Around the Blogosphere

This is a post that I am going to probably edit randomly and repost, adding different things, mostly contests, that I've found around the blogosphere. (And once the contests have ended, I will remove them when I update the post).So keep an eye on it and see what else comes up!

Caster Girls is holding an awesome giveway and there's still time (not much) to enter the Ridley Kicks Ass giveaway! It ends tonight so hurry (January 13, 2010)! But there's some really awesome looking prizes up for grabs! Hurry and head on over!

Books at Midnight is holding a rather awesome 200 followers contest! There are two parts of the contest and in part one there will be THREE winners, and in part two there will be one winner! So go sign up! Ends January 15, 2010!

Sophistikatied Reviews is also holding an awesome 200 followers contest, where you can win either a signed ARC of The Dark Divine or a signed ARC of Brightly Woven! Ends January 11, 2010!

The Neverending Shelf is having a two part Thank You contest! Part one is like a normal contest, and part two requires more thought! It includes a cover collage :) Open Internationally! Ends December 31, 2009!



The Hiding Spot is giving away her ARC copy of The Dark Divine! Talk about awesome, right? Right! Ends January 30, 2010!



The Bookologist is holding a super awesome contest with your choice of a box of 2010 ARCs! Each box contains three awesome books! (It's killing me trying to pick my box!) Open International! Ends January 31, 2010!


Books At Midnight is having a contest to win a signed copy of ANY of Mari Mancusi's Blood Coven novels! Ends January 20, 2010! Go enter!


Only Sexy Books Allowed is giving away an ARC of Something Like Fate!!! Talk about exciting! Ends January 27, 2010!



Stay tuned for more things I find! :)

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Release Date: December 22, 2009

Publisher: Egmont USA

Age Group: Young Adult

Overall:

Three years ago Grace Divine saw her brother, Jude, standing on their front porch covered in blood. Three years ago, Daniel disappeared. Three years later, Grace still doesn’t know what happened or why Daniel left.

Now Daniel is back and those feelings that were buried just under the surface have come rushing back for Grace. Although, not everyone is happy to see Daniel return, namely Jude, who has yet to forgive Daniel for whatever it was that happened three years ago. Now Grace must decide between being loyal to herself, or being loyal to her brother, and at the consequences that both choices hold.

Lying within all the threats and warnings surrounding Daniel, and Grace being involved with him, is still a secret that she needs an answer to. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more Grace starts to miss the innocence her life held before Daniel came back and before she found out a truth that affects her and everyone she holds dear. Can she save the ones she loves without losing herself, and her soul, in the process?

This is one of those stories that is almost impossible not to fall into. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down, not even for a minute. Daniel starts as your typical (ish) bad boy (I love when he’s first introduced into the story!), and continues to push and pull you into this “is he or isn’t he?” type of wonder throughout most of the story.

Grace isn’t this typical “dumb girl falls for bad boy” character either, she’s not as simple as we’ve come to know lately and but she’s not so complex that she’s unrelatable. I actually enjoyed Grace, she’s very real. She gets flustered and annoyed as anyone else would, she has conflict, and she doesn’t just make her decisions and say to hell with everyone and everything else. Of course she has her impulse, “don’t think, just do” moments, but everyone has those, but she takes the time to think about how her choices are going to affect the people around her.

And like most of your bad boy types, Daniel is funny. He has these lines that just literally made me laugh (and get funny looks from the people/animals in the room), like this little passage between Daniel and Grace:

Daniel looked up at the sky and scratched behind his ear. “You really are one of a kind. I mean, it’s not every day my girlfriend offers to kill me.”
“Girlfriend?”
That wry grin slid across his face. “That’s the part you question? Man, I should leave town before I really screw you up.”

How can you not find that amusing? Seriously. There are so many other moments like that in The Dark Divine that will make you laugh, and even more that will make you simply think. One of Grace’s biggest struggles comes from her religious background and beliefs (and being the daughter of the local pastor doesn’t really help her cause much), and that’s something else that makes her as a character easy to relate to.

There was something so right, so beautiful about this story, these characters, and their moments. Moments that at times I felt like an intruder into something that wasn’t meant for me, like I shouldn’t be seeing them or listening, but I was so involved in their story that I couldn’t help it. There was this perfect balance of mystery, romance, thrill, and a twist that made my jaw drop. If there’s one book you must pick up, The Dark Divine is it.

It has caused me to add another slot on many of my lists, including (but not limited to): “Fictional Characters I Wish Were Real”, “Books I Will Reread”, “Favorite Books EVER” and of course the “Must Recommend to Everyone” list. There’s definitely something for everyone in this book. An amazing debut from an author I look forward to seeing more from, and revisiting this story!

Plot:

Writing:

Characters:

Ending:

Cover:

---------------------------------------------------------------

I received this book as part of Around the World Tours.

10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge!

