Cover Reveal: Endre by ST Bende

17 May

Titile: Endre (The Elsker Saga #2)

Author: ST Bende

Publisher: Entranced Publishing

Release Date: September 23, 2013

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance

Sometimes, finding your destiny means doing the exact opposite of what The Fates have planned.

Winning the heart of an immortal assassin was a dream come true for Kristia Tostenson. Now she’s knee deep in wedding plans, goddess lessons, and stolen kisses with her very traditional fiancé. But her decision to become immortal could end in heartbreak — not only for Kristia, but for the god who loves her. Because while Ull would do anything to protect his bride, even the God of Winter is powerless against the Norse apocalypse. Ragnarok is coming. And the gods aren’t even close to ready.

I am very excited to be revealing the cover to Endre to you guys today. This series was just brought to my attention a few weeks ago but it already has me so incredibly interested! I have more information on the first book of the series below but before we get to that, let’s take a look at the cover for Endre!

Endre

So what do you guys think? I absolutely love it for a number of reasons with the biggest being it does not feature people on the cover! Don’t get me wrong, I love when a cover artist can capture the characters on a cover but sometimes all I really need is a captivating color and font with some interesting and cool graphics/designs. This cover has all of that for me! The soft yellows and pinks fading into a deep red are really quite beautiful and I LOVE the metal-y looking snowflake figure in the center; It’s gorgeous.

Now before you leave a comment below letting me and ST know what you think about the cover, please be sure to check out all the awesome info on Book #1, Elsker, as well as all the good tidbits about ST herself!

About Elsker:

Elsker

Title: Elsker (The Elsker Saga #1)

Author: ST Bende

Release Date: April 22, 2013

Publisher: Entranced Publishing, Blush

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance

Kristia Tostenson prefers Earl Grey to Grey Goose and book clubs to nightclubs, but when she transfers from her one-stoplight town to Cardiff University in Wales she falls in love with Ull Myhr. Her new boyfriend isn’t exactly what she was expecting. He’s an honest-to-goodness Norse God — an immortal assassin fated to die at Ragnarok, the battle destined to destroy Asgard and Earth. Kristia’s crazy visions are the only thing that can save their realms.

Her orderly life just got very messy.

Book trailer

Kobo

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Entranced

About The Author:

ST Bende

Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, ST Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of the musical Cats. Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired the ELSKER series. She hopes her characters make you smile and that one day pastries will be considered a health food.

You can follow ST Bende on Twitter @stbende, or send an e-mail to stbende@gmail.com.

Blog: http://stbende.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/stbende

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stbende or @stbende

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/stbende/

You Are Invited To The….

17 May

BEA Blogger Picnic 3

Hello awesome book bloggers! It is now officially the middle of May so do you know what that means? BEA is just a few weeks away! The absolutely AWESOME blogger, Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase came up with this amazing idea for all bloggers either attending BEA or bloggers that are from the area to come and chit-chat and meet the people behind the blogs in a very casual (but fun!) setting. Brainstorming began among Andrea, myself, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, and Jen from YA Romantics and before long the 2013 BEA Book Blogger Picnic was born! Check out all the below information for more details on the event and of course if there are any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel to contact any one of us!

What:  The BEA Book Blogger Picnic is a gathering for all book bloggers during BEA week.  It’s a laid-back gathering, where we’ll simply be meeting others and talking about books, blogging, BEA, or anything at all!

Why:  A lot of us book bloggers will be in NYC for BEA, and this picnic will allow us to get together in one place at one time!

Who:  ALL book bloggers are welcome, whether you’re attending BEA or not!

Where:  The lawns outside Heckscher Playground (see map below) near the SW corner of Central Park in NYC.

When:  Friday, May 31st, 6-8pm. This is a come-and-go event, so it’s okay to come late or leave early!  And if people aren’t done talking when the sun goes down, we can move indoors somewhere. (Just follow #BEABloggerPicnic and we’ll tweet where we are if we go somewhere else.)

Extra Info: Unless one of us becomes millionaires within the next couple weeks, this event is BYOF (bring your own food…if you want). When you are free, please come meet us at the lawns outside the Heckscher Playground!  Here’s a map of the SW corner of Central Park.  We’ll be in the lawns somewhere outside the Heckscher Playground, probably somewhere on the south side of the playground.  But don’t worry, we’ll have a sign so that you’ll know it’s us!

