{Official Cover Reveal} Blind Study by Jacquelyn Sylvan: Excerpt + Giveaway

Today, I have a special treat for you guys!  I'm helping a friend of a friend reveal the cover for her YA debut novel!  Said friend wouldn't steer me wrong, so without further ado, check it out:

Eighteen-year-old Alice has spent the last year of her life in a hospital bed, held hostage by pain from a freak accident. Doctors can neither explain nor cure her condition, and her medical insurance is about to run out. Then, she’s offered one last chance—inclusion in a study for a revolutionary new pain medication

Miraculously, the medication works. There’s only one side effect—vivid, terrifying nightmares, of imprisonment in a pitch-black cell, with no memory of her identity or how she got there. At least, she thinks that’s all they are, until someone from her dreams shows up in real life.

When other sinister happenings cross the boundary between dreaming and waking, Alice must choose: return to a half-life of isolation and agony, or confront the malevolent force behind the dreams, before she and those she cares about are trapped in their nightmares forever. But by the time she makes her choice—it may already be too late.

Publication Date: August 20, 2013

About the author:

Before Jacquelyn Sylvan became a writer, she worked as a waitress, video store clerk, trail-riding guide, and veterinary technician, among other things. She’s a few inches shy of five feet tall, which means she’s sometimes mistaken for a child when she rides her bike, and often looked at suspiciously by amusement park ride operators. When she’s not writing, you’ll probably find her watching Vampire Diaries or trying to warn people about the impending penguin apocalypse. Jacquelyn lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two cats, and two very large dogs. Her YA novel, Blind Study, a supernatural thriller, comes out August 20, 2013.

Find Jacquelyn:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr

3 ebooks of Blind Study

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So, what do you think?  I love starbursts.  You can't go wrong with starbursts on a cover, as far as I'm concerned. =) And I love the idea of waking dreams -- er, nightmares -- and I can't wait to read this one. Gotta catch up on some review books first, but then I am all over this!

Thanks for stopping by & happy reading!

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Labels: apes, blind study, book trailers, excerpts, giveaways, indies, jacquelyn sylvan, official cover reveals

Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Title: Hopeless
Author: Colleen Hoover
Series: Hopeless, book #1
Publisher: indie/self-pubbed
Publication Date: January 8, 2013
Source: PB won from author via The Autumn Review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

Due to sexual content and heavy subject matter, this book is recommended for ages 17+.

Let me preface this review by saying that I loved this book.  In fact, I loved it so much that I felt compelled to stay up all hours of the night reading and even risked sneaking in some reading time at work.  The story, though dark and emotionally draining at times, was extremely addictive.  And though I finished it over a week ago, it took me a little time to decompress before I could write this review.  Sooooo many feelings!  Even now, I don't feel like I can discuss this book coherently, but I'll give it a shot.

I try not to read reviews until after I've read a book so that I don't allow someone else's feelings to influence my own, but that doesn't mean I didn't see a fair amount of gushing for this book prior to picking it up.  However, I didn't know that this story was going to be such a realistic portrayal of abuse and neglect, ingrained with such raw emotion that I myself felt every emotion on the spectrum before all was said and done.  Well, I did say I wanted to read grittier contemporaries this year, didn't I?

Hopeless is such a powerful story.  Through the power of suggestion, it made me take a second look at the people around me, wondering what deep, dark secrets they might be hiding under their seemingly normal lives.  The fact that Sky remembers little to nothing about what happened to her is both a blessing and a burden.  But the fact that it has all been kept secret from her is far worse, in my opinion.

Sky's had a great life, as far as she's concerned...and as far as she knows.  She's been home-schooled all her life.  Her adoptive mother is a little overprotective and despises technology, which means Sky is terribly inexperienced with any sort of gadget.  I wanted to believe that this inexperience was a bit heavy-handed for this day and age, but without the existence of the internet or television in one's home and very little social interaction, I have to admit that it might be entirely realistic.  I wouldn't know, though...I love my gadgets and would likely fall into conniptions if they were taken from me.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Sky is shy or awkward because of her upbringing, but she is when it comes to the mysterious Holder with the piercing stare.  Despite having many romantic interludes prior to their meeting, no one has ever unsettled Sky quite like Dean Holder.  He comes on strong and quickly proves himself a  man of many moods, moods that seem to shift with the winds.  Their romance, as ill-fated as it might seem, was actually probably my favorite aspect of the story.  Though their attraction develops very quickly, there seems to be genuine affection from both sides...something much more than puppy love.  Much more.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that although the characters are of high school age, the situations in the story are of a very adult nature at times.  The circumstances are sometimes very evocative and emotionally charged, and though I would be okay with my daughter reading this at some point, I have to admit that some of the situations were intense and even made me uncomfortable.  But as they were the heart of the story, they were necessary and not simply included for a higher emotional impact, in my opinion.

