Dec 27, 2011

Best of 2011 Giveaway Hop


I am making this post a little early cause I don't know if I'll be able to do it tomorrow. The rafflecopter begins counting from Dec.27th though.

This is the first giveaway hop I'm participating in. Best of 2011 is hosted by I am a reader, not a writer and it's open from Dec. 27th to Dec. 31st.

For this giveaway you get to choose one of favourite reads from 2011, so I made a list of the books I've read and gathered my fav reads. Here it is...


The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Masquerade by Cambria Hebert
Eden by Janelle Stalder
Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Nearly Departed & Immortal Remains by Rook Hastings
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Dark Secrets by Elizabeth Chandler

This giveaway is international, wherever the book depository ships. And once I email the winner she/he has to answer me in 48 hours or I am going to choose another winner.

Dec 22, 2011

Awesome Event Info! Review Mania and Birthday Giveaway!


Nop, this is not mine...:P
But you should really check it out. It's a great event taking place for 7 days, between Dec.21 and Dec.31. All you have to do is read the reviews that are posted between those dates and comment for a chance to win one of them... :)



Just click the photo for the link to the giveaway. And while you're there wish Ana, Happy Birthday! Yeap, it's her birthday today!!!

Oh, adn yes, I made this buttons so I am shamelessly advertising myself... :P If you want one of your own go to my Requests Policy Page.

Got to go catch my flight!

Dec 19, 2011

Swirls (The Outsiders #1) by F.A. Hershey

When I started reading Swirls I thought it'd be a story about a girl going back to her roots in Amazon and finding more about herself and maybe finding some magic powers or something to go along with it.

In some ways it was: 
Julie lived all her life in London away from her true home Amazon. When her dads moves the whole family there for a job, Julie starts having painful dreams about a woman with red hair. She feels so misserable she has to leave behind evertyhing she knew and venture for the unknown roots of her grandmother. Once these she makes friends with Halola, a girl working at the lodge their staying and begins to discover more about the tribe she is partly from. 

And in some ways is was nothing like that:
Julie learns about the past of her tribe and realizes that she is more part of their future than sh e ever expected to be. She is Gifted. She is a Guardian. And it's time for her to start acting like one or someone could get hurt. Ans that someone would pobably be her. With Halola right on her side, the help of the tribe's young leader and a mysterious tousist always around she is about to discover the history of her people and her own.

I really loved the parts of this book describing the Amazon, it really made me feel like I was there. And even if there was not much action at the first half of the book, and nothing much supeernatural I enjoyed it because of the sceneries and everything that was going on in Julie's head. I could really connect with her saddness of leaving everything behind and starting anew, even if I've never done it in such a great scale.

The second half was where the characters got to interact with each other more. Julie finally visited the tribe and learned some things about herself and who she is supposed to be. But when the story was progressing I ofund myself not feeling like I did about Julie, she was so confused and unsure I didn't like her that much, on the other hand I started liking Halola even better. She is a great character. I wish there was more action in this book, there was a chapter at the end which I thought was going to be a cool action scene but it really wasn't, I want to see them using their powers in real danger. I hope I will in the second one.

★★★★☆

Dec 18, 2011

Arrived This Week [Dec.12 - Dec.18]

This week a had a few more new arrivals. A couple of paperbacks, a few books for review from authors and a couple more from NetGalley.

Bought Paperbacks:

I got both books from awesomebooks.com for only 2.90 euros.

From Authors:


From NetGalley:

I requested Katana more than 5 times and got denied but finally I got approved, I can't describe my excitment. I want to read this book so badly.
As for A Tale of Two Proms, I had just bought Wuthering High, the first on the series and I have a really good feeling about it.


What were your new arrivals this week?

HardBack Love Winner(s)!

Today my 150 followers giveaway ended! :)

The winner of it is 
Lieder Madchen
She picked The Girl in the Steel Corset

 And as I had said before, since I had exceeded 200 followers during this giveaway I had a surprise. I choose another winner, who can pick one book from my two previous followers giveaways.

The second winner is
Heidi
She picked Remembrance


Heven & Hell Tour, Guest Post by Cambria Hebert

I am very excited to welcome Cambria Hebert, author of the faboulus book Masquerade, at my blog today for a guest post. So I am not going to say anything else, just enjoy...

======================================================

Hey Peeps! 

A huge thank you to Veronica for having me by today!! The Heven and Hell tour has been so much fun! When Veronica and I were talking about what kind of post to do, she asked me about the process I go through when writing. So I thought I would share a little peak at the inside of my writer’s head. 

