#IslaIsComing Tour Stop: Lola Nolan's "Bag"

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS Isla is (officially) coming out TOMORROW. Can you believe it? Because this is clearly one of the most anticipated books in the entire blogosphere and beyond, this quintet of fantastic ladies known as Meg, Judith, Jamie, Lindsey and Andi took the amazing initiative of Isla Is Coming. I'm sure you've heard of it somewhere. More details on the entire ordeal here. 

Finding Bliss in Books has the honour of closing out Lola week, which is excellent because it's my (Ellis) favourite book. Full disclosure: I haven't read Isla yet so anything is possible, really. For all things Lola, and some seriously fabulous shoes, check out the Lola kick-off post. 

If you've read Lola, you know she's just this teensy bit obsessed with what's going on in Cricket's room. One such moment, for instance:

His curtains are still open, and his bags are still on his floor. I’ve been strangely fascinated by the shoulder bag. It’s an old, brown leather satchel, the kind that should be worn by a university professor or a jungle explorer. I wonder what’s in it. Probably just a toothbrush and a change of underwear. 

For all the curious souls out there, this happens after the HORRIBLY EMOTIONAL RECORD SHOP RUN-IN. 

Ahem.

So we started wondering: what would be in Lola Nolan's bag/purse/handheld accessory of the day? Here's a tentative, obviously non-exhaustive list of LNNs (Lola Nolan necessities) Blythe and I came up with. Feel free to add anything you think is Lola crucial!

ALL FOUR STARS blog tour: interview + giveaway

Hey everyone! Today on the blog I have for you all an interview with Tara Dairman, author of All Four Stars, as part of the blog tour hosted by The Midnight Garden. You can check out their kick-off post for the blog tour here, and also the rest of the blog tour and its previous posts at the end! I read this one a few weeks ago, and you guys, it was so adorable and happy-making, and thankfully was totally worthy of all four stars. Seriously, if you're into MG or food, this is a book you should definitely pick up. It's well-written, diverse, and utterly charming, and you'll totally leave it feeling hungry. I had to take a stop at a nearby bakery to get some napoleons and whatnot to satiate my needs. With that having been said, I'm excited to share with you an interview featuring some of Tara's traveling and food-related adventures, of which there are plenty in All Four Stars, as well as a giveaway generously provided by The Midnight Garden below!

Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.)

Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea! Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brûlée accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world.

But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City—all while keeping her identity a secret! Easy as pie, right?

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

TAKE BACK THE SKIES Blog Tour: Character Cosplay

Hey everyone! Today, the blog tour for Lucy Saxon's fun debut Take Back the Skies (which is released today!) stops by Finding Bliss in Books. Below you'll find some information about the book itself, and also what the post is about (hint: I take a stab at putting together virtual costumes)! (Also, when reading the post keep in mind that I am not the most creative person, but I tried; I should most certainly not be a cosplayer.) Hope you enjoy!

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

DEEP BLUE Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

If you follow me on Twitter or have read my review, you know how much I enjoyed Jennifer Donnelly's Deep Blue. It was just the read I needed: fun, well-written, and puntastic. With that having been said, I am excited to have Jennifer Donnelly on the blog today for an interview about Deep Blue, mermaids, magic, and more! Below you will find information about the novel, and then after the jump, the interview with Jennifer Donnelly and two chances to win Deep Blue, which the publisher was generous enough to provide. Enjoy! 

Deep in the ocean, in a world not so different from our own, live the merpeople. Their communities are spread throughout the oceans, seas, and freshwaters all over the globe.

When Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, awakens on the morning of her betrothal, her biggest worry should be winning the love of handsome Prince Mahdi. And yet Sera finds herself haunted by strange dreams that foretell the return of an ancient evil. Her dark premonitions are confirmed when an assassin's arrow poisons Sera's mother. Now, Serafina must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the Mer nations. Led only by her shadowy dreams, Sera searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas. Together, they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood and uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence. 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

SHE IS NOT INVISIBLE Blog Tour: Guest Post

Today I am excited to be a part of the She Is Not Invisible blog tour, a book which I loved and highly recommend to readers looking for something thought-provoking and unique. Author of She Is Not Invisible, Marcus Segdwick, has written an amazing guest post about the title of the novel, his own life experiences that relate to the novel, and how those who are blind, like Laureth, have nothing but personalities to base others off of; they don't care about a person's appearance, but only who you are, and that was something I really loved about She Is Not Invisible. Below you will find information about the novel, and then after the jump, Marcus' guest post and a chance to win a copy of She Is Not Invisible, which the publisher was generous enough to provide. Enjoy! 

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other. 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

VITRO Blog Tour: "Vitros Unveiled" Guest Post

Vitro
Jessica Khoury
Series: Vitro (Companion)
Publisher: Razorbill
Buy: Amazon / Book Depository

You can read my review here!

 

When Sophie is summoned by her long-absent mother, a scientist who works in a classified lab, Sophie throws caution to the wind and heads to the South Pacific. She sweet-talks her way onto a tiny supply plane piloted by Jim Julien, who lives on Guam with his alcoholic father. Jim is captivated by Sophie and against his better judgement agrees to take Sophie to the secretive and tropical Skin Island where her mom has been working for so many years.

There Sophie and Jim are met not by her mother but instead by Nicholas, a handsome, brilliant boy who leads them to Lux--a girl who looks exactly like Sophie. Lux is Sophie's genetic twin and was bred using in vitro fertilization. But why? And just what have the scientists created Lux to be capable of?

With lyrical writing and ever-increasing tension, Jessica Khoury draws out the explosive answers in her much-anticipated followup to Origin.

Welcome to the VITRO blog tour! Jessica Khoury, the talented author of Origin, is back with a death-defying tropical adventure. Follow along over the next two weeks as Jessica takes readers behind the scenes of her latest novel.

VITROS UNVEILED

Once We Were Blog Tour: Interview with Kat Zhang

Hi, guys! Long time, no see. (This is Blythe here, and, as you may or may not have known, I took a break from Twitter, reading, blogging, etc for reasons that are behind me as of now.) However, I like to think that I'm coming back with a bang, because today I have an interview with the lovely Kat Zhang for you guys as part of the blog tour for Once We Were (which is released tomorrow!). And then tomorrow I have another interview for you all! But anyway, if you haven't read Zhang's What's Left of Me yet, you should really get to that because both that, and Once We Were, are really just great. 

Now, let's welcome Kat to the blog!

Of Beast and Beauty Blog Tour Stop: Guest Post

I'm really glad and excited to be taking part in Rockstar Book Tours' blog tour for Stacey Jay's Of Beast and Beauty. I am currently reading Of Beast and Beauty and it is absolutely original and gorgeous so far, and the world (which is on an alien planet) is so interesting and captivating. In fact, I found the world in the novel to be so interesting and captivating, that for the guest post I asked Stacey Jay what her inspiration was for writing her Beauty and the Beast retelling on an alien planet. Check out what Stacey has to say after some information for Of Beast and Beauty!

Of Beast and Beauty

Stacey Jay

Series: None

Release: July 23rd, 2013

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Purchase: Amazon | BD | B&N

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Surface Tour Stop: Excerpt

Surface
Tiffany Daune
Series: None
Release Date: February, 2013
Publisher: Noble Young Adult
Number of Pages: Unknown

Bound to the water bound to land, a Siren’s soul will never be safe on either side of the ocean’s surface. Hidden beneath the rolling waves lies the secret to Theia’s past and as she unveils each haunting truth, she realizes the last seventeen years of her life have been a lie. Now, drawn into a mysterious new world and with nowhere to turn, Theia must place her trust in Luc, a beautiful boy who stops her heart with each dazzling smile, but even his unearthly charm can’t hide the truth—he has secrets— dark secrets binding him to his world—an underwater world where Theia will never belong—a world determined to destroy her soul. 