Heckscher Playground map

And be sure to follow #BEABloggerPicnic on Twitter for any news and updates, and you can follow all the organizers as well:  @alexalovesbooks, @JenRyland, @KatelynTorrey, and @OverstuffedBook.  And please spread the word (the more people who know about the event, the more people we will get to hang out with)!  Feel free to tweet with #BEABloggerPicnic, share the event on Facebook, add the graphic at the top of this post or the one below to your sidebar, write your own post about it, whatever! Also, if you think you will be able to attend please leave a comment, tweet us, or email us to let us know!

BEA Blogger Picnic

We hope to see you there!

Cover Reveal + Sneak Peek: Girl With Guitar by Caisey Quinn

15 May

Title: Girl With Guitar

Author: Casey Quinn

Cover Designer: E.M. Tippets

Release Date: May 22nd 2013

After Kylie’s dad dies in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy step-mother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville determined to make her late father’s dreams come true. Waitressing and saving her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music superstar Trace Corbin. But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.

Girl With Guitar

Isn’t that cover just gorgeous!? I absolutely love that it features a girl, her guitar, and all of the country music awesomeness that is present in the book. And just to get you guys even more excited about the release of this snazzy little book, we have an awesome sneak peek for you to check out. Be sure to leave a comment letting Caisey and I know what you think about this awesome cover!

Sneak Peek:

“Evenin’ y’all,” Kylie drawled into the microphone. “I had a song I was gonna sing and then my friend Tonya, she might be your waitress, she told me it sucked—so I guess I’m just gonna play this here guitar and see where it takes us.” She grinned at the audience and then leaned closer to the mic once more. “Oh, and I go right back to serving after this, so if you don’t clap when I’m finished, I can’t be held responsible for what might happen to your drink between the bar and your table.” Kylie winked and strummed a few cords. “Okay, here we go.”

Laughter? Did she hear laughter? She thought she did.

I know you wanna tie me down, know you wanna put a ring on it, but I ain’t never been that kinda girl, not for all the money in the world.

Kylie launched into her modified version of Trace Corbin’s latest hit, Not That Kinda Man.  It was the famous bachelor’s latest lovin’ and leavin’ single and she was attempting to turn the thing on its ear. He’d written and sang it as a sad break up ballad and Kylie had remixed and reworked it into the single girl’s party anthem.

You wanna own me but you don’t know me. Guess what darlin’? When you wake up I’ll be gone.

Kylie flashed her sexiest grin and wiggled a little at the crowd. Then she shouted, “Sing it with me girls!” into the mic and picked up the tempo, launching into the chorus.

Several waitresses, Tonya included, stopped what they were doing to sing along. Not that Kylie could really see them, but the girls in the crowd joined in too. She sang to the guitar player, whose name she was pretty sure was Andy, and he played right along, smiling and winking at her the whole time. Well I’m not that kinda girl, don’t wanna play these games, not gonna wake up in your bed or take your name. She gave Andy a playful smack on the ass and he blew her a kiss. Shrieking whistles radiated from the audience.

The music hummed and pulsed against her and somewhere in Kylie’s mind a little voice said, Holy shit you’re doing it!  

When the number was over, she practically flew off the stage, painfully aware of the pounding in her chest. Oh well, if I have a heart attack and die right this moment, I’ll die happy. The applause was loud enough to be heard over the ringing in her ears and she wanted it more than oxygen.

Clive was leaning on the bar, shaking his head but smiling. Tonya shot her two thumbs up. Kylie let out a little squeal of happiness and sent a silent thank you up to her daddy, feeling certain she was higher than any drug could ever take her.

She would let Tonya go home early tonight and do the rooms herself. She had enough energy to clean ten green rooms. When she told Tonya that, the woman hugged her. Hard. “You knocked ‘em dead, girl! That was amazing!”

“Yeah, well, I got some really good advice,” Kylie told her, unable to keep the permagrin off her face.

The next act stepped out of the shadows and took the stage. Kylie heard a deep male voice with a sexy southern drawl say, “Damn. Just my luck to have to follow that.”

The audience was still shrieking and screaming and Kylie knew she’d done well, but seriously?

“I apologize for standing y’all up a few weeks ago. Musta got my dates mixed up. Probably time to fire that manager of mine,” the handsome man on stage drawled.