Note: Beware of what you are about to see and hear!! LOL. 

Usually for me an idea for a book stems from a single character. I get a flash about something that they have experienced and from there I want to know more. And a lot of times that character decided to “talk” to me at all hours of the day and night. It can actually be very distracting – especially if I don’t listen. LOL. Sometimes I feel like I am outlet for them to tell their story. So for the first little while I just listen to them talk and I learn more about them. With Heven in Masquerade – I really liked her and I wanted to know so much more so I started writing. 

I went to my closet and strapped on some mismatched socks, a hat with a propeller on top and a sweater with tissues in the pockets – hey sometimes the characters make you cry…. 

Okay not really. LOL. That would be weird. I wear my pj’s usually when I write. But sometimes the characters do make you cry. ;) 

I don’t usually write from an outline – I am too impatient to sit and write an outline I want to get to the good part – the story. Plus and outline makes me feel like I have to follow it when I am writing. My characters like to do surprising things and if I stuck to an outline the story wouldn’t be as good. I do write notes though. Notes on certain things I want to add to the story, exciting scene ideas I don’t want to forget, etc. I write in a notebook that I have and also on napkins, old bills and pretty much anything that is within reach when I get an idea. Then I stuff all those ideas into the pages of the notebook. It is extremely disorganized. Anyone volunteer to be my secretary? Lol. 
I also write the book out of order. I write the scenes that are loudest in my head and then I work backwards or forward depending upon my mood. (Yeah – I can be a moody girl, lol). Then when that scene seems to fade out I tend to skip ahead and write what I am thinking that day. Then I have to piece all those scenes together and combine them with new scenes to make it all make sense. 

Are you following any of this? 

I’m not sure I am. 

I pretty much walk around like a crazed person while writing a book with a notebook and a pen asking people if certain things make sense. Then I sit and the computer and pound away at the keys until all the ideas run out. People think I am crazy. I probably am. Ha ha ha ha. 

I do keep a list of all the characters in my story with their descriptions, likes and dislikes and certain character traits. You would be surprised how often I forget an eye color or some small detail so a list to refer to is a must. 

For Masquerade I also wrote a timeline. It was helpful to keep all the events straight that happened before and after Heven’s accident. The timeline also included information about Sam. 

After the rough draft is written I go through it with my editor and we flush out all the things that don’t add to the story or the things I wrote that make my characters seem bi-polar (I tend to make them bi-polar a lot). For Masquerade we added a lot of content to give the story more depth and detail. 

So that is pretty much my process when writing a book. I go from crazy to crazier! LOL!! Thankfully the mess in my head usually translates onto paper pretty well. 

It definitely keeps things interesting and I usually am never bored.! 

Thanks again to Veronica for having me here at her marvelous blog today!!! 

======================================================

I hope everyone enjoyed this post, I know I did. So for more stops on the Heven and Hell tour you can go to my right sidebar. I have posted all the direct links so far. There are guest posts, reviews, interviews and my personal fav...giveaways!!! 

You can get the prequel to Masquerade for free!!! Click Here
And if you are interested in byuing Masquerade you can find it almost everywhere: Smashwords, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk.




Dec 16, 2011

The Outsiders Trilogy Tour

I am very excited to announce that I am taking part in another blog tour on Febraury. (There are more coming, but for now let's talk about this one).


Isn't the banner cute? I made it... :)

Ok, so the tour stops are yet decided but you can visit the post on F.A. Hershey's blog to is what it's planned. (Click on the images)
And if you read and loved Swirls, or it's on your to-read pile waiting for you to pick it up, maybe you can mail the author and take part on this tour, you can find her info through her site. (Again click on the images...)


Also after working on the banner and button for this blog tour I decided I love working with photoshop to help others who can't really work with it, so I am currently taking requests for tour buttons, tour banners, giveaway buttons, blog buttons and everything else you might have in mind. (The only catch...if it's a tour make sure I am part of it! And if it's a giveaway make sure it's International, I don't support US only giveaways cause I am an international follower/blogger ;P I am doing the first buttons etc for free but maybe later I set up some small fee) You can find my contact info on the right side bar. Under the REQUESTS POLICY.

Well, thanks for stopping by...

P.S. I am half-way through Swirls and I'll be reviewing it very soon, I read half of it in two days!

Masquerade - Released

Today is the release day of Masquerade by Cambria Hebert. This is book 1 to the Heven and Hell Series.

To celebrate this day Cambria is holding a Masquerade Ball at her site. Go check out all the five posts about it. There are a few giveaways, a personality test, a video tutorial on how to make bubble tea, a scavenger hunt and a lot more.

