Winners!!

In this case winners!

The winner of The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan is Jessi at The Elliot Review!

The winners of my Birthday & Blogaversary Giveaway are...

Carrie at In the Hammock

and

Emily at The Ninja Librarian

I will be sending you all an email.

The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan

Title: The Long Weekend
Author: Savita Kalhan
Published: October 2008
Pages: 180
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive? This gripping and hypnotic thriller will have you reading late into the night.

Review: This book is intense!

The book starts off with 2 kids, Sam and Lloyd. They are waiting for someone to pick them up after school when a car comes by and the driver tells them to get in. They obey and are taken to a mansion. Soon Sam figures out that things aren't the way they should be and tries to leave but it turns out to be tougher than anything he has done before.

I really enjoyed reading from the perspective of Sam. Even though he was only 11 he acted like a kid with common sense but at the same time he acted like a normal 11 year old would act. He was the new kid at school and soon makes a friend and along with him they go on a ride that they never expected. I liked seeing how he took charge and did many things to get them out of there.

Lloyd was a different story. He was in shock and that's what made him not react in the same way that we would have liked to. Sam had to be there so that he could keep going and even though he was only 11 I would have wished that he would have reacted a little like Sam did.

I had never before read a book that had to do with kidnapping kids. We see it in the news but reading about what they may go through was something new for me. If you want to read a book that is unique to those out there then this is the book for you!

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

Book Blogger Hop is a fun meme hosted by Crazy For Books. Enter your link and go hop around other blogs that are out there, ready to be discovered!

This has been a fairly easy week for me so I hope that the teachers don't leave us much homework! I've also been reading more so I'm proud of myself!

Tell us about one of your posts from this week and give us a link so we can read it (review or otherwise)!

I reviewed the book Shadow of the Sun and it was a really good book! It's about angels and about a young woman (and I mean a young woman not teenager!) who finds out many things about her past and future.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

What is your favorite romance hero-type? Stereotype wise. Do you like the strong silent type or the brute macho man?

I don't think I have a favorite though I do enjoy the strong silent type!

Shadow of the Sun by Laura Kreitzer

Title: Shadow of the Sun

Author: Laura Kreitzer

Published: February 2010

Pages: 510

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: Gabriella's past is a mystery, but that never stopped her from achieving her goals. As a supernatural specialist, and far more intelligent than anyone her age, she has always been ignored by her peers. Because of the isolation she has always felt, she put her life and soul into her job. Being a supernatural specialist hasn't given her the divine intervention she always longed for, until one day a shipment arrives from Italy containing three dead bodies with an uncanny ability to regenerate. Gabriella is frightened and intrigued, but not as scared as she becomes when a dark creature attacks her.

As the bodies come back to life, the plot takes an unexpected twist that you won't see coming. The supernatural world only begins to unfold before her as angels appear, her dreams start to haunt her, and the very past she has forgotten comes back with startling clarity. Romance blooms, escape plans are made, an assassin is out to kill her, and death is only around the corner. But what is more terrifying than all of it is the fact she is the chosen one, the Illuminator, the one who will save them all.

Review: Despite being a big book it goes by fast!

Gabriella is supernatural specialist who graduated from Yale at age 19. She doesn't remember her life before the age of 5 but she soon finds out why. After receiving a shipment from Italy that contains three dead bodies, everything changes. Her life will make many turns that she never saw coming and will also learn many things about herself.

I liked that Gabriella wasn't one of those whiny characters who were always dependent of others. She's 24 and has a steady job with her own house. She knows that her life is different simply for being smarter than those her age. All throughout the book she tried to do what she thought was right and didn't let things stop her.

The angels were a great addition to the story. I won't say much about them but I loved the fact that they were just a bit different from others. They each had their different roles that I enjoyed reading about. Their history and what had really happened is something else that I really liked about it.

Even though this book could be labeled as an adult series, I think that YA book lovers would enjoy it as much. The feel of the story just makes it feel like something that would appeal to those who enjoy reading YA. Everything about the story makes me want to read the second book now!

I reviewed this book as part of a blog tour.

Guest Post: Savita Kalhan (The Long Weekend) + Giveaway!

Today we have Savita Kalhan, author of The Long Weekend, stopping by! It's long but worth reading!

When you had the idea for The Long Weekend did you think it would turn out the way it did or did it change along the way?

Hi Diana, and thank you for inviting me to your blog today.

What sparked the idea for the book was a flyer that went round the local schools warning that a large silver Mercedes or BMW had been seen cruising outside schools and the driver had tried to snatch children. Everyone who does the school run knows how busy and chaotic that time of the day is, but no one really expects something like that to happen. Parents were horrified and kids were put on high alert.

What it did for me was make me wonder how something like that could happen. I thought it couldn’t happen very easily, but my thirteen year old nephew told me stories of how sometimes kids didn’t know which parent, or friend of a parent, or other parent in the school, might be picking them up.

A scenario came to my mind of how a couple of kids could be abducted terrifyingly easily as long as the circumstances were right. Child abductions happen, it’s a fact, and no matter how aware kids are of stranger-danger, they still happen, and no matter how much you preach to kids to not to talk to strangers, or get into a stranger’s car, in the right circumstances it still happens.

As soon as the scenario came to my mind, my characters arrived instantly. I started writing straight away with Sam’s voice speaking loud and clear. I didn’t need to write the book in the first person because even in the third person, Sam’s voice had a life of its own. His voice remained with me for the duration of the book. And it was still there when I wrote the Epilogue a few months after the book was finished.