Who was this guy? Whoever he was, the women in the audience were going crazy over him.

“Well, since that good looking waitress stole my number, guess I’ll have to sing something else. Where is that girl anyways?”

Oh God. Oh God, please no. Kylie’s heart sank and her high evaporated instantly. She turned to face the man on stage. Trace freaking Corbin was standing there with a guitar in one hand and the other to his eyes, scanning the crowd for…her.

About The Author:

Caisey Quinn is a wearer of cowgirl boots, writer and avid reader of New Adult romance, lover of wine, and is addicted to chai tea lattes. She’s the brand spanking new author of soon to be released books including Girl with Guitar and Keep Me Still. (Which may or may not include spanking).

Caisey lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, daughter, and other assorted animals. Girl with Guitar is her first novel. 

www.caiseyquinnwrites.com

Twitter: @CaiseyQuinn

Facebook

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CaiseyQuinn

Email: caiseyquinn@gmail.com

Tune In Tuesday (104)

14 May

Tune In Tuesday

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature in which bloggers get to showcase another one of their loves, music! This feature was originally created by Ginger over at GReads! but you can now find it here at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands. If you would like to participate in this weekly feature, make a blog post showcasing a song (or a few!) and link up at the bottom of this post by clicking the cute blue guy! While you’re here make sure to check out all the other awesome blogs that have decided to participate!

Hey there fellow Tune In Tuesday-ers! I hope your week has been off to an incredible start so far!

For today’s Tune In Tuesday post I decided to go with a band I recently learned about. I can’t remember if I saw them on one of your guys’ Tune In Tuesday posts or if they randomly popped up on my Spotify. Regardless, I am SOOO happy I know who they are now! Over the past two months, Arkells has been filling my ears with musical awesomeness. Their music can be very fun and upbeat but then some of their songs have this super awesome rock tone to it. Basically their music makes me smile and that’s all that matters. While I like pretty much EVERY song by these guys, I have tried to narrow it down to just a few of my very favorites. I hope you all enjoy!

Deadlines by Arkells

I like this song because it has that more “rocker” sound I was talking about it!

Michigan Left by Arkells

I live in Michigan so I feel it is only natural that I like this song. Also, I know I featured this song not too long ago but I just love it THAT much!

Book Club by Arkells

I think that the fact that this song is entitled Book Club is a good enough reason for it to be my favorite. Also, I really like the original version of this song (i.e. I think you should check it out) but I can’t help myself to a good acoustic one!

CHECK OUT THE PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY:

PURCHASE THEIR ALBUMS ON AMAZON:

LINK UP TO THIS WEEK’S TUNE IN TUESDAY & CHECK OUT OTHER PARTICIPATING BLOGS:


Life As Kate (37)

10 May

Life As Kate

It’s been quite some time since I’ve had a Life As Kate post here on the blog. The last few months have been nothing short of crazy for me and as much as I would love to vent to you guys about everything that has gone down, I have a little something different planned for today (making up this post has made me an emotional hot mess so please bear with me!).

My baby sister, Kari, has been my best friend since the day she was born. Sure we argued over who got to sit in the front seat or which one of us got to pick whatever movie we were going to watch. We had our fair share of fights especially when it came to borrowing clothes, taking turns, embarrassing each other, or other things that sisters bicker about. We argued all of the time but at the end of the day, we were always there for one another no questions asked. She always managed to make me laugh and feel better even when I didn’t think it was possible.

Kari & I  Kari & I

This last New Year’s Eve, this same baby sister got married. She kept it a secret and I did not find out about it until months later. Naturally, there was a lot of hurt and anger surrounding the event. But like every argument or fight we’ve had in the past, I learned to forgive and move on. Kari’s husband is in the Marines and is stationed in Hawaii. For those of you that don’t know (or perhaps for those of you like me who just flat-out suck at Geography) that is over 4,000 miles away.

Kari & I  Kari, Abby, & I

At about 1:30 p.m. today, Kari is going to step foot on a plane that will carry her all of those miles away. She gets to move to my dream destination to live with her husband for an undetermined amount of time. As happy as I am for her and this exciting, new journey she is embarking on, I can’t help but be incredibly sad that the one person I have spent more time with than anyone else is moving away from me. We have been there for each other through a whole slew of bad times and even more incredible times and I know there will be more ahead for us but still guys…all of the feelings are hitting at once.

