Day 273 - Dancing With Ana

Dancing With Ana

Nicole Barker

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: August 2009

Publisher: The Golden Road Press

Pages: 240

Book Site: http://www.dancingwithana.com/

My Rating: 3.25/5

Synopsis:

Beth is a lucky girl…

She comes from a loving family. She has three best friends. She loves to surf and lives five minutes from the beach. She also recently discovered that the boy she’s grown up with has the most amazing green eyes…Beth has every reason to smile. Every reason to be happy. Every reason to feel blessed.

Then why is she sticking her fingers down her throat?

Sixteen year old Beth Baxter’s life merely resembles the one she’s always known. Her father has left. She is falling for Jeremy Duscana and the diet she started has somehow turned into an obsession. Yet her three best friends remain the same, always there for her.

But even their love can’t save her from herself.

Dancing With Ana. A story about the journey to acceptance of one’s own reality, the incredible bond that exists between friends and a love that truly endures all things.

Review:

Beth and her three best friends have decided to go on a diet after admiring one of the prettiest girls in school. Maybe they should lose a couple of pounds… The girls decide to go on a diet. They’ll cut back on what they eat, drink a lot more water to stay full, and stick together. Losing the extra baggage will not only make them look and feel better but they’ll get way more attention.

But the diet turns into something far worse, especially for Beth. She’s already having a tough time at home. Her father left Beth, her brother, and her mother for his much younger secretary about a year ago and is slowly pushing Beth and her brother out of his life. Beth struggles to come to terms that she may have lost her father. On top of her father issue, and her controlling diet, she starts to realize her growing feeling towards her best guy friend Jeremy (who I really liked, btw). Not the greatest time to have a ginormous crush on someone she’s known forever.

The other girls, Rachel especially, have some light shown on them as glimpses of their lives come into the story. I wanted a little bit more with them. I think it definitely wouldn’t have hurt to delve further into their lives. However, I’m thinking this story belonged more to Beth, so I understand.

Beth was a very real and endearing character. I could see her losing control of her eating habits and her life without her noticing it. It was entirely believable to see how a few pounds could turn into more and inevitably never be good enough. When she had to hide things from her mother and Jeremy it bothered her but became easier with each little lie she told. It was very realistic and made me think what an excellent Lifetime movie this would make! (Yes, I have a thing for Lifetime movies lol)

The only thing I had a problem with (and it could just be my bitter fat girl self speaking) was the fact that these girls were all small in the first place. It just bothers me, on a personal level, when (already) thin girls think they need to lose weight. Being active and staying in shape is entirely different. These girls thought they needed to lose weight to be beautiful. And I know many young women and older women alike sometimes think this way so I can totally understand why Barker wrote her characters the way that she did. I know I’ve looked at plenty of other women and wanted to be thin – like them, thinking that would make beautiful. So I appreciate Nicole Barker’s honesty with her characters.

I wasn’t thrilled with the writing. I just wanted…more in so many different areas. However, I think Nicole Barker has some great potential and I found myself pretty satisfied after closing the book. I admire the steps she took in taking on the teen issues that she did. It has a lot to offer and I think DANCING WITH ANA would be an excellent choice for all teens. I look forward to seeing what she will come up with next.

Day 269 - Waiting on Wednesday [26]

from penguin.com:

As a Chinese adoptee in St. Louis, teenage Daiyu often feels out of place. When an elderly Asian jewelry seller at a street fair shows her a black jade ring—and tells her that “black jade” translates to “Daiyu”—she buys it as a talisman of her heritage. But it’s more than that; it’s magic. It takes Daiyu through a gateway into a version of St. Louis much like 19th century China. Almost immediately she is recruited as a spy, which means hours of training in manners and niceties and sleight of hand. It also means stealing time to be with handsome Kalen, who is in on the plan. There’s only one problem. Once her task is done, she must go back to St. Louis and leave him behind forever. . . .

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Reason: I added this to my TBR list a while ago and now it's finally getting closer to the release date. It just sounds like it's going to be really sweet.

Cover Discussion: I think the cover is really pretty! I love the couple silhouette against the umbrella. So sweet =)

Gateway will be released October 15th!

What are you waiting on this week?
To see more books that are being waited for click here.

Day 269 - Evil at Heart - Book Promo

So I just recently got Chelsea Cain's Heartsick! I've heard her Gretchen Lowell series is pretty amazing. I'm pretty excited to get started. For those of you that are already Chelsea Cain fans you should be pretty excited to know that her newest installment - Evil at Heart - was released yesterday!!



Have you read anything by Chelsea??


If so, what did you think??



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Here's the first two chapters!




C H A P T E R 1

The rest stop off I-84 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River was vile, even by rest- stop standards. Graffiti covered the white subway- tile walls; the paper- towel and toilet- paper dispensers had been emptied, their contents now strewn on the concrete floor. Two of the metal stall doors were pulled off their top hinges and hung at odd angles. It smelled like a parking- garage stairwell, that peculiar marriage of urine and cement. Eighteen miles from the nearest bathroom, and they end up at a rest stop trashed by hooligans. There was no alternative. Amy put her hands on her hips and stared at her eleven- year- old daughter.

