Royal Congratulations!

Did you watch the 'Royal Wedding'?  I did. Well, I DVR'd it and then fast forwarded to the good stuff.  I'd like to extend my congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  May you be happy and help each other in all of life's ups and downs.


Why do I make a mention of this in my blog? A few reasons.  First, this is an event that will make a lasting impression.  I'll be able to talk to people forty years from now and they'll remember where they were when the 'Royal Wedding' took place, if they woke up at 3AM to watch it, etc.


Also, I predict this wedding will start a whole new slew of YA princess tales.  Not fairytale princess tales, but the kind where the common girl falls for the young prince in disguise or maybe even the common boy falling for the young princess in disguise.  You know where I'm going right?  Already titles are popping up in this genre!  My guess?  We'll be seeing more!


What did you think of the royal festivities? Did you watch it live?  Did you DVR it and fast forward through the long bits?  Do you think it will cause a new group of YA princess titles to pop up on the shelves?

Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday/Update

Hi gang! Hope everyone's week went well! This passed week has been both excellent and troublesome. Reading wise, it was a bit dry. I have started a book called 'Silver Smoke'. It's a YA Supernatural novel dealing with angels. So far, so good!


This Week on the Blog:
Review: Anna and the French Kiss
Top Ten Tuesday: Mean Girls
Ebook Giveaway- Ends May 5th! (Low Entries!)


And on to the Hops!

The Question of the Week is:
Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?


Answer: So many books are coming out this year I want to read. Sticking to the summer months, I am most looking forward to the sequel to 'Knightley Academy' entitled 'The Secret Prince'. 'Immortal War', the next book in the Vampirates series should be coming out soon, too, though the release date on Goodreads has it as earlier this month. 'Tigers Quest', sequel to 'Tigers Curse', comes out in July. Oh, and let's not forget 'Wolfsbane', sequel to 'Nightshade', also due out in July.





The Question of the Week is:
Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?


Answer: This is hard b/c most of what I read are series and I can't imagine only bringing one book from a series into my shelter!


1: The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper (five books, bound as one novel paperback)*
2: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
3: The Host by Stephenie Meyer*
4: Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville
5: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
6: Dramacon: The Mega Edition by Svetlana Chmakova (All three volumes bound as one!)
7: An Atlas or world travel guide (to remember what the world was like before whatever made me enter the shelter)
8: The Skipper Doll reference guide*
9: A Barbie collectors book
10: Shutterfly photo books printed with pictures from my childhood, California, and Italy.
11: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by, well, you know who


And there you have it. My nine choices for what books I would take to sustain me if I were in a shelter, unsure of how long I'd be down there. I'm sure some people think I wasted space with the S. Meyer titles, but 'Twilight' and 'the Host' never get old for me. The Dark is Rising Sequence holds my favorite book in the whole wide world, 'The Grey King'. I'd need the Skipper and Barbie collectors guides to remember what my collection held if, in fact, my collection was gone. 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' and 'Prisoner of Azkaban' are my favorite H.P books. Books with *'s by them are what I would need to bring if I were moving somewhere or if I were flying somewhere and needed a book I knew I would enjoy re-reading.


So there you have it, That's it for the hops this week! See you next week!

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: YA, Romance, Coming of Age
Perfect for: those in the mood for a cute romance
Star Rating: 4/5 Stars

Taken from Goodreads, "Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?"


If there was one book that I picked up because of the buzz on blogs, 'Anna and the French Kiss' would be that book. If I passed this book in the bookstore, which I did many times due to work, I would probably take a peek at the back, give it a read, and then put it back because I don't do strict YA romance's. I usually prefer my romance with a dash of supernatural/sci-fi/dystopian mixed in. So, as you can imagine, 'Anna and the French Kiss' was quite a departure from my usual reads!


I enjoyed 'Anna and the French Kiss'. It was a quick, addictive read with good characters, a fun setting, and a realistic, well thought out plot. One of my favorite things about 'Anna and the French Kiss' was author Stephanie Perkins writing style. Main character Anna's voice was entertaining and often times, quite humorous. Having been in a foreign environment before with no family or friends to turn to, I could relate to Anna. Her 'culture shock' read as realistic to me. She wasn't annoy, clingy, or too mary jane of a main character, which are often the traits that come to my head when I think of strict ya romances and their characters.


I loved the location of this novel. Honesty alert: I've never had much of an inkling to go to France before. England, Italy, Wales, of course, but not so much France. Reading this book peaked my interested in the country and made me a twinge more interested in visiting one day.


