Mundie Moms

Friday, April 30, 2010

Our Children's Book Review Blog

If you're looking for some great grade school/middle school aged books, be sure to visit our Children's Book Review Blog, http://keepreadingtoyourchild.blogspot.com/. We've got some great reviews coming up. Be sure to read our latest reviews for:

Freebie Friday!!


Who loves a giveaway!?!?! I know we love to give things away. With two of our giveaways ending today, we thought it would be fun to host another giveaway. Today we'll pick 2 winners. One from blog and one from Twitter.

Thank you to Saundra Mitchell and Maggie Stiefvater, we have two awesome signed bookmarks to giveaway. Every bookworm needs some really cool bookmarks.

How do you win these? All you need to do is leave a comment with your valid email address and on Twitter, you'll need to RT our giveaway. That's it!! The Winners will be announced tomorrow morning on Twitter (for the Twitter winner) and on the blog (for the blog winner).

If you don't win, don't worry. We have more of both bookmarks we'll be giving away next month. Good luck to everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

*You MUST be a blog follower and/or forum member to enter the blog giveaway and a follower on Twitter to enter*

Book Review - Guardian of the Dead

Published by: Little Brown Books for Young Readers on April 1, 2010
Source: Bought
4 stars- I enjoyed it and recommend picking it up

Synopsis: In less than a day I had been harassed, enchanted, shouted at, cried on, and clawed. I’d been cold, scared, dirty, exhausted, hungry, and miserable. And up until now, I’d been mildly impressed with my ability to cope.

At her boarding school in New Zealand, Ellie Spencer is like any ordinary teen: she hangs out with her best friend, Kevin; obsesses over her crush on a mysterious boy; and her biggest worry is her paper deadline. Then everything changes: In the foggy woods near the school, something ancient and deadly is waiting.


The characters in Guardian of the Dead are ultimately what made me turn the pages. Ellie Spencer is just an ordinary girl forced to live in a boarding school due to her Mother's "Cancer Year" and resulting remission which has sent her parents on an once-in-a-lifetime around the world excursion. With the parents out of the way, we follow Ellie through a very predictable theme, a new girl in a school filled with the usual characters you would expect in an urban fantasy novel -- the male best friend who is always there for her, various female characters who are sometimes annoying and sometimes helpful and yes, the mysterious boy, Mark, who is somehow always there.

Karen Healey manages to weave in such genuine voices for all of the characters, especially Ellie, that you find yourself easily sympathizing with her as she discovers the magic all around her. This magic is part of the folklore of New Zealand, based on Maori mythology and cosmology,and it's like nothing I've ever read before. But it is as visceral as Greek and Roman mythology and it is steeped in the surrounding landscape.

As the magic unfolds, Ellie and her friends find themselves facing a real war based on one of the Maori myths. With their own lives at stake as well as the lives of an entire region of New Zealand, they prepare and face a battle which will utilize all of their skills. The climax of the story is well paced and heart thumping as you read and wonder who will survive and who won't make it. Most of all, you find yourself wondering if the love between Ellie and Mark will last through this ultimate test.

If you like exploring new mythologies that are as dark and twisted as the very best of Greek or Roman myths and a heroine who remains true to herself while faced with a shifting reality, you will enjoy Guardian of the Dead. A side note to Karen Healey for writing one of the best comments a mysterious boy can utter to a girl on why he would not be a good boyfriend. Of course, I won't quote it here. You've got to read it for yourself.

Amazing Book Trailers!

I've been meaning to post Claire De Lune's book trailer with my review in couple weeks, but I couldn't wait anymore. The trailer is great and I definitely recommend getting this book! It's such a great read.


Claire De Lune will be released May 18th, by Simon & Schuster. You can learn about Christine Johnson and Claire De Lune by visiting her site here:

Vania has done it again, with another amazing book trailer for Shadow Hills! This is going to be a hugely popular book this summer! I have just started this book and WOW, it's good.


Shadow Hills will be released July 13th, by Egmont. We definitely recommending picking this book up!!
To learn more about Anastasia Hopcus and Shadow Hills, please visit her site here:

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Don't Forget, Two Giveaways End Tomorrow!!


Don't miss your chance to enter two of our giveaways that end tomorrow! Click on the links to be entered here:

** Freebie Friday (Brightly Woven & Jane Slayre)
**Jekel Loves Hyde-*signed* book giveaway

Holly Black's White Cat Tour Information/ Secret Stuff!

Exciting news for those who follow Holly Black online!! Holly recently posted that those attending her White Cat tour stops, can send her your address and she'll send you a post card to get a secret thing at her signing!

