Thursday, October 25, 2012

Blog Tour: Guest Post: Fiona Glass

Riptide Publishing is now a year old! The company has great LGBTQ titles that you can find through their website! As part of their celebration, they have asked several blogs to participate in several blog tours. We previously had a visit from author, GB Gordon, today we are happy to have Fiona Glass join us and Riptide is sponsoring a giveaway here for $10 towards Riptide titles.


The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: October 22, 2012
Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Paranormal journalists Chris Mullins and Jo Perry are sent to Ireland's remote west coast to investigate tales of hauntings at a ruined church. Chris, who has an inbuilt sensor for ghosts, is drawn to the old priest’s house next door, where he faces an otherworldly encounter so strong it leaves him reeling. Their research leads to a tangled web of forbidden love, family rows, and even, possibly, murder.

Chris jumps at the chance not only to solve the mystery, but also to aim for the coveted Moondust Award, a prize for the first journalist who proves that ghosts exist. Jo, though, is less enthusiastic, both about the award and her on-off relationship with Chris. Things become even more confused when Chris finds himself falling for Paulie, one half of a gay couple on holiday in the same village.

Only the wild, haunted landscape of Ireland can give Chris the answers he so craves, but to find them, he may have to choose between the Moondust Award and the matters of his heart.


VISIT THE AUTHOR:
FIND THE BOOK:

GUEST POST:

Hi There! Thanks for joining us on the virtual book tour for my newest release, Gleams of a Remoter World. All week long, I’ll be visiting some of our reader’s favourite blogs to talk about the book and how it came to be. Now for the good part—as a part of Riptide Publishing’s first anniversary celebration, one lucky reader who comments on this post will win $10 in store credit to Riptide! Simply leave a comment below, with your email address included, by Sunday Oct 28th at 11:59pm to enter. What are you waiting for? Check out all the tour stops here to earn more entries!

Enjoy! And in the meantime, if you'd like to find out more about me or my writing, please just drop into my website or my blog.

Setting The Scene

I mentioned during my previous blog tour (for my novella 'Necessity's Door') that settings are very important to me, and the same is true of 'Gleams of a Remoter World'.

The novel first suggested itself to me during a holiday on a remote island just off the coast of County Galway, in a Gaelic-speaking area of Connemara.  The scenery out there is just stunning - a strange mix of mountain, sea, and rock, with vast fields of boulders strewn across the landscape and beaches of pure white sand.  The weather plays its part, with rapid shifts between rain and shine, storm clouds and glinting sun.  In addition, ruined buildings scatter across the land, reminders of the famous potato famine, or leftovers of a more recent rush to leave the countryside.  Most of these are cottages, but there's also the occasional larger building, and in one particular case, a church. 

By the time we'd spent a week out there the sheer magic of landscape, ruins and atmosphere had grabbed me and wasn't letting go.  I was so inspired I bought a notebook and started scribbling at the kitchen table of the cottage we'd rented on the coast.

As usual with my settings, many of the features are based on real places, although I usually change the details a little.  In this case, the ruined church at Kilveenan still exists, and right next door is the ruined priest's house, roofless and forlorn and quite possibly haunted by the odd ghost or two.  The village of Kilveenan itself is an amalgamation of two different villages - Gorumna where we stayed, and the larger settlement of Roundstone further round the coast.  The harbour is based on the quay at Gorumna, and the coral beach was on the other side of the local bay.  The mountains I describe are the Twelve Bens, or Twelve Pins, which form a looming backdrop to virtually ever view.

Although many of the locations exist in one form or another, the plot and characters are entirely my invention.  The atmosphere might be magical, but we never saw anything that wasn't actually there.  It's a wonderful spot for a holiday, though, and the perfect setting for a ghost story.


Thank you to Fiona Glass for joining us today! What a helpful post for authors struggling with their setting development! Leave a comment below to win a $10 credit for Riptide titles!


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Teaser Tuesday: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!
To participate all you have to do is:

•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 what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) 


 Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


-------------------------------

"There are certain things in life that just suck. Pouring a big bowl of Lucky Charms before realizing the milk is expired, the word "moist," falling face-first into the salad bar in front of the entire lacrosse team..."
Chapter 1, 1% eARC
Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill


-------------------------------

Top Ten Tuesday (33)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!
This week's theme is: 
Top Ten Books to Get into the Halloween Spirit

1. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
- I haven't read book two yet, but I'm sure it would qualify as well!
2. The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan
- I just finished this series and it was definitely creepy enough to get me read for the horrors of Halloween! (Plus, as usual, Sarah was hilarious.)
3. The Razorland Series by Ann Aguirre
- Definitely a series to terrify!
4. Ten by Gretchen McNeil
- I absolutely loved this retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I can admit to having to sleep with the lights on after I finished it!
5. The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant
- Zombies, journalists and nerdy hilarity galore!
6. The Loners by Lex Thomas
- This literally almost made me crap my pants. One of the scariest horror novels that I've ever read, though I haven't read many...
7. Escape from Furnace Series by Alexander Gordon Smith
- Just look at the creepy covers... Those should be enough for you.
8. The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series by Carrie Ryan
- ZOMBIEEEES. (I love zombies, can you tell?)
9. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
- I haven't read the rest of this series, but this novel is a classic.
10. The Necromancer Series by Lish McBride
- This has all the elements of Halloween rolled up into one hilarious story!

