Countdown #BEA2015: Day 26 Featuring Virginia Boecker

In 26 days Nancy from Ravenous Reader and I will be facing the craziness and excitement of BEA! To celebrate, we’ve decided to do a countdown and share some of the authors we are excited to see, the books we hope to see, and the food we plan to eat…the works!

Today we are featuring Virginia Boecker.



About the Author

Virginia Boecker recently spent four years in London obsessing over English medieval history, which formed the basis of The Witch Hunter. She now lives in the Bay Area, California with her husband and spends her days writing, reading, running, and chasing around her two children and a dog named George.

In addition to English kings, nine-day queens, and Protestant princesses, her other obsessions include The Smiths, art museums, champagne, and Chapstick.

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About Her Book!

The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.

Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.

But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.

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BEA 2015
Virginia Boecker is scheduled for an Autographing Session on Wednesday, May 27th from 4:00 - 4:30 pm at Table 1.

Countdown #BEA2015: Day 27 Featuring Leigh Bardugo

In 27 days Nancy from Ravenous Reader and I will be facing the craziness and excitement of BEA! To celebrate, we’ve decided to do a countdown and share some of the authors we are excited to see, the books we hope to see, and the food we plan to eat…the works!

Today we are featuring Leigh Bardugo. Her books are awesome and we are more than excited to read her upcoming book!



About the Author

Leigh Bardugo is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University, and has worked in advertising, journalism, and most recently, makeup and special effects. These days, she’s lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band. Her new book, Six of Crows, arrives fall 2015.

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Her First Book!

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life--a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

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Her Second Book!

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can't outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling's game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Siege and Storm is the second book in The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

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Her Third Book!

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction--and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for. Ruin and Rising is the thrilling final installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

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Coming Soon!

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price--and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...A convict with a thirst for revenge.A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.A runaway with a privileged past.A spy known as the Wraith.A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction-if they don't kill each other first.

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BEA 2015

Leigh Bardugo is scheduled for an Autographing Session on Friday, May 29th from 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM at Table 4.

Countdown #BEA2015: Day 28 Ember In The Ashes Release Day Blitz + Giveaway!

In 28 days Nancy from Ravenous Reader and I will be facing the craziness and excitement of BEA! To celebrate, we’ve decided to do a countdown and share some of the authors we are excited to see, the books we hope to see, and the food we plan to eat…the works!

Today we are participating in the EMBER OF THE ASHES release day blitz. This book is fantastic and we know others will love it too!

A message from Sabaa to you!
Dear Readers,

Today, my “baby” AN EMBER IN THE ASHES is finally out in the world! From inception to pub date, this journey took eight years. And what a journey it was: writing, rewriting, revising, editing, querying, submitting; Meeting other debuts, bloggers, booksellers and librarians, and hearing their thoughts on EMBER. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the radness.

And now, the book is here! I am so excited to see it in the hands of readers. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. To celebrate release day, I’m giving away two signed, first-edition hardcovers of the book. Details below!

All my best,
Sabaa

About the Author

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.



☆ How to find Sabaa ☆
Website ☆ Twitter ☆ Pinterest ☆ Goodreads ☆ Tumblr ☆ Instagram

About the Book

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

This is a tour hosted giveaway!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
2 winners will receive a signed hardcover of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES. US Only.
3 winners will receive a hardcover of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES and a Sword Letter Opener! US Only.
Ends on May 9th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway




BookCon 2015
BookCon Panel in New York, NY
with Renée Ahdieh, Marie Lu, and Aisha Saeed

Countdown #BEA2015: Day 29 Featuring Renée Ahdieh

In less than a month, Nancy from Ravenous Reader and I will be packing our bags to head to The City That Never Sleeps. Yep, only 29 days from now we are going to be facing the excitement and craziness of BEA!

To celebrate our excitement for this fabulous event, we’ve decided to do a countdown and share some of the authors we are excited to see, the books we hope to see, and the food we plan to eat…the works!

Today we are fangirling over Renee Andieh. We both read and loved THE WRATH & THE DAWN and it quickly became one of our favorite reads for 2015. It is going to be a tough novel to beat and we are beyond excited to meet her at BEA this year.


About the Author

Renée Ahdieh is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her spare time, she likes to dance salsa and collect shoes. She is passionate about all kinds of curry, rescue dogs, and college basketball. The first few years of her life were spent in a high-rise in South Korea; consequently, Renée enjoys having her head in the clouds. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and their tiny overlord of a dog. She is the author of The Wrath and the Dawn.


Her Debut Book!


A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.



BOOKCON 2015

☆ Saturday, May 30th ☆
BookCon Panel in New York, NY
with Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, and Aisha Saeed

Countdown #BEA2015: Day 30 Featuring Wendy Higgins

In less than a month, Nancy from Ravenous Reader and I will be packing our bags to head to The City That Never Sleeps. Yep, only 30 days from now we are going to be facing the excitement and craziness of BEA!

To celebrate our excitement for this fabulous event, we’ve decided to do a countdown and share some of the authors we are excited to see, the books we hope to see, and the food we plan to eat…the works!

First up is Wendy Higgins! The moment I started reading Wendy Higgins’ Sweet Evil, I became a super-fan. We even Co-Hosted a Sweet Evil Read-Along because we really wanted Wendy to write and publish a second book in this series. So we were super ecstatic the day she signed for two more books in the series, and now we have 3! You can find my review of Sweet Evil HERE.


About the Author


After earning a bachelors in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, Wendy taught high school English until becoming a mommy. Writing Young Adult stories gives her the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal, daunting, and exciting years before adulthood. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, daughter, and son. Sweet Evil is her debut novel.


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The First Book!

Publisher's summary: Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?




The Second Book!

Publisher's summary: Anna Whitt, daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a claim. She’d been naive about a lot of things. Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?




The Third Book!

Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways.

The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

In the most sensual and fast-paced installment yet, Sweet Reckoning brings all the beloved Neph together one last time to fight for their freedom.



Coming Soon!

This swoonworthy, romantic companion novel to Wendy Higgins's New York Times bestselling Sweet Evil series is told from irresistible bad-boy Kaidan's point of view. Readers will love getting inside Kaidan's head, especially fans of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, the Selection series by Kiera Cass, and Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire.

When bad-boy drummer Kaidan Rowe encounters good girl Anna Whitt, the girl chosen to vanquish the demons from earth, he can't stop thinking about her. The Nephilim son of the Duke of Lust, Kaidan tries to help Anna embrace a life of sin, but she gradually helps him see that he's meant to do more with his life. Their relationship is as tortured as it is passionate, for Nephilim are forbidden to fall in love. But as hard as they may try to obey, Kai can't seem to stay away from Anna, nor Anna from Kai.

Full of chemistry and high-stakes drama, this companion book is darker, hotter, and completely satisfying.

BEA 2015

Wendy Higgins is scheduled for an Autographing Session on Thursday, May 28th from 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM at Table 12.