Review: Regine: A Teen Girl's Last Words by Regine Stokke and Henriette Larsen (Giveaway)

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Int'l: Amazon/Book Depository

Title: Regine: A Teen Girl's Last Words

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Publication: April sth 2014 by Zest Boks
Book Description:

Regine Stokke could have just given up. Instead, she started a blog and turned her fight against leukemia into a source of vitality, power, and beauty. Through music, photography, writing, and time spent with loved ones, she made the most of her life. She was a typical teenager with an amazing will to live, and the lessons she learned have relevance to us all.

Zest Books: Visit Website

Zest Books gave me two copies and 1 is up for grabs!

Special thanks to Zest Books

To Join: Read more

Blog Tour : Super Pop!: Pop Culture Top Ten Lists to Help You Win at Trivia, Survive in the Wild, and Make It Through the Holidays by Daniel Harmon (Review -Plus awesome Giveaways)

 Book Description:

Super-Pop offers a maximum-pleasure, minimum-effort way to become smarter, happier, and more likely to survive your next family function (or a shark attack). This hilarious and wide-ranging guide sorts nearly 500 different bestsellers, blockbusters, and underappreciated gems into quirky top ten lists, like “Outwit Death: Essential Lessons in Survival,” and “Achieve Mindfulness: Movies That Will Show You the Way (With Wise Elders Now Included).”  So whether you’re looking for some motivational workout music, need help planning a July 4th double feature, or just want to pick up some knowledge without straining your brain, this book has you covered. With new insights on old classics and fresh ideas for jaded eyes, Super Pop makes sense of pop culture – and then puts pop culture back to work.

Goodreads  Twitter  Website  

   

Seth Fishman

Interview:

1. Give us 3 interesting facts about you.

1) Every year, for the past five years, I’vehosted a Christmas movie marathon party that includes, on average, five feature length films and seven to ten shorts. It is, objectively speaking, the best day of the year. (I am also, as a rule, the only one who enjoys it.)

2) I cannot play the ukulele.

3) My feet are the hottest feet in the world, all the time. I have to sleep in socks because otherwise the bed gets too hot. (My feet are my enemy; they are winning the war.)

2. Describe your book in two sentences.

Super Pop! is basically an attempt to sort some 500 different pop culture recommendations into top ten lists that (ideally) make you think, make you laugh, and make a basic kind of sense. The lists in the book are organized according to five different self-improvement themes as well, because I really do think that, with the right outlook, even our guilty pleasures have the power to make us better people.

3 What inspired you to write this book?

I’m glad you asked! I’m a huge fan of the pop culture podcasts at Slate (the “Culture Gabfest”) and NPR  (“Pop Culture Happy Hour”)—and one of the great things about both of those shows are the very personal recommendations that the hosts provide at the end of each episode. Since these shows generally try to cover timely topics as a group, the recommendations tend to be the kind of things that otherwise you wouldn’t ever hear about: so things like an old book they just rediscovered, or a small art exhibit they saw, or a band that hasn’t quite made it yet. As a result, these recommendations have the power to expand horizons and bring some new attention to things that otherwise have sort of fallen by the wayside. That’s a great service—and it’s something that’s otherwise in pretty short supply.

Most people (myself included) get their movie recommendations from Netflix and their book advice from friends, and I wrote this book do my own small part in helping readers use the things they already know about and love to find the things they want to love but haven’t really heard about yet.

That’s the long answer. The short answer is: Because I wanted to tell people to stream Tell No One, read Deliverance, download the “Hang up and Listen” podcast, and go watch Beyonce’s “Countdown” video again. 

4. Book/s you look forward to read this year?

It usually takes me a few months to get into the latest releases, so I probably won’t read any of the big 2013 books until next year. But as soon as Gillian Flynn’s next book comes out, I’m going to take it on vacation with me; as soon as David Mitchell’s next book comes out, I’ll take it everywhere I go until it’s finished; and as soon as I finish The Year of the Flood I’ll buy Margaret Atwood’s finale in the Oryx and Crake trilogy, Maddadam.

