Book Review: Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry with Excerpt and Giveaway!

Publish Date: January 22nd, 2019
Publisher: Tor Teen
Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC from publisher in exchange for an honest review

Goodreads Synopsis:

Jesse Lachlin is cursed.
So the town folklore says, but while Jesse’s had his fair share of tragedy, the only curse he believes is in his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year, Scarlett Copeland.
Scarlett Copeland is psychic.
Glory Gardner tells Scarlett she has hidden psychic abilities, but Scarlett thinks Glory is delusional. What is real is Scarlett’s father’s irrational fears, controlling attitude, and the dark secrets at home. Scarlett may have a way to escape, but there’s a hitch: she’ll have to rely on the one person she used to trust, the same boy who broke her heart, Jesse Lachlin.
Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other. But as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head…

My Review:

"Stay, Tink." These two little words pulled on my heartstrings and from that moment on, I knew I'd fall in love with Jesses character.

Only A Breath Apart, a book about young love, curses, and deep dark secrets is yet another amazing read by the very talented Katie McGarry. How she continues to write books that make me fall in love again and again is amazing, and I was thrilled to get an ARC.

Jesse and Scarlett grew up together, and were inseparable when they could sneak about the land Jesse lived on with his gran. They climbed trees, chased fireflies and lived a carefree life when together, just the two of them. Things at home with Scarlett were not quite as carefree though and one day Jesse downright stops talking to Scarlett altogether. They go years without talking, and it's an unfortunate event that brings them slowly back together: Gran's funeral. Jesse may be able to inherit the land on which he came and went as a child and which keeps him grounded, but he has a lot to prove to some very different people.

Jesse, a young man who's been through so much in his short life has to deal with the whole farm land now that Gran is gone. It's a lot of work, but he's cut out for it. It's what he lives for. I really enjoyed this character and his commitment to his Gran and her farm. I felt like he was a loyal and kind friend with a few minor issues, but overall, I felt like Jesse was a true gentleman. I would really have liked more background on his friends, V, Leo and Nazareth though. I felt like these characters and their stories could have been expanded tenfold and it would help understanding Jesse a little more.

Scarlett, broken-hearted Scarlett. This poor young lady has been through so much heartache and it keeps tearing at her. She tries ever day to get up, go to school and be emotionless. It's just easier that way. But seeing Jesse at Gran's funeral stirs up emotions that she's not ready for, and Glory, town psychic says that Scarlett and Jesse may have to depend on each others help.

Only A Breath Apart is a book that deals with dark issues, it will make the reader cry and feel every emotion from beginning to end. Isn't that was makes a good read though, when you FEEL the book? (and also some pretty hot and steamy kissing scenes!) I'd encourage fans of Katie's other works and anyone else really to pick up Only A Breath Apart - you won't be disappointed. 

Once again, I have an exclusive excerpt for those who stopped by:

~SCARLETT~

“I thought you said you were meeting Camila.”

I jump at the sound of Dad’s voice and spin in his direction. “I am.”

Dad studies me, and I hide my hands behind my back to conceal the slight quiver that could announce my guilt. When I left him, he was in good spirits, but his moods can quickly shift. There are two patched up holes in my bedroom that can testify to this. Dad replaced the drywall, covered it with fresh paint, but the perfection can’t take away the memory of the way my heart pounded through my chest as he drove his fist through the wall.

He inclines his head toward the booth of balloon animals. “Camila appears to be working.”

“She’s getting off soon,” I say too fast as I bite back the need to ask why he didn’t go home like he said he was.

“Why did you leave us if she’s still working? You said Camila would be done by five-thirty.”

My mouth dries out, and the tremble in my hands travels to the rest of my body, but I force out a cleansing breath. Show no fear. Don’t give him any reason to doubt a thing I say. “She was supposed to be off by now, but her parents asked her to work a few more minutes.”

“If Camila isn’t getting off until later, you should have told me,” There’s a subtle sharpness to his tone that causes hurricane warnings in my brain. “I was showing you a great deal of trust by letting you find Camila on your own.”

“She’s only running a few minutes late. Her parents are watching me so I’m okay.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I glance over and my heart lifts when I notice Camila’s mom watching us. Her stare gives credibility to every falsehood rolling off my tongue. She’s not watching because she thinks I need a babysitter, but probably because she’s mentioned to Camila that she’s perplexed by my father’s strict rules.

