News: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja Cover Unveiled!

Let me tell you something about me; when I was a teenager, I was a big fan of the colour purple. Every shade of purple. Pretty much every item (bar jeans) in my wardrobe was some shade of purple - mainly lilac. I know, a little over the topped, but I just loved. Now an adult, my fave colours are black, purple, and silver. There's a lot more colour to my wardrobe now though.

Back to the news. Luisa Plaja's Swapped by a Kiss cover:

Blurb:
I wish I wasn't myself anymore.

I wish I was her.

I wish I was Jo.

Rachel hates her life.

When her on/off boyfriend David goes to a music festival in England, she jumps on a plane to surprise him - but she gets a shock of her own. Not only does she find David kissing someone else, but it's their friend Jo! Super-lovely, super-loved, all-round-perfect Jo.

Rachel runs away, wishing she could leave her life behind - and she suddenly finds herself in Jo's body! Can she keep this swap a secret? Can she unravel what's really going on? Can she get to grips with Jo's out-of-control curly hair?

And if she discovers that being in someone else's shoes isn't all it's cracked up to be, can she ever be herself again? From Luisa's website.

You know, I get why Rachel wants to be me, I am pretty awesome! I kid, I kid!

BUT LOOK AT THAT COVER! I believe I see PURPLE... and there's some black and silver (could be grey, but lets not get specific) there too! This make's Jo a happy girl! This Jo, me, not character Jo. And it's so pretty! And, well, it's a novel by Luisa Plaja, which means it's automatically going to be amazing, and it's a sequel to Split by a Kiss, so it's going to be amazing twice! I'm sorry, all this purple is bringing out the little girl in me.

I say that cover should be a t-shirt!

For those who'd like to see the cover the other way round, to see Rachel and Jo swapped round (see what I did there?), here you go:





And you know, I think this cover may catch the eyes of the target audience a little more than the previous two covers - it fits in with the covers of Luisa's other novels (see below), but I think it also looks a little maturer. This is all good! I loves it! I can't wait to read it, and I can't get over how pretty it is!



Click images for a larger view.

I can't wait for this book!

P.S. I've not seen this cover for Extreme Kissing before, but I like it too!



Click for a larger view.

ETA: I've been told that the above cover was actually the original cover for Extreme Kissing, before they changed it to the one we all know.

My reviews:
Split by a Kiss
Extreme Kissing

Luisa Plaja's Website

Santa-baby, Stick a Novel Under the Tree, For Me...

This year I signed up for my first Book Blogger Holiday Swap, run by wonderful Ana of Things Mean a Lot, and several other awesome bloggers. I hope to join up again next year, and any others I come across. Unfortunatley, money is a little tight this year, and so I was only able to sign up for one.

Today I received my gift! And this is what it is:

Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance - Cassie Palmer, the world's chief clairvoyant, just can't seem to stay away from trouble. After trying to come to an agreement with the Silver Circle – the magical organisation that's been trying to kill her for years – she finds herself kidnapped by one of its members and swept away in the ley line system, a series of magical currents that occupies the space between worlds. Cassie manages to escape but, fearing for her safety, she decides to invest in a magical device for protection. However, all she can afford is a statue that grants wishes . . . But what Cassie doesn’t realize is that the statue doesn’t always grant wishes the way the wisher would like. And when she wishes for the strength to shift herself and companion Pritkin away from a dangerous fight, the statue grants the wish by switching her into Pritkin’s body and him into hers. And that’s when the real trouble starts . . . (From Amazon UK)

(I know it's an adult fantasy, but I'm pretty sure I signed up to the BBHS with this blog, which is why I'm posting this here.)

Thank you to Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read for sending me this book! I am SO thrilled! It's the fourth and latest novel in the Cassie Palmer series - one of my favourites! So I am beyond excited to have received this book from her! Thank you again Sassy! I think this week's reading schedule might just be disrupted...

Strangely enough, Sassy was my secret santa too! I've heard back from her and know she's very happy with her gift, so smiles all round!

On My Wishlist (5)

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme that allows us to share the books we haven't bought yet but are waiting to be bought and devoured. This idea is brought to us by Book Chick City.