5. Favorite Starbucks drink? (If a coffee drinker)

I drink coffee the way someone dying of thirst drinks water, so a twenty oz. regular coffee is my standard order.

And just for the record, in America, this is not abnormal; but in Spain – where I went on my honeymoon last year – it is deeply not normal. After weeks subsisting on micro-cups of espresso, my wife and I both ordered ventis/twenties at a Starbucks in Madrid. The guy at the cashier told us it would be a few minutes while he (a) located the regular coffee beans and (b) actually ground and brewed these beans into hot caffeine water. Then he turned around to a co-worker and whispered, clearly in horror: “No, seriously. Forty ounces of coffee.” 

(The best forty ounces of coffee we have ever had. For the first time in a week, I was awake.)

Check out the Tour Schedule here

Valentine's Day Giveaway!!!

Heart's Day giveaway!

This one goes to our lovely friends and followers from the Philippines

Rules:

- PH residents only

-Must be a follower

-One winner can only pick one set

Set A: 
The Mayfair Moon (The Darkwoods Trilogy #1)  by J.A Redmerski
2 Book Marks

Set B.
Dear Teen Me 
2 Book Marks
1 pin 

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Winner is Louisse Ang!

Congrats!

Blogoversary Giveaway #2

It's January 8th! We are ONE year old! Wohooo.

Thanks for all the love and support.

Rules:

-International

-Via Book Depository

-One winner will win 1 book among these pretties

-Must be follower on GFC

- No Cheating (We do check)

*The upper four are all about Sophomore Blast!

* The lower four are the Upcoming Mania!

Choose Well!

 

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Blogoversary Giveaway #1

.

We started this blog January 8th 2012

It's been an awesome year!

Thanks for all the love and support.

We are giving away one paperback copy of Angelfall by Susan Ee.

Angelfall is one the books that we first reviewed and we gave it 5 Stars!

See our review: HERE

RULES:

- International

-Must be a follower to join

-Via Book Depository

-We do check :) No Cheating please

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Spotlight: Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman (Interview plus Giveaway INT)

 
 Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman

Goodreads  Website   Blog   Twitter   Facebook

Published: Novemebr 13, 2012 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Book Description:

   Meet Erin. Smart student, great daughter, better friend. Secretly the mastermind behind the popular advice blog Miss Fortune Cookie. Totally unaware that her carefully constructed life is about to get crazy.

It all begins when her ex-best friend sends a letter to her blog—and then acts on her advice. Erin’s efforts to undo the mess will plunge her into adventure, minor felonies, and possibly her very first romance.

What’s a likely fortune for someone no longer completely in control of her fate? Hopefully nothing like: You will become a crispy noodle in the salad of life.

Lauren Bjorkman
Interview

1.   Give us 5 "Good to Know" facts about you (Keep it short).

I was always the shortest person in my class.

When I moved to Hawaii, I suddenly felt tall. J

Singing fills my heart with joy, but I am terrible at it.

I fell in love at 17. My true love and I have been together ever since.

My favorite romantic book/movie is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

2.   What's your favorite book/s that you've read in 2012?

Young adult: The Fault in Our Stars & Anna and the French Kiss. I also particularly enjoyed Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.

3.   What inspired you to write "Miss Fortune Cookie"?

I believe in luck and free will; destiny and hard work. I’m a walking contradiction. I have always loved opening fortune cookies, and have collected many over the years. That collection became the tiny seed that grew into a whole book.

4.   Introduce to us your favorite character/s from your book.

My main character, Erin, withdraws from life. She’s afraid to take the lead, afraid of conflict, and afraid to take risks. But she’s a loyal friend, just like me. I love her big heart. She changes the most in the book.

