Win a Nook from Sparkling Reviews!

I don't normally go on about many giveaways unless they're REALLY good but Sparkling Reviews has an awesome giveaway going on right now and she's giving away a NOOK!!  Check it out here.

In My Mailbox - October 10

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren in which bloggers post about the books they have received for the week.  Books may be won, taken out from the library or bought from a store.

I'm currently out of town and snagged my Dad's library card (shhhh!) to take out a few great reads the local library 

I love libraries....What's in your mailbox?

Same Book, Second Look - Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Published: Oct 2010 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 427

Copy Provided By: Purchased

Summary:  Goodreads

Summary:

Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it: a mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever and even worse, he's started spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.

Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadnt been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.

Haunted by images of her murdered father, and questioning whether her nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death, Nora puts herself increasingly in dangerous situations as she desperately searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

Review:

Why oh why have I waited so long to read this??  I LOVED Crescendo.  It has all of the elements I look for in a good book - hot bad boys, a great storyline, action, drama, romance and did I mention the hot bad boys...  :)

Becca did a great job of getting us involved with Nora and Patch's rocky relationship again.   As with all relationships, there are always rocky parts.   Nora did exactly what all irrational women do when they are jealous, confused and upset.  She totally pushed Patch away and did exactly the opposite of what she wanted.  It reminded me of when I was in high school and all I really wanted was a boyfriend who knew me so well that they wouldn't ever leave me, even if I tried to push them away.   Besides the rocky relationship, throw in a hot girl who has eyes for your man and you can just imagine how emotionally charged this book was.  Anyone else have a Marcie Millar in their lives?  Grrr....women like that make me so mad!

For support, Nora is able to lean on her BBF, Vee.  Vee is awesome.  Not only does she support her friend but she is always an accomplice to whatever crazy scheme she has going on.  When I was in university, I had a bestie who was just like this.  Do you have a Vee in your life?  

So on the action side, you'll find that Crescendo is packed with mystery and intrigue.  There are some new characters that are introduced and Ms. Fitzpatrick leads you on a wild chase to determine who is good, and who is evil....I really enjoyed Crescendo and can't wait to get my hands on Silence (just released Oct 4th!).  It was a thumbs up for me!

Curlypow did our original review of this title last year.  You can read it here.

Author visit, CPL Newcastle Branch - Lesley Livingstone.

I was absolutely thrilled on Thursday night to be present at the author visit that Lesley Livingstone paid to Clarington Public Library.  The visit was part of the Canadian Library Month celebrations.

I have been a fan of Ms Livingstone since I read her first book 'Wondrous Strange', several years ago now, and I have been thoroughly enjoying the follow-ups, 'Darklight' and 'Tempestuous'.  Her newest book ' 'Once Every Never' was released just a few weeks ago and I managed to finish it on my lunch break on Thursday afternoon, just in time for the visit.  (Look for my review soon)

This is a picture of her reading from 'Darklight'.  What many of you may not know is that Ms Livingstone is a trained Shakespearian actress and consequently has a wonderful voice, phrasing and diction, with great characterization and accents.  It was wonderful hearing her bring her characters to life as she read.  As I was listening I realised that I had heard her before - when I was listening to her books on audio.  Yep, she narrated all three of them, at the speed of light according to her story, and they were wonderful.  I had forgotten just how much I had enjoyed them.  If you haven't already listened to them, give them a try.

Ms Livingstone is a very lively and amusing speaker and there were lots of laughs throughout the visit.  Here are just a few tidbits to whet your appetite:

'Once Every Never' will be followed by 2 more books very tentatively titled, 'Every Never After' and 'Now And For Never'  since she hasn't written them yet and of course those titles could change - I hope not, but who knows.

She has a new trilogy in the works, set in the same world as Wondrous Strange and with the first volume 'Starling' coming out in summer 2012  To quote Ms Livingstone, this new series 'will do for Wondrous Strange what Angel did for Buffy'.  For those of you who don't understand that, let's just say it should be great!

She was once kicked out of theatre school, but went on to start her own Shakespearian theatre company!

Several of her own personal experiences have found a way into her books - changed a little, or a lot perhaps, but definitely based on actual events.  She also does a huge amount of research for her books and finds many obscure facts that she finds uses for, one way or another - such as Andrew Haswell Green's name translating to 'green man in a wild place' - check out 'Darklight' for the significance of that one.

Wondrous Strange has been optioned for a movie/tv show - but as we all know, nothing happens until it happens (her own words) so don't hold your breath waiting.  Just keep your fingers crossed.  I for one would love to see either.

She told a wonderful story about her last production of Romeo and Juliet where she was playing the nurse and realised part way through a scene that she was seriously channelling Maggie Smith in her role as Professor McGonigal in Harry Potter.  It was absolutely hilarious listening to her and I actually had tears of laughter.  After another very funny story about interviewing Hugh Jackman on Wednesday night at the preview of his new movie 'Real Steel' I had to bring out my hankie to wipe my eyes. 

Thanks to Pither Python for the photos, I really like this one.  All in all I had a wonderful time and got all my books signed, yeah, and I apologise Ms Livingstone for being a total fan girl, but I really did enjoy 'Once Every Never'.   Thanks for a great evening and good luck with your future books.

Oh, and by the way, if you're reading this, you forgot to leave that envelope!

Friday Blog Hop - October 7

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!


Each week, participating blogs are asked questions to post and answer on their websites.

This week's question is:

“It’s time to spread some love beyond the borders of the Book Blogger Hop! This week, we aren’t answering a question. We are spotlighting our fellow bloggers. Find your favorite(s) author interview(s), guest post(s), book review(s), or bookish article(s) that ANOTHER BOOK BLOGGER featured on their site recently and tell us why you love it/them! As an additional challenge, find your favorite one of EACH of the categories above and spotlight all 4 (interview, guest post, review, article).”

One of my favourite blogs is Annette's Book Spot  I follow her every day through email, and I have yet to be disappointed in any of her reviews/interviews/articles.  Turns out we're both librarians and love to craft so I guess it's not surprising really.  Check out her blog through the link.

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.

NetGalley - We declare ourselves!

Are you a fellow blogger?  Do you know about NetGalley?  NetGalley is an awesome resource for those who read and review books.  Both Curlypow and I have had access to some awesome titles BEFORE they are published.  October is NetGalley month and we are going to try and read as many titles from NetGalley as possible!  Interested in NetGalley?  Just check out the site here.

Interested in joining us in NetGalley October?  It is a challenge set up by Red House Books.  Sign up and declare yourself!  Happy October reading!

Giveaway - My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

We've got another giveaway for you!

I am a big fan of Jessica Brody.  She has a great sense of humor and great books.  I read Karma Club earlier this year and it rocked.  You can read my review here.

Thanks to the great people at Zeitghost Media, we have a copy of Jessica's latest book - My Life Undecided to give away.  Check out the trailer below (BTW, I love the company who does these book trailers....)

So here are the details - 

You must be a follower of The Paperback Princesses

This giveaway is open to Canada and the USA only (sorry international peeps!)

The last day to enter is Saturday October 15th at midnight EST

Fill out the form HERE.