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Coming Soon:
~Review: The Killing Woods
~Review: The Waiting Sky
~Review: A Certain Slant of Light
~Review: Timepiece
~Review: Infinityglass


Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Cross My Heart!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Cross My Heart
by Sasha Gould
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
March 13th, 2012
262 pages
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Venice, 1585.

When 16-year-old Laura della Scala learns that her older sister, Beatrice, has drowned, she is given no time to grieve. Instead, Laura's father removes her from the convent where he forcibly sent her years earlier and orders her to marry Beatrice's fiancĂ©, a repulsive old merchant named Vincenzo. Panicked, Laura betrays a powerful man to earn her way into the Segreta, a shadowy society of women who deal in only one currency—secrets. The Segreta seems like the answer to Laura's prayers. The day after she joins their ranks, Vincenzo is publicly humiliated and conveniently exiled. Soon, however, Laura begins to suspect that her sister's death was not a tragic accident but a cold-blooded murder—one that might involve the Segreta and the women she has come to trust.

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First off, love this cover! The mask is sooo cool and gorgeous. Second, this book sounds like it is going to be really exciting and, hopefully, pretty original as well. Only a couple more weeks. What do you think?



Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Author Interview: Elizabeth Loraine!

In celebration of her new YA novel, Phantom Lives-Collier, I am doing an interview with the lovely Elizabeth Loraine. Hope you all enjoy it.

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TBP: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

EL: I started this new career two years ago, at the ripe old age of 52. I have been married to my high-school sweetheart for 35 years and have two great kids.

TBP: Describe Phantom Lives in nine words or less.

EL: Action packed, paranormal romance, about past lives.

TBP: Your 'About' page says you are a decorative painter. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

EL: I am a very visual person, I was a interior decorator and decorative painter. Which means I would do murals, faux painting, stencils, all kinds of things. It was fun.

TBP: Do you currently have any other books in the works right now?

EL: I am just finishing a novelette about a Royal Blood Chronicles character that we don’t know much about, Damien and Cain’s sister Marcella. Then I will be writing book 7 of Royal Blood Chronicles, which is my vampire series about royal blooded vampires, chosen to protect the peaceful races of the world. I have plans to write additional book about Lillian, a character people really like and want to know more about and then I will be starting a new series about shifters, using the backdrop of the forests of the NW United States.

TBP: Where is one of your favorite places you like to write?

EL: I love to write in the garden, turn on the fountains and just relax with my characters.

TBP: Do you have any strange writerly quirks? Like something you absolutly have to have or can't have, etc?

EL: Not really. I do like to have everything close at hand, a note pad, telephone, remote, when I’m inside so I can just write and not be up and down looking for things.

TBP: If you could do on location research for a book anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

EL: Oh I would love to go to Egypt, back to China or Africa. I love the cultures, the long history, with so many legends to choose from that would really be fun. Scotland and Ireland would be great for the same reasons. So hard to choose just one.

TBP: Who is an author, past or present, that you would love to co-write a book with?

EL: Anne Rice would be great, or Hans Christen Andersen.

TBP: What are a few of your favorite YA books?

EL: Oh I love Twilight, of course. Hunger Games, The Secret Circle.

TBP: Anything else you'd like to add?

EL: Thanks so much for the interview. I enjoyed it. I hope that if your readers haven’t tried my books, they would give them a try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And thank you Elizabeth! I hope that all of you enjoyed the interview and will feel free to leave any comments or questions below. And don't forget to check out her books!

Buy Katrina, the Beginning (Royal Blood Chronicles #1)
Paperback / Kindle ($1.99)

Buy Phantom Lives-Collier
Paperback / Kindle ($2.99)

Also, I'm having a contest for two signed copies of Phantom Lives AND two $25 Amazon giftcards thanks to Elizabeth. You can enter that HERE!



Monday, February 27, 2012

Phantom Lives (Signed) & Amazon Giftcard Giveaway!

Phantom Lives-Collier by Elizabeth Loraine
Publisher: Self-pubbed
Pub. Date: August 8th, 2011
Age Level: YA

Synopsis via Goodreads

Abigail Black, an heiress from Memphis is on the run from her abusive boyfriend, Dallas. In the process she finds out that there she is being pulled towards something, and someone, that she thought only existed in her dreams.

Another page turning adventure from Elizabeth Loraine. Phantom Lives intertwines the modern world with the post Civil War world of Collier, a plantation Abigail had dreamt about her entire life. Now she is about to find out why. Another fantasy world of spirits and immortals is built in a way which fans of Ms Loraine will again thoroughly enjoy. Find out who Abigail was in the past and how it changes everything.

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Contest Details

Thanks to the author, there will be four winners in this giveaway. Two will receive signed copies of Phantom Lives-Collier and two will receive a $25 giftcard to Amazon.

