Signed Book Giveaway Hop

  Welcome to the Signed Book Giveaway Hop.  

This blog hop will run from April 16 - 22 and the winner receive a signed copy of Kelley Armstrong's Spellbound from her Women of the Otherworld series.  I was lucky enough to meet Kelley Armstrong in 2011 and have been holding on to this signed book sporting the Australian cover for just the right giveaway.This is it!

Rules are as follows:

• You must be 13 or over
• Competition is international
• If you win, you will have 48 hours to reply to my winners email or another winner will be chosen

Don't forget to hop around to the other sites and enter their giveaways also.

Good Luck!

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Best Book Covers of 2012

Wow! Can you believe we are about to head into the last week of 2012! This year has been huge for me! Having my daughter Elizabeth who is turned 9 months on Saturday and learning to adjust to what seems like less hours in the day for things like reading, blogging...sleeping :P 

The year has just flown, and because I don't want to forget all that I read in the blur that was 2012, I am participating in Top Ten of 2012 Week: A week of Looking back...And looking forward hosted by Fiktshun, A Life Bound by Books, Confessions of a Bookaholic, Two Chicks on Books and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads 

Each day features a different Top 10 and today's Top 10 is the Best Books Covers of 2012. This is just  for books written in 2012.  I at first thought to keep it to what I had read but turns out I didn't have enough covers I loved in this selection so went looking on my physical TBR shelf to find the pretty books i have bought this year that I haven't had a chance to read yet and that is the list below:

10. Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

"In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity."Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of "them." The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

Purchase: Book Depository

9. Diviners by Libba Bray

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."
When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Purchase: Book Depository

8. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

Purchase: Book Depository

7. The Light Field  by Traci Harding

In the battle to get the Being of the Field back to the Universe Parallel, the greatest weapon and risk lay in its own light-field.

Ten years in Maladaan′s past, Taren Lennox seizes the opportunity to secure personal financing for the AMIE Project and base the building on Frujia -- away from Maladaan and its Secret Service.

But when the MSS develop a weapon, from a patent of one of Taren′s inventions, that counts light -- photon by photon -- she begins to doubt her ability to keep her ever-growing psychic army a secret. For this new photon-camera can identify a psychic from the more inept by the unmistakable brilliance of their light-field.

Purchase: Book Depository

6. The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

Purchase: Book Depository

5. Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3) by Rachel Hawkins

Hailed as “impossible to put down,” the Hex Hall series has both critics and teens cheering. With a winning combination of romance, action, magic and humor, this third volume will leave readers enchanted.

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?

Purchase: Book Depository

4. Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

"Everneath" is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

Purchase: Book Depository

3. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

In this compelling sequel to "Unearthly," Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

Purchase: Book Depository

2. The Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo

The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.

Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?

The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.

But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.

Purchase: Book Depository

1. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Purchase: Book Depository

In My Mailbox #13

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.

Don't forget to comment and post your IMM link or just let me know what's in your mail box this week

 Spellbound by Kelley Armstrong

Cascade by Lisa T. Bergren

Lots of exciting jumping around and squeeing (albeit silently as the other half was asleep at the time :P) when these arrived in my mailbox this week especially Spellbound as this was pre-ordered and I was waiting anxiously for it.  I am hoping my copy of waterfall arrives this week since obviously Cascade is the sequel :)

though check out what Kindle was sold for free this week:

Waterfall by Lisa T Bergren

Yup so I guess i can start reading :)

And...

If that wasn't enough,  just four days into the month I receive my first August R.A.K  from Alyssa from Alyssa's Bookshelf Check it out:

Abandon by Meg Cabot (e-book)

Hereafter by Tara Hudson (e-book)

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (e-book)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (e-book)

Matched by Ally Condie (e-book)

Awesome huh?  Thanks so much to Alyssa for such and awesome R.A.K and also to Vanessa and Isalys from Book Soulmates for running such an great idea as R.A.K (Random Acts of Kindness for those unfamiliar)

Don't forget to enter my passion giveaway for you chance to win a signed copy of either Fallen or Passion.  Just 4 days left!  And stay posted for a guest post and give away from Kim Falconer.

So what was in your mailbox this week?

Review: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

  Title: Spellbound
Author: Cara Lynn Schultz
Released: 28 June 2011
Source: HarlequinTEEN via Netgalley
Reviewed by: Sapphired Dragon
Sapphired Dragon rating : ****

Synopsis via Goodreads  

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What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Saling
...moreWhat's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?
 Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

Review:
I wasn't really sure what to expect when i started this novel. I has heard mostly good things and read the synopsis but when it started, I worried a little it miht turn out not much more than a Gossip Girl type story.

However I was pleasantly surprised instead to find a charming sweet story with that dash of supernatural in it that makes a story, at least in my opinion, so much more.

I guess having watched tv shows like Gossip Girl, it made may of Shultz's descriptions come to life even more and her descriptions made feel like i knew the locations well.  However it was the characters that really made the story.

I liked the main character Emma, she was smart, witty and strong and Brendan made we want to swoon alongside Emma and the rest of the girls at Vincent Academy. The only characters I couldn't really get a handle on were Kristin and Anthony.  Though I think was more to do with me necessarily than the writing. 

Overall though this was a charming, smart, sweet story that had me pretty much hooked till the end.  I definitely enjoyed it and thought it well worth 4 stars. 

Sapphired Dragon xx 

 

Purchase:  Amazon | Book Depository

July is NetGalley Month

So my to read and review pile has gotten a little out of control and I have been looking for a wait to peel it back and get some reading and reviewing done.

Now I have found the perfect solution.

Emily from Red House Books has declared July as Netgalley month and is hosting a challenge to read as many netgalley books as possible in the month of July.

Now this is perfect for me given that most books on my to read and review pile do actually come from Netgalley.  There will also be challenges throughout the month and prizes to be won.

Some of the Netgalley books I plan to read in July are:

• Spellbound by Cara Lyn Shultz - Finished 10/7/11
• Cat's Tale:  A Fairy tale retold by Bettie Sharpe
• South of Salem by Janni Nell - Finished 12/7/11
• The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair - Started 12/7/11
• The Shadow Wolf by Bonnie Vardak
• Misfit by Jon Skovron
• Luck of the Devil by Patricia Eimer
• Agatha H and the Airship City
• Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter
• Out in Blue by Sarah Gilman
• The name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
• Tris & Izzy by Mette Ivie Harrison

and i have others... (see what I mean about a long TBR&R list?).

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

Well wish me luck because here I go...