Random Acts of Kindness December Wrap-Up!

My first month doing RAK was AMAZING! I met a great new blogging friend and was able to send some great stuff to a great person. I hope next month will be EVEN BETTER - especially if I get a job, LOL. Keep your fingers crossed for me or else I might go completely broke and be very sad. Anyway, back to happy fun times!

I RECEIVED

From the AMAZING RJ at RJ Does Books. 

I SENT

Both to RJ at RJ Does Books! I sent a third book but I can't remember for the life of me what it was. If you see this, RJ, reply and remind me! I'm very scatterbrained today. Added the third book, LOL.

So thanks to RJ for making my very first RAK month so wonderful. Here is to a great 2012 and all the best for EVERYONE!

Book Brats Is On Vacation!

Hi guys! I am currently dealing with some real life stress and coming up tomorrow I am off on a three day vacation to visit a friend. Book Brats will return from a short hiatus on Sunday! Sorry about the delay!

Mid-Winters Eve Blog Hop Giveaway WINNER

Thank you to everyone who made the Mid-Winters Eve Blog Hop Giveaway at Book Brats a SMASHING success! We had almost 200 entries for the copy of Laurie Halse Andersen's CATALYST. Sadly, there can only be one winner.

Congratulations to...

DONNA LAWRENCE!

Donna will be receiving an email in a few minutes. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and I look forward to seeing you again soon in a few weeks for another awesome giveaway!

In My Mailbox (17)

Welcome to a Very Merry Christmas edition of the Book Brats In My Mailbox! This week I got some amazing stuff from some amazing publishers, amazing authors, and amazing parents. I'm quite partial to my Christmas gift book that I picked out and had them buy, LOL. This week was an amazing week for books.

Check behind the cut to see more about what I got, to leave comments and links to your IMM, and to squee with me at the random goodies the mail brought me this week!

2011 YA Story Scavenger Hunt - December 25th Stop

I'm today's hunt stop for the 2011 YA Story Scavenger Hunt!

Follow the hunt every day during the month of December! Answer the daily trivia questions from MG and YA books published during 2011 to be entered into the YA book giveaway.

Today's question is from The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Question #49: Celia only wears gowns of what colors?

Remember to fill out your answer in the form at Most Important Letter here!

PS MERRY CHRISTMAS! Good luck!

Happy Festivus - The Bookish Airing of Grievances

Welcome to the Book Brats Festivus Airing of Bookish Grievances. If you do not know what Festivus is, then screw you! Just kidding. After the cut there will be a link to a video you must watch. It's a secular religion devoted to celebrating the holidays without participating in consumerism and the pressures of pleasing everyone. Well, I'll be doing that, too, but just not today.

I've put up my Festivus pole, told my dad to expect my challenge for the feats of strength, and am all ready for some awesome Festivus miracles tomorrow. But first, I have a few grievances to air about books in 2011 - but note, before you get offended, most of these will be in good fun. Book Brats isn't a mean-spirited site, but it is a snarky one. Click the cut to find out more about what I found to be bookishly wrong in 2011, and HAPPY FESTIVUS!

Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (REVIEW)

EVERY OTHER DAY by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published December 27, 2011 by Egmont
336 Pages // Netgalley eARC
Preorder from Amazon
Goodreads
Author's Website

Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human. 

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely. 

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism. 

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

 

EVERY OTHER DAY is the type of book I love – well, at least love the synopsis and the general idea. Action-oriented, kickass protagonists, girl power. For the most part, Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ latest book did not disappoint. Although I have not read any of her previous books, I found myself enjoying this one with a few minor issues. This is, at the heart of the matter, a story about a girl trying to come to terms with herself with the aid of new friends, new powers, new inhabitants in her body, and lots of new, fun weapons.

Waiting on Wednesday (20)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking The Spine!


This week I have gone all science fiction geek. Wait, you didn't know I'm a sci-fi geek? Well, I am. Hardcore. I love science fiction. If you are looking for recommendations for great science fiction - TV, books, movies, etc - just ask. I have a long list that I would LOVE to share with you.


I have picked 172 HOURS ON THE MOON, the English translation of Johan Harstad's Norwegian book whose name is...hard. The Little, Brown catalog sold me on this one with an Alien reference - "In space, no one can hear you scream." GIVE ME NOW.


Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2-a place that no one but top government officials even knew existed until now. The three winners, Antoine, Midori, and Mia, come from all over the world. But just before the scheduled launch, the teenagers each experience strange, inexplicable events. Little do they know that there was a reason NASA never sent anyone back there until now-a sinister reason. But the countdown has already begun. . .


172 HOURS ON THE MOON by Johan Harstad comes out April 17, 2012 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Mid-Winters Eve Blog Hop GIVEAWAY

For the first time, Book Brats is participating in a Blog Hop giveaway. The Mid-Winters Eve Blog Hop is hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Oasis for YA.

I am giving away a hardcover of Laurie Halse Anderson's 2002 contemporary YA drama CATALYST. This is a great book that I am excited to share with one lucky winner.  Click behind the cut to find out how to enter this contest and more than 250 other contests celebrating Mid-Winters Eve!

PS - if the rafflecopter does not work, please leave your entry WITH email address in the comments. Please leave separate comments for each additional entry.

Entries are:

1.) Follow via GFC (mandatory)
2.) Follow @bookbrats on Twitter
3.) Tweet about contest
4.) Comment on a review

Teaser Tuesday (14)

Teaser Tuesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine) is a chance to explore small snippets from novels that bloggers are currently reading. Take two lines from your story, leave the title and author name, and make sure not to spoil anything!

I have not actually started Maria V. Snyder's TOUCH OF POWER, the first book in the Avry of Khazan series. It's sitting on my Kindle waiting for me to finish EVERY OTHER DAY, but I can still tease page one, can't I? And an entire paragraph! This is from the ARC.

TOUCH OF POWER releases December 27th, 2011 from Mira.

The little girl wouldn't stop crying. I didn't blame her. She was dying after all. Her lungs were so full of fluid she'd drown in another few hours. Tossing and turning on the thin mattress, I listened to her cries as they sawed through the floor boards and through my heart, cutting it in two.

Can't wait to actually start this once I finish up EVERY OTHER DAY.

What are YOU teasing this Tuesday?

In My Mailbox (16)

After our brief hiatus while my computer decided to die on me, Book Brats is (mostly) back! Coming soon - more reviews, more weirdness, more...something. Oh, and I will be participating in a giveaway hop starting on Tuesday. Be warned.

Anyway, this week was a WONDERFUL week for my mailbox - another great one! And I somehow managed to not buy anything. Gasp! Well, I bought myself a coffee table book for Christmas, but that doesn't count. Pop inside and see what came this week! It's very YA heavy this week!

Blood of Eden by Tami Dane (REVIEW)

BLOOD OF EDEN (Sloan Skye #1) by Tami Dane
Published December 6, 2011 by Kensington
342 Pages // Paperback
Goodreads

Sloan has a sky-high IQ, a chaotic personal life, and a dream: to work for the FBI. Her goal is within reach until an error lands her with the FBI's ugly stepchild: the new Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit. She'll get to profile criminals, but the pool of suspects is a little more...diverse. Yet even as Sloan tackles her first case--a string of victims, all with puncture wounds to the neck--she can't silence her inner para-skeptic.

To catch the killer she'll have to think like one. That means casting aside her doubts, and dealing with the bizarre nightmares that started with the job. But the strangeness is only beginning, as Sloan pieces together the shocking truth about a case that's more personal than she ever would have guessed.

When I was offered the chance to review BLOOD OF EDEN, I jumped on the opportunity. I love urban fantasy, forensic psychology, the FBI, vampires - and this start to a new series promises just that. We are introduced to our narrator, Sloan Skye, as she begins her internship with the FBI - or so she thinks. A strange series of events ensues, after which Sloan is shoved into the new (and somewhat kooky) Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit, or the PBAU. Their first case appears to be a serial killer who injects its prey with a tropical illness through bite marks on the neck. Sloan is thrown into the action almost immediately, and secrets begin to unravel from this point.

Waiting on Wednesday (19)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking The Spine!

This week I am going to leave you with the cover, the information, and two words.


North Carolina.

A book that takes place in North Carolina? I'm down. Let's do this.



Note that this video has nothing to do with the book, but it has everything to do with North Carolina. That and this guy lives down the road from me so might as well promote local artists, even if they are convicted felons.

BELLES by Jen Calonia
Releases April 10, 2012 from Poppy
368 Pages
Preorder from Amazon

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she's ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn't go so well. Her cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn't thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, in addition to dealing with all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates' Southern charm, a secret is unfolding that will change both girls' lives forever.

