Book Blitz + Giveaway: Painting Sky by Rita Branches

Painting Sky

by Rita Branches
Publication date: April 25th 2016
New Adult, Romance

Nobody ever said life was easy... 

People pleaser, Jane Skylar wants nothing more than to earn her art degree, start her life, and bask in the bliss of living with her boyfriend.

But things don't always go as planned...

Struggling with her creative side, Jane finds herself in turmoil, often confiding in her roommate - another, more talented art student, Keith Hale. Keith just so happens to be her boyfriend's older, brooding brother. After a devastating breakup, Jane turns to Keith for comfort. But when the lines blur between roommate and lover, Jane's life becomes more complicated than ever before.

When Keith's past comes back to haunt him, their lives all get turned upside down, forcing the truth to surface. Now Jane must fight for what she wants--even if it hurts everyone she loves.

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Author bio

Rita Branches is an independent YA (young adult) author who enjoys spending every free moment (when she´s not reading) writing emotional stories.

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Painting Sky Playlist
1. “Jump rope” - Blue October

2. “Nothing Left To Say”, Imagine Dragons

3. “Clear Blue Sky”, Skylar Grey

4. “Not your way”, Misterwives

5. “Blurry”, Puddle of Mudd

6. “Can't Pretend", Tom Odell

7. "Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)", Silversun Pickups

8. “Creep”, Radiohead

9. “The Diary Of Jane”, Breaking Benjamin

10. “Never Let Me Go”, Florence + The Machine

11. “I Won't Let You Go”,  James Morrison

12. "I See You, You See Me", The Magic Numbers 

Giveaway! (INTL)

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Intimidating TBR Pile Tag

Lindsay Rey's video, go check it! (She's the original creator of this particular tag.)

Questions

1) What book have you been unable to finish?
Cress by Marissa Meyer. I'm on page 323 but I hit on a slump last December because there's not enough of my two favourite characters and I can't find myself to care enough for the leads. I do love the story but I think I just hit a temporary slump that I haven't overcome yet (stupid me, of course I can't overcome it if I don't pick it up).

What book have you yet to read because...

2) ...you just haven't had the time?
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell because it's a classic and the edition I have is almost 600 pages long. So I know it's going to take a while for me to read it.

3) ...it's a sequel?
Well, technically it's a prequel of sorts but The Kill Order by James Dashner. I loved the Maze Runner trilogy but after finishing it I was not ready for the prequel and I haven't picked it up. Mostly because I've heard mix reviews. I'll try to read it during the summer so that I can dive into The Fever Code when it's published next autumn.

4) ...it's brand new?
A Hundred Thousand Words by Nyrae Dawn: I think I purchased the ebook last week. But I'm really excited about this because I read Rush a few years ago and I've been itching to read more LGBT themes books from Nyrae Dawn.

5) ...you read a book by the same author and didn't enjoy it?
Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire. Well, okay, I read Walking Disaster and I liked it well enough overall but I didn't like Abby, the main female character. She got on my nerves so much. So I've not picked this one up even though it has a new set of characters but I guess I'm a bit afraid the female lead will annoy me as much as Abby did.

6) ...you're just not in the mood for it?
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. I actually started this a year ago and I really liked it. But. It's already emotional and I know it'll get even more emotional, and I don't want to read it unless I'm definitely in the mood for it because I don't want to ruin the book - because I know I'll love it to bits if I read it at the right time.

7) ...it's humongous?
I don't have really humongous books in my TBR pile. I guess the longest is Winter by Marissa Meyer but I can't read it until I have finished Cress.

8) ...because it was a cover buy that turned out to have poor reviews?
I don't have an answer for this one because a) I don't do cover buy; no matter how gorgeous the cover, I won't buy it if the synopsis don't intrigue me, and b) I don't read reviews before reading the book; sometimes I read my Goodreads friends reviews but I'm still up to giving a chance for a book even though if they don't like it.

9) What is the most intimidating book in your TBR pile?
That has to be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I want to read and love it because so many people have good things to say about it and it's a classic and it's a Brontë, but I'm nervous. It's a classic and pretty long and I just want to love it but I don't want to go into with too many expectations. I've avoided spoilers and all, so I'm not even completely sure what's it's about except what the back cover summaries.

10) Who do you tag?
Everyone who feels like sharing their intimidating TBR!

