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Archives for Feb 2010

• ARC Giveaway Friday - Tender Morsels - And the winners are...

  Feb 26, 2010

  Happy Friday everyone! Today we are excited to give away 5 copies of Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. Here is a brief description of the book:

  Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?

  Do you ever feel like there are two different sides to this world, one full of beauty and goodness the other filled with brutality and evil? How do you cope with both sides of the world? Share your thoughts in the comments section of this blog post for your chance to win!

  
  

  AND THE 5 RANDOMLY SELECTED WINNERS ARE....

  xicecreamsjx: The world is composed of two parts, beauty and brutality. I don't believe that the mortal world can exist without either one. Brutality, though have been made to evade it, will never go away, so we must focus on the beauty in order to cope. The beauty makes life truly worth living, and every second special. The brutality is awful, but beautiful in the most horrible way, since at least we're alive to experience it. Being alive itself is probably one of the beauty of our world. Humans have long since recognized these horrible and wonderful aspects of the world. The beliefs in heaven and * symbolize fantasies and nightmares of these aspects in their most concentrated forms. Emotions judge whether something beautiful and brutal. Without emotions, neither goodness or evil would exist. It would simply exist, and the world would not be a world, it would simply be...there.

  bizizzy: I do believe that there are two sides to this world, but I believe that they work together to form what we see and experience in it. Without the bad would we truly enjoy the good? I dont believe so. If there were not evil deeds done every day, then the world would quit being the special place it is. True beauty would stop being being admired, or even recognized. Though no one likes the bad things that occur, they are a necessity for the world to remain good, just as the good is there to even out the bad.

  kghobbs:  Unfortunately, the world is full of good and bad. The sides of good and bad are virtually two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. At any moment, something good can become something bad. You have to take the world as is. I try to live a balanced life and be a good person. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, but I try to be thankful for all of the good days I have.

  godpinklover: There are two dogs fighting in me. One dog is a good dog and the other is a bad dog. I wonder which one will win the fight. Which one I feed the most is going to win. It seems that when I want to do good evil is forever present in my life. I can't go anywhere and leave the bad dog because he is inside me. No matter where I go he is still there. If I go watch television, eat he is still there. He goes to bed with me. I am my worst enemy. The dog that eats the most, is the one that is going to win the battle that is going on inside of me.

  sagiwolf: I think that the world balances itself out with good and bad. For every natural disaster, whether it be a hurricane, tsunami, or volcano eruption, there is something good, like a graceful waterfall, a colorful jungle, or a shocking coral reef. It's the same for humanity, too. There's pollution and violence from us, but there's also love and friendship between people. To cope, I just accept these things. You can't have too much of a good thing, or life would cease to be meaningful. If it weren't for the violence and horror in our world, there wouldn't be those really great moments that everyone loves. Life isn't always fair, but its an adventure that we all must take, and you get what you get.

  
  

  by HeadBuzzer | 36 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway

• Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Joins Us Next Week!

  Feb 25, 2010

  Join us next week as Token of Darkness author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes answers your questions on the Buzz Boards! If you haven't had a chance to check out her forum and ask her a question, now is the time! Head on over here to ask her a question and also check out this activity -- we are in search for the biggest Amelia Atwater-Rhodes fan! In the meantime, here is a letter to you from Amelia herself! Enjoy!

  Hello, Random Buzzers! I was asked to write you an introduction letter that also talked about Token of Darkness- an assignment I found funny, since I have often remarked that Token of Darkness probably contains more of “me” than any book I have ever published… though it probably does not have a single character in it that anyone will look at and say, “There’s the author.”

  I am not a high school football star, a cheerleader, a telepath, or a sorcerer, and I have never to my knowledge been haunted.  I have never been in a serious accident that forever altered the course of my life, nor have I ever woken up in a hospital bed with a ghost standing beside me.   So perhaps the book alone cannot stand as an introduction.  After all, I know many people still think of Jessica from Demon in My View as me, even though she and I have never had much in common beyond the fact that we are both girls who write about vampires.

  So what makes this story about me? Where am I, in those lines?

  When I was four I wanted to grow up to play professional football for the Washington Redskins, my local team at the time.  Sadly, at 5’ 1” tall I will probably never play pro football, so I content myself with watching the Patriots with my best friend, who did once play high school football and who was my source for much relevant information in Token of Darkness.  Cooper’s work in the bakery is wish-fulfillment in a way; though I love my job as a special education teacher, I also love baking, kneading dough and forming yummy bready treats.