Kari & I  Kari & I

It’s just hard to imagine that the little girl I used to chase around and tease, the same little girl whose hair I did and laundry I folded, has turned into such a grown-up over night. I know that this next chapter in her life is going to be so new and exciting, I mean when Hawaii is involved, how could it not be? I hope for nothing less than enchanting, magnificent, unbelievably blissful moments for the new couple and as hard as it’s going to be to be apart from my sister for such a long amount of time, I know deep down it is the absolute best thing for her.

Kari & I

Kari & I

  Kari & I

Today, when I say “see you later” to my sister and the tears will be making a hot mess out of my face, it will be with only the happiest and most sincere thoughts & well wishes that I send with her. Please join me in wishing Kari and her new husband Zach all of the happiness and joy this life has to offer them. She may be a big girl now but she will always be my little Kare-Bear <3

And because Phillip Phillips said it better than I could ever imagine….

Blog Tour + Giveaway: The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

9 May

The Summer I Became A Nerd Banner

The Summer I Became A Nerd

Title: The Summer I Became A Nerd

Author: Leah Rae Miller

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Pages: 326 e-book

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Source: I received a copy of this e-book as part of this blog tour in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl’s body isn’t just unknown, it’s anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.

Every once in a while I stumble across a book that I fall absolutely head over heels in love with. A book that makes me grin, smile, swoon, and yes, even snort over the course of reading it. It is one of those books that makes me feel all of those feelings from high school again…the good AND the bad; the type of book that reminds me exactly why I love to read Young Adult books. A few days ago, I had the absolute pleasure of reading The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller and people, it is TOTALLY one of those books for me. I loved the message behind this book for one. It’s all about staying true to yourself and not being afraid to be you which is something I’m all about. Second we have an extraordinary set of characters that were so lively, hilarious, and real. I loved the main character, Maddie, I loved the adorkable crush, Logan, and I even loved the spastic friend of the adorkable crush, Dan. Then we have the fact that this book celebrates nerdom in all of its wonderful glory. Add this all together and it’s a miracle I made it through The Summer I Became A Nerd without giving it a giant hug. Okay…so maybe that did happen while I was reading but the point is, this was such a fun, enjoyable book that spoke to the nerd-girl in me and I have a hunch you will all love it as well.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie is living a double life. There is the side of her that everyone at school sees; the perfect looking cheerleader who dates the football star and listens to Top 40 music but then behind closed (and probably double-locked) doors is a nerd-girl just dying to be set free. She loves comic books, has a secret crush on a nerd-boy, and loves listening to Awesome Logan on the college radio station. I absolutely adored Maddie and not only because she was a fellow dork. First, I could understand where she was coming from. I know that high school can be brutal ESPECIALLY if you don’t fit in, if you happen to like different stuff, or if you don’t conform to the “norm”. Unfortunately for Maddie, she has allowed her popular-girl status to rule her life. Terrified of everyone at school finding out about her nerdish hobbies, Maddie completely shuts that side of herself off from everyone else. While I was a lot more open with my nerdiness in high school, I could still understand where this was coming from. Kids can be mean and brutal and opening yourself up to that kind of judgment is tough as heck. As the book progressed and we were able to see a lot more of this nerd-side of Maddie, I fell in love, well I fell in even more love. She was so funny. And spunky. And dorky. And relatable. And a lot of what I saw in my high school self. The journey Maddie takes over the course of this book is not easy. She stumbles and makes mistakes while trying to figure out how to balance the popular side with the dorky side but I think she becomes so much more confident and sure of herself by the end. Since I am a fan of character growth, especially if that growth includes becoming a proud nerd, it should be no surprise that I freaking loved this aspect of the book.

