Wednesday 28 November 2012

Cover Reveal/Author interview: There by Denise Grover Swank!

I'm super excited to reveal this cover to you! Not only because it's my Mother's book but because I absolutely love it! I've read the early version of THERE and LOVED IT! I can't wait until it comes out so all of you can read it to!

If anyone wants to see a reference to the book cover of the first book, HERE, here it is:


So without further ado, the cover reveal of THERE!

***drum roll, please...****

 *DA DA DA DUMMMMM!*

The front:


And the back: 


Isn't it FANTABULOUUUUUS? I love it... I got super excited when my Momma sent me a picture of it  when I was at school. ;) It pays to have a mother who's an author.

I also interviewed my Momma and asked her a couple of questions about the cover!

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*Who is the cover designer and how did you find her?*

Nathalia Suellen created the cover for both HERE and THERE. I knew I wanted a more artistic cover than I had used for my two previous books. So I searched around the internet and found  Nathalia on Deviant Art. I emailed her about purchasing a picture she had in her gallery to use for the cover of HERE. She told me it would be less expensive to create one from scratch, so we did. I LOVE Nathalia’s work. I highly recommend you visit her website http://intro.ladysymphonia.com/  or on Deviant Art http://lady-symphonia.deviantart.com/

*How much say did you have in the cover design of THERE?*

While I gave Nathalia a general direction and idea about what I wanted for HERE’s cover, I had a lot of input on the design concept for THERE.

*What did you incorporate from the cover of HERE to the cover of THERE?*

I’d been thinking about the cover for THERE for several months before I approached Nathalia about starting the designing process. I knew I wanted Julia on the cover and I wanted her in a puddle of water, like she is in HERE. I liked the barren forest on HERE because it reflected Julia’s world (It was fall and the leaves were falling) and Evan’s world (The trees were dead) and I wanted another barren background. I wanted the two boys on the cover again, but I wanted them on separate sides.

*Are there any elements of symbolism in the cover of THERE?*

There’s quite a bit of symbolism on the cover of THERE. On the cover of HERE, Julia is looking down and in a white dress, but on THERE, she’s in a black dress and looking the opposite direction, in a more active stance. She was depressed and trying to find her way in HERE, but in THERE she’s more proactive and tries to take more control of her situation. She’s moving toward the danger and toward Reece and Evan.
The puddle of water on both covers symbolizes the joining of both worlds, the reflection symbolizes both Julias being present at the same time. Julia’s reflection on HERE is her white dress, but on THERE, her dress is black and the reflection is her white dress. In THERE, the other Julia’s memories begin bleed in hers. The reflection of the opposite shows 1) Julia is not the same girl she was in her world—she’s stronger and 2) she’s slowly losing herself to the Julia of Evan’s world.
The ruins in the background represent Evan’s world, but it also represents Julia’s life. It’s falling apart around her.
The storm brewing beyond the ruins represents the chaos in Julia’s life as well as the chaos of the world she’s now living in.

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THERE will be released December 24th so make sure to watch out for that! If you haven't read HERE, the ebook is on sale for 99 cents until Friday, November 30th! So if you're lookin' for a bargain there's your chance!


OR you can enter to win one of five autographed print copies of HERE in a Goodreads giveaway!


Places you can find HERE:
Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Here-On-the-Otherside-ebook/dp/B0064S8D9W
B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/here-denise-grover-swank/1107091759?ean=2940013553217
TBD:  http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Here-Denise-Grover-Swank/9781466394575
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Here/book-Vnv8yg9YK0uN4hV598RtvA/page1.html?s=za8DVZqrWUCKp3LFSdUrNg&r=1
Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/103327

Hope your days is filled with *SPARKLES!*


Sunday 11 November 2012

The Truth About Faking by Leigh Talbert Moore (Review)


Genre: Contemporary Romance
Number of Pages: 328
For ages 13+

"Jason just wants a date with Harley. 
Harley just wants a date with Trent.
Trent's still getting over Stephanie.

When Harley and Jason decide to fake date, they uncover a school of deceptions. Trent's got a secret, but so does Jason. And the more time Harley spends secretly kissing her fake boyfriend, the further she gets from her dreams with Trent.

Worst of all, Harley's mom is getting cozy with her hot massage therapy student, and even Harley's Reverend Dad can't fake not being bothered by it. But when the masks finally come off, can everyone handle the real truth?" -Goodreads

When I read the description for this book I thought it sounded absolutely adorable. And there's just something about the fact that a plan can change a person's feelings that makes me get all happy and excited. And yes, indeed, this plan sure did. I had so much fun reading this book!

Harley lives in one of those small town places where EVERYONE knows everyone's business. And may I just say, I would not enjoy living in one of those towns. But then Mr. Jason comes in and turns everything upside down. He is so swoony. Seriously. And I'm sure everyone's like, "Big surprise. This is Julia, for crying out loud." BUT COME ON. Who doesn't enjoy a book about a swoon worthy guy? Will someone please tell me?

Harley is the reverend's daughter which causes for a lot of stereotypes. I mean, the first thing you think about when you think of a reverend's daughter is crazy and rebelling. So she's got a lot of stuff to live up to. But all Harley wants is to date Trent, which I think is totally not as good as Jason, but of course she doesn't see that until later. I'm not gonna lie I thought Harley was a complete and utter idiot for a little bit because she was totally missing out on Jason for Trent, but things got better!