St. Claire was darling. Yes, I fell for him, too. With the English accent, quick witted personality, and just awesome vibe he encompassed, he turned out to be a great male lead. The story of him and Anna was told sweetly, realistically, and really, really well. The romance wasn't over the top or bloated. It was just right.


This book gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. I loved reading it, but had to deduct a point.  Looking back at it, it's not a book I need to buy or re-read. It was a good one off romance that had heart and likable characters. Even if you don't like strict YA romance, give this a shot. I think you'll like it.

Top Ten Tuesday- Mean Girls

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme started by 'The Broke and the Bookish'. Please head over to their site for more information! This week is 'Top Ten Mean Girls'. (Only five this week, b/c this question is hard!!!)

Top FIVE Mean Girls

1- Rose from the Vampire Academy novels: True, if I tried to slap Rose, she'd probably see it coming a mile away and get me first, but that girl annoyed the heck out of me half the time. This was especially true when it came to book five and six in the series. If you think about it, Rose's whole journey involved using people for her own personal gain. We get hardly any guilt from the girl in regards to that fact. I can't say anymore without spoiling, but ahh, she was a really annoying main character.

2- The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The White Witch is pretty much the definition of 'mean girl'.

3- Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter/Order of the Phoenix: Who doesn't love to hate Umbridge? She is one of the meanest characters in Harry Potter. Just thinking of Harry's 'I won't tell lies' situation makes me shudder.

4- Jessica Wakefield from Sweet Valley High/Kids/Confidential: While Elizabeth isn't exactly innocent, Jessica was definitely the bad twin. All the crazy things she did to sabatage others... Not good at all!

5- Alice from Prophecy of the Sisters: Again, not the good twin.  Not the good twin at all.  

Who are your picks for this week's theme?  (And while you're visiting, check out my ebook giveaway!  Low entries so far!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, Readers!!!!

Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday/Update

Wow, what a week! There's been a bit of a commotion on this little blog this week as I posted my first ebook review, along with a Q/A with its author and a giveaway post!


I also made a few less happy posts this week-- one about the closing of the North American Tokyopop offices and one about the passing of Doctor Who actress Lis Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith to Who'vians). I found a nice tribute on youtube.  My layout cuts off the right side of the screen.  Click the video to watch via youtube.

I'll link to those posts in a moment, but first, are any of you Star Wars fans? If you haven't checked out 'Star Wars: The Musical', then, sorry, but you have to now. The link is HERE. If you go to 'The Musical' link on the right sidebar, you can play and download all the fantastic songs that these guys put together. Kind of wish LucasFilm would have done something with these songs or the concept!!!


This Week on the Blog:
Contest: Win 'Seeing for the First Time
Author Interview: Nicole Zoltack
Review: Seeing for the First Time
Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I'd Name a Kid After...
You Will Be Missed, Lis Sladen
Bye, Bye Tokyopop


And On With The Hops...

The Question of the week is:
If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?


Answer: I try, but many times I'll only enjoy a handful of books by the author. Universally, I love Bruce Coville's works. As far as other series, I thought I'd love DJ Machale's new series, but didn't. While I loved Cirque Du Freak (by Darren Shan), I didn't love Demonata. Even Stephenie Meyer. Loved Twilight and The Host, but the sequels, not so much! And finally, while Susan Coooper wrote my favorite book, I really could never get into anything else she wrote.



The Question of the Week is:
What is on your current playlist right now?


Answer: I'm a bit weird when it comes to music. I don't have a playlist, persay. I usually turn on a radio station and listen to random mix's. I'm a huge fan of Pandora radio and recently, groove shark.


If you were listening to a mix of my Ipod, you'd hear at lot of: The Monkee's, Hanson (yes, they still make records!), various showtunes, my favorite anime/drama themes, hits from the 90's pop era, and tons of regular pop/rock (from all decades).


Actually, a lot of my taste in music comes from my mom. Odds are if she played or plays it, I tend to enjoy it. That would be one of the many reasons I know lyrics to many a Barry Manilow songs and Bobby Sherman song. (The Monkee's was totally Nick@Nite's fault!)


That's it for now, folks! See you next week and don't forget to enter my contest!!!!! (If any of you'd like to help me out on this, I'd love a bit of advertising for it! Let your readers know!!!)

Contest: Win E-Book 'Seeing for the First Time' by Nicole Zoltack

Want to win a copy of 'Seeing for the First Time' by Nicole Zoltack?


Contest FAQ: 


How do you enter?
Fill out the form embedded on this post.


Do you need an e-reader to win?
No, but this is an ebook giveaway.  


