Buddy Read LIVE DISCUSSION: The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns

 

W...W...W...Wednesday 05/02/14

To play along, just answer the following 3 questions…

• What are you currently reading?

 My current read is Unintentional Virgin by A.J. Bennett.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading Portrait of a Scandal by Annie Burrows.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

As always, I'm not sure what I'll read next.  I've been eyeing up Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

 

Waiting On Wednesday 05/02/14 "Be With Me" & "White Hot Kiss"

 

Waiting on Wednesday is all about sharing the books that I'm eagerly waiting to be released.

 

 

This week there are two books I'm waiting on, by the same author.

Be With Me by J. Lynn (a pseudonym for Jennifer L' Armentrout), released 13th February.  I loved Wait For You and this is a companion novel about characters we were introduced to. 

 Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she’s in love with her big brother’s best friend, but he hasn’t spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, change-your-life kiss. She got out of a terrible relationship. And now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It’s time for Plan B – college. And maybe a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real.

Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he’s not telling anyone. Especially not his best friend’s incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn’t have time for a relationship. But it doesn’t help that all he can think about kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him.

As they’re thrown together more and more, Jase and Tess can’t keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they’re willing to risk to be together, and what they’re willing to lose if they’re not…


The Second book I'm waiting on by Jennifer L. Armentrout is White Hot Kiss, released 28th February.

 One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

I LOVE Jennifer L Armentrout, so I'm excited to read the New Adult Contemporary companion novel, as well as starting a new paranormal series by her.

Teaser Tuesday 04/02/14 "Portrait of a Scandal"

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
  Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

 

This week I'm currently reading Portrait of a Scandal by Annie Burrows on my Kindle.  My 2 sentecnes come from 79%

 

"She straightened up from the trunk she was packing, welcoming the flare of anger that had just flowed through her.  Anger was what had kept her going for so many years."

[BLOGTOUR] Looking At The Stars with GUEST POST from Jo Cotterill

I'm really excited to share this with you guys!  I have a guest post from Jo Cotterill for her new book Looking At The Stars.

Amina's homeland has been ravaged by war for many months, but so far she and her family are safe, together. When a so-called liberating force arrives in the country, the family think their prayers for peace will soon be answered, but they are horribly wrong . . . The country is thrown into yet further turmoil and Amina's family is devastated . . .

Through it all, Amina has her imagination to fall back on - of a better place and time. But can her stories get her through this?

 

 

 

Why has Looking at the Stars taken a ridiculously long time to hit the shelves?

 

By Jo Cotterill

 

 

Q: How many authors does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one but you also need an editor, proof reader, cover artist, and an agent to be there at the same time.

 

The above may seem a bit silly but is absolutely true when it comes to publishing a book! People are often surprised how long it takes for a book to move from initial idea to eventual publication, but Looking at the Stars, my latest novel, took even longer than usual. I started writing it in 2007, in a notebook. I quite often start books this way; I think writing longhand helps to get my creative side engaged, and then once I’ve figured out how the story will go, I switch to the computer.

 

My agent loved the idea of the book and the first few chapters, but I wrote the second half of it in a hurry because I was due to give birth. Not unexpectedly, the second half wasn’t as good. My agent’s exact words were: ‘the tension builds very well in the first half. I did think, however, that it perhaps lost a little bit of that tension over the second half’. She also had a lot of other suggestions. It was clear that a big rewrite was needed.

 

But by now I had a baby and had lost any ability to think beyond nappies, so I

asked her to send it to a publisher I had previously worked with. Sadly, the book was turned down. In the meantime, I wrote two books in a new series for young readers about unicorns, which were also rejected. I felt as though I couldn’t seem to get anything right! Looking at the Stars was shelved for the moment.

 

THEN I had the idea for a romance series for pre-teens. That eventually became SWEET HEARTS, my six-book series for Random House – which was hugely enjoyable to write. By the time I got to Book 4 though, my agent was nagging me about Looking at the Stars. So I took a few weeks out between books to re-work it. I think all that time away from it (three years!) had made me see it a lot more clearly. It was accepted by Random House, which was fantastic!BUT then I got pregnant again, and the editing (another big re-write), which should have taken me a couple of months, took nearly a whole year! I felt very bad about it, because it meant that the publication date was delayed by six months – and then it was delayed again due to a clash with another book at the publisher’s end. Plus we had real trouble deciding on the front cover (the final version of which I ADORE and think is TOTALLY right for the book!). And then there were copy edits and proofs to read…
Still with me? Soo…I started writing the book at the end of 2007, and it’s finally published in January 2014. BUT I fully believe that it’s a MUCH better book that it was to begin with, and that’s down to the tremendous amount of work put in by my agent (the wonderful Penny Holroyde) and my brilliant editor (thanks Ruth Knowles!) along with many other people at Random House.
If you’ve made it this far, then WELL DONE and THANK YOU! Looking at the Stars is a book I’m immensely proud of, and I think that it might actually be the best thing I’ve written. And if you go to my website jocotterill.com you can read the first chapter and decide for yourself!Thanks to Erin for having me!

 

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Bodley Head (30 Jan 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 178230018X
ISBN-13: 978-1782300182

Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: Puffin (6 Feb 2014)
Language: Unknown
ISBN-13: 978-0141340159
Lunar Chronicles #3

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Cover:  Ah these covers are a thing of beauty.  I love how they all match, and yet you can clearly see from the cover which fairytale re-telling we're getting in this book.

Ahhh.  Where do I start with this????
Words cannot adequately describe how awesome this book was.
*takes moment to breathe before hyperventilating occurs*
**hyperventilating occured anyway...induced by serious awesome**
Ok, all joking aside, this has to be one of the most seamless, perfectly crafted series I have ever read.
I'm always nervous when picking up the next book in a series I'm loving, because what if it'sa dud?  What if it doesn't live up to the previous book?
I don't have this worry with Marissa Meyer.  I know she's going to deliver. 
I love how each book introduces us to new characters, each is a new re-telling of a fairytale- Cinder being Cinderella, Scarlet being Red Riding Hood and now Cress being Rapunzel- and yet at the same time, there's an over all story ark.
The pacing is just perfect- couldn't put it down, and I was totally engrossed the entire book.
The writing style is so addictive.  Marissa Meyer weaves together a futuristic, original story with the old tales we all know so well.
So much happens in this one...it's hard to comment on it all for fear of giving away spoilers, but I can say it was action packed, and everything is left on edge...I'm so ready to see what happens next and how everything concludes- because it's going to be ramped up...I can feel it.
Levana is such a GOOD villain.  You really do love to hate her.  We start to see her calm facade crack in this one.
Cress was such a sweet character.  Having spent years imprisoned in a satellite forced to do Levana's bidding.  Seeing her experience the world and make friendships was adorable.
I like that things developed with regards to romance (as we know, I like my romance) and I look forward to hopefully everyone getting their HEA's.
Over all, if this is a series you haven't picked up yet...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET ON IT.
If you've read the first two books, then you're obviously going to be wanting to pick this one up.
An incredible 5/5 stars!  Or should that be Crescent Moons?

January 2014 Reading Wrap Up