Shudder

by Samantha Durante

Synopsis

About The Author

Samantha Durante

Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. The Stitch Trilogy is her debut series.

~ Giveaway ~  

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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books 7.0 Schedule 

Goals

Book List

Challenges

Book Spine Poetry by Escape Through The Pages

The Last Sacrifice Marked with Blood Promise,

created for Destined, Chosen Ones…the Misguided Angels.

Fallen from the City of Lost Souls.

~ Revelation from the Prophecy of the Sisters

Alternate Titles by The Book Barbies 

My New Title ~ Secrets at the Masquerade 

Acrostic Poem by Harley Bear Book Blog

I did mine on Dualed by Elsie Chapman…pic to come shortly.

Double
Unexplained World
Altruistic Character
Live or be Killed
Endurance
Death

If You Like…Then You'll Enjoy… by Snarky Bird, Uber Nerd

For this challenge, Snarky Bird is asking that we recommend books. I do a lot of book blog tours and many of these books aren't very well-known but are absolutely fantastic so I'm going to concentrate my recommendations on lesser known books.

If You Like ~ Recommendation

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood ~ Residue by Laury Falter
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ~ I Am Alive by Cameron Jace
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (or any fairytale retellings) ~ Blood & Snow by Rashelle Workman
Harry Potter ~ The Templar Chronicles by Jeff Gunhus
Vampire Academy Series ~ Chronicles of Kerrigan by WJ May

Updates 

Monday 13th May 

Book/s Read ~ Venom by Fiona Paul (20 pages) & Darkness of Light by Stacey Marie Brown (100 pages)

Total Pages Read ~ 120
Challenge ~  Book Spine Poetry hosted by Escape Through the Pages

Notes ~ Finished Venom by Fiona Paul, but I only had 20 pages to go. Started Darkness of Light by Stacey Marie Brown as I'm part of the blog tour. I've visited some blogs and commented on people's goal posts.

I also participated in the first Twitter chat! Oh my, it gave me a headache, I just couldn't keep up! I used the Twitter app and even though I paused, and changed the refresh to every 1 minute I still couldn't read the Tweets fast enough!!! I was thrilled to have been able to participate though.

Tuesday 14th May

Book/s Read ~ Darkness of Light by Stacey Marie Brown (73 pages)
Pages Read ~ 73
Total Pages Read ~ 193
Total of Finished Book/s ~ 1
Challenge ~ Alternate Titles hosted by The Book Barbies
Notes ~ Did very poorly today :( I really should change my goal to 50 pages/day but that may not challenge me enough. I've visited several Bout of Books participants and commented, so lets see if I get close to my 50 blog visits.

Wednesday 15th May

Book/s Read ~ Darkness of Light by Stacey Marie Brown (77 pages) Cinder by Marissa Meyer (43 pages)
Pages Read ~ 120
Total Pages Read ~ 313
Running Total of Finished Book/s ~ 3
Notes ~ Finished Darkness of Light by Stacey Marie Brown, just in time for my blog tour tomorrow. I also finished Cinder by Marissa Meyer, but I only had six chapters of that to go. I also participated in half an hour of today's Twitter chat, didn't set my alarm and only remembered when it was already half way in. I've already crossed off 2 out of my 4 goals.

Thursday 16th May

Book/s Read ~ The Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan (71 pages)
Pages Read ~ 71
Total Pages Read ~ 384
Running Total of Finished Book/s ~ 3
Challenge ~ Acrostic Poem hosted by Harley Bear Book Blog

Friday 17th May

Book/s Read ~ Between The Lives by Jessica Shirvington (174 pages)
Page/s Read ~ 174
Total Pages Read ~ 558
Running Total of Finished Book/s ~ 3
Notes ~

Saturday 18th May

Book/s Read ~ Between The Lives by Jessica Shirvington (153 pages)
Pages Read ~ 153
Total Pages Read ~ 711
Running Total of Finished Book/s ~ 4
Notes ~ Absolutely loved Between The Lives, this is the second book EVER that I've cried about. This is definitely one of those life-changing, always keep books! My review will be posted this Friday the 24th as part of blog tour.

