all this wasn’t enough, Noah Shaw, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen can’t seem to leave her alone… but as her life unravels around her, Mara can’t help but wonder if Noah has another agenda altogether…

My Review:

The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer is the first book in a trilogy by Michelle Hodkin. The plot is very complicated and mysterious, so let's see what the book talks about: Who is Mara Dyer? Mara Dyer seems to be a common teenager, she loves staying with her bestfriends, Claire and Rachel until one day they decided to do something very dangerous: visiting the old mental ospital of the city. After that day, Mara wakes up in hospital, just knowing that her friends are dead and that she can't absolutely remember anything about that night. But it will be that very night, that will change her life. After that event her parents decide to move on to another city, to try to help Mara forget about her old life. But they don't know that what really threatens Mara are her dreams. Since that day, Mara continues having horrible visions and allucinations about her friends' and other people's death.. and what if, it was Mara who caused her friends' death? The doubt  torments Mara, but fortunately she meets Noah, the only one who seems to be able to help her; but Noah has a secret,too. Will they be able to understand what is happening around them? Unfortunately I don't know. (GRRRR I need book two!!)
Brrr. Just reading the plot, it gave me shivers. How can I start? This book was SO good, I completely devoured it!! Even if I really like to read, I have to admit I am not that fast at reading, but this book was an exception: it took only 2 days to finish it!! I think that the thing that made me love this book most is that veil of mystery that surrounds the book until the end; when I finished the book I felt like if I didn't understand anything, like if everything was yet to be discovered. Maybe this has nothing to do with the book, I don't know if any of you have seen the film with Leonardo Di Caprio "Shutter Island"; well, at the finale of this book I felt exactly like when I saw that movie! There is not a reliable finale, that reassures you about what you've read; it leaves you with doubt, and with the HUGE desire to put your hands immediately on the next book. Now speaking of Michelle's writing style, it was really beautifully written and also very flowing; what I found a little boring was the middle part of the book, because the story progressed so slowly and all the twists were concentrated in the end of the book. For some points of view this can also be a strategy, to keep the reader focused on what it's happening, but in my opinion sometimes it was SO slow. What I really liked, instead is the way the author developed the characters; they were all well described, physically and emotionally and this made me create immediately a connection with all of them.I think that Mara is an incredible protagonist because she comes out of the boxes and in a time in which the books seem to be all equal, it's nice sometimes to find something (in this case someone) different. What I found absolutely lovely in her personality it's her insecurity, her fragility, her desperate need of Noah around her. Speaking of the devil, I know I'll probably be the millionth person on earth who said it, but Noah was OOOOOH. Yes, he is. He's so charming, but not only for his physical beauty, but for his intellectual charm. I mean, a boy with who you can discuss of books? Find me one, PLEASE. And in the end, among all this positive things, I have to say mine, as always. Where the hell did Jamie go? I mean, he was introduced at the very beginning of the book and I supposed he was an important character in the story, but then, at a certain point, when he was expelled by the school, he disappeared! I don't know if he was intended to be just an appearance in the book, of if the author wanted someway to get rid of him, but that was not something I liked. I usually develop a strong connection with characters and the inexplicable disappearance of one of them, is disappointing.

Well, I tend to talk a bit too much about what I didn't like, my damn critical spirit, but TRUST ME, "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" is something you can't miss (and probably half of you have already read it). So, I really want to see what do you think about "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer"? If you have read it, how do you feel about the finale and the all story who murdered Rachel and Claire (and Jude, eventually)? I would love to hear your comments about it, or better I NEED YOUR COMMENTS

Rated:

venerdì 14 settembre 2012

Release Day Party: Kismetology by Jaimie Adams


Hi Guys! Today, the 14th of September we congratulate to author Jaimie Adams,
for the release of her new romantic comedy, Kismetology. Congratulations Jaimie!
Now let's see what the book talks about and here, for you, we have also the first chapter!!

Kismetology
by Jaimie Adams

Genre: Chick lit, Romantic-comedy
Publication date: September 14th

Finding the perfect man isn’t easy. Especially when it’s for your mother...
Mothers. Can't live with them, can't live without them, can't live three doors down the road from them without them interfering in every aspect of your life.
Fed up with her mum meddling in her love life, Mackenzie Atkinson decides to turn the tables and find love for her lonely mother.
Her lonely and very fussy mother.

Surely finding an older gentleman looking for love won't be that hard, right? Wrong.
If you've ever thought that boys grow up, here’s the problem: They don't. Ever.
And Mackenzie is about to learn that the hard way.


