Release Day Blitz: Underground (New World #4) & Silence (New World #4.5) by Janelle Stalder

Hello everyone! I am so happy to announce the release of the new instalment in the New World series, Underground, by Janelle Stalder and as a bonus a novella that no one was expecting. I was supposed to review these two for today but life got in the way of my reading (as always) and I am still reading Underground. But let me tell you, so far it is pure bliss. Janelle has yet to disappoint me. And the New World series is my favourite NA Dystopian series by far. The description of the two new additions to the series follows bellow.

If you haven't yet, make sure to check out the first book in the series: Switch. And if you are more into YA Fantasy, then check out her other series: Eden

Underground (New World #4)
by Janelle Stalder

Amazon | Smashwords

Love isn't something you find.
Love is something that finds you.

Phoenix has spent her whole life fighting. All she's ever wanted was to return the world to a peaceful state, and bring down the New World Order. But now she finds herself in a different sort of battle. No longer set in the streets of New Berlin, the fighting has moved beneath them, in a vicious underground fighting ring run by outlaws bent on causing trouble. And if that isn't hard enough, she's stuck with the one person who loves to fight more than she does - Trent McKay. Now the race is on to get out of their new prison and back home - before they end up killing each other.

Or worse - fall in love.

Silence, A New World Series Novella (New World #4.5)
by Janelle Stalder

Amazon | Smashwords

It is better to be seen and not heard…

A firm believer of observing and listening rather than adding to the noise surrounding her, Pixie has always been the quiet one out of the Archers. Her intelligence and quiet confidence makes her the perfect choice to join Garrett, Tyler and Missy on their mission to get their friends back. But when she enters the underground network run by Sebastian Black, she suddenly finds her voice. Bastian rattles her like no other, breaking her silence. He sees and hears her more than anyone has in her entire life. But how can she trust a man like him? Now it’s a battle of wills, between what her head tells her, and what her heart insists.

About The Author:

Janelle Stalder was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario. At an early age she developed a love for literature. Her debut novel, Eden, was the first book in a series of four, released in September of 2011. Since then she has released an Adult Dystopian Romance series, the New World Series, hitting the best sellers list on Amazon. She has also released a Mature YA/NA novel, Brush Strokes, that stayed on the best sellers list for contemporary romance for sixteen straight weeks. She is a strong supporter of other independent authors, and loves to interact with her readers. When she's not writing, Janelle is at home with her husband, two children, Aiden and Elora, her little bun in the oven that is on the way, and her two furry children, Alice and Lily. She now resides in a small town in Ontario in her old, possibly haunted, century home.

Cover Reveal: Deciding Love by Janelle Stalder

Deciding Love

by Janelle Stalder

Chloe Morgan had a pretty simple life, until her father moved them to a new town and a new school for her senior year. Learning to adapt isn’t easy, especially after finding out she has an older brother she never knew about. All Chloe wants to do is get through the year in one piece. Except things get even harder when her new friend’s older brother, Kyle Briggs, keeps ruining all her well laid plans. It’s a love/hate relationship. She’s just not sure where the emphasis lies – on the hate…or the love?

About The Author:

Janelle Stalder was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario. At an early age she developed a love for literature. Her debut novel, Eden, was the first book in a series of four, released in September of 2011. Since then she has released an Adult Dystopian Romance series, the New World Series, hitting the best sellers list on Amazon. She has also released a Mature YA/NA novel, Brush Strokes, that stayed on the best sellers list for contemporary romance for sixteen straight weeks. She is a strong supporter of other independent authors, and loves to interact with her readers. When she's not writing, Janelle is at home with her husband, two children, Aiden and Elora, her little bun in the oven that is on the way, and her two furry children, Alice and Lily. She now resides in a small town in Ontario in her old, possibly haunted, century home.

Bout of Books 15 - Sign Up

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books 15 is coming up in a few days! I cannot wait since I have been having a very slow reading progress at the end of 2015. But hopefully this read-a-thon will help me get back on track. I will be mostly updating on twitter and instagram (TBR, current read, etc) but I will also do a wrap-up post here on the blog. 

It's All About Korea: Part 2 - Studying with Talk to me in Korean

Hello everyone! 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea part 1 is finally here. Sorry about the delay...but it's Christmas and I just get completely out of schedule during vacation. If you want to see how my love for anything Korean began check out Part 1 of this blog post series: PART 1

Studying Korean with TalktomeinKorean.com 

PART 2:
Today I will be introducing the various methods and ways I use to study Korean. First of all, let me begin by saying I am merely a beginner. I've only been studying for three months, and without an actual teacher. But if like me, your days are hectic and you cannot commit to actual classes and teachers, then studying by yourself with the help of online content, websites and books is your only(?) option. And, for me at least, it really works.

I study with the podcast lessons of talktomeinkorean.com (TTMIK). They have nine different levels, starting with level one. The two main teachers are Hyunwoo Sun (선현우) and Kyeong-eun Choi (최경은). These guys are pretty hilarious. Their chemistry is really good and every lesson flows perfectly. Every lesson is accompanied by the recording of the lesson and a pdf with everything that was covered in it and all these are completely free. There are also quite a few books that TTMIK has released and they are all beautifully compiled. I use the workbooks with every lesson and I've also bought the Verbs Guide and The Weekly Korean Vocabulary and a few more ebooks and audiobooks. When I get back to London I plan on ordering the textbooks too. But the main ones I believe you need to have are the workbooks and they are pretty much enough if you use them along with the free online lessons. You can check all the TTMIK books HERE. Also, a big shout-out to their online store, because I can always find the books cheaper there even though they ship from Korea and they usually have great sales and bundles.