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form to enter.
~Must be 13 or older.
~Open to US only for books. As for the Amazon giftcard, then as long as you can use it you can enter for that alone.
~Contest ends at 11:59PM EST on March 5th.
~Winners will be contacted shortly after.

Extra Entries:
~You can earn +2 by tweeting this giveaway. Please include @thebookpixie

Fill Out This Form to Enter



Cover Reveal: Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas!

Luminosity
by Stephanie Thomas
Entangled Publishing
September 11th, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads

My name is Beatrice. When I was born, I was blessed with the Sight. I was immediately removed from my parents and enrolled in the Institution. At the age of twelve, I had my first true vision, earning my raven’s wings. And when I turned seventeen, one of my visions came true. Things haven’t been the same since.

The Institution depends on me to keep the City safe from our enemy, the Dreamcatchers, but I’m finding it harder to do while keeping a secret from everyone, including my best friend Gabe. It is a secret that could put us all in danger. A secret that could kill me and everyone close to me.

But the enemy has been coming to me in my dreams, and I think I’m falling in love with him. He says they’re coming. He says they’re angry. And I think I’ve already helped them win.

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Entangled Publishing is on quite a roll lately what with revealing all of these potentially awesome books and their definitely awesome covers. So pretty! *pets* Just one more book for me to be left anxious waiting for. What do you think?



Friday, February 24, 2012

Oodles and Boodles of Amazing Book Bargains!

All I can say is BRACE YOURSELF!

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~Paperbacks~

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Dead Time!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Dead Time
Anne Cassidy
Walker Childrens
May 22nd, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Rose and Joshua first met when Joshua and his dad came to live with Rose and her mum. Then Rose and Josh's world turns upside down when their mother and father go out for dinner one evening and never return. With police inquiries going nowhere, Rose is dispatched to live with her chilly, unfriendly grandmother and Joshua is sent to live with his uncle. Then Joshua comes to London to study and Rose is witness to not one, but two murders. Why is this happening to Rose? Can it be anything to do with the investigations Joshua has been doing into the disappearance of their parents? A taut and pacy thriller that is the start of a stylish new series from an acclaimed writer for teens.

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I've been wanting to read Cassidy's Looking for JJ for a long time and I was excited when I saw she had another book coming out. Murder and mystery? Yes please! I think this is the start of a series and I've been yearning for more contemporary/mystery YA books ever since reading Lauren Henderson's Scarlett Wakefield series. Can't wait to see how this one turns out. :D




Monday, February 20, 2012

Cover Reveal & Special Excerpt: Inbetween by Tara A. Fuller


Inbetween by Tara A. Fuller
Entangled Publishing
August 7th, 2012
Kissed by Death, #1

Synopsis via Goodreads

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn't let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

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Special Excerpt Courtesy Entangled Publishing

Chapter 1

Finn

Sometimes Emma made me feel so alive, I almost forgot I was dead.
Almost.
I sank down onto the side of her bed, amazed by the blazing wildfire that swept through me whenever Emma was near enough to touch. I took a deep, unneeded breath, and settled down on my side next to her. The mattress didn’t sink. The springs didn’t groan with the weight of an extra body. The distance between us was an impossible void. Inches that might as well have been miles. Miles that left me wanting in so many ways that I ached.
Even the sun couldn’t resist her. Its glowing rays caressed her skin, and stained her hair the satiny color of summer wheat. Before I knew what was happening, my hand followed their lead. Cells ignited. My skin burned, screaming with the agonizing need to touch—
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I jerked my hand away just as Easton melted up from the polished hardwood floor beneath the window. Like an oil slick coming to life, he unfolded his long, shadowy legs until he was just an ink blot against the square of tangerine sunrise behind him. His violet eyes pinned me like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Which, I kind of was.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“Yeah, looked like nothing.” He strolled across the room accompanied by a wave of sulfur and smoke, the black serpent tattoo on his neck glinting. “What were you planning to do, recite her poem? I swear to God, if you were still alive I’d confiscate your man card.”
I ignored the barb and scrunched up my nose. “Jesus, Easton. Don’t they have a shower somewhere between here and the afterlife?”
“Screw you. You didn’t just have to tow somebody’s grandpa to Hell.” He brushed something chalky and grey off of his cloak and a shudder worked its way down my spine. God only knows who or what it belonged to. “Besides I wasn’t the one about to feel up a sleeping human.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Save it.” He waved his hand. “We have work to do. I don’t have time for your useless obsession with the human today.”
“Will you please stop calling her that?”
“What?” Easton glanced up from Emma’s vanity, where he’d been inspecting the various lotions and bottles like he was on some alien planet. Then again, Easton had been dead for something like four hundred years, so all of her stuff probably was sort of alien to him.
“The human. You make me sound like a freak. It’s not like we’re a different species for God’s sake. We were humans, too, or don’t you remember that far back?”
“Were. Past tense.”
We could have gone back and forth like that for hours, but the call came. It always did. It started in my bones—a cold so cutting that it sliced through me like a machete. When I looked up, Easton’s jaw was clenched, his muscles taut and ready. He slowly closed his hand around the handle of his scythe that burned black and softly smoked at his side. I flexed my fingers as the icy ribbons of death worked their way through each one of my limbs.
“Can you take this one for me?” I asked. “You’re already going to be there, and I just got back—”
“No,” Easton said. “Hell no. I have my own job to do. I can’t keep covering for your sorry ass. Besides, you’re already on thin ice with Balthazar. Don’t push your luck, Finn. Just keep your nose down, collect your souls, and thank the Almighty that you don’t have my job. Now let’s go.”
“Yeah, but…” My eyes returned to Emma. Sleeping. Perfect. Safe.
“For the love of God. She’ll be fine, you pansy.” Easton clamped a hand over my shoulder and dragged me from the bed.
“How do you know?”
He shrugged. “I don’t.”
With that he vanished, consumed in a flash by the keening wails of the damned. The screams beckoned. Clawed at me from the inside out.
Rule one as a seeker: Death doesn’t wait for anyone.
And it sure as hell wasn’t waiting for me now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sounds like it is going to be a great read and I'm honored to have gotten to help reveal the cover and share an excerpt. I'm getting the feeling that Entangled Publishing is going to be one to watch, what with all these cool sounding releases coming out this year. So, what do you think?