Chapter 1:
If I could give one piece of advice to every teenager in the world, it would be this: when you move away from home, move far, far away, and never look back. My biggest mistake? I didn’t move far enough. In fact, I only moved three houses down the road. The perfect distance for my mother to interfere in my life, even more than she did when I lived under her own roof.
"Mackenzie, your curtains aren't even straight," Mum complains from her place on our sofa. "I don't know how you can put up with such a mess."
"How can curtains not be straight, Mum?"
"Well, the join in the middle isn't in the middle at all and the line where they meet doesn't go straight down. Plus there is at least six inches more on the left one than on the right one."
Dan rolls his eyes and gets up from his armchair with a groan.
I know how he feels.
"Don't be long, Daniel, you'll miss Eastenders," Mum calls after him.
"Sir, yes sir," Dan mutters, doing an army salute behind her back.
In all fairness to my mum, maybe my announcement that I was moving in with Dan came as a bit of a shock to her. After all, we’d been dating for a year, but my mum had only known him for six of those months. I’d dated him in secret for the first six months. I was a bit reluctant to introduce them, especially after the incident with an ex-boyfriend—the first and, up to that point, only boyfriend to ever meet my mum—where she'd nearly run him over with a wheelie bin (accidentally) and then put a brick through his car window (she was killing a wasp).
"Can't you get him to brush his hair once in a while?" Mum asks when Dan has left the room. "He makes the place look untidy. And don't even get me started on that shirt."
"Leave him alone, Mum," I warn her. "And stop your bloody dog peeing in my houseplant again, it's dying."
"Oh, Mackenzie, you'll never guess what happened to me today," Mum says animatedly. "Go on, guess."
"I have no idea, Mum."
"I almost got a criminal record. Can you believe that? Me! With a criminal record!"
"I'm honestly scared to ask, but how on earth did you manage that?"
"I nearly got arrested in the park!" She says excitedly.
Only my mother could be excited about getting arrested. "What happened?"
"Well, you know Baby's crocodile outfit, right? I did a really good job of making it, didn't I? I made it look really realistic?"
I nod.
"Well, Baby was off his lead in the park, doing his business, you know, as dogs do. And suddenly all these police surround us. Two animal control vans pull up, there's a helicopter overhead, there are even a couple of men with tranquilizer dart guns poised and ready to shoot."
I rub my hand over my eyes. "Why?"
"Well, it turns out that someone had seen Baby in the park and thought he was a real crocodile. She'd called the police in case he ate the children."
"Oh, Mum, really?" I groan.
"It was so exciting! I think I might even be on the news tonight!"
She thinks this is exciting? Embarrassing would be my preferred term. Very, very embarrassing. "So what happened?"
"Well, the police quickly realised their mistake. But one of them did take me aside and ask if I could not bring Baby to the park in that attire again. Then he gave us a lift home in his police car. He was ever so nice about it."
"I'm sure he was."
"How anyone could mistake my Baby for a crocodile is beyond me. He's hardly crocodile size, is he? The woman must have been blind as a bat."
"Well, you do insist on dressing him up as potentially dangerous animals. And walking him. In public. It's really quite disturbing."
"Oh, nonsense. I like trying out the sewing patterns I find on the internet. It keeps me busy."
Well, something has to, I suppose.
"Come here, Baby." Mum pats the sofa and the miniature Yorkshire terrier, which is practically surgically attached to her, comes running over. "Don't listen to that big, mean lady. She loves you really."
Baby is currently dressed as a ladybird. No, really. Mum's hobby of making these outfits for him is getting out of hand. He jumps onto the sofa and sinks his teeth into one of my twenty quid cushions.
"These cushions were expensive." I yank them out of his way.
"He likes the tassels," Mum responds.
This is our nightly routine now.
On our one-year anniversary, Dan had proposed that we move in together. My mum had not been overly thrilled by the turn of events, until she'd found a little house available to rent and paid the deposit without even asking us. The house happened to be three doors away from her place.
We should have known better.
Dan was indifferent to the fact that my mum had decided where we were going to live and paid a deposit without even telling us. It was one less thing that he had to do. And I couldn't really be mad at her; she was only doing it out of the goodness of her heart. Presumptuous, yes, but ultimately only trying to be helpful. We'd signed a one-year lease two days later.
Since then, Dan has been a gem. Not many men would put up with my mother being an almost permanent third wheel. Not many men would run her cat, Pussy (no, really), down to the emergency vet at three o’clock in the morning because it looked a bit peaky. It was fine. A screeching woman yelling that it looked off-colour had just woken it up from its sleep. I look peaky at that time of day too. Dan had offered his car as transport and we’d roared off down the road at breakneck speed, scaring the poor cat half to death. Then Dan and I had sat in the parking lot for half an hour, while the vet determined that there was absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong with the cat. 
The house being so near had softened the blow of me moving out and leaving Mum with only her yappy little dog and not-sick cat for company.
"You can pop in anytime you want," I'd told her.
I had no idea that translated into "come over every night and bring the dog and cat with you" in mum language. 
The night we moved in, just as we’d settled down together on our new sofa with a glass of wine each and switched on our newly installed satellite TV, my mum’s special knock-knockknock-knock on the door reverberated through the living room. We looked at each other with dread and Dan groaned.
My mum came in, took her shoes off, sat down on the sofa, helped herself to a glass of wine and put on Coronation Street. She didn’t actually watch Corrie, but proceeded to criticise our carpets, our uncomfortable sofa (it wasn’t) the colour of the walls, the way the walls clashed with the curtains (they didn’t) the heat in the room (it was too hot) and the shirt Dan was wearing (I’d always quite liked him in it). Within three minutes, Baby had peed on my new plant. I don't have the best of luck with plants anyway, but I'm sure the dog pee didn't help the plant's life expectancy.
This routine has continued almost every night in the three months since we moved in. In comes my mum, on goes EmmerdaleCorrie or Eastenders, and out comes Mum’s opinion of everything from the wattage of our light bulbs to the colour of Dan’s socks.

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About the author

Jaimie is a 27-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, drinking tea and watching horror movies. She hates spiders and cheese & onion crisps.
Kismetology is her first novel but there are plenty more on the way! She wants you to know that the mum in this book is nothing like her own mum!



 
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