I love Erin’s best friend’s feisty attitude. But even more, I adore her other friend’s strict Chinese-immigrant mom, and the tough love she dispenses. I also appreciate the confidence and natural sense of humor of Lincoln, a precocious 9 year-old match-maker. And I have a total crush on Erin’s love interest, Weyland. He manages to draw Erin out of her shell with his playfulness and determination.

5.   What are your current projects?

I am working on a contemporary YA about a girl whose mom is accused of stealing corporate secrets about a new technology, a soon-to-be-released device that could make life easier for people suffering from stress, depression, and dyslexia. Unable to trust her stepfather, she seeks help from an old friend of her mother’s, learns secrets about her past, and finds herself torn between two very different worlds.

6.   Favorite ice cream flavor? Keyboard or pen?

Coffee.

Keyboard, but I love to write my ideas on paper first.

Win a Signed Copy  of Miss Fortune Cookie and some swags!
-This is International
-No Cheating (We do Check)

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Blog Tour! Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves (Giveaway and Review)

  Facebook    Website    Twitter    YouTube   Goodreads

Title: Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves

Published:  October 30th by Zest Books

Book given by the publisher

Book Description:

Dear Teen Me includes advice from over 70 YA authors (including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, and Nancy Holder, to name a few) to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends--and a lot of familiar faces--in the course of Dear Teen Me.

Win a Copy and some cool swags!

-International

-No Cheating (We do check)

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Spotlight: Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista (Trailer and Giveaway)

By Kate Evangelista

Book Description:

Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.

At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?

 Check out the incredible trailer!

We are proud to say that our very own Whale Reader drew this.

Yep, Koice is such an artist. 

Giveaway

Kate is giving away signed copies of Taste, 5 Taste Book Plates, 5 Reaping Me Softly Book Plates and 2 Charm Bracelets.

You can check out the swags and books: HERE

Open to Everyone

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Review: Jane by April Lindner (Review and Giveaway) International

Title: Jane

Author: April Linder

Published:  October 11th 2010 by Poppy

Book Description:

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance. 

But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

An irresistible romance interwoven with a darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers.

What if Jane Eyre fell in love with a rockstar?

Follower Appreciation Giveaway!

We've been blogging for 9 months now. It's been an awesome journey. We gained so many friends from blogging. Thank you so much for the great support!

We will be giving away 1 finished copy of Jane by April Lindner

Yes, this is International
* We will disqualify  those who cheated.

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Whale Unveil: Colonization by Aubrie Dionne (Giveaway)

Colonization by Aubrie Dionne

Goodreads  Website   Twitter

Book Description:

Finding a new home has never been so dangerous.

Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius's ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus.

Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to protect her new home. What she didn't expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus.

Can she save the colony and discover her true love? 

"Pretty Cover"

Aubrie Dionne

Author behind "Colonization"

Bio:

Aubrie Dionne writes science fiction fantasy with romantic elements. Her writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Inkspell Publishing, Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She’s also a professional flutist in New England.

Win this Keyring!

Open to US and UK only

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Whale Unveil: White by Jennifer Banash (Interview, Excerpt and International Giveaway)

White Lines by Jennifer Banash

 Goodreads   Website   Twitter

 

Interview with Jennifer Banash

Author behind "White Lines"

     Give us 3 short "Interesting facts about you" (Be Creative)
      I have perfect pitch, though I rarely sing in public. I studied photography and poetry before becoming a novelist, and I’m terrified of public speaking, which is why it’s hilarious that I ended up becoming a teacher and writer. I also really, really hate it when people call me Jen—wait, that’s four 

Books you currently have on your shelf?

   I’m reading GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn at the moment—so suspenseful, and the perfect book to   wind down with after a day of writing. I’m also rereading DANGEROUS ANGELS by Francesca Lia Block, and BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Walter. Weirdly enough, I don’t tend to read a lot of YA. I find it really bothers me when I’m actively working on a book—like now

     Tell us a little something about your book?
    WHITE LINES is set in the late 1980’s, and it’s about a 17 year-old girl name Cat, who works as a club kid in NYC. She comes from an abusive home, and is struggling to make it while living on her own for the first time. It’s an intense, gritty, and emotional read!

