Julie Kagawa's Winter's Passage and Alison Noel's Dark Flame

Free exclusively until July 31st!

If you were a fan of The Iron King I strongly recommend you going to Julie Kagawa's home page and downloading Winter's Passage, which is basically the story of when Meghan and Ash go to the Winter Court together (or so I was told).

Click here to go to the main page!!!

So, you still like Alison Noel? Weeell, I know where two excerpts of the book lie!

Click here and read them.

In My Mailbox IX

For Review:

Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

Demigods and Monsters by lots of authors lol

Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink

Unholy Embrace by Neil Benson

Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell

Bought:

The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe!

Jane Austen's Seven novels, by Jane Austen!

Also Bought:

Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

He's just not that into you by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

I will not post BEA books on this pages for many reasons. First, they are going to be part of my BEA posts this week, and second, there are tooo many!

Almost all links lead to GoodReads so you can read more information on the books and stuff. Hope I did good =]

*In My Mailbox was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie and created by Kristi at The Story Siren.*

BEA Day 1

May 24

I got to New York May 24 and I went to the Teen Author Carnival thing on the Jefferson Library. Sad to say that my airplane was delayed and I got to New York an hour later than I was suppose to, so when I got to the TAC they were kicking people off. I stayed there for about half hour. I met Michelle Zink in person! Along with other authors. I hear Sandy The Penguin was there, but I didn't really talked to anybody there so I didn't see her... yet.

That same day around eleven I started receiving txt messages from Lexie from Poisoned Rationality about meeting up at BEA. You have no idea how happy I was I wasn't going to spend my BEA days alone! But then I had the idea to txt Sandy The Pirate Penguin, and Eleni from La Femme Readers. We talked and we decided to all meet up on Wednesday. But I met Eleni on Tuesday because we both went to BEA that day.

May 25

This are the stairs at the Javits Center. Nice uh?

BEA that day was all about preparation, booths were being put on place, everyone was running about doing their job, pretty uneventful. The good thing is that I got to meet Eleni...

(Eleni on Left, me on Right)

...and some other bloggers like

Jennifer from Reading With Tequila...

(Jennifer)

...and Emily from Red House Books.

(Eleni on Left, Emily on Right)

Also we got to make routes and get to know the area (oh, and we learned the routes to the closest bathrooms! Lifesaver really)

Anyways, we stayed there for a lil while just talking and hanging out, but at like 12 we were bored and decided to go to The Strand, a place I had never visited before but heard it was worth visiting. We took a taxi there (my first taxi ever!!! Eleni and Emily were kind of making fun of me, damn them!!!)

Jennifer couldn't go with us to Strand unfortunately, because she had to go home (she lives a little far away), so I went with Eleni and Emily.

And let me tell you...

It...Was...AWESOME!

If you have never gone to Strand the bookstore, OMG believe me you have to go! Miles and Miles of books in every direction. Books old and new all lingering together waiting for the right person to take them home. It's swoon worthy.

After I cleaned the drool off the floor, I wondered around the YA section, and Eleni showed me the ARC section. I don't know how they do it (sell ARC's, maybe they buy them from the publishers?) but I bought one ARC. Starlighter, Dragons of Starlight. It looked pretty good, and it was only 2 dollars O.o 2 fricking dollars! Somewhere deep inside I think I bought it because it has 2 dollars...

After Strand, we went and took the subway to our homes (or in my cause my Inn), and Eleni showed me which one to take and all that. Let me tell you, she is a sweet heart! She didn't want me to get lost, and she even told me to call her when I got home/Inn to know I wasn't eaten by zombies. Of course I forgot to call her till like 11 pm, but I did at the end!

What I am saying here? What is all this story telling Taschima? Well, what I am saying is that, the best part of my day was meeting bloggers. Meeting Eleni, Emily, and Jennifer. They are all awesome, and the best part is I can babble about books or anything and they got it. It was an experience way worth whatever I paid to get to NY.

And this was Day 1 at BEA/NY. After I left the girls I went out with my mom and my friend Chaz (a friend which I will be talking about a lil bit later on). With them I went to Books of Wonder (a bookstore)...

...and met the Class of 2k10. Which were...