In My Mailbox (15)

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, a meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can show off what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

I must be a little absent-minded this week because I swear I am going to forget to name a few things I received. Please bare with me and I am going to try to name everything! But this week was excellent because of bloggers - namely my Secret Santa (no longer a secret to me) and an RAK buddy that brightened my week so much! Step inside and see what I got!

200 Followers Giveaway WINNERS POST!

Thank you to everyone who entered my 200 Followers Giveaway. As you can see, we are now over 375 followers so I can safely say the giveaway was a huge success. Sadly, there could only be 2 winners - one who won the book of their choice, and one winner of the BOND GIRL ARC. And they are...

Book of Choice - Midnyte Reader
BOND GIRL ARC - Ashley H

Congratulations to both winners, but more importantly a big THANK YOU to everyone who has made Book Brats successful by commenting on reviews or memes, entering in contests, following me on Twitter, and doing anything that makes Book Brats the awesome place that it is. You guys make the site a joy to run. Thank you all and here is to 200 more followers!

Teaser Tuesday (13)

Teaser Tuesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine) is a chance to explore small snippets from novels that bloggers are currently reading. Take two lines from your story, leave the title and author name, and make sure not to spoil anything!

This week I am teasing BLOOD OF EDEN, book one in the Sloan Skye series by Tami Dane that releases TODAY from Kensington. The story follows FBI intern Sloan Skye as she works with the brand new Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit as they track their first case, a suspected vampire rampaging through the Washington, DC area.

My teaser comes from page 67.

"The two of us began a search of our apartment, looking for clues to where my mother might have gone. Katie started in the kitchen; I headed for my bedroom."

Let me know what you are reading this week! I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to read and Teasers are such a great way to discover new stuff!

Eyes to See by Joseph Nassise (REVIEW)

With a cover like that, how could you resist picking up EYES TO SEE? Well, the story behind it might fall a bit flat from the amazing promises the book sets out. A decent urban fantasy book, it suffers from a few issues that bring it down a notch.

EYES TO SEE by Joseph Nassise
Published October 11th, 2011 by Tor
318 Pages
Hardcover received from publisher for honest review
Order from Amazon

In an urban fantasy that charts daring new territory in the field, Jeremiah Hunt has been broken by a malevolent force that has taken his young daughter and everything else of value in his life: his marriage, his career, his reputation. Desperate to reclaim what he has lost, Hunt finally turns to the supernatural for justice.

Abandoning all hope for a normal life, he enters the world of ghosts and even more dangerous entities from beyond the grave. Sacrificing his normal sight so that he can see the souls of the dead and the powers that stalk his worst nightmares, Hunt embarks upon a strange new career—a pariah among the living; a scourge among the dead; doomed to walk between the light of day and the deepest darkness beyond night.

His love for his departed daughter sustains him when all is most hopeless, but Hunt is cursed by something more evil than he can possibly imagine. As he descends into the maelstrom of his terrifying quest, he discovers that even his deepest fears are but prelude to yet darker deeds by a powerful entity from beyond the grave…that will not let him go until it has used him for its own nefarious purposes.

 

The back of EYES TO SEE promises a lot. A scary, thrilling, dark urban fantasy novel that will leave you wanting the lights on while you sleep. For me, it didn’t quite reach that level. With 275 pages of buildup to a climax that was extremely convenient, EYES TO SEE doesn’t live up to the aspirations I had for it when going in. It’s a decent beginning to a new urban fantasy series for adults, particularly fans of THE DRESDEN FILES and CSI, but it could have been so much better.

In My Mailbox (14)

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, a meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can show off what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

This week was a WONDERFUL mail week. I got some great books I can't wait to review and share with you, and trust me, there are some books in here you will want to get your hands on ASAP. And I am going to try and do things a bit differently this time and spotlight everything that I got, so bear with me. This might be a bit...weird.

Feature and Follow Friday (10)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read!

Welcome to another Book Brats installment of Feature and Follow Friday! If you are new to Book Brats, then welcome, and if you are a returning guest, welcome back! Did you know I have my 200 Followers Contest going on right now? No?! Click on the flamingo on the sidebar to find out more and enter to win!

Q: What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books? Maybe you don’t like love triangles or thin plots? Tell us about it!

