Mundie Moms

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

BIR2010- Clockwork Angel Giveaway!!!

There's no surprise Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel has been hitting a lot of top 2010 lists, including ours. It's a fantastic first book in what's to be an amazing steam punk series, and we're eagerly awaiting August 2011!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, we have 2 copies of Clockwork Angel to giveaway for our BIR2010.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster
Release Date: August 2010

Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all (quoted from Simon and Schuster's site).

Leave us a comment telling us who your favorite CWA character is and be sure to fill out this form below to enter. If you haven't read it yet, just leave us a comment. :)

BIR2010 Day #2-Author Guest Post by Sarah Rees Brennan

Team... TEAM, you guys.

Some people don't like Team This or Team That. Team Edward, Team Peeta, Team Damon. Or what have you.

I do. It comes naturally to me: my family and I used to while away the hours on long car journeys picking our favourite people. In the family. In order.

... At the end of a long enough car journey, sometimes we wouldn't speak for days. 'No! I'm not talking to you! How could you rank Mom above me?' 'Be reasonable! She had the jellybeans!'

I was trained young. Then when I was fifteen or sixteen, I read all of L.J. 'Queen of the Love Triangle' Smith's books. She was my Stephenie Meyer, you guys, and to this day I can still recall with extreme accuracy which side of every love triangle I was in. (Team Julian! Team Nick! Team Gabriel! Team Damon - oh look how I've looped around, ten years later...) While I don't actually remember much else of what I was doing when I was fifteen. (What is this 'geo... graphy class' of which you speak?)

Being emotionally involved enough to have a preferred outcome is what every writer wants from a book.

But then, sometimes the meaning of 'Team...' means not 'who do you want to win the love triangle?' but 'who is your favourite character?'

And that's when things get sticky. Because it seldom seems to be the girl. I remember a poll I did as to who people wanted to see in snippets of my four main characters: deceptive minx Alan, bossy wench Mae, constantly homicidal Nick or total coward Jamie. (I don't like to praise my characters too much... makes them uppity! Plus I think a character's faults are just as interesting as their virtues.) Mae was bottom of the poll by a lot of points, my poor lady!

Now I'm always happy no matter what Team My Character people are on, because it means they care. But I admit, I'd like to see more Team Lady, whether the lady is my Mae, my Sin, or someone else's lady entirely.

One solution to balance the scales: more love triangles between one dude and two ladies!

Another solution: try to mention the Team Girls you do have, when you mean your favourite character in a book. For instance? I'm Team Tessa in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series. Tessa! She should have both the boys, and a castle made of books. Who doesn't love a nerdy Victorian lady?

Team Lucy, in Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt. God help the poor young lady pitted against Lucy in a love triangle. She'll wear a revealing evening gown to breakfast! She'll eat everything on the table for energy! She'll make out with other dudes just for practice!

Team Shay, in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. And Team Felicity, in Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty.

And then there's the question of Team Favourite Species. Team Faerie? Team Vampire? Team Werewolf?

Well... there I think I'd go for Team Human. (Team Selfish By Nature, that's me...)

So what Team, in the sense of favourite things, do you guys have? Favourites from my books? Favourites from other books? Favourite creature to read about?

I await your thoughts...

BIR2010 Day #2-Author Interview, Prize Pack #1 & An International Giveaway (Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, Shade, Deception, Tyger Tyger)


Yesterday we kicked off the BIR2010, and to give a little recap on what it is- we, along with 8 other bloggers have come together to collectively bring you our favorite reads for 2010. Each blog came up with a small list of their favorites and every blog will be featuring the list. We, along with the other bloggers will be featuring BIG giveaways, I'm talking more than 30 books, along with author interviews. This event will be running from now through December 14th, though on MM's our events will be running now through Friday. That means more giveaways each day! To follow all of our BIR2010 posts, just click on the BIR2010 button on the top right hand corner of our blog.

I have feel so bad that we haven't had any international giveaways like we always do, but today we have one. Next week when we post our MM favorite reads of 2010 we'll have more. Today we have two great author interviews, our Clockwork Angel giveaway and some great giveaways.

All giveaways are open to residents of the US only, unless other wise noted. If you are an International follower and have someone in the US we can send your winnings to, please feel free to enter. All giveaways will end on December 15th. All winners will be announced on Monday December 20th. This is to ensure that we don't have winners winning the same books on the other participating blogs. **Publishers will be mailing out most of the winnings and with Christmas and the holiday rush, books may not be received until after the first of the year.

Thank you to all the wonderful publishers and authors who have allowed us to host such wonderful giveaways!
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds


Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way–the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds–a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl’s struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone–especially yourself– you fight for it.

Hush little students, don’t say a word… (quoted from Daisy's site)

With all the fantastic new releases this year, what new release has become your guilty pleasure?

I am madly in love with Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss.

If you were able to add in a favorite literary character to your book, who would you pick and why?
Crookshanks from Harry Potter. I'm convinced he can talk.

What inspired to become a writer?
A love of words.

As a teen, if you were friends with one of your characters, why and what would it be and why?

I would be friends with Maia because she's a great example of a powerful REAL girl.

If you could have a paranormal power, would it be or what would you want to be (ie. shadowhunter, werewolf etc)

I would like anything I eat to have zero calories.

Thank you Daisy for joining us today! I agree with you with about Anna and the French Kiss and I would love to have the zero calories superpower too. lol

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PRIZE PACK #1 & INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY
This prize pack contains these great reads-

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Released: May 2010

Book Summary (from Simon & Schuster):Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

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Shade
By Jeri Smith-Ready
Published by Simon Pulse
Released on April 15, 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 clues to the secret of the Shift.
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Deception
By: Lee Nichols
Published by: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Lee Nichols' website: www.leenicholsbooks.com

Book summary (from goodreads.com):
When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.

After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.

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Tyger, Tyger
By Kersten Hamilton
Published by Clarion Books
Released November 15, 2010

Teagan Wylltson's best friend, Abby, dreams that horrifying creatures--goblins, shape-shifters, and beings of unearthly beauty but terrible cruelty--are hunting Teagan. Abby is always coming up with crazy stuff, though, so Teagan isn't worried. Her life isn't in danger. In fact, it's perfect. She's on track for a college scholarship. She has a great job. She's focused on school, work, and her future. No boys, no heartaches, no problems.

Until Finn Mac Cumhaill arrives. Finn's a bit on the unearthly beautiful side himself. He has a killer accent and a knee-weakening smile. And either he's crazy or he's been haunting Abby's dreams, because he's talking about goblins, too . . . and about being The Mac Cumhaill, born to fight all goblin-kind. Finn knows a thing or two about fighting. Which is a very good thing, because this time, Abby's right. The goblins are coming.

Kersten Hamilton is the author of several picture books and many middle grade novels. When she's not writing, she hunts dinosaurs in the deserts and badlands outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she lives. This is her first novel for young adults. For more about Kersten, please visit www.kerstenhamilton.com.
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Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Bloomsbury Childrens Books and Kersten Hamilton for allowing us to host these great giveaways.

Twitter Tuesday - Bree Despain

Have you been paying attention to Bree Despain's tweets?? Well, she's been busy posting The Lost Saint's playlist! There are some great songs on there. I mean how can you not love Vampire Weekend??  Go over to her blog and check them out. I also love "C'mere" by Interpol. A nice change from Holiday Radio songs piped over speakers in malls. 

Don't forget, The Lost Saint comes out in TWENTY days!!! That's on Tuesday, December 28th and just in time for that New Year's Day reading marathon I know we all indulge in before we have to go back to work and school. 

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