I touch the crystals on the table as if I’m interested in them. It’s difficult to act normal as Dad looks at Camila’s mom then studies me. Please believe me, please believe me. Please.

I’m so stupid. I should have never left Dad early. I should have never lied. But I did. Dad was having fun at the fair, Mom was having fun and my sister, Isabelle, was having fun. They were all laughing and smiling. They’ve forgiven him, and I haven’t. I can’t, not again, and this is one of the many ways life is no longer simple.

I want to peek at him in an attempt to understand my fate, but I don’t. Eye contact doesn’t help when he’s angry. It only makes it worse.

Being in public won’t soothe his temper. He’ll just be more discreet. Like last year when Dad had arrived early to pick me up at a football game and saw me heading to the bathroom by myself. After I had returned to my friends, he called me away with a smile on his face. He had placed a seemingly loving arm around my shoulder, but his fingers dug into my arm as he severely whispered in my ear how I was irresponsible and that it was time to go home.

Dad didn’t cause a scene at the game. The yelling started the moment we were alone in his car and continued until he left me in my room. I stayed on my bed for hours, curled up in a ball and sobbing.

My throat swells as I think of how this will play out. Will it be like Christmas? Will he throw a lamp and force Mom to clean it up as I watch? Or will it be like this past spring and he’ll flip the kitchen table, breaking all the dishes that had been placed there for dinner?

Dad steps closer to me, and I’m filled with dread. “Next time, in a situation like this, you return to me and have Camila text you when she’s done working. I don’t like the idea of you being alone.”

All I want is to be alone, for my thoughts and actions to belong only to me. But he’s not angry, he’s believing me, and I release a breath I had unknowingly held and take the small win. 

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A HUGE thank you to Katie McGarry and her team at InkSlinger / Tor Teen for allowing me to take part in the cover reveals, excerpt reveals and for providing me the ARC for the review and giveaway. I'm so lucky to be part of such a great network!

Blog Tour: A Possibility of Whales by Karen Rivers

Publish date: Mar. 13, 2018
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Available in Canada through Thomas Allen & Son
Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC from publisher for honest review and participation in blog tour

Goodreads Synopsis:

The story of a girl who—thanks to her friends, her famous dad, and a chance encounter with a whale—learns the true meaning of family.
Twelve-year-old Natalia Rose Baleine Gallagher loves possibilities: the possibility that she’ll see whales on the beach near her new home, that the boy she just met will be her new best friend, that the photographers chasing her actor father won’t force Nat and her dad to move again. Most of all, Nat dreams of the possibility that her faraway mother misses and loves Nat—and is waiting for Nat to find her.
The thing is, Nat doesn’t even know who her mother is. She left Nat as a baby, and Nat’s dad refuses to talk about it. Nat knows she shouldn’t need a mom, but she still feels like something is missing.
In this heartfelt story about family, friendship, and growing up, Nat’s questions lead her on a journey of self-discovery that will change her life forever.

My Review:

Nat has to move around a lot due to her larger than life famous dad, XAN. So she knows that making deep rooted friendships isn't worth the heartache in the end. But when they move to Canada and a chance encounter in the girls bathroom leads to meeting Harry, things turn out to be more complicated than she expected. Nat feels a connection to Harry that she hasn't felt since her BFF Solly in her last hometown, but things are different for Harry, who was actually born Harriet. He's struggling with his parents not accepting that he identifies as a boy, and feels like he'd be better off hanging out with the guys at school then with Nat. Nat doesn't care about any of that, she just wants to be friends with him and share her excitement about the whales that she can see at the beach by her trailer. (Her middle name is Baleine after all).

There is so much to be taken from A Possibility of Whales and I loved every part. Xan (a famous, single dad) had such a great relationship and playful banter with Nat. I enjoyed seeing the single dad take on the role of single-parenting a young girl. We see acceptance and diverse characters and friendship in the strangest of places (Bird). This is definitely and book that young and old alike should read. Part of me wishes that Harrys story came through a little more than it did as I really liked him and wanted more, but I understand this was Nats story!

I loved Karen Rivers writing too, I felt as though I could see the whales she was describing when Nat saw them. There was an ease to the writing and reading. I hope you all get a chance to read it (read to the very end of this post!) and I hope you share with someone who could use a read like this one!  