Why the 1980s?

         It’s the decade I came on age in, and it’s also a time that not a lot of YA authors have written about extensively—especially in New York. 

If “White lines” has a theme song, what will it be?

“The Message” by Grandmaster Flash or New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle.”

Favorite Starbucks drink?

Umm . . . this is going to make me REALLY unpopular, but I don’t go to Starbucks unless I absolutely cannot help it—I consider it corporate evil, and I refuse to say those stupid names and sizes for all of the drinks. Just. Can’t. Do. It. But when I get coffee out, it’s always a soy latte.

We are giving away an ARC (paperback) copy of White Lines
 Special thanks to Penguin Group and Putnam Juvenile
Open Internationally

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Taste by Kate Evangelista Giveaway

Miss Kate Evangelista, author of the awesome YA book Taste is giving away a paperback copy of her novel and it's open internationally!

CHECK OUT OUR 4.5/5 REVIEW

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Giveaway: (Paperback copies) "Dreams by Daniela Sacerdoti"

Ms. Sacerdoti was nice enough to host an INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY wherein TWO (2) lucky winners will have a paperback copy of her novel, Dreams.

CHECK OUT OUR 5/5 WHALE REVIEW HERE

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The Number Tour: Giveaway and Excerpt (International)

                       GIVEAWAY (INTERNATIONAL)

The Author, Ms. Sheenah Freitas is kind enough to offer ONE winner a choice between a paperback or a digital copy of her second novel, The Number. This is open internationally.

Goodreads

Website

Twitter

Book Description:
Kaia disappeared for five years. Now she's back and her planet is on the brink of war.

The new "Numbers" program, created by the Tueors’ leader, tracks and isolates demigods. Kaia's friend, Catrina, refuses to take part, and that makes her the most dangerous Number of all.

It's Kaia's duty to gather and protect the treasures of the gods. But neither the treasures nor Catrina are what they appear to be.

As the day a dire prophesy foresees draws near, will Kaia reverse the gears of fate, or will everything she's ever loved be burned away by the flames of war?

       Sneak Peek and Rafflecopter Below

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Whale Giveaway: Prince Charming Must Die

5 Winners will win an Ebook copy of "Prince Charming Must Die"All you have to do is to like their Facebook Page

Book Description:

On the eve of her 18th birthday, high school junior Alice Goodenough feels on top of the world. Classes are almost finished. She’s about to start her summer job at the local library, where she’ll be surrounded by all of her favorite books. And she has a wonderful boyfriend.

Then the rabbit shows up. The giant talking rabbit. He has a message:
200 years ago, the Brothers Grimm unleashed their stories upon the world.
Literally.
With the help of a magic pen and paper, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm brought all of their characters to life. The world was a more magical place … for a time. Cinderella found her prince. Briar Rose's spell was broken. The dancing princesses spent their nights hidden away in a secret underground city. The old miller's boy found true love.
Then, slowly, the Grimms’ characters began to change for the worse. They became Corrupted. Evil. They didn’t belong in our world, but it was too late for the Brothers Grimm to destroy them.
Only a hero can save the day. Every generation for the past 200 years, a hero has been chosen to fight the Corrupted and rid the world of the Grimms’ fairy tales. To her horror, Alice has been chosen as the next hero. As her 18th birthday nears, she begins to realize life is never going back to normal. School will never be the same.
As for her boyfriend, Edward … well, he might be hiding a terrible secret

                                         Join the Rafflecopter below

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Whale Giveaway: "A Stiff Kiss" bookmark, key chain and picture card (Opens Internationally)

                     

One winner will win these cool prizes!   

Thanks to Avery Olive, Author of "A Stiff Kiss"

Opens Internationally.

