Hi! I'm still here and excited about all the NEWS!!

I've been in such a rut lately with blogging and reading. Sort of video game playing. My son loves Zelda games and well. How can I not help him with the Zelda game. This morning has been such a great news morning I can't wait to share.

It's all over the twitterverse now but I'm sure you've heard about Random House big big news!


From the Press Release;

RANDOM HOUSE TO PUBLISH OFFICIAL

YA NOVELS BASED ON FOUR DC COMICS SUPER HERO ICONS, BY FOUR BESTSELLING AUTHORS

Wonder Woman™, Batman™, Catwoman™, and Superman™ novels to release beginning in 2017


Wonder Woman -LEIGH BARDUGO
Batman - MARIE LU
Catwoman - SARAH J. MAAS
Superman - Matt de la Peña

So August 2017 can't come fast enough I'm really pumped for this.

I was going to get right into the game news but I'll start with a little game and book crossover.

Scholastic will publish World Of Warcraft series

With the new movie coming out and the way the World of Warcraft world is set up. There is so much potential for an addicting series.

Now onto my favorite News of the morning. I'm a gamer at heart and one of my favorite game franchises of all-time (besides Zelda) is of course Final Fantasy!!

Final Fantasy XV has a release date and it's Sept. 30. Also there is going to be...wait for it....a companion Anime and Full Length movie. If that wasn't enough to make my heart go all a flutter. There is also a Game Demo you can download now on your PS4 or Xbox!

Alright all this excitement has tired me out.

Siren's Song by Mary Weber #BookReview #Playlist @The_FFBC

Siren's Song (The Storm Siren Trilogy #3)
by Mary Weber
Publisher: Thomas Nelson / HarperCollins
Release Date: March 1st 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Fiction, Paranormal

Nym and Draewulf prepare to face off in a battle destined to destroy more lives than it saves.

With the loss of Tulla still fresh in mind, Rasha’s fate unknown, and Lord Myles taken over by the dark ability, Nym and the few Bron soldiers rush to warn Cashlin’s queen. Only to discover it may already be too late for the monarch and her eerie kingdom. As the Luminescents are sifting through Nym’s past memories and the queen is reading into her future, Nym is given a choice of how to defeat Draewulf, but the cost may be more than she can bear. And even then there are no guarantees.

With that reality burrowing into her bones—along with the guilt of the lives she will sacrifice—Nym returns to her homeland of Faelen to raise an army of peasants through promises of freedom. But when the few friends she has left, along with the world and citizens she loves, are staring down the face of a monster and his undead army, will Nym summon every element her blood is capable of controlling . . . or surrender to a different strength—one of sacrifice?

Because in the end, death may be more merciful for them all.

GOODREADS | AMAZON | B&N | BD | iTUNES | KOBO

  

Siren’s Song is the final installment in the epic battle against a Dark Army made up of the dead and no so dead enemy. I really enjoyed this final installment. It’s a great group of characters and magic system.

There was a bit of lull for me in the middle. I liked the story and the plot but it felt like it was taking too long to get from one place to the other at times. I’ve become an anxious reader where as much as I understand I need to know how/why they get to the final battle. I’m ready for the final battle. Plus I think I was feeling the absence of Rasha, who is one of my favorite characters.

So many things with Nym. Of course I don’t want to give the book away so I can’t go into detail but I really liked the way her character developed. She has changed so much in this series and this last installment really made her deal with her past. Even some of the parts she herself didn’t remember. I also am so glad that her deformed hand and cutting was not just thrown to the wayside. She really ends up owning those things and facing some demons. Besides Draewulf of course.

Another character that I have really enjoyed is Myles surprisingly. Once again I don’t want to give anything away but I never thought I would be as invested in him as I am. Not when we first meet him anyway. Myles is such a great character because he walks that line that allows him to go either way.

Rasha, again absent for quite a good chunk of the book. I wouldn’t consider that spoilerly since we know she was kidnapped at the end of book two. I’m just going to say I love Rasha.

Eogan don’t be a dufus. I still love you though.

This is war and there is no war without casualties. There was also things that I did not see coming but was like wow this is a such a great way to take this. Plus just taking a good hard look at Isobel and Draewulf.