Here's what Holly said, "If you think you might be able to make it to one of these events, give me your address below (replies are screened) and I will send you a postcard. Bring the postcard and I have secret stuff for you! Secret stuff so secret that I am not sure what it is yet!" (taken from her LJ site, linked below).

Be sure to visit Holly's site here http://tinyurl.com/2cpzhz4 to see her latest White Cat tour dates, and be sure to leave her a comment to receive your post card.

Please know that if your secret gift is Cassel, he's mine! Not that Holly would freely give him away or anything. LOL

Thoughtful Thursday- K.I.D.S

Today's post comes from a wonderful post I found by Scholastic on Facebook yesterday.

For every person who follows or likes Scholastic on Facebook they are DONATING 1 book to, K.I.D.S (Kids In Destressed Situations Inc). Can you imagine a child not owning a book!?!?! It's hard to imagine, yet children in the US and all over the world do not own a book.

Books are a vital assets for children, especially in times of stress. Books help children deal with trauma from violence, and stress from dealing with earthquakes and other major natural disasters. K.I.D.S helps children not only in the US who have dwelt with these things, but around the world.

Scholastic's goal is to raise 100,000 books for K.I.D.S!! We can help them make this happen. All you need to do is go here, http://www.facebook.com/Scholastic to follow Scholastic. We have until September 1, 2010 to help them achieve this goal!


What is K.I.D.S? Kids In Distressed Situations Inc is a a non-profit organization that fights child poverty, for over six years to ensure that more kids and families have access to books. K.I.D.S. brings hope and self-esteem to more than 4.5 million children and their families each year by providing and distributing books and clothes through a network of nearly 1,000 local community social service agencies in the U.S. and abroad.(taken from the K.I.D.S site)

Visit K.I.D.S today to learn more about their wonderful organization and to see how you can donate. http://www.kidsdonations.org/ One caring response to one child in the crisis of poverty, with one donation of a new piece of clothing or shoes, a toy or book of their own or an educational product. It’s about one gift, to one child at a time that builds hope, self-esteem and an opportunity to succeed.

Now multiply that by hundreds of thousands… even millions… and you can see how you can help us make a difference in the lives of children dealing with poverty everyday. (taken from here-http://www.kidsdonations.org/mad_poverty.html)

You can follow Scholastic on Twitter, to keep up with all the amazing ways they're giving back to those in need http://twitter.com/Scholastic and K.I.D.S here-http://twitter.com/kidsdonations

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Waiting On Wednesday- Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Published by Simon and Schuster
To Be Released on May 4th, 2010

Love ties them together. Death can't tear them apart.

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart and the clues to the secret of the Shift.

This sounds like such a great book that we're looking forward to reading and reviewing. How do you choose between the love of your life, who's now a ghost, and the new guy in your life who you're starting to fall for? We can't wait to find out!

You can find out more information about Shade from Jeri's site here: http://www.jerismithready.com/

You can read the first chapter here: http://www.jerismithready.com/books/shade/excerpt/

You can pre-order a signed copy of Shade here: http://tinyurl.com/39d5tzj



This weekly event is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Author Interview with Stephanie Burgis, author of A Most Improper Magick

We are very excited to have recently talked with author Stephanie Burgis, who's book A Most Improper Magick is set to release in early 2011, by Simon and Schuster. I absolutely love the cover! Here's a little bit about the book (taken from Stephanie's site):

"I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to save my family from impending ruin. I made it almost to the end of my front garden..."

Magic may be the greatest scandal in Regency England. But that's not going to stop Kat Stephenson when there are highwaymen to foil, sinister aristocrats to defeat...and true loves to capture for her two older sisters.

What was your inspiration for writing A Most Improper Magick?

I've always been a huge fan of Regency romances, especially the ones written by Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. In some of my favorite romances, the heroines have younger sisters who only pop up briefly, just long enough to make some really snarky comments about their older sisters. I always enjoyed those brief scenes and wished they were longer. Then one day, as I was chopping onions for lunch, I heard Kat's voice in my head, speaking the first few lines of A Most Improper Magick...and everything just came together! I loved getting to make a snarky younger sister the true heroine of my books, rolling her eyes at her older sisters' romantic tribulations (and managing them neatly!) even as she pursues her own magical adventures.

This definitely sounds like a must read for all Mundie Moms! How would you describe your main character, Kat?

Reckless, loyal, radical, funny, smart, loving, and courageous.

What can you tell us about A Most Improper Magick, or about the series?

