A Book Obsession..

2nd Blogoversay Celebration Giveaway

, by KT

May 4th marks two years since I started this blog. I just cannot believe it has been that long. Time really flies when you are having fun. These past two years have been a roller coaster ride full of oh so yummy books. I've really come a long way from the first few months and my ramblings. I've made so many friends that have really made this an experience for me. I am incredible grateful to all the publishing contacts I've made. But none of this would have been possible without my readers, and for that I am truly grateful. I wanted to celebrate with a huge thank you to all of you! So, here's to two years of bloggy awesomeness and hopefully many more to come!

At the minimum, there will be two US winners and 1 International winner. However, with every 200 followers gained via each method listed below, I’ll add another giveaway to the pot of any book (up to $10) from The Book Depository.

Stats: Start/End

GFC Followers 1095 -- 1259 (+164)
Linky Followers 181 -- 276 (+95)
RSS Subscribers 536 -- 618 (+82) (The Link doesn't work with Chrome- Click the subscribe button on your RSS reader and enter http://www.abookobsession.com/feeds/posts/default and the feed should show up. Sorry I know it is a pain to have to do it this way, but I can't get feedburner to work right either, so I'm out of options.)
Twitter Followers 472 -- 631 (+159)
Facebook Likes 23 -- 257 (+234) YAY! +1 to the giveaway pot

I’ll keep this updated periodically throughout the giveaway, and add more giveaways to the rafflecopter as needed.

US only portion:

Two winners will each get to pick two ARC copies from this list:

International entrants can win a book of their choice from the book depository (up to $15)

Also to help fund this giveaway, and future ones, I’m adding a new option to the rafflecopter giveaway. If you make a purchase of anything through my affiliate links via Amazon or The Book Depository, you’ll get 25 extra entries each time. (Once per day) Just email me a copy of your receipt(s) to kclapsadl (at) gmail (dot) com. So if you were planning on buying a book (or any other item from Amazon) anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you could use one of my links. It doesn't cost you anything, but helps me to support these and future giveaways. Thanks!

Here’s the links:

AmazonThe Book Depository

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Re-Read Review: My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

, by KT

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Soul Screamers #4

(Re-Read Review)

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can't just pretend nothing happened. But "complicated" doesn't even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn't just an ordinary girl. She's a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people's fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn't above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

Just like my first three re-read reviews for this series, I feel the need to start off with a warning that this post is NOT a traditional review, and will be quite spoilery. Also there will be a whole lot of ranting and bashing. I'm participating in the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge hosted by Fiktshun. You can either read the books for the first time, or re-read them, and I am doing the latter. I thought it would be fun to do a post of my thoughts about things the second time around with all of the knowledge of the following books. So again, I really would not recommend reading this review if you are not caught up in reading books one through five. You have been warned. ;)

Unlike the first three books, I had already written a full review the first time I read My Soul to Steal, so I had an even better insight into my original thoughts. You can check out that review here to see where my head was the first time around.

It's kinda funny because I was a little annoyed with Kaylee both then, and now, but for two entirely different reasons. I was annoyed with her last time because she wanted him, but wouldn't give him a chance. This time my annoyance is ten times worse because she won't let him go! I still cannot believe I wanted her to be with Nash. My only explanation is that once I pick a guy in a book, I'm pretty much stuck on him regardless of what he may or may not do. It is only in very very rare cases that I will change my mind. I just hate heartbreak and angst, so for me it's almost always gonna be the first guy that catches my "heart" in a book. I just don't have the ability to "break" up with them mostly. This is why I could never be an author. I couldn't put my characters through the hell required to make a book enjoyable. So getting back to the point of Nash and Kaylee, I know I had wanted them to stay together because of my extreme difficulty with letting go. However, I am now completely over it. I just wanna say "Here you go Sabine, he's all yours!"

I do have to admit that a lot of my ability to finally let Nash go was because of Tod. It is simply amazing to see just how much I missed the first time around because I was too focused on Nash. That talk he had with Kaylee about letting Nash go because he wasn't enough for her, and that their relationship would never be whole, really opened my eyes. In fact, I realized that so much of what he was saying and the emotion behind it was because of how much he loved her himself.

Here's a series of interactions between them that were so much more impactful the second time around.

"Like, maybe there’s someone better out there for him. And maybe there’s someone better for you."

Why yes, Tod, you are so much better for her!

“Just go away, Tod. I have enough to worry about without adding ‘taking stupid advice from a dead guy’ to the list.”

Tod blinked at me, and the smallest cobalt tremor of emotion rippled through his irises before he regained control. Before I could interpret what I’d seen. Then he sighed and blinked out of the room, pizza box and all."