What books would you recommend to get people in the Halloween spirit?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Stacking the Shelves (25)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme, hosted by Tynga's Reviews, where bloggers share the books and goodies that they've received over the week.

Edwin Didn't Get Anything To Put On His Shelves This Week

Emily's Stack for the Shelves:

From Netgalley:

Bought:
Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo (x2 - I bought one for my friend Veronica, who couldn't make it to the signing.)
I bought all of these for the Fierce Reads tour stop in Columbus, OH. It was awesome, but not for my wallet.

Had signed:
So I went to John Green's Cincinnati signing on Monday, October 15. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, except for the driving. The drive there and back made me want to throat punch everyone around me. (I have road rage.) I had Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns and Will Grayson, Will Grayson signed. Plus, because I entered a vlog post in a contest held by The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (say that five times fast), where the signing was held, I got a front row seat and a free poster for John to sign. I am fangirling just thinking about it.

I went to another signing on Thursday, October 18. This one was a lot of fun as well. Fierce Reads authors Gennifer Albin, Leigh Bardugo, Caragh O'Brien and Marie Rutkoski came together for a tour this month and had a stop at the wonderful Cover-to-Cover Children's Bookstore. They were goofy and so much fun! There will be a recap for both coming very soon, I promise. My notes are horribly unorganized and my father is in town, so he's taking up a lot of my time and causing me stress. I'll make time though. Pinky promise!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Follow Friday (36)

Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Q. When you step out of your USUAL genre, what do you like to read? Best books in that genre?

A. I don't really think I have a "usual genre." Though, I do step out a bit when I read mystery and crime novels.  It's not often that I read them, and when I do, they are usually M/M romances. In that way, they are still in my "usual genre." I read a lot of M/M romance, but those are really the only kind of mystery/crime novels that I like. I'm a big fan of Josh Lanyon's work and he writes mostly crime novels. His Adrien English series and his Holmes and Moriarity series are my two favorites! I also really enjoy the Cut & Run series by Abigail Roux (with Madeleine Urban for books 1-3).

What are some great books from a genre that you don't usual read?

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Giveaway Winners

We have a lot of giveaway winners to announce. 
Let's get started!

The winners from our Three Things to Celebrate Giveaway:

Winner of Prize Pack #1 was JULIE N.
Winner of Prize Pack #2 was MORGAN S.
Winner of Prize Pack #3 was NAEEMA N.
Winner of Prize Pack #4 was MARIO S.

The winner of from our Santaurio Blog Tour Giveaway:

Winner of a $10 credit to Riptide Publishing, courtesy of Riptide Publishing was JUSTINE.

The winner from our Fierce Reads Recap + Giveaway:

Winner of the signed copies of the Razorland series was RACHEL R.
Winner of the signed copy Monstrous Beauty was CHEYENNE T.
Winner of the signed copies of the Necromancer series was ERIC T.
Winner of the signed copy of Cinder was ATMIKA S.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Cover Reveal: The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Early in September, I reviewed The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke. It is one of my favorite books of 2012 and I'd go as far as to say one of my favorite YA fantasy novels of all time. On Monday of this week, Strange Chemistry, the publishers of The Assassin's Curse series, released the cover of The Pirate's Wish, the second book in Ms. Clarke's duology.

Here it is:

Well? What do you think?
I absolutely love it. It matches the cover of the first book and is super eye-catching. Though since they released the cover, I keep thinking about how far away the release is... The only thing I don't like about it is the font in which Cassandra's name is written. I prefer the way it was on the first book. (See below.)

And if you haven't seen the cover of The Assassin's Curse:
I fall in love with the book a little more every time I see the cover.

And check out my review of The Assassin's Curse HERE!

Leave your thoughts, notes, general complaints, etc. in the comments!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday (32)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!
This week's theme is: 
Top Ten Favorite Authors in the X Genre

I'm going to split mine into two different genres, so it's Top Five... times two. Because I'm really lazy and can't figure out ten of my favorite authors from a single genre.

CONTEMPORARY
1. John Green
2. Elizabeth Scott
3. Sarah Dessen
4. Louise Rozett
5. Jennifer Brown

PARANORMAL
1. Sarah Rees Brennan
2. Lish McBride
3. Richelle Mead
4. Kelley Armstrong
5. Lisa McMann

What genre did you choose and who were your choices?

 
Blog design by Imagination Designs using papers from the Santa Monica paper pack by Mally Mac and Me