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Broken Fate by Jennifer Derrick

Broken Fate

by Jennifer Derrick
Published by Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: April 18th 2016
YA, Mythology, Romance

Zeus gave her one simple job: Kill every human. Atropos—daughter of Zeus and the third goddess of Fate from Greek mythology —spends her eternal life snipping human lifelines when their mortal lives are over. As if being a killer doesn’t make life miserable enough, she and her Fate-wielding sisters must live amongst the humans on Earth thanks to a long-running feud between their mother and Zeus. Living on Earth means they must mingle with the mortals, attend the local high school, and attempt to fit in—or at least not stand out too much.

Killing and mingling don’t mix, which is why Atropos’ number-one rule is to avoid all relationships with the humans. Caring for the people she has to kill is a fast track to insanity. However, when Alex Morgan walks into her first-period English class, she knows she’s in for trouble. He’s the worst kind of human for her to like—one with a rapidly approaching expiration date. And he makes Atropos want to break all the rules.

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Author bio

Jennifer is a freelance writer and novelist. As a freelancer, she writes everything from technical manuals to articles on personal finance and European-style board games. Her interest in storytelling began when she was six and her parents gave her a typewriter for Christmas and agreed to pay her $.01 per page for any stories she churned out. Such a loose payment system naturally led to a lot of story padding. Broken Fate, her first novel, earned her $2.80 from her parents.

Jennifer lives in North Carolina and, when not writing, can often be found reading, trawling the shelves at the library, playing board games, watching sports, camping, running marathons, and playing with her dog.

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Pintarest

Quest Post
Funerals, Book Ideas, and Other Odd Behavior

Whenever people ask me where I get my ideas, I say, “Anywhere and everywhere.” Almost anything can be the seed of an idea for a story. Yet for all that I mine for ideas in every aspect of my life, even I never expected to get an idea at a funeral. But that’s exactly where Broken Fate first appeared in my head. 

It was the funeral of a relative who died way too young. Like any sane person, I hate funerals, even more so because I tend to be a snotty crier. Once the tears start, it gets embarrassing. I do everything I can to keep myself together until I can cry in private. So there I was, trying to distract myself from thoughts of death, when I found myself thinking of, well, death. Specifically, what kind of nonsensical, cold, cruel system would claim someone so young? 

I remembered the unit on Greek mythology from my freshman English class. That was where I first heard the myth of the three Fates: The first spins human lifelines, the second assigns them their destinies, and the third kills the humans by cutting the lifelines.

My brain locked on the third Fate. How bad would that job stink, I thought. All you do is kill people, day after day. And you’re immortal, so it never ends. You’re just a cog in the business of life and death. After a while, you wouldn’t even care any more. Your days would just be snip, snip, snip. It’d be like working on a never-ending assembly line. 

Beyond the fatigue, you couldn’t possibly have any relationships with humans because loving people you have to kill is insane. “Hey, let me love you so I can kill you and then be sad.” Um, no. But what would happen if one day you did fall in love with a human, and that human had a very short shelf life? 

There it was: The idea for Broken Fate. I spent the rest of the service working it out in my head, thus averting the snotty crying crisis.

I wanted to write it down, but that’s not cool in the middle of a funeral. After the service, I reached for my phone, but since we’d carpooled to the service it was still in the car back at the house. I dug around in my purse for a pen but I didn’t have one. 

I kept chanting, “Fate, Fate, Fate,” in my head until I caught up to my cousin at the reception. 
“I need to use your phone to send myself an email.” I said. 

She looked at me strangely, but fortunately my family is great at overlooking weird behavior. She handed over her phone and I sent myself the following:

“Fate, business, crappy job, how could you love someone if you had to kill everyone, person with rapidly approaching expiration date.” 

So a novel about death was born at a funeral. Since I can’t separate the funeral from the book, Broken Fate has become a weird, bittersweet, and humorous last memory of my relative. That’s strangely comforting. 

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Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: First and First by Santino Hassell

First and First

by Santino Hassell

Five Boroughs #3 (can be read as a standalone)

Caleb Stone was raised on the Upper East Side, where wealth and lineage reigns, and “alternative lifestyles” are hidden. It took him years to come out to his family, but he’s still stuck in the stranglehold of their expectations. Caleb knows he has to build his confidence and shake things up, but he doesn’t know how… until Oliver Buckley enters the picture.

Oli is everything Caleb isn’t—risk-taking, provocative, and fiercely independent. Disowned by his family, Oli has made his own way in the world and is beholden to no one. After a chance encounter on New Year’s Eve, Caleb is smitten.