Also, just recently TTMIK has released an audiobook/ebook with Korean Folk Tales and Aesop's Fables that is just precious. And they are working on more audiobooks (which are great listening practice).

TTMIK also has a youtube account that regularly releases videos with Korean stories, vocabulary, word comparison etc.

So, these are all the methods and ways I use to study Korean. I am just about to start Level 3 of TTMIK and even though my speaking skills are lacking, due to the fact that I have no one to practice with, my reading and listening skills have been constantly improving. 

Here is a preview of what's to come this month and what has already been discussed.

• PART 1: Where It All Began (Read the post)
• PART 3: K-Pop and Korean shows
• PART 4: YouTubing about the Korean Wave and Korean subscription boxes

It's All About Korea: Part 1 - Where It All Began (The Try Guys and Big Bang)

Hello everyone! Or better yet: 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea is going to be a new segment in my blog (that has been slowly dying). The first month I will start with an introduction about how I got into Korean and Korea life in general and the different Korean resources I've been using and many more. So if you are a K-drama, K-pop fan, or a Korea fan in general stay tuned.

After the first introductory month I will be doing a monthly wrap-up post about anything Korean that has caught my attention.

So, let's begin with WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

PART 1:
First of all as some of you might know, because of the amount of manga I am reviewing in this blog I love Japan and anything Japanese, I've also tried learning Japanese a few years back but the writing system is a b*tch and I gave up after a few months. However I still listened to J-rock/pop (it's probably still my favorite music genre). Through J-rock/pop I came across a Korean group: Big Bang. That was probably 5-6 years ago, when Big Bang were not as huge as they are today. So I came across one of their Japanese pop songs, Gara Gara Go

You can tell it's a pretty old song, but it was so catchy that I loved it. And that was pretty much my only K-pop experience until a couple of months ago...

At the end of September Buzzfeed and The Try Guys who I adore, released a series of 5 videos about K-pop and Korea culture in general. You can watch the five hilarious videos HERE. On the very first video they listened to a few new K-pop songs and one of them was Bang Bang Bang by Big Bang, so for me that was the rabbit hole and just like Alice I down I went and lost my self in Korean Wonderland.

This was a brief explanation of how I got into K-pop and what drove me to start learning Korean (understanding lyrics). Here is a preview of what's to come this month.

• PART 2: Studying Korean with TalktomeinKorean.com and bilingual books
• PART 3: K-Pop and Korean shows
• PART 4: YouTubing about the Korean Wave and Korean subscription boxes

Showcase Sunday #55

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

~Vicky @ Books Biscuits and Tea

Hey guys! I am back! Where have I been and what have I done for the whole of November? Mostly, I was just busy with Uni and my birthday and other people's birthdays (November is a very busy birthday month) and also, I live in London so there is always something new to see and do. And that's how a whole month went by and I didn't do much reading or blogging.

But you are here to see what books I got for this last month, so let's get one with it.

 

Hogwarts Library Set | Harry Potter stationary | The Black Swan | A Christmas Cracker

Sea of Shadows | Shadowlands | The Rithmatist

Audiobooks

The Dwellers Saga | The Faerie Prince


As I mentioned above November is my birthday month so I got some gifts, like the Hogwarts Library Set and the Harry Potter stationary box and The Black Swan and A Christmas Cracker. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the Harry Potter stationary box is. It even has a beautiful notebook to go along with it, Amazing! A lot of people will be getting Christmas Letters from me this year.
This month, I also bought The Rithmatist, Sea of Shadows and Shadowlands, all three are books I am quite excited about.
Finally I got some audiobooks. I got the whole set of the Dwellers Saga. I listened to the first book a few months ago and it was really good, now I am ready to listen to the rest of the series. Also, I got The Faerie Prince. I loved The Faerie Guardian (the first book of the series) and I am really looking forward to more of Violet's awesomeness. 

Showcase Sunday #54

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

~Vicky @ Books Biscuits and Tea

Hello guys! It's been a month since my last SS post, so as expected a lot has happened since then. The most exciting being I got to visit the HarperCollinsUK HQ for an author event (thank you Vicky for inviting me). Their offices are amazing. They even have a whole made out of actual books!

See? I was joking. Those are actual books. I need this wall in my future home. Anyways,back to the books that I got this last month,

A Meditation on Murder | The Killing of Polly Carter | Pretty Baby | The Good Girl 

Behind Closed Doors | You | The Black Company | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 

Night World Vol.1 | Before I Go to Sleep | The Monogram Murders | The Girl on the Train | The Beast House Trilogy

I got A Meditation on Murder | The Killing of Polly Carter | Pretty Baby | The Good Girl  | Behind Closed Doors from the HarperCollins event. We also got to meet the authors who were all really nice and some of them really funny, and got our books signed. I exchanged a book I had and didn't enjoy for You at a lovely coffee shop. And of course I had to get the new, illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and also bought The Black Company for an upcoming readalong that I am so excited about. 

The rest of the books I bought out of a charity shop. They are all books I've been curious about for a while now.

Another, and maybe the most excited, thing I acquired this last month is the new Kindle Fire.

I only had the old Kindle 3 so far, with the keyboard and all, and I will probably use that for most of my ebook reading. But I really wanted a tablet like kindle and this was perfect. I love it. 

That was it for me. Did you buy any new books this week/month/etc?