500 Blog Followers Giveaway! (closed)

Welcome gentle reader!

My little blog has reached 500 followers and I also have 900 followers on Twitter. Overwhelmed by those whooping numbers, I have decided to thank you all by having a massive giveaway. Hopefully everyone will find something of interest here…

Giveaway 1: For Readers

For those of you interested in winning books, I’m giving away my favourite YA books:

YA books giveaway

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (YA High Fantasy)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (YA Fantasy)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (YA Paranormal Romance)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (YA Dystopian)

The giveaway is open until Sunday 25th August 2013 at 9am (BST time). There will be one winner per book (=4 winners). This giveaway is open Internationally, as long as the Book Depository ships to your country.

To enter please fill in the contact form below with your name, email and title of the book you’d like to win. Since this giveaway is to thank my followers, you have to follow my blog via email or WordPress to enter. If you are a Twitter follower, if you like my page on Facebook, if you follow me on Pinterest or Tumblr, or if you tweet about the giveaway, this will grant you an extra entry. Mention it below.

Giveaway 2: For Writers

If you’re a writer, you might be interested in a critique. I’m lucky to have wonderful writerly friends and awesome Critique Partners who have agreed to give away the following critiques:

Juliana Haygert is a NA Author and a co-founder of NA Alley. She writes Contemporary Romance and Fantasy with strong romantic elements. She has published several books, including Destiny Gift and Breaking The Reins. She’s offering a 15-page critique.

Rachel O’Laughlin writes Adult Epic Fantasy and she’s a member of There And Draft Again. Her debut title, Coldness of Marek, just came out this summer. She’s offering to critique your query and first 50 pages of your manuscript.

Jessy Montgomery is a YA writer and a freelance editor. She writes Fantasy and Dark Contemporary novels. She’s also my wonderful CP and a member of There And Draft Again. She’s offering to critique your query and the first 10 pages of your manuscript.

Serena Lawless is a YA writer and a member of The Great Noveling Adventure. She writes Magical Realism. She’s offering to critique the first 20 pages of your manuscript and to interview you on The Great Noveling Adventure blog.

The giveaway is open until Sunday 25th August 2013 at 9am (BST time). There will be one winner per critique (=4 winners). The giveaway is international.

To enter please fill in the contact form below with your name, email and genre of your manuscript. Since this giveaway is to thank my followers, you have to follow my blog via email or WordPress to enter. If you are a Twitter follower, if you like my page on Facebook, if you follow me on Pinterest or Tumblr, or if you tweet about the giveaway, this will grant you an extra entry. Mention it below.

Entrants must be at least 13 years of age.

Winners will be chosen randomly, notified by email and will have 72 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.

I hold the right to end the giveaway before its original deadline without any prior notice.

I hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.

Privacy information: no information given for this giveaway will be used for other purpose than this giveaway. All information provided (names, emails and mail addresses) will be deleted after the giveaway.

Good luck everyone, and feel free to leave me a comment below!

5 Books that Should Be Movies

Hello gentle readers,

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl… What do these books have in common? They have all been turned into movies that will come out in 2013.

I have read them, and they are good books, which means I’ll probably go and see their movie version. However, if I had a choice in deciding which books should be turned into movies, I would have made another list. Here are 5 books I really wish were movies:

1 – The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (YA Paranormal)

The unbecoming of Mara Dyer

I have given up hope that Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw are real. Can I at least see them in a movie?

2 – The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (YA Fantasy)

the-raven-boys-book-coverThose boys. This girl. This school. This story. This magic. How on earth is this book not a movie yet?

3 – Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel (YA Paranormal)

InfiniteDays

The only Vampire Book out there that should be a movie, and the only one that isn’t, for some reason.

4 – American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Fantasy)

american-gods

Neil Gaiman’s books become movies, slowly and surely. I just hope this one doesn’t get forgotten, because it’s my favourite by him.

5 – The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (YA High Fantasy)

TheThief

The awesomeness that is this book would make for an amazing movie.

Which book do you wish were a movie?

Book of the Week – 15

Hello gentle reader,

I realise I haven’t done a “Book of the Week” post in a while, but this is because I have been reading a series of books by YA Fantasy author Megan Whalen Turner and I wanted to finish it before I shared it with you.

Nicknamed The Queen’s Thief by its readers (MWT has no name for it herself), the series has four books so far, with 2 more announced. The first book in the series, The Thief, was published in 1996 and it won the Newbery Medal in 1997.The following books are The Queen of Attolia (2000), The King of Attolia (2006), and A Conspiracy of Kings (2010).

This YA High Fantasy series is not well known, and I came across it because Sarah J. Maas (author of 2012 debut Throne of Glass) recommended it.

And I’m so glad I went ahead and read it. Not only is this series so well written it makes me want to weep, it is also a very clever, audacious and captivating example of great High Fantasy for young adult readers. Each book plays with points of view, has a smart twist at the end and explores themes such as religion, politics and personal choices. The main character, Gen, is nothing like you’ve read before, I promise. And if you haven’t read this series yet, I suggest you get it sooner rather than later, because you’re missing out.

From Goodreads:

The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities.

What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

What are you reading this week?