The Day Has Come

It's Friday!
And it's my birthday!

So today I have a guest post by the lovely Chelsea Fine, the author of Sophie & Carter.
Enjoy!

My most memorable birthday....

The word memorable is usually translated into "best" or "craziest"...but today, I'm going to stick to its original meaning: "easiest to remember".

Now, my "best" birthday was probably my 21st, because my boyfriend (now my hubby) took me on the most romantic date ever.

And my "craziest" birthday was probably my 26th, because it started with me accidentally stepping into a can of bright blue paint (barefoot) and ended with me sliding down a giant yellow slide into an inflatable pool filled with mud. (Yep. I was an adult.)

But those are stories for another time. My most memorable birthday happened long before romance and yellow slides.

It was April. I was nine. And I had on a great pair of socks. (Isn't that how all good birthdays start? With a pair of killer socks? It sure would have helped with the blue paint thing.)

When you're nine, birthdays are mostly all about presents and frosting and more presents.

Rarely ever are they about dishwashers.

That's right, this is a story about a dishwasher.

It was the end of the day, after the party had ended and all the frosting had been licked off the cupcakes, and my mom decided to wash the dishes. She turned the dishwasher on, like normal, and left the kitchen. Little did she know I was about to get the coolest birthday present ever....

Did you know that when you put dish soap (not dishwasher detergent--dish soap) in the dishwasher, it will overflow with bubbles and seep out onto the floor, making your kitchen a giant foam party?

NEITHER DID I--Until my ninth birthday. :)

Because there was so much dish soap in the dishwasher, the suds didn't just overflow a few inches onto the tile. They FILLED UP our kitchen. A cloud of bubbles 4 feet high and 6 feet wide took form in the center of our kitchen and made the house smell like lemons.

My mother saw the bubble wall before I did. And she freaked out. Because that's what moms do. They look at a cloud of bubbles and think, "Oh no! My kitchen cabinets are going to get all wet and everything's going to be all slippery and sticky."

Nine-year-olds look at a cloud of bubbles and say, "Slip 'n' Slide time!!!!!"

So, that's what I did. I ran and skidded across my foaming kitchen floor, in my awesome socks, like an ice skater. Then I did it again, on my stomach. Then on my back. Then my feet again. It was AH-MAZING.

Being nine years old, I was only 4 feet tall, so the bubbles completely covered my head. It was like playing in an ACTUAL cloud. I felt like, at any minute, a Care Bear could show up and we could go rainbow-hopping together or something.

Sure, my mom whined and groaned about the "mess" and my soapy socks tracking bubble prints across the living room carpet. But did I care? Nope.

Because I was nine. And a mountain of bubbles was the best present I could have hoped for. :)


Thanks to Chelsea for the brilliant post (doesn't that b-day sound AWESOME?)

Find Chelsea on these sites:
www.ChelseaFineBooks.com
Twitter: @ChelseaFine
http://chelseafine.blogspot.com

Also, due to lack of time, there weren't any posts yesterday and the day before, but tomorrow I'm having a final giveaway (and it's gonna be a huge one)
Also, I'll announce the winner of Bridger.

Oh, and, don't forger to enter the giveaways that are currently open!
:)

Vampires vs. Werewolves vs. Fairies vs. ...

Hi again! Okay, so.
This is still a part of my celebration week, but I also want to throw in some Halloween themes into it!

Today, I want to start a discussion.
Which one of the supernatural creatures is your favorite and why?

You can choose between vampires, werewolves, fairies, shape-shifters etc. etc. Think of anything you like. Also, you can tell me your fav literary vamp, were or whatever :)

While on topic, there is one series that has all types of supernatural beings and it is... Paranormalcy by Kiersten White!