  Cooper is also my first Den of Shadows character to have a positive, close relationship with his family, which is mostly intact.  My own family has always been very supportive and inspirational to me, to the extent that my mother has occasionally expressed some concern for the dysfunction often seen in my characters’ families.  My sister has mostly been offended by my tendency to kill off siblings; I think she takes it as an indication that I want to be an only child, but the truth is, I can think of almost nothing more devastating than losing a sister or brother.  Token of Darkness is certainly not the first story to reveal that belief.

  I could go on- with Cooper as well as with other characters from Token- but I think I will leave the rest for readers to puzzle out, if they choose to.  I am sure some people will continue to think of Jessica as me, and that is fine.  More important to me is the hope that readers will see themselves somewhere in Cooper, Samantha, Brent, Ryan and Delilah.

  I think many people will.  Ghosts and sorcery aside, these are not three-thousand-year-old vampires or heirs to ancient bloodlines (mostly), but people facing choices, challenges, responsibilities, and questions that have answers they might not always want to hear.

  
  

  by HeadBuzzer | 0 comments |
  Filed under: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Buzz Author

• Random Hour #75: Fighting Off the Winter Blues

  Feb 24, 2010

  By the end of February, we are all sick of cold, sunshine-less days and we start getting antsy in anticipation of spring. This, my friends, is the winter blues. It’s when we are so sick of dark winter days that when we see a patch of sunlight outside, we do whatever we can do get to it and greet our warm, missed friend. Never fear, there are some tricks that will help you make it through the last weeks of winter with your sanity intact.

  The first thing you can do is take a vacation. Can’t go somewhere warm or far away for the weekend? That’s okay, put on your boots and coat and head to a neighborhood or nearby town you’ve never been to. Just the act of going someplace new can be enough to lift your spirits.

  Another option is to read books that take place in warm locations or during the summer. Escape to the beach through a great book and it will be almost as good as the real thing!

  Do you have any tricks for keeping the winter blues at bay?  What do you do when you find yourself going stir crazy and longing for warmer months? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

  
  

  by Buzzgirl | 5 comments |
  Filed under: Random Hour

• Josh Berk Joins Us This Week!

  Feb 22, 2010

  Happy Monday everyone! We would like to welcome Josh Berk to the Buzz Boards this week! We are very excited to have the author of The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin join us and answer your questions. Head on over to his forum here to ask Josh a question. In honor of Mr. Berk's visit, we have created 2 new activities and a poll!

  THE DORK-NAMIC DUO: Design an original superhero costume for a dork-tastic superhero!

  TITLE EXPLANATIONS: Think The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin is a weird title? If you didn't know anything about the book, what do you think it would be about based on the title alone?

  FAVORITE TV GEEK: Tell us who your favorite TV geek is!

  
  

  Are you excited for Josh Berk and his new book The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

  by HeadBuzzer | 2 comments |
  Filed under: Buzz Author Josh Berk

• ARC Giveaway Friday - Vintage Veronica - and the winners are...

  Feb 19, 2010

  Happy Friday everyone! We are excited to announce today’s ARC Giveaway. 5 lucky winners will receive an ARC copy of Vintage Veronica by Erica S. Perl! Here’s a brief description of the book:

  Veronica Walsh is 15, fashion-minded, fat, and friendless. Her summer job in the Consignment Corner section (Employees Only!) of a vintage clothing store is a dream come true. There Veronica can spend her days separating the one-of-a-kind gem garments from the Dollar-a-Pound duds, without having to deal with people. But when two outrageous yet charismatic salesgirls befriend her and urge her to spy on and follow the mysterious and awkward stock boy Veronica has nicknamed the Nail, Veronica’s summer takes a turn for the weird. Suddenly, what began as a prank turns into something else entirely. Which means Veronica may have to come out of hiding and follow something even riskier for the first time: her heart.

  To enter for your chance to win, tell us about a time when you decided to follow your heart instead of your head and ended up doing something you normally wouldn’t do! Submit your responses in the comments section below and we’ll announce the 5 winners on Monday!

  
  

  AND THE 5 RANDOMLY SELECTED WINNERS ARE:

  Luseride: I kept seeing the ads for kayak trips and always wanted to go but things never seemed to work out. Finally I found a friend that wanted to go also and off we went.  I had so much fun!  Within a couple of weeks I was planning my weekends around a time to kayak on the river.  That lead to lurking on websites that sold kayaks. For Christmas I got one of my very own and I even went out on the lake for a short distance on Christmas Day.  I can't wait until warm weather when I can go weekly.