Here are all the links:


Go show some love to this great author.

You can find Masquerade on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.ukOtherworld Publications or Smashwords
If you are not sure if Masquerade is for you (but trust me it is!) you can get the prequel Before for FREE! Just go here.

I will be having my stop on the HEVEN & HELL tour in a couple of days, make sure to visit me again then for more of Cambria.

Oh, I just remembered about it! All the stops of the tour are posted on my right sidebar, if you want a chance to win a copy of Masquerade and lots more stop by all these great blogs! :)

Dec 13, 2011

Masquerade (Heven and Hell, #1) by Cambria Hebert

I never thought it'd be so hard to write a review about a book I loved, but here I am, not knowing what to say about this fabulous book...

Ok, let's take it one step at a time. 

The story: 
Masquerade is the first book of the Heven and Hell series. Heven is a teenage girl who after a terrible attack she can't remember got disfigured. Her life had changed completely after that, she lost everything, her friends, her selfconfidence, her life. But after a new boy arrives at her school everything is about to change once more. Sam is everything any girl would ever hope for, or at least that what it seems like. He has a terrible secret and he seems to know more about Heven's accident that even she does.

The characters:
I loved Sam. Through out the whole book he was my favourite of them all. Always protecting and loving Heven, but still always feeling like he was evil deep inside. Perfect boyfriend material from any point of you. And I loved seeing everything through his eyes. His PoV was my favourite. 
Heven is the actual main character but although I loved her and felt sorry for her she wasn't my fav. I didn't like seeing her not feeling comfortable in her own skin, but after thinking about it I realized that she was the most normal person in the whole book. Exactly like a real life person. She has her own fears and insecurities and she grows the most as a character. I really started liking her new self at the end of the book. I think I am going to love her even more on book two. 
All the other characters where great too. Kimber and Cole, Heven's cuckoo mum, her granmother, they were all very unique and interesting characters. Yeah, even Heven's cuckoo mum. 

The writing was adorable. Cambria is a really great writer and you can get captivated by every single word. 

I especially loved the last few chapters. They are setting the mood for the next book, which I am sure I am going to love because of where it'll take place. No spoilers, but I am also going there this March! :)

Dec 11, 2011

Arrived This Week [Dec.5 - Dec.11]

I almost forgot it was Sunday and I had to do this thing... Anyways, this week I had 5 new arrivals, one from NetGalley, one from a giveaway, and three for review.

The Giveaway One

The Review Ones

The NetGalley One


These are all my new arrivals, what are yours?

Dec 10, 2011

NetGalley Month

Ok, so this is a Blog Hop hosted by Vicky @ Books, Biscuits and Tea. (Click in the link for the original post)

So, the idea behind it is that you get to read as many Galleys as you can in December and since I am in desperate need of motivation to read my Galleys, it seems like the perfect idea!

The Galleys I want to finish by the end of December are listed below.

When I am done with them I am going to add the links to the reviews at the end of this post. So wish me luck and if you want to enter go to the link above and enter too.

The Versatile Blogger Award

I was awarded the Versatile Blogger by Award by Anjana Vasan @ Kindle & Me. It is such a cute award, really makes you smile when someone awards you something like this. :)


Anyways these are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them at your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 5 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it.

Ok, so I've done the first now and now I am going to reveal 7 things about me... (this is a hard one)
1. I have 3 tattoos, one on the inside of my left wrist, one at my right arm and another one at my right ankle. I am also hoping to do 3 more.
2. I collect postcards and...socks. I really love socks! <3
3. I believe that socks can reveal a lot about the person wearing them.
4. I believe that candy, chocolate, sugar and everything sweet makes you smarter! :P
5. I have written 2 books, both in greek, one when I was 15/16 and it's terrible and another one when I was 18 and I am going to translate it so I can self-publish it. Right now I am working on two new ideas.
6. I know Greek, English, French, Italian and a little Japanese (very little...)
7. I want to travel the whole world. (I am starting with Italy this Easter)

Now it's time for the 5 blogs...ok, I can't really pick any... :P Don't really want to. So I am going to play it cool and pass on this step. Sorry guys... It's just really hard to pick just 5 blogs. :D Hope you don't hate me...

150 Followers Giveaway

After the end of my previous 100 followers giveaway I had already reached more than 150 followers and as a thank you to you all I added a second winner to the previous giveaway, but it's almost christmas, so I decided to do another giveaway to celebrate and get some help trying to pick my own x-mas gift. The theme of the new giveaway is:

HardBack Love

I really love hardback books, but barely have any. So one of you will win one of the listed books below and I might order one for myself too! :) I haven't read any of them but I really want to. So you guys have the chance to win one of the following hardbacks.