The series follows Kat's magical adventures in early nineteenth-century England, as she finds true loves for all three of her older siblings, comes to terms with her full magical powers, and fights to restore her late mother's ruined reputation. In Book 1, her brother has gambled the whole family into debt, and Kat has to battle highwaymen and dig up her mother's most scandalous secrets to save her oldest sister from a terrible arranged marriage with a sinister aristocrat. What she's not counting on, though, is the secretive magical Order of the Guardians, which has identified her as a promising new recruit...whether she wants to join them or not!

Which character did you enjoy developing the most and why?

I love Kat and all three of her older siblings so much! I could just write about them all day, because I have so much fun watching them spark off each other. Her brother, Charles, doesn't appear much in Book 1, but her two older sisters, Elissa and Angeline, are both major characters. All three sisters are equally strong-willed and smart, all three of them think they know what's best for the family and for each other...and that means they get in each other's way an awful lot!

Their mother died when Kat was born and Elissa, the oldest, was still only seven years old, and their father retreated into an emotional shell after her death, so the three sisters grew up taking care of each other in a lot of important ways. But the fact that they love each other doesn't stop them from driving each other completely crazy! And I am a mean author, because I love watching it happen. ;)

Do you have a play list you listen to while writing? If so, what are some of your favorite songs?

I have a different playlist for each book. For Book 1, the theme song was Adam and the Ants's "Stand and Deliver!", which totally captures the high spirits of the book. I also listened over and over again to the soundtrack for the new Doctor Who TV series (seasons 1 and 2), not just because I love that TV series, but because the music in the soundtrack really conveys the combination of fun adventure AND strong emotion that I felt in the book.

Was it challenging writing a book in the historical fantasy genre?

It was a really fun challenge to mix Jane Austen's early Regency era with the magical world that I made up. When I was worldbuilding in my notebooks, I came up with some big changes to earlier British history, back when magic was openly used (and, in my version of history, helped to cause the English Civil War!), but by 1803, when Book 1 takes place, magic has become the greatest social scandal of all, and magic workers have to keep their talents hidden and secret. So I worked hard to make all my day-to-day historical details accurate to the real Regency period, but I also had a great time figuring out how magic would secretly work alongside reality.

Being moms ourselves, we sometimes find it hard to find time to write. How do you work in writing, with the busy mom schedule?

It is really hard! My son is still too young for preschool, and we only have two mornings a week of childcare...so that doesn't leave me a lot of writing time! Basically, I've just had to become extremely disciplined about making the most of his naptimes every day, along with those two mornings a week when a childminder looks after him. It's amazing how much you can accomplish just by writing during naptimes, though. In the old days, I used to write much more slowly, with lots of pauses to check the internet or daydream...but no longer! I've been forced to become a lot more efficient with my writing sessions, knowing that he might wake up and end them at any minute.

What is one piece of writing advice you would share with aspiring writers?

Be stubborn! I decided that I wanted to be a writer when I was seven, and I finished my first full-length novel when I was fourteen. I was thirty-one when I sold my trilogy - so you can guess how many novels I had to write in-between before I finally made that sale! Just keep writing, keep working to improve your skills, and don't let agent or publisher rejections discourage you. If you really care about making your writing better and better, and you learn to cope with the stings of rejection along the way, you will succeed in the end. Good luck!

And a special note: the title of the book (and the series!) may be changing soon. I'll share the new titles with everybody as soon as I can. (My editor and I are still brainstorming right now! Please wish us luck...)

Great advice! Thank you so much Stephanie for taking the time to chat with us. We are very excited to read A Most Improper Magick. Kat sounds like she'd fit in perfectly with Mundie Moms. Best of luck with the title of the book and the series, if the name changes. We're looking forward to hearing more about it.

You can read more about Stephanie and A Most Improper Magick, here at Stephanie's site
You can read the 1st chapter of A Most Improper Magick here:

Book Review- The Returners

By Gemma Malley
Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books
Released March, 2010
Source: from Bloomsbury
4 stars- I enjoyed it and recommend picking it up

Will Hodge is miserable. His mother is dead, his father's political leanings have grown radical, and his friends barely talk to him. To make matters worse, he's having nightmares about things like concentration camps. Then Will notices he's being followed by people who claim to know him from another time in history. It turns out they are Returners-people who have been reincarnated and whose destiny is to recall the atrocities they have witnessed in the past. Will, too, is a Returner-only something about his memories is different: he wasn't just a witness to the events, he may have made them happen. Now Will must choose to confront the cruelty he's known in his past lives or be doomed to repeat it....again.


