Cover Reveal: How to Date Dead Guys!

So, BEA was this weekend and I plan to start reviewing my BEA treasures later this week... but TODAY, I am excited to be part of the cover reveal for Ann Noser's How to Date Dead Guys! 

Here's the basics:
HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS
Publication date: July 15th, 2014

Book Description:
College sophomore Emma Roberts remembers her mother’s sage advice: “don’t sleep around, don’t burp in public, and don’t tell anyone you see ghosts”. But when charming Mike Carlson drowns in the campus river under her watch, Emma’s sheltered life shatters.

Blamed for Mike’s death and haunted by nightmares, Emma turns to witchcraft and a mysterious Book of Shadows to bring him back. Under a Blood Moon, she lights candles, draws a pentacle on the campus bridge, and casts a spell. The invoked river rages up against her, but she escapes its fury. As she stumbles back to the dorm, a stranger drags himself from the water and follows her home. And he isn't the only one.

Instead of raising Mike, Emma assists the others she stole back from the dead—a pre-med student who jumped off the bridge, a desperate victim determined to solve his own murder, and a frat boy Emma can’t stand…at first. More comfortable with the dead than the living, Emma delves deeper into the seductive Book of Shadows. Her powers grow, but witchcraft may not be enough to protect her against the vengeful river and the killers that feed it their victims.

Inspired by the controversial Smiley Face Murders, HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS will ignite the secret powers hidden deep within each of us.

ANNNNNDDDD....Drumroll please... 

Here's the cover! 

So, what do you all think?  I haven't read the book, yet, so I don't know that it perfectly matches the story, but from the description I think it's a great cover.  Check back here in late July for a guest post from the author as part of the book's blog tour! 

For more information on Ann Noser:

Social Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Mini Reviews: The Second Novella Edition

Bad Yeti

by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable series

 

Jonah Grable hasn’t minded living in the shadow of his older, zombie fighting sister Kate, but this weekend he’s definitely raising his profile. A weekend of epic epicness—waving swords and flirting with girls in elf ears at his LARP club event—is totally up Jonah’s alley. But when his alter ego, Sir Talatien Maguirier, Nightdark Clanlord, comes face to face with a real, live Yeti, Jonah—or, rather, Tal—has to take matters into his own hands. So he sets off with gamer goddess Lady Amethyst, brown-eyed Europa, and Calamity, a braid-wearing barbarian in fur into the great unknown on a search for yeti-related awesomeness. . . . (description from Amazon.com)

 

SUPER FUN. I love this series hardcore and to have this little glimpse into that world from Jonah's perspective? So much awesomesauce.  I love the geekiness and the bravery and the general paranormalness of this series.

 

 

The Grimm Diaries Prequels Volumes 1 - 6

by Cameron Jace

 

The Grimm Diaries are pages written in a Book of Sand, where each fairy tale character confessed the true stories once altered by the Brothers Grimm two centuries ago. To keep the truth about fairy tales hidden, the Brothers Grimm buried the characters in their dreams to never wake up again. But the curse is broken now, and the characters are allowed to wake up every one hundred years. They intend to tell the truth about really happened, and about an untold cosmic conflict between fairy tale characters. (description from Amazon.com)

 

While the premise for this series is very intriguing and each short story had a compelling set of characters and circumstnaces, I was SO distracted by the poor writing technique in these stories that it was all I could do to finish them.

 

Tortured

by Caragh O'Brien

Birthmarked series

 

"But what about Leon?" Now, in this new story that bridges the gap between Birthmarked and Prized, Caragh M. O'Brien answers her readers' most common question with a tale of suffering and determination from Leon's perspective. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I really wish I had read this one before I read Prized, but you don't have to... it was so good to delve back into Gaia's world.  It was very interesting to see things from Leon's more privledged perspective, too. I can't wait to read Promised and find out how their story finally ends.