Saturday, February 18, 2012

In My Mailbox (115)



In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Bought for Kindle
~Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep (Only $3.49!)

Got Free for Kindle
~The Willows: Haven by Hope Collier (Now $2.99 and Free for Prime)

Won from Amy
~Fracture by Megan Miranda (Currently Reading)

For Review from Author
~Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett (Enter to win HERE)

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So this is actually from the past two weeks. Got some great books and am already reading Fracture, which currently has five-star potential, depnding on how the rest goes. Hope you all got some great books this week! :D



Indie Giveaway: Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett!

Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett
Publisher: Self Published
Pub. Date: October 2011
Pages: 179 approx.
Age Level: YA


Synopsis via Goodreads
A love that refuses to die…

“As I watched him vanish into a soft mist that faded away, I knew that he was no ordinary spirit…I knew that he was a dangerous entity that could be in some corner of another realm planning his revenge, but I also knew that I was hopelessly in love with him.”

When Becca moves into her ancestral home in Corydon, Indiana, her life takes a puzzling and thrilling turn when she meets the ghost haunting the halls. As the seductive spirit lures her closer and closer, she learns about her own past and starts to understand that some mistakes are meant to last.

Becca McAllister has always been different from other girls her age. Never part of the "in crowd", Becca never really fit in anywhere. When her mother dies and her father moves them to the small town of Corydon, Indiana, Becca didn't expect things to change.

But things do change when Becca accidentally makes contact with a one hundred and sixty year old ghost, Alastor Sinclair, that haunts the halls of her new home.

To Becca, Alastor is a seductive spirit that seems to see straight into her soul. To Alastor, Becca is what he was waited a century for--A second chance.

But the closer they get, the more Becca realizes that this isn't the first time she and Alastor have known each other. Worse still, is she the one responsible for his death so long ago? And if so, did he come back for love or revenge?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Contest Details

Thanks to the author, 5 people will win ebooks of Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett!

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form to enter.
~Must be 13 or older.
~Open internationally.
~Giveaway will end at 11:59PM EST on March 2nd
~Winners will be announced shortly after.

Extra Entries:
You can earn +2 entries by tweeting this giveaway! Please include @thebookpixie

Fill Out This Form to Enter



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Giveaway: Pure by Julianna Baggott!

Pure by Julianna Baggott
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pub. Date: February 8th, 2012
Pages: 448
Age Level: YA

Synopsis via Goodreads

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . .

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Contest Details
Thanks to Dana with Grand Central Publishing, one lucky ducky will win a SIGNED copy of Pure by Julianna Baggott!

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form to enter.
~Must be 13 or older to enter.
~Open to US and Canada
~Giveaway will end at 11:59PM EST on February 29th.
~Winner will be contacted shortly after.

Extra Entries:
~You can earn +2 by tweeting this giveaway.

Fill Out This Form to Enter



Cover Reveal: Gravity by Melissa West


Gravity by Melissa West
Entangled Publishing
October 2012
The Taking, #1

Synopsis

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don't. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed - arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she's been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she's falling for him. But Ari isn't just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She's a military legacy who's been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know - especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

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This one sounds like it is going to be amazing and I'm honored to have gotten to help reveal the cover. Which is so gorgeous! So, what do you all think?