 

Q & A WITH KAREN RIVERS

Question - There's a lot of words in different languages (Japanese, German) in your book, did you have  to research this beforehand or were they words you knew before? If so, how / why?

Answer - I’ve always been a collector of words. A long time ago, at an estate sale, I picked up a dictionary, which was a collection of words that don’t exist in English.  It had never occurred to me before then just how much language shapes and validates feelings and emotions. By not having words for certain things, they almost don’t exist.  For example, the Japanese have a word for the beauty of aging, imperfection, transience (wabi-sabi) and I think the fact that English is missing such a word is a reflection of how much we cling on to youth as our standard of “beauty”.   I love the depth that these non-existent-in-English words bring. So to answer your question, a lot of the words were words I already knew, but I definitely made use of the Internet to find ones that were unfamiliar to me that fit with Nat’s life, that described things she was experiencing that English lacks the words for.     

Q - Did you feel like this book needed to be written now, more so than ever with the LGBTQ+ community so strong (and becoming stronger) or was this a book you knew you would write regardless?

A - I did not set out to write a book about the LGBTQ community.  I set out to write a book about the complications of puberty in 2018 vs. puberty in 1970 (when ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT’S ME MARGARET came out).  ARE YOU THERE GOD is still a quintessential coming-of-age, puberty book, but it’s very much a cis-gender story; it leaves too many people out. I wanted to write this as both a nod to that book, which meant so much to me when I was 12, and an exploration of how things are also so very different now.  Margaret’s family was “controversial” because her parents were of different religious faiths, but in hindsight, her family looks extremely traditional. Nat has a single dad, who is also famous, a very non-traditional structure. Harry has a more traditional family, but he has to fight for their acceptance of who he is.  At its heart, this is a book about relationships, about acceptance, about self-discovery. So to answer your question, I would have written it regardless. It’s interesting to me that Harry’s story, which is a secondary thread in the book, is the one that I’m getting the most questions about! I love Harry, I’m happy he’s getting the attention, but it also speaks to the fact that there is such a dearth of books for middle grade audiences that feature trans characters at all.   

Q - A Possibility of Whales is a coming-of-age novel, dealing with things such as feelings, love, and becoming a woman. As a woman yourself, you would have dealt with all of this already, why relive it in a novel?
A - When I was growing up, I never really felt okay in my own skin.  I was always an outsider, an observer, one-step removed from what was going on around me.  I want to write books for kids who are like I was, kids who are saying, “Am I okay? I don’t think I’m okay.”  I want to tell them, “You ARE okay. You will be. You are going to be just fine, better than fine. You’re great.  Things will get better and easier.” No one thinks they are “normal” in middle-school. Some people are outwardly different, a lot of people feel inwardly different.  Puberty throws yet another wrench into the whole mix. I write everything I write to say, “I see you. You’ve got this.”

Q - How did you come up with the idea of this book? What were your inspirations?
A - I’m a single parent myself, and my son is 12.  I know firsthand the complications of puberty in a single-parent family when that parent is a different gender than you are.  I was thinking about that, and about ARE YOU THERE GOD ITS ME MARGARET, and how I wanted to take on something similar, but I’d give my “Margaret” a single dad.  It blossomed from there, but I think it’s fair to say that was the seed.

Q - What do you hope kids (or adults) reading A Possibility of Whales will take from it?  
A - I hope they fall in love with it.  This book was a joy to write and I love the characters so much that I want everyone to see them, to love them, to care about them and their journey.   

Q - Why whales? Are they your favourite animal? Is there a deeper / more powerful meaning behind the whales?  (By the way, I love Natalia's middle name!)

A - Whales are very meaningful to me and always have been.   I’m drawn to them, fascinated by them, mystified by them.   They are incredible. In some First Nations’ traditions, the orca symbolizes family, which I love. I have always see whales as harbingers of good things, of luck and love, of connections.   They are our connection to the sea. We are all bound together on this planet.

Q - If you had to describe A Possibility of Whales in one sentence, what would it be?
A - I’d say it was ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT’S ME MARGARET for the new generation, with The Rock playing a supporting role.  ☺

Q - Have you googled yourself?
A - Of course!  I don’t always recommend it.  While it can be wonderful and validating and magical to find comments that kids have left about the books, some of the adult comments can be crushing and demoralizing.   Proceed with caution. This is a job where we lay our souls open; we give away our hearts. When you are writing with everything you have, non-constructive criticism can be more painful than you’d think.
 

