Three Things to Celebrate Giveaway

Well, hellllo there.

This month we are celebrating three things. 

One, Emily's an ancient, old geezer, who had her birthday at the end of last month, but since we didn't know what to do for a giveaway, we are pretending it is this month. (Just play along.) 

Two, we reached two hundred followers! (Not such a feat, but a proud moment for us!)
And three, we've had over 9,000 page views! (Again, not a HUGE feat, but we are moving up in the blogger food chain.)

So we are giving things away!

There will be four winners, winning prizes that only awesome people can have. So if you aren't awesome, you are not eligible.
Pictures of the Prizes:

Prize Pack #1

 Signed copies of The Tension of Opposites and One Moment by Kristina McBride + Swag

Prize Pack #2

 Miracle by Elizabeth Scott + Swag

Left is Prize Pack #3
Right is Prize Pack #4
Two swag packs

Now here are some One Direction gifs that explain our blogging experience thus far:

Giveaway Details:
- One Winner Will Receive A Signed Copy of One Moment by Kristina McBride, One Signed Copy of The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride + Swag
- One Winner Will Receive A Copy of Miracle by Elizabeth Scott + Swag
- Two Winners Will Receive Swag
- Open Internationally
- One Entrant per Household
- Ed and Em will be monitoring. If you cheat, or do not actually complete an "extra option" that you have entered, you will be disqualified.
- Giveaway Ends August 10, 2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kristina McBride's One Moment Lauch Party Recap!

On June 29 (my birthday, woo!), I, Emily, drove down to Books & Co. with my wonderful mother to meet Kristina McBride and get my copies of her book signed. The signing was a launch party for the release of her latest book, One Moment, which I read earlier in June. You can find my review HERE.

Kristina was very sweet, answered everyone's questions, signed books and swag, and took pictures. (Plus she gave me some M&M's because she knew it was my birthday!) Also there was Rae Carson, author of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, who I had met during the Dark Days Tour and Kay Cassidy attended Kristina's signing as well. (WHY DID I NOT HAVE THE CINDERELLA SOCIETY WITH ME!?)

Here are some pictures from the signing:

Some of Kristina's author friends came to the signing!

Top Row: Left to Right

Katrina Kittle and Sharon Short

Bottom Row: Left to Right

Linda Gerber, Jennifer McGowan, Kristina McBride, Rae Carson and Kay Cassidy

Kristina being introduced!

Talking about her life and writing.

Waving to her family. Her husband, son and daughter came to the signing! So cute!

Reading from One Moment!

She answered questions from people in the audience.

Getting ready to sign!

Signing my books, woo!

And since I brought my The Girl of Fire and Thorns copy with me, I had to get Rae to sign it!

(She did, because she's awesome and nice!)

And finally, Kristina's cool poster announcement!

My birthday was freaking awesome. I got my daith pierced, drove through a hellova storm, had dinner at Mimi's Cafe, my favorite restaurant and went to an awesomely awesome signing!

Thank you to my wonderful mother, Kristina, Rae and Books & Co.!

AND KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN A SIGNED COPY OF KRISTINA MCBRIDE'S ONE MOMENT, AND A SIGNED COPY OF THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES, HER FIRST NOVEL.

Book Review: One Moment by Kristina McBride

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: June 26, 2012
Publisher: EgmontUSA
272 Pages

This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie’s life. Now it’s the one she’d do anything to forget.

Maggie Reynolds remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party the night before. She remembers climbing the trail hand in hand with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can’t she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below—dead?

As Maggie’s memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?

The latest novel from the author of The Tension of Opposites, One Moment is a mysterious, searing look at how an instant can change everything you believe about the world around you.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:

One Moment provided me with my angst quota for the day, maybe even the week. I cried a lot. It was such an endearing and heart-wrenching read. Seriously, it was such a good book. It was one of the best books that I've read in a while. Plus, look at the cover… Such a pretty cover...

One Moment is about a girl, Maggie, who witnesses the death of her boyfriend of almost two years. Maggie and Joey, the boyfriend, joined their four friends, Adam, Tanna, Pete and Shannon, spending a nice, warm day during Memorial Day weekend by a gorge local to their town of Blue Ridge, Ohio. They all take turns jumping from a the falls, except Maggie, who has an extreme fear of heights. Joey convinces her to jump with him, but somehow he ends up falling and crushing his skull and Maggie is found hiding in the bushes at the top of the falls. She is unable to remember anything that happened. The aftermath of Joey's death leaves the five friends reeling and struggling to stay together. All the while, Maggie battles her own personal struggle, to remember why she didn't jump and how Joey didn't make the jump. As the story continues, secrets are revealed, some friendships are tested, while others are broken. 

The "shocker" in this book was pretty obvious from the beginning, but I didn't let that stop me from reading and I'm very glad I continued because this was wonderful! Even though the major twist in the story was clear, the plot was new and original. The setting was projected as gorgeous, which Ohio really is gorgeous (if you look in the right places).

This story has so much drama! It hurt my heart. I must be a masochist because I really, really enjoyed it! One Moment has suspense, drama, mystery and even a bit of romance. It's a great book for fans of young adult dramas like myself.

The prose was emotional and captivating. Reading from Maggie's perspective had me in tears more often than not. It had an almost lyrical quality to it. One Moment was a fast read and pretty short. I read it in one sitting, which is happening very often lately. Non-stop in a couple of hours means I seriously enjoyed it. I really recommend this book! And it won't be the last Kristina McBride book that I read!

I received and e-copy of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley for my honest opinion and review.