In My Mailbox #14 - Christmas/New Year Bumper Edition

Welcome to  In My Mailbox, a meme run by The Story Siren where each week over 200 bloggers post on their blogs the books they have bought, received to review or won in the past week.

To find out more information, get involved yourself or see what's in other bloggers mailboxes this week head over to The Story Siren or to find out what is in my mailbox this week, keep reading.

So its been a while since my last In My Mailbox so given that bookwise the last few weeks have been quite busy, I figured it best to do a Christmas/New Year Bumper edition :)

So the first awesome bookish event of December was an early Christmas present:  a new shiny Kindle 3 :)

I also got an awesome purple cover with an attachable light so I can read it at night in bed.  I was very excited about this gift.  So ofcourse the first thing I did was head to Netgalley and load up on the books I need to read and review.

Arcs i have i have received to review are :

• Under The Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder
• New Girl by Paige Harbison
• Slide by Jill Hathaway
• Halflings by Heather Burch
• The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Second thing I did was load it up with e-books i already had on the kindle app on my ipad then I went shopping! :P

I bought:

• Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3) by Cassandra Clare
• Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews
• The Magic Word by Jennifer Fallon
• Seed by Ania Ahlborn

Then of course there was Christmas itself and i did well bookwise in the Christmas present department :)

Firstly, I participated in a Kris Kringle/Secret Santa in Goodreads group The Aussie Swap.

Thank you so much to Jayne from The Australian Bookshelf for the awesome gift of :

• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

 Then from my dad I received:

• Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
• The Sending by Isobelle Carmody
• Finnikin on the Rock by Melina Marchetta

Lastly, did I mention that I have an awesome local library and while I have been on holidays, I have been doing lots of reading and visiting the library every other day and here are some of the titles i have borrowed in the last couple of weeks and am in the process of reading:

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• Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
• Haunted by Joy Preble
  Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
• Club Dead  by Charlaine Harris
• Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
• Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
• Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
• The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody
• The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody
• The Time Traveller's Wify by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Haunted by Jessica Verday
• Lord of Sin by Susan Krinard
• Dark of the Moon by Susan Krinard

to name just a few




So what was in your mailbox this holiday period?

Netgalley Month January 2012

So in July 2011, my first attempt at NetGalleyMonth, I found out I was pregnant, got morning sickness and was unable to read anything on my ipad without feeling nauseous.  Needless to say July was a bust.  In October, I was so snowed under at work, I didn't even have time to declare myself let alone attempt a netgalley month so again... BUST!

HOWEVER

This time round, armed with my new shiny kindle I received for Christmas, I do declare January 2012 to be Netgalley Month and just as third time is the charm, this time I will succeed!! :)


Emily from Red House Books is hosting January's Netgalley month challenge which involves reading as many netgalley books as possible in the month of January 2012.

So why do I think I will succeed this time when i so epically failed the last two times?  Here is why:

1. Time : This month I have ten days of holidays with not much I have to do but read.  Plus I am 30 weeks pregnant so this is an awesome excuse to take it easy :)
2. Reading Device: I received a shiny new Kindle 3 for Christmas which already I am making use of, complete with a cover with a readng light so I can read at night in bed.
3. A Netgalley TBR list already half a mile long so once again the perfect excuse to get through it (like i need an excuse :P).  These titles include:

• Under The Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder
• New Girl by Paige Harbison
• Slide by Jill Hathaway
• Halflings by Heather Burch
• The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees
• The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

and others which I will add as I go through them :)

So there you have it, three big reasons why January will be an awesome Netgalley Month for me :)

For more information on January is Netgalley Month or to declare yourself check out the official post at Red House Books

Well wish me luck because here I go...

2012 Reading Challenges

So I have decided to sign up for a few challenges in 2012.  I am really excited as it my first time signing up for most of these challenges. It's going to be an interesting year as I have my first child due in March so either i wil have no time for reading or lots but between my local library, my ipad and the kindle i am treating myself to this Christmas, I am incredibly hopeful :) So please find below the challenges i will be participating in next year:

2012 Debut Author Challenge

Hosted by The Story Siren,  challenge is to read and review a minimum 12 young adult or middle grade debut novels in 2012.

For this challenge some titles I am looking forward to reading are:

• Everneath by Brodi Ashton
• Tempest by Julie Cross
• Fracture by Megan  Miranda
• Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
• The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams
• Storybound by Marissa Burt

As I look through the variaous lists of titles, i realise i want to read most of the titles on them so hopefully i will be able to complete this challenge successfully.

The Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012  



This challenge is hosted by Book'd Out with the aim to "The aim of The Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge is to push you a little outside your comfort zone by reading up to 12 books during the year from 12 different genres."

This challenge runs from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

The genres included are:

1. Literary Fiction
2. Crime/Mystery Fiction
3. Romantic Fiction
4. Historical Fiction
5. Young Adult
6. Fantasy
7. Science Fiction
8. Non Fiction
9. Horror
10. Thriller /Suspense
11. Classic
12. Your favourite genre

This is another challenge I can't wait to sink my teeth into.  I actually have quite an eclectic reading taste anyway so i think I can do quite well in this challenge.

2012 YA/MG Fantasy Reading Challenge

The aim of this challnge is to read and review 10 Ya/MG fantasy novels that come out in 2012.  Another challenge I am looking forward to as this is probably my most favoured genre.  Even looking at the list so far I can already see a few to look forward to such as :

• Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr
• Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter
• The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

Sophomore Reading Challenge!