Jason was fantabulous. You could pretty much categorize him into one word and that would be it. He was quirky and different but he was also STINKING GORGEOUS. And those are my favorite guys to read about. The kind that aren't all suave and smooth but beyond adorable and know just the right thing to say at the most random times. I also loved how confident he was. He wasn't arrogant or cocky, he was confident. And there's a difference, people. He also liked Harley for her. And he was always there when she needed someone to talk to.

And then Harley has no idea what to do because she's been crushing on Trent for forever and she's starting to really like Jason. And we all know the better decision is Jason, DUH. But poor Harley doesn't. I wanted to step into that book shake the girl, and say, "CHOOSE JASON. CHOOSE HIM OR I WILL." But that didn't happen. Because you can't step into books. If you could I wouldn't be here right now. Harley also has to deal with the fact that everyone's gossiping about her mother and her mom's new massage student. This girl has got some confusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! And if you follow me on Twitter you saw that I was a little bit frustrated with all of the New Adult coming out. I know it's a VERY popular genre, but I'm not in my late teens yet and I'm not aloud to read New Adult. And it's super hard to find a good YA contemporary romance that's for teens my age. This one was PERFECTION! I was super happy to read it. If you're looking for a sweet romance that's filled with swoon worthy moments, this one's your book! 5 of 5 diva crowns.

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend and that they have an even better week to come! Hope it's filled with sparkles and fantabulousness!



Sunday 4 November 2012

Rise of a Rector by Heather McCorkle (Review)


Genre: Urban Fantasy
Number of Pages: 344
For ages 14+

"With graduation~and the hell of the last two years~behind her, Eren is hoping to finally explore her relationship with Aiden and deepen the bonds with her Society. But it seems there's no rest for a soon-to-be legendary Mayan warrior of the apocalypse.

From the green hills of Ireland to the jungles of Mexico, and deep into lands unexpected, Eren and Aiden will stop at nothing to discover all they can about their rare power in an attempt to alter destiny. Learning about ancient secrets that no one can remember proves to be more than challenging with Eren seeing old ghosts at every turn though. Worse yet, behind the ghosts lies something darker and far more deadly than any of the trials she has endured so far.

In the jungles of Costa Rica entire villages are dying inexplicably. Near the carnage live a group of channelers who are hiding a thousand year old secret, one that could change the very fate of the planet. But the ghosts of Eren's past have other plans, plans to seize the thread of destiny~and Eren~and manipulate both."

I was so happy to find out the next and final (*sob*) book of this awesome series was out! I have absolutely loved the past books and I knew to expect that this one would be just as good! Once again Heather has left me on the flippin' edge of my seat for the majority of this book. For cereal.

The book starts off with the whole gang together. Caitlin, Fane, Aiden (*swooooon*), and Eren. I was super excited to jump right back into the world of this book. Because it's so much fun! :) I mean, of course there are times when it's not so fun because we need conflict... DUH. But still, it's fun. ;)

The romance between Aiden and Eren is still beyond adorable and makes me get the warm fuzzies every time they have a *moment* so don't worry, no disappointment there! And in case any one is wondering if Aiden is still his swoon worthy self, because I know every one is, uhhh... YES. Most definitely. He's so stinkin' sweet. Like, seriously.

 This book was more action packed than the last two, and surprisingly, I didn't really mind. I'm not much of an action loving girl, but I think that since there were little things in between I was okay with it! But the suspense? Killed me. So. Much. Suspense. So much. You don't know if so and so is dead or if so and so is coming back to get them or if everything is just gonna crumple into a million little pieces and the whole book will be over. Yeah. That feeling. But that's probably one of the reasons I love books like this so much. Keeps ya on your toes!

The little tidbits with Fane and Caitlin's relationship made me super happy. It was nice to know they were working out just as well as Eren and Aiden! There were also moments between them that made me laugh. Just because Caitlin has such a bold personality compared to Fane. It causes some fantabulous moments.

This book was pretty different compared to the other books. Setting wise, at least! Instead of staying in one set setting the characters when to an array of places. It was pretty cool to be able to travel all over the place with the characters and experience everything through their eyes. Well, Eren and Aiden's at least.

The ending was SO AWESOME. I was melting into a puddle of happiness. I can't tell you anything because of COURSE I'm gonna make you read it, but Aiden does this thing that was super adorable and made me really happy and... YEAH! Read it! I feel like there's lots of exclamation points in this review, but what're you gonna do?


I'm sure you predicted already the number of diva crowns this book was gonna get but unless you didn't.. I give this book 5 diva crowns for being so fantabulously amazing. Perfect book to end this amazing series. I recommend this book to urban fantasy lovers who also like some romance mixed in. You will be happy with what you read! :)



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I may possibly post an essay I'm having to do in English about the psychology of a main character in the book How To Save a Life by Sara Zarr in the near future. So if I do, watch out for that! If you don't want to read stuff like that then.. I guess.. don't read it? Ha ha! Do what ya want! Don't mind me. ;)

Anyways, thanks for reading, everyone! Hope your weeks are filled with *sparkles!*