Maddie’s awesome character was joined by a set of secondary characters that I loved to absolute pieces! Awesome Logan a.k.a. the adorkable, funny, quirky, swoon-worthy nerd-boy that Maddie hangs out with throughout the book was one of my favorite parts of this book. He wasn’t perfect (trust me, he had his moody moments) but that’s what I liked so much about him. I found him to be very realistic and the relationship between him and Maddie had me grinning from ear-to-ear every time they were together and not completely screwing it up (which, by the way, happens A LOT considering Maddie is in fact still dating the football star AND keeping her nerdy side a secret). Logan has a best friend, Dan The Man who, in my opinion, needs his own book. Dan is like every hardcore nerd you’ve ever encountered in your life. He says the most off the wall stuff, goes on weird tangents all the time, and everything he does is so odd and over the top but it was this mixed with his fierce loyalty to Logan that made him so enjoyable and endearing. Along the way, we also meet Maddie’s best friend and fellow popular girl, Terra, who I expected not to like but really ended up enjoying. Overall, characterization in this book couldn’t be any more spot-on for me. It was this big, jumbled mix of quirky, fun, hilarious characters that all seemed to work so well together.

One thing that needs to be brought up is all of the nerding that went on in this book. I am a nerd and I am proud of it. In fact I have a whole blog dedicated to my nerd-girl hobbies like reading and fan-girling over books & authors so it is by no coincidence that I would love a book that celebrates a different but still totally awesome degree of nerdom. I can’t say I have ever read a comic book and I’ve never been LARPing (although that is something I would most definitely want to do one day!) but I can still appreciate it. Maddie so clearly loves her comics, it’s what she’s passionate about so I soon found myself becoming more and more passionate about it too. Seeing this whole other side of nerdiness was so much fun to experience and even though it is slightly different from my form of nerdiness, all of the giddy, exciting, on the verge of really strange feelings were the same.

The Summer I Became A Nerd proved to be an insta-favorite of mine. Maddie’s struggle to be true to herself is a universal issue that Leah executed so well but the love-festing of nerdiness was like the extra whipped cream on top. The nerd-girl in me connected with this book, fell in love with this book, and is now ordering the rest of you fellow nerds to give it a shot because you will not be disappointed!

GIVEAWAY:

3 lucky winners will receive an e-book of The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller. Be sure to follow this link to enter the Rafflecopter form. The giveaway is international!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Leah Rae Miller

Mother, wife, and YA author living on a windy hill in Natchitoches, Louisiana. I love fuzzy socks, comic books, cherry coke, and brand new office supplies. THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD coming Summer 2013 from Entangled Teen. Stay cool!

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WHERE TO FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

The Book Depository

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5/6/2013-Nose Graze-http://www.nosegraze.com/

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Tune In Tuesday (103)

7 May

Tune In Tuesday

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature in which bloggers get to showcase another one of their loves, music! This feature was originally created by Ginger over at GReads! but you can now find it here at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands. If you would like to participate in this weekly feature, make a blog post showcasing a song (or a few!) and link up at the bottom of this post by clicking the cute blue guy! While you’re here make sure to check out all the other awesome blogs that have decided to participate!

Hello there lovely people and Happy Tuesday! I hope your May is off to a fantastic start so far!

So something exciting happened in the life of Kate just a few days ago. For this last Christmas, my sister Abby and I got tickets to a Taylor Swift concert that took place a few days ago on May 4th! I know you guys know that I have a deep love for Taylor and her music; I also know that not all of you are fans of her so no worries, today’s post is not actually about her…or at least completely (on a very related side note: She put on a FANTASTIC show. Whether you like her music or not, she puts on an incredibly entertaining concert and I most certainly suggest seeing her live if you ever have the chance!) For the concert, Taylor had a few opening acts, two of which we missed because of INSANE traffic but we made it to the important one and that would be the absolutely incredible, phenomenal, amazing, and insanely talented Ed Sheeran. Ed just has a way with words and his music appeals to so many different kinds of music fans. I loved him before seeing him live and even though I thought it was impossible, I love him even more after that performance. I decided that I would share a few of my favorite Ed Sheeran songs with you guys today. Hope you enjoy!

Abby & I

Abby & I at the Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift concert!

Lego House by Ed Sheeran

I’m not even mad that the radio station is playing the heck out of this song now because I love it that much! Also I only have two words (okay, more like three): RON FREAKING WEASLEY

Drunk by Ed Sheeran

Okay, I really like the song but I think I like it a little more because of the cat in the music video.

Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran

They played this song together at the concert and it was one of my favorite parts. The lyrics are so sweet and I think their voices go together so nicely! And you guys, I just couldn’t resist sneaking in a T-Swizzle song ;)

Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran

This creepy, gorgeous, beautiful video just so happens to be my favorite Ed song. There really are no words as to why I love it so much; it just is what it is.