On my wishlist this week is:

Title: Kiss of Death (no image available yet)
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication Date: 3rd May 2010

No summary as of yet

Books in Series:
Glass Houses
The Dead Girls’ Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out

Title: Guardian of the Gate (no image available yet)
Author: Michelle Zink
Publisher: Atom
Publication Date: 5th August 2010

Summary:
ETA: I did have a summary posted, but if you read the comments, Michelle said that the summary sounds more like a summary of Book 3 rather than Guradian of the Gate, but if you wish to read it anyway, click here (scroll down to product description). Instead, I'm going to quote Michelle herself, saying what can be expected from this book (as she said in the comments):
Lia DOES travel to Altus in Guardian, though, and I can promise you an epic journey, a mysterious new guy, and a betrayal of unimaginable proportions.

Books in Series:
Prophecy of the Sisters

What are you wishing for this week?

It's Monday! What are You Reading? (8)

It's Monday! What are You Reading? is a meme run by J. Kaye's Book Blog which discusses which books will be read this week, and the ones that were read last week.

Last week, I read:

• Monster Republic by Ben Horton (for OUaB) - the review will be posted in January, but I can tell you right now that I absolutely LOVED it!
• Prophecy of the Sister by Michelle Zink (for both) - brilliant! So, so good! You need to read this book!

This week, I plan to read:

• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (for both) - for review.
• Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler (for both) - for myself. This book is bloody massive, so I doubt I'll be able to fit another book in after it. I'm not even sure I'll finish it before the week is out, it's so big! IF I do...
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (for both) - for myself. After seeing New Moon this weekend, I really need to read this series again, and perhaps I can review them this time!

Over the last few weeks I've been hitting reading what I've planned, so I'm quite happy. Though I would like to be able to fit more than two books into a week.

Authors' Christmas - Part 1

Seeing as Christmas is not so far away, I thought I'd ask a few authors what Christmas is like in their house. As we get closer to Christmas, I'll be posting the authors' answers to two different questions each week. Enjoy!

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Becca Fitzpatrick, author of Hush, Hush:
We always bake treats for our friends and neighbors. It's a whole day of serious baking. There's flour and sugar everywhere, and usually a few broken eggs. Also, every Christmas, I take my two little boys on a sleigh ride with horses. It's so cool! On the years when we don't have snow, we go in a horse-drawn wagon. Finally, right after Thanksgiving, I gather up all the Christmas picture books and hide them under my bed. Every night in December, I read the boys one of the Christmas books for their bedtime story. It's our way of counting down until Christmas Day.

Luisa Plaja, author of Split by a Kiss and Extreme Kissing:
When I was growing up, we weren't allowed to open our presents until after lunch on Christmas day. My family now do the more traditional thing of rushing downstairs at 5am to see if Santa has been.

Emily Gale, author of Girl, Aloud:
We have two singing mice. Classy, eh? Traditionally these come out in November, because that’s when the children become aware that Christmas is approaching and therefore begin their daily, rigorous Free The Mice! campaign. One mouse sings ‘Let It Snow’ and the other sings ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’. They are very high-pitched and dance like Thunderbirds puppets. The batteries never run out. And the moral of this story is: never go shopping for Christmas decorations with a 2 year old when you’re 8 months pregnant. The combination of hormones and pester-power is fatal.

Ruthanne Reid, author of yet to be published novel, Guardian*:
Yes! A tangerine in the toe of each stocking, which apparently hails back to nuns leaving socks full of fruit and such for the poor.

What is your Favourite Christmas song?

Becca Fitzpatrick:
My favorite upbeat song is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You. My favorite traditional song is Silent Night.

Luisa Plaja:
Hee, I have a pretty unusual one, I think. It's The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I love the references to The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and The Fantastic Four. ;)

Emily Gale:
Traditional – ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’. It’s rousing! I’m not religious at all any more but it reminds me of my childhood, and being in a big church, all those voices magnified by the amazing acoustics – gives me goosebumps. Non-traditional – Band-Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Yes, I’m an 80s girl.

Ruthanne Reid:
I Wonder As I Wander. No question. I'm torn between the Robert Shaw version and the Mahalia Jackson version.

Great answers, huh? What are your answers? Don't forget to check back next week for answers to more questions!

*From Ruthanne, about her novel: I write about boys with wings, child-like princes in love, and telepathically enslaved wizards, and yes, I do bite. My YA fantasy novel, Guardian, is currently riding the agent merry-go-round with full and partial requests on the table.