When I started the book, beyond the idea and the characters, I had little more than an inkling where the book might go, how it would get there, or what my characters might go through, but as I began to write, the story flowed with Sam’s voice, he dictated the pace, the suspense, and the tone. And once begun, the story didn’t stray from its path.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I knew it was more or less exactly the way it should be, except I had stopped before writing the epilogue: Six Years Later. I wrote that last chapter several months later – after I had sat on the book for a few months and then sent it out to lots of agents. When I got my agent, the wonderful Anne Dewe at Andrew Mann Literary Agency, she suggested that it would be a good idea to go back and write a closing chapter. I’m so glad I did. The story would not have been the same without it.

Lots of people who know me have said that they didn’t think I would take the story as far as it did, or that they were surprised that I didn’t back away from the central theme sooner. Others who don’t know me at all, but who have picked up the book to read, are fearful of where it might take them, how far into Sam and Lloyd’s nightmare they’ll go. One agent even asked me to turn it into a simple kidnap story. But once I had started writing the book, I couldn’t stop, and I had to let it take me as far as it wanted to go. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, change that in a million years. It would almost have felt like a betrayal of Sam and Lloyd, and other kids like them.

Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive? This gripping and hypnotic thriller will have you reading late into the night.

The Details

-There will be 1 lucky winner.

-This giveaway is international!

-You don't have to be a follower though it's always appreciated!

-Deadline is 11:59pm February 11th Pacific time. There's a clock on the left.

-Winner will be announced the 13th and will have 48 hours to respond to my email.

All you have to do is fill out the form!

Guest Post: Kari Lee Townsend (Fused Playlist!)

Today we have Kari Lee Townsend, author of Fused, to talk to us a bit about how music connects with writing. I think It's always interesting to see how an author uses music to write!

BOOKS FEED THE MIND, WHILE MUSIC FEEDS THE SOUL

Music can be so inspiring to authors. The lyrics of a song are like words in a book…they tell a story. Often times that story feeds our imaginations, creating vivid images and reminding us of an event that’s happened in our own lives, or making us dream of things we wish would happen to us. Many authors get their inspiration for ideas for a book from the lyrics of songs. That’s sometimes the case for me.

I know several writers who can’t write a word unless they are listening to music. I can’t write unless it’s completely silent. However, I do a lot of prewriting in my head while listening to music. I like to use music to get in the mood for certain scenes I’m about to write. So I’ll listen to upbeat, fast songs that make me want to move before I’m about to write an action adventure scene. Or I’ll listen to sad songs that make me want to cry before I’m about to write a deeply emotional scene. And when I’m about to write a romantic scene, I’ll listen to songs that melt my heart and keep a smile on my face all day. I did that for both THE SAMANTHA GRANGER SERIES: FUSED, as well as my adult mystery series that comes out in August called TEMPEST IN THE TEA LEAVES: A FORTUNE TELLER MYSTERY.

Some of my favorite artists are Daughtry, Nickelback, John Meyer, Michael Buble, Faith Hill and Taylor Swift. Music and books really are personal choices. There is no right or wrong choice. What you choose is a reflection of who you are as a person, so go forth and choose something that fills a need and feeds your soul J Then tell me all about it. I love to hear from my readers. You can find out more about me and my books at www.karileetownsend.com

Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos

Title: Tell Us We're Home
Author: Marina Budhos
Published: May 2010
Pages: 297
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis: Jaya, Maria, and Lola are just like the other eighth-grade girls in the wealthy suburb of Meadowbrook, New Jersey. They want to go to the spring dance, they love spending time with their best friends after school, sharing frappés and complaining about the other kids. But there’s one big difference: all three are daughters of maids and nannies. And they go to school with the very same kids whose families their mothers work for.

That difference grows even bigger—and more painful—when Jaya’s mother is accused of theft and Jaya’s small, fragile world collapses. When tensions about immigrants start to erupt, fracturing this perfect, serene suburb, all three girls are tested, as outsiders—and as friends. Each of them must learn to find a place for themselves in a town that barely notices they exist.

Tell Us We're Home is a moving and thought-provoking story about the other side of the American dream. Marina Budhos gives us a heartbreaking and eye-opening story of friendship, belonging, and finding the way home.
 
Review: The lives of Jaya, Maria, and Lola are united by their mothers. They clean other peoples houses and babysit. They all feel left out of the town that they live in by their lack of money, that keeps them from being like the rest of them. Things get worse when suddenly their world gets even worse by the things that happen around them.

Jaya has come from Trinidad with her mother. She works cleaning the house of an old woman and is accused of stealing. Things are worse when her mother keeps losing her jobs. Jaya wants to help her but knows that she can't, since she has no power over others and none would ever take her seriously.

Maria came from Mexico and had to attend special classes so that she could learn English and later they wanted to change her accent. She lives with her mom in the basement of the house of her uncle, where their neighbors don't want them there. Maria wants to live a better life and gets involved with others who seem like they want to help but who may have other interests.

Lola is the rebellious one. She believes in things very deeply and isn't afraid to say what's in her mind. She loves learning about the revolutions and passionately believes that these are the people that others should look up to. She gets in trouble easily because of this but comes to terms that she has to change the way she reacts to things.

I enjoyed this book because it showed the hard lives that some people live day by day. They all wanted to fit in a world that they weren't used while their mothers were trying to give them a better future. It's an enjoyable book that I think may open some eyes to things around us.