“Come on, Dakota,” she said.
Dakota’s blue eyes widened. “I’m not going in there,” she said.

This is what the whole road trip had been like. They had been making the annual drive up from Bakersfield to see Erik’s family in Hood River every summer since Dakota had been a toddler. She had always loved it. This year she had spent the whole trip texting friends and listening to her iPod. Maybe if Dakota hadn’t been such a little jackass for the last two days, Amy would have been more sympathetic.

“Just squat over the bowl,” Amy said.
Dakota bit her lip, leaving a glob of pink lip gloss on her front tooth. “It’s gross,” she said.
“Want me to see if the men’s room is any better?” Amy asked.
Dakota’s cheeks flushed. “No way,” she said.
“You said you had to go,” Amy said.

In fact, after not going in the restaurant they had stopped at for dinner, Dakota had quickly begun insisting that her bladder was going to burst and that if it did she was going to use it to seek emancipated minor status under California law. Amy didn’t even know what the fuck that was, but it seemed serious. So here they were, at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere. There was a banging at the door.

“What are you guys doing in there?” Erik called.

They were twenty minutes from his sister’s house. If they didn’t get there soon, Amy knew that Erik was going to lose it. He had already been white- knuckling the wheel for the past ten miles. Who was she kidding? She was the one who was going to lose it.

“She doesn’t want to use any of the toilets,” Amy called to her husband.
“Then come outside and go behind a tree,” Erik called back.
“Dad!” Dakota said.

Amy pushed open the door to the last stall. It was cleaner than the rest, or at least less filthy. Toilet paper in the dispenser. No visible human waste. That was a start.

“What about this one?” Amy asked her daughter. Dakota took a few tentative steps up behind her and peered into the toilet bowl.
“There’s something in there,” she said, pointing limply to the pale pink water in the bowl.
Amy didn’t have time to explain to her daughter the effect of beets on pee.
“Just flush it,” Amy said. She turned and walked over to the row of white sinks and waited. She heard the toilet flush and felt a little bit of the tension bleed from her shoulders. They would
be on the road soon. Erik’s sister would have wine waiting. Erik’s sister always had wine waiting.
“Mom?” Amy heard her daughter ask.

What now? Amy turned and saw her daughter standing in the stall, the metal door swung open. Dakota’s face was white, blank, her hands balled into fists. The toilet was overflowing, water spilling over the lid onto the floor, forming a puddle that seemed to almost have a tide. Only there was something in the water. It swirled with veins of red. It looked almost menstrual. And for a second Amy thought, Did Dakota get her period?

The bloody water streaked down along the outside of the white toilet bowl, onto the floor, under Dakota’s sneakers, and toward where Amy stood frozen. There was something in the toilet, something that had bobbed to the surface and now sat at rim level. A piece of something raw. Flesh. Like some maniac had skinned and drowned a rat. It sat on the edge of the bowl for a moment and then slopped onto the floor and slid forward, skimming Dakota’s sneaker and disappearing under the next stall. Dakota shrieked and scrambled forward out of the stall into Amy’s arms, not even looking back when her iPod slipped from her hands and landed at the base of the toilet with a deadening splash. Amy forced herself to swallow the warm saliva that rose in her throat, marshaling her will not to gag. It wasn’t a rat. It was definitely not a rat.

“Mom?” Dakota said.
“Yes?” Amy whispered. The iPod was still playing. Amy could hear some tinny pop song coming out of the half- submerged white earbuds. Then, just like that, it stopped.
“I don’t have to go to the bathroom anymore,” Dakota said.



C H A P T E R 2

Detective Henry Sobol lifted the evidence bag out of the rest- stop bathroom sink. The contents, four fistfuls of severed flesh, three of which had been plunged from the toilet, glistened under the clear plastic. It was heavier than it looked— dark, almost purple— and the large medallions of flesh were frayed, like they had been cut with a serrated blade. Blood and toilet water formed a triangle of pink juice at the corner of the bag. It didn’t have the sanitized look of the clean, plump, pink meat under Saran Wrap at the supermarket; something had been killed for this. Or someone had tried to make a kebab out of roadkill.

“Tell me again where you found this?” Henry said.

The state cop who’d called him stood next to Henry with his “Smokey Bear” hat in his hands. The bathroom’s fluorescent lights gave his skin a pale green sheen.

“The john,” the state trooper said, tilting his head toward an open stall.
“Got a nine- one- one call. Family reported some blood in the bathroom. I responded.” He shrugged.
“Plunged it. That came up.” Maybe it wasn’t the lighting, Henry thought. Maybe the trooper was green because he was sick to his stomach.
“You have to call him,” Claire said again.

Henry looked back up at the wall. Hundreds of tiny hearts, executed perfectly with what looked to be a red Sharpie. They covered everything, obliterated everything. The heart was Gretchen’s signature. She carved it on all of her victims. She’d carved it on Archie.

And now she was back.



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A little bit about Chelsea:

CHELSEA CAIN was born in 1972, lived the first few years of her life on a hippie commune in Iowa, and grew up in Bellingham, Washington.Her first novel featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and serial killer Gretchen Lowell, HEARTSICK, was a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and has been translated into over 20 languages. The follow-up in the series– SWEETHEART--also a NYT bestseller--is available in stores now. The third installment, EVIL AT HEART, will be released on September 1, 2009. Chelsea is a former columnist for The Oregonian, and a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review.


Her other books include:
DHARMA GIRL: A Road Trip Across the American Generations (Seal Press)
THE HIPPIE HANDBOOK (Chronicle Books)
CONFESSIONS OF A TEEN SLEUTH (Bloomsbury)
DOES THIS CAPE MAKE ME LOOK FAT? Pop Psychology for Superheroes (Chronicle Books)


She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family.

For more check out Chelsea's origin story here! It's good stuff =)

Day 268 - From the Desk of...

...author Eddie Godshalk!

How did macroeconomics and flawed Market Information cause The Housing Crisis?

Macroeconomics is the broadest view but important measure of the economic system. As applied to housing it would address influencing factors such as disposable income, migration, available usable land, interest rates, etc. Macroeconomics in real estate applies to national or regional data. The regional data typically being the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), what is more currently called the CSA (Combined Statistical Area) or which there are approximately 400 in the US. The MSA or CSA, is often referred to as a “market.”

All this data was available and many eyes were watching so how did all macro data fail? Part of the problem is that most professionals only have access to free or inexpensive data or information. You cannot make better assessments than the data available. Not only is much of the relevant data not free, it is very hard to find. Then integrating the data into meaningful results is a no-trivial task.

In assessing a real estate investment decision, you can examine data from various sources that consider the property itself, the block, the Census Track, the Zip Code, the County, the MSA/CSA, the state, and the country. Certainly the farther and farther you go out, the less relevance and meaning you have in trying to assess any particular valuation.. Any of us in real estate know you can drive around any area beyond a very local area, and see that nothing homogeneous about any city or neighborhood in America. While this is intuitive, you cannot find any free data or readily available data to make a true assessment of a specific local market condition. The more uncertain or unstable the conditions the riskier and evaluation becomes. We have now gone through a time that exposes the weaknesses in the tools we have been using.

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Even though I wasn't really interested in reading Mr. Godshalk's book, I find his guest post really interesting. I just came out of both a Macro and Microeconomics class and seeing it applied like this is pretty interesting to see. Thank you so much for stopping by mis(h)takes today Mr. Godshalk!

For more information about THE MISSING KEYS TO THRIVING IN ANY REAL ESTATE MARKET click here!

Day 268 - Teaser Teasday [25]

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:




-Grab your current read.
-Let the book fall open to a random page.
-Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
-You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
-Please avoid spoilers!


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"Her eyes fluttered open, only to find her hands on his shoulders in a death grip. She peered up at him, and found herself staring into an expression that could only be described as confused passion. He was the one breathing quickly now." (18)

Dancing With Ana :: Nicole Barker

Day 268 - From the Desk of...

...author Sang Pak!







My first novel, Wait Until Twilight, has been released this summer. It’s a southern gothic/coming of age tale but it was the southern aspect that seemed prominent while I wrote it. All the elements are there. The country roads, hot humid summers, the kind of rundown beauty one might imagine of a small southern town. But the one thing I shifted into an alternate reality was the language. I instinctively kept the drawl scaled down even though from an experiential reality, and if anyone has spent time in the rural deep south they know the drawl is thick and it’s real. I think it reflects the “Southerness” in me. Being Korean American, I don’t think that would register immediately. Even the drawl I used to have growing up has faded after many years of living overseas and far away from the American south. But if one listens closely it’s there. After a few beers it becomes even more prominent.

To be honest with you, if one writes southern dialog with a true drawl, it can read like Faulknerian or Mcarthian hieroglyphics for the uninitiated. Something to be occasionally deciphered. Yet, even the dialogue in the most inveterate southern writer belies the drawl that’s found in the rural south. They are all toned down. This of course is because novels are reflections not of the actual world but the inner world of the writer that has been cultivated from the totality of their experiences and their desire to express this. This includes everything they’ve read, whether the bible or the works of Shakespeare. It all influences the writer. And this can be seen in the dialogue of the southern writer. I think if I’d stayed in the south instead of leaving after high school, the dialogue I wrote would have probably contained a much stronger drawl. Again it would have most likely been instinctual.

Being raised in the south is a very specific experience. No doubt even more specific for someone of Asian descent. But the interesting thing about the south is that for all the complexities many of which are dark, at its heart it is welcoming. And for anyone spending their formative years in those welcoming arms it’s impossible not to walk away with an implicit understanding of the southern heart and mind….and tongue.

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I just want to thank Sang Pak again for giving me a chance to read WAIT UNTIL TWILIGHT and for visiting today!

Day 268 - Michelle Moran = Awesome! (GIVEAWAY)

So I entered a contest for a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran a few weeks ago and sadly lost. *tear* I had forgotten all about it until I recieved a email from Michelle herself. She said that she'd gladly send me a copy of the book. She also offered up a paperback copy of The Heretic Queen and a hardback copy of Cleopatra's Daughter to two of my readers (which is being released on my birthday - September 15th)!!



I haven't read anything by Michelle yet and I haven't read a lot of historical fiction either. So since I'm interested in both I thought this was the perfect opportunity to take care of both =)

The Heretic Queen

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past, and remake history.

The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the 18th dynasty’s royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, niece of the reviled former queen Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But all of this changes when she is taken under the wing of pharaoh’s aunt, and brought to the Temple of Hathor where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the crown prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

Read an excerpt here!

Cleopatra's Daughter



The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, but only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.


The fateful tale of Selene and Alexander is brought brilliantly to life in Cleopatra’s Daughter. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, it introduces a compelling cast of historical characters:


Octavia: the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra
Livia: Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife Marcellus: Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir-apparent
Tiberius: Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power
Juba: Octavian’s ever-watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals


Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place —the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the time. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority.


Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of Imperial Rome and of the people and events of this glorious and tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of history, Selene, a young woman of irresistible charm and preternatural intelligence, will capture your heart.


Read an excerpt here!

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So enough of me ranting...how bout we get straight to the giveaway:

Both of the books will be mailed to the winners directly from Michelle so this giveaway is open worldwide!! && did I mention both these bad boys will be SIGNED =)

To enter:

-Simply leave a comment expressing you'd like to win. You must leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win - No email = No entry!

For extra entries:: (you must leave comments telling me you've done so or they will not count.)

+2 for each place you link to this contest (blog posts, sidebars, twitter, facebook, etc all count - leave a link or you won't get the extra entries)
+3 for becoming a stalkerfollower of the blog (if you currently stalk(I<3youbtw)follow just mention it below)

The deadline is September 15th. Two winners will be chosen randomly and announced September 16th. The first name chosen will have their choice of books and the second winner will get the leftover book. I will email them and they will have 4 days to contact me back with their information.

Day 267 - Q&A with Author Sang Pak

Please welcome author Sang Pak to mis(h)takes! His debut novel WAIT UNTIL TWILIGHT was released earlier this month and it was definitely a different experience.

If you haven't already, check out my review.

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A little background info before we go on:

Sang Pak is a Georgia-raised writer with English and Psychology degrees from the University of Georgia. He is currently on hiatus from New York University’s graduate program in Psychology. He divides his time between Georgia, Southern California, and Seoul.

You can visit his website here.

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Me: Can you describe what your novel is about?

Sang: A Sixteen-year-old boy discovers a set of deformed triplets whose mother believes they were immaculately conceived. Soon, the babies have taken hold of his waking and sleeping thoughts, and, unable to escape them, he decides to save them, but their shut-in mother and violent older brother want nothing to do with him. Set in a small Georgia town, this psychologically complex story of survival and self determination explores the dark, often contradictory worlds of young contemporary life, laying bare the ugly truths and secrets that haunt all of us.

Me: WAIT UNTIL TWILIGHT isn’t your average coming-of-age story. What inspired you to write Samuel’s story?



Sang: It’s inspired from a set of dreams I had during a two week period a couple of summers ago.

Me: What do you think the hardest part about writing this novel was for you?

Sang: Keeping fresh eyes as I kept revising it over and over. Everything starts to bleed together and it’s imperative the eyes have a fresh clear view on the material otherwise you can get completely lost.

Me: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Sang: No. It was the most cost effective artistic endeavor I could come up with. I only needed my laptop to a complete finished project.

Me: If you weren’t a writer, what other career would you pursue and why?

Sang: Can’t imagine another profession. Maybe bartender in a bar in a very far away place. Just because it sounds good.

Me: What are you currently working on?

Sang: I don’t talk about works in progress. Bad luck.

Me: Who are some of your favorite authors?

Sang: Herman Hesse, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Raymond Carver, Tolstoy, Yukio Mishima, Flanner O’connor.

Me: Are you reading anything at the moment?

Sang: Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.

Me: Was there an underlying meaning you want your readers to take away from your novel?


Sang: The interplay between Chaos/nihilism versus order/belief and the choice an individual makes between the two. Because of this I see my novel less as a southern gothic or coming of age story but more of a metaphysical fairytale.

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Thank you so much for the opportunity to read your novel and for taking the time out to visit my blog to answer some questions. Be sure to get a copy of WAIT UNTIL TWILIGHT, I promise you an experience. Stay tuned for a guest post by Sang Pak tomorrow!

Day 267 - It's Monday

It's Monday! What are you reading this week?, hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog, is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.



Books Gobbled Last Week:
Along for the Ride :: Sarah Dessen



Gobbling Down This Week:
Once Upon a Nightmare :: Lee Moylan
Dancing With Ana :: Nicole Barker




**Sidenote(s)/FYI**
-Along for the Ride was really good! Review should be up soon along with my review of Wait Until Twilight. I'll also have a guest post and interview with the author Sang Pak.
-If you haven't already, be sure to enter my giveaway for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.

Day 266 - Wait Until Twilight

Wait Until Twilight

Sang Pak

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: August 2009

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks

Pages: 240

Author Site: http://www.sangpak.com/

My Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis [from harpercollins.com]:

A hauntingly strange and powerfully affecting debut novel that heralds the arrival of a unique and captivating literary voice, Sang Pak's Wait Until Twilight is a coming-of-age story that explores the complex darkness infecting a damaged psyche in a small Southern town.

Not long after his own mother's death, sixteen-year-old Samuel discovers a set of deformed triplets hidden behind closed doors in his sleepy Georgia community. The babies—whose shut-in mother believes they were immaculately conceived and whose menacing brother is a constant threat—take control of Samuel's every waking and sleeping thought. His only escape, he realizes, will be to save the monster children. But to do so, he must rein in his darkest impulses as he undergoes a profound transformation from motherless boy to self-defined man—because sometimes the most terrible monsters are those that live inside us all.

Review:

WAIT UNTIL TWLIGHT sounds so different from what I normally read. I was immediately interested in the novel when I received an email from the author in reference to reviewing it. However, as I started reading and really getting into the book, I knew right away that this wasn't what I was expecting. I had mixed emotions after I turned the last page. Even some days later I still struggle to put my feelings about the book into words.

Let's just say I was certainly affected by WAIT UNTIL TWILIGHT. While I found the characters not as fleshed out as I would have liked, they still gave off a presence that was unmistakable. Even though there wasn't the usual development I go for in characters I still felt like I had a good idea of who these people were. I do remember coming to the end of the novel, with a heart-racing ending I might add, and thinking to myself "I get things now!" I remember really liking the way I felt too.

Samuel is a sixteen-year-old teenager who's dealing with the death of his mother. He's working on getting good grades and just being a normal kid. However, Samuel seems to struggle at being "normal". School is important to him as our his relationships with his friends and father. But it's when he becomes fascinated, if not totally obsessed, with a set of deformed triplets he comes across with his friend in search of the perfect video project.

Samuel's horror is clear, not just from the first scene when he meets them, but in his later thoughts of them as well. It seems the triplets have awakened a part of Samuel he never knew existed, a strong violent streak, that becomes even more apparent when Daryl is around him. Now to be quite honest, Daryl scared the crap out of me. Daryl is certainly sick and twisted and around the triplets too much. Samuel's feelings towards the triplets shift in an interesting way and I enjoyed the ending once I got there.

I must admit it took me a while to become accustomed to the pace of the novel and Sang Pak's writing style. But after more and more reflection, I've come to realize that this is a book I will most likely never forget. Even now, after knowing and saying that this is a coming-of-age story, I found Samuel more adult than I could imagine. It goes to show you (or me I suppose) that situations and events have such a heavy impact on shaping people.

At the end of the day it comes down to this: Sang Pak made me think. I wasn't just reading his words, I was experiencing them. And for a debut author that speaks volumes in my opinion. He took me out of my reading comfort zone and I couldn't put WAIT UNTIL TWLIGHT down. I recommend this to anyone looking for a different kind of coming-of-age tale; a gothic psychological mixture that will certainly grab your attention.

Day 266 - Q&A with Author Leanna Renee Hieber (&& GIVEAWAY)

I'm so pleased to bring everyone an interview I did with author Leanna Renee Heiber. Not only is Leanna super sweet but she's a wonderful writer and storyteller. I feel so lucky to have read her book featuring Miss Percy Parker before it came out in stores =)

Check out my review for THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER.

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A little background info before we go on:

Award-Winning author, actress and playwright Leanna Renee Hieber grew up in rural Ohio where her childhood memories are full of inventing elaborate ghost stories. Graduating with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University, a focus study in the Victorian Era and a scholarship to study in London helped set the course for her books. The dramatic, historic, spiritual and paranormal are the primary forces in her lyrical, eerie, atmospheric fiction.

While performing in the regional theatre circuit, her one-act plays such as Favorite Lady, were published, produced, won awards and continue to be produced in colleges and festivals around the country. She has adapted works of 19th Century literature for the professional stage.

She hit the fantasy fiction scene with her novella Dark Nest which won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is the first in her Strangely Beautiful series of ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels published by Dorchester Publishing.

When not writing or on set, she loves a good Goth club, singing soprano in choir and adventuring about her adopted hometown of New York City, where she resides with her real-life hero and her beloved rescued lab rabbit Persebunny, Queen of the Undereverything.

Check out her website here.

You can also follow along with Leanna on her blog!

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Me: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions. THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER is indeed strangely beautiful! Can you tell us a little bit about the book?

Leanna: Thank you, Mishel, for your support and for this opportunity! Launching a new author and a new series needs all the help it can get, so you’re a real blessing to me.

This book is my favourite thing I’ve yet written, the closest to my heart. I’ve thrown everything I love most into one book. It’s cross-genre and has been described with any number of the following descriptors and/or genre tags: Historical, fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal romance, mythic, suspense, mystery, Gothic, ghostly, Gaslight, YA cross-over, light Horror, and fairy tale. New York Times Bestselling author Alethea Kontis said in her glowing review at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show: “The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is Bulfinch's Mythology and Harry Potter and Wuthering Heights mashed in a blender.” And that seems about right.

Me: What inspired you to create such a unique story?

Leanna: I was writing since I could hold a pen and finish a sentence. I started my first novel around age 12 or so (don’t ask, it’s frightening and doesn’t still exist). But nothing ever hit me as hard, as desperately or as visually specific as Miss Percy Parker did. I knew she was “the one”.

I began working on this Tale about 9 years ago. At the time I was interning with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company working insane hours on about 4 productions at once. Late one night, out of a swirling cauldron of influences including but not limited to: Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Victorian Literature, graphic novels like “From Hell” and Jane Austen movies, Percy Parker waltzed into my mind and I knew I would never be the same. She walked into Alexi’s office, with her ghost-white skin and sweet personality, and I had to figure out why she was the way she was. Alexi is a culmination of my every literary love affair, all wrapped up into one.

I’m fascinated by difficult and brooding heroes, and love putting them in situations where their stoic façade must crack. But I’m not interested in romance alone, I’m a fan of putting romance under duress with my favourite paranormal elements against an apocalyptic backdrop. *grin*

Me: Did you have to do any research to create Miss Percy’s world?

Leanna: I had to go to London, that’s for sure. Whenever I’m there I’m blissfully happy and at home. In college I studied the Victorian Era with a sequence of classes, and that allowed me a great deal of specific insight into the time period I’d loved since childhood. I also received a scholarship to travel to London and study.

I’d been reading 19th century fiction for a long time prior, but I had new resources with these classes and this travel opportunity. I also began adapting 19th century literature for the stage, and this helped me to really get a feel for the language. I watched a lot of British historical films, and surrounded myself with a slew of lovely tomes. Richard Jones’ Haunted London gave me wonderful ideas for all my London ghosts, so I was able to ground all the spectres to real haunts. (See my Haunted London Blog Tour!)

The London Walks such as the ghost walks and the Jack the Ripper tour proved very inspiring! The great thing about writing Historical Fantasy and/or Historical Paranormal is that you can use historical fact to your advantage, use it to create a rich and detailed setting, and if there are moments when you hit a wall, well then, there are fantastical solutions to all your historical limitations!

Me: Have you always had an interest in writing historical fiction? What’s your favorite time period?

Leanna: Indeed, I’ve always been a history lover, but the 19th century holds a particular, compelling, nearly obsessive charm for me. I’ve often said I credit my love-affair with the period- which goes about as far back as I can remember- to perhaps some sort of past life because I don’t have another explanation for why I’ve been so drawn to it since childhood. The mid to latter Victorian era, 1870s to 1890s in particular, is my particular fancy. The literature, art, music and sensibilities all feel so familiar to me.

Me: I’m sure all of your characters have a special place in your heart, but who is your favorite and why?

Leanna: Oh, no! Don’t make me pick! There is no single answer to this, but I do have a sort of hierarchy. I am in love with Alexi, it will be hard for Percy to ever meet her match in my heart, and I simply treasure Elijah for all the hell he gives Alexi. Alexi makes me swoon and tingle, Percy makes my heart soar and Elijah makes me laugh out loud.

Me: Your writing is fresh and poignant. If you weren’t gifted with the written word, what do you think your career would be?

Leanna: Why thank you! I’d have kept on as a professional actress, as I was for several years out of college. I’m still a member of Actors Equity (AEA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and I work in television and film as a background extra here in New York. Perhaps the lure of the stage will call me back again, but since childhood, the call of my writing has always been a more constant and consistent love-affair.

Me: What are you currently working on? Do readers have a sequel or a planned series to look forward to?

Leanna: Indeed! The Strangely Beautiful sequel (Title will be forthcoming) will pick up exactly where Book I leaves off. We meet new ghosts, we continue on with Percy and Alexi as hero/heroine so that we can enjoy the beginnings of their life together (and the conflicts and passions therein) and we get more of The Guard and their interpersonal relationships, with a particular eye on Rebecca and Michael. The danger is bigger as spectral war looms. Sensuality and passions, at last, are acted upon. Book III is a prequel, Book IV carries forward in Rychman familial legacy towards World War I.

Me: If you could write a book about absolutely anything with any other author, who would you choose and what would the book be about?

Leanna: I would love to write magical things with the exceedingly gifted Alethea Kontis because not only do we comprehend each others’ writing with a nearly preternatural sensibility, we’re fairy tale girls at heart and it’s hard to find a voice that feels so unique on its own and yet a part of your own heart and soul. Visit her at http://www.aletheakonits.com/ and fall in love with her.

Me: Are you currently reading anything at the moment?

Leanna: I’m reading one of my favourites, Elizabeth Peters. I started her Amelia Peabody series in the middle, so I’m going back to the first one, Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Me: Can you list some of your favorite authors and/or books?

Leanna: J.K. Rowling is my #1. I love Harry Potter with fierce fanaticism. Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis have been very influential, as well as Alan Moore’s graphic novels. I Loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Libba Bray’s Great and Terrible Beauty series. Elizabeth Peters and Anne Perry’s Victorian set mysteries are always a sure bet for me. I’m in love with all things 19th century, particularly Edith Wharton, the Brontës, Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker, Gaston Leroux, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley & all the good fantastical and Gothic stuff of the age!

Leanna's Question for you!:

I’d like to know if your readers believe in ghosts. They’re welcome to share their own personal ghost stories if they like.

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And now for the GIVEAWAY!

In hopes of spreading the word on this beautiful tale, I will be parting with my gently read ARC copy of THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER.

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To enter:

-Simply leave a comment expressing you'd like to win the book. You must leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win - No email = No entry!

For extra entries (you must leave comments telling me you've done so or they will not count. I prefer separate comments, but one big comment will be fine.)

+1 for answering Leanna's question above!

+1 for commenting on my review here!(<--click the link and post comment there)

+1 for commenting on Leanna's guest post! (<--click the link and post comment there)

+2 for linking to this contest (blog posts, sidebars, twitter, facebook, etc all count - leave a link or you won't get the extra entries)

+2 for becoming a follower of the blog (if you currently follow just mention it below)

The deadline is September 15th. One winner will be chosen and announced September 16th. I will email them and they will have 4 days to contact me back with their information.

**(U.S. Residents Only) Sorry =(

Day 266 - From the Desk of...

...author Leanna Renee Hieber!





Writing (and bracing for) the Book of Your Heart
By Leanna Renee Hieber,
author of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker


A great many published authors will tell aspiring authors: “write the book of your heart”. Meaning, put all your heart and soul into a book that you really love rather than writing a book because you think it will sell, or writing it to fit a market trend or fad.

I am one of those people who will say that very phrase. Because that’s what I did. I started The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker 9 years ago and it was my immediate love-affair. It was, and is, everything I loved thrown into one book- one series of books. But I didn’t know what to do about it. I struggled between being an actress or an author, in an artistic identity crisis until one day I was at a Broadway callback thinking about my book and if that wasn’t a sign I don’t know what is. I stopped auditioning and stepped up my game in publishing. Percy Parker was the most compelling artistic creature in my life and I needed to share her with the world. I pushed hard, I got a lot of rejections, I changed and refined the book, I kept going back again and again to Percy until she found a home. She’s in good hands at Dorchester, a house that has been very supportive of this cross-genre work.

But while I may say “write the book of your heart” and mean it, I’ll also say this, and mean it: “Brace yourself.”

The hardest part about breaking into the business with the Book of Your Heart is that you’re learning the business as you go; and attached is your heart. This is a trial-by-fire industry, no amount of schooling can really prepare you for all that you’ll have to juggle: life, perhaps day jobs, relationships, time to write, time to promote, time to network, it’s exhausting. And then when the book starts going into peoples’ hands, people start to say things about it. About your baby. And if someone thinks your baby is ugly, it hurts. I’m not going to lie. Brace yourself. You can’t make everyone happy and not everyone’s gonna think your baby is pretty.

I make some bold choices in this book. I blend many sub-genres together. I have an unconventional historical heroine whose is far more meek than your average heroine. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t grow in ability and in confidence, and in some fantastical ways, but she is who she is, in a blended world of many themes. That’s going to work for some people (thankfully in my reviews that would be most people) and it’s not going to work for others (a few disgruntled voices). Many of my author friends won’t look at reviews for the discomfort they might provide. Perhaps I’ll get to that Zen place one day. But that day is not today. Perhaps its morbid curiosity, perhaps it’s an addiction to the high I get when there’s a great review.

But if I can stare down the cutting reviews, well, then, I’m prepared for a lifetime of being an author. Those will never stop. The driving needs of this business, to keep up with promotion and deadlines, will never stop. Hopefully I will never stop caring about my baby, hopefully in some way they’ll all be “Books of My Heart.” And hopefully, like Percy, I’ll continue to grow stronger, wiser, and just that bit more thick- skinned. It’s a good quality to have in a tough as nails business. Still there’s no business like book business.

Blessings to you all!

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Thank you so much for stopping by mis(h)takes Leanna! I'm definitely lucky to have you =) To see what I thought of her debut novel, check out my review here.

Join Leanna as she celebrates the release month of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker with a Haunted London Blog Tour! Each day, a different ghost story, each day, a new chance to win a signed copy of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker!

Day 266 - Book Arrivals

So my mom offered not only once, but twice, for me to go to Barnes & Nobles and buy some books. I was so excited. Of course each time I went I had a tough time because my TBR list is soo huge, so it took me forever to decide what to get. Even though I have tons of books sitting on my shelf to be read, I can't help but buy more. It's an addiction really...

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From Barnes & Noble:

Witchling :: Yasmine Galenorn

Book one in the Otherworld series

Meet the D'Artigo sisters: half-human, half-faerie, they're savvy-and sexy-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But their mixed-blood heritage short-circuits their talents at all the wrong times. Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who's still trying to get the hang of being undead. And Camille is a wicked-good witch, except her magic's as unpredictable as the weather, as her enemies are about to find out-the hard way.

Heat Stroke :: Rachel Caine

Book two in the Weather Warden series

Mistaken for a murderer, Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is hunted down and killed by her colleagues. Reborn as a Djinn, she senses something sinister entering earth's atmosphere-something that makes tomorrow's forecast look deadly.

Halfway to the Grave :: Jeaniene Frost

Book one in the Night Huntress series

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

City of Souls :: Vicki Pettersson

Book four in the Sign of the Zodiac series

In Sin City, a little girl suffers from a strange and terrible malady. If she dies, the Light will die along with her.

Warrior, avenger, Joanna Archer has survived countless otherworldly terrors - and has found her rightful place among the agents battling the all-pervasive evil of Shadow . . . even as she struggles against the darkness within herself.

A war is raging for Las Vegas - a city without a heart - one that catapults Joanna into a new world hidden from mortal sight. In this lethally seductive alternate dimension the lines blur between good and evil, love and hate, and here lies the last hope for the Light. But Joanna's price of admission is a piece of her own soul - and the odds of her escaping are slim . . . to none.