And I'm giving away two! sets of pdf. copies of first two novels of the trilogy, Paranormalcy and Supernaturally :)

Birthday celebration week: Day 2

Hiya!
Today, I have a guest post from author Cara d'Bastian aka KS Augustin :)


Firstly, a huge thanks to Tamara for letting me rant at you today! Hi, my name's Cara and I write urban fantasy. Allow me to just jump right in....

Hubby and I had been moving around the world a bit. One of our children was born in the United States, for example, another in Australia. When we settled in south-east Asia four years ago, I felt a bit disconnected. You see, I was born in Malaysia but the person that had left Asia a long time ago was not the same one that returned and while everything seemed to look familiar on the surface, there were undercurrents and mores I realised I knew nothing about.

That sense of "not belonging", however, got me thinking about other people who, for one reason or another, feel like they don't belong either. And what happens if you feel that way in an environment where you should feel like one of the crowd?

This idea knocked around my head for a few years. In the meantime, I discovered Urban Fantasy. And I began reading a lot of UF books. And it struck me that the mythologies presented were overwhelmingly Anglo/Celtic. And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be interesting if I shared some knowledge of other mythologies? Of monks and jinn and demons and vampires, but not like any vampires you're probably used to.

That love of UF combined with the "on the outside, looking in" vibe to produce the first in an intended series of books about a quirky little Singaporean business called The Check Your Luck Agency. As our heroine, fish-out-of-water Ursula Formosa, points out, the business does exactly what it says it checks your luck, more often bad than good. After all, who questions good luck? ;)

It's bad enough that the world Ursula comes back to is more unfamiliar to her than she'd expected it to be, but then circumstances conspire to push her even further out of her comfort zone. There's a handsome, young ex-model she's been thrown into contact with, a witch doctor with kindly eyes, fraud, robbery, colonial-era history...and that's just in the first book!

THE CHECK YOUR LUCK AGENCY, while set in an exotic environment, is essentially about people. No matter the colour of our skin, we all have the same basic dreams and desires. The only difference is in how we try to make those dreams and desires come true. And, for Ursula, who just wants a quiet life, she's going to find that things are going to get much more excitable and dangerous for her before it gets any better. Much more dangerous.

THE CHECK YOUR LUCK AGENCY, Book 1 of the Check Your Luck series, is available from Amazon and other leading etailers.

Its page at Sandal Press is here.
You can read the full first chapter here at the Check Your Luck Agency website:
And I blog every Tuesday at http://caradbastian.blogspot.com


Okay, so, today I have TWO giveaways.

First one is for .pdf copy of THE CHECK YOUR LUCK AGENCY

The novel is labeled as Adult, but Cara told me that there is nothing in there that can't be read by a teenager. :)






And the next one is coming very, very soon. Little bit later today, that is :)

Birthday madness week is here!

Nice pic, eh? ;)

Okay! Welcome to my Birthday celebration madness!
This week is all about... well, a lot of things. Guest posts, my posts, GIVEAWAYS, and stuff.
Today I'm kicking it off with an important something. A guest post from Cyndi Tefft, author of Between. It's about piracy, and you should definitely read it.


Piracy Sucks!

Just last week, I learned that my YA paranormal romance, Between, had been pirated. That is, it’s been posted to a file sharing site for anyone and everyone to download as they wish. For free. And then it happened again. And again. At last count, seven places offer the illegal download of my book.

And there’s nothing I can really do about it.

Sure, some of the sites have procedures for contacting them to request the posts be removed. I’ve done that. One site’s email is defunct. Another site has no contact information at all.

Perhaps if I were a big corporation, I could try and sue the site. I’m not. I’m just an independent author with a book for sale. A book that costs 99 cents at that!

So I can’t stop them. But I can fight back in other ways. And you can, too.

Got a blog? Do a post speaking out against piracy.

Got a Facebook page? Post comments and links about this outrage.

Got a Twitter account? Tweet #PiracySucks and join the others who are taking a stand.

Got graphic design skills? Make a banner, an icon, a twibbon, an avatar, or more!