 

The Witch of Duva

by Leigh Bardugo

The Grisha Trilogy

 

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls…or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I loved this the same way I loved Sarah Maas' novellas. While they do not actually progress the story already written in the first book in each series, they are wonderful for fleshing out the fantasy world that each is set in.  Here, this is a folk tale, similar to Hansel and Gretel, that exists within Alina's world.  It really helped to flesh out the darkly Eastern European feel of the world she lives in. 





 

Full disclosure: All enovellas purchased for either my Nook or my Kindle App

Cover Craving...Curtsies and Conspiracies!

Curtsies and Conspiracies

by Gail Carriger

Finishing School, book two

 

Publication date: November 2013

 

Ahhh!!! Little, Brown for Young Readers and Gail Carriger just released the cover art for this second book in the new YA series! LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. These covers are stunning and even better looking in person (shiny, etc) and I CANNOT wait til it's out!!!!! 

Gold Star Review: Etiquette and Espionage

Etiquette and Espionage

by Gail Carriger

Finishing School, book one

 

Publication date: February 5, 2013

 

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education. (description from Amazon.com)  

 

Gail Carriger is awesome. I love her blend of steampunk and the paranormal. When I found out she was coming out with a YA series, I just about blew a gasket!! Then I started to worry a little...what if it just wasn't the same as her adult Parasol Protectorate series?

 

I should have known better than to worry!! I LOVED this first book.  In fact, here's my tweeted reaction from about halfway in:  

Reading @gailcarriger's ESPIONAGE AND ETIQUETTE and am properly enchanted. Cannot put it down!! #curtseyscrumpetsandconcealedweapons
 

The blend of proper behavior, the distinct ignoring of said proper behavior (LOL), adventure, friendships, and "mechanimals" was brilliant. There are airships, balls, poison classes, "sooties," werewolves, and of course, Bumbersnoot. Who is Bumbersnoot? Why he's the most fashionable little mechanical dachsund ever! He eats coal, produces ash, and can conceal a prototype for the proper Lady spy.

The tie-ins to Carriger's adult series had me giggling throughout.  Hints dropped here, there, and everywhere. :)  I don't want to give anything away, but if you've read her other series, you will find at least one or two familiar faces...

With wonderful witty word choices and frankly fashionable fetes, Etiquette and Espionage is a bang-up start to a new series that leaves me shouting, "HUZZAH!" I cannot wait to return to Finishing School!

 

A gold star book, indeed. And, just to whet the appetite, check out this awesome trailer that was created for the book! LOVE.

 

 

Full disclosure: ARC received for review from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

This Week's Library Loot (6)

 


Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

My Library Loot:

Rise

by Andrea Cremer

Nightshade prequels, book two

 

Drama

by Raina Telgemeier

 

 

Falling Kingdoms

by Morgan Rhodes

 

So, that's what I picked up at my Library this week... did you swing by yours? 





Sneak Peek at Carrie Harris' BAD YETI!!!!

Bad Yeti

by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable series, novella

 

Set in the world of BAD TASTE IN BOYS and BAD HAIR DAY, this digital story is the perfect introduction into the funny high school world of Carrie Harris, where humor meets horror (and sometimes zombies, werewolves, yetis, and yes, even unicorns).
 
Jonah Grable hasn’t minded living in the shadow of his older, zombie fighting sister Kate, but this weekend he’s definitely raising his profile. A weekend of epic epicness — waving swords and flirting with girls in elf ears at his LARP club event — is totally up Jonah’s alley. But when his alter ego, Sir Talatien Maguirier, Nightdark Clanlord, comes face to face with a real, live Yeti, Jonah — or, rather, Tal — has to take matters into his own hands. So he sets off with gamer goddess Lady Amethyst, brown-eyed Europa, and Calamity, a braid-wearing barbarian in fur into the great unknown on a search for yeti-related awesomeness… (description from Carrie's website)

Okay, so you may have seen my slightly gushy review of Bad Taste in Boys (here) and my Gold Star review of Bad Hair Day (here)... you may have seen me on the webs having a slight author crush and stalking, I mean constantly chatting up Carrie Harris, herself.  What can I say? Carrie and her books are officially awesomesauce and on my MUST BUY THE DAY THEY COME OUT list.

