Cover Reveal!! ~ Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

I  am so excited today to be a part of the cover reveal for Fireblood (Fireblood #1) by Trisha Wolfe!!

 

 

 

Fireblood
By: Trisha Wolfe
Release Date: 10/8/13 Synopsis:
To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control.

When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father's capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin.

Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult.

When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart's twisted world, Zara's path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara's hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father's evil nature, or they will take him out.

But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels' command and where the prince's heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she's truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart .

Add To Your Goodreads To Read Shelf: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15841140-fireblood

About the Author:
Trisha Wolfe is the author of the YA Steampunk/Paranormal Romance DESTINY'S FIRE (Omnific Publishing) and the upcoming YA Sci-Fi Utopian FIREBLOOD from Spencer Hill Press, November 2013. Her published short stories have appeared in YA literary journals, Fantasy magazines, and anthologies. She has written four books in the past two years, and is currently working on a new YA Sci-Fi project.

Trisha Wolfe is the creator of YA Bound, a promotional blog for the Young Adult genre. Also a proud member of YALITCHAT.ORG, SCWW, and The Apocalypsies.

And she is also a business owner, partnered with her partner, her husband. When she's not busy doing all of the above, she is a wife and the mother of a gorgeous teen boy who's the sounding board for her male characters.

Trisha Wolfe's Website: http://www.trishawolfe.com/

Isn't that cover amazing? It's gorgeous! I can't wait for this book to release! Are all of you excited?? Congratulations Trisha!!!! :)

<3 Amanda Leigh

How I Plan to Review the Hunger Games Trilogy

I've caught up on my book reviews of all the books I've read this year. Except three. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.

I finished reviewing the other books I read this year and thought "How am I possibly even going to begin to review The Hunger Games Trilogy?" To be frank, it is quite a daunting task. They really are incredible books. I loved them. And sometimes it's hard to review something you're absolutely in love with without sounding like a fangirl. I'll do my best not to that and actually give coherent reasons why I love these books, I promise. Then of course is the problem of spoilers. It's also hard to review these books without spoilers.

So I decided to do two reviews for each book. Two for The Hunger Games. Two for Catching Fire. Two for Mockingjay. One will be spoiler free and one will be spoiler full. ;) I decided that's the best way to go about this. I'll try to post these reviews soon. :)

<3 Amanda Leigh

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey at: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

 

 

Just Finished:

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8663600-mockingjay

Zenda 3: The Crystal Planet by John Amodeo, Ken Petti and Cassandra Westwood

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108071.Zenda_3 

 

 

Reading Now:

Torment (Fallen Series #2) by Lauren Kate



http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7740152-torment 

 

 

So what are you guys reading? Let me know in the comments! :)

 

<3 Amanda Leigh

Liebster Blog Award ~ Again! Kind of...haha just read the post...

A while ago I was tagged for the Liebster Blog Award. I tagged 10 people, including a good friend of mine, Fatuma. She has a few blogs but the one I tagged is: http://lifeisfunnyexceptwhenitsnot.blogspot.com/ 

And, since we're all rebels, she tagged me back! So this time I'm just going to answer the questions she asked. There are some fun ones in there! I like these questions!

1.What is your favorite fruit? 
Hmm, good question. Strawberries are great. But I really like pears and kiwi. Especially kiwi.
 2.Why do you blog? 
I blog for a couple of  reasons. I want to be a full time author and I heard that having an internet presence is really important for that. So that's the main reason. I also just really love it. It's fun.
 3. Do you like Asian dramas (esp. Korean)? *crosses fingers* lol 
I don't know if I like them, since I've never seen any. Any recommendations? lol
 4. What do you feel passionate about? 
A lot of stuff. Life. Writing, reading, art, photography, cooking, family, friends, nature, rare disease awareness, domestic abuse awareness, raising money for Cystinosis research and cancer research and  diabetes research and several other things, Psychology, environmental rights, animal rights. The list probably goes on...
 5. What are your career goals? Current or future. 
I want to be an author. And possibly write for a magazine, or work on a literary magazine. I do know I want to be a full time author though.
 6. If you had a dollar, what would you buy?
I don't know, what can you buy for a dollar these days? A lottery ticket maybe? Oh, or a chocolate bar, I like chocolate.
7. If you could write a book, what would it be about? 
Actually, I have a book out lol. It's a collection of poetry and photography.There's a link to it on the sidebar thing. But I am working on a novel right now. A young adult romance set in the 1960s that spans six years of the main character's life. From when she (Sam) is 16 to when Sam is 22.
 8. What's your favorite color? Why? 
My favorite is blue. All different shades of blue. However I do also really like teal ad turquoise. I like these blues because blue can show such a range of emotions. Blues can be happy, sad, mysterious. They are all beautiful and I love the color blue.
 9. What's your favorite movie or types of movies? 
I really like The Outsiders, and the Harry Potter movies, and the Godfather and Swing Kids and The Hunger Games. Mostly I like dramas.
 10. What's your favorite fictional character?
That's a very difficult question. Are we talking just from books? Or TV shows and movies too? Since I don't know, I'm going to answer with a book character. I think it would have to come down to Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston from The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. Yes, I know that's two but I couldn't choose. If you want to know about TV and movie characters just let me know, cause I could go on about that too...lol.