Got a few bucks? Host a giveaway like Two Chicks on Books and Unabridged Bookshelf are doing.

But most important of all? Support authors—both the ones you know and the ones you’re trying for the first time—by buying their books. And be sure to post your review to encourage others to read the book as well!

Maybe we can’t nuke the bad guys, but we can fight back by spreading the word that downloading a book from a file sharing site isn’t “sharing” or “lending” but stealing. That hurts the authors, which eventually hurts the readers, too.

So let’s keep the stories coming by saying no to piracy!

Cyndi Tefft’s debut novel, Between, is available for only 99 cents from Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other sites. Pick up a copy today in support of Cyndi and others whose books have been pirated. Prefer print? Order a personalized copy from Cyndi directly at www.cynditefft.com.

Okay, today, due to the fact that's it's only the beginning of the week, there will be no special giveaways, but I will remind you that I have one on here that's running right now!
It's for e-copy of Bridger by Megan Curd. Bridger is a fun YA novel that involves fey and fairies, and I definitely recommend! Enter here: http://tamarasbookramblings.blogspot.com/2011/10/bridger-blog-tour.html

Okay, that's it for today, feel free to leave your thoughts about piracy in the comments and make sure you're following me on twitter, because I just might throw in a surprise giveaway here and there ;)
x Tamara

Prepare for next week...

Why, you ask? Well, because...
It's my birthday! 'Big' 15. (and also, I reached 100 followers recently, so it's celebration of both)
And I'm doing this thing on the blog where the whole next week I will be having giveaways, author interviews and guest posts etc... :)
Soo, I hope you come back soon, I have to put some finishing touches on the whole plan and then we'll have some fun (me hopes)!

Read you soon ;)

Bridger Blog Tour!

Hello there!
Today I'm posting the review of Bridger, by Megan Curd.
If you remember, I already posted it once, so I'm gonna do it again.

Goodreads blurb:

Ashlyn McVean doesn't believe in fairy tales. That is, until Ashlyn is thrown into the crosshairs of grudges her grandmother created long ago. After finding out she is one of two people able to cross between faerie realms, Ashlyn is faced with trying to understand her abilities, along with navigating a new relationship with her boyfriend, Liam. As if being on a centuries old hit list and dealing with crazed pixies isn't enough, her new abilities mean trouble for Liam. Knowing her new life puts everyone she loves in danger, Ashlyn must decide what's most important in her life between friends, family, love, and ultimately, realms.




Personal opinion:


From literally the first page you feel every emotion Ashlyn does. She is a good character, though blind sometimes (See, in order to see when or how you need to read this). I liked her character, especialy considering what she goes through. What I liked the most about her is the eye thing. I wish I could do that. *sigh*
I won't comment on Liam. If I do, this post will be filled with good adjectives and my sighes. Which I'm surue you don't want to read, so let's move on.
The world in this novel is not unknown, but M. Curd added a lot of new things and it came out as a very original and interesting world and story.
Near the end I was already getting nervous because I didn't know if this would be another cliffhanger book.
Well, it is and it isn't. Lot of questions left unanswered.
You know what else I liked about this one? All of the surprises. How unpredictable they were. It did fool me once or twice. Or more.
Anywaaay, 
5 stars :)


Now you go read it. Now.


Megan's site: http://www.megancurd.com/
Megan's twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MeganCurd


Find the rest of the stops here http://www.ataleofmanyreviews.com/index.php/2011/08/bridger-book-blog-tour-sign-up/ and find the details how you can win the grand prize

And now for a giveaway:
I'm offering one e-copy of Bridger to one lucky winner.
Fill in the form:

Lots and lots of short reviews

Hi! Okay, so you might know that I'm sick and spending time at home, so I figured I could write and post a few reviews while I'm here. So,