Well, I am beyond stoked to be one of the lucky bloggers that is able to give you all a little sneak preview at the above-mentioned novella, Bad Yeti!  I'm so excited to read this because, I mean come on not only are there Yetis involved, but it also has to do with LARPing (which I am totally fascinated with in that can't quite wrap my head around it way...) and is told from the persepective of Kate's younger brother, Jonah, who I LURVE. 

Want a sneak peek? Well, here you go. This is the beginning of chapter one and is a perfect little teaser, LOL...



If I’d known that girls go crazy over zombie slayers, I would have gone medieval on some undead a long time ago.

Sure, I’m the smallest guy in the freshman class, smaller even than Kai Tipton, and his mom is a bona fide little person. And maybe I’m addicted to computer games, like Dragons of Roargan Kross, and yes, the jocks sometimes duct-tape me to toilets for fun. But once I’d kicked some zombie butt?

The ladies loved me.

Of course, going to homecoming with the Kiki Carlyle, our homecoming queen, hadn’t hurt either. And Kiki was definitely on my mind this morning. I slapped some gel on my hands and ran them through my do. I looked a whole inch taller. Now I’d come all the way up to Kiki’s shoulder.

“You’re going to miss the bus, dorkwad.” Kate—my sister—stuck her head into the bathroom, ruining the nice Kiki-related daydreams I’d been entertaining, and ruffled my hair. I shrank about a quarter inch.

“Die, lich spawn!” I yelled, throwing the bottle of gel in her general direction.

She took off, and I tore down the stairs in hot pursuit. I would have caught her too, if I hadn’t turned the corner and nearly bulldozed Kiki herself. If Kate had wanted to motivate me, she should have known that the presence of a goddess in the house would have worked. I skidded to a stop and almost swallowed my tongue as I took in the view.

The girl of my dreams stood in our entryway. Her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail, exposing a slender neck. That neck killed me. I’d spent a whole night staring at it while we danced at homecoming. But her looks weren’t the best thing about her. What got me the most was that she smiled every time she saw me. Always had.

This time, she laughed outright. I grinned back. Kate kept on going toward the kitchen, cackling madly like she’d won something. Maybe she’d won the battle, but no way would she take the war.

I knew a lot about battle tactics from playing Roargan Kross.

“Kiki!” I grinned up at her. “What’s the girl of my dreams doing in my house this fine morning?”

She blushed a little. “I thought you and Kate might like a ride. It’s better than the bus, right?”

“Thanks!” My voice squeaked, but I pretended not to notice, and so did she. “I’ll be sixteen next month, so maybe then I’ll drive you around.”

 
She might have been out of my league, but she didn’t scoff. She totally liked me; I could sense it.

“Maybe.” She jingled her keys, smiling. “So listen. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Anything.” I meant it too. At that moment, or any moment, really, I would have died for her.

 

I don't know about you, but I am DYING to read the rest now. I'm not even really sure that I can wait until November 13th!!

 

Every Other Day

Every Other Day
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.


And then every day in between . . . She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism. (description from Amazon.com)

I devoured this book. Gobbled it up unashamedly.  There is just something about Barnes writing style that lent itself absolutely beautifully to this intriguing concept. In fact, with memories of a sleepless night... I give this a GOLD STAR review!!

I loved Kali's character. She was mutlicultural and fabulous. She was strong and yet, often bewildered.  She was unashamed when she had to kick @ss. AWESOMESAUCE. When you find out what she is and how she came to be... very, very cool!

I really have no idea if this book is a standalone or the start of a series, but either way, I'm happy. I loved it all on it's own, and I would HAPPILY read another...and the way it ends...it most definitely could have a very cool sequel.

Love the paranormal?  Looking for something a little different now that there's so much paranormal out there?  Pick this one up, ASAP!!

Full disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley