Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout – Release Day Launch!

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We are so pleased to bring you the Release Day Launch for Jennifer L. Armentrout's STAY WITH ME! STAY WITH ME is a New Adult contemporary romance being published by Avon (William Morrow), an imprint of HarperCollins, and is a part of Jennifer’s With You Saga!


Stay With Me Cover

STAY WITH ME Synopsis:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You and Be with Me comes a daring tale that pushes boundaries . . . At 21, Calla hasn't done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park.
But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends. But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name.
Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she’d left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming. Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona.
And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn't give them her mom.

Stay With Me Teaser 1
Belle: *coughs* XD

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iTunes ** Kobo ** GooglePlay



EXCERPT:
As I lay there, trying to swallow a loud, obnoxious yawn, I remembered something he’d said when we first met, about life being too short. I imagined he had firsthand experience with shortened lives while he was serving. That mentality came from experience. I got that now. Could even understand it, but there was something I didn’t understand. “Why?” I asked. There was a beat.
“Why what?” Jax sounded tired, and I should shut up or point out that I was now tired and could sleep, so he could leave. But I didn’t. “Why are you here? You don’t know me and . . .” I trailed off, because there really wasn’t anything left to say.
A minute went by, and he hadn’t answered my question, and then I think another minute ticked on, and I was okay with him not answering because maybe he didn’t even know. Or maybe he was just bored and that was why he was here.
But then he moved. Jax pressed against my back, and the next breath I took got stuck in my throat. My eyes shot open. The sheet and blanket were between us, but they felt like nothing. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Getting comfortable.” He dropped an arm over my waist, and my entire body jerked against his.
“It’s time to sleep I think.” “But—” “You can’t sleep when you talk,” he remarked. “You don’t need to be all up on me,” I pointed out. His answering chuckle stirred the hair along the back of my neck. “Honey, I’m not all up on you.”
I freaking begged to differ on that point. I started to wiggle away, but the arm around my waist tightened, holding me in place. “You’re not going anywhere,” he announced casually, as if he wasn’t holding me prisoner in the bed. Okay. The whole prisoner thing might be melodramatic, but he wasn’t letting me up. Not when he was getting all kinds of comfy behind me.
Oh my God, this was spooning. Total spooning. I was spooning with an honorary member of the Hot Guy Brigade. Did I wake up in a parallel universe?
“Sleep,” he demanded, as if the one word carried that much power. “Go to sleep, Calla.” This time his voice was softer, quieter.
“Yeah, it doesn’t work that way, Jax. You have a nice voice, but it doesn’t hold the power to make me sleep on your command.” He chuckled.
I rolled my eyes, but the most ridiculous thing ever was the fact that after a couple of minutes, my eyes stayed shut. I . . . I actually settled in against him.
With his front pressed to my back, his long legs cradling mine, and his arm snug around my waist, I actually did feel safe. More than that, I felt something else—something I hadn’t felt in years. I felt cared for . . . cherished. Which was the epitome of dumb, because I barely knew him, but feeling that, recognizing what the warm, buzzing feeling was, I fell right asleep.

Stay With Me Teaser 2


Author Photo

Jennifer L. Armentrout/J.Lynn Bio:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true.
When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math.
Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV.
She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Website ** Facebook ** Twitter ** J. Lynn Goodreads Page ** Jennifer L. Armentrout Goodreads Page

 

Saturday, September 20, 2014

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief
Source of Pic: Goodreads
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Current Rating on Goodreads: 4.36 of 5 stars
Pages: 552
Synopsis (via Goodreads):

It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids - as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.


The Book Thief is the story of Death's recollection of Nazi Germany with World War II looming, Jews being taken away to concentration camps and the life of a certain young girl named Liesel Meminger as she meets her new foster parents, makes friendships, and grows mentally and emotionally. Throw in an accordion–playing foster papa with a promise from long ago, a young man who also happens to be a Jew, and a craving for books with stems back to death and a snowy grave, and you have the story of a book thief.

Wow! This was......... *gulps and dabs puffy eyes* And it was sooooo dense and hugee! It took forever to finish without succumbing to the temptation for reading ahead.........*groans* It's a real timeless masterpiece tho.
I knew as soon as I started to get into the story that it wasn't going to end well, but that was okay........ughhh wrong word, it was NOT okay, but it was acceptable, because the tragedy was part of what made the book brilliant and truly eye-opening. Or as Death said.....
“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
And it was sad to read about the jews :'( Even tho I already know the stories of what happened to jews in Nazi Germany, every time I hear/read about it, it still manages to make my stomach churn for the injustices that occurred.

I loved the writing! It was a queer narration from a queer narrator, but it flowed nicely with so much originality :D
It's really interesting that the book was 'narrated' by Death himself. It's such a weird concept, made marvellous, at least in my eyes, by the fact that in this book, Death is an amicable, even funny guy! ;D The poor creature too, while reading, you just want to give him the vacation he's always whining about XDD
“I say His name in a futile attempt to understand. “But it’s not your job to understand.” That’s me who answers. God never says anything. You think you’re the only one he never answers? “Your job is to …” And I stop listening to me, because to put it bluntly, I tire me. When I start thinking like that, I become so exhausted, and I don’t have the luxury of indulging fatigue. I’m compelled to continue on, because although it’s not true for every person on earth, it’s true for the vast majority—that death waits for no man—and if he does, he doesn’t usually wait very long.”

There was also a merry (or not) bunch of complexities we like to call characters:

Liesel: She starts off almost 10 years old, stealing her first book, and meeting her new foster parents. At first she's insecure and haunted my nightmares. As the story progresses you really get to see Liesel grow and mature, and I loved reading her story (told by the wonderful Death, of course :P) It's tragic tho, what she had to endure at such a young age *sniffs*
“At times, in that basement, she woke up tasting the sound of the accordion in her ears. She could feel the sweet burn of champagne on her tongue.
Sometimes she sat against the wall, longing for the warm finger of paint to wander just once more down the side of her nose, or to watch the sandpaper texture of her papa’s hands.
If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter and bread with only the scent of jam spread out on top of it.
It was the best time of her life.”


Hans: I loved Hans <3 He was clearly a kind man from the get-go. And you continue to see affirmations of this all through the book.
“Many times, on the way home, women with nothing but kids and poverty would come running out and plead with him to paint their blinds.”
But sometimes his kindness gets the best of him, and he's haunted by his decisions. You can't help feeling sorry for him, because, of all things, kindness could hurt him.
“I am stupid,” Hans Hubermann told his foster daughter. “And kind. Which makes the biggest idiot in the world. The thing is, I want them to come for me. Anything’s better than this waiting.”
Hans Hubermann needed vindication.”


Max: Is a jew. And what was sad was that the damnation and shunning of the jews really took a toll on them, Max included. He felt extreme guilt for surviving as long as he did where his family did not. He felt extreme guilt for feeling relieved to be alive. And he felt extreme guilt for letting other's risk their own lives to help him. Which, frankly, is really sad and disturbing. It wasn't the jews' fault that they were being hunted, tortured and killed. And yet the ones that survived felt the burden of guilt.
But through it all there was still a seed of hope buried beneath all Max's despair and guilt, the perseverance of the human soul. (view spoiler)

Rudy: Rudy.......w-was such a weird, funny, loyal charrie.......*makes low keening sound*.......a-and.....he loved his best friend dearly.......
“How about a kiss, Saumensch?”
(view spoiler)

Rosa: Okaayyy. *wipes eyes and clears throat* At first she seems to be a strict, rude woman with a tough skin, and this is true! XD But as you continue reading the story to begin to realize that that's just the beginning of Rosa's character, and that she's so, sooo much more. She has a big heart but normally doesn't sugarcoat things, and she actually does have a sense of humor :P And of course, she loves using three particular words..........*cackles loudly*

I think that the moral of the story was to point out, just as Death pointed out, the relationship between the monstrous heartache and the sharp beauty that live within the same moment.
“Was this Germany?
Was this Nazi Germany?”