This is one of those books I picked up, not excepting to be completely lost in an amazing story, and yet I find I was hopelessly lost in the book. Returners was not what I was excepting at all. Gemma Malley wove together perfectly historical facts, with her amazing world of Returners. People who come back reincarnated over and over again. They serve a purpose, to remember the lives they have lived.

Will Hodge is a character who has many layers and one I felt a range of emotions for. I felt bad for him, sympathized with him, wanted to hug him and tell him it would be alright, got really mad at him and yet towards the end, I really rallied behind him, hoping he would make the change he wanted to make. Will is a self-loathing teen boy, who's still coping with the death of this mother who was killed a few years ago. He is caught in the middle of his father's radical ways. Set in England, in the year 2016, Will finds that he's in the middle of a movement. Not only does he have to deal with an abusive, drunken father and not having any friends but, he's started to have very vivid disturbing dreams about parts of history other's would like to forget and he's being followed.

Will witnesses something, that could change not only the accuser's life for good, but it's the center of a bigger radical movement that his father is part of. Will finds he's a key player. He's the only witness to what he thinks he saw. His father wants him to lie about it, and his old friend Claire wants him to tell the police what he saw. Will feels as though he's going crazy. The people that are following him won't leave him alone and he's having a hard time remembering things, except for flashes of memories from various points from history's past.

When Will confronts the people who are following him, he finds he's a Returner, and they've been looking for him for 50 years. Returners have existed through out time, and come back again and again. They remember the worst things that humankind does to each other and are humanity's conscience. They are the protectors's of the insanity of humankind in times of distress. When Will is told he's destined to suffer, to remember these things (like he has done times before) and to feel the desperation and agony of humankind's choices, he chooses to believe he can change his destiny. It's not going to be as easy as he thinks. He finds out he's the cause of these horrible events. If he doesn't change the course of his destiny, he's going to be the cause of an even greater catastrophe.

With the help of Claire, Will knows he can make the change, but when his father forces him into his extremist ways, Will finds his determination for change shattered. Will is running out of time to save his one time friend and accuser of a crime he may or not have committed. Telling the police what he saw is going to cost him, but it can also be part of the change Will is determined to make.

Gemma brings to light, and has done so in a very tactful way, the horrible atrocities our world's history has played out over and over again. As a teenager, Will starts to remember being apart of that history. He caused some of it and other times he stood by, not wanting to be apart of it anymore. Her underlining message in the book is that we can all change. Will finds that standing up to his father, changing the course he's destined to repeat over and over again is going to be very hard, but can he do it? Will he make the change in time? Can one person's change alter the course of history?

Twitter Tuesday - Tricia Rayburn

Okay, how could I resist a tweet that mentions "Mystic Pizza"? I immediately tried to remember details about that coming-of-age movie. But more importantly, it reminded me that Tricia's book, Siren, will be released soon.

This was one of those books that at the start of 2010, I placed on my Pre-Order-Looking-Forward-to-Reading-Must-Have-Now List. And it was all because of this synopsis (from EgmontUSA) :
Seventeen-year-old Vanessa Sands is afraid of everything--the dark, heights, the ocean--but her fearless older sister, Justine, has always been there to coach her through every challenge. That is until Justine goes cliff diving one night near the family's vacation house in Winter Harbor, Maine, and her lifeless body washes up on shore the next day.

Vanessa's parents want to work through the tragedy by returning to their everyday lives back in Boston, but Vanessa can't help feeling that her sister's death was more than an accident. After discovering that Justine never applied to colleges, and that she was secretly in a relationship with longtime family friend Caleb Carmichael, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor to seek some answers.

But when Vanessa learns that Caleb has been missing since Justine's death, she and Caleb's older brother, Simon, join forces to try to find him, and in the process, their childhood friendship blossoms into something more.
Soon it's not just Vanessa who is afraid. All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes home to a string of fatal, water-related accidents . . . in which all the victims are found grinning from ear to ear.

As Vanessa and Simon probe further into the connections between Justine's death and the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a secret that threatens her new romance, and that will change her life forever.
Creepy drownings? Secrets that change lives forever? Oh, yeah, I'm there. And you can be too, pre-order the book before it's July 13th release date and then sit back on those hot summer days and enjoy what is sure to be a twisty mystery.


Monday, April 26, 2010

Holly Black's White Cat Tour with Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan


















I can't tell you how excited we are that Holly will be kicking off her White Cat tour next month. Both Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan will be on joining Holly on different legs of her tour!