It was a good ending to the series. I was really happy with it. I have loved these books wholeheartedly. I think if you’ve enjoyed this series. You will be satisfied with this ending.

Mary Weber is a ridiculously uncoordinated girl plotting to take over make-believe worlds through books, handstands, and imaginary throwing knives. In her spare time, she feeds unicorns, sings 80’s hairband songs to her three muggle children, and ogles her husband who looks strikingly like Wolverine. They live in California, which is perfect for stalking L.A. bands, Joss Whedon, and the ocean. Her debut YA fantasy novel, STORM SIREN and SIREN'S FURY are available now in bookstores and online, and SIREN'S SONG will be out March 2016 from TN HarperCollins.

WEBSITE | GOODREADS | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

The Darkest Lie by Pintip Dunn #Excerpt #Giveaway

I'm thrilled to take part in the Excerpt Blitz for Pintip Dunn's upcoming YA thriller, THE DARKEST LIE! Check out the book below, along with the teaser excerpt, and be sure to enter the giveaway!

THE DARKEST LIE

by Pintip Dunn
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Release Date: June 28, 2016

“The mother I knew would never do those things.

But maybe I never knew her after all.”

Clothes, jokes, coded messages…Cecilia Brooks and her mom shared everything. At least, CeCe thought they did. Six months ago, her mom killed herself after accusations of having sex with a student, and CeCe’s been the subject of whispers and taunts ever since. Now, at the start of her high school senior year, between dealing with her grieving, distracted father, and the social nightmare that has become her life, CeCe just wants to fly under the radar. Instead, she’s volunteering at the school’s crisis hotline—the same place her mother worked.

As she counsels troubled strangers, CeCe’s lingering suspicions about her mom’s death surface. With the help of Sam, a new student and newspaper intern, she starts to piece together fragmented clues that point to a twisted secret at the heart of her community. Soon, finding the truth isn’t just a matter of restoring her mother’s reputation, it’s about saving lives—including CeCe’s own…

Goodreads | Pre-order from Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

“This one will tug your heart and leave you breathless!”
--Natalie D. Richards, author of Six Months Later

Excerpt from THE DARKEST LIE

It’s time to view the body. Family first.

Well, technically, me first. There was always only three of us in the nuclear unit, and Dad’s been locked in the den for the past seventy-two hours. I’ve only seen him once, when he shuffled upstairs like a pajama-clad zombie and asked me if I’d eaten.

That was it: Did you eat?

Not: I prefer the cherry wood casket. Or: Let me make your grandma’s travel arrangements. Or even: I know this was Mom’s favorite dress, but isn’t the neckline a little...low?

Did I eat?

Yes, Dad. I had soup from the can and microwaved pizza rolls and a bowl of cereal. The food sloshes in my stomach now as I walk down the runner to the casket I picked out because of its mauve tint.

Calla lilies pile in urns around the viewing room, and the air-conditioning wars with the sweat along my hairline. My mom smiles at me from a portrait erected behind the casket. Her eyes are hesitant and a little wary, as if she knew, somehow, some way, she would wind up here. Lifeless. Pumped full of formaldehyde. About to be gawked at by a town full of gossips.

This was only going to end one of two ways—with Tabitha Brooks dead or in jail. I never thought I’d say this, but I’d give anything to see my mother behind bars.

I wade through the dense, chilly air and stop a few feet from the body. Behind me, my grandmother and aunt sit, a box of tissues between them, blowing their noses like it’s a sport.

“Look at our Cecilia,” Gram sniffs. “So brave. Not a single tear shed.”

If she only knew. I’m not brave. Fifteen minutes ago, I was retching into the toilet bowl. Five minutes from now, when the doors open for the visitation, I’ll be long gone, leaving Gram to shake people’s hands and deal with the bit lips, the knowing eyebrows, that inevitable speaking-in-a-funeral-parlor whisper. I can hear the titters: “Is it true? Tabitha’s heart stopped while she was boffing the high school quarterback? Why, she must’ve been twenty years his senior!”

Twenty-three years, to be exact, and a high school English teacher to boot. But she didn’t actually die during sex. Instead, a few days after Tommy Farrow came forward with their affair, my mother took her own life.

What could be a clearer admission of guilt? She might as well have been caught in the act. The investigation was shut down before it even began.