Sunday 19th May

Book/s Read ~ Prophecy Girl by Cecily White (72 pages) & The Heiresses by Allison Rushby (48 pages)
Pages Read ~ 120
Total Pages Read ~ 831
Running Total of Finished Book/s ~ 4
Challenge ~ If You Like…Then You'll Enjoy by Snarky Bird, Uber Nerd
Notes ~ I missed out on the last few days Challenges due to the time difference, so I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to make that goal, but so glad I was able to complete the last #BOB challenge, which allowed me to tick of my challenge goal.

Finished 

Final Summary 

Total No of Pages Read = 831
Total No of Books Finished = 3
Challenges Completed = 4 check out the Challenge section above for my Challenge responses
Twitter Chats = 1.5

I finished the following books:-

Between The Lives by Jessica Shirvington - Review on Friday 24th for tour
Darkness of Lighy by Stacey Marie Brown - Review
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Venom by Fiona Paul

I read the following books but still reading:- 

The Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan
Prophecy Girl by Cecily White
The Heiresses by Allison Rushby

Susan Kaye Quinn

Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times. Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way. She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad. Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.

Debt Collector 

by Susan Kaye Quinn

Synopsis 

EPISODES 1-3 (Delirium, Agony, Ecstasy) of the Debt Collector serial. Contains mature content and themes. For young-adult-appropriate thrills, see Susan's bestselling Mindjack series.

What's your life worth on the open market? 
A debt collector can tell you precisely.

Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat, jackboots, and the black marks on his soul that every debt collector carries. He's just in it for his cut, the ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, the people who will make the world a better place with their brains, their work, and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja's sex workers keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane... until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted by a sex worker who isn't what she seems, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone--a dark pit he's not sure he'll be able to climb out of again.

The first three episodes of the Debt Collector serial are collectively the length of a short novel, or 152 pages. These are the first three of nine episodes in the first season of The Debt Collector serial. This dark and gritty future-noir is about a world where your life-worth is tabulated on the open market and going into debt risks a lot more than your credit rating. Episode 4, Broken, releases 4/17/13. For more about the Debt Collector serial, see DebtCollectorSeries.com.

Excerpt

My jackboots are new, the latest ultra-light material out of Hong Kong’s synthetics district, and they make a strange squeaking sound against the hospital floor. It’s the kind of sound that might gather snickers or a raised eyebrow, but no one looks at me, at least not on purpose. I stroll past the ICU desk, taking my time, breathing in the antiseptic smell that masks the odor of death held back by machines and drugs and round-the-clock care. The nurses duck their heads and study their charts, ignoring me. As if catching my eye might mean I’m coming to collect their debt, rather than Mr. Henry’s in Room 301. 

The floor is so highly polished that I see the reflection of my trenchcoat running ahead of me, black as a midnight grave, a spook that lives on the surface of the oft-scrubbed tiles. It reaches the door to 301 before me and disappears in the dim, flickering light coming from the room. The spook has gone back where he belongs, into the dark recesses of my soul, assuming I still have one. If I was a betting man, I would say the odds of having a soul keep getting longer with every transfer I do. The older debt collectors, the ones who are still alive, don’t have anything shining out of their dull-glass eyes, even when they’re hyped up on a transfer. There’s no telling what my eyes look like. 

I stopped looking in the mirror a long time ago. 

Mr. Henry’s hooked up in all the usual places—tubes in his arms and monitor patches hovering over his temples and the blue-veined skin of his chest. His knobbed knees and shriveled legs stick out the end of the blanket. I don’t know if he’s tossed the blanket aside or the nurses just forgot to cover him up again after his sponge bath or whatever they do to prepare patients for a debt transfer. Goosebumps raise the hair on what’s left of his legs into a small forest of gray fur. I tug the thin, white-weave blanket over his exposed legs, and Mr. Henry opens his eyes. 