This reading challenge, hosted by Chick Loves Lit is to read 10 or more sophomore YA or MG novels published in 2012.  As there are a number of second books coming out from great authors I have discovered in the last year or so, this is another challenger I am greatly excited about as some of the titles to look forward to are:

• Insurgent by Virginia Roth
• Embers and Echoes by Karsten Knight
• Until I die by Amy Plum

as well as a whole lot of others.

So these are the reading challenges I plan on tackling in 2012.  Let me know what challenges you have found and are participating in for 2012.

Oh and wish me luck!! :)

Teaser Tuesday #15

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.


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


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. 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 muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My current read is  Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1) by Rachel Caine and my two lines are from page 288  :


"Even though I'd seen it dozens of times, it was still a shock.  Half her face gleamed bronze gold, perfect; the other half was seared and scarred the colour of old liver."

Purchase:  Amazon | Book Depository |

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Teaser Tuesday #14

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.


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


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. 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 muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My current read is  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and my two lines are from page 484  :


"Vampires and witches are not spadefoot toads, Marcus," Matthew said coldly. "And not all of the changes that result are positive."

Purchase:  Amazon | Book Depository |

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Guest Post: Heather Frost, Author of Seers

Welcome to the next stop on the Seers Virtual Book Tour!

Today we welcome Seers author, Heather Frost who has kindly agreed to a guest post  and the topic:

Creating My Version of the Afterlife

While writing Seers, I got to explore some really fascinating questions and ideas. Figuring out how life after death worked, trying to gauge what horrible traits a Demon had to have in order to qualify for Demonhood, and exploring the motivations for choosing to become a Guardian rather than going on to heaven. Making the rules for immortality was also a fun challenge.

When I decided to write Seers, I knew I'd have a few challenges. But I think one of the bigger ones for me was suddenly becoming a judge. All of a sudden, I had to decide what sort of people would  ecome Demons for eternity. It was kind of daunting, especially because I firmly believe that people can change. And here I was, daring to condemn characters to a perpetual Demon existence. Honestly, I took the easy road on this one. For the most part, I leave it up to the reader's imagination. Demons are those who die with a “corrupt heart”. It's pretty open to personal interpretation, but I knew that I wanted to keep my readers from assuming all lawbreakers were instantly banished from heaven. Acts are important to judge, but the motivation behind the action is equally important to me. And so, I created Toni. He's a Guardian, but he's not really all that angelic. He committed a wide range of illicit acts while he was alive, but I chose to judge him by the intents of his heart. Toni is my line in the sand, s it were, outlining in my mind the major difference between Demons and everyone else.

So, if you died, what would you choose? A life in heaven where everything is perfect and everyone is happy—surrounded by friends and family forever? Or would you choose to return to Earth as an immortal Guardian, where you fight to protect humanity from Demons? In my mind, it's a no brainier—I'd pick family and heaven every time. But I needed characters who wouldn't choose that, and so I needed to figure out what reasons a person might have to turn down eternal happiness for a life of guarding. Since, for me, heaven's biggest draw was family, I felt pretty confident in my decision to make a lot of Guardians orphans. They're the toughened ones, for sure—the ones that learned to
survive just fine without family support. And when they eventually met their deaths, the decision
between joining their family or staying on earth, they picked what they knew; the most comforting fate, in a way. And there are people like Toni. Sure he was an orphan too, but he's got another reason to
choose Guardian life—He likes it here, and he honestly can't imagine being any happier in heaven. (And what thief wouldn't want to be able to go invisible?) Another reason a person might choose the Guardian life is pure selflessness. Some people truly just want to help someone else. And it's a good thing, too—if we didn't have such kind souls on the earth, we wouldn't have as many Guardians to watch over us. Obviously there are many other reasons people chose this life, but at least these motivations gave me something to work with. Another thing I had to figure out was what happened to children who die. There are several different ways I could have handled this, but in the end, I went with the only thing that felt right. Children go straight to heaven, without ever facing the choice. They don't need to choose, because they haven't experienced enough life to want anything other than heaven.

Immortality is a fascinating subject in its own right, and it's been dealt with in so many different ways by so many different authors. My immortal characters have many of the same struggles and perks generally associated with eternal life, but there's something that makes them a bit different. Because in the world of “Seers”, Guardians and Demons maintain the same maturity level forever. This makes it a
lot easier for me to believe the falling in love with a mortal idea, and also just why most Guardians remain happy with their choice to return to earth after death, even if it's a forever kind of deal. It may also help us understand why Demons have an especially hard time being nice.

I had a lot of fun figuring out these intricacies, and the more I explore these ideas for the rest of
the trilogy, the more excited I get. The possibilities really are infinite. 

For more info on Seers, check out http://seersthebook.com, and for more info on author Heather Frost go to : http://www.heatherfrost.com/

To get your hands on your own copy : 

or The Book Depository

Check back later this week for my review and lastly thank you to Heather Frost and Cedar Fort Books for allowing me to participate in this awesome blog tour :)

SapphiredDragon xx

Teaser Tuesday #13

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.


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


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. 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 muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My current read is  Forever by Maggie Stiefvater and my two lines are from page 193  :

"The bed sighed as Cole climbed on to it and lay on his back beside me.  He smelled clean, like shaving cream and the beach, and I realized he must have taken special care before he came over here today."

Purchase:  Amazon | Book Depository |

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!