Review here

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GIVEAWAY! Interview with Authors: Annie Miles and Sorrel Provola

By: Annie Miles, John Byrne, Isabel Eckersley, Sorrel Provola

Book Description:

Abigail Shelton is dead. 

Spring Valley's golden girl is found floating face-down in her boyfriend’s pool, hands bound behind her back, head bleeding, drugs and alcohol in her system. Her friends are the only suspects – and they all have reasons to want her dead. Everyone has an alibi, but no one is innocent. 

ALIBI is a 4-part young adult e-book series. Each one-hundred page installment reveals the perspective of a different character: the secret love, the nemesis, the boyfriend, the best friend. As their tales unfold, we learn that Abby is not as perfect as everyone believes, but she’s not the only one with secrets to hide. This page-turning tale of suspense, betrayal, murder, and lust will keep fans of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars up and reading well past curfew.(less) 

CHECK OUR OUR REVIEW FOR ALIBI SERIES 

Interview with The Authors of the Alibi Series

Author behind Rowan: Sorell Provolo

1.  Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you.

I write every day.

I enjoy small-batch bourbons.

I never take my horoscope seriously, yet I read it religiously.

 2.    Books you currently have on your shelf

What books do I not have on my shelves? I have twenty years of reading hoarded in my apartment. Let’s keep it simple and restrict it to the pile of books currently on my nightstand:

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

Moby Dick, Melville

Oblivion, David Foster Wallace

Life, Keith Richards

About three months’ worth of unread or partially read New Yorkers.

3.    What inspired you to write Rowan?

I’d never written YA before, but had always been curious to try it. And I really loved the idea of writing the part of the evil teenage genius.

44.   While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?"

No, not at all. The wonderful thing about fiction is that you can put your characters in bizarre or dangerous or ill-advised situations that you, as normal, non-fictional grown-up, would never in a million years get involved in. That said, I did draw on my own high school experience as the freaky, socially awkward shy girl to inform some of Rowan’s personality. But I could never to aspire to be as evil (or as smart) as she is.

5.  If the alibi series has a theme song, what will it be?

I’d go in for something by Def Leppard. But maybe that’s just me. 

Author behind Charles: Annie Miles

1.  Tell us a little about yourself?
I’m a twenty-seven year old perpetual student who loves to write, and I jumped at the chance to work on such an exciting project! I had never realized before working on ALIBI how much awesomeness can be done with ebooks. I’ve seen the light – now I really covet that new iPad! I also love everything homemade from food to crafts, my dog, Homer, and yoga.

2.  Books you currently have on your shelf

Currently I’m in a masters program in English lit, so I have a lot of Henry James and Thomas Hardy on my shelf right now! But my summer reading list includes: The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obrecht and The Hunger Games series, which I STILL haven’t read but am so excited to finally get to so I can participate in conversations with normal people again. Now I know how alienated those people who didn’t read Harry Potter felt.

3.  TheUnseelieNerd: Charles is my favorite character, what inspired you to write Charles?

Thanks so much! I had fun writing him. Writing Charles really allowed me to tap into those adolescent feelings again, which I think if we really revisit, we kind of never let go of. Even though I’m a girl, and was never a super hot and popular male athlete in high school, I feel that uncertainty and a kind of loneliness, a kind of not being familiar with all of the changes in your world and starting to question things—these are all universal experiences with people who are turning into adults. So to write Charles alongside of the super exciting plot twists was a fun and rewarding challenge.

4.  What are your current projects?

Currently I write some short stories, and I try to participate in fiction workshops whenever I can. I’m working on a ghost story right now which I am excited about. But sadly, a lot of my writing these days is term papers (UGH!). This was my first YA effort, and it was such a blast that I hope I get the chance to do more!

5.  Favorite Starbucks drink?

Iced coffee, black. I’m a purist. 

We are giving away an E-book copy of the Alibi Series to ONE lucky winner!!

Thanks to Twist Literary and the authors of Alibi Series

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