They’re pale green and watery—washed out and used up like the rest of him. 

“You’ve come for me,” he says.

~ Giveaway ~ 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event is presented to you by 

Rhiannon Frater

Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters. Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.’ Rhiannon is currently represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry + Literary Media agency. You may contact her by sending an email to rhiannonfrater@gmail.com.

Let Me Frighten You 

by Rhiannon Frater 

Siege

by Rhiannon Frater

Synopsis

~ Buy It Now ~ 

As The World Dies Series

~ Giveaway ~ 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Residue

by Laury Falter

When Jocelyn Weatherford is whisked away from a preparatory academy in upstate New York to live with her extended family in New Orleans, she is unprepared to encounter the dangers awaiting her. Yet even as she is thrust into an unfamiliar world of witches and voodoo magic, the greatest threat of all may be the boy she has fallen for. 

While handsome and charming, he is also a Caldwell... a member of the family the Weatherford's have been feuding with for centuries. As their forbidden love grows it becomes the volatile spark that forever changes their world and everyone in it.

Paperback Princess Review

Residue by Laury Falter is a modern day Romeo & Juliet kind of story. Two families that have been feuding for centuries and two people from those families falling in love. The difference? Laury added paranormal elements into the mix which made it so much more interesting. Residue was an amazing and interesting read.

Jocelyn Weatherford is thrust into a new life and world, and not just any world, the Caster world, where people can cast spells and levitate. Here in this new world, Jocelyn and Jameson meet, however, their attraction is doomed from the start as Jameson is a Caldwell, the Weatherfords and the Caldwells have been feuding for centuries, will their families allow truce for the sake of one of their own?

Residue was simply amazing! From the first few pages I was hooked! Residue is one of those books that started with a bang and didn't slow down. Jocelyn was a likeable and realistic protagonist, I enjoyed the fact that she didn't just accept the world she was introduced to. She reacted as most normal people would have and there were some funny moments when she was trying to make sense of her new world.

Jameson and Jocelyn's romance is hard to distinguish, I don't know if I should label it as "instant-love". When they first met there was definitely a connection and Jameson found himself constantly wanting to protect Jocelyn from the very beginning, but neither of them understood why they were feeling like this for each other. However, even if others were to describe their romance as instant love, I felt that the growth of their relationship was well paced and realistic. Laury unfolded their love story brilliantly that I was actually feeling it rather than reading about it…yes I actually got the butterfly-feeling LOL.

I'm really intrigued with the world that Laury created for Residue and I'm looking forward to starting her Guardian series as the Residue series is meant to be a spin-off, so I'd love to understand more about this world. The reason that Laury's world in Residue stood out more from the ever growing paranormal books around, is the in depth explanation that Falter provides. Each question has an answer, each revelation has a meaning and I loved this, it felt like I was Jocelyn, walking into this new world and learning about this world, rather than simply just reading about it. I absolutely enjoyed Residue and I'll definitely be sourcing the consecutive books to this series.

About The Author

Laury Falter

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Laury Falter is the author of the bestselling Guardian Trilogy. She writes young adult paranormal romances and urban fantasy when she's not taking her stray dogs for a walk or enjoying a date night with her husband. Laury has released two series, the Guardian Trilogy and the Residue Series (a spinoff of the Guardian Trilogy books), and is currently releasing her third series, the Apocalypse Chronicles.

~ Giveaway ~ 

Do you accept review requests? If not, why? If so, then how many review requests do you get in a month? How many do you accept? How do you balance between review requests and reading your own books? Have you ever gone out of your way to reduce your incoming review books? With so many reviews books being offered (solicited or not) to book bloggers, have you ever emailed a publicist to reduce the number of books sent? Do you ever feel guilty over receiving these review books that you know you won’t be able to get to knowing other book bloggers could benefit from them? How do you deal?

