Teaser Tuesday #69: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's what I'm teasing this week:

Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass, book #2
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review (thanks to the awesome Jen for picking it up for me at BEA!)
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.
After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

"But she hurried down the halls and stairs, her palms turning slicker with each step.  Chaol was the Captain of the Guard.  He held his own against her every day.  He'd bested her in their first sparring match.   But Sam had been her equal in many ways, too.  And he'd still been caught and tortured by Rourke Farran--still died the most brutal death she'd ever seen.  And if Chaol..."

-- p. 212 of ARC

Yes, I'm finally getting to this one.  I've made myself wait all summer, but I'm finally allowing myself the pleasure of returning to Adarlan and its greatest assassin.  And it sounds like all is not well...

What are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

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Labels: bloomsbury, fantasy, favorites, must-read, sarah j. maas, teaser tuesday, throne of glass

Summer Road Trip Giveaway Hop

I love summer road trips.  Love 'em.  I was just lamenting the fact that we didn't get to take one this year because my husband has been working so much.  But there are always books I can read to satisfy my wanderlust, and I'd like to give you one!

This hop features novels with travel of any kind, so I picked a few faves -- and some that I really want to get to -- for the winner to choose from. This giveaway is international, but some of the prizes listed may not yet be available from The Book Depository.

Rules:

• This giveaway is international.   As long as The Book Depository ships to your location, you are good to go.  (You can double-check that here.)
• One entry per household.
• Entries will be verified.  Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant.
• Winner will be notified via email.  Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected.  Please check your SPAM folder!!!
• We are not responsible for lost packages.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered here, be sure to check out all of the other stops on the Summer Road Trip Giveaway Hop:

Thanks for entering & happy reading!

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Labels: giveaway hops, giveaways, road trips, summer

The Sunday Symposium: I hate it when you've read a book that I haven't...

I want to read ALL THE BOOKS.  That probably doesn't come as a surprise, especially considering that my hobby is blogging about books. But I really don't like it when someone is reading a book that I want to read but haven't yet.

Before you tell me where to stick that green-eyed monster, let me explain.  When someone -- anyone, not just you or other book bloggers...anyone -- is reading a book that I want to read, this is what goes through my head:

• (Checks schedule.) But, but...that book doesn't come out for months.  I won't get to read it for weeks at least!
• Please, please, please don't tell me that it's good.  Or bad.  Or mediocre.

By you reading this book early and even hinting at what you thought of it, you've now warped my opinion of the book.  Even without meaning to.  Unfortunately, I am susceptible and easily persuaded.  This is why I've stopped reading reviews for books I haven't read yet...at least for books that I'm dying to read.

• Well, maybe I can squeeze it in now.  I don't have to review it until closer to the release date, right?  I'm sneaky like that...right?

• Dammit!  Why the hell do I have a reading schedule anyway?!?  I wish I could go back to just reading what I wanted, when I wanted to read it.  Why don't I just do that?  Maybe I should just give up this whole blogging thing while I'm at it.  
• Wait.  Do I have this book?  I covet this book.  I must get a copy.  I will drive myself crazy until it is in my hands.  Give. It. To. Me.

I realize that all of this inner monologue might make me sound a bit nuts.  So be it.  I usually thrive on organization and a set routine or schedule, but I'm really starting to think being a book blogger is beginning to take a toll on me...and my sanity.  I said I was going to take it down a notch, but I think I may have gotten worse instead of better.

I'm doing fewer tours, which has helped significantly with my stress level, but now I'm reading more.  Not that I'm complaining.  But reading more means having more to review.  I feel like I only read and review about half of what I request, which makes me sad, and I feel a bit irresponsible because of it.  I know the solution is to stop requesting so many books, but I'm always worried that one of those I skipped over will be the next big thing that everyone's talking about, and then I'll be left out.  Being left out of the loop is the worst.  Like I said...I don't like it when you've read a book that I haven't.  Because then I can't discuss it with you and be a part of the hooplah surrounding it.  And that's one of my favorite parts of blogging. Finding that one book and getting super-fired up about it.