Sighs, if only Kaylee knew how much he cared, than she would have realized how much she hurt him with that statement.

“So…you’re still mad about the other day?”

“Wouldn’t you be mad if I told you to give up on someone you care about? Just…hand her over to someone who doesn’t even deserve her?”

Tod gave me a strange, sad look I couldn’t interpret, and the blues in his irises shifted subtly for a moment before he got control of them. “Yeah. I guess I would.”

Again, if only Kaylee could see the truth. Tod is living this every day watching her with Nash, who absolutely does not deserve her one bit!

Then strong, warm arms wrapped around me from behind. “I’ve got you,” Tod whispered in my ear, as Avari charged us........

Tod squeezed me, then let me go, and I whirled around to face him. “Thanks. I totally owe you.”

“No. You don’t,” he said, and the blues in his eyes shifted slowly.

*Swoons*

I cannot wait to dive into the next installment to finally see some real Kaylee and Tod moments!

Spring Fling Hop

, by KT

Check out the rest of the stops at I Am a Reader Not a Writer.

Enter via rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It’s Monday What Are You Reading (93)

, by KT

It's Monday! What Are You Reading, is hosted by Book Journey, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Here's my posts from the last week:

The Impossible Cube by Steven Harper (Early Review)
Silence by Michelle Sagara (Early Review)
Black Dawn by Rachel Caine (Early Review)

This week was filled with yummy early copies of books. I just love those weeks :)
The Impossible Cube is the 2nd installment in the Clockwork Empire series. This series is perfect for people wanting to try out the Steampunk genre. It isn’t overly complicated with the “tech” like some of these types of books are.

Silence was really enjoyable, and quite unique. I just wish a little bit more would have been revealed, but I’ll just have to have patience.

Black Dawn.. Yeah I did a crazy happy dance when this book showed up on my doorstep. I cannot begin to squee over how much I love this series. Make sure to check out my 12 Days of Morganville Giveaway post!

In non-book related news:
I’m seriously considering taking the plunge to move over to Wordpress. It’s going to take some research to figure out how to transfer over my images and design. I had taken a free template I found on the web, and completely revamped with photoshop it to make it my own. I have a moderate understanding of html, and it took a lot of trial and error to make everything work how I wanted. I’ve debated over paying someone to make a whole new layout for me, but I’ve come to love my design. Besides, I just got business cards printed with this design. So I don’t really want to change it. Perhaps the thing to do would be find a layout designer that would be willing to just do the coding rather than the whole. In the meantime, I think I’m going to start shifting my main giveaway entries away from GFC, and focus more on RSS/Linky. *Shrugs*

My Upcoming List:

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Siren by Tricia Rayburn
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (Early Review)

Come on Blogger!!

, by KT

So I'm sure many of you have noticed that the scheduling function on Blogger hasn't been working properly for over a week now. Honestly, I am at my wits end. They said they rolled out a fix for it. Nope still doesn't work. Then I read around and people were saying it was working on newly written posts, but not the old scheduled ones. So you know what I did? I copy and pasted each individual post I had written into a new post. (Considering, I am mostly scheduled out through the entire month of May, this took me a good long while.) So I figured everything would be fixed. So when I got up this morning and saw that my review of Black Dawn had not posted as scheduled, the words coming out of my mouth were not the prettiest. So I'm writing this post now, and scheduling it for a few minutes later to see what happens.

I have to tell you, Wordpress is looking more and more attractive. Honestly if GFC still worked over there I would have switched a long time ago.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Is it as big of a problem to you guys as it is me, since I rely on that scheduling feature so much, or are you more of a pantser when it comes to posting?

*UPDATE: Okay tell me something, why does this scheduled post work, but not others? I'm about ready to tear out my hair!!!

*UPDATE 4/30: Scheduling is still not working, not even on newly written posts :(

Early Review: Black Dawn by Rachel Caine

, by KT

Black Dawn by Rachel Caine

Morganville Vampires #12

The hotly-anticipated twelfth instalment in the Morganville Vampires series

In Last Breath, the rain brought a new and dire threat to Morganville and its vampires... their ancient enemies, the draug. Now, the vampires are fighting a losing war, and it will fall to the residents of the Glass House: Michael, Eve, Shane and Claire, to take the fight to an enemy who threatens to destroy the town, forever.

Lovers of Morganville, rejoice: Black Dawn takes the intrigue, romance and nail-biting suspense of the series to its highest level yet!

With the rain came the draug and their destruction, bringing Morganville to the brink of annihilation. Holding on only by the sheer determination of their will to survive, the remaining vampires and humans alike must band together to find a way to destroy the draug once and for all. It's time for the final stand, with the winner taking all.