I take a shuddering breath. Two more minutes. A hundred and twenty seconds and then I can leave. I steel my shoulders and walk the final steps to my mother’s body.

Oh god. It’s even worse than I thought.

The room whirls around me, and nausea sprints up my throat. My hands shoot out to grab the casket, stopping short of actually touching the corpse.

This . . . this thing . . . can’t be my mother. She never smiled like that, all serene and peaceful-like. She never wore this much makeup; her red hair was never chopped so closely to her head. My mother was chaos and passion, devastation and joy. Dad used to say you could reach deep into her eyes and pull out a song.

Well, her eyes are closed now, and I’m not sure there’ll be any music in my life, ever again.

About the Author

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She also published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,”

Pintip is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, YARWA, and The Golden Network.

She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. You can learn more about Pintip and her books at www.pintipdunn.com.

Giveaways (2!)

One winner will receive a prize pack including the following 5 books: Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn; Six Months Later by Natalie Richards; Find Me by Romily Bernard; and From Where I Watch You by Shannon Grogan; Lies I Told by Michelle Zink

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Darkest Lie

by Pintip Dunn

Giveaway ends March 28, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Get Up Offa That Slump: A Blogging Extravaganza

So I admit I have been in a reading slump, graphic slump (above graphic is made by Beauty and the Bookshelf) and of course a blogging slump. I'm even in a video game and tv watching slump. I help my son play Legend of Zelda Windwaker but that's about it. So I think it's fantastic that Rachel at Beauty and the Bookshelf created the Get Up Offa That Slump Blogging Extravaganza in order to help with creating some blog post.

There are two prompts for today that you can choose to do you can find them HERE

Bookish Things You'd Give a Kidney For

I would love to go to London and see the Hogwarts Studio tour. Yes there is a Hogwarts in Florida and soon to be in California but there is just something magical about the idea of seeing the London studio. Honestly I would give my kidney to go to Hogwarts. It's real right?

I would love to travel around the World and see the Best and most Magical Libraries. This one is Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland

I want a house big enough to hold a giant Library with ladders and of course secret doors.

Of course in that awesome house I would have to have a Secret Garden, just like the book

These are just some of the bookish things I would give a kidney for. What about you?

A Daring Sacrifice by Jody Hedlund #BookReview #Giveaway

A Daring Sacrifice (An Uncertain Choice #2)
by Jody Hedlund
Publisher: Zondervan
Release Date: March 1st 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Retellings

In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise

GOODREADS | AMAZON | B&N | BD | iTUNES | KOBO

A Daring Sacrifice was the perfect book for my reading slump. I loved this reverse take on Robin Hood and the enduring romance involved. I couldn’t help but adore the interactions of Collin and Julianna. Especially because she was resistant at first and Collin had to work hard for her affection.

Julianna has been displaced from her rightful spot of heir by her Uncle. Whose cruelty has destroyed the people of the land he rules over. Despite knowing that her father would not have approved, she resorts to stealing in order to feed her growing band of merry people. I would consider Bulldog the leader but many people look up to Julianna. She is strong and as fiery as the the color of her hair. Nothing can break down her walls until Collin reappears in her life.

Collin is very kind and also very smart. He has trained as a knight and is extremely talented in many things revolving around war. He’s had to leave the life of service he has know to now rule over an estate. He finds the life stagnant and boring until a new challenge comes along. Catching a band of thieves that have stolen from him. I actually love how skilled Collin is, it’s really what endeared me to him. I loved how Julianna brings out such a gentle side to him and that he does things for her but also begins to realize exactly what she is fighting for.

The plot is a lot of fun. I liked the Robin Hood twist. It’s not an exact replica but I wouldn’t expect it to be. It has the general basics down. I’m always in love with anything historical.

I really enjoyed the book. This is the second in the series but I did not read the first. I did not need to but now I want to go back and read the first one.I’m interested to read the next one as well. It was the kind of light and cute book I needed for my slump.

Jody Hedlund is a best-selling and award-winning author who loves fairy-tales and happily-ever-afters. She makes her home in Midland, MI with her husband and five teen-aged children. When she’s not writing another of her page-turning stories, you can usually find her sipping coffee, eating chocolate, and reading.

WEBSITE | GOODREADS | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

a Rafflecopter giveaway