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Small Damages!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Small Damages
Beth Kephart
Philomel
July 19th, 2012
YA


Synopsis via Goodreads
It’s senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she is mourning the loss of her father. She finds solace in the one person she trusts, her boyfriend, and she soon finds herself pregnant. Kenzie’s boyfriend and mother do not understand her determination to keep the baby. She is sent to southern Spain for the summer, where she will live out her pregnancy as a cook’s assistant on a bull ranch, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple.

Alone and resentful in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first sullen and difficult. She begins to open her eyes and her heart to the beauty that is all around her and inside of her.

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This book has the potential to be a very powerful, beautiful, and poignant read and I just hope that it turns out to be just that.





Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Intentions!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Intentions
Deborah Heiligman
Knopf Books for Young Readers
August 14th, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Rachel thought she was grown up enough to accept that no one is perfect. Her parents argue, her grandmother has been acting strangely, and her best friend doesn't want to talk to her. But none of that could have prepared her for what she overheard in her synagogue's sanctuary.

Now Rachel's trust in the people she loves is shattered, and her newfound cynicism leads to reckless rebellion. Her friends and family hardly recognize her, and worse, she can hardly recognize herself. But how can the adults in her life lecture her about acting with kevanah, intention, when they are constantly making such horribly wrong decisions themselves? This is a witty, honest account of navigating the daunting line between losing innocence and entering adulthood—all while figuring out who you really want to be.

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Sometimes I feel like books give too much away in their synopsis but this one leaves plenty to my imagination as to what exactly could happen in this book. I don't know about you but I'm extremely curious to know what Rachel overheard in the synagogue. Plus I love the cover. So beautiful with the stainglass in the background and I like the color scheme. What do you think?





Saturday, February 4, 2012

In My Mailbox (114)



In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

For Review from Publisher
~Pure by Julianna Baggott

For Review from Author
~Chasing the White Witch by Marina Cohen

Free on Kindle
~Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens
~Rex Rising by Chrystalla Thoma

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So that's what I got this week. Hope you all got some great books as well and are enjoying your weekend. :D



Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Secret Letters!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Secret Letters
Leah Scheier
Hyperion Book CH
June 26th, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Inquisitive and observant, Dora dreams of escaping her aristocratic country life to solve mysteries alongside Sherlock Holmes. So when she learns that the legendary detective might be her biological father, Dora jumps on the opportunity to travel to London and enlist his help in solving the mystery of her cousin’s ransomed love letters. But Dora arrives in London to devastating news: Sherlock Holmes is dead. Her dreams dashed, Dora is left to rely on her wits—and the assistance of an attractive yet enigmatic young detective—to save her cousin’s reputation and maybe even rescue a kidnapped heiress along the way.

Steeped in Victorian atmosphere and intrigue, this gripping novel heralds the arrival of a fresh new voice in young adult literature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love historical fiction and I love Sherlock Holmes so I'm destined to love this book. lol. Everything about the synopsis for Secret Letters appeals to me and I can't wait for it to release. And the cover, I'm head over heels in love with that cover!





Check Out My RAK (January)


I know you wanna see my RAK. *waggles eyebrows* Okay so first off, RAK stands for Random Acts of Kindness and is hosted by Vanessa and Isalys at Book Soulmates. RAK gives you the chance to randomly do something nice for another book lover, like surprising them with a book, e-book, etc. Plus who knows, someone just might surprise you with something you've been wanting too.

January was my ninth month participating.

I Gave:

To Sarah:
~ARC Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

To Dani:
~Unfurl by Cidney Swanson (Kindle)
~Bound by Kira Saito (Kindle)

I Received:

From Lethea
~Destined by Jessie Harrell (Kindle)
~Withering Tights by Lousie Rennison (Kindle)

From Temara
~Ten Things We Did and Probably Shouldn't Have by Sarah Mlynowski (Kindle)

From Christen
~Angelfall by Susan Ee (Kindle)

From Sarah
~ARC Ditched by Robin Mellom

From Mary
~The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler (Kindle)

From MannaB
~Vesper by Jeff Sampson (Kindle)

From Grace
~Hereafter by Tara Hudson (Kindle)

From Dani
~Obsidian by J.L. Armentrout (Kindle)

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A big thanks to everyone for the awesome RAKs and to Vanessa and Isalys for hosting this awesome event! I'm already planning to sign up for February and hoping to get more books out to people this month. Sorry I didn't do pictures this time. I'm typing this while I should be doing a paper...so yeah. ;)

My Wishlists:
HERE and HERE.



About Me

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Georgia, United States
Hello all! My name is Briana, I'm 20, and I live in the beautiful state of Georgia. I love reading and photography.

My Partner in Crime...er...I mean reading. :P

My Partner in Crime...er...I mean reading. :P
Meet Rudy everyone!