EXCERPT

Theia's head fell back as soon as she lifted it, her brain pounding with the demons' shrill cries. She closed her eyes tight, trying to remember what had happened, but all she could see was the perfect, smiling face of the angel, his watery eyes staring back at her.
I must be dead, Theia thought.
But dead people didn't feel pain. She tried to sit up, but her limbs felt heavy with every movement. She stretched her arm out to her side, and her elbow brushed against something soft. She peeked to her left.
Sitting next to her was the angel with an amused, crooked smile on his face.
"Hi," he said, his eyes soft with concern.
Theia gasped. He was beautiful. Loose waves of golden hair fell around his face in an ethereal halo, and his blue eyes sparkled like sapphires.
Are all angels this hot? She wondered.
He reached for her hand, but she snapped it back.
"Fair enough," he said, with a cool grin. "I wouldn't go around holding strangers' hands either."
He held out his hand for her to shake, but she tucked hers against her chest.
"I'm Luc," he said.
Theia flushed. His voice was soft, even soothing, yet somehow beguiling at the same time.
"I really just wanted to check your pulse." Luc held out his hand again in truce. "You've been out for
hours—"
"That long?" Theia coughed. Her voice was cracked and hoarse.
"You lost a lot of blood and passed out." He shook his head. "Those witches should have never
touched you."
His eyes searched Theia's looking for an answer, but he did not seem to find the answer he was looking for.
"Their reaction was so strange," he continued. "I don't know what they were thinking."
Theia's pulse quickened as memories flooded back. She remembered the disappearing boat, treading water in the rain, but, most of all, she remembered the freaky demon girls, their vicious cries, and the little girl with a tail who tried to eat her alive.
Hallucinations brought on by hypothermia, Theia thought. But Luc had seen them too.
"What were they?" Theia asked.
Luc laughed. "You must still be out of it. Maybe you should lie back down."
The room swirled as he lowered her back onto the pillow. Theia tried to focus on his blue eyes, but
they seemed to spin like Van Gogh's twisted stars.
"Your hair is so dark." He swept his hand across her cheek and past her temple.
Theia held her breath. His touch warmed her down to the tips of her toes. She didn't dare exhale.

Things I Can't Forget Tour Stop: Interview

Today on the blog I've interviewed Miranda Kenneally, author of the recently released Things I Can't Forget, as part of the Xpresso Book Tours! Below you will find information about Kenneally's Things I Can't Forget, and then you can read my interview with her after the jump, and you can enter a giveaway as well!

Things I Can't Forget
Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks, #3
Release Date: March 1st, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Number of Pages: 304

Companion to Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker.

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt…with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

The Nightmare Affair Tour Stop: Review

The Nightmare Affair
Mindee Arnett
Series: The Arkwell Academy, #1
Release Date: March 5th, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teen
Rating: 3 stars

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

For a book that initially sounded so original, I hate to say that I found The Nightmare Affair to be helplessly average. Enjoyable? Yes--hence my three star rating. I did have fun reading The Nightmare Affair, and, overall, I did enjoy it, but as a whole I found it to be an ultimately familiar read.

The paranormal lore aspect to The Nightmare Affair is for the most part fresh, bringing new and fun ideas to the table, and the world-building is somewhat thorough and interesting, albeit not entirely original. Similarly to most readers, the thing that stood out most about The Nightmare Affair for me was the concept of Nightmares as a paranormal creature, and I'm glad to say that, with that concept, Mindee Arnett has created a fun and fantastical boarding school and murder mystery story.