 Well, I think this is pretty obvious. Doormats. A female heroine or love interest or whatever who is clingy, obsessive, weak, etc. I mean, the entire point of Book Brats is to bring to my readers strong heroines who don't need a man to complete them.

So it's time for my rant, but if you follow me on Twitter, you've heard it. Presenting relationships where the love interest is borderline abusive to the girl - controlling her, stalking her, actually harming her - is not something I want to read, nor is it something I want to support as a reader. And as a writer, too, but that's for my other blog. If I read another book with a doormat, I might hurl. Ladies, it's time to stand up and realize that romance is good and all, but girls standing up for themselves, their rights, and being kickass is better.

Let me know what your pet peeves are! As long as it isn't the opposite of what I said, I'd love to know :D

2011 YA Story Scavenger Hunt - December 1st Stop

2011 YA Story Scavenger Hunt

December 1st Tour Stop
QUESTION #2

I'm today's hunt stop for the 2011 YA Story Scavenger Hunt!

 Today's question is from Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.
What did Cas’s father’s killer do to Tybalt, the family cat?

 Remember to fill out your answer in the form at Most Important Letter here!

Waiting on Wednesday (18)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking The Spine!

This week I have picked a book that I've seen making the WoW rounds. ARTICLE 5 joins the dystopian crowd and gives me so many vibes of the awesome movie EQUILIBRIUM (if you haven't watched it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy NOW). I think for that reason alone I'd love to check this book out. "Compliance is mandatory" is a great tagline IMO, and even if I think the cover is a bit mundane, I still want to add this one to my shelf!

ARTICLE 5 by Kristen Simmons
Releases February 14, 2012 from Tor Teen (hey, two days after my birthday!) from Tor Teen
368 Pages
Preorder from Amazon

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard for her to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It’s hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

Let me know what you're waiting on Wednesday in the comments! I'd love to see what else people are looking forward to this week!

Teaser Tuesday (12)

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 (2) “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 am teasing EVERY OTHER DAY by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which releases December 27th from Egmont USA. I am not very far in yet and I'm having some Netgalley formatting issues, but the book itself is pretty good so far. It is about a girl that becomes a bloodthirsty demon hunter every other day, and the one day she needs her powers, it turns out she's only human and left without her talents. My teaser is from Location 303 (9%) of the Netgalley edition.

"I tried to work myself up to a good hair toss, but failed, because I couldn't take my eyes off the tattoo, which looked an awful lot like a serpent eating its own tail. Which meant that there was a distinct possibility that it wasn't a tattoo."

 Intriguing, no? I'd love to see what you are teasing this week!

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel (REVIEW)

Zombies, science fiction, steampunk, AND Victorian you say? DEARLY, DEPARTED delivers in some of these areas, but falls short of really delivering on all its promises.

DEARLY, DEPARTED by Lia Habel
Published October 18, 2011 by Del Rey
480 Pages
eARC received via NetGalley
Order from Amazon
Lia Habel's website

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

When I saw DEARLY, DEPARTED by Lia Habel on NetGalley, it automatically became my first request. Science fiction-meets-steampunk-meets-zombies?! You had me at hello! My own hype for this book became an undeniable and overwhelming force in my head. When I dug into the book and started reading, I found myself growing disappointed. The writing is nice and the plot is very original and unique, but there was just something…missing, I guess you could say. Or maybe it just had way too much to deal with.

In My Mailbox (13)

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, a meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can show off what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

This week I once again mostly bought stuff. Thank goodness for the Goodwill and trade credit at my local independent used book store!  I also got a few things for review that you will be seeing in the coming weeks on the blog. I will just warn you in advance that this IMM will be very chick lit-focused, LOL. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep (REVIEW) + GIVEAWAY!

In the market for a fun, quick read filled with romance, intrigue, and lots of awesome fight scenes? Jennifer Estep's TOUCH OF FROST might be right up your alley!

TOUCH OF FROST by Jennifer Estep
Published August 1st, 2010 by K-Teen
350 Pages
Order from Amazon
Follow Jennifer Estep on Twitter

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.

 But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why—especially since I should have been the one who died. . .