(There are a lot of authors here, and for the life of my I can't remember name by order xD)

SWATI AVASHTI - Split

ALEXANDRA DIAZ - Of All the Stupid Things

JERI SMITH-READY - Shade

JENNIFER R. HUBBARD - The Secret Year

KITTY KESWICK - Freaksville

JUDITH GRAVES - Under My Skin

JANET FOX - Faithful

BONNIE J DOERR - Island Sting

JAME RICHARDS - Three Rivers Rising

SHARI MAURER - Change of Heart

LEAH CYPESS - Mistwood

IRENE LATHAM - Leaving Gee's Bend

RHONDA HAYTER - The Witchie Worries of Abbie Adams

SHANNON DELANY - 13 to Life

ERICA PERL - Vintage Veronica

(some of them weren't at the event, I think)

It was pretty cool to hear all the authors speak and stuff. But I left there quite early because I wanted to go out and experience NY!

Oh and...

I love New York.

The One Question Interview! The Education of Bet

Hello guys, I know I haven't been much around. It's not BEA's fault, my hotel doesn't have wi fi (something I so didn't anticipate because they said they DID, only you have to fricking pay your first kid's college found for it and guess what? Not gonna happen!)

Anyways, I had something planned for today! I was invited to be part of this awesome one question interview tour and I said game on!

My interview is with...

Lauren Saratz Logted, author of The Education of Bet.

Summary:

When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

Now, my questions was...

• I am a fan of the visuals. And for that my question is, if you were to cast your characters with current actors and/or actresses which would you cast and why?

Assuming we're talking about The Education of Bet, that's not the easiest question in the world. If we were talking about the adult novel, Vertigo, now that I could cast no problem: the Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd as Chance Wood and me as Emma Smith - la! And of course for The Sisters 8 series for young readers, my 10-year-old daughter and cocreator of the series, Jackie, would just love to play the parts of all the octuplets; really, if it's animated or Pixar, she'll be happy to do all the voices. But with a YA novel like The Education of Bet? Casting becomes a lot harder.

Naturally while I've been typing this out I've come up with some ideas. I think I'll cast Emma Watson in the title role. After years of playing Harmione in the Harry Potter movies, I'd think she'd welcome the chance to play a Victorian girl who cross-dresses to get what she wants. And since by casting Emma Watson we've clearly shown that money is no object, for the part of Will, the boy Bet is raised with, I think let's take Robert Pattinson. In the book, it's Will that Bet impersonates in order to get an education, and I think Emma and Robert look enough alike for this to be credible. Finally, for the role of James Tyler, Bet's roommate once she gets to school, like Daniel Radcliffe was a fresh face when HP started, so would I Iike to cast James with someone relatively new to audiences. I've therefore taken it upon myself to go through the New Faces Models & Actors website, coming up with this guy, Adam Barnes: http://www.newfaces.com/adambarnes. What do you think? "Oh, Mr. Spielberg! We're ready to start shooting here!"

So what do you think? Good character? Bad characters? I think they are pretty cool =] And the idea of putting Harmoine in the combo doesn't sound bad (she is a very pretty girl).

Other stops in the interview are/were...

May 27: Chelsea: In The Education of Bet, Victorian England is your setting. What made you want to set your book in that time period? http://thepageflipper.blogspot.com/

June 1: Hope http://www.princess2293.blogspot.com/

And there you have it! I have to go cause this i not my house lol So I gotta go back to the hotel from hell, but please if you find this book of any interest to you, well, give it a try!

I will be posting about BEA and such Saturday or Sunday. I will be posting winners to my contest either Monday or Tuesday.

Happy reading,

BEA is Here, Time for Updates!

Throught the day I will be giving little updates of what I see and stuff at BEA.

• I got here at 7:00 a.m. Early? Kinda. There is not a lot of people here. The exhibit hall opens up tomorrow, but there are a couple of conferences I got my eyes on. For example, The Author Stage and BEA Editors Buzz.
  
• I brought a book with me... I know...
  
• My badge is pweetty! Though it has my real name on it O.o (It says PRESS!! IM PRESS!!!)
  
• Im meeting Eleni from La Femme Readers! We txted last night and this morning, and she is on her way here!
  
• Im also meeting Sandy, The Pirate Penguin, and Lexie from Poisoned Rationality. Though I think I don't meet them till tomorrow...
  
• More people are getting here. Better go and see what I can do about buying tickets for author's signings.
  

More updates later. Love you guys!

-Taschima

BEA Time Wreck

So, I have a lil problem. Can you guys help me?

This authors are going to be there:

Bree Despain

Anna Godbersen

Kate Lauren

And guess what? Here is their schedule...

Wednesday, May 26, @4:00-5:00 pm

Oh and look at this...

Rick Riordan

Richelle Mead

Melissa Marr

All at...

Wednesday, May 26, @3:00-4:00 pm

I LOVE Richelle Mead, and I LOVE Rick Riordan...