I remember what it was like before I was a book blogger and didn't have access to advance copies.  That was ten times worse than this...seeing people with ARCs of books that weren't coming out for another six months and stalking their updates and the author's website for teasers.  But I was free to read whatever, whenever.  I miss that.  Though, technically, I suppose that really hasn't changed.  The pressure I feel all comes from within.  I've always done this to myself.  Even in school...when I was vying for valedictorian, I nearly gave myself an ulcer.

So.  Maybe the solution isn't merely to stop requesting review copies.  Maybe it would be best to rip up that old review schedule altogether.

Even so, I don't think I could ever do it...but I have been allowing my mood to pick my next read for the last couple of weeks, and it's really worked out.  I am riding cloud nine on a book high right now after my last four or five reads.  But there are other review books on my schedule that I am less than excited for.  And because I requested them at some point, I'll end up reading them by their release date.  *sigh*

I am a creature of habit. And this is what I know.

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Labels: freedom to read, ranting, reading schedules, the sunday symposium

In My Mailbox #93

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  It's a weekly meme where we all get to brag about the books and swag we got in the mail, for review, won in contests, etc.

It's August.  HO-LY CRAP.  It's August!  Where did this summer go?!? I think it's time to start playing the lottery. This working all the time thing is cutting into my having fun time. =) I seriously worked all summer. I don't even think we took our summer road trip down to Austin. To be fair, the husband was working six days a week, so there wasn't really any time to go anywhere.  What are you gonna do, right?

For Review:

click on covers to be taken to the Goodreads page for each book

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - Love JLB, and not just 'cause we have similar names. :)  The summary for this one sounds great!

Look at me...only requesting one review book this week.  And that was only 'cause someone mentioned it was up on NG.  ;0)

Purchased/Audiobooks:


click on cover to be taken to the Goodreads page for each book

One review book and one audiobook.  I think I am doing very well, if I do say so myself.  I haven't bought a physical book in over a month.  Never thought I'd say that!

So, that's my haul.  How about you?  What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
• The Liberator by Victoria Scott (tour)
• Proxy by Alex London (audio)

Movie Review:  Stardust, plus a teaser trailer for the Veronica Mars movie!

Current Giveaways:  the Summer Road Trip Giveaway Hop hosted by yours truly starts Monday (but my post will be up tomorrow night!)

Promotional/Discussion Posts:  SYNC's 2013 Week 10 offerings are up for download, with Death Cloud and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes up for grabs this week -- FOR FREE! The Liberator Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours has kicked off.  And I helped reveal the cover for Blind Study, a friend of a friend's YA debut!  Also, I teased Love in the Time of Global Warming, which Katie also told us her thoughts on, and I'm waiting on Enders this week.

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

This book is just what I was hoping it would be:  funny, sarcastic, witty, and real.  I kind of miss the old cover and title, but these work well with the story, too.

Re-listening to this one so that I can get to my ARC of Fractured.  This is one series where I don't want to forget a single detail.

The Week Ahead:

Reviews:   Shadows, Love in the Time of Global Warming & The Beginning of Everything

And I shall be griping some more about my reading pile on this week's Symposium.

Starts soon!!!

Like honest reviews & giveaways?  Be sure to follow us on Bloglovin' so you never miss out!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm)

Judging a Book By Its Cover #32: A Kid's Perspective on Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

Okay, so I totally stole this idea from Sara at Forever 17 Books, who got the idea from an article on Babble called Judging a Book by Its Cover: A 6-year-old Guesses What Classic Novels Are All About.  I just discovered her lovely segment, and I immediately requested forced my own five-year-old daughter Katie to provide me with some of her own cover art artwork and then asked her what she thought the book was about.



This week, Katie gave me her take on the following book:

"The girl has butterflies in her hair. The prettiest one was the pretty orange one. I think the girl is floating away in her house. And the pretty flower floated away on the water.  Ew, and there's an eye in the water, too."

Cover Art

Love in the Time of Global Warming as envisioned by Katiebug

Love that she saw that eye down there in the water.  I don't think she really understood that all the black was a silhouette, but she tried.  :-)

Have you read this book or do you plan to?  What do you think of Katie's guess at the premise?  

Did your little darling create a work of art based on a book this week? If so, be sure to link up with Sara over at Forever 17 Books.

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Labels: beautiful covers, cover art, fantasy, francesca lia block, judging a book by its cover, katiebug, love in the time of global warming, macmillan, post-apocalyptic