 

Sometimes there are things where you read them or watch them or listen to them and you cannot quite figure out why you liked it as much as you did. For me, TOUCH OF FROST is one of those books. Many of my fellow bloggers had issues with this book. Several did not finish it. Meanwhile, I loved it. I know where people are coming from when they cite several issues with the book – an unclear plot, choppy dialogue, cliché characters and settings. For some reason, my love of this book and the fact I find it an ooey gooey fluffy pile of goodness transcended those issues and I came away from reading Jennifer Estep’s first foray into young adult fiction feeling very, very happy.

Feature and Follow Friday (9...ish?)

Hello everyone for another week of Feature and Follow Friday! I actually have not kept up with how many of these I have done, so let's assume this is the 9th one for our purposes.

Firstly, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I had a great friend of mine over along with a lot of relatives, so we will now be having leftovers for years. I took a 3.5 hour nap afterwards so I will be awake until next week. But enough about that and all the pie. Three types! And cookies. And pudding. BANANA pudding. I'm serious now. Oh, and sweet potato casserole and...

Q: It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

 Damn you, question! I was trying to make everyone drool. Firstly, I am thankful for the lovely Jenny of Books to the Sky for putting up with my crap on a daily basis and Andi at Rywn for helping me procrastinate on weekdays until 6 PM. I am thankful for my awesome critique partners/beta readers who know who they are, LOL. Totally not blogging related really, except most of them are bloggers and aspiring authors like me! Namely the hours long ramblings that are sarcastic meets weird meets extremely weird. I am thankful for everyone who has welcomed me to the blogging community, because I know I am a strange creature. I am thankful for my READERS (yes, kind of like that TIME Person of the Year where it was the mirror and you were the person of the year and I'm rambling aren't I?). You guys have made this possible! Really, I love you. A lot.

Books wise? That's hard. Harry Potter. Animorphs (being 12, a girl, and kickass is totally possible). Confessions of a Shopaholic (that book has brought so many laughs to my life, and told me that yes, I do have a shopping problem). China Mieville's The Scar for teaching me that thinking outside the box is preferable to thinking inside of it. James Alan Gardner's Expendable for teaching me that anyone is capable of saving the day. And Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's The Strain for scaring the pants off me when I needed a good scare.

Thanks again to everyone that has made Book Brats possible, even despite my recent slacking thanks to NaNoWriMo. I've hit 50,000 words, but this thing still has life left in it and I'd like to get as much done before my brain liquefies. I promise a review ASAP, though. I am almost done with several books so you guys will not be waiting for much longer. Until then, enjoy Black Friday!

Waiting on Wednesday (17)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking The Spine!

This week I am going a bit far into the future to pick out a book I can't wait to read. How far? September 2012. Well, if there is SOMETHING of a synopsis and a drop dead cover like this one, of course I am going to be a giddy goat and get excited!

For my WoW this week, I have picked Sarah Beth Durst's VESSEL. It looks very Middle East kinda, which sounds pretty weird, but having taken Middle Eastern history classes and had a roommate who went to Egypt and brought me back tons of postcards (somehow an 8 hour layover on a trip to Ethiopia means pyramids trip!), I'm totally psyched by the topic. VESSEL comes out September 12th, 2012 from Margaret McElderry Books.

In a desert land where serpents made of unbreakable glass fly through the sky and wolves made of only sand hunt within storms, Liyana is destined to be a vessel, to sacrifice herself so that her clan's goddess can inhabit her body... but her goddess never comes.

Love Begins on DVD Giveaway WINNERS!

Thanks to everyone who entered the LOVE BEGINS on DVD giveaway! We received 286 entries to the contests from dozens of great people. Thanks to everyone who entered, and remember to enter our 200 Followers Giveaway ending on December 7th! But I think you are all wondering, WHO WON?!

Well, that is what I am here to announce. Congratulations to...


Shannon and Heather!

The winners have been contacted and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. Thanks again to everyone who entered and supported Book Brats! Stay tuned for more giveaways, reviews, events, and other great things. You won't want to miss it!

Audiobook Alert! Tempest by Julie Cross

Welcome to AUDIOBOOK ALERT, a very sporadic feature on Book Brats. In fact, this is the first entry and the only one I have planned for...ever, but maybe I will find more reasons to use that graphic above that I made in 30 seconds!

Thanks to our friends at Macmillan Audio, Book Brats is proud to bring you a special clip of the upcoming audiobook of TEMPEST by Julie Cross. You can preorder it from Amazon before it's release January 17th, 2012. Check out my review of the ARC here. So check out behind the cut for a special 7:22 preview of the audiobook and then be sure to go and place your preorder! TEMPEST is not a book - or audiobook - to be missed.