After such a sad and gripping historical fiction (this took me 2 months to read, seriously o.O With a million stops and starts tho....*rolls eyes* I'm not that slow at rweading :P), I think I'm gonna go off on a splurge of romance stuffed fantasy YA books *giggles and winks at Cazz*........so if you'll excuse moi *skips away*
5 stars!!!! <3333333333
P.s. Now I understand the meaning of the cover Cazzi *chin wobbles* :'(

“All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.

A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR
I am haunted by humans.”


—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

View this review on Goodreads

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

20 Things You Might Not Know About Me Tag


Hey there peeps! Belle 'ere! I knoww, I'm totally bombing the blog with tags lately, but I can't help it :P .....in fact we aka the Misses still need to do the Zombie Apocalypse Book Tag and the Book Gif Tag because we got tagged for both a while ago and still haven't got around to posting it up.....and now Cass is off in Mongolia so more waiting XP
Geeky Belle: *makes note to round up Misses in the near future to do tags*
So yeahh, I know there's a lot of tags going around, but they're soooo fuun, so I'm just gonna roll with it ;) Cool? Cool.

So today I'm gonna be doing the 20 Things You Might Not Know About Me Tag! Thanks Tika and Bless mah newest besties over at Fangirl Confessions and Mischievous Reads respectively for tagging me :P
The title makes the tag obvious, so yesss, there are 20 questions which you might not know my answers to, and basically....I answer them. Simple as that :D Hehe let's do this! *rubs hands together*

Question 1: How tall are you?
*cough* Just over 5 feet. In other words, short. Very short. In fact, out of all the dancers in my dance school, I'm only as tall as the 10 year olds. It's sad xD

Question 2: Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?
Hidden talent? *raises eyebrow* Hmm, well.....I can do this weird thing with my throat.....but I have no idea how, why or what, and I wouldn't consider it a talent anyway o.O
Ohh! I'm pretty good at memorizing things! Last year I memorized about 2/3 of the Periodic Table ;) And I'm kinda smart, if I do say so myself.....not to be cocky or anythang XDD But I did do year 11 and 12 equivalent Chemistry last year when I was 14.....tis my greatest achievement evaaaahh!

Question 3: What’s your biggest blog-related pet peeve?
 We use G+ as the comment system on FM, and it irritates me to no end when G+ somehow plays up or sumfin and refuses to let me directly answer a comment -___-

Question 4: What’s your biggest non-blog related pet peeve?
When people eat with their mouth open. Urghh. Sometimes my brother does it on purpose to annoy me, and grrrr does it work or what? >.<

Question 5: What’s your favorite song?
I don't have a favorite song because just like books, there's simply loads of cool songs coming out all the time! But the first songs/singers/bands that come to mind are:
•Missy Higgins
•Iggy Azalea
•Florence + The Machine
•Justin Timberlake
•One Republic
•The Neighbourhood
•Two Steps From Hell
•Christina Perri
•Ed Sheeran
•Borrow My Heart; Taylor Henderson
•Brave; Sara Bareilles
•All About That Bass; Meghan Trainor
•Pass That Dutch; Missy Elliott
Just to name a few......hehehehe I can keep going.....*grins and clamps hand over mouth*

Question 6: What’s your favorite Etsy shop that isn’t yours?
I don't use Etsy, but I've heard of it once or twice.....

Question 7: What’s your favorite way to spend your free time when you’re alone?
Reading, blogging, interneting (yessss interneting is now an official word! By order of....me :P), listening to music, watching movies, dancing, the occasional video game, sleeping......*winks*

Question 8: What’s your favorite junk food?
Doritos....pizza....fried icecream....Burger Rings....buttery popcorn....yuuuummmm.