However, the resemblance of The Nightmare Affair to other popular young adult reads is practically glaring--most notably its resemblance to Harry Potter. Let me just point out that I'm not that type of reader who brings every book with a magical boarding school right back to Harry Potter, and I might have been picking at straws concerning similarities between the two in The Nightmare Affair, but some things were far to similar for me to pass up. [For example, they call non-magical beings in Harry Potter muggles, and in The Nightmare Affair, they call non-magical beings mules.  This is one of the similarities I admit I may have been picking at straws with, but the entire thing just felt off with me--of all the things you can possibly call non-magical beings as a derogatory term, one would think authors would avoid using any words starting with 'm' and 'u.' As well as that, there is a Halloween (Samhain) chapter with a dining hall that is quite similar to the Great Hall in Harry Potter, with some particular happenings in that chapter that are in a way reminiscent of the chapter in Harry Potter. (hide spoiler)]

Similarities to other popular works aside, The Nightmare Affair is lacking in quite a few aspects--most considerably the murder mystery and the characterization, or lack thereof. Upon finishing The Nightmare Affair, I'm left with an unfortunately vague sense as to what the characters were like, as we're not given much development and characterization in the novel. The main character, Dusty, was overall likable and witty, but by the end of the novel I just don't feel like I truly knew anything about her other than the basics, which were told to us. As well as that, the murder mystery in The Nightmare Affair is almost painfully predictable, and even though I had a fun time going through the murder mystery even knowing the outcome, a less glaringly obvious outcome would have been beneficent to my enjoyment in the story.

However, despite those above qualms, I'd recommend The Nightmare Affair to anyone looking for a quick and fun paranormal romance and mystery with refreshing new lore and witty dialogue and characters. Though I do fully acknowledge its faults, I had an incredibly fun time reading The Nightmare Affair, but in the end it lacked the amount of depth necessary for it to be a memorable read.

THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR Trailer

GIVEAWAY

Fighting to Survive Book Blitz: Guest Post

Today on the blog I'm taking part in the Book Blitz for Fighting To Survive by Rhiannon Frater, book two in the As the World Dies trilogy! I myself haven't read any books in this trilogy, or any books by this author, but I've heard awesome things about this author's work. Below, after the book information, I have an amazing guest post for you all by Rhiannon Frater, which I hope you enjoy! (Psst, there's also a giveaway!)

Fighting to Survive
Rhiannon Frater
Series: As the World Dies, #2
Release Date: January 29th, 2013
Publisher: Tor Books

It’s time to clear the hotel.

The fort has grown crowded as survivors of the zombie apocalypse have found safety between its walls.  Winter is coming; soon it will be too cold to live in tents and other makeshift shelters.  The leaders of the survivors—Katie, Jenni, Juan, Travis, and Nerit—decide it’s time for an assault on the zombie-occupied hotel that looms over the town square.

A pitched battle in the banquet room is the start of a harrowing, room-by-room struggle from Reception to roof.  As the sun sets, the people of Ashley Oaks gather in the hotel’s rooftop ballroom and gazebo to celebrate their survival.  Gazing out over the beauty of the surrounding Texas countryside, it’s hard to believe that death and danger lurk around every corner.

The fort’s search and rescue teams have attracted unwanted attention from bandits who see the fort as competition for food . . . and as a ready source of women.  The first attacks are minor, but everyone knows there is worse to come.

And beyond the fort’s walls, the zombies shamble, moaning, eyes fastened hungrily upon the living.

The Essence Tour Stop: Interview & Giveaway

Hi, everybody! Today on the blog I have Kimberly Derting, author of The Pledge trilogy - a series of which I am definitely a fan - for an interview as part of The Essence blog tour hosted by Shane at Itching For Books. Below you will find my interview with the awesome Kimberly Derting, as well as a giveaway for paperback copies of The Pledge and The Essence! You can also find my review of The Essence, posted yesterday, if you are curious as to what I thought of it.

Guest Post by Helen Keeble + Giveaway!

Today on the blog I am so happy to have a hilarious guest post on The Three Things Vampires Don't Want You To Know by Helen Keeble, author of Fang Girl, as part of the Fang Girl Promo Blitz hosted by the fabulous Giselle at Xpresso Book Tours. Below you will find some information about Keeble's novel, Fang Girl, as well as her awesome guest post and an equally as awesome giveaway! 

Fang Girl
Helen Keeble
Series: None
Release Date: September 11th, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Purchase: Amazon|B&N|Book Depository

Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:

1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.

And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.

Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....

Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.