As Caleb sheds the insecurities that have held him back for years, he makes bold steps toward changing his career and escaping years of sexual repression. But for Caleb to take full control of his life, he has to be brave enough to confront his feelings and trust Oli with his heart.

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Author bio

Santino Hassell was raised by a conservative family, but he was anything but traditional. He grew up to be a smart-mouthed, school cutting grunge kid, then a transient twenty-something, and eventually transformed into an unlikely romance author.

Santino writes queer romance that is heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, his belief that human relationships are complex and flawed, and his own life experiences.

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Excerpt

A soft sound slid from Oli’s mouth. “You’re dangerous.”

“Am I?”

“Yeah,” he said, “you are. This kind of thing only leads to complications, and complications lead to people wanting things, losing them, and then winding up with broken hearts. Just look at you.”

I brushed thick, black hair off his brow. “The condition isn’t as permanent as it seemed.”

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Stacking the Shelves (45)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Purchased

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Prince's Cambit by C.S. Pacat

Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

Half Lost by Sally Green

For review

Trailer Trash by Marie Sexton

First and First by Santino Hassell (ARC)

For once I feel so accomplished because these did not make my TBR pile larger as I actually already devoured Half Lost and the Captive Prince trilogy.

What did you get? Leave a link in comments, I love to see other's book hauls!

Why I Feel So Awkward Recommending Books? (more so if I love them to death)

When I finish a great book, I want everyone to read it - and love it. I have my pile of all time favourites, and even those I liked a lot and could recommend for people if they so desired. I have a constant itch to grap a book and shove it to everyone's faces until they agreed to read it and cherish it like I did.

However.

I'm aware that not everyone has same tastes. A book which captivated me and made me cry for happiness, might not do anything for someone else. More so, they might hate it. That would be horrendous because a) I loved the book and want to share the love, and b) I'd feel responsible for recommending it and thus taking their time to read something they might enjoy.

Believe me, it has happened. I used to take a book I loved to death and make my sister read it (aka I raved about it until she said she'll read it). Most of the times she loved the book, too, and we could squeal together. Then there was the times she came to me, and deemed the book boring. A book which made my heart beat faster and characters I fell for, were boring for her. That's okay. But it made me feel bad for recommending the book at the first place.

This leads to the topic of how I mostly feel incredibly awkward when I'm asked to recommend books. It happened recently when an acquaintance of mine asked for recommendations. I felt speechless. I inquired which types of books she read, and with that information I was able to recommend some. However, a friend of mine recommended way more than I did, and did it without the awkwardness I felt.

It's easier to recommend books when you know the other's tastes. Still, I often held back. In my blog - if I have included a recommend sentence in a book review - I try to explain shortly who might like the book. For example, I might say 'if you enjoy character driven stories in a fantasy setting' or something like that.

Do you recommend books to other people? Do you find it easy to do? What do you think about the topic? I'd love to hear your opinions! Especially since I want to learn how to recommend books when asked without feeling incredibly awkward.

Now I try and embrace my awkwardness and fear of recommending: here's a few books I have loved. All of them made me feel intense feelings, and most of them made me cry. I selected a mix of different genres and age groups, so if you're looking for a good read, here's some of my recommendations:

The Song of Achilles: retelling of Achilles and Patroclus, LGBT, easy to read even though it's truly authentic - the author knows the ancient world and its customs. My favourite read of 2015.
Atonement: historical, modern classic, absolutely brilliant and heartbreaking. I find the first fifty pages or so a bit tedious because the descriptiveness but I love the novel to pieces, because after the stiff start it gets so captivating and so good.
Captive Prince: LGBT, royals, romance. Not a much romance in the first book, but the two sequels, heck yes. Character driven with lots of political plots and twists. The sequels are even better - they're fantastic!
Under the Never Sky: YA dystopia. In my opinion, this series is one of the best YA dystopias out there, and it's definitely under-appreciated. The characters are easy to identify with, the world-building is good, and it even discusses some things I have not seen other YA books to discuss.
A Monster Calls: YA/middle grade, fantasy/horror. The best Patrick Ness I have read this far, absolutely brilliant and full of emotions. I went in not knowing anything, and I feel like it's the best way to read this one.
Half Bad: YA, fantasy. I'm not a fan of witches (besides the obvious Harry Potter) but this trilogy is so good. It's more realistic than any other YA series I've read about when it comes to how war affects people. The last book, Half Lost, came out in March and it was the best one yet - truly, this series gets better with every book. Also, Gabriel. He's hands down one of the best characters ever.
Skyscraping: YA, contemporary, deals with LGBT themes. First novel ever I've read that's written in verse. Beautiful and so good. It's mostly about family and family relationships, and it's so good and unique.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief: Middle grade (the following series, The Heroes of Olympus is YA), fantasy, mythology. Basically this made me middle school years. My absolutely favourite series after Harry Potter. I mean, Greek mythology gods, a demigod camp, and so many adventures. The books are also hilarious. Easy and fast to read.

