Waiting on Wednesday - Redeemed

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,  that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating or books that are in our TBR pile.  This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is

Redeemed is the final book in the 12 book House of Night Series.  I have a love/hate relationship with this series.  It is like watching a soap opera sometimes.  I have enjoyed it and found it entertaining but sometimes the characters drive me crazy....

- Christina

Cover reveal - Gears of Brass

Gear up for GEARS OF BRASS!  

A world like ours, but filled with gears of brass, where the beating heart is fueled by steam and the simplest creation is a complex clockwork device.  

Within this tome, you’ll find steampunk fairy tale re-tellings, as well as original stories that will send your gears turning.  

Welcome to the steampunk realm, with eleven authors guiding your path. 

GEARS OF BRASS is a steampunk anthology published through Curiosity Quills.  It will be available for purchase on November 10, 2014.  Within the pages, you’ll come across clockwork inventions and steampunk-ified fairy tale retellings.  Eleven authors will guide you through worlds filled with airships, top hats, and corsets.  

Meet the authors:

Jordan Elizabeth writes young adult fantasy for Curiosity Quills, including ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW which was published in October and the upcoming TREASURE DARKLY; she’s represented by the Belcastro Agency.

J. Million is the author of Last of the Giants and can always be found reading or writing.

Lorna MacDonald Czarnota is a professional storyteller and author of several books including, Medieval Tales That Kids Can Read and Tell, Breadline Blue, Legends Lore and Secrets of Western New York, Wicked Niagara, Native American and Pioneer Sites of Upstate New York, and Dancing at the Crossroads: Stories and Activities for At-Risk Youth Programming.

SA Larsen is represented by Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary and is the author of published short stories, community-interest stories, and magazine articles focused on children. 

Grant Eagar is an Engineer who would take the tales he told his children at bed time, and transform them into fantasy stories. 

Clare Weze is the author of The House of Ash (forthcoming) and the co-author and editor of Cloudscapes over the Lune.

Eliza Tilton: gamer, writer and lover of dark chocolate; author of the YA Fantasy, BROKEN FOREST, published by Curiosity Quills Press.

Heather Talty's stories have been featured in Enchanted Conversation, as well as her own fractured fairy tale site, Mythopoetical (www.Beatrixcottonpants.com).

W.K. Pomeroy is a third generation writer who has published more than 70 short stories/articles/poems across many genres and styles, which now includes Steampunk.

Christine Baker is the author of Lana's End, The Guild of Dagda, and many more. 

Natalia Darcy: a bookilicious reader, tea drinker and Zumba aficionado who enjoys playing cards against humanity and washing her hair with ice cold water. 

You can get your steampunk fix before GEARS OF BRASS is released in November.  To enter for your chance to win a copy of GEARS OF BRASS, you will need to share the cover.  This can be on your blog, Facebook, Twitter… Each time you share the cover image, log it into Rafflecoper (#insert link) to record it.  It will give you more chances to win.  The drawing for the winner will be held on October 27th.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves allows us to share the books we have added to our collections - physical, virtual, borrowed, bought or received.

In the month of October, I like to start reading the scarier titles that have been on my TBR list.  Asylum and Sanctum top the list this year.  They both take on a bit of a creepier edge as they feature found photographs from vintage carnivals, giving them a more "realistic" feel.  Readers of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will recognize this style.

- Christinabean

Shout Out to Indies - An Unstill Life by Kate Larkindale AND She Dreamed of Dragons by Elizabeth J M Walker

We here at The Paperback Princesses often receive emails from Indie authors requesting reviews and are blessed with free book copies. Often we are unable to get to so many titles before our mass market published books take over our TBR shelves. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of great reads though! We want to give back to those Indie authors and  are declaring EVERY SECOND SUNDAY our SHOUT OUT TO INDIES MEME. For those of fellow bloggers, please feel free to add our meme to your regular schedule. We only ask that you quote and link back to us as a courtesy. For all of you Indie authors, we invite you to contact us at the contact link to your top left. We will select 1 - 3 titles (each time we post) that sound interesting. Lastly, for you readers, this is a bit of a test so please do comment and let us know what you think. We will also be offering up giveaway copies whenever we can! So without further ado, here is this week's pick:

Things at home are rough for fifteen-year-old Livvie Quinn. Jules, her beloved older sister is sick again after being cancer free for almost ten years.  Her mom becomes more frantic and unapproachable every day. School isn’t much better.  Just when she needs them most, her closest friends get boyfriends and have little time for Livvie – except to set her up on a series of disastrous blind dates.