So, please, HELP ME!

Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron King
Series: Iron Fey

Book #: 1
Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 368
Publisher: Harlequin
Reading Level: Young Adult

Rating: .7

"I Shivered as my stomach twisted into a tight little ball. This still felt like something out of a nightmare. But Ethan was gone, and faeries were real. I had to accept that now." -Meghan

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Taschima's POV:

Why is it that every time I pick up a faerie book there is always some kind of reference to A Midsummer's Night Dream?

Ash is... Wait a minute, the book is about Meghan is it not? Let's start there then. Meghan is at the beginning a sort of normal teenager. Though not popular by any means, she manages to capture your attention since the first few pages because Meghan is her own person. She doesn't pretend or wants to be anyone else, a quality I most like. In the day of her 16 birthday Meghan starts seeing weird stuff like shadows in the corner of her eye, or deadly strangers in black horses who seem to be there a minute but not the next... That is the day her brother is kidnapped by the Fey; that is the day she discovers a whole new world; that is the day her life begins. Meghan swears she will find her brother, and with the help of a few frenemies she ventures into the dangerous yet enchanting world of The Fey.

This book was surprising to say the least. All consuming to say the most. With every page that you turn danger encounters the characters. The battles in this book will leave you breathless, and the fierce cold romance will make you want more. I read this book with no expectations, I am not a fan of fairies by any means, but by the end I was left with my mouth open and I swear that this book has set the bar VERY high for The Iron Daughter; scratch that, for ANY fairy book I read from now on.

Meghan is a normal teenage girl who kind of knows who she is but that is unaware of her darker side. Or at least that is how she starts... As you continue reading the book you will be glad to know that character development shows it's ugly head, and Meghan the timid little farm girl blossoms into something much more beautiful and fierce. Mind you, Meghan still has a heck of a lot to learn. I really liked how the author didn't just made the character learn a lot of stuff from one day to the other. Like, Meghan didn't become powerful over night, it certainly took it's time. I find this realistic and highly likable (though at times I wanted to either kick Meghan or help her because Hey she don't know how to fight).

The Fey are pretty much not a new story. As I said before I believe that in every book about fairies you are going to encounter the same main kings and Queens, the only thing that really varies is their personality. I didn't like any of The Fey Royalty. Wait, that is a lie, I did like one of them...

Ash... I whisper his name and it makes me swoon. I picture him in my head and I can't imagine why did I ever loved Edward Cullen. Ash is like, wow. He is seriuosly the ultimate bad boy. He could tell you he is destined to kill you and kiss you in the same whisper. And you know what? YOU WOULDN'T MIND! That is the scary part. I kept repeting to myself, hey he is a bad guy, he is going to kill Meghan, but, he's just so... tantalizing. This right here is one of my favorite quotes of the book...

"War?" Something cold touched my cheek, and I glanced up to see snowflakes swirling in a lighting-riddled sky. It was eerily beautiful, and I shivered. "What will happen then?"

Ash stepped closer. His fingers came up to brush the hair from my face, sending an electric shock through me from my spine to my toes. His cool breath ticked my ear as he leaned in.

"I'll kill you," he whispered, and walked away...

... freaky, yet swoon worthy.

I believe that Robbie doesn't stand a chance against Ash -FYI Robbie is Meghan's best friend and the second guy on the LT (love triangle)- but well see how things play out. I will only warn you, the best friend always has a very little window of opportunity before the BB (Bad Boy) steals the girl, and I am afraid Robbie's window has long expired.

What else, what else... The truth is I could discussed this book and every single detail about it, but, I can't because it would take the surprise away of you reading it and finding the asnwers on your own. Just know this. Ethan is kidnapped, Meghan is trying to save him, she encounters frenemies on the path and bargains with them so she can have some kind of defense in the quest to finding Ethan, oh and of course, Ash is hot, even though he is from the Winter Court.

PS For those who HAVE read the book; The cat? Alice in Wonderland much?

Other stories I thought of when reading this book: has some Blue Bloods elements (looove triangle), Alice in Wonderland (THE CAT! And the wacky-what-the-hell path!), The Mortal Instruments (Action, action, action), and A Midsummer's Night Dream (duh).

Should you read it? HECK YEAH! This is one of my favorite reads this year! I never believed faeries could be so much fun!

Cover Comments: Wow... Though she is too pretty, I imagine Meghan to be tough around the edges, then again this could be Meghan without the glamour... Meghan is true faerie form I believe. I just love everything about it.