This giveaway is open wherever the bookdepository ships and its running from Dec.10 to Dec.18.
This is my first time using rafflecopter so hopefully everything will work out. :)




 

EDIT: I jsut reached 200 followers so instead of another giveaway (I am going to hold the next one for 250) I was thinking of a surprise for you guys, but you are not going to learn what it is until the giveaway is over and I announce it. Just giving you guys a heads up.

Dec 4, 2011

Arrived This Week [Nov.28 - Dec.4]

This week I only got two books. Thank goodness! I really need to stop getting them like crazy...
Ok, so I had ordered these two a while back and they actually arrived at my birthday, such a great gift! :)
And the books are

I was looking forward reading both of them and now I finally got them, and in paperback too!
So that's it for this week.
Tell me what arrived at your home...

New Age Giveaway Winners


Ok, so I realized I haven't posted the winners yet... :P
The first winner of my New Age Giveaway is
Kara
And as her prise he picked the book Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Also, just like I promised there was a second winner cause I reached 150 followers. And the second winner is
Ashley Chen
Ashley picked Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep, as her prise.

I know I don't have any giveaways open right now, but I am preparing my 150 followers one and maybe another 4-day giveaway (I love those) for x-mas!
Stay tuned!!!

Dec 3, 2011

Masquerade, Heven and Hell #1 Blog Tour Schedule

This is the first blog tour I'm participating in. Needless to say I am very excited. The books is Masquerade by Cambria Hebert. I am still reading the book, but I already love it. 
The following are all the paricipanting blogs. I will upload the links to the actual Tour at my right side bar each day, below the Heven and Hell Tour Button. So go there to check every stop. There will be reviews, guest post, giveaways and lots more.



Dec. 2 - http://www.fivealarmbookreviews.com 
Dec. 3 - http://www.readinginthecorner.blogspot.com 
Dec. 4 - http://www.cambriahebert.com (announcing her giveaways)
Dec. 5 - http://wordsoftheworlds.blogspot.com/ 
Dec. 6- http://www.ottilieweber.blogspot.com 
Dec. 7 - http://danicapage.blogspot.com/ 
Dec. 8- http://mystiparker.blogspot.com/ 
Dec. 9 - http://www.knowntoread.blogspot.com 
Dec. 10 - http://dreamlandteenfantasy.blogspot.com/ 
Dec. 11 - http://www.babblingaboutbooksandstuff.blogspot.com 
Dec. 12 - http://k-booksxo.blogspot.com/ 
Dec. 13 - http://www.rachybee-the-rest-is-still-unwritten.blogspot.com 
Dec. 14 - http://www.saphsbookblog.blogspot.com 
Dec. 15 - http://www.xpressoreads.blogspot.com 
Dec. 16 - Release day. Cambria's blog and Jenn's blog http://www.indiesupporter.com They are hosting a Masquerade Ball and giving away a necklace and a stocking filled with merchandise. 

Dec 2, 2011

Random Reads #1 - December

Random Reads Meme – Hosted by ImLovingBooks.com

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by imlovingbook.com. You get to pick a book from your to read pile with any random way you want to and read it.

This is my first RandomReads and I'm very excited. I really think is a great idea! :)

Anyways, I used my own shelf on Goodreads and random.org to choose the book I am going to random read this month and it's actually a book I wanted to read soon.



Dec 1, 2011

Storm Born Comic #4 by Richelle Mead, Grant Alter & Dave Hamann

This is the fourth issue of Storm Born.

It begins right where the last one left off, at the Otherworld in the middle of Eugenie's mission to save the young girl. Everything goes terribly worng and she has to run away back to her world with the truth about her past clouding over her head.

Once back she has a lot more trouble with Gentry crossing to our world. Every one wants a piece of her and at the end the only possible solution is for her to learn how to control her real powers.

Now that Kiyo is back in the picture and the story is unfolding really great I can't wait for the next one to get out.

★★★★★

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

Kaylee has a very special power. Whenever someone around her is close to death she screams. Really, really screams. After an incident at the mall she is transfered to a psychiatric hospital. There she has to spend her days trying to convice everyone around her and herself that she is not crazy.

This is a very promising prequel to the Soul Screamer series. Kaylee is an intriguing character and I look forward to read more about her and her so special power. From the prequel I got a pretty good idea that there are so many things about Kaylee that we are going to learn. I really have no idea what is going on and I love it.

★★★★★