The next and currently final challenge I am joining in the 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge which is being hosted by Kay Cassidy over at her blog and Jessica at Chick Lit Teens!

Basically this is a challenge to read 10 chick lit books in 2010. Now I don't read much chick lit and this year I would like to change that. So this is going to be the motivation behind that!

To find out more about the challenge and to sign up yourself, check out this post!

My list:

I am only going to add a few for now, and will add more later as I go.

1. The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
2. Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
3. The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
4. Sleepaway Girls by Jen Calonita
5. Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti
6. The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
7. 
   
8. 
   
9. 
   
10. 
    

The books in bold are titles that I already own or I already have made arrangements to receive them (blog tours and the like).

That is all I'm adding for now, I will leave the rest open and fill in as I go.

2010 100+ Reading Challenge!

The next challenge I'm joining is the 2010 100+ Reading Challenge hosted by J. Kaye over at J. Kaye's Book Blog!

This challenge is exactly how it sounds: Read 100 books in 2010. In 2009, I didn't even come close to this number, so I am aiming high to say the least. Either way, I think I can do it!

Find out more and sign up for the challenge here.

Books I've Read:

1. Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma
2. Candor by Pam Bachorz
3. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
4. The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
5. Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
6. Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony
7. The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
8. Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel
9. Windwhyst by Christine O'Neill
10. Dear Big V by Ellen W. Leroe
11. Falling for Romeo by Jennifer Laurens
12. Nailed by Jennifer Laurens
13. Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
14. 
    

The 2010 Debut Author Challenge!

The first challenge I'm joining is the 2010 Debut Author Challenge, which is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren!

What is the 2010 Debut Author Challenge?

• The objective is to read a set number of YA (Young Adult) or MG (Middle Grade) novels from debut authors published this year.* I'm going to challenge everyone to read at least 12 debut novels! I’m hoping to read at least 30! You don’t have to list your choices right away, but if you do feel free to change them throughout the year. I will also be focusing on mostly Young Adult novels.
• Anyone can join, you don’t need a blog to participate.  If you don’t have a blog you can always share your views by posting a review on Amazon.com/BarnesandNoble.com/GoodReads/Shelfari, or any other bookish site.  
• The challenge will run from January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010. You can join at anytime! 

* I would like to limit the novels to those released in 2010.

You’ll have to do all the research to make sure a novel meets the criteria for the challenge. I do have a few sites that can help with your search; 2010: A Book Odyssey/The Tenners, AuthorsNow & The Class of 2k10.

Find more information about the challenge here and sign up for the challenge on this post!

I am hoping to read at least 15 debut titles this year. Hopefully, there will be more than that, but 15 is the number I'm committing to!

My list:

Titles in bold are the ones that I either own, or already have arrangements to receive (blog tours and stuff like that)

• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
• Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony
• Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken   
• Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White
• Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
• The Line by Teri Hall
• Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
• The Naughty List by Suzanne Young 
• Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
  
• Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
  
• The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard
• The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
• The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
• Sea by Heidi R. Kling
• Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

Now this is just a potential list, although unless something happens the ones in bold will for sure be read this year, the ones not in bold are more up in the air. There are MANY MANY more that i want to read desperately, so this is just to get the post started. This list will probably be added to, subtracted from, etc. So I will keep it updated when there's something new to report.

Challenges!

Okay, so this year I didn't exactly join challenges, I just started blogging and so I spent this year learning the ropes and that kind of thing.

But towards the end of the year, I did join one challenge. I figured, it will be easy, it's two weeks long and you set your own goal and it's self paced; it sounded perfect. But then my family got in the way of what would be my first challenge, and sadly I didn't make my goal. My sister got very sick about three days into the challenge and me and my mother have exhausted ourselves in taking care of her. I didn't get to read a word for almost two weeks.

I had joined The Holiday Break Reading Challenge, My goal was five books, and since I wasn't able to read anything until January 1, 2010 (yes, I know) But since then, I've finished two. Not terrible, since my goal was five, but still. And the challenge doesn't end until midnight tonight, but I don't see me finishing another today, since I haven't actually been to sleep yet. Anyways, if I had been able to read more, this could have been a very successful challenge, but alas there was complications.

So to rectify this challenge experience I have decided to join a few for this year that I think I can accomplish! Three to be exact! Each will get there own post, but I will list them here anyways:

 The Debut Author Challenge hosted at The Story Siren

100+ Reading Challenge hosted at J. Kaye's Book Blog

10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge hosted by Kay Cassidy and Jessica at Chick Lit Teens

All the links and information to these challenges will be posted over the next three posts, so keep an eye out for them!

Contest Winner!

Sorry it's taken so long to get to it, but things have been super crazy around my house! But I have finally chosen the winner for The Real Real! And the winner is:

Throughthehaze!

I have already contacted her, and she has already returned my email and her book will be in the mail next week!

Thank everyone for entering and following!