  
  

  bball11kt: I used to be afraid of rollercoasters. Id read stories about times when rollercoasters malfunctioned and people got hurt and that made me absolutely terrified to get on one. Then a few years ago I was on a trip with my basketball team to a tournament. We decided to go to an amusement park nearby and all my teammates were trying to talk me into riding a rollercoaster with them. I was too scared so I refused. Then I watched them and how much fun they were having. They seemed so exhilarated by the experience. So I sucked it up and got on one with them. Yes, I was scared crapless. But I loved it! It was the funnest thing Id ever done and I got such a rush from it! Now theyre my favorite and I cant believe I didnt want to try it at first. Im so glad I ignored my head and followed my heart!

  roseknows: I went to a Cursive concert with my best friend (who I had a crush on at the time!) and met a nice Syrian guy who I ended up spending much of the evening with.  My family is Jewish and doesn't approve of non-Jewish boyfriends, and the fact that he is Muslim made it so much worse. I knew my parents would give me a lot of grief for it, but my older sister was very supportive.  After a few months of just hanging out, the two of us became romantically involved and fell very much in love.  Although my parents eventually saw through my "oh, we're just friends, he's just my physics tutor" lies, I am very happy that I met him and listened to what my heart was telling me, despite the fact that it went against everything my parents have tried to make me believe.

  p51tracker: I followed my heart when I decided to date my girlfriend...I had made a commitment to not date in high school after seeing how sophomoric and juvenile most of the relationships were. however, I met this girl in track and she was amazing..I got her to try teaching me tennis over the summer and..she told me she liked me. I resisted, told her I was not right for her. It was hard because I am a senior and she is a sophomore, much younger. I collapsed. I asked her to be my girlfriend about a week later. She is the love of my life. My head told me i should not have but my heart was right.

  
  

  Mevurah: Following your heart.... well... there came a time that i felt that i couldn't stay best friends with my best friend. We had drifted apart after graduating from High School. Even when we were in school, before graduation, something bad happened to our friendship. I felt that she was pushing me away and leaving me behind, like i was no longer important. Even though she did that, i still stayed holding on to our friendship and it hurt me. After graduation when we headed for different colleges, i felt that i couldn't hold on to the friendship anymore, because even at that moment she seemed indifferent about the friendship, towards me. My mind kept telling me to to stay and hold on but my heart told me otherwise and to end it. I actually did something that i thought i would never do and that is stand up and be strong and do what has to be done. I've always been afraid of those kinds of moments but at that time i had to do what i had to do.

  by HeadBuzzer | 42 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway Vintage Veronica

• Josh Berk On the Buzz Boards Next Week!!

  Feb 18, 2010

  Happy Thursday everyone! We are very excited to announce that The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin author Josh Berk will be joining us all next week to answer your questions! Head on over to Josh's forum here and ask him a question or give him a shout out. In the meantime, check out this activity we set up in Josh's honor-- be sure to check back on Monday for more activities! In preparation for his visit, Josh wrote a letter to all of you!

  Helloooooo Random Buzzers – I’m so happy to be here!

  THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN is my first book and I’m still kind of freaking out that it’s finally here! I started writing it in 2005 after having a crazy dream about a deaf kid reading lips on a school bus. In the five years since then a lot of changes have been made to the book (including to the title -- it’s been called “A Shadow of A Ghost” and a bunch of other things). But the voice of the main character has remained pretty much the same. Ever since the night of that dream, your narrator Will Halpin has seemed like a completely real person to me and I’m so happy to finally share his story with the world.

  There are a lot of things from my own life in this book – funny teachers and classmates from my high school, places in Pennsylvania I’ve lived, strong emotions of one extreme or another that I’ve experienced. And there are also lots and lots of things in the book that have nothing to do with my own life. (Like solving a mystery, for example.) Also, some of the details are radically different than anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s been a fascinating journey to learn about everything I needed to know in order to make this book as real, as exciting, and as funny as I could make it.

  I’m so excited to answer your questions – about what it was like to write and research a deaf character, about what it’s been like to be a debut author, and about my fabulous hair (long story – check my website). I’ll answer pretty much anything! This is going to be fun.

  -Josh (please don’t call me Mr. Berk) Berk

  
  

  by HeadBuzzer | 0 comments |
  Filed under: Buzz Author Josh Berk

• Random Hour #74: Your Bookshelf Style

  Feb 17, 2010

  The bookshelf –- keeper of words, stories and literary trophy case to many. Have you ever stopped to think about your personal bookshelf style? After a little research, I discovered that there are many different ways people organize the books on their bookshelf. Much like the clothes you wear and the books you read, how you organize your books on a shelf could say a lot about your personality. Here are the most common ways people organize books on their shelves:

  1. Totally random, no set order
  2. Alphabetically by author
  3. Alphabetically by title
  4. On a timeline (order in which they were read)
  5. By genre
  6. By height
  7. By spine width
  8. By color

  Which bookshelf type are you? Personally, I organize my books by color but I am curious as to what the rest of you are! Have you ever thought about how your books are organized? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

  
  

  by Buzzgirl | 54 comments |
  Filed under: Random Hour

• ARC Giveaway Friday - Kiss in the Dark - and the winners are....

