In Which I Have A Giveaway For Some Signed Books

It's officially summer, both the calender and the weather confirm it, and to celebrate I think a giveaway of some fun summer reads are in order!  On August 16th I'm going to a book signing that's going to feature four lovely authors and all have fantastic books that are perfect summer reads.  I'm also going to one on September 30th, Lauren Oliver is in town, and while school will be back in session her books might help you hold onto the feeling of summer.  And now without further adieu, THE GIVEAWAY!

Please see the bottom of the post for giveaway!

Four Author Signing Giveaway

One (1) winner will win their choice of one (1) book from the above selection (or any book in the series that's currently out) to be signed by the author (and personalized if you wish).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lauren Oliver Giveaway

One (1) winner will win their choice of one (1) book from the above selection to be signed by the author (and personalized if you wish).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules

Entries from all countries are welcome but please know that if you live in another country (outside of Canada) it might take some time for me to send your prize out because of extremely high postal rates.  Please make sure that any name you want in the personalization has been checked and double checked.  I will be picking the winners right before I head to the signing so it's important that you get the name right seeing as I'm not responsible for any mistakes you make.  Once I get home from the event (or the following day) I will email the winners and ask for a confirmation of address.  The address you provided is for the off chance you don't respond, so PLEASE fill it out and DOUBLE CHECK before you submit it!  I promise not to use the information for anything else and once the contest is over it will never be looked at again. 

 If I get a large number of entries I may chose to pick two winners!  

Thank you and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Review-Open Road Summer

Having met Emery and then hearing all of my blogger friends rave about how amazing this book was I decided that I needed to read it, and over my little Fourth of July vacation seemed like the best time to start.  Now I started it on the third and I didn't finish it until yesterday so before you start going "you couldn't possibly have liked that book, it took you WAY to long to read" I want to say that it took me so long to read because once you get to a certain point in a book like this things go bad, and I didn't want things to go bad; I wanted them to stay nice and fluffy.  This was one of those books that's just the perfect summer read in the fact that it takes place over summer, there's a road trip, two best friends, and something that might end up being love.  What was different about it was the main character.  Reagan is not the typical YA main female character, mainly because she's very blunt and not exactly a "good girl", but honestly that makes it all the more interesting.  So often today in YA we see main female leads that are prim and proper and might as well be little bunny rabbits, but that's not the case with this novel, which is actually rather refreshing.  I myself, I'm probably a bunny rabbit, but it's always nice to read about a character that goes from being bristly and hard to someone who shows at least a few of the soft spots she has.  It also doesn't hurt when she falls for the "good guy", and that he sounds super adorable and is basically someone who almost every girl has crushed on at least once in their life.  Overall the book was a quick and easy read that hit the spot for my summer fluff craving, and I LOVED the fact that a female best friend relationship was such a huge part of the book.  After all of the swooning over Matt all over the internet my expectations were probably set a little high so it's not overly surprising to me that he fell a little short, but he does sound adorable and yes, I would want to date him.  Bottom line, YA contemporary lovers should pick this book up and give it a go, and it doesn't hurt if you love yourself some country either.  I'm excited to see what Emery has in store for her next novel, and I wouldn't be opposed to a little shout out in it to these characters, just to see what they're up to.

4/5 dust spirits

Review-Welcome to the Dark House

The moment I heard about this book I knew I had to read it because there's nothing I love more than a good teen slasher story.  What I found within the cover was pretty much what I expected, although there were some elements of it that seemed slightly mystical, so it falls more along the lines of A Nightmare on Elm Street than it does Friday the 13th.  Very few books manage to work with more than two POVs but I found that this one, which had six, actually worked remarkably well.  Usually I get slightly confused by characters and find myself having to look back in the book for which character is who but all of the ones in this novel were different enough that I didn't have to do that.  Sure there were characters that I liked more than others, I don't think there were really any that I didn't like.  The book started a little slow, there were bits and pieces I wasn't sure were absolutely necessary to further the story, and because I am my usual gore-loving self I would have liked if the blood started a little sooner that it did, but I understand why the author paced the story the way she did.  One of the things I found most fascinating was how Stolarz constructed not just her mystery, but also the films that brought all of the characters together and played such a huge role in the plot itself.  There were several times when I wanted to go online and look these movies up so I could watch them before I remembered that they weren't actual movies that were made.  When I got to the end of the book I had mixed emotions because there were so many things that while wrapped up in some sense were not fully tied together, so I was very happy to learn that there will in fact be a sequel.  Personally I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel and I would highly suggest this book to lovers of the horror/suspense/thriller genre, especially when it comes to film. I have no idea if this movie has film rights and, if it does, if they have been bought, but I for one would love to see this book (and probably the series) up on the big screen (or the small one) because I think it would be a sure hit.  If you're not a huge fan of scary things I would suggest you come into this book with caution and perhaps read it with the lights on, but for my first book by this author I'm intrigued and will be reading more of her work in the future when I can find the time.

Out July 22, 2014

4.5/5 dust spirits 

*Thanks to Disney Hyperion for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an hones review