Gratitude Giveaway Hop

Well, it's contest central here at Cornucopia of Reviews, and I thought I would participate in one more hop before the holiday season. It's the third annual Gratitude Giveaway and it's hosted by Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. This contest is open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to your country. What is the prize, you ask? Any book (or books) totaling no more than 15 USD. Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaser Tuesday (November 13)

What is teaser tuesday? 
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read... 
Open to a random page 
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page 
Don't include spoilers.

"Most of the time I felt like an actor in my own life, walking a path that my family had designed, saying my lines, and following my blocking instructions. But the path I wanted to take, one of my own making, hadn't been paved yet.

-Saving Juliet, Page 16, by Suzanne Selfors

Manhattan meets Verona in this time-bending twist on Shakespeare.

When Mimi is magically thrust into the middle of Shakespeare’s Verona, she must find a way to help Juliet fight for her future happiness. Will she be able to give this classic tragedy a happy ending?

Author Interview: Janci Patterson

A big thanks to Janci Patterson for stopping by to answer a couple of questions about her debut novel, Chasing the Skip. You can check Janci out at her website, Facebook, or Twitter. You can find information about Chasing the Skip on Goodreads.  


1. Tell us a little bit about your book, Chasing the Skip.

Here's the cover copy: 

Ricki’s dad has never been there for her. He’s a bounty hunter who spends his time chasing parole evaders—also known as “skips”—all over the country. Ever since Ricki’s mom ran off, Ricki finds herself an unwilling passenger in a front-row seat to her father’s dangerous lifestyle. Ricki’s feelings get even more confused when her dad starts tracking seventeen-year-old Ian Burnham. She finds herself unavoidably attracted to the dark-eyed felon who seems eager to get acquainted. Ricki thinks she’s ever in control—the perfect accomplice, the Bonnie to his Clyde. Little does she know that Ian isn’t playing the game by her rules.

2. Can you describe your road to getting published? 

In a word, it was long.  I wrote nine novels over twelve years.  I racked up in excess of a hundred rejections.  Somewhere along the line I learned to revise, and started getting much nicer rejections.  I started working with an agent, and compiled those rejections faster than ever.  

In seriousness, I started writing books because it was what I wanted to do, and I sent them out because I didn't want to reject myself, even though my early work was far from publishable.  But I kept writing, and once my skills were where they needed to be, CHASING THE SKIP sold rather quickly.

3. What qualities do you like most in Ricki?  

Ricki's having a hard time, but she wants very much to make things better, even though she has no idea how.  That doesn't keep her from trying (and failing, and trying again.)  Her persistence is probably my favorite thing about her.

4. What's your favorite book of all time, and has it had any impact on your writing? 

I can't pick just one.  But my favorite book in the contemporary YA genre is SPEAK, by Laurie Halse Anderson.  That book is pure brilliance.  I'd like to say it's had an impact on my writing, but I wouldn't dare suggest that my work even leans toward something as beautiful as SPEAK. Maybe someday.  It's good to always have things to aspire to.

5. Do you have anything new in the works? 

Always.  As a writer, the only thing I can control is whether or not I'm working on the next book.  I have several more books finished, but nothing under contract yet.  And, of course, I'm writing a new one.  The future is always uncertain, but hopefully you'll get to read them all in the not-so-distant future.

Book Review: Velvet by Mary Hooper

Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry's work is back-breaking and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens. (From Goodreads)

Best Bits: Fall is my favorite time to read historical fiction. I'm not really sure if it's the setting, description, or characters...but there's something extremely satisfying about being transported into another time as the weather changes around me. Velvet begins her story working in a steam laundry, and eventually finds her way into the home of a medium. There she experiences things that she never believed she would, and the reader gets a taste of what life was like for both the very poor and the very wealthy. I also loved the medium subject matter. This is actually historically accurate, in the late 1800's and early 1900's mediums were increasingly popular (you can see some pretty freaky photos of mediums and ectoplasm from this time period if you look around online). It just added another layer to the story, because the reader is privy to information that allows us to understand the motivations of Madame before Velvet does. Plus, woo there is quite a twist at the end. 

Nit Picks: I wish we could have seen a bit more of her childhood friend, and neighbor, Charlie. He kind of gets brushed off throughout the book, but ends up with a significant part to play. So, I think I would have felt more for him had I gotten to know him a little more. There's also quite a bit of time between finding out the nature of Madame and Velvet realizing it. It got a little frustrating at times, even though I sympathized because this woman essentially saved Velvet from poverty. 

Velvet 
By Mary Hooper
Published by Bloomsbury USA
336 Pages
Received from NetGalley
Rating: B

Waiting on Wednesday (November 7)

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

t's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

First in a four book YA series set 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate but in the same universe.


 

   

     
   
 
 
 

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February 5, 2013

How could I not be excited about this?! I may be hopelessly behind in the Parasol Protectorate series, but that doesn't mean I love it any less. My only issue is the cover. Did they photoshop the models head onto the silhouette because it's both a weird angle and she's so thin! Nevertheless, I can't wait.