Blood & Snow Complete Set 

(Volumes 1-12)

by Rashelle Workman

Synopsis 

She also discovers a whole other realm, one filled with fairies, dragons, and magic. And not only does the Vampire Queen want her, but there's a pendant called the Seal of Gabriel created for Snow by the Vampire Queen's twin sister. And Snow's supposed to use it to restore balance to all magical creatures. Including vampires.

Paperback Princess Review

Blood & Snow is a series of twelve volumes. Initially I thought that each volume is a different fairytale retelling, but it's not really the case, it's about one person, one story. The volumes can be viewed in two ways, long chapters or short stories.

Blood & Snow is a modern fairytale retelling of Snow White and the seven dwarves with paranormal elements. Snow is "marked" as a revenant from childhood, a revenant is a potential body host for the Vampire Queen. Every thousand years the Vampire Queen must choose a new human body to occupy to survive. In this story, Snow is the "chosen" one in both elements…the Vampire Queen believes she's the one that's going to be the new body host, whilst the good side that know of this other paranormal world believes that she's the strong one that will finally be able to put an end to the reign of the Vampire Queen. This story revolves around Snow's journey as she finds out about being a revenant, how she copes with it and the efforts she makes to stay more human than vampire.

Blood & Snow by Rashelle Workman was an interesting read, it's concept was very unique and the weaving of paranormal and fairytale was well put together. I found this less of a fairytale retelling and more of just a paranormal story. It was an enjoyable read and I was flipping through the pages wanting to know what happened with Snow, the seven male best friends who represents the seven dwarves and their Adopted Father,  and her best friend Cindi who's meant to be Cinderella, I believe.

What made me really enjoy this story is the characters. I wasn't 100% in love with Snow but I really enjoyed the seven best friends, the Professor (seven best friend's adopted Father) and even the Hunter, Chase Charming…yes that was actually his name. He's one of the Hunters for the Vampire Queen and was the Hunter that marked Snow but he ends up having feelings for her and tries to protect her. The interaction between the characters was what made me enjoy this story more than anything else.

Whilst I don't know if I rate this heaps for the fairytale retelling part, I did thoroughly enjoy the story nonetheless, I just didn't see much collaboration between the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Story. I still enjoyed the read, I haven't finished it completely as it is a long book with all the volumes, but it is an enjoyable read. Looking forward to finishing it and I'll definitely be checking Workman's other books from here on end.

~ Buy It Now ~ 

About The Author 

Rashelle Workman

RaShelle Workman is the bestselling author of the Dead Roses series ("Sleeping Roses" is being translated into Turkish, and will be available in print wherever Turkish books are sold in 2014), the Immortal Essence series, and the Blood and Snow series. She's sold over two hundred thousand copies of her novels worldwide in the past year, including Japan, Canada, and Europe.You can find RaShelle all over the web, but the best place to start is on her blog: www.rashelleworkman.com.

Beyond The Iron Gate

by Alicia Michaels

Synopsis

About The Author 

Alicia Michaels

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Ever since she first read books like Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has been a lover of mind-bending fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is more than happy to call that place her home. The mother of two and wife to an Army sergeant loves chocolate, coffee, and of course good books. When not writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes and fabulous jewelry, or spending time with her loving family.

 ~ Giveaway ~ 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love At 11 

by Mari Mancusi

Synopsis

Excerpt 

About The Author

Mari Mancusi

Mari Mancusi used to wish she could become a vampire back in high school. But she ended up in another blood sucking profession --journalism -- instead. Today she works as a freelance TV producer and author of books for teens and adults. When not writing about creatures of the night, Mari enjoys traveling, cooking, goth clubbing, watching cheesy horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure--videogames. A graduate of Boston University and a two time Emmy Award winner, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon and dog Mesquite.

~ Giveaway ~  

~ Buy It Now ~