The Fire King :: Marjorie M. Liu

Book nine in the Dirk & Steele series

Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy.

Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication. When she is chosen to learn the dead language of a shape-shifter resurrected after thousands of years of icy sleep, she discovers a warrior consumed with fury.

Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent—Karr is his name, and in his day he was king. But he is a son of strife, a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so death was to be his atonement. Now, against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.

Mona Lisa Blossoming :: Sunny

Book two in the Monere: Children of the Moon series

Mona Lisa has finally accepted what she really is-a Mixed-Blood of the Monere, the children of the moon. Stronger, faster, and more beautiful than any human, they are the origins of Earth's darkest legends-and Mona Lisa is their newest Queen.

Accompanied by her loyal cadre of warriors and kin, Mona Lisa is entering her territory of Louisiana for the first time. She slowly learns the erotic and savage customs of the Monere elite-though some of her new subjects are uneasy at being ruled by a half-human. Her reign is threatened by enemies old and new, and she is ensnared in the thrall of dark forces she cannot deny. In a hidden world of animal passions and unrelenting lust, Mona Lisa soon grasps the tremendous power she must command if she is to hold her realm together-and if she is ever to come into her own.

Vampire Academy :: Richelle Mead

Book one in the Vampire Academy series

St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school--it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St. Vladimir's--the very place where they're most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy's ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi--the world's fiercest and most dangerous vampires--make Lissa one of them forever.

Shiver :: Maggie Stiefvater

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.


Fade :: Lisa McMann

Book two in the Wake Series

SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END.

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.

Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open -- but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability -- and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd feared....

Green :: Jay Lake

She was born in poverty, in a dusty village under the equatorial sun. She does not remember her mother, she does not remember her own name - her earliest clear memory is of the day her father sold her to the tall pale man. In the Court of the Pomegranate Tree, where she was taught the ways of a courtesan.and the skills of an assassin.she was named Emerald, the precious jewel of the Undying Duke's collection of beauties.

She calls herself Green.

The world she inhabits is one of political power and magic, where Gods meddle in the affairs of mortals. At the center of it is the immortal Duke's city of Copper Downs, which controls all the trade on the Storm Sea. Green has made many enemies, and some secret friends, and she has become a very dangerous woman indeed.

Acclaimed author Jay Lake has created a remarkable character in Green, and evokes a remarkable world in this novel. Green and her struggle to survive and find her own past will live in the reader's mind for a long time after closing the book.

Heart Sick :: Chelsea Cain

Book one in the Archie and Gretchen series

He thinks he sees a flash of emotion in her eyes. Sympathy? Then it's gone. 'Whatever you think this is going to be like,' she whispers, 'it's going to be worse.' When beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell captured her last victim, the man in charge of hunting her down, she quickly established who was really in control of the investigation. So why, after ten days of horrifying physical and mental torture, did she release Detective Archie Sheridan from the brink of death and hand herself in? Two years on, Archie remains driven by a terrifying obsession that was born during his time alone with Gretchen. One thing is clear Archie does not believe he was ever truly freed. Now Archie returns to lead the search for a new killer, whose recent attacks on teenage girls have left the city of Portland reeling. Shadowed by vulnerable young reporter Susan Ward, Archie knows that only one person can help him climb into the mind of this psychopath. But can Archie finally manage to confront the demons of his past without being consumed by them?

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From Contests/Giveaways & Misc:

Everything Sucks :: Hannah Friedman

(Received for review from author)

Welcome inside the head of boarding school survivor Hannah Friedman-a fresh new author whose biting wit and captivating writing style is a cross between best-selling YA author Anne Brashares (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and the hysterically honest Amy Sedaris (I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence).

Everything Sucks details the teenage years in all of their cringe-worthy absurdity-from getting homeschooled in a tour bus with hippie musicians to attending one of New York's most prestigious private schools on full scholarship to developing a drug habit and eating disorder to nearly getting kicked out of Yale University before she evengets to attend. Did we mention Hannah also grew up with a rescue monkey as a sister? In the end, it's Friedman's spirit and Everything Sucks attitude that keeps her afloat, as it will for all who share in her story.

The Blue Pen :: Lisa Rusczyk

(Received for review from author - Thanks for the hardcopy Lisa!!)

Parker didn't expect to find his next great magazine story sleeping off a hangover in the back seat of his car. The homeless woman, Cleo, says she never wakes after dawn, which makes Parker curious. His intuition for finding a unique story is buzzing after meeting Cleo, and he decides to interview her to find out what drove her to live on the streets. Cleo explains how the early death of her first love set the path for her life. She withdraws from the world after he dies, only to re-enter it by going to a strange club called the Beacon. At the underground club, the patrons channel spirits on the improv stage and share psychic readings in the room behind the beaded curtain. While Cleo describes her spiritual awakening, Parker wonders if she actually fell prey to mental illness. Because of a first article Parker wrote about Cleo, another reporter is after the story, blackmailing Parker to give it up. Parker must decide how to keep his story and not let Cleo down in the process.

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I love book shopping, in case you didn't notice already =)

Happy Reading loves!