This Or That Book Tag

Sam Frost @ Tsundoku did this tag, and I thought it would be a little fun to do it, so here we are! I recommend to check her blog for book and TV/movie related posts!

Reading on the couch or on the bed?
Couch, definitely. If I read on the bed, I'll fall asleep no matter how good the book is - so it's either coach or chair where I read.

Male or female main character?
I prefer male, because I usually identify better with them. Actually, the gender doesn't matter if the character is well written and not irritating (however, when it comes to YA it's sadly so often that I found the female main character irritating). For me, it's more important that there's something I can identify with the character, or feel for them, than their gender. However, if in the past I have identified more with male main characters.

Sweet or salty snacks?
I don't eat while reading - which might not be healthy because I can spend a day reading and barely force myself to stop long enough to eat and drink.

Trilogies or Quartets?
Whatever does justice for the story. I think I have read more trilogies (or sagas) than quartets but it has not been conscious decision. 

First person point of view, or Third?
I prefer third person point of view but again, if the book is well written, then the person point of view does not matter.

Reading at night or morning?
Night. In fact, around the Easter this year I spend five nights reading (and slept all mornings because of that). I usually continue reading captivating books at morning when I'm on holiday but because of university, my mornings and days are usually spend studying and at classes, so I usually read at night (and lose a lot of sleep but then again, sacrificing a few hours of sleep for a good story is worth it.)

Libraries or book stores?
Bookstores! I live for browsing bookstores, reading blurbs, admiring the covers, searching for bargains... However, it's a struggle to leave empty handed. I like libraries, I have always used them a lot and I wouldn't want to live without them, but sadly they demand you to return the books and I love collecting books.

Character driven or plot driven story lines?

I'd say character driven. I can forgive plot holes or even a little poorer plot if the characters are really good and I love them, but I'm not so forgiving if I don't care about the characters even though the plot is magnificent.

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Under the Trees by Ashley Maker

Wrapping the Month: March

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

It's starting to feel like I'm just not able to schedule my life so I'd have time for everything I need to do. Any advise how to keep blogging regularly while studying full-time? Especially since I do sports around five times a week, and do all the chores (seriously, cooking takes too much time in my opinion).

February was a poor reading month, but I actually managed to read satisfying amount of books in March. In April I might have time to do that a lot because it's the final month before the summer holidays so it'll really busy university-wise. However, I'm determined to blog more in April - I have already posts scheduled for the next week, and I try to write as many reviews next week as I can so I can schedule them for the rest of the month. So you can look forward some discussion posts, tags/meme posts, and reviews.

I'm extremely happy of my March book haul; there's some classics I've been meaning to get for years, and I managed to find the gorgeous editions I wanted. Besides that I already read the Captive Prince trilogy (which I loved so much!) and Half Lost - all the four I loved (4 or 5 star rating for all of them). Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is actually a limited Waterstones edition which you can colour! I still haven't decided on the colours I'll use, but I'll share the cover once I have coloured it.

March's reviews:

The Beautifull Cassandra (3 stars)

The Night Is Darkening Round Me (5 stars)

The Tell-Tale Heart (4 stars)

Captive Prince (4 stars)

In February I only managed to read one book, but during March I read so many more, especially around the Easter when I marathoned a lot of books and finished two series. I read the following: The Beautifull Cassandra (by Jane Austen), Captive Prince (by C.S. Pacat), Half Truths & Half Lost (by Sally Green), and Prince's Cambit & Kings Rising (by C.S. Pacat).

I have no idea how much I have time to read during April, because I have three essays to write and then to study and prepare for exams which are at the beginning of May. However, I'll try to post more reviews, primarily reviews of Half Wild, Half Lost, Prince's Cambit and Kings Rising.

Hugs,

Henna