  Feb 12, 2010

  Happy Friday everyone! Today's Friday ARC Giveaway is Kiss in the Dark written by Lauren Henderson. Here's a brief description of the book (at the end of the description we'll tell you how you can enter to win a copy!):

  With Dan McAndrews's murder finally behind her, Scarlett has high hopes for a fresh start at Wakefield Hall Collegiate, the elite English boarding school her grandmother runs. Unfortunately, those hopes are dashed when her nemesis, the infamous Plum Saybourne, is transferred to the school. Plum wastes no time turning Scarlett’s impressionable classmates against her.

  Scarlett has dealt with Plum’s nasty schemes before, and she can handle her archenemy very nicely, thank you—until Plum sets her sights on Scarlett’s best friend, Taylor, and new boyfriend, Jase. Then Scarlett is more than willing to fight for what’s rightfully hers.

  Things only get worse after Scarlett becomes entangled in a mysterious death on campus. Scarlett is compelled to investigate because she wants to protect someone close to her. She never imagines that she’ll uncover secrets related to her parents’ fatal accident so many years ago. . . .

  To enter for your chance to win an ARC copy of Kiss in the Dark head on over to Lauren Henderson's forum here and ask her a question! She'll be joining us the week of March 8th!

  
  

  AND THE 5 RANDOMLY SELECTED WINNERS ARE:

  
  

  theaprilnichole: How would you describe Kiss in the Dark in 5 words or less? How would you describe the journey that Scarlett goes through?

  Amber5: Hello, and welcome to Random Buzzers! 
When I finished reading the summary of your book, Kiss in the Dark, I noticed how similar some of the people and situations are to the TV show Gilmore Girls and tinged with the Nancy Drew mysteries. Is this a coincidence or intentional? Have either of the two inspired you in any kind of way? And if not, what was your inspiration for this book? 
Thanks!

  berriesrbest: Oh my gosh!  Lauren Henderson, thank you for coming!  I love the first two books in this series!  I didn't know there would be another one, although I should have probably guessed, considering the way the last one ended.  I live the way you write, and I'm so glad you decided to come here.  My first question is: What gave the ideas to write these books?  Also, do you like to listen to music when you write? What is your inspiration/ are your muses?  Does your family support your book-writing?  What do you like best about writing?

  fear_this_ninja: hello Lauren Henderson!!! this book sounds like a good mystery; is that your favorite genre to read? or is it just fun to write? was there a specific event in your life that made you decide to write this book or did the idea just come out of the blue? your book sounds very interesting and i cant wait to read it!

  suprbee:  'ello and welcome to Random buzzers!! Thanks for dropping in to talk to all of us!!

So, I noticed this new book is part of a series, is it a stand alone book or do I need to run out and read them all?
Also, I noticed all of these books have "Kiss" in the title, is that a main theme/of some importance to the story??
Do you prefer to read YA novels or some other genre???
What is your favorite book of all time????
Zombies or Unicorns?????

Sorry if that^ is too many questions... I went a little crazy, but I NEED TO KNOW!!! 

Thanks again for taking time to answer our questions!! Can't wait to read your book!

  by HeadBuzzer | 7 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Giveaway Lauren Henderson

• Check out the book trailer for Split!

  Feb 11, 2010

  Hey everyone! Check out the book trailer for this week's Buzz Author Swati Avasthi's upcoming book Split! Let us know what you think of the trailer in the comments section!

  by HeadBuzzer | 3 comments |
  Filed under: book trailer Swati Avasthi

• Random Hour #73: The Best Love Stories of All Time

  Feb 10, 2010

  Have you ever gone “weak-in-the-knees” for a book? Well, I have – especially for the classic romance stories. The great, sweeping romances that still capture everyone’s heart are my favorites. I especially love to read one of these around Valentine’s Day. Nothing puts me in the spirit quite like story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Now that’s a literary romance that can stand the test of time!

  What are some of your favorite romance books? What do you think are the best literary romances of all time?

  
  

  by HeadBuzzer | 21 comments |
  Filed under: Random Hour