In My Mailbox (12)

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, a meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can show off what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

This week was one of those few weeks where most of the stuff I acquired was via my own wallet - or, more appropriately, my father's wallet and a bucket load of trade credit at the used bookstore. I did get a few things actually in my mailbox(es) for review or as prizes. Actually, this week it was mostly review or Amazon! If I got anything from contests, I have apparently now forgot and I am so apologetic! Okay, back to the topic. Check out what I got behind the cut!

2012 TBR Reading Challenge

  Hello guys! No NaNo post today - I am going to save the final one for the day when I finish, which should be within the next few days! Stay tuned for that. Instead, I am going to announce that I am joining the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, hosted by Evie at Bookish! Go over to Bookish and check out the challenge and, if you are a blogger, join up! If you're like me and have dozens of unread books that need to be read, then this is a great chance to get those read - and win PRIZES! Everyone loves a good prize, don't they?
I am going to enter at first into the 11-20 - A Friendly Hug category. Hopefully that won't be too hard to achieve, eh? Here are the first 15 books I will be saving and hope to read! Look behind the cut to see what I've picked out!

Feature and Follow Friday and TGIF!

You read the title of this post right. Book Brats is back in the Feature and Follow Friday and TGIF fun! Wow, I bet you never saw this one coming, mwahaha. Just kidding. It's just that I've been busy with writing and editing and reading and applying for jobs that I haven't had time to dedicate to F&FF and TGIF and many of the other blog hop follow things. But at least for this week, I am back. Click READ MORE below to find out my answers to this week's questions and to catch up on all the fun stuff that I have posted this week! PS, it includes contests!

200 Followers Appreciation Giveaway!

All my wonderful followers, you might have noticed that I got to 200 followers this week. Without you guys, I would be nowhere. I'm so excited to have hit that plateau, so of course that means I am having a giveaway. Since this is a big celebration for me, I will be giving away my biggest prize yet - $11 for you to buy one book of your choice from Book Depository or Amazon (for US people). If Book Depository ships to you, you're welcome to enter and spread the word!

And as a special extra, if we hit 300 followers by December 7th, I will add in a second prize - an ARC of Erin Duffy's awesome debut novel, BOND GIRL. Trust me, if you like chick lit, you want this book. It's amazing. And the ARC will come with some awesome swag.

So please enter. If you're so inclined, add our giveaway button to your blog or post about it! You will get extra entries. And the entry form along with the button will be behind the cut. Just click Read More below! Thanks for supporting Book Brats and entering in our contest! And yay flamingos!

Waiting on Wednesday (16)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking The Spine!

For once I am scheduling this post long in advance. Well, a week, but anything longer than 12 hours for me is an eternity. This week I am waiting on Robin LaFevers' GRAVE MERCY. I mean, it has everything a girl could ask for. Great cover, butt-kicking heroine, assassin nuns, Gods of Death. Okay, I might be jealous I didn't write this synopsis myself because it seems so up my alley. Well, the cover almost does suffer from pretty girl in a prom dress syndrome, but I can overlook that. It has a castle, too. And a crossbow. Okay, I need to stop, but I'm excited for this book. It sounds pretty awesome, no?

GRAVE MERCY by Robin LaFevers comes out March 7th from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It's 528 pages long.

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Teaser Tuesday (11)

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 (2) “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!

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This week I am reading Joseph Nassise's EYES TO SEE, which came out last month from Tor. It's pretty damn fascinating so far, and I am down with all things weird and unusual. I'd suggest you guys go check it out and see for yourself.

From page 45...

"While we certainly weren't friends, I couldn't say we were enemies, either. That would require us to see each other as equals, something neither of us was willing to do."

So share your teasers with me! I'd love to see what everyone is teasing this week!

The Hunger Games Trailer - Thoughts?

 

Good morning all my lovelies! As you might know, the trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES premiered today on Good Morning America. I never reviewed THE HUNGER GAMES on my blog but I am not the biggest fan of the series. I liked them, yes, but they're not my favorite books of all time, especially not MOCKINGJAY. I have a special interest in this movie because it was filmed in my state near where I went to college (Western Carolina University, just FYI). That and I love Stanley Tucci. He can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. Besides Liam Hemsworth's bad acting, the Peacekeepers looking like jockeys, and Woody Harrelson's horrible hair, I think it looks better than I was expecting. And yeah, I'm a perennial pessimist. I'm actually holding out hope now that this movie might be half decent unlike a large number of YA adaptations.