Q - What is your super power?
A - Being able to pretend that awkward things didn’t happen.  (Coincidentally, that is also the superpower of the main character in my upcoming YA, YOU ARE THE EVERYTHING.)  

Q - E-books or physical copies?
A - I love e-books.  I travel often enough that having an e-reader has changed my life.  No longer am I hauling 50 pounds of books in my suitcase! I love to read, I’m not fussy about the way the words finds their way into my life.

Q - When you aren't writing, what are you doing?
A - I teach writing at the university in my home town for half the year but I’m mostly ALWAYS writing. I spend a good portion of time taking long walks in the woods, which is also “writing”.  It’s how I work out the details, by stepping away from the keyboard, by simmering the ideas. I’m also a single mum, so I’m hanging out with my kids, who are 10 and 12.

Q - Favourite book of all time?
A - Too hard!  Middle grade?  When I was a kid, I was devoted to A WRINKLE IN TIME.   Now I’d put Rebecca Stead and Kate DiCamillo on the top of my list, anything they write, I will read and love and be amazed by. Tracey Baptiste’s Jumbies books are so magical and compelling.  Kate Messner’s Exact Location of Home was a favourite this year. Ali Benjamin’s Truth About Jellyfish was my daughter’s favourite. Melanie Conklin’s Counting Thyme is lovely. Renee Watson’s Piecing Me Together was one of my favourites.  I’m blown away by the incredible wealth of middle grade books coming down the pipe. Oh, Laurel Snyder’s Orphan Island! I wish these books had all existed when I was a kid.


Q - Chocolate or Candy?

A - Chocolate.  But also gummy bears, they are my revision candy.
 

Q - Read the book first, or watch the movie first?
A - Always the book.  I almost never see the movie.

Get Your Copy Today!

Indigo

Amazon.ca

About Karen Rivers:
Karen Rivers’s books have been nominated for a wide range of literary awards and have been published in multiple languages. When she’s not writing, reading, or visiting schools, she can usually be found hiking in the forest that flourishes behind her tiny old house in Victoria, British Columbia, where she lives with her two kids, two dogs, and two birds. Find her online at karenrivers.com and on Twitter: @karenrivers.

Follow Karen

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Instagram * Goodreads

Tourwide Giveaway

The winner will receive:

1 signed hardcover copy of A Possibility of Whales by Karen Rivers

Details:

- Canada Only (full rules found in the T&C on Rafflecopter)

- Giveaway ends Mon. Mar. 19th @ 12AM EST

- Winner will be drawn randomly through Rafflecopter, contacted via email and will have 24

hours to claim their prize.

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Blog Tour: Burn by Paula Weston

 Would you believe it if I said that this was the final book in Paula Weston's The Rephaim Series? Well, unfortunately this is the end; the end of a 4 book series that kept readers on the edges of their seats wanting more! But good news for you, if you've stayed with me for the past 3 years and 4 blog tours or are just joining now, stay until the end of this post to see that not all endings are sad news!


Publish Date: June 7th, 2016
Publisher: Tundra Books
ISBN: 9781770498518
Pages: 448
Series: The Rephaim, #4
Source: From publisher for honest review and to participate in blog tour

Goodreads Synopsis:

Suddenly, Gaby remembers everything.
For a year she believed she was a backpacker chilling out in Pandanus Beach. Working at the library. Getting over the accident that killed her twin brother.
Then Rafa came to find her and Gaby discovered her true identity as Gabe: one of the Rephaim. Over a hundred years old. Half angel, half human, all demon-smiting badass—and hopelessly attracted to the infuriating Rafa.
Now she knows who faked her memories, and how—and why it’s all hurtling towards a massive showdown between the forces of heaven and hell. 
More importantly, she remembers why she’s spent the last ten years wanting to seriously hurt Rafa.

My Review:

"Suddenly, Gaby remembers everything." That's the first line on the back cover of Burn, and it is a precursor to the intensity of book #4 in Paula Weston's series, The Rephaim. 

Paul Weston did such a good job with the cliffhanger at the end of Shimmer that she needed to come in with a bang to get the reader hooked at the get go and let me tell you...she did and she did it with perfection! The prologue in Burn is powerful and I feel like it really set the pace for the rest of the book. It was captivating and Paula Weston was daring you to stop reading. And when you just couldn't stop, you find yourself immersed in the sexiest, hottest, steamiest sex scene that the whole Rephaim series has seen. (It's hot!)