<3 Amanda Leigh

Book Review ~ territories of folding by T. C. Tolbert

 

Title: territories of folding

Author: T. C. Tolbert

Released: March 2011

Published by: Kore Press

Page Amount: 33 pages, double-bind chapbook

Goodreads Blurb:

TC Tolbert's debut book of poetry uncovers the landscape of life ever in motion. In language flickering with love, loss, and liminality, and with adamantine accuracy, this work bridges many seemingly distant land masses: female and male, girl and boy, music and silence, body and space. Territories embodies the poet's transition “from woman to something less visibly female” and reveals the cyclic journeys of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of the person contextualized by an outward societal framework. “Having lived through the funnel both ways,” TC Tolbert acknowledges and bravely challenges traditional schemes of hegemony with a conscious commitment to the unique multiplicity of the self, who is at once (and always) transitory and timeless.

Review:

T.C. Tolbert came to Pace to read from territories of folding for a Vox event. You all remember me talking about Vox, right? Besides publishing a literary and arts magazine twice a year, we also host several events. Some of these events are always readings, and thanks to our faculty advisor Dr.Poe, we were lucky enough to have T.C. come to Pace to read from territories of folding. There were copies for sale at the reading. As soon as the reading was over I knew I had to buy one. T.C. signed it to me too!

 

I took this picture with my webcam so I'm not sure how good the resolution is. It says: "Dear Amanda, Thank you for coming & for being such a kick ass poetry advocate! Take good care of you, :) TC"

The poetry in this chapbook is really wonderful. T.C. has such a special ability with words. Words are put together in such a way that a word you'd once never thought twice about, suddenly seems magical. And when these words are put together the poetry and sentiment that comes out is equally as amazing.

Something unique about this chapbook is that it is a double-bind chapbook. First it opens to the left and then halfway through it opens to the right. It gives the chapbook a special feel. White space is also utilized throughout the chapbook very well.

I really enjoyed this chapbook and look forward to more work from T.C. Tolbert. I gave this one 5 stars and if you are a fan of poetry I highly advise you add it to your collection.

<3 Amanda Leigh

Book Review ~ Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

 

Title: Chasing Brooklyn

Author: Lisa Schroeder 

Released: January 5th 2010

Published by: Simon Pulse

Page Amount: 412 pages, hardcover

Goodreads Blurb:

Restless souls and empty hearts.

Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

Review:

I am definitely becoming a Lisa Schroeder fan. I read I Heart You, You Haunt Me during my freshmen year of college and loved it. Both of these books are written in verse. Being a big fan of poetry, I really love this form. I would love to take a crack at writing a book in verse one day.

 

Brooklyn writes letters to Lucca and they are included throughout this book. The letters are also numbered. I like that the actual letters were included in the book. Nico and Broklyn begin training for a triathalon together and this helps to take Brooklyn's mind off of things. But the nightmares still come and Gabe still visits. Nico and Brooklyn grow closer when they are spending time training for the triatholon.

 

 I really like both Brooklyn and Nico and the relationship that develops between them. It seems like something that could really happen. That their relationship could really develop like this. It wasn't far fetched. The writing was very good and very emotional. Even though this is heavy subject matter, the ending left me with a feeling of hope. I really enjoyed this book and am planning to get the rest of Lisa Schroeder's books very soon. I give this 4 stars.

 

<3 Amanda Leigh

Book Review ~ Zenda 3: The Crystal Planet by John Amodeo, Ken Petti and Cassandra Westwood

 

Title: Zenda 3: The Crystal Planet

Author: John Amodeo, Ken Petti, and Cassandra Westwood

Released: May 11th 2004

Published by: Grosset & Dunlap

Page Amount: 144 pages, paperback

Goodreads Blurb:

When Zenda visits her cousins on the planet Crystallin, she is dazzled by this sparkling world of jewels. It's amazing to spend time on a world so unlike her own. The brilliant jems and dazzling people around her almost make Zenda forget about her own special gift for working with plants. But Zenda's talents are called upon when a shocking event helps her remember that all that glitters is not gold.

Review:

This is part of a middle grade series of novels. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be set in the future or not but it is definitely fantasy. It's a very cute read. Involving a lot of magic. There is also a lot of emphasis on plants, which I like, because I really like nature. 

This is definitely a book where there is meant to be a lesson learned by the end of it. Really, I can see several lessons in here. I like Zenda. She makes mistakes like anybody does, and even though this is set in a fantasy world they are mistakes a pre-teen in this same world would make. There are also some of Zenda's journal entries throughout here and I like that those are included. 

If I read this in middle school I know I would have really liked it. Now, as an adult, it is a cute, quick read and I enjoyed it. I gave it 3 stars. 

<3 Amanda Leigh