Review: Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (review copy) - 'Without the Keys, something terrible will happen. Something that cannot be undone. And with them, I might bring an end to the riddle of the Prophecy and my strange part in it. If Alice and I are on conflicting sides of the Prophecy, the Keys would be dangerous in her hands. Which means I have to find them. And I have to do it before my sister.' This is the story of sixteen-year-old Lia Milthorpe's quest to discover her role and her twin sister's in a powerful prophecy that has affected twin sisters for generations. But nothing can prepare her for what she discovers - about herself, about her family, and about the danger that goes from haunting her dreams to becoming her reality. From Amazon UK

I don’t really know what I expected with this novel, but this book is so much more than anything I could have expected! It sounded awesome, which is why I wanted to read it, but the blurb just scratches the surface. The excitement that surged through me as I read this novel was so, I can’t even begin to explain.

Some of you may be aware that I am a huge David Eddings. I love his novels for a great many reasons, one being that Pawn of Prophecy was THE book that made me an avid reader, and whenever I read it, I get that same feeling of awe that books can be so enchanting as when I first read it . It may sound odd to be mentioning my love for Eddings in this review, but I do have a reason; Eddings’ Belgariad series was about a quest to fulfil a prophecy, it was intricate, it was magical – just like Prophecy of the Sisters. And just like Pawn of Prophecy, I was filled with the same awe, and the same feeling of how lucky we are that books, stories and authors exist for our enjoyment when I read Prophecy of the Sisters!

This is the kind of fantasy that I absolutely adore! You are left guessing with every page you turn, with every clue there are so many possibilities that could be the answer, and the excitement and wonder at Zink’s incredible story telling abilities just grow and grow.

This story is so complicated. When I read the prophecy, I sat there blinking at it, unable to make any sense of it at all, but as the story unfolds, and the clues arrive, and the jigsaw pieces are slowly fitted together, I challenge anyone to read this book and not be amazed at just how intricate this is! J. K. Rowling should watch her back, she has competition in the complicated and clever stakes!

It’s known by a fair few that I am not really a fan of historical fiction, so once I opened the first pages and saw it was historical, I inwardly groaned. I was sure I wouldn’t like it, and didn’t think it would work; a historical urban fantasy? But it does! The historical aspect makes Prophecy of the Sisters feel more like a high fantasy, which I love!

I love the characters! Lia makes a great main character, and despite the time period, she is very relatable. Strong, yet human and deals with her problems as such. Sonia and Luisa are just brilliant secondary characters, with their easy friendship, but their concern and worry that is very normal; I think sometimes, in some novels, people seem to accept the fantastic far too easily, and cope far too well with the issues, but it’s not the case with Sonia and Luisa, and it makes them more likable and believable.

Alice is probably the most impressive character; she is absolutely despicable, and far too disturbing for words, but utterly brilliant in that she evokes such dislike and abhorrence. As weird as it may sound, I am excited to see just how cruel and evil she can become, to what lengths she’ll go to next to try to get what she wants. To see if she can make me loath her even more.
I can’t tell you just how amazing this book is! I absolutely loved it, and I am itching to read the next in the series, Guardian of the Gate. If you haven’t read this book yet, get yourself to a bookshop now, you NEED this book!

Thank you to Atom for sending me a review copy, and thank you to Michelle Zink for requesting that Atom do so!

Published: 6th August 2009
Publisher: Atom
Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on Amazon US
Michelle Zink’s Website

In My Mailbox (11)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. Check out her awesome YA reviews.

Only two for this blog, but I'm a happy girl!

For Review:

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Love can be a dangerous thing....
Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.
But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe. From Amazon US

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

They're Young, Fabulous and Fanged...And they rule Manhattan from the trendy uptown clubs to the downtown boutiques. Fifteen-year-old Schuyler Van Alen has never quite fit in at her exclusive prep school - she's more of a vintage than a Versace girl - but all that's about to change...Because Schuyler has just found out she's a Blue Blood. The Blue Bloods are the city's glamorous - and secret - vampire elite. They're young, beautiful and powerful. But now they're being murdered. And Schuyler must find out who - or what - is behind it before she's next. From Amazon UK

I'm so looking forward to reading both of these! Check out Ink and Paper for the other book I got this week.