Paula Weston set Burn as a "then" and "now" story and it definitely worked in her favour. It really played to the overall story telling and it's another way to keep you hooked because you need to know what's happening next, all the time! Since Burn is the finale of 4 books with still so many unanswered questions, there was a lot of information handed to us. Paula Weston did a great job of spreading it out and not dumping all of this on the reader at once. We finally get all the who's, why's, when and how's all sorted out and while it may not have been what we thought or foresaw, its a conclusion nonetheless.

The huge monumental secret, the reason Gaby and Jude went their separate ways was a little anticlimactic! It just wasn't that 'huge monumental' secret I was hoping for. I didn't feel moved by their betrayal of each other at all and I wanted to feel moved. I wanted a jaw-dropping reveal, but I didn't get it. But that aside, the second half (and more so the ending) of the book was fast-paced, the writing was what we come to expect from Paula Weston. (I still love the Aussie feel of her writing). I love that we were kept on our toes from beginning to end. Paula Weston was able to wrap up the series very clearly in a writing perspective, but I feel like she ended it with the possibility of the reader continuing their story after everything has been revealed. I think it's been made easy for the reader to resume the lives of Gaby, Rafa, and the others!

Though I'm sad that the series has been wrapped up in the 4th and final book, I'm happy that I got to read, enjoy and participate in such a great blog tour. I hope that everyone had fun following along on this blog tour! It's been a fantastic journey and I've had a lot of fun. Be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour. Follow us all on Twitter too!

Now, while I know you've all enjoyed reading reviews and author interviews and other fun stuff blog tour participants have posted, I know you've also been dying for your own copies of The Rephaim series to read and to cherish right? So here's the best way to end the end of a great series . . .

A Giveaway!

The lovely, LOVELY team at Tundra Books would like you to have your own set of books. That's right, the whole set!

Giveaway open to Canada and US residents only. Books will be shipped by Tundra Books.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Need a refresher? Click on the covers to see my blog tour posts:

Blog Tour: Shadows by Paula Weston

Thanks for stopping by Stellar Book Blog! Enjoy my stop on this blog tour, be sure to follow Paula Weston on Twitter, Facebook and her blog.

Also, be sure to follow the whole tour between September 16-20. Schedule is posted here.

Happy Reading!

Publish Date: September 10th, 2013
Publisher: Tundra Books
ISBN: 978-1-7704-9547-0
Pages: 400
Series: The Rephaim, #1
Source: From publisher for honest review and blog tour

Goodreads Synopsis:

It's almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn't help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who's been appearing in Gaby's dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

My Review:
Hell-beasts, hellions, demons and angels is the world we venture in when we pick up Shadows. We've read it before, we know the story. But Paula Weston takes us on a different adventure that is fascinating, intriguing and exciting!

Gaby just wants to live life quiet and alone since her brother was killed in a horrific car accident that she can't remember all the details to. She doesn't want to be reminded daily of what she lost. Gaby finds this seclusion within Pandanus Beach and with a roommate named Maggie who doesn't ask a lot of questions. The two of them have this sort of mutual agreement that they don't talk about Jude, Gaby's brother. And this suits Gaby just fine. 

Gaby has these dreams about fighting monsters and writes it off as an active imagination. Within these dreams is a mysterious but handsome guy whom, lo and behold, shows up one night at the same bar that she is. Things aren't adding up, and to make it worse Gaby runs into people who seem willing to fight her for no apparent reason. Needless to say Gaby is confused and wants answers and it seems the only one to know answers is Rafa but he is far from willing to sit down and reveal everything to Gaby. Little by little Gaby figures out that maybe things aren't as they seem, and that she is suffering from memory loss and distorted memories. I loved that we were on the journey with Gaby to remember things. The book wasn't all hellions and beast and so forth, Shadows was also about overcoming the unknown and forgotten and I loved that!

Paula Weston is an Australian author, with Shadows already published and read by many in Australia and it was neat seeing the Aussie feel to the book. I'm sure some wording needed to be changed but I loved that Wallaby's were out on the road, and friendships were with mates and little details like that. The writing was fantastic, I could really put myself in the book and see the picture. There was action, suspense and romance all written with an expert hand. Gaby is a character that is just trying to find herself and because of that, she is easy to relate to. She's just a normal girl trying to live a normal life. Rafa, on the other hand with have your emotions all over. His up and down moods, and his impeccable timing of leaving right when he shouldn't will have you rolling your eyes at him! 