Livvie seeks refuge in the art room and finds Bianca, the school ‘freak’.  Free-spirited and confident, Bianca is everything Livvie isn’t. Shaken by her mom’s desperation, her sister’s deteriorating condition, and abandoned by her friends, Livvie finds comfort and an attraction she never felt before with Bianca.

When their relationship is discovered, Livvie and Bianca become victims of persecution and bullying. School authorities won’t help and even forbid the pair to attend the Winter Formal as a couple. If Livvie defies them and goes, she risks expulsion and further ridicule from her classmates. At home, her mother’s behavior escalates to new levels of crazy and Jules is begging for help to end the pain once and for all.

While searching for the strength to make her life her own, Livvie must decide how far she’s willing to go for the people she loves.

WHY I WRITE YA

I think the teenage years are the most important years of your life. This is the period in which you begin to discover the person you will be. You try on personalities, develop tastes, become engaged with the moral and ideological tenets that will guide your life. It's a time where you develop relationships outside your own family and maybe even fall in love for the first time.

It's a confusing, messy time and any little event can invoke a massive emotional response. Friendships that felt like they’d last forever when you were eight or twelve suddenly don’t fit anymore.  Some people change friends like they would their socks, trying different social groups for size. Cliques form and dissolve, bullying is rampant and acts of utter cruelty can be committed.

As a writer, this is dynamic stuff, and I can't get enough of exploring it. Teens are such a contradictory mixture of child and adult, it's a compelling voice to play with. There are so many opportunities to write about things that are really important without getting preachy or didactic. I love writing about the early, clumsy attempts at adult relationships, about the changing dynamic of families and friendships as children become their own people. I love it when my characters make the right decision at a crucial moment, but like it even more when, like teenagers do so often, they make the wrong one.

So, while I love adult literature, and read it, I write YA for the dynamism, excitement and wonder of growing up. For the voice that hasn't yet been ground down by hard life experience, for the hopefulness and idealism of youth, and for the opportunity to rediscover the moments that change you forever.

About the author:

Having spent a lifetime travelling the globe, Kate Larkindale is currently residing in Wellington, New Zealand.  A cinema manager, film reviewer and mother, she’s surprised she finds any time to write, but doesn’t sleep much.  As a result, she can usually be found hanging out near the espresso machine.

Her short stories have appeared in Halfway Down The Stairs, A Fly in Amber, Daily Flash Anthology, The Barrier Islands Review, Everyday Fiction, Death Rattle, Drastic Measures, Cutlass & Musket and Residential Aliens, among others.

She has written eight contemporary YA novels, five of which other people are allowed to see.  She has also written one very bad historical romance.  She is currently working on a new YA novel that is still looking for a title other than its Twitter hashtag, #juvvielesbian.

Author Links

Website: http://katelarkindale.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vampyr14

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4086706.Kate_Larkindale

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Our second title for this week is:

Trina is more likely to set the palace on fire with her powers than be a princess – could a dragon mage be the next ruler of the magical kingdom of Dorlith?

Synopsis: 

Trina is a fifteen-year-old dragon mage in a kingdom ruled by witches and wizards – the same people who have brought dragons and other magical creatures near extinction. Trina can barely control her fire powers and is desperate for an apprenticeship, but finding a fellow dragon mage to be her teacher is proving more difficult than coming across an actual dragon. 

Then there’s the Royal Tourney – a competition presented by the Queen to find a successor to the throne. Trina heads to the competition in the hopes of sparking some interest in the mage society and earning herself an apprenticeship. 

She never intended to be a frontrunner in the competition. 

She never meant to catch the attention of the evil witch trying to take over the throne. 

She never expected to fall for a wizard. 

Now Trina must face tough decisions about who she is and who she could become. Trina must ask herself: Can she really win the Royal Tourney? 

We asked Elizabeth:

Why I chose to write for a YA audience: 

Why I write YA (and why I think YA is so popular, even among adults) is that the teenage years are such an interesting and life-changing part of life for everyone. Things like first romantic relationships, feeling like you’re growing up and changing into a new person, and making choices that will ultimately affect you for the rest of your adult life can all happen while you are a teen. It can be exciting, wonderful, frightening, stressful – or a combination of all of the above and more. For a writer it creates a wealth of material for stories, whether they be contemporary fiction or fantasy.