UNVEILED by Trisha Wolfe
Check it out on Goodreads here
My review:
Short, but fun and intense read. Actually surprised me how much of greatness fit into 30-ish pages! Loved the characters, the story and the kissing parts ;)
Now I'm eagerly awaiting the full novel with characters from Unveiled.
Thanks Trisha for offering me Unveiled to review! :)
5 stars 


SKID OUT (Heavy Influence novella) by Ann Marie Frohoff
Goodreads page
My review:
Okay, so. Jake and Alyssa's story is short, but a sweet one. It portraits love in a usual, but new way. It felt real. The characters, their emotions, the situations they were in. 
And I think you should give it a chance because I'm sure this was only the beginning and the trilogy will be awesome.
4.5 stars

SOPHIE & CARTER by Chelsea Fine

Check it out!

My review: 

"Our moment is over so I slowly release her. She moves away from me and a piece of me dies."

Oh boy *suffers from a total cuteness overload*
I got my copy of Sophie & Carter for review earlier today and started it immediately. *fast-forward a few hours* And here I am now, writing this review with a big happy smile on my face.
117 pages long, this novel had me aww-ing, smiling, feeling sad and sorry all in once.
Sophie and Carter, the two main characters and narratives, had been through hell of a life, dealing with family problems. They live next door, and they know each others' troubles more than their own. And that's what keeps them inseparable.
S&C is a cute, fast read, though I wouldn't say that it's very light, because it talks about some issues. Still, I savoured it quickly and I'm very glad I requested this novel, because it made me in love with love. :)

Definitely 5 stars and I cannot wait for the sequel!

SIX MOON SUMMER & ALL HALLOWS MOON by S. M. Reine

Six Moon Summer

All Hallows Moon

My review:
Oh this books. You know that feeling, when you finish a book and you're literally DYING for more? Yeah? Well, that's how I felt after reading Six Moon Summer.

I loved Riley's story, it captivated me from the beginning. S. M. Reine has that something in her writing that makes you long for more. Also, the parts where she writes the transformations were just... horrifyingly brilliant.

And then I reached the end of Book 1 and I was clicking franticly for more, but there wasn't more. UNTIL, I got All Hallows Moon.

And the sequel was even more heart-breaking and gritty than the first one!

And that's why I really, really love this series. They only get better and better. *Psst, I've found out there will be more books*

5 stars

PEARL by Jo Knowles

Find it -add it- here

My review:

Loved it!
This is a story about Pearl or Bean, however you want to call her, and her not-so-perfect life.
I won't get into the plot, but I will say that PEARL is really a heart-breaking story of loss, friendship, family and love. It was captivating, and I maybe kinda cried a little... not that I would admit.
Anyways, I really liked the bond between Pearl and Henry, and their ways of deeling with some serious stuff.
Definitely a novel worth reading!
5 stars

Okay, this is it for round 1! I'll be posting more soon.

And stay tuned for blog tours and giveaways very soon! :)
Read on :)

RAK October Edition

Hello there!
It's a new month, meaning it's a new opportunity for you to sign up for RAK and give out books (and get them)!

Rules:

• Sign up each month you'd like to participate in.

• Show off your participation! Grab one of the buttons available :)

• Create a wishlist and post it in the Google Doc located in each R.A.K post for the month.
{Post on your blog, Amazon, where ever as long as there's a link to it.}

• If you choose to do a R.A.K for someone, check out their wishlist and contact that blogger for their address. 

• At the end of the month, SHOW US YOUR R.A.K!

{Make a post saying 'Thank You' to whoever granted one of your wishes :)

OPEN TO EVERYONE! 
Lets's keep our International bloggers in mind and in our hearts.
Remember, there's always the Book Depository and they offer FREE shipping!
Thank you Uniflame for pointing that out!! :P

Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As4fr55TjlOydEU5LTNYU3hsV3R1Sl90VlFFLVZMSkE#gid=0 you can find  a list of ppl that signed up (I'm no. 144, in case anyone's interested and it's my b-day on the 28th, if anyone cares *wink*)

Read on :)