Prepare to laugh, swoon, gasp, and cry the ugly tears.  This book is full of the feels and it does not hold back.  I felt this book on every level:  as a young(ish) woman, as a mother, and as a daughter.  I'm already ready to read it again, despite knowing what's coming, but I think, instead, I'll just wait for the second book, which is apparently Hopeless told from Holder's point-of-view.  Yes, please!

Rating:  

Favorite Quotes: (another one where I just want to quote the whole book)

"And once again in my new world full of heartache and lies, this hopeless boy somehow finds a way to make me smile."

"Its real, Six. You can't get mad at a real ending. Some of them are ugly. Its the fake happily ever afters that should piss you off."

"You don't deserve words, Sky. You deserve actions."

"I live you, Sky," he says against my lips. "I live you so much."

"My lack of access to the real world has been replaced completely by books, and it can’t be healthy to live in a land of happily ever afters."

"Sometimes you have to choose between a bunch of wrong choices and no right ones. You just have to choose which wrong choices feels the least wrong."

"Sky, I'm not kissing you tonight but believe me when I tell you, I've never wanted to kiss a girl more. So stop thinking I'm not attracted to you because you have no idea just how much I am. You can hold my hand, you can run your fingers through my hair, you can straddle me while I feed you spaghetti, but you are not getting kissed tonight. And probably not tomorrow, either. I need this. I need to know for sure that you're feeling every single thing that I'm feeling the moment my lips touch yours. Because I want your first kiss to be the best first kiss in the history of first kisses."

"The moment my lips touch yours, it will be your first kiss. Because if you've never felt anything when someone's kissed you, then no one's ever really kissed you. Not the way I plan on kissing you."

"He drops his hands and keeps his eyes locked on mine while he backs up to the stove. He turns around to tend to the pasta like he didn't just ruin me for any other guy for the rest of my life."


My good friend April loves to create Sims-based book trailers of her favorite reads, and they're pretty freaking awesome.  Here's the one she created for Hopeless:

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Labels: all the feels, apes, book trailers, colleen hoover, contemporary, favorites, hopeless, indies, must-read, new adult, reviews

Feature: Daughter of Smoke and Bone trailer

So, I have this friend who makes these amazing SIMS trailers for books. I've linked to them or tweeted about them in the past, but a little while back, I forced her to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.  And she ended up loving the book as much as I did!  Maybe even more because she was inspired to create the amazing SIMS trailer you see below.

Anyway, when I asked April if I could feature her DoSaB trailer on the blog, her only request was that I make sure to give full credit to Jessica, the artist behind the drawing of Brimstone.  Jessica's work can be found on deviantART.  I don't think I could have imagined a more perfect image of Brimstone than her representation.

Also, if you want to read a little more background on how April created the trailer and such, check out her post about it. I can't imagine the work she puts into these trailers, but they are full of awesome.  She also did one for Fifty Shades of Grey, which had me rolling on the floor.  April is currently working on a trailer for the sequel.

And, without further ado, here is the beautimous SIMS trailer for Daughter of Smoke and Bone, created by the wonderfully-talented April:




You can find April on Twitter, on her blog - Sim~Sational~Books, and on YouTube.  Please stop by and tell her how awesome her trailer is!

Also, when I was working on adding the links to this post, I noticed that the cover for the sequel to DoSaB was up on Goodreads.  When did that happen?!?  In case you, too, missed it, here's the cover for Days of Blood and Starlight:

What do you think? Awesome, right? Can't wait to get your hands on it, right? Yeah, me either!

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Labels: apes, book bloggers, book trailers, daughter of smoke and bone, favorites, features, laini taylor, must-read