Paula Weston's Shadows is a great read, and I cannot wait for Haze, book #2 in The Rephaim series, set for Fall 2014.

Because I enjoyed Shadows so much, and the lovely people at Tundra Books want others to love it too, we are giving one lucky US/Canada reader a copy!

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Rafflecopter is having a giveaway!

Bloodlines Canadian Blog Tour

Thanks to the lovely Tynga at Tynga's reviews for letting me use this pretty header.

I was really happy when Penguin Canada contacted me to participate in the Canadian Blog Tour for Bloodlines. I've never read Richelle Mead's books, so I was excited to start here!

BLOOD DOESN'T LIE

I wasn’t free of my past, not yet.

Sydney’s blood is special. That’s because she’s an alchemist—one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now with her allegiances in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir—the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir—is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill’s guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest of places—a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distractions, and forbidden romance lurk both outside—and within—the school grounds. Now that they’re in hiding, the drama is only just beginning.

And because I really loved Adrian -



But if you prefer Mr. Dimitri Belikov, this ones for you -



And if neither of those were good enough for you, check out the teaser trailers for Rose Hathaway, Sydney Sage, or Jill Dragomir.

Plus, if you're intruigued by Bloodlines, and don't have a copy (yet), you can read the first chapter here.

Be sure to read my review here.

And the fun on my stop for the Canadian Bloodlines Tour doesn't end there, Penguin Canada has given me the opportunity to share the love with another reader out there. One lucky Canadian winner will get their own copy of Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below (and bear with me as this is my first time using it). Canadian only please as Penguin Canada will be shipping the prize. Be sure to do the mandatory entry correctly in order for your entry to count.
Thanks for stopping by!

My Blog is 1 year old today & Giveaway!

CONTEST NOW CLOSED

 * Happy Blogoversary to Me! *

1 year ago today, I started Krystal's Stellar Book Blog. It's a place where I can write my thoughts on the books I read. I have had so much fun posting my reviews, and I was thrilled when I started to get followers. And even more thrilled when I started to recieve ARC's from publishers and authors.

Throughout the year, I've recieved many ARC's, I've interviewed a few authors, and had the opportunity to chat via email to some authors. Not to mention, I've had the chance to read some amazing books that I may not have thought of reading.

I'm going to keep this short and simple...

Thank you everyone, for everything.

*Thank you followers, for making me feel special*

*Thank you publishers, (huge HUGE thank you to Simon & Schuster, you guys have been behind me from the beginning sending me surpirses in the mail!!), for giving me the chance to read*

*Thank you authors, for writing great stories*

and

*Thank you fellow bloggers for the inspiration!*

And to celebrate, I'm going to giveaway a book that I have read and loved within the last year:

     
These are the books to choose from:
*clicking on the picture will take you to Goodreads

Rules:
1 winner will choose 1 book from the above list
Contest is open to wherever The Book Depository ships - check the list HERE.
Contest closes September 8th, 2011 at 11:59pm

Mandatory entry:
Must be a follower of my blog
Comments will NOT be accepted as the mandatory entry, form MUST be filled out.

Extra entry:
Comment on this post. Whether it's to wish me a happy blogoversary, to recommend a book/series, it's up to you!

Nothing too complicated (I hope!)

FILL OUT FORM HERE

Good luck!

Gripped Into Books is having a massive giveaway!

Gripped into Books has reached a pretty amazing milestone - 1000 followers! Congrats!And because of this, they have decided to hold this awesome contest with so many books to win! The button at the beginning of this post shows just a handful of the prizes. If you want to read/own :
The Iron KingSummer and the CityHereafterSupernaturallyWitherBloodlinesand many, many more,
than this is the contest for you! Go here have a look, but just don't enter, I wanna win this one! Good luck, and congrats over at Gripped into Books.

Do You iClue?

I came across this totally awesome contest, and I thought I would share it with you!



Pretty awesome, huh?

You can go here to read some more about it, get details and enter yourself. This sounds like a fun game, a clue to answer each day for 6 days - answer each and get 6 entries to win the iTouch, and there's other ways to get entries too.

Good luck to everyone who enters!