It is amazing how much the characters have grown from the start of this series. Eve's learned to trust in others and open her heart, as well as thinking more before she acts. Shane's let go of a lot of his anger, although he will always be a fighter, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing considering what they continually have to face. Michael's path is much slower as he tries to accept what he has become, and yet still hold onto his humanity. He had a major setback at the end of Last Breath, which was a large issue for both him and Eve in this installment. However, I think once he can put it behind him, he will finally be able to make peace with himself. But above all, Claire has probably grown the most, even if she doesn't see it for herself. She really is the glue that holds them all together, and as Michael states, they wouldn't have survived without her. She's always been incredibly strong, but she lacked the confidence to back it up. Now, despite her fears, Claire never once backs down from standing up to fight when needed, and no one, vampire or otherwise can ever really hold her back.

With each new book that brings us closer to the end of the Morganville Series, I can't help wondering how in the world Rachel Caine will tie everything up with a HEA. After finishing Black Dawn, I'm more baffled than ever as I just don't see the vampires relenting any power now. Not after losing so many of their own to the Draug. In fact even before the final conflict was over, I was already looking to the future and what the ending events would mean for the humans in Morganville. To be honest, I have a feeling things will be worse than ever for Claire and company in the next installment. You would think the vampires would be at least a little grateful for their vital assistance throughout their darkest hour, but I guess that is a human sentiment. I should really stop trying to humanize them in my mind and just accept that they play by a completely different set of rules.

Ever since finishing Last Breath, I have been waiting rather impatiently for this installment. I knew it would be an incredibly hard act to follow as it took a well established series and completely changed the game. While I can't say that Black Dawn had quite the same level of shock and wow factor that Last Breath instilled, due to the Draug already being revealed, I was still utterly enthralled from start to finish. Rachel Caine hasn't once let me down in this series, as each installment only gets better as the stakes get higher. Full of danger, raw emotion, and heart pounding action, Black Dawn can't possibly disappoint!

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Pre-order links:

Other Reviews:

Previous Books

Early Review: Silence by Michelle Sagara

, by KT

Silence by Michelle Sagara

The Queen of the Dead #1

It began in the graveyard. Ever since her boyfriend Nathan died in a tragic accident Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death….

Emma's life is only a shell of what it once was due to the grief that is completely consuming her at the loss of the love of her life, Ethan. She may say and do all the right things, but she's really just going through the motions during the day. Her nights are spent in the graveyard so she can be alone in her grief. But one night, the graveyard didn't offer the normal solitude, but a terrifying event that changed her life forever.

I really enjoyed the characters in Silence. Each and every one no matter how large or small of a role felt fully fleshed out to the point where they just felt real. It really made it easy to get into the characters and sympathize along with them throughout the entire book. Although I do have to say that Emma was by far my favorite character. She just had so much thrown at her in such a short time, yet she handles it all with incredible grace. Seriously she is like a still lake when in the same situation I would have long been thrown overboard for my hysterics. Even when she was faced with the high probability of her imminent demise (numerous times) she never once falters from her determination to do the right thing. She would rather sacrifice herself, than allow the obstacle to stand in her way. Seriously, she is an incredibly admirable character, and I can't wait to see her in future installments.

As much as I enjoyed Silence, I found it to be incredibly frustrating as well. Granted, a lot of that frustration comes from my impatience with the world building necessary with any new series. I just want to know what is going on, and slow reveals can be killer. Even so, I have learned to mostly accept that's just they way a first book is going to be. However, what will really drive me nuts if by the end of that first book, we still don't know something major, as in something integral to the plot or main character. To keep from spoiling things too much, I'll be a little vague in talking about Silence. (Although the cover flap is rather spoilery, so be warned if you don't like that kind of thing.) When a main character goes through a major change or suddenly develops powers, I expect some sort of explanation for the sudden onset, but in Silence those questions were never answered. I just wanted to know why Emma started to develop the abilities she did, but unfortunately other than finding what she was supposed to be, there wasn't any real information. To make matters worse, she didn't really fit into the mold of what they thought she was, in fact she's completely different. I'm sure the reasons for those differences will be further revealed as the trilogy progresses, but I still want to know what caused everything in the first place, so hopefully that will be forthcoming soon.

I think the biggest proof of a really good book is when you are already thinking about the next installment before you even finish reading, and even once you do finish, it just sticks with you for a long time afterwards. Even if I hadn't already been completely engrossed, the ending events of Silence would have claimed me hook, line, and sinker, so now I'm completely desperate to get my hands on the next installment. Silence is a book you just won't want to miss! Its amazing characters and refreshing premise promise a solid block of entertainment that I highly recommend. Bravo!