Who can enter?
Anyone! You do not need to be a follower to enter. I'd love it if you would become one, but I'm not going to force you!!!


When will I choose the winner?
This contest will run for two weeks and a winner will be pulled May 5th.


How will I notify you?
Via e-mail.


My page layout might cut off the right side of this form, but fill it out to the best of your abilities!  Any problems with it, please leave a comment for below!  Good luck!

Author Interview: Nicole Zoltack, Author of 'Seeing for the First Time'

Recently, I've been in contact with ebook author Nicole Soltack. Nicole is the author of the six part ya supernatural ebook series, 'What You See is What you Get'.  I recently reviewed part 1 in her series, 'Seeing for the First Time'. Here now, Nicole has taken time to participate in one of my favorite book blogging tasks-- the author interview!


A Bit About Author Nicole Soltack...

Nicole Zoltack loves to write fantasy/paranormal, romances, horror, historical, for adults and young adults, novels, short stories, and flash pieces. She doesn't want to get boxed in by genre -- she might be claustrophobic!

When she isn't writing about girls wanting to be knights, talking unicorns, and zombies, she spends time with her loving family. She loves to ride horses (pretending their unicorns, of course!) and going to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, dressed in period garb. To learn more about Nicole and her work, visit her website at www.NicoleZoltack.com or her blog at http://NicoleZoltack.blogspot.com.


The Q and A session...


When did you first begin to write in hopes of publishing?
July 2008. I started to write some short stories and started to submit to magazines. The rejections quickly piled in. Then I saw a call of submission for a sweet romance short story and I thought, hey, I could do that. The first story I submitted was rejected but the second was accepted. Since then, I've never looked back!


Why did you choose self publishing over the traditional agent/publishing house route? What do you think of the experience so far?
I'm epublished because I am trying to build up writing credits as well as an audience before I try to get an agent. I have two novels that I am working on right now that I plan on submitting to agents.


Now that more and more people have ereaders, I think that ebooks are really going to explode. The market is dramatically increasing for ebooks, well over any other format right now.


Do you believe in the supernatural (ie: ghosts, fae, werewolves, etc)? Have you had any weird encounters with anything that could fall under that category?
I believe in angels and demons. One time, during high school gym class, we walked outside for class. We had to cross the street, and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't realize that everyone else had stopped walking and continued on. I felt a large hand push me back half a second before a car whizzed by, so close that the car just barely missed grazing me. I'm sure that was my guardian angel protecting me.


For you, what typical comes first? Plot or characters?
Usually the characters, although sometimes I think along the lines of what if such and such happened… and then the plot comes first.


If you could see one sort of supernatural creature, who would it be?
I would love to see a pegasus. Could you just imagine flying on the back of a winged unicorn?!


Tell us a bit about how 'Seeing for the First Time' came about...
I love paranormal stories, always have, always will, but I wanted to write something a little different. Paranormal with a kick, or in this case, an eye.


I was thinking about how we can see but can still be blind. We might walk past someone on the sidewalk and barely glance at them, maybe miss that they are hurting inside.


To turn this idea into a paranormal one, I thought about a world like ours but where the paranormal creatures are unseen except by only a few people, called seers. There's a veiled mist that separates our world from the paranormal one. And that's how I cam up with the idea of Seeing for the First Time.


What might we expect in the sequels? Are they available to the public yet?
Book 2, To See, is available for purchase. There will be a total of six short stories with one released the second week of each month.


In To See, a vampire hunter, Eric, is introduced, and the stakes are raised. Things are only going to get more dangerous for Ana, now that she can see. Poor Ana, her life would have been so much simpler if only she could see unicorns or fairies!


If you could live in a specific book genre, what would it be and why?
High fantasy. I love the middle ages, and what could be better than knights and magic? I love sword and sorcery!


I'm a huge TV nut. What is currently on your DVR?
My favorite TV show right now is The Vampire Diaries. I used to prefer Stefan but now I am team Damon all the way!


Where can readers find your book?
'Seeing for the First Time'
http://tinyurl.com/nz-sftft-smash
http://tinyurl.com/nz-sftft-omni
http://tinyurl.com/nz-sftft-kindle
http://tinyurl.com/nz-sftft-kindleUK
http://tinyurl.com/nz-sftft-nook


And 'To See' is available:
http://tinyurl.com/nz-ts-smash
http://tinyurl.com/nz-ts-omni
http://tinyurl.com/nz-ts-Kindle
http://tinyurl.com/nz-ts-KindleUK
http://tinyurl.com/nz-ts-nook


I'd like to thank Nicole for taking the time to share her answers with the readers of this little blog! I appreciate it!