Question 9: Do you have a pet or pets? If so, what kind and what are their names?
Yesssss :) Currently (we've had loads of other pets in the past but I won't get into that XD) two cutesy female British Shorthair cats....also known as Garfield cats :P
Technically the tri-colored one, ShiShi, is my brother's, and the blue one, Cupcakes, is mine. And ShiShi is Cupcakes's mother....so I've known Cupiiiicakes all her life *grins*

Question 10: What are your number one favorite nonfiction and fiction books?
I don't read non-fiction, but my total fav fiction is Throne of Glass! <3 Aaaand my HoF copy just arrived last night! Squee!

Question 11: What’s your favorite beauty product?
*snickers* Uhhh.....sooo.....I only recently started wearing a bit of makeup now and again, so I'm more the “ohh-looksies-some-unidentifiable-branded-eyeliner! That'll do!” kinda person lol

Question 12: When were you last embarrassed? What happened?
I don't remember when the last time was, per say, but the one that sticks out most in my mind is my incredible knack of introducing myself as “my brother's BROTHER” *winces* I've done it like 3 times now! *facepalm*

Question 13: If you could only drink one beverage (besides water) for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Umm, probably Cascade Apple Isle :) I've always loved that stuff!

Question 14: What’s your favorite movie?
Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa BUDDY! You do not tell a movie fanatic to pick a favourite movie o.O That's just......meaaan. *pauses* Yeaahh that was a terrible comeback, hush. XD

Question 15: What were you in high school: prom queen, nerd, cheerleader, jock, valedictorian, band geek, loner, artist, prep?
*quirks brow* Well firstly I've been homeschooled since 2nd grade, and secondly, I don't think Aussie schools are like that. I'm pretty sure that this American high school cliché doesn't exist here.....for one we don't have football teams, which means no cheerleaders and not really any jocks *shrugs*
But if I was to self-classify, hmm......that's kinda impossible XDD I'm a little bit nerd status with how much of my time is monopolized by my school work, and I get really high scores a lot so I guess I could take a shot at valedictorian, I dance, I've done a bit of drama before and have quite a few drama friends, and my clothing style is just the way I like it. Aka really funky and fickle xD I love wearing odd bits and pieces! I must visit thrift shops when I go to America one day! They'd be like heaven to meee *beams*

Question 16: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
I'd love to visit a million different places, but as for settling down in one place, I'd want it to be somewhere nice and sunny! I hate the cold brrrrrr *shivers* The first places that come to mind are Cairns and California.

Question 17: PC or Mac?
MAC! I have one, and duuudee is it awesomesauce!

Question 18: Last romantic gesture from a crush, date, boy/girlfriend, spouse?
Don't and have never had one.....soooo o.O

Question 19: Favorite celebrity?
I don't really buy into the 'celebrity craze'......I mean, in the end they're just people like us, but if I had to pick, probably Jennifer Lawrence because I've seen some interviews on TV and she's hilarious ;)

Question 20: What blogger do you secretly want be best friends with?
That's an interesting one.....I could mention a bunch of bloggers, but I don't want to go on a craze, so I'll keep it to a few....
Sunny over at A Sunny Spot and Fran over at My Crazy Bookish World (I'm so jealous btw! I wanna see The Maze Runner soooo baad and my mum is refusing to let me! >.< Grrrrr)! I think it would be a new and exciting experience to chat with other Aussie teen bloggers :)
Ohh! And also Inge, who's a co-blogger over at Bookshelf Reflections! Her 'about me' is just so hilarious and I keep hearing it in a particular English accent.....*cough*BillyConnollyinGarfield2*cough* SMITHEE!!! XDD
(and fear not, dear Tika and Bless, for I already claim you as my besties *ominous music* You're stuck with me now mwahahahah)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Alrighty! Time to tag some peeps:
Sunny @A Sunny Spot
Fran @My Crazy Bookish World
Inge @Bookshelf Reflections
Laura @Blue Eye Books (another bestie *waves*)
Jess & Kell @A Cup of Tea & A Big Book (mah dears!)

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!