It comes out in March. See you on opening night!

Author Interview with Kristy Berridge

This week Book Brats is proud to present our first author interview with Kristy Berridge, author of THE HUNTED (available from Amazon and Book Depository and many other websites). Be sure to check out Kristy's website - she is having a fabulous giveaway that I'm sure all of you will be interested in!

BB: Hi Kristy! Thanks for letting me interview you for Book Brats. I've been looking to do more things besides memes and reviews and discussions where I argue with myself about silly subjects. And since this is my first interview, trust that it will be awkward.

Let's start with an easy question. Why did you become a writer?

KB: I'll be honest and say boredom. Yes, as terrible as it is to say that, I was sitting in my office about four years ago thinking, what the hell can I do today?

I'd always had a great love for the paranormal, books, film and television, so I thought, why don't I write my own story? I mean, why not, right? So I did, but I made a promise to myself not to sacrifice on violence, romance and cuss words. I think I did okay on all three accounts. Now as it turns out, I can't imagine doing anything else. I've fallen in love with this world of make believe and seriously wish I could obliterate reality's obligation to pay my bills and just write full time!

BB: Ugh, bills, don't mention them around me, LOL. So now that you are a writer and in love with the world of make believe, have any weird and confusing things inspired you?

KB: When I'm writing inspiration usually comes from late nights staring up at the ceiling trying to iron out the wrinkles in my story lines. I also have a lot of weird dreams, many too creepy to speak of, so lets just say I have a vivid imagination. However, when it comes to my blog, I use my everyday life as inspiration. Apparently I'm a bit of a disaster.

BB: If you had to cast the movie adaptation of THE HUNTED and you could get anyone to play Elena and William, who would you cast? And speaking of casting choices... Any role for Karl Urban? Wink wink.

KB: Karl Urban is an Uber Spunk, and I think he could play one of the mains that comes into Book two 'The Damned'. I can't say too much though or I'll spoil the story!

As for Elena, it's hard to say, maybe someone like Ellen Page's attitude with Emma Robert's spunk. And I think William would have to be played by someone like Robbie Amell - hot bod with that sexy smile.

Love Begins on DVD Giveaway!

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

Win a copy of LOVE BEGINS, out on DVD November 22

Based on the novel, Love Finds a Home, discover how Janette Oke’s touching “Love Comes Softly” series began in LOVE BEGINS, arriving on DVD November 22 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

After their father passes away, Ellen Barlow (Julie Mond) and her sister Cassie (Abigail Mavity) struggle to maintain their family’s farm. When Clark Davis (Wes Brown) finds trouble in their town on his way to California, Ellen agrees to hire him at the farm to work off his debts.  Before long, Clark and Ellen unexpectedly develop feelings for each other. Ultimately, the pair begins a legacy of love and faith together in this heartwarming family drama.

For your chance to win a copy of LOVE BEGINS on DVD, simply answer the following question:

 What is the name of the character who has to work off his debts in LOVE BEGINS? 

·         Wes Brown

·         Clark Davis

·         Ellen Barlow

Follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on: Twitter @FoxHomeEnt

(Also appearing on Online Sweepstakes and Free Sweepstakes and Contests

In My Mailbox (11)

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, a meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can show off what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

This week I've gotten a few things. I hope to get to reading them soon, but if you saw my bookshelves right now and knew how little I've been reading thanks to the dreaded NaNoWriMo (DAMN YOU WRITING), you would be concerned for my sanity. Or else you might just point and laugh at me. Either one is understandable and I wouldn't blame you.

So this week I received/bought/acquired/killed for...

DAIMON (Covenant #0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (thanks Shellie of Creative Reads)

SOULLESS (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger (thanks Patricia of Book Exhibitionism)

SLICE OF CHERRY by Dia Reeves (thanks Katie of Katie's Book Blog)

QUEEN OF BABBLE (Queen of Babble #1) by Meg Cabot (thanks Goodwill of Central NC)

MARKED (House of Night #1) by PC Cast and Kristin Cast (thanks Goodwill of Central NC)