Holly will be kicking off her tour May 4th in MO!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS, as Cassie will be joining Holly on her stops in MO, PA, FL and MA, May 4th-May 11. You can find out more about Cassie's tour info here:
and Holly's tour information here:

Sarah Rees Brennan will be joining Holly on her stops to IL, OH, KY and TX, May 17th-23rd. You can find out more of Sarah's tour information here:

Holly Black's White Cat and Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Covenant will both be released in MAY!! *go pre-order them now*.

To our Mundie Moms coming to the event in Houston, we'll see you there!!!

Mundane Monday #30

Happy Monday! Mundane Monday is something we started here on Mundie Moms, as we wanted to brighten our Monday mornings with a quote/excerpt from Cassandra Clare's, The Mortal Instrument Series.

(Fan Art Credit: Sophistikatied Reviews).

Jace looked stupefied.
Simon grinned. "You've never played Dungeons and Dragons"?
"I've heard of dungeons," Jace said. "Also dragons. Although they're mostly extinct."
Simon looked disappointed. "You've never killed a dragon?"
"He's probably never met a six-foot-tall hot elf-woman in a fur bikini, either," Clary said irritably. "Lay off, Simon."
"Real elves are about eight inches tall," Jace pointed out. "Also, they bite."
"But vampires are hot, right?" Simon said. "I mean, some of the vampires are babes, aren't they?"
Clary worried for a moment that Jace might lunge across the porch and throttle Simon senseless. Instead, he considered the question. "Some, maybe."
"Awesome," Simon repeated. Clary decided she had preferred it when they were fighting.
- Jace, Clary and Simon, City of Bones page 118

Sunday, April 25, 2010

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi @TheStorySiren & inspired by Alea @PopCultureJunkie. It explores the contexts that we received for review, bought, checked out at the library or borrowed.

From Publishers/Authors For Review:
* The Turning by Helen Ellis (from Sourcebooks)
* Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr (from Harper Teen)

Bought:
* A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn
* The Host by Stephanie Meyer

* Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins
* Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
* Dark Angel by Meredith Ann Pierce
* The Summoning by Kelly Armstrong

What amazing reads did you receive this week?

Friday, April 23, 2010

Cassandra Clare Tour Dates

Recently Cassie has updated her tour schedule for this year, and we wanted to make sure everyone has seen it. Be sure to check her site often, as she will continue to add more information here http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/appearances

Cassie kicks off her May tours here:

Tuesday, May 4th

ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY

1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

St. Louis, MO

7:00PM

Thursday, May 6th

BOOKS & BOOKS

265 Aragon Ave

Coral Gables,FL

6:30PM

Friday, May 7th

Vero Beach Book Center

2145 Indian River Blvd.

Vero Beach,FL

6:30PM

Saturday, May 8th

FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA

1901 Vine St.

Philadelphia,PA

4:00PM

Monday, May 10th

BARNES & NOBLE

301 Main Street

Exton, PA

7:00PM

Tuesday, May 11

Odyssey Bookstore

9 College St.

South Hadley, MA

7:00PM

June: I’ll be appearing in Madrid, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal. Check back here for dates and places.

August 31-September 10: I’ll be touring the US and possibly Canada for Clockwork Angel. Check back here for dates and places.

September 13-16: SMART CHICKS KICK IT TOUR

September 13th—Tour launches at Book People in Austin, Texas w Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Rachel Caine , & Cassandra Clare 7:00 pm BOOKPEOPLE BOOKSTORE

September 14th—B&N The Woodlands in Houston, TX w Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, & Rachel Vincent. 7:00 pm B&N, THE WOODLANDS 1201 Lake Woodlands Drive The Woodlands, TX 77380

September 15th—Blue Willow in Houston, TX w Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, & Cassandra Clare 7:00 pm Remote location details to come Off site event hosted by: BLUE WILLOW

September 16th—Lemuria Jackson, MS w Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, & Sarah Rees Brennan 6:00 pm LEMURIA BOOKS 202 Banner Hall 4465 I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206

2011-2012

March 2011: I’ll be touring the US and AUSTRALIA for the release of City of Fallen Angels. Check back here for dates and places.

September 2011: I’ll be touring the UK for the release of Clockwork Prince. Check back here for dates and places.

(all information taken from Cassie's site)

The Eclipse Trailer


Okay, I'll be honest that I've had some doubts about Eclipse, but WOW! Check out the newest trailer
You can also watch the HQ version HERE! Oprah will have the FINAL Eclipse trailer today on her show. Once Summit releases it, we'll post it here. What do you think?

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