I also enjoy writing YA because I first started to really take writing seriously as a teenager – specifically YA writing, and it has remained a favourite style of writing ever since. The first draft of She Dreamed of Dragons was completed while I was in high school, which was over a decade ago. As an adult I still love to read YA, and as a writer I will continue to write YA stories.

About the Author: Elizabeth J. M. Walker has published zines for over a decade and lives in her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She Dreamed of Dragons is her first novel. Visit her online at elizabethjmwalker.com.

Author Webpage: www.elizabethjmwalker.com

Friday Follow - October 3

Friday Follow is a blog hop that was started by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Each week a different question is posted by our hosts and we will answer!  This is a great opportunity for bloggers to network and interact. 

This week’s question –

Question of the Week: Book looks - Your favorite fashions from the books you've read - Suggested byGo Book Yourself

This is a tough one.  Currently I don't pay much attention to fashions from teen books because I'm no longer a teen.  However, I do really like how Hunger Games has set a precedent for style.  I have seen so many tutorials for Katniss' hair and re-creations of her hunting jacket.  Personally I would love to see her "Girl on Fire" dress online for purchase.  

- Christinabean

Katniss hair

Hunger Games Fashions


Katniss Hunger games make up

Welcome to the Paperback Princesses! Make yourself at home, take a look around our blog and let us know what you think in the comments section. We would love to hear what you have to say about our posts. We often try to comment on your comments as well so feel free to start a conversation! Since there are two of us running the show, we always have a variety of titles and event postings. Be sure to check out our own personal meme page. Check out Fantastic Fairytales, Let's Hear it for the Boys, In Case you Missed it and a few others. We try to not only focus on new YA books but also great titles from the past.

The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi

Published: October 14th, 2014

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 496

Copy: Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

In this page-turning contemporary thriller, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi explores the timely issue of how public information is distorted for monetary gain, and how those who exploit it must be stopped.

Everything Alix knows about her life is a lie. At least that's what a mysterious young man who's stalking her keeps saying. But then she begins investigating the disturbing claims he makes against her father. Could her dad really be at the helm of a firm that distorts the truth and covers up wrongdoing by hugely profitable corporations that have allowed innocent victims to die? Is it possible that her father is the bad guy, and that the undeniably alluring criminal who calls himself Moses--and his radical band of teen activists--is right? Alix has to make a choice, and time is running out, but can she truly risk everything and blow the whistle on the man who loves her and raised her?


In all honesty, I was a little conflicted about 'The Doubt Factory' .  Overall, I enjoyed the story, but unfortunately it occasionally sounded a bit like preaching.  While the topic is one that is very socially relevant  right now, and there is no doubt (pardon the pun) in my mind that it is a very important topic,  I just felt that sometimes I was having my nose rubbed in the issue.

Having got that out of the way, as I said I did enjoy the story itself.  There is quite a tight mystery going on and I was very intrigued.  Moses, or 2.0, was a complicated character and Mr. Bacigalupi was skillful in only slowly allowing the reader to get to know him.  The way that Alix's perfect life is stripped apart was very well done also, and I had no trouble following her disbelief.  Her fascination with Moses on the other hand was a little far fetched and I'm not altogether sure that the romance was necessary for the progression of the story itself, but that could be just my older persons opinion.  I'm sure YA readers will lap it up. A host of wonderful secondary characters helped with the story and if I'm honest I think I preferred Adam, Tank, Cynthia and  Kook to the main characters.  We slowly find out the background to these characters and each one has a sad story.  I loved them all

In sum, The Doubt Factory is a good contemporary mystery/thriller that I'm certain will have many fans.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,  that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating or books that are in our TBR pile.  This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is

Summary (by Goodreads)

Ares, God of War, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She's ready to wage a war of her own, and she's never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she'll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace.

Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate. The girl who kills gods. But all she wants is for the god she loved and lost to return to life. If she can't have that, then the other gods will burn, starting with his murderer, Aphrodite.

The alliance between Cassandra and Athena is fragile. Cassandra suspects Athena lacks the will to truly kill her own family. And Athena fears that Cassandra's hate will get them ALL killed.

The war takes them across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and Achilles, the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. As the struggle escalates, Athena and Cassandra must find a way to work together. Because if they can't, fates far worse than death await.

I am a big fan of Kendare Blake.  I really enjoyed her Anna Dressed in Blood series.  Mortal Gods is Book # 2 in the Goddess War series.  Kick ass girls and mythology.  Awesome.