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Pre-order links:

Other Reviews:

Waiting on Wednesday (92)

, by KT

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights an upcoming release we are greatly anticipating.

My pick this week:

Insurgent - Divergent #2

by Veronica Roth

Publication Date: May 1st, 2012

Amazon Pre-Order: Insurgent (Divergent)

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

Early Review: The Impossible Cube by Steven Harper

, by KT

The Impossible Cube by Steven Harper

The Clockwork Empire #2

In an age where fantastic inventions of steam and brass have elevated Britain and China into mighty empires, Alice Michaels faces a future of technological terrors…

Once, Gavin Ennock sailed the skies on airships and enchanted listeners with his fiddle music. Now, the clockwork plague consumes his intellect, enabling him to conceive and construct scientific wonders—while driving him quite mad. Distressed by her beloved’s unfortunate condition, Alice Michaels sought a cure rumored to be inside the Doomsday Vault—and brought the wrath of the British Empire down on them.

Declared enemies of the Crown, Alice and Gavin have little choice but to flee to China in search of a cure. Accompanying them is Dr. Clef, a mad genius driven to find the greatest and most destructive force the world has ever seen: The Impossible Cube. If Dr. Clef gets his hands on it, the entire universe will face extinction.

And Gavin holds the key to its recreation…

Releasing the cure for the clockwork plague was only the beginning despite all the sacrifices made to achieve that goal. Now Alice and Gavin must do everything they can to help it spread as quick as possible to ensure China does not get the upper hand in their quest to dominate the world. Meanwhile, members of the Ward want vengeance for their theft of the cure, and will relentlessly pursue them to the ends of the earth. But incrimination and world domination are the least of their concerns as Gavin contracted the only type of the plague that cannot be cured. He is a clockworker capable of incredible moments of intriguing and invention, but that comes at a cost as he is quickly burning through his brain and soon nothing will be left. It's a race against time to find a cure, and the clock is quickly running out for these two love birds.

One of the biggest reasons I typically have issues with steampunk novels is because of all the complex descriptions and devices that are involved. A lot of the time it just takes too much work to follow the story, and quite frankly it just is a little too sci-fi in the past for my tastes. Well, at least that has been my experience with the genre, albeit limited, so far. However, The Doomsday Vault was incredibly impressive in that the story or descriptions were never once hard to follow. That's not to say that the story wasn't an "authentic" steampunk with the requisite impressively complex gadgets. It's just that Steven Harper seemed to have this magical way of taking this crazy awesome complex idea and describing it in a way that anyone could follow it. In fact, he has painted the steampunk genre in a whole new light for me, to the point where I think I might start taking a second look at other books. Who knows, perhaps The Clockwork Empire series will turn out to be the "gateway books" that opens up my book genre preferences even further.

I've always wondered why a lot of TV shows will have a recap at the beginning of the show, yet books don't. I mean come on, the gap between TV episodes is usually only about a week, where books can be a year or more. So, whenever, I am about to start a book in a series, I try to go back and read the last chapter or two of the previous installment to help myself remember what happened previously. (Which can be difficult if the book was originally borrowed from the library.) This just helps me to get into the book much faster. Otherwise, I spend the first two chapters trying to remember who was who, which makes it take so much longer to get engrossed in the book. However, due to The Impossible Cube's awesomeness, I didn't have to follow this usual routine. Since it had the recap at the beginning, I was able to dive right in without the typical re-learning curve. It just really impressed me, and definitely made my reading experience much better as everything. Hopefully more books will start doing this to become the standard trend.

This series has really grabbed a hold of me to the point where I'm desperate to find out what happens next. The characters and their plight are so easy to become invested in, and I found myself rooting for them every step of the way. So I cannot recommend the books in The Clockwork Empire series, especially The Impossible Cube any higher. Whether you are a fan of Steampunk or not, these books promise to be an exhilarating roller coaster ride from start to finish that you won't want to miss!

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Pre-order a copy from Amazon:
The Impossible Cube: A Novel of the Clockwork Empire

Other Reviews:

Candace's Book Blog

Previous Books:

The Doomsday Vault

It's Monday What Are You Reading (92)

, by KT

It's Monday! What Are You Reading, hosted by Book Journey, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Here's my posts from the last week:

Under Attack by Hannah Jayne (Review)
Under Suspicion by Hannah Jayne (Early Review)
Storm by Brigid Kemmerer (Early Review)

I'm also helping to celebrate the 12 Days of Morganville Madness with a giveaway. I absolutely love this series, so make sure to check it out!

My Upcoming List:

The Impossible Cube by Steven Harper (Early Review
Silence by Michelle Sangara (Early Review)
Black Dawn by Rachel Caine (Early Review)